This follows on from the story entitled 'Her Boys' and while I contemplated making it longer, the thought of comparing Ashley and Kate made me feel ill and I couldn't do it.

Thank you to CK for her delightful (if not distracted) proofreading :D

Don't own, wish I did. 'Cause then Ashley'd be back :D

Enjoy

xx

She was her one girl in the sea of men who surrounded her. She was bright and bubbly and Helen always found herself glad she'd had the girl in the 20th century, rather than the one in which she was conceived. Everything about Ashley suited this century. From her devil may care attitude through to her ability to handle a gun. An Ashley born in 1888 would have had just as much trouble with the oppressive nature of the era that Helen had. She was made for a time when she could carve out her own name, not fight ruthlessly against those who believed that her gender dictated what she should and shouldn't do. And she would have fought tooth and nail, just as her mother had. They were so alike in so many ways.

Of course, Helen could see John in her too. That need to love, to be loved, to be strong and brave. The need to protect Helen. Ashley had given her life for her mother and every single day, Helen wished she hadn't. Not that she wanted to die, just that she still had her girl, her daughter.

Growing up, Ashley had been exposed to a great many things but it had never dampened her spirit. She was never put off by the sheer magnitude of her mother's task, never frightened of following in her mother's footsteps. She'd even accepted Helen's attempt at an explanation of her unchanging features without so much as a second glance. She was never daunted by the world in which she lived, in fact, she'd revelled in it.

From time to time Helen had wondered if she had been selfish in the way she'd raised Ashley. The girl had never really been given a chance to see the 'normal' world, she'd always been cocooned in dark and dangerous world Helen had immersed them both in. Of course she'd never complained but Helen knew that, considering she'd never truly been presented with an alternate lifestyle, Ashley had no idea what she was missing. Not that Helen knew much of a normal childhood either, her father's work sinking into her young mind before she'd been able to comprehend what else existed, much like Ashley's upbringing. Helen though, had been fortunate enough to have her mother's presence for at least some of her childhood and Helen regretted that Ashley had never had that, never had someone 'normal' to remind her that the Sanctuary network, while important, was only part of a bigger, wilder, wider world.

Ashley was so accepting, so willing to play her part in the dangerous game that was their lives and while Helen cherished that independent streak in her daughter, she knew it was dangerous, she knew it could one day be her downfall. That had been one of the things Helen had never, ever wanted to be right about.

Sometimes she wished Ashley had had more time with her 'boys.' She and James had been close but she'd never even met Nigel and her introduction to Nikola had been short lived and violent. And, despite her reservations, Helen knew Ashley had deserved to spend time with John too. As twisted and dangerous as he was, she had a right to know that her father was still out there. Helen had sometimes told Ashley 'fairytales' of five young friends and their ridiculous adventures which had amused the young girl to no end. She was fascinated by the tales and had even pretended to be one of them. Of course, Helen had given them false names so instead of Ashley playing with Nigel, Nikola, John and James, it was Peter, Jonathon, Chris and Vincent (she enjoyed the fact that her daughter cast herself in the role of her mother) but some days, as she watched her eager daughter playing with her imaginary friends, she longed to introduce her to the real five friends who had started out together so long ago, just as eager and bright as this seven year old girl. Eventually the games faded away but the desire to share her growing daughter with the four men who mattered most to her never did. They were her family and it didn't seem right that they never met the vivacious blonde in the way they deserved.

Ashley was as strong, as determined and as unafraid as her mother.

She was her girl through and through.