AN: Wow! Thank you all so much for the reviews and everything. I haven't actually written anything in over 8 years, and it was humbling to find so many people liked what I did. So yeah, totally going to continue this fic. It makes me smile to write Shenko. Will try to update again soon.
Chapter 2
Time had lost all meaning for Kaidan. He'd been switching between shifts with the others at Shepard's bedside; waiting for her to finally regain consciousness, and going out into the field to help with the cleanup and look for more survivors.
The Alliance had commandeered most of what was left of the Royal London Hospital to deal with all the wounded soldiers, both human and alien. Medics, doctors, and nurses of all species were working together to ensure that the wounded got the best medical help they could. Kaidan swelled with pride to know that Shepard was the primary reason for this; her hard fought wartime alliances seemed to be holding strong even now that the Reapers had been defeated.
Though communications were still a mess, he had managed to get a message to his mother and let her know that he was alive and safe. He had also sent a message out to Shepard's mother to let her know that she was alive.
Two weeks into the cleanup saw him taking his turn at Shepard's bedside and going over field casualty reports. He had taken it upon himself to try and locate all of his old Biotics division students' next of kin and let them know their status. It was a long and arduous process, but he wouldn't let anyone else help him with it. He threw the datapad he had been scanning down onto the small table that was littered with them and rubbed his eyes. He'd been at it for over 4 hours now and he was starting to get a migraine. He sighed and looked over at Shepard's prone figure.
"Come on Shepard - we need you to wake up." he said as he got up and took her bandaged hand in both of his and placed it against his cheek. "I need you Rebecca...please come back to me."
He glanced around as he heard the doors to the room hiss open. He was expecting Garrus or Liara to come and tell him to get some food or rest, but nothing prepared him for this visitor. He dropped Shepard's hand, and snapped to attention.
"Sir!" he said as he gave a crisp salute to Admiral Hackett.
"At ease Major Alenko." Hackett said as he casually returned the salute and walked to stand next to him at Shepard's bedside. Kaidan watched as the Admiral looked Shepard over, a frown creasing the older man's features. "How is she?" he asked without looking at Kaidan.
Kaidan rubbed the back of his neck wearily. "She needed surgery to re-inflate her lung. They patched up the bullet wound and taped her ribs, though those are already healed thanks to those Cerberus implants she has." He looked back down at her. "She needed a couple transfusions to replace all of the blood she lost, the burns are better, but they doubt the scars will ever fully heal. There was some swelling in her brain, but they managed to relieve it and scans aren't showing anymore, and her vitals are pretty strong but..." he heaved a sigh and looked straight at the Admiral. "They aren't really sure why she hasn't woken up yet."
Hackett breathed deeply and looked over at Kaidan. "And you Major? How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine Sir." Kaidan replied automatically.
"I don't mean physically son." Hackett said as he turned to face him.
Kaidan frowned in confusion. "I'm not really sure what you mean Sir."
"I know that you and Shepard are close son, and it can't be easy for you to be sitting here waiting for something to happen."
Kaidan felt himself go pale, but Hackett merely smiled at him. "Don't worry Major. As Spectre's you don't adhere to the same regs we do. Besides," he looked back over at Shepard. "I think you've all earned a little bit of happiness after all the suffering you've endured since this whole mess started 3 years ago."
Kaidan had to remind himself to breath as he looked dazedly at Hackett. He didn't know what to say.
Hackett turned back to him, and saluted. "Take care of her Major." And with that he spun on his heels and walked back out of the room.
Kaidan just stood and stared at the door with his mouth slightly open.
"Well, that was unexpected," a hoarse voice said from beside him.
Kaidan jumped and tripped back into his chair in surprise. A soft giggle rang out as he scrambled back to his feet.
"Shepard!" he breathed with relief as he looked down at her. Her emerald eyes caught his caramel ones and she smiled.
"Hi," she said simply as she took his callused hand in her bandaged one and intertwined their fingers. He smiled back and placed a kiss on her hand, drinking in the sight of her.
"Rebecca," he whispered as he touched her face with his free hand. "I thought...I was so scared I'd lost you again."
She smiled and touched the hand cupping her cheek. "I told you I'd be waiting for you when it was all over." She whispered.
He chuckled and smiled that crooked smile she loved so much. Her own smile broadened as she pulled their interlaced hands closer to her. He obliged and caught her lips with his own. She inhaled deeply, revelling in his musky scent. His tongue traced the outside of her lips lightly and she moaned, allowing him the entrance they both craved. She dropped his hand and wound her fingers in his hair, allowing the bliss of the moment to consume her.
The door behind them hissed open again. "Oh!"came a startled voice. Kaidan broke off the kiss and looked over his shoulder to see a blushing nurse. "I...uh...sorry." she said, the blush intensifying. "I'll go get the doctor and let her know that the Commander is awake." And she hurried back out of the room as fast as she could.
Kaidan chuckled and pulled his chair closer to the bed before picking up one of his datapad's again.
"How long have I been out?" Shepard asked as she attempted to adjust herself into a higher and more comfortable position, wincing slightly at the stiffness in her muscles and chest.
"About two weeks," Kaidan said as he put his datapad back down and helped her. "But considering everything, no one was really even sure you'd make it through that first night."
She stared at him in shock. "Wow...two weeks? Really?"
He nodded sadly. "Some of the longest weeks of my life Shepard."
She gave him a disgruntled look that took him by surprise. "Okay, I wanna make a request. When we're alone, don't call me 'Shepard'. It's Becca to you Major Alenko."
He chuckled at the emphasis she put on his rank and took her hand in his again. "Okay Becca." She shivered at the sound of her name on his lips.
The doors hissed open a third time as Drs. Chakwas and Michel entered the room.
"Ah Commander," Dr. Michel said warmly. "It is good to see you awaken." She flicked on her omni-tool and started running scans to assess Shepard's condition.
"It's nice to be back among the living." Shepard smiled and looked over at her trusty medic. "So they've got you both here helping out?"
"Admiral Hackett wanted to ensure you were given the best care possible. And who better than the two doctors who've somehow managed to keep us both in one piece." Kaidan said as he moved off to the side to allow the women better access to their patient.
Dr. Chakwas laughed as she moved to examine the bandages around Shepard's chest. "Which has been no small feat considering the situations you seem to attract."
"And we cannot take all of the credit," Dr. Michel said as she continued with her scans. "Ms. Lawson has been of great help as well."
Shepard winced as Dr. Chakwas felt her ribs and moved down to the ones covering her bullet wound. "Miranda's here?" she asked looking over at Kaidan. "So she made it out too?"
He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. "With Cerberus essentially destroyed, she decided to stick around and see what she could do to help." He scowled at the thought of Miranda Lawson. He still didn't trust her. He had seen far too many of the sick experiments Cerberus conducted to ever really trust her.
"And as the primary scientist on Project Lazarus, her knowledge and expertise with regard to your cybernetics has been invaluable." Chakwas said as she removed the soiled bandages and applied some more medi-gel to the wound. Satisfied, she stood up. "Well, that has healed much faster than I could have hoped. There will probably be some scaring, but we could attempt to fix that with the equipment on the Normandy."
Shepard looked down at all of the bright pink skin on her arms and legs. "Yeah, I don't think I want to have this many."
Kaidan chuckled again. "I know a certain Turian who keeps insisting that scars are appealing to the opposite sex." Shepard started to laugh, but it quickly turned into a coughing fit. Kaidan moved forward in concern.
"Ow," she wheezed when it had eased, but she was smiling at him. "Don't make me laugh."
Kaidan grinned and kissed her forehead. "Sorry, I'll stow the humour till your better."
"Much appreciated Major." She said with a wink as she leaned back.
"Well," Dr. Michel said as she clicked off her omni-tool. "You are recovering very well commander. We will still need to keep you here a while longer for observation. However if things continue as they have been, I am hopeful that you can leave soon."
"Thank you Dr. Michel." Shepard said with a warm smile. Dr. Michel returned the smile before excusing herself to tend to some of the other patients.
Kaidan watched her go before looking questioningly at Dr. Chakwas. He knew the woman well enough to see when she had something on her mind.
"Is there something else doctor?" Shepard asked.
"Yes actually," Chakwas said as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "There was another reason that I requested Ms. Lawson to stay and consult on your case Commander."
Shepard raised an eyebrow at her. "You mean aside from checking my implants?"
Kaidan sat down in his chair and groped unseeingly for her hand, grasping it tightly when he found it. Shepard looked at him out of the corner of her eye. His face was a mask, but his eyes betrayed the fear he felt.
Chakwas looked at him. "Major, how much do you know about Project Lazarus?"
Kaidan shrugged. "Only that it involved using cybernetic implants to bring Shepard back from the brink of death and that it took two years."
Dr. Chakwas nodded. "Yes, though it was actually much more complicated than that. You see, when Dr. T'Soni contacted Cerberus and asked them to help her resurrect the Commander, she had no idea that they had already attempted to broker a deal with the Shadow Broker to get her body. She was also unaware that the Collectors had already made a deal with him. Cerberus promised Liara that they would do everything in their power to help as long as she could get the Commander's body from the Shadow Broker, and that she would be kept informed of the progress. But once Liara and her friend Feron succeeded, they were betrayed by Cerberus and left to the mercy of the Shadow Broker."
Kaidan nodded. Liara had come to see him shortly after he'd rejoined the Normandy and explained that it had been her that gave Shepard's body to Cerberus, believing it to truly be the only course of action with any hope of succeeding. He had been furious with her at first, calling it a betrayal of his trust. She had countered by saying that she believed the real reason he was so angry was because he had not been included. That had brought him up short. She'd continued to explain that as much as she's wanted to tell him, she did not want to get his hopes up. Nor did she believe that he would have ever agreed to Cerberus' involvement. He couldn't argue there. Though he still hated them for all that they'd done, he was grateful that they'd at least brought Shepard back to him.
"I don't understand," Shepard said. "What does this have to do with anything?"
Dr. Chakwas looked between the two of them with concern, unsure of how to proceed. Finally she sighed. "According to Miranda, when the project began the first thing that they did was see how much viable tissue remained for them to work with. But they discovered something that they never expected." She paused. "They discovered that you were pregnant at the time of the crash of the original Normandy."
Both Kaidan and Shepard froze and looked like they'd been carved from stone.
"Unfortunately there was absolutely nothing to be done for the child. You had been clinically dead for over three months before it was discovered."
A tear rolled down Shepard's cheek and landed on her and Kaidan's clasped hands.
"The Illusive Man instructed Miranda to not waste time and simply remove your reproductive system. However, Miranda secretly ensured that you would still have the opportunity to have a child. At the time, she believed Cerberus could have continued to force your co-operation by threatening the health and safety of your child."
Kaidan clenched his jaw in anger at the depths of depravity that Cerberus, the Illusive Man, and even Miranda had been capable of. He felt the static crawl up his arm as his biotics flared in conjunction with his temper. He felt Shepard squeeze his hand and turned to see her pleading silently with him to calm down, though she had gone pale and her eyes were swimming with tears. He gave her a small nod and forced out a slow breath, bringing his temper back under control.
Dr. Chakwas watched their silent exchange with fondness. She had grown to love them and would do whatever was needed to keep them safe and happy.
"However," she continued. "As you traveled together, Miranda had a change of heart and saw how wrong the idea of controlling you with a child was. She deleted all references to what she had done and hoped that the Illusive Man would never discover it. She also gave me detailed information with regards to your implants. Contrary to what most believe, your implants are only responsible for healing any bone or nerve damage sustained in battle, as well as the faster absorption of medi-gel to stimulate your advanced healing abilities."
Shepard allowed her tears to flow as she considered everything Dr. Chakwas had told her. "I still don't understand why you're telling us all this right now." She said in a low voice.
Dr. Chakwas smiled and grasped their clutched hands in both of hers. "Because what Miranda did worked." She looked from one to the other of them. "You are expecting a child Commander Shepard."
