Ziggy's playing pool with Scott when Dillon hears him start coughing again. It's only a bit at first, but soon they turn into harsh spasms, wracking his body and causing Ziggy to drop his pool stick. The cue clatters to the floor and Dillon whips his head around to see Ziggy waving off Scott with one hand and using the other to muffle his coughs.

"It's fine, I'm okay. Just tired. I'm going to rest a bit," he says, stepping towards the couch. The boy thinks he's managing to hide that the distance he can be from another ranger to get some relief has all but disappeared, but Dillon isn't fooled. Ziggy is barely holding it together and he hasn't been five feet from Scott in the past half-hour.

Ziggy pauses when he sees Dillon staring at him and then awkwardly makes to sit on the opposite end, shaking slightly. Rolling his eyes, Dillon lifts an arm and says, "C'mere."

Looking extremely grateful, Ziggy doesn't waste any time crawling into his side. "Sorry about this," Ziggy mumbles, pressing his face into Dillon's shirt and sighing deeply as his trembling subsides. Dillon doesn't reply, just curls his arm protectively around the boy and lets his thoughts turn to all the ways he will torture Venjex if he ever gets the chance.

.

Three hours later and Dillon is starving. He hasn't eaten since breakfast and Ziggy is fast asleep, curled up like a cat at his side. Even worse, he needs a bathroom break like mad. Once the others had realized Ziggy was out, they had mostly cleared the garage, not wanting to wake him. An unnecessary action, as Dillon is pretty sure a steamroller wouldn't wake Ziggy up right now. The slow rise and fall of the Green Ranger's chest tells Dillon that he's deep under, which makes it unlikely he'll be waking before Dillon dies of hunger or explodes.

Thankfully, Dillon soon catches sight of Flynn slipping down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Hey. Blue." Even knowing Ziggy won't wake, Dillon can't help but try and keep his voice low. "Little help?"

"What?" replies Flynn, in the same hushed tone. "Your little angel drooling on your favorite leather jacket?"

Gracing him with a withering glare, Dillon says, "I need someone to look after him while I take care of a few much needed bodily functions."

Setting a cup of apple juice down on the end table, Flynn says easily, "Alright, hand him over."

He helps Dillon gently untangle Ziggy until the Black Ranger can slip off the couch. Maneuvering carefully, Flynn situates himself in the spot Dillon left, easing the snoring Ziggy back down.

Moving quickly, Dillon hits the bathroom then the kitchen, silencing his growling stomach. After wolfing down some lunch, he heads back to the sofa, intent on switching back from Flynn. The Blue Ranger has his eyes closed and he looks to be dozing peacefully along with Ziggy, but he opens them as Dillon approaches. "Ah, good. Bring me my iPod, will you?"

"I can take it from here—"

"Dillon. You sit with him for hours on end without ever asking for help. We care about him too." Flynn sounds serious. "Take a break, get some fresh air. I promise not to leave him alone."

It's a bit alarming how uneasy Dillon is about letting Ziggy out of his sight, but he sees the wisdom in Flynn's words and he is getting a bit stir crazy sitting around all the time. Nodding his assent, Dillon reaches out to finger a black curl briefly, unable to resist the urge.

Ignoring the shrewd look Flynn is giving him, Dillon turns and makes a beeline to his car, grinning when he hears a flustered whisper of, "Oi! iPod first!"

.

The most exciting part of Ziggy's life lately has been finding out where he is when he wakes up. Dillon's bed, the shower(though he woke up pretty quick when Dillon banged on the door to make sure he was still alive), K's lab while Scott was giving a lecture on safety protocols, Dillon's car, the kitchen table, Dillon…

It's a new place today, he can tell that right off. If it was still Dillon he was lying on, Ziggy might have considered just burrowing closer and passing out again. As it is, he decides to use this moment for some much-deserved payback.

Keeping his eyes closed, Ziggy tightens his grip on the stocky chest of his pillow and gives a little groan. He can feel the other person tense up and does it again while sliding his arm down to curl around their waist, thumb brushing bare skin at the midriff. He can practically taste the Ranger's panic and has to swallow his laughter so he can deliver the final blow.

Pitching his voice as husky as possible, Ziggy moans, "…Flynn…"

If he thought his couch-mate was tense before, it's nothing to how their body seizes up at that one word. "Um," squeaks a Scottish voice, accompanied by an awkward poke. "Ziggy. C'mon, man, wake up."

No longer able to contain his glee, Ziggy busts out laughing, tilting his head up to grin madly at the Blue Ranger. Flynn's jaw drops and he goggles for a moment before bringing an arm up to cover his eyes. "You brat."

There are tears at the corners of Ziggy's eyes as he continues to chortle. "That expression was priceless!"

"And here I thought the awkward moment was going to come from you thinking I was Dillon when you woke up."

"Nah, you don't smell like him."

A loaded pause. "There are so many responses I want to make to that."

"But you're not going to!" sings Ziggy cheerily, crossing his arms across the other Ranger's chest and resting his chin on them. "Because you don't want me to let everyone know how badly you just got owned."

Flynn sighs dramatically. "Alright, get off me you evil little imp. I need a shower—I feel dirty."

.

It becomes alarmingly apparent that Ziggy can hardly function anymore without needing to rest for hours afterwards. Also, and Ziggy is trying his damndest to keep this fact to himself, he has to be right up and personal with another ranger to feel any sort of relief. It's not that he thinks the others would begrudge him the contact; it's just that he knows they would never leave him alone. If Scott caught wind that Ziggy practically required skin contact to keep the energy-sucking effects at bay, he'd have a whole spreadsheet worked out delegating who had to hold Ziggy's hand and when. The thought is horrifying.

And, though Ziggy is doing a pretty decent job of not examining it too closely, he doesn't want anything to ruin the sleep routine he and Dillon have silently worked out. Ziggy gets tired, starts to cough, and Dillon immediately steers him towards their room, shoves him under the covers, and climbs in behind, curling close. Ziggy knows Dillon's only doing it because it calms the Green Ranger almost instantly, but, and this is where Ziggy usually stops his probing, he likes having Dillon pressed up against him. He likes the steady comfort of the other man's breathing, likes when Dillon hums his lullaby or brushes his thumb across Ziggy's skin unconsciously, likes feeling cared for. Special. Wanted.

So, okay, it sucks that he's only awake for about eight hours a day (a number that is dwindling fast), and, yeah, Flynn keeps winking at him whenever Dillon leads them off to bed. Yesterday Ziggy even caught Scott miming a lewd kissing motion at Dillon after Ziggy had walked up to the Black Ranger and dropped his head wearily on the man's chest. But at least there's a bright side to the whole debacle.

The positives end there.

Ziggy rarely feels fully conscious. There are no more pool or video games, no more going out for lunch. Ziggy is lucky if he can keep his eyes open long enough to finish a meal. The other rangers keep him occupied with a constant reel of movies while having hushed conversations with K, but Ziggy dozes off too often to follow the plots. The teasing and ribs cut back until all anyone can offer the Green Ranger is worry and concern.

It would drive him nuts if he weren't so out of it.

As it is, well… Ziggy is just terrified that the next time he shuts his eyes, they'll stay that way.

.

Ziggy has been asleep for 21 straight hours when Dillon finally snaps and marches into K's lab, ignoring her request to be undisturbed.

"Tell me you have something Doc," he says, hoping he doesn't sound as desperate as he feels.

K continues typing away furiously on her computer even as she glances up to glare at him. "Shouldn't you be with Series Ranger Green?"

Dark rings hang under K's eyes and Dillon softens his tone. "Flynn's sitting with him. Ziggy is almost catatonic. We have to do something."

"I understand the severity of the situation Series Black, which is why I don't have time to be having this pointless conversation. Don't you think I would tell you if I found…" She trails off, staring wide-eyed at her computer screen.

"What?" Dillon snaps, moving forward quickly.

K ignores him, muttering to herself. "Could that be it? Why didn't I notice it before, unless… Yes, that makes sense." She swivels to face a different monitor, punching keys to fast for Dillon to comprehend. "I've got it! Get the others, quick!"

Dillon sticks his head out of the lab and shouts for the rangers. Everyone but Flynn and Ziggy rush in, Scott saying briskly, "What have we got?"

"You say you took out the attack-bot that did this to Series Green, correct?"

Gem and Gemma perk up. "Yeah, he went KA-"

"-BOOM into little pieces!"

"Little pieces, exactly!" K says, sounding excited. "We couldn't have known because all of our scans indicated the Bot was completely destroyed, but some part of its functioning is still intact."

"How is that possible?" says Scott, upset. "The scans would have caught it."

"They did, but not until just now. The part of the bot that survived didn't have enough of an energy reading to show up originally, but it has been feeding off of Ranger Green all of this time until it finally stole enough from him to be sensed by the scanners. I believe if you can go to the coordinates listed here," she points at her monitor, "and destroy the part that survived, Ranger Green's energy should be restored."

"Just like that?" Dillon asks urgently.

"It may be best if you take Ranger Green with you. I don't know for sure, but the proximity will probably help."

Dillon is already at the door and heading for Ziggy when Scott shouts, "Alright Rangers, let's move out!"

.

.

.

Flynn! Flynn, come be friends with me. You're awesome.