Disclaimer: Power Rangers... Disney's. Carlos's sisters... mine, I guess.

Mz. Daydream: You'll know everything soon, but if you're smart, there's little hints every now and then. :P It's all right you didn't review the last chapter, it didn't show up until after I put up the second one. I'll update Different Defenders as soon as my writer's block goes away. :P

Jenny: You get the second chapter notice before the actual story notice when fanfiction decides to be stupid. :P You can beta-read it if you really want to, or you can be surprised by all the randomness of my twisted mind. :P

Melissa: I think I sent this to you too, so you probably did read it before. Being stuck in the past seems cooler, though... :P Yeah, this one's rated M. It's really not that graphic anywhere, but I felt like having some fun. :innocent smile:

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: I think I wrote this in August, so that would be months... I answered the photo question... I found a photo... I helped with Ray's present... my brains are already fried... I almost finished the Christmas special. Anything else:P

Liz: Thanks... At the present time, Ashley's stepfather is doing nothing to her, but the past and future are a different story...

Chapter 3

"Shh, Ana!" Carlos Valerte hissed as his eight-year-old sister shrieked loudly. Her twin sister giggled at the look of outrage on the former black ranger's face. "Maria, you be quiet, too!"

"Why do we have to be quiet?" Ana demanded.

"Because I didn't tell Andros I was giving you two a tour of the Megaship, that's why," Carlos answered. "He might not approve of two children running around on his ship."

"It's your ship too," a quiet voice reminded him, and Carlos jumped. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Andros leaning against the doorjamb, his arms crossed.

"Oh, hey, Andros," Carlos said, once his heart rate had dropped far enough to allow normal speech. "I was just about to give my sisters a tour of the ship. They've been begging me to do it forever, and I figured-"

"It's fine," Andros said. "Like I said, you guys are welcome to be here whenever you want."

"You're really the red ranger?" Ana demanded, marching up to him and inspecting him closely. "My brother said you were an alien."

"That's enough, Ana," Carlos warned as Andros's lips quirked up in a grin.

"Do you think I'm an alien?" he asked the girl, who flipped her long black hair out of her face before answering.

"No," Ana answered. She regarded him thoughtfully. "If you were an alien, you should be green."

"Ana, enough!" Carlos snapped, as Andros choked down a laugh.

"Earth isn't the only place where humans live," he informed her. "Deca, will you give the girls a tour? I need to talk to Carlos for a second."

Shrieking with delight at the prospect of a guided tour from the ship itself, Ana and Maria ran off. Carlos watched them go, shaking his head before turning to look at Andros quizzically.

"What's up, man?"

"I need to talk to you," Andros said urgently. "You and Ashley are pretty close, right?"

"Yeah," Carlos said slowly. "Is something wrong?"

"I... I'm not sure," Andros said, hesitating. He didn't feel the need to tell Carlos what had happened the night before. "I was just wondering... have you ever met her family?"

Carlos had to stop and think hard for several minutes before he could recollect any such incident. "I think I met her brother once," he said thoughtfully. "But never her parents."

He noticed that Andros didn't look too surprised. "Have you ever been to her house?"

"No," Carlos said. This time, he didn't stop to think about it. He'd spent hours at TJ's, always with his uncle hanging around, and hours at Cassie's, when her mother wasn't around, but he'd never been to Ashley's house. "I don't even know where she lives."

Carlos seemed a bit surprised as he said this. He and Ashley had been extremely close in their early days as Turbo rangers, and while they had drifted apart when they'd blasted off into space, Ashley was still one of his best and closest friends, and one of the people that he trusted the most.

"That's it," Andros said, keeping his tone as casual as he could. "I was just wondering, that's all. You'd better go keep your sisters from starting a war with Deca."

"Yikes," Carlos muttered. Ana and Maria had been on their own for a whole five minutes now, plenty of time for them to get themselves into a major situation. Completely forgetting his conversation with Andros, at least temporarily, Carlos took off down the hall in the direction his sisters had taken, knowing that he was likely to crisscross the ship several times over before he ever caught sight of them.

Andros sighed heavily as he watched Carlos leave. Maybe Ashley wasn't lying to me after all, he thought. Or maybe she's lying to all of us... He felt horribly guilty for the thought, even though he was almost positive that it was true. He didn't want to believe that he'd fallen in love with someone who he couldn't trust... or someone who didn't trust him.

"Morning, Andros," Karone greeted her brother as she passed him on her way to breakfast. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Andros answered. Karone blinked at him; he hadn't noticed that she'd come out of Zhane's room instead of her own. "I'll see you later, all right?"

"Sure," Karone agreed. What's wrong with him?

Andros knocked lightly on Ashley's door. "Ash, it's me. Can I come in?"

There was no response, and for a second, Andros thought Ashley was still asleep, and he was about to turn around and wander aimlessly for a few hours when the door opened. Ashley looked beyond exhausted, and Andros doubted that she'd gotten even a minute of sleep. She was still dressed in the clothes she had been wearing the day before, and her eyes were red and puffy from countless tears.

"You can come in," she said quietly, and Andros quickly stepped inside her room, letting Ashley lock the door behind her. The lights were on, albeit dimly, and Andros could make out the outline of a bed, a dresser, and a desk. Ashley had sat down on her bed, curled up, and Andros felt his heart go out to her, despite the small voice in his head that told him he should be feeling angry with her, not sorry for her.

"Ashley, look at me," Andros said quietly, his heart heavier than it had been in a long time. He took a deep breath. "We need to talk."

Ashley flinched, knowing that his use of her full name had been deliberate. It had been so long since he'd called her anything but 'Ash' that hearing 'Ashley' again made her painfully aware of how serious he was.

I love you so much, Ashley thought sadly, forcing herself not to cry. Tears wouldn't make this go away, and they certainly wouldn't make this mess any better. I love you so much, and I'm so sorry I have to hurt you.

"Ash..." Andros started to say, gathering from her silence that she wasn't going to be the one to speak first, then giving up, lost. "Please say something."

"What do you want, Andros?" Ashley asked, refusing to look at him. "It's six in the morning. If you want to talk, then talk, but don't just sit here and look at me like that."

Andros's face filled with hurt at her words, and the sad, lost look in his hazel eyes told her how he was expecting this conversation to end. Ashley felt her eyes burning as she fought down a new round of tears, her guilt monumentally increasing with each passing second.

Ashley sighed. She didn't deserve Andros, and she never had. Ever since he'd finally worked up the nerve to ask her out, he'd been nothing but sweet and gentle and caring to her, and he didn't deserve what she was doing to him all because she was too much of a coward to trust him with her darkest secret. He'd trusted her with all of his, and she owed him something for that.

I can't do this to him.

"Andros," she whispered. "I'm sorry, so sorry, for everything."

Andros kept silent, and at first she thought he was too angry with her to speak, until she realized that he was waiting for her to keep talking. Ashley took a deep breath, and opened her mouth, answering his silent request for an explanation.

"Yesterday, I was upset about something else," she began hesitantly, "and I took it out on you. Andros, I'm so sorry for everything I said last night. I just... I don't know."

Ashley paused, trying to sort out her thoughts, and Andros sighed sadly, staring at her, his expression completely forlorn, and Ashley found herself wanting more and more to just break down and pour out her entire story.

"Have I done anything to hurt you?" Andros asked softly. "Ash, I just need to know."

"Andros, I promise, it's nothing that has to do with you." Ashley looked him directly in the eye as she spoke. Andros met her gaze, his hazel eyes boring into hers for several long seconds before he finally looked away.

"Then why have you been avoiding me?"

Ashley looked distinctly uncomfortable now. "That's something else," she mumbled. "Andros, we only got back to Earth two weeks ago, but ever since then, we've had so much more time to be alone, and..."

Her voice trailed off into nothingness, and Ashley shot Andros a pleading look, hoping he'd understand. If he didn't, or wouldn't, then no matter how much she loved him, she couldn't be with him.

"And you're afraid that if we spend too much time together I'll want you to sleep with me?" Andros finished for her. Ashley nodded slowly.

"Isn't that what you'll want?"

Andros hesitated. "I'm not saying that it isn't," he said finally, uneasily, "but if you don't want to, I'd never try to make you."

Ashley watched his face carefully as he spoke, wondering if he was sincere or not. He sounded it, but so had Scott and Alex and David, not to mention countless others that she'd been unfortunate enough to come in contact with. The lucky ones hadn't made her fight them; Scott had ended up with a broken nose and a severely sprained ankle.

"Ash, you do believe me, right?"

The look on her face clearly spoke a 'no' to him, but Andros couldn't keep himself from asking anyway. Again, he found himself wondering if Ashley even cared, or if she wasn't just trying to make him uncomfortable enough to leave her.

"I believe you," Ashley said finally, her face relaxing as she decided the look in Andros's eyes meant that he was telling her the truth. "Sorry, Andros. I didn't mean to doubt you, I just wanted to be sure."

Andros shrugged, not quite looking at her, and Ashley realized just how uneasy this conversation was making him. With a sigh, she touched his hand, curling her fingers around his. Andros cast her a surprised look, but relaxed as she entwined her fingers in his.

"Andros, I really am sorry I yelled at you before," Ashley said softly, her fingers squeezing his hand for an instant.

His hazel eyes met chocolate brown ones warily, but softened almost the instant that they did so. Andros gave her a rueful smile, and pulled her into his arms, holding her in such a strong grip that Ashley wondered if he might actually break some of her ribs.

"Ash, would you just tell me the next time something's bothering you?" Andros's tone was light, but he sounded completely exasperated. "I was so worried that you were going to leave me or something."

"You thought what?" Ashley struggled out of his embrace long enough to look him in the eye. "Was I that bad?"

"Almost," Andros said, giving her a half-smile. "I was wrong, right?"

"Of course you were wrong," Ashley exclaimed, resting her head against his shoulder.

"I've never been happy to hear that before," Andros said. He shifted position slightly and readjusted his hold on her. "Are you okay now?"

"Yeah," Ashley said sheepishly. "I guess I am."

"Is something else bothering you?" Andros asked knowingly, hearing a listless note somewhere in Ashley's otherwise cheerful voice. Ashley gave him a startled look and wondered, not for the first time, if he was somehow reading her mind.

At that moment, she made her decision, surprised at what an easy choice it had come down to in the end. After years of agonizing endlessly over her painful secrets, Ashley suddenly realized that she trusted Andros just as much as he trusted her.

"It's nothing, really," she said, her heart speeding up as she contemplated what she was about to do, but in her heart, she knew that if Andros couldn't accept everything that was in her past, no one could. "I was just wondering... I turn eighteen in a week and a half, and I was wondering, if I could maybe..."

"If you could what?" Andros prompted her gently when she stopped speaking.

"Can I live here for awhile?" Ashley asked him, her heart suddenly leaping into her throat.

"You can live here forever," Andros replied. He said the words lightly, but he meant them with all his heart.

"Thank you," Ashley whispered, now clinging to him more than she was holding him, something that did not escape his notice. "My mom, and Terry, my stepfather, as soon as I turn eighteen, they're kicking me out."

"Why?" Andros couldn't keep himself from asking. He regretted it the instant Ashley's face started to crumple, and quickly added, "It's none of my business, Ash."

"It is, actually," she said heavily. Glancing at the digital alarm clock by her bed, Ashley saw that it was a quarter past seven now. "Andros, I really do have to go home today."

"I'll see you later, right?" Andros released Ashley and she scrambled out of his arms, darting into the bathroom to turn on the shower. While she was waiting for the water temperature to adjust itself, she came back into the room, where Andros was still sitting on her bed.

"Sometime tonight," Ashley said as he got up. He started towards the door, and she caught his arm. "Wait."

Andros turned, giving her a questioning glance, and Ashley hesitated, focusing on the noise of the shower rather than him.

"Before you let me move back here, I need to show you something," Ashley told him in a rushed whisper, the words coming out slurred.

"Okay," Andros agreed, disturbed by her expression. If he had ever doubted seeing a hint of fear in her eyes, all his doubts were gone now, as pure terror suddenly sprang into her face. Silently, he reached out and held her close for a minute. "When?"

"Not today," Ashley whispered, trying to think. "It'll have to wait until my mom and Terry aren't home."

"Okay," Andros said again, his grip on her tightening instinctively. Now he knew for a fact that there was something very wrong in Ashley's life, and he knew it was going to taunt him until he knew just what was going on. "I'll wait."

"Thank you," Ashley whispered in his ear. "I've got to go now, but I'll come see you later, all right?"

"I'll see you later," Andros echoed, kissing her as gently as he could. "Have fun."

Ashley gave a bitter sort of laugh and disappeared into the bathroom, but not before Andros had seen the tears that glistened in her eyes, unshed. Andros stared at the closed door for a moment before leaving her room, not wanting to intrude on her space any longer without an invitation.

Somehow, Andros knew that Ashley was undoubtedly in the bathroom crying, and he wondered what could be horrible enough to cause the cheery, hopeful Ashley he knew and loved to break down so far.

Andros sighed. He wasn't going to be able to concentrate on anything else today.