Chapter 32

Smoothing her dark hair down one more time, Rose finally stepped out from behind the bathroom door. She wore a summery, pastel dress that fell just over her thighs. Callie and Lucas had given it to her for her birthday. It was an unexpected gift, but they demanded she wear it out for dinner that night. It felt strange. It was a pretty dress, but it was nothing like the outfits seen on the Citadel.

Two hands slipped around her waist, and a chin propped itself on her shoulder. "You look beautiful." Rose smiled at the sensation of the scruff on his cheeks, and the scent of his aftershave.

"It's different." She admitted, leaning her face into his.

"Different's good." He lazily blinked at her, his smile contagious.

"What?" Rose said with a laugh, linking her arms around his waist. She leaned back, looking up at him curiously.

"Nothing." He said, biting his lip. "Okay..." He said, giving in quickly to Rose's pout. "It's just your presents."

"Presents?!" Rose emphasized the plural. "Kaidan!"

"Like I wasn't going to spoil you. It's the first time we can actually celebrate. Not slipping a card between datapads and sex for gifts."

"Hey, I liked those birthdays..." Rose looked down, her eyes a little sad.

"Shit." Kaidan turned her around, so her face was finally to his. "So did I. But things can be different now right? It's new, it's exciting."

"I know." She quickly kissed his forehead. "We should probably get going." Kaidan nodded in agreement. They closed their bedroom door with a click, and clumsily made their way down into the living room. The couple was greeted with smiles at the foot of the stairs.

"You look great!" Callie said in excitement, running over to them. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, but I'm just gonna grab my presents for Rose." Kaidan flashed her a cheeky smile. "I'll meet you guys in the car." He moved to go to the basement. His head poked out of the door frame at the last minute, raising his eyebrows before zipping away.

"He's so weird." Rose laughed, as she grabbed her jacket. Again that was bought for her by Kaidan's parents. She didn't have a lot to bring with her from the Normandy - so they had picked up some items for her. Callie kept on promising a 'girl's day out' soon though so Rose could pick out what she wanted. The idea of that made her stomach hurt.

Rose wandered out the front door, following Callie to the truck. Opening the back door, she slide in - making sure to keep her dress down. She wasn't very good at the 'being a lady thing'. Escaping burning makos and sniping someone from 2 kilometres away? Sure, no problem. Sit properly in a skirt and not gorge yourself at dinner? No way.

The sound of truck door opening and closing caused Rose to look over. Kaidan was now sitting next to her, his knees pushed a little awkwardly into the back of the driver's seat. He flashed her a childish smile as he shook a present box in front of her.

Chocolate melted over Rose's tongue as she had another spoonful of her dessert. "This is so good." Callie had ordered it for her when she was "going to the restroom". It came out with a little white candle and everything. Much to her surprise, Rose loved it.

"Let's just open presents now!" Kaidan had been egging Rose to open her presents all night.

"Kaidan, let her finish her dessert first." Callie rolled her eyes at him, giving her a smile.

Kaidan's eyes were wide as he watched Rose get the last bit of chocolate on her spoon. Teasing him, Rose put raised the spoon to her mouth extra slow. He gave her a pout, lowering his bottom lip.

She swallowed quickly. "Ok, ok! I'm done. We can do presents now."

Kaidan smiled at his small victory, and handed over the box, wrapped in blue paper with white ribbons trailing down the sides. His smile was contagious as she began to carefully open it.

The box was filled with tissue paper, she began moving it to the side. There was card sitting in the middle. She raised her eyebrow at Kaidan, as she began to open the envelope. But she stopped herself, and he let out an exasperated sigh.

"Do you guys know what it is?" Rose asked, looking to his parents.

Lucas gave her a smile. "No idea. Just as curious as you are."

"Please open it. This is killing me!" Kaidan pleaded.

Rose giggled at him, finally taking the card out of the envelope. The front was decorated with a sketched house. It was a pale blue, with dark green trees surrounding it. An ocean sat in the distance. It was a pretty picture. The inside was plain white, except for Kaidan's wavy handwriting.

"Maybe, we'll stay there. Live in Vancouver with your family, buy a house just for us."

We made it baby. Happy Birthday x

She felt tears gather in her eyes as she remembered drunkingly saying that to Kaidan on the night of the celebration. They had been looking out into space, looking at the Earth. She couldn't believe he remembered it.

She looked up at Kaidan, pursing her lips as she tried to keep her tears back.

"There's more." He whispered, pointing to the box.

Moving more tissue paper, she found a silver key sitting at the bottom. Lifting it out of the box, she heard Callie gasp. But Rose was confused.

Kaidan chuckled. "I guess you're too used to automated doors and swipe cards from ships. That's a house key. On old house key, but it still works." He smiled when she still didn't get it. "Rose, I bought us a house."

"Really?" She breathed. Her heart started pounding in her chest.

"Really. I passed by it on my way to the store a couple weeks ago and I just... couldn't get it out of my head."

Hot tears started running down Rose's cheeks. Scraping her chair, she moved to the other side of the table to kiss Kaidan. "So we are going to stay here? No more Citadel? No more ships?"

"No more Citadel. No more ships." Kaidan smiled, kissing her once more.