A/N - ok it was very mean ending the first chapter that way, and since I hate cliffhangers, too, I'm not making you wait! This chapter includes our first steamy Shenko section (which I'll cleverly italicize for those of you who prefer to avoid such things) and should be considered rated M, NSFW. As always, all credit goes to Bioware, I just play with their characters and put them back in (mostly) the same shape! Reviews are food to a fanfic writer, please feed me!
"To ask us?" Kaidan echoed in confusion. "Why would we know?"
"It's not that the Alliance believes you know who killed them," James clarified. "In fact, the killers have all been identified. We just want your input on the crimes, and what connection these people may have had... other than Lola."
"Killers?" Kat asked. "There's more than one?"
"James, why don't you start from the beginning and tell us everything," Kaidan suggested. "I feel like we're jumping into a vid halfway through."
"Yeah, good idea, Major," James replied with an easy grin. "Although it doesn't get much less confusing when you know it all..." he warned.
As he began to relate the few details of the 'case' that the Alliance had pieced together thus far, Kaidan met Kat's eyes and saw the pride and respect in them. This James Vega was a different person than the one who had once challenged her and acted like a cross between an annoying younger brother and hotheaded jarhead. This Vega had a poise and maturity about him and it served to enhance the spark of intelligence that had previously been hidden behind posturing and bluster. All of them had changed during the war and the year since, but perhaps it showed the most in Vega.
"Parasini was found dead in her office at Noveria Internal Affairs by the aide who typically was the first person at work each day. There was no sign of forced entry, and the aide said the office had not been locked. That was a breach of protocol, so she carefully searched each of the inner offices before she discovered Parasini's body, dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. Noveria security responded and locked down the facility, and they determined that the fatal wound was not self-inflicted, nor was there any weapon found on the scene." James referred to the datapad in his hands and continued to detail his report, "After a thorough search, the killer – a salarian attache to one of the high tech companies housed on Noveria – was found dead in his own office. He also was killed by a single gunshot wound, but this one was ruled suicide."
"So he kills Gianna, then goes back to his office and kills himself?" Kat summarized.
"Looks like it," James confirmed. "The same weapon was used in both shootings, and forensics showed that he was the only one to fire it. There was also security footage of him leaving Internal Affairs, still holding the weapon, and arriving back in his own office. Video surveillance that the company turned over revealed he shot himself within minutes of entering the office. The video surveillance for the time leading up to the incident and in the Internal Affairs office was corrupted. It's believed it was a high level hack, possibly from off-planet."
"They hacked the footage before and during the murder but left the time after?" Kaidan asked suspiciously.
"Exactly," James said with a nod. "It's like they didn't care if we saw what happened after, or-"
"They wanted us to find him," Kat interrupted with the conclusion they had all reached. "Was Gianna investigating his company, or him?" she asked.
"Not that we can see, and her logs weren't touched by the hack – only the security vid," James answered with a shrug. "Unless it was something totally off the record or new, there wasn't an active investigation."
"Unless that's why she was meeting him there," Kat added. "Because she thought he was bringing something to her..."
"It would explain the lack of forced entry, and why she was in the office so early," James agreed. "Logs show she entered approximately three hours before the aide, and the vids show the salarian exiting Internal Affairs only fifteen minutes later. Whatever the story, nothing has turned up in the two months since the crime. And not even the geeks in Alliance tech have been able to trace the hack."
"So its a good murder mystery," Kaidan mused, "But nothing beyond that on its own."
"True, and that's why it alone didn't raise any alarms," James conceded. "Maleon's murder went down under similar circumstances. He was in his lab at a secret STG research facility orbiting the planet..." again James checked his datapad, "Dragel in the Pranas System of the Annos Basin Cluster. He was killed by a guard, who immediately took his own life. Both bodies were discovered by security patrols."
"That facility is so secret, it doesn't even appear on Alliance star maps," Kat mused.
"And we would only know about it from Liara's clever hacking when you were on Sur'Kesh," James added. "Just like Parasini, there are no security vids showing the incident, though it took quite some time for STG to admit it. They were also wiped by an outside hack."
"So the link is the hack so far?" Kaidan asked in confusion.
"That and the fact that Lola knew them both," James confirmed.
"You said Shiala was next?" Kat prompted. She was filing the information away and thinking about what it could mean, but she wanted the full story before she tried to draw any conclusions.
"Yes, and that one had witnesses," James said as he turned to her. "Shiala was on the Citadel, arguing for more aid for the colonists on Feros. She has been extremely active in getting them back on their feet, and they've done well with her help, but they're rebuilding. Shiala had just left a meeting with an asari diplomat and was on one of the walkways on the top of the Presidium when she was tackled by a human C-Sec officer and wrestled over the railing. They both went over and fell to their deaths. Witnesses say there were no words exchanged, and the officer didn't try to break his fall."
"C-Sec killed her?" Kat echoed in shock.
"A C-Sec officer, yes," James clarified. "And one who, again, had no prior connection to Shiala – that we've been able to find."
"And security footage?" Kaidan asked.
"Hacked again, though they couldn't do anything about the eye witness accounts," James told them. "The last murder was General Septimus Oraka, retired turian military," James read from his datapad again. "He was in his home on Palaven, where he had served during the war and settled since. His throat was slit while he was sleeping in his own bed – by his mistress who then used the same blade to kill herself. There were no security vids to hack since it was a private residence, but all reports indicate that the couple was happy and very much in love. And there was no evidence of any kind to show anything different. Taken alone, it might just have been tragic..."
"Put together with the others, its a clear pattern," Kaidan finished the thought.
"I don't understand," Kat said after a pause. She sighed and went on, "I knew all of them, true, but that's where the similarities end. Different times, different circumstances... They weren't even all allies," she summarized, thinking that Maelon had been far from that, despite the good they had managed to salvage from his research.
"That's not all," James said before he paused and seemed to think. Kat and Kaidan turned to him with matching glares. "Dios, you two can be scary when you do that," James said with a laugh.
"James..." Kat growled a warning.
"Ok, ok..." James raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. "The Alliance sent me here, rather than summoning you or just setting up a holo-conference because one of our techs in coms found some electronic traces of copying in some old archives. Your old mission reports to be specific."
"Which is likely how whoever is behind this found their targets," Kat guessed. "But what aren't you telling us?"
"The Alliance thinks you could be in danger," James admitted with a sigh. "And the fact that security vids from the range when you were shot yesterday were hacked and corrupted makes me think they're right."
"Whoever is behind this tried to kill her?" Kaidan growled. He sat forward threateningly, looking as if he were ready to attack her unknown assailant at any moment. His posture was tense and his knuckles were white with the effort of keeping his temper under control.
"Unlikely, Major," James said reassuringly. "Even with the modified armor, she was safe from a fatal shot. And no one has died."
"She is sitting right here, gentlemen," Kat added with a growl of her own. She glared at Kaidan until he relaxed or at least, sat back and took a deep breath. "Nothing happened," she reminded him softly, communicating with her eyes that she needed him calm and focused, not going 'caveman' on her. He finally gave her a slight nod though he remained quiet and kept his eyes locked on her. She turned back to James.
"Your point was that whoever shot me it wasn't an accident, but they're still alive?" Kat asked for clarification.
"Yes," James said simply. "Though with the vids out, and no one seeing anything – or admitting to it anyway – we have no way to say who it was."
"My guess is that person can tell us more about what's going on than Kaidan or I can," Kat pointed out.
"Asking you guys for clues on the investigation was always a long shot," James admitted with a shrug. "I'm here to make sure that nothing happens to you," at Kaidan's discreet cough, he amended, "nothing else, that is."
"So while you get to stand guard for me for the second time in your illustrious career," Kat began with a voice laced with sarcasm, "Do you plan on getting any police work done?"
"I figure between the Major and me we can keep you safe and sniff around at the same time," James replied. His grin was still in place and showed that he had taken no offense at her comment.
"And if you think I'm going to sit back and be guarded while the two of you sniff around," Kat told him and this time her voice was dangerously low, "Then you don't know me at all."
She glared at the both of them for long seconds to make her point. She may be Captain Kat Alenko now, but underneath all of that, she was Commander fucking Shepard, and no one was keeping her out of this investigation.
"Where do we start?" she asked James and raised a hand and held it up to stall the objection she knew Kaidan was ready to give. 'We'll talk later' she communicated to her husband with a look.
"I've gathered the records on all your incoming N candidates and have interviews lined up starting in the morning," James answered. "I'm sure you'll be perfectly safe sitting in the interview room on base," he added, trying to appease them both.
Kat immediately jumped to agree and they spent the remainder of the visit making arrangements for James to pick her up in the morning before he made excuses and left to return to his temporary housing. Kaidan hadn't spoken the rest of the time James was there.
He was still silent as he watched her return from seeing James out the door and seat herself in the chair across from him. She leaned as far forward as her expanding girth and sore shoulder would allow and met his eyes.
"Ok, Kaidan, let's hear it," she prompted.
"I don't like this," he replied after a moment. "I don't like you being in danger again, and I don't like knowing our baby will be too." He sighed and leaned forward as well, and his eyes showed resignation. "But I know you well enough to know that you're not going to stay out of this. And I'm not sure I could ask you to." He smiled a bit and reminded her, "I once told you that it makes me crazy when you put yourself in danger."
"And you also said that was part of the reason you loved me," she completed the memory with a smile. "Kaidan, I know the stakes, and I will be careful."
"I know that," he affirmed quietly. He sighed again and admitted, "I don't like the whole situation, but having you involved makes sense. If anyone can figure this out, you can."
"Hey, we'll need you for more than your excellent coffee," she replied with a grin.
"Oh, I don't plan on staying out of it," Kaidan countered. "Just..."
"You're not going to try to stop me," Kat completed the thought. When he nodded, she stood and walked to him. She waited while he reclined in his chair enough for her to perch on his lap. Once they shifted to find a comfortable position for her shoulder, she sighed in contentment. "I love you," she told him and tilted her face up for a kiss.
"I love you, too," he responded before he brought his mouth to hers. When he pulled back a moment later, he placed a protective palm over their baby and added, "Both of you."
They sat there companionably, each lost in their own thoughts, for several long moments before they got up to make dinner together. Once they sat down to eat together, Kaidan turned their casual conversation back to the case. He knew it had been playing on her mind since James had left, and he hadn't been able to think of anything else either.
"I wonder what the person or persons behind this wants," he wondered rhetorically as he studied his steak rather than cutting it. He was all for red meat, but the whole topic ruined his appetite... rather an impressive feat considering his biotic metabolism.
"It's almost like they were trying to send a message to me," Kat theorized as she took a bite of her steak. She was both biotic and pregnant... nothing came between her and food.
"The whole thing seems rather elaborate for a message," he commented. "I mean, it's easy enough to reach you, we've been here in Rio for over a year."
"On an Alliance base that, while it may not be top secret, is high security," she pointed out. She gestured with her fork as she swallowed a bite of salad before she went on, "Maybe whoever is behind this couldn't get to me here."
"But they could get someone on base and manage to shoot you?" Kaidan replied with a sigh. "High security didn't make a difference then."
Kat tried to shrug and stopped the motion midway when her injured shoulder reminded her why that hadn't been a good idea. "Hopefully we'll find out tomorrow," she answered instead. She watched as Kaidan stood and began to clear their plates... his was barely finished and she frowned.
"You know, getting shot has one benefit..." she told him with a sly grin.
"What possible benefit can getting shot have?" he asked in exasperation from the kitchen.
"Two actually," Kat amended as she moved around him to the freezer and pulled out a container of coffee ice cream. She had given up caffeine at her doctor's recommendation, so the it had become her favorite flavor of ice cream.
"First, I don't have to do the dishes," she said as she searched a drawer for a spoon. "Second, I don't have to skip dessert tonight," she added as she scooped a large helping of the creamy delight out of the container and into her mouth. She noted Kaidan's eyes watched her lick the spoon clean and refilled it and offered it to him while he scraped the plates. She'd get calories into him – one way or another. He took the treat she offered and swallowed but his eyes stayed on her. Suddenly his mood was quite different than the quiet worry he'd shown since James had left.
"You can have your dessert... first," Kaidan told her with a look in his eyes that also told her quite clearly what he planned for 'second'.
She turned very slowly, put the container back in the freezer and set the spoon down in the sink. She walked into his arms and met his mouth in a kiss that managed to be searing though both their mouths were still frozen from the ice cream. They didn't break the kiss even when he lifted her and carried her off to their bedroom. She didn't mind waiting... They could eat later, after they burned off more calories.
###
When Kat woke hours later it was to the dual but not entirely unpleasant sensation of cold and hot. She blinked sleepy eyes open and discovered the source of both... Kaidan had coated her nipple in the ice cream they had abandoned earlier and was sucking it off her. His mouth felt all the more hot because of the contrast in temperature to the ice cream and she gasped in her breath and brought her good arm up to cradle his head against her chest. He rolled his eyes up to meet hers and she gasped again when she saw the heat of his mouth reflected in his eyes. He licked her nipple clean then lifted his head to meet her mouth in a kiss that tasted of sweet coffee ice cream and the even more tantalizing flavor that was simply Kaidan beneath it. She returned the kiss with all the renewed passion he had awakened in her and moaned when he broke the contact long before she was ready.
She watched with bated breath as he reached for the ice cream again and hissed in a breath when he tipped the carton directly over her and spilled a long line of the melted dessert between her breasts. He held her gaze while he used the flat of his tongue to clean up his mess. He moved his mouth to her other nipple and this time the cold and heat were both from him. Her hand clenched in involuntarily response in his hair and she had to close her eyes. The sensations were too strong and adding sight to them threatened to overwhelm her.
She felt him shift against her again and nearly jumped off the mattress in surprise when she felt the cold hit her hot skin again, this time in a wide swath over the swell of her abdomen. She opened her eyes again and watched as he licked the ice cream from her skin, unable to resist the look of absolute bliss on his face that she knew wasn't due to the taste of the ice cream. She stroked her hands through his hair and remembered again how much she loved this man, in all of his moods. On the heels of that thought, she couldn't help but add she preferred this one to the worried stress he'd shown earlier. Obviously, he had come to terms with things or at least was willing to shove it aside in favor of taking his time with her now. She hadn't minded their quick heated rush of passion earlier – she had certainly enjoyed it as much as he – but it just hadn't been typical. Kaidan was usually unhurried and breathtakingly sensual in bed, though she knew their lovemaking earlier had been the tangible reassurance he had needed of her safety and hadn't begrudged him the atypically quick pace. Apparently, he had decided to make it up to her, in a big way, and she had no objections to this either.
She took a deep breath and let it back out in a hitching sigh in an effort to release the tension he was building slowly, inexorably in her. She gave in to the sensual delight of feeling his mouth on her, tracing over the slight swell of the skin beneath it in movements so slow they could be called reverent. She knew that thoughts of her dominated his mind in moments like this, but that on a deeper, more primitive level he never forgot their child as well. Since she had told him about her pregnancy, there was even more gentleness, more worship in his touch, even in these most private times, and it made her heart swell with love for him even when it frustrated her. They both knew she wasn't fragile, she wouldn't break, but Kaidan wasn't a man who could ever set aside his protective instincts, and her pregnancy had heightened and reinforced them. She knew she sometimes drove him to his limits with the risks she took, and she promised herself not for the first time to stop and think about his needs before she charged into danger headlong.
Kaidan must have sensed that her thoughts had wandered, because he shifted again. He reached for the carton of ice cream and scooped out a spoonful. He offered it to her as she had to him earlier and she took it with a smile. Before she could swallow, he brought his mouth to hers and they shared the treat together. The ice cream kiss could have been sweet or touching, but the feel of his hands sweeping her thighs apart and settling between them just where she needed his touch most kept the contact arousing and infinitely erotic. He kept a flat palm against her center, just resting there in teasing pressure while he reached for the ice cream again with his other hand. He tipped the carton and painted a long line of cream from the base of her throat down to her belly button. She held her breath in anticipation and released it in a slow hiss when she felt his tongue begin to follow the path he had drawn.
He didn't linger this time, only spent enough time to lick her skin clean before he swept his head lower, while he kept his palm against her with just enough force that she couldn't ignore it, not enough to actually stimulate the parts that were veritably screaming for his attention. She squirmed a bit under his touch but he soothed her with whispers against the skin between her breasts. She sighed again, trying to relax under his touch and be patient. This was heading somewhere, and she knew she'd be happy when they got there. She just couldn't help wishing that it was sooner rather than later. She sucked in her breath when she felt his tongue dip into her bellybutton, licking at the pool of melted ice cream there. The feel of it was so distracting, she missed his shift this time and didn't realize what he intended until he removed his palm from her and held her eyes as he removed the hand he held against her and swept it through the ice cream, coating his fingers with it.
She shook her head, sure that she couldn't endure it, but he ignored the objection and brought his hand back between her legs. When his ice creamed coated fingers parted her folds and traced over her, she gasped in a breath at the pleasure pain of that contrast on her sensitive flesh. When he moved his fingers from her and replaced them with his mouth a moment later, she forgot how to breathe entirely. His hot tongue chasing the icy cool from her swollen tissues was a pleasure that went beyond description or imagination. She lost herself to the feel of his mouth around her. He sucked her in and warmed her back again, then the pressure of him against her sent her temperature soaring to new levels. She felt her climax drawing close and reached for it, welcomed it. He brought her to just before her peak and then, suddenly, his mouth was gone. She opened her eyes to see what had interrupted him and her startled eyes widened as he very slowly drew his own fingers – the ones he had used to paint her with ice cream – into his mouth and sucked the dual flavor off of each. The look in his eyes was smoldering with passion and once his fingers were clean, he dipped his head again and took her back in his mouth. He was done teasing now, she could tell from the pace of his sucking and the feel of his tongue flicking against her and he pushed her into her orgasm in mere seconds.
She threw her head back and arched into his continual caress as she felt the waves of pleasure sweep over her body. She moaned long and low, unable to restrain the sound from ripping free of her throat. She felt like she was soaring under his expert touch, and she felt the climax in every nerve. She barely drifted back to semi-awareness before she felt him slide deep into her in a sudden stroke so unexpected and quick it sent her soaring again. Her inner muscles clamped down hard on his invading hardness and he kept himself still and full inside her, riding out the orgasm passively, until she finally collapsed back against the pillow with a long sigh.
Only then did he gather her limp legs around his waist and reposition himself over her. He brought his mouth down and took hers in a deep kiss while he began to move inside her in short thrusts that barely gave her any time to think or breathe between. She moaned again into his mouth and he swallowed the sound into their kiss then returned it as he changed his rhythm to long deep strokes. She was recovered enough now to join in their dance, and she picked up his pace easily, moving her hips against him in a synchronicity borne of many other nights together. Just as his control began to slip and his movements became much less smooth, she felt the tightening in her lower belly that told her fulfillment was within reach again. She deliberately squeezed around him, and let that additional caress send them both into their climaxes together. They rode out the spasms in between kisses, caresses, and murmurs of their love.
Once they were back to their senses, they rolled to their sides and Kaidan spooned against her back and wrapped his arm around her, with a palm resting on her abdomen. It was the position most comfortable for her injured shoulder, though she knew that being able to cradle their child while they slept was another benefit that Kaidan enjoyed. He placed a light kiss on her injured shoulder and settled back against his pillow.
"You should eat more than ice cream," she murmured sleepily.
"I think I just did," he said with a chuckle.
She laughed at his joke but sobered quickly and persisted. "I know you're worried, but you can't afford to stop eating," she told him then sighed when she realized she sounded like the nag she was being. "I just meant, you know you need to be at full strength."
"Stop worrying," he told her with another soft kiss to her shoulder. "I promise I'll eat a good breakfast... besides, you don't want to end up with gray hairs like me, do you?"
"I like the gray..." she said with a sigh, willing to let the subject go for now. She would hold him to his promise in the morning, though.
"You should, every single one of them has your name written on it," he told her pointedly.
"Then maybe I should hurry up and have this kid so you have someone else to worry about," she replied with a giggle.
"Not gonna save you, Kat, but nice try," Kaidan replied with a laugh of his own. He tightened his arms around her in a silent signal that she should relax and sleep. She still had a smile on her face when she complied.