Whew! And here comes another chapter. I'm just on a roll, now. Sheesh! Even if Overdrive turns into a crap season and sucks from here on out, the one good thing I can say about it is that it finally got me to start writing again. This is crazy.

Right, so in case you haven't noticed, the little status bar on this fic says 'complete'. Well, it's said that since the first chapter, but there's actually a reason for it.

This fic is going to continue to stay as a series of connected one-shots, because I have this little problem of never finishing the things I start. As it stands right now, I don't have any current plans for this fic; I write when I get inspired, just as I've always done. If I officially make it a series, I'll feel like I must update, and then the chapters start sucking, and then I get uninspired, and then updates stop altogether. It's more of a psychological thing, but it's a good thing in the long run. Believe me.

This chapter takes place pretty much right after the episode 'Lights, Camera, DAX!'. You'll see what I mean after you start reading. This chapter also has kind of a more…cutesier feel than what I was originally was going for, but it got the point across, I suppose. I'm still trying to get down the feel for this type of genre, so excuse the weirdness. I tried to get their characters down as well as I could, but sometimes I failed. I'm human, guys. Sorry.

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If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. –Henry David Thoreau

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Afternoon Gatherings

Done!

Finally, finally done!

Rose couldn't help but sigh at the thought. She practically skipped as she made her way to the storage cabinet to put away the mops, sponges, and other materials she had been painstakingly tortured with in the past few hours.

Twenty-seven bathrooms. Who knew?

She had split the cleaning with Dax. They played rock-paper-scissors for the odd numbered bathroom and she, wonder of all wonders, was left with it. The other rangers tried to be sympathetic: Oh, what's one more bathroom to clean? It's only 14 of them, as opposed to the 13 you had to do already. No harm, right?

Oh, how wrong they were. Those bathrooms were huge!

…but it was over! Done! Finito!

Rose let a happy grin take over her face. She finished putting the cleaning equipment away, and walked toward the game room where she could hopefully find some human interaction. Sponges made bad friends, and she was desperate for someone to talk to.

She found her way up the stairs and into the game room, where she found Dax and Mack, sitting in relative silence opposite from each other on separate couches. Rose grinned as she walked through the door, the two not even noticing she was there.

She threw up in hands in excitement. "I'm finished!" She all but yelled the phrase.

Dax jumped, and Mack looked up at her with an amused grin and a raised eyebrow. She laughed and plopped on the floor, smiling like an idiot.

Dax just shook his head. Mack smirked and decided to tease her. "Took you long enough, Rose."

She glared at him and gave an animated humph, and the turned her head away from him in anger. It would've fooled him, save for the little smile she had at the corners of her mouth.

Dax, ever the buzz kill, decided to butt in. "He's got a point. I was done hours ago!"

The glare directed at Dax was real this time, but she eventually rolled her eyes and fell to her back, letting out an amused grunt when she hit the ground. But Dax was persistent. "Seriously though… why'd it take you so long?"

Rose shifted into a more comfortable position, spread eagled on the ground. She lifted her head up to answer Dax's question. "I'm a perfectionist. While that nifty little trait of mine is normally useful, sometimes it can be a real nuisance."

The blue ranger was sympathetic. "Like today?"

Rose gave another groan. "Most definitely like today. All I could think about was getting my work done, and I couldn't do anything because of those stupid bathrooms."

Dax raised an eyebrow. "Work?"

Rose tossed her hand flippantly into the air. "Yeah. Automatic repair software for the zords, megazord sequence formatting, hardware repairs," she let her hand fall with a sigh, "you know… the usual."

Mack smirked at her again and chuckled. "Dork."

Rose raised he head to retort, but Ronny decided to walk into the room at that very moment, patting her wet hair dry with a towel, and added to the conversation. "Hey, you guys! You know that a dork is actually a-"

"-we know!" Rose and Mack practically shouted and laughed out at the same time. Rose immediately forgot about her response to Mack's teasing so she could welcome their friend into the room, smiling all the while. Ronny just grinned to herself and sat herself on the couch next to Dax. "Fine, fine, I get it. No dirty whale jokes. You guys are no fun."

Mack shrugged, and Rose laughed at the silly conversation they had gotten themselves into. Dax looked around to the smiling rangers, obviously not comprehending the situation. "Waitaminute. A dork is a what?"

Ronny laughed out loud and Mack shook his head, keeping his laughter to himself. Rose was the only one who bothered to answer the blue ranger. "Don't worry about it, Dax. Whale anatomy isn't all that interesting, anyway."

Dax still looked a tad confused, but shrugged it off, opting to recline on the couch instead of listen to the other rangers babble on.

Mack looked around, noticing the missing member of their group. "Hey, any of you guys seen Will?"

Ronny looked over nonchalantly. "Yeah, he's upstairs getting dressed."

Rose looked up from her spot on the ground with raised eyebrows and a huge grin on her face. Mack, seeing Rose's look and immediately interpreting what it meant, attempted to hold in his laughter. Rose's grin turned into an evil smirk. "…and how, pray tell, did you grab hold of that little piece of information?"

Ronny looked confused for a second, before the meaning of Rose's question dawned on her. She frowned and gave Rose a surprised look. "Not like that, you sicko!"

She threw one of the couch pillows at Rose's form on the ground. "We were doing some weight resistance training and got all sweaty, so we had to take showers, is all."

Mack threw Ronny a look along with a raised eyebrow, and Ronny groaned. "You people are gross, you know that?" She shook her head and rolled her eyes, but she couldn't keep the smile off of her face from her friends' ridiculous antics.

Will walked into the room and sat down on the floor in front of the couch Mack was resting on. Dax, seeing the black ranger walk into the room, burst into laughter. It spread, and pretty soon Rose and Mack were laughing along with him, Will looked confused, and Ronny just rolled her eyes.

Will raised his eyebrows. "What's gotten into all of you?"

Ronny just shook her head, grinning from the infectious laughter in the room. "Don't mind them, Will. They're idiots."

Rose grabbed the pillow Ronny had thrown at her earlier and tossed it back to its sender, hitting Ronny squarely in the face. "Hey, I take offense to that!" Ronny huffed and Rose smiled.

Their laughter was cut short as Spencer walked into the room. "Sorry to inform all of you, but Mr. Hartford wishes for you to come downstairs. Food is being set at the table as we speak."

Dax looked up at Spencer questioningly. "Dinner, already? Who set the table? I thought that was my job tonight."

Spencer just smiled down at the blue ranger. "Ah, yes. Well, I figured you had enough torture today with cleaning those bathrooms. I did everything for you. Now, come on. The food will get cold!"

Rose smiled at the older man. "As always, you're the best, Spencer."

Spencer just grinned and made his way out of the room, motioning for the others to follow him. Ronny, Will and Dax followed, eager to get to dinner. Mack made his way to the spot Rose was occupying on the floor, and leaned over her. "You plan on getting up?"

Rose smiled. "Eventually. I'm still tired from that abysmal cleaning job earlier." She moved to get up, and Mack held out his hand to help her. She took it, and he pulled her up easily.

She smiled her secret little smile up at him, the one she used just for him when they were alone. Mack grinned back at her, and she moved to leave the room. Mack, however, had other ideas, and kept hold of her hand, gently pulling her back until she was leaned up against him. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and put his forehead to hers, staring straight into her eyes and smiling that damningly charming smile of his.

She smiled back at him, but her look held some confusion. "…Mack?"

He blinked and shook his head as if coming out of a trance, but the same smile was still on his face. "Later, after dinner…" he trailed off.

She looked up at him, and was surprised at what she saw. He was nervous! She couldn't help the huge grin that lit up her face.

Mack took the smile as encouragement and rephrased his question in his head, momentarily wondering if she would accept his offer. He continued on anyway, a small, awkward smile on his lips. "…spend the night with me, Rose."

She looked up, and smiled tenderly at hopeful look he was giving her. The decision was an easy one. "Of course."

His smile came easier now, and he bundled the smaller girl up in his arms, holding her close. Rose grabbed onto him just as tightly, taking comfort in his closeness.

Mack soon released his hold on the pink ranger with a small sigh. "We should probably head down to dinner, Rose."

She let out a breath of air and nodded her head. "Yeah."

Mack let go of her gently, but became amused when her arms, locked firmly around his waist, didn't loosen an inch. "Rose?"

She finally relaxed her grip on him and sighed. "I know, I know." She looked up at his smiling face.

He grabbed her small hands in his much larger ones, and brought them up to his face, kissing her knuckles. She smiled at the sweet gesture, even though she thought it was a bit silly.

Suddenly Mack laughed, breaking the quiet spell that had wrapped itself around the two. Rose frowned. "What's so darned funny this time?"

Mack smiled, holding up her fingers and inspecting the tips of them. "Your fingers are still pruney."

Rose ground loudly and pried her fingers out of his grip, sending him a look and then stalking off outside the door. Mack laughed outright and ran a bit to catch up with her in the hallway. "It's true!"

She laughed at him rolled her eyes. "It's official," Rose threw her hands up into the air in defeat, "I hate sponges!"

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Rose sat with her back against the wall, reading a large paperback novel. Dinner had ended hours before, and she had spent the remaining hours of the day catching up on her reading.

Soon enough, Spencer stopped by her open door, announcing lights out. She looked over at the clock on her nightstand, surprised at how fast the time had gone by.

"Rose?" Spencer had raised an eyebrow at her silence, and she gave him a grin.

"Thanks Spencer. Sorry, I'm just tired. I'll turn the lights off in a few." He nodded, and she heard his footsteps move a ways down the hall before stopping at another door and knocking.

She got up and closed her own door, thinking of ways she could waste time until it was time for her to sneak into Mack's room.

She decided that the first thing to do would be to put on her pajamas. She pulled out a pair of pink and white striped bottoms from her dresser, and then picked out a random white tanktop from her closet. As soon as she was done getting dressed, she sat on her bed, her toes playing with the plush carpet underneath her feet. She was at a loss at what to do next.

She heard Spencer making his rounds to the bedrooms across the hall, and reached over to turn off her light, sending her room into darkness. She plopped back onto her bed, dangling her legs off the side of it.

Since she had nothing to do, she contemplated her plan on getting into Mack's room unnoticed. As always, the thought of being alone with the red ranger made her skin tingle, and she felt herself smiling at the thought of curling up next to him.

She found it strange at how easy she could adjust to being alone with Mack. When ambling about she preferred being with a group, or just being alone. She wasn't very adept at one-on-one conversations, and would usually act awkwardly around people she didn't know. With Mack, it was an entirely different story, even from the beginning. It was easy to just relax around him. His comforting smile was all it took to calm her down.

She smiled, coming out of her daydream, and figured enough time had passed to allow her to slip around the mansion unnoticed. However, when she stepped out of her room, she saw Spencer sitting on a chair right across the wall from Ronny's room, reading a book. She cursed her bad luck.

The older man looked up. "Rose? What are you doing out of bed?"

She improvised. "Just going to get a glass of water, Spencer. I'll be back up in a minute."

As she walked down the two flights of stairs, she re-thought her plan. She didn't expect to see Spencer waiting outside their rooms, but the more she thought about it, the less surprised she was. Ronny and Will had been caught sneaking into each other's rooms more than once lately, and Mack's father had put a stop to that as fast as he possibly could. She didn't think that it was all that fair to make Spencer pay for the two ranger's bad deeds, but then again, she was a hypocrite. Who was she to chastise the two for sneaking into each other's rooms when she was planning on doing the same thing herself?

She smiled. Somehow, she didn't think Spencer really cared all that much if there was any 'unhealthy fraternizing' going on in the house. She had noticed that every time he spotted Mack and her together he would send the two of them a little mysterious little smile.

Frankly, it was unnerving. But she knew that if she was caught sneaking about, Spencer would send her to the chopping board. Orders were orders. Andrew Hartford was a stubborn man when it came down to it, and he would no doubt have her clean as many toilets as it took to get Mack out of her mind.

She shivered at the thought. Ugh, sponges.

Rose grabbed a glass of water, drank it, and headed back upstairs, a plan already formulated in her head. She walked past Spencer and went inside her room, but before she closed the door she turned herself invisible and walked right back out. The door slid shut behind her with a thud, and she saw Spencer look up and right through her, checking to see that she was safely tucked inside her room.

She snuck quietly past him, and when she turned around the corner into a new wing of the mansion she allowed herself a small laugh of victory. Oh, how she loved her genetic powers!

She snuck up to Mack's door and slipped the door open, thanking the powers of the universe that his room was on an opposite side of the house.

She had just barely slipped into the room and closed the door when a pair of arms caught her from behind. She let out a small yelp of surprise, but relaxed as she heard Mack's deep voice chuckle behind her.

Rose grabbed onto the arms that were so snugly fit around her and pulled him impossibly closer. She looked up and smiled. "Hi, you."

He grinned down at her and kissed the top of her forehead. Her smile grew wider. "Hmm," he raised an eyebrow in question, "what took you so long?"

She closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest. "Spencer's prowling the hallways again."

He voiced a sound of disapproval. "I wish Ronny and Will could be less obvious. They could use a lesson in subtlety." Rose nodded, almost imperceptibly. He went on, "Anyway, how'd you manage to get away?"

Rose laughed. "I think your dad made a mistake in messing with our genes. These new abilities are casing him a lot more problems than I think he even realizes."

He muttered a noise that was a half-laugh, half-purr. The sound of it reverberated in his chest and against her back, and sent goosebumps racing across her skin. She could practically feel him smiling. "Let's just keep it our little secret then, hmm?"

She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, burrowing her face in his chest. He smiled, and hugged her, simply reveling in the feel of her pressed up against him. He still had no idea what they were calling their relationship, but it struck him that he really didn't feel the need to give a name to what they were doing. He knew that she was fine just as they were; being together like this was more than enough. He smiled.

Rose, a stray thought catching up with her, laughed suddenly. Mack looked down at her, a questioning look written in his eyes.

Rose's laugh died down to a grin. "You know, Ronny would kill me if she knew I was using my powers to sneak into your room in the middle of the night."

Mack also laughed at the thought, "More like she'd kill for your powers. Just think of how jealous she'd be!" Rose grinned at the thought of the indignant face she knew Ronny would make if she were caught sneaking into Mack's room.

"It's probably a good thing I'm the one that got the power of invisibility. She'd be sneaking into Will's room every night, otherwise."

Mack looked down at her with a sly smile. "Isn't that exactly what you've been doing, Rose?"

She let her hands slide down from Mack's neck to settle, flat-palmed, on his chest. "If I recall correctly, you're the one who's been sneaking into my room, not the other way around."

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "Same difference."

She laughed, but halfway through it turned into a yawn. Mack's own laugh turned into a soft smile as he lifted up his hand and lightly stroked her cheek. "Tired, Rose?"

She yawned again and nodded her head, reveling in the feel of his soft hand against her skin. "Yeah, a bit."

Mack had begun to feel fatigue gnaw at his mind as well. "Well, I know a way to fix that."

Rose let out a small yelp as Mack suddenly picked her up, and carried her to the bed. He laughed as he threw her down onto the mattress, and she folded her arms across her chest, sending him a small glare.

Mack smiled down at her. "That hardly makes you look any more dignified, you know."

She rolled her eyes at him and patted the empty spot on the bed beside her. "Shut up and lay down, already."

He laughed, but did as he was told. "As the kind lady commands."

She curled up against his side and her speech was made inaudible by his shirt. "Hmph."

He let out a small smile and ran is hand through her hair, effectively quieting her muffled complaints. She sighed as he turned and wrapped his arms around her waist so he could bring her closer. He let out a soft sigh of his own. "Good night, Rose." She could hear the smile in his voice.

She grinned into his chest, breathing in his familiar scent before letting herself rest comfortably against him.

"Good night, Mack."