Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers.
Chapter 10
"You know he'll be fine." TJ's words only earned him heated glares from Ashley and Zhane, and slight nods from Cassie and Carlos. "What? All his injuries are superficial. He'll be fine this time tomorrow."
"No one's forcing you to be here," Zhane reminded him. His voice was civil, but only just. "If there's something you'd rather be doing, then go ahead."
"There are plenty of things I'd rather be doing," TJ retorted. "But I'm here, aren't I?"
Ashley shook her head. "If you're only here because you feel obligated to--"
"It's called loyalty, Ash," he snapped, and sighed. "Whether I like it or not, he's a part of this team, and that means I'm not going anywhere."
"Loyalty?" Zhane raised an eyebrow at him. "A few hours ago, you were blaming him for getting two of your friends captured. I didn't hear anything about him."
"Interrupt me while I'm apologizing, would you." TJ shrugged his shoulders. "Look, I really have nothing against Andros. I'm with the rest of you wanting to be friends with him. All I'm saying is that the way he went off and attacked Darkonda like that isn't how he should be leading us in battle."
Zhane watched him for a few moments, blue eyes narrowed to slits. "Fair enough," he conceded finally. "Assuming I believe you, of course. But just because he did something stupid, is that enough to mean that he shouldn't be Red Ranger?"
"Of course not," Cassie answered for him. "But I think Teej is right. I know that Andros has lived through some horrible things, and maybe that explains how he acts, but we all need to be able to focus during battle."
"Yes," Zhane agreed. "But if this was TJ we were talking about, or Carlos, or Ashley--someone that you knew--would you be saying the same?"
Cassie hesitated. "Yes."
He quirked an eyebrow at her answer. "You sure?"
"That's not fair," Ashley broke in. "Cassie didn't say anything about kicking Andros off the team."
"Neither did I," TJ said loudly. "All I said was that he screwed up."
"That's the same!"
"Ash, chill out," Cassie ordered. "You too, TJ."
"You weren't there, Cassie," Carlos spoke up, his unusually quiet voice catching their attention immediately. "Yeah, he got us caught. But whatever was going to happen to us didn't because he got us out of there."
"Exactly." Ashley shot Carlos a grateful look and added softly, "He thought we weren't going to go back for him."
"Oh." Cassie fell silent, her mouth open but no words coming out. "Wow..." she managed finally. "A--are you guys sure about that?"
"Yes," Ashley said firmly. "I'm sure."
"Idiot." Zhane surprised them all by leaning over and poking a finger into Andros's shoulder. "You never learn, do you."
He let out a short laugh when he glanced back up and saw their faces. "I'd tell you, but it doesn't make a very good story. Let's just say that the hit I took for Andros doesn't even begin to cover how much I owe him."
"He saved your life?" Cassie murmured, and Zhane nodded.
"More times than I can remember." He sighed, frowning briefly. "You can always count on Andros. Even if he is a stubborn pain in the ass."
"But we don't know that about him," TJ protested. "You tell us one thing and then we believe you, and then it turns out later that it's not true."
"Then you have a problem with me instead of with him," Zhane responded calmly. "Which is it?"
"You know," Carlos interjected, "you're actually agreeing with each other. You're both saying that Andros is a good guy who made a stupid decision during the fight with Darkonda."
"We're not saying the same thing," Zhane snapped back. "Because I'm saying that Andros knows what he's doing."
"Will you both please cut that out?" Cassie exclaimed, shoving her hair angrily out of her face. "You've been arguing about this since Andros first showed up, and you've gotten nowhere."
"We need to talk to Andros," Ashley insisted. "It's the only way we'll ever manage to decide on anything."
"Yeah," Carlos agreed. He hesitated. "But what do we tell him?"
"The truth," Ashley said firmly. "We owe him that much."
"I suppose that means I can stop pretending to be asleep now," a quiet voice said hoarsely, and all heads snapped towards Andros.
His eyes were still shut, though he batted irritably at Zhane's hand when the Silver Ranger gave his shoulder an experimental poke. "Will you stop that?"
"Sorry," Zhane said sheepishly, and announced, "He's awake."
"I just said that, didn't I." Andros opened his eyes only to shoot a hearty glare at his best friend. "I want to talk to them alone."
"Okay..." Zhane said slowly. Ashley saw a stung look cross his face, followed by a puzzled sort of hurt as Andros pushed himself up and then turned towards the other Rangers, totally ignoring the Silver Ranger. "I'll be on the Bridge if anyone needs me."
"What was that for?" TJ demanded, as the doors slid shut behind him. "He's your best friend, isn't he?"
"He lied to me," Andros growled. He sighed and shook his head, his voice softer now. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Ashley demanded gently. "What happened with Darkonda? That wasn't your fault, and you got us out of there."
"It was." His eyes drifted to TJ. "You were right. I wasn't thinking, and that's no excuse."
TJ shifted, a little uncomfortably, Ashley thought. "I guess..."
Andros let out a sigh, combing his fingers through his hair distractedly. "Look, I don't care if you like me or not. But I need you to trust me. I'm the Red Ranger until either the Council of Eltare decides that I'm not, or I pass on the powers of my own free will. I don't intend for either of those things to happen, and so we need to decide how this--this team works."
"Agreed." TJ added, "But not now. You should get some rest."
"Not here," Andros protested when the others all nodded their heads. "I'm sleeping in my own bed."
"I'll walk you to your room," Ashley spoke up. She wanted to be alone with him, just for a few minutes. "I want to talk to you."
He looked at her in surprise, nodding his head slowly. "Okay," he agreed uncertainly, not quite meeting her eyes. "If you want to."
"I do," she said firmly, and slid one arm through his, ignoring the look Cassie shot at her. "Come on. Can you walk okay?"
"I'm fine," he muttered, his eyes fixed firmly on the floor as they stepped out of the med bay. "What did you want?"
"I wanted to thank you," she told him quietly. "For saving us earlier."
"But--I didn't," he blurted out. "If it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't even have been there in the first place."
"That's not important," she insisted. "We're not perfect. What matters is that you got us out of there. If you hadn't distracted them, we'd all still be there, and doubt they had anything pleasant in mind for us."
His face darkened visibly as he shook his head. "You don't want to know."
Ashley tried to suppress a shudder. She managed--barely--and stopped walking, tugging on his arm until he looked at her. "You got us out of there," she repeated. She smiled a little as she added, "And we do like you. Even TJ."
A tiny smile formed on his face, though he was staring at the floor again. "Do you?"
"Yeah." Ashley smiled back at him. Somehow she resisted the impulse to just throw her arms around his neck and hold him tight. "I like you very much."
His eyes darted up to meet hers. "You do?"
"Who wouldn't like you?" she teased carefully. The last thing she wanted to do was scare him away, but now that he was finally responding to her, all she wanted to do was push for a little bit more.
"Thank you," he murmured, and she just smiled as he took a few steps towards his room. "Ashley, I... I'm not used to this. Having teammates I mean. Or friends, really," he admitted softly. He was avoiding her eyes again. "I'm not sure how to do this..."
"It's easy," she assured him. "We like you the way you are."
He was smiling again as they paused in front of his door; she was sure of it. "Thanks," he repeated. Andros hesitated, seemingly about to say more and then thinking better of it.
"Get some rest," she told him. She reached out to trace one of his black eyes before she realized what she was doing, leaning up to kiss his cheek before her brain caught up with her. Ashley felt him tense slightly, but he didn't flinch away. That small smile was still on his face as she turned and walked away.
Ashley vanished down the corridor, and Andros managed to stumble back into his room. The door slid shut behind him and he didn't bother to turn on the lights, hardly even noticing the darkness as he collapsed onto his bunk.
It didn't matter that it had only been a kiss on the cheek. She'd still kissed him and Andros knew he was grinning like an idiot. No one had ever kissed him, and if anyone had ever wanted to he hadn't noticed.
He rolled onto his back and hugged his arms to his chest. His palms were sweating, but that didn't alarm him nearly as much as the unfamiliar feeling welling up in the pit of his stomach. He was struck with the strangest urge to run after and just... kiss her? Talk to her? Hug her? Andros didn't know and he didn't even care; he couldn't shake the desire to just look at her and see her smile...
Gulping, he rubbed his hands dry on the sheets. That feeling was growing, and he couldn't push her from his thoughts no matter how hard he tried. Andros sighed and rolled over, burying his face into the pillow as he squeezed his eyes shut. Immediately, he saw her behind his closed eyelids and groaned loudly into the pillowcase, at a total loss as to what he was supposed to do now.
He shouldn't be thinking about her like this, he told himself sternly, and flopped over onto his side. It couldn't happen. Ashley didn't want him that way; he knew what to look for, and he didn't see it in her. Although... no one had ever looked at him quite like she did, he admitted to himself and closed his eyes.
If nothing else, he couldn't deny that he really liked the way she looked at him. But there was something in her eyes that frightened him, made him feel totally vulnerable yet completely safe all at once. He wasn't sure yet what that meant; Andros had never found that same gleam in anyone's eyes ever before.
On KO-35, there had been curious stares and sometimes more hostile ones; he had learned to ignore them both. On Viton there had been harsh glares of disdain, cold threats of punishment that immediately had been followed through.
Andros shivered involuntarily, his fingers clenching over the sheets as that once-familiar fear washed over him; the tension brewing in his stomach in the strange silence, the panicked ringing in his ears as measured footsteps somewhere behind him grew louder and louder--
His mouth opened in a silent scream. His knuckles whitened as his fists balled around the sheets, small beads of sweat beginning to stand out on his forehead. Andros gasped and tilted his head back, forcing his eyes open. "Not now," he murmured, swiping angrily at his face with a sleeve. Maybe his nightmares were out of his control, but he was not going to succumb to these visions so meekly when he was wide awake.
It took several minutes of deep breathing for the pounding of his heart to calm, but it did calm. Andros let out one more sigh and rubbed his forehead, simply unable to push the memories out of his mind. He'd almost been expecting this continuous triggering of flashbacks; after the ordeal with Darkonda, Andros honestly would have been surprised if he'd been able to sleep dreamlessly.
The owners (Andros flatly refused to even think master) had hardly been the worst part. He'd known what to expect from him, and so long he did exactly what he was told exactly when he was told, he'd gotten along all right. It had been other slaves that had turned his already nightmarish existence into pure hell.
His stomach turned at the memories, twisting itself into tight knots. He breathed more heavily now, inhaling and exhaling rapidly through his nose. Dizzily, Andros watched the room spin as his entire body flushed feverishly. His mouth was watering as he stumbled into the bathroom, that thick bubble of nausea forcing its way up.
Andros collapsed weakly against the wall once his stomach was settled again, furiously wiping away the tears that had gathered unconsciously in his eyes. He couldn't say that he felt any better now than he had before and just sat there, completely drained.
Gradually, his strength returned. Andros staggered to his feet to rinse out his mouth, finding the water strangely cool against his skin when he splashed the rest of his face. He took a few deep breaths before turning off the water and crawling back into his bed, drawing the sheet up over his head as he curled up.
He burrowed deeper beneath his blankets when he heard the knock on his door, pangs of guilt driving him back out when it was Zhane's voice that he heard on the other side. Reluctantly, Andros climbed out of bed to open the door.
"Hi," he greeted his best friend quietly.
Zhane stared back calmly, that unpreturbed and almost amused gaze boring straight into Andros's own eyes. "Hi."
"I..." Andros stepped back to let him in. He chewed slightly on the tip of his tongue as he struggled to force the words out. "I'm sorry."
"Nah, don't be." Zhane just grinned at him. "I'm sure I deserved it, though would you mind telling me what I did?"
Andros glared at him. "You shouldn't have lied about me."
"Yeah... probably not," Zhane admitted. "But you guys will work it out; I talked to TJ a few minutes ago."
"That's not the point," Andros insisted. He couldn't bring himself to say it aloud, and instead looked anywhere but at Zhane as he thought towards the Silver Ranger. "I thought they liked me."
"But they do," Zhane surprised him by saying. "You said you were awake that whole time--how did you miss that part?"
"I..." Andros looked at him uncertainly. "But... I thought..."
Zhane arched an eyebrow at him in amusement. "What? I didn't even have anything to do with it--they decided themselves that there's enough good about you to make up for all the times when you act like, well, like a total idiot. And I mean that in the best way possible."
"Of course you do," Andros murmured. He didn't bother to try not to smile. "And I mean it in the best way possible when I tell you that you're a pompous--"
"Hey," Zhane exclaimed, shaking his head. "I said you were an idiot. That doesn't deserve pompous." He paused, then narrowed his eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Andros muttered quickly. He should have known that wouldn't work with Zhane of all people. "Really," he added lamely. "I'm fine."
"Uh-huh." Zhane screwed his face up in thought for a few moments. "So, what did Ashley want with you? She couldn't stop smiling when she finally showed up on the Bridge."
"She wanted to thank me," Andros said, after a slight pause to remember the conversation itself. He squirmed slightly when Zhane grinned at him. "That's all."
Zhane hooted with laughter. "Your face is turning red."
"It is not," Andros mumbled, though he wouldn't have bet on it. "Nothing happened."
"You kissed her," Zhane accused.
"No..." He knew he was blushing now. "I didn't."
The Silver Ranger wasn't easily fooled. "So, she kissed you, then?"
"On the cheek," Andros muttered reluctantly. "But I--"
"It's about time," Zhane declared brightly. "All those years on KO-35 you spent ignoring every girl who noticed you."
"I didn't want to be noticed," he retorted testily, and Zhane eased up a little.
"Ashley's different," was all he said. "You'd love her if you just gave her a chance."
"And then what?" Andros challenged. "Everything's magically okay? It doesn't work like that."
"Of course not," Zhane agreed. "But just because you've seen more than anyone should ever have to--does that mean you're never going to be happy?"
"I--"
"I'm not telling you to marry her, you know," Zhane continued. "Just go talk to her. Let her be your friend. She's good at that. She's a good kisser, too," he added with a sly grin. "Just in case that makes any difference to you."
It did; Andros was struck with the strangest urge to pummel his friend into the ground. "You would know," he muttered, arms crossed over his chest. "And if she liked you, I'm definitely not her type."
Zhane just snorted at him. "Are you blind?"
"What?"
"You must be," Zhane decided, "if you keep missing the way she looks at you."
"What?" Andros said again, louder this time. His palms were sweating again, and his throat suddenly felt very dry. "You don't think she likes me?"
"Nope," Zhane said cheerfully. "I know she does. Probably the only girl who'll ever like you more than she likes me," he added flippantly, and it wasn't until much later that it occured to Andros to wonder if Zhane had deliberately thrown that in to provoke a reaction. "You should at least talk to her. There's four people just waiting to be your friends if you'll only let them in."
"I--I know..." Andros shifted uncomfortably. "I'm trying."
He breathed a little easier when Zhane let that slide. "You should get some rest," Zhane informed him. He glanced back over his shoulder on his way towards the door. "Just think about it."
"Thanks," Andros said softly. Zhane grinned at him and stepped back out into the hall and suddenly very tired, Andros lay down on his bunk again. He'd wonder about everything Zhane had just said later.
"Deca, turn the lights up," he requested quietly. She complied without a word, to his relief. Her advice on top of Zhane's would be too much right now.
Letting out a deep breath, Andros sprawled out comfortably on his bed and closed his eyes against the bright lights of his room. His lips curled into a small smile as he slowly drifted off into as sleep filled with surprisingly pleasant dreams.
