[ME]Tell Me When It Rains (LiaraxFemshep)

Free time was something Shepard had yet to get used to. Part of her wondered if she would ever be used to it, if she would ever be able to relax into a normal day-to-day routine. It wasn't as though there was anything inherently bad about the downtime. Far from it, she enjoyed being able to spend time alone without having to worry about anything more than what she would like to have for lunch, or being in the company of her friends without the all too familiar pang of anxiety scratching at her heart that one of them might not be there tomorrow. Most of all, she loved that her talks with Liara about 'marriage, old age, and little blue children', which had sounded so hollow and hopeless during those long years of fighting, finally became a promise.

Still, without a galaxy collapsing on her shoulders like she was so used to, the days tended to be a bit boring by comparison. But there were things to do besides mowing down waves of Husks to pass the time.

Today was such a day. Though Earth was still far from fully recovering from the Reaper's destruction, the state of progress had passed the point of overwhelming bleakness and made its way to something almost hopeful to watch. Shepard had asked Liara if she'd like to help kill the boredom by joining her for a walk through the streets of London. Her request was met with wariness.

Her girlfriend's hesitance to accept was understandable, the last visit the couple took to London was not exactly a pleasant one, and the last time Shepard had allowed herself to look upon the city after the Reaper attack, it took all of the little strength she had recovered to keep herself calm. The tranquility had not lasted, and Liara had spent the night by her side, holding her close and murmuring quiet words of comfort to try and ease even some of Shepard's devastation at the sight of her homeworld in such ruin. That breakdown had been a long time coming, and while Liara would have readily agreed it was much needed to get the pain and grief out of Shepard's system, she was nonetheless concerned about returning to the place that had triggered such sadness.

"It's not like before," Shepard insisted. "That was right after the attack. I was upset and they hadn't even finished putting out the last of the fires. Seeing how far we've come since then would make me happy."

Liara leaned forward across the table, propping herself up with a hand against her chin, fingers splayed across her mouth, though not quite enough to hide her frown. Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"It's either this or I'll have to entertain myself by helping EDI flood your servers with porn again."

Liara looked up at her with narrowed eyes, fingers tapping against her lips. "What kind of porn."

Shepard smirked. "Krogan porn."

"I'll get my shoes."

The sky was grey, individual clouds melded in an indistinguishable mass far above their heads. The breeze carried with it the heaviness of coming rain, the sort that one sensed rather than felt. Maybe it was that promise of a coming storm, or maybe the population really was still so terribly depleted, but for one reason or another they didn't run into any crowding as they made their way through the city. Just as well, she had hoped for a quiet walk, and a deep breath of cool air and just enough of a chill to hold Liara's hand with the excuse of her own being cold.

Of course she didn't need any excuse, but it always made Liara laugh when she pulled something cheesy. She would have saved the galaxy all over again just to see Liara smile, so acting like a lovestruck teenager out of some god-awful vid was a small price to pay. Shepard had perfected her arsenal of terrible, drunken pickup lines, and was always ready to feign a yawn and throw her arm around Liara's shoulders.

"Big Ben's still standing." Shepard nodded her head towards the clock tower as they passed it, one hand stuffed in the pocket of her jacket and the other laced with the asari's fingers. Whether or not it was still functional was a question she'd have to wait to hear the answer to. At the moment it was only a quarter after.

"I thought the tower itself was called Elizabeth," Liara said, eyes fixed on the structure in question as they walked by. "Named after the previous queen?"

"Maybe? But everyone who's not a complete history nerd just calls it Big Ben."

Liara turned back towards Shepard, tone defensive. "It's not 'nerdy', it's proper naming."

"How do you know I wasn't talking about the bell though? Maybe you just corrected nothing."

"You said 'still standing'. The bell could not stand without the tower, Shepard."

"It's standing inside of the tower."

"I believe it is hanging."

"Yeah yeah," Shepard said with a slight shrug of her shoulders. She tilted her head away from Liara's. "Nerd." She stretched the word out under her breath, and a laugh escaped her as she got a playful shove for her teasing.

Whatever worry Shepard had had about seeing London again faded with each step they took. It was far from its previous glory, but compared to the sight of burning rubble and the stench of smoke and blood that clung to the air last time she was here? The change was enough to give a little push to the hope inside her that things would be alright. Even after the battle was over, she had found it hard to find peace in the destroyed lives and planets that had been left behind. It hadn't felt like victory. Seeing the buildings of London crumbling and burning had felt like no sort of win. Later she had been able to clear her head of that sense of overwhelming loss and acknowledge that they had indeed won, but seeing now for herself that civilization was pulling itself back together gave her a relief she didn't know she had been longing for. The streets were lined with construction, with the work-in-progress of many future homes, and uncrowded though it was, the people they did see appeared to be going about their lives as normal.

The sight brought a smile to Shepard's face, and she was glad they had taken the walk. She vocalized the thought, and Liara responded with a gentle squeeze of her hand and a smile of her own.

"So am I. I'm glad you get to see things getting better."

"It won't be the same," Shepard said, absentmindedly slowing them to a stop in front of a half-built building. "But it'll be. It's easier to see that now. You know?" Liara nodded.

Shepard continued walking, swinging her and Liara's joined hands between them as she did. "Why don't we head to Thessia sometime soon?" she suggested, gaze wandering up towards the monochrome sky where said planet drifted, millions and millions of miles away. "See for ourselves how it's going there. See if there's any way we can help out."

She could hear the smile in Liara's voice when she answered. "I'd like that." Shepard knew Liara had been anxious to see her own homeworld since the moment they had to leave it after the Reaper's attacked, but despite protests from Shepard herself, it was insisted upon that she remain within Sol while recovering from her admittedly horrific injuries. Liara, of course, had refused to leave her side, and seeing the happiness in the expression now at the mention of returning helped clear away the guilt Shepard couldn't help but feeling at keeping her stuck in this system when her worries were at home.

A ghost of something cold brushed her face, and Shepard looked up just in time to receive a raindrop smack in the middle of her forehead. Blinking aside the wetness that trailed down into her eye, she paused to look at Liara, who was rubbing away another that had hit her cheek.

"Lovely," she said, glancing behind them. "Now I'll have to change when we get back."

The rain fell harder, soaking through their clothes. Liara shivered slightly against her, looking up at the sky as though glaring at it would make it reconsider its decision to empty itself on them.

"Aw come on," Shepard said, nudging her. "We get back, change into some sweats, curl up under some blankets and watch a vid. How's that sound?"

Liara sighed. "Wonderful." She tugged on Shepard's hand to get her to start walking back the way they had come. "But I'd rather do so without having a cold, so let's hurry."

"Wait." Shepard pulled her hand back and Liara watched in mild confusion as the human unzipped her jacket and shrugged it off. Not giving her time to protest, she draped it over the asari's shoulders and guided Liara's arms through the sleeves. Her eyes narrowed.

"Now you're going to be soaked," she said, but Shepard only smiled and reached behind her to pull the hood over Liara's head. It was quickly turning into a downpour, and already Shepard's hair clung heavily to her forehead and the sides of her face, t-shirt going from damp to soaked in seconds. She was silently grateful for her choice to wear black instead of white.

"Don't care," she said. The rain hummed peacefully in her ears as it fell and drummed the ground around their feet. Liara's eyes found hers from under the baggy hood of the jacket, and Shepard took both of the asari's hands in hers as her grin widened. "You know how adorable you look in that, right?"

"Maybe if you didn't insist on always getting these a size too large..." But Liara was smiling back at her, cheeks a hint of a shade darker than normal. A blushing asari wasn't easy to notice, but Shepard had a trained eye for it. She placed her hands on the other's cheeks, relishing the warmth against her now genuinely cold hands. She leaned in and rested her forehead against Liara's, feeling the asari's arms wrap themselves comfortably around her waist.

"Humor me for a second," she said, smile still in place. "I always wanted to kiss someone in the rain."