Lazarus Project: Mass Effect 2 (Shenko)

Chapter 13

Milky Way/Crescent Nebula/Tasale/Illium

Earth year: 2183 CE --- May

Liara was seated at her desk, Shepard's N7 chest plate taking up most of the space as she sat cleaning and polishing it. It had been a little over a month since she'd returned from the deep Traverse after leaving Shepard with Cerberus.

She still hadn't had time to process everything that had happened and sat staring at the N7 logo as though it held the key to everything she hadn't allowed herself to think about.

Sleeping with and becoming intimate with Feron had not been part of her plan at all. The feelings she now had for him shocked her, her thoughts a mass of conflicting emotions as she tried to understand what it meant. She'd thought she loved Shepard, had undertaken the mission to recover Shepard's body without hesitation, certain of her motives and her goal. Always before, her thoughts would return to the hope that Shepard would come back and give her a second chance. Yet now, she questioned her actions for doing what she had done.

For reasons she still could not understand, she felt lost and alone without Feron. She had no way of knowing if he was dead or alive. All she knew for sure was that she missed him and that it was different from how she missed Shepard.

But there was nothing she could do to rectify the situation. The Minuteman Station was not where Cerberus had planned to bring Shepard back - Miranda had made that crystal clear to her before she'd left. If they succeeded with their project they would let her know, but until then they would have no further contact with her and would not respond to any of her inquiries.

Not that it would have done any good, Liara thought bitterly. After securing Shepard's remains and arranging her transport vehicle, they'd ushered her aboard the ship, the flight plan already pre-progammed. As she'd approached the relay out of the system, Miranda's face had appeared on the vid-screen.

The dark-haired woman coldly informed her that every contact detail they had given her was now invalid. Cerberus had removed all trace of their extranet communications and wiped the net of any mention of their arrangement. Without waiting for Liara's outraged reply, she had cut the connection, her cool, self-satisfied smile the last thing Liara saw.

Goddess how she hated that woman, Liara growled to herself. Yet there was nothing she could do - Cerberus had Shepard now and they would succeed in their plans or they wouldn't. Her hands were tied either way. Regardless, she was now more concerned about Feron and it wasn't sitting well with her.

Turning her attention back to her desk, she resumed cleaning and polishing Shepard's chest plate. The display case she'd ordered for it had finally arrived. She had plans to hang it in her apartment as a memento of Shepard and a reminder that she might still be returned to her.

Lost as she was in her musings, she didn't hear the heavy tread on the stairs leading to her office before the knock sounded at the door and she looked up in alarm.

Had she forgotten to lock it again? The door swung open and Liara felt her heart jump to her throat. She really needed to hire a secretary she thought, shooting to her feet and moving to stand in front of her desk. She hadn't had any visitors since returning to Illium, so she hadn't thought it a priority. But as her eyes fell to the figure standing in the doorway, she knew instantly that her lack of foresight had been a grave mistake.

"Garrus?" She squeaked in surprise, her face flushing as his eyes fell to what lay behind her on the desk. Moving quickly, she crossed the room hoping to block his view as she stopped in front of him. "What are you doing here?"

"Came by to see an old friend." Garrus said, sliding past her into the room. "Heard you had an office here and thought I'd stop in to say hello."

"It's been a while Garrus." Liara agreed, keeping her tone level. "How have you been?"