A/N: This one is not smutty in the least bit, but oh so very fluffy. I tried really hard not to write too much because...spoilers! Hope you enjoy!
After Shepard talks to Jacob on the Citadel after rescuing him and the ex-Cerberus scientists but before they arrived at Thessia.
"Joker, is Kaidan acting weird to you?" Shepard asked while standing next to the pilot in his seat.
"Shep, this is Kaidan we're talking about, right? Don't you think you would know better than the rest of us?" Joker turned and winked.
Shepard flushed and cleared her throat, glad she was standing to the left of Joker. She fingered the ring on her left hand nervously. "Sure, but even to me he's been a little off. Just recently. He seems…"
"Quiet and lost in thought?" Joker interjected. "Shepard, that's Kaidan all the time."
"Laugh it up, Joker, but he won't even talk to me about whatever is bugging him." Shepard stopped to think for a moment. "EDI, have there been any communications from Earth for Kaidan?"
"Checking…" EDI responded. "No, Commander, there have been no communications for Major Alenko from Earth."
"Well, that knocks out him hearing from his mother or something about his parents… EDI, is Kaidan in the loft?"
"No, Major Alenko is located in the Starboard Observation Deck."
"Thanks, I'm going down there."
Kaidan was sitting in a chair near the small library that was set up in the observation room. When the door swished open, he looked up from the book he was reading.
"Hey, Rach."
"Hey, yourself." She walked over to him and crossed her arms in front of her. "You mind telling me what's going on?"
Kaidan furrowed his brow for a second and put the book down. "Promise you won't laugh?"
"Laugh?" Shepard said in surprise. "I was thinking something really serious was going on with you."
A faint smile crossed Kaidan's lips. "It is, but…do you know what today is?"
"Um, I think it's Wednesday."
"I mean the Earth date…do you know?"
Shepard scratched her head. "No, I really don't. I kind of lose track of those things…why?"
"It's January 11th, 2187." He looked at her expectantly. She looked at him with confusion.
"It isn't ringing any bells, Kaidan."
"I wasn't sure if it would…it isn't a big deal, but it's my birthday."
Shepard cocked an eyebrow. "So you are acting pissy because I forgot your birthday? When you never told me in the first place?"
"God, Rachel, what do you take me for, a child?" Then a pained expression crossed his face. "I'm 36."
"Come on, Kaidan, stop being so cryptic. Just spill it."
Kaidan took a big breath and sighed. "Remember how you used to make fun of me for 'living the dream?' Well, it feels like my dream is fading away."
"Because you are in your mid-30s?" Shepard couldn't hide the snicker in her voice.
"Ha, but no. I had always kind of had a plan with what I wanted in life. Serve in the Alliance, go as far as I could, while finding a beautiful woman to settle down with, have kids, retire, get fat, if biotics can…It seemed so easy when I planned this out. I even told my parents how I was going to do this and when. Made a timeline!"
Shepard was holding her hand in front of her mouth at the pouring out of Kaidan's heart. Her shoulders were shaking and tears were beginning to form in her eyes. Kaidan saw it. She was laughing.
"Thanks, Rachel. I'm trying to tell you something deeply personal and you are laughing at me!"
She burst. "Oh, Kaidan, come on! You've got to admit this is so cute! I can just see little you, or well, maybe teenage you, all serious with your datapad, furiously working out the details of your life and then presenting them to your parents!"
Kaidan rubbed his face and looked straight at Shepard who had now composed herself. "I told them that I planned to be married by the time I was 30 and have kids at 35. We just saw that Taylor guy recently…"
"Yeah, Jacob? What about him?"
"He's younger than me, isn't he?"
"Yeah...," she said slowly. "I think he's 29?"
"You told me after you talked to him that he and that scientist of his were expecting a baby, and…" Kaidan's voice trailed off and he looked down.
"I didn't know men had biological clocks, Kaidan," she said softly as she laid her hand on his shoulder.
"The whole thing is, Rach, is I shouldn't be feeling this way. Not with what we have to do, the odds we're facing. I can't ask you to do that for me, just because I'm some sentimental fool. So I've been sitting here, angry at myself for even thinking about it. You and I have never even talked about it."
Shepard deposited herself into Kaidan's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You can't be mad at yourself for wanting kids. There's nothing wrong with that. I always figured we would get to it, once everything with the Reapers is gone. I guess I never knew how much a family meant to you."
"My family was all that I had. With Dad gone and Mom alone, there are holes to fill. Maybe it is my age, but I'm done with the solitary life."
"Well, Kaidan, you do have me." Shepard held out her ringed finger.
"I know I do, and more than anything I want us to…make something together."
Shepard's face broke into a sly smile. "Make something, you say?" She leaned in and started to kiss his jaw. "We could start practicing right now…"
Kaidan turned his head towards hers and captured her lips in a deep kiss. When the kiss broke, he looked at her with soft eyes and whispered, "Thank you."
Shepard smirked. "Don't thank me yet, baby. I haven't given you your birthday present."
