"Shel, hun, give it a break on the drawing," Cameron said as he walked up behind her and looped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him. She swatted away his hands and continued drawing, obsessively drawing. She had been at it for hours and she didn't seem like she was going to break out of it any time soon.
The first month after her abilities had been released, he had noticed that she was doodling more. There were papers strewn all over the Command Center- some more complete than others. Between her sudden obsession with drawing and Kimberly writing all the time- there were enough papers in the Command Center to fill a few dumpsters at this point. Tommy had thrown away a handful of them a few weeks ago and Shelby and Kimberly had lost it. None of them were quite sure what was happening, but they all agreed it had to do with their prophetess powers.
If he was honest, he missed Shelby. When the drawing started- it was like she was in another world and when she finished a picture she came back to him like no time had passed. There had been times when it was nearly twelve hours of drawing and he didn't know what to do. He knew that he cared about her deeply, but this was not the same woman he had been dating for the last six months. He knew that none of this was her fault and he could tell how horrible she felt when it was over and she spent another day in a world of her own. He watched how much Tommy was struggling with it as well, if anything, it seemed worse for him.
"Okay, I'll come back and check on you in about an hour," Cameron whispered as he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. He quietly stepped out of the room and paused in the hallway as he closed his eyes in frustration. He had to figure out how to reach her. This couldn't be her life and he couldn't do this kind of life with her.
"She still drawing?" Julia asked and Cameron just nodded as he avoided her gaze. He did not want for them to realize how much this was getting to him. He was barely able to function because of how much he was worried about her. "Cam…we're all in uncharted territory here. Is there any way to help?"
"No idea. I just feel like the woman…I don't recognize her anymore," Cameron whispered and he immediately shook his head. "I don't mean that in a bad…I just…"
"They've both changed," Tommy supplied as they jerked around to see him standing at the other end of the corridor. He had on a baby carrier with a baby on his front and a baby on his back. Luckily, they were both sleeping peacefully against him. "Kim has been writing for hours, too. I thought there might be something different going on down here. I've got Roberto looking into it- I'd like for some normalcy to come back too."
"I'm assuming you've got nothing," Cameron said and Tommy just nodded. "This isn't a life- for either of them."
"Yeah, I keep waiting for it to calm down or for the Command Center to manifest a Beginners Guide to Being a Prophet. Neither of those things have happened," Tommy said with a sad smile as he bounced a bit to keep the twins settled. Cameron chuckled and Tommy just shook his head. He wouldn't have bet on this being the type of father he was, but he was so happy to have the opportunity that he just went with it. When he had seen what the powers were doing to Kimberly, he had just done what he needed to do. He was sure all of this would catch up with him, but he didn't have time to think about that now. "I have a class in about thirty minutes- you can hop in if you need to work off some of the stress."
"Thanks, I think I will," Cameron said and he turned to walk down to his room. He was glad that Tommy realized how much he needed an outlet. He couldn't talk with Shelby about the stress that he felt and he was scared. He was scared that things would never return to normal. This new normal was something she didn't deserve and he hated seeing it, but he didn't know how to fix it. That frustration was what was driving his need to train. That and the fact that there were evils that would come for Shelby- just because she was a prophetess.
"I'll keep an eye on her," Julia volunteered and Cameron stopped to give her a grateful smile. All of the rangers had taken turns watching over her and it was the one thing that was keeping him sane. Shelby was defenseless when she was drawing and there were too many things that wanted to come after her now. "Do you need anyone to watch the twins?"
"Nah, it'll give the class a good laugh," Tommy said with a smile as he waited for Cameron's door to close. "Jules…"
"It's the same for her as what you've described with Kimberly- she just doesn't seem to be able to communicate what she's seeing as clearly. When she talks about the drawings, a lot of times she doesn't remember the meaning behind it or even that she drew it," Julia said and Tommy just nodded. Kimberly was able to interpret more because she was writing what she saw, but even that didn't always make sense. "He's not doing good. He's trying really hard to hold it together, but he misses her. And he hasn't talked with her about it. I don't think he's gotten much of a chance to."
"I'm not doing any better than him in that regard," Tommy said as Shelby's door opened and she looked up at the both of them, seeing but also not seeing them. "Shelby?"
"He's coming again and I can't see any way for this to go well. All the ways end in destruction," Shelby said as Tommy and Julia exchanged a glance. That sounded ominous. "I kept trying to see a way that could have a good ending and there isn't one. I can't find one. I can't lose…I can't do that…"
"Shelby, you're not making any sense," Julia said as she gently grabbed both of her arms and found herself flying down the hall as a punch of energy came out of Shelby.
"Jules!" Tommy called as he took a step back from Shelby as he was more than a bit terrified that she had been able to do that.
"I'm good, it'll just be a bruise!" Julia called back and he heard the doors open further down the hallway. This could get bad with where Cam seemed to be mentally and they all wanted to keep him stable. "Cam- stop. You can't."
"Like hell I can't," Cameron said as he pushed past her and pulled the, now sobbing, Shelby into his arms. Tommy and Julia stared on in shock as not only was he able to approach her, but he didn't get thrown away from her. "What did you do?"
"Me? I didn't do anything," Julia squeaked, the offense rolling off of her. Patrick placed his hand on her shoulder and barely shook his head to let it go. Everyone was tiptoeing around Cam right now and she was tired of it. This sucked, but he didn't get a pass so that he could be an asshole to them. "No…I'm not going to be a sacrificial lamb every time her powers cause a problem. I hate that it is happening, but I did nothing wrong."
"Cam, she's telling the truth," Shelby forced out between hiccups and she tried to will her powers to behave, but she could still feel that they were volatile. She wasn't sure why or how Cam could touch her when she had thrown Julia away. "I don't know how you're touching me and not flying across the room."
"Hey Shel," Kim called from further down the hall and Tommy jerked around to see her softly glowing pink. "You too?"
"Yeah, I'm trying to control…" Shelby ground out before letting out a guttural scream of pain. Kimberly steadied herself as the pain increased in her too, but Tommy could tell she was not fighting it as hard.
"Don't try," Kim said as she moved past Tommy and reached out a hand to touch Shelby and Tommy pulled her back to stop her. "I'll be fine. I can help."
Kimberly's hand landed on her shoulder and light shot out of the both of them. Tommy sprinted for one of the rooms and closed himself in as he waited. He knew that she would never forgive him if the twins got hurt from something like this. He waited for the light to dissipate and by the time it did, he realized he was definitely late for his class.
"What the hell was that?" Roberto asked as he appeared in the same room and Tommy just shrugged. He had no idea what was going on, especially with the prophetess powers. "It's like a nuke went off energy wise."
"You need to figure out this prophet thing. Now. You don't have any more time," Tommy ground out as the door opened and Kimberly gave him a smile. He was glad that she looked fine, but he was furious at what was happening. It didn't matter what protections they had if Kimberly and Shelby were constantly throwing off power surges. This, by far, had been the worse he'd seen. "I'm late to teach."
"I know, let me take them and you can just teach," Kim said and he barely shook his head. "I won't hurt them."
"I know that you wouldn't, on purpose, but I can't live with myself if something happens. And you wouldn't live with me if I let it," Tommy stated as he walked past her and Kimberly's face fell. Kim glanced over at Roberto and gulped as she forced back the tears.
"I just wanted to help, I knew how to help," Kim whispered and Roberto nodded. Every Guardian on Earth was trying to figure out what to do with a couple of dozen prophets, while not understanding their powers and how they were even supposed to interact with them. He was fortunate and unfortunate that he happened to be working with the most powerful they'd identified. "I want my life back."
"I know and he wants your life to get back to normal too," Roberto stated and Kimberly looked up at him.
"Figure this shit out. I want my family back," Kim said as she turned and then stormed out of the room. At this rate, every ranger was going to be demanding this of him by the end of the hour. He stepped out into the hallway and saw Shelby sitting next to the door for her room, staring at the opposite wall.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Roberto asked as he squatted down in front of her.
"I don't know what any of it means. Why am I seeing things and I don't know what they mean? Why can't I find a way where this doesn't…where he…" Shelby trailed off as the tears spilled over and she looked up at him. "How do I tell Cam- that I keep seeing him die to save me?"