"Mommy! Mommy!" A small, skinny, black haired, four year old girl runs up to her mom, wrapping her arms tightly around her leg, looking up at her with a large smile.
"Hey you!"
"Charlie!" Ashley comes running up to both of them, "Oh thank god!" She brings a hand to her chest, panting lightly.
Chelsea raises an amused eyebrow, "If I knew you were going to lose my daughter when I asked you to watch her tonight, I definitely would have just hired a babysitter instead."
"Psh! Please…" Ashley waves her hand, gaining a smirk, "we were just racing to you is all, clearly Charlie is going to be a track superstar when she's older. And besides, she definitely doesn't want some smelly old babysitter to watch her when she can hang out with her awesome aunt, right C?"
Charlie, clad in a red and blue plaid dress with two pigtails in her hair develops a smirk as well and nods once, "Right A."
Chelsea lets out an amused snort as her daughter smirks and nods, "Oh my… you've definitely been hanging out with Aunt Ashley far too much."
Ignoring the last comment, Ashley looks around the gallery, "Where's Clay?"
"He was called in a little bit ago, one of his patients was rushed in, he should be back soon." She glances down at her watch, "Now you little one," she points to her daughter, "should be in bed."
"That's why we came over here, wanted to say good night and all."
Chelsea pulls her daughter into a tight hug and kisses her forehead, "I'll come tuck you in when I get home."
Charlie pulls back and puts her hands on her hips, tilting her head to the side with a stern look on her face, "Promise? And daddy too?"
"Oh I promise." Chelsea says with a smile.
"Good." She turns toward Ashley, "Ready?"
Ashley nods and pulls Chelsea into a tight hug, "You're show was amazing! I'm so proud!"
Hugging her back just as tight, Chelsea smiles, "Thanks for coming and watching her tonight! See you in a bit!"
Charlie and Ashley wave to Chelsea, before she reaches for Ashley's hand and they head out of the gallery, "Aunt Ashley, do I get to wear my pink footsy pajamas tonight?"
Ashley nods, "Yup, if that's what you want to wear."
"And are you going to wear your pink footsy ones too?"
"Duh! I got mine in my bag!"
--
Noticing Rob coming her way, Chelsea immediately puts on her perfected smile and braces herself for him. As much as she loves him for getting her this show, he can be a bit… much. "There you are cutie! Come on! I want you to meet one of my friends; she's a professor at USF and a well known photographer. She absolutely loves your work and is dying to meet you."
"Oh... ok, sure. Lead the way." Plastering her smile on once again already tired of meeting Rob's friends, who are very much into themselves much like Rob.
They start walking, briefly pausing to say a few hellos and good byes to people wanting to congratulate Chelsea. Finally, Chelsea sees a blonde off in a corner just staring up at the large abstract piece of her best friend. They approach her, but she doesn't seem to notice them until Rob clears his throat, "Dr. Carlin, this is the young artist you've been dying to chat with."
Chelsea's body stiffens when she hears the name, and sucks in a breath when the blonde turns around. She looks older now, more mature; with her hair pulled back into a loose pony, loose strands of hair framing her face. Clad in black thick rimmed glasses and a capped sleeve v-neck black dress that hugs her body perfectly. When she smiles, it shows a few wrinkles she has gained with age, but is still nevertheless pretty, if not prettier. Noticing that Chelsea isn't saying anything, but rather just staring, Rob clears his throat again, "Chelsea Lewis," he points to the blonde, "this is Dr. Spencer Carlin, Spencer Carlin, this fabulous artist is Chelsea Lewis."
Spencer just looks at Chelsea, somewhat dumbfounded. Chelsea lets out a small shriek and pulls Spencer into a hug, who immediately returns it, "Oh my gosh! I can't believe it!" They let go of each other, each smiling warmly at one another, "This is so odd!"
Chuckling lightly, Spencer gestures behind her to some of Chelsea's art pieces, "Your work is amazing Chelsea. I never knew you were this talented…" she pauses, biting her bottom lip, "well I did, I just never saw any of your work is all."
Chelsea smiles warmly, "Thank you very much."
"My pleasure." She shifts her purple clutch to her other hand and eyes Chelsea, "So how are you? Look at you all grown up, it's great! You're absolutely stunning!"
She laughs lightly at her, "Thank you. Things are going great right now; I keep pinching myself thinking this is a dream."
Spencer nods, "It's funny," she says thoughtfully, "I wasn't even going to come tonight when Rob invited me, I had already made previous plans. But after dinner I thought why not? And here I am now, only finding out twenty minutes ago that is was your show. Weird huh?"
Nodding, Chelsea takes a sip of her wine, now finally just getting over the shock of seeing Spencer after all this time, "Yes definitely weird. So you're a doctor now?"
Spencer rolls her eyes, "I don't know why Rob insists on using that title. I don't even use it, makes me sound pompous. I refuse to answer when my students address me with it." She sighs and smirks at Chelsea who can't help but smile at this last comment, "But yes, I went back and got my masters and doctorate in…" Feeling her phone vibrate, Spencer stops mid sentence and takes it out, "Excuse me." She quickly reads the text message and lets out a small groan. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but I really have to be going it's an emergency… but we should do coffee or something one day this week and catch up, yeah?"
Chelsea nods, pulling out her Blackberry. "I'm free any time on Sunday."
Spencer's eyes get big, "Perfect! Here let me give you my number and you can call me to set details. I really am sorry to rush off like this!"
They exchange numbers quickly, and Chelsea pulls Spencer into a hug before she hurriedly leaves the gallery only stopping once to hug Rob good bye; immediately on the phone when she gets outside. "How is she?" Hailing a cab she quickly gets in, "What do you mean she fell?!" Covering the mouth of the phone she glances up at the cab driver, "St. Mary's Hospital please."
--
"Sorry I took so long honey." Clay and Chelsea walk hand in hand up to their new home, designed by Chelsea, "my patients med dosage was too high and she fell down, knocking her head on the sink, when she was trying to go to the bathroom."
Chelsea squeezes his hand, "It's ok, and I hope she is alright."
Clay nods, "A few stitches and an overnight stay, but she will be okay."
"You'll never guess who was at my show tonight…" Clay gives her a shrug to show he has no idea, "Spencer Carlin… Miss C. We're going to get coffee on Sunday."
Eying his wife, he pauses in front of the door to take out his keys, "Are you going to tell Ashley?"
"I don't know… what do you think?"
"She'd never forgive you if you didn't…"
Chelsea nods, but instead of responding, her attention is held elsewhere as they enter the foyer. In the living room is Ashley and Charlie, in their matching P.J.'s, dancing and singing as they play High School Musical Karaoke.
"We're all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We're all stars
And we see that
We're all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come
We're all in this together
When we reach
We can fly
Know inside
We can make it
We're all in this together
Once we see
There's a chance
That we have
And we take it"
After joining his wife's side, Clay bursts into laughter as he takes in the sight. Not being able to hold back any longer, Chelsea joins him.
Mid clap, Ashley freezes and turns to find her best friend's cracking up at her. Smiling sheepishly, she hides the microphone behind her back and gives a half wave.
Realizing her parents are home, Charlie's eyes get big as she bounds towards them, "You're home!"
Clay easily scoops her into his arms and they both kiss her on the cheek as Ashley turns the game off. "Right well, I should be going."
"Hey Ash, wait… there's something I need to talk to you about."
Sure she's about to get yelled at for keeping Charlie up past her bedtime, her eyes grow big. "Chelsea she begged and begged. You know I have trouble saying no to her. Look at how cute she is!"
Glancing over at her now yawning daughter, Chelsea smiles, "Bedtime for you miss."
Charlie yawns and snuggles into Clay's shoulder, "Good. I was tired of beating Aunt Ashley anyways."
Laughing, Ashley pokes Charlie's side, "Night you little stinker."
With Clay caring Charlie off to her room, Ashley turns her attention to Chelsea. "So what do you need to talk to me about?"
"I uh…" she sets her purse down on an end table and fidgets with her wedding ring. "I ran into Spencer tonight."
Ashley's eyes immediately light up at the sound of her name, but she quickly hides it by shifting her eyes to the floor. "Spencer's here? As in San Francisco? Cool."
Watching her carefully, Chelsea continues, "Yeah. She wants to get together on Sunday and I agreed… I hope you don't mind."
Ashley is instantly babbling, "Mind? Why would I mind? It's been years right? No this is good. Go. Not like you need my permission. Mind? Not at all…"
"Ashley… breathe."
Taking a deep breath, she nods. "I should go. It's getting late and I still have some things to finish up for the shop tomorrow."
"Ash…"
"No, I really should. I'll talk to you tomorrow!" Hand already on the doorknob, she blows Chelsea a kiss and is out the door before she can be stopped. Realizing she has neither her keys nor purse, she turns back around and walks into the house where Chelsea stands holding both items in the living room.
Eying Chelsea, she sinks down into a chair looking defeated, "Spencer? Really? Crap…"
Patting Ashley's shoulder, Chelsea sighs as she takes in her best friend's now sullen state, "I know Ash, I know."