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Shared Tastes	By : NakedOwlMan Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 25711 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Mass Effect and all the characters in it are owned by people that are not me. I have not made a cent off this work of fiction

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Many things had improved in the transfer from Eden Prime to the Normandy. One thing that hadn't was the quality of the food.

Sitting alone at the small dining table, Ashley picked with her fork at the slimy brown pile of gravy and unidentifiable meat on her plate. Yeah, it was better than the tasteless MREs that she'd been forced to swallow down during long training exercises, but not by much.

Ah, well. Tomorrow, they'd be returning to the Citadel, for Shepard to check in with Udina about their successful rescue of Dr. T'Soni. Maybe while they were there, she'd be able to find something decent to...

"Pardon me. Do you mind if I sit?"

And speak of the devil's daughter. Ashley looked up from her poor excuse for a meal to see the nervous asari standing at the chair across from her, holding a tray and looking at Ash in anticipation.

"Go ahead," Ashley said, with not much invitation in her voice. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the blue-skinned woman laid down her tray and primly took her seat.

It wasn't that she was an alien, Ash told herself. Like she'd said to Shepard during their first conversation after Garrus and Tali had joined the crew: if serving on this ship meant she'd have to work alongside non-humans for the first time, Ash was willing to adapt.

But something still rubbed her wrong about the situation with Liara. Not only were they taking in the daughter of Saren's main collaborator, but they were going to be putting a gun in her hand and going into battle with her. If Liara was secretly working with Benezia, it would be trivial for her to "accidentally" put a few rounds into Ash's or Shepard's head in the heat of battle.

It was only logical. Even if the woman sitting opposite of her was a human, Ash believed she'd be just as suspicious of her, and rightfully so. So she didn't make small talk, and simply worked on finishing up her meal, barely even acknowledging Liara's presence.

"Chief Williams, may I ask you a question?"

Ash felt herself tense up slightly as the sound of Liara's voice. Trying her best not to show her unease, Ash looked up from her plate and gave the asari a light, forced smile. "Sure, what's up?"

"Your grandfather is General Williams, the human who surrendered to the turians on Shanxi?"

It wasn't exactly the best way to start a conversation, and Ash felt her smile fade away. "Been doing a little research on me, Dr. T'Soni?" she asked, trying her best to keep her tone civil.

She obviously didn't conceal her emotions all that well, though, because Liara immediately put a hand to her mouth, her eyes going wide. "I'm sorry if I've offended you," she quickly said, voice as meek as a mouse. "I just..."

"It's okay, Liara. Not like it isn't a matter of public record, anyway. To answer your question, yes. My grandfather was General Williams, the most famous coward humanity has to offer," Ashley said, voice filled with bitterness. "Why do you ask?"

"I just wondered if... if you ever had the chance to speak to him while he was alive," Liara said.

Ashley didn't know where this line of questioning was going, but she indulged it for now. "A little. Stayed with him a couple of times when I was growing up."

"What was he like?" Liara asked.

"He was... I dunno. Just your average retired military man, I guess. He was always happy to see me, doted on me like most grandfathers do. But even when I was a kid, I could see the sadness he was hiding from me. They'd drummed him out of the military after Shanxi, and I could always tell that part of him wished he was back up there, fighting for his people instead of spending the rest of his life overseeing colony construction. He died when I was seventeen, and the next year I enrolled in the Alliance military."

"So you didn't..." Liara hesitated before asking her next question, wringing her hands in front of her, her plate untouched. "You didn't hate him?"

The question took Ash off-guard, and she didn't know how to answer at first. "Hate... why would I..."

"It's a stupid question, I know," Liara said, her eyes cast down at the table. "I was just curious, because..." Liara looked back up at her. "Ash, you know about my people, and how we breed, yes?"

Ash squirmed a little in her seat, the gear shift in conversation from her grandfather to alien sex damn near burning out her mental clutch. "Yeah, a little. You merge with someone, and their DNA and yours kinda mix together and make an asari baby, right?"

"In layman's terms, that's about right," Liara said. "And ever since my people discovered the other species in the galaxy, our culture has shifted to put a strong emphasis on melding with alien life. Asari breeding with other asari has become somewhat of a taboo among my people."

"Hmm," Ashley grunted. "Not sure what that has to do with wondering if I hated my grandfather."

Liara gave Ash a small, sad smile. "You see, it was rumored back on Thessia that my father was another asari. That I was a pureblood. My mother never talked about it with anyone, so nothing was ever confirmed. But even the rumors led to me being something of an outcast among my people. All my life growing up, I could hear people whispering around me. In school, I never made many friends, and I never quite understood then why the other girls kept their distance from me."

Ashley nodded, remembering back to the first fight she'd ever gotten into when she was a kid. Some older girl had sneeringly asked her if she was part-turian, "since your grandpa's such a big dirty turian-lover." She'd been suspended for a week after belting the other girl in the nose, but nobody at that school ever talked about her grandfather again. Looking at the nervous, meek asari across from her, Ash tried to picture her pulling a similar stunt on one of her classmates, and fought the urge to snicker.

"But when I got older, and understood why they treated me so differently," Liara was saying, "there were times that I... that I hated my mother. Wondered why she couldn't have melded with a turian or a salarian. Anyone but my real father, my asari father." Looking down at the table again, Liara smiled bitterly. "Stupid, I know. Why should I have hated her? It wasn't Benezia's fault that all of those people judged me unfairly. Just like it wasn't your grandfather's fault that you weren't given the same opportunities as other soldiers. He saved innocent lives that day, and because of the prejudices of others, you and your family paid the price for it. "

Ashley was surprised by the turn this conversation had taken. Liara had only sat down about ten minutes ago, and now here she was, baring her soul to someone she barely knew.

And before she knew it, Ashley was talking. "Yeah, it wasn't his fault. But you know? There were some times, I gotta admit, when I resented him for it. Not when I was a kid, but later on. I'd be ticking off the days on another boring assignment, while people like Commander Shepard were out there fighting the good fight against batarian slavers... and I'd think 'Why couldn't you have fought, grandpa? If it had been me in your place, I would have kept fighting to the last man.'" Ashley shrugged slightly. "Thought that way for a good long while, actually. Up until the day I was assigned to Nymex colony, and some old guy asked if my grandfather was General Williams, just like you did. When I told him yes, I expected him to insult me, spit on me, just like everyone else did when they found out. But instead... he just hugged me out of nowhere. Told me that my grandfather saved his life; that he'd been on Shanxi during the First Contact War, and the turians would have probably wiped the entire colony out if he hadn't surrendered. From then on, I never blamed my grandfather for what happened, ever again."

Liara solemnly nodded. "Yes, your grandfather saved a lot of lives that day," she said, looking a bit melancholy as she added, "And meanwhile, my mother is working with Saren, and responsible for all those deaths on Eden Prime." Staring Ashley dead in the eye, Liara's nervous voice suddenly turned firm as she said, "I know that you don't trust me, Chief Williams."

"It's not that, I just..."

She held up a light blue hand to interrupt Ash's protests. "No, I know it's true. And you're right not to trust me. I have to earn that trust, and I fully intend to. I guess what I wanted to say is that... I think we have a lot in common. Both of us have spent our entire lives being judged for something one of our ancestors did. We've had the prejudices of our people constantly hanging over our heads, for something we weren't even responsible for. But working with Commander Shepard, I think we're both going to get the chance to show the galaxy that they've been been wrong about us all this time."

Reaching across the table, Liara extended her hand to Ashley. "I'm not saying we have to be friends," Liara said. "All I ask is this: you watch my back, and I'll watch yours. And together, maybe we'll show Saren and the geth just what a couple of pariahs like us are capable of. What do you say, Chief Williams?"

And Ashley had to admit: the fire she saw from Liara in that moment, the hidden reserves of confidence on display, it impressed the hell out of her. Maybe she didn't entirely trust the asari just yet, but she was definitely willing to give her a shot.

Ashley took Liara's hand in her firm grip and shook. "On the condition that you stop it with that 'Chief Williams' bull, okay? 'Ashley' is just fine," she said, and the smile she gave Liara was genuine.

"Oh, of course," Liara said, and Ashley watched as she immediately returned to her anxious demeanor. "Thank you, Chief Wi...Ashley. If I may, I did have another question for you."

"More about my family? Or something else?"

Liara started back into that hand-wringing again, and Ash found it hard to believe that a second ago, she was firmly stating her intention to go out with Ash and kick Saren's ass together. "It's... a bit of a sensitive question, actually. I'm afraid that you and the rest of the Normandy crew are the first humans I've spent any length of time with. And I was wondering if humans ever... what I mean is... do humans find asari... attractive?"

Ashley let out a laugh. Liara was just full of surprises today. Seeing the sheepish look that came to Liara's face, Ashley quickly spoke up. "Sorry, you just took me off-guard with that one. You might have noticed, but asari and human women actually have a lot in common."

"Yes, I know. But there are differences. I wasn't sure if humans were very particular about the pigmentation of skin or the..." Liara searched for the word, reaching up to run a hand across her head tentacles. "Hair, you call it? I was worried that perhaps your people would find the dissimilar aspects of asari to be unappealing."

"A few might, I'm sure. But most guys only have eyes for two parts of a woman," Ashley said with a smirk, glancing down at Liara's chest. "And from what I've seen, asari have that covered pretty well."

"You mean..." Liara said, then saw where Ashley was looking and let out a surprised gasp, followed by a shy giggle. "Well, you are right about that. But, to be honest... I'm not really interested in what 'guys' find attractive on an asari, if you take my meaning."

Ashley did. "Well, human women are a different story. Not to say all men are shallow pigs, mind you, but women tend to be more complex when it comes to what they find attractive in a person. I mean, me personally, it's more about an emotional connection than whether or not the guy has six-pack abs or the face of a supermodel. There's just a feeling you get, when you spend time around a person and there's that... spark there. It's hard to explain, but when you feel it, it doesn't matter what they look like. You just know it, down in your gut."

"I think I understand," Liara said. "I'm glad to hear that human women are so open-minded."

Ash cocked an eyebrow at her. "So, is there someone in particular on the ship you're hoping to find that spark with?"

Liara averted her eyes, and a hint of a smile came to her lips. "There... might be. But I don't know if she..."

"Liara," said a voice at the other end of the table, and both of them turned towards the new arrival. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Commander Shepard asked.

"Of course, Commander," Liara said, standing up and leaving her meal untouched as she approached Shepard. The two of them walked away, out of earshot from Ashley.

"Shepard, I thought we were going to make this a fair contest," Liara said. While she kept up her external appearance of a shy, nervous demeanor, her low voice had the sultry tones she had spoken to Shepard with in private. "If you think interrupting me in the middle of working on Ash is going to increase your chances, I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken."

Shepard gave Liara a wry smile. "Still 'working' on her, are you? With how sure you were of your skills back in my cabin, I would have figured you to already have Ash bent over the mess hall table with your fingers in her snatch by now."

"I'm taking my time, Shepard," Liara replied. "Figured I'd give you a little handicap, let you keep pace with me. Otherwise this contest would be over entirely too quickly."

"Sure, doctor, sure," Shepard said. "Anyway, just wanted to give you fair warning: you've got until we dock at the Citadel. Because once we arrive, I'm afraid even your goddess wouldn't be able to make Ashley spread her legs for you once I get done with her."

From the table, Ashley watched the two of them talk. She couldn't make out the words, but she didn't need to hear what they were saying to know exactly what was going on between the two of them.

"So, Liara. Guess we know now who's making your purple heart go all a-flutter," she thought to herself, watching the shy asari scientist and bold human commander chat with each other. Damn, it was written all over her face, how badly Liara had already fallen for Shepard.

And considering what Shepard had revealed to Ash about her previous shipboard dalliance, Ash had a feeling that Liara probably had a good shot at the commander.

Dammit, she had to get that idea in her mind. Now, instead of the image of Shepard stripping off her clothes to embrace Maria Savanta, it was the naked blue skin of Liara that Ash was seeing pressing against Shepard's, as the two naked women embraced each other and started...

"Oh, time to get back to duty," Ashley quickly said, jumping to her feet and tossing off a wave at Shepard and Liara before dashing out of the room.
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