Happy New Year 2016!

There have been wishes for a continuation of this fic. Your wishes are my command so here you have it.
I hope it works, I ran into a bit of a wall in the end.
There's still no sex, unbelievable! I'm risking my reputation here!

The Skycar settled in front of his and his parents house with a shudder as Shepard turned off the engine. The lack of the quiet hum suddenly made the car too quiet. Kaidan discreetly wiped his suddenly sweaty hands on his pants. This evening had not quite gone like he had planned. He had not planned to introduce Shepard to his parents on their second date.

Their first date had been a casual meeting over coffee with a quick kiss for goodbye. This second date they wanted to go out for dinner after having watched a show on the Presidium. The show had been alright but afterwards Shepard said that she didn't feel like sitting in a restaurant and asked him to show her where he and Amanda lived. He suspected that she actually wanted to meet Amanda again.

Only now, watching the lights shine in the windows did he realize that Shepard would meet his parents. And they hadn't even spoken about what status their relationship had.

"It's a beautiful house," Shepard said, turning to him. "The yellow paint looks nice."

Luckily, the Reaper attack had not hit them this far out of the city and if it weren't for the tent village and military guards further down the road, you wouldn't even know that Earth was under attack.

"Dad just finished painting it. I think it is his way of showing defiance, of telling the world that he isn't going to give up his house to the Reapers."

"That is actually kind of brave."

Kaidan laughed out. "Stubborn you mean."

"Maybe," Shepard chuckled, "I wouldn't be surprised, knowing his son."

"Who, me?" Kaidan asked with mock surprise. He grinned as he opened the car's door, his shoulders finally untensing.

He led her to the front door, interlinking his arm with hers as if they had always done that. Which wasn't true. His omni-tool lit up with the key-pass and a near silent bell announced their entry as the door slid open and closed behind them. They stood in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs up to his apartment and he didn't know what to do.

"Kaidan?" Shepard asked and he felt her hand on his hand on her arm. "Kaidan, I may have a skin weave but that kind of hurts."

"Oh, what?" he startled and stared in horror at his fingers digging into the flesh of the crook of her elbow. He pulled his hand away as if he burned himself on a hot stove.

"Relax, Kaidan," Shepard said with her voice deep and soothing.

Kaidan raked through his hair. "Sorry, I'm... I don't know... Anyway," he pointed up the stairs. "Amanda and I live upstairs. But I'm pretty sure if I don't introduce you to my parents first, my mother is going to chase me through the backyard with a tranchier knife."

Shepard snickered at that and looked around. "So your parents live downstairs?"

"Yes, the house has a complete apartment on each level. Amanda and I live upstairs but when I'm not home, Amanda often sleeps down here in my parents' bedroom. She gets scared sometimes." He took her arm again, gentler this time and led her through the hallway to the living room door.

Before he could knock, the door opened in front of them and his mother was beaming at him. Of course she had heard them and probably had watched them come in on vid-feed.

"Kaidan, you're right on time, we were just done eating." She pointedly looked at Shepard and when he wasn't quick enough to speak, she pushed past him and took her hand in hers. "You must be Commander Shepard, Kaidan has told us so much about you."

She made a pause to give Shepard some room to answer and Kaidan knew that it was killing her inside. She had been asking him questions about Shepard almost every waking moment since he had told her of her visit in the hospital and about who she was. There had not been a single day where she had not asked him when they would tell Amanda that Shepard was her mother. Yet another question that he and Shepard had not yet addressed.

"Madame Alenko, it's very nice to meet you." Shepard took his mother's hand and leaned down a little to come at her eye level. It looked a bit like she was bowing to her.

"Cut it out with that Madame nonsense, my name is Greta. Come on in, come on in," she took Shepard's arm and dragged her through the living room towards the kitchen, calling into the Vid-room on the way, "Marcus, Amanda, come here, we have a visitor, it's Commander Shepard."

"Please, Madame, my name is Jane and..."

"Now what did I say about calling me Madame?"

Before Jane could answer, Amanda stormed into the room and threw herself at her. "Jane! How are you? I drew another picture, you wanna see?"

"Yes, sure, I ... ."

Amanda grabbed her hand and ran back towards the hallway. "It's up in my room, come on, you haven't seen my room, I have to show you … ," she prattled on as Shepard struggled to keep up and followed the girl with a helpless shrug.

"Have you eaten yet?" Greta Alenko asked, already on her way to the kitchen to prepare something out of the limited resources they had in the house.

"No, but we don't need … ," Kaidan started saying but gave up on it. As if his mother would listen to him about not cooking for him and Shepard.

"Good, we have plenty of leftovers, let me just warm this up real quick."

He left Greta to her magic and went upstairs to rescue Shepard from possible death by an overenthusiastic three year old. He could hear his daughter, their daughter, chatter away as he walked up the stairs. He quickly approached her room where he found Shepard's boots standing next to the door. Shepard was lying on her stomach, her long legs stretched out behind her and her feet tugged under Amanda's bed. She drew a picture on a large piece of synth-paper while Amanda was handing her pens with new colors, announcing which she liked best.

Kaidan carefully stalked through the room to sit on the bed, he had taken off his boots downstairs and there was always some stray piece of Lego on the floor.

"Hi Daddy!" Amanda called to him and climbed in his lap to give him a kiss on his cheek. "Jane is drawing me a picture of the Normandy."

Kaidan leaned forward to take a look at the picture. It was indeed the Normandy, broad sweeping lines in a beautiful curve, the engines lit up and glowing with blue mass effect fields. He watched them, the girl and the woman he loved.

This could be us forever. This could be our life every day. We could live here, be a family. My parents would watch Amanda while we work and we would come back here, eat dinner together, kiss our daughter good night...

You're moving way too fast Alenko.

He raked through his hair, almost shaking himself. He was running towards a dream he had had for years at full speed and he didn't even know if Jane felt the same. He had to slow down. It was still possible that their relationship didn't work out.

"My mother is making us food," he said to Shepard when she looked up at him.

"Oh good, I admit, I'm a bit hungry," Shepard said and pulled her knees under herself. She pushed the paper towards Amanda. "Can you fill those lines with blue so that it goes all the way from back to front?"

"Yes, I can do that. Look Daddy, it really looks like the Normandy!" She held up the paper.

"Yes it does," Kaidan said. "I didn't know you could draw like that."

"I don't have much time to do it anymore but I used to sketch a lot when I was younger. I like technical drawings but I suck at portraits." She sat back on her haunches and watched Amanda coloring her line work. He had never seen her smile like that.

He got up and held out his hand to her. "We should go downstairs to eat something." He turned to Amanda. "I'll tuck you in when you go to bed, okay?"

"Okay Daddy," she said absentmindedly, concentrating on keeping the colors in the lines. Suddenly she looked up. "Can Jane tuck me in too?"

Kaidan hesitated for a moment. "Maybe, we'll see little butterfly."

"Okay," Amanda said.

Shepard grabbed her boots and held them in her hands. She watched him, almost like a predator. He took a step closer to her, away from the open door to Amanda's room. Somehow it felt wrong to kiss Shepard while his daughter could watch them. His lips found hers, gently, soft and warm. He cherished her taste, even the remnants of the coffee she had on their way here.

She sighed against his mouth as she broke the kiss. "You know, I could stay here tonight, with you."

Some part of him desperately wanted to say yes. To have her stay, stay with him and Amanda, live like a family, share a bed and bad morning breath. But that was crazy. Even though he felt like he knew Shepard better than himself, how could he be sure that she was still the person he had dreamed about for years? How could he be sure that she felt as seriously as him?

"I … ," he looked at his feet, afraid of the reaction he could see on her face, "I'm not sure, it may be a bit early for that."

He looked up and her face was closed to him, unreadable. "What do you mean?" she asked, her voice too rough, too calm.

"I don't want Amanda to get too attached if … ."

"If I die?"

"No!" Kaidan stared at her in shock. That was the last thing he wanted to think about, how the Reaper War could kill her any day. "No, I'm just trying to be rational, we are just getting to know each other again and what if... if it doesn't work out?"

Shepard didn't react. She was so still that he wondered if she even breathed. Finally she took a breath and it made her face look even harder. Kaidan wanted to kick himself for hurting her like that, he may have been rational but he also had been an ass. "I'm sorry, Shepard, I didn't mean to..."

"No, you're right, we hardly know each other," she said and turned to go downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs, she pulled on her boots.

"Please don't leave," Kaidan whispered, knowing that it was fruitless.

"Tell Amanda I'm sorry that I had to go," she said, walking to the door without looking back. She didn't say another word and the front door closed behind her with the quiet sound from the bell.

His legs refused to carry him any longer, he sank down on the first step and buried his head in his hands. Little steps approached him from behind.

"Did Jane leave?"

Kaidan swallowed his emotions down and forced a smile on his face to look at Amanda. "Yes, she had to leave, she told me to tell you that she's sorry."

"Was she sad?" Amanda asked, her brows pulled together in serious thought.

Kaidan sighed and looked back towards the door as if it would open and bring Shepard back to him. "Yes, she was sad and it was my fault."

"Daddy!" Amanda called out and pushed against his shoulder. "Then you have to say that you're sorry."

"It's a bit complicated little butterfly."

"But you have to!" she said again, full of righteous anger. "Grandma!" She ran down the stairs and he heard the door to the kitchen open. A groan escaped him. He heard Amanda breathlessly talk, her voice so absolutely sure of what was right and what was wrong. He walked down the stairs and towards the kitchen, bracing himself for the impending attack.

"Kaidan Alenko, what have you done?" His mother stepped in front of him, imposing despite her size, a spoon in her hand raised like a club.

Kaidan couldn't help but flinch. "I thought I was sensible, this is just our real second date, I mean," he pulled at his hair, biotics prickling like static electricity over his scalp, "I have to be rational, I have to think about Amanda too, what if Jane is not … ."

"Not what?" Greta Alenko asked with the best interrogator voice one could ask for in this part of the galaxy.

He opened his mouth to answer but his mother's raised finger stopped him. She turned to his daughter. "Honey, go upstairs and get ready for bed, I'll be right with you."

Amanda pouted. "But … ."

"Amanda, please," Kaidan said and somehow his tired voice convinced the child to skip the usual complaints about having to brush her teeth. She got up and walked out of the kitchen and loudly stomped up the stairs.

Greta Alenko turned back to Kaidan and he couldn't remember her ever looking so angry. "Now, that woman, the one you were always talking about, the one you cried about, that you longed for for years, she isn't what?"

"Not the One? God, this sounds so stupid," he said, letting himself fall on a kitchen chair.

"Probably because it is," Greta said and sat down on the other side of the table. "Now listen to me, son. You have lost her before and by some cosmic shenanigans you got her back and you have never been more happy and now what? Do you think you will find someone better?"

"God, no!" There was noone in this entire galaxy who could be better than her.

Greta took his hand. "Darling, the life you dream about will not just happen. You have to make the choices and take the risks. You know that."

Kaidan nodded, his decision already made. "Could you put Amanda to bed? I promised her to tuck her in but … ."

"I'm sure we can make room in our busy social schedule," Greta said with a laugh. "Marcus?"

"Yes, my dear?" Marcus Alenko came around the corner, his eyes still on the datapad in his hands.

"Kaidan has to go, could you prepare Amanda's bed please?"

"Of course," Marcus said and put the datapad on a shelf. He grabbed a cookie from the plate on the table before going into the hallway. "Is he going after Jane Shepard now?" he asked from the hallway as if Kaidan could not hear him.

"Yes he is," Greta said, a grin tugging at her lips.

"About fucking time," Marcus grumbled.

"Dad!" Kaidan shook his head. "Alright, I'm going, I'm going."

He quickly climbed up the stairs and caught Amanda in the bathroom making faces to her reflection while balancing on one leg on her stool. "Weren't you supposed to brush your teeth?"

"I am!" she exclaimed.

"Having your toothbrush in your hand would make this more convincing, little butterfly." He bent one knee to get on her eye level. "Listen, I have to go, grandma is going to tuck you in tonight, I know I promised but … ."

"Are you going to say sorry to Jane?"

"Yes."

"Okay, tell her she has to come back to look at the picture of the Normandy."

"I will, and all three of us will talk some more, I promise." No matter what happened tonight, he would not cut Jane out of Amanda's life.

"Night, Daddy!"

He pressed a kiss on her forehead. "Good night little butterfly."

"Do the sizzle," Amanda demanded.

Kaidan let a spark of biotic energy dance on the tip of his finger and Amanda touched it with a delighted giggle. She had always loved to do that, as early as when she got aware of her own fingers.

Kaidan kissed her forehead again and ran out, not even bothering to close his boots correctly. He had to find Jane, right now, nothing had ever been this urgent. The countryside and the city blurred past him and before his jumbled thoughts had caught up with him, he was at the spaceport in front of the Normandy.

The creepy AI informed him that Shepard was not on board and that she had no knowledge of her whereabouts.

"That's a lie, I know it's a lie," Kaidan said. "Are AI even allowed to lie?"

There was a pause before the EDI's pleasant voice returned, "I have certain liberties. And I am at liberty to say that Shepard is not on board the Normandy. But she has informed me that she doesn't wish to be contacted and I feel obligated to respect that."

"I swear I have seen a movie where that was the start of humanity's downfall," Kaidan grumbled to himself.

"I can assure you, Major Alenko, that humanity's downfall is not my intent. It is rather low on my list of priorities." There was another pause. "That was a joke."

"I'm so glad," Kaidan bit out and turned to go.

"Major Alenko?"

He looked back to the Normandy's entry. "Yes?"

"The state of your boots is a health and security hazard. It could be quite dangerous if you tripped over them on your way to the corner of Water Street and Cambie Street to meet Lieutenant Vega."

"Is that so?" Kaidan said, bending down to clip up his boots. "You think I want to meet Vega?"

"According to my observations, many crewmen consider him enjoyable company."

An AI should not have such a smug tone to her voice.

"Thank you EDI."

"You're welcome, Major, logging you out."

He shook his head and contacted James Vega over his omni-tool.

"Major Alenko, what can I do for you?" came over Kaidan's ear-implant.

"Where are you, where's Shepard?"

"Why would I know where Lola is?"

Kaidan jumped into his skycar and put in the address that EDI had mentioned. "Cause it's your job to know where she is and even if it wasn't, you would still know it."

"You got that right, L2." James chuckled a bit. "We're at a bar in Vancouver."

"A bar?" Kaidan looked around in disbelieve, the city didn't even have power, most of the buildings were destroyed.

"You gotta hand it to the canadians, they take their drinking seriously. You will always find a place for a beer or a whisky here."

"Shepard is out drinking with you?"

James hesitated to answer and by the change of background noise he seemed to move to another part of the bar. "No she isn't and that's the scary bit. Lola's been sitting here, looking at the same glass of whisky for the last half hour and hasn't touched it at all."

"I'm coming to your position, don't let her go away." Kaidan sped up the car, lucky for him the streets were mostly empty.

"Now L2, I'm not sure that's cool. If you're the reason that she's sitting here, trying to hypnotize that whisky, I wonder if I should introduce you to my abuela's frying pan first."

"I come in peace, honestly."

James chuckled just a tiny a bit menacing in his ear. "We'll see, L2, we'll see."

The bar had at one point really been a bar. The back of the house was still standing but the front was gone, leaving the building open like a dissected carcass. A tent had been setup to lean against the back wall and a generator was humming at the side. Someone had strung up christmas lights inside the tent, they made colorful glowing spots against the tarp.

Kaidan entered the tent and looked around. The room was packed, people needed a break and a little happiness among all the destruction and a bar was where canadians gathered for that. He apologized towards the people he bumped into and made his way through the crowd to the bar. The actual bar and the barstools had miraculously survived the Reaper attack and on one of them he spotted Shepard sitting, James hovering at her side.

James saw him and came towards him. "L2," he said in greeting. He stepped to the side to let him through but stopped him with a hand on his arm. "I hope for your sake that you fix this." He let go and took position a few steps down at the bar.

Kaidan slid into the empty room that James massive frame had left behind. Shepard had her elbows on the bar, her arms crossed in front of her and her chin on her hands. She stared at a small glass with golden liquid; water had pooled on the table around the glass. Her head turned for a heartbeat before she rested it on her hands again.

"Hey, Shepard," he said.

"Hey Kaidan," she said and he had to lean over to hear her speak.

"Why are you staring at your whisky?"

"My new and improved metabolism filters out all toxins, including alcohol. I was literally poisoned once and still got up and kicked that guy's ass. Drinking the whisky really has no point but I like the smell of it."

Kaidan took a breath and put a hand on her shoulder. "Could we talk outside, please?"

Shepard nodded and gave up her seat. She had to push through the crowd and it was fascinating to see how her natural authority made people move out of her way. Outside the air had gotten chilly but it was more quiet. Shepard stopped outside the tent where the pool of light from the bar still hit her shoes. She looked at her feet, her hands opening and closing at her sides.

Kaidan desperately searched for the words that would make this right again. He couldn't lose her, not again, not to words and ideas that could not - should not - apply to them.

"Shepard, I'm sorry," he said, the words feeling pathetic in his mouth.

"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left like that," Shepard said, still looking down.

"I just ..., I tried to be rational, I thought we shouldn't rush things and... ,"

She finally looked up and her eyes made him swallow his words. "Kaidan, let me. As the person who always yells at the screen that people should just fucking say what they mean - let me say what I mean."

She breathed in and looked at some point in the distance, somewhere in the dark city that should have been full of glittering lights. "I know that things are different for you, more time passed for you, you thought I was dead, you thought I was a traitor... ."

"Shepard, I ... ."

"No, let me say this, please. I know I can't make you feel or believe something, I understand what you mean with going slow, that it could possibly not work out, I understand all that on a rational level but... ," she wrapped her arms around herself, still not looking into his eyes. "Kaidan, for me, there is no other possibility but you and me. I know it's not rational, it's not sensible, it might be ridiculous but - " she finally looked at him, "- no one else, never. No one else but you and Amanda. I don't care what it takes, I'll wait as long as you both need."

Kaidan's heart was burning up and wanted to explode. He took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her. "God, Shepard, Jane!" he said, his voice muffled by her neck, "I don't want to wait, I don't want to be sensible. I just want you, share my life with you, be a family." He pulled back to look at her. "I love you Jane."

"I love you too," she whispered and kissed him. It amazed him how perfectly her lips fit to his, how perfect she felt, smelled and tasted. He wanted to feel her like this for the rest of his life.

He let go of her and looked into her eyes. He knew what he had to do, he had never been so sure of anything in his life. He took her hand to his lips. "Jane, will you marry me? I don't have a ring, I didn't exactly plan this but ..." He held her hand lower, spreading her fingers apart, and let a tendril of blue biotic energy dance from his fingertip so that it wrapped around her ring finger.

Jane gasped, staring at the blue waves of biotic energy twirling around her finger. "Yes, yes, I will marry you, yes," she said and her eyes sparkled of tears. "I love you so much."

The blue swirl disappeared and they moved at the same time, their lips crashing together harder than they both had intended. They laughed as their teeth clanked against each other, swallowing the others breath and giggles. Until Shepard suddenly froze.

"Are we going to tell Amanda?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Of course, she needs to get to know her mother," he said, putting another kiss on her lips.

Shepard's eyes got even wider. "Oh god, I'm going to be a mother!"

Kaidan grinned, "You already are a mother."

"But not like that, not like... ," she stared at him, "we are going to be a family!"

"Yes, we will."

"Oh hell, that's the scariest thing I've ever done," Shepard said, pressing her hand over her mouth.

Kaidan laughed and shook his head, "I highly doubt that." He pulled her into a hug.

"Yes it is. Fighting Reapers and geth? Easy. But this?" She pulled back to look at him again and grinned. "Maybe I should think about it some more."

"Sorry, can't accept that," Kaidan said and pulled up her hand to kiss her knuckles. "I heard you say yes and now you're stuck with me."

Shepard placed a soft kiss on his lips, letting them rest against hers as she spoke. "I wouldn't want it any other way."