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It had been a long day, even by Shepard’s standards. Even being given carte blanche to do what she needed to do to research the Reapers through the Geth Incursion, there were miles of red tape in her way. Today was supposed to be a run of the mill ground op, on a human colony planet that Saren had visited recently, to see what could be gleaned from what he left behind.
She hadn’t expected Cerberus to have gotten there first and to have gotten buddy buddy with the colony. Cue an hours long engagement that only ended in a very long conference call with Anderson and Hackett about the security of the settlement.
She’d sent her away team to go rest hours ago, seeing the weary look in Ash, Liara, and Garrus’ faces. She was envious that they were free, when she had explain the entire operation up until the moment it went wrong to her superiors.
She’d never been so thankful for the long elevator ride back to her bunk. It allowed her to try to ease the throbbing headache forming in her forehead. All she wanted was to hunker down for the night and consider skipping morning P.T. to sleep in. She was still considering the pros and cons of that when she opened the door to her quarters.
“Oh! Shepard, you’re finally back.” Liara sounded surprised, if not happy, as she turned with a smile. “I was just finishing up the mission report.”
Shepard aimed a weary grin at her newfound girlfriend. Their relationship was still new, and it still gave Shepard butterflies in her stomach when she saw the young doctor smile at her. It was a moment before Shepard noticed that Liara wasn’t wearing her customary jumpsuit, but rather…
“Liara, is that my shirt?”
Shepard felt herself gulp, her throat suddenly dry. The Alliance issue shirt that usually hung comfortably on Shepard during her morning training sessions was draping loosely on Liara’s shoulders. She hadn’t realized how wide her shoulders were in comparison to Liara’s slim form. The neckline drooped low across Liara’s collarbone, and it seemed to fit more as a sleep shirt than a workout shirt.
Liara looked amazing in it-despite the plainness that Shepard usually attributed to it.
Liara flushed a pretty blue as she stood quickly. Her fingers instantly went to the hem of the shirt, which strayed below her hips. Shepard followed her gaze and swallowed harded as she realized that Liara wasn’t wearing pants, only her underwear underneath the shirt.
“I-I’m sorry, Shepard. My uniform was…We all went to the mess after you let us go and Garrus spilled all over it and I didn’t have anything clean in your quarters so…” Liara trailed off, dipping her chin down bashfully, her eyes almost fearfully peering up at Shepard, “Should I not have?”
Their relationship was still so new, so undefined that Shepard realized her question must have sounded like an accusation. Shepard flushed, shaking her head quickly as she crossed the distance between the two of them. Her hands found Liara’s shoulders, reveling how the familiar fabric felt electric beneath her fingers when it was Liara wearing it.
“No! It’s fine. It’s uh-It’s great actually,” Shepard fumbled, prompting Liara to look up at her curiously, “You look really um…really wow in my shirt. It looks way better on you than me.”
Liara giggled at that, her shoulders loosing some of the tension that had been resting there. Her arms wrapped around Shepard’s waist and her cheek pressed close to Shepard’s chest with a sigh.
“Good. I didn’t think you would want me to just be waiting around in the nude when anyone could walk in.”
Shepard nearly choked at the suggestion, her mind filling in the blanks ofthat particular scenario as she pulled Liara even closer.
“Well, that might not be the worst scenario. As long as I was the one walking in.”
“Shepard!”