Ashley

There was nothing more attractive to Ashley Williams than the sight she currently beheld. Samantha was poised on top of her, her fingers interlaced with Ashley's as the lieutenant-commander supported her. She rocked back and forth on top of Ashley, shuddering with pleasure as a single drop of sweat that had beaded on her chest slowly traced its way down between her large, swinging breasts. If Ashley hadn't been in the zone, moving unconsciously with Sam in just that special way, then she would be utterly still, captivated by the sight. Occasionally her eyes stole down to the place where their bodies met, watching the clever device that was also buried inside of Ashley disappearing into her girlfriend before making brief, rhythmic reappearances.

The intriguing thing about the toy she was using – indeed, it was the thing that made them purchase it two weeks before – was that it transmitted sensation. So every move, every gyration, every grinding motion, and any involuntary clamping of Sam's muscles sent amazing sensations dancing over Ashley's clit as well as sailing along inside of her.

All of a sudden, Sam's fingers tightened in Ashley's. The LC felt an accompanying intensity with the toy as Sam's inner muscles clamped down on it. Sam shuddered, barking out a cry of pleasure as she threw her head back.

Ashley felt the drop of sweat finally hit her stomach as her own muscles tightened in preparation for her orgasm. Her back arched, causing Samantha to rise into the air a little as waves of pleasure washed over her.

It was several moments before she finally collapsed, a boneless communications specialist following suit.

No words were said. Ashley merely threw an arm around Sam and rested it there as they caught their breaths. Sweat gathered wherever their skin touched, but they didn't mind. In fact, it just made Ashley feel even more secure, as at the moment a snowstorm raged outside the single window of Samantha's tiny studio apartment. The fact that they could be so warm when outside it was so cold made the contented feeling of having the woman she loved in her arms even warmer, more comfortable, and in a way, even sexier.

After a moment she tightened her grip on Sam, bodily lifting the woman off of her temporary member before rolling them to their sides. The smaller woman let out a whimper at the loss of fullness, but Ash quickly had them pressed together again, supplying a large amount of skin contact to offset the empty feeling.

"God, Ashley," Sam murmured, even the sound of her voice long and languid as she almost absently nuzzled her face back and forth into the cleft between Ashley's breast and shoulder. It was something she did often, especially in this delicious moment after sex, in order to get as much direct skin contact to her face, and to smell what she called Ashley's "glorious sex-smell," whatever that was. Ashley assumed it was her drying sweat, but she wasn't going to complain. Having a beautiful woman love the scent of your very body was a feature, not a bug.

Ashley grinned slowly, everything feeling just a bit sluggish in their post-sex haze. "That good, huh? Can't even finish what you were going to say?"

Sam didn't respond right away. Instead she pulled herself up to give Ashley a long, lingering kiss. As she did so, her hand slipped down to the toy still firmly embedded inside of Ashley. She gave it a few almost loving strokes, which only served to set all of Ashley's nerves on fire, leaving her undecided as to whether it hurt or felt amazing. Then Sam was removing the toy, gently freeing it from Ashley's center before tossing it carelessly to the end of the bed. She pulled back a little, a smile on her face that made it clear she was entirely pleased with herself.

"Happy anniversary, darling," she murmured. Ashley just smiled in response, reaching her arms up to engulf the smaller woman in a bear hug.

But Samantha didn't let her. She ducked out of Ashley's embrace, rolling onto her other side and reaching down over the side of the bed.

"Baby? What's going on?" Ashley asked, utterly confused. Was something wrong?

Sam didn't answer, instead righting herself. Pushing herself up to her knees, she shushed Ashley with a look before pushing her hair behind her ears.

That's when Ashley noticed the box, and her heart stopped even as Samantha smiled coyly and opened it.

"Jesus fuck, Samantha!"

It came out without Ashley quite being aware of it. It took a moment for her heart to speed back up. In that moment, Samantha had started speaking.

"My dear, foul-mouthed woman," she began with a smirk. "One year ago today, you asked me all about my sordid past on a shuttle. You then saved me from the big, scary table, let me sing to you, and generally charmed my pants right off. And then my pants really did come off, and somewhere along the line I realized I was falling rather fast and hard for this woman who was supposed to be a fling while I was home on leave. Then you saved me and my family, and ever since you have been an absolute thorn in my side."

Ashley let out a snort of laughter despite her stunned, awed silence up to this point. She knew she was gaping like a fish, but she couldn't help it: Samantha was proposing to her, and Ashley had not seen it coming.

Samantha took a deep breath before continuing. "I find that the thorn is comfortable, and I would rather miss it if I were to remove it. So I thought I'd propose that the thorn stay forever and ever, but now I think this metaphor has gotten away from me, so I'll just say it. Ashley Williams… will you marry me?"

Ashley didn't really know what to say. They'd sort of talked about marriage, enough to know that they each wanted it in the future, but no solid plans had been made or anything. They'd been together for a few weeks at the beginning, followed by six months of only seeing each other once a month if they were lucky. The last six months or so, however, had been amazing, both of them stationed at Alliance HQ in Vancouver, where Sam worked on the retrofits for the dry-docked Normandy. Ashley was to be XO on the vessel when it was once-more space worthy, under the command of Admiral Anderson.

In fact, she had been dreading the coming weeks because the ship very nearly was ready to fly. It meant that Ashley would have to leave Sam behind again. She would have to put herself in danger, risk her life and her body's capabilities in the line of duty. She had thought a time or two about proposing before then, but it was extremely difficult to ask that of Sam. It was a common thing, she knew, for soldiers to be unable to ask that of their significant others. The lack of proposal, and the constant danger, had ruined more than one relationship.

But Sam knew that – they had talked about it – and now knelt before her, asking her anyway. Asking despite the risk, asking despite the uncertainty. She'd even gotten a ring – white gold with several small diamonds, Ashley's birthstone – and was now holding it out, gazing into Ashley's eyes, completely hopeful and guileless. Her eyes held every emotion they'd spoken of together – deep affection, lust, happiness, contentedness, safety and trust – and the answer was on Ashley's lips mere seconds after Sam had finished her little speech.

"Of course, doofus!" she laughed, pulling the other woman in for a kiss that was bruising in its intensity. But as intense as it was, it was short-lived, Sam pushing back and delicately placing the ring upon Ashley's finger.

"I know you can't wear it at work," she started, slipping the thing home, "but I sneaked a scan on my omnitool for size, so I wanted to see that it was, indeed…"

"A perfect fit," Ashley finished for her, smiling as she held it up to the faint light coming in through the window from the streetlight outside. It felt a little funny, because she wasn't used to having a ring on, but it fit like it was supposed to be there, nonetheless. "I don't care that I can't wear it at work, baby. I'm not at work right now."

"No, you're not," Sam sighed with a gleam in her eyes before shoving forward and tackling Ashley back to the bed. "You're right here with me, and I don't intend to waste a single second of it," she said as she began to stoke the coals in Ashley's loins into flames all over again.

Ashley was all too happy to oblige.