I'm back! Wow, have just come off a high ropes course: 4 meters up doing all aorts of crazy stuff! Anyway, you won't believe the trouble I've had, not only with this chapter but with the computer! Both are sorted out now so i can post! I finally managed to write this chapter on holiday one night in darkness 'cos I couldn't turn on the light so I had great fun deciphering my scrawl when I came to type it up! After doing some serious editing I'm happy with this chapter - or as happy as any writer can be. it's not perfect, but then neither am I!

Shoutouts go to: Anakin's Girl 4eva: You really cried? Sorry for leaving it for so long - events outside of my control I'm afraid! Sreym: Yes I went to Paris! It's lovely. Everyone should go! Ghostwriter: Hope the wait was worth it this time! princess moon shadow: I'm not in the army yet! Just got my exam results... XRachX: Thanks, as always I love hearing from you!

And to anyone else - you know who you are and thanks for the input! This story is almost over I'm sad to say butI hope you like this chapter. Enough from me, read, enjoy and as always: leave a little review to tell me what you think! Here's chapter 10...


Talking Things Through

"Hey," Conner croaked at them from his bed as they entered the room. Hayley was needed at the Cyberspace so she promised she'd drop in later instead.

"Hey bro, how are you?" Ethan said.

"Awake," he replied with a grin.

"Yeah, it's good to see you."

There was silence. The four of them stood awkwardly around Conner's bed. None of them really knew what to say.

It was Conner who made the first move. "I'm really sorry, for all the things I've done and said to you all. I've been horrible and it's inexcusable. I don't know if you can ever forgive me. I've been an ass."

"Well you said it," Ethan grinned.

"You were going through a bad time," Dr. O said with a shrug. "We should have known something was wrong and tried to help. Instead all we did was shout and scream and probably make things worse for you."

"Why should you have known something was wrong?" Conner countered him. "I didn't confide in you, which I should have done. I risked the whole team so you were justified in sacking me." He was being careful with the terminology in case a nurse or a doctor walked in.

"Even so…" Dr. O was swiftly cut off by Conner.

"As I said it was inexcusable and I'm sorry."

"It's in the past now," Trent spoke for the first time. "Let's leave it there. I mean you almost kille… died," he quickly corrected himself, "But you're ok now so let's put this behind us."

Trent's slip of the tongue wasn't lost on Conner, "You guys know I didn't mean to try to…" he paused.

"To kill yourself?" Ethan finished for him.

"How do you justify taking a whole bottle of paracetamol then if you weren't trying to kill yourself?" Trent asked with a quizzical expression on his face.

"I had a headache…" Conner tried to explain himself.

Dr. O looked at him sharply, before beginning to laugh. It was a relieved sort of laughter more than anything, the type of laughter normally heard after a particularly hard battle where it had really been a 'life or death' situation. It was also contagious and soon the others saw the funny side and joined in.

"So we're alright then?" Conner asked once the laughter had subsided.

Dr. O nodded, "On the condition that you never do anything so stupid again."

"I promise." Conner said seriously. "I never wanted to cause trouble, and I really am sorry. I'm going to get help; I know I have to sort myself out."

"But you know bro that we're here to help you," Ethan said. "If you ever need to talk, talk to us. Don't keep it bottled up 'til you explode ok?"

Conner smiled, "Ok."

Kira hadn't said anything during this exchange, and Trent sensed her need to talk to Conner alone. Things had to be said, and not in front of the rest of the team.

"Uh, Dr. O, didn't Hayley say she needed some help down at the Cyberspace?" he said, hoping that Dr. O would pick up on it.

Trent needn't have worried; Dr. O knew exactly what he meant. "Yeah, she wanted you and Ethan to help her move some boxes or something. Come on, I'll give you a lift."

"But what about Kira…. oh," Ethan said, a little slow on the uptake but was reminded by a sharp dig in the ribs from Trent. "Yeah, if you're ok bro."

If Conner had noticed anything odd about the exchange he didn't let it show. "I'm fine, you go and help Hayley. I'll see you later."

The others said their goodbyes and soon it was just Conner and Kira alone in the room. Kira moved closer to the bed, but nothing was said.

"Well this is awkward," Conner croaked, his throat still sore from the tube.

She smiled at him, "How do you feel?" she asked seriously.

"Awful," he replied.

"And so you should. You had me really worried Conner. Promise you're never going to do something so stupid again. You should have known alcohol and medicine don't mix."

"I know," Conner said lightly, but there was something in his tone that made Kira think.

"What do you mean you know? If you knew then why did you do it? Unless…" she gave him a suspicious look. "Was it an accident?"

Conner looked away, "I don't know."

"Of course you must know; you did it."

Conner shook his head, "Kira I was in such a mess that I wasn't thinking straight. It might have been an accident. All I know is that I was in so deep and couldn't see a way out. I'd been suspended, I'd hurt my friends, nearly got you killed and I was drunk. Who's to say I didn't do it on purpose? I can't really remember. But maybe I did want to end it all. Everything in my life was going wrong. My parents were getting divorced; I'd lost the respect of my teammates and lost…" he stopped as he realised what he was saying.

"And lost what else?" Kira asked quietly, stunned by what Conner had said.

"I'd lost any chance I had with you," he replied, meeting her eyes.

Kira was speechless. She tried to think of something to say but her mind was a sudden blank. Silence fell in the room.

Finally Conner spoke, "I heard what you said to Trent." She looked at him sharply. "I didn't mean to overhear you but I didn't really have a choice. I tried to speak or move or something to let you know but I couldn't. I'm sorry." Kira just stared at him. Conner took a deep breath, it was now or never, "I wanted to know if you, well, if you meant it. What you said, that you, you…" he couldn't finish and he couldn't look at Kira.

A hand lifted his chin and he stared into her hazel eyes, "Love you? I meant every word," she said gently. Then suddenly she began to cry, "I didn't realise it 'til you were gone. I wanted to tell you so badly but you were in a coma. I didn't think you were going to wake up. I was going to lose you before I could say I was sorry for all the nasty things I said because I didn't really mean them Conner, I swear. I thought you were going to die thinking I hated you and…"

"Shh," Conner said putting a finger to her lips. "It's ok, I'm awake. Didn't you think I could pull through?"

"I knew you could Conner, but I wasn't sure if you wanted to. I mean, we all thought you really had tried to, to kill yourself and if you had then you wouldn't want to wake up." Kira whispered.

Conner was silent, "I'd never have left you Kira," he said at last. "Whether you hated me or not, I'd never have left you."

She smiled through her tears, "I'm glad."

"Well you don't know what you've got yourself into then," Conner said with a grin and brushed her tears away with his fingers. "So do you think there's a chance of us then?"

Kira was quiet, "I don't know. I mean, we've got so much going on, what with Mesogog and being rangers and everything. I don't know if we can survive all that, and then there's you."

"What about me?"

"You've got a problem Conner."

He sighed, "I know and I'm going to get it sorted. Forget about that. I love you Kira, and I would really like us to give things a chance, but if you don't want to then that's fine. But I'll be waiting if ever you do want to have a go at us."

"I love you too. At least, I think I do. Maybe we could take things slowly. With us being rangers I don't know if it's sensible…"

"Who cares about it being sensible?" Conner exclaimed. Then he said, more quietly, "We both have strong feelings for one another right?" She nodded and he sighed, "Well how about we wait then? And when I'm better, and when Mesogog's gone, if we still feel strongly about one another then we can try."

Kira nodded, then suddenly said, "No. I'm not going to let some franken-lizard dictate my love life. He messes around with my life enough as it is. If we want to date then I think we should. How about it Conner?"

He grinned, "You and me against the world huh? Ok then."

They just stared at each other. Was that it? Were they dating now? The answer was clearly 'yes' as Conner reached out and pulled Kira down for a kiss.

Things were looking up!