Disclaimer: Power Rangers... not mine. Darn.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Of course it's sweet! You read more and I worked on the flashback. :P

Chylea3784: That occured to me too...

Jenny: Yes, you can say that the story is great. :P And it's all right, my mom won't let me online most hours of the day. But you know that... :P

Chapter 24

"I'll stay here," Carlos announced unexpectedly when Ashley repeated her request for her friends to accompany her. When he saw her crushed look, he was quick to explain, "Deca really isn't the best baby-sitter, and won't Tawny get lonely?"

Ashley nodded. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about a thing, Ash," he assured her. "Just take care of yourself, all right?"

She nodded again, her throat too dry for words. When she stepped back towards her friends, Andros offered his hand to her, the look in his eyes promising her that he would understand if she couldn't take it. Ashley hesitated, but slowly reached out to him, her fingers clamping down over his. She knew she had to be hurting him, but he said nothing, only glancing up at Deca's eye and softly requesting her to teleport them all down to Angel Grove.

Ashley was startled to see that the day was overcast, heavy clouds threatening to break loose and drench the world. She knew that it was the middle of winter, but couldn't help wondering what had happened to all the months in between late summer and now. It had been the last few days of August when Andros had first seen Tawny, and she truly remembered very little of the last four months or so.

"Cold?"

Andros's warm breath nearly in her ear startled her so badly it took several minutes for the single word to register. She nodded, crossing her arms across her chest, her fingers curling into fists. Andros shrugged off his jacket, draping it across her shoulders.

"Better?"

She pushed her arms through the sleeves and nodded, the residual heat from his body warming her better than the jacket itself. "Thanks," she muttered.

"Hey, Ash, what time did you have to be there?" TJ asked from somewhere behind her. "In about twenty minutes?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, glancing over at the building nervously.

"Stay out here as long as you want," Cassie told her. "We're not going anywhere."

"I should go," she said reluctantly, most of her concentration on breathing. "Come on."

Ashley kept her head ducked down as she slowly made her way up the steps to the courthouse. Andros had a firm grasp on her hand, and had his other arm wrapped securely around her waist, but it wasn't nearly enough to soothe her anymore, and they both knew it.

To her relief, there wasn't a gaggle of reporters standing by ready to pounce on her or if there was, her friends were doing a good job of sheilding her from them. Cool air breezed down on them the moment they entered the building, where Jeff stood waiting for them, looking extremely uncomfortable in his black slacks and pale blue shirt.

"Ready, Ash?" he asked softly.

She knew better than to shake her head, not having the energy to take in several dozen encouraging remarks from her friends. Exhaling slowly, she did her best to look brave.

"As ready as I'm going to be," she said in what she hoped was a steady voice. Andros's fingers tightened briefly over hers, but other than that, no one commented.

Jeff gave her a forced smile and opened the heavy door to his left, ushering her into the courtroom, Andros only a step behind her. Ashley didn't know how her feet managed to carry her across the room, but somehow they did, and she found herself seated on a hard wooden bench between Andros and Jeff, her hands clenched and her head bowed down once more.

There was a slight tingling in the back of her mind, and she shot Andros a sharp look. His eyes were focused intently on hers, filled with concern and sorrow, but more than anything else, love.

"Let down your blocks?" he asked her tentatively, knowing that he had no right to intrude on her thoughts, and more importantly, no right to intrude on her memories, but he was desperate to help her in even the smallest way.

Ashley hesitated, but in the end complied, slowly lowering the mental walls she had hidden herself behind. As she did so, her sense of Andros grew stronger and stronger, until she felt as though she was curled up in his lap with his strong arms cradling her against him as she kept her face buried in his chest.

"Does this help any?"

She nodded instantly, giving him what she hoped was a grateful look. "Thank you."

"Anything for you," he replied simply, the words that he had said so many times before calming her almost to the point of rationality. Andros squeezed her fingers briefly, and she actually smiled, her nerves steadied by the quiet tingling in the back of her mind that was him.

Someone - she thought it likely had been Karone - had once termed the emphatic links between herself and Andros and then the one between Zhane and Karone a 'soulmate bond.' While she wasn't entirely sure that she believed in soulmates, Ashley had to admit that if the theory was correct it explained a lot. She didn't doubt that any other guy would have walked away long ago, but Andros was still at her side, somehow knowing that he wanted to remain there for the rest of his life.

She frowned, remembering Andros's proposal the night before. His timing had been horrible; he'd admitted as much himself, but oddly enough, she wasn't bothered by the pressure he'd put on her. It was reassuring on some level, to know that after every last awful moment of her past had been retold time and again, Andros would still be there, still loving her.

You wish you'd said yes, don't you? she asked herself slowly, glancing down at their clasped hands.

Maybe I do, she admitted. But... I'm not ready for that. Andros understands...

You almost broke his heart last night, you know.

I know, she thought sadly, wincing inwardly as she recalled the crushed look on his face the night before. But he shouldn't have asked me to marry him...

He was just trying to tell you that he loves you. He wanted you to know that he's never going to leave you. And you said no!

I didn't, she protested against herself. Not exactly.

But you didn't say yes, now did you? You don't deserve him, not after the way you've treated him. First you left him. Then you made him beg for a second chance, when you should have been begging him. Then you let him fall completely in love with you, and you won't even marry him!

I will, she told herself decisively. When he asks me again, I will. I'll be ready then.

Unless he sees you for who you really are before that, the little voice taunted her. He won't want you when he sees what a horrible person you are. He won't want you when he realizes that you deserve everything that's happened to you!

I didn't, she wailed silently.

Yes, you did! Just because Andros told you that you didn't doesn't mean it's true. He doesn't know everything. He doesn't know you. But you do. You know how awful you are.

"Ash?"

Her head snapped in Andros's direction, her eyes wide and fearful. "Andros... you can't read minds, can you?"

"No, Ash," he assured her quickly, deciding that she didn't need to know she had been projecting several of her thoughts at him unwittingly. "I can't read your mind."

"Andros?" she asked hesitantly, his opinion mattering to her so much more than her own. "Am I an awful person?"

"No," he responded instantly, almost violently. "Don't ever think that you are, Ash."

See? she thought at the little part of herself that continued to torment her. I'm not awful...

Knowing that she wouldn't like the reply, Ashley quickly tore herself away from her thoughts, clinging to the hope that one day, she would be ready to say yes to Andros, and spend the rest of her life in his arms.

"Ash," Jeff muttered suddenly, tapping her hand lightly. "He's coming now..."

I am not going to cry, she resolved, her nails digging into Andros's palm. I am not going to cry. He can't control me anymore.

She swallowed hard and nodded, steeling herself not to break down in tears at the mere sight of him. She couldn't let him see how weak she was. If Terry saw her cry, he would know how to get to her, and she couldn't let that happen. He couldn't win, not after everything she had put herself through to get here. Taking a deep breath, she forced her chin up, clamping her fingers down hard over Andros's as she searched frantically for the strength he'd sworn to her that she possessed.

Andros wasn't sure who was expecting to see, but there was nothing impressive about the man escorted into the room by two armed men. He looked like any other man Andros had ever seen, nothing about his demeanor hinting at what he was capable of. He was taller than most, maybe an inch or two more than six feet, and while 'short' was not a word easily applied to Ashley Hammond, Andros instantly understood how small she must have felt, and still felt, if his instincts were correct.

Despite his height, his frame was rather slight and his expression was relatively mild for someone in his position.

He appeared almost bored.

Then his gray-blue eyes settled on Ashley, and his face was suddenly contorted into a sneer, the gesture twisting his face into something not quite human. Andros felt Ashley tense, forcing her muscles still as her body tried to shrink back into him. He couldn't help but marvel at her strength; he himself wanted to tear his eyes away, but he refused to let himself, and instead glared at the man who had hurt Ashley more deeply than anyone should ever be hurt.

There was something predatory in his cold, hard gaze, something hungry, something... evil. Andros suddenly knew with sickening certainty what Terry would try if he was given the chance, and worse, he knew that it would happen because deep in her heart, Ashley still thought too little of herself to struggle against him.

He wasn't sure exactly what it was that kept him in his seat when everything inside of him simply wanted to vent out his anger. It could have been the knowledge that Ashley needed him more than anything. It might have been that he still possessed some kind of restraint, but he strongly suspected that it had much more to do with the iron grip Ashley had on his arm than with any ideas he had about what was right and what was wrong.

"Andros, cool it," Zhane ordered from somewhere off to his right. "You're not helping her any."

"I'm trying," he responded, clenching his teeth. "But I just want to kill him."

"I know you do," Zhane said patiently. "We all do. But you can't do that here."

"Then let's go somewhere I can," he retorted. "This is too good for him."

"Andros," Ashley whimpered, and he jumped, quickly putting some distance between them as he realized just what his anger was doing to her.

"I'm sorry, Ash," he apologized quickly, keeping the walls up until he'd gotten his temper under some kind of control. "I'll try not to do that."

Ashley let out a shuddering breath and nodded weakly. Once Andros had gotten his rage down to a manageable level, the sensation of his mind rubbing gently against hers was soothing once again, and slowly, she began to relax as best she could under the current circumstances.

She knew better than to let her eyes stray to the left side of the courtroom, but she didn't need to be told that Terry was watching her. She could feel his eyes fixed on her and shuddered as memory upon memory slammed into her hard, playing out in slow motion, forcing her to relive each awful second at a hundredth of the speed in which it had happened in reality.

Ashley couldn't stand it any longer and twisted to the side, rendered completely immoblie by the intensity of Terry's eyes. Ashley hadn't known that one person could possess so much hate, so much evil, and to know that it was all focused on her nearly destroyed her.

He smirked as tears welled up in her eyes. Just barely swallowing down her squeak of fear, Ashley wrapped Andros's jacket around herself more securely, attempting to just drown herself in the warm fabric and hide for the rest of eternity.

"Court will come to order," the baliff announced loudly. "All rise..."

Ashley didn't hear the rest, but she slowly stood on rubbery legs with the rest, leaning on Andros for a support that he offered without hesitation, and the love that he returned unconditionally.