by Amy DeMeritt
Morgan scoffs as she leans over and smacks Ashton on the hip. “You are not old.” Ashton rolls her eyes, and Morgan doubles down. “I’m serious. I’m half your age, but if I was gay, I’d be all over you.”
Ashton laughs hard again as she grabs the towel off of the bench and tosses it at Morgan. “Get the hell out of here, Morgan. I’ll be out there in a few minutes.”
“Do you want coffee when you get done?”
“Sure, sounds good. Thanks.”
“Anytime, boss.” She hops up from the bench, and before she turns the corner, she says, “You’re not old,” then disappears.
Ashton laughs again. She quickly finishes getting dressed, rolls on her deodorant and spritzes herself with her favorite cologne, then fixes her hair with a bit of cream to style her short gray locks into a forward point. She slips her cellphone and wallet into her front pockets, then locks up her locker with her personal care items.
When she comes out to the lobby, Morgan walks out from behind the reception counter to offer her a mug of coffee.
“Your friend didn’t want any.”
“Thanks.” Ashton accepts the mug and nods down towards Ember. Morgan just smiles and cradles her closer to her breast and scratches her head. “Give me my kitten, you petnapper.”
“But she loves me.”
“I know, but I missed my baby. Can I have her back, please?”
“Awe, you’re such a big soft cuddly teddy bear, boss.” Morgan coos with baby kissy faces as she leans forward and puts Ember on Ashton’s shoulder. “I’ll see you again soon.”
“Thanks for watching her.”
“Anytime.”
As Ashton approaches the waiting area in the front of the lobby, Skylar immediately stands. With a smile, she wraps her arms around the back of Ashton’s neck, giving her a hug around Ember. She inhales deeply and releases a humming sound against Ashton’s neck.
“You smell amazing.” She laughs at herself a little and pulls away with blushing cheeks. “Sorry, that probably sounded weird.”
“I would only be worried if you told me I stink after having just gotten out of the shower. How are you doing?”
“Good point. I called your friend Gloria about getting some help looking for an apartment and she asked me to meet her here.”
Ashton rolls her eyes with a nod and a small scoffing laugh as she turns and motions for her to follow. “She would do a thing like that. Come on, you can wait in my office.”
They walk down the hall, side by side, and after unlocking her office, she pushes the door open for Skylar to walk in ahead of her. As she’s joining Skylar on the couch, Ashton slightly winces from the contact with the bad bruise on her right shoulder.
“How is your day going?”
“Hot.” Ashton blows on her steaming coffee and takes a small sip of the scolding brew. “And exhausting. The day started with a two-alarm house fire. Just as we thought we were getting control of it, the wind suddenly picked up, reinvigorating the blaze. It jumped the fence and caught the neighbor’s house on fire, turning the situation into a four-alarm fire.”
“Sounds scary. What exactly does two-alarm and four-alarm mean?”
“It can mean something slightly different between regions, but broadly speaking, it basically means how many trucks, firefighters, and special equipment are needed. A one-alarm or standard alarm, only calls for two trucks, and every truck needs to have a minimum of four firefighters. Your apartment fire was actually called as a one-alarm. I upgraded it to a four as soon as I got on site. With each alarm, the numbers of people and equipment basically double. When you get to a three and four, there are additional protocols that have to be followed, particularly with organizing medical assistance and the media.”
Ember meows as Skylar reaches over to pet her. She brushes her head against Skylar’s hand and licks her thumb. Skylar smiles and shuffles over closer so she’s not straining her shoulder.
“Your job sounds very demanding, not just physically.”
Ashton nods as she lifts her coffee to take another sip, but just before she reaches her mouth, Gloria walks in with a shrill and loud hello. Ember spooks and jumps, knocking Ashton’s wrist just enough to tip the mug, pouring the scolding hot coffee all over her neck and chest. She releases a hissing curse as she leaps up with Ember in one hand and the empty mug in the other.
“Fuck!”
She sets the mug on her desk and jerks at the hot fabric clinging to her chest. Gloria gasps and rushes over, cooing, “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry. Let me…”
“No, stop. Just, back off.” Ashton takes a deep breath and wipes her hand on her pants and sets Ember on the desk to check her out. “Did it get on you?”
“Ash, you need to get out of that shirt. It’s steaming.”
“Yeah and Ember is just a baby. If that coffee got on her…”
“Ash, she’s dry. Let Skylar hold her.”
Ashton gives Ember a couple of kisses, and Ember meows and nuzzles against her cheek. She’s okay. She really is. Ashton smiles and gives her another kiss on her small head.
“Ash, you need to get out of this shirt.”
Ashton ignores her, so Gloria sets her purse and laptop bag down and starts unbuttoning Ashton’s shirt. She gives her one arm at a time to get the shirt off completely, but Ashton keeps her focus on Ember. The scare of nearly dumping the scolding hot coffee on her has sort of transported her back to that warehouse when she had to hold Ember against her chest and jump through a wall of fire to save them both.
“Your neck and chest are red and pink. Does this hurt?” Ashton releases a small hiss as Gloria lightly places two fingers on her neck. “You need burn cream on this. I’ll be back. I’m sorry, baby.” Gloria grabs the sides of Ashton’s face, forcing her to meet her teary eyes. She caresses her cheeks and presses her lips against Ashton’s for several moments. “I’ll get the cream and have Morgan get you a clean shirt.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you forgive me?”
“Yes.”
She smiles and gives Ashton another kiss. “I’ll be back.”
After Gloria walks out, Skylar walks over to stand in front of Ashton and pets Ember as she looks at the red and pink blotches on Ashton’s neck and chest.
“That looks painful.” Skylar’s eyes momentarily lock with Ashton’s before drifting back down to the scold marks. She reaches out as if to touch her neck but bites her bottom lip and shakes her head. “I just want to rub it away, but I know that’s a stupid impulse.”
“It’s actually a basic natural instinct. Our instinct is to fix a problem when we see it, and to fix something, we typically have to touch it. Our intelligence tells us that some things need to be left untouched as much as possible to be fixed.”
“I guess that’s true. It’s like when you get a cut and it scabs over. You’re not supposed to pick at it, but it’s so hard to resist.”
Skylar’s eyes drift back over her neck and chest again. She wants to do something to help, but there’s nothing she can do but stand here and wait for Gloria to get back with the burn cream. Her eyes drift further to Ashton’s lightly defined six-pack abs, and before she can fight the natural instinct, her fingertips lightly glide over Ashton’s stomach, causing the muscles to clench and become more defined. She traces each segment, gliding easily over Ashton’s smooth olive toned skin.
Swallowing hard, Ashton loosely takes Skylar’s hand in hers, pulling her hand away from her abs, and Skylar slowly looks up into Ashton’s questioning light gray eyes.
She blinks hard and shakes her head, and in a panicked way, she quickly apologizes. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I… I wasn’t trying to…”
“Relax. Just breathe. Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m sorry I touched you like that. I don’t know why I did. I just… I like abs.”
Ashton laughs a little and Skylar’s blushing cheeks quirk into a relieved smile. “It’s okay, really, don’t worry about it.”
“See, you should have just left Ember with me, boss.”
Morgan and Gloria walk in and Skylar quickly moves to stand out of the way. Morgan grins as she walks over with a first aid kit in one hand and a tee shirt in her other.
“You have another bra with you, boss?”
“Why?”
“That one is wet, and it needs to come off so I can fully treat the scald.”
“You are loving my pain way too much.”
Morgan laughs a little as she licks her lips and shrugs a shoulder. “Gloria, please close the door and the blinds to give the lieutenant some privacy.” While Gloria turns back to the door, Morgan takes Ember from Ashton and hands her off to Skylar. “Take it off, boss. Or do you want me to just cut it off?”
“No, we’re going to cut it off and play into your weird kink.”
Morgan just grins and Ashton shakes her head as she turns her back to Skylar and pulls her bra off over her head. As the fabric scrapes over her scald marks, it causes her to flinch and hiss momentarily.
Morgan puts on a pair of exam gloves, and as she approaches Ashton’s neck with a wad of gauze and a sterile bottle of water to rinse her skin, the flirty, lusty grin is gone.
“Okay, this might hurt, but I know you already know that. Ready?”
“Yes, just try not to get my pants wet. And before you ask, I’m not taking them off.”
“Okay, boss.”
She squirts the water over the red and pink marks in small amounts to rinse away any coffee while she dabs it up with the gauze. After rinsing a few times, just till the gauze pads are clean, she pulls out a tube of burn cream. As she glides a glob over Ashton’s neck, her eyes pinch and jaw tenses in pain.
“I’m sorry, boss. It’s a little ironic though.” Ashton gives Morgan a perturbed glare, making her smile in a sympathetic way. “You go in and out of nasty fires almost daily without getting burned. But today, a simple cup of coffee was your undoing.”
“Are you seriously mocking me right now?”
“No, just admiring the irony. I know it sucks.” She pulls her gloves off and turns to put the cream away. “You’re all done. Do you have a clean bra in your locker?”
“Yeah, you mind getting it?”
“Nope. I’ll be back.”
Morgan leaves with the first aid kit and Gloria immediately wraps her arms around Ashton and kisses her lips.
“Baby, I’m so sorry.”
“I know, babe. Stop fretting over it. It’s not a big deal. If you had caused Ember to get scalded, that would be a different story.”
Ashton winces and squirms as Gloria’s fingers dig in the back of her shoulder. Gloria quickly pulls away and spins Ashton, causing her to stumble. Skylar catches her hip with her free hand and blushes as she looks down and sees Ashton’s bare breasts pressed against her chest.
“Ashton Maria Hyland, what the hell happened to your shoulder today? Why didn’t you tell me you were injured?”
“I…” Ashton clears her throat as her voice catches from the intensity of the look in Skylar’s eyes and the firm grip of her hand on her side. “It’s just a bruise.”
“How did this happen?”
“A staircase fell on me, Fields, and Perez, but mostly me.”
“Did you go for x-rays?”
“No.”
Skylar’s brow furrows as she stares in Ashton’s light gray eyes, and before Gloria can, she asks, “Why not?”
“I didn’t think it was necessary.”
Gloria scoffs and slaps the side of her good shoulder, firmly saying, “You’re going, right now.”
“But I…”
“Do not argue with me, Ashton Maria Hyland!”
“What’s going on?”
Ashton breaks eye contact with Skylar to look towards the door where Morgan has just walked in.
“I need to take Ashton to the damn hospital. She had a goddamn staircase fall on her and didn’t think it was necessary to go get x-rays.”
“Boss!”
“Yeah, yeah, fine. Give me some damn clothes.”
Skylar’s thumb brushes over Ashton’s skin as she tightens her grip on Ashton’s side, bringing her attention back around to her. “Can I go with you to make sure you’re okay?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.”
“It’s fine. You can come. Ash, turn around and get dressed. Morgan, can you watch Ember, please?”
“Yeah, of course. I’ll let Captain Hunt know you’re going to the hospital. Do you need anything else?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
Ashton quickly pulls on her sports bra and tee shirt, then Gloria rushes them out of the office.
“I’m driving your truck. Give me the keys.”
“Uh, no. I can drive”
“Not if you have internal bleeding or a rib about to punch a goddamn hole in your lung, you can’t! Give me your fucking keys, Ashton Maria Hyland.”
“Jesus, babe, relax.”
“No! I can’t believe you were this stupid.” She rips the keys out of Ashton’s hand and storms across the parking lot to Ashton’s truck with her curvy hips swinging side to side and her heels punching the asphalt with every step. “I swear to God, if something is wrong with you, I’m kicking your ass!”
“I love you too, babe.”
Ashton gets in the front seat with Gloria, and after Gloria starts the truck and turns on the lights and sirens, she tightly grips Ashton’s hand and holds it on her own lap.
“You don’t need the lights and…”
“Don’t tell me what I need right now.” Gloria squeals out of the parking lot and darts in and out of vehicles. “You better never do this again. You know the rules – something falls on you, you get x-rays and a CT scan. What were you thinking?”
“I didn’t get trapped under it. It just…”
“That doesn’t matter and you know it. Don’t give me excuses. You just wanted to brush this under the rug and act like it didn’t happen because you’re afraid something is broken and it will ruin your vacation with Erin next week.”
Ashton runs a hand over her face and exhales hard. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Selfish, so fucking selfish.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re going to be more than sorry if something is wrong with you.”
Ashton releases a small scoffing laugh. She leans over and kisses Gloria’s cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Why do you do this to me? Are you trying to make me go gray like you?”
Ashton laughs hard and playfully bites Gloria’s neck. “Don’t act like you don’t love my gray hair.”
“Stop that. You’re not going to treat me like a fire you can tame and extinguish. You were irresponsible and you’re going to deal with the consequences.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Don’t call me, ma’am. I’m not an old woman.”
“Yes, your majesty.”
“That’s better.”
Skylar releases a small, barely suppressed laugh from the backseat. Ashton turns to look at her with a smile.
“You two are funny together.”
“There is nothing funny about Ashton possibly silently and slowly dying right next to me.”
“Be nice, babe. She’s not talking about my physical condition and you know it. She’s talking about your adorable feistiness.”
“Stop buttering me up.”
“Okay, you rage all you want, babe.”
Chapter Thirteen
Erin runs across the parking lot, punches in the passcode to Ashton’s apartment building, then sprints up the stairs two at a time. She runs down the hallway and throws open the door.
“Ash, where are…?” She runs around the side of the couch and kneels in front of Ashton. “What happened? Gloria just said she had to rush you to the hospital. I was in surgery, so I didn’t see it right away. Then she sent another text an hour later saying she was bringing you home.”
“A staircase fell on me today. It was a brief impact, but I sustained two tiny little cracks in two ribs in my back. If it wasn’t for the bruising, I probably wouldn’t be in any pain at all. But I’ve had way worse.”
“And your lungs? Did you have a CT done?”
“Yeah, I’m all good, babe.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call two bruised and fractured ribs as being ‘all good.’ Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you were hurt?”
Gloria and Skylar walk into the room carrying mugs of hot coffee, and Gloria answers. “She was being a selfish, stubborn ass. She didn’t want to ruin your vacation next week.”
Erin lightly slaps Ashton’s thigh. “Don’t you ever do that again. What if you punctured a lung?”
“Yeah, I know. I already got that lecture from Gloria, many times. And from three doctors at the hospital.”
“Good. What did Captain Hunt say?”
“I’m officially on medical leave for two-weeks, basically just till the ribs heal. But we can still go on vacation.”
Erin exhales hard as she grabs the sides of Ashton’s face. She gives her a brief full mouth kiss and runs her fingers through her soft short hair.
“I’m not concerned with vacation. I just want to make sure you heal properly.”
“I will. We don’t have to cancel just because…”
“We’ll see how it goes, okay? Have you eaten?”
“Not since breakfast.”
“Do you want me to cook or order takeout?”
“Whatever everyone wants. I don’t care. Here, give Ember a kiss. Gloria nearly scalded her with coffee earlier.”
“Oh, poor baby.” Erin gives Ember a kiss then rubs Ashton’s cheek with a loving smile. As she’s trailing her fingers down the side of Ashton’s neck, she sees the red marks and pulls her tee shirt aside. “Let me guess, the coffee hit you instead?”
“Yeah.”
“What am I going to do with you?” Ashton’s face spreads into a wide smile and she raises her eyebrows once in a meaningful way. Erin smiles as she leans in to give her a kiss on the lips and forehead, then messes up her hair as she stands up. “I’ll check the fridge to see what you have to cook.”
“Okay, babe.”
Skylar tentatively offers Ashton a cup of coffee, asking, “Do you think this is a good idea?”