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Shepard took another sip of her coffee without looking away from the datapad. She tucked the datapad under her arm, mumbled thanks to Gardner, and started to walk away. Her eyes flitted to the battery briefly, before she averted her gaze and marched in the other direction. She thought of checking in on Miranda, but thought better of it. Things were still tentative between them since she had sided with Jack during their argument and Shepard never had enough coffee in her system to sit through Miranda’s lectures.
Kasumi would be a nice visit. She had spunk and liked to talk about as many personal things as Shepard did, which was far and few between. Yes, she could visit Kasumi first then, make her rounds, and then –
Shepard’s datapad clattered to the floor.
“Merry Christmas!” Kasumi shouted. From seemingly nowhere, red, green, and gold glitter exploded around the room, and Shepard was not proud of the following squeal and cringe that came as a result.
Kasumi’s room was, to put it lightly, decked out. There was a Christmas tree with all the trimmings in the right hand corner, complete with presents underneath. The window was lined with twinkling white lights. Tinsel hung in drapes around the circumference of the room, with tiny, green metal wreaths attached at various points throughout. There was even a holographic Santa behind the bar. A Santa. Behind the bar.
Shepard’s eyes finally settled on Kasumi, who had slipped on some Christmas abomination over her usual clothes. “What the hell?”
“It’s Christmas!” she shouted, again.
Shepard blinked at her a few times. “It’s…Christmas?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Christmas.” Kasumi didn’t even try to hide her horror.
“I’ve heard of it, sure. But it’s…fuck. It is that time of year, isn’t it?”
Kasumi nodded with all the enthusiasm of a bobble head as she perched on the arm of her sofa. Shepard didn’t have the words to respond to her joy. Hell, she was having a hard time avoiding staring at the Santa. Behind the bar.
Kasumi stopped her bouncing and Shepard watched her mouth droop to a frown. “Why don’t you look excited?”
“Umm,” she struggled for any and all excuse to leave the room immediately, “well, I guess you could say I’m just not good at keeping up with these things? It kind of snuck up on me.”
“Are you kidding?” Shepard couldn’t see it, but practically heard the thief’s eyebrow rise. “Shepard, everyone’s been getting ready all day. The ship is covered in decorations.”
Shepard scoffed “There’s no way I wouldn’t have–” Her eyes widened. She set her coffee down on one of Kasumi’s night table and darted back into the hall.
Sure enough, the same tinsel and wreaths decorated the halls. Lights lined the ceiling. There was mistletoe hanging from the elevator entrance. She wandered into the mess (never mind that she was moving as if there was lead in her shoes) to see that Gardner was wearing elf ears. Elf ears.
“Merry Christmas, Shepard,” came a gruff voice to her right.
Flumoxed and gaping, she turned and nearly collapsed on the floor. She was sure her eyes had never been so wide. “Grunt?”
The krogan let out a series of his little “hehs” and adjusted his Santa hat. “Do you like it?”
“Uhh…”
“Merry Christmas, Shep.” Kasumi dropped a Santa hat on Shepard’s head and pulled her tight for a hug.
Shepard’s arms dangled in front of herself for a moment, unused to this kind of familiarity, before wrapping her arms around her as well. “Thanks. You too, Kasumi.” Grunt chuckled to himself and Shepard finally broke into a half smile. “And what are you laughing at soldier?”
“Just getting into the Christmas spirit, Shepard.”
She shook her head at the three of them, thankfully only the three of them, that had witnessed her little moment, and let out a laugh. A real laugh. Her first one in a long, long time.