Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers.

Chapter 8

"We came here for breakfast." Ashley decided to ignore the poorly hidden accusation in her ex-boyfriend's tone, and smiled at him instead. "What else?"

Ben looked her up and down another time with narrowed eyes, this time taking notice of Andros's arm around her waist. His already surly expression became even frostier before he quickly rearranged his face into a smirk. "Just a friend, huh?"

Ashley tried very hard not to roll her eyes. "At the time."

"Right." Ben nodded, trying and failing to hide his skepticism. "So, when did you two get together?"

"Day before yesterday," Ashley told him reluctantly. Was it too much to hope that he would just go away? Probably, she decided with a silent sigh.

"Oh, right, yesterday was your birthday, wasn't it?" Ben smiled unconvincingly. "Did he get you something good?"

Andros tightened his arm around her ever so slightly when Ben's gaze shifted to him, and her sigh was audible now as she stared between them. Ben glared accusingly at Andros, who did an excellent job of scowling at him in return.

"Excuse me," she said abruptly. "I've got to go pay the bill... I'll see you at school tomorrow, Ben."

Andros followed her halfway to the register, but he stopped walking when Ben wondered, "Shouldn't you be paying?" Ashley grimaced and decided the faster they left, the better. Shooting an apologetic look at Andros, she headed up to the register and paid for their breakfast, keeping one eye on Andros and Ben.

He was more annoyed than anything else, she surmised, though she knew that Ben would have had trouble guessing. Andros's expression was coolly polite, but he stood stiffly with his arms crossed across his chest. Almost the same posture that he held whenever he was forced to interact with anyone over the comm, she realized, and then tried not to smile too much when a sudden smirk flashed across his face. It was gone as soon as it came, as she shoved her receipt into her pocket, Ashley decided she didn't want to know what he'd said.

She caught Andros's eye and nodded towards the door. He smiled in relief and paused only to say something else to Ben before following her quickly, catching up to her just outside of the door, where she'd stopped to wait for him. Andros turned her to face him and claimed her lips with his own in a surprisingly passionate kiss. Ashley glanced in through the window of the restaurant, almost expecting to see Ben still standing there watching them.

"Andros," she muttered against his lips. He pulled away immediately, taking a few steps down the sidewalk and pausing with his back to her. "Andros?"

"Sorry," he murmured sheepishly. "I couldn't help it."

Ashley bit her lip as she considered that and then slid one arm through his. "Come on," she said, keeping her tone as casual as she could. "So are you the jealous type or is it just him that you don't like?"

Abashment and amusement mingled in his expression as he admitted, "Just him."

"Good," she decided. "We'd have a problem if you were like that with every guy I know."

"Only the ones that think you're still dating them," Andros promised her, and Ashley almost stopped walking, torn between laughter and anger.

"He said that?"

"Well..." Andros hesitated. "Almost."

Ashley sighed and ran a hand through her hair, glancing back towards the restaurant but not spotting Ben anywhere. She didn't know what he and Andros had said to each other, and didn't really want to, but she was tempted to storm back into the restaurant to tell him off anyway. She took a deep breath and shook her head, telling herself sternly that that would only cause more problems.

So Ben was acting like an idiot. It wasn't her problem anymore, and Andros's irritation seemed to have vanished as soon as they'd left the restaurant, so she shrugged it off and kept walking. Andros caught her expression before they'd gone another three steps and stopped to pull her into a hug. Ashley couldn't help but smile as he rubbed her shoulders soothingly, feeling her own annoyance ebb away.

"Don't be upset," he muttered in her ear. "Please?"

"Well, since you asked..." Ashley shook her hair back and smiled for him. "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

She nodded firmly. "I'm not letting him ruin our date," she told him, and took his hand again. "Forget what I said about going back to the ship; let's go for a walk first. You don't have too much work, do you?"

"Actually--no," he decided. "Where are we going?"

"Beach," she said, and veered down a sidestreet. "We're not really dressed to go swimming, but we can still go for a walk. It'll be fun!"

"If you say so," he agreed, following her willingly down the street. Barely a block later, the sidewalk had vanished into sand and the warm breeze carried the shouts of beachgoers and the rhythmic crash of the waves to their ears. Andros stalled when Ashley tried to pull him along, resisting until she stepped back to his side and slid her arms around his waist while he gazed out across the water.

"Like it?" Ashley finally wanted to know, having watched him stare at the waves for what seemed like a very long time and yet only a few seconds all at once.

He nodded, not looking away from the water. "It's... beautiful," he murmured at last. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before."

"Haven't you ever been to the beach before?" she asked curiously, seeing how he was almost mesmerized by the sight.

"Not really," he confessed. "KO-35 had plenty of oceans, but I guess... we just never went."

"That'll have to change," Ashley said firmly, smiling as he didn't even look at her. "It's almost summer. It'll be perfect weather for swimming, and we can have a picnic or something."

Andros just nodded, but she knew that he'd been listening. Laughing quietly, she tugged on his arm until he started moving again. "That sounds fun," he said after a moment.

"I can't believe you've never been to the beach before," she marveled when he stopped walking again. "It's the perfect place for a date... Oh, just sit down already." She dropped down onto the sand as she spoke and he followed a moment later, drawing his knees halfway up and draping an arm across her shoulders.

"It looks perfect," he agreed, hugging her closer. "We'll have to do that sometime."

"Mmm..." She leaned her head against his shoulder. "So, what did you do for a date on KO-35?" she wondered curiously. "What was there to do for fun?"

"Well... Ranger training didn't give us much time for a personal life." Andros shrugged and traced a circle in the sand. "None of us went on very many dates, and if we did, just to a holoshow or our to eat somewhere."

"Really?" Ashley twisted her head to look at him. "You didn't get time off?"

"Whenever we weren't training, but the ranger compound had a curfew," he explained. "We could stay up as late as we wanted to and do whatever we wanted on our time off, but we couldn't get special permission to be out just because we wanted to be at some offworld party, or see this holoshow at this time."

"Holoshows," Ashley repeated. "So movies, then?"

"Yeah."

Ashley thought for a moment. "Was this with Lyra?"

His face darkening visibly, and he stopped drawing designs in the sand. "Yes," he said, and sighed. "Um, Ash... I... There's something I need to tell you..."

"Yes?" she prompted when he stalled. "You can tell me anything," she reminded him gently, and he nodded before taking a deep breath.

"Yesterday..." Andros sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "When Lyra was pretending to be you, I--I sort of... kissed her..."

"Oh." Ashley sounded more surprised than anything else, but Andros wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. His arm was still around her, he realized suddenly, and pulled back quickly, watching her intently.

"I thought she was you," he repeated nervously. "I did, Ash."

Ashley pondered over his words for a few moments, her expression thoughtful but not exactly angry. Andros allowed himself to relax, for a moment thinking that this was going to be fine after all. Then she looked from the ocean to him, speaking and catching him completely off-guard. "She a good kisser?"

"What?" Andros sputtered over the word, choking on nothing but air. How was he supposed to answer that?

"Is she a good kisser?" Ashley repeated patiently. He caught her eye this time, frowning when he thought he saw her almost smile. She wasn't serious, he realized with a rush of relief, and nearly laughed himself.

"I'd rather kiss you," he murmured. Ashley's smile widened when he did, her arms sliding around his neck.

"You're a good kisser too," she giggled in his ear. He could feel himself blushing at her words, wondering how she could get to him so easily. It was completely unfair, he thought, feeling his own arms creep around her waist. He had no idea what effect he had on her, but he thought the whole world could see what she did to him.

"So you're not upset?" he asked one last time, just to be sure.

"Well, I'm not happy about it," she said, smiling dryly. "But no, I'm not upset--with you, anyway."

He tightened his arms around her for just one moment before letting her draw away. Ashley hopped to her feet and caught his hand to pull him up before dragging him down the beach again and changing the subject. "So what else was there to do on KO-35?"

Andros shrugged. "We didn't get out that much. I didn't," he amended, a little ruefully, she thought. "Zhane was offworld all the time, and Karone or Renn usually went with him. Everyone else had their favorite place to go when not on duty. I... just didn't feel like leaving the compound much."

"You don't feel like leaving the Megaship much, either," Ashley observed. "Even if you don't like crowds, don't you get bored sometimes?"

"There's the Simudeck," he reminded her. "And the Observatory. There's plenty to do."

"If you say so," Ashley said, a teasing grin spreading across her face. "But you're going to start coming down to Earth more often, just so you know."

"Oh really?" He raised an eyebrow. "How much more often?"

"Whenever what I want to do is more fun than what you want to do," she said cheerfully. "This was my idea; you choose what we do next time, if you want."

Andros laughed, his mood lightened by her bubbly spirit. "Dinner?" he suggested after a moment of quick thought. "On the Observatory?"

"Okay, that sounds like fun," Ashley admitted. "When?"

"Day after tomorrow?" he asked. He didn't really want to wait that long to be alone with her again, but he didn't want to pressure her, either.

"Sounds great," she agreed. "I love the view from there."

"So do I." Andros nodded, smiling at some memory. "We all did... We used to sleep there some nights, all of us."

"Team sleepovers?" Ashley laughed. "We should try that sometime."

"I was serious," Andros insisted, but he laughed as well and continued to follow her. They hadn't gone more than another five feet forward when he heard screams behind him, and he groaned. There was only one thing that that could mean, he thought with a sigh, glancing over his shoulder just to be sure.

"Can't morph," Ashley cursed as sunlight glinted off of the approaching Quantrons. "Too many people."

He nodded distractedly and automatically fell into a fighting stance as the Quantrons closed in. Ashley raised her hands defensively, rushing forward alongside him as the metallic soldiers attacked.

Andros had no idea what the they wanted. Not that he ever knew what Cosmos and Lyra were up to, but this attack appeared to be completely random and strangely, Ashley wasn't being attacked. She'd fought her way to his side to help him out, but the Quantrons were far more interested in him than her.

He doubled over when he was caught in the gut, groaning when a metal fist slammed into his spine just between his shoulder blades. Ashley moved closer, guarding him the best that she could as he recovered.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," he gasped out, straightening just in time to catch a fist headed straight for his face. He twisted around and flung the Quantron forward, realizing too late that he'd left his back unguarded when he'd moved. Stumbling forward when he was kicked, he caught himself with his palms, only to hiss in pain when his wrist buckled.

Where was Ashley? he wondered, staggering to his feet. He glimpsed a blur of yellow off to his right and sighed. The Quantrons had finally noticed her. He continued fighting on his own, gritting his teeth against the pain that shot through his arm each time he used his injured right wrist to block or hit. It didn't hurt nearly enough to be broken, but he figured it couldn't hurt to have it checked, and then forced his mind back to the fight at hand.

Surf sloshed across his ankles and he growled in frustration as the Quantrons forced him back another few inches into the ocean. His arms flew up to grab ahold of one Quantron's blade and another kicked him hard in the chest. He kneeled over, gasping desperately for air, unable to breathe and wondering how he was going to keep fighting.

The Quantrons were gone in a bright sparkle of silver, and then saw a flash of yellow as Ashley reached his side. She crouched down beside him and laid one hand on his shoulder, gently rubbing his back as the air slowly returned to his lungs. He leaned against her, calming as he was able to gulp down air. It wasn't the first time that he'd had the wind knocked out of him, and probably not the last, but no amount of experience or training had ever dulled the panic that shot through him each time he realized hat he was unable to breathe.

"You okay?" Ashley muttered softly in his ear.

"Yeah," he gasped breathlessly, still a little lightheaded. "I'm fine."

"Come on," she said, and carefully helped him to his feet. Andros groaned before he could help it, tensing when she caught his right hand. Ashley let go instantly and looked at him suspiciously. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," he insisted. "I'm fine."

"You're not," Ashley objected, and glanced around the now-deserted beach. "Deca, teleport two to the Med Bay."

"I told you, I'm--" He broke off when he realized that they were already in the infirmary. "Fine," he finished sullenly, reluctantly letting her push him onto one of the beds. Ashley stepped away to dig out a scanner, and he kicked off his shoes and socks, both soaked with seawater, his jeans drenched from the knee down as well.

"Give me your hand," Ashley ordered. She reached for him before he could protest and sighed with relief as she ran the scanner across his right arm. "Sprained," she announced, and stared at him pointedly. "Maybe a minor injury, but not fine."

He glared at her. Ashley smiled innocently and carefully unbuttoned the cuff on his right sleeve. Andros slipped out of the shirt, shivering slightly when the air hit his bare arms. Ashley wrapped up his wrist and then ran the scanner over the rest of his body, checking for more injuries.

"And what about you?" he demanded finally, using his good arm to tug the scanner away from him. "You could have been hurt too, you know."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Fine," she sighed. "If it makes you feel better."

"It does," he informed her, scooting over to make room for her on the bed. "You're fine," he said a moment later, frowning. "That's not fair. Not that I'd ever want you to be hurt," he added hastily when he realized what he'd said. "I didn't mean that."

Ashley laughed before she could help herself, and hopped down to wrap her arms around his neck. "It's completely unfair," she agreed, her voice losing it's cheerfulness as she added, "They were after you."

"I noticed," he said wryly.

"Do you know what they wanted?"

He shook his head and held up his left wrist, explaining, "They didn't even try to take this."

"Whoa, what's going on here?" another voice broke in, and they looked over to see Zhane and TJ in the doorway. "What happened to you two?"

"Quantrons at the beach," Ashley told them, trying to shrug it off. "Don't worry, we're fine."

His back to Zhane and TJ, Andros glared at her and pointed to his wrist. Ashley tried not to laugh and kissed his cheek, her arm sliding around his waist. "We're fine now, anyway," she corrected herself, and Andros made a face at her.

"Quantrons at the beach, huh?" TJ repeated slowly. "Deca didn't tell us."

That sounded accusatory, and Ashley wondered what the blue ranger would be eating for lunch. And dinner. And quite possibly breakfast, depending on how vengeful Deca was at the moment. As it was, she took her time replying. "My sensors were momentarily occupied," she said at last. "The Dark Fortress reappeared on the scanners for a few moments."

"Really?" Andros looked up, frowning as he contemplated all probable reasons that Cosmos and Lyra would have for lowering their cloaking shield. "What are they up to?" he wondered aloud, and sighed. Maybe Elgar had just hit the wrong button. He hoped that was all it was.

"Well, we'll find out sooner or later," Zhane said brightly. "No point in worrying about it until then."

TJ nodded with obvious reluctance, but agreed, "All we can do is wait."