Emotional Connection

into perspective

Ashley woke up in the comfortable familiarity of Charlie's bed. She hadn't slept in her own bed for nearly three weeks, and as much as she loved being with Charlie, as much as she loved him, she was missing being so close to the hospital all the time. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she reached out, finding Charlie's body in the sea of sheets, and rolled over to face him, watching him slowly wake up as she propped herself up on her elbows, kissing his cheek gently. "Good morning."

Smiling sleepily, he pulled her to his chest, whispering, "good morning baby," in his morning voice.

"We need to get up," Ashley mumbled, making no effort to do so. "It's nearly noon."

Charlie nuzzled into her neck, completely ignoring her.

"I'll make pancakes for breakfast?" She suggested, not really wanting to leave his warm embrace, but knew they had to get up if they wanted to spend any time together before she had to leave for work. Thursdays and Fridays were their worst days together, as they only had the mornings together after long shifts, so they tended to spend them sleeping and lying around in bed.
Today, however, Ashley had decided she was going to spend time with him. She knew he'd been thinking of them moving in together, though she thought maybe he'd be moving in with her - even though her flat was above the hospital there was more room there than in any of the houses, with three bedrooms - though only two had beds in, as Ashley hadn't really needed a third, it was always a possibility for if Charlie had family visit - plus room for a nursery, without having to take over the study.

Then again, she didn't like to jump to conclusions, so of course she'd prepared to talk it out with him when he brought it up.

"Do we have to get up?" Charlie whined, sighing softly as Ashley nodded against his shoulder.

"If we want to spend any time together over the next two days then yeah, unfortunately, we do."

She kissed his cheek again, before rolling back over and sitting up on the edge of the bed. "Besides, there are barely three hours until my shift starts anyway, and I should stop being late to all of my shifts."

He simply hummed, rubbing his eyes.

Dressing quickly, she fussed with the straps of her medical bag, knowing she wasn't awake enough to be dealing with it. "Sometimes I wonder why I don't just buy one that's easier to do up," She muttered, jumping a little when Charlie appeared in front of her in only joggers, quickly fixing the straps around her waist. "Thank you."

He nodded, stretching. "I'm gonna jump in the shower real quick."

Nodding, she turned to the kitchen, remembering last minute to grab her wand from the side table, using simple magic to make up a pile of pancakes for the two of them, quickly making up some coffee for the both of them.
True to his word, Charlie was out of the shower and dressed within ten minutes, his long hair dripping onto his shirt.

"This looks good." He smiled, grabbing a plate and a cup of coffee, and sitting in the living room, smiling softly to Ashley as she joined, sitting close to him. "Did I miss something important?"

Ashley smiled, swallowing her coffee. "No, I just felt like making pancakes, no need to panic."

He nodded, not entirely convinced, but tucking in anyway. "I was thinking... what would you say about moving in together?"

Ashley nearly choked. "Um, sorry, I was not expecting you to bring that up right now."

He looked a little concerned. "We can wait a little longer if you're not ready? There's no pressure, we can just-"

"Charlie. I was expecting the conversation after breakfast, that's all that meant. But yeah, moving in sounds good."

"Great!" Smiling brightly, he put his empty plate on the table in front of him. "Maybe Saturday we can start moving your stuff over? Or we can-"