Shore Leave: Rituals (1/?)

Fem!Shepard, colonist/Akuze background. I've tried to keep free of too many descriptors so that you can imagine your own character, but in some cases I had to insert a first name. Also, Bioware owns Mass Effect.

Kaidan waited at a polite distance while Commander Shepard cleared customs at Laguardia Air- and Space Port in New York City. Beside him, Joker made a face as a chipper airport staffer with perfectly coiffed hair approached with a wheelchair.

“See ya, 'round Alenko,” Joker said, tossing him a jaunty salute.

“You mean in two weeks when our shore leave is up,” Kaidan returned in a dry voice.

“Hey, as far as I'm concerned, I'm better off on the Normandy. None of this stuff to deal with,” the pilot said jerking his head at the still-smiling woman.

“Would you like me to help you into the chair, Flight Lieutenant Moreau?” she chirruped.

“No,” Joker deadpanned and, rolling his eyes, turned on his crutches and hobbled away. The pretty face of the assistant faltered a moment and she glanced at Kaidan.

“Let him walk it off,” he advised. “We all have our ways of dealing with shore leave. Joker's likely to be cranky for awhile since he's not in a pilot's seat.” And wouldn’t be for awhile. The Normandy was in for heavy repairs and recalibration of all the fancy prototype equipment. Kaidan he knew what Joker would do to loosen up and wasn’t worried. He’d served with Joker long enough to know that the pilot's particular shore leave ritual wasn't too destructive. A bottle of fine old brandy and a round of poker would set him up. Some marines had it worse though. Some couldn't acclimate to peace time—even on something as short as a two-week holiday they'd be hovering around the base or cleaning their weapons obsessively. A new, unwelcome thought trickled into his mind like a tracer from one of his migraines. Would he end up like that?

“Rooster for your thoughts?” intruded an amused voice into his reverie.

“I—what? Rooster?” Kaidan blinked at Commander Shepard, thoroughly confused.

“An old saying from Mindoir,” she said with a grin, shouldering her carry-on bag.

“Right,” Kaidan said with a laugh. “I keep forgetting that you're a country bumpkin.”

She jabbed him playfully in the shoulder. “Keep talking, city boy, and I'll have you scrubbing toilets at the krogan-only bar in the Wards.”

Kaidan raised his hands in mock surrender with a smile. It was good to hear her cracking jokes again. The past couple of weeks in the aftermath of Sovereign's attack on the Citadel had been draining on them all. Debriefing alone had been exhausting, with so much information flowing and being withheld at the same time that Kaidan had a migraine nearly every other day.

The whole crew of the Normandy, Alliance and alien alike, had been given strict instructions by the Council on the story they were allowed to tell—and not a word more. Kaidan knew why it was important—telling the galaxy that a race of sentient super-sized ships was waiting on the edge of the galaxy in order to invade and decimate everything in their path would cause mass panic. The Reapers' quest would be over before they even arrived.

“There you go again. You all there, Kaidan?”

“Sorry, ma'am,” he replied, jerking himself back to the present. “I was just thinking how nice these two weeks are going to be. No press, no Alliance brass wanting one more debriefing, no grief counselors—” He stopped, hating himself as soon as the words slipped out of his mouth. They had just finished visiting Amaterasu—where Ashley's family lived. It would have been easy to just send vid-mail with the standard, sterile words about “dying in the line of duty” and “honor” and all that other crap. But Shepard wasn't a woman to do things the easy way. She'd gone there in person.

“Sorry, ma'am,” he said again quietly. She didn't reply, but her hand brushed against his reassuringly. They kept walking through the wide corridors of the airport, letting the stream of humans and non-humans alike flow around them.

“Excuse me,” Shepard paused bedside a uniformed marine standing at the junction of one of the corridors. “Is there somewhere we can change our clothes?”

The marine glanced at her, eyes flicking to her insignia, and snapped a sharp salute. “Ma'am! There is a locker room just round the corner, ma'am! Just scan your military tags, and it'll let you in, ma'am!”

“Thank you, Corporal.”

Kaidan and Shepard dragged their suitcases around the corner, and sure enough, spied a set of doors emblazoned with the Alliance crest. It wasn't that unusual anymore to have locker rooms like this in the airports. With so many soldiers going in and out—some not staying in one place long enough to have a room at a hotel—airports had become a soldier's best friend for a quick shower and a place to refresh after a long trip.

They exchanged their uniforms for civvies and continued on. Kaidan felt himself relaxing a little; funny how just a change of clothes could do that. But now they were less noticeable. It was only a matter of time before the press found out that the famous Commander Shepard was on Earth, but hopefully they would be looking closer at uniformed people. Perhaps they could blend in for awhile.

“Where to now, Shepard?”

She stopped dead and turned to face him, a ghost of a smile on her lips. “We’re not in uniform any more, Kaidan. ‘Shepard’ is a little formal for civvies, don’t you think?”

“Yes, ma’am, uh, I mean…” The words unexpectedly fumbled in his mouth.

“Andrea,” Shepard coaxed with a grin, “or Andie, if you like.” Her eyes got wistful. “No one’s called me ‘Andie’ in years.”

“Andie,” Kaidan said, trying it out. It felt… nice. Feeling a bit bolder, he reached for her hand and interlaced her fingers with his.

She raised a teasing eyebrow but didn’t pull away as they continued on, like any normal civilian couple.

“So… Andie,” Kaidan began again, “Where are we going?”

She'd been evasive about what she wanted to do on Earth. He knew that they would be visiting his family in Vancouver, but if that was all they were doing, they could have saved themselves the trip across the continent and landed at Vancouver International.

“Train station,” she said. “Our tickets are already wired to our dog-tags.”

“Can I ask where we're going?”

“To see my family,” she said simply. Kaidan glanced at her, saw the sadness in her eyes, and didn't press her for answers, though he wondered what family she could have on Earth. Hadn't they all been killed on Mindoir?

The train station was a few miles away, but to Kaidan’s alarm, instead of hiring a taxi, Shepard dragged him to a small car rental place attached to the airport.

“Uh, Andie…ma’am, you’re… you’re not going to drive all the way to the train station, are you?”

Shepard turned, her scarred eyebrow raised. “Something you want to say, Lieutenant?”

Kaidan rubbed the back of his neck. “Well… for both our sakes, please remember that a car isn’t the same as the Mako: four wheels, not six. This is Earth, not Edolas. There are, you know, streets, and traffic laws and things.” He trailed off as the gleam in her eye turned deadly. “I think I’ll go wait with our luggage, ma’am.”

“That is a very good idea, Lieutenant.”

Author's note: This second "short" vignette is endind up longer than I expected, so I'm going to break it up a little. Enjoy! (And I pre-ordered Mass Effect 2 yesterday!!)