Of Anime, Poetry and Falling in Love: Mack and Rose

Disclaimer: Alas, the multicolored spandex and the people in it aren't mine.

Challenge: Mirror

Timeframe: Post Lights, Camera, Dax!

Summary: She wondered why she was letting herself get attached to him. She wondered how she'd ever gotten by without him.

Rose let out a grunt. Twenty-seven bathrooms. Who needed twenty-seven bathrooms in the first place? It was ridiculous, Rose thought, and she hadn't even finished cleaning the first bathroom before she decided that when it came to punishment Andrew Hartford was an evil, evil man.

The pink ranger released a disgruntled puff of air and looked up from the toothpaste-splattered sink she'd been scrubbing, only to see Mack's reflection in the mirror. "It's not funny, Mack. Some leader you are, laughing at those less fortunate than you." She knew she was snapping at him and that she really had no reason to do so, but Rose was not in the mood to be gawked at.

The red ranger held up his hands in front of himself as if certain Rose was about to attack him. "I didn't say it was funny, and I'm definitely not laughing at you, Rose. I actually wanted to see if you wanted some company."

Rose was very aware that Mack was good at getting to her. He'd wormed his way into her heart the first day they'd met, and Rose suspected that he already knew this.

"I'll even help if you want me to," Mack added. He looked kind of hopeful.

"Sure," Rose answered. She shot the red ranger a faint smile and tossed him a rag.

They cleaned in silence for some time, every so often glancing in the mirror at the other ranger. "Mack?" Rose asked after a while. "Can I ask who uses all these bathrooms? Twenty-seven seems a little extravagant if you ask me."

Mack grinned. "No one, really. I have this theory, though…"

Rose brightened. "A theory?" she repeated.

"Well…it's just a thought, really. I think my parents were planning on having more than one kid, hence all the bathrooms. It just didn't work out that way."

"Oh." The pink ranger bobbed her read and scrubbed another patch of the sink. "One more question."

"Anything you want to know."

"Why the hell are you helping me clean all of them?"

Mack glanced up into the mirror. He laughed at the expression Rose was making and then pulled himself together. "Because, my ever-curious pink ranger, you did a good thing for Dax, helping him out like that. And personally… I think it was really unfair for you to be punished for being a friend."

Rose managed another faint smile. "You're sweet, Mack," she told him. "Really you are."

Mack grinned back at her and then returned to scrubbing the sinks, but Rose continued watching him in the mirror, pondering.

She wondered why she was letting herself get attached to him.

She wondered how she'd ever gotten by without him.