Notes: I promised myself I'd write fluff this week. Also this counts as actual proof that I am capable of writing things that aren't angst.
Overtime
The sound of cracking joints snapped Kaidan away from his report and he looked up just in time to catch Shepard stretching her back and shoulders at her desk.
"That sounded bad," he said.
"My back hurts," she admitted. Shepard only looked up for a moment before turning back to her datapad. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Just a little tense."
"Anything I can do about it?" he said.
"Tell the Reapers to go back to dark space," she said, rolling her neck again.
"Because I'm sure you never thought to ask politely first," he replied.
"I don't have your sad puppy eyes," she replied, taking her stylus from behind her ear.
"…And that's Commander Shepard's grand plan to defeat the reapers." He typed out another sentence, then deleted it. "I feel like I should be offended."
"It's a work in progress," she said. "I'm thinking of sending Garrus over with you. Let him talk at them about calibrations." Shepard stretched again, flinching as she raised her arm.
"You sure you're okay?" he said.
"I'll be fine," she said.
"Come over here," Kaidan said, patting the sofa next to him. "Let me help you."
"I don't have time. I have to finish going over this intel, then I have a vid-call with Hackett scheduled in half an hour," she said.
"I've seen you work out a budget while in a firefight. You can read intel and get a back rub," he said. "And this won't take half an hour."
"Kaidan, thank you, but I'm busy." She set her mug back under the coffee maker and restarted it. "You are too. Need a refill?"
"I'm still working on this." He gestured to the mug on the coffee table. "And I'm at a good place to take a break." He set his datapad on the coffee table, got up, and walked over to her desk. "Come on. You spend all your time trying to take care of everything for everyone else…"
"Well if you want something done right…" She rolled her eyes. Shepard was nothing if not a control freak.
"…Let me take care of you," he said, rubbing her shoulders. For a split second, she grew tenser, thinking it over, then she leaned back into him and rested her head against his stomach.
"Okay," she said, taking one of his hands in hers. "You have twenty-five minutes, then I have to prep for my meeting."
"That's all I'm asking for." He bent down and kissed her forehead.
She got up and led him to the couch. He ran his hands over hard, tense muscles and protruding bone and smiled sadly as he found familiar knots. Nearly three years, a death, and a resurrection later, and she still carried all her tension in the same places. He pressed his thumb into the spot under her right shoulder blade and Shepard sighed. This was one of her bad spots.
Kaidan started to work at her back and Shepard gradually relaxed into his hands. He'd been back onboard the Normandy less than three weeks. They'd been back together less than two. Sometimes, he almost didn't believe that after all this time and everything that happened between them, they had a second chance.
Shepard was almost constantly wound up. She didn't trust people easily. She didn't care for people she didn't trust touching her. She didn't like people to see her vulnerable. Didn't like to let other people help her. Yet right now, she felt comfortable. A good sort of calm.
He dug his palm into a tense spot in her lower back and she flinched.
"Too much?" He pulled back just a little.
"No," she said. "Didn't realize that spot was so bad."
"It gets bad when you sit still for too long," he said. "We've been working for almost three hours and you haven't left your desk."
He continued to work at the muscle until the coffee machine went off and she started to get up.
"Relax," he said, gently wrapping an arm around her waist. "I'll get it."
"Kaidan…"
"You said I had twenty five minutes, I'm still on the clock," he said, drawing her closer and kissing her neck.