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Description
Title: A Promise
Author: glintbladesong
Game: Mass Effect 2
characters/pairing: Male Shepard, Liara
Disclaimer: There may be possible spoilers here if you have not played the Lair of the Shadow Broker yet (seriously.... why have you not!?)

All characters belong to Bioware etc.

A Promise
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Sitting down on the hard bench Shepard banged on the bulkhead behind him to signal the shuttle pilot to take off, not really feeling like speaking. As he lent back he closed his eyes and tried to gather his thoughts, attempting to calm himself as the shuttle slipped free of the Normandy's interior.

Alive, that was the thought that kept running through his head, closely followed by Liara, anything much beyond that was too difficult to think about. They had jumped through the Omega 4 relay and against all the odds they had returned. But unlike the dead colonist, the memories and scars had not been left behind on the now destroyed Collectors base and he doubted that they would ever fade. Nerves and adrenaline was all that had kept them going until they returned from the Suicide Run (as the crew had named it) and they were all paying the price for that, even now he was finding it hard to unwind. The only thing he could think about right now, the only thing he would let himself think about, was a promise he made to a very special person, a promise to always come back. And he was going back now to keep that promise.

The shuttle jolted as something smacked into the side of it, Shepard's eyes snapped open and his hand was a blur as he drew his pistol, head scanning the dark corners of the shuttle for a threat. "Pilot, report!" he snapped into his mike.

"Sorry sir," came the reply, "I've never flown into anything like this before, I didn't anticipate the wind storms, compensating now".

Slowly Shepard took in a deep breath and holstered his pistol, willing himself to relax. "Get a grip", he muttered as he sat back down on the bench.

"ETA 20 minutes sir." Came the voice of the pilot over the comms. "Sir, Are you sure about this course? We are close enough that I should be able to pick up our arrival location on the scanners, but this storm, I can't see anything".

"Continue on the course as briefed pilot." replied Shepard. Settling back down against the bulkhead he looked over to the other bench, remembering…

She was sitting just there opposite me the first time we approached the Shadow Broker's base, her eyes wide and her hand constantly reaching up to rub the back of her neck, the excitement and fear obvious to someone who knew her well enough to know what to look for. There was so much left unsaid just hanging in the air between us it was nearly tangible, neither of us wanted to say anything in case the other rejected them, but neither wanting to stay silent either in case the other was waiting for that one word. Damn it! At least the Reapers made it clear where it was that you stood with them, ok so they wanted to turn you into human paste but at least you knew. But that first approach to the Shadow Broker's base, who the hell knew what either of us wanted? Two years was a long time and we had both changed so much.

Shepard shook his head in confusion and closed his eyes as he thought back to that mission and that base…

By the Goddess that base of the Shadow Broker. An impossible ship that lay hidden in an impossible storm on an impossible planet. And yet she had found it and together we penetrated it via an insane route outside the ship, as much at risk from that damn lightning striking down around us like rain as we were from the guards the Shadow Broker employed. And then once inside we found a creature that would have given the Reapers pause for thought.

Chuckling quietly to himself Shepard wondered if that, looking back, going toe to toe with that thing may well have been the dumbest moment of his career.

Seriously, it was 4 times my size and had 3 sets of teeth for pity's sake and yet I walked up and took a swing at it. I wonder if I did it because it was that right thing to do tactically or because she was there?

"ETA 5 minutes Sir", boomed the voice in his ear and Shepard sat up with a start from the interruption. What was wrong with him he thought, he was so jumpy.

Both Garrus and Tali had offered to come with him on this trip, they knew full well why he was going and what it meant to him, and as touched as he was by their offers of support he was glad he had refused them both, he was their commander after all and had a certain image of authority to maintain and jumping at every bump or comm noise was not part of that image, plus Garrus would never let him live it down.

"Should have left him on Omega," he muttered, half jokingly.

"Commander?" came a gentle female voice over his comm link.

"What is it EDI?"

"I have received a communication from the Shadow Broker's ship and we now have permission to dock in Bay 2, I have uploaded the co-ordinates to your pilot."

"Thank you EDI. Could you remind Kelly that I do not want to be disturbed for the next couple of hours."

"I have already done so Commander, she made it clear that if the Reapers arrived whole you were away she would tell them to come back later when you were ready and she is currently in the cockpit threatening Joker with feeding him to Grunt if he so much as touches the comm button."

"Thank you EDI, Shepard out." He gave a wry grin and shook his head.

"Logging you out Commander".

Closing his eyes again Shepard let his thoughts wander…

Joker, Kelly, Grunt, Garrus, Tali and the rest, each of them are far more then just a crew member to me, each of them willing to trust me with their lives. Goddess! The pressure and consequences of making those choices, choices that repeatedly risk each of their lives over and over. Choices that have caused their deaths and the deaths of innocent civilians. So much death on my hands, by my choice.

Leaning forward in his seat with his elbows on his knees, he sighed and placed his head between his hands.

So much pressure, so much death, so much at stake, please when will it end, when will it all just be over?

"By the love of… What the hell is… err… Sorry Commander, I meant that we have the destination in sight now Sir, beginning docking procedures".

Shepard took a deep breath and stood up, restless now that he was so close. One final reverberating clunk signalling that the shuttle had set down in the docking bay and a green light appeared over head indicating that the magnetic seals for the shuttle's doors had been released by the pilot. Pressing the unlock control he waited as the door swung up and then stepped out into the docking bay…

The smell, it is always the smell that gets me first, that peculiar mix of moisture, ozone and machine that this unique ship has.

"Pilot, inform EDI we have arrived and then lock up the shuttle and stay where you are, you are not to leave the shuttle or communicate to anyone aboard this ship until I return".

"Yes Sir, relaying message and then going comms silent Sir".

While Shepard was sure that he could trust his team, so few people knew who the Shadow Broker was and that knowledge was worth a great many lives including the life of the Shadow Broker and the ship's crew were still Cerberus which made them too great a risk to trust with this information regardless of what they had been through together, plus he was pretty sure Cerberus would not be above torturing their own people if the Illusive Man felt it was in his own best interests.

While looking around for some idea of where to go he heard a door slide open on the opposite wall and saw the Shadow Broker's VI drone hovering in the doorway. Walking over towards it caused it to head off down the corridor so he started following it, his heart beating heavily in his chest. Soon enough Shepard was walking down corridors he recognised and he begun to get his bearings. Lost in his memories of the assault on this base he suddenly found himself pulling up in front of the VI that had stopped at a closed door, a door that he knew lead into the Shadow Broker's centre of operations. She was just beyond there, he though, just on the other side of that door, barely 3 inches between him and her. He stood staring hard at the door as if seeing through it, trying to collect his thoughts, trying to calm his beating heart and quell the butterflies in his stomach. Taking a breath he reached out and pressed the door control.

As the door opened Liara spun around from the console she was standing at and smiled at Shepard as he stood in the doorway. "Shepard, thanks for dropping by, I…," she froze mid sentence as she saw him and walked over to him reaching up gently and cupping his cheek in her smooth blue hand, looking questioningly into his eyes. "You haven't just dropped by have you? You did it didn't you? I have had conflicting reports of a ship using the Omega 4 Relay recently. That was you wasn't it, you actually went through".

Shepard nodded, placing his hand over hers.

"And… and you came back."

Shepard nodded again, not trusting his voice to hold.

"Oh Shepard," whispered Liara, pressing her forehead against his. "You came back."

"I came back Liara, I promised."

They stood there for a time with foreheads together just breathing in each others scent, craving nothing but the closeness of each until a door on the upper level behind the centre console slid open.

"Liara, I have just finished calibrating that new surveillance equipment." Feron said as he walked into the room holding a glowing datapad. Turning it off he looked up. "Did you want me to, oh, sorry, Shepard! I didn't know you were here".

Shepard took a step back from Liara and looked over at Feron with a smile, "Its good to see you again Feron, you are looking well." He noticing that Liara hadn't let go of his hand, it felt good to just be touching her.

Feron glanced from Shepard to Liara and back. "I, umm, I need to go and umm, re run those calibrations. It was good to see you again Shepard."

As he turned and walked quickly from the room Shepard turned back to Liara, "He seemed surprised to see me."

Liara blushed a pale shade of purple and smiled, "I imagine that he suspects you are here for reasons other then a polite chat."

"And if I am, Liara?"

Liara let go of his hand and walked back over to the centre console, looking at it without really paying attention to the data on the screens. "But you aren't staying are you". It was not a question.

Shepard stepped up behind Liara and replied, "No, I need to go back to Earth to answer the charge of genocide that the Batarians have laid."

Liara bowed her head and looked down, hands resting on the console. "You only ever seem to return just when you are going to leave again."

"I'll come back Liara, you know I will."

"Yes, but for how long? How long until the next time comes and you must leave again and then what? Will you come back again? How many times will you leave before you fail before you fail to come back? Goddess Shepard, I lost you once and every time you leave I am afraid I will lose you again. I gave you my heart and you take it away with you every time you leave, I can not keep living like that."

"What else can I do? What do you want from me Liara?"

Liara turned to face him, her eyes a mix of sadness and hope. "I want you Shepard, but not as a memory, I want you to stay."

"I want too Liara."

Liara stepped forward with a fire sparking behind her eyes. "Then stay, stay here away from the Alliance and the Batarians, away from everyone, no one will ever find you here, stay with me".

"I can't, the Batarian's are using me as an excuse to go to war, I have to face their charges and show them what we did was necessary. Liara I promise…."

"Don't promise me you will return again Shepard," interrupted Liara, "we both know you cannot promise that and I cannot go on waking up every day wondering if this will finally be the day when I receive the news of your death. Not again."

Shepard took Liara's hands in his and look seriously at her, "Then leave all this and come with me. Whatever is out there, whatever happens, we can face it together side by side."

"I... I can't, the information the Shadow Broker has access to is too important, it can be used to help stop the Reapers. There are 101 things then need to be done here."

"Yes, and Feron can handle 102 of them, let him do it."

"I can't," she replied, looking away and shaking her head.

"This is not you Liara. This hiding behind all of the information and living in the shadows, it is not you."

Liara's eyes flashed in anger and she pulled away from Shepard's hands and walked over to sit down behind her desk. "Is that what you think I am doing, hiding!?"

"No, no I don't think that, but I do know that this isn't you. You became an information broker to seek revenge and now you can't let that part of it go. But it is over Liara, it is all over, there is no need to do this anymore."

Liara lent forward over her desk and hung her head letting out a long sob drawn from deep inside herself. "Oh by the Goddess, you don't understand, they tortured him for two years, two years Shepard, just for helping me save you." She waved her hand around the room. "This, all this, is what did it, what made that possible. The Shadow Broker tried to get to you after you died and failed but he did get to Feron, I cannot let that happen to anyone ever again, I must make sure it never happens again."

Shepard moved over and stood front of her desk, reaching over to touch her cheek. "Then let Feron look after it Liara. He understands better then anyone what abuses this sort of power can lead too, he will make sure it never happens again."

Liara lifted her head up and looked pleadingly into Shepard's eyes, "I can't."

Shepard sat down opposite her and placed his hand over hers. "Let it go Liara, stop living in a past full of revenge and hate, it is not who you are."

Liara dropped her head again, a tear running down her cheek and falling onto the back of Shepard's hand as she slowly shook her head, "Oh Shepard, I…."

After sitting motionless for what seemed like an eternity with her tears falling down onto her desk and onto Shepard's hand she finally, slowly, lifted her head and activated the console at her desk. After typing in a few commands she closed the console again and looked up into Shepard's eyes. Unsure of what she had just done Shepard none the less felt a huge wave of relief wash over him as he saw peace in those eyes, a peace that had been missing for too long and he smiled at her. Just as he reached up to brush away her tears Feron came in at a near run and without even glancing over at the two of them headed straight past to the centre console.

"Liara! There is something wrong with the system. Something, someone, has just wiped your biometric access codes from the security protocols we installed into the database. It's an isolated system, it could only have been done internally, have the guards reported anything? Where is that damn VI when you actually need it?"

Liara looked over to Feron and back to Shepard and smiled.

Feron turned to her with a panicked look on his face. "Run a scan on the external access ports while I run an internal scan for any anomalies. Shepard we could use you AI to check… err, to check for… to…," Feron stumbled over his words as he looked at Liara and the tears that were still on her cheeks. As he looked from Liara to Shepard and back his mind raced furiously and he become even more alarmed. "The database control systems cannot be accessed from outside this room, there can't be a glitch. What have you done Liara?"

"What is right Feron, it took a very special person to make me see that."

"But you have just locked yourself out of every system! That means that you…."

"That I am leaving, yes," interrupted Liara gently, "You are the Shadow Broker now."

"What? No! Why? I couldn't. I am not like you Liara, I understand how some of this works, but I could never be as good as you."

Liara stood and approached Feron, hugging him. "You are wrong Feron, you will be a better Shadow Broker then I could ever be because you will make sure that the information is never used for harm, or revenge."

Feron shook his head and looked over Liara's shoulder to Shepard who nodded at him and slowly it dawned on Feron what Liara was giving up and why she had too. He stepped away from Liara and turned to Shepard, "look after her Shepard and keep her safe, don't you dare let anything happen to her because if you do I will know about it and you cannot hide from the Shadow Broker. I will find you and I will kill you if you let her come to harm."

Shepard stood and walked over to Feron. "If she comes to harm Feron you will have to settle for what the last Shadow Broker was after, my corpse."

He reached out his hand to Feron who took it and as they shook Feron nodded. "I understand Shepard, good luck out there and if there is anything you ever need, you know where I am."

"You are a good man Feron, stay that way," and with that he turned to Liara, "I will wait by the shuttle Liara, take you time to say your good byes."

Liara nodded and watched Shepard walk out and close the door behind him.

...

A little while later the door to the shuttle bay opened and Liara stepped though, carrying a small case. Shepard smiled at the sight of her and stood up from the cargo box he was sitting on. "Ready?"

"Yes Shepard, I am ready. It will be good to see the Normandy and her crew again."

Shepard stepped aside and waved Liara onto the shuttle and followed close behind her, closing the shuttle's door and activating his comm, "pilot, two on board for a return to the Normandy, inform EDI we are leaving and launch immediately".

"Sir? Two Sir?".

"Immediately I believe was the phrase pilot".

"Yes sir, immediately sir".

As the shuttle lifted off Liara sat down opposite him and looked over. "Commander?".

"Yes Liara?"

"Thank you."