Chapter Text
Kaidan takes a step forward, holding the metal plate in his hands. He runs his hand over the carved text and looks at the wall where he can see many other names, waiting for the one in his hands to join them. He knew some of these names, some he heard about later, stories from the crew. The people behind him stand in silence, waiting for Kaidan to make his move. They want you to join them, he thinks to himself. I’m sure I can’t be the only one who believes, but maybe… maybe they think it’ll be easier to let go. Kaidan finds himself thinking about the bottle and the glasses, how their fingers brushed over the other ones when he gave Shepard his glass. And he smiles. With a slight huff, he kneels down and places the metal plate against the wall on the ground. Commander Shepard, he reads the writing on the plate to himself, I know you’re out there. Come back home, soldier. When he stands back up no-one says anything, but he feels a hand on his shoulder. Joker is looking at the wall, at the newest addition to all the names on it and Kaidan isn’t sure if the touch is meant to comfort him or Joker, but he gives Joker a gentle pat on the shoulder when he turns to leave. He gets through the small group of people and takes a few steps towards the elevator before he inhales sharply and everything goes black.
That happened yesterday. Now he’s still lying on one of the beds in the medbay, where Dr Chakwas insisted he would have to stay until they get back… somewhere with proper medical equipment. He had few broken ribs and a limp on his right leg from a shot wound. But the culprit to his collapse was a concussion Dr Chakwas was ashamed to admit she didn’t notice before. Kaidan didn’t blame her, she had a lot of work on Normandy after the crash. Hell, she was busy even before the crash. To be honest he should have noticed himself that something was wrong. And maybe he did but just decided to ignore it. How could he get worried about a little bit of dizziness when he had to take care of the crew? Since Shepard is not aboard and they haven’t been able to contact him, which everyone except him seems to take as a death sentence, Kaidan is now the highest-ranking officer on the Normandy so everyone expects him to be in charge. At least now he can take comfort in the soft hum of the ship's engines, knowing that they are finally moving. He sighs softly and rubs his hand against his face when he hears the door opening and Dr Chakwas greeting someone.
“I have to say, major, you look awful.” Kaidan lazily peeked through his fingers at Garrus who was now at the table next to him, pouring a glass of water for Kaidan. He probably looked just as bad as he felt, with the dizziness and the feeling of a starting migraine that’s been present for way too long to be normal. He should tell Chakwas about it.
“Hmm, you don’t look too great yourself.” He smirked to himself when Garrus gave him an airy chuckle. Kaidan took the water glass the turian offered him and eagerly drank the fresh liquid, realizing just how dry his throat had been before.
“Hey. At least I have taken a shower. You stink.” Garrus crossed his arms before his chest and his mandibles moved in a way Kaidan knew to be a turian equivalent to a human smile. Kaidan hummed in agreement against the glass but suddenly stopped in his tracks, lowering the glass and raising his brow at Garrus. “You got the water heating system working?”
“Kenneth and Gabriella worked their magic after they and Adams got the ship working.”
Kaidan sighed and leaned back against the pillows when Garrus took the empty glass from him and placed it on the table. “We’re finally going home.”
“I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”
“More problems?”
“Still no luck with the navigator. We’ve been working on it with Tali and Liara but it’s all messed up. And without…” Garrus paused for a moment and looked at the floor, a hint of sorrow in his eyes. “Without EDI we have no way of knowing what’s causing the problem.”
“So you’re saying we’re moving, and fast, but don’t know where?”
“Well, Joker insists that he can find the way just by looking at the stars, but I do have my doubts. For all I know, we could be halfway on our way to earth, or we could be making our way to the edge of space.” Garrus's tone shifted to a playful one, but as Kaidan smiled back at him, he couldn’t help but worry about the situation. First, he was glad that they were finally up and moving, but now knowing that they could possibly be flying fast to who knows where he wonders if it would have been better to stay put. Try and fix the coms and wait for someone to find them. But the problem was, they didn’t know where they were. It’s possible no-one would ever come around to save them. Maybe this was better. And they have a great team, they’ll find a way. They have to. They don’t know what’s going on elsewhere, it’s a possibility that the Reapers are still around. Kaidan doesn’t believe it, of course, there’s no way Shepard had failed, but he cannot deny the possibility however low. And he had to find Shepard. He had to get to John, had to make sure he’s okay. That he’s still alive.
They talked for a while, with Garrus sitting on the bed next to Kaidan’s. They both really needed to unwind, think about something other than the situation they were in right now. They traded stories, laughed at stupid jokes and at some point just sat in silence. After a few hours, Garrus had to get back to his work and Kaidan had to get back to… well, resting and trying to get better so he could go back to helping everyone else.
“Hey, Garrus.” The turian stopped in his tracks when he was about to open the door to leave, and turned to look back at Kaidan, raising his brow at the man.
“I’m sure you’ll get the navigation working. Before that we just have to trust Joker, he knows what he’s doing.” Garrus smiled at him and bid him farewell before exiting the medbay.
I hope he does.