I Heard... 3/?
anonymous
May 24 2013, 01:34:55 UTC
"Daddy, Daddy!" A yell came from behind Shepard. Kaidan peered over her shoulder. Ashley had succeeded in climbing up to the top branches of one of the trees. "Are you watching?"
"Of course, baby." Kaidan called back. "Just, make sure you..."
Ashley dropped from the tree like a stone. A micro-second before she slammed into the ground, she suddenly glowed blue, with a look of intense concentration on her face.
She hovered in mid air, stabilised a few inches above the ground before the blue bubble she had created finally collapsed.
"Well done." Kaidan clapped. "Now, go get some juice, okay?"
Kate's mouth was opened wide. "What the...?"
"Third generation biotic." Kaidan couldn't keep the pride out of his voice. "Most of them have natural abilities eclipsing even the strongest first-gens. You should have seen my face when I found her floating in her crib."
Shepard smiled. "She looks like you...though, that hair...?"
"Yeah, best of both of us." Kaidan looked up at the main house. "Acts more like Ash, though."
"Yeah...she would have been proud that you named your daughter after her."
"We had plans to do that, didn't we?" Kaidan asked wistfully.
"Kaidan..."
"Don't 'Kaidan' me." The anger was back in his voice. "This wasn't like last time, Shepard. I didn't even have the closure of knowing what had happened to you. You were just...gone."
"I told you I was scared."
"Of what?" Kaidan looked incredulous. "Of this? Of me?"
He looked back at Ashley. "Of her?"
"Yes. Alright? You satisfied?" It was Shepard's turn to get angry. "I'm a soldier. I was born fighting, I was raised fighting, I've known nothing but violence. What does someone like me know about peace? About motherhood?"
Kaidan looked at her with an emotion worse than anger. It was...pity. "You could have given it a chance."
Shepard deflated. She much preferred it when he was being illogical and emotional, like back on Horizon. She missed the moral high ground. "Kaidan...you don't know how much I wish I had decided to stay. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't have gotten out of bed that morning."
Kaidan was silent, looking away. Shepard stepped closer. Her hand touched the salt and pepper stubble on his chin. "You don't know much I wish that you were mine. That...Ashley was mine."
"I don't." Kaidan said flatly.
Shepard blinked.
Kaidan's expression was cold again as he stared at her. "I've never wished that Ashley was ours. Our Ashley never existed. My Ashley has her mother's hair and my eyes. She loves running around with her dog, playing with her brother, helping me trim the vines, or helping me and her mother cook. And I wouldn't trade her for anything."
They moved again in silence, getting closer to the house. Finally, Kaidan spoke again. "How's Garrus?"
"Fine, last I spoke to him." Shepard glanced at him. "I assume you know we were...together?"
"You had a fling together before the Omega-4 Relay, then he disappears at the same time as you?" Kaidan shrugged. "Not much to figure out. I'm glad you found someone as well..."
"He kicked me out." Shepard couldn't keep the irony out of her voice. "Three years ago, now."
"Kate...I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Shepard looked up. "Everyone gets sick of nonstop Spectre raids eventually, I suppose."
"Kate..." Kaidan rested a hand on her shoulder. "Why did you come?"
"Because...I heard that you had done it. Settled down, gotten married." Shepard glanced over to where Ashley was furiously engaged in a tug of war with her over her doll. "I wanted...neeeded to make sure that you were happy. I needed to make sure that whatever boring housewife you settled down with wasn't driving you insane."
"Kaidan?" A voice called out from inside the house. "If you're out there, could you tell Ashley that the biscuits are just out of the..."
Another woman appeared on the porch. Shepard's eyes narrowed. "Miranda."
I Heard... 4/?
anonymous
May 24 2013, 13:57:59 UTC
Shepard stared up at Miranda, a mixture of resentment and disbelief broiling in her gut. Miranda. Operative Miranda. Arrogant Miranda. Cerberus Miranda. The woman who had been Shepard's worst enemy in some cases, and her best friend in others.
"It was you?" Shepard looked up at her in disbelief. "He married...you?"
Miranda folded her arms, Shepard recognised the look on her face. It used to be the one she wore when she lectured Shepard on the merits of Cerberus. Defensiveness hiding guilt. She hadn't changed a bit.
"Not the typical thing most people say after they've been gone for, oh, fifteen years?" There was an edge to Miranda's voice.
Shepard was honestly ready to slap the self-righteousness right off the woman's perfectly proportioned cheeks. She took a step forward with her fist clenched when Ashley dashed past her, jumping up and down as she thrust a handful of dandelions up at her mother. "Mommy, mommy! I picked these for you!"
"That's very nice, Ash." Miranda crouched down to give her daughter a peck on the cheek. "Go inside and grab a biscuit, alright?"
Ashley nodded. "Can Kate have one as well?"
Miranda's expressin hardened. "Kate was just about to..."
"...stay for dinner." Kaidan intercepted her. "Right?"
Miranda looked thunderous. Shepard looked hesitant. Ashley looked delighted.
"Oh, come on, come upstairs." She grabbed Kate's hand. "I want to show you my dollhouse."
Shepard was dragged away before Miranda could protest. Kaidan, however, was not so lucky.
Miranda planted a hand on his chest as he tried to walk past. "Kaidan, bunny."
He winced. She truly was pissed if she was using pet names. "Yes?"
"You know I put up with a lot of eccentricities." Miranda grated out. "Tracking devices on the children, attack training for Barker, and I understand why we have to hide guns around the house in case of an emergency, but..."
"But?"
"I will not have that woman in my house, or at my table." Miranda informed him brusquely.
Kaidan just shook his head. "She saved the ga-"
"I resurrected her." Miranda cut him off. "I think we're square."
"Miri." Kaidan stroked her pale cheek. "You're not jealous, are you?"
"Jealous?" Miranda looked like she wanted to vomit. "Of her? Of a miserable, menopausal loner?"
"Of what she and I were."
"Were." Miranda emphasised. "You aren't exactly burning with restrained passion for her. Trust me, you're not difficult to read."
"Then..."
"She hurt you." Miranda turned as cold as the proverbial Ice Queen Kaidan had once considered her. "More than that, she was deliberately cruel."
"Miri..."
"She didn't even have the guts to break it up permanently with either you or Garrus." Miranda sounded disgusted. "Jumped into bed with him after Horizon, then jumped right back into yours when you came crawling back, then to a FTL jump with Garrus the second the war was over. She knew that would hurt you. She knew you couldn't just move on. She knew all of that, and then ran. She betrayed you."
"Yes..." Kaidan moved his head closer. "But she brought us together."
"We brought ourselves together." Miranda murmured unhappily as she nuzzled his neck. The years had not withered his frame...she traced the outlines of his abdominals through his shirt. "I refuse to give that bitch credit for anything other than leaving this galaxy in a reasonably unfucked state."
"Yes...but now Ashley's fallen in love with her." Kaidan smiled his usual goofy grin. "You dont' want to break her heart, do you?"
Miranda looked like she wanted to shove a fork through his, but finally nodded. "David needs changing...and Shepard helps with the dishes."
The way she stated the words made it clear to Kaidan that it wasn't a request. It was an order. Damn...she was sexy when she was angry.
Re: I Heard... 4/?
anonymous
May 24 2013, 19:30:15 UTC
Miranda, lovely as always ! Really, Mirenko is definitely a hot pairing. They fit so damn well together ! I like Kaidan here, he move on and seems to not regret he like we always see in most fictions.
Oh my, I'm addicted, keep going ! Can't wait to read how will go dinner :P
I Heard... 5/?
anonymous
May 25 2013, 11:33:27 UTC
Kate felt, rather than heard, Miranda's footsteps on the stairs. It had been the same on the Normandy, whenever Miranda had been particularly ticked off about the latest batch of Cerberus data given to Jack or the Alliance. Shepard had relished the feel of Miranda's high heels stomping into the deck, knowing that she'd have another chance to rile up the Cerberus operative.
Now, the relish had turned to dread.
Ashley was in the middle of enthusiastically showing off her little brother to Shepard when the door finally opened. Shepard winced awkwardly as she felt Miranda's eyes alight on her holding David Alenko in her arms.
"Ashley." Miranda's voice was amazingly sunny. "Daddy needs your help to start dinner...and Mommy needs to have a little chat with Kate."
"OK." Ashley unquestioningly bounced toward the door. "Can I play with Kate later."
Miranda's bared teeth just made her pleasant reply even scarier, in Shepard's opinion.
The door closed behind Ashley, leaving Shepard trapped in a room with Miranda, holding the dark-haired beauty's child in her arms. In reality, Shepard would have preferred to be facing down another krogan warlord back in the Terminus.
"Would you mind popping David down for a second?" Miranda's cheery smile was bordering on terrifying.
Shepard placed the curly haired toddler back on his bed, then turned around, preparing for another verbal sparring match...
...and was met by Miranda's hand crashing into her face with a resounding crack.
Shepard staggered backwards for a few seconds, her cheek on fire. She stared back at Miranda, unsurprised to see that the woman had converted from maternal housewife to the alpha bitch Shepard knew and loved without a second thought.
"You...whore!" Miranda hissed with unadulterated loathing. "You self-righteous, opportunistic...cunt!"
Shepard blinked. "You know, many people would say that a family with un-addressed anger issues..."
"Don't you DARE say anything about my family." Miranda seemed to have trouble keeping voice to a menacing growl. "Fifteen years, and you choose NOW to show up at his door? How dare you."
Shepard was beginning to lose her own temper. "I didn't come back to steal him off you, if that was what you were thinking, Miranda."
"Oh, I stopped thinking that was a possibility a long time ago, Kate." Miranda shot back. "Because even if Kaidan still had the slighest shred of longing for you, he'd be far too honourable to abandon me for his own desires."
This was the last straw for Shepard. "You have no clue what went on between Kaidan and I. You weren't even there."
"No, but I was around for the results." Miranda took a step forward. "You know something? I used to believe he was pathetic. When I saw him in that bar ten years ago, I bought him a drink out of pity. I flirted with him out of pity. I danced with him out of pity. I even slept with him out of pity. Then I saw him smiling the next morning...and I think it was his first smile in five years. And I wanted to make him smile more often."
"You were there for him when I should have been, I get that..." Shepard tried to speak up, but Miranda held up a hand.
"No, Shepard, I wasn't there for 'him'. Your Kaidan died alone, without you. Mine's different. Mine doesn't have to worry about waking up to find the woman that he loves has vanished. He doesn't have to constantly bow and scrape because of harsh words that he said in the past." Miranda looked at her in contempt. "My Kaidan is everything you were stopping him from being."
The words almost broke Shepard's heart. "That's not true..."
"It is, and you know it." Miranda stepped forward again, staring down the soldier effortlessly. "Why did you run?"
I Heard... 6/?
anonymous
May 25 2013, 14:13:03 UTC
"You were looking out for Shepard." Miranda shook her head. "You keep forgetting that I know you, Commander. Kate Shepard is a survivor, she always has been. She looks out for herself first, and others second. Kate Shepard never entered relationships, she dictated terms. Something Kaidan and Garrus always had in common, they were devoted to you. They never stopped to ask if the feeling was mutual. You soaked up their love like a sponge, only they couldn't squeeze you back. When Kaidan hurt you on Horizon, you left him for Garrus. When Garrus started pressuring you for commitment, you left him for Kaidan, who was all too eager to come crawling back to your bed. And when he started thinking about a family, you ran back to the turian who was smart enough not to pressure you again."
"No...that's not true." Shepard shook her head, taken aback by Miranda's assault. "You're just taking everything out of context."
"Am I?" Miranda's eyes gleamed with the thrill of the kill. "Face it, Shepard. Kaidan's love for you was unconditional. Even when he thought you were a traitor, he loved you. Even when he knew you slept with Garrus, he loved you. Even when you ran off without waking him, he loved you. For five years, he walked about, carrying his damn torch for you. Did you ever feel that way about him? Could you?"
"Could you?" Shepard snapped back, finally sick of Miranda's accusations. "Love him without anything being asked of you?"
Miranda was silent for a few seconds. Her hands moved to the almost imperceptible bulge of her stomach. "You know...that man has given me three children who I thought I could never carry. He built a home for me. He built a future for us. But even if all of that didn't exist. If I was barren, poor and in rags, I would still love him. Because he is unconditional in his love for me. You don't know how rare that is, Shepard, to find someone who can love without demanding anything in return. Kaidan would never swap me for someone else, abandon me if he was afraid. He made me love him, Shepard, because he's good. Not great or might...just good."
Shepard finally broke eye contact, unable to bear the intensity of Miranda's gaze.
"So yes, Shepard, I resent that you came back now, even if Kaidan doesn't. Because I know that you're up to your old tricks." Miranda continued. "Garrus dumped you because he finally saw through you. You've wound up alone, about to hit fifty, with no family and friends. You came back, because you knew that there was one person who would wind up forgiving you for all the heartbreak. You came back to see if Kaidan was still infatuated enough to go along with you."
Shepard bowed her head slightly. "That's not how it is. Miranda..."
"Don't." Miranda steppped back, almost exhausted by her own outburst. "Just...don't."
I Heard... 7/?
anonymous
May 26 2013, 03:15:18 UTC
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Shepard accepted a plate from Kaidan and began drying it. Outside the kitchen, she could hear Miranda ushering Ashley and David upstairs for baths. "Did you sic Miranda on me, earlier?"
"You're crediting me with being innovative in my strategy." Kaidan replied dryly. "Besides, I don't torture prisoners."
"She seems to think I'm here to seduce you."
Kaidan looked at her in surprise. "Really?"
"In case you haven't noticed, she's always been the protective type." Shepard pointed out. "You could fill a mass grave with the agents who tried to hurt her sister."
"Fair point." Kaidan acknowledged. "She must be feeling her age."
They both shared a grin at the joke. Miranda's genetic perfection was actually starting to show. At fifty five years of age, she looked barely four or five years older than she had when Shepard first met her. Kaidan and Shepard were both starting to show their age, despite their own Alliance gene mods. There were sags in their muscles, lines on their faces, and silver strands in their hair. Though Shepard couldn't help but notice that Kaidan's ass was still...
"Why did you come, then?" Kaidan handed her some more cutlery. "It can't have been to check up on me, or to catch an earful from Miranda."
"No...I guess it wasn't." Shepard placed her plate down. "I've put this off for far too long, haven't I?"
"You would have been welcome anytime, Kate." Kaidan told her. "You still are, even if Miranda wants to give you hell about it."
"I know, I know." Shepard shook her head. "Damn it, Kaidan. Why can't you just be angry? Why can't you just scream at me like Miranda? Be just a little bit of a bastard, for once?"
"I can't pretend to feel like that." The man she had once loved just shook his head. "Even when you left...I could bring up those feelings. I can be angry when I think about what you did...but I ddidn't hate you then, and I don't hate you now. Maybe you'd feel better if I did. Maybe that's what you came here for? To hear me scream and shout and punish you, so you'd feel better about yourself? I could slap you, if you're really desperate, but I'm out of practice."
"Then maybe that's what I'm here for?" Shepard looked back at him and was reminded why she had falen for him in the first place...why her heart had ached with his absence. He cared. He couldn't help but care. "For redemption?"
"How?" He frowned. "After Horizon, I could redeem myself. I could follow you into hell. I could be the soldier you needed. But I don't need you, Kate. I'm sorry, but that's the truth. Maybe once...but not anymore. It's been too long."
"Then your forgiveness, at least." Shepard begged him.
"You already said..."
"I said I was sorry." Shepard stepped closer. "But being sorry and being forgiven aren't the same thing."
"And you needed to hear it from me?" Kaidan looked pained now, his voice betraying more emotion than he intended. "Kate...there is nothing you have done to me, that you could do to me, for which I would not forgive you...that I haven't already forgiven you for."
Shepard fell into his arms. She wanted to kiss him...but that might be the only thing that he could hate her for. So she accepted his embrace, the arms of a comrade, a fellow soldier...a brother. That was all she could be to him now...all he would ever let her be, ever again. It almost shattered her to admit it...but there was a gratefulness in her heart. Like something had...closed.
"We were good together, weren't we?" She murmured into his shoulder.
"The best," Kaidan affirmed. "But Miranda and I are..."
Re: I Heard... 7/?
anonymous
May 27 2013, 07:44:16 UTC
Dear a!a, can I hug you please ? This is perfect, I can't even be sorry for Shepard. The dialogue between her and Miranda was excellent. And yes, Miranda and Kaidan are pretty damn close to be a perfect couple.
I Heard... 8/8
anonymous
May 27 2013, 10:17:39 UTC
Miranda was waiting for her in the hallway when Shepard went to retrieve her jacket.
"You were listening in, weren't you?"
"Every word." Miranda confirmed, her face betraying nothing. "I was going to mangle you pretty badly if you tried kissing him."
Shepard believed her. "So where do we go from here?"
"I could tell you to go jump off a cliff." Miranda's lip curled. "Or take you out to that little flower plot I've especially cultivated for the day you turned up. But then Kaidan would start doing all sorts of crazy things like trying to have me arrested...or witholding sex. So I think I'll have to do something I really don't want to do."
"And what's that?" Shepard moved her hand closer to her waistband, to the small pistol tucked away.
Miranda looked almost pained. "I'm asking you to be the godmother for the little one."
Shepard blinked. "What?"
"Like it or not...you, and me, and Kaidan. We were all friends once." Miranda frowned. "I miss those days, for some strange reason."
Shepard's heart beat faster. "Yeah, so do I."
"So, this way Ashley gets to see you around the place, and I don't have to make it look like I'm asking you to visit." Miranda folded her arms. "We both win."
Shepard smiled slightly. "You know, Miranda...you're not half the bitch everyone thinks you are."
"Yeah, well...don't go spreading it around." Miranda passed her a small card. "Here. Take this."
"What is it?"
"Garrus's address. He said to pass it on to you whenever you stopped acting like a poutty bitch."
"He didn't say that."
"I'm paraphrasing." Miranda stuck the address into her hands. "Here. Take it. Go both him for a while."
"If you don't mind my asking." Shepard called as Miranda turned away. "How did you guys even get together."
Miranda looked back at her with impassiveness. "Story for another day."
"Of course, baby." Kaidan called back. "Just, make sure you..."
Ashley dropped from the tree like a stone. A micro-second before she slammed into the ground, she suddenly glowed blue, with a look of intense concentration on her face.
She hovered in mid air, stabilised a few inches above the ground before the blue bubble she had created finally collapsed.
"Well done." Kaidan clapped. "Now, go get some juice, okay?"
Kate's mouth was opened wide. "What the...?"
"Third generation biotic." Kaidan couldn't keep the pride out of his voice. "Most of them have natural abilities eclipsing even the strongest first-gens. You should have seen my face when I found her floating in her crib."
Shepard smiled. "She looks like you...though, that hair...?"
"Yeah, best of both of us." Kaidan looked up at the main house. "Acts more like Ash, though."
"Yeah...she would have been proud that you named your daughter after her."
"We had plans to do that, didn't we?" Kaidan asked wistfully.
"Kaidan..."
"Don't 'Kaidan' me." The anger was back in his voice. "This wasn't like last time, Shepard. I didn't even have the closure of knowing what had happened to you. You were just...gone."
"I told you I was scared."
"Of what?" Kaidan looked incredulous. "Of this? Of me?"
He looked back at Ashley. "Of her?"
"Yes. Alright? You satisfied?" It was Shepard's turn to get angry. "I'm a soldier. I was born fighting, I was raised fighting, I've known nothing but violence. What does someone like me know about peace? About motherhood?"
Kaidan looked at her with an emotion worse than anger. It was...pity. "You could have given it a chance."
Shepard deflated. She much preferred it when he was being illogical and emotional, like back on Horizon. She missed the moral high ground. "Kaidan...you don't know how much I wish I had decided to stay. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't have gotten out of bed that morning."
Kaidan was silent, looking away. Shepard stepped closer. Her hand touched the salt and pepper stubble on his chin. "You don't know much I wish that you were mine. That...Ashley was mine."
"I don't." Kaidan said flatly.
Shepard blinked.
Kaidan's expression was cold again as he stared at her. "I've never wished that Ashley was ours. Our Ashley never existed. My Ashley has her mother's hair and my eyes. She loves running around with her dog, playing with her brother, helping me trim the vines, or helping me and her mother cook. And I wouldn't trade her for anything."
They moved again in silence, getting closer to the house. Finally, Kaidan spoke again. "How's Garrus?"
"Fine, last I spoke to him." Shepard glanced at him. "I assume you know we were...together?"
"You had a fling together before the Omega-4 Relay, then he disappears at the same time as you?" Kaidan shrugged. "Not much to figure out. I'm glad you found someone as well..."
"He kicked me out." Shepard couldn't keep the irony out of her voice. "Three years ago, now."
"Kate...I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Shepard looked up. "Everyone gets sick of nonstop Spectre raids eventually, I suppose."
"Kate..." Kaidan rested a hand on her shoulder. "Why did you come?"
"Because...I heard that you had done it. Settled down, gotten married." Shepard glanced over to where Ashley was furiously engaged in a tug of war with her over her doll. "I wanted...neeeded to make sure that you were happy. I needed to make sure that whatever boring housewife you settled down with wasn't driving you insane."
"Kaidan?" A voice called out from inside the house. "If you're out there, could you tell Ashley that the biscuits are just out of the..."
Another woman appeared on the porch. Shepard's eyes narrowed. "Miranda."
The woman looked at her in surprise. "Shepard?"
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MOAR, I SAY, MOAR.
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"It was you?" Shepard looked up at her in disbelief. "He married...you?"
Miranda folded her arms, Shepard recognised the look on her face. It used to be the one she wore when she lectured Shepard on the merits of Cerberus. Defensiveness hiding guilt. She hadn't changed a bit.
"Not the typical thing most people say after they've been gone for, oh, fifteen years?" There was an edge to Miranda's voice.
Shepard was honestly ready to slap the self-righteousness right off the woman's perfectly proportioned cheeks. She took a step forward with her fist clenched when Ashley dashed past her, jumping up and down as she thrust a handful of dandelions up at her mother. "Mommy, mommy! I picked these for you!"
"That's very nice, Ash." Miranda crouched down to give her daughter a peck on the cheek. "Go inside and grab a biscuit, alright?"
Ashley nodded. "Can Kate have one as well?"
Miranda's expressin hardened. "Kate was just about to..."
"...stay for dinner." Kaidan intercepted her. "Right?"
Miranda looked thunderous. Shepard looked hesitant. Ashley looked delighted.
"Oh, come on, come upstairs." She grabbed Kate's hand. "I want to show you my dollhouse."
Shepard was dragged away before Miranda could protest. Kaidan, however, was not so lucky.
Miranda planted a hand on his chest as he tried to walk past. "Kaidan, bunny."
He winced. She truly was pissed if she was using pet names. "Yes?"
"You know I put up with a lot of eccentricities." Miranda grated out. "Tracking devices on the children, attack training for Barker, and I understand why we have to hide guns around the house in case of an emergency, but..."
"But?"
"I will not have that woman in my house, or at my table." Miranda informed him brusquely.
Kaidan just shook his head. "She saved the ga-"
"I resurrected her." Miranda cut him off. "I think we're square."
"Miri." Kaidan stroked her pale cheek. "You're not jealous, are you?"
"Jealous?" Miranda looked like she wanted to vomit. "Of her? Of a miserable, menopausal loner?"
"Of what she and I were."
"Were." Miranda emphasised. "You aren't exactly burning with restrained passion for her. Trust me, you're not difficult to read."
"Then..."
"She hurt you." Miranda turned as cold as the proverbial Ice Queen Kaidan had once considered her. "More than that, she was deliberately cruel."
"Miri..."
"She didn't even have the guts to break it up permanently with either you or Garrus." Miranda sounded disgusted. "Jumped into bed with him after Horizon, then jumped right back into yours when you came crawling back, then to a FTL jump with Garrus the second the war was over. She knew that would hurt you. She knew you couldn't just move on. She knew all of that, and then ran. She betrayed you."
"Yes..." Kaidan moved his head closer. "But she brought us together."
"We brought ourselves together." Miranda murmured unhappily as she nuzzled his neck. The years had not withered his frame...she traced the outlines of his abdominals through his shirt. "I refuse to give that bitch credit for anything other than leaving this galaxy in a reasonably unfucked state."
"Yes...but now Ashley's fallen in love with her." Kaidan smiled his usual goofy grin. "You dont' want to break her heart, do you?"
Miranda looked like she wanted to shove a fork through his, but finally nodded. "David needs changing...and Shepard helps with the dishes."
The way she stated the words made it clear to Kaidan that it wasn't a request. It was an order. Damn...she was sexy when she was angry.
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Really, Mirenko is definitely a hot pairing. They fit so damn well together ! I like Kaidan here, he move on and seems to not regret he like we always see in most fictions.
Oh my, I'm addicted, keep going ! Can't wait to read how will go dinner :P
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I kinda like how Miranda talks about Shepard. (Shepard in-game is bad enough. Shepard in fanfiction is usually insufferable.)
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Now, the relish had turned to dread.
Ashley was in the middle of enthusiastically showing off her little brother to Shepard when the door finally opened. Shepard winced awkwardly as she felt Miranda's eyes alight on her holding David Alenko in her arms.
"Ashley." Miranda's voice was amazingly sunny. "Daddy needs your help to start dinner...and Mommy needs to have a little chat with Kate."
"OK." Ashley unquestioningly bounced toward the door. "Can I play with Kate later."
Miranda's bared teeth just made her pleasant reply even scarier, in Shepard's opinion.
The door closed behind Ashley, leaving Shepard trapped in a room with Miranda, holding the dark-haired beauty's child in her arms. In reality, Shepard would have preferred to be facing down another krogan warlord back in the Terminus.
"Would you mind popping David down for a second?" Miranda's cheery smile was bordering on terrifying.
Shepard placed the curly haired toddler back on his bed, then turned around, preparing for another verbal sparring match...
...and was met by Miranda's hand crashing into her face with a resounding crack.
Shepard staggered backwards for a few seconds, her cheek on fire. She stared back at Miranda, unsurprised to see that the woman had converted from maternal housewife to the alpha bitch Shepard knew and loved without a second thought.
"You...whore!" Miranda hissed with unadulterated loathing. "You self-righteous, opportunistic...cunt!"
Shepard blinked. "You know, many people would say that a family with un-addressed anger issues..."
"Don't you DARE say anything about my family." Miranda seemed to have trouble keeping voice to a menacing growl. "Fifteen years, and you choose NOW to show up at his door? How dare you."
Shepard was beginning to lose her own temper. "I didn't come back to steal him off you, if that was what you were thinking, Miranda."
"Oh, I stopped thinking that was a possibility a long time ago, Kate." Miranda shot back. "Because even if Kaidan still had the slighest shred of longing for you, he'd be far too honourable to abandon me for his own desires."
This was the last straw for Shepard. "You have no clue what went on between Kaidan and I. You weren't even there."
"No, but I was around for the results." Miranda took a step forward. "You know something? I used to believe he was pathetic. When I saw him in that bar ten years ago, I bought him a drink out of pity. I flirted with him out of pity. I danced with him out of pity. I even slept with him out of pity. Then I saw him smiling the next morning...and I think it was his first smile in five years. And I wanted to make him smile more often."
"You were there for him when I should have been, I get that..." Shepard tried to speak up, but Miranda held up a hand.
"No, Shepard, I wasn't there for 'him'. Your Kaidan died alone, without you. Mine's different. Mine doesn't have to worry about waking up to find the woman that he loves has vanished. He doesn't have to constantly bow and scrape because of harsh words that he said in the past." Miranda looked at her in contempt. "My Kaidan is everything you were stopping him from being."
The words almost broke Shepard's heart. "That's not true..."
"It is, and you know it." Miranda stepped forward again, staring down the soldier effortlessly. "Why did you run?"
"I was scared...I was restless..."
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"No...that's not true." Shepard shook her head, taken aback by Miranda's assault. "You're just taking everything out of context."
"Am I?" Miranda's eyes gleamed with the thrill of the kill. "Face it, Shepard. Kaidan's love for you was unconditional. Even when he thought you were a traitor, he loved you. Even when he knew you slept with Garrus, he loved you. Even when you ran off without waking him, he loved you. For five years, he walked about, carrying his damn torch for you. Did you ever feel that way about him? Could you?"
"Could you?" Shepard snapped back, finally sick of Miranda's accusations. "Love him without anything being asked of you?"
Miranda was silent for a few seconds. Her hands moved to the almost imperceptible bulge of her stomach. "You know...that man has given me three children who I thought I could never carry. He built a home for me. He built a future for us. But even if all of that didn't exist. If I was barren, poor and in rags, I would still love him. Because he is unconditional in his love for me. You don't know how rare that is, Shepard, to find someone who can love without demanding anything in return. Kaidan would never swap me for someone else, abandon me if he was afraid. He made me love him, Shepard, because he's good. Not great or might...just good."
Shepard finally broke eye contact, unable to bear the intensity of Miranda's gaze.
"So yes, Shepard, I resent that you came back now, even if Kaidan doesn't. Because I know that you're up to your old tricks." Miranda continued. "Garrus dumped you because he finally saw through you. You've wound up alone, about to hit fifty, with no family and friends. You came back, because you knew that there was one person who would wind up forgiving you for all the heartbreak. You came back to see if Kaidan was still infatuated enough to go along with you."
Shepard bowed her head slightly. "That's not how it is. Miranda..."
"Don't." Miranda steppped back, almost exhausted by her own outburst. "Just...don't."
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And it's awesome, too. I'm eager to see this finish :D
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Shepard accepted a plate from Kaidan and began drying it. Outside the kitchen, she could hear Miranda ushering Ashley and David upstairs for baths. "Did you sic Miranda on me, earlier?"
"You're crediting me with being innovative in my strategy." Kaidan replied dryly. "Besides, I don't torture prisoners."
"She seems to think I'm here to seduce you."
Kaidan looked at her in surprise. "Really?"
"In case you haven't noticed, she's always been the protective type." Shepard pointed out. "You could fill a mass grave with the agents who tried to hurt her sister."
"Fair point." Kaidan acknowledged. "She must be feeling her age."
They both shared a grin at the joke. Miranda's genetic perfection was actually starting to show. At fifty five years of age, she looked barely four or five years older than she had when Shepard first met her. Kaidan and Shepard were both starting to show their age, despite their own Alliance gene mods. There were sags in their muscles, lines on their faces, and silver strands in their hair. Though Shepard couldn't help but notice that Kaidan's ass was still...
"Why did you come, then?" Kaidan handed her some more cutlery. "It can't have been to check up on me, or to catch an earful from Miranda."
"No...I guess it wasn't." Shepard placed her plate down. "I've put this off for far too long, haven't I?"
"You would have been welcome anytime, Kate." Kaidan told her. "You still are, even if Miranda wants to give you hell about it."
"I know, I know." Shepard shook her head. "Damn it, Kaidan. Why can't you just be angry? Why can't you just scream at me like Miranda? Be just a little bit of a bastard, for once?"
"I can't pretend to feel like that." The man she had once loved just shook his head. "Even when you left...I could bring up those feelings. I can be angry when I think about what you did...but I ddidn't hate you then, and I don't hate you now. Maybe you'd feel better if I did. Maybe that's what you came here for? To hear me scream and shout and punish you, so you'd feel better about yourself? I could slap you, if you're really desperate, but I'm out of practice."
"Then maybe that's what I'm here for?" Shepard looked back at him and was reminded why she had falen for him in the first place...why her heart had ached with his absence. He cared. He couldn't help but care. "For redemption?"
"How?" He frowned. "After Horizon, I could redeem myself. I could follow you into hell. I could be the soldier you needed. But I don't need you, Kate. I'm sorry, but that's the truth. Maybe once...but not anymore. It's been too long."
"Then your forgiveness, at least." Shepard begged him.
"You already said..."
"I said I was sorry." Shepard stepped closer. "But being sorry and being forgiven aren't the same thing."
"And you needed to hear it from me?" Kaidan looked pained now, his voice betraying more emotion than he intended. "Kate...there is nothing you have done to me, that you could do to me, for which I would not forgive you...that I haven't already forgiven you for."
Shepard fell into his arms. She wanted to kiss him...but that might be the only thing that he could hate her for. So she accepted his embrace, the arms of a comrade, a fellow soldier...a brother. That was all she could be to him now...all he would ever let her be, ever again. It almost shattered her to admit it...but there was a gratefulness in her heart. Like something had...closed.
"We were good together, weren't we?" She murmured into his shoulder.
"The best," Kaidan affirmed. "But Miranda and I are..."
"Perfect?"
"Damn close."
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The dialogue between her and Miranda was excellent. And yes, Miranda and Kaidan are pretty damn close to be a perfect couple.
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"You were listening in, weren't you?"
"Every word." Miranda confirmed, her face betraying nothing. "I was going to mangle you pretty badly if you tried kissing him."
Shepard believed her. "So where do we go from here?"
"I could tell you to go jump off a cliff." Miranda's lip curled. "Or take you out to that little flower plot I've especially cultivated for the day you turned up. But then Kaidan would start doing all sorts of crazy things like trying to have me arrested...or witholding sex. So I think I'll have to do something I really don't want to do."
"And what's that?" Shepard moved her hand closer to her waistband, to the small pistol tucked away.
Miranda looked almost pained. "I'm asking you to be the godmother for the little one."
Shepard blinked. "What?"
"Like it or not...you, and me, and Kaidan. We were all friends once." Miranda frowned. "I miss those days, for some strange reason."
Shepard's heart beat faster. "Yeah, so do I."
"So, this way Ashley gets to see you around the place, and I don't have to make it look like I'm asking you to visit." Miranda folded her arms. "We both win."
Shepard smiled slightly. "You know, Miranda...you're not half the bitch everyone thinks you are."
"Yeah, well...don't go spreading it around." Miranda passed her a small card. "Here. Take this."
"What is it?"
"Garrus's address. He said to pass it on to you whenever you stopped acting like a poutty bitch."
"He didn't say that."
"I'm paraphrasing." Miranda stuck the address into her hands. "Here. Take it. Go both him for a while."
"If you don't mind my asking." Shepard called as Miranda turned away. "How did you guys even get together."
Miranda looked back at her with impassiveness. "Story for another day."
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Will there be MK porn?
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