Mia did not sleep well. She didn't expect to, either. She had been banished to the barn after being wrongly accused of carelessly handling Terran. She had no proof against the claim, but there was no proof to support it, either.

It was early morning when she was pulled from her sleep by a barn door creaking open. She opened her eyes and saw it was Kevin. Hoping this could be their chance to talk about whatever it was that was bothering him, she sat up to greet him. Kevin just flicked his thumb over his shoulder.

"Go inside."

"Kevin, can we talk?"

"About what?" Kevin crossed his arms over his chest, "You know what you did."

"What did I do?"

"Just go inside, before the others wake up."

"I didn't drop Terran. I lifted the side of the crib. I swear I did…"

"Well he didn't just magically climb out, did he?" Kevin growled, "Besides, that's not what I'm talking about. The kid will be fine."

"So then what…"

"You owe me an apology."

"For what?"

"You should know," Kevin scoffed, "Now go inside. I won't tell you again."

"Whatever I did, Kevin…"

"A real apology," Kevin grabbed her arm roughly and shoved her out of the barn. When she wasn't looking he was smirking. Humans were so easily fooled, and so easy to play with. Mia hadn't done anything to hurt him. There was nothing she could do to hurt him. He was a Nighlok – he didn't care about her, and if he did care, all he cared about was breaking her down. Ruining one Ranger would make them all a little more unstable and easier to crack. He shoved her again, this time in the direction of the house and barked, "Inside!"

Mia walked inside and headed right for the bathroom. She knew she had a day of farm work ahead of her, knowing the chores would go by a lot faster if everyone chipped in to help, but she had to get the smell and feel of the barn off of her before breakfast. She couldn't imagine what the others would say if they knew she had slept outside.

Then again, according to Kevin, it was Serena's decision.

Kevin watched her go into the house and then smiled. This was all too easy. He was starting to think he needed a second mission. Something else to keep his mind occupied when he wasn't trying to gain control of Mia.

"Dude," someone called and he turned to see a young man. If Nighlok Kevin had to guess what age the human was, he would say it was somewhere around Emily's age, but he couldn't be too sure. The man was holding flowers. He walked right up to Kevin, which surprised the Nighlok.

"What do you want?"

"I'm a friend of Emily's," the young man said and held out his hand, "You must be one of the guests she has over."

"Sure," Kevin wasn't going to rock the boat with a stranger and just agreed to whatever he said. He shook the outstretched hand and he felt something Nighlok rarely ever felt in humans – power. Suddenly, Kevin was quite interested.

"I just wanted to give these to Emily. Welcome her back, you know, and apologize for last night. Can you tell her they're from Brian and the gang?"

"You being Brian?"

"Yeah," Brian nodded, trying to conceal a little smirk. Kevin could see he was up to something. "Tell her, if she wants, we're all going up to the mountainside this afternoon. She's more than welcome to join us. We won't dunk her, promise."

Kevin crossed his arms over his chest, "What do you plan on doing with her?"

Brian looked a little curious and worried, "Uh… hang out? What do you think we want to do… dude, I have a girlfriend already, and Emily's…"

"Do what you want with her," Kevin shrugged, "I just want to know what exactly. I love a good… prank."

"Prank?" Brian's face lit up, "You love pranks too?"

"The more humiliating the better. It builds character. Emily needs a lot of that."

"She does deserve it after humiliating me last night," Brian smiled. "I dunked her in the water and she handed me my ass."

"You dunked her? You can do better than that," Kevin smiled and gave the boy an encouraging pat on the shoulder, "You're holding yourself back…"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but it's kind of a small town. Everyone knows everyone's business. You can't get away with much around here."

"You can if you know how to do it right. Obviously you and your friends won't squeal on yourselves."

"No way," Brian shook his head, "That would just be stupid."

"The key is getting your victim… prank victim, not to squeal. Convince them it's in their best interest not to say a word."

"How?"

"You and I are a lot alike, I can feel it," Kevin gave Brian a warm smile; "I know you'll figure it out. If anything goes wrong, and the little brat does squeal, I'll make sure nothing happens to you or your friends. Just make sure, whatever you do, hurts. The more pain, the better. The more she screams, the more fun you'll be having."

"I like the sound of that."

"I like you Brian. We'll keep in touch."

"You'll make sure Emily meets us by the mountainside?"

"She'll be there," Kevin nodded. "I promise."

Kevin took the flowers from Brian as the boy hurried off, hopefully to get started on Kevin's work. If all went according to plan, and Brian unleashed his full power, Kevin was sure he would have two of the Ranger girls down and out before the end of the day. Mia was ready to crumble, all it would really take at this point was his command, and Emily had no idea what was in store for her. Kevin's only concern was getting her up to the mountain.

He headed inside. No one was awake yet except for Mike.

A deadly flaw in Kevin's plans for Emily. He hadn't been around for long, but Kevin had seen the connection between Mike and Emily. The green Ranger would never let his fiancée go meet up with past tormentors on the side of a mountain.

Emily, likely, wouldn't want to meet up with her tormentors again, especially not after the night she had had with them.

But she would love to go to the mountainside on a nice, romantic date with Mike.

The green Ranger was sitting on the couch, watching TV – well, flipping through the few channels they had. Kevin walked up to him and offered him a smile.

"Nothing on?"

"Nope. What's up with the flowers, dude?"

Kevin looked at the bouquet in his hand, "Just thought I would give them to Mia. Cheer her up a bit after last night. She's pretty upset about the whole thing."

"Terran's fine," Mike promised, "I think he was mostly just shaken up. Once we got him down for bed, he went right to sleep, and this morning he woke up and it was like nothing had happened. I don't expect him to be the next Einstein anymore, though."

Kevin chuckled and sat down next to Mike, a little close for comfort. Mike liked the blue Ranger like a brother, but even among close friends, personal space still existed. Before he could ask him to back off, though, Kevin's arm wrapped around his neck and Mike couldn't breathe. His eyes widened and he tried to scream, he tried to fight, but he was quickly losing strength. Kevin dragged him through the house and upstairs to his bedroom. Unable to breathe, Mike couldn't make a noise to alert the others of his troubles as he passed by their room. Kevin dragged him inside, and then opened up the closet door just as Mike was starting to see stars. Kevin squeezed a little harder until Mike fell limp. Then he let go. The green Ranger slumped to the floor. Kevin pulled out the Samuraizer Octoroo had made for him and traced a symbol. As Mike started to come to, he felt himself being wrapped up tightly by what felt like rope. It squeezed and tightened until he could no longer move. He was trapped, curled up into a ball, and made to be as small as possible. Realizing his predicament, and realizing whoever this Kevin was, he was not a Kevin Mike or the others could trust, Mike tried to scream for help, but a gag got in his way. Again, Mike could barely breathe, and he didn't even think about screaming. He was so focused on just trying to breathe.

Then, Kevin did what Mike was truly terrified of. He pushed him into the corner of the closet, dropped a few blankets over him so he wasn't visible to anyone just glancing into the closet, and then he closed the door. Not only was Mike tied up, but he was trapped in a very confined space.

Smirking, knowing that would keep Mike out of the way for a long time, Kevin went downstairs. No one was there. Those who were awake were likely getting ready for their first day of farming, and those who weren't were taking advantage of getting some sleep before their first day of farming.

Kevin set the bouquet of flowers on the kitchen table and then wrote a note to Emily and whoever else would read it.

Then he made himself breakfast.

-Samurai-

Mia got out of the bathroom after showering and was just about to head into her room when Serena called her name. She turned around and saw the white Ranger was, oddly enough, all smiles.

"How's Terran?" Mia asked. She couldn't even look Serena in the eye, assuming the older girl was furious with her, and the smile was just a façade so Mia wouldn't run away.

"He'll be fine. He won't be Einstein, that's for sure, but I don't think the fall was anything too serious. Don't worry about it."

"I'm really sorry," Mia whispered meekly, "I should have been more careful. It's all my fault…"

"Hey, relax," Serena gently pulled her into a warm hug, "I was actually coming here to apologize to you. I freaked out a bit… well, a lot last night and you took the brunt of it. I overreacted. I'm sorry."

"It won't happen again, I promise."

"It's fine," Serena assured her, "I dropped Emily on her head three times before she was one. As far as I know, this is only time number two for Terran. Emily turned out fine, so Terran's still got a shot."

"No thanks to me," Mia looked down at her feet, "I'll stay away from him…"

"Mia," Serena now looked to Mia was deep concern, "I said it was fine. What's wrong? Why are you acting like… like Emily? I'm not mad. I don't want to hurt you. I swear. I know it was just an accident and… I'm sorry I overreacted."

"Sorry…"

"Stop apologizing to me! You didn't mean it, I know you didn't!" Serena tried to control her tone, but she was getting frustrated. This wasn't the Mia she knew. Mia wouldn't keep apologizing over and over again. She would feel bad, and she would apologize but… not like this. She was behaving a lot like Emily used to, when Emily used to always be putting herself down by repeating the words her bullies and teachers used to say to her.

Something had gotten into Mia's head. Serena was convinced of it. She pulled her Ranger sister into a hug, "Mia, what's wrong? I'm sorry I snapped, I really am. I don't blame you at all. I'm Terran's mother. He's walking and standing now and I should have been more responsible."

"You were mad last night."

"Yeah, for all of five minutes. Didn't Kevin tell you I was sorry?"

Mia shook her head, "He hurt his head pretty bad when the house came down. He's been different since then. He must have forgotten or heard you wrong or..."

"What did he tell you?"

"He hurt his head. He…"

"Did he tell you I was upset?"

"He hasn't been himself…"

"And you're not you, either," Serena shook her head. "Mia, tell me what happened. What did he say to you. Why are you so scared of me now?"

"Kevin said you were pissed. But he…"

"No excuses. I want to know what happened, not what you think caused it."

"He… he said you were pissed and… he said… you wanted me to… to… sleep in the barn?"

Serena's eyes were wide as she stared at Mia strangely. She had never said that. She had never said anything close to that.

"I never… did you?"

"He made me."

"How?"

Mia shied away, "I don't know."

"What did he do? How does he make you do something?"

"He hurt his head. It's not his fault…"

"No excuses. Did he touch you?"

"He's a good person. He just hurt his head…"

"I'll kill him," Serena growled and spun around, dropping the crutches, too pissed off to feel any pain at all. She stormed down the stairs, making her anger clear to everyone in the house.

In the kitchen, Kevin heard the heavy steps down the stairs and he looked over. Before he knew it, he was face to face with an angry Serena, and a little ways behind her, looking hurt and terrified was Mia.

Serena shoved him, tripping him over his chair. By now, everyone in the house except for Mike had come to see what was going on. Antonio quickly noticed the tears in Mia's eyes and rushed to her side, pulling her into his arms.

"Get out of my house. Get off my property," Serena barked to Kevin as she pointed to the door. "You're not welcome here."

"Serena…"

"I don't give a fuck if we need a blue. If he's going to be an ass, I'm treating him like one," Serena grabbed Kevin by the back of the neck, and with a strength he hadn't seen coming, she dragged him over to the door and threw him out of the house. She slammed the door shut behind him and locked him out. Then she turned to the Samurai, "Under no circumstance is he allowed inside the house, understood?"

"Serena, what's going on?" James asked, and he hoped, but at the same time feared Serena had a reason for kicking out one of the Rangers, and it wasn't that she had just finally snapped.

"Emily, what's rule number one in this house?" Serena turned to her sister. Emily felt like she had been put on the spot.

"Uh… safety first?"

"When you're inside this house, you are never supposed to feel threatened," Serena nodded. "This is a safe place," she gave Mia a quick look, "Anyone who breaks that rule is not allowed on the property."

"Kevin broke that rule?" Antonio asked and looked down at Mia. He had seen her upset the day before and because she had brushed it off, he had decided not to dig. It seemed he should have. He should have dug deep.

"There's work to be done," Serena said. She could tell from the look in Mia's eyes that the pink Ranger wasn't ready to talk about what had happened. "Mia, if you want, you can babysit Terran. The rest of you can help me on the farm. The harder we work, the sooner we'll get it all done. I want to see you all outside in thirty minutes, got it?"

"Yes, mam," the boys all nodded.

"Yes, mom… mam… Serena?" Emily slipped up. Serena shot her a look and then ignored her. She took Terran from James' arms, and told Mia to follow her so she could give the pink Ranger instructions on caring for the little boy.

When Serena and Mia were gone, everyone looked around at each other. Emily turned to Ji.

"You know all those times you said Serena reminded you a lot of mom? I see it now."

"Em," Jayden called from beside the kitchen table. He lifted the flowers up to show her, "Someone was romantic this morning."

Emily stepped down the stairs with a curious look on her face. She took the flowers and then the note from Jayden. She opened the note and inspected it.

"Doesn't look like Mike's handwriting," she passed the note to Jayden for him to read.

"Hey, Em,

"It's been a rough few days lately and I thought we could use a bit of a break. It might look like I'm cheating out on farm work, but I promise I'll work double time tomorrow to make up for it. I've got a special lunch planned for the two of us up by the mountainside. Meet me there this afternoon.

"Love, Mike.

"XOXO."

"He'll use any excuse to get out of hard work," Jayden chuckled and he gave Emily a smile, "but he's right. It has been a bit of a rough time for us lately."

"So you guys will be fine if I ditch? Trust me, the work won't be done by lunch time, no matter how hard we work at it."

"We will cover for you today," Ji gave her an approving nod, "So long as you return before too late and you agree to cover for us, should we need an afternoon away."

"Deal," Emily smiled and hugged the flowers to her chest. Coming home had been a bit of a rocky start, and she was sure there was still a lot of drama left to deal with. Serena had just kicked Kevin out and whisked Mia away before she could break down into tears. Emily could use a bit of time away, just to have fun.