Bioware is the owner of Mass Effect, the Mass Effect Universe and pretty much most of the stuff that is going around my mind at any given moment for the day.

Sesheta and I won the last prompt, and we agreed to make up this one together. Consequently I have no one to blame for this, but myself. I hope it makes you smile a little.


The Prompt:

Kaidan has joined the crew of the Normandy 2. He meets or has a reunion with a member of the crew for the first time since joining the crew. Shepard is not present at this meeting.

There will be no sex at this meeting. No exceptions!

Sex is not an option!

Extra points if you can work in Kaidan's booty.

Okay, no extra points, but you will get our attention.

My Entry:

The Doctor Is In...

Kaidan smiled as he exited the elevator and entered the crew quarters. He put his gear in the locker that was provided for him. As the Alliance rep on the ship, he had to keep up appearances that he had his own bunk. If last night was any example, he doubted he would be spending much time here. It had taken Shepard a little while to warm up to the idea that she had two years of loneliness to wipe out of his mind. He touched his lips remembering the taste of her soft skin. She was off to a very good start.

He needed to check on the supply of his migraine medicine. He doubted that it was kept regularly on hand since the biotics on this ship were not L2s and didn't have the side effects he did. He had checked the schematics of the ship and found the med bay quite easily since it was where it would have been if this had been the old Normandy. The biggest difference was, this one was larger.

He walked into the med bay and the doctor had her back to him. He stopped for a moment, hit by a strong sense of déjà vu. "Dr. Chakwas? Shepard didn't tell me you were here."

She turned and looked at him. "Kaidan! How wonderful to see you. I was wondering when you would work your way down here." She walked over and gave him a hug. "Did you tell her you were coming here? I am sure she would have warned you." She released him with a smile.

"No, it was a last minute decision. I came to see if my migraine medication needed to be ordered." He walked over and sat in the seat she gestured to.

"We have a bit on hand, but I ordered it as soon as Jeff told me you were on board. I should have enough if you get hit hard, but will be well supplied in a day or two." She sat down across from him. "So how are you? You never answered any of my mails."

"Yeah, about that…" He rubbed the back of his head. "I just tried to cut everything that reminded me of Shepard, the crew and the ship out of my life." He shrugged as he dropped his hand. "I thought it would help me get over it faster. It didn't."

"We all had a hard time. It was easier for me to talk it over with friends. You were a friend that was hurting, Kaidan. I could have helped." She sat back in the chair and crossed her arms, looking at him curiously.

He tried to remember how it had felt the first few weeks after the destruction of the Normandy, but the happiness of last night was already clouding his memory of the torment he endured. "I couldn't face it. I couldn't face you. I had failed her."

"You did no such thing. She was able to rescue Jeff because she trusted you to do your job. She trusted you to save the rest of us." She got up and started to pace. "She wouldn't have saved Jeff if it wasn't for you." She stopped in front of him. "If she hadn't come back, would you still be wallowing?"

"What? No! I was getting over it, or at least I thought I was." He frowned as he remembered the blow up on Horizon. Shepard had refused to talk about it. 'Water under the bridge,' then she had kissed him, showing him it never happened as far as she was concerned. After that she had given him other things to occupy his mind with, pushing Horizon right out of it.

"But you still never answered any of my mails." Regarding him with a frown, she crossed her arms and shook her head several times. "I could have warned you… before Horizon."

"I would have appreciated the heads up. But I wouldn't have believed you. I still didn't when she was standing there in front of me..." He couldn't stop the harshness from creeping into his voice; couldn't stop the angry look from appearing on his face. "With Garrus."

"You thought she ran away? With Garrus?" Dr. Chakwas turned her back on him trying not to laugh out loud. "You thought she wouldn't be able to tell you to your face?"

"No, I thought she deserted the Alliance for Cerberus and took Garrus with her. I thought she turned her back on everything, including me. I thought when Garrus disappeared…" He cut off his words and took deep breaths, clenching his hands into fists. "Sorry, I thought I was over this."

"Anger has a way of resurfacing. Do you want to see her medical records?" She activated the terminal on the desk. "It might make you feel better that you didn't know what was happening to her." She tapped some commands and stood away from the terminal so he could slide in and look at the files she had pulled up.

He quietly looked through all the data that she had presented him with. Picture after picture, vid after vid and recording after recording; he absorbed it all. When he was finished he looked a little green. "How much of this has she seen?" He sat back staring at the screen.

"All of it." She walked over and rubbed him on the back as he put his head in his hands. "She made me go through every gory detail, slowly until she understood it."

"You didn't!" He leaned back pushing away from the desk with a look of horror on his face. He couldn't tear his eyes from the screen.

"I had to, it was Shepard. She wouldn't take no for an answer." She wiped a tear from her eye as she remembered how Shepard quietly took in all the information. Her face had never lost the blank look as she looked through every graphic detail.

"How did she get over this?" He pointed to the terminal.

"I don't think she has." He leaned back and looked at her. His eyes followed her as she sat in the chair next to him. "She has dreams, about the Reapers, about her death. Her dreams are strong and she has trouble sleeping." She picked up a data pad and looked at it. "No matter what I do, what I give her, she never relaxes." She put the pad down and looked at him. "She doesn't feel human anymore. Maybe you can help her with that."

"Feeling human?" A small smile crept to his lips. "This is something I think I can definitely help her with." He got up and reached over turning off the terminal. "You think you can forward a copy of that to Anderson's office?"

"Already done." She reached over and picked up an OSD and handed it to him. "Here is your copy."

He took it and turned heading to the door. He needed to see Shepard, to feel her arms alive and around him again. He turned back to the doctor. "Thank you for being there for her."

She stood and turned to face him looking deep into his eyes. "I was there for her, because you couldn't be."

"You always did take good care of us." He walked over and gave her a big hug and kissed her on the cheek. He looked up and saw everyone in the mess hall watching them and smiled. "I think I may have started some tongues wagging now." He nodded at the window as he released her.

"Oh, them? Don't worry..." She followed him to the door. "They are too busy talking about the handsome Commander that spent the night in Shepard's Cabin." She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I hear he has a great ass!"

Kaidan glanced back at her and grinned. Laughing he turned and shook his head before he walked through the door.