A/N: I do not own the show American Dragon Jake Long, if I did the animator from season one would have stayed on the show and Rose would have never forgot Jake after Homecoming. Also when I am describing both Jake and Ashley's , Gramps and other characters, dragon forms, I am referring to the Season one animation.
Chapter 3 : Date Night and old wounds. Part 1
Rose practically broke down the door to her room after she got home. Normally after school she would have to go out into the field with her Uncle, but recently her aunt, the Huntress, or aunt Sally as she preferred to be called, had threatened that if her Uncle didn't let Rose have some time to act like a normal teenager she would personally hand him over to the dragons.
Aunt Sally had at one time been a normal person who had no knowledge of the magical world until a terrible tragedy took the life of one of her friends . The friend had been named Annabelle, and was busy raising her twin daughters, until one night she and one of her daughters vanished from their home. The second girl had been found hurt and scared hiding under a bed. The father had been out of town. The house had been trashed and there had been blood everywhere. Heartbroken and angry, Sally joined the hunts clan and eventually married Rose's uncle. That had been over seven years ago.
Rose wondered why her aunt would have even considered being the friend to a dragon. Lost in her thoughts as she headed towards her bathroom to get ready she failed to notice her aunt come into the room.
" Thinking hard or hardly thinking there Rosie dear?" Rose jumped and whipped around at the sound of Sally's voice. Her aunt laughed and Rose blushed in embarrassment.
" Oh, hey Aunt Sally….sorry…I guess I was a little out of it." She said softly. Her aunt smiled.
" Let me guess, the skater boy you like finally asked you out?" she said smugly. Sally knew all to well how smitten her adoptive niece was with the boy. Rose had told her about him after the American dragon while fighting over a beetle injured her. ( She had beaten her husband senseless for even allowing Rose to get a single cut let alone a sprained and cut up ankle.) From what Rose had told her, this skater was a all out gentleman and somewhat a goof. She even recalled Rose going to a dance with a boy named Brad , just to make the skater boy jealous enough to ask her out, only to have a Nix show up and ruin the dance, at least until the boy had asked Rose to dance with him. Rose had come home practically on cloud nine that night.
Rose blushed even harder and nodded.
" Yeah , we're going to go see a movie tonight….it was kind of funny how he asked me out though."
" Oh, how so?" Her aunt said with genuine curiosity. Rose chuckled.
" Well, his cousin had just moved here so he was showing her around and after school she dragged him over to me, and basically asked for him. He look really embarrassed. He was SO CUTE." Rose said , having to force down the urge to squeal from excitement.
" Well, I happy for you dear, but be home before midnight. I don't want your uncle to have to send out a search party. Alright?" Her aunt said.
"Okay, I'll let Jake know. I got to get ready. He'll be here to pick me up soon." Rose said with a smile.
Her aunt nodded and left the room. Rose bolted to her closest and pulled out a pink blouse and a pair of tight black pants. As she changed into her clothes she couldn't help but hope Jake would ask her to be his girlfriend after the date was over.
Jake was in an absolute panic. He had only been on one date in his entire life , of course his mom FORCED him to go out with Councilor Chang's granddaughter Mai Lee. That was THE WORST night of his life. He never really forgave his mom for that and even made her sign a written contract that she would never , EVER, interfere with his dating life again, even if it was for his own good. Extreme , yes, but necessary. Even his grandfather had agreed that Jake should be allowed to choose whom he dated.
Currently, he was double-checking with his Gramps to see if everything would be okay without him for the night. His Grandfather, while impressed by Jake's seriousness and concern, but was become irritated by the fact that his grandson was acting this paranoid.
" Gramps your sure you don't need me to go on patrol tonight?" Jake asked once again. Lao Shi took a deep calming breath.
" Young dragon, your Uncle and cousin are capable to fill in for ONE night. You are not needed for patrol this night."
" But are you sur…"
" AYIA , GO ALREADY!(Random Chinese)" Jake leapt back and shot out the door.
" Okay Later G."
Ashley watched as Jake walked down the street towards the street where Rose lived. She felt a slight frown come to her face. It wasn't that she didn't want her cousin to have a girlfriend, but something just felt wrong. She shook her head and when down the stairs to get her patrol route from her grandfather.
" Hey Grandpa, what ya got for me and Dad tonight?" She asked. Lao Shi sighed and handed her a list.
" Since Jake is on his date you and your father are to patrol the city, and look out for any signs of the Hunts clan. If you see anything suspicious you are BOTH to report back here at once. Be back before midnight. You may go." He said with a tone that said there would be no room for arguments. Ashley nodded and closed her eyes and let her transformation begin.
Black and gold flames enveloped her body and covered her as she began to shift to her true form. As the flames vanish , where a half grown kid had stood now a tall, muscular black and gold dragon now stood. Her eyes were still their bright blue color and a long mane of brown spike like hair reached from the top of her head to the tip of her long tail. Her belly was the color of gold and her hide was as black as the night. Her wings were large and powerful and her wolf like ears flicked in search of sounds. Ram like horns sprouted from the back of her skull. She was a frightening sight to those who had never seen her in this form before.
" Don't worry Grandpa, I'll be careful. Love ya." She said as she began to walk up the stairs to the roof so that she could take off.
Ashley flew as silent as a ghost as she patrolled the city. As she did , her mind began to wander.
" It's as beautiful as I remember." She thought. The lights of the city twinkled like stars. Her eyes filled with tears.
"oh, Sammy…" she whispered softly, her tears rolling down her scaly face. She shook her head after a moment.
" No,…. I won't think about that. It's been seven years, it over. Time to move on." She thought, sadly, knowing deep in her heart that the memory that haunted her would never truly be over.
Jake took a deep breath and knocked on the door and waited. After a few minutes he heard the sound of the door being unlocked. When it opened , Jake could have sworn his heart had stopped. Rose looked beautiful.
" So ready to go?" she asked. Jake shook himself out of his daze and tried to speak.
" Uh… I mean Yeah, totally. You, you l-look great!" he said, his voice cracking slightly. Rose giggled started to walk with him down the street.
" You don't look half bad yourself." She said. " Oh god am I really flirting with him?" she thought as she watched Jakes face turn a color red that outdid his red leather jacket.
" uh…uh…T-thanks. Uh, so what movie do you want to see?" he stammered.
" How about that new Harry Potter movie?" Rose asked, secretly overjoyed that she had this effect on him.
" Kay, we'd better get going. We don't wanna miss it." Jake said. He gently took her hand in his and lead her to the theater.
Rose felt her heart jump into her throat . Jake's hand was soft and warm. She had to once again resist the urge to squeal. So far this was the best night of her life.
It wasn't to long until they got to the theater, and Jake bought their tickets and a bag of popcorn. As they took their seats, Rose couldn't help but hope that she would get the chance to snuggle up next to Jake when the movie started. Her night couldn't get any better.
