Chapter 13

Suddenly, she heard something in the bushes rustle. "Maddie? What the heck are you doing out here?" asked a voice. She turned around and saw Nick standing there. "Why did you leave, Maddie? I came back to Rootcore and I found Xander lying on the ground," he said angrily. "Is he okay?" she asked quickly. "Yeah, he's fine, no thanks to you," he snapped. She stood up. "Look, Nick I'm sorry," she said beginning to walk off. "Are you?" he asked challenging. She spun around, anger flashing in her eyes. "Yes, I'm sorry! I'm sorry that I'm not as perfect as you! I'm sorry that I'm not a leader, and I'm sorry that I'm not as good!" she yelled at him, coming towards him, making his back up against a rock wall. She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her arm. "Don't walk away from me," he said. "Let go of me!" she screamed, struggling to get free. "Maddie… I'm not going to hurt you, just stop," he said, trying to reassure her. She still struggled. "Let go, I can't… let go of me!" she yelled. He tried to calm her down, but she seamed so scared. She finally gave up trying to get away and Nick held her close and hugged her. "Maddie, what's wrong?" he asked. Maddie had started to cry now.

"Nick, everything's going wrong, I can't… I'm scared," she cried. He looked down at her and put his hands on her shoulders. "It's going to be okay," he told her. "I promise," he said. She looked up at him with scared eyes.

Nick looked at Madison. She looked so fragile and innocent. He could see the fear and sadness in her brown eyes. He didn't see the angry Madison any more, but a Madison he had never seen before. He saw the scared and unsure Madison. She suddenly reached up and wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him. He was completely surprised, but for some reason he kissed her back, and it wasn't because he was forced to, he actually wanted to…

Maddie didn't know why she had kissed Nick and she also didn't know how long it lasted, but when they broke apart, her cheeks flushed red. She looked totally confused, as if she wished the kiss had never happened. She began to back up, her brown eyes showing puzzlement and regret. Then she turned and ran away, leaving Nick standing there. "Maddie!" he called after her, but he didn't go after her.

Maddie stumbled back to Rootcore, and saw Chip with Xander. He was still asleep, and she wanted to see if he was okay, but Chip was probably angry too. Instead, she silently grabbed her bag and left. She walked to her house and went to her room. She felt so many emotions and mixed feelings. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

Someone suddenly knocked on the door. "Come in," she said. Her dad stepped into the room and he gave Madison a concerned look. "Sweet-heart, are you okay? You haven't exactly, well… been yourself lately," he said, putting his hand on his daughter's shoulder. She nodded. "I'm okay, dad," she said. "I just had a rough day," she explained, which wasn't all exactly a lie.

Her father nodded understandingly. "Well, if you ever need to talk about it, I'm here for you, sweat-heart," he dad said. She smiled and hugged her dad. Suddenly, she felt so safe and loved. She smiled once more to her dad and then he left. Closing her eyes, she thought about the kiss. No matter how hard she tried to deny it, she kind of did enjoy it a little bit. She couldn't hide the smile that was creeping onto her face either.

The next day, Maddie felt kind of awkward being around Nick, but after about three days, they both got used to it, but they didn't usually say much to each other. By then, Xander was awake and recovering well. Maddie and Xander were trying out new spells when Nick came up to them. "Hey," he greeted them both. "What's up?" said Xander. Maddie forced a small smile and said, "Hey."

"I was wondering if you could come and help me find Clare. She's out in the woods and she contacted Udonna saying that she needs help with something somewhere. Udonna told me to take one of the rangers," he explained. Xander stood. "Well, you've come to the right ranger. Not only am I charming, but I'm strong too," he said proudly. "Actually, I was asking Madison," he said. Her eyes lit up. Finally some real adventure! "Sure, let me just get my things," she said, and ran over to a tree stump and grabbed her morpher and her bag with her camera in it. "Must you take that everywhere?" he asked with a laugh. "Yes, I do," she said with a smile.

For a while, they both didn't say anything to each other. "Do you think we'll get Vida back soon?" she asked out of no where. Nick looked at her and saw Maddie's eyes begin to fill with sadness. "Yeah, I really do," he said reassuringly. She looked at him and he looked at her. She knew they were both thinking of the kiss. She instantly looked away. Nick wondered what to say, and he looked down. He quickened his pace and Maddie was right behind him… until she saw something. Tilting her head to one side, puzzled, she walked over to the thing that she saw. Nick looked over his shoulder and stopped when he saw Madison bending down to pick up the thing. "It's a doll," she said. Nick had a bad feeling about this. "Wait, Maddie, no!" he yelled, but she was already about to pick it up. He ran over to her and tried to move her out of the way, but it was too late. When she picked up the doll, a small net had sprung up. They were caught in a net… not to mention the net was really small and the two rangers were squashed and it was hard to move.

Authors Note: For all of you readers that have seen or watched the T.V. show called Lost on abc, I'm sorry for using or copying some of the same or similar details from the episodes 'What Kate Did' and 'S.O.S'