Kaidan gave as much information to Anderson as he could in his debriefing. The older man was difficult to read, but he didn't think the Captain was angry at him. Or if he was, his concern for the Commander outweighed it.
After he was dismissed, the sentinel had kept himself busy with his mission report and officially replacing Williams into Jenkins' post. He tried not to think too deeply into either task, though he was glad Anderson was keeping her on. The loss of the corporal gnawed at him, and when it wasn't, worry about the Commander replaced it. The concerns eventually got to him enough that the tell-tale 'static' started to creep into the corner of his vision, and Kaidan cursed softly. He made his way to the med bay, keeping to the shadows to avoid the lights, which would shift from a gentle glow to a piercing glare.
The bay was mercifully quiet, with only the subtle beeps of a heart rate monitor and the eternal thrum of the drive core in the background. Kaidan's attention turned towards the figure the monitor was attached to with long trailing wires, lying still in the medical cot.
"Ah, Alenko." Doctor Chakwas spoke from his fuzzy vision side. "Here for your migraines?"
"Yeah. Just starting up." He replied, only glancing to the doctor before looking back to the Commander as his right side of vision also began to be swallowed by the blur. "Is she okay?
"Yes and no." The doctor said, collecting a syringe from a drawer and opening the fridge. "Full dose or the half?"
"Full, please. Don't think Captain will want to do anything until the Commander wakes up." Kaidan muttered, wincing as the beeps began to needle his temples. "Can you turn it down, please?"
"Of course. On the bed." The sentinel tilted his head in the barest hint of a nod, gingerly settling onto the cot next to Shepard. Just to keep her company he explained it to himself. Chakwas went to the monitor, silencing its noise except in an emergency, before going to Kaidan. If it weren't for the peaks and troughs on the ECG and the big numbers in soft green, the biotic wouldn't have been sure the soldier wasn't dead with how still she was.
"She's physically fine, aside from cuts and bruises." Chakwas said, as if reading his mind. "Mentally, however, she's in a coma."
Kaidan swallowed hard, forcing back a wave of nausea, though from what, he couldn't tell.
"Will she…?"
"The prognosis is good. She appears to be dreaming at intervals, so I'm confident she will eventually wake." Chakwas explained, filling the syringe with the clear liquid. "Which arm?"
"Left," he replied. "The bad one."
"I don't think a troublesome vein will stop me, Lieutenant." Chakwas grinned.
True to her word, she got it first time, despite Kaidan's oversensitive skin resenting the intrusion. Thankfully, it didn't take long for blessed oblivion to overtake him.
Kaidan surfaced from his medical slumber some hours later, blinking blearily at the ceiling, and more than a little grateful for a cease to the throbbing in his head.
"Decided to rejoin us, Alenko?" Chakwas asked, appearing into his line of sight with a glass of water.
"Yeah. Thank you." He sat up gingerly, taking a long drink to wet his dry mouth. A glance to his left informed him that the Commander was still in her medical cot, still asleep, or in a coma, or something. A cold chill gnawed at his heart.
"She's still not come 'round?" He asked. The doctor shook her head.
"No." Kaidan turned the empty cup in his hands, not wanting to voice the concern they both felt. The hours were adding up, going past 'unsettling' and entering 'genuinely concerning'. The biotic felt ill. If I hadn't gone near that beacon, none of this would have happened. I'm the reason Commander Shepard is never going to wake up ever again.
"Nothing better to do?" Chakwas asked kindly, breaking his train of thought.
"No." He replied, setting his cup aside, trying to ignore the guilt gnawing at him.
"Alright. You can stay until the Captain says otherwise. Besides, the company might do her good."
With that, she went to sit at her terminal, and Kaidan scooted to the edge of his cot, taking a closer look at Akeelah Shepard.
In her current condition, she seemed small and harmless, but Kaidan knew that was an illusion, having seen her in combat not many hours before. That sent uncomfortable thoughts about her athletic skill running through his head which he decided were not best pursued.
He distracted himself by wandering his eyes over her face, pausing on the large scar slicing across it. It was hard to ignore, as long and puckered as it was, and it gave her a hard, violent look. Yet considering how gently she convinced the frightened farmers and dock worker to hand over smuggled goods, and the humour she'd had despite the circumstances, appearances were deceptive. He wondered what could have caused such an injury.
"Thresher maw, I would have thought." Chakwas's voice made Kaidan jump. "How she survived such a close encounter with one with nothing but a few scratches and burns is almost a miracle. If you believe such things."
"Some reason why she survived Akuze." The sentinel murmured. He spotted a patch of skin on her arm that was distorted and wrinkled, paler than the surrounding pigment, and utterly devoid of hair. An acid burn, he realized, and a chill went down his spine. He remembered the ghoulish media reports of the thresher maws' acid being able to burn through armoured vehicles. He couldn't imagine having that acid burning against your skin.
And she survived that to get put into a coma by her Staff Lieutenant, who didn't think not to touch the glowing alien artifact. Kaidan thought bitterly to himself. This is no way to go.
As he watched her, he noticed Shepard twitch; a flutter of movement under her eyelids. He tensed, hardly daring to hope; Chakwas had said she was occasionally dreaming. Another flicker of eye movement, and this time her fingers twitched. Then her body shifted, the ECG beeping as the once steady tempo began to increase, wakefulness spreading through the Commander's body.
"Doctor! Doctor Chakwas!" Kaidan cried. "I think she's waking up."
Shepard groaned, her expression contorting into one that looked reminiscent of someone with a thumping headache, and her eyes opened slowly, blinking hard to clear away the blur. The biotic slipped off his cot, relieved beyond belief as she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes, smudging her mascara as she did.
"You had us worried there, Shepard." Chakwas said, a smile playing on her lips as she removed the electrodes from her skin. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I was hit by a krogan after shore leave." Akeelah grumbled, glaring at the dark smears on her fingers. Kaidan was pleased to hear her humour had stayed. "My head's still throbbing. How long was I out for?"
"About fifteen hours. Something happened with the beacon, I think?" The doctor said, glancing to the biotic. He steeled himself, stepping forward to catch her attention.
"It's my fault. I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way."
Shepard shook her head carefully, probably in an attempt to not encourage the pounding in her skull.
"No, it isn't. You had no idea that the beacon was going to do that." She said softly, green eyes gleaming in the dim light.
Kaidan was taken aback, but pleased she didn't consider him her undoing. She'd practically saved him from her ordeal, one he wasn't sure his implant could have taken, and she'd leapt to his aid without a second thought. A smile spread across his lips, his heart doing a funny little flip in his chest.
"More importantly," Shepard continued, "what happened to the beacon? Have we got it?" She looked between him and Chakwas. Kaidan sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"The beacon exploded," he said, her eyes widening in alarm. "A system overload, maybe. The blast knocked you cold. Williams and I had to carry you back to the ship."
"Thanks." A small smile graced her lips. "Any damage I should know about, doctor?"
"Physically, you're fine." Chakwas said, handing the Commander a datapad. Kaidan noticed she gave it a very intense stare, as if she was really concentrating on the words. "But I detected some unusual brain activity, abnormal beta waves. I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with dreaming."
Shepard handed it back, her brows furrowed.
"I was dreaming, though it was more like a nightmare. There was death, destruction, but…" She shook her head. "I dunno. Nothing was clear."
The soldier's expression was troubled, as if worried she was missing something, and the biotic couldn't stop feeling guilty that he'd put her in this position. Then again, it was the geth and this 'Saren' which had started the whole trouble…
"I better add this to my report." Chakwas was saying. "It may-" The sound of the door opening interrupted her. "Captain Anderson."
Kaidan turned to see the older man walking over, a gentleness to his face the sentinel hadn't seen before. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shepard hurriedly slithering off the cot to her feet, and he himself straightened his back, feeling a little embarrassed being caught in here.
"How's our XO holding up, Doctor?" Anderson asked.
"All the readings look normal. I'd say the Commander's going to be fine," she said.
"Glad to hear it." With that, the Captain's tone became serious. "Shepard, I need to speak with you." He gave Kaidan a pointed look. "In private."
"Aye aye Captain." He snapped off a salute. "I'll be in the mess hall if you need me."
As he left with Chakwas, Kaidan got the distinct impression that someone was watching him leave with great interest…
What a fucking mess. Akeelah ran her hands through her hair with a snort of frustration. So much for a typical shakedown run. A colony attacked, led by a Council Spectre with a grudge against humans going rogue with an army of synthetics, who then killed the Council Spectre who was supposedly evaluating her. And the cherry on top was the incredibly rare artifact they'd busted their ass to recover had exploded on her, knocking her out for fifteen fucking hours. Not to mention how flimsy their evidence was when the most concrete evidence was a traumatised dock worker who was also a smuggler.
She wasn't even going to touch the 'vision' the beacon had 'gifted' her.
At least Anderson had understood that she'd done her best with the situation; he always did, and she was thankful the Normandy was under his command.
Shepard stepped out of the med bay, and was pulled from her thoughts by the sight of Lieutenant Alenko lingering near the mess table, looking hopeful that he would catch her. She raised an eyebrow; she'd already told him she didn't blame him for the beacon, so she didn't know what else he would want to say to her. Anderson had already informed her of his recommendation of Williams too, so it couldn't have been that. Still, she walked over to him.
"Lieutenant." She began.
"Commander." He replied, his eyes bright. "I'm glad to see you're okay. Losing Jenkins was hard on the crew, and I'm glad we didn't lose you too."
"Yeah. Things were rough down there." Shepard nodded.
"You never get used to seeing dead civilians. Doesn't seem right somehow.." He shook his head slightly. "But at least you stopped Saren from wiping out the whole colony."
"Maybe, but I couldn't have done it without you," she said. "You and Ash, of course."
"We're marines. We stick together." Kaidan said, in the strangest deflection Shepard had ever heard. "I'm just sorry we lost Jenkins."
Shepard sighed, remembering the young man's crumpled body on the ground of his home planet.
"He didn't deserve that. I wish I could've done something to save him," she said, wringing her hands. Kaidan was shaking his head before she finished.
"I was there, Commander. You did everything right, it was just bad luck."
"I guess." The soldier sighed. "Thanks, Lieutenant. It helps."
"You're welcome, ma'am." A tentative half-smile appeared on his lips, like the smile she'd seen in the med bay. Her heart thumped against her breastbone. He looked so sweet and adorable, and she was going to shut down that line of thought immediately.
"It's been a hell of a shakedown cruise," he continued obliviously, "our first mission ends with one Spectre killing another." The biotic's thick eyebrow furrowed. "The Council's not gonna be happy about this. Probably use it to lever more concessions out of the Alliance."
Akeelah raised an eyebrow, surprised that someone other than Anderson was taking a political view of the whole debacle.
"You've got a good grasp of the situation. You a career man?" She asked.
"Yeah." He replied. "A lot of biotics are." When Shepard tilted her head, he elaborated. "We're not restricted, but we sure don't go undocumented." He shrugged. "May as well get a paycheck for it. Besides, my father served. Made him proud when I enlisted. Eventually. But is that why you're here? Because of your family?"
She shook her head, a self-deprecating smile on her lips.
"No. I don't…well, I'm an orphan, basically. I don't know who or where my parents are, or if they're still alive."
Kaidan blinked.
"Oh. I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't mean-" She chuckled, lifting a hand to calm him, finding his stuttering utterly endearing.
"It's alright, Kaidan. I'm alright about it. I've lived enough of my life without them for it not to matter any more. Anyway, if they wanted to see me, they would have contacted me after that mess six years back," she said, shrugging. Kaidan frowned slightly as he thought for a moment.
"Ah, Akuze, right?" The furrows on his forehead smoothed as she nodded. "I imagine that bought you any post in the fleet."
"Yeah. It got me to the Villa, though I'm not sure I deserve it." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I'd rather not talk about it."
"Of course." Kaidan nodded. "Word is we're heading for the Citadel, ma'am. Can you…can you tell me why?"
"The Captain hopes the ambassador can get an audience with the Council and tell them what Saren's been up to." Shepard replied, trusting Kaidan's discretion.
"Makes sense." The sentinel nodded. "They'd probably like to know he's not working for them any more."
"Whether they'll believe us is another matter." The soldier said, frowning.
"Whatever happens, we'll be ready, Commander." Kaidan assured her.
"I'm sure. Oh, and Lieutenant?" He raised his eyebrows in askance. "Good idea at recommending Williams to the Normandy. I was going to do so myself, before the beacon punched me in the head. And you did good work down there. I'm glad I had you at my back."
The biotic blinked again, and Shepard thought she could see a faint blush on his cheeks, though it was hard to see such a subtle colour change under the ship lights.
"Th…thank you, ma'am," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. That little half smile was on his lips again, and she had to again crush the line of thoughts about them.
Shepard smiled, turning away to go and look for Ashley to properly introduce her to the crew. As she did, however, she found herself having to resist the temptation to turn around to see if Kaidan was looking after her, and she shook her head quickly. Not the time or place, you fool. We've got work to do, and it doesn't involve fawning over handsome, well-skilled biotics.
Little did she know, a similar conversation was going on in Kaidan's head, and things were only just beginning.
Author's notes: Thanks for reading and reviewing this fic! I'm getting the feeling multipart fics do not agree with me, especially when I don't have a plan for them. Should probably stick to short ones.
Anyway, from this fic on, as mentioned in my profile, my other Mass Effect fics are gonna go up in any old order, though I have a timeline to keep track them on said profile. Thanks again for reading, and a special thank you to those of you who reviewed. You're the reason I get up and write!