Summary: One image, one thought, one feeling. That's all it takes to spark something special.

a/n: Welcome to Kaidan Porn Week! This is the another of the nine. I'll be posting at least one fiction every day from 3/14 to 3/22. Some are friskier than others, but I hope you enjoy them all. Almost forgot, thanks to Chyrstis who allowed me to spam her with short-notice fiction that needed eyes. She is amazing. 3s

Day 08: Just for You

-1-

Liara and Tali waited on the sofa. The commander, who had been so gung ho about this idea, was now wavering in that trademark confidence. Tali seemed to be taking in the luxurious nature of the set, while Liara eyed the photographer. The fidgety salarian came highly recommended, but she was still uncertain about him.

"Why am I doing this again?" Nyx Shepard asked from the other side of a fabric-screened divider.

"Because you love him," Liara noted disinterestedly, her voice holding a trace of a question.

"More like because you want to shock him into a stupor," Tali opined over her shoulder toward the nook the officer was huddled behind.

The shimmering sound caught all their attention. The salarian, to his credit, looked aghast. "C'mon Shep. Live a little," Kasumi suggested as her cloak lowered. "It'll be fun. Maybe even a little liberating."

-2-

It almost felt like old times, or so Joker allowed himself to think for a moment as he and Alenko teased Garrus about the state of his Thannix.

"You know I'm not sure what you're people did to her, but she's still not up to snuff. You should have told them to keep their damn hands off my gun," Garrus told Kaidan, pointing a talon at him.

The major just shook his head. "You know engineers, you can't tell them anything."

"Watch it. Those are fighting words," Tali noted from the doorway. "Major. A moment?"

"Sure thing, Admiral," the human replied with a grin. They were all still chiding her about out ranking them.

Joker leaned toward Garrus slightly. "What's that all about?"

"Damned if I know," the turian said too quickly, as if he was reading the pilot's mind.

The two just watched the quarian hand Alenko a box-flat a tad bit larger than a datapad, quite a bit thicker. Joker was not sure what it might be, or why Tali would be giving the Spectre a gift. She shook a finger at him as if sternly trying to reinforce something, like Joker's fourth grade English teacher. He shuddered at the thought of the old biddy who had tried to drill good grammar into his head, sometimes forcibly.

Kaidan nodded and walked back toward the bridge reading a little slip of paper. The taller man laughed playfullly as he reached the threshold.

"What's so funny?" Garrus managed to ask first.

"Read for yourself," Alenko replied, passing the note to the alien, who handed it to Joker after a quick glance.

"Just for you. Literally! Your eyes only!" Joker quoted. "I'm entirely serious! If I hear about this from Joker or Garrus, I'll string the three of you up in the cargo bay for all to see."

The pilot laughed and passed it back to Kaidan who tucked it in his breast pocket. Jeff had no idea Shepard was quite that big a fan of exclamation points.

"You think she's serious?" Joker said flatly.

Alenko shrugged as he pulled the lid off the box. After casting back the paper that covered whatever Shepard had sent, the officer blushed bright scarlet and quickly resealed the box.

"What is it?"

Looking from one of his friends to the other, Alenko's mouth moved wordlessly. "You don't want to know. And she's completely serious."

"Major, forwarding a message, marked urgent, from the commander to your omnitool," EDI's voice stated over the intercom in the bridge.

"I'm …" Kaidan stammered, thumbing in the direction of the bridge behind him. He got halfway down the gangway before he turned and stalked right out the airlock, looking like a man on a mission.

-3-

Still unconvinced that any of this had been a good idea. Nyx paced the width of the bedroom. He had not responded to the message. Tali and EDI both confirmed he had gotten and opened the gift. Her hands tightened in the silk belt of the wispy robe she was wearing. This was so out of character for her.

"You are not this type of girl, Nyx," she told her reflection when she caught sight of the thick waves that had been set in her hair and the bright red lips.

It was all an act. This was totally not her, but then maybe it was like Liara said. Sometimes it could be good to go a little too far. Shepard just hoped Kaidan agreed.

The ping of the door gave her the warning she was hoping for. Her attention was focused on shedding the robe and making the scene perfect, though the resounding footfalls on the stairs did not go unnoticed. Her attempt at sultry surely failed, because she could not help but grin, rather foolishly she thought, at the breathless man that landed against the doorjamb. Kaidan did not move for a long time. His stillness made Nyx feel even more nervous.

-4-

The sight before him was even better than the tempting photograph the commander had sent him. Those stunning blue eyes locked on him, dancing with glee as she smiled at him. The major took long deliberate breath and a moment before he did anything. Then he straightened himself up, tugged his shirt back into place, smoothing it slightly. After tucking the box under one arm, he tried to become the embodiment of calm, despite his raging pulse and the desire thudding through his veins like a drug.

"I got your package," he stated with more control than he imagined possible.

"I see that." Her eyes never left his. "And what did you think?"

He glanced down at the box now in his hands again. "Quite … enticing."

She tilted her head as an amused smile tugged at her ruby lips. "Not quite what I was aiming for, but I guess it's close enough."

"And what were you striving for?" He slipped one hand in his pocket, aiming for nonchalant, as he crossed the room gradually.

"Sultry, I think is the word Tali suggested."

"Just so we're clear, I just ran the length of this ward because the traffic was thicker than syrup in winter. And I'm fairly certain this image is permanently etched in my brain," Kaidan said, setting the box on the end table.

Shepard was perched there, kneeling in the center of the bed, in a pose dangerously similar to the one that reddened his cheeks on the bridge. It was not that she was nude, here or in the shot. What struck him hardest felt almost cliché, in that, for him, it was the thought that counted. The thought that she trusted him with something like that, trusted him enough to bear herself body and soul, in a sense.

The barest movement of her fingertips along her collarbone drew his attention as he tugged off his boots.

"I was on the bridge when I opened that. You could've warned me."

"I did," she replied with a gentle laugh, her hand resting at the base of her throat, as she looked up at him through those impossibly long lashes.

"Your eyes only is not really a warning, Shepard."

"The warning was farther down."

"I realized that after the fact." Kaidan tugged off his uniform shirt and the t-shirt beneath it in quick succession before he knelt on the bed and closed the distance between them. "What inspired that?" he asked with a glance back toward the box.

-5-

Cradling her face in both his hands Kaidan leaned close, the tip of his nose brushing her cheekbone as he whispered light kisses along the hollow of her cheeks.

"I remembered how attached you were to that one of the two of us," she answered finally. Her hands lay splayed on his thighs, unpleased by the fact that he deigned to climb across the bed with his pants still on. But if there was one thing Shepard had discovered in the past several years-there is nothing fair in love and war.

"It's an amazing shot."

"It was by far, the best one of the group."

Kaidan leaned back slightly and looked down into her face. "There are more." The twinge of jealousy surprised even him.

"About half a dozen. But they were confiscated by the Shadow Broker. And very likely destroyed. Though there might be a copy lying around."

"Around?"

Shepard laughed at the concern tingeing his heady voice.

"On the end table there, actually," she revealed. "I figured they'd be safest in your hands."

There was a trace of relief in his smile as he kissed her deeply; his tongue sliding between her lips in a tender yet claiming way. Shepard could hardly believe it herself. She was not the kind of woman to pose nude, for any reason, but something arose in her when she saw that old pinup from the World War II era. So, Nyx decided that if she was going to be the one to send her lover off to an unwinnable war, she might as well give him a most shocking reminder of precisely what was waiting for him on the other side of that fight.