Gwen worked in the back of the store while changing someones oil on their bike. While watching the oil spill into the bucket, she spaced out with Hunter running through her head.
It was that stupid smile of his. That messy hair. And those pretty blue eyes. She hated it. But she adored it at the same time. Even though the two finally talked things out, nothing went back to the way it was before.
Suddenly the same blue eyes she was just thinking about were right in her face. "What are you up to?"
Gwen flinched from shock. She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't even hear him walking over to her. "Sorry, did I scare you?"
"Maybe a little. I was just doing a bit of thinking." Gwen said awkwardly. She fixed her glasses and brushed the hair away from her face.
"What were you thinking about?" Hunter asked. He leaned against the counter next to her and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Nothing." Gwen lied. She wasn't going to admit what she was thinking about. She was too scared to tell him anything.
"What are you doing here all by yourself? Wouldn't you rather be with the others?" He asked.
"A guy came in asking for an oil change for his bike. Dustin wasn't here at the time so I just decided to do it myself."
"I didn't know you knew how to do this."
"I kinda had to learn at one point. There's times where all you guys are at Ninja Ops, so I'm stuck here having to do everything by myself most of the time."
Hunter looked down at the floor and smiled. "You really are perfect." He mumbled to himself.
Gwen didn't quite hear what he said, but she wasn't going to questioned it. Hunter looked back at Gwen and smiled. She felt him staring. She looked up and raised an eyebrow on him. "Is there something on my face?" She asked
"Maybe a bit of oil. But I noticed that you're wearing glasses. I didn't know you wore them."
Gwen completely forgot she was wearing them. "I never really wear them. I only ever wear them if I'm doing something like this or if I ever forget my contacts." She explained.
"You should wear them more often. They look cute on you." Hunter complimented.
Hunter smiled when he saw her blush. Gwen looked away and used her hair to cover the side of her face. "I doubt I'll wear them often." She said. She pushed herself off the counter and grabbed the bucket of oil and walked away.
Hunter dropped his head and frowned. He walked back to where Blake was at and sat down next to him. "Things are still awkward." Hunter frowned.
"What did you expect? For her to immediately feel comfortable around you?" Blake questioned sarcastically.
Hunter slapped Blake's shoulder. "Shut up." He muttered. "I need to get my mind off this. Maybe we should go see Perry now."
"If it helps, then let's go."
~
She said that she missed being around him. That they could try and get along again. But she hadn't realized how hard it was going to be. Gwen still missed him. But being around him still hurt.
Cam walked into her room while she was laying in her bed and staring up at the ceiling. Gwen sat up to give him some room to sit. He held a cup of tea in his hand and handed it to Gwen. "Thanks." She said, then taking a sip. "What are the others doing?"
"Training at the moment. They're also questioning why you're hiding yourself in your room instead of hanging out with them." Cam said.
Gwen sighed. "I'm just doing some thinking."
"Let me guess."
"Don't say it."
"Hunter?"
"I hate you."
Cam let out a slight laugh. "I thought you two made up."
Gwen placed the mug on the bedside table and leaned back with her arms crossed over her chest. "We did. But I still feel awkward around him. I thought it would be easy to go back to the way things were before. But it's not easy. And I'm really struggling."
"Of course it's not going to be easy. It's going to take time of course."
Gwen started scratching at her wrist. "But it's been over a week. And I still have trouble standing next to him. I can barely even look at him without thinking about everything that happened before. I hate myself sometimes."
"Stop degrading yourself." Cam scolded.
"I can't help it."
Cam grabbed a pillow and threw it at her. Gwen grabbed the pillow and threw it back at him. He lost his balance for a bit, but then quickly steadied himself. "I want to stop being scared. I don't want to have to deal with these problems anymore."
Cam scooted himself to sit right next to her, then letting Gwen lean her head on his shoulder. He looked down at the bedside table. He had never seen the stuffed panda before. But maybe he just hadn't noticed it before. He grabbed the toy and handed it for her to hug. And while staring blankly at that wall, she hadn't noticed that he handed her the gift Hunter had given her.
"Things won't be like this forever. They'll get better. Within time, you and Hunter will go back to talking about whatever you used to talk about. Not sure what it was since I was never there to witness it."
Gwen didn't say anything. She hugged the panda tighter in her arms. "I spilled out my heart to him. I told him about my bracelet and why I used to play with it, and then he would do things that would take my mind off those thoughts. Maybe that's why I was able to trust him so easily back then."
"What about now? Do you still not trust him?" Cam asked.
Gwen wanted to trust him. But she knew that she couldn't. At least not for a little while longer. It still hurt to look at him most times. Usually she would remember all their moments together before he betrayed them. The time they first met, when she saw him during her morning walks, and when he brought her to a private part of the beach.
She remembered how happy she was during those moments. How they would both just talk and nothing else. Those were her happy moments with him.
Both this quickly turned dark when she remembered that it was all just lies to get to what he wanted.
Before Gwen could answer, the two heard a knock at the door. Tori opened the door and peaked her head in. "Cam, you might want to see this."
The siblings looked at each other confused. They quickly got up and ran out the room to where the others were. Cam hopped onto the computer to check the problem.
"Whoa, check this guy."
"What, what it that?" Shane asked.
"You better get out there and see what this guy is all about. I'll meet you guys out there in a sec."
"On it." The three morphed and quickly left.
Gwen sat on Cams armchair. "What are we dealing with now?" She sighed.
"Don't act as if you're part of the action." Cam mocked.
Gwen swatted his arm. "I just want this all over with. I'd like to go back to my job without any problems happening here. Plus, I'm tired of taking over some of Dustin's shifts because of this."
The two heard a weird buzz come from the computer. "That's odd."
"What is it?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.
"There's something about his DNA that isn't normal. But I can figure out what it is. Or at least I can't figure it to just yet."
He opened up another tab to watch the Rangers. They were clearly having trouble. "Im calling Blake and Hunter for help. Stay here incase we need the zords. I'm heading out."
"Be careful. We don't know how dangerous he can be."
"Don't worry. We got this."
~
They all came back, but Hunter was in the most pain. He clenched his chest while Blake helped him in. Hunter dropped to the floor and laid on his back. Gwen walked over and kneeled down next to him. "That was stupid of you to fight him alone like that." She scolded.
"I know. It was just in the heat of the moment."
"Don't do it again." Gwen glared.
"I promise."
Hunter struggled to sit up, but Gwen helped him out. He leaned against the table still clutching his chest. "You're gonna have to take your uniform off. I have to check you."
Hunter slowly and painfully to off the uniform to reveal his bare chest. Gwen couldn't stop staring at the large gash running across his chest. Thankfully it didn't seem too bad, but she could tell that the pain was too much for him.
Gwen opened up the box and started to help with the pain. Hunter flinched at her touch, breathing heavily as she worked around it. But his breathing calmed down as he fell into her touch. Her hands were cold, but they were gentle.
His breathing slowed down as he watched her work on him. He couldn't look away. Her beauty shined brightly at him. It reminded him of that day they first met. He couldn't look away then, and he couldn't look away now. Only this time she wore her glasses. To him, that was just a plus.
Gwen could feel him staring at her. She had the urger to look back at him. But she that if she did she would start to feel that pain again. She didn't feel like going through that again.
Hunter lifted his hand to hers. Gwen flinch at the sudden contact. She looked up at him confused. "Sorry, I just wanted you to look at me for a second."
For the first time in a while, Gwen didn't feel anything. No pain came to her when looking at him. And his grip on her hand was so gentle. He held it close to he chest and gently rubbed the the back of it. She could feel his heart beating quickly.
It was the feeling of when she realized that she liked him. She remembered that day very clearly. She was at her worse she he found her. He found a way to make her feel better.
Hunter so badly wanted to lift his hand and caress her cheek, but he knew that would be going too. She was still clearly uncomfortable. He needed things to go slow if he wanted them to work out.
Hunter so badly wanted to lean in and kiss her.
The thought made Hunter's face heat up. He never had that kinda thought when he was around her. He just hoped that his face wasn't so red for Gwen to notice.
"I figured it out." Cam said out loud.
Gwen pulled her hand way and looked down at her lap. "All done." She muttered. She quickly stood up and walked back towards the others.
Hunter looked down at his bandaged chest. He sighed, feeling a bit disappointed that the moment couldn't last a bit longer. He stood back up and put his uniform back on as he walked towards the rest of the group.
"I've been running test on Motodrone and I found traces of human DNA."
"No way."
"So that thing is human?" Gwen questioned.
"Looks like some sorta mutation."
"And it's not one of Lothor's goons."
"No. And I won't be able to find out who it is until the computer goes through the data base." Cam said.
"Until then, you must take care in dealing with this creature. We don't know what he's capable of."
"Got it, sensei." Dustin said. "Man, I'm really hungry."
"Is that really all you can say after we just fought this guys off?" Tori shook her head at Dustin.
"I'm always hungry after a fight. Let's go get some food. Gwen, you coming along?"
"Sure, why not. Cam??"
"No thanks. I'm going to stay here to figure all this out. Just bring me back something."
"Got it."
"Hunter, Blake, you coming?" Shane asked.
"We still have a few things to finish at the track. We'll meet up with you guys later." Hunter said.
The four of them left. Cam turned his chair around and kicked the back of Hunter's knees. Hunter lost his balance and fell the the floor. "What was that for?"
"For being stupid out there. If my sister has to take care of you again, I'm going to make your pain worse. No more going out there alone. You need someone with you."
"Got it boss." Hunter sighed.
"They aren't my words anyways." Cam said.
"Then who's words are those?" Blake questioned.
"Gwen's." Cam answered.
~
"Why is no one ever careful?" Gwen questioned angrily.
The next day didn't get any better. Motodrone was back. And Hunter didn't listen. Instead, he was taken away and no one knew where he was. Gwen didn't take it so well.
"Gwen."
"I told him not to fight by himself. And what did he do?"
"Gwen."
She was pacing back and forth. She was scratching her wrist from the anger and panic. No longer having her bracelet, this was the only thing she could do.
"Why does no one ever listen."
Blake walked over and grabbed onto her shoulder. "You have a genius brother brother working on his computer. We'll find him." Blake assured.
Gwen stopped with scratching her wrist and sighed. She walked over to Cam and sat on the armchair. "Anything?" She asked calmly.
"I nearly got a lock on Motodrones identity."
The computer screen showed the identity. Blake immediately knew who it was. "Perry. I know where Hunter is."
"Let's go." Tori said as they all started running to the exit.
"Blake." Sensei called. "I know your brother is in danger. But remember, so is Perry. If you don't destroy the Motodrone technology soon, it will absorb Perry and he will be gone forever." Sensei warned.
"Don't worry."
Gwen turned to Cam. "Go with them. I'll keep watch if anything happens. Make sure they don't run in there without a plan."
Cam smirked. "Don't worry. This genius will take care of them."
~
Gwen woke up feeling stressed the next morning. And for the first time in a while, she decided to take her morning walk like she used to. She didn't feel like waiting another few hour for the running track to open up.
She changed into her workout fit and put on her glasses. Gwen quietly walked out so that she wouldn't wake her father or Cam.
It felt nice to go out again. She didn't fear running into Hunter like before. And if it were to happen, she knew she'd be able to handle it this time.
After a long run, she finally started to feel tired. She made her way to the bench and leaned her head back while closing her eyes. The breeze from the ocean was able to cool her down. She felt so relaxed. It had been a while since she felt this calm.
"Gwen?"
Gwen opened her eyes and turned to the voice. She watched as Hunter made his way towards her. He towered over as he looked at her confused. Gwen expected this to happen. Now she wasn't sure how to handle it.
He was wearing the same jacket the last time she went on this trail. The jacket that he had let her keep. The jacket the she gave back because of all the bad memories that came from it. "I didn't expect to run into you." He said.
"I decided to start going for morning run's again." She said. "I forgot how nice it felt."
Hunter hesitantly sat down next to her. He nervously started playing with his necklace. He looked down at her wrist. Where she used to have the bracelet was now replaced with red scratch marks.
"I'm still mad at you for what you did yesterday." She said.
"I know. It was stupid of me."
"You need to stop going into fights without thinking first. You had me worried. What would have happened if we weren't able to find you? I don't know what I would do if that were to happen." Gwen crossed her arms and glared at the grass.
Hunter slight smiled and looked to Gwen. "You were worried?" He asked.
Gwen knew her face was red by now. She looked the other way so that he wouldn't be able to see. "Just don't do it again."
Hunter smiled down at his lap. "I promise."
It grew silent after that. But nothing awkward. just being around each others presence was calming for the both of them. It was nice not having either of them feel awkward around each other or trying to avoid one another.
"I have a race later, would you like to come watch?" Hunter asked.
Gwen looked to Hunter and then back down at her lap. "I have a shift at Storm Chargers." She said.
Hunter shook his head in disappointment. "Sorry, I forgot you sometimes take our shifts when we go out to race."
"Maybe another time."
Hunter smiled.
'Another time.'
As in she'll definitely go someday. As in maybe things are okay between them. The last one he knew wasn't possible just yet. But he still had hope.
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