by: Cynthia & Emerald J
Adam pulled back suddenly, realizing what he was doing. Christi pulled back as well. "I'm sorry." She quickly told him, flushing. He shook his head.
"No, I am." How could he have done that? This was more than just a casual acquaintance, this was one of his wife's best friends!
"We both kissed," Christi reminded him. "I don't think we should tell Azure, though."
For a moment, Adam agreed, then he thought of what might happen if Azure found out from some other source. That would be beyond painful, for him. "I'm not going to hide it from her."
Christi nodded slowly. "All right. Give my love to Azure...if she's still talking to me once you tell her."
Adam smiled briefly. "I'll let you know." He headed home quickly, heading into the bedroom. Azure was just waking up as he came in, and she looked at him with aware eyes.
"What did you do?"
He gulped mentally, glad that he'd decided not to conceal it from her anyway. He sat beside her, then quietly told her everything that had happened, including why he'd done it, and waited for her reaction. She looked at him for a moment, then slapped him harshly across the face and curled up angrily.
"I'm sorry, Azure." He winced from the pain of it; she was no weakling. "I do love you."
Azure closed her eyes, not understanding how he could do this. "Adam, why didn't you tell me earlier?" She wasn't certain what had been more painful, him kissing her friend or not talking to her about what was bothering him.
"I didn't know how."
She shook her head. "Just say it."
"It's not as easy as it sounds," Adam told her quietly. Azure fixed him with a steely glare.
"You had no problems telling my friend!"
He winced; she wasn't quite accurate, but the point was he had told Christi and not her. "Yes, because sometimes it's easier to talk to someone you don't know." That was, after all, how psychiatrists and the like made their money. "I wanted to tell you."
"But you didn't know how to talk to your own wife." She sighed quietly, then slipped off to answer the call of nature, taking some time to relax and think about things. When she came back, she looked at him. "I'm sorry. I should've been more open to how you've been handling the miscarriage. And how I was handling it." She reached out to take his hand and then kissed him softly.
"I love you." He told her.
"I love you, too."
She curled up on the bed, still tired from earlier, and started to drift off. Her eyes flashed open when Adam snuggled in next to her, however. She watched him for a moment, then saw his eyes open and look at her. Something occurred to her. "Adam? How do you feel about the miscarriage?"
"I wish it hadn't happened." He said quietly, a soft and pained look in his deep dark eyes.
"Is that all?"
He shook his head. "I'm upset for you and for me and for the child. We lost something before we ever really had it." He was choking up a bit, and she patted him on the hand, returning a gesture that he'd made to her frequently, then wiped a tear from his eyes as he looked at her.
"Keep going if you want to." She advised.
He thought for a moment. "I feel like I want to scream, but it wouldn't do any good. Nothing can be done to undo it."
"Just scream." She smiled a tad. "It just might help you feel better."
Adam shook his head. "Not right now. It's a bit late and I don't want to wake up anyone else who might be sleeping."
She smiled at him and asked, "Anything else?"
"Nothing I can put into words right now." He let her curl into him and held her as she now broke down, sobbing and leaving him to make quiet soothing noises that at least made him feel a bit better, regardless of if they actually soothed or anything. She looked up at him through her tears.
"You can cry too." She whispered. As if that had released a kind of dam in him, tears began to slide down his face. The two of them cried in one another's arms, until Azure lifted her head up, looking at the door. "Yes, honey?"
Katia was standing there, looking at her parents with worried eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I will be." Adam looked over his shoulder and smiled at his daughter, whom Azure invited to join them.
"Adam, would you get Jeni. There is something we all have to talk about. Something that we've been avoiding for a while."
Once the family was together, Azure looked at them all. "We need to talk. Can anyone guess what about?" Katia patted her mother's stomach light, and Azure nodded. "Is there anything you wish to tell me about your feelings about the baby?"
"I miss it," Katia said softly. Jeni nodded.
"I wanted to be a big sister!"
Azure smiled a bit at her children. "One day, you just may be."
Both of the children looked up suddenly as the Spirit of New Kalakan appeared before them, gracefully seating herself as she did so. "Greetings, children. Jeni, Katia...do you know that the baby just wasn't ready to join you yet?"
Jeni nodded, looking at her. "But why? Did we do something that made it mad?"
The Spirit shook her head. "No. Things have to happen when it's time, and it isn't quite time yet."
Katia looked at her. "Why not?"
"I do not have all of the answers." The Spirit told her with a faint smile. "I try, but I even I do not know everything."
Azure held Adam's hand gently. "Spirit, do you know how Aura and the new baby are?"
"Resting."
Azure sighed. "Aura is still in her coma, isn't she?" The spirit nodded quietly.
"She should awaken soon, however." The Spirit told them, then stood up. "I take my leave of you now."
As she faded away, both girls yawned deeply. "Sleepy girls." Adam smiled. "Time to go back to bed." He picked Jeni up carefully, and with Katia pattering in his wake, headed to put them back to bed.
"Where were we?" Azure asked as he came back in, and she snuggled back to him. "Did you want to finish something?"
All was quiet for a few minutes, then she felt the wet splash of tears as he began to finish his own tears and his own mourning. Slowly the two of them cried once more, more quietly this time, easing each other into sleep.
It was a sleep that didn't last very long however, for Azure. She could feel that something was wrong somewhere, but she couldn't put her finger on it. On an instinct, she got up and headed for the hospital to see her sister.
Azure walked up to Aura and watched her for a moment. "Sis?" There was no response. "Aura...get your butt out of bed!" There was still no reaction, and Azure swore under her breath. Almost at once, her head came up as she sensed the presence of someone teleporting in
She turned to see their enemy, the one who had posed as her wanna be doctor, strolling closer. "Get out of here and away from my sister!" She ordered. He ignored her and came closer. "Who are you?"
"Your enemy."
Azure rolled her eyes. "Name please."
"Jameson." He gave a slight mocking bow and she nodded briefly, never taking her eyes off of him.
"Thank you. Now, why are you after my sister and I?"
He stalked closer. "Because you deserve to die."
This was getting boring. "What crime did we do?" She wanted to keep him busy, hoping that he'd get bored and leave, or that one of the others would show up.
"Being born. And turning Divatox to good." There was something in the way he said it that made it seem the vilest of insults.
"Ah. Didn't do that. The guy who did is dead."
He shrugged. "You're still responsible for it."
"True, but it was her choice," Azure sat down calmly and watched her sister's comatose form. "Can you do me one favor?"
"I don't do favors for enemies." Jameson smiled toothily and started towards her again.
"Okay." She accepted that. "I was just going to say if you take revenge on anyone, it's me, not Aura. And we should just take this outside."
He laughed coldly. "No." He was obviously not interested in a fair fight.
"What do you want?"
The answer was quite simple. "You all dead. All of you."
"All of us or just me?" Azure asked.
He stalked even closer. "All of you. But you first."
"Not today, you won't." She smiled as he came closer, then blocked the sudden attack that came flaring out. The two of them dodged back and forth, each attack he slung towards her blocked, no matter how it was delivered. "You sure you don't wanna take this outside?" He growled harshly, and she grinned. "Just thought I'd ask."
She was taken off guard by a backhanded swipe that knocked her through the window and spinning towards the ground two stories below. She lay there in pain, cut and torn by the broken glass, as Jameson lightly leaped down and kicked her hard.
His amusement was broken when the Phantom Ranger arrived, morphed, and kicked him firmly in the groin. It wasn't a move Billy used often, but this was special. "Get out of here." He growled. "Now!"
The evil commander looked at him for a moment, then vanished, obviously considering discretion the better part of valor. Billy came over to check on Azure as she sat up carefully. "How do you feel?"
"Fine." She winced as she made it to her feet and looked around.
"Did he break anything?" Billy looked her up and down carefully; the last thing he wanted was her to be injured.
She shrugged. "The wall and the window."
"What about on you?"
"Nope." Azure looked down to see blood on her shirt and winced. "Excuse me." She headed quickly back to her home, noting Billy demorphing and going inside, presumably to check on Aura. As soon as she was home, she stripped and tossed the bloody clothes into the hamper, staring at the various cuts, bruises, and contusions all over her from the fight and her meeting the window and ground at such high speeds.
She heard Adam coming in, and quickly pulled her housecoat on and around her. Hope he didn't see any of that. She smiled at him as he looked at her. "Hi. What's wrong?" He was looking at her somewhat oddly.
"Why are you wearing that?" He indicated the housecoat.
"Going to take a shower." She smiled innocently at him and headed into the bathroom, feeling blood drip down her leg.
Adam blinked after her. "Azure, have you gotten hurt or something?" At her confused look, he pointed to the blood dripping, and she flinched.
"Oh, um, just a little cut."
He glanced at it, not sure she was telling the truth or not. "Want me to take care of it?"
"No, I can." She insisted as she went into the bathroom and closed the door. She removed her robe carefully and reached for the wound ointment, not noticing the door as it opened quietly.
"Azure?" She almost jumped out of her skin as she heard Adam call her name, then stare at her injuries. "What happened?"
"Well.." She hesitated for a moment. "I sorta fell out of a window." As he stood there, she got the water going, then stepped inside. For a moment, all was well, then she screamed as water hit the untended wounds, and she fumbled quickly to get the water turned off. She slid carefully down, tears falling at the pain, then jerked back as Adam tried to hold her. "Don't touch me!"
He watched her for a few moments, then carefully got the wound ointment and set to work carefully taking care of her injuries. As gentle as he was, it still stung quite a bit as he did so, but soon she was both cleaned and tended to. "How's that feel?"
"Better," she murmured, tugging her robe on. "I'm going to take a nap."
Adam cleaned up things in the bathroom, frowning as he heard her quiet sobs of pain. I wish I could help her heal up faster, but some things even Ranger powers can't do.
"Azure?" It was Billy's voice, and he'd obviously heard the same cries. "I knew she was hurt."
Adam came out of the bathroom and looked at him. "What happened?" Maybe he'd get a clearer account from him. He listened as Billy told him of Jameson's attack on the hospital, and how Azure had driven him off.
"How badly is she hurt?" The Phantom Ranger wondered. Adam shrugged.
"Cuts, mainly, some gashes." Overall it really wasn't bad, there were just so many of them that it made sleeping intolerable.
In her room, Azure lay there, trying to concentrate. "Spirit..."
"Azure." She looked up to see the filmy spirit of New Kalakan seated beside her. "It seems you need a little help, my child."
Azure winced a bit as she sat up, then stiffened as she felt the healing power of the spirit move through her. The Spirit was careful not to heal her too quickly, since that would cause quite another kind of pain, but soon Azure was in a deep, pain-free sleep.
"Is she going to be all right?" Adam asked from the doorway. The Spirit nodded quietly, and Adam smiled. That made him very happy.
Billy had his own news. That was his main reason for coming over there in the first place. "Aura woke up. She'd felt Azure's fall."
Adam frowned slightly. "Is she all right?" Billy nodded, then both of them looked up as Azure stirred a little. They watched for a moment, then she sat up and got up, heading swiftly past them without a word. The two men looked at each other in confusion, then followed her down to the kitchen where she was having a quiet glass of water.
"How are you feeling?" Adam asked, watching her nervously. She had just been healed; she shouldn't be awake, much less walking around. She only shrugged, and he frowned. "You should rest a bit more."
"I'm fine." She sipped a bit more, then slipped outside, seating herself on a convenient log. Adam watched for a moment, then came over to sit by her.
"Want to visit Aura later?" He was worried about her; she wasn't quite acting her normal self. Ever since their fight and catharsis earlier, he was doing his best to be more concerned about her, and to talk, but she wasn't making it easy. Not to mention that Jameson could try to attack at any minute.
Azure stared up at the sky, then shot him an annoyed glance as he moved closer to her. "Back off, Adam." He looked at her in confusion, and she frowned. "You heard me." He inched back, and she shook her head. "More. In fact, why don't you just go back inside?" He sighed deeply, and she almost growled. "Don't give me that."
"I didn't know it was annoying because I was worried about you!" He snapped. Azure rolled her eyes.
"You are hovering!"
He winced; he knew just how she felt about hovering. She didn't move at all as he hurried back inside, and looked at where Billy was standing. "She said I was hovering."
"Usually do." Billy chuckled sagely. Adam glanced back outside.
"Is it wrong to be concerned?" Billy shook his head, and his friend chuckled a bit. "Just annoying?"
"Yup." Billy agreed. "At least that's what Aura tells me."
Adam smiled, watching Azure for a moment, then asked, "Staying for dinner?"
"Nope." Billy started towards the door. "I've got to get back to Aura. I'll see you later." He headed quickly out the door as Azure came in the other, looking preoccupied.
"What do you want for dinner?" Adam asked, getting only a shrug for an answer as she headed on up the stairs.
Katia and Jeni were busily playing, but they dropped that quickly as their mother come in. "Hey, you two! What do you think about inviting your grandparents up here for a day?"
The girls looked thoughtful, then Jeni asked, "Which ones?"
"Grandma and Grandpa Park," Azure told them. Both girls nodded eagerly and Azure smiled at them. "Now, do you want to tell your father?" They both nodded, and she sent them scooting along to do so.
"Daddy! Daddy!" The two terrors ran down at once and attached themselves to their father's leg. "Grandma and Grandpa Park are coming for a visit!"
Adam smiled as he looked up the stairs to see Azure looking back at him. "When?" He wondered. His parents still didn't quite know about where they had moved.
"Soon. As soon as we figure out how to tell them." Azure told him. "There's pizza in the freezer for dinner. I'm going to be in our room. The girls have a play date at Shaya's in twenty minutes."
Adam nodded quickly and briskly. "I'll see that they get there." Azure nodded and went on into their room as the girls headed outside to play. I'll handle the pizza after I take them over there. I think things are going to be okay. He turned as he saw Azure's shadow on the stairs again.
"Thank you." She smiled at him, and he knew things were looking up.
Jameson threw things rapidly at his crew, doing his best to vent his frustrations. He glared over at Robin. "Tell me, my dark princess, what do you think would be a good downfall for that Gold Ranger?"
The ex-harlot considered for a moment. "That friend of hers that her husband kissed...perhaps if they hadn't...just kissed..."
"How so?"
She shrugged. "Is a lust potion available? Or something to create lust?"
Jameson thought for a moment, then pulled out his spellbook and paged through it quickly. He grinned wickedly. "Here it is." With a flicker of effort, he cast it on both Christi and Adam, then sat back with a satisfied grin. This was going to be amusing...for him.