Mass Effect: Reaper Dreams

Falling Short

"Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

April 5th, 2188

Ashley Williams

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Ashley woke up on the floor, not far from the apartment entrance. She was half-covered in a blanket. She felt something licking her ankles, a dog, or was it a cat? She couldn't recall Emma having any pets. No, she was positive there were no pets in the apartment. That meant...

She yawned. "Honey, what are you doing?"

The woman at her feet mumbled something inaudible as she began to work her way up to Ashley's calves. It tickled, but it also felt nice. Emma had a rare talent. She was so giving. Ashley had never been with such an unselfish lover before, and because she'd never really experienced play from this side of the field, she didn't know if it was normal. The things they'd done over the past few days were incredible, astonishing, and at times embarrassingly crazy.

Emma liked to push boundaries. She couldn't help herself. There were so many of Shepard's thoughts, ideas, memories floating around in Emma's head, things that Shepard had done that Emma had never actually experienced for herself, and so she had to get it all out. Their lovemaking was a bit intense as a result, but Ashley was ok with it. She understood. It was Emma's first time, and she was trying to do everything all at once.

Ashley tried to keep up, indulge her as much as she could, but sometimes it was just too much. It wasn't easy to say no to Emma. She was persuasive, so persuasive that Ashley went along with things she never would have tried in the past. Perhaps she'd opened herself up to new ideas because she was trying to get as far away from herself as possible. In this place she could be someone else, have another life. She didn't have to deal with what she had done.

Unfortunately, she had only hours until her new Chief Engineer finished her work on the Salamis, and then it was off to Benning for a showdown with Cerberus.

'Not now,' she thought. 'Don't dwell on it, don't think about it, just enjoy... this.'

She could feel Emma's tongue making little circles behind the back of her left knee, then felt it dragging up along her thighs, slick, warm, wet, delicate... It tickled. It felt amazing. There was a part of her that wanted to march into Hackett's office and turn in her resignation. She'd get her pension, and spend the rest of her days doing this, just being with Emma.

Ashley let out a deep sigh. Emma stopped.

"Hey!" said Ashley. "I liked that."

"I know," said Emma. "But it's time."

"Time for what?" asked Ashley.

"I thought about what you said, that if there was anything I could remember, you'd trade just about anything for it. There is something that may be important, and I know what I want," said Emma.

Ashley turned over. Emma crawled up on her and straddled her belly. She wore a grin so devious that Ashley became a little worried. What the hell was she going to ask her to do, marry her? Ashley thought about it. It was crazy, but not the worst idea ever. Yea, she'd do it, definitely, happily and for ever after.

"So you'll do anything?" asked Emma.

"If the information is good, just about anything," said Ashley. "So what is it that you remember?"

Emma smiled. "Nope, first I tell you what you're going to do for it."

Ashley laughed. "Ok, ok, what is it?"