I decided to have Liz present because I felt this scene could be done better with a third person who knows Ashley well present, but that did create this whole "you're not invited, LIZ" issue that needed to be addressed.
Granted, I guess she was just invited, but Liz wants to adhere to proper experimentation procedure! Which is based entirely on a trope that nobody should feel obligated to plan their lives or feelings around and is ultimately not proper at all, but hey, that's her business.