Sorry that it took me so long, but the first week of school was very exhausting.. and yeah.. the idea just popped in my head when I was at the gamescom yesterday.. xD .. unfortunately I couldn't play the Mass Effect 2 demo.. because I'm not old enough.. but I saw the guy who was running around as Shepard.. yeah.. let's say.. he was good-looking :D

Nearly two weeks had passed and they were lying on the small dock on a blanket staring up into the sky. It was completely dark and you cold see every single star. Shepard was lying on his chest again looking up into the sky. "Kaidan?" she said quietly "Huh Shep.. I mean Jane?" After two weeks he was still not used to call her by her first name. "What if we spend the rest of our shore leave somewhere else? Not that you think that I don't like it here. I actually love it.. but we could spend one week in a bigger city.. I wanted to go shopping and stuff." He began to stroke her hair "Sure.. why not? I also wanted to buy some stuff." "Good..." she only said and continued to watch the stars.

Her thoughts wandered around a beautiful white dress and a ring on her finger but she she shrugged them off quickly. That was not the first time in this week that she began to think about those things. Marriage was a ridiculous thought. It would make everything more complicated than it was. Kaidan would be transferred to another ship. On the other hand it would also be very hard to work with him together, in the field she would always worry about him and would be distracted. She couldn't afford to be distracted in such an important mission. They also couldn't behave like they behaved now. Kisses or even holding hands wouldn't be possible. She didn't realize that she was crying until Kaidan lifted up and embraced her. "Hey.. don't cry." She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. She was still sobbing but she began to speak "You know what? They can do their Reaper shit alone. I'm out." She was angry, angry at herself, angry at the Reapers and angry at the Council. Kaidan stroked her hair softly "Jane .. hey.. everything is gonna be ok.. I promise ok? I promise we will find a way." He stood up and lifted her up in his arms. "Let's go to bed ok?" She just nodded and rested her head on his shoulder. He kissed her hair and carried her on his arms in the bedroom. As they lay in the bed Kaidan pulled her as close to him as he could.

The next morning they were packing their things Shepard had finally calmed down. She forbid herself to think about the bad things how she called them anymore and just enjoy the time that was left. She came out of the bedroom where she was already expected by Kaidan. He would keep an eye on her by now. "Ready?" he asked her and she just nodded. Kaidan put the the bags in the car and Shepard was already placing herself on the front seat.

After a 4 hour ride they had reached a city that was big enough for Shepard. They had rented a little apartment and were walking through the city hand in hand now.

They were just passing a bride shop when Shepard felt her heart twitch painfully. She turned to Kaidan who looked like he was miles away with his thoughts "Would you mind if I would just made some shopping alone?" He looked distracted "No problem. I wanted to ask you the same anyway. I wanted to go to the local gun shop and thought you wouldn't want to .. you know." She began to smile and gave him a quick kiss."Here again in two hours?" she asked him. "Sure. See you then." was the only thing he said and then he was already heading in the opposite direction. Shepard just stood there startled. What was wrong with him? Did she say something wrong? She couldn't tell for the moment so she made her way to he bride shop.

The woman in the shop greeted her friendly but Shepard felt awkward. It also got worse when the woman came over to her "So when is the big day? Can I help you somehow?" Shepard began to laugh "No no I'm not going to get married.. I just wanted to look and maybe try on some of them." The woman looked disappointed. "What a pity. I would have the perfect dress for you. But you can try it on anyway." The woman walked in a little room behind the counter and came back with a dress lying over her arm. She handed it to Shepard who was immediately heading to the changing room. After she was dressed she obeyed herself in the mirror. The dress was beautiful and it caressed her curves. Kaidan would love it. How could she just bring up the topic without sounding like an idiot? It was just impossible that they would ever going to marry. She sighed and began to take off the dress again.

Dressed in her own clothes again she handed the dress back to the woman. "Sure there is not the right one by now?" she asked. Shepard looked irritated "Yeah .. I think it's better so." she just replied and walked out of the shop. The rest of the two hours she spend walking through shops but finding nothing. She just bought some underwear to make Kaidan not too alert. She headed back to their meeting point and waited, she waited almost a half hour until she could make out Kaidan between the other people. He had a big smile on his face and greeted her with a kiss. She frowned but smiled, so he was happy again, what did he just do in the two hours?

"Hey. Sooo..what's next?" she asked him "I was about to ask you the same. How about some food?" he replied. "Sounds great." she began to smile again and took his hand, heading to the little cafe she had seen earlier. "If i may ask.. what were you doing during the time?" he tried not to sound too interested. "Nothing big. Some girl stuff.. what did you do?" "Ehh nothing big either.. I was just in that gun shop." "And found something interesting?" "Yeah you could say so." He smiled at her and she was confused. For his luck they had reached the cafe and sat down. They ordered two coffe and some apple-pie. She could see that Kaidan was in his thoughts again when they were eating but it didn't bother her because she was in her own thoughts. The wedding dress just didn't want to get out of her mind.

They hardly talked and decided to get back to their apartment after they were finished. When they arrived at their apartment Shepard let herself just fall onto the bed pulling Kaidan with her. He lay on top of her now and she had her hands on both sides of his head. "What were you really doing during the two hours?" She closed her eyes and kissed him. "I already said... some girl stuff .. nothing you have to worry about." "Naah .. you're lying. What did you really do?" She kissed him again "I could ask you the same. Who had the big smile on his face after he came back,huh?" Kaidan rolled over to the other side so that they were both lying on their backs staring at the ceiling.

Kaidan's expressions got darker again and he sat up on the edge of the bed. Shepard felt the movement and crawled over the bed to lay her arms around him from behind. "What's wrong? You seemed so happy a minute ago." His face was hidden behind his hands when he answered "I am happy. There is just one thing that sticks in my head." She stroked his hair and didn't say anything, she didn't want to force him to tell her. After a few minutes she heard him breath in sharp and he began to speak "Do you want to marry me?" He turned in her direction his eyebrows raised. Her mouth popped open and she looked at him in disbelieve. She sat there for a full minute until she could put her thoughts in the right order and form the word "Yes".

---

As Kaidan woke up the events of the last day rushed through his head. He would have never thought that she would say yes. He was the luckiest man in the world now. With his eyes still closed he rolled over to ly an arm around his fiancée, but she was not there. Alarmed her opened his eyes and scanned the room. "Jane?" he said loud. There came no answer. He got up fast and searched for her in the tiny apartment. She was not there. He didn't see the folded paper that was lying on the other side of the bed until he sat down again.

I love you, but I can't.

I'm sorry.

Jane

He looked at the words in disbelief. His head got red and he hid his face in his hands. "No." he whispered.

Yeah.. I had to bring a bit drama in my story :D

Even fluff gets boring after some time ;D