She fit perfectly in the curve of his arm.
Just one arm.
One arm wrapped around the entire length of her body. It was such a tiny body, with the softest skin mottled by the lightest touch of air and light. Her nose and cheeks were little and round, and he couldn't resist the urge to…to just touch them. The pads of his fingers were so rough in comparison that he was scared for a moment that he would accidentally harm her. Her little baby face. His little baby girl.
His baby girl.
He couldn't quite overcome the wonder of it, never wanted it to end. That he had a daughter now, that he had a hand in bringing new life into this still healing world was just nothing short of amazing. Small, curved lips — her mother's lips — pursed and parted in a patterned motion, seeking…
And Kaidan laughed as he brought her back over to the bedside, his eyes remaining steadfast on his daughter's face as she scrunched up her little nose and gave a firm and demanding wail.
A tired laugh reached his ears, "With a cry like that, she'll be taking full command of the Normandy in no time."
"Not for a while yet," Kaidan hoped. He never, ever wanted to be parted from this precious bundle. Not for a few years. Fifty, at the very least.
Shepard chuckled, "Oh, no. Less than an hour, and she's already got you wrapped around her tiny finger."
And she did. The child was stubborn (also from her mother), reaching a hand out of her swaddling cloth with that single-minded determination that he very much admired. Stubby fingers clenched and unclenched, seeking—finding Kaidan's hand and grasping firmly around his pinky and deep within his heart.
He leaned down, feathering his lips lightly across her little forehead, "I love you." Then he turned to Shepard, her eyes soft and her lips turned up ever so slightly around the edges, "and I love you". His lips brushed hers once, then again, and again, deepening with every pass until it was all he knew. One arm around his child and his other hand brushing against the line of Shepard's jaw, around the sensitive curve of her ear, and curling against her neck—
Another wail broke the moment, the child clearly fed up with the lack of attention that she shoved her fist into her mouth and started suckling on that.
"Understood, Commander," Kaidan said, deftly handing the fussy child off to her mother. But even as she lay contentedly in her mother's embrace while he sat nearby, Kaidan felt even this separation too great and stretched himself to lie down next to them instead. One arm rested behind Shepard's neck as she curled up against his shoulder. The other wrapped itself securely beneath Shepard's, cradling them both.