Normandy Crew Deck, Sunday

[not_a_whiner]

Being back on the Normandy again... going through all this crazy shit... it felt right. Even if the whole rachni situation was messing with Kaidan, a little. His kneejerk doubts had faded some, but not completely. And so he sat, stretched out in a comfortable seat on the observation deck he now called home. Sipping his drink, staring at the stars

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

It had been a long time since Jack gave Kaidan a call --- longer than he wanted to admit, really. But the launch of his last school year had him in a nostalgic mood, and it felt like a good time to reconnect with old friends. So when his phone rang with Kaidan's number, it felt strangely predestined.

(Not, it should be pointed out, that Jack believed in destiny.)

"Is this Kaidan?" he said, sounding surprised and very, very pleased. "Hello there."

[not_a_whiner]

"Jack!" Kaidan said. Brightly. Maybe he even sounded a little relieved. "Uh. Sorry for the-- what has it been? A year? I keep getting screwed on the time end, I don't know what's going on."

[bitten_notshy]

"Will it sound terrible if I admit I don't know?" Jack said, with a soft laugh. "Too long, anyhow. I was worried your war had cut you off."

[not_a_whiner]

"No. I talked to Allie just now," Kaidan said wryly. "It's been a little over a week since I talked to anyone from Fandom for me. Just enough time to get settled in on the ship, get shot at a few times... the works."

He sounded wry.

"Did I miss anything important?"

[bitten_notshy]

"All the normal stuff, then?" Anders asked archly. "And, well, did I get around to telling you Emma and I are engaged?"

[not_a_whiner]

"... No," Kaidan said. He sat up immediately. "You did? Congratulations! How-- what-- tell me about it?"

[bitten_notshy]

"It was about a year ago," Jack said, and if Kaidan didn't know better he might have thought Jack had suddenly turned shy. "She'd been on-island all summer, and she had to go home. I couldn't -- we'd been playing games about whose world we were going to live in for years, and I had to admit she'd won. My world hasn't been home since I came to Fandom anyhow."

He paused, bit his thumbnail, and added, "It's more engaged to be engaged, really. Wedding planning can wait until I finish law school."

[not_a_whiner]

"There's no rush," Kaidan agreed warmly. "Still, that's fantastic news. It's good to know you guys are doing so well, you know? The law school's coming along good too?"

Damn, this was weird.

[bitten_notshy]

"It's my last year," Jack said, relieved. "Thank Christ. I like the work but sitting in a classroom so much is making me restless."

[not_a_whiner]

"So they're not doing internships or anything just yet?" Kaidan said. "Sorry, I'm completely clueless on how the law stuff works."

[bitten_notshy]

"No, I did an internship over the summer," Jack explained. "And I'm working in a clinic over the school year, but it's only a few hours a week."

[not_a_whiner]

"Then I guess the important question is: are you kicking ass?" Kaidan said. "You're a good talker."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack laughed, warm and real. "I am. Of course I am. And thanks -- that's how I got into this to start with. How are you doing?"

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan sighed deeply. "Well, I'm alive," he said. "We had to go dig a bunch of krogan out of Rachni-infested caves. The Reapers got to them. The Rachni, I mean, not the krogan."

[bitten_notshy]

"Alive is good," Jack said hopefully. "I only understood about half of the nouns in that second half, but I'm sticking with alive is good."

[not_a_whiner]

"Sorry," Kaidan said, with a healthy helping of wry embarrassment. "It's easy to slip back into shop talk around here, you know? Uh... krogan are big, hulking tank-people. Aliens. They're on our side. Rachni are basically big bugs. Everyone thought they were extinct until Shepard dug one up a few years ago."

As Shepard usually did.