DISCLAIMER:I do not own Power Rangers.

Madison's Christmas Miracle

Three months, one week, six days and twenty-one… Madison glanced at her alarm clock. Nope, make that twenty-two minutes. That was how long it had been since Nick left Briarwood, how long since he had ridden off on his bike and left her standing in the dust with nothing but his baby blanket and a vague promise to come back. Those had been the longest three months, one week, six day and twenty - now - three minutes of her life.

Madison sighed where she lay tucked in underneath the duvet in her bed. It was morning on the day before Christmas and she was feeling neither jolly nor bright. Not even the soft snow fall that had begun sometime during the night could cheer her up.

Nick was gone. For each day passing without him being back, it began to feel more and more unlikely that he ever would come back. She had denied it at first; those first few hopeful weeks when she'd still felt overwhelmed by him returning her feelings and his calls had been frequent, but as the first month slipped into a second her hope had slowly faded along with frequency of his calls. It had been more than a week now…

Madison reached underneath her pillow and dug out the red blanket she kept hidden there. Running her fingers along smooth fabric, it took every bit of strength not to tear up. Even the blanket no longer smelled of him as much as it had used to. Every night before she went to bed, she would wrap herself up in the blanket while watching the stars outside her window, hoping he was looking at the same ones, thinking of her. At times she had almost felt him standing next to her.

It was silly, of course. Nick was all the way across the pond. When she looked at the stars, it would be almost morning over there. There was no way Nick would be up looking at the stars at the same time as her. Yet there was something comforting in the thought. If he was seeing the same stars as her then maybe…

He isn't coming back though, a small voice said inside her head.

Madison let the blanket fall out of her hands. The last time they had spoken over the phone, Nick had been distant and the call brief. Before she had the chance of asking him what he would be doing for Christmas, Nick had ended the call by claiming his parents called on him. Madison still wondered which parents.

No, it was time to face the music: Nick had moved on. Madison winced at the thought. Nick was the closest thing she had ever had to a boyfriend and their relationship had ended before it had even begun.

She glanced at the blanket again. His dearest possession. Perhaps it had been that, once; but it had lost its value the day he had found his birth parents. That was probably why he had left it with her, to clear space on his bike for his new life with his birth parents. A life she was not a part of.

Tears suddenly blurred her vision and Madison blinked. No, she wasn't going to cry!

Madison sat up and shoved the duvet aside. Swinging her legs over the edge, she stood and walked across the floor to the window to watch the snowfall.

Light as feathers, the snowflakes slowly made their way to the ground. A white layer, no more than two inches deep, covered the lawn. Any other Christmas Madison would have jumped of joy at the sight. But not this year.

She grabbed her morning robe - baby blue fluffy fleece with tiny penguins on ice skates, a gift from her sister Vida last Christmas - and headed for the bathroom.

The house was surprisingly quiet. As Madison tip toed across the hall to the bathroom she was sharing with her sister, she had expected at least her little brother Aaron to be awake and about. If there ever was a person crazy for winter sports, it was her baby brother. He had been whining about there not being snow for Christmas since Halloween.

Madison did her morning routine before heading back to her room to get dressed. Jeans and a knitted turtleneck shirt had to do. She glared at the red velvet dress she had bought for the Christmas party her parents threw year on the day before Christmas for family and closest friends. She had bought it in October when she still had believed every word Nick had ever said to her and stupid as she was, she had actually thought he would be happy to see her in red. His color…

Madison closed her wardrobe before she felt the tears whelming up again and headed downstairs to grab something to eat.

She missed him. That was the simple truth. She missed Nick. A lot. She missed his smiles when she greeted him in the mornings at Rock Porium, she missed his voice from their talks but most of all, she missed the feeling of connection. She had never felt connected to anyone the way she had felt with Nick, not even with Vida. They had sensed each other's moods and known what the other one needed without any words being spoken. With Nick gone, Madison felt cold and disconnected. Something was missing. It was almost as if Nick had taken a part of her with him the day he left. It was a miracle if she ever got whole again.

"I don't think the bread will roast by you glaring at it," a voice suddenly said behind her.

Madison jumped and spun around with a squeal. Mr Rocca walked in to the kitchen.

"Mornin' dad. Uhm… slept well?" Madison said in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. How long had she been standing there staring at the toaster without turning it on? She had no clue. She needed to get a grip!

Her father had slept well, at least as well as anyone could expect with a wife nagging about party preparations until two am. Madison watched as her father filled the coffeemaker water, turned it on and loaded the toaster with the bread slices Madison had been staring at. Then he headed out on the porch to fetch the newspaper, promptly delivered by their neighbour's kid.

Madison's dad always read the news while eating his breakfast and as a man of the old school, that meant he shut everything else out. However, this morning, Madison wasn't going to be ignored that easily. She took a plate with the toasts and snatched the coffee pot from its place in the maker and headed over to the table.

"Dad…" she began warily as she put the things down, "do you believe in Christmas miracles?"

Her father frowned but didn't take his eyes of the newspaper.

"What kind of question is that?"

"Well, I've been thinking about what I really want for Christmas this year and I think I want a miracle, but I'm not sure they exist."

Mr Rocca humphed.

"Isn't there anything cheaper you can wish for, like earrings or a lipstick? A miracle sounds expensive."

Madison shook her head, ignoring the demeaning suggestion from her father that as a girl she could not want for anything else but some piece of jewellery or make-up.

"No, I really want a miracle. I need one!"

Mr Rocca glanced suspiciously at his daughter over the edge of the newspaper.

"You aren't knocked up, are you?"

"No!" Madison blurted out, feeling a blush coming on to her cheeks. To get knocked up she needed Nick back from his trip… She was lucky her father didn't know about Vida's late-night adventures down on the town with random guys every now then. They would both get locked up for life in their rooms and see the key get tossed away if he had.

Mr Rocca shrugged his shoulders.

"So, what do you need a miracle for, then? You have good grades, and a job. What more could you possibly want?"

Nick, Madison thought, I want Nick. But that she didn't tell her dad.

The thought of a Christmas miracle stuck with her for the rest of morning. She hadn't known how desperately she needed one up until now. Her feelings for Nick were going to go away by themselves, she needed help and very much so.

But did Christmas miracles exist? She wasn't sure. According to her father, miracles could only be bought with truckload of money and Madison had neither the truck nor the money to load it with. Sure, her job at Rock Porium gave her enough money to buy her what she needed, but that was pocket money for someone who still lived at home. She would never be able to live on her own on it, let alone buy herself a miracle. Where did you even buy miracles?

The thought had her dwelling so much she didn't notice that her mother was eyeing her suspiciously while they set the table for tonight's party.

"Is something bother you, hon?" Mrs Rocca asked. "You seem distant."

"Oh, it's nothing." Madison waved it off but regretted it immediately. Perhaps her mother knew where to get a miracle. Moms were supposed to know everything after all.

"Mom, do you believe in Christmas miracles?"

Mrs Rocca looked up from the plates she was setting down, eyebrows raised.

"What kind of question is that?" she said, unknowingly repeating her husband's question from this morning.

Madison bit her lip.

"Well, I was just wondering if there is such a thing as Christmas miracles."

"Why, do you need one?"

"Yes. No! I don't know." Madison wrinkled her forehead. Everything was so… confusing.

She didn't want to let Nick go but how long was she supposed to wait for him? It wasn't as if he had given her a promise to come back, not in so many words, now that she come to think about it. He had given her his baby blanket asked her to hold on to it, but did that mean he was coming back? Perhaps his intention had been to come back but now, for some reason, it had changed. Perhaps he wasn't the boyfriend type. Perhaps it all was in her head.

"Honey?"

Madison snapped out of her thoughts only to realise her mother must have said something she hadn't heard.

"Sorry, mom, I…"

"Spaced out?" her mother suggested, imitating Vida.

Madison nodded. "What were you saying?"

"I said, there is no such a thing as miracles other than the ones you create yourself. If there is something you want you should go for it and make it happen."

The wrinkles on Madison's forehead deepened. How was that supposed to happen? Nick was across the pond. Even though she had the name of the city his adoptive parents lived in, there was no guarantee he would still be there when she got there. And that if she got the money – and the courage – to take a flight on her own. She was terrified of flying!

Discouraged by her mother's answer, Madison wasn't at all in the mood for Christmas party when the guests started to arrive just as the day slipped into evening. She was wearing the red velvet dress even though it took all of her self-restraint not to tear it off. The silly idea of it being perfect to wear Nick's color just felt more wrong by the minute.

She greeted her friends, Chip and Xander, with a plastered smile, her cousins with all the hi-how-are-you's and I'm-fine's she could stomach and her grandparents with words so sweet and lovingly it made her want to upstairs and brush her teeth.

The grand dinner her mother had arranged passed in a daze. Madison watched her family and friends have a great time while she felt like a Grinch. When the main course was cleared from the table and her mother told the guests to stretch their legs before desert – the mandatory gingerbread house – no one was happier than Madison to quietly slip away from the table.

She headed to the small room next to the living room, which her mother called the drawing room even through no one had ever drawn anything in it, and sighed with relief that she could finally let the fake smile go.

"Why the heavy shoulders, dear? Aren't you enjoying yourself?" A fragile voice said behind her. Madison spun around and found her Granny Alma sitting in a chair close to the door.

"Hi, granny. I didn't see you there," Madison said and bent to hug her granny. The smile she had just let down, came back on. "Having a good time?"

"I would if I knew what was bugging my lovely grandchild."

"Oh, it's nothing," Madison said, trying to wave it off. "I'm just being silly."

Granny Alma tilted her head. When she did that, she reminded Madison of a bird.

"I don't believe you. Come and sit next to your Granny Alma, my dear, and tell me everything about it."

Madison didn't know why, perhaps it was the need of telling someone what was bugging her, or go crazy, that had her pulling up a chair next to her grandmother and spilling her heart out about Nick. All of it. At the end she was crying like a little baby.

"I'm not mad at him for not returning," she sniveled, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. "Well, I am but I want him to be happy too. I'm just sad it seems that it won't be with me. Gosh, I'm so stupid! Sitting, crying like some foolish little. Men aren't worth it, are they, granny?"

To Madison's surprise, granny Alma reached out and touched her cheek with cold fragile fingers.

"Some of them are. They are few but there are some."

Madison blinked, suddenly feeling confused.

"Granny, do you believe in Christmas miracles?"

Granny Alma gave her a mysterious grin like she knew things about the world few other did. "Of course, I do. Christmas is all but filled to the brim with miracles. All you need is to look closely and remember that they do not always present themselves the way you think they will."

Before Madison got the chance to ask what her granny meant, her mother announced in the adjoining room that it was time to eat the gingerbread house. Granny Alma got a determined look in her eyes.

"I hope I get a piece of the roof this year," she said. "The piece I got last year was as dry as mule's arse in the drought. It had no frosting!"

Madison's jaw dropped. She could scarce believe her granny had just said such foul words. Granny Alma who looked so sweet and innocent!

The shock kept her from thinking of what Granny Alma had told her, but as the night slipped into the late hours and her youngest cousins dozed off on the couch; a tranquil conversation between her friends allowed her to dwell in silence over a glass of eggnog.

What had Granny Alma meant by Christmas miracles never presenting themselves the way you think they would? And what was she supposed to be looking for? Weren't Christmas miracles obvious, with angelic tunes and bright lights, like in the movies?

"Maddy," Vida said suddenly. Chip and Xander were looking at her too. "Will you join us?"

Madison arched her eyebrows in confusion.

"In what?"

"We're heading out to build a snowman." Chip's grin stretched from ear to ear. His cheeks blushed from the alcohol in the eggnog. Madison was feeling rather tipsy herself and it only increased her gloom.

Deciding she had better chances of finding a Christmas miracle outdoors with her friends than indoors with her parents, Madison agreed to join them on one condition: That they waited for her while she changed her dress to something more fitting for snowman-building. With nods from the others Madison put down her emptied her glass of eggnog and headed to the hallway.

She was almost up the stairs when she heard it: A loud crash coming from her room!

Madison's heart immediately went up her throat and she grabbed the closest thing to hand for protection – a vase her mother had won on a charity event. There had been burglars in the area not that long ago. Had they returned to rob innocent people on the day before Christmas?

No! No. She wasn't going to have any of it! Nick's blanket was in there. She refused to let them have the blanket. They might as well try to rip her heart out before she let them have the blanket.

Determined, she reached for the doorknob, feeling the cold metal underneath her fingertips. The grip around the vase tightened. She took one last breath, counted to three and then flung herself at the door.

For a brief moment her body was ready to protect her home, to defend her if necessary. Her hand with the vase raised in case she needed to smash it against someone's head.

Then her head registered what was really going on, who the intruder really was and she gasped.

"Nick!"

Laying flat on his stomach on the floor with his feet entangled with her desk chair, Nick peered up at her with eyes widened in shock. Madison didn't have to look at the window behind him to know it was open. The loud crash she had heard had been Nick tripping over her desk chair in his attempt to climb in through the window.

Down on the floor, Nick's shocked expression had been replaced by a sheepish grin.

"Ho ho ho", he said blushing and scrambled to his feet. "I had planned for a bit more graceful entrance."

The pink on his cheek turned into a deep scarlet as he looked around at the mess he had made. Wet footprints covered the few things he had not managed to knock down from her desk, the clothes Madison had left hanging over the chair's backboard now laid spread out over the floor. And yet… she didn't notice any of it, all she had eyes for was Nick.

He wore the same leather jacket he had worn the day he left, his jeans were black instead of light denim and he had snow in his short cropped black hair. He looked like a dream.

Nick flashed her an uncertain smile and scratched his head in the most adorable way.

"So, I… uhm… I wanted to surprise you and uhm… I hoped… I thought…"

Nick winced as the words failed him. Silence filled the room for a moment before he found the words again.

"Please, Maddy, say something. Are you mad at me for not calling? 'Cause I really wanted to - I did, I do - it's just been so messed up lately. With my parents and my adoptive parents... I didn't know how to tell you about it over the phone and I couldn't get here and ah…!" Nick ran his hands through his hair. "You know I'm not any good with emotions. When days passed without me calling you and I felt horrible about it but every time I tried to pick up the phone I… I… I just couldn't! I was scared that you would… I don't know… I…"

Nick opened his mouth to say something but quieted as Madison started to move. She walked up to him and without a word she threw her arms around his neck to pull him into the deepest hug she had ever given anyone. A soft snivel left her lips when Nick's arms close around her too.

This was right, Madison thought, this was home. Nick was home. A miracle!

"There is nothing to forgive," she whispered into the collar of his jacket. "You're back and that is all that matters."

Nick smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm glad to be back. I've missed you so much, Maddy."

Madison lifted her head up from his chest to look up at him.

"I've missed you too, Nick."

Nick raised his hand to gently cup her cheek. With his eyes fixed intently on her he whispered the words she had longed to hear him say: "I love you, Maddy."

As he leaned in to kiss her, Madison knew Granny Alma was right: Christmas miracles did happen and they never presented themselves the way you expected them too. Sometimes they came stumbling in through your bedroom window, sheepishly looking with snow in their hair.

AUTHOR: From me to you - a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!