Shepard clicked send as he sent off the last of his report with the attached audio message from Admiral Kahoku. He shook his head as he placed the datapad back down on his desk. The quicker I get past this mess the better. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. Goddamn it. Why did it have to be Cerberus? Why did I have to fall for her so hard? Why did I abandon my duty as an officer of the Alliance, again and again?Shepard stared at the door. He did it all for a woman, officer. He did it all for love, judge. He did it all for her, executioner. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me? No? Well you best take my head then.

Shepard stretched as he stood, checking the time on his omni-tool. He still had another ten minutes before Ashley was due to stop by. He didn't have much of an idea about why Ash wanted to speak to him in private. She was bottling things up when she first arrived on board the Normandy, but she's grown into herself more as times go on. Maybe she's finally ready to talk about what happened to her unit on Eden Prime?Stepping out of his cabin, Shepard went straight into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. The mess was empty, the seats that previously were occupied by Liara and Miranda now unoccupied. I guess Miranda is with Liara. Can't think of a good excuse to check without it making it look like I'm actively seeking her out. Either that or she's taking over the ship. Shepard took a sip of water. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing after all this, to take a break from all these lies. He shook the thoughts away. You've got a job to do. Saren must be stopped.

Shepard opened his secure omni-tool messaging system as he leaned against the kitchen counter, taking another quick sip of water before typing.

/||||||CONNECTING||||||/

JS: You're not overthrowing my command, are you?

Pushing off the counter Shepard returned to his cabin and took a seat, waiting for a short amount of time before his omni-tool dinged in response.

ML: I've tied up your pilot and we're on our way to overthrow the Council.

JS: Okay. I'm going to have a nap. Wake me when you need me to shoot Sparatus.

ML: Will do. I'm with Liara by the way. She's a fascinating woman. She's accomplished so much in her relatively short life thus-far.

JS: Short life? She's 106.

ML: You know what I mean. Got to go, don't want to look suspicious. You'll 'accompany' me out?

JS: I will.

ML: Good.

Closing his omni-tool, he waited for Ashley's arrival. He had to smile when the knock on the door came. Right on time.

"Come in, Ashley."

The door opened, revealing the Gunnery Chief. "Hey Commander. I'm not early am I?"

Shepard shook his head as he motioned towards the spare chair, the woman quickly taking a seat. "Right on time."

Williams smiled. "Good to know I'm still doing something right around here."

"What do you mean by that?" Shepard raised an eyebrow inquisitively as he awaited the soldiers response.

"It's what I wanted to talk about." Ashley hesitating before half-shrugging with a sigh. "I owe you an apology, skipper."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Ash."

The woman shook her head. "That isn't true. I second guessed you when I first came aboard. The alie- allies." Ashley quickly corrected herself. "I didn't think they should be given such a free reign of the ship. I thought you were wrong." She looked to the floor. "But I'm the one who was wrong. They've all proven that. Garrus, Liara, Wrex and Tali - they add something that would be missing otherwise."

Shepard leaned forward on the desk, clasping his hands together. He didn't expect the type of honesty that Ashley was displaying. "None of this has been easy for anyone, not them, not us. This is the first mission of it's nature. Stopping a rogue SPECTRE and his army of Geth with a mass of so many different species? Nothing has even come close. So I don't blame you for thinking that. Hey I certainly had my reservations and doubts. But you're right, they've proved themselves worthy to be here. Why now?"

"Hm?"

"Why bring this to me now?"

Ashley looked back up at the man. "You know my past, Commander. I was afraid that if my initial feelings somehow were made known to you, you'd find adequate reason to send me packing. I know there's got to be many in the Alliance who would like that to happen."

Shepard held his hands open. "I'm afraid you've got me at a loss here, Ash. Your past? The files I have on you is clean. Excellent technical scores across the board, but nothing but crap assignments that have been thrown your way. It's definitely not right for someone of your skill and ability."

"Thanks, Commander." Ashley smiled softly. "But you mean you really don't know?" She steadied herself. "I'm General Williams granddaughter, the commander of the Shanxi garrison in the first contact war. The only Human to ever surrender to an alien race."

"Ah." Shepard nodded. "That'd be why you got the crap assignments. The Alliance does like to hold a grudge. Certainly doesn't make it right. Now I understand why you drive yourself so hard. You've been basically blacklisted but you've still kicked the door right back into their faces. Gotta respect that."

"A Williams has to be better than the best, if only to avoid suspicion." Ashley exclaimed. "That's what Dad used to say. He had it worse but he didn't let it effect him, no matter what they threw at him. And here I am. Kicking the door in as you say, I like that." She grinned. "I won't let our name rot throughout the annuals of history. Granddad deserves better and I'll work my ass off to make sure the Williams name is remembered for all the right reasons. There's nothing I won't do if I think it's the right call, believe me."

"Feels like I should have figured this out myself, guess I'm not filling out the title much yet am I? Don't answer that." Shepard said with a smile. "I appreciate you telling me this, Ash. It's good to finally know where that drive is coming from."

"Such a mysterious stranger, was I?" Ashley raised her eyebrows. "So what about you, skipper? Got any long lost relatives you're trying to make proud?" A grin formed on the woman's face. "Maybe a little lady back on Earth?" She held up her hands quickly. "Okay, okay. Maybe I'm pushing it a little."

"Maybe." Shepard laughed. "But if you haven't noticed by now, I'm not exactly a stickler for the rules."

Ashley noticed that he evaded her question. "All the better for it, that's what I say. And yeah, I noticed! I've got a Krogan for a neighbor and now there's a reporter probably writing some sort of a cover story here too." Ashley chuckled to herself. "Is she sticking around? I could always find her a flak jacket if you want to bring her down to the surface."

Shepard's face gave nothing away. "Felicity? No she'll be leaving soon. Do you want your face in the news, Ash?"

"Better my face than Wrex's."

"On that we can agree!"

The two shared a laugh, but Ashley watched the man. He had quickly tried to divert attention away.

"You know I didn't see her in action, but I hear from those on the ground she put on quite a show down there. Sounds like I missed something special. She trained?"

"I.. don't know." Shepard stuttered slightly before shaking his head. "Hasn't come up in conversation."

"Really, skipper?" Ashley raised an eyebrow. "It might have been worth asking along the way considering the lives she saved. Eh." She shrugged. "No matter, she'll be back doing whatever she does soon enough. And us? We're going to hunt down that bastard Saren and make him pay for what he's done." Ashley checked her omni-tool. "I best get back to it before we arrive at the Citadel."

Shepard stood to meet her as Ashley raised from her chair. "Nothing more I can do for you, Ash?"

The soldier shook her head and smiled. "Just wanted to drop in my long awaited apology. Usually I like to bottle these things up, you know how it is. But it had to be said."

"I understand, Ash." He offered a hand that was immediately shook by the woman. "You know where I am if you ever need to talk. Just, no more apologies okay? They're not needed, I swear."

Ashley grinned. "I'll remember that if you ever find me black out drunk on a floor somewhere." She quickly held up her hands. "I'm kidding!" She leaned in to whisper. "I'm good at hiding." With a grin she spun around and left the office, the door closing behind her.

Ashley stepped out of the elevator as it entered the cargo-bay, heading directly towards Garrus. She shot a glance towards Wrex, but the Krogan wasn't paying any attention to her or anybody else for that matter.

"Did you hear from your contact?"

Garrus nodded quickly. "I did. I just-" The Turian hesitated, clearly troubled. "Asking for this information, it just feels wrong. I, are you sure we're doing the right thing here?"

"Absolutely." Ashley nodded. "You trusted your gut, right? How many times in the past on the Citadel did that work for you."

"Almost all of the time."

"Exactly. And you're right again here, we both are. This is for the good of the mission, Garrus."

Garrus slowly closed his eyes before re-opening them. He pressed a button on his omni-tool. "Here. I'm transferring you everything he managed to dig-up."

Ashley's eyes went wide. "Is this?"

"Yeah." Garrus nodded. "But think about what you're doing here. I'm not only saying this as a former cop but as a team-mate. If you get caught-"

"I won't." Ashley shook her head. "I'll be careful, I promise."

"So I take it your chat with the Commander led you to this conclusion."

The soldier nodded solemnly. "Unfortunately, yeah. He's hiding something."

"And what if it's nothing."

Ashley shrugged. "Then we did our job, looking out for the mission at hand. But if it's something?" She shook her head. "I just hope it is nothing, for all of our sake's. This is going to be a hard enough fight as it is. If we can clear our minds of this mess, we'll be in a better position right?"

Garrus still looked uneasy. "I guess."

"Thanks for this." Williams smiled as she patted her omni-tool. "I'll let you know what if I find, okay?"

The Turian approached the mako as Ashley returned to her workbench, analyzing the information that Garrus had sent across to her. "Spirits." Garrus muttered to himself. "What have I done?"