Disclaimer: Not mine... not mine... still not mine...

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Here ya go. :P

Jenny: Actually... it gets worse...

Just Jill: I was getting bored with writing jealous Carlos. Andros and Ashley will eventually have that talk, just not quite how they planned.

Jeanka: More tragedy comes next.

Mel: Pretty soon, Ashley won't feel bad for yelling at Andros... :P

flowerweasly16: No amnesia in this story, sorry. Next time... :P I can understand you fine, don't worry. Glad to have found another PRIS fan.

Chapter 10

"Oh my god..."

Cassie Chan stopped cold in the doorway, eyes wide with horror at the sight that met her. Face marred by many cuts and lacerations, Ashley looked more dead than alive. As she was completely devoured by machinery, Cassie was having trouble to believe that Ashley was in fact still alive.

"They say she might not wake up."

Andros's eyes flicked up to meet hers for a split second before he stared down at Ashley's motionless body once again. Both his hands clutched one of Ashley's, his fingers gently caressing her skin, as if hoping his touch alone could bring her back to the world of the living.

"She will," Cassie whispered fiercely, refusing to believe that her best friend was going to die. Sinking down into the chair alongside Andros's, she slipped both her arms round him. She felt his body trembling with all the emotions coursing through him and hugged him closer. "How can she not, when you're here waiting for you?"

"Please don't say that," he whispered. "Because... b-because if she doesn't... wake up..."

Cassie understood then, and sighed heavily. Tears leaking out of her eyes, she clung to Andros as he clung to her. His eyes were strangely dry for a man who loved his wife as much as Cassie knew Andros loved Ashley, but it wouldn't have surprised her if he was merely too stunned to let reality sink in.

"It'll be all right," she said firmly, her voice wavering as she glanced at Ashley's still form.

"I can't live without her," Andros mumbled. With a tenderness he surely hadn't possessed before Ashley Hammond had burst into his life, he carefully smoothed stray wisps of hair out of his wife's closed eyes. "I just can't."

"I know," Cassie whispered, rubbing his back soothingly. "And so does Ashley."

"Y-You really think... that she'll... that she'll..."

"Wake up?" Cassie finished for him. His head bobbed up and down just the tiniest bit and she sighed. "We have to believe that she will, Andros. We can't give up on her."

"But it's so hard..." he whispered. "To hope... without her here..."

"I know," she whispered. "I know."

"Hey," a familiar voice said softly. "Can we come in?"

"Sure." Cassie spoke for Andros, who was too lost staring mournfully at Ashley to notice his best friend and sister hovering near the doorway.

"TJ and Carlos are on their way," Zhane said quietly, resting his hand briefly on Andros's shoulder. Andros looked up then, but said nothing, lowering his eyes only seconds later. "She'll be all right, man."

"He's right, Andros," Karone said. She took a seat on his other side, and wrapped him in her arms as well as Cassie's. "Ashley will be fine."

"Wake up," Andros begged Ashley's still form softly, oblivious to his sister's words. "Please, Ash, just open your eyes."

He couldn't ever recall being so completely, utterly helpless. As red ranger, he'd been in charge, always in control of any given situation. There was always something that he could do, but not so here. There was nothing to be done but to sit numbly at Ashley's bedside, his eyes glued to the slight rising and falling of her chest, the only evidence he had that she was still breathing, still alive.

"Her body needs this now," Cassie said gently. "When she's strong enough, she'll wake up."

"Cassie's right," Zhane was quick to agree. "She'll be back before you know it."

"Ashley," Andros whispered, oblivious to their words. "I - I need you. Don't leave me, please."

---

Karone watched her sister-in-law sadly, occasionally laying a hand on her wrist, just needing to feel the pulse there. Weak as it was, it was reassuring to know that it was there at all.

Andros hadn't moved an inch from her side, and was now slumped over in his seat, dozing uneasily. He'd fought off sleep for as long as he could, but his exhaustion had finally won him over. Even as he slept, one of his hands still held Ashley's.

Karone started as the silence was broken by a single continuous drone. Andros jerked awake, his hazel eyes wild and scared.

"Karone?" he mumbled. "W-What's happening? Is she - "

The truth hit him hard, and he choked, frozen into place. Doctor after doctor rushed into the room, barking orders after each other, but still Andros didn't, couldn't move. Too frightened to even make a sound in protest when Karone gently pried his hand off of Ashley's, he allowed his sister to pull him to the side, letting the doctors do their work.

"It'll be all right," Karone whispered, more out of habit than conviction. Her brother made no move to show that he'd even heard her words in the first place. His eyes were glued to the bed where his wife lay, her heart still refusing to beat.

Dimly, Andros could feel Karone's arm around him, holding him to her just as much as she was holding him back from Ashley. He knew that she was whispering to him, but her words were lost as all he could hear was a hollow rush of air and the pounding of his own heart.

His mind ordered him to do something - anything - but there was nothing, absolutely nothing to be done. All he could do was stand back helplessly as half a dozen strangers battled to force some life back into his wife.

Ashley's dying...

No...

Ashley's dead.

Whatever it was that had kept him immobile snapped then. Andros began struggling against Karone's arms so suddenly that he nearly yanked himself free, but she pulled him back, refusing to let him go. He heaved against her hold, his mind screaming at him to get to Ashley. No matter what else happened, he just had to get to her. He couldn't just leave her now.

"Andros, stop!"

Karone was shouting at him, and though he was hearing her words, he had no idea what they meant. He didn't care what they meant. He didn't have time for that now, not when Ashley...

He stopped fighting abruptly, nearly collapsing into Karone as Ashley's heartbeat sounded once again. It was erratic and unsteady, but it was there. That's what mattered. It was there. Her heart was beating. She was breathing. Ashley wasn't dead.

"Shh," Karone whispered, tears staining her own cheeks as Andros finally gave in to emotion. He clung to her, sobbing weakly, gasping for air as tears cascaded down his face.

"Ashley," he choked out, burying his face in Karone's hair.

"She's going to be all right," she told him firmly. "You'll see."

Andros nodded his head weakly. Karone held him tight, not releasing him until there was a pair of doctors standing directly in front of them.

"Are you her husband?"

Throat too tight to speak, Andros could only nod. Karone asked what he could not. "Will she be all right?"

"It's difficult to say," one of the doctors told him after a long pause and an uneasy glance at her partner. "To be honest with you, it's practically a miracle she's still with us."

"Will she wake up?" Andros managed to ask, the words raspy and his voice trembling.

The second doctor sighed. "With the strain her pregnancy is putting on her body, it's unlikely."

Andros swallowed, too dazed to see where the doctors were headed but alert enough to know that he didn't want to see. "What?"

"Sir, you've got a difficult decision to make."