Sam honestly hadn't been trying this time. She came down to the shuttle bay with a list of requests from Shepard and was in need of Cortez's input.
She can hear the grunting and muffled thuds through the lift's doors before they open.
As she steps out Sam blinks in surprise at the sight in front of her. The punching bag Vega normally keeps at his work station had been moved to the center of the shuttle bay, right where Ashley is currently glaring at it as she beats the crap out of it.
Sam begins to wonder if she iss dreaming again, the meddling of EDI and Tali made sure Sam is very aware that Ashley generally keeps to the same routine while aboard the Normandy.
The nudge at her side, however, confirmed otherwise.
"You're starting to drool."
Sam almost shrieks in surprise at the intrusion and turns, "I—" she sighs at the amused face of Cortez. She doesn't even bother denying it anymore, not with the number of times he has caught her down here with flimsy excuses.
"The funny thing is, I think you came down here for something actually work related." He holds out his hand and Sam hands over the work orders she had thrown together, her eyes briefly glancing at Ashley. Steve laughs at her wandering eyes, "Come one, let's get this done quickly so you can go stumble your way through flirting."
Too caught up in their own banter, Sam faux-raging at Steve's comment, they miss Ashley hanging tiredly onto the sandbag, her eyes following Sam as the two retreat to the consoles.
Ashley realizes she burned herself out more than she intended when she first came down here to let our her frustrations, and her shoulder is yelling at her for it. "Shit," she curses and rolls it, trying to loosen it. It fails to do anything but cause her more pain so she opts for falling onto her back and staring at the ceiling.
Most of her frustration from being sidelined from the last few missions were expelled, but it still didn't feel like enough. Shepard hadn't wanted their mending friendship to be jostled in any way, so when the names Jack, Miranda, and Jacob came up in talks with Sam, Shepard immediately took Garrus and Tali. It doesn't take long for Ashley to realize they were part of the Cerberus crap from before; Ashley understands Shepard's hesitation, but that doesn't mean she has to like it.
Chakwas telling Shepard Ashley's shoulder still isn't a hundred percent is't helping her case to be able to watch Shepard's six no matter the circumstance.
Ashley moves in an attempt to get up but finds herself wincing in pain instead. She must have been lying there for longer than she thought, her muscles now stiff and unaccommodating. She grunts as she reaches around blindly for the water bottle she knows is nearby.
"Looking for something," an accented voice calls out from above her.
She opens her eyes and she can just make out the distorted view of Sam through the water bottle being held in front of her face. Ashley reaches out and instead of the bottle, a hand grabs her forearm and tugs her into a seated position.
Sam grunts as she plops herself down next to Ashley. "Your muscles make you heavier than you look," she says as she hands over the bottle.
Ashley flicks some of the water at Sam in response, "What every girl wants to hear."
"Hell, I would. Having brains isn't a hot commodity anymore. Gotta give the ladies something to look at."
Ashley gives her a skeptical look, "I really don't see you having a hard time in the looks department."
Sam tries to fight off a blush, "Yes, well, when I open my mouth and start talking about quantum entanglement communications and the like, they tend to start running, in spite of this marvelous accent."
Ashley shrugs, tossing the now empty bottle into Vega's work-space, smirking when a shout of displeasure reaches her ears, "Their loss."
Sam blinks at Ashley, unable to come up with a witty reply. Somehow she manages just fine with Shepard, mild flirting flowing from both of them. Even with the threat of Liara she still manages to do so. Now it's more of a joke than anything serious, so she finds it even easier than before. But here Ashley is, sweaty and grinning in satisfaction at annoying Vega and all Sam wants to know is how she looks after a long night— no, no I am not going there. I don't need another restless night. She shakes her head, trying to convince herself it will dispel the thoughts.
Ashley misinterprets the action and reaches out and lightly hits Sam's shoulder, "I'm serious."
Sam snorts, punching Ashley back, "Ow! Jesus," she shakes her hand, "bloody hard muscles." She sees Ashley cringe, "Oh no, you can't tell me that hurt."
The corner of Ashley's lips turn up and she shakes her head, "Normally, no." She rolls her shoulder, wincing again, "it's still a little tight."
Sam gasps, "Oh! I'm so sorry! I forgot that you hurt it! And then I go and punch you, of course I punched you, why wouldn't I do something so totally crazy to someone who could probably hang me up on the punching bag without any trouble—" Sam's words continue at a rapid pace.
Ashley chokes on a laugh, "Sam. Sam, stop!" She rolls her eyes as Sam continues to prattle on, "Communications Specialist Samantha Traynor!" Ashley finally barks out.
Sam immediately stops talking, her body stiffens and her eyes go wide and Ashley dares not to try and decipher the look in them.
"You really need a shorter title."
There's an awkward silence, the sound of both Cortez and Vega tinkering unable to disrupt it. The steady rhythm of boots on the metal floor coming towards them a minute later is the only thing that does. "This is going to take longer than I thought," Steve says, handing only part of the data back to Sam. "Why don't you take a break and show the LC here that new chess set of yours."
Sam blinks owlishly at Steve's outstretched hand, slowly grabbing it and is hauled to her feet, "Maybe make use of that access you have to Shepard's room, yeah?" He jokes, coughing out a laugh at the heat rushing to her face.
Ashley stands up and grins, "Shepard told me you play chess." She crosses her arms, "Actually, I'm pretty sure she compared you to one of her old drill sergeant's at the academy."
"Just because Shepard has absolutely no patience or any kind of strategy, what so ever, does not make me some kind of tyrant of a commanding officer!" Sam pouts, hands on her hips.
Ashley and Steve laugh, "Well, why don't I find out for myself then?" Ashley states, grabbing the long-forgotten towel hanging from the bag and leads Sam towards the elevators.
"Don't have too much fun!" Steve shouts after them, laughing at the the look of panic Sam tosses over her shoulder.
"Cortez! How much longer is that gonna take you? I need someone to watch me work out and the ladies just left!"
"I finished this five minutes after Sam handed it to me, and I really don't think either or them are interested," Steve mutters to himself. "If that's all you're offering me, this will take me all night!"
Sam is grateful for the shoulder injury Ashley has, if only because it gives her something to talk about instead of standing awkwardly in the elevator.
"You know, Shepard's shower has hot water."
"What?" Ashley asks, confused at Sam's statement.
Sam blushes, realizing how odd she sounds without any context, "I'm sure you could take a shower with actual hot water, so maybe your shoulder will feel better."
Ashley is silent for a few moments, "Figures Shepard hoards all the hot water."
"Right? I'm so jealous. I would give anything to have a hot-tub around here. We could actually put one in the cargo bay— oh! Or even one of the rooms on the third deck! This ship has enough processing power to have one little bitty tub filled with hot water. Maybe I can sneak it in with all the other requests I give to Shepard. She hardly looks through them as it is—" Sam looks over at Ashley who just stares at her, amused. "Sorry… I just really like hot water."
Ashley snickers, "Apparently."
"Noooo, this was the worst idea, please help," Sam whispers to herself as a loud, satisfied groan is heard a few feet away.
"This is amazing," Ashley's voice rings out over the sound of running water and Sam wants to cry in frustration. "I'm starting to think that you have the best ideas."
"I'm starting to think I have really, really, horrible ideas," Sam mutters to herself before responding, "I always have great ideas! Just ask EDI!"
"I don't recall giving you that kind of praise," EDI's voice filters through the cabin, Ashley's snort of laughter quickly follows.
"You are a terrible wingman, EDI."
"I can regale tales of the time before you knew I was an AI," EDI's voice moves and a hologram of her orbed self pops up in front of Sam.
Sam flushes instantly and stutters, "N— no. That's… can we pretend those things never happened?"
"Unfortunately I do not have a delete button." EDI deadpans. Sam sits in horrified silence before EDI follows up, "That was a joke."
"I don't think I like your jokes."
"Check Mate."
"What? How did— we are going to go to the Citadel one day and go to a shooting range," Ashley grudgingly replies after losing for the fourth time in a row.
"Aw, Liara look, our little marine can't handle losing." Shepard and Liara walk in, both looking more worn out than usual.
Sam snorts, "Commander, the Lieutenant Commander at least has some sense of self preservation and lasts longer than five minutes," Ashley snorts along with Liara's laughter.
Shepard grumbles and shoos them out, "Yeah, yeah go continue your little date elsewhere, politics suck and I'm tired."
Sam blushes furiously as she tucks away the small chess set and brushes her clothes in embarrassment, failing to see the red hue across Ashley's face.
"Getting too old for Command, Ma'am?" Ashley jokes, trying to cover up her embarrassment.
"Ugh just get out, I'm too tired to even make fun of you," Shepard's voice is barely heard through the covers her face is buried in, not caring that either of them are still there.
Liara gives Sam an encouraging smile as she walks them to the elevator and Sam barely resists the urge to stick out her tongue.
"Please ignore her," Liara says softly.
Ashley shrugs, "Hard to do that when her face is plastered all over the place!" She yells just loudly enough for Shepard to hear, who gives a grunt and lazily lifts her arm just enough for Ashley to see her flipping her off before the elevator doors close.
Sam hugs the chessboard, unsure of how to continue. It was so easy earlier, the conversation was minuscule as Ashley had actually been trying to concentrate and Sam was too distracted by watching her that had Ashley been above average, Sam is positive she would have lost at least one round.
They make their way to the observation deck, Ashley stopping to grab a couple drinks before finally settling in the room. Ashley opens up the viewing window and Sam barely holds back a low groan from the brief flash of the dream she had not long ago. That window is haunting me.
Sam sits down in the middle of the bench, her nerves firing off in every direction. She vaguely notices Ashley running her fingers along the spine of several books before pulling one out and sits at the edge of the curved bench so she can easily face Sam.
Samantha barely holds down the urge to bounce her leg, just now realizing that she has never actually spent any time alone with Ashley. There was someone always around and Sam isn't prepared for how nerve wracking this is. She curses herself for having set down her chess set the moment they walked in, really wanting something to hold in front of her for some kind of comfort. She really wishes this place had pillows.
Now that she thinks about it, where the hell does Ashley even sleep? She knows the schematics pretty well and there wasn't anything extra in any of the rooms.
Ashley's chuckle pulls her out of her thoughts and she blushes, realizing she's said the last bit of her thoughts out loud.
Ashley motions towards the back wall with her head, "There's actually a cot in the wall. The Commander figured I deserved my own little place, I guess." Ashley's smile is warm and grateful and Sam finds herself wanting to trace those lips with her fingertips. Oh this is bad.
Sam honestly can't say what they talk about after that. She only knows that somehow the conversation flows and there is laughter and incredible flubbing on her end that only makes Ashley more endearing with how she responds to Sam's horrible attempts at flirting.
It is much later when there is a comfortable lull in their conversation that Sam realizes Ashley is still holding onto the book she grabbed when they first walked in. She hasn't paid much attention to it, but now she can see the cover as Ashley is slowly turning it over and over in her hands.
Ashley speaks before Sam can ask what it is, "Is it too much to ask what happened between you, Liara, and EDI?" Ashley chews on her bottom lip, "I understand if you don't want to tell me, but I really do want to make sure you aren't just letting it go or something." Ashley finishes sheepishly, not sure she should go on.
Sam takes a deep breath, refusing to look at Ashley now. Her hands are nervously playing with the glass she has been nursing since they came in. She let's her breath out slowly, staring out into the vastness of space, pretending she can't see Ashley's reflection in the window.
Sam can see Ashley start to move and knows that she is trying to move closer, trying to be more of a comfort. But Sam knows she'll tell Ashley everything and she doesn't want her too close when the truth comes out. She closes her eyes, trying to ignore the furrow of Ashley's brow and the intense look of concern. She's glad she isn't looking at Ashley directly, certain she will end up an incoherent sobbing mess otherwise.
Taking a deep, shaky breath, Sam prays she won't start crying until after she is done and preferably very, very far away.
"I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me. I was just hoping I could help somehow," Ashley whispers, amazed at the emotions that play across Sam's face.
Sam's lips lift into an ironic smile, "That's how this all started," it's so low Ashley barely catches the words.
Before Ashley can ask again, Sam goes into a detailed account of how everything started weeks ago and the reason for her strange behavior. She stares at her glass the entire time, twisting and picking at it, like it's the only thing in the room.
When she falls silent, Sam finally looks up with tears in her eyes, embarrassment and regret floods through her. Part of her is glad that it's all out now, the violation of privacy has been sitting in the back of her mind constantly. She can't stop the tears from falling though.
Ashley can barely process any of what Sam says. There is too much too feel and her body settles on shock.
It isn't until she hears the sound of the door swishing open does she shake herself from it. Ashley watches in silence as Sam takes off, unable to focus on any other feeling than the rage and hurt that is starting to overwhelm her.
"You had better turn off any recording device in here from now on until the foreseeable future. Is that clear?" Ashley grinds out through her clenched teeth as she slaps her hand on the wall, a panel lighting up and a compartment opens up to reveal it stocked with guns. Another gift from Shepard.
"Yes, Lieutenant Commander."
EDI's voice has a noticeable strain to it, Ashley refuses to acknowledge that it's even possible, and starts to disassemble and clean all the guns in front of her.