Chapter Text
One glimpse was all it took to change the rest of Liara's days, a realization that she was not the only one who sought solitude in the Starboard Observation deck. She came here often to work in peace and quiet, reassured she would be alone without any risks for social situations, after discovering how little traffic there was in here.
Until the Commander made the habit of seeking solitude in here too.
They exchanged curt professional smiles whenever the other would enter the room, before retreating to their respective favoured spaces. The awkwardness between them always remained - or so Liara felt. She would wrack her brain for things to say, up until the Commander would settle down at the table and resume the arduous process of assembling her intricate models.
Today, the engineer had actually broken the silence.
"Asari build impressive ships," Shepard murmured. She hadn't lifted her head nor broken her focus. Her eyes flicked up for a mere second, before back to the model.
Unfortunately, Liara wasn't well-versed in her knowledge of ships, other than that they were capable of spaceflight. She smiled sheepishly when their eyes made brief contact again. It wasn't long until awkward silence crept back in.
"It's better to say nothing than to make a complete fool of myself."
Embarrassed, she rose her datapad to block her face. She stole looks whenever she thought she was safe, lowering the PDA just enough to have a constant view over the rim of it. The Commander toiled away, wearing a concentrated look as she seemed to problem solve where the parts were to go. For some reason, she never consulted the instruction manuals of the ships she built. Perhaps it was her way of relaxing, by problem-solving through more menial things rather than galaxy-wide life-altering scenarios.
It took time for the tension to leave - and that was only because the Commander had literally left the Observation room. Liara sighed as her datapad fell to her lap.
"Oh, by the Goddess I'm a fool anyways. Surely the Commander is reconsidering my stay here."
But what was she to do? If she engaged in small talk, she would prove how inept she was at all. Give her a big Prothean artifact and she could regale tales of analysis in a heartbeat. Right now, all she was good for was speculating the visions trapped in the Commander's mind.
Disheartened, Liara stared at her PDA. She picked it up and continued to plug away her current thesis with all this newfound evidence that had fallen in her lap.
She resolved to do better the next time Shepard and her shared this room.
"This model is the Destiny Ascension, the flagship of the Citadel," the Commander idly mentioned.
"Oh no."
"It's 4 times bigger than the largest human ship, holding a crew of 10, 000. I overheard a volus talking about his tour of it. 6 hours spent aboard, and all he saw was 10% of it. Asari build impressive ships indeed."
"Why is this happening again?"
All Liara could think to do was smile.
It was clear Shepard was expecting so much more from her - a verbal reaction, surely. Or perhaps not. The engineer never really said anything or made any notes of disapproval, content with her tinkering away. Maybe she wasn't expecting a conversation. Maybe she just enjoyed to talk to herself out loud. If that was the case though, wouldn't that be concerning? Should Liara report that to someone?
"Don't be foolish. She is trying to reach out to me, surely. Build a foundation."
That whole part about being inept at small talk was really showing, regardless if she invested effort to try or not. Now more than anything Liara wanted a crate large enough to fit her so that she could crawl inside and never come out.
"Oh, Dr. T'Soni - I also forgot to mention that we've brought what we believe could be a Prothean artifact on board."
"What? Where?! What is it?"
The Commander's eyes flicked up to her, a slight hitch at the corner of the lips. It somehow seemed to spell ominous disaster for Liara.
"It's a large slab, looked to be like it used to be part of a wall. We extracted it from some ruins in Feros and it's in the hangar bay now." Shepard set her tools down as she picked up her cup, looking into it in disappointment. "I need more coffee." She rose stiffly and took her leave without another word.
Stuck, Liara didn't know whether that was an invitation for her to go down to the hangar bay and begin analyzing the slab, or if there were other plans for it. She was the Prothean expert on the ship though. It just made sense that it was all hers, ripe for the picking. But would it be rude to leave now just for it? She hadn't even gotten the chance to say thank you, or ask if she was even allowed to go down there by herself. She was burning with questions more than answers. She caved in to temptation and tucked her PDA firmly under her armpit, scrambling to collect all the books she stowed here for reference on artifacts other archaeologists had shared their discoveries over. They balanced precariously and slid about, her mind too warped by chaos to rationalize how she could just use her biotics in her mission.
She vowed once more to do better the next time Shepard and her shared this room.
"So you're the hermit I keep hearing rumours about."
Liara was startled out of her thoughts, deeply immersed in all the possibilities this Prothean slab suggested. She glanced up from her seat on the cold grated floor of the hangar bay, where Shepard casually sipped whatever was in her cup, hand stuffed in the pocket of her N7 hoodie. Her gaze stayed steady on the artifact - thank the Goddess, for the archaeologist didn't perform well under the pressure of eye contact.
"Hermit?" Liara inquired nervously. "What does that mean?"
"Don't worry about it. Just teasing." Shepard approached the slab's side and seemed to regard the way it leaned against the wall. "This doesn't seem safe to set up your camp right in front of it. It will crush you if it falls forward."
Liara glanced around at all her books and papers strewn about, feeling heat collect in her cheeks. "I... It seems sturdy."
"Mm."
Another sip. No other enlightening answers though. This was the most they'd ever talked already, and that realization was getting to Liara's head. Rapidly. She tensed up when the engineer glanced over her at her, her thin lips perched in a small tense smile.
"Let me know if there's anything I can do."
"I-I wouldn't want to trouble you, Commander, and-"
"It's no trouble." Shepard walked over to the other side of the slab. She obliviously committed a grave atrocity when she tapped her toes against the corner, and the slab grunted with movement. "First, I'll find someone who can secure this to the wall. I don't want to hear reports of a dead hermit."
Liara didn't know what to say, as usual, and was left baffled when the Commander simply left. She seemed to be searching right now, asking around the hangar bay. Marines looked over at the slab. The archaeologist shrunk whenever Shepard's eyes connected with hers, and immediately threw herself back into her speculations as she referenced her books to see if there were any of these symbols spotted by other archaeologists.
Footsteps approached from behind and fingers tapped her shoulder. She reluctantly looked up, where the Commander smiled from behind the rim of her cup.
"Why don't you take a break? I'll supervise the marines while they tie the slab to the wall."
"Please ensure they don't damage it or obscure the symbols in the process," Liara blurted.
She blushed when the engineer's coal brow arched. Her lips never broke away from the cup and she simply nodded as she drank.
Now more than anything Liara wanted the mako to run over her too.
With haste, she collected all her books and papers, where she stowed away after the Commander made a small gesture to one of the crates offside. She took her datapad with her and made a mad dash for the solitary safety of the Starboard Observation deck, her face burning over her own grave atrocity.
"Of all things to say, I have to go and be arrogant and rude and - Goddess, why do I keep making a fool of myself around her? She's only trying to help me."
Liara sighed as she dumped herself in her chair, reviewing what she'd plugged into her PDA thus far. The data melted away at the mercy of searing thoughts frantically racing over her social gaffe. She wanted to apologize, to hide, to apologize then hide, then apologize for hiding.
Then to top it all off, she wanted to scream when the doors opened and Shepard came in.
As if nothing ever happened at all, the engineer began to go to her corner of half-assembled model ships. Liara couldn't bear to live with herself if she didn't say anything now.
"C-Commander!" She shot up into standing, only to awkwardly plop back down on her seat. "I'm sorry for what I said back there, I did not mean to... I mean I did mean it, but... But I did not mean to be so rude about it."
That coal brow arched again.
Terrifying.
Shepard was half-twisted, that cup still ever so persistently pressed to her lips. She tilted it slightly and shrugged when she finished drinking, turning fully.
"I didn't think you were rude."
Unfortunately, she seemed to think this was the perfect opportunity to approach Liara and give her more chances to commit social blunders. The Commander made herself comfortable in the chair across, leaning forward as she cradled her cup in her hands. She leaned even more as she reached to gently pat Liara's knee for the fleetest of seconds. There was an interesting observation made in that moment.
"You're alright." Shepard relaxed back and sipped from her cup, before her fingers drummed along on the sides of porcelain. "So... Can I ask questions about your work, or will that impede your process of deciphering that slab?"
Liara stared for a moment, her brain stuttered on the observation. The tense silence between them stretched. The longer it did, the more times the engineer sought solace in her cup.
An empty cup.
"Dr. T'Soni?"
Liara snapped out of it, tried not to smile. Her mind raced with more speculations now. She offered her datapad.
"This is all the information I have so far - it's not much, being little beyond conjecture. I am afraid I am still stuck on interpreting the meaning behind just the first symbol. I know I have seen it somewhere, but I cannot recall if it was in a book or on one of my digs. With enough time, I am confident I will figure it out."
"Hm." Shepard balanced the datapad on her thigh. Her hands coaxed and massaged the cup as she did.
Liara wanted to scream it was empty every time the engineer pretended to drink from it.
Suddenly, Shepard seemed to come to that conclusion herself. She abruptly gave the datapad back and rose from her chair, her lips thinned in a tense smile.
"I'm going to go make some coffee. Would you like me to bring you back a cup?"
"No thank you, I usually drink tea."
Shepard nodded stiffly. "Then I'll be back with tea."
Before Liara had a chance to protest and say she was okay, she was all alone. She pressed her fingers to her lips to hide her smile, trying to tap it off her face. She drew her knees up in the chair and hid her face behind her datapad, electing a certain human's peculiar strategy as she pretended to read the contents.
"This is the Observation room, alright," Liara thought giddily to herself. "And what an interesting one I've seemed to stumble upon."
It seemed she wasn't the only one who vowed to do better the next time Shepard and her shared this room.