A/N: If you were following this story before, most of this chapter will be very familiar to you. The bulk of this chapter has been repurposed from the previous Chapter 47 that I pulled and replaced last week. The good news (for me at least!) is that from here I can move forward with the story I've envisioned. As always, thank you for reading.
(and please drop a review if so moved - feedback is always very much appreciated)
As the Normandy approached Grissom Academy, Shepard's suspicions about the nature of the faked transmission were confirmed by the not insignificant number of Cerberus cruisers surrounding the facility. Using the Normandy as a diversion, Cortez dropped Shepard, Liara and Ashley from the shuttle at an unguarded cargo dock. The team immediately made their way to the server room, finding the facility's director, Kahlee Sanders, locked within.
Most of the station had managed to evacuate at the first hint of the Cerberus invasion, with just a small number of students left on board. As best as Shepard could tell, this last remaining group was of particular interest to Cerberus, which meant she needed to ensure that she got to them first. Sanders directed Shepard to Orion Hall where the students were holed up with their instructor, with Cerberus troops converging on them. Sanders remained where she was to provide eyes and ears to Shepard's team as they fought their way to the students.
Ashley and Liara followed Shepard through the doors leading to an open common area. Ashley scanned the two-story chamber, her eyes instantly drawn to the small woman at the other end yelling obscenities at a group of Cerberus soldiers as she threw them across the room with a powerful biotic blast. The woman was barely dressed, wearing what could only charitably be described as a bra that criss-crossed over her small breasts, beneath a short leather jacket that covered only her arms and shoulders. Her middle was bare; her legs only partially covered by low-slung skin-tight pants (Is that leather?) with generous cut-outs displaying large expanses of skin, complemented nicely by her knee-high leather boots. With the exception of her surprisingly delicately featured and rather attractive face, every exposed inch of her flesh from her scalp on down was covered in tattoos. Ashley found herself enjoying the view a little too much when she noticed that Shepard had lowered her shotgun and had begun jogging over to the woman.
"Jack!" Shepard sounded almost giddy.
"Shepard?" Ashley's eyes widened the woman grabbed the commander by the head with both hands, planting a sloppy kiss on Shepard's lips. "Fuck me! It's great to see you. Good timing!"
The reunion was short lived, as a Cerberus atlas stomped through an open hallway, scanning the room for targets. Jack threw a wave at the atlas, barely slowing the machine, while Shepard opened fire. Ashley noticed a group of young students cowering behind Jack, and broke from her cover to take a few shots at the atlas. Liara did the same.
Jack shot a knowing look at Shepard, followed by a nod. Ashley felt a prick of irritation as she realized the two had their own non-verbal battlefield language. Jack called to the students to follow her, telling them that Shepard would keep the mechanical beast off their asses as they found safety.
While Jack and her group sought cover on the mezzanine under a barrier they jointly generated behind Jack's covering fire, Shepard and her team took down the atlas and a few persistent Cerberus soldiers.
Once they cleared the room, Shepard hopped up the stairs two at a time to check on Jack. Ashley followed behind at a somewhat more normal pace.
"Kahlee said she was putting out an SOS. I had no idea the fucking queen of the girl scouts would show up." Shepard's smile faltered just a bit at the last. When she'd pulled her hand out of Jack's pants so long ago aboard the Normandy, that was one of the insults Jack had thrown at her.
After a quick exchange with the students, Jack approached Shepard, giving her an appraising look. Her demeanor swiftly changed with the volatility of a summer storm as Jack glanced at the damage caused by the Cerberus troops and then back at the commander. One final glare at Shepard was followed by a swift punch square in the jaw. "Goddammit, Shepard. How many times have I told you not to trust Cerberus?"
"No shit, Jack. When did I ever?" Shepard rubbed her face. Ashley tensed up, taking a step towards them. Without turning her head, Shepard waved Ashley off. The exchange did not go unnoticed by Jack. She glanced from Shepard to Ashley, a knowing smirk tugging at her lips.
Gesturing at Ashley with her head, Jack asked, "Who's this, Shepard?" Ashley wasn't sure she was exactly comfortable with the way Jack's eyes seemed to devour her from head to toe.
Shepard grinned. "Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams. Ashley, meet Jack."
Jack looked back at Shepard, raising one carefully manicured eyebrow. "That's her? Explains a lot." Over Shepard's shoulder she spotted Liara. "Hey Blue. Lookin' good." The asari actually blushed.
Before Ashley could process the first comment, Jack continued. "Listen, Shepard. Right now I need to get my guys out of here."
Shepard gave Jack an appraising look. "Your guys?"
Jack shook her head, as if she couldn't believe it herself. "Yeah. I guess so."
Shepard snorted good-naturedly. "Never figured you for the nurturing type. Have you gone soft on me, Jack?"
Jack playfully shoved her shoulder. "Fuck you. While you were off vacationing in luxury accommodations on Earth, I had some free time. Someone in Alliance brass suggested coming to the Academy to 'share my gifts,' so I took them up on it. Seems to have worked out - the little bastards are actually learning lots of shit."
One of the students called out, "That's our psychotic biotic!" Another followed with a mocking, "I will destroy you!"
Jack snorted at the last. "Drink your juice, Rodriguez. You couldn't destroy wet tissue paper."
Shepard laughed. "Oh yeah. They're learning." Shepard was interrupted by Kahlee Sanders, advising Shepard how to get to the Cerberus shuttles that would give them a way off the station. As they began heading for the atrium that would eventually lead to their final destination, Shepard took a minute to give Jack a slow once-over. "Gotta say, Jack, military life suits you. You look great."
Ashley narrowed her eyes at the corresponding look Jack gave to Shepard as she replied, "You're not looking so bad yourself."
Ashley watched cautiously as Shepard and Jack walked together ahead of her. They shared an easy comfort with each other, made obvious by the way Shepard would casually rest a hand on Jack's shoulder or Jack would bump her hip into Shepard's as they laughed at some shared joke. Ashley wasn't jealous. Not exactly.
But when Jack reached back to slap Shepard's ass with no objection coming from Shepard, Ashley resisted a sudden urge to pull out her pistol. Instead, she clenched her jaw tightly and tried to distract herself by making idle conversation with Liara, although her eyes never left the women in front of her.
They finally made their way through several waves of Cerberus soldiers (and another atlas or two) to get to the shuttle bay, where they met Sanders. One student took a round to the arm and Shepard had somehow managed to dislocate a shoulder, but as a whole they were otherwise relatively uninjured. Liara piloted the shuttle to the Normandy as the small band scattered themselves around the seats in back.
Jack sat across from Ashley and Shepard, slumping in her seat with her legs kicked out. Ashley's gaze moved up those leather-clad legs, past Jack's exposed hard abs, settling on Jack's chest. Ashley fixated on the beads of sweat trickling down between Jack's barely covered breasts. "Like what you see, Marine?" Ashley's eyes jerked up to Jack's face, unsurprised to find Jack smirking at her.
Aware that she was sitting next to Shepard, Ashley quickly turned her eyes towards her in hopes that her lover's attention was elsewhere. It wasn't. Shepard had a similar look of amusement on her face. She leaned over to Ashley, keeping her voice low, but not quite low enough. "I told you, didn't I? Hot as hell." Ashley could only shake her head, cheeks flushing when she heard Jack quietly sniggering.
OoOoO
The shuttle boarded the Normandy, where Shepard quickly shucked her armor and headed for the med-bay to have Chakwas pop her shoulder back into its socket (and listen to the familiar good-natured lecture about taking better care of herself during battle) before continuing on to the comm room to check in with Anderson. On the way, she asked Traynor to set up Jack, Sanders, and the students with temporary quarters for the trip back to the Citadel. It did not go unnoticed that Ashley had stayed behind in the shuttle bay, tending quietly to their equipment.
Ashley watched silently as the lift doors closed on Shepard and the others. She had ignored the commander's quizzical look, instead focusing on her rifle on the worktable in front of her, as long, nimble fingers moved of their own accord. She needed the mindless distraction of disassembling and cleaning her weapon while she churned over some unfamiliar emotions.
She puzzled over why she was so perturbed by Jack's interactions with Shepard. Ashley was well aware that Shepard attracted attention from both women and men wherever she went, and it had never bothered her before. Well, not much at any rate. She didn't mind when she noticed Shepard looking appraisingly at other women. She often did the same. Hell, sometimes they admired other women together. But there was just something about Jack that got her hackles up. Perhaps not about Jack specifically, if she was being honest with herself. It was the familiarity between Jack and Shepard that made Ashley inexplicably uneasy.
Ashley tried to quell the uncomfortable emotions roiling in her chest by reaching for another rifle on the bench, not caring who it belonged to. She simply craved the tedium of the work to keep her mind from dwelling too much on her unexpected reaction to seeing Shepard with Jack.
