A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I'm a little late. College is killing me right now. But soon it'll be summer break! :D

This chapter takes place mainly at the end of the Citadel Coup, when Shepard and Kaidan are pointing guns at each other. Will things ever go right for these two? XD

Anyway, if you have any comments or feedback, feel free to share them!

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As always, Mass Effect belongs to Bioware.

P.S. If you see any mistakes, please let me know!


To say that Shepard's day was turning to crap quickly would be an understatement. In fact, it was becoming more like a clusterfuck. Cerberus? Attacking the Citadel? She had heard the news only a few seconds ago and her mind was already racing to try and find a solution.

At first, she had been relieved to hear Thane on the comm. He told her he was fine, but there was someone else she wanted to know about.

Anxiety flooded through her as she heard what Thane told her next.

"And Kaidan?"

"We got separated. He said he had to protect the Council."

Sounds like Kaidan. God he's stubborn.

"Ok. Joker, can you get us close to Thane's position?"

The drell interrupted her chain of thought. "I'm currently on foot. I'm heading toward C-Sec headquarters. Meet me there."

With that being said, Shepard turned around and started making her way to the elevator and she said over her shoulder "You heard him Joker! Get us as close as possible. We'll infiltrate by shuttle."

"Aye aye, ma'am."


After killing the last Cerberus phantom, Shepard, Garrus and James jumped on the elevator holding the Councilors. And hopefully Kaidan too. Almost as soon as she landed on the elevator, bullets started flying toward her. "Dammit." She rolled out of the way and then the elevator stopped. She waited a couple of seconds and then busted through the vent and jumped down.

With Garrus and James right on her heel, she ran to the door in front of her. Her heart stopped when she heard Kaidan's voice on the other side. "Cerberus took out the shuttle. Everyone back to the elevator. Move!"

She took it as her cue to step through the door and stop them before they left. She had to stop Udina.

She stepped through, her gun raised. Behind her, James locked the door. She saw Kaidan, a look of mild surprise written on his features. She lowered her weapon. "Shepard? What are you doing here? What's going on?" She saw Udina in the corner of her eye step closer to her.

She knew Udina was up to something the moment he replaced Anderson as Councilor. He always had a second motive for everything he did, and that reason was often himself. So Shepard wasn't surprised when Udina said "She's with Cerberus. She's blocking our escape." He wants to turn Kaidan against me.

Udina then went to a nearby console and started playing with it. "I'm overriding the lock."

Shepard raised her weapon and pointed it toward the Councilor. Immediately, Kaidan raised his own weapon and pointed it at her. What the hell? She could clearly see the hesitation in his eyes.

"I can't let you do this Shepard. You know that." Her finger inched ever closer to the trigger.

"Can you at least hear me out?" she asked him desperately.

"I know you don't like Udina, but it's my duty to protect the Councilors. Hell, it's our duty! I can't let you kill him for no reason."

She stared at him dumbfounded. "With no reason? I have proof that Udina is behind this attack." She couldn't believe this. "Hell, I thought we were over this whole mistrust thing Kaidan. I thought you trusted me. I trusted you! I told you things I never told anyone else! And now this? I thought I could count on you. Looks like I was wrong."

She stepped to her left to have a better shot at Udina, but Kaidan blocked her angle again. "Don't make me do this Kaidan." She almost begged him. She could feel the tears burning her eyes.

Suddenly, looking directly into her eyes, he knew she was telling him the truth. She trusted him, and now he had broken that trust. He swore to himself after Mars that he would never doubt her again. Now was the perfect opportunity to show her.

Kaidan finally lowered his weapon and turned toward Udina, who was still at the console. "Thank you." Shepard whispered.

Kaidan pointed his pistol at Udina in an attempt to dissuade him from continuing what he was doing. "Udina, step away from the console." The asari Councilor approached the traitor and grabbed his arm. Udina shoved her off and pushed her away, making her fall to the ground. He then pulled out his own pistol and pointed it at the asari. "He's got a gun!"

You don't say?

Shepard stepped closer to Udina. She wanted to shoot the bastard so badly, but her mind was telling her not to shoot. Perhaps he could tell them a few things about Cerberus.

The decision was made for her when Kaidan pulled the trigger and Udina fell, blood appearing on the front of his shirt.

She simply stood there for a moment. She couldn't believe Kaidan did that. He had always been the one with the most amount of restraint between the two of them. He was always the one telling her there was another way to do things. He was the one that calmed her down.

Now, he had shot Udina. Even she knew there were other options, which is why she didn't shoot. Only then did she realise how much the last two years had changed him.

She approached Kaidan and placed her hand on his shoulder. She wanted to say something like "You didn't have any other choice." but they both knew it wasn't true. She opened and closed her mouth in an attempt to speak, but nothing came out.

"I'm good. Don't worry." He told her. She reluctantly let go of him and turned around. When she heard the doors open, she and everyone else pulled out their guns and pointed them toward the intruders. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Bailey.

The Commander of C-Sec explained that the remaining Cerberus forces had retreated and the station was now safe. He left and brought the Councilors to safety.

Before she left as well, Shepard looked behind her and saw Kaidan looking at her as if he had a million interrogations marks on his forehead.


Shepard stepped through the door that led to the Normandy's dock, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Kaidan standing there, waiting for her.

"Hey Kaidan."

"Shepard." She narrowed her eyes at him. He wanted something, she could tell.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I think you could actually. I wanna know what the hell just happened." She knew he was referring to the… incident with Udina.

"What is there to say? He was working with Cerberus and I had to stop him. End of story."

"End of story? Shepard it's… it's not that simple. I mean… it's not every day you have an armed stand-off with someone you love." She straightened slightly at this. "When I think about the way it all went down, it's got me… I don't know."

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Ok. Talk to me. Let's have it."

He could see her tensing. She probably thinks I still don't trust her or something. He was trying to find a way to tell her about his doubts without making her mad. "It's just that… if I hadn't backed down first, I feel like you would have taken me out." There. Said it.

She sighed. "Kaidan, there's… there's a reason why I decided to save you on Virmire all those years ago, and it's same reason why I could never ever pull the trigger on you today."

He smiled a little at that. "And may I ask you what that reason is?"

"I think we both know what it is."

He knew exactly what it was, or at least he hoped he knew. Now that this matter was cleared out, he had something else to ask her. "Alright. Look, there's another reason I'm here." He was wondering if she was still considering to accept him back on the Normandy. With everything that had just happened, he doubted she would say yes, but he needed to ask her anyway. He needed to know if there was a chance that maybe they could still salvage whatever it was between them. "Hackett offered me a position, but I'd turn it down in a second if there was a chance to join you on the Normandy again."

She looked at him for a long time. After what seemed like an eternity to Kaidan, she finally gave him an answer. "I think I can make room for one more." He shook her outstretched hand and smiled.

"Thank you Shepard. And just so you know, I'll never doubt you again. I made a promise to myself and I intend to keep it."

She smiled as well and they walked together inside the Normandy.

Maybe now things will start to get better.