Chapter Text
Kaidan Alenko did not want to get out of bed. Namely because he should have been sleeping in one of the pods reserved for the crew. Here, he had the luxury of stretching every part of his body, of soft sheets and the woman he loved curled up against his chest. It was rare that they indulged in a night together in this bed, trying to keep the crew from grumbling about preferential treatment. Kaidan pulled Shepard closer against him, pressing his lips against the warm skin of her shoulder.
And that, of course, was when the alarm went off. Shepard groaned, pressing back against him. "Double shift today. Kill me now."
"Not a chance," Kaidan murmured, pressing more kisses along her shoulder and up her neck. The sheets had left a wrinkled imprint on her cheek.
"Mmm..." Shepard groaned as his lips reached her ear. Before he could go further, she rolled over and kissed him, then sat up. Kaidan let her go; he had to get up for his own shift, anyway. As Shepard pulled on her Alliance blues, she glanced at Kaidan and smiled.
"I almost forgot," she said. "I spoke with Chris--"
"Wait, technician Chris or requisitions Chris?"
"Requisitions. He managed to find a replacement set of armor for you until we can find something better. You might not like it, though."
"What is it?" Kaidan pulled up his pants and Shepard handed him his belt.
"The only light armor I could find with decent shields and plating for you...it's Phoenix armor."
Like the kind Ash had worn. Had preferred, even when Shepard found better armor for her. It was the armor she had been wearing on Virmire, when she had died and he had lived. He was really beginning to hate the mercs that they had run into two days ago. Whatever rounds they had been using were modified with an acid compound that had destroyed his old set. And now he had no choice but to wear...that armor. That reminder.
Shepard's arms wrapped around him from behind. "It's not forever," she said. "Just until we can get back to the Citadel or restock elsewhere."
"I know. I'll be alright" He leaned into her for just a moment, and then they both pulled away. They had a job to get to, after all.
★★★★★★★
The attack had been so sudden.
As the ship burned around them, Shepard had told him to go. Had told him to get the crew to the escape shuttles. Had given him a job to do.
And now alarms were going off around his head, demanding 'ALL CREW MEMBERS MUST REMAIN SEATED'. Someone was pulling at his arm, trying to drag him away from the escape shuttle's only window. Kaidan shook them off. His eyes did not leave the wreckage of the Normandy. All other escape pods had been jettisoned. Except for the one at the helm. Joker's shuttle. And Shepard's. She said she would get him. She would, she had to...
He shouldn't have left. Dammit, he shouldn't have left her there. She was alone on a blasted, burning ship with a man that was essentially crippled, and the unidentified vessel that had caused it all was circling around for another attack.
Come on, Shepard. Get out of there. Kick Joker out of that damn chair. Joker, I swear, if anything happens to her because you are acting like an ASS, I will KILL you. Please, please--
A beam of energy shot out of the attacking ship (what was that thing?), slicing into the Normandy. The Alliance vessel crumpled, began to tear. Kaidan watched as their home was ripped apart. I was at the helm of the dreadnought that killed your father.
Shepard!
Kaidan couldn't breathe. He was choking, this couldn't happen, it couldn't... He broke her arm. All she wanted was a glass of water and he broke her arm.
The last escape pod rocketed away from the debris. It began to drift to their location. It was okay. She was safe, she...
'No.'
There was something else floating away from the Normandy. Something smaller. Something human-shaped. Something that was leaving a trail of oxygen in its wake as it writhed in the vacuum of space.
Shepard.
She was still alive. He could get to her. He had to get to her. She was going to die. The controls--were there no controls in this damn shuttle--biotics, then. She was dying. He would pull her in... It was so much power, a man's power, and he snapped Vernus' neck...
Hands grabbed him as he let the dark energy course through his body. There was a sharp pain in his neck--sedative--and someone was yelling. He was yelling.
As his biotics dimmed and his muscles grew heavy, Kaidan took one last look at the woman floating through space. Her body was still, and she faded like a distant star. Kaidan sank to the floor of the shuttle, and darkness took him.