A/N: Due to the fact that Becky and I have been insanely busy with other projects as well as school, I think you can forgive us for not updating in so long lol. But we're sorry just the same ;-)

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Bright and early the next morning, Kira and Conner arrived back at the Dino Lair. Conner had explained to his girlfriend about the situation with Grace's phone call last night, and she agreed that they needed to tell Doctor Oliver about it. The two teenagers opened the door to the house and slowly walked in. It was a common thing nowadays that Dr. Oliver left his front door unlocked, that way the teens wouldn't need to spend hours waiting for him to answer. They walked through the kitchen and down the stairs into the cave. Hayley was over in the corner, checking Trent's vitals.

"Hayley?" Kira asked. Hayley looked up at them. Kira and Conner resisted the urge to cringe at the sight of her. She had dark circles under her eyes and her face looked very pale.

"Hey guys." Hayley said, giving them a tired smile.

"You look like you didn't get any sleep at all." Conner said as he and Kira walked over to her to look at the vitals over her shoulder.

"That could be because I didn't get any sleep last night." Hayley said.

"Oh." Conner said, feeling foolish.

"Hayley." Came Tommy's voice as he came down the stairs. "What happened to you waking me up so I could take over watching-" He stopped when he saw Kira and Conner. "Hey guys." He said. They both waved to their teacher. Hayley sighed and stood up.

"Sorry, I just thought that with all that's happened, you and Naomi would need a full nights sleep."

"Wait, Naomi stayed here?" Kira asked, a little confused.

Tommy nodded at them. "She sorta fell asleep on the couch. She's actually still there last I checked. Poor kid hasn't had a decent night's sleep in who knows how long." He commented. Kira nodded.

"I know how she feels... Ever since Kim and Ethan disappeared, sleeping's sorta been hard to do..." She trailed off. Conner rubbed her shoulder softly.

"I know my mind's been going a mile a minute almost every night." He added.

"Is she going to try coming to school today?" Kira asked. Tommy tilted his head to the side a bit and squinted his eyes a bit, having an uncertain expression.

"I don't think so." He said.

"Oh." Kira said. Part of her was a little envious that she and Conner would have to put up the brave front and go to school, pretending like all was well while Naomi could sit and wallow till her heart's content. But then another part of her couldn't even begin to imagine what Naomi was going through. If it had been Conner that fell into that thing, wouldn't you be doing the same thing? She thought to herself.

"Dr. O, we actually needed to talk to you about something." Conner said, interrupting Kira's thoughts.

"What is it?" Tommy asked.

"Grace, Ethan's sister, called me last night. His family's getting worried about him." Conner said. Tommy sighed.

"I knew this was going to happen eventually." He said.

"Any idea what we should do?" Kira asked. Tommy sighed again and shook his head. Conner looked down.

"I think……..I might have an idea." He said.

"What?" Kira asked. "You didn't say anything to me about any idea."

"It's not the best idea in the world and I was hoping Dr. O had something better." Conner said.

"Well, what is it?" Hayley asked. Conner sighed.

"We tell everyone Ethan ran away."

"WHAT!" Came a near shriek which caused everyone to jump. They turned to see Naomi standing at the bottom of the stairs. "You want to tell people he ran away!" She demanded.

"You got a better idea?" Conner asked.

"Well, can't his parents say he's staying with relatives?" Naomi asked.

"But what would we say to his parents to make them say that?" Kira asked. Naomi looked down at her hands.

"Maybe the truth?" She suggested.

"Excuse me?" Conner asked, praying he had misheard her.

"You heard me Conner... We can't lie to them." She replied. Tommy looked at her.

"But we also can't tell them what really happened. That would involve exposing ourselves as rangers." He reminded. Naomi threw her hands into the air.

"Is there any other solution?" She argued back. The team went silent. Hayley was the first to speak up.

"We could always lie about you being rangers, yet tell them that he was captured... I mean it wouldn't be the first time it's been done..." She trailed off, looking in Tommy's general direction.

"I just don't see why we can't tell them the truth. They deserve it." Naomi said. Conner groaned and rolled his eyes.

"No offense Naomi, but it's not like this effects you."

"Excuse me?" Naomi asked, crossing her arms.

"Well, if we get revealed on the evening news or something, it's not like it changes your life one bit, or does it?" Conner asked. Tommy, Kira and Hayley stood there, carefully watching Naomi, unsure how she'd react to that. Naomi shifted her eyes to the side and clenched her jaw.

"You're right." She said. "I don't ride around in a big mechanical dinosaur so I can't possibly offer any insight on this situation." She blinked and looked at Tommy. "I'm going to go see if Trini's awake." Before anyone could say a word, Naomi turned and rushed back up the stairs. Tommy turned and looked at Conner and Kira.

"Maybe you two should just go to school." He said. Kira nodded and took Conner's arm.

"Let's go." She said, dragging him off. Hayley sighed and looked at Tommy.

"You want to talk to Naomi or do you want me to do it?" She asked.

"I'm thinking we just leave her alone for now." He said. "So, you go upstairs and get some sleep and I'll watch Trent." He added, getting behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders, pushing her towards the stairs.

"All right, all right." Hayley said, rolling her eyes.

"You can sleep in my bed." He offered. Hayley nodded and went upstairs. On her way up to Tommy's room, she passed the kitchen where she saw Naomi getting a bowl from the cabinet for Trini who was sitting at the table in her night shirt.

"So, what do you want, Coco Puffs or Honey Nut Cheerios?" Hayley heard Naomi ask while she made her way upstairs.

"Coco Puffs!" Trini said. Hayley heard Naomi chuckle.

"Why do I even bother asking?" Naomi said. Hayley walked into Tommy's room and sat on his bed. She kicked her shoes off and lay down, getting under the covers. Within seconds, she was fast asleep.

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Putting a face on every morning for everyone at school was getting to be an old routine. At least to Kira it was. With Ethan gone, she had to pretend that nothing was wrong, although that was so far from the truth. For Kira, every class was becoming a bore. Even her favorite, music. There was nothing that gave her spark anymore when it came to school. Her days were filled with daydreams and nothingness. The only thing that really gave her joy was Conner... And even then, he was in the same boat as her.

"Can you believe what Naomi suggested?" Conner said, tearing through her thoughts. The two of them were sitting at the grassy knoll outside school. It was lunch time, but it wasn't like either of them had much of an appetite.

"Huh?" Kira asked.

"I mean, yeah, we're all going through hell because of what happened, but we still need to stay level headed." Conner continued.

"I guess." Kira said, although she knew at the moment, she was just backing noise. Conner was in tirade mode as it was.

"And I know she probably thinks I'm being an insensitive asshole and everything, but it's true, she doesn't understand what would be at risk for us if we told them the truth. I mean, the most she'd get would be some reporter knocking at her door because she knows the power rangers. We'd get the bulk of it. I mean vans full of camera crews camped on our driveways, photographers and reporters sneaking into school to try to get a shot of the power rangers off duty. We won't get a moments rest." Conner sighed and leaned back, lying on the ground on his back with his hands under his head. Kira lay on her side and cuddled next to him, resting her head on his chest.

"You done?" She asked playfully. Conner lowered his eyes to her and couldn't help chuckle a bit.

"Sorry, guess I was in rant town for a bit." He said. Kira shrugged.

"It's okay." She said. She sighed and turned onto her back, staring up at the sky. She turned her head and looked at him. "You're not an insensitive asshole." She said. Conner smiled.

"Thanks." He said.

"We've just got to bear with her. I mean, she and Ethan have a pretty huge thing, and he's not around. If it had been me who fell in that thing, would you be keeping a level head?" She asked. Conner was silent for a bit.

"Honestly?" He asked, turning his head and looking at her in the eyes. Kira nodded. "I wouldn't even be able to get out of bed, let alone keep a level head." He said softly, stroking her cheek. Kira smiled and got closer to him, kissing him gently. Conner smiled as they kissed and groaned when Kira slowly pulled away.

"I don't think that's true." Kira said, sitting up. Conner tilted his head in her direction.

"What do you mean?" He asked. Kira chuckled.

"I think you'd be out there, trying to hunt down and kill whatever took me." She chuckled. Conner though about it for a moment, before nodding.

"You're totally right." He replied. Kira sighed.

"Which, is even more reason why we've got to cut Naomi some slack." Kira said. "She doesn't have super dino powers like us or anything, she can't exactly go and hunt down Elsa and all of them, you know?"

"I guess." Conner said. "I mean, I guess she's feeling pretty helpless."

"Maybe even a little useless." Kira pointed out. "What you said about things not affecting her earlier didn't exactly help." Conner sighed and closed his eyes.

"I know. I was teetering very close to jerk land with that one."

"I'm not saying you were wrong…..But it could've been something that was left unsaid, ya know?" Conner nodded.

"I guess I owe her an apology." He stated. Kira nodded.

"I think you do too." She replied. The teens sat there for a moment before the bell went off. Conner groaned.

"I hate math class." He grumbled. Kira laughed lightly.

"I have English." She told him, taking his hand and slowly heading back into the school.

"I win, I have the worst class." He muttered. Kira smiled and stopped outside the building.

"See you after school?" She questioned. Conner nodded and kissed her lightly.

"Definately." He said. And with that they went their separate ways.

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Naomi walked down the stairs to the lab and saw Tommy sitting in a chair by where Trent lay, reading a book.

"Hey." She said. Tommy looked up.

"Hey." He said. Naomi's eyes shifted to Trent.

"How's he doing?" She asked. Tommy shut the book and sighed.

"No change." He said. "Where's Trini?"

"Sleeping." Naomi said. "You know, if it was under different circumstances, I would suggest getting her tested for narcolepsy or something." She said, trying to make a joke. Tommy didn't say anything. "…….And award for most inappropriate joke goes too me." Naomi said under her breath.

"Sorry, I didn't mean-" Tommy began.

"Forget it. It was a pretty dumb joke as it is." Naomi said. She sat down on one of the steps. "By the way, isn't her school going to wonder why Trini's been absent so many times?"

"Took care of that." Tommy said. "I called the school and told them she's got the chicken pox."

"Nice." Naomi said. "So they bought it?"

"They said that since she's been doing so well, I don't need to worry about her missing her tests to move on to the next grade and that they hope she gets better soon." Tommy said.

"Now, what are you going to do if she one day does get chicken pox for real?" Naomi asked.

"She already had them." Tommy responded. "Kim told me once that she had the chicken pox when she was four. She was so miserable."

"Wow, pox at four? That's gotta suck. Although, at least she got 'em out of the way early."

"Yeah." Tommy said.

"So what are you going to do if the school calls because they looked in her medical file and saw she already had the chicken pox?" Naomi asked. Tommy shrugged.

"There have been loads of cases of kids getting it a 2nd time." Naomi nodded thoughtfully.

"That's true." She replied. Naomi fiddled with her hands for a moment during the silence before Tommy spoke.

"Naomi... speaking of school..." He trailed off. Naomi sighed.

"I know what you're going to say. My parents really don't care about me all that much..." She explained. Tommy sighed.

"I know at your age, it feels like that right now, but-"

"This isn't some teenage rebellion." Naomi said, cutting him off. She stood up and paced about the room. "I got kidnapped by Trent…..knocked out and taken from my own house, you guys got me and I stayed here, for all my parents could've known I was lying in a ditch dead or something. Did you see the swarm of cop cars parked outside school or doing door to doors with my picture? Did you see my parents sobbing on the news about their missing daughter?" She asked. Tommy lowered his eyes. Naomi gave a bitter chuckle. "I was here for three days, didn't get as much as a phone call. Ethan's missing two days and his sister's already calling the friends asking about his whereabouts on their parents' behalf. You really think this is the whole 'I feel so alone in my faux jadedness that comes with adolescence' thing?" She asked.

"I-" Tommy began. He stopped, unsure what to say. "I'm sure that your parents care about you greatly." He finally said. Naomi looked at him with smoldering eyes.

"Fine, you want me to leave so badly, I'll leave." She said. With that, she ran up the stairs. Tommy sighed as he heard his front door open and slam shut.

"That went well." He muttered. A few minutes later, Hayley came down the stairs with a puzzled expression.

"I was on my way down here and Naomi nearly knocked me over storming out the door. What happened?" She asked. Tommy sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"She's a little upset right now." Was all he said.