Disclaimer: I own nothing, never have, sadly never will.

Melissa: Actually... I think I like the names more than our country. :P Grr.. seriously, you should spell-check everything for me.

Juzblue: Here's some more.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: I thought it might be nice to make her smart for once. :P And seriously, if they're living together and have never used birth control, she'd have to be in denial for it not to have occured to her.

Just Jill: I have no idea what kind of cravings pregnant women have, chocolate and cheese just sounded pretty gross.

Jenny: This is the romance part! The tragedy's coming... How's the Christmas special?

Chapter 6

"Pregnant?" Andros repeated dimly. "You're pregnant?"

Ashley nodded slowly, her face crumpling as she curled up into a small ball. A fresh stream of tears trickled slowly down her cheeks as she did her best not to look at him, knowing that she couldn't bear to see him glaring at her with hate in his eyes.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," she whispered, her throat too tight to let her say anymore.

"Ashley..."

When Andros's fingers gently grasped her chin, Ashley didn't have the energy to shy away from him and instead forced herself to meet his hazel eyes, astonished to find that he didn't look the least bit angry with her.

"Andros?"

"Ashley..." Andros stared at her blankly, his mind still struggling to grasp the meaning of her words. "We're having a baby?"

"Yes," she mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" he demanded, leaving Ashley to stare up at him in shock.

"But, Andros, we're too young to be parents," she whispered. "We're way too young to be having a baby, but we are, and - "

"And this isn't your fault," Andros interrupted her, his tone too firm for her to argue. "Why would it be?"

"I could have taken the pill or something," she muttered. "I should have. But I didn't."

"The pill?" he repeated, frowning. His fingers lightly stroked her cheek, wiping away some of the tears that had dampened her face.

"If I'd taken it, I wouldn't be pregnant now," she explained, biting down hard on her lower lip. "Why was I so stupid?"

"Ash, you're not stupid," he said firmly, his voice shadowed by guilt.

"I'm not smart."

"Ashley..." Andros stared at her helplessly, all the words he wanted to say to her refusing to come, forcing him to settle for repeating, "It's not your fault."

"It has to be," she mumbled. "It's not yours."

"Can it be nobody's fault?" he asked gently, nearly overwhelmed by the pangs of guilt that accompanied her last statement. While it made sense logically that it wasn't entirely his fault, he wondered if he'd done something that had made Ashley feel that she couldn't take the pill she'd mentioned a moment before.

He touched her hair with a quiet sigh. It was to late for that... and in seven and a half months, he was going to be a father.

Ashley hesitated, daring to glance up at him again. He was still sitting beside her, one of his hands toying with her hair as she lay curled up against his side. He was almost staring down at her, but not quite, and she had to strain for a good look into his eyes.

The guilt she would have been surprised not to see. She'd tried so hard to lay the blame on herself, knowing that Andros already believed he was personally responsible for all the hardships the ones he loved would ever have to go through.

It was what she spotted beneath the guilt that took her completely aback.

Fear.

Andros was afraid. Not that Ashley could blame him; she was absolutely terrified, but the expression on his face she'd seen once, maybe twice, but no more than that in all the time she'd fought by his side. Oddly enough, she found this revelation comforting somehow.

"Yes," she whispered. "It can be nobody's fault."

"Good," Andros said softly, his hand searching for hers. His fingers squeezed hers gently as his thumb ran across the back of her knuckles, tracing an unseen pattern across her skin.

Ashley relaxed as he lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms, slowly beginning to realize that he wasn't going to leave her. Now curled up against his chest, she slipped her arms around his waist, calming even further as he stroked her hair. Ashley let herself concentrate only on the slow, steady motion of his fingers for a long time, not attempting to put her thoughts together until her nerves were steady.

"Andros," she whispered. "Do you want the baby?"

He hesitated, briefly but visibly. "Do you?"

Ashley swallowed audibly. "I can't kill my own child," she told him firmly. "I just can't."

"I'd never want you to," Andros said quietly, not at all surprised. From Ashley, he wouldn't have expected anything else. "What about after, once's the baby's born?"

Ashley sighed, but had her answer ready, having thought about it for the majority of the afternoon. "Andros, even if we didn't plan this, we still made this baby together, and that means we should be the ones responsible for it..."

"You want to keep the baby, then," Andros said, strangely calm.

"Yeah," she whispered. "Do you?"

"Yes," he said slowly. "I just... I don't think I can be a good father."

"And why not?" Ashley demanded.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," he muttered, shifting uncomfortably. "I don't know anything."

"And you think I do?" Ashley's tone softened considerably as she took a long look at his face. "What's really wrong?"

He looked away, still surprised at how easily she could read him. "I... I'm scared," he admitted, his eyes flicking back to her involuntarily.

The look in Ashley's eyes told him quite clearly that she already knew that... and she knew how much of a struggle it had been for him to make the admission. When she hugged him a little closer, he nearly clung to her even as his conscience screamed for him to put as much distance between them as he could, already knowing that he was going to make a mess of this.

"What are you scared of?" Ashley asked gently, feeling him stiffen.

Andros swallowed, but he had to tell her. He couldn't just not tell her, not if she was going to trust him with the life of a child.

"That I'm not strong enough..." He had to swallow hard to get the words out. "To not be like my father was."

"Andros..."

Ashley sighed, remembering all too well the stories Andros had told her of his father, verbally abusive at the best of times, physically abusive when he was drunk, to his wife as well as his son. While Ashley knew that there was a very real chance Andros could turn into that man, her heart refused to believe it.

"You are strong enough," she said finally. "Just make sure you stay that way."

"Ash?"

"Andros, this isn't going to be easy," Ashley said. "There are going to be times when you'll want nothing more than to strangle the baby... but I know that you won't, and that makes you different than your father was."

Andros nodded uncertainly. "I can't see myself hurting my own child," he told her quietly. "But somehow, I don't think my father did, either."

"You are not your father," she said firmly. "You were a ranger, Andros. You know right from wrong."

He nodded again, giving her a slow, hesitant smile. "So... you think I can do this?"

"It's not going to be easy," Ashley said again, her fingers stroking his cheek. "But... we can do this, Andros, as long as we both work at it."

"There's nothing I'd like more," Andros confessed almost shyly, as if embarrassed to admit how much he wanted a child. "I love you, Ash."

"I love you too, Andros," she murmured, snuggling closer to him, flooded with a strange sense of peace as he held her close. With a smile, she nuzzled her face into his chest, knowing with absolute certainty that no matter what doubts he may have had, Andros would never lay a hand on either her or their child that wasn't in love.

"Ashley?"

The slight tremor in Andros's voice caused her to draw back instantly. She stared into his eyes curiously as he shifted, sitting up and motioning for her to do the same. Slipping on of his hands into hers, Andros's fingers clamped down hard on her own as his other hand disappeared into his pocket, clenched into a fist when it appeared again.

"I've wanted to do this for awhile now," he admitted, his gaze fixed steadily on their clasped hands, knowing that his courage would vanish the moment he looked into her eyes. Slowly, he relaxed the fingers of his other hand.

Ashley's head snapped up when she saw the ruby and topaz ring he held up for her to see, her eyes wide and round as they fixed themselves on his. "Andros..."

"Marry me?" he whispered, his hands shaking nearly uncontrollably. "Please?"

As her eyes flooded with tears for the hundredth time that day, Ashley threw her arms around his neck. That close to him, she could feel the rest of his body trembling as well, his breathing shaky gulps of air. As she clung to him, she felt his body relaxing against hers, and smiled, her voice returning to her.

"Yes," she breathed, nuzzling her face into his neck, wanting the warmth of his body this close always. "I'll marry you, Andros."