A/N: Writer's block sucks hence why family reunion is on hold, but I came up with this when I was remembering the time I accidently romanced Kaidan. I do not like Kaidan, almost as much as I do not like Jacob ("You could fart and get a better character than Jacob," –CombineGLaDOS, 2015).

Set post ME3, so obvious spoilers.

And away we go!

"I can't bury what I feel for you anymore, and I don't want to," As the words left Shepard's mouth, she forced the part of her brain screaming 'You're making a huge mistake' to be silent, which in turn made her mind become quiet.

"And that, makes me so happy," the genuine joy in Kaidan's voice as he took the Commander's hand and brought it to his face made the mental silence break, the realisation of error almost breaking the Commander's resolve.

A forced smile made its way on to Shepard's face as Kaidan kissed her hand, but the love in his eyes made it hard for her to keep hating herself for what she was doing. Only one person had ever looked at her like that before and after a recent conversation, Shepard was sure that they no longer wanted to be with her.

As much as her thoughts kept relentlessly saying words synonymous to 'error', she was sure that was to do with her recent heartbreak and that, in reality, this was the start of something that she had never truly experienced and had always wanted.

-23 years later-

Shepard opened the front door to her apartment, able to hear the soft drone of the vid screen on the other side of the fire, which was soon covered by faint footsteps.

A raven-haired girl with dark brown eyes walked around the fireplace column in the centre of the apartment, her face a picture of happiness until she saw who it was who had interrupted her daily dose of 'Earthborn Love', a rather monotonous soap opera that had swept the galaxy recently.

"Oh, it's you," The girl said before spinning around to go back to the sofa, forcing her hands into an oversized N7 hoodie.

"Good afternoon, Raelynn," Shepard rolled her eyes before she sighed and made her way towards the kitchen, desperate for a coffee. Or enough ryncol to kill Wrex, she thought.

Having suffered severe nerve damage in her right wrist and left ankle due to destroying the Reapers 23 years earlier, Shepard had been forced to retire from the Alliance and as a result had her spectre status revoked. As much as she had protested to it, she now spent a lot of her time in the council chamber discussing new laws and eligible spectre candidates with the council, made up of Councilor Irissa, Narlana, Quentius and Lawson, as the original council had been killed in the reaper war.

The new council was far less tolerable than the old council, except for Councilor Lawson, as if it wasn't for Miranda, Shepard would have still been dead from when she was killed in action 25 years ago.

"Have you had a good day?" Shepard asked while waiting for a coffee to be ready, once again rolling her eyes when the only response she got from her daughter was an annoyed grunt, followed by her talking about watching her show.

While Shepard was regarded as a hero by most of the galaxy, her 15 year old adopted child saw her as nothing more than an annoyance, who just so happened to have extremely comfortable hoodie's that she could steal from time to time.

Just as the former Commander went to finish up making her coffee, the door to the apartment opened again and in walked her husband, Kaidan Alenko.

"Hey, Dad!" Raelynn called, running over to him and hugging him.

Daddy's girl, Shepard thought with a smile.

She and Raelynn had never got on well, and her husband kept telling her it was because she was taking the fact that she wasn't her birth mother hard. That was not true at all, as Raelynn never had an issue with Kaidan after finding out he wasn't her biological father, and her issues with Shepard began from the moment she was old enough to talk.

"Hey sweetheart," Kaidan returned the hug and looked over at his wife in the kitchen, "and hello, Hayley."

"Hey, Kaidan," She smiled at him, noticing how he still looked at her as though she was the most gorgeous, talented human alive. He had never not looked at her like that, not even when they argued, because his admiration for her raw power often overrided any anger her felt towards her.

Eventually Raelynn let go and went back to watching what Shepard felt was the most boring show in the galaxy, and Kaidan went to go embrace his wife from behind.

"Now how is it fair that I'm going grey and you still look 30?" He whispered before nipping her earlobe, causing her to let out a chuckle and earning a disgusted look from the teenager who lay sprawled out on the sofa.

"Don't blame me, blame your boss," She smirked, knowing her youthful appearance despite being 55 had been due to the cybernetic implants Miranda had given her while she was still dead as dead can be. The implants also extended her life to 2.5 times that of a normal human, meaning that she'll likely live to 375, longer than any of her friends or family will, aside from Wrex and Grunt.

"No thanks, she terrifies me," Kaidan backed away and held his hands up, laughing as he saw the amused expression on Hayley's face as she turned around to face him. It was a well-known fact that Miranda was one of the most argumentative and stubborn councillors, and her prowess in the battlefield meant that whatever she said or did, normally went. It was almost a God-send that she wasn't power crazy like her old employer, the Illusive Man, had been, and that most of her requests were beneficial to the galaxy.

The remainder of the day went by as normal as anything. Kaidan cooked food that had the potential to poison an elcor but actually ended up tasting pretty damn good, Raelynn and Hayley argued over something ridiculous and trivial before the teenager stormed off to her room, and Kaidan went bed several hours before Shepard even thought about it.

The former spectre was happily watching Fleets and Flotilla for the millionth time since her quarian friend, Tali'Zorah, had shown it to her all those years ago, when her omni-tool beeped with a message.

Expecting it to be from a councillor, or an official for any of the other races not in the council, she picked it up straight away and opened the message, ready to find yet another request for a meeting that she certainly didn't want to go to, but Hayley's expectation was far from the reality.

Seeing the name of the sender, her heart wanted to burst from joy and sink from despair at the same time. She wanted to jump around the room ecstatically but also straight through the window and fall several meters into the lower wards. Every possible emotion was conflicted with another. It was a name she so dearly loved, yet one she hated more than the Reapers.

Deciding she didn't know what to do, she put the omni-tool down and paced for a few seconds, before going back to read the message.

From: [redacted]

To: HShepard

Hello Hayley. I have not spoken to you in a while and would like to arrange to meet up at your earliest convenience.

Regards,

Liara T'Soni