Blackmail. He should've seen it coming. It was so obvious to Kaidan that Kacey was being blackmailed, he even knew that she had claimed it was true before. But hearing it right from her mouth now, it made it more than just hearsay. Yet he didn't believe it back then, maybe if he had, he would've been able to help. Instead of sitting on the sidelines.

After finishing the part about Freedom's Progress and the reveal of the new Normandy, Kaidan decided they should pick it up later after seeing Kacey nearly fall asleep. She was yawning a few times throughout, and it took Kaidan a good twenty minutes to convince the crimson-headed commander to rest. She eventually relented and EDI confirmed to Kaidan that she was in her quarters, instead of hanging around the CIC. Kacey was never one to be tired on the job; she always ensured she got adequate rest since she was the commanding officer. Her job practically demanded it. But since his return to the Normandy, as short as his time here was currently, he noticed how tired she was. But it wasn't just that she was tired; something was bothering her. He could tell, her behaviour at the Ardat-Yakshi monastery proved it. When she observed the Banshee. Last time he had seen her like that, was when they were on Ilos, learning about the Protheans' fate. Prior to that, it was when the Normandy was grounded, and that was when he learned of Kacey's true feelings towards him, and her frustration towards the Council. He couldn't blame her; they were difficult to deal with at times.

"Are you going to drink that tea or just stare at it?"

Kaidan nearly jumped out of his chair as the voice cut through the air. He forgot he was in the small Mess Hall that the Normandy had. He looked to see Garrus sit down opposite him, putting his own cup on the table. Now that the pair were face to face, Kaidan noticed something that he hadn't seen before; scars across the lower part of the turian's face.

"Sorry, I was just lost in thought, that's all." Kaidan dismissed.

He took a quick sip of his tea, much to turian's amusement.

"I thought you were with Kacey." Garrus said calmly, "You two didn't fight again, did you?"

"No, we didn't." Kaidan replied, "She looked exhausted, so I told her to get some rest."

"Glad to know I wasn't the only one who thought so." Garrus said. Something about the way he said it told Kaidan that Garrus knew more about the matter than he let on.

"Do you know anything about it?" he blurted out. The turian looked at him confused, before quickly realising what the Alliance officer was referring to.

"Her exhaustion?" Kaidan nodded.

"Not entirely no." Garrus responded, "All I know is that it started after we came back through the Omega 4 Relay. It wasn't noticeable at first, but it seemed to just get worse as time went on. I don't know if it persisted after Kacey returned to Earth, but I can tell it's gotten worse since the war started."

"How bad was it?" Kaidan asked. Garrus sighed.

"Bad." He simply replied, "But I won't spoil that for you. Kacey will tell you in due time."

"I know." Kaidan sighed.

"What's on your mind?" Garrus asked. Kaidan looked at him confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Something's bothering you."

"Kacey told me that Cerberus blackmailed her into cooperating." Kaidan said, "She said Joker overheard it, but I have a hard time believing that Kacey would just go along with it and not fight it."

"Has it not occurred to you that maybe it's because she saw an opportunity to take advantage to Cerberus' trust in her?"

"What do you mean?"

"Cerberus, or rather the Illusive Man, wanted Kacey to join them permanently." Garrus explained, "Kacey wasn't planning on it, but since she had to, she decided to take advantage of the situation. She was given access to a lot of Cerberus intel and knew where a fair amount of their facilities was. She was passing that information on to the Alliance."

"Wait. She was leaking Cerberus intel to the Alliance?" Kaidan's eyes widened in shock, "that was her?!"

"Joker, Tali and I helped as well." Garrus admitted, "We were lucky we weren't caught. But that's not the point; the point is, Kacey had to deal with a lot of stuff before Horizon happened. You didn't help matters by lashing out at her."

"How?"

Garrus sighed, "I'll let her tell you. Speaking of Kacey, you should go check up on her soon."

"Why? I thought she didn't like people in her cabin?"

"Just my advice that's all." Garrus replied, standing up. "You've been in her private quarters before."

"I will." Kaidan yawned, "Once I get some sleep."

…

He saw her by the lockers near the Med-Bay, seemingly reorganising the contents within. Her face wore the expression of pure defeat and frustration that Kaidan had never seen in his Commander before. He understood her frustration; with the Normandy grounded they weren't able to chase after Saren. That bastard was going to succeed because the Council was in denial. Of course, it was frustrating.

He walked over to her, standing to her right. Kacey noticed him and turned and sat down on the floor, her back leaning against the lockers. The subsequent bang that occurred due to the force at which she dropped to the floor. She looked up at him, waiting for him to start.

"Commander, are you alright?" he asked. It was a stupid question, but he thought it was the best way to start, "I'm sure there's a way to appeal, we're under Alliance authority after all, not the Council's."

"I tried, but no luck." Kacey sighed, "Official channels are closed, they were quite clear about that."

"Closed, but we're just supposed to accept that?" he said bitterly, "So where do you think the best view will be when the Reapers roll through? If we have to sit it out, we may as well get a good seat."

He could see a smile creep across Kacey's face as he said that. Dark humour and sarcasm seemed to be a way of getting Kacey to relax; making fun a bad situation was something that helped her stay calm, a tactic that the rest of the crew seemed to use more and more as time went on.

"I need you to stay strong, Kaidan." She said calmly, "We're out of the game for now, but I need you to be there when I figure things out."

"You know you can count on me or any of the crew, Commander."

"I'm asking you, not the crew."

Kaidan's heart nearly skipped a beat. Maybe he was just taking her words the wrong way, thinking they meant something different than what Kacey implied.

Why him, specifically?

"Come on, Kaidan. I can get a salute from anyone on this ship." Kacey said, "Sometimes I just need a shoulder."

"Yeah, well I always leave a way out, you know that." He replied, "I'm here for you, but we're in a rough spot and the last I want to do is muddy things. Like its all that clear to start with. Are we the pride of the fleet or not? Are we valued agents or peons?"

Deflection. Excuses. Denial? Her words made it crystal clear. And he knew he felt the same. He was thrilled, and at any other time he would've acted on it. But right now, with the threat of complete galactic genocide and no way of stopping it, coupled with the fact that Kacey was his CO was making things complicated. It wasn't proper, but he couldn't help feeling the way he did.

Could he go through with it, given the chance?

"There you go again." Kacey smiled, "You can't just pull out a good old-fashioned 'it'll be alright' can you Kaidan?"

Her voice was laced with sarcasm. A smirk appeared on her face. He laughed before replying.

"It's that easy huh?" he smiled, "Okay then. Everything will be fine Shepard. You'll figure it out."

"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" she laughed.

"I could get used to it. I guess we have some downtime to figure out what we are, huh?"

"That we do."

He offered Kacey his hand, which she accepted. As he pulled her up, he brought her in close unintentionally. Not that he was complaining. Kacey looked surprised at first, as one hand was on his shoulder and the other was tightly clasped in his hand. She looked at him, a small smile across her face and flustered red cheeks. Kaidan looked at her bright sapphire eyes as pulled her in closer. She leaned in, he did the same, but before they could go any further Joker interrupted them over the intercom.

"Sorry to interrupt, Commander." Joker said in a sly voice, "But I've got a message from Captain Anderson."

"Were you spying on us, Joker?" Kacey said, turning as red as her hair. Kaidan rubbed the back of his neck as his own face turned red at the thought of Joker seeing and hearing their entire conversation.

"No ma'am. Just knew you were on the ship and just figured I'd pass the message on. The captain said to meet him at Flux, that club down in the Wards."

"Well, I guess you better go then."

"Don't act like you're staying here by yourself, Kaidan." Kacey said cheekily, "Come on, you're coming with."

"Okay, Commander."

"I'd prefer it if you called me Kacey by the way." the redhead replied, "No need to be so formal with me."

…

Kaidan woke up, and nearly fell out of the bed. Out of everything he could be dreaming about, why was he dreaming about that? It wasn't a bad thing; it was just embarrassing.

Perhaps what he felt for Kacey still remained. Even after everything.

He checked his clock; he had only been asleep for two hours. A powernap was not too bad, and he made a mental note to get more sleep later. For now, he was more concerned about Kacey.

"EDI are you there?" he asked.

"Yes, Major Alenko, is there something you need?"

"Do you know where Commander Shepard is?"

"The Commander is still within the Captain's Cabin. She has not left since she arrived there two hours and sixteen minutes ago."

"Thank you, EDI."

"You are welcome, Major Alenko."

Kaidan bolted out of the Crew's Quarters and into the elevator, heading directly to see Kacey. He had no idea if she would let him in or what to expect, but what Garrus as said really struck a nerve with him.

"It started after we came back through the Omega 4 Relay."

If that was true, he had to find out why, before it becomes a lot worse.

A/N: Thank you Raven 2100 for the favourite. I hope you're enjoying the story.