Those Little Things
1.) His adoptive parents, Robert and Katherine Russell, told him he was adopted the day he thought he was old enough to understand. He was five, and he remembered holding his red blanket as Katherine pulled him onto her lap.
The explanation was very kind, and he took it a lot better than most five year olds would have. And he didn't feel abandoned or unloved, like some adopted kids did.
He felt wanted by the Russells, who were so friendly and loving he didn't care he wasn't really theirs, because they didn't.
2.) The Russells adopted another child, a girl three years older than him, when he was six. Her name was Leah, and even though he was a bit jealous of her at first, it was impossible not to love her.
Together, they went on all sorts of adventures, climbing trees and getting dirty and making new friends. Through it all they formed a strong sibling bond. Nick was sure he would have done anything for his sister, and knew Leah would do the same.
3.) The first time he ever got that feeling of abandonment so common in adopted kids was when Leah went away to college. She had chosen some school in Briarwood, three hours from their home in San Angeles.
He was angry with her for months. With not much else to do, he started getting into motorcycles. Katherine's brother, his Uncle Logan, had one, and he started teaching Nick how to ride and maintain them not too long after Leah's depart.
And it felt good, going speeding down the freeway with the adrenaline rush coursing through his body.
When his parents announced that they were going overseas to do charity work, they bought him his first motorcycle.
4.) When Leah told him she missed him and wanted him to come and stay for awhile, he leapt at the chance. Sure, Uncle Logan and Cousin Jean and her husband were all very kind, going out of their way to make him feel welcome, but something just didn't feel right.
Nothing was how he had expected it to be. Briarwood was a picturesque town, and he had hoped he would be able to stay put for awhile, and have a calm life.
But that fate wasn't in the cards. He showed his true colors as a kind, thoughtful person when he heard that old man needed his help.
A power ranger. He was a power ranger.
5.) He knew Madison liked him before she realized it herself. Nick could tell when she came to him and tried to convince him to stay. She was cute, he thought, in her neat little outfit and her hair in a smooth ponytail, her face a friendly smile.
He replayed that conversation a thousand times in the first few weeks. It was kind of nice to be wanted, and staying in Briarwood had turned out to be the best decision he could have made.
He got to be close to his sister again, he had a job to earn a little extra pocket money, and he was sure whenever Madison smiled at him that he had friends as well.
6.) Nick was always grateful for the things he had in Briarwood, but they were the easy parts of his life. Being a ranger was hard, and he wondered why he had ever thought it would be a piece of cake.
It was pure insanity, was what it was. This life he had chosen for himself was nothing but chaos. There was training, both physical and magical. There was studying magic, which he had to take great pains to hide from Leah.
And then there were the battles themselves. The schemes were crazy with even crazier monsters, and he and his friends had to keep them from succeeding. He came home with scrapes and bruises, and he knew his sister had her suspicions. Sometimes he laid in bed at night wondering why he had stayed.
But every time he had thoughts like that, Nick remembered his friends. He thought of Vida's temper, and how they were always at odds. He thought of Chip's eagerness to learn, to protect. He thought of Xander's charming manner, and how it never failed to amuse them when he was turned down again. And then there was Madison, with her shy smile and quiet faith in her friends. Nick knew that his friends would have been angry with him if they knew he questioned his decision at times.
7.) Finding his mother had been right under his nose the whole time was a shock. But Nick welcomed it. After all, Udonna had treated all of them as her children ever since the beginning. She was kind and loving, and never once failed to let them know when she was proud.
His father was a slightly different story though. Koragg was their enemy.
8.) When Madison yelled at him that day, he saw something in her eyes that he had never seen there before. And he was glad for it, that spark of pure determination. He couldn't quit.
Maddie wouldn't let him.
He had to acknowledge, in that one moment, that he was in love with her.
9.) But he didn't. He took the easy way out. He left her standing in the street, clutching his baby blanket and repeating a promise to herself.
Every single day he was away from her, he hated himself. Yes, he owed the Russells an explanation. Yes, he wanted his mother and father to meet the people who had raised him.
Still, even surrounded by both sets of his parents, Nick felt empty somehow. It was only the slightest bit better when he was able to talk to Maddie. Nick could tell that she missed him, too.
10.) If anyone would have asked him if he believed in magic, there was only one answer. How could he not? His mother and father were a witch and a wizard, after all, and so was he. He had used magic first hand, and used it for the good of everyone.
And though these were all solid reasons for his belief in the extraordinary, the real reason he believed in magic was because of Madison.
Even as they grew together, grew from the two of them to a full on family when their children were born, Nick was so in love with her. Somehow, she managed to make everything better.
What Nick felt for his little mermaid never faded, and that was why he believed in magic.