Parallax

A/n: I took an alignment quiz for Faith Shepard because I was curious about what she'd turn out to be. Here are the results, and I find them to be spot-on:

You Scored as Lawful Evil: A Lawful Evil person is someone who respects laws, customs, or traditions, but will try to bend them to suit their own needs. These people have little concern for others they hurt, being intrinsically self motivated. Despite this, they value order and obedience to authority.

Lawful Evil 85%

Chaotic Evil 80%

True Neutral 70%

Chaotic Good 65%

Neutral Evil 65%

Lawful Good 55%

Chaotic Neutral 50%

Neutral Good 35%

Lawful Neutral 30%


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The glow of an omni tool lit Kaidan's face as he read a message from his mother. As soon as he finished reading the message, the Lieutenant felt a headache begin to stir behind his eyes. He put his omni tool away in favor of making his way to the airlock. There he saw Liara with Toombs and Shepard. Simon perched atop the Commander's shoulders, his hands picking their way through her glossy black hair. Shepard turned to address Kaidan.

"We're going to get Toombs to the Ambassador's office," she explained. "From there, he will rendezvous with the people that are going to work with him. After that, we'll be getting another assignment. Is everyone clear on that?"

She turned to catch the eye of everyone in her party as she acknowledged each person's affirmation. A chipper 'yes' and a nod came from Liara. There was a crisp 'aye-aye, ma'am' from Kaidan. And from the drowsy Corporal came something unintelligible that resembled Kaidan's response. Toombs added in a flailing salute for extra measure.

The shore party made their way from the Normandy's private docking bay to C-Sec. While Kaidan supported Toombs with his arm, Shepard summoned a rapid transit cab to drop them off at the embassies. The view of the Citadel blurred by the group and in a short amount of time, they had arrived at their destination.

After taking the flight of stairs to the embassy, the group stopped short. In front of the door stood a middle aged man who wore a suit. He was flanked by two of the most finely polished guards Shepard had seen in a long time. The manner in which they composed themselves seemed odd to her. The unarmed man stood straight and stiff-jawed, all the while tensely rubbing his fingers together. His guards slouched in their carefully polished armor. They eyed the human embassy door like it was on fire.

"Didn't feel like troubling the Councilor with a traumatized veteran?" Shepard asked.

The guards snapped to attention and quickly saluted the Spectre.

"Commander Shepard," the suited man took a step forward, "Dr. Richard Wernth. I work closely with the Veterans Affairs office in rehabilitating our veterans."

He reached to shake her hand while the unresponsive Commander stared at him for a moment, blankly studying him. Like many times before, she found herself pondering the meaning of a handshake, especially from a man like this who appeared to be as phony as a politician. Shepard knew that he was wondering why she wouldn't shake his hand. A blink later, she knew that he perceived her to be another slow meathead that he'd encountered many times before in working with the Alliance. Now that Shepard had him feeling falsely secure, she offered her hand.

Kaidan stood back and watched his Commander closely. She liked to have fun with people like the man in front of them. They shook hands and the man nodded, his eyes quickly darting down to steal a glance at Shepard's breasts. Kaidan tensed up in anger. He almost snapped when the doctor glanced over at Liara then back to Shepard. Just who the hell did the man think he was?

"So, did you want to meet your patient, or were you going continue to leer at me and my teammate?" Shepard snapped, a cocky grin plastered to her face.

The doctor's eyes impassively regarded Toombs as his guards' faces turned red, trying to hold in laughter. He nodded curtly then turned to the Commander.

"I'll make sure that he's taken care of," Dr. Wernth said, "I've seen many PTSD patients."

"Then talk to the patient, not me," Shepard hissed.

Corporal Toombs swayed on his feet, barely registering the conversation.

"Mr. Toombs, I'm your doctor," Wernth droned, "you'll be coming with me today."

For a moment the traumatized Corporal snapped out of his medicine induced haze.

"I don't want to go, Commander," he whined, "I want to stay with you and Lieutenant Alenko and Liara and Murray."

Before anyone could answer, Simon reached out placed a hand on the Corporal's shoulder. A loud hoot came out of his tiny mouth.

"You too, Simon," Toombs smiled.

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way," the Doctor replied, "Commander Shepard's time is very valuable and you are in need of recovery. We should leave –"

"Corporal," Shepard interjected, "your current assignment is to get counseling. I know you'll be fine." She turned her hawkish gaze to the Dr. Wernth. "And so help me, if you don't take care of him, I will flay you alive with my mind," she smiled.

With that, the panicked doctor and his guards gathered Toombs and left as soon as possible. The now quiet hallway held a grinning Shepard and her shore party.

"You'll flay him alive with your mind?" Liara murmured, "That was good. I'll have to remember that one."

Kaidan turned to the asari and lifted an eyebrow.

"Don't you start picking up Shepard's nasty habits," he chided, "you're a good girl."

Shepard spun around and narrowed her eyes at her Lieutenant. Stepping forward, she brought her face as close to his as possible.

"So, what are you saying Kaidan?" she asked, "Am I a bad girl with nasty habits?"

"Perhaps," he replied, his voice becoming hoarse.

"Then I'll just have to show you some of those bad habits," Shepard chuckled. She turned away from him to walk to the embassy door.

"I'd like that," Kaidan murmured, reaching out to quickly squeeze her bottom before the doors opened.

A blushing Shepard entered the human embassy, her ground crew behind her. She glanced around the room; Udina was nowhere to be found. This made her extremely happy. The presence of Admiral Hackett was a surprise, albeit not an unpleasant one.

"Shepard," Anderson smiled, "it's good to see you. We've got two things for you. I'll let the Admiral go first." He stood from behind his desk, stretching his muscles that had been cramped from sitting for so long.

"The Alliance needs you, Shepard, and we all agree that you're the only one that can get this job done the right way," Hackett grumbled, his mustache awakening like an ancient monster.

Shepard listened carefully, a smile breaking out on her face at the sight of Hackett's mustache.

"We need you to negotiate a cease fire – " he continued.

A sharp bark of laughter cut him off.

"You're kidding," Shepard chuckled, "Admiral, I'm the last person who should be negotiating a cease fire." She wiped at her tearing eyes.

"You can and you will," Hackett replied, "Shepard, the person we need you to talk to is named Darius. He has a group that has been interfering with mining efforts. You can find him in the Hades Gamma cluster, in Plutus system on the planet Nonuel. We will be forwarding details to your ship."

"Yes sir," she said, "but I still think this is a bad idea. You may want to send a negotiator instead."

"Shepard, Darius is a warrior," the Admiral sighed, "he'll respect you."

"Um, quite frankly, I'm a bitch," Shepard pointed an accusatory finger at herself, "I could end up getting pissed off and killing the shit out of him."

"The Alliance cannot be held accountable for the actions of a Spectre," Hackett stared her in the eyes, "You're being sent in there, Spectre. End of story."

Shepard blinked a few times before glancing back at her Lieutenant. His ever expressive right eyebrow quirked upward slightly, the only outward sign that he found the Admiral's choice of assignment to be strange. Kaidan was looked so cute in that moment; she resisted the insatiable urge to throw him against the wall and kiss him. Shepard shook her head. There would be time for that later. She had to talk to Hackett about one more thing.

"Sir," she said, "I hate to ask something of you, but I feel compelled to."

The older man nodded in reply, his mustache twitching slightly.

"The man we picked up on Ontarom, Corporal Toombs, is in the care of someone named Dr. Wernth. In the brief time that I talked with him, I found that it had been abundantly clear that he did not care about his patient. Toombs deserves better," Shepard declared.

"How set are you on this?" the Admiral grumbled.

"I will use my Spectre status and go in there with my gun if I have to," Shepard replied, her voice low.

Hackett nodded once and stared out at the Presidium in thought. Turning to the Commander, he activated his omni-tool.

"What was the name again?" he asked.

"Wernth, sir," she replied.

The Admiral nodded again and entered the name. After a moment, the omni-tool's glow dissipated.

"Shepard," he sighed, "If it were anyone but you, I'd tell you to take a hike. But you have good instincts; everyone has seen this firsthand. I've sent in an order to have Toombs discreetly referred to another doctor. We'll look through patient reviews and see if there's anything else to further investigate."

"I appreciate it," Shepard nodded, genuinely surprised that the Admiral had taken her request.

"Not a problem," he replied, "Now I must attend to business." Hackett said his goodbyes and he and his mustache left the room, the semi-awkward pall of acquaintanceship leaving with him.

Anderson turned to Shepard and smiled. He was proud of his protege; she'd accomplished more than he could have dreamed. More importantly, without her, everyone would be dead. The fact that his thought wasn't an exaggeration was sobering.

"Shepard," he cleared his throat, "while things settle down around here, we want you to search the Traverse for remaining geth. They may have important intel. It's also important that the remaining stragglers be put down before more problems start."

"That seems simple enough," Shepard replied, "I'll keep you posted."

Out of habit, she saluted the Councilman. He saluted back and the two exchanged a quick chuckle over their old habit. Motioning to her crew to follow, Shepard stepped out of the embassy and into the hallway. As soon as they had left the room, Kaidan activated his omni-tool, a frown creasing his face.

"What's up?" Shepard asked.

Kaidan's hand quickly rattled off a message, his frown increasing.

"My family is here on vacation," he replied, "they're at Flux right now."

He didn't need to say anything more; Shepard understood the situation. She'd never known her family and from what Kaidan had told her about his, she was a little glad that she hadn't. Things were different for biotic children. Their families didn't understand them and Kaidan's was no exception.

"Do what you need," she smiled, "Liara and I will do some shopping. Message me when you want to leave."

Shepard pulled him in for a quick hug; Kaidan missed the devilish smirk on her face.

-----------------------------

Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko sat at a table with a man and a woman. The woman's name was Wendy or Mom. Her companion, who appeared to be as annoyed as a dog wearing clothes, was named William or Father. His name wasn't Dad.

"And there you go again," Kaidan's mom giggled, "you get just like your father did when he was in uniform; he always zoned out, thinking about the stuff he had to do. So, anyway, Katlyn and her friends..."

Katlyn was a name that meant so much to Kaidan and yet so little. After he'd been gone at BAaT, he'd returned to a toddler in his house. She was his sister and she'd been everything he couldn't be. Katlyn was a normal human girl; she wasn't biotic, she made average grades, and she had normal relationships.

Kaidan didn't get to know her.

He didn't resent his sister nor did he resent his mother. Instead, the Lieutenant found himself entirely ambivalent. He spoke with them because it was normal to do so and was expected of him. His parents would never understand him; eventually they stopped trying. His mom found it easy to just act like nothing had happened, like he hadn't come back from BAaT as a lonely, broken teen. His father found it easy to hide behind a mask of stoicism, like he didn't care what happened with his son. Instead, Kaidan's parents poured all their hopes and dreams of grandchildren and normalcy on Katlyn.

Kaidan once again found himself on the outside looking in as a young woman of sixteen approached the table with her friends. Since when had Katlyn become so old? Her baby fat had disappeared and left a softly shaped teen in its wake.

"Hi," she smiled and waved. It was a spazzy teen wave.

Kaidan returned her greeting with a small smile and found it sad that he didn't know his own sister enough to give her a hug. She introduced him to her gaggle of giggling friends; he immediately forgot their names. And while they sat and sucked down fake apple-tinis, his mom turned her attention toward him.

"So, what is it like to work with Commander Shepard?" she asked.

"Well, it's certainly different than any assignment I've been on before," he replied, "She runs everything smoothly and I have to say that she's the best CO I've had yet. She's firm but fair and extremely passionate about our job."

Kaidan noted how his father perked up a bit at the mention of Shepard and of work. Years of being in the service and being a biotic gave the Lieutenant the means of reading people. His father felt trapped at times; he longed for the adventure that he had while he was in the Alliance.

Kaidan heard whispers across the table that he was sure his parents couldn't hear. Apparently Katlyn's friends thought he was a 'total hottie'. He listened to his sister being grossed out. He heard the blonde friend ask for his contact information. The brunette thought his armor was sexy. The scrawny one just stared and blushed.

"And the Normandy. That's got to be exciting, being on a prototype ship," his mom added.

"It is," he replied, "Normandy is incredible. If they can find a way to make the technology we have available to other ships, we'll end up saving a lot of lives."

His father seemed to perk up even more at the mention of the ship, though he made no move to ask any questions. He knew information regarding the Normandy would be classified, but he could have easily figured out a way to ask a question that didn't involve classified information. Kaidan's heart fell though he knew that he should have expected his father to not make an effort to converse with him.

"Any pretty girls on the ship?" Kaidan's mom asked.

"Mother," Kaidan sighed, "that is wholly improper and you know it." He knew the next portion of conversation by heart.

"I was just wondering if you were going to get married sometime, dear," she smiled, "I want grandchildren and the Alenko name needs to be carried on."

His father snorted, his eyes transfixed on the view of the nebula.

"Now don't be like that!" his mom huffed and slapped her husband on the arm.

"He doesn't want a woman," his father groused, "that's obvious."

Kaidan activated his omni-tool and sent a quick message to Shepard. He didn't want to drag the visit with his family on any longer.

"William," his mom hissed, her eyes wide. It was clear that they'd discussed this before.

For the first time since their visit, his father looked him in the eye. The look said 'you are not the son that I wanted'. Kaidan stared back with equal disappointment, the phrase 'I deserved better than you' repeating in his head. He hated how his father was one of the few people that could make him lose control of his emotions.

Kaidan also hated how his parents were so out of touch that they didn't know his sexual preference. It was painfully obvious that they currently assumed that he was gay. There was no point in correcting them; his parents would assume whatever they believed.

A tense silence settled over the table. Even Katlyn's gaggle of friends had stopped talking in favor of quietly sipping on their drinks. Kaidan felt bad that they had been dragged into observing his family's dysfunctional mess.

"Lieutenant," a familiar voice cut through the silence.

Kaidan turned to see a Simon-adorned Shepard and Liara approach. They were holding hands; in the Commander's unoccupied hand was a large bag from an adult store named 'The Toy Chest'. He found himself wondering what kind of goodies Shepard had bought for him rather than his current uncomfortable situation with his family.

A flurry of whispering behind him reminded him of where he was. He heard the blonde friend mention Shepard's fansite. The brunette thought her makeup was super cute. The scrawny one just sighed and said that she wanted to look like Shepard. He listened to his sister mention that Shepard could probably hear them; this made him smirk. Perhaps they weren't so different.

"Commander," Kaidan stood and smiled, "thanks for letting me see my family. This is my mom, Wendy and my father, William. And this is Katlyn, my sister, and those are her friends."

"Sup," Shepard nodded.

"This is Commander Shepard and Dr. Liara T'Soni, who is part of our crew," he continued.

Kaidan found this to be among one of the most awkward yet humorous introductions that he'd had the privilege of performing. His parents eyed Shepard, wondering why she held hands with an alien crewmember and carried a bag from an illicit shop. He then watched with horror as Liara beamed at his mother and offered an extremely praise-filled greeting; his mother's eyes lit up with renewed hope. This woman, though alien, thought her son was 'a truly rare example of the potential of human biotics' and was 'extremely kind and accepting'.

"I'd love to have everyone chat," Shepard interjected, "but unfortunately we have many people to kill." She said it with a smile so unnerving and charming that it diffused the awkward exchange.

The Lieutenant hugged his mom goodbye and waved to Katlyn; father received a grunt and a nod. He left the familiar strangers behind to go home with his love and his friend.

---------------------------

"So, what is it like to have a father?" Liara asked.

Beams of light surrounded the ground crew as the decon scan ran. Shepard stayed back from her normal place at the front of the group and had opted to sandwich Kaidan between Liara and herself. He felt surrounded, though it wasn't an unwelcome or obtrusive feeling.

"I don't know," he replied, staring at the floor.

Shepard leaned against his shoulder and closed her eyes. Her armored fingers wove their way between his.

"But, I just met him today," Liara said, "so I do not understand what you mean."

"He was absent most of the time," Kaidan murmured, "I never got to know him; whenever we speak, it's like talking to a stranger."

"Oh!" the asari gasped, "I am sorry. I didn't mean to bring up something uncomfortable."

"It's fine," he replied, "you didn't know. I'll tell you something, though. Friends are ten times better than family."

Kaidan wrapped his arm around Liara's shoulder and gave her a small hug. Though she was much older than him, he felt protective of her; it was the same way he'd felt about Ash. He sighed as he thought about the fallen soldier. Kaidan felt strung out from the day's events.

Shepard leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, bringing a smile to his face. How did she know the right moment to do what she did?

The decon finished and the doors opened; it was time to put the command face on. The shore party disarmed and dispersed. Shepard packed her toys away and gave the new course to navigation. Soon, the Normandy slipped off into the inky blackness of space.

And with every light year the ship took Kaidan from his family, the less troubled he became. An hour passed before he received a page from Shepard in her quarters. The Lieutenant approached the door, wondering what shenanigans she'd be up to this time.

"Oh my God, you've got to help me!" came out of the door as soon as it shot open.

Shepard sat at her console, her hands in her hair. She wore fatigues and, much to Kaidan's dismay, the shopping bag from earlier had disappeared entirely.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"The Ontarom report was due, like, yesterday," Shepard replied, her eyes wide, "and I am so shitty at writing. I've reread it and re-reread it and it still looks like a child wrote it."

Kaidan closed his eyes and chuckled. Ever since he'd been stationed on the Normandy, he'd proofread and corrected Shepard's reports.

"Let me take a look at it," he smiled.

The Lieutenant took her seat at the console and quickly shuffled through the report while she squatted next to him and leaned on his arm. He sighed and put his face in his hands. It was the worst report he'd seen yet.

"It's awful, isn't it?" Shepard whined, "I'm such an awful writer and I'm so sorry that I keep doing this but you're so smart and I'm not and you went to school and I didn't and –"

Kaidan reached up, gently cupped her chin and leaned in for a quick kiss.

"You're plenty smart, Shepard," Kaidan murmured, "being a bad writer doesn't make you stupid."

She sighed and leaned over to hug him tightly.

"It's just that you went to medical school and I'm a dropout," Shepard mumbled, "I feel stupid next to you."

"And you're much more of a tactician and marksman than I could ever hope to be," he replied, "We all have our strengths."

They exchanged a small smile and kissed again as Kaidan began to work on the report. After a moment, Shepard's hand wound its way down his chest to fondle him through his pants. A sharp hiss left his mouth as he felt himself quickly respond to her advances.

"When you finish, the reward could be very worth your while," she purred, nibbling on his ear.

"Color me intrigued," Kaidan replied.

He accepted her challenge. He tirelessly worked on correcting the report and lost track of time. When he finished, he glanced at the clock. It was very late.

Kaidan's eyes darted over to the Commander's bed where she had fallen asleep long ago. A little pout spread across her face; Simon lay clutched to her chest like a stuffed animal. He didn't want to wake her and found himself to be exhausted as well.

The moment had passed, but Kaidan would remember Shepard's promise.