Dislaimer: Haven't bought it yet, so Power Rangers isn't mine.
Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: I love writing cute Andros. It's so much fun:D
Mz. Daydream: Here ya go.
Funky in Fishnet: Me no likey Ben, either. :P Andros will do something, but I'm not sure what or when.
Juzblue: They talk more here, too.
C.C.C: I think Ben and Ashley will still be together for another five or so chapters, but he won't be in all those chapters, and she and Andros will be getting closer.
DV2: Here's more.
TrueRomantic: There's more cuteness here. :D
hmmart: Ashley will get rid of Ben soon, but she does it mostly on her own. Andros helps, sort of, in a very, very indirect way.
Chapter 13
"Hey," Ashley greeted, a bit surprised to find Andros seated on the bridge. "Didn't you just have watch duty?"
He nodded. "I have nothing else to do."
"You could go down to Angel Grove," Ashley suggested. "I'll stay here."
"I have nothing else to do," he repeated calmly. "I'm sure that you do."
"Actually, I don't," she replied, her voice as even as his. "Mind if I join you?"
He shrugged his shoulders, his eyes still fixed on the viewing screen. "I don't care."
Ashley rolled her eyes. Making a face at the back of his head, she slipped into the seat at his right. She stared down at her console, wondering what had prompted her to stay in the first place.
"So..." she said, shifting uneasily in the awkward silence. "What did you do today?"
Finally looking at her, Andros cast her a glance of obvious annoyance. "Nothing that you'd care to hear about."
"And you know what I'd care to hear about?"
"I don't care what you did today," he informed her. "There is no reason you should care what I did."
"You're my friend," Ashley told him quietly. "Isn't that enough of a reason?"
"I don't want to be friends with you," Andros insisted. "I thought I told you that."
"Actually, what you said was you couldn't be friends with me," she said, smiling faintly. "You didn't say anything about not wanting to be friends, and you didn't say I couldn't be friends with you."
Andros felt the corners of his lips twitching despite himself, and it was all he could do to keep his expression impassive. "Isn't it the same thing?"
"No," Ashley said. "I don't think it is."
"Why not?"
Ashley shrugged. "Because even if you don't care about me or any of the others, we care about you."
"Do you really?"
"Yeah," she said softly. "We do. I do. Besides," she added wryly, "if I ever have to introduce you to anyone, saying 'this is my friend Andros' sounds better than 'this is Andros, and he's not my friend.'"
This time, he wasn't quick enough, and Ashley caught his smile before he could turn away. She smiled back, and before he knew it, one of her hands was resting on his. Her skin was warm against his own, and for a moment he even thought he could feel some of her warmth seeping into him, lighting the coldest, darkest corners of his soul.
Then the moment was gone, and he was suddenly aware of how... close she was. She must have felt him tense, for she drew her hand back. Settling back into her seat, Ashley watched him anxiously as he stared down at his hands.
"Sorry," she offered quietly, clenching her fists to keep herself from reaching out to him again. "You told me before... not to touch you, I mean. I forgot."
"It wasn't that," he admitted, realizing too late it would have been much simpler to say nothing at all.
"What was it, then?"
Andros hesitated, his mind racing to come up with anything that wasn't the truth. Ashley was watching him, waiting patiently, and he groaned silently, knowing that she was never going to leave the subject alone.
"Andros?"
Both he and Ashley jumped at the voice from somewhere behind them. Exhaling slowly, Andros swiveled his seat around to face his father. Kieran stood in the doorway, one arm around Adya's waist.
"Hi," he said quietly, smiling at the sight of them. Taking in their coats, he asked, "Are you going somewhere?"
"We thought we'd go down to Angel Grove," Kieran said. "We're going to meet Karone and Zhane for dinner later, and we were wondering if you'd want to come too... Ashley, you're welcome to come too, if you'd like."
"I'd love to, but I promised my parents I'd eat with them tonight," Ashley said with a smile.
"Andros?"
"I... have work to do," he said.
"Are you sure it can't wait?" Adya asked, the sadness in her eyes enough to make him flinch.
"I'm sure," he muttered. "Maybe next time."
"Next time, then," Kieran agreed, frowning. "Good night, Andros, Ashley."
"Good night," Adya echoed, casting one last look back at Andros as she and Kieran moved on down the hall.
"You should go with them," Ashley said quietly, watching him turn slowly to face forward once again.
"I said I have work to do," he snapped.
"I'll do it," she offered readily. "You can go."
"You don't know how to..."
He sighed, knowing it wasn't worth the effort to argue with her when she had him and they both knew it.
"Why don't you want to go?"
"Because," he muttered, "they don't want me to."
"Andros, they did," she argued.
"No," he snapped. "They didn't. They want to have dinner with Karone and Zhane, they just invited me so I wouldn't feel bad."
Ashley rolled her eyes. "Andros, that's what they were doing when they asked me if I'd like to go, because it would have been rude to ask you in front of me. You're their son. They want to spend time with you."
"They don't," he insisted.
"Andros, you..." Ashley stopped in mid-sentence, eyeing him strangely. "Your parents, are they... bondmates? Is that what it's called?"
He nodded wordlessly, not even bothering to wonder how she knew.
"It's not that they don't want to spend time with you, then," she said quietly. "It's that you don't want to spend time with them, because they're bondmates, and so are Zhane and Karone."
He nodded again, feeling the lump rising in his throat. Ashley studied him thoughtfully, and he swallowed hard, hating her for being able to read him effortlessly when he didn't have an inkling as to what was going on in her mind.
"So you're hiding up here because you don't want to see them all happy and so in love when you're neither," she said, her eyes never leaving him. "Andros, isolating yourself like this isn't exactly helping."
He glared at her, but she didn't so much as blink.
"Andros, can't you see - "
"I don't want to hear it," he snapped. He winced as he heard the harshness of his voice, but didn't stop. "I'm sure it's nothing I haven't been told before, and I'm sure hearing it from you won't change anything."
"Can't you see how lonely you are?" she continued, completely ignoring his outburst. "How hurt you are? How - "
"I'm not lonely," he interrupted, irritated to no end that she had the nerve to tell him what he was feeling when there was no way she could possibly know.
"You are," she said quietly. "You've been alone for almost two years, Andros."
"I have not," he argued back. "Zhane and Karone have always been here."
"But as long as they have each other, they wouldn't miss you if you were gone?"
Andros swallowed hard, the fight leaving him at the accuracy of her words. His shoulders slumped forward as he nodded, biting down hard on his lower lip. Emotion threatened to get the best of him, and he grit his teeth, refusing to shed any tears while she was watching him.
Ashley sighed and stood, laying a timid hand on his shoulder. When he didn't protest or recoil, she slowly slipped her arms around his neck, holding him close as he fought hard to regain his composure.
He didn't return the hug, but she hadn't expected him to. He just sat there, his face hidden against her chest, his shoulders trembling every now and then as he fought down a new wave of emotion.
"I miss her," she heard him whisper, and she hugged him closer instinctively.
"I know you do," she murmured back, though she had no idea who he was thinking about.
When Andros stiffened a moment later, she released him immediately and stepped back, watching him anxiously.
"Will you be all right?"
He nodded out of habit, unsure of how else he could respond.
"If you ever change your mind... come talk to me."
His heart beginning to protest against the icy prison he had locked it in, Andros let his eyes settle on Ashley, wondering if maybe...
No.
But his mouth had opened of its own accord, and before he knew what he was doing, he was saying, "Ashley - "
"Quantrons have been detected in Angel Grove," Deca interrupted.
Andros glared up at her eye, knowing that he'd never have the courage to ask again. Ashley glanced at him curiously, her gaze shifting down to her morpher just a moment later.
"We'll talk later," she promised him, and he could only nod. "Deca, call the others."
"They are on their way," Deca reported. She sounded as though she was worried as she added, "Cosmos and Lyra have appeared in Angel Grove as well, at a separate location from the Quantrons."
"Where are they?" Andros demanded, wondering what they could possibly need a diversion for. "Ashley, you should - "
"Deca, bring up a visual," she ordered, not giving him the chance to finish.
Deca complied wordlessly, and the viewing screen sprang to life. The night had darkened already, but Lyra's flame-red hair was easy to spot. She and Cosmos lurked just inside an alleyway only a block from one of the more popular restaurants in town. Ashley swallowed suddenly, her heart sinking as she spotted the couple strolling towards Cosmos and Lyra, completely unaware.
"That's enough," she said sharply, but one look at Andros's face told her that he'd seen them too.
"Deca, call Zhane and Karone," he shouted, leaping to his feet before she could stop him. "I'm coming with you."
"Andros - "
"I'm coming with you," he insisted, shrugging a black cloak over his shoulders as she spoke. "They're my parents, Ashley."
There wasn't time to argue, and Ashley sighed. "Let's go."
