Disclaimer: Don't own PRSPD
Set between Robotpalooza and Katastrophe
A/n: this has some explanation of Kat's history and about her lost infant son, but not a whole lot, that will be covered in a full fledged mulch-chapter story I'm writing to be published at a later time, once I'm fully satisfied with it, which I'm not at this point.
History
The day was quiet enough and the power rangers were relaxing and soaking up the air conditioning as they were in the middle of a heat wave.
Then Kat walked in there was a concerned look in her green eyes that wasn't lost on yellow ranger Elizabeth Delgado, or Z as they called her.
"Kat, is something wrong?" she asked
"I'm fine, Z, I just..." Kat sighed and headed out before Z could question her further
"What was that all about?" Z asked going back to her seat on the sofa.
"I don't know," Jack said "she did seem to be acting odd today"
The other four rangers, Sam included agreed, Kat wasn't acting like herself and they wanted to know why.
"Look, I'm going to go talk to Commander Cruger see what he knows." Jack said
"I'll talk to Boom, he may know something, he is her assistant after all." Z said
"Okay, I'll see what I can dig up" Sky said going into his room and returning with a notebook PC and went into the SPD database to see what he could find.
"What do you think you're going to find there?" Sydney asked
"I don't know Syd, but if it will shed any light on what is going on with Kat it will be worth the effort." Sky said as he tried to get into her personnel file only to find it was above his clearance level.
"Crap, you have to be at least a red ranger to access this" Sky muttered
"I think you have to be higher than that" Bridge said "you have to have Cruger's clearance to access that, but I can think of a way to bypass that, check the news and see if anything that might have been personally crushing to her happened on this date"
"That's actually a good idea, if it was news then it's a public file that we can all access." Syd said
"Oh shit..." Sky muttered
"What is it?" Bridge asked
"I think I know what's wrong..."
Jack got into the command center and found that Cruger was sitting at his desk looking over some data on his screen
"Commander, I'm worried... about Kat" he said
"What has happened with Dr. Manx?" Cruger asked, the mere mention of something wrong with Kat got his full attention from almost anything.
"She just seems, off, she was just in the rec. room, and she looked sad, but when Z asked if something was wrong she just gave a dismissive answer and left"
Cruger wasn't sure if there was really anything to the ranger's concern, then a thought sparked at the back of his memory and he got up from his desk
"Don't worry, Jack, I will take care of this" Cruger said
"Okay, sir, I just wanted to see what could be wrong?"
"That isn't my story to tell, Jack, just suffice to say that she will be okay" Cruger left and Jack gave a wry sigh
Z arrived in the lab but Kat was there with Boom so she couldn't talk to Boom without getting her attention.
Z returned to the rec room and Sky told her what he discovered.
"Sky, do you really think that's the problem?" Z asked
"I'm not sure"
"I struck out" Jack groaned as he came in
"Whoa... that's surprising" Syd said sarcastically "I could have told you Cruger wasn't going to tell you anything, he'll probably take care of her himself... it's no secret he cares for her, he may even be in love with her."
"He told me that it wasn't his story to tell and that I should let him handle it" Jack said
"He may be right, I mean, who could handle this better than he can, he's known her longer than any of us have been alive." Sky shrugged
"He has a point" Z said
"But that doesn't mean I'm not worried about her, she's our friend to" Jack said
"We're all concerned about Kat, but she'll probably be more open to Cruger" Syd added
"Yeah, and honestly I think she cares about him as much as he does her, you saw how she acted when he got shot that time" Z said
Cruger got into the lab and dismissed Boom
Kat looked up surprised and started to ask who gave him the right to dismiss her assistant, then she realized exactly who had walked in
"Doggie, what brings you here?"
"The rangers have gotten it in their heads that there is something wrong with you, Kat and Jack came to me to voice concern
"I'm fine, Doggie" she said
"Kat, that's a lie and we both know it" Cruger said
Kat sighed, she should have know that Cruger would see through her flimsy lies.
"Doggie, you know what happened that day, what I lost, I lost my baby Doggie, my little boy, the last bit of my husband I had left died that day!" she cried tears falling from her green eyes, she hadn't let herself think about all she lost that often as she knew that she would break down every time.
"Kat, I know, I won't forget what happened, the injustice you suffered that day... come here" she walked over to her friend and he embraced her gently.
Kat returned the embrace, she found solace in his arms
"Kat, no matter what happens you know you know that you can always come to me, no matter what" Cruger said softly as he stroked his best friend's hair
'You have been my solace for years, now Kat, will you let me be yours?' he thought
Jack had arrived at the doorway just to see Cruger embrace Kat, he left quickly to give them the privacy they thought they had
Cruger couldn't help remembering that day so long ago.
Cruger had just arrived at the medical center to check on Kat when he discovered to his horror she had gone into premature labor.
"Oh no" he whispered and went to check on Kat, it was quite some time before her baby would be ready to be born, and he was concerned that this meant problems for both mother and child.
He arrived at the room where Kat was resting, or trying to anyway and discovered that she was between contractions. This was bad
"Doggie, I don't understand what's going on" she said a single tear falling down her cheek
"I know,Kat, I don't either" He held her hand through the next several contractions before being ushered out for the birth
Kat felt alone as she gave birth to her tiny son and prayed she would hear his cries, but he didn't cry.
"He... he isn't crying" she said fear consuming her "Why isn't he crying?"
No one replied they were too busy trying to revive the tiny infant.
He had to be put on a respirator and very few thought that he would make it through the night, much less any longer than that.
Kat was in tears when Cruger arrived back in the room.
"Kat, what's wrong?" he asked her gently
"He's dead, Doggie!" she practically screamed in anger "MY SON IS DEAD!" she broke and began to sob uncontrollably
He later found out that she had been told only moments before he walked in that her newborn son had passed away.
Cruger took her into his arms, it was the only thing he could do
"Why, Doggie? Why?"
He didn't have an answer and that tore him up from the inside.
The doctor entered the room and noticed what was going on and figured Kat had told her friend what had occurred.
He sighed, he had known that Kat wanted this child more than anything and that her heart was broken by the fact that she had lost the child.
Cruger's attention didn't leave his task of trying to comfort his friend, but it was clear he wasn't doing much good at that moment, she needed to cry, let her emotions out.
Cruger leaned back in his chair with a sad sigh, it took so long for Kat to recover from that loss. He looked over at her and smiled, she was so radiant now, so many years after the losses she experienced that day. He knew her history well, and he knew that her future would be bright.
The End
