A/N - FYI, I love Kasumi. I hope I did her justice.

Kaidan wasn't sure what woke him so abruptly the next morning. Some instinct, some sense, that there was something wrong. His heart skipped a beat until the regular rhythmic sounds of the machines monitoring Shepard's heartbeat and breathing penetrated the panic that was rising in his chest. He allowed himself a calming breath and listened to the silence behind the machines, assessing.

"I'm impressed," he heard a cheerful voice announce and then saw Kasumi Goto shimmer out of her tactical cloak a second later. "The fact that you noticed something was off, even in sleep, makes you better than the last three men I killed." Kasumi giggled at her own particular brand of humor.

He didn't know much about the infiltrator-thief but he liked what he had seen so far. Still, her incessant habit of using her tactical cloak to play practical jokes on her friends was sometimes off-putting, and definitely took getting used to. He shook his head and just accepted that, like the many other misfits Shepard seemed to attract like some type of space zookeeper, Kasumi was part of the family. He realized he was being fanciful and getting off track and cleared his throat and sat up straight in the recliner.

"What are you doing here, Kasumi? And why are you cloaked?" He asked the thief.

"I wanted to see her," Kasumi gestured to Shepard, "and I'm not anymore."

Ask a question; get an answer, Kaidan thought, shaking his head. He saw the sober, uncharacteristic look on the thief's pretty face though and he knew there was more here than what she was saying. He sat back to wait her out. Kasumi did things in her own time, her own way, no amount of pressure or questions would rush her.

"She helped me once," Kasumi spoke quietly, almost too low for Kaidan to hear, but her words didn't surprise him. Shepard helped everyone. Kasumi had pulled a device from behind her back, and was showing it to him. "She helped me – acquire – this."

Kaidan studied the object in the thief's hands, not misunderstanding for a moment that 'acquire' in Kasumi meant 'steal' in English and wondered what circumstances would reduce the Shepard he knew to the level of petty theft. Galaxy saving, of course, he thought wryly. Never a slouch with tech, he recognized the graybox for what it was, but he wondered how technology so new and cutting edge fit into the galaxy-saving plan and settled back for what he was sure would be an entertaining story. He nodded at Kasumi, encouraging her to continue.

"It contains all the thoughts and memories of the man I loved," she stated simply.

Kaidan sucked a breath through his teeth. He hadn't expected that. And right now, it cut a little close to the quick.

Kasumi gave him a startled glance, surprised at his reaction, then thought a moment about the way that she had phrased her explanation. "That wasn't the point," she clarified, "just the introduction."

Kaidan accepted her implied apology for her bluntness and relaxed, waiting for her to continue.

"On the shuttle ride back, I couldn't wait to put it on, to see what Keiji had left for me. We plugged it in and discovered that he had encrypted top secret files – none of which matter now - so don't ask," she cut him off before he could question, "and he wanted me to destroy it, to destroy everything, the only thing I had left of him."

Kaidan heard the pain in her voice. Clearly she had loved this man with a depth Kaidan realized he had incorrectly assumed she didn't possess. He was sure Shepard knew though.

Kasumi looked at him, searching his face, and seemed to find the answer she wanted there, she took a breath and continued. "Shep told me if it was important to me, I could keep it. She said I just needed to be prepared to live with the consequences. I didn't know her well then - it was right after we met - so I assumed she was worried about my safety, and I reassured her to that effect."

Kasumi smiled then and he realized, not for the first time, how beautiful she was. "It wasn't until I got to know her, and saw your picture in her cabin, that I realized that she wasn't talking about the encrypted data. She was talking about the memories. I even understand what she meant now. Sometimes, the things we love are the things that hurt us the most too."

Kaidan filed the message under her words away with the heading 'think it about it later' and grasped at the part of her story that surprised him the most. "She kept a picture of me?" he asked her, his surprise coloring his voice.

"Yeah, a really dorky one," Kasumi answered, studying him, "the real thing is much better."

Kaidan had to grin at her easy humor, even as he felt a blush rise, "Why thank you, ma'am," he told her. "But, why?"

"I think it was her own graybox," Kasumi replied softly, "at least it explains why she turned down every male on the ship, even some of the women. Nothing like a suicide mission to get the hormones going," the thief mused, obviously lost in her own memories now, "although Garrus surprised me. I always thought they had this buddy thing going…" she broke off as she saw the man across the room was, well, spluttering for lack of a better word, "What?" she asked, surprised.

"Garrus? Vakarian?" he choked out, in case there had been another turian sniper named Garrus on the Normandy in the Cerberus days.

"Yeah, something about reach and flexibility," Kasumi's answer was not enlightening in the least. "The point is, Major, that she rejected all offers and spent most of her nights in her cabin with your picture her only company. Just like I spent all my time in mine with Keiji's graybox. And now you spend all your time sitting here holding her hand. I guess we're all fools for love."

Kaidan couldn't argue with that, although he felt that the fact that his love was alive alive alive put a slightly different spin on things. But… Garrus… he shook his head, sighing… That was something to file under heading 'never think about again.' He smiled at Kasumi and gestured for her to take the other seat and they sat to watch over the woman who had touched them both with her love.

He started once again when he felt the pressure – slight, not even close to her usual strength – but Shepard was, without a doubt, squeezing the hand he was holding in his. He couldn't breathe for a full minute, then he felt the squeeze again and looked up at Kasumi. He didn't know his eyes were wide and filled with tears, that he looked as shocked as a man who had seen a ghost. He croaked out, "Kasumi, go get the doctor," and raised the hand that was once again squeezing his, even stronger now, and kissed it. Alive alive alive alive