Title: Where the Heart Is
Fandom: Mass Effect
Rating: PG
Length: 289
Pairings, Characters:: Kaidan Alenko/male Shepard, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy
Content notes: Takes place after the Priority: Rannoch mission in Mass Effect 3, and 8 months after the end of the Reaper War (Mass Effect 3, destroy ending)
Author notes: The first part takes place just after the battle of Rannoch. The second part is in Vancouver, 8 months after the end of the Reaper War. It is Shepard's voice.
Summary: Happiness has a price, but today I will simply enjoy it.

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It just looks like dirt to me.

But to Tali, the sandy grains of Rannoch caked on her boots have a much more visceral meaning. "Can you believe this, Shepard? My suit is covered with the wind-blown soil of my home. Even saying that word - home - feels like some kind of dream. I never really thought I'd live to see it."

I smile at her, imagining her returning the smile behind her mask. It's been a rare day of victories. Ending the tense standoff between Geth and Quarians with a truce that holds promise of becoming a true alliance between them makes me happy on a level beyond the obvious strategic advantage to the war effort.

Seeing Tali standing on her homeworld for the first time, taking in the landscape, witnessing a sunset, unmasked... it makes me think about the meaning of home.

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It's just coarse wet sand.

But as we walk barefoot along the shoreline, Kaidan takes my hand and steps into the shallows. The grit caked between my toes swirls away on the incoming tide lapping at our feet. The water is cold but Kaidan's body is warm when he pulls me close.

His smile is the one I remember seeing when we shared a meal on the Citadel and he reminisced about English Bay. He was right - it's beautiful. And it will always be home to him.

I've never lived on Earth, but I fought to the death to save it. Maybe it was abstract at first – a homeworld – but now it's personal. After all that's happened since Kaidan's memories were made, we stand here ankle deep in the tide, together, sharing a kiss.

And I know the meaning of home.

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