Disclaimer: Buena Vista owns the Power Rangers. "Mr. Midnight" is by Garth Brooks from his album, Scarecrow.

Timeline: during PRWF season, sometime after "Three's A Crowd".

Author's Note: quite possibly the only Danny/Kendall story on the 'net. I am such a fan of them. thanks to Starhawk for the proof. :)

He’d almost turned around a dozen times. He’d actually turned around a half a dozen others. What had stopped him every time, both actual and almost, was Max.

And to think, Danny hadn’t wanted Max, or anyone, there. He had done everything he could to sneak away unnoticed in fact. But Max knew him well and had been there to not only follow him, but encourage him when his nerve faltered. If Max hadn’t been there Danny would have been back on the Animarium a long time ago.

Thank goodness Max was there.

The street was quiet. That early morning stillness that you almost hated to disturb. It depended on the situation you were in, he supposed. Because sometimes that quiet was beautiful, and sometimes it was terrifying.

Right now Danny thought it was terrifying. And he knew it had everything to do with what he was about to do.

His arms felt unnaturally heavy, and they really shouldn’t. The flowerpot he carried did not weigh that much. Maybe that was the situation too. Everything was affected by that moment.

He shifted the pot as they rounded the corner. It held a beautiful lily plant. One of the lilies he’d been raising on the Animarium. One that he had potted and tended and watered. One he’d pruned and fed and raised from a seedling. One that the others had teased him for caring for, even though he’d caught Cole talking to his flowers more than once.

It was something he would never let out of his sight under normal circumstances. Something he would never give away. And yet that was exactly what he was doing. Because he knew this person was special. Someone who would appreciate the gift as much as the giver. He knew she’d take care of his plant, knowing how much it meant to him and what it meant for him to offer it to her.

He looked up from his plant to see they had arrived. They were at her house. Kendall’s house. It was just a few hundred feet away. And Danny stopped yet again.

And yet again, Max urged him forward. The young Blue Ranger had grabbed his arm and pulled him down the street till they stood in front of Kendall’s house.

Kendall. The woman Danny had loved for so long. Long ago, before he’d become a Ranger and had left his job at her flower shop behind. He’d been too shy to tell her how he felt then. He was too shy to tell her now really. But she knew.

She’d figured it all out even before she’d discovered he was a Ranger. And she felt the same. But despite that she had been the one to end it. Perhaps that was the wrong phrase – end it. Because they had never really started for it to end.

Instead she had told him that maybe it was for the best that they stayed apart. So he could devote his time to defeating the Orgs. And he had to admit she was right.

When he was around her he tended to be very distracted. Distracted to the point where he could be more of a hindrance than help to the team. He would totally lose his focus. All she had done was turn her shining smile on him and he had lost it. He had left his best friend, Max, on more than one occasion, just because she had spoken to him.

He had it bad to be sure.

So she had suggested maybe they should be apart for now. So he could save the world instead of losing his head. He may have his head, but it had broken his heart. And the more he thought about it, he knew she was right.

But someday the Orgs would be gone. They would defeat Master Org and Danny could go back to Kendall. If he hadn’t been devoted to Princess Shayla’s cause before, he certainly was now. And he had been devoted to the cause. He loved being a Ranger. He knew he was doing the right thing. Losing Kendall was a big price to pay though. He just hoped there could be a future for them after it all.

So far he had respected her wishes. So far he’d stayed away. Until now.

Now he stood outside her house, trying to remember how to make his feet move forward. Reminding himself that he couldn’t risk seeing her because he didn’t want to endanger her again. Even today. But he would just this once chance slipping out in the pre-dawn darkness to leave her a gift. Because it was today.

Valentine’s Day.

When he had worked at the flower shop, it had been one of the busiest days of the year. People came rushing in at the last minute, looking for the perfect gift. But Danny couldn’t fault their tardiness. Because despite all that, he loved the message, as people came in wanting to express their feelings with flowers.

He wanted to give her something special though. Something from him. Not just cut flowers. But something she would know and recognize the meaning of. Something alive, something to grow.

So he’d woken up early that morning. In the middle of the night actually. So determined was he to sneak in and sneak out without the other Rangers catching him, and without Kendall seeing him either. But Max had woken up and caught him, standing there with his lily. Had insisted on accompanying him too.

Danny hadn’t said where he was going. But Max knew without him saying a word. Said it was pretty obvious. Sneaking out in the middle of the night on Valentine’s Day with a potted lily? It was just as well Max had figured it out. Danny knew he’d have had a hard time coming up with a lie to cover it all up anyway.

When they’d reached Earth, Max had told him to stop at the local 24 hour store as they passed. He swore he’d only be inside for a minute. He returned not long after with a toy. A small black bison from some playset. Max had placed it in the pot with the lily, saying it was cute. That Kendall would like it. And that she would know who it was from for sure.

Danny now looked at that bison. Max was right. It went perfectly with his card. Simple and to the point, the card was a lot like him. He was never one for a lot of words, but those he used were true and full of emotion.

I miss you, Kendall.

There were a thousand other things he could say. But none that mattered more than how he felt right then.

He looked up, taking a deep breath. He was here. He’d come all this way. He could do this. And with an encouraging smile from Max, he headed down the driveway.

And stopped halfway.

And turned around and came back.

He could see it on his friend’s face. Max thought he’d chickened out again. But he hadn’t. Not really. He’d seen something. Something that had made him know he couldn’t do this. At Max’s questioning look, he pointed over his shoulder at Kendall’s porch.

“No way,” Max uttered. And Danny knew he’d seen it too.

The silence was broken again, this time by Max’s footsteps. And even though he didn’t want to, Danny found himself turning toward her house again. Trying to stop his friend.

“Max, no!” he hissed desperately. But Max was already jogging down the driveway.

Danny’s eyes were drawn back to the porch. He knew he couldn’t leave his gift. Because someone had already beaten him to it. For sitting there by the door was a decorative pot with a bow and card, containing a small but beautiful rose bush. Something alive, something to grow.

He saw Max sneak onto the porch. And while his friend examined the plant, Danny found himself nervously glancing down the street. Funny, he hadn’t worried about how this would look when it had been him leaving a romantic gift. But now that he knew someone else had, it felt wrong. It felt like he was intruding. There must be someone else in her life now.

Was Collin back? Was she dating him? He was so stupid to assume she would wait for him. Somehow he’d interpreted her remarks that day to mean that they could be together when he was done fighting evil. When all along it had probably just been her way of letting him down easy. Stupid …

Movement caught his eye, interrupting his berating. Max was still on the porch. He didn’t look sympathetic though. He actually looked happy. And he was waving for Danny to join him.

Danny shook his head and stood his ground. He had no intention of going to the porch. He felt bad enough as it was.

He saw Max’s shoulders lift and sag in a sigh when he didn’t budge. Max jogged back to the street to confront him.

“Danny, you need to go up there. Seriously, you really do.”

“I can’t! Let’s just go back to the Animarium and forget we ever came here, okay?” he pleaded, for all the good it did. Which was none. Max had that determined look in his eyes, and Danny was still confused by the smile on his face.

“No, you need to go up there. Take your flower and just go,” he slapped his friend on the shoulder. “Just trust me, okay? Never give up.”

Never give up.

Max and he had always said that to each other. Encouraging each other in the toughest of circumstances. He didn’t want to give up now either. But it didn’t feel like giving up. It felt like respecting her wishes to be with someone else. But unless he knew the entire situation, how would he know what her wishes really were?

He nodded and turned back to the porch. He still didn’t move, but he was pointed in the right direction. His feet had forgotten how to move again. Max gave him an affectionate shove in the back which got him moving. He let the momentum carry him forward, and he finally started walking.

Thank goodness Max was there.

The walk down the driveway seemed to take years. Each step filled him with more fear of what he would find when he got there. But as he set foot on the porch the details he noticed caused curiosity to overtake his dread.

The bow on the pot was made with black ribbon. Black with an accent of white behind it. Black was an odd choice for a bow, especially on Valentine’s Day. Black was usually reserved for gag gifts dealing with age.

Sitting in the pot were two little animal figurines. They looked like they could be from the same playset his bison was from. The rhino and armadillo stood side by side in the soil.

He glanced back toward the street to see Max nodding at him encouragingly. He turned back toward the bush and reached for the card. And he knew. He knew why Max had been smiling.

The card was simple, the message short. But it didn’t need to have many words to say everything he needed to hear.

I miss you too, Danny.

He felt his heart practically leap for joy. And he knew he probably had the goofiest of grins on his face. The look Max always said he had when he thought of Kendall. But he couldn’t really help it, and he didn’t really care.

Carefully he set his lily down on the porch beside the rose bush. He took the rhino and armadillo from one pot, and transferred them to the other so they were standing beside the bison. Better to have all of his Animals together, he thought. As silly as it sounded, he felt like he could leave them all there to protect her.

He picked up the rose bush slowly, trying to avoid the thorns. And with a last look at the porch he headed back to the street.

Max was laughing. Cheering almost, really. Danny wanted to shush him, tell him to not wake the neighbors. But really, he didn’t know if anything could bring him down right now.

The rose was the perfect gift for him really. It was small, a start, a sampling. Something he would enjoy helping to grow. Kendall knew him, she knew how much he’d love having another plant to take care of. And this one came from her, and that made it all the more special.

“Hello little one,” he whispered. “Would you like to live on the Animarium? I think you will. There’s flowers there that don’t exist anywhere else.”

He’d reached the street, and Max was grinning even more than before. Max looked down into the pot, and seeing the animals were gone, laughed at his friend. Danny just shrugged self-consciously.

“Ready to go?” Max asked.

He nodded silently, still grinning. They started down the street again, the silence occasionally broken by Max’s exuberant remarks about the coolness of it all.

Danny looked back at Kendall’s house one last time as they rounded the corner. The lily was just a dark spot on the porch. But he thought he saw a shadow at the window.

He smiled, turned back to his friend, and reminded him that people were trying to sleep. Max scoffed at him and talked all the way back to the portal.

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