A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting (again) - the second chapter of this post gave me nightmares in editing, and I'm still not totally thrilled with it after a recent replay made me wonder how accurate it was, however, I'm going with it and hope you'll cut me some slack! For those of you who have been reading and wondering where this is going, you'll know finally at the end of these chapters... I fully expect I may have to defend my choices, so bring it on! Let me know what you think via review or PM :-)
Jule Hawk and riehull, thank you so much for taking the time to review and give me your feedback! It is so gratifying to hear your thoughts and to know I'm doing well (or not, as the case may be!) To everyone else reading, following, favoriting, thank you as well for your time and attention!
This chapter includes more shameless Shenko smut... I was surprised that they decided to go there again so quickly, but hey, gonna blame the pregnancy hormones (and if you've ever been pregnant, you know what I mean lol). As per usual with this fic, I've italicized the racy parts if that's not your thing, look away. For the rest of you... its steamy hot M-rated adult fun and completely NSFW. You've been warned!
As always, all credit for the characters and universe portrayed go to the powers that be at Bioware, and I thank them for their efforts. This fic is intended to simply express my love and appreciation for their games, and not to infringe on any copyrights. Since I'm flying solo and only my eyes have seen this fic so far, all mistakes are my own and I apologize in advance.
It was a very unhappy and very much in charge Kat that met the information that Liara and Miranda found on Wraith the next day with a growl.
"Horizon?" she spat with a look of disgust. "Of all the places in the galaxy, why Horizon?"
"It is a former Cerberus stronghold that is now abandoned and quiet," Miranda answered as if the question wasn't rhetorical. "A perfect place for someone like Wraith to hide."
"But… Horizon!" Kat replied, as if that said everything. To those who knew her best, it really did. The place was one of her least favorite in the galaxy, and everyone in the room knew why. She sighed in utter disgust and frustration then spoke in a resigned but commanding tone. "Joker, plot a course to the Shadow Sea cluster; Iera System."
"Did I hear that right, Captain?" Joker replied over the com.
"Yes, Joker, we're going back to Horizon," Kat confirmed.
The venom was so apparent that Joker simply replied with an unusually terse, "Aye, aye, ma'am." Everything was silent for a few long seconds as Joker complied with Kat's order, then Joker's voice floated back over the com. "We can reach… that destination… in approximately four days, Captain," he informed her, choosing his words carefully.
"Thank you, Joker," Kat replied. She turned back to the people in front of her. "The engineering team says we're ready to go… Tali, I assume you're staying aboard with your fiancé?" At her quarian friend's nod of confirmation, she spoke again to Joker. "Make it so, Joker, and update me if there are any issues I need to deal with. I'll be in my quarters." So saying, she left the briefing room without further comment.
Kaidan moved to follow, but before he could, Kris cleared her throat. He turned back to look at her with a brow raised in query.
"What am I missing?" Kris asked, confusion apparent on her face.
"I got this, Major," James spoke when Kaidan hesitated. He turned to his girlfriend and summarized, "During Lola's fight against the Collectors, she and the Major met up on Horizon and, from what I hear, it wasn't a happy reunion. Lots of foot-in-the-mouth and not meeting eye-to-eye. Not a pretty sight."
"During Shepard's fight against the Reapers, she had to return to Horizon. It was billed as a Sanctuary for war refugees, but in actuality, it had become an indoctrination center where Cerberus studied the potential of combining humans with Reaper technology in the hopes of creating a superior race," EDI added this over the com and Kaidan sighed. He turned back to Kris to see her sympathetic wince.
"Let's just say that it's not our favorite vacation spot," Kaidan summarized quietly.
"Sorry, Major," Kris replied softly. "I didn't realize."
"Can't imagine the next four days are going to be fun for you, Major," James added unnecessarily with a low whistle.
Kaidan didn't bother to reply, he simply turned and exited the room. He headed to their quarters framing his apology; the hundredth or so by his estimate, only to stop dead once he entered the room. His very amazing wife had surprised him… again. She was reclining across their bed, propped on one bent arm, and wearing a soft smile and not much else. He wasn't even sure the scraps of black lace that – barely – covered the parts of her that only he ever got to see qualified as clothing, but what he was sure was that they made his mouth water. He decided the 'outfit' should be called a tease, not underwear.
While he gawked at her in astonishment, Kat went from female satisfaction and amusement to impatience to uncertainty. She cleared her throat and shifted. When that didn't seem to get his attention, she cleared her throat again and said, "Kaidan… say something, please?"
Her husband seemed to come back to himself at the sound of her voice, but instead of complying with her soft request, he smiled at her, finally looking her in the eyes, and the emotions she saw there made her breath catch. He moved toward her, and though he was still silent, the smile that he was wearing spoke volumes. It was a smile that only she saw – a side of him that only she knew – and she returned the look with its mate, her own private smile for him. As he reached the edge of the bed, he broke the quiet in the room with soft, reverent words.
"Say something?" he echoed her request. "I could tell you that you are the most amazing woman in the universe and that I am so lucky to even know you, much less be your husband." He leaned one knee of the bed and she felt the mattress dip under his weight while her eyes followed the motion of his hands as he began to loosen his shirt. "I could say that you are my hero, and that I would gladly follow you to hell and back because you are a truly inspiring leader." He threw his shirt aside and started on his pants and Kat had to swallow. "I could say that you are fierce and protective and loyal and those qualities are going to make you such an incredible mother that our child will love you and be loved in return." He tossed the remainder of his clothes and climbed on to the bed and leaned over her, bringing their lips together for a soft kiss. "But I think I'll just say I love you, Kat."
She smiled against his lips as he kissed her again, this time taking the kiss deeper, parting their mouths and dueling their tongues. She sighed as the embers that never went out, that constantly glowed between them, flared to life inside her and she inched closer to him and buried her hands in his hair.
Kaidan's hands were also busy, cupping the fullness of her breasts, and massaging them deeply. Whether the decision to leave the scraps of lace in place was conscious or not, he couldn't say, but when his fingers itched to find her sensitive nipples and tweak them, he pulled the bra down to expose the ruched pink peaks rather than removing it completely. Once that impediment was gone, he moved his questing fingers to her nipples and took each one between his thumb and forefinger. He pinched and pulled, just hard enough to give her pleasure, and then at her moan, he twisted slightly, stopping, as always, just short of pain. He broke their kiss and moved his mouth to her nipples, licking and sucking on each in turn while her fingers in his hair tightened and advised him of the pleasure she found in his efforts.
When Kaidan flattened his tongue to lick each nipple in turn before recapturing one between his lips and sucking – hard – while his hands trailed down her body to her hips and pulled her even closer to his naked body, Kat moaned and called his name softly. She arched against him, her hands tightening in his hair to try to communicate her need; her urgency. She knew it would be futile… In this area, Kaidan led, and he did so at his own pace. She sighed and moved her hands to his bare back, digging her short nails in and twisting her hips in another silent request for more, deeper, faster.
Kaidan recognized the plea, and although he knew she was generally impatient, and liked to move faster than he generally did in intimate moments, this was more. She was on the edge of torture thanks to her hormones and his words – which had served as a different kind of foreplay. He was completely comfortable with teasing her, and in fact, enjoyed it immensely; but discomfort was not acceptable. He moved his mouth off her breast, taking a moment to admire her peaked nipple, flush with color and glistening with his saliva, before he trailed his lips up her chest and then nuzzled briefly against her throat, where her pulse beat strongly. At the same time, he moved his hands between her legs, tracing her lightly over the lace at first, then plunging one hand inside her panties to find her soaked and slick for him. He settled his fingers on the peak of her desire, rubbing gently and moved his mouth to her lips.
"Shhh, baby, I've got you," he murmured softly against her lips before he kissed her deeply and concentrating on using all the talent and knowledge of her body that he'd accrued in their nearly seven years together to bring her fulfillment. In the space of a breath, a few soft strokes, she broke the kiss and arched against him, panting in her pleasure. He smiled and enjoyed the very private show.
When she had calmed sufficiently, she met him again in a deep kiss, one of love and gratitude. She stretched like a cat under him, smoothing her hands up and down his body, enjoying the difference in their textures and generally suffusing herself in the sensuality of her lover. She moved her hand to stroke the part of him that was most different, hard and full for her. She closed her fist around him and pumped a few strokes, still meeting his mouth and drinking deeply of their passion. After just those few touches though, he gently pulled her hand off him, a sign that she was having too much effect on him.
He kissed down her body again, moving to sit up on his knees as he did. He grabbed one of the larger pillows from the bed and moved it closer to them and then used gentle hands on her hips to roll her onto her stomach. He helped her position herself up on her knees in front of him with her head down and then placed the pillow underneath her to support her belly. Her comfort ensured, he positioned himself between her spread legs and took just a second to admire the tableau before him enhanced by the black lace. He decided he was no longer interested in the tease, wanted no impediment to the sight of his wife in the throes of pleasure, and carefully removed both scraps of lace. He stroked her inside and out for a few seconds, enjoying her silky texture and ensuring her readiness, before he brought the tip of himself to her entrance. He placed both hands on her hips and paused for one teasing second before he plunged deep and hard, seating himself fully inside her wet heat.
Kat sighed in contentment and felt like she could purr. Although every moment with her husband was a joy, none of them could compare to this sensation. The utter intimacy and completion of this first moment of joining was unsurpassed. There was no way she could be closer or more surrounded by him, and she reveled in it. When, a moment later, he withdrew from her body, she felt an instant of near-grief, although she knew it was temporary. When he plunged back into her in the rhythm of love, she sighed again, in relief and pleasure. She moved back against him in counterpoint, working to enhance both their desire, and tightened her inner muscles around him. She squeezed him in her loving embrace and was rewarded by a groan. She felt him shift his hand to move between her legs and stroke her and she realized he had just upped the ante in their game of love, and she, too, groaned.
Kaidan heard the sound and smiled in satisfaction. He knew he was very close to crisis and, as usual, refused to take his own pleasure until he knew she was fully satiated. He flick his fingers against her again and was rewarded with the subtle signals that her body sent to indicate the onset of her orgasm. He stroked in and out of her, working her inside and out, for a few more seconds before she plunged over the edge, calling his name and tightening in a velvet vice around him. The sight and sound and feel of it were enough to send him over, too, and he plunged deep, spilling himself inside her, blanketed over her back.
They stayed together like that for long moments while they both fought to simply breathe normally. Once their heartbeats returned to something approximately normal, Kaidan withdrew from her and rolled on to his back, drawing her over himself like a warm blanket. He stroked her back and enjoyed the shared warmth and closeness. When he could think again, he moved his hand to her chin and tilted her face up to look at him.
"Not that I'm complaining, but can you explain that?" he asked, confusion prominent in his voice.
"Let me guess, you were thinking about apologizing – again – on your way up here?" Kat replied with a sly grin.
"Well… yes," Kaidan confirmed, still feeling very much in the dark.
Kat lifted her hand and cupped his cheek before stretching up to kiss him softly.
"Kaidan, you have apologized for Horizon enough to last a lifetime. We both have. And we're so far beyond the people we were then, and the situation we were in. Is it my favorite place? No – and it never will be. But do I hold any lingering resentment of you over it? Absolutely not."
"But, in the briefing room… you stormed out like you were angry," Kaidan pointed out, still genuinely confused.
"Yes," Kat said, and kissed him again. "And now the entire crew thinks I'm up here pouting, and you're up here trying to placate me. Sounds like four days of the rest of them trying to avoid us like the plague to me."
Kaidan looked at her in utter shock.
"You faked a tantrum so that you could have four days alone with me," he restated, not sure he had heard her clearly.
"Yes, I did," Kat confirmed with a huge grin.
"That is the third time you have surprised the hell out of me in the past day," Kaidan said with a chuckle. "I'm getting old, I'm not sure my heart can handle it."
"Oh, really?" Kat replied with an arched brow. "I'm fairly sure if I gave you ten minutes we could disprove that theory."
Kaidan laughed again.
"I'm more than willing to accept that challenge," he told her, giving her a sound kiss. "Thank you so much for planning this."
"I figure we could use a break," Kat said with a shrug. "I'm fairly sure once he joins us, there won't be many of them to be had," she added, stroking her belly to indicate which 'he' she meant.
"I'm sure she'll keep us busy," Kaidan corrected with a grin. He shifted them so she was nearly beneath him again and moved to kiss her. Before their lips met, he whispered, "But in the meantime, while I have you to myself…" Then he proceeded to prove that he was still in fairly great shape.