Free Doc Featherstone's Return by Stephani Hecht

been so selfish and caught up in my own drama, I never asked him about himself. I didn’t even know until yesterday that he can’t operate anymore because of the injuries he got in the attack. But he knows my medical history back to front.”
    “Well, he is your doctor,” Isaac pointed out.
    “You know what I’m talking about. I’ve been such a brat, moping around, that all I’ve been thinking about is me and not even caring about
how this all affects him. No wonder he doesn’t want me. I know I sure as hell wouldn’t if I were in his shoes.”
    “So what are you going to do about it?” Isaac asked.
    “I’m going to go to him and beg him for his forgiveness. Then I’m going to make him tell me everything about him, even if I have to pry it from him.”
    “Are you going to tell him why you were exiled from your last cast?”
    The thought made Ash’s stomach clench with dread, but he nodded. “I just hope he still wants me after he hears everything.”

Chapter Eight
    wo days later, Joshua found Ash on the roof of T HQ. While Ash was able to walk, he had to use two canes to help him, but each day he was progressing and it would only be a matter of time before he was back to his old self.
    For a moment, Joshua just stood there and studied Ash. He’d put back on most of the weight he’d lost, and his face had filled out. The wind blew through his hair, making it ruffle slightly, the brown locks blowing into his eyes. He wore a pair of jeans that hung low on his hips and a t-shirt that was bright red with some cartoon character on it that Joshua didn’t recognize.
    “What’s your first name?” Ash asked.
    Joshua startled, shocked that Ash had realized he’d been there all along. “Joshua.”
    Ash smiled. “Joshua. I like it. It fits you.”
    “I thought that you wouldn’t want to talk to me again,” Joshua admitted as he moved closer.
Ash turned and gave Joshua a sad look.
    “Actually, I should be the one apologizing to you.”
    Now Joshua was doubly shocked. “Why? What did you do?”
    “It’s what I didn’t do. I’ve been so caught up in my own issues and being a brat, I neglected you.”
    Joshua dared to reach out and cup Ash’s cheek, when Ash leaned into the touch instead of pulling away, Joshua felt as if he’d won a big victory.
    “You haven’t neglected me.”
    “Yes, I have. I don’t know anything about you, and it’s because I’ve been too self-centered to take the time to ask. I don’t even know what tribe your ancestors came from.”
    “Cree.”
    “So you’re actually from Canada then?”
    “Yes, my family still lives there.”
    “Do you miss them when you’re here?”
    “Not when I’m with you,” Joshua said. He was rewarded with a dazzling smile.
    “That stuff you said to me the night of my surgery, did you really mean it?”
    Leave it to Ash to remember that. “You recall that, huh?”
    Ash nodded. “Yeah, I was out of it, but I still heard every word you said.”
    “Yes, I do.”
    Ash nibbled on his bottom lip and looked
troubled. “Before we go further, there is something I should tell you. If you don’t want me after, I’ll understand.”
    “There’s nothing that could ever make me not want you.”
    “Don’t be so sure of that. What I’m about to tell you is a doozy. I lied to everyone when I first came here. Well, to everyone but Mitchell and my closest friends. I didn’t just leave my old flock, I was exiled.”
    Wow, that hadn’t been what Joshua was expecting. It usually took a lot for a cast to exile a member. Whatever Ash did had to have been pretty bad.
    “What happened?”
    “Well, as you probably already know, most of our casts are small because we were nearly wiped out by the Ravens. So, we tend to be very protective and secretive about our security and stuff. With good reason.”
    “That makes sense.”
    “I fell for a Hawk from another cast. I thought he was the one for me. Boy, did he have me fooled. He was the leader, and he