A/N: This follows all of my other fics and is chronologically the last. The others are not necessary to enjoy this fic, but some characters/incidents will make more sense if you have read them. This takes place 3 months after the wedding.
Shepard's glared at the tank as the spider she hated moved out from its cork board home, mocking her with its alive and well state.
"It's on now." Shepard muttered as she glared at it. "This is an official Declaration of War. I defeated the Reapers, I can defeat you."
Her gaze fell on the button she used to push to get rid of her dead fish.
A contemplative eyebrow rose as a slow smile curved her lips.
Glancing at the closed bathroom door, she crossed the room and oh so casually leaned against the button with her elbow, contorting slightly to make sure she hit it right. Nothing happened. Scowling, she turned about and began punching it with her finger.
"The first thing I did was deactivate that button when I converted the tank for Rambo." Kaidan's voice was smug as he exited the bathroom, his hair wet but no towel in sight.
Shepard made a face and punched the button once more for spite before her hope completely died.
"Oh, and your attempts to tell Grunt that spiders taste better than fish and then let him hold Rambo are only going to work if you take her out of her den and down to him." Kaidan added and grinned at the shudder that went down her spine.
Shepard crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "You know the only consolation I have out of going to your parents for your dad's birthday is that I won't be anywhere near that pet thing of yours. Maybe it will die while we're gone."
All humor fell from Kaidan's expression. "What?" He said the word carefully, his body still.
Shepard paused, reacting to his sudden tension, but confused. "Your dad's birthday party next week. Your mom sent me our travel itinerary. I told her not to bother, we'd just take the Normandy. She's expecting us the day before. I wanted to get a hotel but she said you always stayed in your old room."
Kaidan's jaw clenched, his lips a thin pursed line. With angry, jerky movements, he began pulling on his BDU pants.
"What's wrong?" Shepard asked in careful tones. "I'm getting a vibe here that is confusing me."
"It's not you, it's my mother." Kaidan finally answered. Exasperation running both hands through is hair, shedding water drops on the floor. "I already told her that we wouldn't be attending my father's birthday party."
"But…" Shepard frowned, pausing. "She made it sound like you had already accepted and that it was just a foregone conclusion that we would be there."
"She manipulated you." Kaidan said grimly.
"She succeeded because I didn't know there was an issue with going to your father's birthday party." Shepard responded still watching him with wary caution. "Kaidan, I have no problem telling your mother where to go…there are nights I lay awake and think about the perfect way to say it…but I thought you got along with both of your parents."
"I do." The words were forced.
Shepard arched an eyebrow at him. "Riiiiiight. That is exactly why you're pissed off, right? Because you get along with both of them so well." She rested her hand on his as he reached for his combat boots, the touch stilling him as she knew it would. "Tell me what you're thinking, Kaidan."
He looked at her, his dark eyes holding consternation and resignation as his left hand slid up her neck to cup her nape, his thumb running roughly over her jawline. The touch seemed to soothe him and he smiled, as if something in the steady love she gazed at him with gave him the strength to answer.
"The entire family comes to my father's party." He murmured with a sigh, a tension releasing from him. "My older sisters and their husbands and children, several aunts and uncles and cousins. There is some…concern about my biotics around the children."
Shepard frowned. "What concern? Did you spank some little darling and irritate their mother?"
He laughed, the sound almost forced. "No. I saved his life."
Confusion raced across her face. "Kaidan, I need a little bit more from you because right now that little black rain cloud above you is literally getting the floor wet." She flicked her fingers through the wet strands of his hair and had him laughing.
"My parents house is beach front property, right?" He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "I was at one of Dad's parties when one of my nephews decided to teach himself to swim. Alone. The waves sucked him pretty far out before anyone noticed and reacted. I used a pull to bring him back to shore, but he was pretty far out, at the limits of my abilities at the time…I was in my early twenties. I ran out of strength and dropped him once I had him on shore. Broke his leg. His mother…was unhappy."
Shepard's eyes flashed with ire. "Unhappy that you saved her son?" Her tone was low and annoyed.
"Unhappy that I caused her son's broken leg." Kaidan tried for a nonchalant shrug, but she caught the edge of upset in his eyes. "It didn't help matters that only days before Dad's party an L2 had gone insane and attacked a public park in downtown Vancouver. There were several deaths."
"Unless you were the reason the L2 went insane, I see no reason for them to ostracize you." Shepard's voice was deadly, her expression fierce.
"No, you misunderstand." Kaidan shook his head, taking her hands in his. "They didn't ostracize me. It simply became awkward…"
"Which is a passive-aggressive reaction from people who don't want to come right out and claim that a person has been ostracized." She retorted. "Your mother and I are going to have a little chat about her going behind your back and thinking I'd go along with it, but I tell you true, Kaidan, I'm half tempted to show up and give them something to be awkward about."
His brown eyes lit and he laughed softly. "That's my Kaet. Not a passive bone in her body."
Shepard's own attention was on something completely different. "Oooohh, I could take Grunt with me. And Jack…one look at her and they'll be imagining entirely new reasons to be worried about their sons." A twisted smile lit her lips and Kaidan shook his head.
"Riling my mother isn't worth it, Kaet." He said with a chuckle. "I'll send a gift like I do every year and we won't worry about it."
Her pale eyes snapped toward him, studying him, her head tilted. "You want to go." She said abruptly.
"I don't want to upset my family…" He began shaking his head.
"Part of you thinks it will be different this time. You've saved the Citadel, saved the Universe. You think maybe they'll be proud of you now." She caught his arm as he turned away and pulled him back. "Kaidan, if you want to go, I'll have your back. If you're too worried that nothing will have changed, I have no problem bringing my Cain and giving them something to worry about. You want to stay here and let your pet thing torture me, I can handle that too. I'm here for you. Whatever the circumstances."
One corner of his mouth kicked up in a smile as he squeezed her hand. "Let me think about it, Kaet."
"You do that. I'm going to think of ways to express to your mother how unhappy I am with this latest trick of hers."
In the quiet of their cabin, the lights low, their sleep shift having started hours ago, Kaidan rolled next to her, pulling her lithe body full up against his own, wrapping his arms about her.
"Let's go." He whispered in her ear, the tension of his internal debate seeping out of him with the relief of a decision and a purpose.
Shepard's eyes cracked sleepily as a faint smile touched her lips. She nodded once and then slid back into sleep.
"You brought your Cain, didn't you?"
Shepard rolled her eyes as she stepped out of the hover, looking at the large ranch house before them. "That is the fifth time you have asked me that since we left the Normandy. Who are you and what have you done with the real Kaidan Alenko?"
"Ha ha." He answered his attention on the dock near the beach where a large group of people were laughing and playing. "Whenever we've taken leave of our own and left your Cain behind, something bad has happened. If we bring it that should mean a nice, normal, vacation."
She gave him a questioning glance as she let the hover's door fall shut. Usually she was the one with the nutty ideas and took it as a sign of his nerves about being here that he was offering them now.
"Hey, swimming!" She said suddenly, a smile lighting up her face. "I get you mostly naked in a public place!"
He laughed, shaking his head at her before snagging both his duffle and hers from the storage area of the hover.
"Oh, you laugh now, but let me tell you there have been times I have debated abusing my power as Captain of the Normandy to institute Naked Kaidan Alenko Fridays." She informed him with utter seriousness.
He gripped both bags in one hand and wrapped his other arm about her waist. "We both know that so long as Chambers is on board you will never do that."
"I've been meaning to get rid of her…" Shepard slid her own arm around him…with a sneak squeeze on his left buttock as her hand passed that way. "So you grew up here?" She looked around at all the green and shook her head slightly. They both may have been raised on Earth, but that was where any similarity ended.
The grounds were meticulously cultivated…probably by sheer force of Mrs Alenko's will…and actual wood fence posts framed the driveway and the corral beyond. Shepard could see an Eco-Habitat dome over a portion of the back yard, probably where Mrs Alenko kept her fish, and made a vow to go nowhere near them for their own sake.
"Some of it, yes." Kaidan nodded. "It was a bit of a shock leaving this to go to Brain Camp."
She knew for a fact that hadn't been the only shock about his being taken to Jump Zero, but she let it go.
"Kaidan." Mrs. Alenko's voice spoke from behind them.
Both turned and watched the older woman continue her way up from the beach, a smile trembling about her lips.
"If you ever again go behind his back and manipulate us in ways that could cause conflict between us, you will not like the consequences." Shepard stated in flat tones of utter seriousness.
Mrs Alenko's smile faded to polite welcome. "I understand." She said with a nod.
"You might understand, but you don't believe." Shepard's eyes were piercing with intent. "Do not get me wrong, Anna, I can be every bit as manipulative and stubborn as you and I will treat every threat to my marriage very seriously. You knew he didn't want to come and you used me to force the issue. That will never happen again."
Mrs Alenko glanced at Kaidan who simply looked back at her. The smile on her lips became genuine.
"I will not set you against each other again." She said with an almost proud nod of her head.
Shepard gave her a brilliant grin. "Lovely place you have here, Mrs Alenko. We're so happy to be here."
Kaidan gave his wife a questioning look that deepened as his mother laughed. "Did I miss something?" He asked.
"Your wife, being the soldier she is, was simply drawing the battle lines, Kaidan." Mrs Alenko said. "With that out of the way, each of us knowing where we stand, we can all actually enjoy the rest of the week rather than jockey for the dominant position."
"It's chick speak for calling a truce, Kaidan." Shepard informed him. "Don't you worry your precious little head about it." She patted his rear where his mother couldn't see.
Kaidan rubbed his forehead as if the beginnings of a migraine were forming.
"I took the liberty of exchanging the twin bed in your room for a king, Kaidan." Mrs Alenko continued on her way to the house, the command to follow implicit in that she continued to talk as if they were right beside her. "I hope that will make you both comfortable."
Kaidan pinched Shepard's waist before she could say anything. "I'm sure it's fine, Mom. I see both Mai and Elspeth and their families made it."
"Yes, you and Kaet were the last. Everyone has been expecting you." Mrs Alenko opened the front door.
Shepard turned, her gaze going to the beach where several pairs of eyes watched them and none tried to join them. "I can see they're all beside themselves to say hello." There was an edge in her tone.
Mrs Alenko paused and turned to the younger woman. "You'll forgive them if they are a bit…intimidated by your presence."
"Mine or Kaidan's?" She retorted.
"Shepard." Kaidan said in a warning tone.
Shepard didn't back down, her pale eyes staring at Mrs Alenko. The older woman's own eyes twinkled and in their depths Shepard found something unexpected.
Hope.
For the first time since hearing Kaidan's reluctance to go to his father's party, the angry belligerence in Shepard died. There was something else going on here.
"You are both heroes. You both saved the universe." Mrs Alenko murmured. "That can be pretty intimidating for common folk."
"Are you common folk or family?" Shepard asked, her head tilted in thoughtful study of the other woman.
Mrs Alenko squeezed Shepard's hand once before letting go and entered the house. "Kaidan's room is upstairs."
The house may have been impeccable at one point but now there were toys scattered about the rooms, articles of clothing simply tossed here and there. A small child was crawling across the floor and had Shepard frowning until a teenager with long hair and Kaidan's eyes moved into view.
Shepard gave a nod of greeting.
The teenager lost all color in her face, scooped up the child and disappeared back into the depths of the room.
"That better have been because she was afraid I'd eat that baby." Shepard muttered as she felt Kaidan tense at her side.
Kaidan gave her a smile that was meant to be reassuring and ended up a fail. "We can reassess our options in the morning." He finally said, taking her hand.
"There are rather fierce stories about you, Commander Shepard." Mrs Alenko reminded her. "Don't be surprised if some of the more unsavory ones…like you punching your enemies through the windows of high rise buildings…have made their way about the children."
"I did that once and seriously, he had it coming." Shepard pointed out in righteous tones.
"I'm sure he did." Mrs Alenko said with a harmless smile. "Just as I am sure you will not need to resort to such tactics here."
"Don't bet the farm on that one, sister." Shepard muttered back under her breath only to give a bright meaningless smile when Mrs Alenko frowned at her.
"Here we are." Mrs Alenko gave Shepard another warning look before stepping back and motioning into the room.
"Why are there mostly naked Asari holos all over the walls?" Shepard asked in tight tones as she entered, her gaze moving about the scantily clad and dancing figures.
Kaidan flushed a deep red. "I'll, uh…" He trailed off pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. "Take those down." The last was mumbled as he quickly moved across the room.
"And destroy them." Shepard advised with a pointed glare, her arms crossing over her chest.
"Aye, aye, ma'am." Kaidan muttered with a roll of his eyes.
The room was a teenage boy's haven. Shepard's gaze narrowed as she looked about the surprisingly large area Kaidan had grown up in. An actual shelf with paper books rested in one corner, the top of it covered with action figures, some showing daring space pirates with guns while others paid homage to barbarians with swords from ages past. Each 'hero' had a damsel in distress he was protecting from some gruesome creature. Shoes and jackets Kaidan had long since outgrown were in the closet but no dust covered them. A sports trophy hung from a ribbon over the bed. An old tech console, pulled apart and in pieces was scattered across a work table. Everything looked as if he had stepped out the door a boy only to step back in a man.
This wasn't a room…it was a shrine.
Shepard's gaze slanted toward Mrs Alenko. The older woman had been watching her reaction and gave a small nod.
"I'll leave you two to get settled in. You've arrived late so supper has already been served, but if you're hungry I can fix something up." Mrs Alenko paused until two negative shakes of their heads answered her before continuing. "Well enough. I'll introduce you to the rest of the family in the morning." She paused as if searching for something more to say and then simply nodded and retreated, shutting the door behind her.
"Hey, my old holo-comic collection." Kaidan laughed as he headed for the closet and the data files inside a box.
"Kaidan, when was the last time you actually lived in this room?" Shepard asked, her fingers touching a toy model of one of the Alliance's first space worthy crafts.
"Before Brain Camp." He answered absentmindedly. "How much of this stuff do you think we can fit on the Normandy?"
"If we get rid of your spider pet thing and put some shelves in…quite a bit." Shepard said blinking innocent eyes in his direction.
"Nice try." Kaidan slanted a brief glance her way before turning his attention back to the closet.
Shepard moved to the paper books, unsurprised to find the complete works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert Howard and David Weber. Other authors, mostly with space themes, also held places of honor.
"You didn't live here after Brain Camp?" Shepard asked moving to the toy collection, her finger carefully running over dustless biceps of an improbably large barbarian.
Kaidan shook his head, still more focused on the closet full of treasures. "After they shut BAaT down I wandered around a bit. Mostly worked odd tech jobs at different spaceports and moved on when I was tired of the area. Never really came back here. I signed up with the Alliance when I was 22 and only came back for short visits. Just kept in contact with messages."
Shepard looked around the room, it's immaculately clean snapshot of a boy's life and began to understand why Mrs Alenko had taken such a risk in manipulating her to get them here.
"I'll stow our gear." Shepard murmured picking up their duffle bags.
"Are we staying?" Kaidan looked up at her, his hands full of files.
She smiled. "If only so you can go down memory lane with your things, yeah."
He grinned and went back to sorting through his files.
Shepard woke up alone and hungry.
Either was a reason to be grumpy but as she dressed…in her casual BDUs…she decided she was going to make a very concerted effort to be cheerful and happy…and not in the shoot everything in sight way. No matter how much she was tempted.
Making her way down the stairs she entered the kitchen and had a slow smile curve over her lips. Bent over, the curved muscles of his butt nicely outlined in a pair of jeans, was the man she'd been missing.
Crossing the room on silent feet she cupped a generous handful for a firm squeeze.
"There is my favorite sight in the Universe." She purred.
"Really? Because yesterday, you told me it was mine." Kaidan's voice, full of humor, spoke from behind her.
Shepard turned about, confused. Kaidan stood in the kitchen doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, trying to look stern through the laughter brimming on his face.
"You remember my father, don't you, Shepard?" He asked with a grin motioning toward the man accessing the fridge.
Color surged up her face as she jerked back several steps and watched a smiling Ken Alenko straighten up from the fridge, juice in hand.
"Good morning, Commander Shepard." Ken's deep voice greeted, a twinkling smile lighting his eyes.
"Excuse me." Shepard responded, her face frozen with crimson humiliation. "I have to go change my name and my face and pretend we have never met."
Kaidan burst into laughter wrapping his arms about her from behind and holding her still. "Not a chance, Shepard."
"That was the about the best birthday present I could have received." Ken agreed, another slow smile curving his lips.
Shepard tried to bury her face in her hands but Kaidan held her arms down, still laughing. "This is why Udina gets ulcers every time I go out in public."
"No, it's usually because you're heavily armed when you go out into public. Not because you're groping men that aren't me." He laughed at her.
"Would you care for some juice, Commander Shepard? Freshly squeezed this morning." Ken gave her a bland look, his blue eyes twinkling as Kaidan lost it completely.
"No. Thank. You." Shepard responded in icy tones, slamming her elbow into Kaidan's gut.
"Well, someone woke up on the right side of the bed." Mrs Alenko came into the room smiling. "Did I miss something?"
Another flow of intense red bloomed on Shepard's face as Kaidan started laughing harder.
"Nothing worth mentioning." She managed to say, glaring at her husband. "Quit it!"
"Kaet was just demonstrating how similar Kaidan and I are in appearance." Ken greeted his wife with a kiss on her forehead.
Mrs Alenko studied each of them, Kaidan and his father laughing, Shepard's embarrassment and a slow smile curved her lips. "I believe I mentioned that Kaidan resembled his father, Kaet."
"Yes. Now I need to go someplace else and never come back." Shepard responded but Kaidan didn't let her go.
"Stay. I'll protect my father from you." He said with a broad grin that earned him another jab with her elbow. "You need to eat something, Shepard. Or else you get grumpy."
"Hah! You're a fine one to talk!" Shepard retorted but gave in.
"I have a high metabolism, you're just spoiled." Kaidan grinned at her moving her toward the table.
The same female teenager from yesterday entered the kitchen with a big smile on her face and froze as she caught sight of Shepard and Kaidan. Once again all the color drained from her. Without a word she turned and disappeared.
"Mai's youngest." Mrs Alenko said as if nothing wrong had occurred. "Her name is Shayla."
"Does she speak?" Shepard asked in rude tones and Kaidan shook his head before retreating to the kitchen once more.
"Yes. And frequently it's about joining the Alliance so she can be you." Mrs Alenko answered, a disarming smile on her face. "For the past three years she has dressed like you for every Halloween."
Shepard blinked. "Oh." She said, not sure how to take that.
Kaidan returned with two plates heavily laden with eggs, bacon and hash browns. Shepard's eyes lit up.
"I am so keeping you." She told him reaching for one of the plates.
"These are mine, go get your own." He answered dodging her hands.
Shepard scowled and smacked him on the arm before he placed one plate in front of her with a laugh and sat down.
"Do you fish, Kaet?" Ken asked sitting down at the head of the table, juice in hand, his dark blue eyes watching her with humor.
"No, she just puts in them in an aquarium and kills them with extreme prejudice." Kaidan responded and earned another smack from her.
"I have never fished." Shepard answered before diving into the eggs with her fork.
"Would you like to learn?" Ken sipped from his cup, watching her. "I'm planning on an early morning excursion tomorrow. You're welcome to come."
"Can she shoot them with her Widow?" Kaidan asked and caught her hand before the blow could land on his arm again. While holding that hand he used his free one to steal some of her bacon off her plate and pop the strips into his mouth.
Shepard narrowed her gaze at him but he just smiled at her. "I would love to learn how to fish." She answered Ken as her loose hand slid beneath the table next to Kaidan.
Kaidan went completely still.
Biting back a smile, Ken nodded. "Good. Will you be coming, Kaidan?"
Clearing his throat, trying to shift away from Shepard, Kaidan shook his head. "No thanks. I was never a big fan of fishing."
"But you can catch things." Shepard purred at him, leaning closer to him.
"Kaidan is more than welcome to help me work the horses." Mrs Alenko said an expression of disapproval on her face.
Shepard smiled at her mother-in-law as if daring her to say anything. Mrs Alenko raised a cup of tea to her lips and sipped.
"Good…morning." The greeting was enthusiastic and then stilted as the woman giving it entered the room and caught sight of Kaidan.
"Shepard, this is my oldest sister, Mai." Kaidan introduced, his hand carefully placing Shepard's by her plate. "Mai, my wife, Kaet Shepard."
Shepard immediately noted the careful tone in his voice, all of the humor gone, contained and knew that this was the mother who'd blamed him for saving her son.
"Call me Shepard." She said and ignored the looks both Kaidan and Mrs Alenko sent her way.
"You didn't take his last name?" Mai asked in arched tones, her eyes, so much like Kaidan's, holding condemnation.
"Mai." Mrs Alenko's voice was sharp.
"Actually, I did, legally." Shepard responded, her expression sharp. "But being called Mrs Alenko terrifies me for some reason so we usually just leave it as Shepard."
Mrs Alenko favored Shepard with a glance that said she wasn't amused.
"How nice for you." Mai answered.
"We missed you at the wedding." Shepard said lacing her fingers beneath her chin, elbows on the table as she leaned forward and gazed at the older woman with intense eyes. "And I rarely miss. Ask anyone."
"Shepard." Kaidan's voice held a warning that she ignored.
Mai's nostrils flared as if she had just caught the scent of something unpleasant before her gaze moved to her mother. "The children and I will be taking breakfast at the guest house."
"There's no need, Mai." Kaidan said quietly. "I'll be done…"
"Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out." Shepard cut him off, her tones intentionally hostile, her gaze never leaving the woman at the door. "We'll be here the rest of the week, too, so if you want to continue this childish little avoidance game, you should plan accordingly."
"Shepard…" Kaidan began again.
"No."Shepard's pale eyes, furious and determined, met his own. "You were invited. You have as much right to be here as she does. If she wants to hide, that's fine. She wants to 'protect' her children from you, peachy. But you will not take one step you don't want to, either to accommodate or reinforce her psychosis. Or I will kick your ass."
"Perhaps we should discuss your language, Kaet." Mrs Alenko murmured picking up her cup once more.
Shepard gave the older woman an alarmed look that had Kaidan smiling.
"Protecting my children is my upmost priority." Mai's brown eyes were furious. "To have you denigrate it as 'childish' is to be deliberately obtuse."
Arching an eyebrow, Shepard smiled, the gesture more dangerous than humorous and showing a lot of teeth. "Protecting this universe is one of my upmost priorities and I have done exceptionally well because I had your brother at my side protecting me. To have you denigrate his abilities and his skills as well as his priorities is to be deliberately insulting and shows that you have no interest in him as a person, but only as a boogey man that you can scare your children into polite behavior with."
Mai reeled back as if struck. "That is not true!"
"Really?" Shepard's chin lifted. "What's his favorite color? Song? What is his dream, Mai? Do you know one thing about your brother other than his name?"
"He has an incredibly bitchy wife!" Mai snapped back.
"Irrelevant to the discussion at hand." Shepard retorted with a dismissing flick of the fingers of her left hand. "But I'll give it to you as a freebie."
"How about I give you both one?" Kaidan's voice was tight. "He doesn't like people he cares for discussing him as if he wasn't there when he's in the room."
"I think the conversation has gone as far as it needs to at this moment." Mrs Alenko also intervened. "Mai, you and your family are perfectly welcome to eat in the guest house, but the birthday dinner will be held here, in our home and Kaidan and Kaet will be in attendance."
Mai turned on her heel and stomped out of the room.
"I love these eggs." Shepard said as if nothing had happened, her fork diving in for more.
Kaidan gave her an exasperated look before pushing back from the table and taking his own plate back to the kitchen as if he were no longer hungry enough to eat.
Shepard continued to chew her food, but her eyes watched him until he could no longer be seen. At that moment her gaze flashed to Mrs Alenko.
"I know why we're here. I'm not happy about it, but I understand it." Shepard said carefully, her attention alternating with Kaidan's silent father. "Now let me be clear…I will only push him so far to face this family. This is hurting him and I hate that. I hate and resent that I am helping you hurt him. So you get your act clear or I will take him out of here faster than you can blink."
"Do you think this is any easier for us?" Ken finally spoke, his expression holding an edge of anger. "This is the closest Kaidan has allowed us in years."
"Then don't allow your other children to mess it up." Shepard flung back. "If you choose them over Kaidan again that will be it as far as I'm concerned."
"We would never choose one child over another!" Mrs Alenko burst out with indignation, bright spots of color on her cheeks.
Shepard gave her a very focused gaze, one the other woman couldn't bear to meet. "Mai didn't learn to be afraid of Kaidan on her own. Someone taught her. Whether it was the two of you or not, I don't care. All I care about is the results. She is afraid of him. Without reason. And at some point, that fear was reinforced and validated by you. So fix it." She shoved back from the table and picked up her plate, following after Kaidan.
"We're trying." Ken said quietly as she reached the doorway to the dining room.
Shepard's pale eyes speared him. "That is the only reason I am along for the ride in this."