Accidental Always

Chapter 11

Growing up, happiness was something that had always seemed so far out of reach for Ashley.

But this....what she had now with Tadashi and their friends, but especially with Tadashi ,was right here, and real and very tangible.

It was scary and new and frightening and exhilarating, all at once. It really was like a drug.

Afraid though she had been at first, the part of her that had been so worried about falling in love with the guy who had fast become her best friend, was slowly fading away.

He made it feel easy.

For the first time she had love. Though Ashley had stopped looking for it a long time ago, eventually it had found her.

And she hadn't even noticed when she had begun falling in love with him.

Days had passed into weeks since their confessions and (surprise) each other's first kisses.

They hadn't really asked each other if they were dating, or where their relationship was going next because they had already just fallen into it.

Only problem was, they weren't exactly sure how to tell anyone.

It had been especially hard at the small birthday outing the group had done for Ashley, the day after everything had happened.

Nobody knew outside of Tadashi's aunt Cass, Hiro, Esme, Julia (oh boy had she ever been excited), Sammy, and Julia's mother Mariana.
At least, as far as he and Ashley were aware.

They wanted to tell their friends, but weren't exactly sure how, not wanting to make it a big deal and unsure of how they would react.

School and projects got in the way almost constantly, making them push that particular issue aside quite a bit.

In the months after December, progress on their main, most important projects were begining to make good heading.

Tadashi's robotics project was starting to come together more smoothly. He'd run into a few kinks, but he was staying positive despite the delays.
He'd decided to name his project Baymax, a little play on words, if you will.

Meanwhile work on Ashley's formula for cellular regeneration had progressed quickly and significantly, way faster than she thought it would.

It was so much so that a clinic up in Washington had taken notice, even inviting her to give speeches on her work, during a four-day conference on new advances in the medical field.

Extremely nervous though she was (after all she was only a freshman in college), at the encouragement of her friends, Tadashi and others, she'd accepted.

Coming up two days into her stay in Bellevue, Washington her boyfriend (yes she actually had a boyfriend, she could hardly allow herself to believe it) had surprised her by staying with her for the last two days of the conference.

The story Tadashi had given everyone else, still not sure how to tell them the entire truth and chickening out at the last minute (though Ashley didn't blame him, she had too, several times) was that he'd had to drive out of state to pick up a few things for his robotics project.

Which was true, but was also partially/mostly an excuse to spend time with Ashley.

They were an amazing four days, and the two days with him made it even better.

But, though the school had given her a bit of a furlough on homework due during her time away, there was still alot to be done once returning to school.