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Liara was sore. She had been sitting in this damn chair for almost three days. Waiting for something to happen. For anything to happen. Three whole days of listening to the damn EKG machine. She was lucky that the natural gravity on Earth was lesser than Thessia’s, or she probably would have stroked out from pure boredom by now.
Although, the Reapers had probably thought of that when they were cultivating this cycle.
Her holodeck chimed.
It was work.
She didn’t even remember what it said as she put it back down.
She sighed quietly. The EKG machine was louder in the small space.
Bette’s finger twitched again. Liara smiled slightly and allowed herself to relax. It had been a few hours since she’d shown any signs of life (other than the incessant monitoring device).
Liara reached out towards Bette, brushing her fingers along the back of her hand. Just to make sure she was still there. She still wasn’t sure if Garrus and Tali had really come by in the morning or if her sleep-deprived brain had just imagined that.
They tried to convince her to leave. Just for a little — go for a walk in London. The repair efforts were coming along amazingly, Tali said. There was a fantastic dextro-kebab shop just down the road, according to Garrus. But no. She couldn’t leave her vigil. Not when her love could wake at any moment.
She realized that her hand had lingered on Bette’s. She slowly withdrew.
“No,” a weak voice said, making Liara jump. “Please. You’re warm.”
The next seven hours were chaos.
Doctors of all sorts coming in and out, performing tests and examinations on her Bette. Liara knew she told the truth about everything to everyone. Except to the pair of psychologists. She told them she didn’t remember anything after Anderson and the Illusive Man’s death. Their bodies had been found a few months prior.
They tried to push her out a few times, but each time, Bette refused to let them.
The final doctor, a Salarian exocardiologist, packed the last of his tools back into a large briefcase. The salarian nodded and, finally, left.
Finally, they were alone.
“It feels like they’re still there,” was the first thing Shepard said after the door shut. She motioned to what remained of her left arm with her right, before letting it fall into her lap. “When I don’t think about it, it feels like they’ve just fallen asleep.
Liara was shocked at the introduction. She looked at Bette, her eyes wide.
Shepard scooted to her left the bed and patted the now empty spot next to her. “Please?”
Barely comprehending what she was doing, Liara walked to the bedside and sat down.
Bette cocked her head. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know,” she said with a grin. Her voice was calm, despite the deafening beat of her heart. “But I don’t want to give you any ideas.”
The commander’s face scrunched up. “Huh?”
“You need less morphine.”
“Asari may be the jewels of democracy, but humans are the jewels of drugs.”
Liara laughed for the first time in months, as she got in bed with her lover. Her Commander.
They faced each other. Bette’s mobility was incredible. Liara had read much about humankind’s relatively long natural recovery from injuries while she sat at her bedside. She supposed she didn’t factor in omni-gel.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Liara asked. “With me?”
Bette’s face fell, but she nodded carefully. “Where to begin?”
“After you left me, maybe?” The pain in her abdomen appeared, where a piece of debris had been lodged.
You mean everything to me, Liara. You always will. The words rang in her head like the chiming of a bell, echoing across a cityscape.
“I got hit by a reaper blast.”
Liara remembered. The confusion when Garrus jumped up from her side in the infirmary and sprinted to the bridge.
“When I woke up, I had to fight my way to the Crucible. Anderson was already there. And the Illusive Man. He… He forced me to kill Anderson. Indoctrinated me somehow. Temporarily. I really don’t remember much after that.”
“Do you remember anything?”
Bette shrugged with her good shoulder. “I remember a child. A being made of light. And a choice.”
“What kind of choice?”
“I think I could control the reapers, destroy them, or merge synthetic and organic life.”
“You destroyed them.”
Bette nodded. “And EDI and the Geth. They told me.”
Liara would have hung her head if she was sitting up straight. Instead, she felt her mouth turn as she remembered her friends. “You made the right choice.”
“I made a choice.”
There was a long pause, only interrupted by the EKG machine with Bette’s every heartbeat.
“What happened next?” Liara asked.
“I remember an explosion, then space.” Bette went quiet for a long time. “It was so empty. Different from when I was at the Villa. At least I knew I was alive then.”
“I’m sorry, Bette.”
Shepard was holding back tears. Like after Thessia. “There was nothing. I thought I was dead. That this was eternity. Nothingness.” Bette gave a long sigh. “But… the only thing that kept me going was the thought of seeing you again. Seeing your beautiful smile again.”
Liara felt her face flush and her stomach turn. “Oh, Shepard.”
Bette grinned and slid her hand under Liara’s head. Then, with a sudden force, she kicked her leg out and used the momentum to sit herself upright on top of Liara’s pelvis. She gasped out of shock and fluster as Bette leaned in to kiss her.
Liara felt herself blush harder and almost involuntarily pushed herself into the kiss.
When the kiss broke after a minute or thirty or a decade, she gasped for breath.
Bette was still smiling, their faces just inches apart. “Y’know,” she said, “I seem to remember a promise about settling down. Maybe with a few blue children running around.”
“I…” Liara got lost in the future. The home they hadn’t even built yet. The children they hadn’t had. “I’d like that.”