i.
The small, white marble head stone sits in a quiet corner of the Sanctuary.
Kate visits here often.
When she first arrives (that is after the betrayal and a gunshot wound and the threat of Cabal victory) it is to hallways filled with wisps of a young woman's laughter; flickers of golden hair around corners and the memory of a child who shall not return.
She ignores the blatant loathing the simmers behind Helen Magnus' gaze. Ignores Will's stumbles over A's and K's and Biggies avoidance of her down corridors. Henry doesn't hate her. Even worse he accepts her, but it is with a heavy heart and the promise of tears behind each word and glance.
He misses Ashley more than she can comprehend, and it angers her that this majestic Sanctuary must keep grinding away whilst it's inhabitants grieve.
She finds the small headstone by mistake one afternoon and feels like she's stepped onto forbidden territory. She was never a part of Ashley Magnus' life. Surely she doesn't deserve to be part of her memory.
She is curious, however, and somewhat drawn to the patch of dappled sunlight finds herself once more sat by the headstone beneath the trees.
She doesn't speak the first few times. Instead she twirls slithers of grass between her fingertips and waits for the beep of her pager.
One day, however, after Magnus' smile lingers on her a moment; after she finishes unpacking the van with a joking Will, and Henry has dragged her into the lab to admire his new creation; after all these events that have become the norm but somehow still seem colossal improvements, she finds herself seated by Ashley Magnus' headstone with a flower in hand. She places it gently upon the grass and stands in the midday sun.
"They're getting better," she murmurs, and rest her fingers across the marble.