Only to help her, but you'll ask first

A gentle nudge stirs Ashlyn from her sleep.

"Ash, I have something to ask you about," you say, gently.

Your voice lures your elegant girl out of her deep sleep. She shifts and stretches without moving much, or opening her eyes. "Hmm...?"

"Poor thing. Today's really taken it out of you, huh," you say, running a hand up and down her leg beneath the covers.

Slowly, Ashlyn revives, till she's sitting up before you with a blanket drawn up to her chest. She blinks away her remaining grogginess. "Um. What time is it?" she asks, squinting toward the kitchen to see the time on the microwave clock.

"Just seven o'clock. You've been sleeping for a couple of hours, I didn't want to wake you," you say. "Cassidy came by. We had dinner at the bistro. I got you a BLT, it's in the fridge whenever you want it."

Ash gave me a warm, I-don't-deserve-you kind of look.

Her caring eyes filled my chest with warmth. "There's something I need to show you," you finally say. And then you brought forward the helmet, and set it down in front of you.

Ashlyn has trouble understanding what she's looking at. She furrows her brow, cutely, and reaches a bare arm out to move the device a little to better examine it from different angles. "What is it?"

"You'll have to trust me," you say.

And then you explain, in detail, what the device is, and what it does, leaving out your own very personal experiences with it along the way.

Ash doesn't believe the story. Who would?

"It lets people swap bodies?" she asks, pursing her full lips just so in thought. "I work with a lot of crazies in the crystal business, but this is a different level. I'm sorry, if this is a joke, I don't get it."

You push forward anyway, unwilling to let this go. "The important part of the process is that it converts you - all of you - into a file," you say. "I thought... maybe I could have a look. See if I can help you somehow."

She shakes her head, but smiles. "I've seen a lot of therapists, Carrie. It's... thoughtful of you to think of me, even if I don't really understand what this is all about. But I'm dealing with things in my own way. I just... need time. Maybe. I don't know."

You reach out and hold her bare shoulder. "I know you've seen a lot of therapists, but this is different. Maybe I can find something they missed? Maybe I can even figure out how to help you better."

"Figure out how to make me a better girlfriend, you mean," said Ashley, taking a turn downwards again. "I know I'm messed up. You're my angel, Carrie. If putting on some helmet could fix me, I would. Really. In a heartbeat."

You lean and kiss her. There's nothing that better expresses how you feel. "Then trust me," you say. "It only works if you let it. I'm just asking you to try, for me."

Ashlyn's demeanor changes. She doesn't believe you, but you can tell she trusts the intent behind the words, if not the words themselves. "If you want me to, I can pretend for a second," she says. "But... please don't string it out too long. If I let myself get my hopes up, the crash later will only get harder."

"I promise it won't take that long at all." You pull her into a hug.

While you set up the helmet on your laptop, Ashlyn pulls on her clothes from earlier today - cute black underwear, t-shirt and lounge pants.

You sit her right on the edge of the bed and lower the helmet over her eyes.

"This won't hurt... will it?" she asks, becoming more and more nervous the longer you keep up the 'charade'.

"Just a little," you say.

She tenses.

"I'm kidding!" you kiss her neck, and flip the switch on the helmet. "Relax and let it happen. I'll have a quick look at you, maybe make a change, and put you right back in your body."

Ashlyn can only nod.

You pull up the program on your computer and enter the command to start the process. Then you rejoin Ashlyn and hold her hand while the helmet does the rest of the work.

The humming electronics suddenly go quiet, and Ashyln jolts, as if you shocked her. Then she falls very still, the nervousness in her gone.

"Good girl," you murmur, kissing her hand again before returning to your computer.

Next to the CARRIE file, there's the new file of Ashlyn. You rename it appropriately, ASH.