Karone moaned in her sleep, and clutched onto her stuffed animal. Kara and Lamont couldn't sleep, and heard their daughter crying while she was dreaming. They walked into Karone's room, and Lamont gently picked her up, and they sat down on her bed, each letting Karone lay on them a little bit. Karone's eyes opened up and saw her parents in her bed holding her. "Go back to sleep sweetie," Kara whispered, pulling a sheet over Karone, "We are right here," Karone nodded, and once again tried to go back to sleep.
Kara and Lamont didn't know what they we are going to do. Lamont knew that they had to just keep Karone safe, and raise her.
"What are we going to do?" Kara asked her husband.
"I don't know…" Lamont said sadly, rubbing Kara's arm. "We'll just have to just be there for our daughter…"
"What about Andros?" Kara asked, tears stinging at her eyes. Her first baby was kidnapped, and there was nothing that she could do. The question just hung in the air as they continued to hold their daughter.
"We'll just have to keep hoping that we'll see him again someday." Lamont whispered after a long pause. "But in the meantime, we have to keep it together for Karone." Seeing that Karone was finally back to sleep, Kara and Lamont carefully let their daughter go trying not to wake her again.
Kara nodded as tears ran down her face. They both looked down at their daughter, who was finally sleeping peacefully again. Being careful not to wake her, they carefully let her go and stood up, embracing each other in comfort. Neither saying anything, they broke apart and Lamont put his arm over Kara's shoulders as they walked out.
"Sleep well, my little angel," Kara whispered before pulling Karone's door closed.
Karone woke up the next morning and she wiped at the dried tearstains on her face. Karone walked into the kitchen, and Lamont smiled weakly at his daughter, and bent down to her. "Morning angel," he whispered, picking her up, and sitting her down on his lap. He telekinetically grabbed a bowl for her and had already grabbed her favorite cereal. "Are you hungry?" Lamont asked her. Karone numbly nodded her head, and he poured her some milk and cereal.
"Where's Mommy?" Karone asked, slowly taking a bite of cereal.
"She is over at Zhane's house, grabbing some more of your things that you left there," Lamont explained. Karone nodded, and continued to eat her breakfast. He took his daughter's bowl after she was done and lightly ruffled her hair.
Kara walked into the room, and also ruffled her daughter's hair. "Morning Karone," she whispered. "You want to go to Zhane's house for a little while?" Karone wasn't sure, and Lamont looked at his wife's face curiously.
"Ok Mommy…" Karone said, and she hopped off the chair to get ready. Karone walked into her room, and put a clean pair of clothes on. Karone walked back down stairs, and Kara and Lamont started to walk for Kinser, Tarah, and Zhane's house. Zhane was outside, and he gave Karone a tiny grin. "Hi Zhane," she said shyly.
"Hi Karone," Zhane said, and she walked over to him.
"What is going on?" Lamont asked, taking Kara's hands.
"I want to go looking for Andros," Kara whispered, and Lamont cupped her face in his hands.
"I know you do…" Lamont said, gently putting a kiss on her forehead. "I want to go look for him too, but we have a daughter to raise…" Kara sighed, but knew he was right.
Zhane led Karone to the backyard and they sat down on the ground. "So what do you want to do?" Zhane questioned softly. Karone shrugged her shoulders, and Zhane let out a sigh. "Wanna play with the ball?" he asked, gesturing to one of the balls…much like the one she and Andros were playing with. Her eyes looked even more saddened seeing that and Zhane sighed, "I'm sorry…" but before he could say anything else, one of his neighbors, that was about his age, called Zhane's name out. "Hey Kale," Zhane waved back.
Kale hopped over the fence, and walked next to Zhane. "Hurry up sis!" he called over his shoulder, brushing his longish brown hair away from his eyes. A girl with the same color auburn brown hair, hopped over the fence. Karone vaguely remembered that her name was Iris. These had been the people that Andros had hung out with…
Iris walked over to Karone and gave her a smile. "Karone right?" Iris said, and Karone nodded. Iris sat down next to Karone, and gave her a small smile. Every adult available was looking for Andros, and Kale and Iris heard. Karone managed to return the smile. She once again remained silent, and Zhane put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"You want to play with us?" Zhane asked. Karone normally wasn't asked to play with them, and her grin grew bigger at the opportunity.
"What are you playing?" she asked, standing up.
"Power Rangers," Iris said, giving Karone a smile. Everyone on KO35 knew what Power Rangers were, but the call for people to claim the mantle hadn't been needed for years.
"Ok," Karone said. Zhane gave Karone a grin, glad that she wanted to play.
"I'm the blue ranger," he said pointing to his chest. "Iris you want to be…"
"Pink," she said in a duh voice.
"Silver," Zhane said with a grin. "What color do you want to be Karone?" he asked. Karone thought about it for a moment, and knew what she wanted.
"Yellow," she said.
"Ok…" Zhane said. Tarah and Kinser watched as their son played nicely with Karone. They smiled, as his friends were being good with Karone too. Kara and Lamont walked over to them, and looked to where Karone was playing with the other children.
"I am so glad that Zhane and his friends are being so nice to Karone…" Kara said in a small voice.
"Zhane is friends with Karone too…he felt bad about not hearing Karone and Andros being attacked," Kinser said.
"We just need to keep good faith while we continue to look for him…" Kara said. "Thanks for keeping an eye on her…we won't be gone too long…"
"Only for a couple hours…" Lamont amended. Tarah nodded, and Kara, and Lamont walked out of the house. Tarah looked towards where the kids were playing, and saw that another boy from school, Mintar came over. As she continued to watch them play, Mintar didn't seem to be getting along well with Karone very well. Tarah frowned and went downstairs. Karone started to cry, and Tarah ran down to her.
"Hey what's wrong Karone?" Tarah asked, wrapping the sobbing girl in a hug. Zhane ran in with Iris and Kale tailing behind him. Karone didn't answer, and Tarah turned her gaze to Zhane. "What happened?"
"Mintar was being mean to her…" Iris filled in, putting a hand on the girl's sobbing shoulder.
"Mean?" Tarah asked.
"Just saying things about Andros…" Zhane said in a tight voice.
"I punched him," Kale said in a proud voice. Karone sniffled, and Zhane also put a hand on her shoulder.
"Punching isn't very nice…but I'll call his parents…" Tarah said. Karone looked up at Tarah.
"Where are my Mommy and Daddy?" Karone asked, still a little teary eyed still.
"They are going to be back in a little while," Tarah said in a vague voice. Karone sighed, and looked at her friends.
"Mintar is gone…so we can go back to playing," Iris said with a smile. Karone nodded her head, and Iris went outside, with Kale following behind her. As Zhane and Karone followed them, Zhane turned to Karone.
"If he bothers you again, I will beat him up," Zhane said. Karone smiled at Zhane, and he grinned in return. "Come on…lets go have some fun…" and they went to join the others.
