Who Saves the Hero by Kudara

Chapter 5

Docked at an unidentified Cerberus Space Station while retrofitting the Normandy with Silaris Armor and a Thanix Cannon

Dreams

Warm, sky blue skin underneath her fingertips and lips, Amanda's fingers gently stroked along the stiff ridges of flesh that protected the more delicate ridged sensory membranes between them, while her lips brushed over the intricate tracery of sky blue flesh at the back of the asari's neck. The two sensations together drew an aroused moan from Liara, fluttering the flesh beneath Amanda's lips.

Only those humans who had both mated with asari and bothered to pay attention, knew how sensitive the folded skin of their scalps, the back of their necks, and the ridges along the lower sides of their heads were when they were aroused. Amanda knew, she had been with two asari before Liara, though the young archeologist was the first asari with which she had fully bonded.

Amanda had begun by gently stroking her fingers and brushing her lips over the folds of skin that formed Liara's scalp crest, something that they had discovered the asari greatly enjoyed. Then she had moved onto the more delicate folds of flesh at the base of Liara's skull as the asari bowed her head, giving her better access to the sensitive flesh. She had been stroking the asari's head for several minutes now, and from the way her lover was breathing and pressing back against her, Amanda knew Liara was very aroused by her gentle touches.

She brushed her lips further down Liara's neck, and then over across her shoulder as she moved from where she had been kneeling behind the asari. Forsaking the smooth blue skin of her lover's shoulder, Amanda raised her head and moved to capture bluish-purple lips merely inches away. Soft lips met, pressed against one another, parted, tongues invaded, stroked against one another. She felt Liara shiver in reaction as the asari's hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her closer. There was the brief brush of her lover's mind against her own, the momentary sharing of mutual pleasure and desire.

Spurred by it, Amanda tore herself away from the asari's soft, lush, mouth, letting her lips trail down the warm skin of her lover's throat and lower. She paused to trace her lips over the delicate line of collarbone, inhaling, drawing in Liara's distinctive scent. It was almost like a drug for her, the smell of her lover filling her senses, arousing her further. She breathed out a soft moan against Liara's skin and the hands gripping her shoulders clenched, nails digging briefly into her bare flesh before relaxing once again. Pulling away for a moment, she requested softly, "Lie down."

She watched as Liara lay down on her bed, the asari's blue eyes, their pupils dilated in arousal, never leaving her own gaze. She placed her hands on either side of her lover and leaned over her, "You are so beautiful."

Liara's hands came up to cup her face, "As are you, Amanda."

She turned her head and kissed the palm of one sky blue hand, then lowered herself to lie down beside the asari. She pressed her lips once again against the skin over Liara's collarbone and started a leisurely path downward, letting her lips and tongue taste and trace their way across the silky smooth sky blue skin. Liara's arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer to the asari's warm body, bare skin pressed against bare skin. Her lips traveled up the soft swell of a breast and finally surmounted the crest, her lips closed around the tip and her tongue swirled around it savoring both texture and taste and the way it hardened even more underneath her attentions. Though the greatest pleasure for an asari came from the melding, the joining of nervous systems with their partner, that didn't mean they didn't enjoy physical contact or were unable to be physically aroused, as Liara's current reaction perfectly showed.

Liara moaned and twitched in pleasure at Amanda's touch, her back arching to press her breast against her lover's mouth, and the asari's arms tightened around the human woman above her. "Please," Liara whispered, drawing one leg up in a slow caress along the outside of Amanda's thigh, begging for her lover's intimate touch, but the human was intent on taking her time. She wanted to stretch out this precious moment they had managed to steal for themselves for as long as possible.

Even though passion burned hot between them at the slightest glance, they did their best be entirely professional with each other when they were around the rest of the crew. Unfortunately on the Normandy, that ended up being more of the time than either wished. The Captain's quarter's placement, right beside the ship's dining area, made it hard for them to find a private moment together without someone noticing. Shepard tried not to resent their placement because she was the only person onboard who even had quarters. If she had been any lower rank, she would have to share the sleeper pods along with everyone else and there would be no opportunity at all for her and Liara to steal a few hours together.

Shepard was aware that most of the crew knew, or at least strongly suspected, they were lovers. That might have caused problems earlier, but between the events on Noveria where Liara had fought with Shepard against her own mother, and then the fact that the asari had been by her side for the final battle had put to rest any lingering doubts about where the maiden asari's allegiance lay, and did a lot to disprove views like Gunnery Chief Williams that their non-human allies wouldn't stick with them when the going got tough.

With their actions in the Citadel Battle, Liara and Tali had more than proven themselves in the eyes of the Alliance crew and been adopted as unofficial honorary marines. The sudden inclusion by the crew had bemused Liara, who had never even wanted to be an asari commando, when she realized the reason for it. The blind eye the crew gave to their relationship was probably also due to the fact that Liara was a contracted specialist and not in the Alliance chain of command at all, so Shepard wasn't actually breaking any fraternization rules by being involved with her.

Enough thinking about the things that kept them from spending as much time together as they wanted, Amanda sternly reminded herself, Liara was here with her now, and that certainly deserved more than her divided attention. She switched to Liara's other breast, and then back and forth between them until her asari lover was writhing beneath her before she continued her explorations in a slow southerly direction across the expanse of toned stomach.

"Amanda," Liara whispered a sound of love and desire. Shepard felt a gentle mental pressure as her asari lover sought to join with her, to share this moment completely. She welcomed it, surrendered to it, felt the rush of sensation, memory and thought that was not her own as Liara joined their minds and bodies together. This was more than just a casual meld for the mutual enjoyment of sex, that was a brief moment of intense shared pleasure during orgasm. This was a joining, the full melding of their nervous systems into one, the sharing of pleasure as well as thoughts and memories. The first time they had bonded they had needed to be face to face, their full bodies pressed against one another for Liara to mesh their nervous systems so closely together. Now however, the asari was familiar enough with her that full body contact was no longer necessary.

Liara's taste on her lips, her tongue delicately tormenting the tender skin, slickened with the asari's arousal. Slowly she explored every inch of sensitive flesh, each flick or long slow caress of her tongue sending lances of pleasure through them both as they experienced it as both giver and receiver. Finally hands threaded through her hair, pulling her to where the pleasure was most intense. Their bodies moved together as one, their pleasure rising until it peaked in an upwelling of joyous emotion and physical pleasure, and over it all the union of their very selves.

Amanda opened her eyes, a choked off cry of pleasure escaping her lips as the climax roared through her body, leaving her trembling and weak in the aftermath of the dream. She reached out, but the space beside her was empty, cold.

She sat up, fighting to regulate her breathing, and then moved to sit on the edge of the bed. She remained there a moment, remembering how she and Liara had clung together afterward their hearts pounding in unison, their breathing slowly settling. How she had, several minutes later, curled around the asari and they had both fallen into a deep, restful sleep. Memory brought no such comfort now; she didn't want to lie there anymore, not with the other side of her bed so painfully empty. A shower that's what she needed, she rose, not bothering with the lights. The window and fish tanks provided enough illumination to see where she was going.

Heading to the upper level, she passed by her desk and entered the bathroom. She glanced briefly toward the mirror in the darkness. Blessedly, she didn't see anything but her reflection, no nightmare image of sinisterly glowing eyes and lines of orange where her face should be. The first time she had gone to the bathroom and not turned on the light, half-asleep until that point, she had yelled in surprise and almost broken the mirror. Thankfully her brain had caught up, if a little belatedly, and she realized it was own image before she had done anything more than lift her arm to strike.

Shepard stripped off her clothing and stepped onto the shower plate in the corner, turning on the water and adjusting the warmth she leant forward letting it beat down on her head and back, the heat soothing. They were currently docked at the same space station where she had first met with the Illusive Man. The Normandy was currently being refitted with the asari Silaris Armor, courtesy of Mr. Taylor, and the Thanix Cannons, courtesy of Garrus's turian contacts in C-Sec. They had nowhere else to be anyway, Miranda was waiting for the Illusive Man to send dossiers on their next set of possible recruits so it had seemed the perfect time to spend time at dock getting the refits done. When Shepard stopped by the Cerberus operative's office earlier the woman had sounded certain they would be receiving them tomorrow...or maybe that was later today by now. Fortunately, the Cerberus engineers should be done with the armor and cannon installations in the next day or so as well.

The week they had been here had left Amanda with too much time to think about personal things, something she knew she needed to do, but had been avoiding. Liara...it had been just over two years, she took in a breath, forced herself to face a fear that had been growing inside her steadily. What if Liara had moved on? The asari was so very young for her race, though she was 106... Amanda frowned as she thought of the two years that had passed since she died. Ok, Liara was 108 now, still in comparative human years she was only around twenty or so years old.

When Shepard was in her early twenties she hadn't been ready to settle down with anyone, the one time she had thought she was deeply in love and promised forever had ended very badly. Sharon had been fifteen years older than her, their courtship sudden, fiery and passionate, Amanda had been so certain that it mean she had found the love of her life. Then her marine unit had been called up for a six month deployment. She had missed Sharon desperately at first; however, by the time six months had passed, Amanda realized with a sinking heart that she no longer missed Sharon in the same way she had at the beginning.

Amanda had tried, she had tried very hard to recapture the emotion she had felt before, but she had failed. Worse was how much she hurt Sharon, the older woman had been concerned about the difference in their ages, the fact that she was so much younger. Amanda had used all of her powers of persuasion to get Sharon to give them a chance. Only in the end Sharon had been right to be concerned. Once it became clear that things weren't working between them, the older woman, furious and hurt, and lost no time in reminding Amanda of the fact that she had been the one to persuade Sharon. The experience left an indelible impression on the young woman, and Shepard had never made any promises of love and commitment to anyone until a certain asari archeologist had snuck in and stolen her heart.

Shepard had rescued Liara, taken her with her in a whirlwind of adventure, danger and heartbreak. They had been attracted to one another almost immediately, and had become lovers on the eve of a battle neither had been sure they would survive. They had a few precious weeks together on the Citadel before the Council had sent them out hunting for geth, and then Shepard had died.

It had been two years, Amanda didn't know what she would find on Illium when she finally got there, but she couldn't go on just blindly pretending that everything would magically be alright. It might be, Liara might still love her...or Liara might have moved on, or even found someone else.

The look of betrayal, the tears, the angry, hurtful words, she wouldn't do that to Liara. She would keep herself under control, let the young asari's reaction to her appearance guide her own reaction. Amanda wouldn't make the young asari feel like Sharon had made her feel, like the lowest of the low, like she had been unfaithful or betrayed her. You couldn't be unfaithful to someone who was dead, and she had definitely been dead.

You also couldn't make someone feel what they didn't anymore; Amanda knew that from her own bitter experience. If sometime in the past two years the love they felt had faded for the young asari, Shepard would salvage what dignity she could out of the situation and never let Liara know how much it hurt or how much Amanda still loved her.

Goddess she hoped she was wrong, Amanda rested her forehead against the tiled wall, and that everything would turn out alright, her fears proven groundless. That she would find the asari and that they would embrace and then maybe Liara would cry and she probably would as well if Liara started. They would go back to Liara's place, talk and hold one another close. And her world would brighten, no matter the fact that she was still working with Cerberus and going on yet another suicidal mission to save the galaxy.

Continued...