Author's Note: So, after posting goodbyes and all, I went to bed - then suddenly remembered this funny little bit of Shenko fluff I'd written ages ago. I'd pulled it out when the was going to do their fanfic contest, thinking that the contest would be about an epilogue to Shepard's tale. That wasn't the contest, however, and I was so depressed about the whole ending that I just shelved it. But then, after finishing the post about how I felt the game should have ended, I felt freed from the canon endings. It was like I was finally convinced Shepard and Kaidan did live on. And this little story just felt right. I pulled it out, dusted it off (it's still a little rough) and so here it is.

Rae, this is for you. ;) - sage

The Proposal

The music swelled through the vast chamber, reverberating off of metal sheeting that was clearly not designed with acoustics in mind. It came back strained, tinny, and yet, unmistakably cheerful in tone. Shepard had never heard a quarian wedding march before, but she wasn't at all surprised to find that this was one what sounded like.

On cue, everyone dutifully stood - at least that tradition was one that crossed cultures. They turned their heads, craning to catch a glimpse of the bride about to walk down the aisle. Packed as the room was, Shepard couldn't see anything.

"Look," a voice whispered in her ear. Shepard shivered a little from the proximity of the speaker, the lowness of his voice, and from the fact that when she turned around, there was Kaidan, standing in his dress blues and looking, frankly, absolutely delicious. It was the best thing about this wedding so far. Well, that and the fact that it was a huge event and virtually no one was paying any attention to her. Being able to fade into the crowd felt lovely.

Shepard followed his gaze to where Garrus Vakarian stood at the... pulpit? Shepard wasn't sure what that hunk of metal was supposed to symbolize. It might be a sculpture. It might be some part of the Alarei engineering room, poking up through the floor into the main chamber of the ship. She had no idea. Beside that curious set-up, Garrus was wearing some kind of Turain suit. It made him appear thinner and taller - and quite uncomfortable. He kept pulling at the neck of it every few seconds. His eyes were riveted down the center aisle where, Shepard could only assume, Tali was beginning her slow march to the altar.

"I thought she was just using him for his body," Kaidan whispered to Shepard again, causing her to grin from both the warmth of his breath and the confusion in his tone. "That's what she told you, right?"

"I know. It's kind of weird that it lasted," Shepard replied. "But I guess circumstances can throw people together, you know?"

"Oh, I know," Kaidan said laughingly. He brushed a hand down Shepard's arm and she turned to shoot him a wicked - and promising - grin. Instead, she locked eyes with a grim Asari matron who frowned at them both.

"Speaking of being thrown together," he went on, speaking low right in her ear.

"Hey," Shepard said, nodding at the Asari. "We're in a church."

"Is that what this is?" Kaidan asked doubtfully.

"Okay, whatever," Shepard whispered back.

"Fine," Kaidan replied, dropping his hand. "I'll save it for... Holy cow. That's what Tali looks like without her mask on?"

"I'd say less 'holy cow' and more 'holy supermodel,'" Shepard murmured back, equally stunned. "She's a real looker, isn't she?"

"Damn," Kaidan said, as Tali completed her walk up the aisle and grinned up at her groom. "Vakarian knows how to pick his women, I'll give him that."

"I think you're getting a nosebleed there, Kaidan," Shepard whispered as the quarian priest - or whatever he was - addressed the audience.

"Don't worry, Shepard," he murmured back. "I think I prefer the woman that Garrus didn't manage to de-suit."

"De-suit?" Shepard snickered, drawing the disapproving stare of an Elcor - or maybe it was an amused stare. It was hard to tell with elcor.

"Is that even a word, Kaidan?" she added, trying not to laugh loudly.

"Damn straight it is," he said in a low voice, completely deadpan. "I'll show you how de-suiting works when we get back to the Normandy."

Shepard cast a wistful glance at the airlock at the end of the chamber. Somewhere out there, the Normandy was floating along with the rest of the Migrant Fleet. Tali and Garrus had long debated about where to hold the ceremony, finally deciding upon the fleet, since that was, Tali pointed out, her old home. Afterward, the couple would be moving to a new home on Rannoch.

"De-suiting, huh?" Shepard asked, her lips quirking. "Shame I wore a dress then."

"It's easier in a dress anyhow," Kaidan replied.

"Then it's not really de-suiting, is it?"

At this, the Asari matron finally leaned over with a scowl. "Would you kindly...?" she began, but the crowd around them - or at least, all the quarians - suddenly broke into song. Shepard and Kaidan just exchanged a shame-faced glance, and tried to turn their attention back to the ceremony without more interruptions.

The wedding lasted another hour, at least, with every blessed dignitary from everywhere coming up to make a speech, talking about how this wedding was such a beautiful symbol of the unity that now took hold in the galaxy, that it was a shining example of the hope and new life that reigned now that the Reapers were gone. Shepard just kept sinking further and further into her seat. She certainly hoped the forthcoming champagne and cake made up for this insane amount of boredom.

"I'm surprised they didn't ask you to make a speech," Kaidan observed quietly.

"Tali's smarter than that," Shepard replied as an elcor droned on - and on. "She knows I'm likely to swear or cause a scene."

"I'm surprised she even invited you then," Kaidan chuckled.

"You and me both," Shepard replied with a grin.

later, back on the Normandy...

"Ugh," Shepard said, sitting down on the edge of her bed and tugging off her heels. "Man am I glad to get these shoes off."

"Not much of a heels type of girl, are you Shepard?" Kaidan asked with a half smile.

"Not much of a party person, either, truth be told."

"You're only saying that because no one started a fight during the reception," he teased, shrugging off his jacket and hanging it up in the closet. "If there had been need to fire that pistol I know you hid under your skirt, you'd have been fine with it."

"True enough," Shepard said, reaching under her dress to pull off the thigh-holster.

"Oh, now," Kaidan said, stopping to watch her. "That's... Wow."

"You know that parties are perfect ambush points," Shepard said, not noticing his reaction. "I saw you checking all the exits. I know that you know the best cover in the room was..."

"Behind the altar," Kaidan nodded. "Or whatever that thing was. And the most dangerous spot was..."

"The head table, with everyone's backs to the window that looked out over the lower deck." Shepard chuckled. "I can't ever turn it off. Can you?"

"No, but I can suspend it," Kaidan said, slipping off his belt. "Same as you. You seemed like you were having a good time."

"I had fun talking with our friends," Shepard agreed. "And I helped some of Wrex's kids sneak all the candy they could eat."

"He is going to kill you for that," Kaidan told her.

"He won't know," Shepard shrugged. "I never left my chair."

"You were using biotics on the candy dishes?" Kaidan laughed.

"I get more precise all the time," Shepard said, unhooking her necklace, then taking out her earrings. "The Urdnot kids all want to grow up to be biotics now."

Kaidan laughed. "Great. Forget Wrex. Eve is going to kill you."

Shepard smiled, then hiked up her skirt and started to roll of her stockings with a long, pleased sigh. Kaidan watched her with a raised eyebrow and a quickening of his pulse.

"Hey, I thought I got to take those off of you," he said.

"Did you want to?" she asked with a slow smile, rolling down the other. "Well, too late now. Oh, my God. That feels so good." She wiggled her toes. "Ah, I can finally feel my blood flowing again. Do you have any idea how constricting these things are?" She laid back on the bed with a satisfied sigh.

"Alright," Kaidan said, unbuttoning his shirt, "Shepard, you're just asking for it."

"Am I?" Shepard said, her eyes still closed as a smile curled on her lips. "Well then, come join me for whatever 'it' is, because I don't think I can move. And I didn't even dance."

"We should have," Kaidan said, taking off his shirt.

"I suck at it. You know that."

"Yeah, well, I suck at dancing, too."

"Sure do," Shepard nodded.

"Thanks," Kaidan laughed.

"It's the truth. You...mmmm..." Shepard's words were lost in a moan as Kaidan sat down on the edge of the bed, grabbed her foot and squeezed. "Okay, Kaidan. You massage my feet like that, and I think I'll just go ahead and orgasm right now."

"Really?" he asked roughly, squeezing tighter.

"Uh-huh," she nodded. "Or fall asleep. One of the two."

Kaidan grabbed her other foot and squeezed it as well. Shepard just sighed. Kaidan looked down at her, stockings off, dress rumpled, her makeup smudged and dark under her eyes, and felt his heart tighten a little in his chest. Shepard cracked her eyes open at him. She had a tired, blissful smile on her face, her hair around her head like a halo, and suddenly, Kaidan knew.

He should have known before this, he thought to himself, but now, he was absolutely certain.

"Whyrya stopping?" Shepard mumbled sleepily.

"Shepard," Kaidan said, squeezing her foot again so that she sighed. "That's really not your scene, is it?"

"My scene?" she murmured. "Eh, not really. But then, I'm not a fan of quarian pop music."

"So I guess," Kaidan said, squeezing her foot a little harder, "you wouldn't want some big society wedding, would you?"

Shepard froze at once. Kaidan felt it in the way her foot tensed. She cracked an eye open and said, "Is this an observation, Kaidan, or a recon mission?"

"A what?" he asked innocently.

"Come on," she said, leaning up on her elbows, her eyes open now. "That's a pretty loaded question. Are you trying to ask me this because you honestly don't know the answer. Or are you trying to ask me about my thoughts on marriage while still leaving yourself a way out?"

"Ah," Kaidan paused a moment. "I was just asking."

"Asking what exactly?" Shepard narrowed her eyes at him, and Kaidan said nothing. For a moment, she looked like she was going to become angry, but then she just shrugged.

"Okay," she said. "Fine, I'll bite. No, I wouldn't want the big wedding. First, I think it was a total waste of money – I mean, everyone had fun, but still. That wedding cost as much as the drive core on that ship. I mean, the point of getting married is to be married, right? Anyone can live together. But you get married so you can say you're, I dunno – more? Sticking with it? Making a go of it?" She shrugged. "Anyhow, the point of a marriage is every day after the wedding, not the day you eat the sugary cake. Frankly, I'd rather see a short exchange of "yeah, I dos" on both sides and call it good. If there's a lot of family and friends, hold a party, sure. Crack open some beers, maybe. But keep it simple, I say."

"That's how you'd do it, huh?" Kaidan asked. "Crack open some beers?"

Shepard sighed and laid back on the bed again. "On Mindoir, weddings were short, but the parties were long. We usually had a potluck dinner – you know, the kind where someone brings a really excellent casserole and someone else brings a really awful jello salad and the teens all try to sneak beers into their pockets when the grandmas aren't looking."

"So you would want a short wedding followed by a jello salad and stolen beers," Kaidan said with a crooked smile.

"Dunno," Shepard said, only barely opening her eyes. "Can't say, since I've never been asked."

She let that hang in the air between them for a moment, then shrugged. "But I guess," she said at last, "If I were to get married, I'd just as soon say the vows and then go out to dinner, or just go home and get an early start on the honeymoon." She grinned. "I mean, I'm not going to get the jello salad wedding. I don't know anyone who makes jello salad anymore and besides, if I ever got married, it would be a media nightmare."

Kaidan thought about that for a moment. "I guess there would be a lot of press if you got married."

"Yep," Shepard said. "Wouldn't wish that on anyone I cared for enough to get married to."

"I'm sure he could handle it," Kaidan said, smiling slightly.

"You asking me something Alenko?" Shepard asked lightly, but she could feel her heart pounding.

"Yeah," he said, looking at her intently. "Shepard..." he paused.

Shepard held her breath.

"Would you massage my feet now?"

Shepard froze, then scowled, then sat up with a laugh. "You!" she cried. She grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.

"What?" he asked as she smacked him with yet another pillow.

"You're awful," she said. "That's just...ugh!" Another pillow bounced off of Kaidan and onto the floor.

"You were expecting me to ask you something else?" he laughed, grabbing for the fourth pillow that she hurled his way.

"Yes," Shepard said, giving him a look that was meant to be a frown, but then she felt a little self-conscious under his intent stare. "No." She lifted her chin in the air. "Maybe I've suddenly developed this thing for Asari, and now I'm gonna go find me some blue stripper to run off with. Maybe we'll have a big wedding and we'll invite the press and every damn dignitary we can think of and we'll make out on the dance floor and make you all wildly jealous."

"I'm sure jealousy wouldn't be all I was feeling," Kaidan said, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"You wouldn't be invited to join in," Shepard said.

"A big wedding, huh?"

"Damn straight. I'd wear my dress blues and have a sabre display for the bride to walk under. I'm sure she'd like that."

"You'd be the groom?" Kaidan laughed.

"Pfft," Shepard snorted. "I sure as hell wouldn't be the bride, would I? I'd look awful in a big white dress. Besides, Asari are more feminine than me anyway."

"Say things like that all you like, Shepard," Kaidan said. "You know they're not true."

"Oh?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "Well, I guess I'll have to be the groom, since no one is asking me..."

"Did you want me to ask you?" Kaidan interrupted, softly.

"I..." Shepard broke off, completely taken aback by the simplicity and honesty of the question.

"I want you to know if you want to ask," she said after a moment. Kaidan looked as though he was trying to untangle her words, so she added, "I mean, if you want to ask, then do. If you aren't sure of what you want then..."

"Are you sure of what you want?"

Shepard's forehead furrowed and she bit her lip. "Well, yeah, actually. I am. Have been for a long time."

"So what are you saying, Shepard?"

"Hey!" she said, shoving his chest. "How did this get turned around to me asking you?"

"Do I have to be the one doing the asking?"

"No. I guess not. Still, someone as overbearing as me likes to be asked once in a while. Not always doing the asking. You want to be sure you're not just beating everyone into submission."

"I think I'd like that," Kaidan said, smiling.

"Yeah, you keep teasing me like that and I will," Shepard said.

"I want to be with you more than anything," Kaidan replied, his tone and eyes suddenly serious. "I think you know that."

"Well, okay," Shepard blinked at the change in his expression. "I...good. That's good. But I guess the question is, do you just want to be together or do you want to get married?"

"So now who's doing the asking?" Kaidan chuckled.

"I didn't..." Shepard frowned. "Okay," she said, taking a breath. "Are we actually having this talk and deciding this now? 'Cause if you go down one knee with a ring you've had hidden in your pocket all weekend, then I think I just might pull out a gun and shoot you for a really lousy lead-up to a proposal."

"No," Kaidan said. "That's not what I... Look, Shepard." He rolled off of her to sit beside her on the bed. Shepard sat up and faced him. Kaidan took her hand in his and looked at their intertwined fingers.

"Is it going to change what we have if we get married?" he asked.

"Are you asking...?"

"I'm just asking you that question," Kaidan told her. "Nothing more. Do you think marriage changes much? I know a lot of people who don't think it matters anymore."

"Well, I do think it matters. I mean... " Shepard frowned, then shrugged. "I don't know about marriage, but I do know about you – about us. I took a chance on us a long time ago. I made up my mind before I even realized I'd done it. I want us to work and I don't want to lose you. And if you feel the same way, then I'm gonna hold the ground between us, come hell or high water."

"Hold the ground?" Kaidan asked, looking like he was going to hold back a laugh. "Am I a strategic position now?"

"I'll give you a strategic position," Shepard grinned, nodding at the bed. "But no, seriously. I know how to fight for what I want. I think sometimes relationships work, but other times they're under attack – outside and inside, and you hold the line, right? But you know how it is. The easiest fights are the ones you never let come to a battle in the first place. The moment you see trouble, you start making changes to protect your turf."

"I'm your 'turf' now?" Kaidan asked.

"Damn straight you are," Shepard replied. "And I'm yours."

Kaidan nodded at that, letting his eyes drift back down to their hands.

"So yeah," she finished. "I'm yours, Kaidan. You know that."

He nodded.

"And you?" she prompted after a long moment.

"I keep looking back on the last few years," he said, slowly. "And all this...well, it's been a ride, Shepard."

"Sure has," she agreed.

"I think back on the day we met - and then to all the times I thought we were going to die. Hell, I remember that one time you died."

"Don't remind me," Shepard grimaced.

"And then we came out the other side of this mess and it feels so normal. Like this was what it was always supposed to be like. It almost feels wrong for me to be this happy. The galaxy is still in such a mess - all that reconstruction, all those broken families. We might have stopped the Reapers, but most people's lives are already ruined - or lost. And here we are. We got something good out of this war, and that just feels wrong. There are so many mornings when I wake up, and I turn and look at you and I can't believe you're still here and we don't have to go kill anything."

"Yeah," Shepard agreed. "That does take a little getting used to."

"True," Kaidan nodded. "And for a while there, I kept wondering - well, if I was just imagining it all. Maybe I was just seeing what I wanted to see in you because I needed to have something to fight for. Maybe this thing between us was just need, you know? But now..."

"But now?" Shepard said, leaning down a little to look into his face.

"But now I'm sure it's the real thing," Kaidan said, lifting his chin to meet her eyes.

"Pfft," Shepard snorted. "I could have told you it was the real thing a long time ago, Kaidan."

"Yeah, well," Kaidan shrugged. "It took me a little longer to figure it out. Give a guy a break, okay?"

"Okay," Shepard said in an apologetic tone. "You're right. You had a lot to deal with. But you still didn't answer your own question. Is it going to change anything if we got, you know..."

"Married?"

"Yeah."

"Well," Kaidan said, straightening and clearing his throat. "I don't see how marriage would change what we have. But then, on the other hand, that's why I think we... should?"

Shepard let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Is that a question or a proposal or what?" she asked.

"I dunno," Kaidan re-lacing his fingers through hers. "I don't think if we got married it would change anything about how I feel about you or how I think about us. But on the other hand, I suppose maybe we should. Get married, that is. Not because anyone made us or we feel like we have to, but just to put a name on what we already are."

Shepard nodded once, then nodded again and found herself just nodding. "Yeah," she said.

She looked up from their fingers to find Kaidan was staring at her. "Yeah," she said again. "I think that... That..." She nodded once more, decisively now. "Yeah."

She smiled at Kaidan and he smiled back. They held each others hands, sitting there on the bed, shy smiles on both their faces and warmth in their eyes.

"So, wait," Shepard said, looking around the room, "are we engaged now?"

"Uh...yes?"

"Okay. And who proposed to whom?"

"I think it was a mutual asking-without-really-asking," Kaidan replied.

"Ah," Shepard nodded. "And a mutual accepting-without-really-accepting."

"I could go down on one knee," Kaidan pointed out. "But I don't have a ring."

"Then maybe you could go down in a different way," Shepard suggested with a sultry smile.

"Well," Kaidan said, "I do need to make a dishonest woman of you, don't I?"

"Ha," she laughed. "We've already got that covered."

Kaidan gave her a wolfish grin.

"Oh," Shepard said, grabbing him by the shoulders before he could do anything, "Wait. If we're going to do this - the marriage thing, I mean, not the going down thing - can we do this quickly? Can we just get married before anyone catches wind of it? Then we can just send out announcements to our friends and everyone else can speculate on what happened."

"Not invite anyone?"

"We can have a reception or something. Beers and jello salad and all. But you know that it will get awful and political real fast if we plan a ceremony. Let's get the vows said before anyone starts making something of it."

"Okay..."

"Like, tomorrow morning," Shepard went on, grabbing his hand. "We'll overnight it to Illium and go to one of those marriage chapel dives."

"Sure thing, Mrs. Alenko," Kaidan replied. "If you're sure you don't want fifteen quarian flower girls."

Shepard shuddered. "Mrs. Alenko?" she repeated. "I was more thinking you'd be Mr. Shepard."

"I suppose," Kaidan shrugged. "Though I was thinking Mr. and Mrs. Commander-Spectre sounded good. We keep getting called by our rank anyhow, like we don't have proper names."

"Hah," Shepard laughed, "That works. Thought I always liked the colony customs..."

"Shepard-Alenko for the two of us and the kids would be Alenko?"

"Oh God," Shepard said, freezing every muscle in her body. "Do we have to talk about kids right now? 'Cause if we do, I'm going to freak out and run from this room. No, seriously, I will. Right now, I want this dress off, I want this horrible push-up bra off, and I want sex. In the morning, I'll marry you. But no talk about kids, please. I will seriously freak out if we talk about kids."

"Alright," Kaidan laughed. "We can go to the courthouse in the morning and not talk about kids until you're ready."

"Or maybe ever."

"Okay, maybe ever."

"But sex now?"

"Alright," Kaidan said. "But you will marry me in the morning and make an honest man out of me, right?"

Shepard wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down to press a kiss to his lips.

"Absolutely," she said.