A/N – hmm, I wasn't gonna post any more tonight, I was emotionally exhausted from the last four chapters, but a wonderful review from Jules Hawk gave me a second wind. This chapter is pure fluff, really, and inspired by the Citadel DLC. However, I tried not to repeat that content, just give homage. Plus, there were many characters that I wanted to include in this fic, but didn't give enough inspiration to center an entire chapter around, so this is more of an ensemble piece. Finally, I felt that we all needed a little love after the angst, and my son (who beta reads all but the smut for me) pointed out that something was missing from the fic so far… so without further ado…
"Are you sure about this, Kaidan?" she sounded more like a plaintive child than strong willed soldier he thought with amusement as he tucked the robe around her more firmly. No need to share her assets with the entire crew…
She pushed away his fussing hands and tried again. "A party? Really? I'm in a wheelchair," she gestured at the thing in disgust, "and the planet is still lying in ruins. And Joker – his girlfriend just died, is he really going to want to party? Is that appropriate?"
Kaidan laughed down at her, leaned over to kiss her cheek and told her, "It was Joker's idea, actually," as he began to maneuver the chair out of her room. It was state of the art and she could easily operate it from the controls at her fingertips, but he figured if he waited for her to do it herself, they'd never make the short journey to the waiting room.
"Great, what is it with him? Every time we solve a crisis we throw a party? It's gonna get old fast," she grumbled.
"Think of it as a gathering," he told her, pushing her down the hall past the nurses' station and giving a smile and nod to the two women stationed there. "Everyone wants to see you, especially now that you're sitting up and somewhat mobile and the casts are gone."
That had been a huge deal, and just six weeks to the day after the Crucible firing. The doctors were very pleased with her recovery now and the only reminder was the brace she still wore on her left hand. The bones of that hand had been painstakingly reconstructed days after she was found, they had been completely crushed during the explosion. She would have to wear the brace for another month, at least, they told her, and she may never regain full mobility. Shepard had received the news in typical fashion - she had looked at the poor doctor and snarled, "Watch me."
He pressed the call button for the elevator and leaned over her once again, brushing a kiss against her ear then whispered in it, "If you're good, I'll spring you once everyone has a chance to say hi."
"Promise?" she asked, looking grumpy but resigned now.
Kaidan figured that he had been right to call it a gathering rather than a party. Everyone was there, and yeah, it looked like they were enjoying themselves, but this wasn't the raucous we-may-die-tomorrow mood of the last party they had thrown. Rather, he thought, there was an air of sobriety, a tinge of mellow to the mood. They were happy, they were celebrating, but they weren't forgetting the toll the war had taken. Entirely appropriate he thought.
He currently sat perched on the edge of a battered leather sofa in the west corner of the room. Seated below and nearby were Miranda Lawson (in a black catsuit which he guessed was her concession to casual gathering attire, but it was still a catsuit for fuck's sake), Steve Cortez, Joker, and Kasumi. He wasn't sure that the strange group had enough in common to support a conversation but it didn't matter anyway. He was surreptitiously stalking Shepard with his eyes, his attention focused on her rather than the conversation of the group around him, or lack thereof.
She had, quite literally, shooed him from her side about ten minutes after they arrived and had been making her way slowly through the assembled family, taking the time to speak with each one, reassure them just by her presence alone. In summary, she was being Shepard.
She was currently deep in conversation with Liara and Tali near the food table, filling a plate with enough food for a krogan – or a human biotic – while she said something that made Tali giggle. He was sure he didn't possess enough estrogen to know what that conversation was about, either, but the sight of Shepard, relaxed and enjoying her family, made him glad that he and Joker had planned this event. He settled back to continue his watch, determined that he would fetch her at the first sign of fatigue or stress.
Shepard knew his eyes hadn't left her since they arrived, even after she had chased him away for being a mother hen. She didn't mind. She figured she had given him enough reasons over the past six weeks to mother hen her for the rest of their lives, and she wasn't about to chafe against his protective nature again after they had settled their argument three days prior. Kaidan wouldn't be her Kaidan without that sweet urge to protect, and she was feeling generous since he had pushed her to come today. He was right, as usual, and she felt at home and relaxed with the people she loved best, even more so than during their visits to her room.
She continued to study him from across the room, smile on her face, while Liara made Tali giggle by recounting a story about Shepard, Garrus and Liara in the Mako during the original Normandy run. That the joke was told at the expense of her driving, she didn't mind. It had only taken three ground missions for Kaidan to finally get the nerve to say, at the start of the fourth, "Uh, Commander, maybe I should drive?" Then she had stared him down in one of her finer Commander Shepard moments and never heard about it again. Good times.
She moved away from Liara and Tali, steering her chair towards the krogan seated in the corner. She needed somewhere to eat, preferably where she wouldn't have to endure stares of shock or abject horror when people saw how much food she could consume in one setting. Since she figured Wrex and Grunt ate even more than she did, she should be safe with them. Besides, they had been suspiciously missing from her list of visitors since she woke up and she planned to give them shit about it.
She parked her chair between them and nodded to each in her typical greeting. "Wrex, Grunt." A chorus of "Shepard," followed and she figured the ritual had been upheld.
"So, boys," she drawled out once she figured she had consumed enough calories to sustain her for a conversation with her two favorite krogan. Christ, these two could be exhausting. Not that she loved them any less for it. Just, a woman needed to prepare. "How are things? Haven't seen you since returning to the land of the living."
She would have said krogan couldn't blush. She would have been wrong. The two staring at her now were looking decidedly sheepish.
"Yeah, about that Shepard," Wrex started, "sorry." He trailed off in a mumble. Grunt kept his eyes planted on the floor beneath her feet but didn't speak.
She had originally intended to tease them, but she could see now that she had struck a nerve. What the hell? Sensitive krogan? Shepard shook her head, amazed. She never thought she'd see the day.
"What's going on?" she questioned them, trying to figure out what was at the root of this. These were two of the most fearless members of her crew, charging into situations that gave even her pause – and she considered being told that she 'fought like a krogan', which she had heard more than once in her career, high praise.
"Battlemaster," Grunt growled his honorific of her in his typically gravelly voice, "we could not bear to see you brought low."
Well, that was unexpected, she mused, but she understood. The krogan valued strength above all and seeing her weak would have been shocking, to say the least. She smiled, thinking once again how lucky she was to have earned their loyalty and replied, "Aw, guys, that's sweet. But I'm good now, I'll be back to normal in no time." A slight understatement, but she figured she could be forgiven.
"Just don't headbutt any krogan until the doctors say it's ok," Wrex warned, as if that was likely to be a qualification on a human doctor's checklist.
"I'll take that under advisement, Wrex," she told him in her most serious tone before she wheeled herself off in the direction of what looked like a very interesting conversation between James and Traynor. She wondered if she should warn him that he really wasn't Samantha's type, then decided that it would ruin the comedy, and she could use a good laugh.
Kaidan wondered just how he got himself in these situations. Refereeing a dispute between Jack and Jacob Taylor over shockwave versus barrier – offense versus defense in non-biotic terms he realized – had not been on his agenda for the evening. The fact that it looked like the participants in this debate were about to take it to the demonstration level was starting to give him a headache. He put his fingers to his mouth and gave his best sharp whistle. That got their attention. And everyone else's too, he assumed, but he didn't care.
"Look, you're both right, ok," he told Jack and Jacob, "that's why I can do both barrier and reave."
They both looked at him, mouths agape for a second before they shut them with audible snaps and moved off in opposite directions. Guess that was one way to end an argument, he thought, heading off to find himself a beer.
She wheeled around the guests about an hour later, stopping to hear Javik's comments about his cycle and steering very wide of Jacob and Brynn in the corner in what looked like a personal conversation. She thought she heard Jacob drawl the word 'prize' as she passed, turning it into a three syllable word and she decided she didn't want to know what that was about. Her destination was the marine sitting quietly on a stool with his back to the bar, nursing a beer.
She took a minute to study him, pleased to see that he looked relaxed and rested, and was peacefully studying the room around him. She rolled up next to him and drawled cheekily, "Hey, sailor, come here often?"
Kaidan looked down at Shepard, smirk in place, and bantered back, "Only when my fiancee is out of town."
Shepard laughed, grabbed the beer out of his hands, swatted at him when he tried to retrieve it, and took a long swig. God, she missed beer.
"Guess we better make sure she doesn't find out then, huh?" she said as she handed the beer back.
Kaidan laughed softly, and leaned over to whisper against her ear, "I don't know, she's pretty scary."
Shepard shivered with delight as his warm breath tickled her neck and she turned her head so that her lips were close enough to his to be touching but not quite there. "Too bad, I have a nice private room and everything…" she trailed off and smiled at him.
He gladly took the invitation she extended, capturing her lips with his in a gentle, sweet kiss. When she opened her mouth under his and licked the seam of his lips with her tongue, he groaned and sank into her, bringing his hand up behind her head to hold her in place. He proceeded to kiss her thoroughly for the first time since she'd woken.
They broke apart a few moments later, startled, when they realized the entire room was watching them. The reactions varying from amused applause to cheers to catcalls. Kaidan leaned over to whisper in her ear again, "About that room?" She smiled at him and nodded, and he steered her back to her room.
They spent the next two hours necking like teenagers then cuddled together in his recliner, Kaidan cradling her to his chest, her head resting on his shoulder. His last thought before drifting off was 'I'm the luckiest man alive.'
