Samantha sighs as she lethargically moves towards one of the shuttle bay's consoles. She ponders a few of the pistols, it's been years since she's actually held a service gun, let alone fire one at anything (she tries to ignore the fact that her coveted toothbrush was more expensive than some of them, apparently it was cheaper to fight mercenaries and reapers than it was to fight plaque and tooth decay). Truthfully her reasoning for wanting one now was to try and find new distractions from the content she received a couple of days ago.
God, had it really only been two days?
"Need any help?"
Sam's reaction is slow, she turns , shock clearly showing on her face, "damn it!" she shouts. In her lethargic haste to turn and face Cortez she stumbles over her feet, the exhaustion severely limiting her body's coordination.
"Whoa, hey," Steve reaches out, steadying Sam, "I don't think you should be checking out any weapons if you're this tired."
"I can't sleep and I need a distraction," she can hear the defeat in her own voice and she's too tired to even care.
Cortez pulls out a small stool he usually keeps hidden from Vega, something he started doing in an effort to get the man to stop pretending to be interested in conversation while attempting to show off his body. Steve can admit, to himself at least, that he likes the show but there is only so much of Vega's arrogance he can handle at any given time (even if it is well-deserved).
Steve helps Sam onto the stool and steadies her, bending slightly to get a good look at her. He shakes his head at her dejected expression, "so you thought playing with guns would help?" He chuckles, walking to his work space and grabs one of his bottled waters and hands it over, "I think only Garrus and the LC can find that kind of peace with a gun."
He realizes too late that something he said was not what she wants to hear when Sam lets out a frustrated cry and brings her hands to her hair, clutching at it and taking deep breaths. "Who do I blame for that reaction?"
"Doctor T'Soni," she states, rubbing at her burning eyes. All she wants is sleep, but the second she closes her eyes, visions of the muscles rippling across Ashley's back twisted and shimmering with perspiration as she lays punches to the work-out bag invade her mind. She realizes every place she has gone to try and ignore the thoughts of Ashley running rampant in her brain were the places Ashley was most often in, she chooses to ignore that revelation.
The confusion Sam see's on Cortez's face has her laughing, "I'm— I'm sorry," she manages to wheeze out, the laughter bubbling up again and she nearly falls off the stool.
"Yeah you definitely need some sleep," he mutters, holding her steady. "You're not drunk, right?" He asks after of moment of watching her completely lose it.
"No," she gasps out, her laughter fading slightly, "I wish." She pauses, "No, no I don't. That would probably make this worse," she has another bout of laughter, bordering on hysteria. It's followed by hiccups and tears.
Slightly unnerved, Steve calmly places his hand over Sam's, "I find it hard to believe Doctor T'Soni is responsible for your current state. She seems a bit shy with almost everyone on this ship." He hesitates before adding, "unless it's some kind of crush because—"
The peal of laughter that follows catches him off-guard. Full and rich, like he just told the funniest joke she's ever heard. Not at all like the previous bouts that seemed like she was bordering crazy town.
"You alright, Specialist?" The eerie feeling of deja vu flickers through Sam when she catches the gaze of Ashley Williams staring curiously at the two of them as she steps into the shuttle bay.
"Fine, perfectly fine!" Sam was proud of herself that she didn't visibly flinch or scamper away, something she was guilty of doing for the past two days. The squeak in her voice, however, was something else entirely. She can feel her cheeks flush quickly when Ashley moves closer, her eyes unwillingly lower as she stares, mesmerized, by the slight sway of Ashley's hips.
Her face grows warmer as her memory flashes back to the second vid that EDI had graciously opened for her.
It takes her about three minutes into the vid to cover her eyes and try to shut it down. Another twenty-four seconds to realize that Edi, and Liara by proxy, are forcing her to view them in their entirety and will not allow her to turn them off.
In all honesty, the vid has been as tame as she originally hoped. The only problem was while it was perfectly innocent vid of ashley cleaning and reassembling her guns, Samantha's mind had chosen to go into a different, more risque path. She can't ignore the muscles in Ashley's arms move and jump as she skillfully and methodically strips her sniper rifle and cleans it before piecing it back together and then moving on to her shotgun.
Sam's brain decides it is perfectly ok to go from Ashley skilled with her hands with guns, to skilled with her hands in other avenues. Therein lie the problem. While these viewings were completely harmless, almost like watching security footage, Samantha's imagination has other ideas.
Sam jerks out of her memories when she feels a warm hand on her forehead, "you feel kind of warm," Ashley says softly.
She won't piece it together until later, but Ashley's concern and care of her supposed decline in health was almost identical to her demeanor when she was working on her guns. One of the many quirks of Ashley that Sam is beginning to grow fond of. Reluctantly growing fond of, completely reluctantly.
It takes Sam a seconds to catch up to the fact that Ashley is inches away from touching her, but as she finally processes it, her new-found clumsiness arises with abandon— well she's going to pretend it's new.
She let's out an undignified squawk as she tries to lean away, only to misjudge her position and her eyes widen as she feels the stool beneath her move and her body continues backward.
The pain that ripples through her back and head pale in comparison to the humiliation she's feeling as she stares up the ceiling of the shuttle bay. The snorts of laughter Steve and Ashley attempt to smother, after their initial worry, does not help.
Sam groans and covers her face, "that did not just happen." Before she can attempt any kind of dignity (she's sure it would only serve to make matters worse) she feels herself being pulled off the ground.
She stumbles as she's pulled upright, but a hand rests on her elbow and another settling itself onto her hip just as quickly in attempt to steady her.
Her breath catches in her throat when she opens her eyes to find Ashley closer than ever. Ashley's eyes tracing her face and body, checking over her, concern evident, despite the teasing grin at Sam's clumsiness. "Well, I guess it's good most of your work consists of you standing around the CIC. Wouldn't want these pesky chairs to get in your way."
Sam only nods, distracted by how close Ashley is. Her body tingles where there's contact with the lean, muscular form in front of her, her time in basic training recognizing the smell that accompanied hours of cleaning guns, mixing with a smell that could only be Ashley.
"So you do have a soft side, LC," Steve jokes. He glances curiously at Sam's glazed expression.
"Just for the ladies in distress," she winks at Sam and gives her one more look-over. Ashley nods her head as if to affirm everything is good, and pats Sam on the shoulder. She steps back, just far enough to get out of her personal space, but close enough should Sam have another tumble.
Something Ashley was starting to suspect was getting increasingly more likely to happen as Sam slouches over, just slightly, when Ashley let go.
"Sisters," Ashley further clarifies for Steve. "Oldest of four, helped take care of them whenever my dad was deployed."
"Being like a sister to you is the last thing I want," Sam mutters, unaware that the words left her mouth.
"Did you say something?" Ashley asks over Steve's laugh.
Sam blinks a few times, her mind still trying to catch up with itself. Once she realizes her error, her face flushes and she tries to backpedal her way out of it, "n— nothing! No, no I didn't. Words were not said by me. I said nothing. Nope."
Ashley stares at Sam like there is indeed something wrong. Steve continues to laugh, slowly walking back towards the work he set aside; Ashley has a handle on things, he is sure Sam has forgotten he was there anyway.
"Are you sure you're ok? Do you want me to take you to Chakwas to have her check you over?"
Sam nods and takes a deep breath, barely able to stop the moan at the scent she inhales that comes back with a vengeance and only one thing crosses her mind.
She's entirely fucked and a hundred percent in lust with Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams.