Doctor Chakwas' reaction was almost exactly what Alex had expected when she limped her way into the Med Bay, dried blood crusted in her hairline and the bruise around one eye a spectacular purple that was already fading into a shade of green around the edges while her system and a dose of medigel worked at evening out the damage that had been done. The Doctor's gentle face transformed into a look of disappointed anger as she rounded on the younger woman, brows drawn down ferociously over cool, hard eyes.
"Hey, I look better than the other guy." Alex held her hands up in surrender as the Doctor closed the distance between them and grabbed her by the shoulder, propelling her to one of the medical beds with a low, disgusted sigh. "Ow. Shit. Hey," Alex called out over her shoulder toward the still open door. "Get in here already!"
Kaidan edged in around the doorway with a wry smile on his face and his own collection of bumps and bruises, but the look on the doctor's face when she caught sight of him transformed instantaneously into a look of pleased surprise. "Kaidan, so good of you to visit us..." And then the look melted back into displeasure as she took a second look. "Good God, you two did this to each other?"
"He started it."
"You probably deserved it." Chakwas slapped Alex's shoulder with a sigh and gestured Kaidan in as well, settling him on a second empty bed and moving to the medigel dispenser. "Most people work out their issues over drinks, or dinner. Or even just stick with shouting." Throwing the medigel canister at Alex and forcing the infiltrator to duck it's arch, she walked over to Kaidan and grasped his jaw in firm fingers, turning his head to gauge the damage done to him with a keen eye. "You do look like you're taking care of yourself though. I'm glad to see you're doing well."
Since both soldiers possessed the knowledge and capability to apply the gel themselves, she sat back and watched them with an appraising eye. There was still tension between them despite the light banter and cautious peeks across the Med Bay, but it was nowhere near the hostility that Alex had explained earlier. Perhaps letting them duke it out had been the proper course of action, but with all the implants and augmentations that the commander had installed into her body, it could have ended in tragedy. Of course by the looks of it, Kaidan's biotic abilities hadn't faded or lessened in the least. Quite the opposite.
"I am glad that you took the time to visit, Kaidan." Chakwas gave him a fleeting smile that reminded him of days gone by and time spent in the darkened Med Bay of the SR1 under her attentions as his L2 migraines came and went.
Kaidan stifled a faint frown at the sight of the Cerberus emblem on the arm of her uniform, having seen it posted about the ship, on the crew's uniforms and even on Joker's uniform when the pilot could be bothered to turn his attention away from the control console. As much as Alex insisted her work with them was nothing to be concerned about and more or less finished, he couldn't help but wonder if she was still missing something important. But there was no sense in bringing that up when they had just started mending fences.
"Doc," Alex turned Chakwas' attention from him smoothly and gestured about the Med Bay. "Are we all stocked up to leave Omega tonight?"
"Of course. You think I would let my Bay empty out when your entire team seems to depend on me so much?" Chakwas sniffed in feigned affront. "I'm ready to go here. Even Gardener took the opportunity to do a little restocking in the market district."
"God save us all," she mumbled, then straightened as Chakwas arched an eyebrow in inquiry. "Nothing. Kaidan, all patched up?"
It had been comforting to see the dynamics of the crew hadn't changed. For as questionable as Shepard's actions had become recently, she still had the same positive attitude when dealing with her crew. Her troubles seemed primarily in her own mind, but that was enough to effect everybody else even if she didn't know or notice it. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." Sliding off the edge of the bed and to his feet, he gave Chakwas a quick smile. "It was good to see you."
"It's always good to see my crew," Chakwas responded and smiled, letting them go without much else in the way of admonishment or fussing. For that at least, Alex was thankful and led Kaidan out into the nearly empty eating area, the tables sporting a scattering of people that were in no way familiar to him. They all seemed to regard Shepard with a fair amount of respectful awe though. He could remember the days when it was no different to him; she had already been a bit of a legend when he'd first seen her on the bridge of the SR1. But according to what Kelly and Joker had told him, she had made sure they had been rescued and made it safely to the ship even in the midst of their attack on the Collector Base. It was difficult for him to understand the duality of her personality; willing to risk so much for those that depended on her, but able to coolly remove any obstacle to her success without batting an eye.
They had found an empty table and were just sitting when her omnitool let out an alert. Sighing, she opened the communication program and blinked when Kelly's face swam into view. "Sorry to interrupt Commander, but you have an incoming transmission from the Illusive Man." Alex stole a look a look at Kaidan as his posture went instantly tense and his expression turned sour.
"I'll be there in a moment." Standing, she closed the omnitool application and frowned down at him. "I know you don't approve, so don't bother saying anything. This should only take a few minutes, why don't you grab something to eat and refuel." Spine straight, she turned and stalked away from the table and toward the elevator, though he couldn't say for sure whether it was him or the Illusive Man that had set her off.
He was still wondering about it when another familiar face took a seat across from him with a pleased smile.
"Liara? What are you doing in Omega?"
"I wanted to stop by and see how things were going." The asari gave him a slow, measuring look and frowned. "From the way you look though, it doesn't seem promising."
"No, we..." Kaidan struggled for the right words for a moment before lifting his shoulders in a light shrug. "We're okay. I think."
"Did you know that krogans often solve matters over blows as well? Though I know that's probably not a very big surprise. Humans are an interesting species, I don't think I'll truly understand you as well as I would like to." Liara tended her fingers before her and smiled faintly. "Shepard did some impressive work on Tuchanka, actually. Argued with a krogan in their way, and came away still standing."
"That's... not really surprising. But what are you really doing here, don't you have a whole information broker business in Illium?"
"I told you Kaidan, I don't make it to my offices in Illium much these days. While I do have a base of operations, I tend to travel a little." Smiling faintly, she reached out to lay a hand gently on his forearm. "While I know that things between us may always be a little uncertain, I want to thank you regardless. Tali says that Shepard is acting a little more herself. I was worried that she would drive herself someplace she couldn't return from."
"You knew what she was going through, didn't you?"
"There isn't much that I don't know of these days, but there was nothing I could do. It occasionally happens to individuals who submit to transhumanism, or in her case go right to the edge. They begin to question their humanity, their purpose and often times find that they have lost who they are to the purpose they have assigned to themselves. If I had tried to explain that to you... I don't believe you would have understood. And at the moment, I was still upset that I couldn't help her but you might." Sighing, she looked around the interior slowly. "Shepard risks herself all the time and in ways that we can't always understand or anticipate. All we can do is be there for her."
"And I wasn't, I know." Bristling at the implications left unsaid, he shook her hand off and frowned.
"That's not what I meant. You have your own path now, but ours still run parallel to hers." Nonplussed, she linked her fingers together before her and smiled. "I'm certain that they'll intersect again though. The galaxy is surprisingly small sometimes. But that's not the only reason I came here. Shepard asked me to arrange some transportation for you to get back to the Citadel. With my contacts, I was able to find a ship leaving tonight."
"Tonight?" Kaidan shifted and cast his look upward. Through the bulkheads and layers of metal and composite that made up the interior of the ship, Shepard was above him somewhere and talking to Cerberus. The secrecy bothered him even if she did find it a necessity. Logically, he could understand why she would want to keep that part of life separate, but that did nothing to sooth him. He'd hoped for more time than just a few hours...
"The Normandy leaves before your flight, so I thought you would appreciate getting back to the Citadel to report back without having to wait any longer." Standing, Liara fished out a small pad and gave it to him without much flourish. "There's your itinerary, complete with boarding information. It's an upper class ship for the Terminus, so you shouldn't have much trouble on board. It was nice seeing you on better terms, Kaidan."
"It was nice to see you again, Liara. Stay out of trouble."
The smile she gave him was confident and sly, and with a quick wave of her fingers the asari vanished around the wall separating the cafeteria from the main hallway and vanished. It left him with a little more time to kill, and finding that the Normandy was free for him to explore, he did just that.
There were a few brushes with her new crew that invoked a variety of reactions from him. After a fair amount of wandering, he was convinced that no matter how the SR1's crew had seem varied, it was nothing compared to the people wandering about the SR2 in preparation of leaving. For a Cerberus ship, it catered to a highly varied crew of alien species; Garrus and Tali represented their own races respectively, but addition to their familiar presence was a young, brash krogan, a matronly-looking asari in a set of soft armor with a plunging neckline, and a quiet drell that had startled him with his silent approach. The largest shock had been the honest-to-god geth that had scared him half to death on its way into the Med Bay. Seeing a geth up close and personal without having to worry about it shooting him had been a quick and fascinating experience, as was the damaged plate of N7 armor fixed to its chest.
"There you are." Shepard's voice drew him back around and he wasn't entirely surprised to see a look of frustration on her sharp features. The tone she'd used whenever he had brought up Cerberus had been tolerant at best and it seemed the relationship between her and her mysterious benefactor remained tense. Taking a moment to push down the irritation, she cleared her throat and glanced around the hallway.
"Everything okay?"
"Nothing is really ever 'okay', but no. Not really." Jaw clenched against a sudden surge of temper, Alex shifted and leaned against the wall of the hallway, heedless of the few people who skirted around them on their way to their respective duties. "It's nothing for you to be concerned about, just a few issues that need hammering out. I'm juggling a little bit these days, but it's nothing like a few months ago."
"That never changes, Alliance or not." Kaidan leaned in closer as another person passed by, finally relenting to his desire to relax and settling in against the wall near her. The smile that she gave him was warm though brief.
"I still maintain a good, old fashion conflict of interest along with everything else. If I can get us out of here tonight, I should be able to get Admiral Hackett's favor out of the way and start moving onto the next phase of planning for the invasion." As serious as always, she didn't bat an eye and he wondered what other people might think to see her this way. So serious and organized about something that most considered a conspiracy theory or a laughable doomsday ideal. "In any case, did you have a good look around?"
"Yeah, I did. You have a geth."
"That's Legion," she chuckled. "It was different learning to trust him after everything we went through hunting Saren, but there are factions of geth just like there are factions of humans. Well, two factions of geth anyway. It doesn't mean you can trust any geth unconditionally, but Legion is an exception to the rule of shoot-on-sight." Guiding him back down the hallway and to the elevator, she smiled lightly as the doors hissed shut and sealed them in. "Life has been different outside the Alliance."
"I can only imagine." And that was true enough. He never could see himself doing all the things that Shepard had done and accomplished in her life; bad or good. Like always, she seemed able to change her shape to fit what necessity demanded. The one good thing that could be said about humans was that they were incredibly adaptable, and she seemed able to personify that without much stumbling.
Silence stretched on for a few moments longer in the confined space and Alex cleared her throat almost self consciously. "It has its up and its downs. A lot like working for the Alliance, really. You tend to be more... self contained. You can only really rely on yourself and your crew." Mercifully, the doors slid open and he was saved from attempting to continue that line of conversation as they moved toward the CIC. The area was practically buzzing with activity as crewmembers manned their stations and worked through checks and rechecks of Normandy's systems and repairs, ensuring they were already for one more run, where ever it might take them.
"You're leaving then?" Kaidan asked slowly, already knowing the answer in the eager flicker across her expression. Nothing suited her more than action sometimes.
"We're ready." Alex looked around, luminous eyes finally coming back to him. "For anything. Anyone. Sitting here on Omega has been strange in a lot of ways and we're all ready to get back into action. We needed some down time, but that time has passed. You know the feeling, I'm sure."
"Yeah, I know." Though truth be told, he hadn't that particular itch in a long time. Everything that he'd done shortly after she had "died" had been more mechanical than anything else, done out of an automatic sense of duty he didn't feel quite as deeply anymore, even leading up to Horizon. It hadn't felt quite so real until lately, like he had finally regained his equilibrium. "I'm glad I got to see you again."
Alex blinked quickly, somewhat taken off guard by his words though she smiled readily enough and walked him to the bridge. If their shoulders brushed accidentally as they traversed the long walkway, he pretended not to notice just as well as she did. Both of them understanding a quick goodbye would be the best course of action, he shouted a farewell to Joker and was out the door and halfway down the ramp before she called after him.
"I'll see you around, Kaidan." The tone was slightly wistful and he looked back to find her leaning casually in the door frame, surrounded by the interior glow in a way that made her eyes stand out in the blunt shadows like stars.
"Don't wait too long." Hoping that she wouldn't, he gave her a final wave and walked back through the docks, leaving Shepard and the Normandy behind him. He had some time to get back to the room he had rented in Omega and gather his things before catching his own flight out and back to civilized space.
By the time he made it to the docking ring of Omega, the Normandy had been moved out of dry dock and was hanging amidst the old transports and battered ships, a slip of high modern technology in the ambient light of the station. It looked wonderful sitting out there, and he gave himself a few moments to lean against the viewing windows and watch as the ship executed a slow, graceful turn that angled it back into the depths of space. The Normandy had always seemed like it fit in amongst the graceful ships of the Citadel whenever they had docked there, but here in Terminus space, surrounded by the broken and falling apart, the old and battered, it looked sleek and predatory.
Accelerating smoothly, the Normandy vanished from view in the space between seconds and he let himself stare into the darkness for a moment longer before completing the uneventful trip to the ship he'd been booked on. And from there, the smooth journey back to the Citadel.
AN: I lied. One more chapter to go. There was too abrupt a break between the last one and the next one, so here's a short chapter to try and tie it all together.
