Thanks to everyone who is reviewing - keep it up! Its great to get feedback on your work. Makes you feel loved! Ok here's chapter 3...


"Oi, you. Stop daydreaming and give me a hand luggin' all your crap inside." Phil yelled at him. With a sigh, Hunter grabbed a couple of boxes and followed him into the house.

The house was large. It had three floors and a basement. Hunter had no intention of going down there in a hurry. His new room was on the second floor. It was quite big and airy, with a sink and mirror in one corner. He dumped his stuff on the bed. Phil had already put up some shelves and he stood in the doorway as Hunter looked around.

"Watcha think?" Phil said, trying to make conversation.

"It's good, thanks."

"You got a good view of the bay from here."

"Yeah, thanks for everything. You didn't have to." Hunter said awkwardly.

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for your mother."

"Oh, right. Well, thanks anyway. I'll just unpack and…"

He was cut off as Phil raised a finger and jabbed him in the chest. "Don't take that tone with me boy. You haven't changed, I can see. There's rules in this house."

"Of, of course." Hunter stammered, backing away.

"Rule 1." Phil growled. "You address me as 'sir', remember?" He paused expectantly.

"Yes…sir." Hunter said.

"Rule 2. The third floor is strictly out of bounds. That's mine and your mother's area. Rule 3. You don't go out with out telling me exactly where you are going and who with. I'm a reasonable man; I just don't want my wife's son mixing with the wrong folk and doing inappropriate stuff."

"Yes sir." Hunter said. He was shaking.

"And finally," Phil growled, leaning close. "What I say goes. This is my house. You are nothing but a nuisance. I won't have any trouble from you, y' hear me? Otherwise I'll make you wish you'd never been born."

Hunter looked at him angrily. "If you hate me so much, why have you forced me to live with you? You didn't have to come here. Why couldn't you have just left me alone…"

He was cut off as Phil swung a huge fist and caught Hunter around the side of the head. The blow knocked him to the floor. Blood trickled down his chin – the force of the blow had caused him to bite his lip.

"You're here 'cos your mother wants you to be here. An' there's plenty more where that came from. But of course, I thought you learned that when you were a kid. Just 'cos you've grown up a bit, it still doesn't mean you're big enough to get away with all that nonsense. Watch your mouth, y' hear me?"

Hunter, still sitting on the floor, nodded. "Yes sir." he whispered, tears stinging his eyes. He wouldn't let Phil see him cry though. He did remember; tears just led to more pain.

Phil turned to leave, "Unpack your stuff and clean yourself up, then come down for the pancakes your mother's made you." With that, he was gone.

Hunter got unsteadily to his feet. He'd had worse knocks since he'd become a power ranger, but this one was different. This one came from a monster he could not fight.

He walked over to the sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror. The area where the fist had caught him was red and it stung as he dabbed it with a cloth. He winced; it was going to be black and blue. The others would wonder what he'd done. He couldn't tell them the truth, they wouldn't understand. With a sigh, he wiped his face clean and turned to unpack. He hadn't brought much, just his clothes and some other bits. He didn't have much else anyway.

He was almost finished when he came across a photo in a glass frame of him and the other rangers on the beach at Tori's birthday party. There was Dustin, orange with only sunglass marks around his eyes because he'd used some tanning lotion; Shane, relaxing after fighting an alien all by himself; Tori, grinning into the camera despite having their first attempt at her birthday party ruined by Lothor's goons; and finally Blake, his brother standing next to him, laughing at some joke. Cam had been holding the camera and wasn't in the photo. Hunter clutched it to his chest tightly and sank down in a corner. He didn't want to be here. There was a lump in his throat. He'd been wrong; nothing had changed. He was trapped and there was nothing he could do about it. How long he sat there he didn't know; silent sobs shook his body. Why did he have to come back?

Suddenly he heard footsteps on the stairs. Getting up quickly he wiped the tears from his face and put the photo on a shelf.

"Honey, are you nearly done?" Maggie said, coming into his room with a huge smile on her face. "Oh it's just wonderful to have to home after so long. Phil and me are going to go out for a bit. Will you be ok by yourself?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Phil appeared behind her in the doorway.

"Actually," Hunter said quickly. "I've got to go to work." He looked at Phil. "Is that ok…sir? I'll be back by…," he hesitated. Work finished at five. "…six."

"You got a job?"

"Yes sir, at Storm Chargers. Just a stock boy, but it pays ok."

Phil shrugged, "Whatever, be back by six then."

Hunter waited until they had left before making his way to Storm Chargers. He was dreading seeing his friends.