Chapter Text
The cold was something Calliope was never going to get used to. Growing up on a very heat centric planet was something you just don’t forget. Then spending the rest of your known life travelling throughout the universe on a temperature controlled ship. A girl can get used to being spoiled. Yet here she was, waiting outside a crowded café because her husband decided they should take a walk.
She had been blissfully asleep before his sudden urge to stroll.
By all mean this would be a great experience, if you were forged in a ice castle. Better known as Canada as Kaiden puts it.
Breathing into her gloves for warmth she couldn’t help but narrow her eyes as the man of the hour walked through the small doors with two steaming cups. Shit eating grin on his face as he watched her try not to catch frostbite.
“Come on, it’s not that bad. Barely dipping into low 20s” He commented as she handed her what she recently came to appreciate as hot chocolate. An event that was better saved to tell another day.
“Not that bad was taking down a husk colony, this” She pointed to the snow covered ground around her, “This is beyond comprehension. How does one even live?”
Kaiden shook his head and pulled her close as they began to walk along the snowy path by the bay, “A little snow never hurt anybody.” His whispered.
Taking a sip she shook her head and leaned more into him, “Lies. I read the extranet. Snow is one of the more common causes of fatalities on this planet.”
Kaiden couldn’t help but let out a bellowing laugh, “Jesus. Calliope-”
She shrugged, “I’m just saying. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. It’s cold. It makes me cold. Which makes me uncomfortable. Which in fact makes everyone else around me uncomfortable.”
“I think it’s beautiful. It’s peaceful. I think that there is nothing better than walking around after a fresh fall than with the one I love most.”
“I happen to know your mother was awake when you woke me up from my nap.”
Kaiden pinched her bottom and this time she was the one to laugh. They walked over to a small dock and stopped to catch a glimpse of the frozen water around them. Calliope took in a deep breath, and suddenly was on edge. Kaiden could feel it. Like a dark shadow casting over her. It was one of the reasons he brought her out, letting them get away alone for a while.
“It’s just different.” She sighed. Kaiden understood, he needed her to know that and open up to him. Unwrapping his arms from around her he took one of her hands into his.
“Talk to me then,” He pleaded, in a whisper so low she thought it had been imagined. She placed her other hand on his cheek and looked up into his eyes. How many times have he saved her. How many times have they saved each other? They had been through hell and back multiple times. What was it now that had her so afraid.
“Everything here feels like a dream.” She admitted, “One I don’t want to wake up from. You. Me. This place. Kaiden something is bound to go wrong.”
“Then we will deal with it together when it does.” He promised but took her by the arms, “But right now Calliope. For all I care. You don’t have to wake up from this dream because it’s real. No husks are nearby, no terrorist group reeking havoc-”
Calliope snorted and broke away from him, “Yeah. For the time being.” She held herself close and turned to face the dimming light above the city. “There is just so much that I have lost. So much time I can’t get back. Its frustrating Kaiden!” She began to glow a faint blue, her biotic control was breaking, “I’m trying to piece myself back together and sometimes I don’t know how.”
Kaiden nodded, “I get that. Sweetheart I truly do. But right now. It’s just you and me Calliope and I’m not going away. So that’s why tonight is for us.”
“I don’t understand.” She said wiping the tears threatening to fall.
Kaiden took a step closer, “Just turn around and you will understand. Then you will see the magic begin to fall.”
Very confused, Calliope narrowed her eyes and turned back to him, “What ‘magic’? Kaiden what on earth are you talking-”
Walking up to her he twisted her body towards a new view across from the bay.
Standing behind her he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. He leaned in to whisper.
“You told me once when you were a teenager that you would watch the sunsets over the mountains with your father. You described them as-”
She squeezed him tight and spoke in astonishment. “As if the gods were spilling their magic as they danced along the clouds. Oh Kaiden.”
“I know it’s not home.” He admitted, “I just thought for tonight. It could be our home.”
Shepard let out a sob she didn’t know she was holding and laughed while she wiped the tears away. Turning to hug Kaiden she began to mumble in his chest. He couldn’t quite make out what she was saying. She must’ve read his mind because she pulled away smiling and wiping her eyes.
“I said your wrong Kaiden. God, here. Right here with you. On Earth. On the Normandy. The Citadel. With your parents. With Joker. I don’t care”
She took his faces into her hands.
“You are my home Admiral Kaiden Alenko-Shepard. I am damn proud of it too.”
Without a beat he kissed her and Kaiden thought that perhaps this was something she could keep forever. She could take this away and store it in her dreams with hope it would make living a bit easier just day by day. Calliope Shepard was no one to be fixed, she wasn’t broken. Sometimes she just needed a reminder that with all this bad in the world, you need a refresh of just what can be good.
He grasped the back of her neck, his hand lost amongst the mass of her hair she recently let grow. Pulling her close so that nothing kept them apart he stopped for just a second before he returned to kiss her and kiss her and kiss her until neither of them could breath.
By the time he pulled back, her eyes were wide, her mouth was open and her chest was heaving not knowing if it was from the lack of oxygen or the cold air. Either way Shepard could only smile, “Why Rear Admiral Alenko. You shouldn’t kiss girls like that on a first date. Someone might get the wrong impression.”
He chuckled helplessly and kissed her on the nose. “Only if the girl getting the right impression is you.”
Settling herself in his arms against she let out a sigh of content. His biotics could feel hers as the stress began to fade and she was finding a bit of peace. Her color returning back to normal. He gently caressed her back, letting his own peace filter through them.
“I love you Commander” His whispered for her ears only.
She smiled and closed her eyes, “Right back at you Lieutenant.”
Calliope was right. No matter where the Universe took them. If they were together, they were home.