Who: Brand new pair of stockings. What: Reveal. When: Secrets plot. Warnings/Rating: None.
She couldn't bring herself to go home immediately, not after the evening that she had had. And though she was sure that others had had a much worse evening, it was her first time, and there was something to be said about how the hotel messed with anyone against their will. So she found a bench some blocks away from the hotel and she sat, staring at her hands, trying to bring some bit of sense to everything that had happened. It had definitely been her there, but it wasn't her in the same breath, some other facet of her that she wasn't entirely comfortable thinking on. That had been someone who wanted more than she did, who lived more than she did, and even if she enjoyed lying to herself about what she was, who she was, what she really needed, it was quite obvious that there was something in her life that was missing.
Of course there was something missing. Ever since he had died and left her alone, she hadn't been the same. It was easy enough to put on a mask and pretend that she was, but she was lying to everyone. Her hands came up as she covered her face, pushing fingers back through her hair, several deep breaths taken in, held, released, and then she pulled her hands back down and looked out at the city that was spread out around her.
It wasn't her city, not yet, and maybe it wouldn't ever be, but it was something new and she knew she had to at least try to embrace it. It didn't do to sit and flounder in what could have been and what might have been, so she got to her feet and hailed the next cab that came by. An address was given and she leaned back in the seat to watch the blur of neon pass by, fingers drumming on her bare knee. She could have gone back home, or at least what passed for home here in Vegas, but she didn't want to see her family, let them see her awkwardness. No, she'd go to see him. He wasn't perfect, had flaws that anyone could see, but he didn't expect anything out of her that she wasn't willing to give, and the same went for him.
A couple of bills were passed to the cab driver as he pulled up outside the bookstore, leaving Ashleigh standing on the curb as she looked up at the building. A big breath to calm her nerves, and she approached, rapping on the door four times before she stood back, arms wound around her, and waited for Aiden to wake up.