Sam has the foresight to take care of any lingering issues before they leave the planet's surface, her last agenda being to let her personal program decode the latest Cerberus intel. Once it's ready, with a confirmation from EDI, Sam makes her way to the third deck.

As she exits the elevator she's nearly slammed back into it from an unexpected body check. There's a steadying hand on her back, the only thing that stops her from falling on her ass. She hears a barely audible apology from Commander Shepard before the doors close and the clearly disgruntled woman is no longer in sight.

"I take it things didn't go so well?" Sam questions coming face to face with Ashley. O f course it's Ashley. Not that I'll ever complain, really.

"It went as well as most missions do with the Commander," Ashley gives her a wry grin.

"I am sorry, Samantha," Sam jumps at the light touch to her arm, Liara standing nearly as close as Ashley, "Shep— the Commander— we lost a very dear friend of ours and she is not taking it well."

Oh," Sam is too focused on getting to make sure Ashleyisn't seriously injured that she didn't realize there were people missing. Still, she feels that there is more to it than that.

Liara shifts again, her nervous agitation becoming more and more obvious that Ashley feels pressed to point it out, "I haven't seen you this nervous since you were trying to make a move on Shepard, what's up?"

Liara gives a strained smile and turns her attention to Sam, "May I have a moment of your time, Samantha? In private?"

"Okay?" her voice squeaks and she blushes when Ashley laughs.

"I am afraid the XO's quarters are not entirely suitable for this conversation, would it be alright if we used your space, Ashley?"

Ashley gives Liara a questioning look, but agrees, "Sure, Chakwas said I need to eat something with all the crap she gave me anyway," she waves her heavily bandaged arms, giving a wince from the pain and momentary stupidity and leaves the two of them alone.

Without a word Liara turns and heads for the Starboard Observation deck and Sam follows. She stays near the door, still able to see Liara's reflection. She can see the worry and the continued fidgeting. The silence is unnerving and it does little to stop Sam's mind from wandering to the recurring dream she has by the very window Liara is next to.

"- am so sorry for the trouble it has caused you."

"Her face flushes and Sam stutters, "Wh- what?"

Liara mistakes Sam's hesitation for anger and tries to alleviate what she thinks is fury, "I did not think it would affect you as much as it has! I was just trying to... what did EDI call it?" She mumbles to herself, rubbing at her forehead.

"Practical joke," EDI supplies, both Liara and Sam jump at the intrusion.

"Yes, practical joke, thank you, EDI."

Liara continues, too wrapped up in her own apology to notice Sam's floundering, "I was attempting to draw your attention away from Shepard and it was suggested to me that humans sometimes play jokes on one another. I suppose I may have been far too curious at how it worked and did not account for ...side effects."

This whole time… Sam had a small inkling that it was a joke but she put that aside when it continued and both Liara and EDI didn't seem like the type of people to go that far. And while she had learned that Liara was far more than she presented, Sam hadn't thought her capable of something so… cruel. Honestly, Sam would have blown it off had it been something that maybe lasted a day or two, but they waited over two weeks to tell her? Two weeks? There could have been far more reaching consequences than she thinks Liara and EDI are even aware of.

Now angry and tired, Sam can't even begin to form a cognitive reply, her eyes wide and her fists clench in effort to not strike out.

Liara takes a hesitant step forward, panic fluttering about her face, unsure of how to approach but Sam stops her with a shake of her head.

"No," she breathes out harshly. Sam has to blink back tears she wasn't aware were forming.

Liara takes a small step back, she can practically feel the anger and hurt radiating from Sam.

"No, you, you just…" Sam's breath hitches as she tries to stop herself from crying. "I mean, I thought— I knew it had to be some kind of j-joke," she let's out a watery laugh, "I knew it, but then it kept going and I thought maybe— just get out." She says it so suddenly that Liara takes another step back in surprise.

"I—"

"Get out! "

Liara tries to reach forward, but Sam knocks her hand aside, "Go!"

Liara brings her hand to her chest and nods, slowly making her way out, unable to stop herself from colliding with Ashley, "Oh— I, I am so sorry, Ashley," she chokes out, apologizing for more than just running into her.

Ashley watches in confusion as Liara quickly disappears around the corner and turns to Sam, her confusion quickly giving way to worry as she sees the tears. "Hey, what's wrong?" Ashley closes the distance between them, Sam too surprised to resist as Ashley pulls them both towards the couch.

Sam moves to wipe her tears, but Ashley stops her frantic movement and reaches out to wipe a newly formed tear herself, "Hey, it's okay to cry every now and then, you know?" She whispers, flipping over one of Sam's hands and starts to gently rub at the wrist, and Sam can't help but stay focused on it, finding it oddly calming.

She chokes out a laugh, "I'm sure you take your own advice."

"Hardly," Ashley chuckles, "I just happen to have three sisters and a kick-ass mom, so I know a few things."

Sam laughs ruefully, "The last thing I want is to be compared to your sisters," she stands, squeezing Ashley's hand before pulling away and wrapping her arms around herself in some form of comfort, "but thanks, I guess." she says as she turns to walk away.

She can't handle the comforting from Ashley right now, no matter how bad she craves it. She feels too stupid for falling for something so obvious and then actually giving into it, that she just doesn't want this to be the reason she wants more than Ashley's physical company.

"Hey, wait!" Ashley's quick enough that she manages to put herself between the door and Sam, but still leaving enough room to not make Sam feel trapped.

Sam feels like crying again because trying to not like Ashley even more is almost impossible now. She only wishes she could start over, and not have her feelings grow because of some stupid ruse and gross invasion of privacy.

There's a shift in Ashley and her expression changes to that overprotective thing that Sam is sure a constant look to anyone who does bad against Ash's family and Sam has trouble catching her breath when Ashley stares at her intently.

"Want me to kick her ass for you?"

It's the last thing she expects and yet knows it's such an Ashley thing to say and Samantha can't help but burst out laughing, missing the relief it gives Ashley.

"I mean, I can try, or maybe I'll pick on Shepard. Pretty sure Liara would kick my ass and then some with those biotics," Ashley continues to ramble.

Sam takes a hesitant step forward, "Maybe just make sure her and EDI stay away from me for a few days?" she suggests lightly, effectively cutting off Ashley's ramble with a tentative hug. "Thank you," she whispers and brushes her lips over Ashley's cheek. Sam quickly turns and barely stops herself from sprinting down the hall, a brief surge of adrenaline rushing through her at her boldness.

"Uh, yeah... sure I can do that," Ashley utters, wondering what she just dragged herself into and perhaps she should make a call home for some much needed advice.

Sam doesn't notice it right away and she can only guess that it's been happening since they had the talk, but she cannot stop the quickness of her heart or the flush on her face as she watches Ashley step in front of Liara, stopping her from coming anywhere near her person for the 'nth time.

"It's like a rerun of the first Normandy," a filtered voice states, startling Sam.

"What do you mean?" she turns to face Tali, someone she hasn't had much interaction with, and as she thinks about it, it's very strange because she's sure Tali and her could have a fun geeky conversation about the Normandy specs.

Tali gestures towards the arguing Liara and Ashley, "Ash being unfriendly towards Liara. Happened almost the moment Liara walked onto the ship."

Sam is hesitant to point out why exactly Ashley is arguing with Liara, but realizes this is her chance to get some answers about what Ashley was like before, "Joker mentioned something about Ashley not liking aliens."

Tali snorts, and Sam can't deny she might suddenly be a little smitten with her. Sometimes she can't decide if she's lucky for being on a ship full of women whom she can throw a plethora of positive adjectives at or if the universe just hates her that much.

"Ashley doesn't like anyone who has never had to struggle for anything in their life."

Sam blinks at Tali for a few moments, shocked. From all the ships rumors, she has believed that Ashley was a little Xenophobic. An unfortunate reality but she'd never truly witnessed it. Sam begins to ask for more details, but she needn't bother as Tali starts to speak again.

"I think the only human, other than Shepard, to be nice to me was Ashley." Sam can't see her face, but she knows Tali is smiling. "With all the stereotypes flying around about quarians, no one really wanted to talk to me, except maybe Engineer Adams. Ash was never openly hostile towards me, not like she was around Liara." Tali shrugs and slurps at one of her protein tubes, "the second we found out Liara was a Matriarch's daughter Ash had it in her head that Liara probably didn't know how to do anything for herself," Tali pauses, waving for Ashley to join them, her chat with Liara finished. Sam is mildly reluctant for the interruption, the opportunity to know more about Ashley put on hold.

As of late, Sam's emotions were a contradictory mess, lately she's given a kind of peace when Ashley's around, however the nerves still eat away at her when she gets near at the same time.

They watch as Ashley pauses near the mess and starts to make something. Moments later Sam's heart flutters as Ashley sets a cup of tea in front of her and follows it with a smile, "thirsty?" She isn't, but there's no way in hell she'll tell Ashley that.

"Thanks."

Ashley nods and squeezes Sam's shoulder, not removing it until she finishes her conversation with Tali, whose head is tilted the entire time. Sam hasn't a clue what they're discussing, she takes a sip of the tea and is surprised by the quality of it. One more thing she'll have to ask Ashley about later when her mind isn't preoccupied with the feel of Ashley's hand resting on her shoulder and resisting the urge to reach up and take the hand in her own.

Whether from the lack of knowledge regarding quarians or for the simple fact that more often than not, the only thing visible was the glow of their eyes, Sam is unable to tell that Tali is watching her during her conversation with Ashley. Which is for the best, as Tali can'tt stop herself from grinning. Through her haze Sam misses Liara walk by once more, Ashley stiffens and glares until Liara meekly grabs and assortment of rations before scurrying back to her quarters.

So focused on the presence of Ashley, Sam nearly jumps out of her chair as EDI announces for Ashley and Liara to join Shepard in the War Room.

Giving Sam's shoulder one last pat, Ashley bids them farewell and grudgingly nods to Liara who slowly follows behind her to the elevator.

It doesn't take long for Sam to notice Tali is definitely staring at her, "What?"

Tali folds her hands on the table, "I'm going to let the Liara thing slide, but not the Ashley thing."

"What Ashley thing?" Is her automatic reply. She wonders if maybe Tali could be that friend she needs to vent to.

"Do you want a list, because I can give you a list."

If Tali already knows, it makes it easier, right? Sam groans, "Am I really that obvious?"

"You looked so disappointed when I stopped talking about her and you have no idea what's happened in the last half hour." Tali grins at Sam's widening eyes, "you don't even know a half hour has gone by! Hah! I don't need Liara after all, I'm pretty sure I know what happened a few weeks ago!"

Sam groans again, it's one thing to maybe think about confiding in someone, but it's another when they make it seem like she's been so obvious this whole time. Who was she kidding, Joker already knows, there's no doubt it's gotten around the ship by now.

"Don't worry about it, Ashley's too dense to notice."

Sam blinks, unsure of how Tali even knows what she was thinking.

"Don't fret, quarians have to be really good at reading body language. Now," Tali leans forward, rubbing her hands together in delight, "do you have time to hear about SR-1 Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams?"

She doesn't even care if she doesn't have time, she's going to make the time.

Tali gets a few good stories in before they're interrupted by Shepard.

She needs Tali, and EDI supplies moments later that there's new readings from her latest kind-of-secret tracking on Cerberus that needs her immediate attention.

With a promise to spend more time together on the Citadel talking about Ashley, Tali leaves.

Their soon-to-be leave on the Citadel gets turned into chaos after stopping by Bekenstein first and Ashley gets carted away to the Citadel, Udina needing her for some hush hush Spectre business.

Sam was also starting to really hate this trend she has going for catching problems a second too late because if her current readings are correct, and they usually are, there is some crazy fucked up shit going down at the Citadel.

Sam has no doubt they're going to be in the middle of all of it and she really wishes she has some way to figure out where Ashley is.