She stumbled into her room, the doors seemingly perfect whoosh contrasting heavily with her haggard movements. The hair that had managed to escape her usually perfect ponytail had plastered to her face with sweat. Her armor had some new and impressive gashes in it and was caked in the blood of she didn't know what.
Commander Shepard clawed at the clasps that kept the torso of her armor together, nearly tripping over a box of data pads that she'd no doubt have to look through later. She staggered down the steps leading to her bed, her hand finally finding that damn clasp when something flashed in her peripheral.
Shepard whipped around violently to investigate. She was not happy with what she found. "What the fuck are you doing here?" she snarled.
Ashley Williams grinned back with her usual smarm, sipping some of Shepard's very precious wine on the couch. "Just checking in. We haven't talked in a while. How are things?" She stirred the wine in her hand with practiced ease.
Shepard's alert and wild eyes examined her. Still the same hairstyle, same scuffed armor as last time, same-
"Christ, Skipper, you look like a deer in headlights. Wait! Don't tell me, you…. oh, God, did you kiss a turian?" Ashley asked, leaning forward with excited eyes. If Shepard wasn't so pissed off she would have laughed. Instead, her eyes zeroed in on the wine.
"Stop drinking that. That shit's expensive."
Ashley scoffed, took a very Williams-like gulp of the drink, and placed it not so delicately on the table. "Is this about Horizon?"
"Don't fucking talk about Horizon."
Ashley blinked but then narrowed her eyes. "Shepard," she said, her voice lowering into her 'we're going to talk' voice. The commander stared back.
"An entire system, Ashley. How the hell does someone justify killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people?" the older warrior asked, wearily sinking into the seat across from her former teammate.
Ashley pursed her lips. "Not easily, that's for sure. The Alliance will sooner believe in unicorns than your story." Shepard gave a humorless bark of a laugh. Leave it to Williams not to sugarcoat things.
"Y'know, I'm pretty sure he could help," the younger woman said, picking back up her wine glass and pouring herself a not so generous amount. Shepard scowled.
"Who?" she asked, leaning foreword and cleaning swiping the glass from the other woman.
"You know who," Ashley shrugged, watching as Shepard took a long sip from the wine.
"No. Hell no."
"Why not?" Ashley whined. "He's reasonable, smart, knows government. Plus he's-"
"No," Shepard snarled in a way that signaled the conversation was over.
Not for Ashley, apparently. "You're going to have to talk to him sometime. No point in waiting," she said, her eyes flickering to the left, where a framed picture of Kaidan sat. Shepard followed her gaze, narrowing her eyes at it before looking back, only to find an empty couch.
"Damn it, Ash. Why are you always right?" the weary commander muttered into her wine glass, feeling alone in the empty cabin.