Disclaimer: Power Rangers is not mine in any way... yet.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Don't kill me! Here's more.

Mel: Yup, that's right. :P

Chylea3784: Thanks.

C.C.C: I needed to have Jeff stop Andros, or else this story would become way to complicated. :P Andros and Terry will see each other's faces during the trial, but I haven't written that far ahead yet, so we'll see.

Author's Note: I know, well, abosolutely nothing about the law, and I'm making this up as I go along to fit what I want to happen with this story... so if anything happens later on and is accurate, that's completely unintentional.

Chapter 19

"Months?" Ashley repeated weakly, her fingers clenching around the telephone. "All right... thank you."

"Ash?" Cassie gave her a questioning look as she slowly dropped the receiver back down into the cradle and sank into the center seat on the bridge. "What happened?"

"Nothing major will happen for months," she said distantly. "The courts and the lawyers... I don't know! They want to know if there was anyone else, besides me. He has to be arraigned. He has to plead guilty or not guilty. I don't even know what that means!"

She was shouting now, her voice trembling with both fear and anger, two emotions that she had become too well acquainted with in the week since she'd gathered the courage to walk into the Angel Grove police headquarters and give them her statement.

"Hey, it'll be all right," Cassie assured her, wrapping an arm around the shoulders of her distraught friend. "This way, you'll have a few months to prepare yourself."

"I don't want a few months!" Ashley cried. "I want this over with!"

"I know you do," Cassie said soothingly. "We all do, and if there was anything that we could do to make this go any faster, then we would, but that won't happen, Ash."

Ashley let out a shaky breath and tried to force a smile. "I know you would... Thanks, Cass."

"What else are best friends good for?" Cassie said with a weak grin of her own. "You'll be all right, Ash."

Her confidence was encouraging, and Ashley couldn't help but agree with her, although she still had her doubts. Noticing her expression, Cassie decided it was time for a change of topic.

"Where's Tawny at, anyway?"

"With Jeff and Andros," Ashley replied, her smile no longer forced. "She's been cooped up in here for a month, so they took her down to Angel Grove for awhile."

"And let you hide up here," Cassie finished.

"Yeah..." Ashley shifted uncomfortably.

"Ash, you've left the Megaship once in the last month."

"I know," she muttered. "But I..."

"Ash, just listen to me," Cassie insisted gently. "You've been here for a month. If that's what you needed to start working through everything, then that's not so bad, but you said yourself that nothing's going to happen for months. Do you really want to still be here three months from now? Six months?"

"I don't want to be here now," Ashley admitted. "Except I... it's safe here."

"It is," Cassie agreed. "But if we were to go down and find Andros and Jeff and Tawny, I'd bet you anything that they'd keep you safe too."

"I know they would." Ashley sighed and looked away before muttering, "I just can't ask them to."

Cassie sighed and sat down, swiveling Ashley's chair around to face hers. "Look," she said firmly. "If you went to Andros and asked him to hold your hand through the next four or five months, do you know what he'd do? He'd take both your hands, wrap his arms around you, and never let go."

"I know he would," Ashley said, a faint smile gracing her face. "I don't want him to, Cassie. I need him, and I know it, but I don't want to be helpless every minute that he's not with me. I don't want to have to run to him crying every time I get scared. I don't want to be that weak."

"Okay," Cassie sighed. "First of all, wasn't the first thing you taught Andros that it's not weakness to admit you need someone? Second, you're not helpless without him. I remember you before you knew him, and you were just as strong as you are now, Ash."

"I'm not," Ashley insisted. "I couldn't even tell the police what happened without him holding my hand!"

"Have you noticed," Cassie countered, "that whenever Andros talks about his past, he can't do it without you holding his hand?"

"Yeah," Ashley admitted after a brief moment of hesitation. "But - "

"No buts," Cassie said firmly. "You need him, and he needs you. You're both strong, but stronger with each other."

"Cassie..." Ashley glanced up at her best friend helplessly, out of arguments.

"Come on," Cassie said suddenly, standing up and tugging on Ashley's arm. "Let's get out of here."

"I - "

"Ash, if all you think about for the next five months is the trial, you're going to drive yourself insane," Cassie pointed out. "Remember what you always said about living for the moment?"

"Yeah..." Ashley sighed. "Where are we going?"

Cassie smirked, and it suddenly occured to Ashley that her friend had been plotting for some time. "We," she said, "are going to go down to Angel Grove, see if your daughter has left us anything of Andros and Jeff, and then Andros is taking the two of you out for the afternoon."

Something in Cassie's tone prompted Ashley to ask suspiciously, "Does he know that?"

"Nope," Cassie replied cheerfully. "Now, hurry up so we can go tell him that he's expected to take you shopping and then to lunch."

"Shopping?" Ashley repeated weakly. "But..."

"But there's other people there?" Cassie finished. "Look, Ash, you've got to make some choices here. You can run and hide, or you can try to make the most of what you've got, and you've got a lot, Ash. If anyone wonders who Tawny is, you can ignore them, tell them that it's none of their damn business, or just tell them that this is your daughter and keep walking... And I've never known you to be one to hide, Ash."

Ashley sighed. Cassie was right; she couldn't hide forever. Nodding her head slowly, she gave her best friend a half grateful, half reluctant smile and stood up, stretching her arms above her head.

"Just let me go get dressed."

Ashley left the bridge quickly, the prospect of spending some time elsewhere appealing to her no matter what she had said to Cassie earlier. Besides that, she had yet to spend any time with Andros and Tawny together, and she wanted badly to do so.

Glaring at her clothes, she grabbed the first pair of jeans she saw and wriggled into them as quickly as she could. Stuffing her feet into a pair of shoes, she dragged a brush through her hair a few times and snatched up a zip-up sweatshirt on her way out the door. She knew she looked far from beautiful, but her appearance wasn't the first thing on her mind at the moment.

"Took you long enough," Cassie exclaimed as she reentered the bridge. "Now, come on, let's go!"

Slightly startled by her enthusiasm, Ashley shrugged and followed her friend down to Angel Grove, not at all surprised when they landed in the park. The day was overcast, but there werer still a number of children crowded around the playground. A quick glance told them that Tawny wasn't among those children, and they started off in search of her.

It didn't take long to spot Andros's unique hair, but apparently he had spotted them first. One hand wrapped around Tawny's, he was heading towards them at a slow enough pace for Tawny to keep up with him.

"Hi," Ashley said softly, wondering why she was suddenly struck shy. Andros smiled at her in return, and opened his mouth to say something, but Tawny beat him to it.

"Mommy!"

"Hey, Andros, can I talk to you?"

Cassie dragged him to the side as Ashley bent down to scoop Tawny up into her arms. Tawny wasted no time in wrapping her arms around Ashley's neck, nearly strangling her with the hug.

"Did you have fun with Uncle Jeff and Andros?" she asked. Tawny nodded, looking sad for a moment.

"Uncle Jeff go to... c - cl..."

"Class?" Ashley suggested when Tawny frowned in frustration. She nodded.

"What that?"

"It's where Uncle Jeff goes to learn things," Ashley explained. "He wants to be a doctor."

"What a doctor?"

"Doctors take care of sick people," Ashley told her. "When you're sick, they make you feel better."

"Oh." Tawny paused thoughtfully. "Mommy? What you wanna be?"

Ashley winced, and sighed. "I don't know yet, sweetie."

"Oh."

Ashley decided it was time for a change of topic. "Guess what? We're going shopping today!"

"What shopping?" Tawny asked, her eyes lighting up at her mother's tone. "Is it fun?"

"Lots of fun," Ashley assured her, her eyes flickering towards Andros with a grin. "We'll buy you a whole lot of new clothes."

"Okay!" Tawny said enthusiastically. "I want clothes!"

Ashley laughed. "Don't worry, we'll get you some... Do you have to go to the bathroom?"

Tawny squirmed. "No?"

"Yes," Ashley decided. "Come on."

By the time they returned to the spot where they had left Andros and Cassie talking, only Andros remained there, staring off into space as he waited for them to return. His mind was far enough away that he didn't seem to hear them approach, and jumped slightly when Ashley laid a hand on his arm.

"Hi," she said.

He didn't say anything in reply, but instead reached out, wrapping his arms around both of them. Ashley smiled and leaned against him for several minutes, relaxing with much more ease than she'd expected.

"Have fun?" she asked him.

"Well... we're all still alive," he answered her dryly. He paused. "I'm supposed to take you shopping?"

She laughed a little apologetically. "It was Cassie's idea."

Andros shifted his grip a little to let Tawny squirm out of their arms and she felt him kiss the top of her head. "If I'd known that that's all it takes to get out of your room, I'd have taken you weeks ago."

Ashley smiled a little at the timid joke. "It's not that," she said softly. "Cassie said a few things that made me want to stop hiding."

"Remind me to thank her later," he said softly, pulling back to grab Tawny just as she began to wander away. "She and TJ are meeting us for lunch, if that's all right with you."

"Of course it is," she assured him, smiling at the thought of her friend finally together with TJ. "Come on, Tawny."

"We going now?"

"We sure are," Ashley said. "Tell Andros thank you."

"And-ros?" Tawny repeated slowly, her tongue stumbling over the name.

"That's his name," Ashley said, gesturing over at Andros.

"No," Tawny said with a shake of her head. "Funny hair."

Ashley choked, the startled look on Andros's face making her laugh harder. "He does have funny hair," she agreed. "But I like it."

"It funny," Tawny insisted.

"No," Ashley said suddenly, grinning wickedly. "It's pretty."

"Pretty?" Tawny wrinkled her nose. "Pretty hair?"

Andros was blushing by now, his cheeks a brighter red than his T-shirt, although he was smiling reluctantly. Ashley couldn't resist tugging on his ponytail, running her fingers through the ends of his hair as he tried hard to glare at her, but didn't quite manage. Still laughing, she hugged him hard, breathing a silent thank you to Cassie for convincing her to let go, even if it was just for these few minutes.