a fic commissioned by the lovely @elveny featuring the lovely Adriene Shepard and Kaidan, post ME3. The two of them enjoying their first Christmas after retiring. Rated M for soft smut
Kaidan and Adriene bought the old cabin up near Lake Louise in Alberta. When they first purchased it from the elderly couple, they were warned they’d be off-grid if not for the nearby town with the appropriate tech for emergency calls and vids. It didn’t bother either of them. They loved the stars they used to call their home as they sailed on the Normandy, but they never saw the universes on earth, their home. Even staying in Canada, they saw several new universes a day.
The cabin was meant to be a small autumnal getaway, but October became November and then December. Snow dusted the mountains like powdered sugar, and Lake Louise turned into frozen blue and white marble. “Hey,” Kaidan said that day it snowed in December, holding her in his arms. “It’s Christmastime.” It was their first since coming home. To celebrate, they decided to decorate. Up in the attic the previous couple left their old felt cardinals, red and silver bulbs and other decorations. They decorated their tree together little by little and bit by bit all through December. By Christmas Eve there were three snowmen outside, a plethora of snow angels underneath fallen snow, a brass star on top of the tree, and two presents for each of them underneath.
On that Christmas Eve, after spending the afternoon on the frozen lake overlooking the mountains, they made a fire inside. Kaidan cooked a hearty stew while Adriene made sweet hot chocolate with cinnamon. Their home smelled like sweet chocolate with herbs and musky wood. They ate and then had their hot chocolate, whipped cream getting on Kaidan’s nose and resembling a white mustache. “There’s whipped cream on your nose,” Adriene said. “Let me get that for you.” He knew what she was doing. The truth was she wasn’t that slick, at least not to him, and he laughed as she gave him a bigger mustache on his upper lip before he brought her in his arms to kiss her. His kiss tasted like sweet cream and musk and Kaidan. One thing lead to another like one thing always lead to another. Like usual, they didn’t make it to the bed.