A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps

Ashton's mother laughs and I watch, kind of concerned to be honest. This isn't a NICE laugh. She sounds almost hysterical. I'm starting to think that I screwed up, like really bad. I clutch Ashton's hand, probably hurting him I'm holding on so tight. I force myself to loosen my grip so I'm holding it gently and take a deep breath.

"Amelia, are you okay?" I ask, carefully moderating my tone. I don't quite know what to do, but Ashton looks equally confused and concerned. Fin has a poker face going but he is tense so I don't think he's entirely comfortable with this either. Even Bast has dug his claws into my leg, although it's most likely that he's responding to me tensing up and moving around. Finally, Amelia's laughter slows. She is smiling, but it's an awful smile, like the universe has played some huge joke on her and despite her suffering, she can't help but laugh. She sighs and I suspect she might be choking back tears.

"No, not really. But sometimes your only choice is to laugh or cry, and I choose to laugh." She chokes out another bark of laughter that hurts my heart to hear.

"I did not mean to upset you. I would have brought this up differently but I honestly could not think of any way to bring up the topic that would be... Not painful." I admit. I feel terribly guilty. Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to deliver the message for Ambrose. He even said that he was staying away for her own good. Have I just completely ruined all his efforts by agreeing to his plan? But then again, sometimes things that hurt right away help us later. Like vaccinations, and exercise, ugh, exercise.

"You didn't do anything wrong." She assures me.

"It's just... Well, no one really knows exactly what causes a soul to stick around as a ghost. Ambrose always argued that he thought ghosts are just people who are too stubborn to move on. He insisted that they were wasting time and were doing more harm than good. I said that ghosts are probably just people who love their families too much to leave them behind. I guess I won that debate." She sniffs and I can see that she's crying. After a moment she is full on sobbing. Ashton seems to be frozen in place. I doubt he knows what to say to make this right either. I want to comfort Amelia but I have no idea how. If this were Lucy, I would pull her into a bear hug and promise everything will get better. If it were Marcus I would hug him and make some awful jokes, probably insulting him until he fought back and cheered up. I can hug Ashton too, but I doubt his mother would appreciate that. An idea strikes me. She touched my hair to fix it for me, that means it should be okay for me to touch her hair, right?

I carefully dislodge Bast from my lap and place him on the floor. He looks kind of disgusted with me but just curls up under the table instead. I slowly get to my feet and approach Amelia.

"May I fix your hair for you?" I ask quietly. Amelia sniffs again, but gives me a weak smile and nods. I'm relieved, she seems to understand what I'm trying to do.

"I would like that." She answers. I gently pull the hairpin from her hair and let the hair tumble down her back. I don't have a comb or anything, so, like Ashton did for me, I use my fingers to carefully comb through her hair, removing tangles. It doesn't take long for her hair to be tangle free, but I keep brushing my fingers through them. Hopefully she finds the sensation as soothing as I do. Once she has stopped sobbing and I'm fairly sure she is ready, I continue speaking. "I do not think you are completely correct, nor do I think Ambrose changed his mind about ghosts. He told me himself that he would not come to see you or Ashton as he did not want to make his passing any harder for you or for himself. However he could not resist asking me a favour. He said that he got you a gift for your birthday. He wanted me to tell you where to find it. He said you should find it in an engraved wooden box that he hid in his office desk." I tell her, praying that I'm not just making things worse for her.

"He... he left me something? Just me?" She asks softly. I can't see her face from where I'm standing, but she turns her head towards Ashton. I think she might be worrying about him, that his father didn't leave him a final gift or anything. "He gave me a different request for Ashton." I assure her. She turns to face me and to my surprise, she grabs my hands, holding them tightly.

"What did he say about our son?" She is practically pleading. Well, I guess I'm revealing his first request after all.

"He asked me to look out for him. To stay by him... And also to try to forgive him when he does something I do not like which he apparently anticipates will not take long." I joke. Amelia smiles a little at that. "Did you agree?" She asks. I shrug.

"I said that I care about him and I do not want anything bad to happen to him. I said I would never abandon him without a very good reason. I did not promise him anything, mostly because Ashton told me I should not go around making promises." I conclude. This answer seems to satisfy Amelia who clears her throat and nods. With a final squeeze of my hands, she releases me and gets to her feet.

"If you will excuse me, I apparently have a gift to go open. I'll see you all later." She rushes off without so much as a backwards glance.

I'm heading back to my seat, but Ashton jumps to his feet and intercepts me, pulling me into a tight hug.

"You are.... Very good with my mum. I'm fairly sure that she adores you. I was surprised she let you touch her hair, then she held your hands... it's like you became best friends behind my back." He seems a little confused and I snort out a laugh.

"I do not know about that. But she did my hair first, I just thought that it was something that might comfort her." I explain.

"Ah. So, my dad asked you to take care of me, did he?" Ashton's voice is low and there is something in it that I can't quite identify. He presses a kiss to my hair, then lowers his head and presses a kiss to my neck. I shiver, then freeze up. Where is Fin? This is super weird and a little too intimate an embrace for me to be comfortable with right in front of him. I glance around and Ashton chuckles.

"Relax, Fin left." He says with a smirk before leaning back in to press another kiss to my neck. I flush red. Somehow Fin reading the situation and deciding to excuse himself is just as embarrassing. Ashton pulls me closer and I feel his hands slip into the sides of my dress, exploring my back. I groan as he massages my back and I swear my knees buckle a little. I think I might have emotional whiplash. Weren't we dealing with tears a minute ago? What exactly got Ashton so riled up? Was it me taking care of his mum? Or maybe hearing that I said I wouldn't abandon him. Ashton draws my attention back to him by pressing a light kiss against my lips.noveldrama

"You are thinking entirely too much. You should be paying attention to me." He demands and I laugh. My laughter turns to a squeal when his hands slip to my waist and in one smooth movement he lifts me onto the table, evening out our heights. Well now this is not quite how I imagined this morning going but I can't say I'm complaining.