Curious Jealousy- a F!Shenko Fic

Chapter Thirty-Two: Another Confrontation

Small Chapter 31 Recap

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, Hope," he murmured.

"For what?" Then the entirety of his words hit her. "Wait. What'd you just call me?"

"I'm sorry for not doing this as soon as I saw you on Horizon," he answered, ignoring her second question.

"Not doing wha-"

Kaidan cut her off by pressing his lips hard against hers, effectively ending the argument.

Well, for a minute, at least.

After she regained her senses, she pulled back her hand and caught him on his chin with a right hook (as soon as she did it, she belatedly thought that she could have just slapped him, but…well…that just wasn't her style). Kaidan stumbled backwards and stared at her- shocked.

She had kissed him back. Their tongues had warred with each other- his nose filled with nothing but the scent of her. She hadn't melted into his arms as she would have before, but it was still filled with a passion that no one could ever match.

Hence the reason why he was surprised that she had punched him.

Her eyes were dilated and she was struggling to control her breathing. To say that she was angry would be putting it lightly. There was few times that Kaidan thought she wasn't beautiful, but, in that moment, the only true equivalent would be to compare her to Goddess' of old.

Needless to say, Joker's words of confronting Kaidan about the past were at the very forefront of her mind. Joker had been right and Kaidan had put himself into the situation where she had the perfect opening for it.

"Hope…" he murmured, reaching out to her.

"Don't," she snapped, slapping his hand away from her. She stepped forward and pushed him out of her space. "You have no right to touch me or call me by my first name- not after everything that you've done and said."

Without thinking, he said, "I thought you said we were okay about Horizon."

Her mouth dropped open and she shook her head. "How the hell could I be okay with it? You called me a traitor- said that I turned my back on everything we stood for! You questioned who I am- what I believe and know! You walked away from me and didn't even glance back! I was devastated, Kaidan!" she shouted, shoving a finger into his chest. "I don't know what was worse on Horizon- thinking that the Collector's had abducted you and you were on that damn ship, or your words…but I'm pretty damn sure it was your words."

To Kaidan, she looked like an avenging angel and he couldn't stop himself from reaching out to her again. He needed to touch her-to prove to himself that she was real and just as passionate as she always had been.

She slapped his hand away again. "I don't want to be placated, Kaidan. You need to listen to me!"

When he nodded his head, she frowned at him. She wasn't quite sure how she wanted to say everything.

It didn't matter.

It just needed said.

"I gave the Illusive Man a single finger salute after I blew up the Collector Base. I was getting ready to head to Earth to turn in myself and the Normandy when Hackett called me up and diverted me to the Bahak system. I didn't want to kill all those Batarian's, but the choice was taken from me. I gave myself over to Alliance custody because that's where I belong- where I've always belonged. Despite what you said, I always knew where my alliances lay. I was raised in the Alliance, I died in the Alliance, and, god damned it, I needed to be back in it since I was alive again.