#normandy sr-2

[shadesofmauve]

Alliance Normandy SR2 redesign: Deck 3

The crew deck sits in the middle of the ship, where the hull is widest. This is where design for a larger crew really comes into play.

Sleeping and other bodily functions

The main bathrooms are roughly the same shape and location as in-game, but people walking by no longer have a great view of the showers every time the doors open.

Enlisted racks

24 enlisted racks line the corridor to the main battery, housing the bulk of the rank-and-file. Bunks are stacked two high, with uniform lockers to one side and coffin-lockers under the mattress.Footholds in between sets of bunks let you can reach the top without stepping on the one below.

Junior officers' quarters

I assume a spaceship needs more technical expertise and less grunt work, so the crew is weighted towards officers and highly-trained technical specialists. These specialists fill non-command roles and bunk with the junior officers. Joker (flight lieutenant) and Traynor (comms specialist) berth here. So does Kaidan, because at the point he came aboard the guest stateroom was occupied by Khalisah Al-Jilani, and bunking with marines would muddy command waters because he seriously outranks Vega.

Bunks are two-high with coffin lockers just like the enlisted racks, but officers rate four inches more elbow room and two inches more to stretch out their toesies. They also get a bit more privacy, a little more storage, and access to the lounge overlooking the eezo core*.

*I gave them a lounge because in ME3 you occasionally find officers chatting at a table in the middle of the bunk room, and if anyone did that while I was trying to sleep three feet away I'd commit murder.

Senior officers' country

Miranda's old quarters, which Liara claims in ME3, are large enough to house the entire senior staff in staterooms, with one extra for guests and a shared head. Each room has one permanent bunk (two inches wider and four longer than junior officers; swank) and one fold-out upper-bunk in case of extra passengers.

In Sunset and Evening Star the first thing Shepard does on the Citadel is sign on a first officer**, old navy hand Lieutenant Commander Nguyen. The first thing Nguyen does is fill the missing weapons and ops roles (she heads the navigation department herself, since it's a small ship).

With Shepard in the admiral's quarters on deck 1, First Officer Nguyen gets what would have been the captain's cabin on the crew deck (except while Primarch Victus and his aide were aboard; when she gave up her quarters to the turians). Mukerjee, the head of ops, gets the slightly-larger-than-standard cabin intended for the XO.

Garrus has the 'extra' stateroom, as their liaison with the turians. He keeps the desk folded for space and sleeps crouched in one corner; the bunk is useless to him.

**Shepard delegated something! It's a Mass Effect miracle!

Vital ship functions

Main battery

The main battery looks exactly the same, except Garrus isn't sleeping in the corner or constantly fiddling with the guns. In fact, he's never fiddling with the guns. He and Silva were spending hours re-calibrating the thanix cannon to their own preferences whenever the other person's back was turned, and Nguyen stepped in and banned Garrus from the armory before it moved from passive aggression to murderous-interspecies-diplomatic-catastrophe.

AI core

Access to the AI core is from the battery corridor, not through the medical bay.

Medical bay

The medbay is divided into a front office, the main med bay, and an area for major surgery or isolation. There's also a small private cabin for the two members of the medic corps who assist Chakwas.

Life support

The life support corridor has another four enlisted racks, bringing the total enlisted berths on the crew deck to thirty. Life support itself is basically unchanged, except for some added Important Keep People Alive machines. Like engineering, life support systems are also spread throughout the ship.

Food & leisure

Mess & galley

The mess seats 32. It's also all-watch meetings are held, and occasionally movie screenings. Crew can grab shelf-stable snacks, cereal, or recent leftovers from self-serve areas outside the galley, or collect the meal currently on offer at the counter.

The galley feeds three shifts three times a day each, and one watch's breakfast comes immediately before the previous watch's dinner. About a week out, stores of fresh produce are gone, so a lot of food is frozen, freeze dried, or reconstituted. There's always something to eat; one of the two big pots is almost always full of soup, if not both Bread is made from scratch (flour keeps indefinitely, bread doesn't), and there's a flat-top as well as a six-burner range. The food storage in the galley and nearby walk-in are only what the cooks expect to need for the next two days or so; food actually makes up most of the Normandy's cargo, stored on deck 4.

Observation lounges

The observation lounges, important for crew morale and sanity on longer missions, are differentiated by volume. Starboard is generally used for quieter conversation, reading, solo gaming, or study. The Port lounge is for parties and games. (There is no free wet bar, this is a military ship).

Normandy redesign posts

Intro

Loft

Command

Crew

Engineering

Hangar

[lelibug]

Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Mass Effect 2 - Engineer Anasar'iia - Re...Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Mass Effect 2 - Engineer Anasar'iia - Recruiting Tali p.2 (v.2)

It's a bloody warzone by the time Shep, Miranda & Jack touch down on the burning planet. Bodies are littered everywhere they go, heavy casualties taken on both sides. There's a horde of Geth to fight through, too... So, after they're done, there's even more.

Everywhere they go, Quarian casualties are strewn, left where they lay, no survivors to be seen at all.

And in the end .... Tali is the only one left.

...The only one out of her entire team to make it out alive.

The sole survivor of the massacre that the research expedition they were all sent out to make turned into.

The Quarian’s had enough, and immediately joins Shepard this time - that the Admiralty could effectively go to the dogs... If they cared about it at all.

When she goes to leave, though... Kal'Reegar appears, walking into her little hidey-hole cave, much to her relief. She lets him know she's going with Shep and hands over everything she learned about this mission to him, to hand over to the Admiralty Board in her stead.

Once aboard the Normandy, Tali may have been even more incensed when learning Shep actually wasn't undercover with Cerberus, but is actually "with" them. But her trust and love for her close friend is absolute, so she takes it out on Jacob instead, then heads off to see what they've "done" to The Normandy [during the ship's "upgrade"] in her absence.

**[in this Version, Kal'Reegar Survives]**

Gaming Video recorded in #2k on Gaming Chillblast Defiant 16 Laptop: [12th Gen 14 Core] i7-1200H, 16GB RAM DDR6, RTX3060 6GB, 16" 2K & 165Hz Screen, 512GB M2 PCIe [SSD], Windows 11

[Recorded with HDR on in the Game Settings]

#masseffect2 #masseffectlegendaryedition #masseffect #commandershepard #femshep #haelstrom #reegar #kalreegar #kalreegarlives #walkthrough #tali #talizorah #talirecruited #quarians #dossiertali #battle #geth #pcgaming #pcgamer #gamergirl #gamer #gamingvideo #walkthrough #2kvideo #2k #2kgameplay #hdr

[sombredelanuit]

This feels like home.

[princeofmadnessuk]

Tried to recreate the normandy in starfield

[rubyhellneon]

video game scenery: [40/∞] ↳ normandy sr-2 ◁ mass effect: legendary edition «Normandy» undergoes a further retrofit in 2186; although the retrofits are not completed in time before the Reaper invasion, she is repainted in the Alliance Navy colors of blue and white after reentering the hands of the Systems Alliance on Earth. «Normandy» is the Alliance's "tip of the spear" that punches well above her class, and continues to be touted as the fastest, the stealthiest, most advanced, and most iconic vessel of the Alliance fleet.

[n7valkyrien]

in the ending, joker initially refuses to escape the crucible wave until a squadmate firmly tells him to go. i realised it’s such a great contrast with ME2’s prologue.

he refused to abandon his ship, the Normandy SR-1, during the collector attack. he loved his ship so much that he was in denial it’s already gone. shepard had to run up to the helm and convince him to leave. but because of this, shepard themselves did not make it to the escape pod and died.

joker thinks he’s responsible for shepard’s death because he insisted to save the ship — if he had came into terms earlier that the ship was already lost, would things be different? would shepard made it to the escape pod too?

imagine the guilt he must have after the SR-1 was destroyed and shepard was dead. and now the thought of leaving without shepard reminds him of the guilt. what he wanted the most at that moment the crucible fired is to save shepard, more than the SR-2 until a squadmate and traynor tell him to go.

he then reluctantly accepts. but the devastated look on his face as he’s piloting the SR-2 away — it’s a nice little contrast with the SR-1 during the collector attack, that he prioritised saving shepard this time instead of the SR-2. it shows how much his bond with shepard has grown, more so than his attachment to the ship.

and now he has to endure the same guilt again not being able to save shepard (though no matter what, he can’t save them unless it’s the perfect destroy ending. this is why the happy ending mod is canon now. no that’s not an opinion it’s a fact.)

[laelior]

The Normandy SR-2 is a trap.

That much is obvious to Shepard from the beginning. For all Lawson and Taylor talk up saving human colonies, it’s a hostage situation that she has little choice but to play her part in. The ship, the crew–Joker and Chakwas and Garrus and Tali–they’re the obvious carrot to keep her cooperative like the good warhorse she is. An organization capable of feeding fifty-one unsuspecting marines to a Thresher Maw doesn’t simply do nice things out of the goodness of its heart, after all.

The stick is far more subtle.

The picture on the desk is the first one. It’s meant to be seen, with the way it lights up whenever she draws near. The message behind it is equally easy to read. That there’s a picture of Kaidan on her desk, a picture that clearly hadn’t come from his service record or a public source, speaks volumes about Cerberus’ capacity for kompromat. 

It takes her longer to notice the medals in the display case just next to the picture. Each one awarded after a particularly heroic moment in her career that was one more reason to lie awake at night and recount the names of those who only got those shiny pieces of ribbon and metal in a shadow box delivered to their next of kin. Her eyes are so used to skipping over them that she doesn’t notice the extra medal at first.

All the medals in the case are new, just printed copies of the ones that had long since burned up over Alchera. Except the one that isn’t. It’s old, the stained blue ribbon beginning to fade and fray while the silver veneer flakes off of the cheaper dull gray metal underneath. But the name stamped across the bottom under the embossed cross-hair shape is still perfectly legible.

M. Shepard.

She knows that medal like the back of her own hand, the places where the finish is worn off from her rubbing her thumb over it and the feel of those embossed letters under her finger. Knows the way it felt every time she’d tucked it into her armor for over a decade. Knows it like the memory of her own mother’s face on the day she’d given it to her on her sixteenth birthday.

It was Nana Peggy’s good luck charm. She won it in a longshot competition back in ‘35.  She gave it to me, and now it’s your turn to have it.

Good luck charm, her ass.

It would be nice to think they’d tucked this memento into her cabin as a personal touch. It could even be Lawson’s official story, if she bothered to ask her.

But only an idiot believes the official story.

And Helen Shepard didn’t raise an idiot.

[margoteve]

Making a drink but we don't know what the other people put in there Normandy SR 2 Style.

Miranda: Miranda Lawson. we all have learned that i don't trust them, so i am putting in some lemonade.

Tali: Tali here! i am gonna put in Poppi because I feel like Shepard is going to put in a lot of liquor. Trying to play it safe

Garrus: Garrus Vakarian. i am putting in lemonade because Shepard just got dumped and I can tell they will try to go hard tonight, so....

Mordin: Mordin Solus. Sprite. Team consisting of hardened military and criminal element. Lots of liquor suspected. Trying to protect liver.

Jacob: I'm Jacob. i am putting in OJ, because I am kinda scared of Shepard

Shepard: Hi, this is Shepard. it's been some long ass week, so I'm putting in some Everclear *sniffs the bottle amd recoils* *starts pouring* *assesses and pours in way more*

Jack: *flips off camera* *adds liquor*

Zaeed: *adds more liquor*

Kasumi: *trying to shake the container but some spills* what the fu-

Cut to entire squad taking a shot. Cue sputtering and shouts of "Jesus Christ!" and "Holy Everclear!!". Shepard with mild grimace pouring themselves, Zaeed and Jack another shot.

[swaps55]

Mezzo - 11 - Gravity

Pairing: mshenko | Rating: M

Tags: Canon-typical violence, trauma, dealing with your problems poorly, body autonomy struggles  

Summary: The twists and turns of ME2, through the eyes of everyone but Commander Shepard.

Chapter Summary: The aftermath.  

Chapter 10: Gravity | Read on Ao3

12 December 2185, Shadow Sea, Iera System, Horizon, Kodiak 9755, Normandy SR-2 Approach

The Kodiak lifts off with a jerk that Miranda feels in her gut. Shepard stands rather than sits, gripping a handle hanging from the ceiling tight in his fist, eyes gazing out the shutter as Horizon disappears beneath them.

“Shepard,” she says quietly.

“EDI,” Shepard says into the comm before she can say another word. “I need that ship. Do we know where it was headed?”

“I was unable to extrapolate likely destinations based on relay vector. However, it is likely they are returning through the Omega 4.”

“Can we catch them before they get there?”

“Negative.”

Shepard slams his fist against the bulkhead. It leaves a dent.

“We can use the data from EDI’s scans—” Miranda begins, but Shepard cuts her off.

“What was Project Overlord?”

She stutters. “I—”

“What was Project Overlord?”

“Shepard, I don’t know. But I will find out.”

He holds her gaze before striding out of the hold in favor of the cockpit.

Silence reigns.

“Solus, if you don’t shut down these oscillators I’m going to rip them off,” Jack speaks up eventually.

“Certainly.”

A few keystrokes to his omnitool later, the gravity well shifts, that heavy, cold feeling evaporating. Grunt groans in relief. Miranda stares at her hands.

“You knew Shepard’s former crew was down there,” she says aloud, directing her attention to Vakarian.

“Alenko, yeah,” he admits. “Shepard didn’t say anything about the others. I…don’t think he knew.”

Her fists curl into her lap. The Illusive Man told Shepard, but didn’t tell me. Shepard had told Vakarian but hadn’t seen it necessary to inform his second in command. How can I do my job if I am perpetually left in the dark?

Shepard reappears moments later, eyes on Grunt. “As soon as we dock, take those salvaged weapons to Taylor. I want to know everything about them.”

“The more we know, the better we kill,” Grunt declares, smashing his fist against the arm rest. It buckles.

Shepard paces the compartment with an almost frantic, nervous energy, rattling off his orders like he’s afraid of the space between the words. “Solus, I want a personal debrief on the seeker swarm countermeasure in two hours.”

“Countermeasure effective, but hoping data collected during mission will provide insight for improving efficacy while minimizing side effects.”

“Thank fuck,” Jack says, eyeing Shepard warily. The gravity well ripples as she twirls dark energy in her fingers.

Shepard grits his teeth. “I need to know if we learned anything about their physiology. Technology. Communication. Get whoever you need to go through the data. I want answers.”

“Understood.”

“Lawson, I need a better plan than ‘figure out the Omega 4.’ I need a damned target. I’m not playing cat and mouse with these assholes.”

Read from the beginning | Read the rest on Ao3 | The Mezzo Playlist

[shadesofmauve]

Alliance Normandy SR2 redesign: Deck 1

The Alliance refitted Deck 1 for an Admiral, but they were working from the original Cerberus SR2 layout, which is decadent even for the shiniest of top brass. The Illusive Man is absolutely a believer in the Great Man theory of history, and the belief that a Capital-L Alpha-human Leader both requires and deserves luxury. From his point of view, this is the bare minimum. Why is there a fish tank on the stealth frigate? Because the Illusive Man decreed it thus. Then he went back to snorting space-blow off the ass of an asari hooker.

(During the refit, Anderson performed some interesting conversational and logistical gymnastics to keep the giant bed and the fish tank, without seeming like he was personally invested in a big comfy bed and a fish tank).

General note: I drew bulkheads one foot thick throughout. It matches the game's thick walls, makes the plans legible when zoomed out, and allows plenty of space for wiring, plumbing, life support, etc. The ladders and central elevator access every deck of the ship, and the elevator has doors both fore and aft.

Redesign/refinement

The loft is more refined than redesigned. The head is pushed out to use the empty space around elevator, and I added a tiny private cabin for two admiral's aides. (On Rhi Shepard's Normandy these were never completed, which she is deeply thankful for; fraternization is hard enough as it is).

The hull outline comes in and clips the ladders. This is a limitation of plan-view; that is actually the hull outline at the top of the space, where it's narrowest. The ladders aren't hanging outside the ship, they just have slightly less head-room (still not a problem, even for a turian).

Inside the cabin, the L desk is rotated 90 degrees, because no N7 in the world wants to sit with their back to the door. This also makes it more comfortable to have working meetings with subordinates. The extended wing of the folds and can be stowed out of the way under the rest. Pushing the head out into the corridor also means better visibility and more usable pace here.

To the left of the door, a small stowable table is a space for more casual conversations or private meals. It's also a place for more formal meals; with the L of the desk folded away, the small table can actually extend to seat eight, allowing the admiral to wine-and-dine visiting dignitaries or senior staff.

Rhi Shepard refers aloud to her model ship collection, but in her heart they're toy ships. The lack of fish is absolutely NOT because of her horrible track record with previous fish; it's because using the stealth systems means accumulating a lot of heat, and water is an excellent auxiliary place to store heat. It may not seem like much next to the ship's massive built-in heat-sinks, but every little bit helps, and with an estimated 4' height, that is a 485 gallon fish tank*.

*Thank you Aquarium Volume Calculator, which is also how I learned that aquarium stocking sizes are given in "inches of fish." This tank can hold about 598 inches of fish. A marvel.

The seating area is basically unchanged, except that admirals rate their own coffee maker. I also added a frosted translucent panel dividing the living/entertaining area from the sleeping area, because sometimes you want to entertain guests without feeling that all focus is on the sybaritic splendor of your bed. The panel also displays media (from either direction).

Normandy redesign posts

Intro

Loft

Command

Crew

Engineering

Hangar

[lelibug]

Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Mass Effect 2 - Engineer Anasar'iia - Normandy SR-1 Crash Site

Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Mass Effect 2 - Engineer Anasar'iia - Shep finally gets the guts up to go to the known Crash Site of the Normandy SR-1. She also needs to pick up the Dog Tags known to be missing from roll of those who perished aboard it. The memories are fond and painful, remembering those who made it, but no longer with her, and those who had given their lives for the Alliance after going down with the ship. It's eerie, it's painful, and it's cathartic, knowing now that the gravesite of the SR-1 and those who perished along with her would forevermore be remembered and known for their valiant sacrifice in the War Against The Reapers. 

  #masseffect2 #masseffectlegendaryedition #masseffect #commandershepard #femshep #normandysr-1 #normandycrashsite #alliancedogtags #finddogtags #pcgaming #pcgamer #gamergirl #gamer #gamingvideo #walkthrough #2kvideo #2k #2kgameplay #hdr 

 REF: Mass Effect Legendary Edition 2024 08 02   16 05 35 03

[storybookhawke]

Mass Effect Medbay Set - for The Sims 4!

30 conversions from the medbay from the Normandy SR-2

items shown are not all the items, there’s more

most items have multiple swatches of vibrancy or color

find them by searching “medbay” “me3” or “sbh”

find the 55+ item Citadel Set here!

lmk if there are any problems

[Download Here] - simfileshare

find my other dragon age/mass effect sims conversions here + TOU

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

MEET THE CREW OF THE NORMANDY SR-2 (2185)

Overseen by Admiral Steven Hackett, the undercover operations undertaken by the Normandy crew in 2185 are sponsored by the Alliance Shade program following Sophie Oliveira-Shepard's coup from Cerberus after her resurrection. The mission? Traverse the Terminus Systems. Collect intelligence on the thing that killed her in 2184. Save the galaxy by any means necessary. The only issue? The darker secrets lurking under the surface. Like the machinations and strings being pulled by someone behind the scenes that seem to keep dragging old crew members into new dangers. And the old enemies... wearing familiar faces. MIRA'S MORE CANON MASS EFFECT 2 AKA: The actual, canon crew of the Normandy SR-2. ;) Mass Effect 2: Legendary Edition (2021) Rendered: Blender Eevee

[deadlymaelstrom]

Wedding of Ashley Williams and John Shepard

Time frame: Post-Reaper War era Date: March 4, 2187 Place: Amaterasu Outcome: John Shepard and Ashley Williams are married

Overview

The wedding of John Shepard and Ashley Williams was a high-profile civilian–military ceremony held in 2187 CE, one year after the Citadel Allied victory over the Reapers. It formally united the first and second human Spectres—John Shepard and Ashley Madeline Williams—and symbolically marked the rebirth of post-war galactic society under the newly formed Interstellar Republic.

Although eyewitness accounts differ on exact venue—some placing the service at the Shepard Memorial Plaza on Elysium while others cite the Williams family ranch outside New Amaterasu—the event drew dignitaries from every Citadel species, the entirety of Normandy SR-2’s surviving crew, and representatives of the Systems Alliance High Command.

Background

Post-War Context

By late 2186 CE, Reconstruction Day celebrations had barely subsided when rumors surfaced of Shepard’s engagement to his long-time squadmate and wartime fiancée, Ashley Williams. The couple’s relationship—consummated before the mission to Ilos, strained by Shepard’s death, and rekindled during the Reaper War—had become a symbol of interspecies cooperation and Alliance resilience.

Engagement

Shepard proposed on London’s battered Tower Bridge during a private memorial tour five months after the Crucible fired. Williams accepted, sealing their vow with the Williams family heirloom ruby pendant in lieu of a ring until proper bands could be forged from melted hull fragments of the original SSV Normandy SR-1.

Ceremony

Venues & Security

Primary Venue: A raised dais built atop the newly christened Isle Memorial Chapel, overlooking Elysium’s turquoise seas, ringed by statues of the Normandy crew and guarded by the Alliance Fifth Fleet’s honor guard in dress whites.

Alternate Venue: The Williams ranch gardens on Amaterasu, beneath Japanese cherry blossoms imported by the family generations earlier. A mobile mass effect canopy shielded guests from the planet’s twin suns.

Processional

Music: An orchestral arrangement blending the Alliance Anthem with a hanar choir rendition of the asari Sev’ris Sere hymn—signifying the multicultural unity Shepard had forged.

Attendants:

Lieutenant Greg Adams Diana Allers Commander Armando-Owen Bailey Urdnot Bakara Dr. Ann Bryson Dr. Karin Chakwas Kelly Chambers (under the alias "Felicia Hannigan") Major Coats Dr. Brynn Cole Lieutenant Steve Cortez Gabriella Daniels Kenneth Donnelly Kasumi Goto Urdnot Grunt Fleet Admiral Steven Hackett (Officiated) Major Kirrahe Miranda Lawson Oriana Lawson Dr. Chloe Michel Jack Commander Javik Zaeed Massani Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Rannoch Admiral Shala'Raan vas Rannoch Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Rannoch Samara Kahlee Sanders Dr. Liara T'Soni Jacob Taylor Specialist Samantha Traynor Garrus Vakarian (Best man) Lieutenant James Vega Primarch Adrien Victus Mrs. Williams Abby Williams Lynn Williams Sarah Williams (Maid of honor) Clan Leader Urdnot Wrex

Vows

Fleet Admiral Steven Hackett recited a modified Systems Alliance matrimonial rite followed by personal vows:

Officiant: “Do you, Jonathan Isaac Shepard, take Ashley Madeline Williams to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

Shepard: “I do.”

Officiant: “Do you, Ashley Madeline Williams, take Jonathan Isaac Shepard to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

Ashley: “I do.”

Rings & Kiss

Liara activated the stasis field, revealing matched palladium-titanium bands. After the exchange, Shepard and Williams shared a public kiss amid cheers from crew and colonists.

Reception

Banquet: A fusion cuisine menu: krogan kalros flank, turian nutro-paste vol-au-vents, batarian honey-mead (gift from Grothan Pazness’s reformed coalition), and Ashley’s family recipe of Amaterasu ramen.

First Dance: Took place on a transparent mass-effect dance floor projected above the chapel or ranch pond (venue dependent). Steve Cortez acted as DJ, integrating Shepard’s favorite 20th-century rock ballad with a quarian synth mix curated by Tali.

Notable Moments:

Javik toasted the “primitive soft-skins” in glowing approval—a rare display of humor. James Vega loudly dubbed the bride “Amazon Prime,” prompting groans and applause. Admiral Boris Mikhailovich, now Chief Justice Advocate of the Fleet, completed the binding Alliance rites.

Aftermath

The couple followed up the wedding with a three-week honeymoon on Elysium. Shepard and Ashley later welcomed four children—Kaidan (2187), David (2190), Ethan (2193) and Carolyn Shepard (2196).

[notebooks-and-laptops]

No nuance answers pick and tell me why

[laelior]

It’s dark in her cabin when Shepard jolts awake in a cold sweat, wrenched out of her sleep by the blaring of an alarm klaxon, red lights blazing from the bulkheads. Her heart hammers loudly somewhere up near her throat and her breath comes in quick, short gasps as she breathes in the smoke and fire and suddenly she can’t breathe at all and– 

Slowly her eyes adjust to the dark, allowing her to take in the details around her.

There’s no alarm klaxon. No acrid smells of electrical fires or explosions heaving her to and fro. No red warnings blink threateningly on her HUD. Air flows freely in and out of her lungs and Kaidan’s arms are loosely draped over her waist as he shifts sleepily beside her. The fish tank glimmers with a muted blue light, casting a soft glow across the cabin. And it is completely, utterly silent except for the subtle, dull thrum of the Normandy SR-2’s engines that permeate through the bulkheads.

She inhales deeply through her nose then slowly, deliberately expels the breath through her mouth. 

So. That nightmare again. 

After a few more deep breaths, she carefully disentangles herself from Kaidan’s arms and softly pads her way over to the bathroom. A few splashes of cool water on her face wash away the panicked rhythm of her heart. It takes a few more minutes and several more conscious breathing exercises before she can bring herself to return to her bed and try to squeeze more sleep in.

Kaidan has shifted to lay on his stomach by the time she gets back, splayed out across the bed in a state of total relaxation she hasn’t seen from him in...well, never, really. He’s always carried tension—in his shoulders, in his jaw, in that space between his eyebrows. It’s an artifact of that self-control he values so much. But now, in this moment, it’s gone, melted away somewhere in the depths of his slumber.

Warmth blooms up from deep within her.

She kneels down next to him on the bed, just watching the steady rise and fall of his shoulders as he sleeps, listening to his soft snores. He even drools a little on the pillow where his face pressed up against it. Just a little. 

She leans down and traces a finger along his jaw. He doesn’t even stir. He’s really, truly, dead-to-the-world asleep. She moves her hand up his cheek, feeling the run of his stubble against her palm. He’s always been so clean-shaven before, always smelling faintly of aftershave, but now he just smells of soap and faintly of the oil used to lubricate armor joints, sharp and metallic. 

His hair is soft, a sharp contrast to the prickly veneer of his stubble. He murmurs sleepily when she runs her hands through it. Then something small, a little glint of light, catches her eye, and her hand stills. Little silver flecks of hair near his temples gleam at her. She doesn’t remember that at all. 

It hits her then. Really hits her.

It’s been a year for her, but more than three for him. He is older. 

She knows, in an intellectual sense, that the universe had continued to turn without her. Her stint with Cerberus hadn’t afforded her much time to reflect on it, and she’d studiously avoided thinking about it during her period of house arrest. But now, to be confronted with real, physical evidence of it, written on Kaidan’s face….

It’s easy to think that the universe had simply stopped for two years while she’d been gone. It’s easy to think that time had stopped its normal flow to wait for her, Bethany Shepard, to catch up. It’s stupid and selfish, but easier to fill in the blank space in her timeline with the fiction that everyone around her hadn’t moved on. Easier to avoid thinking about what had happened.

But the universe hadn’t stopped for her, and the proof is written in those little gray hairs she runs between her fingers. It’s etched in the worry lines around his eyes that crease even in his sleepy, relaxed state.

Suddenly, he stirs, stretching his arms out over his head, and rolls back on to his front. The muscles of his chest ripple and stretch just under his skin.

He looks around the cabin, seeming to take in where he is...and who he was with. A warm smile spreads over his face when his eyes settle on her, and suddenly those crows-feet around his eyes are laugh lines, not worry marks. 

“Hey, you,” he says. There’s a soft, dreamy quality to his voice. “Is it morning already?”

She shakes her head. Almost without thinking about it, her hand drifts to touch his cheek. He turns his face toward her hand and brings his own up to lace his fingers through hers. “Middle of the night. Still getting used to the Normandy’s clock?”

“Guess so.” He pulls her hand to his lips, where he lays a soft kiss on the center of her palm. The warmth of his lips sends a thrill down her spine. “What were you doing up?”

“Admiring the view,” she says, giving him a crooked half-smile.

“Mmm. This place has, uh, quite the view.” He chuckles. He’s not talking about the canopy, and they both know it.

“Flirt,” she says softly, eliciting another chuckle from him.

“Guilty as charged.” He stretches again, rolling his shoulders languorously.She lays her other hand on his shoulder, only for him to jerk away sharply. “Cold hand!”

“It’s freezing up here. You’re the nearest source of warmth,” she laughs. Still, she pulls her hands back and rubs them together to warm them up.

“Come here. Let me help you by reaching a state of thermodynamic equilibrium.” He pushes himself up into a sitting position and pulls her in close. So very, very close. Just inches away from her. Her knees graze the tops of his thighs. She drapes her arms around his shoulders, her hands meeting just behind his neck. She leans in, angling her face so her lips just brush his. His scruff lightly tickles her cheek, but then he pauses and pulls back an inch or two like he’s looking past her at something on her desk. “You know, I just realized something,” he murmurs, his voice buzzing in her ears.

“Hmm?” She feigns interest in whatever revelation just hit him while leaning in again, trying to capture his lips with hers. He shifts just enough that she catches his cheek instead, getting a mouthful of his stubble.

“It’s past midnight.”

“Yeah, and?” This time she takes no chances, putting one hand on each of his cheeks to hold him still. All thoughts of trying to get back to sleep have fully flown out of the bulkhead. There’ll be time for sleep when the war is done. But Kaidan, he just smiles and places his hands over her own and looks up at her.

“Happy birthday, Beth,” he says softly, before finally, finally pulling her in for a slow, deep kiss.

It’s some time before she gets back to sleep, but when she does it’s a deep, blissfully dreamless sleep as she’s held safe in Kaidan’s arms.