Battle Of Two Worlds

Transformers

Everyone has nightmares, accountants, bakers, hotel employees. Dreams associated with negative feelings, such as anxiety and fear are what wakes you. But what she dreams of, memories mixed with fear. She had worked with an agency for years before it finally broke her body and mind and sent her to the hospital for two months. Her boyfriend had taken leave until she was out of the hospital, then settled her into an apartment in Arizona near her aunt and uncle, as well as a few close friends. The nightmares attacked her after when he went back to work, they vary in intensity, depending on her stress level. A cake not being ready in time for a party was the least painful one, but there is always the feeling of guilt that would keep her up. This is why she was so good at baking; it was her go-to thing to do after a nightmare. This time around, she was unsettled by the quietness of being home alone and biked the 10 minutes to her uncles' house at 1 in the morning.

She had made six dozen varying flavored muffins when the man himself discovered her in the kitchen. He was startled to find her in his kitchen, but not shocked in the slightest. He was used to the randomness of his niece; she was very much like his sister in that perspective. "You need to get a dog or have a kid. You have too much time on your hands now." Ashlyn snorts at the words but doesn't disagree. Since she was still recovering, she did not have a job at the moment, which was fine by her, she had more than enough money to live comfortably for years. They sat in a content silence for the next two hours while she cleaned, and Ron did his morning routine of drinking coffee and reading the paper while indulging in a muffin. "How bad was it?" She's been waiting for this question.

"I've always lived with someone my entire life. My father when I was still in Europe, Mom when she adopted me, then Jason came along." She continued scrubbing at the dishes. "At the agency, it was either Wayne or Lily, then Will during his leave. The quietness of the apartment freaks me out too much sometimes. Make some nightmares look like reality."

Ron sips at his coffee with a look on his face. "You know we have the guest room, why not stay here?"

"Yeah!' Judy chimes in while grabbing her morning cup of coffee. "It would be nice to have another woman in the house to talk with while the boys do their thing." She takes a coffee cake muffin and dips it into the coffee. "We gave you a key for a reason."

"Thanks, Judy." Ashlyn smiles at her words and places her hand atop hers. Not too long after that, Sam emerges from his room and drowsily eats a randomly picked muffin on the couch while the news plays. Ashlyn sat on the other side of the same couch going over what he was going to say for his project. It was the big day, hopefully, his final 'A'. The project was the genealogy report that she had been helping him with for weeks now. For the project, the student had to do a written report and a family diagram. He also had to do an oral presentation based on the written report. She had to do something similar when she was in high school, so the information she had for the Witwicky side Sam was able to use. They had a hell of a time with Judy's family history, who knew that she was the calmest one? Not them. Ashlyn had even helped write his comment cards for him to stick to, because he, like his mother, often went off track when trying to present something. Sam took the bus to school with high hopes for this project today.

Ashlyn returned to her apartment for a few hours to clean herself up and get a suitcase of clothes so that she could stay with them for a few days. She was glad that they made that offer, Will doesn't come back for another two days. Ron picked her up from her place around two pm to go get Sam from school. She had taken the back seat with her stuff and put her feet up. Sam came running out of the school, knocking into more than one person as he did so. "So?" Ron asked as Sam was within hearing distance.

Sam waved his paper in the air. " I got an 'A'!" He cheered.

"Let me see that. You're waving it too much; I can't see it!" Ron grumbled snatching the paper from Sam. He inspects the paper closely like he was looking for fraud.