Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, not mine.
Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: I would have waited, but I had some homework to finish and then Demon stole the Internet so I couldn't get back on... Of course I added it! Why wouldn't I:P
Mz. Daydream: I made Andros really sweet and perfect in this story. Don't you just love him:P After Tawny was born, Ashley made herself go out with as many guys as she had before, so people wouldn't think something was wrong... Yay! You're the first person to pick up on the whole Andros/Jeff/brother thing... :P Other people show up again in the next chapter, but the rest of the story is probably going to be heavy A/A.
Chylea3784: Thanks. I was about to have Jeff just break down, but that didn't seem quite right.
Jenny: Yup, Ashley's opening up. It's all right, you can be lazy just this once. :P
Chapter 18
Hours later, Ashley left the Angel Grove police station, completely drained. Jeff and Andros were still by her side, and Tawny was safe in Jeff's arms. Ashley's clammy fingers were clamped down around Andros's, as they had been from the moment she'd begun speaking.
"Where are we going?" Jeff was the first to break the heavy silence that had settled over them some time ago.
"The Megaship," Andros said, glancing up at the darkening sky of early autumn. "It's getting late, and you're exhausted, Ash."
"I hungry," Tawny piped up, rubbing her eyes with a small fist.
"We'll have to do something about that, then," Jeff said, bouncing the little girl in his arms. He'd spent a large portion of the last several hours wandering around with her, exploring the police station. Tawny wasn't one to sit still for hours on end, and she didn't need to hear the more graphic details of her mother's story. From the shaken expression on Andros's face that hadn't yet begun to fade, it wasn't something that Jeff was sorry he had missed.
"Mommy?"
"I'm right here, sweetie," Ashley said with a tired sigh, turning her head to reassure her daughter. "We're going home now. We'll get you something to eat there, all right?"
"Okay!" Tawny said cheerfully. "Ice cream?"
"After dinner," Ashley told her. "Don't worry, you'll get something for being such a good girl today."
"Ashley!"
She stopped short, her fingers tightening painfully over Andros's as she heard a familiar voice call out her name. Already on the verge of tears, a few droplets escaped from her eyes, trickling slowly down her cheeks as she searched out to body to which the voice belonged.
"Mom?"
The resemblence between mother and daughter was striking, the only difference being that of age and the cold hatred blazing in Ashley's mother's eyes. Her face wet with tears, she approached her daughter, who slowly backed away, although she refused to look away.
"Mom," Ashley whispered. "I - "
"You little whore," her mother screamed, not bothering to contain her rage. "You had your own stepfather arrested!"
Ashley swallowed, willing herself not to break down now. "I tried to tell you, Mom, years ago. You didn't want to listen."
"I didn't want to listen to lies!" she shouted. "Now you're saying that Terry is your daughter's father?"
"Yes," she whispered, her voice cracking. Feeling her distress, Andros squeezed her fingers harder, and Jeff inched closer to her, positioning himself between his sister and his mother. Drawing her strength from them, Ashley continued. "Tawny is Terry's daughter."
"You lying little whore," her mother breathed. "Why would you say something like that?"
"Because it's true," Ashley mumbled, her voice growing meeker, but her eyes still locked onto those of her mother. "Mom, Terry raped me."
She knew the slap was coming, and lowered her head to brace herself, but the stinging blow never came. Instead, she felt Andros release her hand and step in front of her, his hand lashing out to fasten itself around her mother's.
"Mrs. Hammond, your husband raped your daughter," he told her cooly. "If you don't want to accept that, no one is forcing you to, but you will not speak to her this way and you will not hit her."
"Mom," Jeff said, handing Tawny back to her mother as he took a step forward to stand beside Andros. "I know you don't want to believe this. I don't either, but-"
"Jeff?" He groaned at the baffled look on his mother's face. "What are you doing here? Why are you with her? You don't actually believe this, do you?"
"Yes," he said sadly. "I don't want to, but I do. We should have seen it, Mom."
"Seen what?" she cried. "That your sister's a whore?"
Andros's hazel eyes flashed dangerously and he took a menacing step forward. "If you call her that one more time-"
"Enough," Jeff said sharply, placing a hand on his chest to force him back. "Andros, calm down."
"No, let him talk," she objected, looking past her son to glare at the man standing beside her daughter. "Now it all makes sense."
"What does?" Jeff demanded.
"Don't you see, Jeff?" she said plaintively, pleading with him to see reason and side with her. "She needed a way to explain Tawny without telling the truth, without admitting that she's slept with every boy she's known since she was fourteen!"
"No, Mom," he said quietly. "That's not how this happened."
"It is," she insisted, her eyes filling with tears that streamed down her already wet face. "Jeff, you have to believe me. I can't lose you too."
"Then believe me," Ashley whispered, stepping past the protective shield of Jeff and Andros, clutching Tawny to her as she faced her mother. "Listen to me now, Mom, and we'll be okay again. Please Mom, just listen to me."
"Grandma!" Tawny struggled to reach out to her grandmother, but her mother held her to tightly for her to do so, and her grandma ignored her small voice. "Grandma?"
"I'll never listen to your lies," her mother spat, glaring at her daughter, and then her son. "You choose her?"
"If you make me choose," he said sadly, draping an arm over his sister's shoulder. "If you make me choose, Mom, then I choose Ashley."
"I hate you," she breathed in Ashley's face. Turning on her heel, she stalked away without a backward glance.
"Why Grandma leave?"
"Because Grandpa did something so bad that Grandma won't believe he did it," Jeff said after a long stretch of silence, knowing that the explanation was too much for Tawny to handle, but unable to simplify it any further.
"Come on," Andros said, feeling a sudden urgency to return to the calm quiet of the Megaship. "Let's get out of here... Deca, teleport four."
I should have known, Ashley thought bitterly, watching the Megaship materialize around her with a sense of detatched numbness. Deep in her heart, she knew that she had lost her mother the moment she'd woken in the middle of the night to find Terry standing over her, but she had never accepted the fact until just now.
"Ash?"
She was jolted from her thoughts to see both Jeff and Andros peering at her in concern and sorrow. Exhaling slowly, she moved to wrap her arms around both of them as best she could without dropping Tawny in the process, eternally grateful for their love.
"Ash, you're falling asleep," Jeff said a moment later, plucking Tawny out of her arms. "Go to bed. We'll take care of this little monster."
"In a minute," she said distantly. "Deca, is anyone else here?"
"Zhane, Karone, and Carlos are currently onboard the Megaship," Deca replied. "They are in the glider bay."
"Thanks," Ashley said, heading towards the Megalift, feeling Andros and Jeff hurry after her. "I want to tell them now."
"Ash, you don't have to," Andros was quick to say, but she shook her head.
"I want to get this over with."
Determined as she was, Ashley still hesitated at the entrance ot the glider bay. Andros and Jeff said nothing as she stalled, simply waiting patiently, but Tawny strained forward against Jeff's arms, whining for food.
"All right," Ashley agreed in a whisper. "You can eat now, Tawny."
"Hey, guys." Carlos was the only one facing them, and he smiled in greeting. "Hey, Tawny."
"Hi." Tawny glanced at him briefly, and then pointed to the Synthetron. "Food!"
"If you can call that food," Karone said dryly. "Hey, Ash, TJ moved all his stuff back down into his uncle's house, so if you need the room, we're under orders from Cassie to decorate it according to Tawny's taste."
"Oh," she said, startled. "Actually... that's great. I hadn't even thought of that."
Karone frowned at her flat tone. "What's wrong?"
"I, um..." Ashley paused and took a deep breath. "I went down to the police station today."
"Police?" Zhane repeated. "For what, Ash?"
"To have our stepfather arrested for rape," Jeff told them when Ashley faltered and looked to him, pleading silently.
"Stepfather?" Carlos repeated dimly. "Ash, he was the one who-"
"Yes," she interrupted. "He was."
"You know, Ash, you should get some sleep," Zhane said hastily, before Carlos had the chance to respond. "You look exhausted."
Andros shot his best friend a look of immense gratitude as he carefully wrapped an arm around Ashley's waist. "I'll walk you to your room?"
He phrased the sentence as a question, silently asking for her permission to remain by her side. Ashley nodded her head yes, kissing Tawny good night before allowing Andros to lead her through the Megaship to her room.
They walked slowly, and in complete silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts, but Andros didn't once release her until they had paused outside of her bedroom door.
"Good night, then," he said quietly, wrapping his other arm around her as well, pulling her into a loose hug. He drew back before she did, and was slightly taken aback when she threw her arms around his neck a moment later.
"Thank you," she whispered in his ear. "For staying with me all that time."
"Anything for you," he whispered back, rubbing her shoulders gently. "I love you, Ash."
"I love you," she said, her voice muffled by a yawn.
"Try to get some sleep," he said softly, brushing a few stray hairs out of her eyes. The familiar gesture was so comforting that it took nearly all of her willpower not to throw herself back into his arms and cling to him desperately. "Good night, Ash."
"Night," she mumbled sleepily, turning and stumbling into her bedroom. Andros exhaled slowly stared at her closed door, unmoving as time slipped by. His head didn't turn until he saw Jeff, with Tawny in his arms, appear at his side.
"Which room did they say was hers?"
"TJ's old room," Andros said, finally tearing his eyes away from Ashley's door. "It's the one next door."
"Thanks... whoa!"
With a sudden burst of energy, Tawny suddenly reached out to Andros with enough force that she nearly tumbled down out of her uncle's arms. Andros reached out slowly and took her from Jeff, his hesitation even more obvious now than it had been earlier that morning when he'd approached the little girl on the Simudeck.
Startled at the look of near panic that he saw flash briefly across Andros's face as Tawny wrapped her small arms around his neck, Jeff sighed, knowing that it wasn't really his place to do so, but wanting to question Andros again about how he felt about Ashley and Tawny.
"I love Ashley," Andros said suddenly, correctly interpreting the look on Jeff's face.
"How do I know that's the truth?" he challenged, wondering briefly what he wanted to hear.
Andros readjusted his hold on Tawny and shrugged. "You don't," he said finally. "But if you don't trust me when I say that I do, Ashley and Tawny lose the only family they have left."
"I don't suppose there's a chance that she'd choose me," Jeff said, surprised by the bitterness he heard in his own voice.
"If you made her choose, I think she'd choose me," Andros said hesitantly. "If I made her choose, I know she'd choose you."
"Then we won't make her choose," Jeff decided, eyeing Andros warily. "I don't know yet if I should trust you, but I know that Ashley does, so you had better not hurt her."
So this is how Zhane felt,Andros thought wryly. He nodded, setting Tawny down gently on the floor and motioning for her to explore her new bedroom. She went eagerly, unaware of the awkward silence she left Andros and Jeff in.
"I will never intentionally hurt Ashley," Andros said quietly, his eyes flickering towards her closed door. "I will never intentionally hurt Tawny."
"That's not good enough," Jeff insisted, stepping closer to him. "They're my family!"
"And it's too late for you to protect them," Andros said evenly, his gaze steady. "All the damage has been done, and there's nothing you can do about it, no matter how much you might want to."
Jeff sighed, knowing that Andros was right. "Then promise me one thing."
Andros eyed him warily and said nothing, waiting for him to go on. As the silence stretched on, Tawny ran back out of the room, her small hands grabbing at Andros's legs until he scooped her back up into his arms.
"Promise me that you'll be a better father to Tawny than Terry was to Ashley."
Andros remained silent and unmoving for several minutes, his mind struggling to grasp the fact that as far as Jeff was concerned, and probably Ashley as well, he was now responsible for the life and happiness of the little girl he was holding.
I can't do this, his mind wailed, his heart racing wildly. I don't know what I'm doing! What was I thinking? What was Ashley thinking?
Then Tawny squirmed, pillowing her head against his shoulder, and Andros knew that he was in too deep to turn back now. If he were to run now, he would spend every moment of the remainder of his life crying over what could have been.
Jeff's words continued ringing in his ears, and Andros realized that, more than anything else, it was the use of the word 'father' that frightened him. While that was what he would become if he remained at Ashley's side, his mind drifted back to the darkness that had been his childhood, and the terror he felt every time he laid eyes on the two people that were supposed to love him more than anyone else.
Silently vowing that he would never let the past repeat itself in him, Andros slowly nodded.
"I promise."