All I Want For Christmas Is You
By
AlexandraKhayman
Summary: It is the first Christmas that Andros and Ashley spend on Earth, together…
It was 7 am. The alarm clock started ringing. Not opening his eyes, he searched for it in the bedside table and silenced it. "Stupid machine" – He murmured. He rolled to his right side and found her still asleep. Carefully, trying not to wake her, he delivered a soft kiss on her hair and got out of bed. He reached for his jeans that were on the back of the chair, and left the room closing the door behind him.
He smiled… He had acted this same way a year before, back at his home planet, and the result was right next door: Cameron was the most beautiful daughter a father could wish for.
He opened the door to her room and approached the crib. The three-month-old girl was sleeping peacefully, with her tiny little hand closed around her teddy bear.
"It's hard to believe that you are so quiet now, and yesterday you were just screaming your lungs out…" – He whispered, with a grin.
He turned back and went downstairs to get breakfast done. They were going to have lunch at the Hammond's house and then spend Christmas Eve's night at Cassie and T.J.'s. Karone and Zhane were going to be there too, as they had come to spend these holidays with them, on Earth.
Fifteen minutes later, he was going upstairs again, carrying a tray on his hands, with their breakfast. The smell of pancakes and hot chocolate was overflowing the house. When he entered their bedroom, he saw an hungry and sleepy Ashley looking back at him.
"Good Morning." – She greeted, rubbing her eyes.
He put down the tray on his side of the bed and sat in front of her – "Good Morning, my love." – He greeted and leaned forward, to kiss her – "Slept well?"
"Yeah. How's Cameron?"
"She's okay. I checked her when I got up. She was sleeping quietly, holding the bear your brother gave her, last week."
Ashley smiled and looked to the tray – "Well, I'm thinking that I could get used to this."
"What?" – Andros asked.
"You preparing me breakfast and bringing me it. And, you made pancakes. It's a good idea. You should make it more often." – She added, laughing.
"Oh yeah? Let's make a deal, shall we?" – He proposed.
"What do you have in mind?" – She inquired, taking the mug and drinking a little bit. Andros had a special way of preparing hot chocolate, which was just perfect. He made it taste so sweet, she wish she could just drink it all day.
"I make breakfast at weekends and holidays if…" – He took a break, before going on. Cameron had started crying. Ashley was about to get up, when Andros stopped her – "I'll go there. Stay here and eat while it's still warm."
She nodded and he went check on Cameron – "Hey sweetie. You up, uh? Come here." – He got her out of the crib and held her on his arms – "You hungry? Well, you must be. Let's meet mommy and take care of your breakfast."
He went back to his and Ashley's room and found her grabbing the last bite of pancakes – "Well, it seems you passed your hunger to Cameron. She must be starving." – He passed, carefully, their daughter to her arms and sat again on the bed, drinking his own chocolate.
"Hold on, sweetie. Mommy's going to take care of you, since your father can't even distinguish a dirty diaper from your appetite." – She teased him.
"What? She's not hungry?" – Andros asked, confused.
"No. She needs to be changed." – Ashley said, trying to control her laughter. As Andros mentioned to get up again, she added – "Eat now. I'm going to change her, I'll be back in a second."
"I'm going to take a shower. Don't forget we still have to pass in the mall, before we go to you parents' house." – He remembered her, directing to the bathroom.
"Don't worry, Andros. We have time." – She said, in a soft voice, smiling. He was getting a little nervous and she could sense it. It was his first Christmas on Earth, and he had been worried about it for weeks.
She had told him that it was okay; he had no reason to be so nervous. After changing the little girl's diaper, Ashley sat on the rocking chair, trying to get her into sleep again – "You know, Cameron, you dad is very brave. He is the best Red Ranger I've ever met! But, I don't get it… why does he still have this fear?" – She sighed. The little girl opened her eyes and lifted her hand up. Ashley held it and kissed her hand – "I guess he's afraid that people don't like him and that I'm going to feel embarrassed or so, because he's from another planet… Why can't he understand that I don't care?" – She wondered – "I love him the way he is… Why doesn't he get it?"
Cameron had fallen asleep again and Ashley put her back on her crib. She went back to her room to get dressed and noticed that Andros was still in the bathroom. She knocked on the door.
"Come on in." – He said, from inside, and she opened the door.
He had a towel wrapped around his waist and little water drops had fallen from his hair to his shoulders – "You know, you still didn't tell me your offer." – She reminded.
"What? Oh yeah… well, I'll make breakfast at weekends and holidays if I get something back." – He told her.
"What?" – She asked, curiously.
Andros got closer to her and kissed her, gently – "Got your answer?"
Ashley smiled – "Yeah. Deal!"
Andros grinned – "I knew you would agree."
----
When they arrived to Hammond's house, Andros was getting in a total panic status. He didn't know how to act, how to speak… "How did I get into this?" – He was wondering, when they entered the house, with their daughter sleeping peacefully in her stroller.
"Hi Andros. How are you?" – Ashley's brother, Jeff greeted.
"Hey Jeff! I'm fine." – Andros answered - "No, I'm not!" – He thought. "And how are you?"
"Great. This is my soon-to-be wife, Alyssa." – He introduced. The girl on his right stood up and smiled to Andros - "Nice to meet you." – She said.
"Nice to meet you too. I'm Ashley's boyfriend, Andros. This is our daughter, Cameron."
"I have such a cute niece! Don't you think, Alyssa?" – Jeff commented – "She definitely has Ashley's look."
"Yeah. She the most beautiful baby in the whole Universe." – Andros stated, looking at his daughter.
Just then, Ashley's mother, Lynn called – "Lunch's ready.". They sat on the table and Andros took a deep breath – "Here we go. Calm down, everything will be fine!"
----
A few hours later, they were arriving to Cassie and T.J.'s house… and they were late!
"What happened to you guys? We were thinking that Cameron had gotten ill or so." – TJ stated.
"Oh no! Thank God, no! She's okay. We passed at home to drop some things, on our way here. And then, we just caught…"
"… A lot of traffic! Yeah. It took us one hour to get here." – Ashley added quickly.
TJ and Cassie shared a glance and smiled. By the colour on Andros face, it wasn't, definitely, traffic that had caused them to be late. She tried to change the subject to let their friend come back to his normal colour – "So, how's my goddaughter?"
Ashley held up her baby and Cassie stroke her cheeks – "Oh… she's growing up each day!"
"Yeah, she is." – Andros agreed.
TJ headed them to the living room, where Karone, Zhane, Carlos and his girlfriend were waiting for them.
"Hey guys!" – Andros greeted from the doorway and then he went hug his sister – "How are you Karone?"
"I'm fine. And you, dear brother? How are you dealing with this new responsibility?" – She asked him back, with a grin.
He didn't answer her, just smiled. "Well, despite the fact that she's not going to be allowed to go out until she is thirty, no boy can get closer to her less than 5 metres and I honestly doubt that he will let her be a Ranger…" – Ashley added – ".. He's doing perfectly."
Zhane laughed – "Poor Cameron… she's cursed!"
Andros poked his shoulder – "Shut up you! How do you think that Stella is going react when she hears about all the things that her dad did when he had her age, that now she's forbidden to do?"
"If you open your mouth, Andros…"
"Hey boys!" – Karone called – "Did we come back to pre-school? You seem two kids arguing about a candy bar!"
They looked at each other and started laughing. Karone shrugged her shoulders and turned her back to them – "You're incorrigible!" – She concluded.
After dinner, they were hanging in the living room. They were talking about their time as Rangers and how they missed it. Ashley was resting her head on Andros's chest and she was playing circles on his shirt.
"You two were so stupid, back then. I remember the time when Andros almost ruined his friendship with me, just because he was jealous." – Zhane teased.
"Well, I'm glad that he stopped being so shy and jealous…" – Ashley added.
Andros kissed the side of her head and put his arm around her shoulders.
"Mommy, mommy" – Stella entered the room, running to Karone – "Mommy, is it tomorrow yet?"
They laughed. The three-year-old girl jumped to her mother's lap – "Mommy, I want to open my presents, already!" – She demanded.
"Honey, you'll have to wait a little longer... You will open your presents tomorrow! And don't worry: you will love them!" – Zhane assured her.
"So, what do you guys want for Christmas, this year?" – Carlos' girlfriend, Amy, asked.
Cassie and TJ looked at each other and grinned.
"I think they are hiding something…" – Carlos said.
"Well… " – She started – "I think we might be getting our Christmas present later this year. "
TJ grinned and added – "Maybe in… July."
"No! You serious?" – Ashley questioned, with a smile.
"Do you know what they're talking about?" – Andros gave her a quizzical look.
"Andros, do you remember what I told you, some months ago, that made you decide to come live here?" – She asked him.
"That you were… OH! I got it! You're pregnant" – He said, turning to Cassie.
She nodded, happily. They all knew that they had been trying for many time to have a kid. "These are great news! Congratulations Cass!" – Ashley got up and hugged the former Pink Ranger.
"Thank you!"
After a while, when they were done with all the congrats, it was time for Zhane to answer Amy's question.
"I would like to have a new car… a Ferrari. In addition, maybe, Karone could buy me one of those things… so that I could mute Stella, when she's whining about a new toy."
They all laughed and Karone kicked him – "Zhane!"
"What? I think that kid is going to become the new version of that famous doll… Barbie, isn't it? She's getting spoiled, totally spoiled! Did you pay attention to her, earlier? She is only three and was asking for her presents." – He turned to the others – "Do you know what she said a few days ago?"
As they showed they had no idea, he continued – "She asked Karone to go with her, buy the presents. She wanted to choose them!"
More laughs. "Well, it's getting late. We should go home, Ash."
"Yeah, you're right." – Ashley nodded – "Thank you guys, for dinner. Merry Christmas!"
----
When they arrived to their house, Ashley asked him – "So, was it that bad?"
"No… I mean, sort of. I will have much time to get used to it."
She grinned. He put down the car keys, took off his jacket – "I'm going to bed. You coming?"
"I'm just going to put Cameron on her crib; I'll be there in a second." He nodded and turned around.
"Andros…" – She called.
"Yeah?"
"What do you want for Christmas?" – Ashley asked him, her amazing chocolate eyes fixed on his.
"I don't know… I never thought about it." – He said, in a lower voice.
She bit her lip and entered Cameron's room. He stood there for a minute, thinking about it, and then entered theirs.
When Ashley came to their room, she saw him already lying on the bed, with his back turned to her. She picked her pyjamas and went to the bathroom. What she didn't know was that, while she was thinking that he hated this day, Andros was smiling, waiting for her to come to bed and see the note he had left on her pillow.
Finally, she returned and was about to lie down, when she saw a paper standing on her pillow. She picked it and opened. Andros had written the lyrics of one Christmas song, the one she had been singing the whole week.
I don't want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need
I don't care about the presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
(…)
I just want you for my own
More than you can ever know
Make my wish come true, baby
All I want for Christmas is you
(…)
I just want you here tonight
Holdin' on to me so tight
What more can I do?
Baby all I want for Christmas is You.
"Oh Andros…" – She whispered. She climbed onto the bed and hugged him, tight -"I love you!" – She said.
He turned to her and stroked her hair – "I love you too, Ash! More than you could ever know."
A/N: Here's my Christmas present to all of you. Specially dedicated to Arwennicole, PhantomRogue, DarkHonda (Here's your CHANUKAH present mate!), SweetSas, TitaniumRanger (thanks for all the nice reviews!), Anyabar1987 (It was really nice to meet you) and Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow. I hope you like it! Merry Christmas, everybody! Oh, and please review!