DISCLAIMER! Contains ME3 minor Spoilers! Read at your risk!

Shepard had not expected him to respond; she was just bored and possibly a little drunk when she had sent the message.

The last time she was on the Citadel she had bought a chessboard. It was too lovely and elegant to pass up, an oriental theme with jade and jasper figures; a small luxury that she had never allowed herself to own.

She had gone to each crew member trying to find someone to play with. Mordin was too smart. Jacob did not know the game. Miranda was too busy. Garrus did not have that patience. Frustrated, Shepard returned to her quarters and checked her mail. In her inbox Kaidan's message was still there staring at her face, still unanswered. Annoyed that the right words had yet to come to her, she typed 'Pawn to C4' and went to bed.

It was days later when a message was returned to her. All it said was 'Pawn to G5'. After a moment of confusion Shepard remembered she had sent Kaidan the chess move while in a drunken stupor. Biting her lip she smirked and returned the email, 'Knight to C3' and moved the chessboard to reflect the game.

It was another day before the next message came, 'Pawn to C5.' Back and forth it went: Knight to E4, Pawn to E6, Pawn to D3, Pawn to F5, Knight to F6, Knight to F6, Knight takes Knight.

"Shit," she cursed out loud and removed a jasper figure from her side, first of her men to fall to him. She wouldn't allow him take the advantage, she promised herself.

Sometimes she would get a response in a matter of hours, sometimes it would be days. Once it took a full week. She checked her message twice and sometimes three times a day waiting for his next move; each time moving the figures to reflect the game. Days went by and pieces fell from the board. He might have taken her Knight but she took his Bishop. In her free time, Shepard would stare at the board trying to figure out his next move.

Finally she got her first Check; it was a short lived victory before he took her sole remaining Bishop. The next thing she knew her Queen side's Rook was gone and her Queen followed shortly. She was down to a handful of Pawns and her King. He still had his Queen, a Bishop, and a Rook. She almost turned the board over in frustration. This left her King wedged between his Rook and Queen with barely room to escape.

However, that was when reality intervened; Shepard was called to Earth to stand trial. That was when the Reapers came. Shepard barely managed to escape as the Reapers began to tear apart the Earth. The Normandy had come to her rescue. Aboard her beloved, now Alliance controlled, ship was Kaidan. It had been months since she had actually seen him.

He looked even better than she remembered, a brand new human Spectre. He represented everything that she had —in the end—failed to be; a Spectre the human race could be proud of. Not a murderer and a war criminal. Now they were going to have to work together to stop the Reapers from destroying not just their home world but the entire galaxy.

Days passed as they searched the stars for allies, Kaidan never once mentioned the game that had been going on between them for the past months. Either he never really cared or he had forgotten completely about their game. Shepard began to doubt it was even Kaidan who she had been playing with this whole time. Perhaps it had been a Cerberus Operative interrupting her messages.

Sitting alone in her quarters with her legs drawn up to her chest, Shepard tried to plan out their next move. A knock on the door made her jump back to the present.

"Come in," she said, sitting up straight and trying to act like a proper Commander.

It was Kaidan, he marched into her quarters like he was on a mission.

"Kaidan, I was thinking…" her words fell silent on her lips when she saw the hard determination on his face.

Placing on hand on the back of the chair he leaned in close to her, making her hold her breath. Even after everything that had happened between them she still cared for him. His presence could still inspire her heart to flutter.

"Bishop to D5," he whispered his eyes locked on hers.

Shepard blinked, as she tried to remember the positions of their old game. It had been weeks since the last time she had seen her chessboard. It was one of the many things of hers that had been confiscated. He waited patiently as she reformed the board in her head.

"Bishop to D5," she repeated softly, "That's…"

"Checkmate," was all he said before his lips crushed against hers.