Bite Your Tongue
By DarkHona aka Tal

Chapter Three:

It seemed to her that things couldn't get better, Ryan defeated solely almost every demon Diabolico has thrown their way, sometimes he needed a little help from Carter, but nothing too serious. That left her and the others a lot of free time, which was easy to give yourself to; she could finally return to doing all of those extreme activities she used to do before Lightspeed: skating, scuba diving, sky diving and rock climbing were only the start of her to do list.

It has been only two weeks since Ryan joined them and things were definitely looking up to Kelsey as well as the entire Lightspeed Rescue team; it was easier to defeat Diabolico's minions now, a lot easier, actually. So easy that she, Kelsey Winslow, could join Chad in scuba diving! That was just too exciting to pass and when she finally had the opportunity she set a sort of scuba date with Chad, well, not a real date – just hanging out together, like they used to. Rangering wasn't hanging out by anyone's standards.

"I say Ryan takes him alone." Joel shot at Chad during a fight where Ryan fought and the others had popcorn while hanging around in suits. Okay, so they weren't really having popcorn, but they weren't doing anything meaningful: it was like the entire team – but Ryan – was there for backup, since he was doing all the work.

"No, man, look at the size of that thing! I say he needs Carter." Chad replied, stretching his arms lightly.

"Five bucks?"

"Ten."

"Done. Sweet!" Joel swung his arms in the air. "Go, Ryan!!" He called out.

"You two are such dorks." Kelsey could imagine Dana rolling her eyes behind her helmet and smiled.

"Whatever, Pinky." Joel called and jumped. "Get him, Ryan!"

"I really think we should help him." Carter said and Chad shrugged.

"He doesn't look like he needs it."

Kelsey sighed; she had to admit Chad was right: Ryan didn't really need them to help him – he was strong enough, what was the point in hanging around wearing ridiculous spandex suits? They weren't even helping. She watched as Ryan jumped in the air, his Titanium Axe slashing the monster into bits and pieces.

Another battle was won thanks to the Titanium Ranger, she noted dryly.

With her shoulders slumped, she demorphed and glanced at her teammates who have just done the same. She couldn't help but glancing at Ryan who looked tired but exhilarated and happy, as he should've been, of course. His eyes radiated with a sense of pride and success, but she couldn't bring herself to smile at him. She liked him, a lot, but without noticing he was breaking down their team: in a two week's course, he managed to take the Lightspeed team out of the picture and basically, shut it down.

She hated that he as done that. Of course, it wasn't his fault but…

She sighed, exhausted from the circle form of her thoughts, going over and over the very same things.

"Chad, I'll meet you at the reef at noon." She stretched lightly and began walking away, deep in thought;

"Kelsey!" A hand gently grabbed her own hand and she looked up to see Ryan. "Hey." He smiled, not letting go of her hand.

"Hey, Ry." She smiled almost sadly at him. "You were really good today." It was true.

"Really? You think so?" He asked as a huge grin appeared of his face, she nodded, feeling a little hypocritical.

"Thanks." He said, calmer somewhat, "Hey, Kelsey, do you want to come rock climbing with me tomorrow? I'm heading for Stone Canyon." He explained shortly, staring at her.

"Yeah, sure!" She grinned, looking into his eyes and seeing the faint pink of his cheeks. Momentarily the uncomfortable feeling swept away and she was filled with excitement and delight.

"Great, well, I guess I have to go now, Dana and I are supposed to have lunch with Dad." He looked apologized and she nodded, that uncomfortable shadow creeping into her stomach again. He gave her another huge smile that made her feel more of a hypocrite, before he turned around and ran back to Dana.

Kelsey sighed.

He was tearing the team apart and it bothered her.

And she liked him.

He didn't know that. She couldn't possibly talk to him about it… right? After all, she liked him and didn't want to hurt him.

"Ugh!" her palms balled into tight fists. Why did everything have to be so awkward and excruciatingly difficult with him? Well, it wasn't like it was bad-difficult, more like exciting-difficult, too-many-butterflies-in-belly-difficult. Maybe she does have to talk to him about the team; as an observer it seemed like he was missing the whole point of being in a team! An outcome of being a lone wolf all of these years, perhaps?

She shrugged at herself and jogged all the way back to the Aquabase.

*

She spent some fun time with Chad in the water, and even Marina ventured and came to hang out with them underwater, not that it was some sort of surprise since the heat between those two was felt even underwater. Despite that, Kelsey didn't feel like a third wheel, Chad and Marina were really relaxed near her, especially Chad. He looked at her strangely somehow and she could detect it somehow, but ignored it – a part of her couldn't stop bringing Ryan into her mind.

And when Chad and her were out of the water, Chad had this really funny expression all over.

"What?"

"What's wrong? You've been creepy the entire time." Chad raised his eyebrows, clearly concerned.

"Nothing's wrong, it's just…" she sighed.

"Come on, Kels, you know you can trust me." Chad reassured quickly and handed her a large yellow towel. Kelsey looked away from Chad's worried expression and sighed yet again, she really needed to talk this out and Chad was a wise person, he could help her decide what to do.

"Well, it's Ryan." She muttered.

"Ryan?" Chad confirmed and Kelsey nodded, sulking a bit. "What about him?" Chad also recovered very quickly.

"I… well… you probably noticed the, um, battles?" she hinted.

"Oh, him fighting all by himself?" Chad confirmed yet again.

Kelsey nodded.

"He's very strong and he clearly likes it." Chad pointed out.

"I know, I know. He's amazing like that, really, but did you notice there isn't really 'us' anymore? There's only Ryan. It's like our team fell apart, he's doing all the work." She said sadly, she didn't like admitting it out loud; didn't it make her sound like an attention seeker?

"I guess you're right." Chad mumbled.

"It's just… we used to have a purpose, you know?" Her voice was suddenly a little higher, like she was going to cry. She swallowed hard.

"We still do, Kels." Chad said softly and quickly held her comfortingly. "It's just a little different." He added after some thought.

"But I don't feel the same, I feel so useless. You know how I hate it, sitting around, doing nothing – doesn't it bother you?" Teary eyes met Chad's dark chocolate ones.

"I don't mind it, I finally can spend a little more time here and I like it. I've missed it." He admitted with a smile. Chad caressed her wet hair for a moment.

"You should talk to him, you know. It bothers you, I can tell."

Kelsey nodded and the two left for the Aquabase.

*

Later that night, she was staring anxiously at the banana shaped clock that hung on the wall in front of her; she was sitting on her bed listening to some music in her headphones and singing along every now and then, but had a hard time keeping her eyes from the clock. She waited for eleven o'clock, the time the first knock was always heard.

But there was nothing.

She took off her headphones, waiting impatiently to his knock, but it never came. At first she thought he was late, maybe he had something to do or someplace to be; then she grew a little worried: what could've kept him from coming? Eventually she fell asleep, exhausted from that day's diving, a tear sliding on her cheek.

A/N: Ah… drama, drama, drama! :) Review!!