Saving Face
Chapter 3: Truce
"You're in civilian clothes," was the first thing Kaidan pointed out. He let his eyes wander over what wasn't being shielded behind Thane, and he did that one-sided smirk that meant something was unexpected but pleasing. "I like it."
Shepard found she couldn't say anything at first. It'd been months since Kallie Shepard had seen Kaidan. They'd ended on such a bad note, and then she'd cut what broken ties they had left before the suicide mission, that she didn't think she'd see him again.
And there he was: tell-tale smirk in place, eyes bright and watching her, dark hair smoothed back and perfectly in place. He looked exactly the same as he had on Horizon, save for the snarl he'd had back then.
The memory of Horizon made her clam up. She felt her muscles instinctively tense and her face become stony. She straightened as well as she could on her crutches and took a deep breath to keep the black tinges around her eyesight at bay.
She moved around Thane and stepped forward a few paces, dragging herself along on her crutches. "Kaidan, what are you doing here?"
Kaidan's eyes dropped to Shepard's crutches and whatever he'd been about to say was swallowed in favor of more pertinent questions. "You're hurt, Shepard!" He called, kicking lightly at a dead body next to his armored foot. "And you were just in a firefight?"
Kallie ignored the question. "What are you doing here?"
Her old friend gritted his teeth. "I'm looking for you. I need to talk to you."
"A message wouldn't have been good enough?" Shepard asked.
"And how was I supposed to know if you were alive or not?" Kaidan snapped. Shepard could hear the frustration in his voice. She saw him bite back more words and sighed.
Great. Reunited for all of thirty seconds and they'd already annoyed each other. This wasn't getting them anywhere.
"All right, let's talk. But not now. How about tomorrow at Chadessa's Café?"
Kaidan narrowed his brown eyes in thought and shook his head. "I'm not falling for that, Shepard. If I agree to see you tomorrow, you'll be gone before the night cycle."
"What?" Did he really think she would bail on him? Just because she did that to people she really had no interest in speaking to didn't mean she'd to it to him. He was Kaidan, after all. Who did he think she was, anyway? "You really think I would do that to you?"
Kaidan ran a hand through his hair, like he always did when things weren't going the way he'd planned. Not a single hair looked misplaced. "I—okay, that was unfair of me. I'm sorry."
All of the irritation in Shepard seemed to dissipate when she saw that Kaidan was floundering just as much as she was. She was about to reply when Garrus interrupted her.
"Commander, we need to leave before more Blue Suns show up." Garrus broke the uneasy silence.
Shepard could feel Thane tugging on her sleeve again. He was ready to leave.
She sighed. "He's right. We need to get back to the Normandy." She glanced around, then down at her omnitool to check for advancing mercs. None as of yet, but it wouldn't take them long to realize that their ambush was eerily quiet.
She needed to clear her squad out and get back to the Normandy. But she couldn't just leave Kaidan hanging. So….
"Come with us."
She could feel Thane tense from behind her. It was imperceptible to most people, but Shepard had always had an affinity to Thane's body language. He was uncomfortable with allowing Kaidan on the ship.
That was understandable. She'd told Thane about Kaidan and herself long before she and the drell had decided they were a bit too close for friendship. It was part of the reason why she never slept, and curiosity had driven Thane to eventually ask why she kept prowling the ship during the ship's night cycle. A few days later she'd come clean with him about almost everything.
She realized he might not be too welcoming of the man who ended up sending her over the edge of her already-overwhelming stress, but Kaidan really looked like he needed to talk, talk now, and they needed to leave quickly.
"Commander," Shepard's comm. link buzzed with EDI's voice. "I am monitoring Blue Suns information channels. They are becoming suspicious that they haven't heard back from their strike team."
"If we're going to go, we need to leave soon." Kasumi added. "They're onto us."
Shepard glanced back at Thane, her bright green eyes boring into his, apologizing for putting him in the position they were about to be in. Thane stared calmly back. Shepard saw what she expected, disagreement, distrust, and something else that looked akin to worry, but in a different way. Shepard couldn't put her finger on it. Finally, Thane gave a small, imperceptible nod, showing he was going to go along with her. Then he turned his gaze onto Kaidan and hardened his look, like he wasn't going to take any nonsense from the human. Shepard got the feeling that Thane had been staring at Kaidan like that the whole time.
"Come with us." Shepard repeated. "You haven't seen the Normandy SR-2. And it'll be safe from angry Blue Suns while we… talk."
XXXXX
Kaidan considered the offer. It was tempting. And it seemed like Shepard was taking a huge step in asking him aboard. He'd seen her three squad mates' looks when she'd offered the first time. Garrus' eyes widened and he stared at Shepard as if she were crazy. He couldn't see the hooded figure's whole face, but he could see her mouth drop slightly in surprise. He guessed that Shepard didn't allow a lot of outsiders on their ship.
But the third man, the drell who had been trying his best to look emotionless during this whole exchange (Kaidan had seen the glares underneath, however; he was too well trained to not notice), took hold of Shepard's sleeve, almost imperceptibly, and his mask dropped completely into a hardened, impassable look. Kaidan guessed that this drell held the most sway with Shepard, and he did not agree with her idea of allowing him on the ship.
Shepard's team began talking amongst themselves while Shepard listened to everyone and took stock of her options. This gave Kaidan a moment to really look her over. Her dark red hair had grown past her shoulders since they'd met back on Horizon, and it was starting to curl ever so slightly at the tip ends. It was a very nice look.
Her face was guarded at the moment, as it always was when Shepard was working, or faced with something unexpected. She had a wicked sense of humor, he remembered, and no one was safe from her joking when she was in a good mood, but as soon as another emergency came up, or the Alliance called her for help, or another trace of Saren had been found, the humor was gone and that mask came back. After Ashley was killed on Virmire, Shepard had gone through a very long phase where all she did was wear the mask. She did not stop talking to people, or completely shut herself away, because that's not what the Alliance needed of her. But she stopped smiling. Kaidan didn't think she'd smiled again until they'd retrieved her from the hospital after defeating Saren. That had been her "I told you we could win!" smile. Kaidan missed her smiles.
As he had stated before, Shepard's civilian clothes looked very attractive. They were long-sleeved, which was not usual for Shepard, as she didn't like people staring at her scars, and dark, so they made her harder to see in poorly lit areas. He could tell that she was uncomfortable being in public without her armor on, but she was handling it well. The Shepard he'd known before would have just stayed on the ship until she was well enough to wear what she wanted.
Which brought Kaidan's mind back to Shepard's condition. Her arms grasped tightly onto the crutches underneath her, trying to hold her own weight up. What had happened to injure her to such an extent? Why had she willingly gone into a firefight in an alley with little to no cover, wearing no armor, and using only a pistol?
Kaidan was brought out of his own thoughts as the drell's gaze shifted from himself to Shepard. She was staring intently back at the green-scaled man. For what seemed like years the two stared only at each other, communicating on some level that he and Shepard never had. Finally, the drell narrowed his eyes and turned his gaze back to Kaidan, his glare still muted but intensified.
Something had passed between the two that no one else was privy to. It did not irritate Kaidan.
"Come with us." Shepard restated her offer. "You haven't seen the Normandy SR-2. And it'll be safe from angry Blue Suns while we… talk."
Kaidan didn't know if he wanted to accept. He was on shore leave; there wasn't a chance of repercussions from the military for him boarding a Cerberus vessel on his own time. Still, he had standards, and Cerberus was definitely below his standards.
And yet, it was Shepard, and after all he'd said and done to her on Horizon, she was throwing him this bone. He didn't want to pass it up.
"That sounds nice." He replied. "Why are the Blue Suns after you?"
Kalisee Shepard rolled her eyes, something Kaidan had never seen her do before. "I'll explain on the way. Come on." She turned to the hooded figure. "Kasumi, run ahead of us and scan for more hostiles, just in case. When you get back to the ship, inform everyone of our guest, and make the required arrangements, please."
Required arrangements?
The hooded figure—Kasumi—stood still for a moment, then nodded. "Sure thing, Commander." Then she disappeared from sight as her cloaking device went off.
XXXXX
Shepard waited a few moments to head out after Kasumi left. She wanted to give the thief time to hide Legion and tell EDI to stay quiet. Kaidan was making a huge leap of faith by boarding a Cerberus vessel, she realized. It would be entirely too much for him to find out they had a self-thinking geth wandering freely about the ship and an unshackled AI controlling the ship. She hadn't even told Anderson about that.
It also might not go over well if he discovered one of their teammates was a powerful biotic and a convicted killer with numerous other counts against her. Or that one was a merciless mercenary who was the cofounder of the Blue Suns. Or if… hmm…
Maybe having Kaidan come about wasn't such a good idea.
As they made their way back to the Zakera Ward, Thane and Garrus made regular sweeps of the area, checking for any straggling mercs. They kept close to their unarmored commander, which both irked her and almost made her smile with how protective they were being. It had been a long time since she'd had true friends willing to do that for her.
Kaidan walked slightly behind the three, but next to Shepard as they continued walking. Shepard didn't mind; she was sort of glad they were on speaking terms again. Her last letter to him had been as kindly-worded as she could make it, but under the strain of almost certain death for her and the entire crew of the Normandy, she might have been a little harsh all the same. She'd been worried that he might have taken offense to some of the things she'd said about the Alliance, and how willing she was to switch sides if the other side presented a better case for saving the galaxy.
But he was here, wasn't he? Even after that loud, snarling argument they'd had on Horizon, he'd taken the time to look for her. For whatever reason, he was back at her side, and they weren't at each other's throats anymore. For now.
And he wanted to talk about something. Kallie thought she had a good idea of what, too, and it made her uncomfortable. It made Thane uncomfortable, too, she knew. When he wasn't scouting the surrounding area, he was on Shepard's other side, watching her for signs that she was going to fall, and being just as stressed out as she was.
Not that Garrus was any better. His respect for Kaidan had plummeted and altogether extinguished after the argument he'd witnessed on Horizon. If there was one thing Garrus couldn't tolerate, it was betrayal, and Kaidan's flat-out refusal to listen to their side of the story, coupled with his paranoia of Cerberus and his relentless use of the words "traitor" and "betrayed" in reference to Shepard was more than enough evidence for Garrus to completely disregard Kaidan in any way. He spent his time glaring intensely at Kaidan on their way back to the ship.
Shepard could practically feel the waves of tension surrounding the group. This might be harder than she had previously thought.
As they finally arrived at the C-Sec checkpoint at the Zakera Ward, Shepard waved down Captain Bailey. The man looked up and gave a small wave back. Then his glance caught Kaidan and he grinned.
"Commander," Bailey nodded his respects as he caught up to them. "I see the major finally found you."
Shepard blinked. "Come again?"
Kaidan chuckled nervously. "I stopped here first when I was looking for you. I asked Captain Bailey to try and track you."
At this Shepard let out an incredulous laugh. "And how did that go?"
"Your omnitool is an impressive thing, Commander Shepard." Captain Bailey replied. "I don't suppose it would do any good to tell you that it's illegal to have quite a few of those firewalls and jammers active while on the Citadel, would it?"
"Not to a Spectre, no." Kallie replied. Still, they had to have some semblance of where she was if Kaidan could find her in an abandoned ward. The thought of being traceable when she didn't want to be was unnerving. "How did you find me?"
Bailey considered for a second. "I suppose you'll find out anyway." He finally said. "There are security checkpoints between each of the wards; silent alarms that check who goes through which ward when. Receipts at stores are also traceable to which store and what time the purchase was made."
Shepard nodded thoughtfully. Checkpoints would be easy to ghost through. They scan omnitools for biosignals of the person using the checkpoint. Shepard could just change her biosignal for her own omnitool. Or better yet, she could ask Tali to create a program that could switch the biosignal on and off depending on proximity to checkpoints, just in case Shepard was ever in need of her biosignal. They came in handy sometimes.
The store tracking was more difficult. Shepard can't hack into every store she shops at and change her own records; it would take too much time and effort just to buy things. She'd have to think more on that one later.
"Next time you want to get a hold of me, why not radio?" She asked. "Our shortwave frequency is 47.2 beta."
Bailey nodded. "Will do, ma'am. Thank you for your support. You're a hard lady to track."
"Captain, I was wondering if—" Kolyat came from around the corner and stopped short as he stared at the squad. His eyes wandered from Commander Shepard, to Kaidan, then to his father beside them.
"Kolyat." Thane acknowledged with a nod.
The nod was returned, somewhat curtly. "Father." Thane's son made his way to the group and handed off the datapad he was holding to Captain Bailey. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to make it."
Shepard frowned. What? Make it to wh—
And then she remembered. She'd been so nervous about speaking with Anderson again, and then with the shopping and the ambush, she completely forgot. Oh, she could have smacked herself in the head.
Thane and Kolyat had made tentative plans when they set out that morning to get together for dinner and try to have a face-to-face talk.
Thane looked pained. Shepard guessed he had forgotten, as well. "I apologize, Kolyat. Unexpected events arose, and we were forced to deviate from our plan."
Kolyat's gaze dropped, and Kallie's spirit fell at the boy's disappointed look. "I see. So we're not going."
"Of course you're going."
Shepard's eyes widened as she realized that she was the one who'd spoken. Both drell looked squarely at her. Sure, she felt terrible for butting into something that didn't involve her in the slightest, but she was not going to let Thane ruin his one chance with his son because of her. "It was my fault. I'm sorry. We were on our way back quite a while ago when we were ambushed by the Blue Suns in the Donel Ward. The fight went on longer than usual because, well…." She looked down at her crutches and back up.
Bailey interrupted at this point. "The Blue Suns made an all-out attack on the Citadel? I'll need the details. I'll need to file a report." The man rubbed his head. "This is going to be a lot of paperwork. Commander, I'm going to have to ask you to stay for a while."
Shepard glanced at Kaidan, who was watching the whole event unfold with rapt attention. She truly didn't want to leave him hanging after she'd promised him they could talk on the ship.
Before she could politely refuse the captain, Garrus spoke for her. "Commander Shepard has been out for quite some time today, Captain Bailey." he stated. "How about if I give you the details, and we leave the Commander to rest?"
Shepard sent a grateful took to Garrus, who nodded in reply.
Bailey thought about the proposition. "That'll work. Now, I need you to come with me and start at the beginning." He motioned for Garrus to follow him and left into his office.
Garrus turned to Shepard, then lightly tossed the package holding Shepard's armor to Kaidan. Kaidan oofed with the unexpected weight, but held it up eventually. "This better be worth it, Commander."
"Thanks, Garrus. I owe you one." Shepard clasped hands with Garrus. "Don't stay out too late."
Garrus gave a mock salute and trailed off after Bailey.
"Were you really attacked by the Blue Suns?" Kolyat asked.
"They planned an ambush for us on our way back to the Normandy." Thane replied. "We were alerted to their presence before they made contact, however, so we were able to defeat them."
"We need to return to the ship and change into something more presentable." Shepard added. "Thane will be back in half an hour."
Thane sent her that same look she couldn't quite identify. If she had to guess, she would say he was annoyed. She ignored it, and the nagging feeling that she was messing in someone else's business. She was doing this for his own good. She knew what it was like to lose family members. Hell, she'd lost all of hers in one day. She wasn't going to let him lose another of his, even if it was under different circumstances.
"Thank you, Commander." Kolyat bowed his head politely. He turned to Thane and gave him the same nod. "I will see you in one half hour."
Shepard nodded back to the boy and continued swinging on her struts. She figured Thane was probably irritated with her for interfering, and it made her feel bad. So it was only slightly an accident when she slipped on her crutches and nearly hit the ground. Thane caught her before she could fall, and held her to his chest while she took longer than usual to find her footing.
XXXXX
When they finally entered the ship, Kaidan could only stare in awe at the reconstructed interior that surrounded him.
To his right as he exited the airlock, Kaidan could see the CIC. It was almost exactly the same, save a few minor differences, like the lighting and the placement of computers. To his left was the cockpit, where he could see Joker tapping away at the console.
Joker whirled around in his seat as the airlock opened and dragged himself up. He staggered over to Kaidan with his arms spread wide and a grin on his face.
"Hey, it's Kaidan!" He reached Kaidan and shook his hand enthusiastically. "How've you been? What are you doing here?" He glanced down at the large package Kaidan was having trouble lifting. "And what are you carrying? You didn't bring a Blue Sun body back with you, did you? Because we can't keep spacing bodies. People will start to notice."
"Oh, you know, I'm just stopping by." Kaidan shrugged. "I thought I'd say hello while I was here."
"Oh, I see! And the body bag?"
"He's holding my new armor, Joker." Shepard replied. "But we can take that from him, now. I should put it back in my quarters."
The drell leaned forward and took the armor package from Kaidan's arms.
"Kaidan, we can show you to the mess hall if you like." Shepard offered.
Kaidan shook his head. "I think I remember the way. Down the stairs, right?"
Shepard let out a quiet chuckle, but Joker laughed out loud. "Stairs are so two and a half years ago. We have these things called elevators now."
Ah, so a lot of this place was revamped. He probably had no idea where anything was anymore.
He scratched at the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess I could use a tour guide."
"Great! I'll take him." Joker offered.
Shepard looked at her pilot with blatant surprise. "You, Joker? Are you sure?"
"Sure, I'm sure." Joker tipped his cap politely. "I need my exercise for the day. And my co-pilot is taking a lunch break." He looked at the time on one of his consoles. "Er, dinner break. We'll be fine. No need to interrupt anything. You and Thane go put your armor up. We'll be bugging Gardner for some grub. Of the edible kind."
Shepard shrugged. "All right, if you're sure." She turned to Kaidan and gave him a slightly perplexed smile. "I'll be down in a minute." Then shuffled off down the CIC, the drell—Thane, was that his name?—following closely.
As soon as they were out of sight, Joker hit Kaidan in the arm as hard as he could.
"Ow!" Kaidan cried incredulously. He rubbed his arm.
"That was for Horizon." Joker growled, his face set in a stony look.
Kaidan winced as his arm throbbed. "Okay, so I might have deserved that."
Joker smirked at this reply. "So long as we're both in agreement about that, we'll get along just fine." He grabbed a hold of the rail leading around the CIC and trudged along. "On your left you'll see a bunch of important-looking computers. I'm sure they do something, but since I've never touched one, they're just fun blinky lights.
"As we pass through the CIC you might notice a few things: one, that one pillar that used to hold up this end of the room is bent up and leaning across the galaxy map. Two, there are quite a lot of things sparking in here. Don't worry about that. Just… don't look directly at it.
"Now, follow me and we'll head into the science lab, where we will hear a salarian genius yell half-sentences at us at unheard-of speeds when we touch his equipment!"
XXXXX
Thane was eerily quiet as the elevator brought them up to Shepard's quarters. Shepard shuffled from foot to foot as the uneasy silence reigned. Something was irking both of them, and neither one wanted to be the first to bring it up.
The elevator doors finally opened to her quarters and Shepard swung herself out. She threw her crutches on the bed, removed her gloves—which was a common ritual for her upon returning to the ship—and opened her armor drawer.
Thane set the package on the bed and unwrapped it carefully. Shepard pulled out the chest piece and laid it delicately in place. Thane handed her another piece, which she settled into the drawer. It only took them a minute to pack the armor up, and they did it in total silence.
Shepard's abdomen was bothering her, but she wasn't going to let Thane know that. She turned to face him and leaned up against the dresser. Thane crossed his arms and studied her.
There was another uneasy silence as the two faced off with each other. Shepard knew she should apologize for interfering. She'd just been so worried that Thane was going to lose Kolyat. He'd already lost his wife, long before, and his son was all he had now. Still, she stayed silent.
Thane spoke first. "How are you feeling?"
Shepard frowned at the nonchalant question. "I'm fine. What does that have to do with anything?"
"I will be gone for a few hours. I don't wish for you to overexert yourself. Perhaps you should rest." Thane replied.
"I'm just talking to Kaidan. I'll probably be sitting down the whole time. There's nothing to worry about."
Thane cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. He was trying to find the right choice of words for what he was about to say. Shepard let him think through his thoughts while she gathered her own.
This was slightly perplexing to the Commander. She'd interfered between him and his son, and he was more worried about how she was feeling?
"Thane, what's wrong?" She asked. "I'm sorry about before, if that's what this is about."
"What do you mean?" Thane asked, his face now matching hers in perplexity. "What do you need to apologize for?"
"What?" Thane didn't know what she was talking about. So, he wasn't upset with her for her interference? "Then what's the problem?"
Her drell looked pained as he finally came out and said what he wanted to say. "I do not trust Major Alenko."
And suddenly it made sense.
She really should have seen this before, with all the glares Thane was sending Kaidan's way. She assumed he was being protective, which was nothing new in their case. They were both very protective of the other; it was part of what made them such a good team.
She'd assumed that Thane was thinking of all the retellings she was sure the other crewmates had told him about Horizon, and the dispute Kaidan and Shepard had been in. She certainly had been. After all, that had been one of the last things to happen to her before her stress started getting the better of her. Not to mention he'd been present at her shouting match with Councilor Anderson, where they'd discussed Kaidan at length, as well as a few other things.
She'd seen those glances that were unknown to her, and hadn't given them a second thought. She had a name to go with that look now: apprehension.
But this was something different. Something she honestly hadn't expected, but probably should have.
"Thane," Shepard started, closing the distance between them and laying a hand on his arm. "You're not—" She stopped herself, looking for the right word. Jealous was too childish. "You're not worried I'm going to take him back, are you?"
Thane didn't move, but Shepard could tell she'd hit the problem on the head. She let out a relieved sigh and rested her head on his shoulder. "That's what this is? I thought you were angry with me because I butted in between you and Kolyat."
At these words Kallie felt Thane's arms wrap tightly around her, bringing their bodies closer together and leaving her warmer than before. She felt one of Thane's hands tugging through her hair—something he always liked to do.
"Siha, I would never be angry at your interference." He replied. "You helped me find him. Your interest in how my relationship is with my son is most welcome."
Shepard couldn't help but grin at these words. Every time she had Thane pegged to react one way toward her, he instead chose a simpler, more pleasant reaction. It was part of the reason she liked him so much.
But they still had something else to address. Shepard pulled out of Thane's arms and stood back from him a little. She ran a hand down his dark sleeve and clasped his hand, bringing it up between them and studying it intensely as she spoke.
"I'm not going to leave you." She stated.
"Siha, do not—"
"I'm not."
Thane closed his mouth and covered her hands with his. Shepard knew that look. He was not agreeing with her. He was simply conceding the point. Thane didn't want to argue with her, either.
"Very well, Shepard." His placating tone almost made Shepard's hackles rise. She resisted the urge to snap at him for trying to pacify her instead of talking it out. "I should get ready to meet Kolyat."
Shepard swallowed her stinging thoughts and nodded. She decided that they would address this issue as soon as they were both free. Then she wrapped her arms around her drell's neck and pulled him close.
Thane's arms wrapped around her waist and she felt his breath on her neck. They stood there in a tense silence for a few moments, simply feeding off of each others' warmth.
"Stay safe, siha." Thane murmured into her skin. "I'll be back soon."
Kallie Shepard clung closer to him.
XXXXX
Kaidan sat inside the mess hall across from Joker, picking at some sort of asari jambalaya that had been placed in front of him by the cook. He had to admit that it was very tasty; he hadn't expected any food made on a spaceship to be that interesting. The cook seemed glad of the surprised compliments Kaidan had thrown his way.
He also gave a very warm "hello" to Doctor Chakwas as she burst from the medbay. She'd placed a hand on his shoulder and grinned like she was greeting an old friend. Kaidan was happy that someone hadn't met him with a glare before moving on to something else. When she finally made her way back into her medbay, Kaidan was in a much better mood and a lot less tense than he'd been before.
He very pointedly ignored the number of eyes staring at him.
He hadn't seen any other crew members, but he could feel the stares. He knew Shepard would have a team built specifically for going with her on missions, but aside from the three he'd met in Donel Ward, and the crazy salarian doctor who had yelled at Joker and tried to set his shirt on fire when he touched the crazy alien's things, he hadn't seen anyone else. His guess was that they were avoiding him, whether because he knew them, or they preferred to remain anonymous, he didn't know. But it was very creepy.
Before he could mention the watching eyes to Joker, the elevator doors opened and Shepard came bolting out, tugging at her gloves absentmindedly. She was distinctly without her crutches, which made Kaidan think that she only had to use them in public. She caught sight of Kaidan and made a beeline for their table. Her drell friend followed behind much slower, and continued on down the hallway, disappearing into another room and closing the door.
"Sorry that took so long." Kallie stated as she took a seat next to Joker. She crossed her arms together and looked around. "Anyone give you trouble?"
"I haven't met many of the people on your ship." Kaidan replied honestly, folding his arms together and resting them on the table. "They're all in hiding."
Shepard smirked and cocked an eyebrow. "I see. Well, no one better be caught eavesdropping," She projected her voice so it radiated out to the entire deck. "Or we might have some new volunteers for cleanup crew."
The eerie feeling of being watched vanished, and Kaidan distinctly heard the sound of several doors closing.
Joker laughed. "Gotta love the threat of cleaning up after someone else's mess." He stood and reached over to clap Kaidan on the back. "Well, someone's got to fly this ship, and my co-pilot is going to be out of commission for a while."
Kaidan felt his eyebrows rise up before he could stop them. "You're docked on the Citadel. Where would you be piloting to?"
Either Joker didn't hear the question or ignored it, because he stretched and waved a hand as he staggered backward toward the elevators. "I'll talk to you later, Kaidan!"
Joker wasn't looking where he was going, and ended up bumping into the drell as he was attempting to make a quiet escape from his rooms.
"Whoa, sorry there, Thane. Didn't see you there." Joker apologized.
Thane grabbed hold of Joker's shoulders to hold the man up right. When he was sure the pilot had his own balance back he let go. "Not a problem. Humans don't have all-around vision. That must be why they usually face where they're walking."
"Oh, ha-ha." Joker drawled. He gave one last wave to Shepard and Kaidan before entering the elevator.
Thane stopped for a moment to stare at the Commander. Something passed between the two of them again that was lost on Kaidan. He felt like banging his head against the table to maybe break someone's concentration, but before he could the drell broke eye contact and pushed his way toward the elevators.
In a rush of movement that Kaidan wasn't sure Shepard should be making, the redheaded woman leapt up from her chair and took a few steps forward.
"Thane."
She needn't have called out. As soon as she came out of her seat the drell's attention was focused on her. He turned back toward her and watched her intently.
Kalisee Shepard seemed to be struggling to find the right words to say. Kaidan had never seen anything like it. He'd only seen her speechless once before, when Udina had locked their ship onto the Citadel and they couldn't go anywhere, but that was only because she was trying to reign in her rage. This was different. Kallie wanted to say something to him privately, but couldn't find the words to convey what she meant.
Kaidan wondered what had happened between the two.
Shepard leaned on one leg and cocked her head to the side. It was a casual stance, Kaidan remembered. He watched her give a small smile (when did Shepard ever smile? Even when they were together she'd never given that sort of smile….) and finally speak.
"I'll be here when you get back."
Kaidan could feel his irritation gathering when Thane's almost pitch black eyes widened slightly. The scaly, green-skinned drell nodded and finally entered the elevator. Kaidan could hear Joker's grateful "Finally!" as the doors closed, and Thane was at last gone.
Kalisee Shepard took a deep breath and turned to Kaidan. "We'll be spied on less if we move to an observation room. There's even a bar in one of them."
Kaidan felt himself smile at his old friend. Alcohol and alone time. He liked the sound of that.
XXXXX
So I was halfway through writing this chapter when a brand new idea smacked me in the face. I couldn't leave it alone, so to incorporate it I had to delete half of what I'd already written and start over. And it's going to lengthen the story a little bit.
Until next time!
Amme Moto