"Shepard!" Jack called out, smiling despite her cover being pelted with fire from a mech. "Stay in cover! She's got this!" She yelled back to her students.
With no surprise from anyone but the students, Shepard took out the mech in no time. Jack got up and walked over, pissed and happy at the same time - he didn't know it was possible for someone to express that so clearly on their face. First thing she did was punch Shepard in the face. Then she pulled her into a hug, muttering something in her ear. Then Jack's eyes landed on him, and he squirmed a little beneath her gaze.
"I know you," she finally said as she stepped back from Shepard, then advancing towards Kaidan, "You're that dick from Horizon."
"What-" he barely got out that word before he felt the flare of biotics, and he was thrown across the room, slamming hard enough into the wall to make him see stars. Kaidan managed to land on his feet, barely catching himself before he looked up.
They were both cackling, and Garrus only shrugged at him.
"I'm sorry, babe, but you did kind of deserve that." Jessica sighed once she regained her composure, holstering her pistol.
"Did you just call him 'babe'? That's gross." Jack grumbled.
"What can I say, he stole my heart." she shrugged, grinning as she looked him in the eye. Kaidan sighed, his face cracking into a smile. "Alright, look alive everyone, we're getting everyone off this station alive." Jess said, turning back to her earpiece for the next step from Kahlee. In the meantime, Kaidan went to talk to Jack.
"That was a really impressive throw for someone who wasn't using their full force." he said as they walked up the stairs.
"Yeah, well. If I hurt you, she would have killed me."
"I'm a lot tougher than I look." he shrugged. She didn't reply, focusing in on her students. To Kaidan, Jack's voice was clear as day. He could remember hearing it somewhere else. But he couldn't put a face to it. "So, you said you recognized me from Horizon..."
"What about it?" she deadpanned, tossing out some spare rations.
"Well, if you were there I don't remember seeing you." Jack laughed loudly, and he only raised his eyebrow.
"I was there alright." she stood up to face him, and then put her hand over the top of her head. Then it clicked. "I wasn't exactly the same person I am now, either."
"Definitely upgraded the wardrobe." he said quietly. "It looks like you're doing well for yourself."
"I do alright with these kids." she smiled, crossing her arms. She looked out the balcony, towards Jessica as she went to salvage. "She's doing better, too. Heard she got quite the shake up after leaving for the Citadel."
"Thanks to a Cerberus robot EDI's now walking around in." he said, suppressing the shudder that came over him at the memory. "I was out for quite a while."
"I know, she wouldn't shut up about how worried over you she was." Jack said, her voice softening as she leaned on her forearms. "Didn't realize how much you meant to her until she called."
"Things got a little weird for a while." he shrugged. "We're still working on it."
"Yeah, well..." she pushed off to stand up and look at him square in the eye, "I'm not kidding when I say I'll beat your ass to a pulp if you do anything stupid like that again."
"I believe you." he nodded, smiling. "And I'm not letting go of her again."