"Tri…" Jason whispered as he gently shook her and she looked up at him through half open eyes. All of the pain that she had forced herself to ignore was now hitting full force and she was fighting just to stay with him. She was not sure where they were, but she only knew that she was with him and that she was safe. He was no longer evil. "Come on, let me see those pretty eyes."
"Is it really you Jase?" Trini asked as Jason nodded his head yes and she could only will herself to crack her eyes open. There was something bigger at play here than her bringing Jason back from the brink of destruction and they both knew it. The question was would they talk about it now that he was safe once again? It was something that neither of them really wanted to discuss because they were both afraid of one thing: losing the other. "How did we wind up here?"
"I don't know, to tell you the truth, I barely remember the last few weeks really well," Jason said as Trini forced herself to sit up and face him, although she swayed and found herself lying in his arms.
"I've never been so scared in my life Jason and I trust you…I know that if you were normal you would have never thought of doing that. Why do I have such an effect on you Jase? Shouldn't Emily be the one that has this affect on you? Shouldn't she be the one that had to come save you?" Trini asked as Jason looked down at the floor before looking over at her. If he was going to admit this, then he knew that she deserved to at least be able to look him in the eye and see if he was lying to her.
"Emily may be my girlfriend, but she's not the girl that I care about the most in the world," Jason said as Trini looked over at him and just shook her head. "Have I already told you this or something?"
"In a way, but I don't think that you're going to say the thing what your half evil self said the other night," Trini said as Jason looked at her and then down at the floor. He hated that he couldn't remember it, but he was sure that Trini would clue him into it. "I guess neither of us is brave enough to admit it, since you're good again and I'm safe now. It's better to just leave things like this."
"Tri…" Jason started as Trini just shook her head and walked over to the teleportation module. She had to get out of here, because if she stayed any longer, there was a very good chance that she would lose her sanity.
"Don't Jase, it's better this way…" Trini trailed off as she quickly punched in the code and teleported herself away to her peaceful home, where she never had to worry about the burdens of being a ranger.
"Trini…" Jason said trying to grab her, but missing as she disappeared into thin air. "If I could only make it right I would. Just give me a chance! I'll set it all right!"
"You might not have much of a choice about that one, Jase," Kim said as she walked back down to the Command Center after hearing his exclamation and knowing that Trini had teleported herself away. They had all agreed that it would happen, but they had all secretly hoped that they would just talk this out amongst themselves without anyone having to push Jason to go after her. "That is the reason why they were able to get to us…Jase; the both of us have taken away so much from ourselves that we are susceptible to this kind of attack. If you don't resolve this, it could happen again."
"And what have you done so far to resolve it?" Jason asked as Kimberly looked at the floor and Jason then smirked. He knew that Kim was scared to death to talk to Tommy and try to convince him that they should be together again. The fact was, Tommy only wanted to be with her and if she would step out on that limb, he would gladly have her. "How about this…I'll do something when you finally decide to."
"Jason, that's not fair," Kim said as she looked up at him.
"It's plenty fair, because I know you well enough to know that you won't do it, so neither will I," Jason said as Kim glared at him and then stomped out of the Command Center, mad that he was right and that she was too chicken to just talk to Tommy. However, she knew that if she didn't there was absolutely no way that Jason would even think about talking to Trini. He didn't want to risk their friendship, that was the one constant that he had in his life.
"Jason, o god I've missed you!" Emily shrieked as she threw her arms around him in a joyous hug. She was used to Jason disappearing for weeks on end and then we he came back having some story about his friends being injured. She didn't believe that that was the real reason, but she had the feeling that she did not want to know the real reason for all of it. "What's been going on? I haven't been able to get in touch with you for weeks? Did something happen to one of your friends?"
"Yeah, Kim had an accident," Jason lied as Emily looked over at him with concern. His friend's had the absolute worst luck in the world and she could only hope that this would not end with one of them dying. Jason would only be a shell of himself if he were ever to lose any of them, especially Trini. She was the only person that Jason seemed to completely trust and although that bothered her, she knew that Jason loved her and that was what ultimately mattered.
"I'm so sorry, baby," Emily said as Jason let out a sigh and sat down on their couch as she sat down beside him and gently rubbed his back. "Is there anything that I can do?"
"I don't know, this time was different, Em," Jason said as Emily looked over at him, something about the way he said that made her worry about what was next to come. "I've got to get my head on straight before I can talk about it."
"Why would you have to do that?" Emily asked as Jason let out a long sigh. He knew that he was going to have to admit some of the truth to her, but he was now sure how much he could reveal without admitting the entire truth. Emily had never known about his involvement as a ranger and she never would know. She accepted that he had some secrets in his life and she even had some of her own, but it was nothing of this magnitude and he knew that all too well.
"I think that I might be just pulling you down a long road that will only lead to heartbreak," Jason said as Emily stared at him and he averted his eyes. He could not face her right now, not when he knew that what he was about to say was going to hurt her.
"Why would you say that?" Emily asked as Jason looked over at her.
"Because I think that I'm in love with someone else, but I've never had the guts to tell her and you don't deserve to be with someone that won't give you his full heart," Jason said as Emily looked over at him and just shook her head. To say that she had never seen this coming was a lie, but she had just thought that it would not take him this long to figure it all out.
"I know her, don't I?" Emily asked as Jason barely nodded his head yes. He knew that she could probably guess who it was if she just thought about it long enough. Anyone that knew him could figure out who he truly loved, he just didn't know why he had never seen it. "Jase, I love you, more than anyone that I have ever known, but I also know that you have to figure this out on your own. Take your time…I'll be here if you decide to come back and if you don't, I want an invitation to the wedding."
"Em…I never meant…" Jason started as Emily just shook her head and placed a finger over his lips.
"I know and if you have figured it out any sooner, then you would have done this sooner. Now, go figure it all out…go stay with Tommy for the weekend or the next few weeks, but figure it out. I don't want you to stay with me only because you are scared to jump out on a limb for the one you love more than me," Emily said as Jason gave her a bone crushing hug. He had been sure that he was heading for disaster by telling her this, but he had had to. The moment that he had left the Command Center, he had known what he would do, now he just had to hope that Trini would listen to him.