Jon Shepard

She ducked her head. “I feel drawn to you, Shepard. In ways I’ve never experienced with anyone.”

He rubbed at the back of his neck. "I... Me too."

"I don’t mind it, either. Having had you in my mind. " She wrung her hands a little.

"You... really?" His eyebrows raised in surprise.

“It varies, but I don’t know. I’ve never been intimate with someone before, ” she whispered.

"Oh." The blush deepened. "Well, it's not a bad thing. I don't mind it." Jon's voice was nearly as quiet, and definitely as shy.

She hugged him close. “You are just Jon Shepard, as I am just Liara T’Soni. I am just a scientist. That’s all I ever wanted to be. Life decided that is not how I am to spend my life. And now I am this. And we are this. You saved my life. I have saved yours. And now, together, we shall save the galaxy, and find somewhere quiet. Somewhere safe. And we will have our daughters, and you can do whatever you life, and I can teach or garden. But we will find a place where war can never touch or change us again. I promise this, my love.”

#drliaratsoni #[off to work i go]

He didn't respond. Only remained limp against her, even as the alarm began beeping behind them. The day was ready for him, but he was far from ready for it.

She didn’t let him pull away completely, hugging him from behind. “Saren would have gone to Eden Prime, found the beacon, set off bombs destroying it and the whole colony. Then he’d have gone after me, and best case scenario, I’d have been… well, I don’t want to repeat the things that Krogan promised to do to me once he got me out of that bubble. ” she shook more.

"The Goddess does not predestine our lives, but she provides solace for those tribulations we endure. You survived because you’re strong. Because, perhaps, you were meant to. But more than likely it was pure luck. And that luck has led you to this; the saviour of the galaxy. We cannot go back in the past. I cannot undo killing mother, or even go back and save her from going after Saren in the first place. But I can be here with you, now, righting the wrongs not of our making."

#drliaratsoni #[did i ever mention that he's more emotional after Cerberus brings him back]#[more negative emotions that is]#[he's not as good at dealing with it all as he was before]

Jon shook his head. "I'm not cut out for this," he whispered. "I'm just Jon Shepard. I didn't want to be a soldier." He sagged back against Liara, seemingly incapable of holding himself up just now.

"I'm just Jon."

Sexual Sunday.

#drliaratsoni #Liara

"Yes, it would have. I would have been on Therrum, studying the ruins. Saren’s Geth and Warlord would have come for me. And if they hadn’t figured out the trick of using a laser as a shovel, and gotten to me, then…" she shook a little. "Can you imagine the death I would have had, Jon? Trapped, suspended. My body slowly getting weaker. No food, no water. Only agony as my body died around me. That is fate that awaited me, had you not survived."

"But I wouldn't have been on Eden Prime. The whole... whole timeline would be different." He sniffed again and pulled away from Liara, sitting up in bed.

She was silent a moment and then whispered, “Going by that logic, I should have died on Therrum.”

"Therum wouldn't have happened," he mumbled darkly.

She clung tightly to him. It scared her, the way he was speaking. “Without you, we are lost. You know this. And that is a terrible burden. But one you shall never have to bare on your own. I will always be with you, my love. Always.”

"They died that day." He sniffled. "I should have too. I should..."

She didn’t say anything, just pet his hair and nuzzled her lips against his forehead, letting him vent this out.

"I didn't want this," he repeated. "I didn't..." He clung tighter to Liara.

"I shouldn't be here."

She wrapped her arms around him and rolled him over so that his head was over her chest. Liara stroked his ginger hair lightly. “You were little more than a child, my love,” She murmured, remembering her own mother, and her death at Liara’s hands when she was, effectively, only a few years older than Jon would have been.

#drliaratsoni #[fun fact: I didn't recruit Liara before I went to Noveria]#[cause I didn't know there was a good order to do things in]#[we can keep it like this though :)]

He froze for a moment, then sagged against Liara, trembling. "They were outside when they came. They were scared, running. Shot in the back..." Tears slipped from his eyes. "I never wanted all this." And then he was crying quietly.

Liara was awake immediately, small hands soothingly rubbing over her partner’s chest. “Beloved. It’s a dream. Just a dream,” But her heart ached for him.

#drliaratsoni #[we doing ME3 or the ME2 au?]

Jon's nostrils flared as he tried to settle his breathing. "I s-saw her. She..." He sucked in another breath. "Couldn't get to her."

She nuzzled sleepily. “Love you, too, Jon.” She rarely called him ‘Shepard’ in their private moments. Her arms were around him and she wiggled a bit to get under him, seeking warmth, then was still her breathing steady.

A yawn escaped him before they both settled for the night. He fell asleep quickly, and stayed that way until just before the alarm was set to go off. Instead of stretching awake slowly, he jerked out of the nightmare he was having. "Mom!" he gasped.

8/?? - Damian Lewis.