"This used to be my office, you know."
Kaidan turns around, and groans inwardly. Miranda Lawson stands in the doorway, scanning his sleeping quarters methodically, as if to make certain that he hasn't accidentally damaged what she still considers to be hers. Her posture is loose and relaxed, almost but not quite slouching. The casual observer would mistake it for laziness, but Kaidan knows better. It's confidence.
Standing around like she owns the place. He looks from her chest to the bulkhead to make sure neither has sprouted a Cerberus logo. It's more difficult to tear his eyes from her chest than it should be, but she's wearing the same unadorned gray and white jacket she always wears. The bulkhead sports freshly-painted Alliance insignia. Everything is normal. Well, as normal as it can be when they're scrambling to save what's left of the galaxy.
And there's a former Cerberus officer, the woman AIS pegged as the successor to the Illusive Man, walking around freely on an Alliance ship. It makes his teeth clench a little just thinking about it. Said Cerberus officer strides toward him, and Kaidan doesn't take his eyes from her. She has the strangest way of walking he's ever seen, too efficient to be called truly graceful. No wasted movement at all. Her... assets do nothing to detract from the fact that she's a lean, athletic woman in the prime of her life who can crush someone with a snap of her fingers. Crush him, if he isn't careful. She stares back at him, but he can't quite read the look on her face. Her eyes are hard and glittering, her lips turned up in a faint smile. Challenge? Mockery? Something else?
"The Alliance," she says, surveying his bunk, "really doesn't understand the importance of crew morale. That's one thing I'll say for Cerberus: they knew how to make their people comfortable. My old quarters were much better."
Kaidan tries to take comfort in the fact that she referred to Cerberus as "they" not "we."
"Is that why you're here? Complaining about your quarters?"
"No," she says simply. "I came here to ask if we're going to have problems."
Kaidan startles almost imperceptibly. He doesn't trust Miranda Lawson, but he's done his best to be civil and professional to her face. Clearly, his best isn't good enough. He's read her file. Twenty years of being the best operative Cerberus had, which also meant twenty years of assassinations, torture, and experiments of dubious morality. And now she turns on the Illusive Man because he's trying to kill Shepard? Even willing to help them track the Illusive Man down and dismantle the organization? It all seems a little convenient.
"As long as you do your job, what I think about you doesn't matter. I can keep my feelings under control."
"'Keep your feelings under control?' You must dislike me more than I thought." The smile grows a little wider. She's not angry. Instead, she seems amused.
"I don't know you well enough to dislike you. Just concerned about you running around the ship. Nothing personal."
"Good. The last time it got personal, Jack nearly ripped out a bulkhead." She steps in close, almost but not quite touching. Kaidan can feel the heat rolling off her in waves. "But you still don't want me here."
"No," he manages. Beads of sweat form on his forehead. He's aware he should back away but he can't. Correction: he doesn't want to. His legs are working just fine, but Miranda compels him to stay where he is. He wants—needs—to find out what her game is.
"So what would you do with me?"
"I'd, uh, leave you with the Alliance. Gotta be an outpost the Reapers haven't taken over yet." The heat from her is making his brain all fuzzy. "At the very least, I'd confine you to your quarters while you're aboard ship."
She arches a single eyebrow. "Confine me? It bothers you that I can move around freely?" She circles around to stand behind him. Kaidan can still feel her, though, that all-consuming heat. "I can traipse into your quarters as often as I like. Invade your personal space. It bothers you that I can do this." A statement, not a question. "So confine me."
"Alliance ripped out the holding cells." Which seems like a really dumb idea in retrospect. Miranda is a danger whether or not she has sabotage on her mind. A danger to him, anyway.
"Oh, come now. We both know there are other ways to confine a person. Lock my door. Tie me up. Worse comes to worse, you can hold me down yourself."
Kaidan stiffens. Hold me down yourself. The thought worms it's way into his head and won't leave. He can imagine throwing her to the ground, pinning her beneath him. Making her stay still instead of watching as she wanders around. His skin tingles, like when he's trying to hold in a biotic blast until just the right moment. He hasn't lost control since Vyrnnus, and he doesn't plan on that changing anytime soon.
"Like that idea, do we?"
"Please leave, Ms. Lawson." His breath comes in short, heavy pants. "I'm trying to control my temper."
"It's not your temper you're controlling."
"Miranda..."
No. Don't do this. Stupid idea. You still have to work with her. But the tingling is getting stronger, and he can't hold back a blast forever
"Miranda now, is it?" She chuckles. "Do it. You can finally say you got the best of the Cerberus operative who wormed her way out of the punishment she so richly deserves." Her breath tickles against his ear. "I dare you."
That does it. Kaidan mutters a curse and whips around. He has just enough time to register Miranda smirking at him before he barrels into her. She's solid and warm and muscular, and Kaidan can feel her power even as she tumbles beneath him. The momentum carries them both to the deck. Miranda's grunts, and Kaidan's cheeks heat up.
Really screwed the pooch on this one, Alenko. He has no idea how he's going to explain hurting her to Shepard. He starts to roll off her so he can put this temporary insanity behind him.
But then she fixes his gaze with hers. "Don't."
He freezes. She wants this. And considering what Shepard and Garrus get up to on their off hours, he has a feeling Shepard isn't going to yell at him for this. He'll yell at himself enough for both of them.
Miranda's smile turns almost genuine. "Just enjoy it," she whispers. "I don't let many people do this."
He gives up and settles his full weight on her. Slowly, very slowly so she can stop him if she wants, he grabs her arms and pins them above her head. Miranda doesn't stop him. The heat from her body is intense now, hotter than the lava pits on Therum. Neither of them speak, though they're both breathing hard. The tingling still races along his skin, but it's different now. More controlled. He thinks about kissing her, then discards the thought. He doesn't want anything as simple as a kiss or sex. He wants to force her to be still, control when she can and can't get up. Powerful, capable, beautiful Miranda Lawson under his power. Miranda Lawson letting herself be under his power.
She's letting him do this. Wow. His eyes narrow with a sudden thought. There's got to be a catch. There's always a catch with people like her. "What do you want from me?" he whispers.
"Fun. We deserve a little before we die. And I've had nothing but work for the last three years."
He presses against her harder. They've both survived suicide missions. He tries not to think about the odds that they'll survive another one. All he wants to think about is whatever it is that's thrumming through him. Miranda isn't the only one who's buried herself in work. He's tried dating, but the knowledge that a race of sentient machines wants to wipe out all life in the galaxy does nasty things to the libido. But this? This is as good as sex. Maybe better, in some ways.
Miranda lifts her head to whisper in his ear. "There is one other thing I want."
"What?"
The next thing he knows, Kaidan is on his back. The cold metal of the deck scrapes against his back. Miranda straddles him, the remnants of a biotic display swirling around her like a halo. Her grin is nothing short of triumphant. "Turnabout."