Chapter 12: Comforting Each Other

Cole was sitting out by the lake remembering the moment he had just shared with Alyssa only hours ago. Tears of anger fell down his face and he wiped them away furiously. "Curse you, Roger. I'll kill you when I find you," he growled.

"Cole," a voice called.

He turned and saw Taylor standing there. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Sure, yeah, I'm okay. My fiancé has been kidnapped by an obsessed egomaniac that nearly raped her in the park," he replied sarcastically.

She sat next to him with a sigh. "Cole, Alyssa's going to be fine," she tried to tell him. He stood up with anger showing in his eyes.

"Really? After a man nearly raped her has her now, you're telling me that she's going to be okay. That's great, Tay. I feel much better now," he snapped.

Taylor stood up with anger showing in her eyes. "Look, I'm not happy about this either. Alyssa's my best friend. She's been like my sister. Don't you dare sit here and tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about," she snapped back.

"I never said that, but thank you for pointing that out to me," he mumbled.

"Cole, stop it," Taylor demanded.

"No, I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to calm down. I'm not going to sit down and pretend that EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE OKAY!"

Taylor watched as he punched a tree and then listened to him cuss. She sighed as she walked over to him. "If he hurts her in anyway, I promise you that I will kill him," Cole mumbled. She placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged her hand away.

"Cole, we're all worried about Alyssa. We all love her. What affects one of us affects all of us," she explained.

To her surprise, that finally got through to him. Cole slowly fell to his knees and she kneeled down next to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder. Such a familiar gesture when he just found out that his parents were dead. "We will get Alyssa back and she'll be okay. I promise Cole," she told him.

The next thing she knew, she was holding Cole like a child and he was crying against her.

"I can't live without her, Tay. I need her," he sobbed.

She stroked his dark brown hair with a sigh. "I know," she answered. Taylor let him cry against her.

"What am I going to do, Taylor? I can't concentrate long enough to send a message to any animals to help me find her," he babbled.

"Don't worry, Cole. We'll find her."

Cole was silent for a moment and Taylor could tell that he was starting to settle down a bit. She held him and tears fell down her own face. They were both afraid of what Roger would do to Alyssa. They were afraid of what Alyssa would be like when they did find her.

Wes, Eric, and Merrick were getting to work when Taylor came in with Cole behind her. They watched as the former Red Ranger went into his and Alyssa's bedroom and closed the door behind him. "How did you get him to come back?" Wes asked.

"It wasn't easy that's for sure. Heck, I had to watch him punch a tree just so he could get his steam out," she replied.

"I'm surprised he didn't bust his hand," Merrick commented.

"Pain doesn't affect him right now. His heart's breaking right now," Taylor told them.

Taylor brought out the first aid kit and went into the room to clean Cole's hand. He winced when she cleaned out the cut. "Ow! That hurts," he hissed in pain.

"It's going to hurt. I have to put this on unless you want to get an infection," she insisted.

She grabbed his hand and started to clean it out. "Look at all this bark in your hand," she commented. She then started to take some of the bark from his knuckles.

"Alyssa and I have these huge plans for the wedding, Taylor. She had such a plan that you'd be amazed," he commented.

"Really, what kind of plans?" She asked.

"Well, she wants the wedding to be in the park. She loves that park and we shared special moments in that park. She told me to invite all of the Red Rangers to the wedding. She found it an honor that I got to meet all of the Red Rangers."

"Well, you did see Eric and Wes there."

"That's not it, Taylor. She found it neat that Eric, Wes, and I got to meet the first Red Ranger and the Power Ranger Legend, Tommy Oliver."

"I agree with Alyssa, it was an honor."

He winced when she cleaned the cut out. "Next time, when you need to hit something, make sure it's not a tree, we don't need to go through this again," she commented. Cole nodded and sighed.

"Taylor, the last time you comforted me was when I found out my parents were dead," he reminded.

"Yeah, it was."

"How can you be so calm about this?"

Taylor smiled as she wrapped his hand up. "There, done," she announced. She got up and was about to put the kit away when she watched Cole look out the window. She sighed, walked out into the kitchen, and placed her hand on her forehead.

"Hey, you okay?" Eric asked.

She sat up quickly and wiped her tears away. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. She turned and looked at her husband. "I'm okay," she lied. Eric could see the sadness in her eyes and sighed.

"Come here," he murmured.

He wrapped his arms around her and she cried against him. Eric ran circles on her back and soothed her sobs. "It's okay," he whispered.

Cole went into his room and got into the bed. He sighed as he looked over at the picture of him and Alyssa. He looked over to see Alyssa's spot empty. He hated he feeling of being alone. He pulled Alyssa's pillow to him and let her scent fill his senses. Then he fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of his beloved Alyssa, and vowing that if Roger hurt her that he was going to kill him.