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Played	By : Nicker Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 16397 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, nor the characters. I make no profit from this fiction.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
Bonus Scene

This part is not essential to the story, it's just something extra that popped into my mind later.

All it really does is puts the story into a bit more context and shows us how the consequences played out during the rest of the game.

THREE YEARS LATER

Ashley Williams stood in front of the Normandy Med Bay door, taking a deep breath. This is stupid! she thought, shaking her head. She shouldn’t be nervous. She licked her lips and tapped the door panel, exhaling as it hissed open and there she was: Miranda Lawson, in the flesh, propped up with pillows in one of the beds, her sister sitting beside her. They both looked towards the noise, Oriana curiously, Miranda with an unfathomable expression. She lost a lot of blood down on Horizon, and spent a few hours in drug-induced sleep until Chakwas patched her up, so maybe it was just exhaustion.
Ashley pressed her lips thin. Miranda looked better, but still had that haunted look on her face and she was paler than normal. She flashed a weak smile at Ashley.

“I was wondering if you will come,” she said.

Ashley stepped in, letting the door close behind her, nodding at them politely, but waiting there without a word. It still surprised her, how much the sisters looked alike. When Ashley barged into the control room at the Sanctuary with Shepard and Vega, and saw Henry Lawson holding somebody hostage, Ashley’s heart skipped a beat. When she realized it was not Miranda, she allowed herself a sigh of relief. It was short-lived, though, once they realized that Miranda was indeed there with a serious wound, barely holding it together, holding a gun with a trembling hand, pointing it at her father.
“Miranda?” Oriana asked curiously.

“Oriana, this is Spectre Ashley Williams,” Miranda said softly, not taking her eyes off her. “Ashley, this is my sister.”

Ashley nodded and flashed a friendly smile, but she still didn’t trust her voice. She had hours to prepare for this and still, she felt she rushed into it, not knowing what to say.

“Oriana, could you give us a little time?” Miranda said, turning towards her sister. There was a quick exchange of glances, Oriana’s eyes asking a question and Miranda’s gaze giving the answer. Oriana nodded with a soft smile and stood up. It was uncanny.

“Of course,” the sister said. “I’ll talk to Shepard and check our supplies.”

Miranda nodded, touching Oriana’s arm and watched her go. Ashley stepped out of the way and smiled again at Oriana. She tried not to stare too much at the resemblance.

“Thank you,” she managed to whisper to Oriana as she left. The door closed again and quiet returned to the med bay.
Ashley just stood there and watched Miranda, hopefully with a benign expression on her face. Miranda looked tired, but she held her gaze, ready to take whatever was coming to her. There was an aura of calmness around her, and Ashley could guess why. It made it all the more harder to speak to her. Ashley felt like her chest was going to burst. She wanted to scream. She wanted to laugh in relief. She wanted to jump on her.
Miranda waited patiently, hands resting in her lap, giving Ashley her full attention. Ashley frowned. She found herself unable to chew her out after witnessing everything they saw at Sanctuary. They watched the video logs together with Shepard, and even from that, it was obvious that Miranda was fighting her way through the whole mess, same as they did. Shepard was not fooling around either. Choosing Vega and Ashley for the strike team meant extreme firepower was in order. Ashley didn’t say a word when she saw Miranda on the vids, but she did start to feel the pressure in her chest. She didn’t know what she wanted to find at the end of the road. Certainly wasn’t expecting the Lawson family reunion. And despite all her fears, and a great deal of shame, she felt proud when Miranda’s biotic pulse threw Henry Lawson through the window and into his death.
“I like your hair.” Miranda said finally, breaking the silence. Ashley absently lifted her hand to touch her hair and smiled.

“Yeah. I thought, what the hell.”

Miranda nodded, looking down at her hands, fiddling with the blanket.

“It looks good. Fitting for a Spectre. Congratulations.” She looked up at the last word to show her she means it. “I’m proud of you.”

Ashley didn’t know what to say. In barely five sentences, Miranda managed to catch the wind from her sails. She even motioned her closer, asking her to sit down next to the bed.
“So. How much do you know?” She asked quietly. It seemed that since Ashley was unable to get things off her chest, Miranda took over the conversation. Ashley smiled at that thought.

Of course she would.

“Shepard told me about your sister and father. Didn’t go into too much details, though.”

Miranda nodded silently.
Ashley complied, sitting on the bed, finally, next to her feet. And Miranda told her everything. She was keeping it as objective as she could, and straight to the point. She told Ashley about the way she was conceived, how she rebelled, what her father did to her—which finally explained to Ashley her weird behaviour back on Terra Nova—, how Oriana was born, and what Miranda had to do to get her away from their father. How she went to Cerberus, the only organization that could protect them from their father. The way she found a new family for Oriana and kept an eye on her, watching from the distance, invisible, unknown. How Shepard helped her to get Oriana to safety again, and how things fell apart after Shepard was arrested, how she lived like a fugitive for many months, hiding from three enemies at the same time, while trying to save her sister, again.
It didn’t take that long, and Miranda was getting exhausted from all the talking. She struggled with her tears, but she assured Ashley it was just the physical weakness. Ashley nodded politely.

She understood that for the first time in Miranda’s life she was free, and she could start living her life. That could also explain the foggy eyes.

“So what did you tell Shepard? About us.” Miranda asked in the end.

“Shepard didn’t ask, I didn’t tell. I figured, if you didn’t tell anything, why should I?” Ashley shrugged.

Miranda nodded seriously. “Okay.”
Ashley paused, a smile slowly spreading on her face as she touched Miranda’s legs and looked up at her.

“It does explain a few things, though.”

Miranda raised an eyebrow. “Like what.”

“Like, when Shepard visited me in the hospital on the Citadel and gave me a volume of Tennyson poems. I was confused, because when I woke up, there was already one on my nightstand. I thought I must have been still out when Shepard first visited me.”

“Ah, I see,” Miranda smiled, casting her eyes down. “And what did you find out?”

“Well, I know Shepard pays attention to the crew but it would still make no sense to buy another volume and make sure that I know where it came from.” Ashley looked into Miranda’s eyes. “So I checked the security footage.”

“And what did you find?” Miranda said quietly.

“Well, there was one strange event: a quarian girl came into my room and fixed the air conditioning or something. I had to rewind it a couple of times to notice when she put the book on my table.”

“That’s interesting,” Miranda said, looking up at her with a serious expression.

“Also, a perfect cover. Quarians are rare nowadays, and they are strange enough so nobody would be suspicious.”

Miranda smiled. “You should have seen me in asari disguise. Apparently, I’m considered anatomically pleasing…”

She could not finish. Ashley leaned forward and kissed her full on the lips, lingering for a few seconds before pulling back, leaving Miranda speechless.

“Thank you for the present,” Ashley said, staying close.

Miranda bit her lower lip and nodded. Ashley continued, looking into her eyes.
“I wanted to hurt you,” she said, her expression serious. Miranda was caught off-guard, but she managed to keep a straight face. She knew this was coming but it still hurt a bit. She deserved it. Even though she was so tired and cold and dizzy. “I wanted to hurt you really bad. I felt betrayed. I spilt you all my secrets like a boy in love and you made a fool out of me. Eventually I got over it but I was mad at everybody. More mad than surprised when I heard about Shepard coming back from the dead. Brought back by Cerberus.” Ashley smiled at that, remembering what happened on the very same planet, Horizon. “What was I supposed to feel? And think? Was Miranda somehow behind this? Where is she hiding? Was I mad at you and vented it out on Shepard?” Ashley closed her eyes and shook her head. “I really wanted to choke you with my bare hands.”
Miranda nodded, trying to hold it together. She probably could have, but here they were again: Ashley confused and Miranda emotionally and physically drained. The high of the victory was gone, and she was exhausted. She could feel the tears coming and she really didn’t want to cry.

“I know. I’m so—” she whispered but Ashley went on relentlessly.

“It almost destroyed me, you see? Having Shepard at gunpoint at the Citadel…” she grimaced. “We were very close to killing each other.”

Miranda wanted to say something, or ask her to stop, because she was too tired to listen to her rightful condemnation. But she had to let Ashley deliver her sentence.
“And when I saw you down there, I thought I was too late. She was going to die before I had a chance to scream at her. I felt like shit for thinking about you dying. For wanting to hurt you. It scared me that you could be gone like that. How selfish, huh? Your big moment, giving your life for your sister’s life and I was feeling bad about myself.” She snorted. “We lost you there for a minute, when you passed out, but in the end, here we are…”
Miranda blinked the tears out of her eyes and pressed her lips thin. Even though Ashley was right, it still hurt her. She gathered all her remaining strength.

“I know. I understand if you can’t forgive me. But I would do everything the same—”

Ashley stopped her with a kiss again. This time it was a complete surprise. Miranda had to remind herself that Ashley was like that sometimes. Unpredictable.

“Thank you for bringing Shepard back,” Ashley whispered, pressing her forehead against hers. She chuckled sadly. “I did my research. In retrospect I said to myself: ‘Of course. If anyone could turn Miranda around, it would be Shepard.’ So, you see, by bringing back Shepard you could get your salvation. And I’m grateful for that to both of you.”
Silence stretched longer between them again, Miranda’s mind groggily struggling to grasp all the implications of Ashley’s verdict, while Ashley was just happy that it was finally all sorted out, all the puzzle pieces in place.
“So what happens now?” Miranda asked, whispering. She stopped worrying about the tears.

Ashley shrugged, pulling away, rubbing her eyes, cupping Miranda’s cheek in one hand.

“Dunno. We all go our separate ways and play our role in ending this war.” She sniffed. “And when it’s all over and if there is something left to celebrate, we all get together and get really really drunk.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Miranda laughed weakly and nodded, smiling. “Something you would come up with.”

“I know.” Ashley stood up, taking a deep breath, clearing her head and her eyes. She adjusted Miranda’s blanket and brushed a dark lock of hair from her face. She kissed Miranda on the forehead. “See you on the other side.”
Miranda nodded silently, biting her lip and watched as Ashley Williams walked up to the door. As it hissed open, Miranda reached took a deep breath.

“Ashley?”

The Spectre stopped and turned back, standing in the doorway. “Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Ashley smiled and shook her head. “You don’t have to thank me anything.”

Ashley took a step backwards stepped back and the door closed between them.

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Bonus Scene

THREE YEARS LATER