Jack and Z arrived back at the base, trying their best to piece together what had just happened within the last hour; a fight of epic proportions had erupted in a graveyard, Stella used Sky's morpher against him, the rest of the B Squad plowed down a small army's worth of Krybots, they caught the bad guy, and they were returning back to base with nothing more than a lack of energy to show for it. Somehow, it didn't feel like SPD triumphed. They were returning home without Sky. They were returning without any sort of morale. Z felt like crawling in bed and never coming out until Sky peeled the sheets off of her and started spewing some stupid textbook jargon about how she should be doing her job. Jack hated the fact that Sky wasn't bragging about how good he fought and how 'by the book' he managed to be as he stood annoying close to Jack. Jack had gotten used to it ever since Cruger had knocked him down a few pegs during his ego trip, and not hearing it left an eerie silence. They could only imagine how Syd, Stella and Bridge were taking it. They knew that the others were closer to Sky on varying degrees; they would take all of this much harder than Jack and Z were. The Command Center was cold and quiet as they walked in, just the two of them.

"Where are the others?" Cruger asked, puzzled. Jack placed the capture card on Cruger's desk silently, trying to avoid talking. "Why are you two the only ones here?"

Z avoided talking, because she knew that she would only start babbling and eventually collapse in a weeping heap. Jack walked to Z and dismissed her, then turned back to face Cruger.

"Where is Officer Delgado going?" Cruger demanded.

"Sir…I can offer a complete explanation if you give me the time."

"Take all the time you want. I want a full explanation for this." Cruger had lost his patience.

"Well, sir…Stella and Sky were fighting…and…she hit him really hard, sir…she said that the trip back here would be a waste of time…Bridge and Syd accompanied Stella to help with carrying Sky in…"

Cruger dismissed Jack as Jack's words began to trail off. "You and Officer Delgado may visit if you wish."

"Sure…" Jack mumbled as he walked out.

Back at the hospital, Syd was slowly crying herself to sleep. Stella's shield was perfect for Syd to cry on; it prevented the snot and tears from getting on Stella's already blood-soaked clothes, and it was solid, smooth, and immobile, which completely beat out a pillow as the prime object to squeeze in a tear-laden moment. After a while, Syd lulled herself to sleep in Stella's arms, and the nurses helped her set up a small sleeping area for Syd to sleep her sorrows off. Bridge decided to take a walk after the nurses took their jackets from them to help clean the blood off them; he wanted to clear his mind. Stella had to give up her pants as well, and the nurses gladly have her a pair of light blue slacks to replace them. She stood in the bathroom as she changed and washed the blood off of her body. She stared at her reflection in the mirror as she sloshed water on her cheeks. She found herself staring deep into the reflection of her eyes; she hoped she could see into her soul and find out what she was doing with the life her friends had given her. She took the morpher that was sitting on the sink and began to stare at it, wondering if she had done the right thing. She held back a laugh; she was sure that Sky would be ungrateful and as soon as he came to, he'd bark about everything she had done wrong. She felt worthless in her actions, unworthy to be in contact with the morpher in her hand. She felt like she had done the wrong thing, and that her mistake was going to cost Sky his life. She had dove pretty deep into him, after all. They had rushed him to the ER…what had she done? She slammed her fist against the mirror, cracking it slightly. She lied her head against one of the cracked lines in the mirror and began to cry. She wasn't aware that Bridge had been standing outside the door, picking up her thoughts unwillingly while waiting for her.

Bridge had then decided upon slinking down to the gift shop while waiting for his jacket. Stella needed some time alone and waiting for Syd to wake up would be a long time coming. He gained a sense of freedom and exploration as he roamed the hall; he had never been in Newtech City's hospital before; his father was a doctor and he was never far away from a diagnosis of what was ailing him. He gained solace in the fact that his training shirt seemed to be warding people off; people saw the SPD logo and automatically thought trouble was in the area. The gift shop was brightly lit and after he had been walking for about ten minutes, he was happy to see it. Bridge entered silently, making note of the soft tunes the floated around the store's interior.

After a few moments of browsing, Bridge found himself staring into a giant case of flowers from various galaxies. The first ones that caught his eyes were green ones that looked like ornately crafted glass butterflies. He had never seen them before, but he had seen them in his sleep during one of Stella's memories. The flower didn't wilt, but the petal detached and floated away in the breeze. It was one of several types of flowers he knew from her memories; she seemed to have a thing for remembering exotic flowers. Another flower that came to mind was the red-and-blue petalled flowers that resembled an overgrown rose. The first comparison that came to mind was Stella's toast whenever he saw them. It felt odd to Bridge to see something in real life for the first time and feel like he had already been in contact with it. He sighed, and eyed the price tags of the flowers.

"Can I help you?" A voice called out from behind him. Bridge turned around to see a young woman with long white hair and purple eyes; she looked incredibly familiar.

"Yeah. I'd like to buy some of these flowers for a friend."

The woman smiled. "Boy or girl?" She asked as she rummaged through a drawer for the keys to the flower case.

"Girl."

"Then I recommend the-"

"Green butterfly flowers?"

"How'd you-"

"I'm a psychic. I can read minds."

"I see." She opened the case silently, wary of the fact that he was SPD. "So, what's the lucky girl's name?"

"Corona." She stopped halfway through opening the case. "Or is it Stella? I can't remember…but she is a very sweet girl, nonetheless…"

"…I see."

"Would you happen to know her? She's my height, dirty blonde hair, radiant ice blue eyes, nice smile…"

"What do you want from me?" She said, slamming the case shut and turning to face him.

"Would you like to meet her? I'm sure she could use some old friends."

"What happened…?"

"She's just having a rough time."

"…Is that all you wanted?"

"No, I'd like those green flowers…oh! And a few pink carnations, too, but separate from the green ones."

"They're on me…lemme wrap them up for you." The woman said as she reopened the flower case. "Call me Floia."

"You'd be Omega, right?"

"Mhm." Floia smiled as she took the flowers out of the case. "So, how did you find out? Did you guys arrest her or something? What law did she break?"

"She was caught before my time, but she's been working for SPD as a mechanic. Her and I have apparently worked on several different projects on different levels. She's pretty good." Floia shut the case door and smiled.

"Yeah, she was rebuilding engines and building little scrap heap robots for us to smash when we were bored. We honed our skills because of her…"

"Yeah, she's really good. She's a better fighter than the rest of us. We've tried to convince her to be a Ranger, but she won't have it."

"Oh no…she always said that Nova would be a Ranger…she never wanted to be a hero." She walked back over to the cashier stand and began to wrap up the green flowers delicately in blue and pink papers. "She wanted to be the sidekick. She wanted to be alive in the end. She hated being on the front lines of anything. She loved watching Nova being in the front…" She tied a green bow around the green flowers, then went to work with the carnations. "I'm glad she's safe now…" She stopped and looked up. "Wait…is she okay…?"

"She's okay, but…" Bridge bit his lip.

"…Nova…?"

Bridge could do nothing but frown.

"No wonder she's distraught…here…" Floia went back to the case and took a few of the blue and red roses. "These're all on me, and you don't need to pay me back. You're SPD; you have the most infamous payroll in the galaxy." Bridge tried not to laugh; she was right after all. He was lucky that Floia was paying; he had been planning on how he was going to stretch the twenty bucks he had left for the week on both feeding himself and getting the flowers. Floia quickly wrapped up all of the flowers, handing Bridge the multi-colored bouquet. "Now, let's go bring these to the lucky people who're getting them."

Stella left the stall and handed the uniform to the nurse who was waiting. She had cut her hand on the mirror, so the nurse bandaged it up for her. Stella had to focus heavily on dropping her shield; she didn't want to have tests run on her at the moment like when she was young. She got up and smiled, noticing that Jack and Z were now in the waiting room. They noticed that she was wearing a white SPD training tee, and Jack snickered.

"Ah, a wolf in sheep's clothing." Jack joked.

"Yeah, really." Stella smiled, but it quickly turned to a frown as she stared at the doors. Jack and Z looked over and saw a woman standing at the door.

Her long, dark blonde hair was set in a bun; not a hair was outside of it. Her brown eyes seemed to gaze on into eternity, as they also had the quality eyes gained once life had been driven from the body entirely. Her long black dress suggested prudishness, but the warm smile she gave Jack and Z suggested otherwise.

"Ah, fresh faces in SPD. I see that they're welcoming all kinds of recruits these days. Good to hear." Her smile seemed to fade in and out.

Jack instantly took offense to her statement. "Excuse me? 'All kinds of recruits'? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means the Nazi's surprised that they didn't toss you into the boiler." Stella replied coldly.

The woman turned to face Stella. The tension in the air was almost palpable; the two obviously had a bitter history. "Oh. You're still alive." Stella gave a momentary look of defeat, but then stood up straight, as if to try and convey a sense of superiority.

"That's more than what I can say about your wonder boy who, by the way, let himself get captured."

The woman's eyes narrowed. "You're just like your father; arrogant, overconfident and always doing what benefited him best."

"And your son's just like his mother; rotten, begrudging, egotistical, self-centered, and demanding. What's your point?"

"I think we should leave." Jack said as he gave Z a worried look. Z mimicked his look and stood up. Stella held up her hand to them.

"You two don't have to leave. You can stay."

"Excuse me? You don't address a red ranger as if he is an equal. He outranks you! I'm fairly certain the yellow ranger outranks you too. You're overstepping your boundaries as usual."

"Well, it's good to see where Sky got that stupid shit from."

"Stella, it's okay. We should go and try to see where Bridge went anyways." Z said.

"Yeah, he could've gotten lost in here." Jack added with a nervous chuckle.

Both of them left abruptly, hoping to run into Bridge on the way around.

"You know what? I'm glad I'm like my father. At least I still have a brain that I use on my own."

"You're a fool! You stepped out of line numerous times! You ran away when you were only eight years old and you left me worried so much about you!"

"Worried, my ass. I was your freak! Your scapegoat! Your reason behind everything that was wrong! I am a freak of nature, and nobody can explain anything about me, and that makes me a demon to you! Don't pretend like that isn't the truth! At least Sky was able to hide how much of a freak he was. You hated me because I was, and still am, imperfect."

"I love you nonetheless."

"Bullshit." Stella commented as she glared at the poor woman. "You're a poor excuse for a mother. You didn't care for either of us after dad died, but you figured that you could make Sky replace him. You never cared how we felt. You never cared how I felt! You always stood up for Sky! You never stood up for me!"

"That's a lie! I did everything for both of you! How have you repaid me? You've run away from home, joined a band of intergalactic thieves, and attempted to kill my only son!"

Stella couldn't take it anymore. "Well at least I'm not an alcoholic, chain-smoking, blame-dodging, arrogant, self-centered, frigid bitch like you!"

The woman pulled back and swung at Stella's face with an open palm, only to slam against her shield and get shocked. Stella's face was filled with a seething rage held behind a stone-cold glare. She felt no remorse in the recoil.

The woman gave a hard glare. "You had better not be here tomorrow morning. I don't want to see you again."

"The feeling's mutual." Stella replied. The woman walked out, leaving Stella a chance to bite her lip and tear up.

Jack and Z had been hiding behind the pay phones, waiting for the fight to end. Bridge snuck up behind them and poked Z in the shoulder. She jumped and turned around. She spotted the flowers and blushed.

"Oh! Are those for me?" Z asked, taken aback.

"Actually, no. They're for Syd and Stella. I'm just wondering what you guys're doing out here hiding behind pay phones."

"Oh…there was a fight going on in the waiting room…I guess it's over…" Z replied as she watched the woman leave.

"I'll go see if everything's okay." Bridge said as he walked towards the waiting room entrance.

Stella was leaning against a wall, arms around her waists in a self-hug as she silently cried. She looked up at Bridge, who meekly walked up to her with the flowers. She sniffled and smiled weakly.

"Are these for me?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"You didn't have to."

"You're having a rough morning. The least I could do is try to make you smile a bit. I didn't do very good the first time, did I?"

"Sorry, but getting blood spattered all over you depletes the appetite." She joked. Bridge handed her the flowers, which she cradled in her arms like an infant. "Oh, these flowers…I love these…when I was galaxy surfing, I loved going to Domoria…these flowers grow beautifully there…Sky and I loved these blue and red ones…" She bit her lip, set the flowers down in the chair next to her, then wrapped her arms around his torso and squeezed, lying her head down on his shoulder. "I fucked everything up…"

"Listen, it's okay." Bridge said, gently holding her head with one hand and rubbing her back with the other. "There was no other choice."

"What if he's dead?" She muttered. Bridge couldn't think of a response. He didn't want to think of how to respond. "What if there's nothing they can do? Can everybody forgive me for what I've done?"

"I forgive you. There was nothing else you could have done. Mordom wouldn't have let go willingly; you had to put him in the situation you did. Sky would have done the same for you."

"He would've intentionally killed me to do it."

"No he wouldn't have."

"He hates me."

"No he doesn't. Why didn't he let Mordom kill you?"

"Because it wouldn't tarnished his good name. That's all he was taught to do…stay in line, keep the pace, be the best, never let anything compromise the good boy image…she wanted it from me too…I couldn't deliver. I wanted to live my own life…now I have nobody…" Bridge lifted her head up and gave her a look.

"You have SPD. You have Cruger, Kat, Boom, Syd, Jack, Z, and especially me. You have our undying gratitude and respect. You helped us in our hardest mission so far. If it wasn't for you-"

"If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened, and Sky wouldn't be lying in bed, barely limping along on the mere inches of life I left him in!"

"You did everything you could, Stella. Mordom wouldn't have come in within any other terms. You had to take Sky out."

"There had to be another way! There was another way!"

"What, then? I didn't see any other way! Sky was long past gone at the point of reasoning. Tell me how you did things wrong, and I'll say you're right."

"I…I don't know…I don't know anymore…"

"Well, I trust your decision. And I don't care what anybody else says."

Stella stared at Bridge, pondering if he had gone completely off his rocker. He smiled, and she realized that he had heard her; she forgot to silently think.

"So I'm crazy, huh?" Bridge asked. "I'm not surprised you think so too."

"I'm just worried…I mean…are you willing to go against your friends for me?"

"I took on Sky to save you, didn't I? I knew I didn't have a chance in that anyways." Bridge replied, never missing a beat.

"Listen…I…I know what this is…what happened before…"

"I know what you're going to say. Can you honestly believe it enough to believe that there was nothing behind it?"

"…I wanted to see what would happen. If I had another heart attack, I didn't care. If I died, Mordom would've gone away."

"No he wouldn't have. He wanted us all dead. I wanted me to kill everybody in SPD. He only wanted to use you. I couldn't let him get to you, because it would have been the end of us all."

Z sighed. "I wonder if they're doing okay…it's gotten quiet."

"Well then, go and check." Jack said. Z smiled and nodded, taking a walk towards the door.

Stella attempted to not think of anything, fearing that Bridge would hear her trying to convince herself that she shouldn't think he was being romantic. Of course, the panic backfired.

"Romantic? Me? You're funny. I'm very unromantic. In fact, most say I'm quite the chicken."

"But you…" Stella sighed. "You've not really been yourself then lately."

"I suppose you're right." Bridge said, with a frown. "I just…I just don't think it's fair for somebody so nice to have such a horrible life. You got the worst hand I've ever seen in the card game of life." Bridge smiled as the line Sky had used many years ago came to mind.

"What about you?"

Bridge pondered her statement for a moment. He then shook his head from side to side as if to dismiss a negative thought. "It could have been worse for me. Yeah, it's rough never having real contact with people, but it's better than none at all…" Bridge then noticed the lack of red light surrounding her; why was her shield down again? Had it gone down again? Better yet, why wasn't he hurting her? Stella looked down, seeing that her shield was, in fact, not working. She pulled away and became a bit worried.

"Why are you pulling away?"

"What if-"

"Oh enough of the 'what if's! It's not like you to question yourself!"

"You're right. It's more like you. You're being more like me."

Bridge realized that she was right; there was still lingering damage between them.

"This isn't good. We can't…" Stella sighed as she stopped herself from talking.

"We can't what? We can't touch?"

"What if there's another accident?"

"You didn't care before. You said it yourself." Stella smiled; she had called her bluff. "Besides, I have to admit that I enjoyed that moment in the infirmary, even though I was terrified." Bridge blushed a bit as he bit his lip.

"You two?" Stella replied, scratching the back of her head nervously.

"You thought my shirt smelled nice. It was nice to know that."

"I thought it was your aftershave."

"It was probably my sweat mixed with my cologne. I don't think I had shaved that morning…" Bridge ran his hand over his jawline, giving a disappointed look. "I could use a shave right now…"

"I think you look fine." Corona said. Bridge took a step forwards, making Corona take a step back, pinning her against the wall and the chair.

"Are you sure I look fine up close?"

"Yeah. You look perfect." Bridge smiled quickly, then stared straight into Stella's eyes.

"You wanna know what else I enjoyed?"

"What?"

"This." Bridge leaned in and softly pressed his lips against Stella's.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes; she half-expected this to be his response. She felt a little awkward; she hadn't expected Bridge to be so sneaky, but then again, nobody ever fully knew what he was thinking the majority of the time. He had wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her closer to him, and the only response she could think of was to wrap her arms around his neck.

Z was shocked by what she walked in on. Bridge…making a first move on Stella? Granted, she knew that Bridge liked Stella and all…but he made a move on her? It made no sense. She wasn't sure what to think; she felt a tad bit bitter, but she was happy that Bridge was happy. It was hard to be happy when you saw something you wanted being swiftly being taken away right in front of you. She looked down, then turned around and walked back to the group.

"So? What's going on?" Jack asked.

"He shut her up." She commented.

"Ah. Interesting." Jack replied. He knew something was up, but he decided to do nothing about it.

Bridge sighed as he broke away from the lip lock. A sense of bliss still ran through him, but a sense of fear howled in the back of his mind. He feared her reaction to his sudden emotional rush. He felt like he was taking advantage of her, but a part of him felt like it was the only way either of them were going to ever get the chance to have this kind of experience again. Stella leaned in and returned the kiss, letting her arms slide down to his waist, stopping softly on his hips. Bridge reached up with one arm and grabbed her shoulder from the back and pulled her back towards him. The world around them seemed to disappear for a moment, and it was just the two of them, experiencing life like neither of them could with anybody else. Stella pulled back suddenly, taking a breath.

"Cruger will chastise us…" Stella remarked as she let go and pushed him a step back.

"I know…but are we ever going to have this chance again?"

"It's best if we don't wait and see." Stella looked down and at the flowers. "They need some water." She quickly moved towards the chair.

"…Yeah." Bridge suddenly felt a million miles away from the situation. Jack walked in and smiled.

"So, how's everything in here?" He asked. Bridge didn't move as Stella walked by.

"Fine." He deadpanned, taking a seat in the seat where the flowers had once been. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, hoping that he could imitate an armadillo or a porcupine at the moment.

Stella walked out into the hallway, spotting Floia in the hallways. She gasped, making Floia look over at her.

"…Corona?" Floia asked.

"…Omega?" Corona said, shocked.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Stella nodded. "Wanna catch up in the waiting room?"

"…Sure." Stella was unsure if she wanted to go back in, but she thought it would be nice if she didn't have to hang around Bridge.

After nearly four hours of catching up on old times, Syd joined the pack and received her flowers. Syd thanked Bridge, but he didn't seem to notice. He seemed to be lost in his own little world. The nurses had returned with Syd's, Bridge's, and Stella's coats, all of whom quickly suited back up. After a few more hours and a small lunch from the nearby Chinese restaurant later, a doctor came in and looked around.

"Are you all here for Mr. Tate?"

They all nodded yes.

"Any family amongst you?"

Stella set her container of pork fried rice, stood up and walked to the doctor. The rest of the room stopped in shock; Syd nearly choked on her beef teriyaki, Z dropped her orange soda and stared, Jack gave a confused look, and Bridge sat, mouth gaping, his chopstick baring vegetable lo mein stopped a few centimeters below his mouth. "What's wrong?" Stella asked as she approached the doctor.

"Well, we managed to stabilized his breathing and heartbeat…but he has barely enough blood in his system and he's in a coma. He's taken massive muscle tissue damage" The doctor replied as son as Stella got close enough.

"Is there anything I can do for him?"

"Not much, I'm afraid."

"What's going to happen to him?"

"Well, the damage is severe…I'm afraid that if he hypothetically came out of the coma, he would spend at least several years in a wheelchair before we'd be able to sta-"

"NO!" Stella shouted as she swung her left arm back, as if attempting to throw the bad news aside. "I won't accept it!" Her death glare intimidated the doctor so much that the poor physician had to take a step back. Corona sighed deeply, and began to speak in a calmer tone. "If you need some blood, take it. If you need some bone tissue, take it. All I want is for my brother to get better and to be able to do his job. If you can't do that, then just kill him now, because I know he won't want to live."

"There's nothing we ca-"

"Bullshit! This is a hospital! You fix people in hospitals! We have the technology to cure cancers and to surgically repair limbs, but you can't make him walk?"

"I can see what we can do if you're really despera-"

"Don't you condescend me! I'd be willing to do whatever it takes!"

"Well, if you'd like, we can take some blood….but it'd have to be a good amount of it…"

"I don't care."

The doctor sighed. "Fine…come with me."

Stella followed the doctor out, and everybody went back to what they had been doing…except for Bridge. Z could guess exactly what he was thinking about; he had gone pale and hadn't moved a muscle at all.

"Earth to Bridge? Are you there?" Z said as she got up and got right in his face. She got no response, so she snapped her fingers. When she got the same lack of response, she smacked him upside his head. The rap was enough to knock him out of his trance.

"Huh?" He said. He then realized that he still had food in front of him, so he proceeded to continue scarfing it down.

"What's wrong?" Bridge refrained the urge to punch Z in the face for asking, so he continued digging away at the bowl.

"You okay there?" Z was attempting to be nice, but Bridge was doing nothing more than pushing her out. "Bridge, this isn't like you. I'm worried."

"Can't I just be hungry?" Bridge asked. Z got up and walked away; she wasn't going to beat anything out of him after today.