"I'm sorry about this, skipper."
"For what?", Shepard asked with a wane smile. The commander had woken up a few hour ago, but though she was far from ready to be out of bed, what Ashley had to tell her couldn't wait any longer.
"For leaving. I know that there's still a hell of a lot of mess to clean up here, but I have to go after Sha'ira. With what Garrus and Liara found…"
"I know." From her hospital bed, Shepard reached over to the chair next to her and placed a hand on her bondmate. "If it were Liara, I'd be doing the same thing. I'm just sorry I can't lend you the Normandy. The Alliance can't spare the ship right now, but you take as much time as you need to find her."
"Thank you for understanding," Ashley told her commander. "And I'll be fine. There's a salarian supply ship leaving for Omega tonight and I'll figure out my next move from there." She hesitated. "It's just… I do feel a little selfish going off on a personal matter."
Shepard pulled herself up in bed. "Don't," she insisted, her voice emphatic in spite of her weakness, "You've earned a little leave."
"Please, Shepard, do not overstrain yourself," Liara chided her bondmate.
The commander lay back down in bed, but not without a roll of her eyes. "Why, Doctor T'Soni," she said mischievously, "I didn't realize your degree was in medicine."
"I do not have to be a medical doctor to know you should rest after nearly dying. But she is right," Liara added, turning to Ashley, "You have been putting your own life on hold for a long time. I think you are entitled to be a little selfish right now." She smiled slightly before leaning over to give the commander a quick kiss. "And that goes for you too, my love. I do not care what the Alliance tells you, you are taking all the time you need to recover before you even consider going back on duty."
"Well, thanks a lot, both of you," Ashley said, giving both of her friends a hug before getting up to leave. She didn't know what she'd find when she got to Omega, but of one thing, she had no doubt: without their help, she wouldn't have gotten nearly as far with Sha'ira as she had.
Five Weeks Ago:
"Is this really where she lives?"
Standing in the lobby of the upscale residential complex on the Citadel, Ashley's guts were in the process of tying themselves into knots. She'd never been in a building quite that nice before. Everything from the asari paintings in the lobby, to the gilded décor, to the snooty turian sitting at the reception desk, screamed money and it was making her feel like the dumb grunt she'd been when Shepard first found her on Eden Prime three years earlier.
"Are you doubting the Shadow Broker?", Liara whispered to her with a stern expression that she was trying very hard to keep from turning into a grin. "I am quite certain that not only does the Consort live here, but that she is home right now."
Ashley didn't even bother wondering how Liara knew that, too caught up in her own worries. "I'm sure your intel is good," she told the asari, "But it's just… God, should I really be doing this? Remember that turian general she shot down? He turned into a drunken wreck."
"Oraka was kind of pathetic," Shepard agreed. "But I wouldn't worry about it. Five minutes after you met up with Sha'ira again at that party, she was fucking you silly. I'm pretty sure she likes you."
The memory of their encounter at the fundraiser caused a flush of arousal to bloom in Ashley, and even as she tried to explain her concern, she realized she was probably turning the color of her commander's hair. "I get that. I mean, we've definitely got a connection, but does it go beyond sex?"
"Sha'ira has lived a long time," Liara offered by way of encouragement, "And met a great many people. I doubt that she would have pursued this affair with you as far as she has if she didn't have real feelings."
Ashley wasn't so sure. The Shadow Broker may have been a romantic, but in her experience, people had sex for all kinds of reasons. Still, she nodded, trying to convince herself that maybe Liara knew something about other asari that she didn't.
"Now go get 'em," Shepard told her with a playful shove in the direction of the reception desk. "Liara and I have plans."
Probably plans to have sex on every surface of their new apartment, the marine thought to herself, and from the eagerness with which Liara took hold of Shepard's hand and led her out of the lobby, Ashley suspected she was right.
As the couple left, Ashley went over to the desk. The turian behind it looked her over, seemingly unimpressed with the simple Alliance uniform she was wearing. "Is there anything I can do for you, miss?" he asked dismissively.
Deciding to give the smug bastard a surprise, she put on her crispest military voice. "Yes. Please call up to Sha'ira and tell her that Spectre Ashley Williams is here to see her." She had to admit that she got a little pleasure from the way the turian jumped at the mention of her title, but only a little. It wasn't really a doorman that she needed to impress.
Two minutes later, Ashley was standing outside the Consort's door, and after a single knock, the asari opened it. She looked as beautiful as ever, but more casual than usual, wearing a robe of red silk that clung tantalizingly to her sleek curves.
"Ashley," she said warmly, "What a pleasant surprise. I must apologize for my appearance; I just got out of the bath."
"No need," she replied, perhaps a bit too quickly. "You look great." Indeed, the marine was doing her best not to leer as her brain tried to decide just how little the asari was wearing underneath her robe.
"Please come in, Spectre Williams," Sha'ira told her with a smile before adding, "I never did get a chance to congratulate you on receiving that honor the last time we saw one another."
"Yeah, we were, uh, kind of busy," she euphemized, the not-leering part of her plan getting harder to stick with. "But anyway, you said to look you up when I got the chance, and I just got the chance."
"I am pleased that you did." Sha'ira led her into an apartment that was not only, like the rest of the building, expensive, but also tasteful. The art of a variety of species was on display, but somehow the turian statues, the volus pottery, the asari portrait, and the human oil painting all seemed to compliment each other, creating an atmosphere that felt almost as warm and inviting as the woman who owned them.
The Consort indicated one of the couches, and as Ashley sat down, she asked, "Can I offer you something to drink?"
"No, I'm good." She hardly needed liquor right now. The intoxicant of the asari's presence alone was enough to make her light-headed, and she wanted her wits about her for this conversation.
"Very well." Sha'ira sat down next to Ashley on the couch, not touching her but close enough that the marine felt her pulse quicken at the ease with which she could.
"It is fortunate that I was home tonight," Sha'ira told her. "I have been quite busy of late; there are so many people in crisis and all of us must do what we can to help."
Ashley bit her lip, not sure how much she should say about the source of her information. "I, uh, have some well-connected friends, and they told me you'd be off work now." She could have gone to the Consort's chambers instead, but she'd wanted to see her at home, to make it clear that she wanted their relationship to be personal, not professional.
"However it came about, I am glad you are here," Sha'ira replied, apparently deciding to accept Ashley's explanation for now. "As I was saying, these are trying times and comfort is especially important."
"It is," she agreed, "But I wasn't exactly looking for that right now." The marine paused, uncertain how to continue. She had no idea if something like what she thought of as dating was the sort of thing that a centuries-old asari would be interested in at all, let alone interested in doing with her.
"I was not referring to you, Ashley," Sha'ira told her, bringing a delicate teal hand to rest on the Spectre's knee. "I may try to bring comfort to others, but that doesn't mean that I don't need some myself as well."
"Oh," she sputtered, not having expected that, "I…"
Before she could say any more, the Consort leaned over and slid her other hand through the human's long, dark hair even as her soft lips were catching Ashley's. Kissing Sha'ira wasn't like any other kiss Ashley had ever known. The asari tasted so sweet, like berries in summer, and as she moaned into her mouth, everything that she had come there to say was rapidly slipping out of her mind.
When Sha'ira's lips finally slid apart from hers, though, she made herself remember. It would have been incredibly easy to just let things continue, but though her body was screaming protests at her, she couldn't. Their last meeting had reawakened feelings that went beyond sex, even really fantastic sex, and she had to let the Consort know that.
"Wait," she managed to say, "I need to tell you something."
Though one hand stayed on her knee, the asari pulled back enough to let Ashley think, at least a little bit. "What is wrong?", Sha'ira asked. "I did not think I was being too forward, considering our last meeting."
"No, that's not it." She took a breath, trying to gather her thoughts. "Listen" she started, "I like you. A lot. I know I had to leave pretty suddenly three years ago, and I'm sorry about that, but ever since then, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you."
Sha'ira started to respond, but Ashley held up her hand. "Please," she implored her, "I have to get this out now or I feel like I never will." The asari stopped and she continued, "I get that we don't know each other that well. We come from different worlds, literally. I don't know what exactly you want from me, and honestly, I'm not totally sure what I exactly want from you either. But I do know this: I care about you and I'm just hoping that maybe you feel a little bit the same way and that whatever this is, it's not going to disappear all of a sudden because if it is, I think I need to stop before I get hurt."
Reaching the end of her speech, she stopped short and as the asari took a long moment to consider her words, Ashley held her breath, hoping that she hadn't come across as a too much of a babbling idiot. Before she could get lost in her own head, though, Sha'ira spoke, tracing her fingers softly along the marine's knee as she did.
"This is hardly the easiest time for any of us to make promises about the future," she told her, "But I can assure you that I do share your feelings. You are kind and brave, Ashley Williams, a beautiful woman both in body and in mind. When I am with you, it makes me feel more secure and confident, as if somehow, we will come through this ordeal, and if we do, I would certainly like to explore our connection more fully. I am not certain if that is enough for you, but it is what I have to offer."
Ashley exhaled, at last letting herself relase her worries in the asari's embrace. "That sounds just fine," she told her as her strong arms encircled Sha'ira's slim waist. "More than fine, actua…" She didn't finish her thought as the Consorts lips found hers once more, but that was okay. She was pretty sure Sha'ira took her meaning.
The Present:
"If we come through this ordeal." Those words were still echoing in Ashley's head as she walked down the gangplank of the salarian transport and into the fetid sea of lawlessness that was Omega. The war was over, but they weren't through it yet. She'd never been here before, but if the tales that Shepard and Wrex had told her were even half true, it was hard to believe that Sha'ira was anything resembling secure right now.
And that's the last of the flashbacks for now, as we're now caught up with where the last part, A Chance Encounter, which contains the aforementioned fundraiser, left off. Hope you're still enjoying the story.