Black Night

Mack looked just as tired as she felt, Rose noticed when she entered the dining room the next morning. He was frowning and stirring cream into a coffee mug, his mind clearly not on the noisy conversation the other four rangers were having. "Hi," she greeted him softly. She sat in the seat next to his, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"I couldn't sleep last night after…well, you know what happened." He looked miserable, and Rose felt guilt strike at her. It showed on her face because Mack smiled slightly. "It's not your fault, Rose. Don't worry about it. Just…talk to my dad like you said you would and get everything sorted out."

"I will," Rose replied, moving her hand from Mack's shoulder. She felt terrible for burdening Mack the way she was. "I'll go right after breakfast."

"Good." Mack thought for a moment. "If nothing comes up, I was planning on going to the bookstore later. You want to come?"

"Sure," Rose answered with a faint grin. She smiled dreamily for a moment before the others started laughing. "What's so funny?" demanded the pink ranger, her grin fading immediately.

"Oh nothing…Mrs. Hartford," Will teased. He and Ronny exchanged knowing glances. Even Tyzonn, new to Earth's culture, cracked a grin at the black ranger's words. Mack's face flushed an adorably embarrassed bright pink. Rose glared.

"You know what you are, Will?" she started to ask, but the six rangers were interrupted by Spencer's appearance.

"Master Hartford requests that the six of you report to the command center at once," he stated. "He believes he has found the next piece of the puzzle to the Corona Aurora."

"Excellent," Dax announced, jumping up. The yellow, black and Mercury rangers followed suit, racing towards the elevator.

"He wants all six rangers," Spencer prompted. Mack jumped.

"Sorry Spence. C'mon Rose." He put his hand on the small of Rose's back and she got up, almost robotically. Spencer frowned after them. Those two were definitely not themselves today.

All through the meeting between the Overdrive rangers and Andrew Hartford, Rose's mind wandered to how she was going to bring up the subject of her recurring nightmares. It was only when the rest of the team, save for Mack, filed out again that Rose snapped back to reality.

"Go on," Mack said gently, nudging her. "I'm right here." The pink ranger nodded and took a deep breath.

"I hope the two of you didn't do something stupid," Andrew mumbled. Mack frowned.

"I've been having nightmares, Mr. Hartford," Rose announced, looking at her shoes. "Almost every night. Mack is the only other person who knows." Here Mack put his arm around her shoulders. Andrew looked concerned.

"I see. Well, is it the same dream?" Rose nodded. "We'll see if we can find the solution. Come back when you get read to go to sleep tonight and I'll analyze your brain wave activity. It could just be stress, or it could be something way more serious."

"Thank you, Mr. Hartford." Mack nodded his agreement, his arm still wound tight around his pink ranger. He turned the both of them around and together they headed upstairs.

They went to the bookstore, both uncharacteristically silent. Rose was exhausted from her restless night, and the screams that had woken Mack kept echoing in his mind, proving that he was not to sleep either.

"So hopefully by tomorrow we'll have this all figured out and we can finally get some rest," Rose murmured, mostly for conversation. A very full dark green bag that bulged with her purchases sat at her feet. She couldn't wait to ream them.

"Yeah," Mack concurred, but he sounded distracted. And then silence.

Much later, Rose went down to the command center. Andrew Hartford was waiting for her. He gestured vaguely to what looked like a hospital bed and Rose sat herself down on it. "I have a sensor that's going to monitor your brain activity while you sleep. Whatever's going on, what's causing you to have nightmares, we'll know by tomorrow morning."

Rose bobbed her head. "Sounds good," she said, taking the little sensor. And she stretched herself out, resting her head on the squashy white pillow. She fell asleep almost instantly, and stayed that way for a few hours until…

"MACK!!!!!"