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Ash glanced up when he heard the laugh and saw Dakota standing looking at him and shaking her head. She walked over and adjusted the brim of his hat and when she did he met her little smirk with one of his own, something that was becoming more common when Dakota was around. "Evenin' little lady." He said in his best imitation of a cowboy drawl which actually sounded pretty accurate. Apparently he wasn't kidding when he said he could pull off the cowboy look.

Ash reached out to take both of her hands in his and brought her a little closer. "I'm glad you like it." He said letting the imitation fall away. "I hope you don't mind me stopping by and waiting for you but I didn't want to waste any time." Now that they were here it was hard to really believe he was getting to see her again. It felt like it had been an eternity but now they were together again and that made everything alright...at least mostly alright. He still had to make sure that she was real and to do that he leaned in close and gave her a kiss on the lips that felt like it had been a long in coming.

The kiss, which was quick and chaste compared to those longer, more heated ones up on the hill top, was more by way of greeting than anything else. He had missed her but he wasn't the type to make out right on the porch of the big house for everyone to see. That could wait until, hopefully, later. Looking at her after the kiss Ash let himself finally believe that she was here and they had the whole night ahead of them. "Gods how I've missed you."

Ash stood by the entrance to the infirmary patiently waiting for Dakota to get off work. He was looking decidedly more western today having pulled out a few things from his life in Texas that he hadn’t used in quite a while. Dressed in his button down shirt, faded blue jeans, cowboy boots and hat he looked more like an authentic cowboy fresh from a day of riding the range than he would have cared to admit. Normally he wouldn’t have even bothered with the look at all. Having left his old life behind he rarely thought of himself as a rancher or cowboy anymore but tonight was a special occasion and he found that his roots were a little easier to go back to than he had thought.

The special occasion was his first official date with Dakota. It hadn’t been long since that night watching the sunset in the forest and they had seen each other a few times in the days between but this was the first time they had both really been able to get an opportunity that they could spend together. That was understandable. Both of them had their own responsibilities and lives to live but he would be lying if he had said that he wasn’t looking forward to this night with anticipation. That being the case he wanted to surprise her with something and since she had seemed interested in it last time they were together he had chosen to go country to see what she thought.

In the meantime Ash reflected on how hard it was seeing her every day and not getting to spend as much time with her as he wanted. Those kisses they had shared on that hill top in the forest were hard to forget and every time he passed her on the way to training or saw her heading to her cabin he couldn’t help but think about when he would get to talk to her again, hang out with her again and hold her again. Dakota brought out something in him that he hadn’t known was there and he liked it. He just hoped that she liked it too and that she would still be free tonight. Only time would tell but luckily it probably wouldn't be too much longer. Fortunately Dakota was a girl that he didn’t mind waiting on.

Dakota King

The kiss was all that he was hoping for and more. As he met her lips he felt her move against him kissing him back almost as if she had been waiting for it. Perhaps they both had been. Whatever the case Ash thought that he would have gladly traded in his bow for her if he could only continue to enjoy the sweet taste of her lips and the feel of her soft smile as she enjoyed the kiss. He felt her hand go to his side and he moved his own rubbing the palm gently against the slope of her neck reaching back behind her to cradle her in a warm embrace just to keep her close to him.

He didn't know how long the kiss lasted but when he finally did break away from her to look at the beautiful face of the girl that had captured his heart he couldn't help but to stroke the soft cheek as he watched her. He wanted more, as much as she would give him but at the moment this was all that mattered. "I see I've been missing out on another of your many talents." He said as he brushed a strand of displaced hair behind one of her ears. "Though if the first one was this good I don't know how I'm going to survive until the next one."

Ash’s head was spinning from the magnitude of the bombshell he had just dropped. He understood and accepted what he was feeling for the Aphrodite girl, that he could do so by rising above his plainly logical view of life to embrace the delirium of romance was surprising to him but as unlikely as it seemed he was a romantic at heart, still, he didn’t know if Dakota felt the same way. That 'not knowing' was the hard part but he had said what he said and it couldn’t be taken back. Things were out of his hands now.

Ash wasn’t sure how long he stared out at the sunset after he confessed how he felt. The next thing he knew he felt the delicate touch of Dakota’s fingers on his cheek turning his face towards her. He let himself be turned willingly and he found himself staring into Dakota’s eyes which were much closer than they were a moment before. She spoke and when she did he felt his blood seem to heat up as his heart beat faster and faster because her words confirmed what he had wanted to hear. She felt the same way as he did.

In that moment he knew that what he had to do. It wasn’t even a question. He looked at her, her face so close to his, and a smile crossed his face that didn’t disappear in the next instant. Perhaps there weren’t any words to accurately show her how he felt but he could think of something that would. His eyes never left hers as he spoke. “It does a little…” He said softly, his voice low and seeming to matching hers for the desire he felt. “But I can think of something even better.” With that he brought a hand up to cradle her neck, leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

Ash was so lost in his thoughts that he hardly noticed when Dakota set down beside him and picked out a few things for herself from the food that he had brought. It wasn’t until she spoke up again that the boy glanced over and noticed her looking out at the same sunset he had been staring at. Unfortunately he wasn’t sure if he had caught exactly what she had said to him but he gave a little nod, thoughts still elsewhere, and turned his attention back towards the sky because it seemed like the safest place for his attention to be.

In that moment of silence that followed her words Ash was almost torn apart by his desire for her. He floundered for the right thing to say and ached with feelings both desperate and deep. All of which is to say that he stared at the sunset for a while, looked towards her again, watched her with a sort of helpless fascination and then looked away once more. He had never been good at expressing himself in the best of circumstances. Here, now, it was almost impossible.

He knew in some deep part off his mind that he should say something but words slipped from his grasp leaving him feeling empty and foolish. Still, when faced with a difficult situation where the correct choice was unknown he had always been taught that the only wrong decision was to do nothing. It was always better to choose a course of action and go with it than to spend your time in the limbo of not knowing. It was this one bit of logic that eventually broke his paralysis and caused him to speak. "Dakota, have you ever had something to say but not known how to begin?"

There seemed to be more stories than they had time for in that comment about her cabin and Ash supposed that he was right in his assumption that there was at least one person in every cabin who couldn't get with the program. That was just one of the burdens of leadership and why Ash didn't personally think he would be very good at the job. He was more of a lone wolf but he guessed even wolves could find companionship sometimes. Maybe this was the chance for him.

As Dakota hopped off of Blue Sky to explore the place where he had brought them to Ash watched her admiringly. He dismounted in his own time and busied himself with unpacking and setting the pegasus to crop grass close by but he thought the image of her standing on the hill in the dying light with her hands placed on her hips would be burned in his memory forever. Daughter of Aphrodite, beautiful girl in the sun light. He definitely wouldn't be forgetting the sight any time soon no matter what she thought of him.

"I thought so as well though I doubt it has ever been as pretty as it is now." He left that open as to how she wanted to take it but for himself he had meant it precisely how it sounded. Ash felt alive in ways he hadn't known existed and it was all because of Dakota. He just didn't know how to tell her that. "I hope you're hungry." He said though food was one of the last things on his mind. He had gotten a saddle blanket for them and laid it out in a good spot for then to catch the sunset. "I packed plenty of food but I wouldn't be able to eat it all."

Ash shrugged non-committally at her. Maybe the only reason she disliked them was because she had never had a real cowboy hat or maybe she just needed a good reason to like them. Maybe he could be that reason. In any case he was now decided on the fact that he would at least surprise her with it as she had done with her own cow girl look. "You only need one but I'm sure you'll get to see it if you stick around long enough."

Her comment about his siblings seemed seemed to echo his own thoughts perfectly but he kept his tone even as he said. "It has its benefits I assure you." As they began a circling descent towards the ground Ash wondered what it was like living in the Aphrodite cabin. He could only imagine what Dakota went through with her siblings being the cabin leader but supposed they were just as serious as his own occasional struggles with his brothers and sisters and the idea of boring her with talk of his cabin's problems wasn't that appealing when there were better ways to spend their time. "But I suspect you probably have your own interesting cabin problems too. Fortunately," He said as they touched down in the clearing and came to a stop. "I don't think we will have to worry about them tonight."