Disclaimer: Donations? Anyone?
Summary: What could have been the perfect night is ruined. Andros tries desperately to make it up. Sequel to 'It's Those Little Things' and 'No Sweeter Thing'.
Surprising Perfection
Time passed slowly, marginally slow like it always does when you're waiting for something. Like a child counting down the minutes in bed before being allowed to jump the parents for presents each birthday. A mother waiting to take her child in her arms while still in the incubator, or a girl waiting for those three magic words from that one special guy.
"Ma'am, we're closing. Whoever you're waiting for… Well, he ain't gonna come." The pimple covered waiter told her.
She just nodded and got up, fighting the tears that had been pressing against her eyes for some time now. She had turned down many requests for a drink or a dance. All for nothing as it turned out.
Without a sound she paid her bill, got up and left. What should have been the best night of her life turned out to be the worst ever. She kept her face down so no one could see the tears now running down her cheeks.
Back home she closed the door as quietly as possible so her family wouldn't hear her come in and ask what was wrong. She kicked off her high-heels and picked them up before softly running upstairs, resisting the urge to slam her bedroom door shut.
With some effort she managed to unzip her dress and pushed the spaghetti-straps from her shoulders, watching it float to the ground around her. She suddenly hated it, from the silk fabric to the way it hugged her curves so gently and floated around her when she spun. Yet she couldn't get herself to let it lay there on the ground.
Reluctantly she took a cloth hanger and draped the dress over it, hanging it in front of her closet door. Then she took a bright yellow shirt of a few sizes to big from beneath her pillow. Slipping it over her head, before pushing aside the covers and getting into bed.
After pulling the covers as high up as they would go, she drifted off into a restless and tearful sleep.
Andros silently cursed Carlos for breaking the engine room bulkhead while it was sealed shut. Especially when Zhane was hiding out on KO-35 from a fumed Karone and TJ being on Earth for his brother's birthday, so he was the only one around to fix it.
He dragged himself to his room, tired, sweaty and covered in oil and grease. This was definitely not his day. Once the door slid closed behind him, he let himself fall down on his bed, not wanting or planning to get up again any time soon. Yet there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he was forgetting something.
"Andros?" Deca interrupted his quiet moping.
Groan.
"Weren't you supposed to be meeting Ashley four hours ago?"
Cursing loudly, Andros shot back up in a sitting position. He knew he was forgetting something. He couldn't believe it slipped his mind when it was all he could think about since he woke up. It was supposed to be the perfect night, he had had it all planned out and everything was coming along quite perfectly… Until Carlos broke the bulkhead.
Still cursing he pushed himself to his feet and looking around wearily, he glanced up at Deca for a moment.
"Teleport me to her." He demanded.
"Looking like that?" Deca asked sceptically.
Andros pondered that thought for a moment.
"She's probably already mad at me, it doesn't matter how I look." He decided.
"Your choice." Deca told him, but after years of experience, Andros heard the disapproval in her voice.
He opened his mouth to tell her to butt off, but the bright red light already obscured his vision. When it faded he found himself in a dark room. He let his eyes get used to the dark for a moment before he recognized Ashley's room.
His breath caught in his throat when he spotted the red silk dress hanging in front of her closet and cursed Carlos once again. It would look gorgeous on Ashley and he missed out on it.
With a sigh he turned to the bed and found Ashley fast asleep, her cheeks wet with tears, the sight stabbing at his heart. He walked over to her and gently stroked her cheek and hair. A small smile played on his lips when he was rewarded with her eyes fluttering open at his light touch, but his heart hurting to know it was his fault she had slept so lightly.
"Andros?" She muttered googly before her foggy mind caught up with her body. "What do you think you're doing here?"
The venom in her voice cut through his heart and he quickly withdrew his hand.
"I… I…" He muttered.
Ashley sat up and flipped on the little reading-light on her nightstand.
"You've got some nerve." She ranted. "Standing me up and then waking me in the middle of the night."
"I… I can explain." Andros stumbled on the words.
"Get out." She nearly screamed, but remembering her parents and brother were asleep close by she lowered her voice. "I don't ever want to see you again. It's over."
"I can explain." Andros protested.
"I don't need your pitiful excuse for an explanation. Just go away." Ashley fumed.
"Ash, please." He begged softly, but all he got in return was a glare. "It's not my fault."
"Yeah right, Zhane's not around to take the blame for you, you know."
"I know." Suddenly anger started to bubble up inside him, he couldn't believe she thought Zhane covered for him. "If he had been, I wouldn't have been late."
"Late?!" Ashley shrieked softly. "You call this late? Andros, this is standing up!"
"I didn't stand you up!" Andros replied, anger starting to shine through in his voice. "It's not my fault Carlos broke the bulkhead of the engine room while it was down!"
"Sure, blame Carlos. Why don't you just take the blame for your actions for once?" Ashley cursed. "Now are you leaving, or do I need to kick you out?"
"Fine, I'll go. I'll go and beat up Carlos." Andros replied angrily. "You know. If it wasn't for him, I would have been telling you I loved you instead of getting myself covered in dirt and this would be around your finger, but I guess maybe it's better this way."
He pulled a small black velvet box out of his pocked and threw it to her, turning around.
"Andros." Ashley called, sounding shocked.
"Keep it. I don't ever want to see it again." He told her over his shoulder, lifting his arm to teleport back to the Megaship, not even noticing the tears now running down his cheeks.
A soft hand on his shoulder stopped him from hitting the final key and he froze in his place, not wanting to see the anger and hate on her beautiful face.
"I'm sorry." Her soft and subdued voice reached his ears. "I guess I overreacted a little."
"A little?" He asked sceptically, still not turning around and hearing his voice crackle.
"Okay, a lot." Ashley admitted. "You… you aren't crying, are you?"
Her soft words only seemed to rub in the fact that he was and he squeezed his eyes shut to block out the tears. When he felt her hands on his cheeks, wiping away his tears, he let his arms fall back to his side and his shoulders slump.
"Please don't cry?" Ashley begged. "I'd hug you, but I'd get grease all over me."
"Like that's something new." Andros bit back, knowing it would hurt her.
"No." She agreed. "But normally I don't wear my pyjamas to get all greasy and dirty. Please, Andros. I'm really sorry for what I just said. I don't want us to be over. I don't want to lose you. I love you too. God, I love you so much it hurts."
The words extinguished the remaining anger and he caught her hand, stroking it and softly kissing her fingers.
"Please don't ever do that to me again?" He asked softy, aching to hold her close, yet not wanting to get her dirty too.
"Next time, just tell me you're running late." Ashley sighed.
"I was going to, I really was, but Carlos screwed up so bad, by the time I was finished yelling at him, I guess it completely slipped my mind." Andros admitted softly.
Ashley let out a small breath, but didn't reply. For a few minutes, they stood there in a comfortable silence.
"Andros?" Ashley's voice was small and uncertain.
"Yeah?" He replied softly, still placing kisses on her fingers.
"Were… were you really going to ask me to…" Her voice caught in her throat.
"Marry me?" He asked softly, dropping their hands, but keeping a hold of hers while meeting her eyes. "Yeah, I had it all planned out, you know. It was going to be perfect. Guess that wasn't meant to be."
A small but bright smile started forming on her lips. Taking a small step forward, she went to stand on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips to his in a sweet and tender kiss.
"Maybe not to way you planned." She whispered softly against his lips. "But I'll still marry you."
"Really?" He asked surprised, drawing back to stare at her. "You will?"
"Really." She confirmed, smiling at his surprised and shocked expression.
A bright smile mirrored hers and she quickly took a step back when he made a move to hug her, laughing at his confused expression.
"Dirty." She reminded him, lightly tugging at the front of his shirt, then pointing at her bathroom. "Go take a shower."
"But…" Andros protested.
"I know you don't have any clothes to change into, or rather, you're not getting them yet. You can keep me company tonight."
A slight blush crept up Andros's neck to his cheeks. A giggled escaped Ashley's lips at the sight and she placed another kiss on his lips.
"I've forgiven you. I love you. I'm marrying you. But you still aren't forgiven enough for that trail of thoughts." She told him pointedly.
With a small smile, Andros disappeared into the bathroom.
Andros left the bathroom, his clothes and socks on the hamper and his boots in his hands. Ashley was sitting on her bed, holding the black velvet box and staring at the ring inside, completely oblivious to him standing there. Careful not to disturb her, he put his boots down and walked over to her, sitting down beside her.
"Like it?" He asked softly.
"It's beautiful." Ashley breathed.
Andros took the ring from the box and caught Ashley's left hand, slipping the ring around her finger. Ashley kept staring at it, taking in the elegant silver band, decorated with carving, supporting one single white diamond. He took her into his arms and pressed a kiss to her temple, holding her close.
"You smell nice." She muttered, causing him to laugh.
"Not as good as you." He replied, nuzzling his face in her hair and taking a deep breath.
"I smell like you and on you it's still fresh." Ashley protested.
"But it smells better on you." Andros retorted, placing a kiss in her hair.
"There's no winning this, is there?" Ashley sighed, giggling.
"Not a chance." Andros replied with a smirk.
With a smile, Ashley turned to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his. She pulled him down with her as she let herself fall back on her bed before turning of the light on her nightstand. She silently laughed at the sound of protest from Andros when she broke the kiss.
"Get under those covers. I'm tired, you woke me up, I wanna sleep."
"Fine." Andros sighed, pulling her close once the covers settled over them telekinetically. "But I'm not letting go of you."
"Fine." Ashley huffed playfully.
She nuzzled close to his side once he settled down. Her head was pillowed on his chest as he pulled her as close to his side as he could. She knew draping her leg across his hips was cruel, but he did stand her up.
As expected, she heard him groan slightly a moment later and smiled wickedly, placing a kiss on his chest just because she could. Tonight would be torture for him, but really, she didn't want their first time to be make up sex.
"Night Andros." She told him sweetly, nuzzling her head a bit closer into his chest and shutting her eyes.
She heard him groan again in reply, softly cursing her under his breath and she had to smile. Revenge truly was sweet.
A year and a half later
"Hey tiger." Ashley called when she heard Andros enter their house.
"Hey. Where are you?" Andros's voice called back and she heard him drop his keys on the small table in the hallway.
"Kitchen." She called back, grinning madly.
She was taken aback by the pair of arms wrapping themselves around her waist a moment later. But she leaned back against his warm, hard, broad chest when he placed a kiss in her neck a moment later.
"Smells good, what is it?" He asked. "Can't be dinner."
"You'll see." She told him wickedly. "Should be ready in an hour."
"Hmm, so I have a whole hour I need to somehow keep myself busy in?" He pondered. "Whatever to do with so much time of impatient waiting?"
"Make it go away?" Ashley suggested sweetly.
She shrieked when she found herself thrown over Andros's shoulder and carried off to their bedroom. She laughed when he threw her down on their bed, but watched with surprise when he turned around and left the room.
"Hey!" She called after him. "You're losing precious love-making time!"
When he returned he held a small package, wrapped in golden paper with a red ribbon tied around it. He held it out to her and she took it in surprise.
"Don't tell me you really thought I'd forgotten our anniversary." He told her with a grin. "Open it."
She gently pulled the ribbon off before tearing the paper from the package, revealing a long flat box. When she opened it, she gasped. A delicate silver bracelet lay on a velvet pillow. Delicate little gemstones were set into it, not enough to look ostentatious, but not too little too look cheap either.
"Happy anniversary, Ash." Andros whispered. "I hope you liked it."
"I love it." She smiled, taking a nice long taste of his lips. "I take it you want your present now too, right?"
"Would be nice, but you didn't have to get me anything." Andros assured her.
"Well, you'll have to wait for a little bit longer, sex first, present later." She informed him pointedly.
Andros mock pouted at her and she laughed.
"Trust me, you might find something you like, it's just like taking the wrappings off a present." Ashley told him sweetly, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him while pulling him down on the bed with her.
A satisfied smirk crossed her lips at the primal roar rumbling from his throat when he found the delicate, partially see-through, laced panties and bra carefully concealed under her clothes until now. Obviously he liked the preview present.
Some time later the soft sounds of an alarm reached their ears from downstairs and Ashley smiled at Andros's groan when she pulled away from where she had been lying curled up beside him. She pulled on a bathrobe and quickly patted downstairs.
By the time she was pulling her creation out of the oven, Andros entered the kitchen, dressed in nothing but his deep red boxers. She grinned and showed him the large chocolate cake.
"Your present." She informed him.
"A cake?" Andros asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Close your eyes until I say you can open them again." Ashley told him sternly.
When she was sure Andros obeyed, she quickly put the finishing touches on her cake, pouring some chocolate coating over it before adding the red icing.
"You can open them now." Ashley grinned.
Andros looked at her strangely and then looked at the cake. It looked delicious, but his eyes were caught by the letters in red icing, making his mouth drop. All he could do was stare.
"I hope you like it." Ashley giggled.
Andros gaped at her, before looking back at the cake, making sure he wasn't dreaming.
Sure enough the icing still told him the same message: 'Happy Anniversary… Daddy'.
A/N: Hope you liked it. This sweet fic goes to Jenny my dearest beta-reader and wonderful friend. Why? Well, it's her birthday TODAY. So wish her ALLa happy birthday