Stargazers
Her enthusiasm for everything was officially contagious. Here he was, quite literally worlds away from where he'd started, holding a pointy metal stick over the blue flames from the stovetop burner--something he was quite certain wasn't its intended use--and watching the poofy, squishy... thing on the end of it rapidly change from white and smooth to brown and--bubbly? And he was enjoying himself, more than he had in a long time, maybe ever.
How did he get here? he wondered, and not for the first time. He was merely curious now, however, and more than a little amused. As opposed to annoyed, irritated, exasperated, frustrated, and well, pretty much everything that could fall along those lines.
He supposed he had to attribute his attitude change to them. His teammates, who he could no longer deny were much more than that. They had once been the cause of his aggravation, he reflected with a wry smile. Now though... It had taken him a month and a half to admit it even to himself, but they had grown on him.
She had grown on him. The way her eyes sparkled when she turned her sun-bright smile on him was something he didn't think he could last a day without anymore. Once he had found what an easy task it was to bring about that smile, he'd promised himself to do so as often as possible, and not just for her sake. He'd surprised himself to realize how much he enjoyed just making her laugh. When she turned that look on him, everything else faded away for as long as it lasted, and it was as if he was all that she saw. It was a feeling that he was mostly unfamiliar with, and one that he liked.
"Whoa, careful!" Her voice flowed through his mind and snapped him out of his thoughts. The thing on the end of the stick wasn't bubbling any longer. No, now it was engulfed in flames and burning cheerfully.
Alarmed, he let go reflexively, and the stick clattered to the floor. He remembered too late that they were in a mostly wooden cabin, but fortunately for both of them, Ashley's mind was far quicker than his as at the moment. Snatching up the pot of water they'd set aside for hot chocolate, she emptied it over the now smoldering marshmallow, he thought she'd called it.
"Sorry," Andros offered sheepishly, watching Ashley press a stack of paper towels over the rapidly spreading puddle. He bent to help her, wiping up the water as she scraped up the remains of the marshmallow. "I didn't know it'd do that..."
"S'okay," she said absently, flinging what had become soggy, blackened goo into the trash can and then washing the stick thoroughly in the sink. "Just pay more attention next time."
"Next time?" he repeated nervously. With his luck, he'd burn down the cabin the next time. "But--"
"No buts," she said firmly. "I promised I'd show you how to make s'mores, didn't I?"
"Ash, I don't think that--"
"One more time," she insisted.
She pressed that same stick back into his hand, topped with a fresh marshmallow, and he found himself accepting it despite the niggling little voice in the back of his mind that was rambling on about burning them both to death.
This time, he didn't let his thoughts wander and held the marshmallow just above the flame. Ashley motioned for him to rotate it over the fire and he did, pleased to find it browning evenly now.
"That should be about ready," she said, and he pulled away, giving the marshmallow an experimental poke with a fingertip. As he'd expected, it was hot. And squishy. And Ashley expected him to eat it.
She shut off the burner then and indicated the plate of graham crackers and chocolate. Andros tried to recall her demonstration and did the best that he could to mimic her. A rueful smile appeared on his face when he realized how much more attention he'd been paying to her than her explanation, but it was fairly simple and he thought he did a decent job of it, though the top cracker crumbled when he tried to flatten down the s'more.
"Not bad for your first try," she said. That smile of hers appeared and he felt his stomach flutter. "Go on; try it."
Right. S'mores were for eating... He frowned, and studied the one in his hand more closely. He had nothing against any of the ingredients. On the contrary, he'd become rather fond of chocolate. But now it was melting rapidly and the melted marshmallow was gooey and oozing all over everything...
"Are you sure this are edible?" he asked dubiously. It certainly didn't look appetizing.
Ashley nodded. "Very sure."
Andros thought she sounded amused, and he shot her a sore look. He could think of some Karovan specialties that she wouldn't be so enthusiastic about putting in her mouth--but then again, he wasn't exactly partial to those dishes either. With a sigh, he turned his attention back to the s'more in his hand. It looked like there was no getting out of it.
He took a tentative bite and chewed carefully. It was very sweet, much sweeter than he normally liked anything to be, but to his pleasant surprise, delicious as well. Ashley giggled when he took a much larger bite a moment later and he had to settle for wrinkling his nose at her; it was too hard to talk with his mouth almost glued shut with the sugar.
"That was good," he admitted when he'd swallowed the last of it. After a moment of deliberation, he gave in and licked his fingers, ignoring Ashley's laughter. She'd done the same when she'd been showing him what to do, after all, and he hadn't laughed at her.
"We can make some more tomorrow, if you want," she offered. "TJ made sure that they took most of the chocolate bars with them and s'mores are no good without it... Oh! Unless you just want toasted marshmallows?"
"I can wait," he said hastily. Not that he had anything against toasted marshmallows, but he decidedly preferred the chocolate, and he told her so. "Thanks," he added, smiling. "But I think chocolate's my favorite."
"Hot chocolate!" she exclaimed happily almost before he'd finished speaking. "Thanks for reminding me."
"You're welcome?" he said, a little uncertainly. Sometimes, it was hard to tell whether her energy was directed at him specifically or life itself, and it made him a bit hesitant to respond.
"Hey, Andros, can you grab two mugs from that cabinet over there?" she asked, grabbing the pot she'd emptied on the burning marshmallow earlier and stepping over to the sink with it in hand. "I'll fill up the pot again."
"Sure."
Like there was anything else to say, he thought, amused. Then he shrugged and headed for the cabinet she'd pointed out, deciding that it was just one of the complexities of Earth culture that he had yet to fully understand.
"Now we just wait for it to boil," Ashley said. She folded her arms across her chest and regarded the pot of water impatiently. "This part takes awhile."
He tried not to laugh when she fidgeted around restlessly. Standing still for extended periods of time seemed totally at odds with her very nature.
"Come on!" she said brightly, hopping away from the stove. "I know something that we can do while we wait."
He didn't have time to ask her what before she was dragging him out of the kitchen and into the living room, headed straight for the corner where they had dumped their sleeping bags that morning. The pile had been much more colorful three hours ago, and larger too, but TJ, Carlos, and Cassie had gone off on their own on an overnight hike.
"Come on," Ashley was saying, and he looked up to see her just outside the doorway, crouched down as she spread her sleeping bag across the front porch.
He followed her to do the same, shivering as the night air hit his bare arms. White puffs of smoke came from his mouth and nose as he spread out the sleeping bag and he was suddenly grateful that someone had made him bring a jacket and sweatshirt. Now, if only he could remember what he'd done with it...
"That's what the hot chocolate's for," Ashley informed him, hugging her arms to her chest and shivering slightly along with him. "By the time we get some blankets and pillows out here, the water should be boiling."
It was. He wandered off to find that sweatshirt and warmer socks while Ashley fixed their hot chocolate. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her spooning some chocolate powder into their mugs and grinned. Earth was a strange place. The powder didn't resemble at all the chocolate bars that they had been using for the s'mores, but it tasted almost exactly the same.
"Put marshmallows in it," she suggested when he'd joined her at the kitchen counter, dropping a few into her own mug as she spoke. "It's good."
Andros considered that for a moment and then shrugged, placing one carefully into his hot chocolate. He didn't taste much of a difference at all, but it seemed to make Ashley happy that he'd tried it, and it suddenly didn't matter what the drink tasted like.
"Over here," Ashley said, tilting her head towards the door. "Come see the stars."
He set down his mug and shrugged into his sweatshirt before he followed her back into the cold night air outside. The extra layers helped, though they didn't block the chill completely. Ashley patted the sleeping bag next to her and he settled himself along side her and decided that cold was a good thing if it meant he was huddled against Ashley with one blanket draped across their legs and another wrapped around their shoulders and a mug of hot chocolate in his hands.
Ashley curled her head against his shoulder, her body shifting closer to his as she settled herself. The breeze swept through her hair and he caught a whiff of vanilla; her shampoo, he thought, and smiled almost dreamily as the scent dazed him just a little bit. She faced away from him, her eyes fixed on something in the distance, and as much as he wished that he could see the peaceful look that he knew was gracing her face, he realized that it might be safer to watch the stars instead.
The view was almost worth taking his eyes off of Ashley to see. He hadn't known that this many stars were even visible from Earth's surface. The view from the Megaship's Observatory was spectacular to say the least, but this... this was better. Much better, he thought as Ashley turned her head to the side and he felt her lips tickle his neck.
"Like it?" she murmured in his ear, and he almost said something else before he realized that she meant the stars.
"Pretty," he remarked at last. It was, too. Up in the mountains where Ashley's grandma had her cabin, the sky was far clearer than it would ever be in Angel Grove and the stars shone more brightly, bright specks against an endless darkness.
"Yeah," she whispered quietly, snuggling closer.
His body was strangely warm for someone who wouldn't stop shivering, she thought, but then she laid one of her hands over his and felt the chill of his fingers.
"You'd be warmer if you held the hot chocolate with two hands," she suggested, and Andros turned his gaze away from the sky to look at her. His eyes fell to her hand, now wrapped around his, and he smiled before meeting her eyes another time.
"I like this better," he told her quietly. He twined his fingers through hers and raised their clasped hands, pressing a kiss to her skin. She couldn't do anything but stare and he only smiled at her, though she was sure he was blushing faintly when he glanced away at the stars again.
Careful not to disturb their hot chocolate, she gave him a gentle nudge with her elbow. Andros took a sip of his drink before turning to look at her questioningly. She didn't speak, and he waited a moment, finally asking, "What?"
"It's harder to kiss you when you're looking that way," she explained, and to her delight, he actually laughed.
Needing no further invitation, she touched her lips to his and felt him lean closer. He dropped her hand in order to slide that arm around her neck and pull her closer, deepening the kiss just a little. Ashley tasted the chocolate that lingered on both of their mouths and tried not to giggle, but it was hard. She'd never had a kiss that had actually tasted sweet before. Andros pulled away when she laughed a little, tilting his forehead against hers as he regarded her calmly.
"What?" he said again, waiting patiently when she giggled again.
"You taste like chocolate," she murmured.
"So do you," he muttered back, carefully sliding one arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. "I like chocolate."
"Me too," she smiled, and brushed her lips against his one more time. "Thanks for coming here."
"You didn't give me much of a choice," he reminded her, sounding amused. "'No, Andros, we're all going and you can't stay here by yourself. It's just one weekend and we'll bring our morphers and Deca will contact us when there's any trouble.' Remember?"
"Hey, that wasn't just me," she protested, a slight blush on her cheeks. "And that's not what I meant."
"I know," he admitted, glancing away for a moment before meeting her eyes again. "Thanks for bringing me here," he said, a little ruefully she thought. "It's... nice here. Peaceful."
That was something that they didn't seem to have enough of lately, with Zhane gone again and Astronema stepping up her attacks. This weekend away had been something that they were all in dire need of, but if Deca hadn't been able to teleport them instantaneously if there was a need to, they would have done without it. Ashley nodded her head in whole-hearted agreement with him and leaned her head against his shoulder again, sipping her hot chocolate as he contemplated the night sky.
"There weren't this many stars on KO-35," he said abruptly, and it was only then that she realized how intently he'd been watching the them. "And we couldn't see them this brightly. We saw them from space if we saw them at all."
She wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. "The Observatory does have a nice view," she offered finally, unsure if he would take offense if she said anything else.
"I like this better," he said unexpectedly, and she looked to him in surprise. "It's... I just do," he shrugged, his voice tinged with the tiniest hint of defensiveness.
"So do I," she agreed with a smile. Craning her head back, she considered the view above her. "It's like they've been here forever, and it'll stay this way for always... no matter what else changes."
He nodded. "KO-35 was a new colony," he told her, and she turned to watch him curiously as he continued. "We'd only been there for ten years before Dark Spectre attacked us the first time." His expression darkened visibly at whatever memory played out in his mind, but then he shook his head and said, "Your stars have names."
"And yours didn't?"
That was difficult to believe. KO-35 was a planet highly dependent on interstellar travel, and she found it unlikely that they would have left anything they came across in space nameless, no matter how short a time the world had been there.
"Not names that meant anything," he explained, seeing her frown. "They were just there. They didn't mean anything to us."
"Andros?"
"Your stars have names," he repeated, and she realized how odd it sounded to hear him refer to the stars as if they were hers alone. "Deca's crash course on Earth was more history than modern culture," he explained, tapping his fingers idly against his half-empty mug. "She said something about constellations. KO-35 wasn't like that."
"Earth is old," she suggested, not quite sure what he wanted to say. "A few thousand years ago, we needed the stars basically to survive."
Andros didn't answer right away, and she saw frustration written across his face. Not sure if he was upset with her for not understanding or with himself for not being able to explain, she said nothing, waiting patiently for him to be the one to break the silence.
"Earth is old," he agreed finally, and she watched his expression clear as he realized what he wanted to say. "It's like you just said, it's easy to believe that it will always be here no matter what else happens. My world wasn't like that. We didn't have that--security."
"Are you saying that we've fooled ourselves into thinking that we're safe?" she demanded half-indignantly. "Just because we've been here forever."
"Yes," he answered instantly. "But--" He turned his face back up to the sky before admitting quietly, "I feel safe here, too."
"That's 'cause you are," she told him cheerfully, completely and deliberately disregarding the seriousness of his tone. "Because I'd never let anything happen to you."
She watched the smile that he tried to hide creep across his face, thinking to herself that he looked inordinately pleased by her words and deciding that if he looked that way too often, the expression would be annoying. It was cute right now, though he was serious again when he caught her eye.
"I'd never let anything happen to you either," he told her solemnly, and her smile faded just a little.
It wasn't just an idle promise that they were making; they were rangers, and they took chances with their lives every day. And it was right then that she understood what he'd been struggling to tell her. High up in the mountains, far from Angel Grove, it was easy to believe that they were safe. No monsters to fight, no Quantrons to stop. But it was all just an illusion that could crumble at any moment and the world could come crashing down.
"Enough brooding," she declared firmly, gulping the last of her hot chocolate and pulling his mug from his hands as well. Too lazy to take them back into the cabin, she set them on the porch off of the sleeping bag and grabbed the pillows.
Andros looked at her a bit suspiciously when she ordered him to lie down, but he obeyed without a word. She lay down and curled up next to him, taking his hand and pointing his fingers at the sky.
"See that star right there?" she murmured. "The bright one? That's Vega."
He squinted at the sky, and then at her. "Which?"
"The brightest one over there," she repeated patiently, guiding his hand the best that she could. "Straight over the trees."
"Vega," he repeated, and she swept their hands in an arc to the other side of the sky.
"Jupiter," she told him, pointing out the brightest body in that area of the sky. "That's a planet, not a star."
"I know that," he said, sounding mildly insulted. "I do know the names of the planets in this system."
"Oh really?" she teased. "Prove it, then."
He rolled his eyes, but began reciting them, counting off each one on his fingers as he went. "Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto..." He trailed off, frowning as he studied his fingers.
"That's only seven," she informed him, completely unhelpfully. "You forgot two."
Andros sighed, screwing up his face in thought. "Neptune," he said finally, and she nodded.
"One more."
He was silent for a moment longer, and then turned to look at her helplessly. "Are you sure you don't count the moon?" he asked, and this time she couldn't help giggling.
"No, silly," she said, giving him a slight shove. "You forgot Venus. It's the one between Mercury and Earth."
"I knew that." He sounded sullen now, but he was still smiling.
"Did not," she retorted automatically, taking his hand another time. She guided his hand along a group of stars this time, tracing the simple pattern with their fingers. "Those stars right there? That's the Big Dipper, and those over there make the Little Dipper."
"The what?"
"Big Dipper and Little Dipper," she repeated. "A dipper was like a ladle, I think."
"Ladle?"
"A really big spoon," she said after a moment of thought. "But you see that star at the end? That's the North Star. It's the only one that doesn't move."
"The little one?" he asked, and she nodded.
"You think you can remember all those?" she teased, earning herself a mock glare.
"Of course I can," he said indignantly, pointing to each as he went. "North Star. Little Dipper. Big Dipper. Jupiter. Star."
"Vega," she corrected him, and he made a face at her.
"Does it matter?"
"Well, how else was I supposed to do get you to stop being so broody?" she demanded good-naturedly.
He considered that for a moment, then an uncharacteristically impish grin formed on his face. "You could have kissed me."
"Is that a hint?" she murmured, propping herself up on one elbow and gazing down at him. Andros just smiled innocently and ran a hand through her hair until his fingers came to rest against the back of her head. Pulling gently, he urged her down until he could kiss her without having to raise his head too far off of the pillow.
Ashley closed her eyes as their lips met, feeling his other arm wrap itself around her waist. His grip tightened around her and she collapsed on top of him, her arms around his neck as she savored this moment that she never wanted to end.
He pulled away much too soon, but he didn't turn his head away. He rested a hand against her cheek, studying her with the intent, rapt look that never failed to make her feel as though she was the sole focus of his universe.
"Ashley," he whispered, and drew her down for one more kiss. "I love you."
Her eyes snapped open and it was only then that she realized that they'd ever closed. He stared steadily back at her when she drew away, waiting patiently for a reply, but his expression was rapidly turning nervous. A smile she couldn't contain spread across her face as her shock faded, and she tugged hard on his shoulders, forcing him up.
"I love you too," she murmured as she threw her arms around his neck. "So much, Andros."
He didn't answer, but Ashley felt him let out his breath in relief and hid a smile. She leaned in to kiss him soundly, before settling back into the warmth of his arms to study to stars another time. It wouldn't be long before the chill of the air forced them back indoors, but until then, she intended to enjoy the view for every moment that she could from the safety of his arms.
Author's Note: This is my birthday present to Marieke (AHAY). Because anyone who keeps me from writing insanely stupid things should get a present. She's nineteen today, so review and wish her a happy birthday! Or go read her stories. They're good!