Disclaimer: If I haven't said it's mine, then it's not. It's Saban's or Disney's or whoevers.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Your brother's coming just as soon as your parents are recovered enough to make him. :P Oh, and you'd better name him, or else you might get another sister. :P

Juzblue: This soon enough for ya?

Mz. Daydream: I love making Andros so sweet... but I hate making Ashley so fragile. Grr... anyway, she's all better now. Skylar was the one piloting the shuttle, although now that I think of it, maybe letting Marieke pilot a spacecraft is a bad idea. :P Yeah, the other rangers are on the Megaship, and they'll be back in the next chapter.

Chapter 30

"Mommy!"

Jenny ran into the bedroom, leaping up onto the bed and flinging her arms around Ashley's neck. Ashley returned the hug a more slowly; her arms were still quite stiff.

"Jenny," she whispered, kissing her daughter's forehead. Someone slammed into her hard from the side, and she quickly pulled her other daughter into her arms as well. "Marieke."

"Mommy, where did you and Daddy go to?" Marieke asked.

Ashley sighed and settled back against the pillows, a girl on each side of her. As she tried to come up with an explanation that would satisfy the twins and not traumatize them, Andros appeared in the doorway, cradling Seren carefully in his arms, followed by Aidan.

"Hey," he said softly, not wanting to wake the sleeping baby he was holding. "Zhane and Karone say she misses you, Ash."

"Give her to me," Ashley whispered, her eyes flooding suddenly with tears as she held her baby daughter for the first time in a month. "I've missed you too."

"Mommy, why are you crying?" Jenny asked.

"Because I'm happy," Ashley choked out. "I've missed all of you so much."

"Then why did you and Daddy go away?" Marieke wanted to know.

Ashley swallowed down her tears long enough to say, "We didn't want to."

"Then why did you?" Jenny pressed.

"Sometimes people have to do things that they don't want to do," Andros explained gently, lifting Marieke into his lap as he sat down beside Ashley. "We didn't want to leave you-"

"But you did," Aidan shouted suddenly, glaring at Ashley. "You promised you'd come back! You lied!"

"Aidan," Andros said sharply, shifting Marieke out of his lap. He followed his son as he started to run, catching him by the shoulder, pulling him back into the room. "Aidan, listen to me."

"I don't want to," Aidan snapped. "You'll lie to me too!"

"We came back, didn't we?" Andros said calmly. "It just took us a lot longer than we thought it would."

"But... where were you?" Aidan demanded. "Why didn't you come back?"

Andros sighed. "Sit down and I'll tell you."

Grudgingly, Aidan nodded, and joined the rest of them on the bed. "What happened?"

"We were captured," Andros began, realizing suddenly that it was going to be harder to tell this story than he'd thought at first.

"The Overlords sold us as slaves," Ashley continued, seeing how Andros had tensed as he'd tried to speak. "That's where we've been for the last month."

Aidan's eyes widened, and the anger slowly faded. "Slaves?"

"Daddy, what are slaves?" Marieke asked, looking up at Andros from where she sat in his lap.

"A slave is a person who has to do everything another person tells them to do," Andros said slowly, figuring that Aidan knew well enough what a slave was and the twins didn't need to know any more than that.

"Everything?" Marieke repeated.

Andros nodded.

"What did people tell you to do?"

He sighed. "There were two other people that I had to work with to keep a man's house clean and things like that."

"Mom, what happened to you?" Aidan asked, scooting closer to his parents.

"I was on a slave world," Ashley said after a moment of hesitation. "They had us digging all day long."

"Nothing but digging?" Aidan asked. "Then how did you get so hurt?"

"I couldn't dig fast enough," Ashley said, looking away.

"So they tortured you?"

"What's torture?" Jenny asked.

"Torture means that you hurt someone enough that they think they're going to die," Ashley said, after a moment's thought. "I wasn't tortured, Aidan."

"Oh," Aidan said.

"Mommy has to rest now," Andros said to the twins, prying their arms loose from around Ashley. "You can come see her later."

"Promise?" Marieke asked.

Andros nodded, giving each of the twins a kiss. "I promise... go to bed now, all right?"

"I'm sorry," Aidan muttered suddenly, stopping on his way out of the door.

"Come here," Ashley said gently, shifting Seren to one arm, wrapping the other around Aidan as he ran to her. "I love you, Aidan."

"I love you, Mom," he whispered back. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right," she said. "Just... know that your father and I would never leave you guys unless we were forced to."

"Really?"

Ashley nodded. "You guys matter more to us than anything."

"Get better," Aidan said, hesitating as he turned to the door again. "Mom? Can I take Seren?"

"You've been taking care of her," Andros said in surprise, watching Aidan lift his sister out of Ashley's arms with ease. "Haven't you?"

"She's not as bad as the twins," Aidan admitted. "Even if she's not a brother."

Andros laughed softly. "Go on, Aidan. We'll see you at breakfast."

"That was harder than I thought it would be," Ashley murmured as Andros locked the door and came to sit beside her again. "I knew that they'd ask, but..."

"I know," Andros muttered, kissing the top of her head, inhaling the familiar scent of her hair. "It's hard talking about something you were forced to do."

"It wasn't just that," she said, speaking slowly, thinking. "The thing that bothered me the most was knowing that I belonged to someone else."

"You don't," Andros whispered fiercely, kissing her temple. "You don't belong to anybody, Ash."

"I belong to you," Ashley said quietly.

"And I belong to you," Andros said, no louder than she, resting his chin on top of her head. "Always, Ash."

"Always," Ashley echoed. "I love you."

"I love you so much," Andros whispered. "I was so afraid that I'd never see you again."

"So was I," she whispered. "I kept thinking that if I didn't die, you were going to get yourself killed..."

"I almost did," he admitted. He sighed, suddenly feeling incredibly selfish. "I'm sorry, Ash. I kept trying to make him kill me, and you almost died saving a little boy."

"Don't be," she said softly. "It's all right."

"It's not," Andros protested. "I should have tried harder. I promised you I'd live, no matter what happened, but I just-"

"Andros," Ashley interrupted him, turning slowly to face him completely. "It doesn't matter anymore. You're alive, and that's all I care about. I know how proud you are, Andros, and I know how hard it was for you to-"

"But it shouldn't have been," he cried. "You were dumped into the worst place imaginable, and you still tried harder than I did."

"Andros," she said quietly, reaching for his hand. "No matter how close we are, we're two different people. What's hard for you isn't always hard for me. You think that you're selfish, but I know that you aren't."

Andros stared at his wife, wondering how she couldn't hate him when he hated himself so much. "Ashley, I love you."

She answered by pressing her lips insistently against his own. He returned the kiss eagerly, having missed the sensation much more than he'd realized. Slipping his hands behind her head, he leaned into her, determined never to let her go again. Ashley's arms curved around his neck, pulling him closer until he was laying on top of her.

For a moment, neither of them moved, completely content just to stare into the other's eyes. Ashley's lively brown orbs sparkled up at him, shining brighter as she reached up, tugging his head down until his face was close enough to kiss again. Andros crushed his mouth to hers, pulling back reluctantly a moment later.

"I'm not going to hurt you, am I?" he asked softly, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"No," Ashley replied instantly, her voice no louder than his had been. He must not have looked convinced; a moment later she added, "I might not be a ranger anymore, but the Power still heals me."

"I know." Andros grinned sheepishly at her. "I just couldn't live with myself if I hurt you."

"I know," Ashley said, brushing a few strands of his hair back from his face, gazing up at him fondly. "You're so sweet, Andros, but you don't need to worry. If I didn't want to, I wouldn't have kissed you."

Her smile grew infinitely more mischievous as she added innocently, "Besides, you're the one who has to do all the work."

She'd half expected him to blush and look away, but he didn't, calmly holding her gaze until she broke down laughing at the expression on his face. "I love you," she whispered, suddenly dangerously close to tears. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," Andros said quietly as Ashley kissed him again. His reservations gone, he returned her kiss hungrily, suddenly needing her more than anything.