Disclaimer: Unless it's on sale for three dollars, Power Rangers isn't mine.

Melissa: Grr... another mistake. Chapter 37 is the epilogue, so it'll end there, but I've got a new story started. Yeah, I promised Marieke a brother. :P Thanks for your help finding a name. I actually chose one. :P

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: She just doesn't want to get her hopes up... You're Pandora's box? Now that's cool!

Chylea3784: You're a good guesser. The story's almost over, but there is going to be a sequel at some point, probably after my next four stories.

Mz. Daydream: Haha... And of course we'll never get sick of hearing how sweet Andros is.

Jenny: I don't hate you! But now that you mention it... how's our untitled story coming?

C.C.C: Thanks... and I love your guess a lot more than the reason I came up with.

Author's Note: I'd like to apologize for the three or four alerts you've gotten for this chapter. The short version is document manager and I had a little disagreement, and I've spent the last hour learning HTML editing.

Chapter 35

Tears slowly made their way down Ashley's cheeks as she made her way down the hall that led from the doctor's office to the reception area where Andros was waiting for her, likely not daring to breathe.

She stepped into the waiting area slowly, silently, much prefering to wait until they were in the privacy of their own home to break the news to Andros, but knew that the instant he saw her in tears he would panic. She didn't have the heart to keep him in suspense for even the ten minutes the ride home would take.

Andros leapt to his feet the moment he spotted her, his eyes widening as he took in the dazed, blank expression marking Ashley's beautiful face and the large tears rolling slowly down her cheeks.

"Ash?"

She jumped as his voice penetrated her thoughts and simply stared at him as he stopped just short of taking her into his arms. It was only when she saw his face slowly begin to fall that she realized she was still crying, and she swiped furiously at her cheeks, swallowing hard as she tried to find her voice, but her throat was to tight to allow words to escape.

"Ash?" he whispered again, desperately trying to quash the wild hope raging within him. "Ash, just tell me, please."

"I - I..." Ashley swallowed, forcing the lump in her throat away just long enough to whisper, "I'm pregnant."

"Y-you are?" Andros stared at her wide-eyed, frozen into place. "You're really pregnant?"

"Yes!" she cried, the words finally registering in her mind. She was having a baby... She was having Andros's baby... She and Andros were going to have a baby of their own...

With a shriek of joy, Ashley launched herself into his arms, feeling him stumble backward several paces as he took her weight. His arms wrapped firmly around her midsection, nearly crushing her as she continued to cry, her face buried in his neck.

"We're having a baby," she whispered into his ear, the notion of carrying his child still foreign to her. "We're going to have our own baby."

"We're having a baby," Andros repeated, squeezing her as hard as he dared. Grinning from ear to ear, he pulled back, crushing his mouth to hers for a long moment.

"Am I dreaming?" Ashley wondered aloud, feeling her heart sinking.

The doctors on Earth had been clear on that point; her body was incapable of producing any children that might have come after Tawny. More tears, these bitter, pressed against her eyelids as she recalled how difficult Tawny's birth had been. By the end of her labor, Ashley was very nearly convinced that she'd been torn apart, and being absolutely terrified and completely alone had done nothing in the way of helping matters. She'd known that something had gone wrong, but when she was told that there could be no more children...

"No," Andros said quietly, kissing her again. "This is real, Ash."

"So we're really having a baby? I'm really pregnant?"

"That's what you just told me," Andros said, laughing. "Ashley, I love you."

"I love you too, Andros," she whispered, clinging to him as hard as she could. "I love you, and we're going to have our own child."

Andros gave her one final squeeze before releasing her. "Let's go home, Ash."

Ashley agreed readily, knowing that they had been extrememly lucky so far that the waiting room had been empty, but not doubting that the news would have spread across KO-35 by morning.

"Did you want to know if it's a boy or a girl?" she asked softly as they left the building.

Andros shook his head. "Do you?"

Ashley shook her head as well. "I want everything to be a surprise."

"So far it has been," Andros said wryly, and she nodded happily in agreement.

"Do you want a boy or a girl?" she asked as she climbed into the car. Andros rested his hand over her abdomen for a moment before replying, still grinning.

"I don't care," he said, putting the car into motion. "It doesn't matter to me, Ash. But... a son might be nice, just because we've got a daughter."

Ashley hadn't thought that her smile could grow any brighter, but at hearing the way Andros referred to Tawny as his daughter, she wondered if her face might actually split in two. She knew how Andros had seen Tawny as his daughter for months now, but every time she heard him call her daughter his own, she could only love him even more.

"A son would be nice," Ashley agreed. "But wouldn't it be cute to have two girls?"

Andros smiled. "Actually, it would..."

He parked the car in their driveway, helping her out of the car as carefully as he could. Ashley laughed, somehow knowing that he was going to insist on taking care of her for the next eight months. She slipped her arm through his, knowing also that she was going to have to remind him constantly that she was neither helpless nor breakable.

They found themselves on the living room couch once again, Ashley curled up in Andros's lap. His hands slipped under her shirt to rest on her bare stomach, searching for the child that was sleeping inside her. There was barely any swell at all to her abdomen, but he was certain he felt it.

"What names do you like?"

Andros glanced at her in surprise. "Isn't it a little early for that?"

Ashley shrugged, her eyes gleaming brightly. "So? It can't hurt to have a few ready... Tell me some names!"

Andros shrugged. "I've never really thought about it..." he said slowly. "You go first."

"Anemone."

Andros blinked several times, unsure of how to react until he felt Ashley quivering with the effort it took to hold in her giggles. When he began to laugh, she did as well, leaving both of them laughing helplessly for several minutes.

"Sorry," Ashley said, wiping her eyes, still giddy. "This is just... I never thought that I'd be able to... Andros?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know how I got pregnant?"

The intent look in Ashley's eyes was more than enough for Andros to abandon the idea of teasing her at that moment. Instead, he sighed, shaking his head as he thought for a moment.

"The only way I can think of," he said at last, "is that the Power healed you."

"Wow," Ashley murmured. "I love the Power."

"So do I," Andros agreed softly, rubbing his thumbs gently over her skin. "I know how badly you want this baby."

Ashley nodded into his chest, her heart bursting with joy. "I want children with you, Andros, even if it's just this one baby."

"Do you still want five or six?" he asked, wondering if he shouldn't have just kept his mouth shut when Ashley's smile slipped for the first time.

"Maybe there can't be five or six," she said quietly, staring up at him seriously. "Maybe this baby will be as hard to give birth to as Tawny was."

"Then it'll be all right," Andros said firmly, moving one hand from her stomach to give her fingers a gentle squeeze. "Everything will be fine, no matter what happens."

"Even if it's just this baby?"

"Even if it's just this baby."

Ashley's smile was back, if a little smaller than it had been previously. "If there can be more..."

"As many as you're willing to have," Andros said finally, grinning faintly.

Ashley winced silghtly. "Let's see if this baby is anything like Tawny..."

"How bad was it?" he asked cautiously, not wanting to press the matter if it was one Ashley didn't wish to discuss. She'd confided nearly every dark memory of her past in him, but the subject of Tawny's birth was one that she had carefully avoided, and he had let her, knowing that if it was a memory she wanted to share with him, she would, and if it was something she'd keep rather inside forever, then she would.

"It was mostly that I was scared," she said finally. "I was so scared and so alone. No one was even at the hospital with me. And then I knew something was wrong when they called in some other doctors, but they kept telling me that I was doing fine and to just keep pushing and the baby would be there in just a little while. I knew they were lying and that scared me even more. I thought my baby was dying."

She paused, sighing heavily. "When they told me that I'd never have another baby, it wasn't that there was only going to be Tawny. It was mostly the way that Tawny had been created. If I... if I'd loved her father, I could have lived with it. She would have been my choice, and I'd have to live with the consequences of my own actions. But I hated her father, and for a long time, I almost hated her... because she was the only child I'd ever have and I didn't want her."

Ashley paused once again, glancing down at her hands, mumbling, "If you want the truth, that's the only reason I kept her."

"I'm glad you did," Andros offered softly.

"So am I," she whispered. "So glad."

Andros opened his mouth to comfort her, but she glanced up at him then and he fell silent. Her smile was small and somewhat forced, but grew steadily as she gazed up into his eyes.

"But that's over with," she said firmly, squeezing his fingers hard. "I don't have to think about that anymore. I can think about us. I can think about our... our family."

"Our family," Andros echoed, grinning broadly. "I like it."

"That's what we are," Ashley pointed out with a little laugh. "We've got each other, and Tawny, and now this baby... This is forever, Andros, I know it."

He smiled and kissed the top of his wife's head, unable to agree more.