"Tommy, do you want to eat dinner with us?" Rachel asked as she emerged from the basement into the kitchen and saw him slumped against the kitchen table, obviously asleep. "Xavier, come here."
"What?" Xavier asked as he came out into the kitchen and saw their mentor dead to the world. "You want me to get him in bed?"
"Yeah, I think he'd appreciate it in the morning," Rachel said as Xavier nodded and then went to pick up the once strong ranger. They had all seen the changes that had taken place with him over the last several months, but none of them dared to speak about it, especially in Amy's presence. She seemed to be determined that he was going to get better, when everything else was showing that he was getting much worse.
"I've never seen him like that Rachel," Xavier said as he walked back downstairs and Rachel looked over at him from her position in front of the calendar. A day had been unceremoniously marked as Amy's birthday, but she noticed that a couple of weeks later there was a block with anniversary scribbled in it.
"Is he seeing someone?" Rachel asked as Xavier shook his head no as he read the word as well and looked down at Rachel.
"I don't think he'd hide something like that from us, the fact that he's dying, yes, but not that he has someone that he loves," Xavier said as he gently tugged her hand and led her downstairs. Their mentor was a man that the barely had a grip on, but they all knew that he would tell them the important things.
"You need to eat, Amy," Max said as she sat down at the table and just took a glass of water. She knew if she tried to force any food down it would come up within minutes. "Amy…"
"I can't right now, Max," Amy muttered as the others looked between the two of them and he sighed. Why had he agreed with her to keep their relationship a secret and their friends in the dark about it? Right now she needed all of them, but most especially she needed him to do what he had been doing earlier. "Is Dad going to eat with us?"
"He was asleep on the kitchen table when I went up to ask him, so he moved him upstairs. I'm really worried about him, Amy," Rachel said as Amy's eyes filled with tears and Rachel stared as she watched their red ranger sob. This was the one ranger that never let them know what she was feeling, but right now she was in a world of pain that had absolutely nothing to do with the ranger world and everything to do with her father. "Amy, don't…"
"I got it," Xavier muttered as he scooped the sobbing ranger up into his arms and she settled her head on his shoulder. He only caught the glare from Max long enough to know that he had just made a monumental mistake. They respected the fact that the two of them choose to keep their relationship a so called 'secret', but at that moment, he knew that Max had had enough. No one else was going to comfort her, no one else was going to hold her because of the deal that they had made.
"Max," Amy murmured as Xavier looked over at her boyfriend who was standing directly behind her and merely shifted her in his arms so that she would be able to easily collapse on him.
"I didn't mean to," Rachel whispered as Max nodded his head that he knew. All of them would have been saved this if Amy had found out at the same time as they had, but Tommy had insisted that they not tell her until she was ready.
"He's just tired Amy," Max whispered as she looked up at him and then pulled him down for a kiss. All of their hiding had just been thrown out the window and after a couple of minutes he had to break away for air. "God, Amy."
"I need you tonight," Amy whispered as the others started scrambling away from them, before Amy realized what she had said in front of them and was mortified. "Max, I need you."
"All right," Max whispered to her as he gently led her back to his room. The thoughts of a slow, painful death momentarily filled his mind, but she was asking this of him and he was he to deny her? The agreement had always been that when she was ready they would have sex and it seemed like she was more than ready at the moment.
"Did she see any of us?" Rachel asked as she peaked out from behind the counter and Xavier emerged from the cupboard before Damien fell out of the of the hall closet.
"I don't think so, but next time remind me that I can't fit in that closet," Damien said as Rachel laughed. "So, do you think he'll talk her into telling us?"
"If tonight is any indication, she's not going to be left with much of a choice," Xavier said as the two others nodded. "Come on, we might as well eat supper and watch some TV, instead of waiting for them to come back."
"I don't think they will tonight," Damien muttered as Rachel and Xavier exchanged a glance. Their first time they had been able to pull themselves together and be around the rangers again, but it seemed that Damien had the impression that would not happen with the other two.
"So my daughter is dating your son?" Kim asked as Jason nodded his head that that was the case. He had thought that Tommy would have told her, but obviously he had thought it unnecessary to tell her anything. "When were you going to tell me?"
"When you asked about Amy, Tommy's right Kim, you sure do a good job of not acting like you give a damn about her," Jason said as Kim glared up at him. He was not helping the situation any. He was supposed to be the one that she could turn to about this situation, but he was starting to sound a lot like Tommy. "All he wants is to see his baby girl and the love of his life get along. I don't think that is too much to ask."
"She hates me Jason, there is nothing that I can do to change that," Kim said as Jason looked over at Trini, who quietly left the room. Whatever he had to say next was most likely something that she would not want to here.
"Well, if you'd stop being a bitch to her and Tommy, that would help," Jason said as Kim gawked at him. How could he say that to her? He was the one that had been supportive of her all this time and now he was saying this. "Look, I understood when you left Tommy and I even understood when you said you just needed some time to be alone and not have a baby, but guess what, she has grown up without you and Tommy did a damn good job by himself. Now he is begging you to help him out, she'll be in college in a couple of months and from what we've seen there are no people that could replace the team she has. They are the best that I have seen in a long time Kim and you're going to need them."
"What color is she?" Kim asked as Jason looked over at her to see the tears falling down her face. She had missed her own daughter's high school graduation because she did not want to face Tommy. Every time that she looked at the man, she felt the guilt for everything that she had done to him.
"She's the red ranger, Max is the yellow, why?" Jason asked as Kim looked away from him.
"I'm glad that she took after Tommy," Kim whispered as Jason just shook his head. "I know I have to get myself together, but how do I start to do that if she won't even talk to me?"
"One day at a time Kim and I suggest that you are friends first, not mother and daughter. It'll be years before you'll be able to claim that title after what I saw today," Jason said as Kim nodded. She knew that he was right, but she did not wish to admit it. She wished that she could go back in time and change it all, but that was not going to happen. She had wasted far too many chances with the man named Tommy Oliver.
"Thank you," Amy muttered, trying to regain her breath as Max adjusted her in his arms. He had never expected this from her, never expected the kind of passion that overtook her, but was glad all the same. She was the woman that he had fully expected her to be and then she was not that woman in oh so many ways.
"You never have to thank me, Amy," Max whispered pulling the covers over the both of them, knowing that there was a slight chance that someone might barge in on them and he did not want to let anyone else see her. She was his and no one else deserved the privilege that he had received tonight.
"Do you think that he's going to die?" Amy muttered as Max looked over at her. The question that had been plaguing her all night had finally surfaced and he took a deep breath before answering her.
"He only has about six months Amy, a year at the most," Max said as Amy barely nodded and then buried her face against his shoulder. For this being the first time that they had made love, he felt that this was too depressing of a subject to talk about, but Amy needed someone to talk to and he was the only person that she seemed to be able to get these emotions out with.
"I've got to make amends with my mom," Amy whispered as she started to drift off to sleep and he smiled down at her gently pulling her in closer, so that she would not lose any of his warmth during the night before he reached over and fully dimmed his bedside lamp. "I love you, Max."
"I love you too, Amy," Max whispered in her ear before he heard her breathing settle into a rhythmic pattern and knew that she had drifted off to sleep. He lay there for a little while, just listening to her and thinking about what tonight was going to mean to them when everything was laid out in front of them. They had not only let the other rangers know about their relationship, but basically announced that they were going to go have sex. He was sure that there would be some repercussions, but he did not care, as long as he could continue to hold her in his arms and take all of her worries away.