Disclaimer: As far as I know, I have no blood connections to either Saban or Disney, so there's absolutely no way I own Power Rangers.

Chylea3784: I'm trying... so how'd I do:P

Chapter 9

"You!"

She ran, fleeing, but he had always been faster, and in mere seconds he had overtaken her. Cornered, she shrank back, sinking to the floor, drawing her knees up to her chin as he towered over her.

"So you thought you could escape me?" he sneered.

"N-no," she whimpered, cringing as he reached for her. With lightning-fast speed, his hand had closed around her wrist, and yanked her back up. She struggled, knowing what came next, and tore herself free. Wildly, she sprinted down the long corridor, only to find him blocking her only exit.

"You should never have left home," he said calmly as he advanced on her. "It will only go worse for you now."

"No," she whispered again, backing away. "Please... don't..."

She shrieked as he grabbed for her again, and struggled hard. She was strong, but he was stronger, and simply waited patiently until she was to exhausted to fight back any longer. Picking her up roughly, he hauled her down the hall into her room, throwing her down hard.

Her head connected hard with the headboard, and she cried out in pain, moaning as the first wave of pain faded and she tried to move her head. Stars filled her vision, and her head began pounding worse than it already had been.

She began fighting with renewed terror as his hands moved up her torso, but she was pinned down and had nowhere to run to even if she could get away. He laughed, catching ahold of both her hands in one of his. His hands were icy cold on her skin, erasing the warmth that she had once known. She tried desperately to will herself away from the world, knowing that if he made her feel what came next, it would shatter her.

Ashley shot up in her sleep, her chest heaving as she gasped in air, trembling with uncontrollable fear. Ever since she had moved back to the Megaship, she was plagued with this nightmare everytime she closed her eyes. Every time she tried to sleep, she saw a little more; the universe itself taunting her, dragging out her anguish for as long as it possibly could.

She slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Tawny, who was fast asleep beside her. Drawing the covers back up over her peacefully resting daughter, Ashley padded quietly into the bathroom, splashing cold water onto her face before sinking down onto the floor, exhausted.

"Deca, what time is it?" she asked.

"It is three seventeen in the afternoon," Deca replied, and Ashley sighed heavily. She couldn't leave her room until at least midnight, and she didn't dare be out in the corridors past four in the morning, for fear that someone would wake up early. So far, she'd left her room long enough to run down to the holding bay to get food for herself and Tawny, and then put back the empty plates when they were done eating.

Ashley knew that it wasn't practical to keep herself and Tawny locked up, but she wasn't ready to explain her past to her friends. She doubted that she would ever be, but she was going to have to, and sometime soon. So far, Tawny was content to stay in the room during the day, but Ashley knew that soon her adventurous nature would compel her to ask what lay beyond the closed doors.

She suddenly became aware of voices on the other end of the door, voices seeking her out, and Ashley let her face fall forward to rest in her hands as she listened. Zhane and Cassie were there, pleading with her to open the door, saying that they knew, that they'd talked to Andros.

White-hot rage bubbled up within Ashley's soul. He'd promised her that he wouldn't tell. He'd promised her twice, once before he knew, and then after he'd seen Tawny, he'd sworn to her again that he would never tell anyone what she told him. But he had. He must have, or else Cassie and Zhane wouldn't be there at her door, demanding to be let in so that they could all talk.

"How dare he?" Ashley hissed, nearly blinded with fury. Later, the anger would fade to reveal the pangs of sadness and betrayal that would send her spiraling back down into the depths of depression, but while she was still capable of anger, she was going to act on it.

Leaping to her feet, Ashley stormed out of the bathroom, and crossed her room in three strides. "Deca, open the door," she snapped, ignoring the looks of startled surprise on Zhane and Cassie's faces as she pushed past them, stalking over to Andros's closed door. "Open the door!"

It slid open instantly, and Ashley entered, completely lost in the darkness. The lights swelled a moment later, to reveal Andros sitting on his bunk, staring at her quizzically. "Ash?"

"I thought I could trust you," Ashley shouted at him, as he stared back, uncomprehending. "I thought you weren't that low. Why did you do it?"

"Ash-"

"Was it to get back at me for breaking up with you? I didn't do that because I wanted to, I did it because I had to, but when you go and do something like this, then I -"

"Ashley," Andros said loudly, and the words died in her throat. Andros was staring at her, looking completely lost. "What did I do?"

"You mean you didn't..."

"Ash?" Andros said after a moment, growing alarmed as Ashley stared at him, her chocolate eyes wide and wild. "What's wrong?"

"You mean you didn't tell anyone what happened?" Ashley asked him, her voice much meeker now.

"I'd never do that, Ash," Andros said softly. His face remained expressionless, but he had long ago forgotten how to keep his eyes from betraying his true feelings.

"Then why are Cassie and Zhane standing outside my door saying that you told them what happened?"

"I told them that you broke up with me," Andros mumbled, the words infinitely harder to say with her in the same room as him, only a few feet away. "That's all."

Ashley stared into his hazel eyes for a long time, seeing all the hurt that he hadn't managed to hide from her, and knew that he wasn't lying to her. She felt all her anger fizzle away and die, shame taking its place. Andros would never have betrayed her. I should have known that, she thought, feeling fear slowly creep up on her as she realized how close she was to him.

Andros watched several emotions flash across Ashley's face, feeling his heart breaking all over again. He knew it wasn't really important anymore, but it hurt to have Ashley doubt him. Andros swallowed hard, not wanting her to see him cry.

"I... I'm sorry," Ashley whispered, her head hanging low. "I didn't mean to..."

Her eyes wet with tears that wouldn't fall, Ashley slunk slowly out of Andors's dark room, feeling his sad hazel eyes on her retreating back. She sighed, more than willing to lock herself up for another two weeks and never have to deal with any of her friends. However, as she stepped into the corridor, Ashley found herself face-to-face with Zhane and Cassie.

"Oh," she said flatly, edging towards Cassie, although she didn't fear being around Zhane as she did with Andros. "You."

"Ash, we just wanted to talk to you," Cassie began, alarmed at the look in her best friend's eyes. "We're worried about you."

"I can't talk right now," Ashley muttered, desperately trying to inch close enough to her door to dart inside. "Later."

"Ash," Zhane began, and then stopped cold, his voice trailing off into nothingness as he looked past Ashley into her room. Cassie followed his gaze, her eyes landing on the little girl asleep in Ashley's bed.

Ashley didn't need to turn around to know that they'd seen Tawny. Her face crumpling, she sank down to the ground, drawing her knees up to her chin, burying her face in her arms as Cassie dropped down beside her, wrapping both arms around her distraught friend.

"Ash, just tell us what's wrong," Cassie pleaded as Ashley sobbed her heart out. "Everything will be okay, I promise."

"No, it won't," Ashley wailed, the words barely comprehensible. "I've lied to you all for so long, and now you'll all hate me."

"Ash, you're the last person on Earth that we'd hate," Cassie said soothingly, once Ashley had calmed down enough to listen.

"I can't tell it again," Ashley whispered, wiping her eyes with the heel of her palm. "It was too much to tell just Andros, and there's five of you guys."

"You don't have to tell us anything you don't want to," Cassie said as Zhane nooded his agreement, "but Ash, we'd never judge you."

"It's not what you think," Ashley cried, interpreting Cassie's words to fit her frame of mind, instead of taking them as what they were: the truth. "I - I didn't..."

"It's all right, Ashley," Zhane said softly from off to the side. While he had completely missed the fact that there was something more than the breakup troubling Andros, he had perceived correctly that his presence was disturbing Ashley. "But you can't keep that little girl cooped up in there forever."

"Her name's Tawny," Ashley whispered.

"Would you like for one of us to take her for awhile?" Cassie asked. Ashley shook her head.

"Not now," she muttered. "She'll be asleep for awhile, and if I'm going to tell you guys, it better be now before I change my mind."

Ashley knew that she couldn't avoid telling her story to her friends any longer, not now that Zhane and Cassie had seen Tawny, and while it was encouraging that they hadn't discounted her as a friend, she wasn't sure that the others would react the same way. She wasn't even sure that Zhane and Cassie knew that Tawny was her daughter, not her sister, as Andros had first assumed.

"Is she all right here alone?" Zhane asked as Cassie helped Ashley to her feet, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders.

Ashley hesitated. Deca was more than capable of alerting her if something went wrong, but that didn't mean that she would be able to get to her in time if Tawny got herself into the bathroom cabinet, or drowned herself somehow.

"I could watch her," a very soft voice offered hesitantly, and Ashley turned to see Andros standing in his doorway. His eyes were fixed on the floor rather than on her, and she couldn't help feeling enormous gratitude towards him for that.

"You would do that?" Ashley stared at him uncertainly.

Andros nodded his head, his eyes still trained on his feet. "I'd do anything for you, Ash," he said softly. "Besides, I know that you don't want me there when you tell them."

He said the words matter-of-factly, but there was a heavy undertone of sadness in his voice, and it was the sadness more than anything that made Ashley seriously consider what he was saying. "You seriously want to?"

"I don't mind," Andros said quietly, adding, "if you don't."

Ashley hesitated for a long moment, and then slowly nodded, not taking her eyes off of him. "She'll probably sleep for another hour. If she wakes up, she'll make you play."

A hint of a smile formed on Andros's otherwise forlorn face. "I guess I owe her there."

"I... thanks," Ashley said awkwardly.

"Don't worry about it," Andros said softly, waiting until Ashley had walked down the corridor before stepping out of his room. What did I just do?

Whatever it was that he had just done, it certainly wasn't going to help him get over Ashley any faster... but he didn't want to get over Ashley. He didn't want to go back to being the arrogant, cold, unfeeling shell that he had been before Ashley had come into his life and broken through to the scarred and broken soul that he had kept locked up for far too long, the only way he knew of to preserve his sanity.

Letting out a deep breath that he hadn't realized he was holding, Andros walked quietly into the room adjacent to his, where he found Tawny curled up in Ashley's bed. She was a beautiful little girl, he had to admit to himself, and from what little he had seen of her, she reminded him of her mother.

Andros settled himself on the floor, waiting for her to wake up, and wondering what the hell he was supposed to do when she did.