Chapter Text
Ashlinn stretches her arms upwards as she lets out a yawn.
"You tired, Sheehan?" Ashlinn looks at her work colleague before rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, that's what happens when you stay up finishing a report and not flirting by the coffee machines." She snarks and her colleague laughs at her.
"Who's to say I haven't already finished my report?" His sarcastic sing-song voice drove Ashlinn's head in.
"Because if you were done, you'd be sleeping at home and not here, bothering me." Ashlinn picks up her newly finished report and heads toward her boss' office.
"Maybe I'm being a nice person and keeping you company?" Her colleague follows her.
"Go finish your report." She orders and he pouts at her.
"You're no fun, Sheehan." He trudges back to his desk, shoulders slumped and a sour puss on his face like a spoiled child.
Ashlinn drops off her report at her boss' office and as she was walking back, she decided to get a cup of coffee to go. She enters the break room with her travel cup and all of her colleagues were crowded around the TV. Ashlinn started making up her coffee as she tried to make out the hushed whispers from everyone.
"Ashlinn?" Gwen, Ashlinn's sort-of (not really) girlfriend approaches her with a sorrowful look.
"Hey, Gwen. What's going on?" Ashlinn asks and Gwen hesitates.
"It's your father. He's dead." Gwen then says and Ashlinn furrows her eyebrows.
"My father's been dead seventeen years, this isn't really news to me." Ashlinn jokes but Gwen wasn't joking.
"No, Ashlinn. Sir Hargreeves, he-"
"What? Reginald's dead?" Ashlinn nearly dropped her coffee. She pushed past Gwen and made her way through the crowd to look at the TV and sure enough, there was a photo of her adoptive father followed by the words passed away. It's cruel to say, but Ashlinn didn't feel sad or grief at that moment, all she could think about was:
'Family Reunion. Oh dear god.'