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Chapter 9

Kira sighed as she opened her eyes, looking around with a frown. It took her a moment to realise she was in the spare room of Tommy's house and frowned as she looked around, remembering the only other time she had slept in the room and had accidently shattered all of the windows with her Ptera scream. She got up and looked down at the clothes she was wearing, smiling slightly when she saw Tommy's clothes. She shook her head and grabbed her clothes from the previous day, getting dressed quickly and leaving Tommy's clothes folded on the bed.

She walked down into the kitchen and frowned when she saw Conner sat at the table. "So I see you still make yourself at home here." She said, making him jump slightly.

"Tommy was supposed to be training with me this morning." He said with a slight frown. "Did you stay here last night?"

"I woke up in the lab around 1am and Tommy let me sleep in the spare room instead of going back to the flat at that time." She said, ignoring his expression. "He didn't go to bed until around half 1, so he'll probably be late."

"Nothing new there then." Conner said, watching as Kira poured herself a cup of coffee.

"You can stop staring at me." She said, making him frown. "I slept on my own, in the spare room, and we just said goodnight after sorting the Raptors out." She said, sitting down at the table. "By the way, you really need to teach Ray to actually go to sleep at night and not encourage the others to scare me."

"I gave up with that while we were still fighting Mesagog." Conner replied with a slight laugh. "Kira, are you sure staying here was a good idea?"

"Don't start, Conner." She snapped. "I was going to leave but Tommy told me to stay. He was being nice and friendly."

"Kira, you two are never going to be able to be just friends." Conner said, making her frown. "You both clearly still love each other."

"Well, friends is all I can do right now." She replied, absentmindedly rubbing her arm where her PICC line was. Conner was silent for a moment as he watched her.

"Kira, you need to tell him." He said, making her shake her head.

"Why do I?" She asked.

"Because he still loves you, and he's worried about you. He's going to figure it out eventually."

"And by the time he does my treatment will be over. I have one cycle left and then I'm done and I'll come clean to him." She said, frowning at the look on Conner's face. "I'm not going to ask him to get back together with me. I know I hurt him and I'm pretty sure he won't forgive me for that."

"Did you know he was going to propose?" Conner asked, making Kira's eyes go wide and the biscuit she had picked up fall from her hands.

"What?" She gasped.

"He had a ring." Conner said, watching her carefully. "I saw him the day you left. He showed me the ring and asked what he was supposed to do with it now." There was a moment of silence as Kira stared at him in shock.

"He was going to propose?" She asked.

"Kira, if you asked him to take you back and you came clean about the Cancer, I know that he will take you back. He was ready to spend the rest of his life with you. That doesn't just go away." He said, his eyes showing concern. "But no matter what you do, please don't hurt him again."

"That's the last thing I want to do." She said before looking at her phone, jumping up as she saw something. "Shit. I have to go. I'll see you later." She said, heading to the back door.

"How are you going to get home? You don't have your car!" He called, making her smile.

"I'll take Mel." She said, walking out the door and letting out a loud whistle. The Yellow Raptor ran over to her from the woods and Conner watched as she mounted and rode away, shaking his head slightly.

He walked back into the house and walked down to the lab, sitting down at the computer and sighing as he took a sip of his coffee. He spotted a stack of papers on the desk and frowned as he began looking through them, smirking when he realised what they were.

"Man, even I wasn't this bad in Tommy's class." He mumbled as he read some of the assignments.

"Conner, what are you doing?" Tommy asked, making Conner jump and spin around, dropping the papers in his hands.

"I… Uh…." Conner stammered, not sure what to say when Tommy started laughing.

"Relax. They're not confidential." He said, walking over to him. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"We were supposed to be training." Conner said with a smirk as he picked the assignments up. "You promised that you'd show me some more Katas and we would spar."

"Right. I forgot about that." Tommy mumbled as he checked the computer.

"Kira said you had a late night. We can reschedule if you want." He said, making Tommy look up in shock.

"You spoke to Kira?" He asked, making Conner smirk.

"Dude, you have it bad." He said, making Tommy frown.

"Don't call me dude. And what do you mean?" He asked.

"I only mention Kira's name and you perk up like a meerkat!" Conner exclaimed, making Tommy sigh. "Are you sure you can just be friends with her? You were ready to propose to her 4 months ago, and I know you both still love each other." Tommy's eyes widened slightly.

"You think she still loves me?" He asked, making Conner shake his head.

"Of course that's the one thing you pick out of what I said. No wonder your students don't know the difference between a T-rex and a Pterodactyl." He mumbled, making Tommy glare.

"Where's Kira now?" He asked, ignoring Conner's rambling.

"She went back to her flat." He said, making Tommy's shoulders drop slightly. "Come on. Let's go spar. Maybe I can finally beat you since you're distracted."

Xxx

Tommy sighed as he picked up his bottle, smirking as he watched Ethan and Trent sparing in the garden. He and Conner had spent a few hours training and when Ethan and Trent showed up, Conner had decided that he had enough of being beaten.

"Nice job, Trent." Tommy called as Trent tripped Ethan.

"This would be a lot easier if we used our powers." Ethan grumbled as he accepted Trent's hand and stood up. Before they could say anything else, Conner ran out of the door.

"Guys! Lab, now!" He said, making them all hurry inside and down to the lab.

"What's going on?" Tommy asked, seeing Hayley sat at the computer.

"Zeltrax is on the beach." She said, pointing at the screen that showed Zeltrax and Tyrannodrones on the beach.

"Shall we call Kira?" Ethan asked, making Tommy and Conner share a look.

"We'll see how we go and call her if we need her." Conner said as they all stood in a line. "Ready?"

"Ready." They replied. "Dino Thunder! Power up! Ha!" "White Ranger! Dino Power!"

They raced to the beach and stopped on the cliff, watching for a few moments.

"What are they doing?" Trent asked, frowning as they watched Zeltrax order the Tyrannodrones to dig up various parts of the beach.

"It looks like they're looking for something." Conner said, looking around for a moment. "This isn't far from where Kira and I found the Zeo Crystal fragment. I thought you said there wasn't any more around here?" He said, looking at Tommy.

"The scanners didn't detect any." He replied with a slight frown. "Maybe there's something else they're looking for."

"Are we just gonna watch, or stop them?" Ethan asked, making Conner nod.

"Let's go." He said and they all jumped down the cliff, landing on their feet and kicking away the Tyrannodrones close to them, drawing Zeltrax's attention.

"Rangers!" He hissed, looking down their line. "Where's your female?"

"What are you doing, Zeltrax?" Tommy asked, trying to distract him from Kira's absence.

"Leading you to your doom! Attack!" He yelled, making the Tyrannodrones run at the Rangers.

"Tommy! Try to get to Zeltrax!" Conner called as he flipped over a Tyrannodrone and kicked it from behind. Tommy tried to clear the Tyrannodrones around him, but for every one that hit the ground, two more seemed to take its place.

"I can't! There's too many!" He replied, getting hit in the side.

"I think it's time we called Kira." Hayley said through their communicators as she watched the battle from the lab.

"Conner, we need her!" Ethan said as Conner hesitated.

"There are too many for just us!" Trent added, making Conner sigh.

"Call her." He said, pulling out his Tyranno Staff and using it to keep the Tyrannodrones at bay as best as he could. They heard Hayley signal Kira's communicator, and frowned when there was no answer. "Try again." He said, using his Tyranno Speed to avoid a hit.

"Go ahead." They heard Kira answer the second time, making them sigh in relief.

"Kira, the guys are fighting Zeltrax and Tyrannodrones on the beach. They need your help." Hayley said. They all shared a look as Kira didn't respond. "Kira? I said the boys are being attacked."

"I heard you." They heard Kira reply. Tommy frowned at the tightness in her voice, his distraction allowing a Tyrannodrone to hit him on the chest and send him into the rock behind him. "But I can't help."

"What do you mean you can't help?" Ethan asked, sounding breathless as he continued to try and fight the Tyrannodrones, clocking Zeltrax watching from a distance. "We need you!"

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to cope without me." She replied, making Conner frown as he realised what was going on. Tommy sighed and used his Brachio Staff to send an energy orb to the Tyrannodrones, giving them all a moment to breathe.

"Kira, you're a ranger and a part of this team." Tommy said, frustration and exhaustion evident in his voice. "You have a duty to us and to Reefside."

"And I also have a duty to myself!" She snapped as they regrouped. "If I could help I would. But I can't. Not now."

"Why not?" Tommy asked, making Conner wince. "What could possibly be more important than protecting the city?" There was a moment of silence before she responded.

"My life." She hissed, the 4 men all startling at the anger and darkness in her voice. "I'm sorry. Be safe." She said before cutting the connection, making the Rangers share looks before realising that Zeltrax was watching them and none of the remaining Tyrannodrones were attacking them.

"So the Yellow Ranger isn't coming." Zeltrax hissed, Conner's hand tightening around his Tyranno Staff. "How very interesting."

"We're still here." Trent snapped, making Zeltrax laugh.

"There is no use fighting you four. I will return when she is back." He sneered before an Invisiportal opened and he disappeared with the Tyrannodrones, leaving the Rangers stood there in shock.

"He just left?" Ethan asked in shock. "We were massively outnumbered and they just left?"

"He wants Kira here. But why?" Trent asked, making Conner shake his head slightly.

"Let's get back to the lab." He said and they all nodded. They were all silent on their way, only demorphing once they walked through the tunnel entrance and saw Hayley waiting for them.

"So, Zeltrax is obviously interested in Kira for something. But what?" Conner asked as they all sat down, Conner and Ethan on the sofa, Trent on the arm and Tommy in the second chair in front of the computer. Conner pulled his phone out and quickly texted Tanya, trying to see if she knew where Kira was.

"Maybe he wants the challenge of fighting us all at once?" Trent suggested, making Conner frown.

"I don't know. He seemed interested in the fact that Kira was missing the whole time." Ethan said, leaning forward. "You don't think he's going to try and kidnap her, do you?"

"Even if he does, she'll probably just free herself anyway." Conner said, making Hayley smirk slightly.

"I guess it's a good job she didn't come then. Saves us and Zeltrax the trouble." She said, making Tommy frown.

"But why didn't she come?" He asked, making Conner sigh as he looked down at the text Tanya had sent him, letting him know exactly why Kira couldn't help them. "What is she hiding?"

"Tommy, maybe you should just forget about it for now." Conner said, making Tommy look at him with narrow eyes.

"What do you know?" He asked.

"Tommy, you know Kira." Conner replied, trying to avoid answering the question. "When have you ever known her to sit out of a fight unless we force her to?"

"Never." Tommy replied, his eyes boring into Conner and making the red Ranger shift nervously. "But that isn't answering the question."

"She wouldn't leave us there unless she had no other choice." Conner said, still dodging the question. Tommy stared at him for a moment before turning around in the chair and started typing on the computer. "What are you doing?"

"Tracking her Gem." He replied, making Ethan frown.

"Isn't that going to piss her off?" He asked, looking at Conner with wide eyes. "She obviously has a reason for not telling us."

"I know there is something going on with her." Tommy said, not turning away from the computer. "You were right Conner. I do know her. And I know she wouldn't leave us in a fight without a good reason."

"Then why are you tracking her Gem?" Hayley asked.

"I was going to let her tell me what's going on when she was ready. But now it's affecting the team." He said, making Hayley sigh.

"So you're going to invade her privacy?" She asked, her eyes narrowing when he ignored her. "Tommy, if you want to stand a chance at getting back together with her then you need to respect her privacy!"

"This isn't about whether or not we get back together." Tommy snapped. "This is about protecting Reefside." He suddenly froze as he looked at the screen. "She's at the hospital."

"What?" Trent, Ethan and Hayley gasped, any protests they had vanishing. "Why?" Trent asked, looking at Conner who shook his head.

"I'm going." Tommy said, picking up his phone and walking towards the stairs. "Hayley, can you find out which ward she's on?"

"Tommy." Conner called, making him stop at the bottom of the stairs and look at him. "Don't go barging in. She doesn't need you shouting and lecturing. She needs understanding and support." Tommy frowned for a moment, before nodding and leaving, knowing he was going to find out what was going on soon.

"Conner, what is going on?" He heard Ethan ask as he reached his office. Tommy walked quickly through the house, grabbing the keys to his Jeep as he went. He drove to the hospital and parked in the first space he found, trying to take Conner's advice and calm down before he walked into the hospital. He looked down at his phone and saw that Hayley had texted him the name of the ward, following the signs up the stairs and down the corridor before freezing outside of the entrance.

"Hogarth Ward. Haematology?" He read, his brows furrowed. He moved to the door, praying that he either had the wrong ward, or she had been moved there due to overcrowding. He pressed the buzzer on the intercom next to the door and waited for a response.

"Hello?" A voice answered.

"Umm… Hello. I'm here to see Kira Ford?" He said. There was silence for a moment.

"Can I ask who you are?" The voice said.

"I'm a friend of hers. Tommy Oliver." He said, waiting for a moment before the door buzzed and he was let in. He walked over to the reception desk and saw the receptionist smiling at him.

"You're the first visitor Kira's had the whole time she's been coming here." She said, making Tommy frown. "She's in room 3."

"Thank you." He said, walking down the corridor and stopping outside the door, taking a moment to collect himself before knocking.