Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Author's Note: I am still working on getting back to my rhythm; it's a lot harder than I anticipated. I am going to finish this story, the updates might be slower but it's only because I don't want to rush through and then make it not so good. Thank you for being patient.

Waking Up

Another cut went deep into her skin, followed by whatever fluid it was that burned causing Syd to scream out in pain. The sadistic smile on the man who was torturing her only got bigger. Syd looked around gasping in fear; she thought she had made it out. She thought…she thought she had been rescued.

He picked up a glowing metal stick. Even though she knew what that meant she still heard herself gasp in shock. He pressed it down on her now open cut. Syd heard herself scream out in pain. She heard her blood start to sizzle.

She wished she could be far from here, somewhere safe. Her room. Her room was safe. She would try to imagine her room with everything…but she couldn't. Nothing was working.

Jacob was in front of her with his sick twisted smile on there that showed that he was having fun. He grabbed her hair and forced her to look at him, "You will tell me the information I need to know."

She swallowed and closed her eyes. She tried to picture something…anything, but nothing was coming to her. A sharp pain came from her arm and she gasped opening her eyes, he had cut her again. He had let go of her hair so she was able to look down and see the long line of blood on her leg.

He picked up a cup and slowly began to pour something black on her leg. The pain that followed made her whole body feel as though she was on fire. She looked up at the man in front of her, he was speaking, but she couldn't hear anything. Even if she could hear something she wasn't sure if it would register.

Then she watched in horror as he moved the knife against her skin on her arm and poured more of it. The fire intensified. She was surprised that she wasn't literally on fire.

She looked back up at Jacob, but he was no longer there. She blinked a couple of times and she saw someone sitting across the room. Jacob was over there. He had a huge metal stick in his hand; he looked over at Syd and then jabbed it into the other person. Her mind tried to focus, tried to figure out who that was. It was a couple of seconds before she realized it.

Bridge.

Bridge was being tortured. She called out to him, but her voice wasn't there. She couldn't move, all she could do was watch as Jacob left the metal stick inside of him and picked up a knife. He began cutting him. She still couldn't call out. Her voice wasn't working.

Why couldn't she move? She had to save Bridge, and yet she wasn't sure if she could beat Jacob. He was…her train of thought stopped when she saw Jacob raise a knife to Bridge's throat and slowly bring it across.

He was gone.

Dead.

She wouldn't see him again.

She started shaking her head and trying to free herself from her binds. Syd couldn't free herself. Jacob smiled at her and waved with the knife that was now dripping blood. He then walked over to another chair where her Mother sat. He was going to kill her too. First Bridge and now her Mother. Who would be next?

"Syd!" She turned around looking for the source of the voice. It was Jack! He could save her Mother. She began to struggle again and then she felt herself being shook. Slowly she felt her eyes opening to a completely different scene then the one she had seen.

Jack was in front of her in the Common Room.

She began to look around as Jack helped her sit up. Ally came over with a cup and handed it to her. She then realized that her Mother and Father were sitting on either side of her.

"Sweetheart, you had another nightmare didn't you?" Rebecca was saying as she pulled Syd closer to her.

"I…" Her throat was really dry so she drank some of the water that Ally had brought for her, "How did you know?"

"You were calling out in your dream." Ally gently said.

"Oh."

"I thought you said you weren't having any more dreams?" Her Father asked as he squeezed her hand.

"I haven't, in a long while."

Jack spoke up, "It was probably just because of everything that has happened."

"I still don't like that you're having those."

Syd shrugged, "I'm fine."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Syd looked at her mother's face which was full of concern. She shook her head, "I…"

Jack stood up, "Before you started screaming Marge came to tell us about Bridge."

"Is he alright?"

Jack looked at Ally, "Well…"

Ally hit him on the arm, "He just, he needs rest. But he's fine."

"What did Jack mean?"

Ally turned to Jack and raised her eyebrow at Jack who just shrugged, turned back to Syd and asked, "Do you want to go and see him?"

"If we can see him then he's fine!"

Syd felt as her Mother stood up, "Well then let's go."

Standing up she smiled and squeezed her Mother's hand, "Yes."

The group had made its way to the hospital wing. Even though Syd knew that Bridge and her Mom were safe and there wasn't anything wrong with them, seeing those images in her mind was very disconcerting. She hadn't thought much about being tortured, but perhaps she just wasn't over it. Maybe she still needed some help. She knew that her Mother had not been tortured and for that she was eternally grateful, but they still didn't know whether or not Bridge had been tortured. He hadn't looked like she or Zeni had when they found them, but still…what if it was something on the inside?

The petite blonde shook her head; she had to get those thoughts out of her. She felt her Mother lean closer to her and whisper, "I think you need to go back and get some more counseling. You shouldn't be having those dreams. You don't deserve those."

"Thanks Mom. I'm—"

"Please Syd, don't say you're fine. Let's go and see Bridge and then we'll figure things out."

Nodding Syd grew quiet as Dr. Felix came up to them, Sky, Z, Doggie and Kat, "He is doing better. It was touch and go there for a while. The bullet lodged itself close to the heart. We were able to remove it. Since then he's been up and down. He's had a fever, chills. But he's better."

"Can we see him?" Sky asked.

Dr. Felix looked at Doggie, "I'm not sure if now is the best idea. He's quite tired. He needs his rest."

Syd looked over at the Commander to see if he agreed, "Is Carson awake?"

"Yes he is."

"A few visitors should be okay."

The doctor contemplated this for a few minutes before answering, "Yes, and I suppose that could help them. But I don't want everyone."

After much debating Sky, Z, Jack and Syd all entered the room. Her parents were waiting for her, and Doggie had already talked to Bridge. As they went into the familiar room they found Bridge, he was sitting up with his head resting against some pillows behind him. It was a much better image than what had been in her mind earlier.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey. How are you feeling?" Jack asked standing to the right of Bridge's bed.

He shrugged causing him to wince a bit, "Fine…it's a little sore, but Dr. Felix gave me some stuff to help out."

Sky stood silently at the end of the bed with his arms folded while Z was standing in between Sky and Jack with her hand on Bridge's ankle, "We're all glad that you're fine."

Syd reached down and picked up Bridge's gloved hand. He looked up at her, "Is your Mom okay?"

"Yes, thanks to you. Thank you so much Bridge."

He looked as though he was going to shrug again but then he shook his head, "It was what needed to be done. And I didn't want you to lose your Mother."

She smiled again. Bridge's attention shifted to where Sky stood, "I knew you guys would find us. So how did you go about figuring it out?"

Sky looked at the other three before his eyes rested on Bridge. He took a deep breathe and began talking, "After realizing you and Mrs. Drew were gone…" Syd tuned out Sky's retelling of the whole thing as she looked around the room. Hospital rooms weren't really that conducive to helping sick people get better. The walls were white, and everything was impersonal. Although that probably had to do with the idea that people weren't really supposed to be in the hospitals all that long.

She felt Bridge squeeze her hand and she looked back at Sky who was finishing it up. "And that's how it happened."

Bridge nodded, "Thanks."

The Red Ranger nodded and looked away again. Before any were able to say anything Dr. Felix came in, "I think that's enough. He is stabilized, but we don't want to take any risks."

Jack nodded, "See you later."

Reaching over Z gave him a quick hug and then waited while Bridge and Sky shared a look. As they were leaving she looked quickly to Dr. Felix, "Can I have just one more minute please?"

Dr. Felix frowned, "One minute."

Once the door closed the blonde looked back at Bridge, "I really am glad that you're fine Bridge. I…I was scared."

Bridge frowned, "You…did you have any nightmares?"

"Just one…when I really started thinking about the idea that you could have been tortured like I had been."

"I wasn't. And your Mom wasn't either. We're both safe."

"I know. I just…I don't want to loose you."

Bridge smiled; Syd leaned down and let Bridge wrap his arm around her, "Thanks for finding me."

"It wasn't just me."

"Thanks all the same."

She nodded and they slowly pulled back but returned to briefly share a soft kiss, "I should go. I'm sure Dr. Felix…" She stopped as she heard the door open, "Speaking of." The two smiled. "I'll see you later."

"Of course."

Syd slowly went back out to her friends and family. Bridge was fine. Her Mother was fine. She knew that she would have to go back to the counselor again. All this made Syd realize that she had been repressing her own kidnapping and torturing. When she had told her counselor, her parents, Doggie, everyone that she was better, she really thought she was better. Obviously she wasn't completely, she would need to go back and talk and actually work on it, and not hiding it. But, in light of everything that had happened it just didn't seem to be that big of a deal. Everything seemed to be looking up again. Things were, good. A smile crossed Syd's lips; everything was good again. And just in time Tomas and Lina's wedding was coming up. Definitely something to look forward to.