Chapter 1: Meeting Commander Shepard
AN: To avoid any confusion, small chunks of italics represent thoughts, while large chunks of italics represent flashbacks. And for future reference, tildes signify a change in point of view.
EDIT: OMG, I have tried so many different things, trying to get some sort of system for you so that y'all can tell the difference between POV changes and time jumps, but nothing wants to work. I am so sorry guys. Line breaks now mean POV change, time jump, or both. I'm so sorry and I wish I could change it, but I don't know how.
He should have seen this coming. He should have tried to blend in a little more, tried to be a little more social, brought a friend over every now and again. But he didn't. So now he had to explain to Champ and everyone else in his online guild that he'd have spotty attendance for a while. Of course, Champ nearly flipped online. Thank goodness he hadn't been in the diner, or Champ might have physically tracked Kaidan down. Kaidan could still remember his father's proud grin at yesterday's dinner.
"Kaidan, help your mother clear out the guest room and inflate the air mattress after dinner. Your mother will know where she wants it. I'll wash the dishes and clear the table." Kaidan frowned at his father's request. They only fixed the guest room before someone came over.
"Who's coming over?" Kaidan asked in curiosity. Probably Aunt Irene and her kids, he thought.
"An old friend of mine from the Alliance. We met before I retired." So I just have to put on an appearance for dinner. Champ shouldn't be too mad about that. But why bring out the air mattress if it would be one guy? "He's also bringing his kid. Should be a few years younger than you, but nothing you can't handle." Kaidan's hopeful thoughts immediately came crashing down.
"Don't look so upset, Kaidan. You can entertain a guest. Poor thing probably never gets off a ship, so spend a few days exploring the city. Maybe even stop by the diner and introduce her to your guild friends. Alliance children always love games like yours. And don't frown so much. You'll scare the dear thing away. Or I'll make you stay with your Aunt Irene the whole time," his mother ended with a threat. Dutifully, he schooled his face into an impassive shield and nodded.
"Yes, Mother," he calmly replied. Champ definitely would not be happy. But he'd have to suffer through like Kaidan.
And now the big moment had come. His dad had sent a ping about five minutes ago, saying that his friend had cleared Vancouver Interstellar Port's customs and he was bringing the two guests home. So now Kaidan and his mother were waiting on the porch. After what felt like an eternity, he finally saw the hovercar land in the orchard.
Kaidan saw a tall male form step out of the hover car, carrying a duffle bag. This had to be the Commander. Kaidan observed light brown hair, now the most common hair color. The Commander seemed to be enjoying himself, a large grin spread across his face. Kaidan's father stepped out next, carrying a second duffle bag. His father wore a smug look, and Kaidan guessed that he had just told the Commander a joke. The Commander then turned back to the car, offering a hand towards the hover car. A pale hand took the Commander's and the kid stepped out of the car.
The first thing Kaidan noticed was a shock of strawberry-blonde hair. The second was the length of the hair, almost to the youth's waist, atypical for both genders his age. Then the youth turned towards the house, and Kaidan was almost shocked to discover the youth was a girl. She bore a strong resemblance to her father, sharing his nose and brow. Her eyes were the next thing to catch Kaidan: they were a vibrant shade of green. Kaidan only just managed to keep his mouth shut and his expression closed off. He took the time their guests used to come up to the porch to gather himself. While he was admittedly curious about the Commander's daughter, questions could wait until dinner. And even then, it would be his parents doing most of the talking.
"Kaidan, let me introduce you to Commander Kennan Shepard and his daughter Annalisa Shepard. I know that Kennan choosing to go planet-side is the equivalent of a solar eclipse, so I'll enjoy some time with my friend while he's here." Kennan barked in laughter and gave Kaidan's father a playful shove.
"Thanks for the anecdote, Cedric. Only reason I don't come more often is that some of us have to work a little harder than you to support our kids. Besides, if we all retired at once, the Alliance wouldn't know what to do!" Kennan walked up to Kaidan's mother and the two embraced. "How have you been, Molly? Last time I saw you was on Arcturus station with an infant. It can't have been that long, so I'm assuming you traded in models," he joked as Molly took one of the duffel bags.
"Does that mean I was a trade in too? I doubt Mom would be happy about that," Anna piped up, and all three adults burst out laughing. Kaidan's jaw almost dropped to the floor. He never would have dreamt of saying something like that in front of guests, and his parents surely wouldn't let a smart-assed comment drop without a sharp look.
"I see she's picked up Hannah's sense of humor," Molly commented as Kennan turned to wrap an arm around his daughter. Kaidan mentally shrugged. Apparently guests can get away with it.
"Definitely. Though don't you fear, love. I'd never trade you in." He kissed the top of his daughter's head quickly before finishing. "No way I'd trade my little 'Lisa."
"Dad!" Annalisa all but whined as Kennan laughed again.
"I'm sorry, dear. Apparently I'm the only one who can get away with calling her by that nickname. But you are my smiling Mona Lisa." He shot Anna a soft look, who sighed in response before leaning into his hug and softly smiling. In that moment, Kaidan realized exactly why Kennan called her a 'smiling Mona Lisa'. Her smile seemed so kind and beautiful, that it was almost impossible. His stomach did a small summersault and he swallowed hard. Maybe this visit wouldn't be so bad.
"Kaidan, go ahead and show Annalisa around the house. I'll take the duffle bags up to the guest room. Kennan, sit your ass down in the kitchen and I'll see that Molly gets you a beer," Cedric ordered as he took both duffle bags and went in the house. Anna then looked at him, and Kaidan gestured for him to follow her.
"Nice shirt. You seen all the seasons?" She commented as they headed upstairs. He paused for a moment, unsure of what she meant before he remembered the shirt he had on. It was a simple black shirt with "Bazinga!" written across it in violet. It was a reference to an old show called Big Bang Theory, a show about geek culture for geek culture. He was pleasantly surprised that she knew about it.
"Yeah. How about you?" She nodded as she reached the second floor. He decided to use her shirt as a conversation piece next. "My other ride is an M-35 Mako" it read.
"You'd better be reading my shirt," she taunted as she walked past him. He turned red as she realized what he was implying. "So what's up here?"
"I was. Why would you think I was looking elsewhere?" He sassed back, and she glanced over her shoulder, a gleam in her eyes. "And I actually haven't ridden in a Mako before. How do they handle?" She spun and scoffed, bending a little to laugh better.
"Oh, then you haven't been anywhere near one," she teased with a twinkle in her eyes. "Dad took me with a buddy of his once. He drove for a while, looking for different resources for the Alliance. Then he let me have a spin." An infectious grin spread across her face, and he couldn't help but mirror it.
"I assume there were survivors from letting a teenager handle a military vehicle," he lightly taunted, and she leveled a glare that registered between 'don't think you can get away with that' and 'don't you wish you knew'. He lightly tapped the door to his room. "This is my room," he commented before turning back to the hall, walking towards the media room.
"Of course there were. I can handle myself. And if you're polite, when you visit us, I might talk Dad into letting you do so too." Kaidan noted that Annalisa's voice was getting fainter as he walked, and when he turned, he almost stammered in shock. The door to his room was open.
"That's my room!" He protested, following her in the hopes that he could drag her out of his room.
"Yeah," she drew the word out, as if doing so would emphasize her understanding or ask a question in return, turning back to her inspection of his tech. "You've got pretty cool tech in here. Are you studying to go to a university?" She gestured at the tech-related books next to his desk.
"Uh, the thought's crossed my mind, but not seriously." The question caught him off guard, and he had to stop himself from admitting that he had never applied to any college for fear of being rejected because of BAaT or his biotic powers. He shook his head, getting back to the reason he had stepped into his room to begin with. "What are you doing in my room?" He bluntly asked.
"I'm just looking," she shrugged, turning towards his collection of books. He wasn't in the mood to be laughed at again, so he took one of her wrists. "Why? Is something wrong with that?"
"It's a little rude to just barge into someone's room. Most people like a little privacy." Annalisa's eyes widened in understanding. She quickly stood and started walking out. She looked back at him before she reached the door.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. Living on a ship with a bunch of other kids means that you're often in and out of each other's rooms, grabbing one thing or another. Privacy isn't too much of a thing on a ship. Rooms are more like statements of who you are. They're a good way to know a person." He blinked at her explanation, his earlier frustration bleeding off. "Where did you want to show me next?" She turned to leave the room.
"Wait, Annalisa. I just didn't understand why you were doing that earlier. That makes a lot more sense." He didn't want their time together to be so painfully awkward, so he cast about the room, trying to find a proper way to mend bridges. His eyes settled back onto the tech. "Do you know how most of this stuff works?" He gestured down to his gadgets, willing to show her.
"Of course. You follow the engineers around enough and they teach you little things, let you help. And call me Anna, it's easier." She was back hovering behind him, glancing over his shoulder at the instruments he was pointing at. Anna's jaw then fell to floor as she got on her hands and knees, staring at his book collection. "Please tell me that you know the books you have on these shelves." She looked back at him with a flabbergasted look.
"I do. I've read all of them a few times." He was working hard to disguise his uncertainty. Rose had been by once before and laughed her ass off at his collection, calling it 'a child's fantasy world' and asking if he preferred that over reality. He wasn't quite sure how she would react.
"You have the Chronicles of Narnia, the Harry Potter series, and most of the Dragonlance stories. Do you know how many people I know who would kill to have part of this collection? In hardback, nonetheless." Kaidan couldn't contain his laughter for a minute longer. He had worried for no reason, and the relief made him giddy. She was unlike any other girl he had ever known. "I didn't say that just so you could laugh at me." Her voice was suddenly harsh, and he realized how his laughter sounded. He immediately quelled his laughter and straightened up.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't laughing at you. I've just never known a woman to have such good taste in books." He rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "One other girl knew of my collection but she essentially laughed at it." Anna huffed and rolled her eyes.
"If she doesn't realize the quality of this selection, she has no taste in literature. Don't bother keeping her around, or I'll kick her dumb ass. Don't tell Dad I said that, though." He could feel another chuckle bubble to the surface.
"I won't. Hey, my dad mentioned that your dad doesn't spend much time planet-side. Do you?" She seemed to blush a little in response.
"The paleness doesn't answer for me? No. Very rarely." She shook her head as she responded.
"Well, we could go hiking. There's a nice area we can go to past the orchard. It's high enough to get a good view and close enough to head back home when we want to." Anna seemed to perk up in curiosity.
"I think I might like that," she agreed as a grin spread across her face as he lead her back out into the hall and towards the media room.
The conversations were good all throughout dinner. Kaidan and Anna asked a few more questions of each other, and Kaidan was able to avoid mentioning Brain Camp for the night. Kennan engaged Kaidan's parents in a robust tale of one of his recent ground missions. There were several things that Kennan couldn't specify, but the tale itself was engaging. Soon both Kaidan and Anna were enraptured by the tale. Kennan went on to tell several more stories until everyone was yawning, and Kaidan's mother was shooing everyone to bed. A chorus of 'good night' rang through the house, and Kaidan went to his room.
That night, for the first time in over a year, Rahna's face didn't haunt his dreams, hiding behind her father's coat and three other men as she was whisked away from him, staring at him in fear as his last chance to apologize and explain slipped away. The mass departure from Jump Zero, waiting in a cramped ship where everyone gave him a five foot berth, did not dog his sleeping steps. He dreamt of open mountain ranges, of red robins swooping low over cherry and apple trees. His dreams were filled with the sun's warmth, of two sets of laughter, and the scent of strawberries.
AN: This is going to be the first in a large-scale project that I'm doing. I've had this idea for just under a year, and have been piecing together what I want this to look like for quite some time before I began assembling everything. This project will be an AU look at how the Mass Effect series would be affected by a simple change: what if Kaidan Alenko and Annalisa Shepard met before serving together on the Normandy? My original inspiration was from Tumblr back in November, where there was a discussion about a young Kaidan and Shepard interacting. My brain took hold of that idea and took it's own take on the idea. I also took this as an opportunity to explore both characters coming into their own, each helping to shape each other into who they become, as well as topics that Bioware doesn't fully elaborate on, like a Spacer!Shepard's father and biotics, as well as how Kaidan dealt with the fallout from BAaT. I hope everyone enjoys this. As always, many thanks to my beta Jules Hawke. My ideas would be scattered and I would be repeating myself all over the place if it weren't for your help.
Bioware owns Mass Effect, and while I wish I could remember who sparked the original idea for this, I credit the lovely Mass Effect fandom on Tumblr. You guys are amazing and constantly churning out stuff that inspires me to write and think and feel, even though I highly doubt I could add much more to the creative pool. I love interacting with all of you lovely people.