Rumours

Jack was just starting to enjoy herself. After Shepard had gotten her and her students out of Grissom Academy and they'd gone to join the war effort, she'd thought she was done getting rescue by him. But a drop gone wrong, and the coincidental arrival of the Normandy in their region of the galaxy had meant that she and her kids had been rescued by the King of the Boy Scouts again.

But that wasn't what had Jack feeling so jovial. No, her latest good mood was because, after she'd been given free access to the Normandy for the three-hour flight to their rendezvous, she'd done some exploring, seeing how the Alliance had improved what Cerberus had gotten their filthy paws on, and had run into none other than Kaidan Alenko, Shepard's boy toy. She hadn't had the pleasure of meeting him before, hearing that he'd been resting up in hospital after nearly being turned into a squishy mess on the side of a shuttle, and she'd been dying of curiosity to find out what kind of man could hold Commander Shepard's attention.

And in the privacy of her own thoughts, she would have to admit that she approved. Kaidan was the type of man she could respect – loyal, diligent, capable. Way too serious for her personal preferences, and his studied, quiet nature made her suspicious, but there was something inherently trustworthy about him, and in her books, that made him a worthy squeeze for Shepard.

Now if she could just find out what it took to get that cool, calm mask to crack...

"So he forgave you for stabbing him in the back on Horizon?" Jack continued her niggling, which had begun some ten minutes earlier. She hadn't been on the team that went to Horizon, hadn't seen him then, but she'd heard all about it later, water-cooler gossip that some Alliance soldier had broken the Commander's heart, and if she hadn't personally seen Shepard moping about the ship like a bear with a toothache, she would never have believed it.

"Yeah. He's got a big heart," Kaidan said nonchalantly, carefully adjusting the sight on a sniper rifle at the weapons bench in the cargo bay. "Not the type to hold a grudge."

Jack snorted. Oh, there were plenty of grudges that Shepard was holding. Against Cerberus. Against that reporter-chick who kept harassing him. Against that salarian salesman on Omega that had sold them a faulty thermal pipe... "And it doesn't bother you that he hooked up with Tali? I mean, okay, you were away at the time, after you'd ripped his guts out and called him a traitor, but still, that's gotta sting, right?"

Kaidan raised an eyebrow, startled for just a moment... and than that damned mask slid back into place and he smiled, smiled, damn it, and shook his head. "Shepard never slept with Tali," he said calmly, and Jack realised what was going on here. She narrowed her eyes. Fine, so Shepard must have warned Kaidan about her. Way to rip the fun out of the day, if she couldn't even mess with his new crew...

"And how do you feel about being the woman in the relationship?" she asked, not able to resist the attempt at one more poke. "He is your Commander, I know, but you still outrank him... Do they teach you that in Alliance training? How to bend over and take it up the ass?"

That got a reaction... but it wasn't the one Jack had been expected. No spluttering or embarrassment from Mr. Stick-up-his-ass. But the sideways smirk he shot her hinted at much more tantalising things. "Who says I'm the one bending over?" he asked slyly. "I do outrank, him, after all."

Jack felt her jaw drop as she realised that that had simply never occurred to her. Shepard on the bottom? Really? She just couldn't picture it. He was always so in control, dominating the room, the conversation, the battle field. She'd never imagined he wouldn't also be the one to dominate the bedroom...

"Well," Jack said, and hoped smoothly off the weapons bench. "Thank for you this fascinating little chat. If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go find out what the Commander's up to."

Kaidan watched the 'psychotic biotic' stalk out of the cargo bay, a grin on his lips. Thankfully, Shepard had Jack nailed. Her need to cause trouble, her protective instincts where the Commander was concerned... and her occasional glee at tantalising tidbits of gossip. He'd fully anticipated her grilling over his relationship with Shepard... and knew that Shepard was fully prepared for a mirroring interrogation, half-truths and sly deflections already on the tip of his tongue. He wondered how long it would take Jack to figure out that she was being played...