[Disclaimer: I don't own any characters in this. The Shepard you see is the one I made for my own play-throughs, but the OC featured belongs to a friend of mine. If you want to know more about him, please look at lieutenant-constantine on tumblr (some content is NSFW/triggering, so please pay attention to the tags).]
Shepard was pacing back and forth across the small platform that hung over the galaxy map. Arms behind her back, head down slightly, she heard the muttered comparison that one of the male Alliance soldiers made, saying she looked like a caged lioness. This earned him a nasty look from the Commander, and he quickly scrambled away from her heated gaze.
She had been waiting for nearly two hours. Waiting for this new Lieutenant to come on board, but she had places to be. There was no time to waste these days, and this was taking far too long for her liking. She knew it wasn't going to be the soldier's fault. She would just have to remember that for when she saw him.
The sound of the airlock opening at the front of the CIC made her head jerk up, and a muffled growl rose in her throat from annoyance.
Took them long enough … she thought to herself sourly. She stopped with her pacing and straightened up, staying on the raised platform. She wanted to make sure that this new soldier knew who was in charge here from the moment they were on board. Best to establish that as soon as possible. She didn't know exactly who she was going to be dealing with, after all.
The man she saw before her was not exactly what she had been expecting, though. He was handsome, relatively young. In his thirties, at least. Her eyes went over his features for a moment, taking them in. He had very bright blue eyes that stood out compared to his hair, which was an almost golden brown colour. It was hard to tell exactly in the light of the CIC.
The Lieutenant approached her, but stopped at a respectful distance, giving her a salute.
"Commander," he said. She nodded to him and he lowered his hand. "1st Lieutenant Michael Constantine, reporting for duty, ma'am."
"Good to have you on board, Lieutenant," Shepard said, letting her stance relax a little. She kept her arms behind her back, but she was letting the rigid muscles relax a little bit. Now that he had shown that he was going to be respectful towards her, she wouldn't be so uptight with him. For now, at least.
"It's good to be back in action, ma'am," Constantine said, a small smile tugging at his lips. "I apologize for the wait. They were taking a very long time to, ah, clear me."
"I see," Shepard said. She could tell by his tone that this was not a subject he liked to speak about, so she left it at that. She had his dossier, anyway. That would at least give her a better insight to his temperament. "Well, you're here now, and now we can get going again. I'll have someone show you to your quarters."
"Thank you, ma'am."
"Don't call me that. Just Shepard."
"Yes, ma—I mean, Shepard."
Shepard managed to bite back the chuckle and smile that threatened to make itself known. She then called another officer to show Michael where he would be staying for the time being.
As he was led around to the elevator, Shepard glanced over her shoulder at him. She ended up locking eyes with Michael, but she quickly made it look like she was looking somewhere else. She saw the smile flicker over Michael's face again. Shepard let herself smile and chuckle quietly. She had a feeling that she was going to get along with this soldier.