Disclaimer: Tawny is mine! The rest is not.

Chylea3784: Here it is.

Ashley Hammond/Asto Yellow: Good luck on your test. :P And I'm working (very hard :P) on more. Sure, I'll be your beta reader if Jenny dies. (Jenny, don't die.) :P

Mz. Daydream: You find out now who Tawny is, and after that, you should have a clear idea of what's up with her stepdad. Did I mention that this isn't a happy story:P

Liz: Well, she's not poor...

Me: You'll know for sure in the next chapter, but you should have a good idea by the end of this chapter.

Melissa: I already like rock, it won't take that much work. :P

Chapter 5

Ashley tossed and turned in bed until the black night sky was tinged pink in the horizon and slowly transfomed itself into a deep gray, then a hazy silver. Her eyes were wide open by four, but she remained motionless in bed until seven.

Then she heard the voices wafting up the stairs cease, and the door opened and was slammed shut several times in a row. The sound of jingling keys just barely touched her ears, and she sighed with relief when everything fell silent once more. The dull roar of two cars being started reached her, and when the sound died away, Ashley finally got up, and checked that Jeff was still there.

Her brother was sprawled out on the sofa, buried under a mixture of textbooks, comics, and car ads. He glanced up every now and then to see if the TV had ended its not quite so brief commercial break, and turned back to his homework, disappointed, when he saw that it wasn't.

"Hey, Jeff," Ashley said quietly, feeling as though she was somehow an intruder here, in what should have been her home. "How long will you be here for?"

"I've got a class at ten," he said absentmindedly, pausing on a picture of a car that was bright and shiny and new. "Are you going somewhere?"

"I'll be back in less than an hour, I swear," Ashley said, giving him a pleading look.

"Sure," Jeff said. "Be back by nine. I promised Katie I'd give her a ride, and I'll need time to pick her up."

"Sure," Ashley echoed, envying her carefree brother and his unrestricted, permitted time with his girlfriend. "I'll be right back."

Please be awake, Andros, she thought as she teleported herself back to the Megaship. She suddenly felt soothed, as she always did here, in her safe haven. The halls were empty and quiet. Zhane and Karone would be asleep, and Cassie was in Los Angeles for an audition, she remembered vaguely.

"Deca, is Andros up yet?"

"He is not," came the instant reply. "Would you like me to wake him?"

"No, that's okay," Ashley said hastily. "I'll wait."

Ashley crept quietly to her room and locked the door, tempted to just roll into bed and make up for hours and hours of lost sleep, but if she fell asleep now, by the time she woke up, it would be too late. Her mother and Terry would come back home, and Ashley knew that if she waited too long, her nerve would fail her, and she'd never be able to bring herself to show Andros who she really was.

Walking into her bathroom, Ashley turned on the water, feeling the need for a shower, something she was afraid to do in her own home. Ashley stepped into the shower, letting the warm water soothe her nerves as it rolled off of her body. When she emerged, she was calm, at least for the moment, and certainly more awake than she had been when she'd arrived on the Megaship.

She dressed quickly in a blue jean skirt and a yellow tank top, and sat down on her bed waiting patiently for Andros to wake up. However, her patience wore thin as quickly as her nerves did, and soon she was pacing back and forth across the room. Sighing, she gave up and went to wake him up herself.

Andros was sprawled across his bed, one arm buried under his pillow as he slept more or less on his side. The blanket was pulled over his head, his hair falling across his face, and despite everything that was going to happen today, Ashley had to smile at the sight of him.

Andros rarely looked as vulnerable as he did right now, and it was a nice reminder that he was, in fact, a human being. Ashley had no reason to doubt that he was but for the fact that in all the horrible scenarios that currently filled her head, he was acting much less human when he discovered her terrible secret.

"Andros." Ashley leaned over and whispered his name in his ear, brushing some of his hair out of his face as she did so. He responded to her touch much more than he did to her voice and stirred slightly, the hand holding the blanket pulling it even further over his head. "Andros, please wake up."

He mumbled something sleepily, the words not quite coherent, and for a moment, Ashley debated over whether or not she should just leave and try again some other day. Then Andros opened his eyes slowly, and sat up when he caught sight of her.

"Hey," he said, catching her in a one-armed hug. Ashley let herself be pulled down next to him and his other arm went around her as well. She couldn't help wondering if this was the last time that he would hold her like this, or the last time that she would let him. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I... I need to show you something," Ashley muttered. Andros felt her tense and looked into her sad eyes with concern. He touched her face gently, and she rested her cheek against his palm for a moment, just wanting him to hold her and never let go. "Can you come with me?"

"Now?" Andros had already thrown off the blankets and was glancing around the floor for something clean to wear.

"Yeah," Ashley said. "Sorry, I know I shouldn't have woken you up."

"Don't worry about it, Ash," Andros told her. "I'm normally up by now anyway."

He decided that she didn't need to know that the reason he was still asleep was because he'd been awake until two in the morning waiting for her to come back. He'd finally fallen asleep, deciding that she must have slept at her own house.

Andros changed quickly in the bathroom, and when he stepped back into his room, he saw that Ashley was still sitting on his bed, staring off into space. Her face was completely blank, and he wasn't sure if it was from anxiety or sheer exhaustion. It didn't take a genius to realize that Ashley had slept little in the last week.

"Hey," he said softly, touching her shoulder. Ashley jumped, and Andros quickly dropped his hand. "We can go now, if you're ready."

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm ready," Ashley said distantly, and Andros frowned, staring at her for a moment, eyes clouded with worry. "Come on."

Andros followed Ashley as she teleported herself down to Earth, an odd feeling settling itself in the pit of his stomach. He had a bad feeling about this, whatever it was. He gave her a questioning glance when they appeared in a secluded area of the park, wondering why she'd brought him here.

"My house, it's this way," Ashley said tersely as she started walking, leaving Andros to follow, which he did, but not without apprehensions. He took her hand out of habit, surprised to feel her fingers clamp down on his. Ashley said nothing else until they were in sight of her house, a fairly old two-story building with a wide front lawn.

"You live here?" Andros asked, slightly taken aback. This house must have cost money, lots of it, and Ashley had never given any indication that her family was this well-off.

"I hope not," Ashley muttered, and Andros hugged her on impulse. "Listen, Andros, I should warn you. When I go in here, I become a different person."

Andros nodded silently, feeling her finger tighten on his as soon as she'd unlocked the door. Andros would have been ready to swear that Ashley was afraid to enter her own house. The inside was cool, a fresh breeze from the air conditioner teasing their hair. Ashley shivered slightly, Andros feeling the tremor through their clasped hands.

"Jeff?" she called. "I'm back."

"In here," a voice called, and Ashley led Andros through the house. Every inch was meticulously clean, the furniture all looking brand new and lined in perfect angles. Nothing was sloppy, each color perfectly complementing each other color that happened to be in that room. Andros had a vision of Ashley's mother spending hours organizing her house, expending so much effort to make it all appear perfect.

"Jeff, can you come here for a minute?" Ashley asked, and this time there was no mistaking the anxiety in her voice. Andros looked at her and was about to speak when a young man about three years older than Ashley appeared. He knew instantly that this must be her brother; there was a strong resemblence between them.

Jeff and Ashley shared the same friendly smile, but his became more of a frown when he spotted Andros. He looked at Ashley with his eyebrows raised. "Ash?"

"Um, Jeff, this is Andros," Ashley said. "Andros, this is my brother Jeff."

"Hi," Andros said politely, extending his hand, as he'd picked up was custom here on Earth. Jeff shook his hand, his bewildered expression not quite disappearing.

"Ash, can I talk to you for a second?"

Ashley sighed. "Andros, do you mind?"

"Go ahead, Ash," he told her, dropping her hand. Andros stood awkwardly at the foot of the steps as Ashley was pulled into a room by her brother, who were both talking louder than they thought they were.

"Are you doing what I think you're doing?" Jeff was demanding.

"Yes," he heard Ashley snap. "I can't hide it from him anymore."

"Ash, are you sure about this?"

"Jeff, I -"

Ashley suddenly lowered her voice, and Andros couldn't hear any more. A little disappointed, and more than a little guilty for eavesdropping, he did his best to think about something else than the conversation going on just feet away from him. After another five minutes, Ashley reappeared, looking absolutely terrified, and Jeff moved past her, heading down the hall that led to the front door. Only after the door opened and shut did Ashley speak again.

"Andros, before I do this, promise me that you'll never tell anyone," she whispered. "You need to know, but no one else does, not yet, and I've never told anyone before. Please, just promise me."

"I'll never tell," Andros promised her solemnly. "Ash, just show me. You're really starting to scare me."

"I'm sorry," Ashley muttered. "But I'm scared."

She took a deep breath and led him up the stairs, carpeted in a deep, rich gray-blue. The upstairs was no less spacious than the downstairs had been, and Ashley didn't stop walking until she'd led him down a long hallway and turned left, stopping at the second door.

"This is my room," she said shakily, her hand trembling as she placed it on the doorknob. "In here."

Ashley flipped on the lightswitch and entered, stepping aside to give Andros room to follow her in. The carpeting in here was a light tan, and the walls were brightly painted. The room was generally neat, not compulsively organized like the rest of the house, but comfortably messy. In one corner of the room there was Ashley's bed, the sheets rumpled from her attempt at sleep the night before. In another corner was her dresser, and in the third, a desk, unused for many months, still littered with a few old papers. However, it was what took up the fourth corner of the room that had caught Andros' attention the moment he'd entered the room.

A crib, painted white, the bars a cheerful swirl of yellow, pale green, baby blue, and pink, housing inside of it a sleeping child, more of a toddler now than an infant. It was a girl, and she slept peacefully under a white and yellow blanket, blissfully unaware of the uneasiness that spread through the room.

"Who's this?" Andros asked curiously. "Your sister?"

"Her name's Tawny," Ashley whispered, struck with the realization that she'd never spoken the name aloud in the presence of someone outside of her family. "She turned two yesterday... and she's not my sister."

"Then who-"

Andros stopped talking as he heard Ashley stifle a sob. He turned slowly to face her, and found her staring at the floor, her hands pressed to her mouth as tears trickled down her cheeks. Andros stared at her, the truth hitting him hard. His stomach vanished for several minutes, a heavy boulder taking its place.

Andros gave her a long, searching look, his hazel eyes fishing for something anywhere in her expression that would tell him that he was wrong in thinking what he was, but though he tried desperately, he found nothing there, and eventually he forced himself to speak.

"Your daughter?"

Slowly, Ashley nodded her head yes, crying harder as the world that had already caved in began to bury her.