#willenko

I really do ship those two, I can't help it. They're the cat & dog dynamic like this:

I also have a feeling this dialogue option occurs to Shepard every time they let Ash & Kaidan talk:

hear me out: let's ship Ashley with...

not an option in canon edition; no Shepards or Jameses here.

Jacob: hey remember how Jacob's an Eden Prime survivor too? maybe they knew each other from there when the units had shore leave together or joint exercises or whatever. and Ash is so mad when he joins Cerberus down the track but (and I nicked this from @beltsquid) Cerberus recruits frustrated people who want to do more and Ash has to have the guilty thought that that could have been her too. later on they have a lot to work through with Jake having joined Cerberus and worked with Shepard while Ash stayed with the Alliance, but so satisfying! even if they didn't know each other on Eden Prime, they both have that frustration with the Alliance's inaction and that core want of wanting to do something good. also we know that Ashley likes her some beefcake. 👌🏼

Thane: he says he'll watch over her in the hospital! they can bond over physio, and over both working with Shepard, and over both being religious even though they don't worship the same god. (lemme tell you what I have friends who are Muslim and Jewish respectively and dated at one point and this apparently worked out well for both their food restrictions if nothing else.) Ash can be Thane's siha 🥹

Tarquin: yeah the Victus kid. both have their male family member's legacy hanging over their heads, both have so much survivor's guilt but Ash is in a much different place with hers by the time Tarquin hits it - in a good place to help him through it, that's where!!

Samantha: Samantha was on Horizon when Ashley was - maybe she was the only person who was nice to that Alliance soldier (derogatory)!! they're both colony girls and if you go by L'etoile's thoughts, both brown girls. Sam with her spa sessions and beauty supplies can help indulge Ash's girly "look pretty damn good in a dress" side and with her bartending can also indulge the drinks 😂 I think they'd have a lot of fun gaming together! also, soooooo awkward if Sam finds the voice of the robot that beat up her girl sexy lmao.

Tiran: the parallels are paralleling: old military family legacy, expectations they'd do the same as their family, trying to prove they're more than their family members, willing to martyr themself for it, family curse, both get drawn into the plot with a geth ambush! sooooo much to bond about, and like Tarquin, being at different stages of it.

Miranda: the big sister bonding potential is immense and could probably get them through the "boooo you were with Cerberus" tension like that with Jacob above. Miri being so PeRfEcT is an interesting foil to Ash always having to be better than the best. they can be troubleshooting space divas!!

Suvi: two women of faith in space gotta stick together!! instant bonding over that and the way they've both been derided for it in their lives. plus they both come from big families. super cute jock/nerd potential here.

Jack: you know what they have in common? "fuck Cerberus" and also. poetry. what if Ash is getting into more modern stuff besides the classics and finds Jack's online. I feel like Ash would appreciate Jack's attitude and how protective she is of her kids (it's like her and her sisters) and Jack would admire how tough Ash is despite not having any biotics! also. Jack talking Ash into a tattoo? 👀

Nyreen: the strong moral compass girlies!! bonding over the Expectations of military family legacies/curses and being super underused by their militaries despite their leadership potential. and then the tension when Nyreen goes off on her own as a merc and Ash stays military.

Kaidan: it's a tragic classic for a reason 👌🏼

Garrus: I wrote the manifesto nine years ago but let's just leave it at Ashley being the only ME1 squadmate Garrus doesn't offend in the elevators.

Tagged by @screwyouflightlieutenant , thanks friend! Tagging @urrone and @dandenbo and @n0rmandysr1 if y’all wanna hop in!

A little post-Alchera early glimmer of Willenko from Stella’s ‘verse

The debriefs are hell.

Kaidan hashes out the attack no fewer than five times. No one has answers, and no one can explain how the Normandy was taken down so quickly, so easily.

How it was there one moment, and in pieces the next. How evasive maneuvers had utterly failed.

How Joker hadn’t had enough warning to try evasive maneuvers, not really.

They won’t know for sure how many crew they lost for days. Not with most of the survivors from engineering in intensive care. The doctors seem pretty confident Adams will recover, at least, but he is still heavily sedated and can’t give the investigators any insight from a lower-decks perspective.

Ashley sits vigil in the hospital chapel most nights. Surprising himself, Kaidan tags along.

He tells himself it’s to build some semblance of routine to their forced stay on the station, and to be there for the Normandy families.

He’s not lying to himself, but he’s not telling himself the whole truth either.

Being with Ashley is familiar. Grounding.

And he’s avoiding going to see Josie.

When the brass turn him loose on their fourth evening on the station – purportedly for the last time, though Kaidan is doubtful – Kaidan heads straight to the chapel. A mass of brown hair peeks over the back of the front pew – Ashley’s taken up her spot for the evening. He slips quietly into the pew beside her, shifting to find a comfortable spot on the worn seat. She mutters a few final words and raises her head, sighing deeply.

“Any news?” Kaidan asks, voice low.

“They had to amputate Sparks’ arm. I ran into her brother in the waiting room and he told me.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah,” she pauses, fidgeting with something in her pocket, “They’re gonna discharge Mack in the morning though, and they lightened up Adams’ sedation. It’s not all bad news.”

“We take what we can get, right?”

“Right.” She doesn’t sound convinced.

Fandom: Mass Effect Trilogy

Title: Shore Leave

Relationship: Kaidan Alenko/Ashley Williams

Summary:

Two years after the destruction of the Normandy, Kaidan and Ashley's paths cross once more.

As it turns out, there's a lot that's been left unsaid between them.

Rating: T

Tags: Grief/Mourning, Alcohol, First Kiss, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Both Kaidan and Ashley survive Virmire

Words: 1505

Excerpt: It’s all this, the muddle of thoughts clouding his mind, that makes him think he’s seeing things when he glimpses a familiar face from across the Presidium that day. They turn, and Kaidan sees brown hair, pulled back into a tight bun. It couldn’t be… could it?

His mouth feels dry.

He almost doesn’t approach her, too scared that she might be an apparition, that this might just be his mind finally spiralling out of control. But the curiosity claws at his skin, tugs at his heartstrings, and it’s as though his feet are moving of their own volition when he makes his approach.

“Ash?” His voice feels like it’s coming from somewhere far, far away.

Ashley Williams has a request of her best friend - Kaidan is just along for the ride. Until he isn't.