AN: I am so very sorry for the delay to this…I know I promised several reviewers that it would be released on the 14th/15th timeline, but work kept dragging me in…I'm sorry!! But here it is, and I'm working on the next installment.

By the way, the song that (somehow or other) inspired this was "Almost Lover" by A Fine Frenzy. Look her up…she's awesome!

Onto the story!!

Timeline: set a little after Katastrophe

Theme: Power

Power was an unusual thing, he mused, watching her sway gently to the music. Power meant so very many things…from the ability to rule, to a surge of energy from the morphing grid, to electricity to run their city. Power had almost ruined their day…Supreme Commander Birdie thought that by offering Power to Kat, she'd leave without a backward glance, leaving Space Patrol Delta, Earth Division to fall. He thought that by offering her the morpher, she'd come to their rescue like some dark angel, and would vanish back to the HeadQuarters, while the Rangers became baffled. He didn't count on the morphing grid.

All the Rangers knew the second someone else tapped into the grid. It was part of their abilities. And as they were learning, the longer they held on to the power, the more it infused their daily activities. He closed his eyes…his second in command was in the commons room, the genius was with Boom in Kat's lab, and the heart of their team was also in the commons. Once upon a time, new to the Red Power, that would have been all he could tell. But he now could forge further, telling that the Blue was secretly watching the Pink, whom was secretly watching the Blue. The Power hummed merrily…it liked seeing those colors together. The other colors it liked to see together was Pink and Red. But seeing as they were more compatible as friends, almost siblings than lovers, the Power was content to gently encourage the romance between them to blossom.

It also lit up his soulmate like a sun-bright afterimage. He didn't know if it was their bond or the Power, but he could almost hear the lyrics bleeding from her headphones as she undulated her body to the rhythm. He knew her spirit was soaring on the invisible waves of melody, and while the song was depressing and mourning the loss of a lover, it oddly perked her up, because she was sure and confident in the Power of their love.

It was unnerving, and more than a little scary, to let someone into his soul and life, but by now, they were so helplessly tangled together that it was impossible to tell where one started and the other stopped. He had given her a powerful tool, and valuable weapon, that would cut him to pieces if she had the whim to. And he knew that he held her leash, a very sweet and tender method to control her and tame her, if he had the heart to. But it was a mutual understanding that he had handed her the blade when he handed her his heart, and she in turn had relinquished her untamable, uncontrollable, wild spirit to quietly nestle with him. It was a very beautiful thing, he mused, to have such an unparalleled Power over someone, but no desire or need to use it.

But every reason in the world to protect it.