AN: This is a sequel to Underestimated. If you have not read that yet you may want to before reading this, but you can also probably figure out what is going on if you don't. Enjoy!

00000000000

There was so much blood, too much in fact. On the floor, all over his hands, all over his friend. Sky's dreams kept taking him back there; to the moment they had found Bridge just over two weeks before. He could not get the image of Edward Wiesel dead on the floor out of his mind, or the restraints he had to unscrew from his best friend. He could not get past the guilt of what happened no matter how many times he was told it was not his fault. He had to relive those moments almost every night.

Sky jolted awake and looked over to the other side of the room to see Bridge asleep. He was twitching a little, but that too had been happening almost every night since he returned. Sky knew he was also having nightmares about what happened, but every time Sky woke up from his, he had to check to make sure Bridge was still there. He needed to know he was safe. When morning came both Rangers tried to push aside their troubles during the night and face the day to come. Bridge gave Sky a sympathetic look.

"You really need to understand nothing that happened was your fault."

Sky realized Bridge knew exactly what he had been dreaming about. "I'm trying not to Bridge, but I just keep thinking of everything I should have done."

"Me too." Bridge got up and went into the bathroom.

Sky hated seeing Bridge in such a bad state since his kidnapping. He knew it would take time to heal, but he had hoped Bridge would be making more progress at this point. He missed the old Bridge, and right now he was not seeing much of him. Until he was on active duty again, Bridge had convinced Kat and Commander Crueger that he needed something to do or he would go stir crazy. They let him do minimal tech work in the Command Center to keep his mind off of everything. Bridge was thankful for the distraction, but he knew he would only be in the Command Center each day until he had to go to physical therapy. His wrists, ankles, and neck were healing nicely, but would each leave two scares from the restraints that held him. Dr. Felix had used a bandage that helped with the scarring, but the deeper wounds would leave marks forever. Just another daily reminder of what he went through.

When the time came for Bridge to go down to the medical wing, he sighed at the thought. He hated going because he felt like he was not making much progress. The nerve damage he had was not terrible, but he was in pain. Enough pain to slow him down, and cause trouble doing simple things. When he got there the therapist, Dr. Yun, was waiting for him. She smiled at him and asked him the same questions she did every day.

"How are we doing today?"

Bridge shrugged. "Alright, mostly the same as yesterday."

"Consistency is always better than decline."

"It's not improvement either."

"You are improving Bridge, but remember you have to give time for your muscles and nerves to heal. It has not been very long, so you have made great progress so far."

Bridge nodded and began doing his daily exercises that were meant to help stretch out his muscles. Dr. Yun mostly made him stretch his ankles, wrists, and neck. She also tested his grip by having him squeeze a stress ball as tight as he could and hold it until she told him to let go. After about forty-five minutes, the therapy was complete for the day, and Bridge, like always, felt sore and tired. He hated how low his energy had been since he was taken. Now all he wanted to do was lay down. As much as he hated giving into how tired he was, Bridge needed to rest after physical therapy. He headed back to his room to lie down for a little while, but like always the nightmares crept back in.

"Can't have you falling asleep."

Bridge jolted awake waiting for the shock of pain to course through his body, but it never came. After swinging his legs over his bed, Bridge sighed and grabbed the sunglasses the team had given to him before he had gotten out of the infirmary. His sensitivity to light was not as bad as when he first got back, but any bright flashes would make him panic a little. He headed to the cafeteria to grab something to eat. When he got there, no one else was there at the time. This was often how it had been for Bridge lately. He felt so alone since he returned. The Rangers were always out defending the city against Gruumm, and everyone else was in class or training. His schedule was so different compared to everyone else's now, and he often found himself on opposite hours. Bridge reached for an apple that was sitting in a basket on the counter, but when he picked it up a sharp pain ran up his arm causing him to drop it. In his frustration of this, Bridge hit the basket across the room and yelled out.

"You know I don't always like eating healthy either, but that's no reason to beat the fruit up."

Bridge had not noticed Jack in the doorway before his outburst; he sighed and sat down on the stool beside him.

Jack came over and sat next to him. "What's going on?"

Bridge ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "I'm worried I won't get better."

"I thought the physical therapy was helping."

"It has been, but I hate feeling so helpless. I can't grip anything tight enough to hold, so how am I supposed to punch or kick? I can't fight like this. I can barely function right now. What good am I as a Ranger if I can't even be on the field?"

"I know everyone has been telling you the same thing, that you need time, but believe them Bridge, that is what you need."

"Maybe…I'm worried that if I heal, I still won't be able to do anything."

Jack could hear the worry in the Green Ranger's voice. "Bridge you have every right to be scared to go back out there after what happened. You went through something crazy and intense, and it's okay if you take a while to get back to yourself. There's no time limit on healing."

Bridge nodded, but Jack was not sure his words were consoling him.

"What do ya say we start some training? Just small stuff to keep you in shape?" Jack gave a small smile.

Bridge smiled back. "You saying I'm not in shape?"

"I'm saying with all that tech work, you're going to be rusty." He nudged Bridge a little.

A small laugh escaped Bridge, but he nodded. "Thanks Jack."

Bridge felt better once he and Jack were in the training room. He had barely seen the team, and was beginning to feel like he was not needed. They were doing just fine on the field without him, and with their schedules being so different, Bridge was rarely able to talk to anyone anymore. Jack was now making the effort to help Bridge, which was a relief. The Red Ranger did simple drills with him, mostly blocking. He made sure he had Bridge do things that would not hurt any sensitive areas. Doing these simple drills was enough to raise Bridge's moral for a while.

"See, you'll be able to get back into it once you're healed." Jack smiled at him.

Bridge nodded. "I feel better about it. I'm still worried about everything, but I think I might be able to fight again."

"You will." Jack eyed him.

After his drill with Jack, Bridge decided he needed to do some meditation. He had slowly been rebuilding the walls and blocks in his mind, but there were not going up as fast as he liked. He was in tuned to everything and everyone at the base. A few months ago this would have given him a pounding headache, nose bleed, and possibly cause him to pass out, but now he was doing alright. His body was adapting, like it always did, to his abilities, but Bridge worried about how fast they were still evolving. It used to be hard for him to focus on one thought of a certain individual, but now they were all swimming in and out, he would see who they belonged to, and his brain was processing all of it. Of course he did not want all of that in his head, so Bridge crossed his legs, took a deep breath, and worked on blocking some of the thoughts out. Little by little, Bridge was replacing the blocks in his mind. He was pushing each voice out one by one.

"Now, now, can't have you blocking me out."

Bridge scrunched his eyes closed at the familiar voice in his head. Edward Wiesel, the man that tortured him. The man he killed. Bridge's mind raced as he attempted to push the man out of his head. Bridge saw all of his thoughts and memories when he went into his head and ripped it apart, and now the man's subconscious was developing deep in his mind. Bridge concentrated as hard as he could on pushing the man's thoughts out.

"Umm, excuse me."

Bridge felt a nudge on his shoulder which snapped him out of his thoughts. He took a quick intake of breath and looked through his dark lenses to see a cadet standing in front of him.

"You're bleeding."

At that, Bridge wiped his nose with his gloved hand, and found that he was bleeding a lot. His deep concentration was enough to cause the small gush coming from his face. Bridge sprang up and made his way to his room before looking over his shoulder at the cadet.

"Allergies…" He rushed into his room and to the bathroom where he set out of clean himself up.

Bridge grabbed a wad of toilet paper and began to wipe the blood away, trying not to panic. He was worried this would happen. To kill Edward meant going into his mind and ripping it apart piece by piece. He saw everything in the man's mind, and in turn almost absorbed it into his. Now those thoughts were creeping to the surface of Bridge's mind trying to replace his own thoughts. After the blood stopped coming out of his nose, Bridge looked at himself in the mirror.

"There you are, all you, all there. You need to stay there me. You can't let him beat you."

Bridge flushed the bloody toilet paper down the toilet and wondered why he did not just put it in the trash. He needed to tell the others about what was going on. They could help him keep his sanity and his self, but here he was hiding the evidence. Bridge washed his face and left the bathroom running into Sky coming into their room.

"Oh, hey."

"Hey." Sky walked over to his bed and set his jacket down. He noticed the Green Ranger fidgeting. "You okay?"

Tell him. Tell him. Tell him! "Yeah, fine, just tired from everything today. Jack started training with me a little."

Sky nodded. "Good, that's really good Bridge, you'll be back out there in no time."

Bridge smiled a little. "Yeah, I hope so."

0000000000

Thanks for reading!