Curious Jealousy- a F!Shenko Fic

Chapter Forty-Three: Surprises

The Normandy docked on the Citadel just like normal and she watched after the hospital attendants as they pushed Grunt out of the Normandy and to Huerta for evaluation and full-repair. She reminded the crew to prepare for Shoreleave that would begin the next day. Everyone seemed pretty excited for a few days for themselves- it wasn't as though there were many chances to just relax while in the middle of a war with giant, mythical beings.

Kaidan smiled warmly at her as she left the Normandy….

Almost like they had a secret….

Not yet, her mind reminded her.

With a sigh worthy of a stage, she headed to the embassies and smiled as random officers and other important people greeted her. She made her way into Bailey's office and smiled kindly at the man.

"Bailey," she greeted, looking over him- a habit she had picked up thanks to the war.

"Commander Shepard," he responded, standing up and handing her a datapad that had been sitting right beside his terminal. "I've got news on the kids you brought in a while back."

Shepard frowned as she read the report. "Out of the five kids, only two of them had surviving parents?" she murmured. "What happened to the other three?"

Bailey sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Two have been taken into other families. The other- the youngest-, well…he's sick. He's been at Huerta for a while, asking for you by name."

The words on the datapad seized to mean anything as she tried to process what he was saying. "What's wrong with him?"

"Above my pay grade," he shrugged empathetically. "From what I could tell, though, it was pretty serious."

She took a deep breath. "What's his name?"

"Tyler."

Carefully laying the datapad on Bailey's desk, she nodded her head. "Thanks for letting me know. Anything else that I need to know about?"

Bailey shook his head. "Doesn't seem like you need anything else to worry about, all things considered."

Shepard shrugged and gave him a small smile. "What's a little bit more?" she chuckled.

"You're telling me that you've been up in her cabin every night, and you've yet to-"

"Jeff," EDI admonished, "it is clear, due to the Major's vitals, that he is uncomfortable with this line of questioning. Perhaps you should change the topic."

Joker frowned in the general direction of the comm before looking back to Kaidan. "You wanna know what's worse than having a girlfriend?"

Kaidan raised his eyebrows, not quite sure where this line of questioning was going to go. "I don't know- one that you work with on a tin can in the middle of space?"

His frown deepened. "A, don't call my baby a tin can. B, no. And, C, when your significant other happens to be a fully evolved AI with the capability to hear and yell at you anyplace on the Normandy."

Smiling, Kaidan shrugged. "How about a girlfriend who's the savior of the galaxy twice- not to mention working on a third time- and having an eerie sixth sense that can tell when you're talking about her."

"So you're admitting she's your girlfriend now?"

Kaidan rubbed his nose, and fidgeted a little. "Well…no. After…everything…it's a little more complicated than that."

"Do you love her, Major?" EDI asked.

He lowered his head in defeat. Getting tag-teamed by, essentially, the Normandy and her pilot just wasn't fair. "Yeah," he admitted.