Avory Shepard disappears to resolve some unfinished business with the Reds. When she returns, Kaidan is waiting to see that she’s okay.
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Kaidan watched as steam rose from his coffee, twisting and twirling into whimsical patterns in the dim mess hall light. He cupped the mug in both hands, stared into the deep brown liquid as if it were a crystal ball, as if it held the answers he so desperately sought. After three cups of the bitter beverage, he had yet to find any comfort, but perhaps if he kept going, he would find it at the bottom of the pot. At the very least, the caffeine would keep him awake until Shepard returned.
Ashley had stayed with him for a few hours, insisting Shepard was fine, that she could handle whatever emergency had prompted her to set course for Earth and leave them with such urgency. Kaidan wasn’t so sure. Ashley hadn’t been there when Shepard ran into her old acquaintance; she hadn’t seen how her entire posture had shifted to the defensive, how her face had paled when the man had mentioned a name, Sara. Ashley hadn’t heard the unfamiliar tightness in Shepard’s voice when she had dismissed him and Garrus, sending them back to the Normandy before disappearing into Chora’s Den with the man she called Finch.
Now, only a few hours remained of the 24 hour leave Shepard had ordered, and she had yet to return.
The soft sound of leather on metal echoed throughout the deck and Kaidan cocked his head toward the noise. It was boots, of that he was certain, an uneven footfall padding quietly down the stairs. He straightened in his chair and turned his head, eagerly awaiting to see who would appear from behind the dividing wall.
Before relief could take hold, worry crashed over him. Something was off. No, everything was off. She wasn’t walking so much as she was shuffling, her left leg obviously bearing more weight than her right. Her hair was down, kinked and mussed and darkened with dried sweat the same way it always was after she spent a couple hours in the gym. Even in the dim night cycle light, there was no missing the rust colored flecks of blood splattered across her face, the crimson smeared across her shoulder, the reddened discoloration of her hands that looked like painted on gloves.
Kaidan pushed his coffee away from him, already rising from his seat. “Commander?”
His voice was booming in the otherwise silent mess. There was no way she hadn’t heard him, but she didn’t acknowledge him. He fought to suppress the panic rising in his chest as he watched her enter her cabin without so much as a glance in his direction.
Heart pounding wildly against his ribcage, Kaidan crossed the gangway with long, purposeful strides to find her door lock still green. His hand hovered over the control for only a second; his concern for her overrode any apprehension he had about entering his commanding officer’s private quarters without invitation, and with a decidedly firm press of the control, he granted himself access to her cabin.