The one universal rule one should abide by while following Commander Shepard was expect the unexpected. Ashley knew this quite well. However, despite this, she still couldn't believe Shepard would go so far as to go inside the Geth Consensus. She also wasn't expecting a dozen or so Geth Prime to wake up and happily volunteer themselves to the war effort. Had it not been for Shepard she would have opened fire on the lot of them, no questions asked. She promised she would never doubt her again and instead chose to trust her. And god damn if the Commander wasn't right. She just hoped the payoff was worth it.
Now she sat in the starboard observation deck staring out the wind as her knee bounced to a frantic rhythm. Her arms wrapped themselves tightly across her chest as if she were willing herself to hold it together. Her nerves were so shot that she might have even jumped at the sound of the door sliding open had she not already been on high alert. Without turning to see who it was she said, "You don't have to explain yourself to me, Shepard."
"I've never known Lola to explain herself to anyone."
Ashley turned in her seat to find James Vega with a bottle of liquor in one hand and two glasses dangling from the fingers of the other. The tenseness in her muscles eased up the slightest bit at the sight of him. "Sorry," she said, "I thought you were…"
"Someone else?" he finished for her. "I wouldn't expect Lola for a while. She's busy in the war room planning our attack on the Reaper base."
"No rest for the wicked." Ashley smiled halfheartedly. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Vega raised the bottle and glasses in his hands in case she hadn't already noticed them. "You looked pretty spooked down there. Figured you could use a drink to calm your nerves."
Ashley smiled. "You figured right."
Vega smirked in return as he took a seat next to her in the lounge. He poured them both a drink and handed one to her. "I take it you don't like the Geth," he said.
"Every interaction I've had with them has resulted in me getting shot at, so no, I'm not particularly fond of them." She swirled the amber liquid in her glass before taking a long drink. She cringed as the liquor burned down her throat.
Vega watched her intently. "That's right, you were with Shepard back when she was going after Saren, weren't you?"
"That's right," she confirmed with a nod. "I was also on Eden Prime when the Geth attacked. They wiped out my entire unit."
"Damn," Vega cursed, "No wonder you don't like them."
"And of course Shepard's been busy while we were apart," said Ashley. "Not only has she lived long enough to hold a conversation with a Geth, but she made friends with it too."
"Yeah, Lola has a way of bringing people – or, uh, machines – around."
She smiled at that. "That she does." She downed the rest of her drink and held the glass out for a refill. Vega happily obliged. "I'm just wondering what the Commander was thinking bringing me with her. She knows I have no trust for the Geth, so why bring me on such a sensitive mission?"
"I think she brought you because you don't trust the Geth," Vega chimed in. "That way if shit hit the fan, she could trust you to take care of it."
Ashley nodded. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."
"See? The Commander wouldn't do something without reason," Vega said. "You should have a little more faith."
Ashley was struck with a twinge of guilt. She had been feeling that a lot lately. She had said some pretty harsh things to Shepard back on Horizon, and then again during their mission on Mars. She hung her head, staring down into her drink, and said, "Yeah, I need to work on that." Without a second thought she downed the whole glass in one gulp and reached for the bottled to pour herself another drink.
"Yeah, I couldn't help but overhear you two on Mars. Didn't seem to be a lot of trust there," Vega said.
"I mean, can you blame me?" Ashley said defensively. "She disappeared for two years – I thought she was dead – then all of a sudden she shows up out of the blue working as a Cerberus agent. How else was I supposed to react? We've both seen the trail of bodies left behind in their wake. Even after all that, including what they put her through on Akuze, the fact that she would turn her back on the Alliance to work with Cerberus was… unbelievable."
"What changed?" asked Vega.
"When I saw her during the coup on the Citadel I had my gun trained on her, finger on the trigger, ready to fire. But I couldn't do it. Something in my gut told me she was telling the truth, so I gave her a chance to prove herself. Turned out my gut was right," she said.
"I'm glad you listened to your gut," Vega said.
"Me too," Ashley said. "Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be here right now."
The two sat in silence for a moment as they refilled their glasses. Ashley was feeling the effects of the alcohol by now and realized with drunken satisfaction that she felt much better than she had before. Talking through her feelings always helped but doing so with alcohol in her system felt especially good. She turned to Vega and placed her free hand over his.
"Thanks for this," she said. "I really needed it."
"De nada," he said. "We all need to take our mind off things every once in a while, especially with everything that's going on right now."
Then to her surprise he laced his fingers with hers. She smiled back at him. The two stayed up late into the night talking and trading war stories. They continued to drink until the bottle was good and empty. At this point Ashley had passed out now fast asleep with her head laid to rest on Vega's shoulder, their fingers still intertwined. He looked down at her and felt sorry for the hangover she would no doubt have come morning. Oh well. Nothing a plate of Abuela's huevos rancheros can't fix. As gently as he could, careful so as not to wake her, he got up from his spot next to her and positioned her so she was lying on the couch. He grabbed a wool blanket that was hung over the back of the sofa and draped it over Ashley's body. Before going back to his own bunk for the night, he placed a hand delicately over her flushed cheek and said, "Good night, Ash."