Disclaimer: It's Saban's sandbox. I just play here because it's fun.
Author's Note: I apologize for the lull. I've been out of town and this part proved a little tricky. We are continuing our move forward through the Zeo Universe (with minor alterations). This part falls approximately a week after "Bigger Fool"
Acknowledgements: Thanks to pokemaniacbill for his beta read, and Lilac Moon for her company.
**Denotes Thoughts**
- + - + - + - + - + -
"Kat?"
"You don't have to look so stunned." The Pink Ranger shot back with a smile; ribbing her friend good-naturedly about the sleepy deer-in-the-headlights expression he wore.
"I'm sorry, I just . . ." Billy squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again, as though trying to make sure she wasn't a mirage.
"Nope . . . I'm still here . . . still standing in the hallway . . . waiting for you to be a gentleman and invite me in . . ."
To her not-so-subtle hint, the young engineer managed the incredibly articulate reply of, "Huh?"
Sighing in a mixture of amusement and exasperation, Kat put a hand to his chest and shoved him back into his apartment. Following him over the threshold, she teased, "See, now I had to go and do that. What would your neighbors have thought?"
Having awakened a little at her playful assault, Billy responded, "Since they're all college-age guys, probably things that I can't say in public."
"Well, I'm happy to have helped enhance your reputation."
Leaning against the now closed door, the blonde genius crossed his arms and gave her a puzzled look. "Not that I'm not really grateful for your help with my non-existent reputation, but . . ." He pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose, as though this would somehow make everything clear. "Why are you here again?"
Kat looked over in surprise at his obvious confusion, "You weren't in the Zord bay."
"Ah." Billy nodded wisely and promptly went to back to staring at her dumbfounded, "Okay, you're going to have to navigate this one a little more clearly for me Captain. I just woke up."
"Oh." Suddenly feeling a little foolish, Kat turned to stare at the unmade bed --- the bed, which he had obviously been comfortably resting in, before she had interrupted.
Knocking on his door at one in the morning had seemed like a perfectly logical course of action upon finding the Zord bay dark and empty. Never once had it occurred to her that he might be sleeping. Friday night, sleep, and Billy were just three concepts that didn't occupy the same space in her mind.
**Nice going, wake him up from what's probably the first decent night's sleep he's let himself have in weeks.** God, she could kick herself for being so inconsiderate.
"Kat?" She spun around to find him looking at her in obvious concern without the slightest trace of annoyance at being roused from his dreams.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I'll just go now."
Billy caught her arm, "I didn't say I wanted you to go. I'm just still trying to process why you're here . . . in uniform no less."
Kat looked down at her work clothes and then back up at him. "It's Friday. We always work on Fridays."
Comprehension finally dawned in Billy's eyes. "But I thought you had a date with Tommy tonight."
"I did."
"But you're here."
"It's one AM, Billy. My date ended around eleven. So here I am reporting for duty. Only I didn't have anyone to report to."
"I'm sorry. I just thought you wouldn't be coming . . . that you'd want to spend time with your friends."
The Pink Ranger looked over at him sharply, "You are my friend."
"No, I know that . . . I just meant . . ." He took a cautious step towards her, "I don't want you to feel that you've got some obligation to give up your Friday nights like this."
"Billy . . ."
"I mean it. I'm grateful for your help, but ---"
"Billy . . ."
"You should have some fun."
She held up a hand to stop him from saying anymore, "I want to be here."
"Oh." Blinking a little as his still sleep-addled mind processed this piece of information, Billy let a slow smile spread across his face. "Well then, I'm sure I can scrounge up something for us to toil over."
As he moved around the room, picking a pair of jeans up off the floor and pulling a clean t-shirt out of the dresser, Kat swore she could actually see the wheels in his head begin to turn faster and faster until they were almost clicking along at their normal pace. "We don't have any real repairs to do, but there are some upgrades that might be good to start thinking about. You should learn how to do a preliminary scan to evaluate a starting point. I haven't taught you that yet, have I?"
She barely stifled a laugh, as he looked over at her in slight bewilderment. Apparently his brilliant mind wasn't yet up to speed. "No, you haven't taught me anything other than the basics. Are you always this disoriented when you wake up?"
He just looked at her blankly, and Kat was about to worry when she caught the start of a wry grin twitching at the corners of his mouth. Obviously his perverse sense of humor did not take as long to kick in.
Billy chuckled as he realized he was caught. "Yeah, if I was really sleeping. Cat naps I can sort of shoot awake from, but if I've been out for awhile it takes almost an entire half-hour for me to even approach full-speed."
"So for a full half-hour you operate like a normal person, how horrible."
"It really is."
"I'd throw something at you right now if I had anything."
"Glad it's my apartment." And with that parting comment, he closed the bathroom door behind him, just as Kat came to the realization that the entire apartment was strewn with very throwable dirty laundry.
After chucking a sweater at the closed door, just on general principle, Kat moved over the tiny kitchen and flipped the switch. Giving herself a moment to adjust to the sudden onslaught of bright lights, she called out, "Coffee?"
"You have to ask?" Billy responded from behind the closed door.
"No, I mean where do you keep your coffee?"
"Freezer."
"What?"
"There are whole beans in the freezer. Three kinds, take your pick. Grinder is by the coffee maker, and filtered water is in the fridge."
Opening the freezer, Kat shook her head in amusement at finding three carefully wrapped varieties of coffee. Leave it to Billy, who lived on prepackaged, amorphous food that she wasn't even sure deserved the name, to be a gourmet when it came to coffee.
Of course that about summed up his entire approach to life. Those things he deemed important merited his entire attention and meticulous care. Everything else was simply a distraction to be taken care of with the absolute minimum of effort.
It was particularly apparent in the now well-lit little room, which he jokingly referred to as 'the resting place' mostly to annoy Kat because of what she termed his 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' mentality. Most of the one room apartment looked like a war torn country --- a shoe here, a shirt there, a pile of laundry that could have been clean or dirty, a half-finished soda. Yet in the middle of it all, like some island of calm, sat his desk with papers neatly filed, pens all in a single place, and a pile of carefully marked schematics that she was pretty sure would prove to be for the Zords.
"Ugh." She looked up to find the object of her musings standing the bathroom doorway, shielding his eyes. "I'd say you're incredibly cruel, but I can smell the Columbian."
"See, I know all your weak spots."
"You've got me. Can't say no to the stuff."
"So if Mondo offered you a bottomless pot . . ."
"Turn me in a heartbeat." Grinning at the complete ridiculousness of the concept, Billy slid into his desk chair, and began to flip through some of the schematics in front of him. Finding the one he was looking for he pulled it out. "I was thinking we could start looking at a weapons upgrade to Morgan. Route some power through a few circuits, install some new ones here . . ."
Kat moved to look over his shoulder. She didn't understand half of what the young genius was saying, but it didn't really matter. There was something euphoric about Billy as he worked --- the way he became so completely engrossed in the problem, the unstoppable pace at which his hands flew across the computer keyboard. He was supernatural and very human all in one continuous moment.
Glancing up in sudden realization of her presence, he smiled in apology and pushed the schematics over so that she could get a clear view, explaining, "I was just thinking that if we take these three circuits, and used them ---"
Putting her hand over the schematics to stop him from doubling back on his thoughts, Kat murmured, "You don't always have to teach me."
Billy visibly flinched. "I - I'm sorry, you're right. I shouldn't keep shoving this down your thr---"
"No, Billy!" Reaching out instinctively, she grabbed his hand. "That's not what I meant. I like learning from you. It's just . . . I can tell your mind is already sixteen steps ahead on this. I don't want you to always feel that you have to slow down for me."
"I don't mind."
"Well I do. I didn't ask to help just to create more work for you. This is one of those times when you should just wind me up, point me in a direction, and say go." Squeezing his hand reassuringly, she pulled away. "You keep working. I'm gonna go finish making the coffee, so Mondo can't lure you away."
"'Kay." Billy responded distractedly already completely absorbed in the notes he was making.
Moving back to the kitchen, Kat threw a surreptitious glance over her shoulder and bit the inside of her lip in concern. This marked the third time in just over a week that one of them had misunderstood the other.
In one sense she felt a little silly for worrying about it, after all if it had been anyone else she probably wouldn't even have noticed. But it wasn't just anyone. It was Billy. It was her. It was them. Two people who were usually so in tune with one another that they knew what the other was thinking sometimes better than they knew themselves. Only this past week, everything had seemed just the tiniest bit off. Not overwhelmingly so, but enough that she had gone through what should have been one of her better weeks in a slight funk.
Kat brought Billy's cup over to him and set it down on the desk, only to be rewarded by a slightly surprised look, which was quickly replaced by a gaze that was just a fraction too grateful. As he turned back to the schematics, the Pink Ranger stumbled under the weight of sudden realization.
He had been expecting her to leave! She had seen that look two other times this week already, and in one blinding flash it all made sense. Her best friend fully expected her not to have time for him anymore.
Sitting down on the bed, Kat worked to ignore the near physical impulse to chuck something at his head. Did he really think that just because Tommy had asked her out, she was just going to drop everything else? **No, he just thinks I'm going to drop him.** Kat shook her head. **God, Doctor for someone so smart, you are really stupid.**
Of course, maybe it wasn't so stupid. She'd seen other girls become so wrapped up in a new relationship that they forgot to maintain existing friendships, but this wasn't the type of friendship that got maintained. It simply existed, like gravity and air. Spending time with Billy made everything right with her world to the point where it was an almost unconscious pull. Tonight after kissing Tommy good night, and spending half an hour gossiping with Tanya about her date, it had been the most natural thing the world to change clothes and teleport over to the Zord bay.
Maybe that was the problem. Maybe somewhere along the way the pleasant routine that they had established had become too unconscious. **He thought I felt obligated.** She didn't feel that at all, but as she sipped her coffee it became pretty apparent how he could think that. The time that they spent together was completely determined by the work to be done. No work, no time. The Friday night sessions had been a chance happening of repeated attacks, only at some point she had come to rely on them.
Billy's earlier comment about spending time with her friends and having fun replayed itself in the back of her mind, eating away at her. God, how could she make him see that if she had just three free hours to spend time with one friend it would be a pretty fair toss up between Tommy, Tanya, and him . . . and that Billy would probably win out?
"Doctor?"
Looking up at the nickname, Billy smiled, "I'm almost ready Captain. Just give me a few more minutes to finish these calculations."
"No, I was just thinking . . ." She trailed off a little nervous under his now complete attention. "Would you mind if we did something else?"
"Well, we could focus on Lynn if you like . . ."
"No, I mean something besides working in the Zord bay."
"Like what? There's nothing open right now. Trust me, I know."
"You offered to show me the stars once."
For a moment Billy looked as though he had just woken up again, but he quickly recovered and nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, I did. All right, stars it is."
Fighting not to bounce up and down like a giddy child, Kat shot off the bed and back into the kitchen. "Do you have a thermos for the coffee?"
"Not sure. Try the junk cabinet below the sink."
"Found one." Pouring the rest of the pot, she had made into the thermos; Kat glanced over to find Billy searching for his other shoe. "Over by the window."
"Thanks. Here."
The Pink Ranger looked up just in time to have a dark gray sweatshirt hit her squarely in the face.
"Sorry." Billy said with barely concealed laughter that told her he wasn't sorry at all. "You're going to need that though. It gets a little chilly out there at night, and sitting on top of the Command Center you catch a breeze."
"You've done this before."
"Couple of times. Never had company before. It'll be nice."
Kat laughed as Billy finished neatly arranging all of his notes, careful to number and date them, and then bent over to dig a sweater for himself out of the pile of clothes in the middle of the room.
"What?"
At his expression of complete oblivion to the dichotomy he presented, she laughed again, "Nothing, it's just . . . your apartment has a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde syndrome. Are you sure there isn't a split personality I should worry about?"
Scanning the apartment, Billy realized what she was referring to and grinned. "I don't think so, although I did have an evil clone once. Does that count?"
Kat just looked at him in astonishment. Only to a Power Ranger would those words sound so completely normal. "Okay, as soon as we get out to the Command Center you're telling me that story."
*****
"There was leather?"
Billy nodded, slightly embarrassed. "There was leather and spikes, and from what I'm told an incredible mastery of the word 'yeah'. I'm trying to repress."
"Are there pictures?"
The look on the teen genius's face was one of sheer terror. "I hope not."
Kat barely kept from snorting her coffee, "That's even better than the evil clone story, but not quite as good as the body-switching. I still don't believe you about not looking."
"Don't you have any stories you'd like to share?" Billy queried obviously anxious to steer the conversation away from that particular event.
"None that can match up to those." Kat briefly considered teasing him further, but decided to let it slide. Despite his openness with her that was obviously just one of those things he would remain firmly embarrassed about. Granting him a gracious reprieve, she turned to look up at the glittering night sky. "I haven't seen this many stars since leaving Australia."
"It's hard to get a clear view in Angel Grove, too much ambient light. I used to come out to the desert with my parents when I was younger to witness major astronomical events."
"It's funny."
"What?"
"The stars don't look that different. I guess I just expected the night sky to look completely different half way across the world."
"Still the same stars."
Kat sighed, "It's nice. Makes me feel like I'm not really that far away."
"Yeah, when they start to look different, it's disconcerting."
"When is that?"
"When you're half-way across the galaxy."
The Pink Ranger looked over at him in awe. She sometimes forgot that for all the amazing things she'd seen, Billy had seen three times as many. He never really talked about his travels in space, as though he didn't want to rub everyone's nose in it.
"Do they really look that different?"
Billy rocked his hand from side to side. "Yes and no. All the constellations seem a little wrong somehow because some stars aren't as bright as they should be, but from a ship they look pretty much as you'd expect. On Aquitar however, the atmosphere is completely different, the stars sort of spread in blurs like car headlights on a rainy night, and everything has a bit of a blue tinge to it."
Kat closed her eyes as he spoke; letting his words paint pictures across her mind. "It sounds like being in an impressionist painting."
"That's actually a pretty good description."
"It's hard to imagine you being so far away. I mean you can't even see Aquitar from here can you?"
"No, but . . ." Billy scooted around behind her, and pointed up at the sky. "See that cluster of stars there? Three bright, with several dimmer ones."
Following his hand, Kat looked out at the three stars that stood out like jewels and nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay, look dead center between them and imagine a tiny planet the size of Pluto that's so blue the Earth should hand over its title. That's Aquitar."
For a moment Kat swore she could actually see it as though Billy's voice, which had gone soft with appreciation and something akin to longing, conjured it from the darkness. "Do you miss it?"
"Not as much as I missed Earth while I was there. I used to use the same three stars to find home."
"Three bright." Kat murmured leaning back to rest against the roof of the command center, only to come in contact with Billy's chest. Shoving away the momentary impulse to sink against him, she sat back up. "Sorry."
Shaking his head at the unnecessary apology, he shifted out of the way and moved to lie beside her. After a few moments of silence, he said, "You're very good at getting me to tell stories and not reciprocating."
Leaning back on her elbows, Kat set her mug down carefully beside her and looked out at the night sky. "Not many to tell. When I was younger most of my life was focused on diving."
"What was that like?"
"Like flying."
"Flying?" He queried gently, urging her to share.
"Yeah. You stand on the edge of a platform completely human, and then for one moment you're a bird in freefall."
"And then you're a fish." The young engineer chuckled, "That's a lot of metamorphosis for one dive."
"But what a rush. I didn't think anything would ever match that until I became a Ranger." Suddenly realizing that she was emphasizing the positives of something he had given up, Kat turned with an apology on the tip of her tongue.
But Billy beat her to it. "It's okay. I really don't mind. After all I still remember what it felt like, so I can relate. It is a bit of an adrenaline high."
"A bit?"
"Slight understatement."
Kat emitted a laugh of pure joy. She felt like dancing, felt as though she could fly right off the edge and soar. He had known! Before she said a word, he had been able to tell exactly what she was thinking. Everything was right with the world again.
"I'm not going to pretend that my humor is that funny. Why are you so elated?"
"We're back."
Billy raised his eyebrows, "We've been gone?"
Turning on her side to meet his eyes, Kat nodded. "Haven't you felt it? Ever since Tommy asked me out last week, it's like we've been expecting things to change."
Her friend's expression grew shuttered, "Things have changed."
"But not for us. You're not going to lose me, Billy."
If the young engineer had been drinking his coffee he would have choked on it. As it was he had to settle for knocking the mug over, and chasing it fruitlessly as it rolled off the edge of the roof. Wincing a little as he heard the crash, he peered down into the inky darkness, and sighed, "I really liked that mug."
Kat crawled up beside him and looked over the ledge. "I'll buy you new one. Did you hear a word I said?"
Billy nodded slowly, still looking out into the darkness. "I heard you."
"But you don't believe me."
"It's not that I don't believe you, but . . ." Pulling away from the ledge, he carefully sat down, avoiding her gaze. "You're going to want to spend more time with Tommy that's natural, and there are only so many hours in a day."
"Are you *trying* to push me away, Doctor?!"
Billy's head snapped up, finally meeting her eyes. "God, no."
"Well, then listen to me. If I run out of time, I will get rid of something else on my schedule, but not this. Not unless you tell me to go." Kat held his gaze, letting him test the truth of her statement.
Obviously finding whatever he saw there satisfying, Billy nodded slowly, "I would never tell you to go."
"Good, then we're clear. You're not losing me, and I'm not losing you. Your friendship is too important to me." Feeling the need to lighten the mood, Kat poked him playfully. "After all if it wasn't for you, Tommy would never have asked me in the first place."
"You knew?"
"Well you weren't exactly subtle with the taking him out in the hall and the next minute he's finally screwed his courage to the sticking plate."
Billy looked at her in mild surprise, "Shakespeare."
"We're reading it in English. What did you do to him out there anyway, beat him up?"
The young genius let out a full and easy laugh that told her whatever shadow had passed over him was gone. "Not in this dimension. Let's just say I implied that crossing a person with intimate knowledge of computers could be less than pleasant."
"Less than pleasant. That's a nice euphemism for 'I can screw with you six ways from Sunday."
If Billy had another mug to drop he would have. "He told you?" Kat nodded, and he groaned. "He's an idiot. That's all there is to it. Our fearless leader is an idiot."
"Hey! I'm dating that idiot. And he didn't mean to tell me, it was just when we were at the door tonight, he said something about being really grateful to you, and I prodded the rest out of him."
"You could make a mute speak if you wanted."
"I'm pretending that's a compliment."
"Pretend away."
"Billy?" At his name, her Doctor looked over, and for a fleeting instant Kat forgot what she was going to say.
"Captain?"
Shaking herself out of the reverie, she smiled, "Thank you."
"Always."
"What did I do to deserve this?"
"You tried to attack me in the Zord bay at one in the morning, you made coffee, and you held my tools for ransom."
"It was the coffee that got you wasn't it?"
"That and your appreciation of my three AM humor. No one else on this team is a night person."
"Ugh," Kat rolled on her stomach to smile at him, "I know what you mean. Do you know why my date with Tommy ended at eleven? He's going to do katas with Rocky at dawn. Something about peace with nature."
Billy's expression told her exactly what he thought of that idea.
The Pink Ranger nodded in agreement, "That's how I feel. The only time I *ever* want to see dawn is if . . ."
"You've been up all night." He completed for her with a smile.
"Exactly. How in tune can you be with nature that early in the morning?"
"Don't look at me. If I'm awake at that time, I'm usually in the Zord bay." Looking out at the sky, he mused, "I wonder what the lure of sunrise is anyway."
Kat shrugged. "Don't know, but it's almost four thirty now. Do you want to stay up and find out?"
Billy nodded, "But I'm going to need another mug."
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Thank you for reading. For those of you who didn't figure it out Morgan is Tanya's Zord. Also, "screw your courage to the sticking plate" is from Henry V.
Comments and Criticism appreciated as always.
Author's Note: I apologize for the lull. I've been out of town and this part proved a little tricky. We are continuing our move forward through the Zeo Universe (with minor alterations). This part falls approximately a week after "Bigger Fool"
Acknowledgements: Thanks to pokemaniacbill for his beta read, and Lilac Moon for her company.
**Denotes Thoughts**
- + - + - + - + - + -
"Kat?"
"You don't have to look so stunned." The Pink Ranger shot back with a smile; ribbing her friend good-naturedly about the sleepy deer-in-the-headlights expression he wore.
"I'm sorry, I just . . ." Billy squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again, as though trying to make sure she wasn't a mirage.
"Nope . . . I'm still here . . . still standing in the hallway . . . waiting for you to be a gentleman and invite me in . . ."
To her not-so-subtle hint, the young engineer managed the incredibly articulate reply of, "Huh?"
Sighing in a mixture of amusement and exasperation, Kat put a hand to his chest and shoved him back into his apartment. Following him over the threshold, she teased, "See, now I had to go and do that. What would your neighbors have thought?"
Having awakened a little at her playful assault, Billy responded, "Since they're all college-age guys, probably things that I can't say in public."
"Well, I'm happy to have helped enhance your reputation."
Leaning against the now closed door, the blonde genius crossed his arms and gave her a puzzled look. "Not that I'm not really grateful for your help with my non-existent reputation, but . . ." He pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose, as though this would somehow make everything clear. "Why are you here again?"
Kat looked over in surprise at his obvious confusion, "You weren't in the Zord bay."
"Ah." Billy nodded wisely and promptly went to back to staring at her dumbfounded, "Okay, you're going to have to navigate this one a little more clearly for me Captain. I just woke up."
"Oh." Suddenly feeling a little foolish, Kat turned to stare at the unmade bed --- the bed, which he had obviously been comfortably resting in, before she had interrupted.
Knocking on his door at one in the morning had seemed like a perfectly logical course of action upon finding the Zord bay dark and empty. Never once had it occurred to her that he might be sleeping. Friday night, sleep, and Billy were just three concepts that didn't occupy the same space in her mind.
**Nice going, wake him up from what's probably the first decent night's sleep he's let himself have in weeks.** God, she could kick herself for being so inconsiderate.
"Kat?" She spun around to find him looking at her in obvious concern without the slightest trace of annoyance at being roused from his dreams.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I'll just go now."
Billy caught her arm, "I didn't say I wanted you to go. I'm just still trying to process why you're here . . . in uniform no less."
Kat looked down at her work clothes and then back up at him. "It's Friday. We always work on Fridays."
Comprehension finally dawned in Billy's eyes. "But I thought you had a date with Tommy tonight."
"I did."
"But you're here."
"It's one AM, Billy. My date ended around eleven. So here I am reporting for duty. Only I didn't have anyone to report to."
"I'm sorry. I just thought you wouldn't be coming . . . that you'd want to spend time with your friends."
The Pink Ranger looked over at him sharply, "You are my friend."
"No, I know that . . . I just meant . . ." He took a cautious step towards her, "I don't want you to feel that you've got some obligation to give up your Friday nights like this."
"Billy . . ."
"I mean it. I'm grateful for your help, but ---"
"Billy . . ."
"You should have some fun."
She held up a hand to stop him from saying anymore, "I want to be here."
"Oh." Blinking a little as his still sleep-addled mind processed this piece of information, Billy let a slow smile spread across his face. "Well then, I'm sure I can scrounge up something for us to toil over."
As he moved around the room, picking a pair of jeans up off the floor and pulling a clean t-shirt out of the dresser, Kat swore she could actually see the wheels in his head begin to turn faster and faster until they were almost clicking along at their normal pace. "We don't have any real repairs to do, but there are some upgrades that might be good to start thinking about. You should learn how to do a preliminary scan to evaluate a starting point. I haven't taught you that yet, have I?"
She barely stifled a laugh, as he looked over at her in slight bewilderment. Apparently his brilliant mind wasn't yet up to speed. "No, you haven't taught me anything other than the basics. Are you always this disoriented when you wake up?"
He just looked at her blankly, and Kat was about to worry when she caught the start of a wry grin twitching at the corners of his mouth. Obviously his perverse sense of humor did not take as long to kick in.
Billy chuckled as he realized he was caught. "Yeah, if I was really sleeping. Cat naps I can sort of shoot awake from, but if I've been out for awhile it takes almost an entire half-hour for me to even approach full-speed."
"So for a full half-hour you operate like a normal person, how horrible."
"It really is."
"I'd throw something at you right now if I had anything."
"Glad it's my apartment." And with that parting comment, he closed the bathroom door behind him, just as Kat came to the realization that the entire apartment was strewn with very throwable dirty laundry.
After chucking a sweater at the closed door, just on general principle, Kat moved over the tiny kitchen and flipped the switch. Giving herself a moment to adjust to the sudden onslaught of bright lights, she called out, "Coffee?"
"You have to ask?" Billy responded from behind the closed door.
"No, I mean where do you keep your coffee?"
"Freezer."
"What?"
"There are whole beans in the freezer. Three kinds, take your pick. Grinder is by the coffee maker, and filtered water is in the fridge."
Opening the freezer, Kat shook her head in amusement at finding three carefully wrapped varieties of coffee. Leave it to Billy, who lived on prepackaged, amorphous food that she wasn't even sure deserved the name, to be a gourmet when it came to coffee.
Of course that about summed up his entire approach to life. Those things he deemed important merited his entire attention and meticulous care. Everything else was simply a distraction to be taken care of with the absolute minimum of effort.
It was particularly apparent in the now well-lit little room, which he jokingly referred to as 'the resting place' mostly to annoy Kat because of what she termed his 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' mentality. Most of the one room apartment looked like a war torn country --- a shoe here, a shirt there, a pile of laundry that could have been clean or dirty, a half-finished soda. Yet in the middle of it all, like some island of calm, sat his desk with papers neatly filed, pens all in a single place, and a pile of carefully marked schematics that she was pretty sure would prove to be for the Zords.
"Ugh." She looked up to find the object of her musings standing the bathroom doorway, shielding his eyes. "I'd say you're incredibly cruel, but I can smell the Columbian."
"See, I know all your weak spots."
"You've got me. Can't say no to the stuff."
"So if Mondo offered you a bottomless pot . . ."
"Turn me in a heartbeat." Grinning at the complete ridiculousness of the concept, Billy slid into his desk chair, and began to flip through some of the schematics in front of him. Finding the one he was looking for he pulled it out. "I was thinking we could start looking at a weapons upgrade to Morgan. Route some power through a few circuits, install some new ones here . . ."
Kat moved to look over his shoulder. She didn't understand half of what the young genius was saying, but it didn't really matter. There was something euphoric about Billy as he worked --- the way he became so completely engrossed in the problem, the unstoppable pace at which his hands flew across the computer keyboard. He was supernatural and very human all in one continuous moment.
Glancing up in sudden realization of her presence, he smiled in apology and pushed the schematics over so that she could get a clear view, explaining, "I was just thinking that if we take these three circuits, and used them ---"
Putting her hand over the schematics to stop him from doubling back on his thoughts, Kat murmured, "You don't always have to teach me."
Billy visibly flinched. "I - I'm sorry, you're right. I shouldn't keep shoving this down your thr---"
"No, Billy!" Reaching out instinctively, she grabbed his hand. "That's not what I meant. I like learning from you. It's just . . . I can tell your mind is already sixteen steps ahead on this. I don't want you to always feel that you have to slow down for me."
"I don't mind."
"Well I do. I didn't ask to help just to create more work for you. This is one of those times when you should just wind me up, point me in a direction, and say go." Squeezing his hand reassuringly, she pulled away. "You keep working. I'm gonna go finish making the coffee, so Mondo can't lure you away."
"'Kay." Billy responded distractedly already completely absorbed in the notes he was making.
Moving back to the kitchen, Kat threw a surreptitious glance over her shoulder and bit the inside of her lip in concern. This marked the third time in just over a week that one of them had misunderstood the other.
In one sense she felt a little silly for worrying about it, after all if it had been anyone else she probably wouldn't even have noticed. But it wasn't just anyone. It was Billy. It was her. It was them. Two people who were usually so in tune with one another that they knew what the other was thinking sometimes better than they knew themselves. Only this past week, everything had seemed just the tiniest bit off. Not overwhelmingly so, but enough that she had gone through what should have been one of her better weeks in a slight funk.
Kat brought Billy's cup over to him and set it down on the desk, only to be rewarded by a slightly surprised look, which was quickly replaced by a gaze that was just a fraction too grateful. As he turned back to the schematics, the Pink Ranger stumbled under the weight of sudden realization.
He had been expecting her to leave! She had seen that look two other times this week already, and in one blinding flash it all made sense. Her best friend fully expected her not to have time for him anymore.
Sitting down on the bed, Kat worked to ignore the near physical impulse to chuck something at his head. Did he really think that just because Tommy had asked her out, she was just going to drop everything else? **No, he just thinks I'm going to drop him.** Kat shook her head. **God, Doctor for someone so smart, you are really stupid.**
Of course, maybe it wasn't so stupid. She'd seen other girls become so wrapped up in a new relationship that they forgot to maintain existing friendships, but this wasn't the type of friendship that got maintained. It simply existed, like gravity and air. Spending time with Billy made everything right with her world to the point where it was an almost unconscious pull. Tonight after kissing Tommy good night, and spending half an hour gossiping with Tanya about her date, it had been the most natural thing the world to change clothes and teleport over to the Zord bay.
Maybe that was the problem. Maybe somewhere along the way the pleasant routine that they had established had become too unconscious. **He thought I felt obligated.** She didn't feel that at all, but as she sipped her coffee it became pretty apparent how he could think that. The time that they spent together was completely determined by the work to be done. No work, no time. The Friday night sessions had been a chance happening of repeated attacks, only at some point she had come to rely on them.
Billy's earlier comment about spending time with her friends and having fun replayed itself in the back of her mind, eating away at her. God, how could she make him see that if she had just three free hours to spend time with one friend it would be a pretty fair toss up between Tommy, Tanya, and him . . . and that Billy would probably win out?
"Doctor?"
Looking up at the nickname, Billy smiled, "I'm almost ready Captain. Just give me a few more minutes to finish these calculations."
"No, I was just thinking . . ." She trailed off a little nervous under his now complete attention. "Would you mind if we did something else?"
"Well, we could focus on Lynn if you like . . ."
"No, I mean something besides working in the Zord bay."
"Like what? There's nothing open right now. Trust me, I know."
"You offered to show me the stars once."
For a moment Billy looked as though he had just woken up again, but he quickly recovered and nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, I did. All right, stars it is."
Fighting not to bounce up and down like a giddy child, Kat shot off the bed and back into the kitchen. "Do you have a thermos for the coffee?"
"Not sure. Try the junk cabinet below the sink."
"Found one." Pouring the rest of the pot, she had made into the thermos; Kat glanced over to find Billy searching for his other shoe. "Over by the window."
"Thanks. Here."
The Pink Ranger looked up just in time to have a dark gray sweatshirt hit her squarely in the face.
"Sorry." Billy said with barely concealed laughter that told her he wasn't sorry at all. "You're going to need that though. It gets a little chilly out there at night, and sitting on top of the Command Center you catch a breeze."
"You've done this before."
"Couple of times. Never had company before. It'll be nice."
Kat laughed as Billy finished neatly arranging all of his notes, careful to number and date them, and then bent over to dig a sweater for himself out of the pile of clothes in the middle of the room.
"What?"
At his expression of complete oblivion to the dichotomy he presented, she laughed again, "Nothing, it's just . . . your apartment has a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde syndrome. Are you sure there isn't a split personality I should worry about?"
Scanning the apartment, Billy realized what she was referring to and grinned. "I don't think so, although I did have an evil clone once. Does that count?"
Kat just looked at him in astonishment. Only to a Power Ranger would those words sound so completely normal. "Okay, as soon as we get out to the Command Center you're telling me that story."
*****
"There was leather?"
Billy nodded, slightly embarrassed. "There was leather and spikes, and from what I'm told an incredible mastery of the word 'yeah'. I'm trying to repress."
"Are there pictures?"
The look on the teen genius's face was one of sheer terror. "I hope not."
Kat barely kept from snorting her coffee, "That's even better than the evil clone story, but not quite as good as the body-switching. I still don't believe you about not looking."
"Don't you have any stories you'd like to share?" Billy queried obviously anxious to steer the conversation away from that particular event.
"None that can match up to those." Kat briefly considered teasing him further, but decided to let it slide. Despite his openness with her that was obviously just one of those things he would remain firmly embarrassed about. Granting him a gracious reprieve, she turned to look up at the glittering night sky. "I haven't seen this many stars since leaving Australia."
"It's hard to get a clear view in Angel Grove, too much ambient light. I used to come out to the desert with my parents when I was younger to witness major astronomical events."
"It's funny."
"What?"
"The stars don't look that different. I guess I just expected the night sky to look completely different half way across the world."
"Still the same stars."
Kat sighed, "It's nice. Makes me feel like I'm not really that far away."
"Yeah, when they start to look different, it's disconcerting."
"When is that?"
"When you're half-way across the galaxy."
The Pink Ranger looked over at him in awe. She sometimes forgot that for all the amazing things she'd seen, Billy had seen three times as many. He never really talked about his travels in space, as though he didn't want to rub everyone's nose in it.
"Do they really look that different?"
Billy rocked his hand from side to side. "Yes and no. All the constellations seem a little wrong somehow because some stars aren't as bright as they should be, but from a ship they look pretty much as you'd expect. On Aquitar however, the atmosphere is completely different, the stars sort of spread in blurs like car headlights on a rainy night, and everything has a bit of a blue tinge to it."
Kat closed her eyes as he spoke; letting his words paint pictures across her mind. "It sounds like being in an impressionist painting."
"That's actually a pretty good description."
"It's hard to imagine you being so far away. I mean you can't even see Aquitar from here can you?"
"No, but . . ." Billy scooted around behind her, and pointed up at the sky. "See that cluster of stars there? Three bright, with several dimmer ones."
Following his hand, Kat looked out at the three stars that stood out like jewels and nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay, look dead center between them and imagine a tiny planet the size of Pluto that's so blue the Earth should hand over its title. That's Aquitar."
For a moment Kat swore she could actually see it as though Billy's voice, which had gone soft with appreciation and something akin to longing, conjured it from the darkness. "Do you miss it?"
"Not as much as I missed Earth while I was there. I used to use the same three stars to find home."
"Three bright." Kat murmured leaning back to rest against the roof of the command center, only to come in contact with Billy's chest. Shoving away the momentary impulse to sink against him, she sat back up. "Sorry."
Shaking his head at the unnecessary apology, he shifted out of the way and moved to lie beside her. After a few moments of silence, he said, "You're very good at getting me to tell stories and not reciprocating."
Leaning back on her elbows, Kat set her mug down carefully beside her and looked out at the night sky. "Not many to tell. When I was younger most of my life was focused on diving."
"What was that like?"
"Like flying."
"Flying?" He queried gently, urging her to share.
"Yeah. You stand on the edge of a platform completely human, and then for one moment you're a bird in freefall."
"And then you're a fish." The young engineer chuckled, "That's a lot of metamorphosis for one dive."
"But what a rush. I didn't think anything would ever match that until I became a Ranger." Suddenly realizing that she was emphasizing the positives of something he had given up, Kat turned with an apology on the tip of her tongue.
But Billy beat her to it. "It's okay. I really don't mind. After all I still remember what it felt like, so I can relate. It is a bit of an adrenaline high."
"A bit?"
"Slight understatement."
Kat emitted a laugh of pure joy. She felt like dancing, felt as though she could fly right off the edge and soar. He had known! Before she said a word, he had been able to tell exactly what she was thinking. Everything was right with the world again.
"I'm not going to pretend that my humor is that funny. Why are you so elated?"
"We're back."
Billy raised his eyebrows, "We've been gone?"
Turning on her side to meet his eyes, Kat nodded. "Haven't you felt it? Ever since Tommy asked me out last week, it's like we've been expecting things to change."
Her friend's expression grew shuttered, "Things have changed."
"But not for us. You're not going to lose me, Billy."
If the young engineer had been drinking his coffee he would have choked on it. As it was he had to settle for knocking the mug over, and chasing it fruitlessly as it rolled off the edge of the roof. Wincing a little as he heard the crash, he peered down into the inky darkness, and sighed, "I really liked that mug."
Kat crawled up beside him and looked over the ledge. "I'll buy you new one. Did you hear a word I said?"
Billy nodded slowly, still looking out into the darkness. "I heard you."
"But you don't believe me."
"It's not that I don't believe you, but . . ." Pulling away from the ledge, he carefully sat down, avoiding her gaze. "You're going to want to spend more time with Tommy that's natural, and there are only so many hours in a day."
"Are you *trying* to push me away, Doctor?!"
Billy's head snapped up, finally meeting her eyes. "God, no."
"Well, then listen to me. If I run out of time, I will get rid of something else on my schedule, but not this. Not unless you tell me to go." Kat held his gaze, letting him test the truth of her statement.
Obviously finding whatever he saw there satisfying, Billy nodded slowly, "I would never tell you to go."
"Good, then we're clear. You're not losing me, and I'm not losing you. Your friendship is too important to me." Feeling the need to lighten the mood, Kat poked him playfully. "After all if it wasn't for you, Tommy would never have asked me in the first place."
"You knew?"
"Well you weren't exactly subtle with the taking him out in the hall and the next minute he's finally screwed his courage to the sticking plate."
Billy looked at her in mild surprise, "Shakespeare."
"We're reading it in English. What did you do to him out there anyway, beat him up?"
The young genius let out a full and easy laugh that told her whatever shadow had passed over him was gone. "Not in this dimension. Let's just say I implied that crossing a person with intimate knowledge of computers could be less than pleasant."
"Less than pleasant. That's a nice euphemism for 'I can screw with you six ways from Sunday."
If Billy had another mug to drop he would have. "He told you?" Kat nodded, and he groaned. "He's an idiot. That's all there is to it. Our fearless leader is an idiot."
"Hey! I'm dating that idiot. And he didn't mean to tell me, it was just when we were at the door tonight, he said something about being really grateful to you, and I prodded the rest out of him."
"You could make a mute speak if you wanted."
"I'm pretending that's a compliment."
"Pretend away."
"Billy?" At his name, her Doctor looked over, and for a fleeting instant Kat forgot what she was going to say.
"Captain?"
Shaking herself out of the reverie, she smiled, "Thank you."
"Always."
"What did I do to deserve this?"
"You tried to attack me in the Zord bay at one in the morning, you made coffee, and you held my tools for ransom."
"It was the coffee that got you wasn't it?"
"That and your appreciation of my three AM humor. No one else on this team is a night person."
"Ugh," Kat rolled on her stomach to smile at him, "I know what you mean. Do you know why my date with Tommy ended at eleven? He's going to do katas with Rocky at dawn. Something about peace with nature."
Billy's expression told her exactly what he thought of that idea.
The Pink Ranger nodded in agreement, "That's how I feel. The only time I *ever* want to see dawn is if . . ."
"You've been up all night." He completed for her with a smile.
"Exactly. How in tune can you be with nature that early in the morning?"
"Don't look at me. If I'm awake at that time, I'm usually in the Zord bay." Looking out at the sky, he mused, "I wonder what the lure of sunrise is anyway."
Kat shrugged. "Don't know, but it's almost four thirty now. Do you want to stay up and find out?"
Billy nodded, "But I'm going to need another mug."
- + - + - + - + - + -
Thank you for reading. For those of you who didn't figure it out Morgan is Tanya's Zord. Also, "screw your courage to the sticking plate" is from Henry V.
Comments and Criticism appreciated as always.