Disclaimer: Not mine

Chapter 3

Ashley and Andros stared in shock at Ash and her husband.

Another Andros.

"When - how did you-"

Ashley made a few attempts at speaking, but nothing coherent came out.

"No," Andros said, standing up and storming past them. "This is not possible."

His other self stopped him. "I'll explain it to you."

"Fine," Andros agreed sullenly. He really had no choice. It wasn't his house, and he had nowhere else to go. "But-"

"Sit," the other Andros said firmly.

Andros sat down again, still sitting as far away from Ashley as he could. This is not my future, he told himself. This is only an alternate reality. It is the future in an alternate reality. This is not my future. I will not love Ashley.

"Well, I think we all know each other," Ash said brightly.

Andros groaned, and the other Andros laughed softly.

"Remind you of anyone, Ash?"

Ash shook her head, not knowing how to respond. The Andros she knew was the same as the younger one sitting across from her in so many ways, yet he was a completely different person.

"So, are you two friends?" Ash asked carefully.

Ashley didn't reply, but Andros shook his head firmly.

The older Andros watched Ashley, seeing the hurt hidden in her eyes at Andros' quick answer. He wished he hadn't been so stubborn. Ash never mentioned it, but he knew that he'd hurt her.

"Hey," he said, offering Ashley his hand. She hesitated, then shook it quickly.

He glanced at his younger self.

"Okay, one of us has got to be Dros, or this will get more confusing that it already is. Which one do you want to be?"

"I haven't been called Dros in years," Andros said, doing his best to make it appear that Dros was only a childhood nickname that he had long since outgrown. He knew that Dros would see right through it, but he wasn't about to explain Karone and Zhane to Ashley.

"When did you two fall in love?" Ashley asked, finding her voice again.

Ash and Dros glanced at each other.

"If we told you, it would change things," Ash said finally.

"So you're not going to tell us anything?"

"No," Dros said flatly. "Nothing more than you need to know."

"How much do we need to know?" Ashley asked.

"Nothing," Dros said. "At least not about how we got together."

"How old are you?" Ashley was trying to figure out how old Ash had been when she'd given birth to her daughter.

"Twenty-three," Ash said.

"Is there anything that you can tell us about the future?" Ashley asked. "Anything that we should do differently?"

Dros hesitated. They had both made normal, human mistakes, but once they'd fallen in love, it didn't seem to matter, but there was one thing that he'd give anything to change . . . and couldn't, not without losing everything that he'd come to love, but if he could just warn them, let them brace themselves . . . Ash knew what he was thinking, and shook her head emphatically.

"No," she said firmly, her voice reverberating through his mind. "No, no, no, you can't."

"Ash-" Dros began, and then stopped, knowing in his heart that she was right.

Ash looked away, and Dros saw her lower lip trembling.

"Come here," he said softly. Tears started streaming down her cheeks, and she buried her face in his shoulder. Dros wrapped his arms protectively around her, holding her close as she cried.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her ear, kissing the top of her head gently. "You're right. Knowing changes too much."

"You were worth it all," Ash said. "I'm afraid to find out how we'd have ended up if it had never happened. We can't ruin it for them just because we think it would save them some pain."

"You're right, Ash," Dros told her softly. "Are you going to be all right?"

Ash's shoulders shook, but she took a deep breath and pulled away, and dried her tears. "I'll be all right," she muttered.

"Do you want to be alone for awhile?" Dros asked softly, wiping a few stray tears gently off her face.

Ash nodded. "Just for a few minutes," she whispered, her throat tightening again.

Dros watched her walk away. Ash was always present in his mind, and now he was feeling her pain. He'd do anything to take it all away from her, but he couldn't.

He sighed, and turned back to Andros and Ashley, hoping that they wouldn't ask him what had just happened. Andros had been staring at his hands the entire time, and Ashley had made a point of looking away, not wanting to see her other self being comforted by Dros. Something about them just seemed right.

"So . . . you want some dinner?" Dros tried. He wasn't the least bit hungry, and he had a feeling that they weren't either, but it would give him something to do. He didn't want to talk right now to anyone but Ash. His eyes flickered in the direction that she had gone.

"Go," Ashley said softly, and he looked at her in surprise. She shrugged.

"She's me," she said. "I guess I can feel her a little, but not as much as you can."

"How-"

"The way you look at her," Ashley said, not looking at him.

He nodded, wondering how he could have ever been so stupid as to think that he hated Ash. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

"Thank you," he said. "I'll be right back, but if you're hungry, you can try to cook something."

Andros watched Dros leave the room, looking for his wife. He didn't want to see himself being happy with Ashley. Of course, he wasn't Dros, and Ashley wasn't Ash, but it made little difference. He'd seen how much Dros hurt when Ash was hurting. If he was ever that aware of Ashley's emotions, he thought he'd kill himself to escape it.

"Want something to eat?" Ashley offered. She wasn't hungry, but it was better than sitting in silence thinking about Dros and Ash.

To her surprise, Andros looked up. "Can you cook?"

Ashley shrugged. "Wanna find out?"

Andros shook his head. "If it isn't poison, I'll eat it."

"What qualifies as poison?"

"If you cook something, I'll eat it, if you don't I'll wait," he said. "I'm not really hungry right now."

"Me either," Ashley said. "Want to watch TV?"

Apparently, Ashley was feeling as awkward as he was.

"I want to be alone," Andros said, much more harshly than he'd intended. He felt a

twinge of guilt at Ashley's stung look, but he didn't care. The last hour had been messing with his head.

Luckily, Dros and Ash returned then. Ash's eyes were red and slightly puffy, but other than that, she looked okay. Dros kept one arm wrapped around her waist, as if afraid that someone would take him from her.

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked.

"I'm fine," Ash assured her. "It's a long story . . . "

"One that happens to me?" Ashley asked softly.

Ash hesitated, and nodded. "To both of you. If our worlds are the same."

"What do we do now?" Ashley asked.

"Tomorrow, we'll see if we can find a mirror back into your own time," Dros said. "Technology's improved. We can see where you'd end up."

The little girl ran downstairs in her bright yellow pajamas. "Mommy, tell me a bedtime story."

"Okay," Ash agreed, scooping her daughter up in her arms.

"Can Daddy come too?" she asked.

Ash nodded, and looked at Andros and Ashley. "Do you mind?"

Ashley shook her head, and after a moment, Andros shook his once.

Ash and Dros went upstairs with their daughter, leaving Andros and Ashley sitting once again in awkward silence.

"Well, at least we'll get home," Ashley said, trying to fill the silence. "The others won't even have noticed that we're missing."

"That depends," Andros said, taking her seriously. "Time between dimensions is different. We could end up in our time a day after we left, or we could have not missed any time."

"Oh," Ashley said. "Well, then maybe they really won't have noticed that we were gone."

Andros didn't reply, and Ashley could tell that he was getting annoyed by her attempts to talk to him. She gave up, and they passed nearly an hour in stony silence, waiting for their older counterparts to return.

The sky outside had darkened completely by the time Ash and Dros returned, and neither Andros or Ashley had moved to turn on a light. They were nearly invisible in the darkness.

"Sorry we took so long," Dros said. "It takes her awhile to fall asleep sometimes."

"It's all right," Andros muttered.

"Are you guys tired?" Ash asked. "You can borrow some pajamas if you want. We only have one extra room, but if you don't want to share, one of you can sleep out here . . . "

"I'll share if you will," Ashley said reluctantly. She didn't want to be without someone from her world, even if that someone was Andros.

"Fine," Andros muttered, and Ashley glanced at him in surprise. She hadn't expected him to feel the same way.

"All right, then," Ash said, disappearing into her and Dros' bedroom. "I'll get you guys something to sleep in."

"I don't wear pajamas," Andros said stubbornly, and Dros stifled a laugh.

"I remember that," he said to Andros. "It seems so long ago . . . "

"Here you go," Ash said, tossing a pair of pajama pants and a loose yellow T-shirt to Ashley. "You can change in the bathroom, and shower, if you want."

"Thanks," Ashley said, grateful to get away from them all. By the time she emerged, her wet hair plastered to her head, Ash had disappeared, but Dros was still in the living room talking with Andros. It was weird to see him talk so much, Ashley realized.

"The extra bedroom's just down the hall," Dros said, pointing.

"Thanks," Ashley said. She was relieved to see that there were two beds. Taking the one farthrest from the door, she lay down, not the least bit tired. Soon after, she heard Andros come in. He went straight to bed, only stopping to take off his boots.

"Good night," Ashley said, not the least bit surprised when he didn't answer.

Dros stood outside their door for a moment, wishing that he could help them somehow. He sighed, and went to his room. There might be nothing that he could do for them, but there was something that he should have done a long time ago.

He climbed into bed just as Ash emerged from their bathroom. The scent of her shampoo filled his nose when she lay down next to him, resting her head on his lap.

"Ash?" he said softly, gently stroking her damp hair.

She craned her neck to look at him.

"Did I ever apologize for how I treated you those first few months?" he said.

Ash shook her head. "It's okay," she said.

"No, it's not okay," Dros said, carefully tucking a few stray wisps of hair behind her ear. His fingertips lovingly traced her scar, and for a moment, he remembered all that they had gone through together. "I was awful to you."

Ash caught his hand as he lifted it from her face. "It was six years ago. For the last five and a half years, I haven't even thought about that."

Dros leaned over and kissed the side of her head. "Ash, I love you."

Ash shifted slightly so that her head was on the pillow, and Dros lay down next to her.

"I love you too," Ash whispered.

She rolled over onto her left side, facing away from him. Dros pulled her close, his arms encircling her completely. He couldn't sleep without her in his arms, and she couldn't sleep without him holding her. Dros pulled the blankets up to her chin, and she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Ashley couldn't sleep. She could hear Andros tossing and turning, and she was tempted to do the same.

"Andros?" she said softly.

"Am I keeping you awake?" he said, not bothering to lower his voice. His voice was neither contrite or happy, just curious.

"I can't sleep," Ashley said. "This is just too weird."

"Then you've seen nothing of the universe," Andros informed her. As always, it seemed like he was talking down to her. When she didn't reply, he rolled over, and found that he could sleep.