The Renegade Adored

Kaidan: Blue eyes met brown, and the world stopped. (Something heard once, a long time ago.)

"Oh! Dammit! Whoah!"
The telltale rattle of a government issue chair toppling over made Kaidan rush in to the mess, just in time to catch a new crewmember before she hit the floor. "You okay?" He looked down at the woman in his arms, and everything in his world changed.
She was pale, paler than any human he'd ever seen before. Her skin was the color of those luscious flowers that grew all over the Louisiana Territory. Her eyes were the blue of an Arctic glacier, over a pert little nose and beautiful cheekbones. She looked as though her hair should have been black, but instead, it was an amazing silvery-blonde like nothing he had never seen before. Her lips were red, and from an angry frown they curved into a little smile.
"Thank you!" she said uncertainly, and he helped her stand up. She was watching his eyes, and he felt like he was drowning in them.
Kaidan swallowed, trying to remember what the world was like before he had laid eyes on her. "Sure, anytime... what were you doing anyway?" As he asked, he noticed that she was barely regulation height. He glanced over at the shelves and saw that the peanut butter was on the top shelf as usual. He blinked, stood still for a moment.
"Some jerk put the peanut butter on the top! I'm starving, I've spent all day in stupid allocation and resource meetings. I need a snack."
"You're... you're a biotic?"
She nodded, looked at him warily.
Kaidan just stared at her for a second. "I'm sorry, I've never worked on a crew with another biotic before." His brain finally kicked in, and he held out his hand. "Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, Sentinel."
She giggled, something he really hadn't expected. "I'm sorry, it's just...." She ignored his outstreched hand, pulled away and assumed a formal military posture. "Commander Hayden Shepard, Vanguard." She gazed curiously at him, waiting for his reaction with a knowing little smirk on her face.
"I... I thought you would be bigger...." Inwardly, Kaidan groaned at how stupid he sounded. "I apologize. It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am." He held out his hand again.
Her gorgeous blue eyes widened for a second. "I... uh...okay...." She shook his hand finally. Her hands were soft and warm, and ridiculously small for her reputation. "The pleasure is mine, Lieutenant. I admit, I was expecting you to react a little differently, considering."
"I'm honored to work with someone who has such an impressive service history, Commander. I don't think I would ever have the strength to make the kind of choices you have."
She stared at him for a moment, unsure if he was really sincere, but unable to doubt the truth in his voice. "Well... than-" she put a hand up to her head and swayed. "Oooh...."
"Oh! Right, food... here," he pulled a chair up for her. "Sit down, I'll make you a sandwich. Would you like some juice or something?"
She nodded, settled herself into the chair. "Apple, if they have any. I knew I should have just smuggled in some extra rations."
Kaidan set a glass of apple juice on the table for her. "Here, take this before your blood sugar drops any lower." He got down the jar of peanut butter, and starting making the traditional biotic midnight snack. "I always wonder, how long did it take the Alliance brass to figure out an easy way to deploy a compact, easily digestible, high-calorie, high-protein food for biotics?"
She laughed, a silvery little laugh that sent thrills down his spine. "I'm sure they sat around discussing it for months, ending every sentence with 'you know, like peanut butter!'"
Kaidan chuckled, and set a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the table in front of her. "You did want jelly, right?"
"Yes, thank you!"
He watched her take a bite of her sandwich, and when he was satisfied that she wasn't going to pass out, he started making one for himself. He set his own plate on the table, and poured himself a glass of orange juice. He looked over again, and was surprised to see that she was watching him while she ate.
"I'm sorry for staring," she explained, "I really expected you to run away by now once the field medic stuff was over."
"Why?" His confusion was genuine, and he sat down at the table.
She set down her sandwich, having taken the edge off her blood sugar spike. "You do realize, I'm the Shepard from Torfan, right? I just don't want you to puke up your food or something after you realize you've been sitting at the same table as the Butcher of Torfan."
"Has that actually happened to you?" he asked curiously. With a quiet courtesy that was almost defiant, he took a bite of his sandwich and had a sip of his drink.
"Yes."
"That seems like a very immature reaction, Commander."
She shrugged, took another experimental bite of her sandwich and pretended not to watch him from beneath her long, darkened lashes.
"I'm too old, and more importantly, too hungry right now - to do anything so asinine. Sorry if you're disappointed," he said with a smile.
She looked down at her plate for a moment. "I... um..." She bit her lower lip in a quick nervous reaction. "I'm more surprised than anything. And... um... I'm very pleased to have someone like you on board, Lieutenant." She stood up swiftly, and carried her empty plate and glass to the mess waste reclaimer. "Thank you... for the sandwich. I appreciate it." Without another word, she turned and left the mess.
Kaidan exhaled, realized that he had been unconsciously holding his breath. What an amazing woman, he thought to himself. So powerful, and yet so vulnerable. And so insanely beautiful. She was the most amazingly exotic woman he had ever seen after a lifetime of being surrounded by strong, dark women.
Kaidan Alenko didn't really believe in love at first sight, or at least he hadn't. But he'd never imagined meeting someone like Hayden Shepard. He still wasn't sure she really existed. Could that petite, frail frame really be the hardened soldier who had sent her men to their deaths? Could those tiny hands really be the ones that had collapsed caves on top of living men, turning underground bunkers into mass graves? Was that shy little voice the same one that had refused to accept the surrender of beaten pirates and slavers, and had instead condemned them to slow, lingering deaths? And more than that, he couldn't believe that he knew all that about her, and yet he still knew she was most beautiful, fascinating woman that he had ever met.