Second Chances(A Mass Effect Fan fiction)

A Fresh Start

Two weeks have gone by since Shelby first arrived on the Citadel. She had a rough first night, but the next day seemed to fix everything. With Kaidan's help, she felt better and Kaidan's "two nights to make sure Shelby got settled" had turned into an unofficial permanent thing. Kaidan seemed to help Shelby sleep just by being in her apartment with her. Lucky for them, Shelby didn't have a roommate from her classes, so there wasn't an issue for Kaidan to stay the night in the other bedroom.

Shelby's nightmares were gradually going to the occasional side now, going from nightly to about weekly and rarely anymore did she wake up screaming in the middle of the night because of one. Having Kaidan around her so often seemed to be able to fix everything. He would always be there to pick her up, dust her off, and help her feel better again.

Kaidan had gone into Shelby's room this morning to make sure she was awake to get ready for her classes today, but Shelby was proving difficult.

"Come on, Shelby. You'll be late if you don't get up." Kaidan warned as he tugged on the blanket Shelby had a death grip on.

Shelby let out a long groan and peeled herself up off of the pillows, wordlessly staring at Kaidan.

"C'mon. It's your first day of JOOTA, you don't want to be late on the first day." Kaidan tried to encourage her

Shelby just kept staring at him.

"If you get up and get ready, I'll go out and bring you breakfast." He bribed.

Shelby stayed where she was for a moment before slowly climbing out of bed and walking into the bathroom and closing the door.

Kaidan couldn't help the amused snort that escaped. "I'll be back in a few." He said loud enough for Shelby to hear through the door before leaving to go find food.

****

Once Shelby was done in the bathroom, she wrapped her hair in a towel and walked over to her dresser and got out a simple, black, racer back cami and her new zip-up Alliance hoodie, compliments of Anderson, and put it on over her cami. She pulled on a pair of jeans and put on a pair of slip-on cowgirl boots. As soon as Shelby finished getting her boots on, there was a knock at the front door. She walked over to the door as she finished putting her hair in a pony tail and she opened the door with her other hair tie in her mouth. Kaidan walked in and handed Shelby a cup and a small bag as she racked her pony tail into a messy bun with her fingers.

Shelby looked between the cup and bag with the hair tie still clenched between her teeth and asked, "Waz thad?" Kaidan couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Take the hair tie out of your mouth, and you'll find out." He smiled out.

Shelby wrapped the fabric covered rubber band around her bun to hold it in place and took the cup and bag from Kaidan.

"I know you're not a big fan of coffee, so..."

"So you got me coffee?" Shelby chuckled.

"Not quite. Just drink it." Kaidan said and smiled.

Shelby took a drink and was clearly pleasantly surprised. She smiled at Kaidan and gave him a big smile.

"Thank you Kaidan. How did you manage to get peppermint hot chocolate?"

Kaidan in proudly smiled at Shelby. "I have my ways."

Kaidan walked over to Shelby's side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Ready to go, Shel?"

Shelby looked to him with pleasant surprise. "That one. That's the keeper."

"Shel, it is." Kaidan agreed. "Ready to go, Shel?"

Shelby smiled at her new nickname and nodded at Kaidan. "Yeah. Let's go."