"Man am I glad to be off of Noveria. I don't know what's worse the cold or the politics. One'll freeze you're balls off, while other will sell them out from under you." Joker said, when Shepard approached him as they pulled out of Noveria's port.
Shepard wasn't listening to him. She was thinking of Liara. She had taken her with her on the mission to try and help talk Benezia down and convince her to help them. She ended up just watching as Shepard had to put her down because she had been indoctrinated.
"Commander," Ash said from behind her. Shepard turned to face her and she made a 'can we talk in private?' signal.
"What's this about chief?" Shepard asked when they reached her room.
"Listen, after what happened on Noveria I'm going to ask Liara to spend the night here instead of me. It'll give you a chance to comfort her after what happened."
"Ok, I wanted to talk to her anyways."
"Good, I'll go see her now."
"Hold on a second."
"Yes?"
"Are you sure you're doing this for her benefit, or am I just starting to get you interested and you don't want to admit it?" Shepard said with a laugh.
"Talk to you later." Ash said leaving with a grin on her face.
As Ash walked over to the med bay where Liara usually was she thought about how Shepard had guess her real reasons. She had in fact been starting to feel something for Shepard but she wasn't sure if it was love or just lust from her constant teasing. She had to admit that she slept better when she was with Shepard but at the same time it felt sisterly. She sat at the table in the mess hall as she thought.
'Come on Ash you're loosing it. You're strait, you're Christian.' She thought to herself.
'So,' a new thought said, 'who cares what others think? People have held you back all your life because of their opinion of your grandpa.'
'But what about my family, if they find out I may be turning into a lesbian…'
'What matters more? What your family wants of you, or what you want? Think it over for a while.'
Letting out a sigh she got up and entered the med bay, said hi to Doctor Chakwas, and entered the room at the back and found Liara sitting at a desk looking at a monitor. She heard Ash approaching and turned to her, "Hello Williams, what can I do for you?" she asked.
"Hey, listen, I know we haven't known each other very long but I was wondering if you could do me a favor." Ash said, knowing full well that her face must have been beet red.
"Um, of course. What is it?" Liara asked, concerned about how Ash's face turned an interesting shade of red.
"What are your feelings towards the commander?"
Liara was shocked. She had heard that there might be something going on between Shepard and Williams but she hadn't been expecting Ash to confront her for her own feelings towards Shepard, "Um, I think she is the most interesting person I have ever met, why?"
"Cut the crap Liara. I've seen the way you look at her."
"If you feel like I may be coming in between the two of you," Liara started before Ash raised her hands and tried to say something but nothing intelligible came out.
Taking a deep breath she tried again, "No, you aren't doing anything like that. There's nothing between us. I've only been helping her get to sleep."
Liara gave her a blank look, "Ok, it's like this. Shepard normally takes a medication to get to sleep, but she ran out about a week and a half before the mission we found you on. Two weeks before that she asked me that if she runs out of her medication and can't get it refilled if I would sleep next to her. At home she would sleep next to her 'sister', the girl she had grown up with, and that would help her get to sleep. So I've been doing that for the past month, but *sigh* I need some time to think about things. And I was wondering if you would be ok with taking my place for a while."
As Liara listened to Ash talk about Shepard's problem she couldn't help but think about how good of a friend she was with Shepard. She looked at the floor as she thought about what she was asking her to do. After a minute she looked back at Williams and said, "Ok."
Shepard was beat. They had received a call that a group of biotic terrorists had kidnapped a senator and they had rushed to save him, after they had they received another call about geth activity spread across several planets. So they had spent the last forty-eight hours driving around several planets taking them all out, and it left her drained. She had always hated the Mako. She never had liked cramped areas.
"Hey Commander, Liara is waiting for you in your quarters. She said she wanted to talk to you." Joker said over her private com.
She headed to her room and found Liara wearing Ashley's nightgown and sitting on the bed, "I take it Ash actually asked you to stand in for her?" Shepard asked as she began to remove her armor.
"Yes, and I must admit it feels a little strange to be asked to sleep 'next' to someone, by another person. Though she looked like she needed time to herself. Probably to think about how she feels."
"She may not admit it but Ash may be the most fragile of anyone on this ship. She… feels things, more severely than others. But what about you Liara? Are you comfortable with this? Because if you aren't I could ask Chakwas for something."
"No, you need to be at your best, and you wouldn't be if you started using something that could negatively affect you. I'll be ok, as long as you promise to talk to me about any problems." Liara said walking over to Shepard and putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I promise Liara."