Curious Jealousy- a F!Shenko Fic

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Scenario

Dinner had been an uncomfortable affair with Hope and Hannah doing most of the talking. Kaidan had sat quietly beside of Hope- trying, desperately, to ignore the heavy stare of her father.

Garrus and Tali had appeared near the end of the meal and, after being awkwardly introduced, left as quickly as they could- not at all comfortable with the tense atmosphere in the apartment. All Kaidan could do was watch in helpless remorse as they left- wishing that he could go with them.

After dinner, they had all moved back into the living room where, once again, the two women did the majority of talking (seeming to ignore the fact that Nathanial was silently condemning Kaidan- a sentence which would be carried out after Hope left).

Kaidan wished he had stayed back aboard the Normandy.

“Well, this is where I take my exit,” Hope informed them, standing suddenly from the couch. She leaned down and pressed kisses to her parent’s cheeks. She smiled at Kaidan and held out her hand for him.

Casting a quick glance at her father who was watching them like a hawk, Kaidan took her offered hand and walked her to the door.

“Don’t worry about my dad- his bark is way worse than his bite,” she murmured, pulling him into a hug.

“So, he does bite then?”

She kissed him rather chastely (considering who they were and what they were up against).

“Just don’t lie to him- he always knows when someone lies to him,” she warned as she opened the door.

Once again, Kaidan watched helplessly as someone else left him alone with the parents of one of the most powerful women in the galaxy.

He stood at the door- not wanting to go back to face her parents without her.

“Major,” Nathanial Shepard’s voice boomed from the couch, “sit down.”

That was not the voice of a father speaking to his daughter’s boyfriend.

No, that was the voice of an Admiral ordering an unruly subordinate.

This was when he needed to make a decision.

He wondered if the way Nathanial was treating him was a test of its own.

Straightening his back, he turned around to face the Admiral. “No, not Major- not here,” he informed him, impressed by his sudden confidence.

“Oh?”

“Here it’s just Kaidan,” he answered, moving back to the couch.

Nathanial narrowed his eyes at the younger man (clearly not happy about his words). “You’re here a lot then?”

That was a dangerous tone.

Time to choose words very carefully.

“All I meant was that, in downtime, we drop the impersonal façade that needs to be there while on duty.”

“Oh?” From the way he said that two letter, one syllable word, Kaidan knew that he had misinterpreted what he had said. He thanked whatever deity there was that Hope was so much like her father. Since she was, he was able to pick up on little things that needed to be elaborated.

“All of us aboard the Normandy, that is. During missions, we’re all either our rank or our last name but, during downtime, we’re just normal people with our first names.”

Nathanial was silent as he continued to watch Kaidan through narrow eyes.

“Have you and Hope been together long?” Hannah asked suddenly, ignoring her disapproving husband.

“We were together near the…end of the SR-1. And, um, we just got back together not too long ago,” he informed her, his eyes glancing towards Nathanial.

Hannah laid a hand on Nathanial’s knee as she smiled. “Well, it’s so good to see Hope smile as much as she does now. You’ve really had a good effect on her.”

“As has she on me.”

Nothing was said for a few moments.

“Are you two sleeping together?” Nathanial asked suddenly, very bluntly.

“Nathanial!” Hannah gasped, swatting at him.

Kaidan stared, slack jawed, at the other man. He wondered if he was really supposed to answer that question. That was…that was…he had no words for what that was.

“What Nathanial meant to ask was if you love her,” Hannah interrupted his thoughts.

“If that’s what I meant, that’s what I damn well would have asked,” he snapped at his wife who ignored his tone.

“I believe that there is someone out in the galaxy for every person- no matter the species,” he explained slowly, trying to make sure he said exactly what he wanted to say. “That person is what you may strive to be- someone you admire- or simply someone who makes you want to be a better person. They aren’t perfect because neither are you. I believe that your daughter is that person for me. I don’t know what I’d do without her- it was hell when I was without her. So, yeah, I love her.”

“You’ve hurt her before,” Nathanial informed him after a brief pause, though it wasn’t as harsh as his words had been a few moment before.

“I have,” he acknowledged. “She was gone for two years and then she just suddenly appeared- not looking a day older and wearing the wrong colors.” He shrugged. “If that had happened between yourself and…Admiral…Mrs.…” what the hell was he supposed to call Hope’s mom- they were both Admiral Shepard-, “your wife, would you have reacted any different?”

Hannah chuckled silently. “Kaidan, you can call me Hannah- at least in private.”

Nathanial seemed to be thinking hard about the question that Kaidan posed to him. He looked over to his wife.

“Let me expand the scenario,” Kaidan suggested. “You and she had only been together for a few months before she di…disappeared.” He still couldn’t quite articulate Hope dying. “Then, suddenly, she appears wearing the colors of a group that she vehemently hated and worked, at every opportunity, to tear apart where she could when you were working with her. Then she just walks up to you and acts as though the two years she was missing hadn’t happened. Could you just accept that she is who she says she is on the drop of a chit?”

Hope’s father narrowed his eyes as he continued contemplating the scenario. After a series of long moments, he shook his head. “I don’t suppose I could,” he admitted.

“And that, I think, is why Hope is able to forgive me.”

Hannah squeezed her husband’s leg and gave him a reassuring smile.

“I want to protect her,” Nathanial admitted, the words seeming to be strained and forced- as though it hurt him physically to admit it.

“Sir, your daughter has face-to-face conversations with Reapers and loves physically hitting Reaper troops,” Kaidan informed him.

The elder man took a deep breath. “I can’t control what she does out in the field- that’s just who she is.”

“Thanks to you,” Hannah muttered under her breath.

Nathanial continued, ignoring his wife, “But I can make sure that anyone she is with doesn’t hurt her.”

Kaidan accepted that with a nod. “That’s your right as her dad, but- even if you didn’t approve- she’d probably still do what she wants. She’s pretty stubborn.”

Hope’s father threw his back and laughed. With that, Hannah gave him a smile the let him know that Kaidan translated to mean that he had finally earned slight approval with Nathanial.

Nathanial stood suddenly and held out his hand to Kaidan. Kaidan stood quickly and took the offered hand.

“Treat her right and you’ll be alright,” Nathanial informed him as he pumped his hand three times. Before he let go, he said, “Welcome to the family…Kaidan.”