Garrus glanced up and down, taking in the nude form of the woman kneeling on his bed. She was running her hands up and down her body seductively. He subconsciously clicked his mandibles as she cupped her breasts.
"Chief? What's going on here?"
"What does it look like, Garrus? You seemed stressed about the whole Saleon deal. So I thought that you and I could… you know? Relieve some stress."
Garrus's mandibles clicked again as he nervously tried to look anywhere but at Ashley's heaving breasts. He was tempted, but knew that it would end badly for both of them.
"Ashley, I don't think you should be here, especially like this."
"What do you mean, especially like this? What's wrong with me, then? Am I not attractive? And what about that kiss in the elevator? What was that?" Ashley's confidence seemed to melt almost immediately. Her posture shrank and she covered her body with her arms, looking down at the floor.
"No, Ash, no. It's not that. You are very attractive. It's just that..."
"Just what, Garrus?"
"I just don't think this is a good idea. And the kiss? I seem to remember you kissing me, I certainly didn't initiate it. I think you should leave and save ourselves further embarrassment." Finally, Garrus was able to tear his gaze away from Ashley's nude form and turned toward the door.
"Are you fucking kidding me? 'Further embarrassment?' You son of a bitch!"
Garrus ducked as the clock from his bedside table smashed against the wall next to his head.
"Chief, I suggest you leave now, before I'm forced to report this."
"It's that slut Shepard, isn't it? I've seen the way you look at her. I've seen her too. Snuggling up to Alenko, flirting with you and not to mention those mind melds with Liara. That bitch is using all of you. I can't believe that you..." Ashley collapsed on the bed in tears.
"Ashley? Are you okay?" Garrus had turned around when she let out a loud sob. He went to bed instinctively and put a hand on her shoulder.
Ashley jerked away from him. "Get the fuck away from me, Vakarian. All you aliens are the fucking same. Now if you don't mind, can I get dressed?"
Ashley stood up, eyes red from crying, gathered her uniform and walked to the shower station and closed the door.
Garrus stared at the door incredulously. "What in the name of Palavan just happened?" He turned around and started picking up the pieces of his clock and other things Ashley had thrown at him during her tirade. He ran the events in his head trying to sort out what happened. What could he have done differently? Did he lead her on? Was she just crazy? Should he report this? And the things she said about Shepard, was she jealous of the Commander? Or was she right?
Was Shepard toying with his emotions? No, there was just harmless flirting, soldier banter, nothing more. Yes, he was still mad at her for not letting him take care of Saleon himself, but not mad enough to betray her.
Just then, the shower door opened and Ashley walked out, dressed and face cleaned, looking pissed and embarrassed.
"So are you going to be telling the crew how you shut the racist bitch down and left her naked and crying on your bed? Or can we forget this ever happened and just go on with our lives?"
"Ashley, no one ever has to know that this happened. I am truly sorry if I led you on. But you might want to lay off that stuff about Shepard. She is your commanding officer, after all."
"I know that, Vakarian. I am fully aware of the chain of command. My family has been reminded time and time again, that we will never amount to anything even remotely close to being in charge of even a freighter in the Alliance. Just stay away from me, Garrus. Please. For both our sakes." Ashley had been strong when her speech started but slowly lost steam and her voice was barely above a whisper when she finished.
With that, Ashley blew past Garrus, out the door and disappeared in the hallway. He sadly watched her go and knew that he had probably lost a good friend. He knew that he promised Ashley that he would forget that what had happened, but he had to know if there was something he could have done differently. He had to talk to someone. Someone he could trust not to say anything to anybody.
"She was naked? On your bed?"
"Shh, Tali. Not so loud." Garrus nervously looked around, trying to see if anybody heard.
"Oh, relax, Garrus. We're in Engineering, you have to shout pretty loud for anyone to over hear us. Watch." She looked over to Chief Engineer Adams, standing fifteen yards away, and spoke in a normal voice. "Hey Greg, you look so hot in that jumpsuit. It makes me want to risk an infection and run my bare hands up and down your body."
"Tali! What are you doing?"
"See, Garrus, nothing." Tali smugly turned back to Garrus and struck a ta-da pose. "So, back to Chief Williams naked on your bed. So what happened?"
"Nothing, well not nothing, but not what you think. I told her to get dressed and leave. She did not take it well."
"No, I imagine she didn't. You know Garrus, women don't take it well when we are rejected like that. All vulnerable and exposed."
"So, what should I have done? Gone through with it?"
"No, from what you've told me, you're not interested in her that way. If you had done 'it' it would have been worse. Plus your feelings for Commander Shepard."
Garrus sighed and rubbed his head stalks. "So, what do I do now, Tali?"
"Nothing. You do nothing. Just concentrate on the mission. Stopping Saren is the most important thing. Chief Williams is a strong woman. She'll get over it. Just steer clear of her for awhile." Tali reached up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You did nothing wrong, Garrus. We haven't known each other that long, but I can already tell that you wouldn't do anything like this maliciously. Signals got crossed, that's all."
"What signals might those be?" Shepard walked up from behind them.
"Signals? Um, was just looking over some old reports from C-Sec and saw some clues of what Saleon was up to that I missed. That's all." Garrus quickly lied.
"Oh, well, immaterial, considering that the sick bastard is now dead. Again, Garrus, I am sorry about Saleon."
"No, Shepard, I'm sorry. Tali showed me the footage. You're right, he had me dead to rights. You had no choice. Thank you for saving my life.."
"Anytime, Vakarian. Anytime." Shepard said with a small smile. "Now, care to explain why Williams put in for a transfer? When I asked her, she told me to ask you."
"Um, well we had a sort of disagreement and it got pretty heated. I don't think it would be appropriate to discuss the details at this time."
"Well, anyway, it will have to wait. We just got word from Admiral Hackett that a Salarian STG group has located Saren at a facility on Virmire. We need to get there as soon as possible. This may be our chance to end this once and for all."
Garrus and Shepard turned to leave Engineering and head to the bridge. As the doors were closing behind them, Garrus heard Chief Adams.
"Excuse me, Tali. But what were you saying about my jumpsuit?"