Jenny: I'm glad you like it.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: I'm updating as fast as I can.

Disclaimer: As much as I would like for it to be, Power Rangers is not my creation.

Ch. 11 Painful Memories

It had been a week since Zhane's return and Andros had begun to loosen up even more around the other rangers. Now that they knew what had happened to Andros they understood why he had acted the way he had towards them in the beginning. At first Zhane had made fun of Andros for having a girlfriend, since when they were younger Andros had swore that he would never have one, but now after seeing how close he and Ashley were Zhane decided to leave it alone. Andros had been sitting in his room going over some battle footage when his com system went off. He rolled over in the chair he was sitting in to answer it.

"Hello?" he asked as he activated the screen. His voice choked up when he saw Cestra on the screen.

"Hi, Andros," she began simply. "Look, I know you have to be pretty shocked to hear from me but I needed to warn you that Mom and Dad are on their way to see you."

"I was expecting this," he replied bluntly. His parents always came to visit on the anniversary of Karone's disappearance. "How mad are they?"

"They were so mad when they were here that they almost hit Michelle," Cestra answered. Andros felt his temper rising as he thought of his parents wanting to hit his little sister for something she wasn't even around for.

"Thanks for the warning but I'll be okay," Andros stated stubbornly. He wasn't about to let his parents scare him again.

Meanwhile, DECA had picked up on the presence of Andros' parents ship and immediately warned Ashley and Zhane. They rushed from the Simudeck, where they had been in the middle of a training session and went straight to Andros' room. By this time Andros had hung up with his sister and was walking out of his room when Ashley and Zhane came running up.

"They're here aren't they?" he asked bluntly. Zhane simply nodded and watched for a reaction from his best friend. "Well, let's go see if we can find a way to get rid of them." By the time they got to the Bridge where the other rangers were his parents were already standing there.

"Andros," his mother, Petra, began, "we would like to speak with you. Alone." They could all hear the hatred in her voice and could imagine what was going to happen to their leader if they left him alone. "I meant right now!"

"You guys," Andros started, trying to keep the fear out of his voice, "go train for awhile, I'll be fine." Everyone except Ashley and Zhane left the room and Andros knew that he had to get rid of them. Instead of talking to them aloud he sent them both the same promise, 'I'll call you if there's any problem.' Although they both had their doubts they left the family alone and went to find the others.

"I can't believe you gave them the Astro morphers!" Duncan yelled. He stepped closer to his son and hit him in the face. Andros remained still, knowing that it would do him no good to fight back or run. "What, you can't even think of a good excuse?" Now it was his mother's turn. She never said anything while she hit him and he was thankful for it. After he went limp from a punch from his father DECA decided it was time to contact the other rangers.

"Rangers," she started urgently, "Andros needs your help." They all rushed to the Bridge and Ashley almost started bawling at the sight in front of her. Both of Andros' parents were kicking him while he laid motionless on the floor.

"Stop!" Zhane yelled and Ashley could tell that he to was close to tears. "DECA, get them out of here!" The AI did as she was told and teleported Petra and Duncan back to their ship, dislodging it from the Megaship. "DECA, please scan Andros."

"He has a severe concussion, five broken ribs, a broken arm, and several cuts from his father's knife," she responded. This time both Ashley and Zhane let the tears run down their faces.

"T.J., Carlos, please carry Andros to the Med Bay," Zhane managed between sobs. He and Ashley followed behind the others wondering why Andros hadn't called them, but the answer was obvious. He felt that he deserved to be punished once again for an incident that he had absolutely no control over. Once they arrived in the Med Bay Zhane wiped away his tears and began wrapping his friend's ribs and arm while T.J. cleaned the cuts and placed bandages over them. After they had completed those task Zhane went and got a concussion patch out of one of the drawers and placed it on his friend's head. "This should bring down the swelling that's already occurred and keep anymore from happening." Ashley immediately pulled up a chair on one side of the bed and Zhane pulled up one on the other.

"Let me guess," Carlos began, "you guys aren't going to leave until he's better right?" Both of them nodded.

"Just promise us one thing," Cassie started looking between the two of them, "don't forget to eat or sleep, okay?" They nodded again and the three other rangers left the room.

A week after the beating Andros finally woke up. His first conscious thought was that he was in pain, a lot of pain. He turned his head to the side which proved to be a mistake as the throbbing in his head increased. When his vision finally cleared he saw Ashley asleep with her head lying beside him. As he tried to bring his arm up to wake her he found it bound to his chest.

"Ash?" he asked hoarsely.

"Andros!" she yelled as she shot up and threw her arms around him. Zhane shot up on his other side startled by Ashley yell.

"What happened?" he asked as he used his other hand to touch his head. When he felt the concussion patch he added, "Concussion, right?"

"Yeah," Zhane answered, deciding that he should be the one to explain what happened. "Your parents came to visit and you made us all leave the room. DECA alerted us about fifteen minutes later and told us that you needed our help. By the time we got they were kicking you and I had DECA send them back to their ship and dislodged them from the ship."

"What are the injuries?" Andros asked.

"A broke arm, five broken ribs, a severe concussion, and several cuts," Ashley interjected.

"So, when can I get up?" he asked looking towards his best friend.

"Well, as soon as all the swelling goes down in your brain we'll let you out of here but you still won't be able to fight," Zhane answered and he could tell that his friend was not happy. "Can you tell us why you didn't call us when they started hitting you?"

"I didn't think it would go that far," Andros answered honestly. "Usually it doesn't get that bad unless I've done something else to make them mad."

"Were they mad because you gave us the Astro morphers?" Ashley asked and Andros nodded. "Andros, you do know that Karone's kidnaping wasn't your fault, don't you?"

When he didn't nod or say anything Zhane added, "Andros, there was nothing that you could do. You have to quit beating yourself up over it." Andros still didn't look convinced but Ashley and Zhane stayed with him until they got through to him and he started crying. Ashley and Zhane stayed to comfort him and within two days they had him believing once again that it wasn't his fault.

A/N: Please review.