---

I don't wanna drag it on

But I can't seem to let you go

I don't wanna make you face

This world alone

---

Katie walked down the hall with her hands clasped in front of her, her mind racing with thoughts that had been bothering her since the first day of their mission: Why had Jen asked Alex to join them? And why did it seem like that old connection between them was still there? Is it possible, that after all, they still love each other?

She turned, staring at the gray door blankly for a few seconds, glaring into the name inscribed on the metal: MAJ. ALEXANDER DRAKE; she took a deep breath, pressing her finger against the green button on the wall and waiting for an answer that took longer than she expected. A weary Alex appeared when the doors slid open, dark circles under his dull eyes, his hair uncharacteristically messy, he wore only sweatpants and slippers; Katie paused, but he didn't speak, so she went on:

"Jen's gonna be okay. She's tough."

Alex lowered his gaze, chewing on his bottom lip nervously before asking in a voice that reminded Katie more of a little boy than a Time Force officer: "Can I see her?"

"She's asleep."

"That's okay," he answered, quickly.

So . . . I guess it is possible after all. "Yeah, I don't see why not," Katie agreed, "the regeneration process is almost through, she'll be good as new in a little while." She watched his eyes change, an earlier emotion of fear was instantly replaced by overwhelming relief, his shoulders sagged slightly, hardly noticeably; she smiled understandingly, reaching out to touch his bare shoulder. "Why don't you get some sleep first?"

"No," Alex said, "I-I want to see her."

He brushed by her and hurried down the hallway, ignoring her as she turned to watch him, he knew how it looked, and he didn't care anymore. Let the whole world know, he said, silently, there's no hiding it anymore. He finally reached the medical room and entered, searching the empty beds till he saw a figure lying in one, brown hair spread across the pillow, and delicate form beneath the white sheets; he caught his breath, taking a few, unsure steps toward her till he stood at her side.

He rested his hand on top of her's, using his other one to gently touch her bruised cheek, careful not to disturb her; in spite of himself, he felt hot tears burning behind his eyes, he had almost lost her . . . what would I do, is she was gone?

"God, Jennifer," he murmured, "you really scared the shit out of me." His fingers traced her soft lips, then down her throat . . . no, stop it. It isn't like that anymore. He pulled away, his hand trembling beyond his control, he couldn't stand it anymore, and he whirled away to leave---but was stopped immediately when he heard her sharp intake of breath.

"A-Alex?"

"Yes." He looked back over his shoulder. "I-I came to see how you were doing. You should get back to sleep now."

"No, I feel all right." She sat up unsteadily, raising her hand and rubbing her forehead tenderly. "Well, better than before anyway."

Alex turned completely and faced her, the moistness of his eyes alarmed her, and she swung her legs over one side of the bed, trying to joke: "What? Am I dying?"

"No . . . " he crossed his arms, something he had always done when he was trying to hide from someone. "It's nothing. Katie said you'll be fine."

"I figured," Jen said, "it'll take more than Frax to put me out of a fight." She smiled confidently, throwing her hair back behind her shoulders, Alex tried to return her smile with as much enthusiasm, but knew he was failing miserably.

"Jen, I---" he shook his head, suddenly at a loss for words.

"Alex . . . tell me what's wrong."

Don't make me tell you . . . please. You won't be able to face it. And neither can I. "I don't think it's such a good idea," he spoke, carefully, "for me to remain on this mission." He tried to ignore the expression that crossed over her face, one of confusion and shock. "I'm not an asset, more of a detriment. I don't have powers to protect me. And my earlier injuries make me more prone---"

"Alex, what are you talking about?" Jen demanded, sliding down and walking up to him, standing mere inches away. "You were the one left standing out there today, not me."

"But---"

"You're every bit the fighter you were as the Red Ranger," she continued, "that much hasn't changed about you."

"You're wrong," Alex said, "I can't help you."

"Well, maybe not," Jen admitted, "but it's definitely not because you can't fight as well. So what is it?" She looked up, her brown eyes meeting his blue, locking gazes with him. "Why won't you stay?" His silence was deafening, he broke their gaze, looking down at the floor, she pressed her lips together, gripping his broad shoulders. "Damn it, Alex, tell me! Why are you leaving me?" She froze, growing pale as his head snapped up and he looked at her again. "Us," she re-phrased, "why are you leaving us."

"Because I can't help you like this," Alex insisted, "I can't pretend anymore. And I don't want to."

"Pretend to be what?" Jen cried, "just tell me the truth for once, Alex! After so long I think you can give me that much."

"You won't accept the truth!" Alex said, louder than he'd intended, "because you don't want to hear it. And I wish to hell it wasn't the truth but I can't change it! Don't you get it, Jennifer? It was over for you but it wasn't for me! And it never will be!"

Her eyes widened as she realized what he was talking about, she took a step back from him, raising her hands as if to fend him off; he flinched, bringing his hand up but letting his fall to his side soon after. "So now you know," he whispered, "why I can't stay." He turned away again, walking to the door with no intention of looking or going back, but again she called out to him:

"Every day, I've thought of you. Every night, I dreamed of you." Her voice broke. "I can still remember holding you . . . and when you died in my arms, I felt it. You were too weak to go on and I couldn't give you the strength you needed. I blamed myself, and when you came back and . . . and rejected me, I-I thought you blamed me, too."

Alex held his breath, listening to her voice growing more and more unsteady and she poured out her most inner thoughts and feelings to him again.

"So I turned to another . . . to Wes. And I forgot how much you meant to me." Tears rolled down her cheeks now, and she wiped them away furiously. "But when we got home, it all came back to me, and there was nothing I could do. So I left the city . . . hell, I left the planet . . . just trying to forget you."

"And . . . " he asked the question as he looked back at her.

Jen took a deep breath, a chill running up her spine. "And I couldn't," she whispered.

Without another word, Alex hurried to her and took her in his strong arms, pressing his lips to her's with a force full of gentleness, her hands slid up his arms and around his back, pulling him nearer; they kissed till they were out of breath and forced to break away, staring at one another in disbelief.

"Jennifer . . . "

"Alex . . . "

They smiled together, this time both of them not hiding anything from the other, then kissed again, with more passion than before; Alex pushed her against the wall, pinning her between him and it, kissing her neck and shoulders. Jen moaned, running her fingers through his hair, she was growing hotter by the second, longing to feel him again, and he knew it; easily, he lifted her onto the bed, laying her on her back with gentleness he had never shown anyone else. He ran his the back of his hand down her body, over her breasts, her stomach, and lower; Jen gasped, sitting up to meet him again, pressing her hand to the back of his neck and pulling him down on top of her. With shaking hands, he slid her gown up above her hips as she gripped the waist of his loose pants and pulled them down, he closed his eyes, pressing his cheek to her breasts while she brought her hand down his tight abs and touched him.

He grabbed her waist, pulling her over so she lay over him, her legs straddling his hips, sweat showing through her pale dress; he grabbed the hem of it and lifted it over her shoulders, above her head, she tossed it aside, leaning down to kiss him again. Between their kisses, she paused long enough to look down at him and smile softly, murmuring so quietly he could barely hear her:

"Alex . . . "

"Yes . . . ?"

"You and me."

He grinned, his hands cupping her face as he kissed her forehead slowly. "Forever."

----------------------------

"He's tougher than before," Lucas commented, rubbing his aching shoulder gingerly. He looked across the room to where Katie and Trip sat side-by-side on the couch, the Yellow Ranger was carefully checking under the bandage Trip wore on his arm.

"We never had that much trouble with Frax," Trip said, recalling their encounters with the robot, "well, except for that one time . . . "

" . . . when Alex came to 'help us'," Katie continued for him, "that time he kicked our asses."

"He sure did." Lucas paused. "You said Alex went to check on Jen?"

Katie smiled, a light flickering in her dark eyes. "Yeah, he seemed pretty worried about her," she said, "I don't think I've ever seen anyone so worn out, either."

"Really?" Lucas raised his eyebrows in surprise. "So he's showing concern . . . " the expression on his face showed his surprise at that as well.

"He walked right by me to get to the infirmary," Katie told him, "he was definitely in a hurry to see her. Seemed upset about the whole thing."

"Do you think . . . ?" Trip began, but stopped uncertainly.

"I do," Katie replied, "Alex still has feelings for Jen. It's obvious."

"Well," Lucas said, "he wasn't the one who broke up with her. That was all Jen's decision." He remembered that day in the blue-cast room, gathering around Jen and watching as she handed Alex her ring and walked away . . . he never liked the former Red Ranger much, but somehow the heartbreak in Alex's eyes stayed with him. "He even seemed surprised when she did it."

"He didn't know," Katie said, "hell, even Wes didn't know till she finally told him right before we left!"

They fell silent at the mention of their former comrade's name, whom they so seldomed talked about, the pain that always came with it wasn't worth the memories; but with his name came back his face, and his voice, and the many times he had pulled them together as a family and stood up for them in troubled times. Even at the very end.

"God, I miss him," Katie muttered, folding her arms in frustration.

"I know," Trip sighed, "me, too."

Lucas frowned, reaching over to the table and grabbing the book he had placed there, avoiding the other Rangers' gazes and pouring himself into the story; Katie watched him for a second, then snickered something into Trip's ear and they both chuckled quietly, Lucas rolled his eyes and lowered the book. "What?" he demanded.

"Sorry," Trip laughed, "just didn't know you were so interested in reading Time Force Regulations & Procedures."

"'A Manual Written by General Cooper Drake'," Katie quoted in a deep, mocking voice.

Lucas tossed the thick book aside impatiently. "All right, all right," he said, "you got me, I guess. I miss him, too." He shook his head. "Sometimes it's still strange to think back on it all, you know? To remember when he was 'part of the team'."

"He'll always be part of the team," Katie said, firmly, "maybe not in flesh . . . but his presence is here." She lifted her wrist, touching the morpher gently. "We would've never become Rangers without him."

"Yeah," Trip said, smiling slowly: "Remember how Jen threw him on his back that day? He looked so surprised!"

Katie laughed. "I remember. And when she baked him those cookies?"

"I thought he was going to throw up in front of all of us," Lucas said.

"Jen used to climb up on the roof of the Tower," Katie reminisced, "and I remember Wes coming up to me wondering where she was. He was so scared to go up there after her, I didn't know he was afraid of heights till that day."

"He was so . . . annoying." Lucas smiled. "But he found his place and turned out to be okay."

"He sure did," Katie said, "in the end, he saved us all . . . who would've thought, huh? The spoiled son of a millionaire, over twenty-years-old and doing nothing with his life, wound up saving the world."

"In two millenias," Trip added.

The doors to the lounge swished open and Jen entered, wearing a comfortable pair of pajamas, her cheeks flushed and an uncharacteristic smile lighting her freckled face; the three stared at her for a moment, their eyes wide, mouths agape. The Pink Ranger stopped at the synthesizer, looking back at them: "What're you staring at?"

"N-Nothing," Trip stammered.

"At all," Lucas put in.

Katie rolled her eyes, standing and glaring at Jen teasingly. "What they mean," she said, "is that you look so . . . happy."

Jen shrugged, but her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red, she took the cup of coffee that had appeared and walked over to join them, saying as she sat down: "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure," Lucas said, slowly.

Katie raised one eyebrow slowly, deliberately: "Okay, Jen, we're all stumped. Just 'fess up and get it over with!"

While she spoke, the doors opened again and Alex walked in, a peaceful expression on his typically-serious face, he snatched a notebook from one of the shelves and went to the table; the Rangers watched as he wrote down his notes from the previous battles, then turned back to Jen, who was also watching Alex, and with a curious light in her eyes.

Suddenly, Trip smiled, his face visibly lighting up as if a realization had just dawned on him, Katie nudged him playfully: "What're you picking up on?"

"Well . . . " Trip flushed, "I didn't mean to, Jen, really. I just couldn't help but notice . . . " He trailed off, a mischievous grin still on his face; Lucas rolled his eyes, Katie sighed with impatience, Alex stood and joined them, now curious as well.

"Notice what?" he asked.

"Both of you," Trip said, "are so . . . happy. And calm. Like I told Jen, I really didn't mean to, just that sometimes I see or hear things out of nowhere . . . anyway, what I mean to say is . . . are you two . . . ?" he couldn't finish, ending awkwardly.

Alex's cheeks turned red and he folded his arms across his chest defensively while Jen sunk lower in her chair, Katie laughed: "No point in hiding it. Tell us what's going on!"

"Not that we can't already guess," Lucas added.

"Alex and I," Jen began, "are good friends. Again."

Alex couldn't hold it in, he let out a short, stifled chuckle, trying to cover as best as he could, but Jen further added to it with her own smile at him; Alex looked back at the Rangers, shrugging: "I guess you're right. Jennifer . . . and I . . . well, we, uh . . . " he frowned.

"What he's trying to say," Jen cut in, "is that . . . " She looked back at him as he watched her speak. "I love him."

Alex blinked quickly, his mouth opening slightly when he heard those three words come from her mouth, he took her hand, raising her from the chair and smiling: "And I love her."

Katie and Trip laughed aloud, Lucas shook his head, the first to be able to speak: "Well, it's about damn time! God, you two . . . "

"Everyone saw it coming," Katie chuckled.

Jen laughed, running her hand up the small of Alex's back and bringing it to rest on one of his broad shoulders, leaning her head on his arm; Alex slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her close as he said, more to her than to the others:

"Except us."

TBC