Chapter eight

Shep-... a familiar voice rang out as Shepard stirred on the bed. Sheperd? The voice rang out again, causing the man to groan and turn over in his sleep. He was having that familiar nightmare again. The boy continued to run faster than Shepard could and when he did finally catch up, the boy burst into flames in front of his eyes.

Shepard will you wake up already? Kaidan said, raising his voice as he leaned over the side of the bed to try and shake his friends shoulder. He had crashed out on the sofa the previous night and was now trying to wake Shepard up so they could leave the Citadel.
It was proving harder than he thought, and with his friend tossing and turning and seemingly dreaming, it was near impossible to get much of a response out of the other man.

If you don't wake up soon then I'm going to throw you against the wall with my biotics. He said, joking. The commander's response was a mumbled groan as he finally stirred awake. He still seemed tired, even though Kaidan was sure Shepard had slept all night. He felt bad about waking his fellow Spectre up, but they had a job to do.

Kaidan...? Shepard said slowly as his eyes focused on the dark-haired man standing beside his bed.
No. I'm a Reaper in disguise. Kaidan responded, rolling his eyes and laughing a bit.
Shepard gave a little shiver and pulled a face, now that's a scary thought. Hope you're not here to indoctrinate me. I'd make a very poor slave. The dark-haired man rolled his eyes again. Very funny, he said, at least I'd make the Reapers look good. And I don't know, having the famous Commander Shepard as my servant might be fun. He teased, moving away from the bed to allow the other man the space to get out of bed.
Shepard laughed, shaking his head. I think I much rather human Kaidan over Reaper Kaidan any day.

Kaidan smiled softly at the comment and moved over to the window while he waited for his friend to get dressed. He wasn't surprised his little bit of flirting had gone over Shepard's head. Even when around Ashley, Shepard was a bit slow when it came to such things. Heck, Ashley had always teased Shepard for how corny his pick-up-lines were, and Kaidan had to agree. Flirting just wasn't Shepard's strong point.
He glanced behind him to see Shepard still getting dressed, he still hadn't gotten his top on and Kaidan had to look away quickly again to hide the slight flush on his cheeks. He had always admired his Captain ever since they first met, but he had never admitted those feelings to anyone because Shepard had shown interest in Ashley, not himself. Kaidan cared for her feelings a lot, and knew she liked Shepard in return, and that alone had been enough to make Kaidan happy for them.
Still, he had been somewhat jealous, and now that Ashley was dead he had to fight the urge to confess his own attraction to the other man. Not that he was ashamed of these feelings. Humanity had long since abolished the hatred for homosexuals and other sexualities in this day and age. Gay marriage was an acceptable thing, even in the military.

No, it was his loyalty to Shepard and Ashley that kept him from speaking aloud his feelings. Though he knew one day, he'd confess to Shepard. He just wanted to give him time to heal from Ashley's death.
Though he had wondered if Shepard had ever gotten close to anyone else in the time they had spent apart from one another. His friend had mentioned a Kelly Chambers, but Shepard had never gone into detail about her. She wasn't around any more, of that Kaidan was certain. Shepard had said he'd lost contact with her after what happened on the Collectors base.

So, uh, where do you think we should head off to? Kaidan said, leaning to the side a bit and folding his arms.
Shepard had finished getting dressed and moved to stand next to his fellow Spectre. Not sure where to start. We'll see where to head first once we get back on the Normandy I guess. Kaidan nodded, sounds good to me. Let's go.