HERS
A shuffle woke Shepard. She sat up and realized she was still in hospital and the shuffle was Kaidan moving in his bed. But movement is good. That means he's regaining control of his entire body.
They both had had a difficult few weeks. Shepard was constantly being unwrapped, slathered in medigel, placed under a dermal regenerator, which was painfully slow, and then her tender new skin was rewrapped. She was grateful that it was mostly on her arms and not her slowly expanding abdomen, but she wished she could touch things without the sensation of gauze dulling her ability to feel.
Kaidan's mom, Emily, was there every day as well. She helped him get to his physical therapy sessions and she was there to do all the running that could be done. She got Shepard every bit of information that she could find on where the Normandy was, which, at this point, was unknown. She also snuck in regular food to them, especially Shepard. Biotics were a hungry lot, but pregnant biotics ate amounts that would rival a krogan.
In the silence of the room, Shepard laid her wrapped hands on the bump of her stomach and smiled at Kaidan's still sleeping form. Today was promising to be a different and better day than those previous. In a few short hours, they would get their first glimpse of their baby.
With a quick snore and a cough, Kaidan opened his eyes. Blinking, he looked over toward Shepard. He pushed himself up using his weak left arm. Always intentional in your actions still. Working when you don't need to.
"Hey," she said quietly. "How'd you sleep?"
"Crazy dreams like always," Kaidan said. "Did I do anything weird?"
"You mean you don't remember climbing into my bed last night and giving me pleasure beyond comprehension?"
He smiled and chuckled. "You shouldn't tease like that. It's bad enough to have you in the same room, wrapped up like you are, and yet just in that skimpy hospital gown. It's like waiting on Christmas…when it's only July."
"You aren't the one who has to watch someone else give you a bath," Shepard smiled wickedly. It had been a while since they flirted like this because it had taken Kaidan an extra week to regain full consciousness after they removed his L2 amp and replaced it with an L5, and that apparently cleared up any speech problems he had.
Kaidan lay back on his pillow. "Don't make me get too excited. Either I'll try to get out of this bed to get to you, fall on my ass and break something, or you'll just have to watch me take care of it.
Shepard laughed, "As long as you call out my name, go right ahead…"
He closed his eyes while smiling. "You are a damn tease. Still."
Emily Alenko entered the room while Shepard was still laughing. "I'm glad to see you two in such good spirits!" She was carrying a bag. "I brought you some breakfast because I know you don't get your normal breakfast until 7 and you both seem to wake so early."
"Terrific. I'm so famished," Shepard declared. "I'm wondering if this baby is a biotic too, because I am always so damn hungry."
Emily smiled and started pulling out the food. Shepard eyed it all hungrily.
"Are you excited about today?" Emily asked as she gave Shepard a generous plate of food.
"Yeah…I never saw myself as a mom. Ever. But today, I actually kind of feel like I could be."
"You already are, dear," Emily smiled. "You just don't know it yet. Taking care of all you've taken care of…that maternal instinct is stronger in you than you realize."
Shepard blushed slightly at the compliment. "I don't know about that. So, tell me, how was it being Kaidan's mom?"
Emily sat on the bed beside Kaidan and looked thoughtful. "Well, at first, it was hard because I thought I had failed him before he was even born. When they told us about the eezo exposure, I was sure he was going to develop cancer and die, perhaps in the womb. When he came out healthy, it was just a joy day after day."
Shepard snickered and choked a little on her food. "God, Kaidan, you are Mr. Perfect, aren't you?"
Kaidan gave her a sideways look. "You had just better hope our kids take after me."
"Pfft. Hardly, Kaidan," said Emily quickly. "You gave your father and me plenty of grief."
"What? Kaidan? Trouble?! I want to hear about this," Shepard said gleefully.
Kaidan sighed and Emily patted his leg. "Kaidan was a quiet and tidy boy, but he had a bad habit of playing tricks with his biotics. Specifically lifting his poor mother into the air and leaving her there as long as he could."
"I was just...," Kaidan started.
"You were 12 years old, and you should have known better!" his mother chided.
Kaidan furrowed his brow. "Mom…this is ancient history."
"And completely relevant to today. You know children get some of their personalities from their parents. It's just too bad you didn't turn out more like me." Emily's eyes twinkled. Shepard laughed, but quickly became somber. I wish I had that kind of relationship with my parents, but that chance is gone. I never even got to tell them I got married.
Emily and Kaidan saw Shepard's face suddenly turn sad. "Hey," Kaidan said. "The war has taken from everyone. I told you before that I'd help you build a family, and I'm still here."
"How did…?" Shepard started to say, then two nurses came walking in the room. "Are you both ready?" said one cheerfully. "It's time to take a peek at that baby!"
HIS
Kaidan insisted on maneuvering himself to the edge of the bed and only let the nurse guide him into the wheelchair. He wasn't going to be in this hospital any longer than he had to, but today he was happy to be where he was, but he still hated being carted around in a wheelchair. It made him seem so incapacitated, when in actuality, he could already walk with help. Every day, he pushed himself in therapy, just as hard as he had worked out while Shepard was…being brought back to life. He wasn't going to let anything rob him of the life that now seemed within his grasp.
A wife, a family, peace.
He couldn't help but be an old-fashioned kind of guy. Even with all the war and horrors he had seen, maybe because of it, he still longed for the peaceful civilian life. When he was younger, the excitement of the Alliance was enticing, but even then he knew that the fight would have to end someday.
Watching the nurse put Shepard into her chair, he saw the telltale silhouette of her small pregnant belly beneath her gown. His heart swelled with pride and admiration. This baby, our baby, is already a fighter. Still here after all the hell it's been through. Going to be just like its mother.
The nurses then pushed the pair out of the room and down the hall. Emily followed along behind the two, smiling like only a mother about to be a grandmother could.
When they entered the room, it looked much like the communications room on the Normandy, save the examination bed. After helping Shepard up onto the bed, the technician attached a small node to the tiny swell of her abdomen.
"Ok!" she said. "Let's see what we can find!"
Kaidan took Shepard's bandaged hand gently as they looked toward where they would expect to see Admiral Hackett's hologram appear, but instead there was a tiny person, no larger than Kaidan's palm. They were all silent for a moment in awe.
"Oh my God…," Shepard finally said quietly. "It's real."
The holo of the baby moved and flinched, kicking its legs and throwing some punches. Yep, a definite fighter. Kaidan smiled and said, "It's beautiful. I can see the Shepard coming out already with that left hook."
"I definitely see the Alenko nose there," Shepard observed. "Good, it would have been a damn shame to get my nose."
The technician enlarged then moved the angle and direction of the holo, doing all the necessary health checks of the fetus and its environment. "This baby is measuring pretty large for its age. I think you are going to have another soldier on your hands…or a professional sports player."
"I hope she plays American football," Shepard said resolutely.
Kaidan angled his neck to get a good look at the baby. "She?" he said. "I think he will probably be a damn good soldier, keeping peace in the galaxy like mom and dad. Or if not a soldier, a hockey player."
"Ok, that's a kick ass sport I can support. But…damn...I just can't tell what it is from this side," Shepard pouted. "Why won't this kid give up the goods?"
Kaidan laughed. "Because it's stubborn already, just like its mom."
"Or its dad," Emily interjected lightly. Shepard snickered.
"Whatever the case," smiled the technician, "that baby isn't showing anything. We can do another scan later, but sometimes, even with all the technology at our fingertips, they don't want to be known until birth!"
A/N: More happy days to come for our Shenko pair! Please vote in your reviews whether this Shenko baby is a boy or a girl! Thank you!
