Disclaimer: As much as I would like for it to be, Power Rangers is not my creation.

Jessica01: They're going to make an apperance in a later chapter. It just didn't seem right to have them come into the picture yet but they will.

Ch. 27 Party Time

At the park Andros sat at a table by himself and watched as Ashley opened her presents. A smile formed on his face as she pulled out the fire extinguisher from Carlos and watched as she blew out the candles on the cake. Once again he was taken back to that dreadful day when all he had wished for was the war to be over. He wished he could go back and save everyone, his parents, Akako, Rylan, Karone, and Zhane, but he knew he couldn't. No matter what he couldn't do anything about it.

"Cake?" Ashley questioned, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Thanks," he stated uncertainly as he placed the plate on the table behind him. "We don't celebrate birthdays on KO-35," he lied.

"It's alright," Ashley assured him, "I don't expect you to know all the weird customs here on Earth."

"Actually," Andros began, pulling a box from his pocket, "Happy Birthday, Ashley." Ashley looked at him in shock before taking the box from his hand and slowly removing the lid. Her eyes lit up when she saw the necklace and she reached out tenderly to touch it. "The stone's a rare gem from KO-35, I hope you like it."

"I love it," Ashley replied as she closed her hand around what she hoped was her first of many presents from Andros. "Thank you." She reached out slowly, giving him s chance to pull away before wrapping her arms around him.

Hours had passed since her birthday party and now Ashley stood before Andros as Astronama and was trying to convince him that she was really herself. How can I get him to see the truth? Wait a minute! She turned to Astronama and questioned, "If you're Ashley, what'd Andros get you for your birthday?"

"I, uh," Astronama stuttered trying desperately to find some way out of the situation she had gotten herself into.

"Ashley?" Andros questioned looking back and forth between the two. Ashley could clearly hear the pain in his voice and she hated having to do this to him.

"It was a necklace from KO-35," Ashley answered. She saw Astronama reach for her blaster and hurried to stop her. She got off the shot but Andros was able to dive out of the way and shot Astronama forcing her to return to her normal form. Astronama ran over and began fighting with her, making it impossible for Andros or any of the other rangers tell the difference between the two.

"Am I seeing double?" T.J. questioned, blinking several times trying too clear his vision.

"How do we tell them apart?" Andros asked, more to himself than to anyone else and then he had an idea. "Ashley?" Their fight interrupted both turned to face him. He held up his left wrist and stated, "Let's Rocket!" Ashley nodded and showed their stance when they morphed proving that she was the real Ashley. She quickly ran over to her friends while Astronama called out the Body Switcher.

It wasn't long before they were standing on the Megaship in the Holding Bay and everyone turned to Ashley expectantly. When she didn't make any move to remove her helmet Andros stepped forward.

"Well, Ashley?" he questioned and she slowly unhooked her helmet. She pulled it away and Cassie wrapped her arms around her.

"Ashley, you're you again," she stated.

"What?" she questioned as she felt her face. "I'm me again." She couldn't stop the smile that formed on her face. Andros watched from his locker before quickly leaving the room. Ashley pulled her necklace out and whispered, "Thanks again, Andros." When she didn't get a reply she scanned the room only to find the Red Ranger missing. She shrugged, knowing better than anyone that sometimes he just need some time alone.

Almost a week had passed since Ashley's birthday and Andros had again begun to loosen up around the other rangers more although it was more apparent with Ashley. Cassie had asked Ashley about his new attitude several times but all her friend would say was that it was for the best. Today they had decided to go down to a planet's surface and collect some samples since they had been getting strange energy signals. They had detected no signs of life and were surprised when they were attacked by whatever lived there. They had managed to get to the Megaship but little did they know they'd be back on the planet's surface within mere minutes. The landing was less than smooth, but it was the best Andros could do given the circumstances. When they all managed to get up and found that everyone was okay they went to make the monster pay. It wasn't long before Andros fell to his knees in front of his foes, knowing that something was wrong with his best friend. He recovered and went to avenge his friend's death when he saw several of the intruders being thrown off the ship. He watched in awe with the other rangers as Zhane cleared the area rather quickly but quickly regained his composure when the monster was hovering over them at twenty stories tall.

The overgrown monster had went down fairly easy and Andros couldn't wait to catch up with his best friend. With Zhane around he might even be able to muster up the courage to ask Ashley out on a date. He glanced over at her and smiled slightly at the thought. He heard voices coming from the Bridge and signaled for everyone to slow down once he was able to make out the story being told.

"As I recall," Andros stated from the door way, smiling widely at his friend, "I was the one he grabbed and lifted up." He couldn't help but laugh as Zhane turned around in surprise.

"I'll have to finish this story to you later," Zhane whispered to Alpha before meeting his friend halfway. "What happened? How'd we get here?"

"You've been in hypersleep for two years?" Andros replied. "Don't worry, I'll tell you everything later, but first these are my friends." Zhane looked at Andros in shock. 'Did he say friends? Andros doesn't make friends.' He pushed the thought aside concentrating on the names of the people in front of him.

"And I'm Ashley," the last girl stated. Zhane noticed she was wearing yellow and he planed to question Andros about that later. She stuck out her hand and Zhane looked more than a little lost.

"That's called shaking hands," his friend supplied. "It's a greeting."

"I knew that," Zhane replied, pretending to know what he was talking about. "I've just never met a female Power Ranger before." Ashley knew it was a lie but she couldn't help but agree with the teen in silver. As Andros stepped back in front of him he continued, "Last thing I remember, KO-35 was under attack?" He noticed Andros' slight grimace at the mention of their home but decided to wait until they were alone to question him. "So, what happened?"

"Come on," Andros started, wrapping an arm firmly across Zhane's shoulders. "I have a million things to tell you." The other rangers watched as the two friends made their way out of sight.

A/N: Please Review!