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Kaidan sighed and looked away from the commander’s retreating figure. He had rejoined the Normandy crew the previous day and he was still adjusting to the differences. Mainly the way Shepard smiled as she walked towards the main battery.
“You okay there?” James asked from across the table. “Your head hurt?” It was lunch and they were eating with Joker, Liara and Cortez. It was nice to be with Joker and Liara again and he was quickly warming quickly to the new members of the crew as well.
“Probably his heart hurts more night now.” Joker gave a small laugh. “But really, man. You guys cool?”
“Yeah.” Kaidan sighed again and propped his head on his hand. “Yeah, we’re fine. We talked about it and we’re good. We’re adults.” He moved his food around a little on his plate. “I just. . . wonder, you know.”
“If it would have been different if you had joined her on the mission last year?” Liara asked, quietly.
“Yeah.” A silence settled over table as people turned back to their food. Kaiden still thought he made the right call given the information he had, but it didn’t mean he was proud of how cruel he had been on Horizon.
“Wait.” James’ voice broke the quiet. “Were you and Lola an item?”
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
“You didn’t know?” Liara asked, tilting her head.
“No! I thought you could barely stand each other, based on what happened on Mars.”
Kaidan laughed. “Things were a little tense then. But yeah, back on the SR1. Before. . . you know.”
Before she died. Even James knew about that.
“Wow man. Nice.” He punched his shoulder. “But not anymore? What’s stopping you from starting things back up? You are both here now. And I think we have more important things to think about than regs.” He laughed. Shepard sure was a fine looking lady, even if it was hard to think of his commander that way, despite his jokes.
Kaidan looked at him quizzically. “Well, it’s a little too late now.” Even if it wasn’t for Garrus he wasn’t sure she would take him back.
“Because you didn’t trust her at first. I can see that. But that just means you have to try that much harder to prove your love!” James was a romantic at heart and he could tell that Kaidan still had feelings for Shepard.
Kaidan frowned. “That is part of it, I guess, but mainly it is, you know, she’s not really available right now. I wouldn’t disrespect her by pining after her when she has made her choice.”
James looked around the table, where everyone was looking at him with a weird expression on their faces. Everyone definitely knew something
“Not available? She’s got a boyfriend? Or girlfriend?” This was the first he was hearing of this! Was it Traynor? He was pretty sure Traynor liked Shepard but he didn’t know if she was interested in women. Or it might be someone from the Collector mission? He knew there was a guy, Jacob, from that mission but he didn’t think she would have gone for someone who willingly became a Cerberus operative.
“You didn’t know?” Cortez raised an eyebrow at him.
“Who?” He was getting annoyed at being so far out of the loop. How did Cortez know?
“Her and Garrus. I mean, they aren’t all touchy-feely, thank god, but they also don’t hide it.” Joker
“Garrus?” He was incredulous. “The turian, Garrus? With the scars and the mandible thingys?” He put his hands up to his mouth in a vague imitation of a turian mandible.
Liara laughed. “The very same.”
“Since when?”
“A little before we destroyed the collector base. But they had been dancing around each other for a while by then.” Joker laughed. “It was weird but kinda sweet. But still weird.”
He turned to his friend. “When did you find out, Estaban?” He asked accusingly. The rest of them had been working with Shepard longer but Cortez was just as new as he was.
Cortez looked at him. “When we first picked him up on that moon. They were making eyes at each other the whole time we were in the shuttle back here. They had ‘reunited lovers’ written all over them.”
James frowned and thought back to that first meeting. She did seem particularly happy to see him but he figured that was just because they were old friends. It didn’t occur to them that they might be more. He had never heard of a turian and human couple. Could they even have sex? Turians were so spiky and weird looking. “Am I the only one who didn’t know this?”
“Know what?” Specialist Traynor approached the table with her tray. Ah, here was another newbie. There is no way she knows about this too.
Liara grinned. “It seems that James did not know that Garrus and our dear commander had more than a professional relationship.”
James interjected. “I mean I knew they were friends! I just didn’t know they were. . . you know. . .” He gestured vaguely with his hands, his face hot.
Traynor looked at him incredulously as she sat down. “Weren’t you tipped off by the fact that he sleeps in her cabin?”
“He does?”
“Uh, yeah. You have been up there, right? Haven’t you noticed the funny pillows? They are for turians.” Traynor said as she began to eat.
“Huh.” He had just figured that she had a bad back or something. And there were some mod that he thought were for sniper rifles on her desk, which had confused him. Shepard mainly used a pistol to supplement her biotics. But now it made sense. So, Lola and Scars were sleeping together. I guess that answered whether sex was possible. How did they kiss? He doesn’t have lips. Oh, no. Now he was imagining it. “How do they. . . ?”
“I really, really try not to think about it.” Joker said quickly.
“As do I.” Kaidan added quietly. He was clearly trying to ignore the conversation. Ah. Losing your girlfriend was one thing but losing your girlfriend to an alien must be hard.
The conversation was mercifully cut short by the sound of the main battery door opening.
“See you later tonight.” Shepard said to Garrus as she left his workspace. James realized that phrases like that should have tipped him off earlier.
He watched her as she walked down the hallway towards them. There was definitely a spring in her step that wasn’t there when she went in and a slight smile graced her lips. She nodded at the group at the table before heading into the medbay, continuing with her regular rounds.
As weird as it seem to him, it seemed Garrus made the commander happy. And she deserved that. Wasn’t that all that really mattered in a relationship anyways? And besides, what was the point of living in a galactic civilization if you couldn’t have sex with aliens? He had mainly focused his interest on Asari but he was sure there was an alien for everyone. He shrugged and went back to his meal.