When Ashley finds her in the dark of night, she is tired. There are rings of fatigue around her eyes and she moves with the sort of sluggish effect drinks might produce. But she is breathing heavy, and her fists echo off of the training dummy and the cargo bay feels like a world apart from the rest of the Normandy.
She watches a moment. Let's the quiet sink in and makes out the glisten of sweat across her Commander's brow when the woman turns. They lock eyes briefly.
"What?" Shepard asks, and Ashley doesn't know what to say. Or, she does, but it won't be what the woman wants to hear.
"Why are you doing this to yourself, Skipper?" is what comes out instead.
Shepard scoffs and looks away and as she takes an unsteady step back the light hits the dummy and there is blood there. Red and wet. Fresh. When Shepard dares answer, it's in a voice Ashley has never heard, with eyes she has never seen.
"Because there's nothing left, Williams. Nothing."