Emotional Connection

braid

The fourth of January was a date that Ashley had been counting down to, anxiously waiting for her father to come home. So when that day came she was up and ready before the sun was even up, making sure the house was ready for him to come home and relax from the trip, though she knew, in reality, he would be too excited to do anything but talk all about it and probably too reckless to do anything but go right back out there.

Charlie had moved back to his own place a few days ago, giving her strict instructions to send for him if she felt at all worse or even just too tired to do things around the house, though she had a feeling he knew she wouldn't unless it was completely necessary. She'd also gone back to work, though Pete only let her do a few hours at a time before sending her to the back to do stock count and whatever else he felt like not doing, which usually included a lot of paperwork. Not that she minded, it certainly was different than she was used to but it was good to see how things worked in an actual hospital rather than just by herself dealing with whoever she could at the time. After all, once her father was settled, or Merlin forbid, gone, she'd have to find work in a hospital, knowing how it all worked would probably be beneficial.

Seeing as it was a slow day, she and Pete sat together near the back talking while going through all the paperwork for renewing several contracts with suppliers. It was difficult because of the whole Voldemort thing, but they were able to get through it.

"You're dad's coming home today, you ready for that?" Pete asked, glancing to the front of the hospital. It had become a habit for them to constantly check that no one was passed out near the front after they'd missed Daniel passed out there a few weeks ago.

"I think so. It was a lot quieter with Charlie there with me, definitely more of a domestic thing, which felt strange, even when I forced him back to work." She smiled a little, "but I've missed him, even though I hate his recklessness."

"So," He raised an eyebrow, "Charlie."

Ashley rolled her eyes, "I make a point of not making any kind of connections with people I meet on travels. It only ends in heartbreak and misery."

Pete laughed, "I'd say we have a fair emotional connection after working together near fulltime over the past month and a half.

"That's different, you're a healer. There's something in it for me, say if I wanted to come back here or I needed medical supplies and couldn't get them where I would be stationed. That sort of thing."

"Ah, so it's a business investment."

"Some of my closest friends are business investments!" Ashley joked, making him laugh. "But seriously, I can't keep up with the letters or the plans, so I make sure to distance myself from people."

Pete didn't look convinced. "Does he know that?"

Ash sighed, leaning back in the chair, "I don't know. There's nothing wrong with us being friends for the year, but I don't want the whole emotional goodbye at the end of it where one of us inevitably gets hurt."

He nodded, "it's funny how completely blind you are sometimes."

Laughing, she stood to stretch, filing the papers in the cabinet in the office. She didn't know what he meant exactly, but then again Pete said so much stuff that didn't make sense that it wasn't particularly out of character for him.

"Ashley?" She turned to the front where Charlie was waiting with a grin, "he's back."

She stopped, the last file still in her hand. "Like, home?"

He nodded, and she dropped the file in the cabinet, waving goodbye to Pete as she ran out towards the ridge, ignoring the burning in her chest. It was definitely a bad idea to run, and soon enough she had to stop for fear of passing out from lack of oxygen.

"Well, that wasn't the smartest thing you've ever done," Charlie commented, catching up to her pretty quickly. "Come on, through the ridge; there's no way you're climbing it in that state."

She nodded, not arguing with him. She didn't want to go right back to being stuck at home when she'd just got back to work. She made it to the clearing where they introduced new dragons to the sanctuary, and grinned as she saw her dad there trying to calm them from the long journey. She walked over with Charlie, waving once her dad caught sight of her. "Hi!" She hugged him tightly once she reached him. "How was your trip?"

His eyes were shining with excitement and life, "incredible. You seem a little run down, are you ok?"

"yeah, just recovering from a cold, I'm fine." She shot a look at Charlie when he opened his mouth to protest, and he shut up instantly, giving her a strange look. "I'm glad it went well for you! Any injuries or the like?"

Her dad nodded, pulling his sleeve up to reveal some sloppily stitched claw marks on his upper arm, and Ashley nodded, telling him to sit down and she'd re-stitch and dress it for him so there would hopefully be minimal scarring. She couldn't guarantee there being no scarring because of the quick-fix he'd already done, but was grateful that he hadn't just let it bleed out like he usually did until he got back to her.

Charlie smiled at her as she got ready to work on her dad, and she rolled her eyes playfully.

"Did you braid your hair?" He asked, frowning. "You never braid your hair."

Ashley stopped for a second, shaking her head. "Charlie did it for me. Some days I can't be bothered to deal with it, he's kind enough to braid it before he goes off to work."

Her dad raised an eyebrow but turned away, not saying anything else.

"It's just a braid."