Never Let Go
Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers.
Summary: Sequel to "Can't Let Go." Read that first. After tragedy strikes, can Ashley and Andros find their way back to each other.
Pinkrangerfan: Yay they're back together. Lol! Yeah that was kinda kinky, but awesome. He meets his daughter right now.
Vampire's Heartache: I was smiling while I was writing it. I'd hoped that it would carry on to the reader and I'm happy it did.
JasonLeeScottFan: Glad you did! I'm bad at writing sex scenes so I may ask for your help at one I'm hoping to put in 'Out of this World'. Everyone seems to be so sure that Karone will say yes to Zhane. I hope you all are right.
Emily bradit: Thanks!
xSapphirexRosesxFanx: Thank you! Yeah she did miss him. It shows.
LunarFairyPrincess1989: Me too! They will. Don't worry about that.
Chapter 12: Four of a Kind
Ava's Room
Ashley slowly moved into the room with Andros behind her. For an instant, she was afraid that Ava may not be the same happy baby she'd been only two days ago.
All her doubt vanished when she saw her very healthy looking child lying in the hospital crib. She felt Andros hesitate behind her and let him. "Hey baby girl." Ashley reached down and picked up her daughter. If she didn't know better, Ashley would have never thought anything had been wrong with Ava. Ashley looked at the very nervous Andros. "Come here."
Andros stepped forward and gazed at the little bundle in Ashley's arms with his eyes. Those big hazel eyes seemed to be studying him. Andros watched as her little arms reached towards him, her tiny fist opening and closing, like she was reaching for him…like she knew him.
"She wants you to hold her." Ashley whispered. She was afraid she would scare him if she spoke any louder.
Andros wiped his hands on his shirt then slowly reached for the little girl. He gently cradled her head and back in one hand and her bottom in the other. "Hi, Ava." He spoke for the first time since they left the waiting room. "I'm your daddy."
Ava responded with a wide toothless grin and Andros couldn't hold back his emotions any longer. He hugged his daughter for the first time as tightly as he could without hurting her. He kissed the top on her head and looked at Ashley who was also in tears. "Ash?"
"I never thought I'd get to see this. You with Ava." She put a hand to her mouth.
Andros held out a hand to her. "Come here." He held Ashley at his side. "I love you both so much."
"We love you too." Ashley responded and laid her head on Andros's shoulder.
Megaship
"I love you too." Zhane held her and felt the last barrier between them fall. "Marry me."
Karone smiled. "No."
"What?!" Zhane nearly shouted.
Karone only laughed. "If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right." She stood and went to the jewelry box on her dresser.
Zhane stood in outrage. "This is right. We're right. Everything about this is-" He cut himself off when he saw what Karone was holding. "You kept it." He stated softly.
Karone held the princess cut pink diamond ring in its white gold setting. "Yeah I did." She moved to him and gave him the ring. "And I'm ready to take it back."
Zhane took the ring and put it on Karone's left ring finger and smiled. "Now will you marry me?"
Karone laughed and threw herself into his arms. "Absolutely."
Waiting Room
Cassie and Carlos returned to the waiting room where Kate and TJ waited. "Is everything okay with you guys?" TJ asked.
"Yeah." Cassie answered happily. "We're fine." She put a hand over her stomach.
"Have you talked to your parents, Kate?" Carlos asked.
"I did." She nodded. "We probably should have told them about Ava when we got there, but we were just in such a rush to get back that as soon as we touched down we hopped on another flight back here."
"We'll fly them out here for the time being and go out there later when things calm down." TJ told her.
"Okay. You guys need to be here." Kate agreed.
The waiting room door slid open. TJ grinned. "Where have you two been?"
Karone and Zhane walked into the waiting room. "We were getting engaged." Karone said and shrugged. "Again." She held up her left hand.
"Congratulations guys!" Carlos called.
"Thanks." Karone responded.
"It's about time." TJ stated.
"Tell me about it." Zhane responded.
"That's so great." Cassie stated.
Karone frowned. "Why are you crying?"
"Sorry." Cassie wiped her eyes. "I'm just so happy." She sobbed some more.
"You don't seem happy." Karone responded.
"It's the baby." Cassie smiled through her tears. "My hormones are a little out of wack."
"Wait, baby?"
"That's right you don't know." Carlos beamed. "Cassie's pregnant."
"Wow. Congratulations to you guys too!" Karone sat down beside Zhane. "What else did I miss?"
"Well," Kate started. "The wedding's coming up in a couple of weeks. It's not too late to fit you for a dress."
"You guys still want me to be in the wedding?" Karone asked hopefully.
"Of course." TJ smiled. "Why wouldn't we?"
Karone smiled back. "I'd love to be in your wedding."
Just then the waiting room door slid open again and a nurse walked in.
"What's happened?" Karone jumped up.
"Nothing." The nurse smiled. "Ava's been cleared for check out. They're doing one last check up on her and then they're going to fill out the paper work."
Relief and happiness filled the room.
"We have to get to the house." Cassie suggested. "And make sure everything's ready for them."
"That's taken care of." Zhane responded. "Karone and I stopped by the house and rearranged a few things."
"But." Karone added when she saw Cassie frown. "You guys can plan a welcome home party for Andros tomorrow night."
Cassie perked up again. "Perfect! We can have it at our house."
"Yeah," Karone continued. "And it'll give Sondria and her family some time to recuperate once they get here."
"Who?" TJ asked.
"Oh. It's the family Andros has been with. I sent the Megaship to get them. They should be here early tomorrow morning." Karone answered. "Everything will be explained tomorrow. Just be patient."
"We'll try." Carlos replied.
"We'd better get going." Cassie suggested. "We've got a lot to do and not much time to do it in." She grabbed Carlos. "Send Ashley, Andros and Ava our love."
"Yeah we'd better go too." TJ added. "We'll see you guys tomorrow night."
They said their goodbyes and left. Karone and Zhane knew they left in order to give the two of them time with Ashley and Andros.
"I'll go get Ashley's things and get the car." Zhane stated. "You go get the others. I'll meet you guys. Ava's in room 302."
"Okay." Karone made her way to the room.
Ava's Room
"Everything looks great." Ava's doctor told Ashley and Andros. "I'll have the nurse bring the paperwork for you to sign."
"Thank you so much doctor." Ashley stated.
"She's a strong one." He smiled at the child now in her father's arms again. "Please keep me updated on her."
"We will." Ashley promised.
The doctor smiled again and left.
"You hear that?" Ashley spoke to Ava. "You get to go home soon."
Ava cooed at her mother in response.
Ashley looked at Andros. "We all get to go home."
Andros smiled at her. "I can't wait to go home with you two."
"Four." Karone corrected from the door way. "If you don't mind Zhane and I tagging along."
Ashley ran to Karone and embraced her. "Of course we don't mind. It's good to have you back."
"I'm glad because we didn't have anywhere else to go."
They laughed.
"Where'd Zhane go?" Ashley asked.
"He's getting your bags and taking them to the car. He'll be up soon." Karone looked at her brother and her niece. "Can I hold her?"
Ashley laughed. "If you can get her away from Andros. We had to practically snatch her from him so the doctor could give Ava her last check up."
Karone approached her brother. "Can I hold her for a minute please? I promise I'll give her back."
Andros looked from Karone to Ava. "What do you think?"
Auntie.
Andros turned a wide-eyed expression to Ashley. "Did you hear that?" The light voice still resounded in his head.
Ashley smiled. "Yeah. She's been doing that for a while now. She can communicate a few words. No more than two at a time though."
"I heard her too." Karone spoke. "Come here baby."
Ava reached for Karone and Andros sighed and handed her over.
"Hey beautiful." Karone cooed and Ava smiled. "I missed you." She kissed Ava's forehead. "Okay you can have her back now Andros."
"Thank you." He gently and quickly grabbed his daughter.
"Car's ready when you guys are." Zhane stated when he walked into the room.
"Zhane." Andros smiled and gave Zhane a one armed hugged, keeping Ava securely in his other arm. "Sorry about earlier." He said releasing his friend. "We should have given you a heads up."
"It was just a bump to the head. I'll survive. It's just good to have you back."
"Thanks. It's good to be back."
Zhane. Ava stretched her arms out for the blond man in front of her.
"I think she wants you." Andros slowly handed Ava to Zhane and watched his daughter smile and laugh with the only real fatherly influence she'd ever had.
Ashley, sensing Andros's nervousness, moved to him while Karone and Zhane played with Ava. She knows you. Ashley assured him. Ava knows you're her father and a big part of that is because of Zhane.
Andros kissed her. I know. I've just been gone for so long, things change.
Not this. You'll always be her father and we have the rest of our lives to make up for the lost time. She kissed him. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Ava's doctor walked in with the papers. "Ms. Hammond, if you would sign here, everything will be set and you can take your daughter home."
Ashley quickly signed the papers and turned to the others. "Let's go home."
Ashley's house – Ava's Room
"She is out." Andros whispered as he lowered Ava into her crib.
"She's had a long couple of days." Ashley yawned.
"And so has her mommy." Andros smiled. "Let's go to bed."
"I am all for that." She and Andros walked to the den where Karone and Zhane sat waiting for them. "We're gonna head to bed you guys."
"We were just about to go up too." Zhane commented and stood. "Andros can I talk to you for a minute before you guys go up?"
Andros frowned. "Sure. We can go to the kitchen."
Zhane lead the way. Once they got into the kitchen he turned to his best friend. "It's just a couple of things I wanted to tell you."
"I'm listening." Andros responded curiously.
"First, I want you to know that I would never do anything to get in the way of your relationship with Ava. I love her, but you're her father. I'm fine being uncle Zhane."
Andros sighed in relief. "Thanks Zhane. I didn't realize how much I needed to her that."
"You're welcome. And I have something else you might want." He reached in his pocket and pulled out the ring. "It fell out of Ashley's bag when I was putting it into the car."
Andros took the gold banded ring with the yellow to orange to red gem stone. "Ashley's engagement ring."
"I think she's been keeping it with her. You might want to give it back to her."
Andros smiled. "Thank you Zhane." Andros slid the ring into his pocket.
"Anytime." They walked out of the kitchen and back into the den.
"Everything okay?" Ashley asked as Andros stood beside her.
"Everything's fine. The gang's back together." Zhane smiled.
"Not quite." Karone smiled and held her hand out in the middle of them. Zhane smiled and placed his hand over Karone's. Ashley was next, followed by Andros.
Something palpable passed between the four of them as they stood linked. They eyed each other curiously, but didn't break contact. "Okay, you guys all experienced that too right?" Ashley asked.
"You guys saw that?" Andros asked.
"If you mean everything you've been through since the crash, then yes." Zhane answered. "Which means you don't have to explain it to us." He smiled.
"That was amazing." Karone said wistfully. It was good to know everything that had happened. They literally saw everyone Andros had encountered and how he'd felt about those people.
"Who's Kara?" Ashley asked pointedly. "And why does she bother you so much?"
Andros groaned. "I don't know. She just rubs me the wrong way."
Ashley smiled mischievously. "Really?"
"Ash." Karone smiled. "Stop teasing him."
"Couldn't resist." Ashley shrugged. "We'd better get to bed. We have to get Andros's family tomorrow." After feeling what Andros did towards them and seeing how they'd interacted, she had no problem calling the Slade's his family.
"I can't wait." Karone beamed. "I'm even more excited now."
"I see that." Zhane commented and looked at Andros. "So I remind you of an eight year old?"
"Can we please talk about this tomorrow?" Andros asked. "I'm exhausted."
"I'll let you get away with it this time." Zhane smiled as they removed their hands from the middle. "And since I'm tired too."
"Now it's official." Karone commented. "We're back."
(A/N: Yay he's finally home and Ava's great. Now it's time to meet the rest of the family. Will everything go according to plan? Find out next chapter.)