Part 0: Notes and disclaimer

Disclaimer: The characters and setting belong to Saban, and I am using them without permission.

Note: I started writing this sometime after "Never Stop Searching" aired, and before I had it pointed out to me that the series was going in a different direction as regards Karone's new identity. (I thought that Saban was going to show a typical lack of continuity and we'd never hear about Andros' sister again, much less find out who she was.) Needless to say, this is an alternate universe fic, and it is heavily Andros and Ashley. Be warned.

Sisterly Love
by Selma McCrory
copyright 1998
Part 1

She sat on the floor, stunned by what she had found, and trying not to cry. She'd been bored, and ended up exploring the nooks and crannies of the house, hoping to find something interesting. Well, she'd found something interesting, all right. Why hadn't her parents told her? She picked up the papers gently, afraid that they'd disintegrate and turn into dust.

Ashley knew she had to talk to somebody. But who? Most of her closest friends were out of town, in college. Her Spring Break had started two days earlier than her friends. Most of them were still in exams. Still, she had to try. Picking up the jumble of papers, she moved into her bedroom to look up phone numbers.

But who to call? She looked over at the two pictures she had of her friends, her teammates. One of them was a picture of herself, T.J., Justin, Cassie, and Carlos at a class picnic. The second was at the beach, taken one peaceful afternoon shortly before the team broke up. She.d taken the picture. T.J. and Cassie were relaxing on beach chairs, with Carlos attempting some kind of construction in the sand with Andros being distracted by something. Six teammates, all of which would understand, some more than others.

All of them would understand, but one would understand more than the others. She dug into her bag and pulled out her address book, opening it up to T.J.'s number. The phone rung several times, and she decided that he was out. At the last moment, a breathless male voice came on the line. "Hello?"

"T.J.?" she squeaked out. "You're there!"

"Ashley? Is something wrong?" T.J. asked. She took a deep breath, certain that she.d made the right choice.

"Yeah, kinda," she replied. "I just discovered something about myself today, and it's something I can't just talk to anyone about. It's, you know, business."

She heard a sharp intake of breath as T.J. caught her meaning. "I'm scheduled to come home tomorrow. Should I try to get out there now?"

Ashley shook her head. "No, I think it'll hold until tomorrow. It's not that urgent, just upsetting."

* * *

He was late. Ashley checked her watch again, hoping he hadn't been delayed or something. She'd checked the flights coming in to Los Angeles over the internet, and none of the flights that he could be on were delayed, but she'd checked an hour ago and something could have happened since then.

T.J. had promised to come right over after he'd spent a little time with his parents. She sighed, looking at the pile of papers she'd sneaked off to her room. She half-hoped that she was completely wrong. The other part of her hoped she was right.

The phone rang and she jumped. She picked up the phone gingerly. Hoping T.J. was on the other end of the line, she answered it. "Hello?"

"Ashley, are you okay?" T.J.'s concerned voice came over the line.

"Yeah, I think so," she said tenatively, hoping he didn't hear the tremor in her voice.

"I'll be over in a few minutes. Are your parents in?"

"They're both busy. Dad's at work, mom's at some event or other, or at least planning something."

"Good. Be right there!"

It only took T.J. a few minutes to get there, but Ashley found herself pacing by the door. She'd left her stuff back in her room, not wanting to damage the precious materials. When she opened the door, T.J. was standing there. He was frowning, in the way that Ashley knew he was very concerned, but she knew what to do about that. She came up to him and hugged him tight.

She let him go to close the door, suddenly concious of the public display. He was smiling slightly, but the corners of his mouth were dropping. She took his hand, and started towards the stairs to her room. "Come on," she said. He followed her.

It had been a surprisingly quick trip to her bedroom. She motioned towards the desk and its chair, and he sat down. Likewise, she sat down on the bed, being careful not to sit on her stuff. She gathered it up, looking randomly at the contents. She looked up to see T.J.'s face. He had that concerned look again. She put the stuff down on her lap and began to speak. "I suppose I should start from the beginning, huh?"

T.J.'s only response was a nod.

She tried to sit up straight, hoped she was succeeding. She felt she needed it for the tale ahead. "I was really bored when I got home for break," she said, "so I decided to dig around a bit. Some of the stuff I dug up I don't think I was supposed to. Stuff that my parents didn't want me to know. Like the fact that I was adopted."

She glanced up at T.J. again. His eyes and his face showed his shock, but he didn't say anything, so she continued. "I think I could deal with the adoption. It's the other stuff I found that's - I don't know - really causing me problems."

Ashley sorted through the papers until she came to an old newspaper article. She gazed at it, and the accompanying picture, before handing it to T.J. "That's from the Sacramento Bee. My family lived there for about a year before my parents moved down here."

"Young girl found wandering in Capitol Park," T.J. read. "I take it it's about you?"

"It was in the same folder as the rest of my adoption stuff," Ashley said, realizing she was idly itching her left arm, a move she only made when she was really nervous. "I assume it is. But anyway, take a look at the picture. Does that remind you of anyone?"

T.J. looked at the picture, and Ashley attempted to stop itching her arm. T.J. handed the picture back to her. "Not really," he said.

Ashley sighed as she held the article. "It did to me. Remember a certain ex-teammate of ours whose sister went missing?"

He blinked, and his expression changed to surprise. "Andros. You think you might be his missing sister?"

Ashley shrugged. "I'm the right age, by my calculations and that article, I look a lot like her from the pictures I've seen. There's a possibility that I could be her."

T.J. got up and sat by her on the bed, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You want me to be by your side while you contact Andros."

She looked down at the article. "I don't want to contact Andros right now. He's been looking a long time for his sister, and there've been soo many false leads. I don't want to hurt him again with another one."

"But you don't want to leave him searching just in case," T.J. replied. "I'll be happy to help, in any way I can."

"Thanks, Teej," she said. "Mostly, I need someone to make sure I stop this in midstream. I don't know why, but I'm really, really nervous."

"That's okay. Things like this don't happen every day," T.J. said, giving his trademark smile. He then frowned again, becoming serious. "Have you talked to Justin yet? He was trying to get us back in contact with the rest of the universe, using all that equipment he discovered."

"That was next," Ashley admitted. "That was the step I was nervous about. I guess I should call him now."

T.J. nodded. Ashley flipped through her address book and dialled Justin's number at college. A few rings, and Justin's voice echoed through the receiver. "Hello?"

"Justin?" Ashley asked. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Oh, no, I'm just studying for one of my midterms. What's up?"

"You remember that project you were telling me about?"

She could almost see Justin nodding. "Yeah. Do you need to use it? I got it up last weekend, I think, and I was going to do some work on it tomorrow."

"That's fine. I've got some stuff I don't want to talk about over the phone that requires requesting some information."

"Oh," Justin replied. "Let me come over, and you can tell me about it. I'll include it in my testing tomorrow."

"Justin, wait, aren't you-" Ashley said, but the line had gone dead. She looked over at T.J. "Isn't he in Colorado?"

"Last I checked," T.J. said. "Maybe he has teleportation working."

A minute later, the doorbell rang. Ashley ran to get it, and sure enough Justin was waiting for her. "Hi, Ash," he rumbled. His voice was definitely getting deeper, and it was hard to believe that he was quite a bit shorter than her when they had met.

That reminded her why he was here. "Come on in. We seem to be having a meeting in my bedroom."

"We?" Justin said as she closed the door behind him.

"Me and T.J."

Justin nodded. She led him to her bedroom, only then realizing that there were two guys in her bedroom. Thankfully, her parents wouldn't be home soon. "So, what's going on?"

She motioned him to the chair that T.J. had vacated, and then explained what was going on to him. He nodded. "It shouldn't be too hard, and it's perfect for my tests. All we have to do is scan you and send a general query for missing persons along with your scan."

"Can you make sure I don't raise any flags along the way?" Ashley asked.

"I can try," Justin said. "Here, I'll teleport back to my work area, and get you two over there. Then we can scan you, and I'll send it out tomorrow."

* * *

Ashley was sitting in one of the chairs that Justin had salvaged from storage. She didn't mind. She had to read for her lit class anyway, and it gave her a chance to be there when the data came in. It hadn't yet, but she was hoping it came in soon. She had many nervous habits, such as finger-combing her hair, and she'd caught herself doing a lot of them the last two days.

Suddenly, a display came to life, and she rose out of the chair, nearly knocking it backwards. She steadied the chair before coming closer to the display. Sure enough, it was the report she was waiting for. It was short. Only one match.

Karone, of KO-35. Born on KO-35, at least. The colony had moved to the next system over. There were instructions on who to contact, procedures on how to reach the family, and so on. But she knew the one family member she had to reach first.

Andros.

She couldn't really think of him as her brother, at the moment. She was sure that could come later, would come later. Right now, her duty as a friend was to tell him that he could end his search.

Ashley pulled her communicator out of her pocket, intending to call T.J. and have him there to talk to. This was a very large step she was taking, and a few minutes wouldn't hurt Andros.

The communications light blinked. Maybe someone on that end had taken the initiative. She opened the communications channel to see who it was.

"Earth Ranger station, this is the Astro Megaship."

Yeah, someone had taken the initiative all right. Or she was about to endure the strangest coincidence of her life.

(End of part 1)