Kanoi came back to awareness slowly. Somewhere during his centering meditation after the morning's strenuous exertions he had fallen truly asleep. Realizing this was disconcerting to Kanoi; he had not fallen asleep during meditation since his earliest days as a student. It seemed to underscore the undeniable fact he hadbeen faced withsince undertaking this mission – he was getting old. And he didn't like it.

Refusing to dwell on a situation that was out of his control, Kanoi turned his attention to the environment around him. Though he had not yet opened his eyes, he could tell that the lab was vacant except for his exhausted students. Their quiet breathing was the only sound indicating a human presence in the room. Kanoi thought it was unusual that they would be left alone in their condition, perhaps Haley was occupied somewhere else. He opened his eyes to survey the room.

His assessment of the empty lab was correct. Haley was not visible at the computer station or on any of the couches. Kanoi extended his senses further, upward. From what he could tell there was no one in the house above either. Kanoi found this disquieting; what reason could there be for Haley to have left them? It did not bode well for the state the other Rangers might be in.

Before moving, Kanoi quickly assessed the state of the slumbering Wind Ninjas. All of them were deeply asleep, ensconced in a variety of blankets – most likely, courtesy of Haley. It was then that he noticed a blanket and pillow also close at hand for his own use. If Haley had time to see to everyone's comfort, then the situation might not be as dire as Kanoi had imagined.

Kanoi reached out a hand to rest on Shane's head. He was worried about the Air ninja's reaction to his experience in the storm. At the moment, Shane seemed to be the one most deeply asleep, and therefore the most difficult to read. At some point the three had been repositioned – Shane now lay almost completely across Dustin's chest, held in place there by Dustin's supporting arm; his right arm reaching across to encircle Tori's waist. Tori lay facing Shane, also resting on Dustin's chest with her free arm flung across Shane as well. Dustin seemed completely undisturbed by all the extra weight he was carrying. Kanoi supposed it was really not surprising that in spite of all the trauma he'd been through that it was Dustin who ended up supporting the other two. Earth was the most stable and grounded element – they all needed that right now.

Satisfied that his students were not in any danger, Kanoi rose from his position on the floor. He was glad that there was no one around to see him stagger slightly as he got to his feet; he did have a reputation to maintain after all. As soon as he stood, Kanoi spotted a single sheet of paper on the table nearest the group's position. He immediatelyidentified the cramped yet precise penmanship as Haley's. The note succinctly explained her reasons for leaving, and the time that she'd gone. She included a cell phone number to call, promising a ride to the hospital whenever they were ready to join the others there.

The cell phone number initiated something of an internal debate. Kanoi was loath to leave the Wind ninjas alone and unprotected. True, they were most likely safe in Tommy's lab, but he had been on the receiving end of one too many of Lothor's Ninja Ops ambushes to feel comfortable leaving them. On the other hand, with Dustin's swiftly recovering, he was not really needed here to watch them sleep; what if there was a greater need for his skills at the hospital?

Kanoi knew he would be no good to anyone if he didn't get something to eat. He walked up to Tommy's kitchen leaving the door to the lab open so he could hear any movement from down below, then set about making himself something to eat. In the course of making and eating a quick sandwich and cup of tea, Kanoi was decided. He would call the hospital and get Haley's assessment of the situation there. If he was needed, he could wake one of the ninjas below to stand watch over the others – probably Tori, she seemed to be the one least affected by the events of the morning. Swiftly cleaning his plate from the table, Kanoi made the call.

The familiar kata flowed easily from one movement to the next. As the mental exercise wound to a close, Jason opened his eyes and found Tommy looking back at him. They both smiled.

Jason couldn't keep the elation from his face as he asked quietly, "How you doin', bro?"

"Better." was Tommy's simple reply. He shook his head slightly on the pillow. "I can't believe you're really here, Jase. How did you know?"

Jason shrugged. "I had a feeling. You know, one of those." The men shared a significant look. "That plus the fact that I couldn't reach anyone on the phone. Not even Kim. I knew that meant trouble."

Tommy didn't answer; he just rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes so he could get a better look at Jason. "I'm glad you called her, Tommy. It's about time. I just can't figure out why you didn't call me." Jason's tone wasn't offended, but Tommy took it that way.

He propped himself up on his elbows. "It wasn't like that, Jase. It's hard to explain."

Billy, having heard the muted conversation between Tommy and Jason, moved to join them. "Hey Tommy, it's good to see you awake."

"It's good to be awake." Tommy gave Billy a shadow of a grin. Being surrounded by his friends and feeling much improved did not distract Tommy from remembering where he was. He immediately looked over to his left seeking Conner. His face clouded with worry and anxiety when he saw Carter standing quietly near the foot of Conner's bed. "Any change?" he asked.

"No." Billy replied. "He's the same."

Tommy looked anxiously at Jason. "Dana? Haley? Has anyone come up with anything?" Tommy pushed himself up as he was speaking into a seated position on the stretcher. Jason kept a hand on him to prevent him from jumping up and going anywhere.

"Everyone's working on it, bro. We'll figure it out."

Haley interrupted the conversation bringing over a plate with an overstuffed sandwich. "Tommy, welcome back." Haley smiled in obvious relief. "Kim left this for you. You need to eat."

Tommy shook his head in objection, but Jason took the plate from Haley. "C'mon, Tom. You've got to eat. I'm not dealing with Kimmy when she gets back here and sees you haven't eaten."

A real smile crossed Tommy's face as he scooted over to sit next to Jason, leaning his back against the wall. "You won't defend me from Kim in "Mom-mode"?" Tommy teased.

"No way," Jason joked back. "I'll be heading for the hills."

Unconsciously Tommy reached for the sandwich and began eating. After eating a few bites, he asked the others. "Where's everyone else?"

Billy did the rundown for him. "Adam's upstairs in the Burn Unit, Rocky and Aisha are with him. Blake's been moved upstairs to a room as well; Hunter and Cam are with him. Kim took Kira out, probably to get her something to eat." They all exchanged smiles. "And Dana is floating between everyone. I think she was going upstairs to see Blake; Cam came down a few minutes ago."

"What about Dustin, Shane and Tori? Where's Sensei Kanoi?" asked Tommy.

"They're still back at the lab." Haley responded. "They were all pretty wiped out. Even Kanoi. When I left them, everyone was sleeping."

"Dustin's okay?" Tommy asked intently.

"Yes." Billy answered. "He's going to be fine."

Tommy took a deep breath and nodded. A shrill ring-tone from Haley's phone startled those standing around Tommy's stretcher. Haley fumbled for the phone and answered, but it was immediately apparent she had little to no reception. Covering her left hand with her free hand, she tried to make out what was being said. Quickly she excused herself from the room in an attempt to find a stronger signal.

Billy, Tommy and Jason watched her go. After a moment, Jason picked up the conversation from where it had been dropped earlier. "So…why didn't you call me?"

Tommy had a mouth full of food and with a glance asked Billy to explain. "Sensei Kanoi, the Wind Ninja's sensei, thought our best offensive strategy against Mesogog would be to use ninja stealth against him. It seems that those of us who embodied the Ninjetti power never really lost it. We called upon our power to invade Mesogog's fortress and avoid detection." Billy looked embarrassed as he continued. "You were never a Ninjetti, Jason."

Jason nodded in acceptance and responded with aplomb. "That makes sense. And obviously the strategy worked."

"For the most part." Billy agreed. He spent the next few minutes filling Jason in on the details of the various battles as far as he understood them. Tommy ate in silence, listening to Billy's version of the story. It was as helpful for him to hear as Jason, being that he couldn't remember much of what had happened. Tommy was so wrapped up in Billy's explanation that he didn't notice when Dana and Hunter returned to the room, and Hunter took up Carter's post by Conner's bed.

Ethan had been nonplussed by Kira's outburst when Kim tried to get her to leave the room. Out of nowhere, she'd been awash in tears and ranting about crazy "rules" for keeping bad things from happening. Ethan could understand the "rule" thing – but he knew that rationally, sitting in a particular spot or praying a particular prayer wasn't going to make a difference. But, if he was honest with himself, at this point he didn't know what would make a difference. That didn't stop him from adopting Kira's rule and deciding that he wouldn't leave the room until she returned

It had been hours since Conner had been brought into the hospital. Ethan wasn't a doctor, but as far as he could tell, nothing had changed. Ethan had become very attuned to the sounds of the machines monitoring Conner's life signs; unconsciously he listened for the slightest indication that things had changed for better or worse. Because of the downloaded programs he now had on his laptop from Haley's computer he could monitor Conner's life signs in other ways too.

In a smaller window on the left hand corner of his screen was Conner's energy reading. He knew Haley didn't usually use this particular program when they weren't morphed because their normal human energy readings weren't strong enough, but Ethan thought it might come in handy now. Maybe if he kept an eye on it, he could discover something useful that the doctors might miss. He also had energy readings for Kira, Dr. O and himself minimized at the bottom of his screen; Ethan knew they weren't ninjas, but he felt strongly that the rest of the Dino Thunder team would contribute to Conner's recovery.

Ethan rubbed his eyes as he sat back in his chair. Stretching, he popped both shoulders and his back. Dr. O's energy signature had changed; Ethan watched in fascination as the energy waves fluctuated in time with Dr. O's return to wakefulness. The signature peaked just as he awoke and started talking with Jason. That's so cool…so these energy readings can be used for something.

Heartened by this minor success, Ethan returned his attention to sifting through footage from the fight in the courtyard. His attention was caught by another changing energy signature. This time it was Conner's. Ethan sat up straight and looked over at where Conner lay. Outwardly he looked exactly the same; he hadn't twitched a muscle, even his eyes were still under the lids. Ethan looked at the machine measuring blood pressure. Was it slightly up? What caused the change?

The changing of the guard at the foot of Conner's bed answered Ethan's question. Hunter had taken over for Carter. Hadn't Haley said something earlier about Hunter giving Conner a power boost? What was it that Hunter was doing for Conner?

Driven by the excitement of his find and determined to make a useful contribution, Ethan turned his attention back to his computer.

Kim had made the trek from the coffee shop to the ER so many times she thought she could do it in her sleep. Kira seemed more and more composed the further they got from the tension charged room, though concern for Conner still weighed heavily on her heart. Kim settled Kira in a booth close to the door and went to grab some coffee and muffins. Kira didn't strike her as needing to eat those huge sandwiches that the boys preferred.

Upon her return, Kira greeted her with a sad smile and a heart-felt "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Kim replied. For a moment the two women sipped their coffee in silence. Kira picked at her banana chocolate-chip muffin. "How are you doing, Kira?" Kim asked.

Kira heaved a deep sigh and responded with a pat, "I'm fine."

The look on Kim's face clearly indicated that her answer wasn't going to fly. Whereas Jason and Carter needed to eat; Billy and Ethan needed to work; Kim knew Kira needed to talk. So she pressed her. "Who bothers you the most?"

Kira fleetingly thought of trying to pretend she didn't understand Kim's question. But, if she couldn't talk to Kim to work things out, who could she talk to? "Hunter. And, Dr. O." She squished her face trying to weigh the degrees of pain caused by the two. "Dr. O with Conner is almost as bad as Hunter with Blake."

"What about Rocky?"

Kira stirred her coffee considering the question. She looked up at Kim thoughtfully. "Rocky seems to be trying super hard to hold himself in check…and, Aisha helps him too. She kind of makes this buffer, you know? Except when he blew up at Dana – that was rough." Kim nodded in agreement. As the morning drew closer to the afternoon, Rocky heard Dana reply "I just don't know" when asked about Conner one too many times. He went off, yelling about her inability to help anyone and stormed out of the room. Dana understandably chalked up his outburst to his concern over Adam and didn't take it personally; Carter was more difficult to soothe.

Kira sighed again, this time in frustration about not explaining herself clearly. "Rocky was accusing Dana of being useless, but really I'm the one who's useless. I'm no kind of buffer for anybody; I can hardly get myself under control. If Ethan and you weren't here to help me, I'd still be falling apart." Kira's wide eyes were filled with self-doubt and misery. Kim quickly reached across the table to hold her hands.

"Kira, this situation is beyond anything you've ever experienced. Half the stuff we've learned this weekend about how the teams work together is stuff I never even knew. I guess we all need to go back to ninja school." She joked trying to lighten Kira's mood.

"But we're not ninjas." Kira argued. "From what Kanoi said, these connections happen with ninja teams, not regular Rangers. So it doesn't make sense."

"Maybe because Tommy was…is a Ninjetti, he's sort of passed it all along to you."

"I don't know." Kira grumbled. She pulled her hands away from Kim's, ostensibly to pick up her coffee cup. But she didn't take a sip; she just rolled the cup between her hands. "It still doesn't explain why I'm such a useless mess."

If Kira had been looking at Kim she would've seen the warning signs in her eyes. Kim had never taken anyone putting themselves down lightly. She wouldn't let Tommy do it when they were Rangers together, and she wouldn't hear it from Kira now. "Kira, you are not useless." Kim emphasized her point by plucking Kira's cup out of her hands and banging it firmly on the table. "Just because you don't have a role to play at the moment doesn't mean you won't contribute anything in the end. But you certainly won't be any good to anyone if you keep this pity party going."

Kira was stunned by the vehemence of the former Pink Ranger. She blinked in surprise and then laughed out loud. "I guess it's not really the kind of party I prefer." Kira blushed a little, abashed.

Kim was glad that Kira had responded to her so quickly. "Okay. So we need to do something constructive. I think the most important thing we need to do for you is get you centered and balanced."

Kira nodded with resolve. "Sounds good, but I don't know how to do it." She held her hands out in a helpless gesture before her on the table. "It's like every time anyone else had a strong emotional reaction to anything, it just knocks me for a loop." Kira couldn't resist a little dig at Kim. "Like whatever you and Jason were talking about."

Kim's eyebrows quirked in surprise, but she didn't rise to Kira's bait. Instead her eyes took on a faraway cast. "I felt like that a lot in college, after I left the team. I was off-balance all the time…emotionally. And I reacted to every little thing other people were feeling. I guess that makes sense…" Kim's train of thought drifted off. Kira knew Kim wasn't talking to her anymore.

"Kim?"

Kim's gaze snapped back to Kira. "I think what worked for me might work for you." Kira's face lit up with hope. "Do you play an instrument?" Kim asked.

Kira's face lit up again, with pride and joy, yet surprised by the unexpected question. "I do. I play the guitar and sing."

"Really?" Kim asked, pleasantly surprised by this unknown bond between herself and the younger girl. "Me too. At least, when I was younger."

Kira smiled. "Cool. But what does that have to do with…"

"I found, in college, whenever I was feeling really off or down…but I knew it wasn't really me feeling it, that if I sang one of my songs for a while, in my head, it made me feel better. It sort of….defined my boundaries. You know?"

Kira nodded with wonder. "I do that all the time...I just never realized…I didn't know there was a reason for it…"

Kim smiled. "I'm not just talking about having a song stuck in your head. It's more like, deliberately making a border around yourself. Once you're solid with your own boundaries, it's easier to control whether or not to let anyone outside of the border affect your emotions."

Kira nodded in understanding as Kim continued. "This morning, in the fight…no one's ever experienced that level of injury, there was no reason to expect it to happen today. But Hunter's reaction to Blake's injury just crushed any defenses you had…then you were helpless to stand against any of the rest of them."

"It was a storm within a storm." Kira explained. "I didn't know where I left off and the others began. Hunter was just so…" Tears fell on her cheeks at Hunter's remembered anguish. "I couldn't stand it."

"But you can now," Kim encouraged. "You've got your feet back under you, and a strategy to keep them there. I know it will work for you, Kira. And if you're feeling shaky, I'll help you."

"Thanks, Kim." Kira reached over to take Kim's hands in her own. Thanks.

They ate and drank in silence for a few minutes. Then their thoughts turned to wondering how the others were doing in their absence. Kira had the strong feeling that Kim wanted to be away from Tommy just as much as she wanted to be away from Conner – which was not at all. In unspoken agreement, the two women finished eating, cleaned up and headed back to the ER. Kira looped her arm through Kim's grateful for the older woman's steadying presence.

Ethan noticed it first. He was so attuned to listening for changes in the machines around Conner that he noticed the increased noise level in the hallway. His head popped up and he frowned trying to make out the sounds. It didn't sound like a group of people rushing by with a new patient, like it had when the EMTs brought Blake in. There was the sound of something falling or crashing, and definitely someone shouting.

Ethan fought against his curiosity getting the better of him. He really wanted to see what was going on, but he wasn't going to leave Conner's side. The noise level increased and had now gotten the attention of the group gathered around Tommy's stretcher. It sounded like someone was throwing open doors along the hallway looking for something.

The shouting became clearer. "I demand to see my son! You can't keep me from him!" Another crashing door; the noise was traveling closer.

"Ma'am. If you'll just let us check the list…"

Another voice. "This is a hospital! You are disturbing other patients."

"I know what you're trying to do!" the woman shrieked hysterically. "You think I don't know? I AM HIS MOTHER!"

"Somebody call security!" the second voice commanded.

The door to the room next to theirs swung open with a reverberating crash. The first voice tried to be diplomatic. "Ma'am…if you would just…"

"YOU called ME! You can't keep me away from my baby!" With stunning force the door to their room was flung open. The disheveled woman in the doorway scanned the room with wild eyes until her gaze fell upon the fallen Red Ranger.

"CONNER!" she screamed dashing forward and flinging herself onto the bed. Everyone in the room was stunned by the ferocity of her entrance. Instantly the woman rebounded to her feet, though she was unsteady in her stance. She wobbled as she looked around the room at the assembled rangers. The hospital staff that had followed her into the room seemed unsure of how to respond now that she had found her son.

It was clear that Conner inherited his handsome looks from his mother. She would have been a beautiful woman if she wasn't in disarray. Her auburn hair fell to her shoulders in raggedy clumps, but Ethan thought it looked like the result of neglect than running in the rain from the car to the hospital. Her eyes were red-rimmed and enraged, and reflected none of the good humor that usually shone in Conner's eyes. Ethan was shocked to realize as she stood so close to him that she gave off an odor – an unwashed odor –and he could definitely smell alcohol hovering like a nasty cloud around her.

What the hell?

With complete disregard for the audience assembled in the room, Conner's mother turned back toward the bed where her son lay motionless. "What have you done, you stupid boy? How could you do this to me?"

She raised her hand as if to strike him. Ethan was on his feet in an instant, laptop flying across the room. Hunter was immediately at his side – the two of them formed a human wall between Conner and his mother. Ethan lay a restraining hand on Hunter who was growling low in his throat and looked about ready to snap the woman's neck. Their protection wasn't necessary, because as soon as she made her move, Jason had catapulted himself off of the stretcher where he'd been sitting and flew across the room. With one hand her caught her in mid strike, and with the other he effectively pinned her left hand to her side with an arm around her waist. She shrieked incoherently at being interrupted.

The tableau was frozen for a moment before a tired voice called from the hallway. "Catherine, you know you can't be here."

TBC