What Was Lost: The Return Home

by superdory57

When life happens people change and time can pull apart even the closest friends. That doesn't stop the rangers from coming together when the world needs them. Will the original rangers be able to come together to save each other from themselves? Will the rest of the rangers be able to keep them safe from a threat unknown? And what does Jason's wife have to do with it?

30. Chapter 30 Demands and helpers

"And they've only been here an hour or two and are already making rather—specific—demands of the embassy staff," Carter sighed, shaking his head. "So, to alleviate some of that we are going to be providing support."

He was meeting with most of the rest of the Lightspeed team to bring them up to date. Dana was still on the medical floor and would likely be there for some time yet. And Ryan was still away from the base dealing with whatever Ninja Steel had going on. But Chad, Kelsey, and Joel, who was back from dealing with clean-up, were all sitting in Carter's office while he explained what was going on.

"What kind of demands?" Chad asked.

"Room service, better bedding, etc.," Carter said.

"So, they think this is a hotel?" Joel commented.

"Apparently."

Carter stifled a yawn and shifted a few of the papers in front of him. He hadn't gone back to sleep after the Ninjas brought back Jason, Conner, and Zach.

"Now," he said. "Mrs. Scott and her brother are not aware of Jason's involvement in the rangers. At all. And it needs to stay that way until Jason is awake and can decide otherwise. And obviously anything past Jason will have to go through the reds first. So, while he is under the care of the rangers, it is because he is a friend of Tommy's."

"Do they know who Tommy is?" Kelsey asked.

"Not yet," Carter answered, shaking his head. "I will probably have to tell them the basics to keep them from asking more questions. But Tommy will be expecting that in order to cover for the others. Not that I think they are going to care from their reaction to him."

The other three exchanged looks.

"Details?" Joel asked.

Carter shook his head.

"Suffice to say neither party was happy to see the other," he said. "Now, like I said. You three will be supporting the embassy staff and acting as escorts for the siblings during their stay. I've already set a schedule. You'll take turns since this shouldn't require more than one of you on duty at a time."

"But why just the three of us?" Joel frowned.

"Well, I'm dealing with all of this," Carter answered, gesturing to the desk in front of him.

There were papers scattered everywhere as he tried to document everything that had happened in the last twelve hours.

"And trying to control the chaos that this situation has become," he continued. "So, unless one of you wants to take a turn doing my job…?"

"Nope," the three rangers chorused.

Carter shook his head.

"That's what I thought," he said drily. "And Dana is going to be busy in the hospital. I'm not pulling her away and making her or Angela pull double duty to make up for it."

"What about Ryan?" Kelsey asked. "Where is he?"

"Right now? Dealing with something Ninja Steel managed to get themselves wrapped up in involving the Halloween Court," Carter answered.

The other three winced.

"Oh, great," Chad muttered.

"Yep," Carter said. "Plus, I'm not trusting him with these guests."

"Why not?" Joel snorted. "Ryan is actually pretty good with people, Carter."

"Yes, when he wants to be," Carter said. "And only when he wants to be. When he doesn't?"

He shook his head.

"Based on first impressions he might last two minutes," Carter sighed. "Before he stopped playing nice. And I do not need to add that to my problems right now."

"So, that means we just need to be more prickly?" Kelsey said hopefully.

"I don't think that's getting us out of this, Kels," Chad muttered, leaning over to her.

"Look," Carter said. "I know we all have things to do. Especially with extra rangers on base and trying to figure out what's going on. You'll only be doing half days on escort duty. Two days on and one day off. That will reduce the time any of you spend with them. Alright?"

They all nodded in agreement.

"Great," Carter said. "Kelsey, you're up first. I'd like you to head straight down and introduce yourself. They may not be ready to move around yet, but I want you to be available. I've restricted them to the three floors and only the most public spaces since they aren't aware of the rangers. And I'd like you to use one of the far elevators, keeping them away from the ranger suites as much as possible. I don't know what they actually know about the rangers, but I don't want them jumping to conclusions. And with the Dinos here I don't want to risk them recognizing one of them, either. They're going to be moving between floors, too, with Conner in medical, so we just need to be aware."

Kelsey sighed but nodded.

"Alright," she said. "Which room are they in?"

Carter glanced at the time.

"Actually, I'll just walk you down there," he sighed, standing. "I may as well meet with them now, too, and get that over with."

Tommy opened his eyes to look at his phone when it went off. He'd finished the breakfast Hayley had brought a while ago. Zach had finished his, too. Hayley had stayed for a bit before disappearing next door to check on the younger Dinos again. Ethan, Kira, and Trent had spent the rest of the night in Conner's room along with Krista while Hayley floated around making sure everyone was alright. Conner was still asleep from the medication. Dana had given him another dose when she had checked on him. With the room quiet again, he had decided to close his eyes for a little while. Zach had done the same.

Kat: The boys are finishing breakfast. We will be on our way up soon. Which room are you in?

Tommy read the text from Kat and started to reply. Then he remembered he'd forgotten an important detail when they talked several hours before. Forgetting the text message, Tommy called her as he moved his feet off the stool and reached for his cane.

"Tommy? What's wrong?" Kat asked, answering the phone.

"I just forgot to tell you something earlier that you kind of need to know for coming up here," Tommy answered.

"And that is?" Kat said slowly.

"Carter locked us into the Residential level," Tommy said. "Your handprint won't work—so you'll need an override to get into the elevator."

"I'm not Hayley," Kat said irritably. "How am I supposed to override the lock?"

Tommy could tell she was tired from her frustration—and that she had to ask. She knew about the morphers.

"Kat, use your coin," Tommy said, shaking his head.

"Oh. Right."

She sounded a little sheepish now. Tommy just smiled to himself.

"And don't forget the tablet. I'll see you in bit."

"What room are you in?" Kat asked before he could hang up.

"I'll meet you in the hall," Tommy answered. "It will be easier on the boys if we talk there first. But I'm just down from Dana's office."

"Alright," Kat sighed. "We'll be up soon. I'm going to send Trevor to Dana's office when we get up there."

Hanging up with Kat, Tommy put his phone away and carefully pushed himself to his feet. Zach had fallen asleep again in the other bed, so Tommy let him sleep. He was going to be right outside the door, so no one else was getting in without him seeing.

It was getting easier to get up and move around, but the broken ribs still meant he ran out of breath faster—and he still tired out a lot faster than he wanted to admit.

Being as quiet as he could, Tommy moved out into the hallway and sat down on a bench to wait for Kat and the boys. He wasn't particularly looking forward to this conversation, but he would rather they hear it from him than someone else. It wasn't long before he heard them coming and looked up. JJ raced ahead of Kat, sliding to a stop in front of Tommy with Marc close on his heels. Trevor had already left them, though Tommy hadn't seen the teen go past. It probably meant he had stayed in the elevator and gone up to Lightspeed's living quarters on the above ground levels of the base.

"Dad!" JJ exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, JJ," Tommy said reassuringly. "I'm sorry if I scared you again."

JJ nodded, looking at Tommy hesitantly. Tommy smiled and held out his arms so JJ knew it was ok to give him a hug. JJ carefully threw his arms around his father, knowing he still had to be gentle.

"I told you he was alright," Kat said, smiling as she walked up behind the boys.

Tommy gave her a look over JJ's head. He knew she hadn't fully believed him herself until just this moment. She just shrugged, leaning over to give him a kiss. Marc watched silently. All Kat had told them when they woke up was that something had happened, and that Tommy was going to explain. With everything that had happened in the last few days, that made both boys nervous—especially Marc. Jason still hadn't answered the text he sent that morning and that wasn't normal.

"Do you know where dad is?" Marc asked, looking at Tommy. "He didn't answer his phone this morning… he always answers for me."

Tommy sighed and pulled both boys to stand in front of him.

"Before I say anything else," Tommy said, looking between them. "I want you both to know that everyone is going to be alright. And I know you are going to have questions. There might be some I don't have the answer to, but I will tell you everything that I can. Ok?"

Marc and JJ nodded. Kat stood behind them, waiting to hear the full story, too. Tommy paused for a moment before he continued.

"Last night a few people went to Angel Grove to help someone," Tommy said. "One of them was your dad, Marc. And Zach and Conner were with him."

Both boys were looking anxiously at Tommy now. Tommy knew Conner was important to JJ, which is why he wanted to tell him what had happened before it slipped from someone else.

"While they were there," Tommy continued. "Some men attacked them… and they had a gun."

Kat let out a gasp before she could stop herself, one hand flying up to cover her mouth.

"A gun?" Marc stammered.

Tommy nodded.

"Remember, I already told you everyone is going to be alright," Tommy said, putting a hand on Marc's shoulder.

Marc nodded, but he was fidgeting in place now.

"Both Jason and Conner were shot during the altercation," Tommy continued. "Zach was not. Fortunately, the Ninjas were already on their way to help and were close enough to step in. They brought all three of them back here to Dana and Angela for help."

"But why did they shoot them?" JJ burst out.

Tommy sighed, shaking his head.

"Unfortunately, that's one of the answers I don't have right now," he said. "But Carter is investigating and will hopefully have some answers soon. For now, I just want you two to know that they are going to be just fine. They'll need some time to recover, but that's it."

"Can I go see dad?" Marc asked anxiously.

"And Conner," JJ inserted.

"Yes, they can have visitors," Tommy said. "Conner is in this room."

He gestured to the room to his left.

"Ethan and the others are in there with him. You can go in, but you need to be quiet and let him rest. Alright?"

JJ nodded quickly and glanced back at Kat.

"Well, go on," she said. "Your father already said it was alright. Just listen to what you're told."

He darted away, quietly slipping into the room Tommy had indicated.

"Where's dad?" Marc asked anxiously.

"He's right in here," Tommy said, glancing at the door next to him. "But there is something else I want to explain to you before we go in there—alright?"

Marc, who had started to head for the door, hesitated.

"What?" he asked suspiciously.

"Your dad was hurt pretty bad—but he is still going to be alright," Tommy said, making sure to reiterate that Jason was going to recover. "However, in order to help him recover faster, Dana decided to use something called a cryogenic chamber."

Kat looked at Tommy in surprise.

"What's that?" Marc asked, frowning.

"It will be easier to show you," Tommy said, slowly getting back to his feet. "I just wanted to warn you because it might look a little weird or scary at first. But it's a good thing for him right now."

Marc nodded hesitantly. Back on his feet, Tommy made his way over to the door. Marc and Kat followed as he led the way inside. Zach was awake again, staring at the ceiling above the bed. He sat up when they came in the room. Marc stopped just inside the door, staring at the cryo machine.

"It's alright, Marc," Kat said gently. "Go on."

She gently guided him forward after Tommy, getting him close enough so he could see Jason sleeping inside.

"He's just asleep," Tommy said. "Which is pretty much what this thing is for. It's making sure no one can wake him up while he's recovering."

Marc frowned as he stared at it, still not sure what to make of the machine. Kat gave Tommy a look.

"Marc, honey," Kat said turning to Marc. "You like movies, right?"

He nodded, looking at Kat in confusion.

"Think about some of the sci-fi movies you've probably seen," she continued. "Those machines they put people in that scan them and fix their injuries faster?"

Marc nodded slowly.

"That's essentially what the cryo chamber is," she said with a smile. "Yes, it does make sure your dad is sleeping so he can heal. But because it keeps him asleep and helps with some of his basic bodily functions, he is able to heal faster than he would without it. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, I guess," Marc said. "So, when he wakes up, he won't be hurt anymore?"

"For the most part," Tommy confirmed. "Though it depends on how long he stays asleep. He will probably still need a little more time."

"Well then why doesn't he just stay in there until he is all better?" Marc asked.

"Did you want him in there for a week or more?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow.

He was leaning on his cane, having chosen not to sit right back down. Marc quickly shook his head.

"No," he said adamantly.

"I didn't think so," Tommy chuckled. "Dana will wake him up in a few days and then let him finish recovering without it."

"I guess that's alright," Marc said.

He paused, looking at Tommy.

"So, if this thing helps people get better faster… why didn't they use it for you?"

Tommy hesitated as Kat started shaking her head.

"Well, you see…" Tommy said slowly, trying to come up with the best answer. "The cryo chamber is most effective if you can get the person into it right after they were hurt—depending on the type of injury, anyways. But I didn't come straight here. So, by the time cryo was an option, I had already had help and was past the point where it would be really necessary."

"Oh," Marc said.

"Plus, Jason doesn't have the same history of comas that Tommy has," Zach grinned, sitting on the edge of his bed. "So, while putting Jason in one is an easy decision, the decision to put Tommy in one takes some consideration."

Tommy turned his head to glare at Zach. He wasn't sure who had told Zach about the comas, but he would figure it out eventually. It had to have been someone currently on the base and he could rule out all of the kids and at least three adults.

"Zach," Kat sighed. "Jason doesn't have any history of comas—that's only Tommy."

"That's still less…" Tommy muttered. "And how do you even know about mine, Zach?"

Zach grinned.

"I ask questions," he laughed.

"Coma?" Marc said, his eyes wide now.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Kat quickly assured him. "Your dad isn't in a coma and he isn't going to be. Tommy just made a lot of questionable choices in the past. Your dad is much better at taking care of himself."

Tommy frowned.

"Hey, Jason and I both made the same kinds of stupid decisions in high school," Tommy argued.

"Oh, is that so?" Kat said, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms. "So, it was Jason who nearly got himself killed going after something he wasn't supposed to be going after in the first place?"

"Hey! I wasn't th—" Tommy started to argue back.

"Which time?" Zach interrupted. "Because I remember several."

"Take your pick," Kat said.

"Jason did things like that, too!" Tommy snapped back. "I was not the only one in the line of fire."

"At least Jason took a break—of his own free will," Kat retorted.

"I tried to take a break!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Really?" Kat said. "Of your own free will?"

"Yes, in college," Tommy said.

"Because getting into MMA where people beat on each other and then crashing a race car is taking a break?" Kat asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Those weren't the same thing," Tommy protested. "And the stuff after college was not my fault."

Marc kept looking back and forth between them as the cryptic arguments continued. Zach was very much enjoying himself. He didn't understand some of the later references, but he could make a guess what they meant. Kat and Tommy, still arguing, started to make their way back out into the hall where they could talk a little more freely.

"You could have passed the responsibility off to someone else," Kat said shortly.

"Not really," Tommy shot back. "Mine wouldn't have bonded with anyone else."

The couple disappeared out into the hallway, the door shutting and effectively cutting off their argument.

"That was… weird…" Marc said, staring after them.

"You get used to it," Zach shrugged. "Have a seat, kid. I don't think Tommy will need the chair for a bit."

When Tommy came back into the room a little while later, he was alone. Marc was sitting quietly next to Jason. Zach had found another chair and was sitting with him.

"Where did Kat go?" Zach asked, looking at Tommy.

"To check on JJ and see Conner," Tommy said, walking over.

"Want to sit?" Zach said, studying him. "You've been up for a while."

"I'd like to talk to you," Tommy said. "Not here."

Tommy glanced at Marc as he spoke, and Zach nodded. He followed Tommy to the far side of the room and the other bed. Grimacing a little and pressing an arm to his rib cage, Tommy sat down on the bed.

"You alright?" Zach asked.

"I've had worse," Tommy said. "Broken ribs won't slow me down forever."

They were both silent for a moment as Tommy got settled. Zach grabbed a stool to sit on while they talked.

"You want to know what happened last night, don't you?" Zach asked after a moment.

"If you're up for it," Tommy said. "I'd like to hear it from you. Carter doesn't want me helping—but something doesn't make sense."

"None of it makes sense," Zach muttered, shaking his head. "They didn't want anything from us—they just started shooting. I'd have been next if the Ninjas hadn't shown up."

"Why were you even in Angel Grove?" Tommy asked.

"Christine," Zach scoffed, shaking his head. "She called Jason crying about being stranded in a bad part of town—wanted him to come rescue her. She talked him into it, and I didn't want him to go alone… but when we got there we didn't see the car. So, we got out to look and left Conner in his car. But she wouldn't get out of hers to flag us down. And then she wasn't answering the phone anymore."

Tommy frowned but didn't interrupt as Zach continued.

"I saw the guys come out of an alley while we were waiting under a streetlight since it was dark out. They came straight for us. Jason was on the phone, not really watching as he left another message. I was still trying to figure out what they were doing when Conner was suddenly in between us and them. I still don't know how I didn't see him walk over."

"I have a pretty good idea on how he managed that," Tommy said, sighing. "So, he put himself in the way?"

"Yeah… though I don't think he realized there was a gun at that point…" Zach said. "Because I'm pretty sure the look on his face when it came out was the same as mine. They did tell him to get out of the way first though. Then pulled the gun when he wouldn't."

Tommy frowned.

"So, they weren't after Conner?" Tommy said slowly.

Zach shook his head.

"I don't think so," he said. "I think Conner just got in the way… After they shot him—"

Zach paused to take a breath.

"They shot Conner and that's what finally really got Jason's attention," Zach said after a moment. "It was so loud…And when he turned and saw the gun, he pushed me out of the way. That's when they shot him… They were about to shoot me when the Ninjas showed up. I was literally staring at the gun pointed at my face…And then the Ninjas were there, and they stopped them. They saved us. And I think Conner did, too."

"Because he told them to follow?" Tommy said.

"Well, yeah, that," Zach said. "But I also pretty sure if he hadn't gotten in the way, they may have shot both of us before we even knew what was happening…and I have a feeling they would have made sure we weren't getting back up…"

Tommy flinched as Zach trailed off.

"Anyways…" Zach said after a few moments. "Did that cover everything you wanted to know?"

"Almost," Tommy answered. "Though it did make me think—more than I already did—that Carter is heading in the wrong direction on this investigation. Especially if Conner wasn't their actual target…But Zach—why was Conner even with you? Why would he sneak you off base? That's the part that just doesn't make sense to me."

"I really don't know…" Zach shrugged. "He said he wanted to make a phone call without interruptions. Jason and I weren't exactly looking to talk him out of it—especially after he said he wasn't going to blow the whistle on us."

Tommy frowned, shaking his head.

"He could have left on his own at any time to make a phone call…" Tommy muttered. "He wasn't locked in like we were. And there are plenty of places here he could talk without someone walking in."

"Sorry, I don't have a better answer for you," Zach apologized. "But I'm glad he was there. He saved us, Tommy…"

Tommy nodded. He couldn't argue with that.

"The important thing is all of you are going to be fine," Tommy said, mulling over what Zach had told him. "Everything else we can figure out as we go."

Carter knocked firmly on the room door and waited for an answer. He knew they were awake as someone from the embassy staff had delivered some more food items to the siblings a short time before. If only because they hadn't been shown where the cafeteria was yet. Still, it took a moment for them to actually answer.

"Can I help you?" Christine asked expectantly when the door finally opened.

"I'm sorry for the interruption, Mrs. Scott," Carter said. "But I need a few minutes of your time now that you've had a chance to settle in. There are some things I need to discuss with you before you go back up to visit your husband again."

Christine sighed but walked away, leaving the door open for him to enter the room. Kelsey followed right behind him. Inside, Will was sitting at the small kitchen table eating. Christine took her seat again and looked at Carter.

"Well?" she said after a moment.

"Did you have a chance to finish reading the information packet?" he asked, glancing back and seeing it still by the door.

"The what?" Will asked.

Carter sighed. Kelsey quickly grabbed it and set it on the table for the siblings.

"The information in that folder is important for your stay," Carter said evenly. "I do expect that you will go through it, so you understand the code of conduct we expect our guests to adhere to. None of it is unreasonable, however, it is important to understand it."

Will and Christine both eyed the packet, neither one saying anything.

"Now, first things first," Carter continued. "This is Kelsey. Lightspeed yellow."

Kelsey smiled.

"Welcome to Lightspeed," she said brightly, trying to be polite.

"And…?" Christine said.

Will was eying Kelsey closely. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, her smile slipping a little.

"Kelsey will be one of three rangers taking turns escorting you around the base over the next few days," Carter said. "She will be here to help you navigate and to answer any questions you may have while you settle in for the duration of your husband's recovery. Chad and Joel will introduce themselves when they are able."

He paused to make sure they didn't have any questions. Neither sibling said anything.

"Alright," Carter said. "Before I go, I have a few more things I want to cover. Since you haven't had a chance to finish reading through the base information, I am going to remind you of a few of the most important rules here and give you some information my wife was not able to pass on earlier."

The siblings exchanged an irritated look that Carter ignored. He was going to make sure they couldn't claim they didn't know the rules. Some of the minor stuff he didn't care about, but he wasn't offering them an excuse for breaking anything important.

"First and foremost, this is a functioning ranger base and embassy," Carter said firmly, making sure they were paying attention. "That means rangers may come and go at any point as they go about their daily lives. And not just Lightspeed Rescue. Many other rangers use this space intermittently without announcing themselves. So, with that in mind, I want to ensure that their privacy continues to remain a priority in their space."

"Privacy? What? Do you think we're going to go chase them down?" Will scoffed.

Carter raised an eyebrow.

"Attempting to do so would get you removed immediately from this embassy," Carter said shortly. "Or worse, depending on what you actually do. So, I would not recommend it. Embassy staff can be recognized by their uniforms. They are here to assist you in any way they are able. My team—"

He gestured to Kelsey in her uniform.

"Will also be recognizable by their uniforms," he said. "And will be available to you as well. Some of Tommy's friends, such as your husband, are also here and staying in suites near Tommy's. So, this rule does not apply to his and Jason's friends as that would be unreasonable. Anyone else is off limits. That means, if you see someone not in an embassy or Lightspeed uniform you do not know personally, you leave them alone. The rangers have a reasonable expectation of privacy in this place, and it will remain that way. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Will sighed. "Like we care."

Then he paused.

"But I thought Tommy was in the hospital," he said, leaning forward on the table. "He insisted that he was staying in a room with Jason. How does he have a suite? Unless you're telling me you are hosting his friends in hospital rooms."

Carter shot him a look, crossing his arms.

"Tommy is staying in the hospital while he recovers from an attempt on his life," Carter said stiffly. "His friends were invited here to visit in their concern for his well-being. That being said, Tommy does have a suite that he uses when he is here for concerns that are not medical. His family is currently staying there and we determined it would be best to keep his friends close by his family."

Will and Christine exchanged a look.

"Are you saying that man is here on a regular basis?" Christine spat.

"He is under the protection of the rangers," Carter answered. "As my wife, Dr. Grayson, would have explained to you."

Will scoffed.

"Yeah, she mentioned it," he said. "But not that it was him. And I don't see why he'd deserve that kind of protection. Who cares about him? He's no one important."

Kelsey frowned, crossing her own arms as she scowled at Will.

"Tommy is more important to us than you think," Carter responded. "As he was one of us when he was younger."

That caught the siblings' attention.

"What?" Christine sputtered. "That man—a ranger?"

"What happened to privacy?" Will snorted. "Even if we believed you."

"Tommy's time as a ranger is semi-public knowledge," Carter answered. "Though still closely guarded. And is something you need to understand as guests here. He was the first green ranger and is the UN's ranger contact. He works closely with us—the rest of the rangers—and the UN to maintain open communications without compromising ranger identities."

"Are you serious?" Will said doubtfully. "Cause I don't see it."

Carter nodded.

"Tommy was abducted and forced to fight as a ranger," he said. "When the Mighty Morphin rangers freed him from the witch's control, he thanked them by promising to protect their identities. That has continued over the years. So, while he has access to all of us, he protects our secrets while we protect him. That means we take his care very seriously. So, when someone poisoned him four days ago, we took action. He will remain under our direct protection until we are assured of his safety and have dealt with the guilty party or parties, and we have offered that same protection to his friends who were involved as well. Now."

He paused, taking a deep breath before he continued, not giving either of them a chance to interrupt.

"Now, before I go any further," he continued. "If I could see your phones."

"What? Why?" Christine frowned.

"Phones, please, ma'am," Carter said firmly.

"Why do you need my phone?" Christine asked, making no move to produce it.

Carter sighed.

"As I said just a few moments ago," Carter said. "The rangers have a reasonable expectation of privacy in this space. This is also a secure location and, as you are not a ranger or ranger attachment, access to personal devices is restricted per base protocol to protect the rangers and our interests. As it was stated in the information you were given and supposed to have read immediately. No harm will come to your personal devices while they are in our possession and they will be returned upon your departure from this base."

"But I need my phone!" Christine snapped. "Or is this suddenly a prison? Am I not allowed to talk to my friends or family?"

Carter took a deep breath as Kelsey shook her head. He took two phones out of his pocket, holding them up for the siblings to see.

"If there is anyone you need to contact while you are here," he said patiently. "You will still have the ability. These phones are yours to use as long as you remain on our base. To ensure everyone's safety and privacy, they will function as normal phones with just a few minor adjustments. You will be able to make calls and send texts, though you should be aware that any calls made to numbers outside of this base may be monitored. However, you will not be able to send things such as photos, videos, or recordings to any other device. They will save to these devices only and cannot be shared. We will then collect the phones when you depart and return yours to you."

Christine scowled, crossing her arms.

"And if we refuse?" she countered. "What are you going to do then? You can't just take it from me. That's stealing."

"If you do not wish to surrender your phone, that's your choice," Carter answered. "However, if that is the choice you make, you will be subject to more restrictions."

"Restrictions?" Will scoffed.

"Yes. Restrictions," Carter repeated. "Keeping your personal phone is your right and your choice. However, that means you will be locked in these quarters for the duration of your stay. Members of my team will escort you to visit your husband no more than twice a day for up to an hour each visit. And each of those visits will be monitored for the safety and privacy of the rangers who regularly utilize this space. So, it is up to you, but I do need an answer before I leave this room."

Christine glared at him as he fell silent, waiting for an answer. Will was also scowling. The siblings exchanged looks as Carter and Kelsey waited patiently.

"Fine," Christine spat after a few moments of silence. "You can take my phone."

She pulled her phone out of her pocket, reluctantly holding it out. Kelsey strode forward and took it. Before walking away, she powered the phone down while Christine watched. Then she turned to Will and held out a hand.

"My phone isn't even working," Will said, shaking his head. "It got dropped and I'm still trying to get the screen to even turn back on. Do you really need to take it while I'm trying to fix it? If I manage to get it to actually turn on you can just take it from me then."

He gestured across the room where his phone was plugged in on the kitchen counter. Kelsey glanced at Carter who nodded. Striding across the room, she picked up Will's phone to examine it.

"He's right, Carter," she said after a moment. "It looks like it possibly has power, but it's not actually turning on. What do you want to do?"

She waited for his answer, ignoring the smirk Will flashed in her direction. Carter didn't answer immediately, studying the siblings. Then he shook his head.

"Just leave it, Kelsey," he decided. "However…"

He looked at Will.

"If you are able to repair your phone," he said sternly, "I expect you to immediately hand it over to a staff member or one of my team. Understood?"

"Yeah, sure," Will shrugged. "Whatever you say."

Carter eyed him for a moment but didn't say anything. Kelsey came back and handed over Christine's phone before going to hand both Christine and Will the phones Carter had brought. Carter's phone going off interrupted before he could say anything else. Glancing at the number, he gestured for Kelsey to remain as he stepped out the door.

"Billy?" he said as the door slid shut behind him.

Kelsey stayed by the door, her arms crossed as she met the gazes of the siblings. No one spoke, both Christine and Will fussing with their temporary phones. Carter wasn't gone long, however. Coming back inside, he tucked his phone away and looked at Kelsey.

"Kelsey, will you please run and escort Billy and the others up?" he asked quietly. "I still have a few things to cover with Mrs. Scott and her brother and their group is currently restricted to the residential level."

"You restricted them to the floor?" Kelsey hissed. "Carter!"

"I didn't want them stumbling on anyone without explanations," Carter said.

"There is no way they are okay with this," Kelsey retorted.

"Yeah, they aren't…" Carter admitted. "I meant to unlock it before I came down here but I forgot. So, please, can you just go take them up before they get more upset?"

Kelsey sighed. The siblings were eyeing them, not able to hear most of what they were saying since Carter and Kelsey were speaking quietly.

"Fine," Kelsey agreed. "But I'm not above telling them where you are if they want to yell at someone."

Without waiting for a response, she slipped out the door. Carter grimaced, rubbing a hand over his face. Taking a deep breath, he turned back to the siblings.

"Moving on," Carter said, picking up the packet to continue covering rules and regulations. "As guests you will only have access to certain areas of the base…"

"Billy, how much longer do we have to wait?" Kim asked anxiously. "I know you said he's going to be fine, but I'd like to see for myself. It's been hours."

It was after 8a and the rangers were all gathered in the living room of the Mighty Morphin' suite. Billy had woken Trini, Kim, and Jake up several hours previous to tell them there was another incident and that Jason had been shot. They had all been on board for heading straight up to the medical bay, but Billy had stalled them while going to wake up the group in the other suite. Hayley had warned him about Christine and he agreed with not wanting to risk a confrontation in the med bay that early in the morning. And then she messaged him to say Kat was bringing the boys up and they needed a chance to get them settled before the whole group invaded. He was still waiting for an all clear from her.

"I will message Hayley again," Billy said. "She may have been momentarily distracted—Tommy was with JJ and Marc, after all."

"I know…" Kim sighed. "I just can't believe this happened…"

She trailed off and Jake wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly.

"I still don't understand why they were even in Angel Grove last night to begin with," Aisha said, shaking her head. "They were supposed to be here."

Aisha, Rocky, Adam, and Tanya had joined Billy, Trini, Kim, and Jake a short time before. They had brought their kids with them and were watching them run around the room while they waited. Billy frowned at his phone and then sighed. Hayley was clearly still a little annoyed with him based on the tone of her messages.

"Hayley apologizes," Billy said, trying to shake it off. "She has been answering questions for JJ and lost track of time. We are welcome to join them now that the boys have had an explanation. Tommy will have more answers for us."

The was a flurry of motion as all of the rangers immediately started making their way out of the room with Jake and the kids accompanying them. They headed straight for the west elevator, the one closest to their suite. Kim reached it first and placed her hand on the pad to summon the elevator.

Nothing happened.

"Well, that's weird," Kim said, looking at her hand. "It worked just fine for me yesterday."

"Let me, Kim," Trini said. "Carter's been messing around in the system since he keeps changing his mind on what we can and cannot do—he probably deleted you on accident."

She placed her own hand on the scanner—still nothing.

"That's not right…" Trini said slowly, frowning as she glanced to Billy. "My authorization overrides almost everything. Only Tommy has more access than I do. I realize Carter took over, but why would he completely deny us access to the elevator? We should at least be able to travel the ranger levels."

Billy didn't answer. Instead, he tried his own hand with the same result.

"It would appear something else has changed that we have not been made aware of," Billy said slowly. "I will contact Carter for an answer. Izzy and Rae, stay here."

"Well, I'm texting Tommy," Trini muttered as Billy stepped away to call Carter.

"What does she mean Carter took over?" Tanya said quietly, looking at the others.

Kim exchanged a look with Jake while the rest shrugged. They knew because Trini had explained the night before, but they weren't going to try and explain it themselves.

A few minutes later, Billy came walking back with an irritated look on his face. Trini was still waiting on an answer from Tommy.

"Well, what's going on?" Rocky asked, looking at Billy.

"Due to the events of last night, we have been confined to the residential level," Billy said shortly. "Carter did not want us wandering up there until he was able to tell us what had happened. He was not aware we had already been informed, so he has yet to restore privileges."

"Privileges?" Trini repeated, outraged. "Being able to leave our rooms is a privilege now? Just wait until I get up there—"

"Carter's words—not mine," Billy said, interrupting before Trini could start into a rant. "He is sending us an escort to take us up to the medical level until he has an opportunity to restore everything as he is not currently in his office."

Trini scowled, as did the rest of the group. None of them were pleased by the revelation.

"Well, that's great," she muttered. "Tommy isn't answering, so I have no idea how he got up there."

The kids, who had no idea what was going on, were getting antsy waiting to go somewhere. Rocky picked up Damien to keep him from wandering off again. Karly was helping by holding Liam's hand. Lilla and Jazmine were both attached to Adam. His stay in the hospital wing had scared them. He was leaning against the wall now. This was the first time he had really been up and moving on his own since he'd been poisoned. Izzy and Rae were whispering together and then Izzy pulled a tablet out of the shoulder bag she was carrying.

"Daddy, I can help," Izzy said. "Mommy has been teaching me to get around firewalls."

Billy immediately started shaking his head, crouching down to talk to his daughter.

"No hacking the Lightspeed systems—remember?" he said firmly. "So maybe I should hold that until we get upstairs."

Izzy sighed and handed over her tablet. He tucked it into the computer bag he was carrying over one shoulder. Behind Billy, Rae had pulled a screwdriver out of her bag and was heading straight for the scanner. Rocky saw her and reached over with his free hand, taking the screwdriver out of Rae's hand.

"I don't think taking things apart is going to help," he said, gently bopping her on the nose with the handle.

Billy glanced over his shoulder. Damien started bouncing in Rocky's arms.

"Take it apart!" he said excitedly.

"No one is taking anything apart," Rocky said, shaking his head.

"But daddy…" Damien pouted.

"If you can't put it back together, you shouldn't be taking it apart," Rocky said firmly.

Rae's eyes lit up and she reached for her screwdriver. Billy, who had Izzy's tablet put away now, turned to his youngest as the rest of the rangers watched in amusement.

"Unless you know you are able to put it back together on the first try, you may not take it apart," he said firmly, giving Rae a look.

Rae sighed and surrendered.

"Alright…" she said reluctantly.

Confident that she wasn't immediately going to try taking something apart, Rocky handed the screwdriver back to Rae and she stuck it back in her bag. She was still pouting. Billy picked her up to talk to her quietly as they waited. A few minutes later, the elevator door finally opened. The rangers looked inside in surprise, not immediately crowding into the elevator. Kelsey was inside but in addition to her normal uniform, she was wearing all of her skating pads—including her helmet—and holding a bed pillow in front of her.

"Uh—Kels?" Adam said slowly. "What's with the padding?"

"Please don't hit me," she squeaked out. "None of this was my idea. I'm just doing what Carter said."

Looks were exchanged amongst the rangers.

"I'd like to think we have more self-control than that," Aisha said drily. "No one is blaming you, Kelsey."

"Let's move," Rocky interrupted, pushing the rangers in front of him into the elevator. "I'd like to see Jason for myself and get some real answers."

There were no arguments about that. It was a tight squeeze getting all of them in, but they just picked up the kids and squished. None of them wanted to wait for a second trip. When they reached the next floor, Kelsey let them out but didn't follow.

"Carter says he'll have everything fixed before lunch," she said. "Sorry again…I have to get back to escort duty…"

The group didn't wait for the doors to close. They were already on the move down the hall with Kim in the lead. Hayley had given them the location of the rooms earlier, so they knew right where they were going.

"Wait—" Billy said, trying to stall them.

He sighed, everyone but Trini having taken off already. He shifted the laptop bag hanging off his shoulder.

"What's wrong, Billy?" Trini asked as they started walking after the others.

"Well," Billy hesitated. "I may have neglected to mention earlier… but Dana placed Jason in a cryogenic chamber."

Trini stopped and stared at him in surprise. He was still holding Rae while Izzy stood next to him. Both of the girls were looking at him, a little confused by the unfamiliar phrase.

"Temporarily," Billy added quickly. "Hayley said it is only supposed to be for a few days. I did not want to inform anyone earlier as I knew it would stress them out more during the wait…"

"Well, they're about to find out the hard way," Trini said, spinning to hurry down the hallway. "Let's go."

They didn't catch the rest of the rangers until they had already reached Jason's room. Inside, they all froze when they saw Jason in the cryo chamber. Tommy, who had still been sitting with Zach on the other bed, got up to greet them.

Tanya gasped, one hand covering her mouth as she stared. Adam quickly put his arms around her, both to reassure Tanya and to steady himself. The twins continued to cling to his legs. Kim immediately burst into tears.

"I thought he was alright!" she cried, sobbing into Jake's shoulder as he pulled her to him.

"Billy, what is going on?" Aisha demanded, spinning to look at Billy.

Billy sighed, walking across the room. Tommy had reached the machine with Zach close behind him.

"I apologize," Billy said, looking at his friends. "I intended to explain before you saw—but you rushed down here before I could say anything."

"Then what is that thing?" Kim demanded, still crying. "And why is he in there?"

"It is a cryogenic chamber," Billy answered.

"And he is going to be fine," Tommy said, interrupting. "Right, Marc?"

He glanced pointedly at the teenager sitting in the chair next to Jason and then back at his friends. They saw the look and quickly reined themselves in.

"Of course, he is," Aisha said quickly. "It was just a surprise to see him in… in that."

As a group they crowded closer, wanting to see for themselves that Jason was alright.

"So, what is it?" Kim asked, her tears a little more controlled now. "And why does he have to be in there if he is going to be alright?"

"Because it's helping," Tommy answered before Billy could. "Remember how we always healed faster when we were in high school because we were—younger?"

He looked at Kim and the others expectantly as he made his point. They nodded slowly.

"It's like that," he said. "Just a different application. So, he'll sleep in it for a few days and then Dana will wake him up."

"Well, that doesn't seem too bad," Tanya admitted.

"It's like in those sci-fi movies," Marc inserted from the chair.

The rangers turned to look at him.

"What?" he said. "Tommy and Kat explained it to me. It's like the movies where they put the people in those chambers filled with liquid—or whatever. They come out way better than they should because they were in the machine. So, dad is gonna be ok when he wakes up in a couple of days."

Marc explained earnestly, glancing at Tommy as he spoke. He sounded confident but there was still some hesitation on the teen's face like he needed continued reassurance that it was true.

"See?" Tommy said. "What he said. And this way Dana doesn't have to worry about any of you waking him up when he's supposed to be sleeping."

They were all quick to accept the explanation, not wanting to risk upsetting Marc. Details would have to wait until they could talk to Tommy—or Billy—alone. As they were all talking, the door opened and Kat walked. She stopped in surprise, looking at the crowd around Jason.

"Good morning," she said after a moment, walking over to join them. "It's a lot more crowded in here than it was when I left."

As everyone shifted around to greet Kat, there was some bumping into each other with how close they had crowded to Jason. Billy, trying to keep Rae and Izzy from getting knocked over by the adults, bumped into Tommy when he moved. Tommy, who would normally not be fazed, lost his balance. Billy, realizing what he had done, quickly spun to help steady Tommy who had caught himself against the cryo machine.

"Sorry, Tommy," Billy apologized.

"Don't worry about it," Tommy said, shaking his head. "Probably won't be the last time it happens while I'm recovering."

"You need to sit down, Tommy," Kat sighed, hands on her hips as she looked at her husband. "Just because you are moving around better doesn't mean you shouldn't take breaks."

"I know…" Tommy sighed.

Marc, sitting in the chair behind Tommy, immediately hopped up.

"You can have your chair back, Tommy," he said quickly. "I don't need to sit in it all day."

"Thanks, Marc," Tommy said with a smile.

He took the empty seat, sitting down slowly so he didn't jostle his ribs too much. Zach grabbed a stool from the corner and rolled it over to Marc.

"Here, kid," he said. "That way you don't have to sit on the ground."

Marc grinned and took the stool, sitting down next to Tommy. In moments, he was spinning around in circles on it with a grin on his face. Tommy watched him for a moment and then shook his head, turning away with a grimace.

"Alright, can't watch that right now," he muttered. "Does not help…"

Zach, hearing what Tommy muttered, grabbed the stool. With Marc holding on tightly, he rolled him around to the other side of the bed so he could spin out of Tommy's direct line of sight. While Zach was doing that, Rocky, Aisha, Tanya, and Adam ushered their kids to the other side of the room out of the way. They settled them down on or around the second bed where they could play without getting stepped on.

"I think you're going to stay with me," Rocky said, catching Damien as he started to take off across the room. "You can just reach some of the buttons on the control panel and I don't trust you to keep your hands to yourself."

Damien laughed and wiggled as he laid across Rocky's shoulder. Izzy and Rae were still with Billy and Tommy. Zach, seeing Damien trying to get away, grabbed a small remote that he had seen on the table by Tommy's bed.

"Here, play with this, kid," Zach said. "I accidentally pushed a button on it earlier and nothing happened, so I don't think it does anything important."

Damien took the remote, gleefully pounding on the buttons. Tommy chuckled when he saw what Damien had.

"What are you laughing at?" Rocky asked, looking at Tommy.

"That's the call button," Tommy said as Rae carefully climbed into his lap. "It sets off an alert in the office to tell them someone needs something. It's not the emergency one, though. So, if they aren't in the office, they won't hear it."

"Oh," Rocky said, glancing at his son.

"What are you doing, Rae?" Billy asked, frowning at his youngest. "You need to be careful or you will hurt Tommy."

"I'll be careful," Rae promised, looking at Tommy. "I just want to see."

Tommy smiled. He wasn't protesting. Rae tilted her head, looking at Tommy.

"You would have let me take it apart," she said.

Tommy looked back at her a little confused.

"Take what apart?" he asked, glancing over at Billy and then back to Rae.

"The lock," Rae answered with a grin.

"What lock?" Tommy asked slowly.

Billy sighed.

"The elevator lock," Rae said. "It wouldn't open."

"Taking it apart wouldn't have helped operate the elevator Rae," Tommy said in amusement.

"Izzy was gonna fix it!" Rae exclaimed.

Tommy looked at Billy again, raising an eyebrow in question.

"And that is why I have Izzy's tablet," Billy said, shaking his head as the rest of their friends snickered.

Izzy tugged on Billy's shirt.

"Daddy, may I have it back now?" she asked. "I promise not to hack anything without permission."

"Alright," Billy said, fishing her tablet out of his bag. "But no hacking."

Izzy nodded eagerly as she took her tablet back. The room door slid open, and Angela rushed in.

"What is the problem?" she asked, quickly looking around. "Tommy?"

He shook his head, trying not to laugh.

"Sorry, Angela," he said. "But there isn't a problem right now. Damien has the call button."

Damien, still in Rocky's arms, was happily pressing the button on the remote as he waved it around. Angela sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"That is not a toy," she said shortly. "Especially with three—actually, make that five of you—recovering from serious attacks and injuries."

"I didn't realize what it was right away," Rocky said apologetically as he tried to convince Damien to give up the remote. "And now he won't let go…But we are all fine."

Aisha reached up to help Rocky with their son while Angela started into a lecture on appropriate use of medical technology. The rangers listened patiently, knowing she was only annoyed because she cared about their wellbeing.

As she was scolding them, the door slid open again. Tommy looked over to see Christine and Will saunter in and he scowled. Kelsey, seeing how many people were in the room, stayed out in the hallway. Marc, only half listening to Angela, also saw them come in. He shrank down on the stool, clearly trying to duck out of their sight.

"What is going on in here?" Christine demanded. "Why are there so many people in here?"

Tommy saw Marc trying to disappear and quickly caught Adam's eye, jerking his head in Marc's direction. Adam followed his gaze and realized what was happening. He shifted so he was standing more in front of Marc, tugging Tanya after him and putting his arm around her shoulder so they created a bit of a wall between Marc and his mother. Tommy stayed where he was, glaring at Will.

"We are Jason's friends," Aisha said, crossing her arms as she glared at Christine. "We have every right to visit him."

"I'm his wife!" Christine exclaimed. "I just want a few private minutes with him, and I can't even get that. Why don't you all just go away?"

"If you want to sit quietly with him, you can," Rocky said evenly. "We'll get you a chair and stay out of the way—but we aren't leaving until we are ready. He is our friend and we're worried, too."

Billy grabbed a chair and set it on the same side of the chamber Tommy was sitting on, but a little ways away from Tommy. Christine scowled but sat down. Will stayed back, leaning against the wall as he tried to ignore Tommy. The rangers moved away from the cryo chamber—except for Adam and Tanya, who stayed in front of Marc—talking quietly in smaller groups to try and be nice. None of them made any move to leave the room. Angela excused herself, not wanting to be in the way. Christine sulked in her chair, alternating between sighing and glaring at the other people in the room. She was very obviously trying to make people uncomfortable.

After a while of trying to ignore it, Kim finally decided to take things into her own hands. Christine let another sigh as Kim walked up to her.

"Oh, honey," Kim gushed, placing a hand on Christine's arm. "I know this must be so hard for you."

Christine looked up at her in surprise.

"I have the perfect plan to help us all feel better," Kim continued. "Let's share some of our favorite memories of Jason! What's yours?"

"What?" Christine said.

"Your favorite memory of Jason. It would be wonderful to hear some stories we haven't heard before."

"I don't think so," Christine said stiffly. "This is a hospital room."

"Oh, that's fine," Kim said brightly. "We've all spent time in hospitals before. We can share first if that makes you more comfortable. Tommy, why don't you go?"

Tommy glanced over at her and shook his head.

"Pass," he said, his gaze going back to Will.

Kim followed his gaze and didn't argue.

"Right—Zach?"

"What?" he said, looking at Kim with wide eyes.

"What's your favorite memory of Jason?"

"Umm…" Zach said slowly, glancing around at his audience. "Uh—hanging out at the youth center after school?"

"That's great!" Kim gushed.

She turned her attention to Billy next. As he quickly tried to come up with an answer, Zach leaned over to Jake.

"Man, when did she become this kind of dangerous?" Zach asked. "I don't remember her being like this in high school. But if looks could kill…"

He glanced at Christine who was glaring at Kim as she bounced around the room talking about Jason with the other rangers.

"Seriously, Zach?" Aisha laughed, overhearing his comment. "Kim has always been like this. She was still learning to use it in high school. Now she has had years to perfect her technique."

Jake nodded in agreement.

"I was nervous the first couple of times we went to fancy events together," he admitted. "It never fazed her."

Christine, now trying to completely ignore Kim, had gone back to sighing and glaring around the room. She finally caught a glimpse of Marc hiding behind Adam and Tanya and sat upright.

"Marc!" she exclaimed, interrupting Kim and Trini talking.

Standing quickly, Christine started moving around the bed.

"Where have you been?" she demanded. "You should have come found me as soon as you woke up this morning."

Adam shifted to intercept as Tommy's attention snapped from Will to Christine.

"Freeze!" he ordered, using a tone that not even Christine could ignore.

She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him.

"Excuse you?" she said.

"You heard me," Tommy said. "You are already too close to him just by being in this room. I'm tolerating that because I don't have a choice right now—but you will not touch him. Marc has a restraining order against you, remember?"

"He is my son," Christine snapped. "And Jason is hurt—the restraining order doesn't matter anymore. He is my responsibility again and he should have told me where he was as soon as he knew I was here. I need him to get his things so he can move to our room."

Marc looked anxiously between Tommy and his mother, clearly hoping she wasn't right.

"Oh, it still matters," Tommy countered. "And you don't have custody. Jason named a substitute in case of emergency—it wasn't you."

"Well then who?" Christine hissed.

"Me," Tommy said firmly. "Per the court, I currently have custody of Marc since Jason is medically unable to care for him. And I'm warning you to stay away from him."

As he spoke, Tommy gestured for Marc to come join him. Christine was sputtering in protest. Marc, catching Tommy's gesture, got off the stool and started inching around the cryo machine in the opposite direction of his mother. Will, trying to help his sister, hurried over to intercept Marc before he could get to Tommy. Jake saw him move and put himself between Will and Marc.

"I don't think so," he said firmly, crossing his arms as he blocked Will's path. "It seems very clear to all of us that Marc is not ready to go with either of you and we aren't going to let you make him."

"Get out of the way," Will answered irritably.

Marc was standing next to Tommy's chair now, still watching his mother and uncle nervously.

"No," Jake said firmly. "And you can't make me. I may not have any formal training like they do, but I do have a pretty good right hook."

Will stared at Jake in shock. The rangers all looked at Jake in surprise, too. They hadn't expected that out of him. Kim just beamed proudly as she watched her husband.

"Are you threatening me?" Will sputtered. "You all heard him—he threatened me!"

"That wasn't a threat," Adam said evenly. "It was a statement. No one here needs to threaten you to get their point across."

Will scowled at Adam as Zach took the chair Christine had been sitting in and moved it next to Tommy. Marc sat down in it and Zach stood in front of him with his arms crossed. Christine, who had started walking back around, scowled at Zach.

"You can't keep my son from me!" Christine exclaimed.

"Until Marc wants to go with you of his own free will, you have no say," Tommy said.

Everyone was watching Christine and Will now to see what they would do. They were all ready to physically stop them if necessary.

"Fine," Christine snapped. "It's too crowded in here anyways. Will, let's go. We can come back later when these—people—have decided to mind their own business. I want something to eat."

She spun and stalked out the door with Will not far behind.

"Well, that's not likely to happen anytime soon," Rocky scoffed as the door slid closed behind her.

Tommy watched them go and then turned to Marc.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

Marc nodded.

"Do you really have custody of me right now?" Marc asked. "I don't have to go with mom?"

"Really," Tommy assured him with a smile. "So, you have nothing to worry about while your dad is recovering."

Marc visibly relaxed. Tommy watched him for a moment. He still felt like he was missing something between Marc and his mother, but he wasn't going to press the issue right now. Not in a room full of people.

The atmosphere in the room had relaxed again now that Christine and Will were gone. Kim had gone straight to Jake giving him a kiss and hugging him tightly for helping Marc. Rocky walked over to the kids on the other bed, scooping Liam out of the way so he could sit down on the bed with Damien. Lilla and Jazmine ran over to their parents. Adam had his arms around Tanya again, leaning on her a little.

"Daddy, why was that lady so loud?" Lilla asked, looking up at her parents.

"That's just how some people are," he said, smiling at his daughter.

Rae, who had slipped off Tommy's lap when Christine first arrived, was sitting on the floor by his feet with her sister. Kat had moved to stand next to Tommy, resting a hand on his arm as she leaned over to talk to him and check on Marc. Zach still hadn't moved from his position in front of Marc's chair. Billy was now standing with Trini, talking quietly.

"We may as well go now," Trini said, shaking her head. "I still haven't had a chance to talk to him about yesterday when he ambushed us at the party. I want more answers."

"So do I," Billy sighed. "I understand that Carter is only trying to protect us, but he is not approaching the situation in an appropriate fashion… he has gone to an unnecessary extreme with this clause…"

"Agreed," Trini said. "Shall we?"

Billy nodded, though he didn't immediately follow Trini toward the door. Instead, he turned to Tommy who had been listening to them with some interest.

"Tommy, may I leave Rae and Izzy with you while we track down Carter?" Billy asked.

"I'll watch them," Tommy said. "But good luck with him. You'll have to override the elevator controls. Or did he unlock us?"

"Kelsey said it was going to be a while yet," Billy said, shaking his head. "So, we will take your suggestion. We will let you know if we get anywhere with him."

"Thanks, Billy."

Billy joined Trini by the door and the two disappeared out into the hall, the door sliding shut behind them.

After they were gone, Tommy shifted and sat further upright.

"Hey Izzy," he said, looking at the seven-year-old sitting by her feet. "Want to help me with something?"

Izzy looked up from her tablet.

"What is it, Uncle Tommy?" she asked brightly.

"Your mom has been teaching you to modify cellphones, right?" he asked quietly, not wanting to draw everyone's attention to the conversation.

She nodded. Kat listened with interest, as did Marc and Zach.

"With permission only," she said. "From responsible adults."

"And what defines a responsible adult?" Kat asked with an amused smile.

"I have a chart!" Izzy exclaimed.

She touched a few buttons on her tablet and held it up to Tommy. He took it glancing at the list with amusement.

"Where does Conner fall on this?" he asked, smirking.

"Down here."

Izzy leaned over Tommy's leg so she could reach to scroll down and point out Conner's name.

"But you are near the top," Izzy said. "In the green zone. So, if you want me to modify your cellphone I may."

"You mean Tommy counts as a responsible adult?" Zach snickered.

"More responsible than you," Tommy retorted.

Tommy handed the tablet back to Izzy.

"Can you set up a sort of proximity alert on my phone?" he asked her.

Izzy frowned as she looked up at him.

"For what?" she asked.

"I want to be alerted when Christine or Will come anywhere near here. So that way I know to be on my guard."

Behind him, Kat sighed. Zach looked entertained at the idea.

"I think I can do that…" Izzy said slowly, her brow furrowed. "But I will need your phone."

Tommy immediately took his phone out of his pocket, glancing at it before handing it to Izzy.

"And theirs…" she added.

"Right," Tommy sighed. "Hmm…"

"I can get them!" Rae exclaimed, scrambling to her feet.

"Rae, I don't—" Tommy started to say.

But Rae was already bolting out the door.

"We're still locked out of the elevators, right?" Tommy asked, looking back at Kat.

"Well, I hope so," Kat said. "Because otherwise we should probably go catch her."

Tommy looked back at the door for a moment. The other rangers were looking at the door and back at him. They had all noticed Rae go running out of the room.

"I'm sure it's fine," Tommy said, shaking his head.

"Is this really even necessary?" Kat asked. "I know you don't like them—I don't either. But Jason is her husband. She has a right to be here even if they aren't on the best of terms right now."

"Something isn't right," Tommy said. "I don't trust either of them. You weren't here when they arrived. She was wailing about him being dead, but she wasn't actually crying. They wanted him alone, Kat. And I don't think they had good intentions."

Kat sighed.

"Tommy, what were they going to do?" she said, shaking her head. "Everyone grieves in their own way. I'm sure thinking the worst was just a miscommunication on Carter's part. Or she misunderstood."

"I think she wanted to misunderstand. And I'm not letting Jason—or Marc—be alone with either of them."

"You're being paranoid," Kat sighed.

Tommy just shrugged, wincing a little, but didn't argue. He didn't have any proof of anything, but he still felt like Christine would have been happier if Jason had actually been dead when she walked into the room the first time that morning.

The door slid open again and Tommy glanced over, expecting to see Rae coming back in after not being able to get into the elevator. But it wasn't Rae.

"JJ—what are you doing?" Tommy asked, watching his son in amusement.

JJ had walked into the room on his hands instead of his feet. A few feet inside the door he let his legs drop and actually stood up.

"I just wanted to see if I could do it," JJ grinned. "Need to do something since I can't work out with you. It's been like a week."

He bounced over to his parents.

"It's been four days," Tommy said drily.

"It's still forever," JJ said. "And we aren't home so I can't run around outside, and mom told me I have to let Rocky and Adam rest, too. And now Conner is hurt and—"

"What happened to Conner?" Jake interrupted, frowning.

When JJ walked in the attention in the room had turned back to where Tommy was sitting. Tommy looked around at his friends. Most of them were confused at the mention of Conner being hurt.

"Did Billy not tell anyone?" he asked slowly.

Heads were shaking. Zach and Kat were the only ones who seemed to know.

"Conner was with Jason and Zach," Tommy said. "I know Hayley told Billy that, so he must not have mentioned it…"

"Is he in…" Jake started to ask, looking at the cryo chamber and then back at Tommy without finishing his question.

"No, Dana only has one cryo machine," Tommy said, shaking his head. "And, while Conner's injury was still serious, Jason needed it more."

"How bad is he?" Rocky asked in concern.

"Shot once in the left shoulder," Tommy answered. "It did some damage to the muscle and bone and clipped a major vein. He lost a lot of blood…"

Rocky winced. He knew how bad a shot like that could have been.

"He's still sleeping," JJ inserted. "Hayley says Dana isn't ready for him to wake up yet because he doesn't like to sit still but he'll probably be awake soon anyways because the medicine she gives him doesn't work as well on him and she can only give him so much a day and—"

"JJ," Tommy interrupted. "Slow down. That's a lot of information."

"And a lot of energy," Zach snickered.

"Why don't you ask Trent to go down to the gym with you," Kat suggested. "Burn off some energy."

"I guess…" JJ said slowly. "But it isn't the same…"

Tommy chuckled, shaking his head.

"Why don't you go find the Ninjas?" he said. "They're still here. I'm sure they'll go run around the gym with you for a while."

JJ brightened up.

"Ok!" he exclaimed, bolting toward the door.

"JJ, wait—or not," Tommy said. "Now he's going to be staring at the elevator with Rae. Trini said Carter still hasn't fixed anything."

"Are we sure she is only looking at it and not taking it apart?" Kat asked. "She's been gone for a little while now."

"I didn't think about that," Tommy muttered.

He started to shift so he could stand up.

"I got it, Tommy," Adam said. "Stay there. I'll be right back."

Adam strode out of the room, still moving a little slower than normal. But when he came back a few moments later he was alone.

"They aren't there," he said, a little surprised. "I think they actually got into the elevator. But I checked and I still couldn't open it."

"Carter forgot the kids," Tommy said, shaking his head. "Their access is separate from ours."

"You mean we could have gotten up here without Kelsey if we had let one of Billy's girls touch the control pad?" Kim exclaimed.

"Apparently," Tommy said.

"But that also means we can take them to breakfast," Aisha said. "Well, I guess maybe lunch?"

She glanced at her watch, trying to decide which meal she should actually feed them.

"May as well call it lunch," Tanya said. "And we can just give them some snacks later when they get hungry again."

Rocky stood up from the bed, scooping Damien up again.

"Let's go," he said. "I'll feel safer letting Damien run around the cafeteria than I do letting him loose in here. He can't kill anyone with the buttons on the order consoles."

The door slid open, and Rae came bouncing back in with a grin on her face.

"Here, Izzy," she said, skipping over to her sister. "I got the phones."

Most of the rangers looked at her in surprise. Tommy and Kat both sighed, exchanging a look with each other. Marc snickered at the looks on the adults' faces.

Izzy took the phones excitedly.

"How did you get their phones?" Zach asked. "There is no way they just handed them to you."

"I spilled my juice," Rae said, beaming.

"Your juice?" Tommy said, raising an eyebrow.

Rae nodded.

"Since they were in the cafeteria I got grape juice," she said, sounding proud of herself. "And then I tripped."

Kat's eyes widened.

"Christine was wearing white pants," she said. "Rae, did you…?"

"All over her pants," Rae grinned. "So, she had to set her phone down. I took it while she was distracted and yelling. And then I borrowed his from his pocket."

"Rae, you aren't supposed to pickpocket," Kat scolded.

"But Uncle Tommy needed the phones," Rae protested, pouting a little.

"And thank you for getting them," Tommy said, gesturing for her to climb onto his lap. "But next time, have an adult help. Especially with people you don't really know."

Rae sighed but nodded, getting comfortable in his lap. Izzy had all three phones laid out in front of her and her tablet in her lap, already working on whatever she was doing. Tommy eyed the phones she had. Carter had definitely gotten the memo neither of the siblings knew about the rangers, because the phones in Izzy's possession were essentially dummy phones. Tommy recognized them, having seen Hayley and Ethan both work on them in the past for just in case scenarios.

"Least he's doing something the right way…" Tommy muttered to himself.

Rae frowned, looking up at him in confusion, but Tommy just smiled at her and shook his head. Rocky, Aisha, Adam, and Tanya had gathered up their five kids.

"Come on, Karly," Rocky said. "I need you to unlock the elevator for me. You're more important than I am right now."

"Really?" Karly said excitedly. "Ok!"

She ran ahead of the group as they headed out to get food. Zach followed them. Kat left, too, so she could get Tommy something to eat. Kim and Jake didn't immediately leave. Kim was trying to convince Marc to come eat something with them. He just kept insisting he wasn't hungry and he wanted to stay with his dad.

JJ came back while Kim was still arguing with Marc.

"Well, that was fast," Tommy said.

"I couldn't find them," JJ pouted.

"Wait—what?" Tommy frowned. "Aren't they in their rooms?"

"I don't know," JJ shrugged. "I thought I heard them in there, but no one answered the door. So, I came back up here."

Tommy reached for his phone and then remembered Izzy had it.

"I need to call Carter," he muttered. "Kim, let me have your phone."

Kim started to hand it over, then stopped.

"I don't have Carter's number," she said.

"That's fine."

She handed Tommy her phone. He scrolled quickly through her contacts and pressed a number. He was silent for a moment as he waited for an answer.

"Hey, Trini, it's me," he finally said.

"Tommy? Why are you using Kim's phone?"

"Because Izzy has mine," he answered.

"Do I want to know why Izzy has your phone?"

Tommy heard Billy say something in the background.

"She is fixing something for me," he said. "But that's not why I'm calling. Can you give the phone to Carter? I need to ask him where the Ninjas are."

Trini didn't answer. But Tommy heard some muffled voices and then Carter was on the phone.

"What did you need, Tommy?" Carter asked, sounding irritated.

"Carter, where are the Ninjas?" Tommy asked.

There was a pause as Carter groaned.

"In their suite," he sighed. "I never called them with an update this morning…"

"Did you even tell them that Jason and Conner are going to be alright?" Tommy exclaimed.

"No, I didn't… I forgot in the middle of everything else…"

Carter was replaced by Trini again. Meaning she snatched her phone back.

"He's going to fix it right now," she assured Tommy. "Carter—call them. And while you are unlocking them, you had better restore our so-called privileges to use the elevator. I will be generous and give you five minutes before I call Hayley."

Having heard enough to know things were happening, Tommy hung up and handed Kim her phone back. Instead of settling back into his chair, however, Tommy carefully got to his feet and grabbed his cane.

"Where are you going, Tommy?" Kim asked as he headed toward the door.

"To wait," he said.

Kim and Jake exchanged a look and followed. Marc stayed in his chair with Izzy and Rae still on the floor next to the chairs. JJ followed Tommy. Out in the hallway, Tommy leaned against the wall between the two rooms instead of sitting back down.

"What are we doing?" Kim asked, looking around.

"Just wait for it," Tommy said.

For a few minutes it was quiet. Then the silence of the hall was broken. Down the hall, the door to the stairs burst open and five people stumbled through, tripping over each other before bolting toward Tommy. Behind them, the elevator opened and Cam stepped out, following his teammates quickly down the hall.

All six of the Ninjas stopped in front of Tommy. Most of them were all talking at the same time, apologizing for not calling him immediately and for not reacting faster the night before. Tommy let them go for a moment and then held up a hand. The six rangers fell silent.

"None of it is your fault," he said firmly. "Carter was in the wrong for ordering you to stay silent and then forgetting about you. And if the six of you hadn't been there last night, it would have been a lot worse. You saved them all and I am grateful for it."

The Ninjas all exchanged relieved looks.

"So, they're alright?" Dustin asked anxiously. "When Carter didn't call us back and no one messaged us after Ethan we thought maybe—"

"They will be," Tommy said quickly. "That's Conner's room right there. They're all in there with him. Try not to wake him up—or you can explain it to Dana. She's had enough trouble keeping him asleep as is."

The Ninjas agreed, eagerly crowding into the room. Tommy turned to Kim and Jake.

"You should both go get something to eat now that we can use the elevators again," Tommy said. "And then try and relax for a while. Until Jason wakes up there isn't going to be much to do up here. And I wouldn't recommend trying to visit Conner until the Ninjas clear out. It's going to be a little crowded in there for a while."

He gave Jake a quick look as he spoke. Tommy knew that, despite comments to the contrary, Jake and Conner actually did enjoy each other's company. They both liked giving the other a hard time, but it was all in good fun.

Kim protested a little, still trying to insist they take Marc, but Jake finally convinced her to go. Tommy assured Kim that Kat would bring something for Marc, too. They weren't going to let him starve. JJ volunteered to run down to help his mother bring up food. So, the three of them headed toward the elevator.

As they were walking away, Izzy and Rae came out of Jason's room.

"All done, Uncle Tommy," Izzy said proudly, handing him his phone.

"Thank you, Izzy," Tommy smiled, taking his phone.

He glanced at it and saw he had a message from Carter. Choosing to ignore it for the moment, he put his phone in his pocket.

"Now we just have to get these back without them noticing," Tommy said, taking Christine and Will's phones from her.

"I can help!" Rae exclaimed.

"Not this time," Tommy said. "They'll notice something if their phones suddenly reappear when you show up. It has to be someone else."

Rae pouted as Tommy closed his eyes for a moment. The girls waited, watching him. Opening his eyes again, Tommy straightened up and walked over to Conner's room. The door slid open and he poked his head inside.

"Shane, I need a volunteer for a quick mission," he said.

Inside the room, a quiet argument ensued. Hunter resolved the issue by shoving Blake out into the hallway and pressing the button to shut the door.

"Hey!" Blake protested.

Tommy chuckled in amusement.

"Here, take these," he said. "I need you to return them to Christine and Will without them noticing."

Blake took the phones, frowning at them.

"Return them to who?" he asked, looking at Tommy.

"I can show you!" Rae exclaimed, grabbing Blake's hand and pulling him toward the elevator.

"Keep her away from them!" Tommy called after Blake.

Blake waved a hand at Tommy as he followed Rae. As they were disappearing down the hall, the door slid open again and Hayley walked out.

"Well, that got crowded very quickly," Hayley said, shaking her head. "What took them so long to come up here? I'd expected them hours ago."

"Apparently Carter ordered them to essentially lay low until he had a chance to talk to us himself—and then he forgot to update them."

Hayley rolled her eyes.

"Well, that would explain it," she said with a scowl.

Glancing around, Hayley saw Izzy with Tommy.

"Where's Rae?" she asked.

"With Blake," Izzy answered.

"Tommy, didn't you just send Blake to do something for you?" Hayley frowned. "What did you do with my child?"

"Rae is helping," Izzy explained. "Uncle Tommy said she could not return the phones since she borrowed them, but Blake does not know the crazy lady and her brother so Rae had to show him. We did not need the phones anymore since I was done fixing Uncle Tommy's phone. And Uncle Tommy gave me permission, so I am not in trouble."

Hayley turned to Tommy, crossing her arms.

"Would you like to clarify that explanation?" Hayley asked. "Because I feel like I'm missing some important information."

"I asked Izzy to set up my phone so it would alert me if Christine or Will got close, that's all," Tommy explained. "Rae may have borrowed their phones without permission and is now helping Blake return them. Something about grape juice and white pants."

Hayley winced.

"And you thought it was a good idea to let Rae go somewhere alone with Blake?" she sighed.

"That wasn't my original intention. It just kind of happened."

Hayley just shook her head.

"Izzy, can you go sit with Marc for a minute?" Tommy asked. "I need to talk to your mom."

Izzy nodded and bounced back into Jason's room.

"What's going on?" Hayley asked, frowning.

"I got to talk to Zach," Tommy said. "And that just made me even more sure Carter's theory is wrong. I don't think anyone is after me specifically. I'm not even sure I can buy them being after Mighty Morphin'."

"I think you're right," Hayley said. "Something just doesn't fit right. I've been poking around, and I think we need to sit and compare notes."

"I want to talk to the Ninjas first. They may know more of what Conner's involvement was and I need to know if that is a factor in this or not."

Hayley nodded.

"Then you should go talk to them," she said. "I'll take Izzy and go find Rae so they can eat something. We'll talk when I get back."

Tommy agreed and Hayley ducked into Jason's room to get Izzy. She told Marc where Tommy was going to be and that if there were any problems he was to get Tommy immediately. Tommy went into Conner's room where the Ninjas and the other three Dino rangers were crowded around Conner's bed with Krista. The red ranger was still asleep, the monitors beeping quietly over the quiet conversations happening.

"Ethan, Trent, and Kira—go eat something," Tommy said, leaning on his cane as he watched them. "Take Krista with you. If he wakes up, I'll make sure someone comes to get you right away."

He had seen the hesitation on their faces. Tommy understood wanting to be there when Conner finally woke up. It would be further assurance that he was actually going to be alright. After a little protesting, Tommy finally convinced them to go. Once the four of them had gone, Tommy took a seat in a chair and looked at the five Ninjas who were still in the room.

"We need to talk," he said firmly. "Tell me exactly what happened. And I don't want you to leave anything out."

After talking with the Ninjas about the night before, Tommy returned to Jason's room. He knew Christine would return at some point and he didn't want Marc alone when she did. And, while he did trust that Izzy had been successful in modifying his phone, he didn't want to test it for the first time and have to try and race back to Jason's room ahead of the siblings.

Hayley stopped by after lunch with food for both Tommy and Marc. She had volunteered to bring it up for Kat since she need to talk to Tommy anyways. Bringing her computer, she quietly exchanged information with Tommy while Marc ate his lunch next to the cryo chamber. Both were firmly in agreement that something with Carter's theory that someone was trying to hurt Tommy just didn't seem right. But neither one had any idea what was actually going on, either. Now armed with information from Zach and the Ninjas, however, Hayley had disappeared to compile everything that had happened since Wednesday night to see if she could find a commonality—anything to connect the events or prove they were separate issues.

"Do either of you need anything?" Kat asked, looking between Tommy and Marc.

Kat had been floating back and forth between the two rooms to make sure both groups were alright and didn't need anything. Marc, who was quietly playing a game on a tablet, looked up and shook his head. Tommy did the same, though he didn't look up from the book he was reading.

"I'm going next door for a while," Kat said. "Text me if you need anything. I'll let you know how Conner is doing."

"Thank you," Tommy said, glancing up as she left the room.

In Conner's room, the other three Dino rangers and Krista were crowded around the red ranger's bed again. JJ was bouncing around the room playing with one of Conner's small soccer balls. He had come straight back up after lunch and now had a lot of energy to burn. Kat ignored him for a moment and walked over to Krista.

"How are you doing?" Kat asked quietly, leaning down to talk to the younger woman. "Did you get enough to eat at lunch?"

Krista sighed as she looked up at Kat. She had taken the chair on Conner's right side so she could hold his hand on and off. Trent, Kira, and Ethan were lounging in chairs on the other side of the bed. At first glance the three looked fairly relaxed, but Kat knew them well enough to see how tense they all were. This was a whole new experience for all of them.

"I ate some," Krista admitted. "But I really just wanted to get back up here. I know this isn't the first time he's been hurt, but this is different…"

She trailed off, her gaze going back to Conner. Kat squeezed her shoulder.

"Conner is going to be fine," she said reassuringly. "Pretty soon he'll be up, and you'll be yelling at him to take it easy like I'm doing with Tommy. And he's been in this kind of situation a lot."

The other three Dinos snorted in laughter as Krista looked up at Kat again. She knew some of Tommy's history, but only the bits and pieces she had picked up from being around the rangers.

"That's an understatement," Ethan muttered.

JJ, hearing his father's name mentioned, paused and turned to look.

"What happened to dad?" he asked, frowning.

"He's just reckless sometimes," Kat said, shaking her head. "JJ, can you do something for me?"

"What?"

"Run down to the kitchen and get some snacks for everyone," Kat said. "Things that can sit up here to have in case someone gets hungry before dinner. You can take some to your dad and Marc, too."

"I can do that!" JJ agreed eagerly.

He darted out the door leaving the rangers alone with Krista. Conner muttered in his sleep, shifting. A grimaced passed briefly over his face but his eyes stayed closed.

"Like I was saying," Kat said. "I have a lot of stories I could tell you about Tommy's near-death experiences—like the time Jason almost dropped him in a volcano. And, somehow, he was the one who nearly died with Dino Thunder."

"True," Ethan smirked. "Closest Conner came was almost getting blown up in a zord with me."

"All of you made it through without any life-threatening injuries," Kat pointed out.

"Trent did get strapped to a life-force extractor like Dr. O," Kira countered.

Krista shook her head.

"I don't think this is helping," she said. "But I appreciate the effort. It might have been different if I had known while it was happening…"

"It's alright," Kat said. "As rangers we are used to putting our lives on the line—and watching our teammates do the same thing. It's different when you haven't been in that position. Especially when someone you love gets hurt. But I don't think you would feel any different now even if you had more of the ranger experiences we do. I certainly didn't on Wednesday…"

"More exposure doesn't take away the fear," Kira agreed, taking Trent's hand and squeezing it. "I know I panicked when Trent went missing a few months back."

Krista nodded gratefully and the room fell silent for a few moments.

"There is still a lot to go through, Trini," Billy said, shaking his head.

"I know…" she sighed, shaking her head. "And I hate having to drag it out like this, but…I keep getting calls from the UN."

She trailed off, taking a breath. Trini, Billy, and Kim were sitting on one of the couches in the lounge on the recreation level. Tanya was with them, the girls coloring quietly by her chair while she read. Jake was sitting in another chair with his laptop, working on a few things for work. Zach was sprawled out on the second couch, staring at the ceiling.

"Keeping up with everything is so much harder without Tommy to help," Trini admitted. "But I can't just ignore it because Carter missed a step and forgot to tell the UN I was being taken under the ranger's protection the moment he thought something worse was going on and put us in lockdown. And if I ask him to do it now, I'll have to explain why now and why we didn't do anything immediately and I really don't want to answer those questions…"

"Can't you just tell them you're taking some time off?" Kim asked.

Trini shook her head.

"I don't have a vacation on the books," she said. "And it really doesn't work that way with my position. And if I say the rangers called me back I need a reason. Which takes us back to the first problem which is Carter didn't provide me a reason at the time of the initial issue. So, I don't have one without letting on more than I'm supposed to, so I get to pretend everything is fine and it's just that much more stressful…The last thing I want to do is explain that we've had five rangers hospitalized in the last weekd."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Kim offered.

"No…" Trini sighed, though she gave Kim a smile. "Billy is doing what he can. And I really appreciate the offer, but you can't really help without knowing more and I can't tell you more without making time. And at this rate I'm barely going to have time to keep up let alone actually teach you anything…"

The door opened and Trini paused to see who it was. Chad walked in, holding the door open for Christine and Will to follow.

"This room is just for hanging out," he said. "There's a place to sit and talk, some pool tables, games—lots of ways to entertain yourself. It's a good place to relax."

"At least it's nicer than the room you stuck us in," Christine sniffed.

Chad sighed but continued to show them around the room. Everyone else had fallen silent when they saw who was there. Most of them were exchanging slightly irritated looks.

"Great, just what I need right now…" Trini muttered.

"Trini, they are going through a lot right now," Tanya said quietly. "We should cut them some slack."

"I get that, Tanya," Trini whispered back. "But at the same time…"

Kim stood.

"Where are you going?" Trini asked.

"I'm going to try again," she said.

As Trini shook her head, Kim walked over to join Chad, Christine, and Will.

"Hi, Christine!" Kim said. "I wanted to talk to you."

Christine frowned at her, crossing her arms.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Just to talk," Kim said again. "I know you are going through a lot right now and that this has to be very hard for you. But if there is anything we can try and do to make you more comfortable, or to help you while Jason is recovering, just let us know. We'll be there however we can."

Christine eyed her suspiciously.

"What's the catch?" she asked.

Kim shook her head.

"No catch," she said quickly. "I know you and Jason were going through a bit of a rough spot, but he is still your husband. And I may not be your best friend, but going through this kind of thing alone is hard. So, again, if you need anything please don't hesitate to ask one of us."

"Why does she keep saying 'us'?" Zach grumbled quietly.

"Because she's a polite person," Jake said ruefully. "And even those she's spent a lot of time around these kinds of people she still can't help wanting to help everyone…"

"Some people are just jerks though," Zach scowled.

"And sometimes you have to play nice with jerks," Jake countered.

"Right, Jake?" Kim said, glancing over at him.

He'd missed what she was saying, but quickly nodded anyways.

"Absolutely," he said, taking a guess. "Anything we can do."

Christine looked between them.

"Well, that's more like it," she said smugly as she looked around the room.

She followed Kim back over to the couches. Not wanting to crowd Trini while she worked, Kim shoved Zach's legs off the couch so he'd sit up and give them room. She and Christine took the vacated space as Zach grumbled. Trini pointedly ignored them while she and Billy continued to whisper over the reports. Christine sighed as she sat.

"It's just been so difficult," she moaned. "First Jason is mad at me for no reason and practically stops talking to me. And now he's gotten himself hurt. It's just been so stressful. And we're stuck here in this horrible place and these people are dumping all of these rules on me about where I can go and what I can do… They even took my phone! It's just ridiculous."

Kim half nodded, not actually agreeing but not wanting to upset Christine. The door opened again and Hayley walked inside.

"Billy, I need to talk to you before I go get the girls," she said. "They were helping Amelia, but she needs them out from underfoot."

Billy glanced up with a smile.

"What is it you need?" he asked.

Christine scoffed, scowling at Hayley.

"Oh, good," she sniffed. "It's her. She's horrid."

Everyone looked at Christine in surprise. Except Hayley who rolled her eyes.

"Oh, good," Hayley said, dripping sarcasm. "If it isn't the little ray of sunshine."

"Hayley," Kim said quickly. "So, we've all agreed to let things go for now and be helpful and supportive while Jason is recovering."

It was Hayley's turn to scoff as Billy winced. But he didn't interrupt.

"I've agreed to nothing," Hayley said shortly, shaking her head.

"Hayley… come on," Tanya said. "We can all at least try to be friendly. We are all stuck here for a while and it would be nice if we could at least tolerate each other."

"Nope," Hayley said, crossing her arms. "You are all welcome to be nice if that's what you want. But I'm not going to. Not even going to pretend."

Turning back, she looked straight at Will and Christine.

"I'm telling you both right now I don't like you," she said. "Never have. I also know you are up to something. I know you are and, if you do anything here, I will find out and I will make sure everyone knows what you're guilty of."

Ignoring their sputtered responses, Hayley walked over to Billy. She leaned over to whisper with him for a moment. Christine and Will were exchanging scowls. But Hayley was quickly gone.

"She is a horrible woman!" Christine exclaimed after Hayley left.

Billy raised an eyebrow.

"Hayley is my wife," he said stiffly.

"She was being kind of rude, Billy," Kim said.

Billy sighed.

"Perhaps," he admitted. "However, Hayley always says what she means and means what she says. At least you could appreciate her honesty. And she has never been one to pull punches."

Zach started laughing.

"I'm gonna go check in with Dr. O," Ethan said a little while later. "He should know Dana didn't give Conner anything else the last time she checked in. I know I could just text him again, but with everything going on I think one of us should still be with him. And since Conner can't, I will. And that way you can stay here with Krista, Kat."

Kat gave Ethan a grateful look. She knew he would keep an eye on Tommy to make sure he wasn't pushing himself too hard.

Ethan slipped out the door and into the next room. Tommy glanced up from his book but didn't say anything as Ethan found a chair and got comfortable. Marc was fidgeting in his chair, unable to concentrate on his game anymore. Ethan watched him for a moment.

"I have a brilliant idea," Ethan announced, grinning at Marc.

Marc looked at Ethan suspiciously.

"What?" he asked slowly.

"Let's make a fort!" Ethan grinned.

"I'm fourteen—I don't do forts anymore."

"And I'm older than you," Ethan countered. "Let's build one anyways. I have a mini projector in my bag. We can watch pretty much any movie you want to while we hide from everyone for a while."

Tommy smiled as he watched Ethan jump up and drag Marc off his stool. The two of them shifted some chairs around and stole sheets from the other bed and set up a small fort right behind Tommy's chair.

"Are you going to steal all of the bedding from my bed?" Tommy grumbled, hiding his smile from them as they started tossing pillows into the fort.

"What—were you actually going to take a nap, Dr. O?" Ethan snorted.

"Just put them back when you're done," Tommy muttered in response. "Or get me new ones before bedtime."

Finally done putting everything together, Ethan ushered Marc into the fort and followed him inside. Ethan started digging in his backpack and pulled out his projector and computer so he could play a movie.

"What do you want to watch?" he asked Marc.

They scrolled through options, eventually agreeing on one. Ethan was about to start the movie when the door slid open and JJ bounced in.

"I brought snacks!" he exclaimed. "Is that a fort?"

He stopped just inside the door, looking at the makeshift fort in surprise.

"Oh, perfect!" Ethan said, poking his head out. "Bring the snacks and come watch the movie with us."

JJ didn't argue, scrambling to squeeze in with Ethan and Marc. Tommy just shook his head and went back to reading his book.

About thirty minutes into the movie, Ethan's phone dinged with a text message. He glanced quickly at the message, intending to ignore it until after the movie, and then froze.

"Dr. O, Conner is awake!" he exclaimed, shooting partway out of the fort. "Trent says he's groggy, but he's talking."

Tommy's attention shifted immediately from his book to Ethan. Marc and JJ had stopped paying attention to the movie.

"Do you need to go?" Marc asked, looking at Ethan. "He is your friend."

"Uhh…" Ethan hesitated, looking between his phone and Tommy.

He was clearly torn between running to see Conner for himself and staying with Tommy. Tommy seemed to be considering his options as well.

"No… not yet," Ethan finally said. "Trent said he's barely awake, so I doubt he would even notice I was there—"

"I'll be right back!" JJ exclaimed as he scrambled out of the fort. "Pause the movie!"

Before anyone could ask, JJ bolted out of the room. Leaving Jason's room, JJ headed straight for Conner's next door.

Inside, Krista, Trent, Kira, and Kat had all crowded closer to Conner's bed. The Ninjas had left a short time before to find something to eat and potentially get some sleep since they were up all night. Krista was gripping his hand tightly in both of her hands.

"Hey, sweetheart," she said, smiling as Conner blinked at her. "How are you feeling?"

Conner just stared for a moment, not answering. JJ crowded in with the rest of the group, grinning at Conner.

"Conner?" Krista said. "Honey, are you awake?"

"Was I sleeping?" he mumbled.

"Sort of. But I'm happy you're awake now."

"Ok…this isn't my room…"

"No, it's not," Krista said, shaking her head. "You're in the med bay."

"I don't want to go swimming…"

Krista glanced at the others. Kat, Kira, Trent, and JJ were snickering a little.

"Conner, the medical bay," Krista said, turning back to her husband. "You were hurt."

He frowned at her and looked over at the rest of the group.

"Why are they here?" he asked. "They should be… somewhere else… There was somewhere…"

Conner shook his head, looking at Krista again.

"You're pretty," he said with a smile. "Are we going out?"

Krista smiled back, trying not to laugh at the sudden change in subject.

"You aren't going anywhere," she said, shaking her head.

"Dana would kill us if we let you out of bed," Kira inserted. "Dr. O has been bad enough."

Conner turned to look at them for a moment, his brow furrowed as he stared at Kira. Then he turned back to Krista.

"I can scoot over," he said.

"What?" Krista said, raising an eyebrow.

"If I can't get up you can share with me."

"I don't think so," Krista laughed. "You are connected to too many monitors and machines right now. And you are definitely not allowed out of bed."

"I'm pretty sure he'd just fall down if he tried," Trent smirked.

Krista nodded in agreement as she squeezed Conner's hand again. He sighed, his eyes blinking closed again for a moment. Shifting, Conner grimaced and opened his eyes again.

"Ouch," he mumbled. "Did someone hit me?"

"Not exactly," Krista said quietly.

"Did I fall down?"

"No. you didn't fall down."

Conner glanced around again and then turned back to Krista. He shifted again and tried to sit up. Pain flashed across his face when he tried to use his left arm and he fell back against his pillow.

"How about you stay lying down?" Krista quickly suggested.

She put a hand on Conner's cheek to keep his attention on her. He stayed quiet for a moment as he watched her, taking a few breaths as the pain subsided again. The medication hadn't fully worn off yet, so as long as he wasn't moving around much the pain was minimal. Conner's eyes closed again as he yawned. Trent and Kira exchanged a look with Kat, all three of them silently trying to decide if it was better to let Conner sleep again if he was able or if they wanted to help Krista keep him awake. JJ, who had stayed fairly quiet since he came in the room, bounced excitedly in place. He was just happy Conner was awake—even if Conner hadn't actively noticed him being in the room.

"Am I in heaven?" Conner asked a few minutes later as his eyes opened again.

Krista flinched slightly but shook her head.

"No, you aren't," she said. "Why would you ask that?"

"Everything is fuzzy," Conner answered. "Except you. You're so pretty…"

"Dude, stop talking," Trent interrupted, shaking his head.

"Trent's right," Kira snickered. "Your flirting is so much worse when you are drugged. Krista—how did he ever get you to go on a date with him?"

Krista sighed, shaking her head fondly as she looked at Conner.

"Some days I don't know," she admitted, glancing up at Kira. "Though I could ask you the same question. I mean, yours tried to kill you when you first met."

"That was an accident," Kira said quickly. "He didn't want to kill me."

"Uh-huh—sure," Krista smirked. "I've heard the whole story."

"It wasn't my fault," Trent protested.

"That may be true," Kat interrupted. "But perhaps you can have this argument later when Conner is fully awake to defend himself."

As the three of them glanced to Kat, she tilted her head pointedly toward JJ who was listening with a frown on his face. They quickly changed the subject, trying to coax an answer out of Conner about how he felt and if he remembered anything.

A little while later, JJ went running back to Jason's room to tell Tommy and Ethan what was going on with Conner.

"How is he?" Tommy asked as JJ bounced over to join him.

"He's really out of it," JJ grinned. "Conner keeps saying weird things and forgetting where he is."

Tommy chuckled.

"And Kira is getting some video," Ethan inserted, poking his head out from the fort where he was still sitting with Marc.

JJ nodded.

"Dad?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"Why did Trent try to kill Kira?" JJ asked. "They were talking about it and then changed the subject and never answered why."

Tommy and Ethan both froze briefly at the question.

"Well…" Tommy said slowly, trying to come up with an answer that would satisfy the eleven-year-old's curiosity without the actual truth or flat out lying. "There was a—bike accident."

"Bike accident?" JJ repeated.

Ethan coughed, trying to suppress a laugh.

"Yeah, bike accident," Ethan agreed, shooting a look at Tommy. "That's one way to describe it."

Tommy glared back at Ethan. JJ didn't notice, happily accepting the explanation as he crawled back into the fort with Ethan and Marc.

"Play the movie again?" he asked.

"Sure," Ethan quickly agreed. "But while you two finish I'm going to go see Conner for a while. JJ, you'll come get me if your dad needs anything, right?"

JJ agreed and Ethan climbed out and stretched, leaving his computer so the boys could keep watching.

"I'll be back, Dr. O," Ethan said quietly. "But I think I should tell Kira and Trent about their—accident. Just in case JJ asks more questions."

Tommy nodded and Ethan headed out the door.

Not long after Ethan left, the door opened and Kat and Hayley walked in. Tommy smiled at Kat as she walked straight to him.

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?" she asked, giving him a kiss. "I was a little surprised Ethan beat you to the room to check on Conner."

"I'm alright," he said. "And the kids need some time together. I'll stop by to see Conner later."

"If you need anything else, just give me a call and I'll be right back," Chad said, glancing around the room.

He'd brought Christine and Will back to their suite a short time before. Both had essentially disappeared to their bedrooms without a word. So, since it seemed like they were planning to settle in for a while, Chad wanted to slip out and get some things done. But the moment he said something about leaving, Christine popped out of her room. She was dressed in workout clothes now.

"Excuse you," she said. "But you are here to take care of us. And we need to go to the gym. I'm assuming you have one of those somewhere in this place."

Chad stopped, looking at her in surprise.

"Oh, umm… yes," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were wanting to go to the gym."

Will came walking back out of his room, half-dressed to go.

"Well duh we need to go," he scoffed. "What else are we going to do in this boring place?"

He paused, studying Chad.

"Maybe you could make it more interesting," he mused.

"In what way?" Chad asked.

"Go get some of your little pledges and bring them along," Will shrugged. "Maybe I can show them a thing or two. I promise I won't hurt them."

Chad frowned.

"Pledges?" he repeated, confused.

"Yeah, pledges," Will said. "You know? Those little people who run around and follow your bidding?"

Chad sighed, catching on to what Will meant.

"Cadets are not allowed on these floors," he said evenly.

"Seriously?" Will said. "So, what? You just have to do everything yourself? What's the point of having them if you can't boss them around? Isn't that the whole point of even being a boss?"

"No," Chad said. "First of all, that's not the point of being a boss. Second, I'm not directly in charge of the cadets. Third, if I did need to do something with them, I would need to go up to the common levels because, again, they aren't allowed down here. They don't have that kind of security clearance. Officers may occasionally be allowed in an emergency situation, but other than that no one outside of the rangers and embassy staff are allowed on these levels. Being here usually requires the highest level of security clearance possible. Even the two of you being here is an exception. That's why you aren't allowed personal phones."

Christine scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," she said. "The point is, I need to get in a workout. Especially with all the disgusting foods I'm expected to survive on here. All those empty calories."

She shuddered dramatically.

"I'm not going to let myself go just because my husband is in the hospital," she continued. "Even if he might still die."

Chad stared at her in surprise for a moment.

"We can arrange for different food—" he started to say.

But Christine had already turned to go back into her room.

A little while later, Chad escorted the siblings into the small gym. He leaned against the wall by the door as they headed for the equipment. Christine got on one of the ellipticals while Will headed straight for the weightlifting equipment. Aisha and Tanya walked in not long after.

"Hey, Chad," Tanya smiled, seeing him lounging against the wall. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't you usually use Lightspeed's gym?" Aisha asked.

"Oh, I'm on duty," he said, gesturing toward the siblings.

The two women turned to see and then shared a look.

"Oh, they're here…" Aisha sighed. "Yay…"

"Be nice," Tanya said quietly.

"That was nice," Aisha countered. "I said yay."

"It wasn't very convincing," Tanya said drily.

Chad chuckled.

"Yeah," he said. "We're all thrilled. But I'm afraid I can't say how much longer we'll be here since we only just got here a little while ago."

"So, over there?" Aisha said, gesturing to the treadmills.

Tanya nodded and they started to walk away.

"Tanya, hold on," Chad said quickly. "I have a question that's been bothering me."

She stopped to look at him while Aisha kept going.

"What is it?" she asked.

"You're a family counselor, right?" he said. "So, you've seen a lot of people while they're grieving."

Tanya nodded slowly.

"Yes…" she said, frowning slightly. "Why? Did you need advice on something or—"

"No, not me," Chad said quickly. "I mean—I'm not saying I couldn't use some kind of counseling, honestly, we all could, but no. I was just asking because…well, you have seen a lot of people grieving in different ways. Have you ever known someone to be…well, concerned with their looks more than the person they are potentially grieving?"

Tanya frowned, her brow furrowed as she considered his question.

"Well…" she said slowly. "I mean, some people try to fight or hide things like depression by putting on a good show in front of others. But I can't say I've ever seen someone use it to display their grief. Again, I might expect it of someone struggling with depression or maybe in denial over something but…"

She paused, shaking her head.

"Why do you ask?" she asked curiously.

Chad shrugged, glancing over at Christine.

"It's something she said," he admitted. "It was kind of weird. And maybe it's nothing, but it just didn't sit right with me."

"What did she say?"

Chad repeated what Christine had said earlier in the suite. Tanya frowned again.

"I can honestly say I've never seen that reaction," Tanya admitted. "From anyone. I mean, I could see where something like that might happen with someone in denial over something. But no. I wouldn't consider that a common reaction."

Chad nodded.

"Well, thanks," he said.

"No problem," Tanya smiled, glancing toward Christine again.

Walking away, she went to join Aisha for their workout.

The door to Tommy and Jason's room slid open and Dana walked in. She eyed the fort behind Tommy with some surprise but didn't comment on it. Ethan still hadn't returned from next door, so it was just Tommy and the two boys.

"Did you need something, Dana?" Tommy asked, looking up from his book.

"Have you seen Mrs. Scott?" she asked.

"Nope," Tommy answered. "She hasn't been up here for a while. Why?"

"She left this in my office early this morning," Dana said, holding up a folder. "I wanted to give it back to her."

"Well, she's not here," Tommy said. "And I have no idea where she might be. Nor do I care."

Dana sighed.

"Well, I am going to leave it here," Dana said, setting it down on the table near the cryo chamber. "I don't want it to get lost."

She glanced at her watch.

"Tommy, shouldn't you be leaving?" she asked. "You're going to be late to your appointment."

Tommy shook his head.

"I'm not going," he said.

"What?" Dana frowned. "You need to go, Tommy."

"I know, Dana," Tommy sighed. "But I'm going to have to skip this one…"

"Tommy, if this is about your friends knowing—" Dana started to argue.

"It's not," he interrupted. "Hayley already told me about that ER doctor and him spilling the beans on my medication. They're smart enough they've figured out the rest if they didn't already know."

He sighed.

"And I really don't actually care if they know…" he admitted. "This isn't about that. It's about Jason. I'm not leaving him alone while he's still unconscious."

"Tommy…" Dana sighed. "Jason is going to be fine. You don't have to stay in here every second of the day. If anything happens—"

"I know he's going to be fine physically," Tommy said, shaking his head. "But that's not my only concern."

"You're being paranoid," Dana said, crossing her arms.

"Think what you want," Tommy said. "But I'm not leaving him alone and I'm not pulling the kids away from Conner."

"Alright, fine," Dana said. "Do what you want. Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

Still shaking her head, she turned to leave.

"Oh, wait," Tommy said. "Here—take this to Carter for me."

Dana turned to see him holding out the ranger tablet. Kat had brought it with her that morning, but he hadn't seen anyone to pass it to Carter for him yet. Dana frowned but took it.

"Thanks," Tommy said, picking up his book.

Dana stood there for a moment with the tablet and then turned to leave.

When the door slid open again a little while later, Tommy glanced up and then frowned. Dana was back, but she wasn't alone. Cam, Hunter, and Dustin were following her.

"What's going on?" Tommy asked.

"You trust them, right?" Dana asked, crossing her arms.

"Yes…?" Tommy said slowly, not sure where she was going with the question.

"Good," she said. "Then go. They'll stay here while you're gone."

Tommy hesitated.

"Do what you need to, Dr. O," Hunter said. "We got this."

Dana looked at Tommy expectantly.

"Alright," he said, setting his book down. "I'm going…"

Standing carefully, Tommy grabbed his cane and started toward the door. Dana, pleased he was up, left ahead of him.

"Call my communicator if there are any issues," Tommy said, stopping next to the three Ninjas. "Marc and JJ are watching a movie."

He paused and then spoke again more quietly.

"I can't give you details," he said. "But you need to know since you're watching him. Marc has a restraining order against his mother. Neither she nor her brother are allowed to be anywhere alone with him or try to take him anywhere—got it? They try, you stop them and call me immediately."

"We'll take care of him—you have our word," Hunter promised.

Cam and Dustin nodded with him. Satisfied for the moment, Tommy left for his appointment. After Tommy left, Hunter headed straight over to investigate the fort and check on the two boys inside. On their invitation, he climbed inside and took the space Ethan had vacated a while before.

"Hey, what about me?" Dustin asked, sticking his head in.

"No room," Hunter responded, pushing him back out.

JJ and Marc snickered. Cam rolled his eyes and took Tommy's empty seat. Grumbling, Dustin climbed back to his feet and started wandering around the room. They hadn't had any warning before Dana dragged them to the room, so they weren't necessarily prepared to entertain themselves. Walking past Cam, Dustin picked up Tommy's book and flipped through it.

"Nope," he grumbled. "Too many science words."

He set it back down and then paused, looking at the folder sitting on the table. Shrugging, he picked it up to see what was inside. Cam glanced up from his phone.

"That isn't yours," he said.

"But what is it?" Dustin frowned.

Cam took it out of his hands.

"Not yours," Cam repeated. "Stop being nosy."

"But it's full of death stuff," Dustin said. "Why is it here?""

"What?" Cam frowned.

"Like a will and life insurance," Dustin said. "They had Jason's name—I didn't realize it was that close—"

"Quiet!" Came hissed as Hunter stuck his head out of the fort, glaring at Dustin.

"Seriously?" Hunter asked. "I'll be back in a minute, guys."

He crawled out and the three Ninjas moved away from the fort.

"What were you thinking, Dustin?" Hunter demanded in a whisper. "Marc is already stressed—I could see that just climbing in there with them."

"I didn't think about it," Dustin said apologetically. "I was just surprised to see that stuff there."

They were still whispering a few minutes later when Ethan walked in with Blake, Tori, and Shane.

"What's going on?" Ethan asked, walking over. "And where's Dr. O?"

"Dana left us here to watch so he could go take care of something," Hunter answered.

"So, what are you all whispering about?" Tori asked.

"This," Dustin said, holding out the folder.

He showed them what it was, and they all stared at it in surprise.

"Was it really that bad?" Tori asked quietly. "I thought…"

She trailed off, shaking her head.

"If he was that close it would explain why Dana wanted the chamber," Shane said.

"Marc is still here," Hunter said, jerking his head toward the fort.

They all looked in that direction and then back at each other.

"Just put the thing back on the table," Ethan said. "I'll ask Dr. O about it later. How long was he supposed to be gone?"

"There you are," Rocky said, looking up when the door opened. "You were gone a lot longer than I thought you'd be."

Aisha and Tanya had just gotten back to the suite from their workout. Rocky had already fed the kids dinner and they were running around the living room. Adam was nowhere to be seen, but they knew he wouldn't have gone far.

"Not by choice," Tanya sighed.

"And we still didn't get anything done!" Aisha exclaimed.

Rocky frowned, watching them take off their shoes.

"Umm…I'm sorry?" he said. "But…how is that even possible? It's been hours."

He paused, realizing what he'd said.

"Not that it's a problem," he said quickly. "We were fine with the kids. But you both know how to get in a good workout in that kind of time frame."

"Oh, and we could have," Aisha said irritably. "It would have been great. However, that woman…"

She trailed off, shaking her head. Rocky eyed both of them as the kids continued to chase each other around the room.

"Ok," he said, taking a breath. "So, I want to be the sympathetic and supportive husband. And I know you want me to listen and not solve it. But there are a lot of women on the base right now and I'm going to need you to be more specific…"

"Christine," Tanya supplied.

"Oh, that one," Rocky said. "Alright. Continue."

"Yeah…" Tanya sighed. "She and her brother were in the gym when we got down there. And, apparently, because we came down after them that officially made us her helpers."

"That woman is worse than Jennifer's mother!" Aisha burst out.

Rocky winced. He heard about Jennifer's mother all the time.

"Oh boy…" he muttered.

Tanya and Aisha headed for the kitchen, and he followed. Letting them sit, he grabbed them each a water before joining them.

"She had us running all over the place," Aisha said, starting into a small rant. "Adjust the treadmill for me. Help me move this. Bring me water. I need a towel."

"Not that she brought a towel," Tanya sighed. "And when we hand her one, she rejects it because it's gross."

"Yep," Aisha agreed irritably. "She needed a fresh one. Even though neither of us had used it."

"And every time we tried to start anything, she interrupted," Tanya said, shaking her head.

"And then there's the brother," Aisha added darkly.

Rocky scowled.

"What did he do?" he demanded.

"He was just staring at us most of the time," Aisha said. "And anytime we got close it was nothing but snide, rude, and nasty comments."

"Do I need to—"

"No," Aisha said, shaking her head. "Not yet anyways."

"Though I was seriously considering calling Adam for a while and letting him come deal with him," Tanya scowled. "However, I understand that we are trying to make things easy for Christine. But oh my goodness…"

"Tell Adam what?"

They turned to see Adam walking into the kitchen.

"To do something about Will," Rocky supplied. "Hold on, I'm working on details still."

Adam frowned.

"What did he do now?" he asked.

He stopped behind Tanya's chair, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Nothing worth the hassle of hunting him down," Tanya said, smiling up at him. "We just want to vent this time around."

Adam eyed his wife and then glanced up, sharing a look with Rocky.

"Alright, fine," he conceded, taking a seat. "But no promises on playing nice if I overhear or see anything myself."

"What he said," Rocky agreed.

"Alright, fair enough," Aisha said.

"Go shower," Rocky told her. "We'll get you both something to eat."

Walking down the hall back toward his and Jason's room, Tommy paused outside of Conner's room. He hesitated in the hallway. Part of him wanted to stop in and see Conner. He knew he was awake now, and probably less foggy than he had been earlier. However, having just come from his counseling appointment, the other part of him didn't want to talk to or see anyone.

"It's going to bother me more if I don't go see him," Tommy sighed to himself after a moment. "So, while I'm up…"

Shaking his head, Tommy touched the button to open the door to Conner's room and stepped inside. Inside, Conner was sitting in bed glaring at his phone as he tried to do something with it one handed. Trent was sitting in the chair next to the bed with a sketchbook in his lap. The rest of the group was gone somewhere. Both Conner and Trent looked up when Tommy walked into the room.

"Hey, Dr. O," Conner said, setting down his phone. "I was wondering when you'd come by. Carter was just here…"

He scowled, shaking his head. Tommy frowned as he made his way to one of the other chairs sitting around Conner's bed.

"What did he want?" Tommy asked.

Conner snorted.

"He wanted to talk," Conner said irritably.

"He said he just had a few questions," Trent clarified for him. "Sounded more like an interrogation."

Tommy shook his head, sitting down in the chair and shifting to get comfortable. He studied Conner for a moment as the younger ranger finally managed to finish typing out his message and send it.

"So how are you feeling?" Tommy asked.

Conner glanced up with a sigh.

"It kind of hurts…" he admitted, glancing at his bandaged shoulder.

"I would imagine," Tommy said. "I've been shot with a blaster plenty of times—a bullet is a little different."

"You aren't wrong," Conner muttered.

They were all silent for a moment, the only sound was Trent's pencil on the paper.

"So, what did Carter ask you about?" Tommy asked after a moment.

"He wanted to know about last night," Conner said with a shrug.

He hissed in pain at the motion, closing his eyes for a moment. Trent and Tommy both looked at him in concern.

"Not supposed to do that," he muttered. "I'll be fine."

Taking a deep breath, Conner continued.

"Anyways," Conner said. "Carter wanted to know what happened before I got shot, but he didn't really seem to like my answers."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tommy asked, frowning.

Trent snorted.

"He kept asking Conner if he was sure that the people who attacked him weren't alien, mutant, demon, or otherwise," he said, looking up from his sketchbook. "He's really hung up on you being the center of all of this, Dr. O, and it seems like he's trying to make it fit."

"But the guys who attacked us weren't any of that," Conner said. "Just a group of armed thugs who seemed to think Jason was going to be an easy target. Which I thought was stupid on their part before I realized they had a gun…"

He paused, frowning.

"How is Jason, Dr. O?" he asked suddenly. "I don't think anyone told me. And everything past having a gun pointed at me is a little fuzzy…"

Tommy sighed.

"Jason is going to be fine," Tommy answered. "He'll be in the cryo machine for a few days still, but Dana said his surgery went as well as it could."

Conner nodded.

"And Zach?" he asked.

"The Ninjas interfered before he got hurt," Tommy said.

Conner sighed in relief.

"I'm glad they're alright."

"We all are," Trent added, glancing up at Conner.

Tommy nodded, thinking over what Conner had just said.

"So, you said they were after Jason," Tommy said slowly. "Why do you say that? Carter said they shot you first. That's why he is so sure I'm the target—because all of you were my teammates, not necessarily each other's. But Zach said the same thing you did."

"I, uh, may have put myself in the way…" Conner said a little sheepishly. "Jason and Zach had moved too far away from the car for my comfort, so I went after them. Saw the thugs coming out of the alley and reacted. Though I may have approached differently if I had realized they were armed—like surprising them from behind before they could do anything. But something just seemed wrong about them taking Jason and Zach as easy targets…"

He shook his head. As he looked back to Tommy, though, guilt flashed briefly across his face.

"What's wrong?" Tommy asked, catching the look.

"I'm sorry I didn't do more," Conner said quietly. "I shouldn't have hesitated. If I had moved faster, I might have been able to stop them from shooting Jason and he might not be stuck in the cryo machine."

Tommy immediately started shaking his head as Trent frowned.

"That's stupid, Conner," Trent said. "What were you going to do? They had a gun."

"I could have grabbed it," Conner argued. "They wouldn't have seen it coming."

"No, Conner," Tommy said firmly. "Trying to grab the gun could have made it much worse. I talked to Dana this morning—even an inch lower and…"

He paused, taking a breath.

"The bullet came very close to an artery," Tommy said evenly. "You could have bled out before anyone could have helped you. You should have just gotten out of the way."

"If I had they would have shot Jason in the back," Conner countered. "That's why I hesitated… I—"

He sighed.

"I almost moved," he admitted. "When he pulled out the gun I reacted on instinct, and I started to move—and then it hit me what moving meant. I couldn't just let them shoot Jason like that. He's your friend. So, I didn't move…"

Tommy rubbed a hand over his face as he shook his head.

"Conner, you're my friend, too," Tommy pointed out after a moment. "So please—don't do that again…"

"I'll try not to," Conner said, smiling faintly.

Shifting in place, he tried to hide a grimace. Trent just sighed as Tommy started to say something and then stopped.

"Something I still haven't been able to figure out," Tommy said, changing the subject a little. "Why were you even with them? You knew something was going on and that they were supposed to stay here—why help them off base?"

"Because they were going with or without my help…?" Conner offered hesitantly. "I thought about telling you, but I didn't figure out their plan until you had already left with Kat. And I knew you were going to be talking to her about the whole thing with Carter and I was afraid if I took the time to come find you so you could talk them out of it they would be gone…"

"But they couldn't get out, Conner," Trent said, setting his sketchbook down in his lap. "Carter had locked them in."

"About that…" Conner sighed. "Zach had his coin—and he was going to try morphing to sneak them past security."

Tommy groaned.

"Of course, he did," he said, shaking his head. "So, then it was only a matter of time before they figured it out on accident."

"Yep," Conner confirmed. "So, at that point, I figured the safest bet was to just get myself involved. That way at least someone was going along to watch their backs—plus I brought back up."

"Why didn't you message me?" Tommy asked. "I would have come back down."

"You were already stressed as it was after Carter," Conner answered. "I wasn't sure you'd even get the message in time."

He paused, scowling as he thought about the meeting they had had with Carter.

"I still can't believe he pulled that," Conner said darkly. "You would have asked for help if you needed it—plus Billy and Hayley and Trini were already helping! And I'd like to know who of the reds he actually managed to convince. It wasn't me—"

He paused to look at Tommy.

"I know it wasn't you, Conner," Tommy said, then he sighed. "And that you never would have agreed with that. But I have no idea who else might have been involved. I never got that answer from Carter…"

Trent and Conner exchanged a look.

"We've got your back, Dr. O," Trent said. "I wasn't there—and I haven't actually talked with Carter—but this is crazy."

"And as far as I know, no one has been talking about anything like this," Conner added. "I would have said something if I'd heard any rumors. But there's been nothing. Anyone I've talked to has only been concerned about you getting enough sleep—which you never do."

Conner grinned as Tommy glared at him for the last comment. Trent shook his head.

"They wouldn't have said anything in front of you, Conner," he said. "All of the other reds—and most of the rangers in general—know we don't hide anything from Dr. O."

Tommy smiled faintly at Trent. That simple reassurance helped more than the white ranger knew. Out of all of the rangers, Conner and Trent were the ones he trusted absolutely—not counting Kat. No matter his anxiety over who had gone behind his back with Carter, he knew without a doubt neither of the two men sitting with him right now would ever knowingly betray him. He'd been in each of their shoes at one time or another during his time as a ranger and that had helped the three of them bond over the years. Conner because Tommy knew how it felt to be thrust unprepared into a position of leadership and responsibility—and then to struggle with letting it go and recognizing the responsibility wasn't his anymore. Trent because they understood each other's guilt. Both had done a lot of things they weren't proud of under the influence of another power but being able to acknowledge it wasn't their fault didn't always come easy.

"It doesn't matter," Tommy said, shaking his head as he tried to brush it off. "It happened and I'll deal with it."

"But it does matter—" Conner started to argue.

He tried to shift as he spoke and then grunted in pain as he jostled his shoulder again. Falling back against his pillow, Conner closed his eyes for a moment.

"I think it's time you try and get some rest," Tommy said, looking at him with some concern. "You need to take it easy."

"So do you," Conner muttered, his eyes still closed. "But you're up."

"I had a counseling appointment," Tommy said. "And I've been technically mobile for a couple of days. You were just in surgery less than twenty-four hours ago, Conner. Give yourself some time."

Conner grumbled but didn't argue. Trent shot a grateful look in Tommy's direction. Glancing at his watch, Tommy sighed.

"I should get back to Jason's room," he said. "I've already left Cam, Hunter, and Dustin alone in there long enough."

"Why are you going back to Jason's room?" Trent asked curiously. "You haven't been back to the suite at all since last night."

"And you said he was going to be alright," Conner said, a little suspicious. "Is there something you aren't telling us?"

Tommy sighed.

"It's not like that," he sighed. "Jason's going to be fine it's just…"

He trailed off.

"Then why?" Conner asked, pushing himself up again with a grimace.

"Because Carter had Jason's wife brought here and I don't trust her," Tommy admitted. "They're separated right now, and I don't trust her intentions…"

"Separated?" Conner repeated.

Tommy nodded and Conner groaned.

"I wish I had known that before," he muttered. "If I had known they were separated I would have stalled Jason and Zach and waited for you. But I thought his wife was in trouble and he was worried…and I would have wanted someone around to help me get to Krista if she was in trouble."

"It's fine, Conner," Tommy assured him. "You didn't know because Jason wasn't just telling everyone. I'm just worried that if she gets ahold of anything of his she'll take any opportunity to screw him over and run with whatever money or things she could get ahold of. And I'm pretty sure she'd take Marc away if given an opportunity—which is why I'm glad Marc has the restraining order on her. It gives me a legal reason to keep him away from her. Something about her behavior just feels wrong to me…"

Conner and Trent exchanged a surprised look.

"The point is," Tommy said. "No one else really believes me, so I'm making sure he's not alone until he wakes up and can make decisions for himself again."

"How can we help?" Trent asked.

Tommy paused to think about it, frowning as a thought occurred to him.

"The four of you should actually keep out of their way as much as possible," he said, shaking his head. "They'll recognize at least three of you on sight and I don't want them guessing your involvement with the rangers—especially you, Conner. It's too much of a risk to your career."

"Dr. O—" Conner started to protest.

"And you are going to be recovering from that injury for a while anyways," Tommy said, holding up a hand to stop him.

Conner scowled but didn't argue. Trent, however, was frowning.

"You said 'they', Dr. O," he pointed out.

"Right…" Tommy muttered. "Christine brought her pig of a brother with her, too… so they both essentially have free reign of the common areas thanks to Carter and Dana—with what is probably minimal supervision by the rest of Lightspeed. If only because neither one knows about Jason or any of the rest of us."

"Why?" Conner and Trent both exclaimed.

"Not my choice," he said. "They didn't believe me when I said Jason wasn't getting along with her. He never said anything to anyone and since he hasn't taken any steps legally…"

Tommy sighed.

"Unfortunately, she still has full rights as his wife," he said. "And they want to treat her like they would treat any of us in this situation. With all of the courtesy possible."

"So, he can just go wherever he wants?" Conner exclaimed. "Do they know what he did to Kat?"

"No," Tommy admitted. "But I don't think it would matter at this point since they have someone escorting them around most of the time. They would just tell us to keep our distance."

Conner scowled, picking up his phone again to send another text.

"Who are you texting now?" Trent asked.

"Krista," Conner muttered. "Telling her to watch out for him."

Tommy sighed and stood. Conner and Trent both looked up at him.

"Leaving?" Trent asked.

"I want to get back next door," Tommy said. "But I'll try and come back later."

"You should try and get some sleep," Conner said, looking up from his phone. "Cause I'm guessing you didn't last night."

Tommy didn't answer as he turned and headed toward the door. He paused before he left.

"Sleep, Conner," he said. "Everything will be fine."

Leaving, Tommy walked next door back to the room he was now sharing with Jason. Walking in, Tommy stopped and looked around, frowning. He could hear the muffled sounds of a movie playing, telling him the boys were in their fort. But Ethan was the only other one in the room. He was sitting in one of the chairs by the fort on his computer.

"Where are Hunter, Cam, and Dustin?" Tommy asked, letting the door slide shut behind him. "They were supposed to wait for me to come back."

"Oh, hey, Dr. O," Ethan said. "The rest of their team came looking for them with me. They went to get something to eat and find Krista and Kira. But it's fine, they waited for me to get back."

"No, it isn't," Tommy said irritably. "They weren't supposed to leave. How am I supposed to trust them if they can't even do something simple like this when I ask?"

Ethan frowned.

"Dr. O, they didn't mean anyth—"

"That's not the point," Tommy interrupted as he sat down on his bed. "What if something had happened?"

"I'm sorry…" Ethan said quietly. "I didn't think you would mind… but I'll talk to them. It won't happen again."

Tommy didn't answer, carefully laying back in his bed and closing his eyes. For a few minutes it was quiet except for the muffled sounds of the movie the boys were watching and the sound of Ethan typing on his computer. Finally, Tommy sighed.

"What are you working on?" he asked.

"Work," Ethan answered, not bothering with details. "I do still have to do that. But the good news is mine is mostly portable. Unless I need my big rig—that's not portable at all. So hopefully I don't need that while I'm here…I mean, I really shouldn't. But I guess you never know…"

Ethan shrugged as Tommy turned his head to frown at him.

"Oh!" Ethan exclaimed, setting down his computer and hopping up. "By the way, the Ninjas found this."

Grabbing a folder off the table, he walked over to Tommy's bed and held it out.

"We figured it shouldn't be sitting around where the boys might find it," he said.

Tommy carefully pushed himself up to sit and took the folder.

"You didn't tell us Jason was that close to dying, Dr. O," he said quietly so Marc and JJ wouldn't hear.

"What are you talking about?" Tommy frowned.

"The folder," Ethan said, gesturing to it. "It's got everything in it. A will, life insurance—all those kinds of documents."

Tommy sighed.

"Why were you looking through it if it wasn't yours?" he asked, eying the folder.

"I didn't," Ethan said quickly. "Dustin found it and got nosy and showed it to Cam and Hunter and then they gave it to me when I came in with the rest of their team so they boys wouldn't do the same thing as Dustin."

Hesitating only briefly, Tommy opened the folder and flipped through it to verify what Ethan had said. He hadn't looked at it earlier when Dana left it.

"So, you're gonna read through the stuff?" Ethan asked.

"No," Tommy said, closing the folder again.

He paused, shaking his head.

"Why would she bring this?" Tommy murmured.

"How am I supposed to know that answer, Dr. O?" Ethan asked.

"It was a rhetorical question, Ethan," Tommy said drily.

"Oh, right," Ethan said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

Tommy glanced over to the fort. They'd been keeping their voices low so as not to be overheard by the two boys watching a movie. So far there had been no sign of either one emerging.

"Well, anyways," Ethan muttered. "She must have brought it with her. Which I think is weird. But I don't know how married people think—I'm not married. I'm not even dating. So, if I die, everything just goes to the state."

Tommy snorted and shook his head.

"What?" Ethan retorted. "I know what I am. Conner certainly isn't going to claim me. I'll probably just end up in an unmarked grave somewhere. This is why I don't have a cat. Did you know cats will eat you if you die—"

"Alright," Tommy interrupted. "This conversation has officially taken a turn…"

"Sorry," Ethan said sheepishly.

He sighed, looking at Tommy for a moment.

"So, is it normal for a spouse to bring this stuff to the hospital?" he asked hesitantly.

"No," Tommy answered immediately, shaking his head. "Not unless the death is expected—like in the case of a terminal illness and you're just waiting. Most people would just have everything at home and you would take care of it after the fact. Kat and I have never even taken ours out of the safe."

"So, it isn't normal," Ethan said, nodding. "Because you've been in the hospital a lot."

"I have not," Tommy said, frowning.

"I seem to remember a recent incident where a car fell off the jacks and landed on you," Ethan said.

"That was not recent," Tommy argued. "That was eight years ago and I was perfectly fine. Just—stuck…"

Ethan snorted.

"Yeah, five broken ribs is fine," Ethan said, rolling his eyes.

Tommy scowled at him.

"Kat just overreacted," he protested. "I was fine."

"Uh huh," Ethan said, shaking his head at Tommy. "Anyways…"

He paused again, looking at the folder.

"So, this is weird that she has that then… right?" he asked.

"Yes…" Tommy admitted.

"So, what are you going to do?" Ethan asked curiously.

"For the moment?" Tommy said. "Hold onto it until she comes back."

He shrugged, glancing at the time. Then he looked back up at Ethan.

"It's dinner time," Tommy said. "You should probably go see if someone needs to get Conner dinner."

"Probably," Ethan said, sighing. "Maybe he'll be hungry now. He hasn't eaten anything since he woke up. Said he wasn't feeling up to it with the medication and everything."

Tommy frowned, but Ethan was already getting up.

"I've got it, Dr. O," Ethan quickly assured him. "I'll go see what I can make happen."

Packing up his computer, Ethan waved and headed out the door. Tommy looked at the folder again and set it aside before lying back in bed to stare at the ceiling. A few moments later, JJ and Marc poked their heads out of the fort.

"Hey dad, did someone mention food?" JJ asked.

"Yes, it's dinnertime," Tommy said, turning his head.

"I take it you're not cooking?" JJ grinned.

"Nope," Tommy said, shaking his head.

"Ok," JJ shrugged. "Do you want me to go get dinner?"

"That would be very helpful," Tommy said. "Thank you."

Scrambling out of the fort, JJ headed straight for the door.

"I'll be back," he said.

With JJ gone, Marc came out of the fort to wait instead of continuing their movie. He went and sat down by Jason's bed again. He stared at his father in the cryo chamber for a moment.

"He's going to be alright—right?" Marc asked quietly. "Like really ok?"

Tommy pushed himself upright, swinging his legs around as he sat up.

"Yes, he is," Tommy said. "I told you that earlier. Why? What has you concerned?"

"I heard them talking earlier about the death folder…" Marc mumbled.

Then he turned to look at Tommy.

"Why does he even have one?" he asked, clearly upset now. "Does he want to die?"

"No, Marc," Tommy said firmly. "He does not want to die."

Standing, Tommy made his way over to one of the other chairs so he could talk to Marc.

"Marc, your dad does not want to die," he repeated. "A lot of people have these folders just in case to make it easier on anyone they might leave behind in an unexpected situation. Your dad isn't going anywhere. He'll wake up in a few days and be just fine. You have my word."

Marc nodded quietly. Tommy studied him for a few moments.

"Marc, I'd like to talk to you about something," Tommy said. "And I'll understand if you don't feel comfortable talking to me about it. Just tell me if you don't and I'll leave it alone. But…well, I wouldn't ask you if I didn't think it was important."

Marc looked at Tommy hesitantly.

"What?" he asked.

"You and your mom don't really get along," Tommy stated.

"No…" Marc said, looking down at his lap.

Tommy paused for a moment.

"Has she ever—" he asked. "Has she ever said or done something that made you feel uncomfortable?"

Marc looked up, frowning.

"What do you mean?"

Tommy paused again, deciding on the best way to word his explanation without leading Marc's answer.

"Has she ever made you do something that made you feel upset?" Tommy asked. "Or that you really didn't want to do—but she didn't listen and made you do it anyways? Or has she ever not done something for you that she should have? Or harmed you in some way?"

"Umm…" Marc said hesitantly. "I mean, I don't know about harmed me…"

He trailed off, his shoulders hunched as he stared at his lap again. Tommy frowned, concerned at the way Marc was responding.

"But she's made you uncomfortable?" Tommy asked.

"Well… yeah, I guess…" Marc said quietly.

"What kinds of things?" Tommy asked, trying to prompt Marc to clarify. "Things she says or does? That she makes you do? Or things she should do but doesn't?"

"Mostly just things she says…" Marc mumbled.

He was still staring at his lap. Everything about Marc's body language said he was uncomfortable with this conversation, which only made Tommy more certain that something was going on with Christine. But he wasn't going to press too hard. Tommy sighed.

"You don't have to tell me," Tommy said quietly. "But it is ok to talk to me, Marc. Anything you don't want me to talk about I won't—but if I'm going to help, I have to know what's going on."

Marc nodded but didn't say anything for a moment. Tommy stayed silent, letting Marc decide whether he wanted to say anything or not.

"It's mostly stuff that she says…" he finally admitted. "Like saying I didn't do something good enough—or I'm not good enough. Or that if I don't do what she wants she'll just send me away and I'll never see dad again… or makes me feel like I'm just a mistake…"

Tommy immediately started shaking his head.

"You are not a mistake," Tommy said firmly.

"Mom says I am…" Marc sighed.

"Maybe she thinks that," Tommy said. "But I guarantee your dad never saw you as one. He wanted you very much before you were ever even a thought. And he would never let someone separate you from him."

Marc scoffed, scowling as he clenched his fists.

"You don't understand how mom works," he said, shaking his head. "She can get dad to do anything she wants. We always do things her way."

He sighed.

"I still don't know why I'm still going to the dojo," Marc admitted. "Mom doesn't want me to be there… and it's always her way. Always. Except maybe if we're doing something for Uncle Will. I don't like going on trips with Uncle Will…"

Tommy frowned.

"What happens when you go on trips with him, Marc?" he asked.

Marc shrugged.

"Usually, he just locks me in the car and tells me not to go anywhere," he said. "But then he'll be gone for hours and then when he comes back he stinks… and one time he made me drive home. Told me not to tell dad."

He shook his head.

"I nearly ran over a guy handing out flyers when I was trying to pull in the parking garage!" he exclaimed. "I kind of hope I'm better when I'm actually old enough to learn to drive…"

He looked at Tommy hopefully.

"Is that one of those things people get better at when they get older?" he asked.

Tommy chuckled.

"With practice," he said.

"That's good," Marc said. "Cause otherwise I'm a terrible driver."

"Don't worry," Tommy smiled. "We'll teach you. It'll be fine."

Marc nodded, falling silent again for a moment. Then he sighed.

"I think the worst thing is mom always tells me that if I don't behave, she's going to ship me off to boarding school…" Marc said, his shoulders slumping. "And then I'd never see dad again…"

Tommy nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder. Marc glanced up.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore," Tommy assured him. "You have my word. And if you want to talk about anything else, I'm always available. Ok?"

Marc nodded.

"Kat's a pretty good listener, too," Tommy added.

"But she's a girl," Marc frowned.

"Yep," Tommy chuckled. "She's a girl. Which means she knows how girls' brains work. So, she might be able to answer some questions that I can't."

"I never thought of that…" Marc said thoughtfully. "So…if you don't understand what a girl is thinking—you ask another girl?"

"Pretty much," Tommy said. "It's a cheat code in life."

"That's gonna make it so much easier understanding the girls at school!" Marc exclaimed.

Tommy laughed, shaking his head.

"Nah, that never gets easier," he said. "But it might help."

"They have been here for less than twelve hours and that woman's voice is just ringing in my ears…" Kelsey groaned, rubbing her temples.

Joel nodded quickly in agreement. The two Lightspeed rangers were sitting in the cafeteria with Dana, Wes, and Eric.

"Try being stuck in a car with her for an hour while she's wailing and sobbing," Eric snorted.

"Give her a break," Wes said. "She thought her husband was dying."

"It's not that we don't understand," Kelsey said, shaking her head. "It's just that she's kind of demanding…Every time I turn around, she needs something else."

"Everyone reacts to grief in a different way," Dana said. "From what I understand, she comes from an upper-class background. So, she's used to being waited on. And now she's in a strange environment, so she just needs a little extra help."

"We know, Dana," Joel sighed. "But we're still allowed to vent."

"Just quietly," Dana scolded gently. "As long as you understand that she has her reasons."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Joel muttered.

Kelsey glanced at the time and then sighed.

"We should probably go replace Chad," she said. "So, he can eat dinner, too."

They stood and headed out of the room with Dana.

"Good luck," Eric called after them. "If you need help—don't ask me. I'm going to call Taylor."

"You could help," Wes said. "It's not like you're going to be on the phone the rest of the week."

"Nope," Eric said, shaking his head. "I'm security, not waitstaff. That's your job."

"No, it's not," Wes scowled.

"Oh, come on, Mr. I'll-Take-Any-Job," Eric countered as he stood up from the table. "It won't be that bad. So, have fun. I'm going to call my wife."

"Hey, I need to call my kids, too," Wes protested.

"And I'm not stopping you," Eric pointed out, walking away. "No one is holding your phone hostage."

"Conner, you have to try eating something," Krista coaxed. "You like chicken noodle soup, and it isn't going to upset your stomach. Please just try a few spoonsful."

Conner shook his head. He was sitting up in bed while Krista and the rest of the team were sitting around his bed. They'd eaten dinner together, but Conner still hadn't eaten anything.

"I'm not hungry…" he said.

"Conner…" Krista sighed as the other three exchanged concerned looks.

"Here, I brought a popsicle," Ethan said, holding out an unwrapped popsicle.

"I don't want it," Conner said, shaking his head again as he fiddled with his phone.

"But it's grape," Ethan said, still holding it out.

"If I take it I'm just going to shove it up your nose," Conner scowled at him.

Ethan slowly pulled the popsicle back as he eyed Conner, trying to decide if he could actually manage to carry out his threat right now.

"Here Trent," Ethan said, shoving the popsicle in his direction. "Have a popsicle."

Trent looked at it but didn't take it.

"Why do I want it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because it's gonna melt and I don't like grape," Ethan said. "That's why I ate the cherry one."

"Oh, sure," Conner muttered. "Trying to get me to eat the one you don't even want to eat."

Krista sighed.

"I know you like grape," she said. "Because I like grape and you've stolen grape flavored things from me before."

Conner just tried to shrug, grimacing as he jostled his shoulder. Ethan handed Krista the popsicle before she could protest.

"Ethan, I didn't say I wanted the popsicle," Krista said, frowning as she watched Conner.

"Well, then what good are you?" Ethan exclaimed. "Someone needs to eat—"

He paused when Conner looked up from his phone and shot a glare at him. Krista was looking at him, too.

"Ok, I did not mean that the way it sounded," Ethan quickly protested.

"Don't harass my wife," Conner said to Ethan, turning to look at Krista. "My beautiful, smart, gorgeous, intelligent, beautiful—"

"You realize you're repeating yourself, right?" Krista asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Conner sighed.

"I know…" he muttered.

"What do you want?" Krista asked, sighing.

Conner held out his phone.

"Will you call coach?" he asked hopefully. "He's been calling and texting me all day… and I don't want to call him…"

"Seriously?" Krista sighed. "Conner, you're going to have to talk to him at some point."

"But I already skipped out on a game to come help with Dr. O," Conner whined. "And I've missed practice and now I'm going to miss even more… he's going to be mad at me…"

He looked at her pleadingly, still holding out his phone. Ethan, Trent, and Kira were shaking their heads. Krista finally sighed.

"Alright, fine," Krista agreed. "But just this once. Ok?"

Conner grinned as she took his phone. Then she handed him the popsicle to hold and he scowled, trying to keep it from dripping on him or his bed. Shrugging, Krista hit the call button for his coach. As she put it to her ear to wait for him to answer, Krista froze.

"I can't tell him Conner was—" she started to hiss at them.

She was too late.

"MCKNIGHT!" he snapped, answering the phone loudly enough that everyone in the room heard him. "Where have you been?"

"Hi, Coach Douglas," Krista said hesitantly.

"Krista?" he said, quieting down a little. "Where is McKnight?"

"Well, that's the thing…" Krista said slowly, trying to come up with an explanation.

Ethan, seeing her panic, jumped in to try and help.

"Just tell him he's in the ER," he hissed.

"We're in the ER right now," Krista said.

"What?" he exclaimed. "Why are you in the ER? You were supposed to be visiting with Dr. Oliver after whatever happened Wednesday. What happened?"

"Well…" Krista hesitated again.

"Slipped in the shower and dislocated his shoulder?" Ethan burst out.

Krista stared at him for a moment, as did the other three people in the room.

"Krista?" Coach asked.

"Oh, ummm… he slipped and fell in the shower and dislocated his shoulder," Krista said quickly.

Conner glared at Ethan who shrugged. In response, Conner threw the popsicle he had been holding at Ethan who managed to dodge it as he grinned. Conner grimaced again. The motion of throwing the popsicle had jarred his other shoulder and caused him more pain.

"He did what?" Coach sputtered.

"He dislocated his shoulder," Krista repeated. "And… and they can't reset it til the swelling goes down. Which is why we are going to be in the ER for a while yet tonight."

She had recovered a little and was trying to run with Ethan's suggestion since it was too late to try anything else.

"Of course he did!" he exclaimed. "My star player dislocates his shoulder right in the middle of pre-season."

He sighed as Conner continued to glare at a now snickering Ethan. Trent and Kira were both shaking their heads.

"You tell him to rest and take it easy so he'll heal," Coach said after a minute. "And I had better hear from him soon! I don't care how high on pain meds he might be."

"Of course," Krista assured him. "I'll have him call as soon as he can. I just wanted you to know he wouldn't be back for practice on Monday. But I have to go—I have to talk to the doctor now. Bye, coach."

Hanging up, Krista slumped back in her chair as she let out a breath of air.

"How on earth did the four of you make it through high school without anyone finding out?" she asked, shaking her head. "And having to come up with excuses on the fly?"

"Well, most of the time we had a chance to make up excuses before we saw anyone else," Trent said. "And we also had the Power to heal most injuries before anyone noticed anyways."

"Dude!" Conner burst out, glaring at Ethan. "Really?

"What?" Ethan protested. "She needed a story. I gave her a story!"

"And I'm going to kill you!" Conner growled. "The shower? Seriously? I am never going to hear the end of that. My teammates are going to harass me about it forever!"

"Well, how else were you going to explain it?" Ethan countered.

"How about just saying I tripped practicing?" Conner snapped. "It does happen."

"Or you could have said Conner was trying to catch Dr. O getting out of bed when he shouldn't," Trent suggested.

"Or kept one of the kids from falling down the stairs," Kira added. "We could probably keep going."

"It was the first thing I could think of that wasn't crazy," Ethan muttered.

Conner just groaned as he leaned back against the bed.

"How are you feeling?" Kim asked, fidgeting in her chair.

Kim and Jake had shown up in Tommy and Jason's room a short time before, not long after Tommy had sent the boys to clean up after dinner and stretch their legs. They'd spent most of the day holed up in the fort Ethan had helped build watching movies, so he wanted them to actually get up and move for a while.

"I'm fine, Kim," Tommy said, a little short.

It was the third time she had asked that question since they got there.

"You don't need to get snippy," Kim frowned. "We care about you. Now, do you need anything? Something to drink or maybe soup?"

Tommy sighed.

"Kim, you already did the mothering act on Jason when he was sick," Tommy said. "You don't need to pass it on to me."

"I'm just trying to be helpful…" she pouted.

"I know…" he said. "But—as a friend—please don't be. I will let you know if I need something. Ok?"

"But—" Kim started to protest.

"Kim…" Jake said.

Standing behind her now, he rested his hands on her shoulders. She huffed. But before she could argue, the door slid open and all three of them turned to see who was there. Christine and Will marched into the room, leaving Joel in the hallway. They both stopped when they saw Tommy sitting in his chair with Kim and Jake next to him.

"Oh," Christine scowled. "You're still here."

"Waiting on the grim reaper," Tommy said, going back to the book he had been reading earlier. "He's not here yet."

"Tommy!" Kim exclaimed as Jake tried not to laugh.

Christine's scowl only deepened as she glared at him.

"What?" Tommy asked, glancing up at Kim. "She implied I wasn't wanted here. Which is wrong. And the only way I'm not going to be here is if I'm dead so…"

"Arrangements can be made," Will snapped.

"And that's enough of that," Jake said firmly.

He turned to look at Will, crossing his arms as he scowled at the other man. Will just smirked.

"I just want to spend time with my husband," Christine pouted. "Is that a problem?"

"Nope," Tommy said, his eyes back on his book again. "Also. You forgot something?"

He pointed at the folder that was sitting by Jason's bed again. Christine scowled, reaching over to snatch it.

"Can I have some privacy?" Christine demanded.

"Oh, sure," Tommy said, not looking up. "Jake, can you grab the curtain?"

"Yeah," Jake said, reaching to grab it as Christine huffed.

"Wait a minute," Will interrupted. "Where's Marc?"

He had noticed Marc wasn't in the room like he had been when they came early that morning. Tommy looked up again.

"With my son," he said flatly. "Getting a snack and getting some energy out before bed. Not that it matters to either of you."

"He's my son," Christine snapped. "I care about him and I have every right to know where he is."

Tommy snorted.

"Maybe," he said. "But you aren't responsible for him right now, so…"

"Tommy, you are being rude," Kim hissed.

"And I don't particularly care," he said, shaking his head and going back to his book.

Kim sighed and looked at Christine.

"I'm sorry about that," she said. "He—"

"Don't make excuses for me," Tommy interrupted. "I meant what I said."

"I'll just come back later," Christine sputtered.

Spinning, she stalked out of the room with Will following. Jake let the curtain go and returned to his place by Kim. She whipped back around to Tommy.

"What was that?" Kim exclaimed.

"What?" Tommy sighed, looking up from his book again.

"I know you don't like her," Kim said. "And I know she and Jason aren't in the best place right now, but she is still his wife. I don't like her either. But that doesn't mean we can be hostile toward her right now."

"Oh, yes I can," Tommy scoffed.

"Kim, even you admitted she isn't an easy person to get along with," Jake said, trying to keep the disagreement from escalating into an argument.

"Well, no," she said. "But she is going through a hard time right now with Jason getting hurt. We need to try to be understanding—and take the high road because we are better than that."

Tommy was shaking his head.

"I've tried that," he said shortly. "And it backfired. So, no. I'm not going there again."

Kim frowned.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"The details aren't important," he said. "But there is more going on than you know. We are not going to get along and polite isn't happening."

"Tommy—"

"No, Kim," Tommy said. "The only thing I'm concerned about is potentially influencing Jason's opinion. What he wants needs to stay his choice. But I'm not keeping my opinion a secret anymore."

"What happened, Tommy?" she asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said shortly. "And you really don't need to know anyways. All you need to know is I'm not leaving Jason alone with her until he can stand up for himself."

Kim sighed.

"And what do you think is going to happen?" she asked.

"I don't know," Tommy muttered. "But knowing her? Something as simple as getting her hands on Jason's wallet could cause a lot of problems."

He sighed.

"And if Jason wakes up and never wants to talk to me again because I was rude to her?" he shrugged carefully. "I guess that's his choice… but he needs the chance to make that choice on his own and I'm going to make sure he gets it."

Kim scowled and opened her mouth to demand answers, but Jake stopped her.

"Alright, we're done with this conversation for the moment," he interrupted.

"What?" Kim frowned. "Jake, I don't like her either but—"

"No buts," Jake said firmly.

Taking her hand, he tugged her gently out of her chair.

"No more talking about it," he said. "You can continue this conversation after everyone has had some time to think and calm down."

"Fine," Kim snapped.

Tugging her hand away, she stalked toward the door. Tommy had already gone back to his book. Jake sighed and followed Kim. Out in the hall, she was already heading toward the elevator. Jake paused, hesitating.

"Are you coming?" Kim asked, looking back over her shoulder.

"Uh—I'm going to make a quick stop," Jake said, glancing at the next door down the hall. "But I'll meet you back in the room in a bit. Ok?"

"Fine," she said shortly. "I need a moment alone anyways."

Spinning, she stalked away as Jake sighed. He turned to head in the other direction. Opening the door to Conner's room, he poked his head inside quietly. The lights were dimmed but not off. Krista was curled up in a chair next to Conner's bed. She was sleeping and he was laying down with his eyes closed. The other three had left for a while after dinner. Stepping inside, Jake let the door slide shut and walked over to Conner's bed.

"You obnoxious brat," he muttered quietly to himself as he stood next to the bed. "Why did you have to get yourself hurt? Now I have to be worried about you, too."

Jake sighed.

"I'll never say this to your face but…" he said, shaking his head. "You're actually a good friend…"

"Aww… I think the same thing," Conner grinned, opening his eyes and looking up at Jake.

Jake jumped, looking at Conner in surprise.

"You're awake!" he sputtered.

"Yep," Conner snickered.

He started to push himself up into a seated position with his good arm. With only one arm to use, he had to sit up and then move the bed because forcing himself to sit up with the bed put too much pressure on his shoulder. Krista shifted and mumbled but didn't open her eyes.

"I thought the pain meds were making you sleepy," Jake frowned. "You're supposed to be resting."

"Oh, I'm not taking any," Conner said, wincing slightly as he shifted.

"Why?" Jake exclaimed. "Are you stupid?"

Conner snorted.

"Kira thinks so," he said. "And I'm pretty sure Ethan agrees with her. Probably Krista, too. Undecided on Trent."

"But—you know what? I don't want to know," Jake muttered.

"But I thought we were friends," Conner grinned.

"Not anymore," Jake scowled. "I'm leaving."

Spinning, he stalked away as Conner laughed. Krista woke up, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Love you, too!" Conner called after Jake, still snickering.

Krista looked at him and then at the door which had just slid shut.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"My bestie," Conner answered, still trying to get comfortable again.

"Oh, Ethan came back?" Krista asked. "I thought he wasn't coming back til later."

"Nah, not Ethan," Conner said. "It was Jake."

He paused, looking over at Krista.

"Wait—are you saying Ethan is my bestie?" he frowned.

"Are you saying he isn't?" Krista countered.

"Nah, you'd take it first," Conner said, smiling at her.

She rolled her eyes.

"Well, now that you're awake again—"

"I wasn't sleeping," Conner interrupted.

Krista pursed her lips.

"Of course you weren't," she said. "How about something to eat or drink then? And then some actual sleep."

Conner shook his head.

"Not right now," he said. "I'm still kind of queasy."

"Conner, you need to eat at some point," she sighed.

"I will, I promise," he said. "Just… not right now."

Krista sighed but didn't argue.

"Carter, have you seen Kelsey?" Joel asked, poking his head into Carter's office. "I need to talk to her."

Carter was sitting at his desk glaring at the ranger tablet. He looked up when Joel spoke.

"I have no idea where she is," he said. "Did you call her?"

"Yes, but she didn't answer," Joel sighed. "I just want to see if she'll trade me shifts."

"You're going to have to talk to her about that," Carter said, staring at the tablet again as he poked at the screen. "What is wrong with this stupid thing?"

"Did you break it?" Joel asked, still standing in the doorway.

"No," Carter said irritably. "I opened a report and it froze."

Sighing, he set it down on his desk.

"So, unfreeze it," Joel said. "Or ask Hayley if you can't. She knows how to work that thing better than any of us. She is responsible for at least half of the programs on it after all."

"True…" Carter said.

He sat for another moment and then sighed and got to his feet.

"I guess I should stretch my legs for a while," he said. "I'll help you find Kelsey while I'm looking for Hayley."

Grabbing the tablet off his desk, Carter followed Joel out of the room as he continued to try and get the tablet to do anything. Down on the recreation level, they tried the common area first guessing that some of the rangers might be gathered there now that dinnertime had passed. He had tried on residential, first, but hadn't found Hayley.

They found a group sitting around the room when they walked in. Trini was sitting on the couch. She had her briefcase out and had spread paper files all over the coffee table. She was sorting through them and muttering to herself. Billy was sitting in a chair close by, helping as best he could and talking to Trini to keep her company. Zach and Jake were sitting at one of the tables. Both had their laptops out and were concentrating on whatever they were working on. On the floor near the coffee table, Rae and Izzy were sprawled out with paper and crayons all over the floor. Kelsey was sitting on the floor with them, helping keep them entertained while Billy was helping Trini.

"And we found her!" Joel exclaimed as they walked in.

Carter just nodded, pausing just inside the doorway. Hayley wasn't there, so he kept trying to unfreeze the tablet. Joel left him there and walked over to Kelsey.

"Having fun drawing with the girls?" he asked when she glanced up at him.

"They aren't drarwings," Rae said. "They're diagrams. We're planning."

"Drawings, Rae," Billy said, glancing over at his youngest.

"They are diagrams, daddy," she frowned.

Billy smiled.

"I understand that," he said patiently. "But you said drawing incorrectly."

"Oh!" Rae said. "Drawing?"

"There you go," Billy said, nodding as he went back to helping Trini sort piles.

"Diagrams of what?" Joel asked, leaning over a bit so he could see.

"Flying car!" Izzy said excitedly. "I shaped it like a unicorn!"

She held up her paper so Joel could see.

"It's beautiful," he said, shooting a look at Billy.

Billy just shrugged.

"How about you, Rae?" Joel asked.

"Traps," she said, staring intently at her paper.

"Well, that seems accurate," Joel muttered. "Moving on… Hey, Kels, I need to talk to you."

"I'm a little busy right now," she said, looking up.

"Come on," Joel pressed. "It won't take long."

"No," she said. "If you want to talk to me you can talk to me right here."

"But—" Joel protested.

"I'm busy, Joel," Kelsey interrupted.

"No means no and begging gets you nothing," Izzy said in a sing-song voice.

"Fine," Joel huffed. "Can I just ask you here, then?"

"I believe you can," Kelsey said, raising an eyebrow. "I also believe you just did."

"The correct word is may if you are asking for permission," Izzy said.

Joel sighed and looked over at Billy.

"Really?" he said.

Billy shrugged.

"She is not wrong," he said. "Education is important."

Joel huffed and turned back to Kesley who was smirking in amusement.

"May I ask you a question?" Joel asked.

"I'll even give you one on top of the one you just asked," Kelsey snickered. "So, go ahead."

Joel scowled at her, shooting a look back at Carter. The red ranger was ignoring most of what was happening in favor of continuing to fight with the tablet. Then he looked at Kelsey again.

"Will you please take my shift with guest assistance tomorrow?" Joel finally asked. "I had so many problems—"

"Nope," Kelsey answered, shaking her head. "I have tomorrow off. I already spent all morning with them and the only break I got was when Chad covered so I could have lunch. And he spent all afternoon with them already today. Now Chad has tomorrow morning and you have the afternoon."

"Come on, Kels…" Joel pleaded. "Please?"

She crossed her arms, looking up at him from her seat on the floor.

"And what exactly is it that you have to do that's more important than working your shift?" she asked.

Joel hesitated.

"Well, nothing, but—"

"Then nope," Kelsey interrupted.

"Come on, Kels—please?" Joel begged. "I was only with them for like an hour covering Chad and the brother wouldn't stop asking me to take him up in one of the planes so he could join the mile high club with one of the lab techs. Not to mention Christine was treating me like a glorified butler between crying sessions."

"I don't care," Kelsey snorted. "I spent all morning with him asking me if I wanted to join the mile high club with him. So, mine is worse."

"What is the mile high club?" Izzy asked curiously. "Is it a secret club or can anyone join?"

Zach, who had been listening in amusement, choked and started coughing.

"Oh, anyone can join," he managed to get out, coughing and laughing at the same time.

Billy scowled at him.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "That is not a club you want to join, Izzy. It is a bad club."

"Oh…" Izzy frowned, looking at Kelsey. "Why would he want you to join?"

"It's alright, Izzy," Kelsey quickly assured her. "I don't actually want to join. I told him no."

Izzy nodded and Kelsey turned back to Joel.

"No, Joel," she said firmly. "I'm not giving up my day off."

"But we don't know how long they're going to be here…" Joel grumbled.

"Probably a while…" Carter muttered behind him. "Jason needs time."

"Two days on and one day off," Kelsey said. "That's what we all agreed to. If you're that desperate, go ask Ryan."

Zach had finally stopped coughing but was still snickering as he tried to go back to work. Jake was shaking his head at him while Trini was pointedly ignoring everything.

"You know Carter isn't going to let me leave Ryan alone with them," Joel muttered. "Do you realize what he would do to them to get out of being in charge of them?"

Kelsey just shrugged.

"Lock them in a closet," Rae suggested.

"We don't actually need to guess, honey," Kelsey chuckled. "But that's not a bad guess."

"I have a trap he can borrow," Rae offered.

"No," Carter said firmly, finally looking up from the tablet. "Ryan is not allowed to help with these guests and you both know that. He isn't even on base right now and I don't know when he'll be back."

Joel grumbled but didn't argue. Carter walked further into the room, heading toward Billy.

"Billy, can you please help me with this?" he asked. "I can't get this stupid thing to work correctly."

Billy hesitated, but then he sighed and took the tablet Carter was holding out. He examined it for a few minutes and finally shook his head.

"It would seem you have crashed the system," Billy finally said, looking up at him. "It is locked."

"I don't know how," Carter muttered. "All I did was open a report."

Billy glanced back at the report that was half-loaded on the screen.

"Ah, yes," he said, nodding. "Tommy was having that same problem. The files they send are not encrypted enough for the tablet's system to accept. A failsafe locks it down should anyone attempt to open the files to ensure no potential viruses are given access to the system."

"Well, can you fix it?" Carter frowned. "We're on a secure network here."

Billy shook his head.

"We are, but the tablet is still not a secure computer on a closed system that is able to run checks on questionable files, which is what the parameters of the file require," he said, holding out the tablet. "You would need to open it on one of the computers here at the base—I believe that is why Tommy had requested you handle these."

"I guess that makes sense," Carter admitted, taking the tablet back.

He paused, frowning.

"Billy, you didn't fix it," he said.

"I cannot," Billy said with a shrug. "That tablet runs on programs written by Hayley. You will need to ask her."

"I tried asking her for help this morning," Carter sighed. "She said I wasn't Tommy, so she wasn't required to help me."

Trini, who had only been half-listening as she continued working through paper files, frowned as she looked up.

"That's wrong," she said. "Whether we like it or not, you are the interim leader of the rangers. And Hayley is the assistant to the leader of the rangers. It's in her contract. Right, Billy?"

She looked at him for confirmation. But Billy shook his head.

"She is assistant to Tommy as the head of the rangers," he said. "If you follow the technicalities of her contract."

Trini shook her head.

"That's not right," she muttered.

Grabbing a folder, she dug through it. After a moment, she pulled out a packet of papers and started skimming through it. Finding the spot, Trini frowned and then sighed.

"He's right," she said, looking up at Carter.

Then she whipped around to look at Billy.

"Who let her write this?" Trini demanded.

"Tommy," Billy answered without hesitation. "And then it was presented to the reds—most of whom voted on it without reading it closely."

Trini groaned.

"Of course," she muttered.

Billy shrugged.

"I believe the only ones who actually read it were myself, Conner—"

Trini raised an eyebrow.

"Ethan read it and told Conner how to vote," Billy amended. "I believe Adam read it through, as well, as did Andros. The rest? I doubt they did more than skim…"

Trini sighed.

"We're going to need to have another discussion on reading thoroughly before voting," she said, shaking her head. "Wording matters."

Jake chuckled.

"She's good," he said, nodding at Billy.

Zach nodded in agreement.

"Think she'd write some contracts for me?" Zach grinned at Billy.

"Perhaps," Billy said with a shrug. "You could always ask."

"Alright, so she doesn't have to help me," Carter said, interrupting. "But I still have to find her to get this unlocked?"

"Yes," Billy said. "I could do it, but it would take hours. I recognize and know Hayley's coding. However, getting around it is another story. Ethan could also assist, but given the situation with Tommy…"

"Where is she?" Carter sighed. "No one answered at the Command Suite earlier…"

"Why would anyone be there with everything going on?" Billy frowned. "Also, Hayley does not stay there any longer."

"Right," Carter muttered. "Do you know where she is, then?"

Billy shook his head.

"She's your wife."

"And?" Billy asked slowly. "I do not have a tracker on her, Carter. Though, I am fairly certain she has one on me."

"Mommy always knows where daddy is," Izzy said solemnly. "And Uncle Tommy."

"And us!" Rae piped up with a smile.

Carter sighed.

"Well, I guess they're just going to wait til tomorrow," he said. "I'll catch up on the rest of the reports then."

Trini's head shot up.

"Wait—which ones?" she demanded.

"Well, I only had the P1s and P2s left," he said. "I was just starting them when I answered this. There weren't many of the lower priorities, so I got those out of the way first. Why?"

"Because I need the top tier priorities for my meetings tomorrow," Trini said.

"Meetings?" Carter frowned.

"Yes, meetings," Trini repeated. "You know? For my job? As ambassador for the power rangers?"

"The long boring things we all have to do where people just talk and ninety percent of it could be an email?" Jake added.

"Right?" Zach exclaimed. "But they can't trust that everyone will actually read the email so we all get hauled into the meeting for the sake of that one person."

"I know what a meeting is," Carter said shortly. "What I don't understand is why Trini has a meeting with the UN."

"Uhh… because it's her job?" Zach said slowly. "You know—her place of employment? How she pays her bills?"

"You are not helping," Carter snapped irritably. "Trini—"

"Yes, Carter?" Trini asked, crossing her arms.

"You are the UN ambassador to the power rangers," he said. "The rangers are on lockdown. You aren't supposed to be meeting with the UN at all. That's part of me taking over temporarily, remember? You should have already canceled all of those."

Trini scoffed.

"Oh, I would have," she said with a scowl. "If you had actually done everything in the correct order according to the totality of that clause. Which you didn't. So that means I'm still active."

"What do you mean?" Carter frowned. "I fulfilled all requirements of that clause."

"But you didn't notify the UN that the rangers were going on lockdown before it was implemented," she said. "So that I had time to handle it and make appropriate excuses to cover our bases. So, since that didn't happen, I am still expected to make appearances and see appointments like nothing is wrong. You should have notified me immediately as spelled out in the clause you decided to invoke. But you didn't so now I get to pretend everything is fine with the UN while I'm locked out of the system that provides all of the information I need. Which means I need you to email all of those reports to me in a secure format I can access with the final confirmations attached outside of the ranger system so I can print them for my meetings tomorrow and the rest of the week."

Rant over, Trini glared at Carter with her arms still crossed.

"Well, can't you just—" he started to ask.

"Nope," Trini interrupted. "It's too late. Because when I announce the lockdown I have to provide redacted documents as official record with the dates visible and a potential resolution date. I can't give them papers dated two days prior without raising red flags. So that means I need you to have all of the P1 and the first half of the P2 reports finished and in my possession by 9a tomorrow for my first meeting. So, if I were you, I would go find Hayley and get that tablet unlocked—quickly."

Carter groaned.

"Billy where do I even start looking for her?" he asked.

"Well, if she was not with Tommy or the kids on the medical floor, then check the Mighty Morphin suite," Billy said. "And if she is not there, find Ethan. He will be faster at unlocking it than I am as he is more familiar with actually using Hayley's code than I am. I use mine more often than I do anything with hers."

"I've gotta go," Carter muttered.

Spinning, he stalked out of the room. Joel followed to help with Kelsey still grinning at his grumblings.

"Bye bye!" Rae called after them before turning to Billy. "Daddy. Why didn't you just call mommy?"

Billy hesitated. Hayley hadn't spoken to him much that day outside of sending the information about the injured rangers, so it hadn't occurred to him to try calling her.

"That would have been a good suggestion to make while Carter was still present," he said after a moment.

"I didn't want to interrupt," Rae said. "It sounded like an adult conversation and mommy says I still need to work on my manners."

The adults all burst out laughing.

"And out of the mouths of babes," Jake chuckled.

"Alright, Conner," Dana said, walking into his room. "The nurse said she changed your dressing already, now it's time for your medication and some sleep."

Conner and Ethan were the only ones left in his room for the night. Krista had only been convinced to go get some actual sleep with Ethan agreeing to keep an eye on Conner for the night. So, Kira, Trent, and Krista had said goodnight a short time before and left Ethan to keep Conner company.

"Nope," Conner said, looking up from his phone. "I'm good."

Dana frowned.

"What do you mean, no?" she asked.

"Would you like me to say it in Spanish?" Conner asked. "No."

"Conner, you need to take your medication," Dana sighed. "You haven't slept all day and you can't tell me you aren't feeling that shoulder."

"I'm fine," he said shortly. "I don't need it."

"Conner—"

"How about Italian then?" he interrupted. "No. Or I can try some more. Nein? Niet? Ethan, what else can you give me?"

"Uh, I don't think I want to be part of this debate…" Ethan said slowly.

"Fine," Dana said irritably, glaring at Conner as she gave up. "Be like Tommy. I already had to fight to get my own children in bed. I'm not dealing with grown children, too."

"Burn," Ethan snickered. "You're a child."

"Shut up," Conner snapped at him.

Dana just left them to it, storming out and then into Tommy and Jason's room.

"I hope you're happy," she burst out, glaring at Tommy.

He was sitting up in bed, a book in his lap.

"Shh…" he hissed, putting a finger to his lips.

"Excuse you?"

"The boys are sleeping," Tommy said quietly, gesturing to the fort.

"At least someone is…" Dana muttered.

"It's only 10:30, Dana," Tommy said, raising an eyebrow. "My bedtime is 11. Has been for a while. Ask Kat."

"Funny," Dana retorted. "Now I see where Conner gets his jokes."

Tommy frowned.

"Jokes?" he said. "What do you mean?"

"Conner is refusing to take his medication," she said irritably. "And he hasn't taken anything since he woke up earlier today. He has to be in pain."

"I'm sure he has a good reason," Tommy said. "Medical advice from you isn't something he'd just ignore without one."

"So, you aren't going to say anything to him?" she asked.

"Might be a little hypocritical of me, don't you think?" Tommy said. "As I'm not really one to take anything either?"

"You're right," Dana huffed. "I don't know why I bothered coming in here. Do you need anything then? Because, if not, I'm going to go home and make sure my children are still in bed."

"Good night, Dana," Tommy said.

"You had better be here when I get back in the morning," Dana warned.

"I'm not going anywhere, Dana," Tommy sighed.

Spinning, Dana stalked out. As she left, Kat came in. She paused, watching Dana go with a confused look.

"So, what happened?" Kat asked, walking over to Tommy.

"Apparently Conner got smart with her and she didn't like it," Tommy said.

"Might have something to do with you putting her on edge already," Kat said drily.

"Hey, I was good," Tommy protested.

Kat snorted and shook her head.

"Where are the boys?" she asked, glancing around.

"They fell asleep watching that last movie," Tommy said. "So, I just moved the computer."

Kat smiled and went over to peek in the fort. She came back a moment later.

"I think I'll just leave them there," she said, sitting down on the edge of Tommy's bed.

"I figured," he said. "They'll be fine there."

"So, do you need anything before I go to get ready for bed?" Kat asked.

"A bigger bed?" Tommy said, reaching over to pull her closer.

"I don't think that's going to happen," she said.

"But then you could stay up here with me…" he sighed.

Kat chuckled, shifting to lean against his shoulder as Tommy wrapped his arms around her.

"As much as I would like to stay," she said. "We are not eighteen anymore and my back is not going to be ok with squishing into the tiny hospital bed with you. So, unless you plan on coming back down to our suite…"

Tommy sighed and shook his head.

"You know I can't…" he said, leaning his head against her shoulder. "I don't trust them not to do something and I wouldn't get any rest stressing about it."

"I know," Kat sighed. "It doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Kat—"

She shook her head.

"You know I don't agree with you," she said. "But I understand that you are concerned, and I'm not going to try and make you leave."

Standing, she turned to give him a kiss.

"We'll talk more in the morning," she said. "If the boys wake up and bother you, just send them back to me. Ok?"

"They'll be fine," Tommy repeated.

"I'm sure they will," she smiled. "I'll be up with breakfast in the morning."

"I love you," Tommy said.

"I love you, too," Kat said. "Goodnight."