Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, own none of these characters

A/N: There are minor spoilers for Citadel DLC, but it won't ruin anything if you haven't played it.

The Issue of Completed Cadences

Glyph softly played the piano in the background as two figures danced.

"You know what the scariest thing is?" The figures turned moving to the echoing chords of the piano.

Blue eyes turned to regard her with curiosity and mischief, "You're deathly allergic to fish and this was all an evil plot to shut the restaurant down."

"Very funny," Shepard released an exaggerated, fake laugh before mumbling how she was never going to live that down.

"Or perhaps it's your signature catch phrase," Liara teased, smiling innocently at the soldier.

"Hey," Shepard pouted, "that's just not nice."

The asari chuckled before loosely circling her arms around the Commander's neck and leaning in to place a kiss on the pouting mouth. "There, there," the archeologist continued the light banter, "the great Commander Shepard doesn't pout."

The human moved in closer and recaptured blue lips. Pink and blue lips meshed, melded and moved against each other. Mouths opened and tongues slid sensually over one another. The kiss was slow and thorough. Neither woman was hurried or desperate in the exploration and meeting of lips and tongues. Hands tightened and brought bodies closer together until there was no space between them as they tasted and explored each other in deep kisses.

Pulling away from the intoxicating mouth, Liara pressed her face to Shepard's her quick breaths puffing against the human's ear. "What's so scary, Commander?" The asari asked once she had her breathing slightly under control.

The soldier was silent so long, the archeologist moved so she could look at the human's face. Seeing the serious look in the Commander's eyes put Liara on alert. "Shepard," a blue hand moved to smooth the lines creasing the soldier's face, "what is it?"

"She could've been me," the human finally voiced, eyes slipping away from blue, "I can still turn into her."

"No, Shepard, no," Liara interrupted, not allowing the woman to continue, "She could never be you. And, you could never be her."

"How can you be so sure?" A forlorn gaze pierced the asari and she ached for the beautiful human before her.

"Because you're the Shepard," Liara cupped the soldier's face, "the one and only. The original. Complete. Unchanged." Blue eyes softened as they gazed into Shepard's soul. "You have a purpose. You have a crew. You have family. And, you have me." She kissed the human softly. "You have me."

The words were simple but they rang true within the soldier. Something settled in the Commander at hearing them.

Shepard hugged Liara close, twirling the asari slowly before stopping their motion and simply holding the intel broker. Burrowing her face into a blue neck, the soldier tightened her grip trying to hang on to the precious moment.

The moments of peace and quiet were so rare, so transient, and so ephemeral that the Commander's first instinct was to grab on and not let go, even as the moments slipped through her fingers like water. The harder that Shepard tried to hang on to those moments, the quicker they escaped her grasp. It was a continually futile task. The soldier could never hold on to the moments of stillness. She could never live in the moments where she was singularly and simply happy; where the weight of the world was not on her shoulders.

The music washed over her. Liara's scent surrounded her. The asari's proximity and solidness warmed her. And, Commander Shepard unexpectedly found her eyes full of hot, stinging tears that left cold, wet trails as they escaped her lashes to run down her cheeks. Surprise and embarrassment accosted the soldier at the physical expression of her desperation and frustration.

Shepard released a silent sigh against the neck her face was pressed against. She felt arms tighten around her; and she was inordinately grateful that Liara was not asking any questions. Tears continued to streak down her cheeks. And, for the first time in a very long time, she let them. Shepard mourned the catastrophic casualties in the galaxy. She grieved for dear friends that laid down their lives. She cried for the many that would still die. She lamented a future that would never be. The soldier stood, tears streaming down her face, wrapped in the arms of someone that loved her, a haunting, beautiful melody surrounding her.

The human had promised the asari every day after the war for the rest of her life. But the words that had wanted to escape Shepard's mouth were dire and sharp and brittle: I want forever with you but we live in these transient moments. We comfort ourselves with pieces of a life. We sacrifice ourselves and our love for the lives and loves of an entire galaxy. What is required of us is everything. There will never be anything more than these moments for us. But, Shepard stayed the words. She instead breathed words that she desired to be reality. A dream she dreamed; one she knew would never come true.

There was too much finality in the atmosphere. Too many battles escaped. Too many times death was cheated. Shepard felt the desperation of someone with Death trailing their every step. The soldier felt the immediacy of each moment. Her show was at its grand finale. The curtains of her drama were closing. Her song was ending. Soon.

Shepard knew they still had a war to fight; a war to win. There was Cerberus to take down. And, there were the Reapers to defeat. But, inexplicably, that moment in a borrowed apartment felt like the end. And, the soldier felt like a coward for not being able to face it soberly and with the bearing of the Commander she was. She held the moment between her hands like a fragile, delicate, dying thing, so precious and evanescent. While, simultaneously, clutching it to her chest desperately, with abandon, like she would perish with the parting of it.

It felt like goodbye. She never wanted to let go.

And, the music faded.