August 23, 2176. It was the night watch and Lauren knew she should have been asleep long ago. She couldn't help it though, she thought as she gazed down at the ring shining on her left hand. Daniel had been too impatient to give it to her in person, so he had it mailed to the Elysium station waiting for her when she was there last on a resupply stop a few months ago.
"I waited all that time while you were in the N training program and I couldn't even talk to you," he had said on the vidcomm.
"But Daniel…" Lauren protested.
He just smiled that damn innocent smile that she could not resist. "Please Lauren, just knowing that you have it makes all the difference in the world. I couldn't wait any longer. I promise the next time I get leave, I'll be there and do it right, ok?"
"Ok, but I might not wear it…"
"You WOULDN'T!" Daniel laughed.
"I know. I'll slip it on as soon as I get to Elysium."
"Right. The only time you can take it off is when I'm there to put it back on officially." But they were still hours away from Elysium as she closed her eyes in another attempt to sleep.
The morning dragged on and Lauren went about her usual duties, eagerly anticipating their arrival. She was thinking they should be nearing the spaceport when she was jolted by the sudden sound of general quarters. "Everyone to battle stations! This is not a drill. Elysium is under batarian attack," the voice of Lauren's commanding officer, Capt. James Phillips, barked as he rushed through the CIC. "Lt. Shepard, suit up and head to the loading bay. We're sending you in hot with a squad. Batarians are attacking civilians in the capital city."
Lauren dropped with the rest of her squad and she ordered them to move toward where she and Daniel were supposed to meet. She could hear fighting in that general direction, so it isn't entirely selfish, right? Civilians were running toward the Alliance troops, trying to escape the batarian forces that had apparently landed offshore and were coming up from the water, attacking beachgoers.
"Fucking cowards," she muttered under her breath. They had the gall to attack a primarily civilian planet. "Just because we're human." A couple batarians that taken cover in a nearby building started taking shots at Lauren's squad. "Fan out!" she ordered. "Duck behind cover! The shots are coming from up top!" She flared with her barrier and whipped her head around to find the flashes from their heat sinks.
From the corner of her eye, she saw a non-human head peer from a second story window. Crouching behind a tree, Lauren took her sniper rifle and aimed. A clean shot and batarian brain matter went flying. His friend stood to run from their now discovered hideaway. Lauren reacted quickly, catching him with a shot in the back between the shoulders. "Fuck you, bastards!" she hollered mockingly as she stood. She waved the all-clear to her troops. "All right, Bravo squad. Let's move forward."
With each step, Lauren grew increasingly apprehensive. Daniel would have been unarmed…completely. If she would have arrived first, she at least had the slight advantage of biotic power. He…didn't.
A man's voice crackled into her comm. "…I'm at the beachside boardwalk. I have civilian and military wounded. In desperate need of assistance. Please respond!" Lauren tapped her earpiece to reply.
"This is Staff Lieutenant Shepard. I have a squad about half a klick from your position. We have a couple field medics. Can you estimate the number injured?"
"No," the voice said distantly. "My squad got here and there wasn't hardly anyone left standing on the beach. I'm the only medic in my squad and I can't do enough."
"We'll be there, soldier. Hang on," Lauren said as she ended the comm. She turned to her troops. "Everyone haul ass to the boardwalk! Now!" They took off sprinting. As the city landscape opened up to the beach, they could all see the carnage inflicted by the batarians. Lauren gazed in horror at wounded children, screaming in terror, being tended to by soldiers and other similarly wounded adults. By now, the shooting had stopped and she couldn't see any live batarians anywhere. She nodded toward the others in her squad and they dispersed, bringing what aid they could.
Lauren walked down the boardwalk, talking into her comm, calling for medical backup. The words coming out of her mouth were automatic, like she wasn't actually there. Her senses were focused on maintaining visual vigilance. She saw a soldier stooping over a man lying on the boardwalk. Her heart froze. Daniel.
"No…no…no, no, NO!" she yelled as she approached. It was the orange shirt he said he'd be wearing, but now it was soaked in blood. "Daniel! Oh my God, oh my God! Not you…" she tearfully gasped out as she reached him. His dogtags were hanging out of his shirt, a telltale sign that it was him because his face had been brutally beaten beyond recognition. The gaping hole in his abdomen said he had taken a point blank shot.
"You know him?" the male soldier said softly. Taking Daniel's hand in hers, closing her eyes and kissing it, Lauren nodded. As she touched his hair, she said, "He's my fiancé." She lifted his battered head gently, reaching with fingers now covered in his blood to remove the tags from his neck. I should have been here to protect you, she thought.
Lauren felt a hand touch her shoulder, and the sudden static shock she felt surprised her. Another biotic? She turned to face the soldier and saw amber brown eyes she had once known.
"Kaidan?" she choked out. The soldier blinked quickly, a quizzical look on his face.
"Yeah…" he said slowly. Studying her face, his eyes suddenly opened in recognition. "Lauren?"
She looked back down at Daniel's body, already feeling cooler to the touch. "I was supposed to be here. He was going to officially pro…" Lauren couldn't get out the rest as a sob came out. She looked at Kaidan, her eyes red, puffy and wild. "I can't fall apart like this," she said in a voice suddenly clear. She dropped Daniel's hand and stood, wiping her eyes brusquely, smearing blood across her face. "My squad is still out there, and I can't be…"
"You can have a moment," Kaidan cut her off gently. "No one would think less of you. Everyone has to take time to grieve." He looked around uncomfortably and took a deep breath. "See that batarian over there?"
Lauren looked at the body. "Yes," she said curtly.
"My squad had just arrived in the area and the batarians were overrunning the beach, gunning down anything that moved. He," Kaidan said, motioning to Daniel, "ran right toward a group of them that had just shot a couple sitting on a blanket. Over there." Lauren turned and saw the bodies. "He distracted them from the kids that were with them. I couldn't run fast enough before the batarians used their guns on his face and then took the shot at his gut. I took that one out. The other two got somewhere over there, but I had to stop because he wasn't dead."
"You don't have to tell me anymore…" Lauren pleaded.
"I think you want to hear it though," Kaidan continued. "I used the medigel I had to try and stop the bleeding, but the wound was too big. He looked at me and asked me to give someone a message. He said, 'Tell Lauren I love her and I'm sorry.'"
Lauren's tears started falling again. She was angry with herself being all sloppy and weeping. Kaidan just needed to shut his goddamn mouth. All these years since they had seen each other and it was humiliating and terrible.
"I didn't know who this Lauren was, and he didn't answer me when I asked." Kaidan looked down at the ground at the man lying between them. "I never would have guessed it was you. I'm so sorry."
Taking a deep, but unsteady breath, Lauren cleared her throat and looked at Kaidan. He recognized that steely gaze. Maybe she hadn't changed as much as he had. "Thank you, Kaidan. I need to get back to my squad," she said. Without looking back, she said, "I'm glad you are well." She walked quickly away calling out orders to her squad.
Kaidan ran his hand through his hair, watching her. She looked so much the same, but different. Her armor was heavier than his own, adding bulk to her still fairly wiry frame. Her hair was short, not the mid-back length it had been when they were teens on Jump Zero. Time had hardened her features some, but she was still beautiful. He looked away and chastised himself for thinking about such things in the midst of such tragedy. As a pair of medics came up with a body bag, Kaidan backed away, rapidly finding more wounded to tend.
Lauren didn't look back. Anger burned in her heart. Though she could see perfectly, she felt blind. Blind by grief, and blind by the need for revenge. She bit her tongue hard until she could taste the metallic tinge of blood. It took this, but now she found her purpose. Someone was going to pay.
A/N: A double post day! Yay! Big thanks again to galexz and tccarty for their help! Thank you for reading and reviewing!