A/N: Last chapter I have completely written. I'm sorry updates have been so sporadic. It may be a little while before I can update again.
And don't get jealous of the other story I have going now, I wrote it for NaNo. So it's got a lot done already.

Reality

When she came to, Kaidan was gently massaging her forehead. The doctor was looking at her worriedly. "Major Shepard, are –"

"I'm fine," she mumbled, batting him away. "Are you sure you didn't read it wrong?"

He frowned, probably tempted to make a comment about having gone to medical school for this sort of thing. "I'm sure. It looks like twins to me."

Shepard frowned. "I-I . . ."

"We got dosed, Marra, remember?" Kaidan murmured. She glanced up. His skin was stark white, and his hand shook where it rested on her shoulder. "It's not surprising when you take that into consideration."

"Mm." She sighed, looking back at the doctor. "Sorry. I'm used to getting shot at, not told all this. It's a bit of a shock."

"Yes, I realized that when you told me the circumstances." He glanced up. "We'll need to send this to Command, if you're right."

"Oh, hell, no," Shepard said. "No. They'll find out when they need to."

"Whatever you want. We're already doing this on the down-low for you." He handed her a pair of datapads. "You are set to go. I compiled all this for Doctor Chakwas. The second copy is for you."

"Thanks." Shepard pulled her shirt back on and slid off the bed.

"If you can manage it, I would like to see you in another six weeks."

"We'll do our best," Kaidan said. "And you're sure everything's fine?"

"I'm sure everything's fine, Major Alenko."

"Thanks." Kaidan gently wrapped his arm around Shepard's waist as they left the room, then passed through the waiting room. He felt eyes on him again; this time, he was pretty sure Shepard did too.

"Great," Shepard murmured as they entered the elevator. "Twenty credits says there's a reporter out here."

"I'm sure there isn't."

Shepard flicked on the datapad, opening up to the first image. "It's weird," she said, scrunching up her nose slightly. "This is all going on right now. And I didn't know any of it."

"Explains why your symptoms were so bad."

She nodded, biting her lip. "Yeah."

He was suddenly worried. "Marra?"

"Sorry. It just seems real now." She glanced up at him. "It was all well and good when Chakwas told me and I got the initial shock but I still sort of hoped I was just sick. Now it's . . . I mean . . . Kaidan."

The doors opened into the lobby before he could answer, and they headed towards the doors. Chakwas was waiting for them. "I've got some equipment and medications coming into the Normandy," she explained. "How was your appointment?"

Shepard silently handed her one of the datapads. Chakwas turned it on. "Huh. Well. Congratulations, Majors."

"Thanks." They started out the doors and into the Ward. "Alenko nearly passed out."

"Shepard did."

Chakwas fought to hide a small smile. "I'm not surprised. I'm sure it would have come as a shock."

"Yeah. It did," Shepard replied quietly.

"But everything looks all right?"

"So he said," Kaidan answered. Shepard grabbed his arm. "What?"

"I'm getting a . . ." she said quietly, one hand falling to her gun. "Someone's watching us."

"Keep walking," he murmured. One hand went protectively to her back, his other to his sidearm. "Doc-"

"I'm well able to take care of myself," Chakwas assured them. They made it a few more steps.

"Major Shepard." A nondescriptly dressed man stepped in front of them, blocking their path forward. "So good to see you again."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry. Have we met before?"

"Probably not. There's a matter I need to discuss with you privately. Would you mind coming with me for a few minutes?"

A few days before, Shepard might have taken him up on the offer just because she'd have been amped and carrying all her weapons and feeling, if not at one-hundred percent, at least at about fifty. She'd cleared Project Base on about ten percent, and finished off the Reapers on about five.

At the moment, however, she had no amp, was forbidden to use her biotics by a professional obstetrician, and had a reason to not put herself in a sketchy situation. So she shook her head. "No."

"Did something give you the impression that I was asking?" No weapon was drawn, but the implicit threat was there.

"You've really got a quad," Shepard replied. "You'd openly accost two Spectres for no reason in the middle of the Citadel?"

Kaidan stepped the slightest bit in between her and him, already flared. "I suggest walking the other way," he said calmly, but his voice still carried a hiss of pointedness. An implicit threat that he should walk the other way, lest he find himself suddenly and violently thrown the opposite direction.

Shepard felt Chakwas' hands on her arms, quietly moving her away. "Hey, wait, what-"

"Sniper," she murmured.

"What?! I-"

Kaidan suddenly flared even brighter, the man in front of him suddenly flying into the air as a gunshot sounded and Kaidan tossed himself to the side. The sniper round intended for Kaidan hit the man instead of him, and he let him drop as he drew his sidearm and retreated. Chakwas pushed Shepard into cover inside a store and suddenly produced a pistol.

"What, is that part of medical training?" Shepard asked. "Where did you even get that?"

Chakwas didn't answer, instead firing a single round through the doorway.

Shepard checked the clip on her own weapon, then looked up at the panicked shoppers. "This is Spectre business. Just stay in here." She waved her hand, looking very unconcerned. They seemed to accept that – a few recognized her – and hid behind whatever they could find in the store. Kaidan dove through the store himself, taking cover behind the other side of the arch.

"What the hell is going on?" Shepard tried to see out the door. Chakwas nudged her back.

"Nice shooting, Doctor," Kaidan said, as he reached out and found one of the other snipers, pulling him into the open. Shepard leaned around the door and fired, and Kaidan let him drop to the ground.

"Thank you, Major." Chakwas nodded. "I've had practice." The way she said it indicated that the circumstances had been less than ideal.

Shepard opened her omni-tool, feeling hideously useless. "C-Sec, this is Spectre Shepard. There's a shootout near Huerta Memorial involving myself and Spectre Alenko. No rush, but you're going to have bodies to clean up." Shepard tried to ready her weapon again. "Come on, let me do something."

"Stop it," Chakwas chided.

"I've got a clean line of sight on the last one," Kaidan said. "I only counted five out there."

"Rather shoddy operation."

"Yeah. I'm thinking we might have another surprise or two on the way back to the Normandy." Kaidan swung out and fired a couple of times into a spot Shepard couldn't see, and then ducked back in. No returning fire came. "I think it's clear. Stay here."

"Kaidan-" Shepard stood and tried to follow him. Chakwas pulled her back.

"Even if you're wearing a shield generator, I'm not risking it," he replied, after a nod at the doctor.

Shepard frowned, watching as Kaidan stepped out into the now-empty square. She jumped when his shields suddenly flared and a sniper rifle retorted. He spun and fired. "Clear," he called back.

Chakwas finally released Shepard's arm and she headed out, finding the body of the man who'd first stopped them. "Check his omni-tool," she said, pointing, and Kaidan pried it off his wrist. Shepard was busy patting down the man's pockets.

"What are you looking for?"

"Anything," Shepard replied. "There has to be something around here."

"Nothing on here." Kaidan dropped the omni-tool into his pocket. "You?"

She shook her head. "Not yet." Kaidan bent down to pick up a sniper rifle by the body of one of the men he'd grabbed.

"Looks like they were firing concussions. They wanted to take us out, maybe alive."

"They must have realized that you were both wearing shield generators." Chakwas scanned the hallways, keeping her hand on Shepard's arm. "We should get back to the Normandy."

"She's right." Shepard stood. "With how bad this was, there might be more waiting for us."

"Oh. Wow. You weren't kidding." A turian's voice suddenly stated from behind them. They turned, Shepard and Kaidan's hands on weapons, only to be relievedthat he was wearing a C-Sec uniform. "Lieutenant Kallick."

"Shepard," she said, nodding. "And that's Alenko." He nodded. "We got jumped."

"Someone jumped the two most famous Spectres?" Kallick shook his head. "Poor bastards never stood a chance. We've got it from here."

#

Joker looked up as the airlocks chimed, admitting Shepard, Alenko, and Chakwas. "So how's the Citadel?"

"Hideous, as usual," Shepard replied sharply, starting for the elevator. He looked up at Kaidan.

"What's eating her? Obviously not you, with that attitude."

"We got jumped," Kaidan explained, leaning on the entrance to the cockpit and ignoring Joker's comment.

"No shit. Who?"

Chakwas followed Shepard into the CIC, jogging to catch up with her.

"No idea. It might have been Echidna, but there weren't any logos or IDs on them."

"Huh." Joker frowned. "In the middle of Alteri Ward?" Kaidan nodded. "Only a Cerberus-like organization is that stupid."

"I don't like it." Kaidan sighed. "Either way, Shepard's exhausted. She's going to lie down."

"She's your wife, Alenko, you can use her name."

"Force of habit. There's two times I use her name, and only one of them's in public."

Joker made an exaggerated gagging display. "Too much, Alenko."

"You asked," he retorted as he started for the elevator.

He found Shepard already sprawled on the bed in their quarters, fast asleep. He shook his head but didn't go any further into the room, settling down at her terminal. She'd had one installed for him on the other desk, but it was too close to the bed and he didn't want to disturb her. As he sat down, he rested his elbows on the desk and set his head in his hands.

He didn't want to worry Shepard, but this was terrifying – even more so now. A myriad of concerns were running through his head. He glanced up at the sleeping woman on the bed. How, or were, they going to have young children on a ship this small? Could they expand the Loft? They would have to find somewhere to live and rotate on-off like a normal military family (and Shepard would hate that). Was she going to be all right?

Most of all, who was after her? And – he looked down at the datapad in front of him, laying where Shepard had casually thrown it, and thought that the next phrase was incredibly hard to think – who was after their children?

That was his most pressing concern.

He pulled the ringleader's omni-tool out of his pocket, turning it back on and flipping through the holographic interface. It turned up nothing more than his first cursory glance had: Shepard's exact description, orders to take her alive with minimal harm, the location of the hospital, and the time they left the Normandy.

The mole strikes again, he thought, powering the device back down. He'd told her that nothing was on the omni-tool because it would just worry her - he knew her too well. And he knew that adding to her stress, with the pregnancy, would just make things worse.

Shepard murmured something in her sleep and rolled onto her side. He sighed and turned on the datapad, staring down at the first image.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Don't have to be so quiet," Shepard's quiet voice said. Kaidan looked up, surprised to find her pushing herself up and sitting cross-legged on the bed.

"You were asleep."

"Yeah. And now I'm not." She rubbed at one side of her face. "How long have you been sitting there?"

"About . . ." He looked at the time on his omni-tool. "An hour."

"Uh." She stretched. "Still tired."

"Go back to sleep."

"Why would someone jump us?" Shepard murmured, continuing to stretch. "They'd know it was stupid. They'd know we'd win. I don't know why . . ."

"I don't either." Kaidan settled on the bed next to her and pulled her into his arms. She leaned her head on his chest, closing her eyes. She was quiet for a while, and he contented himself in holding her.

They had too few moments like this.

A/N: Re: Chakwas being a raging badass: If you've read Chiaroscuro, there was a throwaway line in the attack on the Normandy (Chapter 36) there's a throwaway line to Joker seeing a large pool of Collector blood around medbay door. It isn't clear, but the inference is that you don't mess with Karin Chakwas. I would explain where this headcanon comes from but my words aren't working at 1:14am so ... yeah.

Deanna: xD Glad to hear it!

Bree: Thanks! My headcanon has been Shenko twins for quite a while. I'm not entirely sure why. I think it's because I know they would drive Shepard insane and my goal in life is to make my characters crazy.