Holy huge apologies. First my comp went stupid. Thankfully that has been fixed. Then there was a death in the family and my dear mother (said with all the non-sarcastic love I can muster, which is pretty non-existant at this point) insisted I come home for an entire month. I am trying to play catch-up now, having had no access to a computer (she lives in the dark ages. ugh.)
Anyway, enjoy dear readers. I love you all and thank you all for the likes/follows/comments.
Bioware owns all (though there are a couple of mentions of Marcus, who is mine.)
Ok maybe this was a bad idea after all, Kate thought as she stood in the corridor between the CIC and the cockpit. Her father had finally relented and had just sent Kaidan's new orders. But Zaeed and Garrus had just caught sight of the major standing in the cockpit with Joker and EDI. Kaidan didn't seem to be taking the news well that the synthetic body which had tried to kill him and Kate on Mars now not only housed the Normandy's AI but was also Joker's girlfriend.
"What the bloody hell is he doing here?" Zaeed growled in Kate's ear as he possessively wrapped one arm around her shoulders, the other low on her waist and pulled her back against him.
She sighed heavily as she rested her head against his shoulder. "He is here because I asked him to be. Please don't make a big thing of it. It was hard enough getting Dad to agree to it."
Zaeed laughed. "Bullshit. Getting your old man to agree to anything is the easiest thing you've ever done, kitten."
"I don't like this," Garrus said as he glared in Kaidan's direction. "He's called you a traitor, on more than one occasion, accused you of betraying your own father, and yet now you stand ready to trust him to watch your back in a war?"
"He apologized," she countered.
"He's 'apologized' before, Kate," Zaeed said. "What maeks you so sure this time he was sincere?"
"If he truly believed I was working for Cerberus, he wouldn't have hesitated and would have shot me when I gave him the chance during the coup attempt."
"About that..."
"Please don't start, Z," Kate said quietly. "I've already been yelled at by my dad, Anderson, Chloe, Garrus James and Kaidan. I don't need it from you too."
Zaeed gently bit the pulse point in her neck. "This is not over, kitten," he said. "but at the moment, we're more concerned with Alenko."
"Damn right," Garrus growled. "If he's gonna be here long term, we're laying down some ground rules."
Kate rolled her eyes. "You two do remember I am the commander of this ship, yes?"
"We know," Zaeed said as he spun her in his arms and kissed her. "We just want to make sure Alenko knows his place here."
Yup, definitely a bad idea, Kate decided as she walked to the elevator and retreated to the sanctuary of the Loft.
"Hey," Kaidan said, smiling as Garrus walked into the cockpit. The turian only glared and said nothing.
"Shut it, Alenko," Zaeed snarled as he joined the group. EDI sensed the hostile environment and made a quick exit.
"What's the problem, Massani?" Kaidan asked, only too happy to see the AI leave.
"You are, jackass."
Kaidan raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? What did I ever do to you?"
Zaeed laughed humorlessly. "You really are a bloody idiot. If you'd ever done anything to me, you'd be dead."
Kaidan scoffed.
"No. This is about what you did to Kate," Zaeed said viciously.
The major's face fell. "Oh."
"Now, I have no fucking clue what she was thinking in bringing you back onboard this ship, but it's her call. However, I will be keeping an eye on you, Alenko. This is your only warning: if you so much as make her frown, I will end you." Without waiting for a reaction or reply, Zaeed abruptly turned and headed to the elevator.
Kaidan looked to Garrus for help. He found none. "Don't look at me," the turian said coldly. "I'm with Massani on this one."
"Since when do you two get along?" Kaidan asked warily.
"Since you broke my best friend's heart and he was the one who picked up the pieces," Garrus growled and walked away.
Kaidan turned to Joker. "What do I do?" the major asked helplessly.
"Tread carefully or run like hell," Joker said with a grim smile. "You have no idea how glad I am that I'm not you right now."
"Thanks. That was so helpful," Kaidan said sarcastically.
Joker sighed. "Look. I know this is rough, but if I can survive Massani post-break-up, so can you."
"Wait. What? When were you and Kate together?"
"Back on Arcturus, when we were teenagers." The look in Joker's eyes said that it had been around the time that Kate was kidnapped by Marcus.
"That must have been hard," the major said quietly.
Joker shook his head. "Harder than you can imagine. I was there, Kaidan, the day before Marcus came."
"Jesus."
"Anyway, after Massani brought her home, she and I both realized she didn't need or want a boyfriend right then. What she needed was someone to lean on, someone who would listen. Someone other than her father who could make her feel safe again after Massani left."
"So he's always been this protective?"
"Who, Massani?" Joker scoffed. "Think about it, Kaidan. Think about how they met. Of course he's always been this protective. Hell, you, Garrus and Wrex were damn lucky he didn't kill you after that thing with Harkin a year ago. Of course, you were lucky he didn't kill you after Horizon. I guess he thought Kate had done enough damage, at the time."
Kaidan ignored the last comment. "Harkin is back?"
"Was. Now he's dead."
"What happened? He somehow manage to get his hands on Kate?"
"Right in one," Joker said darkly. "It was horrible, man. I've never seen Massani so freaked. It didn't help that Garrus and Kate had toled him about what had happened before (Gods was he pissed) and less than 48 hours later, she was gone. Harkin came damn close to killing her, though if Massani and Garrus hadn't found her when they did, we might have had a Marcus repeat first. And those two were in hper-protective mode for weeks after that, even after Massani snapped Harkin's neck."
"How does Garrus fit into all this?" Kaidan asked, trying not to think about Zaeed breaking a man's neck.
"Kate was helping him with a mission when they were attacked. By the way, don't mention any of this to Hackett. I don't think Kate ever told him about Harkin, any of it."
Kaidan gave Joker a bewildering look. "Do I look stupid? I don't want to think what Kate had to do to get the admiral to let me back on this ship. No way I'm jeopardizing that."
Joker laughed. "First off, looks have nothing to do with it. You are stupid. Only a complete moron would tell Hackett's daughter, to her face, that she betrayed him and not expect to get punched. That aside, don't let her sob story fool you. No matter what BS she tries to feed you, it wasn't that hard for her to change his mind. Every once in awhile, she may have to wear him down a bit, but he will give her damn near anything she asks him for. Always been like that, even before Omega. But she rarely asks Hackett for anything, professionally anyway. Doesn't want anyone to think she didn't earn her stripes legitimately."
Kate was lounging on the couch when Zaeed came storming into the Loft. "You didn't hurt him did you?" she asked, watching with interest as he stripped down to his boxers.
"I didn't, yet. Can't speak for Vakarian and Moreau," he said as he lifted her feet and sat down next to her. "But now that that's dealt with, let's talk about you and your apparent death wish."
Kate said nothing as she swung her legs around, got up and stood in front of him, a coy smile gracing her lips as she slowly pulled the zipper on the front of her N7 hoodie.
Zaeed's eyes darkened as the hoodie fell to the floor, followed by her jeans, leaving Kate wearing nothing but her necklace and dog-tags. He pulled her towards him, his hands firmly on her hips as she straddled his. He kissed a path from her navel up to her breasts as she slowly sank into his lap.
"Don't think I can't see what you're trying to do here, kitten," he growled as he bit her shoulder and his hands slid up her sides. His fingers brushed over the still-tender scar from Udina's assassination attempt and Kate gasped as her eyes met his. "I'm serious about this talk. Seduction will not get you a permanent block on this topic."
"As you wish," she purred as she took his hand and slid it down to her thigh before slipping her hand into his boxers.
His grip on her thigh unconsciously tightened and he groaned. "You play dirty, kitten."
She smirked. "No, Z. I play to win. Now shut up and fuck me," she murmured as she leaned in and captured his lips with hers in a passionate kiss.
His entire argument forgotten, Zaeed found he could do nothing but comply.