Authors Note: I have gone through and Updated this Chapter based on the Advice of my Beta reader. Hopefully it flows better now and everyone can enjoy the story, not my poor structuring!

This is a Fan Fiction. All Themes and Characters belong to Bioware. No Copy-write infringement intended.

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Chapter Four

Shepard flopped down on her bunk in the crews' quarters, and heaved a huge sigh. The past 24 hours had been some kind of crazy.

She, Williams, and Alenko had headed off after the meeting with Udina following leads to try and get evidence against Saren.

They had headed off to a club to meet with a C-Sec officer called Harkin. He was a drunken loser, and Shepard had no respect for him. It didn't help her temper that Alenko's jaw had dropped and he had stared admiringly at the Asari dancers in the club. I mean, sure they were beautiful, but he was a professional, he shouldn't be drooling over some blue bimbo when he was on a mission.

A little voice had nagged her while she was trying furiously not to dress him down that maybe, she cared a little too much that Kaidan stared at other women.

Williams had also noticed and was giving him a hard time, as per usual.

After some intense back and forth, they got Harkin to tell them about a Doctor in the lower wards that might have more information, and they headed off.

When they had arrived at the Medical Clinic to talk with Dr. Michele, Garrus Vakarian was already there, hiding behind a pillar with his gun drawn. Shepard barely had time to register the four armed men in the room, when the one closest to Dr. Michele spun her around, using her as a human shield.

Vakarian reacted instantly shooting the one holding her in the head, a perfect shot. The merc fell, dragging a screeching Dr. Michele down to the floor with him.

Shepard sprang into action, she and Kaidan had taking out the others quickly, while Williams watched their six.

Once the smoke cleared and the merc's were lying dead throughout the clinic, Vakarian and Dr. Michele filled them in.

The men were thugs hired by a shady club owner named Fist, and he was trying to keep the Doctor quiet. She had treated a young Quarian girl earlier. A Quarian girl who had information about Saren.

Apparently Fist wanted the information kept quiet. Vakarian gave a passionate speech about wanting to finish what he started by helping them take Saren down. He called him a traitor to all Turian's, and asked to come along.

Shepard had considered him intently.

She had a good feeling about this Turian, and sent Williams back to the ship so he could join her and Kaidan after she confirmed he was serious.

They then met up with a Krogan bounty hunter named Wrex, who was being detained by C-sec and he led them to Fist. On the way back to the club Wrex told them Fist was an ex-informer for the Shadow Broker, an information dealer with his fingers in every pie in the galaxy. Apparently Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker and started working with Saren, thus the Shadow Broker had hired Wrex to take him out.

The club was full of thugs armed to the teeth, who seemed to be expecting a good fight. Shepard and her team did not disappoint.

They made it through all the thugs Fist had hired to guard him, then Shepard let Wrex rough him up a bit.

He quickly told them about the Quarian that had information about Saren. He had told the girl that she was meeting agents of the Shadow Broker, but was setting her up for an ambush.

Son of a bitch, they didn't have a lot of time.

She turned to Kaidan, to get him to try and hack com channels to contact the Quarian and Blam!

Wrex had shot Fist, fulfilling his contract to the Shadow Broker.

Shepard shifted on the bed and sighed as she remembered the panicked flight down to the narrow corridor where the ambush was set.

Fist hadn't been messing around, and there had been a lot of very well armed thugs waiting for them when they burst into the corridor. After an intense battle, which Shepard had been surprised the Quarian joined them for, the Thug's were all down.

After making sure the girl was OK, and reassuring her that she was safe now, Shepard had questioned the young Quarian girl who's name was Tali'Zorah nar Rayya.

She did have evidence against Saren, and she was willing to share it with them. They had all headed back to Udina's office so they could discuss the evidence in private.

Tali explained about her Pilgrimage, the rite of passage for all Quarian's, and it being the reason she was on the citadel. In order to go back and be accepted as an adult to the Flotilla, she had to do something worthy. Fingering a dirty Spectre was her ticket.

She played a recording for them that she had recovered from a Geth she had disabled. The recording was of Saren, talking about Eden Prime and the Beacon. He was looking for something called the Conduit. There was a woman's voice with him on the recording, and she said something about how they were one step closer to the return of the reapers.

Triumph flooded Shepard. The Council wouldn't be able to ignore this. She locked eyes with Kaidan, and saw the same fire burning in his eyes.

Tali explained that the Geth believe the Reapers were an ancient race of sentient machines that drove the Prothean's to extinction, 50,000 years ago.

It was when Tali was describing the destruction of the Prothean race, that the Vision Shepard had experienced on Eden Prime suddenly made sense.

It had been images of the Reapers destroying the Prothean's.

Shepard had barely had time to process this before Anderson was rushing her to go to the Council and give them the evidence against Saren. No matter what they thought of the visions, the reapers, or the rest of it, those files proved Saren was a traitor.

What had happened with the Council had been surprising, to say the least. They had taken the evidence and used it to strip Saren of his Spectre status. The surprising part happened when then they made Shepard a Spectre in his stead. The First Human Spectre. It had been a whirlwind from there.

Anderson had stepped down as Captain of the Normandy, and given the ship over to Shepard. The Normandy, the most advanced warship in the entire Alliance, was now hers.

She was in charge, and it was an incredible feeling. She recruited Wrex, Tali and Garrus as members of her crew, and they were all now on board the Normandy while they headed off to Therum to try and find Liara T'soni.

Liara was the daughter of the woman who was on the recording with Saren, Matriarch Benezia.

The Asari Councillor had told them about her, as she had recognized the voice on the recording.

Shepard hoped her daughter Liara might be able to give them more information about her Mother's involvement. They were 2 days out from reaching Therum, so Shepard caught a few hours of much needed rest, then headed out to see how the newest crew members were setting in on her ship.

Her Ship. Wow, what a feeling she grinned to herself.

She headed down to the cargo bay to check on Wrex, Vakarian, and Williams. Wrex was gruff, a bit hostile, and shall we say, a Krogan of limited words. Trying to get him to talk was like pulling teeth. Shepard liked him immensely, and she was looking forward to getting to know him better.

She found Garrus Vakarian to be a bit of a contradiction. From what she knew of Turian culture, they were essentially, perfect soldiers.

They followed rules and orders to the death, never countermanding a superiors order. Garrus however, told her quite baldly that he was happy to be on board with her, because Spectre's could make their own rules and they wouldn't be buried under red tape on every mission.

Shepard eyed him appraisingly. She tested him a bit, making sure that he understood he may not have to follow C-Sec's rules, but he had damn well better follow hers. She would always look out for the civilians, and that meant every job had to be done right, not fast. He looked a bit taken aback, maybe worried he had offended her, and she welcomed him to the team and wandered over to Williams.

Ashley was distracted, and not really receptive to talking. Shepard wondered what was on her mind.

The gunnery chief kept sneaking sideways looks at Wrex and Vakarian when she thought Shepard wouldn't notice.

Shepard prodded her a bit more to try and get her to own up to whatever what eating at her. It came out that Ash was feeling frustrated and angry about Eden Prime. She talked about losing her whole squad and Jenkins, and Shepard could see how hard she was trying to keep her anger in check. Shepard acknowledged the fear of losing crew members, and had taken losses as well. It was never easy.

With a sigh, the other marine promised she would talk to Chakwas, and try and let it all out. Williams knew it was no good to keep it all bottled up.

As she walked away, Shepard couldn't shake the niggling feeling of worry she had abut Ash. Anger was fine, it fueled you, kept you going… but you had to be able to keep it fully in check or it made you sloppy. Sloppy was dangerous, especially in a team situation.

Shepard resolved to keep a close eye on Williams the next time she took her out.

She headed up a floor, and stopped in at engineering, where their new Quarian crew member went into rhapsodies about the Drive Core. She truly showed how young she was just by her sheer delight, and the fact that she had no qualms about showing it in front of her Commanding Officer.

Shepard was impressed with her knowledge, and made sure she had full access to whatever she needed to keep things running at optimal capacity. She smiled to herself as she turned away, Tali was refreshing, skilled, and the best tech expect she had seen in years. She would be extremely useful.

Shepard's Omni-Tool pinged, letting her know she had messages to check, so she headed up to the CIC. She viewed her mail, sent her replies then wandered over to the Bridge to chat with Joker.

She and Joker had been together for since she joined the Normandy, about one month before Kaidan joined, and they had found a rhythm working together. That rhythm was basically Joker being a sarcastic ass, and Shepard egging him on in delight.

Shepard had very few people she let into her life enough to truly be called a friend, and he was one. She could wander up to him at any given time, and he seemed to know her mood and they could chat about pretty much anything, as long as she was willing to put up with his cracks and jabs. He could be serious as well, if the situation was truly grave, but Shepard loved that he could just be himself.

She had been concerned for him when he told her about his condition, Vrolik's Syndrome was very serious but Shepard knew now that he always worked within his limits, and brittle bones did nothing to stop him from being the best damn pilot in the alliance. Not that I would ever tell him that, his ego is huge already! She laughed to herself.

Shepard steeled herself as she rode the elevator down a floor to where Kaidan was. She told her hormones to get a grip on themselves, and stop acting like a high school girl asking someone to prom. As she walked towards him, he lifted his arm, rubbing his face across his elbow.

He looks tired.

"Commander. Do you have minute?" He asked, as she was approaching.

She was relieved, she always seemed to be the one initiating the conversations with him, and it was nice to know he wanted to talk to her.

"I always make time for my Officers." She replied.

He looked grave, and serious. "Off the record, I think there is something wrong here. This Saren, is looking for records on some kind of Galactic extinction, but we can't get back up from the council? Sorry Commander, there is writing on the wall here, but someone isn't reading it" He was obviously frustrated.

"The council doesn't want to believe anything is wrong. I'd call it Human Nature but…"

Kaidan picking up her train of thought instantly, cocking an eyebrow at her. "I hear you. It, it just seems like a group that has been around as long as the Council could see this coming. I mean it's funny, we finally get out here and the final frontier was already settled. And the residents don't even seem impressed by the view. Or the dangers." He finished, looking straight into her eyes.

She met his stare, and hoped he couldn't hear how fast her heart was beating. His eyes were just … gorgeous. She tilted her head slightly, smirking at him. "Well, well, you're a romantic. Did you sign on for the dream Alenko? Secure man's future in Space?"

He laughed, shoulders relaxing. He leaned back slightly shooting her a grin. "Yeah I read a lot of those books when I was a kid, where the hero goes to space to prove himself worthy to a woman he loves, or … You know for justice" He was blushing slightly and broke their eye contact.

She stamped down hard on the girlishly sighing voice in her head silencing it, and willed herself not to blush.

Kaidan soldiered through the awkward pause. "Or maybe I was a romantic in the beginning, but I thought about it after brain camp. Oh, uh sorry. Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training. I'm not looking for the dream, I just want to do some good, see what's out here."

He paused, and looked at her intently, seeming to be making up his mind about whether or not to continue. She stayed silent and kept the eye contact, hoping he would.

"Sorry if I got to informal, protocol wasn't a big focus back in BAAT."

"Tell me about it. What was it like there?" Shepard asked, not wanting the conversation to end.

Kaidan looked a bit surprised that she was interested, but continued talking. "Biotic Acclimation and Temperance didn't last past the airlock. To the kids they hauled in it was Brain Camp. Sorry, hauled in is unkind, we were encouraged to submit to an evaluation of our abilities so an understanding of biotics could be compiled."

Shepard could practically see the air quotations when he said that.

He continued "There are worse results of accidental exposure to Element Zero in the womb. Beats the brain tumors some kids grew up with."

Shepard looked at him, curious as to why he had worded it that way, and asked "Is there some question about how you were exposed?"

Kaidan's face became serious. "My mother was downwind of a transport crash. It was before there were Human Biotics, a little after discovery of the Martian ruins. It only gets iffy around '63 when Conatix was running out of first gen test subjects. Until then they relied on accidentals. A bunch of guys show up at your door after school and the next thing you know, you're out on Jump Zero."

Jesus, Shepard thought. What a way to leave your family and find your way in the world. Getting hauled off to a space station with a bunch of other kids in the same situation. She wanted to hear what it had been like for him. He was so … together all the time. It was hard to picture Kaidan as a scared teenager.

"Do you know of any intentional exposures for certain?" She asked.

"No one knows," He replied slowly "Doesn't mean they didn't happen. As big as the exposures were, it was hard to track down accidentals. It was different then, no one knew the potential, so there wasn't a lot of regulation. Anything Conatix did, was gold. I'm not saying they intentionally detonated drives over our outposts, but in retrospect, the were damn quick on the scene."

Shepard thought about the biotics she knew, and the abilities they had. Kaidan was stronger than most of them, but always seemed to be holding himself back. Almost as though he was scared to see what he could really do.

She also thought about the ruthless people she had run across in her years with the Alliance. Intentionally exposing people to Element Zero to create more human biotics isn't something she would put past half of them.

She decided not to continue with that line of conversation and changed the subject back to when Kaidan left home. "Jump Zero is Gagaran Station right? What's it like?"

"Yeah, that's the official name. Biggest and farthest facility we had for decades. Right in the termination shock, the outer edge of the solar system. It's where they did all the goose chase FTL research before we caught onto using Mass Effect fields. It was a sterile research platform when I was there." Kaidan answered, the tension leaving his face.

Shepard shifted bringing herself slightly closer to him and cocked her hip out, making her stance more relaxed. Kaidans shoulders loosened in response.

"There were other kids in the same boat right? At least you weren't alone out there."

Kaidan smiled at her. "That's true. We did have a little circle that would get together every night before lights out. We didn't have much to do though, it was a research platform then, and Conatix kept Jump Zero off the Extranet, to prevent leaks."

Shepard grinned wickedly at him. "You were all teenagers, I'm sure you found … Other ways to occupy the time."

She was expecting Kaidan to laugh, or maybe blush a bit, but his face was serious.

He looked her straight in the eyes. "I'm not the sort who does that kind of thing Commander. Not lightly anyway."

Shepard's heart fell. She was thinking of something to say, to walk away without embarrassing herself further, when Kaidan continued.

"There was a girl, I spent a lot of time with, we kept our clothes on though. Rahna. She was from Turkey, her family was very rich. But she was smart, and charming as hell… Beautiful, but not stuck up about it. Like you I guess … Ma'am" Kaidan swallowed hard, the look on his face saying he hadn't expected to say that last part out loud.

Shepard was fighting it, but she knew a blush was creeping up her neck. She decided to try and play it cool, not commenting on the compliment that had made her light up inside and the girlish sigh to return in her head. "She was special to you."

"She was, and maybe she felt the same, but things never fell together. Training, you know" Kaidan said briskly.

"Jump Zero is a long way from home, what was it like?" Shepard asked, shaken a bit by the sadness on Kaidan's face when he spoke about Rahna.

"The grand gateway to humanity looked a lot better on the vids." He said bitterly. "Anyway, this was supposed to be a casual debrief, not a bull session about stuff that happened years ago."

Screw it, Shepard thought. What's the worst that can happen? He reprimands you for being in appropriate? Reports you for fraternization? Crushes you to his chest and kisses you until your knees are weak? The voice in her head chirped. Hmmm, I like that last option.

She went for it. "I wanted to get to know you a little better. That's all. Thanks for the talk Kaidan."

She used his first name on purpose, making it casual. This was not a conversation between a commander and her lieutenant, but a conversation between two people trying to get to know each other.

Kaidan leaned back, appraising her. "Well, you're welcome ma'am." He drew his eyes brows together and asked cautiously "You uh… make a habit of getting this personal with everyone?"

She smiled what she hoped was a nonchalant smile at him and said "No, no I don't. We'll talk again later."

She waited, looking at him calmly, while her heart was pounding in her ears. Oh god, what was I thinking, how could I have just said it like that!

Kaidan locked eyes with her, the intense whisky gaze searing into her. "I'll Uhh... I'll need some time to process that Commander."

Her heart fell with a splat to her feet, the voice in her head hissing in disappointment. He had called her Commander. She was in such deep shit.

Then he leaned towards her, his face soft and his voice huskier than normal. "But yeah, I'd like that."

He smiled, and she smiled back, hope spilling back into her chest.

As she turned and walked away, the voice in her head was screeching like a school girl, dancing and spinning in a circle in her mind. Shepard sighed to herself.

This could be the start of something amazing.