You don’t want to be alone
Weekly prompt in the Dragon Effect Discord server.
The formatting is wacky but I’m on mobile as I’m posting this 😬😓 Hope it’s readable!!
Ashley has been finding herself in the Captain’s Quarters at least once a day since she’s been back on the Normandy. It’s always under the guise of work… and most of the time, that’s exactly what it is.
Today, she’s there at Shepard’s request, going over the details of the report from the last drop before she sends it off to Admiral Hackett. And then a requisition form Cortez had submitted. And then duty rosters for the next three weeks.
“Hey, Nov?” Ash asks as they enter hour three sequestered in her cabin.
“I think I’m getting eyestrain. Are we done with the stuff that has to get done today?”
Nova’s cheeks redden, nearly matching her hair. “I, uh… yeah. We’re done.”
Ash eyes her girlfriend. She’s looking down and away, picking at the zipper of her hoodie. Letting it go, she sweeps several datapads to her side of the desk, then bites her lower lip and makes to stand up.
“Hey,” Ash reaches out, laying a hand on Shepard’s thigh, “I just need to be done looking at datapads for today.”
Nova glances back at her, eyes wide and shining with unspilled tears.
“I’m sorry,” she mutters. “I just… I needed you here.”
Ash’s heart breaks a tiny bit at the rare display of… weakness isn’t the right word, but it’s probably what Nova would say it is. Nova jokes. She teases. Rarely ever does she cry. She’d cried after Virmire, and when Ash had woken up in the hospital after Mars. Nova’s not a cold person, not at all, but tears aren’t a regular part of her emotional arsenal.
“You could’ve said so. I’d be here for you at the drop of a hat, babe.”
“I know, it’s just… I can’t get out of my head. Everybody needs everything from me, all the damn time. I just need… I didn’t know how to tell you…” she trails off, and clasps Ash’s hand in her own.
“You don’t want to be alone.”
Nova nods, and it’s like a switch has flipped. Tears stream down her cheeks and she squeezes Ash’s hand more firmly. She’s too far away, over in her own chair, so Ash pulls her up gently and steers her down the steps to the couch. Ash settles into the corner of the sectional and pulls Nova down with her. She’s so pliant, where she’d normally be the exact opposite — teasing and kissing and leading — that it startles Ash when she collapses against her chest and buries her face in her neck.
Ash winds one arm around her girlfriend’s waist, holding her close, and reaches up with the other so she can run soothing strokes through her hair.
“I’m not going anywhere, babe. I’m right here.”
Nova doesn’t reply, just presses her face in tighter to Ash’s body. Ash drops a kiss to the top of her head and murmurs in her ear.
“I’ll always be right here.”
