by: Cynthia and Emerald J
Azure Park stared into her cup of tea, her eyes distant and moody. She could feel Adam's eyes on her, but she didn't really care. She couldn't bring herself to really care that much about anything at the moment. When a knock came at the door, she looked up more out of habit than anything else, even as Adam started over to it.
"I'll get it," He told her, slipping over to the front door. She continued to stare down into the dark brown liquid, letting the noises fade away from her conscious mind.
Adam opened the door and blinked a little in surprise at who was out there: Aura Cranston, his sister in law. "Hey." He smiled warmly at her; she hadn't been by to visit in almost two months. It was plain to see she was pregnant, probably about five months along if he was any judge. He wasn't quite sure how Azure was going to react, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. "What's up?"
"Just thought I'd come by and visit." Aura smiled as he let her in, taking her jacket almost absently and hanging it over the couch.
"I should warn you, Azure's in a little bit of a funk." Adam told her. She looked a bit confused, and he just shrugged. He wasn't entirely certain if the reason he thought it was, was right, and he wasn't going to start spreading tales that turned out to be wrong.
He led Aura into the dining room where Azure nursed her tea, and the Amber Ranger smiled briefly at the sight of her sister. "Azure?" she called out softly, then moved quickly to stop the tea from spilling as Azure looked up a bit too sharply and jostled it.
"Thanks." The other woman smiled just the tiniest bit at her and sat the cup back down. "What brings you here?"
"Came to see how things are doing with you. Billy would have come by, but he's kind of busy at the moment." Aura told her, taking a seat carefully. "So how are you?"
"Okay, I guess." Azure shrugged. "Just thinking."
Aura tilted her head a little. "What about?"
"The baby." Azure sipped her tea a little, her gaze returning to it once more. She seemed almost more interested in it than in anything else.
"What are you thinking about it?" Aura wondered quietly, her fingers toying slightly with the fringe of the tablecloth.
Azure shrugged at first, then, "I just wish it hadn't ended the way it had. Parents shouldn't have to bury their children before they have a chance to live!" Tears shone in her eyes for a moment, and she fought them back, then looked to see Aura's fingers clasping about her own. Her eyes flicked from there to her sister, then Azure slowly pulled her hand away. "Excuse me."
She headed upstairs, leaving a confused husband and sister behind her as she did so. Aura frowned in Adam's direction. "What did I do?"
"I don't know." Adam glanced up the stairs, then back to her. "Why don't you head on home and I'll talk to her. I'll call you later." He was fairly certain he knew what the problem was. If there was a solution, he didn't know it though. At least not now.
Once the Amber Ranger was gone, Adam went on upstairs and into the master bedroom, and there he found his wife, seated on the bed with a pained expression in her eyes. He only saw it for a heartbeat, however, as she stared down at the floor listlessly.
"Azure?"
"Yes?"
"Want to talk about it?" She nodded briefly and he waited for a few moments, before he realized that she didn't see to know just where to start. "It's still hurting you, isn't it?" He murmured quietly.
Azure nodded, biting her lip softly as she did so, one arm creeping downward to wrap around her stomach, where once life had been and now was no more. Adam continued quietly. "And it's bothering you about Aura being pregnant."
She nodded again, and sighed. "I don't like that feeling of jealousy. I shouldn't feel that way about my sister."
"Would you rather feel that way about some other pregnant woman?" He asked, trying to help her get some kind of perspective. Azure shrugged lightly.
"I shouldn't feel that way about my sister. I want to be happy for her, but I can't be!!" The spurting streams of nausea and jealousy that filled her at the thought of her sister's new baby, and her child that had been denied, were like a poison she couldn't escape. She felt tears starting to slide down her cheeks, and absently took the handkerchief Adam gave her, dabbing at them.
"There's nothing wrong with how you feel." Adam tried to reassure her. "It's natural." He was no doctor, but he did know a few things.
"I guess. It just doesn't seem right, though." Azure hated feeling anything wrong towards Aura. They'd been too close growing up for anything to get between them even for a moment. "I should tell Aura at least, shouldn't it?" Adam nodded, and his wife shivered a bit. "She may not like it."
Adam looked into her eyes softly. "Would you rather hide it from her?"
"No." Azure sighed, then reached out to the link that she and Aura shared. Aura, would you please come back? I have to talk to you.
A few minutes later, there was the sound of quiet footsteps on the stairs, and Aura entered the room. Azure patted the bed quietly, indicating for her to sit, and plunged into things.
"Please, don't take this the wrong way." She carefully started to explain how she had been feeling lately, depressed and sad and jealous of the fact Aura was going to have a child while hers was gone forever. "That's it."
"I see." Aura said quietly, looking at her. Azure nodded.
"I don't like feeling that way, but I do." She fidgeted a bit. "Are you upset?"
Aura didn't answer for a few moments, then, "I'm not happy about it, but I know you're not feeling it on purpose." She stood up and Azure looked up at her, feeling a little better inside, if not much.
"Please be patient." Azure asked her, and Aura nodded quietly.
"I'll see you around."
Aura left quietly, and Azure curled up on the bed, exhaustion sweeping over her as she did so. Adam sat beside her quietly, having remained out of the way while the sisters talked. "Tired?" He asked, knowing the answer even before he asked it. She nodded, and he pulled a blanket over her. Both of them were quiet for several minutes, Adam reaching out finally to pat her hand comfortingly. She pulled it away and sighed, staring down at the floor again as she did so. "What is it?"
"I don't know." She just stared, the jealousy not having really faded, just become a bit more livable.
"Want me to leave you alone?" Adam asked. She shook her head and remained where she was, just staring silently.
Jameson, cousin of the former Pirate Queen Divatox, watched what was going on with Azure and Aura with a great deal of attention. "Interesting. The Golden Ranger is jealous of her pregnant sister. Why?"
Rygog, the only one of the henchidiots close enough at the moment, shrugged carelessly. "Who cares? They're only human."
"Find out!" The overlord demanded with a snap. "Now!!" As the mutant wandered off, Jameson summoned Porto, an idea having formed. As the scientist hustled up, he commanded, "Find Zedd's body and clone him. I want a good one too, so take your time."
Porto saluted sharply. "Yes, sir!" He quickly hurried away, muttering to himself about the difficulties of finding bodies and extracting the proper DNA and such.
Jameson returned to watching Azure briefly. "She looks like Divatox."
"Yeah, she does." Elgar wandered over and peeked for himself. "Kinda weird, huh?"
"They both do." Jameson pondered, dismissing that in the technical sense, one might claim they were kindred. "Perhaps the Golden Ranger shall take Divatox's place. She is, after all, of our blood."
Elgar grinned goofily. "And we're all bad to the bone!"
"As she will be soon." Jameson snapped his fingers and grabbed the book that fell from thin air at the command, then began to sort through it for the spell he wanted. "Let all that you hold dear...no..." He paged through several more incantations, then looked up. "Rygog!"
The henchmoron hustled in, and bowed quickly. "Yeah, boss? Whatcha want?"
"Did you find out what the trouble is between them?" Jameson ordered. Rygog spilled his guts, and the commander smirked. "Perfect." He turned the pages until he had what he wanted. "Poor child, full of pain, may what you feel not go away, but remain to torment you until your dying day." He nodded briefly to himself. "There. That will keep her feeling as miserable as she is now. Emotion is a weakness and a weakness must be exploited." He chuckled softly. "Now we just wait for Porto to finish the clone."
A month flew by, and Azure did her best to get past her feelings of jealousy. Nothing she tried seemed to work, though. I wish it would She sipped her favorite tea lightly. I miss Aura. She felt the tears starting again, and Adam's arm slipped around her. She pulled away almost at once; the thought of him touching her was repugnant for some reason.
"Sorry," he apologized quickly, and she shook her head.
"No, I am. I have no reason to pull away from you, and yet I do." Azure sighed quietly and stood up. "I'm going for a walk."
Almost as soon as Azure left, Billy came up the walk, calling out pleasantly as he did so. Adam just sighed sadly, and his friend frowned. "What's up?"
"Nothing good."
Billy sat down beside him and gave Adam a penetrating stare. "What's wrong?" He listened as his friend spilled out the tale, and considered options. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know." Adam sighed in frustration. "I have some ideas, but I just don't know."
Billy shrugged. "Bounce the ideas off my head." It wasn't as if he hadn't done the same thing to others before.
Adam thought for a few moments. "Well, the first thing is just to wait and see what happens."
"Second?"
His friend was quiet for some minutes, then, "Put her away."
There was silence. It was finally broken when Billy said, "I hate saying this, but it might be for the best."
"I don't know." Adam sighed. "I don't want to." That was the very last thing that he really wanted to do. It was like giving up in a way.
Billy nodded. "She'd get hands on help, though."
"What kind?"
"There are a lot of good shrinks, as well as neurologists," Billy suggested. "You just have to be careful who you pick."
Adam nodded slowly. "I know. After all, how many of them could really be trusted with everything?"
"That is something that will have to be researched." Billy told him. "It wouldn't be easy, but it would probably be for the best though." They sat in silence once more, than Billy reached into his shirt pocket. "I came by to drop this off." He handed over a baby shower invitation and stood up. "I'll see you later. Think about it?"
"Sure." Adam put the envelope aside and waved farewell to his friend, deep in thought already.
Billy headed out, his mind almost shifting to other things, until he passed a tree and saw Azure on the other side, arms wrapped tightly around her knees and shivering a bit. "Azure? What are you doing here?"
"Sitting." She replied calmly. "That's all."
"You look upset." Billy looked at her. "Want to talk or anything?" She shook her head and he watched her for a moment. Whatever was going on, this wasn't something he could deal with, he knew. He bid her a farewell and headed for home.
Azure headed on into her own house and went to the bedroom, not talking to Adam as she did so. He followed her inside, trying not to look too curious as he asked, "How are you feeling?"
"Are you really thinking of sending me away?" Azure asked quietly. He did a slight double-take, that hadn't been what he'd been expecting. But he had an answer.
"Only with your permission and only if we could agree on someone who is competent. That isn't something I'm just going to snap my fingers and decide to do. I want to help you, Azure, but I don't know how. Maybe someone else does. Don't you want to be helped?"
Azure looked down. "Just do it."
"Did you hear what I said?" Adam felt a bit annoyed at this. "I'm not just going to 'do it'."
His wife shook her head. "I agree with you. I'm not in any position to make a decision on who to go to."
"You're not insane!"
"I am emotionally unstable."
Adam sighed. "You can still make decisions." She was not going to just weasel out of this, no matter how hard she tried.
"Please," she shook her head. "Just pick a doctor for me and be done with it."
Neither of them said anything for a few moments, until Adam finally sighed in defeat. He could tell she wasn't going to back down, no matter what. "You'll get us as visitors. Regularly." He promised her, seeing the tears form up in her eyes. "And you will come home."
She only nodded slightly, and both of them felt a little worried. Adam knew in his heart, nothing good was going to come from this.
"Are you Dr. Yugi?" Adam looked into the room, and the man behind the desk nodded politely at him. "I'm Mr. Park."
"Nice to meet you," Dr. Yugi replied with a pleasant smile.
"You've come highly recommended," Adam sat down at the doctor's motion, noticing the various degrees and diplomas on the wall behind him.
The other nodded. "Thank you. I've worked hard for those recommendations as well."
"I'm sure you have." Adam glanced briefly towards the door, and hoped that this was the right thing to do. If it wasn't, he would never forgive himself.
The doctor pulled out a notebook and a pen and gave him a sharp look. "Now, what was it that you wanted to discuss?"
"My wife." Adam placed the file he'd been carrying on the desk. Within it was everything that the family doctor had ever had on Azure. "She's agreed to do whatever you think best for her condition."
Dr. Yugi nodded as he paged through the file. "I see. I believe that I can help her. She'll have to stay in our hospital for a while, of course. I've found that the therapy I practice usually works best if the subject is kept in an entirely new and different environment for the first month or so. No contact with the past that caused the problem. You will, of course, be updated."
Adam nodded, feeling a chill down his spine for some reason. There was something eerily familiar about this doctor. It's just nerves, he told himself. But he couldn't quite believe that. "Thank you. When do you want us to bring her?"
"As soon as possible. I'd also like to speak with her before you leave today." The doctor told him. Adam nodded.
"I could have her sent in." He murmured. "She's in the lobby." at the doctor's nod, he hurried out. A few moments later, Azure entered the office, closing the door behind her.
Dr. Yugi motioned her to the seat. "Please, sit. How are you feeling?"
"Okay."
He watched her for a moment. "I'm going to help you." She murmured thanks as he stood up and came over to her, one hand slowly caressing. He grinned an evil little grin, enjoying this. "I'm definitely going to help you." Unknown to Azure, this was not Dr. Yugi: this was Jameson. He enjoyed playing with her, teasing and using her. This was just the beginning, as far as he was concerned.
"How soon am I coming to the center?" She asked once they were done, obviously totally under his spell.
Jameson smirked as he watched her. "This weekend."
"Not sooner?"
The 'doctor' chuckled. "That's up to you and your husband."
She shot him a look. "We agreed that we would do what the doctor thought best." He nodded as he caressed her a little more, then she started to sit up. "I'll see you this weekend."
Azure shut the door as she walked out, looking over at Adam as she did so. "I am not going to him."
"Azure?" Adam lit up at the sight of a fire in her eyes that had been gone for quite a long time. "What happened?"
When he heard, he growled, softly, ready to go in there and tear that bastard's head from his neck for daring to touch his wife. He kept his temper under control, however. "Let's go home."
It didn't take them long to get there, and almost as soon as they passed within the walls, she teleported to the Power Chamber. "We have a new enemy!" Azure declared as soon as she was solid again, Adam reforming beside her.
Zordon looked at her in concern. What has happened?
Azure filled them in, her eyes flaming with brilliant fury as she spoke. "That...that asshole is...is..." She couldn't find the words, no matter how hard she tried, then relaxed as the rest of the team arrived, among them Aura. "Hey, sis." The Golden Ranger relaxed at once as the two of them hugged briefly. "We have a new enemy. I don't know who he is, but it's someone." She explained what had happened once more, and the rest of the team was soon quite as ticked off as she was.
"I'm going to kill him." Aura said flatly, her eyes flaming in fury. Azure leaned into her husband.
"That is for me to repay him." She said quietly. "I'm going to hurt him for what he did. Painfully Hurt him."
"Very painfully?" Adam asked. He wouldn't normally condone this; none of them would, but this was a special situation.
"He'll wish he were dead."
Adam nodded, holding her. "We have an advantage right now. As far as we know, he doesn't know we know about him."
Azure shrugged. "Unless he saw us coming here. And when I don't show up this weekend for my 'appointment'. But there is no way in hell I'm going anywhere with him."
Adam put a gentle arm around her. "I know. I'll be with you, though. You'll be safe."
Azure leaned into him for a moment, then looked up. "I'm going to bed. Aura, watch yourself. I don't want him laying a finger on you or the baby. I will not have you going through what I am!"
"I'll be careful." Aura promised. She had never feared any villain, and she wasn't going to start now.
Azure nodded. "Don't forget the link." She leaned against Adam, drifting off almost at once from exhaustion, then felt herself being picked up by Adam and teleported out.
Azure glanced around the house and frowned. She hated it when she lost things. "Have you seen my other sandal?" She asked Adam, who shook his head.
"I don't think so." Azure always lost the oddest things. How could one lose footwear? "Have you checked under the bed?" He suggested. Both of them did a little exploring before Katia came in with the shoe balancing on her head neatly.
Azure chuckled at the sight, then carefully put it on, Adam steadying her so she wouldn't fall over. She had a slight tendency to be unsteady at times, and he always helped her. "Katia, go upstairs, and stay in your room with your sister." She'd gotten a look out the window, and what she saw made her want her kids safe.
Once Katia was out of sight, she went straight for the door and opened it. 'Dr. Yugi' stood out there, with an expression of fake concern on his face. "What are you doing here?" She asked coolly.
"You were supposed to come to the hospital." He said, affecting a smile. She shook her head, reaching back to hold Adam's hand.
"I'm not going anywhere. Especially not with you."
He grinned at her, a dark gleam in his eyes. "Oh, but you are."
"Go to hell!" She snapped. "Excuse me, but I have things that I must do." He started to reach for her, and she kicked him quickly and hard. "I don't know who you really are, but I am not going anywhere with you!" He snorted, reaching out again for her, and earning another kick for it. "I suggest you leave. Now!"
He glared, snarling, "I will have my revenge."
"Yeah, yeah," She rolled her eyes. "Whatever." As he vanished, she dropped Adam's hand and quickly slipped upstairs, wanting her daughters. She couldn't get used to Adam's touch just yet.
"Porto!" Jameson snapped the name as soon as he reformed on his base. As the chubby scientist hustled out, he glared at him. "Is the clone ready?"
"Not yet." Porto checked over his notes, and the master growled in fury.
"When will it be ready?"
The other shrugged. "I'm not certain. Getting this done right will take a while."
Jameson growled in fury. "You better hurry!"
Porto looked at him with annoyance in his eyes. "I'd better not if you want this done right! Or do you want a flawed copy?"
"I only want it to kill the Amber Ranger and her baby!" His employer snapped. Porto leveled a stern look at him.
"And if it's not done right, it won't even scratch her skin, much less kill her! If you just want some mindless killing automaton, you can make your own monster!"
Jameson snarled in fury, "Don't you dare talk back to me! I am a lot worse than Divatox with punishment!"
Porto had had enough, though. "If you want to punish someone for telling you the truth, then you'll do it no matter what I do! So don't bother me till I tell you it's ready!"
Jameson punched him in the gut, hard, knocking him over onto his back. Porto's feet kicked helplessly; he couldn't get back up without some help. This is so humiliating...
The commander picked him back up, then looked at him. "I don't mind you doing your work correctly. I just don't like my employees talking back to me. If you need any assistance, let me know."
Porto nodded. "I will let you know." Uppity bastard.
As the scientist headed back to his laboratory, Jameson turned to Rygog. "Find me two scientists and keep an eye on them. If Porto requests assistance, get me one of them." He ignored the blue-shelled monster as it hustled off, and returned to a project he'd been thinking about for a while: finding an appropriate partner. Not a true mate, but just someone he could have fun with and use for a while, who would like that.
It didn't take him all that long to find what he was looking for: a harlot in one of the cities this planet boasted. He didn't bother finding out the name of the place, it didn't matter, she wasn't going to be there that long anyway. He teleported over to her directly.
"What's your name?" He approached forthrightly, this was a business deal and he was great at them. She looked him up and down appraisingly.
"Robin." She licked her lips as she watched him and he liked the sight of her. She was easy on the eyes, experienced, and as ruthless and cunning as he was.
"How would you like to come to work for me?" Jameson asked, pulling out a diamond necklace and waving it at her. She glanced at it casually, judging it's quality.
"Nice piece of rock there."
He grinned and started to put it on her. "This is only the beginning." "Rubies, emeralds, sapphires, your own apartment, a nice big clothing allowance, and me. What do you think?"
She considered for perhaps a heartbeat. "Deal." With no more than that, he teleported her to the Subcraft, into his private quarters. He pulled an outfit reminiscent of the ways some cultures had thought Greek goddesses had dressed and tossed it to her. "Put it on." She looked just as incredible in it as he thought she would, and he set about showing her just what it was he wanted from her.
Billy graded papers carefully, aware of his wife seated not that far away as she read. She was almost seven and a half months along, and with that new villain around, he was making certain nothing happened that shouldn't. He went through the last of the papers, then started to pack up. "I hate to do this, but I have to go soon."
"It's okay." She reassured him. "I'll be fine."
He frowned lightly. "I could call Azure..." He wasn't taking her reassurances that well.
"I'll be fine!" Aura loved Billy, but he could get on her nerves at times. He was about to head out the door when there was a flicker of reality, and a figure they had thought gone for years appeared in the center of the room.
"No..." Billy stared in shock at Lord Zedd, then shook his head. I'll figure this out later. "Get out of here!" He headed over to where the monstrosity was stalking Aura, who had to back up quickly. She's pregnant, she can't morph, and she can't run that fast now either!
He called on his powers quickly and morphed, leaping for Zedd as fast as he could. The battle was short and brutal, and ended up with Billy crashing into the wall and demorphing. "Billy!" Aura growled angrily, and was prepared to take on her enemy alone, until his metal-covered hand knocked her into the wall. Help!!! Her mind cried out before she was even aware of it.
As always, someone was listening. Azure appeared, fully morphed as the Golden ranger. "You are dead meat." She looked coolly at the monster there and called forth her staff. Before another move could be made, she slammed it right into his heart.
He wasn't the real Zedd, she noted almost clinically as the creature vanished. The real Zedd had more backbone.
Azure hustled over to her sister and checked on her, then called an ambulance after demorphing. "Sis?" She murmured quietly. "The ambulance is on it's way." She quickly checked on Billy and then came back to Aura. "Billy's just knocked out, he's already starting to come around."
Aura's eyes flickered, and she smiled as she heard her husband groaning and mumbling about his aching head. There was a pain in her stomach, and she saw Azure look down, then look up. "Aura, your water...it broke. You're going to have the baby."
Aura shivered a little; that was not such a good thing to have it so early. There wasn't anything she could do about it just now, however, and she let herself drift away as the paramedics came in. Azure was taking care of things. She could trust her sister.
"My sister just went into labor," the Gold Ranger told the paramedics, "and her husband had an accident there." She watched as they took Aura off to the hospital, then went over to Billy. "Aura's in labor." She told him, then looked at the one paramedic who had remained. "Are they going to be all right?"
"I think so." He squatted down and took care of the small wound on Billy's forehead. Once that was taken care of, both of them headed for the hospital fast as they could.
By the time they got there, Aura was too far into labor for either of them to join her, so Billy and Azure spent the remaining time pacing in the waiting room. Almost half an hour after their arrival, a nurse they recognized from previous visits came over to them. "How are they?" Azure wondered.
"Well, it's a girl," the nurse replied. "But your sister fell into a coma once the child was born." Azure fell back into her chair in shock, shuddering. This couldn't be happening. "I'm sorry. You can see them later."
Azure nodded briefly, then caught sight of someone walking in behind her. "Christi?" Her eyes widened as the person turned to look at her. It was her friend! "When did you come into town?" She hurried over to hug her.
"Just today. What's wrong?" Christi noticed the tears in her eyes, and wondered what was up. Azure quickly filled her in, then waved Adam over as he entered the hospital.
"Adam, this is Christi. Christi, this is my husband Adam." She filled him in on what was going on with Aura and the baby. "I'm going to go home and sleep for a while. Call me if there's any change."
Adam nodded quietly. "Will do." He watched as she left, then found a seat, Christi sitting beside him.
"So, what do you do for a living?"
He smiled politely at her. "Photography assistant." He didn't mind talking, but he had a lot on his mind right now.
"Really? I'm an interior designer," Christi offered. She watched him page through a magazine, then asked, "How about a cup of coffee? We can go to my place. I don't know of many places around here with decent coffee."
Adam shrugged. "I'm going to be staying right here. I promised Azure that I'd keep an eye out for news on Aura."
"All right." She agreed amenably. "I'll go get one." She headed off, and when she returned, Aura's usual doctor was with her.
"Billy is resting comfortable, and is sound asleep," he told Adam. "There is no change with Aura. It's a light coma, which hopefully means her body is just recovering. Why don't you head home?"
Adam nodded; Azure was going to enjoy hearing that. Christi offered him the cup of coffee she had, smiling politely. "Here you go." She sipped her own and made a face. "Yuck. Hasn't gotten any better."
When he sipped his own, he felt a trifle sick. "This is gross."
"Let me make you a cup," Christi offered. "You look like you could use someone to talk to."
He thought for a moment, then nodded. "I'll call Azure first." He had to let her know what was going on with Aura anyway. He headed to the pay phone and dialed home quickly, only to find the answering machine was taking calls at the moment. "Azure, Billy's okay, and Aura's just in a light coma, the doctor thinks her body is just recovering. She'll be okay. I'm going over to Christi's for a cup of coffee, and then I'm coming on home. See you then. Love you."
When he got back to Christi, she asked, "How did she take it?"
"Answering machine got it, I think she's asleep," Adam told her. Christi nodded, and the two of them headed out. "I won't be staying long." He told her. He liked her; she was a nice person, but he was too experienced in the way villains thought to think that this new one wouldn't try something with this.
She nodded at him. "That's okay. What's troubling you?" The trip from the hospital to her place wasn't long and they were already pulling into her driveway. "Something is bothering you and Azure, and it's not Aura and Billy."
"It's not really your problem." He hedged. He knew what it was, and that he didn't want to talk to anyone about it.
Christi started to make him a cup of coffee. "Want to talk about it?" She was patient as he leaned against the wall, then once it was hot enough, handed the cup to him. "Do you?"
"Maybe."
She watched him. "Am I going to have to coerce it out of you?"
He was quiet for a few moments, then sighed. "Azure doesn't really want me to touch her and it bothers me."
"You tell her about it?"
He shook his head. "Not yet."
Christi reached out to take his hand, her voice soothing and supportive. "You should."
"I know." He looked over at her, then to the hands touching one another. It was a feeling he hadn't had in quite a while. Caught up in something he couldn't quite understand, he leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips.