The thing about destroying every single invading Reaper in known space and becoming more or less a lauded hero of the entire galaxy is that after all's said and done, you're stuck behind a desk pushing papers and talking to morons all damn day long. It almost makes a girl want to find some way to resurrect some of the buggies and see if they're up for another few rounds of "catch me if you can" around the outerlying systems.

Almost.

Shepard fought the urge to rest her chin in her hand, or lay her head on the table, or even just crawl under the desk and die while the meeting droned on and on. The topic of discussion was something-something-budget-priorities-something-war-relief-long-acronym-thingo. It wasn't that Shepard didn't care about the subject. She'd just rather be out and about actually doing something rather than sitting here listening to people argue with each other over a variety of topics that were all essentially the same thing. Meanwhile Hackett sat across from her, nodding and providing input and overall looking extremely attentive, and more importantly, not bored at all.

She asked him once why he wanted her along for these budget meetings, but all he ever did was smile enigmatically and say that it was for his own amusement. Well, fuuuuuuuck you, Admiral Asshole. As if he could hear her train of thought, Hackett glanced at her briefly and winked. Shepard risked a glare in return, though what she really wanted to do was be juvenile and blow a big, fat raspberry at him. The bastard.

Lack of sleep was probably a heavy contributor to her general mood too. Because someonedecided to be all sweet and romantic with…with food, That was hands-down the most gorgeous presentation of antipasto ever. And that steak, cooked perfectly, as always. There's still creme brulee in the fridge, right? I should check when I get home, and wine, the Brunellodi Montalcino was excellent, and soft candlelight, all of which was followed by some extremely creative ways to burn off all those excess calo-

"Shepard!"

Shepard nearly jumped out of her seat in surprise. There stood the object of her daydreams, leaning oh, so sexily against the doorframe of the now-empty meeting room. Wait, the meeting ended? When did that happen? Oh, shit, she hoped nobody noticed the dopey expression on her face while she thought about-

"Thinking about me, were you?" Kaidan smirked, pushing himself off the wall and walking around the table towards her.

"Don't be smug, Alenko," Shepard threw him a glare, which was in all honesty more tired than glare. "And yes, you jerk."

Kaidan chuckled, that deep, gravelly laugh that she loved so much, as he enfolded her in his arms and pressed a light kiss against her temple. All complaining aside, Shepard was more than happy that the war was over. Simply having the chance to live without the threat of death and destruction hanging ominously over their heads, the chance to share beers and stories on a balcony overlooking Vancouver Island, the chance to wake up and fall asleep in Kaidan's arms every day and every night…this, for Shepard, was worth it.

"Oh yeah, so I ran into Hackett in the hall."

Aaaand happy feeling's gone, Shepard groaned.

"He mentioned that you've been under some pressure lately and suggested a holiday."

Hackett probably told him about how ineffective she's been in the office and how poorly she deals with other people and—wait…what?

"Wait…what?" It warranted an audible repeat.

Kaidan laughed again, spinning her chair around until they were face to face. "I'm your gallant knight, my lady," he said, raising her hand to his lips and kissing her knuckles, "here to rescue you from the shackles of military administration."

Shepard was speechless.

After a long moment of heavy silence, Kaidan withdrew a hand and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "That is, I kind of put in a couple of weeks off for both of us and hope you weren't working on anything too important at the moment…?"

Her jaw worked, but her words lagged at the loading screen while making the mental relay jump.

"I, uh, also got us tickets to go-" but Kaidan never got to tell her what event they were attending as she suddenly threw herself at him, planting kisses on his lips and all over his face while he mumbled, "Wow, I should do this more often" in between kisses.

He drew her up out of her seat and into his arms, lingering on one last kiss that ended with a light nip and a wicked promise, and she squeezed him as tightly as she could, "You are wonderful and amazing and you really didn't have to do this but this is absolutely the best thing that-"

"Hey, hey," he whispered, and she hushed instantly with a small pout that he soothed with another kiss. He smiled at her, the soft turn of his lips and the slight crinkle around the corners of his eyes easily making it one of her favorite expressions. "I figured you'd like to get away for a bit on your birthday," and if the sudden wide-eyed blank stare on Shepard's face was any indication, "You forgot your birthday again."

She blinked, "Possibly," and if she just realized that last night's romantic dinner now made perfect sense, she made no mention of it.

Kaidan chuckled, and the sound of it did things to Shepard that made her really want to doother things to him. He must've caught something in her look because he smirked, that is illegal, sir, and nodded his head toward the door, "Well then, let's get lost. Shall we?"