She stared out her window, watching the stars spin slowly past as the Megaship fell around the curve of the Earth's surface. She had seen the sight a hundred times before, but it looked different from here, and for the last hour she had found herself unable to look away from the sight.

Now, though, she was surprised to find herself growing slightly--bored. She was thinking too much. If every star out in that infinite expanse represented one of her myriad thoughts since she had sat down in front of this window, she was not convinced that there would be enough celestial bodies to account for them all.

For the last few days, she had had little more to do than contemplate things. She had made a conscious decision to break away from Dark Spectre's control when Zhane called her, and she had spent all the time since wondering if she had done the right thing.

Then there had been their conversation last night, lasting for hours before they fell asleep, still in the park. Another flurry of activity this morning, when she had once again been required to act quickly and make the decision that would alter her entire future--and then nothing.

The Rangers had shown her around their ship, of course, and it had been some time before the last of them had finally left her alone in what they called "her" room. What she had done had only just been sinking in, and she had wanted to get away and try to figure some of it out. She had found this windowseat in a small niche off one of the main corridors, and she had settled herself there.

She had gone over everything she had thought in the last three days, and reassured herself that this was the decision she had been waiting for all along. But the "what now?" question occupied a good deal more time.

She had looked to her familiar stars for the answers, but had not been able to find any. She was no longer the person she had been--or rather, she *was* that person, but she found her circumstances inevitably changed by the situation she had chosen, by default, when she gave up the Dark Fortress.

She had had nowhere else to go, and she knew it. But the truth was that if she hadn't *had* the Megaship to go to, hadn't had Zhane to urge her into it, that she probably would have stayed on the Dark Fortress indefinitely--or at least until someone had been sent to bring her back into the service of Dark Spectre.

She did not know whether she would have fought that or not. Under Dark Spectre, she had had a purpose, a goal and something to fight for. But lately, she had grown more and more restless with Dark Spectre's reign.

The Alliance of Evil seemed to be more about what the Monarch decided he wanted from moment to moment than what would be best for his empire. His "goals" had been becoming less and less *her* goals, and she thought now that the Dark Fortress might have turned its weapons on any ship that had come to return her to his service.

She remembered, with a slight twist of her lips, her reckless vow of several days before. *One way or another--I *will* be free of Dark Spectre.* Dangerous words. And a statement easier said than done.

But she had done it, hadn't she? She was free, if not in exactly the way she had meant it at the time. The stars twinkled through the window at her, seeming to sparkle with the promise of a bright future.

With a sigh, she gave them a half-hearted glare. What did the stars know about the future? Her future, once so promising under Dark Spectre, was now bleak and empty. It seemed to be full of thinking, doubting, questioning--no certainties or acting only for the sake of acting.

The future, frankly, looked a lot like her day had been ever since she had convinced the Rangers to leave her to her own thoughts: quiet and boring.

***

"Cheating!" Carlos yelled, and Zhane clapped his hands over his ears.

"Okay, okay," he grumbled. "I'm sorry."

TJ caught the ball with his left hand as it rebounded off the pavement, falling from a basket that had been all net. Zhane insisted that using telekinesis was instinct, that he wasn't doing it on purpose, but interestingly enough, *Andros* had never had that problem.

"Come on, Zhane," TJ said with a grin, dribbling with his good hand until the Silver Ranger looked at him. Scooping the basketball up, he tossed it in Zhane's direction. "You have two hands. You should be able to beat me any day."

Zhane caught the ball just before it hit him in the chest, shaking his head in TJ's direction. "What's the word for when the other players are better than you?"

"Handicap?" TJ suggested.

At the same time, Carlos remarked, "Unfair?"

TJ grinned as Zhane rolled his eyes. "Yeah, handicap. That's--"

"It is eight o'clock," DECA interrupted.

"Thanks, DECA," Carlos said, while Zhane just looked puzzled.

TJ grabbed his sweatshirt from the side of the court and headed toward the place he remembered the door being. Carlos was right behind him, calling over his shoulder, "Ready to go, Zhane?"

"Where?" the Silver Ranger demanded, dropping the basketball carelessly to the ground and following them.

"You'll see," TJ said with a grin.

***

Ashley stared in silent amazement as the metal portal slowly irised open above her. It had to be heavy, but it moved without complaint, making no noise as the blackness of space and the steady fire of the stars were revealed beyond.

"Wow," she whispered at last, as the circle reached its full diameter and the motion ceased.

Although night in Angel Grove did not necessarily mean that the Megaship would be on the darkened side of the Earth, another half an hour would pass before the ship's orbit took it out of the planet's shadow again. And until then, the stars shimmered against the velvety black of a darker sky than anyone on Earth would ever see.

She felt more than saw Andros shrug at her side. But when she glanced over at him, she saw a small smile on his face as he watched her awed expression.

"It's beautiful," she breathed, glancing back up at the ceiling.

The large empty space looked much as it had the few other times she had seen it, with the exception of the sleeping bags strewn across the center of the room. Andros had made her sit down before the slightly curved overhead dome slid open, and now she was glad.

"I'm glad you like it," he said quietly, and she looked at him again.

His eyes were still on her, rather than the stars above them, and she smiled back at him, charmed by his attention even more than the gorgeous view he had shared with her.

***

"A campfire," Carlos was trying to explain. "You know, a fire on the beach. You burn driftwood, and toast marshmallows..."

Zhane looked at him oddly. "What are marshmallows?"

TJ just laughed, shaking his head in mock-regret. "Never mind; we'll show you. You want to go get Ast--Kerone? Astrea? Whatever we're supposed to call her now? Carlos and I will get the others."

"Sure," Zhane said, sounding a little too eager. "No problem."

As he walked quickly away, Carlos caught TJ's eye. The Blue Ranger's expression broke into a wide grin as Carlos mimicked, " 'Sure; no problem.' I *bet* it's no problem--we probably should have gone with him to chaperone!"

TJ shook his head. "How long has *that* been going on?" he asked rhetorically.

"Longer than we'll know," Carlos guessed. If Zhane really did have feelings for her, he wasn't likely to talk, and somehow Carlos couldn't picture asking the former princess of evil about her love life.

"Hey, DECA," TJ said, and for a moment Carlos thought he was going to ask the computer if she knew anything. But all he said was, "Where are the others?"

"Andros and Ashley are on deck one," DECA replied. "Cassie and the Phantom Ranger are on deck five."

TJ cocked his head at Carlos. "Want to split up?"

"No way," Carlos objected. "I haven't seen Cassie or Saryn since this morning, and I *know* Ash had plans with Andros tonight. There's no way I'm going alone to explain this to either of them."

For the first time, TJ looked a little uncertain about their plan. "Maybe we shouldn't--"

"Oh yes we should," Carlos said with a grin. "Come on, all they have to do is say no." Besides, he couldn't help thinking that with Karen working and Tessa busy, what else did he and TJ have to do but make things difficult for their fellow Rangers?

The glint in TJ's eye said that he knew exactly what Carlos was thinking. "Right," he agreed. "Let's go!"

***

He had expected her to be in her room, but no one answered when he knocked. "Astrea?" Zhane called, knocking again. He hesitated to say "Kerone" when that was not the way she had introduced herself the first time, but maybe she preferred it. "Kerone?"

The name felt strange even as he said it, but it produced no more response than his original attempt. Finally, he appealed to the camera across the hall. "DECA?" The little purple star next to the door caught his eye as he turned, and he shook his head. He would have to ask what those meant sometime. "Where's Astrea?"

Movement from the corner of his eye was all the warning he had before he heard, "I'm right here."

Zhane turned. She was standing just down the hall, leaning casually against the bulkhead as though she had been there all along. He was positive she hadn't been--but he had to stop and think about it to make sure.

"Hi," he said with a smile. "We're going to go down to the beach for a while--want to come?"

She seemed to consider that. "Why?"

He shrugged, not sure how to answer. "Because that's what friends do?" he suggested, trying to sound as charming as possible

"So... to be your friend I must participate?"

His eyes widened. "No, not at all!"

Luckily, she didn't respond right away, and he had a moment to think of how to explain it. "It's *because* you're our friend that I'm asking if you want to come. But you can say yes or no, whichever you like."

She was silent for a moment, and he studied her. He had never been able to read her very well; she seemed expressionless a good deal of the time. But he was starting to realize that when she dipped her head the way she was doing now, hiding her eyes, she wasn't just avoiding his gaze--he thought she was confused, and didn't want him to know.

"You don't owe us anything, you know," he said gently, resisting the urge to step closer to her. "You're free to do whatever you want."

She looked up, and the lost look in her eyes took his breath away. He told himself not to go to her, remembering how she had jerked away from his touch on the swings, but he couldn't help moving a little nearer. "What's wrong?" he pleaded quietly, her expression cutting into his heart.

"Can I *really* do whatever I want?" she asked. "Or can I only do things that you and your friends approve of?"

"Anything," he said firmly, even though he hoped fervently that she did not wish for her old life back. If it made her happy, he couldn't stop her, but he didn't want to think about what it would mean. "You can do anything you want."

For a long, agonizing moment, she was silent. He held her gaze, waiting on her judgement and dreading what he might hear.

Finally, she straightened her shoulders and looked down at her hands. "I want to go to the beach," she said quietly, as though she were announcing the time of day.

He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and gave her his most sincere smile. "Me too." *And I want to go with you,* he added silently.

***

He thought she knew that he was about to kiss her. He hoped she didn't mind--it wasn't why he had brought her here, after all. But the stars, for all their beauty, had nothing on her when she smiled at him like that.

Andros leaned forward, closing his eyes as her lips just barely touched his. He had a single moment to be grateful that they had the entire evening to themselves, before a banging on the observatory door made the two of them jump apart.

Ashley sighed, glancing upward in a silent appeal to the heavens. "They have the *worst* timing, you know?"

He tried not to sigh himself, but she saw it in his expression nonetheless. With a smile, she leaned forward and kissed him gently, ignoring a second and more determined knocking by their teammates.

Then they heard TJ's voice through the metal reinforced door. "We know you're in there, you guys! Open up, or I'll make DECA override the lock!"

Their kiss ended as Ashley dissolved into giggles, and Andros found himself smiling in spite of himself. "What do you want?" he called, loudly enough that his voice seemed to echo across the empty room.

His words only set Ashley off again, and he heard TJ answer, "We want to make your lives miserable; what do you think? Open the door!"

"DECA, let them in before they break the door down," Ashley said, still giggling.

The door slid open and TJ burst in, with Carlos on his heels. The two of them stopped short when they caught sight of their friends, and Andros tried not to blush as he realized what it probably looked like to them.

Ashley must have realized at nearly the same time, for she said hastily, "It's not what you think."

"Right," TJ said, raising his eyebrow at them.

No matter how innocent Andros' intent, the sight of him and Ashley sitting close together on sleeping bags in the middle of an empty observatory was probably not going to convince anyone.

Andros sighed. "Zhane and I were up here a couple nights ago," he said, trying to explain anyway. "We never put our sleeping bags away, and I brought Ash up here this evening just so she could see the stars."

Carlos glanced up at that, and TJ whistled as he followed his friend's gaze. "Wow," he said, momentarily diverted. "That's amazing."

Ashley scrambled to her feet while they were distracted, and he took her hand when she offered it. She pulled him to his feet, and as Carlos looked back at them Ashley demanded, "So what's so important that you had to threaten to break in?"

The two of them exchanged slightly guilty glances, but finally TJ said, "We thought we'd have a campfire on the beach, but you don't have to come if you don't want to."

"Just to celebrate being home," Carlos added. "Zhane already went to find Kerone."

It was Ashley's turn to look guilty for her outburst, and Andros could tell from her expression that they would go. "Sure," he said for them both. "That sounds great."

"Marshmallows?" Ashley asked suddenly, perking up a little.

Carlos grinned at her. "You bet."

"Now we just have to find Cassie and Saryn," TJ added.

"I'll go get them," Ashley offered quickly, and Andros saw TJ catch her eye.

"I'll go with you," he said, an uninterpretable expression on his face.

Andros frowned a little. There was something about the way they were looking at each other--"You know," he said suddenly, looking back and forth between them. Maybe everyone had known, and he had just been too oblivious to see what "Saryn's" reaction to Cassie had revealed before the Body Switcher's spell was broken.

TJ glanced sharply at him. "She told you?"

"Who told *you*?" Ashley interrupted.

"Man," Carlos muttered, and in his peripheral vision Andros saw the Black Ranger's exaggerated gesture of impatience. "Nobody tells me anything."

"Cassie did," TJ answered, ignoring Carlos.

Ashley turned her questioning look on Andros, and he shrugged uncomfortably. "I found out by accident." He had told her about the Body Switcher, but he hadn't thought it necessary to include *every* part of the story.

TJ threw up his hands. "That's what Cassie said about Ashley! I really don't want to know how everyone is finding this out 'by accident'!"

"I really want to know *what* everyone is finding out," Carlos interjected. "Would someone tell me what's going on?"

***

The little reading light was directed downward, spilling a pool of bright but contained light over the pages of her book. Propped on her elbows, chin on her fists, Cassie lay on the floor beside Saryn's bed and tried to concentrate on the Lit chapters that had been assigned.

She had just decided that there was no excuse for the irritating way nineteenth century English aristocrats spoke when she felt a whisper of thought slip into her mind. She glanced up with a smile, knowing what she would see.

Although he had made no noise, Saryn was awake and gazing down at her as she studied. "DECA," he said, when he caught her eye, "turn the lights up to full strength, please."

Cassie squinted as the room brightened, and he slid off the edge of the bed to turn her reading light off. "I can sleep with the lights on," he said quietly. "You need not be so concerned."

"But it would have woken you up when I turned them on," she said, rolling over onto her back and stretching her arms over her head. The worn paperback binding of "Pride and Prejudice" ensured that the book stayed open to her place without help, and she ignored her English assignment in favor of gazing up at Saryn.

"I woke when you returned from dinner anyway," he said, picking up her book and regarding it thoughtfully. "It did not bother me."

"Are you going to eat?" she asked idly, running her hand across the floor in search of her bookmark.

He plucked it off the floor just as her fingers found it, and placed the bookmark carefully between the pages she had been reading. Setting the book off to one side, he answered, "I am not hungry."

At her disapproving look, he smiled slightly. "But I might be persuaded," he added, "if you were to accompany me."

"Deal," she said, sighing happily as she stretched once more.

He watched, an expression she was starting to recognize flickering across his face. "You must stop that," he said softly, and she felt his fingers stroking her hair, "if you expect me to willingly leave this room."

She blushed, putting her elbows underneath her and pushing herself up. Then she squeaked as she felt his arms go around her, lifting her with an easy strength that she was inclined to forget he had. He kissed her even as he set her on her feet, startling her further, and she leaned into him without thinking.

A loud rap on the door brought her back to her senses, and she felt him tighten his arms around her instinctively as he lifted his head.

"It's Ashley!" her friend's voice called through the door, and Cassie sighed.

"I will answer," Saryn whispered, stepping away from her.

"No." He stopped and looked over at her. Cassie took a deep breath and glanced at the door. "First, we're not even doing anything. And second, I'm not going to keep sneaking around the Megaship.

"*I'll* get it,* she said firmly, when he said nothing. She knew he had never understood why she didn't want their friends to know when they spent the night together, and she was tired of worrying about it.

The door slid open at her approach, and she bit her lip when she saw TJ standing there with Ashley. "What's up?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady. She was grateful to feel Saryn standing next to her, and she was even more thankful that TJ didn't so much as blink.

"We're going to the beach," the Blue Ranger said cheerfully. "Want to come? Andros and Carlos are down there right now, starting a campfire, and Zhane went to find Kerone a few minutes ago."

She looked back at Saryn, silently asking him what he wanted. He smiled at her. "I would enjoy that," he offered quietly.

"That sounds great," Cassie said, delighted that he wanted to come. Turning back to the others, she asked, "Who's bringing the marshmallows?"

"That's TJ's job," Ashley said with a grin.

"Yeah, but if you guys help me, we can bring graham crackers and chocolate too," TJ pointed out, and Ashley clapped once.

"I'm in!" she exclaimed, and Cassie had to laugh at her enthusiasm.

"Me too," she agreed. Glancing over her shoulder, she caught sight of Saryn's tolerant gaze, and she gave him a gentle push. "Go get your other shirt," she suggested with a smile. "Then I'll tell you."

"Yes, Cassie," he murmured, ducking back into the room to retrieve his overshirt from the chair by the window.

TJ caught her arm as Saryn turned away, and he whispered, "Andros and Carlos know about you guys too. I just thought you'd want to know."

She gave him a wide-eyed look. "How do *they* know?"

He rolled his eyes. "Andros says he 'found out by accident', and then we had to tell Carlos. We felt bad for him."

She couldn't bring herself to be upset, not when he had just given her several fewer things to worry about. But she hadn't realized that Saryn could overhear until he joined them in the doorway again and said, "Zhane knows as well."

Cassie didn't know whether to laugh or sigh. "Why was I worried?" she demanded of the ceiling.

"How did *Zhane* find out?" Ashley asked curiously.

"Please don't say 'by accident'," TJ added.

"Zhane and I--argued, often, while Cassie was under the evilyzer spell," Saryn said, meeting her gaze uncomfortably. "He... provoked me to say something. I am sorry."

Cassie threw her arms around him without hesitation. "I don't mind," she said softly, wanting only to drive away that desperate look that threatened to encroach on his expression again. She had seen it too often while she was under that awful spell, and she never wanted to again.

"So basically, we all knew," Ashley said wryly. "And here we were all trying to keep it a secret from each other."

"And *Andros* was the one that blew it," TJ said with a grin. "I'd never have suspected him.

"Now let's go," the Blue Ranger added, before Cassie could ask what he meant about Andros. "I'm not sure I trust Carlos with a fire for any length of time, and I hate to think what Andros could do with his telekinesis."

***

"Andros!" Out of the corner of his eye, Carlos saw his friend reach for the fire, and he batted the Red Ranger's wrist away without thinking.

Andros just gave him a patient look and pointed at the fire again. One of the smaller pieces of wood turned a little, its thin end falling toward the middle of the fire and slowly starting to burn.

Embarrassed, Carlos shrugged a little. "Sorry," he offered, hoping Andros hadn't taken offense. "I just didn't think."

"We do have fire on KO-35," Andros answered, sounding somewhat amused.

"I know," Carlos said uncomfortably. "I guess I've just gotten used to..."

He trailed off, but Andros finished the sentence for him. "Babysitting me? I may be used to a higher level of technology, Carlos, but I do know that fire burns."

"Sorry," Carlos muttered again.

"Don't be," Andros said with a smile. "I know what you meant. It's just hard to--" He gestured around at the beach, but Carlos understood him to mean the city as a whole. "Hard to adjust to all of this, sometimes."

"Think how much trouble we're still having adjusting to space," Carlos pointed out ruefully. "You've learned quicker than we did. And we only had to get used to the Megaship--you have a whole world to understand."

Andros gave him a wry look. "I'm not sure 'understand' is the right word. I may *never* understand. But at least no one's asked me what planet I'm from in a while."

Carlos poked the fire with the blunt stick he had kept out of the pile for just that purpose. "Any improvement is good improvement," he joked.

Andros didn't answer, but when Carlos glanced sideways at him, the other was still smiling. Abruptly, Andros pointed at the fire again, and one of the larger pieces of wood settled more firmly into place amidst the improvised kindling.

"Wish I could do that," Carlos said, watching.

Andros shrugged. "Ashley learned. There's no reason you can't, too."

"Ashley had motivation," Carlos replied with a grin. "I'm not sure I'd be so dedicated to it."

"Her teacher was motivated too," Andros said quietly, but there was a glint in his eyes that had nothing to do with the firelight.

Carlos chuckled, but twin flashes of light interrupted him before he could answer. Not far away, Zhane's silver sparkles and the luminescent purple outline of the former princess of evil coalesced into two distinct forms. The glow of their teleportation was just barely enough to cast its own brief shadows on the sandy beach, before it was drowned out by the still-bright fire of the setting sun.

"Hey, guys!" Carlos called.

Zhane waved in return, and as the two of them walked toward the little fire, Carlos noticed that he waited for Kerone to sit down first. She didn't, though--she just came to a halt on Andros's side of the fire and regarded the flames for a long moment, until Zhane seated himself on her other side.

Then she deigned to lower herself to the ground, tucking her legs carefully underneath her. Carlos saw her glance sideways at Andros, but neither of them spoke.

"Did everyone else get lost?" Zhane asked, making a show of rearranging himself on the sand. Either he didn't notice the subtle tension, or he was electing to ignore it. "Andros is here, so Ashley can't be far behind. Did TJ find Cassie and Saryn?"

"Hope so," Carlos said with a grin. "TJ was in charge of bringing the marshmallows, so if he doesn't find the others quick, we won't be eating."

"Ashley went with him," Andros offered, looking up from the fire and not seeming to notice that Kerone glanced quickly away. "She says they're on their way now."

The bright flare of teleportation confirmed his words, and four separate beams appeared nearby. As Rangers stepped out of them, Carlos grinned at what they carried. "S'mores!"

"That's right," Ashley said cheerfully, tossing the chocolate down in front of him and pushing his shoulder. "Move over Carlos; that's my seat."

Carlos laughed and obligingly made room for Ashley between him and Andros. "Anything for the one who brings the chocolate," he teased.

On the other side of the circle, Cassie dropped to the ground beside Zhane and leaned into his shoulder. "Move down," she ordered, a smile in her voice. "You guys can't take up all the room here, you know."

Zhane seemed perfectly willing to move closer to Kerone, but the blond-haired girl showed obvious reluctance to get any nearer to Andros. Ashley remedied the situation by copying Cassie's tactic and nudging Andros to the side. He moved toward Kerone, and the circle shifted.

"Make way for the graham crackers," TJ was saying with a grin, tossing the box into Carlos's lap with his good hand as he sat down.

"Since when was this my responsibility?" Carlos demanded.

TJ shrugged. "I can't open the package. All you have to do is open the crackers."

"You are what you eat," Ashley told Carlos, and TJ snickered.

Across the circle, Cassie had torn the marshmallow bag open. "I don't suppose you thought to find sticks for these?" she asked, but Carlos was glaring suspiciously at TJ.

"How did you manage to sprain your wrist, anyway?" he demanded. "Isn't that just a little too convenient an injury?"

"I fell wrong," TJ said good-naturedly. "That monster demorphed me, and I wasn't exactly conscious when I hit the ground."

"Neither was I!" Carlos exclaimed, picking up the thin sticks he had sent Andros after and passing them around the circle. "Notice, however, that I'm fine."

"Well, someone has to do the work," TJ pointed out, taking one of the sticks. "How 'bout one of those marshmallows, Cass?"

But Cassie was tugging on Saryn's hand, the marshmallows forgotten on the sand beside her. "Come on, Saryn, you have to sit down. That's the whole point of a campfire, to have everyone sit around it."

TJ leaned in front of him and grabbed the marshmallows. "Aha!"

Carlos rolled his eyes. "I suppose you want me to put one of those on your stick for you."

"Nope," TJ said, tucking the stick under his right elbow and spearing the marshmallow in his left hand. "I'm too coordinated for that."

"But not coordinated enough to open the graham cracker package," Ashley reminded him, putting a marshmallow on a stick and passing it to Andros. "Just toast it, don't catch it on fire," she said, her tone half-teasing and half-serious.

"What are you talking about?" TJ demanded, letting his stick dip dangerously low over the flames. "There's something to be said for charbroiled marshmallows."

His marshmallow caught fire, glowing blue and orange as he drew it out of the fire. He regarded it carefully for a moment, then put his hand behind it and calmly blew it out. "What?" TJ asked, looking up to find Ashley and Carlos staring at him. "They're good this way."

"Do *not* listen to him," Ashley advised Andros, poking her own marshmallow into the fire.

"Can I have the graham crackers?" Cassie asked, and Carlos handed them to TJ. TJ snagged one before passing them to Saryn, who regarded them with total noncomprehension.

Cassie took them before he could ask, and Ashley volunteered, "Have some chocolate." She too, took some before she passed it, and Carlos followed suit.

Carlos tried not to grin as he glanced up and realized Cassie's predicament. Stuck between Zhane and Saryn, she was faced with the dual challenge of explaining to the both of them what a s'more was and why they would want to eat one.

TJ passed him the marshmallow bag, and Carlos skewered two before handing it to Ashley. "Cheater," she accused, watching him put them both on the end of his stick.

"Watch it," Carlos said, pointing to her own marshmallow. It was perilously close to melting right off her stick, and she drew it back before it could fall.

"Can we have the graham crackers over here?" Ashley asked, nudging Andros and pointing to his own marshmallow. He pulled it out of the fire obediently, and Carlos raised his eyebrow as the graham cracker package drifted across the sand to land in front of Andros.

With the way Andros and Zhane exchanged glances and grinned at each other, Carlos couldn't tell which of them had done it. But Ashley just laughed, snatching a cracker up and breaking it in half without complaint. "Thanks!"

Andros watched her carefully, and when she handed him some of her chocolate, he put in on the graham cracker as she had. As Carlos watched, Andros managed to get his marshmallow off the stick and onto the chocolate without too much fuss, and Ashley leaned over his arm to take his second graham cracker half and press it down on top of the melted marshmallow.

He drew back as it oozed out the sides, giving her a look that said plainly, "You eat this?"

Carlos tried not to grin, and glanced over to see how Cassie was doing. He was just in time to see her pass her own marshmallow stick to Zhane and grab Saryn's hand. "You have to watch it," she said, lifting the stick from where it had been hovering between the flames. "It's sugar, Saryn; it melts!"

Her reprimand reminded Carlos to pay attention to his own toasting job, and he studied the lightly browned marshmallows on the end of his stick. "This is how it's done," he announced, pulling it out of the fire. "The perfect marshmallow toasting!"

"They look a little undercooked to me," TJ offered, and Carlos just shook his head.

"You, my friend, have no concept of 'toasting'," Carlos told him. "It's either raw or burned to a crisp with you."

"That's right," TJ said, as though he were proud of that fact.

"Anyone need a marshmallow?" Carlos offered, pointedly ignoring his friend.

He saw Ashley glance in his direction, and he realized she was strangely s'more-less. He hadn't been paying close enough attention to see who she had given hers to. "You look like you could use another one," he said gallantly, and she grinned.

Placing chocolate on her graham cracker, she held it out to him. With great care, Carlos removed the first of his marshmallows and placed it on her cracker. She covered it up and bit into it with great relish--an amusing sight in and of itself, since Ashley was usually so neat. There was just no way to be neat and simultaneously eat a s'more.

"Thank you," she said, around her mouthful of graham cracker and marshmallow and chocolate.

He laughed, removing the second marshmallow and putting together his own gooey concoction. "You're welcome."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Andros taking another marshmallow out of the fire. Oddly enough, Andros' first s'more lay untouched on the graham cracker wrapper beside him, but he was going to some trouble to put another one together.

As Carlos watched, taking a small bite of his own s'more and noting with amusement that Cassie had taken her stick back from Zhane and given it to Saryn to hold on the condition that he didn't get it anywhere near the fire, Andros put the finishing touches on the second s'more. Quietly, he proffered it to Kerone.

She glanced up from the piece of chocolate she had been nibbling on, meeting his gaze at last. He smiled a little, and Carlos realized abruptly that Andros' locket was hanging loose over his red tank top. *When did that happen?* he wondered.

Kerone, too, wore her locket over her t-shirt, and she smiled tentatively back at Andros. More than that, she accepted the s'more and did not protest when Andros picked up the stick Zhane had taken for her when they went around earlier. Andros put a marshmallow on the end of it and calmly held it out over the fire.

Carlos saw Ashley glance at Andros, then down at the s'more beside him, and she smiled as she turned away. "Do you have the chocolate?" she asked Carlos, and he glanced around.

"Saryn," he called. "Pass me the chocolate?"

Saryn looked down at the two sticks he held as though he couldn't quite decide what to do with them. At last, he transferred them both to one hand and reached across Cassie to retrieve the chocolate and hand it to TJ.

"Thanks," Carlos said, watching as Cassie deftly removed both sticks from Saryn and asked for the graham crackers. Zhane seemed to have had some luck with his own marshmallow, and Carlos looked away long enough to take the chocolate from TJ and give it to Ashley.

"Thanks," she said, withdrawing a square and taking a bite of it. Catching his eye, she added, "Sometimes you just have to have plain chocolate, you know?"

Carlos noticed that Kerone didn't miss that comment. She looked up from the s'more Andros had given her and actually smiled a little in Ashley's direction.

"Saryn!" Cassie exclaimed. "I'm never letting you near marshmallows again!"

She had just rescued her recently constructed s'more from the ground, and she gave it to him with finality. "Eat that," she declared, leaving no room for argument. "And give me that stick. It's a dangerous weapon in your hands."

"Many marshmallows have met their death on that stick," TJ--who had obviously been watching longer than Carlos--added smugly.

Cassie gave it a suspicious look. "Maybe it's the stick. Kerone, you'd know--could he have cursed it somehow?"

Carlos glanced automatically at Andros' sister, but her wide-eyed look said she had absolutely no idea how to respond. Zhane, whether knowingly or not, came to her rescue.

"I think it's too tame an activity for him," he opined. "If the point isn't to make it explode or burst into flames, Saryn can't do it."

As Carlos had expected, Saryn gave Zhane a dark look. Zhane just grinned back, but it wasn't his usual cocky expression--it was a lopsided grin that had the look of sincerity, and even as Carlos watched, Saryn's annoyance seemed to fade a little.

"Maybe you should teach him then, TJ," Cassie said with a giggle. "I give up."

Saryn's expression softened the rest of the way, and he reached out to squeeze her fingers with his free hand. "It is not a skill I will need often, I think."

She shook her head, smiling at him. "Probably not."

"TJ!" Ashley exclaimed, and the Blue Ranger positively smirked at her as he lifted another flaming marshmallow high above the fire.

"To friends," he declared, and Carlos lifted his own marshmallowless stick.

"To friends," Carlos repeated, and one by one, the others followed suit. Even Saryn, when Cassie let him have his stick back, and Kerone, when Andros passed his own to her to raise with the group.

All eight sticks hovered over the fire, and six more voices, some louder and some quiet, repeated, "To friends!"