Story Title: A Touch of the Past
Chapter: 2/18
Chaper Summary: Morning comes for Shepard and Kaidan...
Chapter 2: Familiar Touch
With a short yawn as he scratched at the back of his neck, Shepard stepped off of the elevator and turned toward the mess hall in pursuit of coffee. He had a day ahead of finishing up his reports on Leviathan and getting those off before he started going through any newly received data on what to do next in the war effort against the Reapers. He had started looking through them yesterday as a way to break up the reports to the Council, Hackett, and Anderson – he didn't have the same focus on the paperwork side of things as his lover did – and there were a few things of interest that he would explore deeper when he got back on track.
Honestly, he probably would have gotten more done if he'd had Kaidan around last night. Not that he couldn't get work done when Kaidan wasn't – he wasn't needy like that – but the biotic had this great influence on him keeping his focus if they were both working while sharing company. It was why they worked together so well actually, since their limits complimented each other so well: Kaidan's focus was contagious and Shepard bouncing ideas off of Kaidan kept the man from getting too lost in what he was doing.
Kaidan knew his limits well but he had this tendency to push way past them whenever there wasn't a reason to stop himself. Battle with his biotics was the bigger concern with this and Shepard was getting really good at picking up on the subtle tells Kaidan had that he was pushing himself too hard, ergo into a migraine. While Shepard respected that Kaidan was so headstrong about taking care of himself when his implant acted up to the point of basically incapacitating him with pain, he wished Kaidan would let him take care of him. That's why they were together, so they could support each other and Shepard was starting to feel like he was really falling by the wayside in supporting the man he loved.
It didn't help that Kaidan was apparently born with this amazing talent of taking care of others so that they didn't actually realize they were being taken care of.
He hadn't been classified as a Sentinel when they first met for nothing.
But Shepard didn't hold it against Kaidan for his independent habits: Kaidan had lived more years taking care of himself than having someone there wanting to help him when his implants flared up. Actually, he loved him all the more for the strength it took for his lover to deal with the chronic pain.
"Hey Shepard," Garrus' voice called out to him as he walked into the mess and over to the coffee machines, making his selection as he leaned against the counter.
"Morning," he muttered back. He was nowhere near awake enough for much civility; Garrus knew he wasn't a morning person at all and so usually reserved his best teasing for such times, making Shepard even more cautious of the even greeting he had received from the Turian.
Garrus' mandibles shifted in that way that told Shepard he was grinning. "You and Kaidan good?"
That was a weird place to start a conversation, even one with Garrus.
Shepard's brows furrowed as he tried to figure out why Garrus would ask, going over his interactions with Kaidan over the past few days. They had been caught up in the investigation and pursuit of Leviathan for over a week and while Shepard going solo to meet with Leviathan had not pleased Kaidan, they had talked it over briefly enough that Shepard knew they were fine. He hadn't seen Kaidan at all the previous day, caught up in his work and every time he had emerged enough to have the thought of spending a few minutes with his lover a quick check with EDI revealed that Kaidan was deeply engrossed in his own work. Usually that wouldn't deter Shepard – actually it would be even more reason to go offer some distraction – but each time EDI thought it was pertinent to tell him just how many screens Kaidan had active at the time and that had dissuaded Shepard from actually going through with interrupting him.
While Kaidan was usually fine with an interruption from Shepard, if he was really deep in his thought process then he tended to get a little short-tempered with whoever made him break his flow.
And he had already had to deter irritation once from his lover. Again, the whole Leviathan thing.
But Shepard also wondered if EDI had been messing with him, conducting some social experiment on when he would stop listening to her and go see Kaidan regardless of how much work he was engaged with. It wouldn't be the first time she used the crew to solve her own curiosity and while he normally didn't have a problem with it as she wouldn't hurt any of the crew, he wouldn't be so happy to know she was purposefully keeping him apart from his lover.
Pulling himself from his thoughts he focused on Garrus again. "Yeah we're good. Why?"
"So him sleeping in the Starboard Lounge is good for you guys? I thought you humans considered something like that to be and indicator of something wrong with the partnership."
Shepard felt his body release tension; apparently just the thought of there being something wrong between him and Kaidan was enough to get him worked up. "Yeah, if the other sent them there. We were both caught up in work all day yesterday and didn't even see each other for there to be a fight."
"I'm sure if you put your mind to it, you would find a way to mess things up with him without actually seeing him. After all, you do have a unique talent for making the difficult seem easy and the impossible happen."
Shepard turned away from the still grinning Turian and grabbed his filled cup of coffee. "If I didn't know better, I would think that was an encouragement to find a way to get in a fight with Kaidan. Please don't tell me you want a shot at one of us." Shepard managed to suppress the thought of anyone else – especially someone close – trying to take Kaidan from him. He'd just barely actually gotten the biotic back, he'd be damned if he let someone else take him away when he could do something about it.
He knew he was overreacting since this was Garrus and he knew his friend well. He'd never been attracted to either one of them.
"Nah, I don't think I would survive the kind of crazy you tend to put out."
"And Kaidan?" Shepard pressed, noticing at once that Garrus had only addressed him in his denial though it was probably just to continue to get a rise out of him. Garrus indeed knew him well, knew that Shepard's only real weakness to be exploited was Kaidan.
"Well, he does have quite a bit more to offer me."
Shepard couldn't keep from rolling his eyes at his friend and Garrus chuckled deeply as he appeared to accept that he wasn't going to get much more out of Shepard when he knew the Turian wasn't being serious. Sure, he could be a jealous guy but only when there was something to actually be jealous about.
"Is he still in the lounge?" Shepard asked instead of letting Garrus find some other way to tease him.
"He's probably still asleep in there. I only went in there a little while ago and told everybody else that was up to steer clear."
"Thanks, Garrus. He tends to fall asleep in there when he doesn't take a break from his work. Lighting is nicer on his headaches."
"Couldn't even give me the satisfaction of not having any idea as to why he spent the night in there instead of in either of your beds?"
Shepard grasped Garrus' shoulder as he passed him to head toward the Starboard Observation Lounge and his lover. "Of course not. That's what you get for pretending to want to take him for yourself."
"Come on, like he would ever really go for anybody but you!" Garrus called as Shepard left the mess. It was a short trek to where he was to find Kaidan and the door to the lounge slid open with a smooth hiss and Shepard walked in, heading straight for the couch facing the large windows. He walked around and took in the sight of his lover sleeping surprisingly soundly on the couch.
Kaidan was lying on his side facing towards the windows with both arms folded under his head as a makeshift pillow. His casual uniform was slightly wrinkled from moving around his sleep which wasn't surprising as the uniform wasn't that comfortable to sleep in despite how still of a sleeper Kaidan usually was. His hair was also effectively mussed up and Shepard felt his usual attraction at seeing his lover looking anything but clean-cut.
Shepard stepped right up to Kaidan and kneeled down on the floor in front of the biotic's face, taking in the sight of the relaxed lines of Kaidan's face. Shepard didn't deny – not even to Kaidan – that he liked watching his lover sleep. He liked seeing him relaxed. He liked having the freedom to touch Kaidan and have the man relax further as if he always knew that it was his lover's hands on him. Kaidan was so driven as a protector that it wasn't natural at all for him to just relax and allow someone close enough to do anything to take care of him. Shepard was helping him learn though.
His hand reached out and gently rested on Kaidan's cheek, feeling the pricks of hair starting to grow in. Kaidan was warm, as per usual as his biotics made him maintain a slightly higher body temperature. Shepard ran his fingers back to run through the short hair to rest on the man's neck before he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Kaidan's in a gentle caress. Kaidan's body shifted slightly and Shepard pulled away slightly as Kaidan's breathing changed enough to indicate that he was waking up from that minimal contact. It usually took just a little bit more but apparently sleeping in the lounge did not equal sleeping with Shepard.
Dark eyes opened slowly and Shepard moved back just enough so Kaidan would be able to clearly see that it was him even though that was probably not necessary. Once Kaidan's eyes focused on Shepard, his lips lifted slightly and he shifted forward toward the heat of Shepard's body and closed his eyes again. Shepard took the hint and pressed his face into Kaidan's neck and took in the comforting scent of his lover.
Everything about Kaidan relaxed Shepard.
"It's been a few weeks since you fell asleep in here," Shepard mused quietly, being right next to Kaidan's ear as he was.
"Really got caught up in it yesterday. Been a few weeks since I've had a full day to focus on intel without having to worry about a mission interrupting." Kaidan's voice was deep and thick with relaxation, adding yet another thing for Shepard to be attracted to in this minute. "Didn't see you."
Shepard tilted his head enough to press a kiss to Kaidan's neck then rubbed his stubble against the skin to exploit one of his lover's more sensitive spots, causing the biotic to turn into him slightly. "Got caught up in my own reports on Leviathan."
Kaidan huffed a chuckle, "Can't tell if you make me feel like I'm an overachiever or if you are just a slacker when it comes to some of these reports."
"Little bit of both," Shepard quipped. Knowing his lover, both Hackett and the Council would have gotten Kaidan's report within 12 hours of returning to the ship. Shepard had pushed the 36 hours mark with his. He silently acknowledged that he had started delaying towards the end of the required time period for submitting reports within 48 hours once Kaidan was back onboard and he knew the biotic put together better reports than he did.
"Don't think you should make a habit of sleeping in here though. Garrus found you first and thought we were having a fight or something."
"Like he's never taken a nap in the MAKO on the SR-1 or in the Main Drive because it's easier than moving to the crew's quarters."
Shepard smiled at Kaidan's somewhat exasperated tone. "Yeah, but he doesn't have my bed as an option." Kaidan's exhalation was more tolerant than amused this time. "And he also figured the next best way to get on my nerves before coffee is to say he's interested in you."
"Don't have enough crazy in me to go for him."
"Funny, that's what he said about me."
Shepard felt Kaidan's body shudder. "I don't think the galaxy would survive you and Garrus together like that. Hell, it hardly survives you as friends." Shepard pulled away as he couldn't suppress the laughter, giving Kaidan one final kiss which was returned and he pulled his hand away as he leaned his weight back onto the balls of his feet to give Kaidan space to move around a little more.
The biotic rolled over onto his back and stretched his arms over his head, his joints letting out relieved cracks. He then sat up and swung his feet over to rest on the floor as he ran his fingers through his hair to try and settle it all back in place. Shepard moved to sit beside his lover and leaned his weight back against the back of the couch as he just watched Kaidan collect himself.
"We have an ETA for getting back to the Citadel?" Kaidan asked.
"Joker hit the mass relay about an hour ago so still a few hours out."
Kaidan's omnitool let out a soft ping and the Major activated the display to check the notification, his eyes squinting briefly at the bright glow. Shepard watched as his lover's face seemed to tighten at whatever it was he saw and his curiosity was peaked.
"Everything alright?" he asked.
Kaidan's dark eyes glanced over to him quickly before deactivating the display and laying his arm back against his leg. "Yeah, it's fine. Just got a few more reports from Hackett that he wants me to look over. Wants me to see if I can find something his other Intel officers are missing."
Shepard lifted an eyebrow at Kaidan's words. "Okay, I know you have a reputation from your days as an Intel officer that you like to live up to even now, but there's got to be someone else he can give this to. You're already sorting through enough to keep a few officers busy."
Kaidan looked over to Shepard with a slightly disbelieving expression. "You've never had an issue with him passing intel to me before. Why this time around?"
Shepard muttered a curse as he ran his hand over his scalp. He hadn't meant to make that sound like he was downplaying Kaidan's capabilities, but apparently it had come out that way. "You know I have the utmost faith in you. I know you can handle a lot, but you slept in here last night."
"It's not like one more is going to incapacitate me. Hackett had a reason for asking me to look through these files and it won't take me very long to get through." Kaidan moved to stand, but Shepard reached out and took hold of the biotic's wrist before he could step away. Kaidan turned back to him and gave him a challenging look.
"Just take some time before you get into it." Shepard wouldn't tell Kaidan not to work. He needed the Major working just as he needed everyone else aboard the Normandy doing their jobs. That and it would have been a ridiculously stupid thing to try. "You know, remind your stomach that food in it is ideal, take a shower to help keep your headache from flaring, the sort of stuff that helps you survive your workaholism."
Kaidan looked between Shepard's slight grin and the hand still holding his wrist. After a few seconds, the biotic let out a breath of a laugh, then turned his hand to take hold of Shepard and he used the grip to pull the Commander to his feet and against Kaidan. Shepard took advantage of the position at once, wrapping both arms around Kaidan's waist to pull him fully against him. He didn't care that anyone could walk into the room and see them like this as everyone on the Normandy knew and didn't care about their relationship. All he cared about was touching Kaidan as he at one time thought he would never be able to again.
Kaidan appeared to be expecting the action, his arms wrapping around Shepard's shoulders. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Shepard's in a firm kiss, which the Commander responded to at once, increasing the pressure and passion in the contact. They remained joined long enough that when they did separate, their breathing was slightly heavier. Shepard then leaned down the slight distance to rest his forehead against Kaidan's.
"I'll take care of it, John," he spoke in a deep voice affected by their display of passion.
Shepard let out a quiet chuckle before allowing Kaidan to pull away and then followed his lover from the room to see that he followed through with at least one of the tasks before the Commander had to return to his own duties.
A/N: Thank you for reading and see you next week!
Kira Dattei
