I'm still a bit behind, so this is actually Saturday's drabble. If anyone wants a specific part of Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2 explored in a chapter, let me know. I only have one more certain one that I know I want to do, and that's going to be the last one. I'm playing around with perspective today, so this one is in third person.

Inspiration comes from the following Incubus song, and the last bit of the last chapter. Leave me a review and tell me what you think.

11 Days- Love Hurts

"My heart still has a beat,

But love is still a feat,

As common as a cold day in L.A.

Sometimes when I'm alone I wonder,

Is there a spell that I am under,

Keeping me from seeing the real thing?

Love hurts, but sometimes it's a good hurt,

And it feels like I'm alive.

Love sings when it transcends the bad things.

Have a heart and try me, 'cause without love I won't survive."

-"Love Hurts", Incubus

After the Sovereign's attack on the Citadel, they were considered heroes. The whole crew of the Normandy had gotten shore leave. Now that they were back, they were sent after geth. Geth. The Council and the Alliance were already downplaying the existence of the Reapers, accounting the damage to the Citadel to the geth. And surprisingly enough, for now Kaidan Alenko didn't mind. He had time to spend with Shepard, and for the moment that was what mattered.

Shore leave had been beyond wonderful. A week of just him and Shepard together, no geth attacks, no Reapers. They had stayed on an out-of –the-way tourist planet known for both its pristine beaches and privacy. He had gotten to see a side of Shepard that he hadn't ever seen before. She smiled and laughed, told jokes, and relaxed. And it was beautiful.

One night, as they lay together under the stars, listening to the crash of the ocean, she turned to him. Moonlight reflected off of her normally pale skin, making her face seem shades lighter than it actually was. Her chestnut hair curled around her face, and he gently moved a stray strand away from her eyes.

"Kaidan?" she said.

"Mmhh?" he answered.

"What are we?" she asked. They were against every fraternization rule in the book. They were not supposed to be together.

"What do you want us to be?" he replied after a long pause.

"Together." She responded.

"I think I can handle that."

Two years later, he sits at his desk, trying to come up with an apology for the events on Horizon. As he thinks, his fingers toy with a ring that he's had with him for those two years now. It had been locked away for most of that time because of the wave of grief that hit him every time he looked at it. A simple gold band inlayed with a small diamond, the only thing remarkable about it was the engraving on the inside.

Always together.