Title: Guilt
Fandom: Power Rangers: in Space
Characters: Carlos
Universe: Ranger Academy
Prompt: 085 - She
Word Count: 356
Date finished: 05/25/2006
Rating: G
Summary: Carlos can't quite admit it.... yet.
Author's Notes: Follows Aftermath (97) and Assassination Attempt (36). This will make more sense if you read them first.
Disclaimer: I don't know who owns the Rangers at this point: I'd guess Disney. At any rate, it isn't me. The Ranger Academy is owned by Sparticus.

Carlos sat at the small kitchen table in his private residence, and wondered about what had happened today.

Well, okay, she was on his mind. Sylvie Larson. A girl who had saved his life twice, putting her own on the line. The first time, he'd been a casualty of someone aiming at those he was guarding; this time, he'd been the target.

He couldn't forget how she'd shook when they'd finally gotten those restraints off. Even after she'd calmed, after the tears had cleared her eyes, she'd still been so terrified….

Carlos was glad he didn't drink. Especially because what they considered mild was harder than most of what they had at home. Drinking something hard sounded really good right now, even if it meant he was in no shape to deal with cadets the next day.

Which only made him feel worse.

Sylvie's expression had definitely eased when she'd seen him, and he tried to tell himself it was because she'd succeeded.

He didn't.

He knew what that expression meant, hadn't needed Cassie's stinging comments through the day when they'd returned from the Capital, hadn't needed any of her hints, or anyone else's, for a long time.

The thing was, it terrified him. He didn't deserve that, any more than he deserved the medal, displayed in a shadowbox on the wall. He wished he had someone wiser than he to speak to, consult, anything….

But it all came back to her. Sylvie. And what his own heart had done when she'd gone down so hard after the blaster shot. How his hands had shaken as he tried to find her pulse, anything to let him know she was still alive.

He stood up to pace. This was ridiculous! She was 19, her whole life ahead of her, and a Ranger; she couldn't be… wouldn't want to be….

"Any time."

Her answer to his thanks stopped him in his tracks. How serious had she been? She couldn't be serious. But knowing Sylvie as he did - at least, he thought he did - she didn't say things she didn't mean.

Unfortunately, that only made it worse.

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