Chapter 1 - The Ultimatum
Warnings: adult situations. Eric's a bit of a masochist in this verse, apparently.
Wow, this is my annual anniversary piece to commemorate when I first started to post fanfiction. Can't believe it's been eight years already! Thanks to everyone who has been around for the ride, and specifically, thanks to the ever talented and wonderfully patient the real vampire for beta-ing this chapter, and being an all-around awesome person. If you're looking for some more power rangers romance, you should check out her story, 'My Brother's Keeper'. It's pretty good. Just sayin' ;P
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"The problem's not that you don't put the dishes in the dishwasher," Kai was saying, a teasing hum against the base of Eric's neck as he alternated between rough bites and speaking. "It's that you put them in the dishwasher wrong."
"There's no incorrect way to put 'em in," Eric griped, pushing any annoyance to the back of his mind as he prioritized his focus on the feel of Kai settled in his lap, the friction of the other man's thighs as he tried to get a better angle, eliminate the distance between them.
"Yes," Kai huffed, the warm air brushing against Eric's collar bone in that simultaneously annoyed-yet-arousing way. "There is."
Hell, maybe it was arousing because the other man was frustrated, which would probably explain why Eric kept purposely defying Kai's rather intricate dish-loading system. And then disorganizing it whenever the blue ranger had gotten there first.
Just, probably.
"Alright," Eric allowed, because they were reaching that point in their physical engagements when Kai's annoyance should be translating into rough treatment, and the only way to do that was for Eric to agree he had done something wrong.
There was pride, and then there was sex (phenomenal, mind-blowing sex), and it had taken Eric about all of five minutes to decide which one was more important.
"What I don't understand," Kai continued, stubborn, fingers tugging roughly at the tiny hairs on the back of Eric's neck. "Is how we can be so in sync and then you do this-"
"Bad memory," Eric explained, distracted and breathless as he pulled Kai into a hard, open mouthed kiss.
There; now they could cut with the chit-chat and get with the-
"-like I don't notice when you do these things on purpose," Kai continued, gasping, running a hand up the front of Eric's chest, a cruel tease. "Like I can't see-"
"Okay," Eric began, noticing the look in his boyfriend- his partner- his... Kai's eyes had transcended from mere frustration to murderous and the bites, while… enjoyable, probably weren't intended to cater to Eric's particular kinks. "So maybe I-"
"But you do," Kai continued, focusing on Eric's neck with such dedicated intensity that the Quantum Ranger's glowing feeling of warmth was beginning to fade, somehow counteracted by doom despite the willing, wily, and writhing male who'd taken up camp in his lap. "You do, and I realized this-"
He tugged at Eric's hair sharply, no restraint, none of that calculated carefulness, giving Eric no chance to hide exactly how greatly that affected him, his moan loud and unapologetic.
"Yes," Kai murmured, talking against Eric's lips as his nails bit vicious crescents into the red ranger's upper torso. "Was received with much greater enthusiasm than I had anticipated."
"Perhaps-" Eric's eyes must have closed because the onslaught felt that much sweeter; Kai's rough ministrations intensified under the darkness of closed lids.
"Shut up." The interruption was stern on domineering, refusing to accept defiance and yeah, yes, Kai knew how to do the best sweet talk.
Eric had always known he'd picked a winner.
"And it's not that this is a problem." The calm, technical delivery of Kai's explanation was probably the best compliment to the jerked, harsh delivery of his 'affections', like it was just his way to keep his head when Eric was so close to losing it, even though he could feel Kai rivalled, if not surpassed, his own arousal. "It's just the fact that I feel awful-" And there was another yank at Eric's head. "-and guilty-" Yank. "Every. Single. Time."
Each of these was punctuated by a fresh set of bites against the bottom of Eric's jaw, taunting, Kai never going near his lips, or his neck, or how about his damn-
"-we do this. So I don't, and then you goad me, so that we will, but you don't tell me-" In one swift movement Kai grabbed a hold of Eric's wrists and had him shoved back against the bed, body laid out flat as the blue ranger accessed that rarely-used enhanced strength of his to pin the other man down, straddling Eric's waist, chest heaving as he stared back down at the red ranger.
"So instead we have this," Kai murmured, pinning Eric's wrists above his head one-handed, so amazingly hot. "And you win, and I get deceived."
"I'm getting the feeling you don't appreciate this as much as you let on," Eric managed, frankly impressed at the coherence of his sentence, let alone the put-together delivery.
It wasn't until he saw the blue ranger's eyes darken that he realized that whatever he had said probably hadn't been the best choice for dealing with an aggravated Kai.
"Really?"
It also didn't help that a snarling-Kai was still an epically sexy Kai, and even when the sarcasm continued with a very frustrated, "Perhaps?" there were other responses that would have led to a more agreeable evening.
Thrusting up against Kai's hips like a sexually frustrated school boy was probably not one of them.
Based on how their conversation had ended, Eric wasn't honestly surprised when Kai, still fully clothed, left the room in a frustrated huff. Fortunately, the look of pure evil he had thrown over his shoulder gave Eric enough to work with so he could take care of his current predicament.
It wasn't a lot, but when the hormones subsided (and they always did, as much as it disappointed him), then Eric was going to have to deal with the shit he had generously dealt himself, and that wasn't going to be pleasant for anyone involved.
So he took his time, and then took a shower.
If he was going to do this properly, it would help if he didn't reek of crushed hopes and desperation.
Just, as a personal thing.
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Eric called Carter first, mostly because any attempt to contact Kai at this exact moment would probably lead to yet another smashed cell phone, and they had already gone through three of those this past month alone. This was not an acceptable loss-to-month ratio, but seeing as Kai was pretty much ambivalent to the state of the rest of Eric's household appliances, the Quantum Ranger thought he could let this one slide. Everyone was entitled to their quirks, he figured.
He called Carter first because they had decided, he and Kai, that seeing as Carter was at least partially responsible for bringing them together, the very least the Lightspeed Rescue Ranger could do was play relationship counselor from time-to-time. Was this a blatant abuse of a friendship? An unfair call to a man that was duty-bound to perform all duties? Yes, yes it was; but that never deterred Kai and Eric, so it was with practiced comfort that Eric hit speed-dial three and awaited the possibly-annoyed/resigned/calm tones of one Carter Grayson.
When he was greeted by an obnoxiously cheerful Wes Collins instead, Eric was half-tempted to fulfill his own phone-breaking quota for the month and do away with his electronic device as quickly as physically possible.
But damn it, he was still going to reserve that right for Kai, so Eric quickly hung up instead and punched in Carter's number manually, figuring that the stupid blond had been messing with his contact list again.
"Back so soon?" Wes' voice teased when he answered, too pleased with himself, too overjoyed, with enough blatant enthusiasm to make Eric's eye begin to twitch.
"Where's Carter?" Eric grumbled, ignoring the blond's question in favor of his own.
"Bathroom," Wes replied, implying, at the very least, that he was in Carter's immediate vicinity, meaning the blond was in his apartment, and sounding like it wasn't some bizarre thing for him to be there, in Carter's apartment. "Can I take a message?"
"No. I need to talk to Carter."
"But Eric-"
"No," the Quantum Ranger interrupted, refusing to allow the blond to fall into his pitiful stream of whining. "Not you. Carter. That's why I called him."
"You sound angry," Wes came across as more pleased with this discovery than thoughtful. "Did something go wrong with Kai?"
"Did something go wrong with your ears?" Eric countered, refusing to have this conversation with his teammate. "Because you're not Carter."
"What's so great about Carter?" If Eric had to take a guess, he would say that the other ranger was pouting, doling out his wounded puppy eyes on a phone that neither processed nor cared about his feelings. "I'm your best friend."
"You're a pain in the ass," Eric argued, running a weary hand across the front of his face. "And secondly, why the hell are you at Carter's?"
"We're saying his name a lot in this particular conversation," Wes replied, blatantly ignoring Eric's question with a quiet observation of his own. "I'm not sure how I feel about this."
"Put that on the list of 'Shit I don't care about'," Eric grumbled, forcing himself to take a deep breath and count to ten, willing some of those damn anger-management exercises to actually work for once in his pathetic existence.
"You wound me Eric," the tone of Wes' voice said he didn't sound nearly as hurt as his words implied. "Wound me."
"I'll be sure to feel bad about that never." The thread of Eric's patience was ever-so-slowly making its way to the end, threatening to unravel completely and leave him with nothing but bitter contempt.
"Eric-"
"Wes," the Quantum Ranger warned. "There are important things that need to be discussed here and I promise, you are not qualified for any of them."
"How can I not be qualified?" Wes was beginning to sound perturbed by the suggestion. "I'm just as good as Carter."
"First of all, no, you are not-"
"Are too."
"Are not-"
"Okay," a voice, distinctly noted as Carter's, carried through the line. It was clearly at a distance, but the wave of relief that followed was strong enough for Eric to count it as a victory. "I'm not sure what I walked in on here, but I think everyone would benefit from my interruption."
"Tell him I'm as good as you." Wes' petulant eyes were probably turned towards Carter now, his voice carrying away from the phone. "And that I'm his best friend."
"I don't think that's how opinions work," Carter replied, just as calm, level-headed, and steady as always.
But Eric also had to note (because he was especially cruel to himself like that), that this comment was made in a way that sounded well practiced and comfortable, like the other man was familiar with how to appropriately handle Wes.
"Oh God," Eric grumbled, head collapsing into his palm as he made a rather unpleasant connection. "Please tell me you two aren't dating."
"What's wrong with us-?"
"What exactly did you call for?" Carter talked over Wes easily, and based on the annoyed humph on their end of the line, Wes did not approve of this.
"Seriously?" Eric countered, mind still grasping at how to handle that bombshell. "How long has this been going on? And why?"
The last question, actually, was the one he felt was more important, the one he could not understand. At all.
"Look," Wes began to argue, talking over the beginnings of Carter's quiet protests. "Just because you don't like blonds-"
"Trust me; your hair color is the least of your problems."
"Hey-"
"Eric." There was some fumbling and some stubborn complaints from Wes, but eventually Carter had the phone again, voice loud and consistent to indicate he had it pressed to his ear. "Is there something specific you called for; aside from bothering my boyfriend?"
"Please don't willingly say those words," Eric pleaded, steadying his head in his hands. "I don't think I can deal with that right now."
"Eric-"
"I mean you're a good guy Carter," Eric continued, frowning at his phone. "You deserve good things."
"I'm a good thing." Wes' protest came through a small haze of static, informing Eric he had been switched onto speaker phone which was just freaking fantastic.
"Get to the point, Eric." Carter sounded almost terse, like he would take no more funny business.
Eric sighed. "Just, get him out of the room or something alright? I need a sounding board that won't be remarkably unhelpful."
"Oh, hell no," Wes scoffed, cutting in before Carter could share his brilliance and agree with Eric. "I am on board with this now, so go ahead and share the fact you managed to piss off Kai again-"
"I did not," Eric insisted, purely on the need that of the things Wes could be right about, the status of his relationship was not one of them.
"Oh, sure you 'did not', which explains exactly why you're just especially grumpy right now and only want to speak to Carter."
Eric opened his mouth to protest, but before he could do so, Carter reentered the fray, "That doesn't sound any different from how he normally operates."
"Carter." And Wes was wounded, puppy eyes a blazing and mouth most likely set in that irritating pout of his.
In the lull that followed, Eric could picture Carter shrugging. "It's true. But only," the red ranger continued, dampening the mighty fine parade that was taking up base in Eric's mind, so happy that Wes' own boyfriend (and…nope, nope, still couldn't think that) had put an end to the blond's cheer. "-because Eric seems to thrive on antagonistic relationships too much. Which, if I'm correct, may have led to his reason for making this call."
"…am I right Eric?" Carter asked after a short delay, allowing his question to hang in the air so Eric could process it, inspect ever nuance, connotation, and hidden meaning before properly answering.
Or maybe it was for dramatic effect; these things tended to vary when it came to Carter.
"There may be some truth to this," Eric admitted once he was allowed a dramatic pause of his own, feeling somewhat gratified by the silence, considering the fact he was now talking about things he never, in good spirit, wanted to talk about. Ever.
And Wes was on the other end of the line.
It was painful in the most un-sexy of ways.
"Color me shocked," Wes drawled, tone laden with unimpressed sarcasm.
Eric could just picture Carter swatting at the blond with the mildest of irritation, more of a gentle press to not fall back into an argument than to spare Eric's feelings. Which was a shame, Eric liked arguing.
Then again, seeing as that was what had brought him to this point in the first place, perhaps he should be more selective about the battles he picked.
"So what, exactly, did you do?" Carter asked, tone militaristic and confident, like he was one step from going into full on battle mode which, if Eric recalled correctly, was how he generally sounded whenever Eric called him for advice. There was probably something to read into that.
"Goading, tricking, manipulation are but a few of his relationship violations."
Well speak of the devil, there was Kai.
The interesting thing about it though, was that he was on the other side of the line.
"Holy shit, how'd you get in here?" Wes babbled, more shocked by the surprise entry into what was supposedly Carter's private quarters.
You know what; Eric was just hoping they were shacked up in the living room. He really didn't need the visual image of Wes and Carter sprawled across a queen-sized bed.
"Spare key," Kai explained, ambivalent to Wes' surprise. "Carter gave us each one."
"For emergencies." Carter didn't necessarily sound exasperated as he explained this, probably because he knew Kai didn't care about those details as it was, and Eric could just picture his boyfri- his… Kai cutting off any continued explanations with a vague wave of his hand.
"Small compromise for the sake of the mission," Kai offered, unapologetic. "I'll return to normal operating procedures later."
"Is this a sting operation?" Wes asked, purely for the sake of being a nuisance, as none of them were inclined to answer him. "Because this feels like some SWAT team business right here."
"You are wrong on both counts," Kai replied, tone sounding almost helpful. "I simply came because previous experience has taught me that Eric's next move would have been to most likely call Carter. As I sought to have a frank discussion with him, this seemed like the most appropriate alternative."
"That sounds… overly-complicated," Wes said, tone a clear enough indication that his brain could not handle the brilliant might of one Kai Chen.
Not a surprising feat in itself.
"I'm gonna have to agree with Wes on this one," Carter added, and in the background Eric could hear Wes make a pleased sound.
"Regardless," Kai continued, too focused to allow the other two to fall into a gooey-eyed staring contest. "It has achieved the desired results, also giving me the added benefit of not being in the same room as him."
There was a few chuckles that were clearly unrelated to the conversation, and then Wes cut back in. "Ooh, dude. Burn."
"Shut it, Collins," Eric growled, briefly considering making his way over to Carter's apartment himself.
"Also," Kai continued, completely mindless to their interruptions. "It would seem that you are more frank about our relationship with Carter than you are with me."
"Double burn," Wes chirped, too thrilled with himself for Eric's tastes.
That settled it; he was putting on his goddamn shoes and making his way over there. To wring Wes' neck, if for no other reason. It was way overdue.
"Kai." The warning sound in Carter's voice was ultimately wasted on deaf ears, as Kai was on his own little mission, and had no intention of compromising it in any way.
"Maybe you should date him instead," Kai offered, sounding almost conversational, thoughtful. "Since you're so close."
"I actually have a problem with this," Wes interrupted, and were Eric in the room with them he could picture the blond raising a hand, as though waiting to be called upon by the teacher.
"-And then I can date Wes," Kai blithely talked over the blond; eyes, Eric had no doubt, focused on the phone resting on the bed/in-Carter's-hands/wherever-the-hell-it-was. "Since you seem to think I like him so much-"
"Please don't drag me into this," Wes pleaded, over the displeased sounds from Carter. It was in vain because Kai didn't care and Eric, once he was done fighting off the fresh wave of jealousy that hit envisioning that particular set up, wouldn't care either.
"Seriously," the red ranger continued, begging to deaf ears. "I have enough Eric-anger in my life, I don't need more."
"You don't want to date me anymore?" Eric snarled, shoving his shoes on carelessly, one foot at a time, pissed that he couldn't make the action go faster. "Is that what this is?"
"Are we even dating?" the blue ranger countered, sounding cool and focused, just as he always was. "We live together, we are together, but you won't even refer to me as your boyfriend in casual conversation-"
"Aren't we a little old for that shit?" Eric seethed, giving up on properly tying his laces and settling for a slip knot, fingers unable to manage anything else.
"As far as I know, there aren't any age limits." Kai's voice was emotionless save for an added bite; just enough to indicate that he did not hold Eric in good spirits right now.
"Okay people," Carter interrupted, trying to get a handle on things. "Let's just take a few deep breaths and try to be proactive."
The attempted soothing probably would have been a little more effective if Wes hadn't followed it up with an incredulous, "He hasn't called you his boyfriend?"
This was clearly aimed at Kai, and the other man made a small sound to indicate a nugatory.
"He has commitment issues," Kai explained, a conclusion which, Eric noted, that had not been shared with him.
"And trust issues," Wes noted, trying to be helpful, and by the quiet pause that followed, Eric could tell Kai was nodding his head thoughtfully.
"Those too," Kai admitted.
"First of all-" Eric grumbled, refusing to deal with that shit, only to have his protest unceremoniously cut off by his- by Kai.
"First of all," Kai cut in, countering Eric's angered tones with quiet determination. "We are not doing this anymore. I have reached my level of acceptable tolerance for this behavior-"
"And what," Eric scoffed. "-exactly does that-?"
"If you want to keep doing this," Kai continued, indifferent to the sinking sensation in Eric's chest. "If you want to remain together, then you need to reevaluate your approach. I am not a plaything, I am not a lesser man for you to manipulate, and I refuse to let you keep using that as a tool to keep me at a distance just because you can't handle the idea of someone being important to you."
"I don't-"
"You do," Kai interrupted. "You do and it's understandable, given your history, but I'm not doing this anymore. I refuse to enable you. So to make things easier, here's a short list of the things you need to get done in order to rectify the situation."
"Kai-"
"Number one: Personal evaluation. Figure out what you want. And I mean definite answers here, not this maybe, halfway-between nonsense. Either we date or we don't, but figure something out."
"Kai-"
"Number two," Kai continued, breezy. "Get it through your head that I am in no way attracted to Wes, or to Carter, or to the barista at the coffee place, or to Leo, or to any other males or females or inanimate objects I happen to interact with on a semi-regular basis."
"Inanimate objects?" Wes echoed, back to being confused. "What objects does he-?"
"The sword, for one," Eric muttered, unable to help himself.
Above Wes' startled guffaw, Kai continued, "It's just a sword Eric. I'm no more attached to it than you are of your gun."
"So, you're ready to start a family with it," Wes joked, with his spectacularly horrible timing.
Based on the uneasy silence that followed, Eric assumed he wouldn't hear much more from the blond this particular conversation, seeing as Kai had pretty much stared him into submission.
"Number three," Kai began, ending the pause with a locked jaw and mild irritation. "Woo me. Actual, legitimate wooing, as opposed to the stunt you pulled at the reunion."
"That was actual-"
Wes defied Eric's expectation by speaking up again. "Actually – I'll take this one for you." That must have been aimed at Kai. "That was not."
Eric frowned, shoving in his jacket. "No one cares what you think-"
"It was not," Kai and Carter echoed simultaneously, Carter, despite himself, managing to sound a bit weary.
Still, it was nice to know he had kept listening.
"Those are your conditions. Please inform me if you feel disinclined to follow them so I can know to pack up my stuff." Stuff, as in leaving, as in Kai could be gone- "Good day."
And with that, there was silence. The last part, Eric recognized in the foggy area of his mind that was still functioning after that mild blow – had been aimed at Wes and Carter.
But not Eric.
Eric was not wished a good day.
Eric might be down a-
A person. A person who he lov- who he li-
…who he appreciated.
Shit, that sounded even lame to him.
"Wow," Wes said eventually, pretty much the last voice Eric wanted to hear. "That was intense."
"Go after him," Carter said, a quiet command, but almost one reached of mutual agreement, like Wes could see its usefulness too. "And Eric-"
"I'm fine," Eric grumbled, despite the fact that he was back to sitting dejectedly on his bed, forehead cradled in his hands as he pondered how an evening that had started off so well had gone so wrong.
"Just stay there," Carter said, not bothering to argue with him. "I'll come to you."
"I don't need-"
"For my sake then," Carter offered, because Carter was Eric's friend and could do things like humor his reclusive, stubborn ways, because he was duty-bound, because for some odd reason he liked Eric, because-
Because now Eric no longer had Kai, who used to do all of the above and more without complaint, but now Eric didn't, because Eric was a screw up like that.
"Okay," Eric mumbled, too numb to manage anything else. "Okay."
There wasn't much else he could manage.
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True to Wes' word, the Carter that showed up to Eric's previously-shared abode had damp hair that flew loose in a disorganized fashion, indicating that he had, in fact, just been taking a shower. Eric would have felt bad about this were it not for the fact his body only seemed capable of dumb blinking and not much else. It was surprising as hell he had actually managed to open the door for Carter, so he decided to save his guilt for a later day and figure out what the hell just happened.
The inevitable, maybe. An ultimatum, definitely. And obviously, now Eric had to change or had to… stop being not-good enough for Kai, or hell, he didn't know. He was just glad that Carter, common sense, no-nonsense Carter, had felt kind enough to show up, was fortunate enough that the other ranger lived in Silver Hills as the Lightspeed Rescue correspondent for Bio Labs. Until now, Eric had just thought the other man's move had been for the sake of easing communication between the two organizations, but now that he thought about it, a large motivator for that had to have been Wes.
Just… gross.
"So," Eric began, collapsing onto his couch with a vague gesture for Carter to follow in suit. "You got any suggestions?"
The quick inspection he made of Carter's expression was enough to indicate that the Lightspeed ranger had at least a basic idea of where to go from here, if not the best way to explain it in a way that was receptive to Eric's… stubbornness.
Eric gave him three seconds before an audible sigh, somewhat akin to a surrender, was released, and Carter bulled forward without concern to his sensibilities.
"It seems like he gave you a straight-forward list."
Because Carter was doing him a favor, he supposed (in some way), Eric restrained himself from glaring. Or, at least, intensely glaring.
Knee-jerk reactions were labeled as such for a reason.
"I have a friend who could help you," Carter offered, clasping the Quantum ranger's shoulder comfortingly. From just about anyone else, Eric would have seen it as patronizing, but from Carter, Eric had learned to recognize it as a quiet show of support.
"One of my teammates," Carter continued, taking Eric's silence in stride. "She's a paramedic, but she's trained in counseling-"
"I am not going to a head doctor." The growl wasn't meant to be threatening, more of a statement of fact. The delivery in itself had been ingrained in him from a young age, so Eric didn't bother worrying about its reception. "I'm not crazy."
"I didn't say you were," the other man countered, voice cool. "But I think it might help to have a clear, objective opinion from a person who has worked with both you and Kai. Help you figure things out."
Eric frowned. "You think I'm so pathetic-"
"No one thinks you are pathetic." Carter's tone left no room for argument, despite somehow having no edge to it. "And talking to someone does not indicate immediate weakness."
"I can sort this out on my own," Eric bit out, hand clenching into a tight fist, shaking against his thigh. "It shouldn't be that difficult."
Out of the corner of his eye, Eric could see the other ranger's head tilt to the side thoughtfully. "I did not mean to imply you couldn't," Carter offered after a few minutes. "But at the very least, getting an outside opinion can let you know if you are in the right."
Eric considered for a moment, recognizing that this, like Carter's reasons for coming over in the first place, was yet another mask in a long line of things that were necessary because of Eric's pride and that, in itself, was enough of a problem to warrant some kind of help. Eric could detach himself enough from the situation to recognize that, and even if it wasn't something he necessarily liked, he could, at the very least, try.
It was that, or to continue as he was.
If Eric were honest with himself (he wasn't, because he liked surviving, but if he was), he would admit that was an utterly unappealing prospect.
"Okay," the Quantum ranger muttered after a short pause, allowing himself a moment to wearily swipe a hand across face. "What's her number?"
He didn't have to say "You won't regret this" - Carter's smile was enough to indicate it all - and that was muffled, for Eric's sake, as he handed over a light, no-nonsense business card.
Ready or not, Eric thought as he flipped the card between his hands, studying both sides carefully, here I come.
(And she wasn't, just like he wasn't, so he figured it was fair).
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Endnotes:
It's the sequel to 'Public Nuisance' no one knew they wanted. With feelings. How 'bout that?
Previous Anniversary pieces include:
1. Any Moment Reprise – Chapter 32: The Rainbow Connection
2. Songs About Rainbows
3. Beyond that Road Lies Despair
4. All Things Great and True
5. Happiness is a Firefly
6. The Time Love Takes
7. Breaking Space Time – Chapter 1: Doing it Wrong
Until next time :)
