Seeking Clarity
Title: Seeking Clarity
Fandom: Sanctuary
Characters/Pairings: Ashley, Will, (implied Will/Ashley if you squint really really hard)
Rating: G
Summary: Ashley gives thought to what happened in the warehouse. (Instinct).
Warnings: Spoilers for Instinct.
A/N: Finally, after some deliberation, my first Sanctuary fic. Yet another fandom to add to the list.
~
Ashley had resigned herself to yet again polishing her gun collection so as to stay out of everyone’s way. Her mother had patiently endured her irritable behaviour for all of two days before asking her to talk about it or snap out of it. Not that Ashley blamed her, Helen had far more important things to worry about than a moping daughter who didn‘t want to talk. Henry had grated on her nerves, firstly happy that his first day out in the field hadn’t ended with him going postal on them and that he’d hung around with a minor celebrity. She managed to somewhat avoid his cheery demeanour. Will she’d just plain avoided. He had a canny knack of ready her too easily and un-nerving her with little more than a fly away remark which usually hit too close to home.
Sitting at the table with guns all lain out in pieces as she meticulously went through each one bit by bit helped her think things over quietly. Ashley wasn’t the type of girl who opened up easily, so she hadn’t been able to take up her mothers advice straight away. They would talk, eventually, but there was a list of things they needed to talk to and the death of one guy who just happened to ask her out on the off chance of her saying yes, didn’t really take top priority. She was pretty sure the fact that her father, who was also Jack the Ripper and who’d just so happened to try and kill her and rattled her chain one too many times, took top, middle and bottom in a list of things she needed to vent about to Helen.
Still, as she fingered the cloth in her hands and gave a small sigh she couldn’t help but think what it would have been like to go out on a date. She’d like to think ‘normal’, though normal was beyond her capabilities sometimes. Zach had been kinda cute in a geeky, normal, slightly self conscious sort of way. His fumbling and bumbling had sort of endeared him to her. When he’d asked her out she’s at first balked at the idea, but that was because simple offers such as ‘Maybe you’d like to go out sometime’ rarely came her way. Not that she hadn’t dated. But usually with guys who knew a bit too much about her background and didn’t have a problem with her having a gun in her purse.
Zach was much more different than the type of guys she was used to. He knew nothing about her, no expectations, no knowledge of the baggage she carried with her. Simply a nice guy who happened to take a shine to her and screwed up the courage to ask her out on a date even when she had a gun in her hand and they were being chased by giant murdering insects. Ashley wanted to think the offer of steak was the clincher but really it was the fact that he’d asked her amidst everything that was going on.
She’d not missed the smirk from Will when Zach had asked either, which irritated her a little. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. Will didn’t seem the type to be jealous, but they still had a long way to go to really knowing each other and so far love life hadn’t been a hot topic between any of them. She knew little of his past relationships and so couldn’t really place any snide remarks at him about how many dates he’d been on since joining them. His reaction could be read in multiple ways. Jealousy, not likely. Thinking Zach was out of his league, quite possibly, though Ashley felt a little narked at that idea also. Just because her mother had instilled into her some ideals of looking after herself didn’t mean she didn’t go out with nice guys now and then. Maybe he simply didn’t trust Zach, though Zach hadn’t seemed as savvy or eager for a story as Amy Saunders. Wasn’t she a peach!
Sighing Ashley looked down at the table and gave a frown, all the guns pieced back together and gleaming, lying in a straight formation in front of her. She wasn’t sure why Zach was taking up so much of her thoughts lately, it was just something she couldn’t shake. She’d gotten rather excited at the prospect of being taken out on a date by someone who barely knew her. Opportunities like that didn’t happen that often. Her way of life didn’t drop those kinds of happenings into her lap and she knew it would be a long time coming before it occurred again.
“Hey,” a voice interrupted her thoughts and she scowled before looking over to the door where Will lingered. “You okay?”
“I was,” she all but snapped back, standing and gathering her guns together to put back in their respective places in a cabinet of her room. “Something you wanted?”
She tried not to sound irritated at him but she couldn’t help herself. She wasn’t exactly good at self control.
“Just wanted to see how you were, you don’t seem yourself since-,” Will started, sounding himself, as if he didn’t notice her obvious caustic behaviour towards him.
That irritated her even more, that fact he could read her, knew exactly how much she was pissed off at him, (even if she wasn’t sure as to why), and he ignored it and tried to be the bigger person. Ashley could spit, wondering if she’d ever learn to be the bigger person. Will had done nothing wrong (save for snigger, shake his head and generally act like an ass because someone had asked her out) and she was treating him with something close to contempt.
“I’m fine.” She replied cutting him off before he could continue. Spinning back round to face him she gave a small smirk. “Mom send you down here to check on me?”
“I’m sure you’re mothers perfectly capable of checking up on you herself Ash.” Will replied, straightening up and looking a little put out at her behaviour. “I just wanted to make sure myself.”
“Well like I said, I’m fine,” Ashley told him, her voice not quite so cutting as before. She folded her arms at the awkwardness as Will stared at her, reading, always reading her. Reading everybody. She wondered if it made it easier or harder to deal with people in general. Maybe when she really did get back to her ‘normal’ self she’d ask him for some pointers.
“Good,” Will said after a moments silence which edged close to dangerously uncomfortable. He gave her a smile and changed the subject. “Henry said he’s treating everyone to a culinary delight tonight, so who knows what we’ll be eating. Said it’d be ready in about an hour.”
With that Will turned, hands slung into his pockets and wandered off from her door, leaving her alone once more.
Knitting her brows together Ashley considered going after him, apologising for her snide behaviour. Instead she unfolded her arms, made sure to lock the cabinet door (some of the abnormals had the habit of wandering into rooms and taking things that didn’t belong to them if the opportunity presented itself) and lay on the bed. She knew it was a bad idea to mull on her thoughts, but told herself that the longer she thought about the chance meeting with Zach Spencer and the unexpected invitation of a dinner date kept her mind off her father and all the baggage that came with him.
It also kept her mind off Will and why things kept coming back to him and how he affected things in her life now. She really, really didn’t want to go down that road any time soon.
Instead she picked up a book from her beside cabinet to pass away the hour. She hoped Henry was cooking steak.