Back in Time

Chapter 16

Kira stared up at the ceiling, sighing as she tried to stay awake. Every time she went to sleep, she had dreams about being back at her parent's house. She could feel the injuries her father caused, and it took everything in her not to scream and alert anyone to what was going on. She lay awake in the bed, arms wrapped around her torso as she tried to hold herself together and keep herself from falling apart.

"I can't do this." She breathed, standing up and leaving the room. She padded her way to the kitchen, being careful to stay quiet as she walked past Dr O's room, the room Ethan and Conner were sharing and the stairs to the loft room Trent was in. She put the light on as she got into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. She didn't drink the beverage very often, but when she needed the boost, she could drink enough coffee to keep an army awake. She sat at the table and put her head in her hand, sighing as she did. It took everything in her to keep her eyes open long enough to take a sip of the coffee.

"Couldn't sleep?" She jumped and looked at the door, seeing Ethan stood there. "You doing ok?"

"Would I be sat here at half 1 in the morning drinking coffee if I was ok?" She asked, making him frown as he poured himself a glass of water and sat down opposite her.

"I guess not." He replied, giving her a small smile. "You want to talk about it?"

"I just keep seeing everything he did to me when I close my eyes." She said, making his frown deepen.

"Your dad?" He asked, although he was pretty sure he knew the answer to that. She nodded, not looking up to meet him eyes.

"I just feel so helpless. I have some amazing powers, but I can't use any of them. I couldn't defend myself." She said, looking down at the mug in front of her. "I can picture the things that he did, the things he could do. It takes everything not to scream when I wake up. All I want to do is just breakdown and cry. I don't know how much longer I can keep myself together for." Ethan reached over and grabbed her hand, making her look up so he could see the tears in her eyes.

"Kira, you don't have to put on a show for us. We think of you as a sister, and we know that this has had a huge impact on you." He gave her a comforting smile which she returned. "If you need to cry, then cry. If you need to scream, then do it. Just not the Ptera scream though." His comment made her laugh, a sound that was very welcome to him. "I know you're scared, so are we. None of us knows what's going to happen when we get home, but there is one thing I know. Whatever happens, we deal with it together. I don't just think of you and the others as teammates. We're family, and family protects each other."

"Thanks Ethan. You don't know how much that means to me." She replied, giving his hand a squeeze as she took another sip of her coffee.

"Conner said you're going to live at Dr O's for a while." He said, making her nod.

"Yeah, he's giving me the guest bedroom until we can get something figured out." She answered, leaning back in her chair slightly, feeling more relaxed after talking through her feelings.

"At least it's somewhere safe." He said. "How do you feel about it?"

"Happy." She said with a smile. "I've always felt more at home at Dr O's than my parent's house." She realised what she said and froze, seeing the anger suddenly appear on Ethan's face.

"How long has your father been like this?" He asked but didn't get a reply. "Kira." He warned, not liking the way she was avoiding the question and sinking into the chair. "How long has your father been abusing you?"

"Pretty much since we became rangers." She said. "He's always been angry, and he's always shouted, but he didn't hit me until just after we became rangers."

"Why didn't you tell any of us before?" He asked, trying to push the anger he felt towards the yellow ranger's father down so that he could comfort her.

"I was embarrassed." She whispered, not looking up. "I spend most days fighting Tyrannodrones and Mesagog's monsters, but I can't defend myself from my dad? I didn't want you to think I was weak."

"Kira Ford, you are anything but weak." Ethan said. "You took on Zeltrax and Lord Zedd singlehandedly today. You didn't fight back, not because you're weak, but because of how strong you are."

"That doesn't make any sense." She said with a frown.

"Ranger code. We only use our powers on the bad guys. We don't use our abilities to hurt civilians. You are so strong, because no matter what he did to you, you stuck to that code, and you refused to use your abilities to hurt a civilian." He said, making her laugh slightly.

"Only you could make my situation look like a positive." She said, sighing before standing up. "I'm gonna try and get some sleep. You should do the same."

"Next time you can't sleep, wake me up." He said, giving her a quick hug before retreating to the room he was sharing with Conner. Kira sighed before picking up her mug of coffee and taking it to her room. Despite what she had told the blue ranger, she had no intentions of sleeping. She had just sat down on the bed when there was a quiet knock at her door. She frowned before getting back up and opening the door, seeing Dr O stood on the other side, dressed in grey pyjama bottoms and a black tank.

"Hey, can I come in?" He asked, making her nod and let him into the room. He closed the door and joined her on the bed, sitting next to where she was sat with crossed legs. "I heard you talking to Ethan."

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to wake anyone up." She said, looking down at the mug in her hands.

"How many times have I told you that you have nothing to apologise for?" He asked with a smirk, making her smile slightly. "Did I hear right, that this has been going on since you became a ranger?"

"Pretty much." She said, looking back at her coffee. "My dad never used to get violent, but once I became a ranger, I started breaking his rules. I started coming home late, missing curfew, not showing up for dinner. All because I was busy fighting monsters, but I couldn't use that as an explanation. That's when he started getting violent. It started out small, a hit here and there. But then he started getting angrier, and it got worse." Dr O put his arm around her, pulling her close to him and letting her rest her head on his shoulder.

"I wish you told me earlier." He said, kissing the top of her head. "I could have done more to help you."

"I know. I just…. Couldn't." She whispered. Dr O tightened his grip on her, making her feel safe and loved.

"At least now I know, and I can help you." He said, moving the mug of coffee away so that it wouldn't get spilt. "I'm guessing the coffee means you weren't planning on sleeping tonight."

"I can't. I can't sleep without seeing everything that happened." She said, pulling at the yellow tank she was wearing.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" He asked, stroking her hair. "At least until you fall asleep." She nodded. They got under the duvet and Dr O pulled her close, kissing her head as he did.

"Please don't leave." She whispered, resting her head on his chest and wrapping her arm around his torso.

"Never." He replied, pulling her close.

Xxx

Dr O woke in the morning feeling refreshed for the first time since they got sent back in time. He felt a weight on his chest and looked down to see Kira still had her head on his chest and she was sleeping peacefully, something that he didn't think she'd done for a long time. He smiled and stroked her hair, enjoying how happy and comfortable he felt waking up with her in his arms. After Kim broke up with him, he didn't think he'd feel like he belonged with anyone else, but here he was, feeling more in love with the yellow ranger than he ever did with Kim. He smiled as he looked down at her, thinking about how she made him feel like he was the luckiest man alive, and how he couldn't wait to get back to their own time so that they can have more time together without having to hide from everyone.

A few minutes later, Kira stirred, her arms around his torso tightening slightly as she slowly blinked and looked up, smiling when she saw that Dr O was still there, smiling back at her.

"Good morning Ptera." He said with a smile, bending down to place a quick kiss on her lips.

"Good morning Brachio. Sleep well?" She asked, sitting up slightly.

"With you in my arms, of course I did." He replied, making her blush slightly. "What about you? Any dreams?"

"Only good ones." She said with a bright smile. They lent in to kiss each other, only to jump away when there was a knock at the door.

"Kira? You awake?" They heard Trent call. Dr O jumped out of the bed, looking around for somewhere to hide.

"Tommy, you can turn invisible." Kira hissed, making him give her a sheepish look, knowing that he couldn't hide that he had forgotten about his ability to turn invisible. As soon as he activated his power, Kira quickly readjusted the sheets to hide any evidence of him being there. "Yeah, come in." She called back to Trent, who walked in and sat on the edge of the bed. Kira noticed that he was dressed in jogging bottoms and a t-shirt, looking like he was ready to start exercising.

"Hey, Ethan said you had a rough night. You feeling better?" He asked, giving her a smile.

"I swear, you three gossip more than old women." She said with a laugh, making him smirk. "I'm fine. Honestly, I slept better last night and actually feel rested for once."

"Good. Conner, Ethan and I were going to go to the youth centre and meet with the other rangers. You coming? We were going to ask Dr O but we can't find him." He said, making Kira glance at where she saw Dr O disappear quickly out of the corner of her eye.

"Maybe he's gone to the command centre to work on getting us home." She said. "Give me 10 minutes to actually wake up and get dressed and I'll meet you in the kitchen." He nodded and left the room, leaving the door open. "TRENT!" She shouted, making him pop his head back around the door. "Shut the door." He smirked, but complied and pulled the door. Kira waited for it to click shut before she looked around, seeing Dr O reappear next to the bed with a slight smirk on his face.

"So I have to go to the command centre do I?" He asked, making Kira laugh.

"Well, you want us to get home, don't you?" She retorted, getting out of the bed, only for Dr O to grab her round the waist and fall onto the bed with her. "Tommy!" She hissed, trying to keep her voice down so the others couldn't hear. "I need to get dressed." He pulled her close and lay on his back with her on top of him.

"So I can't tempt you to stay here with me?" He asked with a smile, making her laugh before kissing him quickly.

"Get us back home, and then we can spend as much time together as you want." She said, moving her hands so she could push herself up, getting up and grabbing her clothes before turning to look at him with a smirk. "I'm not getting changed in front of you. So scram." She said, making him laugh.

"In that case, I guess I'd better put some clothes on and get to the command centre." He laughed. Kira waited for him to turn invisible before opening the door and going into the bathroom, giving Dr O the chance to get to his own room and get changed before teleporting to the command centre. When he got there, he saw Billy already there.

"I see you never learnt how to be on time." Billy said with a smirk as he turned around to look at the black ranger.

"Funny." He replied sarcastically. "How's it looking?"

"I think we can get it working by the end of today." Billy replied, making Dr O look at him in shock. "As long as we can get Zeltrax back, you guys will be back in Reefside tomorrow."

"Billy, you are amazing." He said, smiling as he joined the blue ranger by the device. "How can I thank you?"

"When we all remember this and try to call you, answer us." He said, making Dr O frown. "I'm not going to pretend that I'm happy to hear that we're no longer in your life, but I know that as soon as we remember this, remember meeting this version of you, we will be in Reefside as soon as we can. And if you even think about ignoring us and trying to keep us out of your life, I'll personally give Trini your address."

"Damn, you can be scary when you want to." He said with a laugh. "Right, let's get this device working."