"What, does she have spies in Angel Grove?" Maggie demanded, glaring over the coffee table at Aisha.
"I don't know, Maggie." Aisha tried to calm her friend down. "I haven't talked to her, and I don't think Rocky did. I KNOW Reva didn't. Kat, maybe? Tommy? Justin? There are just so many people within the circle who could have told her he took you out. And then there are those outside of it. For all we know, Bulk told Skull and he told her." She paused. "Are you sure that's why she came back?"
Maggie sighed, wincing in frustration at the twinge in her side. "No. It's just so frustrating," she growled. "There's nothing I can really do, short of using her tactics, and I don't want that kind of pressure on him. He doesn't need it. But it's just too much of a coincidence."
"Have you called him?"
"No... What am I going to say? 'Hi Adam, have you decided?' Again, pressure he doesn't need."
"Have you been on a walk lately?"
"No. I haven't been able to...." She paused. "No. I wonder...."
"There. Now you have a reason to call him." She grinned wryly at Maggie. "Besides, if you ignore him, he'll think you've decided he wasn't worth the wait. Let him know you're still interested. For all that he's a little more outgoing, he hasn't changed all that much from the incredibly shy guy I got to know in grade school."
"I feel like I'm in high school again!" Maggie said, but was beginning to feel better. Her arm was free of the cast, her foot in a walking cast. This could work.
Aisha grinned mischievously. "I'll dial, you speak."
Maggie smiled. "All right. Wait. Does he have caller ID?"
Aisha paused, thinking. "I don't know, but you're right, it will look funny if he does and you call from here."
They said their good byes a while later, and Billy drove her home. He didn't say anything to her, and she was glad; she didn't think she could take an interrogation right then. She was nervous enough, thank you. Once inside, she stared at the phone for a while before picking it up and dialing Adam's number. It made her feel like she was in high school again. At least, this time it didn't take her as long to call as it had back then.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Adam." However, the butterflies in her stomach had tripled.
"Maggie! How are you?" He sounded happy to hear from her.
"I got a walking cast on my foot. You busy for the next hour or so?"
There was a pause, and Maggie nearly held her breath. "No, not really, why?"
"Because I thought... I'd like to go for a walk in the park again. With you. Now that I can. Walk, I mean. Without crutches." She could feel herself blushing and was really glad he wasn't there to see it.
He laughed, and she stifled her sigh of relief. "I'd love to. Shall I pick you up?"
"No, I'll meet you there in about..." She stopped, trying to calculate. "About twenty minutes?"
"I'll see you then."
"Great. Thanks, Adam."
"Of course," he said, and they rang off. Maggie grabbed her jacket and her keys, scribbled a note to Tabitha she hoped her friend would be able to read, and started for the park.
He got there before she did; she could see him waiting, dressed casually in black and white, a pleasant reminder of the first times she'd seen him. And he still looked fantastic. What would she do without him? "Good evening," she said as soon as she was in range. He turned to face her and smiled.
"Hello. You look nice." She glanced down, having forgotten what she was wearing, then smiled.
"Oh. Thank you. You look very... frog-like." She tried so hard to keep her smile hidden, but at his confused look, she burst into giggles, all of which hurt. He waited until she had control of herself again. "Kat said something about it once," she told him, a little breathless.
"Frog-like?" He wasn't angry, which was good.
"Yes. You were wearing an outfit almost exactly like that one when I first saw you, walking down the hall with Rocky and Aisha to where Kat and Tommy were waiting, on my first day at Angel Grove high."
"You remember that?" he asked, offering his arm. She took it, and they began to follow the path in front of them.
"Oh, yeah, I do. I remember watching you later that afternoon, walking off to Ernie's because I told you I was going to wait for Kat and Tommy. I stood there and mumbled 'I can't get involved, I just can't', because I knew I'd be leaving soon. We always moved pretty quickly."
"But you didn't move."
"I told my Dad I didn't want to. And I told him there was a guy here I wanted to date." She wondered briefly if her cheeks were turning red. "He was so excited, I'm half convinced that's why he didn't try to move. The other part is that he would have had to go without me, and I think he knew it."
"Someone you wanted to date?" Adam asked softly.
"Well, yeah. This really hot guy... half Korean...." She knew her cheeks were flaming by now, and she looked down, letting her hair cover her face.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"You were so shy, it was painful. I didn't want to scare you. And then you went loopy for Tanya..."
"Loopy?" he asked, and the tone in his voice made her look at him. He was stunned.
"Loopy. Um.... To translate into Angel Grove-ese, you were crazy about her."
"I was not!"
"Adam." Maggie could barely hold back her laughter, but she managed somehow. "A lot of our tutoring sessions were ended because you couldn't keep your mind off her - those that didn't end with your ‘watch' going off. I was glad you were trying to stop being shy, it was neat to watch. You were so crazy about her."
He suddenly laughed. "I was that obvious?"
She smiled. "Incredibly. I don't think anyone was surprised when you two started dating, least of all me." She shook her head. "Your relationship with her was good, in that respect. I mean, you were beginning to be unshy already, because it's hard, I suspect, to do what you did and be shy, but she...." Maggie ground her teeth to keep from adding 'she ripped your heart to pieces countless times, and I wasn't there to help you'. "She seemed to make you bloom."
"Until we chose our heirs," he said softly. Maggie slowly shook her head.
"It was before that," she said softly. "Like, before I left, in fact. I must be one heck of a threat to her." That's all I can figure out. And if I knew how she'd known about our dates.... She stopped abruptly, suddenly so jealous she didn't know what to do.
"Maggie?" His voice was gentle, as was his touch on her arm. "Maggie, you're shaking."
"I'm furious," she ground out. I can't tell you what I'm really feeling, she thought. "This is not what I imagined this walk would be like. I'm sorry. I didn't want to focus on Tanya, I'm trying to forget her." She tried to find her center, but the anger didn't just go away. They walked on in silence. Finally, she shook her head. "I'm really sorry about that." She still wasn't calm, and the jealously she was feeling made her feel positively filthy. After a minute, she sighed. "This is not working. I just...."
Her voice trailed off as he stopped her, turning her to face him. "Maggie. Why does she bother you so much?"
She looked at him and was surprised to find herself nearly in tears. "I... She... What she did to you," she finally got out. "I mean, the whole thing just as I was leaving Chicago, and I couldn't be there. Reva said it was really bad for you, that she...." Maggie shook her head. "How did she know you took me out?"
"What?"
"Her timing is just... too good, Adam." She looked down. "I'm rather useless to talk to right now, I think. I can't... I can't be fair to her, or to you, really. I'd better just go home." She started to walk away, only to have his arm encircle her waist and hold her there.
"Hang on a minute," he said softly. She found herself held rather tightly against him. She slipped her arms around his waist and lay her head on his shoulder. To her surprise, calm radiated from him, and helped ease the jealousy she felt. And the familiar, subtle shock of his power made her feel a lot better. Slowly, she relaxed, the tension draining out of her. "You've been strung taut for a while, now," he said. "I decided this was a good way to make you relax."
"Okay," she said softly, enjoying the sound of his voice. "I'm not going to argue with you."
"I'm going up to Rocky's cabin this weekend," he told her. "By myself. I have to think, I have to get away from both of you." He chuckled. "Rocky's making himself go bald faster than before. You were a passive distraction, Tanya..." he paused. "Well. Hey, relax," he said as her muscles tightened up again. "I promise not to bring her up again."
Maggie didn't think she could get out of his grip if she wanted - which she didn't. "Hm.... Okay." They stood there for a while until an urgent meowing caught Maggie's attention. She looked down to see Tabby, and gently extracted herself from Adam. "What's the matter?" she asked, going down on one knee to pick the cat up. As soon as she stood up again, Adam slipped an arm around her waist. What was up with this? Not that she minded, of course.
Tabby kept looking in one direction, off to Maggie's left, and she turned to follow the cat's gaze. "She gave you the heebie jeebies?" she asked, keeping her voice down. Tabby meowed, and Maggie leaned wearily against Adam. "That's Tanya." She decided then she was going to have to have a good, hard cry, no matter how it hurt. She just couldn't keep this up. The cat jumped from her arms and stalked towards the dark-skinned woman, tail lashing back and forth.
"She really doesn't like her, does she."
For some reason, Adam's voice startled her and she jumped. "No. She saw her the other day, and it really spooked her. Tabitha didn't know who she was at the time, and she said it really bothered her. She has a sense about things like that. I don't think it was Tanya so much as it was how she was going to affect her." And me, she added silently.
"And by extension, you."
Maggie sighed. "Do you read her mind, too?"
He looked at her in confusion. "Why?"
"Because I swear you can read mine. Ever since you showed me that clearing, with Rocky and Aisha. It was eerie. I just wondered if you do that with everyone, or if I'm some sort of special case."
He grimaced. "You make it sound so... clinical."
She smiled and glanced around to find Tabby. "Hm. The cat has vanished." Tanya, however, hadn't, and she was headed in their direction. Maggie gave Adam a gentle squeeze, then stepped out of his arms, towards her. "Tanya! Hi!" she said.
Tanya smiled, perhaps a bit forced, and hugged her. "Hi. How are you?" She, too, still held power, but not as strongly as Adam, and no where near as strong as Aisha. Maggie forced herself away from the questions in her mind to focus on the one Tanya had asked her. She was going to have to ask someone about this.
"Doing great. Well, recovering." She indicated her foot. "I hear your career is going well."
"Yes!" Some measure of emotion finally entered her voice. "It's been a fascinating experience, and the album should be out soon."
"Well, if the rest of the songs are as good as "Stick Together", it'll be a hit."
Tanya looked at her in surprise. "Thank you." She turned to Adam. "Do you have plans for this evening?" she asked.
He glanced at Maggie, then shrugged. "Actually, I have some stuff I need to get done. I'd planned on spending the rest of the evening alone."
"I'd better get back," Maggie said, acutely aware of how uncomfortable he was, and feeling rather out of place herself. "I left a note for Tabitha, and I don't know if she could even read it." She smiled. "It takes longer than twenty minutes to get here with this." She gestured at her cast. "It was good to see you again, Tanya. Good luck on your album." Amazingly enough, it was an honest wish. She touched Adam's arm. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" He nodded, and she walked away, pausing only once to lift the cat that had followed her. She looked back at the same time to see them talking earnestly, but she was too far away to tell what kind of conversation they were having. She had to set the cat down a couple of minutes later; too much pressure on her ribs. She hated it.
"That's Tanya," Tabitha said next to her a few minutes later. "She's pretty." Her tone was non-committal.
"Yes. Very. Strong willed, too." Maggie smiled. Which was good, she supposed, as far as being a Power Ranger went.
"I still don't like her."
Maggie grinned. "You haven't even talked to her."
Tabitha smiled slightly. "I don't have to."