[Book Three] Chapter 02: The talk (Not that one)

[Book Three] Chapter 02: The talk (Not that one)Chapter 02: The talk (Not that one)

Jane Shepard had no time to think as Joker told her that Hackett wanted to speak with her. In fact she couldn’t think because her mind was blank, thanks to the shock of seeing the one she wished to see again after sixteen years. Liara, seeing her friend was out of it, grabbed her by the arm and led her towards the elevator then to the new com room, the Normandy having been modified by the Alliance.

“Shepard? Shepard!” shouted Hackett as he saw his most important subordinate out of it. It has been Liara who made the report and presented the plans of the prothean device while Jane was acting like a zombie.

“You’ll have to excuse her, Admiral, she just found out Rick’s identity.”

“Oh.” was all he said in a tone that made anyone hearing it understand that it wasn't good news.

“You knew?! You both knew?!” Jane said in anger, her brain being done with its reboot.

“Only four people in the alliance knew. I gather he told you himself Dr. T’Soni?” asked the Admiral to which Liara nodded.

“Who?! Who knew?! And why did no one tell me?!”

“Me, Helena, Dr. Michel and Anderson. He was the one to find out after Saren’s assault on the Citadel.”

“Three years! You’ve known for three years and none of you said anything?!”

“It was sensitive information, commander.”

“HE’S MY MISSING BROTHER!”

“And a very dangerous element for the Alliance. Had his identity been leaked the consequences would have been disastrous! The missing son and brother of the most lauded heroes in the alliance in cohort with the queen of Omega and ran away because his family was abusive?”

“I never abused him! I raised him when our mother didn’t!”

“That’s not what the public would have thought! The Alliance’s reputation in the galaxy would have crumbled! Let’s not even talk about what your mother would have done! Starting and waging a war on her own against the terminus to find him would have been the least of the problems she would have caused! And who knows what he would have done had his identity been revealed? In fact, from his own mouth he would have taken drastic measures. All he wanted was his identity kept secret. We agreed to keep the peace, every mention of him, every trace, every DNA trail was disposed of, so no one could find out.”

“You should have told me.” she said reproachfully conceding the points Hackett made.

“He clearly didn’t want you to know, we respected that. Make no mistake, Anderson and I didn’t think it was right to keep it from you but it was for the best.”

“I... I feel betrayed, admiral. By you, by Anderson, by...”

“I know, we hoped that by spending time with you during your quest against the collectors he would tell you as your relationship seemed to get better...”

“I urged him to do so on Illum but he refused, I’m sorry Jane.” Liara said with a bit of guilt.

“Why?” the redhead asked, almost wailed.

“I’m afraid you have to ask him as neither Anderson nor I know.”

The transmission ended leaving the two women alone. Liara tried to comfort her by putting her hand on her shoulder, but Jane batted it away and left the room to go back to the med-bay. Liara sighed, it clearly wasn’t the time for this kind of drama but the cat was out of the bag and she would help deal with it properly.

____________________________________________________________

Jane was standing in the med-bay by the unconscious man. She hadn’t paid any attention to whatever Ashley told her. She went straight to him and got a good look at his face.

Ashley was lying contently on the naked chest of the man she loved and was back into her life. She was in bliss as she felt his arms tightly around her body and his cock deep inside of her, still hard despite the ride she gave him. Coming out of her post-orgasm state she began to kiss his chest with as much love as she could.

“How is the pounding?” she asked.

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

“I was talking about your head.” she replied with a smile.

“Firmly lodged against the entrance of your womb.”

She chuckled and slapped his pectoral without any strength behind it.

“The big one.”

“Firmly lodged against the entrance of your womb.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“I aim to please.”

“That you do, very well at that. The question is, can you go another round?”

“No, I don’t think I can. The headache is worse and my side is killing me.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have insisted.” she said, looking at him with a hint of guilt in her eyes.

“It’s alright, we both needed it. Though once I’m healthy, you’re going to get it.”

“You better.”

“Mm-mm. I’ll choke you and everything. Your ass will be so red you won’t be able to wear any underwear for a week.”

“Hmm, if you wanted to calm me down, you’re failing.” she said as she contracted her muscles squeezing his member making him grunt in appreciation.

They stayed like that in silence for a while until Ashley asked him a question.

“Do you think we have a chance? That we can win?”

“Yes. She has an uncanny ability to rally people, to get them to follow her to hell and back without question. She will lead us to victory and we... just have to be there to support her, to help go that far no matter what.”

She looked at him from a moment then tenderly kissed him before lowering her head back on his chest deciding it was questions for later, and just enjoyed the moment. Moment which turned out to be hours, their omni-tool displaying the time (8:23 AM). They had been woken up by the noise of someone working on the shuttle. Ashley tried to quickly dress herself but was impaired by Rick who caressed and kissed her body. Half of her wanted to let him do as he pleased as she felt really good the others kept on dressing up to take her post.

“Rick, please!” she begged him.

“Don’t wanna.” he said as he sucked on her thigh as she was putting her boots on.

She took his head in her hands and made him look at her.

“Skipper is going to kill me if she learns that I’m late because I spent the night with you.”

“Don’t care, blame me.”

“That will do everything but endear her to me right now.”

He sighed, gave her one last kiss and stopped what he was doing reluctantly then rolled onto his back to look at the shuttle’s training. Ashley finished dressing up and threw her thong at his face.

“A reminder; for you to come to me and give it back. And just in case it’s not enough... See you later.” she said as she exited the shuttle closing the door with a smug smirk.

She was met by Steve Cortez, the shuttle’s pilot that had been on the ship when they left earth.

“Lieutenant-commander?! I’m sorry, I didn’t know that you were...

“That’s alright Lt. In fact, thank you, you woke me up, without you I’ll be even more late.” she replied as she made her way quickly to the elevator, hoping Rick would not notice until after she was out of reach.

She had been right to hope as she was in the meeting’s area when Rick finally decided to move from his position. Steve was still working on the shuttle wondering why Ashley had been sleeping in it when James arrived in the Cargo Bay and went to him.

“Morning Esteban. How you doing?”

“Great, James, a bit perplexed though.”

“About what?”

“Five minutes ago I saw LC Williams exiting the shuttle. I think she slept there.”

“Why would she? She has her own bed in the crew quarters, more comfortable than a shuttle flo...”

The door to the vehicle opened and a naked Rick got out, muting the two men. Nobody said anything and Rick, as if he owned the place and didn’t care one bit about the state he was in, walked towards the elevator and went to the Crew Deck while the two other men were gawking in silence, their eyes riveted on the man. They were not looking at the same place however.

“Holy shit! He’s...”

“Big.” commented Steve in half a whisper.

“What?!” James exclaimed.

“Nothing.” the pilot denied saying anything.

“Seriously, Esteban?”

“What ?! It’s not everyday I see a stud come out of my shuttle totally naked in the morning!”

“Yeah, I bet you’d like that more often.” James joked.

“Don’t I know it.”

“Too bad for you, he is into LC Williams.”

“What do you...OH!” Steve only now realized why Ashley had slept in the shuttle. “I’m disinfecting the shuttle.” he added with a deadpanned voice and face.

“Burn it to the ground and replace it, it would be faster.”

“If we didn’t need any and all resources, I would. I just hope they didn’t do it on my seat. By the way, who is he?”

“I have no idea.”

“He wasn’t among the crew members on the Normandy when it was docked, I would have remembered him.”

“I’m sure you would have. He must be the guy the commander loaded back on the shuttle with us yesterday.”

“The one who ended up in the med-bay with LC Alenko?”

“Yeah.”

“Shouldn’t he still be in there instead of knocking boots?”

“Hell if I know.”