Sanctuary

Kaidan startled awake, hazy dream images of fire and blacked bodies still rampaging through his brain. He'd been screaming and calling for Alexis as throngs of faceless people had crowded in around him. Horrible feelings of helplessness, loneliness and despair crashing through his soul as everywhere he turned to search presented nothing but more destruction. There was no escape, but he had to try. He would save her this time, save them both. They would find a sanctuary together. He'd heard her cries rising above the din of the masses but when he'd turned in their direction, seen the merest glimpse of her strawberry hair, he'd suddenly found himself back in the escape pod of the SR1, helplessly watching as the ship disintegrated in front of his eyes.

His hand slid across to where his beloved wife had been when he closed his eyes, but he felt nothing except cold cotton. He raised his head off his pillow, his eyes confirming his now frantic brain's assertion that she was longer beside him. He glanced down at his left hand in a panic, praying that the last few years of their life together, even the war, had not been some sort of dream. Even the hard times were preferable to her no longer being at his side at all. The reflection from the old digital clock over his shoulder dimly reflected off of his platinum wedding band, and he exhaled the breath he had not realized he'd been holding. He glanced properly at the read out on the clock and realized glumly that they had only been in bed for around an hour.

A small sliver of light illuminated part of the area outside of the ensuite bathroom. He strained his ears and, sure enough, he heard the muffled sound of heaving. He allowed his head to fall back on his pillow and rubbed a weary hand down his face, trying to banish some of his bone aching tiredness and the remnants of his old nightmare. He had hoped, though prayed would probably be closer to the truth, that at five and a half months in, Alexis's nausea would have subsided somewhat. However their twins appeared to have other ideas.

He threw off the blankets and padded his way over to the closed door, taking extra care to be light on his feet so as not to wake his parents, who were asleep in the room across the hall. If they woke, his mom would be in faster than lightning to check and make sure everything was alright.

Humiliation and anger rippled through him as he thought about how the reporters and their infuriating camera bots had driven him and Alexis from their apartment on the Citadel. Sadly, pictures of the pregnant Savior of the Galaxy were fetching a huge premium in both mainstream media and the tabloid market. Even as Earth's Councilor he had been unable to stop their harassment and he feared that the added stress of their constant presence was only making her sicker. Garrus had used his position as C-Sec's executor to station some officers outside of their building, both as an attempt to fend off the ravenous press and prevent Alexis from sniping the camera bots with her beloved Valiant rifle (that had been a nightmare to sweep under the rug), but even that had only caused the reporters to come out in even greater numbers.

Despite the madness the reporters had been generally respectful to not get TOO close to either of them. But everything had come to a head when a particularly overzealous bunch of reporters had gotten too close and bulldozed right into Alexis, knocking her on her belly. Had it not been for Garrus' officers, she very well could have been trampled in the crush as they'd rushed to snap their pictures.

Kaidan had been in a Council meeting when he'd received the urgent call from Garrus, his old friend had sounded as furious as he'd ever heard him. Once he'd told Kaidan that he was in the hospital with Alexis and what had happened however, his anger had been dwarfed by Kaidan's. He'd gotten so angry that he'd lost control of his biotics and flared, startling the other councilors and all their assistants. He'd bolted from the room, not caring that their business hadn't concluded, and raced to the hospital (Garrus had be wise and called him only after he'd dispatched an officer to pick him up). Once he'd been reassured by the doctors that both Alexis and the babies were alright, he'd called his parents and asked to stay at the orchard until the twins were born. They had been more than happy to take them in, appalled that the media was giving them such a hard time. Alexis liked to joke that he'd probably used the word 'Sanctuary' in his request.

Although he was able to do a lot of his work while on Earth, on occasion he did get called away for meetings and negotiations. He never truly appreciated how much his parents cared and looked after Alexis until one night when he'd come home after catching a late shuttle back to Earth. He'd walked in and found his mother asleep in her recliner with Alexis on the couch and a bucket next to her. He'd vowed to be there for every late night sickness session from then on, no matter what.

He knocked softly and pressed his ear to the door. "Lexi?" When he received no response after a few moments, he gently pushed the door open. Squinting at the now blinding amount of light, he slid into the ensuite and closed the door gently behind him.

When the spots in his vision finally receded, he found her laying on the floor with her sweat drenched face resting against the cool porcelain of the toilet. He couldn't suppress the wave of joyous awe he felt as he looked down at her. Her pregnant belly was pushing the elastic of her yoga pants and N7 tank top to their limits, something she now complained about on a daily basis, but he still felt that she was the most beautiful being he'd ever laid eyes on. And that she was carrying, not one, but two of his children within her caused his heart to flutter.

She groaned and cracked one of her eyes open to peer up at him. "Have I told you today that I hate you for doing this to me?" Her voice was hoarse, and he could see the remnants of the tears that had rolled down her cheeks. He smiled fondly and moved past her to the sink, filling a glass of water for her and moistening a face cloth.

"No," he chuckled as he bent down and handed the glass to her, pushing some of her hair from her face and pressing a kiss to her sweaty forehead. "But I'm sure you're about to." She smiled weakly at him and drank the water, sighing in relief as he brushed the cool washcloth across her face and neck.

"Think you're ready to come back to bed?" he asked as he took the glass from her and stood up to put it next to the sink. She slowly pushed herself into a full sitting position, seeming to take a few moments to make sure that the dizzying nausea had finally passed.

She rubbed her hands down her protruding belly and sighed in exhaustion. "Yeah, I think these two finally went to sleep and are done punching all of my organs." The slightest trace of a wistful smile lifted the corner of her mouth. He knew that despite all the sickness, weight gain, and whiplash inducing hormone swings, she loved their babies with all her heart. After everything that they had gone through, those little lives she was carrying were nothing short of miracles.

As she began to pull herself up to her feet, Kaidan's romanticism overwhelmed him and he crouched down, pulling her up into his strong arms in a bridal carry. She opened her mouth to protest, but he covered her lips with his own and tried to pour all of his emotions into the kiss. Love, devotion, pride, protectiveness all warred within his heart in equal measure as he carried his family back to bed. Back to their little sanctuary away from the world.

Author's Notes: HUGE thanks to MizDirected for being the best beta anyone could ask for!