AU: Kaidan and Shepard meet in World War II
This is obviously a completely AU story with some of the characters of Mass Effect. A romance set on the backdrop of WWII.
Warnings do apply to this. It's WWII after all. People die.
It contains mentions of racism, including racial slurs, sexism, war propaganda, and the opinions and social mores of the time through the eyes of an American and English person. The opinions expressed within are wholly fictional and not shared by the author.
It may also contain historical mistakes, although I have done my best. Contains 40s slang, you can google the meanings if you get curious but you should be able to work most of it out :P
I have no idea where this came from but I hope you enjoy.
Song used is 'Whispering Grass' by the Ink Spots. Look it up on YT.
When Great Britain declares war on Nazi Germany on the September the Third 1939, Kaidan Alenko sits in a little bar in Chicago drinking beer and knows he has to help, American isolationism or not.
He's twenty-one when war first breaks out and America stays on the sidelines, hasn't spoken to his dad in two years and likes baseball, good whiskey, dancing and the Ink Spots.
War doesn't exactly take him by surprise. He never would have joined the Army if he didn't have the courage to kill a man in the defense of others, in defense of his home. There's been trouble brewing in Europe for a while. He has always wanted to do some good, even if it means struggling through Officer Training with sneers and mockery of his dusky skin, and eyes just a little too exotic to be a good old American bred boy.
The rest of the marines all know his mother is Japanese and he hears them whisper 'chink' behind his back, finds pictures of monkeys stuck to his locker. It doesn't matter that his mother married his father and moved to America, it doesn't matter that she identifies as Singaporean and its part of the British Empire. What matters is Kaidan is different from most of his squad.
That's ok, he grins and plays along and eventually the jibes lessen. He wins them over by being quiet and unassuming and damn good at his job. He makes a point to participate in the company baseball tournaments when he's on base and is the best batter in the team.
When he kicks Jimmy Vega's ass on the sparring mat despite being outweighed by fifty pounds and somehow makes the most loyal friend he's ever had, they get the message he's not to be messed with.
Kaidan doesn't forget though and war brings out the worst of it anyway.
His pretty, sweet Ma who would never hurt a fly or even raise her voice can barely walk down the street without the stares, or even the racial slurs. There's talk of Japanese-American internment camps and she tells him that his father is considering moving to Canada for his mother's safety.
Nearly all his mother's side of the family is killed in the Fall of Singapore.
When America finally enters the war it's almost a relief to Kaidan. But he soon learns the true meaning of exhaustion and suffering and what it feels like to have your buddies drop dead around you, die in your arms.
Mostly though, he does well for himself. The war toughens him, he gets stronger, his shoulders broader. He follows orders and doesn't rock the boat and racks up commendations. There's talk from the brass of a promotion.
Eventually his squad is given leave as their transport ship docks for maintenance and refueling.
He doesn't like it; he wants to be out there, taking the fight to the bullies rampaging across the Pacific and Europe. There's no fighting in London, the Battle of Britain has been won by the skies years ago.
At least, he thinks, he's never been to London. It'll be a chance to see the sights.
It's raining miserably when he, Cortez and Jimmy arrive in London with the rest of the company. And it turns out the sights aren't very impressive. Buildings are bombed out, there's air raid shelters still scattered around and people are haggard and grey. There's no food in the stores, and his dark eyes and darker than usual skin is treated with suspicion.
There's propaganda posters stuck to brick walls warning against 'The Yellow Menace' and 'Hitler's Huns'.
Kaidan knows this war can't end quickly enough. Some days he hates being mixed race.
Their CO gives them permission to get some R & R and Kaidan watches with amusement as Jimmy practically salivates over the English girls walking by. He doesn't pretend not to look too, but he's really more focused on the battles he is yet to fight. Rain drizzles down the back of his neck and he wishes he could just crawl up in the barracks they've provided and sleep.
Cortez and Jimmy won't allow it though, there's a mixer on tonight, some kind of make nice with the locals. The RAF boys and gals will be there.
The pamphlets that the squad Commander had handed out before they docked told them: It is always impolite to criticize your hosts; it is militarily stupid to criticize your allies.
Kaidan bites his tongue at the tasteless food they serve in the mess and the dreary weather and dreams of the yellow wheat fields and blue skies of his small home town.
So instead of sleeping he's nagged until he agrees to go. Only an hour, then he'll slip away and catch some Zs.
They crowd into the little barracks that the brass are putting them up in for their stay and turn the radio up to blaring, something by Bing Crosby echoes over the soldier's loud raucous. It seems like they are all energized, a bunch of excitable schoolboys. Only Kaidan and Steve Cortez seem to hold an ounce of their composure.
He gets it. He does. They're all tired and want this war to be over. Little moments of happiness in a sympathetic girl's arms are all they have to get through nights lying in fetid water in the trenches, not having slept for two days. Kaidan is not that kinda joe though. He tried once, with some poor desperate girl in Sicily, but his skin shivered when she touched him and he ended up just giving her a pack of cigarettes and leaving. Jimmy had laughed so Kaidan had ended up lying to the rest of the squad. This war made men into beasts.
He wants to meet a nice American girl from back home, marry her and settle down with a couple of kids. He's not looking for just a good time.
He had been courting Rahna, her family owned the little grocery store in his home town, trying to get her Daddy's permission to marry her. But ever since he joined up, she's gone cold…like she's afraid of what he is capable of now. She hasn't returned any of the letters he's sent back home.
Jimmy shakes him out of his depressed musing by flourishing his styling products, tubes of brylcreem and his precious comb and gets a start on his mop of hair.
He pauses in front of the tiny mirror then glances back a Kaidan, sniffing disdainfully at his mop of black curls. Jimmy is always teasing his about his hair, but he can't help it. It just grows like that.
Kaidan holds his hand up to forestall Jimmy's teasing and he laughs.
"Bluenose, you look like a choir boy." Jimmy says, "You won't find a nice gal like that. These English dames like them refined. You know, elegant. You cannot pluck a rose while looking like trash."
"Yeah, yeah, Jimmy," he grumbles and grabs his own comb and brylcreem, "At least I don't have your ugly mug."
"You kiddin'? Ladies go crazy for these muscles." Jimmy flexes, "I'm gonna get some tail tonight."
"You're a cad."
"Aw lighten up Kaidan, he's just foolin'." Cortez cuts in to their little argument. He already has his dress uniform on, medals gleaming. Kaidan thinks that he could have the pick of the prettiest dames but he's a strange guy. He never seems to want to dance with them, preferring to drink at the bar and play poker with the other officers.
Jimmy raises his eyebrows in vindication and crows, "See if Esteban thinks it, it must be true."
"Thanks, Mr. Vega." Cortez deadpans.
Jimmy continues, "I'm just saying that these girls haven't seen proper stockings and lipstick in years and they're mighty grateful for our help." He strokes the comb through his hair and makes his bangs stand up in a way that Kaidan is sure he thinks is charming.
Kaidan thinks he just looks like a big preening rooster.
"I'm just not a cool cat like you, Jimmy," he says as Jimmy makes kissing faces in the mirror, "You'll just keep stealing all the ladies from me."
He turns to Kaidan with a dire warning expression, shaking his comb at him, "Someday this war will be over and bam, you'll find out all the good ones are gone."
The dance hall is packed. There are the British flyboys in their sharp uniforms, the doe-eyed Navy nurses in theirs and some civilian girls in nicely pressed dresses.
Kaidan wanders the hall a little forlornly, watching Jimmy dance with a pretty woman with dark hair and eyes. He's so preoccupied with laughing at Jimmy swinging the girl around like a ragdoll and listening to her shrieks of laughter that he bumps into something warm and solid and watches in horror as his awful English beers spills onto black shoes.
The owner of the neat little heels spins to face him and he takes in, with a swoop in his stomach, bright blue eyes, darkly curled hair pinned back in waves and red painted lips that twist in annoyance.
"Watch your big feet, you daft yank!"
Kaidan takes a step back as the feminine voice tinged with an accent he can't quite place admonishes him. She's almost a head shorter than him but somehow he suddenly feels two feet tall in her presence.
He thinks irrationally and suddenly that she's the prettiest woman he even seen.
He looks down to her wet, beer-soaked shoes and up again to her face and stammers, "I-I'm terribly sorry ma'am."
Kaidan can feel his cheeks flushing as her eyebrows draw together and several people turn towards the commotion.
"Don't 'ma'am' me!" She says, and gestures to herself. "Do I look like your bloody nanny?"
"Um, you sure don't. Here, let me help you." He starts to bend down, half wildly thinking to wipe the beer off her shoes and says, "I-I didn't mean to-"
She rolls her eyes and grabs his arm to stop his movement, "Oh, for heaven's sake. It's fine."
Kaidan watches the tiny lift of her mouth and suddenly thinks she might have been exaggerating her annoyance just to discomfit him.
In one of the most embarrassing moments of his life he stares at her, stock-still for a moment and smiles goofily.
Her eyes sparkle in amusement, and he thinks maybe she's considering that he's touched in the head.
He shakes himself out of the stupor he's fallen into, "Can I perhaps buy you another drink, Mrs…?"
"It's nurse actually. I'm no Mrs." She corrects and adds with a note of pride, "Shepard, with the Navy Nurse Corps. And you're Mr. Clumsy Soldier-Boy, of course."
Kaidan gapes a little at her words, not sure whether to be offended or laugh, instead he says, "Um, I guess so. I'm First Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko."
Shepard frowns seriously, but he can still see that little smile hovering around her mouth. He wishes his heart would stop doing that funny dance. "What kind of a cockamamie name is that?" She asks with a pout of her small lips, "Don't they 'ave Bobs and Harrys over in America?"
He's gob-smacked. He's never spoken to a woman so rude. What a harpy. He should be offended, make his excuses and walk away but for some insane reason he wants to stand up to her.
Kaidan's a quiet, easy-going guy, but that doesn't mean he'll let some uppity English nurse walk all over him.
"What kind of a name is Nurse Shepard?" he retorts and sets his beer down on a nearby table.
Her eyes gleam in challenge and he has a feeling not many men bother verbally sparring with her.
"Hmfp." She grumbles and sets her own drink down, cocking a hip against the table. "Well you just ruined any chance of finding out my first name, didn't you?" she says teasingly.
Kaidan grins, "Guess so."
There's a beat of silence while she meets his eyes daringly.
"You're pretty brave for a slack-jawed G.I." The nurse's eyes appraise him, glancing over his medals and crisp uniform. His chest puffs out a little, preening like the rooster he'd compared Jimmy unfavorably to earlier, and she actually laughs.
He thinks it's loud and ugly, and it makes her full cheeks dimple. His stomach now feels like that time their transport ship thought they sighted a U-boat.
He's never believed in love at first sight.
But, he thinks, maybe he was wrong.
Kaidan holds out his hand to her and says, "Maybe we can start over ma'am…err, I mean, Shepard. My name's Kaidan and I would love to ask if you would like to have a dance with me."
"Well, go ahead." She takes his hand, hers is small and cool and he doesn't want to let go. "I won't stand in the way of your love."
"What?" He balks, confused with the way she's trying to run rings around him with her words. Why can't she just speak plainly?
"You said you'd love to ask, so ask." She says slowly as if he is a small child, "Also, could I kindly 'ave my hand back?"
He realizes he's still grasping her hand in his. He's such a dweeb! He hastily snatches it back. It's hot and sweaty and he tries to covertly wipe it on his uniform pants.
He clears his throat and says, "Would you do me the honor of giving me this next dance?"
Shepard grins and shows crooked teeth, "I'm a bit of a dead hoofer but I'll give you a frolic, Soldier-Boy."
So he reclaims her hand and together they put Jimmy and his pretty girl to shame. Shepard is kind of an awful dancer, but she makes up for it in enthusiasm, twirling and jiving with him.
They dance all night and Kaidan forgets about the war. Hitler himself could march into the room for a night out with Eva Braun and he doubts he would notice. He lives for the slow songs, when he has an excuse to tug her close and place a hand on her waist. She seems to be having a good time, and Kaidan's world just narrows to her face. He's uncharacteristically chatty, making stupid jokes to get her to laugh again as they jig around the dance floor.
He thinks Jimmy is laughing at him; he tries to catch him to talk as they take the odd break for some giggle-water but Kaidan waves him off. He doesn't want to speak to him, let him have his good time gal and Kaidan will have his.
Eventually they need a break, despite the cold night the dance hall is sweltering with the heat of so many bodies. They crowd into the bar area and he pulls some cigarettes from his pocket.
Her eyes light up and he suddenly feels guilty. He remembers being told the rationing has been hard in London. Cortez had told him that some men had enticed women into their beds just with the promise of a loaf of bread and a cigarette.
London has been hit hard and their people are desperate.
"Would you like one?" he asks and her eyes shutter in wariness. He mentally kicks himself.
"Oh no. I've quit. Can't find them anywhere these days…well without being rich." She answers but her eyes don't leave the white stick.
"Here," he sticks the cigarette behind his ear and digs in his pocket for the packet which he thrusts at her. "Take them all. I'm not the biggest fan anyway," he lies through his teeth.
He smokes a pack a day; it's one of the only things that got him through the trenches. "They'll probably just go to waste."
"I couldn't."
"Please, it's ok. Jimmy's lousy with them. I think he gets 'em sent by his folks."
He can see her pride and her want warring and eventually she reaches out to take them. "Well…alright. As long as I'm not putting you out."
"Of course not," he says and leans over to light her up. Her face glows with the ember for a moment and he can't look away.
Shepard narrows her eyes, "You're a sweetie, but don't go get any ideas."
Kaidan has a lot of ideas but mostly he just wants to make her smile again.
His face heats up again and he tugs at his collar, wishing he didn't have his constrictive uniform on.
They settle down on some stools, Kaidan side-eying one of the Tommys who looks too long at the curve of her backside. After a silently furious battle of wills, in which Kaidan communicates that Shepard is his gal to make nice to, the Tommy slinks off and he can't help smirking.
"Oh, wipe that silly smile of your face;" she bursts out as she follows his eyes, "You're not so hard, I just have a reputation for being difficult."
"You? Reputation?" he gasps and she giggles. "Never. I'm shocked. You're a doll."
She takes another puff of her cigarette and looks pleased and he think he passed some kind of test.
He sits closer to her, rests his elbow on the bar and sets his hand in his palm to gaze at her face. Shepard smiles again at his attentiveness like she's not sure whether he is mocking her or not and he asks, "So how did the Shepard get her name?"
"Shepard is kind of a nickname." She says and pats her hair fussily, taming some wild strands. She takes another puff and blows smoke in his face with an impish expression, "My father was a sheep farmer in Scotland, and everyone kind of just called him Shepard since it suited him so well. So when I was a lass, it kind of just stuck with me too."
Kaidan smiles, "He must like his daughter being called that. Chip off the old block."
"He's passed away, actually." Her eyes dull and he feels stupid again for having such a big mouth. "Died last year. Me mam's dead too. I inherited the farm, but I'm not meant to be a sheep farmer so I sold it and joined the King's Navy the only way I could. I want to fight for my country."
He looks at her determined expression in surprise. "Fight...?"
What an odd thing for a pretty gal like her to say. He thinks it's sad this war is driving the poor women out of the house, giving them that bloodthirsty attitude. His old Pa would be horrified.
For some reason, Kaidan just finds it…alluring.
"That so surprising?" She raises an eyebrow defensively and he senses she's gets a hard time about it. "Women want to protect the things they love too."
"But you're so spiffy, and a-"
"A nurse?" She cuts over him, gesturing to her uniform, "Yes, only way I can get close to the action." She flicks a hand, sending ash into the tray. "I fight my wars with wounds and I send my boys back out there to kick the Jerries' behind. There's a lot of ways you can fight, you know."
Kaidan thinks that she could even make a better soldier than him, she would probably bark orders and treat them meaner than his own CO. His heart won't stop jumping at the thought of her ordering him around.
But his morale would be improved at the least, he thinks with a grin. He'd take her orders any day.
"Still….I would love a gun." She finishes wistfully, eyeing the bulge of his sidearm that they are required to carry when on-duty. Technically they don't have to be armed when on R & R…but Kaidan feels safer with it.
Kaidan barks a laugh, she's crazy. "You're a strange dame. Like a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing."
And she does look sweet and unassuming, a round moon of a face and large blue eyes. Kaidan would have pegged her as the kind of woman with a doting husband and three children at home waiting on her. Not some King George's Navy nurse that longs for a gun like a new pair of shoes and wants to see action. Hell, Kaidan doesn't even really like guns.
Shepard leans closer to him, rests her own elbow on the bar to tilt her head in her hand at him and crosses her leg on the stool so it brushes his. They smile a little stupidly at each other and she breathes in a low whisper, "I'm no sheep and roses have thorns."
Something by the Ink Spots starts to play, Kaidan knows it and he hums a bit along with the tune.
You promised me green grass, not to tell what you 'eard
Whispering grass, say you can't keep your word
Keep your word, sing Lofty
"No," he agrees and snatches the now stubby cigarette out of her mouth. She lets him, that infuriating smirk coming back to her lips. There's a red ring from her lipstick around it and he wonders if she would leave the same marks on his face if she kissed him. He also wonders how old she is as he takes in her face, still a bit rounded with baby fat. Younger than him, he thinks, despite her bravado.
He grabs the cigarette from behind his ear and lights it, putting it to his mouth and murmurs around it, "You're more like a lamb. In fact, I think that's your new name."
Kaidan holds his breath and listens to the song, praying that he's not misread the interest in her eyes.
He wants to court her.
Why tell them all your secrets
Who kissed there long ago
Whispering grass, the trees don't need to know
"Lamb?" she raises a dainty dark eyebrow and he knows he's on dangerous ground.
"It's either that or dollface." He shrugs with affected calm.
Shepard watches him for a beat, and he sees the lights from the dance floor reflect in her eyes. She reaches over and for a moment he thinks she going to hit him but she plucks the cigarette from his lips to put it to her own.
Kaidan swallows. She's so bold, not like the good demure girls his Ma told him he should court, but still so soft and sweet at the same time.
"Ooh." She coos, in a voice that is clearly mean to be seductive but Kaidan hears a shake behind it and knows that he was right; she is definitely young and not used to flirtation. "You're incorrigible."
He backs off a little, realizing that he's probably coming on too strong, "You British and your fancy words."
She just watches him and now her eyes are wide and if he leans forward just a little bit more he would be very close to her ruby lips-
"Alenko! Buddy!" Jimmy barks from across the room, standing with Cortez and with a jolt Kaidan realizes the hall is starting to empty. He's spent all night with her. "We're heading back to the barracks, you comin'?"
"What?" he pulls back from her, frowning at Jimmy. Shepard makes a frustrated little noise in the back of her throat and pats her hair again, adjusting a pin.
"I said, you comin'?" Jimmy answers and then suddenly stops, noticing the lack of space between the pretty nurse and his friend. A slow knowing smile stretches across his lips.
Kaidan waves him away distractedly, "No, no. I'll catch up to you later."
The beefy soldier snickers and Kaidan knows he will pay for this later, "The Commander won't be happy."
"You should go with your buddies." Shepard says quietly, she stands and straightens her uniform's skirt. He can't help watching it swish around her stocking-encased legs.
He throws caution to the wind and says lowering his voice, mindful of Jimmy's straining ears, "But…I want to get to know you."
Shepard beams and puts a hand to her cheek blushing prettily. "Hmm, I'll tell you what," she says and starts backing away, a few girls that she's obviously friends with giggle as she joins them in the rush for the door. Kaidan notices that the pretty girl Jimmy was dancing with before is there too.
Shepard calls to him, almost swallowed by the empting crowd, "I'm going for lunch by the Thames tomorrow. There's a little fish and chip shop by the old bridge by Fenchurch street. Meet me there at noon."
"It's a date!" He struggles to get closer to her and Jimmy laughs and grabs him by the shoulders to prevent a gaggle of Tommys sweeping him away with them.
He can just hear her call back before she is consumed by the crowd, "Don't go flattering yourself now, Soldier-Boy. It's just me being kind. You'll hate me when you get to know me and realize you picked the wrong rose."
"I don't think so," he whispers to himself. Jimmy stands next to him and Kaidan can tell he's dying to interrogate him.
Kaidan goes to sleep that night and for once the nightmare of blood and grenades and sunken eyes do not come to him.
He thinks in the morning, that he might have dreamt of red lips.