Kelly had been listening to the rumors going around the ship since late last night. She'd known something was bothering the Commander, even if she couldn't get her to open up about it. But finding out Dr. Chakwas had sedated Shepard? It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

No one on the bridge batted an eye as the yeoman walked calmly into the elevator, finger stroking the key for the loft. Had Shepard been able to get out of her clothes before the sedative kicked in? If she hadn't, Kelly was ready and able to assist her with that task.

The elevator doors hissed open as the yeoman held her breath. If the commander's quarters were locked, it would be near impossible to force them open without drawing EDI's attention. But luck was on her side; the access panel glowed a soft green.

"Please be asleep, please be asleep..." Kelly muttered to herself as she placed her hand against the access panel. The doors slid noiselessly open, revealing the commander's quarters to the yeoman's bright eyes.

She had never been up here before; seeing Shepard's room was seeing an entirely different side of the commander than what was written in her psych report. Colorful fish swam through an aquarium on the left side of the loft, their environment lit by pale fluorescents. A small hamster poked its head out as the yeoman moved farther into the room, wonder easily overtaking her caution. Ship's models... Kelly hadn't known the Commander collected them, but there was an entire wall of them, ranging from Turian designs to a Sovereign replica.

As Kelly got closer, she noticed the steps leading downwards...and the bed pressed against the far wall. Her breath caught in her throat as she noted the halo of fiery red that framed the Commander's sleeping face. A bare shoulder peeked out from the disheveled sheets, hinting at so much more underneath.

The yeoman licked her lips and steeled herself. She'd come too far to turn back now. Her feet found the steps leading downwards, eyes fixed on the sleeping angel in the bed. She had to be dreaming. She did.

Kelly was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't hear the bathroom door hiss open behind her, nor notice the figure leaving in a cloud of steam. All she had eyes for was her Commander, lost in sleep and utterly defenseless. She took another step forward. And another. And...

Just before she could reach the bed, the yeoman felt a tingling sensation envelop her form. She chalked it up to nerves...until she realized that she couldn't move. Looking down revealed a cocoon of blue energy surrounding her. It was about that time Kelly realized that there was someone else in the room besides her and the Commander.

The yeoman was picked up off the ground, feet dangling as she slowly spun around to face her captor. Kelly swallowed hard as she met Liara's intense blue eyes, a soft whimper escaping her throat as she realized that the other woman wasn't wearing anything but a glower.

"Can I help you?" The asari's voice was quiet, but it held a note of irritation that the yeoman didn't miss. Kelly's eyes darted downwards, taking in the expanse of bared blue skin in front of her.

In so many ways...

"I was just...checking on the Commander." Kelly smiled in what she hoped was innocence; it was never a good idea to get on a biotic's bad side.

"Does the Commander often let you check on her?"

"Well, uh, that is..." The yeoman's smile faltered for a moment. Liara's lips curved upwards in a devious smile.

"Perhaps we should ask her."

"What? I...that won't be..." Kelly stammered as the woman walked past her, biotics turning her yet again and keeping her captive. She stared as the asari bent over the bed, murmuring something into Shepard's ear, oblivious to the yeoman's small whimper as her eyes slowly took in the other woman's curves. The yeoman had remembered something about an asari in Shepard's psych report, but not in this kind of detail.

Shepard shifted in her sleep as Liara's lips brushed against her ear. "Nnn." Her arms groped blindly for the body attached to those lips, shifting the sheets down to her chest in the process. Kelly tried to suppress a whimper. "Not ready to get up yet..."

"You have a visitor."

"Mmf?" Her fingers stroked bare skin as one eye opened, taking in the asari's state of undress. Ferik allowed herself a small smile; she wasn't sure how she had managed to be so lucky, but she certainly wasn't about to start questioning it now.

"You're not dressed..." There was a playful quality to her remark as her hands trailed along Liara's legs enticingly.

"The visitor was...unexpected." Liara gently stopped the hands from wandering further: that, and the tone of Liara's voice had Shepard pulling herself up from sleep's clutches and pushing herself up into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes as the sheets pooled around her waist. The yeoman squirmed futilely.

"Liara, can't you just ask them to come back la-" She blinked as the room cleared, giving her a view of Kelly Chambers floating in mid-air, biotics glowing along her form. "Two questions: why is my ship's counselor in my quarters, and why are you levitating her with your biotics?"

"That is a very good question." Liara crooked a finger, bringing Kelly closer to the bed. "I thought you might want to ask her yourself."

Kelly squirmed as the emerald depths of her Commander's eyes met her own. It was hard to meet that gaze, harder still not to let her eyes go wandering across the skin that had been exposed when she had sat up. The sheets lay dormant around Shepard's waist, the peaks and valleys of her chest and the curve of her abdomen lay bare for inspection.

"Kelly..." The warning in her voice forced the yeoman's eyes back up to her face.

"Yes, Commander?" She tried to sound innocent, but it came out as a squeak.

"What in the nine hells are you doing in my quarters?" The question was as hard and direct as a smack across the face. Kelly flinched.

"I was checking up on you?" It wasn't a reason, it was a question that she hoped would serve as a reason. She forced her lips into a grin. "I thought you might need some help..."

Or a partner...

Shepard just stared hard at the yeoman. Kelly cringed under the withering glare.

"What should we do with her?" Liara's voice was pitched just loud enough for the yeoman to hear as she kissed Shepard's cheek, a hand sliding around the Spectre's waist. The yeoman's eyes followed its path downwards. "She has seen me nude... Out the airlock, perhaps?"

"C-Commander?" Kelly swallowed hard, shifting as much as the biotics would allow. She had just been kidding around. Wanting to catch a peek of the famed Commander Shepard, but what sane person wouldn't? Shepard gave her an appraising look that sent cold fear down her spine. "Commander, you wouldn't..."

Ferik exchanged a look with Liara before flopping down and pulling the sheets over her head. "Do whatever you want with her. Just let me sleep." With that one simple command, the yeoman was now left to the mercy of her lover.

"Commander?" Kelly's voice was starting to quaver.

Liara stood slowly, an almost predatory grin on her face as she stalked towards the counselor. Kelly whimpered, eyes wide with fear. Her feet backpedalled uselessly in midair.

"Commander, please! I don't...please!" The asari walked past her again, the biotics turning the captive yeoman and levitating her slowly in the woman's wake. Kelly was starting to fight the blue glow surrounding her, panic setting in. Was this how it was going to end for her, saved from the Collectors only to be spaced?

She was too busy trying to figure out where it had all gone wrong with her life to notice the bathroom door hissing open, admitting Liara and her captive. The asari slipped over to the back wall, biotics pulling the counselor into position.

"I think you need to cool off a bit." The words pulled the yeoman out of her stunned state. Kelly had enough time for a shocked stare, lips starting to move before Liara's fingers tapped out a sequence on the panel.

#

Shepard had been getting comfortable until a ear-splitting shriek split the peace and quiet of her quarters. She leapt up, leaving the comfort of her sheets just in time to see a soaking wet Kelly Chambers come half-sprinting, half-crawling out of the bathroom, clothes hanging limply from her form as she gasped for air between sobs. The counselor skidded on the slick floor, narrowly avoiding the fish tank as she scrambled for the door and through it. The only evidence of her passing was a trail of water leading from the bathroom to the exit.

Ferik blinked, not entirely sure what to make of what had just transpired. Seeing Liara exit the bathroom a moment later, fighting to contain her laughter, did explain a few things. She raised an eyebrow at her lover.

"What exactly did you do to her?"

The asari was struggling to breathe, body shaking with laughter. "She was panicking about the possibility of being thrown out of an airlock, so I decided to calm her down a bit. She has an even better reaction to cold water than you do!" Liara giggled madly, leaning against the wall as she made her way back down the stairs.

Shepard just shook her head, unable to stop a grin from spreading across her face. "You're evil, you know that?"

Liara grinned, wrapping arms around her lover's waist and dragging her back onto the bed. "Mmm. You like me that way, though."

"If you want to get technical, I like you all ways," Ferik clarified, nuzzling against her cheek. "I'm just hoping you didn't traumatize my ship counselor."

"She needed to be taught a lesson for sneaking into your quarters." Liara's fingers traced her jawline lightly. "Unless you let the crew see you nude often?" Her tone was light and playful.

Ferik snorted. "Kelly's now seen more of you than she ever has of me." Her arms wrapped around the asari, tightening a bit. "A girl could get jealous."

"As jealous as knowing that your lover had an encounter with the Consort Sha'ira?" Shepard tensed against her, eyes seeking out the asari's. It was hard to read the emotion in those brilliant blue eyes.

"Liara, that was over two years ago. I hadn't met you yet and-" A slender digit laid across her lips quieted her explanation as Liara smiled.

"I know." The asari smiled softly. "I figured I wasn't your first. Part of me hoped, but the past is the past."

"If I had known then what I do now, I wouldn't have," Ferik replied, finding Liara's hands and lacing fingers with her. "I...I can see why people go to her for comfort, but..."

"But?"

Ferik managed a wry smile. "She doesn't hold a candle to you."

Liara laughed. "Now you're just going for flattery."

"I'm not!" Shepard protested. "The time before Ilos, the times after... She might have experience, but that's all she has!"

"Mmm. You're biased," Liara murmured, pushing the Spectre down into the bed and straddling her hips. "Not that I'm complaining."

The Spectre leaned up, lips starting to kiss a trail along her lover's neck. "I'll show you bias..." A soft bite under her lover's ear had Liara gasping before the asari's fingers pulled her head upwards into a searing kiss, mouth warm and welcoming.

They broke for air a few moments later. Liara glanced upwards briefly, fighting for a moment of willpower as Ferik's hands began exploring in earnest. "EDI?"

"Yes, Dr. T'soni?"

"Lock the door. We're going to be a while."