Surprise Guest

Well, Jenny sure was right. I sure as hell wanted to see this.

"Kaidan?" I ask, surprise clearly evident on my face. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Really, Dylan, that's how you greet me?" he asks with a smile. He puts his hand over his heart. "That hurts. Especially since you were the one who kept asking me to join."

"Shut up, you know I'm happy to see you." I walk up and give Kaidan a hug. "I'm just also surprised to see you. I thought you were staying on Horizon to protect the colony."

"After the attack, the colonists were suddenly very keen on Alliance protection. Command mobilized a force to act as an interim garrison until a permanent one could be raised."

"That still doesn't explain why you're here and not still there," I say.

"I was ordered back to Arcturus and met with Admiral Hackett," Kaidan says. "I gave him a full report on what happened, including Shepard's role in saving the colony. He told me that after everything that happened, he was giving me an 'extended leave of absence.' Then he winked at me and told me to 'keep in touch' while I was away."

I laugh. Leave it to that old bastard to come up with something like that. "So it's an officially unofficial assignment," I say once I catch my breath.

"Pretty much. He couldn't order me to do something like this, but he basically gave me his blessing for it."

"And this is ok with you?" I ask Jenny, who's been standing off to the side this whole time.

"Of course," she says. Then she smiles and glances at him. "He wouldn't still be on the ship otherwise. If he wants to send Hackett reports, that's fine with me. Any help I can get convincing the Alliance of the Reaper threat."

"As far as I'm concerned, my primary goal in being here is helping you stop the Collectors. If I just so happen to come across something to send to Hackett, that's an added bonus."

"Well I think I speak for both of us when I say we're glad you're here," Jenny says. "I'll always welcome a familiar face aboard the Normandy."

"Absolutely," I say. "Now I can have a break every once in a while since I won't be the only field medic."

"Always happy to help," Kaidan says, smiling.

"Since most of the crew is on shore leave today, we'll save introductions for tomorrow morning," Jenny says. "Until then, Dylan can show you around the ship." She turns to look at me. "When you're done with the tour, you can come up to my room if you want. It's so great to have you here, Kaidan. Welcome aboard." With that, she walks out of the briefing room.

After a few seconds pass, Kaidan turns to me with a sly smile. "An invitation to the commander's room, huh?" He does that stupid eyebrow wiggle thing. "Something you wanna tell me, kid?"

I just roll my eyes. People can be so nosey. But we did say we wouldn't lie if people asked about us. "Jenny and I are dating now. It only happened yesterday, so it's still really new. Not everyone onboard knows about it yet."

He slaps my back. "Good for you, kid! I'm happy for you two."

"Thanks, Kaidan. We'd kind of prefer it if you didn't go announcing it around, though. It's not exactly a secret, but we'd like to keep at least a little privacy."

"Of course. Now come on, show me around so you can get back to your girlfriend." I punch him in the shoulder, and he just chuckles.

"Follow me, you big nerd," I say, walking out of the room. He laughs more before following me.

The tour goes by pretty quickly. Since the SR-2 is basically just a scaled up SR-1, he gets the hang of the layout easily. He loves having a full armory instead of a few lockers in the cargo bay, and he sure as hell enjoys having his own room.

"I need some time to settle in," he says, looking around the room. Then he turns and grins at me. "Go and spend some time with Shepard."

"Shut up," I say, blushing slightly. "If you need anything, give me a holler."

"Will do, kid."

I leave his room and call the elevator.

Man, I can't believe Kaidan is here. Talk about non-canon. Then again, I don't know why I bother thinking about what is or isn't canon. It's been two years, and part of me still thinks of this as a game. That's probably not a healthy mindset.

But whatever, Kaidan's here, and that's awesome. As annoying as it is that he sometimes treats me like a little brother, I did sort of miss it, too.

I finally arrive on the top deck and knock on Jenny's door. I hear a muffled "Come in!" so I open it and walk in. She's seated on her couch, legs propped up on the coffee table. She wears the same sweatpants-hoodie combo, so I guess that's her normal relaxation wear.

"You look comfy," I say, walking up from behind and putting my arms around her.

"Then why don't you come join me?"

"Don't mind if I do." I hop over the back of the couch to sit on her left. She immediately scoots over and rests her head on my shoulder. "So what were you doing before I got here?"

"Not much, just browsing ExFlix to see what shows I missed," she says. Wow, she actually mentioned her death without her voice catching. It's not much, but it's improvement.

"I actually know a really good show that came out recently. It's a sci-fi comedy called Omega Team about a group of idiots who deal with problems the military doesn't want to. It's only got one short season right now, but hopefully it'll get picked up for more."

"Sounds fun. Pull it up and we'll try it out."

I find the show on my omni-tool and set it to play on the holographic screen over the coffee table.

Two hours, and a whole bunch of laughs later, the credits roll on the first season.

"Oh my god, I cannot believe Folds did that," Jenny says. "There needs to be a second season right now. I need to know what happened."

"I know, right?" I ask. It's cute seeing her get excited about this. "I had the same reaction, and the extranet is clamoring for season two."

"I can see why. Anzam and Keith—"

"Commander, Operative Lawson wishes to speak with you," EDI says, her avatar popping up on the side of the room. Jenny sighs.

"Tell Miranda I'll be right down."

"She is currently on her way up, Commander."

There's a moment of silence. Jenny closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. Then she gets up, opens her door, and waits there for Miranda. I stay on the couch but twist around to watch the scene that's about to unfold. After a few seconds, the elevator door opens, and Miranda walks out.

"Commander, could I have a word with you?" Miranda asks.

"Of course. Come on in." Jenny turns around and walks back into the room. Then she does something that surprises me: She walks over to me and kisses my cheek then says, "Could you wait outside for a moment? Hopefully this won't take too long."

I don't really know how to react to that, so I just nod and get up. As I leave, I notice Miranda also looks surprised at Jenny's blatant display of affection.

Whatever Miranda wanted doesn't take very long because she walks out a few minutes later. Before she gets in the elevator, she turns to me.

"Congratulations," she says. "As long as it doesn't endanger the mission, I'm glad she's happy." Then she smirks at me. "Though why she would choose you is beyond me."

"Yeah, yeah, not everyone can be perfect," I say. "But thanks, Miranda. That actually means a lot."

"Enjoy the rest of your evening." She steps in the elevator, and the door closes.

Wow, of all people to approve of our relationship, I was not expecting Miranda. But I'm glad she does approve. I was expecting there to be an argument or something or for her to go to the Illusive Man.

I head back inside and take my former spot on the couch next to Jenny.

"Am I allowed to ask what that was about?"

"It's something Miranda wants kept private," Jenny says. "You don't have to worry about it."

Ah, so it's her loyalty mission, then. The first of many. If only Jenny knew what was in store on that front.

"That's fine," I say. "I won't pry. So what's on the schedule for tomorrow?"

"After we introduce Kaidan to the rest of the crew, nothing until the evening. Liara sent her intel on the recruits; Samara can wait, but apparently Thane is gonna try something tomorrow night. If he's as good as they say, that might be our only opportunity to catch him."

"Given any thought on who you'll bring?"

"Well, not you." She seems to realize how that sounded and quickly adds, "Not because I don't want you, but I heard your quip to Kaidan about taking a break. I realize I've been going pretty hard on you with missions. The one time you were supposed to get a break, you had to come save me. Besides, I feel like I've been relying on the same few people for missions."

"I definitely won't say no to a day off, though it'll be weird not being out there with you."

"And it'll be weird not having you out there. But at least I have you in here, so that sort of makes up for it."

I don't really know what to say to that, so I just hug her. She uses that as an excuse to snuggle in closer to me. My arm is around her waist, and she's settled in the crook of my arm with her head on my chest. We settle in for one last movie before calling it a night.

All in all, it's been a pretty good day.

A/N: Hey hey. Yeah, I know this is a short chapter, but I didn't know where else to take it without feeling like I was padding it out. I also think this chapter highlights a change in how I write. I don't really think I can do the 5, 6, 7k+ chapters anymore. When I hit the end of a scene like I did here, I'm probably just gonna call it a chapter (unless it's under like 1k). I also realize that not much has happened action-wise since I restarted the story, but I'll try to change that next chapter. I haven't really written actions scenes in a long long time, so I need to work back into them.

Anywho, that's pretty much it for this chapter. Until next time, folks, ta ta!