Monday April 2nd, 2018

Reefside, CA

Tommy sighed, checking his phone to see who was calling him. Seeing the name, he answered as he yelled for JJ again.

"What's going on, Conner?" he asked. "You're up awfully early. Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine," Conner answered. "I was just trying to catch you before school. Am I interrupting?"

"I'm trying to get JJ ready for school," Tommy sighed. "He woke up almost right after he went to bed with a nightmare and then refused to go back to sleep until sometime after midnight. He's still half asleep."

"Oh. Where's Kat?"

"She's already left because she had a meeting this morning," Tommy answered. "JJ, your shirt is on inside out and you need socks."

He shook his head as the ten-year-old headed back up the stairs to get socks, taking his shirt off as he went.

"Conner, did you need something? I'm a little busy right now."

"It's about the meeting," Conner said quickly. "I can't do that Saturday. Like at all. Person or video. And I'd really like to be there."

Tommy frowned, waiting at the bottom of the stairs for JJ to come back down. He was all ready to leave the house, his backpack and briefcase waiting by the door with both their lunches and something for JJ to eat in the car.

"Why?" he asked. "Because I checked on your schedule. You don't have a game or practice. It's not your anniversary and Kira doesn't have a concert you promised to attend. Don't try to tell me you have a date with Krista, because that isn't going to get you out of this. You know she'll let you reschedule if you tell her what it's for."

"It's not a date," Conner retorted. "I have a banquet I have to go to. I'm going to be in New York. And Kira is definitely going to be there."

"Come on, JJ," Tommy said as JJ stumbled back down the stairs. "Shoes on. Let's go before we're both late. Conner, what banquet? I have your soccer team's schedule. It says nothing about a team banquet."

"It's not for the team. It's for the charity. The one I've been working on for months? Dr. O—you've been helping me. You said you put it on the calendar."

Tommy grimaced as he watched JJ putting on his shoes.

"Right," he muttered. "I forgot about that."

"I can do Sunday," Conner suggested. "Same weekend, one day later. There's just no way I can attend the banquet and the meeting on the same night when they are on opposite sides of the country. And Kira and Trent will be with me. Though I guess I could probably send Ethan in my place if you absolutely can't shift it."

"I'm sure that will be fine," Tommy sighed. "I'll message Carter later and let you know. That's the wrong foot, JJ."

"Can I bring the rest of the team with me?" Conner asked. "We'll be flying back together since we're using Anton's plane. It would be easier if we all just came straight there together."

"Yeah, that's fine," Tommy answered absently. "But you know the rules. If they sit in on the meeting, they have to stay quiet and you are the only one voting."

"That's fine. I just didn't know if this was going to be a 'keep the people who know to a minimum' kind of meeting since it's kind of out of nowhere. Krista will be with us, too."

"She can't come to the meeting. JJ, grab your backpack."

"Well, duh," Conner snorted. "But I can't just leave her on the airplane."

"I've got to go," Tommy said. "I'll talk to Carter and have him send out an update. Come on, JJ. Car."

"Thanks, Dr. O!"

Hanging up, Tommy shooed JJ out the door and into the truck.

Angel Grove, CA

Adam stretched slowly, enjoying the quiet at the dojo before classes started for the day. After a little while he was joined by some of the other teachers.

"How was your weekend?" one of them asked, looking at Adam. "Did you have a good time with your friends?"

Adam glanced over, raising an eyebrow.

"It was good," he said.

"Planning on disappearing up there again?" she grinned. "You've had a lot going on the last few weeks."

Adam snorted.

"What—are you my mother now?" he asked. "Need to know all my plans?"

"Nah," she laughed in response. "Just a nosy employee who likes to tease her boss."

Adam shook his head.

"How were things here?" he asked. "Did classes go alright? I know we weren't originally planning on my absence."

"It was fine," was the answer. "Just one small incident with one of the assistants."

Adam frowned, stopping to look at them.

"What kind of incident?" he asked.

"It was fine," she reassured him. "We didn't even need to call an ambulance."

"That does not make me feel better," Adam muttered.

"Seriously," she chuckled. "Just an ice pack and some advil. And next time he'll remember to wear a cup when working with the white belts."

Adam winced, shaking his head at the grins on the other teachers' faces.

"Which ones?" he asked.

"The four- to six-year-olds."

"Ouch," Adam said sympathetically. "Well, I guess that's a lesson everyone has to learn at some point."

Glancing at the time, Adam finished his stretch and straightened. It was time to unlock the door. Students would be arriving soon to start the day.

Reefside, CA

Sitting down at his desk, Tommy started taking out his lunch as he listened to voicemails on his phone and checked text messages. Most of them he just shot quick text responses to, but the voicemail from Trini asking him to call as soon as possible needed an actual call. Locking his classroom door to make sure he wasn't interrupted, Tommy sat back down to call her while he ate his lunch and worked on the ranger tablet.

"Hey, Trini," Tommy said when she answered. "What's going on?"

"Tommy, finally," she said quickly. "I have a meeting in half an hour and some of the reports I need are missing. Have you finished with them?"

Tommy sighed.

"Which ones?" he asked.

She quickly listed them off as he pulled them up on the tablet.

"I've already sent you what I've finished from that grouping," he said after a few minutes. "The rest aren't ready. I can probably have a few more ready before your meeting but—"

"Tommy, I need those," Trini interrupted. "I've avoided explaining to the UN about the incident so far, but I can't keep making excuses. You need to get caught up."

"I'm sorry," Tommy said, leaning back in his chair. "I know I'm behind and I'm trying to catch up, but—"

"You have to figure it out," she interrupted again. "You've had over a week to get caught up now."

"I'm working on it, Trini," Tommy said shortly. "But I do have my own work, too. I can't just skip school."

"Well, if you can't handle the workload than maybe—"

"I can handle it," Tommy snapped, interrupting her this time. "I just need some more time to get caught up."

"Then get it together," Trini snapped back. "It's already been a horrible day here trying to throw off suspicions and this is just going to make it worse. You can't just rely on someone else to jump in and save you every time. Get the reports done."

She hung up and Tommy stared at the phone for a moment. Muttering to himself, he stuffed it back into his backpack and turned his attention to the tablet to get done what he could.

When Tommy finally got home later that evening, his mood hadn't improved at all. Kat poked her head out of the kitchen when she heard him come inside.

"You're home later than I thought you'd be," she said. "You missed dinner."

"I stayed late at school and then went to the dojo," Tommy said, kicking off his shoes and heading toward his office. "I ate dinner there."

Kat leaned against the doorframe, her arms crossed.

"A heads up would have been nice," she commented.

"I was trying to get some stuff done and lost track of time," Tommy said, pausing to talk to her. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Kat said. "I was just concerned when you didn't come home for dinner. So was JJ."

Tommy sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "I needed to get work done and I wanted to be able to concentrate. I couldn't do that all weekend and if I keep letting myself be distracted, I'll never get caught up."

Kat flinched a little at the accusation in Tommy's tone.

"I was just trying to do something nice after everything that happened," she said quietly. "You have to relax once in a while…"

Tommy grimaced, rubbing a hand over his face.

"I know, I know," he sighed, realizing he was being a little irrational about the visit over the weekend. "I just—I need some space and some time to get caught up. That's all."

"Alright, fine," Kat said. "Just tell me next time, alright?"

Tommy nodded and headed to his office, shutting the door behind him.

Tuesday April 3rd, 2018

Reefside, CA

Kat turned her alarm off with a sigh. Rolling back over she sat up and looked at Tommy's side of the bed in surprise. He wasn't there. That in itself wasn't unusual, since he generally woke up before she did to go for a run. But it was very clear his side of the bed hadn't been slept in last night. Sighing again, she climbed out of bed to start getting ready. Once she was dressed for the day, Kat went to make sure JJ was moving before she went in search of Tommy. JJ had spent the entire night in his room. Exhausted from staying up so late the night before, he had crashed and slept through the night.

Heading downstairs after waking up JJ, Kat found Tommy sitting at the kitchen table. He looked up the moment she walked into the room, guilt flashing across his face. Kat didn't say anything immediately, taking a few minutes to get coffee and breakfast while Tommy sat silently at the table.

"You didn't come to bed last night," she finally said, sitting down across from him.

"I'm sorry," Tommy apologized. "I know I didn't… I was trying to get caught up and lost track of time. It's not an excuse…"

Kat sighed.

"I understand, Tommy. But you still need to come to bed."

"I know," he mumbled. "And I'm sorry. I really am, Kat."

"You're always talking to your students about how being at your very best means taking care of yourself," she continued firmly. "And you need to do the same thing. If you don't take care of yourself, you'll never get caught up. You'll just end up more stressed and fall further behind."

Tommy nodded wearily and Kat reached across the table to catch his hands.

"I'm not mad," she said softly. "Just worried. I know you feel like you're letting everyone down by being behind on everything—but it's not your fault. You will get caught up. You might just need some help for a little while. But you have to get rest and take care of yourself. Ok?"

Tommy smiled faintly, nodding. Kat knew he was probably still feeling guilty, but she also knew that wasn't going to just disappear.

"Eat your breakfast," Tommy said. "I'll go check on JJ."

"He's awake and was sort of climbing out of bed when I was in there a few minutes ago," Kat said, shaking her head. "So that's probably a good idea."

Angel Grove, CA

"Hey! Look who finally decided to come back to work!"

Rocky grinned at the teasing as he walked into the firehouse. He dropped his stuff off in his locker, the rest of the crew crowding around him as the shift changed over.

"Did you miss me?" Rocky asked.

"Wait—were you gone?" one of the paramedics going off shift asked.

Rocky rolled his eyes.

"Thanks for noticing, Kyle," he said drily. "I'll keep that in mind next time you take off."

"Seriously, though," Roger asked, interrupting. "How is your family? Is everyone alright? We heard it was pretty bad. Aisha didn't give anyone details, though."

Rocky glanced over at the other paramedic, who had his bag already slung over his shoulder as he got ready to head home. He had known the questions would come, so it was just as well most of them were all crowded into the same room right now. Both shifts of firefighters and paramedics paused what they were doing to hear his answer.

"Everyone is going to be fine," Rocky said. "Wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be when we got the call."

"What happened?" one of the firefighters asked.

"Uh, mostly just a lot of confusion and miscommunications in the end," Rocky said vaguely. "A couple of the family had disappeared in a potentially dangerous area while they were out in the middle of nowhere. When no one heard from them after a few days there was a lot of panic. We thought they might be hurt or worse. Took us a couple of days, but we finally found them somewhere else entirely. They didn't even realize we were looking for them until we found them."

The firefighters and paramedics nodded in understanding.

"Glad everyone is alright," Kyle said. "Hopefully they won't do that again."

"They don't intend to," Rocky said, rubbing the back of his head.

"So, you're really not going to give us any details?" Roger asked, shifting his bag. "You're acting weird again, man. Who actually got lost?"

The bell going off interrupted the conversation. A call for the ambulance went overhead.

"Gotta go," Rocky said. "Duty calls."

Taking advantage of the interruption, Rocky headed for the ambulance and away from any further questions. Essentially giving them no choice but to let it go for the moment. Henry beat him to the driver's seat, so Rocky climbed into the passenger side as they headed out.

"So, which of your friends was it?" Henry asked once they were on the road.

Rocky looked over at him in surprise.

"What do you mean?" he asked hesitantly.

"Come on, Rocky," Henry said, shaking his head. "You didn't give a name and you almost always give a name. Which means you're afraid not everyone would consider them family and might give you a hard time about disappearing for a week on their behalf."

Rocky didn't say anything, which only prompted Henry to press further.

"Come on, man," he said. "I know you better than that. Who was it? It wasn't Adam, was it?"

Rocky immediately shook his head.

"No, Adam is fine," he said. "He was here the whole time, helping Aisha while I—"

He cut off, still shaking his head.

"Alright," Henry said. "Then who was it? Obviously, it wasn't Aisha. And I'm guessing it wasn't Tanya since you said Adam was helping your family. What about Tommy?"

Rocky hesitated again, not denying nor confirming Henry's guess.

"Is he really alright?" Henry asked, latching onto his guess.

Sighing, Rocky gave up trying to hide it.

"Physically?" he said. "Yeah. He'll be alright. Mentally?"

He shrugged, shaking his head.

"He needs some time."

"Well, that sounds like a lot to unload," Henry said. "Want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly," Rocky said, shaking his head.

"Alright, I'll let it go," Henry said. "But if you need anything—anything at all—just call me. I can cover for you. Another week partnered with Mitch isn't gonna kill me."

Rocky chuckled.

"Thanks, Henry," he said gratefully.

Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean

Kim stared absently out the window, fiddling with her phone.

"Kim?" Jake said. "Kim?"

She jumped, his voice finally catching her attention. Turning to look at her husband, Kim waited for him to say something. He was sitting across from her, looking at her expectantly.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"What?" she said in surprise. "Nothing's wrong."

"Is that why I've been trying to talk to you for the past ten minutes with no response?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You aren't fooling me. I've known you since college. I can tell you're lying—so why don't you just tell me what's wrong?"

Kim sighed, turning to look out the window again.

"I don't know…" she said quietly. "It's just… well, I finally got to see some of my oldest friends again after forever. And you were wonderful for letting me interrupt your plans and drag you along with me and it really was a good weekend. It's just…"

"Just what?" Jake prompted.

"I'm still a little frustrated with Tommy," Kim admitted. "With all of the secrets and double standards and him being all surprised that I told you anything. Of course, I was going to tell you about me! Why wouldn't I? You are my husband and I trust you beyond a doubt. But then he was acting like I was wrong to have told you anything—but it's my decision! And I still don't understand why he wouldn't explain anything else."

She huffed, turning to look back at Jake.

"Maybe he just didn't want me to hear anything," Jake said. "He had only just met me—you can't really expect him to trust me with all of his secrets, can you?"

"Well, I guess not," Kim grumbled. "But he could have told me! I can keep secrets from you."

"Well, that's good to know," Jake chuckled, giving her an amused look.

Kim blushed.

"You know what I mean," she protested.

"Yes, I do," Jake said, a little more serious now. "But sweetheart, you have to look at it from his point of view. You had already told me something—and you never clarified exactly what that was to him. What was going to stop you from telling me the rest if he shared it with you? He didn't know what boundaries you had set for yourself."

There were a few moments of silence as Kim thought about what Jake was saying.

"You're right," Kim finally sighed. "But still…"

"Tommy promised he'd tell you more as soon as he could," Jake assured her. "He seems like a man who keeps his word. You just have to be patient."

Kim scowled at him, crossing her arms.

"Why can't you just be irrational with me for once?" she demanded.

"Because," Jake chuckled. "Then we would probably try to take over the world. And I'm pretty sure it was once your job to stop those kinds of things. So, then who stops the person who is supposed to be doing the stopping?"

Kim laughed, shaking her head.

"I guess you're right," she said. "And we really don't need more evil rangers—the few I've dealt with were bad enough."

Jake didn't say anything else immediately, grinning at her.

"What?" Kim said. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You used the word," Jake said. "You said ranger."

"So?" Kim frowned. "I've used it before. No one can hear us."

"Yes, but even in private you usually talk around it," Jake pointed out. "It's cute."

Kim rolled her eyes and Jake laughed.

"Now, what else is bothering you?" Jake pressed. "It's got to be more than Tommy to have you this distracted. Out with it."

She scowled at him for a moment before relenting.

"It's Jason," she said. "I put in the time to track down his phone number and address and then never went to see him. Don't get me wrong—I don't regret spending time with everyone else. But, after everything I heard from Trini, I just have this feeling that Jason needs his friends…"

Jake nodded in understanding.

"That's fair," he said. "Well, you know I have to go to this meeting—"

"I know, I know," Kim sighed. "And you should have been there already, and you stalled for me, and I love you for it."

"Hear me out," Jake said with a smile. "How about, as soon as I can get away, we go spend some more time in New York. I've got an office there I've been meaning to visit."

Kim rolled her eyes.

"You said the same thing about California," she pointed out.

"So, I lied," Jake said sheepishly. "I don't actually have an office anywhere in California. I just didn't want you to feel bad taking me there."

"You don't?" Kim frowned. "Wait—I knew that."

"But you weren't thinking about it, and it made you feel better about taking me with you," Jake said with a shrug. "I had my computer—it was fine."

"I can't drag you back to New York," Kim said, shaking her head. "You've already dropped everything for me to go to California. I'll just wait."

"But you don't have to," Jake said. "That's the beauty of being a billionaire with a laptop. I can just drop everything. You know most of my work can be done from anywhere as long as I have access to the internet and my phone. And I really do have an office in New York I can visit. So, see? Win for both of us."

Beaming now, Kim stood up and walked over to sit on his lap.

"Thank you," she said, hugging him tightly. "Have I told you recently how much I love you?"

Thursday April 5th, 2018

New York City, NY

Jason stalked through the hallways of the school, heading straight toward the office. He had been at work when he got a call asking him to come to the school to come pick up Marc who was being sent home for the day after getting in trouble with some other kids. Walking in, he saw Marc slouched in a chair with a scowl on his face, his arms crossed over his chest and his backpack on the ground by his feet. Jason ignored him for a moment to speak with the secretary to ask if there was anything else they needed from him before he took Marc home. When she said no, he turned his attention to his son.

"Let's go," Jason said shortly to Marc.

Still scowling, Marc stood slowly and snatched his backpack off the ground. He followed Jason out of the school in silence. They both remained quiet for most of the walk home. It wasn't until they were approaching their apartment building that Jason finally broke the silence.

"Marc, what were you thinking?" Jason asked. "Breaking the rules, getting in trouble—this isn't like you."

Marc scoffed.

"How would you know?" Marc snapped back. "It's not like you ever pay any attention to what I do. Long as I'm not failing it doesn't matter, right?"

Jason frowned as they walked into the elevator.

"That's not true," he said. "And you've never gotten in trouble like this before. So why now?"

"Why not?" Marc countered. "It's not like what I do matters anyways. Nothing I say either. You make all of the decisions."

"It's my job to make the decisions," Jason said. "I'm your father."

"And I'm not a little kid anymore," Marc snapped. "I can make my own decisions."

"You're fourteen. You're still a kid and you still live in my house, so you still listen to me."

"Your house?" Marc scoffed. "We don't have a house. We live in an apartment that's barely big enough for four people."

"Marc, don't start," Jason warned. "You're already grounded—"

"Yeah, great," he interrupted. "Ground me just before you drag me across the country. Because that isn't a worse punishment."

"Moving isn't a punishment," Jason said as he unlocked the apartment. "We aren't moving for fun, Marc."

"Well, maybe we wouldn't have to go anywhere if you had a better job. But you don't care, do you? You don't even try. You're just taking the first out you can—the easy solution."

"Marc—" Jason started, shutting the door behind them.

"This isn't just you it effects, you know," Marc continued, ignoring Jason as he ranted. "I have a life here, too. I have friends, I have school—and you're just going to take all of it away because it's easier to run away than to actually put in more effort here."

"I'm not running away," Jason said. "This is going to be good—"

"No, it's not!" Marc shouted angrily. "It's the worst thing you could possibly do. I don't want to go. I don't want to leave New York or my friends. This is all your fault! I wish you had died instead so we never got that stupid house!"

Without waiting for Jason to say anything else, Marc spun and stormed to his room and slammed the door shut. Jason didn't move for a moment, just staring in the direction his son had gone in. When Marc didn't reemerge after a couple of minutes, Jason went to his own room to change. After he changed, Jason paused in front of Marc's door and considered knocking. Deciding against it, he headed to the kitchen and figured he would start making his shopping list for that weekend. He was still working on it when Christine came home a little while later.

"You're home early," she said, looking at him in surprise.

"Marc got in trouble at school," Jason sighed. "I had to go get him."

"Oh, ok," Christine said dismissively. "But it's perfect that you're home. I'm going to dinner with a few friends so I'm not going to be home til late and I needed someone to be here."

Jason frowned.

"Why?" he asked. "Marc is old enough that someone doesn't have to be here when he gets off school."

Christine scoffed.

"Not for him," she said. "My delivery is supposed to arrive in the next few hours, and I didn't want it sitting out in the hallway where someone could take it. Now I don't have to worry because you'll be here to accept it."

She smiled at him and Jason smiled faintly back.

"What is it you ordered?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

"Oh, just a couple of things I need for that charity banquet," she said with a wave of her hand. "Have you thought about what you're going to be wearing? You really should make sure your tux still fits."

She looked him up and down, pursing her lips. Jason frowned and followed her gaze.

"I'm sure it's fine," he said slowly.

"Oh, it probably is," she said quickly. "You haven't gained that much weight. I'm sure it'll be perfect on you. It's just always better to double check, right?"

Jason nodded.

"Now, how about a drink while you make me a snack?" Christine suggested. "I'm leaving soon but we won't have dinner for a few hours and I'm starving. You can pour something for yourself, too."

Sighing, Jason stood and closed his laptop before walking over to the cupboard to grab a couple of glasses and see what he had for snacks.

Reefside, CA

"JJ, dinner!" Tommy called up the stairs.

JJ yelled a response and Tommy headed back toward the kitchen. As he walked back in, his phone started ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket to see who it was as he grabbed glasses out of the cupboard. Kat took them from him when he answered the phone.

"Hey, Rocky," Tommy said. "What's up?"

"I should kill you!" Rocky snapped.

Tommy paused, plates in his hands.

"Should I be concerned?" he asked.

"Why, Tommy?" Rocky demanded. "Was it really necessary?"

Tommy frowned and then he realized what had probably happened and burst out laughing. Kat raised an eyebrow as she took the plates from him to put on the table.

"That took longer than I expected," Tommy laughed.

"I haven't gone anywhere without my family in the last week!" Rocky said. "There was no reason to get in my trunk!"

"So, what made you open it tonight?"

Rocky huffed and Tommy chuckled. Kat was rolling her eyes, having figured out what was going on.

"I was throwing some stuff in there after shift," Rocky growled. "The airhorns went off at the firehouse!"

That just made Tommy laugh harder. It had not been his intention, but it was definitely a better result than he planned.

"Tommy!" Rocky exclaimed. "It's not funny!"

"I beg to differ," Tommy countered. "I'm laughing."

"The entire firehouse ended up racing outside thinking there was an emergency!" Rocky said. "Two shifts! They all saw what you did!"

"Still not seeing the downside here," Tommy said, watching JJ bounce into the room. "No one was hurt, and I'm amused."

"I'm going to get you back for this," Rocky warned him.

"So you say," Tommy chuckled. "But it'll have to wait. Dinnertime."

"Just you wait," Rocky muttered. "I'll talk to you later…"

New York City, NY

Marc didn't emerge from his room for the rest of the evening, leaving Jason to eat dinner alone. Christine was with her friends and Jason had no idea what Will was up to, he usually didn't. After cleaning the kitchen and a few other things, like laundry, Jason sat down in a recliner in the living room with a drink and his laptop.

It was late when Marc wandered into the living room and stopped to watch Jason. He was in his pajamas, and it looked like he had just woken up. Jason had put up his laptop by that point and was doing a light workout with his home equipment to burn off some frustration. He stopped when he saw Marc.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Can't sleep?"

Marc shook his head.

"I woke up…" he said quietly. "And I don't want to go back to sleep yet…"

Jason nodded.

"How about a snack since you missed dinner—and maybe some hot chocolate?"

"Yes, please…" Marc said.

They both moved into the kitchen. Marc sat down while Jason got him something to eat and boiled water to make hot chocolate. Once the hot chocolate was ready, Jason joined him at the table. For a while, neither one spoke.

"Dad, I'm sorry," Marc finally mumbled after he had finished eating. "I don't actually want you to die… I swear I didn't mean that."

He looked at Jason earnestly, guilt on his face.

"I know," Jason said. "But you have to remember—just because you're mad when you say it doesn't mean it won't hurt someone."

"I know…" Marc said, ducking his head and staring at his hot chocolate. "It's just—I don't want to move…"

Jason sighed.

"I don't want to either," Jason admitted.

"Then why are we?" Marc exclaimed, looking up again. "Why can't we just stay here?"

Jason took a deep breath, trying to decide how to answer the question.

"Marc, sometimes things happen that are out of our control," he said slowly. "Things we don't like and that can be hard to deal with. But it doesn't mean it isn't the right thing to do at the time. We're struggling here right now… California is going to be a chance to start something new. And we'll be closer to family. Your mom doesn't have any family left here and my family all live on the other side of the country."

Marc sighed.

"I still don't like it," he grumbled.

"I know," Jason said. "All I want is for you to give Angel Grove a chance. It isn't that bad, I promise. I grew up there after all."

Marc rolled his eyes. Jason studied him for a few minutes.

"Was something else bothering you?" Jason asked.

Marc hesitated before answering.

"I had a bad dream," he finally admitted. "I woke up and you were just gone. Like you'd never been here. I couldn't find you and the last thing I said to you was I wish you'd died… then I woke up for real."

He was staring at his mug again. Jason smiled faintly.

"I'm not going anywhere, Marc," Jason said quietly.

His head shot up again.

"How do you know?" Marc demanded. "You can't control everything. You don't always get to choose. You just said that!"

"You're right," Jason agreed. "But I will do everything in my power to stick around."

"Doesn't mean it will work," Marc muttered.

Jason frowned, trying to figure out where this was suddenly coming from. He shook his head.

"Maybe not," Jason sighed. "But hopefully by the time that happens I'll have taught you enough to keep going without me. Besides, I plan on living a long, healthy life. So, you'll be stuck with me for a long time."

Marc scowled, shaking his head.

"You don't get it," he muttered. "What if it's not your choice?"

"Just because you don't choose a path in life doesn't mean you stop living, bud," Jason said. "Sometimes you have to live the path that was chosen for you. Now come on. You need to get some sleep. You are going back to school in the morning whether you like it or not."

Taking the now empty plate and mug, Jason stood and put them in the sink before chasing Marc—still grumbling to himself—back to his bedroom.