Present Demons

Disclaimer: I don't own the power rangers, they own me! Hehe!

Summary: Kat's life is slowly deteriorating before her eyes, so how will interfering friends and a high school reunion help?

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews and sorry it's been a while since I updated. Hope you like this and please review!

Jason stood by the phone, thinking. He wasn't entirely sure what to do now. He'd heard from his friends over the last couple of months that Kat hadn't been doing so well; she always seemed tired from her job, never wanted to talk about anything and genuinely didn't' sound like herself.. Tanya had been worried the most, which was only natural as her best friend and almost-sister, but when Aisha, Rocky and Kim had all reported the same thing, the entire group of friends had started to worry. Jason now knew for sure that something was wrong, and if Kat wasn't talking, it was time for some 'friendly' intervention.

Picking up the phone again, he dialed Adam's number from memory.

It was picked up after the third ring "Hello?"

"Hey man, it's me."

"Hey Jase! What's up?"

"In a word? Kat."

"What's happened?" Adam's voice was instantly filled with worry, whereas it had seen easy-going seconds before.

"I don't know, but something is definitely wrong with her. And it's about time we sorted it out."

"I don't know man, they might be a reason she doesn't want us involved."

"I know, but I think it's gone way beyond that now. She's not herself, and doesn't seem to even know it, which is what worries me even more."

"Yeah," Adam sighed "Me too. So what are we going to do?"

"Have an intervention," Jason said calmly. "We're going to bring her out here before the reunion, sort everything out. Then she can have some fun with us at the party before she goes back."

"Sounds like a good plan. Who's doing what?"

"I'm not sure yet. But we're all going to do it together. Is Tanya there?"

"Sure, I'll just get her for you." Jason could hear his friend calling gently as he waited for here to respond.

"Jason?"

"Hey Tanya, you alright?"

"Apart from being worried about Kat, yeah I am."

"Well we're going to do something about that."

"About Kat?"

"Yep. We're going to find out what's wrong and help her sort it, and all in time for the reunion."

"That gives us a little under a month Jase." Tanya sounded slightly disheartened.

"So?"

"So, I've been trying to get her to talk for months and nothing's worked. Aisha and Kim have also tried; Rocky calls her lots too. Nothing's worked so far."

"But we haven't been working together," Jason said defiantly "And we're at our strongest when we're working together."

"You have a point there," Tanya admitted, and Jason could hear the slight hope that was now in her voice.

"Kat also hasn't had to deal with any of us face-to-face."

"You think that will help?" Now Jason could definitely hear the hope in his friend's voice.

"Absolutely. We've let this go far enough. Kat's not right and it's time we fixed that. What are you and Adam doing tomorrow night?"

PRPRPRPRPRPRPR

Jason opened his front door to the worried face of his best friend.

"Late as always." Jason said trying to crack a smile.

Tommy just shook his head, his eyes dark and clouded "Not funny man."

"I know." Jason sighed, and stood aside to let his friend enter.

Tommy headed straight down the hall to Jason's lounge without their usual greeting but Jason didn't care, it wasn't a good reason why they were seeing each other.

Jason shut the door and followed his friend, walking softly, his thoughts scattered about what to say next. He entered the room and was aware instantly that everyone was staring at him, even Tommy. Jason took a deep breath. It had been a long time since everyone had looked to him for leadership, and under the circumstances he wasn't sure he wanted it. But he also knew it had to be him. The only other person who could arrange it was Tommy, and he wasn't prepared to do it himself, as he'd told Jason last night, due to the fact that he cared too much about Kat to get done what needed to be. Jason knew this was a lot of trust placed on him from his best friend; that he'd do what needed to be done no matter what, and that he'd make sure Kat would come out of it ok and not hating them. Otherwise it wouldn't just be Tommy he would have to answer to.

They were now all looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something; Kim sitting on the edge of her seat, Aisha sitting next to her, flicking her eyes between her, himself and Rocky, who was sitting next to Aisha, his hands gripping the arms of the sofa rather tightly, Adam was seated on the two-person sofa, Tanya wrapped up in his arm, held tightly by his side, she looked so tired and weary; it was almost as if Adam was holding her up. Jason knew it was from worry about her friend and suddenly Jason wasn't nervous or worried anymore about what he had to do; he was angry at himself for not doing it sooner.

"Right. Everyone knows why we're gathered here and as you're all here I'm presuming you're all in. What we need now is a plan. I have a basic idea of what we can do but we need to work out details."

Everyone nodded.

"So what is the basic idea?" Rocky asked, leaning forwards to mirror Kim's position "I know you said the basic outline on the phone but just explain it to me again."

"We're all going to work together to tackle Kat," Jason said "We'll each call her once a night, taking it in turns. Some nights two of us will call. And by call I mean talk to her, not leave a message on her machine. We need to get her talking to us more, even if its not addressing the problem. She needs to know she can talk to us about anything, anytime."

"But she knows that." Kim said, her voice tight.

"She does yes, but I don't think she knows that she's not talking to us."

"How d'you mean?" Aisha spoke up.

Jason sucked his breath, suddenly unsure of how to continue.

"Jase…" Tommy said warningly "Tell us what're you're thinking."

"I'm thinking I have a slight idea about why Kat's been acting the way she has been."

"How do you mean?" Tanya asked, also leaning forward to give Jason her full attention.

"Ok," Jason said, deciding he should be honest with his friends about what he thought was going on "I'll tell you, but only if you promise not to overreact because this is only a possibility and we don't know all the facts."

Tommy frowned slightly, knowing that the last part of what Jason had said was directed at him. But why would he overreact if Jason had an idea what was wrong with Kat? That would mean they might be able to help her.

Jason took another deep breath before continuing "It's just that down at the station there are lots of people who come in with signs similar to Kat's," he began slowly "Not wanting to talk about issues that are clearly having a negative effect on them, but not knowing they aren't talking about it. They're afraid of something but won't admit it because it seems so insignificant to them and unconsciously they don't see it as a problem. Most of the people we see are women, and they're the worst to handle as it's the most emotionally damaging to them."

"Emotionally damaging?" Tanya whispered, clutching tightly at Adam whilst Kim and Aisha had taken each others hands when Jason was talking.

"Do you mean," Rocky gulped and continued to stare at Jason almost as if he couldn't look anywhere else "That Kat is being emotionally… abused?"

The whole room went rigid, with everyone's breaths seeming to catch and hold in their chests. Tommy had gone completely still, yet every muscle in his body was tensed. Kim had gone ghostly pale and was looking at Jason as if, if he said it wasn't true then it wouldn't be, and somehow everything would be alright.

"It's a possibility." Jason whispered.

Tommy shot out of his chair, whilst Rocky growled and Tanya seemed to almost collapse against Adam.

"But if you've seen it then you'll know what to do, right?" Aisha said, holding tightly onto Kim.

"I have an idea, yes."