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�The next couple of days were relatively calm, Kim was discharged from the hospital and the three of us were put on shifts to watch the hospitals activities when neither Kim nor Tommy could be there for whatever reason,� Madeline said as she pointed between Maddox, Sam, and herself. The others had not been able to do that because they had school to attend and Tommy absolutely refused to pull them out of school. �The two of them worked on their life outside of the rangers while there was peace. That peace didn�t last long though.�
�Did you really think that it would?� Fred asked as they shook their heads no, but you always hoped in the ranger world. It was the one thing that made all of the rest of their life not seem as bad as most people would think that it was.
�Hey guys,� Tommy said as he walked into the Command Center, still in his gi and sweating from head to foot. He had had a class with some fellow black belts today and the four of them had beat up on each other pretty good. He had needed to get out a lot of his stress and had been glad for this, but the other black belts had been somewhat surprised at him. Tommy was never one to try to outgun people on purpose, but for once he didn�t hold back and they found out what he could truly do and they knew that they never wanted to face him in any arena if they could help it.
�Hey, how are you doing?� Madeline asked as she looked back at Tommy and he just shrugged. He had spent this morning at the hospital with Kim, as his co-workers had taken over a good deal of the work at the dojo, but he had had to go in this afternoon. He needed to relieve some stress, as he was always in a rather poor mood when he had to look at his son through an incubator and he didn�t need to take his mood out on Kimberly. They were hoping that they would be able to take him home in a couple of weeks, but right now everything looked iffy, even if they were going to be living in their own house. They didn�t know if they could put his life at risk again.
�A little bit better today, I thought that it was only supposed to be you here,� Tommy said as he nodded towards Maddox who was asleep on the couch. He had had the last shift and instead of going home, he had just taken up a spot on the couch, which Tommy knew had to be uncomfortable. He had slept on that couch a couple of times and he had been miserable the next day. Now, mind you that Kim had been mad at him the next day when he woke up, but that was not something that he wanted to discuss with them right now.
�He wanted to stay, so I couldn�t really tell him no,� Madeline said as she looked over at him and smiled. It made her feel better to know that someone else was here in case something happened, although they all really doubted that at this point.
�The two of you still haven�t talked, have you?� Tommy asked as Madeline shook her head no, but she knew that she really didn�t need to. Tommy was pretty good at reading peoples� minds when he set his mind to it. �Madeline, you need to before you go out there again.�
�Why should we? Tommy, I feel bad enough for jumping into his feelings like that. I didn�t expect my powers to be able to make me sense out people so well, but I can for some reason,� Madeline said as Tommy shook his head as he bent over to look at the screen and saw Kim sitting next to the incubator, holding Chris�s hand.
�You can because you are meant to. I know that it sounds crazy, but it�s the only reason that I am able feel Kim out at all. There are bigger connections at hand than what you know about and trust me when I say that you�ll appreciate it one day,� Tommy said as Maddox stirred from his sleep and looked over at Madeline with a sleepy smile before laying back down. �Why don�t you go outside and talk and I�ll watch everything for a little while?�
�No, the reason we�re doing this is so that you don�t have to watch out for things like this,� Madeline said as Tommy just shook his head and gave her a look that said he insisted that she leave at once and talk to Maddox. The two of them needed to talk everything out before anything bad happened, because Tommy was sure that this little bit of peace would not last long. He did not know why Halindon had not attacked again, but the feeling in his gut let him know that this was only temporary.
�You�ll feel better once you do all of this,� Tommy said as Madeline barely nodded and Maddox gave them a confused glance. What had he missed while he was sleeping?
�Our fearless leader has told me that I have to talk to you,� Madeline said as Maddox looked over at Tommy who smiled at him and then went back to the work at hand. He had always been able to do that and these kids just had that much more to figure out about him before they could even begin to think that they knew him well.
�Well, I guess you have to listen to his guidance,� Maddox said as he stood up and followed her into a separate room as Tommy shook his head as he sat down in front of the controls and continued to watch his wife. He was never tired of looking at her, even if she felt that she looked horrible, he always wanted to see more of her. He didn�t know if that stemmed from so many years apart or if came from something else, either way it didn�t matter to him. He enjoyed it immensely.
�I�m not even sure where to start,� Madeline said as she sat down on the floor and Maddox sat down next to her and looked over at her with a gentle smile as he watched her intently. She was the one that needed to talk first about this, he didn�t need to be the one to have to do it. He wasn�t even sure exactly what they were here to talk about right now. �You�re not going to make this easy on me, are you?�
�No, I�m not, Maddie,� Maddox said as Madeline reached over and wrapped her arms around him and settled her head against his chest. They had been friends since their first day of class together, but they both knew that they had grown into much more over the last months, but neither of them wanted to admit the truth of the matter. They were afraid of what that would mean for the two of them if they put themselves out there.
�The other day I didn�t mean to figure out what you were feeling,� Madeline said as Maddox gave her a confused look. He hadn�t known that she had figured out anything.
�What did you figure out that has you this embarrassed?� Maddox asked as Madeline looked up at him in confusion.
�Hold on, you didn�t know that I felt the way that...what has Tommy tricked me into?� Madeline said, shaking her head as Tommy peaked in and smiled. He had thought that it would not take her very long to figure out that he knew exactly what was going on. �I�m going to kill you.�
�Only after I have grandchildren,� Tommy said as Madeline glared at him.
�You are lucky that you just had a kid,� Madeline said as Tommy went back out. �Evil bastard.�
�No, Tommy�s not that bad of a person,� Maddox said as Madeline just looked over at him.
�He tricked me into doing this. It�s not my choice to be here talking to you about this, but now that I�ve started...� Madeline trailed off as Maddox gave her a very sympathetic gaze.
�You might as well finish it,� Maddox said as Madeline looked up at him and he saw the look in her eyes. She was honestly scared. �What are you scared about?�
�Telling you what I know you felt, what I saw in you at that moment,� Madeline said as Maddox looked at her and he tried to keep his mind from overloading and her being able to read him.
�You know...you know what I was feeling then?� Maddox asked as Madeline nodded her head yes, as both of their faces turned red. �I just thought that maybe you saw more into my powers.�
�Yeah, I just saw that and a couple other things I never expected to see from you or I never wanted to admit that you might feel,� Madeline said as an alarm went off and they both looked up before Tommy ran in and snatched both of them up.
�Vinons, the others are already there, it�s time for you to go,� Tommy said as they gave him a worried glance.
�Tommy wait...� Madeline began as they were teleported away and he went back over to the screen, knowing he would contact Kim as soon as she was alone.
�Madeline...� Maddox said as she shook her head and began fighting, as Sam, BethAnn and Garrett needed a small break. The three of them had been desperately trying to hold off their counterparts, but so far they had not been able to make much progress at all.
�Thanks,� Sam said as he slowly picked himself up and looked over at the other rangers that had saved his ass.
�Don�t mention it,� Madeline said as she was thrown back into a car and landed on the ground with a thud.
�Maddie...� Maddox murmured as the others had regrouped enough to stand, but were just beginning to fight.
�I got her Maddox,� Garrett said as he ran over to her and shook her gently and all she did was groan. �Come on, Madeline, wake up.�
�I got her, go,� Tommy said as he landed and gathered Madeline up and stood up as he caught Maddox�s worried glance. �She�ll be fine, just morph so no one else gets hurt.�
�Maddox, get a hold of yourself,� Sam said as they began morphing, but he could tell that the red ranger was not happy with what had just happened. None of them liked to see another person on the ground like that, but for Maddox it was definitely something more, they could all tell that.
�They just...� Maddox trailed off as Sam ran over to him and grabbed him by the arm.
�You are second in charge here, we�re waiting for you to tell us what to do. Madeline will be fine, she�s with Tommy, but we won�t be if you don�t start thinking real quick,� Sam said as Maddox looked over at him as if this was the first time he had ever seen Sam and nodded before shaking his head.
�Let�s fan out,� Maddox said as he headed in one direction and Sam headed in the other while Garrett and BethAnn exchanged a glance before they followed their lead. They had no clue what was going through the others minds, but they knew that the two of them seemed to be a lethal pair, if they could ever get over disliking each other so much.
�Those things pack one hell of a punch,� Tommy commented as he landed in the Command Center and Andros walked over to him.
�I guess they�re going to have to morph from the very beginning,� Andros commented as Tommy barely nodded. That was something that he had wanted to keep from happening, considering that they needed to save their power reserves. They didn�t really know how to do that in the uniform yet and he was afraid that they would fall off far too quickly by just letting them morph as soon as the battle began.
�I hate saying that, but they�re going to have to do it. Kim is going to kill me when she finds out that I had to go out and get her. If any of the others get knocked out, you�re going to have to go fetch them,� Tommy said as Andros nodded. He knew that Tommy didn�t need any more shit on his shoulders, especially with what had happened over the last week.
�How�s he doing?� Andros asked as he had been at the Space Station the majority of this time and had known about Kim having the baby, but had had no reason to come to Earth until Tommy had contacted him today. He knew that they were all going to have a pow-wow when they could and he had a feeling Tommy was going to call all of them in tonight.
�He�s a strong little boy, but they said we should be able to take him home in a couple of weeks, unless he has any complications,� Tommy said as Andros nodded. He couldn�t image what it would be like to be away from his child and he didn�t know how Tommy was actually dealing with this so well, but he was not going to ask. He was actually pretty sure that Tommy was only holding up this strong front for everyone except Kim, that was the only person that he felt that he could be honest with. �It looks like it is just a mild concussion. She should wake up pretty soon.�
�Tommy! We could use some help out here!� Maddox yelled over the connection as he looked back over at the screen, saw the battle, and grimaced. He knew that these kids needed some guidance, but he didn�t think that he was the person to do it.
�I�ll go Tommy,� Andros said as he gathered his mind together and then teleported out into the field.
�Who are you?� Maddox asked as Andros landed in the middle of the battle and began throwing punches without even looking at them.
�One of Tommy�s little helpers, now start pulling out some weapons and blasting these things or you�ll be sending another person to the hospital today,� Andros said as he ducked under a blast and then threw the vinon that had attacked him into the nearest wall. �You can�t be nice here.�
�Ah,� BethAnn said as she was hit in the shoulder as Garrett threw the vinon away from her before he knelt down next to her.
�We don�t know what our weapons are,� Sam said as he continued his hand to hand combat as Andros let out a very long sigh. He sure as hell had no clue, but he was sure that Tommy was listening to the communications.
�You have blasters, use them,� Tommy said as Madeline let out another groan and glowed an eerie shade of white.
�You heard the man!� Andros yelled as the rangers started pulling out blasters, but they still hesitated. They weren�t exactly sure where to aim until Sam just aimed at the gut and the vinon exploded which was enough for the others to begin firing. �Tommy, get me out of here.�
�You know I think that we pissed them off,� Garrett said, jokingly as the vinons disappeared and Maddox powered down and they followed his example. �Are you all right?�
�No, she was trying to tell me something important before...� Maddox said looking at them as he covered his face. Why hadn�t he made it easy on her and just let her say it without joking around with her? �Come on, let�s get out of here.�
�Hey guys,� Tommy said as they landed in the Command Center and Maddox glanced over at Madeline and then looked away. �Come on, let�s take a walk. Andros, call me if she wakes up.�
�Tommy I want...� Maddox said as Tommy gave him a look that said there was absolutely no room for discussion on the matter. He was going to go with him on a nice little walk.
�She was never able to tell you, was she?� Tommy said, purposefully, as Maddox nodded his head yes. �You�re not the first ranger that has left something unsaid when it should have been said and you won�t be the last.�
�I don�t really need any words of wisdom on this, Tommy,� Maddox said as Tommy looked over at him, acting slightly hurt.
�Yeah, that�s what I thought when I was in your shoes, but just listen to me, don�t really try to pay attention to the things that you can�t help. I couldn�t help that I was turned evil, I couldn�t help that I had to live with that and living with that meant that I had a lot of stuff to work out before I could be a good friend, much less a boyfriend to Kim,� Tommy said as Maddox looked over at him. There was not much of an age difference between the two of them, but their attitude towards life was so drastically different. Tommy had seen some of the worst things that could happen to people and he knew that everything he got in this life was a blessing. Maddox was just beginning to learn that lesson.
�But what if she doesn�t...� Maddox started as Tommy just shook his head.
�She will wake up Maddox, I�ve seen worse, hell I�ve been worse, it just may take her a little while. Everyone here is different, if me and Kim are ever knocked out together, I�ll be the one to come to first and then it�s just a matter of time when we�re together. Trust me when I say that you may be like that or this may just be her body�s way of protecting her,� Tommy said as Maddox nodded.
�Why did you make us talk?� Maddox asked as Tommy smiled over at him.
�I�m sure that you could think of some reasons if you thought about it long enough, considering that I�m sure you have guessed in the last few minutes what she must have wanted to talk to you about before the two of you had to go out there,� Tommy said as Maddox just shook his head. He still hadn�t been able to get a concrete hold of what exactly was going on with her. �Think, why would seeing your emotions disturb her?�
�I don�t know, my emotions could have just scared her, maybe she didn�t like that side of me,� Maddox said as Tommy just shook his head, knowing that was complete and utter bull shit. Maddox could figure out what it was if he was just willing to admit it to himself.
�What exactly were you thinking when you saw her in that suit?� Tommy asked as Maddox�s eyes widened and he began shaking his head. �She was shocked that you would ever look at her that way, want her that way when it was obvious to her that you didn�t really seem interested. That�s why she�s been avoiding you the last few days, spending time with the others when she would have normally spent time with you. One of you needs to say it to the other, because I know that if you let this go too far, one of you is going to be close to dying before the other will admit the truth and I don�t want you to have to live through what I went through.�
�Isn�t this close?� Maddox asked as Tommy just shook his head no. He knew that Madeline was going to be just fine from the work up that they had done on her so far. He honestly didn�t think that telling them the truth of what had happened to him and Kim in the past would make them feel any better, so Maddox was just going to have to trust him.
�I know she�ll be fine, but I think that you need to have a serious conversation with her as soon as you can,� Tommy said as Maddox nodded as they finished their circle of the block and Tommy held open the door for him.
�Why didn�t they explain to us that we each have a weapon?� BethAnn asked as Tommy smiled.
�Because they thought that you would have paid more attention to all of the things that we randomly called upon while we were out in the field,� Tommy said, jokingly, as Maddox walked over and sat down next to Madeline�s cot while the others took a look at him, as they caught Tommy�s glare, which caused them to look away. �I want all of you to go home tonight and get some rest. Maddox is going to stay and monitor the hospital and Madeline. We have to have a meeting.�
�I know, when are the others going to get here?� Andros asked as Tommy looked down at his watch and he shook his head.
�Kim should be here in a few minutes and I think Jason and Trini are going to come with her. Rocky has to pick up Aisha, and T.J. said he�ll be here a little bit after five. We should be able to start in the next twenty minutes if everything goes right,� Tommy said as Andros nodded and then walked over to the console.
�Are Trini and Jason bringing Macy?� Andros asked as Tommy nodded his head yes. She had been at a sitter�s all day and he knew that the two of them just didn�t want to risk anymore. The only reason that they had done that was because neither of them had been able to get any free time from work. Their normal jobs were starting to press in on this job and they all knew that the further that they got in, the more likely that it was that they would have to quit the work that they were involved in.
�I thought I told ya�ll to go home,� Tommy said as he turned to face the three rangers that were standing around Madeline.
�How can we just leave her here?� BethAnn asked as Tommy looked over at her and she had a brief moment in which she reconsidered what she said before she decided to stand by it.
�All of you are having some sort of meeting, no one will be here to look after her.�
�That�s why Maddox is staying,� Andros said as they looked over at him, not exactly sure if they liked him or if they just wanted to tell him to shut up. �We�re telling you to leave because what we have to discuss is something that none of you should be involved in if we can help it.�
�We�re rangers, we kinda are involved in whatever you have to talk about,� BethAnn said as Tommy looked over at her and she saw the pleading look in his eye.
�You�re not staying because what we are talking about really doesn�t have anything to do with how we are going to treat the rangers and it has everything to do with how my wife and I are going to handle some situations that we never thought would come up again,� Tommy said as the three nodded and then turned to leave. They could tell that Tommy didn�t want to tell them even this much, but he had to do so, so that they would leave. He could see that their stubborn streak had come up enough that they were ready to fight for the right to stay put.
�Oh come on, that is just cruel,� Fred said as Madeline smiled.
�Well, it is time for a lunch break, so that�s a good place to leave off and I�m pretty sure that everyone will be interested to hear that tape. You notice how the rangers really don�t trust to have to take someone to the hospital, because there is no way to explain some of the injuries. That�s why most of us just sucked it up. Now, we want some lunch and we�ll be back in about an hour,� Maddox said as he stood up and the rangers filed out of the room leaving Fred dumbfounded. He had thought that it would be easy to interview or just listen to them talk about being rangers, but he was finding out with each passing day that it was much harder than he could ever imagine. These people were interesting, they had lives, they had other things that made them tick other than being a ranger and he was beginning to wonder if his higher ups ever took that into account. That the rangers were only human and could not be expected to perform some sort of miracle when they were faced with things that would make most people have an emotional breakdown on a daily basis. It amazed him to know that the older rangers just took it all in stride when he knew that most people on this earth were not cut out for the job.