Breathe
By eternalshiva
Shepard closed her eyes, a nervous jitter slid across her skin as the airlock of her transport shuttle connected to the Normandy.
The sound of metal crunching against metal still made her flinch, despite all the years since the Blitz and the countless hours of mental jarring to free herself from those that haunt her deepest and darkest fears. A swish of air and the indignant feeling of artificial gravity grips her selfishly as she steps across onto the The Normandy.
"Permission to board," she allows her voice to carry an unspoken edge as she salutes her commanding officer. Anderson, an old soul that recruited her from the darkness, straightens under the click of her heels and returns the gesture.
"At ease, soldier," her hands fold behind her lower back, her eyes never waver from his, "Permission granted." He reaches out to shake her hand, she arches a brow when Anderson grins. "No need to be so formal, Shepard."
"Sorry Anderson, habit." She grins back, her nervous jitter still hasn't let go of her and she can't quite figure out why. Was it the secrecy behind this assignment?
No, it was something else. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling that this ship was going to change something important in her life.
"Lieutenant." Anderson turned away and she instantly followed him as he motioned for her to come.
"Yes, Captain?"
Shepard frowned. The smoky rustic sound of the voice instantly soothed the gnawing feeling that was burning through her stomach like Thresher Maw acid. She uncharacteristically peeked around Anderson's shoulder and tried not to acknowledge the fact that her composure as a soldier was seriously compromised.
She saw him and he saw her. Standing to attention, his focus entirely on Anderson as the Captain requested that he show the new XO around the ship and where the sleeper pods were.
Shepard, for the first time in her military life, hadn't heard a word. She was transfixed on that weird bump of hair, the rum coloured eyes that watched her amusingly, the lean build of muscles that teasingly called her name through the BDUs.
He arched a perfect brow, gave her a salute to which she blinked at.
Anderson's voice snapped her out of it, she straightened and returned the salute to the Lieutenant, nodding her approval. "I'll assume you didn't hear a word I said because of Joker's bad humour." Anderson narrowed his eyes.
"Joker?"
"Yes, the terrible pilot over there," the lieutenant replies to her query while Anderson leaves them behind. "Kaidan Alenko, ma'am." he reaches across the space between them, she hesitated for a moment, puckering her lips in thought.
"Commander Shepard," she replies and grabs it in greeting but something strange happens. Maybe it was the static of their biotics - maybe it was just her imagination but she knew it the instant they touched. It took one second for her to fall in love with him.