Rule 11 (Not proofread so please ignore any mistakes, I'll fix 'em all later!) Filler chapter to give a bit of a boost to Ash and Alex's friendship.

            Ash shot me a look as I held the door open.

            "Rule 11, no 'I told you so'," Ash grumbled, hobbling through the doorway. I raised an eyebrow and shut the door behind him, following his incredibly slow pace through the passage and into the living room.

            "Of course, you just should've listened to me," I commented, dropping onto the armchair. Dev had taken Ash's bike down to the garage to find out what had happened but Ash had already said what he thought. The brake lines had been cut and when Ash got to the corner, instead of braking and turning, he went into the wall at the end of the alley.

            The night after that seemed to go at 100 miles an hour. Ash, when we got to him, was tangled in the metal of his bike unconscious and the race had to be stopped. I had to give Ryder his due, he either didn't do it, or was a very good actor. He looked shocked to say the least.

            In the end, Ash had woken up by the time the ambulance had arrived but he was woozy and didn't seem to recollect the night's events.

            "That's just another way of saying 'I told you so'," Ash retorted, lowering himself with a grunt onto the sofa.

            "It's abiding to the rule," I said with a shrug. He didn't answer me, just scoffed and looked around for the TV remote. Instead of helping him, I went into the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee. Dev and I had been at the hospital for the majority of the night. They didn't have time to see Ash straight away and because he wasn't in critical, they took a while to see to his injuries, leaving him to the paramedic.

            He'd been diagnosed with a few bruised ribs, concussion and a sprained ankle but other than that, was free to go home.

            "Can you grab me one while you're there?" Ash shouted out.

            I joined him on the sofa and shot him a look as I passed him the drink. His face was slightly bruised and I did feel a pang of sympathy whenever I looked at him. Pretty much everything he did came with a wince.

            "Are we going to talk about the note, or?" I asked and Ash sighed.

            "What is there to say? Some prat cut my brake line and I'm lucky to be here," he said. I rolled my eyes and resisted the urge to nudge him.

            "Ash, I don't think it was Ry," I admitted and Ash shot me a sideways look.

            "Who else could it have been? He has a grudge," he said, taking another sip of his coffee.

            "Because you slept with his girlfriend," I cut him quickly and Ash's eyebrows rose and he nearly choked on his drink.

            "You're defending him?" he asked and I nodded.

            "Only in this circumstance, you can't just sleep with someone else's girlfriend." Ash looked as though he was losing his temper and grunted.

            "I suppose that's what he said," Ash spat and I nodded.

            "I didn't just make it up," I answered and then paused. "What did happen?" Ash smirked and raised an eyebrow.

            "Now you're interested in the truth?" I just responded with a curt nod and he breathed out deeply through his nose.

            "He was drunk, he hit Sid when he was angry, she came over upset to find Matt, who was with me. Nothing happened," he explained. I had officially given up on trying to follow what had happened before I moved in so I just nodded absently and took my cup back to the kitchen.

            I left Ash to sort himself out and went into my bedroom to call Dev.

            "Cut brake lines," Dev replied when I picked up. I leaned against the wall with a huff and ran my hand through my hair. "Done properly, it was cut in a position where they would work on a trial but cut out if the bike is going at a particular speed," he finished and I frowned.

            "So they know what they're doing?" I asked and Dev responded with a positive.

            I originally thought that whoever was messing with Ash's bike probably worked at the garage, but all they had to do was hire someone to do the job for them. Overall, we'd managed to put together a list of pretty much everyone that Ash had ever encountered.

            Dev hung up as I made my way back into the living room to find Ash chewing his lip. He clearly hadn't found the TV remote and was sitting in a huff.

            "When does that bandage need to be changed?" I asked and Ash glanced up.

            "I don't know. The doc just said when it starts to feel loose," he answered and wiggled his arm. "Around about now," he corrected and gave me a sad look.

            "Dev isn't here," I said and Ash nodded.

            "You are, though."

            Changing Ash's bandage was the last thing that I wanted to do but there was only so much of his complaining that I could take.

            "I think you're milking this a bit," I deadpanned and a smirk made its way across his face.

            "Undoing my shirt would hurt, love, I'd get Dev to do it if he was here," he replied. I rolled my eyes.

            "Of course."

            I swallowed and gently undid his top, trying to work the arms off without hurting him too much. His smooth chest was revealed underneath, making my heart do a lurch. Even when taking on a blue and purple tinge, the muscles were defined and made it obvious why he was such a catch. The bandage was resting under his arms and I sighed, glancing up to meet Ash's eyes.

            "The doc did it from the back," Ash said softly, looking down between us. He moved forwards on the sofa and I kneeled behind him, undoing the bandage to reveal the damage.

            "My god," I muttered and Ash let out a hiss through his teeth.

            "Sorry," I whispered and he shook his head.

            "It's fine."

            His skin was borderline black and the bandage had to go on tight, which meant that I'd end up hurting him. I took the bandage off completely and grimaced before peering around his back to look at him.

            "Alright back there?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

            "Where's the anti-inflammatory?" I asked, referring to the ointment that the doctor had given us on the way out.     

            "Not sure, sideboard, I think." When I got up to get it, Ash's eyes followed my every move until I caught him looking, when he grinned.

            "Come on, get those hands over here," he cooed, causing me to scrunch up my nose.

            "Do you want this done or not?" I asked. He nodded, patting the sofa next to him.

            "Very much so. If you can handle touching me without bringing up your dinner," he said. I chuckled and lowered myself behind him.

            "I'm not sure, it'll be a struggle." He let out a breathy laugh and prepared himself for the pain.

            I tried to be as gentle as possible when I rubbed the cream into his skin but the occasional grunt made me grimace. I could feel my cheeks flush when I had to reach over and rub it into the front of his ribs and Ash caught my hand.

            "I rather like this," he whispered, turning his head until his face was flush with mine. I put more pressure on his back and he shot me a glare.

            "Like it now?" I asked and he let my hand go.

            "You ruined it," he sulked, causing a grin to spread across my face.

            "Nothing to ruin. Hold still."

            He did as I was told and made me feel an incredible amount of guilt when I had to tighten the bandage around his back. I mentally decided to never do it again, I was too nice a person and felt awful whenever Ash tensed and pretended it didn't hurt.

            "Right, now that I've done my bit of mothering, I'm going for a shower," I informed him, flicking his head.

            "Have I not been through enough?" he scolded, moving out the way of my hand.

            "If you'd of done as I advised," I chided, walking into the passage.

            "What did I say about I told you so?" Ash shouted after me and I rolled my eyes.

            "What did I say about intimate touching and personal space?" I hollered back.

            "You were rubbing stuff onto me, love!" he called back.

            Without providing the idiot with an answer, I grabbed my towel and went for  a shower. Everything was going well until I noticed that the hot, steamy water that was running down my body, washing out the shampoo, was a suspicious colour.

            "Shit," I cursed and reached up into my hair. When I took my hand away, the suds were a light blue colour. "Shit, shit shit," I repeated and scrubbed at my head, knowing that my shampoo produced white bubbles.

            I continued my shower with haste and when I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself, I nearly went berserk. My hair was blue.

            "Asher!" I bellowed, grabbing the towel and storming into the living room. Ash was exactly where I left him, not that he could go anywhere else quickly.

            "What?" he asked, turning to look at me when his face dropped. "Oh bugger," he finished, grimacing.

            "Oh bugger? Is that all you've got? Oh bugger?!" I exclaimed, pointing to my head. He smiled.

            "Would you prefer 'you look hot in that towel?" he asked and I narrowed my eyes, causing him to grin. "Perhaps not," he corrected.

            "I look like a giant smurf!" I retorted. That was when the painful laughter took over him.

            "Yeah, that had better hurt, dickhead," I snapped.

            "In all fairness, I did that last night and forgot all about it," he said.

            "All fairness my arse. You'd better start sleeping with your eyes open as this has taken it to the next level," I hissed.

            "Love, it's semi permanent conditioner blue. It's the stuff that Sid uses, give it three washes and it'll come out," he said. I frowned, holding the towel against my chest subconsciously.

            "Sid was in on this?" I asked incredulously but he shook his head.

            "Nah, she gave me that stuff for Halloween. I had some left," he explained.

            "What were you? A freakin avatar?" I enquired with a snappy tone, glancing at my blue hair with annoyance.

            "I was, actually.  A pretty damn hot one, too. Now go and have your three washes before you pop a vein on your head," he teased.

            "I hate you," I hissed and stormed back through the passage to the bathroom. 

A/N: A few people have been asking for longer chapters. Sorry, but I write until I feel the chapter is dragging or until I run out of ideas. Any longer and they'll be dull. 

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