Disclaimer: Nope. Show ain't mine, and neither is the song.

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Do you feel like a man
when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

Unfortunately for Madison, the small "bump" in her and Ben's relationship seemed to happen again and again as time went on. For about two weeks after the first time he struck her, things were perfect between them. Madison actually believed that perhaps that one single night had just been a bad night for Ben and he had been dealing with stress. She felt loved and happy. He told her he loved her every day and would stop by the store with a single rose for her. Vida and the female customers would watch enviously as he'd pop up next to her as she worked and handed her a rose, kissing her cheek. They all would smile at the two and mutter or think about how they wished they had a boyfriend like that. Chip and Xander would watch on with amusement as Madison's face would light up and she'd throw her arms around Ben's neck, giving him a kiss when she accepted it. Nick, on the other hand, watched on with large amounts of jealousy.

But, after those two weeks, things seemed to change. Every time he got angry with her, he'd call her names and insult her, and some time after that, he brought in the violence. He'd pinch her arm, leaving a red welt on her skin, or he'd shove her, hit her, there had even been an occasion or two where he punched her on her back. She would cry and swear to herself she wouldn't let it happen again but then the next day he'd give her a gift, apologize and tell her he loved her. And she'd forgive him. As this went on, the others were starting to worry about Madison. Even Daggeron, Udonna and Clare were noticing a change. No one knew about what was happening. Madison would always come up with a lie if she was asked about any visible marks. Madison told herself there was no way she could tell anyone what was happening. The shame was too great. How could she, the Blue Mystic Force Ranger, let herself get beaten by just one man? She was supposed to be strong and powerful. But, every time Ben looked at her, that power seemed to almost drain out of her, leaving an invisible puddle at her feet.

At first, Ben's fits of rage were about his jealousy. He'd see her talking with her male friends or even a male customer and as soon as he got her alone, he'd make jealous demands and strike her. But then his anger seemed to expand to just the slightest of things. He was like a sensitive ticking time bomb chained to Madison's neck. She didn't know when or how he'd go off, but she couldn't seem to get away from him.

"Something's wrong with Madison," Vida said. It was a Friday night and Vida was practicing her incantations in Rootcore with Chip, Xander and Nick.

"Yeah," Chip said. He looked at Xander and Nick. "Has she been acting weird around you guys lately?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Xander asked.

"Well, the other night, I was out and I saw her and Ben in line at the movie theatre across the street. I called out to them as they were walking into the theatre and said hi but they didn't even look at me,"

"Well, maybe they didn't hear you," Vida shrugged.

"Maybe," Chip said. Xander shook his head.

"Now that you mention it, Maddie's been a little weird with me too," Xander said. "I talked to her in school yesterday and she barely looked at me."

"At least she's talking to you," Nick said. He looked down, trying to hide his sadness. "She hasn't said a word to me in over a week."

"She's probably getting into that whole overly together stage with Ben," Vida said. "I mean, he has been spending a lot of time in the store with her. I swear, one of these days, Toby's just going to hire him so he's at least doing something instead of just taking up space in the store."

"You're probably right," Chip said.

"Do you think they're……ya know…." Xander asked, his voice trailing off. The others looked at him.

"What? No, no way," Vida said, shaking her head. "She would've told me if she had," she said, knowing that her bond with her sister was strong.

"Who would've told you what?" Madison asked as she entered the wooded fortress. They all looked up to her. She walked over and took a seat next to her sister.

"Uh, mom," Vida blurted out, not wanting her sister to know they had just been talking about her. "I……had a bottle of hair dye in our room and I can't seem to find it…I'm just saying that mom would've told me if she had thrown it out or something,"

"Oh," Madison said as she opened up a book of spells and started reading.

"Maddie, what happened to your lip?" Xander asked. Madison kept her head down and idly touched her lower lip. She could feel a rough patch at the corner; she figured it must've looked blotchy and red to the others. She lifted her head slightly but kept her eyes on the table.

"Oh, its nothing. I just bit my lip by accident earlier," she said.

"You seem to be having a lot of accidents lately," Chip said. Madison lifted her eyes slightly, looking at Chip's chest. She gave a short laugh.

"Oh Chip, you've figured me out. I've been getting beat up for my lunch money everyday by some bully," she joked. She lowered her eyes again; afraid that they'd see that was but so far from the truth.

"You have?" Chip asked, astonished.

"Chip, she's joking," Xander laughed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nick asked. Madison didn't respond. She looked at her sister.

"I'm probably just….having low iron in my blood or something. Maybe that's making me just a little more klutzy.."

"Yeah," Vida said. "We can stop at the health food store later and get some vitamins," she offered. Madison nodded. She looked at the mark on her sister's lip. "You should really put something on that," she said. "My bag's in the other room. I've got some chap stick."

"Okay," Madison got up and left the room in search of her sister's things. Nick sighed once Madison was out of the room.

"See what I mean?" He asked.

"What?" Vida asked.

"I asked if she was okay and she just started talking to you," Nick replied.

"She probably just thought of the whole iron thing, jeez, quit being so sensitive," Vida replied. Nick rolled his eyes.

"Are you guys being totally clueless?" He asked. The other three looked at him.

"What?" Chip asked.

"Do I need to spell it out for you guys?" Nick huffed. He shook his head and leaned back, bringing his eyes onto Vida. "Was your sister having accidents like this before Ben came along?" Vida's eyes widened.

"What are you saying, Nick?" She asked.

"I think you know what I'm saying," Nick replied. Vida's eyes narrowed and she got up to her feet.

"You better hope I don't," she threatened.

"Whoa, V, calm down," Xander said, trying to play peacemaker.

"I'm just saying what you all are too blind to see," Nick shot back. This time all three of them glared at him.

"Excuse me?" Chip asked.

"My sister is not like that, Nick," Vida said. As she spoke, Madison was about to come back into the room but stopped when she heard them talking about her.

"Well, I've never known her to be accident prone," Nick retorted. "This is going on right in front of your face and you don't acknowledge it,"

"Whoa, listen, Biker Boy," Xander snapped. "We've all known Madison a lot longer than you have. Vida's right. She's too strong for that to happen to her. So maybe you should just get your head out of those little TV movies of the week and shut up." Madison leaned against the wall as shameful tears slid down her face. She quickly wiped them away with her fists and took a deep breath.

"You're just jealous that Madison's with Ben, you're just looking for an excuse to not like him," Vida said. Nick looked at her.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You know very well what that means," Vida said. "We've all seen the way you look at her. Admit it, you like her,"

"And so what if I do?" Nick blurted out without thinking.

"Look Nick, Madison's happy right now. If you have a thing for my sister, that's your issue. But that doesn't mean you can go on making up little stories in your head and making false assumptions. I swear Nick, if you do anything to mess this up for her, I'll-"

"Forget it," Nick huffed. "I'm out of here," he got up from the table to go get his things from the other room when he saw Madison walk into the room. "Maddie…" he breathed out, wondering she had heard all that.

"So, is that what you guys do when I'm not around? Talk about me and Ben?" Madison asked, looking at the four of them.

"No, of course not," Chip said.

"Because, I'm sure there's much more interesting topics of discussion out there," she snapped. She glared at Nick. "And you, how dare you say those things about Ben?" Nick sighed. Oh great, the first time she talks to me in over a week and she's mad at me. Nick got up and went over to her.

"I'm just worried about you," he said. "I care about you and-"

"Yeah, I can see that," she spat out. Great, she did hear that, Nick thought sarcastically.

"I-"

"You know, maybe you should just leave," Madison said. "Leave Rootcore, leave Briarwood." Nick stared at her with hurt-filled eyes upon hearing that. A part of Madison regretted those words, but another part just made her keep glaring at him. It's all his fault, she told herself. He's the one making Ben upset and making him jealous all the time. It's his fault. "Ben loves me," Madison went on to say. "He cares about me. If you cared about me at all you'd just butt out of my life!" She yelled, tears coming to her eyes again.

"What's going on here?" Came Daggeron's voice as he walked into the room with Udonna and Clare behind him.

"Nothing," Nick said, his eyes still trained on Madison. "I was just leaving," he walked past Madison and got his book bag from the other room. He paused before returning to the main room, standing back as wave after wave of sadness washed over him. He took a deep breath and walked back into the room, storming towards the door.

"Nick," Clare called after him. Nick ignored her and left.

"What was that all about?" Udonna asked.

"Nothing," Madison said as she took her seat next to Vida. Xander, Chip and Vida simply looked at her, all feeling a little surprised that she had said those things to Nick. Of course, they were all mad at him too….but neither of them felt enough anger to actually tell him to leave.

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Later on that night, the Rocca sisters were walking around the local health food store. Vida watched her sister as she walked ahead of her down the aisles. Nick's accusations of Ben earlier had originally filled the pink ranger with anger. How dare Nick say those things? It wasn't so much because of Ben, but Vida knew deep in her heart that Madison would never let herself be hurt like that. But, nonetheless, Nick's words had been successful in planting a seed of doubt in her mind. As the two sisters came across the vitamin aisle, Vida peered closely at her sister.

"Maddie," she said.

"Yeah?"

"You'd tell me if something was wrong, right?" She asked. Madison paused and looked at her sister.

"Is this about what Nick said?" She asked. "Vida, it's like you said. He's just making up stuff because he's jealous," she assured her.

"I…I know, I just……you'd tell me right?" Vida asked. Madison sighed.

"Yes," she said. "But there's nothing wrong, I swear." Vida smiled.

"Okay," she said. "Oh, here," she said as she found the iron supplements and handed a box to her sister.

"Thanks," she said. They went and paid for the item before going home.