A/N - ok so I can't stop writing, and even though I have yet to hear from any of you (taps foot), I've decided to go ahead and post. Hope you are enjoying! Write and let me know! Pretty please?
At the conclusion of visiting hours that evening, Kaidan let out a long and heartfelt sigh and made himself comfortable in the recliner. The day had been long, emotional, trying, even painful at times and Kaidan didn't think he'd talked that much in two years combined before it. He glanced at Shepard's pale face once again and smiled. "You better wake up soon," he told her with a grimace, "or you may wake up to a catatonic or insane man." He closed his eyes and tried to relax and was very close to dozing off when he heard footsteps on the tile floor. He cracked one eye open to see Hannah standing at her daughter's bedside, stroking her forehead as she was wont to do. Kaidan tried to guess whether she'd be staying, preparing to move to the torture chair to allow her the relative comfort of the recliner if she was.
She looked up, her blue eyes meeting his brown when she saw he was awake. "I'm sorry to wake you," she murmured in soft tones, seemingly unwilling to disturb the peace of the room with more volume.
"I wasn't sleeping yet," he told her, waving that there was no harm done. "Are you staying, Hannah?" he inquired, keeping his voice pitched at the soft levels she had.
"Not tonight," she replied. "My duties are piling up and I know Kat's in very capable hands so I don't even need to feel guilty for wanting to dive in." She smiled serenely, thinking that she was lucky that Kat had never once tried to place that guilt on her, blamed her for being an Alliance officer first, mother second. Still, Hannah carried that guilt within and she hoped what she saw in Kaidan was real. This was a man that wouldn't let her daughter make the same mistake she had, wouldn't let her career consume her until life had nearly passed her by.
Still, she mused, if Kat's father had lived, not been KIA at the end of the First Contact War when Kat was barely eight years old, things may have been different. For Michael, she would have gladly retired, perhaps even provided Kat with a brother or sister or two. But she knew the instant she had heard those words: that the Alliance regretted to inform her that her husband, Major Michael Shepard, had been killed in action, a part of her had died too. The Alliance was the only love in her life since, and she really had very few regrets.
That didn't stop her now from looking upon her only child with a mother's eyes, wanting better for Kat than she herself had. In Kaidan, she saw everything that Kat needed to make that happen, if only she'd wake up and take it. She would have loved Kaidan for her daughter's sake, but the thought that she liked and respected the man was an unexpected delight. She looked at him now, face relaxed, Kat's hand in his as he slept.
She turned back to Kat, stroking her daughter's forehead once again, stalling the moment she'd have to leave and return to the Kilimanjaro where a seemingly endless list of duties awaited, and was startled to hear the beep of an omni-tool. She looked at her own, thinking to silence it before she woke Kaidan, and realized it was his that was the culprit.
He came awake in typical military fashion, one moment unconscious; the next ready to defeat any foe that threatened. To say that he was mildly perturbed to discover that the "foe" in question was his omni-tool was a serious understatement. He considered, for just a moment, silencing the thing and ignoring the call, but he had never been a man to shirk his duty. He pulled up the display, did not recognize the id, and answered with a barked "Alenko." He saw Hannah begin to gather herself to leave, give him his privacy, and then saw the grief riddled face of his mother on the display before him and his heart froze. "Mom? " he said softly, a question in his voice.
Hannah saw the look mirrored in Kaidan's expressive face and her own heart cringed in sympathy. Kaidan was, she thought, one of the gentlest men she had ever met, wrapped under all that Alliance regulation soldier. A man like that inspired the women who loved him to want to protect him, to nurture the gentle man they saw inside. In that respect, Hannah could feel no differently than her daughter, and instead of leaving, she moved to stand behind Kaidan's recliner, and placed a supportive hand on his shoulder while he tried to get his mother to calm enough to speak with him.
Kaidan looked up gratefully; smiling at Hannah, appreciating the unassuming comfort she offered and turned back to his mother. She had been crying, for what seemed like days, he thought. He was so glad to finally see her, verify that she was indeed still alive and unhurt, as his last reports before they left for Earth had indicated. Global communications had been largely disrupted and remained in a state of disrepair from the war, only QEC was reliable currently. As far as he knew, there was no QEC access in interior BC so he had been unable to contact her since returning to Earth, despite his daily inquiries.
Since his father had re-enlisted on the day of the Reaper invasion and was therefore an Alliance soldier, information on him had been, ironically, both easier to acquire and more difficult. He had been reported MIA two days after his re-enlistment, leading a squad of infantry through Vancouver to clear a path for rescue workers. The Alliance had no further updates, but Kaidan had been a soldier long enough to know that the length of time since anyone had seen his father told the story as accurately as any report could.
"Kaidan," his mother finally managed to squeeze out his name through her sobs, "you're alive." She smiled a tight watery smile, and Kaidan thought it was the most beautiful one he'd ever seen from her.
"Yeah, Mom," he replied, giving her a soft, gentle smile of his own, "I'm ok. Not even injured."
"They told me you were in a trauma center," his mother's voice broke on a sob again, "I was worried. Kaidan, your father…" Fresh tears prevented her from continuing.
"I know, Mom," he replied quietly, leaving the trauma center comment alone for now. "Where are you?" he asked her.
"Still at the orchard," she told him, "the news reports, what we could get before everything went dark, said outlying areas were safest."
He nodded. "That's good, Mom, that was smart. The news was right," he reassured her.
They spoke for a few more moments, not of anything too heavy - Kaidan knew that although his mother was a strong woman, she was stretched beyond her limits. Her told her he'd contact her tomorrow during duty hours to arrange for transport to him. He signed off with a quiet, "I love you, Mom," knowing that he wouldn't feel completely at peace until she was safe with him, but having to settle for now.
After the call was finished, he patted Hannah's hand once again, thanking her. She looked at him with a mother's eyes and then, surprising both him and herself, leaned over and placed a kiss on his forehead then turned without speaking and left him to the quiet of the room.