Disclaimer: If I haven't said it's mine, then it belongs to Saban or Disney or whoever.
Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow/ Marieke: I love making Andros so sweet. That might be part of the reason he ends up saving Ashley at times when she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but that wasn't one of those times. No, they're not drugging their kids, sorry... and I already explained why I can't kill Ashley. Stupid bonding for life. :P You stole a T-shirt?
Juzblue: Yup, they're together again. Everything can be happy now...
Mz. Daydream: They acknowledge Ashley as their mother, but they're still a little bit weirded out by the whole thing. Ashley won't find out until the next chapter, since she's just a little out of it. :P
PinkRanger4Evr: I actually did update soon.
Jenny: Yeah, I've read what Marieke has so far. I'm not quite sure how she stole your identity, but whatever you need to think... :P See, I gave Ximena some strong points. :P
Chapter 20
"Karone? Zhane?"
"Andros!"
Zhane answered first, and Andros spoke to him, but he knew very well that Karone was listening in on the entire conversation.
"We're on our way back," he told them.
"You're what?"
"It's a long story," Andros said tiredly. "I'll explain it all later. I need a favor."
"Sure."
"Ashley doesn't look so good," Andros said, brushing a few strands of hair back from Ashley's face as she dozed fitfully. Every few minutes, she would snap awake, and then slowly drift off again.
"And you want your kids as far away from the medical bay as it's possible for them to be?" Zhane finished knowingly. "Don't worry about it... How bad is she?"
"She'll live," Andros said, gazing at Ashley's sleeping form. "But she's beaten up pretty badly, and completely exhausted."
"And you?" Karone asked.
"Ashley's worse off than I am," he said. "Don't worry about me."
"Uh-huh," Karone said.
Andros started to protest, but Ashley stirred slightly, and he quickly cut the conversation, turning his attention to Ashley instead. "Ash?"
"Andros," she whispered, burying her face in his chest, comforted by the warmth of his body. "I love you."
"I love you too, Ash," he whispered back, gently kissing the top of her head. "I love you so much, and I'm never letting you out of my sight again."
Ashley laughed weakly at that, a faint smile appearing on her bruised face. "I think I can live with that."
"Just as long as you live," Andros said fiercely.
"I will," she promised him. "If you will."
"I will," he said quietly, resisting the urge to crush her in his arms. "You can go back to sleep if you want."
"I don't want to," she muttered, looking away before Andros could see the haunted look in her eyes. "I keep seeing all those people... and I couldn't help them..."
"We'll go back, Ash," he assured her. "As soon as KO-35's safe, we'll go back and free all those people, I promise."
"Thank you," she said softly, still not meeting his eye. "There was a little boy there, younger than Aidan... he shouldn't have been there."
"None of them should have," Andros said, stroking her cheek. "Don't worry about them for a few days, Ashley. Worry about yourself."
"The Megaship is in view," Skylar announced. "Um, Tempest, maybe you should be the one to hail them. Ryan'll probably shoot us out of the sky otherwise."
"Probably," Tempest agreed, fiddling with the comm as Ximena and Andros helped Ashley to her feet.
"Tempest!" Mira exclaimed the instant the comm screen snapped to life. "What happened?"
"I'll explain in a minute," Tempest said. "Let us dock the shuttle?"
"Us?" Mira's eyes drifted past Tempest. "Oh."
"No," Ryan snapped, coming up beside her.
"Tell Deca to begin docking maneuvers," Tempest said, paying no attention to her brother.
"Tempest-"
"It's my ship," Andros snapped at them, his temper aggravated by all the time they were wasting. He had a hunch Ashley shouldn't wait to see a doctor. "Dock the shuttle."
A moment later, he was stumbling off of the shuttle onto the Megaship with Ashley in his arms, Tempest, Skylar, and Ximena right behind him. Karone ran up to them, stopping short the instant she saw Ashley.
"Medical bay, now," she said firmly. "Mira, find that pink ranger who happens to be a doctor."
Mira nodded and ran off as Andros followed Karone slowly down the corridors, careful not to jolt Ashley's body. She was still awake, but he could tell it was a struggle for her, and the glazed look in her eye told him that she needed rest very badly.
"I'm Dana," the blond woman waiting for them in the medical bay introduced herself. Her eyes widened slightly at Ashley's appearance, but she hastened to say, "She'll be all right."
"Don't leave," Ashley mumbled, her blistered fingers clamping down weakly over Andros's as he set her down carefully on a patient bed.
Andros brushed his fingers over Ashley's cheek. "I'm not going anywhere Ash," he murmured in her ear. "Don't worry, I'll stay right here with you."
He glanced at Dana, who was busy assembling a pile of bandages and various medical supplies. "Let me help you."
She hesitated, and then nodded, realizing that there was nothing she could do to make him leave. "If you do exactly as I tell you."
Andros nodded instantly, squeezing Ashley's hand very gently. "You're all right now, Ash."
"Can you raise your arms?" Dana asked Ashley. "I need to see your back."
Ashley tried, but her muscles had stiffened, and her arms refused to move more than a few inches. Slowly, she shook her head, staring at the ground as Andros and Dana moved her arms for her. The tiles on the floor suddenly seemed to blend together, and she blinked, trying to clear her eyes, but that only served to blur her vision even more, and she slumped against Andros, squeezing her eyes shut.
Gently, Andros pushed her back up, gripping her by the uninjured portion of her forearms. "Only a little longer, Ash," he promised her. "Then you can sleep for a long time."
"Okay," she muttered, gasping softly as her back was suddenly doused in a cold liquid that caused all her wounds to burn like fire.
"It'll only sting for a minute," Dana assured her, beginning to bandage the wounds.
Ashley nodded her head, slumping against Andros once again as he settled his shirt around her again, the small warmth it offered her enough to pull her closer to sleep. This time, he didn't force her back into a sitting position, and held her to him as Dana wrapped her hands.
"When was the last time you ate?"
Ashley started as Andros shook her slightly. "Umm... three days ago?"
"Three days on Elon?" Andros asked sharply. When she nodded, he said for Dana's benefit, "Ninety hours."
"What about water?"
"Sometime today, I think," Ashley mumbled, her head refusing to clear long enough for her to think straight.
"So a few hours?"
Ashley nodded. Dana sighed and thought for a moment, speaking to Andros as Ashley started drifting off again. "Keep her hydrated. She'll be hungry, but don't let her eat much right away. As soon as you're both awake enough to do so, a shower will make you feel better. Get her a little to eat right now, and then she needs rest. You both do."
Andros nodded his thanks as he scooped Ashley into his arms again. "Come on, Ashley."
"Can I sleep now?" she murmured. "Please?"
"Just a few more minutes," Andros promised. "I don't want you starving to death."
It wasn't until he said those words that Ashley realized for the first time that her stomach felt like it was gnawing on itself to survive. "I think I already am starving to death."
"Can you sit?" he asked her gently. "Just for a few seconds?"
"Okay," she mumbled as he set her down on one of the stools in the glider bay. She leaned against the table to keep herself from toppling backwards, and true to his word, Andros was at her side again in less than a minute. He pressed a cool glass of water to her lips and Ashley tilted her head back, drinking eagerly.
"Eat," he ordered her quietly, kissing the top of her head as he placed a bowl of soup in front of her. "Then you can sleep."
The prospect of sleeping was enough for Ashley to gulp down half the bowl as quickly as Andros would let her, but it wasn't long before her eyes closed and refused to open again.
"All right, Ash," Andros whispered in her ear. "Let's go. You need sleep."
"Thank you," she mumbled gratefully, waking slightly as Andros placed her carefully in a bed, drawing the blankets up to her chin. "Andros, please don't leave."
Andros started to say that he was only going to reassure their children that they were all right, but his own exhaustion chose that moment to hit him, and he nearly collapsed himself. Sighing, he crawled into bed beside his wife, the feel of her heart beating against his lulluing him into a sound sleep in seconds.