Commander Shepard
It was movie night on the Normandy. Every few weeks Commander James Shepard would give the crew a little relaxation by putting on a classic movie night with good food and good drinks. This nights movie of choice was a romantic musical from the early 2000's called Moulin Rouge. A strange choice for a bunch of service men and women but Shepard still went with it, as it was one of his favorite guilty pleasure movies.
As the movie drew to a close he looked around at his crew. Most seemed to be riveted, there were of course a few dissatisfied customers who believed all movies should have explosions, but there were quite a few who looked positively enthralled. Shepard smiled to himself, 'another success' he thought. In any case the movie helped distract the crew from the impending mission.
Curious, Shepard looked over at Miranda. Things had been interesting between then since he had helped save her sister. She had softened some since he had first met her. She still had that steel about her that strangely attracted him, but she seemed more friendly and...happy. Although it could be that it was just because he knew her better now. Between that and the fiery kiss (okay maybe a little more than a kiss) they had shared in her office he found he was caring about her more and more. He had been interested to see if she would like a movie like this. He found himself wishing that she would. But when he looked at her, she seemed to have that mask on, her face was blank almost like she wasn't paying attention even though her eyes were on the screen. Shepard gave a little sigh, 'oh well can't win them all'.
A few days later Shepard woke in the middle of the night shaking and sweating after a nightmare. After calming down he tried to get back to sleep but his mind kept racing with the upcoming mission to enter the relay. His mind kept coming up with scenarios in which his whole crew was killed with the Normandy going down in flames and a sudden inability to breathe. To help distract him Shepard decided to go down to the observation deck and put on a movie.
As he rode the elevator down to the 3rd deck he put his head against the wall, willing his heart and mind to quiet.
As he approached the room he saw that a movie was already playing. It was Moulin Rouge, and surprisingly the one watching it was Miranda Lawson. Swallowing his suprise Shepard watched her for a minute as she had not noticed his presence. Satine was just going to the Duke's to keep the ending of the show and Christian was fighting his jealousy. As the song progressed he watched as a tear fell down Miranda's face.
"This part breaks my heart every time. He sings it so well." He said softly from the doorway.
She doesn't gasp or turn around suddenly, but he see's her body stiffen in suprise for a moment. She doesn't say anything just motions for him to come join her. After a few minutes she asks him without breaking eye contact from the screen "Can't sleep?"
"No, I keep having nightmares. Mostly about dying."
"We'll make it." She tries to say with confidence.
He smiles at her for trying. "It's the memory of dying that's giving me the nightmares."
She finally looks away from the screen. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget that that wasn't that long ago for you. I can't imagine what that's like."
He looks into her blue eyes and can't help but feel calmer. "It's not so bad. Most of the time it's not at the front of my mind. When things slow down though, then it seems I can't stop thinking about it."
"Have you talked to someone about it, Garrus? Chakwas?"
He smiled again. "Just you"
She smiled at that. "Hmm I'm probably the least qualified for psycho therapy."
"Ah that is why I have the movie room. Best therapy around, or at least distraction."
"Ooo I love this part. The way she stops and closes her eyes and looks up and you see her resolve to do what needs to be done."
Rather than look at what she was talking about he looked at her. Her face was animated and she was smiling. He realized then that she only wore the mask to hide her feelings. When she had watched the movie before she had hid how much she liked it from the rest of the crew. It made him incredibly happy to know she wasn't hiding her feelings from him. 'Maybe another kiss is in the future after all.' He said to himself and sat back to enjoy the show.
As the movie finished he noticed that Miranda had been crying. "Don't look at me like that, it's a really weird, sad movie."
He laughed, "Sorry I just didn't know you liked it."
"I love it. The story within the story, the music, even the singing moon! But most of all their story, the greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return."
"You know I never pegged you for a romantic."
"You know I used to not be and not long ago I would have shot you for suggesting it." She said as she stood up and walked around behind the couch before pausing behind him. "You seem to be having an affect on me." And then she leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. "Sleep tight Shepard." And then she walked away.
Shepard was still going to have trouble sleeping, but for a different reason entirely.