A/N: The reunion! Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Kaidan was running. So fast, he was running. As fast as his tired legs could take him, and it hurt but he kept going. On broken legs, not broke only injured, he was running. Grunt had found her, they had found her.

Alive!

He hadn't had a good rest in a week. He'd fall asleep everywhere around the ship, at the table, halfway into a console, in the shower which was the most embarrassing. But that would only last a few minutes before he was up and running again. Helping with whatever repairs he could, ordering people off their asses to get shit done. It was his ship at the moment, his orders riding everyone ragged, but they understood. They knew they had to get back, had to get him back.

Liara, Traynor, and EDI tried several times to get him to go to bed, but he couldn't. He could not go back up to their cabin, and he could not bring himself to sleep anywhere else. So, he worked and he worked until he wore himself out.

The comms were the last thing to come back up. The Normandy had just achieved lift off when they came crackling back to life. But that was two days ago. And it brought no comfort, no news, no message of Shepard's safety, of her survival.

Soon, they were passing Neptune, a tiny blue-green planet, that no one bothered to look at. They were all too busy semi-celebrating. Hackett had just announced that Grunt had found her, and everyone broke down. Happy tears. EDI would have shed one if she could have.

But that was hours ago.

Now...he was running.

He bolted out of the Normandy's doors when they opened. There were skycars waiting, but Garrus, Kaidan, and Dr. Chakwas got the first one. All three yelled for the driver to go before the doors were even shut. He obliged.

Before the car stopped, Kaidan was bolting out the door again. Garrus was hot on his heels, but they left the Doc in the dust. She told them to go ahead, and they did. The young marine escorting them could hardly keep up. He barked directions to them from their six as he fell farther and farther behind down the maze-like corridors.

Shepard was in the only private room in the hospital, a luxury she would have insisted on giving up if she had been conscious. It was a nearly bombed out building with missing walls on the top floors, broken windows boarded up, but the generators were working and clean water was flowing. That was all that mattered for the time being.

Kaidan could only see blurs of shapes through his teary eyes, the beeping of machines filling his ears, the smell of antiseptic making him nauseous. He stumbled through Shepard's door, Hackett and Wrex both jumping up from their chairs by her side ready to take down any intruders.

Wrex laughed, soft and low, and Kaidan knew he was in the right room.

He somehow, somehow, managed to make it to the bed, his legs too wobbly to keep him upright any longer, before collapsing in the chair by his Shepard's side that Wrex had vacated. He took a limp hand in his, fearful not to touch her anywhere else that might aggravate her injuries.

He kissed Jane's hand with his dry, cracked lips careful not to disturb any wires or tubes. When a gentle Turian hand landed easy on his back, he lost any last remnant of control over his emotions, joy mixed with sorry mixed with fear mixed with relief mixed with a million other feelings and swirled around and gushed out of him uncontrollably.

"Her mate?" Hackett whispered to Wrex upon seeing the reaction the Major had.

Wrex grunted an approving sound. Not that the question needed an answer; it was obvious.

"Well I'll be damned...I trust you have the situation under control, Wrex. If you'll excuse me, I have some full-disclosure forms to pre-date," winked the Admiral before sneaking out the door. He met Dr. Chakwas in the hall and introduced her to Shepard's doctors before continuing on his way.

The Normandy crew cycled through the room a few at a time before getting checkups and medical clearances themselves. The doctors explained that Shepard would be unconscious for a few days. She was heavily sedated in order to give her body time to heal. She was critical but stable.

No one dared to pull Kaidan away, but that didn't stop them from worrying about him. They took turns watching over him, making sure he ate, bringing him coffee and clean clothes. The hospital had no extra beds to spare, so Grunt stole a bench out of a nearby building for him to sleep on.

It was better than nothing.

He was oddly comforted by the sound of the monitors. They reminded him that Shepard's heart was still beating. Occasionally, they would start going crazy, blinking and beeping wildly, but the doctors would rush in and assure him that everything was fine. It seemed to happen every other time he dozed off like Shepard was playing a joke on him.

If that didn't wake him, the sound of Shepard gasping for air would. He tried to calm her, but he wasn't sure she could even hear him in her unconscious state. He did it anyway, talking soothingly to her, more to comfort himself than anything else. After a minute or two, she would settle down. Sometimes, her eyes would open wide randomly then slam shut, giving Kaidan false hope that she was waking up.

So went the next four days. To Kaidan, it seemed longer than the seven they were away from Earth. But he was mostly able to keep it together thanks to their friends. He'd just sit there and talk to her, about nothing, about everything.

"Wake up so I can tell you not to ever scare me like this again, Jane! I don't know how you did this for me after Mars, but I'm thinking it's time for us to retire. We'll get a house on English Bay, or wherever you want, have some babies, we can even adopt if you want, maybe...maybe get married? We haven't talked about that before, but since you can't tell me to get the hell out, I'll take it as you approving of the discussion.

"Pros and cons. Let's start with pros, shall we? I love you. I think you love me. I'm gonna, hmmm, I'm gonna count that as two..."

XoXoX

Shepard was dreaming. This wasn't an out of body experience. There were no ghosts. There was only a voice that was smooth like honey pooling in her ears and flowing directly into her heart.

Was she dreaming?

She was in that funny state in between dreams and reality where the two sometimes merge. It still hurt to breath but not as much. She was aware of the beeping of the monitors and the sound of Kaidan talking about something she wasn't quite conscious enough to recognize. However, the tone was there, warm and loving, cooing sweet nothings that were only meant for her.

Spirits, she loved that man.

She tried to open her eyes, but they wouldn't budge. She wanted to look into those whiskey eyes, but for now, Kaidan's voice was enough. She was in pain, but she was going to live, forever with this man if she got her way. She was—dare she say it?—happy.

"Can you be happy? For me? If anyone deserves it, it's you, Commander."

"Make the sacrifices worth it."

"The galaxy is not done with you yet, Shepard-Commander."

Her eyelids were still heavy, they refused to open, refused to budge, but there was something warm in her hand, hot against her palm, worn and calloused, a finger dancing across her wrist giving her goosebumps. And she heard the beeps from one of the monitors speed up, not much, but just enough for her to catch it.

"...I want kids. I don't know if you do Jane, but I'm counting that as another pro until you correct me. Hmmm, so let's recap our pros for getting married: I love you. You love me. We practically live together anyway. You need someone to keep you grounded, and uh, to keep your ego in check. I need someone who pushes me out of my comfort zone. Maybe kids. And I...well, I just love you. I'll go ahead and count that as more than one. Okay, cons...hmmm, cons..."

"I can't think of any either," Jane whispered, her throat still too sore to speak any louder.

Kaidan's eyes traveled upward over Jane's body slowly. Maybe he was hearing things? He almost didn't want to look. His eyes were focused on studying Shepard's fingers, and he didn't want to be disappointed yet again when she wasn't awake. He decided to chance it anyway.

He was greatly rewarded for his bravery. The most beautiful green eyes in the world were staring back at him, a big crooked smile plastered on Jane's face. Shepard gave his hand a good squeeze and flashed what Kaidan interpreted as a wink at him sending chills cascading down his spine.

"Did I read into that or was it a proposal, K?"

"That depends? Am I reading into that or was it a yes?"

"No, it's a fuck yes!" Jane strained herself trying to speak loud enough for Kaidan to hear her, and it sent her into a coughing fit.

Kaidan's eyes went wide as he jumped up almost in panic. He reached for the water he had been drinking on the table and held the straw up to Shepard's mouth. He went for the call button to summon the nurse but she swatted his hand away.

"Not yet," Shepard mouthed, shaking her head as best as she could. Innocent puppy dog eyes were obviously involved.

"Five more minutes, then I'm calling the nurses and telling them to stick you with something for scaring me so badly, Commander!"

Jane cleared her throat. "Rather...have you stick me with something, Major," she whispered with a cheeky grin.

"You're insatiable! I suppose that means you're feeling better?"

She nodded, "You make me better."

"They got you on the good drugs, huh?"

Kaidan leaned down and kissed her sensually on the lips. Shepard wanted to pull him closer, in deeper, but her bad shoulder was protesting and Kaidan held the other tightly out of the way having anticipated her move.

"I guess that means I hid your ring well enough," Kaidan smirked.

"You did not! Are you serious?"

"I'll ask Traynor to fetch it. And then I'll do it right. I was going to give it to you when I came up for a 'quick drink' but you kinda got me drunk."

"You sneaky bastard!"

"Just as well. A Christmas proposal is much more romantic."

"It's..." Shepard tried to continue but that was the moment her voice decided to give out on her.

"Yep, Christmas day started two hours ago. Okay, I'm getting your doctor now."

Shepard rolled her eyes but couldn't help the smile that spread across her face for her beautiful brown eyed biotic. And she certainly couldn't help but stare as that ass sauntered out of the room.

She still wasn't sure whether Ash, Mordin, and Legion were hallucinations or dreams or their actual spirits visiting her, but she didn't care. She was going to forgive herself and accept the decision she made because watching that man, her fiancé, walk back towards her was all the reassurance she needed to know that she made the right choice.

And she wasn't about to wait five years to give him that ship she owed him.

A/N2: I really hoped you liked it. It was fun to write and I appriciate the encouragement and support. I do have a few AU ideas that are rattling around in my head for this pairing and I hope I get around to them sometime soon along with finishing my Badass story that's probably not even halfway done yet. Although, I do have other stories (mostly MShenko that I post elsewhere) that I'm juggling as well, so who knows when that'll be.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this very angsty Christmas Story! And thanks so much for reading!