Title: Where Your Road Leads
Author: Sarafu
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Power Rangers do not belong to me.
Summary: After ten years of hard work, the Dino Thunder team has found success, but for two of them, happiness remains elusive. Can they find it in each other?
Dedication: To Casey in hopes that this will somewhat make up for the lack of DT this morning especially the one thing that will never appear on the show.
Chapter 6: Working Out the Kinks
January 2014
With a quick glance around the empty hallway, Conner knocked with two raps. He cheerfully kissed Kira when she opened the door. "Conner," she protested after a minute, pulling him into the room swiftly.
"What? There's no one else around," he said unapologetically, dropping his duffel bag and noticing the young man in the room. "Hey, David."
"Hello, Conner." He was clearly uncomfortable with the situation. "How are you?"
"Never been better." Conner beamed and threw his arm around Kira's shoulders.
Rolling her eyes, she shrugged off the possessive gesture. "Thanks, David. I appreciate you putting together the schedule for me. Tell Luke to check the synthesizer – I think it needs to be tuned."
"All right." He scribbled the note down and looked at a couple of messages on the notepad. "The radio station called to confirm your interview tonight, and Vogue requested a photo shoot in the next two months."
"Tell Garrett that I'll be there around nine. What time and location is Vogue thinking about?"
"They want you for their May edition so mid-March at the latest. Falling back on their usual theme, spring in Paris. Your last tour date is February 25."
"Mid-March won't work," Conner said, surprising them both. "Hayley's birthday is that week."
Kira smiled gratefully at him. "He's right. Schedule the shoot for the first week of March and make sure that nothing conflicts with that middle week of March. I have to go home to Reefside."
"Won't you be exhausted?" her assistant asked with some worry in his eyes.
"I'll just fly to Paris on February 26 and recuperate there until the photo shoot," she answered lightly. "There are uglier places to rest and relax."
"Okay." He wrote her instructions down and looked in her direction.
"Go do that and then take a break, David," she ordered kindly. "I'm not the only one who needs to be rested. I don't want to see you again until tomorrow."
He stood and smiled self-consciously at them. "Have a good day."
"Bye, David." Conner held the door open for him. Alone at last, he could indulge in the mad desire to kiss Kira, a feeling always at the back of his mind and one he could freely engage in now.
Yet before he had even finished shutting the door, she was already heading for the bathroom. "I need a shower. I don't mind riding on the bus, but I feel so grimy from the road dust, even if it was only six hours."
"That sounds good," Conner said, changing tactics and anticipating the idea.
"Alone," she said, turning pink under his scrutiny. "I'm sorry, Conner, I'm just not ready."
Disappointed but hardly surprised, he nodded. "Sure, I understand."
"Why don't you unpack?" she suggested.
"I can just pull stuff from my bag."
She muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like "Boys!" and disappeared into the bathroom.
Conner took advantage of the solitary time to poke through the drawers and wardrobe. Everything from Kira's suitcase was organized neatly which startled him slightly. A glance in a spiral notebook on the desk revealed song lyrics. He shut the book quickly, knowing how she considered the words private and sacred. He plopped on one of the cushy chairs and picked up the sheaf of papers David had left behind.
"That's my schedule through March," Kira revealed, wandering out in a yellow bathrobe. "I thought we should spend the next few days figuring out the logistics."
"You're very smart," he said warmly, sending a smile in her direction.
"Uh-huh. Do you want lunch?" She fiddled with the room service menu briefly.
"I'm fine. I had a huge meal while I was waiting for my flight."
Kira watched him anxiously. "Um, look, I'm sorry about the whole not being able to travel with us."
Her tone was awkward and unsure so Conner reassured her firmly, "It's totally fine. We agreed that we need to keep this secret for a while from the press and everybody. Besides, I want to tell the others before we let the cat out of the bag. And the best way to do that is to keep most of your people in the dark."
Relaxing slightly, she selected the nearby chair. "We've already talked about this, huh?"
Trying to calm her uneasy nerves, Conner reached for her hand. "It's okay to be nervous, Kira."
"This is weird," she admitted, but she accepted the comfort he offered with a squeeze of his hand.
"I know. Yesterday we were best friends and now . . . it'll be strange, but we will get through this." He sounded so certain that she was almost believed him.
"Garrett's going to ask me about the article, you know," she said reluctantly.
"Deny it all. The usual routine. Our friendship is pretty public by now so it can be passed off as that. You'll come up with something."
"You know, you're pretty smart sometimes, Conner." There was something heartening in his eternal confidence.
"I have my moments," he said, standing to move toward her chair with a rakish smile. "Do I finally get a kiss then?"
Kira's interview that evening went as well as the couple had hoped. She easily deflected attention with humor and grace, decreeing that the moment had been nothing more than a spur-of-the-moment tribute to her best friend. When the DJ tried to get her to spill the beans on the real Conner McKnight, she declined with a laugh and a comment about no one truly knowing Conner though she did let it slip that he still managed to surprise her occasionally. The man who listened in her hotel suite found himself again amazed by the articulate, gracious woman on the radio – he was not the only one full of surprises.
Aside from a few publicity appearances, they spent the time together in her suite. There were discussions about everything under the sun and questions that Conner finally had to answer. It was meant to be a time to adjust, and they used it well. He needed to find a balance between his overeager affection and his long-denied impulses to touch without overwhelming Kira. On the other hand, she had to wrap her head around the idea of dating Conner still and learn to see him in a romantic light. The sudden transition from friends to lovers flustered her something fierce, but Conner's patience and commitment convinced her that it all might work out just as he promised. In between the talking and the time they spent making love, they even managed to come up with a workable schedule that had them meeting at least once a week even if it was just dinner at a little airport restaurant in the middle of nowhere. The rest of the time there would be e-mails and phone calls. It was only a few short weeks until the end of Kira's tour, and after Hayley's birthday, there would be more time to spend together.
On the final afternoon in New York, the first test of their new relationship call in the form of a phone call from Reefside. At the end of his shower, Conner heard the ring of a phone and ducked out to stare at Kira. Suddenly faced with a naked Conner, she averted her eyes quickly, still unused to the sight of her best friend nude. He was far too comfortable in her opinion and wont to wander through the suite without clothes. She rightly supposed it was because he was aware that he had an attractive body and he lacked any sort of modesty.
"Who is it?"
"Don't you think you should put clothes on?" she said, trying to ignore the rush of desire that was currently coursing through her veins at the brief glimpse she'd had.
"Oh yeah." He walked back into the bathroom and dressed, coming out to discover that Kira had answered the phone with a joyful smile. He listened to her side of the conversation suspiciously. Her happiness was hard to ignore, and he moved closer to peek at the phone. "Kira?"
Startled, she jumped and the video became clear. "I didn't know you had company, Kira," Ethan said with a laugh.
The singer silently gestured at Conner to move back out of view, but he refused, moving closer to the vidphone. "Now I think he deserves to know, Kira."
"Conner?" Ethan's voice was slightly surprised, but he looked pleased at the development.
"Hey Ethan."
"We said we weren't going to tell anyone until Hayley's birthday party, Conner."
"Ethan's not just anyone. He should know. Besides, he can keep a secret," he argued.
The ex-Blue Ranger watched the pair bickering with a satisfied grin. "So you finally got around to telling her, and she didn't run away screaming. I told you she'd be fine with it though I didn't expect you two to be holed up in a cozy hotel in New York."
"Wait a minute," Kira shouted with annoyance. "What do you mean, Ethan? How did you know that Conner had feelings for me?"
Uncomfortable, he tried to ignore Conner's smirk. "It's been pretty obvious to me, Kira, for a long time. I've been telling him that he should say something for years."
"So you knew all along?" she asked dangerously.
He thought that yes would be the wrong answer, but he refused to lie on his best friend's behalf any longer. "Well, maybe not the whole time, but since high school at least."
Her expression was clearly not thrilled with the revelation. "Did everyone on the planet know before me?"
"No, Kira, you have to believe me. No one else has any idea that I've had anything but best friend feelings for you."
"I've got to give you credit for that," Ethan remarked. "You were able to hide it very well considering you're not exactly known for discretion."
"Dude, you're not helping," Conner said, feeling Kira's irritation radiating from her in waves.
"Sorry. Anyway, this whole thing is to be kept a secret until Hayley's birthday party?"
"Yeah, we're going to tell Dr – Tommy, Hayley, Kim, and Trent at that time. And after that, we'll finally tell the press. We just want some private time," Conner explained. "You know how easy it is for a celebrity romance to crash and burn once the press gets involved."
"That makes sense. You know I won't tell anyone," Ethan pledged solemnly. "I want you guys to work out, too."
"Ethan!" Kira finally spoke with apparent frustration.
"Nope, Kira, I'm with Conner on this one. You two deserve your chance to be happy." He glanced at his watch. "Look, I've got to go, but I'll call you both later in the week for more details."
"Bye, bro." Ethan clicked off and Conner found himself face to face with a displeased Kira. "What?"
"How did Ethan know even before I did?" she demanded.
"He guessed, okay? He happened to notice that I wasn't happy that you were dating Trent and that I had a tendency to stare at you. When he finally realized that I really didn't like Trent, he put two and two together. It wasn't like I told him on purpose to upset you ten years later." Conner's voice was as strained as hers.
"But he's been telling you for years that you should say something?"
"Of course he has. He just kept pushing and pushing because he thought that you wouldn't freak out about it. I guess he was wrong about that," he muttered.
With a sigh, Kira pondered his own patience and affection the last few days. He had gone out of his way to take the whole relationship as slow as she wanted. If she felt uncomfortable or wanted space, he was willing to step back. What she had with Conner was unlike anything she had ever experienced, and three days had proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. "I'm sorry, Conner. You're right – I'm overreacting. I was just surprised that you were willing to tell Ethan."
"Because he is Ethan and our best friend. I trust him with this, Kira, as much as I ever trusted him with your life or mine. And I know how happy he would be. Plus, he already knew something was up because you called him the other day to call me," Conner said reasonably.
A sharp knock on the door interrupted the discussion, and Kira moved to answer it. "Oh hey, David," she said.
"Your car is here to take you and Jorge to Madison Square Garden for sound check," David said quickly and walked back toward the elevator.
"I guess that's my cue to leave," Conner replied with a small grin. He hefted his duffel bag onto his back. "Too bad because I was hoping for another round of make the bed." Her smile was warm, but her mind was obviously elsewhere. "Are you still not sure, Kira? Because we can end this now without any hard feelings," he offered.
Blinking with surprise, she stared at him. It was such a generous thing to say even after everything that had happened. Yet there was no hesitation when she shook her head. "No, Conner, I'm pretty sure that we need to explore this further. There's just too much possibility to ignore it."
Relieved, he beamed at her. "Thank God."
She laughed and moved closer to him. "I'm sorry you have to leave before the concert tonight."
"Well, I do have practice tomorrow very early. Besides, you need to focus on your music." He dropped a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Break a leg."
Unexpectedly, Kira wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his fiercely, kissing him with a great deal more passion that he had expected. It was long and drawn-out and left them both trembling when they finally broke apart. "Huh," Conner managed to say.
She blushed, wondering if she would ever feel less like a school girl when she kissed him. "To remember me by," she said almost flirtatiously.
His gaze promised that he would never forget. "So I guess I'll see you next weekend then."
"Definitely. In Missouri, right?" Kira asked. "And you'll call when you get back to Boston."
"Yeah. Have fun tonight," he said, forcing himself toward the open door with long strides. He paused by the door though and glanced back at her. "You didn't choose wrong, Kira." She watched Conner leave, not able to formulate anything to say to his words and not wanting to spoil a goodbye that was already bittersweet.
