Ashley stayed with Shepard as long as she dared. She wanted to get back to her rack before the early shift hit the mess, so as 0400 approached she carefully covered the still-sleeping commander with a blanket, quietly dressed and made her way to the door, holding her boots.

"Ash?" Shepard sat up, the blanket falling from her chest somehow making her look vulnerable.

Williams paused, "Yes, Shepard?"

"Thanks for being here. I wasn't sure if . . . I've never let anyone. . . Nobody has ever seen me like. . . And you. . ." Goddammit, why am I so bad with words. I just want her to know what this meant to me.

Ashley returned to the bed, sitting down next Shepard. She took one of the commander's hands in her own, using the other to brush a stray lock of red hair from Shepard's forehead. "You are the most incredible woman I've ever known. I have no idea how you do the things you do, and deal with the shit you deal with. But if there's any chance I can be there for you in any way, I want to. I am even more amazed by your strength now than I was before."

Abandoning words altogether, Shepard leaned into Ashley, kissing her fiercely. Feeling a heat building between her legs, Ashley pulled back reluctantly. "I don't want to, but I need to leave before the early crew shows up for breakfast."

"I don't want you to go."

"Sloane, you know people will talk. And this isn't exactly sanctioned by Alliance regs."

"Fuck what people say. Fuck Alliance regs. Right now this is a Spectre ship, and I'm a goddamn Spectre. Please. Stay."

Ashley couldn't deny her. She'd happily deal with any fallout later. So she stripped down to her skin again and slipped into bed next to Shepard, once more holding her lover as they both fell back to sleep.

OoOoO

The Normandy docked at the Citadel a few hours ahead of schedule. Shepard had meetings with the Council, Anderson and Udina, alone and in various combinations. The Council was still fairly useless to her, providing only vague information if any, but Anderson and Udina promised whatever assistance they could give in her pursuit of Saren.

The Normandy replenished supplies and took care of some routine maintenance. In all, Shepard estimated that they only needed to be docked for 18 hours. It had been several weeks since the last shore leave, so she made sure that the skeleton crew that stayed on board during their last visit to the Citadel had the chance to get off ship for a while. She also encouraged all non-Alliance crew, and anyone with significant time on missions, to get off the ship for a few hours.

And that's how she found herself sitting in Flux with her favorite Marine.

Ashley had brought over two glasses of scotch for them. "I know you're a bourbon drinker, but I thought I'd share one of my favorite 18 year old scotches."

Shepard had to admit it was good. Not top-shelf bourbon good, but pretty good.

As Shepard sipped her scotch, she took the opportunity to admire her date. Ashley was wearing a black tee that clung to her in all the right places. She reached over to put a hand on Ashley's thigh. It hadn't take the crew long to figure out that the two were involved, not since the day after Ontarom, when Ashley left her quarters in the morning. On the plus side, she no longer had to worry about restraining her impulses to touch Ashley in public, although she was still careful to not be too obvious. On the other hand, she had to deal with gossipy whispers as she left a room. That would pass, though. She hoped. She could also do without Wrex and Garrus teasing her about it, although that was actually a little fun. The wistful looks she got from T'Soni were another matter. Those too, would pass. She hoped.

Ashley covered Shepard's hand with her own, giving Shepard her best smoldering look over the top of her glass. The smoldering look was quickly abandoned, though, as her eyes moved down Shepard's body, taking in her strong shoulders and the swell of her breasts, both of which were emphasized by the tight cut of Shepard's tank top. As her gaze moved downwards, she was again reminded of what was not under Shepard's jeans. Her eyes flicked back up to Shepard's, who seemed to be reading her mind, as she replied with a raised eyebrow and half-grin, "Still not."

Finishing their drinks more quickly than one should drink fine scotch, the two hurried back to the ship, to make use of whatever time they had before shore leave was over.

OoOoO

While she was on the Citadel, the one bit of intel Shepard got out of the Council was about a salarian recon team on the planet Virmire that might have information about Saren. They seemed more interested in what happened to the salarians than in how they might help Shepard locate Saren, but Shepard really didn't care about their motives. She thought it was worth investigating. She set out a course that would take them to the Sentry Omega cluster, with a couple of preliminary stops along the way.

Stopping in the Exodus Cluster to mine some hydrogen from one of the gas giant planets in the system led to Shepard somehow rescuing an entire planet from certain destruction by an asteroid aimed at it by some insane batarian. All within a four hour time limit. Although the bastard managed to escape, Shepard consoled herself with the knowledge that she saved the planet and the batarian's hostages. Plus, the time constraints meant she got to drive the Mako all over the asteroid like a bat out of hell, which was her favorite way to drive it.

Shepard sat in the comm room, completing her post-mission report. After it was sent off to Alliance command, she pulled out the datapad containing her preparations for the mission to Virmire. Anderson had told her that he knew nothing of the planet until he'd heard about it from the Council at the same time she did. Shepard hated going into a scenario with so many unknowns. As it was, she had no information from the salarian councillor about who exactly was on the planet, what they were doing, and why they would have information about Saren.

With so little intel, Shepard had to select a team that provided her with the greatest flexibility. She informed Williams and Tali that they'd be hitting the ground with her. She figured that having a sniper and a tech expert could come in handy, no matter what they encountered.

After one more stop to pick up some Asari writings from an otherwise desolate planet, the Normandy was due to arrive at Virmire within 24 hours. Shepard used that time to inspect her new armor (courtesy a grateful engineer who didn't have to ride an asteroid into a planet), to ensure that everything was in order. Williams had earned Shepard's trust in her skills at maintaining Shepard's weapons (along with those of several of the non-Alliance crew), so Shepard knew she wouldn't have to spend much time ensuring her favorite pistol and shotgun were ready.

That didn't stop Shepard from hanging out at the weapons bench a little more than she needed to, of course. She still found watching Ashley work on weapons to be very enjoyable. Ashley had long, capable fingers that moved with surety over the rifles and pistols as she cleaned, modified and repaired them. Shepard also appreciated that Williams would strip down to her sleeveless compression tee when she know Shepard was in the hold to watch.

The crew had settled down somewhat when it came to her burgeoning relationship with the chief. Now that it had been over a week, they'd moved on to the next juicy rumor (poor Joker - he had no idea what they assumed about him and Tali). She'd only heard negative feedback from one crew member, and that was Alenko. But Shepard suspected that was more a product of his jealousy over not hooking up with Ashley himself. He apparently never considered that he simply wasn't her type (at all), and seemed to think that Shepard had wronged him by being with her. She assumed he'd get over it as soon as some other hot marine came along. Well, some other hot straight marine, at any rate.

That night the crew enjoyed a better dinner than usual, in anticipation of what Shepard suspected could be a tough mission. She sat with Ashley, T'Soni, Garrus, Wrex and Tali. Conversation soon devolved into everybody trying to one-up each other with their tales of combat. Shepard was pleasantly surprised that T'Soni was participating, even if her experience was much more recent than that of the rest. Shepard was pleased that her non-Alliance crew had developed such a camaraderie; team chemistry of that sort carried over to the battlefield, and she needed every advantage she could get. She noticed Alenko sulking off in a corner, and made a mental note to talk to him the next chance she got.

By 2200 hours, most of the rest of the crew had retired for the night. They would hit Virmire's orbit just after lunch the next day, and everyone understood the importance of being well-rested in order to better deal with whatever might come up.

Throughout the evening, Shepard had been holding on to her datapad with her plans for Virmire. She referred to it intermittently, knowing that she could prepare only so much with almost no intel to go on. As the rest of the crew drifted away, she picked it up and headed for her quarters. Williams lingered for a moment, silently raising her eyebrows at Shepard. Shepard responded with a flick of her head towards her quarters, and turned to go, knowing Ashley would be right behind her.

Shepard sat at her desk, datapad still in hand. "My apologies, Ash - I still need a few with this. I hate going into this mission so fucking blind."

Standing behind her, Williams placed her hands on Shepard's strong shoulders, and kissed the top of her head. "No worries, Skipper. I'll just be over here drinking your good shit."

Shepard laughed. "Pour me one too, would you? I'll be quick, I promise."

"What's your biggest issue?"

"So far, all I know is that there's a salarian recon team on Virmire with intel on Saren. The last message received was fubar and the situation is unclear. The Council thinks they might have bitten off more than they can chew, but they can't give me any reason why. I don't know why they were there, how many there are, or what is even on Virmire. The Alliance had never even heard of this place until the Council mentioned it. I know nothing. So I have to prepare for everything. Easier said than done."

Ashley handed over a tumbler of bourbon, standing with a hand on Shepard's shoulder. "OK - so Tali and I join you on the Mako when we reach the planet. We figure out the situation, you adjust as necessary. It's what you do, Shepard."

"Appreciate the confidence, Chief. Let's hope that's how it goes." Shepard turned back to her datapad, and Ashley moved away to let her work.

Fifteen minutes later, Shepard put the datapad down on the desk, and declared her work done for the night. Turning around her chair, she realized she must have been completely absorbed in her work to the exclusion of anything else going on in her quarters, because lying on the bed before her was a very naked gunnery chief. "Oh, I'd say you're just getting started, Commander."