And another chapter! Hopefully you've had your fill of 'fluffiness', Cause I think I'm feeling an impending urge to write some violent, exciting, and dramatic conflict coming on..*cackles* (or at least will try to..)
Anywho, Thanks to all who've reviewed! It helps! Honest it does. Keep at it! I really appreciate the time you took to write it.
Now onwards readers! Enjoy the new chapter, relish it, savor it - because it'll be my last update for the next two weeks due to my upcoming holiday leave time!
Also in regards to the title: Candidate move - Chess term - A move considered as a starting point in the analysis of variations.
xoxoXXOXXoxox
Time: 07.01.2187 0400 Hours Location: Normandy SR-2, Orbiting Earth
The bathroom was still, quiet, and brightly lit as a pregnant Asari serenely stood naked and alone before a stainless mirror, her tired round eyes gazing tenderly - portraying the intertwined allusions of immeasurable bliss and contentment within the calming tropical waters of her ocean blue eyes. They seemed to have brightened considerably in the past few months, complimenting the pregnant glow of her soft blue skin which highlighted the unique smattering of freckles that adorned her sky blue colored body - making them a more distinctive feature as they started to deepen in color. The changes to her natural body were gradual ones, none of them too life altering, but she found it highly entertaining how her bondmate seemed to enjoy discovering them over and over. Her in depth studies captivating Liara's attentions whenever Shepard found something new to explore and experiment with. Honestly, when everyone thought Liara was the scientist, the Commander seemed to unknowingly portray her own lusts for discovery - granted it was only of interest if it pertained to a certain Asari's physiology...
Liara had also begun noticing that her crest was shifting in appearance but still just as sensitive, it's scaled like appearance shimmering like thin vibrant diamonds beneath the light and it's cartilage-like texture becoming slightly more hardened and protective of the crucial connective membranes that lay beneath - membranes needed in the first stage of motherhood that would attract and absorb the intricate and powerful currents of electrical activity and energy within her body, energy needed to safely establish and maintain the bonding of the mother's essence to the child after birth - similar to a mating bond, but more necessary for an infant's mental stability and survival in it's first few moments out of the womb. Unfortunately this made her highly susceptible to unstable biotic outbreaks during the final stages of Asari pregnancy, reducing her ability to control her powers significantly - even the act of initiating a bond or taking part in the act of physical love-making with Shepard was a risky undertaking, finding herself on more then one occasion shocking Shepard with a surge of biotic energy equivalent to a weak warp, or floating mere inches above their bed in a harmless miniature field of manipulated dark energy while she was dreaming. It was at most times a disconcerting discomfort, but one the couple had managed to endure in good humor for the past couple of months...
Unhurriedly Liara studied her body before the reflective wall as delicate, slender, feminine fingers of both her hand's glided elatedly across her swollen womb, a tender motherly smile gracing her navy blue lips as she slowly closed her eyes - attempting to mentally connect, to feel the budding bundle of precious life that resided patiently within her. A small kick in her lower abdomen caused her to quietly gasp a breath of surprise as she instinctively moved a hand to hover over the spot where the baby's feet or possibly a knee must be, a gentle chuckle emanating from her chest as she felt more movements.
"Good morning to you, too."
Liara breathlessly whispered, catching her body in the mirror once more before turning to face the shower, turning the chrome nozzle counter clockwise, instantaneously beginning the relaxing streaming flow of enticingly warm water. She hummed softly as the water began caressing down her body, every nerve awakened and alive, and becoming hypersensitive to all forms of touch just in the last month or so, courtesy of her pregnancy she was told. She wasn't complaining or anything, and neither was Shepard - Liara just found it fascinatingly odd watching these small temporarily distinct changes alter her body in such a way because of her pregnancy. She could definitely do without the consistent surging of lower back pain she endured every so often, though - Liara smirked, bringing both her hands to wrap behind and manually rub the muscles on her lower back.
"Well, well, well - what do we have here."
A familiar voice intruded, instantly grabbing Liara's attentions as she craned her head to the side, glancing back and catching a boxer adorned, topless human Spectre in the bathroom doorway.
"In or out"
Liara chuckled lightly, a bit flustered by the intrusion.
"You're letting out all the warm air!"
"Oh so it's warmth your after..."
Shepard purred, taking a couple more steps into the door, smirking cockily as she gingerly studied Liara's attractive body from a short distance. Her eyes glinted as they traced invisible heated paths, Shepard's mind utterly lost in her inspections, a small sigh escaping her lungs as the golden orbs moved lustfully over seductive curves and indents - human hands barely twitching, insatiably craving to desperately reach out and touch.
"I believe, I can assist with this matter if you'll permit me."
"When have I ever denied you permission, Shepard."
Liara chuckled lightly, her voice soaked and dripping with wry amusement.
"Once! I seem to recall..."
"When did I..."
Liara frowned trying to remember.
"Oh for Goddess's sake, Shepard, we were in the middle of a formal party - celebrating our victory with the surviving council and officials, it was a necessary requirement for you to be there!"
She laughed, her tone slightly incredulous, but still seductively playful.
"That's no excuse."
Shepard chuckled jokingly, finally joining Liara beneath the rushing waters from the shower-head, wrapping strong and tender pale arms around Liara's beautifully blue body and resting her calloused hands gently atop the Asari maiden's wondrously alluring pregnant belly.
"I'm sure the admirals could've handled the celebrations without us, for an hour or so."
She mumbled burying her lips into the lightened blue folds of Liara's neck, suckling softly upon one before moving intently on to another - going lower each time. Her hands worked skillfully as they traversed up her womb to apply teasing amounts of pleasurable attentions to Liara's slightly enlarged and exceedingly sensitive breasts, thick skinned but gentle fingers administering whispering touches to darkened indigo nipples. This elicited a high pitched gasp to spontaneously emerge from the Asari's lungs, exciting the exploratory ministrations of the Commander - feeling Shepard's heartbeat quicken as it pulsed beneath the chest that pressed firmly against Liara's back...
"Why do I find it hard to believe that we would've been gone for merely an hour..."
The young Asari softly growled, grunting as her Spectre carefully maneuvered her body to allow herself better access to piqued areas of her interest and comfortingly leaned Liara's weight back against her own body.
"That would be because you know me too well."
The Commander huskily beamed, wantonly uniting her affection starved lips with the satisfying touch of Liara's anxiously awaiting navy blue ones.
"Shepard..."
She moaned, tilting her head to an angle, allowing better access for the Commander's lips to wander, feeling a tiny flicker of energy crackle at her fingertips.
"I do believe your taking advantage of the sensitivity part of this third trimester."
"You bet your blue behind, I am."
She wolfishly grinned, laughing softly against Liara's neck.
"You make such interesting noises when your skin is this sensitive to touch."
"Goddess..."
She breathed, instinctively closing her eyes in sensual bliss as Shepard repetitively caressed and cupped the sensitive blue summits of Liara's chest.
"What are the chances I can get those hand's to..."
She paused, feeling Shepard's hands drift languidly from her breasts and meander down her sides.
"To what? Dr. T'soni"
Shepard grinned.
"My hands are at your command..."
She whispered into her ear, softly kissing Liara's right temple as her fingers traced idle paths upon her skin - anxiously awaiting orders.
"I would kill for a back massage."
She breathlessly chuckled, pouting her lips as she glanced back - expectantly meeting the amused facial expression that paraded itself across the Spectre's face.
"I suppose I can manage that."
Shepard assuredly smiled, taking a step back to let her eyes follow and memorize in greater detail as they found Liara's spine - following the path to the dimpled top of her buttocks, her hand's slipping across Liara's shimmering wet body, delicately setting to physically pleasing work on the building tension in Liara's aching lower back. The Asaari maiden groaned softly as she felt Shepard's fingertips pressure into stiffened muscles, falling back into the commander as her eyes lolled pleasurably back in their sockets beneath closed and fluttering eyelids.
"What are we going to name this kid...?"
Shepard suddenly questioned as she massaged, her eyes intently staring down Liara's chest and pinpointing their sights on the rounded curve of her womb.
"Have you thought about it?"
"I do not know, I've been through about every list of suggested names, even searched through family history but nothing as of yet has really attached itself to me."
She shrugged, another small gravelly sounding hum emanating from her throat as Shepard traversed her hands up a notch on her back.
"Same here. I think I've heard every suggestion this crew has to offer - did you know they're taking bets on whose we'll pick?"
Shepard scoffed.
"Hell, I even got a data-pad of entered and eligible names from Rupert. Just a matter of choosing one I suppose. They're all mostly human ones though - I didn't know if you wanted her to have an Asari dialect sounding one or..."
"No, I like the idea of a human name for her - it'll signify a part of who she is. And she all ready has an Asari last name."
Liara beamed.
"Did you like any of them?"
Shepard shrugged, leaning her head forward to dotingly place a smouldering kiss upon Liara's exposed right shoulder, resting her head on the heated and freshly anointed skin.
"Faelon. Rebekha. Alexis. Hell even Miranda suggested a good one - umm, god what was it..."
Shepard paused biting her lip, narrowing an empty stare upon a nearby wall as she tried to think.
"Aimee? Ionno, something like that."
"Not Renea?"
Liara smirked.
"Nah"
Shepard chuckled, momentarily halting her massage and bring Liara back into a warm embrace.
"I want her to have her own identity. Her own name, one that honors where she came from, and what she represents to us. Naming her after me in any way, I can't help but worry that we'd be placing her in a large, worrisome shadow."
Shepard's face crinkled into a ponderous frown as she thought about the time spent with Liara, about everything they went through to protect this child. For the longest time the only sounds were that of the draining water being forced from the shower-head and pattering against the floor, as well as the young couples steady breathing as they both mentally wrestled for ideas, idly moving their bodies in a small reverse box step as they simply cuddled.
"What do you think about 'Hannah'."
Liara quietly suggested, her body tensing slightly as she waited for Shepard's response, almost anticipating an angry dismissal of the idea.
"My mom?"
Shepard scoffed, a surprised deep noted chuckle slipping free through her lips.
"Really?"
"Do you not think it would be appropriate?"
"I...suppose we sort of owe that honor to her, don't we...?"
Shepard hesitated.
"We can think of something else if.."
"No!"
Shepard interrupted abruptly, the volume of her voice catching herself and Liara off guard.
"No.."
She repeated, this time more softly, fondly nuzzling her nose against Liara's cheek.
"I think I actually like the idea. I'm OK with naming her after the woman that gave her life so yours and our baby's could live on - not to mention she's the only person next to you I can ever remember giving any sign or resemblance of love or affection towards me..."
Shepard sighed, swallowing a small frog that was attempting to lodge itself in her throat.
"Hannah it is, than."
Liara grinned. Shepard smiled, catching Liara's sidelong gaze, feeling Shepard's hands wander over her hips again to meet with her own blue digits, the four hands uniting in their shared journeys to softly caress Liara's expanded womb, feeling another small fluttering movement of a baby's kick push against the confines of the Prothean expert's belly.
"Hey there, little one."
Shepard softly greeted, a widening smile of joy brightening her face upon recognition of the pressured touch she had just felt.
"Hannah...", Shepard chuckled lightly, testing the name for the first time, "Can't wait to meet you..."
xoxoXX0XXoxox
Time: Present - 01.05.2192 - 0700 hours Location: Aethyta's Apartment - Nos'Hanos District, Central Illium
A pair of bright yellowish hazel eyes narrowed critically from behind folded blue arms, resting atop the surface of a black coffee table, studiously staring down a wooden chest board and the scattered pieces upon it's black and pale white squared surface. Her brow was crinkled in deep expressive thought, her jaw tensed in contemplative concentration, her pupils dilating as she pondered an endless array of possibilities that could be her next move. Slowly she lifted a cautious right hand, her fingers dangling menacingly downwards as they languidly latched onto one of the shimmering silver pieces, it's coned top mirroring her blues finger in a tiny twisted reflection as they hovered closer to the narrow tipped piece. The little Asari lifted her gaze to match up with her father's attentive and watchful stare, trying to read her as she carefully moved the piece three squares right.
Shepard merely grinned, gently shaking her head, poking a guiding finger up into the air between them to draw an invisible diagonal line.
Hannah arched an eyebrow but silently understood, reverting the piece to its original position and attempted moving it again - this time properly, diagonally four squares, effectively taking out one of Shepard's brass pawns.
"You sure?"
Shepard softly uttered.
"Yes."
Hannah confirmed, before her eyes suddenly widened, swiftly shaking her head as she raced to put the Bishop back into its proper place.
"I mean, no!"
Shepard grinned, feigning a quiet 'phew' from her lips as she leaned forward to survey the layout of the board. Hannah cocked her head curiously to the side, picking up on the hinted relieved emotion Shepard displayed.
"I mean, yes!"
Hannah finally announced putting the piece back and taking the pawn, waving it triumphantly through the air.
"You dare..."
Shepard jokingly threatened.
"Whatcha gonna do 'bout it?"
Hannah smirked, sticking her tongue out.
Shepard took a deep inhale, her eyes sweeping the board before quickly grasping her knight and placed it on the other side of the board from where her pawn was taken.
"Ha! You didn't even take anything."
"There's only one piece I'm interested in taking off this board - and that will be your king!"
She guffawed, shaking a dramatic rueful fist in the open air between them.
"My pawn will be avenged in due time."
Hannah laughed at her father's display.
"You are going to wake mother up..."
She warned, shaking her head.
"Oh right. Yea."
Shepard grinned playfully, taking a quick glance behind her shoulder to gaze upon Liara's curled up and slumbering body on the couch behind her. Her left arm cradled beneath her head and pillow, while her right dangled to rest in Shepard's raised right handed embrace upon her right shoulder as she leaned elatedly up against the couch. Liara had fallen asleep sometime during Shepard's tutoring, feeling quite emotionally and mentally drained from the nights...exciting...train of events.
If it isn't one thing, it's another, Shepard remembered thinking - never a dull moment when you're in the company of a Shepard or T'soni these days.
Tenderly she kissed the warm blue flesh on the back of Liara's motionless and alluring hand before slowly averting her gaze back to the board, suddenly finding her queen had gone missing.
"I do believe I have a runaway."
Shepard frowned.
"This is treason, I say!"
"What means treason?"
Hannah asked, a rising degree of mischievousness lingering and twinkling within her golden gaze.
"It's when someone that belongs to one side or faction runs away and joins the other side out of cowardice or some other despicable reason, a betrayal. Like when Saren started working for Sovereign, he committed an act of treason against the council, and pretty much all life in general."
Hannah nodded slowly, smirking with a proud familiarity towards Shepard's example - quickly recalling the stories her mother had told her about their hunt for the rogue Spectre.
"What if their side was going to lose? Wouldn't it be smarter to join the winning side?"
Hannah asked, slightly confused.
"That would be against a human moral code. As well as many other races. It's not a respectable act."
Shepard shook her head.
"It is why we must be wise and reserved in our judgement when choosing a side - we have to believe whole heartedly in what we're fighting for, and never lose sight of that goal, finding strength in it, and never sway. It's in that strength you will find victory, or honor."
"What if your defeated?"
"Then we die honorably."
"What if they don't want to die at all?"
Shepard sighed, lowering her gaze. She knew this situation a little too well. How many times had she used that excuse - that reasoning which inevitably pushed her into situations that cost a great deal of life but strangely not her own. Where surrender wasn't an option but dying wasn't exactly something she particularly wanted to partake in either.
"Then we surrender, depending on the foe. Anyways back on topic, where's my leading lady - my little Pyjak?"
Shepard probed, growing a certain fondness towards the nickname.
Hannah's orbs shifted left to right before rolling in their sockets and she extended both her arms, revealing two closed fists.
"Pick one, and you can have her back."
"Don't these deals come with a ransom, release my queen in trade for fifty of my finest knights!"
Shepard dramatically continued.
"But you do not have fifty knights to trade for."
Hannah smirked.
"Can I do that?"
She excitedly questioned, straightening her posture and widening her eyes.
"No."
Shepard laughed.
"In ancient human history I'm sure they did, but I don't think it's mentioned in the rulebooks for chess."
"Bah!"
Hannah grunted in exasperation before finally releasing a small sigh, finally revealing Shepard's queen and restoring her back into power on the board.
"Is mother like your queen?"
She randomly asked.
"What?"
Shepard chuckled, surprised by the question.
"When you go into battle on those far away planets. Uncle Garrus would be like your rook, and mom the queen?"
" I never really thought of my crew like that - I don't know what they'd be in comparison."
Shepard shrugged, speaking quietly.
"I think between Garrus and Liara, they together would be my rooks - formidable on their own, slightly more powerful than any queen when together, and valuable protectors for any piece wise enough to acquire and inspire them."
Hannah slowly nodded, her crested head dropping to rest her tiny indented chin upon overlapping forearms, hands grasping lightly to her elbows.
"Can I ask you something, Hannah?"
Shepard gently asked, receiving a nonchalant shrug from her daughter, too busy trying to figure out her next move.
"Are you truly all right with this?"
She arched an eyebrow.
"With this whole 'dad' issue. It's OK you can be honest with me, you don't have to feel obligated because of how your mother feels about me."
Hannah's eyes glistened as she finally met Shepard's curiously worried stare, the gentle pads of her fingertips idly tapping the table surface she rested on, hollow thuds echoing through the suddenly awkward silence of the room.
All her life, that she could remember, the young Asari had grown up listening to stories and action packed tales of this brave human Spectre - roaring around a toilsome galaxy, beating up crooks, and saving or helping anyone who deserved it, even her own mother had been the receiving damsel in distress once. How she longed in her dreams every night to be a part of that crew, chasing recklessly head first into adventure like her mother had done long ago with Shepard before she was born. She smiled as she recalled playing games of pretend whenever her mother came home from an extended leave from deep space travel to meet up with her Drell friend, or an archaeological dig that was too dangerous for Hannah to accompany her mother on. How Liara and herself would chase each other around, laughing and squealing in exuberant playfulness with Hannah creating stories that they were being chased by brainwashed Geth who wanted to capture them for their reaper masters, how they would both re-enact small battle scenes using their old black leather couches for cover against pretend enemy fire...
"It is kind of weird..."
Hannah sighed, tilting her head to rest more so on her freckled cheek now, maintaining her innocent gaze.
"Between mother's, and Uncle Garrus's, and Miss Tali's, and Grandma Attia's stories - I have been hearing all about you for as long as I can remember."
She mumbled, extending her arm and moving a pawn without really thinking and returning her forearm back beneath her face.
"It was like a funny feeling, like fishes swimming in my tummy, but they do not hurt when we first met..."
"Not the relationship I had intended to have with my child..."
Shepard mumbled, swiftly moving a bishop out from behind the protection of several pawns, re-enforcing protection to the knight that guarded the middle four squares of the board.
"Was more an idol in your starting years of life then a father..."
"You know - I did not like you in the beginning. I renember I did not like the way mother cried when she talked to Grandmother about you, or how you were more Im'ortant to her then the memory of my Turian father..."
Hannah frowned, averting her eyes to stare away from Shepard and settle their fixed sights out the nearby window, watching the flashes of sheet lightening in the distance as the storm gradually passed.
"Mother would always quiet me when I asked about him, and look kind of mad - She would only smile if she was talking about a good memory she had with you in it. Most other times she was just sad, and I really tried to cheer her up - and every time I asked about my father she would get sad, so..."
"You were protecting her at the cost of knowledge of your origins."
Shepard sighed, slightly saddened by her daughter's confession.
"Aw, hell..."
She mumbled in a barely audible whisper, languidly bringing her left hand to rub nervously across her brow, carelessly swiping strands of chestnut hair away from her face.
"We would see you on the holo news, sometimes, and mom would always stop what she was doing to watch and listen", young Hannah paused, her eyes darkening as they found an unpleasant memory for her attentions to ravenously gnaw on. "I did not like knowing more about you, then I did about my own suspected father."
"So you started making up your own version of what your 'Turian Parent' would have been like, researching Turian heritage."
Shepard arched an eyebrow, remembering the pictures that had unstintingly sparked her mental flare ups of envious jealousy back at the old apartment - a home that was nothing more now than a pile of ash and rubble atop a 250 story tall building.
Hannah shrugged again, nonchalantly, silently gliding another pawn of hers a square forward, threatening Shepard's nearby queen, effectively forcing her other parent to make a choice to sacrifice the queen by taking the pawn and giving in to a bishop or remain in one place and be slain by the pawn.
"I was... not sur-rised."
Hannah frowned, knowing the word was incorrect but couldn't quite remember the human term.
"Surprised."
Shepard casually corrected, eyes narrowing on the tiny expanses of the checker squared battle field.
She nodded slowly as she continued.
"When I found those pictures..."
She dropped her eyes, staring dejectedly at the floorboards she knelt on.
"I was confused. Why mother would not tell me the truth, mad maybe?"
"Hannah"
Shepard grunted, clearing her throat and releasing a subsequent regretful sigh.
"I can assure you she took no joy from having to refrain from telling you about your other parent, I can safely assume she wanted nothing more but to do just that. Don't be angry with her, she was just ...respecting my requests."
The Spectre's eyes clouded over with thick clouds of regret as depressing rains of dreaded realism and unfortunate circumstances poured into and swirled in the gold pools of her shaded stare.
"Remember what your mom told you back in the car, when we went to your grandmother's club - about bad men." Shepard paused taking a deep shaky breath, waiting for the small confirming nod of Hannah's head before she continued, "We kept things secret because we needed to protect you from them, and other enemies like them. You must understand those secrets were a precautionary starting point on a path we chose to take that we knew would keep you safe."
"Do you understand?"
Shepard softly questioned, bowing her head forward but keeping her eyes locked on her daughters averted gaze, trying to convey the seriousness of the matter.
She fervently shook her head, lips pouting as frustrated tears flooded and leaked from her eyes, glistening off her deep blue cheeks as she aggressively locked her glare onto her father's stern stare.
"No! Why did you not stay? Mommy loved you and you left me n' her! You are a Spectre, you could have just done what you did back at the apartment or the stupid reapers! You could have protected us and been my daddy!"
She sniffled, wiping her nose as angry eyes fixated on Shepard's falling facial expression. Her words hit the human woman like penetrating bullets from a powerfully modded gun, digging deep and wounding an all ready aching heart. Liara stirred softly, which instigated the distraught child to settle her temper and lower her voice - resuming a down cast glare at the chessboard before her.
Shepard's jaw tensed and relaxed repeatedly, chewing on her thoughts. The seconds of silence that floated by attaching themselves to invisible leaden weights - greatly slowing the torturous ticking of an always progressing time as the Commander fought valiantly to keep her emotions and relaxed composure in check, sorting through her chaotic thoughts back and trying to mesh them back together into an ordered string of images.
"I..."
She paused, taking another deep inhale, still mentally shaken by her daughter's words, her voice catching in her throat as she tried to speak her own.
"I was... scared."
Shepard bitterly remarked, voice quivering, averting her gaze to shoot a shamed sidelong glance towards a distant wall, not wanting her daughter to see the cold harshness that seeped into and dwell undesirably within the shadows behind her eyes upon recollection of her own jaded past.
"Scared that being a part of your lives would do you both more harm than good. That I would be a hindrance to the efforts of your mother as she continued on with her career and also an indirect threat to you. I was terrified that certain actions of my past would inevitably catch up with me, and cost me more then I was willing to wager for the suffering I had all ready caused. Worried that I would make a mistake, turn my back for only a moment and risk losing everything..."
"Those thoughts drove me mad, Hannah. They kept me away from you, and a painful distance away from your mother."
"So why did you come back...?"
Hannah whispered hoarsely, her nose deepening into a darker shade of stormy sky blue from the agitating friction of her soft yellow pajama sleeve, forcefully swiping away the constant ebb and flow of vexatious tears from her innocent face.
"Because I couldn't stand it anymore." Shepard croaked, idly fidgeting with her king piece between her fingers, "I needed your mom. I needed you. I needed what you both represented to me. I needed to stop wasting the limited time I have away from the things I care most about. I wanted to breathe and live again, and you two were the only ones who held the symbolic keys to that life."
"I made a mistake, believing in those fears - trusting them over the love and affection I protectively held for you and your mother. And for that I feel deeply apologetic."
God I really am my mother's daughter, Shepard thought callously. Abandonment runs in the family, it seems.
"I am truly sorry for hurting you with these secrets, Hannah." Shepard cleared her throat again, her voice fading faster then she desired, arduously fighting against the assaults of relentless armies of grief and self hate, battering ramming her vocal chords into submission.
"And I really hope, that in time, you can forgive me for doing what I did and find the courage to trust in my words when I tell you that'll I'll never hide anything as important as this from you again..."
Hannah's eyes softened as she watched the confident Spectre, her father, bow her head so that her chin rested against her chest, lifting her pale skin colored left hand to clasp firmly over and across her forehead. The young Asari felt her own chest tighten, and she suddenly found it harder to breathe as she continued watching her dad wrestle endlessly with her thoughts, her confident countenance failing as she began portraying all the body language and emotion of a visibly scarred boulder. She wasn't crying, though, but her chest heaved up and down in erratic bursts in arbitrated attempts to control her laboured breathing as her body trembled against turbulent gasping winds of unhindered frustration.
Tentatively Hannah got up from the floor, proceeding to her father's side, looking sorrowfully down towards Shepard's form. Soundlessly she kneeled down, bringing her head to match the height of the hunched over Spectre's shoulder, trying hard to reinforce her courage - to convince herself to reach out and touch the woman. Cautiously she hovered a hand over the commander's arm, drawing back suddenly when another sudden and heavy heave of Shepard's body spooked her - but she was quick on the rebound, roping her fleetingly delicate bold emotion and wrangling it back into place, finally enabling herself to place a small right hand comfortingly on her father's left bicep.
"It's ok daddy..."
She whispered, shuffling closer to bring her head down and rest her body carefully, comfortingly against her father's side, wrapping her other arm around Shepard's stomach.
"I all ready forgave you."
"How can you..." forgive me so easily when I can't do the same for myself...
Shepard groaned, finding her voice amongst the ruins of a devastated throaty fortress - before Hannah quickly interrupted her.
"Because you came back! And you make my mother happier then I have ever seen her in a long, long, long, long, long..." She paused, the humorous sound of her taking a large gasp to replenish her air supply sounding through the room, "long, long, long, very long time", She chuckled softly.
"That's a pretty long time."
Shepard mumbled, with an accompanying smirk, shaking her head.
"I know..."
Liara's voice suddenly moaned, sounding slightly gravelly, as her body twisted to relax on her back - slipping her hand free from Shepard's grasp and stretching stiffened muscles while her mouth gaped open in a silent yawn.
"Mom!"
Hannah greeted, her usual bubbly demeanor rapidly returning as she glanced joyfully up from Shepard's shoulder, a small toothy grin streaking across her freckled chubby cheeks.
"Daughter!"
Liara smiled happily back, her voice still tiredly hoarse. Languidly she let her left arm fall to the couch cushion below her after she completed her stiff muscle cleansing stretch. Her fingers slowly began mimicking the legs of a wandering Rachni as they traversed the surface of the light reflecting onyx cushion, dragging her palm behind crawling fingers before the entirety of the hand finally leaped across the open gorge between mother and daughter - tenderly latching onto and lovingly cupping Hannah's tiny dimpled cheek.
"Anyone who dares possibly suggest that a couple years worth of time, or even five - is irrelevant to an Asari because of our lengthened life span, needs to be warped across the face a countless number of times..."
Liara growled softly to herself as she caressed her daughter's face, eyes still maintain their fond softness for the young lady.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side - T'soni."
Shepard chuckled lightly, pivoting her body to glance back towards her still somnolent bondmate.
"I think I caught a glimpse of Aethyta there..."
Liara smirked as she rose to sit up, Hannah rising up with her to give her a proper hug.
"We didn't wake you did we?"
Shepard asked, an apologetic look all ready etched into her facial features.
"Mmmm - no."
She softly mumbled, wrapping her arms around Hannah and falling back with her into the confines of the couch cushions, placing a doting kiss upon her daughter's crest.
"I forgot to alter my omni tools message alert option to mute..."
"Someone just paged you?"
Shepard curiously inquired.
"Who?"
Liara glanced at her with a look that could only be described as the 'Be Patient!' glare. A hybrid mix of amusement - a narrowed lip smirk with an accompanying single lifted eyebrow, the crinkled brow stare of surprised shock, and the craned head pivoting at a cocky right angle that displayed a more stern posture.
"Yes, who?"
Hannah uttered suspiciously, watching her mother as Liara raised her left arm in front of the seated Asari duo and tapped in her administrator pass codes, exactly three of them that had to be entered within seconds of each other, swiftly accessing her messaging as if it was an instinctive nature she was born knowing how to do.
"It's Feron."
Liara spoke hesitantly, her face contorting into an apologetic smile as she directed her stare towards the less then amused expression carving it's over her bondmates face.
"Ah."
Shepard shrugged, the tone of her voice instantaneously freezing over at the mention of Liara's Drell partner in crime.
"What does he want...?"
Her posture quickly became stern and rigid, her eyes morphing into thick blocks of impenetrable ice, her lips narrowing into thin lines of bitter disgust.
"He wants to make contact with me, he has new information regarding Cerberus and the group that attacked us. He also found a message regarding a bounty on..."
"Let me guess, me?"
Shepard curiously sneered.
"No... Me."
Liara corrected worriedly, her teeth timidly biting on her lower lip as she continued reading.
"Well that is interesting. Any I.D behind the sender?"
Shepard frowned, instantly dropping her expression of frigid disdain for the Drell and overlapping it with raw concern for Liara as Shepard swiftly rose to her feet, falling back onto the couch to read the message for herself.
"Not yet, Shepard. He is working on it. He says there's been a 55% rise of Cerberus activity in the system since he last contacted me."
"What does that mean?"
Hannah inquired, her face contorted in a display of confusion.
"It means we've picked a good time to take a holiday cruise on the Normandy."
"We're going on a ship! Your ship!"
Hannah exclaimed excitedly, her face animatedly sparking to life.
"It's what I had intended."
Shepard stated in monotone, not moving her narrowed eyes from the message.
"Mom! It's the Normandy! Like in your stories! We get to go on it!"
Hannah bounced, tugging excitedly on the shoulder of Liara's shirt.
"Will Uncle Garrus be there?"
She gasped, eyes widening, instantly ceasing in her movements and patiently awaiting an answer.
"I am sure he is aboard and dutifully calibrating the weapons systems, my oh so exuberant daughter."
Liara chuckled, tackling her bouncing baby girl to the couch cushions and affectionately tickling her until she screamed for mercy.
"Mother! Stop! Nooooooo! Daddy help me!"
The combination of laughter was harmonious music to Shepard's ears, effortlessly luring out a broad smile on the Commander's face as she intently watched her family horse around. She was almost reluctant to offer her assistance - she was blithely content to sit, watch, and listen. But a nagging feeling tapped grudgingly against her conscience, as the pleas for assistance registered somewhere deep within her skull, spurring her into a dutiful instinctive action.
"You've placed a choice on my shoulders young one. I must choose between the love of my life and my daughter."
"And what will you choose, brave Spectre?"
Liara glanced back, a wickedly mischievous grin on her face, accentuating her brightened seductive blue eyes.
Shepard smirked, instantly wrapping her arms around Liara's waist and tickling a known spot on the soft skin beneath her arms.
"Shepard! Gah! Oh my goddess! By Athame's grace please! STOP!"
Her laughter intensified as Shepard's fingers mercilessly assaulted her sensitive skin, Liara's back arching and body twisting in futile attempts to break free from her bondmates frenzied entrapment, being vigilantly careful as to not to accidentally harm Hannah who straddled Liara's legs.
"Quick Hannah! I got her hands! Go for her knees and feet!"
Shepard shouted.
"No! Do not! Hannah!"
Liara shrieked, helplessly begging, her voice entangled with riotous giggles and struggled gasps between rapturous bundles of contagious laughter as she desperately continued squirming, laughing so hard it became hard to breath, signally to Shepard to finally let up and allow Liara a moment to relax - her back pressing up against Shepard's chest, patiently waiting to catch her breath.
"Sleep with one eye opened tonight, Shepard."
Liara warned breathlessly, catching Shepard's cocksure stare and grin with her own.
"Is that a proposition, Dr.T'soni?"
Shepard began leaning her face down at an agonizingly slow pace, lustfully spotting Liara's tongue swipe across her dried lips, moistening them, a quiet throaty chuckle springing forth from Liara's throat in response to Shepard's rhetorical question. Those flirtatious blue eyes instantly enkindled the scorching fires that rapidly excited Shepard's building desire - causing it to energetically bubble and consequently boil over the potted rims of the Spectre's self control, urging her on to partake in the addicting taste of her bondmates teasingly parted, glistening navy blue lips. Suddenly a smaller blue hand intervened, placing five child sized fingers between both pairs of pursed lips - Hannah grinning mischievously behind the outstretched arm as she reached her body across the length of Liara's laid back and lithesome form.
"Hey..!"
Shepard poked, glancing to her daughter, her wolfish grin dissipating into a disappointment pout.
"I helped you! Don't I deserve a little bit of the spoils of wars? We can share right?"
"Spoils?"
Liara scoffed, shocked and feigning the emotion that she was insulted, elbowing Shepard playfully in the gut.
"That's the title I get? Spoils of War?"
"We can share, daddy. But I get her first."
"Does the prisoner get a say in this?"
Liara incredulously remarked.
"You have to help me win a chess game first."
Hannah grinned, taking her mother's hand and dragging her to the other couch.
"How many match's have you had?"
Liara curiously asked.
Hannah pondered the question silently for a moment, her brow crinkling together in deep thought as she languidly fingered the digits on her left hand repeatedly before holding out two palms displaying 8 fingers.
"This many?"
"And how many have you won?"
"Zero. But that is gonna change, Mother! I am gonna win this one!"
She growled through gritted teeth, lifting her fists determinedly before her face, as a malevolent grin twisted her previously innocent smile.
"I mean, we will win this one."
She quickly corrected.
"All right, little wing. Let us continue this round? Or shall we start anew?"
"I vote start over."
Shepard chuckled as she slid her posterior off the couch, crossing her legs as she made contact with the floor, spanning her arms a full length apart against the soft lengthened edges of the couch she was now using as a backrest.
"Make it fair for my young Asari maiden to earn her freedom."
Shepard taunted playfully.
"Might as well give me the keys now, Shepard."
Liara retorted mirthfully, lifting the bronze queen off the board, surrounding it in a white and faded blue glow.
"Bring it on."
xoxoXXOXXxoxo
Time: During 'Chapter 8 - Truth Be Told' Location: Classified
"Come on you ancient hunk of metallic crap, give me something to work with, give me a signal!"
A deep voice threatened, webbed fingers frustratingly pounding the expansive blue console interface before the exasperated reptilian multi-skin colored Drell, creating gnarled shadows that soared and fluttered across the confining bulkheads as the solid matter of his hands blocked the wispy illuminating blue glow from expanding outwards throughout the room.
A tired and agitated Feron cussed and berated towards his predicament as he repeatedly inserted copious quantities of coded text into the computer's data streams, growling audibly as each request to attain a new signal link from a distant comm buoy failed - causing any previously recorded data streams to loop endlessly. Multitudes of incomplete broken streams of alien voices needing translation, the chaotic blend of unaltered noises combining noisily with the shrill notes of a static polluted feed blared loudly over the speakers - causing the angry Shadow Broker's assistant to cringe and grit his teeth firmly within a set jaw. He had just nicely sent a message when the entirety of the main comm. link went offline...
"By the gods, I don't think the original Shadow Broker's torture was any worse than this punishment..."
Feron grunted as he hobbled determinedly through a pair of small doors on the far end of the room, grasping a box of intricately designed tools into his hands from a trough-like edge of an ongoing corridor that extended lengthily before him. Florescent lights, embedded within the pillars of the walls, seemed to dance and flicker faintly - taunting the dominance desiring darkness of the steel walled confines. The sound of a deafeningly loud roar of the towering ship's engines, located near the back of the ship, bellowed loudly against vibrating steel walls - ruthlessly violating Feron's hearing with the same eardrum shattering ferocity the speakers in the main Comm. room unleashed upon him.
"We reaaaallly need to get those sound dampeners fixed properly and for good."
The emotionally fatigued Drell continued complaining, dropping to his knees with a loud clinking 'thud' against the grated metal catwalk beneath, positioning himself before a thick, bubbled outwards, metallic grey, and securely locked pentagon shaped cap - concealing an entrance that would lead the maintenance preforming Drell through the claustrophobic bowls of the Shadow's Broker's ship. His only method of transportation, until they got elevators back online, was to crawl through these tunnels to lead him to the crippled communications room three floors up and at least a half dozen blocks to the starboard side. Most of the ship was still damaged from the Reaper conflict five years ago, a lot of its sections still uninhabitable and powerfully shielded against the hostile and hazardous environment that glided by just outside. Several alterations were made so the Shadow Broker's ship could withstand jumps from mass relays, instead of relying solely on its lightening rod adapters that attracted the electricity needed to fuel and power the ships systems. Installing and re-enabling a used element zero dark energy core to the ship was a three week long nightmare, Feron recalled, thankful he had the assistance of Shepard's talented engineering crew to get him through the complicated mess of upgraded technology. The vessel was designed to operate solely in the atmosphere of Hagalaz - once that location was compromised, they naturally needed to find a new spot to cleverly hide their base. This also meant they would need to design a new shell for the large ship to operate more efficiently - a design Liara had been working diligently on next to her information gathering for the past three years. He never knew she was this talented or even interested with the mechanical aspects and knowledge of star ships, thinking her more so a 'book worm', as human's say, when he had first met her - naive and inexperienced, thinking her poking good humored insults at his old transport vessel (without weapons, or enough chairs) were in a joking manner - but were actually cloaked hints of a deeper fascination she withheld, more of a hobby to her then a passion he had always assumed. It was difficult to concentrate passionately on one thing when she was constantly infatuated with that blasted Spectre...
Feron found himself sneering as his thoughts raced around Liara's face and her body wrapped protectively in Shepard's embrace:
Two bodies soaked and glistening in transparent beads of sweat.
Both bodies thrusting, heaving, and melding together into a single rapturous whole.
Soft moans, whispered names, panted breathing...
Another growl clawed it's way from the Drell's rapidly rising and falling chest in between struggled grunts as he uncomfortably dragged his body through narrow dark tunnels, enraged by the sudden mental image. Quickly he shook his head to clear his mind, cursing his species natural talent to relive a memory in perfect detail.
Why couldn't they have met before she found Shepard... He had always pondered. Where would I be then? Not on my hands and knees babysitting a decrepit relic. Maybe on my knees attending to a certain archeologist...
Feron suddenly realized himself blushing as his thoughts wavered to a gutter inspired alteration of what a relationship would be like with the Asari maiden. Heat was emanating from his cheeks as well as around a weighty sensation below his belt which instantly grasped his attention and instinctively caused his heartbeat to race - his facial colors rapidly beginning to brighten and shimmer. Abruptly another memory unwillingly swept through his troubled mind, causing another brief pause in his movements as the current sights and views of the tunnel drifted away and morphed into images of himself and Liara just over 3 years ago...
"No. Please Feron, please if you have any respect for me, please do not pursue this again, do not ask me to do something I cannot do, do not risk the integrity of our friendship anymore then we all ready have..."
Liara's words quietly echoed off his own lips, instinctively causing the drell's hands to ball up into spiteful fists.
"I lost Shepard once, we both risked so much to get her back. I nearly lost her twice when she returned - I will not do it again!"
Thank the old gods no one was here to see this, I really need to get off this ship - Feron sighed at the unwanted flooding of old thoughts, slothfully resuming his path, determined in his endeavor to continue on his plotted path uninterrupted - before another flashback claimed ownership of his actions.
Finally the tunnels fell away to a large alcove opening, designed more like a bubble within the hull, wide sockets peppering the doming walls, sparking as massive surges of power leaked through large braided streams of fiber optic threads - leading to a large setup of actively flickering blue screens, their rays timidly dancing through the dark, displaying fuzzy images with no sound from various locations around the galaxy.
Damn it! The comm. and data feeds must have come back online on their own while I was getting here, curse these hiccups! Feron's mind incessantly raved, his arms and hands shaking furiously before his face as he gazed upwards towards the domed chrome colored ceiling.
An intricate set of antennae and rat's nest knotted cords circled around the room of varying types and sizes, linking to several more that were erected on the outer layers of the of the ship's damaged hull, a disorganized mess but also a working standby solution until Shepard and Liara could put together and transport the parts necessary for a more stable quantum entanglement communication array - courtesy of old ex-Cerberus connections. Materials were a little short due to the massive damages the Galaxy suffered, so gathering the resources was truly a time consuming process, patience was a must.
An image suddenly caught his attention on one of the screens, slightly distracting his anger and...other emotions. Quickly he staggered to the console, activating it's yellow gold holo-keyboard, rewinding the feedback and pausing it. One of the council, Velarn - the tempestuously bawdy Turian who denied Shepard's claims of a reapers invasion had just been assassinated by a pro-human sympathizer who was instantly gunned down at the scene. Worse still - the human Councilor Udina was rumored to be involved due to the discovery of documents not entirely destroyed logged into the memory storage of the deceased assassin's omni-tool.
Feron scoffed loudly, his voice echoing around the room and bouncing back to reverberate against his ear drums.
"Wonder if Liara has gotten wind of this yet, or Shepard..."
He mumbled lowly, bowing his head to watch his fingers intently type a message. No guarantee the entirety of the message would get through on unstable waves, and could easily be intercepted but maybe he could hint Liara to access her terminal at the Museum - a direct link to the ship and they could finally securely communicate over this new Intel, as well as transfer the data regarding Cerberus and various Merc band activity that had been amassing at an alarming rate these past couple of days in the Tasale system. Something dark was coming...