this started as a prompt fill over a year ago. I ended using that prompt for a different fic, and left this one incomplete... until yesterday, when I just happened to find it while perusing my library of untitled documents. since the timing was so perfect, I decided to finish it up for this year's N7 day 😁
Happy N7 Day!
Beatrix Shepard/Kaidan Alenko (with a bonus Beatrix&Ashley), ME1 pre-relationship pining & UST. prompt was originally "top of head kisses"
--
“Rough night, Commander?” Kaidan’s amusement was clear even before Beatrix turned to see him smirking at her from the medbay’s doorway.
“You should see the other guy.” She grinned as she hopped up to sit on the edge of one of the medical beds. She poked gingerly at the bruise around her eye. It was a spectacular thing, black and red and covering the entirety of her left eye and cheek. “Guess I got knocked around a little worse than I thought yesterday at that warehouse. It barely even hurt at the time.”
“I guess so,” he murmured as he dug around in one of the cabinets, clearly familiar with its contents. He pulled out a bottle and poured a couple of pills into his hand, casually popping them into his mouth and washing them down with a glass of water.
Beatrix didn’t comment. It was either a biotic thing or a migraine thing and either way it wasn’t any of her business. “Be honest with me, Alenko. How bad do I look?”
She had meant it flippantly, but Kaidan took her question seriously. He crossed the rest of the space between them and lifted her chin with a careful hand to tip her face toward the light. He studied her in silence for a long moment, gaze as gentle as his touch. She fought to keep herself still, to not lean into the warmth and safety that his smile promised her. Not the time, Triss.
“You look fine, Shepard,” he said eventually, letting her go all at once.
It was clearly not the word he wanted to use, and she couldn't help teasing just a little. “Just fine, huh?”
He chuckled, but didn’t rise to the bait. Probably for the best. “Do you want me to fix it up for you, or are you one of those people who wears bruises as a badge of honor?”
She barely even hesitated before nodding. “Would you mind? I was gonna ask Doc, but I guess she’s not in.”
Beatrix let her eyes flutter shut at the first cool touch of the medigel. She'd expected him to just slap a patch on it and call it good, but instead he carefully applied it by hand, gentle fingers sweeping over her brow and cheek. He probably just didn't want to risk a patch that close to her eye.
Or at least, that's the excuse he would use if she asked. Kaidan was always aware of how precarious their situation was. He always had an excuse and an escape plan at the ready, should he need them.
"There," he announced with a final brush against her cheek. "In a few minutes you’ll be right as rain."
She opened her mouth to thank him, but what came out was a playful “Not gonna kiss it and make it better?”
She cringed inwardly. All those carefully drawn lines they'd been dancing around and Beatrix just charged right through them. It’s arguably what she’d built her career around, true, but she didn’t want to be like that with him.
She was propelled out of her thoughts by Kaidan's sudden proximity as he leaned closer once more. Faster than she could react, he closed the gap entirely and pressed a quick but firm kiss to her temple, right next to the healing bruise.
She stared at him like she'd never seen him before. He looked very smug about it.
"Is that better?" he asked, in a voice as soft and rich as velvet.
Beatrix just gaped at him, still struggling to find her voice past her surprise. Before she could, the door opened with a quiet hiss.
"Triss, are you in--" Ashley stopped in the doorway, keen eyes darting back and forth between Commander and Lieutenant as Kaidan stepped back to a more appropriate distance. A shrewd grin spread over her face. "Hope I’m not interrupting anything."
"Kaidan was just helping me put my face back together." She pointed at the bruise. It was a flimsy excuse, but hopefully still visible enough to be a valid one.
“Damn!” Ashley stepped the rest of the way into the room and grabbed Beatrix’s chin to tilt her head around for a better look at the black eye. She was much less careful than Kaidan had been. “That’s one hell of a shiner, skipper. Did you get punched by a geth, or are you getting in bar fights that we don’t know about?”
"Part of an underground fight club, is my guess," Kaidan said lightly.
"Cute," Beatrix deadpanned. To Ash, she added, "I got hit with the business end of a krogan shotgun."
"Those mercs yesterday? Makes sense." She let go of Beatrix's face and leaned on the edge of the bed next to her. "I knew one of ‘em rang your bell pretty good, I didn’t think you had trophies from it."
"Hopefully not for much longer." She couldn't help but glance Kaidan's way; he smiled slightly when their eyes met.
“Could be fun to see what the tabloids speculate about it.” Ashley laughed and bumped her shoulder with Beatrix’s. “But that’s not why I’m here. Joker says he just made the last jump for that rescue mission of yours. Should arrive in twenty, if you wanna get ready.”
“And he couldn't tell me this himself because…?”
She shrugged. “Hell if I know. It's Joker.”
Beatrix shook her head, laughing. “Fair enough. Suit up, Chief.”
“Music to my ears, Commander.” She hopped off the table and gave Kaidan a look in which she was clearly saying something, though Beatrix couldn’t tell what. “I'll leave you to it.”
Then she was gone.
Kaidan rolled his eyes at Ashley’s antics, but his smile was fond. “She means well.”
“I know.” Ashley Williams was many things, but shy or cagey she wasn’t. If she had an opinion on something, she expressed it. Luckily, so far her opinions on their… potential situation, were positive. And impatient.
Beatrix shook herself back to the present and turned a considering eye on Kaidan. “Are you okay for a trip planetside, or should I call Liara?”
“I’m fine, Triss.”
She wasn’t sure she believed him. He had come in here for painkillers, after all, and she caught him sometimes attempting to massage away a headache when he thought she wasn’t looking. Still, if he was in any serious pain right now, he hid it well, and she trusted him to know his limits.
“Okay. Suit up.”
She didn’t miss the brief, relieved sag of his shoulders before he said, “Yes, ma’am.” She didn’t call him on it, just followed him out of the sickbay and toward their lockers.
