Disclaimer: Not mine.

Jeanka: I'd never kill her and leave her dead. I just needed to scare Andros.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Yup. :P

Chylea3784: Something like that.

C.C.C: Of course he chooses Ashley! And I would never kill her and leave her dead.

Just Jill: Nope, not fair at all. Poor Andros... :evil grin:

Jenny: Actually, I don't think Ash was far enough along for the baby to survive on it's own. Yes, I remember updating three times a day with Follow the Stars, but I've figured out that keeping you in suspense is more fun. :P But here's more.

flowerweasly16: Don't worry, she wakes up. But that's not the problem...

DizneeDol: Yeah. Poor Andros... :P

Mz. Daydream: Yeah, this is the not so happy part. :P

Mel: Ashley's only three months pregnant. I don't think the baby can survive without her. Andros would never pull the plug on her, even if it was best for Ashley, I think he's too afraid to do that. Ashley doesn't go mental, sorry, but someone should write a story where she does. :P

Chapter 11

"Ashley," Andros whispered, his hands trembling as Ashley twitched, the first sign of life he'd seen from her in two weeks. "Ash, open your eyes, please, just wake up, Ashley, please."

When he felt Ashley's fingers twitch, it was all he could do to keep himself from bursting into tears. She was going to be all right. She was going to wake up. Andros swallowed hard and squeezed her hand, whispering to her gently as her eyelids fluttered.

"Ash?"

Her brown eyes were dazed and confused, but he knew that she knew him. Both weak with relief and sick with dread, he raised her hand to his lips, planting a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. He even dared to hope that he'd felt her fingers tighten around his as he did so.

"Ash," he said softly, leaning down to whisper his words nearly in her ear. "I love you, so much."

As her senses began returning to her, Ashley watched in disbelief as tears began leaking out of Andros's eyes, splashing down onto the hand he was still holding to his lips.

"I love you too," she tried to tell him, tried to scream out at him, but her throat refused to work. She couldn't even force her lips to mouth the words at him, and was forced to settle for squeezing her fingers as hard as she could.

"Ashley, I... I need to tell you something," Andros mumbled, forgetting that she'd only opened her eyes five minutes before. She'd figure it out soon enough, and there was no point in postponing the inevitable. Besides that, he'd rather tell her himself than have her hear it from a doctor.

There was so much pain in his eyes. Ashley could see it all so clearly, and it frightened her. Andros didn't look like that anymore. He didn't walk around looking as though he'd been torn apart inside. He hadn't looked that way for months, nearly a year now, but he looked like that now, and it scared her.

"What happened?" Again, her throat refused to work properly and what emerged from her mouth was a dry, hoarse whimper. Her throat ached and she regretted even attempting to speak. Automatically, she swallowed. Her mouth was dry as well and she whimpered again, this time from pain just as much as a failed try at speech.

"Shh," Andros whispered, coming to his senses and realizing that what he needed to tell her, urgent as it was, could wait. It had to wait, at least until Ashley was slightly more stable. "Don't talk, Ash. You'll get some water in a minute."

She nodded her head weakly, moaning as her head began pounding mercilessly after the small motion. Andros stroked her cheek, his touch every bit as soothing and gentle as it had always been. He didn't leave her side when the doctors came in, and held her hand still in his. His voice whispered to her that she'd be all right, but still all the pain and sadness refused to leave his eyes. And that scared her.

---

"Andros," Ashley gasped hoarsely. Her throat still ached horribly, but she'd downed enough water that the pain was bearable. "Andros, what happened?"

"You were on your way to Cassie's," he told her, squeezing her fingers gently. He was seated beside her on the bed now, hardly daring to move for fear of jostling her undoubtedly sore body. "Do you... do you remember?"

Closing her eyes, Ashley thought hard. She frowned and concentrated harder, but came up with nothing.

She shook her head. "No.."

"You don't?"

She shook her head again. "What happened?"

"You were on your way to Cassie's," Andros repeated. "Carlos was about three cars behind you... He saw the crash. There was a woman going towards you. She was drunk."

He stopped and swallowed hard, his voice trembling with pain and rage as he went on. "It's not fair, Ash. She killed five people. She almost killed you. There's still four people out there somewhere who haven't woken up yet. She hurt so many people, and she wasn't even hurt. Not at all. It's not fair..."

"Andros, it's all right now, isn't it?" she nearly whimpered, her voice breaking as tears trickled silently down his face. "Andros, what's wrong?"

"Ashley, I'm so sorry," he whispered, not bothering to wipe away his tears. Swallowing hard, he turned to face her. If there had been anything he could have done to avoid breaking her heart this way, he would have done it in an instant. But there was nothing.

"Ashley, you're going to be all right, but... but our baby..."

"Baby?" Ashley repeated blankly as Andros choked. Memory slammed into her hard as the word left her mouth and she froze, staring at Andros, her face white with fear.

"Ash, you... your heart stopped beating," Andros whispered, unable to tear his eyes off of hers even as he told her this. "They brought you back, but the doctors... they said that... that the baby was making it so that you weren't going to wake up..."

"But I did wake up," Ashley protested.

Before Andros could stop her, she'd laid one hand flat across her abdomen, searching for the familiar swell that was their growing little baby. When she couldn't find it, her heart began racing furiously in fear, and she pressed harder, desperate to find her child.

"Andros, where's the baby?"

"Ashley..." Andros stared at her, still crying, completely, utterly miserable, not knowing how to lessen the blow. "Ash, the baby's gone."

"Gone?" Ashley repeated weakly, pressing down even harder on her abdomen, just in case he was wrong. "The baby's gone?"

"I'm so sorry," he whispered through his tears, crying harder as comprehension dawned on Ashley.

"There's no more baby?" she whispered, her face crumpling.

"I'm sorry, Ash," he managed to choke out around the lump in his throat. "I'm so sorry. There's no more baby."

"No more baby," she whispered again, this time understanding. Reaching out for Andros, she buried her face in his chest as her tears began to fall. Sobs wracked her frail body as Andros held her, but Ashley couldn't feel his arms around her. She didn't hear him whispering to her, didn't see him crying harder than she was. Ashley's mind slowly became one giant, whirling blur, incapable of any thought, any feeling besides the overwhelming sensation of sadness, grief, devastation.