9

The silence was long but not all together uncomfortable. Shepard had learned patience early on and an old employer and taught her to read people and body language even when they were silent. She was watching Kaidan who to his credit was not squirming but was clearly stalling for a way to break the ice.

Always looking for a way out.

Still barefoot she slips pass the Major and scoops up the two glasses from the table. Over her shoulder letting him get situated she asks "Still take it neat?" Glasses already being poured, she didn't even wait for the answer. Wordlessly she hands him his and flops on the couch her feet on the table. He nods and takes a sip, gathering his thoughts. But Shepard has had enough.

"What are you doing here Kaidan?"

He almost gags on his scotch. Gods he had forgotten her bluntness when she lost patience. To her credit she did not look angry only tired. Had it really only been three days since Thessia?

"Tali and Guarrus wanted me to check up on you." What a lame opening.

"You were on the bridge." She shot back taking a sip but her eyes fixed on his face over the rim of her glass.

"I was talking to Joker and EDI. Christ you should have warned me about her like that." A horrid attempt at humor given the circumstances.

"Sure. OH hey Welcome aboard, the robot body that tried to kill you? It's now inhabited by my Cerberus developed unshackled AI. Mind the pointy hair."

Only Shepard could deliver that with the complete deadpan face she gave him. Kaidan did the last thing he expected to do. He broke into laughter. Whether a mix of the sheer ridiculousness of the situation or just relief that Shepard was still Shepard, smart mouth and all he couldn't stop. Putting his head back and placing his drink on the edge of the table he keeps laughing. It really wasn't that funny but it felt good damnit. Since Udina, since Mars hell since Horizon this felt good.

And she had slipped next to him, their hips touching and he wraps an arm around her shoulder. Nothing planned, nothing pushed it was just them.

"Oh man what is wrong with us Shep?"

"I am the genocide committing reanimated zombie and you are the Specter that loves her?" She asked the hint of a smirk on her lips. But the profound sadness is still in her eyes.

"Yea they should put us in the vids."

"So why are you really here Kay?" Her voice soft, turning the glass between her palms.

"I have been a bit on an ass and it took everyone else on board to point it out to me." He admitted.

"And it has nothing to do with the fact that 80% of my crew thinks I am riding the LT in more ways than one?"

Ouch. Had he come because of the video Tali had shown him or because the rumors that had been going around? He had always considered himself insightful but he had not stopped to think about that until she put it in stark terms.

"Shepard I didn't come here to ask you about that."

"Well we both know I have a history of it. Hell who knows I might have made it part of my MO while with Cerberus." She was just getting to the point of being angry. It was like a switch inside the Commander. She took all the sadness and grief and burned it into anger.

"I didn't come here to fight." He protested.

"You don't even know why you came here." Voice soft, dejected. Another point for her.

"You're right. Just with everything between the Citadel and Earth I don't even know where I am at most of the time. There is no time between one crisis and the next."

"Well they let me out of the brig so you KNOW things are bad."