Ashley was thoughtful as she and Shepard headed back to the Normandy. She was disappointed by the turn of events; she still loved Shepard. However, if any woman was to be with Shepard instead of her she was glad it was Tali. Tali was a nice person; she cared about others more than herself, she always gave and never expected anything in return. Shepard and Tali were a good match, she supposed. But she wanted to talk to Tali about it, to figure out how their relationship was. She had no plans to break them up or anything -she was a military woman, she could accept loss- but she wanted to know they were both happy.
The two soldiers approached the dock where the Normandy was waiting. It was a lot larger than the original, and she imagined that there were some upgrades made. They entered the airlock, which was surprisingly similar to the old one. After the decontamination was over she took a few steps forward before hearing a familiar voice call out "Ash!"
She looked to the fore of the Normandy to see Joker walking towards her, arms open as if to give her a hug. Wait, she thought, eyes widening. Joker… walking! Before she could open her mouth to speak Ash felt herself crushed in a surprisingly strong embrace.
Joker started laughing, "Ha! It's good to see you Ash. Now if only Liara would quit her job on Illium and Wrex would leave Tuchanka we'd have the old team back together!" Ash couldn't tell if he was sincere or if he was joking.
As Joker let up Ash drew in a deep, gasping breath. "Wow… Joker… you're uh… looking better."
Joker noticed the awkwardness tingeing her voice. "I know what you're wondering. When I signed on Cerberus gave me new legs. It's still pretty difficult but I don't need my crutches anymore."
She quickly went to something else. "You're certainly a lot… stronger… than I though you'd be."
Shepard fought down a chuckle, while staring at Joker accusingly. "Well, he's made sure his arms are in good shape at the piloting terminal, haven't you Joker?"
Joker pointed at Shepard, indignantly shouted "It was one time Commander. One time!"
Ash mulled to herself over what they were saying before something clicked. "Joker! That's sick!" She laughed a bit though, because it was kind of amusing.
Joker looked at her abashed "Hey, you want sick? You should hear Tali and the Commander up in his quarters!"
Shepard glared, and Ashley herself wasn't too placated by the comment either. Shepard angrily articulated "You've been eavesdropping on my room? First I want to know why, and second I want to know how."
Joker cursed under his breath as he realized he had backed himself into a foxhole. "Well… I… uh… you see… help me out here EDI!"
A synthesized voice rang out above them "Jeff said that he wanted payback for the aforementioned incident at the terminal, which he learned from Garrus that you had talked to others about, so he planted a recording device in your quarters to find something with which he could have vengeance."
Joker was speechless for a moment before voicing his agreement. "Yeah, what she said."
Shepard seemed not the least conciliated, if anything he seemed angrier. "And what exactly are one these 'recordings'?"
As Joker began stammering again Ashley headed towards the elevator; If this was like the old Normandy she should know her way around. In the background she could still hear Joker rambling on with excuses or justifications. "Well, Commander, it's like this; I didn't hear-"
By now she was out of earshot as the elevator doors opened. A slight, red-headed woman waved at her as she passed and introduced herself, oblivious to the fact that Ashley didn't really care who she was. "Hi! I'm Kelly Chambers; I'm the Commander's secretary. You must be Ms. Williams! Shepard talked about you a lot. I received a message that you were to be joining the crew so I thought I should introduce myself."
Ashley just shook her head in bemusement as she walked past into the elevator. She looked at the different decks until something caught her eye. Deck 4. Crew Members on Deck; Grunt, Jack, Zaeed, Tali'Zorah. She pressed the button and stood impatiently as the elevator descended with painstaking slowness. You'd think that with all of the advance technology at their disposal the ship designers could have put in a faster elevator. She was grateful when her brief trip was over, and she began to walk through the door labeled Engineering.
As the door opened Ashley accidentally bumped into the person going out. She was a notably small woman with a shaved head and a huge mass of tattoos covering her body. She was also apparently in a bad mood because she immediately started shouting. "Watch where the fuck you're going!"
Ashley wasn't usually a confrontational person, but she wasn't going to back down. "Sorry, I couldn't see you from up here." Maybe it was a little harsh, but she had a feeling this woman deserved it.
The shorter woman's eyes blazed with fury and a blue glow surrounded her, "What the fuck did you say to me!"
Ashley started to walk past her, saying "I said take your own advice."
The woman grabbed her arm, saying "You got a lot of nerve talking to me like that. I think we'll get along fine. Name's Jack. Now stay out of my way next time or I'll have to kill you." Jack released Ashley and headed down to the sub-deck. Ashley put the strange encounter to the back of her mind as the doors to the engineering core hissed open.
Tali stood against the wall, feeling a bit bored in all honesty. The ship was done repairs -most of the repairs had been done on Elysium but they had to get some things done on the Citadel- and the new paint was applied. Everything was great; the engines were working at optimal capacity, the calibrations were done… not that Garrus seemed to know that. Why was he always calibrating that gun? As nice as it was to be on the Citadel for a few days, she kind of wanted to be traveling the galaxy again. Even if most of what they would be doing was diplomatic missions to try and gather support against the Reapers and begin preparations, at least there was always something to do. And when they were traveling Tali and Shepard could always find time for each other. Or could they?
Tali was always afraid that Shepard would leave her for someone else. Why would he want her? Miranda was beautiful, smart, outgoing. Shepard could touch her without getting her sick. As much as she loved him she never understood why he would love her, when he could have any other woman he wanted. She had been a bit nervous about Ashley asking to be part of the crew because she and Shepard had been a couple once, and maybe he would take her back. Tali felt guilty about that thought. She wanted Shepard to be happy, and Ashley was her friend.
It was at that moment that Ashley walked through the door and right up to Tali, a look of determination on her face. Tali nervously blurted out her thoughts when Ashley was about to open her mouth. "Ashley, I am so sorry! I know that you loved Shepard and I took him and if you want him back I understand." Tali hated it when she rambled like that, but she always did when she was nervous.
Ashley seemed a bit amused. Tali spoke more slowly this time "You're not here because you're mad at me for being with Shepard?"
Ashley shook her head. "Tali, why would I be mad at you? It's not like it's your fault that we're not together; it's not like you 'stole' him from me. We talked it out, and I understand that things won't be how they were."
Tali was confused. "You mean you don't care that Shepard and I are, um, dating? I think that's what you'd call it."
Ashley smiled a bit as Tali stumbled over her words. "That's not what I said. Am I upset that we won't be together? Yes. But I can accept that." She laughed as she said "It seems to me that you and he are a perfect match; you both seem to think I'll be mad at you, or that I'll go storming off. That's the thing about sensitive people, I suppose."
Tali was relieved more than she could possibly express. "Then what did you want to talk about? Unless, you don't want to talk any more. I'll understand if you want to go-"
Ashley interjected before Tali could keep on ranting. "Well, I just wanted to hear your take on you relationship. To make sure you're happy."
Tali suddenly felt like she was put on the spot. What could she say to make Ashley know how great things were? Ashley noticed her friend's distress, saying "Well, how about I just ask you questions? The first thing that comes to mind is if you two have... 'linked suits', I think is what Quarians call it"
Tali didn't feel very comfortable talking to people about what she and Shepard did in private- Keelah, when Auntie Raan had asked about it had been horrendous!- but still, this was Ashley. She at least deserved an answer. "Well, there have been two or three times… the first was before we went into the relay."
Ashley nodded, but then stopped and asked "Wouldn't that make you sick, though? I mean really sick?"
Tali started to give the speech she gave almost by rote. "Well, we don't actually get sick. What we suffer is an acute allergic reaction as our bodies acclimatize to-" She stopped as she noticed Ashley losing interest. "Was there anything else?"
Ashley snapped out of her brief daze. "Well, Tali, I'd like you to talk about it. I don't need to sit here playing twenty questions, I don't think."
Tali nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, um, well I met Shepard's mother a few days ago."
Ashley seemed thoroughly surprised. "Really? I never even met Shepard's mother. How'd that go? And what made you want to do that?"
Tali didn't know where to begin so she just said whatever came to her, "Well, after we came back from the Collector base Shepard wanted to spend more time with me and
