This is a dump of vignettes from a piece I started earlier this year so it’s a little disjointed, mostly a skeleton. I wanted to clean it up but got discouraged by the lack of DLC? Spoilers for Mass Effect Andromeda
Sara is used to being the different twin.
Scott was the one that earned praise from their father, followed his footsteps well into adulthood, and did what was expected of him. Whip-smart and cocksure, he was the progeny of the Ryder clan.
Sara was awkward and shy, impulsive at her worst. When she was supposed to sign up for the Alliance, she instead picked the peace corps. She didn’t like violence, and if pressed, would call herself a pacifist. It was an accident that she ended up working on archeological sites on the backside of quiet moons.
Her father stopped believing her accidents when she ended up enrolling in a university with the intent on getting a degree in anthropology.
–
Sara wasn’t used to the feel of a weapon in her hand. Sure, she’d passed all of her marksman tests required of being a part of being the Pathfinder team, scoring in the top percentage because no child of Alec Ryder’s was going to settle for baseline. But the pistol’s grip didn’t seem to fit right, no matter how she turned it in her hands. It didn’t much matter, she guessed, so long as she kept it raised with her finger to the trigger.
Her breath came heavily, eyes rapidly scanning the landscape. She’d hit the ground hard, no time to gather her bearings with the massive split in the glass of her helmet. Everything was a jumbled mess in her head, last thing she clearly remembered was watching Liam hanging onto the edge of the shuttle before he lost his grip…
Sara chokes back a sob, setting her shoulders, refusing to give in. “SAM?” She questions nervously. Static is the only response. “SAM!” She tries again, unable to keep her voice steady.
“Save your breath,” a lilted voice greets her.
She spins, pistol tight in her grip, ready to shoot.
Liam stops in his tracks a few meters away, hands help up in surrender. “It’s me, Ryder. Just me.”
Sara’s hands shake as she lowers the pistol back to her side. “Sorry. I-I thought…It doesn’t matter. You startled me.” She taps the barrel against her thigh, nervous energy roiling through her bones. “I’m glad you’re alive.”
Liam chuckles, nodding his head. “Me, too.” He places his hand on her shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze. “Come on, we have to get going. If we find some higher ground, we can see where the rest of the shuttle landed, and where everyone else is.” He sounds so calm, put together, and Sara has no clue if she’s stupid for freaking out, or if he’s crazy for not being scared. “You and me, we got this.”
“Right. Right, just, this way?” she asks, a little breathless. At Liam’s nod, she takes pointe, taking slow, careful steps through the bits of wreckage around them. “So what brought you to the team?” she tries, hoping that a little talk will help and Liam’s calm will soothe her.
“I was a cop,” he says simply. “I worked in crisis response for a bit, an’ I know how to keep a level head. I guess he thought that was important.” Sara huffs a soft laugh, because that certainly makes sense, and it’s certainly important. “What about you, Recon Specialist Ryder?”
Sara peeks a look over her shoulder, and she can’t see more than his eyes through their visors, but she knows he’s smiling. “It’s just a fancy name for someone who looks at ruins all day and hypothesizes what people used them for,” she says demurely. “I study people. Used what I learned practically to try to keep peace. This is only slightly out of my comfort zone.”
She leaps for a ledge, climbing up before leaning to give Liam a hand. He stands close, towering over her without menace or intimidation, and all at once, Sara knows that the two of them will work well together; Liam’s quiet understanding and steady banter completely putting her at ease. “Thanks for the hand,” he says, and his eyes are soft when she meets them.
“No problem, Kosta,” she replies, finally holstering her pistol.
It’s only a matter of time before they finally find Cora and Harry, Sara and Liam hiding in the hills and picking off targets as they threaten to overwhelm their teammates. The pistol, Sara is sad to say, is starting to feel less foreign. They slowly make their way closer, waves of reinforcements coming in droves, and they stock up with dropped clips they find along the way. It’s easy, under Cora’s steady instruction, following directions readily. The chatter in her ear almost doesn’t register, the words and the knowledge that they aren’t alone, Liam calling his targets, Cora counting down the enemies remaining on the field, filling her with something akin to hope.
Sara doesn’t quite wake from the nightmare-like events until she flinches at the firing of Liam’s assault rifle, rapid and loud and real to her side.
“Enough,” Cora says, reassuring and calm.
“Liam,” Sara murmurs, worried. “That isn’t helping.”
Liam grunts, firing another several rounds into the strange alien’s ruined skull. “They killed Kirkland! They killed him, and for what?” He pulls the trigger again.
“Liam, please.” Her voice is firm, more together than she feels. “I need you to get it together so we can get out of here. I can’t do this without you.”
Things hadn’t gotten less surreal, the feeling of wrong in Sara’s belly only getting worse as they traversed, but until now, Liam’s gentle urging and inane banter had kept her together, her head in the game. But now? Liam seemed to have finally snapped.
Liam holsters his rifle with short, jerky movements, arms shaking out his pent up energy and rage. “Sorry, Ryder,” he says, posture relaxing. “It just grinds my gears seeing us come all this way, and see our team down like this. I’ve got it together, though.”
Sara gives him a little smile that she knows he can’t see. “Don’t apologize. We’re even now, I guess. I’ll still buy you that beer at the first bar we find.”
Liam nudges their shoulders together, the pair of them making their way ever up, trying to find her father. “You’re on, Recon Specialist.”
Cora rolls her eyes, omnitool glowing on her wrist. “Comms are up.”
–
To say that Liam was constantly surprising Sara would be an understatement. In the field, he’d always turn up from nowhere, a blur of bloody white uniform and vibrant orange omniblades buying her time to reload or put space between her and whatever she was shooting at, always when she needed it most, even when she’d left him at the outpost to assist colonists or scientists. There was always an email at her terminal, reminding her that she was being thought of or requesting her time, alone, for whatever date idea he’d cooked up in that wonderful mind of his, thrilling and lovely.
So when Liam asks her to meet him on their couch (he hadn’t referred to it as just his since the first time they’d kissed and more), and to close her eyes, just trust him, she didn’t put up an ounce of a fight. She’d always trust him, especially in the safety of the Tempest’s hull. His breath on her ear makes her breath hitch, his chin hooked on her shoulder and his arms loose around her, soothing the chills he brings forward.
“Keep ‘em closed, Sara,” he murmurs quietly, arms gently jostling. “This was a hard surprise to come by, so you gotta let me do this one right.”
Sara has no intent on ruining the surprise, whatever it may be, especially with Liam so close and warm, smelling so good. “They are closed,” she whispers back, afraid to ruin the moment. She’s feels as if she’s on the head of a pin, the slightest touch ready to send her over the edge.
“Good,” he purrs, the rasp of his stubble brushing his cheek. “Now, open your hand for me, palm up.”
Sara only barely swallows a whimper as she obeys, fingers of her right hand just barely curled, spread out and ready for whatever he’s got in store for her. “Liam?” she intones, just needing to say his name, needing to feel grounded.
He chuckles softly, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Steady now, it’s gonna feel cold, and it’s just a bit heavy.” Before she can think to question what he might have, his fingers brush hers, transfering something? The stem of a glass, she registers, between her fingers. The bowl, wet with condensation and cold, rests in her palm. “Open up.”
Sara’s eyes blink open, fixed on their hands, still touching, and the deep red of the glass of wine. “Where did you find a bottle of actual wine?” Because it is real, she can tell already by the smell of it, thick and warm and fragrant.
“I may have enlisted Vetra’s help,” he admits, voice warm and proud. “Taste it. I wanna know that I picked the right one.”
Sara narrows her eyes, turning her head to give him a questioning look. “You didn’t…?” Liam’s smile only grows. “Liam!” she giggles, slowly lifting the glass for a sip. She makes a soft sound, berries and spice, deep and just a touch sweet. She lets the sip sit on her tongue for a moment, savoring the taste she was sure she’d left behind. “It’s the right one,” she tells him, and she can’t stop the laugh that bubbles up. “How did you-“
“Not giving up my secrets,” Liam hushes her, kissing her cheek. “Gotta make sure you keep me around for something.”
“Liam Kosta, I keep you around for everything,” she tells him, honest and sweet. “You’re too pretty to give up. The wine is just a really big added bonus.” She takes another sip, and it’s perfect, just the right temperature, the flavor bursting on her tongue. “Where’s yours? Don’t tell me you’re just going to sit there and watch me get drunk.”
Liam slips over the back of the couch and curls close, grabbing his own glass from beside her feet. “Had to make sure my girl was taken care of first.” Sara makes a soft noise and kisses him, all sweetness and promise, letting him get his first taste of the wine from her stained lips. “I was never much a wine drinker, but I think I might be a changed man, now.”
Sara hums softly, curling as close to Liam as she can. “It’s decadent. Quarian wines are my favorite, there’s just something about the level of care they put into each barrel. each bottle, that most Earth bottles just can’t compete with. It’s supposed to be saved for celebrations, you know.”
Liam gives her a look, soft and fond, taking a small sip from his own glass. “Well, I can think of a few things to celebrate. Finding Meridian, for starters. Surviving the battle of our lives, us and our friends.” He pauses and gives her a sly look that she know is equal parts trouble and promise. “There’s you and me, together now. Together for a long time, I hope.”
“Aww, Kosta, you going soft on me?” Sara teases, knowing she wants nothing more.
Liam kisses her quickly, their lips red and sweet from the wine. “I meant it, Sara Ryder, when I said I wanted to marry you.”
Sara grins, her breath and her heart caught in her throat. “I’m just waiting on you,” she points out with a raised eyebrow. “I can’t answer a question that hasn’t been asked.”
–
“I’m not entirely sure what you see in him.”
Scott’s tone was more curious than insulting, but only just. He reminded Sara too much of their father at times like this; always critical, even when he had the best of intentions.
Sara didn’t bother acknowledging her brother, her eyes soft as she watched Liam and Jaal unloading supplies and rations for the settlers on Eos. Liam’s smile was a mile wide as he worked in the warm morning sun; he loved visiting Podromos.
“He’s just, you know, he’s a bit goofy,” Scott added, realizing she wasn’t going to press him on.
She huffs, finally sparing her brother an annoyed glance. “Why do people insist that levity in the face of impossible odds is ‘goofy’?” she questions, voice quiet. “That, frankly, is the only thing I’m unsure of.”
She gets her desired reaction, Scott wincing and looking down at his feet. “I didn’t mean it as an insult.” Sara glares. “I didn’t! He seems like a good guy, but I heard about that mission you two took? With the pirate?”
“Must be nice to sleep through all the trouble. Can’t make a mistake and ruin your pristine record if you’re out of commission,” Sara mutters darkly. She reaches out and gives Scott a gentle shove, a silent assurance that she isn’t mad, that she understands his concern, that she’s sorry for getting all the glory and responsibility that was never meant for her. “When we first got here, first made contact with the Angarans, things were impossible. No one wanted to take a risk and really earn anyone else’s trust. Liam took a risk, and maybe it didn’t go right, but he tried. He did what no one else would.”
They watch, together, as Liam wipes the sweat from his forehead, the last box unloaded. He catches Sara’s eye, and his smile grows impossibly bigger. Sara can’t do anything to tamp down the butterflies, so she just smiles back, completely lost to the happiness he brings her so effortlessly, if only for a second.
“Holy shit, you love him,” Scott groans, and it’s more playful than anything. “I owe Peebee fifteen creds. Hearteyes, indeed, motherfucker.”
Sara snorts, eyes not leaving Liam’s as he makes his way to the twins’ spot in the shade. When he reaches them, he leans down to press a kiss to her hair before giving Scott a small nod of acknowledgment. “Auggie sends his thanks for the extra rations. He says Jill has been getting quite particular about what MREs are offered in the cafeteria, and it’s only going to get worse.”
Sara pouts her lips, looking for a real kiss, which Liam happily gives her. “If she’s anything like Gil, I believe it,” she says, quiet and agreeable. “Did he mention any troubles with the crops?”
Liam shakes his head, his arm slung low around her waist, keeping her close. “Nah, just running a little thin with the sudden outbreak of pregnancy that’s taken over the outpost. Speaking of, I don’t suggest drinking the water. Unless, you know…” he trails off, cheeks ruddy, giving Sara a gentle squeeze.
“Can we not talk about this? Please?” Scott groans. “Gil is enough trouble right now, I don’t need this, too.”
Sara is happy to ignore her brother. “Maybe after we figure out where the Quarian Ark is, and what kind of trouble they’re in,” she murmurs softly, the butterflies in her belly rousing again. Their fingers link, and she grins up at him.
“I hate you both,” Scott intones, knowing Sara is ignoring him. Liam is his only hope. He shudders. “Liam, please, if you insist on dating my awful sister, at least do things in the right order. No babies. No touching, even. Sara, I’m making it a directive. I’m even going to make Lexi chaperone your time together.”
Liam tries to edge away, just a little space to make Scott more comfortable. “Sara,” he chuckles when she only presses closer. “Let’s not do anything to put him back in the medbay,” he tells her softly. “Besides, if I don’t get back to helping, Jaal won’t let me wear his rofjinn.”
Sara pouts again, prompting a kiss from Liam out of instinct and habit. “Okay. I’ll see you in the galley for lunch?” Liam nods, kissing her forehead solely because he can and knows she loves it.
After Liam has strolled off, only glancing back twice, Scott gently pushes Sara. “I still don’t get it.” Before she can argue, hackles raising, Scott continues. “But I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so happy. You saved us all, and barely smiled. You hear his name and light up like someone gave you their chocolate ration.”
Sara wants to make the joke, she knows Liam would appreciate it, but Scott not so much, so she keeps it to herself.
“I am happy,” she says instead, choosing honesty. “From the first time he had my back, I knew he was special. He might not be serious all the time, but I need that. I need him.”
Scott nods his understanding, his sister’s happiness the only thing that matters. “You love him?” She nods, giving him a shy little smile. “Then he’s family.”
(The next time Scott hears anyone giving Liam shit, he’s right there to back him up with stern glares and dry tone, reminding even SAM of Ryder Sr. It’s a surprise to Liam, but a welcome one, and he makes sure not to take it for granted.)
