A/N: Originally written as a Christmas present for spectrekte on tumblr. Thought I'd post it here as well. :)
Life-sustaining planets generally had something in common. Most had a moon or two to stabilise their axial tilt and an elliptical orbit to give them seasons, and as a consequence the cultures that had arisen on those planets had given some significance to winter and summer solstices and other similar dates.
Another, somewhat more surprising similarity between spacefaring cultures was that most of them had eventually commercialised their holidays. And Citadel vendors apparently wanted to cash in on every single one of them.
Walking through the Citadel markets was nothing short of surreal. Due to the vast number of inhabited planets and the differences between their chronology, it was always some kind of a holiday somewhere, and the various booths and kiosks in the Wards changed their wares accordingly. Right now human Christmas was competing for space with some kind of an asari carnival and an obscure hanar holiday involving vast displays of what looked like multicoloured cotton candy.
The Normandy team was slowly making its way through the market, with Shepard in the lead and Jack and Kasumi following close by. Lagging behind was Grunt, who had never visited the Citadel before and was distracted by every other shiny or dangerous object he saw.
By now Shepard was done with all her own purchases, but her team still needed (or claimed that they needed) more supplies that she had to pay for. Besides, leaving people like Grunt, Jack and Kasumi in the Wards unsupervised was absolutely out of the question. Kasumi would unavoidably come up with some outrageous prank, Grunt would agree to it and Jack would just egg them on.
They passed a man selling firecrackers and another selling carnival costumes – some of which were inexplicably Christmas-themed – and one that offered discount tickets to the carnival. Then they doubled back to drag Grunt away from the firecracker booth.
In the next booth an asari was selling live bioluminescent insects that seemed to like biotic energy. Jack laughed as she made them fly out of their jar and follow her finger as she twirled it around.
"Can we buy some of these? We could do with some fairy lights on the Normandy. It is Christmas, after all."
"Or, we could hide them in Miranda's cabin", Kasumi mused. "They're attracted to biotics, so when she comes in for her evening workout, they'll fly out and swarm –"
"No fireflies", Shepard interrupted and promptly took the jar away from Jack and returned it to the vendor. "And how do you even know about Miranda's workout routines, anyway? No, don't tell me. I don't really want to know after all."
The other women pouted and shared a wink Shepard pretended not to notice. She could feel a headache pounding right behind her eyes.
"What's the deal with the hanar candy, anyway?" Jack was asking. "Is it Hanar May Day or something?"
"Hell if I know", Kasumi shrugged. "Everything they do has to do with the Enkindlers somehow. But I think this one's actually a fertility thing. Something about 'making a gift of their bodies'…"
Jack made a gagging sound, then giggled. "Well, whatever it is, Grunt seems to like it."
Shepard was becoming certain that she would rather battle the Collectors again than spend another minute at the market. "Is he eating it?" she asked without turning. "Please tell me he's not eating it."
"He's eating it", Jack confirmed gleefully. Shepard had suddenly had enough.
"Pay for it, make sure he hasn't accidentally married himself to anyone and then take him away", she hissed. "I'm doing the rest of the shopping by myself."
Jack and Kasumi were startled by her sharp tone and, for once, obeyed without question. Shepard turned on her heel and left without looking back.
The kaleidoscope of colours and smells and discordant strings of music did nothing to relieve the headache that had been forming throughout the day, so Shepard walked on without really looking until her way was blocked by something large and green. She looked up and saw a large fenced-off area containing a veritable forest of genuine – or almost genuine – Christmas trees. They smelled funny and were covered in glittery fake snow, but at least they didn't go off bang or appear to contain any bodily secretions, so she slipped between them and breathed a sigh of relief as the trees muffled some of the noise. There was an open area behind the trees and even a crate on the floor that she sank on in relief.
She was so focused on her breathing that she didn't notice anyone else coming until she heard a very surprised and very familiar voice.
"Shepard?"
Shepard jumped up and turned to stare at an equally startled-looking Kaidan. He was in his Alliance uniform and looked just like he had two months prior, when he had broken her heart, only better. If such a thing was possible. Today was really turning out absolutely splendid.
"Hi", she said, cursing inwardly. Two months and still all she could say was hi? Two months that she had spent reading and rereading that stupid letter that may or may not have been a Dear John. "I didn't know you would be here."
"Me neither," he said and for a moment looked like he was going to bolt. Shepard scrambled to find something else to say.
"It was so noisy back there", she waved awkwardly. "I just needed a moment of quiet."
"Me, too", Kaidan replied and she nodded in understanding. Normally she never got headaches, so for someone like Kaidan the marketplace must have been sheer torture. She remembered allowing him to rest in her cabin after missions during that brief time between the Battle of the Citadel and their encounter with the Collectors (she still didn't want to refer to it as her death). She had made sure no one either knew or dared breathe a word about their little arrangement. He would sleep his migraines off in her bed while she worked on reports, and if she preferred to do her paperwork while lying next to him, who was to know?
Shepard realised that they had been standing and staring at each other for some time now.
"So I got your letter", she began and then found herself at a loss for words again.
"I'm sorry", he replied quickly. "I probably didn't make myself very clear…"
"No, it's fine", she assured him. "I understand. I know it must have been hard for you. I was barely out of the hospital myself so I didn't, I didn't realise it had actually been that long and…"
"Don't apologise. I didn't handle the news very well either."
They had moved closer to one another until they were standing just a couple of steps apart. She looked at him anxiously and blurted out the question that had been bothering her since their last meeting.
"Do you still think I'm not me?"
"No, it's definitely you", he smiled and she smiled as well, because finally he was looking at her like the Kaidan she remembered. "I'm also assuming the feral krogan I saw earlier is also with you?"
"He is", she grimaced laughing. She was going to say something funny about playing mum to super-krogans now, but thought better of it. Somehow they had moved closer again until they were mere inches apart, and all she had to do was reach out and touch –
There was a rustling among the Christmas trees, and the branches parted to reveal Jack and Kasumi. Shepard and Kaidan jumped and instinctively took a step back from each other.
"We have good news and bad news", Jack announced. "Good news is that Grunt isn't hanar married, but he did insult the salesman's lineage by saying that his fluffball tasted like crap…" She trailed off when she noticed Kaidan. He took one look at the newcomers, then nodded politely at Shepard and left without another word. Shepard was torn between following him, snapping at her crewmates and just running away herself.
"Who was that?" Jack asked. "And more importantly, can I have him?"
For once, Kasumi didn't say anything, just cast Shepard a sympathetic look. Shepard had spent many nights since the letter nursing a drink in the Normandy's new lounge.
"Just someone I used to know", Shepard sighed and headed back to the marketplace to deal with Grunt's problem.