Work Text:
A long, loud sigh escaped the Commander as she stretched her arms far up over her head and leaned back in her chair. She felt as though she’d been sending out reports for hours. Glancing at the time verified the feeling and she realized with a frown that her tea had long since gone cold. She caught the low rumble of Kaidan’s chuckle, likely a response to the quiet grumbling noises she was making.
“You okay over there?” He glanced over his shoulder from his seat on the couch where he’d been quietly reading from a datapad.
“Is it too much to ask for me to just do the killing part and leave the memos and forms and recaps to someone else?” Shepard slumped low in her chair much like a child might as she stared at the endless words on the screen in front of her.
“I can help you out,” he offered, turning his body so he could get a better look at her. “A few more reports on top of my own wouldn’t kill me.”
“No,” she muttered as she crossed her arms defiantly over her chest. She remained still like that for a moment longer before letting loose a heavy sigh and shifting herself to sit properly in her seat once more. “I can do it. I’m just getting grumpy.”
“Hey,” Kaidan said as he turned his attention back to the datapad, settling in on the couch as he was before. “Mind giving me your opinion on something?”
Shepard couldn’t see his face now, but there was something mischievous in his tone. The smallest of smiles surfaced on her lips. “Sure.”
“When this war is over and we’re married, should we have a house on earth or just stick with the apartment on the Citadel?”
The Commander couldn’t quite stifle the snort that escaped her. She’d never heard anything so audacious and unexpected from him before. Heat rose in her cheeks as she scrambled to form words. “I… I’m sorry, what?”
“Well, I’m not sure where we’ll be needed more. Once the Reapers are defeated there will probably be some reshuffling, promotions, new assignments, and rebuilding to tend to, so I was curious as to whether you thought we’ll be needed more on Earth or the Citadel. Maybe we’ll just have to split our time between the two.”
The thought of where to live after the war was perplexing enough as she’d lived on ships gallivanting across the galaxy for most of her adult life, but the nonchalant inevitability of their marriage stunned her into silence for a long moment.
“Did I miss the part where we agreed to get married?” Shepard rose to stand, leaving her reports behind in favor of focusing her attention on the Major. Clearly he’d lost his mind.
“No,” he answered. Now that she could see his face, he could see the subtle flush in his cheeks and the devilish smirk on his lips. She couldn’t help but chuckle. “But it will happen. I can be pretty persuasive.”
“Oh yeah?” She took a seat beside him, curling one leg under herself so she could face him in close proximity comfortably. She propped her head up with her hand, the arm supported by the back of the couch because she simply had to hear more. “How might you go about convincing me?”
He let the hand holding the datapad drop to his lap as he glanced aside to lock eyes with her for a fleeting moment. His gaze then lifted to the ceiling as he pondered the question. “I’m quite a catch, you know. Let’s see… I know how to cook. I have a nice, stable job, provided I don’t die in the line of duty. I have excellent military benefits. I can kill spiders. I’m happy to do laundry. I’m great with animals and kids and, I assume, in-laws. I have good hair.”
Shepard’s smile widened with each successive point he made. Bold as it might have been for him to boast of his abilities and attributes, it was all true. She was terribly entertained by the entire display and couldn’t quite stop herself from running her fingers through that perfect hair once it was mentioned. “Fair enough,” she giggled.
Giggled. Shepard actually giggled.
She might have been horrified if it hadn’t brought such pure joy to Kaidan’s face. If she could see that moment in her mind’s eye until the end of time, it would never be enough. He immediately reached out for her, sliding a hand around the back of her neck and leaning in to press a gentle, smiling kiss to her lips.
“What if I wouldn’t make a good wife? I don’t have nearly as convincing a list of benefits,” Shepard said, her eyes sparkling with amusement as the fingers of her free hand interlocked with his.
Kaidan studied her with intense, amber eyes for a moment before he answered. “You do. You just don’t see it like I do. Besides, I already know. You don’t have to do any persuading.”
Heat rose to her cheeks as she dropped her gaze to their intertwined hands. She’d never allowed herself to think about this sort of thing. In the back of her mind somewhere she might have hoped that Kaidan thought of her that way, that setting up a future for themselves was a possibility, but she’d been quite unprepared to hear him say it so easily.
The Major cleared his throat and quietly commented, “you still haven’t answered my question.”
For a moment, the Commander froze, not entirely sure which question he meant. While she really needed no convincing to become Mrs. Alenko, she wasn’t ready for the complete distraction that would place in her mind if she said so right then.
“Citadel or Earth? Or both?” He reminded her.
Shepard released the breath she’d apparently been holding and allowed her thoughts to drift, for just a moment, to the possibility of the two of them going through the mundane, stressful practice of buying or building a house. She was amused by the absurdity of the thought of doing such a ‘normal’ thing, but somehow, she wanted that. Very much.
“Both,” she finally responded, raising her gaze to rest on his grinning face. “That’s a pretty random question, isn’t it? Why bring it up now?”
“Gives you something better to think about than reports, right?” He responded. As he did so, however, there was something significant about the way he was looking at her. She suspected that he’d needed the reassurance just as much as she’d needed the distraction, and that gleam in his eye was going to make her heart burst.
Tempted though she was for a moment to shirk her duties and throw herself at him, she leaned in and peppered his face with quick, fervent kisses. She stood and moved back over to to her desk to continue her work with renewed purpose. His raised eyebrow and watchful stare hinted at his surprise that she’d opted to return to her responsibilities.
She bit her lower lip as she struggled to calm her thundering heartbeat and quell her affection for that man for just a little while longer. “The faster I get through this, the faster we can get to house hunting.”