Disclaimer: Power Ranges isn't mine. Please don't sue me.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Yeah, you did. Andros is sweet again here. :P

Chylea3784: For some reason, Tawny really loves that playground... They do get interrupted, but not by Tawny...

Mel: VIP seats? Cool! Backwards day? Haha...

Chapter 17

Jeff Hammond teleported himself onto the Megaship using the communicator Andros had presented him the night before, beginning to adjust to the sensation of dematerializing and materializing.

Glancing around, he saw that there was no one in sight, and he stared around helplessly for a few moments before the camera eyes mounted every few feet caught his notice.

"Hi, Deca," he said, slightly unnerved by the fact that he was speaking the the Megaship herself.

"Hello," Deca responded a beat later, her voice cool and somewhat soothing.

"Do you know where Ashley is?"

"Certainly," she replied. "Ashley is on the Simudeck."

"Thanks," Jeff said. He started walking before he had absolutely no clue where or what the Simudeck was. "Um, Deca?"

"The Simudeck is on Megadeck Two." Jeff would have sworn that Deca was laughing. "The Megalift is to your left."

"Uh, thanks."

Several minutes later, Jeff managed to locate the Simudeck, with Deca doing a great deal of the navigation. The doors slid open smoothly, and he stopped short as he saw his little sister wrapped up in Andros's arms, their lips pressed together. Even from a distance Jeff could tell that it was a gentle kiss, not at all demanding, but hadn't Andros told him the night before that he and Ashley weren't together any longer?

Jeff frowned, hoping that Ashley wasn't making a mistake. He himself had seen the look in Andros's eyes the night before when he'd refused to reveal the secret Ashley had kept for so long and he couldn't doubt that Andros loved his sister very much, but at times, the former red ranger appeared very... possessive was a good word, Jeff decided.

He sighed, knowing that if he judged Andros off of the half hour he'd spent with him, Ashley wasn't likely to thank him. Therefore, he kept his thoughts to himself as he approached the pair, clearing his throat loudly to make certain that they noticed his presence.

"Jeff!" Ashley exclaimed, rushing over to him to wrap her arms around him with much more ease than she had the night before. He returned the hug, the fact that the light had returned to Ashley's eyes not escaping his notice.

"Ash, I want to talk to you," he said bluntly, knowing that the words sounded harsh, but needing to say them before he changed his mind and let her continue in her long silence.

"I need to talk to you too," Ashley said distantly. "Um..."

"I'll leave you two alone," Andros announced, glancing around awkwardly for means of escape. "Ash, can I..."

She turned and followed his gaze, smiling genuinely when she saw that his eyes had landed on Tawny, who was still happily amusing herself on the playground Zhane had summoned up for her.

"Go on," she encouraged him, noticing the way his shoulders had tensed up. "You didn't have to ask, you know. She likes you."

Jeff thought that that comment only caused Andros's obvious anxiety to grow more than it helped him to relax, but he kept his mouth shut as Andros wandered away from them, approaching Tawny timidly.

"Ash..."

"I love him," she said defensively, not at all liking the dark look upon her brother's face. "Jeff..."

"I know you do," he said. "But does he love you?"

"Yes," she answered instantly, her tone making it clear that she wasn't going to discuss this any longer. "Um, Jeff..."

"It's all right, Ash," he said as she stalled.

"You asked me, last night, if I knew who... who Tawny's father was," she said, by some miracle keeping her voice steady and even. "I told you I wasn't going to talk about it."

"You don't have to," Jeff said grudgingly. "Not if you can't."

"I think it's time that I finally talked about it," she said quietly.

"Yeah," Jeff agreed. "Ash, who - "

"Will you come with me to the police station?" she asked, her eyes silently begging him. "Andros already said that he would, but I want you there too..."

"Of course I'll go," he assured her, exhaling slowly. "Ash, who was it?"

His sister's hesitation stretched on for several long minutes, during which Jeff couldn't tear his eyes off of her fearful brown ones. An eternity later, Ashley's eyes hardened with determination.

"You're not going to want to believe me," she said sadly, rushing onward before she had the chance to change her mind. "But I swear to you that it's the truth... Jeff, it was Terry."

Silence reigned for perhaps thirty seconds as Ashley's words were slowly processed by her brother's disbelieving mind. Gradually, his face darkened, his eyes widening in horror as the full import of her words hit home.

"What?" he cried. "Ashley..."

"It's the truth," she whispered. "Jeff, I promise you that it's the truth."

"Then why didn't you ever say anything?" Jeff shouted. "Why did you protect him?"

"I wasn't..." Ashley fell silent as tears choked her voice, and bowed her head forward as her brother continued ranting.

"Yes, you were," Jeff insisted, the fury that had bubbled up within him directing itself unwittingly at Ashley. "You kept quiet! You never said anything! Why? What's wrong with you? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I... I'm sorry," Ashley mumbled, tears leaking out of her eyes despite her best efforts to keep them in, the small droplets cascading down her cheeks. "Jeff, I..."

"I need to think," Jeff said abruptly, turning on his heel and storming from the Simudeck without a backward glance. Ashley's face crumpled as she stared at the spot where her brother had stood a moment before through a haze of her own tears.

"Shh, Ash," she heard a voice whisper in her ear, and she felt Andros pull her into his arms as he spoke. "Don't worry, Ash."

The very sound of his voice was soothing to her and Ashley swallowed hard, trying to control herself enough to speak. It took much longer than she would have liked to admit, but after several minutes, her tears had finally dried up into sniffles.

"I thought he'd believe me," she whispered, her voice much too small for her own liking. "I thought it'd be okay."

"It's going to be okay," Andros promised her, gently rubbing small circles in the junction between her neck and shoulders until he felt her begin to relax. "He does believe you, Ash."

"Then why'd he leave?" she half-wailed, choking as she tried to continue speaking. "Why'd he - "

"He'll be back," Andros assured her, certain that sooner or later, Jeff would return, at least for a more detailed explanation. "It's a lot for him to take in, Ash. He needs some time."

"He's not coming back," Ashley whispered, as though she hadn't heard his words just a moment ago. Andros decided that she probably hadn't.

The instant she felt Andros loosen the hold he had on her, Ashley whimpered quietly before she caught herself and tightened her hold on him, burying her face in his chest as he began to pull away.

"Not you too," she whispered plaintively. "Andros, please don't go."

"I'll be right back," Andros promised her, placing a tender kiss on her forehead before carefully prying himself loose from her death grip.

"Where are you going?" she demanded.

"To find your brother," Andros told her gently. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

He grunted softly as Ashley threw her arms around his neck without a seconds warning, knocking the wind out of him. Not knowing what else he could do, Andros returned the hug, rubbing her back gently until she'd released him of her own accord.

"Thank you," she murmured, giving him one final squeeze as he began to walk away from her.

He did his best to shrug it off. "Anything for you," he said simply, before hurrying off of the Simudeck. "Deca, where is Jeff Hammond?"

Following her directions, he soon caught up with Ashley's brother, who was wandering dazedly through the corrirdors of the Megaship, a blank, stunned look upon his face.

"Jeff," Andros said quietly. It seemed to take hours, but slowly, he turned to face Andros.

"What do you want?"

"Do you believe her?" Andros asked bluntly. "If you don't, there's not much point in you being here, is there?"

Jeff sighed heavily. "Do you?"

"Yes," he answered without a seconds hesitation. "If Ashley tells me something - anything - I trust her to be telling me the truth."

"But if she's telling me what really happened, then why did she never say anything?" Jeff countered. "I don't want to believe her, but I can't not believe her, because, well... I don't know..."

"Because you know that it's true," Andros supplied. He sighed. "You're wondering why she never told you. Because she was afraid that you'd react exactly as you did."

"I didn't - " Jeff began to protest.

"You did," Andros said. "But you can go back. Ashley needs you. You're the only family she has, besides Tawny."

"That's not true," Jeff said. "There's our mother."

Andros glanced down quickly and Jeff's eyes narrowed. Sighing, Andros looked up again. "Your mother..."

"What?" Jeff demanded, growing angry as Andros stalled. "Just tell me!"

He hesitated. "This is for Ashley to tell."

"I don't want to hear it from her!" Jeff cried out. "I don't want to listen while my little sister tells me what the man who should have been her father did to her!"

"I understand that," Andros said patiently, and he did. "But I promised her - "

"What does that matter?" Jeff roared. "You knew, and you let her keep quiet!"

"I don't have the power to control Ashley's actions," Andros said cooly. "And that's not what this is about. She's your sister, and she needs you."

"But I - "

"Do you believe her or not?" Andros demanded.

"I... don't know."

"If you walk away now, you'll never be able to come back," Andros warned him. "Ashley let you in and you betrayed the trust she had in you."

"My room was right next to hers," Jeff whispered. "The walls are about two inches thick. Why didn't I hear anything? Why didn't she scream? I wouldn't have just done nothing!"

"Ask her that," Andros suggested. "You love her, don't you?"

"She's my sister!"

"Then be her brother," Andros pleaded.

Jeff let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and nodded. "I'll talk to her."

Andros nodded, taken aback when Jeff grabbed him by the arm. Sighing, he pulled himself free and turned to look at Ashley's brother. "What?"

"My mother met Terry when I was fifteen," he said, his voice low with urgency. "Ashley was twelve. Did he - "

"No," Andros interrupted quickly, his eyes widening in horror at the thought. "No, she wasn't twelve."

Jeff exhaled slowly with relief, but it was short lived. "He's always hated her," he muttered.

"Why?" Andros couldn't keep himself from asking.

"Ash was always close to our mom," Jeff said slowly. "I should have known!"

"It wasn't your fault," Andros told him quietly. "It wasn't Ashley's fault. It was his."

"Then I should have known something was wrong," Jeff insisted. "For a few months before she ran away, she was so jumpy. She didn't talk. She stopped cheerleading. She stopped singing."

"Singing?"

"Yeah," Jeff said, not noticing Andros's surprise. "And then when she came back, she acted like she always had, so I just thought... I don't know. I guess I thought she'd broken up with the guy who'd gotten her pregnant."

They halted at the doors to the Simudeck. Jeff took a deep breath before entering, stopping short as he came face-to-face with his sister, who was headed out of the Simudeck with Tawny in her arms. Silently, Andros reached out and took the little girl from her mother, slowly backing away to give them some privacy.

"Ashley..."

"You came back?" she asked quietly.

He nodded shamefacedly. "I'm sorry, Ash."

Without a word, Ashley flung her arms around his neck, drawing her brother into a fierce hug. "Thank you."

"For what?" Jeff asked gently. "Coming back?"

Ashley nodded.

"I never should have left," he said quietly.

"Listen to me?" she pleaded. He nodded. Ashley took a deep breath and began to tell her story for the second time.