Fanfic: Cards
Title: Cards
Rating: T (minor language)
Fandom: Mass Effect
Characters: Zaeed/Chakwas, Fem!Shep
Summary: One-shot. Takes place in the Med bay after Zaeed’s Loyalty Mission.
Zaeed Massani was furious. But then again even that would have been an understatement. After twenty years of searching for the man that betrayed him, Vido slipped through his fingers again. Twenty years! Wasted! The betrayal was bitter enough but this. He had been so close! If they hadn’t gone back to save those goddamn warehouse workers. If Shepard hadn't been such a bleeding heart. If Shepard hadn’t...
He winced as Dr. Chakwas tightened the brace on his leg. She looked at him sternly as if reading his thoughts. Zaeed frowned in response.
"So what’s the damage doctor?" Shepard was still standing in the room after she had unceremoniously dumped him on a table in the med lab.
Chakwas put the final touches on Zaeed's leg brace before she turned to answer the Commander. "A clean break across his femur. He should stay off of it for at least two weeks. I emphasize should." The Doctor rubbed her head. "If its one thing I've learned in my experience is that military personnel are usually stubborn and you Mr. Massani look like you rather face a platoon of Collectors than stay and rest."
"He's going to be staying put Doctor." Shepard gave Zaeed a stern look before he could reply.
"Shepard, you’ve gone off your goddamn rocker if you think I’m going to be laid up in this infirmary. We have a job to do and I’m not getting paid to sit on my ass. I've been taking dangerous jobs while you were still wet behind the ears.
Shepard shook her head. "When are you going to learn we're a team?" The sincerity in her voice caused him to close his mouth. "Look Zaeed, what we're going through here is bigger than you and me. The fate of the entire galaxy is at stake. I can't do this alone. I need my crew to be there to watch my back. You can't do that job competently with a broken leg. The future is uncertain and we don't know when or where the next attack will come, but we have to be ready. Take this time to heal so when I need you, you'll be ready."
She turned away from him then and hesitated in the door. "I’ll make a deal with you Zaeed. When this is all over and if you still thirst for revenge, I will help you find Vido again."
"Feh, why the change of heart Shepard? You just let Vido get away when I had him in my goddamn sights. What makes you think I'll be able to even find him again? Or want your help?"
Shepard half turned to him and smirked, "Because I believe by the time this is over; you'll have moved on Massani". She walked out as the door slid closed behind her.
Zaeed let out a grunt of disapproval "Not a chance in hell. Naive kid."
"Shepard is many things but naive is not one of them." Doctor Chakwas spoke up from her medical cabinet.
Zaeed glance over at the doctor. "Then explain that? How the hell does she think that I'm just going to give up on making the bastard that betrayed me pay for what he did just like that? He left me for dead! What hell is the color of the world through her eyes? ‘Cause its sure as hell not the one the rest of us see. It’s surprising that she defeated that goddamn Reaper with an outlook like that. She’ll need to send that philosophical bullshit out the nearest air lock if she hopes to catch the Collectors."
Doctor Chakwas turned around and smacked his leg brace. Hard. Zaeed let out a grunt. "What the bloody hell was that for woman?!"
She looked at him crossly. "Shepard has been through more pain that one human being is ever meant to experience. The loss of her family and friends on Mindoir; her entire unit killed on Akuze; ordering a teammate to stay behind on Virmire. Not including any trauma received from the Prothean beacon or being revived. Most people would have gone mad! Yet Shepard holds strong. Our constant unmovable center who reaches out to everyone in need trying to help them in some way." She ended softly.
"If you think that kid was the only one to get dealt a bad hand; she can take a number." He said bitterly.
Doctor Chakwas looked at him firmly. "But she hasn't let that change who she is. She is not ruled by her past. She tries to do better because of it. She doesn't blame the Alliance for arriving too late to save her family. She doesn't bare a grudge against Cerberus for what they did to her men on Akuze. She even tried to dissuade Saren until that last moment at the Battle of the Citadel when everyone just wanted to kill him."
"I heard rumors about that. I still don’t know what the hell she was thinking. I would have put a bullet between his eyes and been done with it.”
"Most people would have. But Shepard is not most people. She will do whatever it takes to save everyone she can.” She paused, “Because I believe she hates herself more than she could anyone else."
Shepard hates herself? "She was just a kid when her family was attacked. I heard she gave 'em a run but outgun and untrained there’s not much she could have done."
"People are stubborn. Shepard is as stubborn as they come; even more so than Officer Vakarian.” She turned her gaze to the door the Commander had left through. “Sometimes I wonder if Shepard hadn’t gone through all of that if she would have ended up here; trying to save the Galaxy again from certain destruction.”
“She would have. The kind like Shepard always find their way into this way of life.”
“Mr. Massani, don’t judge the Commander too harshly. She doesn’t want to lose anymore of her squad.”
After a moment Zaeed shifted uncomfortably. “All this soul searching over my damn leg.” He swung his legs off the bench he was sitting on. “I’ll keep off it doc, but I’m not going to spend it on this shitty piece of metal.”
Dr. Chakwas laughed “I suppose that’s all I can ask from you!” She paused and examined him one last time as he was about to stand.
"Ah looks like I missed our Commander's handy work." She touched his eye and gently applied a bandage to his cut over his good eye. His eyes spoke volumes about the hard road he must have taken to get to where he was; the pain and hardships he must have endured. The scars marring his face just showing a fraction of what had marked his soul. A life of revenge was not a life at all. Her hands lingering a bit longer than needed over before returning to her side.
“You put all your cards on Shepard, huh?” His eyes stared at her intently.
At that moment Dr. Chakwas found herself doing something she hadn’t done since fresh out of med school; she blushed. “She’s already saved the galaxy. With the help from everyone I have no doubt she can pull it off a second time.”
“Well then I better get this damn leg of mine healed so I can earn my pay. I’d hate to have to refund those assholes at Cerberus.”
Zaeed limped his way to the door only to turn slightly back just before it closed and smirked. “See you later doc.”
Rating: T (minor language)
Fandom: Mass Effect
Characters: Zaeed/Chakwas, Fem!Shep
Summary: One-shot. Takes place in the Med bay after Zaeed’s Loyalty Mission.
Zaeed Massani was furious. But then again even that would have been an understatement. After twenty years of searching for the man that betrayed him, Vido slipped through his fingers again. Twenty years! Wasted! The betrayal was bitter enough but this. He had been so close! If they hadn’t gone back to save those goddamn warehouse workers. If Shepard hadn't been such a bleeding heart. If Shepard hadn’t...
He winced as Dr. Chakwas tightened the brace on his leg. She looked at him sternly as if reading his thoughts. Zaeed frowned in response.
"So what’s the damage doctor?" Shepard was still standing in the room after she had unceremoniously dumped him on a table in the med lab.
Chakwas put the final touches on Zaeed's leg brace before she turned to answer the Commander. "A clean break across his femur. He should stay off of it for at least two weeks. I emphasize should." The Doctor rubbed her head. "If its one thing I've learned in my experience is that military personnel are usually stubborn and you Mr. Massani look like you rather face a platoon of Collectors than stay and rest."
"He's going to be staying put Doctor." Shepard gave Zaeed a stern look before he could reply.
"Shepard, you’ve gone off your goddamn rocker if you think I’m going to be laid up in this infirmary. We have a job to do and I’m not getting paid to sit on my ass. I've been taking dangerous jobs while you were still wet behind the ears.
Shepard shook her head. "When are you going to learn we're a team?" The sincerity in her voice caused him to close his mouth. "Look Zaeed, what we're going through here is bigger than you and me. The fate of the entire galaxy is at stake. I can't do this alone. I need my crew to be there to watch my back. You can't do that job competently with a broken leg. The future is uncertain and we don't know when or where the next attack will come, but we have to be ready. Take this time to heal so when I need you, you'll be ready."
She turned away from him then and hesitated in the door. "I’ll make a deal with you Zaeed. When this is all over and if you still thirst for revenge, I will help you find Vido again."
"Feh, why the change of heart Shepard? You just let Vido get away when I had him in my goddamn sights. What makes you think I'll be able to even find him again? Or want your help?"
Shepard half turned to him and smirked, "Because I believe by the time this is over; you'll have moved on Massani". She walked out as the door slid closed behind her.
Zaeed let out a grunt of disapproval "Not a chance in hell. Naive kid."
"Shepard is many things but naive is not one of them." Doctor Chakwas spoke up from her medical cabinet.
Zaeed glance over at the doctor. "Then explain that? How the hell does she think that I'm just going to give up on making the bastard that betrayed me pay for what he did just like that? He left me for dead! What hell is the color of the world through her eyes? ‘Cause its sure as hell not the one the rest of us see. It’s surprising that she defeated that goddamn Reaper with an outlook like that. She’ll need to send that philosophical bullshit out the nearest air lock if she hopes to catch the Collectors."
Doctor Chakwas turned around and smacked his leg brace. Hard. Zaeed let out a grunt. "What the bloody hell was that for woman?!"
She looked at him crossly. "Shepard has been through more pain that one human being is ever meant to experience. The loss of her family and friends on Mindoir; her entire unit killed on Akuze; ordering a teammate to stay behind on Virmire. Not including any trauma received from the Prothean beacon or being revived. Most people would have gone mad! Yet Shepard holds strong. Our constant unmovable center who reaches out to everyone in need trying to help them in some way." She ended softly.
"If you think that kid was the only one to get dealt a bad hand; she can take a number." He said bitterly.
Doctor Chakwas looked at him firmly. "But she hasn't let that change who she is. She is not ruled by her past. She tries to do better because of it. She doesn't blame the Alliance for arriving too late to save her family. She doesn't bare a grudge against Cerberus for what they did to her men on Akuze. She even tried to dissuade Saren until that last moment at the Battle of the Citadel when everyone just wanted to kill him."
"I heard rumors about that. I still don’t know what the hell she was thinking. I would have put a bullet between his eyes and been done with it.”
"Most people would have. But Shepard is not most people. She will do whatever it takes to save everyone she can.” She paused, “Because I believe she hates herself more than she could anyone else."
Shepard hates herself? "She was just a kid when her family was attacked. I heard she gave 'em a run but outgun and untrained there’s not much she could have done."
"People are stubborn. Shepard is as stubborn as they come; even more so than Officer Vakarian.” She turned her gaze to the door the Commander had left through. “Sometimes I wonder if Shepard hadn’t gone through all of that if she would have ended up here; trying to save the Galaxy again from certain destruction.”
“She would have. The kind like Shepard always find their way into this way of life.”
“Mr. Massani, don’t judge the Commander too harshly. She doesn’t want to lose anymore of her squad.”
After a moment Zaeed shifted uncomfortably. “All this soul searching over my damn leg.” He swung his legs off the bench he was sitting on. “I’ll keep off it doc, but I’m not going to spend it on this shitty piece of metal.”
Dr. Chakwas laughed “I suppose that’s all I can ask from you!” She paused and examined him one last time as he was about to stand.
"Ah looks like I missed our Commander's handy work." She touched his eye and gently applied a bandage to his cut over his good eye. His eyes spoke volumes about the hard road he must have taken to get to where he was; the pain and hardships he must have endured. The scars marring his face just showing a fraction of what had marked his soul. A life of revenge was not a life at all. Her hands lingering a bit longer than needed over before returning to her side.
“You put all your cards on Shepard, huh?” His eyes stared at her intently.
At that moment Dr. Chakwas found herself doing something she hadn’t done since fresh out of med school; she blushed. “She’s already saved the galaxy. With the help from everyone I have no doubt she can pull it off a second time.”
“Well then I better get this damn leg of mine healed so I can earn my pay. I’d hate to have to refund those assholes at Cerberus.”
Zaeed limped his way to the door only to turn slightly back just before it closed and smirked. “See you later doc.”