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."
