A/N: I recently replayed Mass Effect and just missed having Kaidan around in the second installment. This is how this idea came to be. I have other fics to update - which will happen soon - but this idea wouldn't bugger off. AU of Mass Effect 2 where Kaidan is taken upon the Normandy after Horizon. Enjoy and please, if you have a moment, reviews are love. :D

A Path Rewritten

Prologue

The Illusive Man's words reverberated through her as the shuttle touched down on Horizon; Kaidan was here. The thought made her world reel. To him, she had been dead for two years, hadn't seen her, touched her, talked to her; to her, it had been merely weeks. Yet now he was in danger of being taken by the Collectors, the very monstrosities she had been resurrected to eradicate. God help them, if they so much as laid a hand on him, she would make sure every last one of them suffered. She had to move fast. Garrus and Jack took the rear while she took point, her M-96 Mattock taking out Collectors with a fever she almost feared; fear was pushing her, driving them through the colony at a brutal pace. When the Collector vessel departed, she watched with wide, fear-filled eyes; the mechanic pacing back and forth, shouting at her, blaming her for the attack. She couldn't think of that – where was Kaidan? Had the Collectors gathered him into one of the grotesque coffins before she had a chance to reach him?

"Who the hell are you anyway!" Shepard swallowed and dropped her gaze from the Collector vessel to the angry mechanic who was venting on her; not that she could blame him. She hadn't been able to save the majority of the colonists.

Her lips parted, ready to give an answer, but a voice – one so familiar to her, one she could remember whisper huskily against her ear – cut her off. "Captain of the Normandy, the first human Spectre, savior of the Citadel." Kaidan came forth, and glanced at the man. "You're in the presence of a legend, Delan." His brown eyes turned back to her and Shepard found herself breathless, lungs suddenly starved for oxygen as her heart pounded furiously within her chest. "And a ghost."

"All the good people we lost and you get left behind. Figures." Delan scoffed and unfolded his arms. "Screw this!" He threw up an arm in exasperation, before he stormed off. "I'm done with you Alliance types."

Kaidan came toward her and she trembled. That gentle, almost teasing, smile tilted his lips adorably – a smile she had seen often in the month after the battle for the Citadel. Often in the privacy of her cabin. She hadn't realized how desperately she had missed it, missed him, until he stood before her – real, not a dream. Not an illusion. He wrapped his arms around her and she fought the urge to weep as they hugged. An intimate embrace. As her cheek rested against his shoulder, she inhaled deeply, taking his unique aroma in. She could remember waking in her bed, rolling over and burying her nose in her pillow to take in his scent. It had been everywhere. The SR-2 Normandy…it lacked his scent, it lacked him. If she felt this torn up in this moment, she could only give a good guess as to the turmoil he would be facing.

The moment was lost, too soon. "I thought you were dead, Shepard." He sighed softly, against the strands of her dark hair. "We all did." He stepped back and her arms fell to her sides, reluctantly.

She tried to think of what to say, but her mind was muddled, confused. He looked almost angry to see her, his jaw set, and that wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to be reunited with him only to fight. The man was stubborn, but she loved him for it. Even if he could pain in her ass. "It's been too long, Kaidan. How have you been?" It was lame, probably the worst thing to say, but nothing else came.

"It that all you have to say?" He scoffed. "You show up after two years and act like nothing happened?" He stepped up close to her and she sucked in a breath, suppressing a shiver. "I thought we had something, Shepard, something real. I loved you." She tried to tell herself to reach out for him, but her body was frozen. Unresponsive. "Thinking you were dead tore me apart. How could you put me through that? Why didn't you try to contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?" His voice rose sharply and by the end, she certainly felt his anger – her own rose in response. She was dead, for crying out loud, and now he was yelling at her for it?

"I'm sorry, Kaidan," she reigned in her anger for fear of making this reunion take an ugly turn; more so than it already had. "I was clinically dead. It took two years to bring me back…so much time has passed…you've moved on. I don't…"She swallowed, took in a deep breathe; she didn't want to say these things, really, but it was the truth. No doubt some other lucky woman had swept him away and taken him from her reach for good. "I don't want to reopen old wounds."

"I did move on," he snapped out and she nearly flinched. The thought of him with someone was torture, even if she had been dead. "At least, I thought I did." He sighed, looked down. Took a moment of silence. "But now we've got reports of you and Cerberus." He gaze, when it rose, was accusatory. "Alliance Intel thought Cerberus might have been behind the missing colonies. I got a tip this colony might be the next one hit. Anderson stonewalled me…but there were rumors that you weren't dead. That you…" He frowned tightly, "were working for the enemy."

Her hands curled into fists at her side; couldn't he at least be thankful she was alive? That, through some miracle, she was here and not buried, forgotten, dead. She sighed softly. "Kaidan…our colonies are disappearing. The Alliance turned its back on them. Cerberus is the only group willing to do something about it."

"You can't really believe that!" He nearly shouted, stalking angrily about until he came to stand in front of her. "We both know what Cerberus is like, what they're capable of!" He sucked in a deep breath and she fought the urge to stroke her hand over his jaw, like she used to do when he was angry. "I wanted to believe the rumors that you were alive, but I never expected anything like this! You turned your back on everything we ever believed in! You betrayed the Alliance, you betrayed me." His words were like a slap in the face and she did flinch. His eyes widened slightly, as if surprised his words could affect her that way, before he narrowed them stubbornly.

She had been dead. Cerberus had brought her back. Gave her life, gave her a chance – should she survive the Omega 4 relay – to be with him again. And they were the only ones who were giving her what she needed to stop the Collectors. How could he say these things to her? "Kaidan, you know me!" She snapped out in irritation. "You know I'd only do this for the right reason! You saw it yourself – the Collectors are targeting human colonies and they're working with the Reapers!"

He frowned, his brows creasing in a way that meant he was thinking. Intensely. She could remember running her thumbs between his brows and chuckling – there's that line again, Kaidan; you need to relax – words teasingly, affectionately. "I want to believe you, Shepard, but I don't trust Cerberus. They could be using the threat of the Reapers to manipulate you. What if they're behind it? What if they are working for the Collectors?"

"Kaidan, you're so focused on Cerberus, you're missing the big picture," the annoyed comment came from Garrus, a scoff following.

"I can't blame him. I don't trust them either," Jack added causing Shepard to roll her eyes; leave it Jack to make it worse.

"You're letting how you feel about their history get in the way of the facts, Kaidan," Shepard sighed and rolled her shoulders.

"Maybe," he grumbled. "Or maybe you feel like you owe Cerberus because they saved you. Maybe you're the one not thinking straight." She sighed again, clenching and unclenching her fingers; he was being emotional, she knew that. These were words spoken with hurt. "You've changed but I still know where my loyalties lie. I am an Alliance soldier, always will be. I've got to report back to the Citadel – they can decided whether they believe your story or not." With that, he turned and started walking away from her. Turning his back on her. Leaving her.

"I could use you," she blurted out, her limbs tingling – how did he manage to make her feel so damned anxious? This was not how she pictured their reunion going. His stubbornness was ruining it. "On my team, I mean. It would be just like old times."

"No it won't," he sighed as he stopped to slant his body enough so he could see her. "I'll never work for Cerberus. Goodbye Shepard, and be careful."

She watched his start his retreat, almost in disbelief. He had said he loved her, and yet he was leaving her here, turning his back on her and everything they had ever had together. He said she had betrayed him – no, he was betraying her, them, what they had. She would gladly go after him because she loved him, but there was a higher calling here, one that she couldn't turn her back on. If he understood that, if he really loved her, believed in her, he would have helped her. His hate of Cerberus was clouding his judgment, she knew this – they all did. In truth, he probably did as well.

She went to reestablish the comm link with the Normandy, order Joker to come retrieve them, but the distinct sound of Collectors had her halting. Three of them spilled from within one of the colonist's home, their rifles aimed at Kaidan's back – it seemed to happen in slow motion. She screamed a warning and he turned, only to take a direct shot from the Collectors' beam; he shouted hoarsely, as the weapons cut through his shields and sent him flying into the opposite wall of one of the buildings. He was unconscious before he hit the ground and Shepard saw red.

"Take them out!" She shouted the order as she swung her M-96 Mattock around, finger pulling the trigger with unrestrained anger so that the three creatures were caught in an onslaught of fire, not only from her but Garrus as well, and Jack as she pummeled them with biotic throws, slams, before taking their corpses and sending them flying over a high wall. Shepard couldn't pay attention to that. She darted forward, kneeling by Kaidan's crumpled body and laying a hand on his chest; it rose, but only slightly before falling. His breathing was shallow. She fired up her omni tool and scanned; multiple burns, broken ribs, bruises. She had to get him onto the Normandy or he would likely die, and that was not something she would allow.

He may end up hating her for it, but she had no other choice. He was coming with her.