Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me.

Two weeks after their first date, Madison was coming home from another outing with Ben to find her sister in the kitchen. "Xander called while you were out," Vida said, not looking up from her crossword and cake slice. "Said something about wanting his CD or whatever."

"Did he say which CD?" Madison asked, knowing perfectly well that she had nothing of Xander's. They didn't even have the same taste in music.

"No. He just said, 'Tell her to call me back.' Like I'm an answering machine." She raised her eyes. "How was your date with Ben?"

"Fun," said Madison, sitting down. "We went mini-golfing."

"I thought you said it was fun."

Madison rolled her eyes and poked her sister's shoulder. Vida grinned, and licked the excess frosting off her fork. "Mom made cake, by the way."

"I can see that." She made no move to feed herself though, instead taking the newspaper and studying the crossword puzzle. Four down, seven letters, 'Dir. Blank Bay'. She took the pencil as well, scribbling in 'Michael'. "What do you think of Ben?" she asked casually.

"In terms of what?"

"Pick something."

"Well." For once, Vida paused for consideration before speaking. "He's cute, I guess. Not by my standards, he's so not my type, but he's cute for you. And he seems... sweet."

"He is sweet. Sweet's good."

"Sweet's good," Vida agreed. "And he obviously is crazy about you, which is a bonus." Madison nodded seriously. "But Maddie, you don't need my approval."

"What are you talking about?" said Madison. "Of course I do. If Ben's going to be a part of my life, I need you to like him."

"'If'? I thought he already was."

"He is," she said. "He's just not a part of my life life, you know? He hasn't hung out with all of us."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," said Vida. "The Rangering thing, and all."

"I know," said Madison. "But I want him to meet everybody."

"Is he your boyfriend now? Or have you guys not figured that out yet?"

"Not really," she said, not answering either question.

Vida was staring at her hard. "What about Nick?"

At this, even though she knew perfectly well that Vida would see right through her, Madison bent her head to study the stolen crossword puzzle again. Thirty-seven across, fourteen letters, third letter P, seventh letter O, thirteenth letter M, two words, 'second attempt failure'.

"Sis," Vida pressed. "I can read you like a book, don't even bother. I know you like Nick."

"It's complicated," hedged Madison, an understatement if she'd ever issued one.

"As if any of this isn't. Listen, Maddie, you need to do what makes you happy. Does Ben make you happy, or does Nick?"

"You say that as if I can just pick one and be done with it," said Madison. "They both make me happy, Vee. It's just different. At least I know Ben likes me."

"Nick likes you fine."

Madison wondered what Vida's basis for that comment was. She penciled 'sophomore slump' into the crossword, squirming with the notion that maybe her hopes weren't completely unfounded.

"Do you really think so?" she finally asked, shyness thick in her voice.

"Madison, do you hear what you're asking? Listen. You are the nicest person only ever, you're smart, you're creative, you're ridiculously pretty, and I'm not just saying that because we look alike—"

"We don't look anything alike," said Madison with a smile.

"—and you kick major butt. Of course Nick and Ben like you. What sane guy wouldn't?" Vida polished off the last of her snack, smacking her lips decidedly. "And speaking of guys, what's up with you and Xander?"

Madison had, for the past few moments, been lost in thought about Nick, not that she would ever admit to it. But she jerked to attention at the mention of Xander's name. Vida knew her so well, well enough to know about her crush on Nick that she refused to bring voice to; it only made sense that she knew about the Xander issue as well. "What?" she said, trying not to choke on the word.

"Are you guys avoiding each other or something? Him calling earlier was the first time I've seen him in awhile. You don't even work shifts together. You fighting?"

Madison remembered the last time she'd had any sort of interaction with Xander, eight days ago, where they'd argued horribly in Rootcore. They'd taken pains to avoid each other since. Madison regretted the things she'd said, but still believed them to be true, which made apologizing difficult. "It's nothing," she assured her sister. "Just a stupid argument."

"Whatever it is, don't let it get in the way of the team," said Vida.

"Since when are you about the team?" said Madison, latching onto the subject change like a drowning victim with a life preserver.

"Fighting evil is kinda awesome," Vida said simply. She stood to rinse off her plate. "Go call Xander. You guys have been tight for ages, I don't like watching you not get along."

Madison rolled her eyes for Vida's benefit. "Fine." She went up to her room, grabbing the phone in the hallway en route, and had already dialed Xander's number by the time she closed her door. All of this was pure reflex, and it wasn't until she heard the ringing on the other end that she questioned whether or not she wanted to make the call in the first place.

"Hello," Xander answered.

"It's Madison."

"I know. We have caller ID. What's up? Finally deigning to speak to me now?"

Madison took a deep breath to keep from snapping at him. Although her words still had considerable bite when she did reply. "At least I'm speaking to you. Unless you want to keep pushing your luck."

"Fine, sorry."

"Why did you call? I don't have any CDs of yours."

"I wanted to talk to you."

"I can only imagine what about," she said. And though she trusted her sister implicitly, and had no reason to believe that Vida even suspected anything, she didn't want to run the risk. "Can we meet somewhere? I don't want to do this over the phone."

"Fine, we'll go to that coffee shop down by the docks."

"Coffee?"

"Yeah. Your sister won't drink it, and Chip's not allowed to. No one we know is going to be there. I thought that was what you wanted."

Naturally, she couldn't argue with that. "Fine. Half an hour."

As she headed out the door, she passed Vida, still in the kitchen with her crossword. "What's a four-letter citrus?" said her sister.

Madison debated it. "Lime."

Vida cocked her head, staring at the puzzle. "Are you sure that's a citrus?"

"I think so. A lemon's a citrus, right? And lemons and limes are practically the same thing."

"Okay." Vida wrote it down. "Where are you going?"

"Returning Xander's CD," she answered automatically.

"Cool. Are you guys gonna make up?" asked Vida.

Madison blanched. "What? God, no, of course not!"

Vida looked up, a frown staining her face. "Why not? What on earth did he do to make you so angry?"

With horror, Madison realized her faux pas. She had managed to mishear her sister, and thought Vida was asking if the two of them were going to make out. A huge Freudian slip if there ever was one.

Because, despite herself, and despite everything with Ben and even everything with Nick, Madison found herself missing Xander very much.

"He... It... I don't know. Nothing. I don't even remember anymore. I just got so involved in fighting with him, that I sort of forgot what it was about."

"You guys are the last people that should be fighting with each other," said Vida matter-of-factly. "End it."

Madison delivered a salute. "Yes, ma'am."

Vida grinned. "That's 'sir' to you."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"At ease, soldier."

"I'll see you later, Vee." Madison ducked out of the front door, and the second she was free of the kitchen, she was free of her momentary relaxation. Xander wanting to talk to her couldn't be anything good.

On the other hand, when she sat across from him half an hour later, he was smiling. "Hi."

"Hi," she answered.

And to his credit, he cut to the chase. "Look," said Xander, "this is silly. We've been friends forever. We shouldn't be fighting like this." His eyes looked a little sad. "I miss you, Madison."

"I miss you too," she admitted. How could she not? He was her best friend.

"It was unjust of me to issue an ultimatum like that," he continued. "I'm sorry."

"We both said some things we regret," she said. "But we're better than that. We can just move on from this."

"Agreed," he said. "So, friends again?"

"Friends again," said Madison, smiling, and in return, Xander flashed her his very best grin. She knew it was his best because one afternoon when she was thirteen, she'd sat in his room watching him practice ever smile from every angle in his mirror. So much had changed in the years since, and at the same time, so little.

Finally, Xander asked, "How's Ben?"

"Ben's fine," she said carefully.

"Is he your boyfriend now?" Madison was beginning to get a little sick of the question, but she found herself, oddly, being more honest with Xander than with her sister.

"I'm not really sure. We've never really talked about it. I guess it's too soon for that." She frowned. "Or is it too late? I don't know; I've never really done this before." Too late, she realized she'd given Xander an opening. Whatever the reason, he decided not to take it.

"Are you happy, at least?"

She eyed him. "Yes."

"Okay."

Madison waited for the other shoe to drop, but received nothing. Relieved, and now anxious for other reasons, she opted to reveal said anxiety. "I'm scared about us getting serious, though," she said. "I mean, we battle a lot. The Rangers we, I mean," she amended, "not Ben and me. The Rangers battle a lot, and I have to run off without explanation. I don't know how much more of that he'll be able to take before he decides it's not worth it and drops me."

Xander put his hand over hers. "Madison," he said gravely, "you're worth it. Trust me on that one."

It took every once of control that Madison had to refrain from allowing the blush that threatened. "And," she plowed on, trying not to show how affected she was by his comment, "if we do get serious, it's going to be harder and harder for me to hide the truth. I mean, it's not that I don't trust him with the secret. I do. It's more of, he'll never understand. He'll be supportive, but he'll never get it."

Earlier, she had been proud of Xander's restraint. He threw that out the window, however, uttering, "You think too much," before lunging across the table to press his lips to hers.

Madison kissed him back without thinking, and when her brain finally chose to catch up with the rest of her body, it was too late. "Xander," she said, flustered, torn between wanting to reprimand him and wanting to kiss him again. "We can't. Not anymore."

"Right. Ben. Sorry." He handled it remarkably well, settling back into his chair and folding his hands on the table with utter serenity. "A few things. One, if you do decide to tell Ben, you had better okay it with the rest of the team first. I know you trust him, and believe me, your faith goes a long way, but all the same, it's a big decision to make on your own."

"I know," she said.

"Two —and Maddie, this is important— make sure this is what you really want."

This statement unnerved Madison. Of course it was what she wanted; she wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't. An actual, stable, healthy relationship. What else could she want?

What she found she really wanted, though, was for Xander to stop looking at her like he knew her.

Xander had been having an excellent week, what with getting Madison to talk to him again. Or had he not been talking to her? It was hard to keep straight. Regardless, it had been a long couple of weeks, especially knowing that Madison was passing the time with that Ben kid. And if she was passing the time with someone else, it meant that she was not spending every second thinking about him. That was bad.

But she had kissed him back, and that was considerable progress.

Progress, however, was something that came in extremely limiting spurts. As Xander and three of his coworkers went in for their shift at the Rockporium, Vida came up behind him and punched his shoulder. "I can't believe you thought I stole from Toby."

He struggled to put forward one of his most disarming smiles. "Hey, be fair, I lumped the same amount of accusation on all of you."

Vida rolled her eyes, acknowledgement that the joke had been in poor taste. "Xander, we've been friends for years, but you pull something like that, and it's like I don't know you at all." She did in fact look righteously indignant, and with just cause.

"I'm sorry," he huffed. "I was scared, is all. It was my neck and my job on the line."

"I can understand that," she said, "but that doesn't give you the right to take it out on the rest of us." She pouted. "Me especially. Next time you pull something like that, I will end you."

Xander apologized profusely, but as Vida left him, she also left him with an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. He hunted down Madison, counting out the money in the register. "We need to talk," he said.

"Why is it that every time you start a conversation with that, I get nervous?"

"I didn't mean to accuse you," he said. "You know that, right?"

"Accuse me of what?"

"Of stealing the money from the store. I didn't think you'd done it. I would never think that."

"I know," she said.

"Are you mad?" he asked anxiously.

"No, I get it. But I don't know if Vida will be so understanding," she said with a rueful smile.

"She already chewed me out," Xander agreed. "But I can handle Vida."

Madison laughed. "Are you sure?"

"It's you I can't handle," he teased.

She was starting to smile, but it slipped from her face as she focused on something just behind him. Xander turned to look; Nick was walking past them with his head bent low to focus on the clipboard in hand. He had forgiven them for their false (but not unfounded) accusation, but he had yet to forget, from the look of things. And when Xander looked back at Madison, she was clearly troubled.

Xander regretted the whole matter now, because he did like Nick, and had decided it wouldn't hurt to trust him as a leader, if not as a friend. But he'd be lying if he said that he didn't feel a spark of hope and victory when Madison agreed with him about Nick's untrustworthiness. Guilt came with that hope, too; guilt that winning Madison would be at the expense of Nick.

Even if Xander had been there first.

Of course, you couldn't tell that from the way that Madison was staring after Nick. Xander still wasn't convinced that Nick could entirely be trusted. The Red Ranger had an element of mystery, and Xander didn't like it, though Madison obviously did. Xander was debating if he should say anything, either reassure Madison, or apologize again to Nick, but was saved from the decision by a tap on his shoulder.

He tensed slightly, the side effect of being a Ranger now. But it was only a girl, smiling at him with a flirtiness that no one had graced him with in awhile, but that he still recognized. After a moment's pause, he realized it was the girl from earlier, whose number he tried to get, the act that had started off the whole debacle in the first place. He smiled at her. "Hello there. Do you need help with anything?"

"Not exactly," she said. "My name is Courtney, and I just wanted to apologize for running out on you yesterday."

Xander turned up the wattage a notch. "Ah, well, no harm done."

"See, I wasn't entirely honest with you... I don't actually have a boyfriend."

"Oh, really?"

Next to him, Madison rolled her eyes and returned her attentions to the register.

"Yeah. The thing is, we broke up a few weeks ago, and I'm just so used to telling people that I'm taken..." She shrugged with an embarrassed smile. "Anyway, I wanted to apologize, and give you this." She pressed something into his hand, and he took it, a square of paper that when he unfolded it, held seven digits. Xander grinned. "So," continued Courtney, "now you know how to reach me. If you're still interested, that is."

"I think something can be arranged," said Xander, pocketing the paper.

"All right, cool," said Courtney. She had a very cute smile. "I guess I'll...see you later, then."

"I should hope so," he said. He watched her walk away, still grinning, but when he turned back to the counter, Madison was not smiling at all.