Emotional Connection

21

Ashley-Rae and her dad had never really been massive on birthday celebrations once she finished school. Mostly out of necessity, not being able to do much except maybe a nice meal or something similar, considering they were travelling all over and often stuck in the middle of one of her dad's personal quests or something of the sort. Over time it had become less of a meaningful day and more of just another day to them both, though they still carried on with the nice sit-down meal whenever they could.
Which included that night, where they'd be 'celebrating' Ashley-Rae's 21st birthday. She found it almost reassuring that her dad still wanted to carry on their tradition after their fight nearly two weeks ago. They'd made up the next day, of course, but things had been strained ever since. She was just glad that things were getting back to normal.

Of course, she had to get through her shift at the hospital before that, but nothing could bring her down today. Not when her dad had taken the whole night off so they could have a nice night in without either of them feeling stressed.

She walked in, a smile on her face, even when she saw nearly every bed had been taken with burn victims and those who got in the way of a clearly pissed-off dragon. "Ok, let's get this all sorted then." She spoke to herself, nodding to Pete as they started their shift treating those Laura and James hadn't managed to treat, sending people who were ok to leave off to their own homes to recover with instructions of not to work for a few days. Ashley-Rae was just surprised that Charlie wasn't among them, considering Mango and Mila had been introduced to the pit now they were big enough and grown enough to live with the other dragons. She wondered how that was going, before snapping back to reality and focusing on her work, sending another back to work seeing as she could cure the burns there and then. She was getting too good at healing burns, the minor ones would now often heal within an hour without a trace, the bigger ones would sometimes take a day or two depending on the severity, but for the most part, it was going better than she'd ever really imagined. She supposed that's what happened when she spent most of her days performing healing spells on burns, focusing on potions to heal them faster and more efficiently.

"Miss me?" Charlie sat himself on a bed near Ashley, not waiting for her to point him to one anymore, lifting his obviously broken wrist to show her the damage. "I think I broke my ankle too because that's causing me a lot of trouble and I heard a snap."

Ashley stared at him before quickly finishing on her current patient who was laughing at Charlie. "Sometimes, Charlie, I think you purposely get yourself put in here to see when exactly you do something too ridiculous or moronic that I give up."

"Have I succeeded?"

She rolled her eyes but smiled, "not this time, Charlie, nothing can be too much for me today."

He frowned, confused, but his expression was quickly replaced with one of pain as she poked his ankle. "Did you have to do that?"

"Only if you want to know if it's broken or not." She grinned, knowing otherwise, but knowing he didn't. "Considering you heard a snap instead of a pop, I'd say broken." She shrugged, casting several healing spells over his ankle and wrist, both of which mended themselves quickly. She glanced up at him as he winced, and gave him something for the pain.

"Is that it, am I good? We need to get back out and try and get-"

"You're not going anywhere." Ashley laughed, nodding at Pete as she handed him the potion. "I know I'm good, but I'm not that good and you're not going to want to put any weight on that ankle for another hour or so otherwise you might snap it again, and then you're going to have to stay overnight. And I'll give strict instructions to Laura and James to make it hell for you."

He looked between Pete and Ashley, worry clear on his face.

"Don't look at me, Charlie! She pretty much runs the place now." Pete laughed, backing away.

"This is so not fair." He pouted. "How can you be in such a good mood?"

Ashley laughed but didn't answer.

"No, seriously, you don't smile and laugh this much it's strange and off-putting, what's going on? Did you get a date? A friend? A dragon?"

Giving him a strange look, she just shook her head. "Nope. You really think I have time for dates?" She laughed, turning away to avoid looking at him.

"What, then. Come on, tell me!" He bugged, trying to reach her and nearly falling off the bed.

"Oh- Charlie!" She caught him, pushing him back on the bed. "Only if you promise me you'll sit there quietly and not disturb me when I'm working. And you can't fall out of the damn bed again."

"Deal."

"It's my birthday!" She said with a smile. "I'm twenty-one."

He blinked for a few seconds. "You know you complained about me only giving you four days to get you something? You've not even given me four hours! This is completely illegal."

"Hardly illegal, Charl," Ashely laughed, drawing Pete's attention.

"What's illegal?"

"N-"

"It's her birthday and she's only just told me, so now I have no time to get her anything."

Ashley looked like a deer caught in headlights. "We don't really celebrate birthdays, my dad and I. We just have dinner together."

Pete shrugged his shoulders, "in all honesty, the most I do for my birthday is take half the day off to relax."

Charlie looked at them in horror, "you're both heathens, obviously."

"Stop being so dramatic. You only took the day off work because you had your brother visiting." Ashley laughed, getting back to work, still with a smile on her face.

The rest of her shift went off without a hitch, with Charlie leaving as soon as she cleared him, and Pete even let her finish fifteen minutes early so she could get home with enough time to shower and get ready for the dinner. Ashely knew it was just a dinner really, but it was her 21st, and she wanted to look nice, and maybe annoy her father into doing the same.

Much to her amazement, however, he'd already dressed himself up in a shirt and blazer, though he was still wearing jeans, she didn't mind that. "You're... you're dressed up!" She managed to say when she walked through the door to see him busy cooking in the kitchen.

He smiled, "it's you're twenty-first! In my books, that's a fairly big birthday, we should celebrate it in style if we can."

She grinned, nodding and walking through to wash her hair and get changed into something nice.
She could hear her dad talking to someone as she slipped her heels on, and knew for a fact that she'd regret her decision to wear them later, but for now, she looked good and she held herself as though she knew it.

Emerging from her room, she took a deep breath before walking out with a smile on her face, which froze as soon as she saw Charlie leaning on the counter in a shirt and slacks. "Um... Hi." She managed, trying to figure out why he was there.

"Hey, you look good. Happy birthday." He grinned.

Ashley could feel herself blushing under the makeup. "Thanks. You too."

"I brought something for you! You didn't give me a whole lot of time, so you're proper present will be here in a few days, but I made you this." He stood properly, opening the fridge and pulling out a plate with a chocolate-frosted cake.

She stared at him for a second before smiling, walking quickly over to have a look at it. She smiled slightly as she saw he'd even put a glitter "Happy 21st Birthday Ashley-Rae" on top. "Thank you." She smiled at him, noticing how she was almost his height in the heels. "Really, thank you."