Earth – Vancouver

As they stepped out of the airport, Kaidan was beaming. He took a big breathe and let it out loudly. "Welcome to Vancouver, Lex."

"I've been to Vancouver before, Kaidan." She sighed next to him. She'd been moody since they left the station, and she knew it.

"Yes, but have you ever been to Vancouver?" He asked.

"I just said…that doesn't make any sense!" She huffed.

"I mean have you ever experienced life outside of HQ or the academy? Did you get the real Vancouver experience?" He asked.

She chuckled. "Well I can name every bar within a ten mile radius." She said and she turned to him with a big smile on her face, which faded instantly when she saw him scowling at her. "Hey, you asked."

He grinned as he shook his head at her. "I am going to show you my Vancouver, the real one from a hometown boy's point of view." He was beaming again and she couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm at the thought of sharing something with her that meant so much to him. And it did, she could tell.

"Well, for the next week I am 100% all yours. No briefings, nothing to do here but focus on you and your Vancouver, so have at it." She replied. "But first, can we please go to the hotel? I'm exhausted."

"We're not staying at hotel, my parents invited us to stay at the orchard with them." He said as he stepped towards the curb to hail a cab over.

"Wait, what?" She hurried after him.

Kaidan looked over at Lex sitting next to him in the cab. It was a long ride from the airport to his parents' orchard and he'd noticed her growing increasingly nervous the closer they got. He looked down to her lap where she was twisting her fingers in knots. Much more of that and she would rub them raw. He reached out and took her hand. He'd expected her to be nervous, but this was beyond anything he'd imagined.

"Honestly, Lex. You'd think I was taking you to face down a Reaper single-handedly the way you're acting." He tried to make it a joke, but he was sure he wasn't very successful. He was getting a bit upset by her behavior, she hadn't stopped trying to talk him out of bringing her along on this visit since he first mentioned it. Even after he'd gone to meet her father.

"Oh, now that I could do! I'd love to be able to shoot something right now." She huffed.

He let go of her hand. "You know what? If the prospect of meeting my family is so horrible, then maybe we should just forget it." He was angry now. He could understand if she was simply nervous, he'd been a wreck when he'd met her father, but the way she was acting you'd think his parents were monsters. If she had such little faith in how well they'd welcome her, how much could she think of him?

Lex turned away from the window to look at Kaidan. The anger in his voice shocked her. He'd never spoken to her like that.

"Kaidan…"

"No Lex, don't Kaidan me. If you have so little faith in my parents being open-minded enough to give you a chance, despite the fact that they raised me and I was able to do it, then I don't know why we're bothering with this." He replied.

"What do you mean, with this? With the visit or with us?" She asked, her voice trembling.

"I don't know." He was looking out the window now. His voice carried a hint a sadness that nearly broke her.

She reached over to take his hand, and her heart did a small summersault of joy when he didn't pull it away.

"Do you know what would have happened if my father hadn't liked you?" She asked, but didn't wait for a reply. "I'll tell you. We would have walked out of his apartment together, and I wouldn't have looked back. No question. My father and I have a chance at maybe someday having a normal relationship because of you, but if he would have rejected you I'd have no problem never seeing him again, never speaking to him again, because you mean that much more to me."

He turned to look at her. "Lex, I'd never ask…"

"I know, Kaidan." She interrupted. "But you wouldn't have to. I know what it's like not to be close to my father. Yes, it's my fault, but I know and I can live with that. I can't imagine what would happen if I lost you."

He squeezed her hand. "Shit, I was angry Lex, I wouldn't…couldn't –."

"You can't say that, Kaidan. We are about to go see the two people who raised you. And I have no doubt that they are both wonderful people, because they'd have to be to have you as a son. I'm sure they are open-minded, and if you were introducing them to your friend, Commander Shepard, they might even like me. But be honest, you gave me a chance because when you first saw me you wanted me in your bed."

"Lex, that's not fair -."

She smiled. "But it's true. And trust me, the feeling was mutual. Now when I meet your parents and you introduce me as your…" She hesitated, unsure about how to label what they were, they hadn't discussed it.

He raised his hand to stroke her cheek. "My girlfriend, when I introduce you as my girlfriend."

She nodded as she felt another little jump from her chest. "When you introduce me as your girlfriend, they are going to be using a completely different mindset to decide if I am good enough for their son. Will I treat you right? Which I haven't always done. Will I be good enough? What kind of mother will I be to their grandchildren?"

"Um…" Kaidan gave a nervous chuckle, but Lex didn't seem to notice and kept right on.

"So what happens if they don't like me, Kaidan?" She asked and quickly raised her hand to stop him from replying. "And don't just say they will. What if they don't? Do you honestly think I don't know how it would kill you to cut them out of your life? Would you even be able to? Do you think I'd even let you try?"

Kaidan moved in closer so that he could take her into his arms, and she placed her head on his shoulder. "If, and this is a big if, but if my parents don't like you then we'll deal with it. Nobody is cutting anyone out of their lives, okay? I promise." He lowered his head to kiss the top of hers.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I'll try to stop worrying." She replied as she snuggled in closer to him.

"Good. Now let's talk about these grandchildren you mentioned." He said, trying very hard not to laugh when he felt her tense up.