Andrea felt certain that her face had never glowed so brightly before. She forced her mouth into what she hoped was a seductive smirk, and prayed for something to say. Even though nothing came into her mind, she opened her mouth in the hopes that the familiar movement would result in speech.

"What were you thinking? 'Can I see him?' Moron!"

Billy's own seductive smile quickly fell, as did Andrea's. Inwardly Andrea told herself to thank Melanie for the outburst. Had the brunette not chosen that moment to begin arguing with herself outside the door it would have become painfully obvious that Andrea had no response to Billy's provocative suggestion.

And so the moment had passed them by again. Hopefully the next time it decided to stop by Andrea would be more prepared to control the conversation. A glance into Billy's green eyes told her that he was hoping something similar.

Then the unexpected came:

"Erin has a morpher!"

"What?"

"Erin. She tried to morph. You told her to morph. Since when is there a sixth Zeo crystal?" The words spilled out of him so quickly that the woman had to make him speak again.

"You've been gone a while--"

"Not again--"

"A lot has happened," she motioned to the room in which they were now standing, just one fraction of the repairs they had made in Billy's absence.

All his brilliant scientific mind could think of was: "Oh."

"Erin found it in the rubble while they were salvaging what was left…." She paused. "She called me, wanted me to know about their work, and about the crystal. I didn't want to come back, but..."

"But what?"

"I'd been broken for so long. I thought that maybe if I could rebuild the Command Center, I could rebuild myself."

flashback>>

This had been his room. No stakes were claimed, but everyone knew it was his territory. No one else would have dared to touch the shining machines and crystalline beakers. No one but Andrea. True, she had been his assistant; that alone gave her the privilege of fiddling with knobs and toggles until her fingers ached. But what about now? Now that he was gone? It had been two months, and still no one but she ever entered this lab. She sat alone at the counter, imagining him sitting across from her--where he always used to sit.

"Andy?" Tommy called in.

"How can a room so full of light feel so dark?"

"Come on outside." He wouldn't enter. "We're going to go for lunch with Jason."

"You go on ahead," she signed. "I'll catch up."

"Sure," he nodded sadly.

Andrea stood. She took one last walk around the room, passing her hand across everything. Then she went to the Power Chamber.

"Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi! I thought we'd never see you out of that lab!" Alpha greeted her.

"Indeed," Zordon boomed in his time warp. "You have been spending much time grieving Billy's departure."

"I just miss him. I'm fine." She smiled, brightly, artificially.

"I have something to present to you."

Alpha scurried into another room.

"Since the destruction of the original power coins, Billy, Alpha, and I have been working to forge their remaining energies into a new power." What Zordon was now telling her was exciting and amazing, yet she could focus on was her lover's name echoing through the Power Chamber.

"Andrea," Zordon boomed dramatically. "I present you with the Platinum Power Gem."

Behind her, Alpha clasped a delicate chain around her neck. She looked at the pendant, purple and platinum, a letter 'P' in the center. Energy pulsed through her.

"The Platinum Power Gem gives you power to control the zords Titanus and Tor."

"Thank you, Zordon." She smiled, though inside she felt hollow.

"Now, I believe you wish to join the others at the Youth Center."

"Yes," she smiled again at the Power Chamber before it disappeared into a blur of shimmering electricity.

From this deserted corner of the Youth Center, Andrea could hear the laughter of her friends. She leaned on the wall, exhausted, listening to the sound. They were Power Rangers. She had once been a Ranger, and was now one again. Billy had been a Ranger. Her mind spoke to her in sweet tones about the world she would have lived in had it not been for the Rangers. Her heart wouldn't be broken, it wouldn't hurt just to breathe.

"It's all their fault," she whispered.

She poked her head out just far enough to see Jason. He was pale, tired; he was exhausted , same as she. Being a Ranger nearly killed him.

Falling back into the corner, she looked at the pendant. "I don't want to be a Ranger again, look what it's done to me. I should return this to Zordon."

Wait! her mind cried. If you return it to Zordon, he's just going to find someone else to give it to; someone who doesn't know what it will do to her life.

"You're right," Andrea realized. "I can't let that happen to someone else. But what do I do? Zordon will try to call on me…."

Her mind spoke again: Run.

When Andrea never showed up at the Youth Center, no one was really worried. They returned to the Command Center, bring Jason with them. Andrea didn't come to greet them; she wasn't in the lab; she didn't respond to her communicator. Andrea had vanished. Later that week Erin received the communicator in the mail; and a letter apologizing for her hasty departure, but offering no explanation. They all knew why she left; they just didn't know if she would ever find her way back.