Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Power Rangers and, in all honesty, I wouldn't want to own any of the seasons following Space.

A/N: I tried to get this out on Saturday, but my niece's birthday party was this weekend so things were a little bit hectic.

This is once again dedicated to my Dad in Iraq and also to my niece (not that she's old enough to be interested in going on-line to read), Happy Birthday Maya.

Andros and Ashley spent the next half an hour walking around the park hand in hand. There was an unspoken agreement that the heavier topics would be saved until they were truly alone. Instead, their time was spent laughing at stories of their childhoods.

Andros told her about himself, the other Rangers, and Zhane; what is was like growing up knowing that you would become a Power Ranger, especially when you knew you would be the team leader. He also told her some of the things Zhane did, and some of the things he had talked Andros and the others into. The stories had Ashley laughing so hard she was almost crying.

Ashley, for her part, told him about her adoptive parents and how kind they were. She shared tales of her older brother, Jeff, and her cousin, Kimberly, who had started teaching her martial arts and gymnastics when she was three.

It was Andros turn to laugh uproariously as Ashley told him that the reason they started training her so young was because she would not stop following the two. And that, if they did not help her she would just copy them and that this went on until got to the point that they would have to help her or she would have hurt herself because she was doing something wrong.

"Later on they told me that they enjoyed teaching me," she explained, "and I know that my later teachers appreciated it."

"What do you mean?"

"I listen and I'm very patient." She giggled a little at his look of confusion. "If my instructors told me to do something I would do it. I trusted them to know when to push me past my limit and when I really needed a break. They appreciated the fact that I didn't complain when they told me to sit out or take a break.

"A few years ago Jeff and Kim told me that I had spoiled them for all of their future students."

"Why?"

Andros smiled as he looked over at the girl walking beside him. This was the first time she really opened up and talked to him about her past. Ashley was completely relaxed and was leaning into him as they walked along. She looked up and smiled at his interest before turning back to the walkway and speaking once again.

"They both started tutoring students when they were around fourteen or fifteen. I'm not sure exactly when Kim started, my family had to move away from Angel Grove, where I grew up," she hurried to explain as she realized she had never told Andros where she lived on Earth, "we moved back a few years latter but by then Kim had moved away.

"Anyway, when they started teaching all of the kids wanted to skip the tedious stuff and get straight to the kicks and punches, or in Kim's case the back handsprings or getting on the gym equipment. The stuff they saw everyday on T.V., holovids," she corrected as Andros' eyebrows once again began to furrow, "and in movies. It made them miss me as a student because I would always listen and wait until my instructors thought I was ready to try something new."

"Huh, that's pretty much the exact opposite of Karone. When we started training she was always trying to do things before our teachers thought she was ready . . . she ended up with a lot of broken bones that way."

Ashley laughed as she pictured a seven year old Karone, in the little yellow jumpsuit she had seen in some of the holograms the Rangers had shown her at various points, trying to perform some of the moves they used in the battle that afternoon. The two continued walking toward Ashley's home as they both settled back into a comfortable silence.

"I had a good time . . . outside of the battling my aunt thing." Ashley chuckled when they reached her front door.

Andros sobered as he realized that the two were about to part ways for the evening.

"Come back to the Megaship with me." he blurted suddenly.

"Andros . . ." Ashley sighed as her shoulders drooped.

"Please, we'll make sure the Turbo's don't bother you." He kept talking as Ashley continued to look down-trodden. "I know the others will want to know how you're doing and Zhane doesn't know anything," here Ashley snorted softly at Andros' double meaning, causing him to smile in satisfaction before turning serious once more.

"I'll be up all night worrying about you if you stay here." Andros saw her moving to protest and cut her off softly before she could begin.

"I know you can take care of yourself, but with Divatox around and knowing you're here . . . I'll be worried." He finished lamely, shrugging his shoulders sheepishly.

Ashley looked him in the eye and saw that he truly was already worried about her. She did not have the heart to tell him that her aunt wanted her to become her apprentice, or something, of her own free will. Divatox had never just attacked her, nor did she try to talk more that once a day, and the likelihood that her aunt would try to kidnap her was extremely slim.

She was not sure why Divatox treated her differently; whether it was because she was her aunt or if there was something in her personality that she was unable to suppress around her niece. She thought it might be the latter, considering how Divatox treated Elgar, and it brought her some hope for the woman. But those were thoughts for another time.

Ashley closed her eyes and shook her head slightly to rid herself of her introspectiveness. She looked back up at her boyfriend and smiled crookedly as she rolled her eyes and sighed in defeat.

"Alright fine, I'll spend the next few days on the ship."

Andros let out a sigh of relief followed by a light blush as Ashley chuckled at his reaction. The teenage girl turned and pulled out the keys to her front door, still giggling every few seconds.

"Come in and have a seat." Ashley called over her shoulder as she walked through the door and made her way down the hallway leading to the bedrooms. "I'm just going to pack some things for the next few days."

Andros smiled at her retreating back as he passed by the hallway and went to sit on the sofa in her living room. Everything important was out in the open now and the entire team knew Ashley's secret.

Everything's downhill from here. He thought as he closed his eyes and relaxed into the couch.

He released a happy sigh as he settled in and closed his eyes while he waited. His mind began to wander, as it often did recently, toward the gorgeous brunette in the room a few meters away. Andros thought back over the couple of months; meeting her and how she had become a major part of his life so quickly.

The feelings he had for her had become almost overwhelming at times and he took the opportunity, while his teammates were all on the ship and the quite sounds of Ashley moving around and mumbling to herself relaxed him, to examine some of the more recent feelings he had not had time to process over the last twenty-four hours.

He went through the pain, loss, and confusion of the previous night; the anxiousness and frustration of the morning; the fear for her safety and pride in her abilities this afternoon; and the relief, happiness, and warmth of the last hour or so.

Throughout everything else one emotion overshadowed all the others, one he had been trying to name for a few weeks. His eyes shot open and he tensed slightly in astonishment, one thought going through his mind as Ashley walked back down the hall, a few traveling bags perched on her shoulders.

I'm in love with her.

A/N: So there is chapter 10. I'm sorry it wasn't as long as some of the other recent chapters have been but I thought that was just the absolutely perfect place to stop.

As always, thank you so much for the reviews, I really enjoy hearing back from everyone.

Until next week.