Monday rolled around, and with it, a familiar face. Well, familiar to Niles, anyway.

The knock at the door startled them in the office, where Niles was showing Ashton how to reupholster a little faerie-sized recliner. Ashton was surprisingly engaged in the tutorial, even going so far as to help Niles reposition the fabric for Niles to tack down. But as soon as the knock came at the front door, the faerie had frozen, shooting Niles a quick look of apprehension.

Niles brushed his hands free of any stray threads and stood up. "You stay here," he told Ashton. "I'll see who it is."

The sprite immediately nodded before ducking into his cat carrier. Niles watched him go, a small smile on his face. No matter how many times he suggested that Ashton sleep in an actual faerie house, Ashton always insisted on staying in his little cat carrier.

Shaking his head, Niles went out into the hall and opened the front door. The small smile on his face died as soon as he saw who it was, replaced by a look of confusion.

"Dr. Bruning?" he wondered aloud. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Dr. Howton," the older man said evenly. "May I come in?"

Niles shot a quick glance towards his closed office door before regaining his composure.

"Of course," he said, opening the door wider and ushering his colleague in. "Let me get your coat."

Within a few minutes, Niles had Dr. Bruning seated on the couch with a cup of tea in front of him. His thoughts racing, Niles tried to figure out what would have brought the older doctor to his home. Like Niles, Dr. Bruning was on the Board for the Wellness, Research, and Treatment of Faeries. Unlike Niles, he was an ecologist, so he didn't work with faeries as patients. Instead, he studied the way that faeries interacted with their environments and then used his research to advocate for the preservation of faerie habitats.

He was a good scientist, but his gruff and abrupt nature was off-putting to Niles. Their professional spheres didn't overlap much, the research team and board being one of the few things they had in common. As it was, Niles couldn't figure out why Dr. Bruning of all people was visiting him.

Luckily, he didn't have to wait long to figure it out, as Dr. Bruning got straight to the point, as usual.

"I needed to be in the area to conduct some research on a nearby forest clearing," he began, "so Dr. Jones asked me to stop by to discuss your exemption request for your patient's upcoming wellness check."

Niles' heart sank. Oh. So that's what this was about. Ashton's six-month wellness check.

At Niles' silence, Dr. Bruning continued. "Did you really ask for another exemption?" he asked, and Niles wasn't surprised by his curiosity. 

Niles was well-known for being a meticulous doctor. He was rule-abiding and followed protocol. So, when he had requested an exemption from Ashton's first scheduled wellness check three months ago, the head of the board, Dr. Jones, had been surprised. However, she readily accepted Niles' explanation that Ashton was too unwell to meet another human and granted the request.

Now nearly three months later, Niles had gone ahead and submitted another exemption request. Niles was willing to bet that Dr. Jones would approve, as he was the board's most trusted faerie caregiver, but he wasn't sure if he could swing it if the ECLoF got involved. After all, the ELCoF was the organization that had mandated wellness checks in the first place. They were much less lenient than Niles' kind-hearted board director. An exemption was allowed every now and then, but two in a row? Unheard of.

"Yes," Niles admitted. "Ashton is doing better physically, but I've determined that he's still unfit for an in-person wellness check."

Dr. Bruning raised his white eyebrows. "On what grounds?"

"He's terrified of humans," Niles explained. "A visit with a new one won't go well. I doubt he'd stop hyperventilating long enough to answer any of Dr. Jones' questions."

Dr. Bruning sat there for a moment. When he opened his mouth to speak, his next comment caught Niles completely off guard. "Well, then can I meet him? I'd like to see how he is."

Niles stared at him. Dr. Bruning wanted to meet Ashton? Why? The other doctor interacted with faeries occasionally, but more so to study them in their environments or to interview them about their lifestyles and the resources they used. 

"Dr. Jones asked me to get a quick glance of the boy, determine how he's doing," he explained, as if he had heard Niles' thoughts.

At Niles' look of disbelief, he hurried to continue. "Not that she doesn't believe your reports on his condition," he said. "She just wants a second pair of eyes on him."

"You're not even a medical doctor," Niles pointed out, and Dr. Bruning shrugged.

Niles briefly considered the request before shaking his head. Ashton, meeting another human? And Dr. Bruning of all people? He tried to imagine how the cautious faerie would react to the brusque human. In short: not well.  

"I'm sorry, but since I didn't get the chance to warn Ashton of your visit beforehand, I don't want to spring you on him now."

Dr. Bruning was not to be deterred. "Come on now, Dr. Howton, the boy can't be that shy."

Niles bit his lip. "It's not that," he said. "But like I said, he's terrified of humans."

"Even after almost six months with you?" Dr. Bruning asked skeptically. "Surely, he'd be used to humans by now. Just what is your treatment plan, anyway? Are you sure it's effective?"

Niles frowned at his colleague. Dr. Bruning was much more familiar with environmental science than he was with people, but even this lack of empathy and understanding was surprising.

"Dr. Bruning," he began slowly. "This patient has undergone a very serious and prolonged trauma. A trauma that involved humans. He's barely gotten comfortable with me. It will take much longer than six months for him to adjust to other humans."

Dr. Bruning stroked his short gray beard for a moment, considering Niles' words. Finally, he shook his head. "Can you at least ask him if I can come in to observe him?" he requested. "I still have to report back to Dr. Jones and let her know if he's well enough for a wellness check next month. I'd like to actually lay eyes on the patient and verify that he's alright."

Niles sighed internally. If this came directly from Dr. Jones, then he really shouldn't push against it. "Fine," he agreed reluctantly. He held up a finger as Dr. Bruning opened his mouth to speak again. "But you can't touch him. He'll probably want to hide in his carrier the whole time, anyway. Talk to him quietly and respectfully. If he doesn't want to talk or move to see you, then you'll just have to be satisfied with what parts of him that you can see in the carrier, ok?"

Dr. Bruning furrowed his eyebrows together. "Carrier?" he repeated.

"He likes to sleep in a cat carrier," Niles answered, already heading towards his office. "I can't get him to move."

Dr. Bruning stood up to follow him, but Niles held up a hand.

"Just a minute, please," he said firmly. "I need to let him know that you're coming in to see him."

***

Ashton was very quiet during Dr. Bruning's visit. He did not like the new doctor at all and wouldn't come out of the carrier to see him. Instead, he pressed himself into the farthest corner of his makeshift cave, eyes flitting anxiously between the Bruning human and Niles. The Bruning human squinted at him, but Niles just looked tired. Ashton searched his face for any shred of reassurance, feeling a bit more heartened when Niles offered him a smile and a small wink.

After failing to coax Ashton out, the Bruning human then turned to Niles.

"I can hardly see him in there," he complained. "Can't you take him out, so I can assess his condition?"

Ashton's heart shot into his throat, but it settled back down when Niles flatly refused.

"Look, if it's not a necessary medical appointment or something related to his physical wellbeing, I'm not going to force him out of his own space just to satisfy someone's curiosity," Niles explained, and Ashton felt both relieved and grateful that it was Niles he had ended up with and not a doctor like this Bruning human. "You can see him just fine in the carrier."

The Bruning human did not look happy at Niles' answer. Ashton was starting to worry that the new human would just grab him from the carrier himself when Niles spoke again. 

"I know you need to report back to the board, so I'm happy to go over his most recent physical and reports with you before you leave," Niles continued, and the other doctor eventually agreed.

Ashton listened to them discuss his condition from the safety of his carrier, trying to slow his heart rate on his own without Niles there to hold him. It wasn't working very well.

Leave! He silently willed the other human doctor. Leave so I can come out and go to Niles.

After what seemed like an eternity, Niles finally closed his folder and led the Bruning human to the door.

Ashton's ears perked up, feeling a bit better now that the other human was leaving. But as he caught the tail end of their conversation, he felt his limbs grow weak and his face go cold and bloodless. The board... they were going to do... what?

***

Niles finally walked Dr. Bruning to the door, his thoughts stuck on his timid little patient. Poor thing. Ashton had looked terrified the whole time, looking to Niles for help. All Niles wanted to do was rush right back to the faerie and make sure he was alright, but he had to see Dr. Bruning out first.

"This is a very serious case, Dr. Howton," Dr. Bruning reminded him in the foyer as he put on his coat. "It was a heavily publicized news story, and people are still wondering about the faerie's wellbeing. Not to mention, it's becoming a landmark court case that's sure to set the standard of punishment for humans who break laws against faeries. If you're not capable of taking care of him, or he's not getting any better, then we may have to assign him to a different doctor."

Niles managed to not roll his eyes, but he couldn't quite keep the edge out of his voice. "I've only had him for five months," he told Dr. Bruning. "And it's taken me this long to get him to semi-trust me, or at least not burst into tears at the sight of me. You really think he's going to immediately leave the safety of his carrier for a stranger? Seriously? I'd appreciate it if you left my patient alone and let me do my job."

Dr. Bruning raised his eyebrows at the bite in Niles' words, but he bid him farewell without commenting on it.

Niles leaned against the doorframe and sighed. He shouldn't have gotten mad at Dr. Bruning. To someone meeting Ashton for the first time, of course it would look like he wasn't getting better, because they hadn't seen where he'd been.

When Niles walked back into the office, he was surprised to see Ashton poking his head out of the carrier.

"Is he gone?" he whispered, and Niles smiled and held his hand out to him.

"Yup," he assured him, and the faerie slipped out of the carrier to scoot into his fingers.

"I'm sorry he scared you," Niles apologized. "I tried to talk to him beforehand about how to interact with you, but I wasn't expecting him to be so demanding."

Ashton shook his head. "Everyone scares me," he murmured unhappily. "Even if it had been a different human, I still would've been scared."

He sighed and lay down in Niles' hand, curling up into a ball. Niles blinked at him before lightly resting the fingertips of his free hand on Ashton. 

Ashton was silent for a moment before glancing at Niles fearfully. "Are they really going to assign me to a different doctor?" he asked.

Niles was caught off guard by the question. "You heard that?"

Ashton nodded, still looking scared. "I don't want to go to a different doctor," he barely managed to get out.

"Oh, Ash, don't worry," Niles reassured him, rubbing his back slowly. "Nobody's going to take you. You're going to stay here, ok?"

Ashton stared him down. "You promise?"

Where is this intensity coming from? Niles wondered. Aloud, he said, "I promise. You can stay here for as long as you like."

***

The next day didn't go much better. Niles was trying to cheer Ashton up by putting on some random nature documentary about desert lizards, when his phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, Niles couldn't stop his feeling of dread as he saw who it was: Dr. Jones.

He excused himself from the couch quickly, but he could feel Ashton's anxious little eyes on him as he slipped into his office. Dr. Jones was sympathetic but clear, and when Niles hung up the phone, he could already guess how stressed Ashton was going to be as a result of Dr. Jones' orders. 

He wandered back into the living room, where he sat on the couch and threw his head back with a sigh. Damn. This was going to be tough.

"Niles?" Ashton asked tentatively. "What happened? Who was that?"

Niles looked down at the little faerie, who was leaning against his leg and blinking up at him, shoulders hunched and looking worried.

Ah. He's probably figured out that I was talking about him, Niles thought. It was pretty obvious.

He smiled at Ashton and cupped his hand behind him, running his thumb across the faerie's shoulders to loosen the knots.

"It's not a bad thing," Niles began. "It's just... a little bit of an inconvenience."

To Niles' dismay, Ashton tensed up even further at that.

"No, no it's ok, it's really ok," Niles rushed to explain. "The board that researches and looks after the treatment of faeries? You know, the one that Dr. Bruning and I are on? Well, the head of the board asked to see us next week. That's all. It's standard procedure for long term patients to meet with her at six months."

"What?" Ashton asked, looking alarmed. "Why? Did I do something wrong?"

"Huh? Ash, no, of course you didn't." The faerie started to shake, and Niles hurried to pick him up. Ashton sat in his lap and bit down on his knuckle, as he usually did when he was distressed.

"Is it because I didn't come out to see that Bruning doctor? Is he mad at me for that? Does he think you can't take care of me? Are they going to take me away from you?"

Ashton's hazel eyes were wide with fear at this point, and Niles was speechless at the bombardment of questions. He figured Ashton wouldn't like the idea of meeting another human, but he hadn't expected Ashton to react like this.

Niles gently blew a short puff of air into Ashton's face to snap him out of it, making the faerie blink and jerk back in surprise. His eyes suddenly refocused on Niles, and he stopped gnawing on his knuckle. Niles winced at the pinpricks of blood that he saw on Ashton's fingers.

"Oh, buddy," Niles said softly. "Are you ok?" He cupped both hands around Ashton in an attempt to help the faerie calm down. Ashton sagged down in Niles' fingers, but he didn't answer.

"This really isn't about you or anything you did or didn't do," Niles tried to explain. "All faeries in the custody of a human have to undergo wellness checks with their closest Board for the Wellness, Research, and Treatment of Faeries. It's just standard protocol to ensure no faeries are abused, neglected, or mistreated by their human caregivers."

"Even Lucy has to go to wellness checks, and the board hates it when she shows up. She's made it a game to see how much stuff she can ruin or misplace while she's there before they kick her out. She just whirls around the office, pushing papers off desks, stealing snacks, arguing with Dr. Bruning, and opening the water cooler tap so that it floods all over the floor. She loves wellness checks. I think she once managed to tie one of the intern's hair into tiny knots before the poor woman noticed." Niles sighed. "She is such a menace."

Niles thought that hearing about Lucy's antics might be enough to get Ashton to crack the ghost of a smile that Niles had seen a few times, but the corners of his lips didn't budge. Niles tried not to feel disappointed and continued.

"Anyway, I've managed to put off your wellness check for the last several months given the precarious nature of your health. But we're coming up on six months that you've been here with me, and the ELCoF will come for me if I don't show up with you to prove that you're safe and sound."

Ashton did not look convinced. "Send a picture," he whispered. "Like you send your mom of Lucy."

Niles gave him a small smile. "I wish it was that easy, but the protocol is in person. It's too easy to send an old photo or even convince a faerie to lie in a video call."

Ashton looked crestfallen, and Niles hurried to reassure him.

"Look, they just want us to come in so that they can see how you're doing. They want to know how you're adjusting, see if you have any needs or complaints, and ask how your treatment is going. That's it. Nobody's going to take you. I'll make sure that nobody touches you. You're going to be ok. I'm not going to leave your side the whole time we're there, I promise."

Ashton wrapped his arms around himself and pressed his face against Niles' fingers, closing his eyes and nodding once.

Oh, you poor thing, Niles thought. He cupped both hands tighter around Ashton's cold form and sat quietly with him.

***

"Dr. Jones, I just really don't think that he's ready," Niles said in another call the next day. "Can we please stall the wellness check for another quarter? Or at least make it a video call? I explained the process to him, but he's still so scared. I'd hate to force him into meeting anyone right now."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Howton, but the ELCoF only gave you leeway last time because of your spotless record," came Dr. Jones' disappointing answer. "They won't accept another postponement, especially given the high-profile nature of this case. What exactly is he so afraid of, anyway? Maybe I can help to ease his mind. Or I'll at least be prepared to know how to talk with him when we meet."

"Well, he's scared of humans in general," Niles explained. "But now he's terrified that you'll take him away from me. Dr. Bruning mentioned something last time about assigning him to a different doctor, and Ashton's really fixated on it, I'm afraid. He's having trouble sleeping because of it."

"Oh, the poor dear," Dr. Jones sighed into the phone. "Would it help if I cleared that up with him? Can you put him on the line?"

Niles looked down at Ashton, who was sleeping peacefully in his hammock. Ashton so rarely had a peaceful sleep that there was no way Niles was waking him up just to put him through more stress.

"He's sleeping now," Niles said. "But let's schedule a call in a few days so that he can hear your voice. Maybe that will help him relax a bit before the actual appointment."

***

The scheduled practice phone call rolled around, and Niles tried to hype Ashton up to talk to Dr. Jones. Ashton did just fine in phone calls to Niles' parents, and he even seemed to look forward to and enjoy them. Niles figured this would be the best way to get Ashton prepared for the wellness check.

But the poor little faerie had just stared at the phone, frozen, as Dr. Jones talked to him. He managed to choke out a quiet hello, but that was about it. He hid in Niles' shirt pocket for the rest of the day even after the phone call was over. 

Whenever Niles peeked in his pocket to check on the faerie, he would be pressed up in the same spot, clutching Niles' shirt with a petrified look on his face. Niles tried to calm him down by patting him gently and rubbing his back through the shirt's fabric, but nothing seemed to help. If this was how Ashton reacted to a phone call, how would he handle seeing Dr. Jones in person?

______________________________________________________________

A/N: Hmm, some fresh conflict. Poor Ashton. What is he going to do now? He just got comfortable with Niles, and now he's expected to meet with another human? One who has the power to assign him to a different doctor? Things are not going well for him.

As a side note, I hate putting Ashton through all this, but it's for the pLoT (and by plot, I mean shameless opportunities for Niles to have to comfort Ashton).

Thanks for reading and see you in the next chapter!