Because I have ME3 feels of multiple kinds and I needed to get some of them down so that I can be halfway functional doing other things.

So. Here is a tiny femShep/Ashley fic set during the time Ash was in the hospital.

“I’m just talking out loud. I don’t need you to answer. I doubt there’s anything you could say to convince me.”

Those words kept coming back to Shepard as she sat by Ashley’s bed in Huerta Memorial. She wanted a chance to show Ash she hadn’t changed, to prove she was still the same Shepard Ash had served with on the SR1. But then Mars happened, and now Shepard worried that she might not have that chance. The doctors said things had gone well, that Ash would probably pull through just fine. She wished she could have put more bullets into that robot than she had. She couldn’t lose Ash. Not like this.

Shepard took a deep breath. “I know you can’t hear me, but I wanted to say I’m here. There’s a lot to do, but I’ll drop by every chance I get.” She ran a thumb over the spine of the book resting on her lap. “Picked you up something, for once you wake up. Tennyson. Actual paper and leather book. Good condition, too.”

It was hard to look at Ash’s face. The swelling and the bruises reminded Shepard that she’d let Ash down, just when she wanted so badly not to. “I’m sorry I didn’t stop that thing. I should have. I could have. I don’t know what I’d do if…” If I’d lost you.

She loved Ash. She hadn’t told her back when they were chasing Saren. She hadn’t wanted to risk their friendship or the mission. When the Normandy got hit, Shepard had almost said something. At the last second, she’d decided that if she didn’t make it through, it’d be better for Ash if she didn’t know. And then on Horizon…well. On Horizon she wondered how much worse things would have gone if she had told Ash before.

And now the universe was burning down around their ears.

“I love you, Ashley Williams. It can’t hurt either of us when you can’t hear me say it.”