Starting Line || Carter Grayson

(13) Dates

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When I woke up the next morning, Nova was not at my bedside. Instead Ryan had replaced her in her seat. I looked over at him, seeing he was flipping a pencil between his fingers and then picking it back up when he dropped it. I felt sore, but much better than I did last night. Faint memories of why I was exhausted floated through my mind as reminders I had been captured and impersonated by demons.

I shivered at the thought before sitting up. The jacket laid over top of me slid down into my lap as I sat up. Carter's jacket? Where did that come from?I slowly stretched, truly feeling how sore I was. Is this how the rangers felt after each of their battles? I felt like I had been run over by a truck. I looked at my own monitor, checking the levels on the screen. Everything looked fine, so I was sure that if I could pass a basic physical check, then my team would discharge me. I was not going to be laid up here all day like a helpless little girl.

"You might want to take it easy," Ryan noticed that I was awake, "You're probably going to be sore for a few days."

"Where's Nova?" I asked.

"Father wanted to see her." he shrugged.

"And Carter?" I wondered.

"With Dana, I think. I overheard those two talking this morning. Something about a workout, I don't know." he shrugged again.

"Oh..." I muttered.

"Nova and Carter worked really well last night." Ryan said.

"Did they?" I asked.

"Yeah, they were the two who figured out the imposter was not actually you." My brother said,

"Nova should have known when I didn't whistle back." I said, "I was in that necklace of his... I could see everything going on."

"The important thing is, you're okay now. Olympius was sneaky, using you of all people to infiltrate the Aquabase. But, he wasn't smart because we figured it out." Ryan said.

"I'm a little offended that you of all people didn't realize it wasn't me." I rolled onto my side and watched him continue to fumble with the pencil.

"Well, I thought something was wrong, but I didn't really see much of you - or Olympius. I was working with father to find the other rangers." he said.

"Find the other rangers?" I raised a brow.

"Olympius had captured them too." he informed me.

"Oh, are they okay?" I asked, "They weren't in the necklace with me."

"Yeah, they're all okay. I think Dana and father were going to come check on you too." he said.

"I want to be discharged from here," I said, "I feel fine."

"I know, but at least let Dana confirm that." he sighed.

"I can confirm it myself." I muttered.

I had enough medical knowledge to know that I was just fine. I had no major injuries and my tests were reading normal.

"Skye, you're still as hard headed as always. I will go tell Dana to come discharge you if she deems that you are well enough." he patted my hand, "You should just focus on resting today."

"I don't particularly want to see Dana..." I muttered.

I was glad my twin didn't catch my mutter. I didn't really feel like explaining to him that hearing her name and Carter's in the same sentence bothered me - let alone the fact that he told me they were together this morning bothered me even more. I don't think anyone picked up that I had a crush on Carter, except maybe Nova. I couldn't hide anything from that girl.