Disclaimer: The Power Rangers are not mine and no profit is being made here.
Ashley woke up to find herself nestled in Karone's arms. She smiled, snuggling up closer to her. Suddenly, she jolted straight up in bed.
"What's wrong?" Karone asked so quickly, and with no trace of sleepiness, that if Ashley had thought about it she would have wondered if Karone had been sleep at all.
"My test," Ashley said looking around the room, trying to decide what she should do first.
"Is tomorrow," Karone said smiling. She rubbed Ashley's back soothingly. "Why are you so nervous about this?"
Ashley sighed, readjusting herself on the bed so that she was facing Karone. She watched her hands as she folded and refolded a small section of her bright yellow blanket. She had brought it up to the ship when she realized that she was spending more nights here than at home. "I did really badly in my last test in this class. My parents, especially my dad, they- they just expect a lot from me."
"But you're a Power Ranger. Isn't that enough?"
Ashley shook her head, "They say that I can't put that on a college application, and that that's what's really important. They're right," she added, somewhat awkwardly.
"Isn't protecting the planet more important than college?"
"Not to my parents."
"I'm sure they just want what's best for you."
"I know," Ashley said hesitantly. "It's just so much pressure sometimes."
They sat quietly for a few minutes "Come on, "Karone said suddenly, sliding around Ashley, and out of bed.
"But-" Ashley started to protest.
"You've studied enough," Karone told her. "Ashley, you're smart. If you keep studying, you're just going to exhaust yourself."
Ashley hesitated. She knew Karone was right, but, "Come on," Karone said, interrupting her thoughts. "I expect you to be ready in ten minutes," she told her giving Ashley a quick kiss and left the room before Ashley could object.
Just as promised, Karone was back in exactly ten minutes. "Just a sec," Ashley called in response to the soft knock at the door. She put her hair up in a scrunchi and, taking one last look in the mirror, hurried over to the door.
Her smile widened when she saw that Karone was wearing the purple sun dress she had bought her, "Are you ready?"
"Ready. Where are we going?" Ashley asked, taking Karone's hand as they made their way down the corridor.
"I made us a picnic," Karone said as they got in the Megalift. "I thought we could hike up to Pine Creek and have an early lunch."
Ashley grinned. Karone always came up with the best date ideas. "That sounds great," she told her sincerely. She knew that Karone wasn't entirely comfortable in crowds yet, and that she felt guilty about it.
They stepped off the Megalift, walking to the Workbay. Karone headed towards the Synthetron. Ashley watched her pull out two apples and hand one to her.
"Ready?" Karone nodded, picking up the basket sitting next to the Synthetron. "DECA, teleport us to Angel Grove Lake." Almost immediately, twin streaks of yellow and purple light appeared around them and quickly vanished again, revealing the quiet scene of the lake on a Sunday morning.
Ashley had wondered why Karone's teleportation streak was purple. Non rangers almost always had neutral colors. She wondered if it had anything to do with the powers she had had as Astronema.
The term 'hike' was a great exaggeration. The path up to the creek was very well maintained and was rarely more than a gentle slope. They took their time walking up, more than willing to stop and admire the scenery every so often. It was mid March and most of the wildflowers were already in bloom. Ashley decided to stop by each bunch of flowers and gradually made a rather large bouquet of purple and yellow flowers.
They chatted light-heartedly about spring, food, clothes, and potential activities for future dates. Only once or twice did Ashley suspect that Karone was deliberately steering the conversation away from certain topics that might ruin the mood.
They had found their own special spot by the creek. Getting there was probably the most most difficult part of the hike. There was a shallow part of the stream with perfectly positioned stepping stones to cross to the other side.
There was no trail there, and there was a significant amount of vegetation. Ashley crossed the stream first and took Karone's hand, helping her hop to the other bank.
It took them about another ten minutes at their leisurely pace to get to their clearing. It was the perfect spot. There were a couple of boulders at the base of a large tree that grew just a few feet away from the water. Wildflowers and a couple more small trees surrounded a nice sized clearing. The ground was covered with just enough small rocks to keep the dust from getting kicked up while still making it easy to walk.
Karone placed the basket next to the tree and walked over to the creek. Ashley sat down on one of the boulders, watching her and fiddling idly with the flowers. It had surprised her how much Karone had taken to nature. Ashley wondered if it was because it reminded her of her childhood or if it was because she hadn't been exposed to it for so long.
She waited for Karone to come over before opening the basket, carefully placing the flowers next to her. "Your planet's beautiful," she said carefully positioning herself on the other boulder.
Ashley smiled, starting to take out the contents of the basket. There were a couple of neatly wrapped sandwiches, some long, green vegetables that she could never remember the name of, a couple bottles of juice, and some cookies. She neatly arranged the food between them, with the bouquet of flowers in the center.
After they ate, Ashley idly started braiding the flowers into a wreath. "What are you doing?" Karone asked after watching her for a few minutes.
"You'll see," Ashley said smiling.
Karone leaned back against the tree, watching the sunlight dance through the leaves as a light wind picked up. Her life had changed so much in the past month. Then she had still been Astronema, Princess of Darkness. She closed her eyes, feeling the breeze on her face. She couldn't imagine going back to that life now. She didn't know how she could ever have been happy.
She winced a little as a thought of Ecliptor came to her mind. She still didn't know what had happened to him, she hadn't seen or heard from him since that day on Yutoba. Karone opened her eyes, staring up at the leaves. She looked back at Ashley, who was still busy with her flowers. She hadn't told anyone how she felt. She had no idea if they could understand. And she wasn't willing to ruin everything she had now.