A missing moment from Mass Effect 3 with two of my favourite characters
When James had first suggested it to her she had been a little unsure – they had not spent that much time together. In fact, none at all without Shepard. But Ashley had agreed heartily with his assessment that she needed to "blow off some steam."
And that was how the unlikely pair had wound up in the starboard lounge drinking. It was the first time Ashley had visited this room on the new Normandy, although she had heard various crew members stumbling out of it in the small hours of the morning from her room across the corridor.
"So what exactly do you guys get up to in here?" Ashley asked as James raided the bar for several bottles. It was surprisingly well stocked – Ashley wondered if Shepard had set funds aside to keep it replenished, or if the crew were footing the bill themselves.
"Well, we could break the ice with a bit of strip poker," James suggested.
"We'll maybe just stick with the drink, Rookie," Ashley replied. She gratefully accepted a glass from him, and they stood awkwardly for a while and sipped at their drinks.
Ashley took the chance to take a glance at the younger man. Standard marines tended to be in good shape, but James had taken it to a completely new level. The regulation shirt he was wearing was so tight it would probably only take one deep breath to rip it completely off of him, not that any of the female members of the crew were complaining. The only shame was that he spent so much of his time in the cargo hold with Corteaz, who had once told her all James ever did down there was work out all day. Although, if the rumours were to be believed, then James would occasionally take a break with the Commander and take the chance to beat seven colours of shit out of each other under the pretence "sparring."
"So you spend a lot of time in here?" Ashley asked him, breaking the silence.
"You bet," James replied. "Me and Garrus were enjoying a few in here the other night, er, I think. Hard to know when exactly night is." He looked out of the observation window at the blackness of space. Ashley had to admit it was a hell of a view. Even so, having nothing to look at all day except the same stars could take its toll.
"Not much of a drinker myself," Ashley admitted.
"What, is it against regs?" James asked with a smirk.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me, Teach," James replied. "You've always been totally hung up on regs, Miss Boring-no-fun."
"Hey, I can let my hair down with the rest of them!" Ashley said defensively, which caused James to chuckle. "Maybe I just have fun in moderation."
"Ha, moderation – I remember that. And fun, too, I remember that. Mostly my drinking isn't for pleasure, though, these days," he added wistfully. "Conversations getting a bit heavy now, maybe we ought to save this for a bit later in the night."
Ashley agreed, and they wandered over to the couches to get a bit more comfortable.
"Okay, I have to ask then, what's with the nicknames?" Ashley asked.
"You're one to talk," James retorted. "What can I say, I like 'em."
"Yeah, but Teach?"
James laughed. "I had considered Kitty, given your choice of outfit but Loco – Shepard told me you could kick my ass, so I decided not to push my luck."
"He said that, huh?" Ashley asked casually, feeling a warmth in her stomach that had nothing to do with the whiskey. She glanced over at James, who was giving her a strange look. "What?"
"I was just wondering what's the deal with you and the Commander?" he said. "I mean, I know it's probably none of my business."
"No, it's fine," Ashley assured him. "We were close at one point, but after he came back it just wasn't the same. I guess I was just one oat he had to sow on his way through space." She look a good long gulp of her drink.
"Hey, I'm sorry," James said.
"It's fine. He's sowing his oats through Quarian space now." She blinking heavily, feeling herself starting to tear up at finally admitting what she had suspected for a long time.
"I know you don't want to hear this, but I don't think so," James said. "The Commander doesn't strike me as the wild oat type. I think he cares a lot for Tali. And I'm sure he still cares a lot about you."
"Thanks, Rookie," Ashley choked, wiping her eyes. "What about you, then? Any wild oats back home, waiting for you?"
"Ah, naw," James replied, blushing and rubbing the back of his head.
"I have to be honest, when you invited me here to, ahem, blow off some steam, I thought you had something else in mind," Ashley said, absent-mindedly swirling the ice in her drink.
"I, I, I, er, I," James stammered.
"Relax, Rookie, I'm messing with you," Ashley giggled. "Wow, you can charge straight into certain death and fight with Reaper forces at close quarters, but you can't talk to girls at all."
"Yeah, I'm, er, one of a kind," James admitted.
Ashley regarded him for a moment as she sipped at her drink.
As the drink continued to flow they began to joke about lighter topics, like sports, or various other crew members and their relationships.
"No," Ashley said. "I mean from Liara's side it makes a bit more sense – she's always been fascinated with him, but I can't imagine Javik feeling the same way."
"Hey, I'm just saying that Javik might see it as a way to keep a bit of Prothean DNA alive," James replied. "I mean, I know the kids would be Asari, but they'd still have some of his DNA. That's how it works, right?" he added.
"Like you've never spent a lonely night with your computer studying the specifics of Asari mating – please, I've served on mostly male ships for a while now. God, I hope no one suggests it to Liara," Ashley said with a laugh.
"Hey, Liara's a cute girl, I'm sure if she got herself a little black dress or something, Old Buggy would have a hard time turning her down."
"No, it's just too weird. Liara's just this sweet, innocent kid, I can't see her jumping anybody's bones." Ashley snorted. "And I do realise I just referred to someone eighty years my senior as sweet and innocent."
Conversation then turned to other romances.
"Interspecies romances are one thing," Ashley began. "But a robot and a human would never work. She wanders around with no clothes on – we know there's nowhere to put, well, it. And he has brittle bone disease to top it off."
"It'd be fine, she just couldn't go on top," James argued.
"Or the bottom," Ashley added. "When I was last here he broke six bones masturbating. He's a train wreck. I mean, he's a lovely train wreck, er, guy."
"So maybe he just needs someone a bit more cuddly. How about Vakarian?"
Ashley roared with laughter at that suggestion, and James couldn't help but join it.
The alcohol slowly seemed to disappear as they talked about increasingly unlikely couples, including Jack and Miranda.
"Come on, look at the sexual tension those two have!" James insisted while Ashley struggled to breathe with laughter.
"Only in your dreams, Rookie!"
By this stage they had found their way onto the same couch. Ashley leant over to ask him about one last pairing.
"Well, sport, you never answered me earlier," Ashley said. "Did you have an ulterior motive?"
"Aw, Teach, I-," James began, his gaze drifting down her body. "I mean, who wouldn't."
"Well, Shepard, apparently," Ashley muttered, burying her nose in her glass and taking another long drink."
"Don't be like that," James reassured her. "You are this awesome hot, kick-ass Spectre. Maybe Shepard has his head up his own glorious ass, but that doesn't mean the rest of us do."
"Really?" Ashley asked with a smile.
"Really," he replied.
From where Ashley was sitting she leant down to capture James's lips with her own. The glass in her hand fell from her grasp and smashed on the floor as she ran her hands through his hair. She swung a leg over him and straddled his lap, enjoying the feeling of his huge arms wrapping around her.
"Now, Lieutenant, this is certainly against regs," Ashley panted, grinding her hips against him.
"Screw regs," James replied.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
###
Ashley stumbled back to her room half-dressed with the last of a bottle of whiskey in one hand. Once there she activated the intercom.
"Shepard!" she slurred into it.
"Who is this?" a voice asked. Ashley took a moment to realise she'd dialled the bridge by mistake.
"Traynor!" Ashley slurred. "I need Shepard to tell Shepard to see Shepard."
"I'll, er, pass that on to the Commander," Traynor replied.
"Good," Ashley mumbled, stepping back from the comm and downing the last of the whiskey. She'd wait for Shepard to come down, then she'd show him she didn't need him. She just had to stay awake.
Man, that floor looked comfy though.