The Garden of Vacant Dreams

Anticipation

AN: Saban/Disney owns the characters you know. I own the ones you don't.

CHAPTER FOUR

ANTICIPATION

"Well, I have sent out all of the RSVP's Ashley." Andros, the Red Space Ranger said with a smile.

"It's about time! The event is a week away. I didn't know you could be such a procrastinator." She gave him a playful look before continuing. "So who has RSVP'ed so far?"

Ashley loved big events like this; everyone always had so much fun. She had already decorated most of the Astro Megaship. Andros thought she had gone a little overboard with the streamers but he wasn't about to say anything to her about them.

"Well... let me see here." He replied as he pulled up his email.

"The Galaxy rangers have all RSVP'ed, so have pretty much everyone from the original teams up to us. Unfortunately I haven't heard anything back from the Time Force, Lightspeed, Wild Force, and Ninja Storm teams. The Dino team is coming though. At this point I don't think the others kept in contact after their ranger days."

"Aren't the Dino Rangers the ones who were mentored by Tommy?" Ashley inquired.

"Yeah." He smiled. "Zordon would be so proud of him."

Ashley was a bit surprised, not only at Andros's words but also by his expression too. Most of the time whenever Zordon was brought up he would leave the room or refocus on something else. That was how it had been for years. It had been quite some time since Zordon had passed but Andros had had a hard time forgiving himself. Maybe this was the first sign of him accepting that he wasn't at fault for Zordon's death.

Ashley patted him on the back. "He definitely would be... but I know he would be just as proud of you too."

Andros looked up at her with a heartfelt grin. "Thanks, Ash."

She bent down to give him a hug but was instead pulled into a kiss.

As Andros let go of her cheeks, their lips pulled apart and once again Andros smiled at her. "How about we grab some dinner and spend the rest of the evening together? We can always come back to decorate and prepare some more later."

Ashley matched Andros's expression. "Sounds good to me."

Jamie looked around at Jason's studio apartment. She was surprised that it was only her first time in there but Jason was definitely a private kind of guy.

"Hey Jamie! Help yourself to whatever is in the fridge." Jason yelled from the other room.

"You know... that pasta had turned out really well. Sauce and all." She responded as she opened up a bottle of water.

Jason walked out into her view.

"I'm sorry we had to leave so quickly. I know you had a great dinner planned."

Jamie continued to look down at her feet.

Jason wanted to say something more but didn't know what at this point. He didn't have much experience these days when it came to talking to 14-year-old girls. Instead he went over to one of his kitchen drawers and began rummaging through its contents.

"What are you looking for?" She piped up.

"My communicator." He responded after giving a frustrated grunt.

"What will that do?" She asked.

"If I can find it, I'll be able to get in contact with someone that may be able to help us find your dad." He paused and looked up from the counter top.