Disclaimer: all rights to ABC and Odette Beane. Only a few characters are mine.
<four years later>
Ashton is walking to a nearby coffee shop to meet Neal like they do every Wednesday. No, they are not in a relationship, but Ashton needed a friend and Neal is really nice and it seemed like they both had come from a similar past, so they are best friends, and only friends.
They both keep their pasts secrets, thinking the other will never understand.
"Hi Neal," Ashton greets, hugging her best friend.
"Hey!" Neal replies. They both order coffee and sit down, talking.
"Have you found a job yet?" Neal asks Ashton.
"No, I'm still looking. None of the jobs available are really my," Ashton pauses searching for the right word, "expertise."
"What would you say your expertise is?"
"You'll think this is totally weird, but boating."
"Boating?" Neal asks.
"Yeah, you know, I don't mean to brag but I'm a hell of a captain."
Neal laughs. "I didn't know you could steer a boat. I've done some boating in my time."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Neal says, "I had a good friend who was a captain of a pretty big boat."
"Cool, I'm not the only weird one in New York," Ashton says. They both laugh at her joke. After a brief conversation about boating, they go their separate ways, still not knowing about the others past. Still not knowing what is right in front of them.
• • •
Ashton's P.O.V.
I have waited for this day for a long time! Finally 21! I can finally do all the stuff everyone brags about! Er, that sounds wrong. Let me rephrase that. I can finally do all the stuff people brag about that's not illegal. And not gross. That's what I thought first thing when I woke up in my small apartment. The next thing I thought was oh crap. I'm in this apartment alone with nothing and no one to celebrate with. You heard that right. Neal had moved away when I was 18. I knew the reason: he had never had a job here so the only way to get money? Yeah, he is a thief. Still, I miss him. I literally have no one. So much for finally being 21. I grabb a cupcake I bought yesterday at a small grocery store and stick a candle in it. I light the candle and close my eyes.
"Please don't let me be alone on my birthday," I wish.
• • •
Ashton's P.O.V.
As the smoke from my birthday candle blows out, I hear a knock on the door. Hoping it is Neal by some chance, I quickly get up and walk to the door. Because it is a private apartment building and I thought it could not be a stalker or some creepy dude, I open the door.
"Can I help you?" I ask, looking at a guy with dark brown hair and blue eyes.
"My name is August. You need to come with me."
"I don't think so," I say, closing the door, but he puts his foot in the way.
"Go away!" I yell, kicking him. I shut the door and dead bolt it. I wait thirty minutes and leave the apartment, walking to the coffee shop across the street. As I am walking by an alleyway, I notice movement and glance that way. It is the stalker from my apartment. I quicken my pace and run, past the coffee shop, and keep going, as fast as I can. He is following me. I take a sharp left turn down a street, but there is only a dead end. I turn around and face him.
"What do you want?" I yell, taking my phone out of my pocket and getting ready to dial a number. "Wait," he says, "don't call the police. Give me a chance to explain. You'll believe me." I keep the phone in my hand, but reply,
"If you think I'm putting this phone away, you're nuts, but I'm giving you a chance. Go."
"I know who you are." He says.
"Stalker?"
"I mean, I know who you are from there."
"Where?" I ask, extremely curious about what he knows.
"You know where. The Enchanted Forest." My eyes wide and I put my phone back in my pocket. "Then who am I?" I ask, wondering if he is telling the truth.
"I don't lie," he says, "you're Ashton Jones, daughter of Killian Jones."
"Who are you?" I ask.
"My name's August. I need your help."