Kaidan laughed softly. “I was born on earth but I’ve stayed in the terminus systems after being discharged. It’s a perfect place to be if you’re hiding.” he admitted as he shook his head.
He didn’t know if he believed her words or not. Who ever he loved got hurt because of him. Did he love her?
Kaidan gave a huff as he looked down at her. Internally the man was a mess, he was dangerous… Calculating and yet she loved him? NO. No one could love him. Not like this. “Ari…I. You can’t. You can’t love me.” Kaidan stated, nearly believing himself.
He gently pulled his hands away and took multiple steps back. There was a certain unsureness that came with those three words. No one could love him. Not Michael, not Ariana. He was only good at being a playboy and a Merc. Love was Foreign, Dangerous.
“I’m sorry, Shepard. You can’t love me.”
Well, it was out there now, and she couldn’t take it back, couldn’t rescind the statement. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to, she knew there was truth to the statement, though it wasn’t exactly an ideal moment to throw down something so heavy when the air around them was heavy enough already.
Ariana thinks she can hear her heart breaking as he spoke.
He pulls his hands from hers and steps back, away from her. She can do nothing about the tears welling up in her eyes, nothing about the way her hands curl into tight fists at her sides, nothing about how quickly the tears fall down her cheeks and silently collide with the metal floor.
There are several long moments of tense silence. Ariana can hardly register the anger that has hot tears pouring down her cheeks and her hands balled into fists, let alone the uncertainty on Kaidan’s face.
“…Who the fuck are you to tell me how I can and can’t feel?
It’s not like I expected this to happen, it’s not like I expected
to fucking blurt this out to you, right here and right now. But
it happened, and you’re fucking telling me I can’t? Fuck you.
You don’t fucking understand how hard that was for me to
accept, okay? Last time I loved someone, they almost fucking
died. I didn’t let myself feel anything for anyone for a long
fucking time, and then you come along and make me feel a
way no one else has, and I just…can’t? No. I can’t fucking
take it back now, and I don’t want to. So, god dammit, I’m
not. I love you.”
Her anger fades quickly, fists uncurling as her hands relax. Her muscles feel drained, and she finally breaks eye contact, head hanging and eyes staring at the drops her tears have made on the floor. She watches as more fall from her cheeks and silently hit metal tiles. Her voice is quiet, almost broken.