Only in Your Dreams

Mack rolled over in his sleep and hit the wall just hard enough to be woken up. He groaned softly. Now he might never get back to sleep.

He turned over in the other direction. As his tired eyes looked around in the darkness, something very important dawned on the former red ranger. There were no anime posters on the walls of the apartment. There was not a desk in the bedroom or a red beanbag chair in it.

Mack scrambled out of bed to the jeans he'd left on the floor. He took his phone from one of the pockets and flipped it open. According to Mack's phone, it was just after two in the morning on December 1st, 2007. He was back. He was eighteen once more. He could make everything better. Rose wouldn't have to marry Dax.

Mack laughed out loud, thrilled. He ran down the hallway to Rose's bedroom and threw open the door. She was still there, asleep in her pink bed and looking nothing short of beautiful. Rose smiled in her sleep as Mack moved closer to her bed.

She opened her eyes for a moment, saw him standing over her and closed her eyes again. And then Rose sat up, her brown eyes round. "It's the middle of the night, Mack. What's up?"

Mack took a deep breath. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mack; you know that. Did you have to come in here and wake me up just to tell me that?"

Mack sat down on the edge of Rose's bed and reached for her hand. It was warm and soft against his skin. "No, baby. I mean I really love you. Want to be with you forever kind of love you."

Rose's mouth formed an 'O' of surprise. Then she smiled. "I love you, too." She tucked a stray section of black hair behind her ear. "Why'd you wait until the last second to tell me?"

Mack flushed pink. "I was afraid, I guess." Rose snuggled into his arms, cupping his face in her hands for a moment before pulling him down to her for their first kiss.

"And what were you afraid of?" Rose asked when they had parted for air. "That I'd laugh at you?"

"Well, yes," Mack answered, now red. "I've never felt anything like this before. I feel so great when I'm with you. Like we would be perfect together. I mean, look at this. We fit against each other."

Rose grinned happily. "We do. You're right." She lay there in his arms for a moment, relieved that they'd finally been honest with each other, until something hit her. Hit her hard. "But we're both leaving tomorrow. I'm going back to London and you're off to Peru or Brazil or something…"

"We'll make it work. Dad's only planning on being away for a few months. As soon as it's done, I'm on a flight to England for my girl. In the mean time, we'll call and write as often as possible. I…I can't watch you marry Dax and have children with him. I can't."

Rose cocked an eyebrow at him. "Why on earth would I marry Dax? He and I would never work like that. We're just good friends."

"You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that, Rose. No idea." Mack tightened his grip on her ever so slightly, resting his head atop hers. She twisted to look up at him.

"What are you talking about, Mack?" Rose asked.

"I had this dream…well, it was a nightmare, actually, that we were twenty-five. You were married to Dax and about seven months pregnant. Oh, and I had some super perky girlfriend who probably had little animals help her get dressed in the morning. It was beyond weird."

Rose made a face. "That sounds fun." She chuckled softly, but her laughter quickly turned into a yawn. "So now that we're all settled here, I need to get some sleep and so do you. Good night." She pecked him on the lips and hugged him before pulling away from his arms and lying down again.

Mack smiled to himself. He pulled Rose's blankets away from her body and lay down with her before covering them both up again. They cuddled close, perfectly content now that they'd told each other the truth. A tiny hand touched Mack's cheek. "Love you."

"I love you too, Rose."