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Chapter Text

A single note rang out, plucked from a small stringed instrument. The woman with the instrument frowned, adjusting the tuning peg before plucking the string again. A satisfied smile pulled at her lips, and she continued to tune the small wooden instrument. The officer watching from across the small passenger hold of the shuttle was intrigued. As the coffee-skinned woman began to actually play, the officer remembered the name of the small instrument, indigenous to her home planet of Earth: it was a ukulele.

She didn't play loudly, nor did she play anything remotely complicated, just a series of chords in a major key. The officer knew enough about music to know that much, at least. She hummed to herself, some vague melody. It sounded happy, but also a little melancholy. It was only the two of them on the shuttle. The officer wondered why the woman would play with an audience of a military officer. Was she trying to show off? Just couldn't wait the ten minutes until they touched down planet-side?

As if drawn by the officer's thoughts, the ukulele-player trailed off, looking up to the officer guiltily. "Sorry," she said, her British accent cool on the officer's ears. "I'm a bit nervous about going home, and playing helps relax me. But I didn't even stop to consider you might not want to hear-"

The officer held up her hand. "Please, it's fine." Tilting her head to the side, she couldn't stop herself from asking. "This is home?"

The ukulele-player nodded, setting the instrument flat on her lap. "My family lives here. I'm on leave, and I thought I'd spend the time visiting them. Not like I have anywhere more exciting to go anyway."

"Leave?"

The woman smiled slightly, a quirking of her lips that pulled them up at the corners. "I may not look it, but I'm every bit as much a part of the Alliance as you. I just design new communications tech, instead of wielding a gun. I work in R&D on Earth."

The officer's face flushed slightly, though she knew it likely didn't show thanks to her dark skin. But she also got a bit defensive. "Well, like you say, you don't look the part, especially in your civvies."

The ukulele-player grinned, looking down at her tight jeans and loose, flowing blouse. "I suppose you have a point there." Looking back up, she held out a hand to the officer. "I'm Communications Specialist Samantha Traynor. Though please just call me by my name – my title is such a bloody mouthful."

The officer smiled, taking Samantha's hand. "Lieutenant Ashley Williams. Ash for short."

Samantha smiled slyly. "Well, Ash. I look forward to finding out why you're coming to Horizon. And with such a shipment," she added, gesturing to the large amount of crates they could see through the passageway to the hold of the shuttle. "I hope you'll be staying long enough to grab a drink with me in the next few days? I'll need to escape my parents and my brothers to have real, grown-up conversations soon enough."

Ashley smirked. "One of those families, huh?" Samantha nodded, rolling her eyes. "So, uh… why you nervous about going home?"

"Oh… I'm supposed to have dinner with my ex-girlfriend tonight. I didn't know how to get out of it. Mum is hoping things rekindle… it's just nerve-wracking."

Ashley furrowed her brows. "I take it you don't want things to rekindle?"

"God, no… I haven't spoken to her in three years! We broke up when I graduated university, and I haven't looked back once! But she moved out here to work in ag-tech and Mum got friendly with her, and that led to her getting a dinner invite for tonight."

"Well, uh… good luck with that?"

Samantha had the good grace to look sheepish. "Sorry. You didn't ask for my life story, yet here I am, rambling on about it."

Ashley smiled. "Hey, it's cool. I did ask about it. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. It's not like you know me or anything."

They were interrupted from further chat by the VI pilot announcing their arrival, followed by a slight thud as the shuttle touched down. Samantha stood, ukulele in one hand, her duffle bag in the other, an apologetic smile on her face. "Well… I suppose that's our cue. It was good to meet you, Ashley. I hope I get to see you around while you're here."

She sauntered away, hips swaying deliciously in her tight jeans, drawing Ashley's eyes until she was no longer in sight. Sighing wistfully, Ashley got to work unloading her supplies.

Chapter Text

Samantha's homecoming went just as she'd expected it would. Her mother took one look at her and started in on how thin she'd gotten ("It's not my fault, Mum! The base serves terrible food! Besides, you know how I get when I get lost in a nerd-problem!"), her brothers had each grown a foot since she'd seen them last (and they had facial hair now! Who said that was allowed to happen?!), and her father just engulfed her in a hug and welcomed his Sammy home. The Awkward didn't start until Penelope had arrived twenty minutes later. She had sat through two hours of dinner seated next to the woman she used to shag regularly, both of them over the other and only sticking around because her mum wanted them together and they were polite to make a scene during dinner. Then Penelope had made some excuse, left, and Samantha had been free.

She had proceeded to have leftovers of her mum's food – really, the only reason she had lost all that weight from her high school years was because she couldn't eat her mum's home cooking any longer – and then stayed up late watching vids with her giant little brothers.

The boys were identical twins, seventeen and in their final year of high school. Timothy planned on joining the Alliance like Samantha had, getting through University on his good grades and aptitude scores, while Richard planned to go into the family business – namely, agri-business. They'd been accidents ("The most delightful kind," her mother had said), born eight years after Samantha herself had come into the world. Surprise twins were not something most people could handle, but her parents had done admirably, and had had Samantha's help once she was old enough. In addition, they'd done quite well for themselves, her father developing a new technique for germinating more seeds in a given batch. Her tendency toward tech and computers definitely came from him.

After vids – terrible, terrible zombie vids that they rejoiced in – Samantha had gone to bed in her old room, the family's giant lab mix, Boomer, snuggled up with her under the sheets. Thank God she was allergic to cats, and not dogs.

Now it was morning, however, and she was regretting letting the dog sleep with her. She'd only gotten about six hours of sleep and now Boomer was awake and needed to go outside to pee. And he couldn't open the damn door himself.

"Fine!" she half-shouted, exasperated. She slid out of bed, where she'd slept in her panties and a tank top, and padded barefoot over to the door, opening it with a twist of the handle. The doors leading outside were the more high-tech kind with proximity detectors – for dog and people – and the ability to be programmed. The inner doors, however, were the regular knob-and-latch variety, the need to open and close automatically a feature her parents could hardly afford when they first purchased the prefab over twenty-five years before. In classic colony style, they had kept the prefab that long, upgrading what needed it as they went along – waste not, want not.

Closing the door and padding back to bed, Samantha had just slipped gratefully back under the sheet – it was bloody hot on this part of Horizon right now, despite it being February on Earth, so the blanket sat pooled at the base of the bed – when her omnitool buzzed on her side-table. Groaning, Samantha reached for it, turning off the alarm that she had set so she could get in her morning jog before the heat was too intense. The heat and humidity were excellent for the favored crops in the area, but if Sam sweated too much her skin reacted and she broke out in itchy hives. Nobody wanted to see that, and Sam sure as hell didn't want to feel that.

She would skip the jog altogether, but her quarterly physical fitness test was the day after she was scheduled to return from her two weeks of leave. She was stuck exercising if she wanted to pass, which she sort of had to do if she wanted to stay in the military and work in her dear, dear R&D labs. So a month before the test she took up jogging and pushups again, forcing herself to eat more to put on some muscle. With the shitty food they provided on base, she was never at risk for going over the weight maximum for her height; she was at risk of coming in under the weight minimum. A problem she'd never had when she was younger, what with her mother's home cooking and her tendency to stay still inside all day programming and helping her father design ag-tech.

Highly resentful toward her running shorts and sports bra, Sam got dressed, pulling back her hair into a low ponytail before tying her running shoes on. At least I have someone to come along with me, she thought to herself, smirking as she imagined pouncing on her brothers in their room to wake them up.

She was doomed to be disappointed, however. She found Timothy and Richard both in the living room, tying their own shoes, Boomer waiting nearby wagging his tail. Their community was close-knit and the dog well trained, so they never bothered leashing him up for this, instead letting him run near them free from a tether.

"Are you boys ready?" she asked, going into the kitchen to fill the small bottle she carried with her while she ran.

All she got were grunted affirmative responses. Oh, the Traynors. None of them had ever been morning people. It was the biggest reason why her dad developed tech for farming, and didn't farm himself. He never would have survived having to get up before the sun during the harvest season, especially with the absurdly long days Horizon had.

They got moving pretty quickly, letting the rising sun and the cool (relatively speaking) air wake them up some. Her brothers started bantering, teasing her about the awkward visit with Penelope the night before, and how Mum had decided to be the woman's friend and how weird it was.

"Weird for you?!" she huffed, breathing hard now that they were fifteen minutes in. Exercise had never really been her thing. "Are you really making my ex-girlfriend being friends with Mum about you?!"

"What do you want?" Timothy retorted, smacking her arm. "We're kids. Egomaniacal pre-humans whose brains aren't done developing."

She narrowed her eyes over at him. "I'm going to regret comforting you with that bit of information, aren't I? You're going to blame every selfish little thing you do on that and never actually be a bloody human being."

Richard tutted. "Language, Sam!"

"Oh, shut your arse," she threw back at him, smiling despite herself at both their snorts of laughter.

They continued their run, calling Boomer away from Greyson's flowerbed when they reached the edge of the settlement. It was a clearing occupied by workers going to the fields to man the harvesting machines, the hour being quite early, but it had one addition Samantha noticed immediately: the (very attractive) Alliance officer.

Lieutenant Ashley Williams stood with the early morning sun shining on her well-muscled arms. Her hair was in a bun, standard for military women with long hair. She wore combat boots, fatigues that hugged her hips but were loose down her legs, and a ribbed sleeveless undershirt tucked into the pants. She was shiny with sweat, moving a heavy crate from a pile of them over to the very center of the clearing. The sweat gleaming on her arms was utterly delectable, and made Sam wonder what might happen if she simply wandered up to the woman and ran her tongue from the glorious cap of her shoulder all the way up her neck to her earlobe and nibbled there.

Sam was so distracted that she didn't hear her brother's warning. With a cry, she rammed her knee right into the bench of the picnic table the workers often used to eat their lunches. A split-second later, her stomach hit the edge of the actual table, and she wrenched to a halt, her face smacking into the tabletop. Other than a strangled cry, she didn't even let out a sound. She just felt pain. Her knee was in bad shape, feeling almost hyper-extended. Her nose was surely broken, with how it throbbed. She could taste the iron of blood in the back of her throat, and when she opened her eyes, she could see the bright red of the blood dribbling out of it and onto the wooden table. Her stomach felt like she'd been punched, and her breasts smarted from where they'd hit the table.

Mostly, however, she was completely and utterly mortified. An emotion not helped by the simultaneous sounds of her brothers dying with laughter, and the slightly gruff "Jesus!" yelled by the object of Sam's distraction.

Hands roughly grabbed her shoulders, trying to pull her up. "Christ, are you okay?"

"Just leave me," she moaned dramatically. Her nose was swollen shut now and it sounded like her sinuses were completely plugged up. And there were surely tears on her cheeks, though she could at least blame them on the smart from her nose. "I'm working on blending into the table…"

The woman chuckled, but pulled Samantha to her feet all the same. Those delicious, sweaty, beefy arms were now so close… too bad Samantha had been an utter twit. Ashley's concern was palpable, but at the same time, a grin pulled at her lips. "What were you doing? Trying to vault the table?"

Sam tried to look indignant, but knew she was failing, with her bloody face, teary eyes, and one of her legs unable to take much weight. At least she could do "sardonic" well in her tone of voice. "No, thank you very much. We were jogging. And I… didn't see the table…"

Her brothers hooted in laughter again. Boomer was with them, wagging his tail hopefully, his tongue lolling out. He didn't know what all the excitement was about, but he was determined to be a part of it.

Ashley smirked. "Didn't see it, huh?"

"Shut it. I know it's lame."

Ashley held up her hands conciliatorily. "Alright, alright. Here, let me look at that." Samantha hissed and pulled away when the lieutenant touched the bridge of her nose. "Mmmhmm. It's broken. If you just-" and before she could finish, she thrust both hands out, landing them on either side of Sam's nose and jerking. A moment of hot pressure and stinging pain followed, a moment in which Sam yelled and prepared herself to give Ashley an injured look and yell, "How couldyou!" But then there was sweet, sweet relief, the pressure and pain both abating, leaving her with a dull, quiet throb and blood that was now able to pour freely out her nose, leaving her throat alone.

She spit blood even as it dribbled down onto her sports bra, then looked up at Ashley sheepishly. "Sorry. I know that's completely disgusting, but I can't swallow it on an empty stomach…"

Ashley smiled. "Hey, I get it, I've had my nose broken before. Though, I can't say it was by a mean, nasty table…"

"Oh, you little arsehole!" Sam cried, moving to hit Ashley on one of her perfectly molded arms. Unfortunately, this made her put too much pressure on her injured leg, and she started to crumple like wet tissue paper. Only those strong, sweaty arms kept her from finding the ground.

"Right. You can't walk home." Before Sam knew it, Ashley had an arm under her knees, and she was hoisted into the air with the other arm behind her shoulders. Samantha let out an undignified yelp, instinctively wrapping her arms around the dashing lieutenant's neck. Turning to the smirking twins with the knowing looks, Ashley asked, "You're her brothers?"

Timothy nodded. "Yep."

"Cool. Mind showing me the way?"

Timothy and Richard shared a look. "Actually, if she's not gonna die, we should really finish our run. Why don't you tell her how to get home, Sam? We'll take care of Boomer before we go to school."

They took off immediately, but not before Sam caught their eyes, highly resenting the knowing gleam she found there. Frowning, she glared daggers into their retreating backs. She did not need her teenage brothers' help in getting women. Though, she couldn't deny the flutter in her stomach at the feel of being in one Ashley Williams's arms.

"Well that was rude," the lieutenant huffed, staring off after Sam's brothers.

Sam tried to shrug. "They're egomaniacal kids – they're brains aren't done yet. They're bound to do selfish things."

Ashley's eyes slid to hers. "Yeah, well… it's still rude." Hefting Sam's weight like she weighed nothing, she added, "Come on. Tell me how to get to your place."

And what will we be doing when we get there? I really wish I could shag you on my childhood bed. I'd start with that bead of sweat I can see trickling down to the hollow in your throat. God, I wish I could put my tongue there-

Shaking her head to silence her Internal Monologuer, Sam pointed. "Head that way."

Ashley set off, carrying Samantha in her arms. She stared resolutely ahead, allowing Samantha an unencumbered view of the woman's face. The lieutenant was pretty, her skin several shades lighter than Samantha's, her hair just as black. Her brown eyes reminded Samantha of her mother's. She was taller than both Samantha and Rithu Traynor by what felt like half a meter, though it was likely half that. All in all, Ashley was tall, well-muscled, and lean, her beefy – yet not completely unfeminine – frame doing all kinds of wild things to the butterflies in Samantha's stomach.

"So you're up early. Aren't you supposed to be on vacation?"

Sam was startled out of her examination by Ashley's attempt at making conversation. "Oh! Um, yes… I have my physical fitness test almost the moment I get back to Earth. Between my mother's cooking and my tendency to stay still, if I don't force myself out running then there's no way I'd pass it. As for how early it is… it's bloody hot this time of year. I'd die if I tried going out running much later."

Ashley smiled. "Yeah, that's why I'm out this early, too – wanted to get the heavy lifting done as early as I could so I didn't die out there, as you put it."

Sam giggled, relishing the slight widening of Ashley's smile at the sound. After a moment, she asked, "So what are you setting up?" Furrowing her brow, she finally figured out what was so odd about Ashley's presence here as a solider. "And why are you here? And all alone? Shouldn't lieutenants be in charge of more than themselves?"

Ashley's smile fell, and she got the official Solider Look. "One is all the settlement would allow. You guys are real serious about keeping the Alliance out."

Sam shrugged. "Paranoid backwoods buggers, the lot of them. But I love them dearly. So why are you here?" she pressed. "Also… turn here – my parents' prefab is down this way."

Ashley sighed as she changed direction, her eyes flitting to make contact with Samantha's. "You're aware, I'm sure, of the colonies that have gone dark? People disappear, no one knows why?" At Sam's nod, Ashley's eyes slid forward again as she continued walking, bearing Sam's weight easily still. "The Alliance is reaching out and offering whatever protection colonies are willing to take. Discovery accepted AA guns, and one single solider to oversee the installation. Tech isn't my forte, exactly, but big damn guns are. And these are some big damn guns."

Samantha was quiet. She wasn't sure what to think. Ashley was funny about it, yes, but still – "big damn guns" being set up to protect them from this unnamed, nebulous threat was disconcerting, to say the least. "Won't having them there just attract attention?" she mused, remembering her parents talking in her youth about how unless the force was big enough to wipe out anything smaller than an army, having an Alliance presence in your colony was like a big fat bull's eye for slavers and pirates.

Ashley sighed, rolling her eyes. "That's a pretty common thing for people from these colonies to think. It's not entirely untrue, but these aren't slavers. Slavers don't take everyone with no bodies. Shit, Samantha, there isn't even blood left behind. Whoever's taking our people, it's not the normal kind of threat. Better to protect yourself than not, I say."

Samantha thought on this for a moment. "I suppose it's like how I don't normally carry a sidearm, but if I'm going to be out late and alone, I take advantage of my ability to conceal a weapon."

Ashley grinned. "You pack when you go out? That's h- awesome!"

Samantha raised an eyebrow at the slip. She was sure Ashley was about to say "that's hot." And packing! I wonder if she ever packs anything in those trousers… She let it slide, but not without taking it as an assurance that she should flirt the next chance she got. Right, Traynor, because having your arms around her neck while she carries you home to your mum isn't enjoyable in any way. She sighed. It was enjoyable, but it wasn't flirting.

"Okay, that next one, with the petunias out front, is mine," Sam said after a moment. Ashley nodded, walking up the few steps to the front door, which slid open at Sam's ID. Inside, Rithu Traynor was just walking out of the master bedroom, her hair somewhat disheveled with sleep. She let out a gasp at Sam's bloody appearance – seriously, blood had dripped everywhere before her nose had finally stopped bleeding – and rushed to take Sam off Ashley's hands. The naval officer disappeared rather quickly, letting Sam's parents tend to her and call the doctor to make a house call. Sam wished Ashley could have stayed, but really, after the embarrassment of the night before, she could live with her mum not getting know Ashley just yet.

Chapter Text

"This is stupid."

Ashley had her feet propped up on a crate, lying in the grass. The first AA gun was well on its way to being up, and the parts for a second would be delivered in the coming days. She'd worked hard, using the help of the settlement's small crane to good advantage. Now she was taking a breather before going back to her tent, there being no inn in a settlement like this for her to stay in. The most she got was the use of a public shower the field hands used when they didn't want to track all the way home in dirt and chemicals accumulated in their long days. It was evening, twilight, and the local insects were singing their twitterpating songs to the world. She caught sight of a firefly – or the local equivalent – and smiled, making the decision and going for her omnitool once more.

"This is stupid. I just wanna see how her leg is doing," Ashley muttered to herself as she entered the command. Several seconds later, the call was answered .

{Ashley! What a pleasant surprise! Are you coming to rescue me from my parents? Please? They're driving me insane after yesterday's little incident.}

Ashley smirked, though Sam couldn't see her, as it was a voice-only call. "I mean, I could. What are you willing to barter for rescue?"

{Oh God, anything!}

Ashley smirked harder. Anything, huh? " What about a walk out to the fields ? The fireflies are out. Is your leg up to it?"

{Oooo, that sounds lovely! It is, but you'll need to come get me, like, right now – they'll only be out for another half-hour or so.}

"But I'm still all gross from working all day. I was gonna at least shower and put on a fresh uniform…" She could seriously go for a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and some damn sandals, but she'd stupidly only brought the casual work uniform and work boots. All work and no play…

{No time. I'll see you in a few minutes?}

Ashley hesitated. She really was, like, super disgusting. "Yeah, okay. But if I stink, you were warned."

Five minutes later she was at Sam's door. Samantha smiled and limped out, calling to her parents that she'd be back later. She had her ukulele in-hand, a tank top and gym shorts that clearly belonged to one of her brothers, and sandals. A brace was firmly affixed to her right knee.

Ashley held out her hands, ready to catch the hobbling smaller woman. "Whoa, are you sure you should be walking on that leg yet?"

Sam just smiled, bypassing Ashley's outstretched arms and limping her way down the steps. "Doctor said I should try to get a walk in today. We can walk and then sit somewhere, yeah? And you can always carry me home again should my leg fail me." Her eyes seemed to sparkle at the last.

Ashley swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, and tore her eyes away from the other woman's. For some reason, those beautiful brown eyes were justcaptivating, even if they were both surrounded by dark bruising from her broken nose. In lieu of staring, Ashley smirked as they turned and headed toward the nearest field. "I guess I could, yeah. Though you better watch it, Traynor – I'm not always gonna be around to haul your ass home to mommy."

"You know you liked it," Samantha quipped, grinning devilishly.

Ashley chuckled. She had liked it. She felt good, petite but solid. Ashley didn't feel like she would snap Samantha in half, like so many of the waif-thin women she'd met. Though why Samantha rammed into the table to begin with still puzzled Ashley. Spying the ukulele out of the corner of her eye again, she latched onto it as a source for conversation. "So you gonna serenade me, Sam? I'm touched. I hope you can sing, too – I want the whole shebang. " Really? "Shebang"?That's how you're gonna flirt, Williams? You need to up your game, soldier.

Samantha giggled. "I can sing, yes, though not terribly well. Well enough to entertain myself, and to join in at the bonfire."

Ashley furrowed her brows. "Bonfire?"

Samantha's face lit up. "Yes! We have them weekly over the summer. All the kids and young adults get together and throw a bonfire out in Greyson's spent cornfield! Lots of booze, lots of drunk music playing, and lots of itchy sex out between the dry corn stalks. I… probably haven't done that last one." Her cheeks bloomed, something Ashley could barely detect under the woman's dark skin.

"'Probably' haven't done that? I call bullshit."

Samantha shook her head. "Definitely not with my girlfriend in high school, after getting wasted. And it definitely wasn't interrupted by my desperate need to puke up all the whiskey I drank in one go . And it definitely didn't happen more than once." She shook her head. "Nope, definitely not."

Ashley laughed loudly, prompting Samantha to hit her shoulder with a small fist. "Ow! Hey!"

"Oh, shut it. I know that didn't hurt. Not with all those delici- prominent muscles. Seriously, why do you wander around in just your undershirt?"

Ashley just smirked. Her muscles were delicious, were they? "Can you blame me? It's hot as fuck here during the day. And it's less against regs than heatstroke is."

Samantha sighed. "I suppose you're right… Though why you don't take siesta with the rest of us is beyond me. Doing all that work through the hottest part of a day that's half again as long as a day on Earth… Come on, that table there is perfect. Once we settle in, the fireflies should come back out."

"You sure you wanna go for a picnic table? Aren't those, like, your arch-nemesis?"

Another small fist came swinging her way, but Ashley was ready for it, catching it and pulling Sam off-balance. Catching the specialist with her other arm, she smirked, bent, and stood up with the girl in her arms, just like the morning before. Laughing at Sam's yelp of surprise, she carried her over and placed her delicately on the tabletop.

"There. No more breaking that pretty face ," she purred before stepping back and finding her own seat on the bench.

They chatted for a while, talking about a variety of topics, all while Samantha tuned and then gently strummed random chords on her instrument. Ashley talked about her three sisters and what a pain in the ass they could be. Samantha talked about her brothers and what pains in the ass they could be. Ashley talked about her parents, about how awesome her father was and how amazing her mother continued to be. Sam didn't gloss over her father's death like so many seemed to do; she pointedly asked about him, about the circumstances of his death ("If you don't mind talking about it, of course"), and speculated on what that must have been like for him, to have four daughters.

After a while they grew quiet. The fireflies were long-gone, but neither she nor Samantha seemed eager to be moving. After several quiet moments, Samantha began playing a real song, softly singing words about a white sandy beach. It was beautiful, and it gave Ashley a chance to study the girl while she wasn't paying attention. Sam's eyes were closed, her fingers picking out the notes as she softly sang. Her voice, even soft, was clear, not high but also not low. Her lips formed the words in a way that was tantalizing, almost calling Ashley to kiss them, to run her fingers over them. She bet they would be cool after the hot summer day.

As the song came to an end, Samantha finally opened her eyes, making eye contact with Ashley and holding her gaze for a timeless moment. Ashley felt like she could fall right in to those dark pools, the irises expanded in the dark with only the light of the planet's two small moons to illuminate them.

The spell was broken as Sam cleared her throat, shyly pushing her hair behind her ear. Ashley smiled, getting up from the table. It was time to go. No need to rush this, after all.

"Can I walk you home?"

Samantha smiled, a warm, genuine thing that lit up her face . Ashley's gut clenched. This was too damn cliché; so damn sweet she might get a cavity. She could never tell anyone about it. Though silently she thanked God she could be here alone, without any other service members. She'd never allow herself this freedom if she had people serving under her to witness her getting all sweet and chivalrous.

"Of course, Lieutenant."

Holding out her hand, she helped Samantha to her feet, and before she realized it, they were walking, hands still clasped together. Samantha's skin was warm, though surprisingly rough with calluses. Probably all the tech she deals with every day. It was… a nice surprise. The woman was more than she might seem on first glance, and Ashley was thrilled to be learning those little secrets.

"Oh! You should come to the bonfire tomorrow night," Sam spoke up as they ascended the stairs to the front of her home. "Where are you staying? I'll come by and get you."

Ashley wondered is she should go or not. She was here to do a job, not flirt with pretty girls. But then Samantha's fingers laced with hers again as she looked up with those delicious brown eyes, and she remembered the woman mentioning booze and sex in the cornfield, and she agreed before she could think better of it, revealing that she merely had a tent set up near the equipment waiting to be installed. Then she hightailed it out of there, sad for the loss of contact, but grateful her brain could get rid of the fuzzy feeling she'd started to get at so much close interaction with one Samantha Traynor.

She entered the public washroom, showered, and went to bed, her hand still tingling where she'd been holding the specialist's. Waiting for her work day to be over tomorrow was gonna take for fucking ever…

Chapter Text

Samantha walked with a bundle in-hand. Her leg was feeling much better with the extra day of rest. She'd put off her PT test, citing her injury and saying she needed an additional month in order to rest it fully before it could be safely exercised. She suspected she never would have gotten the full month, but she had her doctor on Horizon send a confirmation, and they really couldn't do anything about that once a doctor weighed in. Sam understood there were politics involved, and she worked the system when she had to.

Now, though, she wasn't worried about that, merely walking a little stiffly with the brace on her knee and holding her father's rucksack in her left hand, her ukulele clutched in her right. In the rucksack were several bottles of beer and hard cider, a blanket on which to sit, and a surprise for Ashley. It wasn't much, but she hoped it made the heat more bearable – sitting around the fire in the middle of summer, even at night, would be unbearably hot in her cargo fatigues and combat boots, even if she stuck to her seemingly-signature ribbed tank.

She'd asked around as to why Ashley was stuck in a military-grade tent. Apparently the community at-large was that distrustful of having a member of the Alliance in town, and no one had volunteered a room, not even those places that had an extra one to rent. Sam would offer the woman her own bedroom, but of course she herself was sleeping in it . Perhaps once she left, if Ashley was still here…

Coming upon the clearing where she'd injured her knee, Samantha found Ashley just emerging from the tent, dressed, just as Sam had predicted, in boots, fatigues, and tank top, her uniform shirt clutched in one hand.

"Hey, there, soldier," Sam greeted loudly from across the clearing, smiling warmly. Both moons were out once again, and they cast an interesting glow on Ashley's hair, which was in a simple ponytail against the heat, rather than her regulation bun. Ashley grinned, shouting a greeting while zipping the tent shut.

"Actually," Sam called, setting her uke and rucksack down on one of the many now-empty crates stacked around and digging in the sack. "I have something I think you'll be more comfortable in. If it fits, of course."

Ashley's expression was definitely one of confusion, but it turned to a bemused grin when Samantha produced a (clean) pair of her brother's basketball shorts and a pair of flip-flops she had taken from her father's stash and sanitized.

"You got me clothes?"

Sam shrugged. "It's a bonfire. It'll be hot. And you won't be on-duty. I figured you probably only brought your uniform, since you're only required to bring PT clothes on assignments longer than three weeks. I'm not sure the shorts will fit, but your hips seemed a similar size to Timothy's…"

Taking it, Ash raised a brow . "They're your brother's?"

Sam colored a little. "We don't have shops here. Anything we need is ordered and delivered. Otherwise I would've gotten you new ones. But they're clean…"

Ashley grinned. "They're great. Gimme a minute, and I'll change."

Sam nodded, picking up her instrument as Ashley disappeared once more into her tent, shorts and flip-flops in-hand. Sam played absently, wondering who all would be there that night. Timothy and Richard had already gone out ahead of her, leaving home with her but continuing on as she turned the other way to get Ashley. Other than that, it would likely be a bunch of teens. She hoped to God Penelope didn't participate…

Her train of thought was interrupted as Ashley reemerged. She wore the shorts, a tighter fit on the lieutenant than they were on Sam – Sam practically swam in them when she stole them the day before – her tank, and the sandals. She looked like she should be on a beach somewhere, not in the middle of dry, spent cornfields.

Samantha smiled widely. "Excellent! Does that work for you?"

Ashley shrugged. "Should be fine. Can I put these in that sack of yours in case they don't?" she asked, holding up her folded fatigues.

Sam nodded. "Of course." She took them from the lieutenant, stuffing them in the bag and zipping it up. Hauling it over her left shoulder, she smiled up at Ashley, standing several inches taller than herself. "Shall we?"

Ashley smiled, reached for the rucksack, and took it from her, throwing it over her own shoulder like a good gentleman. Then she took Samantha's free hand, sending a thrill up Samantha's arm and down her spine. "Lead the way."

They walked mostly in silence with Sam in the lead, though it was oddly not uncomfortable. Samantha navigated the closely lined rows of dry corn stalks expertly, showing Ashley where to put her feet so she didn't end up with nasty splinters in her legs, all the while marveling at the heat emanating from Ashley's palm. As time went on, it started to feel like Ashley was watching her in her short denim shorts and tank top. She got a coy smile on her face as she considered this, deliberately exaggerating the sway of her hips as she picked her way along. A sharp intake of breath from behind her and a slight tightening of Ashley's grip let her know she had been correct.

After about ten minutes, they could clearly see the light from the fire and hear the people gathered. Another thirty seconds, and they emerged from the cornfield into a small meadow with a few stands of big trees ringing it.

"I'd been wondering about the wisdom of a bonfire in the middle of a dry cornfield," Ashley murmured, her eyes drawn by the large fire in the dead middle of the clearing, already with half a dozen people gathered around, drinking and talking and laughing.

Samantha chuckled. "Yes, I suppose I could've mentioned the meadow and the firepit. We're not complete idiots. Most of the time…" Pushing her hair behind her ear, she took a step, Ashley catching her hand once more. "Come on. I have supplies, but we should sit down first."

"Supplies?" Ashley asked, following the specialist to the fireside.

Samantha didn't answer, instead greeting her brother's friends and the one other young adult there, who all greeted her warmly. She took the rucksack from Ashley, pulled out the blanket, and laid it out with Ashley's help. Then she sat, put the rucksack between them, and shone a light from her omnitool inside.

"I have light beer, dark beer, and hard cider. Choose your poison, solider."

Ashley grinned, fishing out a bottle of the dark beer and snapping the lid off with a refreshing crack. Sam smiled, pulled out a cider, and did the same. They clinked bottles before their first sips.

"Sam, play something for us!"

This was her brother, Timothy. He could play, too, but he sat with his arm snugly around the waist of the pretty girl he had been dating for the last year. Richard sat nearby, his arm unadorned. Narrowing her eyes at him, she was about to decline, when Ashley put a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, Sam, play something for us." Her voice was somewhat husky, her breath holding the scent of the beer she drank, as well as an earthy undertone, somewhere between dirt and tobacco . It sent a slight shiver down Sam's spine. "You dragged me here promising booze and music. You saying you don't deliver?"

Sam smirked. I also mentioned itchy sex out in the cornfield. Tomato, tomahto, I suppose… "Alright. But you little buggers better join in singing, or I quit."

They happily agreed, and she tuned herself quickly before starting playing a traditional Hawaiian tune she'd learned on the instrument back in high school. It was a happy tune, but not too boisterous – it fit the mood of the few partygoers well. Her brothers joined in singing immediately, and by the time the song was through, several more people had shown up. A guitarist arrived, quickly followed by another, and her brothers' friend who played the djembe came with the last wave of people. Pretty soon, they had a real party going.

After a few more songs, feeling her buzz working delightfully, Sam put her ukulele down next to her. She opened another drink, her third, and leaned back on one hand as she took a sip. The music was loud, too loud to promote discussion, so she just enjoyed Ashley's presence at her side, singing along when she knew the song. At one point, pleasantly lost to her buzz, she leaned over like it was the most natural thing in the world, resting her head on the other woman's shoulder. Ashley stiffened for a second before she relaxed, leaning her cheek against Sam's hair and snaking an arm around her waist.

Ashley felt… good. Warm and solid and big enough to wrap around Samantha without making her feel like she was being edged out of the space she occupied. As the two guitarists eased into a slow instrumental of an old folk standard, Sam leaned in further. Taking a deep breath of the sturdy woman, she noted that she smelled like lavender and lemongrass , probably from her soap, as well as the same earthy undertone from her breath that could only be the smell she herself produced. It was wonderful and Sam had a hard time not just burying her face in the taller woman's shirt and taking a great big whiff. However, that would put her nose right between Ashley's breasts, and while she'd like to do that eventually, there were far too many prying eyes around right at the moment.

As if reading her mind, Ashley leaned down, speaking low into her ear, at a volume meant only for her. Sam shivered once more. "Wanna take a walk? Get away from the crowd for a bit?"

Sam smiled, looking over the crowd that had gathered. It still wasn't huge, maybe twenty people including them. Looking up into Ashley's dark eyes, she grinned and nodded, pushing herself up and finishing her cider in one long pull. She was slightly wobbly on her feet – three drinks in under an hour tended to do that to her – but she wasn't entirely unaccustomed to drinking, and regained her balance rather rapidly, even with the brace on her knee.

She took Ashley's hand as soon as the woman was on her feet, leading her away slowly without saying anything to anyone. They'd left their things on the ground, meaning they weren't leaving permanently. She threaded her fingers into Ashley's halfway to the big oak tree on the far side of the clearing, walking slowly but with purposeful steps, feeling the sway to her hips more than usual, probably because Ashley's free hand had just alighted on the small of her back and slid around to her waist.

When she got to the tree (what felt like) a million years later, she turned, grabbing Ashley's hips and piloting her to be leaned up against the tree. She then pushed herself into the woman's arms, snaking her own arms around Ashley's neck as the lieutenant pulled Sam in by her hips. The feel of their hips pushed together sent a pulse of hot desire directly to her core.

Their lips met with a spark, it seemed. Ashley's lips were soft and yielding, yet the kiss was almost hard. She had beer on her breath, with the same earthy undertone except, like, a million more times concentrated now that they were so close. Her lips and mouth were hot, meaning her own lips were probably cool to the lieutenant. Ashley's tongue darted out, searching and probing along Sam's lip, seeking entrance, and Sam was oh so delighted to allow it. She sighed softly into the taller woman's mouth, eagerly anticipating the feel and taste of her hot tongue-

"God, get a room!"

Just as she registered that it was Richard's voice that had shouted, a splash of cold water exploded across Sam's shoulders, followed closely by another over her head. Spluttering and hissing through the icy water, Sam turned, still in the circle of Ashley's arms, to find her twin brothers with identical grins on their faces, water balloons ready in their hands .

"Why, you little-"

She didn't get any farther. The boys launched the water balloons at the same time before turning and running away, cackling madly. They exploded on her chest and stomach, doing the rest of the job of soaking her entire body. She made to run after them, but Ashley's hands, which had been resting on her hips, tightened, keeping her from moving more than a step.

"Whoa! Down, tiger! No ruining that knee of yours! You're not gonna catch 'em with it only half better, anyway. Besides, your drunker'n I am."

Sam deflated. Ashley was right. "Those little buggers… They're so going to get it tomorrow."

Ashley pressed herself into Sam's back, wrapping her arms tightly around Sam's waist and pulling them together. Sam shuddered at the contact, feeling the heat Ashley emanated mixing with the cold of the water soaked into her clothes in a way that was threatening to cause her brain to short-circuit.

"Don't, you'll get all wet," Sam murmured, but Ashley just shook her head as she began to feather kisses from Samantha's shoulder up to her ear.

"I don't care," she whispered, before creating some distance between them. Turning Sam using her hips, Ashley pulled the specialist back against her, and they resumed their kissing, making out for several minutes before the heat coiling low in Sam's belly made her decide they either needed to stop or shag.

They spent the rest of the evening nursing drinks and singing (and drying off, in Sam's case), cuddling and occasionally kissing, making their way back to the settlement drunk both from the alcohol and from each other.

Chapter Text

"A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou."

"You can't write that bullshit down!" Ashley chided herself out loud. "No matter how apt it is to last night, that is some seriously cheesy bullshit right there."

She immediately erased the text, starting over. "I had a lot of fun last night." There. That was okay. Not too desperate, but also not too nonchalant. Just perfect. She sent it to Samantha, sighing and getting back to work.

The overcast sky was swirling, the humidity so high that she felt like she could cut a piece out of the air in front of her. It made her sweat even more than usual, though at least the temperature was cooler than the previous few days. She was also tired as fuck. The rest of the settlement was inside, taking their siesta. Even the field hands had cots in a shack out in the fields that they took a long afternoon nap in. Ashley was beginning to think she wouldn't be able to survive working the entire day after today. She was going to have to go to bed in her tent, in her sweaty, dirty, greasy clothes, and get some rest during the hottest part of the day. There was just no staying up and working through a twenty-hour day for more than three days, no matter how much her personal work ethic made her try to take advantage of all daylight hours. Clearly.

Yawning, Ashley bent double, opening the access panel that housed the power grid for this gun. It linked to a massive underground generator the colony's mechanic built to power the AA guns. Today was the day she would connect them together, and tomorrow the shipment of the parts for the next gun would arrive. Ideally, she'd get it up and running, teach that pain in the ass of a mechanic how to fix it if it needed it, and then be off this rock.

She frowned a little when it occurred to her that that meant no more Samantha. At least not until Ashley visited her family on Earth again.

Her omnitool buzzed. Ashley swore as she tried to stand up and pull her head out of the housing for the power in the wrong order, hitting the top of her head on unyielding plastiglass-wrapped metal. Rubbing the tender spot, Ashley straightened, answering the call just as the first raindrop hit her face.

"Hey, Sam," she greeted.

{Are you  outside ?!}

Ashley furrowed her brows. The rain was already getting heavier. "Yeah. Why?"

{Oh my God you have to come over  right now ! Did they not brief you on the horrendous summer storms?!}

Ashley's confusion deepened. "They said Horizon gets bad storms. So what? A little rain isn't gonna hurt me." The rain now beat a light but steady tattoo against the hardware around her. She wouldn't be able to work with the power supply during this, but she could do other things.

{Ashley, we get hail the size of your fist. It will knock you out and beat you to a bloody pulp. If you had a hard suit you'd be fine, but you don't. Come over  now while it's still  safe  out there!}

Ashley frowned. "I can't just abandon my work, Sam. It's just a little rain. I'll be fine."

{Oh you damn stubborn marine- fine. Stay there.}

The call disconnected. Ashley shrugged and got back to work. Within another minute she was completely soaked, but the power supply was now firmly secured against the rain. She double-checked that her tent was also secure, zipped up and staked to the ground so it didn't fly away while she worked.

Bang

Ashley jumped, looking around to see a baseball-sized mass on the ground near the base of the gun. Walking closer, shining her omni-light on it, she saw that it was a giant piece of ice, perfectly round. It looked like giant hail.

Her stomach sank. "Fuck. Sam's right."

She took off running, stopping only long enough to find her shirt – which she could not just leave out with her pips on it – and shove her arms through the soaked fabric of the sleeves, letting it flap behind her as she pelted in the direction of Sam's family's prefab. She met Sam halfway there, the specialist jogging lightly, barefoot, her knee brace nowhere to be found. She vaguely remembered that Sam was to being walking around without the thing starting today.

"What the fuck are you doing running?!" Ashley shouted. She had to yell because the rain and hail had intensified, and the noise they produced along with the wind was louder than she would have thought possible.

"You wouldn't come like I told you, so I came to get you!" Sam yelled back. "You damn stubborn woman!"

Ashley shook her head. They shouldn't be stopped out here yelling. Taking the woman's hand, she led her away. Somehow hail was falling and missing them, instead pinging loudly against the prefabs of other families, though their luck wouldn't last long at the rate those pings were increasing. They ran, Sam stumbling at one point and Ashley hauling the specialist's arm over her shoulder and helping her get the rest of the way home. They rushed through the door, hail pinging against it just as it closed.

They stood just inside, panting and dripping wet. As Ashley let go of Sam, she took in the living space of the Traynor residence. It was a wonderfully open space, with a kitchen off in the far corner, dining space on the other side of a breakfast bar, and the rest of the area occupied by low couches and a large rug. A good-sized vid-screen was affixed to the wall that was obviously shared with some other room, windows lining the outer walls.

"Oh, bloody hell, and I thought I'd get to spend the afternoon dry, " Samantha groaned, causing Ashley to smirk as she shifted her attention back to Sam. She stood in denim shorts, barefoot, a t-shirt now stuck to her torso. Ashley noted that Sam didn't wear a bra, her perky nipples straining against the wet fabric of her shirt. Ashley suddenly had the urge to take them into her mouth, wet t-shirt and all, and make sure she spent the rest of the afternoon far from dry.

"My eyes are up here, lieutenant," Sam said pointedly, a brow raised and the corner of her mouth quirked up.

Ashley panicked for a moment, instead evading. "Is no one home?"

Sam allowed it, taking a step closer. "They're asleep. In fact, you woke me up with your text. I had to throw on my shorts from last night in order to come save your arse."

Ashley's eyes unfocused for a moment. She remembered holding onto those shorts, her thumbs hooked in the belt loops, her fingertips chafing against Sam's tank top while their lips and tongues danced. Her eyes refocused as Sam stepped into her space, her hands moving along the lieutenant's stomach before moving up to her collar. Her fingertips brushed along the top hem of her tank top before pressing into her drenched skin and hooking behind her neck. She then leaned her hips in, making contact with Ashley's.

Ashley gulped, smiled uncertainly, and placed her hands on Sam's hips. This was a lot harder sober. When she was drunk, or buzzed like the night before, her fucking brain didn't get in her way. Now, she wasn't sure what she should do. Should she lean down and kiss Sam? Pull her in closer? Nibble her neck? Play hard to get? She didn't know. She just stood there dumbly, aware that she had an invitation to do something but not knowing how the fuck to fill the lull.

Sam saved her, moving a hand up to the back of Ashley's head and applying pressure. Ashley followed the lead she was given, closing her eyes as their lips met. Sam's lips were once-again cool, like a refreshing drink. Her lips were soft and malleable, her tongue warm and smooth as it moved along Ashley's upper lip. Sam's scent filled Ashley's nose, surrounding her in the smell of cream. It had taken a while for Ash to figure it out the night before, but it had hit her as she had finally tasted Sam's mouth for the first time – it reminded her of heavy cream. It had been mixed with the cider she'd been drinking, of course, but still it was there, the richness and sweetness mixing together and reminding Ash of homemade whipped cream . Kissing Sam was like taking a taste of a refreshingly cool yet decadent dessert.

The kiss ended a few moments later, Sam pulling back with a small smile. "Mmmm that was lovely. Thank you."

Ashley snorted. "You're welcome?"

Giving her a sardonic look, Samantha parted from her completely, taking her hand and interlocking their fingers. Without a word she pulled Ashley behind her, heading for the hallway in the back Ashley could now see.

Ashley couldn't help it. The Awkward part of her took over. "So where are we headed?" She knew the answer, and liked the implications, but the Smooth part of her only ever overpowered the Awkward part when she'd been drinking.

Sam sighed exasperatedly, stopping and turning to give Ashley that same sardonic look. "You're really not going to let me be smooth about this, are you?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, God," Sam groaned, rolling her eyes before turning back around. Giving Ashley a tug, she said simply, "We need to change out of our soaked clothes."

Ashley furrowed her brows. "But… I don't have anything to change into."

"I know," was all Samantha replied with, making Ashley's heart pound with her certainty.

Sam opened the door to the room at the end of the hall. They were immediately greeted by the family's dog, who jumped up on Ashley and licked at her hands.

"Boomer, out!" Sam ordered, pointing out the door. The dog happily complied, wagging his tail at them from the hallway. "Good boy," she said with a smile, then closed the door. As she walked away, Ashley got a chance to take in the room.

It was small, maybe three or four meters square. A twin bed was pushed into the corner, a window to the outside resting in the wall above the headboard, the rest of the room dominated by a giant wooden desk, upon which sat a sturdy-looking chess set, an extranet terminal, and the duffel bag Sam had had on the shuttle. On the wall above the desk were several hooks, each laden with a ukulele, one even holding a tiny banjo. Ashley wanted to go touch everything, because they were a part of Sam, but was rooted in place, not wanting to track water into the carpeted room.

"Now," Sam said, arresting Ashley's attention as she moved back from the wardrobe in the other corner. "Why don't you let me help you?"

Ashley's heart immediately began to pound. "I'm… good."

Sam raised a brow, pausing with her hands on Ashley's sleeves. "Uh huh. Look, if you don't want to do this, that's fine. I'll go sleep on the couch and you can let your clothes dry off in here while you sleep. No hard feelings, and hell, maybe we can even be friends. But… well, given last night, I'm not convinced that's what you want, and it's certainly not what I want. So tell me what's wrong, soldier."

Ashley swallowed. Something about Sam made her want to tell the truth, so she tried. "I just… I know I'll fuck it up somehow. I can't seem to do… this," she gestured between the two of them, "without alcohol in my system." She sighed, sagging a little, turning her head away. "I get all awkward and clam up. I can flirt, but anything more than that and…" She finished by shrugging.

"Oh Ashley…" Ashley felt two fingertips slide under her chin before a gentle pressure made her face the smaller woman. "I don't care about that. I'll laugh with you, and make fun of you, and you can tease me. If you don't want me, I understand. But if this is just about you doing it right…" She didn't say anything else, instead cupping Ashley's cheeks with both small hands and pulling their lips together.

It was a soft, tender kiss, no tongue, just their lips fitting together perfectly. It made Ashley's head spin a little, making her put her hands on Sam's hips just to ground herself – that light, tender kiss might just make her float away. She deepened the kiss, breathing in Sam's rich scent sharply through her nose as the specialist's warm tongue danced around her own. She was a little surprised when she felt Sam's hands on her hips, finding her belt and undoing it with practiced motions.

"Going right for the prize?" she asked, pulling back just enough to get the words out. Sam merely smiled wickedly, pulling the belt from Ashley's pants and dropping it on the floor before pushing herself into the lieutenant. Ashley's whole body seemed to pulse with sudden hot desire upon contact with Sam's body, and before she knew quite what she was doing, she had her hands on the hem of Sam's shirt, pulling it up. Sam acquiesced immediately, lifting her arms over her head as Ashley peeled the wet garment off of her.

The sight now before Ashley stole her breath from her lungs. Sam stood only in her little shorts, her ample, slightly drooping breasts on perfect display, the nipples hard as rocks and pebbled in the cool indoor air – and pointing right at Ash. Her narrow shoulders were half-raised, as if she were shy or nervous, which was likely – no matter how many people you slept with , the first exposure was always a little nerve-wracking . Despite her nerves, Sam wore a half-smile full of promise for all kinds of wickedly fun things as she looked up toward Ashley with hooded eyes.

Ashley swallowed again, her mouth suddenly dry, before closing the distance between them. Wrapping her arms firmly around Samantha's waist and pulling the woman flush against her, she took Sam's lower lip between her teeth and bit lightly, closing her eyes to enjoy the sensations as she turned it into a full-on kiss. She let her hands explore up Sam's back, down to the waistband of her shorts, up her shoulders and neck, burying her fingers in the woman's wet hair. She didn't stop their kissing until she needed air, finally breaking the seal of their lips and panting.

"So… you want more, then?" Samantha's tone was teasing, but her expression held an honest question. Ashley didn't trust her voice, so she just nodded before plunging forward, trailing her lips down the woman's throat. Sam moaned softly and tilted her head back, opening her throat wide for Ashley to devour.

She trailed lips and tongue, tasting the damp skin, drinking it in. Her arms were wrapped around Samantha's arched back, practically holding the woman aloft as Samantha's hands left Ashley's shoulders and traveled along her muscled arms. They alighted on the sleeves of Ashley's open uniform shirt, tugging lightly.

"You have about 5 more pieces of clothing than I do, and it's not fair," she complained, tugging more insistently on Ashley's shirtsleeves.

Ashley smirked. "Who said I play fair?" she countered as she nibbled along Sam's throat.

"So… that's the secret, is it? Oh, God…" Sam's voice was a breathy moan. She was clearly distracted from speaking by Ashley's wandering mouth and hands, one of which had just moved down to Sam's bare thigh. "I just have to get you to flirt with me, and… fuck… and you stop overthinking it?"

"Maybe," Ashley hedged, her brain utterly unable to think with the electric feeling of Sam's warm skin under her hands, in her arms. But Sam abruptly pulled away, pushing Ashley off of her and dropping to one knee. "The fuck?"

Samantha smirked, reaching up and undoing Ashley's pants. "I told you it wasn't fair. And since you don't play fair, that means I won't, either." She unbuttoned Ashley, taking the zipper between her thumb and forefinger and slowly pulling it down, her eyes fixed on the lieutenant's. Ashley's brain threatened to short-circuit at the sight of the topless, buxom woman kneeling in front of her.

Ashley's pants peeled down her legs inside out, the fabric gripping resolutely to her skin. They stopped, however, at her feet. A look of confusion overtook Sam's face as she looked down to see what the problem was. Then she was laughing. Ashley grinned.

"Forget about the boots?" Sam nodded, still laughing at herself. "Here, let me help you, doofus."

Leaning over, Ashley unlaced her boots, pushing each off with the other foot. The socks followed, then the pants, then her uniform shirt, all laid out to dry by Samantha. They met once more, Sam in her shorts, Ash in her tank top, sportsbra, and underwear.

"Somehow I'm not surprised you're a boxer-brief kind of girl," Sam quipped, running a hand up Ashley's thigh to the aforementioned undergarments, fingering the hem between thumb and forefinger.

Ashley raised a brow. "You complaining?"

"Oh hardly. Come on," she answered, catching Ashley's hand and pulling her toward the bed. Ashley was powerless to do anything but follow, watching the sway of Sam's hips in the mesmerizing rhythm they made.

The bed was only a few paces away, but by the time they got there, the mood had definitely shifted. Ashley wasn't sure how, but she suddenly felt like if she said the wrong thing it would break some spell. This was the last moment for which they could either continue forward, or backtrack. She ardently didn't want to fuck that up, so she resolved to simply not say anything, opting instead to encourage Sam back onto the bed and following her down.

She lay out on top of the specialist, kissing her fiercely before feathering kisses down her throat and onto her chest. She let her hands roam, pressing her fingers into Sam's skin, following the contours of the specialist's hips and waist, tickling lightly over her ribs before ending at her marvelous breasts. Sam let out a breathy moan as Ashley took one taut nipple into her mouth, throwing her head back and arching her back, her legs intertwining with Ashley's as her nails raked down the lieutenant's back through her tank.

Then Ashley's shirt was being peeled back, and she had no choice but to break contact to allow the shirt to be pulled off, leaving her in sports bra and underwear. Samantha's eyes flashed as she grinned, and then Ashley's breasts were freed, the bra following the same path as her shirt. Ashley's breasts were not as ample as Samantha's, but it was an area in which she had never been completely lacking, and Sam certainly didn't seem to be complaining. The smaller woman took them immediately in-hand, almost growling as she pulled Ashley against her once more and kissed the shit out of her.

Their skin met suddenly, Ashley inhaling sharply and her stomach clenching at the feel of Sam's warm, smooth skin against her own. "God," she moaned into Sam's mouth, before plunging her tongue out to find Samantha's, needing to be closer to this beautiful specimen beneath her. The rest of their clothing was shed quickly, Ashley's wet bun freed, and the lieutenant found herself naked, pressed as close to Samantha as she could get. Their arms and legs were wrapped around each other, and they kissed like they were each other's only source of oxygen.

Finally, after several minutes of feverish making out and groping, Sam pushed on Ashley's shoulders a bit, creating a small amount of distance between them. She was panting, her eyes dark with desire. Her body practically trembled in Ashley's arms.

"If you don't touch me soon, lieutenant, I think I'll explode."

Ashley grinned, her eyes flashing at the use of her title in an entirely inappropriate setting. She knew it would cut into the desperate mood, but they were past the point of no return now, and somehow she knew that her response would be well-received. "Am I not touching you right now?" she asked, gyrating hard with her hips, driving her thigh against Samantha's wet center, the first time it had truly made contact. She shivered at the feel of the woman writhing in her arms, her wetness coating Ash's thigh.

Sam almost cried out, her fingers digging into the skin over Ashley's shoulder blades as her eyes crossed and closed. They snapped open once more when Ashley stopped her movement. "Dammit, Ash!"

"What?" Ashley asked innocently, unable to keep a smirk from pulling at her lips.

Samantha groaned in frustration, starting to grind her hips, searching for that contact. Ashley took pity on her, driving her knee in and letting Samantha grind against her thigh as Ash continued to nibble along her collarbone. After a moment, however, she pushed on Ashley's shoulders again, creating a lot more distance between them. Ashley dutifully sat up on her knees, concern furrowing her brows.

"Is everything alright, Sam?"

Sam merely shook her head, crawling out from under Ashley before almost pouncing the lieutenant, pushing Ashley down so she lay on her back. Ashley started to object, to voice her concern once again, but shut up when Sam crawled on top of her, settling with her knees on either side of Ashley's head. Ashley was now treated to a delicious view of the woman's ass, and her sex. Sam clearly didn't shave or trim, hadn't opted for permanent hair removal, and Ashley was privately thankful for all the wiry, black pubic hair. She'd never understood the need to remove all hair from a woman's body – it was sexy as fuck.

"Is this okay?" Sam asked, focusing Ashley's attention to the woman's face, currently framed in the upside-down "V" of Sam's legs. It was also hovering just above Ashley's own sex.

She's asking me if I want to 69?! "Hell yeah!" Ashley blurted, coloring at little at her own enthusiasm. But it was true. She wanted this woman's warm tongue on her clit, and she herself wanted to taste Sam so bad.

Sam didn't say anything further. Instead, Ashley felt the specialist's breasts press into her lower belly, and then fingers were parting her own overgrown thatch of pubic hair. As Sam's warm tongue darted out and teased her clit, Ashley forged ahead with her own task, reaching both hands around Sam's thighs and parting her folds. She cried out just as her own mouth made contact with Sam's sex a moment after Sam's touched hers, feeling the light, probing pressure of Sam's tongue exploring her folds.

Then her tongue was on Sam, and her brain very nearly overloaded from all the stimuli. Sam's fluids were thick and tangy, and Ashley was immediately hooked. She lapped them up, trying desperately to remember not to clench her thighs too tightly around Sam's head when Sam's feather-light flickering tongue suddenly flattened and pressed hard against the ridge of her clit.

"Fuck, Sam," she murmured, digging her fingers into Sam's thighs for a minute. She then resumed her work, studiously exploring every inch of labia she could reach, finding the places that made Sam twitch and moan and whimper. She found that the best place was right on the tip of Sam's clit. When she flicked Sam's clit softly but quickly, Sam froze, her muscles flexing as she panted, swearing profusely in a breathy voice that washed her warm breath over Ash's sex.

Suddenly the smaller woman's body truly seized, and it was obvious Sam was coming, her sex producing a fresh coating of fluids for Ashley's mouth and chin. Her work on Ashley had obviously halted, but Ashley far from minded, focusing instead on prolonging Sam's orgasm, flicking her tongue out and coaxing the woman's clit gently until Samantha collapsed on top of her.

Sam's weight felt good. They were sweating where their skin touched, but Ashley didn't mind. Her hair was starting to dry. God, it's probably a rat's nest by this point… Again, she didn't really care. All she cared about was the naked woman on top of her, the throb in her core, and the fact that Sam's swollen, soaking-wet folds were within such easy reach for a second go…

Ashley nearly jumped when she felt Samantha's fingers begin to pull her pubic hair aside once more. "Sam! You don't have to-"

She didn't get any further, instead losing contact with Sam's sex as the woman pushed herself up and forward to be supported on her knees, her fingers probing as her tongue flicked out again. Ashley could only moan quietly and close her eyes, pinned down by Sam as she was. Samantha pushed two fingers inside of her, pulling the hood of her clitoris back and pressing her tongue hard against the newly exposed head.

Ashley saw white as Sam began moving gently inside of her, that insistent pressure against her clit playing a dizzying contrast to the almost delicate movement inside of her. It wasn't her typical favorite – Ashley liked to be taken hard and fast, usually – but it was working wonders, and within less than a minute, she was hovering on the edge of her own orgasm.

"Sam, I'm gonna… I'm gonna…" And she did, crashing over the edge with a bit-off shout, forgetting to not clench her legs and trapping Samantha's head between her thighs. Her whole body clenched, her inner muscles clamping down on Sam's fingers. Sam's tongue continued lashing against Ashley's clit, and Ashley essentially rode her face until she collapsed, twitching occasionally as an aftershock hit her.

"Well, that was… wonderful," she heard Sam murmur, and then those fingers were gone from her core and Sam's body disappeared from hers. Ash whimpered, but it only lasted a moment, Sam nudging her until her head was on the pillow, her body up against the wall to make room. Then Sam was in her arms, pulling a sheet over them, and Ashley could bury her face in Sam's warm, salty, delectable skin.

They fell asleep quickly, their bodies pressed close together on the twin bed, arms and legs intertwined as they breathed the same air.

Chapter Text

Samantha awoke to a strange rumbling sound. Her fingertips vibrated right along with it. Opening her eyes, she found Ashley looking down at her apologetically.

"I, uh… I guess it's been a while since I've eaten anything," she explained, and Sam realized it was Ashley's stomach rumbling under her hand that had woken her.

She smiled. They lay pressed together still, the sheet pooled around their hips. Ashley's skin was hot and dry, deliciously smooth against her own. As she moved her hand, her finger caught on a smooth imperfection near Ashley's hip, and lifting her head, she saw it was a scar. It shouldn't really surprise her. Ashley was a marine. She'd seen battle, taken fire. But being faced with the reality made her heart skip a beat.

"Hey, you okay?"

Sam looked up to Ashley's beautiful face and smiled. "Yes. I just… you have a scar."

Ash snorted. "Yeah. That one's from a fishing trip I took with my dad when I was fifteen. I fell on a fishhook and there were no hospitals or anything around. He had to remove the damn thing with needle-nose pliers and sanitize it with whiskey." She rolled her eyes. "Always made sure to have medigel on me after that. Scars are battles won, but I'd like to win battles with something scarier than a damn fishhook."

Samantha's heartbeat returned to normal. She was sure Ashley had still taken fire, and probably had scars from it, but she didn't have to be faced with that reality right at this moment. She nuzzled her face into that delicious area between shoulder and breast, pressing her body into Ashley's once more. Ashley placed a kiss to on Samantha's temple, hugging her tightly.

"That was…" Ashley started, speaking low as Samantha started dropping kisses on her chest.

"Incredible?" Samantha supplied between kisses. "Wonderful? World-rocking? Show-stopping?" She looked up, waggling her eyebrows. "You'd like to do it again?"

Ashley chuckled. "Yes. All of those things."

Samantha moved up to Ashley's neck, nibbling along the salty skin she hadn't had a chance to sample before they had fallen asleep. She was interrupted, however, by Ashley's stomach rumbling once more. She couldn't help it. She laughed, pushing away and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.

"Let's get you something to eat, shall we?"

"But… skin." Ashley's hand went around her waist, and then Ashley was behind her, wrapped around her, naked front pressed against Sam's naked back. Sam shuddered, but got up, allowing the contact to fall away.

"While I agree, I don't want to keep being interrupted by your stomach. I don't like playing second fiddle," she added, smirking down at Ash. "Particularly to your gut."

Ash chuckled, lying back down and pulling the sheet over herself. "Well, don't take too long."

A shiver ran down Sam's spine at the unexpectedly feminine sight of Ashley all demure in the bed like that, and it took all of Sam's willpower to tear her eyes away and pull her robe from the wardrobe. Slipping it on, she checked herself in the mirror hanging on the back wall of the wardrobe.

"Oh, Lord, my hair is a fright!" she exclaimed, seeing the rat's nest that had become of her hair. "I suppose that's what I get for all the writhing around on the bed with wet hair…"

Ashley just snorted as Sam reached for her hairbrush. Several snarls later she rechecked. "Bugger. I hardly look any better. Oh well." She tossed the brush onto her desk and opened the door, poking her head out. She didn't see anyone, so she slipped out of her bedroom and padded softly into the living room.

"Sammy!"

Sam froze for a moment at the sound of her father's voice. He was seated on the couch, his legs sprawled out while a baseball game was playing on the vid-screen. Her brothers sat on either side of him, the dog on the floor. Schooling her features, she tried to act like she hadn't just shagged a superior officer in her childhood bed. The knowing smirks on both her brothers' faces proved that she failed miserably, but at least their father was somewhat oblivious.

Her dad looked up at her then, concern furrowing his brows. "Everything alright, Sammy ? You look guilty." Her brothers snickered at his observation.

Dammit. Maybe he's not as oblivious as I thought. "Everything's fine, Dad. Just grabbing a snack."

"You slept late, kid. Your mum's already started dinner."

Sam finally noticed that evening had fallen. She and Ashley must have slept for hours. The rain still fell outside, though the hail had abated. At least that meant Ashley hadn't missed any work by staying the afternoon, though Sam very much doubted Ashley was that strict with herself.

Sam also finally noticed that her mum was in the kitchen, stirring something on the stovetop. Shit. I can't hide anything from that woman. She padded further into the room, hoping to simply grab some fruit from the fruit bowl. Unfortunately, her mother looked up, did a double-take, then grinned broadly.

"I knew it would happen! When did Penelope get here?"

Penelope?! What?! Sam didn't even have an answer, standing flabbergasted as her mother pulled her into a huge hug. "Well, where is she? She should stay for dinner, and-"

"Mum!"

All three Traynor children had yelled at Rithu. She looked around, bewildered. "What?"

Sam groaned, wiping her hand over her face. "I am not seeing Penelope, Mum! Jesus, we split up three years ago! I've moved on – we both have! Why you had to go and become friends with her is beyond me…"

Her mother furrowed her brows. "It would have been rude to just ignore her – she came for Christmas that one year! You seemed happy together, and you haven't seen anyone serious since." Then she frowned. "And don't use that tone with me! You might be an adult, but I am still your mother, and you are still in my house."

Sam sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Of course Mum, you're right. And I apologize. The fact of the matter is, I'm… seeing someone else now. It's new, and I really like her, and I really don't want to screw this up. So just… be cool when you meet her, alright?"

"So how'd you get her in your bed already, Sam?" Timothy asked, launching himself from the couch and going to sit at the breakfast bar.

"Tim, that's not a very polite question to be asking," their father admonished, and yet he looked to Sam for an answer.

"It's okay, Dad. He's just looking for pointers," she threw back at her brother. "Hasn't made it yet with his own little girlfriend and has to ask his sister, who is ever so much luckier with women."

"Wait, you knew about this mystery girl?" their mother questioned him, interrupting the insult on the tip of his tongue that likely would have landed him in trouble for saying in front of their mother.

Instead he rolled his eyes. "Duh, Mum. They were at the bonfire last night. Kissing. And Sam almost broke her knee staring at her the other day when she was supposed to be running."

"And you little wankers had to abandon me that morning and then drench me in water balloons last night!"

Richard just shrugged, having joined his brother at the bar and grabbing an apple. "Didn't seem to stop you from shoving your tongue down her throat,." he observed, taking a bite.

"Wait… the Alliance representative is the one who's in your room right now? The one who brought you home in need of a knee brace the other day?" In classic parent fashion, her mother was two steps behind Sam and her brothers in the conversation.

Sam latched onto it. "Yes, Mum. Ashley Williams. And she's nice. And I like her. So can I please grab some food and disappear for a little while? You can grill me for details later."

"Not too many details, Sammy. You're an adult, but no father wants to hear about his daughter's exploits," her father murmured, turning his attention back to the game.

Rithu gave consent, allowing Sam to grab a container of leftover pasta and meatballs and slip from the kitchen, almost running back to the relative safety of her bedroom. Once inside, she turned, freezing in her tracks at the sight before her. Ashley lay on her stomach, her chest rising and falling softly as she slept, hugging a pillow underneath her. The sheet had slid once more to her waist, leaving her shoulders and back exposed, her tangled hair splayed across her shoulders.

Tiptoeing forward, Sam took this opportunity to study her lover (That's right! We've had sex! That means even if it doesn't happen again, we're lovers! I dohope it happens again, though…) up close, without the lieutenant being aware of her. Her eyes were immediately drawn by a series of tattoos. She had seen the barest hint of them poking out of the woman's shirt, but didn't think too much on them at the time – tattoos were a pretty regular phenomenon among military types. However, these tattoos weren't your garden-variety "Mom" with a heart, or a girlfriend's name or something equally as inane.

The tattoo on Ashley's left shoulder blade was of a beautiful, stunningly rendered red rose. The petals were subtly different shades of red, with shading showing the contours in such rich detail that the rose almost looked real as Ashley shifted in her sleep. The flower occupied her whole shoulder blade, just the barest hint of a stem at the bottom before the ink stopped at some beautiful cursive lettering. The words read : Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there; I did not die.

That is obviously for her father…

The next tattoo caught her eye, clearly some kind of military symbol, probably the patch of a previous squad. The fact that she had it tattooed on her body spelled bad news for the members of that squad. Under the patch were words that were clearly the unit's slogan: Audacia et Fortitudo. "Strength and Courage" in Latin, as all military slogans were. I wonder what our slogan would be if we had one, she smirked to herself. R&D lab techs unite!

The third tattoo took up Ashley's entire right shoulder blade. In large, blocky letters was the tag SR-1 in black and red. A ship-name. "The Normandy," Sam breathed, realizing where she had vaguely recognized Ashley's name from. Ashley was a surviving member of the Normandy! News about its destruction wasall over during her first year of service, the ship having been mysteriously destroyed mere weeks after Sam survived basic training. The names of all the crew members had been announced on the ANN so many times that for a while she could mouth along the alphabetical list of the Alliance crew of that ship.

Samantha was floored. She had slept with a war hero. A war hero was in her bed. She would be introducing a war hero to her parents. And they had just shagged.

"Sam?" Ashley mumbled, turning over onto her side to look sleepily up at Samantha. "What's wrong?"

Shake it off, Sam. She hasn't mentioned any of it yet. That means she doesn't want to talk about it yet. "Nothing," she said with a smile, offering the container of pasta and a fork. "Oh, except that the entire family knows and you're basically required to stay for dinner."

Ashley's eyes widened. "We weren't that loud, were we?"

Samantha giggled. "No, no, nothing like that. We, uh, slept later than them, so everyone's up and about out there. They saw me like this, and my brothers and mum knew exactly what I'd been up to. We had a, um… discussion about how I do not have my ex in here, how I really like you and don't want them to screw this up for me, and, well… Here we are. Pasta?"

"So you like me, do you?" Ashley smirked, sitting up, leaving the pillow in her lap. Her breasts were on display, as well as her powerful shoulders and arms, and Sam felt a shiver down her spine just thinking about the feel of being in those arms. She wanted to do it again very badly, as soon as possible.

"My eyes are up here." Ashley was grinning, an eyebrow raised as she held out a hand for the food. Sam blushed and handed it over. Ashley thanked her, digging in with gusto. After a moment of Sam just awkwardly standing there, she swallowed and gestured next to her. "Sit down, doofus. You're making me feel weird, just standing there and staring."

Sam colored again, hurrying to move the pillow and sit down, scooting back against the wall. "Sorry," she murmured.

"So… you have another one of these things?" Ashley asked, fingering the fabric of Sam's robe.

"Alas, no. And even if I did, I like having you naked in my bed far too much to relinquish one to you." Aaaaaand Flirtatious Sam is back. Glad you could finally show up, wanker. Save me from my awkwardness with the tattoos.

"Well, that's hardly fair. I'm naked and you're not."

"And who said I played fair?" Sam waggled her eyebrows, gaining her a snort from her bed partner.

"Touché," Ashley conceded, digging into her food once more.

They sat in relative silence for a few moments, the room seeming heavy with the new knowledge she had, and before she could stop herself, she broke that pregnant silence.

"Ashley, I… wonder if you could tell me the significance of your tattoos?" Ashley stiffened. Bugger. There you go, ruining things, Sam. Her attempted explanation came out in a rush. "I just meant that, well, they're beautiful, and obviously mean something to you. I like you, and I want to get to know more about you, and… I'll shut up now. I'm sorry…"

Ashley put her food in her lap, looking over to Sam with a slight smile. "You're adorable." Warmth immediately suffused Sam's cheeks. "I can tell you about them. But… it's a couple of long stories. One is for my dad, which I'm sure you figured out." Sam nodded, unwilling to meet Ashley's eyes. "The others… are for other things I've lost. All thanks to Saren…"

Ashley began her tale, and Sam settled in to listen. She knew how important sharing something like this was, and how rarely soldiers did so in such a candid way. They spent the rest of the evening together, talking, until her mother knocked on her door, letting them know dinner was ready.

Chapter Text

"Well, shit."

Ashley sighed. The tent was ruined. It could stand up to a lot, but it wasn't designed be able to take a beating from icy baseballs being thrown around by strong winds. All of her things were wet – her clothes, the things inside her firearms locker, and her few personal items. The guns and shield generators she'd brought could survive the water, of course, but her clothes all needed to be washed and dried to avoid mildew and whatever other nasties this planet might have to throw her way. She didn't relish the thought of merely letting the clothes dry and then putting them on to discover some animal or insect or awful mold had taken refuge in her stuff.

Sam apparently was thinking along the same lines. "Help me gather it all up, and I can take it back home and wash it for you ," she offered.

Ashley smiled. Their conversation the day before, after some truly mind-blowing sex, had gone well. Sam had listened as Ash spoke, for the first time outside of a debriefing, about Eden Prime, Saren, the geth, and the Normandy. It had felt incredibly good to talk about it, though it was painful and stilted at first. But Sam had merely taken her hand and leaned her head upon Ashley's shoulder, and the words had flowed more easily . When she was done, when she had no more words, Samantha had told her how painful that must have been, to lose her best friend in Commander Shepard, especially when it wasn't even in the fight that should have killed them. Ashley had nodded, wiping a stray tear away and hugging Samantha tightly to her.

They had then gathered her dry clothing and made sure they were both presentable before joining Samantha's family for dinner.

Ashley had been nervous. It had been years since she'd met the family of a love-interest, but at the same time she wasn't, because winning people's parents over had always come easily to her. They had chatted all throughout dinner – which was some seriously good eatin' – about her family, about hers and Samantha's experiences in basic, and about how similar and different it was to be a marine versus a techie like Sam. She had then merely listened as the family talked about the things families normally spoke about – Timothy's girlfriend, the crops being harvested, the latest thing Sam's father, Daniel Traynor, was working on for the ag-tech firm he had helped start out here. It was all delightfully normal, warm and filling just like the meal they ate, and it gave Ash a contented feeling she usually only ever got around her mother and sisters.

She had made some noise about not interrupting their evening further, but everyone in the room had given her the same "are you crazy?!" look that made it clear she was going nowhere until morning. So she had sat around while the baseball game finished, then sat next to Sam while she played her ukulele and her family sang, Timothy joining in on his own instrument. Sam's parents went to bed, leaving the children up, at which point Timothy and Richard both started asking her for war stories. Ashley had a smirk on her face as she shared some stories to her rapt audience, leaving out some of the more gory truths of war for the time being

Samantha had then dragged her off to bed amidst her brothers' hooting and retching – really, they were oddly both happy for Sam like men were for each other, and grossed out the way you would be to hear about your sister having sex. Sam had stripped her of her clothing very quickly, and what had followed was a frenzied, two-hour study in all the things that made Sam hiss and moan, followed by a similar study on Sam's part. And then she had slept like the dead.

Bringing her to here. They had awoken, and Ashley had been faced with the reality that she still had work to do and couldn't merely hole up and make love (which was what it was quickly becoming) to this gorgeous woman every hour for the rest of her time on this rock. It was disappointing, to say the least. Sam had accompanied her to the AA gun's site, and now they were going over her belongings, seeing what had survived the storm. The sky was clear, promising to be another hot day, but drier than the ones she'd experienced so far thanks to all the rain that had been dumped on them the day before.

Gathering up her clothing and belongings was easy. Stuffing it all into her duffel bag, Ashley sent it home with Samantha, staying behind to continue her work. The shuttle with the rest of her supplies would be arriving sometime today; hopefully they had another tent, or possibly even something sturdier, since she'd been warned that Horizon had storms of that intensity every few days during the warmest part of the summer. It didn't always include hail of that size – that only happened when a cold front moved in – but she agreed with them that she didn't want to try working during a howling storm that soaked her to her skivvies in minutes. Maybe before she would've, but now that she had Samantha to spend time with, and no superiors around to monitor her, perhaps she could afford to let herself have this, this one time.

She worked steadily through the morning, connecting the gun to its power source and conducting tests to make sure everything was working properly. The second gun would be set up in a different clearing, and the targeting matrix that controlled both of them would be installed where the controls for the generator were in the middle of what passed for the settlement's "downtown." The gun was working perfectly, which was incredibly satisfying to the perfectionist in Ash, and she powered it down feeling a little better that Sam's family would have this protection once it was all up and running. Until the targeting matrix was installed, however, the gun had to be powered down to avoid any unwanted targeting of friendly ships.

Her omnitool was pinged with a message, an Alliance tag on it, as she entered the code to lock down the gun so no random kid with an omnitool could power it back up. She stood and read the message, immediately entering the information to make a live call.

{Williams, good to see you're still alive down there,} came the voice of the ship's pilot. Ash had met him a few times; he was a funny guy. Reminded her of Joker.

"Yeah, well, you know – it takes more than a little heat and humidity to take me out," she quipped, earning her a chuckle from the other end. "So you guys are approaching orbit. Any chance you have an extra tent up there? Or better yet, something that can survive a storm with hail the size of my face?"

{Ouch. Not a good night?}

Ashley snorted. "My tent was ripped to shreds and I had to take refuge with the locals . Nice people, but I'd like to not have to intrude on their family dinner again."

{Damn, that had to be awkward. I'll ask the requisitions officer what we've got, and make sure it gets sent down to you. You need to talk to anyone else?}

Ashley shook her head, even though he couldn't see her. "Nah. I'm good. Everything else survived, even if it needs sanitizing. You the ones who're gonna pick me up when I'm done here?"

{I dunno. Probably depends on who's nearest when you're done. How long is it supposed to take?}

"Two solar weeks, though I might get it done faster."

{Psshhhh. Take your time, Williams. Enjoy the scenery and the locals. Life's too short to do your job and nothin' else. Our shuttle will see you within an hour, yeah?}

"Yeah, okay. Williams out." If only he knew how true to heart I've been taking that advice…

Ashley worked for another two hours, unloading her supplies and loading the empty crates back onto the shuttle. Among the supplies was another tent, but this time with a hard-cased protective canopy to set up over it. The hope was that it was be the difference in providing her cover during the next storm . And as it was all that was available last-minute, it would have to do.

As the pilot steered the shuttle away, she felt a tingling down her spine as cool hands alighted on her bare shoulders.

"You're working pretty hard, there, soldier."

Ashley grinned, turning around and snagging Samantha, scantily clad in shorts and tank once again, around the waist and pulling her in close. Leaning in and kissing her briefly, Ash pulled back and crooned, "Well, you know, I know how much you like my muscles, so I thought I'd work them for you."

Samantha giggled, running her hands up Ashley's arms before resting them on her shoulders. "Well, I suppose there's one very good way I could thank you, as it's time to retire for the afternoon…"

Ashley's eyes flashed in anticipation, but her smile was apologetic. "Unfortunately, I have to set up a few things before I can abandon my work."

Sam sighed. "Blast. Foiled by the very organization for which I work…"

"You could always help me?" Ashley suggested, regretfully letting go of Sam and walking over to her supplies. "I just need to set up my new tent, and this canopy. Then I can put my locker inside and hopefully no one will mess with it." It was locked against tampering, but she still didn't like the idea of people going through her shit. There was nothing for it, though – the tent was what she got.

Sam narrowed her eyes skeptically at Ash. "That sounds suspiciously like you want me to do work, out in the sun and heat. I'm on shore leave."

Ashley just beamed a smile at her. "Awww, c'mon. It won't kill you."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh, alright, fine. But you better have one hell of a plan to make this up to me."

"Oh, I do," Ashley growled, pleased to see the specialist shiver before hurrying to Ashley's side to help her. Chuckling, she started taking the tent out of its bag. This was going to be a very pleasant afternoon.

Chapter Text

Day 7

"So… would it completely ruin the magic to have the 'define the relationship' talk?"

Sam had decided to visit Ashley in her tent after her shower tonight, after they had slept over at Sam's house again the night before… and during their siesta that day. Sam had made a show of sitting up and playing her ukulele for a few minutes, but was rudely interrupted when Ashley took it from her, laid it gently aside, and veritably pounced. They had vents open to let in the breeze, but it was still decidedly warmer in the tent than in Sam's bedroom, but with far more privacy. No one lived as close to the tent as Sam's brothers' bedrooms were to her own. It was now thoroughly dark outside, and Sam lay panting slightly, the sweat cooling on her skin. Lying with her face pressed to Sam's stomach, Ashley had dropped that question.

"I… don't think so, no," Sam answered, smiling down at Ash despite the inky darkness of the tent's interior.

"It's just… you're going to leave in two days, and I really like you, and I don't want anyone else snatching you up if I've got a chance with you long-term ."

Sam's smile widened, even as her face flushed. In a world of casual sex and people lying to get into your pants, being wanted for more than that was the height of flattery in Sam's book… even if that was all she had wanted from others since Penelope. Running her fingers through Ashley's hair, she murmured, "I like you a lot, too, Ash. You have more than just a chance."

Ashley shifted, lifting herself until she and Sam were level. "It'll be a bit before we can see each other again. Nine days of knowing each other isn't a lot to build a relationship off of."

Sam just shrugged, cupping Ashley's cheek with one hand while the other stayed buried in her hair. "So if it doesn't work, then we're no worse off than before. But if it does…"

"Then I get to have you," Ashley finished, turning her face to kiss Sam's palm.

"And I get to have you," Sam answered, smiling as Ashley lowered herself to nuzzle her nose into Sam's collarbone. Sam giggled, the laugh edging into a shriek as Ashley dug her fingers into Sam's sides, tickling her. "Oh, you monster! Maybe I don't want you!" she gasped, smacking at Ashley's shoulders and trying to shove her off.

She was no match for the marine's weight and strength, however. Luckily, Ashley just chuckled and wrapped her arms around Samantha's naked waist, pulling them together and rolling them over so Sam was atop her. Reaching up, she caressed the specialist's cheek. "I like you a lot, Sam. These last seven days have been some of the most enjoyable since the Normandy was attacked. I've been throwing myself into my work, and while it's paid off – the Williams curse is breaking, and I commissioned – I haven't really enjoyed anything else. I lost my best friend, and all my other friends scattered. I've been… lost, like I've been floating. This is the first time I've really felt grounded. Maybe this is all too much to say too soon, but I don't really do anything by half-measures, so you might as well know that now."

Sam giggled quietly, pressing a finger over Ashley's lips. "I like you, too, Lieutenant. You're gorgeous, and sexy, and adorable, and my family loves you, and you make me feel so good just being me. I can even forgive that you don't play chess or any other nerdy games," she said, pausing while Ashley chuckled. "I can't claim that I've come alive in some major way since meeting you the way you have, but at the same time… I haven't been moved to want more from anyone since Penelope. I was happy with my independence, my freedom to do what I want, when I want. But now … all I want is to keep seeing you ."

She slid her hand up to Ashley's cheek, then further to bury in the lieutenant's hair, tightening her grip as Ashley's lips crashed into hers. It wasn't a declaration of love, more a declaration of like, and perhaps brought about by the oxytocin roaring through their bloodstreams, but it was beautiful and precious in its infancy, and most importantly, it was true. Ashley brought out the honest person inside of her; not just the Honest Babbler who divulged too much information to her commanding officers when nervous, but the Honest Romantic, who wanted to share things with Ash to forge a bond. They didn't have a bond just yet, but they had the beautiful beginnings of one, and she didn't want to lose that just because it might be a few weeks before Ashley could come to Earth again, or even a few months. If she let little things like that get in her way, then she'd never do anything but shag nameless girls and hope she wasn't being too rude when she pushed them out the door in front of her on her way to the labs the next morning.

She was tired of shagging nameless girls. After nearly four years with Penelope, it had been fun, but it had begun to sour in the last few months. She wanted to more. Preferably with Ashley.

This and more was on her mind as she started them gently toward lovemaking once more, but no more words were spoken that night, sighs and moans replacing them on the air until their breathing evened out and sleep overtook them.

Day 8

The next morning, Sam poked her head out the tent, seeing if anyone was around. Ashley had already left, going to shower again before putting on a fresh uniform, as their night's – and morning's – exertions had left them both a mess. It was still quite early. The field hands would be headed out very soon, but hopefully Sam would be able to leave the tent before anyone she knew, and who would gossip, could see her exiting the distrusted Alliance representative's "lodgings". She would be leaving the next day, but her parents and brothers would still be around to deal with the gossip of the small community.

Spying no one, Sam stepped out, zipping the tent behind her. She stood up, stretched, feeling the grass poke into her toes around her sandals, her ukulele in one hand. She had brushed her hair, but otherwise was a complete mess, in need of her own shower. Then she would be trying to take a light jog, to see if her leg was back up to snuff like the doctor said it should be. It felt fine walking. And shagging…

"Samantha!"

Sam froze, her eyes suddenly wide. She turned slowly to confirm who had called her name. A pale-skinned woman with long brown hair stood at the edge of the clearing. She wore a coverall, her hair braided long down her back and sturdy work boots on her feet. She was grinning broadly.

It was Penelope.

Shit. She waved, plastering a smile on her face . It's only awkward if you let it be, Sammy! "Penelope! How are you doing?" she called.

The woman came toward her, still smiling. "Just fine. Family well?" She had a British accent; had in fact grown up in England and gone to Oxford, which was her parents' alma mater. Sam had spent the entire four years of dating Penelope visiting the woman's parents and hating it. She had no siblings, her parents were rich snobs who looked down on Sam's colony upbringing, and they always treated her like she wasn't quite as smart as their daughter. Penelope had then given them a giant middle finger and gone to work ag-tech on a colony.

They had discussed that it might be awkward for her to work and live in the same settlement as Sam's family, but it was truly an amazing opportunity for her career, and besides that, they had split amicably. They were going in different directions, and wanted utterly different things from life. Sam wanted children, dogs, a big country house and a wife who let her have a workshop in the basement, or at least on the property. Penelope wanted to have the career that was most important in her marriage, wanted no children, and hated pets. They worked while at university because those things didn't matter at the time, but decided as graduation approached that Sam going off to basic training and Penelope going off to Horizon was the ideal time for them to part ways. They'd had one more night of amazing sex, full of some tears and many orgasms and mutual affection, and then had made a clean break.

Sam had then explored what it was like being young and unattached for the first time ever. And it had been fun. But now she was over it.

All of these things flashed through her head, as they always seemed to whenever she saw Penelope. She mentally shook her head, willing those memories to be buried again. It had been pleasant, but she somewhat regretted wasting all that time with someone she had always known she'd never marry. She didn't know yet what Ashley wanted from life – it was a little early to be asking those questions – but Penelope she had known was incompatible.

"The family's fine," she answered as Penelope approached her. The woman was quite taller than Sam, something that had immediately attracted the specialist to her when they had met at a meet-and-greet a few weeks into classes.

"That's good to hear."

"It's not like you haven't seen them recently," Sam pointed out.

Penelope shrugged. "I've been trying to keep my distance with you in town. Especially since you've been spending so much time with that Alliance woman . I don't want to interfere…" The look on her face was suggestive.

"Oh, shut it," Sam retorted. "You can wipe that look right off your face."

Penelope laughed, the sound high and sweet, like candy . "But surely I earned the right to tease you a little?"

Sam gave her a skeptical look. "I suppose…"

"Besides. I find you here, leaving her tent looking suspiciously guilty. I can only assume you found someone to keep you company while home on shore leave."

A smile pulled at Samantha's lips despite herself. "You… might not be wrong," she hedged, unable to meet the woman's eyes.

"Why don't I walk you home, and you can tell me about her?" Penelope offered.

"Don't you have to get to work?"

Penelope shrugged. "I can be fifteen minutes late to walk a girl home."

"If you say so," Sam replied, stepping off in the direction of her parents' prefab.

"So… tell me about her," Penelope probed, falling into step beside Samantha.

"She's… wonderful," Sam supplied, her cheeks coloring. "God, that sounds trite, doesn't it? I just mean that she's… attractive, and funny, and she makes me feel good, special."

"Sounds like a catch," Penelope remarked with a smile. Then her brows knit. "What happens when you leave? Isn't a shuttle coming for you tomorrow evening?"

"God, don't remind me…"

"You have talked about it, haven't you?"

Sam nodded. "Of course. Last night, actually."

Penelope gestured with her hand. "And?"

Sam smiled. "We want to keep seeing each other. We're not sure what that will look like yet, but…"

"Sounds serious. You really like her, don't you?"

Sam nodded. "Yes. I really do. It's early yet, but there's a lot of potential there. I really hope I don't screw it up."

Penelope smiled as they reached the steps leading up to Sam's front door. "Me, too. You deserve what you want, Sam. I couldn't have given it to you. I'm glad you've met someone who looks like she might be able to."

Sam smiled. "So do you, Penelope. Are you working on that at all?"

Penelope winked. "I'm happy here with my work. My parents haven't come around yet, and it's delightful watching them trying to be interested and polite about it. And there is a girl I have my eye on. We'll see what happens. But you have a good day, Sam. I'm glad I ran into you. I hope everything works out. I'll see you around, yeah?"

"Yeah," Sam answered, climbing the steps as Penelope turned and headed back toward the field and her machines. Shaking her head, she went inside for a shower and a jog before she got a little more sleep. One more night, and tomorrow she'd be going back to Earth and work. And for the first time, she really wasn't excited for it.

Chapter Text

Day 9

Ashley

"This stupid, motherfucking piece of-"

"Oooooo I'm glad I didn't bring my mother down here," Sam quipped, not missing a beat in strumming her ukulele. "You could make an old-fashioned sailorblush, lieutenant."

"Well, if I could make this piece of shit they gave me blush, then at least I'd know it worked," Ash grumped, kicking the pedestal on which the targeting matrix was seated for good measure.

She had finished installing the second gun that morning, conducting her tests with the generator, making sure everything was working properly. She'd then set up the targeting matrix, and begun her tests with that. The problem was, it wouldn't interface with the generator correctly, meaning it wouldn't work properly. Making the defense towers utterly fucking useless. She'd wanted to get it online and do a preliminary test before retiring for the afternoon, and it was frustrating her that she couldn't.

Doubly frustrating was that Sam's shuttle was coming that evening, and Ashley wanted to spend as much time as she could with the specialist before then. Sam was sitting here playing because she had come to retire to Ash's tent with her, having spent the entire morning and early afternoon with her family. If Ash could get the stupid son of a bitch working, then she felt justified in taking the entire rest of the afternoon off until Sam left. But no. It wanted to be an ornery little pain in the ass piece of junk that she did not have the technological know-how to fix if it was a software issue. She was a gun person, not a computer person.

"Damn suits in the brass not sending someone qualified to do this shit," she muttered, pushing herself away from the matrix and taking a deep breath. She wore her entire uniform, a shield generator, and a full weapons pack, standard operating procedure when working with live guns. And they were considered live now that the proverbial trigger – the targeting matrix – was attached. She wasn't actually worried, but she had gotten this far in life by sticking to the safety rules whenever she could. It was why she was alive now, and why Shepard would be around if Joker hadn't ignored his own safety rules and taken his damn lifeboat on his own.

"Why don't you just take a break and let this simmer for a little while," Sam suggested, pushing off the crate she had seated herself on, leaving her uke behind, and coming to wrap her arms around Ashley's waist from behind.

Ashley sighed, letting her small amount of bitterness melt away at the feel of Sam touching her. "That can't be comfortable." Sam was likely standing with her face up against an assault rifle and a sniper, both powered down and not dangerous, but still bulky and uncomfortable.

"So turn around and kiss me," came Sam's voice.

Ashley smirked, doing as she was told and turning, pulling Sam close to her and kissing her deeply. They were just heating up, Ashley thinking that maybe Sam was right and the guns could wait until tomorrow to be finished, when her omnitool beeped. Scowling at the interruption, she pulled away with an apology, looking to see what was up.

"Communications are down," she murmured, opening the notification and frowning as she read the details.

Sam pulled her arm closer so she could have a look, as well. "What?"

"All comms off-planet are down. Shit. Why would they just go down ?"

Samantha opened up her omnitool, trying to access the extranet. "No extranet access either. The comm towers must be damaged somehow."

" That bastard Delan … I bet he cut corners with that generator," Ash said, taking off the direction of his workshop.

"Ash, wait!" Sam called, grabbing her instrument and running after the lieutenant.

"I have to go wring his neck, Sam. He's putting all of you in danger."

"Ash, slow down! How do you know it was him?"

She continued marching toward the workshop where Delan spent his time. "Because they went down right around when I tried my last test. That means the draw in the generator was probably too much. Can't have corners cut, or the towers are useless. Now we have useless guns and useless communication. And that is not good."

"Wait… what is that?"

Ashley wouldn't have stopped, but something in Sam's voice made her halt and look around to the smaller woman. Sam stood with her feet planted, a vague look of both wonder and horror on her face as she stared up into the sky. Ashley followed her gaze, her feet carrying her to Sam's side as she pulled her sniper rifle, looking through the scope to see what the massive looming shape up in the sky might be. Others headed by them, traveling back home for their own siesta, blanched, following their gazes to see what would cause a weapon to be pulled in their peaceful community.

Out of the high clouds came a monstrosity the likes of which she'd only seen in her nightmares. It was a ship, but covered in giant, craggy growths , like a tumor had metastasized and been allowed to grow unchecked, taking over the ship. Something about it caused lightning to crackle around it from the clouds through which it passed, striking the giant spikes emerging from the center of the ship in a ring. It was vaguely familiar, though Ashley couldn't place where she'd seen its like.

She also didn't care at the moment. Her heart dropped into her stomach as she saw an ominous, shifting black cloud of something materialize, descending toward the planet. Just as she took her eye away from the scope, she finally saw that the ominous cloud was made up of many smaller flying creatures. "Fuck. Everyone inside! Run! Now!"

She stowed her sniper, hauling out her assault rifle and taking aim. Firing into the cloud, her heart dropped further when it had no effect. Whatever they are, they're too small and too numerous. Fuck, where are you when I need that beautiful brain of yours, Shep?! You always could figure something out on the fly to defeat the odds.

She turned to run herself, her heart thudding full speed into her throat when she saw Sam still rooted in place, staring up in horror at the cloud of creatures getting closer. "Sam! Come on!"

Ash grabbed Sam's arm, almost pulling her off her feet as she got the young specialist moving. Sam's eyes were wide, her mouth shut tight as her nostrils flared. Her sandals had come off in her first few steps, and she now ran barefoot through the grass, stumbling when her foot found a pebble, twig, or other irksome imperfection. Ashley held her hand, trying not to haul her as she ran, faster and stronger as she was, and with boots to protect her feet.

"Ashley, what is it?!" Sam finally yelled. She sounded frantic.

"Fuck, I don't know, Sam! We just gotta keep moving until we're at your house!"

They ran, Ashely's lungs beginning to burn. She could only imagine how Sam fared. It felt like the woman might fall over if she was pulled any faster, and would likely collapse if allowed to slow . Just a little further, Ashley recited to herself. Just a bit further, and she'll be safe.

Suddenly she was aware of a very loud buzzing, like a swarm of flies, but deeper. As her boots hit Sam's steps, she felt a sharp pinch on her neck. Swatting at it, her hand closed around the biggest goddamn bug she'd ever seen. Pulling Sam after her through the door, she turned and locked it with her omnitool, casting around wildly for Sam's family.

"Ashley, what… what is that?!" Sam gasped, gulping huge mouthfuls of air now they had stopped running.

Ash looked back down into her hand, frowning as she, too, panted hard for air. At least the house was environmentally controlled, meaning the air was cooler and drier than what they'd been trying to breathe outside. The bug in her hand was tenacious, trying desperately to get away from her. It was the size of a softball, four fat legs squirming as its wings tried to beat against her hand.

"I don't know, but it stung me," she answered, throwing the thing hard to the ground and immediately stomping it into a smear. "Come on, let's find your…"

She suddenly couldn't talk. Eyes widening in alarm, she reached out for Sam, only to freeze with her arms outstretched. She tried to take a step, but her legs were frozen in place. She felt no pain, and yet she could not move anything but her eyes.

"Ash? What's happening?! Ashley!" Sam was panicking, pawing at Ashley, who couldn't move, not even when Sam tried to help her move her arms. "That… that bug-thing must have paralyzed you!"

She left Ashley there, running off into the hallway and pounding on an unseen door. Ashley could do nothing but watch in alarm. She agreed with Sam – it must have been that bug's sting. But how long would it last? Why was it here? She was completely and utterly helpless to do anything, to protect Sam and her family, or even to comfort the terrified woman. All she could do was watch as the poor girl woke up her family.

Samantha

"Mum! Dad! Wake up!"

Sam pounded on her parents' door. She didn't know what else to do. They were safe inside the house for the moment, it seemed, but Ashley was the marine, not Sam. Though she did have weapons training, and kept up-to-date with it…

"Sorry, Ash," she murmured, running back over to the frozen soldier with the wide, frightened eyes. "But at least I know how to use them." Unhooking the weapons pack, Sam lifted it from Ashley's shoulders and placed it on her own. It was unfamiliar, heavy and bulky. She'd never actually carried one of these before, generally just taking the pistol she had been issued and tucking it into the waistband of her jeans or fatigues if she was going to carry. On the shooting range, she used its official thigh-holster . This was entirely different.

But she pulled the assault rifle from her back and powered it up, checking the safety and the thermal clip in motions that were smooth and practiced. She didn't think she could do much with it – it was bigger and heavier than the pistol she was accustomed to, and likely had a much heavier kick – but she'd be damned if she stood rooted in place like she had before, outside. Ashley was in danger, her family was in danger … she could at least grow some ovaries andtry.

Hesitating a moment, she also plucked Ashley's shield generator from the woman's belt, affixing it to her own. She'd do no one any good if she drew fire from the inhabitants of that massive ship and was shot down immediately.

Somehow, her mind didn't go to what that might be like. She was surprisingly in the moment right now. Calm, collected, a battle-calm coming over her like what she'd heard stories of – but never before experienced herself.

As she looked away, she caught Ashley's eyes. They were no longer wide in fear, but in a sort of impressed shock. Winking, Sam leaned up and pressed a kiss to the woman's immobile cheek. "Just making sure I get to keep surprising you, darling," she murmured, before turning around and speaking to her parents, who had just emerged, wide-eyed and very confused, from their bedroom.

"There's an attack. Help me secure the house, and I'll explain what I know," she announced, calling up her omnitool and accessing the minimal computer systems for the house. Hopefully, they could keep whatever was there out, and she wouldn't have to tear apart her shoulder and have her aim go wild as she fired the unfamiliar gun. Glancing at Ashley for a moment and spying her pistol, she plucked the more familiar weapon from the lieutenant's hip, shoving it into the waistband of her shorts.

"I'm more familiar with this one, anyway," she explained, winking again at her lover. "Now let's get you somewhere less exposed… Timothy!"

Chapter Text

Ashley

Strangely, the moment Timothy and Richard had Ashley horizontal, her body collapsed. She was still utterly powerless, but instead of seized muscles that wouldn't move, her body was completely relaxed. She kept her eyes open, watching and listening as she was placed on one of the sofas, as Sam explained what had happened so far, and as Sam's parents crated the dog and double-checked the few security measures they had for the prefab.

Ashley wished the windows weren't just glass, but had kinetic barriers. But it was too much to hope for in a low-cost form of housing on a peaceful colony. The glass kept those little bug things out, but when Sam screamed and everyone ducked, Ashley desperately wished she could do something, and that in place of that glass they had some damn kinetic barriers !

She strained to see what had caused everyone to drop out of sight, but her low vantage coupled with the fact that she couldn't turn her head meant that nothing was visible but the partially-cloudy sky through those windows. Sam crouched near Ash, holding the pistol she'd said she was more familiar with steady despite the clear terror of her posture. Ashley was impressed. Most desk jockeys and tech-types didn't really keep up on their weapons training. It was seen as a hoop they had to jump through in order to keep their jobs, much like the physical fitness tests. Most people who liked guns and explosions enlisted as a soldier. Occasionally, though, you got a spritely little girl who surprised you and delighted in the feeling of a wielding big powerful gun, and who would visit the shooting range just for fun.

Samantha was clearly that kind. And despite her situation, some part of Ashley – the part attached firmly to her libido – thought it was incredibly hot and planned to pounce that woman at the next opportunity presented.

That didn't mean that Sam had ever shot someone before. Killing for the first time was always a harrowing experience. Marines usually had other soldiers around to clap them on the back and get them drunk. Marines also usually were of a certain type, the type to not get overly emotional with other marines. Samantha was not a marine, nor was she around other marines. Ashley's heart broke at what might happen to her sweet, emotionally-open little girlfriend –because, let's face it, as fast as this has happened, that's what we are – if she had to kill. The guilt might just tear the poor woman apart . Ashley had seen it happen – Liara killing for the first time had nearly broken the asari. Shepard had been the one to put her back together again. In all honesty, Ashley was surprised it hadn't happened to her when her entire unit had been torn apart by the geth. Well, it had happened… but Shepard had been there to clap her on the back, get her mad-drunk, and then throw her out there to take her vengeance on the geth.

Sam had no such recourse available to her. Not if Ashley remained incapacitated.

But at least the woman could hold her gun steady, even if everything else about Sam's posture told of her trepidation. She glanced back to Ashley, her expression mirroring her stance – tight terror barely held in check. Ashley had watched as the battle-calm had overtaken her lover, as the necessity of waking her family and assessing her weapons, of getting what few defense systems they had online, took over her lack of experience in all this. And she had known that as soon as Sam no longer had anything to do, as soon as all there was to do was to sit and wait for the threat to be over or to shoot it in the face, that the calm would leave her. Adrenaline and the incessant waiting would take their toll , and Sam would be a nervous wreck.

But at least she could hold the damn gun steady.

Sam looked back toward the door, the windows, her frightened parents, her brothers with their eyes wide and their nostrils flared. They all looked at Sam like she was a completely different person; Ashley could see it in their eyes. They'd known she'd be bullied by a drill sergeant and given weapons training, but they'd had no idea their sweet, playful baby girl who played the ukulele and couldn't hold hard liquor could protect them and order them around when a threat approached. They obviously had no idea what to do with this new version of their Sammy .

Despite whatever new threat appeared out the window, it didn't show its face right away. Ash finally began to relax , praying in the back of her mind that their luck would hold. It only needed to hold long enough for Sam's shuttle to touch down, for the Alliance to realize this was happening. Barring that, if it could just hold long enough for Ashley to be able to move again, she'd take it.

Her nose itched. Reaching up, Ashley relieved the itch… then realized what the hell she did. She lifted her head, watching with wide eyes as she began to be able to move. It traveled down to her feet quickly, just like the paralysis had, likely starting at the sting on her neck. Swinging her feet over the couch, she looked up when the door's interface suddenly changed from red to green, Sam and her mother letting out a brief scream while the boys gasped in surprise. The door opened on one ugly motherfucker with four eyes, its insect-like wings making scraping noises against its body.

Grabbing the assault rifle off Sam's back and shoving her to the floor for safety, Ash fell to one knee as the gun powered up and fired.

Samantha

Sam let out an "oof" as she was shoved hard to the ground. The next moment she heard the extremely loud noise of an assault rifle firing, the bullets tearing apart whatever had come through the door with an odd chewing sound. Sam looked around from the ground to see Ashley knelt on one knee, eyes to her rifle's scope, her breathing remarkably even as her finger stopped squeezing the trigger. Without looking at her, Ashley spoke in hushed tones to Sam.

"Get the door locked again, Sam!" she hissed.

"Right, brilliant, good idea," Sam mumbled, rambling off into nothing but incoherent muttering as she pulled up her omnitool and closed and locked the door.

Ash let out a breath. "Looks like that was just a scout, searching the homes alone. Hopefully no one notices it's missing."

Sam looked up at her rescuer, knowing full well that, had it come to it, she would have shot that monstrosity, but that it would not have been enough. Thank God for that perfect timing. And now Ashley, the trained soldier, could be in charge and Sam could cower in the corner and wet herself like she'd felt she ought to do for the last hour.

Also, now she could burst out in tears, which actually was happening. Ash looked down at her, concern etched in her features as she reached out. Sam took the offered hand, unable to stop the deluge now that it had started, and was pulled directly into Ashley's arms.

"Hey, shhhh, I've got you, it's going to be okay," Ash purred, low and strong and soothing. Sam only cried for a minute, just long enough to get the pent-up energy out, the stress from waiting so long overwhelming her when she could finally release it. But she was able to get control back rather quickly, pulling back and wiping her eyes.

"I'll be okay," she murmured, picking up her pistol from where she'd dropped it and handing back to Ashley.

Ash just shook her head. "No, I think you should keep that for now."

Sam nodded, then looked back toward the door, her eyes settling on the crumpled form lying in a pool of its own viscera. "What was that thing, do you think?"

Ashley shrugged. "Big bug. I dunno. We thought Cerberus was behind these attacks. But if they're sending in those bugs to paralyze everyone and then taking them all alive, then that fits with the attacks on colonies so far. And that thing was not Cerberus…"

Ashley got up, taking her offered weapons pack from Samantha before helping the other woman to her feet. "The other attacks had no one left behind. They're sending those things to paralyze people, and then taking them alive. But why did it wear off? It's barely been an hour…" She walked to the window and crouched under it, taking a peek outside. She saw nothing.

"Well, if we were outside, they could continue to sting you until you were collected," Sam observed, not bothering to look out the window. She also wasn't looking at the dead bug by the door any longer. It turned her stomach, and the thought of seeing more of them out there didn't help any.

"Good point," Ashley replied. "I don't see anything out there. I'm going to- wait. There's someone out there. In hard suits."

"Is it the Alliance?"

Ash shook her head. "Armor's unmarked. Couple of humans, probably, and a turian. And one of them is a fucking krogan… I don't see any more of those bugs, actually. I'm going to head out." Looking Sam dead in the eye, she said, "No following me out. I'll keep in constant contact with my omnitool. Lock the door behind me. Okay, Sam? Keep your family safe."

But… Sam nodded, once. "Yes. I don't like it, but yes."

"Good. Stay here."

Sam opened the door for her. As Ashley made to leave, Sam grabbed her arm. Pushing up on the balls of her feet, she placed a quick kiss on Ashley's cheek. "Come back, soldier," she whispered, pressing the shield generator into the lieutenant's hands. Ash gave her a look that practically smoldered, nodded once, and took off, snapping the generator onto her belt as she jumped from the porch to the ground, forgoing the steps completely. Sam did as she had been instructed, shutting and locking the door behind Ashley before turning and tending to her family. Hopefully they didn't have too long to wait.

Chapter Text

The AA guns were firing. Ashley put on a burst of speed as the giant, cancerous ship began to pull out, its rockets spewing flames as it rumbled and then began to move. The figures in hard suits she'd seen running had been headed for the settlement's center, where she'd left the targeting matrix for the guns. Given that those guns were still firing on that giant ship, whoever had gone running by had gotten them working. She had that to thank them for… but who were these new people? What kind of threat did they pose?

As she ran, Ashley popped in a fresh thermal clip. Barking a command into her omnitool, she set her next shot to be a concussive explosion, knowing that as only one person, with only a shield generator to protect her, she had to cause as much damage as possible should a threat still present itself. Knocking a group of those bugs on their asses before shredding through their wings and faces was the best she could do.

The ship picked up speed alarmingly quickly, and as she reached the clearing, she heard a voice she she'd heard almost every hour on the Normady, but which she hadn't heard in almost two years.

It was Garrus.

"There's no reason to stay. Most of the colonists are on board. They got what they came for. The Alliance will be here soon. We don't want to be here when they get here."

"Dammit! Motherfuck…"

Ashley stopped dead at the second voice.

"Shepard," she breathed .

Then she heard that ass Delan . "No! Don't let them get away!"

As Ashley rounded a corner, she saw the four figures she'd seen earlier standing by her targeting matrix, tent, and supplies. The figure in the front was just as Ashley remembered her, though the unmarked armor was different. Shepard normally wore white armor with N7 splashed across it in bold red and black. Now, she wore unmarked grey armor. Everything else, though, was familiar: the lanky build of the woman, detectable even when in a hard suit; the preferred weapons of sniper and pistols, her assault rifle in her hands; and the shorter-than-expected stance . Ashley always used to make fun of Shepard, walking up and resting her elbow on Shepard's head, even though she was only an inch or two shorter than her gunnery chief.

"There's nothing we can do," Shepard said, her features hidden by her helmet. "They're gone."

Delan didn't seem to hear. He just paced, staring up at the ignition trail of the giant ship. "Half the colony's in there! They took…" He trailed off, stopping and sharing at Shep and her eclectic bunch. Some things never change, Ashley thought idly to herself, beginning her journey into the clearing once more. She was still hidden for the moment, however.

"Do something!" Delan demanded.

"I didn't want it to end this way. I did what I could."

The krogan hit his fists together. "It was a good fight! If Shepard hadn't been here, it would be more than half the colony."

"Shepard… wait, I know that name…. You're some type of big Alliance hero," Delan observed.

Ashley felt the need to intervene, now fully exposed. "Commander Shepard, captain of the Normandy. The first human Spectre and savior of the Citadel," she recited, watching as all five people in the clearing turned to watch her progress. Shepard visibly jumped in surprise, as did Garrus. As she came to a halt in front of all of them, Ashley addressed the mechanic. "You're in the presence of a legend, Delan. And a ghost," she finished, turning her gaze on Shepard. Her tone was of respect… but also disbelief. What was this bullshit?! Shepard had been alive? The rumors of her faked death were true? Why would Shepard do that her? They were best friends . And why would she do that to Liara?!

She could see the woman's deep blue eyes through the face plate of her helmet, could see the look of recognition, of joy… and it made Ashley want to puke.

"Screw this. You're the one who got left behind, out of all the good people they took? I'm done with you Alliance types." Delan marched off. Ashley let him.

Ashley's gaze instead settled back on Shepard's. "I thought you were dead, Shepard," she said, hurt coloring her voice. "We all did." She purposefully left out any title or rank – the woman wore unmarked armor. She was either out of the Alliance, or under-cover. God, do I hope it's some super-secret under-cover op…

She could see the corners of Shepard's eyes crease in that familiar way. Shepard was smiling, if faintly. "Ash. It's… been too long. How've you been?"

Ashley narrowed her eyes, her arms folded. "That's it?! You show up here after two years, and act like nothing's happened?! What the fuck, Shepard?" Now she did unfold her arms, pointing accusingly at her former commander. "I would have followed you anywhere. I thought you were gone! You… you were more than just my Commander. You were my best fucking friend." She dropped her hand. "Why didn't you try to contact me? And what about Liara? Do you even fucking know the shit you put her through, faking your death like that ?!"

Shepard put up her hands conciliatorily. "Whoa, Ash! I didn't fake my death. I was out for almost two years. I couldn't contact anyone. Yeah, I've been awake for almost a month, but… I can't find Liara, and you were on some secret special mission Anderson wouldn't tell me shit about."

"Fuck, Shepard," she said, putting her forehead in her hand. "I moved on, dammit… but here you are, pulling me back in." She looked up, fixing an accusing glare on Shepard before her eyes flicked to the other members of the woman's team. "And what's this bullshit about you being with Cerberus? You, too, Garrus. What the hell?!"

"You… already knew?" the turian asked, sounding completely dumbfounded.

She scowled at him. "Alliance intel suggested Cerberus could be behind the attacks on our colonies. We got a tip that this colony could be next, so I was sent here to set up these guns and be their eyes and ears on this rock . I went to Anderson, but he wouldn't talk-"

"Well, at least I know he's treatin' us the same," Shepard mumbled darkly.

Ashley raised an eyebrow. "But there were rumors you weren't dead. And worse, that you were working for the enemy." Ashley had heard these rumors, and she had adamantly denied that Shepard would ever do such a thing. She knew that woman better than any Joe Shmoe talking out his ass at a bar. But the rumors persisted over the last few weeks, and they had worn on Ash. She was fighting against the Council and Alliance brass sweeping the Reapers under the rug, fighting the lingering prejudice against her family name, and fighting against the slandering of her best friend's memory. She was fighting all the goddamn time, and never got any fucking peace. Not until Samantha had swept her off her feet and into the specialist's arms… and bed.

She was tired of fighting. And now she found that she was fighting for naught with Shepard? She was with Cerberus? What was Cerberus's angle? Ash needed to know, so she could protect against the threat .

"Our colonies are disappearing, Ash. The Alliance isn't doing anything about it, or at least not enough . When I woke up, Cerberus were the only ones willing to do anything, and they're giving me everything I need to meet this threat and stamp it out. It's not my ideal – I haven't forgotten the shit they've done – but I'm using the tools I have at my disposal, Ash. It's what Spectres do."

"Bullshit!" Ashley was angry. That was such a fucking cop out! "I know what Cerberus is like, or have you forgotten that thresher maw? Your friends who died on Akuze while you were saving the day on Elysium? All the fucking experiments?! They talk about putting humans first, but at far too high a cost. You taught me the error of my prejudices against aliens, and now here you are, working for a fucking pro-human splinter group!" She paused, panting in her anger, in the heat of the afternoon, sweat accumulating on her brow from the heat and adrenaline and fear all vying for dominance within her body. "I wanted to believe you were alive, Miriam," she said quietly after a moment, finally using the woman's proper, given name. "I just never expected anything like this. You have turned your back on everything we stood for, fought for. And some of your people even died for."

Ashley turned to leave, but Shepard's voice piped up. "Ash! You know me! You know I'd only ally with these people for the right reasons! The Collectors are targeting human colonies, and no one's doing a fucking thing to stop it! You saw it!" She paused, Ashley stopping to listen despite herself. "They're working for the Reapers, Ash."

Ashley turned around, frowning at her former friend. "I'd like to believe you, Skipper. But I don't trust Cerberus. And it worries me that you do. What did they do to you? What if they're behind it? What if they're working for the Collectors, and just using you, to distract anyone else away from the real threat?"

"Dammit, Ash!" Garrus yelled, his eyes lighting with fire behind his helmet. "You're so focused on Cerberus that you're ignoring the real threat!"

Ashley directed her retort to Shepard. "Or maybe you feel like you owe Cerberus because they saved you, Miriam. Maybe it's you that's the problem, not Cerberus. But it doesn't matter. I still know where my loyalties lie. I'm an Alliance soldier. It's in my blood. I'm reporting back to the Citadel, to Anderson and the brass. I'll let them decide if they believe your story."

"They'll just blame Cerberus like you have!" her former CO shouted.

"With good reason. Cerberus can't be trusted." She paused, turning to continue back to Sam's house. "Good luck with your shit, Shepard. I hope I'm wrong."

"I could rip her to shreds for you if you want, Commander," a feminine – yet hard – voice sounded.

"Thanks, Jack, but I'm good. Let's just get the fuck off this rock before the Alliance shows."

Ashley forced herself to keep marching. She and Sam had to get communications working again. Then they could see to helping those colonists who had not been abducted.

Chapter Text

{I bet you heard all of that, didn't you?}

Samantha blinked stupidly for a moment before recovering. "I… yes, I did. I didn't want to end the transmission in case you needed me after. Sorry for eavesdropping." She paused, pushing her extremely tangled hair behind her ears. "Ash, I-"

{You're still at the house?}

She didn't want to talk about it. Sam frowned, but allowed it. "Yes. Nothing's amiss here. Well, except the fact that we're all more than a little terrified…"

{The Collectors are gone. It's safe to come out. I need your help getting comms back up.}

"Those things are Collectors?! I thought those were a myth!"

Ashley sighed. {So did everyone else. C'mon. Gather up your family and come on out. I'll meet you at the communications hub.}

"What does she expect us to be able to do?!" her mother asked incredulously from the corner.

Sam sighed. "Mum…

"Anything you can, Mum!" Timothy was on his feet now, going to the closet and grabbing their med-kit. "Are we really going to stay inside? You heard them. Half the colony's gone. That means half is here. We got a lot luckier than those other colonies that have gone missing, and I don't plan to stay inside when I could be out there, helping." Sliding on his sandals, he went to the door next to Sam, his expression set in stern determination . "Let's go, sis."

Sam smiled, rubbing her hand over his short hair affectionately. "Yes, let's go, Tim." She turned to her family. "Anyone else?"

Her father stood from his hiding place behind the breakfast bar. He looked haggard, but nothing a good night's rest couldn't cure. "You go, kid. I'll get us rounded up and we'll be out in a moment."

Sam nodded. "Alright. And… thank you, for being so wonderful during all that mess while it was happening. Now we know we can successfully barricade ourselves inside our own home." It was a bad joke, but it got a smile from her father, at least. Placing her hand on Tim's shoulder, she unlocked the door and headed outside.

Halfway to the hub, she regretted that she didn't stop to put on shoes. Not because her feet hurt in any way – she wasn't running for her life over rocks and spurs this time – but because of what they were passing on their way to meet Ashley. The pods were strange, and the open ones leaked goo out onto the grass, which Sam had to carefully dodge. They could see people inside some of them, but had tried to no avail to pry the things open. So they instead hurried, hoping Ashley had some kind of solution. It didn't feel right just leaving those people behind.

They reached the shed housing the communications controls equipment a few minutes later, finding Ashley straightaway. "Ashley!" she called.

Ash turned immediately, a smile pulling faintly at her lips for a moment before a scowl regained her features. She crossed to them, pulling Sam into a huge bear hug as soon as she could.

"I'm so glad you're safe," she mumbled into Sam's hair. Sam hugged her tightly back, ignoring the discomfort of the weapons on the woman's back. They stood that way for a moment, simply existing, taking what comfort they could. But it ended abruptly when Timothy yelled for them.

"This one's awake in there!" he called. Ashley released her, and Sam turned to see him kneeling beside a pod at the edge of the clearing. Sam ran to his side, Ashley a step behind. The person inside – a man, though no other markers were clear to her – was hitting the slightly-opaque plate of whatever made up the top of the pod, his yelling a muffled sound. They all began searching frantically for some way to open the pod, running their fingers along seams, looking for some control. Ashley even took the butt of her rifle to the pane of not-glass.

"I have it!" Sam yelled triumphantly after a few moments, her fingers sliding into some sort of hidden controls. The pod seemed to be more organic than machine, and she had apparently found the right seam that told it to open. The edges holding the pane of semi-transparent material pulled away like the lips of a snarling dog , and they moved the pane out of the way. The man they pulled out was covered in the goop that was leaking out of the empty pods, his hair and clothes plastered to his skin as he coughed and scrambled to get out of the pod.

"John," she breathed, recognizing him as one of her father's employees. He had a wife, three kids, and a cat that loved to tease Boomer. It hit her, in that moment, that every person they had passed, every person that had been taken, was someone she knew, someone who knew her and her family. Neighbors, friends, possibly Penelope… Her eyes grew wide at the realization that had somehow escaped her until that moment.

"Samantha!" Hands at her shoulders jarred her to the present, and Sam vaguely realized that Ashley had said her name several times before finally physically shoving her. "Sam, I need you here!"

"God, Ash," she breathed, looking up into her lover's deep brown eyes with tears threatening to spill over in her own. "Everyone I know, who I grew up with…"

"I know," she said, her brows knit in concern. "But I need you to use that beautiful brain of yours and get our communications back up so we can get help. Me and Tim will get everyone else out that we can find, alright? And look, your parents and Richard are here. Leave it to us, okay? You get us back in touch with the rest of the goddamn galaxy and get us some help, yeah?"

Sam sniffed, nodding, letting Ashley get her shakily to her feet. "Yeah, okay. I can do that."

Ashley smiled, cuffing Sam's shoulder affectionately. "That's my girl."

Communications, as it turned out, came right back online at the flip of a switch. Something about that giant ship had overloaded the power grid, and the safety measures had kicked in. Rather than frying under the surge, it had powered off. Powering it back up was easy, and within minutes Samantha was using her official Alliance code to get into contact with the brass. Nearby ships were redirected, help promised within an hour.

"Oh, and… I'm supposed to return from leave today. I think it's safe to say that's not going to happen. Can a message be sent to my commanding officer, please?"

{Damn… hell of a leave time, Specialist. Yeah, I'll flag the system that you were on Horizon when the attack came and won't be back for a few more days. I… well, I hope your family's alright. All us colony kids have been hoping our colony's lucky enough not to get hit. I'm glad at least some of you made it.}

"Yeah… me, too. But… not enough," Sam answered, a little dazed. She was grateful for the woman's sympathy, but at the same time she had no idea what to say. Her family was okay, thanks to Ashley, but she had known every single person taken, to some degree or another.

{Hang in there . And take advantage of the therapy available when you're back on Earth. Too many marines won't, thinks it makes them look weak.} The woman paused for a moment, then, {Okay, message off to your CO. Good luck, Specialist. Alliance HQ out.}

Linking her omnitool to the main colony's comms, Sam left the shed, determined to help in some way rather than waiting on her duff should the Alliance try to contact her. She found Ashley and her brothers helping people out of pods along the field's edge. It was hot, humid, sweltering. On a lark, Sam ran into a house with a malfunctioning door and rifled through the cabinets, grabbing cups and a pitcher that she filled with the coldest water she could get out of the faucet. Hurrying over, she handed out the cups and poured everyone water, knowing that Ashley and her brothers would work themselves into heat exhaustion before thinking to rehydrate. Which meant they also weren't thinking to get the colonists they were assisting anything to drink, either .

"God, you're a genius." Ashley grinned at her, downing the water before Sam poured her more. Sam merely smiled a little shyly, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"It's just water," she hedged, shrugging her shoulders. "It's not much."

"Oh, just let your girlfriend compliment you," Timothy groaned, rolling his eyes. "Is it a girl thing? You can't let the people around you praise you?"

Ashley snorted. "Your girlfriend do the same thing?"

Timothy nodded. "Yup. Come to think of it, I haven't seen her yet…" His face fell.

"Oh, Timothy…" Sam began, reaching for him.

He shrugged her off. "I can waste time wondering, or I can keep doing this and hope we find her." He stood and began walking without another word, working his way to the pods they saw in the distance. Without a word, Richard ran after him.

"Damn. Already handling things like a marine," Ashley observed.

"My baby brother…"

"He'll be fine, Sam. He's got you, his brother, your parents."

Sam nodded, but kept her eyes on him. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

"He will be. Maybe not right away. And if he does find her, it's likely that her family's at least partially gone. You… your community is going to reel from this for a long time, Samantha."

Sam sighed. "I know…"

"Come on. He's right. Moving's better. Let's pass out water and get people back into their homes. It's cooler and there are showers in there," she finished, smirking a little.

"Oh, Ashley, always the pragmatist. Seriously, if it's a girl thing to shake off compliments, then it must be a solider-thing to find whatever little joys you can in a shit situation."

Ashley shrugged. "Go for a few days covered in mud and blood, and a shower becomes heaven." She smiled, pulling Sam toward her and engulfing her in another hug. "I am just so glad I managed to keep you safe. You would've been a badass with that pistol, but I'm glad I could be the one to shoot that thing in the face. It's not easy killing anything for the first time."

Sam just clung to Ashley for a moment. I'm glad, too, Ash. She didn't want to think about the sobbing mess she likely would have been from the sheer force of the experience had it gone down that way. They parted moments later, stopping to grab as much water as they could carry before following in her brothers' wake, directing people home to wait for their loved ones and recruiting the aid of those who felt stable enough on their feet to help.

Chapter Text

A week passed. Ashley stayed on Horizon, coordinating relief efforts. Where before most in the community did not trust her because she represented the Alliance, she now was the only member of the Alliance they did trust. Sam's family being founding members of the community – and her keeping them safe – seemed to be a huge part of that. So she liaised between the Alliance and the community, directing where supplies and medical staff should go.

A lot of people seemed to want to leave, but they had literally nowhere else to go where they could make a living. They were farmers. It was good and necessary work, but it was not work that could take a person anywhere but to another colony. Earth barely grew any of the food available across the galaxy these days – there just wasn't the room. Sure, there was farmland still, even countryside, forests, jungles. But at this point none of it was free to settle. The farms were established, owned by huge corporations. And the forests, jungles, and other places wildlife could go were sealed behind so much land preservation that if you sneezed in their direction you probably violated six different sanctions . It was necessary, though, otherwise nothing would be left that made Earth its own unique biodome.

It was also difficult for them to leave because Discovery – Horizon's main settlement – was a cooperative community. They planted, farmed, harvested, and sold the crops as a community, and split the profits evenly. The only reason Sam's father's company was ever started was so they could patent their new techniques, be they mechanical engineering or genetic engineering. The company was owned cooperatively, though. It was idyllic in the extreme, but it wasn't a large community, and they made it work. Those who did not want to participate were free to leave, or conduct work for themselves from their homes on Horizon, but anything agriculture-related was done through the cooperative that was the settlement, and those who participated were compensated for their work through it.

This meant, of course, that while the community at large had plenty to keep themselves comfortable, picking up and starting fresh elsewhere took more money than anyone had to their names at the moment. Perhaps if the attack had come at the end of the harvest, things would be different. But it hadn't. They were currently in the first half of a summer that lasted three-quarters of an Earth year. It would be many months before anyone had the kind of money to secure themselves while starting fresh off-world, especially given that nearly everyone had a family to consider.

So everyone stayed, at least for now. Sam's father and mother were amazing at rallying those who could work, going out into the fields to work the machinery themselves, despite their official roles being one of tech and research. That was what this community did – they came together, did what was needed. And what they needed right now was to ensure their continued existence by having their crops harvested. It also served as an excellent example to those who wanted to give in to despair that life must continue, and that people were there for them, supporting them.

That didn't mean that those working were unkind. Many people had lost someone, or several someones. A few people were the sole survivors of their households. In a couple of tragic cases, kids' parents had been taken, leaving small children with no one to care for them, the children so young they did not quite understand what had happened to their moms or dads. Friends and extended family came together, caring for children and elderly members of the community in a way Ashley had simply never seen before. People were terrified, yes. But these people, more than this place, were their home, and they would take care of each other despite their fear.

Ashley's conversation with Anderson on the Citadel was less than awesome. He believed her, and had already spoken with Shepard about the Collector theory. But they both knew the Council wouldn't believe her. Not without more survivors identifying their attackers. So Ashley started gathering anecdotes from Horizon's colonists. Sam helped, as did her brothers, recording interviews with members of the community, showing them known holos of the Collectors and having their people identify them as their attackers. It didn't feel like enough, but it was all they could do at this time. Adding to that the fact that Anderson let her stay to coordinate relief efforts, and made her feel better after the shit-show of the attack on the colony.

Samantha's parents required that Ashley stop sleeping in her silly tent . The evening of the attack, Daniel Traynor came with his sons, helped Ashley pack up her belongings, and carried them to his house, all with very few words. And just like that, Ashley was now sleeping in Sam's bed officially, eating breakfast with them and retiring to their home at night. She was folded into their family like she'd always been there, and if Ash stopped too long to think about it, it threatened to overwhelm her. She had a big family herself, and she knew how difficult it was to be embraced like this, how much grief you usually went through before the matriarch of the house hugged you like you were one of her own. She knew the significance.

The first night, she merely collapsed into Sam's arms. She was exhausted, sweaty, grimy, and her whole body ached. Sam had cooed into her ear, stroking her hair and simply letting her fall into the sleep of the utterly exhausted. Sometime in the night, she woke enough to strip out of her clothes, Sam helping her in a way that was almost enough to get her to surrender to sex instead of sleep. But the moment her head was pressed against the warm skin of Sam's shoulder, she was out like a light once more.

The next night, their lovemaking was fevered, almost desperate. They were affirming their continued existence, driving the terror and horror from each other's minds. Afterward, Ash held Sam to her, running her fingers across every inch of skin she could reach as the specialist fell asleep. Sam had discovered that day that Penelope had not been found and had likely been taken by the Collectors. She had wept, immediately feeling guilty for doing so in Ashley's arms. But Ash got it. They weren't lovers anymore, but they had such a history of deep affection. To suddenly discover that she'd been taken by those things… Sam wept because she lost someone, not because she preferred to be in the other woman's arms. Maybe in other circumstances Ashley might be jealous, but right now? In these circumstances, she merely held Samantha and let her cry before making her feel as good as she could.

Now a week had passed, however, and it was time to go. Sam was leaving that night to finally go back to Earth and her work. Ashley had to go to the Citadel, report to the Council and to the brass officially. The colony was as relieved as they could be. Work had resumed, everyone pitching in to get the work done and the crops shipped and sold, sowing the empty fields with new seeds, keeping the food growing. The defense turrets were performing optimally, and Delan knew how to fix the mechanics of it should they need maintenance. Everything was set.

But Ashley didn't want to go. Horizon was hot and humid, with long days and this summer that wouldn't let up for months. And yet she had come to love the long days, the peaceful feel to them, the time in the afternoon where everyone stopped working and just took a little time to be each day. The day had a way of feeling timeless, like that particular part of the day would never end. The hot breeze blowing through the stalks of the various crops, or making waves out of the grass, had a hypnotizing effect. And that hot breeze on her skin, pressed against Sam's in the heat of the day – they had taken to bringing a blanket out to the shade of a favorite tree far away from the settlement – would always and forever be indelibly etched on her brain as paradise.

And now it had to come to an end. At least for a while. If Ash was ever stationed on Earth, then she'd be able to see Sam all the time. But for now, this was what she had. Lying in bed, naked, Sam molded to her, the sun just barely beginning to rise. Both of them had wild hair, having spent far too much of the night saying goodbye in their own special way. Ashley honestly hadn't slept much. Her mind was too busy. She had a million things to do, and she wasn't looking forward to the dressing-down she was likely to get from the fucking Council. In addition, she wanted to savor this last bit of time she had with Sam. They had formed an inseparable bond over the last four weeks (two and a half weeks on Horizon meant four or so weeks back on Earth ). It spelled good things for their future… but that didn't mean she wanted to leave.

Running a hand softly from Sam's crazy hair down to her shoulders, Ashley took in a deep breath, feeling Sam's weight against her. She loved the feel of that, of Sam's warm skin and gentle weight settled on top of her. She loved being able to make the specialist's whole body move, that Sam trusted her so deeply that she could relax this thoroughly. It reminded Ashley of a kitten she'd had as a little girl. That kitten would fall asleep on her chest, and Ash would spend its entire nap picking up a paw or its tail and dropping it, delighting in the cat being so deeply asleep that it didn't even move reflexively in its sleep. Sam was like that at these moments, so deeply relaxed in her sleep that Ashley could manipulate her limbs if she wanted to. The trust that took… Ashley vowed to cherish it, to never betray it. They might not end up married, might not live happily ever after. But she could still treasure that trust Sam was putting in her.

She sighed deeply, feeling Sam's weight move with her again as she looked out the window. The sky was brightening, as slowly as everything else happened on this planet, slowly but steadily calling Ash to the shuttle that was coming for her. She would have time for breakfast and goodbyes with Sam's family, but then it would be time to go, the shuttle from the last Alliance ship in orbit taking her to the ship and off to the Citadel. Sam would be leaving that evening, her transport having been re-booked with a civilian ship that often brought goods to Horizon and shipped goods for the settlement. It was better that way. Sam would get time to spend with her family that wasn't time she could be spending with Ash. Ashley didn't ever want to detract from Sam's family time.

The sun was rising slowly… but it hadn't risen yet. She still had a little time left with Sam. And suddenly, she didn't want Sam to be asleep for it. Running her hand more insistently down Sam's back, using her nails lightly, she awoke the specialist enough to get her to shift, allowing the lieutenant to kiss her. Her passion quickly woke Sam up the rest of the way, and they spent the rest of the morning trying to squeeze every ounce of time together out of it that they could.

Chapter Text

Six Months Later

An incessant beeping filled the room. It took Samantha a little while to realize that the beeping wasn't actually coming from the surroundings of her dream, and she woke up enough to realize it was actually coming from her omnitool. Knitting her brows as she looked to the clock – 3:00 in the bloody morning! – before grabbing her omnitool from the bedside table and peering at the display.

Lieutenant-Commander Ashley Williams

Smiling a little, she answered it, not bothering to hide her naked body from her omni's camera. "Hey there, soldier. You do realize how early it is, don't you?"

Ashley just stared, her eyes fixed at a point just south of Sam's face. Sam smirked. "Eyes up here, Ash."

The lieutenant-commander blinked rapidly a few times before her eyes settled on Sam's face with a grin. {Well can you blame me for staring when you answer like that?}

Sam just continued to smirk. "I suppose you have a point. But seriously, Ash. It's 3AM. I've figured out that no one has died… so what on Earth could you need right now?"

{Besides you and those glorious tits you have hanging out like no one's business,} Ash said, waggling her eyebrows suggestively, {I had good news I couldn't wait to share. Also, I forgot you're in Japan and not in Vancouver. It's a reasonable time in Vancouver right now.}

Samantha sighed. Tokyo was a lovely place, with such different local traditions from anything she'd ever experienced. And the sushi was to die for. But she missed her first assignments, when she was stationed in the Americas. It was a lot more like home there. "Alright, well, since you couldn't wait, what's this big, exciting news?"

{I'm coming to Earth, baby.}

Sam sat up at the news, no longer even "trying" to cover herself as she grabbed her omnitool and brought it closer. "What?!" Her voiced came out in a squeal –incredibly unlike her.

Ashley grinned again, showing her teeth in her happiness. {Yeah! My next posting is in Vancouver; Alliance HQ. I'll be there in less than twenty-four. Hence why I was thinking Vancouver time.}

"How… Why?"

Surprisingly, Ashley scowled a little. {It's… classified. I can't say over the comm. But it'll be in the news before I get there. You'll find out by morning. I'm… sorry I can't say.}

Samantha just smiled. "I understand, darling. I… would I be right in assuming it has something to do with Shepard?" Ashley just nodded her answer, brows knit.

Samantha smiled broadly in return. "I can't believe you'll be here so soon!"

Ashley's scowl disappeared as she mirrored Sam's smile. {I have more news, too. You… well, you're going to have a new assignment in the morning.}

Samantha furrowed her brows. "I am? Why?"

{I can't say. It's for the same reason I'm going to be on Earth. But we'll be in the same place, for the same reason, for the next few months at least. I… hoped you'd be excited…}

"I am!" Sam rushed to say, wishing she could reach out and grab her girlfriend and haul her into the bed. "I'm just… tired. It's a lot to take in at three in the morning, darling."

{I know. I'm sorry I forgot about the time… but hey! We'll both be in Vancouver soon!}

"The things I plan to do to you," Sam murmured, watching the holo of Ashley close her eyes and shiver involuntarily.

{I… I should let you go, let you get back to sleep…}

Sam blinked rapidly for a moment before smiling coyly. "Sleep? I don't think I'll be able to get back to sleep with the wonderful news you just gave me." Lying back, draping herself over her bed, she added, "Not without a little help, at least."

Ash raised an eyebrow, smirking. {Really? You wanna have phone sex? At three in the morning?} Sam just reached down, toying with herself a little, watching as Ashley's expression changed to one of intense desire. {Fuck, Sam…}

Sam raised a brow. "That is the idea, yes."

Chuckling, Ashley got to work, making sure Sam got a good night's rest despite her rude interruption of the specialist's sleep.

End