Snippets
Deeper
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from any of the Power Rangers series, and I'm not making any money from this fic
Summary: After returning to Earth, Andros and Ashley finally get some time alone together
Author's Note: Well... Perhaps Snippets isn't exactly the right word. But these are basically stories of no more than 600 words. If anyone has any plot ideas/pairings that they want me to write, just ask
Pairing(s): Andros/Ashley
Series: Space Rangers
Andros and Ashley were finally alone together.
The former yellow ranger and red ranger hadn't been alone since they had said goodbye on KO-35. Ashley had been relieved and happy when Andros had decided to come back to Earth with them, bringing Zhane and Karone with him.
The others - Cassie, Carlos, and TJ - had all gone home. Karone and Zhane had disappeared off together. Ashley had expected Andros to leave as well, but the former red ranger was looking at some of the pictures on the wall.
"Do you want a soda or something?" Ashley asked. She really wanted to talk to Andros about them, but figured that that conversation could probably wait as Andros seemed to be in no hurry to leave.
"Hm?" Andros glanced up. "Oh. No, thank you."
"Ok," Ashley said softly. She laced her hands behind her back, feeling suddenly and inexplicably shy. It had been a while since she and Andros had been able to be alone together without the fear of being interrupted by one of many monsters. Of course, now that they were finally alone, Ashley didn't know what to say.
"Would you prefer me to go?" Andros asked suddenly. "I must be keeping you up."
Ashley shook her head. "You're not," she responded. "I wouldn't be able to sleep now anyway."
The former red ranger gave a small smile. "I guess it's because we haven't been exhausted in a battle."
Ashley laughed softly. "That's probably it," she agreed. "I had to get used to being a Power Ranger... Now I've got to get used to not being one."
"Same here."
Silence fell between them, though it wasn't awkward. There was no need to fill it up with words. Ashley broke it by asking, "Why did you come back to Earth with us?"
"I told you," Andros answered. "My home isn't on KO-35... It's with you guys, wherever you are."
The former yellow ranger tried not to let her disappointment show. She'd been kind of hoping that Andros had come back because of her as well. She knew that he cared deeply for her, even though they hadn't really talked about their feelings for each other. But she didn't know if their relationship would progress any further, even though Ashley knew she wanted it to.
This time, the silence between them felt awkward. Andros somehow got the feeling that something he'd said had bothered Ashley, but he wasn't sure what.
The closest we came to talking about our feelings was when I left to try and get to Karone, Andros remembered. We could probably have talked on KO-35... But neither of us did. We both thought we were saying goodbye then.
Images sped through the former red ranger's mind. He remembered how jealous he had felt when Ashley had pretended that Carlos was her boyfriend. He also remembered how bad he had felt when he had wondered if he would ever see Ashley again.
He didn't want to take the chance of losing her before he could tell her how he felt.
Ashley had been staring at the floor, but she looked up as she heard Andros approach her. His arms enfolded her in a warm embrace, and Ashley hugged him tightly.
"I love you, Ashley," Andros whispered just before his lips touched hers.
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