There was a comfort in routine. He sometimes thought that belief made him unusual... a Ranger that liked routine. He didn't miss it when it was gone--mostly because the things that disrupted his routine tended to be all-consuming--but he felt a sense of relaxation, almost relief, when it finally returned.

The exercise mats were forgiving beneath his bare feet as Andros spun and lunged, working his way through a pattern of offensive moves that took all of his attention. The mats were just sticky enough to give him traction without slowing him down. The colors flashed in his peripheral vision, a familiar swirl of red and yellow and violet and silver and black. They were there in the background every time he trained.

Most of the vibration was muffled by the mats, but the rumble of the hangar doors rolling open was as pervasive as ever. It filled the air around him, a sort of wake up call that the entire team was now perfectly capable of sleeping through. Left to their own devices, it seemed, the zords would also follow an unexpectedly regular schedule.

Andros twisted into a final strike, holding it just long enough for the energy to dissipate before he straightened to watch the cats leave. "Leave the doors open!" he called after them, and he saw the crimson zord flick an ear in acknowledgement.

Magic trailed the other cats out into the early sunshine, an inconsistency that he noted before turning back to his exercises. The last one out had usually been the first one in the night before, and Kerone's zord was very rarely the first one in. Especially when they'd had visiting zords... the Elisian zords in particular.

"I'm afraid I've offered one of your Rangers a place on my team," Saryn had told him once. "It was done inadvertently, with no subversive intent."

Andros had taken him seriously, despite the fact that the idea of Saryn turning his considerable political clout on Andros' team was difficult to fathom. It wasn't that he'd never interfered in the running of a Ranger team before. It was more that Cassie would make his life miserable if he did it to her former teammates, and Saryn didn't risk her wrath lightly.

He'd known who it had to be, anyway. And Kerone wanted to be on KO-35 as much as they wanted her here. She'd had plenty of chances to leave, but she took her place on the team--with her family--very seriously.

"I appreciate you looking out for her," Andros had said. "I know your friendship means a lot to her."

He remembered Saryn smiling. "Did she tell you, or did you guess?"

Saryn had accepted that, not even questioning his generalization--they hadn't always been close--before he'd added, "I would have you know that I made no attempt to convince her. I simply told her she was always welcome on Elisia. She immediately assured me that her home was here."

As Ashley's was, now. Even Ty called Keyota home. It didn't dissolve the old ties... it just added new ones.

Andros leapt out of the way of an entirely imaginary opponent, rolling with more control and a resulting precision that was all but impossible in a real fight. There were a lot of things that he liked about sparring. One of them was its perfect ability to be right or wrong. Form, power, sequence. They mattered in a fight only when they kept him alive. But here on the mats, they were everything.

He heard footsteps on the catwalk and dismissed them. Anyone could be up now, doing anything, and if they wanted his attention they knew how to get it. He was in the middle of a pattern that had too much vertical variation to let him easily pause and refocus his gaze.

Somehow, though, when he came to the end of the sequence he wasn't surprised to find one of the Earth Rangers standing at the edge of the mats. Having been on the receiving end of Carlos' protective threats about Ashley before, he had expected a confrontation. Everyone had been careful to sleep in their own rooms last night... a precaution that had paid off when Kae's nightmares drew the Earth Rangers out onto the catwalk in the early morning hours.

Andros released his last position and stood, breathing hard and glad of the breeze that was wafting through the open hangar doors. He gave Carlos a curt nod, studying the other Ranger's ominous expression, and he got a tilt of the head in return. With his hair cut short and a black shirt that glowed subtly red when it caught the light, this man bore little resemblance to the long-haired teen in torn green and blue that Andros had first met on the Megaship.

"Can we talk?" Carlos demanded. The lack of pleasantries almost made Andros smile, because in this, at least, the man and the teen were exactly the same.

With a small wave of his hand, Andros indicated that the other Ranger was free to join him on the exercise mats.

The first hint of amusement touched Carlos' expression. "No thanks," he said dryly. "You'll kick my butt."

Now Andros did smile, shrugging a little as he walked off of the mats and reached for his towel. "It was worth a try," he remarked. "Especially after what you said to Ashley last night."

Carlos' face darkened. "She told you about that."

Andros just looked at him. He couldn't have really expected anything else, could he? Zhane had wanted to go bang on their door the moment she mentioned it, either to shut them up or throw them out, and only the fact that Ashley told him that she'd already turned down Kerone's offer to turn Carlos into a frog had appeased him.

"Look, Andros." Carlos didn't seem to have any idea how close he'd come to being an amphibian. "We've known Ashley longer than you have, and we look out for our own. That's all we were doing last night."

"If looking out for your own didn't involve making my girlfriend cry," Andros told him, "then we wouldn't have a problem." He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and slung the towel over his shoulders while Carlos scoffed.

"Your girlfriend?" he repeated. "I don't know what definition you're using, but just buying her jewelry and taking her out to dinner doesn't make her your girlfriend. Especially not if you're fooling around with someone else on the side."

He wasn't unprepared for the accusation, not after the conversation with Ashley last night. "And I don't know what definition you're using," Andros said evenly, "but hers is the one that matters to me. If she says she's my girlfriend, then I say she's my girlfriend."

"Our definitions are the same," Carlos informed him. "Ashley and I come from the same place, and people who are committed to each other don't date other people!"

"I wouldn't speak for her, if I were you," Andros warned. "I've heard a lot from her and Zhane lately about letting them make their own decisions."

"Well, now you get to hear from me about making your decision," Carlos snapped. He was fast, Andros noted. Carlos' verbal sparring ability was significantly better than he remembered. "One or the other, Andros. You're going to have to choose eventually."

He wondered what Carlos would say if he knew how many agonizing hours had gone into exactly that decision. "I did choose," he said at last. "I chose both of them."

"That isn't an option," Carlos exclaimed, oddly exasperated. As though he had set the parameters of the decision himself and Andros was the one who didn't understand.

"Look, Carlos." Andros straightened, pulling the towel off of his shoulders and holding his hands out to his sides. "This really isn't any of your business. I know you're worried about Ashley. But this is our relationship--"

"That's not a relationship!" Carlos interrupted. "That's playing the field!"

"It's whatever we say it is!" Andros retorted. "You don't get to decide that for us!"

"And you don't get to decide for her! She's from a different culture, and there's a difference between choosing something for yourself and just going along with it!"

This habit of twisting his own words into something else was new and annoying, Andros thought. What were the Aquitian Rangers teaching him, anyway? English wasn't even their second language; for most of them, it was probably their third or fourth. Yet he didn't know where else Carlos could be getting his debate skills.

An incoherent shriek from the catwalk announced Kae's noisy presence in the hangar, and it was followed immediately by Kerone's indulgent laugh. She made no effort to shush him, despite the presence of visitors and teammates who might or might not be sleeping. Andros knew why.

Kae's only excursions outside of the hangar so far had consisted of visits with the zords, carefully supervised playtime outdoors, or trips to the Megaship. Today he would be traveling into Keyota with both Kerone and Ashley, and no one was sure how he would react. He didn't like unenclosed spaces or strangers, two things the city had in abundance. He might as well enjoy himself now.

"I'm ready! Really, I'm--" Ashley's breathless call echoed off of the interior of the hangar as her door slid shut behind her and her footsteps joined Kerone and Kae on the stairs. "Not at all," she finished. "I'm the only one who's hungry, aren't I."

"Ashley!" Kerone's voice chided her. "We're not going to be late just so you can have breakfast!"

"Oh, like I'm such a gourmet breakfaster!" Ashley returned. "It'll take me two seconds to grab a muffin on our way out!"

"Order on your way down," Andros called up to them, "pick up at the bottom of the stairs."

Ashley didn't have to have it spelled out for her. "Apple nut!" she called over the railing. "I love you!"

Andros tossed his towel on one of the stools in front of the counter and grabbed a napkin and a muffin from the kitchen. He was well aware of Carlos watching him as he wrapped the muffin and collected two juice bottles. Both of them Kae's, specially formulated by DECA to get him the vitamins and minerals he was missing in as palatable a form as possible. The Rangers weren't above swiping them when they were in a hurry.

"Oh, hi Carlos." Ashley had made it as far as the kitchen while Kerone shepherded Kae toward the open doors. He was protesting, muttering something Andros couldn't hear--he probably wasn't thrilled about going out through the big doors instead of the smaller, non-zord door on the other side of the hangar.

"Muffin for you," Andros announced, ignoring Carlos as he presented Ashley with her speedy breakfast. "And a juice for you and one for Kae. Good luck this morning. Call us if you need backup."

She was hesitating, flashing a preoccupied smile at him in the middle of her uneasy attitude toward Carlos. "Thanks... we will. Um--"

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Carlos wanted to know.

At the same time, Andros said quickly, "We're fine."

"Okay." She smiled at him again, collected her food, and leaned in to kiss him. "Tell Carlos what's going on, all right?" Then with a cooler smile for her former teammate, she added, "It was great to see you. I hope we'll be back before you leave, but if not, we'll catch up."

She whirled away and was running for the doors before he could answer.

"What--" Carlos sounded bewildered and a little insulted at the same time, neither of which really bothered Andros. Watching Ashley run, even from behind, was one of life's little pleasures, and he enjoyed it until she was out of sight.

"What are they doing?" Carlos wanted to know. "Where did the kid come from, again? And why doesn't he eat?"

"He eats," Andros corrected, leaning back against the counter. He didn't mind having Carlos be the confused one for a while. "He's just not used to it. His stomach can't handle a lot of food at once, so DECA made that juice for him to make sure he gets the right nutrients."

"Where did he come from?" Carlos repeated. "And where are they going?"

"He came from JT's dimension, and they're going to register him with Keyota family support. He'll need an ID and a medical file before Kerone can adopt him."

"Wait, what?" Carlos demanded. "You're adopting him?"

Andros didn't know whether to be amused that he and Kerone were suddenly synonymous, or baffled by the fact that Carlos seemed surprised. "Ashley and Zhane said they told you all of this yesterday. I remember talking about it at dinner."

"Yeah, that an Astronema from another dimension dropped an orphaned slave kid in your laps right before the ID portal started making your lives hell; I got that," Carlos said impatiently. "Not that he was about to become part of the Ranger family."

Andros studied him for a moment, then finally pushed away from the counter. "I can't figure out what you're upset about from one minute to the next," he admitted. "I'm going to change. Help yourself to something to eat if you're hungry."

"Andros--" Carlos sounded annoyed, and maybe that was fair, he didn't know. But he was tired of being interrogated.

"Carlos." He paused at the bottom of the stairs, pivoting to face the other Ranger as he put one foot on the step behind him. "Mind your own business."

He finished his turn and continued up the stairs without another word.

Family support, as it turned out, was not a service that took itself or anything else lightly. That was probably a good thing, and in retrospect, they really should have expected it. Kristet had been through the system, and she had warned them: treat them like they're god, and you'll all get along much better.

As it was, only their Ranger credentials and Kerone's unshakable ability to sound right no matter what she said kept them from looking like total idiots. They'd had only the vaguest idea of how much documentation they would need, and they certainly hadn't anticipated the number of varied specialists who would have to confirm everything they said. It was a process that could have taken weeks if she and Kerone had been anyone else.

Fortunately, the two Kerovan Rangers weren't anyone else, and it wasn't just their morphers that worked in their favor. Completely unsuspecting, Ashley had mentioned early on that Andros hadn't warned them how complex the process was. Suddenly the "complexity" of the meeting they were in at the time turned into a checklist of what they would need, three appointments that were made for them, and a public file opened for Kae on the spot.

Within minutes, Kerone and Kae had vanished for the first of the appointments, and Ashley was being asked--very politely--about her plans for Kae's future. Since she had no idea what those plans might be, if they existed at all, she replied, "Tell me what he needs," and they went from there.

She learned to use Andros' name sparingly. When she accidentally mentioned him twice to the same person, the counselor she was talking to actually stopped asking her questions and starting answering them for her. Out loud.

"Will you provide peer as well as family support for the child in question, of course you will," the woman murmured, entering something into her electronic file. "Will you allow periodic adjustment assessments, certainly; will you enroll him in school as soon as he's..." She mumbled something that ended with "yes" and Ashley shifted awkwardly. She wondered if she would get a copy of all of these questions she was supposedly agreeing to.

She ended up on a tour of the building, which she thought might be overdoing it until she realized that she was being shown through each of the rooms that Kerone and Kae had already visited. She was picking up their paperwork. Well, that was efficient, she decided. These people obviously knew what they were doing when it came to children. No waiting.

It did make her a little bit nervous that somewhere along the line she had been listed as Kae's second guardian, and her name showed up on every bit of documentation from there on. She got the feeling, though, that protesting was not the way to make them look like competent parents. So she kept her mouth shut, smiling whenever someone spoke to her and agreeing whenever they asked her a question. It got her through the morning.

Kerone wasn't so lucky. They were all invited to the children's commissary for lunch, but it was clear that Kae wasn't going to make it to the commissary, let alone through a meal inside it. Kerone told her later that everyone had been very understanding when he threw his third temper-tantrum of the morning in their first appointment, but her nerves had been shot after one.

So they thanked everyone they could find and hustled him out to the hover, which was easier than it could have been only because Kae was crying in Kerone's arms. Not three or four years old after all, according to the doctor, but a severely undernourished five. Still, he was small enough to be carried over a distance, and right now that mattered.

"Back home?" Ashley asked, when they made it to the hover.

"Yes," Kerone said fervently. "Thank you."

She reached out to toss the documentation crystal into the dashboard compartment as she got in, and Kae, who was in Kerone's lap and clinging fiercely enough that she couldn't fasten her safety harness, shivered violently. Without a word, Ashley passed the crystal to Kerone instead and let her put it away. She overrode the harness lockout that kept her from starting the hover so that Kae could ride on Kerone's lap if he wanted to, and they lifted slowly out of the parking grid.

"It's going to be okay," she heard Kerone murmur. "No one's going to hurt you here... they all just want to make sure you're safe. If you want to stay with us, we have to let other people look at you to make sure you're okay."

Kae whimpered, but if he said anything then Ashley couldn't make out what it was. She had only recently begun to grasp that he understood most of what they said, and could repeat it back to them if he wanted to. Most of the time he didn't... and this, it seemed, was most of the time.

The hover rails had a hold on their vehicle, so she glanced over at the two of them periodically as they were shuttled out of town. Kerone caught her eye several times, but they didn't talk. Right now, the important thing seemed to be to regroup first and deal later. It was a strategy that Ashley had learned to appreciate since becoming a Ranger.

She took over the navigation again as they left the city and headed for the hills. Kae quieted as they drove, eventually seeming to fall into an uneasy sleep, and she heard Kerone sigh once. She thought back over her own series of meetings and interviews and testimonials and wondered how it could only be early afternoon.

"I'm going to call DECA," she said as they approached the hangar. She was careful to keep her voice low. She had only said it to warn Kerone, in case Kae started awake at the sound of the comm.

Kerone nodded, and she triggered the comm unit. "DECA," she said quietly. She waited a fraction of a second for the unit to recognize her request and make the connection. "Kerone and I are on our way back with Kae," she said. "It's been a hard morning. Can you tell me who's in the hangar?"

"Certainly, Ashley." DECA's voice was pitched to match her own, and she was glad of the AI's discretion. Kae didn't so much as stir at the sound of their voices. "The only person in the hangar now is Zhane. I believe he is anticipating your arrival."

She exchanged grateful glances with Kerone. He was the best of the boys with Kae, and he would know what to do about everything they'd had dumped on them this morning. He hadn't had as much experience with the system as Kristet and Andros, but he knew what people meant when they said things and he would be able to pull out what they had to do and figure out how to tell Andros.

Ashley thanked DECA just as they were coming to a halt outside of the hangar. She parked closer to the door than usual, giving them less ground to cover with a potentially hysterical child. Kae didn't wake up until Kerone shifted him to open her door, and after his initial jolt of alarm he seemed to understand where they were and what it meant. He slid reluctantly out of Kerone's lap, holding her hand tightly and following her across the unenclosed space without complaint.

Zhane didn't meet them at the door. DECA must have told him they were coming, though, because he was in the kitchen cutting up fruit on a child-size plate and there was an open bottle of juice on the counter next to him. "Hey there," he said, lifting his head momentarily to smile.

"Ow," he added, so calmly that it seemed incongruous. A sympathetic wince chased the smile from his face, and he repeated, "Ow, man, you guys... You're like the sledgehammer of solemnity. It couldn't have been that bad."

It was the type of protest that normally would have been delivered with theatric drama, but it somehow conveyed a greater dismay when presented in his normal tone of voice. "Want something to eat?" Zhane offered, handing Kae an already cut piece of fruit. "Bet they didn't feed you there. You drink your juice on the way over?"

Kae didn't answer and Zhane didn't seem to expect him to. He did take the fruit, though, letting go of Kerone's hand for the first time as he crouched down on the floor behind the counter and crammed it into his mouth. He hadn't tried to hide while he was eating for days, Ashley thought worriedly. She caught Kerone's eye and knew she was thinking the same thing.

"Yup, that's what I thought," Zhane said casually. "Here, help yourself." He set the plate with as much fruit as he'd already cut on the floor beside Kae. "More juice?" He held the bottle over Kae's head, but the boy ignored it.

"Okay," Zhane said. "Ash, would you grab a cup for him? There's lunch for you in stasis, while you're at it," he added. "Sandwiches and more fruit if you want it. I wasn't sure when you'd get back."

He was cutting up the rest of the fruit on the counter surface. Ashley brought a cup over and poured the juice into it, fastening the detachable lid before she handed it back to him. Kae was huddled near Zhane's legs, still stuffing fruit into his mouth, and Zhane took the cup and put it on the floor near his plate without a word.

"Did you eat?" Kerone was asking as she pulled the sandwiches out of stasis. "Do you want anything now?"

"Already ate," Zhane answered. "Can't make a sandwich for someone else without making one for myself, so hey, I've had two." His voice was still even and casual, and she realized suddenly that he was trying to avoid spooking Kae, but he winked at them as he said it.

"Thank you," Ashley said with utter relief, accepting a full plate from her friend and tempted to kiss Zhane right then. "Zhane, you're my favorite person ever. I'm starving."

"Kae too," Kerone added, sitting down beside her. "Obviously. They offered us something to eat there, but none of us wanted to stay any longer than we had to."

"Hard day, huh." Zhane didn't even bother to make it a question. He scooped most of the rest of the fruit off the counter and deposited it on the plate beside Kae. The remaining pieces were apparently for him, since he leaned on the counter and started munching while they devoured their sandwiches.

Both of them, Ashley noticed. Kerone was paying more attention to her food than usual. Of course, after seeing her throw her magic in every direction on the Dark Fortress for several days at a stretch, maybe that wasn't so surprising. And there certainly hadn't been a lot to eat while they were there.

"For everyone," Kerone was saying with a sigh. "What's going on here?"

"Mmm--" Zhane gestured with a piece of fruit before swallowing quickly. "Andros is finishing his flyby, and Ty's out talking to the PD. Took my place," he added, at her curious look. "I'm supposed to be entertaining the Earth Rangers."

Ashley considered that. "I'm entertained," she said, a moment later. "I guess that counts." Sliding off of her stool, she added, "Anyone want something to drink?"

"Water, please," Kerone called after her.

"The same," Zhane added. "Thanks, Ash."

Ashley waved a dismissal at them, and she heard Kerone ask, "Should I wonder where the Earth Rangers are, then?"

"Oh, did I imply that I had done something terrible to them?" Zhane didn't sound chagrinned. "My mistake. Tessa and TJ left early, something about missing work; I didn't catch all of it. Karen's out with Carlos and Gabe, showing them some tourist-y thing that's probably all they'll remember of KO-35 for years."

"Maybe not all," Ashley said over her shoulder. "Carlos won't forget last night's culture shock so quickly."

"It's not culture shock," Zhane said crossly. "If he can make it on Aquitar--they don't even kiss there! It's unbelievable! Then he comes here and he's shocked because, what, Andros occasionally manages to smile at more than one person a day?"

"It still surprises me," Kerone put in, and Ashley turned around in time to see them smirk at each other.

She shook her head as she crossed the kitchen space, sliding her triangle of three glasses on to the counter beside Zhane before pushing them in the appropriate directions. "Whatever it is," she declared, "I'm glad you're here, Zhane. Family support is way more complicated than we thought, and we're going to have to have some kind of team meeting."

"So I'm the team now?" Zhane suggested, lifting his glass to her in appreciation. "I'm not against that."

Ashley rolled her eyes at Kerone, who actually giggled. She must be relaxing, finally, after hours on end of listening to Kae scream. Ashley was feeling a little better too, now that she noticed it. She attributed it to the quiet familiarity of the hangar. And the food. The food had definitely helped.

"You're the team," Kerone agreed, smiling as she peered over the counter to check on Kae. "We wanted to talk to you first anyway. Andros isn't going to be happy, and I have no idea what Ty will say."

Zhane didn't look surprised. "Better hurry," he suggested. "Andros is on his way back. Half the planet's under quarantine, and he doesn't have Kristet to keep him busy."

Their public relations agent was taking some well-deserved time off after the ID portal disaster. Ashley already missed her. She could have been a big help right now, deciphering what family support actually needed from them and what they just wanted, but that wasn't technically her job. They would muddle through on their own somehow.

"I have to move," Kerone told Zhane.

"We have to move," Ashley put in firmly. "You're not going anywhere alone."

Zhane looked from one of them to the other. "We have to move?" he repeated, unfazed. "Or they have to think we moved?"

"There's someone coming to assess Kae's 'home environment'--" She made little finger quotes around the words. "In three days. Assuming they have enough vaccinated counselors to spare for house rounds by then."

"Ah." Zhane finished off the apple slice he'd been holding with a flourish. "So they just have to think we moved. That's easy enough, right?

"Come on," he added, when Ashley just stared at him. "We all knew we needed a vacation home. How 'bout a cottage somewhere? On the beach? Near a good school?" he suggested with an ingenuous smile.

At a total loss, she glanced over at Kerone when she felt her friend lean in to whisper in her ear. "Are you disturbed by the way his mind works?" Kerone murmured, easily loud enough for Zhane to hear. "Because I don't know if I should feel guilty for wanting to laugh or not."

He knew he was in trouble the moment he walked through the door. Kerone and Ashley were back, so that was good. Zhane was with them and Carlos was nowhere in sight, and that was also good. What was bad was the way the girls were looking over their shoulders at him, and Zhane was just following their gazes with an amused expression. None of them so much as waved, let alone called hello.

*I should just turn around right now, shouldn't I,* he thought at all of them. There was a moment during which all three of them exchanged glances, and he was sure the answer was going to be yes.

Then Ashley called, "Was that to all of us?"

He shrugged, wondering whether he should worry more that she thought that was significant or that she hadn't answered the question. "I guess that depends on whether you all heard me or not," he remarked, striding into the kitchen and belatedly catching sight of Kae.

"Hi Kae," he said, figuring it was better not to ask. All of Kae's dishes were on the floor, and he was tracing a sticky design on his plate in fruit juice. He also wasn't crying, screaming, or hitting anyone, and that won over all other concerns.

"You know," Zhane offered, an odd note in his voice. "Ty mentioned something you said at that party in Quon a little while ago."

Andros paused, his back to them. Then he shrugged, reaching for last night's leftovers and pouring himself a glass of water to go with them. "Did he also mention that if he told anyone I promised to deny it?"

There was the sound of a glass being set down with an emphatic thump. "Now that," Zhane declared, "right there. That is a sign that we're in a different dimension. Andros and Ty keeping secrets, with each other, from the rest of us."

Andros grimaced at him over his shoulder, and he caught Zhane's smug smile in return. "I'll call Justin," the Silver Ranger warned. "Or JT, or Jay, or whatever he calls himself here... I'll call him, and you know what I'll say?"

"You'll say, my name is Zhane and I'm mentally unbalanced," Andros grumbled, digging around until he found utensils. "He asked a question, and I answered it. That's all."

"What question?" Ashley wanted to know.

"Are you a telepath," Kerone said quietly.

Andros turned around, surprised by her tone. Ashley, too, was looking from one of them to the other with a slightly hurt expression on her face. "Am I the only one who didn't know about this?"

Kerone managed a smile at that, but she didn't look up. "I just guessed."

"No," Andros said. His voice was louder than he'd meant it to be. "No," he repeated awkwardly, when they all looked at him. "He asked if it was genetic. Telepathy, is it genetic. That's what he asked."

"Yes." Kerone lifted her head then, and she stared at him from her place on the other side of the counter. She straightened without seeming to notice. "It is, isn't it."

He nodded slowly.

She took a deep breath, then smiled at all of them as she let it out. "Well, that destroys a long held belief about my childhood, but I think I'll be all right. What about you?" She was looking at him again.

Her acceptance made him smile. "I'll get over it," he promised, picking up his improvised lunch and heading over to join them. "So what were you all looking so guilty about when I came in?"

It wasn't a subtle change of subject, but it was an effective one. Even a little too effective, if that was possible. Because anything that could get their attention that quickly had to be big and Ashley hadn't, after all, answered the question. Maybe he would have been better off to turn around at the door.

"Well," Zhane said at last, "since we're talking about childhood beliefs... would you have wanted to grow up in a zord bay?"

Andros raised his eyebrows, considering the implications of that as he took a seat on the other side of the counter.

"Okay," Zhane said quickly. "Bad question. Do you think anyone else would have wanted to grow up in a zord bay?"

His lips twitched, and he rolled his eyes in an effort not to smile. "I wasn't always a Ranger, you know."

The effort failed completely when Zhane remarked, "You were to me." The words were serious and sincere and just the slightest bit awkward in the face of the girls' interest.

"You can stop softening me up any time now," Andros told him. His smile turned rueful at Zhane's wounded expression, but he didn't take it back. "What's going on? Is this about the meeting with family support?"

"They want to see where Kae lives." Ashley jumped in, but he didn't miss the grateful look she shot Zhane. "On a regular schedule, starting three days from now; they want to send someone to check on him and see how he's doing."

"And he'll have to be enrolled in school," Kerone added. "If he needs extra help or tutoring, or counseling, they'll have to come to his home too."

"Don't forget friends," Zhane said, sounding almost cheerful. "Friends' parents, friends' siblings... we're talking serious unauthorized traffic. And pets. What about pets? The cats won't like pets."

Kerone gave Zhane an exasperated look. "He doesn't need a pet."

"Says you," he countered.

Mouth full, Andros tapped the counter to get their attention. He waved at them, not about to watch Zhane and Kerone get into a ridiculous argument over child-rearing when they were discussing something that sounded serious. "I assume," he said, when he could talk again, "that you have some ideas about this?"

He pointed at Zhane before the Silver Ranger could reply. "Not the pet," he said, forestalling the most obvious answer. "You know what I mean."

Zhane pretended the thought hadn't even occurred to him. "Here's what happened," he said, glancing at the girls. "Ash signed all the forms as Kae's second guardian. So basically, either the two of them move out with Kae and we stay here, or the two of them move out with Kae and we go with them."

"Wait--" Andros frowned, trying to catch up in five seconds or less. "We're sure that moving is necessary?"

"Did you hear us listing all the people who might need to access to Kae at home?" Zhane countered. He wasn't kidding anymore.

"It's a security issue," Kerone agreed. "Completely aside from what Kae might need or want."

"Which is just as important," Ashley said firmly. "The hangar's a fun place to hide, but it's not such a great place to grow up."

Andros tapped the end of his fork against the counter, thinking. The hangar had been their refuge when the hostels' lack of privacy had driven them out. It had seemed welcoming and permanent and very much their own compared to the temporary housing they had gotten used to. Like the Megaship, though, the hangar was a place of war in a world of peace.

"We'll need to talk to Ty," he said at last.

He saw Ashley and Kerone exchanging glances out of the corner of his eye, but Zhane was watching him carefully. "You're okay with this."

Andros wasn't even remotely sure what "this" was. "No one on this team is going to be ready to move in three days," he said, reaching for his glass.

"Um--" Ashley seemed suddenly uncertain. "Zhane suggested calling it a vacation home." She sounded like she thought cheerfulness might cover up her doubt. "So that we could sort of... I don't know. Maybe move a little at a time? So it wouldn't be so abrupt?"

"Are you all coming?" Kerone interrupted. "When you say 'we,' who do you mean?"

Andros raised his eyebrows at her. "Are some of us not welcome?"

She sighed, as though he was being deliberately obtuse. "I'm not excluding anyone. I just want to know whether we're all talking about the same thing. Is this going to be a house for Kae to grow up in, or is it just a new base of Ranger operations?"

Andros glanced around. His sister wasn't the only one looking at him expectantly. Ashley wore a disturbingly serious expression, as though his answer determined her future, and Zhane looked like he already knew what Andros would say. The Silver Ranger looked mildly impatient, actually, and Andros raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" Zhane wanted to know. "It's a fair question. The kid needs a home, not just a room in the back of our command center."

"Is there a difference," Ashley said slowly, "between all of us living together here, at the hangar--the way we did on the Megaship--and all of us... living together, in a house somewhere?"

Zhane's impatience turned on her, but now it was tempered with amusement. "Of course there is. That's the whole question, isn't it? Are we just a team, or can we be a family?"

In the moment of quiet that followed, the movement by the end of the counter was unmistakable. Andros looked over to see Kae hovering beside Kerone's stool. "Kerone," the boy said, very softly.

"Yes?" she replied, as though he asked for her attention everyday.

He was staring up at her, blue eyes wide and worried. "Can Ship come?"

He knew what they were talking about. Andros shook his head at himself, wondering what could possibly have made him forget that Kae was a person too. Not just a silent shadow, not just a broken slave, but a child who knew perfectly well what was going on around him and wanted to be involved.

"DECA?" Kerone was saying. She lifted her head to look around, a habit they had all gotten into since DECA started projecting a hologram to go with her voice again. "We have a question for you."

The hologram in question walked out of the library to join them. It was an odd sort of illusion, that perhaps she had just been over there until they called, instead of not really being anywhere until she chose to be for some reason. "What question is that?" the AI asked, doing a convincing impression of curiosity for someone who had sensors everywhere.

"Come with us," Kae said, more forcefully than usual. He looked abashed when DECA's hologram looked down at him and he lowered his head, but he didn't back up.

"That is not a question," DECA remarked. Her tone was gentle, though, and Kae looked up again.

"Will you?" he pleaded.

"Certainly." DECA's hologram smiled at him. "Where the Rangers are, I am. I will always go with you."

Andros set his fork down when he realized he hadn't eaten a thing since Kerone asked what they were doing. "We won't always be Rangers," he said aloud.

They were all looking at him again. He didn't know what else to say.

It was Ashley who came to his rescue. "We can always be a family," she said quietly.

He found himself nodding, and he didn't plan to say it and he didn't really know what it meant but he said it anyway. "Yeah," he agreed, and he saw Zhane grin out of the corner of his eye. "We can."

Never one to ignore the hard questions, Kerone asked, "What about Ty?"

She was looking at Zhane, and on some level that annoyed Andros.

Zhane's grin had vanished, but his expression hadn't closed down entirely. "Ty's a part of this until he says he isn't," he declared. "Just like the rest of us."

"A vacation home, huh?" Gabe looked incredulous and amused at the same time, like he thought they might be kidding with him and the punch line was coming any minute. "I hope you're not going to try to top this place for square footage."

"I hope we're not going to have this many stairs," Ashley put in. She hated to admit that there were times when she missed the Megaship's lift system. Even the hostel hadn't had as many stairs at the hangar. "Is there any way we can find a place that's all on the same level?"

Zhane gave her a curious look. "You love heights. I thought the catwalk was one of your favorite things about this place."

"I love being on the catwalk," she told him. "I don't love getting to it."

"I'd look for more windows," Karen offered. "Not that it's going to be my house or anything, but it's seriously gloomy in here sometimes. Especially in the morning, before anyone's turned the lights on, and the rooms upstairs are all sunny but as soon as you step out here, bang. Total darkness."

"Wait," Ty interrupted. "You want a house for six people to be all on one level?"

Ashley looked up, and of course he was looking at her. "What?" she protested, trying not to smile. "My parents have a one-story house, and we fit five people in it."

"You fit a lot more than that over the holidays," Andros remarked. He was sitting on the near side of the library, close enough to listen in but too far away to really be part of the group. Kerone and Kae were building something on the other side. "I'm not sure the six of us are that close yet."

Ashley had to laugh. "My family's not that close either," she admitted. "Cassie didn't move in until after Jeff moved out, and believe me, no one wants to live the way we do during the holidays all year long."

"Our house has two floors, counting the basement," Gabe commented. "Of course, Carlos doesn't even live on Earth anymore, so he doesn't take up much space."

Andros wasn't the only one who had pulled away from the group. Carlos was on the opposite side of the living area, leaning up against the end of the kitchen counter as he watched their discussion. He hadn't added much to the conversation, but he didn't ignore his brother's jibe. "Hey, it's summer vacation on another planet," he said with a shrug. "All the cool kids are doing it."

"That's right!" Karen declared, raising her right fist in a "power" gesture. "Broaden your horizons! Or find new ones."

"Speaking of horizons," Ty put in, "please tell me that moving to the city isn't an option."

Ashley glanced at Zhane, but Andros spoke before either of them could. "Absolutely not," he said, without looking up from his reader. "I'm happy with anything you choose, as long as it's not in the city."

"Define city," Zhane argued. "Can we have neighbors? Traffic? Streets? Anything is 'the city' compared to here."

"Yeah, you guys live in the sticks," Karen agreed.

"The sticks?" Ty repeated.

Karen paused. "I have no idea where that expression comes from," she said after a moment. "But it basically means you're the only thing here. Hicksville, the backwoods, out past Robinhood's barn. That kind of thing."

"Okay," Zhane informed her, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Define city," he said again, looking at Ty this time. "Streets? Buildings? When we look out the window, what do you not want to see?"

"I don't have a problem with streets," Ty declared. "Or neighbors. As long as they're... well, when I look out the window, I don't want to see them looking in. That's all."

"I want to be able to stand outside and look around without them looking back," Andros said firmly. "I want to be able to walk out the door and not see anyone."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Zhane asked rhetorically.

"What about trees?" Ashley wanted to know. "I mean, what if there are trees or something blocking the view? Is it physical distance that matters, or are they far enough away if you can't see them?"

"I don't want to see them," Andros repeated. "They can be up the road or around the corner, but I don't want to see them unless I go looking for them."

"Okay, so privacy." Zhane was back in the game. "The city is bad, and privacy is important. Which probably rules out the beach, too," he added, "but that's okay because I'm not sure Kae could survive within sight of massive amounts of water."

"And no stairs," Ty put in.

"No," Ashley said with a laugh. "Stairs are fine. Just, please, fewer stairs than here. That's all I ask."

"Stairs okay." Zhane pretended to check something else off. "Windows? Did we vote on windows?"

"Windows are good," Ashley agreed.

"Very good," Ty seconded.

"And Ty needs a greenhouse," Ashley added, grinning.

"Privacy, windows, greenhouse," Zhane echoed. "Any other essential points we should consider?"

"Yeah." Carlos' voice cut through his humor. "How many bedrooms?"

There was a quiet moment, and Ashley found herself trying to come up with a realistic answer to that question. She hated the awkwardness that settled over their fun, and she wished, not for the first time, that Carlos and Gabe had already left. She felt guilty for not wanting them around, but at the same time--

"Well, let's see," Zhane said abruptly. "That should be easy enough." He straightened up, craning his neck as he looked around. He pointed at each of them in turn as he counted off, "One, two, three, four, five, six. There are six of us, right? So, six rooms."

"Yeah," Ty put in. "That's not going to work on one level."

"I said there could be stairs," Ashley said quickly. "Didn't I? I remember allowing stairs."

"A more important question," Karen said with a grin, "is how many bathrooms? Don't get me wrong, I love the setup you guys have here... but you're not going to find that in a traditional house."

In that moment, Ashley realized that Karen knew exactly what was going on and didn't mind at all. Maybe she should have known that before--and maybe she had. Maybe they all had, and that was why Karen was still staying with them while her teammates were being wished back home. But she had never fully appreciated it until right now.

"At least half of us need to be able to shower at once," Zhane was saying. "So at least three bathrooms. Everyone can share with one other person, right?"

"Plus a guest bathroom," Ashley reminded him.

Zhane pointed at her. "Good. That's true. Four bathrooms.

"I'm going to start a list," he added, looking around. "Anybody have a geographic preference? Does it matter whether we stay near Keyota or not? The zords are here."

"I like Keyota," Ashley offered.

Ty shrugged. "I'm open."

"Me too," Zhane agreed. "Sibling set?"

"And by that I assume you mean us?" Andros asked. He sounded amused, but it hadn't taken him any time to figure it out. "Keyota is home." There was a pause, and then he remarked, "Kerone is nodding."

Ashley glanced over toward the library just as Kerone looked up, put a finger to her lips, and pointed at the structure Kae was constructing. *He says noise will make it fall down,* she explained silently. *But I like Keyota too.*

"Okay," Zhane announced, proving that he had heard her too. "Somewhere in the vicinity of Keyota we will find a private house with six bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a lot of windows."

"I have to ask this," Gabe interjected. "And I feel kind of ridiculous doing it, but... Are you guys kidding?"

"Nope," Zhane said cheerfully. "Oh, and a greenhouse. Forgot that."

"You're kidding," Gabe said, with more confidence. "You must be, because that's the craziest thing I've ever heard. You're just going to go find a mansion and move in? Just like that?"

"It's not really a mansion..." Ashley trailed off uncertainly. "Is it?"

Ty was there to back her up. "More of a vacation home," he said, with a straight face.

"A cottage," Zhane agreed. "Just think of it as a little mountain hideaway."

"This is your idea of a mountain hideaway," Gabe pointed out. "This, right here. This place would be right at home in the Angel Grove warehouse district."

"And that," Zhane said, pointing at him this time, "is exactly our point. We're looking for something a little more home-like."

"I've heard Rangers don't pay for things on other planets," Gabe said, shaking his head. "But this is crazy."

"Who says we don't pay for it?" Zhane wanted to know. There was an edge in his voice that hadn't been there before, and he was giving Gabe an irritated look. "Do you remember where you were yesterday? Do you know where I was? What I was doing? Most of my team and all of yours were in a slave dimension, and I was trying to keep this entire planet from being invaded, destroyed, and infected by a deadly plague.

"Not always in that order," he added as an aside. "Still, it was work. And maybe this is just me, but I remember it being fairly stressful, moderately skilled work, which also carried with it the very real possibility of failure and death. Also not necessarily in that order.

"So," Zhane concluded, now addressing a more somber audience. "Let's just say that if I was employed by the Planetary Defense, my hazard pay alone would cover this little house we're looking for. Okay?"

In the silence that followed, a sound from the kitchen drew their attention. Carlos had shifted, unfolding his arms as he left his place by the counter to join them. "I guess," he said quietly, "sometimes we get so used to the way things are that we forget what's important."

Ashley looked up to smile at him, and he put a hand on the back of her chair. "If you want a second opinion on any of these houses," he told her, "we don't have to get back right away."

"Really?" She heard the offer for what he meant it to be: a peace offering in the midst of uncertainty. His, and if she admitted it to herself, maybe some of her own, too. Her entire future had changed since just this morning, and Carlos' tacit acceptance would mean a lot to her. She glanced over at Gabe questioningly.

"Are you kidding?" He was grinning. "I work at a Ranger-run dojo. One of the only places in the world where the 'kidnapped by aliens' excuse actually works."

She looked back at Carlos, and he just shrugged. "Hey, who hasn't wanted to go house-hunting for a mansion?"