In Order pt. 6

A/N: I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who has reviewed…

 bsktballchik,

 Mana,

 amethyst8,

 swimmboardergurl, and

 sarah

I appreciate the feedback A LOT   ^U^    Also, thanks a lot for pointing out some deficiencies in the story and what ever I could, I fixed. (sorry bstballchik, I couldn't get around the whole cell phone and space thing, I tried though! Lol)  swimmboardergurl: the Carlos part is confusing, I know, but I came up with an idea that I think will work good in the story and it'll kinda explain everything.  I just hope your not a big Carlos fan  * cringes *   ALSO thanks a bunch for pointing out the text messaging, Cassie hearing the conversation thing… it's fixed.  See, I cleaned up about every chapter and then reposted them before I posted chapter 5.  The text-messaging was explained in the old chapter 4, but when I did some cleaning that part got cut and I didn't realize it when I posted chapter 5.  The correction was put into chapter 5, so you can see. Thanks for noticing! And, for Mana, I added more fighting (tried to anyway, fighting sequences aren't my strong suit ^_^).

Okay, now on with the story and the most anticipated Ashley/Andros chapter!  

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Chapter 5: Love and War

ON BOARD THE ASTROMEGASHIP

            Ashley Hammond walked along the corridors of the Astromegaship, trailing her hand along the wall behind her.  Normally she would find a quiet period on the ship to be relaxing.  To listen to the soft hum of the engine and watch the stars twinkling through the viewing windows could put her to sleep in a heartbeat.  But today, the ship's quietness was eerie and made her feel uneasy. 

She paused for a moment as a wave of nausea rippled through her stomach and the pain ran it's course from the center of her abdomen to the tips of her fingers and toes.  It wasn't as bad as the last time this happened, or the time before that.  At least the aftershocks seemed to be dying down.  Zhane would have a conniption fit if he found out she was wondering around the ship when he had just about banned her, Carlos, and Andros to their quarters.  She never saw him so scared as when the three had doubled over in pain in the command shortly after their conversation with TJ.  A short and thorough examination in the infirmary informed them that they were having aftershocks from the electrical pulse that Wasvat had sent coursing through their bodies after TJ and Cassie had fled for their lives.  It was believed that the electricity causing the pain would eventually dissipate, and that the process would be less risky and more comfortable if they were resting.  Unfortunately for Zhane, this didn't go over to well with the afflicted rangers.  Unfortunately for the rangers, Zhane's rarely-used temper could be extremely… persuasive.  Ashley had never seem the silver ranger so adamant or, to be quite frank, scary.  Perhaps it was the fact that he had never even raised his voice to them before, but the intense red color in his face and his intimidating stature convinced them that perhaps rest was best for their weary bodies. 

Buy Ashley couldn't rest.  Instead, she aimlessly wandered around the ship, completely aware that D.E.C.A. was watching her every move.  She found the presence of the on-board computer reassuring, knowing that, while the computer respected her enough to allow her a few moments of peace to clear her mind, should Ashley need any assistance D.E.C.A. would not hesitate to alert Zhane to her distress. 

            The yellow ranger wasn't sure of where she was going and she really didn't care, so long as it was far away from her mean-tempered comrade.  She really didn't need to hear a lecture right now.  Ashley had her head down as she thought of what Cassie and TJ must be going through at that moment and she didn't notice she was right on a collision course into the black ranger, Carlos Valertes. 

*WHACK * The friends walked straight into each other and fell onto the floor. 

"Ouch," Carlos said, rubbing his chest.  "Damn, Ash, you have a hard forehead."

"Foreheads are supposed to be hard.  Your chin, on the other hand, could stand to be sanded down some," Ashley countered, while massaging the top of her head.  Sometimes being short was a bad thing. 

Carlos stooped down and started to pick up the numerous pieces of paper that he had been carrying in his arms before the head-on collision, which were scattered all over the floor.  Ashley tried to help but he wouldn't let her, saying, "I have it.  Don't bother." 

"Um, alright," she said, hesitantly.  She paused, debating whether or not to ignore Carlos and help or simply leave the black ranger alone.  She knelt down on the floor, eye-level with her best friend.  Her and Carlos had been friends since they were toddlers and she knew when something was wrong with him.  At the moment, something was very wrong, indeed.  "Carlos, is something bothering you?"

"No," came the very curt reply.

Ashley waited, not knowing how to talk to him.  When he didn't say anything else, she said, "You know that if you ever need to talk to someone, I'm more than happy to listen."

"Okay." 

He finished gathering up the papers, one of which Ashley could see was a map.  Sensing that Carlos wasn't in the mood to chat or answer any questions, she filed that fact away to ask him about later.  She slowly turned and began to walk away when she heard Carlos clear his throat.  She turned back around expectantly.

"Look, Ash, I'm sorry.  I don't mean to be so… mean.  I'm just in a very weird mood, I guess," he said, shuffling his feet and looking down.

Ashley lightly laughed, and said, "Are you pms-ing again?  Honestly, Carlos…"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, I just can't help it.  This happens to me every month." he replied.  They both cracked up laughing.  "Oh, shhh, shhh, shhh…"  Carlos put a finger to his lips, while trying not to laugh.  "Speaking of mood-swings…"

"Oh, right.  We don't want to bring the hounds of hell down on us again."

"D.E.C.A. won't say anything to him, do you think?"

"No," Ashley said, shaking her head.  "Just don't pass out or go into a seizure-…"

"Or wander around too long," the on-board computer's voice rang out in the hallway.

"Alright, D.E.C.A., I'm on my way back to my quarters right now," Carlos laughed, looking up at the camera that was mounted on the wall, one of many that served as D.E.C.A.'s eyes aboard the ship.  Then he became serious and before leaving Ashley in the corridor, he said, "Really, Ash, I'm sorry." 

She leaned forward and captured him in a hug.  "It's okay.  We're all under a lot of stress."

He smiled and waved goodbye and then set off down the corridor towards his quarters.  As he walked, his mind went over the information that he was carrying in his arms.  He was very glad that Ashley hadn't asked him about what was on the papers because he honestly wasn't sure how he would respond.  He was certain she had seen the map but she hadn't said anything so maybe she didn't realize that it was a map of the caves at Angel Grove Beach.

Ashley watched him walk away down the corridor and then sighed and headed in the opposite direction, her mind now set on where she going.  The conversation with Carlos had made it clear- they were all hurting and they were all dealing with it in different ways.  Zhane was angry, Carlos was depressed, and she realized that she was doing everything in her power to distract herself.  The only one that she hadn't really felt out yet was Andros and from what she had seen so far, he was taking it the hardest.  His vacant expression during his recounting of what had happened to the first yellow Astro Ranger was haunting her and she couldn't help but think that maybe he had had feelings for this 'girl'.  'The girl'… that was how he had referred to Ashley's predecessor.  There was no name, just 'girl'.  He also hadn't mentioned how it was that Wasvat had managed to drive her insane.  What did that bastard do to her to make her commit suicide a year later?  Ashley wasn't going to force him to talk about it, if he didn't want to.  Something told her that he wanted to, though.

A few short minutes later, Ashley found herself standing outside Andros' quarters.  She took a deep breath and knocked.  When there was no answer, she knocked again then called out to him.  "Andros, can I come in?" she asked, unaware that Andros was coming down the corridor, right behind her.  "I know that right now is hard on everyone but I think we all can get through this as long was we stick together.  We have to, for Cassie."  Still, there was no answer.  Concerned that D.E.C.A. might feel that Ashley had been out a bit longer than she should have and alert Zhane, she started to turn to head back to her quarters.  She turned and bumped right into Andros.  Laughing, she said, "I really have to stop doing that."

"Doing what?" Andros asked.  "And, might I ask what you're doing standing outside my quarters, talking to my door?"  He looked amused, which helped Ashley relax.  She was worried that he might be angry with her.

"Well, I seem to keep running into people, literally," she said.  Andros arched his eyebrow at this, and she continued, "And I thought I was talking to you."

"Wow, we really need to get your eyes checked," he said, playfully.

"Ha ha, very funny," she laughed, lightly punching his arm.

Andros looked suspiciously down both directions of the corridor and then whispered, "I think D.E.C.A.'s going to sic Zhane on me any second, so let's go inside."

"Alright," she whispered back.  Andros leaned around her and entered the code to open the door to his quarters.  They quickly walked in and shut the door behind them.

Ashley sat down on the chair at his desk and looked around the neat room.  She'd come to Andros' quarters a few times to fetch him for a meal or to go down to Earth, but she had never actually been inside long enough to really see it.  It was surprisingly a bit more relaxed than she would have thought.  It was organized but not to the point of obsessive compulsive.  Her eyes fell on a picture sitting on a table next to his bed.  She reached over and picked it up, then looked down to find the happy faces of Zhane, Karone, and Andros as children staring up at her. She smiled and put it back.  "You three were adorable."

"That was taken shortly before she was kidnapped," Andros said from his bed, while he pulled out some sandwiches from a bag he had slung over his shoulder.  Ashley had been so startled by Andros' sudden appearance she hadn't even noticed that he had a bag with him.

"Andros, what were you doing out in the corridors?" she asked, as she watched him remove 3 sandwiches from his bag, along with a jug of juice.

"I had the… um… what do call them?  The mungies?"

Ashley laughed.  "The munchies?"

"Yeah, that's it.  And I wanted to go for a walk.  D.E.C.A. was fine with me getting food, but once I started to wander, she started to make threats."  He half-laughed then sighed and sat down on the bed.  "I needed to think."

"Do you need to talk?"

Once again, he sighed.  "I need to eat."

"Then talk?"

He smiled, but he had a distant look in his eyes.  "Then talk."  He picked up a sandwich and offered it to Ashley.  "Egg salad.  Your favorite."

Ashley gave an exaggerated evil laugh and said, "I have corrupted you with egg salad sandwiches.  I now control your brain!"

Andros laughed and patted the bed next to him.

The pair sat next to each other and finished eating in silence.  When all three sandwiches were gone, one split down the middle to share, and the jug of juice empty, Ashley finally spoke again.  "Andros, what was her name?"

"Roxurel, but she was known to her friends as Roxi," he said quietly.

Ashley was shocked and elated.  She didn't expect Andros to be so open.  "Why didn't you call her by her name?" she asked, taking his hand and trying to make it less painful for him.

He said, "I guess not saying her name makes it less personal.  I can deal with it better."

"I don't want to intrude and you don't have to answer this," she said hastily.  "But, um… how personal was it?"

"You mean did I have feelings for her?"

Ashley nodded.

"No, she was about 2 years younger than me and my complete opposite.  I thought of her more as a little sister than anything else."

"So when you found out she was dead, it was like losing Karone all over again," Ashley said, squeezing his hand reassuringly.  "How did he do it?  How did he drive her mad?"  When Andros was silent, she promptly apologized.  "I don't mean to pry, and if you don't want to talk about it-…"

"No, I want to.  I need to talk about it."  He took a deep breath and pushed on.  "He captured the pink, black, and blue rangers, along with Roxi.  They were tortured and killed in front of her.  We were able to draw Wasvat out and attack him.  We weakened him severely and he retreated.  When we found them-," he paused, and drew a shuddering breath.  "When we found them, the other rangers were in pieces and Roxi was cowering in a corner rocking back and forth and sobbing hysterically."

Ashley let go of Andros' hand reached over to pull him to her.  There was nothing she could possibly say at that moment so she just held him as he started to cry.  After a few minutes, she slowly pulled away from him and stood up.  She cleared away the wrappers from the sandwiches and moved the juice jug onto the desk.  Then she kneeled down on the floor and removed Andros' boots.  Next, she pulled off this uniform jacket and shirt, folded them nicely, and set them aside. 

The entire time, Andros simply sat on the bed, numb and exhausted.  He barely noticed as Ashley removed his shirt and boots.  He finally realized what she was doing when she pulled back his sheets as best she could with him sitting on them and helped him to get under the covers.  She started to move towards the door when he grabbed her hand, pulling her back.  Understanding the unspoken command, Ashley pulled off her own boots and jacket and was about to get into the bed with Andros when he climbed out again.  "You're going to be uncomfortable."  He opened up his dresser and pulled out one of his civilian shirts and a pair of cotton sleeping pants.  "These may be a bit big but they're better than a uniform."  Ashley smiled and went into his bathroom to change. 

When she came out, Andros too was in a pair of sleeping pants (and nothing else, she noticed with a tingle) and waiting patiently for her.  They climbed in under the covers and as she relished the feel of his bare skin under her cheek as she rested her head on his chest after kissing it a few times. 

As their time alone wore on, the pair became much more adventuresome with their roaming hands and lips.  When they finally fell asleep, all of the clothes they had worn to bed were strewn about the floor and they were curled up, a mass of arms and legs as if they were one being.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A/N: so, is that satisfactory for all of you Andros/Ashley supporters? I tried my best w/o it becoming NC-17 ^_^.

Next chapter- more TJ/Cassie! And I'll try to get in another Andros/Ashley chapter plus some of those smiles and special looks…