Emotional Connection

everything

It had been two weeks since Ashley had told her dad she was staying in Romania when he left. It had gone better than she could have ever imagined, with her dad saying he completely understood her decision and supporting her with it all, making sure she had a plan rather than her just jumping into the deep end.
He was often busy in the study during the days, getting things sorted for November, taking more midnight shifts so he could get things done and still spend some time with Ashley at the end of her day. Occasionally she'd walk him down to the pit before heading back to Charlie's for some sleep as long as he wasn't working. Sometimes she'd have to deal with catnaps and coffee, but she wasn't too bothered by it.

She waved her dad goodbye, walking back to the ridge, staring down at the pits. He was working with introducing and training the new dragons they'd brought in a few days ago from some hunting county, so there were definitely going to be a few injuries tonight. She shrugged; that wasn't her issue until the morning. She took a short nap at her own house before waking again, getting dressed and heading back out, making sure she had her bag and key before closing her front door.

Usually, she'd climb one of the mountains until sunrise, staring out over the surrounding areas, admiring the view from what felt like the highest point she'd ever been to, but she decided to talk a walk through the pit instead.

Ashley took a deep breath, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from her chest as she stepped over the ridge, walking down the worn track towards the pit. She saw her dad working on one of the new ones close by, so she decided to stay for a few minutes and watch him work, making sure to stay well out of the way of the workers and of the dragons just in case it decided to go on a rampage and torch everything in sight.

Of course, barely thirty seconds later everything decided to go wrong, the dragon getting annoyed at the trainers, breaking free of the restraints, crushing everything in its path and breathing fire at the sky. Ashley stopped breathing, backing away slowly so as to not draw attention to herself when he saw her dad in the way of the dragon, and not looking as though he was about to move any time soon.

"Absolutely not." She whispered, instinct taking over as she ran at full speed towards him, diving out of the way and tackling him to the ground, dragging him away as the dragon tried it's best to incinerate them.

"Ashley-Rae, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" he yelled over the noise.

"No idea." She gasped, still trying to register what she'd done, realising that she'd just saved her dad from becoming dragon food. She lay down on the floor, taking a few deep breaths before pulling herself to a crouch, not sure what to do now she was so far away from her only point out of the chaos.

"Hey- Ashley what are you doing here?" Charlie appeared by them, making her jump, heart in her throat.

Ashley felt like she could hardly breathe, barely managing to give him the same answer she'd given her father moments ago.

Charlie looked worried for a second, before recovering and getting control of the situation, giving her the instruction to stay low and out of the dragon's way until someone gave the all-clear.

This was one of the few times that Ashley followed instructions to a T, making sure to keep track of whatever was going on so she could stay well out of the way.
Until of course, she noticed a body lying on the floor ten metres out, not moving. She took a shaky breath before moving out, trying to keep low and out of sight, crawling over. She nearly had a heart attack as she saw the extent of the injuries, but she had to focus on finding a pulse before everything else. She nearly cried as she felt something, faint but there, injecting a few options to mend the crushed bones and blood volume, hoping it would work in time. Casting healing spell after healing spell, she tried to keep her cool, muttering to herself over and over that her dad would be ok, at least if she could save this one person then it would have been worth her not being there for him.

Whether she believed that or not was a complete other question.

She tried to recognise whoever it was, but she didn't exactly spend a lot of time with everyone at the sanctuary, especially those on the midnight shifts as they usually only went to the hospital during the night shift at the hospital. She sat with him, occasionally trying to get him to take another potion to help with the pain and with the injuries he'd sustained, knowing she wouldn't be able to move him by herself. She waited there, alert for anything heading her way that could potentially help or harm either of them. She was praying for the former.

"Ashley!" She heard Charlie in the distance as the fighting stopped, and she stood, trying to see where he was coming from, but the darkness had fully taken over and even accustomed to it her eyesight wasn't that good.

"Here!" She yelled, waving her arms, not wanting to leave whoever she'd just tried to save. She knew he wasn't out of the woods yet and she didn't want to miss anything that could kill him if found too late.

He appeared a few moments later, out of breath and shaking a bit. "You need to get to the hospital now. Your dad-"

Ashley's blood ran cold, and she felt as though her chest was being crushed. "No." She whispered to herself, not wanting to believe whatever Charlie was trying to say. "I need- I don't know who this is but get him to the hospital." She told him, speaking too quickly before apparating herself to the hospital just as a group of trainers lay her dad on one of the beds in the hospital. "Dad." She gasped, shoving people out of the way so she could get there. As soon as she saw him it was like a switch had flipped in her brain and she was suddenly in Healer mode, emotion out of the window. "I've got this." She said to James, who simply nodded and backed off.

Working tirelessly, she did everything she could to stabilise him and heal whatever she could, doing her best and then some more, refusing to let anything but work in her mind. She treated him with everything, doing things she hadn't done since she was seventeen and he was caught in an avalanche and hadn't had the good sense to apparate out of there.

Charlie stood back, watching her working in a flurry, it almost seemed as though she was a blur with how fast she was going, but seeing her stone-cold and emotionless unsettled him. There was just something about how she'd switched it in merely a few seconds, becoming more like a robot than human with such ease, slipping into in seemingly comfortably that made his skin crawl. But it certainly didn't make him like her any less.

Finishing, Ashley collapsed back into a chair, refusing to feel anything even now. She rested her elbows on the side of the bed, holding her head in her hands. Charlie walked over and sat beside her, leaning into her for comfort.

"He'll be ok, Ash." He spoke softly.

She was shaking, though she wasn't quite sure why. Possibly adrenaline. "What if it's not enough."

"You can't start thinking like that. you're an incredible Healer, he'll pull through this." He realised she was shutting down, refusing to let her emotions take any kind of control, shutting everyone out, including him.

"I-" She took a shaky breath, lifting her head, "I can't stay here and leave him to go to Scotland. I have to go with him, I have to be there for him." She noticed that when she said that, Charlie seemed a bit gloomy, though he tried his best to hide it.

"Ashley, you couldn't have prevented this, you couldn't have done any more to save him. He'll be ok, you've done more than enough."

"You don't know that. I don't know that." She looked at him, eyes completely void of emotion. "I do this so I never have to feel as hopeless as I did when I was twelve, as completely alone and scared and useless. So I can't watch him leave, I can't just abandon him. Not after this."