Commander Shepard ascended the stairs and stepped through the doors into the CiC. All traces from the night before erased. Her blonde hair was pulled back neatly behind her head, a couple of the more stubborn locks rested in curls that framed the sides of her face. The makeup she had worn had been completely washed off during her shower, leaving her with a natural, wholesome appearance.

Her dark blue eyes squinted slightly she looked around, adjusting to the flickering lights from the various consoles, there was no doubt that the Normandy was an impressive vessel.

She approached a slightly older man who was working on a nearby console, his face was one of the few on board familiar to Kimberly during her years of service. "Pressly," she said as she came to stop beside the console. When he looked up from his work, she gave him a formal nod in greeting. "It is good to see you again."

"Likewise Commander. Is there anything you need?" he asked as he gave her a familiar smile.

"I would like all of the crews files downloaded to a datapad so that I can go over the records of those I am not familiar with," she requested.

"Ah, that is going to take at least an hour Commander," he responded.

"Why the delay?" she asked with a puzzled expression.

"The system will be running slow for at least that long with all of the last minute maintenance checks. The Captain wanted to be certain everything is running at full capacity before we depart," he explained.

"Very well. See to it that I receive those files as soon as possible," she directed.

"Yes Ma'am. Was there anything else?" he asked.

"Just one more thing, the Eden Prime ground team. I know it is only a walk around the block for the sake of appearances but, I would like to meet with them as soon as possible. Are both officers on board?" she asked. Kimberly was always prepared no matter what and part of those preparations, was to know who was going to have her back if something went wrong.

Something almost always did go wrong, especially when she was around.

"Corporal Jenkins is down on the crew deck right now speaking with the Doctor," Pressly responded. "I don't believe Lieutenant Alenko has reported in yet."

"If Alenko is on the station, see to it that he does report in as soon as possible," she commanded.

"Yes Ma'am. I will see that he is contacted." Pressly almost instantly turned back to the console so that he could send a message to the Lieutenant. His fingers worked swiftly over the panel.

"Very well. That will be all." As an afterthought she mumbled her breath, "I guess I shouldn't keep the Captain waiting any longer."

"I must admit I am surprised you agreed to take this assignment," Pressly noted.

"No more surprised than I am," Kimberly admitted as she leaned up against the side of the console and folded her arms.

"The Captain is a good man, I am sure you won't have any trouble serving with him," Pressly said with a hint of admiration in his tone.

"That he is," she agreed. "I just tend to prefer not serving under Commanding Officers who know all of the havoc I created during my time at the Academy, beyond what actually made it into my files."

"I am sure it wasn't half as bad as you make it out to be," Pressly replied.

"Oh, you have no idea," Kimberly said cryptically as a sly smile crept across her features.

"You do know how to make a person curious," he said as he looked up briefly from sending the message to Alenko.

She raised her eyebrows slightly and stood up straight, her arms dropping to her sides. "I should let you get back to your duties, I wouldn't want to be getting in trouble for distracting the crew on my first day."

Some stories were best left untold, especially those that the press had yet to get hold of. If she had her way, they never would.

Captain Anderson had his back to her as she stepped through the debriefing room doors. It appeared as if he had just finished talking to someone over the communications network, as he was still standing there looking at the wall screen. She cleared her throat as she moved further into the room so that he would become aware of her presence.

"Ah, Commander. I am glad you are here," he said as he turned around to face her.

"Captain, is everything okay?" she asked with wary curiosity.

"I have just received word that we should be expecting a guest in the morning before we depart," Anderson said. He was speaking carefully, as if considering each word before voicing it.

"What kind of guest?" she asked with a guarded tone. It wasn't a good sign that details about the mission were already changing. Of course she should have expected it and in a way she did but, that didn't stop her from hoping that at least one mission wouldn't go to hell.

"A turian council spectre by the name of Nihlus," the Captain answered.

"A council spectre? You can't be serious? What's really going on?" Kimberly asked in quick succession.

"I've said as much as I am able to so far," Captain Anderson responded. "Just be aware that there will be an early meeting with our guest in the morning."

"You know I hate being kept out of the loop," she complained.

"I am aware but, my hands are tied on this," he replied.

"Of course they are, it's always fucking politics. Council politics are the worst." Politics, as far as she was concerned was the worst kind of joke in existence. Politics was also the biggest reason why the media never left her alone, the alliance wanted a poster girl and decided to make her it, no matter how much she protested.

"The alliance needs the council," Anderson warned.

"Bullshit, we've survived this long without them," she spat out as she folded her arms defensively.

"Only through blind dumb luck and you know it, work with me on this one. At least try to be diplomatic," he pleaded.

"You are my Captain, if you give me an order I will follow it. That doesn't mean I have to like it," she grumbled, backing down a little, albeit reluctantly.

Anderson nodded as he relented. "I suspected as much and I wouldn't have it any other way. Someone has to ask the hard questions, to keep the alliance grounded as much as possible but, we do need this."

"That remains to be seen, especially since I have no idea what this is currently." How could she really prepare if she didn't know what to be ready for?

"You will soon enough, in the meantime get to know the crew." Anderson paused for a moment and appeared to be studying her closely. "However, before you do that, off the record. How are you really?"

Kimberly let out a slow breath as she forced herself to relax momentarily. "What would you say if I said that I am not sure this is what I want to do any more?" she asked quietly.

"I would say I am surprised but, I know shouldn't be. I've suspected something wasn't right for a while now," he answered. The more serious tone and expression of the Captain giving way to something more familiar. Friendly concern flickered across his features.

"I guess part of me is wondering if I joined the alliance because it was what I wanted, or if I joined because it was expected." It wasn't an easy admission to make, especially when she felt as if she could be letting Anderson down. He had been there for her when she needed a friend the most and it was something she would never forget.

"The alliance would be losing one hell of a soldier if you ever decided to leave," he said as if he was struggling to find the right response.

"I haven't decided anything, yet. I just thought I should let you know I am considering it. Especially after everything you have done for me." It was difficult to hold back the emotion from her voice. Even after three years the memories were still as clear as if she were in that moment all over again.

"Do you know what concerns me the most? The fact that you throw everything you have at the alliance, you forget to come up for air once in awhile." He moved closer and wrapped his arms around her, drawing Kimberly in to a friendly hug. In many ways, Anderson was like the father she never knew. At the least he was her mentor and closest friend. "You keep everyone at a distance, when was the last time you actually took time out for yourself and made some friends?"

"I have a friend, you." Dammit. He always made her remember, and feel. She bit back the tears that were burning the backs of her eyelids.

"Friends your own age," he said with soft laughter in his voice. "You don't need to be hanging out with older folk like myself. It is true you needed to settle down before you did yourself some real harm but, there's a difference between settling down and shutting everyone out."

She stepped back from the hug, before too many emotions could rush to the surface. "I am pretty sure we have had this conversation before, my stance hasn't changed," she said with a stubborn set to her jaw.

"Maybe it's time it did, the job is a lot less grueling if you share the experiences with others." As he stood back and watched her, she hated the concern she could see in his expression. Even more so because she knew there was every chance he was right. "It's been three years. It is time to stop hiding in the past and start living, don't let the next one get away."

"I am fairly sure you would change your mind very quickly if I actually took that advice," she said with a smirk. "Are we done here?"

"For the time being. I won't hold you up any longer, I am sure you are eager to meet the rest of the crew."

"Right," she said before turning and walking out of the briefing room.

Kimberly was grateful that the hall outside of the room was empty as she paused just beyond the door. She raised her hands to her face to wipe her eyes dry and take a few deep breaths. Before she entered the CiC again, the mask of Commander Shepard was firmly in place.

He wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse that the elevator to the docking bay seemed as if it was taking forever to reach its destination. On the one hand, it could possibly be delaying the end of his career and on the other, by the time the doors opened up his nerves were shot to pieces.

As if he wasn't already nervous enough.

The decision about when to report to the Normandy had been taken out of his hands after he received the message from Pressly. The order was clear that the Commander wanted to see him as soon as possible. Had she been looking through the crew personal files? It was standard practice for a photo to be included with the files, so that the command officers would know who to look for.

There had been a few times Kaidan considered sending a message to the Commander and warning her first, but that would have required admitting he knew her identity prior to their liaison. In the end it was a thought he had dismissed as a very bad idea. As much as he hated the deception, he was already in far too deep to change it.

He would just have to ride out the consequences and hope for the best, without making them worse for himself.

That would have been easier if his mind didn't keep replaying the events from the night before. After studying her career for so long, he had never dreamed that being with her would have felt as right as it had. He had no idea how he was going to find a switch to turn off those thoughts, those feelings after only one fucking night, he couldn't stop thinking about her.

As the Normandy's decontamination process completed and the inner doors opened, he stepped through them on to the Command deck swiftly. His intention was to head straight for the crew deck so he could place the bag swung over his shoulder into his locker first. As soon as he stepped on to the deck and turned, he found himself walking head on into someone. As he raised his eyes, he was looking right into the eyes of the person who had been plaguing his thoughts all morning.

The sensual, soft hum of her biotics rippled over his skin. His heartbeat was thrumming in his ears so loudly he was sure half of the command centre would be able to hear it. What's more, he had heard her sharp intake of breath the moment their eyes settled on each other.

Kaidan could literally see the recognition register in her dark blue eyes as they pierced right through him. "Kaidan," she whispered startled.

He swallowed as he quickly tried to gather his thoughts into something coherent, "Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, reporting for duty Ma'am."

"You're Lieutenant Alenko?" she asked with disbelief.

"Yes Ma'am," he responded.

Whatever hidden, unspoken thoughts went through her mind at their first encounter, she appeared to be squashing them quickly as her expression hardened. She gave him a short nod, "Very well, find Corporal Jenkins on the crew deck. I will be down there to speak with both of you in a moment."

"Yes Ma'am," he replied and then, for a moment he hesitated.

"Go," she commanded. With such a short word he wasn't entirely certain but, he thought the tone in her voice sounded softer with that one word. It could just have easily been his imagination because he was looking ever so closely for something, anything, that said the connection he had felt wasn't just one sided.

He should have realised that wasn't really going to happen in the middle of a crowded command deck.

Kaidan broke eye contact as he stepped to one side and moved past the Commander. He would have stopped by the CiC to have a good look around the new vessel if, it wasn't for the fact that he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Preferably before Shepard could change her mind. He convinced himself that he'd had the element of surprise on his side and was still very concerned what might happen, once she had a moment to stop and think about the situation they found themselves in.

As it turned out, the rest of the day moved along relatively smoothly. They sat around the table in the messhall discussing the details of the mission - not that there was a lot to discuss. It was a straightforward meet and greet of the civilian leaders on Eden Prime. Followed by what would most likely be a small press conference, which the Commander appeared to be less the impressed over. He couldn't really blame her for that, it always appeared as if the press was hounding her about one detail or another. It was easy to see why, not only was she a good soldier but also very attractive. She made the alliance look good. He had no doubt that the brass at alliance command was probably responsible for pushing the press towards her. Perhaps that was also why she had been chosen for such a simple mission when it was clearly a blatant waste of her talents.

Overall the meeting had been smooth and professional and when it was finished, he had been assigned to run an inventory check on all of the armor and weapons. That turned out to be extremely impressive. The Normandy was already very well stocked considering the ship wasn't going far, yet. It made him wonder just what plans the alliance really had for it once the shakedown cruise was completed. Part of him hoped he would be on board to find out, none of the crew was certain if they were looking at permanent assignments at that point or not. Being the only ship in the alliance fleet that could sneak past sensors, he could imagine just how impressive some of the future assignments might be. Not to mention important.

It had always been his dream to be assigned to missions that would really make a difference. The kind of missions that saved lives. There was no doubt in his mind that the Normandy and whoever was assigned to serve on it would be doing just that.

He could be as well, so long as he had not already messed up that chance and yet, he still couldn't bring himself to see it has having been a mistake.

It was much later before he saw Shepard again. After almost an hour of tossing and turning in his sleeper pod, he had given up on the notion of sleep and decided to seek out some food instead. When he got to the messhall, Shepard was sitting at the table hunched over a datapad with a large bowl of what looked to be mac and cheese. Not surprising, the rest of the room was vacant, he hadn't even expected her to still be awake.

Kaidan almost considered turning back around again. Almost. Instead he moved forward and began rummaging around the food stocks looking for something appetising. His mind wasn't really on the food, it was on the woman sitting at the table nearby. In the end he settled for a couple of energy bars because it was easier then trying to prepare something whilst he was so, distracted.

"How was your first day?" her voice was soft as it broke into the silence. Kaidan sat down across from her at the table. When he looked over at her, he noticed that her attention had shifted from the datapad she had been reading.

Don't read too much into that. She is just being nice.

Despite his thoughts, his heartbeat quickened as their eyes met. "About what you would expect from a ship still docked and waiting for departure," he responded. "I did have the opportunity to meet a few people though, the crew seems to have been carefully selected."

"That's what I was thinking as well, a little too carefully if you ask me," she said thoughtfully. As an afterthought she added, "I am surprised anyone else is still awake at this hour."

"I was having trouble getting to sleep, I can't say I am overly fond of sleeper pods," he admitted.

Kimberly let out a soft chuckle, the sound so harmonious that it sent a chill down his spine. "I am glad I am not the only one who thinks so. They don't get any more comfortable no matter how many missions you go on either."

Kaidan sat back in his chair as he ripped open the packet on one of the energy bars and took a bite. "So, you asked me. Now it's my turn, how was your first day?"

"Surprising," she responded as their eyes met.

For the briefest of moments he could see that same look in her eyes that he had seen a couple of times on the station. All at once the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them, "Why don't we get out of here for a bit, while we still can?"

Once the words were out there, he froze and held his breath as he waited for her response.