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Kaidan woke up to darkness and hands repeatedly prodding his shoulder. The latter he was used to, it wasn’t the first time he was awakened by hands and feet bumping into him, but the darkness threw him off. Neither his wife or son used to wake before dawn. He was almost convinced to try to ignore the prodding and go back to sleep when a hand slapped his chest.
“Kaidan,” his wife whispered, “Wake up.”
Instantly he was up, sitting in the bed, his mind going through all the things that could have gone wrong, every little bad thing that could be happening, but then Shepard whispered his name again and he turned to her, falling back against the pillow. She was smiling.
His mind, that had been racing through every possibility, came to a stop. The scene before him touched something somewhere deep inside him. Shepard, with her red hair disheveled around her, her eyes glittering and her arm around their sleeping son. There was a certain beauty to his wife that had come with motherhood, a new sort of softness and happiness in her face. Shepard sent him a giddy smile and at once he was choked up, overwhelmed and awed by the sight before him. Shepard gave him a knowing look and reached for his hand.
“Shepard,” Kaidan murmured, putting his hand in hers, “What’s happening?”
She kissed his hand, like she always did, then put it on her belly. A second passed and then he felt it, a kick. At once Kaidan was more awake than before and he pressed his hand harder and felt the answering kick. He glanced up at Shepard and when he saw her smiling, trouble free and happy, he felt his eyes tearing up. The life inside his wife kicked again.
Shepard laughed quietly at him and the expression on his face, “You sap, shouldn’t I be the emotional one?”
“Well, Aren’t I-”
Their son, who had been sleeping between them, suddenly stirred, and both parents held their breaths until he snuggled closer to his mother and continued sleeping. For a moment they both lied there, listening to their son murmuring in his sleep before Shepard, once again, raised his hand and kissed it, before dropping it and closing her eyes, “Good night, husband.”
Kaidan took one last look at his sleeping family, locked the memory deep inside his heart and closed his eyes, “Good night.”