So this an edited version of a KMeme fill I wrote about an Ash/Kaidan hook-up set during ME1. Reviews are, as ever, my addiction of choice. Please let me know what you thought about the story.

"You OK there Williams?"

Kaidan looks up after hearing the concern in Shepard's voice. That last mission had really put the three of them through the wringer, the heat and the stench of the Thorian's layer still vivid in his mind. Those endless creepers, led by the dangerous biotic clones, Shepard and Williams going to toe-to-toe with shotguns, Kaidan staying back and providing biotic support and suppressive fire. It had been chaos and bloodshed, and none of them had come out unscathed.

"Yeah, I'm alright Commander. One of those creepers snuck up on my right at the end and jumped on my back, I think I pulled something throwing it off." Williams is bending over, stretching her left shoulder and back. She's taken off her top half of her armour, leaving on the tight black singlet that serves as an undershirt. Kaidan's eyes are caught by the lean yet hard lines of her muscles, the dark pool of shadow between her breasts, the beads of sweat glowing on her skin. He tears his eyes away before someone notices. He knows he shouldn't be looking at her like that, yet he can't stop himself.

"You sure? Wanna get the doc to check it out? I'm gonna head up to talk with Liara…Dr T'soni. I can let Chakwas know." Shepard's voice is muffled somewhat by the chestpiece of the armour he is in the process of removing, and Williams grins and looks up at Kaidan, and they roll their eyes in unison. He doesn't let the fact that her grin made his heart skip a beat show on his face. Not for a second. He's a professional, and there are regs after all. Shepard's and Liara's growing mutual infatuation, on the other hand, is both allowed and a complete open book to anyone with any eyes and ears at all on the ship. Kaidan has heard, unofficially, that Joker has a pool going on when Shepard and good doctor would actually get together. Officially he might have had to step in and do something about it. Unofficially, he had credits riding on the hunch it would happen before they caught up with Saren.

"Nah, it's OK. You go on ahead sir."

Shepard nods at her, and then looks at them both in turn. "OK. Mission debrief in an hour as per normal. I'll tell the rest of the crew." There's almost a jaunt in his step as Shepard walks towards the elevator and Kaidan hides a small smile.

Williams is still rolling her shoulder, but her attention is now on her guns, so Kaidan turns to his equipment locker, and starts removing the light armour he is wearing. There's creeper gunk everywhere, in the joints, lining the plates, and he carefully cleans it out. They work in companionable silence, the rest of the crew not there for some reason or another. He could be done much quicker, like Shepard, stripped and clean and gone in minutes, but he doesn't want to be. He takes his time, as she takes hers, both doing their jobs probably much more thoroughly than really necessary. Once, he looks up to see Williams' eyes on his chest, and he glances down to see if he has missed anything while cleaning. His plain white singlet is soaked with sweat and there's a faint scrape of dried blood along one side of his chest, but otherwise his lean stomach and chest are clean of any remnants of greenish sludge.

The next time he looks up at her, she's putting away her shotgun, but still wincing and favouring one side of her torso than the other. His concern is of course strictly professional- she's part of the team, and Shepard needs everybody in fighting shape with a mission this vital. Yes that's all it is.

"Williams, are you actually OK? Should I get Chakwas to come down here."

She turns those dark brown eyes on him, round with discomfort and pain, and all he wants to do is to make that go away, to make her feel better. He squashes down all such emotions. Professional is his watchword.

"Hell eltee, unless she's a masseuse as well as a doctor, she's not going to be much help. It's muscle soreness more than anything else, kinda feel like I've got a kink in my back and shoulder. You know anyone on the ship who's dealt with that kind of stuff?"

Before he can stop himself, before he can remind himself how unprofessional this would be, his mouth runs away from him, words pouring out while his brain almost looks on in disbelief.

"Actually, I could help. Back at Brain Camp, they'd train us so hard sometimes we'd cramp up and become really sore, so we used to give each other massages afterwards. I used to give a mean massage back in the day. Be a bit rusty now, but if you really need it?..." Inside, his heart is doing flipflops, and his mind is going circles, telling itself that he is crazy, and this wrong, and listing off the reasons why it can't happen. All of which is meaningless when she smiles and nods.

"Sure eltee. Can't hurt putting those big hands to good use. I know you have to eat before you keel over. I can meet you back down here during the night-shift." Her tone is pretty brisk and no-nonsense, and Kaidan takes some solace in that. This is simply one professional helping another in maintain full fitness and unit cohesion. Nothing more. He certainly had not flirted with other, she certainly had not flirted back and they were most definitely not meeting for a late night…tryst.

Maybe he'll even believe it if he repeats it to himself enough times.

The rest of the day passes in a mix of crawl and a blur. Garrus and Wrex want a blow-by-blow detail of what happened on Zhu's Hope, how Shepard had dealt with the corporate idiot and then the mind-controlled colonists. Kaidan describes the gas grenades they had field manufactured using their omni-tools, the cool and calm way Shepard had directed him in using his biotics to separate the creepers and the colonists, then lobbing the grenades as needed. Williams took over when it came time to talk of the assault on the Thorian itself, the underground dungeon, the nodes, the winding levels. Close quarter shotgun combat, the asari at the end that Shepard had ended up sparing, so she could help the survivors rebuild the colony. Wrex was positively despondent he'd missed such a fight, and Garrus and Williams swapped stories of other assaults they had done in similar cramped environments. Kaidan just focussed on shoving food down, his body crashing hard as it realised just how much energy he'd burned using biotics during the fight.

At one point Williams went to get water and came back and sat next to him. Another crewman asked her to move down, and suddenly they were side by side, thigh next to thigh, forearms pressed together. Kaidan was sure his body temperature spiked, but she didn't seem to notice, animatedly discussing the merits of various sniper rifles with Garrus. Before, she'd been sitting across, and he'd avoided catching her eyes, but now she was impossible to ignore. Every breath he took, her scent wound its way through his nerves. Professional. He focussed on being professional. It didn't help. His pants got a little bit tighter every time her thigh brushed against his, or his eyes slid of their own volition to see how her full her shirt seemed.

When he walked into the debrief session, he was hoping for some respite, a chance to focus on the business at hand. Despite the new piece of the puzzle embedded in his head, Shepard and Liara were still frustrated in any efforts to determine the location and value of the Conduit. Curtly, Shepard dismissed them so he could focus on reporting to the Council, with Noveria now definitely to be the next stop on their chase. His workstation is full as ever, and drowning himself in work definitely seems to be the best course of action at the moment. It's definitely only professional interest that makes him pull up Williams's file for the umpteenth time, reviewing her record, seeing how the stigma of her family name has hampered her career. That makes his gut clench in anger. She deserved to have her commission by now, earned through merit, instead of languishing on a backwater world thanks to Alliance politics. It was for strictly professional reasons he'd recommended her to Captain Anderson after all.

The hours seem to crawl by. Shepard comes for a chat, doing the rounds. The younger man is a good leader, an excellent soldier. He has a kind of inner fire that attracts the best and brightest to him. Kaidan knows he'll go far. Shepard quietly tells him about Virmire, about the STG team missing there, and what might await them there. Listening to Shepard, Kaidan gets a kind of gut instinct about Virmire.

"We should go there first Commander. It might be key to all this. The piece of the puzzle we're missing." His voice is calm but urgent. They all want to find Saren. They all want to end this before it is too late.

"No. It could be a trap. We got to Noveria first." Shepard is adamant, and Kaidan reluctantly nods. Virmire will have to wait.

Later, over another meal for the ship's biotics, Liara offers him some advice regarding his techniques. Hers are smooth and fast, honed over decades, and he asks her for a practice session. He's almost managed to keep Williams out of his thoughts for the best part of the half the day, but then they go down to the cargo bay, and she's there, checking over the guns, making sure everything is as it should be. Garrus is crawling under the Mako, repairing something and occasionally cursing Shepard for his lack of driving skills, while Wrex rumbles with snores in the other corner.

Williams turns towards them as they approached, eying them carefully. He had been concerned that initially her dislike of Liara was because she was jealous, was because she wanted to be with Shepard too. But no, it was just the general Williams distrust of aliens, coupled with the fact she had thought the asari soft and no use on the mission. The first time Liara had essentially cleared out an entire pirate base using a single singularity had disabused her for the latter notion, Kaidan knew, and slowly she was getting over the former.

Her eyes followed him- no, followed them to the end, where they set up. Liara set up a small singularity, an illustration of power and control that left him in awe. He tried to mimic it but to no success. He worked up a second sweat of the day, as they moved on to throws and personal barriers. Somehow, the fact that Williams was watching was more exciting now. She had seen him on the field plenty of times before, but he found some new reserves in front of her, matching Liara for speed and power.

When Liara suggested taking a break, and went back upstairs (probably in search of Shepard), Kaidan went and sat close to where Williams was working. The cold metal floor and sidings felt wonderful, and he simply put his head between his legs and breathed deeply.

"Careful eltee. Don't want you to get a headache now. Counting on those magic hands for later tonight." Her voice was low and smoky, and sent a jolt through his spine all the way to his groin. Carefully he turned his head to look at her, and though her lips were pressed in a straight line, the smile dancing in her eyes went straight through him.

"I..uh, yeah. Probably a good time to call it a day for tomorrow. For today, I mean, enough for today." Kaidan semi-blanched at the utter fool he was making of himself, like a stuttering doe-eyed teenager, and got up to leave. He missed the way her eyes raked his broad shoulder and muscular arms, the way her breath caught just for instant when he spoke again.

"I'll see you later, Williams." Professional. He needed to live and breathe professionalism. He was skating on thinner and thinner ice, and that was guide rope he was clinging to. Kaidan didn't realise he was holding his breath till later, when he was on the elevator, and didn't realise he'd abandoned Liara and biotic training till fifteen minutes later when she pinged him on his omni-tool. Williams, and their impending massage session was driving even basic thoughts clean out of his head.

He waits till it's late for dinner, and then goes into find himself some food. Most of the crew is already gone, and hopefully so is she. Only Wrex is still eating, and he usually doesn't do casual conversation, so Kaidan heaps on the food and tucks in. Thankfully, Wrex doesn't have any questions about who would win if he fought Shepard, or anything like that. The others avoid Wrex, but Kaidan likes the no-nonsense krogan and his sardonic comments, not to mention the sheer brute force he brings to the battlefield. Kaidan's about to ask him about combat biotics when his omni-tool pings.

'You owe me a massage eltee. Cargo bay's empty for night shift.'

There's not even a question, just a statement. Kaidan breathes deeply and whispers his watchword, before he rapidly finishes eating and heads for the elevator. He's unaware that behind him, Wrex is puzzling over why the human lieutenant is determined to eat in a professional manner and pondering the foibles of other races.

The cargo bay is dim to Kaidan's eyes, the night shift meaning most of the crew is asleep or off-duty, only a skeleton watch on hand. Even Garrus has dragged himself off to bed, and as Kaidan approaches the corner Williams usually inhabits, he that she's set up a cot and is lying on it, reading something on her omni-tool. She looks over her shoulder as he approaches, and he thinks that life is vastly unfair. No one with their hair in a bun, wearing combat fatigues and a plain shirt, with grease and oil stains on it, has any damn right to look that sexy.

"Hey eltee. Hope I didn't interrupt anything." She has that sexy smirk on her face, the one he might have dreamt of a night or two, when he wasn't dreaming about other Williams-related things. He pasted a strictly professional smile on his face, one that for a colleague or a comrade. Her smirk got wider in response as if she could taste his discomfort and was enjoying it.

"So where do you want do this eltee? Right here?" Her tone is innocent. Too innocent. Kaidan isn't sure any more that he can navigate this situation as he wishes to. He isn't sure that professionalism will be enough to get him through.

"Sure, just lie back down on the cot." She's wearing a tight black t-shirt, but Kaidan rather wishes she was wearing winter-gear parka and coat and sweater and so forth. That would help stay focussed. Might not be much of a massage through the gear, but it would help his brain stay on the straight and narrow. Instead, she turns her back to him, smoothly whips off the t-shirt in one movement and lies down on the cot on her stomach.

His brain struggles to process exactly what is happening, and it quite doesn't have its normal capacity at hand. His eyes drink in the sight of her strong, muscular shoulders, the few wisps of dark brown hair that have escaped the bun above the most delectable neck. The broad bra straps above a dimpled lower back. She has just showered. Her scent wraps around him like a warm blanket, that standard Navy shampoo as desirable as the galaxy's most expensive perfume. Almost without conscious thought, he drops to his knees beside the cot, hands drawn to her skin. Strong fingers dig into her skin then the hard muscle underneath. Kaidan's hands work slowly but surely, concentrating on the shoulders and upper back where she was hurt. He can feel the knots underneath his fingers, and drives his thumbs over them.

"Ohhh." Her voice is soft, and her eyes closed. Her head is resting on the backs of her hands, facing him. It's simply an exhalation of a breath, but it's also an acknowledgement that he's helping her. That he's making her happy in some small way, and that makes him smile. A genuine smile, that Alenko smile he doesn't let slip very often, one he only indulges in now because her eyes are closed. His fingers keep working up and down, over her shoulder blades, across her back.

"Ohh yeah, eltee, that's the spot right there. Work it."

Williams sort of semi-moans as she speaks, and Kaidan has no choice but to look up and glance around. They are still alone thankfully. He feels a heat rising through him, up from the soles of his feet, suffusing through his body. The t-shirt he's wearing feels tight, and he can feel the permanent semi-hardness he always has around her grow into more.

"Haaaaarder." Oh that's just not fair. Kaidan tilts over her more, using his weight to lean into the massage. His hips slide past hers, and she turns her head to face the other side of the cot, and her ass sways invitingly as she adjusts a bit. His hands still and it takes every inch of willpower in his body not to run them…lower.

Instead, he flares his biotics, letting them a blue aura run over his fingertips and around his hands. It's a modified version of a barrier, something he'd learnt while experimenting a few years ago.

"You might feel a slight tingle Williams. Don't worry, all part of the service." His voice is huskier than he'd like, that trapped desire bubbling to surface now that she's partially unclothed and under his hands. Kaidan doesn't know whether the double- hell triple- entendre was intentional or not, the blood rushing to his groin has probably left him a little empty on the brain cells, but once it's out he follows up on his words. Fingertips encased in blue run over light brown skin, and he knows she'll feel the massage even more deeply now, pushing right into her muscle. He doesn't hold back, running his fingers, palms, whole hand over warm, pulsing skin.

"Nnnnnnffff…you got magic hands. Literally."

She moans directly into the cot, but even that's not enough to muffle her, and the heat spikes to another level between them. A light sweat has sprung up along his brow, and as he raises his hand to wipe it off, her hands loop behind her back and undo the bra straps. Kaidan's mouth goes dry.

"Now, lower." Her voice is smoky, and it's a command more than anything else. He obeys with alacrity, working across her spine and the back of her ribs, down to the dimples in her back, just above the curve of her ass. He struggles to keep his biotics in control, in check, keeps his breathing even. Control is harder and harder to maintain. That's all he can strive for now. Professionalism is somewhere over his shoulder and receding into the distance with every passing second. His right hand feathers into a caress over her shoulder for a millisecond, before returning to massage and pressing firmly into sweet flesh.

"Aaaah. That's it. There. Right there." Her voice is thick with lust, maybe even enough to match his. It's unmistakable. His hands circle and thumbs drive into the indicated spot. She turns her face again, back towards him, and there's this smile on her face. Equal parts desire, joy, a hint frustration, a smidgeon of anxiety, all pouring at him through those thousand-watt eyes. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't resist her.

"Ashley…" Her name is a whisper on his lips. A prayer, a hope, a wish, a dream, a fantasy.

Her smile broadens, and those powerful fingers close on the front of his shirt and jerk him down as she turns over. The unhooked bra slides away and his hands replace it, running over her breasts, teasing her nipples, as their lips crash together. Her tongue insistently demands entry to his mouth, not letting him rest, as her hands bunch up his shirt and drag it upwards.

"Lose the shirt…Kaidan." He has waited months to hear his name said like that. Like it was honey, thick and sweet, and even before he can finish doing as she says, her hands are on his. Rough hands, callused hands, strong hands. The hands of soldier. He doesn't want any others. They're on the cot now, him on top, holding himself over her as they just indulge in touching each other, letting their hands get to know each other. He can't resist grinding against her a little though, letting her know exactly how much he wants her, and she grinds back, lifting her hips up to meet his.

"We're breaking about 8 different regs right now, you know." Her breath catches right at the end of the sentence as he slides the tip of his tongue across one of her nipples.

"9, actually." He stops and lifts himself, looks directly at her. "Do you care? Say the word and I'll go back up stairs." It would devastate him, but he would do it. He's senior. The regs are there to protect her.

"Are you kidding me? Leave me like this and I'll hump the next man to walk in. Could be Adams. Could be Garrus." She hooks a strong thigh around the back of his knees and pulls him back into her arms. A brief but intense wave of jealousy swept over him at thought of her with anyone else, and he went for neck this time, intermittently nipping with his teeth as he kissed down to her shoulder and across her throat. She hissed and arched towards him, and he filed that away for future reference. In turn her hands found his ass, and squeezed, and this time was his moan that filled the air around them as she signalled her desire. And then their mouths were crashing together again, and there was no more time for conscious thought.

Later, his brain finds itself steadying again where they're lying together naked, limbs and bodies entangled together.

"First time I've ever done that." He nuzzles her neck, uses one arm to pull her closer till they're entwined.

"Which part?" She keeps running her fingers through his hair, which makes him feel very relaxed. He could get used to that real quick.

"All of it. Broken the fraternization regs. Had sex in a cargo hold. Been seduced by a woman who could kill me in her sleep." He runs his finger along her hips, teasing her with them as he teased with his words.

"Me too, I guess. First time I've slept with a superior officer. First time I've been with a man who could throw me to the end of the room with his mind. Not the first time in a cargo hold though." She teases back, her fingers running over his rapidly-hardening cock.

"Totally worth it."

"Won't tell Shepard if you don't. Kaidan." He'll never ever get tired of her saying his name like that, imbued with meaning.

"No worries on that score, Ash." He rocks his hips against her. "Ready for round 2, soldier?"

"Only if you can keep up with me…sir."

He flares his biotics as he pulls her into a deep kiss. He's still got a few more tricks left, and he intends to be as unprofessional with her as he can get.