Chapter 41

Kaidan cracked his eyes open. He blinked into the sunlight. A warm weight shifted against his chest, and he remembered.

"Shepard!"

She lifted her head leaving a cold spot on his chest.

"What? Oh!" She jolted upright. "Damnit! What time is it?"

She turned on her Omni-Tool. Kaidan leaped up from the couch.

"The Summit starts in an hour!" Shepard scrambled to her feet. "I have messages."

Kaidan checked his Omni-Tool. "Me too."

"Damnit." Shepard touched her face then hair. "I need to get ready. I have to go on stage."

She rushed to the bathroom. Her footsteps faltered as she reached the doorway, and she stopped short.

"Kaidan." She turned back sharply.

He slowed halfway to the front door. She leaned an arm against the doorway.

"I want to make sure we're on the same page. About last night … we're still both Alliance soldiers."

"Shepard, don't give me the talk again." Kaidan pressed fingertips to his temple. "I get it. I know where we stand."

She tapped her nails on the metal door frame and studied him.

"Still," she straightened, "I don't want to confuse you. Things probably feel mixed, but they're not. No changes. Same course."

Kaidan crossed his arms. "Are we done?"

"Hey, I'm not trying to upset you again," she took a step forward, "but I don't want you to think I'm playing with you either. I want to set things straight to avoid that. And … I'm sorry. Now that I'm thinking about it, I realize the mixed—"

"Shepard." He sighed. "I don't want to rehash this. I get what you're saying. I like spending time with you. We're friends. Let's leave it at that."

Shepard narrowed her eyes on him. "We're okay?"

A memory of Liara in the Alliance gardens made his stomach turned. He'd done the same thing, worse even. Mixed signals and excuses.

"We're okay." Kaidan gave her a quick smile.

"Okay." Shepard backed up and pointed a finger at him. "You better mean it. No freezing me out."

"I mean it." Kaidan's Omni-Tool buzzed. He checked it. "James."

"Answer it," Shepard said. "Tell him I'm coming."

The bathroom door shut. Kaidan punched up the audio comm on his Omni-Tool.

"James."

"L2. Damn, hombre. You're a hard guy to find."

"Hey. I'm on my way."

"You seen Shepard? The admirals, Councilors, everyone's looking for her."

"She's coming." Kaidan moved to the front door and hovered a hand over the button. "Just get everyone around. I'll be right there."

"Comprende. I'll tell 'um to stop printing milk cartons with your face."

"Thoughtful."

"Seriously though, L2. You got people looking for you."

"I'm on my way."

Kaidan punched it off and hit the button for the door. Kaidan stepped forward as the doors slid aside. He froze. Admiral Wilson's hand paused halfway to the door's buzzer. His eyes popped wide, and a frown burrowed deep between his eyebrows as he held Kaidan in his stare.

"Major Alenko."

Kaidan took a step back. They'd nearly collided.

"Admiral Wilson."

Wilson glanced past Kaidan and returned a hardening expression. "Where's Commander Shepard?"

A man's voice came from down the barrack hallway. "You found her?"

Admiral Hackett strode into view. His eyes met Kaidan's, and his feet tripped. Kaidan's face burned. Hackett's jaw set, and he cast Wilson a sideways look before tugging on his uniform jacket and facing the door.

"We've been looking for you," Hackett said. "Both of you."

"I'm on my way," Kaidan said.

"An hour before the Summit's opening ceremony?" Wilson's voice held an edge. "As a Council Spectre, you should have been there long before this. Shepard too. Where is she?"

"She's coming," Kaidan said. "She'll be there soon. I had better—"

"Wait." Wilson stopped Kaidan mid-step.

Kaidan looked to Hackett, but the admiral's face hardened and he dropped his eyes.

"Get Shepard," Wilson said. "She's in there? These are her quarters, correct?"

Kaidan's heart pumped, but Hackett wasn't looking at him and Wilson's glare sharpened. Kaidan backed up into the room and walked to the bathroom door. He tapped his knuckled on the door. Water ran on the other side. She must be showering. This was shaping up great.

"Shepard."

The water stopped.

"Kaidan?"

She wouldn't come out in a towel, would she? They weren't involved anymore but … oh hell, what if she did? He'd better warn her. He had to say something.

"Shepard." He leaned in closer to the door. "The admirals are here."

"What?"

Hackett and Wilson loitered just inside the doorway. The front door slid shut behind them. They must have walked in while he was still turned to the bathroom door. From the dark look on Wilson's face, they'd heard what Kaidan had said. Wilson knew it was a warning for her. It probably made Kaidan look guilty. Still, it was better than if she came out unprepared.

Kaidan should say something maybe. Something along the lines of 'this isn't what it looks like.' But with their stormy expressions, it wouldn't help. It might open up the flood gates instead. Even Hackett by himself, probably wouldn't be convinced. The regs said fraternization was being 'unduly familiar.' It didn't say you had to have slept with someone per se. The whole situation was wrong - late for the Summit, unreachable in her apartment in the early morning as she took a shower, and then coupled with their history. Damn, maybe the truth was bad. It was bad in it of itself, even without the assumptions.

He should have thought about this last night. The risk had felt so removed. The admirals stared around the room. They eyed the pair of drinking glasses on the coffee table next to the open wine bottle. Kaidan touched his forehead and glanced under his hand at Shepard's bed. Let it be made. It was for the most part. At least, not disheveled. Kaidan snapped his eyes back to the admirals. Wilson's stare burned into him. His eyes shifted to the bed and back to Kaidan. He'd seen Kaidan looking then. Damnit. Kaidan was falling apart. Where the hell was Shepard? The bathroom door opened.

Shepard stepped out of the bathroom. A steamy shampoo smell puffed out around her. Her rustled hair dripped onto a white tank top. It was more of an undershirt. It clung to her damp skin almost translucent.

"Kaidan. What did you …" The towel hanging in her hand dropped to the floor. "Admiral Wilson. Admiral Hackett."

She shuffled back a few steps into the bathroom and snatched her white uniform shirt from the counter. She slipped it over her head. She must not have heard him then. Apparently Kaidan was loud enough for the admiral to hear him, but not loud enough for the person he actually meant to warn. Still, this was better than the towel. He just had to hang on to that.

Shepard's blue eyes flicked sideways to Kaidan before focusing back on the admirals. She scrunched her hair with one hand.

"This is a surprise."

"Clearly," Hackett said.

His gaze cut over to Kaidan, and his lips tightened.

"I'm on a timetable," Shepard said, "but what can I do for you?"

"Timetable?" Wilson's face radiated. "Tell me, Shepard, what kind of timetable are you on? No one could get ahold of you or Alenko for hours."

Shepard strolled to her dresser. She grabbed her hairbrush off the top and shoved her bare feet into her boots. She didn't even tie the laces.

"Let's go then." She motioned with her hairbrush and strode toward the door.

"Commander Shepard," Wilson snapped as she passed him.

Shepard paused at the front door. "That's why you're here, right? Looking for me for the Summit. Probably hoping to talk me into being the alternate. Answer's still 'no' while we're worried about Terra Firma. But for now, I'm saying I'm ready. We should go, admirals."

Wilson's jaw flexed, face red, fist clenching and unclenching at his side. Hackett watched Wilson silently then cleared his throat.

"Commander Shepard's right. We found them. They're needed at the Summit. We can discuss the alternate position with her later. The Council's waiting for them."

Wilson stormed up to Shepard. "You may be a Council Spectre and so may Alenko. But you're not above Alliance authority, living by your own law. If you can't sit in our hierarchy, stand under the same protocol as every other Alliance soldier, you have no business in that uniform." Wilson swung to face Kaidan. "And you, Alenko! You're still on probation following your suspension."

Admiral Hackett's eyes widened and flashed to Kaidan. He rushed to Wilson.

"Admiral …" he said.

Wilson's voice drowned out Hackett as his eyes darted between Kaidan and Shepard. "Not only breaking regulations, but you flaunt them! And you've caused the very thing those regulations exist to prevent. This has affected your work performance, caused burden and disruption, embarrassed the Alliance. Your 'distraction' has jeopardized this entire operation. You're both—"

"Admiral," Hackett repeated raising his voice.

"This?" Shepard said waving between them. "This is what is distracting from the operation. I have obligations to the Council. This can wait."

She slammed a fist into the door's button and threw a look over her shoulder at Kaidan.

"Come on."

Kaidan's legs moved like sandbags, and he stumbled to the door. He let the admirals file through the door first. Hackett patted Kaidan's shoulder with a sigh as he passed, but Kaidan couldn't meet his eyes. Hackett's long, heaving sigh rang in his ears as Kaidan turned down the hall. He jogged to catch up with Shepard and fell in beside her as she turned a corner. A slow, rattling breath escaped through his lips as his heart pounded in his ears.

"You all right?'' Shepard glanced over at him.

"No."

She sighed and picked up their pace.

"Why are two admirals the ones looking for us anyway? Admirals!" she mumbled. "Talk me into be alternate, so they can shove some Alliance agenda down my throat then throw me up on stage."

"Maybe I should have said something," Kaidan said.

"And say what?" Shepard said. "Say anything, it's admitting you think there's something needing to be explained. Better to act naïve. Ignore it."

"You don't think there'll be blowback on that?"

They turned down the Council wing. The Councilors should be in their chamber. Some of the messages had said as much.

"I don't know," Shepard said finally. "Let's just hope … well, we'll take it as it comes. We have the Summit to focus on. They were right about one thing. We should have been here sooner."

"Yeah," Kaidan said with a dry throat.

He'd become so irresponsible. All the stupid things he'd done lately. People were probably already filling the Summit's auditorium. The stage was right there - exposed, except for the kinetic shield. Nothing must have happened yet, there wasn't any commotion, but people could have been hurt because of him.

"Shepard, I'm going to keep an eye on the stage. Check in with the Council for me."

Shepard nodded. "Check in with you later, Kaidan."

He jogged down a side hall toward the swell of voices and activity. It was finally here.