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"You know what I like about you?" Ashley's fingers were ever so gentle in his hair. "You're so much easier to take care of than Andros."
"You know what I like about you?" Zhane said, pillowing his head on her breasts. "You're so much nicer to lie on than Andros."
Her chest vibrated with laughter, and her arm slid all the way around his shoulders. He closed his eyes, relaxing into her embrace with a sigh. Everything hurt. Less than it had an hour ago, which he was grateful for. Throbbing pain had dulled to an ache, but he was sore everywhere.
"Don't tell him I said this," Zhane warned. "But I wouldn't mind having the Power right now."
Ashley smiled, and adjusted the blankets. The middle of the bed was Andros's usual spot—because that was the configuration that made Ashley the least amount of uncomfortable when they started sleeping together, because Zhane wasn't a sleep cuddler, because it made Andros feel safe even if he would never admit it. Now it was just what they were used to. He wondered if maybe they should switch things up every once in awhile, because Ashley was soft and nice-smelling and didn't move restlessly in her sleep.
"Your secret's safe with me," she promised, stroking his hair. "Besides, if I tell him you want your morpher back, I'll have to take mine back. I don't want to be left out."
That was the thing. Either all of them were Rangers, or none of them were Rangers. Zhane had only ever wanted to be a Ranger in the first place because he wanted to be with Andros. Ashley didn't want to be the only member of the family who wasn't a Ranger if the rest of them were, but she also didn't want to be a Ranger just for the sake of being a Ranger.
So they retired. All of them, even if Andros jumped at every opportunity to unretire.
Now they were trying to decide what to do with themselves. Zhane had taken a hands-on approach to figuring out what he wanted, which was how he'd ended up on a rooftop. His Ranger instincts were the reason that he'd jumped off of the rooftop—he'd seen the kid on the scaffolding, and then before he'd even had time to wonder where they'd come from, he'd seen their fingers slip.
"Not to tell you that it could be worse," Ashley said. "But did you know that on Earth, it takes months for broken bones to heal?"
"I remember," he said.
She and Andros had arrived at the hospital looking for him just as he'd been given the injection to speed up bone regeneration. The look on her face had been nothing short of amazement.
"I love KO-35," she told him. "Thanks for making me move here."
"Thanks for making Andros go get us dinner," he replied, wrapping an arm around her waist. "I'm starving."
"I was hoping you wouldn't mind."
"No," Zhane said. "He needed something to do."
Ashley's shoulders shook gently with laughter. "Yeah," she said, a smile in her voice. "He did. Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Sure," he said, but he opened his eyes. There was a particular kind of question that usually followed, and it wasn't like Ashley to ask while he was laid up in bed injured.
"Andros and I were having lunch together," she said. "And he knew. He knew something was wrong, and he just—it was awful, honestly."
Zhane could only imagine. He hated that he'd done that to Andros again, even if it wasn't his fault.
"And it's not the first time," she went on, rubbing his shoulder. "He always knows when you're hurt. I thought it was a Ranger thing before, because I've only ever seen him do it while he was morphed—but it's not, is it?"
"Oh," Zhane said, glad she couldn't see his expression. Had Andros never mentioned this? Of course Andros had never mentioned this. "No, it's a Karovan thing."
"Yeah," Ashley said patiently. "But what is it?"
"It's… I don't know," he told her. "An… awareness, I guess."
"Can you talk to each other?"
"No," he said. "Well… it's not impossible, but we can't."
"Would've been useful," Ashley said.
"Tell me about it." Zhane lifted his head to grin at her, and saw a flash of red in the open doorway. He hadn't even heard Andros come in the front door.
"Tell you about what?" Andros asked, leaning against the doorjamb with a bag in each hand.
"Hey." Ashley lifted her fingers from Zhane's hair to wave at him. "Welcome back. That smells amazing."
Andros watched them, eyes dark and not returning either of their smiles. "What are you talking about?"
"Come in," Ashley said patiently. "Sit down. Then you can explain why you never mentioned you and Zhane are psychic."
Andros started to cross his arms, then abandoned the motion as he remembered his hands were full. He shifted uncomfortably. "If I say, because you never asked—"
"You'll have to do better than that." Ashley sounded amused instead of upset, though, and Andros decided he dared approach.
"Do you want to eat in bed?" he asked, unpacking containers before Zhane could respond. "I got your favorite."
Zhane sat, forgetting to be mindful of his injuries. He swore, pressing his good hand to his ribs, and Ashley laid a steadying hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay," he said, leaning into the reassuring circles she rubbed in his back. "I'll be fine."
"You're not fine," Andros muttered, removing the lid to one of the containers.
The smell hit him instantly, warm and savory, and it made Zhane's mouth water. It was his favorite, seafood and vegetables stewed in a thick sauce. "Thanks," he said, accepting the dish.
Andros handed him a fork. "I don't think about it."
He was talking to Ashley, but his eyes never left Zhane. It was… disconcerting, honestly. "That's all. It's not something I do on purpose, it's just… how I am."
"Zhane called it an awareness." Ashley was watching Zhane too, watching the way he struggled to use the fork in the wrong hand. "You want some help?"
Zhane passed her his bowl. She stole a bite, then coughed as she swallowed. "That's spicier than I expected," she admitted, laughing. "But it's really good."
She speared some more vegetables on the end of the fork, then passed it back to him so that he could eat.
"Would've warned you, if you'd asked," he said, grinning as he toasted her with his fork. "Thanks."
"This one's for you," Andros said. He handed Ashley another bowl and set of utensils. "Awareness is a good a word as any."
"Thanks," she said, unwrapping her fork. "What would you call it, then?"
Andros shrugged. He kicked off his shoes, then twisted so that he sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, facing them. "Awareness works," he said, toying with his own silverware. "I just always… know, when something's wrong. And I can always find him in a crowd."
"Same," Zhane said, around a mouthful of fish. He swallowed. "Would be way more useful if there were ever a need to pick you out of a crowd."
Andros rolled his eyes, but it made Ashley smile.
"Just Zhane?" Ashley pressed. "Or… other people?"
Andros hesitated.
"Zhane already told me it's a Karovan thing," she said. "I'm not jealous."
Zhane wasn't sure how true that was, because he would've been jealous, if he were the one left out of a bond like that.
Andros gave her a look.
"Well… kinda jealous," she admitted, staring into her bowl. "Because it's cool, not because I think it means that you love Zhane more than me."
"It's strongest with Zhane," Andros said finally. "I could probably talk to him this way, if I practiced enough. And I can kind of… sense Karone, when she's close enough. Not when she's on Mirinoi."
Ashley was distracted for a moment while she processed that, but not so distracted that she didn't immediately notice when Zhane maneuvered his fork telekinetically. "You could've just told me you didn't need my help."
"I like your help. Really," he insisted. "I like that you care enough to help."
"See," Ashley murmured. She still looked embarrassed, but she was smiling. "So much easier to take care of than Andros."
"What?" Andros said.
"Will you please tell Ashley that you love her even though she can't do cool things with her brain?"
"Oh." Andros looked like he was trying to decide if Zhane was joking or not. "Is that something you worry about?"
"Not that you don't love me," she said. "But, I mean, yeah? Sometimes. I know it's silly."
"You're not silly." Having made up his mind that they were being serious, his reply was immediate.
Ashley blew him a kiss.
"You didn't catch it," Zhane said. "When someone blows you a kiss, you're supposed to catch it. Here, watch."
His demonstration would've been better if Ashley had been further away, and also if he hadn't caught the kiss with his injured hand. Ashley smiled and blew him another kiss—and out of the corner of his eye, Zhane didn't miss the way that Andros's face softened. It was a look he wore a lot, actually, when he thought nobody was watching, and it faded less quickly than Zhane expected, when he turned back to Andros.
"See?" he said. "Like that."
"I love you," Andros said. His eyes flickered to Ashley. "I love you even though you can't do cool things with your brain."
"Thanks." She looked down, still smiling. "Zhane loves me for my chest."
Andros's expression was priceless.
Zhane decided that if pain was the cost of laughter, it was worth it—and, he was pleased to note, it hurt much less than it had earlier. It was too soon for the bone regeneration process to have done much yet, but at least the pain relievers had fully kicked in.
Deciding that the best course of action was to ignore both of them, Andros collected everyone's empty bowls and stacked them together on the floor. "Is there room over there for me?"
"Always," Zhane said.
Andros relaxed visibly, and settled himself beside Zhane at the head of the bed—but he left several inches of space between them.
"Come here," Zhane said, gently amused. "You're not going to hurt me."
Andros said nothing, but he edged a little closer. Close enough that Zhane could rest his head against Andros's shoulder, close enough that he could feel Andros sigh, close enough that Andros could kiss the side of his head.
"I was worried," he mumbled.
Zhane squeezed the fingers that fumbled for his. "Thanks for dinner."
"You're welcome." Andros still sounded fiercely unhappy. "Do you need anything else?"
"Just you," he said, closing his eyes. "And probably help to the bathroom in a minute."
"Sure," Andros agreed. "No problem."
"Will you feel better if I tell you I don't think construction is my calling?"
"Maybe," Andros said.
"You could always try the bakery again." Giggling, Ashley snuggled a little closer too.
"Hey," he said, protesting even as he wrapped his good arm around her shoulders. "I liked the bakery."
He had liked the bakery, even if he hadn't really liked baking. It was warm and cozy, it smelled good, and there was a steady stream of people that he could talk to.
"You want to build something," Andros said suddenly. He shifted, just enough that Zhane knew he was looking at Ashley too. "I think you do too."
"Yeah," Ashley said, after a long pause, and Zhane was glad that she sounded surprised too.
It wasn't that Andros wasn't insightful—he just didn't usually come out and share things like that unprompted.
"Not literally, but… yeah." Ashley tilted her head, studying him. "How'd you know that?"
"Something Karone said," he told them. He shrugged, a little self-conscious. "She was talking about how they're still building permanent shelter for everyone on Mirinoi, and she said that it's nice to create something after so many years of destroying things."
"Huh," Zhane said, turning that over in his head. "And I was just going to say that I wanted to try something on the water next, because I like going to the beach."
"Go to the beach if that's what you want," Andros told him, with a touch of exasperation. "I don't care if you try something new every week if that's what makes you happy. I just thought that might help."
"It helps," Zhane told him. "You help. And I'm already happy, as long as you're here."
It made Andros smile, and he squeezed Zhane's hand again. "I love you," he said, very quietly.
"I love you too," Zhane said, and gave his hand a tug. "Now help me up."