A/N Bioware owns all, I just like to play in the sandbox. Beta-d by my best friend Em who forgave me for ruining her life with ME/DA and is therefore deserving of all praise.
Run Away With Me
Shepard stumbled into the apartment, using her last reserves of strength to propel her exhausted, broken body in the direction of the sofa. Reaching her goal, she collapsed upon it with a relieved sigh. Man, she hurt. Everywhere. And she was tired, so very very tired. She blinked her eyes slowly once, twice and realised that, in all probability, she would end up sleeping where she sat. Again.
A minute later, the door swished open again. Although, granted, Shepard couldn't be completely sure that only a minute had passed. It was likely that she'd fallen asleep at some point between collapsing on the sofa and the door opening.
Kaidan stumbled through the open door, looking as beaten and broken and as tired as she felt. As she had done, either minutes or hours earlier, he collapsed on the sofa beside her.
"Hey," he mumbled.
"Hey," she mumbled back, managing to find the energy to shuffle closer to him in order to drop her head onto his shoulder. In return, he somehow found the energy to put his arm around her shoulders. Ah, that was better.
It shouldn't have to be this way, she mused as she felt his breathing slow beneath her fingers. They'd defeat the Reapers; they'd survived, just. This bit was supposed to be the happily ever after part wasn't it? Instead her life had become a parade of interviews, news spots and photo ops, all of which served to turn her brain into mush as she tried her damndest to 'play nice' with the media. Then, when she wasn't doing all of that, there were the things that actually constituted her job: working alongside the other marines to clear the rubble, removing the twisted, broken bodies, fixing the technology, carving some sort of society out of what was left. All of which served to exhaust her almost-but-not-quite-recovered body.
On a logical level, she could see how, in the wake of the biggest war the galaxy had ever known, after the euphoria of victory had dulled and the general populace began to realise just what that victory had cost, the ordinary people might need a hero. Someone to believe in. On a logical level, she could see how they might think that she was that hero. On a logical level she could also see how the marines would need someone to look up to, to bolster them while they witnessed the hideous things that only those working on the front lines witnessed, and again, she could see how they might look to her for that.
On a logical level, she could see all of that.
On personal level, it really fucking sucked. Really. Fucking. Sucked.
On a personal level, it meant that she had had no time to properly relax. No time to recover from her injuries. No time to celebrate what they had achieved with her crew. No time to really reconcile with the love of her life.
So yeah, that pretty much sucked ass.
And all of it had left her drained. Really drained. Were it not for the fact that she was the single beacon of light for so many survivors, she would have given up long ago. Even now, even with all those hopes sitting squarely on her shoulders, there was a limit and she was reaching it, fast.
As predicted, she spent the night on the sofa, in Kaidan's arms, which was kind of nice, although it would have been a lot nicer if either of them had been capable of doing something more than just sleeping.
The next morning, as she rose with the dawn and while she was stretching out the aching muscles that were now punishing her for falling asleep on the sofa, she detected a faint hum of excited noise emanating from the outside world. She rose from the makeshift bed, careful not to disturb Kaidan as she extricated herself from his arms, and stumbled towards the kitchen in order to procure a cup of coffee, that sweet sweet nectar of life.
"What's up?" a gruff, unmistakably sleep-deprived voice asked, just as she began to pour the coffee.
"Nothing," she replied as she handed him his cup, accepting the grateful look he gave her as fair exchange. "Hey do you hear that?" she asked as the excited murmuring from the outside world seemed to reach a crescendo. He swung his head round to glance out of the window, a slight frown creasing his forehead.
The apartment door swished open in order to admit a few very worried and extremely preoccupied people.
"I have no idea how it got out," Liara began without preamble as soon as the door had closed behind her, Miranda and James.
"Ok, " Shepard said, automatically standing up a little straighter now that she was in the presence of those who depended upon her for strength. "What got out?" Liara's head shot up from her omni-tool and she shared a worried glance with those who had entered with her.
"You did, Shepard," Miranda said slowly. "You and him," she clarified, waving an arm at the two of them. "Someone found out that you weren't just a rumour and now..." she tailed off gesturing outside in the direction of the general hubbub.
Shepard let that sink in for a moment, then she deflated. She couldn't help it. She just... This was absolutely the last thing she needed. There would be questions, many of them, deeply personal uncomfortable questions that all those vultures who somehow thought they had the right to exploit her would want answering. The Alliance would no longer be able to ignore their relationship and would have to do... something, and she just... she just…
She collapsed on the sofa, head in hands. Somewhere above her she could vaguely hear her teammates discussing the implications and possible sources of the 'breaking news'.
She shouldn't have to deal with this, she thought fiercely. She had given everything of herself to defeat the Reapers; did she really have to pay additional taxes on top of that?
She felt someone sit next to her, and a warm, familiar hand closed over her own.
"Run away with me," he murmured into her ear.
"What?!" She asked in surprise, her head shooting up to look at him. He swallowed once visibly and his eyes briefly darted over their companions, who had suddenly fallen completely silent.
"Run away with me," he repeated after a moment, "I'm not saying for forever, maybe not even for very long but... Do you really want to stay and deal with..." He trailed off shooting a desperate, hopeless look out the window.
Her throat felt tight, she wasn't sure why. It might have had something to do with the fact that the man she loved deeper and harder than she had any other was offering to take her away from everything that had caused her so much misery over the past few months.
"Yes," she managed to croak out before belatedly realising what the last thing he had said was. "I mean yes, let's run away," she clarified hastily. The smile that almost split his face in two was like the sun breaking through the storm clouds and she couldn't help but respond in kind.
"You'll need an alibi," Liara said, already tapping away on her omni-tool. She was grinning too.
"And a distraction," Miranda added, also smiling. "They've surrounded the apartment."
Shepard shot them all a grateful look more appreciative than words could say at what they were prepared to do for her.
The next few minutes were a flurry of activity and Shepard refused to let herself think about what she was leaving behind because, as she looked over at Kaidan hastily throwing things into his kit bag, she realised none of it mattered, and that none of it should matter.
Fifteen minutes later they had all assembled in the lounge. Kaidan held both their kit bags in his hand. Miranda was now wearing a set of Alliance BDU's and Shepard's old N7 hoodie with the hood pulled down low over her eyes in order to obscure her own features. James was dressed similarly, wearing Kaidan's old Spectre hoodie.
"I'll let Admiral Hackett know what's really going on once you're free and clear," Liara said. "All anyone else will know is that you've been sent on a top secret mission,"
"Thank you," Shepard said, even if she felt that it was an insufficient way to express the gratitude she really felt. Each step they'd taken so far, each item she'd packed into the bag that Kaidan now held, had made her feel just that little bit lighter.
"You're welcome, Shepard," Liara said as Shepard hugged her.
"Take care of yourselves," Miranda said as she received her hug in turn.
" We will," Kaidan promised, "You guys too."
"We'd better go," Miranda said, nodding to James.
"Yeah," he replied.
Moments later what looked to be the entire galaxy's media hounds converged around the two figures spotted leaving the Alliance housing, but not one of them noticed the other two figures watching out of the window four storeys up.
"Come on," Kaidan murmured softly, "let's get out of here."
He took her hand, linking his fingers with her own, before leading them out the back of the apartment block. He dumped the bags he was still carrying in the back of the awaiting sky car, she tossed him the keys... and then they were gone.
As the crowds converged on the two individuals in the city centre, the single sky car sped in the opposite direction, and, as they put more and more distance between them and everyone, everything, else; as she glanced to her left and caught him smiling at her, his own countenance and body beginning to look more and more relaxed, she felt the weight, the weight of command, of responsibility, the weight that she had borne for so long that she had almost forgotten what life was like without it just... leave.
As she reached out in order to twine her fingers around his she realised...
She was finally at peace.