Disclaimer: All characters and settings belong to Bioware.

White Christmas

Location: Vancouver, Earth

December 25, 2187

Shepard stumbled out of the bathroom with a tired sigh. Kaidan hadn't moved a muscle since she'd slipped out of bed a few minutes ago. Outside of their room was quiet as well; no doubt everyone was still fast asleep after the party last night. Shepard, however, was wide awake already, although not by choice.

Pushing the shades aside, Shepard peeked outside the window. The morning sky was the usual light gray tone of Vancouver winter day. Snow had already reported to duty today, covering the city with a fresh layer of white powder. After spending most of her life off-planet, not seeing the sun didn't bother Shepard one bit. Settling down in this cloudy city along the Pacific coast suited her just fine. Besides, Kaidan was stationed here; there was nowhere else she'd want to be.

Well, beside the warm, comfortable bed which had been calling out for her.

A quick glance behind told her that Kaidan remained oblivious to her absence. Shepard carefully slipped right back under the warm cover as though she had never left. Her sore lower back immediately thanked her for it. For a long, quiet, peaceful moment, she relaxed in the cocoon of the warm blanket, snuggling close to a even warmer body. Her eyelids grew heavier by the second; she was half-way back to dreamland when the body next to her moved and stretched.

Kaidan stirred and cracked one eye open to check on his other half.

"...Morning..." he mumbled after realizing Shepard was quite awake.

"Good morning."

He blinked the sleep away and checked the time. "You're up early."

"I slept like a baby. You, on the other hand... You probably are having a hangover by now."

"Now that you mention it. Ow..."

Shepard snorted at his exaggerated pain, although she wasn't going to take it lightly, not with the migraine she knew he could get. "I'll get you something for that."

"I was aiming for a kiss."

She shot him a look but relented and gave him a soft kiss on his forehead. "Stay here."

Abandoning the heaven on Earth for the second time in the past fifteen minutes, Shepard got out of bed and headed out of the room. The rest of the apartment was just as quiet as she'd expected. Walking past the living room, Shepard found Garrus' tall figure sprawled across the length of the couch, fast asleep. The winged Archangel of Omega stood high above the Christmas tree, watching over its much bigger counterpart. Empty bottles scattered all over the floor.

Shepard grabbed the throw blanket nearby and draped it on her turian twin, wondering why he'd chosen the couch instead of the bed in the guest room. She found her answer soon enough when she peeked inside the room, where the bed was currently occupied by Tali and Liara. Both had collapsed haphazardly right on top of the cover, fully clothed.

Just how drunk were they last night? Shepard didn't know, for she had retired early, long before they had run out of liquor.

The door to the bathroom opened just as Shepard walked past, and out came the genetically perfect woman looking less than perfect.

"Morning," greeted Shepard quietly, careful not to wake up anyone.

"Morning, Aerin," Miranda mumbled back, rubbing her forehead, wincing slightly. Her hair was more disheveled than Shepard had ever seen. "It was a great party. Thanks for inviting me."

"It's great to have you with us. Come on, let's get you some coffee."

"Oh no, I can't. I've to go. I need to go back to the hotel to freshen up and get ready for a conference call."

"It's Christmas day, Miranda."

"On Earth, yes. But most of our partners and investors are nowhere in the Sol System. Somewhere in the galaxy, it's the middle of a normal workday." She studied Shepard curiously for a second. "Are you feeling all right? You look a little pale."

"No worse than you." Shepard gave her a reassuring smile. "If you ever want to skip a meeting or two, you're always welcome here."

"Careful, Shepard, I might take you up on that."

"I never promise anything I can't deliver." Shepard walked her former XO to the door. "If you want a break from work, call us. We'll show you around the city."

"Heard the seafood here is excellent. How about dinner tonight? It's on me. Bring our entire team."

"And continue the reunion with after-dinner party? Sounds good."

"Then it's settled."

The door closed and silence once again blanketed the apartment. But it was soon broken a sudden loud snore. Tracing the noise, Shepard went into the kitchen and saw Grunt sleeping right in the middle of the tiled floor.

"Hey, Grunt, get up."

There was no answer.

"Grunt," Shepard tried again, louder.

Her call was once again ignored.

For a brief moment, Shepard considered getting a pillow for the young krogan. But then a question came to mind: which was harder, the floor or his plate?

Probably the latter.

"Urdnot Grunt. Get your ass up. Now."

"...fivemoreminutes..." A mumble was her only reply.

Shaking her head, Shepard carefully stepped over Grunt's large body and grabbed a glass of water and some painkiller.

When she was back to their room, Kaidan was already up, and – to her disappointment – half-dressed with his pants on. Facing the dresser, he stood in silence, seemingly lost in his thought. Kaidan didn't realize she was back until she closed the door behind her. He whipped around and quickly closed the top drawer.

Raising one eyebrow, Shepard said nothing about his odd behavior. Instead, she handed him both the pill and the water. "Here, take this."

"Thanks." He took them from her with one hand, one item at a time. He was hiding something behind him, Shepard knew. It had to be her Christmas present. Judging from the fact that he could conceal it completely behind his back, it was probably not a gun.

Unless it's a pistol or a SMG... Well, she did already have enough rifles to arm an army – as Kaidan had jokingly pointed out more than once. Adding the latest prototype pistol or SMG to her ever-growing collection of arsenals would be nice.

"The others are still sleeping," she told him as she reached inside the drawer by her nightstand while he took his medicine. "You might as well go back to sleep for a while longer."

"Nah..."

Sitting on the bed, Shepard launched the preemptive strike and handed Kaidan a box. "Here. Merry Christmas."

"You just have to beat me to it, don't you?" said Kaidan with a chuckle.

Shepard flashed a grin. "I like to be the first to pull the trigger."

He down next to her and gave her a peck on her cheek. "Thanks."

"Open it."

His grin grew when he saw the omni-tool lying inside.

"I know you've your eyes on it for a while."

"How did you get your hands on this?" Kaidan asked, beaming like a child with the latest toy. A toy which none of the other kids had. "The launch date is not until the end of next month."

"I have connections." Shepard tried to sneak a peek at the box he had hidden behind him. "Now, where's mine?"

Strangely, Kaidan hesitated. It only sparked her curiosity even further.

"Come on, what is it?" Shepard prodded. "I know it's not a sniper rifle. It's too small."

To that, he looked at her lovingly with a hint of teasing glint in his eyes. "Don't you already have enough guns?"

"You can-"

"-never have enough guns," they finished the sentence in unison.

Shaking his head, he revealed with a warm smile, "No, it's not a gun. I know someone else is getting you one, though."

"Garrus." Her twin was nothing if not predictable.

Kaidan didn't confirm or deny her guess. He merely kept staring at her with that particular look in his eyes – the look that would always make Shepard feel as if she was the only person in his world, the look that would always sent a tingle down her spine.

As much as she wanted to tackle him and gave him a Christmas morning to remember, her curiosity took over. Shepard held out her hand, wiggling her fingers. "Give it here, Major. It's an order."

Still, no gift landed on her waiting palm. Instead, he took her hand in his and pressed it on his lips. Shepard was surprised by his sudden gentle gesture. But the surprise didn't end there. With his free hand, Kaidan pressed a tiny box onto her palm.

Shepard blinked hard. Somehow, she already knew what it was.

She could only stare at the gift when he removed his hand from her, revealing leather-bound box in the deepest shade of blue. Shepard couldn't move, couldn't speak; it was almost as if she was afraid that one single movement would wake her up from the longest dream and pull her back to the grim reality.

She didn't have to do anything, though. Kaidan opened the box for her. Inside, just as she had expected, was a ring. A simple, unassuming band. Something he knew she would love.

"Took me a while to get this made," Kaidan started quietly. "It combines the precious metals from Earth, Palaven, Tuchanka, and Thessia. We have good friends coming from each of those worlds – friends who have turned into family."

Swallowing hard, Shepard managed to mutter, "...I love it..."

"I'm glad."

Shepard tore her gaze from the ring and met his eyes, everything felt incredibly surreal.

"We have a deal, I remember." Kaidan withdrew his hand from hers, taking away the box as well. Shepard suddenly felt cold. "Years ago, back at the Citadel, the last day of our first shore leave together."

Yes, Shepard remembered. Right there on the floor of the hotel room, they had planned for their future – a future together.

"You told me you didn't want any fancy proposal or flowers." Kaidan took the ring out of the box and held it between his fingers. "But I can't possibly skip this part."

Shepard felt her heart skipped a beat.

Then, out of nowhere, Kaidan suddenly chuckled somewhat nervously and started rambling, "You know, I've been playing this part inside my head for maybe a million times in the last few months, ever since you got out of the hospital and moved here. And – let me tell you – it doesn't make it less nerve-wrecking when it actually happens, no matter how prepared I think I am."

Somehow, his adorable impromptu monologue broke the spell that had immobilized her. This was real. Not some drug-induced hallucination, not some near-death visions, not some vivid dreams. This was real, he was real.

"I mean, we've been through hell together," Kaidan continued, "The Geth, the Collectors, the Reapers. But none of them made me feel as nervous as I'm right now. I even have a speech and all, but now that you're sitting in front of me, my mind's gone blank-"

Hiding a grin, Shepard plucked the ring off his fingertips and slipped it on her own finger in one smooth motion. That stopped his rambling effectively.

She held her hand up to him and proudly displayed the ring on her finger. Perfect fit. "You're mine, Mr. Alenko. 'Til the end of time."

A smile grew on Kaidan's face, wider and wider by the second, until he suddenly leaned forth and caught her lips with his.

Gasping in surprise, Shepard fell back onto the bed, pulling him down with her. For the longest moment, her whole world consisted of one person, and one person only. He was all that mattered...

Not any more, a tiny voice inside her head reminded her.

She gently pushed him away. "There's one small problem."

Panic flashed across his eyes very briefly.

"I might have to take the ring off soon."

Kaidan looked at her, puzzled. "It's not against regulations. I've checked."

"Of course you have." Shepard touched his cheek tenderly, smiling. "That's not what I mean. My fingers might swell for a little while. So I've heard..."

His brows furrowed in concern. "Why? Are you all right?"

"Yeah. But we should get as much sleep while we still can," said Shepard while holding back a grin. "This would be our last quiet Christmas for many, many years."

Then Shepard could see something clicked inside Kaidan's head. Warm brown eyes slowly widened as realization dawned on him, a gasp escaped as a grin followed.

Shepard couldn't stifle a laugh any longer. Chuckling, she took his hand and placed it on her stomach.

That smile of his grew as wide as it could be. His face lit up brighter than the morning sun. Muffled laughter of pure joy could be heard outside of their bedroom this Christmas morning. And soon, it would spread to every corner of the galaxy as the old squad received the news in due time, all were eager to welcome their latest and youngest member to the fold.

And so it began their merry Christmas together, the first of many for the years to come.

A/N: Fluff overload. Much cuter than Chronicles of a Legend. It's the happy ending our heroes deserve.

Did you get the hints that there's a mini Shep on the way? If you saw it coming in the first chapter with one or two minor signs, bravo! If you smelled the hints by the second chapter along with Miranda, well done! If you realized it in this chapter before Kaidan did, good job. If not, don't feel bad. Alenko didn't know until now, and he's been living with Shepard.

The deal Kaidan was referring to, it takes place in Ch 33 "Heaven" in part 1 of Chronicles of Legend. If you haven't read my main story, a minor spoiler is in here. Yes, Kaidan was there with Shepard to fight the Collectors in my AU fic. So his rambling about going through hell dealing with the Collectors is not a typo.

Next time I need a break from the doom and gloom of the main story, I might write a wedding short fic as a followup to this one.

Thanks for reading, and happy new year!

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