"DECA, what time is it?"

Cassie looked up from her dinner to glance at Andros. That was the fifth time he'd asked since they sat down, and his food was practically untouched.

"It is exactly three minutes and thirty-two seconds since the last time you asked, Andros," DECA replied, and Cassie hid a smile. Everyone knew that the onboard computer was partial to Andros, but it sounded as though even DECA was becoming exasperated with him.

"Look, Andros," Carlos said, leaning across the table. "I'm sure Ashley's fine. Jeremy's parents probably can't stop thanking her long enough for her to get away."

"I know, I know," Andros muttered, poking at his food.

Cassie exchanged glances with TJ, who was sitting right across from her. He just shook his head, a half-smile on his face.

Andros's communicator beeped, and he pounced on it. "Ashley?"

"How'd you guess?" Ashley's voice replied. "Are the rest of the guys with you?"

Andros looked around, as though he'd forgotten their presence in the short amount of time it had taken him to say her name. "Yeah, they're right here."

"Great. Look, I'm sorry everyone, but when I took Jeremy home I realized how long it's been since I had dinner with my own parents. I'm at home right now, and I'll be back later this evening--I just didn't want you guys to worry."

Someone snickered, but when Cassie looked up, she couldn't tell whether it had been TJ or Carlos. "Have a good time, Ashley," she offered.

"Thanks," Ashley's voice answered. "See you later."

The faint hiss of the carrier wave indicated that she'd cut off the communication from her end. Andros did the same, but Cassie saw disappointment flash across his face before he could hide it. She wondered if there was anything she could say to cheer him up, but Carlos spoke first.

"I haven't seen my parents in days," he said ruefully. "They're probably wondering if I still exist."

"My uncle, too," TJ admitted, a trace of guilt on his normally cheerful face. "I wonder how many times he's had to cover for me to my parents--I haven't called them since last week."

Cassie didn't say comment--she didn't have that particular problem, after all. She'd been staying with Ashley's family ever since the day she was detoured into Angel Grove, and as far as her parents were concerned, she was still there. *I call them once a week,* she thought, somewhat bitterly. *That seems to be all they want.*

"Hey, Cass," TJ said, giving her a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head once, trying to smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He gave her that *I know you're lying* look, and she really did smile. "Just thinking about my parents, I guess," she said. It was nice of him to care.

"Yeah, have you heard from them recently?" Carlos asked, probably trying to cheer her up.

She shook her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Carlos and TJ exchange glances. "You know, Cassie," TJ began, "if you want to go down to the Hammonds', I bet they'd love to see you for dinner."

Cassie pushed her plate away. "Thanks, TJ, but they probably want some time alone." She stood up, putting her napkin and glass on her plate and picking the stack up. "I'm actually going to go to bed now... it's been a long day. G'nite, guys."

"Good night," TJ echoed, followed by Carlos, as she returned her dishes to the Synthetron.

She heard Andros belatedly add his own "good night" to theirs as she left, and she smiled to herself. Andros was worlds away right now. *I'd love to know what Ashley said to him this afternoon on the Bridge,* she mused.

Reaching her door, she paused to stare through the hallway window at the stars. *And I'd really love to know what you're thinking right now,* she thought to the single Ranger whom she knew was out there, searching as they did. *I feel lonely, and I'm not even alone. How much worse must it be for you?*

"I love you too, Mom." Ashley let her mother pull her into one more hug before stepping out into the night. "Good night!"

She smiled reassuringly at her family, gathered inside the front door, and descended the porch steps. Waving one last time, she touched her communicator and let the golden sparkles carry her away.

*I love them,* Ashley thought as the Megaship reformed around her, *but they can be sort of--clingy.* She sighed, and made her way down the hall toward her room. *That's not very nice, but I'm too tired to care right now. All I want is to go to bed.*

Nonetheless, she hesitated outside Andros's door. She had hoped to talk to him this evening, since their earlier conversation on the Bridge had been interrupted, but her family dinner had stretched into dessert, and then someone had put a movie in the VCR...

Ashley sighed. *I knew I wouldn't be able to just go, eat, and leave. And I really don't spend enough time with them...* But with the memory of Andros's kiss still fresh in her mind, it had been hard to concentrate on anything else.

She wished she had the courage to knock on his door. *I'd just like to see him--just for a few minutes...

*Get real, Ashley,* she scolded herself. *It's late; he's probably already asleep.*

Seconds after she'd resigned herself to practicality, the stillness of the hallway was shattered by the shriek of the automated alert system. DECA immediately turned it down to a volume more tolerable to sleep-fogged ears, but the damage had been done.

The door beside her burst open, and Ashley didn't have time to react before Andros plowed into her, a wild look in his hazel eyes. "Ashley!" he yelped, reaching out to steady her. "I'm sorry; I didn't see you-- DECA, what's going on?"

Three more doors opened farther down the now fully illuminated hallway. Ashley heard the others' footsteps on the metal deck as DECA told them what everyone had already guessed: quantrons in Angel Grove.

She was conscious, as DECA spoke, of Andros's hand still resting lightly on her shoulder. No one else said anything, though, and he didn't seem to notice--until he turned to look at the others and caught her eye. He dropped his hand instantly and looked away, but his duties as a Ranger overcame his embarrassment within seconds, and he faced them again.

"It's too dark to use the Gliders," Andros announced. He was still avoiding her gaze. "We'll teleport directly there."

Ashley looked around at the others, really seeing them for the first time since she'd returned. Carlos and TJ both wore their warm-up suits; they must have just returned to their rooms from the Simudeck when the alarm sounded. Cassie's hair was loose, and she had certainly been prepared for sleep--but her eyes were suspiciously unclouded, as though she hadn't quite made it to her bed yet.

Andros's call of "Let's Rocket!" broke into her speculation, and she extended her right arm as the others did. She entered the morphing sequence on the keypad that appeared on her wrist, blinking as gold light enveloped her. The strength poured into her, and she was suddenly more alert, more aware of everything in the hallway.

"Target coordinates confirmed," DECA's calm voice informed them. Ashley flipped her morpher open a second time, inputting DECA's linkup code. The coordinates were transferred, and she looked up in time to see everyone else doing the same.

They looked to Andros, who nodded. "Let's go!" Stretching both arms skyward, he crossed his wrists over his head and disappeared in a shimmer of scarlet. Seconds later, Ashley's vision was obscured by a curtain of gold that lifted to reveal moonlit sand and waves.

The sight took her breath away, and would have been far more beautiful, even romantic, had she been viewing it under different circumstances. As it was, the deserted shoreline filled her with a dread she had not expected. The last time they'd been summoned to an empty beach, it had been to fight invisible pirahnatrons, and that was an experience she never, *ever* wanted to repeat.

Andros glanced her way, and she realized she'd been shivering despite the warm night. She took a deep breath and tried to forget that particular memory, and the panic she had felt at their total lack of control over the situation. She gave Andros a quick nod, answering his unspoken question: *Are you all right?*

"Where *are* they?" TJ demanded of no one in particular. His frustration gave Ashley something else to focus on, and she wondered briefly if he too was remembering that incident.

"It's like Astronema is challenging us," Carlos remarked, staring down the beach. "I mean, there's nothing here for the quantrons to ruin, no people for them to harass, and as soon as we arrive, they go into hiding. What does she gain from this?"

Andros raised his right arm to speak into his communicator. "Alpha-- are the quantrons still on the beach?"

Alpha's voice, despite being robotic, managed to convey more sleepiness than any of the Rangers'. "Yes, Andros; they're not very far from your present location." A sound that might have been a mechanical yawn came from the communicator.

Ashley grinned, knowing no one would be able to see it behind her helmet. *Trust Alpha to--* Her thought broke off as she glanced along the shore. "Guys, the breakwater."

Carlos understood instantly. "It's the only place that would give them any cover."

"Let's go," TJ called, already moving toward the rock jetty that cut through the velvet water to intersect with the path of the moon. Ashley took off after him with the others, trying to look in every direction at once. She hadn't completely shaken the feeling that an ambush could come from any direction, despite the fact they were surrounded by open space.

The group slowed as they reached the first scattering of rocks. Ashley peered nervously at every boulder they passed, but there were no quantrons to be seen. Winding among the salt-encrusted slabs, they reached the base of the great stone wall and paused. Andros, now in the lead, clambered a little way up to survey the area.

Right behind him, Carlos turned to look back the way they'd come. For a moment, there was complete silence--until the slightest squeak of metal made Ashley whirl. Simultaneously, TJ shouted a warning at Andros, and the quantrons poured out from hiding places that had been augmented by the darkness.

Ashley struck without thinking at the swarm of metallic forms cascading out of the crevices between the rocks. Nonetheless, the unexpectedness of their attack gave them an advantage, and a blow from one of their jagged-edged saws drove her to the ground. TJ sprawled across the sand beside her--his shout had alerted Andros, but also served to draw the quantrons' focus.

She heard a thump from her other side, and the glitter of reflected starlight in a visor above an almost completely black uniform told her that Carlos had just landed next to her. A swift uppercut sent her attacker tumbling backwards to land heavily among the rocks, and a white-gloved hand grabbed hers and hauled her to her feet.

"Thanks," she gasped, only realizing as she attempted to speak that her breath had been knocked out of her.

"No problem," Carlos answered, taking a quantron's arm with both hands and twisting it to what, in a human, would be an unnatural angle. One kick sent it crashing into another that had been coming straight for Ashley.

She straightened, still struggling to breath, and saw TJ scramble out of the way of Carlos's domino effect. "Watch where you're throwing those things!" TJ yelled good-naturedly, rolling to his feet while Cassie watched his back.

Ashley was backed up against a waist-high boulder, recovering while Carlos kept the quantrons off her. Engrossed as she had been in the scene before her, the hand on her shoulder startled her and she reacted instinctively, reaching back to take firm hold of the arm. She knew something was wrong even as she set her stance and hauled the attacker forward over her shoulder, but what exactly that was didn't register until she saw the blur of red in her peripheral vision.

"Andros!" she exclaimed, staring at him in shock.

"Cassie, behind you!" Carlos yelled. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw TJ swing the Pink Ranger out of harm's way, and heard Cassie's kiyah as her foot connected solidly with a quantron's chest. But Ashley's attention remained focused on Andros.

"That's the last time I sneak up on you," Andros muttered, climbing to his feet.

Before she could formulate an apology, Carlos's fist streaked past to hit a quantron in the jaw. Seeing the metal being stagger, Ashley dropped to the ground and swept its legs out from under it. She rolled away as it fell, and, springing to her feet once more, she found Andros at her side.

"I'm really sorry," she managed to say, ducking a blow from another saw. As the weapon swung past, she grabbed it and twisted it downward. Not intelligent enough to let go of the blade, the quantron followed.

Andros let loose a spinning kick that drove a quantron into towering boulders of the breakwater, then, in the momentary lull that followed, turned back to her. "It's okay," he said, in answer to her apology. "Just--be careful, Ash."

She knew he couldn't see her smile, so she settled for a quick nod. "You too," Ashley said, touching his shoulder briefly before the battle engulfed them once more.

Very little of the whirlwind fight that followed stuck in her mind the way that simple caution from Andros would. *He cares,* she thought happily, diving out of the way of a quantron's inelegant but effective downswing. Coming to her feet as quickly as she'd gone down, she felt Carlos's arm link through hers in a move she knew well--she threw herself sideways, rolling across his back to land a two-footed kick on the quantron's chest.

Before long, the remaining quantrons were scrambling away from them across the rocks. Not for the first time, Ashley thought that Astronema's teleportation system couldn't be very accurate--her quantrons had to disengage and put a certain amount of distance between themselves and their opponents before they could be teleported out.

"Run away," she heard Cassie murmur, and Ashley grinned.

Looking around, she counted heads, just to make sure. Cassie, of course, was staring after the quantrons. TJ stood near her, shaking his head in bemusement, while Carlos leaned against one of the boulders littering the sand at the base of the breakwater. And Andros--

Andros stood a little distance apart from the others, fists clenched at his sides. He seemed to be looking out across the ocean, but it was hard to tell. Ashley hesitated, glancing at the others once more, but it really was a beautiful night, and no one seemed in a particular hurry to return to the Megaship.

Taking a deep breath, she crossed her wrists and flung them out to the side. "Power down," Ashley announced quietly, as her Ranger uniform disappeared in a flash of yellow.

She drew in another long breath, reveling in the smell of unfiltered ocean air. A breeze darted through the semi-darkness to ruffle her hair, and the nearly full moon glimmered on the water. Ashley saw Carlos and TJ exchange glances, and then they too demorphed. Cassie followed their lead a moment later, but Andros remained frozen in position.

Folding her arms to keep off the chill that was all too noticeable through her lightweight clothing, Ashley moved forward to join him. "Andros?" she asked softly, not wanting to startle him. "What are you thinking about?"

His helmet turned toward her for an instant, and she wondered if he had just given her The Look. Good or bad, she wished she could see his expression, and Ashley mentally willed him to demorph.

He didn't, but he did, at last, speak. "Astronema," Andros said in a low voice. "I've lost almost everything I cared about in my life--my home, my family, my sister..." He looked down at the sand. "I don't want her to take you away from me, too."

She wasn't sure if he meant her, specifically, or the Rangers in general. "It'll take more than a few quantrons to finish us off," Ashley assured him.

He head turned in her direction again, and stayed facing her longer. Finally, the red uniform brightened, sparkling briefly before it faded out of existence altogether. It warmed her heart to see the expression of unguarded affection that lingered on his face before he looked away again.

"Andros..." Ashley put a hand on his arm, but before she could continue, TJ interrupted from behind them.

"Hey, guys? We're going to head back to the Megaship..." He trailed off, obviously at a loss for how to finish his sentence.

Cassie solved the problem. "Take your time," she said, mischief in her voice.

The three of them teleported out before Ashley could find a suitable reply. She glanced at Andros, wondering if he was upset. *The whole reason I didn't say anything to him over my communicator this evening was that I didn't want to embarrass him, and Cassie manages to undermine that effort in a matter of seconds...*

She found Andros sneaking a glance at her even as she looked over at him. He quickly averted his gaze, and Ashley couldn't help smiling. *He's worried that I'll be embarrassed!*

As it had this morning and on several other occasions, his uncertainty gave her confidence. *After all, if we were both as shy as he is, nothing would ever happen...*

"C'mon," Ashley suggested impulsively. "Let's go for a walk."

She linked her arm through his and gave a gentle tug. He followed willingly enough, falling into step beside her. Neither of them spoke for quite a while, but it didn't bother Ashley. She didn't feel pressed to make conversation, or indeed do anything except enjoy the moonlit beach and Andros's presence at her side.

She did start shivering, though, as the breeze picked up--her shorts and T-shirt were fine for a hazy August afternoon, but they didn't offer much protection against the cooler seashore air of night. She moved a little closer to Andros, who noticed her trembling. "Are you cold?" he asked, concern evident in his voice. "We can go back to the ship."

"A little," Ashley admitted, looking up at him. His brown eyes met her hazel ones, and she had to remind herself to keep breathing. "But I don't want to go back to the ship yet."

"Here," Andros said, shrugging out of the warm-up sweatshirt he'd been wearing all day. It seemed to be his way of compromising between the Megaship uniform and the rest of the Rangers' civilian clothes. "Put this on."

Ashley let him drape the sweatshirt over her shoulders, and had to admit, as she pushed her hands through the sleeves, that it was warm. She shivered again, feeling the residual heat from Andros's body in the fuzzy red fabric. "Thank you," she said, drawing the sweatshirt tight around her.

She looked up to find him gazing down at her, and for some reason, she blushed at his open regard. She wanted to speak, but had no idea what to say. He looked away, and the moment was lost.

She turned to keep walking the way they been going, her feelings by now so confused that she wasn't sure whether she should feel disappointed or relieved. *Am I reading this completely wrong?* she wondered. *Is he just trying to find a way to tell me that I don't really matter to him--at least, no more than any of the other Rangers?*

Andros had been a mystery to her since the beginning. Most people she could get a feel for just by meeting them: cheery or sad, slow or clever, whether they wanted a new friend or would rather be left alone. Andros had given off all of those signals at once, and she still didn't know how to interpret some of the things he said.

He shadowed her movement, closely enough that their hands brushed. Ashley could almost feel the butterflies in her stomach as she reached out for his fingers, entwining them in her own. Andros didn't resist, and though she kept her gaze straight ahead, she smiled a little into the dimness.

"Ashley?" Andros's voice broke the silence a few minutes later. "Did I do something wrong?"

Ashley scuffed her toes in the sand, realizing as she did so that it was the third or fourth time in the last five minutes. "No," she replied automatically, looking up at him. The bewildered expression on his face made her pause, and reconsider her mechanical reply.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, giving him an apologetic smile. "I guess I was just wondering..." She searched his expression, wondering how to ask. "What were you thinking about?"

*Oh, that was good, Ashley,* she thought to herself, but Andros spoke before she could revise her question. "I was thinking what a beautiful world you have," he told her. "How free and alive it seems..." Andros hesitated, then added tentatively, "And how it reminds me so much of you."

Ashley stared at him for a moment in amazement. Then her delight spilled over, uncontainable, and she threw her arms around him. "Thank you," she whispered. "I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

And it was infinitely more special because she knew he wouldn't say something he didn't truly believe. "Thank you, Andros," she repeated, feeling his arms close slowly around her. Half of her wanted to dance around the beach, but the other, more persuasive half, wanted to stay here in Andros's embrace for the rest of the night...

Carlos couldn't sleep. He didn't like leaving two of his friends undefended so soon after yet another of Astronema's random hit and run attacks. Especially Andros, who had demonstrated often enough his propensity for getting into trouble when left on his own.

*Ashley will take care of him,* he reminded himself, but found himself no closer to the realm of dreams than he had been before.

"DECA?" he asked suddenly. *I could be worrying for no reason...* "Have Ashley and Andros returned to the Megaship?"

"Not yet, Carlos," DECA answered, the red light of her camera flashing as it became active.

He sighed and rolled out of bed, giving up on sleep for the moment. Grabbing his jacket, he wandered out into the hallway, reflecting wryly on how used to sleeping in his uniform he'd become. But, as tonight proved, one never knew when the next crisis would strike.

Carlos headed for the Glider holding bay, more to have a destination rather than out of any real desire to go there. As he stepped into the room, though, he saw TJ sitting at the table, an electronic datapad on the table in front of him and a mug in his hand. The Blue Ranger looked up as Carlos walked in.

"Hey," Carlos greeted him, shooting an inquiring look at the datapad. "What are you doing?"

TJ shrugged. "Just busywork, really. Couldn't sleep."

"You and me both," Carlos agreed, idly poking at the Synthetron's control panel. The machine produced the requested mug of cocoa, and he joined TJ at the table.

Frowning at his mug, Carlos nudged a seat far enough back from the table that he could sit down comfortably. "Why does the Synthetron make steaming cocoa?" he asked rhetorically. "No one can drink it until it cools off anyway."

TJ grinned, the way he always did right before he said something particularly ridiculous. In a conspiratorial stage-whisper, making a show of looking over his should, he said, "It's all part of DECA's plan to get us off the Megaship."

"What?" Cassie's amused voice exclaimed from the doorway.

Carlos looked up and waved. "Hey, Cassie. Don't tell me you can't sleep, either."

She shrugged, making no move to enter the room. Out of the corner of his eye, Carlos saw the glow of DECA's red light as her camera came on, but no reply to TJ's comment was forthcoming.

"Do I smell hot chocolate?" Cassie asked suddenly, peering over at their mugs.

"Yeah--the hottest hot chocolate you'll ever taste," TJ quipped, raising his mug in her direction.

Cassie smiled. "Well, I guess I'll have to see for myself," she said, uncrossing her arms and going to the Synthetron. "Ashley and Andros still aren't back?" she asked over her shoulder.

Carlos shook his head, then thought better of his assumption. "DECA, are Ashley and Andros back on the Megaship yet?"

"Yes, Carlos," DECA replied, and he could have sworn he detected a smug note in her voice. "They returned several minutes ago."

Cassie took a cautious sip of her cocoa. "Mine's not too hot," she remarked.

TJ shot her an incredulous look. "Favoritism," he complained, glaring at DECA.

"I am not programmed to show favoritism," DECA said calmly. Carlos wondered suddenly what TJ thought he was having for breakfast in the morning.

Cassie smiled. "Thanks, DECA."

"You're welcome, Cassie."

"Hey!" TJ exclaimed. "What happened to 'I'm not programmed to show favoritism'?"

"I am not programmed to show favoritism," DECA repeated, then continued, "to you, TJ."

"What?" TJ yelped.

Glancing at Cassie, something occurred to Carlos. "DECA, who programmed you?"

There was a brief pause. "That information is classified," DECA answered finally.

*I bet it is,* Carlos thought, an amused smile on his face. *Just how well do Andros and Phantom know each other, anyway?*

"I knew it!" TJ pointed a finger at DECA's camera. "You program yourself, don't you?"

Cassie laughed. "Drink your hot chocolate, TJ."

"I can't; it's too hot!"

Cassie reached over and touched the outside of his mug. "Actually, I think it's cold now."

TJ sighed. "See what I mean? I can't win..."

Andros stared at the bottom of the bunk above him, too restless to sleep and too tired not to. *Everyone else is asleep,* he thought. *Why can't I join them?*

Of course, he knew why. Ashley haunted his thoughts, and he suspected she would be in his dreams, as well--if he ever managed to sleep.

Logically, he knew that if Astronema were to keep up her frequent and seemingly random attacks, he would need all the sleep he could get. But logic hadn't kept him from walking down the beach with Ashley until they were both numb with cold, and it didn't now keep his pulse from racing when he remembered her smile.

There came a knock on his door, so soft he thought he had imagined it, until it repeated. *Ashley?* he wondered. Throwing off his lightweight blanket, Andros got up and padded over to the door.

Sure enough, there was Ashley, standing in the hall with his sweatshirt still wrapped around her shoulders. She'd brushed the tangles out of her hair, but her cheeks were still glowing from the brisk sea breeze. "Hi," she whispered, somewhat sheepishly.

Andros blinked, abruptly realizing he'd been staring at her. "Come in," he offered quietly, stepping away from the door.

She did, and the door closed behind her, shrouding the room in a darkness that seemed less pervasive, somehow, now that she was here. Tapping the control panel by the door brought the lights up to half-strength, and he turned his full attention back to Ashley.

"I, um..." She squirmed under his gaze. "I forgot to give you back your sweatshirt."

"You didn't have to bring it back tonight," Andros assured her, though his heart was glad to see her again, no matter the reason.

She shrugged, making no move to take off the sweatshirt. "I couldn't sleep." Then, nervously, Ashley glanced up at him. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

He shook his head, unable to keep from smiling any longer. "I couldn't sleep, either."

They stood there, staring at each other, for what seemed like several minutes. Finally, Ashley said awkwardly, "I should probably go..."

"Ashley--" A question that had been bothering his subconscious all afternoon suddenly became clear enough in his mind to voice--and it had the happy side effect of detaining Ashley for a few minutes longer. "What's Monty Python?"

She just looked at him for a minute, apparently considering the question. "DECA?" she asked at last. "You can receive video transmissions from the satellites in orbit around Earth, right?"

"Of course, Ashley," DECA replied, sounding almost offended.

"Can you scan the TV satellites--the ones that are emitting a continuous stream of wide-beam video transmission--for a specific reference? Say, 'Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail'?"

In answer, the computer monitor in Andros's room came to life, and images began flashing across the screen. "Forty-two references to the phrase 'Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail' were found," DECA reported.

Ashley stared intently at the monitor while Andros watched, bemused. "There," she exclaimed suddenly. "Go back a couple of frames, DECA."

The onboard computer system obliged wordlessly, slowing down and backtracking through the images. "Stop," Ashley said. "There-- can you let us watch that one as it plays?"

"I can intercept radio transmissions over a distance of hundreds of light years," DECA informed her, a reproving note in her usually toneless voice. "There is no difficulty in displaying a transmission that originates only a few kilometers away."

The sound came on suddenly, and Andros watched strange people in stranger armor run about an obviously fake landscape. "This is Monty Python?" he asked, confused as to its appeal.

Ashley nodded. "It's a spoof of the legend of King Arthur." She paused, looking away from the monitor toward him. "Have you heard of King Arthur?"

Andros shook his head. Ashley didn't say anything for a moment, just reached up to put her hands on her shoulders. "Well," she said, "I guess I can't really explain it. I think if you watch the movie, though, you can sort of follow along."

He glanced over at the screen, but saw little point in devoting his attention to it when a far more worthwhile vision was standing right in front of him. Taking a deep breath, Andros asked shyly, "Will you stay? And explain it to me?"

Ashley flashed him a brilliant smile. "I'd love to." Rubbing her shoulders, she added, "But only if we sit down. I'm sore enough from fighting; I don't need to add aching feet on top of that."

He smiled back, wishing he dared offer her a backrub, in return for the one she'd given him this morning. But he'd been bold enough for one evening; he wouldn't risk rejection now. Instead, he gestured toward his bunk, and she seated herself on the floor in front of it, back against the metal sideboard.

Andros joined her, sitting close enough to be companionable, but not quite close enough to touch. On the monitor, the group of strangely-clad people were standing at a bridge off which an alarming number of them were being thrown. He had no idea what was going on, but for once, it didn't bother him. All that mattered was that Ashley was there with him.

*Was it really only this morning that she kissed me?* he found himself wondering. *This morning that I was thinking she was nothing more than a friend?*

He still shied away from the word "love" or even "crush", but he was willing to admit that he'd been denying feelings for Ashley for a long time. She *was* more than a friend--but what that meant, whether or not she returned those feelings, and what they would do about it if she did... That all seemed unimportant and somehow distant right now.

He glanced over at her profile, remembering what she'd said to him this morning. *Just relax--stop thinking about the things that could happen, and concentrate on what is happening now.*

Steeling himself, Andros drew in a breath and opened his mouth. It took several more tries before he found the courage and the words to ask, but finally he said, "You said you were sore--would you... would you like a backrub?"

Ashley turned to look at him, eyes sparkling in the dim lighting. He held his breath, but she smiled as soon as she caught his eye. "That would be *heavenly*; thank you."

She scooted across the floor to sit in front of him, drawing one knee up to her chest as she did so. "Can you still see?" she asked over her shoulder, and it took him a minute to realize she was referring to the monitor, where the movie was still playing.

"Yes," Andros told her, touching the spill of hair across her back with cautious fingers. He half-expected her to protest this invasion of privacy, even if she had agreed to it, but she said nothing.

He pushed her silky soft hair forward over her shoulders, mimicking her own actions when she had done this for him. He rubbed her back and shoulders, gently at first, remembering the discomfort she had caused him at first. But Ashley was more relaxed now than he had been even after her ministrations, and he surmised that that made a difference.

Andros imitated the backrub she had given him to the best of his ability, and presently, he heard her yawn. "You're a natural, Andros," she murmured sleepily. "I don't think I can stay awake much longer."

*She should just go back to her room,* the reasonable part of Andros's mind said. *She can finally sleep and be well rested in the morning.*

But something within him rebelled. He hadn't enjoyed another person's company this much for longer than he could remember, and he was reluctant to let it go. "You can lie down on my bunk, if you want to," Andros offered. "You can still watch the movie from there."

"I'll fall asleep," Ashley protested.

"I think you're going to fall asleep anyway," he told her gently. "You should at least be comfortable."

She twisted around to look at him. Seeing that he was serious, she tilted her head and smiled irresistibly at him. "You're so sweet, Andros."

He felt his lips curve upward in response to her heart-melting expression, but he didn't know how to reply to that. Ashley didn't wait for an answer, though, just crawled onto his bunk and curled up. At eye level with her from his vantage point on the floor, Andros watched her until her eyes drifted shut.

Smiling to himself, he got up and turned off the monitor. "Thanks, DECA," he whispered, and her camera blinked once at him.

Andros pulled his blanket over Ashley, then climbed as quietly as he could into the top bunk. He couldn't resist looking down at her once more before DECA turned the lights down and he rolled over, staring into darkness.

*I'm not alone,* he thought, as drowsiness overtook him and sleep waited just around the corner. It was a good feeling.

*The sun shone out of a cloudless sky, and the smell of freshly cut grass filled the air. The wind caught the puffs of dust kicked up by his shoes as he stepped up to bat and hurried them away--*

"Time to wake up, TJ," a monotone that was *not* the announcer called, and the sun brightened to completely obscure the baseball diamond.

TJ opened his eyes a crack, squinting into the lights DECA insisted on turning on as soon as she woke them up. "Come on, DECA," TJ groaned. "We were up all night fighting quantrons; don't we get a break?"

"You have slept an hour later than usual," DECA told him, as though that was somehow adequate.

"I don't believe this," TJ muttered, making no move to get up. "'How I Spent My Summer Vacation' by TJ Carter: every morning at seven a.m., I was woken up by a computer with an attitude--"

"It is eight a.m.," DECA corrected him. "Time to get up, TJ."

"I know!" he exclaimed. "Stop that; I'm up already!"

Suiting actions to words, he sat up, ducking to avoid the low upper bunk. His blanket was on the floor, as usual, and he grabbed it and tossed it over his shoulder onto the bunk.

"Please fold your blanket, TJ," DECA requested, and he looked up at the camera in surprise.

"What is with you today?" TJ inquired, only half-joking. "I'll fold it later, all right? Now go away; I want to change."

The camera light obediently blinked out, and TJ shook his head. *That is a computer with too much time on its hands,* he thought, pulling on a fresh blue shirt, feeling some of his annoyance drain out of him as he did so.

From indigo to aquamarine, stormy seas to the color of a clear sky, this new color of his made him smile. Truth be told, although he had led the Rangers into battle countless times as their leader, he preferred his more relaxed role as morale booster for the team.

Shrugging into his jacket, TJ began to whistle as he walked down the hallway to the Glider holding bay. *Why the Synthetron is in the holding bay, I will never know,* he thought, grinning to himself. *Was there a tradition once that space villains only attacked at mealtimes, or what?*

Cassie and Carlos were already there, and both called hello as he arrived. TJ waved, and headed over to the Synthetron. He called up his usual breakfast of pancakes, grabbed his plate, and was halfway to the table before he noticed something was wrong.

"Very funny, DECA," TJ said, exasperated all over again.

Carlos and Cassie both looked up at his tone, and Cassie smothered a laugh. Heaped on his plate was a pile of spinach, and it was none too fresh, either, from the looks of it.

Ashley bounced into the room, looking exceptionally cheery for someone who had been up until midnight battling quantrons. "Hi, everyone!"

"Well, you're in a good mood," Cassie remarked, smiling at her friend.

"That's right," Ashley replied, grinning back but not offering any explanation. Catching sight of TJ's plate, she stopped mid-bounce. "TJ, *what* are you eating?"

"Or not eating, as the case may be," Carlos put in.

"DECA, come on," TJ appealed. "I have to eat. You wouldn't want my strength to give out in the middle of a fight, now, would you?"

"Yeah, someone else could get hurt," Cassie put in, and he shot her a withering look.

"Thanks for helping me out here, Cassie."

She grinned. "No problem."

"Mine's fine," Ashley commented, coming over to the table with a plate full of bacon and eggs. She took a deep breath. "Mmm... smells good."

TJ gave DECA's camera a reproving look, then returned to the Synthetron to try his luck a second time. Over his shoulder, he heard Cassie say, "But I thought you didn't like the Synthetron's bacon and eggs."

"I changed my mind," Ashley replied cheerfully. "They're not so bad, once you get used to them."

TJ punched a few buttons, and this time, to his intense relief, a plate of perfectly edible pancakes emerged. "*Thank* you," he said to DECA, turning back to the table.

Carlos was looking around as TJ sat down. "Has anyone seen Andros this morning?"

"He's still sleeping," Ashley told them, around a mouthful of bacon.

TJ saw Carlos and Cassie exchange glances, but in his indignation, he missed the significance of Ashley's comment. "He's still asleep?!" Casting yet another look at DECA's camera interface, TJ grumbled, "Sure, *Andros* gets to sleep late..."

"How do *you* know he's still sleeping?" Cassie interrupted, cutting TJ's monologue short.

TJ raised his eyebrows at that, looking first at Cassie, then at Ashley. Carlos, too, stopped eating to catch her reply. But no matter what one could infer from her assertion, Ashley was the epitome of composure as she looked up. Meeting Cassie's gaze, she shrugged. "Well, he's not here, is he?"

Cassie's suspicious look waned, though it didn't disappear altogether. "We'll let it go this time, Ash," she said, and the knowing expression she shot at Ashley was so ridiculous they both burst into giggles.

TJ just shook his head and picked up his fork. "Man, am I ready for some pancakes," he declared, not speaking to anyone in particular.

A whooping siren cut through the holding bay, and DECA's camera flashed at them. "Astronema has sent quantrons to the warehouse district of Angel Grove," the computer announced.

"Well, that's original," Cassie commented dryly.

*I must have jinxed us with that speculation about eating in the holding bay,* TJ thought, grabbing one of his pancakes and polishing off the entire thing in less than half a minute.

Taking a second pancake with him up the stairs, TJ managed to swallow the first and start on the second before Andros ran in. The Red Ranger nodded to all of them, and TJ shoved the rest of the pancake into his mouth as Andros leaped up the stairs. Barely taking the time to turn his back to his Glider tube, Andros shot a quick look to his right before extending his arm and whirling with the rest of them to leap into the tubes.

The End... for now