Note: "Something New" is written and performed by Hillary Richmond. Special love to Marci, for introducing me to this song with Hunter and Cam in mind, and to Hillary, for graciously allowing Marci to buy an accidentally displayed demo album at the Sunapee Fair in 2006.

Still working. Hunter studied him from the doorway, small in the shadows of the cavernous bay, maybe smaller still after the secret he'd finally owned today. He'd had a way onto Lothor's ship all this time, and the reasons he hadn't shared it were nothing but selfish. He couldn't... it was a secret he couldn't keep anymore, not after hearing Cam complain about the way deception seemed to run in his family.

A private complaint, a personal anguish. A fear of the unknown: the facts he didn't have, about them, about himself. Not for his father's ears, not for anyone's but his, and the way Cam trusted him with his own secrets finally drove Hunter to confess. I lied to you, Cam. I lie to you every time I say it's, this, is okay. This thing we do, together, sneaking around, pretending everything's normal.

It's not okay. I don't want it, this, you and me, to be a secret. I want everyone to know you kiss me. Everyone on the team, everyone in town, everyone in the world. I want them to look at me and think, hey, there's the guy who's dating Cam Watanabe.

What he'd actually said was, "The Gem of Souls..." And he watched Cam's expression reflect his own, worried, intent, uncertain. "I was going to tell you, but the more time that passed, the harder it got. I'm sorry."

He hadn't been able to look either of them in the eye while he said it, because it was as true for Blake as it was for Cam. But Blake would answer. Blake would yell at him, and they would fight, and they would get over it. Because they knew where they stood with each other.

Cam just stood there, and the closest he got to anger was disbelief disguised as an accusation. He'd taken the gem fragments silently, impassively, and Hunter could only stand there and stare back at him while the Winds waited to see what would happen. No answer was forthcoming. Cam had taken the pieces over to the computer, done something while Tori and Dustin whispered to each other, and then said the words they all wanted to hear: "There's plenty of power here. I'll take them down to the zord bay and see what I can do."

No one else had seemed to find this strange, but Hunter had followed him as soon as he could get away. Because Cam was a programmer, not an engineer. It had taken Hunter a while to recognize the difference, since Cam did pretty much whatever they needed--but he did it through the mainframe whenever possible. Code, integration, execution, in that order. He started with the design. Not the mechanics.

So Hunter stood in the zord bay, watching Cam avoid him, and wondering if he'd totally blown it with a decision that hadn't even been consciously made. A decision from another time, another life, even. A life before Cam. He wondered if he'd become one more in a string of people Cam didn't dare trust, leaving him alone with his brilliance in the midst of mediocrity.

"Does it make you feel like you're helping?" Cam's voice inquired. He was leaning over the side of the giant green vehicle he'd been working on, staring down at Hunter with a wry politeness that was very... him. "Standing there watching me work?"

"Are you mad at me?" Hunter blurted out.

Cam rested his arms on the edge of the cockpit and considered that. "Because you're not handing me tools or getting me coffee? No, I think I'm used to being my own assistant by now. Why?"

Hunter rolled his eyes, letting his arms fall as he straightened up and took that as tacit permission to approach. Wandering across the floor, he had to crane his neck further the closer he got. "Because I didn't tell you about the gem shards."

Cam hadn't moved, still braced against the green metal, still watching. "This isn't grade school, Hunter. You're allowed to have secrets."

Yeah. Secrets. He was really tired of secrets. And on some level, he knew Cam was too. "I should have told you," he said aloud. There were a lot of things he should tell Cam, and only some of them were the things he thought they should tell other people. The rest of it was just too frightening to put into words.

"You did tell me." Cam's gaze was inscrutable. "You told all of us."

"Yeah," Hunter said with a sigh. Because he'd had to. Because Cam had practically asked him to with his admission that the things he didn't know were driving him up the wall. "A little late."

"Just in time," Cam corrected. And then the words that said it was okay, that no, Cam wasn't mad, he didn't care so much about the gem shards after all, and maybe Hunter was turning this into way more than it had to be. "Want to come up?"

He grabbed the railings on the ladder and swung himself up without any more encouragement. Cam didn't like people fooling around in the zord bays. And there were cameras down here--of course--so Hunter assumed he didn't goof off here himself. But if he didn't mind the company, then hey. Hunter was happy to take that as the most forgiveness he was likely to get.

Which was why he was caught completely off guard when Cam climbed out of the cockpit, slid over the edge of the giant robotic assault vehicle, and crowded into him on the platform at the top of the ladder. Hunter grinned at him, not getting it until Cam latched onto the front of his uniform and kissed him, right there in the middle of the zord bay. Doors gaping open, cameras running continuously, and he caught the edge of the ladder so he could lean into it because every secret had an expiration date.

Later, in the hills out behind the track, that was his idea. Even if it was Cam's fault for looking at him like he would have done anything in the world to make him stop looking at the sky, and Hunter could think of a few things that wouldn't require tremendous sacrifice... just a little public embarrassment if they were caught, and a little dirt in their clothes if they weren't. Cam played along, let him do it, and that was the strangest part of all.

There was something wrong. He couldn't think about it while he was kissing Cam, but he couldn't let it go, either, not when the same thought had crossed his mind several times over the course of the week. "Hey," he muttered, pushing Cam back into the grass and staring down at him as the sun-warmed breeze whispered all around them. "Does this seem weird to you?"

"The fact that you've stopped kissing long enough to form a complete sentence?" Cam's expression was open, amused... affectionate. "Yes, I'd qualify that as unusual."

"Ha ha," Hunter said, but he really couldn't resist. It was beautiful today, perfect place, perfect weather, perfect opportunity with a guy who had never, ever been willing to make out in a place this public before. He kissed Cam again, grass tickling his face and his black vest too hot in the sunlight and he didn't care because this was all he wanted.

The skin was warm under his mouth and he strayed, recklessly, tenderly, kissing the corner of Cam's mouth, venturing out across his face when he didn't hear any complaints. His heart was pounding in his ears, afraid of his own adventurousness, addicted to the adrenaline, and he couldn't stop. He had his tongue pressed up against a beautiful throat when he heard Cam whisper, "This is weird."

He froze, and Cam let out a breathless sound of dismay. "Don't stop," he pleaded, and Hunter kissed his neck reassuringly. "It's just," Cam murmured, and now his hands were on Hunter's shoulders, the back of his head, urging him to keep kissing while he talked. "You're right. I don't--I don't do this... not like this."

Yeah, Hunter thought, and that was it, this was strange, things were weird lately and they were getting weirder. He fought with Blake way too easily, he felt guilty for things he thought he'd buried, and he couldn't keep his hands off of Cam. He felt like he was crazy, like he was out of control... almost like he was drunk, like he could say anything and he wouldn't know what it was until it came out of his mouth. It didn't seem terribly important right now, but he couldn't help loving the way Cam tried to figure it out anyway. Because that was what he did.

If they'd been pushing it before, walking a fine line between expression and exhibition, that was just the beginning of a phenomenon that Sensei finally identified for them: energy enhancement. Lothor was up to something, as usual, concentrating forces that weren't usual at all, gathering them in one place until the energy of evil was at a level even Sensei had never seen before. And the Rangers, who were they? Lothor's opposite, evil's counter, defenders with a power that had always been sufficient to the task.

It still was. Just not at the level they'd known for almost a year now. So the power was increasing, taking them with it, boosting their energy and their emotions and all their skills along with it. It made training a lot more interesting, no doubt about that. But it made their daily lives almost unbearable. No one else knew why they were constantly wound up, they didn't have any excuses, and among the team it was even worse because they blew off the steam they couldn't with anyone else. They shouted at each other. They pushed each other around. And with the way Blake had looked last night, he and Cam weren't the only ones making out in every spare moment.

They'd almost been caught a dozen times. A couple of those times he was sure they had been caught, only to find out that the incredible distraction they were all feeling worked for them as much as it worked against them, sometimes. Every time they got away with it, though, they got a little less careful, and Hunter was sure the pretense couldn't last.

Which was just one of several really good reasons why he kept pushing it.

Cam had all but said where to meet him when he started working on the Dragonforce vehicle, and they started to take for granted that they were alone in the zord bay. But they didn't stay away from each other anywhere else, either. The control room, the kitchen, the training rooms, the treatment rooms... it didn't take Hunter long to realize that nowhere was off-limits anymore, and he took full advantage.

He also started taking Cam out to places people might not recognize them. Apparently that was all it took--well, that and some crazy power surge from an ancient evil abyss--for Cam to forget that he disapproved of public displays of affection. If their teammates had somehow managed to miss it, the rest of Blue Bay Harbor was rapidly becoming aware that Hunter Bradley and Cam Watanabe were A)gay, and B)shameless.

It wasn't enough. It was still a secret, somehow, because they didn't talk about, they didn't tell anyone, and that made it something... less. Something fragile, like it was contingent on their lack of acknowledgment, and Hunter wouldn't, couldn't bring himself to force the issue. All he could do was become more and more audacious and hope that someone noticed before Cam told him to knock it off.

He'd ambushed Cam at Storm Chargers. They'd been out back together for most of his break, and he'd heard the door--someone had walked in, but something called whoever it was back out onto the floor before they caught sight of him and Cam. He'd given Cam a lift to the library and groped him in the parking lot. He'd been feeding Cam in the kitchen when the rest of the team arrived for training. He'd almost gotten Cam to kiss him in the back of the van on the way to the Action Games.

Then it was over because the abyss was opening and the energy pouring into them had an outlet and they were going to win or be completely destroyed and either way, this was the end. So Cam got himself captured. So he and Blake went to rescue him and walked right into kelzaks and explosives and more of the Green Ranger's wacky family. None of it mattered as much as Cam, tied to the doomed ship, heartbreakingly relieved to see them... perfectly willing to return a kiss as Hunter pulled his hands free of the restraints.

With a crack about princes and noble steeds, Blake tossed Cam the Dragonforce remote. He was totally unfazed. Cam actually smiled. Then Marah called out to them, Choobo snuck up on them, and the ship began to self-destruct. The entire world was at stake and it was their turn to throw themselves into the fire.

Now he lingered inside the entrance to the Wind Academy, watching new students wander the paths in the shadows of dusk and wondering, yet again, just where he stood with Cam. With Lothor imprisoned and most of his minions destroyed, their Ranger powers were dormant and the energy that came with them had gone. Yesterday had been filled with graduation, new robes, new roles, and he hadn't gotten more than a hug from Cam since that fleeting moment on the ship.

They had the academies to worry about today. Tonight. And tomorrow. They had students to awe, former teachers to impress, plans to make, positions to defend, accept, or reluctantly reject. He'd been offered head teacher. He had to give Sensei Omino an answer, and he had to do it soon. But how could he go anywhere, just pick up and leave, when Cam was still here?

How could he stay when Cam wasn't even talking to him?

He was down in Ninja Ops even now, trying to salvage something of the mainframe in the wake of a battle that had decimated both the structure and the systems. Hunter didn't even have to ask to know he'd be there: his haven, his responsibility. Ninja Ops was Cam's freedom and his prison, the place where he could be anything he wanted and the place it sometimes seemed he could never leave. The place they entered only on his sufferance.

It was a sufferance Hunter wasn't sure he had anymore. Oh, Cam wasn't actively running him off, and it wasn't like he hadn't been totally friendly in the presence of other people. More than friendly, even, going out of his way to hug Hunter, touch him, smirk at him no matter who was watching. But he invariably disappeared before the group broke up, failing to plausibly orchestrate isolation by convenience and showing no willingness to initiate any alone time by invitation.

Hunter knew where to find him. Cam could find him just as easily. The fact that he didn't bother only reinforced Hunter's fear that he had gone too far, that he had taken advantage of a situation that could never be repeated. He thought he should probably just go. But he didn't know how to do anything except stay.

There was a door on Ninja Ops now. It made him hesitate, and that made him roll his eyes, because of course there was a door. There were several doors. They just hadn't been closed in... well, since before he'd started coming here. Even the outer doors had been left open most of the time, because who was going to walk in? Who still on Earth had even known the academy was here, much less the secret command bunker underneath?

They had paid for that complacence in the end. Lother had walked right in, with his nieces and his reprogrammed cyber duplicate and his weird fascination with everything Cam could do. And Cam had stood up to him, because, well. Obviously. The showdown between the two had torn this place apart.

The afterimage of chaos was concealed by a door that looked more like a solid wall, and it didn't automatically open for Hunter. He lifted his left hand without thinking, because Cam had keyed a lot of their stuff to the morphers, but his wrist was bare. Sensei Omino had his morpher now, and that was just weird, to think of the technology that had bound their team together separated. Almost as weird as the way the morphers no longer did anything except look shiny and familiar and dead. He couldn't get used to the absence of that reassuring power.

He knocked, then felt stupid for doing it. Glancing around, he located the camera in the entryway. "Yo, Cam," he said. "Is it locked or what? How do I get past this door?"

Predictably, there was a moment's pause and then the wall withdrew to reveal the same devastated room he and Blake had run out of days ago, on their way to the Dragonforce vehicle and Lothor's ship. On their way to a confrontation that would free their fellow ninjas and destroy Lothor's base of operations once and for all. On their way to Cam.

Who was now invisible amid the destruction, despite the high-powered temporary lighting that had been set up around the perimeter of the room. Everything looked still and ruined and unreal in the halogen glare. And he couldn't help but think that, wow, it was really over. They weren't moving on because there was work to do, a future to live, a new challenge to conquer... they were moving on because there was nothing to go back to. The Power was gone, the team had split up, and this place that had symbolized everything they were would never be the same.

Except that Cam was still here. Somewhere. Someone had opened the door for him, after all. And Hunter was here, too. So that had to mean something.

"Whatcha doing?" he asked the apparently empty room.

Cam's voice came from the same direction it always had: over by the supercomputer, near where his chair had been. Still was, Hunter realized as he approached. The chair has been dragged back into position and propped up on debris so that at least one side of it made a flat surface to lean against. And there was Cam, leaning against it, papers piled on either side of him and his laptop braced against his knees.

"Working," had been the curt reply, but as Hunter joined him on the far side of the room Cam looked up and caught his eye. "Dad asked me to help locate some students' families. I needed the satellite uplink to access the web."

Hunter considered the makeshift workstation Cam had improvised for himself. Sitting there in the wreckage of a place that had been everything he lived for, he was devoting himself to putting other people's lives back together. "When did this become your responsibility?" he wondered aloud.

Without a word, Cam took one hand off the keyboard and fumbled with the corner of his uniform top. The same green trim he'd been wearing for months, but he yanked the badge free like it was nothing. He didn't even look up as he turned the disc over and held it up for Hunter to see. The metal glinted in them harsh light.

A Wind Academy teaching badge.

"Huh," Hunter said after a moment. "I guess this makes it official, then."

"Yeah." Cam slapped the badge back into place without reverence and went back to his computer search. "That's what they tell me."

He didn't sound too happy about it, but hello, Hunter was talking here. He got to finish his comment before Cam started his. "This is officially goodbye, then."

That made Cam look up, and his expression was startled. "Excuse me?"

Hunter waved at him. "Bye, Ranger Cam. It was nice knowing you."

Cam was gaping at him like he'd announced Lothor had sent them a thank you card from the abyss.

Hunter didn't move, didn't pause, just lowered his hand and knocked on the panel of whatever behind him. "Hi, Sensei Cam." He thrust his hand forward and added, "I'm Hunter Bradley. Nice to meet you."

Cam's eyes narrowed. The relief behind his expression was obvious, and Hunter felt kind of bad for the cutesy shock therapy. On the other hand, it gave him a few answers of his own, and Cam wasn't the only one feeling relieved right now. Nice to know he might be missed.

"I suppose you think that's funny," Cam muttered, but some of the bitterness was gone from his voice and Hunter smiled, just a little.

"Maybe," he said with a shrug. They'd been through exploding vacations, exploding zords, and exploding spaceships in the last few days. Pretty much anything was funny at this point. "Hey, did I tell you I'm from the Thunder Academy? Don't know much about this place. Wanna give me a tour?"

Cam rolled his eyes. "Ha ha."

Hey, Cam was imitating him. Cool.

"Not kidding," he countered. "Come on, Cam, what do I know about your school? It was rubble by the time I got here. I need a break," he added, appealing to Cam's not-so-secret empathy. "And I wanna hang out. In the name of inter-academy relations."

"Ah." Cam was already setting his laptop aside, and Hunter grinned as he held out a hand expectantly. Hunter clasped it and hauled him to his feet as Cam added, "Well, if it's for the good of the academy."

"It's not," Hunter informed him.

Cam just smiled, turning away from the paperwork and the debris and everything that had been broken. His hand lingered in Hunter's a little longer than necessary, urging him along as he headed toward the open door. "That's okay too."