Kira fled from the ER attempting to retrace her steps to the coffee shop. But she was blinded by unshed tears and quickly got turned around. Her mind was filled with the image of Conner's dad reaching out to take his hand; and more overwhelmingly she was filled with the aching despair he felt when he touched Conner. She frantically sang under her breath as she tried to make her way through the hospital, desperate to distance herself from his pain and reestablish her own boundaries.
Unthinking, unseeing, Kira found herself in the expansive hospital lobby. Realizing she'd lost her way to the coffee shop, all Kira wanted to do was get outside. She stumbled toward the main entrance oblivious to the glances of concern thrown at her by those she quickly passed by. So focused was Kira on achieving her goal that she stumbled headlong into a woman crossing the lobby. Before she could push herself away, the woman's arms enfolded her. The familiar scent of vanilla encroached on Kira's senses. And as the woman tightened her grip she began to croon the very song Kira had been singing.
For the first time since Dr. O and Dustin had been snatched on Sunday, Kira felt safe. Mom.
With a deep, shuddering breath Kira let herself go and sagged into her mother's embrace. Sobbing, Kira wrapped her arms around her mother's waist and nestled herself in the hollow of her mother's neck. Feeling protected and secure, she released all of the pain and fear that she'd been carrying knowing that her mom would take care of her.
Kim had followed Kira's erratic flight from the ER. Although she didn't know where she was going, Kira's flight was given speed by her anguish, and Kim had difficulty catching up. She was on the far side of the lobby when Kira crashed into the woman in front of the information desk. As Kim approached the pair, it was obvious that Kira had found a safe haven. Looking at the two of them together, Kim could only assume that Kira had found her mother. Mrs. Ford was only a little taller than her daughter, and shared her slight build. Because her head was down tending to her daughter, Kim couldn't get a good look at her face. But from what Kim could see she seemed to favor the layered clothing look her daughter preferred, though hers choices tended to earth tones and natural weaves.
Not wanting to interrupt the connection between mother and daughter, Kim hesitated a moment before approaching and noticed the large African-American man standing behind the pair. He too seemed hesitant to interrupt, but had an air of wanting to move on. It took Kim a moment to figure out how he was connected to the Ford women; that was, until she got a good look at his face – he could only be Ethan's father. The thought crossed Kim's mind Either Ethan's due for a serious growth spurt, or he takes after his much smaller mother because Ethan's father was a mountain of a man. He towered over the Fords, looking like he could pick the both of them up with ease. But his size was countered by his gentle demeanor; he watched the pair before him with obvious relief that they had found one another, but Kim could read his concern for Ethan and his desire to also be reunited with his son.
Kira's mother had begun to maneuver herself and Kira toward an empty couch in the lobby. Other patrons of the hospital, seeing the need for some privacy, discreetly moved away. Kim took the opportunity to approach Ethan's father. "Mr. James?" Kim held out her hand as she approached.
He looked startled that anyone would know him, but automatically held out his hand in response. "Yes, I'm Tyrone James."
Kim smiled as her hand was engulfed by his much larger one. "I'm Kim Hart, a friend of Kira and Ethan's. Is this Mrs. Ford?"
Mr. James' relief was evident. "Yes, Angie Ford." He nodded with his chin toward the smaller pair. He did not release Kim's hand, but instead drew her closer, placing his free hand over their clasped ones. "You know Ethan? Is he okay? Where is he?"
Kim placed her free hand on the others reassuringly. "Ethan's fine. He's with Conner in the ER."
Though Mr. James' face lit up with relief upon hearing that his son was not injured, it immediately clouded with worry hearing about Conner. "Conner? The soccer player? What happened? Ethan didn't leave a very detailed message on the machine…"
Before Kim could reply, a jubilant "Dad!" was heard echoing through the hospital lobby. An instant later, a blue blur crashed into Mr. James' waiting embrace. The relief and joy emanating from the pair was a welcome counterpoint to the comfort and sorrow radiating from the Fords. In a move Kim wasn't expecting, Mr. James swung around and included the smaller Ford women in a spontaneous group hug. Kira automatically included Ethan in her embrace, and with the addition of his support, seemed far more centered than when she was holding her mother alone.
Kim watched the scene for a moment; happy to witness the joyful reunions. It struck her sharply how very young these Rangers were. They weren't even out of high school, and they had tremendous hidden responsibilities. It didn't matter that they saved Reefside on nearly a daily basis; at the end of the day, they still had to go home and live their lives. And their lives included their parents. After witnessing the horrifying scene created by Conner's mother, it made Kim glad to see the warmth and love exuded by these parents toward their children.
Kira was the first to move. Though she didn't break away from her mother or Ethan's hold, she scooted far enough back to get a good look at Ethan's face. "Conner?" Her unspoken question, clearly interpreted by Kim and Ethan was, you left him alone?
Ethan understanding the rules that had been established only had to answer, "Hunter." That satisfied Kira, but left both parents mystified.
Seizing the opportunity to get people moving, Kim interjected. "How about finding a place to sit where we can all talk?" Kim took the lead and the others followed. Kira hadn't been far off the mark in her attempt to find the coffee shop; she had just made one or two wrong turns. In short order they arrived and claimed a large booth – the James men sitting on one side; Kira very happily nestled between her mother and Kim on the other.
As they were getting settled, Kim noticed Jason, Tommy and Mr. McKnight sitting across the room at a table. The intensity level at the table was high, but no voices were raised. Kim felt confident that Jason would be able to handle anything if Tommy started to feel unsteady. Haley, Billy, Carter and Dana were nowhere to be seen. But Dana had indicated that now that she had parental permission she was going to begin a new series of tests on Conner. Most likely the rest of that group was supervising or helping in some way. And from what Ethan said, Hunter was somewhere in the middle of it, hovering like a crimson shadow.
As they were getting settled and waiting for their coffee, both parents took the time to reassure themselves that their child was none the worse for wear having been out in the vicious storm. Neither one seemed quite satisfied that though their child ended up in the hospital that they hadn't sustained any injuries. Kim got the strong feeling that if they hadn't been in public, there might have been a strip search involved. Tyrone James kept placing his hand on Ethan's head, as if checking for bumps or to assure himself that there was no bleeding. Angie Ford satisfied herself by cuddling her daughter; Kira's content acceptance of her mother's ministrations seemed to assure her mother she really was fine.
Kim knew the domestic bliss was not going to last. Sooner or later the questions would start, and they'd be dancing on thin ice trying to explain where the kids had been over the last few days.
Evan McKnight approached the group on Tommy's side of the room. He looked drained, yet determined. He might have passed on his height to his son, but his features resembled Conner's not at all. His round blue eyes were his most striking feature. His hard, square jaw did not seem to fit with the very pale skin of someone who spent all of their working hours in an office. And though he wasn't that much older than Tommy or Jason, his weariness made him appear much older than he was.
A hubbub from the hallway much more controlled and focused than the racket the raving Mrs. McKnight had made, entered the room. Dana was surrounded by a team of orderlies and nurses hauling a variety of equipment. The room was suddenly very crowded. Stepping over toward the group of non-hospital staff she stated, "I'm going to ask you to clear the room. We need to do some preliminary tests then we're moving Conner down to the lab for a full body CAT scan. He'll be gone for at least half an hour, probably more."
Jason took charge of herding the leftover rangers from the room. Though Ethan seemed reluctant to go, he was persuaded to leave when it became clear that Hunter refused to be moved. It seemed prudent to allow one of them to stay instead of creating an unnecessary power struggle about it; and Dana seemed more inclined to let Hunter stay than Ethan. Ethan seemed reassured by the Thunder Ninja's determination not to leave Conner's side, so once they were in the hallway, Ethan took off attempting to follow and find Kira and Kim.
It seemed like Billy and Carter would somehow be involved in either administering or interpreting the results of Conner's tests. Haley had not yet returned with Sensei Kanoi. That left Tommy and Jason with Evan McKnight. Without speaking the trio of men made their way through the ER to the main body of the hospital. From there they followed the signs to the coffee shop. None of them were hungry, but the warm and social setting was more appealing than a sterile hospital waiting room.
Once they were seated, an uncomfortable silence descended. Though they were sitting at a round table, Jason sat closer to Tommy than Evan; the arrangement gave Tommy the support he so desperately needed, and gave Conner's dad the ability to speak to them simultaneously instead of looking back and forth. Tommy sat, waiting, as though he expected a blow.
Evan was the first to speak. "I have to apologize for my wife." He shook his head and sighed deeply. He stared intently at his coffee cup, not making eye-contact with the others at the table. "Actually, my therapist would tell me I don't have to apologize for my wife. My ex. But there are things you need to understand." He sighed again and shifted in his seat.
"Catherine has always been high strung; a high maintenance kind of person. Some people are just like that. We got married young, and I just assumed I could…I don't know…do enough to make her happy?" He shrugged. "There was so much I didn't know then. I was young and stupid. I was in love. Wasn't that enough? So I worked my ass off making sure Catherine could have everything she wanted. I gave her everything she wanted. And she gave me the only thing I ever wanted…my boys."
Evan blinked and tore his gaze away from his coffee cup and looked over at Tommy and Jason. "Eric and Conner – the best thing that ever happened to me. I thought nothing could match the way I loved Catherine…but those boys, did something to me, you know?" Jason smiled, unwilling to interject even one syllable; it was obvious Evan had a lot he needed to get off his chest.
"I didn't know…I didn't understand how she couldn't feel the same way. The boys were such a joy to me. I worked twice as hard; I needed to make the world perfect for them. But their world was their mother…and she wasn't perfect."
"I've never been real clear on when the serious drinking began; when things started to change. I spent so much time at work…" Evan dragged his fingers through his short hair.
"There were a lot of things I could pretend I didn't see – broken things, strange spending sprees, and hidden bottles of liquor around the house. But what I couldn't miss were the bruises on my boys, Conner in particular." Evan's face had taken on a hard edge, echoed by Jason and Tommy. "When things really started to go bad, and the situation was investigated by the court, all Conner would say was 'Mommy hit me.' What I found out later from Eric was Conner took the brunt of her attacks because he was trying to protect Eric. Eric's older, but he always got his strength from Conner."
Evan took a deep breath, trying to reorient himself to his story. "At first, after we split, we shared joint custody of the boys. Catherine said all the right things, went to her meetings, promised to change. For a while, it looked like it might even be true. One Saturday night after I dropped the boys off for the weekend, I got the phone call from the hospital; Conner was hurt, and could I please come as quickly as possible."
Evan's eyes were filled with remembered pain. "Catherine had been drinking and freaked out on Eric – he left his suitcase unzipped. An unzipped suitcase, can you imagine?" His face was filled with disbelief even after all the years of retelling the story. "She went after him, and Conner went after her." He paused and shook his head in negation; even after all these years he couldn't believe it happened. "She pushed Conner down the stairs. Pushed him." Tommy gave an involuntary gasp.
"When I got to the hospital…he looked so tiny lying in that big bed. He was twelve years old, but he looked like such a baby. He was broken in so many places…" Evan's voice drifted off in a hoarse whisper. Jason reached over to lay a steadying hand on his forearm. After a moment, Evan regrouped and looked up at Tommy. "Did you know, that's why he plays soccer?"
Jason withdrew his hand and Tommy answered, "No."
"Yeah," Evan continued, "his leg was broken so badly, he needed intense physical therapy just to walk again. But Conner, being Conner didn't want to walk, he wanted to run. One of his physical therapists challenged him to go out for a town soccer team – and he's never looked back."
Tommy shook his head in wonder. "I never knew that." Inside he was awash with grief about how much he didn't know.
Evan seemed about to say something, then changed his mind and followed a different train of thought. "Soccer was great for Conner, but not so great for Eric. It was the first big thing that separated them. Eric's never been a big sports guy, but in a way, Conner's passion for soccer allowed Eric to have the chance to do his own thing. He even went away to school in Oregon."
"At first I was worried; not so much about how Conner would do without Eric, but how Eric would do without Conner. As far as I can tell though, both boys have been doing fine. They talk to each other all the time; of course, my phone bill is proof of that." He gave a slight chuckle, and Tommy and Jason joined in, grateful for a lighter tone.
"Then this year, things started to change. Conner's always been a popular kid, and being an athlete he could be more susceptible to bad influences. I know that drugs and alcohol are available to a kid like Conner, and I've always talked to him about it and banked on the fact that his experience with his mother would prevent him from trying anything stupid like that. But it's not unheard of, hell it's not unusual at all, for a kid of an alcoholic parent to start drinking himself. After everything that happened with my ex, I pay a lot more attention to things like that.
"So after school started, Conner starts talking about a new group of friends. He runs out of the house at weird hours. He's secretive about what he spends his free time doing. He even turned down a spot on a pro soccer team. All the warning signs are going off in my head and I'm thinking 'Oh my God, he's doing drugs'."
Tommy was shaking his head, ready to jump to Conner's defense. But Evan wasn't finished. "One night, Conner had been home, and then ran out because he 'left something at Ethan's'. I waited for him, watched the news to kill some time. When he came back in, I put the TV on mute, because I wanted to talk. But Conner was so distracted he didn't see me sitting there. He had no idea I was there at all. As he was walking through the living room, he peeled off his shirt. I had a good view of his back. There was this huge bruise on his back…this gigantic hoof print."
Evan put his coffee cup down on the table and looked intently at the men he was facing.
Both men wore guarded expressions, not wanting to give away any information if he hadn't come to the conclusion he seemed to be leading to. "I'm very sensitive to bruises on my sons, and I couldn't fathom anything that would leave that kind of mark on my boy. Until I looked back at the TV and saw footage of the monster the Power Rangers had just defeated." He paused. "It had very large hooves."
Neither Tommy nor Jason had anything to say. Evan McKnight let his story hang there as he took a sip of his coffee. "I didn't know what to think, I couldn't possibly be right. It was insane. Conner…a Power Ranger?" Though he was speaking intently, Evan kept his voice deliberately low. "And then I thought who better to be the Red Ranger? There's no one I'd trust more to keep people safe – Eric would tell you that." Tommy had to smile at the pride in Evan's voice.
"So I watched for more signs, and now that I knew what I was looking for it seemed so obvious to me. I was relieved that my whole 'Conner's doing drugs theory' was totally wrong, but overcome with anxiety every time Conner had to run out, or I watched a new fight on the news."
For the first time, Jason spoke up. "Does he know that you know?"
Evan shook his head in the negative. "No. The secret identity thing seems fairly important, so I just pretended that nothing had changed. But knowing who Conner was made it fairly easy to figure the others out as well. You were a little trickier to figure out Dr. Oliver." Tommy met Evan's gaze and in his eyes was the admission of who he was. Evan continued, "And things have been fine. Well, as fine as things can be when your son is fighting mutants and trying to keep his grade point average up." Though Ethan's tone had taken on a lighter tone when telling his story, it rapidly returned to emotionally charged as he continued.
"I know what Conner's doing is for all of us…and I know that he's part of a team and they all put themselves at risk every day. I've been terrified of getting another phone call like the one I got when he was twelve. Seeing him…in there…with all those machines…" Evan looked away and Jason could see the muscles in his cheek twitch with tension. Jason tried to reach out again, but Evan pulled his arms back and sat up straight in his chair. He stared down at his clenched fists resting n the table.
"So, I know I've been rambling for like twenty minutes, but what it really comes down to is this. What I wanted to talk to you about, Dr. Oliver. I've been addicted to the news since finding out what was going on with Conner. Even at work I've got a TV on all the time so I can catch any updates on the Rangers. There wasn't a lot of footage of the fight from this morning because the storm was so bad. But one thing was clear…" Evan pinned Tommy with an angry, penetrating glare. "You weren't there. You left those kids out there to fight on their own and now Conner's hooked to some machines to keep him alive. I want to know why."
Tommy couldn't have been less prepared to deal with the demands from Evan McKnight. The man's anger hit him like a blow leaving him paralyzed and stunned. It would've been easier to deal with Conner's screaming, raving mother, because at least then he would know she was out of control and he wouldn't take the accusations so personally. But Evan McKnight was not out of control – he was completely in command of his faculties. He knew exactly what his son had been up to, and figured out who was responsible for it. He wanted a reckoning, and Tommy couldn't give him one.
Jason jumped in, "Mr. McKnight…"
"I don't want to hear from you. I want to hear from him." He glared as he pointed at Tommy. "Those kids were out there for a good long while. I know how long it takes for backup to arrive…I've watched other fights." Evan was shaking with restrained fury. With no other avenue to vent his fear and frustration, Tommy was it and he would not be deterred.
"Then doesn't it stand to reason that Tommy wasn't there because he couldn't be there?" Jason retorted. "Nothing like what happened this morning has ever happened before."
"What do you know?" Evan demanded harshly.
Jason gave a hard chuckle. "Did you miss all the wardrobe clues, friend?" He plucked at his own red t-shirt. Evan's eyes widened and he shook his head in confusion; his anger losing momentum without a steady target. "What do you mean? Other rangers?"
"There are many battles the TV cameras never see." Jason gave a sideways glance at Tommy who was looking shaken and unsteady. It finally dawned on Evan that Conner wasn't the only casualty of the morning's fight, just one of the more obviously injured. But he couldn't fully let go of his anger or pain. Tommy might have been hurting, but he was walking around and drinking coffee. Conner was not.
Any further discussion was prevented by the arrival of Carter. "Excuse me, Mr. McKnight? We'll be bringing Conner up to a room in the hospital once the tests are finished, not back to the ER. Dana asked me to show you where he'll be."
"Okay." He nodded distractedly. "Okay." He pushed his chair back so quickly from the table that he nearly toppled over. He didn't make eye-contact with either Tommy or Jason, just followed close on Carter's heels as he led the way out.
Tommy's head had dropped down to rest in his hands. His elbows were propped up against the table and all of his muscles were tight with tension. Jason moved closer to his side and slung his arm around Tommy's shoulders. "Tommy? Tom?" Jason gave him a little shake.
Jason shouldn't have been surprised when Kim appeared from seemingly out of nowhere to support Tommy on the other side. Kim, understanding just as well as Jason that this was no time to confront the issues of the past, focused firmly on the present. "Tommy….everyone's working to help Conner. He's going to be okay. You have to believe that."
A single choked sob escaped from Tommy's chest. It broke Jason's heart. Sudden movement from behind Jason got his attention. It was Kira, latching onto Ethan and attempting to drag them both behind her mother. Mr. James, didn't understand why Kira was affected the way she was, but did understand that the best thing for her would be to leave. Making an executive decision, he made this announcement to Kim, the only adult at the table he knew, "I'm taking the kids home."
Ethan began to protest vehemently, but he couldn't make a good argument with Kira wrapped around his neck. Tyrone James overruled him with a look. "It's time you got home, young man. You still have your mother to deal with."
"But Conner…Dad, we can't leave."
"Son, your being here will not help the doctors do their job."
Ethan looked helplessly at Kim. As a regular person, Ethan knew he couldn't help. But as a Ranger…Kim shook her head. They'd managed to conceal their identities from their parents, now was not the time to expose them.
"We'll call you if anything changes." Kim said to Ethan.
"Kim…" Ethan pleaded. But he knew it was a lost cause. Kim wasn't going to argue with his dad, especially if she had her hands full with Tommy.
"At least let me go back to the ER and get my stuff." Ethan argued. His father agreed, and Ethan transferred Kira to her mother's embrace. Jogging to the exit Ethan tossed a glance over his shoulder. Things were falling apart, and he didn't know how to fix them.
TBC
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