Episode: Directly After Episode 92, "Rocky Just Wants to Have Fun"

In a flash of color, the Rangers appeared in the Command Center. Adam was still sitting on the ground, supported by Rocky's hand on the only un-shredded region of his shoulder.

"Adam, Alpha has prepared the lab for your arrival," Zordon said.

"Lab?" Rocky asked. He had no idea that there was a lab here in the Command Center. Sure, it made sense there would be one, but he'd never seen anything outside where they were standing now.

Billy stepped forward, though. "I know where it is," he said, and started past the viewing globe. Sure enough, there was a light emanating from the back wall there. Tommy recognized it as where he'd been taken to receive his White Tiger powers.

Though Billy took the lead, the others stayed back out of the way. It seemed like Rocky and Tommy were as much help as Adam would tolerate, and even then, he was adamant to accept as little as possible. As soon as the two older boys had helped him onto his feet, he brushed them off. "It's really not that bad," he insisted awkwardly. "I can walk."

By then, everyone had accepted that it wasn't just Adam being difficult; he was genuinely uncomfortable with the attention everyone was paying him. He looked absolutely miserable, and not just from the pain he had to be in, and though he'd calmed down a little bit from his earlier hysteria, it was still lurking just beneath the surface.

Of course, Adam was trying to play the whole thing off. To prove his point – that he wasn't hurt that bad – he started after Billy.

He only made it one step before he fell. His leg, the one he'd strained when he landed on the stairs the night before, just refused to hold his weight any longer. Instead of hitting hard ground, though, he was caught by a pair of strong arms.

"I've got ya, bro," Rocky told him, and before Adam could protest, he slipped his arm around Adam's waist and pulled his arm over his shoulder. As he started to take the first step, Rocky found he was supporting most, if not all of Adam's weight with every other step, but it didn't matter. It wasn't a long walk back to where Billy had disappeared, and Adam was lighter than a guy his age had any right to be. Even if he had been heavy has Bulk, though, Rocky wouldn't have cared; he'd always be there to help his Adam.

"Rocky…" Adam protested, but it lacked his earlier fire. Being honest with himself, he knew he was pretty much up the creek. Even with help, walking was be a lot more pain than he felt like putting up with. Even though Rocky's arm against his scraped back made it twinge a little, it was still better than even trying to straighten his knee.

Doing his best to ignore the warm wetness against his arm from Adam's back, Rocky smiled at him. "I know," he said, "you'll get back at me for this later."

Adam was too tired to argue, and if he was being honest, having Rocky's arms around him was probably the highlight of his last two days. So, with a halfhearted nod, he let out the barest hint of a chuckle. "Yeah, we'll go with that."

Rocky didn't get a chance to reply before they reached the door. Tommy, who had been walking behind them just in case, came up to stand on Adam's other side so that they could help him hop with his good leg over the threshold.

"Hang on, man, we're almost there," Tommy said as Adam winced. There was a med table just a few yards into the room, and Alpha and Billy were already there waiting by it.

With a few more steps from Tommy and Rocky, and a few more hops from Adam, they made it to the table. Turning, the older boys didn't let go of Adam's arms until he was seated on the table.

Tommy backed off, then, but Rocky didn't make any move to. He figured Adam's shirt had to come off sometime for Alpha to be able to get a look at him, and Adam didn't look like he had it in him to take care of it himself. "Arms up," he instructed, and for once, Adam did as he was told without a protest, allowing Rocky to lift the shirt over his head.

"Aiyiyiyiyi!" Alpha exclaimed as soon as Adam's back came into view. It wasn't that it was that bad of an injury – it was a massive scuff, essentially – but sweat and blood had smeared into a wicked-looking mess, and there was a swollen line across the back of his shoulders where Rocky imagined he'd first hit the stairs. "Adam, how did this happen?" the robot asked.

"Fell back down some brick steps," Adam explained.

"And the bruises?" Alpha pressed.

"Putties." The injured ranger nodded to Rocky. "You saw when I first got them. They just keep…piling up." He finished with a shrug, but promptly let his shoulders fall. Apparently, shrugging did bad things to his injured back.

"So, when did you hurt your leg?" Tommy asked. He and Billy had taken to standing by the far side of the medical table, where the controls were mounted.

Given his current, non-walking status, there was no point in denying it. "I landed on it when I fell," he said. He reached down to pull his pants leg up to show off the matching scuffs on his shin, but his ribs stopped him from bending.

"Here, let me help," Rocky said. Sitting down on the medical table beside Adam, he gently pulled Adam's left leg up into his lap. He made quick work of Adam's shoes and socks, and then set to rolling the leg of his mercifully baggy jeans up. Adam let out a hiss; and, once he got Adam's pants leg up to about his mid-thigh, so did Rocky.

"Aw man," Tommy whispered, running a hand through his hair and turning for a moment. Rocky wanted to do the same, but his wide eyes were fixed. Adam's leg looked just as bad – maybe worse – than his back. It was scratched all the way from half-way up his foot, all the way up to his knee, by the same scratches that marred his back. These were even a little deeper, maybe, no doubt because of his bony shins and the added weight.

His knee was the worst, though. The scratches were made worse by swelling that had made it so that Adam's normally-pronounced knee cap was almost impossible to see.

"Jesus, Adam," Rocky whispered. His fingers were shaking as they ghosted over Adam's leg. "How long has it been like this?" But Adam could hear the real question hidden in the words. How long have you been hiding this from me?

"Just last night," he said quickly. "It was raining, and I slipped. My knee only got like this after we fought Pachinko-head. I landed wrong when it knocked us out of the Megazord."

Tommy's eyebrows knotted. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"You could be seriously hurt!" Alpha chided.

If possible, Adam deflated even more. His shoulders slumped and his head bowed, and Rocky could practically feel the misery and embarrassment rolling off him in waves. "I didn't think it was so bad," he muttered. "And with the pachinko monster, it wasn't like we could afford to be a man down."

"Another man down," Rocky whispered. And suddenly, he'd never felt so low. He'd been having fun while Adam was hurting, and he hadn't even noticed. He should have noticed, before things could get this bad. There was nothing he could've done to prevent the scratches, but he at least could've kept him from fighting with them.

As if hearing Rocky's thoughts, Adam turned to him. "It's not your fault. I'm not even hurt that bad, just a little banged up." He paused to yawn, his watering almond eyes narrowing to slits.

"And tired, it looks like," Tommy said.

Adam nodded and, too exhausted to care about appearances, leaned his head against Rocky's shoulder. "Didn't get much sleep," he said. Right about then, he didn't care what Alpha still had to do, how frazzled Billy was, or how worried Tommy was. All he knew was that Rocky made him feel safe. After the days he'd had, safe was something he didn't take for granted.

Regrettably, Billy didn't seem keen to leave him in peace with his favorite pillow. "I'm certain sleeping on those mats didn't impact your condition positively," he said.

"English," Adam groaned. His head hurt too much to translate Billy's dictionary-talk.

Surprisingly, Rocky had a much easier time. He raised his eyebrows. "Mat?" he asked. "What were you doing sleeping on a mat?"

That…was a question Adam couldn't answer. Wouldn't answer. Not right now. He didn't need to tell Rocky what had happened, especially not with the others in the room. They were his friends, so they'd worry about him; they'd feel bad for him, and he didn't want that. He was sleeping in the Youth Center, he could hardly walk, he'd been abandoned by his family, and his best friends had seen him have a break down in the middle of the park. It was all he could do to cling to the last fibers of his pride, and cling to them he would, until they were torn from his sidewalk-scratched fingers.

"I already explained it," he muttered, wrapping his arms around his sore middle. "Ask Tommy." Because he didn't feel like talking anymore.

"You can explain later, Tommy," Alpha interrupted. "I need to begin Adam's scans."

"Of course," Billy said. With one last sympathetic smile at Adam, Billy turned and headed back into the command center.

Tommy was the next to go. "Alpha'll take good care of you," he said. "Feel better, man."

Adam lifted his head from Rocky's shoulder just long enough to nod and wave at the White Ranger as he disappeared. He wasn't looking forward to this…he really wasn't looking forward to this.

Rocky felt Adam against his side, and seemed to interpret Adam's mounting apprehension. "You want me to stay with you?" he asked. "I can stay in here, can't I, Alpha?"

Rocky's heart fell as Alpha shook his head. "I'm sorry, Rocky, but you might disrupt the scans."

He'd been afraid Alpha would say something like that. At first, he frowned, but he replaced it quickly with a comforting smile as he slipped out from beside Adam. His boyfriend's leg stayed straight on the table – he didn't think moving it would be good – and he pressed a kiss to Adam's curly hair. "I'll be right out there, okay?"

Adam smiled lightly at the untraditionally gentle gesture. "Yeah," he said. "I'll be fine."

"Hey now, you're stealing my lines," Rocky chuckled. "Catch you later, okay?"

"Catch you later."

Finally, Rocky turned to leave. Of course, he promptly turned back, stole another kiss, and then made his exit. As soon as Rocky was out of sight, Adam let out the sigh he'd been holding. "All right, Alpha, let's get this over with."

Two hours later, Rocky sat in the Command Center with Tommy and Aisha. Billy and Kimberly had both had to leave – they had prior engagements, and they couldn't exactly explain Adam's condition – but the rest of them had stayed.

Tommy and Aisha were sitting up against one of the control panels, watching as Rocky continued to pace. He hadn't stopped since he'd emerged from the room with Adam before Alpha's scans, and frankly, they were starting to get concerned.

"Should I go talk to him?" Tommy whispered to Aisha. He figured she would know; she knew Adam and Rocky better than any of the other Rangers.

Casting a quick glance at her pacing friend, Aisha turned and shook her head. "No, I'll do it," she said. She stood up and somehow managed to intercept her friend mid-step. "Rocky?"

But just as Rocky was about to speak, Zordon cut him off. "I believe Alpha is finished now, Rangers, if you would like to see Adam."

Rocky didn't need telling twice. Conversation with Aisha forgotten, he practically ran into the back room, only to stop as his eyes fell on an unexpected sight. He didn't know why, but he'd thought when he walked in…well, he expected to see Adam up and about and fine. It was irrational, though, he realized. Injuries like Adam's didn't heal just like that.

Still, he was so…still. Laying there on the medical table, Adam looked to be asleep. One of the monitors at the foot of the table was beeping his steady heartbeat while another ran figures Rocky couldn't pretend to understand.

"I've given him something to help him sleep," Alpha explained as Rocky approached the table.

When he got there, though, he found that he had been wrong – Adam wasn't asleep, though he looked to be losing the battle quickly enough.

"We'll come back," Tommy said. Rocky hadn't even noticed them come in, and he turned just in time to see he and Aisha step back out into the Command Center, before shifting his attention back to Adam.

He watched as the younger man blinked blearily, and smiled. "Hey," he whispered, brushing his fingers through Adam's hair. His head had been bandaged for some reason, so he was careful to avoid the white cloth.

It took Adam a second, but then his face split in the goofiest smile Rocky had ever seen. "Hey," he replied. He seemed to notice Rocky's gaze, then, and tried to nod to the bandages. It came out as more of a loll of his head. "Alpha put me back together," he slurred.

"I see that," Rocky chuckled. It looked like it had been quite an effort, too. There was the bandage on his head, of course, and then white bandages that reached from just under his arms to about his navel. He guessed that was for his ribs, and it seemed to cover the worst of the scratches Rocky remembered. His leg was under the blanket, but Rocky could tell it was raised on a pillow or something, hopefully to do something about the swelling. "You're gonna have fun explaining this to your parents…."

Even with the medicine Alpha had given him, Adam's reaction was not what Rocky had expected. He laughed – or, rather, chuckled, because that seemed to be all his ribs would allow – and he smiled wide enough that his narrow eyes nearly disappeared beneath his cheekbones.

Rocky was confused. "Did I say something funny?" he asked.

Shaking his head as much as he could muster, Adam continued to laugh. They were weak, giddy little sounds that barely moved his chest, and Rocky wondered if they were even laughs at all. Sure, he was smiling, but…were those tears?

"Don't have to explain," he muttered, and sure enough, his voice caught. He really was crying, even as he laughed.

It broke Rocky's heart. "Hey, hey, what's wrong? Are you in pain?"

"'s not it."

Rocky noticed he didn't deny it. All the same, there was clearly something else bothering him, and Rocky got the feeling that it was the root of all of this. "Babe, what happened?" he asked. "How'd you get so banged up? Why were you sleeping in the Youth Center?" Because he had asked Tommy, and Adam's story hadn't added up.

Rocky watched Adam's throat bob as he swallowed thickly. He was so close to falling asleep, now, his eyes were closed. When he spoke, Rocky almost couldn't hear him, and he leaned in closer.

"Kicked me out…" Adam whispered listlessly. Had Rocky not been too struck by the revelation, he might've wondered if Adam even knew he was talking anymore. "My dad, he…I dishonored the family. He was so angry…pushed me out the door…can' go back 'gain…don' want me anymore."

Rocky felt like he'd been punched in the gut. All that happened last night, and with Zedd's curse, he hadn't even…Adam had needed him, and he'd let him down.

But before he could apologize – hopefully, he could do more than that; Adam needed comfort and support more than he needed an apology – Adam lost his fight with sleep, and all the tension left his slender form.