T'was the night before Christmas and all through the Normandy not a creature was stirring not even a space hamster. Shepard lay awake in bed, the silence deafening to her. She knew the next morning was Christmas, her favorite holiday. Shepard had gotten Christmas decorations the last time they had shore leave on the Citadel. She couldn't sleep and had not interest in a writing a report from their last mission, so decided to decorate the mess hall.
She was putting up streamers around the mess table when Kaidan came out of the med bay. He was still groggy from his migraine medication when he saw Shepard standing on a chair with garland.
"Hey Kaidan, want to help?" She said when he noticed him staring at her.
"What are you doing Commander?"
"Well, tomorrow is Christmas, I don't know if you celebrate it, but I thought the ship looked bleak without any Holiday spirit."
"Where did you get the decorations?"
"Went shopping on the Citadel, just in case, even got a tree in my room."
"You're kidding?"
"No, when I lived in Mindoir, my family and I would always go all out for Christmas. We always had a theme. I haven't really had a chance to celebrate since then."
"What do you need help with?"
"Will you get the tree from my room place it somewhere around here?"
"On it ma'am."
As they were decorating the tree, he was sure he heard Shepard humming, the "Heat Meiser song." He enjoyed seeing this side of her, carefree, almost child-like.
Christmas morning arrived and the crew started trickling in. Ashley one of the first to arrive, stared surprised at the decorations, though more surprising was Shepard and Kaidan asleep on the floor, with his arm wrapped around her shoulders. She took a picture of them with her Omni-tool, and decided to keep it for future blackmail.
"LT, Skipper wake up."
They both woke with a start.
"So did you two decorate the mess?"
Shepard and Kaidan then realized their position. Kaidan quickly took his arm off her shoulder. Ashley smirked.
"Uh, yeah, it was," Kaidan answered staring down at the floor.
"All night long?"
"Yeah."
Ashley loved picking on them. "Well nice job. Merry Christmas Skipper, LT," and walked away to get coffee.
Kaidan got up and said, "Merry Christmas Commander, I...had fun last night," leaving in a hurry.
Shepard whispered, "Merry Christmas Kaidan."
3 Years Later
Shepard entered her cabin and found Kaidan sitting on the couch with a box.
"What's in there?"
"Open it."
It was her old decorations.
"You kept them?"
"I thought you might want to use them."
"Alright, let's get decorating."