A/N: It's been a very long time since I've written anything other than original fiction, but something about the Mass Effect characters keeps tugging at my muse. These are all named '"Random Moments of 'Lack of Flirtation' Frustration-Enduced Joy Aboard the Normandy " on my computer. I ended up exhausting the conversation points with Kaidan too quickly and took matters into my own hands.
I've got a couple more chapters, spreading into ME2, if people enjoy what I've written. If not then, well. No harm, no foul.
It was the end of a very long day before Commander Shepard managed to make a visit to the commissary. She gathered herself a meal that Doctor Chakwas would frown upon and took a seat at an empty table.
She spent the next few minutes pushing the little food she'd chosen around her plate, trying to make sense of the meaningless visions in her head... which was still throbbing, and had been for most of the evening despite her attempts to unwind with a visit to the gym and a rather too lengthy shower. She was loath to allow herself such luxuries after seeing the state of Feros, but she'd still smell like a giant plant monster if she hadn't.
She was left alone at her table by the rest of her crew, though the room did start to fill up significantly after her arrival. If the boss was eating, they could too.
She wasn't going to pretend she didn't know why they avoided sitting with her. They needed to find amusement where they could and there was little point in her trying to stop them. She just wished they'd whisper a little quieter, especially tonight.
She knew when he walked in, of course. The immediate hush followed by frantically over-casual conversation was a familiar sound to her ears. She didn't look for him, the palpable disappointment from all around her giving her a little too much amusement for her own good. Only when his shadow fell over her did she look up at him.
"Manage to get all of the Thorian out of your hair Commander?" Kaidan asked as he threw his tray down in the front of the chair opposite her.
Shepard smiled a little at this, but her retort was abandoned in favour of staring in disbelief at his plate of food. It was piled so high that some of it had tumbled onto the tray at the force of its landing on the table.
"Got enough food there Lieutenant?" She asked as he attacked the pile with gusto.
"Figured I better take a healthy portion." He responded, nodding at her own plate. "Someone has to eat around here."
She looked down at it herself, speared a vegetable and put it in her mouth with a 'happy now?' scowl.
They ate in silence for a while, Shepard marvelling, not for the first time, at his ability to put so much food away in such a short amount of time.
"How's Liara?" He asked eventually, breaking their comfortable silence.
"Fine. Got the all clear from the good Doctor." She said. "We spoke soon after I saw you last, she explained a few things..."
Kaidan's eyebrow raised in invitation for her to continue, without the need to stop devouring his meal.
"Truth be told, she came on to me a little bit." She said, and found herself laughing for the first time in a long while as he gaped at her, before inhaling a piece of food that should have gone down the other way and wheezing his way through most of his drink. "Are you alright?" She asked eventually, an impish grin on her face.
"I'm not entirely sure that was necessary." He groused, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "You don't have to lie to get a reaction out of me."
"Who said I was lying?" Shepard said, leaning forward. "Is it so hard to believe?"
"No! No, of course not." Kaidan said hurriedly. "It's just she's..."
"Female? Come on Lieutenant, we're more enlightened than that by now aren't we?"
"Well, of course." He spluttered. "And I'd appreciate it if you'd stop trying to get a rise out of me."
Shepard allowed herself one last chuckle. "Sorry, that was unfair of me."
They lapsed into silence once more as Kaidan finished eating, and eventually the rest of the crew filed away when it was apparent there was little left to see for the evening.
"Can I get you a coffee?" He asked, breaking into her thoughts.
It was at this point in the evening that they usually parted ways, put the mission first and went to bed alone. Tonight she studied his face for a moment, devoid of the usual hopefulness that followed his question. He was too used to her saying no now, which was something she was going to have to work to put right.
Her day had been too long, she'd seen too many awful things. She refused to give the mission priority... for another half an hour and a coffee at least.
"I'd like that Lieutenant, thank you."