Remember This
by Starhawk

"Cross your fingers," Ashley murmured.

Zhane glanced up at her, pretending to be offended. "Have you no faith in our work?"

She wrinkled her nose at him good-naturedly, smiling down from her perch on the engine room's upper level. She had put her book aside to watch, although he suspected she had never truly been reading. He had caught her watching Andros too often and turning pages too infrequently to believe she was doing homework.

"DECA," Andros said, holding up his crossed fingers. "Bring the engines online."

"Slowly," Astrea murmured at his side.

Zhane chuckled, but he too held his breath as the core flickered to life. The warm glow strengthened until it was bright enough to see by, and a familiar hum permeated the ship as the engines started to power up. The hum deepened and leveled off, but still no one said anything.

Finally, DECA announced, "Engines are online."

Zhane glanced over at Andros, and found him calling up stats on the power grid. "The core's stable," Andros told them, not bothering to disguise the relief in his voice. "I'm switching us over to internal power."

The lights didn't even flicker as the Megaship disengaged from station power and settled back into its normal dependence on the core's energy. Zhane felt a grin spread across his face, and he fumbled for Astrea's hand. She squeezed his fingers just as DECA reported, "The Megaship is on internal power."

"Clear us for dock departure," Andros said, not looking up.

DECA must have kept her link with the station's computer even after the power transfer was complete, for her answer came back immediately. "We're cleared for departure."

Andros paused at last, though he didn't take his eyes off the console in front of him. "Disengage."

Zhane looked up at DECA's camera. She was as proud as Andros, and he knew she was just as anxious to prove that the Megaship was under her own power again. He could feel the subtle vibration as the massive ship broke away from the orbital station, and a moment later DECA confirmed it. "The Megaship is in self-propelled Aquitian orbit."

"Yeah!" Ashley exclaimed, bringing her hands together delightedly.

Zhane laughed, but they all felt her enthusiasm. He saw the unabashed grin on his friend's face as Andros looked up, and then Astrea's hand slid out of his and she threw her arms around him. Startled, he hugged her back, and he smiled when he heard her murmur, "We really won, Zhane."

"Yeah," he agreed, listening for the comforting purr of the engines through the decking. The glow of the Megaship's heart cast warm highlights across Astrea's pale hair, and he knew the last member of their team had finally been restored. "We really did."

"We have a couple more tests," Andros began, and they all heard Ashley's exaggerated sigh.

"Honestly, Andros," she said, and Zhane looked up to see her gazing fondly down at his best friend. "Just be happy for a few minutes!"

"I am happy," he insisted. He broke off as she put her hands on the edge of the upper level and swung off, twisting to land in a peculiarly graceful manner on the floor. "Don't do that!"

Astrea pulled away from him to regard Ashley with something Zhane suspected was a combination of admiration and surprise, and Ashley just laughed. "Why not?"

'Because my heart stops every time you pull one of those stunts," Andros informed her frankly.

She sauntered over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "What, like this?" she murmured, leaning in to kiss him. She didn't let go, and the heat between them was startlingly obvious.

Zhane and Astrea exchanged glances. "Maybe we should start the diagnostics," she offered, amusement sparkling in her eyes.

"Good plan," he agreed quickly. "Race you to the Bridge."

She smirked, and he saw the violet light flare around her instantly. "Not fair!" he exclaimed, but she was already gone.

Zhane's eyes narrowed, and he looked up at DECA's camera again. "DECA--" The world dissolved into silver before he could finish speaking, and he found himself on the Bridge within seconds.

"You cheated," Astrea accused, as the silver sparkles fell away.

"*I* cheated?" he retorted indignantly. Only then did he realize there were other people on the Bridge. "Oh, hi guys."

"Hey," Cassie answered, her hands coming to rest on Saryn's shoulders. "Tell Saryn to stop watching the news."

"Saryn, stop watching the news," Zhane repeated, going over to the nav console.

Instead of joining him, Astrea cocked her head at the screen. "That's the ceremony from this afternoon."

"Part of it," Cassie agreed. "IN's been running coverage of it almost every hour. Saryn's been watching since we got back from Earth."

"How did it go on Earth?" Zhane asked, diverted. The hyperrush diagnostic flashed to life, and he looked up at them while it ran. "No one had to explain where they'd been all afternoon?"

"Not yet," Cassie said, with an amused smile. "They're all SOS."

He blinked. "What?"

"They're calling themselves the SOS squad now," Cassie said, her smile widening. "Significant others and siblings of Power Rangers. They figure everyone's used to them vanishing without explanation by now."

"Did TJ come back with you?" Astrea asked, tearing her eyes away from the screen long enough to glance around the Bridge. "DECA didn't tell us when you got back."

"No, he stayed," Cassie said. An odd look flickered across her face. "The six of them were having a party at the dojo to celebrate, and he decided to stay on Earth with Tess."

Saryn finally looked up. "She left, Cassie."

Cassie patted his shoulder absently, shifting on her feet. "I know. I just don't really know what to think about it."

"About what?" Zhane wanted to know, starting the power grid diagnostic that Andros had already run. Hyperrush had come up fine, but there was no sense in not being thorough.

"My mom," Cassie said neutrally. "She must have been on a stakeout of the dojo or something, because she was there again when we arrived."

"We spoke with her briefly," Saryn put in, turning around in his chair and putting his hand over Cassie's. "I do not believe she will bother you again."

Cassie looked nonplused. "I just can't believe… she liked you."

A look flashed across Saryn's face. It was one Zhane had never seen on him, but it lingered, and finally he put his finger on it: smug satisfaction. "She did not like me," Saryn said calmly. "Surely you saw that."

Cassie frowned a little at him. "Are you sure? I haven't seen her be that civil to someone in… I don't know how long."

"I am certain. She did not like me, but you surprised her. She is convinced now that you are beyond her reach."

"Wait," Zhane said slowly, not sure he wanted to get into this but unable to resist asking. "I don't understand. You're glad that you scared Cassie's mom?"

"We didn't scare her," Cassie protested, but Saryn nodded once.

"Yes," he said, looking vaguely pleased with himself. "I'm glad that we scared her, because it means that Cassie will be her own person until the law of her world says that she is."

"Right," Zhane agreed slowly, looking from one to the other. But they were gazing at each other to the exclusion of all else, and he couldn't help remembering that Cassie had said, "Sometimes there are words…"

He glanced at Astrea instead, but she was studying the main screen. "They don't know who I am," she murmured to herself, obviously not paying much attention to the conversation around her.

He started the last diagnostic and went around the row of stations to join her. "IN?" he guessed.

She nodded, pointing at the screen. "They keep saying, 'Kerone-who-wears-Astronema's-symbol', not 'Kerone-who-used-to-be-Astronema'. It's strange."

He shrugged. "Who cares what they say? They'll figure it out eventually, and in the meantime we can laugh at them."

She turned, giving him a searching look. "How much will it matter, do you think?"

He could see the worry in her eyes, and he frowned. "It doesn't matter at all to the people who care about you," he pointed out. "Since when do you care what the rest of the universe thinks?"

The corner of her mouth lifted in a familiar smirk. "Not since I met you," she said resolutely, and the tender words melted his heart.

"Same here," he said, very softly.

"Oh, how sweet," Cassie teased, and he tried not to blush. He hadn't meant that to be overheard. "If that didn't convince you to turn off the news, Saryn, I don't know what will."

"DECA," Saryn began, and the IN signal vanished from the screen. He gave a token sigh, but he didn't look all that upset. "Thank you."

DECA's camera blinked pertly at him. "You're welcome, Saryn."

Zhane looked up in surprise, but Saryn didn't object. "When did you start calling him Saryn?"

"Saryn asked me to call him by name when he returned from Earth," DECA replied. Her tone added "finally", even if her words did not, and Saryn smiled a little. He too had caught the implied exasperation, but he said nothing.

"I feel like doing something," Cassie said suddenly.

Zhane gave her a suspicious look. "You could help us with the engines, if you're that bored."

"Not *work*," she complained, in such an exaggerated tone that he had to grin. "Come on--let's get Andros and Ashley and go to the Simudeck for a while."

"What about Carlos?" Astrea asked, and silently he heard, *You ask them.*

*He's your brother,* he replied.

*He's your best friend.*

*Which means he's more likely to kill me if I interrupt. You can't kill blood relatives.*

"I believe he went down to Aquitar after dinner," Saryn offered. "He said Aura had invited him to celebrate with her team."

"I bet she did," Cassie muttered under her breath.

Zhane looked at her with deliberately wide eyes. Carlos and Aura's reconciliation had been common knowledge five minutes after the ceremony ended. "Why, Cassie, are you insinuating that Carlos lied?"

"Oh, I'm sure they're celebrating," she said, straight-faced. "I'm just not sure they're doing it with the rest of the team."

*Speaking of which…* He mentally prodded Astrea again, and she shot him a venomous look. *Okay, okay, I'll do it!* he exclaimed hastily.

Before he could say anything, though, she announced, "Ashley says she'll drag Andros to the Simudeck, if you want." Her tone was perfectly calm, though there was the hint of a smug look in her eyes as she glanced over at him.

He only shook his head, wondering if she had thought Ashley would be easier to convince than Andros. *I think you cheated… but I'm not exactly sure how.*

"Great!" Cassie exclaimed. "Let's go!"

***

She frowned down at the person seated in the grass by the simulated pavement. Dressed in borrowed jeans and one of Andros' t-shirts, he watched the game from the twilight shadows surrounding the brightly lit "court". He regarded the scene with a mild interest that so far had not led to his actual participation, and she suspected his interest had more to do with one of the players than the game itself.

"You don't skate," she observed anyway, not knowing how else to begin the conversation.

Saryn looked up, not seeming surprised by her sudden presence. "Neither do you," he replied easily.

"I don't play street hockey," she corrected. "I do skate; Ashley taught me."

He smiled in acknowledgment. "Will you sit?"

She had planned to, but the invitation surprised her nonetheless. Kerone dropped to the ground beside him, folding her legs in front of her and propping her chin on her fist. Ashley and Zhane had teamed up against Andros and Cassie on the unmarked pavement, and while they had offered to teach the game to their friends it frankly seemed like too much work to her.

"Is it strange to see Kerovan constellations after so long?" Saryn asked, and she looked over at him in surprise. He had tilted his head up and she followed his gaze, regarding the "stars" overhead critically.

To be honest, she remembered little more than vague flashes of her childhood on KO-35. She was about to tell him so when a sparkling triangle caught her eye against the oncoming indigo of night. Andros…

It was strange to suddenly remember something she was sure she had had no memory of only a moment before, but she knew Andros had shown her that constellation. She had a vivid mental image of their tent in the backyard, and his hand as he guided her eyes to those very stars. The two of them were the stars, and the third one had been Zhane--she *did* remember him from KO-35, after all.

"Yes," she said, startled. She sought out Andros with her eyes, and then Zhane. No wonder their voices had always seemed so familiar… how much time had they spent together, before the day Darkonda came? "It--it *is* strange."

She shook her head, focusing on Saryn again. He was watching her now, instead of the sky, and she smiled to let him know she was all right. "I'm a little surprised Andros picked this program, actually."

"As am I," Saryn said quietly. "I hope someday that this…" He gestured around them, to where the buildings of Keyota were visible as dim outlines and the lights of the town shimmered faintly in the deepening twilight. "This may be more than a computer program."

"It was once," she said, gazing up at the sky for confirmation. "It will be again."

"And when it is," he began, and the curious note in his voice caught her attention. "Will you go home?"

Home. The word triggered immediate thoughts of the Dark Fortress, causing near limitless commotion in its high altitude Aquitian orbit. It had maintained radio silence since its arrival, but she knew whom it belonged to. The Dark Fortress was Ecliptor's now, even as the Megaship was hers. Hers and the Rangers'. But was it home?

Her eyes slid toward the others again. "Yes," she said slowly. "I'll go back to KO-35 someday. But not because it's KO-35."

"You'll go because they will," he surmised, following her gaze.

"Yes," she agreed quietly. There was no need to define "they".

"What about you?" she asked, a few moments later. "What will you do?"

He didn't answer right away, and she looked over at him questioningly. Saryn was staring straight ahead, but somehow she didn't think he was seeing what she saw. Finally he shrugged a little and offered, "The Frontier Defense will push for a siege on Eltare, and the Alliance will no doubt go along with it. With Dark Spectre gone and no one to organize the forces of evil in his place, it will not be long before Eltare rises again."

She studied him. "Is that what you want?"

He turned a measured gaze on her, and she couldn't read anything in his eyes. "Everyone wants the liberation of Eltare."

"No," she said slowly. "That's not what I mean. What do *you* want? If… if you had one wish, what would it be?"

She saw the expression flicker across his face instantly, and she amended, "Two wishes, then. After Cassie, what would the second one be?"

He actually laughed, which surprised her. He ran a hand through his hair in a gesture that reminded her of Zhane and admitted, "You know me too well for someone whom I only met a few weeks ago."

"Maybe I identify with you," she said softly, though the compliment pleased her more than she could let on.

His smile faded as he regarded her, and she thought she saw sympathy in his eyes. "Maybe we are more alike than I wanted to admit, at first," he said finally. "Perhaps… that may be why I distrusted you. I hope you have forgiven me for that."

It was her turn to laugh. "You could hardly think I held it against you. It was everyone else who surprised me, by being so friendly. But you were there when I needed you, and that's what matters."

"You were there for me, as well," he said, glancing over at the court again. "I never thanked you for that."

She bit her lip. "I never *apologized* for that," she countered ruefully. "I shouldn't have gotten involved."

He was smiling as he watched their teammates. "Good things came of it," he told her. "I appreciated your concern more than I told you at the time."

She smiled to herself, but when the conversation faded again she remarked, "You never answered the question."

He turned innocent blue eyes on her. "Didn't I?"

"No," she said sternly, trying not to giggle at his expression. She'd bet that worked really well on Cassie. "What do you want, Saryn?"

He didn't answer right away, but after a moment he looked down. "I want my home back," he said, very softly. "But Elisia's freedom is a long way in the future yet."

She wasn't sure how to answer. It was obviously an answer close to his heart, but she wondered if it was *the* answer. "Not so long," she said gently, deciding not to press the issue. "Eltare will see to that."

"Eltare will have enough reconstruction of its own to worry about," he said, turning his head a little to watch the game again. "There is still time."

"There is still time…" She was trying to puzzle that out when Cassie shrieked, and she looked up in time to see the other girl tumble to the ground. The scrape of her plastic wristguards was loud on the pavement as she tried awkwardly to break her fall.

Saryn stiffened, a split-second from jumping to his feet, but Cassie just tossed her head back and laughed. He relaxed a little as Andros helped her to her feet, and she waved over at him to indicate that she was fine. Something in the way he smiled at her made Kerone realize, "You don't think she'd come with you."

He tilted his head in her direction, but he didn't meet her eyes. "She has her own life," he said quietly. "It does not involve the Defense. Or the frontier, should it ever be reestablished."

And Saryn of Elisia couldn't give everything up and disappear onto Earth the way the Phantom Ranger could. He had relinquished his anonymity, and with it any chance of escaping from the public eye. But he had done it for her… anyone could see how closely the two of them were bound together.

"But her life does involve you," she pointed out, careful to keep her voice low. "You're probably the only thing she won't ever give up--you must know that."

He pushed his hair out of his eyes again, not looking up. "I hope so," he murmured. "I truly hope so, Kerone."

"Hey!" Cassie's exultant shout interrupted before she could wonder at his doubt, and the Pink Ranger skidded to a stop at the edge of the pavement. She stepped carefully off into the grass and threw herself down beside them. "What's up?"

Saryn regarded her fondly. "I fail to understand how you can have so much energy after today."

"What?" she said, feigning disbelief. "It's not even midnight! Plus we just won--"

"Did not!" Zhane yelled, and she smirked.

"Depending on whose rules you follow," she offered as an aside, pulling her wristguards off. "Telekinesis or non-telekinesis."

"It wasn't telekinesis!" Zhane protested, and she turned and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Is that an--" He glanced at Saryn and broke off, grinning. "Never mind. We still won!"

She just waved her hand at him in dismissal and turned back to Saryn. Her demeanor changed abruptly, going from triumphant to seductive in the blink of an eye. "You're not saying you're tired, are you?" she purred.

Kerone watched with interest as Saryn's entire focus shifted to Cassie. The rest of the Simudeck might as well have ceased to exist. "Sleep is not high on my list of priorities right now, no," he murmured.

"Good," she said firmly, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pressing her mouth to his. As reserved as he normally was, it amused Kerone no end to see Saryn return the deliberately provocative kiss with the same intensity that Cassie expressed.

The shadows on the grass moved, and she looked up to see Zhane standing over her. "Since I think Cassie's done with street hockey for the night," he said with a grin, "want to help me beat Andros and Ashley?"

She hesitated, but if it had seemed like too much work a half-hour ago, it definitely seemed so now. "Sorry," she said reluctantly. "I'm sort of tired. I think I'm going to go to bed, but… maybe you could teach me tomorrow."

He brightened immediately. "That would be fun," he agreed, offering his hand to her. "Can I walk you back to your room?"

She clasped his hand with a smile and let him pull her to her feet. "I'd like that."

***

"Hey!" Ashley exclaimed, as he bumped her shoulder gently. "No checking!"

She slapped her stick against his and he couldn't help pushing her again. The others had called it a night, and it was just the two of them still fooling around on the court. "I wasn't checking! You were in the way!"

She spun away from him, too quickly for him to imitate on skates, and he took off after her. He knew he wouldn't catch her in time, but they weren't technically playing anymore… he reached out with his mind and nudged the ball away from her hockey stick.

"Hey!" she protested immediately. She slid one skate around behind her and whirled, making the maneuver look incredibly easy. "You're just Mr. Rulebreaker tonight, aren't you!"

Andros grinned, reaching out to slap the ball toward the other end of the court--and he let out a yelp as it jerked erratically away from him. "*I'm* breaking the rules?" he demanded, glancing over at her in surprise.

She gave him a wide-eyed look. "Did I do that?"

He laughed, arcing around and coasting back toward her. "'Did I do that'," he mimicked, wrapping one arm around her shoulders to bring himself to a halt. "Your telekinesis is getting better!"

"Since when do you use me to stop!" She grabbed hold of his arm to balance, and she grinned at him as he rested his stick against the pavement. "I told you to practice with the brake!"

"Who needs a brake when I have you?" he asked recklessly, leaning in to kiss her. He couldn't be that close to her anymore without wanting her lips on his, and tonight he couldn't seem to resist the feeling.

He felt her shift, rearranging her feet so she could press against him, and he wished he could put both arms around her. She felt so warm and she wasn't quite close enough--especially when she pulled away enough to murmur, "Is that an invitation?"

"Do you need one?" He kissed her again, knowing the answer to that. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and he was tired of fighting it. He wanted so much to lose himself in her…

She pulled away again, gently disentangling his arm from her shoulders. "Yeah," she said softly. She smiled at him, but he could see the seriousness behind her expression as she turned away. With a few quick strokes she had put considerable distance between them, skating to the side of the court in belated pursuit of the ball. Only when she reached it did she add over her shoulder, "When it comes to us, I do need an invitation, Andros. I keep… I keep trying to remember that."

He watched her avoid his gaze, wondering if he was supposed to understand that. "What do you mean?" he asked carefully.

She shrugged, tapping her hockey stick idly against the pavement. "I know what we've said, and I'm trying to respect it. That's all."

She shifted, about to send the ball rolling in his direction. He took a deep breath, trying to swallow his nervousness, and he skated over to her. She looked up, holding out her hand with a smile to help catch him. He caught her fingers and let her slow him down, but instead of letting go he pulled her closer.

"Ash," he said quietly. As close as she was he had to struggle to keep his eyes on hers, and he wondered if it was obvious. "It was--it *was* an invitation."

She stared at him, a smile spreading across her face. She bit her lip, but there was no way to hide that grin. "An invitation for what, exactly?" The challenge in her tone was at odds with her expression, and he hesitated.

She tilted her head, her smile softening at the look on his face. She lifted her hand and laid her fingers against his cheek, and before he knew it her lips were feather-soft on his. "An invitation for what, Andros?" she repeated quietly, turning her face to brush her cheek against his chin.

Her breath was warm on his skin, and he looked down as she loosened the wristguard on his right hand and tugged it off. She didn't step away from him to do it, and he wanted to wrap his arms around her more with each passing moment. But somehow, he didn't know how to say it.

She pulled his other wristguard off for him too, turning her face toward his as she did so, and that was a temptation he couldn't resist. He pressed his lips to hers, burying his hands in her hair and tentatively teasing her tongue with his. Her fingers tightened on his arm, and she leaned into him without protest.

His skate slipped as she moved, and she giggled. She clutched his shirt, looking away breathlessly as she whispered, "We could at least take our skates off, you know."

She knew. She had to know what he was thinking. He couldn't keep himself from blushing, but he let her pull him off the pavement onto the grass. She dropped to the ground in an amazingly graceful manner, considering her skates added a good three inches to her height.

She looked up with a smile on her face, and he blushed again as he realized he was staring at her. "What?" she asked, sounding amused as she pulled her wristguards off over her fingers. "What are you thinking?"

"That you're beautiful," he admitted softly, sitting awkwardly in the grass beside her. "I'm trying to remember not knowing you… and I can't."

"I feel like I've always known you too," she said, smiling down at her skates as she unlaced them. "It's funny--I keep looking up in class and expecting to see you in the next seat or something."

"I keep--" He broke off, realizing too late that he shouldn't tell her that. He looked down at his own skates, focusing all his attention on tugging them off.

She wasn't fooled. "You keep what?"

He shrugged, uncomfortably aware of her stretching her legs out in front of her and flexing her feet happily. She was wearing jeans instead of shorts, but it didn't matter--he thought she could wrap herself in a blanket and still be devastatingly beautiful. "I keep waking up in the morning and wondering where you are," he blurted out.

She let out her breath in amusement, and he saw her move out of the corner of his eye. When he glanced over at her, she was lying on her back in the grass, hands over her head as she stared up at the "sky". He swallowed hard, wondering if she could possibly know how… how *desirable* she looked.

"I think I've snuck into your room too many times," she said abruptly, still looking up at the stars. "If you're thinking like that." Her tone was teasing, and it made him smile.

"Maybe you haven't done it enough," he countered, leaning back on his elbows carefully. He was surprised to hear those words come out of his mouth, but she just laughed and he relaxed a little.

"You'd better be careful," she warned, putting her hands behind her head and turning her head to look at him. "I might start thinking you're serious."

He pushed himself up again, resting his weight on his hands and not looking at her. "Maybe I am."

"Andros…" He heard her shift a little, and he could feel her sitting up. This close he didn't even have to see her, he could just tell. "You never answered my question," she said quietly.

He glanced over at her inadvertently. Her dark eyes drew him in, and he reached out to touch her face gently. "I thought I did," he murmured, brushing her hair back.

He felt her lean into the caress, and he knew all he had to do was move a little closer… her lips were sweet against his before he was sure what had happened, and he returned her kiss eagerly. He felt her arms go around him, and the embrace made his skin tingle as much as any kiss.

Then she was tugging his hair free of its ponytail, and he felt her lips brush gently against his cheek, and his chin. He slid his free arm around her shoulders, tilting his head back and pulling her closer as she kissed his neck and ran her fingers through his hair. He was struck suddenly by the thought that this was serious--he wasn't going to stop her, and he knew what would happen.

He tried not to think about it, tried to concentrate only on her. It had never been this hard before. It had never been so difficult to keep his mind from racing when she wrapped her arms around him and filled his world with one tantalizing sensation after another. Usually he couldn't think at all by now, and he would pull blindly away from her with whatever willpower he had left.

But he wasn't doing that, and his mind felt disconcertingly removed from his body. He could feel her hands on his skin, but it wasn't *affecting* him the way it had so many times before. He lifted one hand to her chin and tilted her face up toward him again, pressing his mouth to hers and searching desperately for the way to drown himself in her.

*Andros…* He heard her voice in his mind as she pulled away, resting her forehead against his. He closed his eyes, his heart pounding in his ears as her words momentarily overwhelmed his own thoughts. *What do you want? What do you *really* want?*

He swallowed, clasping his hands loosely behind her neck. "You," he breathed, not opening his eyes.

"Do you?" she whispered back. "Or are you just saying that because you know I want *you*?"

He opened his eyes in surprise, but she didn't move and he couldn't see her expression so close. "You do?"

Her shoulders rose and fell in a silent sigh, and her breath tickled his skin. "You must have known that. I'm always so out of control around you…"

"It's one of the reasons I love you," he whispered. "You're so… spontaneous."

She actually giggled a little, drawing back to meet his gaze at last. "I guess that's one word for it," she admitted. "Andros, I don't want you to… to do anything just for me."

"And I don't want to do it just for me," he said quietly. "If it isn't for both of us, I don't think we should do it at all."

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes sparkling as they caught the light from the court and reflected it back at him. "Are we--talking about the same thing?" she murmured at last, searching his expression.

"I told you once that I wanted to wake up with you," he said softly, gazing back at her. "I have, more than once--" She smiled a little at that, and he added, "But never the way I meant it then. I mean it that way now, too… I want to wake up with you tomorrow."

Her smile didn't fade, and she laid her hand against the side of his face. "But?" she prompted gently.

He looked down. "Why does there always have to be a 'but'," he muttered, troubled not because she had asked but because there was.

"Because you felt different," she said simply.

He sighed soundlessly. She *would* notice… but if there was anyone he could trust with anything that was in his heart, it was her. "But I'm scared," he whispered, lifting his eyes to hers again.

"Why?" she asked quietly.

He shrugged, knowing it wasn't an answer. "I don't know," he said helplessly.

She didn't say anything right away, but the caring look on her face was all he needed. She made him feel like anything he thought or felt was all right, like he could do nothing unforgivable in her eyes--she made him feel loved. Unconditionally loved.

"It's funny," she said at last. "I'm--I'm nervous too. You'd think after everything we've been through together…"

"That was different," he said, relieved by her admission. Somehow, it was reassuring. He hugged her impulsively, wondering what he had ever done to deserve her love.

"Maybe not," she murmured, hugging him back. "Maybe we should just stop thinking. After all, it's not like we *have* to do this…" She squirmed out of his embrace a moment later and smiled up at him. "Just kiss me, Andros. Whatever happens, happens."

"I can do that," he said, smiling a little in return. He pulled her closer and kissed her gently, and he felt her arms slide around him again. There was probably no safer place in the world than in her arms, he thought absently.

Kissing her, at least, was as easy as it had ever been, and he felt himself relaxing at last. He could kiss her forever, and as she pressed closer he welcomed the heat of her body against his. He held her against him, barely noticing as she eased into his lap.

Her kiss was less demanding than it sometimes was, but somehow that only made it more suggestive. He had to keep recapturing her mouth--he couldn't tell if she was doing it on purpose, but it held his attention like nothing else and it started, bit by bit, to drive him crazy.

She shifted, and he caught his breath as he finally realized just how close she was. She couldn't move the slightest bit without him feeling it throughout his entire body, and when her kiss faded again he slid one hand around behind her head and pressed his mouth firmly to hers.

She returned the hungry kiss as though she had been waiting for it, and he gasped involuntarily when her fingers started to play with the hem of his t-shirt. Her fingers just barely brushed his skin, but it was enough to make him yearn for more.

"Still scared?" she murmured, nuzzling his cheek.

"Never," he breathed, tracing her shoulderblades and running his fingers down her spine. More than anything, he wanted to keep her this close forever. He wasn't sure what made him say it, but the next time he had a free breath he had to ask, "Still love me?"

"Silly," she whispered, drawing back until he lifted his eyes to hers. "Always have…"

She trailed off, clearly waiting. He found a new appreciation for telepathy as he reclaimed her mouth with his and answered silently, *Always will.*

***

"Hold me until
We find a way
Of making time stand still
Don't waste one kiss
I want to remember this"

--Linda Davis,
"I Want To Remember This"

***