A/N: I wrote a story similar to this about three years ago and the idea poppd into my mind again to do another one, so I rewrote it a little bit. Will eventually be Billy/Tommy. As always, read and review, if I get five reviews on the prologue I will post chapter one up.

"Is he awake?"

"I'm afraid not. Mr. Cranston was badly hurt, he could possibly even be paralyzed."

"Paralyzed? Billy? Doc, are you sure?"

"Positive. He is showing no sign of activity below his waist where he was thrown from the car. I will need to do further tests once he awakens, but if I'm right, he may never walk again."

"There's no chance of recovery?"

"I cannot be absolutely positive until I run some more tests, Mr. Scott. In the meantime have you contacted his family?"

"His father is out of town and his mother died when he was young. He has no other family." Jason told the doctor, not able to get her words out of his head. He couldn't imagine what all their lives would be like if Billy came out of this paralyzed – his normally hyper and energetic friend in a wheelchair – he was too young to have this happening to him.

"Mr. Scott?"

Jason was snapped out of his daydream at that moment. "Hmm?"

"I asked if he'd be able to stay with you for awhile, at least until he is capable of doing things for himself again. He is going to need extensive physical therapy for the next several months and I don't think he or his friend will be in any condition to drive for quite awhile."

"Tommy? What happened to Tommy?" Jason asked, frowning suddenly. His worry over Billy had made him completely forget that Tommy had been with him.

"Mr. Oliver suffered a few bruises and a dislocated shoulder, but other than that, he is fine." The doctor assured him.

Jason breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God. "Yes of course he can stay with me, for as long as he needs to. Both of them can." He told her.

"Great." The doctor said, smiling at him. "Mr. Oliver is awake if you'd like to go in and see him."

"Thanks." Jason said, heading in the direction she pointed him in.

"Tommy? Hey buddy, how you doing?" Jason asked when he walked into his friend's room.

"How's Billy?" were the first words out of Tommy's mouth.

Jason could see clearly the crushed look in his best friend's eyes when he asked about his friend. He knew that Tommy blamed himself for the accident and that he'd never forgive himself if anything happened to Billy. "Billy will be fine." He told him, not wanting to tell him that he still hadn't woken up from the coma he was in.

"You're lying to me." Tommy accused, fire in his eyes, as he looked his friend square in the eye. "Tell me the truth, Jason."

Jason sighed. There was no getting around this one. "Billy is in a coma, he has been since you were both brought in last night." He told Tommy softly. "The doctor thinks that when he does wake up, he'll be paralyzed."

"Oh God." Tommy said, not able to look his friend in the eye after hearing the news. "And if he is paralyzed, it'll be my fault."

"No Tommy." Jason told him, lifting his chin up so they were looking into each other's eyes. "It will not be your fault. You are not to blame for what happened."

"But if I hadn't been driving…"

"The same thing could have happened if Billy had been driving." Jason told him. "Tommy, you're not at fault. You could not predict the sudden snowfall; we all know that it never snows in California, that this was just one of those rare occasions. But you need to stop blaming yourself; you did not make yourself lose control of the car."

"No, but if I had been paying attention, then this never would have happened."

"Tommy, accidents happen to even the best of drivers. Even I've had accidents before. But you've got to remember not to blame yourself; it wasn't your fault. If you're going to blame anyone, blame Mother Nature, she was the one who sent the snow."

"But what if he dies, Jason? Then it'll be vehicular homicide."

"It's not going to come to that, Tommy, trust me. Billy isn't going to die, he's strong, and he's going to make it through this. I promise you."

Tommy sighed. "I don't know, Jason. I just feel that if I hadn't been driving then maybe it wouldn't have happened."
"It's normal to feel like that, Tommy." Jason told him. "But like I said, it could have happened to any of us; it could have happened to me, Adam, Rocky or anyone else driving the car."

Just then Tommy groaned. "Adam. He's going to kill me for wrecking his car."

Jason chuckled. "I really don't think Adam is too concerned about his car at the moment, I think he's more concerned about you."

"So what's going to happen now?" Tommy asked.

"Well, we wait to find out what's going on with Billy. I tried calling his dad but he's out of town on business and won't be back for a couple weeks. Since he has no other family here in Angel Grove I offered to let him stay with me. Both of you."

Tommy shook his head. "I can't impose on you like that; Billy needs you more than I do."

"Nonsense, Tommy, you're not imposing. You know you're my best friend and Billy is like a brother to me, I'm glad to help."

Tommy gave Jason his first real smile since this whole ordeal had happened. "Thanks Jase. I really appreciate everything you're doing."

"It's not a problem. Now, you rest and stop blaming yourself. I'm going to check on Billy and see how he's doing."

When Jason entered Billy's room, he immediately opened the door to walk back out. He didn't want to see his friend the way he was, pale looking and hooked up to every machine they had in the hospital.

He took a deep breath and shutting the door, walked over to the bed. Tears immediately came to his eyes upon seeing his friend's appearance. Billy's normally tan complexion was now completely pale and his once blue eyes held no color from behind the closed pupils.

Reaching out, he took his friend's hand and closed it around his own. "Oh God Billy, why did this have to happen to you?" he whispered. "You have to come out of this buddy, you have to be strong."

How had this happened? Billy had taken worse hits before as a Ranger and had survived all of those. But one night of bad weather and now his life was turned upside down forever.

"It's hard seeing him like that, isn't it? He was always the strong one no matter what situation we were in."

Jason turned when he heard Rocky's voice. He hadn't even heard his friend enter the room. "Yes it is." He agreed.

"I just saw Tommy. He's in pretty bad shape, blaming himself for what happened."

Jason sighed. Same old Tommy, it didn't matter what you told him it just went through him like a gust of wind. He hated seeing Tommy beat up on himself and blame himself for what happened to Billy, especially when it wasn't his fault. But from the first minute Tommy had set foot in Angel Grove that's how he'd been, even blaming himself for almost killing Jason and his friends when he'd been under Rita's spell no matter what they'd told him. "Yeah I know. I told him to stop beating up on himself but it apparently did me no good."

"He won't stop blaming himself until he knows for a fact that Billy will be okay."

"I know." Was all Jason said.

"It could have happened to any of us." Rocky told him. "I can understand his guilt, though. I know if I had been in his situation and it was Adam lying in that bed instead of Billy, I'd be blaming myself."

"We all blame ourselves a little bit." Jason told him. "And I do understand why he is blaming himself. I'd be blaming myself if I had been driving the car and anything had happened to any of you. But it's nobody's fault, nobody made him lose control of the car."

"He knows that, Jason. But he needs to see for himself that Billy will be okay."

"I've known Billy forever. He's strong; I know he'll come out of this."

"The doctor told me that when he does wake up there's a chance he may be paralyzed." Rocky said quietly.

Jason nodded. "Yeah I know; that's what I was told too. And that he may never walk again."

The two friends just sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the beeping of the machines keeping their friend alive. Finally Rocky spoke up. "You look exhausted, Jase, how long have you been here?"

"Since Tommy and Billy were brought in last night." Jason replied.

"Go home and get some sleep, Jason, you're doing neither of them any good by looking like this. I promise you if anything changes we'll call you."

Jason was about to protest until a yawn got in his way. "I suppose you're right." He said, standing up. He clapped Rocky on the shoulder and then went home to get some sleep.

A few days later

Jason had been at the hospital every day by Billy's side urging him to wake up. Tommy had been released three days ago and was already settled in at Jason's.

Jason leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He was exhausted, he hadn't gotten much sleep in the last few days and it was starting to show. The others had dropped by a couple times to see Billy and told him to go home, but Jason wouldn't budge. He had promised Tommy he'd be there when Billy woke up.

He opened his eyes when he heard a groan from the bed. Looking over, he saw two blue eyes staring at him blankly. Jason leaped out of his chair and practically ran to the nurses' station.

"Young man, this is a hospital." One of the nurses told him sternly, frowning at him.

"I'm sorry." Jason apologized. "But I need a nurse; I think my friend woke up."

"His nurse will be in to check on him when she gets back from her break." The lady assured Jason.

Jason nodded and as calmly as he could walked back to Billy's room to find his friend looking around the room. "Billy?"

"Where am I?" Billy asked clearly not remembering anything that had happened to him.

"You're in the hospital." Jason told him. "You and Tommy were in a car accident a few days ago."

"What happened?" Billy asked, turning his focus back to Jason.

"You two were going skiing. It started snowing and Tommy lost control of the car and swerved. He hit a guard rail and you were thrown from the car." Jason told him. "Do you remember any of that?"

Billy closed his eyes, frowning as he tried to remember. Then he shook his head. "No." he said. "Where is Tommy?"

"Tommy was released a few days ago. He's back at my house, resting. He's fine except for a few bruises and a dislocated shoulder."

Billy tried to sit up then frowned as he realized he couldn't feel his legs. "Why can't I feel my legs?" he asked a slight panic in his voice.

Oh boy. That was one explanation Jason was not looking forward to giving. "Billy," he said calmly. "When you were thrown from the car you injured your spine. Your doctor thinks that you might be paralyzed from the waist down but before she can confirm anything she needs to run some more tests."

Billy's doctor chose that minute to walk into the room. "I'm glad to see that you're up, that's good news." She told him, taking his vitals. "Your vitals seem to be returning to normal. Has your friend filled you in on what happened?"

Billy nodded numbly. "Is it true that I might be paralyzed?" he asked.

"I'm not sure yet, Mr. Cranston." The doctor told him. "I need to run a couple more tests then I could tell you for a fact." She thought for a second, and then went to the end of the bed. "I want to try something. Can you feel that?" she asked Billy, lifting his legs up.

Billy's face showed no emotion as he shook his head.

"Hmm." The doctor said. "Well, they could be numb from being in the same position for so long, but as I said, I need to do a couple more tests. I'll go get those set up, in the mean time Mr. Scott try to keep him calm."

Jason nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

"This is just great." Billy said from next to him. "I've taken worse hits from Rita and Zedd and one night of bad weather does this to me?"

"I know buddy, I've been thinking the same thing." Jason told him. "We've all taken worse hits before and walked away unscathed. But sometimes things just happen beyond our control."

"How's Tommy doing really?" Billy asked, knowing that Jason had a tendency to pass things off as being worse then what they really were.

"Other than being bruised and having a dislocated shoulder, he's okay physically. He blames himself for what happened to you."

"That's natural." Said Billy. "But what's to say that it wouldn't have happened even if I had been driving the car?"
"I know, that's what Rocky and I told him." Jason told him. "But you know Tommy; he's been that way ever since he joined our team."

The two friends just sat in silence until Billy's doctor came to get Billy and take him down for more tests.