Kevin was the very first person to wake up in the mornings now. Without a leader, routine had been thrown right out the window. Morning training usually took place in the afternoon, breakfast would be for lunch, take-out food or leftovers would be for dinner and everyone was always scattered around the house.
The one thing that didn't change, though, was Kevin's routine. He was still up every morning at 6:00 AM. He walked to the kitchen with his feet dragging on the cold hardwood floors. About halfway to the kitchen he heard footsteps and clicking behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see Scruffy walking behind him excitedly. Because Kevin was always the first person awake, it was his responsibility to feed the dog in the morning.
He walked to the kitchen cupboards and pulled out Scruffy's dog food before dropping the exact right portion in Scruffy's bowl. While the dog ate, Kevin filled up his water bowl for the day and then set it next to the dog.
Now it was his turn to find a meal. He opened the fridge and instantly frowned. There were five pre-made breakfast plates already sitting there waiting for the Rangers to eat. On each plate was a note written in red ink.
I don't know how to make up for what I've done, but I guess I can start by making life a little easier for all of you.
Kevin tossed the note aside and grabbed the plate. He set it in the microwave to warm up. When the microwave beeped he pulled out his breakfast and began eating it. There was no sense walking over to the table. He had no one to dine with.
He saw Scruffy eyeing his food hopefully and shook his head.
"Sorry, boy. This is my food."
Scruffy whined and nudged Kevin's leg with his nose. The blue Ranger sighed and ripped off a piece of his hashbrown and feed it to the dog. Scruffy was instantly grateful as he chewed on the food and Kevin laughed when he realised Scruffy would now be his best friend forever. He pet the top of the dog's head.
"You're easy to please."
Scruffy's ears perked up and suddenly the dog took off running towards the bedrooms. Kevin shook his head and smiled as he watched Scruffy race off. Suddenly he heard an "oof" and a thump from the hallway. Setting down the rest of his hashbrown on a plate, he went to see what had made that noise.
"Why am I not surprised?" he smirked when he saw Scruffy was standing over Emily and licking her face. He pulled Scruffy off the yellow Ranger and helped her to her feet.
"Every morning," Emily huffed and glared at her dog. "You love me too much."
"Stop feeding him," Kevin said, "it's the key to his heart."
Emily nodded her head in agreement before making her way to the kitchen and taking a seat at the table. Kevin went to grab her plate of food from the fridge and he placed it in the microwave. Emily frowned.
"It's not that I'm ungrateful," she said, "but normally when I wake up I have a warm, fresh meal, cooked with love, by you."
"Jayden made these," Kevin answered her. "He's trying to kiss up, I guess."
"Oh…"
"Don't worry, it's safe to eat," Kevin grabbed her food from the microwave and set it in front of her, "I tried it myself."
"I never thought otherwise," Emily said as she began to pick at her food. Kevin noticed there was something different about Emily. She wasn't in her most active state this early in the morning, but there was usually a little more bounce. Something seemed to be troubling her, so he took a seat opposite of her on the table and looked at her.
"Speak."
Scruffy barked and wagged his tail as he waited for a treat. Emily chuckled and tossed him a piece of her breakfast sausage.
"I was actually talking to Emily," Kevin laughed and then began to feign hurt when he saw Scruffy cuddling up with Emily, "I thought we had something special, Scruffy."
"Why do I need to speak?" Emily asked Kevin. He gestured to her plate.
"Scruffy's eaten more than you," he looked at her sympathetically, "Did you sleep okay?"
"It's Mike…"
"Is he okay?"
"He slept in my bed last night," Emily noticed Kevin's fists clench and knew she had to speak quickly, "I didn't mind, it wasn't like that. It's just… he seemed upset."
"About what?" Kevin relaxed just a little bit.
"I don't know," Emily poked her food, "I think I saw tears… I think he had been crying."
"Mike's been having a few nightmares," Kevin nodded. His best friend had shared that information with him and while Mike hadn't gone into detail, Kevin knew the nightmares were upsetting Mike. If they were anything like the nightmares Kevin had been having, they were terrifying.
"I know… but normally he just gets up, walks around and then goes back to sleep in his own bed. Last night was different."
"We're all a little unsettled, Em," Kevin shrugged. "It's a bit scary for all of us. Maybe Mike just needed someone last night."
"Is Jayden really our biggest problem?" Emily looked up at Kevin. "Do we have to be mad at him?"
"It's complicated."
"He's our friend," Emily said. She pointed to her breakfast, "He still cares about us. Why does everyone want to forget about him?"
"He hurt us."
"I hurt myself all the time."
"But you don't lie to yourself."
"My parents lied to me," Emily muttered. "When Serena first got sick they told me it was nothing serious. They tried to cover it up by telling me she had an asthma attack and that she would get better. They knew she was really sick, though. They just didn't want to worry me. I believed them for the first few months."
"Why wouldn't you?" Kevin asked. "You were just a kid. You didn't know any better."
"Then she started getting worse and I started wondering why she was making so many trips to the hospital. Doctors were always in and out of our house, she was missing weeks of school. All her chores were passed on to me, and she moved out of our bedroom and got her own, bigger room. I thought my parents liked her better. One night I couldn't sleep, so I tried to go see if I could wake up Serena. I walked all the way to her room in the dark and jumped on her bed. She wasn't there. I thought she got up to get water or go to the bathroom, so I got under the blankets and waited for her. After a few hours she still wasn't back. I was really worried so I ran to my parents' room and woke my dad up. I was really crying. He took me downstairs and explained to me why Serena wasn't in her room. My mom had to take her to the hospital and she wouldn't be coming home for a long time. He told me everything."
"Em…" Kevin reached across the table and took Emily's hand. He knew Serena was healthy now, but it was still hard for Emily to relive those moments from her childhood. "I'm so sorry."
"That night I learned my parents had lied to me and I was mad at them for a long time. Then, I realised why they lied. They didn't want to scare me. They didn't want me to have to worry. I was only eight. I still wish they had told me the truth… but they did what they thought was best and they tried to protect me."
"You can't compare that to what Jayden did, though," Kevin said. "He…"
"Jayden's never hurt us before," Emily shrugged. "It's okay to be mad, I guess… but he's still our friend. There's no reason to be scared, right?"
"Nothing's going to happen, Em," Kevin promised.
"I don't like what he did," Emily said. "I am mad at him for that. And I'm still waiting for an apology, but I don't think I'm scared because of what he might do. What's going to happen to us?"
"I don't know…"
"If we can't trust Jayden who can we trust?" Emily asked. "He loves us, just like my parents loved me. He made a mistake. One mistake. Shouldn't we give him a second chance?"
"We don't want to risk it."
"But we'll get hurt either way. Master Xandred's really tough and we need to be a team if we stand a chance at defeating him. If we don't give Jayden a second chance, we'll be killed by the Nighlok faster than you can say 'have mercy'. If we do give Jayden a second chance… maybe he won't hurt us."
"We'll talk about it, okay?" Kevin squeezed Emily's hand gently. "We'll work at this. We'll make it all better, I promise."
"I want to go home."
Kevin got up from his seat and knelt down beside Emily. He pulled her into a hug. "Soon," he promised her.