Shenko talking, takes place probably halfway through ME1. I recommend the song 'To the Moon and Back' by Savage Garden for this chapter's listening. YT it, if you don't know it.

Shepard sits on Luna, sweat from their long fight plastering her hair to her face and gazes at Earth disdainfully. The blue corona flares in her eyes for a moment, and she thinks if she could see herself, her eyes would reflect the blue glow of the oceans.

She blinks it away.

Earth doesn't seem all that impressive to her and she just wants Garrus to hurry up and fix the Mako so the Normandy can pick them up and she can have a steaming hot shower.

When they had tried to leave twenty minutes earlier, the Mako had refused to start and Garrus had said it would take him about an hour to fix. Technically, she can call the Normandy in anyway, Joker was off refueling and restocking on Earth, but she reasoned that she may as well let Garrus do it now, and not add back and forth trips to the Normandy's fuel allowance.

She also admits, very deep down, that she's a tiny bit glad for the excuse to miss a short visit to Earth.

It's so quiet on the moon; the only sounds are her squad mate's breathing over the suit comms. Her ears still ring a bit from the VI's last screech of static into her hardsuit earpiece. She finds it all a bit disquieting; this remote, almost mournful place. If she didn't know any better, she would say it was a dead world, a little satellite of emptiness orbiting a planet with too much life, filled to bursting with vying bodies and crowds and struggle.

Maybe Ash's god would have something to say about a Luna goddess, observing mortal struggles with a distant eye. Maybe she's got the wrong religion in mind though; worship was never her strong suit.

She feels too close to Earth, the last time she had been there was shore leave and Rio and it was a disaster. She thinks, with an angry sniff at the blue planet, that nothing good ever happens there.

'Birthplace of Humanity,' her ass. It's just another planet to her, another one with bad memories. She's visited a lot of planets in her time, and after a while she starts to feel that they're all just the same.

She has a burn on her arm from one of the VI's drones; it throbs and stings so she decides to sit in moon dust grumpily while Kaidan paces around their perimeter.

She notices through his helmet that his gaze keeps wandering to Earth and she can tell by the wrinkles at the corner of his eyes that he's smiling.

"What are you so happy for?" she calls to him and he starts to make his way over to her, grey dust swirling around his feet.

He says with pure happiness in his voice, "How many men can say they walked on the moon and looked at Earth like this?" he waves an arm to the planet she had been thinking so unkindly about only minutes before. She thinks there might be a note of reverence in his voice.

"Uh, tons, LT." Shepard says slowly, "The Alliance has bases here."

Kaidan laughs, now standing beside her, she cranes her head up to watch his eyes when he agrees, "I know, I know. I guess it's easy to forget in isolated places like this…but it's still beautiful and amazing."

He looks back at Earth then kicks a foot in the lunar soil, "I haven't stood here before. My footsteps are on the moon. Wow, humanity used to be only able to dream about things like this," he breathes, wonder and childlike curiosity in his voice.

Shepard's heart skips a beat. He's so…kind. She's never met a man like him, someone that would stand on the moon and be so awe-inspired at just the quiet beauty of a planet. He's always making sweet comments, and seems continually unaware of it. Not like her, she thinks she doesn't have an ounce of the goodness he possesses, that easy sense of wonder and hope.

She's never met a man like him, and that half terrifies and half thrills her.

She thinks with a jolt, that she's having a minor epiphany while sitting on the moon, of all places. She might have finally found a man that would never call her a bitch or a whore or try to strike her.

They've been flirting a lot lately, sometimes pretty seriously, and she plays along happily because it's fun and sets her pulse racing.

She had vaguely thought on her next shore leave she might find him at a bar and take him back to her hotel room to screw his brains out, get it out of her system and congratulate herself on a job well done.

She likes him; he's funny, good-looking and an interesting guy. Maybe even someone she can become good friends with…that elusive fuck buddy she can meet over the years and be able to trust enough to let her guard down.

Well…without being plastered with alcohol and not even remembering the sex the next day.

She had privately bet with herself a whole bottle of vodka that he'd be excellent in bed. She always found the quiet ones to know exactly what they were doing.

If they used each for a little satisfaction, what's the harm? Shepard knows he finds her attractive too.

But she's starting to realize that he's not that kind of man…and maybe, just maybe she's not that kind of woman anymore. She speaks to him and she starts to feel a tiny amount of worthiness, he talks about her with respect and even…pride. It's so new and unfamiliar, half the time she's scrambling to keep her cool and not throw herself at him. He'd probably run a mile if she moved too fast, she thinks with a smirk.

The words fall out of her mouth as he begins pacing in a little line again, "God, I sometimes forget…"

"What?" he asks, tilting his head in question.

"How much of a romantic you are."

A man goes to space to prove himself worthy of the woman he loves…or for justice, she remembers playing their conversation over in her head. He likes the old adventure books. She thinks that it suits Kaidan to a fault, he's all about worthiness and honor and old fashioned ideas.

Maybe Shepard could prove herself worthy too.

"I am not," she can see he's smiling again, a laugh in his voice over the suit comms.

"You really are." She teases, "You're all giddy."

Kaidan lowers himself to sit beside her, pointing to Earth, "It really reminds you what we're fighting to save. Doesn't it for you?" He bumps her shoulder with his own, "I mean you were born on Earth too, right?"

She doesn't answer for a moment, and rubs her stinging arm. He notices the movement and gently moves her forearm to his lap to examine it, "Shepard, you got hit."

"It's a minor burn." She dismisses his concern, "Medi-gel's fixed it, and the suit sealed the rupture."

"Pretty sure I'm the medic here," he chastises gently, examining it closely. "If it didn't seal correctly you could get an ebullism."

He spends a moment with his omni-tool hovering over her arm frowning. When his result chirp back that everything is sealed well and the burn is not bad she crows with self-satisfaction, "See? It's fine."

He releases her arm and makes a little disapproving noise in the back of his throat. Shepard rolls her eyes at him. Contrary to popular belief she wasn't that bad at self-administering first aid that she'd fuck up completely, expose her arm to vacuum and give herself an ebullism that would swell her arm to twice its size.

He's giving her the 'cranky eyebrow' face, the one that says she shouldn't be so stubborn and should have told someone she was hit so she forges ahead with their conversation and ignores him.

"Yes, to your question, by the way. I'm from Earth." She waves her arm to the often reviled planet and says with a note of self-deprecation, "I guess my sense of wonder has run off with my sense of humor today."

It's true, she's tired and out of sorts and probably PMSing and taking it out a little harshly on Earth. She had lain awake for too long last night thinking about…well, thinking about the man sitting beside her.

To her surprise, Kaidan barks a laugh, "Ha! Run off together. Like the song, right? Good place for it." He hums a little offbeat tune, "'Hey, Diddle, Diddle, the Cat and the Fiddle…'"

Shepard's mouth falls open in shock, he's singing to her. No one's ever sung to her. She's sitting on the moon and someone is singing to her. And the song is damn weird.

"What?" she chokes out, not sure if he's mocking her. She can't even laugh at him and diffuse the situation; she's not even sure what to say. What do normal people do when a man starts singing to them? Women on the vids tended to start crying or something, right? She thinks a little too desperately, casting around for another VI to shoot. She so doesn't do mushy things.

Kaidan looks at her as if she's the one that just burst into song, and says simply, "You know…like the nursery rhyme? 'The Cow jumped over the moon'?"

Nursery rhyme?

Oh. Maybe she was overacting a little; he was just trying to tell her a silly child's verse. She feels her face flush and is glad he can't see.

Shepard shakes her head and says with forced calm, "Doesn't ring a bell."

"How can you not know that?" he asks as if she's suddenly sprouted a fringe like a turian or declared she was going to take over the world.

"I just don't," she shrugs her shoulders, feeling a little defensive. He doesn't know about her past and it's going to stay that way.

A silence falls between them and she shifts a little awkwardly on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest.

She feels like an idiot, that nursery rhyme was obviously well known. Fuck, she always messes things up in these sorts of conversations. She doesn't know how to talk to men, she always plays it cool with some witty rejoinder or used her sexuality to throw them off-guard, but she always seems to be fumbling around Kaidan.

She suddenly feels inferior. He's obviously a nice, relatively well-rounded guy from a nice family and she's some low-class street urchin pretending at playing soldier.

Her stupid mother had never even sung her a nursery rhyme.

Shepard traces her ugly, crooked teeth with her tongue and feels a hot, sick swoop of self-loathing trickle down her throat.

Kaidan begins speaking, obviously missing her sudden mood change, "You know…this would be a great place to play some baseball."

"Really?" she struggles to even her voice.

"Oh yeah." She's happy to see he notices no change in her tone, "It'd be great in the lowered gravity. Baseball on the moon, now there's a goal to shoot for."

Grateful for the topic change, she seizes on it, "You don't strike me as the sporty type. Outdoorsy sure, but not sports."

"No, I guess I'm not really," he shrugs two shoulders. "But I enjoyed a few good games with my cousins back on Earth. I watch the curling when I'm on leave on Earth with my folks sometimes," he says with a small self-conscious smile in his voice.

Shepard laughs, "Curling?"

"Yeah, it's this Canadian game where-"

"I know what it is, I grew up in Vancouver for a little while," she interrupts, forestalling his explanation, "I just…it's so boring, Kaidan!"

"Hey, I like it," he protests and she laughs at him again, "And really? You're Canadian? I never would have guessed."

Shepard sighs, "I'm not really. We just lived there for a while."

"Your folks move a lot?" he perks a little in interest, turning his body more fully to hers, "Alliance family?"

"No," she shakes her head, "My family didn't…uh, they didn't work. It was just my mother and brother."

"Where were you born then?"

"No idea," Shepard says shortly.

"What?" His voice is uncertain, and she doesn't blame him. It's rare these days not to have documentation on datapads. "How can you not know?"

"Like I said, we moved a lot." She shifts awkwardly again, looking away from his eyes back to Earth, "Mom would get a boyfriend and we'd move cities, or countries. She was into drugs and…stuff. Records got lost, even if I ever had them. I didn't think to ask my mother b-before… well before things happened."

She can feel the surprise radiating off him and rushes ahead in her explanation, self-conscious. "My dad ran out on my mother before I was born, I think. I don't know if they were ever together. All I know is he gave me 'Shepard'."

She laughs sarcastically and he listens in silence, "Is it weird to admit I used to hope he was some Alliance hero? Y'know…" She waves a hand airily, but feels exposed talking like this, "Someone tall, dark and handsome, and just happened to get killed before he could return and be my perfect, normal dad? I know deep down that he just didn't want me, though. He was probably some...junkie who's condom broke and knocked up my mother."

"No. That's not weird at all," he says gently. "Geez, that's rough. Kids deserve a father."

Shepard balks at his proclamation and says sharper than she intends, "Why's that? I don't need one."

He immediately realizes how he sounds and back-pedals, "I mean…you don't need one." He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly through his suit. "But I think a man should take responsibility for his children, you know stick around to raise them."

"The world isn't that simple, Lieutenant," She says, and knows her voice seems cold but feels unable to gentle it. She sounds sarcastic as she continues, "Let me guess: your dad took you to soccer practice and taught you moon related nursery rhymes?"

"Uh. I guess so," Kaidan doesn't take any offence though and plainly tells her, "Mostly my mother did, he was away a lot on Alliance deployment. He…he's a good man though."

Shepard doesn't say anything in answer, a little horrified she let the conversation take such a personal turn. She never spoke about her family. Never. Why the fuck was she talking dead-beat dads with him?

It's not appropriate conversation for subordinate and superior to speak about. Oh man. She is so screwed, she thinks, internally cursing herself.

Desperate for a distraction from her crumbling professional distance, she casts around for something else to talk about.

She thinks about what they were talking about earlier and makes a considering noise in her throat, "Hmm baseball on the moon."

She gets up, dusts her ass off and quickly moves away from him. He watches her with a quizzical light in his eyes.

She sticks her ass out and pretends to ready an invisible baseball bat and calls, "Ok, batter up!"

He laughs, standing up too and says, "What are you doing?"

"Duh, obvious: I'm playing baseball on the moon."

There's that laugh over the suit comms again, and she wiggles her butt and the pretend bat with clenched fists.

Kaidan claps his hands together, "Ok. I can play baseball." He makes a motion like he's preparing to throw an invisible ball, "Ready? Here comes the pitch!"

Shepard swings her arm with all her might, visualizing a ball sailing towards her and screams with mock excitement, "And she's away! Home run! The crowd goes wild."

She starts running in a pretend circuit of bases and Kaidan gives up his job of pitcher, laughing wildly and chases her. Shepard squeals, trying to put distance between them with her quick, small steps but his legs are too long and he catches her around her middle.

In the lessened gravity his body collides with hers softly and they roll to the dusty ground gently, breathless with laughter.

He gets up off her and she sits beside him, tears of happiness and childish excitement leaking from her eyes. Her arm doesn't even hurt anymore.

Once they catch their breath, Kaidan nudges her shoulder again and says, "Since you gave me the goal I was shooting for, I want to give you something, too."

"Ok," she chirps happily, "what is it?"

"Open your hand."

She does and he scoops up some mood dust and lets it trickle slowly into her hand. It almost seems to glitter as she rubs it between her armored gloves.

"There, I've given you a piece of the moon and now I'm going to teach you the nursery rhyme. Alright?"

Shepard nods, her laughter falling off her face as he starts to sing quietly over the comm:

Hey diddle diddle,

The Cat and the fiddle,

The Cow jumped over the moon,

The little Dog laughed

To see such fun,

And the Dish ran away with the Spoon

She hums a little along with him and thinks he has a really nice voice for signing. He can't carry a tune of course, but his low gravelly quality is comforting.

"So does this mean we're gonna run away together, Kaidan?" she says quietly, looking at him from beneath thick lashes. She knows she's being coy and flirty but she's unable to stop the words popping out her mouth.

He laughs lowly and rasps, "Maybe…but only if I get to be the spoon and I don't have to jump over the moon."

She grins in her helmet, glad her mouth is mostly covered so he can't notice and see her teeth. She thinks he can tell she is amused though, her breathing puffing out in a sigh of laughter over his comm.

Shepard lowers her head, for only one weak moment she tells herself, to his shoulder. Side by side on the ground, they watch Earth before them and don't say anything else until Garrus calls them over the comms. The world is their imperfect oyster.

He's given her a game of baseball, the moon and a song. He's definitely like no other man she's met.