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Carry On	By : Larania Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6956 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and Electronic Arts, not me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.

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Carry On
Chapter Two
Disclaimer: Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and Electronic Arts, not me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.
Warnings: adult language and situations, mentions of dub-con and non-con, mpreg, sexual situations, threesomes, gender-bending and birth.
Characters/ pairings: Colonist War Hero Paragade ManShep/Kaidan/Garrus, others mentioned.
Summary: The Reapers are here, and amidst that backdrop, Commander Shepard struggles with gathering allies, caring for his child and fighting for his sanity.
~*~*~*~*~
When Liara went up for a drink on the Normandy, it was with a sense of bittersweet nostalgia.
The ship was far more empty than she remembered it being, a mere two months ago. The alien crew had gone their separate ways, and all that was left was the humans. She visited her old haunts on the ship; finding that Cerberus had used her old room as the AI core had left her feeling tired, excluded. Yet even that did not detract from the bright beauty of the new Normandy.
Seeing Joker and Chakwas had been almost like stepping back to those days, when she had been that sheltered archaeologist being rescued by a dashing alien commander from a nightmarish horde. Back when she had mistaken Shepard's curiosity and interest in her work for interest in her, and not his usual compassion and kindness towards other sapients. Before her stay on the first Normandy, she had rarely met males, or other species for that matter. She had been told her entire life how other species found hers desirable, and mating with asari was often seen as a mark of status. That they would trip over themselves, in fact, just to be in her mere presence. Her species did not consciously influence others to make themselves desirable... That her species was the most beautiful, the most attractive, was hardly their fault, after all.
Then she had met Commander Shepard, and had been completely smitten.
And he had been equally smitten for Staff Lieutenant Alenko, to the point where her own flirtation had come as a surprise when she had asked if had feelings for her. And the idea of a male being interested in another male had surprised her so much that she had assumed he was in love with Ashley Williams.
A humorless smile graced her lips as she took the elevator up to Shepard's cabin on the new Normandy, unconsciously smoothing her dress, then giving herself one last check with her mirror. Asari did not use cosmetics the same way humans did, but she wondered if not trying to wear them was a mistake.
Three strides crossed the deck to the door to Shepard's cabin, and the door opened without hesitation.
There he was.
"How did you enjoy the tour?"
His face wasn't as spare as she remembered, small lines crinkled around his pale green eyes. Steel gray threaded through his black hair, and she reminded herself that it was a sign of age or stress in humans. Her eyes flitted across the room, noting the colorful swarms of fish in the tanks, the small rodent case, the many ship models. Her heart constricted when she saw his old, cracked Onyx helmet on his desk, next to the small blank picture frame.
"Yes, it's a beautiful ship," she said, noting that Shepard was putting out platters of small snacks. Some were filled with asari honey-glazed pastries, others were more savory human fare: orange cheeses, speckled crackers, hard sausages and green stuffed olives. Her eyebrows lifted when she noticed the two cups that Shepard was pouring, of steaming brown tea.
"No, ah, 'Jack Daniels' this time?" she asked, hand on one hip as she accepted the small cup with its crackled glazing. She felt blood stir under her tentacles when his fingers brushed her hand. Goddess, he was warm.
Her bottom thumped the couch when she sat down, a little breathless.
Shepard chuckled, taking his own mint green cup and sitting across from her, crossing his legs. She glanced over him again; he looked good, despite the obvious stress. She noted that Ashley Williams would have enjoyed how the expensive black suit was cut to show off his assets to their best advantage.
"No, Chakwas has told me I need to lay off alcohol," Shepard answered, light and rueful. "I've been meaning to cut back anyways." She was about to ask about it...
When her eyes lit on the compacted Prothean data sphere hovering above his table. "Oh my goddess. Where did you get that?" she said, half a gurgle of delight. She almost dropped her cup.
The ice was broken, and Shepard laughed, as he explained his odd search for the data sphere across various uninhabited worlds. This brought to the fore more stories: his own search to defeat the Collectors, the affection he had for the allies he had gathered to his side and how he had coped with this impossible situation. She added her own tales, haltingly but with more ease as the tea's warmth seeped out of her belly. Meeting Feron. Losing Feron. Getting Shepard's body back. Her first few days of being the Shadow Broker.
The galaxy forgot to exist for those short hours as they talked, laughed, and Liara dared to tease Shepard for eating every single olive before she even got a chance to touch them. If she closed her eyes and dared, she could imagine it was a date.
"Do you like it?" he asked, touching the rippling surface of his Prothean data sphere. "You can have it."
"Goddess, I couldn't!" she said, swallowing her mouthful of tea and a large pocket of air. It hung, sharp and painful, under her breastbone.
"Then consider it payment." Shepard looked away. "I need to ask a favor of you, Liara. Or rather, of the Shadow Broker."
The air pocket refused to budge up or down. "What is it?"
"You heard about what happened in the Bahak system?"
"Yes." She looked down at her own sticky hands, the crumb covered plates and then up to Shepard's face. "Though there's nothing... definite."
"The Reapers had a back door into the galaxy." He rubbed his belly, before twining his fingers together. "I found out too late, and had only minutes left to destroy the Bahak system relay before they arrived, and used it as a shortcut to the rest of the galaxy. But..."
"The system was inhabited. Goddess." Her eyes went huge. Her mind struggled to reconcile what she had just heard. Shepard, the man who had avoided any and all casualties if possible... Had to murder a planet. And after... "But you had no choice, right?"
"No." He ran his hands over his face. "I had none. And I'm turning myself in to the Alliance in three days." He looked up at her and smiled. "So... this is a goodbye, at least for awhile. But that's not why I need a favor." He swirled his tea in his cup, before putting it down. "Or rather, it is, but..."
He caught Liara's gaze, giving her a sheepish, worried smile. "I'm pregnant."
This time she did drop her cup. The pain in her chest changed location.
"Hackett has asked me not to contact Kaidan, or Garrus, for that matter." He sighed, leaning back. "But, please." Shepard reached out, putting his hands over hers. "Please, Liara. Find a way to tell them. I need them to know." His voice cracked, turning hoarse. "Because I can't... This is important. Tell them I love them. Please."
"All right," she answered, dull with surprise. Liara had known that Shepard had the necessary equipment, had known he was mating with Kaidan again, and the possibility existed, but- "I can do that."
Shepard squeezed Liara's hands. "Thank you."
"Is that why you're doing this, Shepard?" she asked, pulling her hands free. "For a chance to give your child a peaceful future?"
"For every child to have one, even if that's not possible." He looked up at her, and she quailed at the shine of unshed tears. "This galaxy is cruel and selfish, but there are people who are trying. Living. Loving. And yes, I want this kid to have a chance at life." Shepard took a deep breath. "With both Garrus and Kaidan there to help me."
"I hope they prove worthy of the sacrifices you are making for them," Liara answered, standing up. She felt numb. Shepard stood as well, reaching down for his Prothean data sphere.
"Here." She took the sphere, its surface null in temperature against her hands. "Thank you."
Liara nodded, swallowing hard. When Shepard hugged her, she sobbed. She didn't want to let go.
Two weeks later, she contacted Hackett to offer him her services.
~*~*~*~*~
"Should you even be here?"
Derek was happy for the breather helmet that hid his grimace as he leapt out of the Kodiak, and on to the rust-orange soil of Mars. He was followed by Kaidan and James a bare second later. "You heard Hackett, Kaidan. Someone needs to get to Liara and find whatever it is she might have. And I don't think the Alliance desk jockeys are going to care too much who gets it, even if I was on trial."
"That's not what I meant, and you know it." Derek didn't look back at Kaidan as he modded his ammo. "Alliance gives most women six weeks, minimum, of maternity leave before even resuming light duties. Most get six months to a year. Paternity leave isn't much less. I'm not questioning your legality, your loyalty, or your skills. I'm questioning if you're going to be able to run if you have to."
Derek chuckled. It wasn't a happy sound. "It has to be me, Kaidan." He sighed. "You and I both know that... and as to my body, I'm," he paused, deciding to be honest. "I'm not one hundred percent, but I'm better off than a civvie. My muscle weaves mean my abdominals have mostly recovered, and I was in pretty good shape before and after." He didn't mention the frustrating moment when he tried to put on the N7 armor and found his swollen chest was almost too tight to fit and had to bind himself down, or that his perineum still ached. He supposed he should have been happy he hadn't actually developed breasts. "I've died and come back, and survived childbirth without any kind of pain meds-"
"Why the fuck didn't you have pain medication?"
"Major, focus." Derek nodded towards the roiling dust storm heading their way.
"Damn, that's one huge storm. Looks a lot bigger in person," Derek heard James mutter as they headed towards the base.
"Pretty average for Mars, actually," Kaidan added, flanking Derek and looking around. The wind whistled over their sensors, sand settling into their armor as they advanced towards the Archive.
"Glad you're so optimistic."
"We've got Reapers invading, the station here is offline and I found out I'm a father all on the same day. Forgive me if a little dust storm seems the least of our worries," Kaidan grumbled. "God. Ten days."
Shepard could feel James' eyes, even if he didn't see them. "I hear ya."
Derek tried to ignore them, and brought himself back to focus on the task at hand. It was harder than he would have imagined. The physical pain was negligible after all he had been through, but he had never been away from Bean for more than a few minutes since his birth. That emptiness ached worse than any wound. He had to force himself to believe that Cortez, their ersatz babysitter, was trustworthy. James vouched for him, at least.
They continued on, walking around the edge of the dig site and down a ladder.
"What's this?" They turned to find a slumped form in blue armor, loosely clutching a Mantis sniper rifle.
"Sergeant Reeves," Kaidan replied, kneeling to look the dead Alliance soldier over. Derek kept scanning; the squat buildings of the Mars Archive laid out like a sidewinder in front of him. This didn't quite jive with his memories: as far as he had been aware, the Prothean outpost on Mars had been little more than a small data cache. They must have dug up something else, recently.
They didn't have time to do more than acknowledge that something had surprised Reeves... something that obviously wasn't a Reaper.
That something was Cerberus. Cerberus, in ghoulish death masks and surrounding the last remaining Alliance soldier on his knees. The leader examined his SMG before pointing it at their prisoner's head, and firing without hesitation.
"Holy shit," James hissed as they all ducked into cover. "They're executing them!"
Derek didn't answer, just frowned; he hated being right sometimes, and he hadn't wanted to admit that a part of him had hoped he was wrong about the Illusive Man. Glancing back at James, he nodded for the soldier to toss a grenade. It took out the entire squad before he sprinted, charging the remaining soldiers.
It was almost too easy to take out the remainders- they had lined up in cover behind their vehicle and one good biotic charge, combined with Kaidan's reave and a nova, knocked them over and dead like bleeding bowling pins.
"That was Cerberus, wasn't it?" James asked. "What are they doing here?" He kicked the one who had done the executing in the balls as they walked past.
"Good question." Though the answer was obvious: they wanted what Shepard had come to get. "A better question is why."
"You don't know?" Kaidan asked, following from behind.
Derek stiffened. "I'm not with them anymore, if that's what you mean," he snapped.
"It's not." Kaidan, to his surprise, didn't become defensive. "You worked with them for nearly a year. It stands to reason you would have a better idea of their methods and goals than we would," he said as they continued inching up the rise towards the entrance of the base.
"Hell," Shepard muttered, rubbing at his hips. Even running that far had made him hurt, but at least he wasn't out of breath the way he would have been before his incarceration. "Sorry. Cerberus has been a sore spot since Bean was born. But from what I knew about Cerberus was that they operated in task-oriented cells, with the Illusive Man watching each one. Beyond that, my best guess? They want what we want. What I want to know is why the Illusive Man isn't towing the company line anymore."
"So this isn't just some incredible coincidence? Good to know."
"Look out!" James warned, when they came up on another group of troops and their transports. With the odds merely being four to three, the fight was over in a few shots, two charges and one nova.
"Doesn't look like they were here in force. They must have had help from the inside." They looked over the transports to get an idea of what they would face within the compound.
"Agreed. They couldn't have taken this place with anything less than a full battalion."
They crept into the air lock, noting that this last group must have been the rear guard. Derek went to the control interface.
"Shepard, I need you to be honest with me," Kaidan burst out as air rushed in to pressurize the room. "When you and I talked on the Normandy, before I left for Grissom Academy... did you know? That you were pregnant, I mean? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did try to tell you," Derek answered, leaning on one of the rails and looking away."I begged Liara and Anderson to let you know. Anderson had even promised you would be there when I was supposed to be induced today. Unfortunately, maybe fortunately, Bean likes to be early." He exhaled, as they hauled off their helmets and hung them on their belts. "As for me knowing..."
Derek looked back to Kaidan. "I didn't set out to get pregnant. Hell, you even saw me take a morning after pill and we were pretty damn careful the rest of the time." Out of the corner of his eye, Shepard saw James walk to a corner, hunching his shoulders and turning his head. He had the impression the other man wanted to stick his fingers in his ears and hum real loud. "But I didn't know, not for sure. Subconsciously, I guessed." He rubbed his forehead. "That voice that tells you things you don't want to know, to see, she pointed it out." He leaned against a rail. "As to why I went through with it..." He trailed off. "The Reapers are here. Would I ever get another chance?"
"You asked Liara to tell me?" Kaidan frowned, crossing his arms. "And Garrus?"
"Yes." The room finished pressurizing, opening into the garage. "Come on. We need to figure out what the hell Cerberus is doing here."
"Right- and speak of the devil."
They ducked into cover, seeing the very asari they spoke of drop out of a vent with two snarling assault troopers fall behind her. She leapt over a fuel drum before whipping around, flinging out a singularity to sweep them up. A quick double-tap as the singularity collapsed finished off the two grunts, and all three men came out of cover.
"Easy, LT," Shepard said, swatting James' rifle towards the deck. "She's with us." He turned to Liara, who was breathing hard and dusting off her filthy white uniform. "I think."
"Shepard," Liara answered, walking close and wiping dust from her face. "Thank the goddess you're alive."
"Liara," Shepard said, softly, tilting his head to the side. He had no idea what to make of her.
"I was worried when I heard the reports. Is Gabriel safe?" she asked, ringing her hands. "The Reapers hit Earth hard?"
"Yeah." Kaidan walked up, eyes narrowed to slits. "And you have some explaining to do."
"What?" Liara backed away from both men. "Yes, of course. Can I assume Hackett sent you here?"
"Hallelujah. More answers, less drama," James muttered as they headed towards the window.
"Maybe?" She gestured with her chin towards the archives. "I've discovered plans for a Prothean device. One that could wipe out the Reapers."
"On Mars?" This was a sore point for Derek. "Last I heard, it was just an outpost."
Her face eased into a smile. "The orb you gave me? I was able to use my connections in Cerberus to trace the locations of some major Prothean ruins. While humanity found the small, surface cache thirty years ago... we were able to find this. A major Prothean archive. And inside we found a way to defeat the Reapers."
"How did we find it?"
"Process of elimination, mixed with a little desperation, and a lot of your luck." She nodded to Shepard. "Your orb seemed to have contained part of the plans, and we found the rest here." A desperate, tired smile lit her face. "After you gave me the orb I contacted Hackett, offering my services as the Shadow Broker. We worked together, trying to find a way to stop the Reapers. After we discovered this place, Hackett got me access to this place and I've been working here ever since." She looked out the window. "I had made plans to visit you today. But then I heard that Cerberus tried to kidnap you and take Gabriel-"
"What-"
"I'll fill you in later." Shepard put a hand on the suddenly pale Kaidan, the turned back to Liara. "I might have been able to help translate." He tapped the side of his head. "But I wasn't in any shape to travel."
Liara nodded. "In any case, all of that effort paid off. This archive is full of an overwhelming amount of data. I think I found what we need."
Derek grunted. "I guess I'll believe it when I see it." He turned away from Liara. "Where do we find this weapon?"
"It's not a weapon, not yet. It's plans for a device. A blueprint."
"It's more than we had a moment ago. And that's what Cerberus is after?"
"Yes." Liara pointed. "The archives, and the plans for the device, are across the tramway, provided that Cerberus hasn't locked it down yet."
"Right." The sound of a blowtorch working its way through the doors cut Shepard off. Derek looked back at Kaidan, who was glaring daggers at Liara. "And we can hear your explanation for not telling Kaidan when I begged you to tell him about what happened to me later. Right now, we've got company."
"Bring it on," Vega said, voice a low growl as he checked his rifle. Derek shook his head, telling him to go to the shuttle. James obeyed, pouting, but he obeyed.
Derek watched Liara out of the corner of his eye as they scattered into cover, wondering how they had come to this, and hoping they would have the opportunity to find out. They just have to live long enough to do it.
And damn it, his chest was starting to fill up and ache.
To be continued.
Questions, comments and critiques are welcome and encouraged.

A/N: One of the issues with playing Mass Effect 3 has been distinguishing between what I interpreted as actually there, and what the writers wanted or intended.
From a Doyalist perspective, it is understandable why so much of the romance and friendship dialogue is the same in both games. It is expensive to produce different dialogue for different situations. Yet from a Watsonian perspective, the story that comes out of a friendship-pursued Liara can have several undertones that can come off as anything from wistful to stalkerish, depending on personal interpretation.
It is canon that Liara is in love with Shepard, even in the first game. That she fights so hard to get Shepard's body for Cerberus, that she does so much work for Shepard as the Shadow Broker, the near-kiss in LotSB that happens if she is not romanced; all of it indicates that Liara's feelings for Shepard are far more than platonic.
Then we get to how Liara becomes the de facto XO of the Normandy without your say-so in ME3, her conversation with Aethyta if you pursue the paragon options, the moment she 'writes Shepard's name in the stars'... Depending on how you have treated Liara in the previous games, this can come off as very uncomfortable.
That is the perspective I am pursuing here as a subplot. Liara is a character I enjoyed very much, and it is not my intention to bash her, but rather to pursue an alternative interpretation of her character. However, this is a delicate balancing act. If you feel I have made a mistake or made her too OOC, please let me know in the comments or email me about it. I welcome any input on this matter.
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Carry On