A/N: As with most of my pieces, this is my take on what happens leading up to and during the first conversation you can have with Kaidan on the Citadel after Mars in ME3. It really needs no more of an introduction, so…enjoy! ^_^

"Aye aye, Commander." Joker's voice ran through the ever-tinny speaker above the CIC. "One school of stupidly smart kids coming up."

Shepard patted Traynor on the shoulder quickly and gave her a strained smile. "Good job, Traynor. Given how fast Joker flies, it looks like we'll make it in time to save them."

"Thank you, Commander." Traynor blushed and shied away from her. Huh, was it something she said? Shepard mentally shrugged and took a step toward the elevator. She was pretty out of practice when it came to deal with Alliance military; it's entirely plausible she wasn't formal enough anymore. Just as the doors slid open, Traynor blinked and called after her. "Commander, I–"

Alright. Time to nip this in the bud. She spun around and gave her trademark cocky smirk. "–Traynor, call me Shepard. Please."

The Specialist was taken aback for a second, staring with wide brown eyes. "I…yes, Shepard. Sorry, ma'am." She stood straight again and cleared her throat. "A few messages came in while we were discussing the signal anomaly, including two from the Citadel."

"Oh, okay. Thanks. I'll download them here, then." Shepard popped open her omni-tool and walked over to the message terminal. After having Hackett interrupt her in the middle of sleeping a few times, she had ripped the one in her room out from the wall. She wasn't good enough with tech to be able to automatically funnel things to her personal omni-tool, and she didn't trust anyone else with it. Far too many personal things stored on it. That meant she was stuck manually forwarding everything for the time being.

She quickly scanned the extranet addresses and message titles as she went through and checked every new message for forwarding. Just a bunch of normal junk: Udina wanted some intel, Hackett had sent her formal reinstatement notice, her favorite mod store had a new Mattock upgrade in stock, Kaidan sent her a mess–

Kaidan?

Shepard stopped as cold shock washed over her. He was okay?

Doc says I'm ready for visitors – Alenko, Kaidan

There it was, in glowing letters. She swallowed unexpected joy, forcing herself to take a deep breath and just breathe again. She thought that she had concealed her emotions pretty well since Mars, and that needed to continue. A soft shake of the head later, Shepard selected the other three messages before jabbing the 'Forward' button. She sent them to her omni-tool, the soft chime letting her know it was successful.

"I'll, uh. I'll be in my room taking care of these. EDI, could you alert me if any crew members need something?" She stalked toward the elevator and stepped inside as soon as it appeared.

"Of course, Shepard."

EDI's voice was laced with curiosity, but Shepard would have none of it. "Thanks."

"What the hell was that?" A hand waved at the screen as Shepard disappeared into the elevator.

Garrus sighed when Joker looked up toward him. "Why would I know?"

The pilot shrugged and settled back down in his chair. "I dunno. Did something happen down there on the moon?"

"No." He crossed his arms and looked over at his smartass friend. "Did something happen on Mars?"

It had been a few months since he had spent any real time with Joker, but it was clear as day that something happened. The man didn't answer the question, instead deciding to focus on tweaking their trajectory toward the mass relay. The only time his friend didn't answer a question was when something serious had occurred.

"…Joker."

"What?"

Garrus tilted his head, giving his approximation of the human version of annoyed. "What happened?"

Two crooked hands – probably from being broken and reset repeatedly – threw themselves up in a defensive position. "Listen, you didn't hear it from me, alright? I don't want Shepard to know I got EDI to let me listen to their helmet comms. She'd probably break my legs or something."

He would've laughed at Joker's antics if the hesitancy didn't bother him so much. Something serious had happened. Garrus nodded once, trying to make his voice as soothing as possible. "You know I can stay quiet."

"Alright. As you know, we picked up Liara. But we had to drop someone off at the Citadel before swinging over to your moon. If I said 'they got hurt,' it'd be the understatement of the century." He stopped talking for a second, collecting his thoughts. "Pretty much dead. It's a miracle we got there in time."

A pause settled over them; a pretty uncomfortable one. People died – or almost died – all the time in war. Joker wouldn't build up something like this unless it was a really big deal. Garrus cleared his throat. "It was Alenko, wasn't it?"

The hat quietly bobbed up and down. "Yeah. I kinda wish I hadn't been listening to the helmets, to be honest. They were starting to get over everything, and then a robot shows up and turns him into a pancake. She's really upset."

"Dammit…I bet that message was from the hospital."

Joker sighed, sounding a little off guard. "Ahh, shit. I bet you're right." He looked up, more of his trademark mischievousness seeping back into his voice. "Hey, EDI."

The melodic voice scolded Joker through the nearest speaker. "I will not allow you access to Shepard's personal messages, Jeff. If my own curiosity weren't so piqued at the time, I would not have streamed the helmet conversations, either; and I should not have. It is not correct of me to intrude any further."

A low sound of thoughtful discontent floated from the pilot's chair. "That just means it's even juicer than normal. C'mon, EDI."

"No, Jeff." The voice clearly was not going to budge.

While he didn't particularly like AIs in general, Garrus had to admit that EDI had taken to her unshackling pretty well. At least she hasn't vented the ship and taken off to conquer the galaxy, he thought with amusement. She kept some semblance of morals in place, and was always picking organic minds as to honesty and ethical ideologies. Hell, he'd only been on the ship for one day and she'd already prodded him about his thoughts on the concept of family and blood-ties.

Joker rolled his eyes. "Fine, EDI. See if I tell you that great joke I heard the other day."

"I have time."

Garrus gave an amused snort at their antics and shook his head. "I'll leave you two to your bickering. Time to go see how badly they messed up the firing algorithms."

Hey Shepard,

Through some combination of a medical miracle and dumb luck, I survived the beating I took on Mars. The doctors say I'm still not ready to be released, but I'd really like to see you if you can spare the time.

Councilor Udina offered to make me a Spectre. Still thinking about whether or not I should accept. Stop by my room at the hospital when you're on the Citadel. I'd like your advice.

Thanks,
Kaidan

Shepard had never felt relief more palpable than at that moment. For the first time in a week, she could actually breathe again. Deep, comforting, happy gulps of air. She closed the message and sat back in her chair. Kaidan was alive. He was going to be okay. He even wanted to see her, even after all their fighting on Mars. All she wanted to do was order Joker to hightail it to the Citadel, but she couldn't. Abandoning those kids to Cerberus was not an option. Kaidan of all people would certainly understand that. She popped his message back open and hit reply.