(A.N. I don't really have time to be writing this but I wanted to anyway. Lightspeed Rescue is my favourite series and I just love these characters. To break up all the couple one-shots, I wanted to do a friendship one and Dana and Kelsey is one of my favourites so here it is. I hope you enjoy :) )
It had taken a bit of convincing but as Joel had said earlier, he couldn't stay out there all night. The rangers had been empathetic when he came back to the Rescue Rover and the drive back to the Aquabase had been silent – a rarity for the quintet. Despite his sadness as he was walking through to his quarters, Chad noticed a change in Kelsey's behaviour. It was odd to see the bubbly yellow ranger – who always had a smile on her face – silently walking down the hall beside him with a pensive expression. Putting aside his feelings for a moment, he gently nudged her shoulder with his own. "You're quiet, are you ok?" She nodded silently in response so he prodded further. "Got a lot on your mind?"
She offered him a small smile. "It's nothing." Before he could protest anymore, she gave him a side hug. "I'll see you later."
As he watched her walk off to her room, he couldn't help but frown. Kelsey was a textbook social butterfly and was always happy. It was a very rare occurrence to see her show any other emotion and Carter – the only one of the rangers to see her upset – had said it was heartbreaking to see her cry. Taking a slight detour from his path, he made his way to the Transport Bay and found exactly who he was looking for. "Hey, would you mind checking on Kels? I think she's upset."
Dana frowned. "Upset? What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I'd check myself but it kinda felt like she was trying to get away from me. She'll probably be more open with you."
"No worries, I'll go see her now. Thanks Chad."
Kelsey sat against the headboard of her bed, unable to explain the dull aching she felt. There was an emptiness that gripped her and though she knew when it started, she couldn't understand why. All she knew was that there was a tightness in her chest and in that moment, she didn't quite feel like being around people and doing all the things she usually would – that was the reason she was so quick to leave Chad in the hallway. She took off her headphones – a rarity in the daytime – and let herself fall back on her bed. She didn't like how she was feeling and she didn't like not knowing why she felt that way.
The door opening pulled her from her thoughts before she felt a weight on the bed beside her. "What's up Kels?"
"It's nothing, I'm just tired."
Dana rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure I know you better than that. You know I'm always here for you and you can tell me anything." She held her hands out for the girl and Kelsey reluctantly took them, Dana pulling her to sit up. "Come on, what's the matter?"
"I don't know, I just feel kinda... deflated?"
"Why's that?" She only received a shrug in response as the brunette pulled her knees up to her chest and the pink ranger could only sigh. As extroverted as she was, when it came to sharing her feelings, – especially negative ones – Kelsey was rather closed off. She spent so much time comforting them when they were upset but she never allowed them to return the favour. Dana wrapped an arm around her shoulder, hugging her to her side. "Tell me what happened this afternoon. I know you were fine up until you went down to see Chad so tell me what happened after you left the Rescue Rover."
Kelsey frowned but followed the instruction. "Well, I went down to see Chad at the dock and we were talking about Marina - well, he was talking about Marina." Her frown intensified as she added. "He said that he'd know when he found the right girl and Marina was the right girl."
If Dana hadn't been watching her friend intently, she wouldn't have noticed the way the girl deflated as she said the least sentence. She looked at her softly as she tightened her arm around her, quietly saying. "I didn't know you felt that way about Chad."
"Neither did I." Kelsey responded just as quietly as her gaze was fixed to the floor. "Not that it matters now, I guess."
"Hey, don't say that."
"He likes her, Dana, not me. He doesn't see me as anything more than a friend."
"You don't know that."
Kelsey looked at her incredulously. "He told me that she was the right girl. I know I'm just his friend."
Dana rolled her eyes. "Kels, you literally had to teach him how to talk to girls. This is Chad we're talking about here, do you really think he'd outright say to you that he likes you?"
"I guess not."
She chose to change her approach for a moment. "Are you going to tell Chad how you feel?"
Kelsey shook her head. "No, not with everything he's just gone through with Marina and he's my friend, I don't want to lose that."
Dana smiled - the latter part of the answer was exactly what she'd been hoping for. "Did you ever think that maybe that's how Chad feels? You know as well as anyone how reserved he is and that you're the one who brings him out of his shell. Do you really think he'd say anything unless he was sure?" She received a meek 'no' in response and Dana pat her on the knee. "Just don't dismiss it too quickly Kels, he cares about you a lot. We all know that he's upset but he was more worried about you this afternoon. I think he thinks you're upset with him."
"Oh."
The guilt was audible in her voice and Dana squeezed her gently. "It's ok, he just wanted to make sure you were ok."
Kelsey nodded but stayed silent for a few moments, deep in thought. Her eyebrows knitted together before she turned to Dana. "I just don't understand why this time was so different. You're close with Chad and he's spent time with girls before, so why is it Marina that bothered me?"
The pink ranger smiled. "Because it's the first time you've felt like your relationship with Chad was being threatened. Chad and I are good friends but you know that you don't have to worry about me, and as for the other girls, he's never really been confident enough to do anything about it until now. Today's the first time he's really shown an interest in anyone."
Dana was right with everything she'd said – Kelsey knew that – so she could only sigh. "This sucks."
"I know it does, just give it some time. At the end of the day -" A knock at the door interrupted her and both girls turned in the direction. The yellow ranger looked at her questioningly and she could only shrug before calling out. "Come in."
Chad came in first, followed by Carter and Joel. He sat down beside the yellow ranger as the latter two sat on the floor, the red ranger placing his hand on his girlfriend's knee in silent greeting. The blue ranger placed his hand on Kelsey's back as he told her. "I'm down at the moment and I know you are too so I thought we could all hang out. There's nothing like an afternoon with friends to make you feel better."
Kelsey smiled in response and Joel's exuberance led the way in conversation. In a distracted moment while Joel and Carter were debating, she whispered to Chad. "Thanks."
He smiled and moved his arm to wrap around her, his hand squeezing her shoulder. "I know you're upset Kels and you don't have to tell me but I want you to know that I'm always here for you anyway and I want to cheer you up."
She felt a fluttering in her stomach and had to look away - these feelings of hers were going to get her in trouble. Not trusting her voice to betray her, she simply leaned into Chad, resting her head on his shoulder, whispering. "Thanks Chad."
When she felt his head rest on top of hers, she bit her lip to conceal her smile. She hadn't realised how much she enjoyed being this close to the blue ranger until it was almost taken from her. She wouldn't tell him yet – he still needed time to process everything with Marina – and she hadn't fully decided whether she would tell him or not. She valued their friendship too much and she didn't want anything to change between them if he didn't feel the same. So she put the issue to bed for the moment and decided to simply enjoy her friendship with him and an afternoon with her friends.
