Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect
A/N - Sorry for the delay with this chapter. A family member died on Christmas Eve, I had a house fire (we're okay and the house is mostly fine), my dog bit me ... and well ... Christmas happened. It was not a good Christmas. So yeah, not much writing was done. Apologies though, because I did intend to get this out much earlier. To those who have have reviewed - my goodness you guys make my day with your feedback! Thank you! Without your support and encouragement this fic wouldn't be where it is today, so your time and words mean the world to me. To new people and to people reading along - hello and Happy Holidays! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
A prothean.
A real life prothean.
Try as he might, Kaidan couldn't seem to get his head around the fact that they had an actual member of the prothean race on the ship. And if he was this excited, he could almost imagine how giddy Liara would be. Of course, by all accounts the newest member of their crew was surly and unfriendly, but he couldn't hold that against him. If he'd been frozen for thousands of years and woke up with everyone he loved dead and gone he'd be unhappy too.
"But how did he survive?" Prangley asked, breaking the silence that the class had been working in as they completed the biotic strengthening activities. "I mean, how can something survive for that long?"
Rodriguez huffed and threw a withering glance at him. "Because it was in stasis, moron. That's how. It's theoretically possible for us to freeze your sorry ass and store you for thousands of years too. The technology isn't that unusual."
Kaidan hid a smile as Prangley muttered under his breath and the two kids began to bicker, arguing back and forth about current technology and if it could possibly last as long as Prothean tech. Jack leaned against the wall beside him, picking at her nails and casting the occasional sweeping glance over her students. Working with the biotic woman was a challenge in and of itself; she was stubborn to a fault, abrasive and argumentative, and she needled Kaidan constantly about Gina.
"That's enough out of both of you!" Jack hollered as she pushed off the wall. "Prangley! That shield looks like it's made out of tissue paper! And Rodriguez, yours is faltering already! Shore them up now!"
Kaidan winced as Jack's roar reverberated in his ear.
"You know," he said quietly so only she could hear him. "You don't need to scream at them every time you give an order."
She aimed a glare at him. "Aw, what? You'd rather I treat them with kid gloves? Bring them milk and cookies?" Jack scowled. "These kids need a dose of reality. Cerberus and the reapers sure as shit aren't going to hold back with them, so why should I? Huh?"
Kaidan frowned, memories of his own training flooding back; of being made to do biotic exercises until his nose bled and his ears rang, and being made to run laps from morning to night – until his body screamed in agony. The physical and mental torture they'd suffered at the hands of Vyrnnus and the other teachers with every biotic lesson still haunted him.
Jack saw his expression and sighed. "Look, I'm not going to let them hurt themselves but they need to push their biotics and see what they can really fucking do."
"Agreed." He nodded. "But next time try to aim your scream away from me, okay?"
She snorted. "Now where's the fun in that?" Kaidan considered Jack for a long moment and tried not to smile when she caught him staring and rolled her eyes. "What?" she bit out.
He had to fight hard to hide his smile; under all her bristling anger and tough girl exterior was a woman who genuinely cared about these kids. She didn't just want to train them; she wanted them to survive the war. When the reapers lay burning and they retook Earth, she intended for every single one of her students to be standing there beside her.
He still didn't like Jack, but her motives were admirable.
"I'm just wondering if you're really as tough as you act," he baited gently. "I mean, I caught you in that Stasis easily enough back at Grissom."
Jack whirled to face him, her eyes flashing blue as her biotics curled inside of her. "What did you just say, Soldier Boy?" she demanded. "Are you actually questioning my biotic ability?"
"Not at all," Kaidan raised an eyebrow, his own power humming to life under his skin as she flared. "I've seen you in action, so I know your biotic ability. I'm just wondering how well you'd do under a sustained attack?"
Abruptly she chuckled and a sly smile worked its way across her face. "Why don't we find out, huh? How about you and me do a little training of our own?"
Go up against Jack? Kaidan couldn't deny that the thought had crossed his mind multiple times over their training lesson today. Going up against Gina was one thing; she was a Vanguard and was only really dangerous when she was up close. Jack had other skills and her power level was truly monstrous. The thought of tangling with her to test his powers was both thrilling and frightening.
But he wanted to.
Kaidan chuckled and pushed away from the wall. "Sure, so long as we pull our punches and don't do any permanent damage to each other."
Jack cackled as she told the kids to take a break. "What scared I'm going to mess up that pretty face?" she asked over her shoulder.
"Something like that," Kaidan nodded at the kids as they cleared the training floor with wide eyes, muttering excitedly amongst themselves.
His stomach rolled nervously at the thought of losing in front of them – more because he didn't like the thought of being beaten by Jack than anything – and he tried to shake it off. She looked excited as she squared off against him and gathered her biotics around her in a Barrier, he followed suit and for a moment they stared at each other through layers of dancing biotic blue, and then Jack attacked.
He had only a moments warning, a small narrowing of her eyes, and then she hurled a Shockwave at him. It thundered across the room and smashed into his Barrier like a freight train, knocking him back a few steps before he pushed forward with his power to compensate. Jack laughed distantly and before she could get off another attack he threw a Stasis at her and feinted sideways, watching as she dodged his attack and left herself open.
His biotics curled outwards, twining and glowing, as he created a Singularity above her and with a screech Jack was lifted from her feet. She thrashed madly, cursing and spitting as she fought her way free and dropped to the ground. Kaidan braced himself as she launched herself forward and hurled a Throw at him, but the force of the attack still managed to lift him bodily from the ground and hurl him across the room.
He grunted as he slammed into the wall, pain from his still-sore ribs shrieking through his body, and caught a glimpse of Jack coming in his direction, her biotics swirling and crackling around her body. His head swam but he managed to push himself to his feet and he called on the depths of his power to use a Reave on her. The biotic attack swirled around her in a cloud of violet and azure and Jack doubled over as it began to sap her power. A twin cloud swirled around Kaidan and his vision cleared as his biotics surged powerfully.
He moved towards Jack - her power dancing through his veins in a mad rush of biotics that left Kaidan feeling almost drunk with power. He could feel her fighting, feel that power surge as she fought to fend off his attack and stay on her feet, but he held it over her and continued to siphon off that swirling biotic power.
"How? How did you learn that?" Jack dropped to her knees and looked up at him with eyes that were round and surprised. "I didn't know you could Reave!" She sounded almost accusatory.
Kaidan let go of the attack and stepped back, his body humming pleasantly as the power swirled under his skin.
"Practice," he told her as he let the power fade away. There was a murmur from the biotic students and Kaidan saw Jack's face darken. "Though, that Reave was the ace up my sleeve. I'm not sure I could have kept pace with you for much longer."
It wasn't a lie; Jack's attacks had been beyond anything he'd ever felt. If he hadn't used a Reave to slow her down and drain away some of her energy, he didn't doubt she would have eaten him for breakfast. She was frighteningly strong and his ribs were aching painfully; far worse than they had been earlier.
She got to her feet just as the elevator door opened and Gina came through, her eyes hard and angry as they settled on the two biotics. For the briefest of moments Kaidan assumed she was angry with them for the biotic fight and he straightened his back and squared his shoulders, but as she came closer her eyes softened and he relaxed; whatever had made her angry wasn't them.
"You look cranky, Princess," Jack commented as she turned and watched her. "What's got your panties in a twist? Clearly it's not the Major here since you two are obviously knocking boots-"
"Jack," Gina interrupted her with a small shake of the head. "Not now."
The biotic held up her hands in mock-placation and smiled slightly. "Whatever you say."
Gina rolled her eyes. "If you must know, I've spent the last few hours debriefing the newest member of our crew."
"Javik, right?" Kaidan asked. "I wouldn't mind chatting with him myself."
"Don't bother." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, tussling the curls. "He's one of the most arrogant, frustrating and damned irritating people I've ever talked to." Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. "He insists on referring to all of us as 'primitives' and he's managed to insult almost everybody on board. The only redeeming quality he has is that he's fought the reapers before and knows some of their tricks."
Jack snorted and crossed her arms. "So, he wasn't the prized find you thought he was, huh?"
"Well, saving anyone from the clutches of Cerberus is a win for us, but he isn't the distinguished scientist we were expecting. He's a soldier. A damned good one but just a soldier." She rolled her shoulders and her green eyes glittered with amusement as they slid over the two of them. "I feel like I interrupted something?"
Kaidan grinned and Jack glowered.
"Just a little biotic training," he told her honestly. "I'd invite you to join us, but I think I'm about done in." Kaidan put a hand to his aching ribs and winced. "Actually, I might need to go see Chakwas and get some medigel for this or I won't be joining you on the next mission."
Gina pinned him with a stare. "Didn't you see her today while I was on Eden Prime?"
"I was going to," Kaidan defended himself, squirming under her gaze as Jack chuckled darkly. "I just got caught up helping with the students."
Jack muttered something under her breath about tissue-paper soldiers and made her way back to the students, who were buzzing excitedly in a cluster. Kaidan could hear the words Reave from where he was standing, and amusement flared through him, quickly damped by another twinge from his ribs.
"Well, come on, let's go see the Doc. I should probably visit her myself," Gina tried to straighten her arm and pulled a face. "A Cerberus sniper got in a lucky shot and hit my shoulder."
Concern shot through Kaidan and he stepped closer, his eyes sliding from the slight hunch of her body to the way she was keeping the arm close to her chest. Had she debriefed the Prothean even though she knew she was hurt? He almost scoffed at his own question – of course she had. That was Gina in a nutshell, always more concerned with getting the job done and looking after other people than she was herself.
"A Nemesis?" he asked as he stretched out her arm gently and felt around the joint, she nodded and winced. "It feels pretty swollen. You're lucky the shot didn't break your underarmor and lodge in the joint."
"I know." She retracted her arm and rubbed the joint carefully. "So, what exactly did Jack do to you?" Gina questioned as they made their way to the medbay. "She's tough but she normally avoids actually hurting people when she's training."
He hit the button for the elevator and held the door open. "Oh, she knocked me back with one of her attacks. It wasn't really her fault - she just packs a hell of a punch!"
"Yeah." Gina pulled a face. "And she knows it too, which is half of her problem."
Kaidan laughed and was still chuckling when they reached the crew level and made their way in to see Chakwas. The doctor clicked her tongue the instant they arrived and descended on them with her omni-tool out.
"I thought I'd see you two in here sooner rather than later," she admonished sharply, her tone that of a mother hen henpecking her chicks. "I swear, if I didn't get copies of your armour's physical readouts I wouldn't even know you were injured half the time."
She swooped on Kaidan first, stripping him of the top half of his BDU's and giving him a dirty look at whatever she saw. Her hands were cool as they moved over his chest, pressing here and poking there before she closed her omni-tool and picked up an injector from a nearby tray. She inserted a small canister of medigel into it and then gave him a look that promised no mercy.
"Two broken ribs and severe bruising," she told him as she swabbed his ribs and carefully slid the needle under his skin to inject the gel. It spread under his skin in a cool soothing wave and instantly Kaidan's pain lessened. "You should have seen me sooner."
He scrubbed the back of his neck as she pulled the needle out and shrugged. "It didn't seem that bad at the time."
Chakwas rolled her eyes, but her look was amused. "That's what they all say, Major Alenko." She turned cool blue eyes on Gina and nodded at her. "Your turn, Commander. Off with the shirt."
Kaidan dressed as Gina stripped off, her skin under her shirt marked with bruises that were not altogether unfamiliar to Kaidan and his face burned as Chakwas' eyes slid briefly to him. There was a bite mark on the crook of her shoulder which he'd given her a few nights ago, and smaller marks dotted her back, neck and chest where he'd sucked or given her love bites. The site of them on her sent a confusing roll of emotions through him; pride, shame and lust.
He'd always liked rough play, and as a young man his desires had confused and scared him, specially after Rahna's rejection at Jump Zero. He'd never shown that side of himself to her of course, but he'd wondered in the months afterwards if she'd somehow sensed what was in him, all his dark fantasies and thoughts, and had run from him because of that. It had taken time and experience for him to come to understand that he liked to be dominant in the bedroom, and even more time and experience for him to understand that there was nothing wrong with him or his desires - so long as he had the right partner.
Kaidan tried not to let his eyes loiter on those marks on Gina's skin as Chakwas worked. He knew what those bruises looked like to an outside person, but it wasn't hurting her that gave him a thrill at all; that was something he did because Gina enjoyed it. For him, it was the illusion of being in charge and having all the power. Discovering that Gina was sexually submissive had been a relief and a delight which he knew he'd never forget.
When they were together he could let go of the tight leash he kept on himself. He could own her, possess her, reward her. The way he felt was almost like a sickness that he was too weak to stop, but with Gina it didn't feel wrong. She drove him wild with the tremble in her body, with the little sounds of pleasure-pain, and with the hitch in her breath when he touched her.
He loved her violently, possessively, and so deeply it had almost destroyed him when he'd lost her the first time around. Because as rough and as sexually aggressive as he was in bed, their relationship went so much deeper than just that. She was his and he was hers. And in the bedroom it was his job to keep her safe; to read her body language and make sure she was comfortable with everything he was doing. They had their rules and their safe words, but even without them he was confident he could read her well enough to never hurt her.
Her well-being, her safety, and her pleasure were always at the forefront of his mind when they were together. It was confusing as hell to be filled with this aggressive need to dominate, while being so aware of the other person that everything they felt and did controlled his own response, but part of him being in control in the bedroom was ensuring that Gina was satisfied and happy, and he loved being able to do that for her.
Gina enjoyed having him dominate her and he enjoyed giving into his desires; in the bedroom at least. Outside of it, she was Commander Shepard in every sense of the word - there was nothing submissive about her. And he loved it, God did he love that it was only with him that she showed that other side of her personality.
It made her all the more his.
She was utterly perfect and he loved everything about her – from the way she melted into his arms at a touch, to the small sounds of pleasure and pain she made when he pushed her close to the edge. As clichéd as it sounded, there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her or to her if she asked. It was his job to keep her safe and happy, and this time around he was going to make sure he didn't lose her again.
Kaidan's chest tightened at the memory of Alchera and he turned away as he finished doing up the fastenings on his uniform. It had been Gina's choice to stay back and save Joker, and while he'd never not respect her wishes and follow her orders, this time around he wasn't going to leave her if a similar situation arose. No matter what happened he was going to keep her safe.
"All done." Kaidan turned back around as the doctor finished massaging some gel into Gina's swollen shoulder. "A full days rest and it should be back good as normal-"
The door to the medbay opened before Chakwas could finished and the doctor broke off as Liara strolled in with a brightly lit data pad in one hand. She glanced up and started to speak, then her blue eyes fell on Gina, and Kaidan inwardly winced as they widened. He could imagine what she was seeing; Gina covered in marks and bruises – some of which were very obviously bite marks. For a moment the silence stretched as the asari stared at her friend, then her eyes slid furiously to Kaidan's.
He stared back defiantly until she looked away.
"I'm sorry," she said stiffly. "I didn't mean to intrude." And before any of them could say a word she vanished back out the door.
Chakwas coughed politely into the ensuing silence and very carefully gave them some space as she found an errand to take her to the far side of the room. Gina pulled her shirt back on, cursing colourfully under her breath as her arm tangled in one sleeve and she was forced to slow down.
"Did you see her face?" she asked him quietly as she zipped up the front and attacked the buckles. "She looked-"
"Horrified?" Kaidan supplied. "Furious? Murderous? It's not surprising. Some of your bruises are a little ... confronting." He gave her arms a squeeze as she finished dressing. "Go talk to her and I'll make myself scarce. God knows she looked angry enough to skin me alive."
Gina nodded but stayed put for a moment, moving her weight from foot to foot. "Kaidan, do we really need to explain ourselves to her?" She looked up and met his gaze. "I mean, this is no one else's business, least of all hers."
She was right; it wasn't anyone else's business.
But … .
"Normally I'd agree, but Liara is your friend and she'd the Shadow Broker. If she thinks I'm hurting you-" Kaidan let his words trail off and he gave her another reassuring squeeze. "You don't need to explain yourself, or us, or anything like that. But let her know that you're not being abused. She's your friend and she cares about you, so at least put her mind at ease."
Gina nodded and stepped forward, giving him a brief but intense hug before she stepped back and raced from the room. Kaidan watched her go with his heart in his mouth and only looked away when Doctor Chakwas cleared her throat. She was watching him with a small smile on her face and she looked both motherly and amused as he flushed again.
"I'd never have guessed, Major," she said simply, her voice lilting with amusement as she walked back to her desk and began to download her omni-tool data to her terminal. "But I'm happy for you both."
For a moment Kaidan just looked at her, stunned and slightly embarrassed, then the hilarity of the situation and the awkwardness Chakwas must be feeling dawned on him and he chuckled; the least he could do was break the tension for her.
"Well, you know what they say Doctor," he told her with a grin as she glanced back over her shoulder at him. "It's always the quiet ones."
A/N - The next chapter will have a little Liara & Shepard moment that a few people have sensed was coming for a while now, and then we'll be on to the quarian homeworld and my horrible big plot twist! Eeep! I hope you enjoyed this - reviews are always treasured and appreciated.