Disclaimer: All characters recognisable are not mine and belong Saban/Disney. I only own the circumstances.

A/N: PRLR. Ryan x Kelsey. AU.

Bite Your Tongue
by DarkHonda aka Tal

Chapter One:

The first night of Ryan as a new formal good guy was marked with a huge party at the common room; the six of them had a party, Joel brought the beer, Chad provided the food, Dana the non stopping chatter and Carter quoted every known rule the Aquabase held against exact such parties. Everyone was so into their usual 'role' in the party that Ryan was nearly forgotten. He was sitting alone on the sofa and held his Lightspeed Jacket, staring at it with a strange expression all over. So Kelsey felt obligated to abandon Chad in the kitchen and sit next to Ryan, dropping down to the couch like a rock.

"Hey," She gave him a bright smile, hoping it would ease him; he grimaced, it seemed she wasn't helping…

"Hi." He said after a moment, squirming away, but only a little.

"So how it feels like?" She asked and couldn't help sounding enthusiastic and kind of obsessed.

"This?" He held up the jacket, "It's great. Thanks." He said, a very small smile decorating his lips, barely showing any teeth.

"What's this?" She smiled deviously and he frowned, confused.

"What's what?" He boomeranged the question.

"That thing on your lips, did you just smile?" She grinned fully now and Ryan bit his bottom lip in a weak attempt to suppress his twitching lips, but failed so now a quite larger smile decorated his lips. Kelsey laughed.

"I got you there!" She said between hopeless fits of laughter, he nodded once, his smile gone, but a new light in his amber eyes. When Kelsey's laughter finally died out, she gazed curiously at him, he was still looking at her and still holding the jacket with the very same strange expression on his face.

"Come on, Ryan, aren't bad guys allowed to laugh?" His eyes seemed to freeze when she said that and a part of her regretted mentioning it. It didn't matter to her, but it obviously still bothered him. 'Way to go, ruin the moment for him…' she beat herself mentally.

"Sorry." She said a moment later, looking at her hands, suddenly.

"I'm not a bad guy anymore." He told her gently, he didn't sound very mad or anything, just… slightly scolding, like a parent after you accidently let out a swear. She blushed, suddenly very self aware.

"I know," she felt the need to whisper that, gathering the courage to look into his eyed again; she found them fascinating as they were in the shade of her ranger uniforms. "I didn't mean that, I know you're not bad."

"You know?" He sounded surprised and she felt her blush heat again, she nodded. "Why would you think so? I could fool you all and take the task of a spy among you." He explained.

"Would you really betray your own sister?" She asked and he stiffened next to her.

"Family doesn't mean that much to me. I might've forgiven my father, but it would not change the fact they are strangers who share my blood." He said quickly and under his breath, but she understood everything, she could relate to that, too…
Her grandmother all wrapped up with being rich and aristocrat, she was so cold and far from the world Kelsey, herself, lived in – that she was a stranger, too, despite being all of the family Kelsey has ever known.

"I can understand that." She held her breath after she has said it. She never shared with anyone the story of her family, not even her closest friends, Chad and Dana. She watched him closely: a flash of emotion showed for a moment in his eyes, then died out and he seemed in control again.

"So what it's like being a good guy?" Ryan now smiled at her, really smiled: his teeth flashed white in front of her eyes and she could recognize a small dimple in his right cheek. She grinned in response.

"Well, it's basically dealing with whatever the bad guys are throwing at us. Oh, and there's a lot of paperwork that's coming along with it. That's when you learn to envy the bad guys, they don't have paperwork. I'm still way behind in mine, Carter and Dana, of course, get all of theirs in time, Joel just doesn't do his and I think I'm going to make a deal with Chad – he'll do one half and I'll do the other. It's too much work!" she complained, looking around for eavesdroppers, but no one really bother to do just that. Ryan was shaking with silent laughter and she grinned proudly – she made him laugh!

"What it's like being a bad guy?" She couldn't help her curiosity after he calmed down, he smiled and seemed to think about it for a full minute.

"It's a lot of scheming, but it's all very frustrating, for Diabolico, anyway. He's very disappointed with himself for not managing to wipe you out, yet." Ryan shrugged, "As far as I was concerned, you were nothing, I could take you and I did – "

"And then you discovered your true destiny, which is," She interrupted him enthusiastically, he frowned and stared at her, "Paperwork!" With that, he started to laugh again, this time not able to keep it quiet. She watched as his shaking, burst out to a deep fit of laughter.
There were so many lines in his face, so many ways to get to know him, the real him. She knew she wanted to, would he give her a chance to do that? She really hoped he would. He seemed like an interesting man and he made her feel all fuzzy and giggly with his pondering ways…

*

That night he appeared on her doorstep, knocking softly on the door, as if trying and not-trying to wake her in the same time. She hadn't expected him to stand there and flushed crimson when she saw him, knowing he saw her in embarrassing pajamas of teddy bears and yellow-ness. He said nothing for a long time and the two just stared at each other: she might have been wearing a yellow teddy-full pajamas but it was nothing as distracting as his long black training slacks.

He sighed a moment after she registered his half nakedness and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I just… well, I had a nightmare and I… Carter snores and… – " She nodded, understanding he just needed someone to be there. She didn't say anything as she stepped out of the way and allowed him in her room, she closed the door behind him.

"Kelsey?" He asked, uncomfortably. "Can I sleep on the floor?"

"Yeah, just hold on for a moment, I'll get the extra covers." She said quickly, fatigue drifting away. She reached for her closet and pulled out thick covers and a mattress which made Ryan raise an eyebrow. She blushed, then shrugged.

"Dana and I have girls-night sometimes." She admitted while dropping the mattress on the floor and throwing the covers and one of her pillows that she dropped from her bed. Ryan nodded and Kelsey smiled and hopped into her own bed, slipping under the covers while Ryan did the same.

"Good night, Ryan, Sweet Dreams," She whispered and sank her face into her pillow.

"Night." he replied and turned to lay on his back; there was a moment of silence before –

"Kelsey?" His voice sounded beautiful behind that sleep haze.

"Yeah?"

"Can you hold my hand?" She let her hand drop down from the bed and noted when his quite large palm took hers. His palm felt kind of rough but very warm and soon enough – she was asleep.

*

When she woke in the morning, he wasn't there. Only a note was pace on her night stand:
Thank you.

A/N: I hope you would like this one, it's a bit different than my usual style, I think. Since everything is written, it's a chapter a day, so review and I shall be very happy!