In His Eyes

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter!

Chapter 28—Into the Wilderness Part 2

The first rays of daylight filtered through the windows of the tent, rousing David from his dream. He turned over and saw Rocky sleeping peacefully nearby.

'Good. He doesn't snore.'

Sitting up and stretching, he decided it was time to get up and get the fire going again. Fire meant warmth . . . and coffee. He really needed some coffee.

"Rocky . . . Rocky, wake up," David said as he gently shook the blue ranger.

"Hmmm? Oh . . . okay," he muttered and yawned. "What time is it?"

"Time to get some coffee started," David grumbled sleepily and left the tent.

"Not a morning person, I see. Must run in the family," Rocky replied.

He got up, dressed, and joined David outside.

"Let's get breakfast started and surprise the ladies, okay?" Tommy's brother said.

'Maybe he's not such a grouch after all.' Rocky thought that maybe he'd misjudged him. "Yeah, that sounds good."

He watched as David quietly walked over to the girls' tent and peeked in the window. He smiled broadly.

"What are you doin'?" Rocky asked, surprised.

"Just checkin' on 'em," David reassured him. "What did ya think?"

He shook his head. "Nothin'."

David just gave Rocky a look and went to get out the coffee pot and the frying pan. "Work on getting that fire built up, okay?"

"Right."

The voices and the sound of pots and pans rattling around woke Jason, who was having a nice dream about the man he had his arm around. They had stayed up pretty late, taking turns making each other's toes curl. There was only so much they felt comfortable doing, considering there were so many people close by and tents didn't lock. However, they still managed to wear each other out pretty thoroughly.

Jason slowly pulled away from his boyfriend's peacefully sleeping form. Tommy shifted slightly, but didn't wake. The gold ranger decided to let him sleep for a while—he dressed quietly and slipped outside to answer the call of nature and then help with whatever the pot-rattling was about.

"Mornin' Jase," Rocky called from his place beside the fire pit.

Jason looked up and sleepily waved. 'He's too cheerful—it's the buttcrack of dawn.' He wandered off into the woods a little ways to take care of business.

The others were beginning to wake—aided by all the noise David and Rocky were trying not to make. Anna and Alicia were awake inside their tent, but refused to come out right away. Neither wanted to face the men looking all dishevelled, so they took a few minutes to primp before venturing out.

Jason had peeked in on Tommy once again and called his name a couple of times, but he had looked so adorable and peaceful, Jason didn't have the heart to startle him awake.

Adam and Carlos slowly ventured out, yawning and stretching.

"Mornin' guys," Jason said with a grin and a look that said 'I know what you two were up to last night'.

"Mornin' Jase," Adam said and gave him the same look right back.

The smell of coffee, eggs, and bacon was beginning to fill the air as Chef David worked his magic over the campfire. Rocky and Jason were helping out with the cooking while the others pulled out some fruit, trailmix, and other assorted goodies.

Adam suddenly realized that someone was missing. "Where's Tommy?"

"Still asleep, probably," Jason answered.

"He must be a heavy sleeper . . . either that or you wore him out last night," the green ranger said with a gleam in his eye.

"I'm not tellin' . . . Would you go see if you can get his royal highness up—my hands are kinda full," the gold ranger asked.

"Sure—no problem."

Quietly opening the flap of the tent, Adam crept inside to wake the red ranger.

'Man, it's warm in here—I wouldn't wanna get up either.'

He stood beside him for a couple of seconds and grinned, looking down at his commander. He was wearing low-slung, red sleep pants, no shirt and had very little cover on him. Adam knelt down and nudged his arm gently.

"Tommy . . . Tommy . . . wake up," he said quietly.

It wasn't working. Adam grinned again and leaned in closer. It wouldn't do to startle him too much—if he lashed out, the green ranger could find himself in need of a doctor . . . or at least a dentist. He watched him sleep for a few more seconds. His eyes roamed all over Tommy's sleek and deceptively powerful body—his hair was splayed out long and loose all over the pillow.

'That braid didn't last long.'

Adam had never looked at his leader quite like this. He knew Tommy was a good-looking guy, but asleep and in these close quarters, he got a different view. He noticed his long, black eyelashes and perfectly shaped lips—to say nothing of his high cheekbones and beautiful skin tone.

'Damn . . .' He caught himself starting to fantasize. 'No, I can't do that.'

Reminding himself that each of them belonged to another, he tried again to wake him. He gently placed a hand on the red ranger's bare chest and shook him slightly. He then reached up with his other hand and pushed a few stray hairs away from Tommy's face, stroking his forehead in the process. Tommy smiled slightly.

'Are you still asleep or are you playin' with me?'

"Wake up, Tommy," Adam whispered and shook him gently again.

"Mmmm . . ." the red ranger mumbled and moved his head slightly. He grinned again.

'You are playin' with me,' Adam decided.

The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back feeling Tommy's weight on top of him, pressing him into the floor of the tent. His long legs were intertwining with Adam's own, and the green ranger found himself being held tight by his commander's strong arms. As if in slow motion, Tommy's soft lips pressed into Adam's, momentarily causing his brain to overload. He wanted to say something—make some noise—something . . . but he couldn't. All he could focus on was the feeling of Tommy's warm, half-naked body on top of him and those wonderful lips locked with his own. Adam's hands finally started working again and he grasped Tommy's bare back, getting handfuls of silky tresses.

'This isn't right—why is he doing this?'

Adam's mind protested, but his body wouldn't cooperate. He had wondered for too long what this felt like to end it just yet. Tommy continued to press warm, wet kisses into his mouth and Adam felt himself relaxing into his embrace—almost against his will. Then the green ranger felt a quick little lick—just a flick of a tongue—on his lips. His mind shut down again.

However, something must have crept into Tommy's sleepy mind to make him finally open his eyes. Maybe it was the fact that the mouth he was kissing wasn't quite kissing him back—not like he was used to. Maybe it was the fact that the body underneath him didn't feel quite right—it wasn't broad enough or big enough. Whatever it was, it caused the red ranger to pull his mouth free and look down at the warm body that he was pinning to the ground.

"A—Adam! Oh my god!" he scrambled off of him, breathing heavily and quickly. "I-I'm sorry . . . I thought . . . I thought you were Jase!"

Adam only moved slightly, apparently still a bit dazed. "It's . . . okay." He breathed deeply. "No harm done."

Tommy's face was blood red. "Shit. I'm sorry." He shook his head then looked around for his t-shirt. Meanwhile, Adam found the strength to sit up. He just looked at Tommy, amazed at how flustered and embarrassed he seemed.

"It's okay, bro. No big deal—you thought I was Jase," Adam said as Tommy pulled on his shirt and got up.

"Still . . . damn. Sorry."

"Forget it—let's go get some breakfast," the green ranger said, trying to be nonchalant. Truth was his insides were on fire.

"Let's keep this between us, okay?" Tommy said, almost pleadingly.

"Sure. Come on."

Adam got up and made his way toward the tent opening, followed closely by the red ranger. As soon as they were outside, the still-redfaced ranger commander went into the woods, presumably to answer nature's call. He mumbled that he'd be right back to anyone that was listening.

"Finally get him up?" Jason asked Adam when he rejoined the group.

'Interesting choice of words there, Jase . . .' he thought. "Yeah. He's hard to wake up."

"I know." Jason grinned—he noticed that Adam looked a little shaken up, but decided that it must be caused by the early hour.

Tommy came back a couple of minutes later and went to the creek to wash up. The cold, clear water felt good on his still-burning face.

'How could I mistake Adam for Jason?' he asked himself for what must have been the tenth time.

'You were half-asleep and your eyes were closed,' he answered himself.

'But Adam—I must have shocked the hell outta him.'

'Maybe, but remember what he said to you in the shower room not too long ago? Besides, he wasn't exactly fighting you off, now was he?'

Tommy shook his head to stop the argument going on in there. Just then, Jason walked up and wrapped an arm around his waist.

"Good mornin'," he said in a low, deep voice and pressed his lips into Tommy's neck.

"Mornin'," he replied while wrapping Jason up in a hug. He sought out and found the gold ranger's mouth and proceeded to kiss him deeply.

"Mmmm . . ." Jason groaned into his mouth as the kiss became more passionate.

'Now this . . . this feels right,' Tommy thought as he tried to banish the memory of his earlier faux pas.

"Wow . . ." Jason said, panting slightly when they came up for air. "This mountain air really agrees with you! I'm gonna have to drag you up here more often!"

His boyfriend smiled. "Yeah. It's really nice out here. We should come back this summer."

"Definitely. You hungry?"

"Starved."

"Well come on before Rocky eats everything!"

They walked back, arms around each other, to rejoin the others and get ready for the hike. Tommy still felt a little guilty and thought he should probably tell Jason, but it was so embarrassing—he'd never live it down.

Adam was trying to get the incident out of his mind too, but for a different reason. Being kissed and held by Tommy had sent him reeling—even if it was just a mistake. But he couldn't let Carlos know that anything was wrong—he might have to explain.

After breakfast was finished and a few more things had been gotten together, they left the campsite to start their hike. David led the way and kept the girls close to him, so Rocky decided to stick close too. Of course, David also had one of the rifles. Tommy had the other one, so Jason, Adam, and Carlos hung with him. Carlos and Jason were busy taking pictures anyway, so it was good that Tommy didn't mind carrying the weapon—unloaded, of course.

There was a sort of trail that David was following that led up higher onto the mountain. Once they got closer to the summit, there were several nice overlooks where you could see the valley below. A sunset viewed from up there would be gorgeous.

They all sat down to rest and have a snack on one of these overlooks. Carlos continued to snap photos while munching on his granola bar.

"Man, I can't wait to start sketching some of this!" he exclaimed.

"Oh? You're an artist?" Anna asked.

"Mmm-hmm," he nodded while he chewed.

"And a great one too," Adam added. "Did you bring any with you?" he asked his boyfriend.

"A few that I'm working on are in my sketchbook—nothing that's finished, though."

"That's okay—they can tell how good you are, even if they're not completely finished."

"I'll show 'em to ya when we get back to camp, okay?" Carlos offered.

"Sure—I'd love to see 'em!" Anna said.

"Me too!" Alicia added.

Several feet away, Jason was watching Tommy closely. The red ranger still seemed preoccupied by something and he kept spacing out every now and then. It worried Jason. Ever since the accident and resulting head injury and then the seizure, Jason kept a close eye on his best friend, bro, and boyfriend.

He walked over closer and touched his hand to the small of Tommy's back.

"Hey . . . whatcha thinkin' about?"

Tommy looked up suddenly. "Oh . . . hey. I didn't see you." He paused and then said, "I was thinking about that weird déjà vu feeling I had back at the ranch."

"That must've been some strange feeling if you're still concerned about it."

"It was so strong. I could see myself doing things that I know I haven't done, but it felt so real."

"Like a dream? Could you be remembering a dream you've had?"

"Sort of like that only stronger."

"What all did you see?"

"Myself riding Eaglefoot bareback—on the beach. I was talking to someone—an older man—kinda looked like Sam, but it wasn't him."

"Any idea who it could be?"

"No."

"Maybe you should talk to Sam about it. He might have some ideas," Jason suggested.

"Yeah, I'll do that."

Jason wrapped his arms around Tommy's waist and pressed himself into his boyfriend's back. "Don't worry—I doubt it's anything serious," he said.

"I know—it's just so odd," Tommy replied.

Resuming their hike, the group continued around the summit trail. They had been walking and climbing for nearly two hours now and the less athletic among them were getting a bit tired. It was probably this fatigue that caused Anna to fall over a tree root and land pretty hard.

"Ow!" she yelled and hissed loudly, grabbing her ankle.

"Anna! You okay?" Rocky asked, kneeling beside her and touching her leg. He could see the pain on her face.

"My ankle hurts . . ." she grimaced and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Rocky's eyes widened. "It'll be okay—let me look."

He pushed her pant leg up a little and examined her, asking her to move it as much as she was able. Jason started to help, but Tommy held him back.

"Let Rocky do it," he whispered and winked at his boyfriend. Jason nodded and smiled.

"I'm pretty sure it's just twisted," Rocky said gently. "We'll put something on it when we get back to camp."

"I-I don't know if I can walk," Anna whimpered.

Rocky helped her stand and she tried to put her weight on it—nothin' doin'. She sadly shook her head. She didn't want to be a burden to them—how was she going to get back to camp?

Rocky handed his small bag to Adam and then knelt down in front of her, beckoning her to climb onto his back.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Sure—I can carry you," he responded.

She looked up at the other guys with a questioning look.

"Go ahead—he can carry you easy. You should see him in the gym," Jason told her with a reassuring smile. The other guys nodded. Rocky looked up at him and smiled.

Carefully climbing onto the blue ranger's back, Anna trusted him to get her back to camp where something could be done for her ankle. Just as Jason had said, Rocky stood up and walked on with the others like she wasn't there. He was a lot stronger than he looked. Several minutes later, she wrapped her arms around him tightly as they talked quietly. Tommy and Jason and the other guys nudged each other. This was going well.

Nearly back to camp, Adam was playing around with Carlos on the trail when he lost his footing and went tumbling down a small hill, wiping out Carlos on the way. They slid and rolled dozens of feet before finally coming to a stop. Luckily for them, they were in no immediate danger.

"You guys okay?" David called, trying not to laugh.

Tommy started giggling at the look on David's face and it quickly spread throughout the group. They stared down at them laughing as Adam and Carlos tried to pull themselves back up the hill.

"If you guys wanna roll around together, do it in private, okay?" Rocky called down to them.

"Yeah, get a room," Tommy laughed.

Adam managed to free one hand long enough to give them all a very definite one-fingered salute. They all just laughed that much harder. Rocky had to kneel down to keep from dropping Anna he was giggling so hard.

Once back in camp, they all assessed the damage and started to prepare lunch. Adam and Carlos were none the worse for their unscheduled detour. Carlos' precious camera even escaped unscathed. Anna's ankle was definitely twisted, but nothing worse so Rocky took care of her while the food was being pulled out.

Everyone except Anna pitched in and got lunch ready—Tommy was handing out sodas from the cooler that had been kept in the cold creek water.

"Adam, Carlos—what do you want? Coke, Dr. Pepper, or Sprite?"

"Coke," Adam called and Carlos nodded.

Tommy brought over two cold cans of cola and handed them to Adam, who was closest. As Adam took them, one hand accidentally grasped one of Tommy's hands and their eyes met momentarily. The incident from earlier that morning flashed through both their minds and they suddenly became uncomfortable.

"Umm . . . there ya go," Tommy said and looked away quickly.

"Thanks," Adam responded quietly.

'What's with those two?' Carlos thought. 'That was weird.' He noticed that Tommy's cheeks were a bit pink when he walked back by. 'Okaaay.'

Jason also noticed that Tommy seemed a bit ill at ease when he sat down with his food. He just attributed it to the déjà vu thing, though.

All through lunch, the group talked and laughed about the morning's activities. Tommy told Jason that he wanted to revisit a certain spot later that evening when they could be alone. Jason winked and grinned. "You got it."

Deep into conversation about everyone's college plans, a sound was heard that some of them had been dreading all weekend—their communicators were going off. David heard something that sounded like a cell phone chime. He noticed that his brother, Jason, Rocky, and Adam had all suddenly tensed up. Tommy pulled his cell phone from his jeans pocket to play it off.

"Damn . . . it's Mom. What the hell does she want?" he muttered. Flipping open his phone, he spoke to the dead air. "Hello? Yeah Mom . . . yeah . . . I don't know . . . hang on . . ." he said and got up to walk into the nearby woods.

The non-rangers of the group, minus David, just assumed that he didn't want to argue with his mom in front of everyone. He was really going to find out what the alert was about.

Jason watched him go and then turned back to the group. "His mom's . . . well, she's a bitch, to be honest." He wasn't kidding and it helped to convince Carlos, Anna, and Alicia.

Tommy suddenly came running back and grabbed up the rifle that he'd been carrying on the hike. "David—I heard something over there while I was on the phone. Sounds big," he said, acting appropriately spooked.

His big brother knew what was going on and jumped up, grabbing his gun and loading it quickly. "Girls, get in your tent," he demanded in a tone that left no room for argument. They did as they were told with Alicia helping Anna limp into the tent.

"Jason, Adam, Rocky—come with me," Tommy said and started off in the direction he had come from.

"Tommy—be careful. Call out if you need me!" David said loudly. "Carlos, get in the tent and keep the girls calm—I'll stand watch."

None of the civilians in the group had time to wonder what was happening. Tommy and the others were gone off into the woods so fast that no questions were asked.

"Carlos, what do you think it is?" Alicia asked, wide-eyed and a bit shaky.

He was a little freaked too, but he didn't want them to know that. "I don't know . . . but try not to worry . . . David, Tommy, and the others know what they're doing," he said gently, reaching out to touch each of them on a shoulder. "David especially . . . he's serious business."

The knowledge that her big boyfriend was in charge and wouldn't let anything happen to them made her feel a little better. She grinned a bit and nodded.

Said boyfriend poked his head into the tent moments later. "It's okay guys, don't worry. Tommy knows what he's doing."

'Yeah, as the ranger commander maybe . . . he's a rookie out here in the rough.'

David knew that if there was a wild animal about, he'd be the one to go after it and Tommy would be doing the babysitting.

'Of course I'm no good with a zord, so it evens out, I guess.'

A few minutes later, he told them he'd be right back and he walked into the woods a ways. Firing off a couple of shots just to make things interesting, he then ran back into camp and announced that they were moving to the trucks.

"Come on, it'll be safer inside," he said and handed his rifle to Carlos who held it out and away from his body like it was something nasty. He was an artist, not a sniper. Undoubtedly, it was the first time he'd ever held a gun.

David motioned for Anna to stand and he proceeded to scoop her up with one arm and help her wrap her legs around his waist. Then he took his rifle back and headed for the truck with Alicia and Carlos very close behind. The Hispanic teen was on Alicia like white on rice—partially because he was scared too and partially because he had to do his part to protect the women.

David actually just wanted to get in the truck to listen to the stereo. Might as well be comfortable while they waited for the superheroes to do their thing and come back. There was no telling how long this would take. He opted for Jason's dad's Suburban—it was big and roomy enough for all of them to be comfortable.

'Probably has a nice sound system too.'

He gently put Anna in the backseat and he got in the driver's seat, allowing the others to get in on their own. He turned the key to lower the windows a little to get some fresh air and then he turned on the stereo.

"Let's see what we've got here to listen to," he said flipping through Jason's CD wallet. "Hmmm . . . good taste in music. I'm liking him more and more all the time," he grinned.

"Might as well . . . I think he's gonna be around for a looong time," Carlos said, trying to get a conversation started.

"Yeah, no kiddin'! As long as Tommy's happy . . ."

"You seem awfully calm now that we're in here. You're not worried about the others?" Anna asked.

"Oh, I'm concerned. I just know that my little brother knows what he's doing—like I said before. They'll be okay—don't worry. Besides, I've got the rifle right here if I need it."

--20 Minutes Earlier—

Adam, Rocky, and Jason quickly followed Tommy into the woods behind the campsite, remembering to act as if they were looking for a wild, potentially dangerous animal. Getting thirty or forty yards into the trees, Tommy turned and placed the rifle by a big stump.

"Gasket's at it again—let's go," he said in his leader voice.

"Zeo Ranger 3—Blue!"

"Zeo Ranger 4—Green!"

"Zeo Ranger 5—Red!"

"Gold Ranger Power!"

After being transformed, they teleported themselves to the Power Chamber to be briefed and to join up with Tanya and Kat.

"Sorry to pull you away from your trip, guys," Billy began. "I think this one could cause some problems," he added, indicating the viewscreen.

The monster du jour did look like a nasty one and they were still trying to determine how to counteract the new weapon of Gasket's that had penetrated their armour.

"Okay, let's go guys—and be very careful out there," Tommy told his team after they were briefed and a plan had been formulated.

During the ground battle, things were getting kinda dicey. Several of Gasket's generals had shown up and they were all equipped with the new laser weapon. It was a good thing that the rangers were all quick on their feet and able to dodge the blasts when they came their way. Adam and Tommy found themselves fighting in close proximity and took to shielding themselves with the bodies of the slower-moving cogs. That worked great for a while, but all at once, Tommy found himself surrounded and in great danger. Who knows what two simultaneous blasts from those lasers would do?

At the last possible moment, the green ranger came charging in and grabbed his commander, pulling him down and barrel rolling for several yards. They quickly scrambled behind a destroyed car for shelter. Both breathing hard and trying to gather themselves to continue, they found themselves helmet to helmet. Even without being able to see the other's eyes, each knew the other was looking right at him.

"Thanks, man," Tommy said.

"You okay?" Adam panted.

"Yeah. You?" Tommy responded.

"A little winded—I'll be okay."

"I hope the others are alright. We need the zords—I'm done with this hand to hand crap."

"Agreed."

Once the zords were deployed, the rangers made short work of Gasket's latest baddie. One great thing came out of the battle: Jason was able to wrest one of the laser guns out of the hands of a general he had just decapitated. He presented it to Billy and they all hoped that the former blue ranger could now design something to either disable the weapon or at least protect the rangers from its energy discharge.

"Great job, bro!" Tommy exclaimed excitedly when he saw the gun in his boyfriend's hands.

"Way to go, Jase!" Rocky said. Now they had a better chance of bringing down the Machine Empire.

The guys were going to shower after the battle, but they realized that there would be no explaining why they'd come back from looking for a wild animal all freshly showered and clean. They teleported back to almost exactly the same spot as they had left from and Tommy picked up the rifle.

"Well, let's see if we can keep this charade going, shall we?" he said and headed for the campsite.

They made it back and looked all over for David, Alicia, Anna, and Carlos, even in all the tents, but they were nowhere to be found.

"Okay, I give—where are they?" Rocky wondered out loud.

Adam looked in the direction of the vehicles. "Think they're in the trucks?"

The other three shrugged and they all moved toward the parking area. Tommy started grinning and pointing when he saw the four of them asleep against the windows of the Suburban.

"Tommy, we have to play a joke on 'em! This setup is too perfect to waste!" Jason pleaded.

"Like what?" Tommy asked with a gleam in his eyes.

"You could come out of the woods carrying Tommy like he'd been attacked or something . . ." Adam suggested to Jason.

"That's mean—you'll scare 'em," Rocky said.

"Oh come on—it'll be great!" Jason responded.

"Yeah, we won't keep it up for long," Tommy said.

They all agreed to do it as long as they didn't persist with the deception for too long. Quietly they crept away from the trucks and back into the woods where they had come from. After making their plan, Jason tried to get himself into the right frame of mind—Rocky and Adam did the same. Tommy, being the supposed victim, just had to lay there and try not to laugh.

"Okay, let's do this," Adam said.

He and Rocky put on their best panicked looks and went running out of the woods towards the trucks, yelling at the top of their lungs.

"David! Carlos! Come quick!"

"Where are you? We need help! David!"

They carried on until they got right at the doors of the Suburban, knocking and still yelling.

"David! Come quick! It's Tommy!" Adam exclaimed, looking frantic.

Rocky opened Carlos' door and started pulling him out of the big truck. "Come on—he needs help!"

The girls looked terribly upset—they scrambled out of the truck and Alicia helped Anna limp back to the camp. David had gone running as soon as Adam had woken him up. What he saw as he got close to the clearing was Jason walking quickly out of the woods carrying Tommy who appeared to be unconscious. Jason looked extremely distraught—Tommy's body was limp, one of his arms hung down and his head was thrown back—he had no expression. Jason shifted him in his arms and held him tight against him as they reached the campsite. Suddenly he dropped to his knees and held Tommy to his chest like a baby. He buried his face in Tommy's hair and rocked back and forth slightly as he made what sounded to David like sobbing noises.

"Jason! What happened?! What's wrong?!" David pleaded while trying to pull Tommy from Jason's distraught embrace. Jason wouldn't budge—if anything, he clutched him tighter.

Carlos stood by looking terrified, touching Adam for reassurance. Adam looked really upset. Alicia and Anna's eyes appeared to be tearing up. Seeing Tommy like that and Jason so upset was more than they could stand.

"What happened Rocky?" Anna asked quietly, holding onto his arm for support.

"He—he'll be okay," Rocky said, trying to sound convincing, but he couldn't stand this much longer.

David was desperately trying to get Jason to let go of his brother, believing that something had to have happened to him on the battlefield since he knew there wasn't really a wild animal out there. If he had been able to think clearly, he would have realized that if Tommy had been injured, they would have treated him at the Power Chamber, not brought him back to the mountains.

"Please Jason—let me see what's wrong with him," David pleaded again.

Jason slowly lifted his head a little and relaxed his death grip on Tommy's seemingly unconscious body. David took Tommy's face in his hands and turned it so that he could see him better. Slowly his eyes started to open.

"What's wrong?" David asked worriedly.

"Uhhh . . ." Tommy groaned. "What's wrong is . . ." he began slowly in a low, gravelly voice, " . . . what's wrong is that we went off in search of a dangerous animal and you guys go fall asleep in the SUV listening to the stereo!!" he said in his normal voice, beginning to grin towards the end. Jason was grinning from ear to ear as he held Tommy in his arms. David was speechless. He looked from one to the other with wide eyes.

"You . . . asshole!" he said loudly, a note of relief in his voice, but he was plenty upset. He got up and walked away a few steps, running his hands through his hair. "Do you have any idea how bad you scared me?" he said after what seemed like five minutes. "What ever possessed you to pull something like that?!" He was pretty mad and was directing it all at Tommy. "That's so fuckin' immature . . ."

Tommy got up and walked over to him. "Sorry man, but when we got back and found you guys asleep we had to pull a prank on you." He reached up and put his hand on David's shoulder. That was the wrong thing to do. As the others watched, David grabbed his little brother's arm and side and threw him onto the ground, quickly straddling him and pinning his arms. Tommy was winded and too stunned to defend himself.

"That was a lousy thing to do, Tommy," he said in a stern, menacing voice. The others shared a surprised look.

Jason quickly came to his boyfriend's aid. No one treats him like that, brother or not.

"Come on David—it was a gag. No harm done," he said. "Let him up."

Tommy stared up at his brother almost in disbelief. "I'm sorry David—we were just playin' around."

David started to get up, but paused and looked Tommy in the eyes. "Make no mistake, little brother—there will be payback."

He removed himself from the red ranger's body and went over to where the girls were standing looking relieved but still slightly upset.

"See? You've upset the ladies," David said and wrapped an arm around Alicia's waist and placed a hand on Anna's upper back. Alicia looked up at him with a glint of caution in her eyes—she'd never seen him act like that.

"We're sorry, girls. Just havin' a little fun . . ." Jason said.

"Yeah, we didn't mean to really upset anyone," Adam said.

"That was hateful!" Alicia said forcefully. She pointed at Tommy. "You should have known better . . . you should have known that it would scare David!"

Tommy's brother looked down at her and shook his head as if to say 'forget it'.

Jason didn't like the way this was going. They seemed to be blaming Tommy for everything. "Look, it wasn't all Tommy's doing, okay? All four of us were in on it. As a matter of fact, it was my idea!"

"Let's just get dinner going—it'll be getting dark in another hour or so," David said and went toward the supply boxes.

Tommy gave Jason a serious look and then went over to try and talk to his obviously put out brother.

"Ummm . . . David. Can I talk to you?" Tommy said tentatively.

"What? I need to get dinner started," David replied in a curt tone.

Tommy decided to let his brother know that he was serious. He grabbed David's arm and made him look at his face. "Let the others do it—we need to talk."

David sighed and relented. "Fine."

"Jason, Rocky—do you think you could handle getting dinner going?" Tommy asked, loud enough for them to hear on the other side of the clearing.

"Yeah, sure."

"No problem," they answered.

"Come on, let's go down by the lake," Tommy suggested.

They started off together, David trailing behind. His body language said that he really didn't want to do this.

Jason watched them for a couple of minutes. Carlos walked by and looked at him closely.

"We really didn't mean any harm, ya know. We were just playin' around."

"Too bad you're such a convincing actor. I seriously thought Tommy was dead for a few seconds there," Carlos said.

Jason shook his head and looked back toward the two brothers. "It was just a joke," he mumbled.

Sitting on one of the big rocks that were scattered around the lake shore, Tommy sighed and tried to begin.

"David . . . we're . . . I'm sorry. I had no idea that you would take us so seriously. I mean, we kid around with our friends all the time."

David sighed heavily. "I guess I overreacted, but . . . damn, you scared me."

"Sorry."

"All I kept seeing was you in ICU with all those tubes and wires . . . you're the only brother I've got, Tommy."

The red ranger hung his head. "I didn't mean to scare you that bad—I didn't think we were that convincing." He looked up at his brother's deadly serious face. "Won't happen again."

"Look, I realize that even though we're brothers, we really don't know each other. I'm not a killjoy—I enjoy a good prank as much as the next person." He stopped and looked down, trying to decide what to say.

"It's just that . . . damn it, I waited so long to find you and then I nearly lost you a couple of months ago. I . . . I love you, Tommy—we're family and I can't stand the thought of anything happening to you." Opening up like that wasn't easy for him. Tommy looked into his face, a little surprised.

"Maybe if you'd been carrying Jason out of the woods, I wouldn't have snapped like that."

"I can't pick his big ass up," Tommy said quietly and grinned a little. So did David. "I love you too David and I'm really sorry. We didn't think."

"Okay, let's forget it. We'd better get up there and eat while there's food left," David said and got up to head back to camp. "Oh by the way, how'd it go earlier? You kick some ass?"

"Oh yeah—we did. It went pretty well, actually."

Tommy filled David in on the developments like Jason stealing one of the laser guns so that they could learn how to counteract it.

"Is he a good ranger?" David asked quietly.

"The best—I wish you could see him in action. He's a better strategist than I am—much more analytical. I'm a hothead."

David chuckled. "Runs in the family."

Tommy laughed with him. "Yeah, I guess it does. But seriously, I want you guys to get to know each other. He's the best friend anyone could have—I don't know what I'd do without him." Tommy had such a smile on his face—it was obvious to David that he cared very deeply for Jason and was very much in love—it wasn't some transient high school thing.

"I'm really glad you have him—you two seem to be good for each other."

"You and Alicia seem to be doing well. Think it's serious?"

David shrugged. "Don't know—it's a little early yet. She's a lot of fun and really sweet . . . we'll see."

_______________________

Once they got down to eating dinner, tempers and nerves had calmed and they all got along again.

"So, whatever happened to that wild animal you guys went to find?" Carlos asked, realizing that nothing more had been said about it.

The four rangers looked at each other briefly. "Well . . . uh, we tracked something for a while, but we never caught up with it," Adam offered.

"Yeah, it managed to stay away from us which is what we wanted anyway, right?" Jason said and looked over at Tommy.

"Oh yeah, I was hoping we wouldn't catch up to it," he chuckled.

David just grinned. 'These guys can lie at the drop of a hat—I'm not sure if that's good or not.'

After everyone had eaten their fill, the trash was collected and everything cleaned up. Carlos then pulled out his sketchbook to work on the picture he was currently in the middle of.

"Oooh, let me see!" Anna nearly squealed. She hobbled over to where he was sitting and looked over his shoulder. "Damn . . . is that Jason?!" she said in surprise and looked up at the gold ranger who was sitting nearby.

"Yep," Carlos said with a grin. He flipped the page. "And do you recognize this guy?"

She looked at the sketch momentarily and her eyes widened. She looked up at the red ranger and then back down at the drawing in Carlos' hands. "Tommy?"

"Right. Here's the pict- . . ." he turned to the couple. "Do you mind if I show them the original pictures?" he asked, indicating Anna and Alicia who had joined her friend.

"Nah, go ahead," Tommy said and grinned.

Carlos pulled out the snapshots of Tommy and Jason posing on the Harley and handed them to the girls. Both whistled and grinned.

"Mmmm-mmm-mmm, look at you two!" Alicia said appreciatively.

"You guys should be in a magazine! Why don't you model?" Anna asked sincerely.

Jason pretended to be embarrassed. "Awww shucks . . . you like the pictures?"

"Uh, yeah! When were these taken?"

"Before Halloween—we were just playin' around with the camera and the bike."

David got up and walked over to see what all the fuss was about. Alicia handed him one of the pictures. "Check out your baby brother," she said with a gleam in her eye.

David took the picture and looked at it for a minute. He had to admit, Tommy was very nice-looking and built well. "Doin' some modeling, huh?" he grinned. Tommy smirked back.

"And here's Jason," Alicia said and handed him the other picture.

"Nice bike," he said. What he wanted to say was how jealous he was of Jason's physique.

"Carlos, your sketches are wonderful, too. You're very talented," Anna said as she looked through his book.

"He is, isn't he?" Adam proclaimed with a big smile.

"I've been taking lots of pictures on this trip. I'll let you guys see the sketches when I get 'em done," Carlos announced.

____________________________

Sometime after dinner, the couples started to go off in different directions. Tommy and Jason wanted to revisit that spot that Tommy had picked out—just on the other side of the lake.

Once it got too dark for Carlos to sketch anymore, he and Adam wandered off on their own too. David took Alicia on a little walk to show her one of his favourite spots, leaving Rocky and Anna sitting by the campfire.

The blue ranger shifted a little uncomfortably in his lawn chair.

"So . . . looks like it's just me and you for a little while," he started.

"Yeah, looks that way."

"Sorry you hurt your ankle, but are you having a nice time except for that?"

"Definitely. It's been fun getting to know all you guys and getting to leave Angel Grove for a little while. I don't think we've been out of town since we moved here over a year ago!"

"It's nice to get away every now and then—even if it is only for a weekend."

"Yeah," she said and shivered a little, pulling her jacket more closely around her.

"You cold?" Rocky asked.

"A little."

"Wait, I'll get you a jacket." Rocky disappeared into his tent and rummaged through his duffle bag until he found his heavy sweatshirt. He took off his jacket and pulled on the warm garment quickly, then he headed back out to Anna.

"Here ya go—this'll keep you warm," he said, helping her slip into his jacket.

It was too big for her, but it was already warm and it smelled like Rocky, so she gladly took it. "But what about you?"

"Oh, I'll be fine, don't worry." He smiled at her so sweetly that she couldn't argue.

"Well okay, if you're sure."

As they sat by the fire keeping warm and making small talk, Rocky decided that he had to at least try to make a move—to show her that he was interested.

'Come on Rocko—don't screw this up.'

Scooting over a little closer, he tried to think of something to say.

"So . . . what do you like to do for fun? You ever go to the Youth Center?"

"I've been there a couple of times, yeah. I don't really know anyone but Alicia that hangs out there though."

"Well now you do. All of us, except David of course, hang out there all the time. You should come."

"What do you do there?"

"Oh, we eat, do homework, spar, work out, eat some more . . . Tommy and Jason teach karate there."

"Do they? They're good enough to teach, huh?"

"Uh, yeah. They're both 4th degree black belts. They've been teaching for a while."

"4th degree? Wow . . . what about you? You're obviously in great shape," she smiled up at him.

Rocky grinned. "Thanks. I'm a black belt in karate, but lately I've been focusing on Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I could teach you, if you want."

"Really? That sounds like fun! I'm a beginner, though."

"That's okay—no bad habits to break. When your ankle heals, we'll get started, alright?" he smiled. A glimmer of hope shown in his eyes.

Anna returned his smile. "Alright—we'll do that."

"Your . . . uh . . . boyfriend won't mind, will he?" Rocky asked, fishing for information.

Anna chuckled. "No, he won't care." She watched as he suddenly became crest-fallen. She touched his arm. "Because he doesn't exist! If I was dating anyone do you seriously think he'd let me go camping with six hot guys?!" She shook her head and grinned at him.

'Hot guys? Is she including me in that?'

Rocky gave her a bit of a grin, but there was a definite question on his face.

Anna chuckled again. "Yes, that includes you, Silly." She shifted over and before Rocky knew what was happening, she placed a light little kiss on his cheek.

A huge grin broke out all across the blue ranger's face. "You're sweet. So, no boyfriend, huh?"

"Nope." She sensed that he was trying to ask her out, but boy, he was taking his sweet time.

Emboldened by the little kiss and the admission that she thought he was 'hot', Rocky decided that now was the time. "In that case, would you like to go out sometime? Out to eat or to a movie or something?"

"I'd love to, Rocky," she said with a pretty smile that spread to the blue ranger's face.

"Good," was all he could say. He did heave a big sigh of relief, though.

There was a bit of an awkward silence after that. Neither could decide where to go from there.

Finally, Rocky said, "Are you warm enough?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you sure you are?" she asked, concerned by his lack of a coat.

"Well, you can come over here a little closer and keep me warm if you like," he grinned and put his arm around her shoulders. They snuggled together and talked a little more, trying to decide what to do on their first date.

Across the lake, Jason and Tommy were making good use of their solitude. The blankets they had brought along were spread out under the trees, making a comfortable cushion for them. For a while, the lovers had just lain there, listening to the water lap gently on the shore and gazing at the moon's reflection on the lake. They talked about all sorts of things from the battle earlier that day to what was said between Tommy and David during their talk. Since it was such a clear night, they even had a contest to see who could name the most constellations.

Before long though, the temptation of warm, sexy bodies got the best of them. Hands started roaming free and increasingly passionate kisses were shared. It was way too cool out to start undressing each other, so they opted to head for the seclusion of their tent before getting down to business. Besides, they had no idea where their friends were at the moment. Kissing in front of them was one thing, but anything more serious . . . uh, no.

They quickly rolled up their blankets and set off, arms around each other, back over to the campsite.

Tommy leaned over and kissed Jason's neck. "So . . . your arm's almost healed now. When are we gonna take another shot at 'celebrating', if ya know what I mean?"

Jason grinned and chuckled. "Wanna go for it tonight?"

"In the tent?!" Tommy looked at him, shocked.

"Sure . . . whatcha think?" Jason grinned. He knew Tommy wouldn't do something like that in the relatively public and insecure environment of a camping tent. He didn't fancy the idea either, but he wanted to see what Tommy would say.

"Ummm . . . no! I don't think so . . ."

Jason laughed. "Nah . . . we need to make it special—not convenient. We'll have to make plans to try again soon. Wanna try the Power Chamber again?"

"I think so, don't you? I mean, we don't have to worry about getting caught there."

"True. So the Power Chamber it is then. All we need to decide now is when."

"Sometime soon. We can decide exactly when we get home. Right now, I just wanna get you in that tent!" Tommy said insistently and pulled Jason along a little faster.

____________________

"Adam, can I ask you somethin'?" Carlos queried. He ran his hand slowly up and down the green ranger's chest as they lay in their tent talking.

"Sure, what is it?" he answered, looking up at his boyfriend with those beautiful amber-coloured eyes.

"You said that I'm the first guy you've really been out with, right?"

"Right."

"Have you had any other experience with men? I mean . . . ummm, you know . . . sexually?" Carlos asked almost timidly. He didn't really want to ask, but he felt like he needed to know.

"No, not sexually. I've been out on a date with a couple of different guys—one-offs, both of them. We just didn't hit it off like you and I have. I did kiss them, but nothing more serious. What about you?"

"Pretty much the same. I did date this one guy for a few weeks, but it didn't work out. We never did anything more than kiss either."

"What about girls?" Adam asked.

"Well, I've had two or three girlfriends—nothing serious, though."

"Ummm . . . are you a virgin?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah. Glad to know you are too. I don't feel like I'm at such a disadvantage," Adam grinned.

"So, you had many girlfriends?"

"Only a couple, really. Everyone seems to think that Tanya and I either have dated or are dating, but we're just friends. There was one girl I really cared about—we were together for about six months."

"Oh? What happened?"

"She moved with her family. Long distance relationships don't work . . . and this is really long distance," Adam said with a bit of a grin.

"How far?"

"Try England." Carlos' eyes widened a bit at that. "Sarah and her family moved there a little over a year ago. We still keep in touch, though."

"Oh well . . . that's good," Carlos answered half-heartedly.

Adam could read his boyfriend's thoughts. "We're just friends now, don't worry. She's a sweetheart, but she's moved on and so have I. We weren't extremely serious anyway—too young at the time."

"So now that you're an old man, you ready to get serious?" Carlos asked with a big grin.

Adam smirked. "Yeah and I'd better hurry up before I'm too old to enjoy myself," he said sarcastically.

Carlos pulled him close and wrapped both an arm and a leg around him. As he buried his face in Adam's neck, he said, "Let's get started."

_________________________________

Author's Notes: Yeah, I know. The camping trip's not over and I'm ending the chapter. Well, it was either that or make you guys wait another week which I really didn't wanna do. I hope you enjoyed it anyway! I'll conclude the trip and move on in the next chapter.

Aren't Rocky and Anna cute?

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and especially to those who review every chapter! I love you guys!