Disclaimer: Saban wasn't a whole lot of help in providing background for this one, but the characters originate there nonetheless :)

Ghost Stories
by Starhawk

There was one person who, on waking, had not sought out the companionship of the others. Instead of joining in either breakfast or the repair effort, Phantom had made his way to the hangar bay.

He knew he had to leave. He didn’t belong on the Megaship--he was no part of the Astro team. He was no part of any team, not anymore.

At the same time, he knew he *couldn’t* leave. As long as Cassie was here, a voice inside insisted that he belonged here as well. And over the last few days, that voice had grown too loud to ignore.

So he had come to the hangar, not to flee the other Rangers, but to seek respite from his own emotions. Before meeting her, he had not truly felt anything in years. Now his feelings seemed to intensify daily, and he had hoped the familiar sight of his starfighter would grant him some peace.

As soon as he saw his ship, though, he knew it was not to be. The fighter was not where he had left it. It was settled on the other side of the bay, and although the stabilization was correct, its alignment was slightly off--characteristic of an inexperienced pilot.

He sighed, placing one foot on the port thruster and grabbing the edge of the reinforced canopy to haul himself up. TJ had not mentioned that it was his ship Cassie had taken in search of their teammates.

Seating himself on the metallic hull, just in front of the canopy, he wondered if that made him feel better or worse about the risk she had taken. His ship was a known quantity--swift and sound, it had always served him well. Its size made it more maneuverable than most deep space ships, and the EM cloak had gotten him out of numerous scrapes.

On the other hand, the shielding, while excellent for a fighter, was nothing compared to that of the Megaship. And though a hull breach on the Megaship could be contained, such an occurrence on a fighter meant near-instant death.

Phantom closed his eyes, resisting the temptation to ask DECA, yet again, for Cassie’s location. *She is here, and she if safe,* he reminded himself. *That will have to be enough.*

Try as he might, however, he couldn’t make himself believe it. The words did not alleviate the sense of dread that filled him when he thought of her threading her way through a hostile army alone. Nor did they convince him that everything would work out simply because they were together again.

"Hey," a soft voice intruded.

He flinched, and his eyes flew open. Cassie stood by the nose of his fighter, gazing inscrutably up at him.

There had been a time when no one could sneak up on him, and now it had happened twice in as many days. There was no arguing that emotions dulled the senses--maybe that explained why he had been an unstoppable fighter in the years between Elisia and Earth.

"I didn’t mean to startle you," she apologized. "DECA told me you were down here, and I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"I am--" He caught himself just in time. "Closer to well," he finished, and was rewarded with her smile.

"I’m sorry..." She trailed off, gesturing with one hand, though whether at his ship or merely in apology, he couldn’t tell. "I’m sorry I took your ship without asking--I never would have if I had had a choice, I promise you. But Ashley and Andros were getting farther away every minute we waited, and you weren’t exactly in a position to grant or deny permission..."

"I could not deny you anything," he told her quietly, extending a hand to her. She took it without hesitation, stepping onto the thruster as he had done and letting him pull her the rest of the way up. "What amazes me is your ability to fly this ship at all."

Cassie settled herself beside him, pulling one knee up to her chest and wrapping her arms around it. "I’ve flown the Megaship before," she pointed out.

He had to smile at her complete innocence of what she had accomplished--on strength of will alone, apparently. "There is a good deal of difference between sitting at the helm of a battleship with an artificial intelligence that can run almost every system automatically, and piloting a fighter with only a navigation computer to help with calculations."

"But I had more than just the navcomp," she told him, turning her head to look at him. "I had you."

The way she said those last three words gave his heart pause, and he found himself staring at her for a long moment before he remembered to ask what she meant.

Cassie shrugged. "It must have been the link that you told me about. Somehow, I just knew how everything worked. Some of it I can put down to Megaship training, but you’re right--there’s no way I could have flown this ship without help."

He shook his head, baffled, and even more impressed with the courage that would drive her in the face of such an uncertain attempt. "That is not possible. You were light years from me. Empathy rarely works over such distances."

"Rarely?" she repeated. "Not never?"

Though she couldn’t know it, behind his visor, her eyes had locked with his and he couldn’t tear his gaze away. He couldn’t tell her that the kind of communication she was talking about happened only between lovers, and ones that had been together far longer than the two of them had, at that. But neither could he lie. "No," he admitted. "Not never."

She took a deep breath. "In that case--what were you feeling so guilty about yesterday evening?"

His eyes widened. "TJ told you?"

"What!" she exclaimed. Her eyes narrowed. "What did TJ have to do with it?"

"You did not--" He stopped. "How did you know?"

Even as he asked, he couldn’t help suspecting she had just told him the answer. Her next words confirmed it: "I just knew. I felt really guilty all of a sudden, for no reason--what did TJ *do*?"

He could see anger in her eyes, an expression so unlike her that it gave him pause. *She automatically assumes it was TJ’s fault...* He wished he didn’t have to tell her how wrong she was.

"He did nothing--it was me," Phantom told her quietly. "I... have not been where I was needed."

Cassie’s eyes flashed. "Did TJ tell you that? You have duties, the same as us! I can’t believe he would--"

"Cassie." She cut off as soon as he said her name. "TJ was referring to--" he tried not to stumble, but he heard the hesitation in his own voice despite his efforts, "my treatment of you."

Far from quieting, she grew more indignant on his behalf. "That’s none of his business! And even if it were, there’s nothing about the way you’ve treated me that he should be able to guilt-trip you for!" Shaking her head, she told him, "TJ’s going to hear from me, I promise you."

He looked away. "You do not believe that," he said, knowing she had every right to be upset and almost wishing she would just say so.

Cassie looked startled. "What?"

"You do not believe that I’ve treated you fairly, either." *And you are right,* he added silently, not knowing what else to say.

"You have duties," she repeated firmly. She let her leg slide down to rest on the hull of his ship and leaned back on her hands, not looking at him. "I understand that you can’t be around every day of the week."

He closed his eyes. "I could have been around more, Cassie. I am truly sorry... I thought that you would be better off without me."

He heard her draw breath, and he shook his head. "Let me finish." Opening his eyes, he glanced over at her, steeling his heart to make her the same offer he had made TJ yesterday. "I have not been a good friend to you, let alone anything more. I--"

Phantom swallowed hard. "I will love you forever," he confessed quietly. "But I have no illusions about our relationship, or lack thereof--I could not fault you for loving another." The words caught in his throat, but he forced himself to continue. "I... I relinquish any claim I might have had on your heart... and hope that you find happiness."

He had to stop before he choked on the sentences. Cassie was staring at him, a completely unreadable expression on her face. He looked away from her again, unable to face her as he waited on her judgement.

For almost a minute, there was no sound but the hum of the air recyclers and the soft sound of her breathing. He suffered through that pause, hope fading the longer she stayed silent.

"Saryn." The combination of her voice and his name jerked his head up, but he still couldn’t meet her gaze. "You say you love me," Cassie told him, her tone as neutral as her expression. "But you’re making decisions for me--I may not have your experience, but I know my own mind as well as you know yours. You have to stop thinking you can run my life and turn it into what you think it should be."

He was shocked into catching her eye. "That was never my intent--"

Her slight nod reassured him. "I didn’t really think it was," she said, a sigh escaping from her lips. "But that’s how it works out, when you take off for months at a time without a word. Maybe you were worried when I went out in your ship alone... but I promise you, that was nothing compared to knowing that you had left Hercuron on your own, too injured to stand, and then hearing nothing from you for months.

"It’s not comforting to not know, Saryn. It’s *torture*. I can’t forget you just because I don’t see you!" The heartfelt echo of his own feelings startled him as much as her repeated use of his name, and the tears shining in her eyes hurt him more than she could have guessed.

The urge to comfort her almost overcame his long-ingrained instinct to stay morphed when in company, and he felt his armor *shift* as he reached out to touch her face. When his gloved fingers touched her cheek, he couldn’t help a frustrated sigh, feeling trapped inside his uniform for the first time.

She reached up to wrap his hand in both of hers. "Saryn, I *love* you..." Time slowed down as he heard those words, over and over in his mind, until he wasn’t sure they were actually more than a figment of his imagination.

"It’s not empathy," she was saying, unaware of the effect she had had on him. "I know what that feels like now, and I can put that out of my mind when I try. This is a part of me, and it won’t go away. It’s not something either of us can change--so please, stop trying."

He stared at her fingers, unquestioningly intertwined with his, then lifted his gaze to her face. "Cassie," he whispered. "Say that again."

"Stop trying?" she repeated uncertainly.

He shook his head, unable to force the words out past the lump in his throat.

A sudden, brilliant smile spread across her face. "I love you," she said quietly, laying one hand alongside his visor.

He closed his eyes, yearning to feel her soft touch on his skin. The Power within him fluctuated again, and this time, the shift was complete. Without warning, her hand was touching his face, and her fingers were warm as they wove through his.

He had to concentrate on breathing, then, as the ache in his chest returned. It was more bearable this morning, but demorphing had not been a conscious choice, and the unexpectedness of the pain bothered him more than the discomfort.

Then thoughts of the injury were gone again, and far more pleasant sensations took over as her hand moved along his jaw to cup his chin. He tried to ignore the feelings her touch sent coursing through him, the same way he ignored the pain--with far less success.

She gently tilted his head up, until he met her searching gaze. "Saryn?"

Her eyes were warm, but her voice held a hint of doubt. He almost wished he had maintained his armored form--this was not how she was used to seeing him, and it would be so easy to continue as her mysterious savior, idealized and perfect.

Easy in some ways, at least. But he was far from perfect, and Cassie didn’t need a savior--she could take care of herself. And when he let himself admit it, he couldn’t deny that *he* needed her like this...

So he tightened his fingers on hers, and made himself stare into her eyes without concealment or pretense. "Yes?" he asked hesitantly.

"I didn’t ask you before," she said, uncertainty lingering in her tone, "if you--mind me calling you that?"

It was so far from what he had expected that he couldn’t help gazing at her in surprise. Was it possible that his transition from morphed to unmorphed... did *not* bother her?

"I do not," he said at last, almost as surprised by his answer as he was by her question. "I... I like hearing you say it."

"Don’t you ever hear it from anyone else?" she asked, still tentative.

He knew that was her way of asking if he would talk about himself, and he took a deep breath. "You are the first in more than three years to use that name," he said, not sure himself how much he could tell her.

"And... everyone else?" she prompted gently, when he paused.

"Most do not know it," he said, determined not to look away. "The few who do know respect my wishes and do not speak it aloud."

He could see her fighting her curiosity, and losing. "Why?" she asked finally, then lowered her hand from his face and looked away. "I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me."

"No," he assured her, struggling to find the words. "I *want* you to know... I am just not sure--" He paused to swallow. "I do not know if I can talk about it."

She folded one leg underneath her and turned a little more toward him. "I’ll wait," she said simply.

His hand twitched in hers, and he looked down as her thumb stroked his fingers soothingly. "I do not use the name Saryn... because there is, for me, a good deal of pain associated with it."

Cassie shifted uncomfortably. "I’m sorry--I didn’t know. Would you rather I didn’t--"

"No!" Until now, he hadn’t known himself why the sound of his name, coming from her, did not disturb him.

"Please," he begged, raising his eyes to hers again, "continue to use it. Each time I hear you say it, it erases a few more of the shadows from my past." *And there are plenty there,* he added silently.

"Anything for you," she said, echoing words he had never thought to hear returned. Then she smiled, and added, "Saryn."

He tried to smile back, but he couldn’t help warning her, "You might not say that, if you knew who Saryn of Elisia was." *And what fate befell his team.*

She shook her head, placing her free hand over their joined ones. "You haven’t been listening," she told him softly. "I love you. I love *you*, no matter what you call yourself: Saryn, or Phantom, or anything in between.

"Tell me what’s so terrible," she pleaded, gazing up at him. "Tell me, and I’ll prove to you that it’s in the past."

He stared into her compassionate brown eyes, and wanted nothing more than to accept her offer. It hurt--badly--to remember, but he needed her to know who he was if they were ever to be honest with each other.

He knew that. But seconds later, he was still regarding her, no closer to knowing what to say than he had been before. Finally, he shook his head. "I do not know where to start," he told her helplessly.

She reached out, running her fingers across his forehead and smoothing his hair away from his face. "And I don’t know what questions to ask," she said, her voice soft and sympathetic.

Her caress comforted him, and he leaned into it, letting his eyes slide shut while he tried to think of some way to explain. She seemed content to wait, and he let himself enjoy the feel of her fingers as she played with his hair.

"I think," Cassie said suddenly, her tone now quietly amused, "that you should consider a haircut."

He smiled a little as her amusement washed over him. "Or," she added as an afterthought, "is that not done on Elisia?"

Her innocent question evoked more memories than he cared to admit. "Elisia was a frontier world," he replied softly, the dusty plains and unending sky of his childhood springing into sharp relief against his eyelids. "Almost everyone there was what you would call a terraformer... or the child of a terraformer. Appearances were not a source of great concern."

"'Was'?" she murmured, and he flinched.

"It was one of the first to come under the attack of Dark Spectre, when he claimed his title as Monarch of all evil three and a half years ago. He wanted to get to the heart of the League--but he had to go through us to do it."

"And he did," Cassie surmised, keeping her voice very low.

Opening his eyes at last, he pulled away to gaze, without seeing, across the barren deck of the hangar bay. "He did."

Cassie was silent for a moment. "What about your Ranger team?"

He didn’t want to be short with her, but he couldn’t keep the harshness out of his voice. "They were not enough."

"But--" Her immediate protest did not surprise him. She and her friends had never failed; how could they understand? "You couldn’t have been alone. There must have been others who could help!"

*The enigmatic ally who shows up just when he’s needed?* he wondered bitterly, but he didn’t say it.

"We were not alone," he replied instead. "Elisia was a protectorate of Eltare, and help arrived within hours. But the onslaught was immense, beyond the scope of any attack in generations, and they were too late. The Rangers had been defeated."

He heard Cassie gasp, but did not look in her direction. "Entire settlements lay in ruin by the time the Eltarans arrived," he continued, fighting to keep the images of destruction from taking over his sight. "Without the Rangers to rally them, the people were unorganized and dispirited. But they managed to hold out, somehow, and the combined strength of Eltare, Elisia, and several other frontier worlds was enough to drive Dark Spectre’s forces back."

"And--" Cassie hesitated, as though she didn’t really want to ask, but had to. "The Rangers? Did they--were they... killed?"

He squeezed his eyes shut. "All but one."

Her sharp intake of breath reached him over the sudden ringing in his ears as he tried to shut out the horrors of that day. "The Red Ranger," he muttered. "Their leader... the one who was supposed to guide them and defend them with his life--he survived."

Cassie drew their joined hands closer to her, as though she could shelter him from the memories that haunted him. "It wasn’t his fault," she said softly.

"It was," he insisted, staring at the spartan deck and seeing wreckage and debris, flames leaping to consume the wind... "He should have been able to save them. They were his team, his *life*..."

He couldn’t continue. He had never given grief free reign, and he was not about to start now. *Another place,* he reminded himself, *another time. It is not now; it has no sway over me...*

As often as he had repeated those words to himself, they had never fully banished the memories. The ghosts of long-dead friends always returned to haunt him in the night, when his defenses were down and were no duties to take his mind from their loss.

Cassie put her other hand on his arm. "Saryn," she whispered, and the single word brought the tears he had never shed to his eyes.

Wrenching his arm away, he turned his head further to hide his expression from her. "*Saryn* was an inexperienced idealist," he said roughly. "A ‘rising star in frontier politics’, they said. Trained in the ancient way of the warrior, with a natural knack for diplomacy--a wonderful contradiction, caught everyone’s attention and surprised no one when he was asked to join his homeworld’s Ranger team..."

The words spilled out of him, uncontrollable and unstoppable, and to his horror, he felt a tear slide down his cheek. Cassie’s hand was back on his arm, and he knew she had noticed the tremor in his voice. He didn’t resist when she scooted closer, wrapping an arm around his shoulders but saying nothing to interrupt.

"I--Saryn led them, for two years," he whispered, staring out at the bay and back into the past. "They grew close, as every team does, became a unit, a family--invincible. No one could defeat them, and their leader’s name became known for his tactical skills, as well as his insight into government.

"Then Dark Spectre came." He had no idea why he was telling her this; it was far more than she had asked for, but he couldn’t seem to stop. "The Rangers fought as they always did--valiantly, together, and until the end... only this time, it was their end."

He choked on the words, and another tear slipped past his tightly controlled guard. It landed on her fingers as she reached around to turn his head back toward her. Ashamed though he was to be falling apart like this, he let her do it, unable to refuse what comfort she offered.

"The Blue Ranger fell first," he said, voice hoarse and hands shaking as he remembered the explosion that had destroyed any hope of seeing his best friend again. He had never been so full of rage... striking out in blind fury was no way to keep yourself alive, but he had managed to take a good number of them down with him before--

His voice dropped to near-inaudibility as he admitted, "The Red Ranger was next."

Running her fingers gently across his face, she wiped another tear away. He realized distantly that her arm was still draped over his shoulder, even though she was now facing him, and their position was inarguably compromising should anyone happen to come looking for them. But her support was all he had--he didn’t know what he would do if she turned away from him after this story.

"I didn’t die," he whispered, staring into her eyes but unable to interpret what he saw there. "They knew it--it would have been better for them if I had."

She shook her head, slowly, as though addressing a small child. "That isn’t true," she murmured. "You know it’s not true."

"But it is," he answered, his gaze shifting to a point past her left shoulder, and from there, three and a half years into the past and more. "I’m told Jenna fell defending me... She died for the chance that I could recover from my wounds and live again--"

He broke off, the words strangled in his throat as an image of a sprightly girl invaded his sight, blonde hair flying and pink bandana tied around her wrist as she ran through the swinging double doors, late for practice again...

"She’s gone," he said hopelessly, refocusing on the face in front of him and ignoring the tears that now streamed freely down his face. "They were all gone when I woke up. And there was nothing I could do..."

"Shh," Cassie whispered, her own eyes shining with unshed tears. She put a hand on his other shoulder and pulled him close. "They would have wanted you to go on," she said quietly.

He leaned into her embrace, letting her arms close around him and protect him from the past. He rested his head on her shoulder, and he cried as he had not cried in a long time.

He grieved for the lives lost in that initial onslaught on the frontier, and he grieved for the relatives of the dead who had been left to pick up the pieces and rebuild as best they could. He grieved for Elisia, which *had* been rebuilt, its people rallied, and a new Ranger team formed, only to fall with Eltare three years later. But most of all he grieved for the passing of four kindred spirits, four deaths that had left him all alone in the universe. 

Almost all alone. Cassie held him while he cried for the first time in years, and she passed no judgement. Her forgiveness seeped into him, like a healing balm on his injured soul, and he knew even in his sorrow that he would never be able to repay the gift she gave him now by her simple presence. 

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there, clinging to her, but she never complained. After what seemed like an eternity, the tears slowed. The sadness did not abate, but he couldn’t cry forever--the tears simply stopped coming.

She must have noticed as he started to calm, but she did not loosen her embrace until he tried to straighten up. Drawing back, he found he could not meet her gaze. She must think the worst of him now...

"Saryn..." The name reverberated through the years, and for an instant, he saw them all again. Lyris, Jenna, Timmin and Kris surrounded him once more, as they had that last carefree day at the cliffs--

A gentle tap on his chin made him look up, and the vision dissolved. Cassie tucked her hand into the sleeve of her uniform and brushed the smooth fabric across his face. "You did the best you could," she murmured, drying his tears carefully and pushing his hair away from his eyes again. "No one could ask anything more."

"It wasn’t enough," he whispered miserably.

"That’s survivor guilt," she told him, letting her hand come to rest on his face. "Not rational thinking. There was nothing more you could have done. You can’t blame yourself for their deaths... or for living, when they didn’t."

"That’s what they told me," he said, staring without seeing into her eyes. "They tried everything... to make me want to live again, after what happened."

"Who?" she asked softly, her other hand rubbing his shoulder. 

He shivered suddenly, and she abandoned her caresses to pull him into a fierce hug. "It’s all right," she breathed in his ear. "Everything’s going to be all right." 

Her promise, empty though it was, reassured him. "The Eltarans," he replied at last, arms still wrapped around her. He was determined to get through this story, if only to hear her tell him everything was all right again. 

"The Eltaran medical facilities were better than anything on the frontier. I was transported there from Elisia... but I am told no one expected me to survive the night." 

This time, he felt *her* tremble, and his arms tightened around her as his protective instincts kicked in. "I almost didn’t," he admitted, remembering the lights that had blazed in the intensive care unit all night long. 

He had been unconscious, but somehow he had known--had been able to sense what was going on. He had witnessed the frantic activity with only a mild sort of interest, had heard and not cared when the biomonitor flatlined. 

Looking back, that dispassionate night troubled him deeply. At the time, he had truly wanted to die. Now, though, with Cassie here in his arms, comforting and caring for him, he knew he could never treat his life with such casual disregard again. 

Pressed up against his chest, Cassie murmured, "What happened?" 

"The Eltaran Ranger who found me saved my life," he answered, seeing again the blur of blue that had refused to leave his bedside until he opened his eyes. 

"She stayed with me the entire night, ordering the doctors around as though they were children. And when my biomonitor stopped beeping, and they tried and failed to bring me back, it was her idea to use my Power crystal." 

"Your ruby?" Cassie asked incredulously, drawing back a little to look at him. 

He nodded. "The Power kept me alive when all I wanted was to give up. I am sure you know how stubborn it can be in that respect." 

She smiled faintly. "I’ve noticed... I’m glad it was enough to keep you here." 

"I am as well," he murmured, lifting one hand to stroke her face. "But it only kept me alive --it did not restore my will to stay that way. I was placed under suicide watch, and was not allowed to be separated from my Power crystal. I healed, eventually--dependent on my ruby." 

"What changed?" she asked quietly. 

He felt a flicker of surprise. "That has *not* changed," he reminded her. 

Cassie shook her head. "I mean, what made you want to live again?" 

The question made him hesitate, but she had heard the rest of the story. *Is this so much more personal?* he wondered. It did, in a way, involve her... 

"I saw my friends," he told her, searching her expression for a reaction. "All four of them--they were in a dream I had, some time after the attack." 

"More than a dream?" Cassie guessed, regarding him just as intently. 

He nodded slowly. "I believe it was." 

He fell silent for a moment, relieved that she had not scoffed at the idea but not certain how to continue. She waited patiently, bracing her arm against the hull and cocking her head at him. 

"They seemed... very much as they always had," he said at last, seeing the group again in his mind’s eye. The backdrop had been the cliffs where they had gone windriding the day before the attack, and he had thought it an appropriate metaphor for the obstacle that now stood between them. "Except--they had a *knowing* about them, a steadiness that they had never had in life." 

"A kind of peace," Cassie supplied, and he looked at her in surprise. 

"That’s exactly it. They were not... sorry for what had happened," he said, remembering the camaraderie and the whisper of laughter that had lingered in the air about them, even as serious as they had been. "The fire that had animated our team still burned within them--and it made me realize that that spark was gone from me." 

Using her free hand to grasp his, Cassie brought his focus back to the present. "Not anymore," she told him, with quiet assurance. 

He turned his hand over in hers and squeezed her fingers. "Perhaps not," he admitted, gazing into her eyes and seeing there what he had been lacking. "Not since I met you. 

"Then, all I wanted was to join them. But you were right, earlier, when you said they would have wanted me to go on. They--" he swallowed, and she sat up, reaching to touch his face.

He caught her hand and brought it to his lips. "I am all right," he promised, and when she smiled, it was the truth. 

"They would not let me come with them," he went on, drawing in a deep breath. He wasn't sure how she would respond to this part. "Jenna told me that somewhere, you were waiting for me, and if I deserted you, she would never forgive me." 

Cassie started, and he squeezed her hands reassuringly. "She did not know you specifically, but she could see, somehow, the person I would be leaving behind if I were to follow my teammates from this life. She… wouldn't let me do it." 

She stared at him for a moment, and he wondered suddenly if she could tell from the way he spoke what he and Jenna had been to each other--and if it bothered her. But before he could say anything, she had freed one of her hands and laid her fingers across his lips, as though she knew what he was about to tell her and didn't want to hear it. 

"I'll be grateful to Jenna forever," she told him softly, "for giving me the chance to know you. I wish I could have met her." 

"So do I," he agreed, not looking away from her. "You would have liked them all very much." 

"They were your friends--how could I not?" she asked, her expression serious. 

He smiled, inadvertently, at her solemn expression. "Thank you," he whispered, unable to resist the temptation to mimic her gesture. 

He felt her lips curve under her fingers, and as he moved his hand to stroke her hair, she asked, "What for?" 

"For… everything," he told her, wanting her to understand how much she meant to him but knowing he couldn't put it into words. "For listening, just now, but more than that--for giving me hope." That was as close as he could come, and he only prayed she understood. 

"You've done that for me, too," she answered softly. "You've always been my hope." 

*Hope that I never fulfilled,* he realized with regret, remembering TJ's words: *"I'm talking about *you*, and what you mean to Cassie... you haven't exactly made your presence felt."* 

"I wish," he began hesitantly, still running his fingers through her hair, "that I could be more than just your hope." 

"I'm not the one who's stopping you," she said, staring steadily back at him. 

*Please mean what I think you mean by that,* he asked silently. Sliding his hand behind her head, he leaned forward, watching her face for a reaction. When her eyes fluttered closed, he smiled a little and kissed her, as gently as he could. 

Not gently enough--he felt his pulse speed up even before their lips touched--but he wasn't really in trouble until he felt her arms snake around his neck and pull him closer. He didn't resist, but the way she returned his kiss sent a tremor through his entire body. 

Cassie broke away, looking at him in consternation. "I'm sorry," she breathed, her eyes wide. "I didn't mean to do that… You're still upset; I didn't mean to take advantage…" 

He stared at her, lips quirking at the thought of *her* taking advantage of *him*. "It is not that," he assured her, wondering whether she had any idea what effect she had on him. "I just--" *I can't control myself when I touch you,* he thought, unbidden, but knew he couldn't tell her that. 

"Just what?" Cassie asked softly. 

He shook his head. "I don't--" 

He cut off as the lights went out, and the emergency lighting flooded into the hangar bay in their place. The bay doors slid shut with a grinding noise and a loud clang, and they both jumped. 

Immediately on alert, he turned to Cassie for an explanation, but she seemed as startled as he. "DECA," she demanded of the air, "What's going on?" 

"A hull breach has occurred," the computer's calm voice replied. "Bulkheads are being sealed throughout the Megaship." 

Without warning, the entire ship rocked violently, and Cassie was thrown against him. He put his arms around her automatically, steadying them both, and glared in the direction of DECA's nearest camera. "That was *not* a hull breach." 

"The Megaship is under attack," DECA replied, and Cassie gasped. 

"That's not possible," she insisted, her voice somewhat muffled as she spoke into his chest. "We're still inside the damping field." 

"Someone has found a way to get around that," he said grimly, as the ship shook again. This time they were almost knocked off the hull of his fighter. The jerking motion was accompanied by a high-pitched whine that made the deck vibrate for the half-second it was audible, and the horrifying sound of escaping atmosphere followed. 

"Come on!" Cassie slithered away from him across the hull and dropped gracefully to the floor. He lunged after her, not wanting her out of his sight for a second. 

"Hull breach on deck six," DECA announced. "The hangar bay has been compromised. This area must be evacuated immediately." 

"No kidding," Cassie answered sharply, as they raced across the bay. He followed without question, trusting her judgement and knowledge of the Megaship. 

She skidded to a halt next to some sort of access hatch, and he tried to catch his breath. Normally a run like that would have been nothing, but the injury he had sustained the day before had not completely healed, and his chest throbbed with every breath. 

He tried to slow his breathing, taking deeper breaths instead of sharp, shallow ones, but his lungs would not cooperate. They wanted oxygen, and they wanted it now--which left him with a burning feeling in his chest that was spreading steadily outward. 

The hatch slid open, and Cassie motioned for him to go first. He shook his head, and she glared at him. "This is no time for chivalry!" She had to shout to be heard, and he realized how much the air had thinned in just the past few seconds--the breach must be more serious than he had thought. 

*This is exactly the time for chivalry,* he thought, but he didn't say so. Instead, he just took hold of her arms and pushed her through the opening, following himself a second later. 

She hit the control pad next to the hatch as soon as he was through, and the portal slammed shut. The hissing click that sounded in the tiny area as soon as it snapped closed told him that there would be no opening that door again, at least not until the breach on the other side was repaired. 

Cassie turned on him as soon as the hatch had closed. "What did you think you were doing? Another few seconds, and that hatch would have sealed automatically!" 

*All the more reason for you to be on the right side of it,* he thought, but he found he couldn't speak. The burning in his chest was subsiding to a dull ache as he caught his breath, but it still throbbed painfully with every inhalation. 

"You're hurt." Cassie was instantly at his side, her anger forgotten. "Let me see." 

He shook his head, trying to get enough air to speak. "It is--the same injury," he panted, mustering a small smile. "You are very anxious--" Pausing for breath, he continued, "For me to… take my shirt off." 

She blushed, and he reflected that the pain was worth it to see her like that. "Teasing," he managed to get out, reaching to stroke her hand. 

"I'll show you teasing," she muttered, snatching her hand away. Taking his head in both hands, she kissed him with the same tenderness he had tried to use on her before--only she succeeded, leaving him aching for more. 

"You win," he admitted breathlessly, keeping himself from reaching for her by sheer force of will. 

Her communicator beeped before she could answer, and he had to banish the flash of disappointment that the noise caused. *Not really alone,* he thought, watching her respond to the hail without a second thought. 

"Cassie!" Andros's voice invaded the cramped access tunnel. "Are you all right? Where are you? DECA says you were in the hangar bay when the hull breached, but she can't get a fix on you anymore." 

It made him feel a little better when she had to take a few deep breaths before answering, but that might just have been the lingering effects of their sprint across the hangar bay. "Phantom and I are in the starboard access tunnel off the hangar bay," she reported. "We made it out just ahead of the bulkhead seals--Andros, *what* is going on?" 

There was a pause, then his voice came back, "We're not sure. There was a hull breach belowdecks, and somehow the fleet outside the damping field got a target lock on us--one of the two shots that hit us caused the hangar breach." 

Cassie caught her breath. "The others?" 

"TJ's in the engine room," Andros answered. The pause was longer this time, and there was worry in his tone as he told her, "We can't reach Ashley or Carlos."