Ashe’s thumb danced along the screen, skimming through the itinerary listed on Senator Ellington’s website. He had several public appearances listed, a few donor dinners and so on, all coming up in the next week. She was already getting a few ideas for what could be done, and she was sorely tempted to leverage her growing reputation as a calling card.
She was looking over one of the dinner venues when the phone was firmly plucked from her hand. Ashe didn’t pout, but she did sigh. She knew she was supposed to be relaxing, but it was so difficult to rest on her laurels while there was work to be done. Crystal sat down beside her, passing a bowl of ice cream over.
Ashe cracked a smile, digging into the strawberry sundae with an appreciative moan. Crystal chuckled, tackling her own banana split as she queued up an old kids show that still held up even decades later. The stresses of the last few weeks were still there, simmering in the back of her mind, but she could push them far enough back in her mind to at least pretend to relax. Crystal spending the night had helped, much to Jasper’s displeased huff when he went off to stay in her parents room instead.
There just wasn’t enough room in her bed for two people and a giant pup.
They passed the following hours in near silence, content to lay against one another as the episodes played out, though they did end up skipping one of them, as it was kinda shit in an otherwise near perfect show. They had decided to start from the beginning, even if she was more so looking forward to watching the sequel given the heavily implied gay relationship that was made canon in the comics. It would be a long road to get there, but the journey was more important than the destination, especially if it led to more evenings of them just cuddling.
Going further still crossed her mind, but she wasn’t about to push things, especially with how tender her injuries were. Crystal admitting to making plans for a future where they were together, well, it was enough to make Ashe want to just kiss her. She wouldn’t do it, but the thoughts kept cropping up anytime she looked at Crystal.
It didn’t help matters that Crystal was holding her injured hand, gently massaging the areas she knew to be numb. It almost seemed to be an unconscious gesture, and she was afraid to ask and risk spoiling things. The butterflies it sent fluttering through her stomach were certainly distracting, but blaming them solely on such a simple act also felt wrong.
Crystal cared. There was no denying that, sure, she had stepped in when Ashe needed help the most, but that was where most people would have walked away. Just leave the broken girl to her own devices.
Not her.
Crystal became a fixture in her life in a whirlwind, and now they were partners in a way that went deeper than a mere relationship. She helped build her confidence back up, made sure she would never feel weak again. They were accomplices and co-conspirators. They fought together, bled together…
Killed together.
A bond like that ran deeper than most, and Ashe wanted it to last the rest of her life, which might not be all that long, given the mortality rates among those who live by the rules of the streets. She was starting to doubt some of the things that her parents told her about the people that made their lives on the knife’s edge, but enough rang true.
Her morals were swiftly sliding into an abyss.
Ashe was setting herself up to become a crime lord, someone who destroyed lives on a whim. She couldn’t dwell on it, as she knew it would eat at her sanity if she did. Even with the classic show helping distract her, her mind kept drifting back to it. There wasn’t much she could do to change things other than just walk away, and Ashe knew she couldn’t do it. Too many people needed her now, and until the traffickers were completely rooted out, she wouldn’t stop.
They were just starting to gear up for the finale of season one when Crystal’s phone rang. She frowned down at it, then the color drained from her face when she looked at the screen. Crystal put a finger to her lip when Ashe turned an inquisitive look on her. She wondered what had her so spooked, but it really shouldn’t have been a surprise.
“Father,” Crystal said in a clipped tone. “I wasn’t expecting a call tonight.”
Ashe sat up straight, the show muted and forgotten as her full focus was now on the call.
“Daughter,” Theodore Ellington said, his voice oily and entrancing. “As you know I am returning for a brief recess, your presence will be required at a dinner on Wednesday at seven.”
“Business casual or full dress?” Crystal asked, not even attempting to get out of it.
“Full dress, there will be Patriot Church donors coming and going for the duration of my stay, they will expect a proper lady,” he said. “That said, I know you’ve started to see someone. Don’t deny it, you aren’t as subtle as you think. I expect to see him with you tomorrow night for dinner. Business casual will be acceptable for him.”
“That’s not much warning,” Crystal said, shifting nervously as she glanced at Ashe from the corner of her eye. Ashe reached out and held her hand as tightly as she could manage, biting her tongue to avoid kicking off an argument over being misgendered. “She might not be free, or have suitable attire.”
“Tell him to make time,” Ellington snapped. “There are ground rules to be established, and consequences to acting against me. I will ensure he understands them, or an example will be made that makes his previous run-in look like a schoolyard shakedown, saving my son or no.”
A chill ran down Ashe’s spine as he spoke, he knew about her involvement. There was no doubt in her mind that he would follow through, and she didn’t have the influence or the backing to make threats back at the man. Not yet. The only upside she could think of was that he had no way to know about her other activities with the Viuda, or that she was forming a gang to combat his followers.
If he did know, she would already be dead.
“I’ll let her know as soon as I hang up,” Crystal said in resignation. “Will Jason be joining us?”
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“He will not,” the Senator said, voice calm and bored as it had been the entire call. It was as if his daughter or son were little more than window dressing in his mind. “He has other obligations to be dealt with.”
“I understand,” Crystal said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The call ended without fanfare and Crystal proceeded to slump down into her seat. Ashe didn’t hesitate to pull her close, letting her relax into the contact. Intrusive thoughts bubbled up as she comforted her friend, from the more mundane of just wanting to kiss her, to burning the man alive for daring to put Crystal through that.
As satisfying as that would be, given the man’s station such an act would be met with disproportionate force in response. The United States Government was not to be fucked with. That didn’t mean she couldn’t do something, she just had to get creative about it. She had two days to get a protest organized, and make sure people showed up to each and every event. He could bitch and moan about it all he wanted, but she would make damn sure that her protesters were armed within the letter of the law.
“Ashe, no,” Crystal said, her voice soft and pleading. “Whatever crazy idea you have, just let it go. He’s not worth it.”
“I’m not planning anything illegal,” Ashe said, though she left off the ‘yet’. “A few protesters armed as per the law, nothing more.”
“He’d have them killed and labeled as the aggressors,” Crystal said. “He did it during his original run for governor, he won’t hesitate to do it again.”
That was almost before Ashe’s time, he ran for governor before he was even thirty, winning off the back of the death of his own father. The man died during a freak accident, his private jet crashing during a storm. The public latched onto the grieving son determined to continue his father’s work, and elected him despite his dubious connections.
A few groups had tried to protest, and Crystal wasn’t wrong, there were more than a few instances of violence, none of which amounted to anything substantial in the way of punishments. Like the man who killed her birth mother. A scant few of his supporters took the fall and he went on to win a re-election and then the Senate seat. Now, he was gearing up for the Presidential run in twenty-eight.
The scary thing was, he was already emerging as a front-runner. There were two others polling close to him, one was the son of a former President from a decade prior, the other was a Governor from Arkansas. Since Ellington entered the running, neither were expected to compete once he started his campaign in earnest.
More-so, Ashe had a vested interest in seeing him fail in his run.
“Crystal, I know you’re afraid of him and what he can do,” Ashe said softly, “but consider how I feel. He wants everyone like me dead, and would happily pull the trigger himself. I can’t just let him do that, especially when he will be right in front of me.”
“You won’t be allowed to bring a gun,” Crystal said. “Nor will I. He doesn’t trust anyone not loyal to the cause.”
“So, steak-knife in the ballroom?” Ashe teased.
Crystal sat up straighter. “Ashe, no plotting the death of a public figure the first time you meet him. He has too many people that would be too happy to have an excuse to kill you.”
“How do you know this isn’t just him fishing for an excuse?” Ashe asked, growing exasperated. “He might want to use me as an example on why you should fall in line.”
“Ashe,” Crystal said softly. “Someone already tried that with you once. If that was his goal, he would just have you killed by some rando on the street. He has another motive here, I just don’t know what it is yet.”
She snarled, turning away. “I don’t like being a pawn in someone else’s game, Crystal.”
“Then beat him at his own game,” Crystal said with a shit-eating grin. “He knows you’re trans, so you have a few options here.”
Ashe blinked. “That is a really complicated way to ask me if I want to wear a dress or suit.”
“Consider it a dress rehearsal for prom,” Crystal said, pulling her into a gentle hug. “Now, back to mindless cartoons. We can go shopping tomorrow, I know a good place.”
“Ugh, it’s school all over again,” Ashe whined, much to Crystal’s confusion. “I won’t be able to wear a dress even if I wanted to.”
Crystal snorted. “Ashe, the most feminine thing I’ve seen you wear are skinny jeans and a V-neck.”
“I have skirts,” Ashe said, not that she had worn them in years, and there was no way in hell they still fit.
“That you never wear,” Crystal said, booping her on the nose. “We’ll get you a nice tailored suit that shows off everything that will piss the bigots off, don’t worry.”
“May as well make sure I can carry with it too,” Ashe said. “I might not need it this time, or the next, but you never know.”
“A good suit does tend to last, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing you in one,” Crystal said, her eyes traveling. “I think you’ll manage to turn so many heads.”
“Maybe even break a few,” Ashe muttered, getting a snort from her friend.
“Never know,” Crystal said, starting the show back up. “Now, no more worries tonight, let’s just chill out with a good old siege.”
They were a few episodes into the second season when the front door opened and the moment Ashe had been dreading arrived.
“Hi Mom,” Ashe said as Jasper hopped off the couch and hurried to greet her. “I need to get fitted for a suit tomorrow so I can join Crystal at dinner tomorrow.”
Mom paused in her petting of Jasper, much to his whimpering protest. “A suit is rather formal for a casual dinner, what’s the occasion?”
“Nothing much,” Crystal lied. “Just dinner with my sperm donor.”
There was a beat of silence as Mom stood, her eyes hard. “Nothing much my ass, Crystal. What the hell does he want with Ashe?”
“To meet her,” Crystal said. “Though he misgendered the hell out of her, which means this is going to be a rather shitty dinner.”
“That is an understatement,” Mom huffed. “Ashe, you agreed to go?”
Ashe winced, then nodded softly. “Doesn’t seem like a good idea to snub the guy that could turn the entire city against me with a single sentence. I figure hearing him out will only cause psychic damage rather than physical. I’m used to insults, I can handle that.”
“You’re still recovering,” Mom said sternly. “Can’t he wait at least until you’re cleared to return to school?”
“We’re working on his schedule, not ours,” Crystal said. “The Senate is in recess for a week, this is what we’ve got to work with.”
Mom crossed her arms, glaring at both of them. Ashe felt the urge to wilt, but she was able to fight it down, having stared down far more dangerous people in recent months. Her mom was always intimidating, and Ashe doubted that would ever change, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t hold her own these days.
“Alright,” Mom relented, her shoulders slumping. “Since you’re both being stubborn bitches about this, walk me through what you have planned to survive the evening while I set up an appointment with our preferred tailor.”
“Ah, I was going to recommend a place in Uptown,” Crystal said.
Mom’s head tilted to the side. “The one on Genevieve?”
“That’s the one,” Crystal said cautiously.
A chill ran down Ashe’s spine when her mom grinned.
“Oh good, we’ve been using them for years, so it’s perfect.”