Disclaimer: Not mine

Melissa: You're laughing? But it's so sad. :smiles innocently: I like cliffies. Yeah, that's pretty much what her parents were doing. You'll see about Armin and Paige in this chapter. Kinda. :P

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Okay, I'll send you the story right away. Don't kill yourself. That's bad. But if you decide to anyway, remember to ... wait, I shouldn't be giving you tips on suicide. Moving on... I'll keep your secret. Just let me know when Jenny goes bye-bye. :P

DizneeDol: Here's some more. Of course I'll keep going, I'm not just going to stop in the middle. :P

the-power-of-love: Thanks. :P

Jenny: Hmmm, should I forgive you? I'll need to think about that one. But by the time I decide, your soul will probably be gone, so what's the point. I think AH/AY was trying to sell your soul to the devil so the devil would make her either a better writer or a better driver. :P Follow the Stars was really what gave me all my fame? I didn't know that. I thought it was Mirror, Mirror. The original one will be on AH/AY's site, so if you miss it, you can go read it there. Do I hate you? I'll decide after I read your super long review for Unsealed Fate. :P

Chapter 5

Earth

When Ashely opened her eyes, she found herself in a room unfamiliar but easily recognizable. Ashley groaned as she took in the dull walls and the uncomfortable bed she was in, and wrinkled her nose at the smell of twenty different disinfectants. She was in the hospital.

Her eyes landed on her parents, who were staring down at her in anxious worry, and she did her best not to groan again. They weren't going to take it well when she told them that she needed to leave for KO-35 again immediately. She had to get to Karone and Zhane.

"Ashley, honey, how are you feeling?" her mother demanded. "What happened?"

"I don't know what happened," Ashley lied. "But I feel fine. Can I get out of here now?"

"Ashley, you went into some kind of fit," Mr. Hammond said. "You can't just walk out of the hospital."

"Why not?" Ashley challeneged. "There's nothing wrong with my legs."

"Get some rest," Mrs. Hammond ordered. "Besides, where would you go?"

"Nowhere," Ashley sighed. "I just really hate hospitals."

"We know, sweetheart," Mrs. Hammond said, "and we'll get you out of here as soon as we can."

"You might even have to extend your vacation here," her father added. "Won't that be fun?"

Ashley stared at him blankly for a second, and then reached for her communicator. Before any more time passed, she had to get to Zhane and Karone. She started when she realized that it was gone. Worse, her ring finger was bare.

Her parents watched her reaction, shifting uncomfortably. "The hospital thought you might be more comfortable with your communicator off."

"And I suppose they took my engagement ring, too?" Ashley asked sarcastically, furious. "Give it back!"

"You won't be needing it, young lady," her father said sternly.

"Get out!" Ashley shouted, tears in her eyes. "Give me back my ring or get out!"

"We'll be by to visit you later," her mother assured her as her parents both exited the room. Ashley stared after them in shock. How could they have done that? They were her parents.

Ashley drew her knees up to her chin, and let her face fall forward, tears dropping steadily from her eyes. Her left arm pillowed her head while her right hand clutched the necklace Andros had given her for her seventeenth birthday. Her parents hadn't taken that; they probably didn't know who it was from, and for that Ashley was unspeakably glad. She had never taken that necklace off, and she'd been intending to never remove her engagement ring either.

Sad as she was right now, Ashley could still smile at the memory of the day Andros had proposed to her, on the morning of her eighteenth birthday. She and the other rangers had been on KO-35 for the last month, helping them rebuild, and while she and Andros had grown closer than ever, she hadn't dared to dream that he'd want to spend his life with her.

"Morning, Ash," Andros said as Ashley took a seat across from him.

"Morning," she replied.

He went back to eating his breakfast. She watched him, unblinking, until finally he said, "What?"

"Do you know what today is?" Ashley asked, hiding a smile.

Andros pretended to think about it. "Umm..."

"Andros!"

"Happy birthday, Ash," he said. He smiled. "Did I ever tell you that we don't celebrate birthdays on KO-35?"

Ashley laughed. "Last year. Right before you gave me this," she said, fingering the necklace that she hadn't taken off since that day.

"Oh," Andros said.

"Ashley?"

"Yeah?"

Andros got up, and took Ashley by the hand, pulling her to her feet. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," Ashley replied, as Andros wrapped his arms around her, brushing his lips gently over hers.

Taking a deep breath, Andros released her and reached into his pocket, removing a small velvet box. Opening it, he dropped to one knee before her, and looked up at her, his eyes shining with the love he felt for her. Ashley stared at him open-mouthed.

"Ashley, will you marry me?" he asked.

Ashley's mouth opened and closed several times before she could say anything. Swallowing hard, she somehow managed to gasp out, "Yes," before sinking to the floor next to him and throwing her arms around his neck.

She started crying as Andros slipped the precious diamond over her finger. "It's beautiful."

"It's not nearly as beautiful as you are," Andros told her seriously.

Ashley laughed through her tears as he kissed her fingers. Andros pulled her to her feet with a smile, the happiness in his eyes matching what she felt.

"Come here," Andros said softly, wiping her tears away. He kissed her, gently at first, then again and again with growing intensity.

"I love you," Ashley whispered.

"I love you so much," he whispered back.

Ashley stared at her hand, crying quietly. There was a knock at the door, and she looked up, ready to order her parents out again. She sighed with relief when she saw it wasn't them.

A doctor that looked only a few years older than herself poked her head into the room. "I'll be with you in a minute," she said. "And your brother wants to know if he can come in."

Ashley nodded her head wordlessly, and her brother slipped quietly into the room.

"Hey, Ashy," he said, reverting to the childhood nickname she'd always despised. "How are you?"

"Jeff, Mom and Dad took my communicator," Ashley said, her voice quiet. "I need you to get it for me."

"I'll try," he said. "Ash, what's going on?"

"Can you try to get my engagement ring from them, too?"

"They took your ring?" Jeff asked, shocked. "I never thought they'd do something that low."

"Neither did I," Ashley muttered.

"I'll try, Ash," Jeff said, but he looked dubious. "What's going on? You know what's wrong with you, don't you?"

"There's nothing wrong with me," Ashley insisted.

"Ashley, you were screaming in pain for almost five minutes."

"I know," Ashley said impatiently, "but it's not because I was having some kind of a seizure or anything." She sighed. "I've told you before how Andros and I can talk telepathically, right?"

Jeff nodded. "But what-"

"Just before it happened, I heard him talking to me," Ashley hurried on. "He was asking me to save him. Wherever he is, he's being tortured, and I'm just feeling it too."

"Ashley," Jeff began, and then sighed. "I have a bad feeling about this, but I'll help you."

"Thank you," Ashley said fervently. "All I want to do is get out of here and get to the Megaship."

"You will do no such thing."

"I thought I told you to leave," Ashley said through gritted teeth as her parents entered the room again.

"We did," her mother said cheerfully. "But we're back now, and there is no way that we're about to let you go after that boy who -"

"Don't you dare say that he ran away one more time," Ashley cried.

"You are not going after that boy who ran away," Mr. Hammond said. "And that's final."

"Dad, you can't just order her around like that," Jeff said quietly, coming to her defense.

The door opened again, and the doctor stepped into the room.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Ashley insisted. "When can I go home?"

"Your parents and your brother told me that you were having some kind of a fit," the doctor told her. "But it wasn't a seizure, and we can't find anything else that's wrong with you. I'd like to keep you overnight for observation, but we'll release you first thing in the morning."

"Okay," Ashley agreed. Overnight was better than nothing.

"Oh, and don't worry," the doctor added, almost as an afterthought, glancing at the chart in her hand, "there was no damage done to the baby."

Ashley choked. "Baby?"

Her words were echoed a moment later by her parents, who weren't looking pleased.

"Yes, you're three months pregnant," she was informed. "You didn't know?"

Ashley shook her head numbly, placing both hands on her abdomen. It was slightly swollen, but she hadn't noticed anything before.

"Wow," she murmured inaudibly, spreading her fingers to feel her entire stomach. "Thank you, doctor."

"You slept with him?" her mother burst out the moment the doctor left. "What's wrong with you?"

"I love him," Ashley snapped defensively.

"Wake up, Ashley," her mother snapped back, "and stop wondering why he left. He got what he wanted from you, that's all."

"You don't know him," Ashley said, glancing anxiously at the clock. It was only two in the afternoon. There was no way she could wait until morning, at least not anymore.

"And there's no reason why you should," her father said sternly. "You should have known better."

Her mother nodded her agreement. "Look at the situation you've gotten yourself into. You're just barely eighteen, you're pregnant, and the father's run away."

"Stop saying that!" Ashley shouted. "I'm trying to think."

"What's there to think about?" her mother demanded. "There's only one thing that you can do. You'll get an abortion-"

"No, I won't," Ashley interrupted, wrapping her arms around her stomach protectively. "I'm not killing our child."

"Our child?" her mother repeated. "Do you really think that boy is going to show up again just to raise a child that he didn't want?"

"Andros wouldn't leave me because I was pregnant!" Ashley cried. "And he didn't run away. Someone took him."

"Ashley-" Mr. Hammond began.

"Dad," Jeff interrupted, "you and Mom can't tell her what to do anymore. And you can't just take her stuff away either," he added. "Give it back."

"Please, just give me my communicator," Ashley said. "I need to tell Zhane and Karone where I am."

"Do I look that stupid?" her father asked her. "If I hand you that thing, you'll be gone."

"I can't," Ashley mumbled. "Teleportation is dangerous for the unborn child."

Her father gave her a skeptical look, and Ashley hoped he'd believe her. He pulled her communicator out of his pocket slowly, and hesitated. Jeff reached over and tugged both the communicator and Ashley's ring from his grasp, and handed them to his sister over their parents objections.

"Invite me to the wedding, will you?" he said as Ashley sild the ring back over her finger, breathing more easily.

"I will," Ashley said, giving him a small smile. "Thank you."

She slipped the communicator back onto her wrist and hit the button to teleport herself back to the Megaship. The hospital vanished in a sparkle of light, and she found herself standing on the bridge of the Astro Megaship.

"Deca, set a course for KO-35," were the first words out of her mouth. "Wake me up when we get there."

Without another word, Ashley turned around and went to her room as quickly as she could, and collapsed on her bed in tears. Earth could never be her home anymore, and she truly didn't care. All she cared about was finding Andros, and raising their child together.