Disclaimer: Saban and Disney's, not mine.
Warnings: Heavy spoilers for 'Trip Takes a Stand'.
Author's Note: It's been forever since I've seen this episode, so there's a good chance some information might be incorrect. If that's the case, please tell me so I can fix it, or at least label this fic AU. And, look! I finally figured out to use line breaks! Um, I think so, at least. /
"What if Eric had shot you?"
Trip freezes for a second, but he doesn't look at me. He just keeps racking the leaves. That's not the reaction I would've expected from him. But I shouldn't be too surprised; he doesn't need his empathic powers to know somebody was going to ask him this eventually.
I try another approach. "You really scared me back there, you know?"
That gets him to look at me. "I know. And I'm sorry." He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "I didn't mean to, honest."
"Is that it?"
He nods, and goes back to work. It hurts (a lot) that he doesn't want to confide in me, especially after everything we've been through, but I know better than to try to force it out of him. When it's something this big, it's best just to let Trip come out with it himself. So neither of us speak again as we finish the job for the day. It's not until we're bagging the dead leaves that he comes up to me, closing the distance that's been there between us for the past few hours.
Trip looks up at me guiltily. "Katie?"
About time. "Hm?"
"I... it's just... what happened to Notacon wasn't fair." He looks down at the ground helplessly. "He was just trying to survive, but they locked him up without even hearing his side. They figured he must be a criminal since he's a mutant. And Ransik and Frax were just going to let him die!" He looks up at me again, and I'm a little taken back by how upset he looks. I haven't seen him this angry since...
"And Eric?"
"All he saw was another evil mutant. Somebody had to make him see that wasn't true." The edge that was in his voice a few moments ago is gone now. "And when I was protecting Notacon, I got a... really good look into Eric's head. It was one of those few times I knew exactly what someone's thinking, instead of just a vague idea."
I'm sure I don't want to know what was going through the Quantum Ranger's mind when he was pointing a gun at my best friend, but I ask him anyway.
"'Why would he do that for someone he barely knows?' That's when I knew," he continues as he ties up the last bags, "just how lonely he really is." He does his best to smile. "I'm not trying to defend him; I'm just saying that... well... I can understand him a little better now. That's all."
Eric was going to kill Notacon. He would have, if Trip hadn't stepped in, putting his own life at risk. And even now he doesn't realize...
"You have no idea how brave you were, do you?"
He blinks at me, obviously confused. "What makes you say that?"
"... Don't worry about it." I lean in to kiss him, just for a second, before I get ready to head home. "Just be sure to warn me next time you do something that brave again, okay? I can only take so much stress in one lifetime."
