It had been just over 45 hours since the breakfast where Oriana had been given the news of Shepard's visit. Miranda stood alone in a dim room, lit only by the screens surrounding her. Each one displayed something different; a leg here, a hinge there. Some were circuit diagrams, others a collection of wires or other pathways. They all had one thing in common tough: the massive, squid-like creature of metal that dominated one of the screens entirely, as well as rotating gently in hologram form on a console in the center of the room. As she brought up two images of the same Reaper leg side-by-side, albeit with different layers of depth, a door to Miranda's left hissed open.
"She's here!" Oriana said excitedly, poking halfway into the room.
"Just a minute," Miranda answered casually.
"What do you mean 'just a minute?'" Oriana answered in disbelief. "She's not here in a minute, she's here now!"
"Is she standing with you there right now?" Miranda asked, not even turning to face her sister and leaning forward to manipulate the haptic interface before her. A series of lines appeared running through one of the two images before her.
"Well... no," Oriana admitted. "She's just been dropped off outside, and is probably coming up the-"
"Then an extra..." Miranda turned her head towards a holographic clock on her console "...forty seven seconds won't make that much of a difference. I think I'm onto something here."
"Fine then," Oriana huffed. "I'll go and be the polite host and take her bags then." She turned around and mumbled, "I may as well, I did pretty much everything else f-"
The clarity of Oriana's voice was cut off as the door closed, turning it into an ever-fading incomprehensible rumble before all was silent. Miranda ignored it as she made some notes, then did a double-take.
"Wait, bags?" she uttered to nobody, and began turning her head. "How many ba-"
Oriana wasn't there of course. Miranda made an irritated sound. "Bloody marvelous," she grumbled, placing the datapad down on the console. Switching off all the screens, holograms and consoles, she headed for the door her sister had disappeared behind just moments ago.
Miranda heard Shepard before she saw her. Jane was objecting to something as she came up the stairs from the research lab to the main entrance. Oriana flashed by carrying something fairly large in each hand, calling back about it being "no trouble."
"Ah, there she is," Jane said with a warm smile as soon as they came into view of each other. "I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"
Miranda couldn't help but smile broadly at the sight of Jane. Even when off-duty, she was wearing her Alliance fatigues. But then, Jane never seemed to be off-duty. Miranda wanted to make just two quick strides towards Shepard, take her in her arms and press her lips into Jane's, and remain that way forever. But she couldn't do that. Not with Oriana standing right there, watching Jane with a huge grin on her face. Especially not after what she'd picked up on the morning she'd told Oriana about Shepard's visit. She and Jane definitely needed to have a talk, and soon. And a talk while alone at that. Thankfully Shepard had remained pretty reserved as well, and Miranda hoped that she'd keep it that way until they could have this little chat. Looking at Shepard right now told Miranda one thing at least: she'd been spending too much time just standing there staring at the woman rather than answering her question.
"No, nothing important," Miranda finally answered after shaking herself out of the brief daze. "Just more, well... cleaning up the mess you left us."
Shepard laughed in response and turned to Oriana. "This is the thanks I get from your sister for saving the galaxy is it?"
"Oh, she's just sore that there weren't more Reapers intact is all," Oriana quipped with a wink to Miranda. "She says we're helping humanity, but I just think deep down she'd like to be sitting atop a working one wearing a crown and make the world bow to Queen Miranda as the creature does her bidding."
Shepard laughed while Miranda just shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"Y'know, if you'd told me that when I first met Miranda, I'd have believed you," Shepard joked. "No question."
Miranda gasped, then reached for a throw pillow from a nearby chair. "You bitch!" she said, half-laughing as she threw it at Shepard. The Spectre took the pillow to the face and fell to the floor deliberately in a manner that would win her no acting awards.
"Oh no!" Jane laughed. "The great Commander Shepard has finally been defeated by a soft cushion." She made feigned dying noises. "When I die, make sure I'm buried in a coffin made entirely of living, naked asari." She paused. "Actually, just bury me in naked asari instead of the ground." Another pause. "And, there's no need to make sure I'm dead first."
"No way," Miranda said with a defiant smirk, crossing her arms and thrusting out one hip. "That would be cruel and unusual punishment for the asari. Putting up with your ego and all."
"This from Miss Perfect," Shepard quipped back.
Miranda narrowed her glance at Shepard, then in an uncharacteristically childish manner poked her tongue out at the Spectre for a split second. Laughter coming from off to the side drew the attention of both Shepard and Miranda.
"My God!" Oriana got out as she realized both women were looking at her. "I had no idea that Shepard was so funny! And so much fun!" She laughed a little more. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"She usually isn't," Miranda said with a smirk. "I think one of those Reapers hit her in the head a little too hard or something."
Shepard laughed and got to her feet, casually tossing the cushion to Miranda. "It's just been a long, loooooong last few months of being down-to-business, deadpan serious," Shepard explained with a shake of the head. "It was good to finally let my hair down and just joke around a little."
"Well, that's what you're here for, isn't it?" Oriana said with a wide grin. "Have you visited any of the others yet?"
"You mean like Garrus, Tali, Wrex, et cetera?" Shepard asked. Oriana nodded. "No. This was the first port of call."
"Oh," Miranda said, and she winked at her sister. "Hear that, sis? You're Shepard's favorite."
Miranda tried not to blush, and tried to make sure Shepard didn't say too much. She noticed the two suitcases at Oriana's side and used them to change the subject, as well as answer a nagging question.
"Two bags? How long were you planning on staying?" Miranda queried.
"If it's okay by you, I was thinking about a week. Maybe a week and a half."
"Oh, wow!" Miranda said. "I didn't realize it'd be that long. I figured, just three or four days."
"Thankfully, one of us planned ahead," Oriana answered proudly. "I brought enough food to last at least ten days. After that, we can always get more. Or perhaps we could eat out a few times at some nice restaurant."
"One thing at a time, Ori," Miranda said, noticing her sister was starting to get excited. If she didn't put an end to this, Oriana would have Shepard's whole visit planned out in the next half an hour. "Shepard's probably tired and just wants to relax for now. We can work out places to go and things to do later."
"You're right, Sis. Sorry Shepard," Oriana apologized. "I'll show you to your room. It's got a great view of the lake."
"My room?" Shepard queried with confusion, then she saw the look on Miranda's face. "Oh, yes! Lead the way, Oriana."
As soon as Jane and Oriana disappeared upstairs and through a door, Miranda slumped against the wall behind her and sighed to the ceiling above.
"I was looking forward to this," she told herself. "Now I'm not sure this is going to end in anything less than some kind of disaster."
Miranda had to take Shepard aside and talk with her, but she needed a way to distract Oriana and keep her distracted for at least a few minutes, preferably closer to half an hour. Oriana had already planned pretty much everything though, so she couldn't exactly send her out of the house for something. She didn't have any boyfriends she could convince to keep her busy with. Or girlfriends for that matter. On top of it all, Oriana was already rather taken by Shepard, and Miranda could see it would be hard to separate them. In fact, why was Oriana interested in Shepard at all when she only asked her about boys and getting their attention? Was she merely bisexual, or was Oriana also trying to hide that side of herself because she thought it was expected of her to like boys? Or did Shepard simply have that same affect on Oriana as she'd had on her two years ago. Unfortunately, while Miranda was usually pretty good at digging for answers, these were questions she could really only find out from the source.
Thankfully for Miranda, Oriana provided an opportunity for her to have some brief alone time with Jane after the two women returned from upstairs. "It'll be time for dinner in an hour or two," Oriana said. "So why don't I go to the kitchen and get it ready while you two catch up on old times, okay?"
"Sounds good," Miranda smiled. She turned to Shepard. "Shall we retire to the living room?"
"Sure," Jane agreed. "Lead the way."
Shepard followed Miranda and the two sat together on the same couch. As soon as Miranda turned to face Shepard, she felt the redheaded Spectre's lips press forcefully against hers and pull her close. Miranda melted into the kiss without thought for a few seconds, but pulled away as reason entered her head just before Jane's tongue followed it.
"Shepard!" Miranda chided in sharp whisper. "Not so careless. Oriana's only one room away!"
"Oh, she won't hear us," Shepard said with a hungry look. Some pots and pans clattered loudly in the distance as Shepard leaned in again. "Case in point," Jane added as her lips mashed into Miranda's once more.
Miranda found herself reciprocating again, returning the kiss almost as much as Shepard was giving it. Shepard pulled away with a slurping smack, pressing her forehead against Miranda's. When Jane next spoke Miranda wasn't sure if it was Shepard's voice or her own thoughts, because they were exactly the same.
"I've been waiting sooooo long for this," the voice said with satisfaction. They kissed again for a few seconds more before Miranda managed to pull herself together, as well as apart from Shepard.
"Jane, wait," Miranda said, gasping in some air. "We need to talk first."
"About Oriana I take it?"
"Yes. About her," Miranda nodded.
"You made it pretty clear before that you haven't told her," Shepard said with a smirk. "But, realistically Miri... she's not stupid."
