[Book Three] Chapter 02: The talk (Not that one)

Chapter 02: The talk (Not that one)

Jane Shepard had no time to think as Joker told her that Hackett wanted to speak with her. In fact she couldn’t think because her mind was blank, thanks to the shock of seeing the one she wished to see again  after sixteen years. Liara, seeing her friend was out of it, grabbed her by the arm and led her towards the elevator then to the new com room, the Normandy having been modified by the Alliance.

“Shepard? Shepard!” shouted Hackett as he saw his most important subordinate out of it. It has been Liara who made the report and presented the plans of the prothean device while Jane was acting like a zombie.
“You’ll have to excuse her, Admiral, she just found out Rick’s identity.”
“Oh.” was all he said in a tone that made anyone hearing it understand that it wasn't good news.
“You knew?! You both knew?!” Jane said in anger, her brain being done with its reboot.
“Only four people in the alliance knew. I gather he told you himself Dr. T’Soni?” asked the Admiral to which Liara nodded.
“Who?! Who knew?! And why did no one tell me?!”
“Me, Helena, Dr. Michel and Anderson. He was the one to find out after Saren’s assault on the Citadel.”
“Three years! You’ve known for three years and none of you said anything?!”
“It was sensitive information, commander.”
“HE’S MY MISSING BROTHER!”
“And a very dangerous element for the Alliance. Had his identity been leaked the consequences would have been disastrous! The missing son and brother of the most lauded heroes in the alliance in cohort with the queen of Omega and ran away because his family was abusive?”
“I never abused him! I raised him when our mother didn’t!”

“That’s not what the public would have thought! The Alliance’s reputation in the galaxy would have crumbled! Let’s not even talk about what your mother would have done! Starting and waging a war on her own against the terminus to find him would have been the least of the problems she would have caused! And who knows what he would have done had his identity been revealed? In fact, from his own mouth he would have taken drastic measures. All he wanted was his identity kept secret. We agreed to keep the peace, every mention of him, every trace, every DNA trail was disposed of, so no one could find out.”
“You should have told me.” she said reproachfully conceding the points Hackett made.
“He clearly didn’t want you to know, we respected that. Make no mistake, Anderson and I didn’t think it was right to keep it from you but it was for the best.”
“I… I feel betrayed, admiral. By you, by Anderson, by…”
“I know, we hoped that by spending time with you during your quest against the collectors he would tell you as your relationship seemed to get better…”
“I urged him to do so on Illum but he refused, I’m sorry Jane.” Liara said with a bit of guilt.
“Why?” the redhead asked, almost wailed.
“I’m afraid you have to ask him as neither Anderson nor I know.”

The transmission ended leaving the two women alone. Liara tried to comfort her by putting her hand on her shoulder, but Jane batted it away and left the room to go back to the med-bay. Liara sighed, it clearly wasn’t the time for this kind of drama but the cat was out of the bag and she would help deal with it properly.


____________________________________________________________


Jane was standing in the med-bay by the unconscious man. She hadn’t paid any attention to whatever Ashley told her. She went straight to him and got a good look at his face.

He was older, that was obvious, but she couldn’t mistake it for any others. His light blond hair, the scar on his forehead going through his hair line, the straight nose… Everything was as she remembered. With one hand she slowly explored the new changes, proving that he was now an adult, a man and not a boy anymore. Finally her fingers found themselves through his hair caressing his head.
She felt like her head and heart were going to explode. Too many thoughts, too many emotions. She had her little brother, right there under her eyes, under her touch. The brother she had raised, that she had loved more than anyone and anything and still does. He was also the man she had fallen in love with, had sex and made love to. She understood now why he said that it had been wrong, the morning after.

I enlisted because I feared my feelings for him and in the end it still happened sixteen years later. She laughed bitterly in her mind.

That has been her deepest and darkest secret that nobody knew. She loved him but too much. She had left to protect him from herself, so he could have a chance at a good life, a normal life. She knew how smart he was, how talented and despite the discrimination against the biotics, she knew he could make it without her. She hadn’t been wrong to believe that.

He made his own path in the galaxy at ten. Became an unofficial bounty hunter at sixteen, married at twenty one to an older woman, has close ties with the queen of Omega and is a billionaire. He sure proved me right.

It wasn’t close to how she wished it but her wish had been granted. Looking back at her history with him under the name Rick, she was confused even more. Why had he been so hostile towards her? And why did he spend that wonderful night with her? She had put his changes of mood to events in his past but now she was lost as to why. She couldn’t understand why he would scream murder when she slept on him but went to her every night after that to find peace. She had a lot of questions and the only one who could answer them was unconscious. Or perhaps not the only one.

“Why so much hostility towards me, Liara? You knew; did he tell you anything?” she asked, not moving an inch, her eyes focused on her brother’s face.

The asari took a deep breath, what she was about to say… she wished she didn’t have to, they were hurtful words.

“He hates you because he thinks you abandoned him.”
“I didn’t!” Jane answered hotly, turning her body to look at Liara.
“I know! He knows too!” she immediately reassured Jane. “At least his mind knows but he still feels that way. He loves you just as much. That’s why… he acted like he did. One moment his head spoke the other his heart. And the more time he spent with you the more the latter expressed itself before the former. Why do you think he went on a rampage when you died? He couldn’t handle it and he didn’t want to take it out on my mother and me the way he usually would have.”

They all knew what she was implying, especially Ashley as she had been the outlet to his anger. She loved it sure but she didn’t think she could take him on when his emotion was perhaps at the highest they had ever been. Even when his wife died and they began their relationship, he had months to handle it.

“He loves you, Jane. So much, never doubt that.”
“But he still hates me because I enlisted, right? No wonder he hates the Alliance; between me and our mother… That explains so much. Why he flared his biotics during the first business meeting. It wasn’t an intimidation tactic, it was because our mother was there and his anger took over for a moment. Then the nights…”
“What nights?” Ashley asked from the side.

She had been quiet until now, her mind in shambles. The man she had been in love with for years was her commander’s missing little brother. She couldn’t reconcile with that. Once, Rick had spoken about his family briefly and the description he made of his big sister didn’t match the woman in front of her at all. She wondered how come she never put two and two together and noticed that both their stories were the other side of the same coin. She also wondered if Analysse knew but concluded that she must have known, as Rick had been quite adamant that he had no secret to keep from her. Now, her mouth was faster than her brain and asked about ‘the nights’ the Shepard had let slip. Was it what she thought it was?

“During the recruitment period against the Collector, they met an asari Justicar, an old friend of Rick named Samara.” explained Liara.
“Sama… Oh…”
“He had nightmares every night. Tali couldn’t sleep well and was at the end of her rope.” Jane began to explain too, while Ashley secured the information about Tali in a corner of her mind. “Then one night, he came into my cabin late. He thought I was asleep. I was curious so I pretended to be and he just got into the bed, hugged me tight and went to sleep. Every morning when I woke up he would be gone as if he had never been there. Tali said… she said that maybe he was finding some sort of safety from me. I didn’t understand why then, but now I do. It was just like when we were kids. Every time he had a nightmare he hopped into my bed and we just hugged.” she said with a small smile. “No wonder sometimes spending time with him felt so nostalgic. I should have realized. I should have…”
“Don’t start the blaming game, Jane.” Liara said as she moved towards her friend and hugged her. “He did his very best for you to not find out, you couldn’t have done it. The only reason you know now is because the situation was outside his control.”
“Skipper, just a question in passing but you’re not going to shoot me for sleeping with your baby brother, right? You’re not the overprotective big sister type I hope?” joked Ashley to lift up the mood.

Jane looked at her silently for a moment, her face unreadable then snorted.

“No Ash, I won’t shoot you, tempting for defiling my brother but no he’s an adult he’s free to do who ever he wants.”

Including his own big sister

“To be fair he was the one who defiled me. A lot. And I wasn’t the only one.” the brunette replied, defending herself and throwing Liara under the proverbial bus as she looked at her.
“Hey! Don’t bring me into this.” the asari protested.
“Says the one who brought her mother into it.”

The two women began to bicker while Shepard was looking on the side. 

The world may have turned to shit thanks to the reapers but it wasn’t enough to take everything away.

She began to laugh at her friend's antics. She found it funny they were fighting over having sex with Rick. She turned around to look at her brother and wonder how their relationship will go from there, now.


____________________________________________________________


Rick woke up during the night. A bit disoriented, he looked around to understand where he was. Quickly he recognized the med-bay on the Normandy and that he wasn’t the only one in the room. He noticed Kaidan in a very bad shape on the bed beside him then turning his head to the other side he saw two emerald eyes he knew well.

“Hello, John.” Jane said with a genuine smile.

His eyes widened in shock and raising a hand to touch his face, realized that he was without his helmet.

Shit was the thought that crossed his mind. Gathering his wits, he acted.

“Rick.”
“I’m not stupid and forgetful enough to not remember my little brother’s face.”
“Never said you were but my name is Rick. John died when he had enough of the neglect of his birth-giver and his sister abandoned him.”
“I didn’t…”
“You left.” he said as he raised himself and got out of bed.
“Because I…”
“You left. Why doesn’t matter and I don’t care. You did that’s what matters.” he interrupted her and began to walk toward the exit. He was stopped by Jane who grabbed his arm.
“We need to talk.”
“I have nothing to talk about.”
“Not even about that night?”
“I said all I had to say about it.”
“Lying, really? That’s not like you.”
“You don’t even know what’s like me, you were out of my life more than you were in.”
“I know you love me.”
“I don…”
“Don’t deny it! Don’t you dare lie about it.” she said vehemently, shutting him up.

With no words to say, he freed himself from her grip and exited the room. She followed him to insist on talking but he clearly had moved on from the conversation.

“EDI, are you there?”
“I am.”
“It’s good to hear your voice again, I missed you.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
“What are we working with? What changes did those idiots do to you?”
“They removed the armory from the CIC and put it down to the Cargo bay.”
“Maybe they’re not that dumb…” Rick started to say with hope but it was quickly squashed down by the AI.
“Then they dismantled the lab and the comm room to make a center of operation. Two thirds of the armory space is unused.”
“Okay they’re not idiots, they’re retards. Once we’re on the citadel we’re buying what we need to optimize your space. How long before we get there?”

Jane wanted to ask how he knew they were going to the station but refrain.

“Two days and seven hours.”
“What about the gym and training area? My quarters?”
“All dismantled. Should I buy the necessary materials to build them again?”
“Yes. See if you can get military grade materials too for a workshop. It’s time I worked with proper tools in a proper environment.”
“That won’t be a problem. Should I send the bill to the Alliance?”
“Of course.” entering the elevator, followed closely by Jane, he selectionned the Cargo Bay. “The data?” he asked his sister.
“We got it. We got the plans for the prothean device. There had been complications though.”
“What complications?”
“That woman was a very advanced synthetic. It put Kaidan in the state he’s in. If Cerberus has more of those things it will  become even more difficult to fight them.”
“I’ll take a look at her code. Hardware-wise you know the one you want is Tali. Now will you leave me the fuck alone? I have things to do.”
“You made a fifteen feet high fall and landed on your head! You were unconscious for hours and you got shot! You should not even be up and running about, so no, I’m not leaving you alone unsupervised.”

The elevator arrived at the right floor and opened its doors. Rick took a look at the changes and was not disappointed. Some things would have to be moved to put back the training area. He noticed Ashley on the side, cleaning weapons at the workstation. He loved her new outfit which was emphasizing her assets greatly. He especially was appreciative of the skirt.

“Ash is here, she’ll keep an eye on me.”
“No, I…”
“Look, I don’t want to talk and I want to be left alone so I will. It’s up to you if you wish to stay conscious or not because believe me, I will knock you out if I have to.”
“Fine, but we will have that talk.” She relented.
“We will.” in your dreams.

She went back to the elevator. She needed to talk with Liara about what had just happened between them and perhaps a drink or two. Rick, for his part, just walked towards Ashley and embraced her tightly from behind, his hands locking themselves around her midsection and resting his head against the back of hers.

“Bombshell.”
“Lover.” she replied, keeping up with her cleaning.

They stayed like that in silence for a few minutes before he spoke up.

“Not going to ask questions?”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
“Then, no. I won’t be asking questions. You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”
“What if it will never happen?”
“Then we’ll not ever talk about it.”
“You’re the best, you know that?”
“Of course I know. Only the best could handle your stupidity.”

She finished assembling the rifle after cleaning it and turned around embracing him back. Raising her head she looked him in the eyes, something she had rarely had the occasion to do.

“I like you better without your helmet.”
“And I like you better in this outfit.”
“Of course you do.” she said with a smile as she put her hands on his ass and squeezed.
“If my head wasn’t pounding so much right now, you’d be the one getting pounded.”
“I like this idea.” she said as she leaned as she got on the tip of her feet to reach for a kiss. It was a hungry one, after months of separation. Full of passion, want and need. Finally, Rick broke it.

“Anymore and my brain would not have enough blood in it to be coherent.”
“Fine by me, I’d do all the work.” she said as she began to grind herself against his hardening member.
“Not sure it’s a good idea without having spoken to Liara first.”
“She can join, I don’t care.” she replied as she kissed him again but this time locking her arms behind his neck she pulled herself up and also locked her legs around him. In reflex, he grabbed her by the ass with his hands right under her skirt, feeling her skin.

“Ash…” he said as he pulled back from the kiss again.
“The shuttle lover. NOW.” she ordered as she began to attack his neck with her lips while grinding harder.

Defeated and because he really needed to vent, he carried her to the vehicle.

____________________________________________________________


Back in Liara’s room, which was previously Miranda’s, she was sitting at the edge of her bed looking at Shepard walking around, ranting.

“Jane!”
“What?!”
“You’re ranting!”
“I… I was?” she asked both embarrassed and surprised.

Liara moved a bit from her position and tapped the bed with her hand. Understanding the meaning, the redhead went to sit beside her friend.

“You’re going too strong at him.”
“Sixteen years Liara, and then we met again and he hid his…”
“I know, but the more you push, the more he’ll close up.”
“I KNOW!” she shouted before getting back control of her voice’s volume.” I know, but there are so many things I want to know, where’s been, what he did during the time he left and the time he met Samara. I… I want to clear things up, to have my brother back and… and…” she began to say and stopped, not willing to go further and share what her heart truly desired.
“And?”
“And nothing.” replied Jane as she looked down at her fists on her lap.
“Jane, I can’t really help you if I don’t know exactly what you want.”
“I just told you.”
“No, you enumerated some things but you clamped up when you were going to say what you truly wanted. The both of you are the same in that regard. You’re not siblings for nothing.”
“That’s not funny, Liara!”
“I wasn’t trying to be. Come on, you know it’s between you and I. Nobody else will know about it from me.”
“That’s…”
“Didn’t I keep his identity secret for a couple years?”
“It’s… It’s wrong, Liara. I shouldn’t be… that. That’s why I enlisted in the first place. I… It’s really frowned upon, illegal even. You’ll think differently of me, anyone would.” Jane spoke, almost breaking.
“You love him.”
“Of course I do, he’s my brother.”
“No, you love him.” Liara repeated looking intently at her as Jane raised her head in shock at being found out. “I don’t know about humans, but it’s not illegal in asari culture. Some frown upon it, some don’t. The act is not stigmatized, it’s the children born of such an union that would be because they would be pureblood but there are none as asari need a new source of DNA to make a child. Two sisters or a mother and daughter don’t have enough different DNA to create a child. Did you think that my mother and I were only taking care of Rick together and not of each other during those times?” explained the archeologist.
“I… I didn’t know about that part of asari culture.”
“Just like the Ardat-Yakshi, it’s a well kept secret. We saw how the other species reacted to incest in their culture and chose to keep quiet about it, though it’s not very common. So, no Jane, I’m not thinking differently of you, nor am I frowning upon it. You love him and he loves you, that’s all there is to me.”
“But not for him.” she said bitterly.
“And how do you know that?”
“Well…” began Jane as she blushed.



____________________________________________________________

Ashley was lying contently on the naked chest of the man she loved and was back into her life. She was in bliss as she felt his arms tightly around her body and his cock deep inside of her, still hard despite the ride she gave him. Coming out of her post-orgasm state she began to kiss his chest  with as much love as she could.

“How is the pounding?” she asked.
“I don’t know, you tell me.”
“I was talking about your head.” she replied with a smile.
“Firmly lodged against the entrance of your womb.”

She chuckled and slapped his pectoral without any strength behind it.

“The big one.”
“Firmly lodged against the entrance of your womb.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“I aim to please.”
“That you do, very well at that. The question is, can you go another round?”
“No, I don’t think I can. The headache is worse and my side is killing me.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have insisted.” she said, looking at him with a hint of guilt in her eyes.
“It’s alright, we both needed it. Though once I’m healthy, you’re going to get it.”
“You better.”
“Mm-mm. I’ll choke you and everything. Your ass will be so red you won’t be able to wear any underwear for a week.”
“Hmm, if you wanted to calm me down, you’re failing.” she said as she contracted her muscles squeezing his member making him grunt in appreciation.

They stayed like that in silence for a while until Ashley asked him a question.

“Do you think we have a chance? That we can win?”
“Yes. She has an uncanny ability to rally people, to get them to follow her to hell and back without question. She will lead us to victory and we… just have to be there to support her, to help go that far no matter what.”

She looked at him from a moment then tenderly kissed him before lowering her head back on his chest deciding it was questions for later, and just enjoyed the moment. Moment which turned out to be hours, their omni-tool displaying the time (8:23 AM). They had been woken up by the noise of someone working on the shuttle. Ashley tried to quickly dress herself but was impaired by Rick who caressed and kissed her body. Half of her wanted to let him do as he pleased as she felt really good the others kept on dressing up to take her post.

“Rick, please!” she begged him.
“Don’t wanna.” he said as he sucked on her thigh as she was putting her boots on.

She took his head in her hands and made him look at her.

“Skipper is going to kill me if she learns that I’m late because I spent the night with you.”
“Don’t care, blame me.”
“That will do everything but endear her to me right now.”

He sighed, gave her one last kiss and stopped what he was doing reluctantly then rolled onto his back to look at the shuttle’s training. Ashley finished dressing up and threw her thong at his face.

“A reminder; for you to come to me and give it back. And just in case it’s not enough… See you later.” she said as she exited the shuttle closing the door with a smug smirk.

She was met by Steve Cortez, the shuttle’s pilot that had been on the ship when they left earth.

“Lieutenant-commander?! I’m sorry, I didn’t know that you were…
“That’s alright Lt. In fact, thank you, you woke me up, without you I’ll be even more late.” she replied as she made her way quickly to the elevator, hoping Rick would not notice until after she was out of reach.

She had been right to hope as she was in the meeting’s area when Rick finally decided to move from his position. Steve was still working on the shuttle wondering why Ashley had been sleeping in it when James arrived in the Cargo Bay and went to him.

“Morning Esteban. How you doing?”
“Great, James, a bit perplexed though.”
“About what?”
“Five minutes ago I saw LC Williams exiting the shuttle. I think she slept there.”
“Why would she? She has her own bed in the crew quarters, more comfortable than a shuttle flo…”

The door to the vehicle opened and a naked Rick got out, muting the two men. Nobody said anything and Rick, as if he owned the place and didn’t care one bit about the state he was in, walked towards the elevator and went to the Crew Deck while the two other men were gawking in silence, their eyes riveted on the man. They were not looking at the same place however.

“Holy shit! He’s…”
“Big.” commented Steve in half a whisper.
“What?!” James exclaimed.
“Nothing.” the pilot denied saying anything.
“Seriously, Esteban?”
“What ?! It’s not everyday I see a stud come out of my shuttle totally naked in the morning!”
“Yeah, I bet you’d like that more often.” James joked.
“Don’t I know it.”
“Too bad for you, he is into LC Williams.”
“What do you…OH!” Steve only now realized why Ashley had slept in the shuttle. “I’m disinfecting the shuttle.” he added with a deadpanned voice and face.
“Burn it to the ground and replace it, it would be faster.”
“If we didn’t need any and all resources, I would. I just hope they didn’t do it on my seat. By the way, who is he?”
“I have no idea.”
“He wasn’t among the crew members on the Normandy when it was docked, I would have remembered him.”
“I’m sure you would have. He must be the guy the commander loaded back on the shuttle with us yesterday.”
“The one who ended up in the med-bay with LC Alenko?”
“Yeah.”
“Shouldn’t he still be in there instead of knocking boots?”
“Hell if I know.”