Disclaimer: Buena Vista Entertainment owns the rights to Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. This story involves characters and concepts from PRLG.
Making Space
by Starhawk
It had started the day Mike tossed him a Quasar Saber, and it had stalled the night he put on one of his brother's shirts. One of his black shirts. Mike liked black, and Leo had thought it was appropriate.
The Power thought otherwise. Apparently it had been trying to let him know, in subtle and not so subtle ways, for the past two weeks. He just hadn't been listening. Who would have? Invisible forces didn't compel you to do inexplicable things, after all. Not if you were sane.
When Maya heard something through a window that looked out onto space, though, he listened when she said someone was in distress and they had to go help. It was Damon who explained that she couldn't possibly have heard anything through the vacuum of space--although Leo noticed that Kendrix kept her mouth shut about this. Kai just rolled his eyes, and somehow that bothered him more than anything.
Leo told them they were going. He told Damon that they could use the trip to test the Megaship's scanning capabilities, effectively making confirmation of Maya's hunch a matter of pride for the Green Ranger. He told Kendrix to turn her department over to her second for the day, because when Scorpius found them Kelly was going to need the experience. He told Kai that he could stay behind if he wanted to.
Kai had raised his eyebrows in surprise, but Leo didn't apologize. Maya was the only true heir of the Mirinoan Power, and if she said there was something they needed to do than they were going to do it. She hadn't asked for anything for herself. The least they could do was to do something she wanted for other people.
Or giant imprisoned animals. Tied to the Power, as it turned out, which explained why Maya could hear them. She could understand them, too, which none of the rest of them could and which turned out to be invaluable: not only in their rescue, but also in Leo's personal struggle with the highs and lows of Ranger energy.
"He says you're the wrong color," Maya reported, when the enormous red lion roared at him the moment he demorphed.
Leo had opened his mouth to explain that he wasn't supposed to be the Red Ranger, that whatever "color" he was probably didn't have anything to do with the Power, and also that they all needed to get off this planet before Scorpius sent more of those wasp things to recapture the Mirinoan beasts. Galactabeasts, Maya had called them. How anyone had ever trapped and held something so big was beyond him.
"It's not you," Maya corrected, before he could speak. "It's your... skin. Your clothing, I think he means." With an earnest look, she told him, "The lion thinks it should be red. Like him."
Looking around at the others, Leo found it difficult to counter this by pointing to his teammates. Kai's command uniform was blue and grey. Damon seemed to live in his green coveralls. Maya herself wore more yellow clothes than anything else. The only real exception to their Ranger color scheme was Kendrix's regulation science shirt, which was red and grey.
"Kendrix isn't wearing her color," he said aloud. Just to see what they would say.
The pinkest animal of the bunch--something he assumed was a tremendously overgrown wildcat, since that was Kendrix's animal spirit--made a chatty sound just as Kendrix held up her right wrist with a sheepish smile. The bracelets Maya and Jewel had made for her were revealed when her sleeve shifted. Even from here, he could see the pink strands that threaded through the hemp.
"The wildcat says she's the right color," Maya said, glancing from Kendrix to him. "It's just you that's cut off."
"Cut off?" Leo repeated. He tried not to let impatience seep into his voice, because he cared, he really did. He just didn't think they should ask for trouble by staying here any longer than they had to. Not to mention the fact that he felt like crap, and a more familiar environment would be welcome.
"Your color," she said slowly, as the lion roared at them. "He says it gives you a conduit to the Power... even when you're not morphed? Maybe that's what gives us our strength?"
"Are you saying that?" Kendrix whispered, when she paused. "Or is the lion?"
"I'm trying to understand what he means," Maya murmured. "His language is very different from ours."
Leo wondered suddenly if Maya could understand other animals too.
"Without your color," Maya continued, "the lion says the contrast between morphed and unmorphed is so great that it causes..." She hesitated, obviously struggling for words. "It makes you hurt."
"Headaches?" Kai interrupted.
"Fatigue?" Kendrix added.
"Withdrawal," Damon said.
They all looked at him.
He shrugged. "It's like a high, right? Morphing? It makes you super everything. It kind of makes sense that you'd have to come down from that eventually. Maybe wearing the color's like stepping down instead of going cold turkey."
"Can we talk about this later?" Leo wanted to know.
They didn't beat the mutant wasps off the planet. They did beat the backup hive ship out of orbit, though, and in the process they learned that the galactabeasts could survive in and apparently travel through the airless void of space. In return for their rescue, the mammoth animals wanted to lend their assistance on Terra Venture.
Leo tried not to think about what they might need to eat. Or where they would stay. This was not going to endear him to the environmental departments.
For the next few days, though, everyone on Terra Venture was too busy holding their collective breath to complain about their new shipmates. Had the Megaship made a clean getaway? Could Scorpius have tracked them back to the colony? What about the galactabeasts--he had found them once, could he do it again?
It was during that time that Leo decided to test the theory of color withdrawal. He had two red shirts: the long-sleeved one he'd been wearing his first day on Terra Venture, and a tank top that he'd brought along to work out in. The colony ship was almost uniformly warm, so he started wearing the tank top under the jacket Mike had gotten for him.
The fluctuations in his energy level evened out dramatically. He went from being alternately exhausted and hyperaware to... well, constantly hyperaware. Energized to the point of restlessness. He understood how Maya could train after doing field work all morning and afternoon, how Damon could spend all evening and part of the night on his Megaship project, even how Kendrix could cheerfully get up at five in the morning.
More than his newly reliable alertness, though, his life became increasingly interesting as a result of the lion's advice. Because Red wasn't just a color. It was an ability. He'd felt it that first day, under the shock, and it was back now: strong and knowing. He knew things about his teammates.
He knew that Damon was almost constantly preoccupied, even when he seemed to be giving someone his full attention. He knew that Kendrix was hiding something, and it wasn't something she was happy about. He knew that Maya, surprisingly, was coping with circumstances exactly as well as she seemed to be. And he knew that Kai, supercool and collected Kai who could handle anything that came his way... Kai was on the verge of a meltdown.
He was ready when Kai skipped lunch for the second day in a row: to go running, Kendrix said, with an expression that spoke to how incomprehensible she found this. Leo met him in the administration building, where he'd coaxed a couple of employees into telling him where Kai Chen was changing before and after his lunch break. Already in his sweats, he was leaning against the wall outside when Kai emerged, and Leo smiled at his double take.
"What are you doing here?" Kai demanded.
He shrugged innocently. "Kendrix mentioned you were running. I thought I'd join you."
"I'm not going for a little jog," Kai informed him. "I'm heading to the outer mall."
Leo's smile widened, because Kai thought he was hot stuff and he obviously wasn't used to being around people who were in his league. "Are you saying you don't think I can keep up?"
Kai rolled his eyes. "I'm saying that I don't plan on talking."
"Okay," Leo agreed easily. "I'll catch you when we get back, then."
Agreeing with Kai seemed to disarm him somehow, a fact that Leo had noticed early on and used to his advantage whenever possible. Kendrix was right: he really was too nice a guy to argue with someone who didn't argue back. So Leo made it a point to say "yes" instead of "no" around Kai whenever possible, and then just do whatever he wanted anyway.
Today, what he wanted was to find out what why Kai was making his Ranger danger sense tingle. No question, the Power thought the Blue Ranger was in trouble. But it wasn't very clear on why, and he had two weeks' worth of experience with how well the straightforward approach didn't work with Kai. He was pretty sure that just asking would get him stonewalled.
Instead, he ran. Kai wasn't kidding about the outer mall, either. The punishing pace did take them to the nearest edge of the green space that circled the city dome, and by the time the administration building loomed large in front of them again Leo was gasping for breath, muscles burning, and not tired at all. Which was interesting, considering that he'd been at work for the horticulture department since six, doing physical labor with Maya's field team in the forest dome.
Not tired at all. He remembered the sense of restlessness that had driven him out of bed this morning, and he wondered suddenly if Kai's entire job could be done from his duty station in the control tower. Kendrix seemed to be in and out of there all day long, but every time he'd gone to meet or contact Kai, he was always in Command.
"So," Leo panted, when they paused across the street from the administration building to stretch. "You run often?"
Kai gave him a look that he couldn't interpret, possibly because Kai was just as sweaty and out of breath and looked so approachable, so normal in his workout clothes that all Leo really wanted to say was, "You want to go again?" Except that that would be stupid. The look he'd get for that would be easy to understand. Not to mention that if they actually did cover that distance again, in the same amount of time, he probably wouldn't be able to breathe at all.
"No," Kai said at last, leaning back against the bench he was using to balance. "I hate running." There was a brief pause, and then he added, "Basic training sucked."
Leo was startled into laughing. It was hard, still panting as he was, but he got a sideways look and a half-smile out of Kai as he wheezed away. He gave up on pretending to stretch and just braced his elbows on the back of the bench. "Then why the hell are you doing it?" he managed, keeping Kai in his peripheral vision even as he let his head hang.
He could see Kai's hands move as he shrugged. "I figure it's a skill I'll need more now," Kai said dryly. "Some of those stingwingers are almost as scary my drill sergeant."
Stingwingers. He kept forgetting that name. He didn't miss the fact that Kai hadn't answered the question, either. Cute, yeah, but probably not the real reason. Still, he knew better than to ask again. Time for a different approach.
"Speaking of things that are more important now," Leo began, keeping his head down as he stretched his legs out behind him, "Medlab tells me Kendrix missed a routine physical yesterday."
He was deliberately not looking at Kai, but he sensed the sudden sharpening of his attention nonetheless. "Since when does Medlab report to you?" Kai wanted to know.
Leo lifted his head, squinting at the building across the street. "Apparently, since one of my Rangers decided she was too busy for a checkup."
"We're not your Rangers," Kai snapped.
"Medlab disagrees," Leo remarked, glancing over at him.
Kai's worried look vanished when he caught Leo's eye, and he folded his arms. "So talk to Kendrix."
Leo raised an eyebrow. He'd let the possessive go very quickly. Lifting his left wrist, he twisted it for the transmorpher and announced, "Kendrix, Leo." They'd adopted GSA radio conventions mostly for the sake of familiarity.
"Leo, Kendrix." Her voice came back almost immediately. "What's up?"
"Just wondering if you were planning to head back to the control tower after lunch," he said, looking at Kai again. "I wanted to talk to you about something."
"I'm already on my way!" she exclaimed. "I have to update the research log anyway. I'll meet you at the elevator?"
"Great," he told his morpher. "Kai and I will see you there."
"You could have told her what it's about," Kai said, when he lowered his wrist.
Leo acted as casual as he could, because something was definitely going on and as far as he could tell it involved both of them. "Does she need to be warned?" he asked.
Kai grimaced. "I just think it's polite."
"Look, if she's too busy, she's too busy," Leo told him. "There's nothing wrong with rescheduling a physical. I don't get why you're so defensive about it."
That was a mistake. And it was one that proved he had learned absolutely nothing about Kai, because of course the second Leo called him on it Kai clammed up. He didn't even bother to argue. He just turned away and started across the street, heading into the administration building without waiting to see if Leo would follow.
Leo closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten. Don't push him, he reminded himself. He took another deep breath, not even noticing that he could after an oxygen debt that should have taken more than two minutes to repay. He just walked around the building, deciding to wait outside and see who showed up first.
Kendrix arrived before Kai. She waved, and he waved back, grinning at her exuberance. She actually yelled "hi!" to him across the street, so he shouted back. Sometimes he thought she was in a better mood every time he saw her.
"Where's Kai?" she asked, when she got close enough to talk normally. "Did I take too long for him?"
"Nah." Leo smiled when she wrinkled her nose at his clothes. "He's inside changing."
"You guys really went running?" Kendrix shook her head, plucking at his damp tank top with mock-sorrow. "I thought this was just as excuse to chat him up."
"I've been warned that he doesn't like small talk," Leo reminded her. "I came prepared."
"Well, I guess you kept up," Kendrix said, smiling up at him. "That has to count for something, right?"
"You'd think," Leo agreed. "Especially since he does a mile in about thirty seconds."
Kendrix laughed. "That surprises me!" she exclaimed. "Since I don't think he's run once in all the time I've known him!"
"He hates it," Leo told her. "Which leads us to the question of why he's doing it on his lunch break."
She gave him a doubtful look. "Maybe he..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "I can't even finish that sentence, actually. Wants to get away? Wants to get in shape? Wants to prove his manliness? None of those make any sense."
"Wants to burn off some energy?" Leo suggested, wondering what she thought of his speculation. "Is it possible the Power's making him restless?"
Kendrix considered that. "That would explain a few things," she said slowly. "About me, I mean. And about Maya."
Leo wanted to hear the rest of that comment, but he was keeping an eye out for Kai and when he saw him step out of the building and look around for them he knew he'd run out of time. "Hey," he interrupted quickly. "I wanted to talk to you about that physical you skipped. Kai thinks it was rude of me not to tell you when I called."
Kendrix gave him an odd look, then glanced over her shoulder. When she saw Kai, she waved, but she didn't wait for him to wave back. Which of course he didn't. "How do you know about the physical, and what did Kai tell you?" she asked Leo quietly.
"Medlab contacted me and asked if I could order 'my Rangers' to stop by," he told her. "Kai didn't tell me anything. Not that I didn't ask," he admitted. "He got all pissy when I accused him of being defensive, and that's why I was waiting for you outside."
Kendrix's face lit up, and she caught his arm to lean in and whisper in his ear. "Oh, how cute," she cooed softly. "Your first lovers' quarrel."
His eyes widened in outrage as Kai joined them, giving Kendrix a suspicious look and effectively preventing Leo from protesting. Kendrix burst out laughing at his expression. "You're welcome!" she crowed. "That was priceless!"
Leo looked from Kai to Kendrix, not stupid enough to call her on it now but not quite man enough to let it go. "I would tell him what you just said," Leo informed her, "if I thought he would ever speak to me again."
"What?" Kai demanded, frowning. "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing," Kendrix said in a singsong. "I was just forgiving Leo for going behind my back with Medlab."
"Oh, yeah," Leo muttered. "Forgiving. That's exactly what that was."
"You could have let me know when they called you," Kendrix reminded him. "You told Kai first? What was that?"
"What, was it important?" he countered. "I just thought it was funny. What control do I have over your schedule? I told them you'd get to it when you got to it, and they should stop harassing science department heads when they have thousands of other colonists to get through."
There was no mistaking the look Kendrix and Kai exchanged. He didn't say anything, though, because Kai wouldn't tell him if he asked and Kendrix would probably tell him even if he didn't. So he waited--and while he was waiting, an elevator arrived. He hit the button to hold it once everyone had gotten out, and he gave the two of them an expectant look.
"Let's go," Kendrix said in response. "Kai has to report, and then I'll kick Kelly out of my office so we can talk."
"You have an office?" Leo asked, as they all got into the elevator and Kendrix told it where to go. "I didn't know that."
She grinned at him. "It's funny, isn't it? With the network, all you really need is a computer and maybe some bench space. But all the department heads have offices, and paperless colony or not I swear mine was full within a week."
"But you're never in it," Leo pointed out. "Are you?"
"Kelly uses it," Kendrix said with a shrug. "I think that's pretty common, actually. Only the department heads have bench space in SMART, and the science division doesn't have mandatory staggered shifts the way the military does. So when other members of the departments need to be in the control tower they tend to set up shop in our offices."
The control tower was a lot bigger than it looked from the ground, Leo mused. "That reminds me," he said aloud. "What does SMART mean? It's an acronym, right?"
"It's a state of being," Kendrix teased.
"It's the scientists' way of reminding us that the military doesn't govern Terra Venture," Kai interrupted.
"That's true," Kendrix agreed, not only taking the comment at face value but agreeing with it. "I think it kind of annoyed the science division that you called your half of the control tower 'Command.' You couldn't expect us to check in with 'Science HQ' when you're reporting to 'Command.'"
Leo glanced from one of them to the other, but Kai's face was blank and Kendrix just looked thoughtful. "Are you pulling my leg?" he asked.
It made Kendrix laugh. "No!" she exclaimed. "I'm completely serious! We had a brainstorming session with finalists and voting and everything!"
"And 'SMART' was the best they could come up with," Kai said dryly.
"It's more descriptive than 'Command,'" Kendrix replied, and the corner of Kai's mouth quirked up a little. "You have to admit."
"I don't," he said, but he was unmistakably amused.
"Science and math authority on research and technology," Kendrix added. "That's what 'SMART' stands for. Can you tell we came up with the acronym before we decided what it should stand for?"
"No," Leo said, surprised. "What is it again? Science and math--"
"Science and mathematics authority on research and technology," she repeated.
"Okay, maybe," he said, on hearing it again. He couldn't resist adding, "But it's no worse than 'Command.'"
"I didn't pick 'Command,'" Kai reminded them. "Kendrix, on the other hand, does bear some responsibility for 'SMART.' Tell him how the techs felt about you putting 'technology' in your acronym," he added, nodding at Leo.
Kendrix laughed. "Oh, they threatened to rename the engine rooms 'the BEST.' That's 'the best engineering and scientific team.'"
"Well, I guess that's fair," Leo said with a grin. "Did they?"
"They're too practical for that," Kai said. "If it's an engine room, they call it an engine room. They probably would have named the control tower 'the big impractical thing at the top of the dome that takes a long time to get to' and divided it into the military and science headquarters."
"I think they figure it keeps us out of the way," Kendrix confided, not seeming at all surprised by Kai's casual humor. "So we don't bother them as much."
"Too bad there aren't more walls between Command and SMART," Kai said mildly. "Then you wouldn't bother us as much."
"Too bad Command is so boring that all the senior officers feel the need to wander through SMART on their coffee break," Kendrix replied. "Like we don't have enough traffic already."
"Maybe if you moved some of the trees out, there would be more room for people," Kai suggested.
"Thus defeating the entire purpose of proto-experiments," Kendrix pointed out.
"You have greenhouses," Kai reminded her.
Leo watched them, surprised and entertained and a little envious because Kai wasn't that easy with anyone and Kendrix just took it for granted. She said Kai was sweet and sensitive and maybe he was, with her. But Leo hadn't seen him relax that way around anyone else.
"Right, Leo?" Kendrix was asking, and he blinked.
"Sorry?"
"How can you not eat?" she wanted to know. "No one's allowed to have food in Command. We'd pass out from hunger if we banned food from SMART."
"Which is weird," Leo said without thinking. "Because you figure if there's any place it's dangerous to be eating things, it's at a lab bench."
They both just looked at him, and he lifted one hand to rub the back of his neck. "I wasn't actually listening," he confessed. "Sorry."
"But you're right," Kendrix insisted, poking Kai in the side. "If it's safe for us to have food, why can't you? It's not like you're going to contaminate experiments, or contaminate the food, or something like that."
"Officers don't live in Command," Kai told her. "Not the way the department heads camp out in SMART. We don't need refrigerators and delivery service just to make it through a shift."
"You pull long shifts all the time," Kendrix protested.
"You have a cot in your office," Kai countered.
Leo grinned at that. "Really?"
Kendrix sighed. "I needed it for a time-lapse experiment! It was one time!"
"Kelly's used it before," Kai observed, leaning back against the side of the elevator.
"When they took the elevators offline and she volunteered to stay overnight," Kendrix finished. "That's totally different."
"I think," Leo said, as the elevator chimed its arrival, "you're both crazy."
The remark was mostly aimed at Kendrix, because she would find it funny, but Kai didn't seem offended. "But," Kendrix declared, pointing at Leo, "you're the Red Ranger!"
Kai straightened up as the elevator leveled out, and he was smirking right up until the doors started to slide open. "We win," he said under his breath, stepping past Leo to exit the elevator first.
Leo gave Kendrix a did you hear that? look as they went to follow, and she raised her eyebrows in return. Her small smile told him all he needed to know.
He waited by the door while she updated the research log, then followed her to a small room on what had to be the outside of the control tower. Her office had a window that looked out on the stars. It also had just as much stuff as she'd claimed, but it was packed in neatly enough that there would be room for three people to sit down.
"Nice view," he remarked, taking the seat nearest the door.
"I don't like it," Kendrix said, surprising him. She turned her chair away from the desk at the back of the room. "It makes me feel like it's night all the time. I think it confuses my internal clock."
"Then why is your desk..." Her desk was pushed up against the window, and he waved at it vaguely.
"Because I'm almost never at it," she said ruefully. "If I need something from the network, I get it from my bench in SMART. When I'm in here, I'm using pretty much anything except the computer. So it might as well take up space in front of the window."
"Blocking the view?" Leo suggested.
"At least a little," she admitted. "Kelly likes it, though, so that's something."
Kai arrived a moment later, and he came in and sat down without comment. Leo figured he'd been here before--he knew Kendrix had a cot, after all. A casual inspection had revealed no such thing, but maybe it was put away somewhere?
"Okay, so." Kendrix scooted her chair a little further from her desk. "Leo, I was going to tell you about this... I think probably all the Rangers should know."
"Okay," Leo echoed, glancing from her to Kai. Kai had no expression.
"I'm not too busy for a physical," she said with a sigh. "I just don't want one. It won't do me any good anyway."
Leo frowned, because that didn't sound good. "Why not?"
"I have chronic leukemia," Kendrix told him. "I was diagnosed two months before the GSA recruited me. They don't know, obviously, or they never would have let me on Terra Venture."
Leo stared at her. "How did you..." He trailed off. "Chronic leukemia?" he repeated at last. "What does that mean for you?"
"It's terminal," Kendrix said steadily. "They can treat it, but there's no cure."
"You seem healthy," he said, studying her. "Is that--do you have symptoms?"
"I had transfusions last year," she said, a look of pure distaste twisting her expression. "The side effects of that were worse than anything I've had from my disease. But they tell me I'll eventually start getting more tired, more obviously sick as it progresses."
"How long?"
Kendrix shook her head, glancing at Kai before looking back at him. "No one knows. I guess you can live with this thing a long time. Two years, ten, twenty... it really depends."
"Depends on what?" Leo wanted to know.
"Genetic factors, environmental influences, the effectiveness of the treatment..." She shrugged helplessly. "Becoming a Power Ranger? It probably depends on everything."
"Okay," he said slowly. He tugged at the hem of his shirt absently, not even realizing he was doing it until Kai glanced at him. Her voice was steady, but she was worried and upset and this wasn't as easy as she was trying to make it seem.
"Okay," Leo repeated, looking up at her again. He smiled. "So, just like the rest of us, huh? A few years or a few decades; who knows?"
Her shoulders slumped visibly, and she smiled back for the first time since they'd stepped into her office. "Do you know, that's just what Maya said. That no one has any guarantees."
He got up and went over to squeeze her shoulder, and she stood up as soon as he touched her. She felt small and fragile when he hugged her. She always had, though, and he reminded himself that she could throw him on the mats without even trying. There was no correlation between her size and her strength.
"Thanks," she murmured, and he hugged her a little tighter.
"So, Maya knows?" he asked as he let her go. "And Kai, apparently?"
"Kai, of course," she said, looking over at him. "And I told Maya last week. We're, um... we're kind of involved."
"Like I couldn't tell," Leo teased, chucking her on the shoulder. "But if you're going to announce it, congratulations."
"I'm not announcing it," she protested, a smile falling across her face. "I'm just telling you, that's why she knows. Jewel doesn't," she added, and the smile faded as quickly as it had come. "Not anyone else, either. And I'd like to keep it that way."
"Why don't you want a physical?" Leo asked, frowning. "I know it's not Earth, but there must be something Medlab can do. Are you on any... I mean, do you take anything, or--?"
She shook her head. "Just basic immune boosters and anti-inflammatories. Like I said, the treatment's worse than the disease. And Medlab can't do anything without a diagnosis, which they don't have."
"Why not?" Leo wanted to know. "Don't you at least want them to monitor you, so you know how you're doing?"
Kendrix and Kai exchanged glances again, but when Leo tried to intercept them Kai wouldn't meet his gaze. "They don't want cancer patients on Terra Venture," Kendrix said quietly. "My medical records are forged. If Medlab finds out, someone's going to get in trouble."
"You?" Leo guessed, because that wasn't what she'd implied.
"No." Kai spoke for the first time. "They'll know Kendrix couldn't have done it."
Okay. So Kai had done it. That wasn't at all what he'd expected from a senior military officer, but Kai had apparently made it his life's work to surprise Leo.
"Yes," Kendrix corrected. "They're my records, my responsibility. I'm the one who lied. I'm not going to take anyone else down with me."
"Kendrix," Kai said patiently. "They'll know. You couldn't have done it."
"Okay, look," Leo interrupted. "You can't go the entire mission without having a physical. It's not realistic and it's not safe. Will whatever you have even show up in a routine screening?"
Kendrix was nodding before he'd finished. "They'll do blood tests," she said. "My white blood cell counts are always high."
"Yeah, and?" Leo looked at her. "So they do more tests, they find out you have leukemia, they treat you the best they can. When they compare the tests with your records, will it be obvious they're forged? I mean, maybe you just... maybe you just got it, developed it, got sick, I don't know."
Kendrix was looking at Kai, a quick look from under her eyelashes that made it completely clear she didn't know.
"I don't know either," Kai muttered. He still wouldn't meet Leo's eyes. "I'm not a doctor."
Leo really didn't have time to count to ten right now. "You don't have to tell me what you did," he said, trying to sound calm about it. Like he cared which rules they'd broken. "Just tell me what Medlab's going to see when they look back at her records. Are they hers, with alterations, or are they somebody else's entirely?"
"They're hers," Kai said quickly. "Medlab has records of all her routine care. There's just a few things missing: blood tests, hospital admittance, transfusion therapy. None of that stuff will show up when they pull her file."
"What about the stuff you're on now?" Leo asked, looking back at Kendrix. "The... immune stuff, and everything?"
"Nutritional supplements and painkillers," she said, giving him an apologetic look. "It's not prescription."
"All right," he said, frowning. "So... I'm going to go talk to Medlab."
"Leo--" Kendrix looked torn. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Hey." He lost the frown, smiling deliberately at her. "They like me down there. I can make this work, okay?
"I haven't forgotten the free pass you got me my first day here," he added, shooting Kai a look. Finally Kai was looking back at him. "I'm not going to get anyone in trouble. Trust me."
"I do," Kendrix said, drawing his attention. She was smiling a little, but she still looked troubled. "Just... I knew what I was doing, okay? Don't let them drag anyone else into it."
"I'm not going to get anyone in trouble," Leo repeated firmly. "I'm going down there right now. I'll see you guys at training."
"Do you ever work?" Kai muttered. The teasing was half-hearted at best, but it was definitely teasing.
Leo smirked back at him. "Like keeping you guys in line isn't work."
"Like you know anything about being kept in line," Kai replied, surprising him.
"Well," Leo drawled, not taking his eyes off of him. "If my military officer would stop avoiding me and actually answer some questions for once, maybe he could change that."
Kai just smiled, somehow closer than he'd seemed in days yet still frustratingly distant. All he said was, "I doubt it."
He could practically hear Kendrix holding her breath, so he looked at her and she smiled innocently back at him. "Time to get back to work," she declared, stepping between them and into the doorway. The invitation to linger in her office was clear.
Kai didn't take it, though, so Leo followed them out into the hallway. Kendrix just shook her head, smiling fondly at them. Kai ignored her, but at least she was thinking about something else now, so Leo figured that at least one of them benefitted.
He stopped by his room to change, realized the downside of having to wash one of his two red shirts, and decided he might have to get some new ones eventually. In the meantime, he put on his red dress shirt and got directions to Medlab from a Terra Venture AI named "Ryan." He also got a quick review of "who's who" on the colony's medical roster, so that at least he would have some idea who he was talking to while he was there.
He went in with confidence. He deliberately asked for the intern who had called him yesterday, even though she didn't have any real authority as far as he could tell. He turned on the concern and the chagrin when they asked why he wanted to see her, and soon he had a small audience in the reception area. All to the good. The best way to keep a secret, in his experience, was to convince as many people as possible that you had nothing to hide.
Maybe it was the Ranger thing and maybe it was the crowd, but he saw Ali Carter within five minutes of arriving. She didn't seem quite as awed by his morpher as some of the others. He smiled sheepishly at her, giving her his best lost boy look, and explained that he'd talked to his Pink Ranger after she'd called him yesterday.
"She cancelled on purpose," he said apologetically. "She had this dream, and it kind of freaked her out. I think she's afraid that if she comes down here, it'll be true."
Ali looked confused, but she was listening. "What kind of dream?"
"Well," he said, shrugging like he was sorry to say something so obvious, "she's a Ranger, right? She's afraid it might be a premonition or something."
The deliberate confusion made Ali smile sympathetically. "No, I mean, what was the dream about?"
Leo gave her a worried look. "She dreamed she had cancer."
Ali's expression softened. "That's pretty unlikely," she assured him. "But even if it's true, it's no reason to worry. We can do all sorts of screenings here, and catching something this early would mean a wide range of treatment options."
"Really?" Leo tried to look hopeful. "She's really upset about this. I guess someone in her family had cancer, so..."
"Do you know what kind of cancer it was?" Ali wanted to know. "Which family member was it?"
"I'm not really sure," Leo said, shaking his head apologetically. Most people had a family member with some kind of cancer. "Sorry. You'd have to ask her."
"Will she come in for a physical?" Ali asked. "I can understand that she's upset, but the best thing to do would be for her to come in and let us take a look at her. That way if there's nothing wrong, she can stop worrying about it."
"And if there is?" He didn't have to pretend that he was bracing himself for the reply.
"If there is, it's better to know," Ali said with conviction. "Cancer isn't the end of the world. It's a treatable disease, completely curable in many cases and manageable in most others.
"Besides," she added, "she is a Ranger. On the off-chance that she actually is sick--and to be honest, I've never known a Ranger who was--she's going to get a huge boost in healing just from having a morpher."
He'd opened his mouth to reply when what she was saying really sank in, and he stared at her in surprise. "What did you just say?"
Ali looked at him like maybe she had misunderstood. "Rangers are very healthy?"
"Yeah, that," Leo said. "Why do you say that?"
"It's pretty commonly accepted that the Power takes care of its own," she said with a shrug. "It doesn't pick supersoldiers without giving them some advantages. Speed, strength, increased endurance, boosted immunity... fast healing."
"Commonly accepted where?" Leo wanted to know. "Medical school?"
He thought she almost blushed. "I didn't have time for medical school before we left. I'm just a biologist with pre-med leanings."
She was either genuinely flustered, or cutely avoiding the question. He turned on the charm, smiling at her like the blushing had totally worked. "How do you know so much about Rangers?" he asked curiously.
Ali smiled down at the floor, shrugging a little. "I guess you could say I know one of the Astro Rangers. I got to pick his brain a few times, anyway."
"Really?" Leo didn't know which question to ask first. "Which one? How do you know him?"
She lifted her gaze, studying him. "I feel like I should be able to tell you," she confessed. "Because so many of the Rangers know each other... But I can't." She shook her head as if to emphasize this.
"Hey, I understand," Leo said quickly. "The anonymity thing, that's a pretty good deal. Don't compromise it." Privately, he wasn't sure it was such a good deal, since he thought they were doing okay here on Terra Venture. But he wouldn't win her trust by saying so.
She smiled at him this time. "Maybe they'll come out this way sometime, and you'll get to meet them."
"You think?" He couldn't help grinning. "That'd be pretty cool."
"Yup," she agreed. "But in the meantime, you need to get your Pink Ranger over her fear of Medlab and down here for her monthly physical. Do you want me to reschedule her?"
"Is there any time when you could see her?" Leo wanted to know. "I mean, you personally? Do you even do physicals?"
"I was in the middle of one when I heard you were here," Ali said with a smile.
He pretended shame. "I'm sorry. I had no idea."
She giggled at his expression. "It's okay," she told him. "You'd be amazed how understanding people are when someone says the Red Ranger is asking for you."
He was taking a chance by stepping out of his role, but she seemed like someone who could appreciate it. "I find that people are more helpful when you ask for them by name," he confided.
Sure enough, she just nodded. "It makes us feel special, I guess. Like, hey, this person trusted me to get something done for them. I'd better do what I can."
"Does that mean you can do Kendrix's physical?" he asked hopefully.
Ali smiled. "Sure. Why don't you have her stop by during first shift sometime and ask for me at the front desk. Just not between one and two; I usually have my lunch break around then."
"Any other time?" Leo repeated. "Sometime between four-thirty and five today?"
"That's fine," she agreed. "She might have to wait a few minutes, but we squeeze in people for routine stuff all the time."
"What if it's not just routine?" he wanted to know.
"I'll get her family history during her physical," Ali promised. "We'll schedule any tests she wants then, and she can come back later this week."
"Great," he said, smiling happily at her. "We have training at three; I'll let her know. And I'll try to get her to come by Medlab afterwards."
"I'll be here until five," she told him.
"Thanks a lot." Leo gave her a wave on his way out, and her return smile came with a slight shake of her head. Kind of like a sister, he decided as he headed for the front desk to spread more goodwill and gratitude out there. That was what she made him think of. Ali wasn't in awe of him, but she was helpful, and as far as he was concerned that was even better.
They usually tried to save talking for after training--mostly because Kai got antsy if they stood around chatting for longer than five seconds--but today Leo waved everyone over to a corner of the training room as soon as he arrived. Everyone except Damon, who was later than he was. Kendrix looked anxious, Maya looked concerned, and Kai kind of looked like he could take on an army.
"No problem," Leo said, squeezing Kendrix's shoulder. No point in saying "hi" when everyone was waiting for the part that came next. "I met an intern named Ali Carter; she's going to do your physical today after training. She thinks you had a psychic Ranger dream about getting cancer."
Kendrix gave him a baffled look. "What?"
He shrugged. "I told her you're afraid to have a physical because you had a dream about getting cancer."
"A psychic dream?" Kai interrupted skeptically.
"I didn't say it was a psychic dream," Leo told him. "I just said, you know, Kendrix is a Power Ranger. Weird things happen. I implied it could be some kind of vision; I didn't say it was."
Kendrix actually smiled a little at this. "So they don't think I have cancer, they just think I'm crazy."
"They really don't think you have cancer," Leo agreed, with a grin for her mock-frown. "Get this, Ali knows one of the Astro Rangers. She wouldn't say which one, or who it is, but she says he told her Rangers don't get sick. Or if they do, they heal really fast. So maybe you'll get some kind of remission or something now."
Kendrix and Maya exchanged glances, but neither of them looked very surprised. "Kendrix has noticed an increase in her energy levels," Maya offered. "She says she used to feel fine most days, but now she feels fine all the time."
"Healthy," Kendrix added. "Normal. They told me I could be like that for years, but I wasn't--not the last few months. Now... I feel good again. It's a little weird."
"But good," Maya said with a smile.
"Definitely good," Leo agreed. "Do you want to--"
The door he'd come through a minute ago burst open and Damon jogged in, wearing his workout clothes and looking surprised to see them huddled together in the corner. "Sorry I'm late," he said, but the apology was clearly warring with his curiosity. "What's going on?"
"I was just going to say," Leo repeated, "do you want to tell Damon, or should I?"
"Tell me what?" Damon wanted to know, coming over to join their huddle. Maya and Kai shifted to let him in, and Kendrix caught Leo's eye. She nodded, which--when she started to talk--he guessed meant she had it covered.
"I have leukemia," she said, meeting Damon's gaze squarely. "I was diagnosed just before I joined the GSA. I faked my medical records to get onto Terra Venture."
Damon looked taken aback. He glanced around at the rest of them before frowning back at her. "Why? Medicine's better on Earth, right? Why would you want to come along on this crazy ride?"
"What's the point in postponing my death if I never do anything with my life?" Kendrix asked rhetorically. "I want Terra Venture to succeed. And I'm the best qualified ecologist the GSA could get for a one-way trip on an untested colony ship like this, so. Here I am."
Damon just shrugged. Decision made, apparently. "Well, we're sure lucky you're here," he said, like that was all there was to it. "You need anything? You know, anything we can do?"
"Leo's doing it," Kendrix said, smiling at him. "I was worried that Medlab would notice something when I went in for my physical, so Leo decided that telling them I was crazy was better than--"
"I didn't say you were crazy!" he protested. "I said you had a dream! Girls worry about their dreams all the time; it sounded perfectly normal!"
"Given your vast insight into the female psyche," Kai muttered, and Leo waited just long enough to be sure he wasn't going to finish that comment.
"Hey, charming gay guys are a woman's best friend," he told Kai. "If straight guys really wanted to score, they'd just pretend to be gay for a few days and then they'd learn all the secrets."
Kai folded his arms. "Did you just call yourself charming?"
"Did you just say you're gay?" Damon added.
"We are so not part of this conversation," Kendrix murmured to Maya.
Their training session sort of went downhill from there. Leo ended up apologizing to Kendrix for implying that she was crazy, which he hadn't done in the first place. Damon tried to bond with Kai over being the only two straight people on a mostly gay team, which didn't go well for either of them. And Maya never did get someone to explain to her why dreams weren't typically considered a valid foretelling of the future.
They eventually managed to do some swordwork, though. It probably wasn't the best choice to use weapons that responded to their mental focus when they were all distracted, but no one got hurt and Kai only managed to strike sparks against Leo's sword twice. Leo smirked at him both times, not because he wanted to die but because he knew he could handle the Blue Ranger. And Kai obviously needed to blow off some steam.
So much so that when Leo mentioned pick-up basketball in the locker room after training, Kai actually asked, "When?" Leo was very careful not to stop and stare at him.
"Between eight and ten," he said, pulling a clean red training jersey over his head. If the GSA supplied workout clothes, he didn't see why he couldn't borrow them to work out on his own time. "On the courts by the south side community center."
"I'm there," Damon declared. "I haven't played a real game since I got here. You going?"
"Yeah," he agreed, wondering if Ranger skills translated to basketball at all. "I think I will. Might get there a little early, though, warm up some. I haven't even been out to shoot hoops in months."
Damon scoffed. "It's pick-up. No one cares how good you are."
"Maybe not in your neighborhood," Leo said with a grin. "What about you, Kai? You coming?"
"Sure," he said, surprising Leo again. "Why not?"
Kai turned out to be pretty good, even if Damon and a girl from aquaculture put them both to shame. Damon took off after an hour or so, but he and Kai, the aquaculture girl, and a handful of other guys stayed until they turned the court lights off at ten. They played to five, they played to fifteen, they played HORSE and high ball and 'round the world--but mostly, they just played.
Not much opportunity for recreation in the first weeks after launch, Leo figured. Everyone seemed to be working long hours, picking up shifts on their off days, and generally getting no time to themselves. Given the chance to hang out and have a good time, they took it and didn't let go.
Even Kai, he thought, as everyone picked up abandoned clothing and extra balls in the sudden dimness of an unlit court. They said their good nights--or good morning, to one of the guys who was pulling the graveyard shift--and drifted away, some heading for surface housing and others for the GSA dormitories below. He and Kai fell into an easy silence as they made their way toward the nearest subway entrance, walking beneath a sky full of artificial stars.
"So," Leo said after a while, still watching the dark patches of sky in between the streetlights. "Why do the stars look funny?"
Kai had a grey sweatshirt draped over his shoulders, and he looked up when Leo asked. "Funny how?" he wondered. He sounded open and relaxed and that dangerous sense of someone about to boil over had gone away.
"Well, not..." Leo lifted one hand, like he could draw what he meant on the horizon. He tried, but it didn't make any sense. "They're not quite--" They weren't where he expected them to be. But he didn't want to say it, in case that was stupid. How did he know where the stars were supposed to be?
"They're Canadian," Kai said, like he had just figured out what Leo meant. "The constellations are Canadian."
Wow. That actually made less sense than whatever he hadn't been able to find the words for before. He looked over at Kai, but Kai was staring up at the "sky" now too, using one hand to shield his eyes from the lights as they passed. "What?" Leo asked.
"The dawn-dusk cycles and environmental temperatures are based on a pacific northwest climate," Kai said, squinting away from a streetlight. "But there's no real reason the stars have to match. The relocation experts say kids need familiarity the most, and a slight majority of the kids are Canadian, so... the astronomers got together and designed a night sky for them."
Leo considered that. He couldn't really get his mind around the designer aspects of what felt like a perfectly natural environment, weird edge of the outer mall and dome connectors excluded, so he focused on the more understandable anomaly. "Most of the kids are Canadian?" he repeated.
This got him a smile from Kai, which he figured meant it was obvious how little of that explanation he'd understood. "Most of the colonists are actually from the United States," Kai said. "But it turns out the Canadians are more likely to have kids, I guess."
Or they were more likely to stay with them, Leo thought, but he didn't say it.
"Are they--" He paused between the lights, trying to figure out exactly what it was. He didn't really know anything about constellations. He just knew that when he looked up, the sky seemed a little off. "What's the difference?" he asked at last.
Kai stopped beside him, following his gaze. "About ten degrees latitude."
Like that meant anything to him. He looked at Kai, and Kai glanced back at him. "The north star's a little higher," he offered, without Leo having to ask again. "That's really the only thing you'd notice; it's not that big a difference. I'm surprised you can tell at all."
"Huh." Leo looked up again, but, ten degrees of difference or not, he still couldn't point to any one thing that was off. "Guess maybe it does matter."
"I guess." They were walking again, not very quickly, when Kai wondered aloud, "Did you stargaze a lot, back on Earth?"
Leo started to shake his head, then stopped in his tracks and stared at Kai's back. Kai paused a moment later, turning around to face him, and Leo tried to keep from smiling because he really shouldn't say it but it was too late now. "Kai... are you making small talk?"
Kai adjusted his grip on his sweatshirt, shrugging slightly. "In small talk, the answers don't matter. I want to know, so. No. I'm asking you a question."
He lost the battle with his smile. "No," he said, starting to walk again. Kai paced beside him, casual sweatshirt and messy hair and questions about stargazing... no sign of the officer who haunted Command from nine to five. "I mean, not in the way that I know anything about stars or constellations or whatever.
"I guess I did spend kind of a lot of time staring at the sky, though," he admitted. "Cause Mike was with NASA, you know? I always wondered if he'd be up there someday... where he might go, what he'd do... if he'd..."
Remember me, he thought.
He couldn't say it.
"So he didn't make you learn anything about the sky?" Kai asked. Uncertain, but maybe a little teasing... gentle. He was gentle about it, and it eased the lump in Leo's throat.
"Nah." He swallowed, trying to get his smile back and finding it much harder than he'd wanted. "He spent most of his time trying to keep me out of the army, not encouraging me to apply for NASA."
"The army?" He felt Kai's hand on his shoulder, the gentle pressure belying the intent behind his words. "I can't imagine you taking orders, Leo."
That did make him smile again, and now he could shake his head at something that had seemed so reasonable at the time. "Nine eleven, you know? Everyone wanted to do something. I wanted to join the army."
"But you didn't," Kai said with certainty, the hand falling away from his shoulder.
Leo let out a breath, shaking his head again. "I was still in high school. Mike spent two years convincing me that the best way to serve the country was to protect our own borders, not invade someone else's."
Kai made a sound.
Leo glanced at him, and Kai caught his eye briefly. Clearing his throat, he muttered, "I was Air National Guard before the GSA. The one twenty-ninth. I met Mike at Moffett."
"Oh, yeah." He could smile at that. "NASA Ames. Between NASADA and the GSA. He used to give me patches from everywhere he worked," he explained. "Even--" He waved, trying not to think about it too much. "Even Terra Venture."
"The perfect big brother?" Kai suggested, with an odd sort of softness.
"Yeah," Leo agreed. "No question."
Neither of them said anything until they reached the subway entrance, and finally Kai remarked, "You didn't join the guard either, though."
Leo had gotten it together enough to be amused by then. "You're really sure I can't follow orders, aren't you."
"Yes," Kai said without apology.
He decided not to push it. "Mike wanted me in the guard to keep me out of Afghanistan," he said. "By the time I graduated we were in Iraq, and even the guard was shipping out."
Kai was quiet. They weren't the only ones in the station, but they found an empty bench and sat down to wait. Leo craned his neck around to check the schedule board, just for something to do. A couple of minutes, maybe. The subways on Terra Venture didn't have a lot of ground to cover.
"I joined to help people," Kai said after a moment. "I grew up in Angel Grove, where it was one monster attack after another. It was always the guard that cleaned up the mess: rescued the civilians, put out the fires, rebuilt the city... that kind of thing."
Leo thought he had more than one patch from Moffett, actually. "The one twenty-ninth," he said, taking a chance. "That's the rescue wing, isn't it?"
Kai just nodded like everyone knew that. "Yeah. It was... well. It paid for college."
"You went to college?" Leo didn't know why that surprised him.
If Kai took offense, he didn't show it. "Kendrix and I were in the same class at AGU. We graduated a month after 'Shock and Awe'." He tugged on the arms of his sweatshirt as he leaned back against the bench. "She went to Blue Bay Harbor to do graduate work, and I stayed at Moffett."
Leo didn't know what to say to that. He wanted to ask if Kai had gone, if he'd been sent overseas. If he'd gotten into the GSA right away, or if he'd done a tour first. If the guys in his wing had gone without him or not. If they had come back.
He couldn't find the words.
"Most of us did basic at Lackland," Kai said suddenly. "We used to joke that we couldn't be drafted, you know? Because we'd already done it to ourselves."
Leo tried to smile.
Kai sat up, less comfortable, much quieter. "I didn't really want to leave Earth," he said softly. "I'm not a big explorer. Not like Mike was. But I wasn't going to kill people, either. Not over a few fanatics and a tragedy that fighting won't fix."
He'd known as soon as Kai mentioned college that he was older than he looked. The more he talked, the older he sounded. But never during their conversation had Leo felt as young as he did now.
"When the GSA offered me a way out," Kai said quietly, "I took it." Leo looked over at him, and he thought he could see the slightest lightening of his expression around his eyes as he said, "It's not the guard. But then again, it's not the guard."
"Are you sorry?" Leo blurted out. "I mean--that you came?"
Kai looked away, distracted by a little boy with a balloon or maybe just staring down the rail. "Two weeks in?" he asked the air in front of him. "I haven't had time to regret anything yet."
Leo waited, but maybe it was his turn to step up. "Did you leave anyone behind on Earth?" he asked carefully, wondering if that was as ridiculous a question as it sounded. "I mean, family, or anything?"
Kai was definitely watching the little boy. "Friends. Not family. At least, not family that will miss me."
Leo glanced at him just as the subway came rushing in, as loud as it was quiet with its massive displacement of air and the ensuing flow of people both on and off. They got on, sitting alone in the front of a mostly empty car, and Leo wondered if it was appropriate to ask again. This was Kai, so. Probably not.
"What about you?" Kai asked, quiet even as the white noise of the train's departure muffled sound all around them. "Do you have... other family, on Earth?"
"My mom," Leo said. Not small talk, Kai had said, where the answers don't matter. No making it up as he went, then. Just the truth. "My dad, I guess. Wherever he is. And Mom's new family, if you count them."
"Divorced?" Kai asked, keeping his voice so quiet that Leo had to move a little closer to hear him. Like he cared if anyone else was listening.
He lowered his voice anyway, because Kai had. "Never married. Until she met Frank, anyway. Widower, two kids. Daughters."
Kai didn't have anything to say to that.
"Why won't they miss you?" Leo asked, after the first two stops had come and gone. Theirs was next. And it wasn't small talk if he really wanted to know.
Kai didn't look at him. "I'm an only child," he told the floor. "I was supposed to go to school, become a doctor or a lawyer... get married." He shook his head a little. "Have a baby boy to carry on the family name."
Oh. Leo tried to process that. It was hard to get his mind around the idea that Kai, military Kai with his college degree, could be a disappointment to anyone. Let alone his own family. His parents. "Really?"
"Well," Kai said, lifting his gaze to the empty seat opposite him. "I went to school."
When he didn't say anything else, Leo glanced at him again. "It's a little early for the rest of it, isn't it?"
Kai didn't move. "I'm twenty-five. My parents were married when they were nineteen. So, according to them, no. It's not."
Oh. It wasn't his career they disapproved of, then. He wanted to say something, to be reassuring, to be funny, to be right or helpful or anything but silent. But he wanted to say the wrong something less. And he was afraid that that was exactly what would come out.
They went down instead of up when they got off of the subway, heading into the dorms. Still silent... because what was there to say? "I'm glad you came"? "I wish there was anything about my life that's as noble as yours"? "You're better than I thought you'd be at basketball"?
..."You look really cute with that sweatshirt over your shoulders"?
"How many of those training jerseys did you swipe?" Kai asked, pausing outside Leo's door. Hey. He'd been walked home. That was kind of funny.
"Do you want to come in?" Leo blurted out. "I mean, you know--just for a minute? Have some coffee or something?"
Kai was giving him an odd look. "Do you have coffee?"
Leo blinked. "No," he admitted, feeling a little ridiculous. "But I have really good-tasting water."
Weirdly, it made Kai smile. "I could use something to drink."
Really? He hadn't been expecting that at all. Only after he'd let Kai in, retrieved a couple of standard issue glasses, and poured water into both of them, did he realize that he'd actually asked something totally different out there in the hall. "Training jerseys?" Leo repeated, handing a glass to Kai.
Kai used it to gesture at Leo's clothes. "How many did you swipe?" he repeated, lifting the glass to gulp half of it down at once.
"Just this one," Leo said, looking down automatically. "And I'm going to bring it back. I just don't have that many red shirts, so I thought..."
"So grab a few more," Kai interrupted. "Jerseys. It's not like they're in high demand. And they don't do anyone any good sitting in the locker room."
"Yeah?" Leo gave him a quick look. "Is that allowed?"
Kai smiled over his water glass. "Well, I'm sure most charming gay guys would just go shopping," he said, and there was no mistaking the teasing note in his voice. "But I seem to recall someone complaining that keeping us in line was taking up all his time, so. Until you can. Take whatever you need."
Leo stared at him, surprised and thrilled and triumphant all at once, and he knew it was all over his face because he couldn't keep from grinning. "Kai," he demanded. "Are you flirting with me?"
Kai finished the rest of his water and set the glass down on the counter. "Just having a conversation," he said. His smile hadn't changed.
Inspired, Leo suggested, "Want to have another one? Maybe tomorrow, after training? We could go get something to eat."
"I don't eat out," Kai told him.
He opened his mouth, then remembered who he was talking to. "Oh?" he said, as casually as he could.
He had learned something about Kai after all. Because Kai came around, poured himself another glass of water, and leaned back against the counter beside him. Shoulder to shoulder, Kai remarked to the kitchen at large, "I do cook. You could come over."
Sweet. Leo reached out, tapping his mostly empty glass against Kai's and managing not to spill either one. "That," he said sincerely, "would be great."
"Just dinner." Kai apparently felt the need to clarify. "This isn't some secret code for... anything."
"I got it," Leo agreed, amused. "Just dinner."
"Also," Kai continued, "I'm still in the military. In case you missed that part of the conversation. So don't--"
"Tell anyone," Leo finished for him. That he was having dinner in Kai's room. Which was so much more compromising than sleeping in Kendrix's. "Got it."
But it got him a nod from Kai, and when he held out his glass again, Kai clinked his own against it with a small smile. When he finished his second water he just said "good night," and "see you tomorrow," and Leo echoed him, waved, and didn't try for anything else. Because this was Kai.
This was Kai, and Kai had very specific expectations. For everything. And he told himself that was fine. Just because he'd never lived up to anyone's expectations before didn't mean he couldn't start now.
When the door closed behind him, though, Leo couldn't do it. Maybe Kai was right--maybe he couldn't follow any rules. Not even Kai's. Because he couldn't let it go like that, couldn't let it be completely according to Kai's plan.
"Hey!" Leo called, even though Kai had glanced back at the sound of the door and he turned when he saw Leo hanging on the doorframe. "I meant to tell you," Leo told him, loudly enough that anyone listening at their door would be able to hear. "You're better at basketball than I expected."
Kai looked bemused. Leo just grinned at him and swung back into his room. That went well, he thought. He'd had a conversation with Kai, he now had a date with Kai, and so far Kai was proving himself well worth the effort. Leo was starting to think that something good might come out of the whole Quasar Saber disaster after all.
Scorpius found Terra Venture the next day.