Title: Worth the Risk
Fandom: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
Rating: Gen
Length: 1,000 words
Summary: Being the brains of the operation takes its toll.



Trini didn't need to ask. She just knew.

While their friends marveled at his intellect and his powers of deduction, they seldom gave those things a second thought. Only Trini understood the toll it took on him every time he said the words. If my calculations are correct…

Those five words were all it took. Five words to instill unquestioning faith. Five words to put their lives in his hands.

Cross the wrong wires in the Command Center's computer network and it could cut off their access to the power grid. Fail to identify the crucial weakness in their latest adversary, and the battle for Earth could be lost for good. If he made a single mistake, it could cost them everything.

They trusted him anyway. He tried his hardest not to let it show, but in the privacy of his own home, he couldn't hide it.

It terrified him to know the stakes were so high. The thought of costing his friends' lives anguished him.

And Trini knew. She saw the pain that haunted him, and that was why, when the dust had settled, she always found her way over to his house.

She didn't push, didn't prod. She just smiled and asked what he was working on in the lab, if there was any way she could help with his projects, how his classes were going, how his dad was doing. Frivolous, mundane questions, when the fate of the world was at stake. But questions he needed, all the same.

He knew what she was doing: anchoring him in reality, providing him with a link to his former life. And he was thankful that she took the time to do it. The others certainly didn't, if they even realized there was a need.

They were good friends, better than any others he'd had, and they would be there for him one-hundred-and-ten-percent if he asked. But with Trini he didn't have to ask. He'd always relied on her in a way he couldn't with the others, and as this war dragged on it was becoming even more frighteningly apparent than ever before. He didn't know what he would do without her, and that was the most terrifying thought in the world.

And as his thoughts spiraled ever more certainly toward anxiety and loneliness and fear, she appeared like magic, standing in the doorway with a soft smile on her face and a plate of cookies in one hand. "Hi, Billy," she chirped, and the spell was broken. The tension dissolved and all was right with the world.

"I made cookies," she went on, but she set them aside and immediately forgot about them. "What are you working on today?" She stared hard at the device in his hand, brow furrowing as she concentrated. He gave her a few seconds to realize what it was – and she did not disappoint. "Billy, that's amazing! Does it work?"

"I haven't tested it yet," he admitted. He'd intended to, but he'd been lost in his own thoughts. Subconsciously, he supposed, he might even have been waiting for her.

She grinned. It was a wide and earnest grin. "What are you waiting for?" She paused for a beat. "Is it ready for testing?"

"I believe so," he told her. "If my calculations are correct…"

She fixed him with a look that silenced him mid-sentence. If there was one thing Trini never tolerated from him, it was doubt. "And they always are," she said pointedly.

It hit him like a truck: They have been. So far.

But like anything else, his meticulous calculations could be proved wrong tomorrow. Or a second from now.

Her expression softened abruptly; he hadn't been able to keep it from showing on his face. "Billy," she murmured. Her hand was a comforting pressure on his shoulder. "You're brilliant at this. This is what you're good at. It's why you're such an important part of our team, because none of the rest of us can do this. You're not going to mess it up. And if you do, so what? We'll try again."

"We may not have the chance to try again," he muttered bitterly.

Trini sighed. "For us… for me, this is a series of battles to be won or lost," she explained. "We fight a monster, we win, and then we wait for the next one to appear. But for you, this whole war, all of it is one incredibly enormous, incredibly complicated equation you're trying to solve."

He said nothing. She was very near the truth of it, there.

"And I think you will," she went on. "Billy, I think if any of us can find a way to end this, to really end it for good, it's going to be you."

He had no idea what to say. He never did.

Luckily, with Trini he never had to say anything. She was perfectly happy with his silence.

And she proved it by wrapping an arm around his shoulders and giving him a reassuring squeeze. "Don't forget that the rest of us are part of this team, too," she scolded. "The burden isn't entirely on you. The rest of us are part of this team, too, and we're going to have parts to play in this just like you. You may be the main brain of the operation, but brains alone won't win this fight. You need us just as much as we need you. That's what makes us a team."

He was smiling in spite of himself now. It felt good to be appreciated for his intelligence rather than derided for it. Even though that intelligence placed an enormous responsibility on his shoulders, he was glad that he could be useful, that he might be the one to end the war and save the world.

He'd known it was a possibility from the day he accepted his Power Coin and became the Blue Ranger. But it was Trini that had made him see. As she always did.