Just me thinking about an Ashley Williams who romanced Shepard - now alone with now-Admiral Anderson after the destruction of the Normandy SR-1.
Anderson was almost like a father figure to Shepard, and the feeling was certainly mutual.
Now his 'kid' is gone, his old ship is gone, every single thing that David Anderson has worked towards his entire career is either dead...or worse. He doesn't want to think about the rumors.
...but then there's Ashley Williams. Anderson wasn't blind. He saw the way Shepard and her looked at each other every single time they were on the Citadel. Shepard even admitted why they made the choice they made at Virmire to him, privately.
So when the Alliance brass wants to scapegoat her because she's Ashley Williams and of course they do, absolutely not.
In fact, she's overdue for several medals and promotions.
Shepard's gone. The Normandy's gone. Everything's gone to shit...but there's one person besides him that cared for Shepard that's still alive. She's still alive. And David Anderson will be god-damned if he's going to let a survivor of the Normandy, the woman Shepard loved, fall by the wayside just because of who her grandfather was.
And Ashley's expecting the worst. Until one day, she realizes: Anderson has her six. The same way Shepard did - to a point. He's even gotten Admiral Hackett in on the bit. Protecting her from Personnel Command. Making sure she's commended for all the CF that went down, not reprimanded.
She's seen this before. When her dad died, his mother was there for her own mom. The General would have been too. They'd taken her in, let her know she still had a home with them.
Anderson was the closest thing to a parent Shepard had...and now he was looking out for her the same way he'd looked out for the Commander.
All she could do - she owed Kaidan, and Pressly, and all those Marines...and the Shepard she loved and remembered and not whatever Cerberus creation was walking around in her boots...she owed them all that much.
And for the first time since her own father died, she realizes she has a father figure now too. Anderson's there for her just the same as he was for Shepard, and as her own dad was earlier in her life. Made a point of wanting 1:1 time every time she visited the Citadel. Was the first person other than Shepard to say they were proud of her.
...and then one day, they're back on Earth. Years later. They've kept promoting her. Over and over again. They'd sent her to OCS and rocketed her up the chain to Lt. Commander. She'd heard that rat Udina muttering the word 'Spectre' recently. But not about Shepard...when she was in the room. Suspected Anderson might have put the idea in his head.
...and there's Anderson. Supporting Shepard, or whatever's left of them, at the end of the world. Standing beside them even when they're on trial for...if Anderson says this is really Shepard and can forgive them, then maybe, just maybe, Ashley Williams can too.
And just before Shepard and Williams take off together on the Normandy SR-2, together again, David Anderson sees the two of them together. He remembers that Saren didn't just cost him Spectre status, but it set in motion the chain of events that cost him Kahlee Sanders...
...He probably won't survive all this and he knows it. But he gave his kids a fighting chance. In life and in love. And that's all any parent can ever really ask for.
IMPORTANT EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that if Shepard didn't want Ashley on the Normandy after Eden Prime, guess who overruled her and put her on that ship anyway (because she'd be good for Shepard). Yup, then-Captain David Anderson.
areudirty
jimmyeatworldofficial
ellievsbear
amandla
gamechangershow
stormborns
