Disclaimer: Saban owns PR.

Not really any spoilers, but based off a flashback scene in "Forest For The Trees". Set whenever that flashback occurred (before episode 1, probably).

Silver clashes with silver.

Blue eyes meet hazel through red and yellow masks.

An explosion of color, and then –

Boom!

Emily coughs as she lands on her side in the grass of the training area, yellow light sparking over her body as the power of her Ranger form fades and she's left demorphed, in civilian clothing, on the ground in front of her red-clad opponent.

There's a sigh somewhere in the vincity above her, a murmured "Power down!", and then Jayden kneels down next to her, concern written on his face.

"Emily, are you okay?" he asks her, reaching for her hands to help her up. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

She offers him a smile, but from the look on his face, he can clearly discern that she's not as cheerful as she usually is. "Not more than you always do," she quips. "Calm down. I'm all right, promise."

"Are you sure you don't need an ice pack or something?" Mia asks worriedly from the sidelines, twisting her sword in her hands as she stands in between Kevin and Mike, all three watching Jayden help Emily to her feet.

"I'm positive," she assures them, brushing herself off and wishing she at least had her training clothes on so her new sundress wouldn't have gotten dirty. "I think I'll take a break, if that's all right with you. And, um, Jayden, you can let go."

Jayden glances down, noticing that he's still holding her hands, and clears his throat before letting them go. "Uh, right. Sorry. Yeah, go ahead, take a break. I think you deserve it. And good job. That was at least a B."

Emily rakes a hand through her curls, combing bits of grass and dirt out of the blond locks, and sighs. Everyone else had gotten As on Jayden's latest test. "Thanks. I'll be inside."

There's a moment of silence as she walks past the other rangers and Mentor to head into the kitchen, before Jayden coughs and averts the team's attention back to him.

"So," he begins, holding up his sword, "who's up for another round of training?"

"Who wants to talk to her?"

"I like how you clearly don't, Kev."

"Shut up. I'm not good at dealing with emotions…or girls…or emotional girls…"

"What's so hard about dealing with girls, huh?"

"Um."

"As interesting as this conversation is, we still need to decide who talks to Emily. There's no way we're just going to let her sit there the entire day and think we don't care about her."

"I'll go. I'm her best friend and, obviously, I can deal with girls better than Mr. I-Don't-Deal-With-Emotional-Girls over there."

"I'm sorry. That came out wrong. And, hey, what about Mike? He cheered her up last time she was upset, didn't he?"

"He is standing right here. And, for the record, he doesn't do too well with emotional girls either; sorry, Mia."

"You two are impossible. I don't suppose you're going to be sweet and selfless and go talk to her, Jayden?"

"Wait, we can be sweet and selfless!"

"Uh-huh."

"We can! Right, Mike?"

"Guys?"

"Then go talk to Emily, why don't you?"

"Guys?"

"Well, I would, but what could I do? I'm not all the close to her!"

"Guys!"

"You're still one of her best friends!"

"Guys, shut up!"

"…"

"What's the matter, Mike?"

"The matter is that Jayden's already left to go talk to her. Guess he likes being sweet and selfless."

"Oh."

"Well, then."

"Who wants pizza?"

Pink-gold light is already flooding the sky by the time he approaches her, and Emily takes a moment to appreciate the beauty of the sunset before setting her flute on her lap and looking up to flash a smile at Jayden, who's standing by her usual bench with a half-grin on his face and his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, Em," he greets lightly. "Having fun?"

"Mm-hm," Emily nods, twirling her flute around. "What are you doing out here? You're usually in our indoors training room by the time the sun starts to set."

Jayden chuckles. "I wanted to, um, hear you play your flute. You're amazing at it, you know."

A light blush warms her cheeks. "Thank you. Now, what's the real reason?"

He raises an eyebrow. "What, you think I'm lying to you?" he demands, clearly aiming for 'offended' and ending up as 'amused'.

Emily giggles. "No. I think you're not telling the whole truth. There's a difference, and you know it. So, why are you really here?"

"Mia's been rubbing off on you," he notes, grinning. "You're becoming more perceptive by the day."

"Isn't that a good thing?" she smiles at him.

"Guess so. Unless you're on the wrong end of it," he points out, laughing. "Can I – can I sit down?"

"Oh, yes, of course," she says quickly, scooting over to give him some room on the bench so he could sit down beside her. "Are you going to tell me why you're here now that you're all nice and situated?" she asks as Jayden takes a deep breath, and she's suddenly acutely aware of how close his body is to hers, close enough that there's electricity racing up her arm every time he even brushes against her.

"I wanted to talk to you," he answers slowly, his blue gaze fixed on the setting sun. "About…about your test today."

"Oh." Emily glances down at her flute, restarting her twirling with a vengeance. "What about it?"

"You seemed…upset," Jayden says, clearly picking his words carefully, "when you went inside. I just – I was worried. We're all worried, Em. Is there something wrong? Did I – did I do something to hurt you, or what? You can tell me."

She shakes her head. "No, no, it's nothing like that. I promise, you didn't do anything," she adds upon seeing his incredulous look. "Seriously, Jayden. There's no problem. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Jayden still looks concerned. "I mean, we're here for you if you need us. I – we want you to be happy, Em. And I'm your leader; it's my job to figure out what's bothering you and fix it. You can't be your best when you're unhappy."

"You're blowing this out of proportion," she tells him quickly, looking away from his bright blue gaze. "I promise, Jayden. I'm fine."

A heartbeat of silence passes. "Emily," Jayden sighs, "I can't help you if you don't tell me."

"It's nothing," she insists, getting up. He glances at her, startled. "We should go inside," she continues. "It's getting dark."

"Fine." Jayden stands, too, and he's towering above her, as usual, but there's a contemplative look in his eyes as he observes her. "Listen, you did great today. Mentor gave you a B-plus. And personally, I think you could have easily gotten an A-minus."

Emily bites her lip. Everyone else got solid As or higher, reminds that nasty little voice inside her head again. I bet Serena would have gotten an A-plus. "Thank you," she says instead of screaming "shut up" at the voice.

Jayden flashes her a grin, clearly meant to comfort her. "Believe me, Em, you're improving by leaps and bounds. Soon, you might be able to beat one of us."

His words twist inside her mind even as he walks past her and back into the house, whirling around and poisoning her with messages he hadn't meant to say. She sighs, lifts her flute to her mouth, but then she changes her mind and drops it again, following her leader inside with a heavy heart.

Maybe you should go train with the dummies, Emily. I kinda need to train with the boys.

Stay back, Emily. Let us handle this one.

Don't hurt yourself, Emily. That's a tricky move.

You're not Serena, Emily. You never will be.

"A horse?" Mike demands incredulously. "Why do we need a horse? We're modern-day samurais, not Middle Age knights!"

"I think you all need to learn how to ride horses in case Xandred calls up someone similar to that last nighlock, Mike," says Mentor calmly, raising his eyebrows at the team. "He nearly beat you because he was on a horse and could easily strike you down. Perhaps next time you fight a nighlock on a horse, you'll be able to call horses from the ranch to assist you."

"Besides, it'll take our minds off the battle," Jayden adds when the team remains silent.

"Works for me," Emily beams. "I love horses. When do we start?"

"Does everyone have at least a basic idea of how to ride?" Jayden asks, glancing pointedly at Mike, who rolls his eyes.

"I took lessons," he grumbles. "When I was nine."

"That works." Jayden tosses Mike a green helmet from the stand in the nearest corner of the stable, followed by blue and pink ones for Kevin and Mia. "You two know how to, right?"

"Isn't it required for being a samurai?" Kevin questions, strapping on his helmet. "My dad made sure to teach me."

"I learned how to when I was a kid, too," Mia nods, adjusting the buckle on her own helmet. "I don't think I could ever forget how to ride a horse."

"And Emily?" Jayden smiles warmly at her as he tosses her the yellow helmet before grabbing his own red one.

Emily smiles brightly. "Are you kidding? What kind of a country girl do you take me for?"

"All right, then," Jayden grins. "Let's get started. Everyone, pick a horse!"

Mike, Kevin, and Mia quickly gravitate to some of the smaller, weaker horses, but Emily's attention is stolen by a beautiful palomino horse with a tea-colored coat and the prettiest brown eyes she'd ever seen. She stretches out a hand to touch it, awestruck at the magnificence of the creature.

"Uh, Em?" Jayden interrupts, suddenly standing right in front of her. She blinks and refocuses on him. "That's my horse. I used Symbol Power to call her yesterday, remember?"

Emily smiles slightly. "Oh, yeah, I remember that. What's her name?"

"She doesn't have one," he shrugs.

She frowns at him. "Every horse should have a name. If you're going to be riding her, you need to know how she is. If she doesn't consider you a friend, how are you going to do a good job riding her?"

Jayden looks briefly unsettled before chuckling. "Thanks, Em, but I think I can handle it. I've ridden horses before, you know."

Emily steps back. "Yeah, all right. I'll just – I'll go find my horse."

She knows he's watching her as she walks away to the other end of the stable, but she can't bring herself to look back at him, not when she's wondering when he's going to treat her like an equal, the way he treats Kevin and Mia and even Mike.

Maybe he's just not that into you.

And now that pesky voice inside her head is quoting chick flicks at her. Great.

As the day progresses and the Rangers become used to riding horses, several things become clear to Emily.

One is that Mia and Kevin are definitely flirting.

Two is that so are their horses.

Three is that Mike is surprisingly skilled at riding horses, considering he hasn't done so for years.

Four is that Jayden…

Well, Jayden kind of sucks at horse-riding.

"Are you all right?" she asks, half-concerned, half-amused, as he falls face-first on the dirt for the fifth time in that hour alone as his yet-unnamed horse gallops happily around Kevin and Mia. Quickly dismounting, she rushes to where he is because the other three are too far away to do much.

Jayden coughs up dirt before looking at her, frustration evident on his face. "I don't get why this is so hard," he mutters. "You're all doing perfectly fine with it!"

"Well, we learned how to ride horses when we were kids, and it's not exactly something you can forget," she reminds him, helping him to a sitting position.

"So did I," he sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I just – I don't know what's wrong. By all rights, I should be just as good as you are, at least. I mean, it's my own Symbol Power horse, I learned how to ride when I was little, and – Emily?"

She hasn't heard anything since I should be just as good as you are, at least, though. "Yeah?"

"You all right? You kinda spaced out there for a moment," Jayden informs her, offering her a smile. "Is all the time spent on your horse getting to you?"

"No," Emily mumbles, drawing away from him. "I just – listen, Jayden, I think you should name your horse."

He looks at her, surprised. "Um, what? Why?"

"It's important," she insists. "I've been riding horses ever since I was a little girl, before I even started my samurai training. It's true of all animals, especially Symbol Power ones – you have to connect with them. You can't just hop on and think you'll be fine. They need love and attention and care. This entire time, you've been riding her expecting to be good at it. That's not the way to do it."

"I – " Jayden's brow furrows; he's clearly caught off-guard. "Look, Em, I appreciate the advice, but I think I'll be fine."

"Like you've been fine all afternoon?" she remarks, feeling a sudden surge of annoyance that was unlike her.

"Emily…" Jayden blinks at her in astonishment.

"Sorry," she sighs, adjusting her helmet. "Can I ask a favor?"

"Anything."

"Let me ride your horse."

"…What?"

All the Rangers have decided to stop riding for a while and watch her as she mounts Jayden's horse. Normally, this would have bugged her, but Emily brushes off Jayden's intense gaze in favor of patting his horse and combing it's mane.

"I think I'll call you Cappuccino," she tells the horse, smiling, "for the color of your coat. And I love cappuccinos almost as much as I love horses."

Behind her, Jayden folds his arms, looking distinctly bewildered as she kicks his newly-minted Cappuccino to start.

"C'mon, Cappi," Emily says brightly as Cappuccino neighs and starts to gallop. A wide smile threatens to overtake her face as Jayden's horse races around the riding area, going faster and faster until Emily's almost dizzy and breathless from the feel of wind in her face and sun on her shoulders and a moving horse beneath her legs. For a country girl, she reflects, there's no better feeling than riding an animal that truly loves you.

She lets Cappi have her fun for a good five minutes before slowing down to a stop in front of the other Rangers, halting right in front of a decidedly impressed-looking Jayden.

"Thanks," she tells him, hopping off Cappi and ruffling her white mane. "That was a lot of fun."

"You're a natural, Em," says Kevin admiringly. "You looked amazing out there."

"You looked right at home," Mia adds, sharing a smile with her. "Did you do that a lot back home?"

"Yeah," Emily nods, but her gaze is still fixed on Jayden, who's looking anywhere except at her. "I did. That was my favorite part of living on the farm."

"I can tell. Cappuccino seems to love you," Mike grins, gesturing to how Cappi's vying for her attention. "I wish you'd had a horse of your own in that last battle. You would have owned that nighlock."

She giggles. "Thanks, guys. I'm going to head inside and get some water."

"I'll go with you," Jayden volunteers unexpectedly, still avoiding the curious glances of the others. "Um, we'll be right back."

Emily blinks in surprise as he falls into step next to her, not really expecting him to want to talk to her – which, regardless of what he claims, is rather obviously his real reason for following her – so soon after she had beaten him so thoroughly in that unofficial horse-riding match.

"Water?" she asks once they're in the kitchen, opening the fridge to get two of the unopened bottles inside and turning to hand it to him. In the process, her riding boots slip on the newly-waxed floor and she nearly drops both bottles as she stumbles and almost falls – at least, she would have if he hadn't caught her.

"Careful there," Jayden tells her lightly, a grin on his face as he looks at her, his arms warm around her body, keeping her close to his chest. She's suddenly having trouble remembering how to breathe, because his eyes are so bright and dizzying and –

He lets her go, steadying her as she stands, and she already knows there's a blush on her cheeks. "Um, thanks," she murmurs, glancing down as she hands him his water bottle. "Here you go."

Jayden takes the bottle, sending her a look as he opens it and takes a gulp. "So, Emily, I wanted to say – "

For a moment, she's confused as to why he trailed off, but when she looks back at him, he's studying the ceiling with feigned interest. "What did you want to say?" she prods, genuinely curious.

He takes a breath. "I wanted to say I'm sorry," he tells her, his blue eyes dazzlingly earnest when he meets her gaze. "I'm sorry for doubting you and not listening to you and not trusting you to be good at this. I really underestimated you, Em, and…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been such a jerk."

Emily kind of wants to melt at his sweetness. "Oh, um, that's all right. I don't – "

"It's not all right," Jayden insists. "That's why you were upset the other day, wasn't it? Because we were – I was treating you like a little kid who wasn't good enough to fight with us, and you thought you could never be as good as us, right?"

She bites her lip. The last thing she wants to do is make him feel bad. "It's all right, Jayden. I understand."

"Understand this – you're a fantastic addition to our team," he tells her, his voice low and deep as he leans closer. "You're – "

"A replacement?" she suggests, smiling weakly at her joke.

Jayden exhales and smiles. "Irreplaceable."

Her heartbeat triples. "Oh. Um…"

Before she can finish her half-formulated sentence, Jayden's hand is warm on her cheek, and he's leaning in, close enough that she can inhale his cranberries-and-caramel scent and practically taste the hazelnut coffee he'd been drinking earlier, and if he just moved a little bit closer –

"Jayden? Emily? Are you two done with – oh, sorry!"

He yanks himself away, a blush that matches his red shirt and her own cheeks on his face, his water bottle rolling away on the counter when his grip loosens. Emily bites her lips to hide a smile before looking over at where a half-amused, half-apologetic Mia is slowly backing away.

"Did I interrupt something?" she asks knowingly, making Emily blush more profusely.

"No," Jayden says quickly, clearing his throat. "We were just…talking."

"Right," Mia drawls. "Okay, then. When you finish your, ah, conversation, Mike wants to do a five-way horse-riding competition."

Jayden laughs. "Emily'll win in a cakewalk, I can tell you that much right now."

She smacks him, blushing even as she laughs. "Don't be silly. I – "

"He's right," Mia smiles. "You're obviously the best at horse-riding. But I don't think anyone can dissuade Mike, so hurry up and meet us out there!" With a wave, she disappears back outside again, leaving Jayden and Emily alone again.

"So, uh, you know she's going to tell the other two what she saw, right?" Emily begins, a little hesitant, still blushing. "And she's going to interrogate me later."

"Tell her I was just informing you how amazing you are," Jayden suggests, grinning. "You may not be the best at sparring, but you're great with a sword and on a horse, and don't forget that if I do, all right?"

She giggles, trying to ignore the butterflies swirling around in her stomach. "You're too good for my ego, Jayden."

He laughs, taking one last swallow of his water bottle before putting it back in the fridge. "Let's go. I'm looking forward to seeing you kick Mike's butt."

"And yours," she adds teasingly.

"Of course," he snorts, his blue eyes dancing. "Race you back to the ranch?"

"You're on!"

He wins, but it's a close one, and she beats everybody soundly in the horse race, so it all evens out.

Author's Notes: I have no idea how this story evolved into a 3K monster, but I'm glad it did =D These two run away from me far too often, but I hope that you guys liked this! If you read it, please drop me a review; I'd really love to know what you all think!

And please, don't favorite without reviewing. It's really annoying. Thank you :)