I woke up in the morning feeling the happiest I've ever felt in a long time. Things could not have been more perfect. Mike was on the road to healing. Sure, he still had a little bit of ways to go, but he was definitely stable now. If he could manage to kiss me without tearing me to shreds, he could certainly handle the other rangers.

Happily, I deprogrammed the locks on Mike's room with my symbol power, the way that Jayden showed me how to do it. Quietly, I took a peek at Mike in his room and smiled softly to myself. He was sleeping on the couch next to his video game station. He had insisted that I take the bed the night before and he would sleep on the couch.

I had told him that I was completely fine with sharing a bed with him, that I trusted him completely, but he wouldn't hear about it. Even though it didn't make me feel uncomfortable, it really seemed to make him feel uncomfortable. He claimed that he didn't want to overstep his boundaries, but I suspected that it most likely had something to do with lingering effects of the curse.

Almost subconsciously, I made my way over to Mike. He looked so peaceful while he was asleep. I smoothed his hair back, the way that I tired to do right after he had gotten hurt. He pushed me off then but now he just smiled. In sleep, he didn't shudder every time I came near him. In sleep, he was Mike. It almost made me wish that I could curl up into a little ball and let my mind wander off to join him wherever he was now. He sighed to himself as if he sensed my presence.

Is this what it felt like him when the roles were reversed? When I was the one laying in the bed, unsure if I would ever wake up? I felt a pang. It wasn't fair for me to put them through all that pain. I should have braver, like the way that Mike was being for me right now.

I smiled proudly at my brave little trooper. "Don't worry Mike. Everything will be back to normal soon."

I hummed a happy little tune as I made breakfast for Mike. Pancakes, eggs and bacon, his favorite. Of course I knew that he was perfectly capable of making them himself, but I wanted to do something nice for him. Plus, it gave me an excuse to start training a little bit late.

I wasn't sure when Mike was going to be able to begin training again. Hopefully soon. It would be good for him to get out of his room and vent some of his bottled up frustration. On a training dummy of course. Or maybe Kevin or Antonio. It could even help him heal faster. Despite all of his progress, I was still a little worried about Mike. He was still clearly confused. Even though the Nighlock had clearly perished, it was obviously still messing with his emotions.

Everything about Mike had this intensity now. All of his emotions were amped up twentyfold. It was like he was a hormonal teenager all over again. He had all of this locked up energy and passion that needed to be unleashed. And I was the unfortunate one who suffered the consequences.

I wasn't like I minded. I liked kissing Mike. I smiled fondly at the memory. I enjoyed myself a little too much. That boy was an amazing kisser, not that I had anything to compare it to. But I wasn't going to delude myself into thinking that the kiss was anything more than it was. Mike had to practice how it felt to care about someone again. He was desperate. He was lonely. And I was there. I was the test dummy. Lucky me.

Apparently, the other rangers were worried about Mike too. When I left the kitchen to head back to Mike's room, I heard them speaking about him in hushed voices. I stopped in my tracks and went to go listen at the door, which was slightly ajar. I felt guilty sneaking around and eavesdropping on their conversation. But why were they being so secretive? I hadn't told them that I had let Mike go yet. And there was no way that Mike could hear them from his room. Were they hiding something from me?

"So what's going on with Mike, mi amigo?" Antonio asked sounding amused. His back was to me so I was forced to merely imagine the playful smirk that was now pasted on his face.

Jayden sighed. He looked perplexed. "I'm not sure. I haven't heard anything from Emily. I'm getting worried. Maybe we should go check up on them." He got up to go and two sets of hands belonging to Mia and Kevin grabbed him and yanked him back down.

"Don't." Mia warned.

"I really don't think that's a good idea…" Kevin continued.

"Yeah. They need their alone time." This time I could definitely picture Antonio smirking. "We all know how much Emily loves playing nurse and taking care of people. Well Mike's going to need a LOT of taking care of. I'm sure they are both going to enjoy that."

"This is no time to be joking around Antonio!" Mia hissed. "Mike could kill her! We all know about his… feelings for her."

"Everyone but Emily." Antonio chuckled.

"This entire idea is reckless and impulsive and stupid and just screams Mike!" Kevin huffed. "We should do something to stop him. And we will. But –"

"Not now." Mia finished. "As dangerous as this, it's working. And we need to trust that Emily knows what she's doing and that Mike won't hurt her."

"And that neither of them will do something stupid." Kevin muttered.

"The Nighlock said that even after he was destroyed, his curse would not be broken. But all he needed was for one person to break it on his/her own and then all of the other curses would be broken. If anyone can break free, it's Mike. And as much as I hate to say this, if anyone can help him break free, it's Emily." Mia explained.

"Fine. But I don't like it." Jayden replied.

"Ah, el esta celoso." Antonio dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Forget about him. Now onto more important matters. How long do you think it will be before Mike realizes that he might never get an opportunity like this again and bang her?"

The other rangers gasped, but not at Antonio's awful joke. I retreated from my hiding place, face burning red and came into the room with my arms crossed. I cleared my throat awkwardly and Antonio turned around in shock. His eyes grew wide and his face turned a shade of red deeper than Jayden's armor.

Antonio began to babble looking for an explanation, but with each word that came out of his mouth, his face got a deeper shade of red. I put up my hand motioning for him to stop before he passed out from lack of oxygen or died from embarrassment.

I glared at him and spoke in my best commanding drill sergeant voice. "I don't want to hear it. Let's get to work."