Chapter 13

A week passed. Ashley stayed on Horizon, coordinating relief efforts. Where before most in the community did not trust her because she represented the Alliance, she now was the only member of the Alliance they did trust. Sam's family being founding members of the community – and her keeping them safe – seemed to be a huge part of that. So she liaised between the Alliance and the community, directing where supplies and medical staff should go.

A lot of people seemed to want to leave, but they had literally nowhere else to go where they could make a living. They were farmers. It was good and necessary work, but it was not work that could take a person anywhere but to another colony. Earth barely grew any of the food available across the galaxy these days – there just wasn't the room. Sure, there was farmland still, even countryside, forests, jungles. But at this point none of it was free to settle. The farms were established, owned by huge corporations. And the forests, jungles, and other places wildlife could go were sealed behind so much land preservation that if you sneezed in their direction you probably violated six different sanctions . It was necessary, though, otherwise nothing would be left that made Earth its own unique biodome.

It was also difficult for them to leave because Discovery – Horizon's main settlement – was a cooperative community. They planted, farmed, harvested, and sold the crops as a community, and split the profits evenly. The only reason Sam's father's company was ever started was so they could patent their new techniques, be they mechanical engineering or genetic engineering. The company was owned cooperatively, though. It was idyllic in the extreme, but it wasn't a large community, and they made it work. Those who did not want to participate were free to leave, or conduct work for themselves from their homes on Horizon, but anything agriculture-related was done through the cooperative that was the settlement, and those who participated were compensated for their work through it.

This meant, of course, that while the community at large had plenty to keep themselves comfortable, picking up and starting fresh elsewhere took more money than anyone had to their names at the moment. Perhaps if the attack had come at the end of the harvest, things would be different. But it hadn't. They were currently in the first half of a summer that lasted three-quarters of an Earth year. It would be many months before anyone had the kind of money to secure themselves while starting fresh off-world, especially given that nearly everyone had a family to consider.

So everyone stayed, at least for now. Sam's father and mother were amazing at rallying those who could work, going out into the fields to work the machinery themselves, despite their official roles being one of tech and research. That was what this community did – they came together, did what was needed. And what they needed right now was to ensure their continued existence by having their crops harvested. It also served as an excellent example to those who wanted to give in to despair that life must continue, and that people were there for them, supporting them.

That didn't mean that those working were unkind. Many people had lost someone, or several someones. A few people were the sole survivors of their households. In a couple of tragic cases, kids' parents had been taken, leaving small children with no one to care for them, the children so young they did not quite understand what had happened to their moms or dads. Friends and extended family came together, caring for children and elderly members of the community in a way Ashley had simply never seen before. People were terrified, yes. But these people, more than this place, were their home, and they would take care of each other despite their fear.

Ashley's conversation with Anderson on the Citadel was less than awesome. He believed her, and had already spoken with Shepard about the Collector theory. But they both knew the Council wouldn't believe her. Not without more survivors identifying their attackers. So Ashley started gathering anecdotes from Horizon's colonists. Sam helped, as did her brothers, recording interviews with members of the community, showing them known holos of the Collectors and having their people identify them as their attackers. It didn't feel like enough, but it was all they could do at this time. Adding to that the fact that Anderson let her stay to coordinate relief efforts, and made her feel better after the shit-show of the attack on the colony.

Samantha's parents required that Ashley stop sleeping in her silly tent . The evening of the attack, Daniel Traynor came with his sons, helped Ashley pack up her belongings, and carried them to his house, all with very few words. And just like that, Ashley was now sleeping in Sam's bed officially, eating breakfast with them and retiring to their home at night. She was folded into their family like she'd always been there, and if Ash stopped too long to think about it, it threatened to overwhelm her. She had a big family herself, and she knew how difficult it was to be embraced like this, how much grief you usually went through before the matriarch of the house hugged you like you were one of her own. She knew the significance.

The first night, she merely collapsed into Sam's arms. She was exhausted, sweaty, grimy, and her whole body ached. Sam had cooed into her ear, stroking her hair and simply letting her fall into the sleep of the utterly exhausted. Sometime in the night, she woke enough to strip out of her clothes, Sam helping her in a way that was almost enough to get her to surrender to sex instead of sleep. But the moment her head was pressed against the warm skin of Sam's shoulder, she was out like a light once more.

The next night, their lovemaking was fevered, almost desperate. They were affirming their continued existence, driving the terror and horror from each other's minds. Afterward, Ash held Sam to her, running her fingers across every inch of skin she could reach as the specialist fell asleep. Sam had discovered that day that Penelope had not been found and had likely been taken by the Collectors. She had wept, immediately feeling guilty for doing so in Ashley's arms. But Ash got it. They weren't lovers anymore, but they had such a history of deep affection. To suddenly discover that she'd been taken by those things… Sam wept because she lost someone, not because she preferred to be in the other woman's arms. Maybe in other circumstances Ashley might be jealous, but right now? In these circumstances, she merely held Samantha and let her cry before making her feel as good as she could.

Now a week had passed, however, and it was time to go. Sam was leaving that night to finally go back to Earth and her work. Ashley had to go to the Citadel, report to the Council and to the brass officially. The colony was as relieved as they could be. Work had resumed, everyone pitching in to get the work done and the crops shipped and sold, sowing the empty fields with new seeds, keeping the food growing. The defense turrets were performing optimally, and Delan knew how to fix the mechanics of it should they need maintenance. Everything was set.

But Ashley didn't want to go. Horizon was hot and humid, with long days and this summer that wouldn't let up for months. And yet she had come to love the long days, the peaceful feel to them, the time in the afternoon where everyone stopped working and just took a little time to be each day. The day had a way of feeling timeless, like that particular part of the day would never end. The hot breeze blowing through the stalks of the various crops, or making waves out of the grass, had a hypnotizing effect. And that hot breeze on her skin, pressed against Sam's in the heat of the day – they had taken to bringing a blanket out to the shade of a favorite tree far away from the settlement – would always and forever be indelibly etched on her brain as paradise.

And now it had to come to an end. At least for a while. If Ash was ever stationed on Earth, then she'd be able to see Sam all the time. But for now, this was what she had. Lying in bed, naked, Sam molded to her, the sun just barely beginning to rise. Both of them had wild hair, having spent far too much of the night saying goodbye in their own special way. Ashley honestly hadn't slept much. Her mind was too busy. She had a million things to do, and she wasn't looking forward to the dressing-down she was likely to get from the fucking Council. In addition, she wanted to savor this last bit of time she had with Sam. They had formed an inseparable bond over the last four weeks (two and a half weeks on Horizon meant four or so weeks back on Earth ). It spelled good things for their future… but that didn't mean she wanted to leave.

Running a hand softly from Sam's crazy hair down to her shoulders, Ashley took in a deep breath, feeling Sam's weight against her. She loved the feel of that, of Sam's warm skin and gentle weight settled on top of her. She loved being able to make the specialist's whole body move, that Sam trusted her so deeply that she could relax this thoroughly. It reminded Ashley of a kitten she'd had as a little girl. That kitten would fall asleep on her chest, and Ash would spend its entire nap picking up a paw or its tail and dropping it, delighting in the cat being so deeply asleep that it didn't even move reflexively in its sleep. Sam was like that at these moments, so deeply relaxed in her sleep that Ashley could manipulate her limbs if she wanted to. The trust that took… Ashley vowed to cherish it, to never betray it. They might not end up married, might not live happily ever after. But she could still treasure that trust Sam was putting in her.

She sighed deeply, feeling Sam's weight move with her again as she looked out the window. The sky was brightening, as slowly as everything else happened on this planet, slowly but steadily calling Ash to the shuttle that was coming for her. She would have time for breakfast and goodbyes with Sam's family, but then it would be time to go, the shuttle from the last Alliance ship in orbit taking her to the ship and off to the Citadel. Sam would be leaving that evening, her transport having been re-booked with a civilian ship that often brought goods to Horizon and shipped goods for the settlement. It was better that way. Sam would get time to spend with her family that wasn't time she could be spending with Ash. Ashley didn't ever want to detract from Sam's family time.

The sun was rising slowly… but it hadn't risen yet. She still had a little time left with Sam. And suddenly, she didn't want Sam to be asleep for it. Running her hand more insistently down Sam's back, using her nails lightly, she awoke the specialist enough to get her to shift, allowing the lieutenant to kiss her. Her passion quickly woke Sam up the rest of the way, and they spent the rest of the morning trying to squeeze every ounce of time together out of it that they could.

A/N: So here we have a return to fluffy romance-candy. Yay! Coming full circle to how the fic started. Also, there isn't an ounce of dialogue in it. I had all these plans for a weepy goodbye, and then this happened, and I like it much better.

Someone in my reviews pointed out that I'm churning these out like a rapid-fire machine gun. I suppose that's true, but all I have to say about it is that I'm used to writing chapters of 4000+ words to be published every few days. Most of these have been less than 2000. And flufftastic fluff, guys. It's a little easier to write than all the changes to canon I'm making in my Dragon Age fic. Not to mention that in that fic I now have an unwieldy 15+ characters who are all important in some way, whereas in this it's mostly just been the two of them. Quite a bit easier to handle. So yeah. Almost done. Just one more chapter, I think, and then a break before starting ME3. Probably. I dunno. I get rather impatient...