The tradition of Shepard handing off her dog tags went back to when she and Liara had first started dating. If that was the word for it. The two had been lying in Shepard's bed, their naked bodies entangled underneath a blanket with legs exposed. Liara was curled up next to a dozing Commander, lazily playing with the tags around the human's neck. "What are these?" she asked, her tone inquisitive.

Shepard opened an eye. "Hmm?"

"These!" Liara exclaimed as she held the tags up for Shepard to see. "Is it a necklace of some sort?"

"Oh those," Shepard said, propping herself up on the bed with her elbows as she let the blanket fall away from her bare chest. She took the dog tags out of Liara's hand and clutched them. "They're called dog tags. It's a sort of human military tradition. They serve as identification of the soldiers."

Liara sat up and scrutinized the tags. "Is that some sort of writing on them? In, uh…, what's the language called?"

"English."

"English," Liara parroted. "What does it say in English?"

"Well," Shepard started as she pointed to the first line. "That's my last name. Shepard."

"That's how it's written? I would have never guessed."

"Yep. And the next line is my first name and middle initial. Natalia M."

Liara stared up at Shepard, big blue eyes unblinking. "You've never told me your first name before."

"Sure I have."

"No you didn't," the asari insisted. "I would have remembered you having such a pretty name."

"I swear I told- Wait. You think it's pretty?" Shepard asked, her face beginning to slightly flush.

Liara nodded. "It's beautiful. What the M stand for?"

Shepard momentarily struggled to regain her composure. "Maria."

"Natalia Maria Shepard," recited Liara. "Hmm, I think it suits you rather well. What's the next line? Numbers?"

"It's an identification number. Everyone who lives in Alliance territory has one. It's sort of an identification number. Each person has a different one. Like mine is 1B3-8K-2J33."

"And the next line? I know that first letter is B."

"That's right!" Shepard nodded. "It's what's called a blood type. Humans have four blood types; A, B, AB, and O. And those can be either negative or positive. Mine's B Positive."

Liara peered back at the tag. "I have no idea where to start with this line."

"It says 'No Affiliation'. Basically it means that I don't have a religion."

"Really? So that's it." Liara muttered, rubbing her thumb over the tag. She recited the next words in an almost chant-like fashion. "Last name, First Name, Middle Initial, Identification Number, Blood Type, Religion."

"Exactly." The two leaned back as Shepard adjusted the pillow behind her head. The air around them grew quiet.

"So who are you planning to take with you tomorrow to fight Saren?"

Shepard had thought long and hard about this decision. Her usual team was Garrus and Liara but for this mission she felt that she needed a more technical approach, someone like Tali. Especially if her suspensions of Saren's use of the Geth's power was accurate. But how was she going to tell Liara that?

Best to just get it out there. "Tali and Garrus," Shepard said quickly as the suffocating silence enveloped them again.

Liara looked at her for a moment and then nodded. "That sounds like the best idea."

Shepard was a bit taken aback. "You mean you don't care that I didn't chose you?"

"I am not a child. I understand that strategy comes first over…personal relationships. I believe in you and your decision making abilities." The asari gave a weak smile. "I'll be worried about you, of course."

An idea hit the Commander. She reached around her neck and pulled off the dog tags. Then she placed them around Liara's neck. "Here."

"Why are you giving this to me?"

"Wear it and while you wait for me, read it over. Last name, First Name, Middle Initial, Identification Number, Blood Type, Religion. Just like you were saying. Do that until I come back. And I don't come back right away, keep saying it. Okay?"

Liara's small smile grew into a beaming one and she embraced Shepard before giving her a peck on the lips. "I can do that."

Liara stood in front of the window on the rescue shuttle, watching the destruction unfold around her. After being rescued with the rest of the Normandy's crew by a passing Alliance ship, Liara found herself on the ship's bridge as the vessel attempted to dodge the falling bodies of deceased Reapers. Everyone else from the Normandy was captivated in the involvement of helping navigate the ship. Joker and Cortez were in the cockpit, assisting with the ship's flight path. Garrus and Tali were working on calibrating the guns. And Vega, Kaidan, and Traynor were helping transport messages from one end of the ship to the other now that communications had gone down.

But she was just standing there, watching the wreckage go by. If anyone approached her, instead of giving her a wide berth, they would have seen that her hand was clutched around a small, tag-shaped pendant around her neck, her thumb moving across the inscriptions as if reading Braille. And if they continued to get closer to her, they would have heard Liara repeating the same words, over and over, as if she were chanting. "Last name, First Name, Middle Initial, Identification Number, Blood Type, Religion. Last name, First Name, Middle Initial, Identification Number, Blood Type, Religion. Last name, First Name, Middle Initial, Identification Number, Blood Type, Religion…"