Author's note: This is part two of my previous story called How Far You Will Go. It takes place about a year or so after the end of Mass Effect 3.
Timeless
Waking up, I look to my left. My love isn't in our bed with me. For a moment, it scares the shit out of me. For a moment I fear it was all a dream, as if finding him again wasn't real, until I look to my right and see him standing there gazing at the gentle snow falling outside our bedroom window. The snow had been falling for days now, but it was somehow okay, the snow made everything pretty.
I smile at my love. Every moment with him is precious. It had better be, it had been a bitch to find him again. When I had, he had changed so much, but he was still the man I had loved since those days on the Normandy. I had vowed to never let him go after that day, so after working up the courage, I proposed to him. He immediately said yes, like I knew he would and we had gotten married a few days ago.
Throwing the covers off myself, I get out of the bed. Smiling, I make my way over to my lover and wrap my arms around his bare waist. He smells wonderful, the same intoxicating smell that made me instantly fall for him the moment I met him.
"Kaidan," he says with a grin forming on his face. "You're awake."
"Yep, I am Josh," I reply as I look out the window at Vancouver. The city had largely been rebuilt since The Reaper invasion. It had taken time, but things were returning to normal despite everything that had happened.
"So what do you want to do today?" he asks as he turns to me.
Even though I did just get up, I already know what I really want to spend the day doing. I just want to lie there in bed with him, simple. He is my lover, the man I fought so much to see again. And since we don't have anywhere to go today, it's the perfect way to spend our day. "I have an idea," I tell him leading him over to the bed. "We should just spend the day here, talking."
"I'd like that Kaidan," Josh sighs as he sits down. "I have something I need to say."
"Oh, what?" I ask, sitting down, a bit scared.
"Nothing bad," he assures me. "I just, I don't know. I look back on our wedding day, back at seeing your mom again and part of me wonders how she let me marry you."
"What do you mean?"
"When we came back," he begins with tears in his eyes. "I was so messed up Kaidan. I was a disaster, but she never turned me away. She never said I wasn't good enough for you even though I know I wasn't. I'm still not even sure if I am or if I ever could be."
"Josh," I say, his name flowing off my tongue, the love I feel for him in my voice. "She would never think that. She loves you, she knows you. Your heart is good. She told me that she loves you as much as she would if you were her own kid. You're perfect for me."
"She did?" he asks, the tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Yes, of course, why do you think you're not good enough, you're you," I respond to his question.
He smiles, warming my heart, "You know, you know exactly what to say to make a man feel loved."
"It's the truth Josh."
"Really," he wonders, still unconvinced.
Pushing him back on the bed, I kiss him on the lips, "Yes, of course it is. She told me that after meeting your mother she sees where you get your goodness from."
"I did get that from her," he nods. "I got the stubborn streak and the will to get things done no matter the cost from my father."
"I wish I could've met him, he must've been a great guy."
"You think so?"
"Yeah, you're his son," I smile.
"He'd have loved you then," he kisses me before saying with a laugh. "Not the same way I do of course."
"Of course," I laugh, putting a hand on his chest.
Looking back on the last few months, I remember how much he tried to get himself back to who he had been. He'd tried so hard to be the man he had been, the hero I knew he was. I smile again at the thought, he was that man again and so much more now. The love of my life, the only man for me, perfect in every way, my husband.
"I wonder how your father would feel about me," Josh wonders aloud after a brief silence.
"He'd love you like a son Josh," I tell him sincerely. "He knew I had feelings for you since the day we met."
"Did he now, been telling people about how much you love me for awhile then huh?" he tickles my stomach, rubbing a finger over the hair just below my navel.
"Yeah," I confess with a laugh.
"Good, I wouldn't want anyone moving in on my man, better they know you're mine," he plants kisses on my chest.
Pleasure runs through me, right down to my core. He knows exactly where to kiss me to drive me crazy, the way a lover should. I put my hand on his back and we embrace, moving to rest our heads on our pillows, content to just stay there in each others arms.
"You know we should probably do at least something," Josh says, breaking the comfortable contented silence we share.
"No, we don't, you know, we have all the time in the world," I respond. We had both retired from the Alliance Military following the end of the war; content to spend our lives together with the money we'd earned fighting to save the galaxy.
"Yeah, but I was thinking we should do something romantic together," he insists, taking my hand.
"Like what?" I ask him, my curiosity piqued.
"We could go out for dinner, I know a few good places here."
"Or we could order in," I suggest instead.
"I don't know, I think I wanna go out. We could go for a carriage ride in the park."
"They still have those?" I ask incredulous.
"Yeah, they didn't stop after the holiday. They're doing a winter thing I think. It might be because it's so cold this year," he informs me.
"Maybe," I say thinking, deciding, "You know, that sounds great."
"It does?" he wants to know.
"Yeah, it'll be romantic."
"Okay," he gets up. "We should do that."
With a comfortable sigh, I get up too. It might not be what I had in mind originally, but as long as I was spending my day with him, I didn't care what we were doing. That was the kind of love I feel for him, the kind that lets me even do nothing at all and I would still be happy. It had been so hard those months without him. I never wanted to go through that again, I couldn't, it'd break my heart.
We both quickly get ready, excited for the carriage ride. It is a pretty cold day out, so we bundle up warmly. I open our front door and am hit almost immediately by the cold air. I reach inside and grab two scarfs off the coat rack.
"You might want this," I say as I hand one to Josh.
"Yeah, that air feels really cold," he agrees.
We quickly put the scarfs on before we leave our house, letting the door lock shut behind us. With a grin, Josh reaches out for my gloved hand. Content, I take his in mine. With smiles on our faces, we make our way to the park where the carriages are. There's hardly anyone there, just another young couple waiting for their turn to ride. I sigh happily again with the knowledge that all my love and I have is time. Time to be together, to live, to love, we earned it, fought for it so hard, but it is ours.
When it's our turn to ride, we sit in the carriage as the horses begin to slowly gallop away from where we got on. Smiling, I lie my head down on my lovers' shoulder. With a smile of his own, he reaches up and starts to lightly stroke my hair. It feels so good to have him touch me, no matter where it is as long as he does it. The carriage ride continues around to the other side of the park, then comes all the way back again.
The horses stop at where we got on, I get out of the carriage first followed by Josh. It had been a good carriage ride, pleasant, a great way to spend the day with him. He takes my hand in his as we start to head back towards our house. The wind continues to whip the snow around through my hair, but I don't care how messy it's getting, it just doesn't matter, I've learned not to sweat the small things. Love can do that to you I suppose.
"I'm getting hungry," Josh tells me, rubbing a hand on his stomach.
Rubbing my own stomach, hearing it growl, I reply, "Me too, let's get something to eat. I went into this little place a block from here one time, it's got some great ramen."
"Ramen sounds good, I haven't had it in ages," Josh says with a smile.
"Okay, let's go," I smile back as I start to lead Josh down the street towards the Ramen place.
A big goofy grin forms on my face as we head towards the restaurant. I could feel it. It happens a lot when I'm with Josh. Some would call it young love, I just call it love period, it makes you do stupid things, say stupid things. I do those a lot that's for sure. I'm always saying awkward things when I'm with him, but I don't really care, it doesn't matter, just another one of those small things. We had waited so long to actually be together the way we were now, we're never letting go of each other. Before the Normandy left Josh behind on Earth, we made a promise to love one another to the end. When I found Josh on Illium, I intended to keep that promise, to love him until the end. And that's what I was going to do, love him until the day my body takes its last breath.