"She shows up and she acts like she runs the damn place!" Amy yelled as she kneed the punching bag in frustration as Max steadied it from the other side. Amy had come in distraught and headed straight for the punching bag without even a hello. He knew that whatever had gone down today had been bad, but he still could not tell what it was. She had not said a completely coherent sentence in the last few minutes.
"Amy, you're not speaking clearly sweetie," Max said as he walked around in front of the bag and still her hands and forced her to look up at him. "Who?"
"My mother," Amy muttered as the tears clouded her vision and he pulled her into a tight hug. He knew Kimberly because of his parents, but he still could not understand how she could just walk out of her own child's life like that. It didn't seem like something the Kimberly he knew could do, but obviously she had and it was causing his girlfriend a world of hurt now. "What did I do?"
"You didn't do anything, you were three months old," Max whispered as he gently rubbed her back. "But that's not what has you in this fit."
"It's my dad, Max, he just looks so bad. He looks weak all the time and tired and last night he wouldn't even come spar with me. What's going on with my dad?" Amy whispered as he let out a sigh. Tommy had left it up to his digression on telling her the sad truth about her father's health, but he couldn't right now. She was in too much pain to add that much more to it.
"Guys!" Rachel called as Amy's back stiffened, but he held onto her just as tightly. They had tried to keep their relationship quiet amongst the other rangers, as they did not need to know that their first and second in command were dating and had been for a long time. "Oh, sorry, I just thought…what did your dad have to say?"
"That we now have a woman to look after," Amy said pulling away from Max and looking over at the pink ranger. "I'll have more information tomorrow, tonight I'm not much good."
"You don't look good Amy," Rachel said as Max quietly left them to their talk as he walked to his room at the back of the Command Center. Over the years the Command Center under the Oliver's house had become much more akin to a small resort, with rooms for each ranger and a kitchen as well. It was definitely a long way from what Tommy had begun with.
"Just worried about Dad," Amy whispered as Rachel looked over at her and saw that she was barely paying her any attention. If anything, she seemed to need to talk to Max, but she had no idea why.
"And you and Max?" Rachel asked as Amy looked up at her. She hated that the only other female ranger did not know about her relationship.
"What about us?" Amy asked as she heard the thundering of footsteps and knew that Damien and Xavier had just arrived.
"I have a feeling if I hadn't walked in, the two of you would still be holding each other right now," Rachel said as Amy covered her face. "Amy, it's all right if you like the boy."
"It's more complicated than that," Amy whispered as she turned and followed Max's path out of the Command Center, heading for his room.
"What's with her?" Xavier asked as he plopped down on the couch and looked over at Rachel. "Rach, something wrong?"
"I'm not sure, but she doesn't seem happy with the new assignment that we have," Rachel said as he motioned for her to sit down beside him. "Plus, she…I think she likes Max."
"No, she loves him and for some reason they don't want us to know about it," Damien said as Rachel nodded. She had gotten that impression earlier, but she wanted to be able to talk to Amy about it, goodness knows that she needed help keeping Xavier in line some days.
"Rach, we're not going to be able to do anything until Amy gives us the specifics, I say we got fix some dinner and then maybe they'll come out and play nice. If not, we'll just hold them down tomorrow and force them to tell us," Xavier said as Rachel laughed. "What?"
"Like that ever works with Amy," Rachel said as he shrugged. She definitely had a point there.
"Max?" Amy whispered as she opened the door to his room and he looked back at her from his desk and motioned her in. He, like the others, lived down here and Amy might as well have, considering the amount of time she spent with him or working on something else. "Do you know something I don't?"
"Amy please, not tonight," Max pleaded as she looked at him and saw the pain in his eyes.
"Just tell me, I can't take secrets from you right now," Amy said as the tears rolled down her face and he walked over to her, where she was standing next to the open door and he quietly closed the door before enveloping her in a hug.
"Amy, your dad's sick," Max said as Amy nodded. She knew that, they all knew that he had a disease that was incurable. So why in the hell was he telling her this now? "No, what I mean is, he's not going to get any better Amy."
"Not get better?" Amy questioned as her breathing quickened and he swiftly went to calming her. "How would you know?"
"Because he told me," Max whispered as she let out a sob, that he was sure could be heard upstairs. "Shh, it's all right."
"Why wouldn't he tell me himself?" Amy sobbed as Max picked her up and carried her over to his bed where he laid her down and then crawled in next to her.
"I don't think that he could stand to disappoint you Amy," Max said as she looked up at him and another sob broke from her lips. "It's okay, get it all out."
"I've never had a mother Max, I can't lose him," Amy wailed as he heard the door open and with one glare had Rachel running back out. "How long have you known?"
"He told me about a month ago," Max said as Amy just stared at him. "I didn't…I didn't want to see you like this. I can't stand it."
"So you didn't tell me?" Amy asked, sounding betrayed and he looked down at the floor. She was going to kill him when this was all over, when she got over the fact that she was so upset about the news he had bestowed upon her.
"He left it up to me to tell you when the time was right," Max said as she looked up at him and his face contorted with pain. "I know, the time never would have been right, but I think he was hoping you'd take it better from me."
"Just hold me," Amy whispered as his arms tightened around her, silently obeying the plea that he not let her go.
"It'll be all right, Amy, I promise," Max whispered into her hair as she continued to sob against his chest and he lay there, waiting for her to cry herself out. He wanted to make it stop, as each sob tore at his heart, but he couldn't. He knew that her pain was excruciating and the only way he might be able to stop it was to lie to her and say that her father would survive this, when he knew that he wouldn't and he couldn't cause her anymore pain by lying to her.