"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Kaidan asked as Rahna curled further into his side.
"I want to help people," she informed him. "I've always been interested in being a doctor."
Kaidan sighed and pressed a kiss onto the top of her head. "That suits you."
They both fell silent and Kaidan tried not to hold it against Rahna that she didn't even bother to ask him what he had wanted to be.
"When I was younger, I wanted to join the Alliance. My dad served and I want to as well."
"What about now?"
"I don't think that we have choices now. We're being trained as biotic units for the Alliance."
"But if you could choose."
No one had asked him that in a long time. He didn't even have an answer for that anymore.
After a long moment, he stated, "I would like to work with electronics. Something about electronics makes sense to me."
Rahna pressed a kiss into his chest. "What would you have wanted to do in the Alliance?"
"I've always been interested in how things are put together- especially as new technology emerges. I don't know if I would have been interested in being part of a ground team, but I wouldn't mind being on a ship around the engines."
"I never would have imagined you being interested in anything like that. You seem like you'd make a good doctor."
Kaidan tried not to feel irritated with her response. Not to say that he didn't appreciate what doctors did, or even mildly interested in the skills. However, he didn't think he even acted like he was interested in the field. It almost seemed like she didn't pay attention to who he was a person- as opposed to how he focused on her.
"Kaidan, I don't want to join the Alliance," she whispered, wiping her eyes with a sniffle. "I just want to go home to my mom and dad." After a long beat that Kaidan tried to ignore, she continued, "And you. I want you at home with me."
They sat staring out at the stars in silence for several minutes.
"When I was younger, I wanted to go to space. It always seemed so far away from my window in Vancouver. I read all sorts of books and watched vids about being a hero and saving the galaxy from an unknown danger- saving the girl."
Rahna let out a small giggle. "That is the silliest thing I have ever heard. Everyone knows nothing like that ever happens."
That hurt a little. "There was the First Contact War," he stated.
"But that wasn't a threat to the galaxy," Rahna pointed out. "There's nothing out there that could threaten our galaxy."
"Never say never. We don't know everything that's out there. Who knows, maybe the Geth- or something else like that- will rise up against us."
Rahna pulled away far enough to frown up at Kaidan. "Don't talk about things like that, Kaidan. Why does it have to be bad?"
"What do you want to happen?"
She curled back into him, running her finger tips up and down his chest. "I want to leave space- and never, ever come back- and go back to Earth. Then I want to become a doctor, get married, have a kid, and three cats."
"Just one kid?"
"I couldn't imagine not have a kid to continue my family bloodline- plus mom and daddy want a grandbaby-, but I couldn't imagine putting my body through that more than once."
He couldn't imagine only having one kid. He was as only child and found it to be lonely at times. That and he was always the center of his parent's attention. If he so much as sneezed, his mom was right there. Let him miss an assignment in class and his parents were right on him.
Not that that was a bad thing, but he would have appreciated a brother or sister to help split his parents time.
Rahna, too, was an only child. She was doted upon from the day she was born. Apparently she had thrived (even enjoyed) under the attention.
Could he ever truly commit to someone who wanted such different things in life than himself?
Of course, did any of that matter if they truly loved each other?
Relationships were built on compromises.
What bothered him most, though, was the fact that Rahna didn't even bother to ask him what he wanted to happen- what he wanted out of life.
"A lot can happen in the next few years," Kaidan mumbled.
