Title: Damaged
Summary: Everyone is damaged, she explained, but not everyone is broken. Ashley never thought that going back to Baltimore with Kyla would bring her face-to-face with the one person who made her feel like she wasn't broken.
Disclaimer: I don't own SoN. What I do own is a computer and the amazing ability to not do what I am supposed to with my time.
AN: Again, I love the reviews, so please re-enforce my ego. Now, a couple of people have pointed out that my first chapter bears a striking resemblance to a scene in James Cameron's Titanic and I have to admit that it was purely accidental. I actually haven't seen the movie in over a decade and when I was told I watched said scene and said 'well, fuck, that is kind of what I was going for' just with more talking and lighting. So my apologies and, yeah, that was weird.
Another thing, and go ahead and skip this if you're getting anxious because it's not that important, has anyone actually considered the fact that Kyla left her whole life behind her. Friends, family, home, school, everything? I just think it's kind of weird that no one talks about it. Ok, maybe not considering the fact that Ashley and Spencer are generally always central characters but come on!
Kyla tossed the last of her bathroom products into her bag then placed the bag in her suitcase, which sat at the end of her bed in the guest room at the Davies Mansion. She sighed tiredly as she glanced around the room, trying to figure out if she had forgotten anything important. Nothing caught her eye, however, and she was satisfied that anything that may have been missed couldn't have been all that vital in the first place.
The clock told her it would be a couple of hours before she was on a plane back to the East coast but her whole body told her it was way past time for it. She could actually feel herself buzzing with anticipation at being able to watch the sun rise rather than set over the water.
She carelessly flopped down on the bed and reached for the picture frame that sat close at hand on the bedside table. It was the typical off centered, held-at-arms-length photo that seemed to be all the rage with people these days, but to Kyla it was special as they all seemed to be to someone. She and another girl, a bright blue-eyed blonde that the brunette had called best friend since she was seven, were pressed cheek-to-cheek and smiling so widely you could count teeth. Spencer Carlin had been something special from the moment they'd met and during the weeks preceding the picture they had been in a fight that had been the greatest test in their friendship, but they had come out stronger on the other side of it.
Kyla was sure that she would never have survived for as long as she had without Spencer and leaving the girl on the other side of the country had been harder than leaving her own mother. But she would see her again soon and that thought alone was able to dissipate the negative energy that was gathering behind her eyes.
She set the picture back on the table just as a knock sounded at the door and Aiden poked his head in, "Hey, are you almost done in here?"
"Yep," she chirped, sitting up and closing the top of her suitcase, body back to vibrating excitedly.
"Wow," he grinned stepping all the way into the room, "you are really keyed up to get going, aren't you?"
"Oh my God, yes! You guys can meet my mom and Spencer and we're on the Harbor and we're only, like, an hour from DC. I can take you guys to my old school and-!"
Aiden held up his hands and laughed wholeheartedly, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there, Mario Andretti."
She flushed hotly in response, but continued to bounce on the balls of her feet, "I'm sorry, there's just so much I want you to see and so many people I want you to meet."
"And we will," he steadied her by placing his hands on her shoulders, "but we have to get there first, so let's start by getting your stuff in the car."
She curled her fingers around his wrists and they smiled at one another until a door slammed somewhere in the house and they jumped apart, Kyla fiddling with the charm on her necklace as Aiden zipped up her suitcase. He picked it up easily and shot her a shy smile as he made his way to the door.
He was already in the hall when she called: "Hey, Aiden!" and then winced at how much her voice carried.
A second later his head reappeared, "Yeah?"
She twisted the chain around her fingers, "Can I ask you a question?"
His face lit up momentarily, but he smoothed out his features and left her baggage in the hall to enter her room once more, "Sure."
"It's about Ashley," she warned and watched as his face fell a little. She honestly felt bad because the boy wore his heart on his sleeve like no one she'd ever met before and she did genuinely like him, but there were just too many other factors to consider. When he nodded for her to continue she crossed her arms over her stomach and asked in a rush, "Does she hate me?"
"What? No!" he glanced back out the door to see if his shout had attracted anyone and when he was satisfied that no one would come running he crossed the room to stand in front of the girl, "What would make you think that?"
"I don't know," she shrugged, tilting her head to avoid his eyes, "it just I've had people hate me before and it feels a lot like that."
"First of all, I totally don't believe that anyone could hate you," he tipped her chin up, "And you have to believe me when I say that Ashley definitely does not." However, her sad smile told him that she did not believe him and he sighed, "The thing you have to realize with Ash, is that she doesn't trust easily. She used to, but about a year ago something happened that put her in this really dark place."
Kyla frowned and pulled away slightly. "What happened?" she asked glancing once more at the picture on the bedside table.
"It's not really my place to say." He scratched the back of his head, "but the important thing is that she barely survived it. I mean, she did, obviously, but she was so different afterwards. A bit more reserved, a lot more jaded, she was, I don't know-"
"Damaged," Kyla offered, her mind far away in memory.
He frowned then as well, surprised by her word choice, "Yeah that sounds about right." He waved his hands a bit, trying to get back on his course of thought, "So, after that she's got this really small circle of people that she can trust and in that circle is her dad and while he's not winning any parent of the year awards, as far as Ash is concerned, he'd never lied to her. And then you come along."
"Representing every lie he never told her," she muttered, pressing the heels of her hands into her temples.
Aiden wanted to comfort her, but realized he didn't really know what to say to make everything seem alright. He settled on, "It's not that she hates you, exactly. You just made her world that much smaller, so, maybe she resents you a little bit. But she's not a bad person," he rushed to add, "and I promise that she's worth it. You just have to give her time to adjust, okay?"
"Okay," she agreed and Aiden was relieved by the smile on her face.
"Okay," he repeated and catching sight of the clock on the table he jutted his thumb over his shoulder, "Are we good to go then?"
She nodded resolutely, "We're good to go."
Down the hall and around the corner they found Ashley waiting for them at the top of the staircase. She looked up from her notepad with a suspiciously raised eyebrow, "Took you long enough."
"Cool it, Rock Star," her best friend shouldered the bag he was carrying, "let's get going before Bosco decides to make us walk to LAX."
They piled into the car and each thanked Ashley's mother's driver for taking them to the airport at such a late hour. In the back seat, Kyla read over her plane ticket once more. It had taken surprisingly little coercion to get their parents to agree to let them leave Thursday night and skip school on Friday, but Kyla suspected that her mom really wanted to see her and all Aiden had to do was pout and his parents folded like a house of cards. Ashley, on the other hand, didn't even bother asking, seeing as none of her parents or step-parents were even in California at the time and wouldn't be back for another week or so.
The plane was taking off at close to eleven and by the time the sun was rising over the Atlantic Ocean she would be home. Content with that knowledge, Kyla settled in listening to Ashley and Aiden bicker over the radio.
When they touched down on the other side of the country both California natives were bleary eyed and craving caffeine IVs. Their younger traveling companion, however, seemed so high on life that they thought the structural integrity of the plane might be compromised from her fidgeting.
She led them off the plane and through the Baltimore Washington International Airport to baggage claim like an expert and it wasn't until they were nearing the pick-up area that Ashley began to wonder who Kyla's mom had sent to pick them up. Would she go with the Christine route and send a driver? Or the Raife way and just hail a taxi when they got there? Hell, she half expected one of Kyla's doting friends, perhaps the Spencer guy she had heard so much about, to be waiting for them outside.
What she did not expect, and was actually what ended up being true, was the dark haired woman in jeans and a white tunic shirt.
"Mom!" Kyla shouted, dropping her bag and darting forward to wrap the woman in a tight hug that was equally returned.
Ashley was taken aback but their enthusiastic greeting and turned to Aiden, who was watching with a sickeningly fond smile, "Her mom came to pick us up?"
He shrugged even as he stepped up to gather the excited girl's discarded luggage in his free hand, "Guess so."
Before them Kyla and her mother were talking rapidly with matching bright smiles and Ashley was struck by how alike they looked. "Have your parents ever picked you up from the airport?" she asked Aiden from the corner of her mouth.
"Not since I was in grade school," he confessed as they finally reached the reunited pair.
"Mom," the corner of Kyla's lip turned up in what they were beginning to recognize as a nervous smile, "I'd like you to meet Ashley."
Eileen Woods resisted the urge to rock in her thin heeled boots nervously. She was an open person by nature but there were a lot of warning signs telling her that she should definitely not hug this girl. Instead she offered the tiny brunette a warm smile and a hand, "It's nice to finally meet you, Ashley."
The girl in question, however, didn't quite know what to say. This woman, this woman standing before her, had slept with her father. She had slept with her father while her parents were still married. She had slept with her father while her mother was pregnant with Ashley herself (she wasn't stupid, she knew what it meant to have birthdays seven months apart) and she was standing there saying that it was nice to finally meet her?!
She felt that infamous Davies temper beginning to flare but just as she opened her mouth to give that- that homewrecker a piece of her mind Aiden dropped a suit case on her foot. "OW!" she shouted, pain jumping from her toes up her back as she bit her tongue to stop a curse. She glared at the boy, but rather than take the bait he slid smoothly in front of his best friend and took Eileen's pre-offered hand, "Hi, Ms. Woods, I'm Aiden Dennison, Kyla's friend from LA. You're going to have to be patient with Ashley for right now because she's not that articulate or friendly before her morning caffeine fix."
The older woman glanced over his shoulder at her ex-lover's eldest daughter and recognized introduction for what it was, "Of course, I can completely understand. Mornings aren't meant for everyone."
Ashley continued to glare at the back of his skull but knew that anything said at this point would seem childish and petty, which were two things she did not want this woman to be able to hold over her. Fortunately, Kyla saved them from any further awkward silence but tugging on her mother's arm to get them moving. "Speaking of morning people," she glanced around quickly, "you didn't tell Spencer, did you?"
"No," Eileen rolled her eyes but there was a smile on her face. "I said you weren't getting in until this evening, just like you told me too. Seven times."
Behind them Aiden frowned and Ashley fought the urge to smirk at the woman's exasperated tone, as she was too exhausted to continue to be obstinate.
"Awesome," Kyla clapped as they all approached a black Range Rover, "Do you think you could drop me off at Pikes?"
"What I think," she reached over and drew her daughter into a one-armed hug, "is that we should take your guests through a Starbucks and then drop your stuff at the house. Maybe after that, if you don't all choose to grab a couple more hours of sleep, you can surprise Spencer."
Kyla looked back at Aiden, who was struggling against a yawn, and her sister, who looked deep in thought or half-asleep as she walked, "Yeah, maybe you're right. It can wait a little while longer."