For the eightieth time in a span of twenty minutes, Sam is seriously thinking of trying to borrow a spare suit from a quarian. She's pretty certain the face-plate acts like sunglasses, and the ones she's currently sporting are doing nothing to keep the artificial sun out of her eyes. She swears to never go to a bar with and asari serving drinks again. Especially if they happen to be related to Liara.
"They're all so evil…" she mutters, unaware she's voiced her thoughts.
Tali is in the middle of a riveting explanation of the warp coil when Sam speaks, she isn't surprised it has nothing to do with the coil, but Tali is having fun prattling on about the Normandy tech anyway. She knows Sam can understand some of it, whenever she is paying attention.
It's clear that Sam had been heavily drinking the night before, but she is still managing to hold a conversation with Tali at least, until now, the first thing Tali doesn't known the context of.
"Who?" She questions when Sam stares at her, but doesn't continue.
"Asari. The rudest. One doesn't know when to let a 'joke' go and the other gets all seductive and giving me weird drinks. Ugh," Sam is doing a weird thing with her tongue and Tali watches in fascinated disgust, "my mouth tastes like ass and that's after I brushed and gargle ten times. Six thousand credits have failed me!" she cries out and then quickly turns her head to look at Tali once more, slightly wincing at the fast movement, "do you think you can lend me a quarian helmet? They block out the sun, right?"
Sam slumps against the bench, missing how Tali tenses at the question. It was one of those times Tali couldn't decide between hating or loving that humans can't see her face because Sam obviously has no idea how treasured a quarian helmet is, "I think maybe I should teach you about quarians instead of tell you more about Ashley."
"What?" Sam sits up so fast that she starts to see spots, "oh God," she moans, slowly placing her head between her knees.
Tali watches in apprehension, unsure of what she should do with this mess of a human, "Uh, do you need me to take you to Chakwas?"
Sam waves her off, "No, no. I'm perfectly fine dying right here." She catches the startled movement, "Not literally, just had way too much to drink last night and some not-so-random asari was feeling… playful."
"But don't you have a thing for Ashley?" Tali questions, clearly confused. She didn't give any mind to Sam's earlier ramblings but they were slowly starting to make sense.
"Just because of a passing infatuation, " Tali crosses her arms and Sam swears she can see the girl glaring at her, "...a really really deep passing infatuation?" Tali tilts her head and Sam rubs at her face, "ugh fine whatever, just because I have stupidly strong feelings for that thick headed soldier doesn't mean I can't go and find… relief in someone else." Sam leans back slowly, her eyes are closed and she doesn't notice that she knocked the sunglasses askew when she rubbed at her face earlier. "Nothing even happened, it was—oh my God, that was Liara's father!"
Tali doesn't stop laughing the entire time Sam relays the story about the evening before.
Liara pauses briefly on the steps leading to where Sam and Tali are seated, the sudden burst of filtered guffaws startling her. She hesitates and gathers what little courage she can before slowly approaching.
Tali spots her first, her laughter turning into snickers, "Hey, Liara!" she says far louder than Liara thinks is necessary. She sees Sam flinch and she pauses, unsure if It's because Tali announced her presence or if It's because Sam looks incredibly ill.
Sam groans and sags against the bench, unable to muster up the energy to escape.
"Hello, Tali…" Liara hesitates, "Samantha."
Tali bounces in her seat and quickly stands, "Keep an eye on her for me! I need to find some new parts for my suit!"
"No, wait!" Sam says weakly as Tali scampers off, "Shite!"
"I will leave you alone, if you wish," Liara says quietly.
Sam groans, she's pretty sure she should be the one making Liara feel guilty. However, Liara is standing there like a wounded puppy and Same can hardly stay mad at her, "no, it's fine." She watches out of the corner of her eye as Liara sits gingerly next to her and reaches out to fix the sunglasses on Sam' face. "Thanks," Sam mumbles, unable to stop the flush to her cheeks.
"I am truly sorry, " Liara says earnestly. The tears are gathering again and Liara has to bring a hand to her chest, the horrible feeling coils in her anytime she thinks of the damage she has caused. The rift between herself and Ashley has been unexpected and it leaves lingering affects between her and Shepard as well. Had Liara known the trickle effect her actions caused she would have never followed through with this plan. She silently vows to never go to Joker again for advice and leave the 'practical jokes' to humans from now on. She's going to do anything she can to fix this mess.
Her musings are cut short by a snort next to her, "Next time just blow someone up with biotics or something if they hit on Shepard. It has far less consequences."
"Yes, that would be more direct," Liara agrees, not really taking it to heart, but understanding what Sam is trying to do.
"What is it?" Sam finally says after they sit in silence and Liara's continuous fidgeting.
Liara chews on her bottom lip as she picks at her pants, unable to look at Sam, "I— I was wondering if your condition has anything to do with the possible side effects of melding?"
Sam blinks in confusion until she remembers that Liara had a clear view of her father yesterday, "God no, I think your dad was trying to give me alcohol poisoning though," she jokes.
"Oh, I see. Some humans have adverse reactions to asari melding, especially in the case of sexual pleasure. I wanted to make certain you were taking proper care of yourself if, that were the case. "
It's hard for Sam to keep from laughing, Liara hasn't looked at her once and seems to be having a hard time from keeping her face neutral.
Sam stills, her face red. She almost immediately cuts off Liara, to deny that anything happened, but there is a small voice begging for revenge and this is the perfect opportunity to do so. Liara's father obviously hadn't denied the accusations and Sam certainly isn't going to let Liara off the hook just yet. "I'll… keep that in mind for next time, I guess." She nearly chokes on her own spit at the look of horror that flashes across Liara's face.
"That would be," Liara swallows thickly, "...a wise decision."
They sit in silence, Sam too hungover to care about keeping a conversation going and Liara too mortified to speak, trying to force the images of what her father has possibly done to Samantha out of her head.
Sam is almost asleep when she hears Liara gasp beside her, "Hmm?"
There's a smile on Liara's face and Sam is confused when she sees the reasoning for it, "Uh is that… a good thing?"
Near the Presidium Lake is Ashley and Shepard. Shepard has Ashley bent over, one arm around her neck and the other fending off Ashley's flailing arms, both of them shouting something Sam can't make out from their distance. No one seems bothered by the situation, C-sec isn't even glancing in their direction.
Ashley manages to get out of Shepard's grip for only a few seconds before she's pulled back and Shepard has her arms underneath Ashley's armpits and her hands locked behind Ashley's neck, forcing Ashley's head towards her chest. Sam can swear they are arguing and the smile on Liara's face does not make sense.
"OK, what the hell is happening right now? "
Ashley leans against the railing, staring out across the lake, lost in thought. There were too many things that happened yesterday and she isn't handling them as well as she'd like. Her patience is running thin and it makes processing them an issue.
The Sam thing iss the only one she can even consider easy at this point. She at least knows Sam is interested and the short talk she had with Sarah convinced her to see it through. Whether it lead to something romantic or not, she isn't going to let the galaxies pending doom stop her from enjoying what is left of it. She did have a brief moment, of what she likes to call an Adult Tantrum (getting drunk and dancing horribly at an equally terrible club), after seeing Sam go off with Liara's father. She knows she has no right to comment either way, Sam can do as she pleases, but that doesn't stop Ashley from being grumpy about it.
It figures, though, she finally starts to notice someone's attraction for her and they move on. She really hopes it's just a fling and not permanent.
Ashley shifts her weight, sighing. Yesterday was such a mess.
She has no doubt Shepard would have shot her. She would have done the same in Shepard's place. She has no doubt that everyone thinks she would have shot Shepard too, had she not convinced her of Udina's treachery. Had it been anyone other than Shepard, they would have been right. Just the thought of being able to pull the trigger has her breath catch and tears burn at her eyes.
After everything, she knows she never would have done it, even if Shepard had been wrong, she would have stood there and taken a bullet without shooting one of her own.
She only wishes that was the end of it, the trust she openly gave afterwards would have magically resolved their issues. Only she fears it did the opposite, Shepard won't even look at her now.
She might have to talk to Liara about it.
Which stirs up even more issues and Ashley wants to scream in frustration. Liara had obviously done something to upset Sam a great deal, but no one will fill her in. She has a hard time believing Liara would do something to hurt a friend in the Normandy family to make them as upset as Sam is.
"This is such a mess, " she grumbles, hitting the railing with the butt of her hand.
"I think the Citadel has taken enough damage, don't you?"
"Just hoping that maybe they'll replace this with something nicer looking," Ashley replies, trying to cover up how much Shepard startles her.
Shepard smirks and Ashley knows it doesn't work. Sighing, Ashley looks towards the lake again, chewing nervously on the inside of her cheek as Shepard leans her back against the railing, arms crossed and staring directly at Ashley.
Ashley fidgets as Shepard continues to stare. It's minutes before either of them move, Ashley turns to face Shepard who drops her arms and takes a small step towards Ashley.
"I'm sorry," they both say.
"What?" Ashley frowns, "for what?"
"Putting a gun in your face for starters," Ashley starts to blow it off, but the look in Shepard's eyes stops the blase comment from surfacing.
"It was necessary," she sighs and adds, "I did the same thing."
"Bullshit," Shepard spats, "you had no intention of ever pulling that trigger. I know you better than that."
Ashley looks away in frustration, almost grateful that Shepard still knows her even after all this time. The only reason she even brought the gun up was pure reflex.
"So now what?" she asks, nearly begging for Shepard to trust her again.
"You apologize to me for believing I would purposely hurt Liara and give Cerberus anything and I apologize for being an assholes about your feelings."
Ashley bristles, she appreciates the bluntness, she really does, but it still stings, "What are you talking about?"
Shepard grins and it does not sit well with Ashley, "Your feelings that ping-ponged like crazy for Liara and me."
Ashley chokes on her words and Shepard starts to giggle at her bumbling, "How— but— that's not—"
"You're so red right now, oh man, I can't breath," Shepard wheezes through her laughter.
Ashley continues to flail on the inside, this isn't at all how she pictured this going, but she isn't going to complain. She growls and punches Shepard in the arm, "Shut up!"
Shepard snorts, taking a moment to catch her breath, and then punches Ashley back.
"Damn it, Skipper! " Ashley cries out, her shoulder still sore from before.
"Whoops," Shepard crackles, still unable to completely control herself.
Growling, Ashley shoves Shepard, catching her off-guard, "Asshole!"
"Hey!" Shepard shouts and shoves her back, it doesn't take long before the two of them are trying to overpower the other.
Liara turns to Sam, her grin faltering, but returning to it's original brilliance and Sam curses her fate again for being surrounded by all these pretty people, "Everything is just fine."
Sam turns to the view again, this time she can't tell who has the upper-hand, Shepard and Ashley are struggling to stay upright as they try to overpower the other in their grappling contest. "Is this some kind of brutish military thing because that looks more like fighting than mending. "
"They have been avoiding each other for a long time now, barely speaking," Liara pauses, trying to choose her words carefully, "I am sorry, I do not know how much is acceptable for me to say. I do not wish…" Something catches her attention and Liara grabs Sam, ignoring the squawk of protest and painful moan, and leads her to Shepard and Ashley. "I do not wish to widen the rift I have opened with Ashley," she finishes.
Sam stares as Liara let's go of her and throws an arm out towards Ashley, who freezes in place, and the other glows as Shepard begins to float in the air.
"Damn it, Liara!" Shepard shouts as she tries to right herself, "Shut up, Ash!" she yells at Ashley who is laughing at her.
"Having a little trouble," Ashley taunts. Liara's hold on her is already wearing off.
Shepard falls to the ground and Ashley's face scrunches in annoyance, knowing what's to come.
Shepard dusts herself off and stares at Ashley, arms crossed.
Ashley let's out a sigh and mutters under her breath.
"Say that again, I couldn't hear you."
"Having a little trouble, ma'am?"
"That's better," Shepard grins as Ashley is released.
"So glad you approve," she mutters, rolling her sore shoulder. She really needs to stop aggravating it.
Her breath leaves her quickly as Shepard's body impacts with hers, for a moment she thinks it's starting all over again, but there's a soft 'Thanks for trusting me.' in her ear that makes her go slack as she returns the hug. "I wish that I had spoken only of it all."***
Shepard pulls back, a smirk in place, but it takes her a moment to respond, "Is it weird that I actually know that one."
Ashley's eyes widen as she nods, "I think hell just froze over because of it."
"I am so lost," Sam all but whines, unknowingly interrupting Shepard's plan to reignite her and Ashley's scuffle. Sam flops onto the grass, not caring what it looks like. Whatever was given to her yesterday gave her the worst hangover, she plans to never drink that again. "Whenever you guys are done being crazy children, please carry me back to the Normandy, thanks." She misses the playful shoving Shepard starts with Ashley at her comment.
Sam yelps as a blue light surrounds her and she can feel herself being lifted into the air. "No, no! What, oh god put me down," she shrieks, mostly in surprise. She glares daggers at Shepard who nearly falls over from laughing. Ashley has the decency to turn away but Sam can see her shoulders shaking. She lets out another shriek as she starts moving and Sam huffs as Ashley can no longer hide her laughter, "I hate all of you!"
Liara is smiling, but it is weak and tentative and Sam shakes her head, smiling slightly to put Liara at ease. It works, a little too well, Liara manages to raise one of her tattooed brows and makes Sam spin briefly before pulling her along towards the elevator.
Her screech breaks whatever restraint Ashley and Shepard has left and they both have tears streaming down their faces as they struggle to breath through their laughter.
***Stanza LXIII - Stanzas in Mediation - by Gertrude Stein