Author's Note: This is my day-before-Christmas Special. There will be another chapter tomorrow, as well as on the normal update day (on Friday). Enjoy.

Shepard rubbed her temples as she waited for the shuttle to touch down. Every time she drank excessively, she always forgot that the day after always sucks...until the day after finally arrived. She would tell herself that she wouldn't drink so much again, up until she did.

Who in the hell could face the Council without being, at least a little, drunk?

And, well, the second round of drinks had been for...for no other purpose than to soothe her ego. Okay, that was a lie. Anyway, she didn't want to think too hard about the second reason.

As it was, she was hungover and waiting for the shuttle to set down on Menae. James and Liara remained, thankfully silent. She wished that she could give one of her grand speeches, but her mouth couldn't form the words.

...especially after the nightmare she had had on the way to Menae.

With a jolt, the shuttle touched down. Shepard clenched her jaw and ordered everyone out of the shuttle. Enemies were in scope, and her hangover was just going to have to sit on the sidelines.

"James, focus on the marauders. Liara, you have the cannibals," she ordered as she switched to armor piercing rounds.

They fought good together. The only thing they were missing was someone with a tech skill. Her first thoughts jumped to Kaidan, but she quickly buried that thought as she used her omni-blade in the face of a cannibal. Garrus was just as skilled as Kaidan- and Tali was better.

"Have you lost your mind, Shepard?!" Liara sputtered after the last enemy fell.

"Liara?" she questioned as she led the way to the Turian's f.o.b.

"Sauntering up to one of those Reaper drones-"

"The Collector's were drones, these are more like cannon fodder."

Liara ignored her. "-like you have something to prove. It would have been just as easy to take it out from behind cover!"

"And a waste of ammo." She informed the gatekeeper who she was and continued as she led them in. "It wasn't like I was in any danger, Liara. Breathe."

Thankfully, the rest of the mission had gone pretty good- and they got Garrus (well, at least I have someone to drink with now, she thought). Of course, she did give James and Garrus heart attacks when she threw down her Mattock (damn thing never has enough fire before the heat sink pops) and ran up to a Brute and proceeded to shove her omni-blade trough it's face, just as she did the Cannibal.

But, it was all good- they all made it back to the Normandy in time.

Of course, when she made it back to the Normandy, she was advised to head to the AI Core. Sighing, and still in full armor, she did as she was advised, nodding at Chakawas as she walked by. She'd have to make sure she stopped to talk to the good doc on the way up to he CIC- her arm kinda burned thanks to Reaper cannon fodder.

"EDI?" Shepard called out as she opened the door. A shadowed movement behind the smoke had her pistol in her hand and her movements more cautious. "Talk to me EDI."

From the smoke walked the body of Doctor Eva, Shepard gritted her teeth and fired. "Shepard," the body said, sounding very much like...EDI.

"EDI, what the hell's going on?"

As EDI explained the situation, Shepard lowered her gun and rubbed her temples tiredly. Finally, she just decided to sigh (what else could she possibly do, anyway?).

"You can...you can go up to the Helm with Joker- fly...fly co-pilot."

Shepard kinda wished that she had taken the head off that damn body after they brought in on the Normandy (and how many times are they going to put an AI body in the damn AI Core? Seriously?).

"I think Jeff will approve of the new body, I'll go see," EDI said as she exited the AI Core.

With a sigh, Shepard completely ignored the doctor and took the elevator up to her cabin. As she entered the room, she shed pieces of armor on the floor and stopped midway as she saw the light on her terminal flashing. Sitting down, she scanned the reports and responded to the few that demanded it. Then, she saw the message from Kaidan.

She read it three times before comming down to Joker. "How d'you like your new co-pilot?" she asked in way of greeting.

"Second best view in the Helm."

"D'you know anything about what she was trying to do?"

"Are you kidding? As if I could have kept quiet if I new she was going to put herself in a hot robot body." He paused and, with a happy sigh, "I'd've baked a cake."

With a chuckle, Shepard continued shedding her armor. "Get us to the Citadel, Joker."

There was a pause as he (most likely) entered the co-ordinates. "ETA in eight hours."

Frowning, Shepard asked, "Why the delay?"

"Relays leading to the Citadel are packed with refugees. The line is outrageous."

"Okay. Make it happen, Joker."

Shepard finished removing her armor and headed for the shower. She'd go see Chakawas afterwards

She had triple checked the hours that Adria worked to make sure that she wouldn't be at Huerta when Shepard went to visit Kaidan. Never before had she been so jealous of a damn civilian.

"Kaidan," she said in way of greeting as she walked into his room.

The smile that lit up his face made her think of a child who just got the exact gift he had been hoping for. "Shepard, hey. You just missed snack time- then again, that's probably a good thing."

Shepard sat down in the chair beside his bed- her muscles tense as if preparing for a hit or battle. "How're you doing?"

"You can't see it, but I'm held to this bed with political red tape. It's a nightmare." His face, chest, and arms were all still bruised, so she was pretty sure that it was more than politics that kept him in the bed. "Plus the doc said that my implant got a little rattled."

She winced a little- both from the memory of why the implant got rattled and the mention of a doc- and asked, "Rattled?"

He laughed and Shepard felt herself relax a little as she basked in the sound. Kaidan had never laughed much aboard the SR-1, either. "She used a bunch of fancy, medical terms, but that's what I got from it- rattled."

"You were lucky."

Kaidan accepted that silently then smiled over at her. "Doc says that you came by while I was out?"

That one would have been Doc Michel. "Yeah. I was worried," she said simply, looking away.

They sat in a long moment of silence. Finally, Kaidan said, "I want to apologize...about Mars."

"Oh?" Her Commander Face came down.

"It wasn't like I was honestly convinced that you were with Cerberus..." He waited until she looked him in the eye before he continued. "I was more convinced that you were pissed about everything that happened last time, so I wanted to be pissed too."

"Last time?" She maintained her cool, precessional attitude.

"Horizon," he choked out. "I was wrong and I wish I'd've joined you."

"I'm glad you didn't," she states matter-of-factly. When hurt filled his expression, she continued, "You were right. You are an Alliance Marine- always will be. I was wrong to ask you to give up on that just to follow me through hell and back."

"You never stopped being an Alliance Marine," he pointed out.

Shepard acknowledged that with a silent nod. Finally, she asked, "Do you think we can get beyond that...beyond Horizon?"

Romantically? As friends? As a team? Anything?

"I don't know," he admitted. "I hope so, but I don't know. Just know that I'm not seeing anyone-"

"Kaidan-" she interrupted softly.

"No, you need to hear this. We'll just have to keep talking. Time and words are what's going to fix Horizon."

Shepard leaned forward and, hesitantly, took his hand in hers (marveling silently at the size difference). "That mean the docs," she tensed at the words, causing Kaidan to frown in confusion at her, "are sure you're going to live?"

"The prognosis is pretty good," he laughed, squeezing her hand.

"Good, because, let me tell you, death isn't very fun," she chuckled before she thought about her words. They both tensed, discreetly watching the other for a reaction.

"Then, I guess it's a good thing we're both alive," Kaidan said after a tense moment. "One day you'll have to tell me..." His eyes scanned her face, obviously looking for the telling scars that had glowed red for a few months before she finally had Chakawas fix that little problem.

Still, Shepard tensed, hating that she hadn't lived. Maybe things would have been different. "Promise," she murmured, squeezing his hand and pulling away.

"Hey, hey, where're you going."

"I've been summoned by our all-mighty Councilor," she chuckled.

"Speaking of him, I've been offered a place in the Spectre's."

"Really? What d'you say?"

"I'd have to think about it."

She smiled gently as she stood up. "You should accept it, you're a hell of a soldier." She nodded her head once as she thought about it. "Major Kaidan Alenko, Spectre."

Kaidan laughed. "Only the second human Spectre in the Galaxy. The problem is," he whispered in a jokingly conspiratorial way, "the first one is an even better soldier than I could ever hope to be. Pretty good looking, but hard as nails."

Playing along, she said, "I bet she's a real bitch."

"Nah. She can be a real hardass though."

Laughing, Shepard began her move to the door. "Get better, Spectre Alenko."

As she left, Kaidan found himself remembering the horror of crashing on Alchera. Her mention of her death had brought it forth and he couldn't keep it away.

Author's Note: For some Christmas Shenko love, check out my on-going story "A Christmas Promise" here on . I'll be working on that, as well, until tomorrow or the day after Christmas.

Happy Holidays!