Double the Trouble Chapter 6 -- Miss Communication
Rating: Explicit (other chapters are NSFW)
Ship: FemShep x Femshep Clone // Shenko, eventual OT3
AO3 Links: Chapter 1 // This Chapter
Summary: Shep had planned to spend another night alone. Instead she has a surprise visitor--one she had never expected to see again.Unapologetic consensual clone smut.
Note: Well, one year after the most recent chapter, I finally get around to updating this thing. Oops. This is a sequel to Spare Parts, but obviously you can read this without reading the other fic. I’ve spent the year developing the characters and their story arcs, so this smutty crack fic now has plot! Lemme know what you think.
What the hell are you doing here, Shepard? She stood in front of the door, boring holes into it with her gaze. Maybe if she stared long enough the hammering in her ears and chest would fade. So far no luck. Shepard needed to not panic. First step—control her breathing. Deep breath in; deep breath out. Her chest felt like lead. Second step—stay grounded. The door is green. There are six rows and six columns of rings in that grate. That would make—36 diamond…thingys. Yeah. We’ll call ‘em thingys. Just as her stomach slowed its churning, someone tapped her shoulder.
“You gonna say the password, bitch? Or are you going to just stand there all day?”
Shepard whipped around, grabbing him by the wrist. She didn’t waste time before bending it the wrong way. “Get your hands off me.” So much for keeping things under control.
“Hey! Let go.” He reached for his pistol.
Fat chance, big guy. Shepard took a breath, channeling her adrenaline towards her eezo nodes. Her eyes glowed, and she lashed out with just enough force to knock his pistol out of his hands. It barely moved. Shit.
___________________________________
“What would you like to talk about today, Shepard?” Her therapist leaned back in her chair, balancing a datapad on her lap.
“I need you to authorize a new biotic amplifier.”
“Mm. Are you ready for a new amplifier, Shepard?”
Narrowing her eyes, Shepard tried to keep her voice level. “I’ve been ready for months, Doctor.”
“Please, call me Susan.”
“Authorize the damn amp, Susan. We’ve talked through everything—“
“About your military service, yes. Your recent personal relationship with Major Kaidan Alenko, even. Your brief association with Thane Krios. But what about your childhood?”
“I dealt with that shit years ago. No need to bring it up.”
“Your insistence on avoiding the subject is telling, Shepard.”
_____________________________________________
Shepard stared down gun’s barrel, bracing herself as she heard the safety click. Maybe next time don’t pick a fight with only half your body working, dumbass.
“Your amp short out, freak?” The thug’s finger slid towards the trigger.
She held up her right hand. The left remained stubbornly at her side. “Must’ve left it at home.” Shepard put on her most winning smile. I’m so sorry, Kaidan.
BANG!
Shepard fell to the ground. The door slammed behind her, and Shepard caught herself with her right hand. She groaned as her wrist cranked under the full weight of her body. A twitch in her left arm.
“What the fuck is going on out here?” Jane shouted from over Shepard’s shoulder.
The thug dropped his pistol, backing off. “N-nothing Jane. I—we—”
“That’s Ms. Doe to you, asshole. Now get out of here before someone calls the cops.”
“Yes Ms—“
“I said out.”
The thug scrambled out of sight. Shepard looked up, half-expecting her to offer a hand. Of course, she had forgotten who she was dealing with. Jane glowered down at her, folding her arms. “What are you doing here?”
Grabbing onto the door, Shepard dragged herself up. “We need to talk.”
“If I wanted to talk, I would’ve returned your calls.” Jane turned around, ducking back inside, but leaving the door open.
Shepard followed, rotating her wrist. “Could we talk somewhere else? A park? A different bar? Hell, we could even go back to my therapist’s office and I wouldn’t even—”
Jane stopped, looking over her shoulder with a smirk. “This place not good enough for you?”
Shepard clenched her fist. Oh no, this place would be perfect. Discreet. Dim lighting. Loud televisions. Full of private rooms for its loyal customers. Well compensated and well armed bouncers in case shit hit the fan. Plenty of alcohol. If only Shepard could breathe in this fucking shit hole. “Too many memories,” she managed to spit out.
“That’s one thing about not having a past.” Jane stepped inside one of the private rooms. Shepard noticed with relief that it had a desk, not a bed. “No baggage.”
Despite all the alarms needlessly blaring inside her head, Shepard followed. “Jane, please. I can’t—”
Jane whirled around, her eyes dark with hate. “Do you have any idea how many people begged the Alliance to send you back to Earth during the Invasion? But you were too busy kissing alien ass to even bother.”
Shepard knew she should keep her voice down, that Jane only knew how to push her buttons. “You think it was easy for me to leave? I had to! We couldn’t fight the Reapers on our own!”
“You owed the Council nothing! They covered up your death. Conveniently forgot about Sovereign.” Shepard’s pulse pounded in her ears. “Ignored the Collectors. Allowed the Alliance to arrest you after Bahak.” Shepard’s throat closed in on itself. “And then,” Jane jabbed her finger in Shepard’s face, “they all came groveling, asking for your help when the Reapers showed up. Not once lending a hand to our system or its colonies.”
Shepard backed up into the door closed behind her. Her body shook. “Is that what Brooks told you?” Something flashed in Jane’s eyes. “Or what did she call herself at Cerberus? Rasa?”
Jane’s arm collided with Shepard’s throat, pressing her up against the door. Not enough to cut off her breathing, but just enough to hurt. “Don’t you dare talk to me about her.”
She should’ve probably held up her good hand in surrender. She should’ve backed down. Instead, Shepard stared down her clone, even as she started to see stars in her eyes. “What did she do to you?”
The clone dropped her so she could storm off to the other side of the room. “What’s it matter to you? She’s dead.”
Taking a few gulps of air, Shepard rubbed her throat. That’ll leave a bruise. “Shit. Jane...whatever...whoever Brooks was, I’m sorry you lost her.”
Jane snorted, pulling a small rubber ball from her jacket pocket, and bouncing it off the wall. “You’re a real trip, you know that?”
“What are you talking about?” Shepard must have hit her head on the way down.
Her clone spins around, her eyes flashing with rage. “You kill my...partner, and then you have the nerve to say you’re sorry??” She stretches out the O, as a reminder of just how different their origins were. Streets and a lab. A womb and a test tube. A homeworld and a space station. “Is that how you won over the tribunal? By apologizing?”
“Cute.” Shepard rubbed her face, trying to think, replaying the Clone’s words in her head until they made sense. “Hey. Look. This may be hard for you to believe, but if Brooks is dead, I had nothing to do with it.” She snorted, using her good hand to gesture at her body. “I mean, look at me. I can hardly dress and feed myself as it is, how the hell am I taking out hits on people?”
“You didn’t kill her after the war, genius.” Jane leaned against the wall, bouncing the ball harder and faster. Her fists started to glow. “Guess it was hard to notice her body with all the other mercs.”
Shepard’s face jerked up to look at her. “On the Normandy?” She blinked. Jane nodded. “She didn’t...Oh. Of course you don’t know. You didn’t see anything after you...fell.” She swallowed hard, the look of horror on the clone’s face after she dropped from the Normandy still burned in her brain. Breathe. “We arrested her. Sent her to some top-secret facility with other terrorists...I don’t even know where it is.”
Jane finally deigned to look at her, her mouth hanging open. “Brooks is alive?” The ball fell from her hand, bouncing several times before skidding to a stop. “Rasa is alive?”
Shepard took a deep breath, rubbing her bad arm. God, it was cramping so bad. Like pins and needles. “As far as I know, yeah. I mean, for all I know the Reapers took out the facility along with everything else. But I had nothing to do with it. I can swear to that.”
Stepping towards her, Jane asked softly. “Do you know where she is?”
Shit. “I...I don’t. Even if I did….I I don’t have the authority to release that information.”
Snorting, Jane nodded her head, unsurprised. “You don’t trust me. That’s...fair.”
God, she wanted to. “Two spectres and a councilor have to approve visitors. Doesn’t happen to often.
“You’re making that up.”
“Nope. Read that section of the Spectre manual the night after we...ran into each other.” Shepard swallowed, the taste of her still in her mouth.
“Repeatedly.” They both snickered. Jane kicked her foot back and forth. “What do I need to do to get that information? Money? Information?” She took Shepard in slowly, reading her, probably. “Sex?”
Shepard turned abruptly to hide her blush. “Bribery? Really?” She scratched the back of her neck. “I’m not even sure I count as a Spectre anymore.”
“Bullshit. You saved the galaxy, how many times? They’re not going to fire you over an injury.”
“I’m not exactly battle ready, Jane.” Shepard sighed. “I’ll talk to Kaidan about, okay? He’s still active. He’s on better terms with the politicians, anyway.”
Jane watched her closely, arms still folded.
“You don’t believe me.”
“Trust is hard to come by these days.”
This room really could use a few windows. Anything to keep the walls from closing in. Shepard cleared her throat. “Is...is this about the other night?”
This time, Jane blinked at her. “What?”
“...I thought you were mad.” She could feel the heat burning in her cheeks. “Me and Kaidan….Kaidan and I...we...we kind of lost track of you after.”
“After we fucked, you mean.” Jane smirked at her discomfort.
“Well, yeah.” Shepard chewed her lip. “You didn’t get any aftercare from us and---”
“I’m mad about Brooks, not being your unicorn. Because I’m. Not. Anyone’s. Unicorn.” Jane pulled the ball back into her hand biotically, passing it from hand to hand. She shook her head. “I’m mad that you never brought up Brooks.”
“...With the way things went down...I didn’t realize you--”
“--Cared? Please, Shepard. I’m not the monster you think I am.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” Moving towards the desk chair, Shepard slipped and out of her pockets fell two small boxes. As she fumbled to get to the floor, Jane picked one up.
“Dental dams? Latex gloves?” Jane quirked an eyebrow as she watched Shepard turn as red as their hair. “You sure know how to charm a girl.”
“This sounded way more smooth in my head.” Shepard leaned against the back of the chair, sliding her index finger across the lid of the box. “What I’m trying to say is...I don’t want to use you. I mean...if you want to be exlusive with us, that’s fine. But if you want to see other people, that’s cool too.”
“So smooooth.” Jane traced her fingers across Shepard’s, laughing softly, only to frown when she saw the whites of her knuckles. “Shit. This place...it really fucks you over, doesn’t it?”
“LIke the underside of a thresher maw.” Shepard said quietly, starting to pull her hand back.
Jane grabbed her wrist. “Hold on.”
Looking up at her, Shepard swallowed hard.
“You uh...have plans tonight?” With Kaidan? She asked without words.
“Well...Kaidan’s out of system right now.” Chewing her lip, Shep pulled out her phone, shooting Kaidan a text.
Hey.
Got time for a vid call?
Jane leaned her chin on Shepard’s shoulder. “You flirt like this with everyone?”
Shepard glanced at her with narrowed eyes. “You want to fuck or not?”
Both of them stared down at the phone, waiting. “What if he’s on duty?”
Chewing her lip, Shepard brushed her nose with hers. “How about dinner?”
“Sushi?” Jane smirked.
“Are you going to blow up the fish tank this time?”
“Only if you ask nicely, Shepard.”