They had less than a day before family support was due to check up on them when Zhane was reminded that he lived with people who didn't do anything a little at a time. The reminder came in the form of music, pounding through the very conductive walls of the hangar like the alert system gone haywire. Music that started before he was fully awake, although for obvious reasons that state didn't last very long.

He stared up at the ceiling through the glittering tulle Ashley had draped over his hammock two days ago and considered his options. In the end, though, there was really only one that was realistic. Or any fun at all.

So Zhane wandered out of his room in his pajamas, leaned over the catwalk railing, and observed the chaos taking place below for about a second and a half. That was all the time it took for him to figure out what was happening. He should have known better than to suggest half measures to the people who had joined a rebellion in another dimension because they had nothing better to do.

"Hey, Ash!" he shouted over the music, waving when she looked up from the middle of her book-and-furniture collection. "I thought you were going to take the morning off!"

She laughed. "I did! It's practically lunch time!"

Zhane was the only one not down there already, and he concluded that the music had been aimed mostly at him. He opened his mouth to protest her definition of "morning off" when a recorded voice came on over the noise. "They've got a power and a force that you've never seen before..."

He would have written it off as one of Ashley's inspirational music choices if the next line hadn't made him doubt what he was hearing. "They've got the ability to morph and to even up the score..."

"What's with the music?" he called down to her, and by now they had gotten Carlos' attention. The Black Earth Ranger must be helping her move things around, because his activity was clearly on hold without her.

"Isn't it great?" Carlos shouted over the sound of the orchestra. "No one will ever take them down--" "We have our own theme music!"

Zhane stared down at them in disbelief. "What is this?" he wanted to know. "Is this from Earth?" Earth didn't even know who its Rangers were. How did they have theme music?

"Yes!" Ashley called cheerfully. "Come down here and help us, and we'll tell you all about it!"

He chuckled at her not very convincing effort at bribery. "I think you overestimate how much I care," he told her, but then he heard "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," and there had to be good joke material in this story so he added, "I'll be right down."

He wasn't right down, because he knew them and he'd been doomed the moment he left his room. The least he could do was shower and change before he subjected himself to what was probably Andros' definition of a strategic move. From one base of operations to another--no matter their need for a kid-friendly environment--Andros would see this as something to be accomplished in as short and efficient a time as possible.

By the time he made his way into the kitchen, which Kae was currently helping Ty tear apart, the music had calmed down a little. He did hear "I've got the Power" periodically, but it was easier to talk over than whatever had been on before. He grinned when Ty rolled his eyes, then glanced over his shoulder when Ty's silence warned him of Andros' approach.

Andros greeted him with a distracted smile. "Kae," he said, gaze flicking to Ty and then down to the boy. "Kerone needs some help with the workroom."

Kae looked at Ty too. Ty just nodded, and the boy set down the pan he'd been carrying and scurried off without a word. His former supervisor waited until he had disappeared behind the workroom door to sigh.

"Thank you," Ty said fervently, and Andros' smile returned.

"We'll take turns," he promised. "Thanks for keeping him away from the knives."

"Thanks for giving him to me before we'd sent all the food over," Ty returned. "Every time he moved something useful, I gave him a cracker. Surprisingly effective."

"Let's add that to the very short list of ways to get Kae to behave," Andros said, and they exchanged commiserating glances that made Zhane shake his head in amusement. How Andros and Ty had managed to bond over anything, let alone a child, was still more of a mystery to him than it should be.

"Speaking of," and now Andros was eyeing him. "If you want to eat here, you should probably do it soon. We're about to start moving the second round, and I'm pretty sure that includes the rest of the food."

"The second round?" Zhane repeated. "Actually--" He thought about that, then backed up. "Moving?"

"I'd love to know what you think we're doing," Ty said with a grin. "If not moving everything we own from one side of Keyota to the other."

Zhane looked around, but there didn't seem to be any good answer to that. "Me too," he said at last. "Just out of curiosity, have you even seen the house that we're apparently half moved into yet?"

Andros and Ty looked at each other again, and at the exact same time, they both shrugged. It would have been enough to make Zhane laugh if he wasn't so busy rolling his eyes. This was exactly why he and Ashley had picked the house.

"We saw it," Ty said, like he didn't see why it mattered. "It has plenty of space."

"And privacy," Andros agreed. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "It's great. Thanks for finding it."

Zhane reminded himself that he didn't love them because they understood the social implications of living with a large group of unrelated people. This was easier to remember when Ty offered to drop what he was doing and make him breakfast. Andros raised his eyebrows but for once didn't comment, so Zhane happily took him up on it.

They were dawdling over the remains of the impromptu meal, mostly ignoring the chaos around them, when Karen and Gabe appeared. Literally, appeared right in the middle of the hangar's living space, narrowly missing the furniture gathered in the center of the library. DECA must be teleporting them today, Zhane decided.

"Hi!" Karen called, as though the rest of the hangar might not have noticed their arrival. "We have good news and bad news!"

"And interesting news," Gabe put in. "Unrelated to the first, I might add."

"Good news first," Ashley said, hopping up on top of the kitchen counter. All the stools had been collected off to one side.

"Hello," Zhane said, moving his glass out of her way.

She grinned down at him. "Hello."

She'd picked the right direction, though, because Gabe was joining them in the kitchen with a plate of something that looked very edible. "Good news," he agreed. "Your neighbors make great cookies."

"Bad news," Karen remarked, following him into the kitchen. "Your neighbors have figured out someone's moving in."

"And," Gabe concluded, "interesting sidenote: did you know there's a campground out behind your house?"

Ashley looked down at him curiously, and Zhane smiled.

"What kind of campground?" Ty wanted to know.

"Tent sites," Karen said, snagging a cookie from the plate Gabe had just set down. "Maybe. Places that look like they used to be cleared, anyway, down by the river. It's pretty overgrown, but you can see where there used to be paths, and we found a sign."

"River?" Ty looked surprised. "I didn't know there was a river."

"That's what you get for not looking before you move in," Zhane informed him.

"What does the sign say?" Carlos asked, leaning on the counter beside Ashley. "What kind of cookies are these?"

"The good kind," Karen told him.

"Did you talk to the neighbors?" Andros wanted to know, finally joining them in the kitchen. He gave the plate of cookies a fleeting, possibly suspicious, glance.

Before Zhane could reach around Ash to prove the cookies weren't poisonous, she picked one up and passed it to him. She winked when he thanked her, and it reminded him of their missing teammate. Their two missing teammates, if he counted Kae.

"Hey, Astrea!" Zhane shouted, leaning back from the counter so he didn't deafen anyone. "Cookies!"

"We don't actually know that it was neighbors who left them," Gabe admitted, and Ashley stopped with a cookie halfway to her mouth.

"Oh, please," Karen said, rolling her eyes. "We had DECA check them first. They're fine."

"They were left on the doorstep when we got back from scouting the campground," Gabe added. "With a welcome note."

"Oh, right." Karen straightened up and fished something out of her pocket. "'Welcome to Wayward.' Is that the name of the neighborhood or the street or something? We saw it on the sign, too."

"It's the name of the campground," Zhane corrected. "Wayward Commune. The neighborhood grew up around it as the kids who lived there moved out."

"What's going on?" Astrea emerged from the workroom with Kae trailing behind her, her gaze settling on the group in the kitchen. "Did you say cookies?"

"Cookies," Ashley agreed delightedly. "From the neighbors!"

"Or whoever," Gabe added.

"They're good, too." Zhane floated first one cookie, then a second, over the rapidly closing distance between Astrea and the kitchen. She passed the first one to Kae, who didn't look particularly excited about it, and actually took the second one for herself. Zhane hadn't been sure she was eating today.

"How late did you stay up last night doing research?" Ashley asked, distracting him from his cookie levitation. "I didn't mean I had to know right away!" But she looked happy about it anyway, and so he brushed it off.

"Maybe I wanted to know," he suggested with pretend indignation. "Did you ever think of that?"

"How late?" she insisted, nudging him with her knee.

"Later than you," he replied, because what did it matter when they'd let him sleep all morning? "Don't worry, you made it up to me by doing all this--" He waved his hand at the hangar. "Moving stuff."

"There's still plenty left for you," Andros put in. He'd deigned to take a cookie, though he hadn't actually bitten into it yet. "Don't expect us to pack up your room for you."

"No?" Zhane gave him a look of mock-surprise. "Not even for cookies?"

Andros smiled at his nonsensical joke, Ashley passed him another cookie, and Zhane decided that it was going to be a good day.

"Hey." Ashley found him in the exercise room downstairs, stowing the equipment DECA had teleported over from the hangar. "Busy?"

"Just finishing up," Andros promised, stepping out of the way to let her peer into the equipment room. "What do you think?"

"Very nice," she said, giving it a cursory look. He smiled to himself. Ashley didn't care how their gear was arranged as long as she could find her own. But she was perfectly happy to let him care.

"We're going to want new mats down here," he added. Surveying the exercise room again, he wondered aloud, "What do you think about bringing over the ones from the hangar?"

"These are too old?" Ashley didn't wait for an answer before she kicked her shoes off and bounced on the nearest mat experimentally. It cracked a little under her feet. "Yeah," she said, catching his eye. "I see what you mean."

"I think ours would fit," he remarked. "At least most of them. We could store the extras up against the wall as replacement mats."

"Sure," Ashley agreed, following his gaze. "I'll help you stack them up for DECA, if you want. And lay them out again down here."

"That'd be great." He almost asked if she'd help haul out the old ones before he remembered she'd wanted to know if he was busy. "Did you want help with something first?"

"No, just a question." She hesitated, wrinkling her nose. "This is weird," she said with a self-conscious laugh. "It's weird with Zhane, but it's even weirder with you, because we don't ever talk about it."

She had his full attention. "What's weird?"

"Um..." Ashley pushed her hair back over her shoulder, a gesture Andros had seen a hundred times before. But now, all of a sudden, he identified it. Kerone did the same thing when she was nervous. It had been one of Astronema's tells.

"The bedroom thing," Ashley said quickly. "Zhane and I are taking rooms upstairs. Do you want one?"

Andros frowned, caught off guard. "A bedroom?"

"A second bedroom," Ashley clarified. "Somewhere to... get away from everyone else, if you need to. There's three bedrooms upstairs, plus Ty's, so there's plenty of room."

She acted like he should know what she was talking about, but clearly he was missing something. "Why would I need a second bedroom?"

Ashley gave him an odd look. "Zhane did talk to you, right? About the master bedroom thing, and--" She gestured in a way that didn't mean anything to him. "All that?"

"Master bedroom?" Andros repeated. Reassessing her expression, he added, "I... didn't know there was one?"

It might not have been the right answer, but it seemed to be close enough. Ashley broke into a smile, and she shook her head. "You guys really just took our word for it, didn't you. You didn't even look at the house."

"I've looked," Andros protested. "I'm looking right now. As we go. It's very nice."

"Yes, it is," Ashley agreed. She looked amused, which probably wasn't a bad sign. "And where are you going to sleep?"

"In... a bedroom?" he suggested.

This actually made her laugh. "Come on," she said, reaching for his hand. He let her pull him toward the far end of the room, and he was surprised to find a set of stairs there. Ashley started up them. "I want to show you something," she called over her shoulder.

At the top of the stairs, she paused to peer into whatever room was to her right. It should be the library, he figured, and the assumption was confirmed when he looked over her shoulder. Zhane was in there, entertaining Kae while Kerone fussed with computers and readers and the occasional actual book.

"Thanks for explaining about the bedrooms, Zhane," Ashley declared, hands on her hips as she stared at them from the doorway. Andros wondered where the Earth Rangers had gotten to.

"Sure thing," Zhane said distractedly. Then he looked up from whatever game he was playing and caught sight of her expression. "Oh," he said. "Right. Well, some things are better coming from a woman," he added with a grin.

Ashley stuck her tongue out at him before flouncing off in the other direction. Andros shrugged into the library, and Zhane shrugged back at him. Not without a smirk, but Andros didn't bother to ask--he got the feeling he was about to find out.

The room Ashley led him into was full of tile and mirror and a jacuzzi, which he eyed with interest. But Ashley kept going, calling back to him, "Master suite. Giant bathroom, has its own entryway, and also? There's a fireplace in the bedroom."

Andros wondered who got the master suite. He would have guessed Kerone, except that he was sure he had heard that she and Kae were sleeping downstairs. It should be Ashley, then. She obviously liked it, and--

He paused in the doorway, surprised. Ashley was standing in the middle of the room, arms folded, waiting impatiently for him to join her. "What?" he asked warily, stepping into the room. "You have that look."

It made her smile, even as she cocked her head to the side curiously. He told her without waiting for her to ask. "The one where you're about to ask me something I should have already answered."

Ashley laughed at that. "Well, maybe," she admitted, "but if you should have, then I probably should have too. Zhane surprised me with it last night."

"He's good at that," Andros agreed, considering the room more closely. "This is nice."

"Yeah," Ashley said, letting her arms fall as she turned to take it all in. "Apparently it's ours," she added, as she turned back to him. "Yours and mine and Zhane's. Which is why I was asking about second bedrooms."

It didn't sink in right away, and he just stood there staring at her for a moment.

"Yeah," she repeated, and now her smile seemed more relaxed. "That was pretty much my reaction, too."

"I didn't--" Andros stopped, then tried again. "I didn't really think about that."

"About sleeping?" Ashley suggested. It took him a second to realize she was teasing him, and by then she had added, "Or about all of us sleeping together?"

"I sleep," he informed her. "I just..."

Ashley only waited, more patiently this time.

"I didn't think about it," he repeated awkwardly. "I guess I just--I just figured it would be the same here as it was there. You know," he continued, when she didn't seem to, "everyone in their own room."

"Do you want it to be like that?" she asked, studying him.

"I didn't say that," Andros countered. "I said I didn't think about it, and I didn't. I didn't think about how it would change, or how it should change, I just--didn't think about it."

"Do you want to share a room with us?" Ashley wanted to know.

"Yeah," he said quickly. "Of course."

That made her sigh, but she smiled enough to make it seem more fond than annoyed. "It's not a test, Andros. I really want to know. I don't know if I want to share a room with you, if that makes you feel any better."

It was vaguely insulting, actually. "Why not?"

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Oh, I don't know. Because once I almost dislocated Zhane's shoulder after seeing you kiss? Imagine what I'd do if I saw you sleeping together."

"You've seen us sleeping together," he pointed out.

She raised her eyebrows at him, and he backed off. "Okay. Right. So this isn't just about being in the same room. It's about sex. Right?"

"It's been about sex for a long time," Ashley said quietly.

He was supposed to magically understand this? "Is this one of those things that you and Zhane talk about but you and I never do?" he demanded, suddenly suspicious.

Ashley shrugged a little. "Maybe," she admitted. "Not because I don't want to talk to you," she added quickly. "Just because--I don't know, I guess I'm too embarrassed to bring it up. But Zhane always asks me, so we end up talking about it."

Andros pointed at her. "Wait here," he told her.

He strode out of the room, cut back through the tiled room, and stuck his head into the library. Zhane was helping Kerone with something now, but if it was important they'd tell him. "Zhane, whenever you have a second."

Zhane didn't so much as look up. "Be right there." Important, then.

Andros made his way back into the bedroom. Ashley was over by the window, though she turned the moment he walked through the door. "Zhane's coming," he told her. "I want to talk about this, because until you guys tell me there's a problem, I can't try to fix it."

"It isn't about 'fixing,'" Ashley began, then hesitated.

Andros waited, because it sounded like it was about fixing to him.

"I guess, I was going to say it's about knowing," she said with a sigh, "but that's not really fair, is it."

"If there's something I'm supposed to know that I don't, then I think that needs to be fixed," Andros said evenly. "Maybe we could start with you guys telling me when there's a problem."

"Maybe we could start with you asking us," Ashley countered. "Did you really never think about what happens when you're locked in someone else's room? Am I allowed to knock when you're with Zhane? I don't know what you're doing. What if you and I are watching a movie and Zhane wants to talk to you about something? He doesn't know what we're doing--can he stop by and find out? Can he come in?"

She looked at him for a moment, then continued before he could think of anything to say. "Zhane and I have an open-door policy in our rooms, but you don't. Neither of us would just walk into your room without knocking because we don't know who else might be in there. Does that seem fair?"

"I didn't make up these rules," Andros pointed out, stung. "I didn't even know about them. How is it my responsibility to make them fair if you don't tell me what they are?"

"How can you not notice them?" Ashley demanded. "How can you just go along with whatever we do without ever asking, 'hey, is this okay with everyone?'"

"I don't understand why you're waiting for me to ask," Andros protested. "This isn't what I do, Ash; you know that! I fight, I plan, I train other people to fight and plan. I don't make friends, and I definitely don't pick up lovers!"

"And we're all thankful for that," Zhane drawled from the doorway. "You have plenty--imagine if you'd been trying."

Andros closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Zhane's mere presence diffused the situation slightly, and he realized what he was doing. He was yelling at Ashley for something he hadn't done. She was right, after all: he should have asked her. How hard was it to say, "how are you" and mean it?

"I'm sorry," Andros blurted out. "You're right, I should have asked."

Oddly, this made Ashley glare at Zhane. "Don't tell him to apologize!"

Andros blinked, and Zhane held up his hands in surrender. "I didn't. Really, I didn't, Ash."

"No," Andros said with a sigh. "He didn't, it's just--you're right. I didn't notice those things, but I could have asked if everything was all right. I just assumed you'd say something if it wasn't."

"We should have," Zhane said firmly. "We promised, all of us. We said we'd tell the truth, back when we started this, and lying by omission is just as bad as lying outright. We could all do better there."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to say," Ashley insisted. "I've never been in a relationship like this in my life! How do I know when something that seems unfair really is, and when it's just different?"

"You ask," Zhane told her. "That's it, you just ask. And if you asking makes someone uncomfortable, then it's their job to say so. It's not anyone's job to try and guess, okay? If we all speak up when we've got a problem and ask when we've got a question, maybe we could stop second-guessing everything we do."

"It's easy to say," Ashley said with a sigh.

"Yeah, it is," Zhane agreed. "But so is trying, if you stop worrying so much about being wrong. You're not right or wrong, you're just... I don't know." He obviously cast about for an appropriate phrase. "Better informed," he said at last.

There was a moment of silence, and then Ashley murmured, "I feel kind of childish right now."

"Well, I feel stupid," Andros said, smiling to show he was joking even if he wasn't totally, "but that's not unusual when I'm in a room with both of you."

Still in the doorway, Zhane shrugged. "I feel kind of hungry. Are we having lunch at some point?"

"You just ate breakfast!" Ashley exclaimed.

Andros crooked a finger at him. "Come in here," he ordered. "I want to talk about this sleeping together thing."

Zhane exchanged glances with Ashley. "This sounds like an interesting conversation," he remarked, as he did as he was told. "What did I miss?"

"The truth," Andros declared. "What you think about sleeping together, in this room, then sex. In this room," he added. "Go."

Zhane actually laughed. "Why do we have to go first?" he wanted to know. "We've already talked about it! I think you should go first."

"I like sleeping with both of you," Andros replied. "I want you--" He pointed at Zhane. "Not to wake me up when you come in at night, and I want you--" He pointed at Ashley. "Not to wake me up when you get up in the morning, but even with that, I like sleeping with you more than I like sleeping alone."

Ashley looked over at Zhane. "He's pretty good when you put him on the spot," she offered, smiling a little.

"He's good under pressure," Zhane agreed, and Andros rolled his eyes.

"When it comes to sex," he continued, determined not to lose his momentum, "I'm not comfortable with someone watching. But I'm not--totally against the idea of... everyone participating." And that was all he was saying.

Zhane nodded, like that was perfectly normal, and gave Ashley an inquiring look. "How 'bout you?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it again. "Pass?" she suggested, then shook her head. "No, wait. Okay--I've never slept with you," she told Zhane quickly. "I don't know if I'd mind or not. I guess... I'm willing to try."

"You don't have to guess," he interrupted. "Remember? You're willing to try or you're not. Both are fine."

"I'm willing to try," she said. "Sleeping together. Not sex. Sorry," she said, wrinkling her nose apologetically. "Sex is private."

"Okay," Zhane agreed easily. "Sex that you're involved in, or any sex? I'm just curious," he added, his eyes flicking to Andros before they went back to her. "Would you watch someone else having sex?"

"No." It was obvious that she didn't have to think about it. "Sex is private," she repeated. "I'm okay with the idea that you guys are sleeping--" She corrected herself. "Having sex, but if you're in here, then I'm going to be somewhere else."

"What about walking in?" Zhane asked. "If we're all going to share a room, we can't have anything but equal access. There's no locking anyone out, obviously. So is it okay with you if you walk in on sex? Can you come in and get something, or talk to us, or whatever you need?"

"Um... I'd rather not," Ashley said hesitantly. "Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," Zhane reminded her. "It's like Truth Or Dare, only without the dare. The only thing you apologize for is not telling the truth."

She managed to smile at that. "Well, I know better than to play Truth Or Dare with you after the last time."

Zhane just smirked. "So, my turn?"

Ashley nodded wordlessly.

"I'd have sex with either of you," he informed them. "And I don't care who's watching. Well--" He paused, then amended, "As long as they live in this house. And they're an appropriate age.

"Also," he continued, glancing at Andros, "kind of liking the idea of everyone participating, but--" And now he looked directly at Ashley. "I will never make a move on you that I think you're uncomfortable with, and if I do something you don't like, tell me.

"You don't have to worry about changing in front of me," Zhane added, "but I'll understand if you don't want to."

Ashley crossed her arms over her chest. She managed a smile for Zhane, though, and Andros wondered if Zhane had deliberately skipped to the sex part of the question. "What about sleeping together?" he prompted.

Oddly, that was where Zhane hesitated. "I don't really like sleeping with people," he said after a moment. "At least, not every night. But, hey." He smiled back at Ashley. "I'm willing to give it a try."

"You could put up your hammock," Ashley murmured, moving closer to nudge him with her shoulder. "That way you'd have choices."

"Yeah," he said, his smile widening. "Cause Andros really loves that hammock."

"You know why I don't like it," Andros said, rolling his eyes. "Because I don't want to sleep in it," he added, as an aside to Ashley. "It's fine if you sleep in it," he told Zhane.

"Good." Zhane nodded, pleased. He looked as though they had just solved several problems at once, instead of just starting to figure out what they were. "So are we all at least willing to try sleeping in the same room, sometimes?"

Andros opened his mouth to ask if even a positive answer really "fixed" anything, but Ashley was nodding and for some reason that made him pause. "I am," she agreed. Andros suddenly thought that she looked more comfortable than she had since this conversation had started. "Let's do it."

"Yeah," Andros said abruptly. Because seeing Ashley be positive about the idea was more surprising than it should have been, and he didn't want to mess that up. "I want to try too."

"Me too," Zhane declared. "So now we know." And Andros thought suddenly that maybe Ashley had been right after all, that it was more about knowing than about fixing.

"I was serious about lunch, by the way." Zhane was eyeing them both expectantly. "Unless there are any more looming interpersonal crises, I'm going to get something to eat."

"Go," Ashley said, bumping his shoulder again with a laugh. "Maybe you can get Ty to make you lunch, too.

"Oh, wait," she said suddenly. "The rooms upstairs--Andros, do you want one?"

"Doesn't matter," Zhane interjected. "He won't want ours anyway. The one in the back is at the top of the only useful stairs in the house, and it doesn't look out on the street. It's strategically significant and private at the same time. No need for us to wait on him to make a decision."

Andros looked from one of them to the other. "What?"

"We picked bedrooms upstairs," Ashley explained. "I thought it would be polite to wait and make sure you didn't mind getting stuck with the one in the back, but apparently it's the one you would have picked anyway."

A muffled knock prevented Andros from asking anymore questions. The door on the other side of the entryway swung open immediately, and there was a pause as whoever was out there figured out that there was another door. Then Karen stuck her head into the bedroom and asked, "Do any of you like lasagna?"

"Is that food?" Zhane wanted to know.

"Yeah," Karen said. "Your neighbors are good cooks."

It was a good legacy to inherit, Kerone decided, staring down the hill in the direction of the river. Trees obscured the water, but the remains of paths and various gathering areas could still be seen in the overgrowth nearer the house. There were crude arches and garden trellises and stone piles that she couldn't interpret. Most of all, though, there was the sense that something important had existed here, and she liked that.

Zhane seemed to like it too. He and Carlos had gone off, ostensibly to find the sign that Karen and Gabe had reported earlier, but probably mostly to explore. And maybe to get away from the house for a little while. It was a big house, and it absorbed them all easily, but Zhane especially seemed to be in demand today.

It was almost as though they were trying to make up for a Zhane deficit, Kerone mused. He had been conspicuously absent from JT's dimension, content to lay low the day after they returned, and then gone all of yesterday on his "secret mission." Now, suddenly, everyone needed him for something.

He hadn't actually moved a single thing himself. He had been too busy chatting or helping other people move things or explaining the history of the place where they now lived. Kerone didn't begrudge him the time off, wandering in the woods--she fully intended to move his things herself, if it came to that.

"Hey, Astrea!" The use of her nickname made her smile, and she looked around to see Ty hanging out the kitchen door. "Ash says you can waterproof things. Furniture?"

She nodded, glancing around the deck. "You want to put something out here?"

Ty grinned. "Anything from the hangar that you don't want for your rooms. Ash says she'll get nostalgic if we leave things behind and she has to see them every time she's over there. She's given her permission to leave the stools in the kitchen, but the rest of it has to come with us: the table, the bowl chair--"

"Oh, I want the bowl chair," Kerone interrupted. "The table would be fine out here, though. Is it inside?"

"Yeah, DECA dumped everything in the living room." Ty stepped back and held the door for her. "Did you get something to eat?"

"Just cookies," she admitted, slipping into the kitchen ahead of him. "Is there any of that lasagna left?"

"Sure is." Ty nodded toward the counter island where Gabe and Ashley were sitting, dishes pushed to one side as they pored over something spread out between them. "Lasagna, plus some fresh fruit someone dropped off a few minutes ago."

"Someone?" Kerone repeated, amused. There was a basket next to the lasagna casserole now, and it looked like it had more than one type of fruit in it. Homegrown, she wondered?

"They're not knocking," Ty explained. "Andros says he saw a kid leaving just after the fruit incident--I think he's lurking by the windows, trying to catch them in the act."

"Which is just silly," Ashley added, looking up from the papers she and Gabe were studying. "They must have figured out it was us, and they know they're not supposed to bother us when we're off-duty. So they're doing an anonymous housewarming."

"It's not anonymous enough," Andros grumbled, surprising them with his sudden presence, "if they know who we are." He must have just come down the stairs. There were, after all, windows on the landing.

"Oh, please!" Ashley was the only one who could laugh at Andros and make him look embarrassed instead of annoyed, Kerone thought. "Zhane was in and out all day yesterday, and he must have talked to a dozen different people. And the rest of us have been a lot less subtle today."

"Besides," Gabe added, "I think the kids come up here to play. There are tracks everywhere. The house has been abandoned for a while, right? Everyone in the neighborhood probably keeps an eye on it."

"They can stop now," Andros muttered.

Kerone glanced at Ashley, but this time she just smiled. Kerone's eye was drawn to the paper on the counter--not paper at all, but 2D pictures. "Photos?" she guessed, sliding onto a stool beside Gabe. "What of?"

"Ranger party," Gabe said with a grin. "Out at the Mega V base. Some of the SOS came, and KERI took pictures."

That was familiar, and Kerone frowned thoughtfully. "SOS... Significant others and siblings of Power Rangers?"

Gabe nodded, but Ashley was looking at her in surprise. "How did you know that?"

"Cassie told us." That didn't seem to mean anything to Ashley, so she thought back. "I guess you weren't there," she realized. "After the battle at Rysia, Zhane asked if borrowing the astromorphers had gotten anyone in trouble, and Cassie said everyone was used to the Rangers' SOS vanishing without explanation."

Ashley blinked. "Rysia? Really? Wow, that was... a year ago, at least. No--senior year. Two years ago. You really remember that?"

"I still recognize every quantron that ever served on the Dark Fortress," Kerone pointed out mildly.

"Yeah, because they glow," Ashley retorted.

Kerone smiled. "Better than a mnemonic."

Andros was serving himself a piece of lasagna and trying to peer over Ashley's shoulder at the same time. "What were you doing at the Mega V base?"

"Having a party, obviously," Ashley teased. "Did you want to be invited?"

"Moving the shuttle," Gabe answered. "Since Tessa stopped using it, NASADA's gotten kind of strict about who has access and when. TJ figured we could either fight about it or move it."

Andros accepted this without question, which Kerone wouldn't have expected if she'd had to guess, but he was leaning away from the counter to look back he way he'd come. He pulled out a couple of forks as he called, "Want something to eat, Kae?"

Kae's soft reply was actually audible in the kitchen, which was new and different and very welcome. "No," he answered.

"He's riding the elevator," Andros said, catching her wordless inquiry. He leaned on the counter across from her and pushed the plate into the middle. Nodding at the lasagna as he picked up one of the forks, he added, "Help yourself."

Kerone couldn't help the odd look she sent in Andros' direction. "The elevator?"

"Oh, come on." Ty paused in his idle reorganization of kitchen cabinets to give her a skeptical look. "You can't tell me you don't remember how fun elevators were as a kid. The door closes, you push a button, and hey! The door opens somewhere else."

"He shoots down velocifighters via holographic interface from a Power-enhanced battleship for fun," Andros remarked without looking over his shoulder.

"Yeah, but an elevator," Ty reminded him. "What's not fun about that?"

"Would you hand me another plate?" Kerone asked, sticking her fork into the lasagna. "And a knife and spoon?"

Andros did as she asked, though he gave her a puzzled look when she scooped out a small piece of lasagna and started crisscrossing it with the knife. She tilted her head toward the door he'd come through, keeping her voice quiet. "He needs to get used to being asked, but don't take his answers too seriously."

Everyone had stopped to listen, and she saw Ashley and Ty exchange glances. "Juice?" Ty asked at last.

She smiled. "Yes, thanks."

"Hey, guys," Karen called cheerfully, swinging through the door that led out to the skyport. "I finished moving my stuff downstairs. Anyone else want help?"

"We're taking a break," Ashley answered for all of them. "I want to send my parents a video of the house. Come help me decide what to tell them."

"'Hi Mom, I moved into a commune'?" Karen suggested. She leaned against the other end of the counter and added, "Someone with telekinesis, pass me a piece of fruit."

Ashley reached out before anyone else could, pointing at the bowl. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, a piece of fruit started to wobble into the air. It came toward Ashley, bobbing gently without dropping, and finally landed in her hand. She passed it to Karen with a flourish.

"Hey, impressive!" Karen exclaimed. Kerone clapped, and Ty joined in belatedly.

"The Center's really teaching you something," Ty said, grinning. "Maybe I should go."

"Kerone?" She looked down to see Kae with his hands on the stool next to her. She patted the stool to indicate that it was fine, and he climbed up without another word.

He reached for the plate with its chopped up lasagna and spoon with nothing but a sidelong glance around the counter, maybe checking to see if anyone would chide him for taking it. The best thing to do when he got like that seemed to be to ignore him, so she did. The rest of the Rangers followed her example.

"I can mostly just make things come toward me," Ashley was saying. "And that's pretty much my size limit. You should see some of the kids there, though--some of them can lift each other!"

"That would be useful," Ty said, giving Kae a significant look.

Kerone caught Andros' eye, and the smirk he gave her said he thought he could do it. "Don't you dare," she said, hoping her voice was calm enough that it wouldn't attract Kae's attention. "Or we'll see how much telekinesis you can do as a frog."

"That would be a good opening to your video," Karen put in. "'Hi Mom, hi Dad, here's my boyfriend! Isn't he looking... green?'"

"You could use a soundtrack," Ty offered. "Whatever you were playing before would be good. You could call your video 'Power Rangers: Real Estate.'"

"Alpha's song," Ashley said with a laugh. "I think that would make a good background for all of us running around, getting lost in our own house, and being surprised by mysterious neighbors bringing food."

Andros reached over and opened Kae's juice for him. "What song is this?" he wanted to know.

Ashley lifted her morpher. "DECA?" she asked. "Could you play Alpha's song for us?"

"Certainly, Ashley." DECA's voice was different over their morphers, but unfortunately duplicating the sensor net and projection system that she used at the hangar would take more time than they had left today.

"Ayiyiyiyi!"

Kerone blinked, but a singer's voice immediately replaced Alpha, echoing him. She had forgotten how much that phrase used to annoy her--yet strangely, hearing it now, it made her smile. The little robot had gotten in Astronema's way a hundred times, but after she had joined the Rangers he seemed to hold no grudges.

"This is Alpha's song?" Gabe sounded amused.

"It gets better," Ashley assured him. She was just in time.

"Alpha, we need your help--are you there?" Kerone's smile widened, and she couldn't help giggling when the singer continued, "Rita's evil curse is in the air..."

"Rita," she murmured to herself. "What's Rita doing now?"

At the same time, Karen asked, "Who's Pterodactyl?"

"Kim Hart," Gabe answered. "She comes by the dojo sometimes."

"You know I have no idea what you're talking about, right?" Ty's remark seemed to be addressed to the kitchen as a whole, but he happened to be looking at Gabe.

"Earth Rangers," Gabe offered. "Kim was the first Pink Ranger for our planet."

"She flew a pterodactyl zord," Karen put in. "She and her team were all dinosaurs, for some reason that I never really figured out. I like the spaceships better," she added.

"And..." Ty looked at them expectantly. "Who's Alpha?"

"Zordon's personal assistant," Ashley answered.

Andros snorted, and Ashley rolled her eyes at him. "Well, originally," she insisted, partly disguising her smile with mock-indignation. "He stayed on Earth when Zordon left, but Alpha came with us when we went looking for him later."

"He was your sidekick," Andros translated.

"He's a friendly robot who annoys you by being too smart," Ashley countered.

"He annoys me by being annoying," Andros informed her. "Ask Saryn. He'll tell you the same thing."

"DECA likes him," Ashley said, her smile more obvious now.

"When he's not beating her at chess," Andros agreed.

"He's a robot?" Ty interrupted. "Where is he now?"

"He was on Eltare last I knew," Ashley told him. "Justin works with him sometimes."

"Your interdimensional friend?" Ty just shook his head. "Yeah, Justin I remember. Is Alpha one of those Robot Rangers, then?"

"Kerone?" Kae said quietly. He was holding his juice bottle in one hand, but it didn't look like he'd had anything to drink from it yet. "Cup?"

"Would you like a cup?" she inquired. Ashley was still trying to explain what Alpha was to Ty, but Andros seemed to be staying mostly out of it so she got her brother's attention instead. "Would you hand me a cup for Kae?"

Andros glanced over his shoulder, opened a cabinet, pulled a cup out, and set it down carefully in front of Kae. All without touching it. Kerone couldn't help smiling. "Showoff," she teased.

"No," he said with a grin. "Pouring it for you would be showing off. I will if you want," he added, winking at her.

"Yes," Kae said.

Kerone glanced at him. "Do you want Andros to pour your juice for you?"

Kae squirmed forward on his stool and wrapped both hands around his cup. "Pour?" he said hesitantly. He was looking at Andros.

"Happy to help," Andros agreed. He looked particularly smug as the juice bottle rose up off the table and poured itself easily into Kae's cup. It tipped back about halfway through, cutting off the flow as it continued to hover in the air. "More?" Andros inquired innocently.

He really was an insufferable showoff sometimes, Kerone thought fondly.

"We've got a plan, we can make it without megazords--" The song in the background was almost as ridiculous as her brother's expression when Kae reached out and grabbed the juice bottle, spilling it all over the counter, and Kerone laughed aloud.

Her life hadn't gotten any less interesting when she left the Dark Fortress, she decided. As she watched Andros and Ty realize at the same time that neither of them knew where the towels were, she figured it wasn't any less entertaining, either. It was just a lot more important.