Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: Takes place during Blake and Tori's embarrassing encounter with Cassidy and Devin and Cam and Hunter's search for a make-out location. Dustin and Marah talk while she reminisces

Category: Dustin/Marah

Note: Told in Marah's POV

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I could feel Dustin's fingers gently graze the side of my face as he smoothed my hair behind my ear. I smiled lazily and laid my head against his shoulder.

"Hey, uh, Marah?" He asked nervously.

"Hmm?" I asked. Dustin gently lifted my face up so he looked into my eyes.

"I..." He began. "I didn't hurt you or anything when-" He said. "When I was like, you know, evil?" He asked. I smiled a bit wider. It touched my heart deeply that he would be so worried about hurting me.

"No." I said honestly. "I mean the only thing that happened was when Lothor first showed up on the Academy grounds and you three appeared, Kapri and I went up to you guys-I went up to you and Kapri went up to Shane-and we thought everything would be good and I took your hand but you snatched it away." I told him. That part of the day wasn't exactly great. For a moment, I thought he had recoiled from me because he had realized that I was a total waste of his time and he never wanted anything to do with me again.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "I mean, you're not just saying that just to spare my sanity?" He said. I turned in his lap so I was facing him. I put my arms around his neck.

"I'm sure." I said, kissing the tip of his nose. He laughed softly. I took it to be my personal mission to always lighten his mood with a light kiss and a funny comment here and there. He was mine and it was my responsibility to keep him happy. It was my constant reminder that I needed to prove myself that I wasn't the same girl he met when Beevil was around. I wasn't proving it to him; I was proving myself to myself. Dustin is what made me happy and I had to work to keep it in my life. I didn't exactly know this when he and I first talked after the Beevil incident all those months ago. Rocky beginning would be an understatement.

-FLASHBACK-

It was the day that Kapri and I joined the Academy. The rangers, well, former rangers, had decided to have a bar-b-que. Kapri and I had overheard the planning of it and figured they wouldn't think of inviting us so we just planned on settling in our new quarters at the Academy. We were both shocked when Tori came by and invited us. I figured all the rangers would hate us because of our former alliance to Uncl......Lothor. I thought they'd especially hate me because of what I did to Dustin, but I guess we were wrong on both counts. We were sitting in the park and Kapri was busy talking Shane's ear off. I was sitting by a tree by myself, unsure what to do or who to speak to.

"Hey." Tori said as she came up to be and sat beside me. I gave a half smile.

"Hi." I replied.

"How come you're sitting off here by yourself?" She asked. I shrugged.

"Taking it all in, I guess." I said.

"Taking all of what in?" She asked.

"Everything that's happened today." I said. "I mean, one minute Kapri and I are thinking we'll finally earn our Unc-Lothor's respect, then he's leaving us for dead with Cam, then I'm here. It's all a little too much."

"You don't want to call him your Uncle, huh?" Tori deduced. I shook my head.

"I mean, he never exactly was warm and caring but Kapri and I thought if we proved ourselves he'd love us. Except even after we tricked Vexacus and everything, he still didn't care about us. I guess there just isn't pleasing some people." I said bitterly.

"Is that why you tricked Dustin, to prove yourself?" She asked. Oh that dreaded question. I sighed.

"I knew that was going to come up eventually." I said.

"Marah," Tori said. "I saw the look on your face when Dustin said he had trusted you. It was like you had some sort of inner conflict going on."

"I guess I was just shocked that someone who didn't even know me could show more warmth towards me then my actual family did." I admitted. I looked over and saw Dustin talking to Blake. I figured they were discussing that motocross stuff. Tori followed my gaze. "Of course, I betrayed the one person who did care about me by trying to prove myself to Lothor." I said, looking down. Tori put an arm around my shoulders, an act that took me by surprise.

"Hey, you've got Cam and Sensei now, not to mention all of us. We care about you." She said, trying to comfort me.

"You mean that?" I asked, shocked that she'd say that to someone who, up until a few hours ago, was the enemy.

"Yeah." Tori said, giving me a kind smile. It was infectious, because I found myself smiling right back at her. I looked back to the ground.

"Thank you." I said. "I think I just need some time on my own, just to think through all these changes." I said. I got up.

"All right." Tori said. "But if you need to talk to someone, I've been told I'm a good listener." She said. I nodded and walked off to a quiet part of the park about twenty feet away from the others. I had passed Dustin and Blake but couldn't bring myself to look over at Dustin, still figuring out what to do. I found a bench and sat down, staring over at the setting sun.

"Marah?" Came a voice. I turned and saw Dustin coming over. My mouth suddenly felt very very dry. Dustin now stood by the bench. "Everything all right?" He asked. I nodded.

"Mmm-hmm." I said. "I-I just wanted to uh wa-watch the uh s-sunset." I stammered nervously. I looked away, trying to hide my blush. I heard Dustin give a small chuckle.

"Oh." He said. "Mind if I join you?" He asked.

"Yes, I mean, no, I mean, sure have a seat." I said quickly, moving over on the bench. I figured he wouldn't want to sit too close to me.

"Thanks." He said. He sat down and put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He stared at the horizon. I tried to do the same, but my eyes kept wandering back over to him. After a while, the silence began to drive me insane.

"Kapri and I don't really get to watch the sunset a lot." I blurted out.

"Right, I guess you couldn't see it from a space ship." Dustin replied. I wasn't sure if he meant that as a mere comment or an insult of some sort.

"Right." I said. I turned back to the setting sun. The sky was a mixture of soft pinks, purples and oranges. I tried to concentrate on the colors so as to avoid saying anything dumb.

"So, what made you guys decide to join the academy?" Dustin asked. I blinked. I actually wasn't sure why we joined the academy. I guess we figured it was just a given that we would.

"I don't know." I admitted. "I mean, I guess we wanted to be close to Sensei and Cam, you know, get to know our family."

"A family you were trying to destroy just yesterday." Dustin pointed out. I bit my lip.

"We all make mistakes." I said softly.

"Yeah." Dustin spat out. I knew he was thinking that trusting me all those weeks ago was his mistake. I looked down. Tori had been wrong. Not everyone was quick to accept me with open arms.

"I understand that you're mad at me." I said. Dustin snorted. "OK, maybe mad's an understatement." I said. "And if you want to just never even acknowledge my existence, I wouldn't blame you for it, heck, I'd expect it." I said. I got up and went to walk away.

"Wait a minute." Dustin said. He got up and turned me to face him. "Don't do that whole selfless apologetic thing; we both know selflessness and apologetic tendencies aren't things you possess." He said. I could feel the tears welling in my eyes. I figured he'd be mad at me, but I never thought he'd be this cold. I guess I really did hurt him. "So, if betrayal is your response to people who trust you and help you, I'm wondering, what are you going to do to Cam once you get all the kindness you need from him?"

"Dustin." I pleaded softly.

"What? You can be cold and mean but if someone dishes it back to you, you can't take it?" He asked. I took a deep breath and stared at him straight in the eye. His mean expression flickered a bit. I guess he didn't expect me to be crying.

"Yeah, that's it." I said sarcastically. "Now, leave me alone." I snatched my arm away and turned to walk away. I thought it would be a graceful exit........if it wasn't for that gofer hole that I didn't see. My foot got stuck in it and the rest of my body fell forward. "Ahh." I let out.

"Marah!" I heard Dustin yell. I pulled my foot out of the hole and sat up as Dustin went to my side and kneeled beside me. "Are you ok?" He asked. I glared at him.

"As if you care." I snapped back at him. I stood up, ready to walk away, only to get a shooting pain up my leg the moment I put my weight on the foot that had been in the hole. "Oww." I whimpered, losing my balance. I expected to fall down on the ground, but I ended up falling into someone's arms. I looked to see Dustin had jumped up to his feet and caught me as I fell. I looked at his face. The cold, uncaring mask that had been there had slipped away to reveal the caring face that I had seen all those weeks ago. The face I had fallen for in the first place. The face I betrayed. I struggled to get back on my feet.

"Marah, you're hurt." He said.

"I can take care of myself." I said. I heard Dustin sigh and next thing I knew he had picked me up like some groom carrying a bride over a threshold. "What are you doing?" I asked, shocked. Dustin didn't answer. He carried me over to the bench and set me down. He kneeled in front of me and lifted my hurt foot. He pulled my sneaker off. I stared at him. He set the sneaker aside and pulled my sock off. The chill air hitting my bare foot startled me a bit. He placed his hand against my heel and pushed down. I nearly jumped at the pain I felt.

"Does that hurt?" He asked.

"Of course it does!" I hissed through clenched teeth. "What, saying mean things wasn't enough, now it's time for the physical torture?" I asked. Dustin didn't respond. He ran his fingers over the sides of my ankle, and then examined it.

"It's not sprained." He said. "Just twisted." He looked up and then sat next to me.

"Oh, no snide remark, like, 'just twisted, like you'?" I asked.

"It looks like you took care of that." Dustin replied. I gave an annoyed grunt.

"Just go away." I said, wiping at my cheek. Dustin looked at me. He gave a sigh.

"I.." He began to say. "I'm sorry." He said. He turned to look at the setting sun. "I guess I was harboring some anger about what happened and it came out." I looked at him. He seemed genuinely sorry.

"I guess I deserved it though." I said softly. Dustin turned to look at me.

"No, you didn't." He said. "It doesn't matter. It's in the past."

"I....I'm sorry about hurting you." I said. Dustin gave a laugh and smiled.

"Nah, I wasn't hurt." He said. "You got to do what ya got to do, right?"

"Dustin." I said. "I know I hurt you." I said. I took a deep breath. "And I've been hurting so much because of that."

"What do you mean?" He asked. I sighed and kept my eyes lowered as if he was some great and all powerful god and I was just a lowly peasant. I felt him take my chin in his hand and tilt my face up to meet his. "Marah?" He asked. I shyly turned my head out of his grasp and pulled by sock back onto my hurt foot. I was working on pulling my sneaker back onto it without causing pain when Dustin grabbed my hands and made me look at him. "Marah, why have you been hurting?" He asked.

"Dustin, I really don't want to talk about this." I said softly. Dustin blinked and released my hands. I went back to struggling with my sneaker. I guess after a minute or so of me grunting and sighing, Dustin was getting a little irritated. He got down in front of me again and slid my sneaker onto my foot. "Thanks." I said numbly. Dustin stared up at me but I couldn't bring myself to look at him. I felt unworthy and disgusting for some reason. Dustin represented all the regret and pain I felt from my old existence, and looking at him made my stomach churn.

"Marah, look at me." He requested softly. I took a deep breath.

"I think we should get back, the others might be wondering where we went off too." I said, trying to change the subject.

"Forget about the others." He said. "Look at me." He repeated his previous request. For some reason, his words and his tone brought fresh tears to my eyes.

"I can't." I whimpered.

"Why not?" Dustin asked. I shrugged, not really wanting to explain myself. Dustin placed a hand on my leg as he got up and sat beside me again. "Is it because of what I said before?" He asked. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so-"

"It's not you." I interrupted him. Dustin took my face in both his hands, cupping my cheeks and gently forced me to look at him, but I kept my eyes down cast. I felt him run his thumbs across my cheeks, sweeping away my tears. "How can you even look at me?" I asked. "I'm a terrible person."

"No." He said. He leaned in closer to me. "You and your sister have started new lives; you're not the same person that you used to be. And frankly, I never thought you were a terrible person anyway. Maybe a person who made bad judgments, but hey, everyone's guilty of that." I looked at him and saw that we were just inches apart. His lips seemed to beckon me. But what he had just said did make sense, I was a new person. Dustin went in to kiss me, but I turned my head.

"Wait." I said. Dustin looked at me. I reached up and pulled his hands off my face. "You're right, I am a new person." I said. "And I think I want a friendship, a fresh start, like nothing in the past ever happened." I took a breath. "And, maybe, if after a while, you still feel something, we can go on a date or something." Dustin smiled.

"All right." He said. He stuck his hand out to me. "I'm Dustin Brooks." He said. I laughed softly and took his hand.

"Marah Watanabe." I replied.

"Ah, I have a friend by the same last name, Cam, you know him?" He asked, playing along with the first meeting thing.

"Yeah, actually, we're cousins." I said.

"Wow, small world." Dustin said. "Well, listen, my friends and I are having a bar-b-que, would you care to join us?" He asked.

"I'd love to." I said. I went to stand up. "Oh, but I hurt my ankle." I added. Dustin stood up and put his arm around my waist and had me put one arm across his shoulders.

"Here, lean on me." He said. I smiled up at him as the two of us walked back to the others.

-PRESENT DAY-

After that night, Dustin and I talked and became friends and two months later we went out on our first date, well, it wasn't really a date. I was training late one night when he came and helped me. We were alone, together, close, and kissed, so I guess it was a date. I was taken out of my thoughts when I felt Dustin gently kiss my neck. I smiled and looked at him.

"What's that for?" I asked. Dustin tightened his hold on me.

"For being you." He said. I looked at him with a puzzled look.

"I didn't know that deserved a kiss." I said. Dustin smiled.

"It deserves a whole lot more then a kiss." He said. My heart fluttered. Dustin knew how to make me feel so special and so giddy, and I loved him for that. I leaned in and planted a small kiss on his lips.