Halfway up to the third deck Samantha stiffens, pulling out of the haze she is in as she realizes where they're heading. In her current state— and the only reason she let Ashley accompany her— Ashley could ask her to dance naked with the newly acquired Prothean (a real live Prothean, the crew tended to verbalize over and over) and she would agree to do so without a second thought.
Speaking of, Sam takes a quick glance out of the corner of her eye and tries not to vocalize the whimper that wants to escape. Ashley is still close, poised to catch her should she fall again. It is something Sam briefly thinks of doing, falling, but she knows she iss too exhausted to put in the effort. She wants to be able to remember every detail; the way Ashley would look at her, probably worried and nurturing all at the same time. The way the muscles in her arms would have felt, holding Sam's weight; all lean and noticeable and great, how warm she has to be. Sam bets that if Ashley were to catch her and lean in close, she could even get a nice brush of that soft looking hair on her face. Such a shame her tired mind iss not up to the task (never too tired to overthink it though). "Pity," she sighs softly.
She feels more than sees Ashley shift and she realizes the elevator doors have opened. Ashley places a gentle hand on her elbow and steers her towards the med-bay. Sam misses the amused smile from Liara who is sipping tea and looking over a datapad and the curious questions Liara receives from Tali about what's so funny about locating extra filters for her suit.
Upon entering the med-bay, Sam freezes by the door, Ashley bumps into her and her gaze immediately goes to the floor.
"Williams, such a rare sight to see you in here when a mission isn't involved." Ashley grins and Chakwas continues, "and Specialist Traynor! What a delight, and how fortuitous, seeing as how you've managed to evade the physical every member of this crew is supposed to have."
"Uh, well you see… the thing is…" Sam briefly glances up, guilty expression on her face and quickly looks away. "I don't actually do the physical stuff, so is that truly necessary?" she asks, her voice squeaking in the middle of her fumbling. Ashley laughs and carefully leads her to one of the beds, making sure she's seated before leaving with a whispered, 'good luck'.
"When was the last time you slept?" Chakwas asks, suddenly in Sam's personal space, taking her temperature and checking her vitals.
Sam figures it's a good thing Chakwas is as skilled as she is and notices without needing to be told. Then again, what that said about her overall appearance was disheartening. "For longer than a couple hours at once? Two days ago," she yawns, "stupid Liara."
"Hmm. No concussion, that's good," Chakwas hums, positioning Sam so she's now lying on the bed. She can't help but notice how Sam keeps avoiding her gaze, her person all-together. "I might have to get Commander Shepard to give you some shore leave the next time we land somewhere suitable."
"Oooh, shore leave," Sam mumbles, almost incoherently. She's not even sure she's taken the time to lie down, because now that she's horizontal she can't seem to move, "Time away from the evil influences!"
"Yes, away from… evil influences," Chakwas slowly repeats. She is most definitely going to be having a very interesting conversation with the Commander. She rummages around in a drawer, pulling out a small tube with a needle attached. "This is a small dose of etomidate to put you to sleep for a few hours, okay?"
"As long as it isn't Thaopa- thiopants- that other stuff," there was a pause and Sam tries to move, albeit lethargically. Chakwas immediately lowers the dosage, Sam iss about to pass out on her own accord, but she needs to stay asleep and for whatever reason, she has trouble with that on her own. "Only if it means I won't dream such evil, rude, arousing dreams. Those are bad."
"Yes. I'm sure they are. Rest now," Chakwas chuckles as Samantha's eyes finally slip shut. "EDI please inform the Commander that I wish to speak with her once she is free."
"The Commander is currently doing an insufficient job at constructing a scale model of the salarian interceptor, an interruption would be advisable."
Chakwas laughs and grins as she imagines the Commander concentrating on her model ship, no doubt frustrated beyond belief, "Yes, thank you, EDI."
"You are most welcome, Doctor Chakwas." Chakwas briefly thinks EDI sounds more accommodating than usual, she dismisses it and makes her way to the Commander's quarters.
The site that greets her upon entry is only slightly unexpected. The pout and frustration dancing over the Commander's face is exactly how she pictured the Commander. The pieces from the model ship stuck in the Commander's hair, however, was not something she thought could happen.
"The great Commander Shepard, first human Spectre, defeated by glue and plastic."
Shepard's hand slips and she somehow manages to put the wing of the ship through the cockpit. She scowls at the low laughter from the doctor, "I can put almost any weapon, currently on and off the market, and sometimes real airborne ships together," Shepard pouts, pushing aside the monstrosity in front of her, "yet these things I have to bribe Tali or Ashley to put together for me and not tell anyone."
"Well, let's just hope the Reapers don't find out about your weakness of model building." Chakwas moves towards the Commander, who iss sitting on her floor, using the low table as her work-space, and bends down to pick up a few stray pieces, "I'm here for official business, unfortunately."
Shepard pauses in trying to remove pieces of the salarian interceptor from her hair, "What is it?"
"There is a member of the crew who is in need of shore leave," she starts, hesitating in her wording, "It isn't anything risky, yet, but there will be extreme ramifications and loss of functionality if the stress levels do not decrease, and soon." Chakwas folds her arms, "truthfully, most of the crew could use the down time, but for now in the case of mental health we do have someone who could use it almost immediately. Preferably in the next few days, if possible, Commander."
Shepard sits back, running a hand through her hair, growing frustrated as it gets tangled in the mess of plastic and glue. Pursing her lips, she has a feeling she knows who Chakwas is referring to. As the highest ranking officer on the ship she knows she can ask, to be certain, but there isn't really a need. There is only one person who is noticeably falling apart, rapidly, and she is worried because she has a feeling they haven't even left the shallow end of all the shit they are going to be swimming through for this war.
She makes a mental note to speak with Liara and EDI, there was more going on than she had been told.
"There are a few things I need to take care of on Tuchanka that I'm afraid cannot wait. For now," Shepard stands, still tugging at her hair, "if at all possible, I'll put Traynor on light duty."
Chakwas gives Shepard a stern look, "I believe you know more about this situation than I was aware of, Commander."
Shepard winces, realizing her error, "I wish I knew the exact details, but I think I know part of the cause and will try and rectify the issue. Believe me when I say that you do not want to know. Hell, I don't think I want to know," Shepard grumbles, continuing to struggle with the glue in her hair.
Chakwas walks closer, pulls out the last piece stuck in the Commander's hair and ignores the yelp of pain and whimper at the loss of a small chunk of hair, "if this has anything to do with her behavior earlier, then I have to disagree with that assessment. Please do not dally in your missions and preferably do so with minimal injury. Specialist Traynor is not the only one on the verge of some serious mental and physical distress." With a perturbed look, Chakwas nods, leaving the Commander alone with a chunk of her hair stuck to the salarian interceptor side panel in her hand.
"Dismissed?"
"What do you think that was about?" Comes Tali's filtered voice, pulling Liara out of her musings.
She knows, of course— or in theory as it were— why Traynor is being escorted to the med-bay. There is a sort of strange pleasure in watching Traynor become slightly unhinged and flustered when she encountered certain crew members. On a surprising note, it also appealed to her intellectually. While she has become more confident in her own person, she still hasn't gotten a true handle on how to deal with humans other than Shepard (and even Shepard still confuses her at times). It is a curious thing to watch as the innocent (mostly) pictures Samantha had been given have somehow become something far more damning than Liara realizes.
Seeing Ashley escort Sam sparked something else. There was genuine worry in Ashley's actions and facial expressions. Liara bites her lip, wondering if perhaps she has gone too far. She has to wonder if EDI is monitoring these things, maybe she can continue to observe later, there was no doubt more surveillance of the two interacting.
"Perhaps Specialist Traynor has been working too hard," Liara finally responds, ignoring the questioning tilt of Tali's head. She knows that Tali doesn't believe her. She is also aware that if Tali finds out what has transpired, she won't be entirely too happy for being out of the loop.
Not to mention the endless teasing Liara knows will happen when Tali finds out she was jealous.
Tali points a finger at Liara, about to call her on her obvious avoidance, when Chakwas storms out of the med-bay and draws Tali's attention. "This just keeps getting interesting! Liara I know you know what's going on, Miss Shadow Broker!" Tali turns to face Liara, only to find her missing and Ashley in her place, food halfway up to her mouth.
"Liara's the Shadow Broker?"
Tali draws back in surprise, the filtered squeak sounding so odd that Ashley chokes on her food in amusement, "serves you right," Tali grumbles, putting a hand to her fast beating heart. "Keelah, don't you know it's rude to sneak up on people?" Tali ignores the smirk on Ashley's face, "where did Liara go?"
Ashley shrugs, it wasn't unusual for Liara to disappear when she walked into a room. She was going to have to sort that out soon, as soon as she sorted herself and the Commander out. Ashley stabs at her food in aggravation, this shit with her grudges against Cerberus and the Commander's association with them were starting to affect more than just Ashley and Shepard and she knows she is going to have to explain what had really happened, and soon.
"Must have had some Shadow stuff to take care of. Guess I missed out on a lot," she says under her breath. Putting aside her misgivings of the previous year, Ashley stirs her food and looks at the med-bay briefly before turning back to her food.
"Is there something wrong with—" Tali gestures behind her, "well whoever that was. I think Liara said her name but I missed it."
"Comms Specialist," Ashley chews on her bottom lip and continues to move her food around in worry. "Probably spoke with her or saw her before going to the War Room," Tali nods, "I think she's just overworked herself. Girl looks like she hasn't slept in days. That and she hit her head," Ashley says, feeling guilty about being the cause of it, she's sure. Not that she knows why, but perhaps Traynor wasn't entirely too keen on people being in her personal space. She can't really think of any other reason as to why someone would jump back so quickly.
"Was she looking for communications under something?" Tali asks, laughing.
Unable to help herself, Ashley snorts in laughter, "no. I think I got a little too close and she freaked, fell off the stool she was sitting on and," Ashley hits her hand on the table, "bam, right on the floor."
Tali crosses her arms and Ashley can see Tali squinting her eyes, "What?"
"Communications Specialist Traynor? S something…" Tali trails off trying to remember what she heard around the ship, "Samantha Traynor, right?"
Ashley nods, "Yeah, that's the one." She frowns, not sure why it matters.
She can't see it, but from the sound of it, Tali is grinning like a fool, "Oh yeah, I'm sure she jumped away from you because you were too close." Tali doesn't even finish speaking before falling into a few peals of laughter, "I'm sure you also think her red face was because she's running a fever or something."
"What else would it be?" Ashley stares at Tali in confusion and frustration.
Tali continues, ignoring Ashley, "Liara definitely is up to something and she's keeping it from me!" Tali stands and gives a careless wave to Ashley as she makes a beeline towards Liara's room, entering without even knocking.
"What the hell is going on?"
AN:: If you read this before Sept 1st 2017 you're then very well aware of the part I took out. Which was here at the end. I did so if only because I realized it implies I would write something more along that avenue later on and while I might, it is a long time from now and it felt very weirdly placed when there still isn't anything like it 7 chapters later.