As it turns out, the wooing of Samantha Traynor is failing spectacularly.
It wasn't that they aren't trying, Shepard is more into it than Ashley feels comfortable with. Going far enough that she sometimes let's Shepard talk excitedly about what they can do and tunes her out in the process.
In all honesty she already has a plan. She just hasn't grown the courage to execute it. Her first step is to apologize for the past week about her avoidance. She can clearly see it eating away at Sam as the days pass, but every time she tries to talk to her, she's either interrupted or she chickens out.
Ashley also forced her way into the mission to help Tali kick some flashlight ass and knock around a few quarians. They were going to be on Rannoch in a few hours and Ashley was brimming with emotion for Tali.
Tali is her sister at heart and is blessed that Tali wants her with them when they land on her home planet.
The inevitable teasing that is sure to commence only makes her smile.
Despite Shepard's wishes for the situation to be fixed quickly, there is more important things, but luckily she was present for a message from Admiral Anderson forcing Shepard to take time off and she knows this is her chance. Possibly her only chance.
She first has to make sure the idea is receptive.
They are minutes away from shipping off to Rannoch, but Ashley makes sure to catch Sam beforehand. She shuffles up next to her and grins as Sam prattles off that Shepard has no messages, her focus on the task in front of her.
Ashley clears her throat and Sam's eyes dart to Ashley and then back to her data pad. They widen and Sam nearly drops the pad in shock, "Ash— Ashley!"
"Hey." Ashley chuckles.
"H— hi?" Sam squeaks.
Ashley chews on her lip, she is more nervous than she expected and she can barely remember what she wants to say, "I wanted to give you something," Ashley pulls out her book of poems and fumbles it, nearly tossing it into Sam's face.
It's a stroke of luck that Sam manages to catch it, she stares at the cover in confusion. "Thanks?"
Ashley blushes, Sam has no idea what the book means to her, but she's hopeful Sam will understand, "I wanted to share this with you last week," she grimaces, the plan was to not bring up last week at all, "well, you, uh—"
"Williams, two minutes!" Shepard shouts from somewhere near the cockpit.
"Aye, Ma'am!" Ashley replies, glancing at Sam in apology, "I figured I'd return the favor of sharing something I enjoyed with you, that didn't involve guns, so…" she chews on her lip again, glancing away so she misses Sam unable to take her eyes of her swelling lip.
Sam nearly jumps out of her skin when EDI announces for the ground team to book it to the cargo bay. She hugs the book to her chest, so happy she's near tears, "Of course," is all she manages before Ashley gives a nervous wave and high-tails it to the elevator.
Samantha recognizes the book almost immediately. She stares at the it curiously, it obviously meant more to Ashley than Sam realized and she's hesitant to accept it.
Distracted by her thoughts, she fails to hear Liara walk up next to her, "Is that from Ashley?"
Sam nods, confused and surprised that Liara already knows.
Liara's eyes twinkle, "Ashley has quite the fondness for poetry."
Sam is aware, of course, it's hard not to know with Tali telling Sam anything and everything she knows about the Lieutenant Commander.
Seeing that Sam is still troubled, Liara feels the urge to put her at ease, "I believe it is her way of letting you know that she is not mad at you."
Sam clutches the book tighter, eyes wide and filling with wonder, "Really?"
Before Liara can respond, warning lights flash around the Normandy and they're immediately put on guard. Sam rushes to her station and Liara moves to the other side to help, knowing her Shadow Broker network will be of no help out here.
Liara and Sam are still standing at the CIC console when the ground team is stopped by a giant reaper. They're tense and Sam feels Liara grasp her arm and she's grateful for the contact. The entire mission is chaos and Sam's only recourse is the vitals flashing across her screen and Ashley's are mostly positive.
Hearing the gasp beside her she focuses back on the action and realizes that Shepard is taking care of the Reaper by herself. Sam has enough time to curse under her breath before gently removing Liara's arm and getting back to her station to help EDI calibrate the weapons system. She knows EDI is capable of handling it on her own, but they've learned to work with each other and EDI confessed that it takes some stress off her systems when things are as chaotic as they are now.
Thirty minutes pass before they land on Rannoch, the threat eliminated and Legion's sacrifice granting them a new ally. Sam has yet to see Geth up close and she's glad she is delegated to the ship, she has no intention of seeing one up close any time soon, the events of Horizon flashing through her memory, ally or not.
Twenty more minutes go by before the ground team starts returning to the ship. Liara already left for the war room for the debriefing that is to follow their return. Sam isn't sure if she's welcome to it. She should know by now, truly, but she's also in the middle of more turian code and she doesn't want to delay finding the source when she's so close to it.
At least that's what she's been telling herself. In all honesty, she isn't sure she can concentrate on anything if she joins them, her sole focus will be on Ashley and she does not want to give anyone that kind of teasing ammo.
Shepard steps out of the lift first, an elated but upset Tali follows with Ashley not far behind. It takes everything for Sam not to embrace her right there, it isn't enough to stop her from taking a small step forward, one of her hands lift at the need to reach out and make sure Ashley is real. The incessant beeping from her terminal causes her to miss Ashley's glance in her direction.
"Specialist Traynor," EDI's voice rings out as Sam takes in the information scrolling across her screen.
"I know," Sam breaths out, she is so close to figuring out where the fake turian code is coming from, the physical reassurance that Ashley is still alive will have to wait.
Forty-five minutes later Sam finally pieces together what she can. She almost has the source, and while she is certain it's another distraction she can't very well let some ex-Cerberus scientists perish because of that.
She steps back from her terminal and turns, giving a shout as she bumps into someone, "Bloody fuck!"
"Well, that sounds a bit messy. You might have to find someone else to do that for you if you're into that," Ashley is standing before her and clears her throat. "Can we pretend I didn't just say that?"
Sam's laugh is breathless, her heart still racing, "I happen to enjoy the fact that it was you that said something ridiculous this time."
They stand there grinning stupidly at each other until Sam remembers that she has important information to pass along, "I uh," she clears her throat, holding up the report she put together, "I need to show this to Shepard."
"I will take care of that, Samantha." EDI says while taking the pad out of her hand and heads towards the war room.
"Uh, ok, sure, "Sam blinks at her now empty hands. It takes her a moment to get her bearings and she faces Ashley, "So…" her words trail off as the urge to hug Ashley comes back to her in full force. "I'm going to hug you."
Ashley scrunches her face in confusion, "Okay…?" The air whooshes out of her lungs at the force of Sam rushing into her and she can feel the shuddering breath being taken as she returns the hug.
"You're safe," Sam mumbles more to herself than Ashley, blushing when Ashley's arms tighten around her. Sam's grip tightens briefly before she pulls back, her face redder than Shepard's hair, "That's...that's good."
"Yeah, usually," Ashley chuckles. "Page 72."
"What?"
"Um, the book, the poem on page 72, it's my favorite." Ashley reaches back to rub her neck in embarrassment.
"Oh! I'll have to read that one first, then." Sam smiles, knowing she will end up memorizing it within the hour the moment she gets free time.
Shepard walks up to them, grinning at their bashfulness. She waits for one of them to acknowledge her, but when they don't she clears her throat, "Specialist, good work on this." Shepard waves the report EDI gave her in the air and looks at Ashley, "Williams," Shepard hesitates and glances at Sam.
"I'll just be over here, if you need anything else Commander." Sam steps back, "Ashley." She says softly with a smile and turns away and takes the few steps back to her station. It is more an illusion of privacy because she can still hear their hushed voices.
"We've got some downtime headed our way, orders from Anderson," there's a chuckle from Shepard when Ashley rolls her eyes, already aware, "I suggest taking advantage of it."
Sam struggles with the silence that follows, trying her hardest not to turn around and make it obvious that she was listening. She hears a scuffle of boots and a grunt and can't stop herself from turning around. Sam rolls her eyes as Shepard and Ashley are trying to wrestle again, "I swear you two can't go anywhere."
Ashley has the upper hand, but Sam's attention catches her off-guard and she is trying to stumble through an apology when Shepard puts her in a headlock, "Good thing this is my ship then!" Shepard grins and pulls Ashley with her to the elevator, "There's a message for you that you should probably take in my quarters.
Sam doesn't hear the reply and doesn't think anything of it. Ashley entrusted her with one of her favorite things and Sam is going to make sure she has the time to look into it. Like right now, because her program can do things for her and poems don't take that long, right?
Days later Sam is rubbing her tired eyes. She can kind of understand why Ashley likes this stuff, but, oh my god. It is boring. She can't even understand half of it and more than once she wanted to chuck the book across the room in frustration when she couldn't figure it out.
She is halfway through when she finally realizes she can't wrap her mind around most of it because they are more abstract than straightforward. She can deal with numbers and code, but this was driving her nuts.
Her admiration for Ashley intensifies, however. Ashley comes off as a no-nonsense kind of soldier. Her faith was one thing, but from what she was learning (mostly from Tali) is the romanticism usually found in poetry was not anything Sam would have thought probable for Ashley to not only enjoy, but hold close to her as deeply as her faith.
She wonders if she'll like it more if she can get Ashley to read it to her. She leans back, placing the book over her face, "I probably won't hear a damn thing," I'll be too distracted by her voice. Despite her slight reluctance and dislike for poetry, Sam is well on her way to memorizing a number of them, in hope of surprising Ashley with a few verses.
From all the markings and old folds in the book, she's able to pick out what she thinks Ashley likes the most. Aside from the one Ashley told her about.
"You know, you don't have to read the whole thing if you don't like it," Ashley's voice filters through her thoughts and she quickly closes her eyes as the book is lifted from her face and the bright lights blind her momentarily.
The smile on Ashley's face assures Sam that she isn't the least bit disappointed.
She grins stupidly, "I've actually read the whole thing, but you're right," she leans forward, resting her chin on the palm of her hand, "it's really not my thing." Ashley pockets the book and Sam notices how nervous she looks, "What is it?"
Ashley opens her mouth a few times, rubbing her face in frustration when she can't get the words out, "I— we're going to be at the Citadel for a few days and I was wondering if you'd like to uh, go out with me?"
Sam sits up in surprise, the likelihood of Ashley actually asking her out felt so far off and unattainable that she stares at Ashley open-mouthed.
"Psst, say yes!" Tali's voice shakes Sam out of her stupor and Ashley is taken back by the intensity of Sam's smile.
"Yes!" Sam shouts. "Uh I mean, yes of course. I'd love to." Sam is brimming with energy and it's taking every ounce of control she has to not jump for joy, as it is she can't hold back the small squeak of excitement.
They both blush at the squeal of elation Tali let's out. "I have missed every interaction between the two of you so far, I deserved to see this!" Tali bounces on her feet, "I am so happy right now!"
"Great!" Ashley grins, ignoring Tali for now, "I have a couple things to take care of as soon as we land, but as soon as it's done, I'll take you somewhere."
"Anywhere," Sam breathes out, grateful that Ashley only grins wider.
"I'll see you then."
Tali nearly tackles Ashley as she retreats and Sam is too stunned and happy to hear the animated prattling as it carries down the hall.