* The cool blue glow of Shepard's empty fish tank illuminated the worried face of Major Alenko as he paced
back and fourth nevoursly awaiting Shephard's arrival. It has been a full year since they had defeated the Reapers
and brought peace to the galaxy, and the Normandy crew were finally on their way to getting some much needed R&R
on Shephard and the Major's home planet Earth. There were many minor problems and loose ends for the crew to
clean up after the Reaper threat had passed, but now everything was finally seeming to settle down. Everything except
the anxious Kaidan waiting in Shephard's cabin. In his left pocket was a small black box and inside it a huge
and life changing surprise. He reached his hand into his pocket, for about the 500th time, to make sure it was still
there. To reassure himself that this was reality. He was finally going to do it. He was finally going to ask the
woman he loved with all his heart to be his own. Every second that passed was gnawing away at him, he tried
desperately to maintain his cool and calm demeanor, but the anticipation was driving him mad. Suddenly he heard the
familiar hiss of the airlock and the mechanical whirring of the elevator door opening.

Commander Alisia Shepard sat in the mess hall sipping a warm cup of black coffee with extra sugar, enough
to make anyone else gag. She was "unique" in her tastes to say the least. She let out a large sigh and brushed a few
golden locks of hair out of her face. Even when she tried to restrain her hair in a tight ponytail some wild strands
always managed to escape. A memory of Kaidan's fingertips lightly brushing away a few of these strands from her
face sent chills down her spine. They had been seperated for a year while Kaidan stayed with the council to help
sort things out on the Citidel and Shepard was assigned clean up duty once again, which honestly made her a tad
nervous simply because the last time she was assigned a "simple clean up mission" she kind of died. She tried to
push those memories back like she did with every other unpleasant memory she had. The time that had passed
since they were last together seemed to have created a distance between them. Maybe it was because Kaidan was
unhappy about her and Liara being together with out him there. Their love triangle had become increasingly
complicated, especially since the incident on Horizon. Kaidan had rejected her and feeling betrayed and lost she
found herself running back to Liara. They only shared that one night of passion, and it was mutually understood
between them that that was all it was. Just a one time thing, a release of emotions and stress. However it uncovered
feelings that Shephard had thought were burried long ago. She had missed the beautiful sapphire sparkles in Liara's
eyes and how gentle and soft her touch was. How soothing her sweet voice was. How exquisitely her body was shaped,
the way her curves fit perfectly in Shepard's hands. They never acted on their feelings again, but they could both
sense that things had changed. When Kaidan came back to join her in the fight against the Reapers things picked up
almost right where they left off. When Kaidan first took her back into his arms she could feel that heat between
their bodies. Their chemistry was like a fire cracker, their desire exploded everytime they touched. She had missed
his strong arms cradling her thin body. During that time Liara had faded back into the background, and now Shepard
was feeling particularly guilty. Both because of how she was being unfair to both of them and how she was still
unable to make one clear and final descision. She didn't want to hurt either of them and in the process she was
just hurting both of them and herself.

Liara flashed a wry smile towards her commander sitting across from her in the mess hall. Liara stood leaning
against one of the food dispensers with her arms crossed staring down at Shephard who seemed to be lost in her
thoughts once again.
"Are you going to go or what?" She laughed softly, "You know he's probably pacing a hole into your floor."

Shepard set down her cup lightly on the table, she knew she had kept Kaidan waiting long enough, she was just scared.
Scared of what he might say to her. Scared that he would reject her again. She looked up at Liara and gazed into her
azure eyes for a moment, picking up on her displeasure with this meeting. She wished that Liara wouldn't have been
passing that particular area of the ship right as Kaidan asked her to meet in her cabin in an hour. She shot Liara
a brief apologetic look and rose from her seat.

Liara watched her make her way to the elevator and as soon as the door whirred shut she slumped down onto the floor
and cradled her face in her hands. She had been beating herself up for not telling Shepard how she felt after the
night they spent together. The last thing she wanted was for it to seem like just a one night stand, but because of
her shy nature she wasn't able to tell Shepard how she really felt. And now it seemed like she would never be able
to. It had been torture for her to see Shepard back with Alenko and knowing that if she had only said something
Shepard would be hers instead. And she knew exactly what Alenko was going to ask her, and she didn't doubt that
Shepard would say yes right away. She sobbed quietly in the empty mess hall. She just didn't know what to do.

The elevator door opened and Shepard delicately stepped out, her combat boots clunky across the metal floor.
She looked up and caught Kaidan's deep chocolate eyes gazing at her almost in awe. He was soaking up her warm
inticing aura as she came towards him. She smelled sweetly of vanilla and honey and her golden hair swished across
her face with each step she took. He swallowed hard and opened his mouth to greet her, but was interupted as she
took just one more step closer to him and smiled warmly,
"So what's with this secret meeting? Am I in trouble?" the blue glow of the fish tank only accentuated her sparkling
teal eyes as she starred up at him with that certain look that made the hairs on the back of Kaidan's neck stand up.
He swallowed hard again,
"Well you know, I just figured we should catch up a little. It's been a year." he mentally smacked himself for not
being able to say why he really wanted to talk to her. Shepard always had this way of making him lose his cool,
even when she wasn't trying. Just the smell of her skin and the way she looked at him drove him mad.

Shepard's stomach churned at his remark, was he talking about her and Liara being alone? She looked away from him
and nervously took a step back. He gave her a quizzical look, not understanding how what he said could have upset
her. He reached for her arm and pulled her back to him. He looked down into her eyes, taking in the hint of pain
he noticed. "What is it?" he whispered softly in his deep smokey voice.
Shepard froze, there was no way she was going to explain how guilty she felt to him. She looked away again and pulled
away from his grasp. She turned and sat down on her bed, trying to hide the pained expression on her face from him.
She didn't want him to worry about her. She felt the bed sink next to her and looked to see Kaidan sitting down
beside her. He ran his hand gently down her arm and weaved his fingers through hers. She didn't move away this time
but she still wouldn't look at him. Frustrated, Kaidan blurted, "You know if you don't tell me what's upsetting you
how am I suppose to fix it?"

Shepard thought in silence for a moment, she decided that if Kaidan came up here to confront her about Liara he would
have done it by now. He's always been a very "to the point" kind of guy. But she still couldn't shake this feeling
of guilt and when she looked at his face, his sculpted features and warm chocolate eyes, it only made things worse.
She wished she hadn't slept with Liara, and that those feelings would have stayed buried where they belonged. She
had a commitment to Kaidan before, and even though a lot had changed between them she still felt wrong for being
with someone else. Even just for one night.
"I'm sorry..." she whispered as an unintentional tear slipped from her cerulean eyes.

All the hope she had that he wouldn't notice that lonely tear vanished as he softly wiped it from her cheek. Despite
how she was feeling, his touch was comforting and familiar.
"You have nothing to be sorry about." the tone in his voice indicated he was catching on to why she was upset.
"I made a mistake not trusting you, and I know I hurt you badly. The way you reacted was my fault so I can't be angry
with you or hold it against you. You just need to know that all I want..." he inhaled deeply, his nerves were starting
to really get to him, " All I want Shepard, is..." he gathered all the strength in his body to say the next sentence,
"Is to stay by your side forever." He let out a large sigh, it felt like the huge weight that had been crushing his
chest was suddenly lifted.

Shepard turned to face him now and peered into the deep midnight pools staring down at her begging nervously for her
to reply. She leaned into him and burried her face into his neck, her warm breath tingling his skin sending shivers
through his body. She brushed her lips softly across his bronze skin and placed a small kiss right behind his ear.
"Kaidan..." the ecstasy of his scent and the warmth of his body against hers made her forget all her inhibitions and
indulge in this moment. "That's what I want too."
He pulled her body into his and wrapped his arms around her. He cupped his hand around her face and gently lifted it
up to his own. He smiled so brightly his joy was practically leaking from the corners of his mouth.
"I love you Alisia." he whispered into her ear, his breath tickling and exciting her.
"I love you too Kaidan."
Their lips met and joined in sweet passionate kisses. Kaidan explored and relished in her taste with his tongue
swirling around inside her mouth and sliping down her neck, which he knew was her sweet spot. She let out a soft moan
and leaned her head to the side so he could continue. He kissed and sucked, leaving small painless bruises on her
soft pale skin. He curved his hand around her hips and pulled her body even closer to his. She could feel the bulge
underneath his pants begining to grow harder and push against her. He slipped his hands up her shirt and ran them up
along her curves eventually pulling it up over her head and tossing it to the ground. She returned the favor and
relieved him of his shirt as well exposing his built bronze chest and strong arms.
Their kisses increased in intensity and Shepard began grinding on top of Kaidan. His hands were placed on her hips
guiding her back and forth as his tongue flicked up and down her neck. Suddenly Shepard felt another hard object
beneath her.
"What is that?" she exclaimed, looking down inbetween Kaidan's legs.
Embarassment appeared upon Kaidan's face in a red curtain of blush,
"Oh, I totally forgot." He sat up again and reached into his pocket. He pulled out the small box and wrapped his
fingers around the lid. He was a second away from opening it when Joker's voice came on over the intercom,
"Hope I'm not interupting anything Commander, but we have just arrived in Vancouver."
Shepard sighed, "Thank you Joker."
"Aye aye Commander."

Shepard turned to Kaidan, "Well," she smiled, "We're here. Let's go have some fun." She got up off the bed and
Kaidan fell backwards on to it. He shoved the black box back into his pocket and took a deep sigh.
After putting her shirt back on Shepard picked up Kaidan's off the floor as well and set it down next to him. She
crawled on top of him and placed a small kiss on his forehead, "We can continue this later alright." He smiled up
at her but the anxiety he felt inside was only growing. He began wondering if he could really do this...