Still numb Kaidan looks at Shepard. The woman who head-butted Krogan to prove her point looked almost shy about what she had done. Looking up at him over the mess of hair, crossing her right arm defensively grabbing her left elbow against her abdomen. He was aware how small she looked in her loose fitting hoodie and baggie blues. She was watching him, patiently waiting for him to internalize the bombshell of news.

My mom. Safe. That alone was amazing.

Shepard managed to track her down. For you.

Her words from the hospital vid while he was still out came to his mind. She had found word on his mom right after the attack but he had told her what he knew when they had lost contact. When his father had been shipped out was the last anyone had heard. She had never said anything but she must have had someone keeping an eye out for his mother since then.

You had confided in her but she never said anything until she was sure. She was doing this for you and never said a word.

Had she known Anderson would have the info this time? Is that why she had EDI call him into the meeting? It was a stretch but Shepard had gone with her gut and had it pay off before. He had no idea how she had managed it or if Anderson had been involved. To himself he thought that unlikely since the Admiral had more than enough on his plate and Shepard was not the type to pull her former CO into things without thinking it would pay off.

The shy posture remained, the arm clasped over her ribs defensively. But her eyes were alert, reading his expression intently. She had not said a word to him in the darkened room illumined only by the backlight of the vid comm displays. Her violet eyes seemed to reflect the scant light as she stood motionless.

Giving you the way out you always want.

"Shepard Thank you." He swept her into his arms; it was neither amorous nor sensual just an expression of the pure relief flooding him. He lifted her off her feet in a strong bear hug that she was not precisely expecting. Her muscles tensed up reflexively before putting her arms on his back, unspoken consent. He put her down and leaded into her, resting his chin on the top of her messy hair, absorbing the moment as if he could burn it into memory.

Kaidan was not sure how long they stood there. Neither one speaking nor moving away. As the adrenaline left his body the fatigue of the day and the emotional rollercoasters set in. Every ache and headache pang seemed well worth it. Slowly he slides his arms loose around Shepard's waist to look down at her.

"Thank you. " He pulls one of her hands up and kisses the back of it, not breaking eye contact.

"For calling me down, for watching out for my mom even when I was a jerk. For being the most amazing woman I have ever met."

"Kaidan ..I.." She smiles but fidgets. It wasn't quite a blush but it would do.

"You must be exhausted. Have you slept at all?" Eden Prime, the Prothean incident, Meeting with the Asari Councilor and Liara, now this. 36 hour day was right. Boosters or not Shepard had to be running on fumes by this point.

"Here and there…I think" The last part is muttered as she looks away.

"Well there is still another two hours before the next shift starts. I'll tell EDI to hold messages for the next four or to send them my way. Let's get you upstairs."

Not meaning it as a come on but rather as a way of showing his concern Kaidan was surprised to see Shepard's eyes go wide for a second remembering something then pushing it away. In their brief time together between the Battle at the Citadel and before the destruction of the SR-1 he had never been one to push anything even so seemingly insignificant as being invited to her room.

"Yea, sure. But the place is a mess."

A/N as you can probably already tell if you are keeping up with this story my schedule has changes a bit. I still plan on updating almost daily bit I will not be able to upload until much later in the day. On the good side this probably will result in longer chapters for you :)

That being said you notice any glaring mistakes or things that just don't make sense please PLEASE let me know so I can fix them before I upload more . Thanks as always for reading and the wonderful encouragement. -Raven