Walk The Line

Chapter Four: Boundaries

At the foot of the stairs
With my fingers in your hair
Baby this is it

3OH!3 – My First Kiss

The Citadel wasn't the first deep space station that Kaidan had visited over his years of working for the Alliance but it certainly was the most impressive. Over the centuries it had grown and prospered, becoming a lively hive of activity for travellers of all shapes and sizes. The place reminded Kaidan of a vacation hotspot with it's plush green parks and awe-inspiring landscapes. The sun was bright and glowing in the azure sky fourteen hours a day and the place had such an amazing temperature. It was unnatural and Kaidan found it a little eerie that everything was so perfect here. He had heard people describe the place as idyllic but he thought it had nothing on the view of English Bay back home.

No matter how synthetic the features were here it was still better than Jump Zero. That place was a twisted up, metallic hell hole. Kaidan couldn't understand how he'd gotten through his time there but he was glad he had. The Alliance had been a saving grace for him after all that crap with BAat, it had given him the stability that he needed in a time when everything was chaotic and crazy.

The military base on the Citadel was one of the better places he had stayed. The rooms were clean and well maintained and Kaidan liked the fact that the officers got their own rooms. Privacy was somewhat lacking on the Normandy and it was nice to be able to have his own space every once in a while. Shepard was staying off base in an apartment that belonged to a friend of hers near the Presidium. Her friend was apparently a scientist working away on Feros, researching renewable energy sources.

Kaidan of all people understood what it was like to take a step back from the job and after today he wouldn't have blamed Shepard if she wanted to run back to that apartment and hide underneath the covers. The ear bashing she had taken from The Citadel Council had been humiliating, they had berated her for her allegations against Saren and Kaidan had hated every single second of it. Captain Anderson had tried to step in but he had been dismissed due to his history with the Spectre.

Kaidan had never seen Shepard so furious before. Her pretty blue eyes had narrowed to the point where they were almost slits, her jaw had been clenched so tightly he was scared she was about to start spitting teeth. Her entire body was rigid underneath the confines of her uniform and instead of that confident, graceful walk he was used to, she was stalking like a caged animal ready to snap. Anderson had suggested that they speak to a contact of his but they wouldn't be able to talk to the guy until tomorrow which left them hanging high and dry for the next eighteen hours. Which in turn was going to drive Shepard completely insane. He knew enough about her to know that she didn't do well when she was inactive.

Hence why they were now standing in front of one of the highest indoor climbing walls that Kaidan had ever seen. It was off one of the corridors that led to the main gym and was thankfully secluded.

On The Normandy he was becoming conscious of the regulations that surrounded them. Every time they shared the briefest touch it was like a jolt of electricity shooting through his nervous system even if it was unintentional. He couldn't control it and it made him want to touch her more and more often.

Shepard felt the same, he could tell by the way her body inclined into him whenever he brushed past her or the way that she visibly relaxed when his palm came to rest on her lower back to gently shift her in another direction. Here, there was a little more room to breath, he didn't have to worry that their movements were being constantly watched and in turn that made him feel a lot more relaxed.

"You ok there Alenko?" Shepard asked breaking Kaidan's train of thought as she yanked at the waist strap to tighten the harness around her waist.

Kaidan glanced up at his partner in crime, that brillant smile lit up his handsome features as he watched her twist the climbing rope into a figure of eight. He had never seen her in anything but her Alliance fatigues or her armour so seeing her in her athletic gear was a welcome surprise. She was wearing black Lycra leggings and a cyan coloured tank top with matching climbing shoes. Her cherry red hair was brushed back behind her ears since it was too short to scrape back into a ponytail.