ZEDD
I wake slowly, more relaxed than I have been in a long time. Thomas stirs against me, but doesn't wake. My brain suddenly kicks into gear as he moves. He fell asleep almost fully dressed, but now- I shift slightly, cataloguing the sensations and realize that he's wearing nothing but his underwear. I grit my teeth against the moan I can feel building as well as the less than moral thoughts suddenly crossing my mind. How easy would it be to simply reach down and- "Damn it to hell." Grumbling softly to myself I try to slide out from under him before I let myself even think of such things, only to have him subconsciously protest my escape attempt. Wrapping himself around me fully I barely contain a groan of defeat as he frowns and wiggles closer. "Shh, Thomas. You're all right. I have to get up now and see what my guests are up to, you rest and I'll be back in a bit."
His grip tightens on me for a moment and then thankfully he releases me and rolls over. Swiftly, I get up and head for the bathroom. I lean on the edge of the sink and get myself under control, fighting the urge to return to the room and the bed. Finally, I do. I take care of morning business, get dressed and leave a peacefully sleeping former Ranger behind.
I enter the kitchen in time to hear Jason say, "But how do I tell him?"
"Tell who what?" I ask.
Jason and Dar exchange looks and Dar slides a stack of papers to me along with a cup of coffee. "Read those."
I read my way through the stack, irritation making me grit my teeth. What in all the hells was that woman thinking? Even if Thomas had been sleeping a lot, to see friendly faces - even for a few minutes - could have done him a world of good, never mind that many of them would have never have stood for him shutting them out. Particularly the man watching me intently as I read. "So what now?"
Dar speaks up. "Pina's already read them and we're all in agreement that he needs to know what happened. Jason's going to tell him, but I'll be there too. Hopefully, it'll keep things from getting too bad."
Still unsure about this, I ask, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"He needs to know that he wasn't actually abandoned," Jason said. "Hopefully, we can make him see that it was an honest mistake."
"I'm not sure how long you'll have to figure it out-" I tell them "-but he's still sleeping so that should buy you some time." I rise from the stool and head for the door. "I'm going to check on him and then maybe try and get some work done. Let me know if you or he need anything."
I head for my office, stopping by the bedroom on the way. Thomas is still asleep, brow furrowed, but apparently not in any real distress at the moment. Leaving him once more, I continue on to my office and am soon immersed in the work that has fallen behind.
I have no idea how long I've been working when there is a knock at the door. "Come in!"
Pina enters, frowning. "Where's Tommy? I thought he'd be with you."
I look up, startled. "I left him sleeping in bed. Is he not there?"
"I have no idea. I just know that he hasn't been down to the kitchen to eat or come to me for treatment yet."
I look at my watch and frown. It's almost noon and he's still sleeping? "Let's go see. I would have thought he'd have been up by now. Unless he's up and talking with Dar and Jason."
I rise from my desk as she says, "They haven't seen him yet either. That's why I came to you."
"I wouldn't worry too much just yet. He was rather exhausted from everything yesterday and he did seem to be sleeping rather well when I got up this morning. Besides if he was in any real trouble or distress I'd know due to the b-" Halfway across the room and halfway through my statement, I drop to my knees in pain. It feels like a spike through my head, but I know that the pain isn't mine. Pina's on her knees beside me. "Zedd?"
Forcing myself to my feet as I try and block the pain, I gasp out, "Thomas."
Together we make our way down the stairs. We meet Dar and Jason in the hallway near my room. "What's going on?" the former Red Ranger demands in much too loud of a voice for my current state of agony.
Holding my head, as I haven't been able to completely block the pain, I grit out, "Thomas."
Pina swiftly opens the bedroom door and we all go in. Thomas is still in bed, pillow over his head, whimpering in pain, but from all outward appearances seemingly unharmed. She swiftly crosses the room as I try to understand just what is wrong when he obviously isn't physically hurt. "Tommy, what's wrong?"
He whimpers again. His voice comes from under the pillow. "Migraine." A what?
"What? What's that?" she asks, clearly as puzzled as I am, though at least better able to focus than I can.
Jason answers her softly. "It's an extremely bad headache. He'll be sensitive to lights and sounds - sometimes smells if it's bad enough. Where's the bathroom?"
Dar points and Jason hurries over to it. He returns a minute later, a damp cloth in his hand. "Move, Pina. Dar, close the curtains, please."
She gets out of his way as Dar draws the curtains shut. Jason continues to talk softly. "Hang on, bro. I'm here."
As the curtains close, I can feel the pain ease slightly to a point where I can once more gain control over it. The three of us watch Jason curiously and intently. If this happens again after he leaves, we need to know how to handle it and not only for Thomas' sake. He quickly folds the cloth into a rectangular shape as he coaxes Thomas onto his back. He keeps his voice low as he speaks. He pulls the pillow away from Thomas' face, earning him another moan of pain and me another spike that drops me once more to my knees. It recedes immediately when Jason puts the damp cloth across Thomas' eyes and gently presses the ends to his temples.
"God, Jase. It hurts."
"I know, Tommy. How bad is it?"
"Nine." This response makes Jason wince himself.
Softly, Pina asks, "Pain scale?"
Jason nods. "One to ten - ten being the worst pain ever. The last one that I helped him deal with was only like a seven or so."
I can't help but ask, "When was that?"
"Later, please, Zedd." Later, easy for him to say considering he is not on the receiving end of this right now. I however would like to know how frequently I might be taken down by my brain wishing to explode out of my head. He returns his attention to the miserable young man on the bed. "How's your stomach?"
"Not good. Hungry, but I know nothing will stay down." There's a pause and then a low moan before he speaks again. "God, Zedd, I'm sorry. I can't even focus well enough to block this from you."
"Not your fault," I respond softly, taking my cue from Jason and Pina's lowered voices as I force myself to move to the bed sitting down beside him and glad for the washcloth covering his eyes and preventing him from seeing my less than relaxed expression. "At least Jason's helped you get it down to a point where I can control it on my side."
His voice weak but hopeful, he asks, "So you can't feel it?"
Wanting to lie and make him feel better I however know that one actual look at me would destroy any chance I'd have of him believing me. "I can, but nowhere near where it was when you woke up. Really it's only because you are so close to me location wise right now that I felt it so strongly at first. Once we get you better however I'll be perfectly fine." I turn to his best friend expectantly. "So what do we do now? How do we fix it?"
"There's really no fixing it, Zedd." At my rather unhappy look, he continues with a slight sigh. "What I mean is, it's not something that's that simple, it just has to run its course and once it does he'll be back to normal and I'll assume so will you. For right now though he needs dark and quiet - possibly more sleep. Do you have ginger tea or ginger ale?"
Pina and Dar both nod. Pina speaks first. "I keep ginger tea in the infirmary and the kitchen."
Jason turns his attention to Dar. "Would you get him a glass of ginger ale, then? Room temperature with a pinch of salt in it?" At the curious looks, he explains, "The salt will get rid of a lot of the carbonation and if it's cold, it can make his stomach cramp up. Right now room temperature or slightly warm are going to be the best for him. Hot tea later when it eases more and to settle his stomach so he can eat."
Pina asks, "What about his treatment?"
Before anyone else can speak, Thomas does. "Can you do it here, Pina? I still need it and I don't want to move."
"But, Tommy-"
"I already hurt more than I did when you gave me the shot yesterday. I don't want to fall behind because of this."
The four of us exchange looks until finally Jason says, "Just do it, Pina. It might hurt him, but stressing over it is going to make his migraine hang around longer." Longer? I know he said there was no instant fix, however that added statement is only adding to my concern.
"What's the usual duration?"
Jason shrugs. "There's no set amount of time because there's too many variables. I'll explain as much as I can - after we get him settled."
Laying my own head on the bed now and silently cursing, I wonder if despite the fact we can't fix Thomas right now, we might still be able to drug me up enough to let me pass out or function to some degree.
Dar, Pina and I all exchange looks before Pina shrugs and heads out of the room, along with Dar. A few minutes later, she returns with her scanner and the injection gun. Quickly, she does a scan before she climbs on the bed, moving me out of the way and kneeling near his head. Softly, she says, "Just like yesterday, Tommy. Who do you want to hold your hands?"
"Don't care. Just do it."
I move quickly and take one of his hands as I did yesterday as Jason takes the other. Quietly, I tell him, "Hold him firmly. He cannot move while she does this."
A minute later, it's done, however not without its own price to both of our already pain-laced heads. I can feel his added discomfort and can't help but be frustrated. Why does he always seem to be a glutton for punishment? Jason speaks again. "Just try and relax for a while, Tommy. Sleep if you can. We'll check on you in an hour or so."
Just then, Dar returns with a glass in hand. Jason takes it from him. "Can you sit up enough to have a few sips?"
"No."
"All right. I'll leave it on the nightstand for you."
Hesitantly, we all leave the room and head downstairs to the kitchen, meeting Andros on the way. He hands another info wafer to Pina. "I found some more bonding stuff that might help. It's kind of old, though."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."
As we settle in for lunch, I turn my attention to the young man seated next to me now that I can focus again thanks to Thomas finally seeming to have fallen asleep and granting me some reprieve from his pain. "Now, about these migraines?"
Jason sighs. "He doesn't have them often. Usually only after a severe head injury or when he's really stressed."
"When was the last time he had one?"
"As far as I know, right after he had to blow up the lab where he and Mercer were working. As I understand it, Mercer decided to use their research on himself which resulted in the evil that the current Rangers are now fighting." He looks thoughtful for a minute. "Well, that's the last time that I know of. Odds are, he probably would have had one after he found out that Mesogog survived the explosion."
Pina asks, "But that's not the one you helped him deal with, is it?"
The dark haired man shakes his head. "No. That time it was when Prince Gasket brainwashed him into thinking he was the King of the Machine Empire. Once the other Rangers and I broke the conditioning and we escaped, he had about a day before it hit."
I'm puzzled and, by the looks on some of the faces around me, I'm not the only one. "So why is it happening now? Weeks after the injury?"
Pina frowns. "I'm only guessing here, but I'd guess that the part of his brain that triggers this condition is part that was healed."
I roll my eyes. "Of course it is." I swear, nothing ever seems to go right for him. Irritating as this latest stroke of bad luck is, there's nothing that can really be done about it. Or is there? "Pina, can't you give him something for it?"
She thinks for several minutes. "I don't think so, Zedd. Anything I give him will only block the pain receptors for a short time and it might interfere with the other medication."
"Besides" Jason adds "anything that would be strong enough to block it would only put him to sleep. At least anything we've been able to try." At our questioning looks, he points out, "When he was an active Ranger and had these, he couldn't exactly go to a doctor and, apparently, Ranger healing doesn't do anything for it."
I'm startled when Andros speaks. "That makes no sense. The Ranger healing should be preventing them."
We all frown at this. Dar asks Jason, "When was the first one that you know of?"
"After Rita's spell making him evil was broken. I think he said at the time that he'd never had one before." And this did not set off warning bells with any of them?
"Maybe something about the spell she put on him caused it?" Dar suggests looking at me expectantly.
In spite of Goldar and Pina's long acquaintance with Rita, I'm much more familiar with magic than they are. Searching through my memory, I try and figure out which spell she might have put on him or the power coin that could have caused this reaction. Finally, I say, "I can't come up with any spell that should have this kind of a side effect, and I am assuming if it is something she caused that it is a side effect as even what I felt from it would render him useless from pain."
Pina frowns as well. "That predates her summoning me, but just barely. I have no idea what kind of a spell she would have used either."
Dar shrugs. "She did most of that in private, so I don't know either."
"What if she did the spell wrong?"
Everyone turns to Andros, stunned, though the more I think on it the more it does seem like a logical theory. "It makes sense," I admit. "Especially if it was a spell of her own design that wasn't fully thought out."
"Which is why my medical scans didn't show anything," Pina says. "If that's the case, it would require a magical scan."
Everyone turns to me. I sigh. "Yes, I can do it, but it can be very draining. Ideally, he needs to be back at baseline before I do it."
"If you don't want to deal with the pain in your head again I would advise you to suffer through the exhaustion of doing it this one time." Jason suggests reasonably, but also much to my annoyance.
"It's not just how exhausted I would be, it's also slightly complicated for other reasons."
"What other reasons? If it's about how you two are bonded or something to do with his dormant power-"
Cutting the former Ranger off with a negative headshake I continue, "It's nothing like that, it's…look, the magic channels better through my other form."
"Other form? What do you mean by- oh." Suddenly looking as if he understands, the human gives a slow nod. "You still have more power than you let on."
"Not so much when I'm like this, but with my staff and in that form that you are rather familiar with from your youth I can do more."
"You can't do it as you are now?" Believe me if I could I would.
"No, I don't have that kind of power like this. However changing into that form while helpful with boosting my power comes with the added complication of possibly upsetting Thomas."
"He remembers who we were," Pina reminds me, much to my annoyance. "I don't think that'll be an issue. And I know that baseline would be best, but if there is something there and you can do something about it, that would also return him to baseline."
"Not to mention fix the remaining pain you yourself are in from his current condition." Even Dar is against me, nice.
I sigh again, not really relishing the idea, but knowing they're right. "Let's finish lunch first. I'll need the energy."
