Note: Thanks to Cheryl Roberts for permission to use her idea of the Power altering the Rangers' blood chemistry, and to Chris Funaro for the solution as to why there's only one possible donor who could save Jason ... any medical gaffes are wholly mine. More thanks to Cheryl and Mele for suggestions that made me rewrite parts of this - consider yourself gently kicked in the butt, ladies; where were you when I started? *pout* - but since they hopefully improved the story, I guess I forgive you after all ...;-)DB

Casting Stones VI

Zack bounded up the stairs to Intensive Care two at a time, too impatient to wait for the elevator; he was tired from a twelve-hour shift at the hospital and the long drive home hadn't helped. He was lucky he hadn't had an accident himself, exhausted as he was, but no force in the Universe could have kept him away from Angel Grove right now.

*Jason ... dear Lord, let him be allright ....*

The young doctor took a second to catch his breath before he entered the waiting area of the ICU unit. The sight greeting him made his throat constrict. Katherine was sitting in a chair by the window, tears streaming silently down her pale cheeks, and Tanya and Trini were trying to comfort her, with very little effect. Rocky and Adam stood a few feet away, looking helpless -- and furious about it. Zack forced himself to go closer.

"Guys...?"

The two young men turned to look at the original Black Ranger.

"Hi, Zack," Rocky sighed. Adam just nodded a greeting, sending a cautious look towards the three women. Trini smiled briefly at her old friend, but returned her attention immediately back to Kat, who just sat immobile, staring blindly ahead. Tanya was talking to her in a low voice, but it didn't seem to do any good. Zack swallowed the lump forming in his throat and stepped up to his friends.

"How is Jason? Is he ..." the young man couldn't bring himself to say the word. Rocky's phone call had been alarming enough, but surely ....

"Not yet, but he will be - unless a miracle happens," Adam murmured grimly, careful Kat shouldn't hear him. The only reason she was not in Jason's room right now was that the hospital staff were running yet another set of tests on their friend, in the hopes of finding a way to battle the incipient infection and blood loss. In a few sentences, he filled his predecessor in on the first team leader's condition.

"Hmm," Zack murmured, his professional's mind sorting through everything he'd ever learned about blood transfusions. "Do his doctors have any idea what that weird element in Jase's blood is exactly?"

"No; they suspect it was caused by some radiation, or mutation, or something, I guess," Rocky muttered. He was very much tempted to hit something ... or maybe someone, only that wouldn't help Jason, either. Ever since he'd helped dig the erstwhile Gold Ranger out from under a pile of gravel, he had to do everything in his power to not think about all the times during the past year when he'd snubbed Jason, or been rude to him because of a quarrel that wasn't even his own. Now, when it might be too late, he regretted his actions deeply. What if he never got the chance to make amends?

*NO! He'll get through this ... he just HAS to ... it can't end like this! It can't!*

Rocky shook himself. He couldn't remember ever feeling this miserable, except maybe the day he injured his back and had to quit the Rangers, or the day his father had died after a sudden heart attack. Now it was a friend lying behind hospital doors, hooked up to machines, fighting for his life. Unfortunately Rocky was all too aware that sometimes, even the best fighter lost. A quick glance at Kat almost brought tears to his own eyes. The young woman was the picture of misery; not that he could blame her. If she lost Jason ... her husband, the father of her baby ... Rocky had seen the lingering sadness in his own widowed mother's eyes too often, even after over fifteen years, and wouldn't wish it on anybody, much less a good friend. With an effort, he wrenched his thoughts away from his grief over his late father to the present.

"What if we don't find a donor at all? Or not in time?" Rocky didn't want to say this, but knew it was the question on everyone's mind.

The three young men sighed almost in unison. Here they were, former Rangers all - they'd lived through so much, accomplished so many things, helped whole worlds - and now one of their own needed help, and they couldn't give it. Instead, they were forced to stand by, doing nothing, while they waited to see if Jason's body could fight alone.

"We just have to ..." Adam's voice trailed off unhappily. He, too, was battling his own regrets about how he'd handled things. How often had Tanya tried to tell him things about her best friend, and he'd refused to listen? He'd hurt his wife just as much by his stubborn refusal as he'd hurt his friends. Sure, he still didn't condone Kat and Jason's actions, but now, faced with the possibility of losing Jason, he was asking himself if it would have been really so wrong to at least listen, and be civil.

*I wouldn't have taken any loyalty away from Tommy if I'd at least made Tanya less uncomfortable about being in contact with Kat. I didn't even personally sign the card she sent to celebrate their baby's birth. That wasn't being loyal, that was just plain being mean. Little Robin is not at fault, after all ...*

Lost in their thoughts, neither noticed Trini coming up to them. Her quiet voice broke them out of their distraction.

"I've been thinking, and I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is," she said, looking meaningfully at Zack.

"You do?" All three glanced at the slender Asian woman in surprise.

"Sshhh," Trini cautioned them to keep their voices down, in deference to Kat. "Yes. That unknown element in Jason's blood ... it has to do with us having been Rangers. Our accelerated healing, the enhanced strength the Power gave us ... the Morphin' Grid changed us. We all have the same thing, to various degrees."

"But I already had myself tested - I'm O-Negative, universal donor blood type - and I'm not compatible with Jason," Adam protested. Puzzled, he remembered something else. "And how come I could donate blood in January to one of the stunt guys at the studio? He never was a Ranger ..."

"It doesn't matter from Ranger to non-Ranger," Zack recalled. "Zordon explained that once. It's the other way around that it gets complicated. But we all used to donate blood to each other when we were injured; Trini's O-Negative, too, and I was compatible with Kim."

"We never did," Rocky said, mentally going back to those first scary, exhilarating days after he'd assumed the Red Ranger Powers from Jason, and the myriad things they'd had to learn in a hurry. "Billy tested us after the transfer, found out that we all had different bloodtypes, and since we couldn't play vampire on Adam every time we needed a supply ..."

"...he basically started our own blood bank," Adam continued, remembering as well. "We all donated blood for ourselves in quiet times. It usually was enough; I only was emergency backup a couple of times for Aisha, and as we gained more experience, our injuries got less serious."

"Makes sense," Zack agreed. "And how typically Billy!"

The four shared a brief smile as they thought of their oh-so-methodical absent genius friend, but sobered again almost immediately.

"That doesn't help us right now, though," Zack got back to their problem. "If even Adam as a universal donor and with the Ranger factor is not compatible with Jason ... who is?"

"Tommy."

"What?" Adam, Rocky and Zack stared incredulously at the former Yellow Ranger.

"Don't you remember?" she addressed her old friend. "That time after Tommy came back to the team and we fought Robogoat ... his Powers failed him, and he was hurt really bad. Jase donated to him."

"How could he?" Adam wondered. "I mean, I clearly remember that Billy once said none of us would be able to help Tommy with blood. I'd always assumed it was because he was the White Ranger ... "

"That was before. There is some link to a Ranger's color," Zack said, a hint of excitement creeping into his voice as hope cautiously reared its head, "with Green and Black being related; you could probably donate to me." He nodded at Adam. "But - and Trini's right, I remember now, too - Tommy and Jase's case is special."

He smiled encouragingly at Tanya and Kat, who had drifted over to listen to their conversation. Tanya still had an arm around her friend's waist, supporting her, and Kat smiled wanly - an expression that did nothing to hide the quiet despair in the blue eyes.

"They always were, to each other," she whispered, her accented voice rough with tears. "In what way, though?"

"It's not because Tommy was White," Trini took up the tale, "but because he was Green Ranger. Or more precisely, because of the Green Dragon coin."

"What does the coin have to do with it?" Rocky frowned.

"Both Tommy and Jase held it," Zack explained. "You see, it's like this - when Tommy lost his Powers for the first time because of Rita's Green Candle, he gave his Power Coin to Jason so the Powers wouldn't be lost. Then, when Rita kidnapped our parents and we gave up our coins to Goldar, Jase returned the Dragon Coin to Tommy and he became Green Ranger again. There was no formal Power transfer, no intermediary, nothing. Just Tommy putting his coin into Jase's hand, and later Jason putting it back into Tommy's. They held the same coin. And, although he didn't do it often, Jase used the Dragon Powers in addition to his own. It wasn't like when I gave my Powers to you, Adam, or Kim hers to Kat. It attuned them to each other to an incredible degree - even more than they were before." The first Black Ranger shared a smile first with Trini, recalling those emotion-laden moments, then directed it at his successor and the second Pink Ranger.

"Furthermore, they're both AB-Negative," Trini added, cautious optimism coloring her soft voice for the first time since she'd gotten Rocky's phonecall. "That means Tommy ought to be able to donate blood to Jason, and save him."

"If we can get hold of him in time," Tanya cautioned. She could feel the sudden tension in Kat. "What if he's back East, racing?"

"He isn't," Rocky interjected. "I talked to him on the phone last week, and he's scheduled for test drives at his uncle's facility in Stone Canyon until the end of the month. He should be home."

Adam cast a wary glance at Katherine. He hated to hurt her more than she already was, but there was this slight problem everyone was overlooking .... he cleared his throat. Avoiding Kat's eyes, his next words doused the optimism that had sprung up in their group more effectively than a bucket full of ice water.

"Okay, but ... will he even want to help Jason?"

"Of course he will!" Rocky protested hotly. "How can you even think he won't? Tommy's a good guy - Jase has always been his best friend, and Kat ... " Suddenly realizing what Adam was alluding to, Rocky fell into an embarrassed silence. "Oh."

"Yeah - oh," Tanya sighed. She once more hugged Kat, who had paled even more - although that hardly seemed possible - and shuddered noticeably at that reminder of the injustice she and her husband had done Tommy. Neither of the former Rangers said a word; they could hardly look at each other, but least of all at the devastated blonde.

"One of us just has to go and ask him," Trini finally voiced what they all thought. "Rocky's right; Tommy is not a bad guy, and surely he'll come through ..."

"Especially since it's a matter of life and death," Zack said soberly. "If it were for anything less, I don't know, but for something like this ... " he let the implication hang.

Rocky inhaled deeply and squared his shoulders. They were fast running out of time, and who knew how long they'd need to convince Tommy. "Who's gonna go and talk to him, then?"

"I will."

~*~

The soft voice was hoarse but steady, and left a stunned silence in its wake. Slowly, four pairs of eyes in varying shades of brown zeroed in on their Australian friend, who met each unflinchingly, although she was biting her lips nearly bloody with the need not to break down. Not now, when there was something she could do at last.

"Are you quite sure, Kat?" Tanya asked after a moment. "I don't want to alarm you, but what if he won't even see you?" She knew from Adam's reports that Tommy might have gotten over Kat's betrayal and renewed his relationship with Kimberly - something she hadn't had the heart to tell her best friend about yet - but he also was very bitter still.

"It's a risk I have to take," the blonde whispered. "I hope to God Tommy will at least listen, but I know that I'll never forgive myself if I don't try."

"I understand," Tanya murmured back, hugging her best friend. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"Or I could go," Adam offered. Truth be told, it was the last thing he wanted to do, but felt he owed it to ... whom? He didn't know. It didn't matter. To his barely-hidden relief, Kat shook her head 'no' as she gave him a small, grateful smile that didn't mask the bleakness in the crystalline eyes.

"Thanks, Adam, Tanya, but no. This is something I have to do myself. I'm Jason's wife; I made a promise to him when I married him, and if this is what it takes to keep that promise, so be it." Kat disengaged herself from Tanya's support. Her marriage vow rang clearly in her mind - *in sickness and health ...* - she tried hard to forget about the *'til death do you part* section. Feeling suddenly very cold and alone, Kat steeled herself. "Besides, I ... I don't want to make Tommy feel pressured in any way."

Right then, a nurse waved to her that she was free to go back inside the sickroom. With another small, wan smile, the blonde left her friends, still poleaxed at her announcement.

"Like Tommy isn't going to feel pressured by either helping Jason or letting him die," Rocky muttered as the five sat down in the uncomfortable chairs.

"True," Tanya said, "but Kat is right. He needs to make that decision without getting the sense that we're ganging up on him."

"Exactly. And, who knows ...."

"Who knows what?" Rocky looked questioningly at Trini when she wouldn't continue. The almond-shaped eyes were downcast, but shimmered gently when she looked up again.

"Maybe ... just maybe, that's the catalyst that will Tommy help to finally forgive them."

The five friends fell silent at that, suddenly having something else to hope and pray for.

~*~

Katherine told the cab driver to stop at the corner of Tommy's street, paid the fare and got out. Shading her eyes against the bright October sun, so different from the darkness shrouding her heart, she slowly walked toward the neat house she knew so well. She'd stayed at Jason's side until her mother-in-law came to spell her for a bit, then made her way home after briefly looking in on her baby at the DeSantos'. She needed the reassurance of holding the sturdy little body close, to look into the bright, sparkling dark eyes so like Jason's, and had made a silent promise while she kissed her son's wispy dark hair.

*If there is anything I can do to save your daddy, I will,* she vowed in her mind. *I love him too much to let go without a fight ... I love you too much to have you grow up without ever knowing the wonderful man he is. I promise you, Robin ... even if I need to go down on my knees and beg, I will do what I have to to bring your daddy back.*

Next, she'd taken a quick shower and changed her clothes; Kat hadn't wanted to delay things further, but had reluctantly accepted Sophia DeSantos' advice. The older woman had been right; it did make her feel marginally better to be clean, and it had given her a little more time to compose herself and marshal her thoughts. The warm, compassionate hug she'd been given by Rocky's mother had helped, too ... only now, as she was approaching the Oliver home, the brief feeling of sympathy and comfort it had left her with vanished again. As Kat reached the driveway, she noted that not only was Tommy's sports car parked out there, next to his parents' sedan, but also a small hatchback and a somewhat battered truck.

*David's,* Kat realized with a sinking feeling. *Why would he ... oh.* Today was Tommy's birthday; the date had completely slipped her mind. No wonder his brother had come to visit.

*Sam's probably there, too.* The young woman moaned to herself. Facing Tommy again after all this time, with a request like the one she had to make, was going to be difficult enough; that she had to do it in front of an audience ... an image of Jason's pale, still face lying immobilized on the hospital bed appeared before her mind's eye. It firmed her resolve once more to see this through, and she forced herself to walk up to the front door. Kat's hand shook as she reached for the doorbell.

*For Jason. Whatever it takes.*

The cheery chimes were still echoing softly when the wooden door opened and Kat found herself face-to-face with Rachel Oliver, whose laughing hazel eyes hardened as she recognized her unexpected visitor.

~*~

For an interminable moment, the two women just stared at each other. Then, Kat squeezed the words she needed to say out of her suddenly dry throat.

"Please, may I come in? I ... need to speak to Tommy."

"What could you possibly have to say to him?" Rachel asked coldly. While she was very pleased that her son had found happiness with Kimberly again, she still hadn't forgotten how truly miserable Kat and Jason had made him last year.

Kat inhaled shakily. She somehow hadn't expected she'd have to go through Rachel first.

"I ... I need to ask him a question. Just one, and it won't take more than a couple of minutes. I give you my word I won't hurt him, but ... this is really important. I wouldn't have come, otherwise. Please." She looked imploringly at Tommy's mother.

Something in her eyes, or voice, must have convinced Rachel Oliver that Kat meant what she'd said, because after a long, searching glance, she stepped wordlessly aside and gestured the younger woman towards the back of the house.

"He's in there."

"Thank you," Kat rasped, swallowing hard, and for the first time since Tommy had broken up with her over a year ago, set foot into the shaded foyer of the Oliver home.

The walk to the living room seemed interminable, and Kat was painfully aware of the last time she'd crossed the expanse of polished hardwood in the opposite direction, Tommy's harsh "Get out, and don't come back. I never want to see you again" echoing loudly in her mind. He'd meant every word, she knew, and it was incredibly hard to overcome the pain and shame of that long-ago day. But that didn't matter; not when it was Jason's life at stake. After what seemed like ages, Kat reached the door and, drawing a deep breath, pushed it open.

The lively conversation in the cheery, comfortable room came to an abrupt halt as Kat stepped inside, Rachel on her heels. Tommy's mother stayed next to the door as the dancer faced the assembled persons - Tommy, Kimberly, David, Sam and Mr. Oliver. A couple of gaily-wrapped packages sat on the floor next to Tommy's chair, who'd just unwrapped a white sweater. He absently laid the gift over the back of his chair as he rose slowly from his seat near the window. Kat didn't notice any of this. Five pairs of eyes came to rest on her with various expressions of disbelief, but she saw only one - the chocolate orbs of her former boyfriend, which widened in surprise, then became cold and unreadable.

"What do you want?"

Kat barely refrained from flinching at the hostile tone.

*Pull yourself together. What did you expect? Surely not instant forgiveness. He's entitled.*

"I ..." she had to clear her throat. If only Tommy wouldn't glare at her so!

"I need to ask you a favor."

"What?!?" Tommy looked at Kat incredulously. "You have some nerve! Why would I do you a favor?"

He purposely ignored his mother's reproving look at his rudeness. Some part of him, the one that had started to heal the wound the young woman standing before him had struck last spring, admonished that he was being unfair, but right now the former Red Zeo Ranger didn't care. Seeing Kat again, in the very room where her confession had hurt him so, made any gentler reaction vanish like snow in summer. Instead, all the old pain and outrage surged forth once more.

"You seem to have forgotten what I've told you the last time you were here," Tommy said coldly. He deliberately shut out Sam Trueheart's disapproving look, or Kimberly's soft, chiding "Tommy!"

Kat blanched. Fighting down her tears, she shut out everything around her and made herself speak.

*For Jason!*

"I haven't forgotten anything, Tommy," she said, so quietly it was hardly more than a whisper. "But as I told your mom, I wouldn't have come at all if it weren't important. Please," she requested hoarsely, "for the friendship we once shared, will you at least hear me out? I give you my word I'll leave directly afterwards."

The long-haired young man regarded her silently for a long time, taking in her still willowy figure which somehow seemed fuller, more feminine than before, her simple jeans and blouse, and long silvery-blonde hair, caught at the back of her neck in a ponytail with a Garfield clasp. He deliberately overlooked the signs of despair in the blue eyes, the pale cheeks and the minute tic making her mouth tremble. It was of no concern to him if Kat was unhappy, wasn't it?

*Serves her right. She made me unhappy, too!* Tommy felt slightly ashamed at the pettiness of the thought, but squelched the feeling. He watched as his former girlfriend bit her already-swollen lower lip. A tiny droplet of blood appeared, but was automatically licked away. The young man repressed his instinctive urge to offer comfort to a friend. *Kat's no longer my friend! She threw that away last year!* However, that sounded a bit false ... Tommy shook the thought off, continuing to watch Kat. He knew her well enough to recognize her nervousness and fear, but he refused to let it sway him.

*What will it hurt to at least listen?* a voice in his mind asked. *You have Kimberly back now; what will it serve to be this ungracious? Do you really still want to punish her? You know better than that.*

The voice was right, but something darker, something that had clung to the hurt and feeling of betrayal for all the long months, wasn't ready to give up yet. Somewhere deep down, Tommy didn't much like what he was feeling, but for all his brooding, loner ways, he wasn't really the introspective type. He was likely to go with his emotions if and when he could afford to; the trouble was, his emotions were pulling him into two different directions right now. Could he listen to Kat, or would it be better - no, easier - to send her away? A soft, shuddering intake of breath, a barely audible swallow as Kat waited for him to make up his mind, tipped the scales. His ex-lover was the supplicant; he could afford to hear her out. At last, he nodded grudgingly. "Okay."

Kat swallowed again. This was it - her one chance, the only chance, really, to save Jason's life. She cleared her throat and tried to speak as briefly and succinctly as she could, without giving too much away ... and without collapsing into a sobbing heap of misery. As a result, her voice was dull and monotonous as she made her plea.

"I need your help. Or rather, Jason does. I don't know if you've heard, but ... but he had an accident yesterday. He was badly hurt, and has lost too much blood." Tears threatened again, but Kat blinked them away. She wouldn't break down, not now! "He's been unconscious since; I ... I know that you have the same blood type as Jason, and I've come to ask you to donate for him."

Something within Tommy figuratively sat up as he heard the news of Jason's injury. He and his family had only returned to Angel Grove today from a trip to meet with the Rushs, and hadn't had a chance to look at the paper yet. But the petty, selfish part of him, the one that refused to let go of the hurt, silenced his instinctive concern almost immediately. Instead, it made him ask in a deliberately disinterested voice, "Why me? Surely there are other ways ..."

"If there were, if we hadn't exhausted all other possibilities, do you think I would have come?" Kat asked tonelessly. A tide of hopelessness threatened to drag her under, but determinedly she made herself go on.

"Trini said the two of you ... had been tested once, and found to be truly compatible," she continued, trying not to make her emphasis too obvious. It had taken her considerable thought to formulate her request and explanation like this, just in case she didn't have a chance to speak to Tommy alone. For all of them, the promise not to reveal their identities as Rangers still held, even though Zordon was long gone. She only hoped Tommy would make the right connection. She could see in his eyes and his unconscious move towards a no-longer-present communicator that he did. It gave her a fresh glimmer of hope.

"Please, Tommy ... I'm not asking for myself. I'm asking you to help someone who used to be your best friend."

"Our friendship didn't mean too much to either one of you when you betrayed me last year," he said bitterly, unable to let it be. He didn't dare look at Kimberly, whose soft brown eyes were trained on him imploringly. He knew Jason was one of her oldest friends, and that her warm heart was aching already, for him and for Kat. Since they'd become lovers, she'd made a few tentative comments about getting back with all of their friends, but so far, Tommy hadn't wanted to consider it.

Kat closed her eyes briefly. She had hoped Tommy would be able to look past that for the sake of the friendship he'd once shared with her husband, but apparently that was not to be. Still, she made one last effort. If that required baring her soul, so be it. Looking squarely at her erstwhile lover, she pulled out the last weapon in her arsenal - the naked truth.

"Tommy ... I know Jason and I have hurt you, and I am more sorry about that than I can ever say. We never wanted to cause you pain, and still we did. I'm not asking you to forget, or to forgive ...you have every right to refuse me. But please ... it's not for me, it's for Jason. He ... he's slipping into a coma. If you don't help him, today, he ... he will die."

At the edge of her consciousness, Kat registered Kim's small exclamation of shock and distress as she said that, but it didn't break her concentration. She had to make Tommy relent, she just had to!

"Please, Tommy ... I'm begging you. You're the last hope Jason has. For whatever once was between you, for whatever you and he shared ... please help him!"

Kat's chin quivered with the need not to cry, but with a supreme effort of will she managed. Her cold-as-ice hands were clenched at her waist, unconsciously wringing each other, but all of her attention was focussed on the hawk-like features of the man she once had loved so much. It caused her almost physical pain to see them so implacable, knowing as she did how warm-hearted Tommy could be, but she found nothing of that warmth in the brown eyes now. Rather, they seemed to be growing more distant by the second. Whatever hope she'd had died an agonizing death in her heart. A single tear slipped out of the corner of her eye as Tommy just stood, staring at her motionless and silent, his back to the window, as he'd stood a year ago when he'd cut her out of his life.

*No ... I cut myself off from him. As he's now cutting Jason away from me.*

Pain threatened to overwhelm her as Kat realized that her effort had been in vain. The slender shoulders sagged in resignation as she admitted defeat. The young woman was about to turn away, when she looked back one last time at the man she'd fallen in love with so long ago, pined for all through her marriage to another, and had intended to go back to only yesterday morning. A moan almost escaped her at the thought of how she must have hurt Jason with her request for a divorce, not realizing until it was too late that he'd long since taken Tommy's place in her heart. Now Jason would most likely die without ever hearing her say that she was sorry, that she didn't mean her words ... that she loved him. Well, she'd tried.

And failed.

That sense of failure made her stop and say one last thing before she left, this time for good. She knew she wouldn't be coming back here - ever. Her blue eyes, so bleak and swimming with moisture, met Tommy's shuttered brown ones; to the shocked and silent watchers they seemed like twin windows into Purgatory. The accented voice was rough with pain, and so soft Tommy had to strain his ears to hear.

"Tommy ... you have every right to hate us; I don't blame you for it. I even can accept that you won't forgive us. We brought it on ourselves, after all. I know we hurt you; I know it was our fault. But I didn't know you could be cruel."

With enormous dignity - and the last bit of self-control she could summon - Kat faced Rachel Oliver, who was still standing beside the door. Into the silence that had settled over the room at her words, she tried, and failed, to call forth a polite smile.

"Thank you for letting me have my say. Good bye."

The door closed behind Kat with a muted 'click'.

~*~

Outside in the dim hallway, her composure finally left Kat. She barely made it to the front door when, blinded by her tears, she just couldn't go on. Shoulders shaking with silent sobs, she leaned against the wooden frame, hid her face in her arms and let the pain engulf her.

~*~

Five of the six people in the living room stared at Tommy, who had grown noticeably pale under his tan as he stared at the door Kat had just closed behind her. His mother looked at him with sad, reproachful eyes.

"This is not like you, Tommy," Rachel said slowly. "You know I'm on your side all the way, but Kat is right about one thing - I didn't know you could be cruel."

With that, the older woman let herself out of the living room, moving on silent feet to the oblivious Katherine who was still crying noiselessly at the doorframe. She put a comforting arm around the shaking shoulders, waiting for the storm to pass. When it finally did, she waited until Kat dried her cheeks, then met the tear-drenched blue orbs.

"You love Jason, don't you?" Rachel asked quietly. It had been obvious to her from the way the blonde had begged her mule-headed son to save his friend. Her heart went out to Kat as she watched the wobbly smile playing briefly around her quivering lips.

"Yes." It filled Kat with a desperate form of pride to finally admit it out loud to someone.

"I didn't know before, but I do."

The quiet admission, spoken so simply, told Mrs. Oliver a large part of the story, and she hugged Katherine in sympathy.

"Then your place is with him now," was all she said, though. "I'll talk to Tommy; maybe he'll come around tomorrow."

"Tomorrow will most likely be too late," Kat whispered, but found a tiny, brave smile for the other's effort. "Thank you."

With that, she turned, opened the front door and walked slowly away from the Oliver house, a slender figure trembling with grief and weighed down by a fatigue that was more of the soul than of the body. Rachel watched her go with a heavy heart, her long-held anger at her son's ex-girlfriend dissipating slowly. Kat may have broken Tommy's heart a year ago, but he was healing. The pain she was feeling now would leave scars for a lifetime. Shaking her head, she went back inside. Maybe there was a way she could talk some sense, or at least compassion, into her son, after all.

~*~

Meanwhile, Tommy was facing down his girlfriend and the rest of his family. He knew he'd handled the situation badly, but Kat had caught him utterly by surprise; seeing her again had reopened wounds he'd thought had healed, and her message had shaken him more than he was ready to admit.

*Jason .... dying? Impossible! He can't die - he just can't! He's too strong, too stubborn ... Kat must have been wrong! Most likely trying to play on my sympathy,* he tried to convince himself, but it sounded hollow even to his own ears. Kat may have her faults, and she'd hurt him badly, but Tommy was honest enough to admit that she would never act so low. She wouldn't lie about something like this.

Mr. Oliver was riffling through the current issue of the Angel Grove Clarion that had been delivered only this morning. No-one had had the time to take a look at the paper yet ... ah, here it was! Tommy's father skimmed the article hastily.

"She was right, son - Jason was in a construction accident yesterday morning. According to this," he tapped the newspaper, "the roof of a building he was in collapsed on top of him." Briefly, he summarized the report, looking as shocked as the other occupants of the room.

"Tommy, you have to help Jason," David finally said. He'd met Jason shortly after his return, and while he'd liked him well enough, he'd always slightly envied the rapport the broad-shouldered then-Gold Ranger had with his newfound brother. It was something he was still trying to establish between himself and Tommy - that feeling of kinship that was evident between the two friends even to a casual observer. They were truly two of a kind.

"Never mind that he used to be your best friend; forget for a moment that he did badly by you. He's a Human being in need, and if Katherine is right and you're the only one able to save his life ... if you don't, and he should really die, you'll never be able to live with yourself if you could have done something to prevent it and didn't."

Tommy flinched slightly and turned away. He knew David was right, but something within him made him stay stubbornly silent. However, he met Kimberly's tear-streaked face. Her reaction to Kat's narrative hadn't gone unnoticed by the racer, but he'd made himself ignore it. Now, he couldn't.

"Please, Tommy," his old and new love choked out. Kim hopped up from the couch she'd been sitting on and put a small hand on his arm. Her doe eyes looked into his own, begging.

"David's right. And if you don't want to help Jason for your friendship, or for yourself, please help him for me? He's one of my oldest friends ...." her voice trailed off as she read the pain, confusion and stubbornness in Tommy's expression. Sighing, she removed her hand as a decision crystallized in her mind. When Kat and Jason had gotten married, she'd sided unhesitatingly with Tommy, and she, of all people, knew perhaps better than most just how much he'd been hurt by their actions. After all, Tommy had unburdened to her often enough as they'd started to rebuild their relationship. Kimberly perfectly understood his feelings, but right now, somebody else's were more important. She only hoped that in time, Tommy would come to understand hers.

"Tommy ... I love you, you know I do, but right now .... my place is at the hospital, with the others." Kim didn't need to check with anyone; she knew instinctively that their friends would be there. And she wanted to be with them. "I just can't stay here when one of my friends is maybe dying and another is losing her husband ... and the father of her baby." She watched Tommy blush guiltily, and smiled sadly as she turned to leave.

"Kat and Jason made a mistake; please don't make a bigger one yourself."

Rachel put an understanding arm around the petite gymnast's waist as she guided her outside. The older woman inwardly agreed with every word her son's brother and girlfriend had said, but waited to put in her own two cents. Sometimes, a mother had to bide her time ... or let others do the talking more effectively.

"A mistake," Tommy muttered rebelliously, beginning to feel thoroughly ashamed of himself. Which didn't exactly improve his mood. He knew very well that simple Human compassion and common decency alone should have him on the way to Angel Grove Memorial already, but some part of him still didn't want to give in, didn't want to forgive, still clung to the hurt and betrayal. Besides, after the way he'd acted, how could he just up and go after Kat, without making a complete fool of himself? Tommy tried to save what little face he had left by hiding behind bluster, ignoring that he had to work at keeping the outrage in his voice. "If that would only be all that it was! They're happily married, with a baby, and I'm supposed to accept it just like that?!?"

"Nobody said you have to. But Kimberly is right, son," Mr. Oliver said quietly. "You're not vindictive, or you wouldn't be the man I brought you up to be. Don't compound their mistake by making another one - one that can't be undone. Theirs can be forgiven eventually if maybe not forgotten; yours might be fatal - literally." He hadn't gone into the lurid details of Jason's injuries the Clarion's article had enumerated, but he knew how truly serious the situation was.

"Dad ...!" Tommy groaned/growled. He loved and respected his father, his opinion meant the world to him, but could nobody see how he was feeling? The young man looked half defiantly/half helplessly at the last member of the small gathering, who'd remained silent so far. The wise old eyes of Sam Trueheart, still sharp and maybe seeing deeper than most, met his own probingly, but without accusation.

"Yes, a mistake," he finally said in his calm, measured way - the way that had once led Tommy-as-a-child to follow the Falcon and thus to the Zeo Crystal and ultimately brought about the reunion with his brother. "Katherine and Jason made a mistake that hurt you - and all of your friends, splitting up a close group of people by inadvertantly making them choose sides. But how do you know it didn't hurt them as well? Is their marriage truly as happy as you think it is? I have met them both, and seen the kind of persons they are; they are not likely to build happiness on the grief of another." Sam let his words sink in for a moment before he continued. "You don't judge people by a mistake they've made; you judge them by how they live with that mistake. It seems to me they have lived with honor."

Rachel had returned after watching Kimberly drive off, but had kept her peace so far. Now, she added one last thing Tommy needed to consider to make his decision.

"They have a baby, Tommy." Her adopted son's head jerked up sharply at the reminder. "A baby, not yet a year old, who will never know its father if Jason dies. This baby is the truly innocent victim if you choose to do nothing. You yourself have never known your biological parents. I know that, no matter how much your dad and I love you, that's something that's hurting you deep down, and always will. Be honest - would you really wish that kind of pain on your friends' child?"

The silence in the sunny room was long, and heavy, but it was finally broken by Tommy's defeated sigh.

"No," he admitted. "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy." He drew a deep breath and squared his shoulders, knowing - as he'd done from the start, really - what he would have to do. However, he wasn't quite ready yet to rush to the rescue. He needed to sort out his mind first, needed to get his head back together after seeing Kat so unexpectedly - a Kat who was no longer the girl he'd been in love with, but a woman begging for her husband's life. The chocolate-brown eyes were sober as he looked at each member of his family in turn, receiving silent encouragement.

"I ... I need to think. Alone."

With that, Tommy left his parents' house, swung himself into his car and drove away.

~*~

Kat hadn't bothered to take a taxi back to Angel Grove Memorial; it wasn't too far to walk from the Olivers' house, and she desperately needed the time to collect herself. Not caring that passers-by were staring as she trudged down the sunlit streets, she did nothing to check her tears as they flowed down her pale cheeks. Better to cry herself out now than to collapse helplessly when Jason needed her most.

She didn't pay much attention to her surroundings as she walked, but was abruptly jerked out of her thoughts as a small hatchback car stopped right next to her and a familiar voice insistently called her name.

"Kat? Kat, wait ..."

The blonde blinked her eyes free of tears as she halted. It took her a few seconds to come back to reality and recognize the woman in the driver's seat.

"K-kimberly?" Kim had been at the Olivers'; her presence had registered, but the distraught woman hadn't really attached any special significance to it. It hadn't surprised her, because Kim had always taken Tommy's side. Kat and Jason had never blamed the gymnast for that; they'd known about their friend's lingering feelings for him, and had accepted her decision and avoidance of them without question. Somehow, being condemned by Kim for their mistake had never hurt as much as the same reaction from Adam and Rocky. But what was she doing here, picking her up? Why hadn't she stayed at the Olivers' house? What ....

"Get in, Kat. Please?" Kim leaned over and opened the passenger-side door. "I'll drive you back to Jason."

With a weary sigh, Kat gave in. It really didn't matter if she got back a few minutes earlier or not, but she was so tired ... and Jason needed her still ... as soon as she sat down and buckled in, Kim drew away from the curb. The two women didn't talk for a few moments, but finally Kimberly broke the heavy silence which was interrupted only by Kat's sniffles as she scrubbed ineffectually at her wet cheeks.

"Tommy's not a bad guy, you know that. He'll come around, I'm sure of it. You just surprised the heck out of him, showing up like you did. Give him a little time, and he'll be there."

The blonde laughed, a short and bitter sound.

"Time is the one thing Jason doesn't have. Just before I left, Dr. Jones updated us. Jason's wound is definitely infected, he's starting to run a fever, and he's narrowed down the remaining time to until morning. If he doesn't get a full blood transfusion by then ..." she gulped down a fresh onslaught of tears. Her blue eyes burned and were red-rimmed as she looked sideways at her predecessor, unsure of what her reaction would be. She just couldn't figure out why Kim had followed her instead of staying with Tommy. Wasn't she glad that they finally had to pay for what they'd done to him? *No matter that this is too high a price ...* Kat turned off that train of thought. Neither Kimberly nor Tommy were that vindictive. But oh, how she hoped the first Pink Ranger was right about Tommy coming around! *I won't believe he'd let Jason die ...*

Kim noticed Kat's confusion and wanted to answer, but needed to watch downtown rush hour traffic before they both ended up at the hospital ... as casualties in the ER. Making a quick decision, the petite brunette coasted into a close-by parking lot and killed the engine. Putting a hand on Kat's shaking shoulder, she tried to give as much reassurance as she could.

"Kat, have a little faith ... you know Tommy! He's always been there for his friends, no matter what. In the end, he always comes through. You should know; you loved him once ..."

"Yes," Kat sighed. "So much that in all the time I was married to Jason, I never once saw how much he's come to mean to me until now ... when it might be too late ..."

"What? But ... Kat, I thought you left Tommy because you'd fallen in love with Jase!"

"Is that what Tommy chose to believe?" Kat sighed again. "I guess I can't blame him ... it must have looked that way, I'm sure ... but I really didn't. We were just friends, nothing more. Not until much later ... I loved Tommy, yes, but he was never around anymore. I was alone so often ... and Jason was there, he made me feel good, less lonely ... Tommy even sent him to me sometimes ... that one night, we had fun together, but it was all harmless. Our first kiss just happened ... and it felt so good, somehow I couldn't stop ... didn't want to stop ..." She rambled on, telling Kim how it had been, how she and Jason had suffered from guilt and shame at having hurt Tommy so much these past months and what strain it had put on their marriage.

Kimberly listened in silence, knowing from her own experience how cathartic it could be to unburden oneself to the person one had wronged. True, she wasn't Tommy, but she guessed correctly that in Kat's mind, she probably was the next best thing, and wouldn't - couldn't - deny her friend the comfort to be found in that. She held a cold, trembling hand between her own warmer ones, rubbing it consolingly as Kat talked, and sorted through things in her mind, correcting assumptions she'd made, realigning facts Kat told her with what she'd heard from Tommy so she could deal adequately with the situation.

At last, Kat wound down. Pouring out her heart like that left her feeling even more exhausted, and curiously empty. All that was left was her fear for her husband - that she might lose Jason and not even have the chance to tell him she loved him.

"...and to think I believed Tommy had forgiven me after I'd seen his interview on the Edie Jenkins show," Kat murmured forlornly as she finished.

"What are you talking about?" the first Pink Ranger asked, alarmed. That had been about two weeks ago ... she and Tommy had been together again since the end of July! Could it be Kat didn't know? But Tommy had told Rocky and Adam .... belatedly, Kimberly realized that both young men had refused to stay friends with the Scotts on Tommy's behalf. If Kat hadn't talked to Tanya recently, there was every chance she was unaware of her and Tommy's reignited love affair. She groaned inwardly. If there was one thing she didn't want to have to tell Kat, it was that Tommy had come back to her, Kimberly. Not now, at least. However, it seemed as if she would have to ... Kim was recalled to her surroundings by Kat's slightly shamefaced look.

"I ... it might have been my imagination, but when that woman asked about Tommy's dream girl, he looked into the camera as if directly at me, and ..."

"...he said it was a blue-eyed blonde," Kimberly moaned, remembering now. "Oh God, Kat ...." she reached out to draw her friend into a hug, but Kat resisted. Puzzled by the other's blush and chagrined expression, she raised a questioning eyebrow, momentarily distracted from her misery.

"What?"

Kim inhaled deeply. She had to tell Katherine now. Not to do so would be unnecessarily mean. Wishing she were anywhere else, she tried to make her voice as sympathetic as possible as she faced her friend.

"Kat ... Kat, I really hate to be saying this to you, especially now, but ... Tommy and I have been back together - truly together, as in a couple - since July," she said softly. "We just didn't want Edie Jenkins to dig into our relationship, so I asked Tommy to avoid those questions if he could. When that wasn't possible, I guess he just said the first thing that popped into his mind. We never even thought you might be watching - or that you'd think he was talking about you ...." Kim trailed off, waiting anxiously for Kat's reaction. Having seen the taped interview, it was easy for the petite woman to understand where her friend's misconception had originated. The blonde was so distraught already with worry over Jason, there was no way of gauging how this bit of news would affect her.

Katherine just stared at Kim. This turn of events was something that had fleetingly crossed her mind during her vigil last night when she'd finally faced and accepted her feelings for Jason, but then, the thought had still stung. To hear it confirmed now was ... curiously anticlimatic. After going through the emotional wringer of her confrontation with Tommy, Kat realized that deep down, she wasn't surprised at all.

*I have moved on; why shouldn't Tommy? It was over between us the moment I first kissed Jason, I know that now. Everything else was wishful thinking on my part. And I knew when I first met him that he and Kim had always had something special between them ... maybe that was what I wanted so much for myself. Why I actively pursued him, even though that's not really me. I wanted not only Tommy himself, but also the way he and Kim felt about each other, that was so obvious to all who saw them together. Jason's given me the same thing, only I didn't see ...*

The realization was strangely liberating, even more so than admitting to herself that somewhere along the line her feelings for Tommy had changed and been replaced by love for her husband. It enabled Kat to find a tiny, fleeting, but genuine smile for a worriedly waiting Kimberly.

"You know," the Australian said slowly as she leaned back in her seat, "yesterday morning that would've really hurt. I was so convinced Tommy was talking about me ... I even was ready to leave Jason." Kim's shocked gasp drew the blue eyes to her face. "Now, I'm just ... relieved, I guess, that Tommy's happy again." A faraway look came into the crystal eyes as Kat remembered her state of mind of the morning before. Her voice was absentminded as she talked. "I'd seen the pictures of you in the National Inquisitor, of you and Tommy at that anti-drug gala ... I was so jealous of you, almost like during the time when I was under Rita's spell. But now ..." The two had talked about that once, after Muranthias, when Kim had reassured a naturally wary Katherine that she hadn't come back to steal Tommy from her. Kat grimaced slightly; it hadn't been a pleasant discussion, but necessary. As this was now; it was hard to admit her folly, but she continued regardless. It felt so good to unburden herself to a friend ... and instinctively she knew that Kim would understand, wouldn't judge.

"Now, all I want is for Jason to regain consciousness, to live ... so that I can apologize for asking him for a divorce, for hurting him like that ... just to ask his forgiveness. I'm going to make up for every hurtful word I ever said to him, for every insensitive thing I ever did ... if he'll let me. If I still can." She drew a shuddering breath as the dire situation crashed back into her conscious mind. "God, Kim, he just has to live; I couldn't bear it if Jason ... if he died!"

Without a word, Kim reached out again and this time succeeded in hugging the blonde. The taller young woman gratefully accepted the comforting embrace, and while a few more tears slipped out and soaked into Kim's pink sweater, she whispered brokenly what she'd only admitted out loud once before to Rachel Oliver so short a time ago.

"I love Jason, Kimberly; I didn't know until now, when I may lose him. I never told him, and if Tommy doesn't help him, h-he'll d-die thinking that I w-want t-to leave him!"

"Tommy'll come around, Kat," the gymnast murmured as she held her weeping friend tightly, stroking the pale-gold hair soothingly. She fervently hoped that it wasn't an empty promise, that her lover would come to his senses in time. It didn't bear thinking about if he wouldn't. For Jason's as well as for his own sake. If Tommy reconsidered and was too late ... no. Kim ruthlessly shoved the thought aside. However, while this talk had been necessary between them, they'd been sitting in this parking lot far too long. Kat needed to be back at her husband's side - and she, Kimberly, needed to be there as well, with the rest of their friends, waiting, hoping ... and praying.

As soon as Kat regained her composure, Kim released her. The two former Pink Rangers shared a tremulous smile, then Kim started her car again and silently drove them to the hospital.

~*~

The two women entered the hospital lobby and slowly made their way to a rest room before they went up to Intensive Care. Splashing some cold water in her face, Kat tried to erase at least some traces of her tears, but the red-rimmed eyes and pale cheeks reflecting back at her from the mirror told their own story. Kat shrugged mentally as she dried her hands. Who cared what she looked like? Jason was dying.

"No," she whispered, wanting to deny it, but feared she was only fooling herself. Time to face reality. She'd tried; she'd failed. All she could do now was stay at Jason's side until it ended, one way or another. Sighing desolately, the blonde took the elevator upstairs, to tell their friends. Kim never moved from her side, offering silent support with her conviction that Tommy would come. Eventually.

"There she is," Tanya nudged Trini as she saw Kat approaching. Eyes widened as the group recognized the slight figure, also dressed in pink, following her, but the five friends gathered around them immediately, anxious to hear what she'd accomplished.

"Where's Tommy?" Rocky asked impatiently. "I'd have thought he'd drive you ..."

"He ... he's not coming," Kat answered brokenly, as fresh tears started to fall. "I hurt him too much last year; he doesn't care enough anymore."

"What?!? But ... that's impossible!" her former teammate exclaimed, sharing horrified glances with his friends. "He has to! Jason is his best friend; he can't just let him die!"

"I don't think it really matters to Tommy, Rocky," Kat murmured through her tears, momentarily forgetting Kim's reassurances. "And I don't really blame him; we were the ones at fault, and deserve that he doesn't want to help us."

"'Deserve' has nothing to do with it, Kat" Tanya protested vehemently, her sense of fairness outraged at her former team leader's callousness. "Yes, you screwed up, yes, you hurt him, but that doesn't give Tommy the right to play God! Because that's what he's doing if he doesn't help Jason now!"

"He'll come around," Kimberly spoke from behind the group of ex-Rangers. While she knew their friends would accept her presence without question, right now Kat needed their support far more than she and so she'd stayed back a little. As they parted to look astonishedly at her, the slender young woman smiled tentatively and came closer. She looked earnestly into her successor's eyes. "Kat, I told you you just caught him by surprise. Tommy's not mean, you all know that. I'm sure, once he has time to think, he'll help Jason."

"Unfortunately, time's the one thing Jason doesn't have a lot of," Trini murmured, greeting Kim with a brief hug. "While Kat's been away, his condition has worsened. The fever from his infection is playing havoc with his immune system, and he's gone from being unconscious to comatose ..." her gentle voice trailed off as Kat sobbed once and hid her face in her hands. Nobody knew what to say.

"I didn't realize it was this bad," Kim whispered, going pale. "Oh my God ..."

Katherine swallowed her tears with an effort and made herself look at Kim. How little it mattered that she'd envied the pretty gymnast only a day ago! "And I wasn't here ..." she managed around another sob.

Kimberly didn't think, she just reacted. Here was a friend in pain, and she just couldn't stand by without offering what comfort she could. Hugging Kat for all she was worth, she let her own tears come as she murmured, "Kat, don't. You tried to do what you could to help him; I'm sure if Jase were aware, he'd understand. You couldn't know." Her own grief threatened to overwhelm her. "I'm so sorry ...".

"So am I," Kat replied, accepting the embrace gratefully. Having the comfort and support of her friends was a small piece of warmth in a world that had become bleak and cold ever since Skull had brought her the news of Jason's accident. Both the police officer and Bulk had dropped in briefly this morning, but while their reception had been warm, there really was no place for them among the former Rangers now. Later, they would get proper thanks for their help and concern, but this was not the time to admit outsiders into the once more tightly-knit circle of friends.

The seven gradually recovered their emotional equilibrium while Kim and Kat composed themselves as best they could, when the door to Jason's room opened and Helen Scott stepped out. She cast a last, lingering glance at her unconscious son, then turned towards her daughter-in-law, trying to hide her desperation. "He's peaceful. I ... I guess that's something at least; if Jason were in obvious pain ..." The older Mrs. Scott rubbed at her smarting eyes and smiled bravely. "I'll pick up Robin at Sophia's and wait at home; John'll be by later."

"Thanks," Kat choked out. "I'll ... I'll call if anything ..."

"Yes," Helen interrupted hastily. She really didn't want to give voice to her deepest fears. Instead, she reached out and drew Kat close. The two blonde women held onto each other for a long time, drawing mutual comfort from their love for the injured man fighting to live behind that white-painted door. Finally, Helen let go. "Look after my boy for me, Katherine," she pleaded. "I'll take care of yours."

"I will," the younger woman promised. She watched as Jason's mother briefly spoke to the assembled group of their friends, thanking them for their support. Not a word was said about the absence of three of them for the last year, and when she took her leave, Rocky, Adam and Kim wouldn't meet anyone's eyes for a minute.

"Don't," Kat asked them quietly. "Please ... don't look like that. I'm just too glad you're all here now." At that, the group gathered around their Australian friend once more, giving and receiving comfort from each other. Like it had always been. Katherine gazed at each in turn as she continued. "I truly don't know what I'd do if you weren't here with me right now. I need you all so much ... we both do ..." She drew in a shuddering breath. "I need to go back to Jason. Will ... will you wait here?" The timid question brought affirmative murmurs from all of them. Summoning a grateful smile, Kat then went inside the dimly-lit sick room to keep watch over Jason, while the others settled in the uncomfortable chairs once more, to wait for whatever the night might bring.

~*~

After driving around aimlessly for nearly an hour, thinking, Tommy finally arrived at the only decision he knew he could make. No matter what his personal demons told him, he had to save Jason, betrayal or no. His injured feelings weren't worth a life - especially not someone's who had been as close to him as Jason. Once that thought had become clear in his mind, he sought his way back towards the city. He took his sweet time on the drive to Angel Grove Memorial, though; it wasn't that he didn't feel some urgency to get to the hospital, but he needed a little more time by himself to sort out his emotions which were churning with a confusing mixture of hurt, anxiety and something that he finally identified as ... relief.

*Where did that come from?* he asked himself as he took the long way along the outskirts of town. *Why should I actually be relieved to be helping the very people who hurt me?*

*Because despite everything, they're your friends, and you missed them,* that nagging voice in his mind told him quietly. It had tried again and again over the past year to make him see, but he'd been too stubborn, too caught up in himself to listen. *Your family was right. Every word they said was true. Why won't you admit it? It's past time to forgive and move on. It's not as if you didn't want to ...*

The ex-Ranger signalled and threaded his way into the right exit lane. The park came up on his left, and Tommy drove past, back towards downtown.

*I know they're right. And I do admit it's time ...* he sighed to himself. But with that admission came a small rush of guilt. Because if he conceded that, he also had to concede that he'd played a part in how things had turned out - and that hurt. Not his feelings, exactly, but it definitely affected his self-esteem - the way he looked at himself. Thinking back on how obdurately he'd clung to his - at least initially justified - outrage, Tommy felt ashamed of himself. It was exactly that part of him that Rita had exploited when she'd made him her Evil Green Ranger; he'd always been all too ready to think that everybody was out to get him.

Not the Green, White, or later Red Ranger, but him, Tommy Oliver.

To an extent, it had stemmed in not knowing his true roots after he'd learned he was adopted. When the Oliver family had first moved to Angel Grove, Tommy had just been trying to come to terms with his unknown heritage, but it had been hard. Very hard. He knew his adoptive parents couldn't love him more if they tried, but mostly, he remembered feeling as if he belonged nowhere at all ... once Jason had broken Rita's spell and welcomed him on the team, though, all that had begun to change. His friends' - and most of all Jason's - unhesitating acceptance of him exactly as who and what he was had gone a long way to make him come to terms with his situation, to accept himself ... and be happy about it.

Once Zordon had made him the White Ranger and set him the task of leading the team, Tommy had believed to have overcome most, if not all of his insecurities. His friends' steadfast support and trust in him had helped cement those feelings, and the teenaged boy had reveled in feeling accepted and ... well, loved. Most of all by his girlfriend and his best buddy - his Bro. Jason.

However, losing some of his friends, again most notably Jason, and later Kimberly, to circumstances beyond his control had eroded his self-confidence once more at a very subtle level, Tommy knew now. Oh, it hadn't shown outwardly; being the leader of the Rangers had required that he master himself and his emotions in order to survive - and win, both on a personal level as well as in their fight to save Earth from being conquered by Evil. And he had - through five sets of Powers and an ever-changing team, he'd come through, and once he retired from Rangering at long last had been able to live as himself instead of in service to Mankind. He'd found his brother and at least some of his answers, started to build a career, had success, and a wonderful woman was waiting at his side. Then, that woman had left him. Losing Kat at that point in time, when he'd thought he had his life completely under control at last, had pulled the rug out from under his feet in a way that was far harder to bear in the long run than the emotional pain her desertion had caused.

*I always asked 'Why me?', never just 'Why?'* Tommy realized finally as he cruised over the freeway surrounding his hometown. *I was too concerned about me than about what Kat was feeling when I stood her up. And not just that last time. She was just there, waiting for me ... I took both her and Jason's support for granted ... I very rarely bothered to think how they felt. Or if I hurt them by my neglect. And I did neglect them both ... not intentionally, no, but I did. How often did I hang out with Jason when I was in town? Asked about how he was doing? Not often enough ...*

The first glimmers of that realization had made an appearance that night in New Orleans, when he and Kim had shared their first real kiss as adults - a kiss that very well might have led to more if a phone call hadn't interrupted. Things had just careened out of control, and he'd been content to let himself be swept along ... just as Kat and Jason probably had been that spring night last year. Now that Kimberly was back in his life and he could love again, Tommy slowly was regaining his confidence. It was a long road, and he'd only taken the first hesitant steps, but he knew at the end he'd find healing. At long last, after not wanting to see, he could understand. On the heels of that understanding finally came acceptance ... and the beginnings of forgiveness.

Tommy saw the sign to Angel Grove Memorial and made the turn, skillfully maneuvering his car into a parking space. He shut off the engine and sat for a few minutes, staring at the tall building. The late afternoon sun gilded the top floor windows, almost blinding him in their intensity. Tommy closed his eyes and rested his forehead on his hands which clutched the steering wheel like a lifesaver. Memories of two other times resurfaced when he'd also stood in front of the sliding doors, frightened nearly out of his wits but too stubborn, too proud to acknowledge it - the first time right after Kimberly's fall off the balance beam while she was still on the team, and again later, after Rocky's accident which caused his replacement by Justin. Thankfully, both incidents had ended well.

Today was the third time ... and suddenly an icy hand seemed to fist around Tommy's heart. What if this time, their luck had run out? What if this time, they did lose a friend? His best friend?

"No!"

Tommy was unaware he'd spoken aloud. The denial had been instinctive, and was born of the reawakening need to help the man who had become his best friend all those years ago, and of all the determination and defiance with which he'd always faced his enemies - from Rita to Zedd, Mondo and lastly Divatox. At one point or another, Jason had faced any and all of them at his side, however briefly; fought along with him, supported him, helped him. Not one evil alien entity had been able to defeat them as a team; there was no way he'd let Human incompetence win where far more sinister enemies had failed.

*Not if I have anything to say about it!* With that thought firmly in mind, Tommy climbed out of his car, locked it and strode purposefully towards the hospital's main entrance. There were lots of things still to be sorted out for all of them, but they could wait; Jason could not.

~*~

"Dr. Jones, a Mr. Tom Oliver to see you," a nurse informed the harried physician. She knew the man was exhausted and that he deserved his break, but everybody in Intensive Care knew about the young man slipping dangerously close towards the edge of no return with every hour that passed, and the group of his friends waiting, being there ... supporting his blonde wife who was so desperately hoping for a miracle. If this hawk-faced young man was right about his claim, maybe that miracle was going to happen after all. It was worth a disrupted nap time-cum-coffee break.

Alec Jones sighed as he rose from the couch in his office and slipped his white coat back on. *What now?*

he thought irritably as he ran a hand through his hair. "Yes, Mr. Oliver."

"Doctor."

Tommy briefly shook hands with the older man. There was no comfortable way to ease into this, so he came directly to the point. A growing sense of urgency he couldn't explain colored his voice as he met the tired grey eyes.

"I've come to donate blood for Jason Scott."

The medic sighed again as he gestured his visitor to sit, When the long-haired young man silently refused, he just perched himself on the edge of his desk. He'd been on his feet far too long already.

"Mr. Oliver ... what makes you think you would be a match for my patient when the Red Cross and the National Blood Bank couldn't find one? I assume you are aware of the problems we had in this regard?"

Tommy nodded.

"Yes, or I wouldn't be here. If I'd known sooner ... I was out of town," he said quietly. It wasn't a lie, and there was no need for this stranger to know all the private details. "But, I don't think I'm a match, I know I am. Jason has donated to me in the past. Just ask our friends." He hadn't seen anybody yet, but was pretty certain Zack would be there; maybe another doctor's opinion would carry more weight than just his own word.

"That doesn't mean you're suitable now," Alec replied cautiously. "We don't know when he acquired that weird element in his blood. It may well have been after that transfusion."

"It wasn't, trust me. Besides, you can always test me," Tommy offered with a tiny, mysterious smile that dsappeared almost as soon as it had come. It momentarily puzzled the doctor, but he considered it to be unimportant. He had a patient to think about.

"We'd have to do that anyway; we can't just take your word for something like that."

"Agreed. But, shouldn't we get to it, then?" The urgency was getting stronger, the closer he was to Jason and the longer he had to wait. Now that he was here, Tommy needed to act. Besides, patience had never been his strong suit. Why wasn't this man doing something already? Didn't these tests take time? Time Jason didn't have, if what Kat had said was true?

Alec Jones silently took the measure of the man standing so tensely in his office. The name and face were slightly familiar, but he couldn't accurately place them. Not being much of a sports fan, there was no way Jones could know about Tommy's status as a local celebrity with an ever-growing reputation. *No matter,* he dismissed it as irrelevant. He could always ask later. *If there is a 'later'.* The man was about the age of his patient, lean, fit and well-muscled, and wore casual yet stylish clothes that bore a well-known brand name. Even a tired doctor knew that much, especially since his teenaged kids always badgered him to buy them. With an effort, Jones recalled himself to the here and now.

"May I ask why you are offering to donate blood, Mr. Oliver?"

Tommy didn't have to think before answering. It was automatic, and it was right.

"Jason is my friend. He'd do the same for me."

The doctor regarded his determined would-be donor for a long minute, gauging his sincerity. Finding nothing amiss, he finally decided to be as open as possible without violating patient confidentiality.

"Assuming you are indeed a perfect match -" Alec held up his hand to still the incipient protest, "... and believe me, with something as inexplicable as this, I won't agree to anything unless it's perfect - I'm not at all sure that it would still do any good at this point. That young man lying in IC since yesterday has lost so much blood, the infection from his ruptured artery is spreading faster than we anticipated ... he may need more blood by now than you have to give," he informed Tommy seriously. The former Ranger blanched as the meaning of the quiet statement sank in. "You said you were unaware of your friend's condition until today; unfortunately, because of that, it may already be too late. It's not your fault, Mr. Oliver," Dr. Jones said hastily as he noticed that his visitor was swaying slightly.

Tommy reached blindly for the backrest of the chair in front of him as he reeled as if he'd just received a heavy blow. His hands tightened around the wooden frame until his knuckles stood out in white relief. *This can't be happening! It can't be too late - I won't let it! I've got to save Jason!*

"Does that mean you won't even try?" he asked hoarsely, trying to control his roller-coasting emotions. "You're giving up on Jase, just like that?" Right this moment, Tommy forgot everything but the need to help his friend. "Jason's a fighter; always has been. We're ... we're a team; if I can help him, he'll pull through. I just know he will!"

"I wish I could share your confidence; however ..."

"No!" Tommy interrupted hotly. "You said Jason needs a blood transfusion, and I'm willing to donate; take whatever you need from me, but do something!" He didn't care that his voice had risen and taken on a note of desperation.

"Mr. Oliver, we can't ignore medical facts. It's a sad thing but true that we have kept Jason Scott on saline solution IVs longer than was strictly advisable because I refused to give up. I admire your determination to help your friend, but we can't bleed you dry. Your friends won't thank you if you harm yourself in an attempt to save a life that is in all likelihood already lost, to put it bluntly. You'd do better to support his wife if ..." Alec snapped his mouth abruptly shut as he saw the flash of rage and despair heat up the brown eyes of the man before him. It told him very clearly that this was not acceptable, that he'd better come up with something else - or else. It was more than slightly disconcerting, but perversely it also brought back hope to the physician. A thought began to nibble at the outer edges of his mind. He got up and strode to the window, looking out to the mountains in the distance. They were getting hazy, with early dusk approaching ... fall was indeed coming fast. Alec took a few moments to compose himself as he strove to capture the elusive idea. He just got hold of it as his thoughts were interrupted by Tommy, whose voice had grown noticeably rough.

"Is ... is there really nothing I ... you ... can do? It can't just be too late ..."

Alec Jones weighed his options carefully. There was indeed a slim hope, but ... he turned back towards his visitor, searching his eyes long and hard.

"There might be a way," he offered slowly, testing the other's resolve as the idea clarified in his mind. It was risky, but ...

"What? I'll do anything," Tommy promised fervently.

"I can't guarantee it'll work, but we could go for a direct transfusion. We wouldn't draw blood from you, process it and then hook up an IV as we'd do normally, but establish a direct link, letting your blood flow immediately into Jason's circulatory system," he explained. "It's more dangerous, not least because obviously we can't work under as sterile conditions as otherwise, but if you're willing ... we could stretch the limits of what we can safely take in one setting ... add antibiotics as we go ... and if he should show signs of improving, we could let you rest a day or so, then draw more blood ... once, or maybe twice ..."

"Do it," Tommy decided unhesitatingly.

"You must understand that this will be extremely taxing on yourself, Mr. Oliver," the physician cautioned. "The risk to you is not inconsiderable. You'll experience a major blood loss in a very short time that will be equivalent to a hemorrhaging wound ...plus, if worse comes to worst, the puncture wound in your arm might get infected as well. And it still might be all for naught."

"That doesn't matter. If it's Jason's only chance, I'm willing to take it."

The sincerity in voice and eyes was unmistakeable. Giving in - and not at all unhappily; not even the veteran medic had been unaffected by Jason's plight - Alec put a grateful hand on Tommy's broad shoulder and squeezed once, briefly.

"Very well, then. Let's get you tested."

Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Tommy let himself be ushered out of the doctor's office towards Intensive Care. He hadn't realized before how much this meant to him, but hearing that it might be too late for Jason if something didn't happen now had only served to convince him that what he was doing was right. Dimly, he realized how a weight he'd been carrying for far too long lifted from his heart - only to be replaced by a deep, abiding fear for his friend's life. Praying that he hadn't come too late to do any good, Tommy followed Jason's doctor down the corridor. Just before they passed the swinging doors, Alec Jones halted, turned towards him and regarded him warmly.

"I just want to tell you one thing, Mr. Oliver - whatever the outcome, Jason is one lucky man to have friends like you and the others waiting in here. If good wishes, prayer and devotion to a friend can accomplish anything at all, his wife and the rest of you are giving it in spades."

Knowing that the man was right, Tommy just nodded in acknowledgement, feeling the security of the bond all of the Rangers had always shared settling once more in his soul. Only now he let himself realize that it had been missing from his life for far too long. Sending up a silent plea to whatever Higher Entity might be listening to help Jason, he went after the doctor.

~*~

"There's Tommy!"

Zack's jubilant stage whisper brought the others out of their thoughts, and as one they turned to watch their former leader emerge from a side door into the waiting area of ICU. He was pressing a cotton pad to the crook of his elbow, where a nurse had drawn blood to test him for compatibility. Tommy smiled slightly as Kimberly hugged him carefully, but his expression was serious as he faced the rest of his friends.

"Hey, guys."

"I knew you'd come!" Rocky enthused, but fell silent as Tommy fixed him with hooded eyes.

"Then you knew more than I did," he confessed quietly. "If it hadn't been for Kim and my folks ... I may have eventually decided it was my duty, after all, but I don't know if it would've been in time."

"Aw, Tommy ..." Rocky tried to protest, but a headshake shut him up.

"Don't make me better than I am, Rocko," the one-time Red Zeo Ranger advised. "I was feeling pretty mean for some time when Kat came to see me. I just hope I changed my mind soon enough to do any good."

"We all do," Tanya whispered as she hugged her old friend. "Jason just has to live; it'd be too cruel if ..."

"Yeah," Kim sighed from Tommy's side. "It may have taken a disaster like this, but I can't help but think that now that we're all together again that everything will be fine ..."

"Let's hope you're right," Adam mumbled. The others nodded in agreement as they gathered close, waiting for the lab to confirm the compatibility of Tommy's blood with Jason's.

~*~

Kat sat at Jason's bedside, hunched over in the uncomfortable chair, but her physical discomfort didn't matter. It didn't even register on her conscious mind that her body was cramping up, that muscles and sinews protested at being held still in one position too long. She clung to Jason's hand as she had all night, memorizing his too-pale features which were now flushed unhealthily as the fever raged through his unprotected body. The tiny cuts on the handsome face stood out in stark relief, but Kat didn't even see them. She was completely focussed on the closed eyelids, willing them to flutter and lift so that she could once more look into those dark eyes and see the warmth in there that she'd been so unwilling to acknowledge. *I never knew how much I'd miss that spark you always seem to have, love ... how much I want you to look at me the way you sometimes do ... as if I, and Robin, are the most precious things you'll ever have ...* It was probably true, Kat thought. She and their son were what Jason most valued. She remembered how hopefully Jason had offered to take her out just before she'd destroyed his world by her request for a divorce. The way the midnight eyes had lost their lustre, gone dull within a few heartbeats ... and it had all been her fault ... *How could I have done that to you? Why didn't I see?* The young woman was so absorbed in her misery that a nurse's light touch on her shoulder made her flinch in shock.

"Mrs. Scott? You need to go outside, please," the nurse murmured gently.

"No," Kat protested weakly as the stranger was gently but firmly disengaging her hands from around Jason's limp one. "I ... I can't go; I need to be with him ... d-don't want to leave him .."

"You can wait outside with your friends; we need room to work in, and we can't afford another possible source of infection in here," the nurse replied as she ushered a reluctant Kat to the door. A couple of med technicians bustled in with an extra bed and some strange apparatuses. Kat looked at the commotion with confused eyes.

"Wh-what's going on here? What are you doing? Is ... is something the matter with Jason?" Her heart was starting to beat frantically. Kat was no medical expert; the monitors had all sounded the same to her in the background, but what did she know? Had Jason's condition deteriorated and she hadn't noticed? What if ...

"Please, tell me, I ..." she clutched imploringly at the nurse's forearm, just before the dark-haired woman propelled her out into the corridor: "He .. Jason's not ... not dying, is he?"

"Not if we can help it," the voice of Jason's doctor spoke up. He was personally wheeling a cart with all sorts of instruments and tubing inside. "Mrs. Scott, we may have found a way to save Jason, but only if you let us work in peace. A donor who is a perfect match has been found, and he's standing by. I honestly don't know if it will do any good anymore, but we'll at least give it a try. But we need to work fast - time's running out on us. If you really want to help your husband, you're going to have to leave. Now!"

"I ... okay," Kat whispered, her mind numb with shock and worry. They'd found a donor? Jason could have a transfusion, after all? But Trini and Zack had said only Tommy could safely donate blood to Jason ... Tommy wasn't coming, though ... but Kim had said he would .... had he changed his mind?

*OhGodpleaseGodletitbeTommylethimhavecomeafteralllethimsaveJasonIlovehimsoJasonpleasedon'tleavemeGod ....*

Once outside the room, Kat found herself indeed face to face with her former boyfriend. Hope flared in her sapphire eyes as she looked up into his face and encountered a familiar expression - determination, and a glimmer of the warmth she had missed so during their earlier meeting. Tears welled up and she did nothing to check them as she stared at Tommy, desperately hoping that he meant it, that he hadn't come too late.

"Th-thank you," was all she managed to choke out in a strangled voice, however. She was trembling from head to foot, but she didn't care; Tommy was here, he had never let any of his friends down, now that he had come Jason would be safe, he just had to be, he had to ...

Her ex-boyfriend gazed deeply into the pale face, searching for he knew not what, but feeling nothing of his earlier resentment. Kat so obviously was in pain - more pain than any Human being should feel, and he vowed once more to himself that, no matter what the next twenty-four hours would bring, he wouldn't hurt her anymore. They'd done enough of that to each other already. Tommy didn't try to speak; he had no words right now, but he did manage a small smile and nod at the blonde dancer before he was summoned by the physician.

"We're all set up. Any time you're ready, Mr. Oliver."

"Coming."

Blinded by her tears, Kat watched numbly as Tommy was being led away, inside Jason's room, and her heart went with him, willing success into whatever was going to happen behind that closed door.

~*~

Tommy lay down on the medical cot next to Jason's bed and tried not to watch as a nurse slid an ominously large needle into the vein in his right elbow, taped it down, strapped his arm to the cot and affixed a clear plastic tube to the other end. Needles of any kind weren't exactly things he liked. Dr. Jones was doing the same to Jason's left arm, checked and adjusted the medical machinery one last time, then smiled encouragingly at Tommy.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," he answered.

"Okay. Let's start, then." The physician carefully opened a gauge and turned towards the monitors.

There was a slight, numbing sensation of coldness, and then a minuscule tugging as blood began to spurt into the tube in a dark red flow. Fascinated against his will, Tommy watched as that red trail crept onwards, across the space between his cot and Jason's bed. As the tube was filled all the way, it disappeared inside another needle ... and since that needle stuck in Jason's elbow, into his bloodstream.

Automatically, Tommy's eyes snapped towards his friend's face, looking for a reaction, but naturally there wasn't one. Reason told that it would be a while, if at all, until any kind of effect could be seen. Dr. Jones seemed intent on watching his readouts, adjusting a dial here, tightening a tiny screw there, so gradually Tommy relaxed back onto the firm cot, but continued to look at Jason. His mind instinctively filtered out the traces of grime and dust in the dark hair, the cuts, the fevered flush on too-pale cheeks ... and found that outwardly at least Jason hadn't changed at all. Inwardly, though ... he had betrayed him ... no. Tommy refused to think about that any longer. It had been a lapse, an error in judgement, a mistake. Finally, Tommy believed. Jason was still the man who had befriended him all those years ago, who had reached out to him unhesitatingly and been his support and mainstay through adolescence and into adulthood. He just couldn't have changed at the core of his being - the part that had always spoken to Tommy ... whose spirit had always responded to its mate, right from the start.

The broad chest seemed to move hardly at all, but the heartbeat monitor emitted a steady beep-beep that was making Tommy sleepy the longer he lay in the quiet, darkened room. Nurses and doctor whispered to each other as they moved about, too low to understand, but it didn't matter. Vaguely the young man realized that his ever-growing lassitude was due to the blood loss he was experiencing, but it didn't matter; he was literally giving a part of himself so that his friend could live. And Jason was his friend, Tommy knew that now; betrayal or no, he wanted Jason back in his life. Kat, too; it had hurt to curb his impulse to comfort her this afternoon. They may no longer be in love with each other, but they'd started out as friends once ... why couldn't they be friends again?

Tommy yawned, his body reacting to the drainage, but he didn't mind; in a strange way, it felt as if with every droplet of blood flowing from him into Jason, a bit of the anger, hurt and pain was washed away as well.

*Like water eroding sand from around a rock,* Tommy thought drowsily, finding the image strangely fitting. For their friendship had always been a rock; strong and solid and something for both to lean on through danger, loss both personal and of Powers, and quiet times. They'd find a way to rebuild that, he was sure of it now. It would take some doing on both their parts, but the core of what had always been between them right from the beginning was still there. It had just become obscured somehow by diverging interests, by changing circumstances, by different choices ... by life. And life was what this was all about, wasn't it? Jason's life.

*You gave your blood for me once, when I'd nearly killed you only a few months before. Now I can give it back to you ... and hopefully give you back your life as well.*

"Just hang in there, Bro," Tommy murmured as he felt himself being drawn under into sleep. "I'm here ... I'll help you ... I promise, Bro ..." His blood continued to flow into Jason, but that was as it should be. The chocolate eyes closed wearily, and the leanly-muscled body relaxed as Tommy inexorably succumbed to the darkness.

~*~

Another darkness had long fallen outside when Kat crept quietly back into her husband's room. A couple of nurses had wheeled the cot with a sleeping Tommy to another room a while ago, and Kim had gone to sit with him. The others either dozed in the waiting area, looked in on Tommy or had gone to the cafeteria for some food. Kat had asked permission to be with Jason again, and after some hesitation, Dr. Jones had given it. So it was that Kat found herself alone with her husband in the dimly-lit room.

She pulled up a footstool and settled back at Jason's right side, taking his hand in hers as she'd done almost all the time she'd stayed here. It literally gave her something to hold on, even though the strong fingers lay limply in hers. But while the dry skin was far cooler than she was used to, it was yet comforting to feel the thready pulse at the wrist, or to nuzzle her cheek into Jason's palm. She did so now, kissing the center tenderly as she cupped it against her face, hoping that somehow, it would register on Jason's unconscious mind that she was here, at his side, where she belonged.

Kat gazed longingly at the still face, wishing for the thousandth time that the dark eyes would open and look at her ... give even the tiniest sign of recognition. Nothing happened, and she wearily closed her eyes, holding tightly onto Jason's hand as she let her mind go blank of everything except her feelings for the injured man. She felt strangely divorced from her cramped posture, not caring that her body hurt in various places from sitting still so long. After a while, her emotions would no longer be contained, and almost unconsciously, she began to speak as if to herself, slowly, haltingly, as she quietly confessed her love to Jason ... it didn't matter any more if he could hear or not.

"Why couldn't I see? Why didn't I know? Oh Jase ... you've come to mean so much to me, and I've been so blind ... I've hurt you so often, and you always forgave me. If ... no, when; I can't bear to think otherwise ... you wake up, will you do so once again? Because I'm sorry - so, so sorry - that I said those things to you ... I didn't mean any of it, I know that now. I don't love Tommy anymore; or only as a friend. He's here ... he has come ... he's truly given his blood to save you, you know that, love? Don't let it be in vain ... everybody's here, waiting, praying for you to come back to us ..."

The young woman had to swallow; her throat was raw and dry, but she was beyond tears by now. They still threatened, sitting just under the surface, but this was not the time to shed any more. However disjointed or rambling her confession was, this was a time where only truth could be spoken.

"Do you know that all our friends have come to support us? They'd all have given whatever you needed if they'd been able. Jase, we're back together, everybody except Aisha and Billy; the only one missing to complete the circle is you. Don't leave us, dearest. Not now. You're a fighter; don't give up. Not when we can let the past go at last."

A strangled sob escaped Kat despite herself. She pressed another kiss into Jason's hand before she could go on.

"We need you to do that, Jason. We need you, period. Our friends ... Tommy - I think it'd kill him if you died when he's come to save your life - your parents would miss you so much ... so would Robin. Our baby. You love him so ... don't let your son grow up without knowing you, love ... he needs you. And so do I." Kat smiled mistily; although she didn't know if her husband could even hear her, it felt incredibly good to just say it out loud to him. "I love you. I didn't know until now, when I'm in danger of losing you. I think, now that I can see clearly, that maybe you've come to care a little for me as well. I hope you do; maybe you'll be able to forgive me my stupidity. But ... I also can't help but hope and pray that somehow, you'll pull through. You've always been so strong and stubborn ... oh Jason, please don't give up! We all still have so much living to do ... and we don't ... I don't want to live without you. I'm not even sure I can."

She kissed the cool hand once more, then lay her head wearily onto the edge of the mattress. Closing her burning eyes, disregarding her extremely uncomfortable position, Kat whispered brokenly what was deepest in in her heart.

"Please ... don't leave me, Jason. I'm sorry for everything I did to hurt you ... I love you. I need you. Please come back to me..."

The softly-accented voice drifted off as the young woman gave in to her physical and mental fatigue and slipped into an exhausted sleep that was anything but restful.

~*~

Darkness. There was darkness all around him.

The last thing he remembered was hearing a crunching, crashing sound above his head, and when he'd looked up, startled out of his thoughts about his wife, the bright blue sky had suddenly been obscured by something large, and dark, and heavy, and it had hit him, hurt him, he'd stumbled, then fallen, fallen ... the darkness and heaviness had settled all around him, closing out everything except a sudden stabbing pain in his leg, chest, shoulder, then there had been a blinding explosion of white-hot agony in his head and he knew nothing anymore, his last thought being, "Now I'll never be able to ask Kat not to leave me, to tell her I love her..." before the darkness claimed him.

He'd floated in a sea of agony for a long time, oblivious to everything around him, knowing at some subliminal level that he was losing the Fight, losing everything he held dear, losing his life ... but it didn't really matter. Kat, his Kitten, had said she was going to leave him ... what purpose was there in holding on? It would be so easy to just let go, let Darkness claim him completely and go forth into the Light he knew was waiting just out of his sight. If he concentrated, he could sense it coming closer, closer, and a part of him, the part who knew he'd lost his best friend, his dream, the woman he'd come to love, welcomed it, wanted to reach out and embrace that Light. But another part of him clung stubbornly to the flickering spark of life in his soul, wouldn't give up hope that even these odds could be beaten.

Agony had long given way to an encompassing cold and numbness and he knew he was dying when slowly, gradually, something began to infuse new warmth into his battered body. It was spreading out in a gentle lapping wave that brought the pain back ... but also strengthened that persistent spark, fanned it with the softest of breezes until it caught, changed, grew into a tiny flame that emanated more warmth, slowly defeating the cold. The darkness became less welcoming after a while due to that flickering flame, more hostile, an enemy to be defeated rather than a friend to be embraced.

Every one of his fighter's instincts surfaced, hesitantly at first, but determined not to give in. Body reawakened and rallied, summoning its own defenses on the cellular level as the battle for survival was joined in earnest. Supported and helped by the still-spreading warmth, Spirit withdrew from the edge of oblivion, ready to subdue Darkness which still hovered just within reach, poised to pounce back and reclaim its victim at the slightest sign of weakness. There was something that could help, that would bring victory ... if only he could remember ...

With Spirit once more fighting to survive, memories came trickling back into Mind ... and while Mind struggled to assimilate images of falling, of being buried under heaviness, of hurting, Heart joined the battle, reminding that there was another fight waiting, that it wasn't prepared to just give up on the woman who had become central to its well-being ... Kat ... she was... all creamy-peach and pale gold and sapphire, and in a life that was good but edged with guilt represented everything that was light...

Light.

Of course! Light was the element which would help beat back Darkness, its natural enemy. To experience Light, he would have to see ... but how ... Mind nudged Body, and together the two tried to make closed eyelids lift, but it was too hard, too exhausting, he hurt so much, he was so tired ... Heart and Spirit rushed in, and combined forces. Drawing on every ounce of strength the wave of warmth had given them, the four elements which formed the essence of what was JASON succeeded in persuading muscles and nerves to let in Light.

Unbeknownst to the exhausted woman slumped at the edge of the hospital bed, as yet unnoticed by the monitoring machinery, eyelids started to tremble, fluttered and at last cracked open.

~*~

Kat shivered slightly in the dimly-lit room, caught halfway between sleep and wakefulness, as she was suddenly gripped by a sense of something happening. Chasing the cobwebs from her tired mind, she stayed in her hunched-over position for a second or two, trying to persuade her body to follow her command to move. Her cheek was still resting against Jason's hand, and she relished the contact with the warm skin, the minute, almost imperceptible brush of a fingertip against the baby-fine hair at her temple. Katherine wallowed in the sensation, uttering a soft, pleased "Mmmm" as she nuzzled into the ghostly caress. Only gradually the significance of what her senses were telling her sank in. She caught her breath and froze.

*Impossible! Jason's unconscious! He can't be touching me ... can he?*

Her mind tried to wrap itself around the idea. After having almost given up all hope, it took some effort, but another whisper-touch at her forehead made her heart rate speed up alarmingly. Hardly daring to breathe, almost afraid to move and learn that she'd been imagining things, Kat forced herself to open her eyes. She was loathe to lose that small touch, but she just had to see, had to know, had to make sure that her prayers had been answered. Gulping down an almost paralyzing fear, the young woman slowly lifted her head from the crisp sheet and sought out Jason's too-pale face.

She met a pair of dark, fever-bright eyes, which were only open a tiny slit, but looked at her consciously and with recognition.

"Jason," she breathed, suddenly lightheaded with excitement and wildly surging hope. "Oh my God, Jason ..."

Instinct propelled her up, closer to the dry, cracked lips which tried to form words as the midnight eyes followed her every movement. Tears once more started to flow, but Kat didn't care; Jason was awake, looking at her ... she'd prayed for another chance, and like a miracle, her prayers had been answered! Her own eyes bright, Kat very tenderly touched a darkly-stubbled cheek.

Jason exhaled softly as he felt the caress, but fought to keep his eyes open. Now that he was conscious again, if only barely, he was beginning to hurt in places he hadn't even known he'd had, he couldn't move anything but his eyes and a finger or two of his right hand, he knew, he'd tried, and he was desperate to go back to sleep, to be rid of the pain, but there was something he had to say first, to ask Kat ... he struggled to make his vocal chords cooperate. Finally, he managed to form something vaguely resembling coherent words.

Kat felt more than heard his effort, and while she was fumbling with one hand for the button to summon a nurse or a doctor, she leant over Jason, wanting to but not daring to kiss him ... fearing she wouldn't be able to stop.

"What is it, love?" she whispered as she located the call button at last. Pressing down on it, she then gently brushed a strand of dark hair back, a gesture of caring and tenderness she had very rarely offered Jason during her marriage so far. Silently she vowed to do it more often as she noticed the softening in Jason's eyes.

He summoned what little strength he had.

"Don' ... goooh," he mumbled, barely able to form the words. "Llllovvyuuhh ... dooohn' leavmuuh..."

"Oh God."

Kat couldn't help her sob. Behind her, she heard the door to the room open, but it didn't matter. Despite her former hesitancy, she lowered her face to the immobilized dark head. As Alec Jones hurried into the room to see to his patient, Kat was oblivious to all but the spark once more lighting up the bruised, exhausted dark eyes. Placing her trembling lips in the softest of butterfly kisses against Jason's, she smiled tremulously at her husband as she bound herself to him all over again in a promise far more heartfelt than her wedding vows had been.

"I won't leave you, dearest. I was wrong, and I'm sorry. I promise, we'll talk about this tomorrow," she added as she was insistently shouldered aside by a determined nurse. Kat moved to the foot of the bed, out of the way of the busy hospital personnel. Jason didn't let her out of his sight as he endured a brief but thorough examination, but was relieved to let himself go again as his physician straightened with a relieved look from his gauges and dials. Alec tucked his stethocope back into his coat pocket and smiled at the young couple.

"We'll have to take it to the lab for confirmation, but I'd say the transfusion was a success. His BP is approaching normal, ECG is much better than before, the fever has gone down a couple of degrees ... with all due caution, it looks like we've won."

Tired as he was, not caring about his physical condition right now but only about the fact that Kat had said she wasn't going to leave him, Jason mentally fully endorsed the sentiment as his fatigue overwhelmed him, taking Kat's last whispered words back into the depths of healing sleep with him.

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise, Jason. I love you."

~*~

To be continued ...