A Spectre Fades: Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Freedom

Liara watched patiently as Jane paced around the room they had set up for this meeting. Little Benezia followed behind her 'father' attempting to mimic the sort of caged animal behavior that Shepard was showing. Liara laughed quietly at the display. Despite the continued findings of the Asari medical and scientific councils that no DNA is taken from the 'father' in a partnership, Liara couldn't help but see a great deal of Shepard in Benezia. She was proving to be, as the humans say, a 'Daddy's Girl'.

Shepard stopped her pacing and Benezia came to a halt behind her with baited breath. Suddenly, Shepard spun around with a primal roar. Benezia shrieked and attempted to flee, but before she could take a single step she was snapped up by a biotic field and flew toward the still bellowing Shepard. Shepard grabbed her daughter and buried her face in the child's abdomen making noises like a feral varren eating. Benezia screamed and giggled with delight as Liara looked on with joy.

"Now what happens to little girls who pull on varren's tails?" Shepard asked with a raspy voice. Liara was unable to hear her daughter's response clearly.

"They get eaten!" Shepard growled before resuming the eating noises against her laughing daughter's belly. Shepard then tossed the squirming infant onto her shoulder and gently paddled her bottom.

"I have Benezia's meal and some entertainment prepared," Feron said quietly behind Liara.

"Thank you, Feron," Liara said turning to him. She paused a moment before adding. "Thank you for everything."

"I told Shepard I would never forget what the two of you did for me. I hold true to that promise." Feron added with a strange tone of… pride. Liara couldn't be sure. But his friendship had been a great boon to Shepard and herself.

"Go on, Pumpkin. Go with Uncle Feron," Shepard said as she approached, gently dropping her still panting daughter on the ground.

Liara watched Shepard's face as Feron and Benezia left the room. It was free. Free of pain, free of worry, free of the mental scars that Liara knew she carried. It was as if their daughter's love had healed all of the wounds Shepard had received since losing her own parents. She was like her daughter. Happy.

"What?" Shepard asked without altering the path of her gaze.

"It is nice to see you like this. Untroubled. Contented. Free of the worries you carry. Even if only for a short time." Liara answered smiling. But then she let her smile vanish as she planned the words she had been afraid to speak for days. Not because she feared Shepard's anger, but because she feared her beloved's answer. "You have done enough, you know. No one would blame you if you passed this burden on to another. Like Commander Williams, or Garrus, or even Ms. Lawson. The Savior of the Galaxy can rest. And be happy."

Shepard stood in stony silence for a moment. Then closing her eyes, she heaved a great sigh. When her eyes opened again Liara thought she saw tears.

"No. I can't let this go, not yet. Not yet," Shepard turned away from Liara, and looked at the galactic map that floated in the center of the room. "Not until I know… Not until I know it will be safe, for… everyone."

Liara knew her love well enough to know what the unspoken words were. Shepard was concerned about the future, Liara and Benezia's future. About the wars they both saw coming. The Shadow Broker's blessing was that nothing escaped their gaze. That was also its curse. They could not escape the knowledge that surrounded them and gave them security. Liara knew that Shepard would never abandon the galaxy to its fate. No matter what it cost her personally. Sadly, they both knew the price.

"Hey, Captain. EDI just sent me a ping. You want me to go get everybody and bring 'em down?" Joker's voice broke the spell of their self-pity. There was work to be done.

"Go get them, Joker, and be quiet about it," Shepard called out to the darkness knowing that Joker could hear her. "You can put the new shuttle through its paces later."

"So you mean to go through with this plan of yours?" asked the familiar and comforting voice of Doctor Chakwas as she entered the room. Liara hadn't even heard the door opening. "I do not wish to question your decisions Shepard, but…"

"Thank you, Doctor," Shepard interrupted, "you have made the consequences of what I am about to do abundantly clear. And yes. I mean to go ahead with my plan." Liara noted the curt tone. Shepard was getting angry, not at them, but at herself. Liara knew that she did not like thinking about what was to come.

"Joker! ETA?" Shepard called out to the open comm.

"Just arriving at the Normandy now, ma'am. So, ETA, uh... soon," Answered the pilot. Liara was pleased with the personal loyalty Joker showed toward Shepard and herself. After the Reaper Wars ended the Alliance wanted to 'promote' Joker out of the pilot's chair. He chose instead to work for the new Shadow Brokers. Doctor Chakwas followed suit for similar reasons. Liara was pleased to have them. They were friends who were not easily driven away by Shepard's temper. That was a blessing.

"I am growing concerned," whispered Chakwas next to Liara. "Feron passed on to me in confidence that Shepard's new pain medication isn't working."

Liara looked to confirm that Shepard was out of earshot before answering. "She is still in a great deal pain. The medicine is not working like it should."

"That's what troubles me. I have no idea what to do. She is going through classes of pain suppressants so quickly that soon there will not be anything to give her," Chakwas whispered fiercely. "We need to convince her to stick with what I give her as long as possible and that means taking it less often. Otherwise, with the speed at which she builds a tolerance, it will not be long before she won't be able to manage the pain at all."

Liara began to tap her fingers against her legs. A nervous habit that she had developed in recent years.

"I'll do what I can," She promised the doctor. "What about the treatment options that Dr. Solus' friend referred you to."

"It may hold some promise, but it is years away from live subject testing."

"I am inbound," called out Joker, his disembodied voice ringing throughout the chamber.

"Let's go meet our guests," Shepard said as she strolled over to the whispering women. She presented the crook of her arm to Liara as they walked to the shuttle bay.

"I will meet you in the reception area," Doctor Chakwas said breaking off from the pair.

Liara and Shepard walked in silence until the reached the airlock to the shuttle bay. They paused there, waiting for Joker's 'all-clear'.

"Have you heard from the Geth?" Liara asked.

Shepard nodded.

"They are nearly finished. Legion, or at least I think it was Legion," Shepard shook her head, "…gave me an update. They have had to be cautious about how they went about doing it. Technically, what they are doing could be misconstrued as an Act of War according to the terms of their new treaty with the Quarians. But they have been making good progress," Shepard laughed. "Who knew that the flashlight heads would make good smugglers?"

Liara joined in the laughter after a moment. The image of a Geth shrugging innocently while being questioned by a Quarian cargo inspector flashed through her mind.

"They forwarded me the specs, to present today. Hopefully, Tali won't freak out if we tell them the whole story. But I'm hoping the nature of the construction won't come up." Shepard finished as their laughter subsided.

"We are down, bay cycling," Joker's voice came in over the intercom.

Liara watched as Jane transformed. Before her stood the woman she met all those years ago on Therum, a soldier with a mission. One she could not fail to accomplish. The stakes were just too high.