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Once the door to Shepard's cabin closed, Liara felt like she'd left a piece of herself on the other side. She had Feron now, and she loved him; she really did. But there was something about Shepard that made it impossible to fall out of love with her -- no matter how unrequited it may have been.
Liara absently pushed a button when the elevator arrived, then leaned lazily against the back wall. They lived in a galaxy where faster than light travel was the norm but no race had yet figured out how to make elevator rides faster. Perhaps with her newly acquired Shadow Broker resources, she'd devote some research toward it.
When the doors opened to the crew deck, she sighed heavily realizing she's hit the wrong floor. But without knowing when she'd see the ship or its crew again, she figured she'd say her goodbyes one last time.
As she rounded the corner where the mess tables were, she noticed Thane holding a cup of tea while staring off into the distance. Liara found herself walking toward him instead of the med bay.
"Hello, Thane," she spoke softly.
He blinked twice before looking up to acknowledge her. "Dr. T'Soni," he sounded startled. "Pardon me. I was lost in a memory."
It hit her then; the lie he'd just told. Whether it was from spending so much time with Feron, or from memories of her time aboard the SR1, she didn't know. What she was sure of was that she recognized that look for exactly what it was.
Liara smiled before she spoke. "Yes, that happens often with Drell."
"Shepard told me that the two of you were able to save your friend, Feron. I'm glad even though I do not know him. There are too few of my kind left."
"I wouldn't have been able to save him without her."
Thane nodded once and sipped his tea. Or was it to hide the proud smile that spread on his lips that he'd hoped she hadn't noticed?
"Did you need me for something, Dr. T'Soni?" He asked as he placed the cup back on the table.
Liara cleared her throat and looked around. "Do you have a few moments to talk? In private," she added quickly.
"Of course," he said as he pushed away from the table and made his way, tea in hand, to life support.
Once inside, Liara spoke first. "I see she got you too," she said to Thane's back as he sat himself at the table in far corner.
"Who do you mean?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head.
Liara took the seat opposite him before continuing, "Shepard, of course."
Thane tensed so minutely that it would have been easy to miss.
"I'd recognize that look anywhere. I've worn it myself on many occasions," she laughed. "How long was it before you realized?"
Thane leaned forward, folding one hand over the other on the table in front of him. "Oddly enough, I realized my feelings for her during a private moment between the Commander and Garrus. At the time," he shifted, "I had no idea they were together. Whether it was because I didn't want to see it or they were very good at hiding it, I'll never know."
"We were on the Citadel and had just stopped my son from completing his first contract. There was no way to prevent C-Sec from getting involved, but I watched Shepard talk down Commander Bailey so that Koylat would be able to avoid jail."
Liara smiled, "She can be quite convincing."
"Indeed," Thane returned the smile. "She'd given me back my son when I'd once thought myself too damaged and unworthy." He took a few moments to collect his thoughts. "When she first asked me to join her cause on Illium, I did so because I saw it as an opportunity to atone for my sins. But after she helped me reconnect with Koylat, I knew I'd follow her to the end of the galaxy; not out of any sense of duty, but because I wanted to be where she was."
“I always found it fascinating,” she began, “that for someone with no family, Shepard had a remarkable talent for helping the rest of us come to terms with ours." She and Thane held each other's gaze for a beat too long before Liara sat forward. "You said it was because of Garrus that you knew?"
"Yes. After we finished at C-Sec, we helped Garrus track down someone who had betrayed him. As we fought our way through a cargo bay, I found myself," he paused to clear his throat, "...distracted, for the first time, by the way she moved it battle."
Liara's laughter interrupted His thoughts and he began to laugh as well. "I am sorry," she said once she could stop herself. "She does have a rather distracting figure."
"So it would seem," Thane said before picking up where he left off. "When we finally secured the location of the betrayer, Garrus took position in the catwalks on one side and I on the other. Shepard was below us, in the concourse, speaking with the other Turian. But when Garrus told her to get out of his shot, she refused to move."
Thane composed himself and continued. "It reminded me too much of the day I met the woman who would become my wife. Standing between a sniper and their target is a dangerous place to be; yet she was unflinching and confident." Thane unfolded his hands, sat back in his chair, and crossed one leg over the other. "That was when I knew I was in love with her."
"Have you told her?"
Garrus brushes past Shepard. "Garrus," she softly calls after him. "Not now," he says. "It's not what they would have wanted," she follows him. He turns abruptly and points a talon at her, "I think they'd want justice for the man who signed their death warrant!" He yells. "They wouldn't want you wasting your time chasing a dead man," she says calmly. She steps closer to him and places a hand on each of his forearms. "They'd want you to continue what you started on Omega. It's the reason they were willing to put their lives on the line in the first place, Garrus," she says as she moves her left hand up to stroke his scarred mandible. He leans into her touch and sighs heavily before leaning down to rest his forehead to hers. "How do you always do that?" He asks, eyes closed.
Liara looked down at her hands; feeling, like Thane, that she had intruded on a very private moment. "I'm sorry," was all she could muster.
Thane relaxed, coming out of the memory. "She made her way back to the sky car first and I watched her leave. When I turned back toward Garrus, he was looking directly at me with a challenge in his eyes. Suddenly, his behavior toward me until that point made sense. What I thought was two highly skilled snipers trying to feel out who was better was really Garrus posturing."
Liara laughed. "I certainly hope Shepard never finds out, or she might shoot him herself."
"I have no doubt," Thane smirked. He clasped his hands in his lap and leaned his forearms on his knees. "So," he continued, "I conceded with a nod. Not that Shepard was a prize to be won; but that she belonged to Garrus and him to her."
Liara stood and moved to the window that looked into the engineering deck. "I lost her to Kaidan, back on the original Normandy. Well," she looked back to Thane over her shoulder, "Lost is the wrong word, I suppose."
She sighed and turned back to the window. "She let me down gently when she told me about her and Kaidan. And if I'm completely honest, I think my infatuation started when I looked into her mind to try and make sense of the information she received from the Prothean beacon. But as our mission wore on, and I saw the way that she and Kaidan looked at each other, I tried to tell myself that I was suffering from a case of hero worship. That I was young and naive and of course I thought I was in love with the person who saved my life on Therum. And after a while, it worked."
She crossed her arms over her chest and turned to rest her back on the window. "But then she died, and I felt like someone ripped my heart from my chest. I had already started to build my own information network, having left the SR1 some time before, and I set out to gather more on what happened. Then Cerberus contacted me saying if I could find Shepard's body, they could bring her back."
Pushing off the wall, Liara walked back to the table and gripped the back of the chair she'd been sitting in earlier. "When she walked into my office on Illium two years later, it was the first time that I felt like everything was going to be alright again. I thought she'd be so angry with me when I told her I was the one who gave her body to Cerberus, but she was the one who comforted me. She said if I hadn't, then she wouldn't have gotten a second chance."
Liara shook her head, "She wields the power of a star without realizing it. And anyone who gets too close is caught in her gravity. Never was that made more apparent than when she died. There was nothing to keep us together and we scattered; drifting off in all manner of unpredictable directions. Some of us tried to stay close, but there was always too much distance between us."
Thane stood and began to pace near his makeshift weapons rack. "One would never know such a rift once existed. Like a true warrior goddess, Shepard commands loyalty by sheer power of will."
The two of them turned to face each other; each with secret smiles on their faces. Liara closed the distance and reached out both her hands, which Thane gracefully took in his own. "Thank you, Thane, for commiserating over a lost love."
His smile broadened and he squeezed her hands in reply. "Time has never been on my side, but I am happy to have shared a few moments with you, Liara."
She removed her hands and tilted her head and Thane gave a shallow bow in response. As Liara left life support, Garrus was standing with his back to her, waiting for the elevator.
"Garrus Vakarian," she called.
He turned, mandibles already spread wide in a smile. "Liara, always good to see you. Or should I call you Shadow Broker now?" he raised his brow plates teasingly.
"Charming as ever, I see," she laughed as she stepped close enough to wrap both her arms around one of his. "Would you walk an old friend to the airlock?"
"Of course. Age before beauty," he teased as he gestured for Liara to step inside the elevator.