Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, although I'm sure we all wish we did.

Authors Note: Written for the Ranger Romance Theme Challenge at Ars Amatoria. I needed a break, a no-brainer if you will, from my other writings in progress. What a lovely break it was. Short, but lovely.

Youth is wasted on the young. So an old Earth saying goes. I wish that had been true for me. A few years have passed by since my time spent on the Terra Venture and my time as the Pink Lost Galaxy Ranger. While I made many friends there, KO-35 remained near and dear to my heart. Even more so, there was one man in particular whom I was longing to see again.

I feel a gentle pressure on my shoulder causing me to look up. Zhane. My hand rested on his, my thumb lightly brushing the back of his hand as I returned my gaze to the park across the street.

"You should come in soon, it's starting to get chilly out."

I suppress a giggle, his warm breath blowing on my ear as he speaks quietly, almost in a whisper. I smile and kiss him on the cheek, telling him that I'll be in soon. I want a few more minutes outside in the fresh air. Before returning back inside he adjusts the blanket, which I haphazardly threw over myself, to fit more snugly. Afraid I'll catch my death no doubt, I muse.

The laughter of children catches my attention, drawing it back to the newly built playground. I find myself feeling jealous of them. Jealous that they have something which I never did. Youth. No, not their youth. It's not their youth I'm jealous of, it's just them. Them and the memories they will have of their childhood. A childhood, something I never had. That was stolen away from me long ago when I was abducted by Darkonda. All those years of brainwashing which followed were what ultimately robbed me of my childhood, for it took away the one thing I had to hold onto. My memories. Those which existed were replaced with illusions of what had been, nothing but mere stories to mold me into their pawn. The lies which were placed in my head were what I lived by until that fateful day when Andros tore the locket from my neck in battle and discovered my true identity.

No matter what planet I'm on it seems that children are always in such a hurry to grow up. If only they would understand just how precious their youth was. I know that if I could turn back time, I would. I would be that little girl in Andros' picture frame again. I would reclaim my childhood and all that was lost from it. For now, until that day when I can take back what is rightfully mine comes, I will listen to the many stories told to me by my brother and my husband.

I hear the door shut, followed by footsteps on the porch.. "I know. I know. I'm getting up." I smile at the soft chuckle escaping Zhanes lips as he leans over to help me up.

The blanket falls to the floor as I stand, revealing the ever growing bump in my stomach. Yes, someday soon I will have memories of a childhood. I smile. Perhaps not of my own, but of one even more special. The memories I build with my husband and my child throughout their own childhood.. those will be something that can never be taken away. Youth will no longer be wasted on the young, instead it will bring new life, to an old one.