A/N – So, looks like I'm finally posting this. I've been working on it for awhile and well... it's as finished as it's ever going to be. I hope you guys like it. MAJOR thanks to my beta yo-sirrah who spent many hours correcting all of my silly mistakes.
Just for reference: Keira is a Colonist/ War Hero/ Vanguard/ Paragon Shepard.
Oh, and Bioware owns all.
Prologue - The War
The very first time Commander Keira Shepard meets Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko she can't help but notice his eyes.
When she pulls him away from the beacon she can't help but notice the way his body seems to fit against hers.
When she wakes up after Eden Prime and sees him in the med-bay she can't help but notice his smile. By the time she finishes talking to him outside the med-bay she knows she's going to fall for him.
'Oh no,' she thinks once she's alone sometime after, 'that is so inconvenient!' And she knows she won't be able to stop herself, that his kind eyes and his soft smile will undo her. She realises she's going to have to fight, and fight hard, to resist him.
The first time Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko meets Commander Keira Shepard he can't help but notice the way her smile transforms her face.
When she pulls him away from the beacon he can't help but feel the strength in her arms behind her lithe form.
When she tells him that what happened on Eden Prime wasn't his fault, he can't help but smile at the kindness in her eyes. By the time she finishes talking to him outside the med-bay he's already in love with her, he just doesn't know it yet but he knows he's going to have to fight, and fight hard, not to act on it.
When he makes his little slip on the Citadel she has to fight down her blush and the leaping in her heart. She can't help but tell him she appreciates the thought but quickly follows it up with a reminder that they're on duty. It's the first battle of the war and she's already losing.
When she tells him she likes the man his past has made him he blushes and she can't help but find that adorable. He starts to think she likes him back, starts to think about what their life could be if they were somewhere and something else other than Commander and Lieutenant. His heart leaps into his mouth. She starts to appear in his dreams and it's then that he knows he's losing the war.
When he tells her he likes the adventurous type she can't help but hope he means her. She tries to quash the flutter in her heart, tries to deny her increased heartbeat. She starts to wonder what being with him would be like, in her spare moments she pictures their life in her head. He starts to appear in her dreams and she knows she's losing the war, and losing it badly.