Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Abigail!” I groaned. Dad had just gotten home from work; he owned the Youth Center in Angel Grove. Ever since Mom died when I was an infant, Dad…changed for lack of a better word. Don’t get me wrong, he was a great father for me growing up, but when I turned 13 almost 2 years ago, he started acting differently at home. Even my older brother had noticed his behavior. David was four years older than myself and did his best to protect me from our dad’s anger.

David wasn’t home right now though, being at a martial arts lesson. Dad refused to let me learn, though, with his only reasoning that he didn’t want me following in my mom’s footsteps. David and I had no clue what he meant, though. We knew Angel Grove had once hosted several teams of Power Rangers, but that had been before I was born. David did his best to teach me, but it had to happen when Dad was busy at work.

Isofar as the Power Rangers went, we think Dad knew who they’d been, though he wouldn’t confirm the fact. All I knew about Mom was that her best friends were my godparents: Aunt Kimberly and Uncle Billy and that she had been one of the few people who could follow along with whatever Uncle Billy was saying when they were in school together. Aunt Kimberly ran the gymnastics school downtown and, thankfully, Dad did allow me to take lessons there.

Dad didn’t like talking about Mom much; all I knew about her was from her friends and what little David could remember. There weren’t even many pictures of her in the house as Dad had packed them away shortly after she died. If it hadn’t been for Aunt Kimberly and Uncle Billy, I don’t think I would have known what she looked like. I also did my own research, but there were some days I wish I hadn’t. I’d only seen one article about her death and it was how I knew that she’d died in a car crash; I had been the only survivor. David had been at preschool that day; Mom and I had been on our way to pick him up.

From my research and what Aunt Kimberly said, they’d all known Dad since they were teens. Mom had gone away to college after participating in a World Youth Summit and hadn’t been back to Angel Grove until after getting her degree. Once moving back, she and Dad had started dating and eventually married.

Uncle Billy, Aunt Kimberly, and Jason, another friend of hers, were the only friends of hers in town that I knew of. Most of the rest had eventually moved away or just weren’t as close to my dad. Jason ran the martial arts school that David went to. Jason had tried talking to Dad about me getting lessons, but Dad refused. I’d actually been at the Youth Center that day and heard the resulting argument. The Youth Center, thankfully, was mostly empty. The only people there besides David, Dad, Jason, and I were Uncle Billy and Aunt Kimberly. They were as shocked as David and I when he said the line about not wanting me to follow in Mom’s footsteps. Jason’s only response was to ask, then, why Dad was allowing David to take martial arts lessons. Dad had no response, but still refused to let me learn.

When I asked Aunt Kimberly later what Dad had meant by ‘following in Mom’s footsteps’, she refused to say.

“I made a promise long ago, Abigail, to not reveal that secret. All I can say is your mom was a brave woman,” was her response when I pressed the issue. Even when I asked if Mom had been a Power Ranger, Aunt Kimberly refused to say.

Thankfully, when I came downstairs, Dad wasn’t alone. He wasn’t abusive per say, but he preferred keeping me wrapped in figurative bubble wrap. Aisha, a friend of Aunt Kimberly’s, was there. I’d known her growing up, as she often helped Aunt Kimberly run the gymnastics studio.

“Hi, Ms. Campbell.” I only called her Ms. Campbell when Dad was around; she’d told me to call her Aisha long ago.

“Hi, Abigail,” was her response. Turning to my dad, she asked, “Ernie, can I talk to your daughter alone? She’s not in trouble, but there’s something I need to talk to her about that couldn’t wait until her next lesson.” As it were, my summer lessons wouldn’t start up again for another couple of weeks, whatever Aisha wanted to talk to me about, it must be serious.

Dad nodded. “Abigail, take her up to your room.” With that, Dad headed off to the kitchen to make dinner. Aisha and I headed up to my room, but I didn’t close the door all the way. Dad didn’t like David or I to keep our doors totally closed for whatever reason. This was especially true when we had friends or any guests over. The only exceptions were when we were sleeping or changing, for obvious reasons.

“Abigail, like I told your dad, you’re not in trouble. I just wanted to bring you an early birthday gift.” With that, she drew out two wrapped gifts out from her shoulder bag and two not. The wrapped gifts ended up being a set of a couple new sketchbooks and pencils; I’d been drawing for a long time. The others, though, were a bit odd to me. Of the unwrapped gifts, one looked like a watch, but what was supposed to be the watch face had a rounded ‘ball’ on top. The other looked like a morpher similar to what the original Power Rangers used.

Pointing to the morpher and watch, Aisha said quietly, “These were your mom’s originally. She’d given them to me before going to the Youth Summit. I think she’d like for you to have them.”

I frowned. “Dad won’t be happy. He doesn’t want me following in Mom’s footsteps, whatever that means. Not even Aunt Kimberly and Uncle Billy will tell me. Dad certainly won’t.”

“Your mom was the original Yellow Ranger, Abigail. If Ernie won’t approve, you might want to keep them hidden.” I had a shoulder bag with a hidden space that Dad didn’t know about and quickly put them in there. I tended to use the bag as a purse and it occasionally doubled as a backpack. The sketchbooks and pencils were put on my desk, out in the open. Hopefully, Dad would see those and not look further.

By the time Dad called me for dinner, Aisha and I had gone on to talk about other things, including my upcoming summer lessons. She’d told me stories of what she’d known about Mom, but not any Ranger stories. As neither of us were completely sure if Dad knew of Mom being one, she promised to tell me some stories next time I was at the gymnastics studio. She also promised to let Aunt Kimberly and Jason about giving me the morpher and communicator, which is what the watch ended up being. They’d pass the word on to Uncle Billy, or so Aisha promised.

David had also gotten home while Aisha and I were talking. Dad had offered Aisha dinner, but she said she had to go, having had dinner of her own in a slow cooker.

“What did Ms. Campbell want?” Dad asked, over his chicken.

“Oh, just to give me an early birthday gift and to talk about an upcoming competition this summer. Aunt Kimberly thinks I’ve got a shot at it.” Dad scowled, the letter about it had been sent home at the end of the school year. I wanted to go, but it wasn’t in Angel Grove. Dad didn’t like me leaving the city unless it was either on vacation or school field trips. Not even David had been allowed to go to martial arts competitions if they weren’t in Angel Grove.

David also had a tough time convincing Dad to let him take Driver’s Ed and get his license. I could understand why, too, with how Mom had died. He’d finally given in; I didn’t think I’d have the same luck next year, even though I’d be 16 by then. David, though he was going to be away at university, promised to work on Dad.

The rest of dinner ended up being in almost complete silence. David had asked what Aisha’s early birthday gift had been, more to break the silence than anything else.

“A couple of new sketchbooks and some new drawing pencils.”

“Nice. How’d she find out that you like to draw?” David asked, actually curious.

I laughed a bit. “Aunt Kimberly’s got several of my sketches at the studio. She must have seen them there.” What I didn’t tell David or Dad was Aisha had also seen me draw and also had some of my sketches.

I asked David about if he was ready for university. He’d graduated last weekend and was going to go to school in nearby Los Angeles. Even though L. A. was close, David was going to be rooming on campus the first year. How he’d convinced Dad, I didn’t know and he wouldn’t say, even when asked. He had promised to let me know privately before he left, though, once out of Dad’s earshot.

After dinner, David convinced Dad to let him take me to a movie, as an early birthday gift, since he was going to be out of town for my actual birthday. His university orientation was on Saturday, my birthday. Dad was going to be going with him and I was possibly going to spend the day with Aunt Kimberly and Aisha. Even though I was almost 15, Dad didn’t like me being home alone for long. I’d spent most of today at the Youth Center with him before heading back home at 4. We didn’t live far, only a few blocks, but Dad worried.

While in the car headed to the movie theater, David finally confessed how he got Dad to agree to let him live on campus. “I told him it was required of all freshmen, which was technically true. I could have commuted from home, but it’s a 30-minute drive. Freshmen aren’t also allowed to have cars on campus, so the commute would have been worse. Next year, maybe, I told Dad.” That was clever, I thought.

The film had been an action-adventure, one of my favorite types of films and David’s too. By the time we got home, though, Dad was drunk. He didn’t get drunk often, but when he did, both David and I knew to hide. He didn’t get violent, normally, but neither of us liked being around Dad when he was drunk. He yelled, or looked at one of the few pictures of him and Mom that were still out, crying. Sometimes, he did both.

If Dad wouldn’t have noticed us not coming home, David and I would have gone over to Aunt Kimberly’s house for a sleepover. She and Jason had gotten together, finally, and their twins were a couple of years older than I, but younger than David. We’d been friends for years. Dad always got mad when we spent the night out without telling him, but never connected it with some of the nights he was drunk. He also refused to believe that it was the cause of us sneaking out, either.

We snuck up to our rooms, trying to be as quiet as possible. When I got into my room, I noticed that it had been gone through. I had an idea of what Dad was looking for too. Despite Aisha and I trying to be quiet when she gave me my mom’s morpher and communicator, Dad had good ears. I’d taken my bag with me, so he wouldn’t have found either item. The sketchbooks hadn’t been where I’d left them, nor the pencils.

David and I weren’t as quiet as we’d hoped. By the time I was finished getting ready for bed, Dad was at my door. Drunk or not, he looked angry about something and I had a good idea as to why.

“You need something, Dad? I was just ready to head to bed,” trying to sound as tired as I felt.

“What else did Aisha give you? Don’t lie, I heard her say that something that she gave you belonged to your Mom.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dad. She said I looked like Mom, that I had Mom’s eyes.” I wasn’t a convincing liar, though. I was hoping Dad was drunk enough that he’d believe me. Sober, I’d not have had a chance, but Dad wouldn’t have brought up the issue either. I had several things that had once been Mom’s; Dad had given them to me years ago. No pictures, just things that Mom had collected over the years. He wouldn’t have cared normally if one of Mom’s friends gave me something that had belonged to her, but they’d all been given when he could see them.

It was at this point that I realized Dad did know about Mom being a Ranger; he wouldn’t have asked otherwise. I stubbornly refused to look at my bag where the morpher and communicator were; it would have given me away in an instant. Dad and I looked at each other, Dad not having moved from the doorframe, before he finally went to his room, shutting the door behind him. I quickly shut my own door; hoping Dad wouldn’t change his mind and have a round 2 of the conversation.

I was also hoping he’d forget about the issue before the weekend, but also knew I needed to find a better place for the items. I couldn’t wear the communicator openly; Dad knew what it was. The morpher was a bit more obvious and Dad would flip over it, even if I kept it in my room. If he didn’t forget, we’d be having one heck of an argument. David knew less than I did now of Mom’s teenaged years, or so I thought. I didn’t know how much Jason had told him, but for the time being, I assumed he was as ignorant as I’d been.

Both of us knew about the Power Rangers, it was hard not to growing up in Angel Grove. Even now, theories ran rampant as to who they’d been. Other cities had Ranger teams, including Reefside where Dr. Oliver, another friend of Mom’s, taught. Some of the Ranger teams were known as to who they were, but not any of Angel Grove’s teams. I’d only seen Dr. Oliver a couple of times growing up, but not since I was 8. I doubt he’d recognize me; I’d changed a lot in 7 years.

I went to bed, though I wasn’t going to end up sleeping in like I’d hoped. Aunt Kimberly had called the house early the next morning and Dad had answered. He was always up early, so he could open the Youth Center. The Youth Center always opened at 10 and didn’t close until 6 or 7. Dad didn’t always stay open to close, even if it was open late. Some of the local teenagers and college-aged students helped him out so he could make it home for dinner if it was going to be open later than 7.

I’d not known about Aunt Kimberly’s call, though, having slept right through it. What did wake me up was a pissed off Dad opening my door. He’d obviously not forgotten about my little lie the night before and I knew I was in trouble.

“Where is your mom’s morpher and communicator, Abigail?” I’d never heard Dad this pissed, even when I was in legitimate trouble.

“Her what, Dad?” Aisha had, obviously, sworn me to secrecy, but I don’t think she knew how bad of a liar I was. “I didn’t think Mom was a Power Ranger, Dad.”

Dad just glowered, not believing me for a second. “I just got off the phone with Kimberly, Abigail. She told me everything. She’d wanted to talk to you, but I had her explain why.”

Crap. I still wasn’t about to give either item up; even though I had no plans on becoming a Power Ranger. I knew I wouldn’t know where to start and my martial arts skills needed work, despite David’s teaching. I also wasn’t going to reveal where they were, either. I knew Dad was going to try and destroy them and I had precious few things that belonged to Mom.

“You heard me correctly. I tried protecting you from your mom’s past, not even David knows what she was involved in. I lost her; I don’t want to lose the two of you. Give me them, now.”

“Still don’t know what you’re talking about, Dad.” I was in this for the long haul, I knew that. I knew I’d be in even worse trouble for lying, but I’d also promised Aisha that I’d not hand them over for any reason. If that meant playing ignorant, I’d play ignorant.

I wasn’t, however, expecting to get slapped. Dad never hit either of us, even when drunk. “Ow!” was my only response. Dad didn’t like being lied to and had started yelling at me. David, who’d been fast asleep still, had come running out of his room, still in his boxers. Ever my protector, he got managed to get between Dad and I and got Dad to direct his anger away from me. I knew I’d have to explain later, after Dad went to work, but I wasn’t explaining without backup.

Dad finally ran out of steam and left for work. I gave David a huge hug.

“What was that about, little sister?”

I snorted, wiping away my tears. “I can’t explain, David, not exactly. Let’s just say that Aisha gave me two other items that had belonged to Mom that Dad didn’t want me to have. That’s why I didn’t mention them last night during dinner.”

David nodded. “He’d have confiscated them and possibly destroyed them if he could have. If you can’t explain, who can?”

“Aisha or Aunt Kimberly. Probably Jason or Uncle Billy, too. Not sure who else.”

“We’ll head to the gymnastics studio after breakfast, then. Get dressed and grab what you need.” With that, David went to his room to do the same.

After a quick breakfast of cereal, we headed out to the studio in David’s car. Thankfully, the studio was in the opposite direction of the Youth Center, but we didn’t want to risk Dad coming back for round 2 of the argument. Thankfully, both Aunt Kimberly and Aisha were at the studio; Aisha sometimes only worked afternoons, depending on classes and what else needed done.

Aisha looked up when we came in; Aunt Kimberly was likely warming up to do a routine as she often did in the mornings. She knew something was wrong as David and I were still visibly upset.

“What happened?” Concern was obvious on her face.

“I take it you told Aunt Kimberly this morning?” She didn’t even have to ask as to what I was talking about.

“Not long after I got in, why?”

“She called Dad, wanting to talk to me. Told him enough of what happened that he woke me up, angrier than I’ve ever seen him.”

“Slapped her too, Aisha. I didn’t see it happen, but it was still obvious when I got up.” David added after I stopped, unsure of what to say next.

“Fuck. I didn’t know she was going to call right away. I though she was going to wait until the Youth Center opened. Damn.” Aisha was frustrated, I could tell. “I’ve known your dad for years and have never known him to get angry. Frustrated at Bulk and Skull or any bullies but rarely angry. I heard about what he said to Jason that one year, though.”

“Who got angry?” Aunt Kimberly had come out during Aisha’s last comment. David and Aisha explained; I wasn’t in the mood to repeat myself twice.

“I’m sorry, Abigail. I thought he knew of Aisha giving you the morpher and communicator. I wasn’t happy she did, but thought she’d told Ernie.” She came around and drew me into a hug. I broke down crying at that point.

After I finished crying, I immediately started apologizing.

“Don’t apologize, Abigail. My shirt can dry off.” Aunt Kimberly smiled at me. “Do you want me to talk to your dad?”

“I can too, Abigail,” Aisha added to Aunt Kimberly’s offer. “Seeing as I was the one to give the communicator and morpher to you, he’d probably listen to me.”

David cut in with, “That is if he doesn’t yell at you first, Aisha.”

I finally nodded at this point, just too spent emotionally to disagree. Aunt Kimberly ended up sending us over to Jason’s martial arts dojo, shared by the same fairly big building, while she and Aisha went over to talk to Dad.

Jason, after hearing what was going on, was as flabbergasted as Aunt Kimberly and Aisha had been. Like Mom and the other two, he’d known Dad for years. He was about to join them, but then there’d be nobody at either studio if Dad came. Instead, he spent the time refining what David had taught me, just to be safe. Adam, who also taught at the dojo, was tasked with keeping an eye out for Aunt Kimberly, Aisha, or Dad. If Dad showed up, Adam was to distract him while David and I left. When I asked why, all they’d say was, “Rangers protect their own.” Apparently, that included children of Power Rangers.

Jason also took the time to explain everything about the Power Rangers and Mom’s role in it. David was surprised by the whole thing, but not completely.

“I figured Mom had been one, but didn’t realize she’d been a founding member of the team,” was his only answer when Jason noticed David’s almost complete lack of surprise. He cheekily followed that up with, “Does being a Power Ranger mean you always have to dress in the color of your Ranger suit color?” Completely derailed the conversation and got us laughing.

Jason didn’t answer, but that was more because he was laughing too hard. “Out of all the questions you could have asked, you picked that?”

“Abigail needed a laugh after this morning,” David replied. He sobered up pretty quickly, though. “I’m worried about leaving her alone with Dad, though, after going to college. He was drunk last night and got violent this morning. I’ve never known him to be violent, but the longer Abigail has the morpher and communicator, the worse Dad’ll get.”

“Before this morning, I’d not have pegged Ernie as being a violent guy either. I don’t agree with him wrapping either of you in bubble wrap either. He was never able to answer why he allowed you to have martial arts lessons and not your sister.”

“I had to practically beg for the lessons, Jason. It took Mr. Anders to convince him; he’d not been able to do the same thing twice for Abigail. I’m just glad Dad allowed her to take gymnastics.”

We ended up troubleshooting for a half hour; the only things we could think of were to either make an anonymous call to the police for abuse or for me to run away. Both weren’t ideal, as they’d draw negative attention on Dad and the Youth Center. Appearing for me to be kidnapped was another option, but Jason didn’t know of anyone except Uncle Billy who could create that type of computer trail. These, though, were only if this morning’s behavior ended up turning into a repeat thing.

David and I promised to keep Jason in the loop; the dojo, unlike the gymnastics studio, had continuous lessons. Besides Jason and Adam, there were enough other teachers that they could do so. Some of them were former Rangers while others were black belt students willing to teach the younger students. Even Zack, who’d eventually returned from Africa where he’d been teaching, taught at the dojo. He wasn’t in this morning, though. His classes weren’t until the afternoon; Jason promised to fill him in when he arrived.

Chapter Text

We ended up rehashing the plans before too long. Jason ended up talking me out of running away for the time being, though he left the police call thing open if Dad got abusive. He knew someone who could keep the call quiet and anonymous. Apparent kidnapping was scrapped almost as soon as it was suggested, as Dad had no known enemies and all of Mom’s wouldn’t go looking for her.

Aunt Kimberly and Aisha were back before too long, though. By their expressions, they’d not been entirely successful. Aunt Kimberly was actually upset; from what Jason had said, they all considered Dad a friend. He’d figured out that they were Power Rangers early on and had kept it a secret all these years. He’d finally confessed he’d known when he and Mom were dating, as she’d apparently told him.

It made his comment all those years ago make actual sense, as well as why he didn’t want me to have her morpher or communicator. He worried, yes, but it was slowly becoming obvious that he wasn’t dealing with Mom’s loss as well as they thought he’d had. Unfortunately, neither Jason nor Adam could think of any former Rangers who’d entered the therapist field off the top of their head. Having a former Ranger as a therapist made sense, because they were also privy to that secret. Jason was going to keep an ear out as all the former Rangers kept in touch if they knew about each other.

Adam took Jason’s place sitting with us as Jason went to talk to his wife and Aisha. The three quickly came back in.

“David, I know you and Ernie are heading down to L. A. Saturday, but keep an eye out,” Jason said.

I sighed. “I take it the talk with Dad didn’t go well?”

“Nope,” Aisha replied, frustration evident.

Aunt Kimberly continued, “He was pissed. I’ve never seen him that angry. I told him I understood he wanted to protect you, Abigail, but that he couldn’t keep you locked up.”

Aisha picked up where Aunt Kimberly left off. “I explained that I thought that you would want a memento of your mom, not that I was recruiting you for a Ranger team.”

Jason snorted at that. “Angel Grove hasn’t been targeted in years. I know Reefside’s got a team, or had one, but nobody’s attacked here in years.”

It looked like I’d have to either find a better hiding spot for Mom’s stuff or give it to Dad. I didn’t see him being any happier when I got back then he was this morning. David apparently had the same thought, as did everyone else.

“What do we do now?” I asked, continuing with my thoughts on Dad. “I really don’t want to go home or to the Youth Center. I know I’m going to be grounded for lying, which I don’t mind. I’m just scared he’s going to hit me again. If I leave Mom’s stuff here, he’s just going to ask for it from one of you.”

Nobody knew what to say to that, but Jason volunteered to go over my katas with me again. Adam was working with David on his. Aunt Kimberly and Aisha had to get back to work as unlike Jason and Adam, they were the only two gymnastics teachers their studio had at present. Even though they had no classes going on at the moment, it wasn’t unusual for students to come in to practice a routine, especially with the competition coming up. Aunt Kimberly’s coach had retired years ago and had moved out of Angel Grove, so he wasn’t available to help.

Soon, though, it was time for lunch and time for David and I to head home. Nobody had come up with a better place to store Mom’s Ranger gear, so it stayed in my bag. When we got home, though, Dad was there. David and I shared a look; both of us were in trouble for a variety of reasons, we just didn’t know how much trouble.

Don’t ask me know either of knew we were both in trouble; we just did. I don’t know if it was the look on Dad’s face or something else, but there was also no other reason for him to be home at the middle of the day either. Unless he was running errands or was sick, Dad was at the Youth Center from before it opened until however long it took to clean it up after closing. The only other times were David and my birthdays and the anniversary of Mom’s death.

Dad didn’t have to say I was grounded, either. I knew I was, simply for lying to him about everything Aisha gave me. Everything I had of Mom’s was stuff Dad had given her; I had nothing of hers from her high school days or her days as a Power Ranger. Why Dad thought I’d simply hand them over, I don’t know. I’d said as much to Aisha the night before and only hoped she’d passed it on.

David, at 18 and about ready to head off to college, couldn’t be punished much. Dad couldn’t take his car away from him as David wouldn’t need it the first year. Him staying on campus, too, was already set in stone. Dad wouldn’t take his cell phone away from him either as the only way he’d let David stay on campus was for David to check in on a near daily basis.

David would probably be grounded, same as I, except for martial arts lessons and anything college related that couldn’t be done online. For now, Dad just wanted to talk to me alone.

“After this morning, I’m not leaving her alone with you, Dad” was David’s only response, a hand still on my shoulder. While both Dad and David were protective of me, David was more of the supportive protective. Dad was the ‘wrap in bubble wrap’ overprotective type. I hadn’t realized, until talking with Jason and Adam, just how dangerous being a Ranger was and understood why Dad didn’t want me to be one. Why that translated into trying to take Mom’s morpher away from me, I don’t know. I knew better then to use it; Aunt Kimberly wasn’t sure if it even still worked. I wasn’t about to try to find out either, though Jason had given me instructions on how to use it and call the connected Zord, if it was still around.

Dad wouldn’t budge, though. David’s presence was the only thing keeping me calm as I was still shook up from this morning’s wakeup. “This is between Abigail and myself, David.”

“If this is about the Power Rangers, Jason explained everything, Dad. It’s not like you have to keep that a secret from either of us now.” David stood resolute. He could be as stubborn as Dad could sometimes, especially when it came to family and friends.

Dad just seemed to get angrier. “I told Aisha and Kimberly I wanted the two of you kept away from that. There’s a reason I didn’t want your sister especially to know, David. I’ve already lost your mother; I don’t want to lose either of you.”

David just shook his head. He didn’t have to say anything, as even I recognized that Dad’s behavior was pushing both of us away. Convincing Dad of that was next to impossible, though. You’d have an easier time moving a large statue with one hand and by yourself. Aisha and Aunt Kimberly had tried, though, playing on their friendship with both of my parents.

I was grounded until I gave Dad Mom’s morpher and communicator. Given that I’d never give them up, that meant until I left for college unless Dad changed his mind or forgot that I had them. I wasn’t going to the gymnastics competition either, not that it was any great punishment. I wasn’t that interested in the competition and only really did gymnastics so I could hang out with Aunt Kimberly, who’d known Mom the longest outside of Uncle Billy.

I didn’t tell Dad that as he’d cancel the lessons and I’d have even less time away from the house or Youth Center when I wasn’t in school. If Aunt Kimberly or Aisha suspected, they didn’t tell Dad either. I only went over to a friend’s house for sleepovers because Dad knew he’d come off as too strict otherwise. Thankfully for Dad, there was an art teacher at the Youth Center; he knew I liked to draw outside of school and lessons. I hadn’t taken lessons there in a while; the teacher said she’d taught me everything she could. Most of what I was learning now was stuff I’d picked up from books gotten out of the local library.

Dad eventually quit trying to not have the conversation in front of David and went back to the Youth Center. This wasn’t before telling us that he’d talk with us later and to not leave the house again until the conversation happened. For obvious reasons, nobody wanted to have the conversation at the Youth Center. Dad tried to keep family life separate from work and any discipline issues happened at home. Rarely did he have to do it at the Youth Center.

Once Dad left and we knew the coast was clear, David and I went up to his room. His had a better view of the road leading to the Youth Center. My room was across the hall from Dad’s in the back of the second floor and didn’t face the street at all. The room across the hall from David’s was a guest room that generally doubled as Dad’s office. Neither of us were allowed in there and it was where Dad kept all the photo books with most of the pictures of Mom in them. The only pictures I’d seen of Mom that wasn’t the one wedding picture hung up in the hall were either pictures from when she was in high school or that her friends had. It was one of the few things I didn’t have of Mom; Dad didn’t want the reminder in my room. It was tough enough that I’d had some of her things in there already.

I’d not even interacted with my maternal family that much either. It was primarily my cousin Sylvia that I saw as she was working at the Youth Center. My grandparents, I’d only seen a couple of times. I don’t know if they eventually moved out of Angel Grove or if they’d passed away. I’d not gotten cards from them in a while and Sylvia wouldn’t say if she knew what had happened either.

“What now, Abby?” David was the only person to get away with calling me that and he only did so in private. He didn’t even call me that in front of Dad, which I appreciated.

“I don’t know. I can’t keep Mom’s morpher or communicator in my bag forever and keeping it in either of our rooms means Dad will find it sooner or later.”

“I’d offer to take it to school with me, but I know how much having it means to you.” David never had much interest in Mom’s things, which was why I had several of the mementos instead.

“I appreciate that, David,” I replied, giving him a huge hug. “I know Jason said to not run away, but if Dad gets worse, I might have to. With you away at college, I worry he’s going to get worse.”

David could only nod. Before Mom’s Ranger gear made its way to me, David hadn’t worried about leaving me here home alone with Dad for several months. Now, though? He worried. If Angel Grove wasn’t such a drive to his university or he wasn’t staying on campus the first year, he’d be commuting as to give me an extra layer of protection.

There was also the fact that Dad was starting to drink more often. Growing up, if he drank, it was after David and I had gone to bed and not much to drink either. Now, though, he was drinking earlier and more often. Not often enough to make his friends worried or us, but we hadn’t forgotten how he’d been when we’d come back from the movies last night. This morning was the first time Dad had truly gotten violent with either of us. He’d never hit us to discipline us growing up, preferring to ground us or take away any planned activities outside of extra-curricular lessons.

David couldn’t remember Dad ever going to a therapist or getting involved in any sort of grief recovery group after Mom died. Neither could any of her friends; David had asked when we were at the dojo earlier.

“How much of his behavior with us right now or growing up was due to grief do you think, David?” I eventually asked.

“A lot of it. That would explain why he freaked out so much about you and Mom’s gear.”

“It’s probably also why he wouldn’t let me take martial arts and why you had to beg to take them yourself,” I added. “Crap.” I leaned my head up against the wall from where I was sitting on his bed and closed my eyes.

“Mom’s accident…no wonder why he had issues with me learning to drive.” Realization grew across his face. Other rules of Dad’s flashed across both of our minds, the no leaving town unless he was with us except for David’s university plans, the tough times going to competitions out of the city, the list went on. Even where we spent our free time, too, could be construed under Dad’s grief.

“Remember what Jason said about Dad and after Mom died?” I finally asked.

“Yep. Jason said, and I quote, ‘Your dad always claimed he was too busy raising the two of you and running the Youth Center to go to any group or grief counselor. Never mind that he had plenty of people willing to watch you two and the Youth Center so he could go.’” David snorted. “I wonder how much of that was Dad just not ready to deal and how much of that was grief in general.”

“So do I, David, so do I. Especially when you consider that he has plenty of time when school’s in session. He doesn’t get as many youths in during the school day. Most of the kids that come in are ones who are either skipping school or coming in with teachers introducing them to the Youth Center.” Granted, David knew this already.

“You also forgot the ones who are there working, Abby.”

“Most of them are there after school, though David, or there on weekends,” I reminded him.

“Still left Dad plenty of time when we both were in school.”

“Obvious, much?”

David’s only reply was to throw some dirty socks at me, which I tossed right back to him, one at a time.

Neither of us could come up with a better hiding place for Mom’s gear, though. My shoulder bag, which David had gotten made for me from a magic shop friend of his, was the safest place for them to be. That didn’t mean Dad wouldn’t look there, but I kept that bag on me unless I was eating meals. Outside of dinner or the occasional meal had at the Youth Center, I usually ate after Dad left for work if I was staying at home. I had a desk in my room and that was where I did my homework. Same went for my drawing, as Dad liked to watch tv after dinner. Sometimes, I’d join him, but if I was in the mood for quiet, I’d go to my room after Jeopardy. Dad and I liked to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy together and it was one of the few times I got to see him fully relax.

Breaking the quiet after our sock fight, David asked, “I know Jason said to not run away, but if you did, where would you go?”

“I don’t know. I know their friend Tommy lives in Reefside, maybe there. Don’t want to go to L. A. even though you and Uncle Billy are there.”

David chuckled. “Yea…with his work in the movie industry, I don’t think he’d have much free time. Dr. Oliver-Jason said he got a PhD in paleontology-teaches, from what Jason said. He’d be able to help.”

“The only real problems I see with running away are getting there and what name to use. Dad would put the alert out in an instant once he found out. I’d be found out in a heartbeat unless I used a fake name. Fake name means paper trail, which I don’t have.” I shook my head at that before continuing. “I don’t think running away is the solution unless Dad gets really abusive. This morning’s slap was one thing and was likely out of anger.”

“Abuse can come out of anger, too, sis,” David reminded me. He had actually taken some psychology classes at Angel Grove High and had studied abuse. It was why he’d initially gotten between Dad and I this morning and wouldn’t leave me alone with Dad either. He knew what to look for and was trying to keep me safe. He made sure I knew some of the signs too and had let me look at some of his textbooks when Dad hadn’t been around.

“I know. That’s why I’m so appreciative of the fact that you’re still here and why I’m worried once you go off to school. If Dad gets worse between now and Saturday, I’m leaving then.”

“That’s a good plan, sis, but don’t have that as a firm date, either. There’s still the day I’m moving into my dorm room.”

I shook my head. “That’s the only day that will work, David. He’s already planned for me to come with the two of you to move you into your dorm, he said.”

David swore in response. I was right, though, as there was no other date that would work. David would be immediately complicit if I ran away any other day but Saturday. Today was Tuesday, I had 3 days to prepare and needed a go bag if it was to work. I was going to hold off and see what Dad did. A minor argument or two was one thing, even if he’d slapped me. Him going from that to straight on abuse, even sober, was something else.

The only other problem with any other day is David’s martial arts lessons were late afternoon. My gymnastics lessons were usually at the same time, except for this week and next week off. A missed lesson by either one of us, unless Dad called, would result in a call to the Youth Center. I was taking this week and next week off to let my body relax, which was Aunt Kimberly’s idea. It was part of why I suspected she knew I wasn’t that serious about gymnastics as she was. Some of my lessons were, without Dad’s knowledge, how to use them to protect myself. Aunt Kimberly had, from what I realized, passed on what she’d used as a Ranger herself. Mom, from what Jason said, preferred more of a martial arts approach as a Ranger. Zack used dance; Uncle Billy martial arts and his intelligence. The rest of the Rangers who’d come and gone used different techniques.

I still couldn’t run away during his lesson times, as it would also make him look complicit. The monorail did run partially between here and Reefside. Most travelers to Reefside took another train from the monorail’s end of the line station. That was if they didn’t drive or were having someone pick them up.

I’d never been to Reefside before. Most of my trips out of the city were to Disneyland or to L. A. in general. We’d once gone to Culver City because Dad had gotten tickets to tapings of a few Jeopardy episodes, which was fun. Seeing it on tv was one thing, being in the audience was something else. David and I both had to be quiet and not yell the answers out like we were used to doing with Dad at home. I didn’t even know where Tommy lived, just the school where he worked. Jason had written the name of the school down for me and I’d immediately put it into my cell phone.

That was another issue: I wouldn’t be able to take my cell phone with me, or if I did, it would have to stay off more often than not unless I wanted to be found. I’d have to write names, phone numbers, and addresses down in an address book. One of my friends had given me one just before finishing middle school as an early birthday gift. She wasn’t going to be in town for my birthday either.

Neither David or I thought Dad had anything planned for my birthday because of his orientation taking all day. He didn’t like to leave the Youth Center for more than multiple days in a row, except for when any of us were sick. David was going to be giving me his gift Friday, just in case I needed to get out of Angel Grove the next day. We both also realized that me being grounded meant Dad wasn’t likely to do something special for my birthday except give me my card and gift. In the past, even if there was something going on the day itself, Dad always made sure to do something special with me. The Jeopardy tickets had been once such gift, though I’d had to wait until they started taping up again for the next season.

Other gifts had included the mementos of Mom’s I’d had in my room. I was going to take those with me should I need to run away. I also knew I was going to have to pack quickly and quietly, so not to wake Dad up. I wouldn’t have much time to do so Saturday if I was leaving that same day.

When the phone rang, David went downstairs to answer it, while I stayed in his room. He quickly came back up, though.

“That was Dad. He’s bringing pizza home for dinner and to not bother cooking.”

“How’d he sound?”

David knew why I’d asked; he’d been worried about the same thing. “Not as pissed, but that’s probably because he’s at work still.” He looked at his clock before continuing. “We’ve got another couple of hours before he’s back as he said dinner wasn’t going to be until 6:30.”

With that, we moved to my room, as David wanted to help me make a mental list as to what I was going to pack. Neither of us wanted to leave a list in my room where Dad could find it. David had an excuse for his room, as he was going to have to start packing for his dorm within the next month and a half.

Given that I could only pack enough to go into my shoulder bag and backpack, I needed to keep it minimal. A few changes of clothing, some toiletries, my mementos of Mom, my laptop, drawing supplies and blank sketchbooks. David also gave me a tape recorder and extra tapes as he wanted me to be able to record Dad’s behavior. It would help me to convince Tommy to help if needed. Jason was also right on the fact that we couldn’t call the cops. Despite Jason knowing a cop that could bury the call so they could get Dad help, there’d still have to be a record with social services. David remembered that much from his classes; he’d also had a friend in foster care. The rest of what he knew came from his friend.

Most of our plans were contingent on Dad getting worse and refusing to admit he needed help. With David at university and if I ran away, Jason would have time to get his cop friend, who’d not been a Power Ranger, to handle everything. None of us wanted Dad to go to jail. It was part of why Jason had ruled out the call to his friend, me running away, or faking a kidnapping. Dad was just too known in the city and too well liked. There’d be a huge scandal if the truth came out, but David and I were hoping that this would be a wakeup call for Dad. David would be using most of the rest of the week looking for someone for Dad to go to. He’d give me a list that I’d leave on my desk for Dad to find after they got back if I needed to.

If I needed to enact the running away, I’d pack almost everything Friday night. My toiletries would be packed after I got ready for the day. I just hoped Dad didn’t have someone check in on me or have me spend the day at the Youth Center. If I slept in long enough, or pretended to, I hoped he’d just forget. Having someone check in or having me supposed to spend the day at the Youth Center would mean a call to Dad.

We also realized that I didn’t need any documents, just cash for the monorail and train tickets, along with food. I had my allowance, which I’d use if I needed to. The monorail employees didn’t care if teens were on there alone as they tended to use it to get around town. The train would be harder; I’d have to come up with some excuse of meeting a friend there if pressed.

By the time we got the list done, Dad had gotten home with the pizzas. He looked like he’d calmed down some from this afternoon, but David and I were still cautious as we came downstairs. I’d left my bag in my room, but had no intention of handing over the items.

Dad looked up when we came down, to see David come to get the pizzas. I was busy getting plates and napkins on the table, more to keep myself busy than anything else.

“Don’t think you’re still not in trouble, young lady,” Dad said. Despite calming down, I could tell he was angry still. He scowled before continuing, “Jason came over this afternoon. You can guess what he wanted to talk about.” I didn’t have to guess and Dad didn’t expect a response, either. “I told him I didn’t want lectured on how I raised my daughter.” David and I both winced at that; normally Jason had more tact. Mom’s death was still a sore spot for Dad, as was how he’d had to raise us after she died.

Jason must have pushed several buttons talking with Dad; between Aisha’s gift last night and talking with him this morning, Dad didn’t have any more patience to deal with the subject today. He didn’t generally have much patience with the topic on a good day either, though and didn’t like talking about Mom unless he was in the mood too. He was usually drunk at the time, but occasionally would when sober; often it was when he gave me one of her mementos.

Dinner was generally quiet, as none of us were in the mood to talk. Rare for us, we were even quiet during our normal evening routine. Normally, we tried guessing the puzzles and clues of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, but not tonight. Dad turned the tv off during Jeopardy’s closing music and both David and I moved to go upstairs as was our normal routine. Dad grabbed my wrist as I walked by him, forcing me to stop.

“Not now, Abigail. We still need to finish our conversation from earlier today. Sit back down. You can go upstairs, David, it’s your sister I need to talk to.”

“I told you earlier, Dad, that I’m not leaving Abigail alone with you after this morning,” was David’s response to Dad’s last statement.

“I said, go upstairs, David.” Dad was really starting to get angry again.

“Not when you’re this angry. I don’t want to see her hurt, Dad.”

Dad’s eyes flashed. “Don’t make me repeat myself a third time, David. This conversation is between Abigail and I. You’re not going to be always able to protect her, it’s about time she learns that.” David refused to budge, though.

“I’m not leaving her alone until you calm down, Dad. Just because I won’t always be able to protect her from college doesn’t mean I can’t be her protector when I’m at home. She’s known this for years.”

Dad tried moving David out of the room, but between martial arts lessons and age, David was much stronger than Dad and couldn’t be moved. I was frozen in my place, too scared to move. The only way upstairs was past my arguing dad and brother and even if I went to my room, Dad would just follow. This room allowed for more space; my room didn’t have a lot of space left between my bedroom furniture, desk, and bookshelf. I also couldn’t run away now; my shoulder bag was upstairs and I had nothing else packed.

Dad finally ran out of steam and stood there glowering at my brother. David just stood there; arms folded over his chest as they’d been during the argument. Neither moved for a long time, before Dad sat back down in his usual spot, face in his hands. David and I sat on the love seat, facing Dad, David putting an arm over my shoulder.

Dad finally spoke. “You really don’t want to give me what Aisha gave you, do you?” I shook my head no. “Jason said as much. Why not, if not to use it?”

I snorted. “I have no intention of being a Power Ranger, Dad. Jason made sure I knew just how dangerous it is. He also said that they weren’t given a choice in being one; he wanted to make sure I had the information to make the choice. I don’t want to, plus Angel Grove doesn’t have need for a Power Ranger right now, even a solo one.” I took a deep breath before continuing. “I also don’t have any mementos of Mom from when she was in high school, just her adult life.”

“That’s what Jason said,” Dad responded. “That doesn’t mean Aisha couldn’t have given you anything else. I still want you to give me them; the morpher especially is too dangerous to keep around. Who knows how many Ranger’s enemies are out there; you might not be given a choice but to use it to protect yourself.” Dad finally let me go upstairs after I promised him I’d think about it. I knew, however, he’d probably be drunk again before the night was over. He often bought beer when he bought pizza and I knew he was out; I’d seen the bottles in the recycle bin earlier. He didn’t always bring it in the house or drink it until David and I went to our respective rooms for the evening.

Chapter Text

The next two days, Dad alternated between his normal self and anger. I realized I’d never found out how old Mom had been when she was a Power Ranger. On Friday afternoon, I went digging in my closet where I’d hid the scrapbook I’d made last year about what I could find on Mom’s high school years and the start of the Rangers, but it wasn’t there. I knew Dad had gone through my room when David and I were out on Monday, he must have found it. Where it went, I don’t know. I’d not seen it in the trash or recycle bins when I put them out Tuesday. He must have put it in his office or taken it with him to work.

I did, however, check the recycle bin and found it filled with normal items that we recycled, no beer bottles at all. I’d thought Dad would have gotten drunk the other night, but he hadn’t. On one hand, I was relieved, but the flip side of that was that once he got drunk, there was a good chance he’d get violent. I don’t know what it was about me turning 15 and getting my Mom’s gear, but Dad was starting to worry me.

He was worrying his friends, too. Granted, some of his friends had also been Mom’s, but he had other friends, too. I knew that he was going out with some of them tonight, he’d called to let David and I know we were on our own for dinner. Normally, I wouldn’t be worried, but with the way Dad had been this week, I was worried. Normally, when Dad went out with this group of friends, they tended to go to a nearby bar and get drunk.

With that in mind, I quickly put my go bags together. Some, I’d pack just before going to bed, as Dad would be suspicious if some of my stuff wasn’t on my desk. I just hoped he’d be too drunk to notice or care that it looked like I was packed to leave if he turned violent tonight. Depending on when he arrived home, I’d also hopefully have enough warning to get the tape recorder going. Dr. Oliver, like so many of the Power Rangers who’d been in Angel Grove, had spent a good chunk of time at the Youth Center. He wouldn’t believe me without recorded proof.

I was also going to have to leave my cell phone behind; I knew that unless I kept it off, there was a good chance I could be tracked. If it could record video, I’d probably use it to record Dad tonight, but it couldn’t. It could only take pictures, so I knew the tape recorder was going to be what needed to be used.

After packing what I could, I let David know about my missing scrapbook. He quickly helped me do a more thorough search, as there was the chance that Dad may have simply put it somewhere else in the room. He remembered the scrapbook, so I didn’t have to describe it to him; he’d actually helped me put it together. After an exhaustive search, we couldn’t find it. The only mementos I had of Mom were the ones Dad had given me and her Ranger gear that Aisha had passed on.

One of the things Jason had been puzzled about was how Aisha had gotten the gear back, as she’d passed it on when she left the Ranger team. She finally confessed that Alpha 6 had eventually gotten it back to her when the Command Center was being reorganized. The Command Center wasn’t used as a Power Ranger base anymore, but that didn’t stop the former Rangers from checking in with whoever was in there. Zordon, who’d put together Mom’s team, was no longer alive. From what Jason had heard, he’d finally passed away willingly to help defeat some villains. He wasn’t sure who was in there now, as the lady who’d taken Zordon’s place had also eventually left.

They had shown me where it was on a map and said Mom’s gear would allow me entry. They weren’t sure if her morpher or communicator still worked; apparently, some of the original coins got damaged before they switched to a new power source. I was warned to be careful if I found myself in a situation where I needed to morph to protect someone. The only reasons Jason hadn’t had me try the morpher at the dojo had been that there were too many places where someone could accidentally walk in and the fact that they weren’t sure if Dad was going to show up. He was having a hard enough time accepting that I had some of her gear and would have really gone overboard if he saw me in the Yellow Ranger suit. Aisha was certain that Mom’s Ranger suit was connected to the coin; even though she’d not seen it in years. They were confident that, even if they couldn’t find the suit anywhere, using the morpher would call it.

They had told David and I to call if we needed help with Dad, but I instead asked them to work with Dad more to get him to go to some form of grief counseling. I was still holding out hope that the Dad I saw normally, without the anger and drinking, was still there. He wouldn’t go if David or I asked, but it would take something for him to realize he needed help. My only real fear with running away if I had to was leaving David behind. I knew he was 4 years older and could take care of himself, but I was scared that Dad would turn his anger and abuse on him.

After eating our dinner, David and I ended up switching on the news. We normally didn’t watch the evening news, preferring to read the Angel Grove Gazette instead. Neither of us were huge TV watchers, preferring to read or indulge in a hobby. We only really watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy and I knew that was going to be something I would miss doing with my family if I ran away.

David also convinced me to take my cell phone with me should I need to run, even if I had to keep it off most of the time. Jason had given me Dr. Oliver’s home phone number and the school he worked for, but didn’t want to give me any more information than that without talking to him first. I know, why not call him Tommy like the others did. I’d only seen him a few times growing up and hadn’t seen him since he moved to Reefside.

I was also debating on whether or not to tell him who I was once I got in touch with him. There were pros and cons to both. Using a fake name and birthday would allow me some time to hide once Dad reported me missing, but it also had the biggest chance of blowing up in my face. On the flip side, using my real name and who I was didn’t mean Dr. Oliver would automatically help me. From what Jason said, he ran or had run a Ranger team of his own in Reefside and might not have time to help the daughter of a former teammate. Jason thought he would help, even saying, ‘Once a Ranger, always a Ranger. We help our own.’

I also knew I would have to do a lot of fast talking either way to get him to help. That’s part of why I was going to take the tape recorder with me. It was going to be the only way I’d be able to convince him to help, especially if I had no injuries except defensive wounds. David had no real advice on convincing Dr. Oliver either; the last time he’d seen Dr. Oliver was also the last time I’d seen him.

David’s birthday gift to me ended up being a necklace with a Saber-Tooth Tiger on it; jewelry with Power Ranger symbols was very popular in Angel Grove despite there being no active team here currently.

“You didn’t get any teasing for getting this, did you?” I asked, teasing him slightly.

“Not really, especially when I said it was for you, that you were a fan,” was his reply. David was laughing slightly.

“I do wear enough yellow, don’t I? I’m surprised Dad hasn’t reacted to it.”

“He’s never said anything, but I’ve seen him look at you sometimes when you’ve been at the Youth Center wearing a yellow top. From what photos I’ve seen of Mom at your age, you favor her right now.” Both of us took more after Mom then we did Dad, but David less so, especially as he got older. It wasn’t hard for strangers to figure out we were of mixed nationalities; it tended to be obvious when someone had one Asian parent.

Dad’s family came from Europe somewhere, but Mom was Vietnamese-American. Her family had come over to America at some point before she was born. Dad never said why they’d come over and Sylvia didn’t know, but I’d learned enough in school to know why. One of my teachers several years ago had asked if my mom’s family had escaped Vietnam during the war and I’d had to reply that I didn’t know. She’d not realized Mom was dead, as she had moved to Angel Grove just before that school year had started. The class quickly filled her in when she asked if I could ask my mom. Dad refused to answer when I asked that night; he didn’t like talking about Mom much. This was even when I said a teacher had asked.

I often wondered why Sylvia worked for Dad; seeing her must be a constant reminder of Mom’s death. Whenever I asked her, she always said that, with Mom gone, I needed one family member from her side there. None of us dared asked Dad. I hadn’t confided in Sylvia about running away the couple of times I’d gone to the Youth Center this week. That had been part of me being grounded, but I didn’t mind it so much. I actually liked going to the Youth Center; most of my friends hung out there when we weren’t in school or on vacation. A big part of why I didn’t was that she’d tell my dad. Like so many in Angel Grove, Sylvia thought highly of my Dad.

Except for several years when he’d been in the Amazon with the Peace Corps, Dad owned and ran the Youth Center. He’d tried other businesses, but the Youth Center was the most successful and where he spent most of the day. Technically, the Youth Center was named ‘Angel Grove Gym and Juice Bar’, but everyone called it the Youth Center because that’s who hung out there more often than not. Angel Grove had other gyms; Dad’s was just more popular with Angel Grove’s youth.

During the days that I spent at the Youth Center, if I wasn’t helping Dad out or hanging out with friends, I often worked on gymnastics routines. Aunt Kimberly had taught me how to use my gymnastics skills to defend myself, but also taught me routines I could do at the Youth Center. We both recognized that Dad, for whatever reason, didn’t want me to have any martial arts skills. He’d forgotten, or maybe just never cared to know, that Aunt Kimberly had used her gymnastics skills as a defensive skill as the Pink Power Ranger.

It ended up being somewhat late when Dad got home, but not late enough that I was in bed. David was asleep already as he had to get up early the next morning. I knew from the way Dad was walking I was in trouble. Normally, when Dad came home late from drinking with friends, he tended to go straight to bed. Not tonight though as he came straight to my room. I’d forgotten that I still had the necklace David had given me as a birthday gift on and it just seemed to enrage Dad. I’d turned the recorder on when I heard Dad come up the stairs and left it running on my desk chair where he wouldn’t notice.

For a long time, Dad just stood in the doorway, angrier than I’d ever seen him. Instead of heading to bed, he came into my room like he’d done a couple of days ago to wake me up after Aunt Kimberly’s phone call.

Trying to stay calm, I asked, “You need something Dad?” I was trying to not let fear enter into my voice.

Dad’s only response was to slap me like he’d done Tuesday. Shocked, I’d not even tried defending myself from it until after it happened.

David was a heavy sleeper; unless he was in a REM stage, he’d not wake up even if there was yelling. Both Dad and I knew this and I knew no help would be coming from down the hall. Dad starting hitting me harder as I tried defending myself. The size of my room with all my belongings and furniture in it made it hard along with the size difference between Dad and I. Dad was also yelling at me as I begged him to stop. The only thing that stuck in my mind was him saying he wished I’d been the one to die in the car crash that killed my mom.

When Dad finally quit and went to his room, I started checking myself over for injuries. The only ones I found were minor defensive wounds. David’s lessons had paid off, though my self-defense skills seemed to anger Dad further when he was hitting me. After I was sure Dad had fallen asleep, I finished packing my bags as quietly as I could after shutting the tape recorder off. I put that in my shoulder bag, in the same pocket as Mom’s gear.

I finally slipped into a fitful sleep, waking at every noise just in case Dad woke up and decided to hurt me again. I’d made my choice to run away as the abuse would only get worse after David left for college in August. After David left, Dad would probably have me spend all of my free time when I wasn’t at school or gymnastics lessons at the Youth Center and abuse me every time he got drunk. There would be no alone time at home because of this. I’d not be able to get help from my teachers either; even though they’re supposed to report cases of suspected abuse, most of them knew Dad by reputation or, in the case of the teachers at Angel Grove High, because they’d taught my brother. It would take me ending up in the hospital for Social Services to remove me from Dad’s custody.

I also knew that, once I switched to the train that went to Reefside, I’d have to ditch my monorail card. Most of us teens, even the ones who had a driver’s license, had a monorail card. This was true even of the adults. For those at school, it often served in lieu of a school bus, especially if we were going to the Youth Center from school. Because I lived so close to the Youth Center’s monorail station, that’s how I got to school and back the last two years. I’d have to ditch my middle school id at the same time; I would need it to get on the monorail if someone wanted to check.

By the time I woke up for the final time in the morning, Dad and David had already left. I’d not heard them leave, but Dad hadn’t woken me up either. When I got downstairs after getting ready for the day, there was only a note that said that they’d taken off and would be back late. There was no birthday card from Dad, which was unusual. Even on birthdays when he couldn’t find someone to work at the Youth Center, he always had a card for me at the table. Birthday gifts were always given after Wheel and Jeopardy.

Dad hadn’t written on the note that I was to go to the Youth Center or that he was going to have someone check in, so I knew I was clear to go. After I got my cell phone, Dad would always check in there if I wasn’t spending the day at the Youth Center with him and he knew David wasn’t home, so I knew I had several hours before he was going to check in. He usually checked in late afternoon, usually right before coming home, and I’d be in Reefside by then, hopefully. With how busy David thought the orientation would be, we were both hoping that Dad would simply forget to call or that he’d allow David to make the call.

After eating a quick breakfast, I grabbed my stuff. I’d packed my toiletries as I was getting ready for the day and was ready to go. I made my way to the monorail and got on and thankfully, nobody noticed a half-Asian girl ride the monorail. I wasn’t the only Asian or half-Asian girl in Angel Grove, as California was popular in general with Asian immigrants. Even though a number of Angel Grove residents knew my parents, I could usually ride the monorail without being recognized as their daughter. This was doubly true if I was riding alone like I was today.

I’d left what grief support resources Jason had given me on my desk with a note that said, ‘Dad, please get help’ and that was it. I didn’t want to give him any clues as to where I was running to, nor any of Mom’s friends. I was hoping Dr. Oliver was still in Reefside and would help me out.

After the monorail got to the end of the line at the train station that serviced the Angel Grove to Reefside line, I got off. I quickly ditched my cards and bought a ticket with cash to Reefside.

“Aren’t you a little young?” The ticket seller asked.

“I’m 14, ma'am and too young to drive. I’m meeting my uncle up in Reefside for the day; my parents don’t mind.” There were no arguments from her after that and she didn’t even ask to see an id of any sort, just a name to put on there. I ended up going with Katrina Jones, as using Abigail Burton would be way too obvious. On top of that, Katrina could be shortened as a nickname to Trina, which was fairly close to Mom’s name. Using Mom’s maiden name of Kwan would tip off Dr. Oliver to my identity. There weren’t that many people with Kwan as a surname that lived in Angel Grove; Sylvia and Mom were or had been the only two.

I was starting to hurt, though, as the bruising from Dad’s hits were starting to show. I had chosen a shirt that would hide them, even though it was a warm day today. Reefside was a good couple of hours from Angel Grove and the train ride would take most of that time, making it a total of 3 hours by the time I got there. The monorail trip had taken 30 minutes and it had taken me an additional 20 to ditch the ids, get my ticket, and get on board.

By the time I got to Reefside, I considered myself lucky I’d not gotten any calls before shutting my phone off. I knew where the high school was, but also knew that school was out of session. Teachers tended to spend some of their time immediately after the school year ended finishing up their work, but they tended to not do so on the weekends.

Once getting out of the train station, I ended up running into one of the local teens, who looked to be David’s age.

“Sorry about that,” I said, helping him pick up the things he’d dropped after I’d ran into him.

“It’s okay. New?”

“Sorta. I’m Katrina Jones; I came up to find a friend of my mom’s, a Dr. Tommy Oliver? They went to high school together.”

The teen nodded. “I know him, he’s one of the science teachers at Reefside High. Where are my manners, I’m Conner McKnight.” With that, he held his hand out, which I shook. “I actually know where he lives, do you want me to give him a call?”

“Please. The only number and location I have for him is for the school and it’s the weekend.” We were walking as we held our conversation, towards the local park.

Conner snorted at my comment. “Yea, Dr. O doesn’t usually spend his time at the school on the weekends once summer break starts.”

“Dr. O?” I was curious. Jason, the other former Rangers, and Dad only ever called him Tommy, with Dad sometimes calling him Dr. Oliver. Never Tom, Thomas, or Dr. O.

“Nickname me and a few others call him. Long story.”

“That or teens being teens. If I thought I could get away with it, I’d have called some of my middle school teachers by with that short of a nickname.”

“Troublemaker? One of my friends is like that,” Conner replied, laughing.

“Nope. Dad’s insistence on good behavior, rather. Even if I called the principal Mr. C., Dad would know about it as soon as I got home. I’d be in trouble so fast…,” stopping only because being in trouble reminded me of Dad’s actions this week.

I didn’t need to finish my sentence, because Conner seemed to understand. Sensing I really didn’t want to finish my train of thought, he got out his cell phone and called Dr. Oliver.

“Dr. O? Hey, Conner here. Got a girl with me, says you knew her mother. Her name’s Katrina Jones, name ring a bell? We’re in the local park; sure, we can wait.” I couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but could figure it out based on Conner’s comments. I started to doubt using a fake name, realizing my features would give me away, especially considering the necklace I was wearing and the fact that I was in a yellow top.

Closing his phone, Conner told me, “He’s going to be here in 10 minutes, 15 if he hits all red lights. How well did he know your mom? I know he had some interesting extra-curricular activities, but he doesn’t talk about them much.”

“Extra-curricular activities? I doubt you’re talking about the Power Rangers, nobody in Angel Grove knows who they were. At least nobody seems to know as I’ve asked around. I swear, every time we get a new teacher, they always assign a project to find out about the Power Rangers and there’s bonus points if we can identify any former ones.”

Conner raised an eyebrow at that. “You’d be surprised at who knows who they were, even here up in Reefside.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d start to think you are or were one of Reefside’s Power Rangers. Even in Angel Grove, any new Power Ranger teams make the news. It doesn’t matter if the teams are based out of other cities.”

Conner, of course, denied it hotly. That only seemed to confirm my suspicions, especially considering that he had Dr. Oliver’s number. Most teenagers I knew didn’t have a teacher’s personal number unless they were related.

By the time he got denying it, Dr. Oliver had pulled up, parked, and was walking up to us. Even now, I was able to recognize him. He’d cut his hair since I’d seen him last, but was still obviously Mom’s friend and the former White Ranger. Once he got close enough to get a good look at me, he just about started.

“Hey, Dr. O!” Conner went from being the semi-serious boy he’d been with me to just about hyper.

“Hey, Conner, this her?” He asked in lieu of greeting.

Conner answered in the affirmative and introduced us. Clearly wanting to stick around, Dr. Oliver finally got him to head off by reminding him that Ethan, a friend of his, was waiting. That left the two of us alone and Dr. Oliver guided me to a secluded picnic table.

“Conner said you wanted to talk to me and that I knew your mom? You’ll have to forgive me for startling when I saw you as you resemble a friend of mine from Angel Grove High.”

“It’s okay, Dr. Oliver.”

“You can call me Dr. O; most of my students do,” he replied, after apologizing for interrupting me.

I smiled. “I need your help; I can’t exactly go home.” That got his attention, so I continued before he could ask any more questions. “I’m not sure if we should talk about this in the open though.” I pulled up a shirt sleeve, letting him see the bruising and defensive wounds.

Dr. Oliver swore when he saw those. “How badly are you hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“Not badly and no. Just the bruising and defensive wounds, as I was able to defend myself.”

“Who did this to you?”

I shook my head. “Not out here, Dr. O,” the nickname rolling weirdly off my tongue. “I’d rather not say and some of what I need to tell you I doubt you’d want to have broadcast throughout the park. I know there’s enough people in Reefside that go to Angel Grove…” I cut off, realizing I’d admitted enough for him to guess that I was my mother’s daughter.

“Abigail Burton?”

“Not here, please.” I was practically begging him silently to not call me by my real name.

“If you’re being abused by anyone, I need to know so I can make a report, Katrina.” Dr. Oliver seemed to realize that I wasn’t going to admit to being who I was. “I’m a teacher, I have to make that report if I suspect abuse.”

“I’m not testifying against my abuser; they need help first. Help that they won’t take if I’m still in Angel Grove.”

“How am I supposed to help you if you won’t even tell me who they are or who you really are?”

I closed my eyes. “I’m not going home, Dr. O. You were just the first person I thought I could turn to for help. A friend said you guys took care of their own; I heard that much taking gymnastics lessons from Kimberly.” It was hard not calling her aunt and I’m sure he heard my skip where I normally inserted the ‘Aunt’ part.

“Do your parents even know you’re gone?”

“Nope and I’d rather keep it that way, too.”

“I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what I need to know to help.

“I can’t tell you out in the open, either. How many people in Reefside know of your past?”

“Four and that’s enough. Five now that you’re here. Should I call Ernie?”

I grabbed his wrist as he made to grab his phone. “No, he’s in L. A. today…fuck. That was clever.”

That also seemed to be Dr. Oliver’s cue as well. “You are Trini’s daughter.”

I still didn’t want to confirm it but gave a quick nod.

“You’re a horrible liar. Get in the car; we’re going to my house. You can explain once we get to my house, it’s pretty secluded.”

Chapter Text

We headed to Dr. Oliver’s car, but I noticed my bruises were hurting worse. It made it slightly difficult to keep up with him and Dr. Oliver noticed.

“Katrina, I know you don’t want this to get out, but if you want me to help you, I think you need to go to a clinic or the hospital.” Holding a hand up to keep me from protesting, he continued, “I know you don’t want to say who hurt you, but if I’m to help you, this needs to happen. They’ll notice right away that you’re showing signs of abuse. I know a local social worker who can keep things quiet, she’d helped out a former student of mine.”

Too startled and slightly scared, I simply nodded. I didn’t want to see Dad charged or in jail, just wanted him to get help. As scared as I was of trusting anyone at this point, I knew for me to get help, I needed to trust Dr. Oliver. Mom had; I knew that much. From what Jason, Aunt Kimberly, and the other former Rangers who were still living in Angel Grove, he could be trusted.

After getting into the car, with both of my bags at my feet, Dr. Oliver drove us to the local clinic. Before heading off, he also made the call to the social worker, asking her to meet us there. He said he’d explain once we got there. She didn’t sound too happy about the lack of details, but understood why he was asking. All he had to say was that he had a suspected abuse case. She’d been the one to suggest the clinic, as she knew one of the doctors there.

Once we got to the clinic, a lady was standing outside of it. Telling me to stay in the car really quick, Dr. Oliver got out and talked to her. From what little I could hear of their whispered conversation, he was filling her in on what I’d told him. He came back to not just get me, but to close the driver’s side car door.

“Come on, Katrina. Ms. Andrews is waiting.” I sat there, still terrified. This was actually happening and I was scared that I’d be sent back to Angel Grove. I hadn’t realized I’d said it out loud until he responded. “You’re not going to be sent back, Katrina. I promise; it wouldn’t do you any good. As Jason said, we take care of our own.” That convinced me to get out of the car and follow him over to where Ms. Andrews was.

“Katrina, right?” Ms. Andrews asked.

Tears streaming down my face, I nodded, to upset to speak.

“Dr. Oliver filled me in,” she continued as we walked into the clinic, where a female doctor was waiting. Introducing us, she continued with, “Dr. Oliver here or not, I thought you might be more comfortable with a female physician to make sure you’re not injured worse.”

“Can he stay in the exam room with me?” I finally whispered.

Dr. Erica asked, “Would you feel more comfortable with him in there?” I just nodded. Once we got into the exam room, she asked me to undress to show where the bruising was. Dr. Oliver turned his back to give me some privacy while still facing Dr. Erica and Ms. Andrews.

Looking me over, she didn’t find evidence of injuries beyond the bruising, and defensive wounds, which I was grateful for. Asking Dr. Oliver to step outside with her, I was left in the room with Ms. Andrews as I changed back into my clothing.

-Scene break-

In another room, Tommy sat down with Dr. Erica.

“Ms. Andrews explained you called this in. How did Miss Jones get a hold of you?”

“Dr. Erica, as you know, I’m a high school science teacher here in Reefside. One of my former students that I mentored ran into her as she was leaving the train station and gave me a call. He said she’d said that I went to high school with her mom. She wouldn’t say who her parents were and I don’t remember going to school with anyone by the surname of Jones either.”

“This was at Angel Grove High School?”

“Correct.”

“Carry on, then.”

Closing his eyes briefly, Tommy continued. “I have reason to believe that her real name isn’t Katrina Jones, but she’s scared and has been abused. If you’ve not noticed, she’s half Vietnamese or appears to be at any rate. One of my friends, who passed away 15 years ago this fall, has a daughter right about her age. She doesn’t want to testify against her father either. If her parents are who I think they are, getting a conviction against who her abuser might be would be very difficult. Her father is well-liked enough that it would create a huge scandal.”

Dr. Erica nodded. “That would prove difficult and I can see why you preemptively called Ms. Andrews and why I’m not calling the cops right now.” She was about to continue when one of her nurses came in to get her.

“You’re needed back in room 202, both of you. The patient in there is panicking pretty bad.”

-Scene break-

At the same time Dr. Erica was talking to Dr. Oliver, Ms. Andrews was talking to me.

“I know you want to keep this quiet, Katrina, but I need to write as many details down as I can. I need just enough to justify to my superiors why I’m placing you in Dr. Oliver’s care and why you’re being removed from your parents’ care. It was why Dr. Oliver had to leave the room, so it wouldn’t appear as if he was coaching you.”

“Father’s care, Ms. Andrews.”

“Father’s care? Was he the one who did this?” She asked, looking up from her notes.

I nodded. “Yes,” I whispered, after she said she needed a verbal answer. “This was the first time, outside of a slap earlier in the week. I’ve never seen him that angry. He wouldn’t have done it if he’d been sober.” With that, I shut up.

“What’s his name?” She asked.

I shook my head no as I started panicking again. “I don’t want him to go to jail, I don’t.”

“I understand that, but I need his name for my records.” I didn’t hear her, as my panic was getting worse, but soon found myself wrapped in Dr. Oliver’s arms. As I slowly calmed down, I heard him ask what had gotten me to panic.

“All I asked was for her father’s name. She doesn’t want to say, which is normal when an abused child cares for their abuser.”

Dr. Erica picked up where Ms. Andrews left off. “I think I know why. The bruising is recent and there’s little to no sign of previous physical abuse. Her father may have recently turned violent, but if there’s other children in the household, he may have started with them.”

“He wouldn’t,” I said, my answer muffled. “My brother can fight back. Doesn’t look like Mom as much, either.”

I didn’t see the raised eyebrows of the adults to my response, but that was enough for Ms. Andrews to say she had enough information to put me in Dr. Oliver’s care, if that’s what we both wanted. I did and heard Dr. Oliver agree as well. As we left the clinic, I wasn’t paying attention, but heard Ms. Andrews tell Dr. Oliver I should probably have a therapist, given my abuse.

“Not all children who enter foster care are abused, Dr. Oliver. The ones that are usually find having a therapist helpful, though. It’s also why I’m putting into her file that you should be her only foster placement. I know she’s got trust issues with father figures right now and would place her somewhere else normally, but she turned to you for help. She’s also old enough to have a say in who her guardian is. She came to you for a reason. She’s trusted you this far and I’d rather see her placed with someone who she has some level of trust with.”

“As would I, Ms. Andrews,” was his response as I was getting into the car and closing my door. The rest of their conversation was muffled and I tuned it out, too tired from last night’s fight and fitful sleep along with feeling tired now that the worst part of it was over. Dad probably didn’t realize I was missing yet; he was probably still in L.A. with David. I’d looked at the clock in the clinic before we left and realized I’d missed lunch by a couple of hours. I was too tired to be properly hungry, though, and just wanted to get to Dr. Oliver’s house and take a nap or something.

The talk about the therapist should have worried me, but I was too tired to truly take notice. I hadn’t even noticed that Dr. Oliver and Ms. Andrews had finished their talk until I was jolted awake by the car starting to move.

“Fell asleep?” Dr. Oliver put the car back in park, but didn’t turn it off. “I realized you probably missed lunch.”

“Not really hungry right now, Dr. Oliver. Just tired.”

“Adrenaline crash. I bet you’re also tired from last night, too. In either case, you need to eat something, even if it’s something light. There’s a smoothie joint….no?” I was shaking my head no to that, smoothies reminded me too much of Dad right now. “Fast food it is. I can get you one of their burgers, just so you have something in your stomach. We’ll head home after.”

Home…just 5 hours ago, I was leaving the place I’d called home since I was born. Now, I was going to have to call a new place home for the foreseeable future. It had been my goal, but I didn’t realize the number of hoops I would have to jump through to do so today. David hadn’t known much about the foster care system as his friend didn’t talk about it much. I realized I should have expected some questions from someone official so Dr. Oliver could help me, but it hadn’t factored into my plans at all.

Once we got back to Dr. Oliver’s house, I finally awake enough to eat my hamburger. He looked as if he had questions to ask, but instead took me inside.

“Katrina, when you’re awake enough to talk, I’d like to finish our conversation from the park. Ms. Andrews is probably going to come by on Monday to finish her conversation with you. If I can get her some of those answers by then, it will help in the long run.” I just nodded, too emotionally drained to respond, much less care by this point. He could tell I was tired and took me up to the second floor. I had my choice of two bedrooms and ended up picking the one diagonal from his bedroom.

He looked puzzled at my choice. “I thought you might have wanted one across from mine.”

“My room at home was across from my father’s.” That was all I needed to say as Dr. Oliver nodded.

“Just rest, right now Katrina,” was all he said as he helped me get sheets on the twin bed in there. I was too tired to wonder why he had a bed in there, much less why it didn’t have sheets on it, but was glad he did. Not even bothering to undress once the bed was made, I was out like a light not long after.

-Scene Break-

Tommy went back down the steps after closing the bedroom door. Pulling his cell phone out, he made a call to Angel Grove.

“Hey, Jason.”

“Tommy! How are you?”

“Good. Got a question for you real quick. Do you know of any missing teenaged girls out of Angel Grove?”

“No…why?”

“I’ve got one here, abuse case. She claims I know her parents and went to Angel Grove High with her mom, but her surname doesn’t match up with anyone we went to high school with.” Tommy could almost hear Jason shaking his head.

“I know you can’t give me a name, but I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head except Abigail Burton, Ernie and Trini’s daughter. He’s not abusing her, though, that I know. I did give her your number at the high school, just in case she needed your help during the school year.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“L.A., I assume, with Ernie and her brother David. It’s her birthday today and David has his college orientation down there. Thought they might be making a weekend of it, as Zack and I are alternating covering the Youth Center this weekend.”

Tommy nodded to himself. “Thanks, Jason.” Thinking quickly, he asked, “Do you have a recent photo of her?”

“Kimberly does, she takes gymnastics lessons from her. I’ll have her mail you a picture if you want, it’s last year’s though.”

“Would have thought she took martial arts.”

“Ernie wouldn’t let her; something about not wanting her following in her mom’s footsteps. I don’t know if he was referring to our group or something else.” Jason replied, referring to their Ranger team.

“That doesn’t sound like Ernie.”

“He’s changed somewhat since Trini died. Those of us in Angel Grove have tried getting him to go to grief counseling, even offering to watch both the Youth Center and their children, but he won’t budge.” Tommy could hear Jason hesitating over something.

“What is it, Jason?”

“Probably nothing. They came by the dojo Tuesday morning, as Ernie had gotten upset over something Aisha gave Abigail. It was a two-part gift: some scrapbooks with pencils as Abigail likes to draw and something that once belonged to Trini. From when we were in our ‘club’ together.” Tommy could almost hear the quotation marks. Even years later, after most of them weren’t involved in being Power Rangers, they still came up with ways to keep their identities hidden.

“Why’d they come by?”

“Ernie…he doesn’t like talking about Trini’s high school days with his children, everything they know about what she was like then either comes from us or their cousin Sylvia. Everything he’s told them was from after they started dating and after their marriage. Tommy, he knows what we did back then. He said he doesn’t want Abigail to get involved in what we did, despite Angel Grove having not been a target for years. He seems to think by keeping them ignorant about it, Abigail especially, they won’t join a team like ours.”

“I take it you talked to him about it.”

Jason snorted in response, “So did Kimberly and Aisha. Not sure how much good it did, but Ernie’s never struck me as being abusive at all. Like I said, I’m pretty sure that she’s with them in L. A. Whoever your mystery girl is, even if she’s from Angel Grove, I don’t think she’s Abigail.”

Tommy looked at his phone after saying goodbye to Jason. He didn’t want to tell Jason that he suspected that the girl sleeping upstairs in one of the guest bedrooms was Abigail, even if she gave the impression she wasn’t. Whatever was going on, she was scared and hiding. Based on Jason’s response, he didn’t think Abigail was missing, either. It was getting late enough in the day that Ernie and David, along with Abigail if Katrina wasn’t her, were probably heading back to Angel Grove soon unless they ate while in L. A. or were staying there overnight.

He hadn’t missed the nod when he asked if she was Trini and Ernie’s daughter either; it might have been short and quick, but it had been affirmative. He wasn’t going to push her about it just yet, Ms. Anderson’s words still ringing in his mind about trust. He debated about calling Rocky, who’d eventually gone on to become a therapist after doing a bunch of other things. Looking at the time, he realized Katrina, if that was her real name indeed, was going to probably wake up soon and be hungry. She’d only had a hamburger for lunch and it was a late one. He was going to let her pick if she wanted, as he had enough to make dinner for two or they could get take out. The call to Rocky would have to wait until she went to bed for good tonight.

-Scene Break-

I slowly woke up, disoriented at first at being in an unfamiliar room and bed. Once I realized I’d successfully made it to Reefside and gotten Dr. Oliver’s help, I fully woke up and almost shot out of bed. I almost reached in my bag for my cell phone to check the time when I remembered I’d shut if off after getting to the city. I really didn’t want to turn it back on again. I did, however, turn the light switch on to look at my room. Even though it was still light outside, I was unsure of the time and Dr. Oliver lived in a forest, so available light wasn’t the best.

I heard Dr. Oliver come up the stairs and knock at my door.

“Come in, I’m awake.” I appreciated the knock, even with the door closed. I hadn’t remembered it being closed when I got in bed; Dr. Oliver must have closed it behind him.

“How are you doing?” Was his first question after coming in.

“Better. Less tired, that’s for sure.” I hesitated briefly before continuing, “Thank you for helping.” I wasn’t sure what to do, now that my fear induced bravery was fading away.

“How could I not when someone asks. This is something I tell my students all the time,” he responded, having sat down at the desk so that he was at my level. “I know you don’t know me well enough to trust me, but I’m glad that you trusted me enough to ask for help.”

That threw me for a loop. Mom had trusted him enough to follow his lead as a Ranger and even though Mom died when I was a baby, I trusted her trust. “Mom did,” I whispered.

Dr. Oliver nodded. “I’m still curious as to who your parents are, Katrina. I noticed you really didn’t answer in the park. I’m not going to force you to answer right away, but it will make things easier.”

“I…thank you, Dr. Oliver. Who my parents are, I’m scared to talk about right now.”

“Scared to talk about them or scared you’ll be forced back into their care?”

“Both. Father…what he did, they’d never convict him on the abuse. Not unless I ended up in the hospital or worse. Mom and my brother….can’t help me.”

“Is he hurting them, too?”

“No…Mom’s not around for him to hurt and my brother can fight back.” I knew I was taking a risk, telling him this much, but as much as I needed to trust him, I also needed him to trust me. Giving him that much would hopefully help.

Dr. Oliver took that in and nodded again. Looking up from his hands, he said, “I’ve got a friend from high school who became a therapist. He and I were in a club together and we hung out together outside of that. He’s never spilled my secrets and will keep yours. I can call him tonight, see if he’ll come up tomorrow to talk to you. I don’t know if you heard Ms. Andrews, but she suggested you see a therapist. Rocky’s a good guy. He works primarily out of Angel Grove, but he’d come up for me, especially if I ask.”

Club? I hoped he was referring to the Power Rangers. Even if he wasn’t, talking to his friend wouldn’t hurt. Rocky was from Angel Grove; I didn’t really remember him much, but he might not have known Mom that well. If he was friends with Dr. Oliver, that meant he hung out at the Youth Center as a teen and probably knew Dad. He would probably know how to approach Dad, too, but I didn’t want to bring up the topic either.

“Ms. Andrews is going to be stopping by Monday sometime, that’s part of why I’m hoping you’ll talk to Rocky tomorrow. He might have a few ideas of how to approach your father. Even if you won’t tell me just yet, or Ms. Andrews, I’m hoping you’ll let him know.”

I refused to commit either way, but said I’d consider it. I was starting to panic again and Dr. Oliver must have noticed because he changed the subject.

“What are your favorite hobbies?”

“Drawing. Martial arts. Not much else.” I hoped I didn’t give anything major away with that and also knew mentioning martial arts wouldn’t point to me being who I am.

Dr. Oliver chuckled at the martial arts comment. “From what a friend of mine says, most Angel Grove residents are interested now. Comes from the city being the base for more than one Power Ranger team. There’s multiple dojos in town, he runs one of them with two of our friends; his wife and another friend run the gymnastics studio next door.”

I knew what dojo and gymnastics studio he was talking about; I’d gone to the gymnastics studio growing up. “Sounds like some great friends. I went to one of the other dojos in town.”

“That must have been how you were able to fight back,” Dr. Oliver replied, throwing me for a loop.

“Yes…father wasn’t expecting me to fight back. He was drunk though and must have forgotten I could fight back.” I didn’t have to continue as my stomach started to grumble. The hamburger hadn’t been much of a lunch and I was hungry.

“What do you want to eat? I can cook or we can get take out. We’ve got some good pizza…no? We could get Chinese food in town.”

“Chinese sounds good…we’d ate pizza just before,” I stopped, not wanting to relive that memory just yet.

“Your father got drunk and hit you.” I nodded to that and we went downstairs. Dr. Oliver, who reminded me I could call him Dr. O like many of his students did or Tommy if I didn’t want to call him Dad or some version of that. I wasn’t sure, though; he left it up to me for now and my comfort level. He pulled out a menu he had in a stack by the phone and let me choose what I wanted before placing the order.

“You want to come? It’s not far into town and we’ll be there and back pretty soon.” I just nodded, overwhelmed by everything that had happened today. Before we could leave, his cell phone went off. He wanted to ignore it, I could tell, but took a look at the caller id before answering.

“Conner, what do you need? Katrina’s fine, she’s with me still. Not tonight…I’ll introduce her to the rest of the group this week. Not answering questions yet. No…not mine to answer, Conner. We’re just getting ready to….no, you’re not bringing pizza over. We’ve already ordered our dinner…Conner!” He hung up pretty quickly after that before turning to me.

“I’m sorry you had to hear that…Conner’s pretty excitable, as I’m sure you saw earlier. He and some other students I mentor want to meet you, but you’ve had a busy day, I can tell.”

“Thank you,” I said quietly. Today had been a pretty busy day and I just wanted to eat and unpack, maybe curl up with a sketchbook.

I realized I’d have to get some clothing, as I’d only brought what I could carry in my backpack and shoulder bag. I figured I had enough for maybe a couple of weeks, which was primarily underwear and socks. I’d been able to pack my shorts and capris in my shoulder bag, as my backpack could carry my laptop in it. The backpack had my shirts; toiletries went in a plastic bag in my shoulder bag. I’d not packed all of my shirts, though. Just enough to last me a while, as they could be worn multiple days. Most of what I packed was yellow, but I’d also packed some light purplish-grey tops as well. My shoulder bag was a well-designed laptop bag designed by a magician, really, but I preferred using my backpack for my laptop.

Along with the sketchbooks and other things Aisha had given me, I’d found enough space to pack some partially finished sketchbooks. This was just in case Dr. Oliver or someone wanted to see what I’d drawn. I’d drawn enough of Angel Grove in them that hopefully they wouldn’t suspect anything. With his friend Rocky, as much as I wanted to play last night’s recording for them now, I wanted to trust them first. I wanted to see what ideas he had for getting Dad into therapy instead of jail and avoiding a trial. I didn’t, however, want to be on the same floor when they listened to it. Living through the attack was bad enough; I wasn’t ready to hear it just yet either.

Going back into Reefside to get our dinner was something else. I’d not really appreciated it earlier, but could now. My fingers itched to draw what I could, but I’d not brought my shoulder bag with me. Given I’d napped earlier, I’d not really unpacked before Dr. Oliver and I had our talk. I knew he and I would have to go over house rules; I just didn’t know how he’d react to me basically lying to him slightly from the start. I wanted him to trust me, but our relationship started on a lie and would make his case to be my guardian that much harder.

On top of that, he was sharp. He seemed to know I was lying to him about my name and recognized part of why I didn’t want to reveal who my parents were. Mom had been one of his friends and I didn’t know how much of a friendship he had with Dad. This was especially true given that he was in Reefside now, not Angel Grove. Most of Mom’s friends who were semi-close friends with Dad lived in either Angel Grove or one of the nearby cities. Reefside was further north and he didn’t come down that often. From what Jason had said, he’d only been in Reefside for a couple of years.

Chapter Text

Back in Angel Grove, Ernie and David had just gotten home from L. A., only to find the house dark. That’s when David realized what had happened last night, something must have happened. Normally, if Abigail was home alone, she would have left the lights on when she knew both of them were going to be back late.

Ernie also realized something was wrong, but didn’t remember much of the night before. The last memory he had was a friend dropping him off due to drinking too much and not fit to drive. He and David had to walk over to the Youth Center to get his car. David had offered to drive, but Ernie felt more comfortable being the driver, especially after Trini’s death. He knew this week had been rough on Abigail, but didn’t think she’d do anything rash. Aisha’s gift had triggered memories he’d rather forget and amplified his fear. He didn’t think the former Rangers, his late wife included, realized just how much he knew about what they did to protect Angel Grove or the fact that they weren’t completely immune from injury. The Youth Center was overstocked with first aid supplies for a reason, even back then.

“Abigail?” He called out as he and David entered the house, turning on lights as they entered. She didn’t answer. It wasn’t late enough for her to be in bed, but she would have answered to either he or David calling her name.

“She’s not here, Dad,” David said, bounding down the stairs. He held some papers in his hand. Holding them out, he continued, “This was on her desk.”

Ernie took the papers; they turned out to be a simple note and a list of support groups, written in Jason’s hand. “Do you think she’s ran?”

“Doubt it, Dad. She’s probably over at a friend’s house, staying there for a few days. She’ll come back.”

“I’m still going to call Kimberly and Jason. If they’ve not seen her…”

“Dad, she’s got other friends besides the twins.” David was more trying to stall than anything else. He wanted to believe what he was telling his dad, but also realized something had happened. His dad had woken with a hangover and a bit of bruising, but otherwise was fine. He’d not mentioned anything odd happening after he got home and Abigail had still been asleep when they left.

Ernie didn’t hear his son and was already dialing Jason and Kimberly’s house number. Despite the late hour, Jason was still awake. David could only hear one half of the conversation, despite trying to eavesdrop. His dad hung the phone up not long after.

“They’ve not heard from her today. Their twins are already asleep, they’ll ask in the morning.” Ernie wasn’t sure who to call next. Jason and Kimberly were the only ones to have children and he didn’t have all of Trini’s friend’s phone numbers. He’d heard Tommy was in Reefside, but didn’t think he’d be able to help as Jason had said he’d got unexpectedly busy with something.

“Dad, it’s late,” David said, finally getting Ernie’s attention. “I can make a few calls in the morning. Let’s go to bed.”

Ernie scowled, looking at the papers still in his hand. He didn’t think he needed help; apparently Abigail thought he did. One name on the list he recognized as likely being a former Ranger after his wife, Jason, and Zack had left for the Youth Summit. He’d never admitted it, but one of the few reasons why he’d never gone to a grief group was the fact that he felt like he couldn’t talk about some of his fears about either of his children following in her footsteps and becoming Power Rangers. He’d understood the reason for their secrecy, even after Trini no longer wielded the powers of the Yellow Ranger. As loved as the Power Rangers were, there were still some, even now, who didn’t care for them. Finally looking up, he agreed to go to bed. He’d start making calls to his daughter’s friends in the morning, if she’d not returned by then. Looking back at the list, he’d ended up throwing it away, but he kept the note, just in case.

David watched his father go upstairs before rescuing the list out of the garbage. Recognizing Jason’s writing, he wondered why Rocky’s name was starred before realizing Rocky must have at least known who the Power Rangers were. He’d been pictured in some of Angel Grove High’s yearbooks with Kimberly, Billy, and Tommy, along with Adam and Aisha. He’d also seen Katherine, an Australian immigrant who taught ballet at the Youth Center.

-Scene Break-

After dinner, Dr. Oliver had made his call to Rocky. I’d not wanted to talk to anyone just yet, but I didn’t want to argue either. He’d made an effort to help me when he didn’t have to, I could do this in return. I didn’t have to give out much just yet, either. After finishing his call, he sat back down across from me. I was starting to notice every time he went to talk to me, he tried to get on my level. He and Dad were close to the same height, so I appreciated what he was trying to do.

“Katrina, I do have some house rules that I hope you can follow right now.”

“I can try, Dr. Oliver.”

“I appreciate that, and hope you can call me Dr. O as you were doing earlier.”

That blindsided me slightly, I’d forgotten he’d asked me to call him that in the stress of earlier. “I was raised on some formality. It’s going to take some time, Dr. Oliver.”

“I can understand that, Katrina.” Continuing, his rules were pretty simple. I was to let him know if I was heading somewhere, even if I was meeting friends. I also had a 9 pm curfew unless he knew I was getting back late ahead of time, like for school dances. Beyond that, there wasn’t much else. Keep my room clean and helping with chores around the house. Once I got in school, do my homework and study for tests. Let him know if I wasn’t feeling well and things like that. Fairly reasonable rules, I thought, and not near as strict as Dad had been.

“I can do that, Dr. Oliver.” Pausing for a second, I hesitantly asked, “Is there a dojo in town? I’d like to be able to continue my lessons.” If I was to keep up the fiction that I’d had formal lessons, I needed to also continue lessons here in Reefside. I didn’t want anyone to know just yet that my only real teacher had been David. Jason had taught me some, but it was fairly brief and earlier this week. He’d said I was close to my brother’s level, but didn’t want to do a formal test, either.

Dr. Oliver smiled at that. “I can teach you some, I’ve kept up my practice. Once Ms. Anderson is able to get confirmation of my guardianship of you, I can certainly sign you up. I’m going to have to have you get a physical, first. Dr. Erica gave you a quick onceover for Ms. Anderson’s records, but I’d be more comfortable if you got a physical first.”

I didn’t mind that as I doubted that she’d find any other signs of abuse. I couldn’t wait to have formal lessons either and would agree to anything right now just to be able to learn and train so I couldn’t be hurt again.

Dr. Oliver looked like he had more questions for me, but held himself from asking. Instead, he offered to help me unpack instead.

“Sure, Dr. Oliver. I don’t mind the help.” Even as I said that, I worried about his help. I didn’t want him to find Mom’s gear just yet, as much as I trusted in my hiding spot.

Unpacking ended up being fairly quick and I realized just how little belongings I actually had with me. What clothing I’d brought, along with my laptop, drawing supplies, and what little mementos I had of Mom. I didn’t think Dr. Oliver would recognize them as he’d been away for most of Dad and Mom’s relationship. The only things he’d recognize were the morpher and communicator, the latter of which Jason said Uncle Billy had built.

Dr. Oliver seemed to notice the same thing. “You don’t have much. I’m adding shopping to the list of things we need to do this week.”

“I couldn’t bring much. I didn’t want it looking like I was a runaway, especially if Father looked in on me this morning. I wanted things to look normal and wanted to get away before he thought to call to check in on me.”

Dr. Oliver nodded at that, but I didn’t know what he was thinking of with my answer. I was just glad he didn’t push for an explanation again. I just wasn’t up for any more talking about my past right now.

“Anything else you need?”

“Besides more clothes? Drawing supplies, I only brought what I could fit around my clothing.”

“No documents?”

I snorted. “Father keeps those in his office at the house, which I’m expressly forbidden from going in. Looking this morning would have cost valuable time. I would have grabbed them if I knew where they were.” No, I wouldn’t have; not with using a fake name. I didn’t want anyone to know who I really was just yet, but also realized, after looking at a clock, that Dad and David must be home by now and found out I was missing.

“I’m heading to bed myself; it’s been a long day. Don’t stay up too late.” With that, he left my room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. After closing the door, I finished unpacking my shoulder bag, putting Mom’s gear, my cell phone, phone charger, and the tape recorder in one of the desk drawers. Not as secure as my bag, but Dr. Oliver had promised to not go through my belongings or the desk unless I allowed him to. I did set up the desk with what little I had, arranging the mementos as I’d had them back in Angel Grove. I went to bed not long after, as I was still tired even with the earlier nap.

-Scene Break-

Tommy, after heading to his own room diagonal from Katrina’s, didn’t bother even getting ready for bed just yet. He suspected she was really Abigail Burton, Ernie and Trini’s daughter, but didn’t want to push the issue, recognizing she’d probably run again. Ms. Andrews had cautioned him with this and said that if she ran again, they’d probably never find her until after she became an adult in 4 years. Katrina’s lack of paperwork, while an issue, wasn’t surprising either. Ms. Andrews said to not be surprised if she didn’t have it. She’d said that most runaways of her age don’t have things like their birth certificate. A school id would be all they had on them at 14 or 15 and Katrina didn’t appear to even have that with her.

He’d noticed her shoulder bag appeared to have more in it then what she’d unpacked while he was helping her. He didn’t say anything about it though, and promised he’d not look through her belongings unless she allowed him to. One thing he wasn’t surprised to not see was a cell phone. Most teenagers didn’t have one at Reefside High unless they were driving. The laptop wasn’t a surprise either, but he wasn’t about to snoop, even though he knew that it would be the place that would have identifying information in it.

He heard her in the guest bathroom, brushing her teeth before heading back into her room, which prompted him to finally get ready for bed himself. Her bedroom was normally the room used when Kat came to stay, when they weren’t sharing his room. She’d just visited the weekend before, which was why the sheets were off the twin bed. While he had extra sheets for the bed, he usually put them on the bed right before Kat came to visit.

He’d also done a load of laundry yesterday, which why the bed hadn’t been made back up yet either. In some ways, he was glad Kat hadn’t come up this weekend. She might have recognized Katrina from Angel Grove, as his ward let that slip and the fact that she knew Ernie. The latter part wasn’t too surprising, as the Youth Center was still popular with Angel Grove’s Youth. Ernie, by the time Trini had graduated from college, had came back from the Peace Corps and rebought the Youth Center.

Kat had said she’d not been able to stay the week, as Ernie was going to be out of town. It was part of why Tommy was having doubts about Katrina actually being Abigail. From what Kat said before heading back, everyone at the Youth Center, even the teens, knew Ernie was going to be out of town that weekend. It was Abigail’s birthday today and David was going to college in L. A., and had to be there for some orientation according to Jason. Unless he heard differently from his friends in Angel Grove or Ms. Andrews, Tommy decided to wait for information to come from Katrina.

The next morning, Tommy found himself awake early. He’d always been an early riser, even when he was working at the lab with Aton, as well as being in college. It had only helped when he’d started teaching science at Reefside High School. Even on the weekends, he wasn’t one to sleep in later than 8 or 8:30. Katrina was still asleep, as her door was closed when he went downstairs. He decided to let her sleep in, she was a teenager and she’d also had a tough time the last couple of days.

Deciding to wait on breakfast until Katrina got up, he went into his basement gym to do a simple workout. He hadn’t been lying when he told her that he kept up with his martial arts skills and could teach her. His basement partially looked like it was lifted out of any common dojo, but he also had some weight machines in there. The rest of the basement held his laundry machines and a bigger freezer then his fridge had. Given he was in a forest, he sometimes worked out outside, but he wanted to be inside when Katrina woke up. He didn’t want her to panic and was grateful that she’d not woken up with any nightmares last night.

That didn’t mean she wouldn’t have any; Ms. Andrews thought it was likely that she would have some at some point. All he could figure was that she was worn out enough that her exhaustion overrode the memories of abuse. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t be prepared; he did hope that Rocky would have some information to help him help Katrina. Rocky was due at his house later that afternoon and if he decided to stay the night, Tommy would have to figure out where Rocky was going to stay. Katrina was in what had been his guest room.

There were two other unused bedrooms, but his room and Katrina’s were the only ones with actual beds in them. One had a futon, but the other wasn’t furnished at all. His office was on the first floor and he wasn’t planning on forbidding Katrina access from it. He wasn’t sure why Katrina’s father would forbid her access to one room that wasn’t the master bedroom, but he wasn’t going to worry about it. His main concern was making her feel safe here and that she’d come to completely trust him with her abuser was.

Another reason why he wasn’t sure Katrina was Abigail was the fact that, like Jason, he didn’t see Ernie being abusive. He admitted to himself that he’d not seen Ernie in a number of years, not since Abigail was 8. Ernie seemed to be his usual genial self, but Tommy could tell Trini’s death was affecting him, as it did all the Rangers who’d fought alongside her and her family.

He’d have to check in with Jason again at some point, but he was going to wait for Jason to call him first if there was any news out of Angel Grove. Hearing Katrina’s door open, he started getting the kitchen ready for breakfast. He didn’t have a waffle maker, but, looking over the fridge, he found that he could probably do pancakes, eggs, and bacon or cereal. He’d have to do some grocery shopping when he helped Katrina get some more clothing. They’d have to make a day of it in the city; thankfully Reefside had a mall.

Tommy wanted to put the trip off though, at least until Rocky had a chance to talk with Katrina and help Ms. Andrews with her paperwork. He tentatively was planning on Tuesday for the trip, not knowing when tomorrow she’d arrive or how long she’d be.

-Scene Break-

Rubbing my eyes, I woke up. This time, I wasn’t near as disoriented as I’d been after my nap yesterday and remembered coming to Dr. Oliver’s house last night. Getting dressed, I headed downstairs after using the bathroom. Dr. Oliver was in the kitchen, but it didn’t look he’d had breakfast yet and was cooking some bacon.

“Hungry?” He asked. “There’s cereal, but I can also make pancakes, with either bacon or eggs if you want, or you can have some bacon and eggs too. The bacon will keep until either the eggs or pancakes are done.”

“Pancakes and eggs are fine, Dr. O.” I didn’t really care either way, but I’d not had pancakes in a while. Dad didn’t make them that often and I’d not had bacon in a long time. Dad didn’t really care for it; neither did David. “Do you want any help? I like cooking, especially when there’s pancakes involved.”

That got a chuckle out of Dr. Oliver. “I don’t mind. The pancake mix is in the cupboard over the microwave and the eggs and milk are in the fridge.” I also found syrup next to the pancake mix, getting it out at the same time. He showed me where the mixing bowls were, as well as the silverware and we soon had pancakes going on a griddle on the counter. Eggs, we cooked in the same pan as the bacon had been. The bacon by this point was on a plate under some paper towels, which helped soak up any excess grease.

Over breakfast, Dr. Oliver let me know that his friend Rocky DeSantos would be arriving later that afternoon. “He’s going to be staying a few days, at least tonight through tomorrow depending on his schedule. I hope you’re still willing to talk to him about everything. He won’t tell me anything you don’t want him to and will only make general recommendations to both Ms. Andrews and myself depending on what you tell him.”

That reassured me; I really didn’t want to spill any secrets. I knew I needed to tell someone, though, but I was caught between telling anyone what happened and trying to keep Dad from getting arrested. I knew what he did was wrong, but wanted him to get help. That’s why I’d left the list that Jason had written down. Rocky’s name had been on it, I remembered, and Jason had starred it. Aunt Kimberly had explained that they knew him from high school and that he had been one of them, meaning a Power Ranger. That meant that I didn’t have to worry about keeping that secret, as he was already in the know.

I also feared that if I told anyone who Dad was, I’d never be able to have a healthy relationship with him as an adult, or even be able to go back to Angel Grove. I didn’t want to stay in Reefside all my life, except for college, as Angel Grove was home. Getting Dad in trouble, with how well regarded he is, meant I would probably be hated for causing him to get in trouble.

There was also the factor that the Youth Center would be destroyed, figuratively speaking. I’d heard from Jason and Aunt Kimberly that when Lt. Stone ran it, it didn’t have the same feel as when Dad runs it. Lt. Stone was a great guy, but he was also a cop. Dad made the Youth Center a safe haven for Angel Grove’s youth, where they didn’t have to worry about getting into too much trouble. David would probably come back to take it over, if he’d be allowed to, but would be tainted with the same brush as Dad. The parents wouldn’t want their children hanging out somewhere attached to a child abuser, even if he was no longer running it.

I hoped Rocky would take some drawings in lieu of conversation. There were things I didn’t want to talk about and wasn’t sure if I could, including Dad’s attack Friday night. I didn’t even want to share details about the attack past what I’d needed to for Dr. Oliver to help me. I just hoped it didn’t blow up in my face or that, if I got comfortable enough to tell him the truth, that he wouldn’t force me to go back to Dad. He’d known Dad for years, trusted him even. All of Angel Grove’s former Rangers did, even ones who’d moved out of town.

That also applied to Ms. Andrews; what little I knew of foster care is foster children sometimes were returned to their birth family. As much as I wanted to have a healthy relationship with Dad, I did not want to be in his custody right now. I’d seen enough news stories in the Angel Grove Gazette of abused children ending up dead because they’d been returned to the custody of their abuser, if they’d been removed from their custody at all. I had no doubts that if I had stayed with Dad, the abuse would just get worse and I’d end up in the hospital and Dad in jail.

After breakfast, Dr. Oliver gave me a tour of the house; I’d been too tired to pay attention yesterday. The only room that was really off limits was his bedroom, but I didn’t think I’d use the office any time soon. I got really excited when I saw the basement setup, there was enough space to do martial arts practice in it. I’d also noticed a dancer’s barre on one wall; Dr. Oliver explained it was for his girlfriend, a dancer who lived in Angel Grove full time.

“You’ll probably meet her at some point this summer, but she doesn’t have a lot of free time in the summer. She teaches ballet at the Youth Center and likes to keep in practice when she visits.” Shaking his head, he continued. “I’ve been meaning to go down since moving to Reefside, but last year got really busy for me. The city got attacked by monsters; we actually had a Ranger team here.”

“So I’ve heard,” I responded dryly. “Angel Grove is still interested in Power Rangers, even though there’s no active teams there anymore. Anytime a new team pops up somewhere, we hear about it. Don’t always hear who they are, but we hear about them.”

Dr. Oliver snorted. He’d apparently heard about some of the teams not even bothering to hide their identities like he and Mom had to do as Rangers. He turned to me as we stood outside.

“I didn’t say this last night, but I don’t want you exploring the forest by yourself. Not until I can get you a cell phone. I didn’t notice one among your belongings last night.”

“Don’t have one. Father didn’t want to get me one until I started driving. I’d not have brought it if I did as I hear that they can be tracked a bit.” I didn’t tell him mine was currently here instead of leaving it in Angel Grove like I’d originally planned. All the contact numbers I had for my friends and Mom's were in it as I’d decided against putting them in the address book. I’d only put Dr. Oliver’s contact information from the school in there.

He nodded. “We can get that when we’re out at the mall this week. There’s a cell phone store in there; it’s where I got mine. I’m going to warn you, some of the students I mentored last year might join us, as I have absolutely no clue what’s popular with teenage girls today.”

I smiled a bit at that. “I’d like to meet them. I’ve already met Conner, he seemed pretty nice, if a little excitable.”

“You met Conner on his best behavior. He’s a great kid, just graduated Reefside High with the other students I mentored last year. He’s getting ready to start up a summer soccer camp, but wouldn’t mind taking a break.”

Soccer? That sounded like fun; the only extra-curricular activities I’d been allowed to do after school had been gymnastics. I’d not been allowed to do much else, just school, the Youth Center after and gymnastics twice a week, followed by time at home. Rarely was I allowed to spend the night with friends at their homes or have sleepovers at my home. Most of the times I hung out with friends was at the Youth Center. They didn’t mind, but it got boring after a while. Even my friends were allowed to go to the movies in their free time once we hit 13 or 14 and deemed old enough to be on our own to a small degree. I was only allowed to go to the movies with David or Dad.

“I’m not going to keep you a prisoner here, Katrina. If you want to get involved in extra-curricular activities, just let me know. I’m pretty reasonable.” I almost hugged him; sometimes I’d felt like I was a prisoner growing up. This was especially true once my friends were allowed to go places without their parents. Even Jason and Aunt Kimberly allowed their twins more freedom than I’d had.

Dad had, at the very least, been overly strict. Most of Mom’s friends that still kept in contact with Dad just chalked it up to losing Mom like he’d had. That didn’t mean that they didn’t try and get him to loosen up, but it didn’t always work. It at least got me my gymnastics lessons with Aunt Kimberly and some sleepovers, but that was about it.

Looking at the forest, it looked like I’d also found a place to try out Mom’s morpher. I wasn’t planning to become a Power Ranger, but I was curious as to if it still worked. Aisha and Adam were doubtful that it would, not all of the original morphers worked or worked well. I’d have to wait until I knew Dr. Oliver’s schedule better, as I didn’t want to try anything until he was out of the house. Jason had helpfully included how to demorph in his instructions of how to do everything.

I wasn’t planning on becoming a Power Ranger, but was curious as to if it actually worked. If I’d been able to test it Tuesday at the dojo, I would have done it under controlled circumstances with people who’d used them, but Jason didn’t feel comfortable with me doing it that day. He’d not been able to commit to a day or time for me to test things out either.

Aisha hadn’t wanted to try it out, either. When I’d asked, all she would say is, “I don’t think it will work for me anymore. I’ve had other Ranger Powers since then and don’t know if I can use a previous Ranger morph again.” That made since, even to Jason.

It was getting time for lunch, though, as the tour of the house and grounds had taken a while, along with our talk in the forest. We ended up having what was left of our Chinese leftovers, before waiting for Rocky to arrive. Dr. Oliver said he’d be arriving around 1:30 and it was just coming up on 1:15.

Chapter Text

Rocky drove up 5 minutes later and I don’t know if I was happy to see him or not. On one hand, talking to someone would help. Dr. Oliver had said as much during his tour of the house and that he’d talked to Rocky a few times about things that had happened over the years, including a lab accident several years ago. His attitude towards using a counselor was certainly different from Dad’s. Dad might do the same duty for the teens that came through the Youth Center, but really didn’t want to make use of the same services himself for some odd reason.

The flip side was the possibility that Dad was going to end up in jail. I just hoped that things wouldn’t go that route. I’d not seen him much over the years, even though he lived in Angel Grove. He sometimes came to the schools and I’d seen him at the Youth Center several times, meeting with some of the teens that hung out there, but we’d never interacted much. I only hoped that if or when Rocky found out, he’d not report Dad and instead help him.

I barely heard Dr. Oliver and Rocky great each other and jumped when Dr. Oliver tapped my arm to get my attention. I blushed slightly as I apologized.

“It’s okay, Katrina.” Dr. Oliver’s tone of voice and smile reassured me; not angry at all. We ended up heading inside, but I balked when he led Rocky and I to the office.

“We can do this somewhere else if you’re not comfortable in the office, Katrina,” Rocky said from behind me. I nodded, not really wanting to use the office just yet.

“The backyard?” I asked hopefully. I wasn’t that comfortable with using my bedroom either and I wasn’t entirely sure about using anywhere in the house just yet.

“As long as you’re in eyesight, I don’t mind, Katrina.”

Rocky sounded his agreement, saying, “I’d rather start this off where you’re comfortable, Katrina. If you ever feel like using the office or anywhere in the house, we can do that too. It’s been my experience that therapy works better when my patients are comfortable, even Tommy.”

“Tommy?” I asked, even though I knew who he was referring to.

“Dr. Oliver, as you know him.”

“Ah,” I replied, hoping I sounded convincing enough. “You’ve known him a long time?”

“Since high school,” they both replied, at the same time before laughing.

Rocky continued with, “We were in some of the same groups and hung out together at the Youth Center in our free time.”

“Dr. Oliver said as much.” That was one thing that he’d told the truth on, which reassured me. If Rocky had known Dr. Oliver that long, he probably knew Mom and Dad. That would complicate things, but also simplify things as well. Everyone who knew Dad thought well of him, but I also hoped that he’d be able to work with Dad also, using prior knowledge to help him.

Rocky and I soon headed outside, but Dr. Oliver didn’t follow us, presumably to give us some privacy. When I asked, Rocky said he’d asked Dr. Oliver to stay behind, but if I wanted him there, Rocky was willing to get him. I shook my head no, though. There were details I wasn’t willing to share just yet with him. Rocky seemed to be the safer choice; he’d even reiterated what Dr. Oliver said, that he wouldn’t reveal anything I told him unless one of two things happened. The first being if I allowed him to; the second was what he was required to tell Ms. Anderson for her case file on me. He was allowed some flexibility on that, but some things had to be written down in her file.

“Does the information you have to tell Ms. Andrews include the identity of my abuser?” I asked, hoping he’d say no.

“I’m afraid it does, Katrina. Why do you ask?” Rocky was sitting across from me, where I had my back against a tree, watching the house.

“My father was the one who hurt me, but it’s recent. He’s hurting from Mom’s death and something set him off Friday night when he got back from the bar. It’s why I ran yesterday,” I replied, tears streaming silently down my face.

Rocky didn’t say anything, just let me talk. Once I started, I couldn’t stop, though I didn’t reveal Dad’s name or where he worked just yet. I told him that I didn’t want Dad to go to jail, though I also never directly said ‘Dad’, always referring to him as ‘father’. I also said that if it came to trial, I wouldn’t testify. Too many happy childhood memories.

“You might not have a choice, Katrina. Right now, my primary responsibility is to help you work through what’s going on. If you ever change your mind on testifying, that’s your right, but the case against your father would be strengthened by you testifying. Should the case go to trial, there’s a good chance you’ll have to. I’ll be there every step of the way, as will Tommy-Dr. Oliver. Ms. Andrews would likely be there as well. You won’t have to do it alone.” My disbelief must have shown on my face, because he continued.

“If your father is like you say, that he needs therapy over jail, I can argue for that with the judge. To be able to do that, though, I’m going to need his name. I’ll try to get Ms. Andrews to hold off on getting charges filed in lieu of getting him to go into therapy.”

I shook my head; revealing his name would also reveal that I was here under a fake name.

“Katrina, why don’t you want to tell me?”

“Father knows too many people and too many secrets. He’d be able to even get out of the therapy requirement. I’d be returned to his custody in a heartbeat and probably in the hospital or dead within months.”

“Dr. Oliver said that you were from Angel Grove, like some of his friends. We’d both transferred in, though he did before I did. He knew our friends for longer, but helped me fit in with them easily. I ended up transferring in right before our junior year started. There’s only one person I can think of that fits your description, but he’s not an abusive guy. On top of that, I’ve not heard of his daughter going missing yet and she’s your age.”

Shows what you know, Rocky, I thought. You’ve never seen what goes on behind closed doors. “Every family has their secrets, Rocky.”

He snorted. “You’re right on that count. I’ve had enough children come through my care where I could have sworn that their family life was happy. Just turned out that’s what was presented to the outside. Sounds like you’re in a similar situation.”

Nodding at that, I continued. “My childhood was happy, though. Father was…strict, but he never hit me until recently. He was there for me more often than not. Did I get to do everything my classmates did? No, but I did get to do some things. Martial arts, drawing lessons, some sleepovers with friends. Got to hang out at the Youth Center. In fact, my drawing lessons were held at the Youth Center.”

Rocky seemed amused by that. “I remember Ernie adding them to the schedule after he bought the place back from Lt. Stone. I don’t remember who suggested them, but they’ve been a hit.” He wrote a few things down before continuing. “Did your father require you to stay at the Youth Center if you weren’t at school or in extra-curricular activities?”

“He works there, Rocky. Does something for Ernie, but I never cared to find out.”

Rocky had an odd look on his face with that. I hadn’t known I was thinking, Dad didn’t have any male employees, not on a regular basis. He did most of the non-teaching work himself; most of the classes were taught either by teens or people like Katherine, who’d hung out there themselves as teens.

“Works there or runs the place?” I shut up with that, too afraid I’d give something away. “Katrina, I can’t help you or your father if you won’t trust me with the information.”

“Can you promise you’ll keep him out of jail?”

“I’ll be honest here and say it’s not likely I can protect him or you from a trial. I can approach him first, though. If he’s who I think he is, your concerns over the trial are well founded. There’s very few people in Angel Grove that could get away with a lot and Ernie’s one of them. Most of the rest are either rich enough to buy people off or too sneaky. On top of that, he’s the only one where the prosecution wouldn’t be able to get an unbiased jury from Angel Grove. Like you suspect, he’d be found not guilty and, if you’re his daughter Abigail, you’d be returned to his custody in a heartbeat. Irregardless of if you are or not, I’ll approach him and see if he’ll talk to me.”

I nodded, that was all I could ask for. Rocky, sensing I’d had enough of the tough topics, asked me what I was looking forwards to in Reefside.

I shrugged; “Dr. Oliver said he’d see about getting me into the dojo here to continue my lessons. One of the students he mentored last year is starting a soccer camp, which sounds like fun. I’m hoping to also continue my art lessons. My teacher at the Youth Center said she’d taught me everything she could and I’d have to find someone to further my skills.”

Rocky took that in before making a suggestion. “I’m hoping to continue our sessions. If you’re willing, if there’s anything you don’t want to talk about, you can draw them instead. This includes anything involving your father.”

“Even the happy memories?”

“Even them. They’ll help me get a better picture of what your life was like growing up and also help me make recommendations to Ms. Andrews. Right now, irregardless of if you are able to trust me with your father’s identity, I’m going to recommend you stay with Dr. Oliver for the foreseeable future. Even if your father gets help instead of going to trial, I’m going to insist that you not see him for a while. That’s going to include no visits to Angel Grove for the time being.”

“I can live with that.”

“Good. You seeing your father again is honestly going to depend on the both of you and should any visits occur, it’s going to be after I think both of you have reached a good place mentally and emotionally. Even then, I don’t see him regaining guardianship of you, not with how you’re doing right now.”

I was fine with that; as much as I wanted to have a healthy relationship with Dad in the future, me being under his guardianship again scared me. Right now, I really didn’t want to head back to Angel Grove.

“Are we done for today?” I asked, just ready to stop talking. I knew there’d be more sessions with him, but I was finished talking today.

Rocky nodded. “If you want to stop for today, we can stop. Like I said earlier, our sessions are going to be based around what you’re comfortable sharing, even if it’s your drawings. Before I head back to Angel Grove tomorrow, I’ll give you my phone numbers. This includes my cell and office numbers; this is so if you need to talk for any reason, you can call me. Any time you need to talk, you call me, even if I’m asleep. You’re not the first client I’ve made the offer to and you likely won’t be the last either.”

Having that offer made helped, even if I found myself being able to trust Dr. Oliver. Getting up, we headed back inside. Rocky and I both had to clean pine needles off our legs after getting up, but I felt better after talking to him. Revealing the major secrets still scared me, but what Rocky said gave me hope that I wouldn’t have to keep them secret for long.

Once we got inside, I realized I really wanted to go to my room for some peace and quiet. Dr. Oliver asked how it had gone. I’d said fine, even if I didn’t totally believe it, but missed the look he and Rocky shared over my head. I asked to head to my room and did my best not to bolt when Dr. Oliver said I could. After closing my door, I pulled out a sketchbook and a pencil and started to draw after getting on my bed. After my session, I really needed to get some of my memories and feelings out into drawings. I started with many of my happier childhood memories. As much as I should be sketching this last week, I was still too emotionally invested in them for my emotions to not color the sketches.

-Scene Break-

Tommy watched Katrina not quite bolt up to the bedroom at the top of the stairs before turning back to Rocky.

“How did it really go?”

“We should probably head into your office first.” Once they sat down in chairs there, he continued, “Not bad for a first session, but she still won’t commit to giving up her father’s name. That’s not unusual for abused children, especially early on after they’ve been removed from their abuser’s care.”

Taking that in, Tommy realized he had a lot more work getting her to trust him then he thought. “Did she let anything slip?”

“I can’t go into specifics, you know that. I do have someone I’m planning on talking to once I head back to Angel Grove.”

Tommy gave a rueful smile. “I had forgotten that. I’m so used to us not having secrets between us that I forgot about client/patient confidentiality. What can I do to help her?”

“Keep doing what you’re doing. You’re doing great so far and I’m going to tell you what I told her: I’m going to recommend that you remain her guardian for the foreseeable future. Even if her father and abuser is who I think he is, him regaining guardianship wouldn’t be good. Not even partial if he doesn’t get the help she seems to think he needs. I am going to ask that you not take her to Angel Grove yet. Even if her father isn’t who I suspect, a trip there won’t help her right now. Her trust in both of us is shaky enough as it is; a trip to Angel Grove might make her think you’re taking her back to her abuser.”

“I don’t mind. I had thought to go down for a visit or several now that school’s out, but Jason and the others can come up here instead.”

“Do they know about Katrina?”

“Jason does a little bit. I’d called him yesterday afternoon when Katrina took a nap to see if he’d heard about any missing teens out of Angel Grove. He’d not, but admitted that it was still early enough that he might not have heard anything yet. All I told him was I had a foster child, but didn’t mention any names.”

“I’d not heard anything either and I’d checked with Lt. Stone before leaving. I didn’t name any names, but he didn’t find anyone of the right age or gender.”

“Which means that whoever her father is hasn’t reported her missing.”

“That’s both good and bad. Good because he might not care and it will make getting guardianship somewhat easier, at least for the time being.”

“What’s the bad part?”

“Once she’s reported missing, he could challenge you for guardianship. Katrina’s mental health right now is bad enough without risking a trial. She really doesn’t want to talk about her father at all, wouldn’t even reveal a name. Said he worked for Ernie at the Youth Center, but the only full-time employee he has is Trini’s cousin Sylvia. No male employees at all except for the teens and young adults who teach some classes part-time.”

Tommy snorted at that. “She’s said enough to me to make me think she’s Trini and Ernie’s daughter. The fact that she appears to be of half-Asian descent, likely Vietnamese like Trini was. She won’t confirm that, but she did say that I went to school with her mother.”

“Angel Grove High didn’t have many Asian students when we were there together. Trini was one of several that I remember and the only female that I knew of. Sylvia was several years behind us and at the middle school,” Rocky confirmed. Holding up a hand, he continued, “If she’s using a fake name, I can see why she would want to. If she’s really Ernie and Trini’s daughter, he’d know she was here in an instant.”

Tommy nodded at his friend’s words. “Ms. Andrews thought she’d run if forced, as she’s not been here long enough to completely trust me.”

“I can see that happening if her real name is in the file. When Ms. Andrews arrives tomorrow, I’ll see if she can bury Katrina’s real name; that is if Katrina is who we think she is. I’ll explain Katrina’s worries that she’ll be forced back, even for shared custody weekends. Do you have a computer? I need to look something up.”

Tommy quickly pulled his own laptop out from his laptop bag and plugged it in to the wall. He was seriously curious now. “What’s this about?” he asked, getting a small laugh out of Rocky.

“I keep thinking you’re more in the loop with Angel Grove news then you are. I want to double check something I thought I remember reading after coming back after getting my final degree. Angel Grove passed some law protecting the identities of the Power Rangers. It’s going to both help and hurt you getting full custody of Katrina, if she truly is Trini’s daughter.”

It took Rocky several minutes to find the relevant laws, as they’d been passed some 10 years ago.

“Here it is,” he said, with Tommy reading over his shoulder.

“That’s going to be a relief to her, but is going to be an issue with Ernie.” The law in question stated that anyone who knew the identities of any of Angel Grove’s Power Rangers was in no way obligated to reveal them, even in a court case.

“I see what you mean. Jason basically told me that Ernie knows. Abigail does too; he said that Aisha told her last Tuesday when she gave Abigail the morpher and communicator that had originally belonged to Trini.”

“You think it still works? Not all of them still do.”

“It’s doubtful. I remember Adam trying to use his a number of years ago; it didn’t go well as he kept going in and out of morph.”

“His coin was also broken. Trini’s that got passed on to Aisha didn’t get broken, but I can see why they didn’t want to test it at the dojo.”

“Too many windows and not enough private spaces to try it, just the changing rooms.” Rocky observed, pulling up the relevant memory. “I go there sometimes to keep my own skills up.”

Tommy smiled at that; Billy was one of the few former Rangers who didn’t keep up regular martial arts practice. His stomach started to growl; looking at the time on the laptop, he realized it was time to eat.

“What do you want to eat? The only thing out of the question for the time being is pizza; I suggested it to Katrina last night and she almost had a panic attack.”

Filing that tidbit away for a future session, Rocky suggested steaks or burgers.

“I’ve got the stuff for steaks, veggies and fries, but I’m going to have to get groceries this week. I’d been planning to get groceries this weekend, but my plans are up in flux right now. Depending on what Ms. Andrews says tomorrow, I’m going to get them Tuesday when Katrina and I get some more clothing and things for her. She only came with what she could carry in a backpack and shoulder bag. She doesn’t have enough clothing to last her several years. I’m surprised she didn’t bring a Gi; she said she’d had martial arts training.”

That threw Rocky for a loop. “I can see why you said you had doubts as to if she was really Ernie and Trini’s daughter. Jason said he’d never trained her in martial arts, but that Kimberly had taught her gymnastics. Ernie wouldn’t hear of Abigail learning martial arts; Jason was complaining about that. Said that it had taken several people talking to him before he’d let David even take lessons. I’m not plugged into the Youth Center gossip network as I was back when I was giving lessons there. This is even when holding counseling sessions there.”

“Does Ernie seem different? I’ve not seen him in years, not since Abigail was 8.”

“Not much more than usual. Trini’s death hit him hard and he’s protective of their children, but he’s been a great father to them, just overly protective.”

“Overly protective or abusive?” Tommy asked quietly, now starting to think Katrina really was Abigail.

Rocky shook his head. “I’ve seen situations in both categories. Often times, it’s not abuse, but abuse can be disguised as an over protective nature. It can be argued that it is minor abuse, depending on the degree of control that is being exercised. I’d have to talk to Katrina more, if she really is Abigail. I’m also going to have to talk to David, Ernie’s eldest, along with the original team that’s still in town. They’ve known Ernie the longest out of all of us. I’m still going to talk to Ernie, but I’m going to wait a few days first and talk to the others before talking to him. I’m also going to talk to Lt. Stone, see if Ernie or anyone else reports or has reported her missing.”

“One of us is going to have to tell Ms. Andrews about the law, along with Katrina. It will only help her for the time being. Ms. Andrews might be able to use that law to further help Katrina.”

Rocky caught on to what Tommy was suggesting. “You’re also hoping it will help Katrina trust us both.”

“At the very least, make her feel safe even if she’s not who we think she is. She’s let enough slip that I think she is Ernie and Trini’s daughter, but she won’t confirm it when I ask her directly.”

“She wouldn’t for me either, Tommy. It will take time.”

“I hope so, I really do, Rocky.”

“I’ve rarely seen a case where an abused child didn’t eventually. Patience, grasshopper.”

Tommy raised an eyebrow at that. “Nice job with that, Mr. Miyagi,” getting Rocky to laugh. By this time, he’d gotten the grill going for the steaks. “I’m going to call Katrina down; see how she likes her steak.”

Rocky agreed to watch the grill and get the steaks started while Tommy went inside. The fries would be cooked in the oven; Tommy had started the oven to preheat when getting the steaks out of the fridge where they’d been marinating. He’d put them in a marinade when Rocky and Katrina had been talking earlier. If they’d not had them tonight, they’d have been dinner tomorrow, with the rest going into a salad for Tuesday.

-Scene Break-

I jumped when Dr. Oliver knocked on my bedroom door. I really need to stop doing that; Dad’s not going to be on the other side of the door. I thought as I got up and opened the door. I’d quit drawing a while ago, having shut the sketchbook, but leaving it on top of my desk. I had to trust that Dr. Oliver wouldn’t look; he’d promised as much. I’d tried meditating; there’d been a class on it at the Youth Center and I’d tried it several times. Couldn’t get a hang of it back then and was still having trouble with it. Dad hadn’t cared; as long as it wasn’t martial arts, I was allowed to try any new hobby I wanted as long as the initial classes were held at either the Youth Center or Aunt Kimberly’s gymnastics studio.

“It’s dinner time,” Dr. Oliver said as I opened the door. I sniffed and could smell the charcoal.

“Steak? One of my favorites.” Dad made it occasionally; it was one of many happy memories I had with him. When I got old enough, he’d let me help occasionally. When he’d bring them home, we always had fun. It was hard contrasting those memories with who he’d been this last week. I told Dr. Oliver I liked my steak medium well when he asked. When we got out where the grill was, Rocky had already put them on. We’d had to detour so Dr. Oliver could put the fries in the oven to cook at the same time as the steaks.

Unlike the earlier stress of the therapy session, the rest of the evening ended up being rather fun. I found out Rocky and Dr. Oliver both had a great sense of humor. While Dr. Oliver could be a fairly serious guy, he knew how to relax. It was obvious just how much he and Rocky got along and trusted each other. I was starting to feel more and more at ease with the both of them, but that didn’t mean I was letting my guard down any time soon, either.

After dinner, I’d asked if Dr. Oliver could help me with a few martial arts skills. He shook his head.

“Not right after a heavy meal, Katrina. Tomorrow is a good possibility, though. After Ms. Andrews leaves?”

“Sounds good.” I was disappointed, but understood his reasoning. Aunt Kimberly was the same way with gymnastic routines. She’d explained why one class when a classmate had asked. It was a two-fold reason; partially to do with digestion, but also partially being too tired to concentrate on our routines properly. We’d get hurt if we got too tired to concentrate properly and she didn’t want that to happen. Jason explained he was the same way in the dojo; safety was as important in martial arts as it was in gymnastics, if not more so.

I was excited to see what Dr. Oliver could do and what he could teach me. I didn’t want to be defenseless again. As much as I’d been able to defend myself Friday night against Dad, he’d still been able to hurt me. I didn’t want that to happen again…no couldn’t let myself be able to not defend myself again. My disappointment must have shown on my face as I helped Dr. Oliver with the dishes.

“It’s okay, Katrina. After what you’ve gone through, knowing how to defend yourself better is a good thing,” he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I impulsively gave him a hug, which he returned, even though both of our hands were wet from dishes. His hugs felt safe, much like David’s were. Dad’s didn’t, but I was willing to admit that recent events might be coloring my memories of his hugs. I finally let go and Dr. Oliver was willing to ignore evidence of my crying for the time being.

After the dishes were put on the drying rack-Rocky had offered to dry and put them away, but Dr. Oliver shook his head-I ended up grabbing a book to read. Dr. Oliver had suggested a board game, but I wanted some peace and quiet. I did, however, stay on the first floor instead of heading back up to my room. I also watched Dr. Oliver play a couple of card games with Rocky in the dining room.

It ended up getting late, though, and we soon headed to bed. Ms. Andrews had called to let us know she’d be at the house at 10:30 the next morning. Dr. Oliver wanted us to have had our breakfast before she arrived. I knew that it was going to be a rough morning and was suddenly glad that Rocky was there. Tomorrow morning would be a good test of his promise to be willing to support me. Dr. Oliver had also reiterated that I wasn’t going to do this alone.

My rest that night wasn’t as restful as the previous night’s had been, though. I woke up at one point from a nightmare. Dr. Oliver was there within seconds of me waking up; but made sure he was at my level instead of towering over me. It helped lesson my panic and I quickly found myself within another hug as he helped me calm down from the nightmare. Rocky hadn’t been far behind him, even as I didn’t want to talk about the nightmare. It had been about Friday night and in it, Dad had hurt me bad enough that I’d not been able to run away. The only major difference was that the bedroom in it was mine at Dr. Oliver’s house. They ended up staying with me as I fell asleep, still in Dr. Oliver’s arms.

When I woke up the next morning, they both looked like they were in uncomfortable positions, either in the desk chair or on the floor. At some point during the night, Dr. Oliver had tucked me in after I had fallen back asleep, but had stayed. That meant a lot to me that he didn’t want to leave me alone after a nightmare. Rocky staying hadn’t surprised me at all even though I’d not really noticed him the night before.

I wanted to sleep in some more, but Ms. Andrews was coming in this morning. Quickly showering, I got dressed while Dr. Oliver took his shower. Rocky had apparently showered before coming up yesterday. Breakfast ended up being cereal and juice, which I didn’t mind. While healthy, it wasn’t the parfaits Dad made.

I ended up being nervous waiting for Ms. Andrews visit, even more than I’d been the entire weekend. This was even with Rocky visiting yesterday; he’d just come up for me to talk to him. Ms. Andrews wanted to see how I was settling in and would likely ask questions I didn’t want to answer. Rocky and Dr. Oliver both backed off at my discomfort at some of them, but Rocky had warned me this morning Ms. Andrews likely wouldn’t. Rocky had also said that one of the questions she’d need an answer to was the names of my parents and the name of my abuser, even though my abuser and one of my parents were one and the same.

If Ms. Andrews wasn’t going to be arriving this morning, I would have shown Rocky and Dr. Oliver my sketches from yesterday afternoon. I’d deliberately not included Dad in my memories except where I’d sketched some stuff from the Youth Center where Dad was doing normal stuff; stuff that anyone who hung out at the Youth Center would see him doing. I didn’t want to pull out the tape recording I had of the attack; doing so would almost guarantee that Dad would be arrested.

-Scene Break-

Tommy was keeping a close eye on Katrina; he’d noticed how withdrawn she was this morning. She’d been like this on and off over the weekend, especially when reminded of her past. He was worried about her and had said as much to Rocky the night before, after she fell asleep after her nightmare.

“I don’t blame you for being worried, Tommy,” Rocky had told him when he’d said as much. They’d been talking quietly as to not wake her up. “Nights like this are going to be normal. The fact that you got down on her level was a good thing; I’d noticed that she reacted better to you because of that.”

“I was trying not to panic her further, Rocky.”

“That’s a point in your favor. You want me to tell Ms. Andrews?”

“If she doesn’t or I don’t.” Tommy hoped that it would help. Trini’s daughter or not, Katrina needed help. He’d not wanted to leave her alone, and neither had Rocky. They’d both fallen asleep where they’d sat and had woken up sore when they heard Katrina get up. She’d stirred during the night, but hadn’t had another nightmare again. It was something Tommy was grateful for.

Ms. Andrews, like Rocky the day before, ended up arriving early. He ended up waylaying her slightly before she came in.

“Dr. Oliver! Is Katrina up?”

“Yes, but I’d just like to warn you, she’s a bit withdrawn. She had a nightmare last night; Rocky’s talking with her about it right now. Rocky’s a friend of mine, he’s a trained therapist. We met in high school during a martial arts competition and he ended up transferring to Angel Grove High after. We’ve been friends ever since.”

“Rocky DeSantos? I’ve heard of him; he’s got a good reputation with the social services office in Angel Grove. The social workers I’ve talked to say he does a great job with children, even when the children in question aren’t being abused. He’s worked with their parents, too.”

Tommy took that information in. “Katrina still thinks all her father needs in some professional help, not jail time. Rocky said that was normal for abuse victims.”

Ms. Andrews nodded. “I’ve seen that too; has she given up his name?” Tommy shook his head no. “I can put that recommendation in her file, but I can’t do much without a name.”

Thinking for a second, Tommy asked if she’d ever heard of the Power Rangers.

“Yes, even Reefside has had a team, as I’m sure you remember.”

“I was in high school when Angel Grove had teams of their own. Katrina’s implied her mother may have been one of them and that her father knows.”

“I can work with that, Dr. Oliver. Putting that in her file might just allow me to get both my superiors and a judge to sign off on you being granted permanent guardianship without the names of her parents. Don’t look so surprised, Dr. Oliver. I’m aware of Angel Grove’s law on the subject and given that she’s from the same city, it will help. The only downside I can see is her abuser is going to get away with his abuse.”

Tommy sighed. “She’s told Rocky and I both that she won’t testify against her father if it comes to trial.”

“That’s also common among abused children and part of why I suggested getting her a therapist.”

“Rocky said the same thing. I called Rocky because I’ve gone to him myself a couple of times in the past. Our long friendship is part of why I went as I found it easier to talk to a friend about what happened.”

“Verses a complete stranger?” Ms. Andrews was impressed that Dr. Oliver was willing to admit he’d needed help in the past.

“Exactly. I know exactly how Rocky operates and hoped he’d be able to help Katrina. I’m glad he was able to come up yesterday. He ended up having his first session with her not long after arriving. If Katrina ends up getting a new guardian or back in her father’s care, I hope he’ll be able to continue helping her.”

“Like I said Saturday, I don’t see Katrina having any other guardian except you. Even if what she hopes is correct and that all her father needs is help, I don’t think being returned to his custody any time soon is a good thing. She seems to be doing good so far here. I’ll know more after talking with her.” With that said, they went in to find that the two were done talking.

-Scene Break-

When Dr. Oliver had been talking to Ms. Andrews outside, Rocky had tried getting me to talk about my nightmare last night. I still didn’t want to talk about it completely, but did let him know it had been about my father.

“You’re scared he’s going to come here.” Rocky observed, his statement more a fact than question. I just nodded, not wanting to go any further. “That’s not something you have to worry about right now, Katrina. Angel Grove residents rarely come this far north on vacation, even with Reefside having had a Ranger team of its own recently.” That did little to reassure me, but it did help. I wanted to believe him; even Dad hadn’t come to Reefside before there’d been a Power Ranger team here. After the news had happened, he really didn’t want to be in the same city as a Power Ranger team.

I didn’t want to talk any further, lost in my fear. I didn’t have to wait too long before Dr. Oliver and Ms. Andrews came in. Instead of heading into another room, we ended up staying the den. I assumed that he told her about not wanting to use the office right now. I barely even noticed Dr. Oliver sitting down next to me on the couch, but ended up leaning in to his arms for a hug.

I noticed Ms. Andrews seemed pleased by this. She asked me how I was doing here, not even asking Dr. Oliver or Rocky to leave the room.

“Doing good. Dr. Oliver’s been good; he’s promised to help me learn to defend myself better.”

At this, Ms. Anderson raised an eyebrow, causing Dr. Oliver to jump in to explain he was a trained martial artist and still kept up practice at Reefside’s dojo, even teaching a few classes when needed. Ms. Andrews wrote down a few notes before asking if I had any experience.

“Some; I’d taken lessons in Angel Grove. It’s why my injuries weren’t as bad as they could have been.”

“Learning to defend yourself is always a good thing. I’ve not taken any lessons, but know martial arts teaches more than physical skills. Anything else you’re looking forward to doing?”

“Soccer camp; one of Dr. Oliver’s students is going to be running it. I’ve never done any school sports before and want to see what soccer’s like before trying out for Reefside high’s team.” Ms. Andrews made a few more notes in her notebook.

“Sounds like you’re settling in well.”

“I am. Dr. Oliver’s not near as strict as Dad was.”

Ms. Andrews hesitated before putting her notebook and pen aside. “Katrina, I have a delicate question to ask. Between what you said Saturday and what Dr. Oliver said this morning while you were talking to Dr. DeSantos-Rocky as you call him-that he thinks one of your parents was one of Angel Grove’s Power Rangers. I’m well aware of Angle Grove’s law on the matter, but even the suspicion that you had a Power Ranger for a parent means that I’m not going to need your father’s name right away. I don’t like the thought of him getting away with hurting you. To help Dr. Oliver gain permeant guardianship, I’d like you to give him your father’s name at some point. I might be able to use this knowledge to get him to sign over guardianship willingly.”

I nodded. “Father’s never said as much, but I think he knew the Power Rangers. He didn’t want me to learn because of Mom’s past, but he couldn’t stop me from learning either.” Which was the truth, even if Dad was unaware that I’d learned how to defend myself. David had taught me once he was old enough to watch me when Dad was at work. It helped him out as well, because he had a sparring partner outside of lessons.

Ms. Andrews smiled at that. “I’ve heard enough for today and will be recommending that Dr. Oliver remain your permanent guardian because of being related to a Power Ranger.”

Dr. Oliver raised an eyebrow at that.

“Don’t give me that look, Dr. Oliver. You wouldn’t have gone out of your way to mention the Power Ranger link unless you had your own connection to a Power Ranger team. Like with Miss Jones, I won’t ask you to confirm or deny the fact, but the fact remains that Miss Jones sought you out for a reason. There’s a good chance that you knew her Ranger parent, possibly even as one of her teammates. I’m paid to be perceptive.”

Rocky, who by this time, had grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen, choked on it. Dr. Oliver and I weren’t much different, each of us clearly surprised that she’d figured out so much from so few clues. Ms. Andrews gave Rocky a look. “You okay there, Dr. DeSantos?”

“I’m fine, Ms. Andrews,” Rocky replied, hurriedly. “Just couldn’t see Tommy as a Power Ranger, ma’am.” I looked at Dr. Oliver; he appeared to be fighting to hide a smile. I was beginning to wonder if Rocky had also been a Power Ranger; he must have been by how he was acting and his long-term friendship with Dr. Oliver.

Ms. Andrews gave both of them a look, she wasn’t buying it, but wouldn’t push either. I realized that she knew more then what any of us were saying and that I had another person willing to help more than what she was being paid to do. Any other social worker might have pushed further or not have been near as willing to help.

Not long after that, she ended up leaving. She did say that she was going to be meeting with me monthly at the very least, to make sure I was going to be okay. Dr. Oliver was warned that some visits would be unannounced; apparently it was policy. Not all of the visits would be at home either; once I started school, some would be at Reefside High to see how I was settling in there. The visits would be continued until I turned 18, irregardless of if Dad regained even partial guardianship of me.

Rocky, unfortunately, had to leave soon after. He had some afternoon appointments in Angel Grove. While the drive there was quicker than the train trip I’d taken, he still needed to leave to make it to his first appointment on time. He did want to do twice a week appointments with me, including on Saturdays. The other day, he’d have to look at his appointment book before settling on specific days. I was fine with that, just as long as they went as well as yesterdays had gone. He'd call with the actual dates.

Chapter Text

After Rocky took off, we ended up having a light lunch. It had been a fairly healthy one, of sandwiches with plenty of vegetables. That was primarily because he wanted to asses my skills and didn’t want to do so over a heavy lunch. Neither did I, at that and couldn’t wait to do this.

“You have a Gi?” Dr. Oliver asked. “I didn’t see one in the clothing you’d brought.”

I shook my head. “I’d used one at the dojo; Father didn’t like seeing them at the house. I had my brother keep my belts with his Gi and belts; Father wouldn’t have noticed extras as my brother did his own laundry. I didn’t have space to pack them anyway.” That much was true, about the Gi, anyway. When Jason had assessed my skills, he’d let me borrow one of the dojos to use. He’d given David my belt to keep; I’d not packed it with me for the same reason I just gave Dr. Oliver.

“That’s no issue. I’ve got belts, a Gi would have to wait until we can get you fitted at the dojo.” He did have me head up to my room to change. Thankfully, one of the outfits I’d packed had been the one David had recommended I practice with him in and I changed into that one. I’d realized I’d needed it when I was packing, but I waited until last Friday before packing, so I knew it was clean.

Going downstairs, I found Dr. Oliver had one last rule for me. “I don’t mind if you come down here to do laundry, but I’d rather not you practice down here without me. That’s more until I am confident you won’t hurt yourself practicing. The same goes for the exercise equipment.”

“I can accept that; my sensei always had me practice with my brother when at home instead of by myself. I’m used to practicing with another person and feel more comfortable practicing with someone else.” With that, we entered the area of the basement that Dr. Oliver had set up to practice martial arts in.

After a quick warm up, we got to work. By the time we were done, I was surprised that I’d not had a flashback of any sort. All I could figure is this reminded me more of practicing with David than the fight in my bedroom in Angel Grove. David and I practiced in the basement, as well, and his setup was rather similar. Jason had helped him set it up; I could see the hallmarks of training in the setup here.

“You’re doing good, Katrina. I have no doubt you’ll reach black belt in no time. The dojo I go to uses a different belt system than I’m sure your dojo does. That being said, who was your sensei? I know most of Angel Grove's.” That caught me off guard, as I’d not actually had formal lessons. “Katrina.”

Dr. Oliver must have seen the fear flash across my eyes. “Your brother was your teacher, wasn’t he.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yes. I wasn’t lying earlier when I said my father couldn’t stop me learning. I just couldn’t do so at a dojo. My brother’s sensei did assess my skills occasionally, just to make sure I was at the right level, but it had to be done on the sly.”

Dr. Oliver sighed. “I don’t like you lying to me, Katrina. If we’re to trust each other fully, I need honest answers from you.”

“I understand that, Dr. O., it’s just the fact that I’m scared. I don’t want to go back to Father, even temporarily.” He nodded at that.

“Rocky said you’d feel that way. I’m going to reiterate that I won’t send you back to him, not when you’re this scared. You’ll only go back to him if you want to, no matter what the court system says.” Giving me another look, he continued, looking at a photo on the wall I’d not noticed earlier. “You’re not the only one without major secrets. Most of mine, only Rocky and a handful of others know. In time, I will tell you them if need be.”

I nodded at that. Pointing at the photo, I asked who was in it.

“They’re my friends and I, taken at our high school graduation.”

Looking closer, I’d noticed Mom and Dr. Oliver both. “You certainly wore a lot of red back then,” was my comment, causing him to laugh.

“I sure did; wore a lot of other colors, too.”

“I saw the old yearbooks when doing research once. You wore more colors verses many of the pictures you were in with the same people.”

He gave me a look. “Research?”

I snorted. “Every time a new teacher came in, they’d assign a project about the Power Rangers. Some, unaware of Angel Grove’s law, gave bonus points if someone could positively identify any of the Rangers. Nobody ever got the bonus points.” I smirked with the last answer; I’d really felt bad for Mr. Carson, as he’d kept raising the bonus points until someone had him quit.

Dr. Oliver really roared with laughter at that. “I bet not,” he said, once he’d stopped laughing. “I doubt many people knew the identities of Power Rangers that weren’t Rangers themselves. Several people may have suspected, but I don’t think anyone knew.”

I gave him a look at that. “You were one yourself, weren’t you?” I asked, causing him to look at me in shock. I snorted and shook my head. “I listened to enough gossip growing up; it’s not that hard to figure out if you know what to filter out. I’ve kept Mom’s secret since I found out, I’m not about to spill yours.” I hesitated for a second, then shrugged. “Father wouldn’t have been so strict if Mom hadn’t been.”

“He didn’t approve, did he?”

“I don’t know, just that he didn’t want me to be one.”

“Yea…my parents would have freaked out, and rightly so, if they’d ever known I was a Power Ranger. Most of ours would have, if not all of them. We had very few family members that would have been supportive. Trini’s one uncle was one of them and I don’t know if he actually knew. The Youth Center was one of our safe havens, but I felt bad lying to Ernie. He was such a fan.”

That surprised me. “That doesn’t sound like him. Anytime anyone talked about Power Ranger teams in cities not Angel Grove around him, he didn’t look happy and found a reason to be somewhere else. He wouldn’t even come up to Reefside last year as an extra chaperone once the Gazette started reporting on Reefside’s Power Ranger team.”

“Sounds like the Ernie I knew and the Ernie you know are two different guys. I wonder what happened.” We ended up going upstairs after that and made plans to go to the grocery store. I’d volunteered to go with, as I needed to pick up some personal supplies of my own. I would have packed what I had at home, but I’d ran out the last time I’d needed to use them.

“You sure? I don’t mind going by myself, especially if you want to relax a bit.”

“I don’t mind, Dr. O. I need to get some stuff anyway.” I blushed when he asked me to elaborate, finally answering his question. “Pads, Dr. O. I’d not been able to bring any with me. Ran out before coming here. I’d rather get them now than getting them when I need them.”

Dr. Oliver and I took off not long after he made his list. I’d quickly changed out of my exercise gear; Dr. Oliver had to do the same thing, only he was changing out of his Gi into normal clothing. He’d warned me we’d probably run into some of his students or their parents while we were out and not just today, so to expect to be stopped. Even in bigger cities like Reefside, gossip got around fast and everyone would be wondering who the new girl was with the popular high school science teacher. He didn’t say popular, but given Conner’s reaction Saturday, I had no doubt he was.

He told me I didn’t have to answer any questions if I didn’t want to. Most of the questions would be directed at him, he said. I appreciated that, as after this weekend, I was done with talking about how I came to Reefside. It would take me a long time before I could answer questions about it without panicking.

Thankfully, we didn’t run into many people and were able to pick up what we needed for the next couple of weeks. I’d even grabbed a couple things Dad hadn’t allowed around the house. Dr. Oliver hadn’t minded my picks, allowing that some treats were fine. Just as long as I didn’t make a habit of eating junk on a regular basis. He didn’t argue with the chocolate though, being a fan himself. He admitted to keeping a regular supply in the house for the occasionally treat, along with some ice cream.

We were almost back to the car when a lady walked up. Even in California’s heat, she was wearing a lady’s business suit.

“Dr. Oliver.”

“Principal Randell, what brings you here?”

“Grocery shopping, same as you. Who’s this with you?”

“My foster daughter, Katrina Jones. Katrina, this is Principal Randell; she’s the Principal of Reefside High.”

“I didn’t know you were a foster parent.”

“It just happened recently; Katrina’s the daughter of some old friends. There was nobody else that could take her in.”

Turning to me, she asked if I’d be attending Reefside High in the fall. Giving her a deer-in-the-headlights look, I turned to Dr. Oliver, who thankfully answered for me.

“Yes. I’m just waiting on the paperwork to be finalized before I register her. It’s going to take several weeks to deal with the transfer of guardianship.”

She seemed to frown at that. “See that you do, Dr. Oliver.” With that, she walked away, her heels clicking on the parking lot.

Getting back to the car and putting the groceries in the trunk, I was thankfully able to hold it together until Dr. Oliver got back us back to the house. I didn’t even register that we’d gotten back as I was that panicked. I slowly became aware of Dr. Oliver’s calming voice and his hands on mine. I finally looked up at him, finally calmed down.

“Thank you. I don’t know why she panicked me so; I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing you have to apologize for. You did everything right in this and everything will be okay. If anything, I should be the one apologizing; I wasn’t expecting to run into my boss today.” With that, we started taking our groceries into the house and put everything away.

After putting my supplies away in the second-floor bathroom, I ducked into my room to grab a sketchbook and some pencils, but came down fairly quickly. I wanted to sketch some of the view from the back porch. I’d already sketched some of what I could remember of Reefside; where Dr. Oliver lived was gorgeous. This wasn’t the same sketchbook that I was using for my memories as I wanted to keep that sketchbook separate from ones I used for fun.

When I came down, I found Dr. Oliver on the phone with Reefside’s dojo, registering me for lessons. It was too late in the day for me to go to today’s class, and we had plans for tomorrow, so we were going to go Wednesday to finish the sign up. We would be going early so that Dr. Oliver’s sensei, the head of the dojo, could do his own assessment and so I could get a Gi of my own. It wasn’t as if he didn’t trust Dr. Oliver’s own assessment, from what Dr. Oliver told me, but it was just his own policy. He didn’t mind me going outside to draw, as long as I stayed close to the house.

Given that I was staying on the back porch, I didn’t mind at all. I got so lost in my drawing that I didn’t notice that he’d joined me on the porch.

-Scene Break-

Back in Angel Grove, Ernie had spent all of Sunday calling both his friends and Trini’s that he had phone numbers for, along with the parents of his daughter’s friends. Nobody had seen her or heard from her since before she’d ran away. Jason, who’d stopped by as soon as Ernie had opened, had told him that she’d come to the dojo Tuesday, worried as heck, but that he’d talked her out of running, or so he thought. Ernie asked him to pass the word on to Tommy, as he didn’t have Tommy’s number up in Reefside, and ask Tommy to keep an eye out for her.

“Sure thing, Ernie. Do you want me to give him your number?” Jason asked, sounding as worried as Ernie felt.

Ernie snorted. “Just have him leave me a message at the Youth Center. Number’s not changed since it opened. It’s the first thing I check before I open and the last thing I check before I lock up at night.”

“I know you’ve probably been asked this by everyone else, but can you think of any reason why Abigail would run away?”

“Unfortunately, no. I know she was upset about me wanting her to hand over part of Aisha’s gift,” Ernie not wanting to openly mention his late wife’s Power Ranger items, “but I don’t think she’d run over that.”

“I don’t think so, either. She’s always understood, from what I can see, why certain things were dangerous for her at certain ages. I did let her know just how dangerous what she had was. Just because all known enemies are gone doesn’t mean that there’s not anyone out there who would love to get their hands on it.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of, Jason. It’s why I don’t want her to have them; I fear she’d want to follow in Trini’s footsteps.”

“Before I became a father, I’d not understand how terrifying that thought is. Given what I know now, Ernie, if either of my children chose to take up the Ranger mantle, I’d be scared for sure. That doesn’t mean I would stop them. Kimberly and I both have prepared them for what the life of a Power Ranger is like. It’s why both of my children know martial arts. Both Austin and Amy know that they can come to us if they need to, even if they’ve become Rangers.” Ernie and Jason were the only two in the Youth Center, but Jason was still talking quietly, from years of habit.

Ernie only scowled, though. “I’ll have to take your word for it, Jason.” Jason headed out soon after, as he had a dojo to take care of and a phone call to make. What he didn’t know was that the phone call was to Rocky, not Tommy.

Jason wasn’t stupid; he knew that there had been more to Tommy’s phone call the day before. When he called Rocky, he found out that Rocky was headed up to Reefside to help Tommy’s foster daughter.

“I’m likely to come back tomorrow, Jason. I can stop by the Youth Center before heading home.”

“I’d appreciate that, Rocky. Ernie’s not doing well and now his daughter’s missing. I doubt Tommy’s newest foster daughter is connected to Abigail missing.”

“Same here, but you know if I find out, I won’t be able to tell you much.”

“I know, Rocky. I’m not about to ask you to break any laws just to satisfy my curiosity. Ernie’s not doing well at all, though. He’s been ignoring his grief for years and now, with Abigail missing, I worry he’s going to use this new situation to ignore it even further.” Jason hesitated for a second. “He’s started drinking more, from what David said. He was out at a bar Friday night; David said Ernie had admitted that he didn’t remember much after getting home.”

“That’s not good. If I didn’t have to go to Reefside, I’d head over to the Youth Center right now. If you can think of anything else, call me. Better yet, if David remembers any other details, however minor, have him call me. Give him my numbers, both cell and office. Since I’m going to be in Reefside through tomorrow lunch, have him call my cell phone before my office. This is important.”

Jason hung up not long after that. He debated calling Lt. Stone, but talked himself out of it. Abigail was Ernie’s daughter; Ernie should be the one to make the call first. David was going to be over at the dojo this afternoon and didn’t seem to be wanting to spend as much time at home as he normally would. Instead, he was busy teaching a beginner’s class. It wasn’t something Jason required of all of his black belts; those he picked were ones who showed the patience for being willing and able to pass on their skills in the best manner.

David had privately admitted he was going to miss being at the dojo during the school year. Jason had reiterated that he was welcome any time, especially with how close Los Angeles was to Angel Grove. By the time Jason got back from the Youth Center, David’s class was almost over. He waited outside of the door for the class to be over and felt pride at how far David had come; Trini would be very proud of her eldest. Both of her children, really, and fairly disappointed with Ernie and how he was acting. Jason knew if Trini had been alive, Abigail wouldn’t have run away, morpher or not. Trini was already making plans, as had he and Kimberly, to make sure that her children knew the perils of being a Ranger, along with the responsibilities.

“How’d the talk with Dad go, Sensei Jason?”

Jason only sighed. “Not well; I’m afraid he’s going to use this to further ignore his grief. I’ve given Rocky a call; he’s a therapist and had once been on the team. He promised to stop by the Youth Center tomorrow. He would have today, but he’s got something going on.”

David nodded, catching Jason’s oblique reference to the Power Rangers. “Anything else?”

“Yea, here’s Rocky’s numbers, both cell and office. He wants you to call him if you can think of anything regarding either Abigail or Ernie, even if the details seem insignificant. He did say he might not be able to give us a lot of details.”

“That’s okay; I know all about doctor/patient privacy. That got covered in AP Psychology last year.” David took the paper with Rocky’s numbers on it. “I’ll probably give him a call later, before heading home. I really don’t want to see Dad right now.” By this time, the only students in the dojo were black belts who were using the time to practice their katas. Everyone else was either a former Ranger or otherwise in the know.

Taking David in the office he shared with Adam and Zack, he motioned for David to take a seat. “You want to talk about it?”

David just gave him a look after sitting down. “Not really. Just frustrated and worried about Abby. Dad’s been weird all week about you-know-what. I keep getting the feeling that whatever happened after he got back home Friday is what caused her to vanish. She said that if Dad’s behavior got worse, she’d leave. Said she didn’t want to drag me into it; she had all these plans of when she’d leave, yesterday being the earliest she thought she could run. I’m kicking myself for not saying something to somebody as I’d thought she’d actually not go through with it. Not everyone who makes plans to do something drastic actually goes through.” He took a deep breath before continuing.

“I partially agreed with her, though, because of how Dad was the day we came to the dojo. If she’d actually stayed and said what happened Friday night, I would have called someone. You, Kimberly, someone who knew Mom, someone who I thought could help. I offered to make that call, she refused. Said she didn’t want to cause any trouble for us or Dad, irregardless of what happened.”

“I thought she knew she could come to us when she needed help. She came Tuesday; she must have felt that desperate to run.”

Back at the Youth Center, Ernie realized that nobody had either seen or heard from Abigail. Some of her friends, he’d not needed to contact as they’d came by looking for her. They promised to spread the word among Angel Grove’s youth that Abigail knew and those that she didn’t, even the high school students. After most of the youth left, he finally called Lt. Stone. After years of knowing the man, he knew the officer could hopefully keep the investigation down low. Lt. Stone also had resources as an officer that Ernie didn’t have.

Lt. Stone headed over pretty quickly when Ernie made the call. He had just gotten off a shift, so came over in his personal car instead of a police vehicle. That suited Ernie just fine; he wasn’t sure just how official he wanted to make this.

“Ernie, what’s up? You rarely call the police station and it’s even rarer that you call me directly.”

“That’s because there’s not much I need to call for. This is a personal matter, though. When David and I got back from L. A. last night, she was gone. We’d had a couple of arguments earlier in the week, as one of Trini’s friends gave her a gift that I’d rather she not have. There’s parts of Trini’s past that I’ve tried shielding both of my children from.”

“Past?”

“I don’t know much; Trini wasn’t able to speak about it. I got the impression she’d gotten involved in some top-secret project in university. She assured me that there wouldn’t be any fallout from it that could be traced back to her or Angel Grove, but that doesn’t mean I wanted any reminders of it in the house. One of Trini’s friends from that part in her life had something connected to that part of her background and gave it to her Monday evening.”

Lt. Stone nodded at that. “I’ve children of my own. If one of my fellow officers gave my children something connected as dangerous as what I think Abigail got, I’d want her to hand it over as well. Do you want to file a missing person’s report and Amber Alert?”

“Part of me wants to say no, but that’s more because I’m hoping she’s just hiding somewhere around Angel Grove and is going to be home soon.”

Lt. Stone gave Ernie a look across the bar. “Even if that’s the case, it’s still worth putting out an alert and adding her to the missing person’s file. I’d rather put it out and she be found quickly and alive instead of not doing it, finding her either dead or doing work that many runaway girls are forced to do to survive.”

Ernie flinched at that, he really didn’t want to think of his daughter selling herself to survive or dead somewhere. “Go ahead, file it. I don’t know what she was wearing, but both her shoulder bag and backpack are missing. So are some of her clothing, her electronics, art supplies, and all the mementos of Trini’s that I’d given her. Toiletries, too, now that I think about it.” Grabbing a recent picture of her, he gave it to Lt. Stone, who promised to have it back to him in a couple of days.

The photo happened to show his daughter with her ever-present shoulder bag, but no backpack.

“Does David know anything about her plans?” Lt. Stone asked.

“I don’t know; he was as shocked as I was. He’s at Jason’s dojo, though. He’s taken lessons there since he was a child and now teaches some classes there himself. He was teaching a class there earlier today, but he’s been too upset to come to the Youth Center today; seemed angry at me for some reason. He’s always been close to Abigail and has been her protector.”

“I’ll stop over there next. If he’s still there, I’ll be able to ask him some questions. Given the staff there were all Trini’s friends, I’ll be able to get answers from them too.”

“Thanks, Lt. I really appreciate your actions. I hope Abigail is found safe.”

“Me too. She’s a sweetheart, much like you and Trini both. If I hear anything or find her, I’ll let you know, even if it’s the middle of the night.” With that, Lt. Stone left, leaving Ernie feeling reassured. He left not long after, heading back home after he locked the Youth Center back up.

-Scene Break-

The next day, there was no news from the lieutenant, but that was normal in cases. He’d not gotten much help from the former Power Rangers; they’d all invoked Angel Grove’s law about the Power Rangers. Even David had.

“Gentlemen, ladies. I know you’re trying to protect a Ranger, but you’re also impeding my ability to find Abigail. Can you think of anywhere she’d be, any friends not in Angel Grove that she’d run to?” Lt. Stone’s frustration was evident on his face.

They all shook their heads no. “I gave her Tommy’s contact information at Reefside High, but when I talked to him over the weekend, he’d not seen her. He was supposed to come down this weekend to visit, but had some emergency come up. He said he’d reschedule when he had some free time. Rocky DeSantos was headed to see him, but he couldn’t say why. Professional reasons.”

“I hope he’s alright, but I’m glad he has someone to talk to.” This was met with nods of agreement from all of them.

“So do we,” Jason said, replying for all of them. “Tommy’s been a friend for years; so has Rocky. That trust has only helped all of us after some rough events in our own lives.”

“Like Trini’s death.”

“Exactly.” This response came from Zack. “Rocky might not have know her as long as Jason, Kimberly, Billy or I have, but he knew her well and us well enough to listen. The only person not willing to talk to him was Ernie. He took her loss hardest of all of us and kept trying to push all but David away.”

“In my defense, I was all of 4,” David remarked dryly, to some laughter.

Lt. Stone was starting to get a better picture of why Ernie’s daughter might have run; Ernie might show one face at the Youth Center, but something was rotten in Denmark. Like most of Angel Grove, he’d known Ernie for years; had even bought and ran the Youth Center when Ernie had been recalled to the Peace Corps.

“I can’t see Ernie as being abusive at all,” he said slowly.

“Before last week, I wouldn’t have said Dad had it in him to be so either. Last week, though, I’d woken up to hear him and Abigail arguing over part of Aisha’s gift and he ended up slapping her. Even if it was in a fit of anger; Dad’s never gotten angry with either of us, not to the point of yelling and smacking at any rate,” David replied.

“Honestly, if I’d known he was going to react like that, I would have waited on that half of the gift for a while. I would have asked Jason or Kimberly to talk to Ernie first, but to also explain things to Abigail after one of her classes. When I gave her something that Trini had entrusted to me, she’d not even known about that part of her mom’s past,” was Aisha’s follow up to David’s remarks.

Lt. Stone nodded. “You’ve given me a lot to think about. I’m going to stop over there later, recommend that, irregardless of when we find Abigail, he gets himself into therapy. That is, if I don’t outright require it so he doesn’t lose custody. With everything that’s going on, he needs it.”

“We’ve been after him to do that for years. He keeps coming up with reasons so as to not do so. First, it was that he had to figure out how to juggle raising both David and Abigail while running the Youth Center. As they got older, it was after they went off to college. This was even with us offering to watch the children.” Jason and Kimberly alternated saying. Kimberly continued with, “Our twins are right between their ages, it wouldn’t have been an issue to add David and Abigail to the mix. Jason and I both told Ernie that.”

“I recently gave Abigail a list of trustworthy counselors and grief therapy groups to either call herself or hand off to Ernie. Our friend Rocky’s on that list and he’s in on the secret of what Trini was involved in, so there’s no issues when it comes to that.”

“Didn’t do much good, Jason. He’s tossed it several times and I keep rescuing it out of the trash and putting it where he’s going to find it. Haven’t gone over to the Youth Center; otherwise, I’d attach it somewhere he’d not be able to remove or hide it.”

“Rocky’s going to stop over there tonight anyway; he’s just gotten back from Reefside and talking with Tommy. He’s got a few afternoon appointments, but he’s promised to talk with Ernie anyway. Rocky knows much of what we’ve talked about, so you don’t have to worry about contacting him.”

Lt. Stone tapped a pen on Jason’s desk. “I’m headed over to the Youth Center, anyway. Thanks for your help this afternoon. I’m not going to tell Ernie I talked to you, but he’s going to figure it out.” With that, Lt. Stone left to head back to the Youth Center to give Ernie his update.

Even with summer vacation being in full swing, the Youth Center wasn’t that busy at the moment. Lt. Stone found Ernie behind the counter as usual during operating hours. Ernie looked up when he saw the lieutenant, a hopeful look on his face.

“Any news?”

Lt. Stone shook his head. “Can we move into your office, Ernie? I know you have one here even if you don’t use it that often during the day.”

“Sure thing. Wasn’t that busy anyway. Most everyone who would be here normally is already looking for her.”

“I figured; the taskforce had a lot of volunteers. You and your family are well loved in the community. We’re all hoping she’s found safe and sound.”

“As am I,” Ernie replied, sitting at his desk. Lt. Stone sat across from him.

“I’ve been interviewing various people today as part of my search. One of the things that kept being brought up is that they’re worried about you, Ernie. Most people, when they lose a spouse, head into grief therapy, even if it’s a one-on-one session with a counselor. This includes guys, Ernie. You’re not alone in this. I do realize that, with Trini’s background, finding someone who would be willing to keep those secrets is next to impossible. Even in group sessions, someone will talk. Several people I talked to said Rocky DeSantos is privy to those same secrets. I’d had no idea until they said something. I’ve seen Rocky in action for years with some of the children I’ve had to interview. He takes client privacy seriously.”

Ernie shook his head. “No, Lieutenant. I’m fine. I’ve got Abigail to search for and a business to run.”

“They said you’d say something like that. Almost all of Angel Grove is out looking for her, Ernie. I know that the only reason you’re not is that the Youth Center has been deemed the central hub for search efforts and my superiors have asked you to stay behind.” Lt. Stone leaned forward at that. “Even if it takes a while for her to be found, I’m going to recommend that you get into therapy. Something had to have happened at home for her to run away. Everyone I’ve talked to that knows her is surprised that she didn’t call anyone for help and ran instead.”

“So am I. I’m serious, though. I don’t need to a therapist.”

“Social services is probably going to require it, Ernie, even if she blew last week’s argument up in her mind until she felt like she had no choice but to run. It’ll look better if you are at least making an effort, or look like it at any rate.”

Ernie snorted at that, but agreed. “I’ll try. Abigail left behind a list that Jason wrote, I keep finding it around the house even though I keep tossing it. Rocky DeSantos was on the list; he’s here often enough talking to some of the teenagers.” Ernie shrugged, “I remember him hanging out here as a teen, too.”

“He’s really good with the youth I sometimes have to interview. Like a certain someone I know.”

Ernie smiled a bit at the compliment, but shook his head. “If I was any good with the youth that come here, Abigail wouldn’t have run.”

“Ernie, I’m a father myself. Sometimes, we’re blind to what’s going on in our children’s lives. This might very be one of those times. Most of the time, when children run away, it’s often because of a misunderstanding blown completely out of proportion. She’s going to be fine, Ernie. We’re going to find her alive, I can promise you that.”

Ernie really wanted to believe that and it showed on his face. He had nothing to say to that and he and Lt. Stone headed back out into the main part of the Youth Center. Lt. Stone headed out soon after to rejoin the search, but held the door for Rocky to come in. Ernie didn’t even bother getting settled behind the bar again, knowing exactly why Rocky was here.

“I can only guess why you’re here, Rocky.” Ernie’s stress and worry bled through into his voice.

“If it’s to talk to you, you’d be right. I’d have been over yesterday, but Tommy called me up to Reefside. What he needed to talk about couldn’t be talked about over the phone, as we’ve done in the past.”

Ernie raised an eyebrow at that, but led Rocky into the office he’d just vacated with Lt. Stone. “I didn’t realize Tommy saw you as a patient.”

“Doctor/patient confidentiality rules. Tommy allowed me to say that much when I let him know that there were people worried about you.”

“I’ve heard about some of the stuff that’s happened over the years; at least what’s made the Gazette.” Ernie shrugged as he said that. “The lab accident sounded pretty bad.”

Rocky smiled, though he wouldn’t confirm that had been one of the topics that had been talked about. “I’d like to set up at least one time to talk to you, even if it’s at your house or here before or after the Youth Center opens or closes.”

“Not your office?” Ernie was surprised.

“Only if you want to; it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve held appointments somewhere else besides my office. I’ve actually held a number of them here; many of my clients find the Youth Center a safe enough space. Not all of them are comfortable in the stiff formality of an office. Most of that is due to you and your work, Ernie. I remember just how safe I found it when I was a teenager and had just moved to Angel Grove.”

“Lt. Stone said as much. I told him Abigail wouldn’t have run if I’d been as perceptive as everyone seems to think I am.”

“Most parents who come to my office with their children say the same thing. Everything seems fine until their children act out. This includes running away like Abigail has done. She’s not the first teen from Angel Grove to do so and probably won’t be the last.”

“How many stay after they’ve been found and how many leave again?” Ernie pointed out.

Rocky shook his head. “Every case is different, Ernie. Most of the time, the children stay when their parents are willing to do what they need to do to help their children. Those that run again do so when the parents or guardians won’t put in the work. This includes teens that wait until the age of 18 and are legal adults. Sometimes, the children in question are foster children that keep getting pushed from house to house because they’re labeled ‘problem children’ instead of getting the help that they need.”

Ernie nodded; he’d seen enough of those children come through the Youth Center. Often times, he’d been the only form of discipline and help that they had. It only made him feel worse about what had happened in the last week with Abigail. If he had a chance to do it over, he would have done it over again and done things differently; with a calmer head.

“Can you stay here tonight, with me? I’m not ready to talk yet, but I’d appreciate the company.”

“Take your time, Ernie. I spoke with David at the dojo before coming over, he’s staying at the house just in case she returns there first. He said he’d be willing to run some stuff over if you need it, just in case you were staying here tonight.”

Ernie shook his head. “Lt. Stone, after he gets off his shift, is taking the night watch here. We’re running the Center 24/7 until Abigail’s found or the search slows down. Some of the other regulars have also volunteered to run shifts so no one person is based here at the same time. I’ve not got a cot except for some baby pack-and-plays leftover from when she was a baby.”

Rocky snorted at that. “That puts paid to some of the wackier things I’ve heard over the years. Some of my younger clients think I live at my office; I’m sure some of them think that you live here.”

“I’ve heard that too. They’re always surprised when they run into me at the grocery stores or out with my kids.” Ernie shook his head. “When I first bought the Youth Center building, I looked into making it residential/commercial, but it would have been too much work.”

The searching lasted for most of the rest of the evening; Lt. Stone showed up not long after dusk to send Ernie home. He’d also arrived with a cot that someone had donated.

“Hello Rocky. You two head out of here, I’ve got the watch.”

Ernie, not wanting to leave, hesitated. After prompting from Rocky, he tossed Lt. Stone the keys. “I’m sure you remember where everything is. I’ve not changed much after getting back.”

“Only to child-proof it when Abigail started crawling around and later started walking.”

Ernie laughed at the memory before allowing himself to be led out. He headed home, Rocky right behind him in his own car. Ernie had promised in his evening’s talking with the younger man to give him a copy of a recent photo; Lt. Stone still hadn’t returned the one he’d given him the evening before.

David, despite the late hour, was still awake when they got there. Ernie shook his head.

“No news, David. She’s not back, I take it?”

“No. Whatever happened to cause her to run must have been bad.”

Rocky asked if either of them knew what it could have been. Both answered in the negative, though Rocky noticed David still had some simmering anger which he was taking pains to conceal from him. While Ernie looked for the photo in his home office, Rocky addressed David.

“What’s going on? Don’t tell me you’re fine; I can tell there’s some anger there.”

“Dad tell you everything that happened this last week?” At Rocky’s nonverbal ‘no’, he continued quietly, “Aisha gave Abigail something that had belonged to Mom that Dad didn’t want her to have and he reacted…badly. Slapped her one morning in anger. He’s never done that before; but his drinking has gotten worse this last week too. Went out Friday night to a bar with a bunch of friends; when Dad and I got back Saturday, Abigail was gone.”

Between his conversations with Jason, Ernie and David, along with some of the things Tommy’s foster daughter had let slip yesterday, Rocky was finding most of his doubts fade away. He wasn’t going to tell Tommy or anyone else just yet. When Ernie came down with the photo, the last of his doubts vanished. Katrina Jones and Abigail Burton were one in the same. Ernie noticed his look and asked if he recognized her.

“Only from seeing her around the Youth Center, I’m afraid, Ernie. Thanks for letting me look at the photo.” He hated lying to a friend of his, but this was a huge issue, right up with his past as a Power Ranger. Tommy’s new foster daughter was still scared enough that she was a flight risk. He agreed with both Tommy and Ms. Andrews that, should her family find out where she was, she’d run. His job was to prevent that, even as he was finding it hard that Ernie would willingly abuse his daughter. He was glad Ernie had agreed to talk; it would make things easier all around.

“No problem, Rocky. If you need to take that with you, go for it. It’s a copy of the same photo Lt. Stone has.”

“Thanks, Ernie. I’ll try and get it back to you soon. I do need to head out though, as I’ve got clients tomorrow. Any free time I have, I’ll be at the Youth Center or out looking. I do have some weekly, out of the city appointments, but they shouldn’t interfere too much with the search.”

“I appreciate it, Rocky.” David echoed Ernie’s sentiments and Rocky could tell David had inherited his father’s perceptiveness. He made a note to talk to David again privately before he headed up to Reefside again. He hadn’t had any weekday times free this week to go back up to Reefside before the weekend, so his next appointment with her was going to be Saturday. Tommy hadn’t minded; apparently this week was pretty busy for both of them. He was taking her shopping for clothing and other things tomorrow and she had a martial arts assessment and class Wednesday. There were other things up in the air for Thursday and Friday, but nothing set in stone either.

After Rocky got back to his own house, he pulled out Katrina’s file. It was one of the few files he didn’t keep at his office, due to the sensitive nature of the active cases. He made his notes in the file that his suspicions that Katrina Jones was Abigail Burton to them, but he wasn’t 100% sure, not without either a DNA test or Katrina admitting to it.

He also noted his recommendations that her observations were correct; Ernie needed therapy over jail time. Putting Ernie on trial would destroy the town and the Youth Center would forever be tainted by the association. What happened between the two had to be wrapped up in a ton of red tape and filed under Angel Grove’s laws regarding Power Ranger identities. It wouldn’t stop someone completely determined to find it, but he was going to file the folder in the same cabinet that the other Ranger files were in. Billy had designed one with the help of whoever was in the Command Center with Alphas 5 and 6. It was designed to be opened by someone who had operated as a Power Ranger, but not under negative influences. Rocky couldn’t even open the cabinet if he was drunk, a feature he’d asked for specifically.

Rocky had been surprised when he’d gotten back to Angel Grove to find the Command Center restored to working order. There’d been nobody in the tube that had previously been occupied by Zordon and Dimitria, but heard the two Alphas talk to someone when they thought he wasn’t paying attention. The other former Rangers who’d explored had experienced the same phenomenon. Neither Alpha was willing to explain what was going on, except that everything would be revealed in time. He mentally groaned; that could only mean Angel Grove was going to get a new Ranger team within the next couple of years.

The only real issue is the laws regarding abuse differed from Angel Grove’s local laws regarding the Power Rangers. To follow one law in this case would cause him to break the other. In this case, he had to follow the Power Ranger law and hope that he was right. Ernie could not regain custody of Abigail at this point in time, not when both had their own issues to work through. He reiterated that she not return to Angel Grove for the time being, not until Rocky was certain that Ernie wouldn’t relapse upon seeing his daughter again. He noted that they might want to start with phone calls, first, but that would have to wait until she was comfortable letting Tommy know of her identity.

He didn’t even feel comfortable telling Tommy what was going on, either. The fragile trust Tommy had with Katrina/Abigail was likely to shatter if her secret was revealed too soon. Keeping too long would damage their lasting relationship, however. He was going to have to bring up the subject with her once he was certain she wouldn’t panic. He’d gotten the impression she wanted to tell someone, but was frightened to. He didn’t blame her either; realizing that if someone, either in Reefside or Angel Grove, connected the two identities, she’d end up here irregardless of his attempts to protect her. She would also end up being one of the handful of children who returned to running away in that case. He’d have to try to derail the investigators from looking too far away from Angel Grove.

Putting the file away, Rocky headed to bed soon after. The search would last in Angel Grove the rest of the week; Lt. Stone wouldn’t start looking at other cities until next week at the earliest. He’d have to form some sort of game plan if Katrina was to be expected. His working as a counselor helped him to a small degree, but he was still supposed to report if he’d found a runaway child. He just hoped that he wouldn’t end up in trouble.

Chapter Text

Reefside: Tuesday. POV Abigail/Katrina/1st

Before Dr. Oliver and I could leave to fit me out with what I needed, we actually had to go through what I had already and make a list. Thankfully, he’d allowed me to sort through my art supplies at the desk, as some of them were already in drawers. If he’d gone through my desk, he’d find Mom’s gear and I wasn’t ready to open up about that yet.

He’d also made a call to two of the students he’d mentored last year; they said they’d meet us there-all 4 of them. Dr. Oliver wasn’t exactly surprised by Kira’s comment that Cassidy had also volunteered to help; apparently, the two were hanging out together at the time.

“They may be a handful, Katrina,” he told me. “They’re good kids, though. They’re all headed off to college, otherwise you’d be starting your freshman year with 5 new friends.”

I smiled. “Even if they’re not going to a local university, they’ll still be here for weekends and vacation, right? I’m sure that they know teens my age; who knows? I might even meet some new friends in Conner’s soccer camp.” I saw Dr. Oliver grin at that and was glad he approved.

“That’s a good attitude to have, Katrina. Conner even said he was going to be bringing the registration forms for the camp. We can fill them out at the mall; Conner can just head back with them. I think the camp starts next week. The practices shouldn’t interfere with your martial arts lessons; Conner will have the practice times with them today.”

I caught on to what he was saying. “We can take that to the dojo tomorrow, right?”

“I have a copy of the dojo’s schedule here. I was planning on comparing the two later tonight.” I was surprised at that, before remembering that Dr. Oliver took classes himself and taught the odd one himself, as required by his rank. After his assessment yesterday, he was willing to go through the ranking system that this dojo used and I was impressed. As skilled as he was, he was also a very patient teacher. Given Conner’s reaction to him Saturday, I knew he was the same in his classroom. I couldn’t wait to see him as a teacher.

We soon headed out, though. Even though it wasn’t lunchtime yet, we’d be able to eat at the mall. From what Dr. Oliver said, it had a fairly decent food court. I tried not to flinch when he said that one of the options was a smoothie and juice bar, but didn’t quite succeed.

He placed a hand on my shoulder. “Too many bad memories?” I could only nod at the question. “They’ve got other options than smoothies.”

Smiling at him, I thanked him for that and grabbed my shoulder bag as we headed to go to the mall.

“Don’t you want a regular purse?” He asked. “I know that the mall sells them.”

I shook my head. “This was a Christmas gift from my brother. He had a friend of his that works at the magic shop in Angel Grove design it.” Dr. Oliver blinked at that. “Nothing’s hidden inside of it, I promise, Dr. O,” I continued, showing him, though I didn’t show him the hidden pocket.

“If it’s a gift from someone who you care about, I’m not about to argue with that. I take it the saber-tooth tiger on the front means something special?”

“It’s always been a favorite, ever since I was a child. Father wasn’t too thrilled, but he didn’t argue.” After finding about which Ranger Mom had been, I understood why Dad wasn’t thrilled. It was the dinosaur on Mom’s Power Coin. It was also why David had bought me my necklace; he knew that it had extra significance once we found out about Mom being the Yellow Ranger. Indicating my necklace, I added that it had been an end of school gift from him as well. I didn’t tell him that it was actually a birthday gift; the less details he knew about my past right now, the less likely it would be that he’d connect me to my parents.

“Sounds like you’ve got a great brother.”

“The best. If it weren’t for the fact that he was headed off to his freshman year of university, he’d have taken me with him to L.A. with him. He won’t be able to move out of the dorms until next year. His only options this year would have been to commute from Angel Grove or live in the dorms. Even before Father started getting worse, he wanted the full experience this year.” I’d had to stop myself from calling him by name more than once. Dr. Oliver noticed, but didn’t push, something I was grateful for.

Same day. Car and Reefside Mall. POV: Dr. Tommy Oliver/3^rd person

Tommy remained quiet on the drive, listening to Katrina talk. After the past several days, he was glad to hear her act like a normal teenager for once. She was talking about everything under the sun and asking him about what the other teens were like.

“Conner’s athletic; he takes soccer very seriously. Kira loves music; she’s going to probably ask you about your favorite bands. Ethan’s a computer geek; he’s the one to go to for anything electronic. He’s going to be taking charge at the cell phone store; I’ll just be paying. Trent…” Tommy hesitated here, “he’s a pretty sweet guy. If there’s anyone among those 4 that I’ve already mentioned that understands about having a tough home life, it’s him. I won’t say more, it’s not my place to say, but he’ll keep Cassie from going overboard. She worked for Reefside High’s news channel as a student journalist. She’s a very curious person and sometimes lets it get better of her.” More like most of the time, he thought to himself.

“Sounds like a fun bunch,” Katrina replied, laughing. After the days she’d had, Tommy was glad to hear her laugh. It was a musical sound, and very much reminded him of Trini’s laugh, making him sad for a second. He regretted that grad school and his work with Anton Mercer had prevented him from being there for Ernie and his children when she’d died. He privately swore that, even if Katrina wasn’t Abigail, he was going to help Abigail once she was found. Jason had called him early that morning to let him know she’d gone missing Saturday and said that Abigail’s photo should be getting there in the mail either tomorrow or Thursday. Tommy hadn’t found it coincidental that Katrina had shown up from Angel Grove the same day.

The only discrepancy had been Katrina’s abuse; Tommy hadn’t known Ernie to be an abusive guy. Stern, sometimes, with Bulk and Skull bullying others when they’d all been teens, as well as other bullies, but a very helpful and understanding guy. If Katrina was Abigail or not, he was determined to stay her guardian and Abigail’s if the two girls were separate people.

He shook himself out of the depressing thoughts as they arrived the mall and parked the car. He smiled seeing his Dino Ranger team, along with Cassidy, at the front door of Reefside Mall. The 5 teens just about tackled him as he and Katrina approached them. Laughing, he got them to let go and allowed the teens to lead him and Katrina into the mall.

While Ethan wanted to get the cell phone first, Tommy was able to successfully argue to get Katrina clothing first. Kira and Cassidy called dibs on that and almost dragged Katrina with them, causing her to slightly panic. Kira, noticing the panic, slowed down and got her friend to do the same. Tommy gave her an approving nod as he made sure Katrina was alright.

6 variations of “Okay, Dr. O” was the only response from the group as they headed into Macy’s. Kira was also able to successfully argue to hit up Hot Topic as well, along with some stores also popular with Reefside’s teens. Thankfully, all they needed to get from Macy’s were pants, undergarments, and socks, along with a few shirts. Kira and Cassidy both had tried convincing Katrina out of shades of yellow and purple, but had no luck.

“Purple’s been my favorite color since forever. I started wearing yellow after one of Mom’s friends said it was hers, in memory.” Katrina’s counter argument shut the other two girls up. They did convince her to add some jackets to the mix of clothing. Tommy knew that they’d have better luck with shirts at Hot Topic; most of the shirts there were popular with teens.

They ignored the jewelry and perfume counters; Cassidy said that Journey and Claire’s had better offerings for the teen crowd, as did Hot Topic. Kira argued for Bath and Body Works, saying that they had some fairly decent scents, including perfume. Katrina shook her head on the lotion, though, when they headed inside, though she had picked up some perfume and soap at Tommy’s suggestion.

“Never been big on lotion, guys. Too easy to get on my sketchpads.”

“You’ll change your mind if you start working with clay,” Ethan replied. At looks from his friends, he continued, “What?! I took ceramics class sophomore year. The clay did a number on my hands.”

“Never pictured you as a lotion guy, Ethan,” Conner teased.

“Shut up, dumb jock.” Ethan’s response had Kira explaining to Katrina that Ethan had just been teasing. Before heading on to Hot Topic in the Penny’s Wing, they’d had to stop for lunch. He’d noticed Katrina ignored the smoothie and juice shop in favor of one of the various Asian locations that were ubiquitous across America’s malls. He was glad he’d given her some spending money before they’d left the house. He might be paying for what she needed, but also wanted to give her spending money as well.

He remembered what it had been like when he lived in Angel Grove and wanted to give her a similar experience. It had been hard keeping a job while serving double duty as a high school student and Power Ranger. He was grateful to Ernie for allowing him to not just teach martial arts lessons at the Youth Center, but also charge for them. Granted, Ernie had gotten a cut of the profits, but had passed most of the money earned on to Jason and himself. Not that his parents had known the full amount that he got per class; they’d thought Ernie had hired him to teach the classes for much less.

Thinking of his parents, he realized that he’d have to give them a call. His mom, especially, would want to come over as soon as she heard the news. He’d have to talk her out of it when he made the call, as he didn’t want to overwhelm Katrina. Of course, they still lived in Angel Grove and were probably involved in the search for Ernie’s missing daughter. Knowing his mom, they wouldn’t be able to come until the search wound down. Angel Grove had a lot of space to cover, including the various water sources and hills.

Taking Conner aside, he let the teen know, quietly, that Katrina knew about some of his past as a Power Ranger. “I want you to talk to the other three and if you’re comfortable with her knowing about the team, I’ll let her know.”

“We’ll let her know, you mean, Dr. O. I don’t mind letting her know, especially if she can keep it a secret.”

Tommy chuckled at that. “She’s kept more that just my secret, Conner. Any more than that is her secret to tell.”

Conner nodded at that as they made their way over to one of the food court’s bigger tables with their food. “I’ll let you know next week, at the soccer camp. Which reminds me, here’s the paperwork that you need to fill out. I am going to need a birthdate from her; I’ve filled out what you’ve told me so far. You being her foster dad for the foreseeable future counts as parental approval for a minor. I had Coach check for me, to be on the safe side.”

Tommy realized Conner having been the leader of the Dino Rangers had done the soccer star a world of good. He’d felt that way for a while, but every so often, Conner did something to surprise him. This was one of them and Tommy couldn’t be prouder of the young man. Conner hadn’t even wanted to be a Ranger early on, wanting to focus more on his soccer skills. He’d grown from a self-absorbed 18-year-old soccer star to a fine young man over the course of his months as a Dino Ranger.

Getting to the table, he was happy to see Katrina and Kira arguing over something. Cassie was joining in with her own views and Tommy soon realized that Kira had been running point, as was Trent, to keep their ever-curious friend from prying too far. He was also happy to see Katrina fitting in well with the Dino Rangers. Never mind that the Dino powers were gone now, but once a Ranger, always a Ranger, even if they no longer had their powers.

After lunch, they went to the mall’s cell phone store and Tommy let Ethan take over. As the team’s recognized geek, Ethan was well suited for being able to help choose the right phone. Tommy had let Ethan talk him into buying a BlackBerry when he went to upgrade his cell phone and it ended up being the phone that he bought Katrina. After they activated it, he put his own number in the contacts, along with Rocky’s. The other teens soon included their own numbers to it, telling Katrina that they could call them any time. After picking up some shirts and other things at the mall, they headed out.

The art supply store was actually closer to the Cyber Café, they would end their day there. Haley would be glad of a new teen to help out. He’d tried dating her once in grad school, as he and Kat had been taking a break from their relationship, but she’d turned him down. She’d introduced him to her girlfriend at the time, though that relationship hadn’t worked out either. Haley was still single; preferring it. Given how helpful she’d been this last year, he wasn’t about to press. He’d been glad when he’d found her after moving to Reefside. She’d been the one to help him set up his house initially and add on the basement area he’d shown Katrina the day before.

Tommy had fun allowing Trent to guide Katrina around the art supply store. He had a feeling that they’d be back before the summer was over, even though it looked like she was buying out the store. Cassie had to head out before going there, as she’d had plans with her parents before heading off to college in the fall, but promised to hang out again.

Location: Cyber Café. POV: Abigail/Katrina; 1^st person

My head was swimming as we headed into the Cyber Café. Despite the amount of electronics in it, it had the feel of the Angel Grove Youth Center. It was clearly a popular spot with Reefside’s youth, though not holding as wide of a range of teens that congregated at the Youth Center. Dr. Oliver had stayed close as we entered, something I was grateful for. Conner and the others had praised Haley up and down, said she always seemed to know how to help. Dr. Oliver had concurred, said Haley had been a friend of his since grad school.

They led me to a quiet corner; it seemed that it was their usual spot in the Cyber Café. Hayley came over not long after and Dr. Oliver introduced us.

“Katrina Jones. Gemini?” While she was true, I didn’t want to let her know she was right.

“Virgo, actually. September 15^th.” What nobody knew what that I’d actually given her David’s birthdate, but Haley was quick on the uptake.

“Both ruled by Mercury.”

“I didn’t know you were interested in horoscopes, Haley.”

“Not normally, Tommy. Just was trying something out, that’s all.”

I laughed with the others. “Ever been called Sherlock Holmes?” I asked. I would swear later I had no idea that my innocent question would cause Dr. Oliver to choke on his coffee. Ethan, Kira, Conner, and Trent just laughed, Ethan actually falling off of his chair.

“Not to my face, Katrina. I think you’re the first to say so,” Hayley responded after Dr. Oliver had recovered and Ethan returned to his chair.

“Haley’s like that,” Ethan extrapolated. “Startled Conner and Kira the first time they came in.”

“I bet.” Inside, I was worried. Was there some sort of unwritten rule that adults who ran teen hangouts were perceptive as heck? Dad was the same way and eagle eared to boot. I just hoped that Haley wasn’t like that; I really couldn’t afford to have someone else freak out over me having Mom’s gear like Dad did.

I soon found myself relaxing and having fun. Without having to worry about Dad being there, I found myself fully at ease with people my own age, not needing to look over my shoulder to see him disapprove. After finding out about my own drawing skills, I was drawn into a game of Pictionary. Trent led one team made up of some of the teens in the Café, including Conner, whereas I had Dr. Oliver and the others on mine. By the time the café closed, no clear winner had been established.

As Dr. Oliver and I headed out to the car, Hayley caught up to us and looked at me.

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but you can trust Dr. Oliver. He’s kept bigger secrets then the ones you’re keeping.” She headed to her own car at that, leaving the two of us alone. Conner and the others had left minutes before, Conner dropping them off at their own homes. Cassidy had driven in her own car, so she’d not needed the ride after leaving the mall.

I snorted and shook my head. “My assessment of her as being a female Sherlock Holmes still stands.”

“She is at that, Katrina. I hope you can trust me with your secrets on day, Katrina. I know our relationship is still too new, but I’ve never known her to be wrong in her deductions.”

After getting back to the house, Dr. Oliver helped me get everything back to my room.

“If you want, Katrina, you can use the room across the hall as an art room. I know enough from Trent what desks you’ll need for that. When you were getting your supplies, I took the liberty of ordering the desks you needed. I hope you don’t mind. I’ll pick them up when you’re at soccer camp next week, as they’ll take that long to arrive.”

I looked up in shock before almost tackling Dr. Oliver with a hug. I’d never had my own art space before and was super excited to finally have one.

“I take it that you like the idea?” Dr. Oliver’s tone was more amused than anything else as he returned the hug.

“Love it!” I replied, still holding on to him. After letting go, I separated the art supplies from my clothing and dropped them into the indicated room. Dr. Oliver had me bring the extra hangers in the room’s closet over to add to my own, as I’d not had enough to hang up some of my new clothing. On his suggestion, I’d invested in a decent sports bra for my martial arts lessons, as well as some exercise clothing fit for practicing in.

Until the desks came in, I was still going to keep the supplies I’d brought from Angel Grove in my room. This was primarily was for privacy’s sake, as some of my sketches were rather personal. I was planning on using one of the sketchbooks I’d bought today to draw last Friday’s incident with Dad when I felt up to it, as well as most of last week. Today had gone well, I’d gotten along great with Conner and the others.

I’d seen what Dr. Oliver meant when he said that they could be rather excitable. Cassie was curious as all get out and I appreciated Kira and Trent keeping her from getting too close. I already had plans with Kira to go back to the mall; Dr. Oliver had agreed before I could even finish asking. She was planning on helping me pick out various music; I’d bought an iPod when we’d been in the cell phone store.

Ethan had promised to show me how to set everything up later in the week; nobody had been surprised when I’d chosen a metallic purple one. That reminded me I needed to reset my laptop tonight or tomorrow to reflect the name I was going by. I didn’t want any trace of my past life around for anyone to find, even one of Dr. Oliver’s students.

Conner, when he wasn’t going on and on about soccer, was a great guy. I’d helped Dr. Oliver fill out the paperwork, giving him David’s birthdate with my year. I was really looking forward to soccer camp; I couldn’t wait to see if it was something I would enjoy or not. Even if I didn’t play soccer on Reefside High’s team, I’d still be able to make some friends for this upcoming school year. I was sad that Conner and the others had already graduated, they’d been a lot of fun to hang out with during the school year.

Already, I’d heard some of their escapades during the school year. I got the feeling that most of them knew more than what was being said, but didn’t push. Conner’s reaction the previous Saturday had told me enough. That hadn’t stopped me from saying that I wished I’d’ve been able to meet them during one such story over lunch.

“You sure about that? Every time the Rangers were around, it was usually due to a monster attack,” Ethan said, causing me to snort.

“Ethan, I spent most of my life in Angel Grove. I heard enough about their legendary escapades and had to do more than one report on them. I told Dr. O the other day that every time a new, not from Angel Grove teacher came in, they’d offer bonus points if someone could provide proof of a previous Power Ranger’s identity. Nobody ever found proof.” All of the other teens, minus Cassie, had looked at Dr. Oliver; who’d only raised his hands.

“What are guys looking at me for?”

5 answers of “No reason” came in from the teens.

“I’ve tried getting a straight answer from them for months about who the Dino Rangers were. They all claim not to know,” Cassie told me, by way of explanation.

“Not much to tell, Cass. Whoever the Dino Rangers are, they’ve not been seen since their main enemy was defeated several weeks ago. We’ve not had a Big Bad attack since, not even from the underlings out for revenge,” Trent said, not looking up from his food.

“True. They’re probably enjoying the break.” With that, Cassie dropped the subject and asked about what I was looking forward to at Reefside High as we finished our lunches. By now, I realized most of Reefside must know I was Dr. Oliver’s foster daughter. We’d not had many people approach us, but I’d seen Dr. Oliver have conversations with the various parents when I’d been dragged into one store or the other by the group. Some of their children had approached us when we were at Hayley’s Cyber Café, just to say hi. Some were dumbfounded that their science teacher was a dad himself.

One had just about startled me when they asked if I was going to call Dr. Oliver ‘Dad’ or not. Trent and Dr. Oliver both wanted to jump in to answer when I’d replied not right now.

“Why not? He’s your dad now,” had come the return question.

I had only shaken my head. “I don’t know Dr. Oliver’s comfort level with that yet. It’s not something I’m comfortable with and I’m not about to call him by his first name either. Doesn’t seem right.”

It didn’t surprise me that I had another nightmare during the night, or that Dr. Oliver was right there when I woke up. I was grateful for his comfort and his willingness to respect my boundaries, but I wanted to talk about it a little bit.

“What caused this tonight?” I could hear Dr. Oliver’s concern.

“I’m not sure. Mix of things, probably. Some of it was being at the Cyber Café, the rest just the one guy’s comment of calling you ‘Dad’,” I hiccupped. “Reminded me of happier times before….”

“Before the abuse started,” he finished for me.

“Yea. Stay?”

“Of course.” He pulled me into his arms and just let me cry. I fell asleep in his arms again and even though I had several more nightmares that night, he was right there for all of them and I was able to fall asleep fairly quickly.

Wednesday. Location: Reefside, Tommy’s house. POV: Tommy Oliver/3^rd person

Tommy woke up with a cramped back and a headache from sleeping against the headboard of Katrina’s bed. He’d not regretted staying with her; she’d needed the comfort from all the nightmares, along with a good night’s sleep. She stirred as he got out of the bed, slipping her on to the mattress.

“Sleep, Katrina, if you need it. I’m going down to the basement to exercise,” he said, smoothing her hair back.

“I’m up, Dr. O. Thanks for staying with me last night,” she replied, getting out of bed herself.

“Anytime, Katrina. It was not an issue. I’m glad I was able to help you last night.” Giving her a quick hug, he headed for his bedroom to get changed. He wasn’t surprised to find her ready herself, having pulled her hair back in one of the hair ties that she’d bought yesterday. “Eager to get into a routine yourself?”

“Yes. I can’t wait for this afternoon; finally taking formal lessons is going to be a relief.”

“I don’t blame you. Your brother was a good teacher, but I’m betting he was trying to teach you before reaching black belt.”

“He was; the only time Father caught us was early on when he’d come home from work. We’d forgotten the time. Da-my brother’s excuse was that he needed the practice and couldn’t stop me mimicking him. He wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to hurt myself doing it incorrectly. Father thankfully believed him.” Tommy caught Katrina’s slip, almost revealing her brother’s name. It sounded almost like she was about to say David; if he remembered right, Ernie and Trini’s eldest was a boy named David. He’d be the same age as Conner and the others right now. Tommy didn’t remember David’s birthday, only that it was early on in the school year.

After warming up, Tommy ran Katrina through a simple routine, before going through more complex moves.

“Now, I’d like you to stop once I get into moves you don’t recognize yet. Even though that might be how you learned growing up, I don’t want you to get hurt trying them.” He was pleased when she agreed, saying her brother had given her the same warning.

After the workout, they both showered and changed before having breakfast. Tommy knew that he’d have to help her set up an exercise routine, including running. There was enough forest space to do several types of routes and the running would help her irregardless of if she got involved in sports or not. He knew that running was often a good defense, especially if one’s opponent was over personal ability to deal. In the classes he taught at the dojo on the weekends, he often reiterated that, even as he taught them the skills they would need to defend themselves.

If it weren’t for the fact that they had to be at the dojo at 2, he’d help her set one up now. It was going to have to be added to the never-ending list of things he found that he had to do since she came into his life. He smiled as she grabbed her phone as it rang and headed out to the backyard. It was Kira on the other end and he smiled as he saw her acting like a normal teenager instead of the fairly scared teen she’d came to him as.

“Just stay within eyesight of the dining room, Katrina!” All he got was a thumbs up for a response as she chatted away with her new friend. Shaking his head, he went into his office to start putting the list to paper. Aside from helping Katrina to set up an exercise routine to keep her skills up, he was also going to have to make several calls. He’d heard from Rocky that he wasn’t able to make it up until Saturday, so he didn’t have to make that call just yet. He also had to call Katherine to let her know about Katrina and had to call his own parents and brother for the same reason. His brother wouldn’t be near as quick to visit as their parents would want to, but would want to visit at least once over the summer.

He was also going to have to see if he could get her school records from Angel Grove Middle School if he could find them. He was going to need them to register Katrina for high school; the only problem he foresaw was there being no Katrina Jones. The deadline for school registration was end of July, so he had enough time on that. He also wanted Hayley to make her a communication device. Mesogog might be gone, but there were always villains that were Ranger-level threats out there. If one showed up, he’d have to show her the main basement. He was glad Haley had helped him set the area he’d showed her; as he’d not wanted a repeat of Conner and Ethan showing up at the beginning of their senior year.

He was going to also have to set her up with a primary care doctor; even though she was registered for soccer camp, he knew he was going to have to get her a physical. He kicked himself for not getting it done this morning before her dojo assessment, but he’d simply forgotten. Calling Dr. Erica at the clinic from his office phone, he set up an appointment for her at the clinic tomorrow morning. While on the phone with her, he asked about the viability of starting her on martial arts and soccer camp now.

“I don’t see any real issues. When I examined her last Saturday, I didn’t find any issues outside of the initial bruising and defensive wounds. Whatever her life was like prior to the abuse starting, she was well taken care of. I’m going to reiterate that it appeared that the physical abuse looked as if it was rather recent. I’ve had some patients, her age, where the abuse had started at a much younger age. I’ll do a more thorough examination tomorrow if you need me too.”

“That would be fine, Dr. Erica. I know what the soccer coaches are like; some of them are helping Conner out with his soccer camp. If I didn’t set this up, they’d be after me to. If she wasn’t going to do the soccer camp, I’d be setting one up this summer anyway.” Finalizing the appointment, he wrote it down on his desk calendar for 11 am the next day. Not long after that got done, he heard the back door shut and the sounds of Katrina walking back in.

“Fun conversation?” He asked, smiling.

“Yea…do we have any plans tomorrow? Kira wants to meet up with me sometime. I told her I’d have to ask first.”

“Just a doctor’s appointment. You’re going to need a physical for soccer camp. I set it up for 11, with Dr. Erica from the clinic.”

“The one who saw me last Saturday? She was nice.”

“I thought it would be better if your new doctor was one you’d already seen once before. After the appointment, I can just drop you off at the mall after and pick you up later if you want.”

“That’s fine; Kira said we’d probably go to the Cyber Café after. Ethan said he’d meet us there, help me set up iTunes on my laptop.”

Giving her a one-armed hug, he smiled. “I’m glad to see you’ve made some friends. They’re great kids.”

“They are. Thanks for introducing me to them yesterday; it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

They continued talking for a while longer, avoiding topics that would send her into a panic. Before they could get lunch started, his cell phone rang. Looking at it, he noticed it was Kat.

“Sorry, Katrina, I’ve got to take this. It’s my girlfriend, Katherine. She lives in Angel Grove.”

Katrina nodded, though Tommy could have sworn he saw a flash of panic in her eyes. She then waved him off. “Go for it, Dr. O. I’ve got some stuff to do in my room anyway.” With that, she headed upstairs and he answered Kat’s call.

“Kat. I was just about to call you.”

“Tommy.” He could hear her smiling. “How are you doing?”

“Not bad, though I’ve had a rather eventful weekend and not in our usual way if you know what I mean.”

“Eventful?”

Moving into his office and sitting down at his desk, he answered her question. “Yes. It’s a bit of a long story and I don’t know how much I’m allowed to reveal about what happened.”

“That sounds…ominous,” Kat replied, concerned.

“Not really, as such. Just ended up as a foster parent; she’s apparently the daughter of someone I know who needed my help.”

“What’s her name?”

“Katrina Jones; she’s apparently from Angel Grove.” His brows furrowed. “She apparently hung out a lot at the Youth Center; she’s half-Asian.”

He could almost hear his girlfriend shake her head. “The only half-Asian girl that regularly hung out at the Youth Center was Ernie’s daughter Abigail.”

“I heard she’s missing.”

“She is; I was just about to ask if you could come down to help with the search, but it sounds like you’ve got your hands busy.”

“Yea…I don’t think bringing her down there right now is a good idea. She panics every time I bring the city up.”

“Good idea. Wish you could bring her down, though. We need every pair of hands we can get. The Youth Center’s been set up as a mobile command center…and don’t laugh, Thomas Oliver. I know what that sounds like.”

Smothering the laugh that was threatening to come out, he replied. “I’m just trying to imagine Ernie as Zordon, that’s all.” Kat lost it at the mental image.

“Just thinking of him choosing Rangers and the other things that go along with that is rather funny.”

“Kimberly or Aisha tell you he figured out who we were?”

“No! I thought we’d been so discreet.” Kat sounded as shocked as he’d been when he had found out.

“Not as discreet as we thought we were.”

“I guess not. Wonder when he figured out.”

“No clue, Kat. It may have been before I joined the team, though the memories of coming up with ways to distract him was rather funny.” Tommy had wondered the same thing after Jason had told him.

“Or mislead him. I heard Jason once told him that he’d heard the Power Rangers were space aliens.”

“He told me the same story. Funny that some of the later Ranger teams included aliens.”

“Remind me to not bet against him, especially when it comes to Power Rangers.”

“Okay. Never bet against Jason Scott on matters regarding the Power Rangers.” Tommy knew if his girlfriend was up there, she’d have smacked him in the shoulder for that comment.

“Thomas Oliver!” Kat was laughing, though. He joined in a few seconds later. “I need to run; I only had a few minutes to call. I need to get back to the search, though I’m beginning to think she’s not in Angel Grove. We’re all hoping she’s going to be found alive and unharmed.”

Tommy grew serious. “Yea. Same here. The other options aren’t exactly ideal.”

“Agreed. Ernie would be devastated if she turned up dead. Trini’s death was bad enough; losing her may actually destroy him.” Tommy could only agree

“If there’s anything I can do from here, let me know. I’ll keep an eye out for Abigail. That goes double for Ernie. Let him know he can call me any time, even if it’s just to vent or talk. He’s helped us out so many times, it’s about time I return the favor.”

“Thanks, Tommy. I’ll let him know.” Blowing him a few kisses, she hung up.

Tommy looked at his phone after it ended for quite a while, smiling wistfully. He wished he could go down to help, but not with Katrina needing his help. Looking at the clock, he made the much-needed phone call to his brother. Calling his parents would be a waste of time as they were likely as busy as Kat had sounded.

Reefside: Tommy Oliver’s house. POV: Abigail/Katrina. 1^st person.

I smiled as I heard Dr. Oliver laugh and talk with his girlfriend, before turning my laptop on. While I knew how to set up a password-protected file, it was just going to be trying to get as many files in there before I headed out with Dr. Oliver today. I’d have to finish the rest later, though. Most of it was previous school assignments that I didn’t want to delete. For now, I renamed my user profile to show ‘Katrina Jones’ instead of Abigail Burton. I was also going to have to hide photos of me with Dad and David; they would give up my identity in a heartbeat. I did change my background from the photo of the three of us a couple of years ago in the Jeopardy studio to one that showed a saber-tooth tiger next to Mom’s Zord. I’d found side-by-side comparisons only months ago and was glad I’d save the photo to my laptop.

I hated to have to hide some of my favorite memories behind a password, but it was necessary for the time being. I’d have to undo it when I was comfortable enough to tell Dr. Oliver and the 4 teens. As much as I liked Cassie, there was no way I was telling her. If she was still in high school, my secret would be out before lunch. I knew her type; they couldn’t keep secrets if their life depended on it. Nice if you wanted to know the school gossip, bad if you were the one being gossiped about.

The only thing I was glad for was the fact that I used ‘Sabti’ as an alias on message boards. I didn’t care to use my real name online though Dad rarely went on them himself. Many of my friends from Angel Grove Middle School used them and he’d hear about it at the Youth Center.

Noting it was time for lunch, I packed the exercise clothing Dr. Oliver recommended I use for lessons until I got a Gi and belt in my shoulder bag. I also packed my new cell phone and, after a half second, also grabbed Mom’s morpher, returning it to the secret compartment. Even though Trent had said that he didn’t think the Rangers would be needed, it never hurt to be careful.

As much as I didn’t want to try the morpher out in field conditions, I also recognized that I might not have any choice. Jason had said that he and the other 4 original Rangers had no choice but to first use them in the field. Even though I promised him and Aisha that I wouldn’t become a Power Ranger, I knew I couldn’t stand on the sidelines when I had the tools to help if another Ranger-level villain attacked. Mom, from what I’d heard my entire life, was the same way.

The only real worry was that I had no gym bag; I would buy some when it came time to get school supplies. The shoulder bag would have to work for now, though, and I headed downstairs for a quick lunch. Dr. Oliver was still on the phone and had told me that, unless he said otherwise, I wouldn’t have to wait for him to eat breakfast and lunch.

Dropping my bag by my usual chair in the dining room, I made myself a sandwich with a side of chips and some water. After this morning’s routine, I knew getting water in was a necessity. Dr. Oliver joined me not long after; he’d apparently also talked to his older brother. I almost choked on my sandwich hearing that.

“You have a brother?” Dr. Oliver chuckled at my reaction.

“David Trueheart. Both of us were given up for adoption as children and adopted by different families. I didn’t meet him until my late teens.” Dr. Oliver looked at his own sandwich. “He was raised on a Reservation; me not so much. He’s a great guy, though. He wants to meet you; he was coming to visit this summer anyway.”

“Much like you?” I asked, genuinely curious. Dr. Oliver had a brother, who knew?

“Yes, very much on the side of the angels.”

I smiled. “I’ll be glad to meet him, Dr. O.” Grinning a little, I asked if Conner and the others had met him.

“Not yet; I’d never hear the end of it. Haley’s met him before. Had him sussed out within seconds.”

“Much like she did me.”

“And everyone else that comes in to her café.” Changing the topic, he asked, “Got your outfit ready?” nodding to my ever-present shoulder bag.

“Yes. I realized as I was getting everything ready that I’m going to need a gym bag at some point.”

Dr. Oliver immediately offered one of his. “I’ve got several; I’m sure I have one you can use.”

“Thanks,” I replied as I put both of our dishes in the dishwasher, along with my water glass.

We headed out soon after; we ended up taking his open-air Jeep instead of the car we’d been using. I kept my bag on me, not wanting it to fall out with Mom’s morpher in it. I was glad it hadn’t clinked against the chair when I’d made lunch. As much experience as Dr. Oliver had with various Power Ranger teams over the years, I still hesitated asking him about it. It was one thing to talk about it with Aunt Kimberly and Jason, who’d fought Rita and other villains along side her. It was something else to talk to my foster father about it. It felt weird calling him that; realistically, I knew he wasn’t Dad. However, he’d been more of a father to me in the last several days than Dad had been in a long time.

He gave me more freedoms than Dad ever had; he was letting me hang out with teens close to my own age without supervision. Dad often had to be convinced to let me go out with friends and hang out places that wasn’t the Youth Center. This was even with teens he’d known and trusted. It felt weird having this much freedom; I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to it.

I honestly couldn’t wait until I had my own license, though I knew I had another year before I could get past the permit stage. I was pretending to be a 14-year-old for the time being, which wasn’t that hard. I still didn’t feel like I was 15 just yet; my birthday seemed like a lifetime ago.

Once getting to the dojo, Dr. Oliver showed me where the changing rooms were at, giving me a lock for a locker. I used the one next to his after grabbing my exercise clothing to change into. The changing areas were divided by gender, but the locker area was coed. If there was a villain attack, I’d be in trouble as there weren’t that many people there at the moment.

Once entering the dojo’s lesson area, I bowed as Dr. Oliver had instructed me to both him and the sensei. I was instructed to call him Hanshi Scott; I briefly wondered if he was related to Jason before focusing my attention. Along with being asked to demonstrate katas of increasing difficulty, Hanshi also asked for a spar to test my skills in real time. It was at this moment I was glad for being able to practice with Dr. Oliver; the real time assessment was very similar to how he had done it Monday afternoon. Dr. Oliver had stayed at the side of the classroom, watching, his face unreadable.

I was given an orange belt, which I was fine with. I knew David hadn’t taught me everything he’d learned as he’d had to be careful so Dad wouldn’t find out. I was eager to continue learning and honing my skills and couldn’t wait for lessons. My first one would be that afternoon; Dr. Oliver was going to be teaching it, which I was surprised by. I was going to see what he was like as a teacher in a formal setting earlier than I thought. I wondered if Conner and the others knew; I’d have to say something to Kira and Ethan when I saw them tomorrow.

As we waited for the other students to arrive, Dr. Oliver gave me a brief hug.

“I’m proud of you, Katrina.” He said with his hands on my shoulders. “You did a great job demonstrating your skills without showing off.”

I felt guilty, at enjoying his praise. Dad rarely praised David on his own skills; that praise had come from Jason and others. “Thank you, Dr. Oliver…or should I say Sensei in this situation?” This was going to get confusing. I just hoped he’d be as forgiving during science class if I goofed up; I couldn’t afford to not show the proper respect inside the dojo.

“Kyoshi Oliver is fine here.” I had figured as much; even Amy and Austin called their father Sensei or Kyoshi Jason in the dojo, as did David.

I ended up taking my place at the side of the mats as the other students came in and took their places. As the newest student, I was towards the back of the classroom; the more experienced students were closer to the front. Dr. Oliver introduced me to the other students; we all bowed to each other and to him and started the class.

By the time class was over, I found I’d been able to think of him as Kyoshi Oliver inside the class setting. He was as wonderful teaching a class as he’d been teaching me and I only grew more determined to do right by him. I knew I’d have to tell him who I was at some point and resolved to raise the subject with Rocky when I saw him Saturday afternoon. This time, we were going to be meeting at Haley’s café; she had a room we could use.

The only reason I thought of Rocky first was not just because of his promise to me Sunday; it was because he’d known Dr. Oliver for years and would know how he’d react. I’d also ask Kira and Ethan when I saw them tomorrow. Even Haley might have some insights on how to approach the subject. The scariest thing was revealing Mom’s Ranger past; Rocky had known her as a Power Ranger, so he was safe. Kira, Ethan, Conner, and Haley were complete unknowns in that regard.

Once the lesson was over and got changed, Dr. Oliver suggested picking up dinner on the way home. Neither of us was in a mood to cook and, while pizza still sparked fear, that’s what we ended up getting. It turned out that we both like the same type of pizza, so we only ended up getting one, even if it meant that we’d not have leftovers. He also bought us some salads to go along with instead of breadsticks, which I didn’t mind. Dad never got salads with pizza, just breadsticks, unless David or I asked and I knew it would help fill me up.

Chapter Text

Location: Angel Grove. Tuesday. POVs: Ernie and Rocky/3^rd person

Ernie hadn’t slept much over the past couple of days, worried about Abigail. He realized that he must have done something during his black-out period. He normally didn’t drink enough to cause a black-out, but he’d had a rough week because of his reaction to Aisha returning the original Yellow Ranger morpher to Trini’s heir, his own daughter. He’d tried keeping both of his children from their mother’s past and failed miserably. Abigail had run away and David would barely talk to him, rightfully upset. He didn’t know how he’d make it up to either of them.

Looking at the list that had reappeared, once again, he decided once and for all to talk to Rocky. He realized that trying to bury his grief and pain had already cost him his daughter. He didn’t want to lose David and resolved to talk to Rocky at some point during the day. Rocky had agreed to partner up with him when he’d left the evening before and he was glad for Rocky’s calming presence.

He was spending part of the day at the Youth Center; he’d argued that he should be out helping look for her. His worst fear, which had shown up in his nightmares the night before, was that they’d find her dead in one of the various waterways that surrounded Angel Grove. By trying to keep her and David both safe, he may have inadvertently chased her to her death. He realized that Trini would be disappointed in him; if it had been him in the car that day, she’d have raised both of their children a lot better than he’d done.

Getting to the Youth Center, he’d found that they had no news the night before. He’d expected as much; she’d been gone too long.

“I’m sorry Ernie,” Lt. Stone said, handing over a cup of coffee. “The longer she’s gone, the less likely it is she’ll be found, alive or dead. As it is, she’s had a pretty decent head start. Honestly, I don’t think she’s in Angel Grove at all, but we have to rule it out.”

“Thanks, Lt. Stone. I appreciate you telling me that as much as I don’t like hearing it.” Lt. Stone left not long after that, leaving Ernie to his thoughts. Rocky came in not long after, something Ernie found himself grateful for. He needed a distraction from the news and the wait.

“From the look on your face, I take it that there’s no news.” Ernie just shook his head, not trusting his voice. “I’d tell you it’s going to be okay, but I’d be lying.”

“I know that, Rocky, and I appreciate it. I just feel helpless, knowing she’s out there and I’m likely the direct cause for it. I failed her as her parent.”

Rocky took Ernie’s hands across the bar. “You’re doing your best to make it up to her, I can tell. Even just realizing that you screwed up is a huge first step. Where you, she, and David go now is going to not just be up to the three of you, but also be a group effort. I’m willing to do as many individual and group sessions with all three of you as you need, even if the process takes years.”

Ernie took that in before responding. “I’m going to take you up on that, Rocky. Even if the worst happens, I’ve seen what trying to deal by myself led me. A missing daughter and a son that will barely talk to me. I won’t make it through her death by without your help. I’m barely dealing with everything now.” Tears were by now streaming down his face as he began to acknowledge his feelings instead of ignoring them as he’d been doing. He didn’t even notice Rocky had come around and led him into the office until he realized he was sitting down in the office chair.

“Kimberly’s manning the bar right now; I asked her to come in to help.”

“I’ll have to thank her later. She didn’t have to do that.”

Rocky snorted. “Her exact words, when I asked, were: ‘Trini was my best friend. Jason, myself and most of what’s left of the original team consider Ernie an honorary Ranger for his help all those years. It’s the least I can do to help.’ You might not consider yourself Ranger material, but you’ve kept that secret for all these years. You helped us keep our civilian identities a secret, even if we don’t have our powers anymore.”

“With how much you guys did to keep Angel Grove safe, it was the least I could do.” Ernie meant it, too. As much as he feared Abigail following in her mother’s footsteps, he couldn’t deny Angel Grove, or Earth, would have been history several times over without Trini and her teammates, even as Rangers came and went. He doubted that he’d even be alive if it hadn’t been for them; wouldn’t have married Trini or have his children.

Rocky must have sensed his thought process. “David and Abigail possibly becoming Power Rangers terrifies you, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. I didn’t think about the dangers until I became a parent. If Trini was here, they’d be better prepared, but also fully aware of the dangers.” Ernie looked at Rocky. “I knew it was dangerous when you and the others were active. The Youth Center’s been somewhat overstocked with common first aid supplies for a reason. I just didn’t realize how dangerous until Trini started talking to me about it when we were first married.”

Rocky nodded. “It was dangerous. In many ways, I’m glad my parents didn’t know. They were worried enough when I got hurt right before Divatox started attacking. They knew the dangers of competing in martial arts competitions, which was less common for me than injuries from being a Power Ranger. This was even with our accelerated healing abilities helping out.”

“That’s part of what tipped me off, early on. Jason and the others would come into the Youth Center with injuries that they got fighting Rita’s monsters and goons. Later on, you, Aisha, and Adam started sporting similar injuries to the Red, Yellow, and Black Rangers that healed quicker than normal. This was after Jason, Trini, and Zack went to the World Youth Summit. I helped every way I could.”

“That’s why we consider you an honorary Ranger, Ernie,” Kimberly spoke up from the doorway. “As much as our job was protecting Angel Grove and the Earth from the various villains bent on destroying the planet, we also backed each other up and helped each other. You might not have been an active Ranger, but we’ve been proud to count you as an ally and we’ve always been grateful for the help you’ve given us over the years.”

“It was an honor to help, Kimberly. I’m sorry for how I acted since Trini’s death. I should have accepted your help after the crash.”

“You’re accepting it now, Ernie. Better late than never,” she replied, pushing herself off the frame and squeezing his hand. “We’ll be there for David and Abigail, too. Rangers take care of their own and that includes spouses and children. We will find her, Ernie and alive. Jason’s gotten a hold of Tommy; he lives in Reefside. Tommy’s promised to keep an eye out there, he’s had something come up there and can’t make it down, as much as he wants to. From what I remember Jason saying, he was given custody of one of the incoming freshmen students at the high school he teaches at.”

Ernie understood what Kim wasn’t saying. “It’s a bad idea for him to come down, then. Just becoming a foster father, then bringing his foster child down to help search for my daughter?” Erie shook his head, adding, “It’s important that he focus on his foster child right now. Abigail’s important, but not at the risk of taking his focus away from a child that needs his full attention right now.”

“He said you’d understand. I did send him a photo of Abigail I had from competitions last year; he should be getting it today or tomorrow.”

“Thank you for that, Kimberly. That saves me the hassle, even though Lt. Stone returned the photo I’ve given him. Even if he doesn’t find her or if she doesn’t come to him for help, I appreciate him looking. Lt. Stone said he’d be calling around to the closest cities, including Reefside, to see if they’ve found her, but acknowledged that would be a while. The police want to make sure she’s not in Angel Grove first.”

“Do you think she would, Kimberly?” Rocky asked. He was distracting her, he knew, but for good reason. Right now, if he revealed his suspicions, Abigail would run again. They’d not be able to find her if that happened. Right now, both Abigail and Ernie needed as much mental and emotional help as he was able to give, both as a counselor and as an ally. Kimberly was right, Rangers take care of their own and Trini’s family counted as part of that group.

“I don’t know. She has his contact information at the high school and I told Lt. Stone that much. He said he’d call the school, but I’ve heard nothing back yet. It’s one of many leads he and the others have to chase down.”

“I’ve heard nothing either. I remember him calling in that tip, but I don’t think it’s been followed up yet.” Ernie added.

“It hasn’t; this is the list of everything that’s been followed up minus the waterways. Those are being constantly monitored for bodies.” Ernie flinched; he really didn’t want to think of Abigail dead. “We all hope she’ll be found alive; Lt. Stone said that it was common protocol to monitor. Even once the search goes beyond Angel Grove, he’s still going to have them monitored just in case she’s found a safe place to hide that’s not been found. There’s at least one place that’s not on any official list; Jason, Zach, and Adam are going to rotate looking there. They’re filling in our allies there. If Trini’s things get used, they’ll be able to track them. Billy’s taken a leave of absence from his job to help. He knows how to calibrate the equipment there to find it if it’s not being used, but it’s going to take a while.”

Rocky realized he’d have to warn Abigail when he saw her Saturday. That, and hide his coin; it might not be able to draw from the Morphing Grid anymore, but that didn’t mean it still didn’t register on it. Trini’s was one of the few that might still be connected to the Grid with Zordon’s original three picks still being alive for the powers to go back into when he, Adam, and Aisha switched to their Zeo Powers. They never showed signs of wanting to morph again, but they also might not have known. Zordon and Dimitria never said, but nobody ever asked either. They might not have thought to have the three check. Trini had gone on to college from there, married Ernie, and had two children, dying only 4 months after Abigail’s birth.

He and Ernie continued talking for another hour, Rocky doing his best to listen and comfort. He took no notes as most of the topics touched upon were about Trini’s Ranger days. He wouldn’t be able to write anything down until he stopped back home. He also tried assaying Ernie’s fears and worries, but with Abigail still officially missing, it was hard.

At lunch time, Rocky did his best to get Ernie to eat. He could tell the older man hadn’t ate much breakfast this morning, but Ernie shook his head.

“Not much of an appetite, Rocky.”

“You’re not going to do your children or this search any good if you don’t eat. Even if it’s just a smoothie, you need to eat, Ernie. We don’t need you collapsing from hunger and neither does Abigail or David. You also don’t need to replace one bad habit with another.” He was pleased to see Ernie finally eat; both men knew that Ernie’s drinking had likely led to Abigail’s actions. Abigail had inferred as much, as had Ernie.

He was glad Ernie was beginning to realize that how his actions had hurt his children, but Rocky also knew Friday night’s missing memories could answer a host of questions. Unless Abigail was willing to talk about what had happened, or could provide proof of the incident that caused her to run away, they’d not be able to get concrete answers to those questions. Memories from alcohol-induced blackouts were often hard to recall, if they even transferred from short-term to long-term memories, so Rocky knew that Ernie wouldn’t be of any help.

Location: Angel Grove outskirts/Command Center. POV: Ernie/Rocky 3^rd person.

After calling his fellow Rangers still in Angel Grove, he and Ernie headed out to join in the search. Kimberly was still at the Youth Center, but neither Rocky nor Ernie were comfortable leaving her there by herself. Jason had come in; their twins were both part of search parties.

Ernie found himself realizing just how out of shape he was as they got assigned to a search party near the Ranger Command Center. That particular search party was filled with people officially labeled as being ‘in the know’ about the Power Rangers; Ernie knew most of them had been part of one or more teams. He, David, Austin, and Amy might not have been Rangers themselves, but they still counted as part of that group. Instead of being paired up with Rocky as he expected, he found his search partner being his own son.

“David.” What Ernie was about to say next got interrupted.

“I don’t want to hear it, Dad. If you hadn’t acted like you did last week, Abby would still be here.”

Ernie could see and hear the anger his son poured into those two sentences and closed his eyes. “You’re right, David. I fucked up royally and need to make it up to the both of you. I’ve started seeing Dr. DeSantos.”

“About damn time, Dad, about damn time. If you’d gone to him earlier, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

“No, we wouldn’t. I wouldn’t have gotten near as angry about her receiving her heritage as I did, a heritage you share.”

“With her, Austin, and Amy.” Ernie only nodded, too out of breath to answer. As he caught his breath, Adam joined them.

“I’ve checked with a few friends in the area, we’ve got nothing. Billy said it’s going to take a while to calibrate for the items not being active or actively used.”

“We figured as much; Rocky even mentioned that when I saw him this morning,” Ernie replied as he caught his breath. “I don’t see Abigail not having them on her; they’re not at the house. Her room’s been looked through.”

“She has them, Dad. That laptop bag I gave her last Christmas? Hidden pocket; had it designed by my friend at the magic shop. That’s where she’s been keeping them.” Ernie and Adam turned to David in surprise. “I didn’t realize that the pocket would come in handy that much; figured she’d use it to carry small gifts, not Mom’s gear.”

“That’s good to know. We find the gear, we find Abigail. They’re running their searches based off of the recording of Trini’s signal in the Grid after she gave up her powers. You have a similar one to her, David, we’ve checked. The only places we might have trouble is where there’s been an active Ranger team recently; the morphing grid acts weird when there’s been a recently active team.”

“Which means Reefside is going to need to be searched the civilian way,” Ernie observed.

“Which is why Tommy’s keeping an eye out,” Adam returned.

“Foster dad; he won’t have a lot of time,” Ernie shot back.

“Foster dad?” David asked; he’d apparently not heard that particular bit of news.

“Heard from Kimberly; apparently he’s gained custody of one of his future students. That’s all I know; you’d have to ask Jason or Kimberly for details. Rocky must know, as he was up in Reefside helping Tommy out over the weekend. That must have been why; he won’t be able to tell us many details.”

“It’s why he’s not here in our group,” David realized.

“Exactly. He’s recorded as being ‘officially in the know’ like we are. You got added to the list not long after your birth,” Adam said. “I’m not sure who did it, Abigail’s on there too.”

“Trini, probably.” Ernie replied, with his son echoing his thoughts.

Adam nodded, continuing, “Kimberly said that your mom was planning on telling you and Abigail, David, when you got into your teens. The three of them had hashed out the details not long after your birth. Don’t give me that look, Ernie, she was going to bring you into the plan at some point, but the accident happened.”

“I wish she’d told me from the start. We might have argued over it, but she was very persuasive when she wanted to be.”

“How persuasive?” David asked. Ernie only blushed, causing both Adam and David both to laugh.

“Let’s just say Abigail was conceived because of her persuasion skills and leave it at that.” Adam just laughed harder.

“I’m sorry I asked. That’s more information about your and Mom’s love life than I wanted to know, Dad.”

“Nobody likes to hear about their parents love lives, David,” Adam interjected.

“Nor us about our children’s.” Ernie gave his son a look. “It’s our prerogative to pretend that, even with grandchildren, our children aren’t doing what we did to create them. You’ll understand when you’re a parent yourself.”

David only made an ‘ick’ face, but didn’t open his mouth again to reply. They grew silent as they continued to search; Ernie having to stop every so often to catch his breath. He could only hope he’d sleep better then he’d been, wearing himself out as he was. He was pleased with how his and David’s conversation had gone. They might not have gotten all of their issues resolved, but they’d made a start.

After several hours of searching, they’d had to stop. Abigail wasn’t there at all; a quick call to Kimberly and Jason let Adam know that they’d not even told her where to find the Command Center. Not even Aisha had informed her where it was. A quick check with Billy did inform Ernie that, even with the original coins not entirely being operational, the original communicators did still have the ability to transport the wearer there. This had to be in conjunction with the usage of the coin, Billy said.

His location could only be entered by someone who had, or was currently, a Power Ranger. Not even legacies like Abigail couldn’t enter unless transported by someone with a deep link to the Grid. This was until she started using Trini’s coin, then Billy could manually initiate the transportation sequence. Not even Alpha 5 or Alpha 6 could transport her without orders from such a person if she hadn’t taken up the mantle of a Ranger. Zordon was dead and it was going to take time to get in contact with Dimitria and convince her to return.

Rocky had talked to Billy and asked him if there was someone in the tube that had initially been used by Zordon, letting him know of some of the suspicious activities he’d noticed when he’d been there the last couple of times. Billy had refused to comment, saying he’d been sworn to secrecy, not even being allowed to let former Rangers know. That worried Rocky; if they had an ally there besides Billy and the Alphas, they needed to know.

“Billy, see if you can’t inform me or Tommy, at the very least. One of us needs to know. Tommy had recently mentored a Power Ranger team in Reefside; he might be a better person to share the secret,” Rocky said over his communicator.

“I’ll see what I can do, Rocky. I’m not going to make any promises, not until Dimitria arrives. I’m still trying to raise her.” Rocky was glad Billy wasn’t getting all technical on him; Trini had been one of the few who could understand him when he got talking. Both he and Adam had to crack open dictionaries to understand half of what Billy was saying, even as adults and the others hadn’t been much better. Even Ernie had issues following Billy and they’d known each other for years.

“That’s all I can ask, Billy. Keep us updated, please.” Looking around, he got quieter. “Listen, I have some ideas, but until I confirm them, can I count on you to keep it quiet.” After a couple of beats, Billy asked him to transport directly into the Command Center. “I can do that, just let me let Adam know.”

Catching up with Adam, Ernie, and David, he let them know he was going to give Billy a more concise update. “Don’t wait for me, what I’m about to talk about can’t really be discussed out here,” he told them, raising his left wrist.

“Meet us back at the Youth Center when you’re done. You know where to enter through,” Ernie told him.

“I will. I don’t know how long I’ll be; I’ll check in with Adam before heading over.” Looking at the others, he added, “Make sure one of us has the evening shift if you can and make sure to have one of our devices on them. I’m going to see if Billy can get some for you and David, Ernie.”

“That would be much appreciated, Rocky. It’s going to help us keep in contact with each other easier.”

With that, Rocky used his communicator to initiate the transport sequence and entered the Command Center’s central chamber. Giving Billy a hug, he asked how he was doing.

“Good,” Billy replied. “You said you had some ideas.”

“I do. You have to understand that the others can’t know of any of this, Billy, and for good reason. I have reason to believe Abigail’s in Reefside. Her mental and emotional state is such that if I let Ernie and Lt. Stone know, she’d run and her case would go into the cold case file. We’d never be able to help her.”

Billy looked dubious, but agreed to keep his tongue. “I’m going to trust your judgement on this, Rocky. You’ve got the experience necessary to make that judgement call.”

With Billy’s agreement, he looked at the two robots. “Alpha 5, Alpha 6? Do I have your word that you’ll keep this secret until I let you know that it’s okay to talk to the others about it?” Alpha 5 did panic, but that was normal behavior from him.

“Anything to help Trini’s daughter, Rocky,” he replied. Alpha 6 agreed as well.

Rocky filled the three of them in on everything that had happened since Saturday. “You can see why I’m hesitant to inform Ernie. I doubt Tommy knows her true identity yet, though he has his suspicions. He has his doubts, though, and I can see why.”

“Ernie’s not ever indicated he had the ability to become abusive.” Billy’s observation, like many of his over the years, was spot on.

Rocky shook his head. “Everyone has the potential to intentionally hurt others, Billy. Most of us, though, never give into the temptation or impulse, not without outside influence.”

“Rita, Zedd, and their monsters,” Billy replied, referencing several occasions where the Rangers had temporarily been on the side of evil.

“Not just them, Billy,” Rocky replied. “One too many buttons pushed; drug/alcohol abuse; mental health issues...I could go on and on. Ernie’s dealing with grief and loss coupled with alcohol abuse; there’s no way I’m returning Abigail to that situation. As much as Ernie’s willing to get help right now, the issues that led her to run away are still there.”

“I see what you mean. Tommy’s a good guy, he’ll take care of her." Alpha 5, between the two A.I.s, had known Tommy the longest.

“Affirmative. What made him a good Ranger also puts him into the best position to help her. All we can do is be supportive. Even though I’ve not gotten in contact with Dimitria yet, I can slow down the search while making it believable. I may need to get in touch with you once she arrives, if Trini’s coin hasn’t been activated yet. I was able to confirm that Jason and Kimberly could morph into their original forms if needed; Abigail should be able to do the same with Trini’s coin.”

“I’ll have to let her know, but don’t tell the others that just yet. I’ve not told Tommy, though and I’m not entirely sure how much I can tell him. I’m already bending patient confidentiality telling you three this much. Telling Tommy would cause the same issue that telling Ernie and Lt. Stone and Abigail needs to be able to trust him on her own.”

“I can hold the coin news for at least 6 weeks, maybe 7 or 8 if I don’t hear from Dimitria. I’ve also gotten in contact with Andros and the other alien Rangers; they’re searching for Dimitria right now. Andros said he’s going to bring what he knows about the Morphing Grid when he comes. I let him know about Abigail being a legacy of one Ranger and one civilian in the know. He said that gave them an avenue of research, but he can’t transfer it here. It has to be physically delivered. I’ll pass on what he knows or send him to Reefside if the Sabretooth coin is active once again when he gets here.”

Rocky knew that gave him until mid-July or early August to hide Abigail. “Thanks, Billy. I need to get going, I’ve been gone long enough. Ernie’s not having an easy time of it with her disappearance. It’s echoing Trini’s death for him.”

“At least he’s getting help this time around, Rocky.” Billy held out his hand for Rocky to take.

“We take care of our own.” Rocky clasped Billy’s arm in a warrior’s handshake.

“Affirmative.” With that, Billy checked with Kimberly.

“I’m still at the Youth Center; Ernie, David, and Adam are here, too, along with Austin and Amy. The coast is clear, Rocky.”

With confirmation in hand, Rocky initiated the transportation sequence, landing in the Youth Center seconds later. Walking into the Center’s main area, he walked over to the bar area, where the others were gathered.

“Billy’s all caught up; still no word from Dimitria. Andros and our other allies up there are searching for her to help.” Despite nobody else being in the Youth Center, he still kept his voice low.

“Any news on the coins?” Rocky just shook his head.

“It’s going to take him several weeks, maybe over a month to get a lock on it. That’s only if it doesn’t get used and he couldn’t even give me a definitive answer on that. He said not to try using the morphing tech until he can make sure it’s safe. It’s part of why it’s going to take so long; without Dimitria and her link to the Grid, he doesn’t want to risk trying to manually reopen the link to the coins.”

“Tommy could.”

Rocky shook his head at Jason’s comment. “He’s got his hands full, Jason, and you know exactly why. I’m not about to ask him to abandon his ward to help Billy out. He can’t leave Reefside right now and Billy can’t leave his location. I don’t think he’s got anyone, even from the Dino team, that can help Billy out.”

“He’s also the best person that can help us right now. If he created the Dino Gems that they used, he can reestablish the links to the Power Coins,” Jason argued right back.

Ernie placed a hand on Jason’s arm. “Drop it, Jason. Rocky’s right; I’m not about to ask Tommy to abandon his duties to his foster child to help us out. Look where that got Abigail and I.”

The former Rangers all flinched at the reminder of why Abigail had run, while David’s eyes flashed with anger once again.

“Ernie’s right, Dad,” Austin spoke for the first time since Rocky had gotten back.

“He’s busy with his responsibilities as a foster parent,” continued Amy, following her twin’s thought process.

“Thanks for the reminder, you two.” Jason dropped the subject. Picking up the list of leads to follow up, they split it up, with Ernie taking notes.

“Do you want me to call Tommy again?” Kimberly asked; as she had the section dealing with Reefside.

“Don’t, Kimberly. As Austin and Amy said, he’s busy. Let me be his link to the search right now; I’ll be going back and forth to Reefside as his foster child’s counselor. I can gather the news from there for now.”

Ernie gave Rocky a hard look. “There’s more to that then you’re saying, Rocky.”

“I also can’t reveal anything, Ernie. You know that. I’m not saying Abigail’s his foster child for a reason. I don’t have reason to think she is. If that changes, it’s going to take time for me to get her to trust me enough to convince her to return. She ran for a reason, Ernie, and might not even be in Reefside.” It didn’t pass his notice that Ernie flinched at that.

Looking at the entire group, he continued. “In fact, I don’t want any of you going up to Reefside unless it’s for competitions or school events. Abigail knows all of your faces; if she’s in Reefside, seeing any of you may cause her to run again.”

“If she does that…”

“We won’t see her.” This came from Austin and Amy. Amy continued, “Not for a long time, at any rate.”

“Exactly, you two. Right now, it’s not just finding Abigail, it’s also convincing her to return home and not run. That can’t happen unless I know exactly why she ran.”

Ernie shook his head. “I’m no help with that, Rocky.”

“I know,” Rocky interrupted Ernie before he could rehash it again. Giving Ernie a long, hard look of his own, he continued. “You’re headed in the right direction, though. What progress you’re making will allow me to help convince her to return home should I find her. What happens will ultimately be between the two of you.”

“And that happen until or unless Abigail is willing to work with you and I both,” Ernie realized.

With that, they turned back to their lists, only stopping when Lt. Stone arrived for the night shift.

Wednesday, Angel Grove Youth Center. POV: Ernie/Rocky in 3^rd person

When Ernie was getting ready to head to the Youth Center, David surprised him by wanting to go with him.

“I know you’re angry with me, David, and I don’t blame you. As I said yesterday, I fucked up with both of you and in different ways. If I could do both of your childhoods over again after your mom’s death, I would.”

David just gave his father a look. “It’s going to take me a while to forgive you for that. I know you don’t remember what happened, but she wouldn’t have run if something hadn’t happened Friday night.”

“I don’t expect your forgiveness, nor Abigail’s. I fear what I did is beyond the realm of forgivable activity and hope that my relationship with both of you can be repaired.” Ernie further surprised his son by handing over the car keys. “You drive, David,” was all he said to his son’s surprised face.

Ernie realized that he was rapidly pushing the boundaries of what he felt comfortable with, but needed to work on that with both of his children, even though Abigail wasn’t there. Even making the effort to work on his issues without her there would hopefully help her trust him again. Rocky had warned him that it wouldn’t be instantaneous, fixing his issues, but he would have to work on them. Letting his son drive with him in the passenger seat was a good first step.

Like ever other day since the search had started, there was no news about Abigail. Lt. Stone had finally been able to get in touch with the Reefside’s police department. Aside from Tommy’s foster child, a daughter, there was no signs she’d arrived. Lt. Stone had a case to look into because of the Reefside call, but couldn’t say much due to the nature of it.

“I’m probably going to have to go up to interview her. Given the abuse happened here in Angel Grove, I’m going to have to arrest the abuser.”

“Don’t bother, Lt., not without me there,” Rocky said from behind him. “She’s a client of mine; Tommy had called me Saturday night. As you know, I can’t comment on active cases that often except to advise on charges. I need to get a hold of Dr. Oliver-Tommy-before I can give you more details. I will say this, she barely tolerates me there. I’ll give you the same warning I gave this crowd yesterday afternoon-she’s going to run if anyone from Angel Grove shows up.”

“Even the cops?”

“Especially the cops. She’s not named her abuser and won’t. Even asking sends her into a panic. What I can do, however, is give you the contact information for her social worker.”

From the end of the bar, Aisha asked, “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why won’t she name her abuser?”

“Several reasons, and they’re among the most common ones that I’ve seen in abuse cases. She still cares for her abuser, but also fears returning to his custody or interacting with him. Tommy won’t bring her down here in the off chance that she runs into her abuser. I can’t say anything more; I’ve bent patient confidentiality telling you this much.”

“I appreciate what you’ve been able to tell us; when are you next going to Reefside.”

“Saturday afternoon is my next appointment with her. Let me give Tommy a heads up first so he can prepare her for you coming. I’m staying in the room with her; expect Tommy to do the same.”

“I can work with that, Dr. DeSantos. It still boggles the mind that both of you received PhD’s in your respective fields.” With that, Lt. Stone headed back to the police station, leaving Rocky to face Ernie and the others.

“I can’t believe Tommy’s a teacher, or a foster parent,” Adam said, shaking his head.

“10 years ago, I would have agreed with you. You should see him with his foster daughter. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think she was his biological daughter; he’s that good with her. I’m not going to call him until later this evening; he said something about signing her up for classes at Reefside’s dojo and soccer camp. One of his former students, a Conner McKnight, is running it. Even without meeting him, I’m fairly certain he was one of the Dino Rangers. Tommy said Conner had been the one to call him regarding his foster daughter, but didn’t go into details.”

Ernie closed his eyes at that; if Tommy had mentored the Dino Rangers, it was likely his foster daughter would get involved at some point. Despite not publicly commenting on other cities Ranger teams, he still followed the news and knew that the Dino Rangers had just beat Mesogog. Just because they had defeated one villain didn’t mean that Reefside was safe; he’d seen that often enough in Angel Grove and the varying villains they’d gotten.

From the looks of things, Ernie could tell Jason felt the same way.

“There’s no way Reefside is still safe,” Jason ranted. “Their Big Bad might be gone, but if I’ve learned anything, nature abhors a vacuum. Rita’s initial attack started a domino effect; we still don’t know how many of our previous adversaries are still around after Zordon’s death. Andros may think that they’re either dead or turned good, but the fact that there’s more teams showing up in the years after we gave up our powers is telling.”

“That may be true, Jason, but trust Tommy to protect Reefside. We all trusted him enough to follow his leadership; let’s extend that trust to the safety of his foster daughter and Abigail if she’s really there. They might get another attack, but he’ll keep her safe.” Rocky was doing everything he could to keep his former teammates from undoing the hard work he and Tommy both had started.

Jason gave Rocky a long, hard look, but backed down. Rocky mentally counted that as a victory; Abigail was safe for now. Kat, who’d been noticeably absent, just about caused him to jump when she entered behind him as she returned her cell phone to her purse.

“Sorry, Rocky. Just got off the phone with Tommy. He wanted to give me a heads up about something.” That comment got her a round of looks from the others. “What? I didn’t tell you we’d picked our relationship back up?”

Variations of ‘No’ answered her from the other Rangers. David, Austin, and Amy just looked puzzled.

“That’s important, why?” Austin asked.

“Before moving to Florida for my gymnastics career, he and I dated. I eventually broke up with him and he started dating Kat, who’d replaced me on the team.” Turning to her fellow Pink Ranger, she continued, “I thought you guys had taken a break when he was in grad school.”

“He called me after Mercer’s disappearance; needed someone besides Rocky to talk to. I think you and Jason had gotten together by that point. One thing led to another and we started dating again.”

“Dating? I hope he plans on putting a ring on that finger soon.” Aisha didn’t have to go further; her comments caused the ones eating or drinking to either choke or do a spit take.

“Aisha! I heard enough of that from Dad yesterday.” David was blushing pretty hard, as was Kat. Ernie could only shake his head and chuckle a bit; he’d heard worse from the teens that frequented the Center normally. He really hoped David and Amy would get together, but neither teen showed any interest in dating. Neither had Austin, though the three of them remained close friends, along with Abigail.

The three teenagers descended into good-natured bickering born by years of knowing each other as the group split up into smaller groups. Ernie watched as Rocky and Kat had a quiet conversation; he could hear flashes of it, but didn’t investigate. Tommy needed all the help he could get and a female presence would only help him. If he ignored the fact that Trini wasn’t here, he could almost pretend that he was back in the days when her team was active. They had teamed up this time, though without powers, to find his daughter and one half of Trini’s legacy. Excusing himself, he slipped into his office as panic and his memories overtook him.

Rocky looked up from where he’d been talking to Kat to see Ernie slipping away from the crowd.

“Excuse me, Kat,” nodding his head in the direction of Ernie’s office.

“Go, Rocky. He might need you,” she said with a touch to his upper arm and he took off like a shot after his friend. Entering Ernie’s office, he grabbed one of the other chairs and pulled it around the desk to face Ernie, who was in the middle of a panic attack.

“Ernie, listen to me. It’s okay, it’s just me, Rocky. Take some deep breaths, that’s right.” Rocky continued to talk, trying to give his friend a comforting voice to focus on. Looking behind him, he noticed some of the other Rangers gathered nearby. Motioning for them to step back a bit, he quietly sent them to get things he would need to help Ernie before turning back to continue what he was doing. Kimberly was soon back with a small can of ginger ale, but was in and out without Ernie registering she was there.

Rocky barely noticed, but would find out later that Jason had to almost restrain David from entering his father’s office. David didn’t need to see his father like that; Rocky knew Ernie wouldn’t appreciate it at this moment in time. Ernie was in no mood to talk about what had happened and Rocky realized Ernie was also in need of sleep.

“Ernie, how much sleep have you had since Saturday? Be honest with me.”

“Not enough; too many nightmares.” Ernie, by this time, had finished his ginger ale.

Rocky took Ernie by the arm. “Come on; I think there’s some cots in one of the classrooms here. I know you don’t want to talk right now about what just happened, but you need to. You also need to get some rest and I’ll be there for you, nightmares and all.”

Ernie was too spent to argue like he would have normally and just followed Rocky out of his office. He allowed Rocky to aid him in laying down on one of the cots and was out like a light.

Not long after Ernie fell asleep, Rocky looked up from his place to see David slip in. Standing up from the cot next to Ernie’s, he quietly moved close to the door.

“Your dad’s asleep; David. His lack of sleep, along with everything else going on, led him straight into a panic attack.” Rocky was careful to keep his voice quiet; it wouldn’t do Ernie any good to wake up right now.

“What can I do to help? I might be angry with him, but he’s still my dad.”

Your sister said the same thing, Rocky wanted to tell David, but he wasn’t about to say so with Ernie in the room. Out loud, he said, “Be there for him, David. I might be acting more as his therapist right now instead of his friend, but he needs all the support he can get. The only issue right now is that everyone he needs to depend on right now is also what led him straight into his panic attack.”

“And could lead him into more. I see what you mean, though. Not many people know about Mom’s past. I think Dad is one of the few people outside of you guys who knows the whole truth.”

Rocky made a split-second decision. “David, I’m going to need to talk to you later, alone. It’s about your sister.” He had to put a hand over David’s mouth to keep him from waking up his dad. “You need to be quiet, David,” he whispered, jerking his head in Ernie’s direction. David just nodded and Rocky removed his hand, returning to his seat on the cot. David joined him not long after, not wanting to leave his dad at the moment.

Rocky finally got to see what Ernie had meant by nightmares as he had one after an hour of laying back down. From what he could tell from what Ernie was saying, this was about finding Abigail dead in one of the various waterways surrounding Angel Grove.

“Easy, Ernie. I’m right here,” he said as his friend jerked to consciousness as the nightmare ended.

“Rocky? David?”

“In the flesh, Dad. Both of us,” David said, on his dad’s other side, helping him sit up. “You’re not in this alone.”

Ernie closed his eyes. “I still keep seeing her dead; if it’s not in the waterways, it’s in the car, replacing Trini as driver.” His voice hitched as he continued talking, tears streaming down his face. “I just can’t lose her, Rocky, I just can’t.”

All Rocky and David could do was comfort Ernie as he sobbed. Losing a spouse was bad enough; Ernie had passed the breaking point with Abigail’s vanishing. Rocky, though he knew giving up Abigail’s location would help Ernie heal, he also recognized that it wouldn’t do her any good. Her issues were just as valid as Ernie’s; both needed plenty of therapy before he was comfortable letting the two meet again.

Rocky had David fetch a damp cloth as soon as it looked like Ernie had calmed down enough to rejoin the crowd. Handing the cloth to Ernie, David gave his father a brief hug, which Ernie returned with a small smile. Rocky held hope for the future; it looked like Ernie’s relationship with his son was on the mend.

After their shift was over for the day, Rocky returned home. Grabbing his cell phone, he made a call to Tommy.

“Hey, Tommy. Need to give you a serious heads up.”

He could almost picture his friend’s face growing serious. “What’s going on, Rocky?”

“Talked to Lt. Stone this morning; he’s been taking the overnight shift at the Youth Center. He’s gotten a hold of his counterpart in Reefside’s police office. They told him of Katrina’s case; his superiors have placed him in charge of investigating along with Abigail’s case. He wants to come up Saturday to interview her. I talked him out of coming today; I didn’t want Katrina to panic and run. I need your permission, as her guardian, to inform him of the particulars of how she came to be in your care.”

“She would at that; I appreciate the head’s up. Tell him what you need to; but caution him to tread carefully. To change the subject, he wouldn’t have run into us at home; she had her first assessment and lesson at the dojo today. Orange belt; whoever her teacher was before she came did a great job.”

Rocky grinned. “How’d she do with you as a teacher?” Rocky was one of the few people that knew Tommy taught the occasional lesson at the Reefside dojo.

“Pretty good, though she’s starting to get cheeky. Asked me if she should call me Dr. Oliver or Sensei Oliver when I praised her on how she did during her assessment.” Rocky laughed at that.

“That’s a good sign, Tommy. She’s getting more comfortable with you. You’re good with kids.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence. I’m sure Conner and the others would agree.”

“Your Dino team?”

“One and the same. Listen, I’ve got to go. Katrina’s coming back down; as exhausted as she is, I’m surprised she’s not fallen asleep yet.”

“If I don’t talk to you before then, I’ll see you Saturday.”

“See you Saturday, Rocky,” Tommy replied, hanging up. Rocky retrieved both Ernie and Abigail’s files and wrote the day’s notes down, including Ernie’s panic attack. He also knew he’d have a harder time Saturday during her appointment after Lt. Stone was done interviewing her. From what Tommy had just said, Abigail was beginning to come out of her shell and trust him, though he doubted she’d informed him of her real identity. He was going to have to spend some time with the lieutenant between tomorrow and Saturday preparing him for Katrina.

He realized he’d have to work even harder to misdirect Lt. Stone from realizing that Katrina and Abigail were the same person. After spending more time with Ernie, he knew that arresting the man would do more harm than good for everyone involved. He also knew that Lt. Stone wouldn’t see the situation the same way; it was going to be a difficult conversation. He also had to have the talk with David; David would be happy to hear that his sister had made it to safety.

Chapter Text

Location: Angel Grove, Thursday. POV: Rocky/3^rd person POV

Rocky strode into the Youth Center bright and early, before Ernie had made it in. In his briefcase, he had a ‘safe’ version of Abigail’s file, with ‘Katrina Jones’ on the front of it. He’d spent most of the evening creating the folder from what notes he’d written Sunday and Monday, including his suspicions that her mother was a Power Ranger and that her father, though not on the official ‘in the know’ list, was actually in the know.

“Dr. DeSantos. What brings you here? Ernie’s not here yet.” Lt. Stone was in Ernie’s usual spot behind the bar, nursing a cup of coffee.

“I came to talk to you. It’s about the abuse case out of Reefside, Tommy’s foster daughter. I've told you before, you can call me Rocky like you did when you took this place over from Ernie back when the Turbo team showed up.”

“The only reason they’re willing to let me do the interviews is because she’s from the city.”

Placing the file down on the bar, Rocky turned it around and opened it. “Tommy gave me permission to tell you what you need to know. It’s all in the file.” Coming around to pour himself a cup of coffee while the lieutenant read the file, Rocky rested against the back countertops.

“This is going to be difficult. If you’re right, Dr. DeSantos, we might not be able to arrest him. I hate allowing an abuser to go free.” Rocky realized it had been worth a shot to get Lt. Stone to call him by his first name, but wasn't going to happen any time soon.

“So do I, Lieutenant. Even without the abuser’s identity, she gave me enough to recommend to Ms. Andrews, her social worker, that she not be removed from Tommy’s guardianship.”

Lt. Stone smiled at that. “He’s a good guy; I remember when he used to hang out here after I bought the place from Ernie. He was very patient with the younger children, even when teaching the martial arts classes with you or Jason.”

Rocky smiled. “He’s not changed much, Lt. He mentored four students from Reefside High last year; one of them was Dr. Anton Mercer’s adopted son. From what he said to me last night, Katrina’s warming up to him. He’s signed her up for martial arts classes at her request; she’s apparently had some lessons on the sly before ending up under his guardianship. Orange belt, he said. When he congratulated her after her assessment, she got cheeky with him, teasing him a bit.”

“A good sign, I take it.”

“Very good,” Rocky replied, smiling himself. “It means she’s getting comfortable with him.”

Holding up the file, Lt. Stone thanked Rocky for his help. “I’m still going to have to get the name of her abuser from her.”

Rocky shook his head. “She won’t talk; I tried. Her reaction was not uncommon among abused children, especially when the abuser gives them happy memories along with the abuse. She keeps insisting that all he needs is therapy instead of jail.”

“A not uncommon one. I’ve seen it too; most abusers don’t need therapy, they need jail. I can only hope hers is the truly rare case where the abuser needs therapy instead of jail time.” Looking down at the folder, he continued. “You really think she might run again?”

“Yes; it’s why I cautioned Tommy about coming down with her to aid in the search for Abigail. On top of the fact that Katrina’s apparently from here as well, we run the risk that her abuser is in the crowd. Before you ask, I doubt our missing girl and Katrina are the same person. Even though Abigail’s the better known of the half-Asian population, she can’t be the only one from the city. She might not even be from here, despite saying she is.”

“Red herring?”

“Entirely possible, Lieutenant.”

Lt. Stone just sighed as he tapped a finger on the file. “Bring the file with you Saturday when we go to Reefside.”

With that, and the fact that Ernie was heading in, Lt. Stone left, but not taking the file with him. Rocky replaced the file in his briefcase before turning to speak to his friend.

“Sorry about that; Lt. Stone had to ask me a few questions regarding Tommy’s foster daughter. She’s apparently from here and he’s been allowed to interview her. Before you ask, Ernie, I don’t think she’s Abigail.”

“It was worth an ask.”

Location: Reefside; Thursday afternoon. POV: Tommy/3^rd person.

As he pulled up to the mall to drop Katrina off, he couldn’t help but think of the conversation he’d had with her after getting off the phone with Rocky. She’d predictably not taken it well.

“It’s normal to be interviewed by the police in a case like yours. Rocky said as much when he talked to me last night. He and I both will remain with you during the interview, you won’t be alone.” He held her in his arms as she broke down in a panic, crying. Drying her eyes, he suggested she call Rocky.

“Not right now; too tired to deal, Dr. O.” Tommy watched as she walked back up the stairs to her room. He wasn’t surprised when she had another nightmare filled night; he’d woken up early that morning with another sore back from sleeping against her headboard. They’d not had time for practice as she’d had her physical that morning. The good news was Dr. Erica cleared her for sports, including martial arts. Bad news was she had returned to the panicked and withdrawn girl that she’d arrived as. He only hoped that her afternoon out with Kira and the others would help her.

“Katrina, give me a call when you and the others are done at the café, or even when you get there. If you don’t mind, I may join you guys there.” She just nodded before heading in. What she didn’t know was that he’d called Kira to give her a head up; he hated seeing Katrina like this. Even though he’d only known her for less than a week, he already considered her his daughter just as if she’d been born to him. It surprised him; when he talked to Hayley after dropping Katrina off at the mall, she hadn’t been.

“Tommy, you’ve always had a caring heart. Your mentorship of Conner and the others only proved that, especially with how you handled Trent over the school year. I told Ms. Andrews when she interviewed me that you were a wonderful guy. Trent and the others were more than willing to back me up, with…suitably arraigned stories. Trent and Dr. Mercer were especially willing to share how you’d been a wonderful confidant to him when Dr. Mercer hadn’t been the best father to his son.”

“Hayley, I wish I had your confidence. A team of Rangers is one thing; an abused young lady is a completely different scenario.”

Hayley squeezed his hand. “You’ll be fine. I watched you with her the other day; despite her background, you helped her feel completely at ease here.”

Tommy could still sense something was bothering his friend. “What is it Hayley?”

Hayley only shook her head. “It might be nothing, but she’s hiding something big. I’m not talking about her abuser either. I don’t think her name and birthday are what she says. Remember when I asked her if she was a Gemini? She was lying when she gave her birthday was in September.”

Tommy felt a stone settle in his stomach. “There’s no way…”, but before he could finish, the ground started shaking. At the same time as Hayley, they both groaned, “Not again!” With the Dino Rangers out of commission, Reefside was defenseless if this was no mere earthquake.

Location: Reefside Mall same day. POV: Abigail/Katrina/1^st person

I waved goodbye to Dr. Oliver as I headed into the mall. It felt weird going shopping with someone close to my age and no adult supervision to boot. Like yesterday, I’d packed Mom’s morpher in my bag, along with my BlackBerry, iPod, and laptop. I don’t know why I felt the need to pack it, but I’d been having weird dreams since getting to Reefside. When I wasn’t having a nightmare, I was dreaming of both a saber-tooth tiger and white tiger protecting an ancient animal I couldn’t quite identify. The form of the animal that they were protecting kept changing; it never had the same details twice. I knew the saber-tooth tiger was Mom; I didn’t know who the white tiger represented. The tiger, instead of having black stripes like they normally did, had green and gold ones.

Dr. Oliver had given me some more spending money; a fact that surprised me. I tried protesting, but all he said was he was glad to help. Called it an advance on my allowance; I’d quit protesting after that. I was grateful Kira had asked me to meet in the food court; I didn’t know Reefside Mall well enough to find the music store by myself. Seeing Ethan and Kira sitting at a table together, I called out to them to get their attention. I knew that this afternoon was going to be an excellent distraction from last night’s conversation with Dr. Oliver.

Kira and Ethan, I knew, recognized that I wasn’t at my best, but they did their best to cheer me up. They were treating me the same way they treated their other friends and it was definitely helping. Reaching the music store, they both pulled me in different directions. Kira enjoyed country and pop music while Ethan was a fan of other bands. One of his favorites was a hip-hop band out of New York City called ‘Freestyle Love Supreme’; members included Lin-Manuel Miranda and James Monroe Ingleheart. I ended up buying several CDs of different bands, including one that ‘Freestyle Love Supreme’ had recently put out.

We were just heading back towards to the food court when the ground started shaking. I noticed Ethan and Kira groan. Apparently, this was no normal earthquake.

“What’s the matter, guys?” They shared a look before pulling me into a quiet spot.

“If this is what I think it is, Dr. O would kill us if something happened to you.”

“Monster attack?”

“Monster attack.” They confirmed in unison. We watched as a skeleton-looking dude walked in to the mall, along with another lady by his side. Both Ethan and Kira groaned again.

“You know those two?” I asked, but they responded in the negative. When the skeleton dude starting shooting beams at surrounding shoppers, both Ethan and Kira ran out to defend the crowd from the attackers. Stashing my stuff in a small hallway, I looked around before pulling out Mom’s morpher and morphed into the suit. I felt weird for a second, but something snapped into place and I knew what I had to do.

Looking at the two villains, their names snapped into my mind. My mom, I realized, must have faced them before if I knew their names.

“Hey Revolto! I thought after the last time we faced off; you’d been too scared to show your face on Earth again!” I said from behind both he and Scorpina, causing them to swirl around to face me.

“Yellow Ranger.”

“One in the same, Scorpina. Whatever your plans are, you’ll never win.”

“You can’t stop us alone, Ranger. Where are your teammates? Usually, you Rangers fight in a team.” Scorpina and I circled each other, while Revolto dealt with Ethan. Kira, I didn’t see, but she soon rejoined the battle, helping Ethan tag team Revolto.

“They’re around. Just because they’re not morphed doesn’t mean that they’re not here.” I saw Dr. Oliver, Conner, and Trent skid into the mall’s food court. Dr. Oliver’s face was full of shock when he saw me, but I didn’t let him distract me from my fight with Scorpina. Between Kira, Ethan, and I, we got Scorpina and Rito Revolto to back off.

“Don’t think that this is the end of this Yellow Ranger!” Scorpina said, before vanishing along with Rito. I locked eyes with Dr. Oliver. As he darted forward, I used the crowds to slip into the hallway and demorphed. I slipped the morpher back in my bag before heading back out.

Seeing everyone look around, I walked up to Kira, tapping her on the shoulder.

“Where have you been?”

“When those two monsters entered, I hid in the hallway. I know, not the bravest thing, but my defense skills aren’t enough to help out yet.” I hated lying to them, but I knew that keeping my identity secret was part and parcel of being a Ranger.

“Good idea. I’d hate for Dr. O. to get mad at us because you got hurt in a villain attack.”

From behind me, Dr. Oliver said, “Good thinking, Katrina. Knowing your limits is a vital part of practicing martial arts.”

I nodded; I especially hated lying to Dr. Oliver, he was quickly becoming a dad to me. “We were just getting ready to head to the Café; that still a plan?”

He looked at the other four teens before shaking his head. “Hayley’s meeting us back at my house; it’s time I showed you something. Ethan, Kira, you guys know the way. Same goes for you two,” he added, talking to Conner and Trent.

Dr. Oliver and I headed back to the house in silence; he looked troubled about something. Every attempt to ask questions would only get a response of, “Back at the house, Katrina. I’ll explain everything then.”

When we got there, he gave me permission to drop my bag off upstairs in my room. I didn’t want to give him the idea to check my bag for the morpher. I wondered when I stopped thinking of it as Mom’s, but I realized it was mine now that I’d morphed for the first time. I quickly met him back downstairs; he led me down to the basement. When we got there, he pulled me into a corner that had a mini dinosaur skeleton. Pushing the head down, the rockwork wall separated to reveal a much bigger room that looked more like a command center.

“Welcome to the Dino Ranger headquarters,” he said, indicating the room before me. Inside, Hayley was already down there with the others. I looked at all of them.

“All of you are Dino Rangers?” I asked.

“All but Hayley. She was our backup here,” replied Conner, serious.

I looked at them; it was easy to figure out who was what Ranger. “Ethan, Kira, what happened out there? I would have expected you guys to morph or something.”

Ethan only shook his head, but it was Kira who answered. “During our fight with Mesogog, we had to sacrifice our powers to defeat him. We did have Ranger backup today; not somebody I recognized.”

“You wouldn’t.” We all spun to look at Dr. Oliver, his face serious. He had two photos in his hand. “There have only been two people to use that particular Power Coin. Trini Kwan, who passed away almost 15 years ago, and Aisha Campbell, who lives in Angel Grove. When I spoke to a friend of mine over the weekend, he shared that Aisha had returned the coin and its connected communicator to Trini’s daughter, Abigail Burton.” He placed both photos on a table, as we gathered around to take a look. The photo of Mom was one I’d not seen before, of her and Dad not long after I was born. I wondered how he got a hold of it and resolved to find out.

“Can’t we just call this Abigail and bring her here?” Conner asked. Dr. Oliver just shook his head.

“It’s not that easy, Conner. She’s been missing since last Saturday. I don’t have any contact info for her. She has a cell phone, but it’s not on; they’ve already checked to try and track her. A friend is tracing the coin and communicator.” That was worrisome; I felt my powers react to that.

“She’s obviously in Reefside given she assisted us in the mall.”

“Ethan, we don’t know if she still is, or how long she’s been here. You two got lucky once. If Rito Revolto and Scorpina attack again, we might not be so lucky.”

“You know those two jokers?” Kira sounded incredulous.

“They were adversaries to my original team, though Rito didn’t become involved in trying to take over Earth until after Trini had left the team. She had faced off against Scorpina at least once; she’s the smarter of the two.” Dr. Oliver shook his head. “They must not have had any good in them when Zordon died; I wonder why they didn’t dissolve like the others.”

“Or they returned to their evil background,” Hayley spoke up from Dr. Oliver’s right.

He sighed. “You may be right at that, Hayley. We’re going to have to figure out a way to restore our powers; we can’t necessarily depend on Abigail, if that’s who’s truly using the coin.” At that, my awareness of my own powers flickered, causing me to steady myself on the table. “Katrina, is something alright?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know what just happened. I’ve never felt like this before.” I looked at him; I was two seconds away from whatever was going on with me to overwhelm my senses. Hearing his voice helped me get everything under control. “I’ll be fine, Dr. O. It’s been a long day.”

I didn’t noticed Conner give me a puzzled look, but I could hear his concern in his voice. “You sure about that? Could have sworn your eyes flashed yellow for a second.”

“Conner, I’m fine. It was probably a trick of the light or something. I’m fine, you don’t need to hover, Dr. Oliver.”

“As long as you’re sure.”

“I am.” I gave him a big smile. “I’ll let you know if that changes, I promise.” That seemed to mollify him and he squeezed my shoulder, giving me a smile.

Trent looked at Hayley and Dr. Oliver as the latter returned to his place at the table. “How did you guys create the gems and morphers in the first time? Is there something from that process that you can repeat?”

“I honestly don’t know; I was surprised that they worked, to be honest. I knew, on some level, that they would, but it was still a shock to see that they did. I still have my notes to see what process we used.” Hayley split away from the group at that; we could hear her sorting through the various hard copy records, presumably trying to find the notes.

“We’re all willing to help,” Conner replied, speaking for the whole team.

“You’re right, Dr. O.; we got lucky that we had backup today. If we’d had our powers, I don’t know if we’d have needed the backup. Not that I’m complaining; just curious.” Kira’s comment got her a hard look from Dr. Oliver.

“Don’t underestimate Scorpina and Rito. We’ll probably be seeing more of him; it’s been my experience that the main villain in charge fights with goons first. He’s too stupid and clumsy to be anything but a goon. I’m pretty sure his sister got the brains of the two; some of her creations were pretty damn difficult to beat.”

“Even Mesogog was like that,” Trent said. “Mesogog was and is not Dad; don’t look at me like that. Dad tried everything in his power to keep Mesogog at bay.”

Hayley returned to the table, but not just with the notes. She also had a box with her, which, when opened, revealed the 5 Dino Gems. We all took a section of the notes and, after finding a place to sit, started leafing through them. I was surprised Dr. Oliver was letting me help, but I wasn’t about to argue either. He might decide to keep me out as a way to protect me, never minding the fact that he brought me into what was effectively the Dino Ranger Command Center. I’d enough with Dad doing that and was determined to prove to Dr. Oliver that his trust in me wasn’t unwarranted.

Looking up, I saw Ethan and Hayley at two of the computers, going over technical aspects. I’d not found anything in my section of the notes, so stood up to go join them. My powers crackled again as I stood up and I barely registered Dr. Oliver sprinting over to catch me as I collapsed unconscious.

Opening my eyes, I found myself in a room filled with grid lines; it reminded me of the Star Trek: Next Generation holodeck that I’d seen in an episode. Looking around, I saw someone else, but she was facing away from me.

“Hello?” The figure turned to face me and I about sat down from shock; it was Mom, or appeared to be.

“Abigail. This isn’t how I wanted you and I to meet,” she said.

“Mom?!” I sprinted over to her and went to hug her, but landed face first as my momentum led me through her. Standing up, I turned to face her again as I asked, “Where am I?”

“The Morphing Grid; very few Rangers are aware of its full potential. Zordon was one of them. Tommy is another, but he doesn’t realize he did what Zordon did when the original Power Coins were created. Not completely at any rate.” Mom shook her head. “I wasn’t until after my death; that isn’t how I wanted you to become a Power Ranger. I was going to sit down with you on your birthday last week and explain everything. Aisha was going to bring over our old morpher to see if you could use it. I know the answer now; not even David will be able to use it now that you have. Every Ranger, when they access their powers for the first time, are permanently linked here. Their accumulated knowledge aids future Rangers if they don’t have the initial skills necessary to fight their opponents. Most are only consciously aware of the Grid when their powers are active. Tommy, for some odd reason, is semi-aware. He would not have been able to find the Dino Gems if he wasn’t.”

I scoffed. “Dad is going to freak; he didn’t want me to get involved in this.” I motioned to the room, my meaning clear. “He demanded I hand over the morpher when he found out I had it. I refused; it’s one of a few things I have of you.” Mom looked furious at that.

“He had no right; that morpher is your and David’s birthright and inheritance. You’re not the first Legacy to take up the mantle of a Power Ranger and I doubt that you’ll be the last either.” She appeared to take a deep breath before continuing. “I’m going to warn you now; you won’t be able to use your current coin forever. You have a year, at best, before your link to the Grid gives you powers and a color of your own. There may be times that you are forced to draw on the Grid for a boost. Doing so, however, shortens the time you have available to use the powers. I just hope your link to the Grid stays active at that point.”

“Do it sparingly, got it.”

“I didn’t say that, Abigail. Just be aware that you may need to do so. You need to tell Tommy, though and tell him soon.”

“What! I can’t tell Dr. Oliver. He’ll send me back to Dad!”

Mom’s face grew dark. “What your Dad did is wrong, Abigail. Tommy won’t send you back; he’s not one to turn away from someone who needs his help. This is even if he’s friends with the person that hurt whoever asks him for help. Ask Trent about his dad and Tommy sometime.”

I still shook my head. “I’m not ready for that yet, Mom. I…can’t.”

“If you don’t tell him soon, the day will come when you have no choice but to let him know. We don’t have much time left right now and there’s much I have to tell you. What you need to do now, though, is help Tommy and the others re-link the Dino Gems to the Morphing Grid. You got lucky today with Scorpina and Rito. You can’t fight them alone; with all but Tommy of the original team in Angel Grove, you’ll need all the help you can get.”

Dino Ranger Command Center; Reefside. POV: Tommy Oliver/3^rd person

Tommy was relieved when Katrina opened her eyes. “Katrina, are you okay?”

“Just dizzy. I’m not sure what caused me to faint.”

Tommy helped her get up and guided her back to her seat as Kira commented it was probably a lack of food.

“We didn’t exactly have a chance to eat lunch, Dr. O. The goon attack kind of threw lunch out of the window.”

He shook his head at that and looked at Conner. “I don’t think you seeing her eyes flash was a trick of the light.” At our reaction, he elaborated. “Katrina, when you fainted, your whole body was surrounded by color.” It had been yellow and purple both, but he wasn’t about to tell her that, given that she panicked a bit.

“What’s going on with me? Did those goons do something when they attacked?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time civilians have been affected by something during an attack; probably won’t be the last either.” Tommy looked at the others; he didn’t even have to say anything as Hayley began to work her computer magic to analyze the last several minutes. She called them over not long after that and he aided Katrina over to the computer that was his way to monitor the Morphing Grid.

“No alien attack, Tommy. Whatever it was relates to the Morphing Grid. She’s not showing that she’s got a connection like you guys have, but she did for a brief time. The readings we just got don’t entirely match the readings from the mall, otherwise I’d think she was the Ranger who’d shown up today.”

He considered that for quite a while. “Anything else?”

“I’ve got something.” Ethan was over running scans of the Dino Gems. “Whatever happened with her also caused the Dino Gems to show a low link instead of being pretty rocks.”

“That shouldn’t have happened, Ethan. Our simulations showed that there was no way that the gems could take being reestablished to the Morphing Grid.”

“Apparently, they could. Remember, one of our simulations showed that, if a link was able to be reestablished, there’s a good chance we could recharge them.”

Remembering what had happened with his Dinozord coin, Tommy cautioned, “Even if we’re able to recharge them, we can’t count on the charges lasting.”

“Speaking from experience, Dr. O?” Conner asked.

“From my early days; it’s a long story. Long enough that even the short version’s long. Suffice to say that Zordon had to create a whole new coin for me to use after I could no longer act as the Green Ranger.” His answer got the team swearing and he didn’t blame them. “There’s the chance that our powers will go out mid-battle and when we need them most.”

He noticed Katrina get up from where she was sitting, but she didn’t appear to be in complete control of her actions. Her brown eyes were glowing in varying colors as she approached the gems, not settling on one color. He and the others tried stopping her, but were bounced off by some form of force field. The glow started flowing from her eyes to covering her whole body and started reaching out to the gems through her left hand. The glow grew in intensity before flashing out, returning Katrina and the gems to normal.

She started apologizing as he helped her stay up. From what she was saying, Tommy was able to make out that she had no clue what was going on. He was getting worried; this was the third such incident in the last hour if you counted Conner catching her eyes flashing. He’d never heard of the Morphing Grid acting like this and honestly worried about her. Hayley was one of the rare ones who could access the Grid without previously being a Power Ranger. Even then, her access was primarily via the computers that they used to monitor for attacks.

“Tommy, do you have any idea what’s causing this?” He could only shake his head.

“Hayley, most of my knowledge that hasn’t come from our research was learned in my early days as a Ranger. Zordon, who had been the one to pick the initial 5 Angel Grove Power Rangers, was the one to give me the initial information that you and I later used to create the computer system here. It’s based off of the one in his Command Center. I learned a lot about it when I helped him create the White Tiger Power Coin.”

He was beginning to wonder about that time frame. Even after he’d given up his Turbo Powers and left Angel Grove, he’d still been able to sense the Morphing Grid. None of the others said that they could after giving up their powers, not even the Dino Rangers. He wished Zordon was still around; he’d be able to get some answers that way. Part of him wondered if there had been a permanent transfer of power when Zordon had to help him keep his Green Ranger powers charged. With Zordon dead and Dimitria off planet and out of contact, they had nobody to ask for help. He wished either one of them was around; even Dimitria would be able to answer his questions.

The good news to come out of what just happened was that they didn’t have to worry about the Dino Gems losing power. The Gems were permanently returned to full power and not a moment too soon, as the computer system picked up another attack, in one of Reefside’s parks. This time, it was Rito and he was alone except for some purple goons; he wondered where Scorpina was. Leaving Katrina in Hayley’s care, he and the others morphed and left to fight Rito and the goons with him.

Dino Ranger’s Command Center. POV: Abigail/Katrina 1^st person.

I looked up as Dr. Oliver and the others left. Returning the active morphing links to the gems had taken a lot out of me, as it was my first attempt at deliberately manipulating the Grid. Hayley and I were the only ones left in the Command Center and I could only watch in horror as Rito and his purple goons seemed to be gaining the upper hand over the Dino Rangers. I had to make a decision and make it fast.

“Hayley, how big of a secret can you keep?”

“If I can keep Tommy and the others’s Ranger identities secret, I can handle yours.”

“This one’s a doozy, though. My real name is Abigail Burton. You were right the other day; my birthday was last Saturday. Dr. Oliver can’t know yet; I want to tell him myself. I’ll tell you the full story at some point, I promise. I need you to distract him if or the others ask if I’m here.” I could see Hayley understand what I was saying as I mentally called for my morpher and the communicator; morphing into the Yellow Saber-tooth Tiger Ranger and teleported to the team. I didn’t hear Hayley say I was asking a lot out of her as I left, trusting her to keep my secret.

My arrival distracted Rito enough for the others to regroup.

“How nice of you to join the party. I was wondering if you’d show up again, Yellow Ranger.”

“You that desperate for a rematch?” I challenged back, trying to push what buttons I could. “You couldn’t even take on two teenagers at the mall earlier while I dealt with your boss.”

“Scorpina, my boss?” Rito started laughing as we fought. “You have no idea who’s in charge this time and it’s nice to have one over the Power Rangers.” That distracted me enough for him to get a direct hit and I landed hard in the grass. Accepting an assist up from Ethan, it took me several seconds to recover. The other Rangers and I shared a look.

“If she’s not your boss, who is?” That came from Tommy; Rito only laughed harder before vanishing; the goons having been defeated, leaving only purple gunk behind. “That’s helpful. We need to regroup; find out what he’s up to.” Turning to me, he asked if I was joining him.

I shook my head. “While you’re tracking him in your command center, I’ll be better off trying to find Scorpina.” With that, I vanished, willing myself to the Dino Command Center before demorphing. I had just enough time to finish answering Hayley’s questions when Dr. Oliver and the others arrived. She and I managed to make it appear as if I’d been arguing with her about wanting to go and help. Hayley didn’t like keeping this huge of a secret from her friend, but recognized that it was my secret to share. She wasn’t stupid either; between the details she already knew and what I told her, she agreed telling Dr. Oliver might not work well.

I had also sent the morpher and communicator back to my room; manipulating the Grid got easier with each use. Dr. Oliver and Ethan were tracking Rito and the purple goons, but they also seemed to be tracking something else; me probably. Hayley was analyzing the purple goop left behind by the goons at Rito’s side. Conner, Kira, Trent, and I were evenly split between helping Hayley and watching Ethan and Dr. Oliver.

“I don’t get it. How can she vanish off the face of the Earth a second time?” Dr. Oliver was genuinely puzzled and concerned.

“Is the Morphing Grid even capable of hiding the Power Rangers?” Ethan asked, which was a good question.

“Not without outside help,” came Dr. Oliver’s reply. “It wasn’t unusual for Rita or Lord Zed to hide us from Zordon’s Command Center and the other Power Rangers. It never lasted long, though.”

“If that’s the case, we can’t discount the fact that this might not be your friend’s daughter. It wouldn’t also be the first time we’d faced off against evil Power Rangers pretending to be our allies,” Conner replied, arms across his chest.

Dr. Oliver looked heartbroken at that; I felt bad for lying to him. “I know you guys will figure out the answer sooner or later. If this Yellow Ranger is truly an enemy in disguise, it won’t be long before her true colors show.”

Dr. Oliver looked up at me. “How are you feeling, Katrina?”

“Better. Still no clue what happened earlier.”

“I wasn’t able to figure it out either, Tommy. Of course, she and I spent more time arguing then we did figuring it out.” I gulped as Dr. Oliver turned his gaze to me.

“I know you want to help, Katrina. You saw how dangerous it was for us out there against Rito and the goons. If the Yellow Ranger hadn’t shown up, it wouldn’t have ended well for us. That being said, I’m not going to forbid you directly. I agreed to let you take martial arts lessons for more then just the fact that you asked. We’ll figure something out, even if it’s just helping Hayley here.”

“I can’t always make it here from CyberSpace, Katrina. If you’re here, you can buy the others time for me to get here to help. Two sets of eyes are better than one.”

I nodded; what they said made sense, even if the Rangers didn’t know I’d been their backup twice now. “I can agree to that; with what happened earlier, there’s a good chance I’ll be a liability anyway until we get an answer.”

With that, our discussion ended. Dr. Oliver set the computer to auto track what they were looking for and send the alerts to someone if none of us were in Dino Command at the time. Hayley’s tests were going to take a while and could be automated. She had to head back to the Cyber Café; Trent and Conner went with her. Ethan, Kira and I ended up going upstairs to set up iTunes and my iPod, Dr. Oliver not far behind us. He was still troubled by my appearances as the Yellow Ranger and my red herring of being a distraction by whoever Scorpina and Rito’s boss was.

Kira and Ethan were still hotly debating who the Yellow Ranger was as we headed back down to the first floor with my laptop, iPod and CDs. Ethan was firmly on the side of the Yellow Ranger being a legacy of one of the original Rangers while Kira was running with my suggestion of the Yellow Ranger being an ally of Scorpina and Rito’s boss that they didn’t know about. I was staying out of it, but both teens were trying to convince me of their own opinions.

“Enough, you two!” Came Dr. Oliver’s sharp reprimand. We all quit the debate, as we could tell it was upsetting him. “This argument solves nothing. We won’t know if she’s friend or foe until we get a chance to talk to her and convince her to demorph in front of us.”

“Sorry, Dr. O.” we chorused.

“Trini meant something to you, didn’t she?” Kira might not have Hayley’s perceptiveness, but she’d known Dr. Oliver long enough, both as a teacher and a teammate, to tell when something was seriously bothering him.

“She was one of my earliest friends when I moved to Angel Grove. I keep kicking myself for not being there for Ernie and their children when she died.” Dr. Oliver closed his eyes, crying silently. “She was on her way to pick up their son from preschool when it happened. Abigail was in the backseat when the accident happened; she was the only survivor of the crash. Ernie didn’t take the loss well at all; I’m seriously thinking he’s a big reason why Abigail ran away.”

“Do you have a photo of her?” Ethan asked.

“Yes; it arrived in the mail yesterday. I’ve not looked at it yet.” I was starting to get worried, but failed to realize just how much change Dad’s abuse had affected how I looked when he opened the envelope. Add to that, I was dolled up in the photo Aunt Kimberly had sent; it had been taken for a competition last fall. Makeup makes one look much older as well, so the photo didn’t do him much good when he compared it to my face. He looked even more heartbroken as Kira, Ethan, and I gave him a huge group hug.

“She’ll be found, Dr. Oliver, don’t worry.”

“I seriously hope so, Katrina, I seriously do.”

“Is there anything we can do to help, Dr. O.?”

“Let’s wait until I hear from Jason or Rocky. They’re still searching Angel Grove for her; they think she may be hiding in town. They’ve not got the resources to search outside the city limits, even with all the residents helping.”

“For everyone’s sake, I hope they find her soon.” Ethan soon echoed Kira’s sentiments, with none of us having let go of Dr. Oliver. We soon let go as Dr. Oliver was going to be cooking for us; Ethan and Kira had gotten permission from their parents to stay because they were helping me out; the monster attack hadn’t helped matters, but Ethan and Kira had calmed their worries.

I had initially been surprised at how easily their parents agreed. I soon found myself bouncing back and forth between the two as they alternated answering.

“For one, we’re both 18, Katrina. Asking permission was just a formality.”

“Two: Dr. Oliver’s chaperoning. They trust him.”

“Three, our parents know that we’re safest here, outside of town, just in case of another monster attack. We’re both glad that they don’t know we were in the thick of things, except for the mall attack.”

“Four, it’s you. They know you need some friends.”

They continued back and forth as we got everything going, getting me to laugh. Even Dr. Oliver started laughing at their antics. By the time dinner was ready, we’d gotten my iPod set up and music installed on it. After dinner, they headed back home, leaving Dr. Oliver and I alone with each other, each sitting on chairs in the den.

“I’m sorry about earlier, Katrina. When Kira called me to let Conner, Trent, and I about the monster attack, I panicked. Seeing what appeared to be an old friend threw me for a loop on top of that. I was glad when I saw that you’d been hiding. I know you grew up in Angel Grove, but seeing a monster attack in person and learning about it in school are two completely different things.”

“I recognize that, Dr. Oliver. Thank you for not shutting me out of helping completely. Until we figure out what happened this afternoon, I know I won’t be much use out helping you guys fight. Even before this afternoon, what I said at the mall still stands. It hurt not being able to go and help, but Kira, Ethan, and whoever the Yellow Ranger is seemed to have it handled.” I had scooted over to the end of the couch closest to Dr. Oliver’s chair and grabbed one of his hands. He smiled as he gave it a squeeze.

Dr. Oliver went quiet after that and I didn’t know what else to say. I had another martial arts lesson tomorrow afternoon and couldn’t wait. From what Conner said this afternoon, soccer camp would primarily be in the mornings. I could attend afternoon sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We would be competing against other youth soccer teams as part of the camp, but Conner didn’t have which teams and when finalized yet. There were a couple teams that hadn’t gotten back to him yet.

“With this afternoon’s attack, setting up a practice schedule for you becomes more important. Even though I’ve shown you Command Central, I still don’t want you going in without one of us unless there’s no other option. The area of the basement that I have my practice area in is shielded from what’s in the rest of the room, as is the rest of the house. I can’t rule out the fact that you were in there and a possible Ranger legacy being the cause of what happened. On top of that, the Grid itself may recognize that you’re possible Ranger material and was trying to create its own link to you.”

“You speak as if it’s alive, Dr. O.”

“Zordon certainly spoke as if it had some form of awareness. He told me enough during my Ranger days to create the link I did when I was at MIT with Hayley. I still can’t explain how I knew the Dino Gems would work besides a gut feeling.”

“You didn’t try them out?” Now I was curious; even I’d planned to try the morpher out first under controlled conditions if today’s events hadn’t forced my hand.

Dr. Oliver just shook his head. “When I first became part of the original team, I was told that I shouldn’t use my powers for personal gain. It’s a rule I’ve followed my entire Ranger career. It didn’t seem right to test the gems out with no monster or villain to fight.”

I understood completely. “As scared as you were when the mall was under attack when I was there, it was scary seeing you go out and fight after your powers were returned. It’s why I was arguing with Haley to go out and help. I feel safe here with you and that was before the monster attack. I can’t guarantee that any future guardian will be the same way. I don’t want to lose you.” I wasn’t expecting him to pull me into his arms with a strong hug and comforting my fears. We ended up staying that way for the rest of the evening, before we both got tired enough to head to our own beds.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside, Friday. POV: Tommy Oliver/3^rd person

Tommy woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, breathing heavily. He’d had Ranger-related dreams before when he’d been the Green Ranger, but this was a weird one. He was hoping that it had simply been caused by seeing the Yellow Ranger uniform from his original team and not an actual Ranger dream, but his connection to the Grid was saying differently.

In it, Trini had appeared in front of him, as she’d appeared during their Ranger days. She’d confirmed that it had been Abigail using her Power Coin, but wouldn’t confirm where she was, even when he pushed her to. She only asked him to mentor and protect her daughter.

“Trini, I can’t do that if I don’t know where she is! When she came to bail us out during Rito’s attack, she left before we could bring her back to Triceramax Command.”

Trini only shook her head. “I can’t reveal her location to you, Tommy, as much as I want to. The Grid itself is protecting her; it won’t let me say where she is. All I can say is this past day’s events, including what happened to your foster daughter, are all connected.” She grabbed his arm, imploring him again to protect and mentor Abigail.

“What happened to cause her to vanish, Trini? Jason said Ernie doesn’t remember anything; he’d had a black-out due to drinking.”

Trini closed her eyes in pain. “He was already upset about Aisha giving Abigail my old morpher and communicator; I’m afraid between that and his drinking, he just lost it. Abigail was lucky David had taught her to protect herself. I’m afraid that he’d been unaware of the morpher gift, his actions last Friday night could very well have been abuse of a different nature. I can’t say for certain, though.”

Tommy could only shake his head. He was having a tough time accepting Ernie being able and willing to abuse his own daughter. “There’s no way. Ernie wouldn’t…”

“He did, Tommy. I wouldn’t lie to you when I was alive; I can’t lie to you now. He was headed down a dark path, but he’s getting help. Abigail won’t be ready to interact with him for quite a while; she’s better off here in Reefside.” Before he could get any more answers, the dream was forcibly ended, waking him up.

Closing his eyes to settle his stomach, he took several deep breaths. The sound of throwing up from the guest bathroom caused him to dart out. Turning on the light, he realized it was Katrina, bent over the toilet.

“Katrina, are you alright?” He knelt beside her, holding her hair back as she emptied her stomach. He rubbed her back with his free hand, hoping that he was helping.

“Bad dream, that’s all. Not a nightmare exactly, just a rough one. I felt weird after, like I had when we were in the basement earlier. Trying to stand up to come and get you got me nauseous.”

“I’ve had dreams like that before. Not fun at all.” Tommy wet a washcloth and helped her clean up. After making sure could stand on her own, he helped her return to bed. “You want me to stay again?”

She shook her head. “I’m fine, Dr. O.; I doubt that I’ll have any more nightmares or weird dreams tonight. Thanks though.”

He stayed by her side until he was sure she was fast asleep. He had no doubt that their two dreams were connected; he’d not been lying when he’d said that some of his Ranger dreams had caused him to throw up. His dream with Trini had almost been one of those had he not been able to calm himself. Going back to his own bed, he fell into a deep sleep, not having any other odd dreams.

He didn’t wake up until late in the morning, which was a rarity for him. All he could figure was that between regaining his Dino Powers and the dream, his body needed the sleep to adjust to the changes. He’d slept deeply after losing them just before the prom back in May; their return meant the same thing. He wasn’t used to rising late; he was an early riser by both nature and habit. After getting dressed, he wasn’t entirely unsurprised to see Katrina rising late as well.

“Sleep well after you went back to bed?” He was genuinely concerned; she’d not been here a week and it had been rather eventful.

“Better. Thanks for staying with me as I fell asleep. No more weird dreams after.”

“That’s good. It wasn’t an issue, Katrina. I’m glad I was able to help.” He was happy to see her smile, he was worried after the past couple of days she’d had. “Aside from the monster attack, did you have fun with Kira and Ethan?”

“Sure did; meant to show you the music I got. I’ll grab my iPod after breakfast; I don’t think you’d want me to forget to eat because of it.”

“You’re right, I wouldn’t. Especially with another lesson at the dojo this afternoon. If you want, you can go to the Cyber Café after, seeing as you didn’t get to go yesterday due to everything that happened.”

“I’d love to. Thanks, Dr. O.” Tommy didn’t think her smile could get any bigger, but it did with that. He was glad that she was bouncing back from everything that happened. Seeing that she was finished eating, he nodded to let her know that she was free to go get her iPod. She was up and back down before he could tell her to not run in the house. Looking at her music selection, he could see both Ethan and Kira’s influences.

“Let me guess…Ethan’s the one who suggested Freestyle Love Supreme?” Tommy was more amused than anything else; Ethan had some varied interests and he knew that the Blue Dino Ranger had planned to introduce her to some of them at Hayley’s Café yesterday.

“They’re not bad; I listened to the album before heading to bed. I can see why Ethan likes them. Kira’s suggestions are pretty good too.”

Given that they wouldn’t have time to eat much but smoothies or protein shakes before the lesson at the dojo, he’d made a pretty hearty breakfast. They wouldn’t have time to practice before heading to the dojo, so he let her grab one of her sketchbooks. He had noticed she tended to lose herself in her drawing; Trent was the same way occasionally. They all had things that they got so absorbed in that they forgot the world around them existed.

Watching over her shoulder, he started to frown. He didn’t think she’d include what she was drawing if she realized that he was watching. He recognized Trini’s original Zord and his White Tiger, but the black markings on it were instead green and gold. They looked like they were protecting something, but the details were non-specific. He knew that their zords had been public knowledge, but he wondered why the stripes on his old one were green and gold, instead of standard black.

He quietly slipped away, leaving her to her drawing. If opening the basement door wouldn’t catch her attention, he would have gone downstairs for a quick practice himself. As it was, he ducked into his office. Looking at the photo of Abigail Kimberly had sent him, he glanced back over at the teen currently in the den. He’d have to have Rocky or Lt. Stone bring up Abigail’s missing poster; this photo didn’t help. Abigail was too dolled up in her official competition photo to do him any good. The two girls shared some similarities, but not enough to say that they were the same girl.

Taking a look at his watch, he realized that they’d have to leave pretty soon to get to the dojo early enough to warm up. He had to call her name several times to get her attention, but she hurried to grab everything she needed and they headed out soon after.

Putting all thoughts of Abigail out of his mind, he focused on teaching the various katas and moves that the students needed to know. Like many classes at the dojo, there were students at varying points in their level of learning in same belt class. It had been how he’d learned growing up and he’d found it easy to teach the same way.

Dropping her off at the Cyber Café, he was about to leave, but decided to stay behind and talk with Hayley after putting the Jeep in park.

Nodding in Katrina’s direction, she asked, “How’s she doing after yesterday?”

“Not bad. Threw up after a weird dream, but otherwise fine.” Dropping his voice as to not be overheard, he continued. “I had a weird one last night too. In it, Trini asked me to protect her daughter. She said she couldn’t tell me Abigail’s location, but was able to confirm that it was her daughter who helped out yesterday.” Hayley only sighed at that and looked in Katrina’s direction. “What, Hayley?”

“I can’t tell you much either, Tommy. All I can say is she’s fine. She appeared in our command area first, before joining you, completely in morph. She said she wanted to make sure Katrina was okay, but Katrina didn’t notice Abigail’s arrival or leaving; she was too busy watching the screen in fear.”

Hayley’s news worried Tommy. “How could she find our Command Center?”

“Conner, Kira, and Ethen did; there must be something with either the Grid itself or her coin…or both.”

Tommy just shook his head; he was beginning to think that the Morphing Grid was more aware than even Zordon thought. It was no coincidence that the three teens had found the Dino Gems last fall; Ethan said that they’d fallen through sinkholes. Tommy had later gone to look where they’d come through; there should be no way that they could have fallen through. When he and Hayley had built the command area for him to put his research, he’d made sure that the ceilings, even to the entryways, had been reinforced.

Hearing her laugh, he looked over to the alcove where she was hanging out with Kira, Conner, and Ethan. From the looks of things, the group was debating the various merits of various bands. Conner seemed to want to put his input into band and music recommendations, whereas Kira and Ethan were saying why they were a bad idea.

“She’s fitting in well,” Hayley observed.

“That’s because they’re a good group of kids. I’m glad she’s doing better. Remember how she was when she first came in here? Now look at her; you’d never think that she was a scared 14-year-old earlier in the week. She still panics, but Rocky’s coming tomorrow for her next session. The only issue I see is Lt. Stone, one of Angel Grove’s police detectives, is coming to interview her because her abuse seemingly took place there. I’d hoped that I’d have more time for her to trust any of us with the information. When I told her about the lieutenant coming, she broke down crying, in a panic. It ended up triggering nightmares.”

Ethan jogged over at that point, but it was more to grab one of his friends, a young man getting ready to enter Reefside High alongside Katrina. “Hey, Dr. O, Hayley. Just came over to grab Patton; Kira and I need some backup. Conner’s trying to convince Katrina that there’s no way hip-hop can carry a Broadway musical. Freestyle Love Supreme’s success says differently.”

Tommy smiled. “Freestyle Love Supreme is a music group, Ethan, not a Broadway musical.”

“They perform on Broadway, Dr. Oliver! That counts,” Patton replied, passion evident.

“I’ll take your word for it, Patton.” Tommy was smiling; Katrina would have a friend to start the school year with.

“Patton, like Ethan and the others, is a good kid. He just moved here with his parents from the East Coast. Despite his musical tastes, he shares Ethan’s love for computers and they have similar levels of skill. If Ethan needs to leave Reefside, Patton could easily step up in his place.”

“That’s good to know, Hayley. I trust your judgement on that, but hope it won’t be needed. Trent, on the other hand…”

“I know, art school. We have a couple months to figure something out. The only issue is trying to find someone who can handle the responsibility.”

It was soon time to head home as Hayley was closing. They’d been lucky today with no new attacks, but they also couldn’t afford to drop their guards either. While Hayley kept a mini version of the grid computer at the Café, she often got busy enough to not be able to check it. Even with Trent’s help, it wasn’t easy and he’d be leaving in the fall.

Katrina was giggling as she left, though. “You have any idea how many people think you and Hayley are dating?” Tommy almost walked into a streetlamp at the question.

“She’s practically a sister to me!” Tommy would deny to his dying day that he’d squawked.

“Hayley said something similar when she heard the conversation.”

Tommy could only shake his head as they got into his Jeep. “I’ve got Kat, but most of my students don’t know she and I are dating, or that I’ve got a girlfriend. Not even Conner and the others. Hayley and now you are the only two who know in Reefside.”

“My lips are sealed. I can’t wait to meet her. She must be wonderful if she makes you happy.”

“She’s going to come up as soon as she has some free time. She can’t wait to meet you either.”

Saturday: Reefside. POV: Abigail/Katrina 1^st person.

For the second night in a row, my dreams were getting weirder after the talk with Mom in the Morphing Grid. I’d woken up more then once with my morpher in my hand after the dreams. It was the only reason I’d not wanted Dr. Oliver to stay with me overnight; I just wasn’t ready to tell him. After the third such time, I just put the morpher under the pillows, replacing it in the drawer only when I got dressed for the day.

It wasn’t just the fact that I kept showing back up in the Grid, but I was finding myself with the animal versions of the Zords that had previously appeared in my dreams. I was starting to miss the nightmares; I at least knew where I stood with those. It had been a week since I’d arrived in Reefside and Lt. Stone’s visit was worrying me. I’d finally broke down and called Rocky yesterday and he was able to reassure me. Dr. Oliver had done the same thing over the week; I felt better just knowing that they’d be there.

Quickly dressing in my Gi, I joined Dr. Oliver as he helped me set up a simple exercise routine. It wasn’t just practicing my martial arts skills, but also how to use the various exercise machines he had in the ‘public’ area of the basement. I was quickly finding martial arts wasn’t just about developing the body, but also the mind. Dr. Oliver had taught me various meditation techniques after breakfast; I was finding it easy to concentrate on his voice.

It was getting time for Rocky and Lt. Stone to get here. They were arriving early so that the lieutenant could interview me before my counseling session. I knew that I’d have to give him something to get him off my back; this was despite Rocky telling me that he knew it was too soon. I wanted to run, if I had to be honest, but I was beginning to realize that running this time wouldn’t help. I couldn’t leave Reefside behind when Rito, Scorpina, and their mystery boss was attacking. Most importantly, I knew Dr. Oliver and the others would feel betrayed and hurt by me running. Running wouldn’t protect me again; I needed to trust in Dr. Oliver, Rocky, and the others to keep me safe.

“You okay, Katrina?” Dr. Oliver asked, concerned.

“I’m scared, Dr. O. My first instinct was to run; that won’t help me now.” I was starting to panic again and I could feel the Grid reacting to my fear.

“It’s going to be okay; I appreciate the fact that you’re trusting Rocky and I right now. I know trusting someone isn’t easy right now.” He was right; it wasn’t, but he had proven that he could be trusted. I had learned to trust in him as Mom had and did. Part of me still worried that my trust in him wasn’t going to be misplaced, but I had to have faith in him.

One of my dreams last night had been a continuation of our conversation Thursday. In it, she’d once again implored me to trust Dr. Oliver with my secret.

“Mom, with Lt. Stone arriving today, there’s no way I can tell him. Not without being yanked out of Reefside faster than I can blink. Aside from the fact that Dr. Oliver will be hurt, I have a responsibility here. I can’t leave the Dino Rangers to fight Scorpina and Rito alone.”

“You underestimate the influence both Tommy and Rocky have. Rocky’s already figured out who you are, but he’s not going to say anything. He gave Lt. Stone a doctored file, with nothing to connect you and your alias. Even though his knowledge of your true identity can’t technically be covered under doctor/patient confidentiality due to your status as a runaway, he knows that revealing your identity will do you no good. Ernie might be getting help, but healing for both of you can only happen with the present arraignment.”

Changing the subject, I wondered out loud what was going on with me after my first morph. “Mom, it’s seriously scaring me. I’m worried that another flare up will happen at the wrong time.”

“You’ll be fine, Abigail. With me having been a Power Ranger and Ernie being who he is, you’ve gained a deeper connection to the Grid than most Rangers have. Right now, your link is such that if you were to lose your powers, you’d be like most former Rangers. Last long enough to gain your own color and you’ll never lose your awareness to the Grid, even if you leave being a Power Ranger behind.”

“That’s useful, but what do you mean about Dad being who he is?” I put aside what she told me for now in favor of her comment about Dad.

“If Rita had attacked where he had been a teenager, and in New York City, he would have been chosen by Zordon.”

“I see.” I didn’t, really. Dad was many things, but I couldn’t picture him in a Ranger suit.

“Your experiences are valid, Abigail. Ernie’s changed since my death; I assure you Zordon would have chosen him as a Power Ranger if he’d been available to be one. Going back to your worries, the Grid reacts to your feelings. You remember Star Wars? Think of your connection to the Morphing Grid as the Force that the Jedi use. More often than not, its reactions to your emotions won’t be noticeable to anyone who doesn’t have an active link to the Grid. Tommy will notice, but he doesn’t completely realize his connection to the Grid goes deeper than it is.”

When I woke up from the dream, I didn’t feel as nauseous as I’d been the night before, where I’d thrown up. I resolved to figure out how to enter the Grid state voluntarily, instead of entering it without choice as I did in REM sleep. Mom was right; I needed to figure out how to last long enough to not lose my awareness of the Morphing Grid. If I couldn’t figure it out, I’d have to ask Dr. Oliver for help. From what Mom said, he’d probably have a few ideas, even if his knowledge of his own awareness was limited. For now, I had to focus on getting through the interview with Lt. Stone.

When he and Rocky arrived, we ended up going to the backyard. Dr. Oliver lived just far enough out of the Reefside city limits that we didn’t have to worry about neighbors overhearing any details. The interview was happening here as a favor to Dr. Oliver instead of at the Reefside police station. Neither Dr. Oliver nor Lt. Stone would go into too many details, but it was enough to help me feel comfortable. Rocky’s presence here helped me to feel better as well; my conversation with Mom furthered my trust in him. If he hadn’t given up my secret yet, I don’t think he would. I knew from what Jason said, they took their duties as Rangers seriously even though they no longer had their powers. Rangers did their best to never knowingly and willingly hurt someone that needed their help and protection.

After confirming a few things, Lt. Stone started asking me some serious questions.

“Miss Jones, I know this is difficult subject for you. It’s not easy for me either; I don’t like having to deal with abuse cases. As hard as it is for me to see innocents abused and hurt by those who are supposed to help and protect them, I know it’s even harder for the victims. Dr. DeSantos has filled me in on the particulars of your case. I can say that, even if your father falls into the rare case of needing help instead of jail time, removing you from Dr. Oliver’s care isn’t going to be in your best interests. You’re clearly thriving here.”

“Even if Father is one of Angel Grove’s outstanding citizens like Ernie Burton?” I shot back. Behind me, Dr. Oliver nearly chocked on the water he was drinking. Lt. Stone wasn’t much better.

“Even if, Miss Jones. In Ernie’s case, I would definitely recommend therapy first and have told him as much.”

From behind me, Rocky spoke up. “Ernie’s already started seeing me as a patient. I can’t say much, for obvious reasons.”

Tommy and I both looked at Rocky in shock, for different reasons. In my case, I’d never thought Dad would willingly seek help. I guess that my running away provided a wake-up call for him.

Turning back to Lt. Stone, I continued, shaking my head, “I’m still not comfortable with revealing his identity at this time. Father’s got enough connections to get out of any charges and to regain custody of me, no matter what you do.” Lt. Stone kept pressing me, but his actions only started to get me to panic again, which I couldn’t afford to do.

“Lieutenant, she’s not going to answer. I warned you about this before leaving Angel Grove; it’s too soon.” Rocky had moved to block the lieutenant from my vision as Dr. Oliver helped me calm down.

“That you did, Dr. DeSantos, that you did.” Lt. Stone closed his notebook. “I’ve got enough to second your recommendations, though. My notes on her file will be enough to make it harder for her abuser to regain custody, even if he manages to wriggle out of charges. Once I get back to Angel Grove, I’m going to require that, even if he’s found innocent, that he enters therapy and not gain even partial custody until his therapist thinks that he and Katrina both are ready for that step. I’m planning on recommending that you be the therapist, with your agreement.”

Turning to me, he let me know that the interview was over for the time being. I simply nodded, unwilling to trust my voice.

“I’ll call you when she’s ready to continue, Lt. Stone,” Dr. Oliver spoke from by my side, still holding me in his arms. I could feel the Grid almost humming around me, mixing with his Ranger signal as he protected me. The white tiger that appeared in my dreams had the same feel to it; but I was still too panicked and upset to make the connection. I felt safe here, in his arms, safer than I’d felt in Angel Grove. He radiated safety and calm through the Grid, helping me calm down. By the time I felt calm enough to let go, Lt. Stone had left, heading back to Angel Grove with his notes.

Sitting back down, I was unsurprised when Dr. Oliver placed a hand on my back. I made no move to push it away, drawing comfort from it. Rocky helped me through the issues that had flared up during Lt. Stone’s interview and I was able to recenter myself soon enough, noting the Grid settle down at the same time. Apparently, part of what caused the Grid to react was the ‘fight or flight response’; this must have been what Mom had talking about when she said it reacted to my emotions.

As soon as we’d moved away from the harder topics, Rocky asked about how my week had been. I started talking about the martial arts lessons and hanging out at the café with the Dino Rangers. I told him about the attack at the mall, but made no mention of using the original Yellow Power Coin. Dr. Oliver filled Rocky in on me now knowing about the Dino Rangers and the mystery surrounding the Grid’s actions two days ago.

“You’ll figure it out, Tommy. Can I talk to Katrina alone real quick as I head back to my car?” Looking at me to confirm I’d be fine, I simply nodded.

“I’ll be fine, Dr. O. Thanks for the support earlier.” With that, he and I walked to his car after the two friends said goodbye. As soon as we got out of earshot, he asked me what was going on. “Do you expect me to stand by and allow those two goons to attack innocents?” I hissed. Rocky just pinched his nose.

“Tommy doesn’t know, does he?” When I shook my head no, he just got frustrated. “I should tell him, Katrina…or should I say Abigail?”

“Don’t. I know I’ve had a rough couple of weeks, but I’m not going to stand idly by when innocents need my help. I promise that I’ll tell him eventually.”

“See that you do, Katrina. He’s going to feel hurt that you didn’t trust him with this,” he cautioned as he got into his car. After I agreed and said goodbye, he closed his door and drove off, heading back to Angel Grove.

I jogged back to the house, where Dr. Oliver was waiting for me at the door. He’d been keeping an eye from there; I was just hoping he didn’t know how to read lips or that he’d overheard our conversation.

“What did he want to say?”

“Just making sure that I was fine. He also filled me in on Ernie’s daughter being missing; asking if I’d seen her on my way to Reefside. I’d told him I’d not and hope that she’s found. She’s a levelheaded girl, from what I’ve heard. She wouldn’t run away simply because of an argument with her dad or brother.”

“She’s here, Katrina. Rocky reminded me that Aisha, who was Trini’s successor as the Yellow Ranger, returned the original coin, morpher, and communicator to her. That was who aided us Thursday afternoon against Rito and Scorpina.”

“That’s good to hear. I don’t like the idea of there being an evil Yellow Ranger.”

“Neither do I, it’s an insult to Trini’s memory and all that we Rangers hold dear.” Dr. Oliver looked troubled as I felt and the Grid thrummed in my consciousness with agreement.

It was also pushing me to confess everything. Not yet, I sent back. It’s not a good time. With that, the push from the Grid receded, but I was still aware of it in the back of my mind. It was easy to ignore and Kira had confirmed yesterday that it was common for all of the Dino Rangers to be aware of their own powers.

Ethan’s friend Patton Plame had been a hoot when introduced and reminded me very much of his friend. If it weren’t for the age difference, I would have almost thought that they were twins. Of course, that hadn’t stopped Conner from teasing them about it. Patton had fit right in, teasing Conner right back about being a dumb jock. That teasing had devolved into a good-natured insult fest that Hayley had to break up due to it being closing time. It was part of why I’d still been giggly as we’d left and been unable to resist teasing Dr. Oliver a bit. His reaction to the conversation I’d overhead had been hilarious as heck and I knew he’d deny squawking like Conner had only last Saturday to my accusing him of being a Dino Ranger.

I still couldn’t believe that it had only been a week since I’d arrived in Reefside; it seemed like a lifetime ago with everything that had happened. I considered myself lucky that he’d even agreed to meet with me in the park last week. With every day that passed, Reefside was becoming home more and more and I was glad for it. I still felt like I was betraying my friends and family in Angel Grove by considering Dr. Oliver my new dad and the Dino Rangers friends. When I had said as much to Rocky, he’d said that was normal and that my family and friends in Angel Grove would understand. I wished I had his confidence and said as much.

“Katrina, when you’re ready to visit Angel Grove or have your friends and family from there visit here, I’m sure that they’ll understand,” Dr. Oliver said. “I have no doubt of that; I got to see that happen when Aisha’s best childhood friend was introduced to Kimberly during a gymnastics competition.” What he didn’t say, but Rocky did, was there was a bit of jealousy to start with, but that they’d bonded when Goldar had kidnapped them both. Dr. Oliver did say that he'd lost track of where Sasha went off to after that, not that he was ever close to her. Rocky added that knew that Aisha still kept in touch.

I felt oddly reassured by that, as Dr. Oliver and I prepared for a run around his property. He showed me several trails around the property and a hidden, secondary entrance to Dino Command. I found out that this entrance was close to Reefside’s paleontology museum and had been how Conner, Ethan, and Kira had found the Dino Gems during detention.

“I still don’t know just what caused the initial sinkhole to open up,” he explained.

“Maybe it was fate. Who knows, Dr. O? Whatever caused it, Reefside is much better off for them becoming the Dino Rangers.”

“That it is, Katrina.” Shaking his hand, he continued. “We were lucky Thursday; any idea why your actions recreated a permanent link to the Morphing Grid?”

I shook my head. “No, Dr. O; it was as if I was just a vessel for the Grid’s power. It was as if it wanted those links to be re-established and needed a human to link it. I don’t know why it was using me and not you, Hayley, or the others.”

“One of the many mysteries since you arrived in town,” he said as we took a break. “I still don’t know what prompted you to come here and not any of the other cities that have had Ranger teams.”

“I told you; you and Mom knew each other. Even if you can’t remember her, she always spoke highly of you. I wanted to start with one of her friends. If you hadn’t been able to help, I would have gone to Sensei Watanabe’s Ninja School next.” Dr. Oliver looked at me as we doubled back to the house.

“That would be a good spot to hide. Promise me something; if something happens to Hayley, myself, and the Dino Rangers, I want you to go there. Sensei Watanabe and his Ninja Rangers will be able to protect you from the Ranger adversaries.”

“Don’t talk like that, Dr. Oliver. I don’t want to even think about losing you right now. I know what you guys do is dangerous, but I’ve never heard of a Ranger dying in battle.”

“Just because it’s never happened doesn’t mean it won’t. Zordon was the first one of us to willingly sacrifice himself to end a battle and I doubt he’d be the last.”

“Zordon? I’ve heard you mention him before, who was he?”

“A wizard from the alien planet of Eltar who had once wielded the Red Ranger T-Rex powers; in a fight with Rita Repulsa, he was trapped in an interdimensional tube. He was able to confine Rita and her goons in a prison at the same time. When they were released from their prison, he chose 5 teenagers to fight her and her monsters, as he was unable to leave his tube to do so himself.”

I nodded; this filled in many blanks that hadn’t been covered by Jason, Aisha, and Aunt Kimberly. They must have assumed Dad had told me that much. When I was more comfortable entering the Grid during meditation, I’d have to search him out if his spirit had entered it at his death, like Mom’s had. He would be a font of knowledge regarding the grid and would probably be able answer the questions Dr. Oliver and I both had regarding the past few days.

I wasn’t about to go exploring right away, though; I wasn’t that stupid. Entering any new dimension without backup was something only done without choice or by someone too arrogant to willingly depend on others. I wanted to try a few things first before drawing even Dr. Oliver and the others into my idea.

The first step I had to make was to strengthen my access to the Morphing Grid and Power Coin. Now that I had memories of Dr. Oliver’s voice guiding me through the meditation exercises, I could use that to help enter a meditative state. I was going to wait until I was certain he’d fallen asleep tonight; it would be just my luck for him to enter when I was meditating and see the morpher in my hand.

Cassie had called not long after we returned to the house and I’d been distracted by her questions, though Dr. Oliver had been kind enough to give us some privacy. I ended up going to up to my room, though, as I really didn’t want him to hear some of her questions.

“So, I know Dr. Oliver is a great guy. Is he as awesome as a parent as he is a teacher?”

“Absolutely, Cassie.” I quieted for a second. “I know it’s going to sound weird, and I feel guilty about it, but he’s been a better dad to me than my father used to be.”

“Isn’t your father the one who abused you?”

“Yes, but he wasn’t always physically abusive. He started out as strict after Mom died; it’s only been recently that he turned physically violent. He did a lot of fun stuff with me when I was growing up; trips to Disneyland and things like that.”

“I can see why you feel guilty, Katrina. I would too in your situation.” Cassie flipped the conversation around a bit. “Dr. O’s as sweet as he is sexy.”

I started blushing at that. “Cassie! He’s my foster parent! I don’t want to think of him like that. Ew.”

Cassie just laughed. “Any news on his love life? I heard what Hayley said yesterday.”

“Nothing I can tell you. I doubt he’d date anyone who he would have taught. My parents might have had a 10-year age difference between the two of them, but I doubt Dr. Oliver wants that huge of a difference between him and any potential significant other.”

“True and I’m with Devin anyway. I do know that there were a few girls in his classes that would date him given half a chance. They’d be so disappointed if or when they find out that he’s dating.”

“They’ll have to live with the disappointment, Cass.” We both laughed at that and Cassie was kind enough to give me all the gossip I ever cared to know about Reefside High and then some. She ended up hanging up because she had to run down to her job at Channel 3; Mesogog’s final attack had all but guaranteed her continuing employment there. She was now the reporter for all things Power Ranger in Reefside and the surrounding areas.

She was still following up on leads from Thursday’s two attacks and I’d been fine with giving her the same story I’d given Dr. Oliver regarding the mall attack. What I didn’t tell her, besides my own identity, was the fact that my Mom had been the original wielder of those powers. All I told her was that particular Yellow Ranger was normally localized to Angel Grove, but hadn’t been seen in over a decade, not since before I was born.

“Any news on who she used to be?”

“No. Angel Grove, a number of years ago, passed laws that protect the former Rangers and those who know their identities. Even though there’s rumored to be an official ‘in-the-know’ list, the existence of that list is denied by anyone in Angel Grove government when asked. Their identities have been rumored about since their active days, including those who helped protect their civilian identities.”

“That’s still a lead.”

“You won’t be able to get many answers from Angel Grove right now; they’re searching for a missing girl. She’s been missing since last week and won’t have time to answer questions on the Power Rangers for a while.”

Cassie was nothing but persistent, though. I was able to convince her to wait a while before chasing down that lead, but also knew she was under pressure from her bosses at the station. I just hoped I’d bought enough time to hide. Even with Angel Grove’s search for me, the news would reach them eventually. Rocky had brought a copy of today’s Gazette; Thursday’s attack had barely been a blip on the radar with the news of my vanishing. This was even with my appearance in the original Yellow Ranger suit that was well known among Angel Grove residents.

I realized that my appearance as a Power Ranger would eventually become public knowledge, even in Angel Grove. I trusted Rocky would misdirect Dad when he finally heard the news; I had no other choice but to do so. Like we’d done many nights this past week, Dr. Oliver and I ended up talking over dinner.

“What did Cassie want?”

“Gossip, what else? Said she wanted to let me know what she’d learned before graduating to help me out.”

Dr. Oliver just laughed a bit and shook his head. “That doesn’t surprise me one bit. I swear, if she’d been any different, she would have gotten in trouble as a blackmailer. Her curiosity serves her well as a journalist.”

“Yea…she’s been appointed Channel 3’s official reporter for all things Power Rangers. She asked me a few questions about last Thursday’s attack, but promised to not use my name.”

“I’ll have to call Cassie later to help her cover her butt; she knows she’s not supposed to interview minors without parental approval. She gets ahead of herself sometimes and forgets herself,” he said as we headed down to Dino Command after we finished eating. Hayley had called when I was talking to Cassie to let him know that her scans of the goop were finished and Dr. Oliver promised to check on the results.

I wanted to go down as well, as I was curious about the results. Purple goop was a new one; there hadn’t been much information that had come from the Grid when I was morphed. What information that was there was scant; I couldn’t even communicate it to Dr. Oliver without letting him know I was the Yellow Ranger.

I did have an idea, but it would have to wait until he was asleep. I was going to have to get help from Mom or a deceased Ranger in the Grid after Dr. Oliver went to bed. If Mom can communicate with me via the Grid, despite her being dead on Earth, I could send what information she or it was able to give me to him in a dream sequence. This was hopefully without giving away my identity.

After checking on the Grid’s physical location, I walked over to where Dr. Oliver was looking at Hayley’s results.

“What’d she find, Dr. O?”

“Not much. Still have more questions than answers, though. I wish Zordon was alive, he’d be able to answer our questions.”

“Isn’t there anyone you can contact? Any assistants of his that he might have had, someone?”

“One or two, but I don’t even know if they’re on Earth anymore. It’s worth a shot, though. I’m going to contact Zordon’s old command center in Angel Grove. If someone’s there, they should be able to retrieve Zordon’s old files and compare the data with Hayley’s.”

With that, Dr. Oliver opened a channel to the Command Center. I didn’t even need the information streaming in from the Grid to know that it was Alpha 5 who answered. After getting a confirmation from Uncle Billy, he sent over an electronic record of Hayley’s results. Uncle Billy promised to look it over, but warned Dr. Oliver it might be a while.

“I’m also trying to track Abigail from the Command Center; we were able to confirm with David’s help that we can track descendants of former Rangers. We can barely track Zordon’s coins; the only ones that still have a signal in Angel Grove are Jason and Zack’s. I can only assume Trini’s has a connection. We’re having trouble locking on to her; if she’s in Reefside, we might not be able to. The Grid is in flux there right now, has been since the final battle between the Dino Rangers and Mesogog.”

“I can confirm she’s been through; we were attacked Thursday by Scorpina and Rito. The Dino Rangers were no more as we lost our powers destroying Mesogog; someone wearing the original Yellow Ranger outfit and using her powers was the only one to show up to help. The Dino Gems were reconnected to the Grid in time to drive Rito and some purple goons back in a second attack. What I just sent you was the results from the goo left behind at the destruction of the goons.”

“I have to go; I’ll keep you updated, Tommy.”

“Thanks for the help. I’ll talk to you soon, Billy.” Dr. Oliver cut the connection not long after; I didn’t need him to tell me to keep what I’d learned between us, Hayley, and the Dino Rangers. This might be important, but so was keeping our identities secret. We would have to tread carefully at this point.

“That was interesting…I take it Billy and Alpha 5 are friends of yours?” I was doing my best to play ignorant. Given I’d never heard of Alpha 5 before helped.

“Billy was the first Blue Ranger; I’d love for him to meet Ethan. They’re both computer geniuses; Alpha was Zordon’s android assistant. I thought he’d left Earth when Zordon did; he must have eventually made his way back to Earth at some point, especially after...I'll fill you in later on that, as it's not important right now. If he and Billy are working on searching for Abigail in Angel Grove via her genetic signature, they’re going to find her. The only way I can see them having a hard time is because she’s started using Trini’s coin.”

I must have looked puzzled at that, because he explained that anything used to morph into a Power Ranger changed the Ranger’s signature in the Grid slightly.

“Is he going to come here at some point?” I asked, now slightly worried. Dr. Oliver shook his head.

“I doubt it right now; he’s got a lot going on and Zordon’s Command Center has his records. Anyone they need to contact will be reaching to them there; not many of Earth’s Ranger teams know that this is here. Andros doesn’t and I don’t know if he’s still on planet or not, so we can assume our alien allies don’t know about Dino Command.”

I relaxed at that; I really didn’t want to deal with anyone from my past right now, including my godfather. Dr. Oliver misunderstood my visible relief.

“You don’t have to interact with anyone that come up with Angel Grove to see me if you don’t want to, Katrina, with the exception of Rocky and Lt. Stone.”

“I’m fine with that, but I do want to meet Katherine.” Dr. Oliver grinned at that; I could tell he wanted the two of us to get along well. I did too, as I didn’t want to force him to choose between the two of us. Just because he’s my foster dad didn’t mean I wanted him to lose out on love. I’d seen how Principal Randell looked at him when we were getting groceries Monday; she was interested in him as more than just one of her employees. I don’t know if he’d even noticed; I just hoped Principal Randell and Katherine met before the start of the school year.

Chapter Text

Saturday. Reefside, Tommy Oliver’s house. POV: Abigail/Katrina/1^st person

As soon as I could tell Dr. Oliver was fast asleep, I opened the desk drawer that held the morpher. Sitting in lotus position on my bed, I held the morpher in both hands and concentrated on my memory of Dr. Oliver guiding me through a meditation technique. I didn’t feel anything for several seconds, then my powers roared to life and I found myself in the Morphing Grid.

Looking around to make sure I was in the right place, I noticed my guardians by my side. Alternating between Zordon and Mom, I started calling out for someone who could help me. Mom strode in not long after I started.

“Abigail. What brings you here? I wasn’t expecting you to figure out how to get here this soon.”

“I wouldn’t have tried, but we’ve got an emergency. I didn’t have a chance to tell you in our previous conversations.” Walking by her side, I filled her in on everything that was going on. “Uncle Billy’s running a search through the records at Zordon’s command center, but he’s running the search for me at the same time and won’t get back to Dr. Oliver until later. By then, I fear it may be too late.”

“That’s why you were calling out for Zordon.”

“Yes. Dr. Oliver is under the impression he’s dead; if your spirit joined the Grid after you died, his must be here too.” Mom just shook her head.

“When he sacrificed himself to save the universe, he didn’t appear here. His choice of sacrifice meant that he couldn’t join the Grid after death. All is not lost, Abigail. There may still be a way to get answers and I take it you have a plan?”

“I do, if there’s a way to keep me out of it.”

“That might be a stretch, but we can try.” With that, she led me out of where we were standing to a group of Rangers that I’d not noticed earlier. I just about started when I saw Dr. Oliver, but he was wearing a white tank top and shorts, not the long-sleeved tops he favored now due to not being able to show his tattoos while teaching.

Along with Dr. Oliver, the others included Rocky, Adam, Uncle Billy, Aunt Kimberly, and Aisha. They all looked younger, as they’d appeared in their teens. When I called them by their names, they all looked puzzled, as if they didn’t recognize me.

“They’re from an alternate timeline, Abigail. You don’t have to worry about being found out,” Mom said from behind me.

“If you’re sure.” At her confirmation, I introduced myself and my connection to them. They were all surprised at Ernie getting married to Trini, though not as much to him knowing their identities as Power Rangers. Tommy becoming a paleontologist and high school science teacher got him a bit of good-natured ribbing from the others.

“If anyone could figure out our identities and keep the secret, it’s Ernie. Trini said you needed our help.”

“Yes, I’m in Reefside right now. We got attacked by Scorpina and Rito; Rito attacked Reefside a second time with some purple goons that turned to goop when defeated.”

“Why don’t you ask Zordon?” Aisha asked.

I could only shake my head as I said, “My universe’s Zordon is dead; he sacrificed himself to save the universe knowing he’d not be able to return to the Grid.”

“Sounds like the Zordon we know,” Adam said. “Besides Zordon and your mom, anyone else we know dead?”

“Those are the only two I know of.”

“Those purple goons sound like they were sent by Ivan Ooze.”

“Ivan Ooze?” I was confused, but the Rangers were all too willing to fill me in, interrupting each other to fill in details.

“Thanks for the info; now I need to be able to get it to my Dr. Oliver. He doesn’t know who I truly am and I can’t let him know this when we’re both awake without revealing things I’m not ready to reveal just yet.”

“The Grid has voluntarily sent information to me before,” Tommy spoke up. “It shouldn’t be that hard for me to make contact and relay the same information without giving you away. I am going to ask that you tell him, though.”

“I’m planning on it; it’s less of that and trying to find the right time. I also need to be doubly sure he won’t return me to Angel Grove.”

“I wouldn’t, not with what you’ve said. This is even with Ernie being a good friend. If your Dr. Oliver is anything like me, he won’t either.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, Abigail. He’s promised to protect you, he knows what Ernie did.” I swirled around to face Mom, but she continued before I could object. “I had to tell him to get him to promise. He’s not one to willingly break a promise and will fight tooth and nail to protect you.”

“We don’t break our promises, especially when the person needing protection asks for help and you did ask.” This came from Rocky.

“This might be why my universe’s version of you said he wouldn’t tell. He covered for me with Lt. Stone, who doesn’t even know I’m not who he thinks I am.”

“You need to head back; you’ve been in here too long.” With that, my eyes snapped open and I found myself dizzy again. I carefully stood up and replaced the morpher in the drawer, careful to not fall over. I was able to get back in bed and was asleep before I knew it.

Same place, same night. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy found himself in a grid room, similar to where he’d found himself when he’d talked to Trini. Unlike the previous dream, he found himself facing a younger version of himself, wearing white as he’d done as the White Ranger.

“What’s going on?”

“I got a tip that you need some help figuring out about some purple goons.”

“That still doesn’t completely answer my question, but I’ll ignore that in favor of the more pressing issues.” Tommy, like Abigail earlier, was treated to a lengthy explanation about Ivan Ooze and his background.

“That will give Billy a line of research. He’s doing double duty searching for Abigail.” His alternate counterpart nodded.

“She was the one who asked for help; she was given the same explanation I just gave you. She wants to let you know where she is, but fears going back to Ernie. She was the one who asked me to tell you.”

“Trini explained enough to want me to help her. Ernie might be a friend, but she needs my help and protection more. Even if Ernie wants to regain guardianship, he’s going to have to go through me.”

“That’s what I told her. She’s still terrified; something about Lt. Stone?”

Tommy could only shake his head. “Even with Ernie getting therapy, Rocky-who’s become a counselor-thinks returning Abigail to Ernie’s custody at this time would not be good. Lt. Stone thinks differently and would return her to Ernie’s custody over my objections.”

“You have greater influence then you realize. Even if Lt. Stone wants to force your hand, Ernie respects you too much. He’ll do anything to help her, even if means giving up custody permanently to you. All you have to do is ask, once Abigail reveals herself to you.”

Tommy realized that his counterpart knew more than he was letting on, much like Trini did. “How much can you tell me about where she is. Like I told Trini, I can’t help her if I don’t know where she is.” He wasn’t surprised when the answer was in the negative.

“I can’t reveal much, but I can tell you this: she’s not leaving Reefside as long as you’re alive. Not in her current mental and emotional state. Hayley and the other Dino Rangers might be able to protect her, but they don’t have your influence within the Angel Grove crowd. Not even Anton Mercer would be able to help without causing issues if you’ve died or otherwise become incapacitated like you did earlier this year.”

“I’ll keep that in mind; I should probably wake up now.”

“Be careful. When Abigail left the Grid, she just about collapsed. Her first voluntary entrance into the Grid almost trapped her in here. She took a great risk for you to get the information.”

“She shouldn’t have had to.” He was stopped before he could finish.

“She did have to; her fear that your timeline’s Billy would be too late in finding the information now that your Zordon’s dead is not without merit.” With that, he woke up. His wakeup this night was not near as nauseating as the previous night’s. He got up and checked on Katrina, who didn’t look well at all. He felt her forehead, but there was no fever to speak of. He realized he’d gotten to her side just in time as a nightmare started. She was talking to her dad again; Tommy realized she must have been reliving her attack. He wasn’t surprised when she woke up again.

“It’s okay, Katrina. I’m right here.” He knelt by her bedside, as had become his practice when she woke up from a nightmare.

“Dr. Oliver!” Katrina tried standing up, but he was forced to catch her as she collapsed in his arms. He helped her sit back down, turning the bedroom light on as he did.

“Easy, Katrina. Whatever your dream involved got you woozy. Stay seated, I’ll be right back.” Ignoring his own rule about running in the house, he was quick to return with a ginger ale and helped her get some in her stomach. “That’s it, Katrina. I’m worried, this is the second time you’ve woken up from a dream sick. Are you sure you’re not coming down with something?”

“I don’t think so, Dr. O. Must be residual nerves from the interview earlier is all I can figure. Even with Rocky’s help, his interview still brought up painful memories and fears.” He was pleased to see her drink the rest of the ginger ale on her own. “Stay?”

“I can do that, Katrina. It’s not an imposition at all. How are you feeling?” He wrapped his body around hers, trying to keep her warm. He heard her start to gasp for breath and he called on the Grid to help calm her as he reached out telepathically. It was the first time he’d consciously called on the Grid that wasn’t related to morphing. It only seemed to aggravate her illness and he had to grab her trash bin as she threw up again. He was starting to panic; he’d never dealt with a sick child before. Carrying her downstairs as soon as she was done, he went back up to grab her trash bag and threw it in the big bin in the garage. He called the clinic’s nighttime number; they always had someone there to answer questions.

“From the sounds of things, it’s either a stomach bug or something else. If she doesn’t get better by Monday, bring her in.”

“She’s going to be disappointed; she’s due to start soccer camp Monday.”

“If it’s a 24 bug, I’m still going to recommend she not exert herself for several days. She can watch, but she needs to rest and recover first. If she develops a fever, or she gets worse, she’s going to need to stay home.” Tommy nodded; he could deal with that. He ended up staying awake the rest of the night, wanting to be there in case she needed help again. The only times he’d moved were to use the half-bath and to get something to drink. He’d brought extra bottles of ginger ale over, but she remained asleep on the couch. She didn’t seem to have any other intense dreams again, but that didn’t stop him from being vigilant.

By the time she woke up, Tommy was starting to feel his exhaustion. He’d not slept much, waking up after his conversation with an alternate version of himself. Not long after that, Katrina had woken up ill from her nightmare.

“Feeling better?” He asked, concerned.

“Not 100%, but not as bad as I did when you came to help me.”

“You need to take it easy; I ended up calling the clinic’s 24-hour line. They said you need to rest for a few days. I know soccer camp starts tomorrow. If you feel worse, Conner will understand if you can’t attend or practice for a few days, and even if you can, not doing the physical part just yet.”

“That makes sense. I take it that means no lessons at the dojo, either?”

Tommy just shook his head. “If you don’t have a fever, even tomorrow, I don’t mind you coming in and watching. Just no practicing the moves until you’re at 100%, unless it’s an emergency. Taking care of yourself is important. You can hurt yourself if you’re not at your best when practicing.” He was pleased when Katrina agreed. He could tell she was disappointed, but taking care of one’s whole self was important in martial arts, as well as in real life.

He also knew he was going to have to have a nice long talk with Abigail when he found her. Risking herself like that was not without consequences. He’d made similar risks and for similar reasons; they all had. Landing in a coma last spring had been the latest such consequence in a long string of risks he’d taken as a Power Ranger.

With his own exhaustion, he knew that practicing would do him no good. He and Abigail both spent the day dozing as they recovered from the previous night. Meals ended up being light and sporadic for her, only eating what she could tolerate. He wasn’t about to force her to fill her stomach, despite needing to. Getting liquids in was more important than anything else; he’d remembered that much from the rare times he’d been ill. He’d not even argued when she nursed the ginger ales; as long as they helped her keep down food, he approved. They’d both made an early night of it and Tommy had no weird dreams that night.

Before calling Billy with the new information, he’d checked on Katrina. She looked as if she was doing better; it may have been a simple 24-hour bug after all. He let her rest as he got something to eat. He was surprised when she joined him partway through his own breakfast, dressed in a shirt and shorts.

“Alarm,” she explained. “I’d set it before I got sick. Whatever I had yesterday is gone. I’m feeling much better.”

“I’d still like you to rest today; we’ll see how you’re doing tomorrow. Conner will agree with me, he knows the importance of resting, even if you think you’re getting better. You’ll be no good if you overexert yourself while you’re recovering from illness.” He hated being stern with her, but also knew that she deserved a good reason why she needed to rest. He wasn’t surprised when she gave him a hug.

“Thanks for explaining; Father never did unless pressed. He usually said, ‘because I said so.’ I always hated it,” came her slightly muffled response. He hugged her back, glad she was willing to not just listen, but show and receive affection. Rocky had warned him when he’d made the initial call that it wasn’t uncommon for abused children, especially those who had been physically abused as she had to be wary of touch. From what he’d been able to gather, the physical abuse hadn’t gone on long enough to make her wary of physical touch.

Even Lt. Stone had noticed how she was doing; he’d said as much Saturday. He’d not missed the lieutenant’s look when he’d comforted her during her panic; Stone had approved of his actions. While she finished her breakfast and got her shoes on, he texted Billy Ivan’s name, hoping it wouldn’t summon the villain. The last thing they needed was to be attacked at his home; he’d heard just how much damage Ooze could do.

They headed out soon after; Conner had noticed her condition the minute she got out of the Jeep. Looking at him, he explained she’d been ill yesterday, but she appeared to be getting better.

“It’s okay; today wasn’t going to be an active practice anyway. It was primarily going to be an orientation anyway and the assigning of teams. Actual practicing isn’t going to start until tomorrow. I know she’s got martial arts lessons in the afternoons; her team’s scheduled for Tuesday/Thursday afternoons and mornings the other weekdays. Morning practices are primarily going to be drills and afternoons are going to be practice games. Actual games aren’t going to happen for another month, the list is in the packet.”

Tommy watched with the parents as Conner and the coaches went over the goals for the soccer camp. The other parents were curious; they’d known Conner had been one of his students, but they’d also seen him arrive with Katrina. Apparently, not all of Reefside had found out about him becoming a foster father and he soon found himself drawn into conversation. He didn’t give many details out about what he’d learned, but he also found himself getting various parenting tips and offers to help from the others.

Looking up, he watched as Katrina joined her team; Conner was splitting up the teams by age. The younger players were in coed teams, but the older teams were split among gender lines if there were enough players signed up. Katrina was on the 13-15 girls’ team, as her age group had been one of the ones with enough players split between them. Most of the players in her age group played on the middle and high school teams, or were hoping to. Conner, to avoid favoritism, was handling the boys’ team of the same age group. The high school soccer coaches were helping, as they wanted to keep an eye out for promising players among the incoming freshmen.

The morning’s meeting soon broke up after that, but Tommy knew that they still needed to get her team’s shirt. They were going to have to pick up soccer cleats before heading to the dojo; she’d need them for practices and games. Thankfully, there was a sports store between the school and the dojo and it was a quick trip to get her a pair of shoes in her size.

They had just finished lunch when the ground started to shake. Tommy knew from long experience that this was no normal earthquake either. He saw Katrina get herself to safety as Scorpina showed up with Tengu goons. Finding a safe space himself, he quickly morphed into his Black Dino Ranger form. He also contacted the others, who would be there as quickly as they could. When he got back out to face his old foes, he saw Abigail was also there in her mother’s old suit.

“You and I need to talk. I appreciate the assist the other night, but you shouldn’t have risked yourself like that.” He told her as they fought the Tengu back-to-back.

“It’s going to have to wait, Tommy. We have bigger issues to deal with,” she replied as another Tengu flew off. As the other Rangers arrived, Scorpina only smirked.

“Well, well. Talk about quite the team up, Rangers.” Looking hard at them, she continued, walking closer. “I don’t know most of you, just you, Black Ranger. We’ve met, haven’t we?”

“I can’t say I’m happy to see you again, Scorpina,” he replied as he defended himself from a physical attack. “If I never saw you again, it would have been not long enough.”

“Is that any way to treat an old friend?” Tommy had to duck a swing from her weapons at that.

“Old friend? More like ancient enemy.” This came from Abigail behind Scorpina, who quickly found herself fighting two fronts.

“I hope you’re not talking about yourself. You might use the Saber-tooth power coin, but you’re not who you pretend to be, even as a civilian.” Her taunt only caused Abigail to anger. Before she could lash out, Conner and Kira got between the two, forcing Scorpina to deal with them. Tommy and Ethan checked on Abigail; Scorpina’s latest attack had hit in Abigail’s side.

“I’m fine. She’s clever, but not clever enough.”

Scorpina retreated not long after, but not without a verbal parting shot.

“Ignore her.” With Tommy’s comment, they powered down. Looking around, he didn’t see Abigail anywhere, nor Katrina. “Not again!”

“Why does she keep vanishing? She’s all too willing to aid us, but she can’t keep vanishing like this.” Kira’s frustration was shared by the entire team.

“If she’s hiding here, she may not want to return to Angel Grove for whatever reason.”

“The only problem is she only shows up for a monster attack. Is there any way to get a message to her?”

Tommy shook his head. “I know one way, but it’s too risky.”

“Riskier than being a Power Ranger?”

“Yes. Even riskier than what I’d done to return to myself last year. Trying to pass on that message could put both of us in a permanent coma, if not outright kill us.”

“There is one other way,” a new voice said from behind them. They spun around to find Billy. “I got your message.” Before he could continue, Katrina jogged up.

“We’ll have to continue this later, Billy. This is my foster daughter, Katrina Jones, along with Conner, Ethan, Kira, and Trent. They’re all in the know.” Tommy saw Billy’s understanding, though he also noticed Billy give Katrina an odd look.

“You’re right, though. It’s not a good idea to talk about this outside. I know you have a class at the dojo to get to.”

Tommy nodded. “Ethan, take Billy to Hayley’s. Katrina and I will catch up with you guys there.”

Ethan nodded. “Catch you later, Dr. O.” With that, the group split in their respective directions.

As they entered the changing rooms, he kept an eye on Katrina. She was still moving as if she wasn’t at a 100%, which he expected. He quickly talked with Hanshi Scott, who was shared his pride at watching her kneel at the edge of the mat and stay there during the lesson. He resolved to practice them later when she was better.

He was waylaid by the head of the dojo as he prepared to change. He bowed to the man. “Hanshi Scott. You wished to speak to me.”

“I know you’re probably sick of hearing this, but you’re doing a great job with her. She’s not the first abused child to come through this dojo and I doubt she’ll be the last.” Tommy bowed again at the compliment.

“I’m not doing it without help, Hanshi. I talked to a friend of mine as to what to do.”

“No man is an island.” With that, they bowed at each other and Tommy went to change. Meeting Katrina at the lockers, they went back to the car. On the drive to Hayley’s café, he told her how proud he was of her.

“I know sitting on the sidelines isn’t in your nature, Katrina, but you did well.”

“You are right, though. I didn’t realize how exhausted I was until after lunch. Yesterday took a lot out of me.”

Entering the Cyber Café, Tommy bounded up to the alcove that Conner and they others usually used. All but Ethan and Billy were there. He had a bit of an idea as where they were as he was able to follow their technical-laden conversation to Hayley’s office, leaving Katrina with the other Rangers. Hayley wasn’t in there, needing to be out on the floor.

“Billy. It’s been a while. Good to see you.” He and Billy gave each other a huge hug.

“It’s good to see you too. What’s the text about?”

Tommy gave them a quick rundown of what he’d been told the night before. “This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten warnings like this, Ethan. Billy knows what I’m talking about.”

“The information you just said confirms what was in Zordon’s records. This was no mere dream, Tommy.” Billy looked serious. “He’s seriously bad news. The only real difference between the information you just gave me and Zordon’s records is where his capsule was buried. Its hiding place must have been damaged during Mesogog’s attacks.”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense, Dr. O. Scorpina and Rito must have found him and opened the container Thursday.”

“If he’s got such a huge grudge against Zordon, we might be able to use that against him. It just might throw him off his game enough to win. We do need to fill in the others.” Tommy led the two back to the alcove. He wasn’t surprised to see the teens having a quiet conversation due to Katrina having fallen asleep, which was to be expected.

“What’s the matter with her?”

“Woke up dizzy the other day. Pretty sure it was a 24-hour bug, but she’s doing better.” Conner took the information in.

“If she’s not doing well enough to practice tomorrow, I’m going to have her sit on the sidelines. It’s going to do her no good to get hurt.”

“That’s what I told her this morning. She understands and will listen to me.” Tommy was appreciating the fact that Katrina was willing to listen to him, despite her abuse.

“Because you treat her like you do us. You might have your reasons for doing something we might not agree with, but you always explain. It doesn’t surprise me that she responds well to that.” Trent said, from his position on Conner’s right. “I always hated it when Dad refused to explain his reasoning when he was under Mesogog’s control. She must be the same way.”

From there, they made plans to go back to his house, Billy coming with him. Hayley was going to join them later as the café was rather busy being summer vacation. It didn’t take them long to get there, though Katrina had only awoken long enough to get back into the Jeep. By the time he pulled into the garage, she was fast asleep again.

“Katrina, wake up. We’re home.”

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep, Dr. O. Sorry about that.”

“You had a rough day yesterday; if you want to rest instead of coming down with us, I won’t mind.” She shook her head at that.

“I won’t sleep easy tonight if I keep napping, Dr. Oliver. I don’t mind coming down with you. I want to see what your friend’s found.”

“The minute you feel like you need to sleep, you take a rest. Even if that means you find a quiet corner to sleep in, I would prefer you get some rest if you need to. Promise me that, Katrina.”

“I promise, Dr. Oliver.” With her promise, they headed to the basement. Opening the entrance to Dino Command, as it had been nicknamed, they headed in. Tommy was amused by Billy’s reaction to Dino Command; his friend seriously looked like he’d died and gone to heaven. Katrina, he noted, was also amused and he didn’t blame her.

“Pretty sweet setup, isn’t it?” She asked.

“Affirmative. I have a tough time believing this was all you, Tommy.”

Tommy shrugged. “Hayley helped, as I'm sure you remember. This is as much her and Anton as it was us. I did a lot of research into the Grid during grad school. This is part of the end result, but there’s also a lot I don’t know, as Thursday proved.”

Billy nodded. “I took the liberty of checking Zordon’s files for anything involving the Grid when I was looking up everything else. Alphas 5 and 6 were huge helps, but we didn’t find much that you don’t always know. Zordon didn’t record all of what he knew; Andros is looking into it where he’s at. He’s also searching for Dimitria and Ninjor; if there’s anyone that knows the answers to what’s going on, it’s them.”

“I can understand that. While important, we have more important things to deal with.” Before he could say more, the other Dino Rangers entered from the other side of the basement.

“Sorry it took so long to get here. Ms. Andrews is at the front door and we had to take the long way.” Both Tommy and Katrina got ‘Oh shit’ looks on their faces and bolted, Katrina grabbing the bags that she’d dropped earlier. As they left, they heard Conner and the others explaining that Ms. Andrews was Katrina’s social worker, with Billy following them up not long after.

At Tommy’s look, Billy explained, “Just in case someone told her that I was in town and visiting you.”

“Ah. Good thinking.” Tommy opened the front door at that, greeting Ms. Andrews. “Come on in; a friend came to visit and you coming over slipped out of my mind.”

Following him inside, she said, “It’s no issue. I did warn you some of my visits would be unannounced.”

He and Billy watched from the dining room as Ms. Andrews talked with Katrina. By the time she left, Hayley was waiting a few miles down the road for her to leave and pulled in not long after. As close of friends as they were, Billy was the only ones unaware of the rumors.

Billy did, however, grab his arm as they prepared to follow Hayley and Katrina back downstairs. “Tommy, I know she’s your foster daughter, but she looks a lot like Ernie’s daughter Abigail. Her healing cuts and bruises aside, they look as if they could be twins.”

“I know; I saw the poster that Lt. Stone brought up. Every time I’ve pressed, she’s panicked. Trust takes time.”

“When she’s ready, she’ll talk, Tommy. I just hope it’s not too late for Ernie; he’s not doing good. Every day that she’s gone, he falls deeper into depression. This is even with talking with Rocky.”

“He blames himself, doesn’t he? I’ve tried getting Abigail to join us, but she vanished when you showed up after Scorpina’s attack.”

“Not a good sign. The news of her using Trini’s coin hasn’t made its way to Angel Grove yet. I hate to say it, but it may be the one thing that gives Ernie some hope.”

“Talk to Rocky first; he needs to know so he can watch out. In the meantime, I’ve got a friend at Channel 3 who can phone the tip in to her counterpart in Angel Grove’s news station. Also let him know I’m keeping an eye out for her and will take care of her for him if she’s not ready to return just yet.” Tommy could see Billy was following along; even after not being teammates for years, Billy had no issues figuring out what was being suggested.

“Most of the old team have been keeping an eye on Ernie. I’ll let you know when it might be a good time to enact the plan. Your promise will bring him some comfort.”

Tommy had nothing to say to that, so they reentered Dino Command to find Hayley and the others going over the files Billy had brought. Like they’d done Thursday, Tommy and Billy joined in reading over the files. Tommy wasn’t able to focus his full attention on them, given what had happened the last time they’d done a similar exercise. He wasn’t surprised to find that the others doing the same; Katrina’s collapsing twice over the course of the last several days worried everyone.

Thankfully, there was no repeat of Thursday’s events, a fact that everyone was grateful for. Hayley had brought some food with her, so they ended up eating around making a master plan. Tommy had put the files on the grid to the side; he knew that he’d have to look at them at some point. He was likely to hand them over to Hayley; she understood the information almost as well as he did, if not better.

Location: Angel Grove Youth Center Tuesday. POV: Ernie/3^rd person

Ernie looked up as Billy entered the Youth Center. He knew that Abigail’s godfather had gone up to Reefside yesterday and had returned late.

“Hey, Billy. Any news?”

“Not much; Tommy’s keeping an eye out for her. If he finds her, he’s going to help her. This includes if she’s not ready to return to Angel Grove just yet. I know it’s not made the news yet, but there’s also been a couple of monster attacks in Reefside since last Thursday; that’s why I went up. Tommy needed some information from here regarding the new villain.”

“I appreciate the info, Billy. I hope Abigail’s all right. I don’t know what I did to cause her to flee and hope I can fix what I did when she’s found.” The information about the monster attacks scared him; with the news about what had been found at the train station, he didn’t want her anywhere near Reefside.

Billy must have sensed his despondence, because he came around the bar. “She is going to be fine, Ernie. Tommy is always willing to help out anyone who asks for help, along with any of his friends and their families, as are all of us. You have to hold out hope. You’re not going to do her much good if you don’t take care of yourself.”

“While you were up in Reefside, they found her monorail card and school ID at the train station. She must have ditched them when she ran. She could be anywhere, using any name. Someone fitting her description bought a ticket to Reefside, but the name on the record was different. Katherine James or something like that.” He missed the look of surprise on Billy’s face; if he’d noticed, he would have realized that the genius had put two and two together.

Billy soon left, pulling his cell phone out as he headed outside. He heard him say something to Tommy, but didn’t pay any attention. He’d quit paying attention to people talking on their cell phones long ago, unless he was making or receiving a call. He ended up making a call to Rocky; even though the man was at his office for a couple of appointments that hadn’t been rescheduled, he’d still taken Ernie’s call. After Rocky had hung up, Ernie felt better. When he went to bed that night, he’d had the first nightmare-free night he’d had in days and woke up rested the next day.

Location: Reefside, same day. POV: Abigail/Katrina/1^st person.

I was heading out of soccer practice when my phone rang; practice had gone well and I’d been well enough to participate today.

“Hello? Hey, Billy. I know Dr. Oliver gave you my phone number when you left last night.”

“I know this is going to be a difficult question and you don’t have to answer, but did you ditch anything from school before taking the train to Reefside?” I froze, looking around for Dr. Oliver, but he was still talking with Conner on the field.

“I may have, why?” This worried me. I headed into the changing rooms as I continued to talk; Dr. Oliver wouldn’t go into the girl’s side.

“Trini’s daughter, as you know, is missing. Her monorail card and school ID were found abandoned at the train station in town.”

“Talk to Rocky; tell him what you just told me. Tell him I said it was okay for him to know. Next time you or he come to town, I’ll likely have something for you to give to pass on to him.” After he’d left last night, I’d started a letter to Dad on my laptop, but couldn’t find the right words to say.

“Have Rocky help you write what you’re planning on sending and have him email it to me. I’ll print it out and give it to him. You’re keeping this secret for some odd reason. I just hope it doesn’t blow up in your face, for your and Ernie’s sake both. Tell Tommy soon; he will protect you, he said as much to me yesterday.”

“As much as I want to believe you, I can’t believe that I won’t be sent home. Lt. Stone promised that I wouldn’t, but that will change once I tell him Father’s name. He has a blind spot in that regard.” I hung up not long after; this conversation had caused my determination to keep my identity secret even more. I only hoped Uncle Billy would keep my secret; there were now three people too many that had found out my secret in the week and a half that I had been in Reefside. Mom was right, though; if I didn’t tell Dr. Oliver soon, all my efforts would be for naught.

I hoped to get some advice from Trent; he’d kept the secret that his father and Ranger villain Mesogog were one and the same for months. He would know best how I should proceed. I wouldn’t see him today, though. He was working at Hayley’s and we still had information to go through. I hadn’t noticed any flareups in the grid since my foray to get Dr. Oliver the information, but also noticed that the grid’s connection was swirling around me. It felt centered in an area between my chest and my navel, but it also was noticeable in every fiber of my being.

I also hoped to get some martial arts practice in this evening, as I needed to practice the katas taught in class yesterday. I’d slept in this morning, healing the rest of the way from Sunday’s activities. I’d been ill like that before, as a child, and it usually took me the better part of a week to recover from being that sick. Dr. Oliver hadn’t been kidding about accelerated healing being part of a Power Ranger.

When I let him know that I was feeling close to 100%, he was as surprised as I was. He did caution me, like he had before, that if I felt worse, to take a break. If anything, soccer practice had been encouraging for both of us. I felt energized, despite having sore muscles from my first full practice. Most of the katas taught in my martial arts practice yesterday had been upper body, but I knew I wouldn’t always be near as lucky. This was even with me not participating in the lesson. As sore as I was from practicing, David and Dr. Oliver both said it would go away as my body adjusted.

“Tough call?” One of my teammates, who was going to be a freshman with me at Reefside High, asked from behind me as we both opened our lockers.

“You have no idea. One of Dr. O’s friends came up yesterday from Angel Grove. He was just checking in on me; probably couldn’t get a hold of Dr. O. He was talking with Conner when I came in.”

“What’s he like?” I could tell Francine was curious.

“Billy? You know Ethan? Just like him, if you can believe it. There were a few times I had to dig into a dictionary to understand him.” I shook my head as Francine laughed.

“An older version of Ethan? This I got to see!” I laughed at her reaction as we changed out of our uniforms because her excitement was evident.

“He’s already left; he had to get back to Angel Grove. Something about a missing kid; he had volunteered to ask Dr. O and had to drop something off. Apparently, the kid’s mom had been a friend.” It was as good of an explanation as any.

“Can’t imagine Dr. O having a life outside of school. My older sister’s had him for class, thinks he’s dreamy. Can’t say I blame her, he’s easy on the eyes; but I’m not stupid. Even when the student is of age to consent, student/teacher romantic or sexual relationships are frowned upon.”

“Cassie said as much when I talked with her over the weekend; she gave me all the gossip I cared to know and then some. The idea that some of my future classmates think my foster dad’s sexy is gross.” I shut my locker at that and joined her on the bench, our bags on the floor besides us.

“Ew. I see what you mean; anyone that would find my parents attractive besides each other sounds gross. Wait until he brings a girlfriend home. I sleep next to the master bedroom and wish I didn’t. I really don’t need to hear their love life.” She giggled at my blushing; I’d not considered that when he’d told me about Katherine. We grabbed our bags and headed out, still chattering about what Reefside High was going to be like. I was glad I’d made a new friend, she promised to introduce me to some of her friends and I promised to introduce her to Patton. I couldn’t wait to start school in the fall; I had been worried that I wouldn’t have anyone to eat lunch with. Now, I had 5 new friends to eat with if we had the same lunch period.

When we got out, Dr. Oliver and Conner were done talking. Francine and I said goodbye as she headed to her sister’s car. Lunch had been a while ago and practice had made me hungry despite it not being even close to dinner time.

“Ready to go? I can drop you off at the Cyber Café if you want. I know that getting into town to hang out with those your age is difficult until you’re old enough to drive and also know how important those connections are.”

“Would you, please? I feel bad about falling asleep on the others yesterday.”

“You weren’t at your best yesterday; I’m surprised you were able to practice today. I don’t want you to overdo it, Katrina.” This was Conner, who was still standing nearby.

“I won’t, Conner. Promise.” I meant it, too. I hated not being at my best and this weekend had been rough. I waved goodbye to Dr. Oliver as he dropped me off at Hayley’s. I was to call him when I was ready to leave, even if Conner or one of the others was going to drop me off at the house.

When I got there, Conner was also there, having followed us from the sports complex that was used by Reefside’s public schools. Trent was in the alcove, the only one there as Ethan was playing some game on one of the café’s computers. Kira was getting ready to practice, so she wouldn’t be able to talk. I grabbed Trent and asked to talk to him in private.

“Sure thing. What’s up Katrina?”

“I need some advice. It’s about telling Dr. O a pretty big secret that I’ve been keeping from him.” Trent looked concerned at that, but took me over to a quiet corner. “I know you’ve heard about Dr. O’s friend’s missing daughter. I am that child; I’m the one who’s been backing you guys up against the goons. Don’t tell me I need to tell Dr. O, I know that and am planning on it. I just don’t know how.”

“This isn’t going to sound helpful, but just tell it to him straight.”

“It doesn’t; another problem is finding the right time. I’d hate to start and there be another monster attack or someone calling at the wrong time.” Trent acknowledged my points. “I do realize that he’s going to freak if there’s a monster attack and I morph with him at the same time.”

“That would be a bad way to tell him; even worse is for him to find out because he has to forcibly demorph you if you get badly hurt during an attack.”

“That can be done?” I didn’t know that.

“Yea…when he got stuck in morph, that was one of the few things we tried to do to help. We practiced with each other, so we know it’s possible. I don’t know how well it would work on your suit.”

“Irregardless of when I tell Dr. O, that’s something that we need to practice. Let me tell Conner and the others of my identity; I may need all of your guys’ help telling Dr. O. I have the morpher on me in case of another attack.” With Kira’s singing and the general noise, nobody heard us talking. We went back up to the counter to get something to eat and drink, I’d already finished my water bottle even though I’d filled it right after practice.

“Practice get you thirsty?” Hayley asked as she placed my order in front of me. “I’d heard Conner talk about it enough.”

“Yes. I’ve got drill practice tomorrow morning and a martial arts lesson in the afternoon. I’m hoping Dr. O will teach me what I watched yesterday.”

Conner joined us up at the counter, Ethan not far behind him. “I still can’t picture Dr. O teaching martial arts.”

“He’s got the skill and is patient in the dojo; I assume he’s the same teaching science?” I couldn’t help but brag. “You should take a few lessons yourself, Conner, if you want the answer to that question.” Conner quickly shut up at that, with Ethan and Trent both laughing at their friend’s discomfort.

“I just got done with school! I don’t want to think about any more lessons for a while,” Conner grumped, though it was as good-natured as the teasing he was getting. We grabbed our food and drink, heading to our usual alcove.

“Trent said you had something to tell us?” I nodded, making sure Dr. Oliver was nowhere nearby. Instead of answering, I pulled out the morpher from my purse. My sports gear, I’d left in the Jeep, so all I had was my shoulder bag. “That’s the Yellow Ranger’s morpher…” Conner said slowly. Ethan was quicker to pick up what I wasn’t saying.

“You’re the one that’s been backing us up. Does Dr. O know?”

“No, that’s why I’m asking for your guys’ help. You 3, 4 counting Kira, have known him the longest; have fought besides him the longest, at least here in Reefside. I know telling him is important, but I’m scared.”

“You don’t want to go back to your Father,” Trent stated. “After what you’ve told us, I don’t blame you. If Dad hadn’t been separated from Mesogog, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“You’re lucky that you’re 18; I’m 15, not 14 as I’ve been claiming. Even when I tell Dr. Oliver, there’s people back home that could make him keeping guardianship difficult. Least of which is the fact that I’m technically a runaway.”

“Including your father.”

“Especially him.” I placed the morpher back into its hiding spot. “You can see my issue.”

“Especially since he’s coming up next month; he’s been helping run Angel Grove’s Youth Soccer Program for years. You’ll be healed up by then.”

“Not to mention starting to show signs of the physical changes from martial arts and soccer practice. I can only hope it’s enough.”

“I’ll see what I can do to keep him away if he’s not found out about you being in Dr. O’s custody.” I thanked him, and with serious conversation over, we rejoined most of the teens in the main room. Francine was there, as was Patton. I ended up introducing them to the others and the six of us ended up having a lot of fun. I had to stop when my phone rang; it was Dr. Oliver. I answered as I stepped away.

“Sorry for not checking in, Dr. O. Got talking with Conner and the others. Francine and Patton are here too; we got caught up in conversation. You ready for me to come home?”

“I’m coming in; don’t want to interrupt you if you’re having fun.” He hung up and I saw him enter not long after. I had fun watching Francine and Patton interact with their future science teacher, thought those of us that knew Dr. Oliver got to see him blush when Francine informed of the various students who had a crush on him. She blushed when she realized just exactly what she’d told him.

“Don’t worry; given that school’s not in session, you won’t get in trouble.” Dr. Oliver was still blushing, while the Dino Rangers who’d been in earshot were all cackling. Kira, when she got done rehearsing, laughed when she’d found out what was going on. I just knew Dr. Oliver was in for a round of teasing from them when we next got together in Dino Command.

We ended up heading home not long after that; Dr. Oliver still blushing slightly.

“Not one word, Katrina, not one word. Not even to Cassie.”

“Oh. She already knows.” I grabbed the ‘oh shit’ bar as Dr. Oliver swerved, grateful I had my seatbelt on. “She’s the one who told me. Francine’s older sister has had you for a class, that’s how she knew.”

“We are never speaking of this again.”

“Agreed. Won’t stop Conner and the others, but…”

“I’m in for some serious teasing. Kira, Ethan, and Trent will lay off for a while, but Conner’s going to be getting some mileage out of it. I’m just glad Billy and the others weren’t around for this…I’d never hear the end of it.” I was glad he didn’t see me smile; he was easy to tease if you knew him well. Conner and the others certainly did. You can’t fight as a team for 9 months and not get to know each other well.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside. The middle of June through the end of July. POV: Abigail/Katrina/1^st person

The next 6 weeks followed the same pattern: soccer practice and martial arts lessons along with hanging out at the Cyber Café. We’d had a couple of games, one of which was against Mariner Bay. There were varying monster attacks, but we still saw no sign of Ivan even though everything I’d learned said he was too arrogant to not show up. From what Rocky had said when he came up for the twice-weekly counseling sessions, Angel Grove wasn’t getting attacked at all. Even Uncle Billy and the Alphas reported no new attacks and they were on high alert.

Conner, Trent, and the others in on my secret, as we’d brought Kira in on it, had no ideas on how or when to tell Dr. Oliver my true identity. We’d rehashed every idea and rejected each of them. So far, the best idea was to either demorph after a fight if there were no witnesses around or take some free time at home and show him everything. That was scarier; with the first idea, I had some backup. The second idea meant I was alone with him. Even though I was beginning to realize that he wouldn’t act like Dad, I feared history repeating itself.

Working with Rocky, I’d come up with a letter for him to give to Dad when he thought Dad could handle it. He was reporting Dad was doing better, though he’d understandably freaked when Angel Grove had finally reported on the Ranger news out of Reefside. He was all ready to storm Reefside when the Gazette printed a photo of me in the Yellow Ranger suit, but Rocky had been able to talk him down. He’d eventually had to invoke Dr. Oliver’s name to get Dad to back down. The news had set Dad back several weeks in his recovery, though he wasn’t near as depressed as he’d been the initial week of my vanishing. Rocky and I were both glad Dad actually listened to Rocky; I was beginning to hope that I’d eventually be able to rebuild a relationship with him.

We’d also had a court case with a judge to turn Dr. Oliver’s guardianship of me into something more permanent. Even without my dad’s name not known by anyone but Rocky, Uncle Billy, and I, the judge had agreed that I was better off with Dr. Oliver. He’d asked me all sorts of questions, noting how Dr. Oliver and Rocky both were there to comfort me and quell my panicking. The hearing didn’t mean much, I knew, as his guardianship was over ‘Katrina Jones’, not ‘Abigail Burton’, but it added an extra layer of protection. I wouldn’t find out until much later that court cases like this usually took much longer; Ms. Andrews knew the judge and the judge had agreed to speed things up after looking at my file. With the guardianship permanent, Dr. Oliver was going to have an easier time registering me for school. I was going to have to take a few tests, but that was about it.

His girlfriend Katherine had finally come up; she was staying for a couple of weeks, including over the weekend of the Angel Grove/Reefside youth soccer game. She was wonderful, though I also understood Francine’s comment better. I wasn’t as deep of a sleeper as David was, so there had been a couple of times that I’d had to either go to bed early or put my earbuds in and listen to music on my iPod. I’d gone to the mall several more times since then and had picked up several more albums to add.

When my art desks came in, I’d spent a weekend just setting my art room up. Dr. Oliver had also given me permission to decorate the walls with my own artwork. To that end, I’d also gotten some paint and stencils on a trip to the art store, along with a drop cloth. We’d had to put the desks up against different walls as I did my work. I’d had so much fun doing it and Dr. Oliver allowed me to do the same to my bedroom. We’d moved my twin bed to the guest room, as he’d surprised me with a bunk bed for sleepovers.

Francine and Kira both had spent the night on differing nights and I had so much fun with them. It was very relaxing and freeing to be a normal teenager. As strong as my relationship with Dr. Oliver had gotten, I still hadn’t been able to even not call him either Dr. Oliver or Dr. O outside of being in my Ranger suit. He didn’t mind; as he’d said when I’d first came to him, he wanted me to be comfortable with him first. It was a huge part of why our relationship was growing stronger day by day; outside of a few times where he’d accidentally stepped on one of my triggers, he let me open up to him as I felt comfortable doing so.

My relationship with the Morphing Grid was also strengthening and I thought I was starting to be able to tell the difference between my personal link and the link from the coin. The more I morphed, the stronger my own link got. I’d not had any other incidents like I’d had the first week, but the weird dreams hadn’t gone away. They were alternating, thankfully, with nightmares and regular dreams and I’d not had more dreams with Mom. The only difference was a Pterodactyl had joined in my line up of protectors; it had shown up not long after Katherine had arrived.

As much as I wanted to speak with her again, I remembered just how I’d felt when I’d deliberately gone into the Grid. I had no desire to repeat the experience and knew that the next deliberate trip would have to be with a spotter. Whenever I had the weird dreams, I could feel Mom’s love radiating through her former Ranger avatar. It was a comfort to know she loved me. I just wished I knew Dad felt the same way.

Soon, it was the week of our game against Angel Grove and I knew it was now or never. If I didn’t, it would be just my luck that not only would we be attacked at the game and I’d be forcibly demorphed. I grabbed the tape recorder and sketchbook out of my desk drawer where I’d put them so many weeks ago. Katherine had offered to do a grocery run, so it was just the two of us in the house until she got back. Given it was a Sunday, I didn’t have any classes or practice to go to. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to get some practice in; along with my cleats, Dr. Oliver had gotten me a practice ball. It wasn’t hard to use the backyard as a practice field, pretending the trees were other players.

Heading downstairs, I saw Dr. Oliver was in his office and I hesitated in the doorway. No matter how much Rocky and I worked together on that issue, I still got nervous entering his office. Rocky said it would take a while for issues to be resolved; not every issue was able to be worked through in one session, or even two. Some issues took multiple sessions and even then, not all completely went away.

“Katrina. Are you alright?” I could hear his concern; it was evident on his face.

“Can I talk to you? The office is fine.” It really wasn’t, but I had to face this particular fear head on. I couldn’t run from my problems forever.

“Always, Katrina.” I entered, laying the sketchbook and tape recorder down. I’d also brought down my iPod, as I had no desire to hear that tape. He was puzzled, I could tell. I gulped.

“Please, just listen to the recording. It will explain a lot, Dr. Oliver.” I was trying not to panic, but it wasn’t easy. This was the moment of truth. “The sketchbook also holds answers. I can’t…” Dr. Oliver came around as he noticed my panic overtaking me and I was able to calm down in his comforting embrace. As soon as I’d calmed back down, he allowed me to listen to music as the tape played. Even then, we both flinched when Dad yelled that he’d wished that I’d died instead of Mom in the car crash. He’d not even touched the sketchbook.

Shutting the recorder off, he came back around to where I was curled up. “Katrina…Abigail…it’s okay. You’re safe.” I slowly sat back up, removing my earbuds. “I don’t care what Lt. Stone says; there’s no way you’re returning to Ernie’s care. I will fight tooth and nail to keep you here if that’s what you want.” Not trusting my voice, I nodded. “Then that’s what’s going to happen. I won’t even tell him that you’re here if you don’t want me to.”

“I don’t want him to know I’m here. Not until Rocky says it’s safe; he figured things out within a week of meeting me. He was willing to let me be the one to tell you.”

“We do need to tell Ms. Anderson. You don’t need to be in the room; your recording and sketchbook will be enough for her to do her magic, so to speak.”

“Lt. Stone. If she contacts him, I’ll be back in Angel Grove before sundown.” I was starting to panic again and Dr. Oliver could tell, as he drew me into his strong arms again.

“Not if she phrases it right. She’s in complete agreement with Rocky and I; there’s no way you’re going back to Angel Grove until you’re ready.” I broke down crying at that; everyone who’d known Dr. Oliver and who had spoken to me told me that. I’d not been willing to believe it until now; I was safe, finally safe. Dad couldn’t do anything to take me away from my sanctuary.

Dr. Oliver let me cry myself out; he was still holding me when Katherine came in. Dropping the groceries she’d brought in, she ran to see if I was okay. Dr. Oliver shook his head and had her look at the sketchbook, unwilling to subjugate me to the recording again. She only had to look at the first sketch before joining him in hugging me.

“What about the game this Saturday?” Katherine didn’t have say anything else; we all knew what she meant.

“The coaches generally only interact with their counterparts and Conner. The only people that interact with the players besides the other players are their own coaches.” That didn’t calm me and I hugged him even tighter.

“He won’t stop simply because of that custom.” My answer was slightly muffled, but easily understood.

“Rocky’s coming up; he doesn’t want to miss this game. He knows how difficult it’s going to be for you.” That didn’t surprise me one bit and I was grateful for his willingness to back me up. My support system among the adults wasn’t that big, but what I had meant I didn’t have to do this alone. I didn’t have to face Dad alone anymore; David had been great, but he’d not been able to protect me 24/7.

We soon broke apart; the groceries still had to be unloaded and put away. I was glad for something to do after my talk with Dr. Oliver. The conversation had used up a lot of my mental and emotional energies; putting food away didn’t take much. I grabbed my soccer ball not long after that and Dr. Oliver made no move to stop me. As much as I wanted a spar, I also knew I wasn’t in the best shape for it, mentally or emotionally. I was still feeling exposed and raw, recognizing that sparring with either Dr. Oliver or Katherine would trigger a flashback.

By the time Dr. Oliver called me back in, I had been able to put myself together a bit. As much as drawing was a calming activity, along with meditation, there were times that neither helped. I’d tried drawing when I was this upset, but the resulting sketches tended to upset me more. Even with using Dr. Oliver’s voice as a guiding system, I occasionally had trouble dropping into a meditative trance. Outside of when I’d meditated with the coin, I’d not found myself back inside the grid again. I’d also not tried that trick again, remembering what had happened the last time.

“Feeling better?” He asked.

“Yea…I can see why Conner uses kicks around a soccer ball when he’s upset. It can be a good focusing tool and I was too upset for anything else to work.” That got a smile out of both Dr. Oliver and Katherine.

“I’m glad you’re finding other tools to help center yourself.” I flushed at his praise. He’d not realized that I’d overheard him talking with some of the parents at soccer camp and knew that his pride in me was genuine. Dad rarely praised me, unless we were in public; Dr. Oliver never held back his praise even when we were alone.

“So am I. As much as I wanted to spar, I didn’t want to trigger a flashback.” Aside from learning practical defense skills in the off chance that we had to protect ourselves, we were being taught in martial arts that we didn’t just have to take care of ourselves physically, but also mentally and emotionally.

“I’m glad you’re taking your lessons to heart, Abigail. Mental and emotional care is just as important as physical. You’re right; sparring was going to be ill-advised with how you were earlier.”

“If I’m not fine come time for lessons tomorrow, I can sit on the sidelines again. I’ll probably call Rocky tonight; he’ll appreciate the fact that I was able to tell you everything. He’s been wanting me to tell you since he figured it out the day Lt. Stone came up.” Despite kicking the soccer ball around, I still needed to talk about everything with someone not Dr. Oliver or Katherine. I also wanted to tell Rocky about the tape recording and sketchbook; given he was also Dad’s therapist, I hoped he’d be able to use it to help convince Dad to sign over guardianship to Dr. Oliver.

I did recognize that he wouldn’t be able to use it for a while, though. From what Rocky had been able to tell me yesterday, Dad still wasn’t ready to read my letter. If the news out of Angel Grove hadn’t set him back, Rocky would have given him the letter by now. I just hoped that seeing me at the game didn’t set him back even further. The fact that my uniform said ‘Jones’ on the back would hopefully discount the fact that I was his daughter. Conner had, at Friday’s drill practice, also promised to run point and not allow him to interact with me much.

Dr. Oliver also promised to run interference, as did Katherine. Yes, Ernie allowed her to teach classes at the Youth Center, but she was also planning on possibly moving up to Reefside. It was a big part of why she was up here right now. Even if she didn’t move in with us right away, she also didn’t want to get in the way of Dr. Oliver being my guardian. We all recognized that my care came first; she’d actually sat down with me not long after she arrived.

“As long as Tommy and I have been together, I’m perfectly willing for you to take priority right now. It’s what you need right now, Katrina. Even if that means I find an apartment in Reefside, I am willing to do whatever it takes so that your care doesn’t suffer because I’m his girlfriend. I recognize you from the Youth Center, but you also never took any of my classes, so we never interacted on a frequent enough basis for me to learn your name. I know I’m a complete unknown, but you have another protector in your corner.” I was stunned at that; she was the first Angel Grove resident that I’d interacted with that didn’t recognize me as Ernie’s daughter right away.

“Dr. Oliver trusts you, Katherine. He’s had a good track record so far, with both Rocky and Billy. That’s enough for me to give you the same level of trust right now.” I wasn’t kidding either; Dr. Oliver had a great track record so far with trustworthy people, Dad being an exception. That allowed me to extend a greater level of trust with her than I’d even initially with Rocky.

She grabbed my hands at that. “I won’t betray that trust, Katrina. You come first in Dr. Oliver’s life right now.”

I smiled. “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to take time for himself that doesn’t involve teaching or protecting Reefside. I’ve seen how he looks at you; he’s worse than a teenager sometimes.” Dr. Oliver had filled her in on the Dino Rangers not long after the team had initially been founded. With my permission, he’d also told informed her on me being someone in-the-know. She needed to know if she was going to help Rocky run interference in Angel Grove; she’d actually succeeded Aunt Kimberly as a Power Ranger not long after moving to Angel Grove from Australia.

Katherine had laughed at that, agreeing with me. Dr. Oliver had gone to the dojo for a lesson himself that Saturday; even though he was a black belt didn’t mean he hadn’t stopped learning and furthering his own skills. It was an admirable trait and I planned on following his lead; he’d not led me wrong yet. He’d come home to find us laughing our heads off; I’d filled her in on some of the gossip Cassie had given me. Due to my agreement with him, I’d not let her in on the secret that he had an unofficial fan club at the high school. She really didn’t need to know that unless he wanted to tell her; it bothered him that much.

That hadn’t meant he’d not gotten some teasing out of it, though. Kira, Trent, and Ethan, like he’d predicted, hadn’t teased him that much. Conner, though, still snickered sometimes when he saw Dr. Oliver, though that was primarily when Francine joined us at the café, or Cassie and Devin. Hayley hadn’t even bothered, though she’d got some amusement when she’d overheard Francine that afternoon. She’d tried teasing him once, only for Dr. Oliver to tell her to shut up as we had left that evening. She’d laughed at that, but quit her attempts at teasing.

Seeing Katherine and I getting along had made him happy, the happiest I’d seen him since I’d arrived in his life. I couldn’t wait for him to ask her to marry him; I hoped she said yes when he actually did. I knew nobody would replace Mom, even though I spent most of my life with her in the Grid. At the same time, having someone to act as a mother figure that wasn’t Aunt Kimberly would be great. Aunt Kimberly was great, but she had her own twins to take care of. I recognized needed a female adult in my life; Dr. Oliver was great, but there’s some things that were easier to talk to a fellow female with. I still remembered my initial discomfort when we’d gone to the grocery store together the first time. It hadn’t gotten any easier after that when I’d needed some Midol for cramping.

By the time Friday came around, I had regained my equilibrium. It wasn’t just talking with Rocky that had helped, but also the fact that I’d finally gotten the secret off my chest. Dr. Oliver and Katherine both called me Katrina in public, but Abigail at home. They understood as well as I did that the more people in Reefside that knew my identity as Abigail Burton, the more likely it would be that someone would slip up in front of the wrong person. Hayley and the Dino Rangers understood; even in private, they tended to call me Katrina more than Abigail.

Ethan and Conner had tried coming up with nicknames that involved Katrina. ‘Kat’ was right out as Katherine had gone by that nickname since she was a teenager. Trina bothered both Dr. Oliver and myself for obvious reason. I’d recognized when I chose the name that Trina and Trini were too close and easily mixed up. The only other options had been ‘Kitty’ and ‘Kit’, neither of which I cared for, so Katrina it was. I was the same way with Abby; David was the only person allowed to call me that.

Given that our game verses Angel Grove was at 11 the next morning, they were coming up today. I was going to be joining the rest of the team at Hayley’s for a meet and greet after my lesson at the dojo, as we’d done with the other teams that had come up for games. Conner and the coaches always talked together while we players talked and hung out together. The coaches never even approached us and I could only hope that Dad wouldn’t notice I was there. If he did, I had to trust that Dr. Oliver, Hayley, and Conner would interfere long enough for the other Dino Rangers to get me out of there. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was the best we had.

After my martial arts lesson, I changed into my team jersey before leaving the Dojo. Dr. Oliver, as my guardian, was going to stay at the café with us. I knew it was going to be hard on him to deal with Dad, given what he’d heard Sunday, but I had to have confidence in his ability to deal.

Location: Hayley’s Cyberspace, Reefside, Friday. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Walking into Hayley’s with Abigail, Tommy knew that being civil with Ernie was going to be an issue. He knew he had to keep his tone and expressions civil; protecting her was important. He smiled as she took off to join her teammates, Francine giving her a huge hug.

“Your foster daughter?” Tommy just about jumped when Ernie approached him. “Rocky told me as much, as he wanted to let me know why you weren’t able to come down to search for Abigail.”

“With my permission, Ernie. You know I would have been there if I could have. I might have only met her formally the once, 7 years ago, but she’s also Trini’s daughter as well as yours. We take care of our own.” He wasn’t kidding at that; it was why he was protecting Abigail now. Neither she nor Ernie was ready to talk yet, to work through their issues and rebuild their relationship as father and daughter. He smiled, “She’s a wonderful girl and I’m proud of how far Katrina’s come.”

“You’ve always been great with children, Tommy, even as a teenager. I saw as much when you were teaching martial arts at the Youth Center. It doesn’t surprise me that she’s responding well to you, not one bit.”

“Thanks, Ernie. It means a lot, coming from you. Speaking of martial arts, Katrina’s actually in my classes at the dojo I go to. I might primarily teach science at the high school, but have agreed to take on martial arts students as well.” Ernie chuckled at that, not surprised at that. Before he could continue, Conner came over, along with the primary coach for Abigail’s team.

“Dr. Oliver, Mr. Burton. I’m Conner McKnight, head coach of the Reefside youth soccer camp. This is Andrew Daveed, Reefside High’s girls’ soccer head coach. He’s agreed to coach the teen girls’ team for the club,” Conner said, introducing the two men. Leaving the two coaches alone to talk, Tommy and Conner slipped away.

“Thanks for the rescue, Conner.” Tommy wasn’t kidding with that, as he was running out of the ability to stay calm. If Conner hadn’t brought Coach Daveed over, he would have slipped up.

“No problem, Dr. O. You’re not the only who cares for Katrina. Besides, there’s someone else here looking for you. Katherine Hillard, I think she said her name was. She’s over there, talking with Francine and Katrina.”

Tommy smiled at that. “Kat’s my girlfriend, Conner.”

“Woah, Dr. O! I didn’t realize you had a girlfriend. She’s quite the babe.” Conner might be a Power Ranger, but he was still as teenager.

“Never change, Conner. As much as I agree with you, no hitting on her. She’s my girlfriend, not yours. I’m just glad she and Katrina get along.” He’d been very pleased when he’d come home from his own lesson at the dojo to see the two of them getting along; it had been a worry of his.

“No kidding. That would make things very awkward at home.” Tommy privately agreed; if he had to choose, Abigail would win every time. He’d be able to deal with the heartbreak, but Abigail needed him as a parent first. His love life would have to take a backseat if he and Kat broke up; he knew any dating that would happen in the instance of a breakup would have to wait.

Joining the others, he wasn’t too surprised when Kat drew him into a kiss. He’d not been completely aware of the cheers and wolf-whistles from the teens around him; Conner hadn’t been the only one who’d been unaware of the fact that he had a girlfriend. When they finally broke apart, Abigail had an amused look on her face, as did Hayley. Kira and Ethan were both chuckling, though Cassie, who’d been there to interview the teams ahead of the next day’s game, looked as if she’d hit the gossip jackpot. He knew she was itching to interview them; he knew that the news would be all over the high school once the school year started up at the end of August. Despite having graduated, Cassie was still considered the Queen of all things gossip.

“You’ve got some great students, Tommy. They’ve been singing your praises all afternoon,” Katherine told him, slightly teasing.

“They’re great students, Kat, even if some of them allow their curiosity to overwhelm their common sense.” He leveled a look at the Conner, Kira, and Ethan, who gave him a look in return. Conner had a huge grin on his face. “Don’t you guys have something you should be doing?”

Conner did slip off to mingle with the teams, but the others stuck around, still amused by their teacher and teammate having a life outside of school and being a Dino Ranger. Ethan was still chuckling at the situation and Tommy had to ask him if he had any video games he wanted to play.

“Okay, okay, I know when I’m not wanted.” Ethan backed off, hands up in surrender. Kira wasn’t far behind, mumbling something about needing to get onstage with her band to perform. Hayley got back to work; the Cyberspace was busy as heck with the two soccer teams there.

Abigail stayed close to his side; thankfully, Ernie was kept busy enough that he didn’t approach the two even after closing time. Tommy only hoped that their luck stayed that way until after the Angel Grove team left after the game tomorrow. He didn’t realize that their string of good luck was going to temporarily run out.

Location: Reefside High School’s soccer field. Saturday POV: Abigail/1^st.

I woke up bright and early the next morning and met Dr. Oliver in the basement for a sparring session. Katherine joined us; she and I had also sparred, with Dr. Oliver watching. He’d used our sparring sessions to help improve my skills. Going up against different opponents, with different skill sets, allowed me to adapt how I fought. It also helped in the various monster attacks, as well as the various times I’d faced off against both Scorpina and Rito.

After eating a quick breakfast, we headed off to the high school. I headed off to the changing rooms while they headed to the bleachers with the other parents. Coach Daveed and Conner entered after making sure that we were in our uniforms and went over our strategy for the game, along with giving us the usual pre-game pep talk.

Angel Grove had obviously had the same pep talk; they didn’t make it easy for us to win. The final score had been fairly close, 20-18. After shaking hands after the game was over, we headed back to the changing rooms. We’d not been there long before the ground started shaking; by this time, I knew what it meant. Not even bothering to change, I grabbed my morpher out of my purse and re-locked my locker. Checking to make sure that it was an actual attack, I found a place to hide and morph before heading out.

Joining Conner and the others, I noticed that we were joined for a lady that reminded me of Jeanie from ‘I Dream of Jeanie’ reruns I’d seen at Hayley’s. On the field was a tall purple guy I realized was Ivan Ooze, who we drove off after a difficult fight. The lady, I found out, was Dimitria, who Uncle Billy had been trying to contact. She’d apparently finally received his message and had joined us just in time to aid us.

“You shouldn’t be using that coin, Ranger,” she said as she turned to face me. Looking me in the eyes, they seemed to glow for a second, before she started for the Angel Grove team and Dad. I ran after her, stopping her before she could eviscerate him.

“He is one of us, Dimitria, an ally. He may not have worn the suit, but he has protected us all these years.”

“That does not excuse what he did.” I was able to turn her attention to me, forcing her to fight against me to protect Dad. I noticed a still-morphed Ethan and Rocky get Dad away from the fight, Conner not far behind them.

“What he did is between him and me. His offense is against me, not the Power Rangers as a whole or you.” I ducked and blocked a hit. “It is not for you to act as judge, jury, and executioner. Ivan and his ilk are one thing; allies like Ernie are something else. What he’s done does not erase all the good he’s done these past decades.”

“Easy for you to say. I’m surprised you’re defending him. Even more so, I’m surprised Tommy and Rocky are allowing you to.”

“They know and accept my reasoning. The fact that Rocky got him out of here speaks volumes, doesn’t it.” Taking advantage of her distraction, I was able to disarm her and put her into a lock. A lock that she quickly got out of and stepped up her game. I needed to actively start drawing on the Grid to match her, something I knew I’d pay for later. If I was to protect Dad and the other innocents around, it was something I needed to do. I’d deal with the fallout later and knew Dr. Oliver and Katherine would be right by my side as I did so.

Dr. Oliver stepped in as he saw me weakening and was able to get her to stop. He and Hayley, with Uncle Billy’s help, had been able to recreate the transportation link and had set two up to Dino Command. One, which was used by the Dino Rangers and myself, sent us to the main room. The other, which he used now, sent her to a confined room within the same space that she wouldn’t be able to get out of easily. Demorphing, he aided me into the changing rooms and put me by my locker, still morphed. He sent the team out, but Francine refused to leave.

“Dr. Oliver, if she is who I think she is, I’m not leaving her. You Power Rangers need all the civilian allies you can get. She wasn’t as alone when she morphed as she thought she was.” As exhausted as I was, I started at that, nearly falling over. She and Dr. Oliver quickly aided me back into a sitting position. Conner and the others came in not long after and demorphed once Dr. Oliver gave them the all clear.

“Mr. Burton’s safe, but freaking out. Rocky’s currently talking him down and Kat’s helping; he wanted to come in. I don’t know how long they can hold him off.” This was Ethan, the geek being uncommonly serious for once.

“Dr. O; you’re going to have to forcibly demorph me. I don’t have the energy right now to do so, or to deal with Dad.”

“As exhausted as you are, this is going to weaken you further.” He warned.

“I don’t care. This needs to happen Dr. O. Dad can’t see me demorph; he’s too vulnerable right now.” With that, Dr. Oliver initiated the demorph sequence and had Francine get my gear out of the locker. Helping me to stand, we exited the changing room and were almost surrounded by the team.

“She’s fine, ladies. I’m going to have one of the EMTs check her out, she may have had to defend herself from one of the monsters that attacked.” With that, we headed over to one of the first aid stations as Dad ran up, Rocky and Katherine not far behind him. I'd vaguely heard Francine making our excuses as to where the Yellow Ranger went and why I'd evidently appeared in the changing room. “Ernie, she’s fine. Wherever Abigail is, she vanished after the Black Ranger led her off. She’s had a bad habit of doing so after monster battles when she backs us up; whatever happened between the two of you, she’s evidently not ready to see you just yet,” I heard him quietly tell Dad.

While Dr. Oliver was dealing with Dad, Katherine and Rocky were making sure I was fine. The EMT knew Katherine was Dr. Oliver’s girlfriend and decided to treat her as my foster mom.

“Ms. Hillard, she’s fine. Some bruising from getting hit in the side, but no cracked or broken bones. That bruise either came from a soccer ball hit during the game or from defending herself or innocents during the monster attack, but should fade,” the EMT reported. “I’m going to recommend she rest for the next several days. Mr. McKnight, that means no participating in practice and if she takes martial arts lessons, same deal. She’ll be fine by Wednesday; Thursday latest.” I groaned, but knew that Dr. Oliver, Katherine, and Conner would see that I followed EMT’s orders. The bruise he’d found had actually been from facing off with Dimitria.

“She’s as good as if she was my biological daughter, Ernie! Katrina is NOT Abigail, no matter what you think,” I heard Dr. Oliver snap and looked up to see Dad step back at that; we all looked at Dr. Oliver in shock. I knew Dr. Oliver cared for me, but didn’t realize he cared for me that much. As sore as I was, I slowly stood up and gave him a huge hug at that. “I’ve felt that way almost since she came into my custody last month. Whoever her birth parents are, they’re going to have a hard time regaining custody of her. The only way I’ll give up custody to her birth parents is if she wanted it.” Even with Dad only a few feet away, I felt safe in Dr. Oliver’s arms. I was remotely aware of Rocky, Katherine, and the others backing us up.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you, Ernie. I’ve been Katrina’s therapist from the beginning; if she was Abigail, I would have known by now.”

“Same here, Ernie,” echoed Katherine. “I’ve spent the last week and a half with her; I’ve seen Abigail enough at the Youth Center to recognize her if I saw her again. I would have let you know if she and Katrina were the same.”

“My promise still stands, Ernie. If Abigail comes to me for help, even if she doesn’t want to return to Angel Grove, I will help her. You have nothing to worry about on that score.” Dr. Oliver tightened his hug as Dad finally nodded in acknowledgement.

“I’m going to hold you to that, Tommy.” Dad’s voice held none of its usual jovial tone. He turned and walked away without a goodbye, not even to Conner. As he walked away, Ms. Andrews ran up.

“How is she, Dr. Oliver? I saw the attack.”

“She’s fine, Ms. Andrews, just a bit of bruising. The EMT wasn’t sure if it was from the soccer ball hitting her during the match or from protecting others during the monster attack,” Katherine answered. “There’s nothing broken, but he recommended that she rest for a few days.”

“That’s reassuring. Can I talk to Katrina alone for a second?” I nodded as I let go of Dr. Oliver. He and the others backed off enough to give the illusion of privacy, but Ms. Andrews and I both knew that they could still hear us talk.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to visit after Ms. Hillard showed up. How’s it been with Dr. Oliver’s girlfriend in the house?”

“Really good, Ms. Andrews. She and I have gotten along really well.” I glanced over where the two were standing and smiled. Raising my voice slightly, I continued, “If he decides to ask her to marry him, I hope she says yes. I wouldn’t mind her being my foster mom.” I ignored the general laughter and sputtering from behind me. Ms. Andrews wasn’t immune either. I didn’t need to look to know Dr. Oliver and Katherine both were blushing.

“I’m happy to hear that, Katrina. Dr. Oliver might be a great guardian, but I know my superiors would prefer there be a female presence at home.” I didn’t realize Dr. Oliver had returned to my side until he placed his hands on my shoulders, causing me to jump slightly.

“I should be getting her home, Ms. Andrews. She needs to rest up a bit, EMT’s orders.” Ms. Andrews closed her notebook at that.

“Don’t let me keep you guys, Dr. Oliver. I’m glad she’s doing well in your care; she’s doing better and better every time I see her. Don’t think I missed you protecting her against Mr. Burton, either.” Holding her notebook, she added, “Just because Katrina resembles his missing daughter doesn’t mean that the two are the same person. He shouldn’t be trying to replace his missing child with your foster daughter.”

“I’ll be speaking with him about that later,” Rocky added. “Katrina’s not my only patient from Angel Grove even if she’s living in Reefside now; most of mine live in the city itself. This isn’t the first time we’ve had the same conversation since before last night. For whatever reason, he thinks Abigail’s in the city; he effectively panicked about it when the news arrived out of here that one of Angel Grove’s first Yellow Rangers showed up here in Reefside. She was the one in the Yellow Ranger suit with the white diamonds across the chest area.” Ms. Andrews raised an eyebrow at that.

“It’s true, Ms. Andrews. Enough people saw him panic, including myself, that he’s not breaking any confidences. I think everyone inside the Youth Center that day heard the resulting argument.” This came from Katherine, who’d rejoined us. “I’m just glad Rocky was able to talk him down then; neither of us were as lucky today. Seeing the Yellow Ranger in person really reset what progress he’s made, which we were afraid of. Whenever his daughter’s found, there’s no way he’s going to be able to take care of her.”

“He thinks that Abigail is in that suit; her mom had apparently been its first wielder. I won’t confirm that one way or the other, but I can confirm that Ernie knew for the longest time who each of the Power Rangers were in Angel Grove, including any successors to the team,” Dr. Oliver added quietly. The EMT might have left, to check on others who had been injured during Ivan’s attack, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t others within earshot. Ms. Andrews just raised an eyebrow as she read through what he wasn’t saying.

We all looked over where Dad was; Rocky hadn’t been the only former Ranger to travel up with the team today. Both Jason and Aunt Kimberly were with him, keeping him from coming back over. We soon left, in part to not give them a chance to follow us. I’d noticed David among the crowd from Angel Grove, but he’d also not approached us due to the goon attack. Kira informed us that he’d been too busy protecting many of the soccer players, along with the other former Rangers in Reefside today.

The minute we got home, we headed down to Dino Command, though I spent the time simply resting. Instead of grabbing a pillow, I used my gym bag as one. I was so tired that I didn’t even realize that Katherine had grabbed a blanket from upstairs and covered me with it until I woke up several hours later. Rocky, as I would find at the same time, had stayed by my side, as had she. None of the rangers were willing to leave me alone after what happened.

Location: Dino Command, same day. POV: Tommy Oliver/3^rd person

With Conner and Ethan behind him, Tommy approached where Dimitria was. As much as a mentor as she’d been after Zordon had returned to Eltar, he took protecting innocents, his fellow Rangers, and their allies first. He was very pissed at her actions and wasn’t surprised when Abigail had protected Ernie. Even though he’d hurt his daughter, Abigail was right. Ernie needed help more than he needed a jail sentence.

“Dimitria, what the hell was that about? Ernie is a friend and ally. I know he hurt Abigail, but she was right. It’s not your place to deal with him. He’s getting the help he needs.”

“Did she tell you that she’s using Trini’s coin? It’s not hers to use.” Apparently, Zordon had filled her in on the history of Angel Grove’s Power Ranger teams before he left for Eltar. A chorus of ‘Yes’ from all three Power Rangers answered her.

“With Ivan Ooze, Scorpina, and Rito around, we can use all the backup we can get,” came Tommy.

“None of us are fool enough to deny a fellow Power Ranger who is willing to lend us aid.” Conner stepped forward with that. “If it hadn’t been for her, none of us would be able to morph right now. She would be the only Power Ranger defending Reefside right now and today would have been a bloodbath. Don’t lecture us on what she’s supposed to use or not use. She’s one of us, just like her mom was. She took a risk last month to get us Ivan Ooze’s name and it could have killed her. As it was, she was lucky to not end up in a coma. I’ve seen Dr. Oliver in the hospital in a similar condition from a Power Ranger related risk. It was not fun to witness.”

Dimitria shot up at that. “What do you mean by that, Red Ranger?” she demanded of Conner. It was Tommy who answered.

“Back before she informed me of who she was, she managed to will herself into the Morphing Grid to contact an alternate timeline version of myself who had defeated Ivan Ooze. It left her in a similar condition to how she is right now.” Dimitria looked at Tommy in shock. It took her several minutes to reply.

“I’ve heard of people like her, Dr. Oliver. Ninjor and Zordon were two of those, as am I.” She looked at him, eyes glowing. “You’re one such person yourself. You would not have been able to find and protect the Dino Gems if you weren’t. Your friends who helped are Potentials; Anton Mercer would not have become Mesogog if he wasn’t. Her dad, as I’m sure you know, is the same.”

“Potentials?” Ethan asked, at Tommy’s left.

“People who could have become Power Rangers if they’d been at the right age at the right time. Most Power Rangers start as teenagers. Why it’s people in their teens that start as Power Rangers, I don’t know.” Tommy shook his head at that. “Not even Zordon was able to adequately explain it and I did ask at one point.”

“That’s why you’re able to use the Black Dino Gem!” Ethan exclaimed. “You started as a teenager. You must have still been linked to the Morphing Grid.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but it’s why she’s able to forge the link between her Mom’s coin and the Morphing grid. Even though there’s still a faint link between the other coins and the Morphing Grid, they don’t have enough power for people to safely use them. She shouldn’t have been able to use it, but she was. Even now, the other 6 coins, including your original Green Ranger Power Coin, are slowly being fed power by the Grid. I give it another 8 or 9 months before they’re at full power. Once that happens, she’ll not be able to morph into that Power Suit. You better hope that her personal link is strong enough that she can still access her Powers when that happens.”

“What does that mean?” Tommy just about growled.

“People like her, who has one Ranger parent and another who is a Potential, can become a Power Ranger on their own without being chosen by someone like Zordon. They can also create physical links to the grid, like Power Coins or your Dino Gems, and chose the wielders of those links. Your own connection to the Grid allowed the red, yellow, and blue Dino Gems to reach out and chose their wielders. The Grid is what urged her mother’s successor to return the Power Coin to her daughter. Her older brother is her only backup for that ability until she gains her own color. She had a year, but between today and taking that risk to get information about Ivan to you, she has until February or March. You better hope that her connection is strong enough once she loses the ability to use that coin. Otherwise, she’ll be like most retired Power Rangers, who now have inactive connections to the Grid except for when they're needed.” Dimitria took a deep breath before continuing.

“Just because that’s one such way for someone to become like you and her doesn’t mean that’s the only way. There are people chosen as Power Rangers who have similar abilities; the longer they remain as Rangers, the more their link with the Grid remains active, even if they transfer their powers to someone else. You, Red Ranger, are another such person.”

“As much as I wish she didn’t have the ability to access that section of the Grid, is there any way she can do so without killing herself?” Tommy was nobody’s fool; he knew that Abigail’s ability to enter and manipulate the Grid via her link to it needed to be trained up so that it didn’t almost kill her whenever she used it.

“Yes. I have the information right here.” Dimitria pulled an admittedly big book seemingly out of nowhere and set it on the floor.

“I’m going to deactivate the containment grid. When I do, I want you to slide that over to me. Conner, Ethan, be on guard.” He watched as the two Dino Rangers flanked her as the containment grid deactivated. He was pleased to see her slide the book over and didn’t try to escape at the same time. As it slid to him, he returned the grid to online as soon as he knew that it wouldn’t fry the book. “There’s a place for you to take care of your needs including food. You’re going to have to do a lot of talking to convince me to trust you right now. I’m not in the mood to listen, as you attacked an ally as well as my daughter.”

“She’s not your daughter, Tommy,” retorted Dimitria as he, Conner, and Ethan turned to walk away. He turned to face her, still angry about Ernie saying the same thing earlier.

“Just because I didn’t sire her doesn’t mean she’s not my daughter. As I told Ernie earlier, she’s as good as. It takes more than a blood connection to makes a family. You said it years ago, when T. J. and the others took our places as the Turbo Rangers; we’re a family. I am proud to be her dad.” Dimitria just gaped at his rant.

“Go, Dr. O!” Ethan said. “She’s lucky to have you as her dad. I might not be her, but I’m glad you’re her dad.”

“As are the rest of the team. You fight for her just like you’ve fought for and with us. Even if she’d never used her mom’s coin, she’s one of us now,” Trent added as they rejoined him and the others. “You’re a wonderful dad to her. I can tell, you’re helping her just like you helped Dad and I. Even if she and Ernie never rebuild their relationship, she’s got a wonderful dad in you.”

“Thanks, Trent. I appreciate the vote of confidence. I just hope I’m able to live up to it.” With that, the group headed off to their respective areas. Joining Rocky by Abigail’s side, he was unsurprised to find Kat sit next to them. “How is she?” He asked, indicating Abigail as he put an arm around his girlfriend.

“Exhausted. She didn’t even notice I’d covered her with that blanket as she’d fallen asleep that quickly. I wanted to put that pillow under her head instead of her gym bag, but she’ll wake up. She did stir slightly when I covered her up, but settled back down.”

“She needs that sleep. I remember what she was like when she was able to get information about our current opponent. She slept most of the Sunday after and wasn’t able to keep much down unless she had ginger ale with whatever she ate.” Tommy worried she’d be the same way when she woke up.

“You won’t have to deal with the aftereffects alone this time, Tommy. You’ve got the rest of us to help.” Tommy smiled at his girlfriend; he was glad that she was willing to help him out. He wasn’t sure what he’d do without her in his life and was once again pleased that she cared for Abigail.

They sat watching her sleep for a while and Tommy found himself dozing for a bit, trusting the others to keep watch. When he woke up, he found that Abigail had awoken and was quietly talking with Rocky. He was pleased to see that her nap had aided her. When Rocky notice that his friend had woken up, he got Abigail to look. Tommy barely had a chance to stand up before he found himself wrapped in a hug.

“Glad to see you’re doing better, Abigail. I was worried about you after your fight with Dimitria; you were resembling how you were after your trip through the grid.”

“I’m still feeling a bit woozy, but not near as bad as I was last month. That was awful and I have no desire to repeat the experience.” She hesitated and he asked what was wrong, only to get another huge hug. “Thank you for what you said to Dad, do you really mean it?”

“I do. If I could adopt you, I would. You’re a wonderful girl and I wish Ernie could realize it. If you want me to, I will and hang the consequences. It’s up to you and I’m not going to force you to give up your link to either of your parents.” He noticed the hitch in her breath as she started crying. He rubbed her back, trying to comfort her the best that he could.

“I’ll help him with that, Abigail,” Rocky and Katherine said at the same time. Continuing, Rocky added, “You don’t even have to give up the surname of ‘Burton’ if you don’t want to. You can remain Abigail Burton or become some variation of Abigail Burton-Oliver if you wish. It’s entirely up to you. I can work on Ernie. It may take a while, but it shouldn’t take more than a year. That should give the three of you enough time to decide on a course of action. I’m not including Ernie in that count. I’ve seen how she reacts to you, Katherine and don’t think I missed her comment about the two of you getting married. Send me an invite, will ya?” Tommy smiled at that, as did Katherine.

“We’ll have to involve Ms. Andrews too,” Abigail said as she turned to face Rocky. “Upstairs, in Dr. Oliver’s desk, there’s a tape recorder and sketchbook. They’re a record of the night Dad physically hit me. As long as you can convince her to not push to get him arrested, I can live with that.”

“He may be willing to sign off his parental rights to avoid a jail sentence. I’ll get you those things before you leave.” Tommy realized exactly what both Abigail and Rocky were getting at. It seemed as if she really wanted this, as he did. Kat apparently felt the same way, as she walked around so Abigail could see her.

“I might not be Trini, but I am willing to be your mother, if you’ll let me…and if Tommy asks.” Abigail gave her a huge hug after that. Everyone knew it would be a huge adjustment once he married Kat, but they wouldn’t be doing it alone. Rocky would remain her therapist as long as she needed him.

“This is a huge step, as long as you’re sure, Abigail,” Rocky cautioned her.

Abigail took a deep breath as she answered Rocky, “I’m sure. I want this, guys. Dr. Oliver’s been a better dad to me than my own has been. If you’ll excuse me, I have a quick question for Hayley.” Tommy and the other two let her dash off, knowing her limit to talk about things had been hit. She was soon back, but after pulling the morpher and a fairly familiar communicator out of her shoulder bag, she dashed back off.

“I haven’t seen those communicators in years,” Kat observed. “How much you want to bet she’s asking Hayley to link it to this Command Center?” Tommy just laughed.

“Sucker’s bet, Kat,” he said before kissing her again. Rocky just made gagging noises and got Tommy’s jacket tossed at him in response.

“Nice tats.” Rocky tossed the jacket back to him, laughing as Tommy caught it one handed.

“Thanks. Don’t expect me to forget the gagging noises,” he teased right back, laughing. A conversation between Abigail and the other Dino Rangers caught his attention as he watched her put the communicator on her right wrist.

“Doesn’t that usually go on the left wrist, Abigail?” He heard Ethan ask.

“Lefty, Ethan, if you’ve not noticed. I’ve never been able to tolerate anything on the left wrist, even a thin bracelet. Believe me, my Angel Grove best friend Amy Scott has tried everything. I have too; I tried one of those friendship bracelets made out of thread once. I had it untied by the end of English class.” She wasn’t alone in that, Tommy noted. He might be able to wear a watch on his dominant arm, but he knew not everyone was like that.

As close as she was getting to the Dino team, he wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up dating one of them. Rangers often ended up dating fellow Rangers, but not always. So far, Jason had ended up marrying Kimberly and he was in a serious relationship with Kat. Trini had been the only one to marry a non-Ranger, though Ernie was considered in-the-know. The rest of the former Rangers he’d fought alongside hadn’t had permanent relationships. Significant others had come and go, but nothing had ‘stuck’ for lack of a better term. Even Bulk had married and had a son of his own, though neither Bulk or Skull were in-the-know, nor were Bulk's wife and son. Skull, he doubted, would actually marry. He still carried a torch for Kimberly, but respected her marriage to Jason.

He’d never regretted going into business with them when they started their club and was still a silent partner. Even if he were not to return to teaching, he’d still have money coming in from the club as long as it was doing well. Between that and the money that he’d invested after leaving stock car racing, he was set for a long time. He could earn a salary as one of the teachers at Hanshi Scott’s dojo, but he’d instead traded lessons of his own for teaching several of the belt classes. He’d been surprised when Anton had given him shares in Anton Mercer Industries. Anton had said it was an apology for everything he’d done as Mesogog and refused to let him return the shares. The only reason he taught at Reefside was he enjoyed it; he always enjoyed teaching, even when he taught martial arts as a teen. It surprised few of his former teammates that he’d ended up teaching eventually, though he’d endured his fair share of ribbing for becoming a paleontologist first.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside/Angel Grove the week after the soccer game. POV: Rocky/3^rd person

Rocky, after the talk in Dino Command had died down and everyone had gone home, had gone upstairs with Tommy, Kat, and Abigail. Tommy had fetched the tape recorder and sketchbook, warning him to wait until he got home before he listened to it. Kat, knowing that the two men were going to have a difficult conversation, took Abigail upstairs with her to the teen’s art room. Music was blaring not long after, off of a cd player/radio combination machine Abigail had requested. From the sounds of it, the album was a ‘Freestyle Love Supreme’ cd. Tommy might not be a fan, but he wasn’t going to stop her enjoying what music she loved.

“When I listened to it Sunday, Abigail still flinched even though she had her earbuds in, listening to music on her iPod. I don’t want to have her go through that again until she’s ready. I know she may never be ready, but it’s going to depend on her.” Rocky could hear his friend’s concern and worry about his daughter.

“I don’t blame you. I was surprised when she not just came into your office, but stayed. I know she was listening to her iPod, but that’s two huge steps for her. It didn’t surprise me when you told me her nightmares increased for a few days after that. She’s lucky she has you for a parent; I shudder to think what would have happened had she not run at the first opportunity available.”

Tommy nodded; his face grim. “I told you about my initial dream with Trini, right? I didn’t tell you everything. She feared that Ernie, had he not known about Abigail inheriting Trini’s morpher and communicator, would have abused her in an even worse way.”

Rocky closed his eyes. Tommy might not realize what Trini meant, but Rocky did. “Tommy, there’s no worse abuse then sexual.” He could hear his friend draw in a breath and didn’t even have to look to know exactly what Tommy’s face looked like. “Abigail favors her mother more than she does Ernie. Abigail cannot know about this; no matter how far Ernie comes in his therapy, if she ever finds out, it will shatter any hope of reconciliation with him. Even with the possibility of adoption open to her, she still hopes to rebuild her relationship with Ernie.”

“I can support her in that, but it’s going to take me a long time to be able to trust him after this, Rocky. Abigail’s well-being comes first over any friendship I had with him. He didn’t realize it, but today was the first of many fights he will lose if he so much as tries to remove her from my care.”

“I’ll back you right up on that, Tommy. Abigail has thrived under your care. From what I’ve been able to glean from Kimberly and others who taught her, Ernie kept her on a short leash; David too. The physical abuse may have only happened recently, but his strict parenting can be argued as another form of abuse. She doesn’t mind you knowing this, but we spend a good chunk of time each session with her excitedly telling me about everything she’s doing, either with you or her friends. She’s so happy to able to be a normal teenager finally.” Tommy smiled at that.

“I remember her dragging you up to her art room when she got everything to how she wanted it. She’s very proud of it, as am I of her. She’s not the scared 15-year-old that she was when she first came. I know her birthday’s in June, but I just realized I didn’t get her a birthday gift. I’m considering a bicycle, so she doesn’t have to rely on me if she wants to head to town between now and getting a driver’s license. As much as I live in the middle of nowhere, we’re still pretty close to town.”

“Telling you everything really took a load off of her back. I know our mid-week session this week had to be over the phone, but your reaction solidified how safe she feels here. She told me that with coming clean, I can tell you anything you want to know from our sessions. She calls this her sanctuary and said that, even if she’s able to rebuild her relationship with Ernie, she doesn’t want to leave here. She’s not even started high school, but she wants to graduate from Reefside High.”

If the conversation hadn’t been so serious, Rocky would have laughed at Tommy doing an excellent impression of a fish at his last statement. Tommy, for all of his gifts and brilliance, was still partially blind to the fact that he was great with children and a wonderful father. Placing a hand on his friend’s arm, Rocky continued talking.

“If you’d asked Abigail a month ago if she was willing to become your adopted daughter, she would have been conflicted. She still is, but not as much as before, though. That answer, as I’m sure you noticed, changed today and it wasn’t just hearing you defend and protect her to Ernie that solidified her decision. Every gain you’ve made with her has guided her to this point. I know it’s rather quick; most children in her position take months, if not years, to get to that point with an adult guardian. Not all of them even get to that point, Tommy. You’re everything she needs in a father right now and I’m proud of both of you.”

“Rocky, I don’t know what to say except thank you. I don’t know if I would have even gotten this far with her in almost 2 months if it hadn’t been for your help. You were one of the first calls I made after bringing her home. I knew I couldn’t help her alone; she wouldn’t have even had initiated that conversation Sunday if you’d not helped her. I would have found out about her continuing on Trini’s legacy in the worst way possible.”

“You would have, Dr. Oliver.” Rocky swirled around to see Abigail and Kat back downstairs. She came in and gave him a huge hug. “Mom told me as much when I talked to her last month. She said I had to tell you voluntarily or I’d have been forced to do so at the worst possible time. I have no doubt that today would have been that time, with how I felt after fighting our ‘guest’ downstairs.”

Rocky and Tommy both did their best to not react to that, but Tommy failed at that, as he pulled Abigail in for a second hug. Tommy had told him about Abigail requesting that Tommy forcibly demorph her; he knew what it took her to make that request and was yet another sign of how much she trusted him. If she’d not revealed her true identity willingly, he would have been forced to. None of the Dino Rangers knew exactly how to demorph that particular suit. Rocky wouldn’t have been able to help, as he’d been dealing with Ernie at the time.

“How much did you hear, Abigail?” Rocky asked. He wanted to make sure she’d not heard them discussing the bit about Ernie’s abuse possibly being worse.

“Just the last bit. It’s getting time for dinner; I’ve not eaten since lunch and today took a lot of energy out of me.” Rocky was relieved at that; he knew Abigail well enough by now that he knew her tells when she was lying.

Tommy blinked. “When did you eat? I didn’t even have lunch outside of some food at the game.” Rocky and Abigail both chuckled at that.

“When you and Katherine were napping. Kira had ordered pizza. We were all surprised when the smell of lunch didn’t wake you up. Leftovers are in a bag in the fridge if you want some.” Abigail gestured at the fridge at the mention of pizza.

“We had enough junk today. It’s too late to cook a substantial meal, though. Little Tokyo, if you’re up for it.” Rocky knew that it was the local Japanese hibachi restaurant.

“I am, Dr. O. I’m still tired, but the nap helped. If I get tired again, we can bring the rest home.” At that, Rocky had to decline an invite from them.

“I need to get back to Angel Grove. Ernie’s in a bad enough state that I need to get back; Jason and Kimberly both have called. I wasn’t about to leave you, though. You were my client first, before Ernie was. I knew you needed to work through what happened today. The minute I get back to Angel Grove, I’m getting back to Ernie. You were right, he needs therapy over jail time, but he’s been set back twice in the last month.” He gave her a sharp look before continuing his explanation, “I’m not going to lie, Abigail. There’s no way he’s going to be ready to know where you are or what your alias is for at least a year, maybe 18 months.”

“He’s not at the Youth Center right now, is he?” Rocky shook his head at that.

“Jason and Kimberly took him to Jason’s dojo, as they needed the backup from Zack and the others. Ernie might not be in the best of shape, but I can understand why you had issues defending yourself, the size of your old bedroom aside. He’s surprisingly strong for being overweight.” Rocky had a good idea why, too. Ernie carried in most of the supplies for the Youth Center and those weren’t always the lightest things. Rocky had once helped Ernie carry in a fruit and vegetable order once; he’d not realized just how heavy crates of fruits and vegetables could get.

Abigail looked grim at that and Rocky could tell that she was replaying the night of her attack in her head. She wasn’t alone in her memory as both Tommy and Katherine were offering her what comfort she could accept at that moment.

“He used to be a football player in university; he told me once when I was trying out for the Angel Grove varsity team. That would account for it too, even if he never kept up with the exercise once he graduated.”

“Him, exercise? He always seemed to have an allergy to exercising except for hauling in the supplies for his smoothies and stuff,” Abigail scoffed and it didn’t escape Rocky’s notice that she didn’t even refer to Ernie as Father anymore. She might still call Tommy Dr. Oliver or Dr. O, but this was yet another sign that she was considering Ernie her father figure less and less.

After saying his goodbyes, he headed off. True to what he’d told Tommy and the others, he headed straight to Jason’s dojo. He wasn’t surprised to find that they’d had to constrain Ernie, though the fuzzy handcuffs surprised him. He wasn’t about to ask where they got them either; the last time he’d made an offhand comment about something weird he’d found accidentally at the dojo, he’d wanted to find out if brain bleach was a thing. He might be an adult, but there were some kinks that he never liked hearing about.

“Rocky, am I glad to see you. Can you convince them to unhandcuff me?” Ernie flexed his hands where they were cuffed to the desk chair.

Grabbing a chair, he turned to face Ernie. “Not right now, Ernie. I know the minute that you’re uncuffed, you’re going to be headed straight back to Reefside. I need you to sit and listen to me right now and listen good. Yes, Abigail’s in Reefside. I’ve talked to her, but I’m not telling you where she is. Neither of you are in any condition to be in the same room together, much less the same city. You were lucky today, that she defended you. If what she told me is true, she would have been well within her rights to let Dimitria kill you where you stood.” Rocky took little satisfaction from the look on Ernie’s face. He hated doing this to his long-time friend, but it was the only way he’d listen. He ignored the sounds of shock and horror from the others.

“I don’t even remember what I did, Rocky. All I know is we had a series of arguments and I ended up blacking out the night before she ran.” Rocky looked around at the room at that and asked everyone to leave. He knew it wasn’t a good idea, but he was still pissed beyond caring at the moment. He’d played the tape on the car ride down and had almost wished he hadn’t. He’d had to resort to pulling over so he could calm down.

“Is this room soundproof, Jason?” Rocky didn’t even bother turning around to face his friend and predecessor of the Red Ranger coin and its associated powers.

“Yes, nearly. What’s going on, Rocky?” Rocky could tell Jason really didn’t want to leave, even without looking.

“Nothing you need to know about right now. This is between me, Ernie, and Abigail. I just need the keys for the cuffs. You guys should probably wait in the main classroom. This is going to get a bit messy, emotionally.” After receiving them and the others leaving, Rocky closed and locked the office door. Before returning to his chair, he retrieved the tape recorder and sketchbook from his briefcase. Setting the tape recorder on Jason’s desk, he pressed the play button. Ernie flinched, like Rocky, Tommy, Katherine, and Abigail all had when Ernie’s final statement rang out.

Rocky noted he’d finally gotten through to Ernie and shut the tape off. “This is what you did, Ernie. I got permission to have you listen to this and look at the sketchbook, but that was it. I have been asked to tell you that if you return to Reefside with the idea of removing her from her current residence, you’ll never see her again.” Satisfied that Ernie wouldn’t run, he unlocked the cuffs.

Ernie just sobbed; Rocky was sorry he had to do this to his friend, but he agreed with Tommy, Ms. Andrews, and Kat. Abigail’s safety and health came first, irregardless of what Ernie wanted or how far he came in his treatment. What happened next was now completely up to Ernie. Rocky knew that he’d just sent Ernie back to the mental state he’d been in the first week Abigail’d been missing, but it would have happened no matter when Rocky played the tape. They were going to have to be extra vigilant, though; Ernie had been close to ending everything once. Rocky texted David to hide anything at the house that Ernie could use to end his life.

Poking his head out of the office, he called for the others, who came running in a hurry. Leaving the door open slightly, he stepped out to talk to them.

“I’m going to summarize what I just had Ernie listen to. While in Reefside, I managed to talk to Abigail and she gave me two items to bring back with me. Like I told Ernie, I’m not about to reveal where she is. Neither of them are in any condition whatsoever to be in the same city together, much less the same building. One of the things she gave me is an audio recording of the night before she ran, it was pretty rough. As of right now, I’m putting him back on suicide watch. I do not want him left alone for any length of time, even at the Youth Center. Someone’s going to have to retrieve the alcohol from his house as well as any non-prescription medications. I’ve already instructed David to hide anything else that he could use aside from sheets.”

“Not a good idea to have him listen to that, Rocky.” Rocky took Jason’s admonishment to heart.

“I know, not one of my better decisions. I just got to the point listening to it that I was too pissed to care. Even so, this would have put him in the same spot, irregardless of how far he’d come in his healing.”

Kimberly nodded. “I know you can’t tell us where she is, or who her guardian is, but how is she doing?”

“Better. She’s safe, even though she’s taken up Trini’s mantle. As you guys saw today, she’s fighting alongside Reefside’s own team. She trusts them enough to have her back; I’m sure you all saw she should have been seriously injured by the time their opponents fled, with at least once broken bone.”

“She wasn’t though, and neither were her teammates. That explains why Dimitria turned on Ernie, though.” Kimberly looked uncommonly serious; Rocky knew she was worried about her goddaughter.

“With what I did to her, I’m surprised she defended me. I know I wouldn’t have in her place,” came Ernie’s voice from the doorway.

Rocky turned to face his friend. “The fact that she did speaks volumes, Ernie, as does the fact that Lt. Stone doesn’t know. You’d be in a jail cell in a heartbeat if he did. She still holds out hope that the two of you will be able to rebuild your relationship. That can’t happen without healing on both ends.” He was pleased to see Ernie nod.

“Whatever she wants. I’ve said it before; I failed her once as a father, and in a major way. I can’t fail her again. If she wants me to relinquish guardianship to whoever she’s staying with, I can do that. Even if it’s getting her paperwork to whoever her guardian is, I can do that. As to the jail cell thing, I should be.”

Rocky and Ernie were the only two whose jaws didn’t drop at that shocking statement from him. When Ernie asked if he’d let the others listen to what Rocky had played for him, he shook his head.

“I only had permission to have you look and listen Ernie. I have to get this stuff back up to her when I’m in Reefside next.”

“If I give you the letters I’ve written, will you give them to her?” Ernie asked as he moved aside.

“I’ll take them up to her, but don’t count on a response. She’s still not ready to deal just yet, even with her actions this afternoon. She told Dimitria that it was not Dimitria’s place to be judge, jury, and executioner for a reason. That reason is she believes that the man that her mom fell in love with is in there somewhere.” With that, Rocky headed back in to Jason’s office and put the items he’d pulled out back in his briefcase.

Jason volunteered to take Ernie home, but knew Rocky was going to be coming over as soon as he packed a night bag. Ernie needed Rocky there overnight, the older man had even asked. The other Rangers volunteered for day watch. Even Billy volunteered, even if that meant Ernie was spending the day at Zordon’s Command Center. Rocky wasn’t sure how the older man was going to deal spending the day with a certified genius and two A. I. automatons. Ernie knew Billy well enough to understand when Billy got technical on him, but Alphas 5 and 6 might be a bit much. He knew that they might not have any other option some days. With the search for Abigail dying down, he was getting busier in his office as his clients returned for their appointments. It was the only reason he had the night watch along with David and David would be heading to university within the month.

Jason met Rocky at the front door of Ernie’s house, worried as Rocky had ever seen him.

“He’s not good; he didn’t even argue me taking the alcohol. I’m not sure how aware he was I was taking it. There’s no drugs in the house except Midol and some Motrin, not even Tylenol; David said it belonged to Abigail. I hope you can take them up to her. She’s Tommy’s foster daughter, isn’t she?”

“I can’t answer that question right now, Jason. Next time I go up to Reefside, I’m taking letters from Ernie up, even if she doesn’t read them right away. If you or any of the others want to add to that pile, I’m going to need them by Tuesday lunch.” Rocky hoped he wasn’t making a huge mistake. Looking around, he continued quietly, “Tell the others Lt. Stone hears nothing of what you just found out. Abigail cannot be returned to his custody. What I said back at the dojo stands. I didn’t tell Ernie this, but she’s seriously considering becoming Abigail Burton-Oliver, becoming Tommy’s daughter in all but blood.”

Jason just nodded at that; grim determination written on his face. “If anyone can help Abigail right now, it’s Tommy and Kat. She’s lucky to have you in her corner as well. With you in the picture, reconciliation and healing can finally start to happen. You guys aren’t doing this alone; we take care of our own.”

Rocky entered the house at that, Jason right behind him. Ernie was in a sorry state, similar to how he’d been at the dojo. David was sitting next to his father and wouldn’t even look at Rocky. After they got Ernie to bed and Jason had left, Rocky wasn’t surprised when David pinned him against the wall.

“What exactly did you say to him earlier? I’ve not seen him like this since Abigail first ran away; I think he’s actually worse. Seeing Jason bring him in, I finally understand why you had me hide everything that he could use to commit suicide.”

“I saw your sister today; she got to Reefside safely last month. She gave me proof that, should Lt. Stone find out about it, would land your dad in jail and create the biggest scandal that Angel Grove’s seen in a long time.” Rocky knew David had put two and two together when the younger man released his grip. “Letting your dad listen to it tonight wasn’t exactly my smartest move, but it would have put him in this position irregardless. He needs to heal from everything, but he’ll die if we leave him to his own devices. You leaving for university next month complicates things.”

“That it does; even though I’m going to be on campus Sunday night through end of classes Thursday, I’ll be back every weekend. As long as Dad and Abigail need me to, that is. I’m not living on campus next year; I can just commute with L. A. being this close.”

“I’m taking letters up from your dad and the others; it’s no imposition to add another to the pile.” David just nodded.

“I know my dorm address; I’ll add it to my letter and let her know that she can send any letters to me there, with her return address.” David looked at his dad’s room. “He really doesn’t need to know her address.”

“Not with the state he’s in. When I think he can handle it, I’ll tell him with Abigail’s permission. Telling him now would just make him worse. That recording was the straw that broke the camel’s back, especially after the day he had.”

“No shit.” Rocky followed David into the teen’s bedroom. “I was there and heard what she told Dimitria.”

“I told Ernie that he was very lucky today that she defended him. His response was that she should have let Dimitria kill him.” Rocky should his head. “I told him that she still hopes for reconciliation; that she hopes that the man your mother fell in love with, the Ernie we all knew, is still in there.”

“We need to get him to that point, then. He needs this as much as she does. If we succeed, their relationship will be stronger than ever, even if Dr. Oliver is her legal father by that point.” David drew in a breath at that; Rocky noted that he used the same title for Tommy as his younger sister did. “I know, why not call him Tommy like most of the rest of you. It doesn’t feel right calling him Tommy just yet; I’ve not seen him in 7 years. From what I remember, he’s a great guy. He was the one to actually administer one of my belt tests; he’s very patient. He was really good with all of the students up for a belt test that afternoon.”

Rocky chuckled. “He’s not changed much; Abigail responded really well to him. Well enough that I was surprised at how fast their relationship progressed. Most children in her position take much longer to respond to a new guardian.” They had to stop their quiet conversation due to Ernie having a nightmare; Rocky sprinting to his friend’s bedroom. He got there just in time as Ernie awoke and flipped the switch on, grabbing Ernie. “David, get in here. I’m going to need your help.” Ernie was beginning to fight him and Rocky knew his friend was trying to make his first attempt.

“Dad. Listen to me. Think of Abigail. She wants to reconcile with you; she can’t do that if you’re dead.” Ernie began to slow down his fighting; Rocky knew David was getting through to his father. He only hoped it was enough. “I know what you did was bad, but it will hurt her worse if you die. She might have run away because of what you did, but she still loves you and so do I. So does Mom, from heaven.”

Rocky was pleased to see Ernie stop fighting. “David’s right. That’s why I’m here. Despite running away, she still cares for you. She asked me to help you, Ernie and so did you, remember. That’s right, Ernie, take a deep breath. Focus on my voice and on David’s; you’re not going to deal with this alone. You might not have worn a suit and fought the villains we did, but you’re one of us. Always have been, even before marrying Trini. We take care of our own, Ernie, always have. Zordon always reminded us to work as a team and you’re included in that.” With that, Rocky pulled Ernie into his embrace, letting his friend cry everything out. David joined them on his dad’s other side, joining in on the hug.

Looking into David’s eyes across Ernie’s shoulders, Rocky knew that the fight wasn’t over. They might have been able to preemptively stop this attempt after his nightmare, but it wouldn’t be the last attempt he made. They would have to be extra vigilant; Ernie couldn’t even go to the bathroom alone. David had checked at Rocky’s request and thankfully, Ernie used an electric razor. If he shaved with a straight razor, that would have been an issue. Rocky had seen ‘Sweeny Todd’ when it came through Angel Grove on tour once.

After Ernie calmed down enough to fall back asleep, Rocky sent David to bed. He knew that the 18-year-old would be up in a few hours, when Rocky would go to bed himself. It was the only way either of them would get enough sleep. Rocky normally needed 7 hours of sleep a night, but he’d survived on 5 or fewer before, primarily pulling all-nighters in college. Ernie wasn’t the only patient he’d had to stay up with at night, either, though the last one had been when he’d been doing a residency at the closest hospital psych ward.

Ernie, between David falling asleep and getting back up, had several more nightmares. Thankfully, he made no more attempts that night to end his life that night, not even after Rocky went to bed himself. Rocky found out the next morning that the first nightmare had been about what had been on the tape; the rest of them were just repeats of nightmares he’d had right after Abigail had ran away. He also knew he couldn’t tell Tommy any of this right now, maybe not even ever. His friend needed to center his focus on being the best dad he could be to Abigail right now.

He really hated that Kat was going to be leaving Angel Grove at the same time that David was, but she was moving up to Reefside to be closer to Tommy and Abigail. Rocky looked at his briefcase in regret; while Abigail’s letter would help, Ernie was also in no place to read it right now. The fact that Ernie was at his weakest right now was the only thing stopping Rocky from calling Tommy to see if Abigail was able to talk with her father right now. The resulting conversation between father and daughter would push enough buttons that would send Ernie past the point of no return; they’d lose him for sure. No, it was best for all involved that Ernie not know where she was until his mental health had returned to what was baseline normal for him, or close to.

“Rocky.” He turned to see David approach him. “Do you have any recommendations for someone that I can talk to on campus? They don’t need to be someone in-the-know, but at least trustworthy enough to not spill anything about Mom or make the call that would see Dad in a psych ward. You’re too involved in Dad and Abigail’s care for me to ask that I be one of your clients. I need someone not involved to help. Going off to college is hard enough without what’s going on.”

Rocky realized it was a good idea. “I’ve got a few friends from when I was getting my own degree. One of them owes me a rather huge favor and he works at your university.” Rocky took a few seconds to find his friend’s name and wrote the information down. “I’ll give him a call, with your permission, and give him enough information that he knows how carefully he needs to tread around sensitive information. I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Tommy years ago: it’s good when you realize you need help and are willing to seek it out.”

David smiled as he took the paper. “Sensei Jason always says taking care of yourself mentally and emotionally is just as important as your physical health. I’d be a fool to not seek someone out right now.” He smiled and Rocky could see the resemblance to Abigail at that moment. “I’m glad Abigail’s doing fine. Whoever her guardian or guardians are, she’s clearly thriving.”

“She is,” Rocky said, as much for Ernie’s benefit as David’s. “She misses the both of you, but is getting the help she needs. Hopefully, but this time next year, everyone will be ready to meet up. It’s her big goal right now, to be ready to see you again, Ernie.” Taking a big breath, he added, “I’d like for that to be your big goal, too, if you’re willing.”

Ernie just nodded, still not doing well. “Can you call Jason or Zack? I can’t deal with the Youth Center right now. Head’s a mess; the regulars would notice in a heartbeat.” David headed off to make that call, while Rocky sat down in front of his friend.

“That’s fair, Ernie. You got several shocks to your system yesterday, between seeing Abigail in her mom’s old suit and what I told you. For what it’s worth, I am sorry for dumping all of that on you yesterday. What happened last night at the dojo is all on me; I’d made the mistake of listening to the tape on the drive down. Jason and the others are always saying ‘never act in anger’ and I did do so last night. With everything that happened after the game against Reefside, the last thing you needed to listen to was the record of what happened the night before she ran.”

Ernie just raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t say anything for quite a while. “It’s fair, people who know your triggers know how to step on them the hardest. If that purple dude hadn’t attacked after the game, I probably would have been able to listen to that tape a lot easier. As it was, I’m glad you stayed last night. I doubt I’d be alive right now if you didn’t.”

“I will stay overnight as long as you need me to, including after David heads off to college. He’s a wonderful young man, just like his sister is a wonderful young lady.”

“I never told them how proud of them I am enough. That’s one of the things I put in a letter to Abigail and it’s something I need to tell David more. Don’t think I forgot he was there last night when I needed him alongside you.”

“Seeing you last night scared me, Dad. I don’t want to lose you.” David had entered the den from making his phone call. “Jason’s at the Youth Center; said that Kimberly is going to come over with food. As the word spreads, expect a lot of food. All Jason is going to say is you’re not at your best right now after the attack in Reefside yesterday.”

Rocky nodded at that. “I’m going to try and rearrange my schedule. The only client, besides Abigail and you, Ernie, that I can’t abandon right now, is Tommy’s foster daughter. Her life’s changed a lot since becoming his foster daughter and it’s about to change some more when Katherine moves up. She’s also getting ready to start high school; that’s tough enough on anyone without dealing with what she is on top of that.”

“High school can get brutal, especially for the girls.” David shook his head. “I remember some girls at Angel Grove High finding presumed weaknesses in their classmates and using them to bully others. Katrina’s going to be a target just being a foster child. Being Dr. Oliver’s foster child is either going to protect her or make things worse, especially if her bullies end up in detention.”

“With what Tommy told me yesterday, I have a feeling that the worst offenders will get some fairly bad detentions. He’s fiercely protective of her.”

Rocky smiled sadly at that. “She’s got friends already. One of them is her teammate from soccer camp; another is a friend of Ethan’s. Ethan is one of the students Tommy mentored last year. Tommy’s glad at how well she’s adjusting to life in Reefside. He might give me a lot of credit, but he did a lot of the hard work.”

“He’s always had a gift for teaching and dealing with children who come from troubled backgrounds. It didn’t surprise me when he became a teacher. Paleontologist surprised me, though. Never pictured him as someone interested in digging up dinosaurs.”

“You and everyone else who knew him as a teenager.” Rocky, while glad that Ernie was laughing, knew that it was only temporary. Ernie would have his good days and bad days; it would be the job of Rocky and the former Rangers to catch Ernie when he couldn’t deal by himself.

“Just glad Katrina’s not asked me what he was like as a teenager yet. She’s already teased him about some rumors that had been going around at Hayley’s CyberSpace. I’m sure he would rather not that she know of his more…embarrassing…actions as a teen. Her and the students he mentored, at any rate. He’s rather close to them. Conner’s the worst offender at teasing him; but Tommy teases them right back. He won’t go into details, but they apparently bonded during detention the first week of school. Something about being saved by the Dino Rangers.”

Ernie gave him a gimlet look, not believing him for one second. “Became the Dino Rangers, you mean. Don’t think I didn’t notice how close all the Power Rangers in Angel Grove became after becoming Rangers, especially the newcomers to the team. Fighting evil together can make unlikely friends out of teammates.”

“Force of habit, Ernie. Haven’t been an active Power Ranger in years, but I still have to deal with people wondering who the Power Rangers are, even if the teams are in different cities.” Ernie had nothing to say at that as he was in the same habit.

“We still get teenagers trying to bet on or find out their identities. Bulk’s son has taken up his father’s mantle of it, but he’s a teen army of one. Skull’s never married.”

“Still pining after Kimberly; he won’t look at anyone else, or so Bulk thinks the last time we talked.” Ernie just shook his head; Skull had been in love with the original Pink Ranger since high school, but he could never match Tommy or Jason in her heart.

“They would have never worked as a couple. Skull’s great, but he’s a package deal with Bulk. Kimberly and Bulk didn’t get along near as well as she did with Skull; still don't. Kimberly wouldn’t have forced him to choose between his best friend and her and Skull would have had to choose eventually.” Rocky was reminded once again of just how perceptive Ernie was, even with his own issues with Abigail.

“Ever think of running a matchmaking service, Dad? If you’ve not noticed, most of Mom’s friends are still single.” Rocky sputtered at David’s teasing; Ernie just laughed.

“No, David. Not for a long while; remind me to tell you when I’m better to tell you the time one of Rita and Zedd’s goons used a love potion on the residents of Angel Grove.” Rocky blushed at the memory.

“Ernie, I will give you $5 to not mention that ever again.” Ernie and David just laughed at Rocky’s discomfort. Before the teasing could devolve further, the doorbell rang. David went to open it to find Kimberly, with Aisha not far behind her. David went out to the car to help them bring in food that the two must have spent most of the night cooking. While Aisha talked with Ernie and David both, Rocky quickly joined Kimberly in the dining room.

“You fucked up last night, Rocky.” Rocky flinched at her admonishment, knowing the original Pink Ranger was right.

“I know. Ernie, if I’d not been here last night, would not likely be alive right now. Most of the blame for that can be laid directly at my feet for playing what I did. I’ve already apologized to him for it and will continue to apologize as long as I need to. I also know he won’t get through this, even before yesterday, without help from you and the other former Rangers. He is going to have his good days and moments and his bad ones. Be prepared to catch him if I’m not around and I’m not talking physically.” Rocky knew Kimberly understood what he was saying.

“We’ll be there for him and David both. Are you taking David on as well?” Rocky shook his head.

“David’s already asked for a name of someone at his college he can talk to. He pointed out that I’m already too emotionally invested to be able to help him too. I gave him the name of a friend who works there. I’m going to call said friend later, so he knows that David has knowledge of some classified stuff that’s going to get brought up. My friend went to a school in upstate New York for gifted students; he knows all about classified information.”

Kimberly raised an eyebrow at that, but Rocky was glad she didn’t press him. “I competed in the Pan Am Games alongside people from a similar school in the same state. I may have competed with your friend, if he’s who I’m thinking of. Good choice.”

Aisha and Kimberly traded rooms not long after that and Rocky found himself given the same lecture by Trini’s successor. He knew that, despite his words today, he wasn’t being let off the hook just yet. The only reason another counselor hadn’t been found for Ernie was because Ernie didn’t want anyone else but Rocky as his. Forcing him to see someone else would only see Ernie admitted to a psych ward and that’s something that they wanted to avoid right now. It would have the same result in their community as sending him to jail. No matter how far their society had come in the field of mental health, there was still a stigma against suicide and it was worse on the men. Losing the Youth Center would be just as bad on Ernie as losing Trini and Abigail had been.

Ernie had eventually dozed off in the den; he’d not gotten a whole lot of restful sleep the night before. Kimberly and Aisha were unwilling to leave his side at the moment; Kimberly’s twins were at the Youth Center helping their dad. The four took turns sitting in the den with Ernie, so that no one person was doing it alone.

“I hate seeing him like this. I know part of it was my own fault for playing that tape. Ernie may have said that he thought he would have been able to deal with it better if not for the attack in Reefside yesterday that he was witness to, but I disagree. What’s on that tape is really bad, guys, and I mean bad. Not sexual abuse, I promise, but Abigail’s lucky she’s as resilient as she is. If the physical abuse had been going on for longer than it did, I would not have been able to even gain knowledge of that tape.”

“Why don’t you just destroy it?” Aisha asked.

“I can’t. Abigail’s guardian needs it back; her social worker is going to need to listen. Between now and the end of August, I hope to be able to gain her school records from Ernie and other documents. He’s in no condition to willingly surrender them to me right now, despite putting on a brave face for the two of you. Right now, he needs friends and family willing to be his safety net, so that he doesn’t have to deal with everything alone as he has been since Trini died. The fact that he recognized he wasn’t able to deal with being at the Youth Center today is a promising sign. He shouldn’t have been there when she first went missing. I saw the toll it took on him that week; that’s why he was initially put on suicide watch to begin with. I was able to take him off of it not long before the game against Reefside.”

“You’re right. The Ernie that emerged right after Trini’s death threw himself into work and being a single father. He needed to grieve and refused to allow himself to do so, despite those of us in town at the time being willing and able to help,” spoke up Kimberly. “I wasn’t too unsurprised to get David’s call this morning; despite this major setback, Ernie’s come a long way since early June.”

Rocky just nodded, hands folded so that the fingertips touched. He’d seen how Ernie was after Trini’s death and how much her former teammates still in town pitched in around the Youth Center after that. Even those Rangers who’d never known her as such pitched in; they’d all come to care for Ernie over the years. This was despite Ernie trying to push everyone who’d ever known Trini away. Whether Ernie recognized it or not, this was why he was now accepting help from the same people he’d tried pushing away. They’d all laid the groundwork for it years ago, first as Power Rangers and later after Trini died. The knowledge that they considered him an honorary Power Ranger also helped. He wasn’t looking forward to the rollicking that Jason was sure to give him and planned to be far away when he wasn’t with Ernie.

“I know that look on your face, Rocky. The lecture you’re going to get from Jason is going to be huge.”

Rocky snorted. “You mean the well-deserved ass-chewing, Kim. While I know the longer I hide, the worse it’s going to be and I recognize Jason’s anger at me is well deserved. He would be well within my rights to strip me of my rank as a Power Ranger.”

“Not without Tommy’s say-so. Despite Jason having been the original leader of the team, all rank stripping when it comes to the original six and their initial successors belongs to Tommy with Zordon gone. It was an unspoken agreement between us after he was named leader. Aside from your mistake last night, you’ve done a lot of good already for Ernie and Abigail both. Tommy too, from what little he’s told us. Don’t give me that look; I know who Katrina is, Rocky.” Kimberly’s last sentence was whispered in Rocky’s ear and for good reason. Ernie was stirring, but hadn’t had a nightmare since he’d fallen asleep several hours previously.

Checking in on Ernie and David, Rocky was happy to see Ernie bouncing even further back from the previous day as he awoke. Being in familiar surroundings, with some of his support system nearby certainly helped the older man, but Rocky also knew that they were going to have darker days, too. Yesterday’s monster attack certainly propelled Ernie into ‘bad day’ territory. It had been part of why the tape had sent him over the edge.

One of the things Rocky was proudest of with Ernie was getting him to start writing letters. Didn’t matter if they were to Trini or Abigail, but there had been days when Ernie just couldn’t verbalize what he was feeling. Rocky could tell where Abigail got it from and was glad Ernie was getting some of it down on paper. He’d seen every letter that Ernie had written so far and had been surprised when Ernie wanted him to send his first batch addressed to Abigail up to Reefside, even after listening to the tape. He still remembered the conversation that had initiated the letter writing exercise for Ernie.

“Rocky, I’m not that great about talking about this. I don’t know how to say it out loud.”

“Have you tried writing it down? You’re not the first client with that issue, including among my more recent ones. My newest one draws out stuff that they have a tough time talking about. Some clients find writing letters to people help, even if the letters never get sent or they get burnt at some point.”

Ernie had started writing the letters not long after that and Rocky had noticed a marked improvement, even with the setbacks he’d had. It gave him confidence that Ernie would be able to get through this rather major setback. After lunch, Rocky knew Ernie needed another round of letter writing and stopped both Kimberly and Aisha from following Ernie to his office.

“I’m headed up right behind him; he’s not going to want anyone else in there with him right now. Basically, impromptu counseling session. If I need help, listen for a communicator beep, Kimberly. I know Billy made extras for those who gave theirs up.” Kat had Kimberly’s original while Trini’s had been given to Abigail. One of the many things that Billy had programmed into them over the years was the ability to single out one communicator only without speaking. Once an ability granted initially to Zordon or Dimitria via Alpha 5 and Alpha 6’s help, it was now shared among the former Rangers.

Getting up to the office, Rocky closed the door behind him. He was glad to find that Ernie hadn’t tried using the writing instruments as a substitute for traditionally used sharp objects. It was the one thing that hadn’t been removed from Ernie’s reach because he used them in his counseling and therapy sessions. What did surprise him was the fact that Ernie had pulled out a traditional notebook instead of using loose-leaf lined paper like he’d used for Abigail’s other letters.

At Rocky’s look, Ernie explained that he knew he had a lot to write to Abigail in this one. “I don’t expect you to take this up to her right away, Rocky. I know it’s probably going to take me multiple sessions to fill this up and even though she may never read this notebook until years later, I want to be able to use what I write down to write her a better letter.” Ernie still showed a lot of pain in his face; the knowledge of what had happened the night before Abigail ran was haunting him worse than the blank spot in his memory did.

“How much of our therapy sessions do you want her to know?” Rocky asked, serious. Ernie gave him a serious look.

“Generalities for now. She has her own healing to do and I have no desire to set that back. I don’t even want to know who’s taking care of her or where she lives right now. I’m in no condition to deal with that information,” he replied through tears. Rocky took his friend’s hands in his own.

“I’m glad you’re able to recognize that, Ernie. You’ve come a long way; if the game against Reefside had occurred not long after she vanished, you would have stayed up there looking for her.” Ernie just closed his eyes at that, not even caring his face was streaked with tears.

“And damaged our relationship forever. I just hope I’ve not damaged my chance of reconciliation with her.” Rocky handed Ernie several tissues so the older man could blow his nose and wipe away his tears.

“You haven’t. You just need to continue to heal, Ernie. You’ve been through a lot since Trini died and I don’t expect that you’ll be at 100% right away. What you’ve been through is a big deal. You’re going to have good and bad moments, even within the same day. As long as you can trust Trini’s former teammates and the other Rangers who call Angel Grove home to catch you during your weakest moments, you’ll come back from this stronger than ever. I have no doubt of that. I’ve seen people who have abused their children worse than you did Abigail who refuse to work with a therapist or fully put into practice what the therapist recommends. They eventually either end up killing their children or lose custody of them forever.

“Other parents are like you, Ernie. Granted, you’re one of the rarer ones I’ve come across, but your situation is far from unique. Even if they never regain full custody of their children, their relationship with said children becomes stronger than ever.”

“I wish I had your confidence, Rocky. I seriously fucked up with her. As I said last night, she should have let Dimitria kill me for what I did to her,” Ernie repeated his sentiments from the night before.

Rocky shook his head. “While what you did was bad, Ernie, you didn’t cross a very serious line with her. I’ve seen some female teenagers, though none of my own clients, end up pregnant because the fathers force themselves on their daughters. The girls aren’t always able to get away until long into adulthood and the abuse continues until they’re able to get help or their abuser is killed or dies naturally.” Ernie looked green at the thought of doing that to Abigail, even drunk, and Rocky didn’t blame him. Tommy might have been told by Trini that the abuse likely could have gotten worse, but Rocky wasn’t seeing it.

“This may set off another round of nightmares, Rocky,” Ernie warned.

“I’ll be right there for you, Ernie. You won’t have to deal with them alone. As long as you need me to stay, I will. I’m going to have Zack or one of the others bring over my mail as long as you need me to stay here. Once you’re ready to be on your own again, you can call me in the middle of the night if you need me to talk you down after one. It’s an offer I’ve made to a number of clients; Tommy’s foster daughter has taken me up on it several times.”

“The phone calls?” Rocky nodded.

“I may be getting some while I’m staying here; she’s had adjustment after adjustment all summer. She’s not had a bad nightmare in weeks; Tommy stays with her when they get bad. She’s only had to call me a couple of times, usually when she’s had a big trigger accidentally stepped on accidentally.”

“It’s been a learning curve for those two, hasn’t it?” Ernie asked, genuinely concerned. Despite his argument with Tommy yesterday, he always had a soft spot for children and teens. It was why he’d opened the Youth Center not long after graduating college.

“It has, and I worry about Kat being added to the mix. Tommy’s relationship with his foster daughter is still new enough that adding another person into the mix will change things. That’s part of why Kat has been up there for the past week and a half; all three wanted to make sure things would work out before her moving up. Katrina’s called me several times as she dealt with the changes and Tommy’s proud that she can recognize when she needs to talk things out with someone not him or Kat. I can say the same for you, Ernie. You’re doing better at asking for help yourself. It’s a huge reason why I have confidence that you’ll be able to rebuild your relationship with Abigail.”

Rocky and Ernie continued to talk for 2 hours. Some of that time was spent with Ernie writing or needing to be brought out of a dark spot. Rocky also recognized that, despite their progress today, Ernie would be continuing to have nightmares for the next several months. He couldn’t say that the nightmares would completely go away; even adults who had little to no trauma in their lives outside of the news got nightmares occasionally. The nightmares, however, would lesson as Ernie continued to heal, as Abigail’s were. By the time Ernie went to bed, he was mentally and emotionally spent, as was Rocky.

Rocky wasn’t taking first watch that night; David had volunteered for that particular duty. The other Rangers had also offered to step in, but Ernie could only deal with Rocky and David overnight. They’d have to do something else once David went off to college in just over a month. He also knew that as much of a rollicking he’d get from Jason, Tommy’s chewing out would be a hell of a lot worse, as would Abigail’s. He resolved to not tell Abigail until she’d healed some more; she needed to trust him right now. She already trusted him with Ernie’s care; if she found out that he’d nearly blown that to pieces, he’d be in for a world of hurt.

The next several days between the game and having to head back up to Reefside had been rough on them. Ernie had woken up multiple times from nightmares, two of which sent him spiraling towards suicide attempts. Rocky had to finally get the key to Ernie’s home office and lock it, only unlocking it for therapy sessions. David had to also hide his school supplies for the same reason; the final attempt had been hard on all of them and Rocky had almost been unable to stop Ernie. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he had a session with Abigail that day, he would have stayed with Ernie. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said that he was unwilling to cancel his sessions with her.

Billy had been the one to take charge of Ernie that day, though the two were going to be spending the day at the Youth Center. The others were going to be in and out of the Youth Center all day, so Billy wouldn’t be dealing with Ernie by himself. Ernie was in no condition to deal with two A. I. robots who tended to be prone to anxiety today.

Jason and Rocky had finally had their talk and Rocky let his friend let give him his well-deserved chastisement. He had gotten Jason and the others to agree to not call Tommy by simply pointing out that it had been his own goof that had led Ernie into a bad space. He did promise that he’d own up to Tommy himself, if Tommy was willing to listen.

When he pulled into Tommy’s driveway, he saw that Abigail was goofing around with Katherine in the yard, kicking around the soccer ball. Tommy had met him at the door and had been surprised when Rocky returned the tape recorder and sketchbook to him. Rocky had the decency to look sheepish at his friend’s questioning look.

“How’s Ernie doing?”

“Not good. I made the mistake of listening to the tape on the way down. By the time I got to Jason’s dojo, I was passed the point of caring. I did, however, have the others leave Jason’s office. Listening to the tape got Ernie to listen, but it also pushed him partially over the edge. I had to lock his home office last night; we had to remove the alcohol and OTC medications and hide every knife except butter knives Saturday night.”

“Rocky!” came Tommy’s sharp rebuke, as he continued to give him a worse dressing down then Jason’s had been. “The only reason that I’m not placing Abigail under the care of a different therapist is she trusts you; she won’t give anyone else the same trust right now.”

“I have no good reason for what I did, Tommy. The only reason I’ve not stepped away from Ernie’s care is Ernie asked me not to. He’s also recognizing that he needs the help, Tommy. Any other therapist would put him in a psych ward right now and as much as he needs around the clock care, you know as well as I do just how badly men who attempt or actually commit suicide are viewed.” Rocky recognized his friend was still angry with him, but glad he’d been willing to listen.

“I’m not pleased with what you did, Rocky. You are not mentioning this to Abigail.” Tommy was still facing out the office window, watching his daughter and girlfriend play soccer, a position he’d taken up during Rocky’s response.

“I won’t, Tommy. As much as they both need to heal separately, she’d be back in Angel Grove in a heartbeat if I did. He is in no condition to care for her and recognizes that. He asked me to not tell him that she’s here or even that you’re her guardian until I think they’re both ready. I have a stack of letters he’s written to her as part of his own therapy that she can read when she’s ready to.”

Chapter Text

Wednesday through the end of summer; Reefside: Tommy Oliver’s house POV: Abigail/1^st person

When it came time for lunch, Katherine and I headed in. The dojo had sustained some damage during Ivan’s latest attack, which had occurred only yesterday, so Dr. Oliver had volunteered his backyard for our lesson today. Conner had given us the morning off from drill practice, as the coaches were spending today gearing up for the new school year and today had been the only day they’d had to do so. Otherwise, we’d have been doing the lessons at the high school while the dojo was being repaired as we’d do on Friday.

Coming in, Katherine and I both stopped as we entered the house, as Dr. Oliver was glaring at Rocky. We’d heard the arguing while we were outside, which is why it had taken me so long to come in. As much as I loved Dr. Oliver, I didn’t want to be around him when he was angry. Katherine took one look at me and was able to guide Dr. Oliver into Dino Command so she could get him to calm down while Rocky and I talked.

That didn’t stop me from asking Rocky if we could spend the session in the art room, though. As soundproof as Dino Command was to the rest of the house, I still wanted to be one floor up from it. Rocky didn’t even question why I wanted to as he recognized that seeing my guardian angry was pushing several triggers. We took lunch up with us; ham and cheese sandwiches with some carrot sticks and kettle-cooked potato chips. I’d also grabbed an apple juice to go with mine; Rocky just grabbed a glass of ice water.

“I want to apologize to you, Abigail. I told Tommy of a fairly bad mistake I made over the weekend and you noticed how he reacted. It was why he allowed Kat to get him out of what could have been a volatile situation with you. I won’t inform you of the mistake right now, as you’re not in a good place to hear it. Ethan’s in the basement; he’s been busy trying to make sense of the book Dimitria gave Tommy.”

I snorted at that. “He’s not going to have any luck with it. Dimitria told us that the book could only be read by someone like Dr. Oliver or myself. Conner’s the only other one who it looks like English to, as not even Hayley can read it. To Ethan, Kira, and Trent, it looks like scribbles. Ethan said yesterday that it reminded him of Arabesh; today, a mix of Cuneiform and early Irish writing systems. Every time he tries translating the same section, it says something different than what I read out loud.”

Rocky listened as I spoke of why seeing Dr. Oliver angry frightened me, asking questions where needed. There had been a couple of times he’d comforted me because I’d started crying. His hugs weren’t the same as Dr. Oliver’s, but I also wasn’t sure how I’d react if he even touched me right now. Martial arts class wasn’t going to be easy because of that and I recognized that if I didn’t have this under control by the time the lesson came around, I’d voluntarily sit on the sidelines.

It was one thing to see him angry as he defended me, another to see him angry at a close friend because of a mistake. The arguing hadn’t helped, either, as it reminded me of the arguments I’d had with Dad before he’d attacked me. Rocky had helped calm me down the couple of times I’d headed straight towards a panic attack because of that. By the time my martial arts class was close to starting, I’d calmed down enough to think I could do it. I’d asked Rocky to stay for the duration, just in case he needed to pull me out, and he agreed.

When we got out there, Dr. Oliver was placing a number of mats on the ground and allowed me to help. I found out that some of the mats came from the dojo; the rest were his own personal ones. He had calmed down by that point and apologized for scaring me earlier.

“You’re forgiven, Dr. O. It made me happy to see that you recognized that seeing you like that was scaring me and got yourself out of there,” came my muffled reply from around his waist. I may have been 5’5”, but Dr. Oliver stood at close to 6 feet, if not over.

Thankfully, when it came time to spar with each other, Dr. Oliver paired me up with one of the other girls in the class. We both knew that pairing me up with the guys would have been a disaster today. Francine took lessons, but she was in a different belt class. The various belt lessons had been split all over Reefside today because we couldn’t use the high school. I’d convinced Patton to try, but he couldn’t get his parents to agree until after Saturday’s attack at the soccer game when they saw their son doing his best to protect the younger students.

One of the things Rocky had asked me about during today’s session was how I was doing with Katherine. “I know Ms. Andrews asked you Saturday after the game, but I’d like to know your answer as well.”

“Really great, Rocky. She’s wonderful and it’s nice being able to talk to another female about some things that are just embarrassing to talk about with Dr. Oliver. If she’d been up here when I had to get pads, I would have just been able to ask her to put them on the list. Same goes for the Motrin and Midol, which I’d forgotten in Angel Grove.” At that reminder, Rocky surprised me by pulling them out of his ever-present briefcase.

“David’s been organizing your room there; he sent these up with me today.” I knew that there was more to the story, but didn’t press. I knew it had to do with whatever Rocky told Dr. Oliver and hoped that my dad…father…Ernie was okay.

I ended up telling Rocky that I wasn’t even sure what to call him in our sessions any more, breaking down crying. He’d ended up giving me a huge hug at that.

“That’s normal for people in your situation, Abigail. With as close as you’re getting to Tommy, it’s natural for you to feel like this in regards to Ernie. It’s also normal for you to feel the guilt you’re feeling in regards to Tommy feeling more like your real dad. You feel like you’re replacing the dad you knew with Tommy, even though you still hope to reconcile with Ernie.” I just made noises of agreement, even though Rocky’s shoulder was getting soaked. “I see this a lot with children in blended families, especially when both parents are alive or they have conscious memories of a deceased parent. They want or are expected to care for this new parent, but don’t want to feel as if they’re being disloyal to the parent in question that the stepparent represents in the new household. It’s why your relationship with both Kat and Tommy is so promising right now, even though you’re dealing with other matters.”

Wiping my eyes, I sat up. “What do you mean by that, Rocky?”

He smiled. “You’re dealing with the aftereffects of parental abuse from Ernie, along with having a new father figure and guardian. Now, you’ve got Kat to add to the mix and that’s without adding your Power Ranger responsibilities. Everything might seem fine right now, but there’s a chance that everything’s going to feel like it’s tumbling down as it gets too much. I’ve seen it happen again and again, Abigail.”

I squeezed his hand at that. “It’s a good thing I’ve got people I can trust to catch me when it happens. Aside from today, every time one of my triggers has been stepped on, Dr. Oliver’s been there to catch me, as have you and Katherine. That’s not including Hayley and the Dino Rangers.” I gave a wry smile. “I actually went to Trent Fernandez-Mercer for advice on how to tell Dr. Oliver about my real identity. I can’t tell the whole story as it’s not mine to tell, but the gist of it is his MOAS came out at the worst possible time for the team. I wanted to avoid the same thing happening.”

“That’s good that you recognized that; when I first realized your identity, I didn’t tell Tommy for a good reason. That reason was the fact that the two of you needed to build up enough trust in each other for that to happen.”

“If the game with Angel Grove hadn’t been last weekend, or if we’d not played them at all, I would have told him closer to the start of the school year. That’s not counting attacks from you-know-who and his ugly goons.”

“Nice Harry Potter reference.” We both laughed at that. Rocky seemed to approve of what we called Ivan Ooze in private.

“Where do you think I got it, Rocky? I picked up the currently published books a couple of weeks ago. I think Dr. Oliver’s reading what I’ve finished. He said something about wanting to understand some of the references that his students make. That, and said he’d been hanging around Ethan too long.”

Rocky just laughed harder at that and I couldn’t resist a chuckle either. Knowing Rocky had managed to help me calm down and get my head on straight had helped me make it through the martial arts lesson. He had to head back to Angel Grove not long after the last student left, but told us we could call him any time.

As I helped Dr. Oliver fold the mats back up-he’d not been willing to let the students practice on the hard ground-he and I were able to talk calmly about what had happened earlier and he apologized again for scaring me.

“You’re fine, Dr. Oliver. Rocky was able to help me calm down, but I appreciate you pairing me up with Andrea. I was in a good enough mental and emotional state to participate in today’s lesson, but pairing me up with any of the male students would have been a disaster.”

“You’re too forgiving, Abigail. Unlike the other times one of your issues was accidentally triggered, this was fully on me. I’ve done my best to not let my anger show around you because I understand that you have a valid reason to fear when your male guardian is angry. Most of the time, when I’ve gotten angry since getting here, I’ve been able to work through it when you’re not around. I either write everything down or call either Rocky, Hayley, or Katherine. It’s going to take some time for us to fix what just happened today.” He held the door open so that we could get the mats down into the basement. The ones belonging to the dojo were going to be picked up by Hanshi Scott later on this evening.

“Dr. Oliver, it’s going to be a quick fix. Unlike Dad, you have continued to show that I can trust you to not deliberately hurt me. You allowed Katherine to get you out of the room when you saw how your anger was scaring me and that says a great deal. When he got angry, I got hit. The physical attack the night before I ran wasn’t the first time he hit me; he’d actually slapped me during an argument earlier in the week. You removed yourself from the situation and paired me up with a student of the same gender so I wouldn’t be pushed into a flashback during the sparring section of our lessons. You also asked Rocky to take me on as a patient early on. The difference between he and you tells me which one I can trust to keep me safe physically, mentally, and emotionally. It’s why I was able to trust you with my biggest secrets and you’ve continued to show that I can trust you with anything.” I quickly stopped as he pulled me into a hug, feeling safe in his arms. I meant what I told him and Rocky both; I trusted them, along with Katherine, Hayley, and the Dino Ranger team, to catch and comfort me when I was in a bad spot. My trust in my safety net here in Reefside was growing every day because of their actions.

“That still doesn’t excuse the fact that I scared you today. It has always been my goal to be the best guardian for you that I can be.” I looked up at him and gave him a smile. “The fact that Ernie’s physically hurt you twice, along with the mental and emotional harm, means he’s not fit to care for you. That’s even with how far he’s come with Rocky’s help. If his actions after last Saturday’s game and goon attack are any indication, there’s no way he’d be able to convince Ms. Andrews that he’d be a better guardian for you.”

I nodded at that. “I’d be kept under lock and key worse than I was before inheriting Mom’s Power Ranger gear. What you saw last Saturday was the father I’d ran from back in June. I don’t care what Rocky says; he’s going to have to prove that I can trust him to not stomp over my wants and needs again. He’d force me to give up being a Power Ranger over my own objections and yours. I know that you’d rather I stay on the sidelines, but you’ve proven I can follow your lead as one; Conner too. I can trust you and the other Dino Rangers to have my back and not just during what happened after last Saturday’s game. When the EMT was tending to me, you got between the two of us and I didn’t get hurt worse. If you hadn’t been there, he would have hauled me back to Angel Grove over my and Ms. Andrews’ protests. There would have been nothing she or the others would have been able to do until my files were reconciled.” I knew I’d have been hurt much worse by the time they’d be able to get me back to Dr. Oliver’s care and out of commission as a Power Ranger for the length of time it took me to heal.

“Trent was able to advise you on how best to let me know how to bring me in on your secret,” he stated, completely unsurprised and changing the subject.

“He told me why, too, Dr. Oliver, before he knew of my real identity. It’s why I went to him first as I knew he’d be able to tell me what not to do. He and the others appreciated the fact that I told them everything. It’s made us stronger as Rangers and as a family. I might not be ready to call you ‘Dad’ just yet, but I’ve already noticed that I’ve started thinking of you like that.” With that, I closed the basement door behind us as we entered the main part of the house and I followed him into his own office. Ever since informing him of my true identity, it was becoming easier and easier to enter that room.

I soon found myself curled up in his arms as we sat on the couch in his office. We didn’t say anything nor did we need to after our talk. There had been times, even after nightmares, that we just sat like that, me curled up in his arms. It was one of the ways I was able to ground myself in reality and feel safe when my nightmares and panic threatened to overwhelm me. There had been a couple of times after Katherine had been here that she’d joined us in that ritual, providing another link to reality. When my panic got really bad, I could feel their love, care, and concern through the Grid as well as Mom’s. Because of that, I knew I was safe and loved, cocooned in their arms. I was starting to understand the rather weird dreams I’d been having, as Katherine had admitted she’d been Aunt Kimberly’s successor as the original Pink Ranger, with the power of the Pterodactyl. Dr. Oliver still hadn’t told me what he’d been as a Power Ranger in Angel Grove, but I’d also not pressed the fact either. He’d be able to inform me when I was ready and able to safely process the information.

We also had to start getting me ready for high school. Tomorrow, I was going to be skipping soccer practice so Dr. Oliver could register me at Reefside High and I could take the various tests as they couldn’t retrieve my records from the Angel Grove school system. I knew we were going to meet up with Ms. Andrews as well, as she needed to be informed about my background. Rocky had left my unaltered file with Dr. Oliver to give to her; the only real file he kept on me in his Angel Grove office space was the doctored file he’d shown Lt. Stone back in June. This particular file was kept at Rocky’s house, along with Dr. Oliver's and Dad’s, as it contained way too much sensitive information regarding the Power Rangers.

He was also the one in charge of the official ‘in-the-know’ file regarding the Angel Grove Power Rangers. Anton Mercer, Trent’s foster and adopted father, had been added to the list, as was Hayley, Cassidy, Devin, and Carson Brady, a comic book author Trent had collaborated on a comic book with. Trent refused to elaborate on the reasons behind that and I knew better than to ask. All he would tell me is that it was Dino Ranger-related. Having read the comic book, I had an idea of what had happened. I suspected it had been one of Mesogog’s plans that had required Trent to inform the comic book author; Dr. Mercer had actually bankrolled the comic’s publishing.

Knowledge of the list might be widely known within Angel Grove, but it was officially denied. Even though City Council and the mayor knew of the list, they understood it had to be kept quiet. Even then, not everyone who’d ever served on the council or as mayor was informed of the list; only those Rocky felt would be able to keep the secret were informed. What most people didn’t realize is one of the people who worked in City Hall had once been a Power Ranger; she kept an eye out on any new council member or mayor. Rocky had actually told us when we asked; Conner and Ethan were laughing their heads off at that. Ethan had actually fallen out of his chair; he’d been laughing that hard.

“Seriously, Dr. DeSantos? This sounds like something out of one of the various conspiracy theory websites and message boards Ethan’s talked about. There’s even one on the Power Rangers, I’ve looked at it. They talk about there being some form of official in-the-know list, but say that they can’t get a straight answer out of City Hall.” This was Kira, sounding incredulous. “From what I’ve found, someone actually got a job there, but got fired and arrested for trying to find that list.”

“I’ve told you guys that you can call me Rocky, and I remember that kid. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have sworn it was Bulk’s son that did it. He and his friend Skull, when Tommy and I were active Power Rangers in high school, were always coming up with some hair-brained scheme to find out who the Power Rangers were. They found out once, but got their memory wiped of the information by one of Zedd’s goons.”

“Who’s Bulk and why don’t you think his son did it?” Kira asked. The rest of the Dino Rangers and I quieted down to listen.

“He and Skull-and no, Ethan I won’t tell you their real names, just that their nicknames are shorted forms of their surnames-were the high school bullies when we were in high school. They later became friends of ours. Skull, by the time he’d graduated, had fallen in love with Kimberly and still holds a torch for her. He’s never tried wooing her away from Jason though, or myself when we were dating.” This was from Dr. Oliver, who’d joined us in Hayley’s CyberSpace after it had closed for the evening. “He was heartbroken when she married Jason after returning to Angel Grove. Their twins were born not quite 18 months after she and Jason married. He’s actually Amy’s godfather. I honestly don’t think he’ll ever marry, unless it’s for convenience’s sake. He’s not the only one out there in the same position.” Dad was another, but I doubted he’d ever remarry. Some people just won’t remarry after the death of a spouse and Rocky thought Dad might be one of those people. I privately agreed; even when I’d asked Dad to find someone to be my stepmom, he refused, saying that nobody could replace her. He’d hired my cousin Sylvia not long after, though.

I remembered Bulk’s son Spike; he was much like his dad and had been a pain in my butt growing up. It was one of the times I’d wished my soccer team had been coed; he was on Angel Grove’s male teen summer soccer team, along with being a martial artist. There had been a few times both of us had gotten in trouble in school for playing various pranks on each other. Spike may have started the pranks, but the ones that got played on him were ones I’d found and reversed before they could go off. Our lockers were right next to each other’s and I knew his locker combination.

There had been one rather semi-hilarious instance in 6^th grade where David had loaned me his plastic toy python, which I’d placed in the locker. I didn't get in trouble for it, as Spike refused to even let on that he knew who’d done it and had talked me out of confessing. Spike and I had declared an uneasy truce after that; I’d not realized just how terrified he was of snakes. I had apologized and Spike had been able to laugh it off after a while; it was the only reason I found the prank even close to funny. As part of my apology, I told him that I wouldn’t have used the snake if I’d known. His response was that it had gotten him to learn more about snakes so he wouldn’t have to be near as scared. During the next year’s science class, he’d actually nervously picked up a snake when the zoo employee had asked for volunteers.

Ethan and I were beginning to bond over pranks; he’d told me of the prank he’d played on the first day of his senior year, involving the school sprinkler system. He’d gotten a detention for it, but considered it a prank well spent. Given that the detention had led him to become the Blue Dino Ranger and his role in Mesogog’s defeat, I can’t say I blamed him. He was the only one who I’d told about pranking Spike; he promised to teach me everything he knew about the ‘fine and noble art of pranking’. Dr. Oliver, who’d overheard the last part, just groaned.

“If you get caught, Katrina”-we’d been at the cybercafé at the time-“I’m not bailing you out of detention.”

“I wouldn’t want you to, Dr. Oliver. Wouldn’t be the first time I’d gotten detention for a prank, though most of them were reversing Spike’s. I didn’t get caught playing pranks as often as Spike did, as most of them were done when the halls were busy in between class periods, or after school. They never knew I’d memorized Spike’s locker combination.” The snake one had been one of my rare before school ones, as I’d arrived early. Spike and I took different buses to school, so he arrived after I did and the teachers weren’t paying attention.

While I spent most of Thursday taking the various tests to prove I’d had formal schooling up to that point, Dr. Oliver was sitting with Principal Randall, registering me for school. The hearing earlier in the summer had given him enough leeway to formally act as my guardian, even though I would be registered as ‘Katrina Jones’ instead of under my real name. The resulting paperwork from that was enough to use in place of my birth certificate and any other documents he normally would have needed.

By the time my tests were graded, I spent some time with one of the school guidance counselors and Dr. Oliver, picking my first year’s classes. Along with the standard subjects, I also signed up for art class. I had a tough time choosing a language option; I’d narrowed it down to Vietnamese or American Sign Language. As much as Sylvia had taught me, I wanted to be as nearly fluent as I could so I could eventually write my family still living in Vietnam. The guidance counselor said that there was a sign language club I could join, so I chose Vietnamese as my language class as there was no connected club for it.

I could tell that, even with Principal Randall no longer being under Mesogog’s control, there was still a fissure of something between her and Dr. Oliver. She may no longer be evil and dating Anton Mercer, but I thought she still found Dr. Oliver attractive. I never said anything about my suspicions, though, as I could be completely wrong about things.

Katherine had gone back to Angel Grove, though it was primarily so she could sell her house and move up. She also had to find a new teacher for her ballet and gymnastics classes at the Youth Center. Her gymnasts, she was sending over to Kimberly and Aisha, but there was no ballet studio in Angel Grove city limits any more. She’d finally found one in Angel Grove township willing to loan the Youth Center a teacher. She also had to decide what of her belongings she was keeping and what she was either selling or donating. Dr. Oliver and I had convinced her to move in with us instead of getting an apartment, as he’d finally asked her to marry him. They were planning on marrying within the next year and she’d also been unable to find an apartment in Reefside.

Soccer camp started winding down before the school year started and our last 2 games for my age group had been against the high school teams at Reefside High. For those of us entering the high school this fall, this was going to be considered a tryout. For the students who’d not participated in the soccer camp, there would be a second tryout once school started. I’d made the team as a starter, but asked to move to the reserve team. When Coach Daveed asked why, I told him that because of my martial arts lessons, I was going to miss several practices during the week. I’d been lucky during the summer, but all of the soccer practices were going to be in the afternoons and I knew that missing 3 practices a week wasn’t a good sign.

I’d also progressed enough in lessons at the dojo that Hanshi Scott thought I was ready for my next belt test. The only reason he’d made the call instead of Dr. Oliver was due to our relationship. None of us wanted there to be any calls of favoritism. I’d passed the test and would be joining Hanshi Scott in classes to get my blue belt, which were held at the same time, but in a different room in the dojo. Hayley had thrown a small party in Cyberspace after closing time when she heard of my successful belt test. Francine and Patton had been invited and were included in the celebrations even though Patton was still a month or two away from his first belt test. Hayley promised him a party of his own when he passed it. I didn’t mind sharing the party with Francine to jointly celebrate our accomplishments, even if that meant I had to deal with her older sister. I thought Cassidy was a curious sort; Athena was worse.

It amazed me at how different Athena and Francine were, even as siblings, especially considering how close David and I were with each other. Francine was such a sweetheart and a wonderful teammate. Athena exemplified everything about the ‘popular girl’ stereotype that I wondered how much of it was her real personality and how much of it was an act. Even with Katherine having come up to help me celebrate, it was obvious that Athena was jealous. She might be 17, but it was completely obvious that she was part of the unofficial fan club. Hayley and the Dino Rangers ran interference, as did Cassidy and Devin. At one point, Cassidy had dragged Athena off to have a little chat. Being closest to the alcove, I had been able to hear part of the conversation.

“Athena, I know he’s attractive, but there’s several issues with you having a relationship with him. First, you’re almost 17, which is still under the age of consent in California. Second, he’s engaged to be married. By the time you reach the age of consent, he’ll be married and possibly have a child on the way. Thirdly, even if he wasn’t dating anyone right now or wanted to date you, teacher/student relationships that are even close to being romantic or sexual, even if both parties are over the age of consent, would see him fired and also likely cause him to lose custody of Katrina. He’d have to wait until you were in university for a while.”

“Kira hangs out with him.” Athena sounded sullen. I didn’t have to look to know she had her arms crossed.

“He mentored her last year. From what I overheard, other teachers were keeping a close eye on him and the 4 students he mentored. Nothing inappropriate happened, even when he was here at CyberSpace. Hayley might be his friend, but she would have stepped in if she suspected that the relationship was going beyond that boundary.” With that, the two girls rejoined the party. Athena ended up sulking in the corner, not liking that one of her ‘Miss Popular’ idols had basically called her out on finding one of Reefside High’s most popular teachers attractive.

I could tell Dr. Oliver appreciated the backup; he’d not wanted to ruin the party by making a scene. I’d not heard what he said to Cassidy, but she’d given him a huge smile. All I could make out from trying to read her lips was ‘anything for my favorite teacher’, which had gotten a chuckle out of him. From what I’d heard at CyberSpace over the summer, Dr. Oliver’s first year as a teacher had endeared him to his students. I couldn’t wait to have him as a teacher at school, though he wasn’t the only science teacher at Reefside High. I wouldn’t find out who my teachers would be until homeroom on the first day of school; there was a good chance I would end up with another teacher at least once during the school year.

From what Cassidy and other students told me, most of the science classes in the first two years were split so that we had one teacher the first semester and another the second. We wouldn’t have one teacher for the entirety of the school year until junior year. Dr. Oliver’s paleontology course wasn’t offered until senior year and I was planning on taking it, even if I’d had him as a teacher by then. One of the things I wasn’t looking forwards to as far as science went was dissection. It was done by one of the sophomore year science teachers and everyone knew when he was doing that lab. Twice a year, you could smell the formaldehyde for an entire week. The school had to be aired out over the weekend after the lab was completed.

Once soccer camp was over, I spent a lot more time downtown, either at Cyberspace or hanging out with my former teammates. Dr. Oliver had gotten me a belated birthday present of a bicycle, in my favorite shade of purple. He’d managed to find a way to include yellow on there, as he knew just how much I loved the color. I’d nearly knocked him over when I gave him a thank you hug. He’d had to spend some time teaching me to ride it, as it had been one thing I’d not learned growing up. It’d not taken me long to learn, but I’d ended up with several bruises and cuts learning to ride on the dirt road and in the backyard. If Ms. Andrews hadn’t caught us in the middle of one such lesson, she would have gotten worried.

“Bicycle lessons?” She asked, raising her eyebrows as she exited her car.

I blushed. “Never learned to ride growing up, not with the monorail and bus system. Dr. Oliver was teaching me how to use my new bike. It’s an early birthday gift.”

When she turned her gaze to Dr. Oliver, he hurriedly explained that he wanted to make sure I had a mode of transport that didn’t rely on him driving me into town. “There may be times when I’m busy myself and she wants to hang out with her friends if she’s not busy herself. This is especially true with the school year starting; along with teaching at the high school, I teach the occasional class at Hanshi Scott’s dojo and take lessons there myself. Even with my fiancé moving in, I want Katrina to have some independence. I know how important that is at her age. Given that her birthfather kept her on a short leash, I don’t want her to feel trapped here.”

Ms. Andrews, we could tell, was impressed by that. We headed in at that point and into Dr. Oliver’s office.

“Now, what I wanted to talk to you about was a trip I made to Angel Grove yesterday. With the tape recorder and sketchbook you had Dr. Oliver give me, I can understand why you wanted to use a fake name and birthday,” she said to me. “I had Dr. DeSantos meet me at the Youth Center so that I didn’t push many buttons during my visit. Ernie’s recovered some from the shock he got here in Reefside last month and it was the only reason I was able to go today. I’ve been talking with Dr. DeSantos on best how to proceed with this, as I don’t want to damage the progress either of you have made. Ernie’s still not completely ready to know where you are, but I took down a generic form for him to fill out so that the adoption can go forward when everyone’s ready.

“I’m going to warn you, it’s going to be slow going before the hearing can actually happen. I’m going to see if the same judge that handled this summer’s hearing can preside over it and it will be a closed trial due to the sensitive nature of it. Most adoption hearings are, but this one even more so.” She leveled a glare at Dr. Oliver and myself. “If it weren’t for the fact that you, Dr. Oliver, are watching out for Abigail in and out of the suit, we would be having a very different conversation right now. Dr. DeSantos has impressed upon me that most Power Rangers are roughly the same age as you are, Abigail, when they take on the mantle, though I don’t know why that is.”

“Neither do we, Ms. Andrews. From my own research and talking with a former mentor, who’s now gone back to her own home”-Dimitria had finally left after Dr. Oliver had a long talk with her about exactly what she’d done wrong-“15 and 16 are the prime ages for Potential Power Rangers to gain their powers. Nobody’s been able to pinpoint why, even among the planets with a long history of Power Rangers. By the time someone leaves their teens, if their potential as a Power Ranger hasn’t been unlocked, it rarely can be unless by force. The force needed to do so will end up killing them when they demorph though, so it’s only used in the direst emergencies and by consent of the Potential. Forcing it too early can have the same result unless the Potential is mentally and emotionally ready. Even then, it’s very rare; Earth has only had one very young Power Ranger. It's also rare that teams with over 20 members happen; Lightspeed's one of the only teams I'm aware of on Earth where several members were over 20 at the time of becoming Rangers.”

I jumped in. “Trust me, Ms. Andrews, I never would have used the morpher and Power Coin if Rito and Scorpina hadn’t shown up. I didn’t find out until after the fact that the Dino Ranger team had temporarily lost their powers. With help, we were able to reestablish the links to their gems. If that hadn’t happened, I’m not sure what would have happened.” I really didn’t want to give her an in-depth explanation as to how the relinking had occurred; she really didn’t need to know and she seemed to recognize that, as she didn’t press for a further explanation.

She did, however, pull the aforementioned papers out of her briefcase. “Because of the fact that I’m now in possession of all the pertinent information, I was able to join your two files in the police records and pull your missing person’s report into a classified file. Lt. Stone wasn’t too happy with me when I went into the Angel Grove police station to do so, but I was able to use a lot of rules and regulations to get him to even leave the room. It helped that Ernie insisted on going with me, along with Dr. DeSantos. I’m going to warn you two now, Lt. Stone is going to be your most formidable opponent in this, as he wants to return you to Angel Grove, irregardless of what he told you earlier in the summer. However, he can’t even get into the records labeled ‘Alias Katrina Jones’. Mr. Cranston has been invaluable in making sure that he can’t get into those files. He actually got the judge from this summer’s hearing to give him a court order to do so.”

Dr. Oliver and I both laughed at that. Uncle Billy wasn’t stupid; we all knew that the court order was basically a way for him to cover his ass, to use the common phrase. He would have done it regardless, but this way, anyone looking for me was going to have a very hard time doing so. Very few people could crack into those files; from what Uncle Billy said, two of those that can were working for a Naval Investigative Agency; NCSI, or something like that, in their DC office. Not even the FBI, who’d been involved in the case, could get involved and the FBI agent overseeing my case had stepped back when Ms. Andrews quoted the rules and regulations to him. She explained to us that she wouldn’t even grant the agent access to me unless he was willing to sign an NDA to start.

By the time she left, I was overwhelmed by everything she told me. Dad, willingly give up his rights to me? Ms. Andrews had passed on a letter from him that she said would explain why, but I didn’t even want to read it. I’d not even touched the letters he’d written before and had put them in a drawer in Dr. Oliver’s personal desk. I found myself curling up in Dr. Oliver’s arms, crying. Even though Rocky had warned me that there was a good chance that this would happen, it was still a shock. I’d asked Dr. Oliver to read the letter at some point and let me know what was in it when I was ready, but right now, I just needed a cry. Part of it was relief; I couldn’t be placed back in Dad’s care unless there was nobody who could assume guardianship if something happened to Dr. Oliver and Katherine. The rest, though, was part shock and part hurt. It was as if Dad was saying he didn’t want me anymore, that I was no longer his daughter.

I was so exhausted by the end of it that I’d not even heard the crunch of Katherine’s car pulling into the driveway. With school starting in less than a week, she’d managed to get everything done in regards to selling her house. Today had been the last trip to get her belongings; if it hadn’t been for Ms. Andrews coming for a visit, we would have been right there with her. I wouldn’t even have to deal with Dad, as it would have been just us at the house, packing up the last of the boxes. We’d gone down several times this past week, helping her pack and bringing everything she wanted up. Outside of her desk and chair, she wasn’t bringing up much furniture. She’d actually sold most of it to the new owners with the house, as they had lost a lot of their own. We’d had to use a moving truck for the desk and chair, as none of her or Dr. Oliver’s friends owned a big enough vehicle to haul it up. Hayley had offered use of the truck that they’d used to blow up Mesogog’s lab, but it would have taken longer as the truck had to be stripped of the laser and its associated computer systems first.

She knew immediately that I was not in a good space the moment she walked in and came over. Dr. Oliver quietly explained what had just happened, being careful to allow me to stay in my semi-asleep state. She grabbed a hand and I ended up giving hers a squeeze, smiling at her from my position in Dr. Oliver’s lap. We all knew that she’d be ‘sneaking’ up a pint of ice cream and two spoons to my room later; it had become a habit of ours when I’d had a rough day. Dr. Oliver knew and thoroughly approved of our bonding rituals. I’d only found out when I’d put some groceries away last week and found extras of my favorite Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor that Katherine had introduced me to in the freezer. I’d not touched them, as I wanted to save them for days like this.

As soon as I was up for it, we finished bringing in the last of her boxes. Some of the stuff was going to be kept in the guest bedroom as she continued to unpack. She’d tried insisting on staying it, but I snorted when I overheard their conversation.

“Katherine, it’s not like you wouldn’t be spending most of the time in Dr. Oliver’s room anyway. You did back in July.” I refused to explain when they looked at me, giving them a sly look. It took a few seconds, but both were blushing when they realized just how much I knew about their love life. “Don’t worry, just the three of us know that much.” If anything, they just blushed harder. Seeing how embarrassed they were, I didn’t even ask how soon it would be before I had a sibling. I had a feeling I’d find out soon enough as Katherine was complaining of nausea and had thrown up a couple of times. The only times I’d gotten nauseas had been after drawing on the Grid or my early experiment dropping directly into it.

The day after Ms. Andrews' visit, the three of us went to go get my school supplies. I was glad that Reefside High had very little in the way of a school uniform, but I did pick up some dressy clothing to wear. Most of the shops we had to go to were filled with families doing the same thing; this was one of the busiest times of summer and when shops had their back-to-school deals going on. We’d just gotten done at Office Depot when there was another attack; this time it was Scorpina and many of Ivan’s purple goons. Dr. Oliver and I ended up having to morph; Trent was the only one not in town as he was in art school in a town just south of us. Conner and the others joined us not long after, as they were all attending the community college nearby. Ethan had gotten a scholarship offer to MIT, but with Trent not yet passing on his powers as the White Dino Ranger, Ethan didn’t want to leave us two Rangers down.

Scorpina was driven off, but not before I’d found myself in the position of protecting an injured Katherine. She’d not been seriously injured, but one of the EMTs had to stitch a gash on her leg up. She promised she’d go to the clinic for a check-up later in the week, or the hospital if she felt worse before that.

I resolved to have a closer look with the Grid after we got home; it had flared when she’d gotten injured and I realized that the number of Ranger legacies that I knew of personally had grown from 4 to 5, including myself. Conner and the other Dino Rangers were going to have a field day when they found out. I’d not just protected my future stepmom, but a younger sibling. I was still grinning when we got back to Dino Command.

“Abigail, you’re happy about something and I don’t think it’s about school starting on Monday,” Ethan observed.

“It’s nothing, Ethan. It’s not a crime to be in a good mood now, is it?” Most people who didn’t know me would have been fooled by that, but not the Dino Rangers.

“Not when you’re grinning like that. You look like Ethan when he’s in the middle of planning a really good prank or enjoying a really good video game.”

“Kira, honestly. I. Am. Just. Really. Happy. My dad’s fiancé is finally moved in and I can’t wait until the wedding is all.” That threw everyone for a loop, confusing me. “What, guys?”

“You finally called Dr. O your dad out loud, Abigail. I never thought this would happen, not for months,” Conner said, laughing. I threw my soccer jersey at him, from where I’d left in Dino Command last week. He just threw it back at me, laughing harder. If I had been comfortable with it, we would have engaged in a mock wrestling match instead of tossing clothing at each other.

Changing topics, he asked how many Ranger legacies there were. “I’ve heard you mention 4 names, including Abigail here, but I was just wondering if there were more.”

“Just those four still in their teens on Earth, that I know of off the top of my head. The rest, including my own older brother, are too old to become Rangers. Abigail’s the youngest,” Dr. Oliver said and I gave him a strange look.

“There’s one younger.” It was my turn to get a strange look from both him and Katherine. I’d confirmed it when we got back to Dino Command, though they’d not noticed as I’d been right behind them as we entered from the entrance in the house. The only real sign of me drawing on the Grid when I was demorphed was my eyes flashed with a mix of yellow and purple.

“I’m sure that there’s only 4, Abigail. None of the other former Rangers here on Earth have children besides Trini, Jason, and Kim, at least not out of the Angel Grove crowd.” I just raised an eyebrow at him.

“Trust me, there’s 5. If you remember, those of us that are legacies one generation removed from parents who were active Rangers at some point can sense each other. Drove David nuts that he could never sneak up on me, nor Austin and Amy. There’s 5 of us now, though the youngest is yet to be born.” All the Dino Rangers present along with Katherine just looked confused.

“I’d think we’d know if one of us were pregnant, Abigail,” Katherine replied. I just gave her a look.

“Not if the pregnancy’s relatively recent, Katherine,” I replied softly. “It’s not Hayley, Kira, or I, trust me. He didn’t go that far before I ran and we’d have found out by now if he had.” I could see the others catch on at that and Dr. Oliver started blushing as Conner started the teasing. Ethan and Kira congratulated their former teacher and mentor, truly happy. That hadn’t meant that they’d not also understood my reference to Ernie, but everyone was glad to ignore that part of my comments.

I could tell Dr. Oliver and Katherine didn’t quite believe me, but she promised to get a pregnancy test to get everyone off her back. They were going to be in for another round of teasing when she found out that the test was positive.

Dr. Oliver drew me into a corner to talk as conversation devolved away from the earlier conversation.

“What was that about, Abigail?” He was stern for a reason. He endured a lot of teasing from his teammates, but that didn’t mean he liked having his private life bandied about.

“I felt the Grid flash when I was protecting her from Scorpina. I knew it wasn’t just her I was protecting right then and could sense that it was your and her child that I was also protecting,” I hissed. “Forgive me for making sure they were okay after.” Dr. Oliver flinched at my rebuke. “I would have found out at the same time you did if Katherine hadn’t been there when Scorpina and her goons had attacked.”

“Or if they’d not attacked at all. Today’s crowd must have been too much of a temptation for them. Thank you.” I could tell he was beginning to understand just how close we came to losing both of them today. It would have devastated him if I’d not blocked Scorpina in time and to later find out he’d lost their child as well. Katherine limped over and joined us in a three-way hug, all of us just holding on to each other as we dealt with the ramifications of today’s attack. The risks of being an active Power Ranger got even more real for Dr. Oliver and I. It was one thing to serve as a bachelor, or alongside the daughter of a friend and former teammate; it was another to almost lose a partner and unborn child because of a villain attack.

Rocky must have heard about the attack on the news, as he was there within an hour, night bag with him. At my look, he explained that Zack and Adam were taking the night watch with Ernie right now. As angry as Dr. Oliver had been with him at the end of last month, he wasn’t about to not be there for us right now. He’d recognized Katherine on the news; Angel Grove’s news station had featured me protecting her as their lead story. From what he told me, the Dino Rangers barely rated a mention any time they could get some decent footage of me in action as a Power Ranger. To be seen as protecting someone known to Angel Grove residents and connected to one of their favorite sons bumped the story up to lead story status.

Conner and the others, who didn’t want to leave us right now after our earlier conversation, made calls to their parents; who’d figured out that their children were Power Rangers. Kira’s mom had basically called the other moms and came over not long after with some changes of clothing and dinner. We’d all been surprised when they had no issue with their children being Power Rangers. Ethan’s mom had explained why when we’d asked several weeks ago.

“From what I understand, all of you Dino Rangers were 18 or close to when you became Rangers. We wouldn’t have been able to stop you legally speaking.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to stop them at all, Mrs. James,” Dr. Oliver replied. “I was 16 when I first became a Power Ranger; my friends right around the same age. Our parents never found out, but without us, we’d be ruled by Rita and Lord Zedd right now. It’s why I’ve not stopped the Yellow Ranger and yes, I know who she is. She’s the daughter of a friend of mine who had once wielded the same coin and powers. Once a Power Ranger takes up the mantle, they won’t step down until the threat is neutralized and will always answer the call to help.” Mrs. James had nodded at that.

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it any less, but I couldn’t be prouder of my son. I’ve seen how much he’s grown, how they’ve all grown, since becoming the Dino Rangers.” The other parents had agreed with her. Since then, they’d been added to the list, as they were willing to keep our secret. If they hadn’t, I would have had to suppress their memories of such a thing; Conner’s dad had actually asked me to. He explained that, while he was proud of his son, he didn’t want to accidentally let something slip by bragging at the wrong time.

Mrs. Jones wanted to check in on Dr. Oliver, but he and Katherine were in his office, talking to Rocky. She busied herself instead with checking on us and making sure we didn’t need any first aid care. We just let her fuss, as we knew it would make her feel better. She’d also, at Katherine’s request, picked up a pregnancy test on her way over. Kira had passed the request on when she made the call to her mom.

By the time Dr. Oliver was ready to join us, we’d had dinner warming in the oven. None of us were really hungry after the shock and adrenaline of today’s attack had worn off, especially considering the news regarding Katherine’s pregnancy. The next several nights were going to be rough on all three of us, which was why Rocky had come up. It was also why none of us argued when Conner said that the team wasn’t leaving.

“Trent would be here if he could; Dr. Mercer called me to see if there was anything either of them could do. His actual quote was ‘If I thought my mansion would be safer than Tommy’s house, I’d have everyone stay here.’” That got a wry smile out of Dr. Oliver; after Dr. Mercer had been separated from Mesogog and the latter defeated, the two had renewed their friendship. Aside from their work prior to the creation of Mesogog, they now had the Dino Rangers in common, even if he’d been their primary opponent as Mesogog’s human identity.

Trent, predictably, had once complained long and hard about his dad and Principal Randall dating. Conner and the others were just glad it hadn’t happened at the start of their senior year. Trent just made a face, thoroughly disgusted at the thought of Mesogog and Elsa having a child together. We’d all made suitable gagging noises when Ethan ran photos of the two through a program that showed what a child of two people would look like. Even Dr. Mercer and Principal Randall, who’d snuck up behind us at the Cyberspace, had been grossed out by the resulting picture. Ethan had immediately deleted any trace of the photo when she cleared her throat and it had been almost hilarious as the five of us scrambled to explain everything. It hadn’t stopped Principal Randall from threatening to find a way to put the four graduates into detention, though she’d had a smile on her face at the moment.

When Dr. Oliver had come in to pick me up, he took one look at the situation and had immediately asked what happened.

“Nothing, Dr. Oliver!” We chorused in unison, shaking our heads. Dr. Mercer was laughing his head off, though.

“I’ll explain later, Tommy. Don’t ground Katrina, she just got caught in the crossfire,” said Hayley from her post behind the counter.

“She’s not in trouble. From the looks of things, Ethan was the one responsible anyway.” Ethan just gulped at Dr. Oliver’s observation.

“She won’t be at school either, though I better not hear of that photo again.” With that parting shot, she and Dr. Mercer left, Trent with them. He was heading off to art school not long after that and his dad wanted to spend some time with him before he left.

“Photo, Ethan?” Dr. Oliver had asked, as he turned to face Ethan.

“You see, Dr. Oliver, Ethan found this program that would show what two people’s children would look like. Conner made an offhand comment about Trent’s dad and Principal Randall dating at the start of last school year and somebody”-Kira glared at Ethan-“decided it would be a good idea to run the publicly known photos of Mesogog and Elsa through it. Is there such thing as brain bleach?”

“Throw me under the bus, why don’t you?” Ethan audibly muttered.

“Not lying to Dr. O!” Kira retorted. The two descended into an all-out snark fest, but Dr. Oliver put a quick stop to it.

“It’s getting late guys. I’m sure Hayley wants to lock up; Katrina and I have to head home anyway.”

“See you, Dr. O,” Conner, Kira, and Ethan chorused, almost eager to get out of there. I’d never seen the three run any faster, even in their morphed forms. Conner was the one with super speed, but Kira and Ethan both seemed to match him that night.

Just reliving the memory made me smile a bit. Nudging Ethan, who was sitting on the couch next to me, I whispered, “Remember the pics we ran through that program earlier this summer?”

Ethan only shuddered, though it got him chuckling. The rest of the team, minus Dr. Oliver, who’d not heard, also laughed. He looked over at us when he heard the laughter, raising an eyebrow in question. He finally cracked up when I mentioned the event, the first true smile I’d seen on his face since Katherine’s pregnancy had been confirmed right after dinner.

“You know, I never did see a copy of that photo,” he said after the 5 of us teens had explained everything to Rocky, Katherine, and Kira’s mom.

“Dr. O, it’s pretty disgusting. Warning all of you now, just in case anyone needs a barf bag…sorry Katherine.” She just laughed at Ethan’s apology.

“You’re fine.”

“Don’t forgive me just yet,” Ethan responded as he brought up the photo and program. He may have deleted the photo initially, but it had been a simple task to restore it.

“You’re right, that is disgusting. I thought Mesogog was disgusting looking enough when I saw him on the news,” Mrs. Jones said.

Katherine didn’t respond, she’d ran off to the bathroom as soon as Ethan brought up the picture. Dr. Oliver and I had both ran after her, with me grabbing a ginger ale on the way. Rocky had decided to stay with the others at the moment. The three of us returned as soon as her stomach had settled, though Dr. Oliver hadn’t left her side all evening. None of us blamed him; we all knew what he’d almost lost during Scorpina’s attack.

Conner had even offered to be her bodyguard if he wasn’t in class, not with school starting back up and Dr. Oliver and I both having to be at Reefside High School during school hours. So had Ethan and Kira; she’d even passed on a message from Trent stating the same thing. Dr. Oliver and Katherine had immediately protested, but it was more for show than anything else. Mrs. Jones had even offered to help.

“I may not be a Power Ranger, but that doesn’t mean I can’t give your adversaries some trouble until the calvary arrives,” she’d said, getting a small chuckle out of all of us. Rocky had immediately echoed her sentiments, letting Katherine know all she had to do was call, telling her that any of her former teammates could transport to her location at any time. What had been said repeatedly was true; Rangers truly took care of their own.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside, later that week. POV: Abigail/1^st person

I couldn’t wait for school to start; despite this past week’s events, the start of my freshman year of high school gave me something to focus on. I’d finally had to call Kira, as I’d no clue what I should wear for my first day of classes. After laughing her head off, she came right over.

“As much as of a tomboy as you are, it’s nice seeing you be fashion-conscious for once,” she told me once she got here. “Where’s Dr. O and Katherine?”

“Doctor’s appointment. Rocky had to get back to Angel Grove; birthfather was starting to panic again. They won’t tell me what’s wrong with him, but I get the feeling it’s pretty bad.” We both knew of Ernie’s issues, but Rocky had explained to Kira what he’d told Ernie, Dr. Oliver, and myself: that both Ernie and I had to heal more before he could explain what had happened. Rocky had also explained to me that night that he knew if he told me exactly what was wrong with Ernie, I’d want to be by his side and Ernie was in no position for me to be there.

“If you and he saw each other right now, his recovery would stop, Abigail as his mental and emotional states are that bad. It’s for both of your sakes that I don’t tell you much. I’d like you to start writing letters to him. I know you wrote one once, but I know that continuing letters from you, even with Dr. Oliver and Kat’s names not mentioned, would help him. When I thought he was ready to read your first letter, I gave it to him. I noticed a marked improvement with his recovery after that. It gave him something to hold on to.”

I took a deep breath. “I can do that, Rocky. I’ve not read the ones he wrote me yet. I probably should if I’m going to start writing to him.”

“Don’t read them alone, Abigail. Even if you have one of the Dino Rangers with you, I don’t want you to be alone.” I could do that; I wouldn’t have read them alone anyway. Dr. Oliver had told me what had been in the latest letter that Ms. Andrews had brought, but it had been hard to hear and I’d had to talk with Rocky when he’d been up. He and I had covered a lot of topics besides it; Scorpina’s attack, Katherine’s pregnancy, and how I’d finally realized what I’d been putting Ernie through all summer. I’d written him a letter apologizing for scaring and worrying him all summer, fighting using my mom’s morpher and coin. I told him that I had someone close to me to protect now and why, but I didn’t name any names.

In that same letter, I asked him to forgive me that and that I hoped that we’d be able to meet come next summer. Earlier, if he was up for it. I said that I’d introduce him to my foster family at the same time, if they were willing to meet each other. I told him I missed him and loved him. Including a copy of one of my sketches of Hayley’s Cyberspace that had him in the envelope with the letter, I sealed it and gave it to Rocky to give to him.

I’d also gotten my first letter from David that week. I was able to include a lot more information in the letter, as he knew I’d been taken in by Dr. Oliver. He congratulated me on becoming a big sister when I called him from my new cell phone the same day I got his letter. He didn’t mind that Dr. Oliver wanted to adopt me; he was glad I had him looking out for me.

“Sis, I heard what he said to Dad. You might not have seen Dr. Oliver’s face, but I could tell he meant every word of it. Looking forward to your first day of high school? Wish I could be there.”

“Same here; I’ll send you sketches. Dr. Oliver broke down and bought a scanner/printer combination for the house. I’ve made more use out of it than he has. Given that he put it in my art room, I think that was his plan.”

“Art room? This I got to see. Next time I’m able to come up to Reefside, I want to see this. I remember how much you’ve wanted one. That reminds me, do you want me to send up what’s at the house? I can send it up with Rocky when he comes up next.”

“I don’t even remember what I had there, David,” I replied, laughing. “I only brought what I could carry.”

“That’s it, I’m sending them up. I’m sure Dr. Oliver and Katherine would love to see your early drawings.”

“David! Some of those sketches should be shredded, they were that bad!” I sputtered. David just laughed harder though. I knew he was right, though. There had been a couple of sketches that I’d left around the house here that I’d later found framed in Dr. Oliver’s office. He’d put them on his desk where he could see them. He’d been surprised that afternoon when he’d returned from the dojo and immediately found himself being hugged. When he’d asked what happened, I just told him I’d seen what he’d done with the sketches. He just smiled and told me art that good needed to be framed.

One of the things I was looking forwards to in high school was getting involved in the high school drama department. Not onstage, mind; Kira had told me that the art students often got roped into set painting and prop designing. I couldn’t carry a tune; Kira had actually shuddered when she heard me singing along to my iPod. She’d tried giving me singing lessons, but they’d not helped.

By the time Dr. Oliver and Katherine got back from her doctor’s appointment, Kira and I had settled on an outfit to wear. She knew what color I needed to incorporate into my daily outfits and was able to guide me on what would look good on me. She also gave me dirt on what each class and teacher was like, something Cassidy hadn’t done.

“The teacher you’re going to have to worry about is Mr. Sanderson. He’s one of the teachers assigned to freshman year science and he always does a unit on DNA. His big project at towards the end of the semester is taking the class on a field trip to a forensic lab and running someone’s DNA through a sequencer. He normally does that with parental permission, but it’s always whichever student’s earned his ire that semester, without fail. The children of teachers always get it the worst. He even did it to his own son, who graduated with me.”

“What’s his issue?” I asked. Kira just shook her head.

“No clue; he seems to be one of those teachers who enjoys his position for the power and authority it gives him. He really shouldn’t be teaching, but he’s been a fixture for so long that it’s going to take something huge to fire him.”

“Something like picking on Dr. Oliver’s foster daughter, who’s basically under witness protection?” I asked, having a gut feeling that this just might do it if he was as bad as Kira said.

“That would do it. You’ll be the hero of the school if what he does gets him fired.”

“Athena will be so disappointed,” I snarked. “The 15-year-old girl foster daughter of the guy she’s attracted to outshining her as Miss Popularity.” We both cracked up at that; knowing that Athena would react predictably. If she tried anything at that point in time, she’d probably end up in detention, if not outright suspended.

Kira had left not long after Dr. Oliver and Katherine had gotten back, as much as she wanted to stay while Dr. Oliver and I went to the dojo. Katherine just shook her head as she was coming with us. The only reason they’d come home was to pick me up and have lunch.

“Dr. Oliver, I could have driven her. You know that. It wouldn’t have been an imposition.”

“I know that and am glad she called you while we were out. I was worried about here.” None of us blamed him; Katherine’s pregnancy had us all worried. I’d even stayed closer to home after her injury despite wanting to hang out with my friends. Francine and Patton were planning on coming over that weekend to hang out; Patton might not know of me being an active Ranger, but he understood why I was scared right now.

The first night after the attack, all three of us had woken up from nightmares. We’d been glad for the presence of Rocky and the other Dino Rangers, but that hadn’t stopped the nightmares at all. We’d all had the same one, too, and from different perspectives the first night. I’d ended up throwing up after mine; in it, I’d failed to protect Katherine and had watched Dr. Oliver go down the same dark path Ernie had done after Mom’s death. I’d had a hard time going back to sleep after that. I drew it all out, as it was hard to talk about, and shoved the sketches in Rocky’s hands. He didn’t even have to ask why, but looked grim as he looked at them while I headed into Dr. Oliver’s bedroom.

Same location, same time as nightmares. POV: Rocky/3^rd.

Rocky sighed as Abigail headed into Tommy’s room. The attack earlier coupled with Kat’s pregnancy had set part of her recovery back weeks. Looking at the sketches and the wall that her art room shared with the master bedroom, he could understand why she feared Tommy would follow the same dark path as Ernie had. She had every right to that fear; Tommy had confessed to him earlier about having that same fear. His exact words had been ‘If something had happened to Kat and our unborn child, you would have needed to get Abigail to Sensei Watanabe, as I would have been in no condition to be her guardian and prospective adopted dad.’

Rocky had been able to get his friend through that fear temporarily, but he knew it was going to take a lot of work on both their parts for that fear to go away. He knew that none of them would feel truly safe until Ivan and Scorpina were both killed. Rito might be a clumsy idiot, but he had a sense of morals for an evil guy. He didn’t go after children unless said children were de-aged Power Rangers. Scorpina didn’t care one way or another; neither did Ivan. One of Ivan’s plans in the alternate universe had relied on children to get his mind-control goop to be put into the hands of Angel Grove’s adults.

Speaking of Ooze, they still hadn’t found his hideout. They knew it had to be somewhere around Reefside, but the scans had turned up nothing. Not even Billy or the Alphas had been able to find anything and Zordon’s Command Center had greater searching capacity. They’d finally gotten in touch with the other Earth-bound teams to join in the search and to monitor for any weird activity, well Ranger-weird at any rate.

Trent had made the suggestion that Ooze could have taken over Mesogog’s destroyed hideout, but that had been ruled out. They’d finally found where Ooze had been imprisoned all those millennia ago, but there was no sign of him.

He put the sketches down and went to check on Tommy, Kat, and Abigail. What he saw when he reached the master bedroom didn’t surprise him, as Tommy and Kat had nestled Abigail between the two of them. The rest of the team was in the room, comforting their friends. They had finally fallen into an uneasy sleep and Rocky had stayed awake in case of more nightmares. He had Kira bring up a blanket from the den and added it to their bed; sometimes, the only way that a decent night’s sleep could be gotten was via weighted blankets. Failing that, extra blankets helped and he was glad to see his friends and their daughter drop into a deeper sleep.

That didn’t mean that there hadn’t been more nightmares, but Rocky had been by their side for each and every one of them. So had the Dino Rangers; Rocky knew it was hard for them to see their mentor and teammate at his weakest, but they refused to turn away when he needed their help. They had all done so before and not just for Trent; Rocky had finally gotten the full story about the time Trent had, while the white Dino Gem had still been under evil’s thrall, encased a Tommy in full morph in amber. Hayley had managed to release him, but Tommy had remained stuck in morph. The attempt to demorph him had caused his ability to go invisible-and wasn’t that a shocker-to go into overdrive. Rocky had known from a call Tommy had made once getting out of the hospital that the attempt to fix that had almost killed his friend. As it was, it had sent him into a coma, one that there had been a chance he wouldn’t have woken up from if he’d not had such a strong will to live.

As it was, every single risk and dangerous things that Tommy had done as a Ranger had come crashing down around his head the second he found out that Kat was expecting. It had been once thing to take on Trini’s daughter as his own, but Abigail and Tommy had started fighting together as Power Rangers almost from the start. It was an entirely different thing when the woman you loved was expecting your child. Oh, Rocky knew Tommy considered Abigail his own flesh and blood, but they also shared a bond as Power Rangers. Tommy, even before Abigail had revealed herself, had talked with Rocky many times about what he should do if Katrina showed interest in becoming a Power Ranger and what he should do about Abigail when he finally got her to sit and talk after a monster attack. It had scared Tommy, even then, that Abigail was pretty much going into being a Power Ranger blind, or so he had thought. She had to some degree, but Rocky had found out after the fact that Jason, Kimberly, and Aisha, along with Zack and Adam, had done their best to inform her just how dangerous it could be.

Fear was an ugly thing and it could have one of two effects on people. The first was it could be very crippling; that was part of what Rocky was seeing from Tommy now. The second could lead someone to be determined to become stronger as they overcame their fears, which was Tommy’s normal state of mind. Having a good support system was part of that, especially for Tommy, who’d been able to overcome many of his fears with the help of his fellow Power Rangers, even as a teenager. Reminders that he and other loved ones were mortal often could lead to fear or determination, if not both at the same time. Fear also made normally strong people desperate; there had been one time, before Rocky had joined the team, that the team minus Tommy had given up their coins to rescue their parents after Rita had kidnapped them. Tommy had been able to rescue the coins and the parents had been saved. Rocky still remembered when Lord Zedd had gotten a hold of Kimberly’s Power Coin; if Kat hadn’t broken free of Rita’s spell, Tommy’s heart would have been broken at her death.

Rocky’s job now was to get them through this, but he wasn’t doing it alone. He had no doubt that Tommy and his family would get through this stronger than ever. Rocky *almost* felt sorry for Ivan and Scorpina; Scorpina had made a fatal mistake attacking Katherine and her unborn child. As much of a target the pregnancy painted on all their backs, Ivan was going down. As he traveled back to Angel Grove, he started contacting the entire Ranger family. If there needed to be a team-up with all the Ranger teams, a team-up there would be and Tommy didn’t even have to ask. It hadn’t been the first time that various Ranger teams had to team up to defeat a Big Bad and Rocky doubted that it would be the last either. As much as they often couldn’t actively use their powers, when a big team-up was needed, they were able to access said powers.

Rito, as much of a thorn in their side as he’d been, was more of an irritant than he was dangerous. The only time he was considered a true danger was when he teamed up with someone smarter and with more powerful abilities than he had. He’d been such when he’d given Rita and Zedd a belated wedding gift; Scorpina must have found or have been led to the Tengu home planet if they had Tengu warriors on their side. By himself, Rito broke almost every rule on the Evil Overlord List, which would be almost comical if he hadn’t also been a semi-decent fighter.

Rocky was just glad that they’d been able to confirm the death of Master Vile; he didn’t know where Zedd was. Rita, after repenting, had actually become a mentor to Mystic Force and would be their best source of knowledge about her brother as well as a former henchman of hers and Zedd’s. If all else failed, she had offered to spy on Ivan and the others once they had been located. Rocky had agreed to consider the plans, but he knew it wouldn’t be their only plan. Tommy was going to be in for a shock when Rocky came up next.

Location: Reefside High School, first day of classes. POV: Abigail/1^st person

By the time I got done with first period science, I was steaming. Kira had been right about Mr. Sanderson; the guy was a grade-A asshole. He had a real hate for lefties, as he tried assigning us to areas where we’d either not take notes or write them with our off hands. Heaven forbid that we didn’t take legible notes and face him at the same time and he really had it out for me. Thankfully, he’d not tried giving me detention today, but very few teachers were willing to give detentions on the first day of school, even him. Principal Randall, last year, had been the only one to do so. The only reason his seating chart hadn’t worked was because the principal had walked in during the middle of it.

Thankfully, the rest of my teachers had common sense and by the time lunch came around, I’d calmed down. I joined Francine and Patton, who were sitting with three other people; two guys and one other girl. Francine introduced us; in red was her friend Karan, orange was Steve, and Johnny was in green. Patton, I knew, had blue as his favorite color and Francine actually liked rose pink, as I’d found out over one of many sleepovers this summer. I was looking forward to language class this afternoon. Mrs. Trang, like many of the foreign language teachers, encouraged her students to pick a name from the country whose language we were studying. I honestly was considering Thang, which meant Victorious One. To me, Thang represented my hopes that I’d be victorious in not just the fight against Ivan, Scorpina, and Rito, but my primary goal in being able to reconcile with Ernie. I could have used Thuy, my middle name, but wanted to use something different.

Dr. Oliver, like many of the teachers, supervised the lunchroom when they weren’t eating their own lunch. There’d been more than once I’d seen him smiling when I’d looked. He seemed honestly pleased that I was making more friends, as was I. Don’t get me wrong, the Dino Rangers were great, but they were in college with the exception of Dr. Oliver. I wouldn’t get to see them as often except on the weekends and term breaks, discounting monster attacks.

Unfortunately, one time I looked over, he was talking with Mr. Sanderson. I don’t know what was said, but Dr. Oliver looked furious by the time it was done. Francine, who’d been in my same science class, promised to back me up if Mr. Sanderson told a lie. I might have been slightly worried, but all the teachers by now knew what Sanderson was like as did most of the students. Trent had let us know Principal Randall was looking for a way to fire him, but couldn’t as he’d had tenure by the time she got there. The school board also refused to do anything without proof and the words of a few students, disregarding even a petition signed by the entire student body one year, did nothing to sway them. All Cassidy could figure is he had something over the board.

I had a few ideas of how to get rid of him, based off of my conversation with Kira, but I decided to be patient. Both Hanshi Scott and Dr. Oliver both said to never act out in anger and always consider the ramifications of your actions. My best course of action was to act normally and let him be the one to massively screw up. Hanshi Scott said that sometimes, the best course of action is to use one’s opponent’s actions and energy to guide them towards defeat. My case file was so wrapped up in red tape that if he even tried anything during the forensic lab field trip, he’d be arrested. This was even though Dr. Oliver was in the process of adopting me. Our best estimate was that the adoption would be finalized at spring break at the earliest; summer latest. I hoped Sanderson would be gone by then.

As soon as the school day was over, I couldn’t wait to get to the dojo. Dr. Oliver had given me permission to ride my bike over, as he had a staff meeting right after school. I may have calmed down, but I was hoping to be able to spend some time working off my frustration before lessons started. Hanshi Scott didn’t mind when students came in before lessons to practice, especially if they’d had stressful days. He kept a punching bag in one area of the dojo for that reason, saying that he’d rather we work our frustrations out on the bag instead of each other. I’d never taken him up on that until today, given that Dr. Oliver had one in his basement for a similar reason. Francine had joined me, as her lessons were taking place at the same time, taught by one of the other black belts at the school.

If it weren’t for the fact that I was still rather frustrated, she and I would have spent the time sparring. She knew me well enough by this point to know sparring was useless; she might be one belt rank ahead of me, but my emotions were running high and that can sometimes power attacks when needed. A friendly spar in the dojo was not one of those times. She did, thankfully, act as my spotter so I didn’t overdo it. By the time we had to split for our own classes, I’d worked out my frustration and Dr. Oliver had arrived to teach the orange belts.

When I came out of the changing room, I found Francine talking with Dr. Oliver. I didn’t even have to know that she was giving him an account of this morning’s science lesson. Dr. Oliver was inclined to believe her, as she had no reason to lie to him. On top of that, Hanshi Scott had drilled into us that lying was not a good thing, unless it was for a good reason. One good reason would be to never tell someone that an outfit makes them look fat, for example, or when planning a surprise party.

After we’d dropped Francine at her house-he’d offered because where she lived was on our way home-Dr. Oliver asked me for my side of the story of this morning’s science lesson. I was able to tell him, though not without a few choice words flying out. Normally, I’d be in trouble for swearing, but he could tell that it was warranted.

“I’d heard he was bad, but didn’t realize he was this bad. I’m sorry you have to deal with him; there’s no other teacher that can cover his classes right now. Randall’s looking, but she can’t hire anyone unless he does something to get himself fired or quits.”

“That’s what Kira and Cassie said; Cassie offered to see if she can find any skeletons in his closet besides the ones used for science and health classes. As much as I would like to see him try something during the forensic lab field trip, I’m the only one who would trip something.”

“That’s not a risk you’re going to take,” he said as we pulled into the garage.

“Wasn’t planning on it. Right now, I’m just going to be myself and watch him implode. He’s already on notice with Principal Randall for trying to assign the lefties in class to seats where we’d have to take notes with our off hands. He loves legible notes and will take off points if they’re not, from what the older students said. We were lucky she walked in at that moment with a message for one of my classmates.” I chuckled. “We think she may have actually been doing a surprise inspection; the student in question is the child of someone on the school board who’s on the principal’s side. The message was nowhere near urgent and certainly wouldn’t have required her to act as a messenger. From what Kira told me, the secretaries or students who are being office helpers for the semester deliver the messages.”

Dr. Oliver blinked at that before he chuckled. “She was always a clever one, given that she was able to give us some real trouble when Mesogog had her under his control.”

“She’s still pretty intimidating, Dr. Oliver. I’d hate to get on her bad side.” With that, we went in. Katherine had spent most of the day in Dino Command, so she was happy to see us. Hayley and Dr. Oliver, along with Uncle Billy, might have been able to get better defenses up so that a repeat of the trashing of it back in the spring couldn’t happen again, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t have its weak spots either. The house was one such spot; because I had friends over on occasion as well as people like Dr. Mercer and Ms. Andrews coming over, we couldn’t just cover the house and grounds with the same guard web that was around Dino Command.

While Dr. Oliver was talking with Katherine, I deposited my bags in my room before heading down to eat. It had been a long time since lunch and I’d only had a quick snack before lessons. Over dinner, I told them how my school day had been, though I’d not wanted to rehash my lesson with Sanderson again. I did end up doing homework after I ate, as there was a lot to do. Mostly reading, though Sanderson had required a several-page paper. I’d had to borrow some of Dr. Oliver’s books, as the information Sanderson wanted wasn’t in my textbook. Francine had warned me about that; she’d heard from her sister that anyone who failed to put in the required information got their grade docked. Nobody got a straight ‘A’, either, because he always contradicted himself on assignment rules. We were supposed to only use our textbook and notes, but we also had to elaborate on said topics, with more information than the textbooks gave us.

I hadn’t been the only student complaining about the paper either. Patton, over lunch, had asked who assigned a paper on the first day of school.

“Sanderson” we all chorused. Thankfully, he’d not heard us; we’d all heard horror stories from classmates that he tended to appear in the lunchroom when someone spoke his name out loud. Of course, this had been when he’d been talking with Dr. Oliver, so maybe he got distracted. We only hoped it was the case.

When I was writing my paper for him, I left the syllabus on the table next to me as I typed everything up. I’d gotten so involved with writing that I’d not noticed Dr. Oliver come up behind me and start reading it. I’d only borrowed the dining room table because it was the only table big enough to put the associated books nearby without using my bed. I about jumped when he put a hand on my shoulder.

“Sorry, Dr. Oliver!” I said as he rubbed his foot; I’d accidentally managed to land a chair leg on his foot as I’d jumped out of the chair.

“You’re fine, Abigail. I should have been aware of where my foot was in relation to the chair. Mind if I send Principal Randall a copy of this?” He gestured with the syllabus.

“Go for it. Even if it doesn’t get him fired right now, it’s still going to be a black mark on his record. It might not be one thing that he gets fired, but rather a series of small things. If he freaks about my paper, I know the others were planning on hitting up the local library.” I grinned evilly. “The class decided to split how we did the paper. About half, like myself, were going to do the ‘expand details’ while the other half were going to do strictly textbook and notes.”

Katherine chuckled at that. “He won’t be able to say which group was right. He can’t fail one group for failing to expand details while doing the same for those who don’t stick strictly to the textbook and notes.” I grinned; that had been the plan. If he didn’t quit, or clarified his policy, we’d scramble who did what so it wasn’t entirely obvious just what we were doing. It had actually been an Ethan idea; he’d not been the only student who hated Sanderson’s policy.

“He’s not head of the department either; despite being the senior science teacher, there’s been enough complaints for the school board to put someone else in charge,” Dr. Oliver said. “They actually offered it to me last year, but I refused as I’d just been hired. All they said was I was the only science teacher with recent experience in the field that wasn’t related to teaching students.”

“Why hasn’t he been fired yet?” I asked. “Cassidy thinks he has blackmail on certain members of the school board. I heard that one year, the entire student body created a petition to remove him and it was signed by every student, including his own son.”

Dr. Oliver just sighed. “That petition is why he’s not the department head. Unfortunately, he’s toned down enough that they haven’t outright fired him, or so I’ve heard. The school board members who are unwilling to fire him are right around his same age, so they don’t see anything wrong with how he teaches. It was part of why they were so eager to hire Principal Randall last year; given how she was under Mesogog’s control, she was able to give them the answers they wanted to hear.”

Not long after that, I finished my paper and, after printing it off, put it into a folder to turn in the next day. I was exhausted enough that I went to bed not long after that, barely aware that Dr. Oliver checked on me as I fell asleep. School came fairly early and I’d had a rough week. Thankfully, that same exhaustion kept me from having nightmares, but I knew I wouldn’t be so lucky. There had been times over the summer where I’d still been exhausted and had a nightmare.

The next day had gone relatively well until lunch. We knew Sanderson’s free period was right before our lunch period, so my friends and I sat at the table closest to the teacher lounge. That way, if he tried anything, there’d be enough adult witnesses that he’d be in serious trouble. He tended to grade the papers from his morning classes during his free period, as most teachers did if they weren’t reworking lesson plans.

That being said, it was still a shock when I got yanked out of my chair by a very pissed Sanderson. Seeing him like that trapped me in a flashback of Ernie’s anger and abuse. I didn’t realize until after the flashback was over that Dr. Oliver and my new friends had gotten me out of there and into a quiet room, with Sanderson nowhere to be seen or heard. Dr. Oliver had wrapped his arms around me, speaking softly to me. I wouldn’t find out until much later that my friends refused to abandon me during it; they’d grabbed my stuff including my lunch. I slowed my breathing as I came back to myself and looked up at everyone.

“Doing better, Katrina?” I nodded, still not trusting my voice completely. “Do you want to go back home? I think the rest of your teachers will understand if you want to go home.”

“No…I want to stay. If I need to leave, I’ll let you know. I’m not going to let him chase me out of the school simply because he hit a rather large trigger. He would have gotten angry with me today irregardless of how I did my paper.”

“It’s why we were sitting by the teacher’s lounge today. Athena’s told me enough that we know he’s got a bit of a temper. He’s got a hate for Katrina that we can’t identify.”

“Dr. Oliver’s my foster dad, Francine. From what Kira and Cassie told me, he really dislikes students of teachers. Says something that even his own son, who graduated with them, signed the petition to fire him.” Various noises of disbelief came from the other 5 teens.

“His own son?!?!” exclaimed Patton. “Fuck…sorry Dr. Oliver!”

“I didn’t hear anything warranting a detention, did you guys?” We all shook our heads, giggling as we headed back out into the lunchroom to finish lunch. We all knew swearing in front of a teacher like Patton had done usually got the student in question in detention.

“You’re the best, Dr. O. Thanks!” With that, we split off. My friends and I retook our table to finish lunch while Dr. Oliver headed off to Randall’s office. If this managed to get him fired, that would be the quickest a teacher had left so early in the school year. We found out that he’d not been fired exactly; while there was going to be a sub for the class, it was only going to be until an investigation had been done. The syllabus that we’d all kept a copy of was going to be part of it, though Sanderson claimed one of us had created it and had the rest of us toss the one he’d given us. He’d been proven a liar at that, as they’d found the electronic copy on his personal laptop.

Even then, the school board attempted to return him to teaching. Principal Randall had gone a step higher and Sanderson had been stripped of his teaching license. We knew that this wasn’t over, though, as the school board wasn’t too happy with Randall. We don’t know if they knew she’d been the one to send the results of the investigation quietly to the state’s teaching board. All I knew was what I’d seen when they came through the school on Friday during lunch, as they’d not been quiet as they stormed the cafeteria looking for her.

“Gentlemen. I may be a hard nose when it comes to the students, but I draw the line when one of them attacks a student with no provocation. Sanderson had conflicting rules in his syllabus and took it out on Dr. Oliver’s foster daughter. Even if she wasn’t his ward, she’s had a hard childhood, as I’m sure you know. I know her social worker stood in front of you to inform you she was under witness protection and the reasons why.”

“I still have a tough time believing that a half-Asian brat had parents involved in top-secret government work.” The president of the school board didn’t even notice Dr. Oliver walking up behind him until he started to speak. The entire school had chuckled when the president’s toupee fell off as he jumped.

“It’s the truth, Mr. Caplan.” Dr. Oliver said quietly after I gave him a quick nod. “It’s the only reason I was chosen as her guardian. Her parents and I were involved in that same work, long before I worked with Dr. Mercer. I know how to keep secrets. Even to become her guardian, I had to sign all sorts of NDAs and other documents stating I wouldn’t reveal the exact nature of her parents’ work. I’m only allowed to confirm that it happened, not what that work was. It is just that sensitive, gentlemen. The safety of our planet depends on it.” Which was the truth, just not the complete truth. The safety of our planet depends on the Power Rangers.

Mr. Caplan just growled. “This isn’t the end of it, Randall. Sanderson must have had his reasons why he grabbed her. Yes, he should have spoken to you first, Dr. Oliver, but he didn’t mean to provoke a panic attack. I expect him back by Christmas.”

“Good luck convincing the state, Mr. Caplan. Even if you manage to convince them, I’m sure Cassidy Cornell at Channel 3 would be interested in the fact that a former science teacher that you and several others on the board protected provoked Dr. Oliver’s foster daughter, sending her into a panic attack! Can you survive that, Mr. Caplan? Dr. Oliver and I can. He defended the school from Mesogog and myself when Mesogog had me under an evil spell. That gives him a lot of leeway as far as the parents are concerned. Several have said that he’s the only reason they sent their children back this year, even with me still principal.”

That I’d not heard, though the older classmates who’d surrounded my table to further protect me were all too happy to fill me in, with video evidence on their cell phones. I knew Dr. Oliver had mad martial arts skills, but to see him use them outside of his Ranger suit, or at the dojo was something else. I also got treated to some of the fan club behavior, but I didn’t exactly blame them after seeing the video. If he’d not been my dad, I’d probably have joined the club myself.

“It’s not fair,” one of the older girls complained. “He’s so handsome and you don’t often get high school teachers with skills like that.”

“Guys, he’s engaged,” I reminded them as I finished my sandwich.

“Why do you think I said it wasn’t fair? You’re so lucky, living with him. I know you’re taking lessons at the dojo downtown. We’d tried joining, but the sensei in charge seemed to know why we were all there. Dude can see right through us; he’s scary.” I just rolled my eyes; Missy might be the smartest girl in sophomore year, but she could be a complete featherhead sometimes.

“I’m still not telling you details of his love life, Missy, nor what he looks like shirtless. He’s my dad. How would you feel if I asked you those questions about your dad?” That got Missy fake gagging at that as the rest of us laughed.

“Good point, Jones. Guess we shouldn’t invite you to fan club meetings,” replied Andrea, the rumored president of the selfsame fan club.

“Good idea, though I should warn you he’s aware of the club.” Francine had the decency to blush when I said that. “What, Francine? He’d have found out eventually, even without me here. He’s not stupid; stupid people don’t get PhDs in paleontology.”

“No, we just end up doing stupid stuff on digs instead. I can’t tell you the number of times one of us had to be rescued on a dig because we forgot to tie a rope to something important.” We all jumped; Mr. Caplan and Principal Randall had retired to her office and Dr. Oliver had joined our group. “If you guys are finished, the bell rang 2 minutes ago. If you head out now, you shouldn’t get into too much trouble.” We all scattered at that; Dr. Oliver’s free period was right after lunch, so he didn’t have to worry about being late for his own class.

My classmates and I hadn’t gotten in trouble; I can’t speak for the older students. The teachers had all witnessed Mr. Caplan’s scene in the cafeteria and seen how the other students had immediately surrounded me so he wouldn’t be able to descend on my table. That didn’t mean we hadn’t been given a lecture from our teacher. Seeing as this was our first offense, we were being let off with a warning. I was glad to be included in that group, as I didn’t want special treatment as the daughter of one of the teachers.

This week, Sanderson aside, had also seen me be the center of attention. Dr. Oliver was my foster dad and everyone was curious as to why. Granted, most of the attention had been from Missy and her ilk, but the rest had been from the girls on the soccer team that hadn’t been at the camp. Even the gal that was the soccer captain hadn’t seen why I was on the reserve team.

“Katrina, you’re one of the most promising players to come out of McKnight’s camp. You should be on the main varsity team,” she’d said after school Tuesday, as I was getting ready to head to Cyberspace. Soccer wasn’t going to start up practicing until March, so I wasn’t missing practice. I was expected to be at the tryouts with the other girls who’d made the team from the summer camp.

“Christine, I take martial arts lessons 3 days a week. That’s more important to me than a soccer team. Soccer’s more fun for me, but I take learning to defend myself seriously. If my older brother-an of age adult in his freshman year of college-hadn’t taught me some of what I’d learned, I would have been killed or seriously injured by my abuser. The only reason my brother’s not my guardian is he’s living on campus. The choice was made before the abuse started, otherwise, he would have been granted guardianship. My birthfather couldn’t protect me, which is why I’m being adopted by Dr. Oliver. It was the safest choice all around.” I wasn’t about to tell her that my abuser and Ernie were the same person. That had been part of what was put into the ‘classified’ section of my file.

Christine still hadn’t been happy, but I had promised to be at whatever practices I could make and the games once soccer started up in the spring. That had mollified her before I’d taken off on my bike. The only reason I was heading to CyberSpace instead of home is I just needed to hang out with some friends. I’d taken my books and whatnot with me and had worked on some of my homework there. I wasn’t the only Reefside student to do so and it wasn’t unusual for the CyberSpace to double as an informal tutoring space during the school year. Dr. Oliver was fine with me going there after school as long as I kept my grades up. The minute my grades started slipping, it was back to only hanging out there on the weekends and term breaks during the school year.

That didn’t mean that we’d not had pick-up practices; Thursday had been one of those days with the new players versus the older students. It had been quite fun and nobody had kept score. What Catherine had found was because Francine and I had been at camp together, we’d made a formidable team. One of the goals we’d scored was using a trick we’d developed during camp and had used effectively against Angel Grove. We knew exactly where each other was during the game and I’d heard Catherine mutter that she’d have to play us on opposite sides the next game. Francine and I just grinned; Conner had done the same thing. Once, mind. We’d managed to take that practice game to a draw.

Just remembering that game brought a smile to my face. Christine had asked me what had been so funny and Francine and I had laughed at that.

“Ask McKnight what happened when he tried that. I think he’s still got the video from that training session.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Christine remarked, clearly not believing us. Conner ended up cornering me Saturday, asking me what the heck.

“First practice game with the soccer team last Thursday. Christine placed the new players against most of the returning ones. She had the same idea you did during camp about pitting Francine and I against each other.” Conner groaned.

“That’s not going to end well. You two are formidable together, but even worse against each other.” Conner could even shake his head at the memory; Francine and I just snickered. When the other girls who’d been at the practice overheard us, they busted out laughing.

Of course, I’d had to head home after that, as Rocky was coming up to see how I’d done my first week at school. I’d called him Tuesday because of the flashback; because of being back in school, my midweek sessions were over the phone instead of in person. This would be my first in-person session since school had started and I needed the session today. Sanderson going off on me Tuesday was all my classmates could talk about when they thought I couldn’t hear; Athena didn’t even care if I heard or not. Thankfully, most of her fellow students would jump down her throat when she tried bullying me about it. Even Missy and Andrea looked disgusted at her when she tried.

“Athena, what is your issue? Just because she’s Dr. Oliver’s daughter doesn’t mean you have to bully her. She’s lucky he’s her foster dad; you saw him protecting us last spring when Principal Randall went all evil on us. You heard him and the principal during lunch; she couldn’t have a better protector than him. Whatever her parents did for a living, they must still have enemies out there. If they find out she’s here, they’ll come after her. Dr. Oliver will protect her, as will the Power Rangers. You saw that one Yellow Ranger protect his fiancé just before school started; rumor has it she found out she was pregnant after the attack,” Andrea said. “He’s so dreamy.”

Athena just scoffed. “Should be me with that ring on my finger.” With that, she stomped off to her next class, with Missy and Andrea looking at each other worriedly. They’d eventually told me that they hadn’t kicked her out of the club because they wanted to keep an eye on her. I just implored them to tell Dr. Oliver at the very least, as he’d take it better from them instead of me. Athena’s parents could make the argument that I was telling tall tales because it was well-known that the two of us didn’t get along. Missy and Andrea were some of her closest friends and it would be more believable coming from them.

I’d gone over some of my letters from Ernie during the session as well; Dr. Oliver had joined us for that. There had been more than once that he’d had to comfort me because the letters held things that I’d wished I’d heard from Ernie growing up. Neither Rocky nor Dr. Oliver had an answer as to why he’d never told me any of what he’d written down. I’d finally written all of that in a letter at Rocky’s suggestion that afternoon.

By the time I’d gotten the letter done, I was spent mentally and emotionally. It was just our luck, though, that Ivan and Scorpina made another attack. Rocky went down into Dino Command with Katherine and put it on full lockdown.

“Abigail, if you’re not up for it, you can stay here as well.” I just shook my head at that.

“They’ll be wondering where I am, Dr. Oliver,” I replied as we morphed and landed in the middle of downtown. “I’m not about to give them the satisfaction of the knowledge I’m not at my best.” We joined the other Dino Rangers as we dealt with the Tengu. We’d also not been surprised when we’d gotten help from Sensei Watanabe’s ninjas; Rocky had told us that he’d gotten in touch with the other teams. Sensei Watanabe owed the Dino Rangers a rather huge favor from earlier in the year, despite Dr. Oliver’s protests to the contrary.

I soon found myself facing off against Scorpina once again. She seemed to take my defeat of her the previous week personally as I found myself on the defensive. I couldn’t resist a taunt though.

“You know, Scorpina. I’ve not seen your skeletal counterpart lately. He might be easier to beat, but he’s at least wittier than you are.” That seemed to enrage her even further and I’d had to dive out of the way as she shot an energy beam at me. I looked around; if I could keep it up, she’d end up falling over the edge into the water. I just had to keep myself alive and relatively uninjured.

“Wittier, Rito? All that skeleton is good for is dumb muscle” she retorted as I had to duck an attack.

“He doesn’t even have any muscles, Scorpina! Dumb, I’ll grant you. He is easy to defeat when he’s by himself. His attacks are way too predictable.” With that, I flipped over her head to dodge an attack. She ended up falling into the water as she lost her balance trying to spin around. I’d rejoined the others in time to keep Ivan from making mincemeat of my teammates. We’d had to call on our Zords at that; both Dr. Oliver and I had been shocked when Mom’s original Zord had answered my call. Ivan had taken off at that; Sensei promised to follow him. Scorpina, on the other hand…well, let’s just say we had to rescue her from the water.

“I’d never think I’d see the day when we had to rescue an unrepentant adversary.”

“You’re one to speak, White Ranger,” Scorpina spat at Trent. “You tried rescuing Mesogog.”

“No, Anton Mercer, my dad. Mesogog was his evil alter ego.” Moving closer to where we had her contained, he continued. “You’ll realize you’ll find that we succeeded. I’d have never rescued him without the other Dino Rangers.” He started before tearing a necklace off of her. “Where did you get this?”

I took a closer look at it; it was a near-perfect copy of a necklace that Mom had once owned. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was my mom’s. My birthfather gave it to me last Christmas; I’m wearing it right now.” I’d added said necklace to the one David had given me after moving up to Reefside. I gave Scorpina a closer look, but realized she looked nothing like Mom. “Looks like you’re the only one with a parent who’s had an evil alter ego, Trent.” That, and Scorpina didn’t radiate anything in the Grid even remotely similar to Mom. I’d grown enough in my abilities within the Grid that I’d even be able to tell where Mesogog had once been within Dr. Mercer’s spirit and mind. I wasn’t able to heal him from that just yet as much as Trent wanted me to.

Dr. Oliver just shook his head. “Scorpina was around even before Trini and Ernie married. If it weren’t for the fact that she once showed up when the two were in the same room together, I’d be wondering the same thing.” With Dino Command under full lockdown, we’d had to contact Billy to transport her somewhere else. Sensei had offered to confine her into the Abyss of Evil, but Luthor’s escape meant that the Abyss wasn’t an ideal option. I’d confined the necklace in a miniature version of Dino Command’s confinement system after Scorpina was teleported out.

“What’s so important about that necklace?”

“Ernie had this made special for her. My cousin Sylvia had started taking jewelry-making classes. The one I wear is the only one she made of this design.” I looked grim behind my helmet. “That means that this Scorpina is either Sylvia in disguise or…I don’t know what the other option is. I really don’t want to know either.”

When we got back to Dino Command, Dr. Oliver let Katherine and Hayley medic him up without complaint, as Ivan had done a number on him. I put the box within the same confinement area that had once held Dimitria. Following my demorph, I contacted Uncle Billy via the communication system we had in Dino Command.

“What do you need, Abigail?”

“Do you have eyes on Scorpina?” I asked. “I need to do something, but can’t do so without knowing you’ve got eyes on her.”

“What do you need me to do?” He asked, uncommonly serious. He didn’t even give me his usual response, which is why I knew he was completely serious.

“Keep an eye on her. If she collapses within the next several minutes and reawakens when I next contact you, let me know.” I ignored the gasps from behind me. Everyone knew what I was going to attempt to do at my statement. Once Uncle Billy gave his assent, I cut the connection.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Abigail. The last time you did this, you could have died.”

“Only because I had no clue what I was doing, Dr. Oliver. If it weren’t for the fact that you’ve got the worst injuries out of us, I’d have you be my spotter. Conner knows enough to do so today; I’ll be fine.” What I meant by spotter was I needed someone’s hand on my back to ground me to reality while I accessed the Grid via a meditative trance. Why I’d almost died the first time is because I’d had no spotter that night, just me and the Power Coin. I only used the coin when I needed to talk to Mom; I was slowly beginning to be able to use my own link to drop in.

Even with a spotter, who was usually Dr. Oliver, I rarely stayed more than a few minutes. We didn’t know my limits in it and didn’t want to find out in a hurry. Before I sat in lotus position, I grabbed the box from where I’d stashed it. Conner placed a hand on my back, finding a place where he could fit his whole left hand.

Opening my eyes, I found myself in the Grid. Unlike normal times when I did the exercise, the physical representation of my spotter was red instead of a primarily black and gold line, those being Dr. Oliver's current Powers' colors, though green, white, and red were also there. Mom was right there when I turned around.

“Mom.”

“Abigail. Why are you here? Not that I’m not happy to see you, but this isn’t your usual time to come and talk.” My only response was to hold a glowing version of the necklace Trent snapped off Scorpina’s neck. “Sylvia took two tries to make the necklace Ernie had her make for me. You wear the finalized one; I don’t know what happened to the first one until now. Sylvia never said what she’d done with it.”

I swore. “Mom, once someone’s spirit is in the Grid, they can’t be forcibly pulled out, can they?” I just about collapsed in relief when she replied in the negative. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to be checking with Uncle Billy, but those whose spirits resided in the grid couldn’t lie, especially when asked a direct question.

“That doesn’t mean that Grid scholars haven’t tried, Abigail. All they got for their pains was knocked unconscious. If they woke up, they were never the same; Scorpina is the daughter of one such female scholar.”

“That explains a lot; she’s a psychopath.” I felt a tug on my link. “I’ve got to go, Mom. I’m either reaching the safe end of time I can spend here or I’m being called back.” She hugged me goodbye and I returned to the real world, almost gasping for breath as I returned to reality. It was part of why I always sat in lotus position; the one time I’d tried this standing, Dr. Oliver had to catch me as I collapsed.

As soon as I was able to stand on my own, I made my way back to the desk. Before I could even ask, he told me that she’d been awake, pacing the entire time. I felt a weight off my shoulders at that. Don’t get me wrong, I trust what I got from Mom, but it never hurt to have someone else confirm my information.

“How do we know she wasn’t accessing the Grid?” Kira asked. I grimaced.

“Trust me, Kira. If she’d been Mom, she’d have been yanked forcibly into the Grid when I used this to meditate. On top of that, I’d not have been able to use the coin and morpher to morph without killing one of us. You saw what happened to Trent.” I’d not, but I’d heard the story about his evil clone.

“How do you know about forcibly yanked into the Grid?”

“Mom did it to me twice; you got to see it happen to me once when I first was in Reefside. Not a pleasant experience.” I’d been worn out after that.

“Abigail and I tried it with each other once; we both ended up with horrible headaches, Kira.” Dr. Oliver just raised an eyebrow at Conner and I.

“I expected better out of the two of you.” He gave us both a look that tended to make us feel like we were 10 inches tall.

“We were in the middle of battle and couldn’t communicate over these,” I sheepishly responded raising my right wrist. “I’ve not gotten the hang of telepathy yet. I don’t think I can in the suit.”

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside. First month of school. POV: Abigail/1^st person

The first month of school went by quickly. We all knew Principal Randall had found someone to replace Sanderson, but the school board was dragging their feet. The reason we knew that? We had various substitutes to teach whatever was this week’s subjects and one of them slipped. On top of that, some of my classmates whispered over lunch that their parents had asked Randall why a new teacher hadn’t been hired. Her response had been to ask the school board why they weren’t approving her choice.

The matter of just why Sanderson had been fired and not allowed to be rehired had spread through the school and to the parents like wildfire. No matter if the parents agreed with Sanderson’s teaching methods, attacking an abused child who was (supposedly) the daughter of two American heroes whose work protecting the country would be classified until long after I was dead was considered grievous and a valid reason for Randall to fire him.

That being said, Kira had been right; I was all of a sudden the most popular student in school. Several of the students, primarily upperclassmen, had tried to get me to sit with them instead of my friends. When I told one that I always sat with my friends, she ruined any chance of friendship between us by calling Francine and the others ‘losers and dweebs’. I only shook my head at that.

“If you think Francine and I are losers and dweebs, wait for soccer season to start.”

“What are you talking about, Jones?” Anna replied, incredulous.

Any of my friends who’d seen my grin would have backed away very slowly before taking off running. “Wait and see. Better yet, ask anyone who was at soccer camp with us this past summer. If all goes well, every game she and I play in together will be a shutout or close to. Angel Grove will be the only team that gives us trouble; they’ll be wanting a rematch after they lost to us.” Most of the other girls around us, who’d been at the camp or come to our games, lost it at that point. Their reaction, plus the look on her face, had me grinning the rest of the week. I’d been able to see someone find footage of our games and show it to her; she’d just snarled and stomped off. It was rather funny to watch her implode at that.

Don’t get me wrong, that hadn’t stopped her from trying to bully my friends and I, but she always came off on the losing side of our tete-e-tetes. The one time she’d dared try anything in front of Dr. Oliver during lunch, we shut her down before he could do anything. She’d still gotten a detention, but she just got sneakier about it.

She’d not been the only student in detention; Athena had gotten some too and not just for trying to bully me. Hers had to always be assigned to a different teacher; we all suspected she was deliberately getting detention in hopes of Dr. Oliver being assigned it. There’d been times when there had been rather weird notes left on his car; they’d always been typed, so there was no tracing it from handwriting alone. We assumed it was Athena, but also recognized it could be anyone in the fan club. I tipped off Andrea and Missy, who’d both denied leaving the letters. They were content to admire from class and from afar; not all the members were near as content. Athena wasn’t the only one who was disappointed that he and Katherine were engaged and due to marry soon.

Andrea had promised to watch out for any of the club who would take the news of Katherine being pregnant badly. She and Missy had talked to one of the school guidance counselors as to what they should do in that situation, not wanting to involve Dr. Oliver any more than necessary. We’d been impressed when we found out.

“It’s one thing to be a fan because of his teaching ability and what he did to protect us when Principal Randall was actually evil; there’s a line between being a true fan and obsessive stalker. Athena’s crossing the line between the two. Don’t get me wrong, he’s hot, but most of us in the club aren’t stupid. We’ve seen him and Katherine at the football games.”

Andrea picked up where Missy had left off. “It’s obvious that the two love each other. We know the wedding’s soon and a likely reason why. We’re happy for him, Katrina, and for you. We can tell he cares for you; you might not be his biological child, but we’ve heard him call you his daughter and you call him your dad.” I gave them a big smile at that.

“Thanks guys. I can’t wait to be a big sister; my birth parents had planned on having more children, but they couldn’t after me. The only reason Dr. Oliver doesn’t have custody of my older brother is that he’s already 19 and in university. Dr. Oliver’s told him he can come and stay the weekend any time; he just might for homecoming. We’ve not seen each other since I moved to Reefside; talked on the phone, yes, but we’ve not seen each other in person.”

Missy and Andrea were some of the only students that actually knew of Katherine’s pregnancy. Not even the fan club knew; once it was announced, I fully expected the fan club to go all in for some baby gifts. They’d already done so with a wedding gift; Katherine had found the fact that Dr. Oliver had a fan club not related to being a Power Ranger rather hilarious. Dr. Oliver was just glad she was so understanding about it.

“If he’s anything like you and Dr. O, I bet he’s pretty hot.” I just shook my head as the two older teens dissolved into giggling at that. Like with Dr. Oliver, I couldn’t be an impartial judge on how attractive David was. I decided to throw them a bone, given that they actually treated me well. They also didn’t mind sitting with 6 freshmen students at lunch either and often joined us at our table.

“He’s a 6^th degree black belt in karate, but he’s studied other martial arts as well.” I laughed at the look Missy and Andrea gave each other. “Not to mention, he’s actually closer in age to the two of you than Dr. Oliver is. I wouldn’t mind having either one of you as a sister-in-law.” I started chuckling as I closed my locker and walked away as the look on the 17-year-olds’ faces were rather hilarious. They might be 17 and boy crazy, but Andrea and Missy both had admitted it took more than good looks for them to find a guy attractive.

“For the both of us,” Andrea pointed with a fork over lunch to Missy and back to herself, “it’s personality and mind as well. We want a partner that’s going to treat us like equals. Part of why we find Dr. Oliver so attractive is he treats all of his students as intelligent. We’ve had some teachers, including subs, who think we’re all 6 and treat us accordingly.” I knew what she meant; one of the English teachers who taught sophomore English was the same way.

“He’s obviously smart and well-educated if he’s allowed to use Dr. as a title. Not everyone remembers that it’s not just medical doctors allowed to use ‘Dr’ as a title; anyone with a PhD is allowed to use ‘Dr’ in front of their name instead of Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Miss,” Missy continued, picking up where Andrea had left off. “If you’d asked me at the start of last year whether or not anyone would agree to date Conner McKnight, I’d have said you were crazy. He was going through some of our classmates like most people use Kleenex when they’re sick. Something changed, though, and we were all shocked when he not only hooked up with Krista, but took her to the prom.” What they didn’t know, and I wasn’t about to tell them, was that it had been becoming the Red Dino Ranger that had changed Conner and almost forced him to mature. He and Krista were still dating, too. She’d found out about him being a Power Ranger; we’d all been shocked when she didn’t break up with him.

I could hear them excitedly talking as I headed to my next class, which was Vietnamese. Most of what they were talking about was speculating what David was like. They knew that he was also half-Vietnamese and wondered what he looked like. I’d not told them that he favored our birth father more than Mom, but anyone could still tell we were siblings.

In some respects, I was already ahead of my classmates in speaking Vietnamese. The only reason I was in Vietnamese 1 is I couldn’t read the language. Sylvia hadn’t either, so she’d not been able to teach me. I’d already written a short letter to her dad, my Uncle Howard, but hadn’t sent it. Rocky had promised to pass it on once he was able to find the eccentric inventor. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d dropped out of communication due to getting involved in his experiments. Even David was keeping an eye out, as I’d not talked to Sylvia in a while. From what Rocky had said, she was rather angry with me for running away and didn’t even want to hear my name. He’d tried explaining that I’d had a good reason; so had Ernie, but she refused to listen. I’d sent her a letter via Rocky, but she’d just shredded it without reading it.

It was part of why David and Rocky had such a tough time finding her father; she knew where he was, but refused to say. She still lived at home, so the only way Rocky could go over was during the day, after Sylvia had started her shift at the Youth Center, and he’d been fairly busy.

With homecoming coming up at the beginning of October, all of the Power Rangers were on guard. We’d not forgotten just how much of a temptation the summer soccer game against Angel Grove had been and we were playing against them for homecoming. Trent had even come home Thursday from school to help; we all knew he felt guilty about not finding a successor to his powers yet.

I’d been part of the freshmen float decorating group. I spent most of my free time when I wasn’t in school or at the dojo helping paint and decorate it and had been shocked when asked to join in as part of the class on the float. It had been more than once I’d had to find a way to get paint out of my hair or clothing. I’d had to invest in a set of clothing that I wouldn’t care if they got paint stained; the shirt was one I’d normally not wear even if paid. My pants were the ones I’d worn when painting the art room; I’d already offered to paint the guest room that was going to become the nursery. I’d already started to sketch out some designs based off of things I’d heard Dr. Oliver and Katherine talking about.

I’d had to talk my classmates of doing a ‘Power Rangers’ themed float for homecoming, pointing out that Angel Grove had a longer history with Power Ranger teams. When one of the guys involved asked what I was talking about, I just pointed out that at least 3 Ranger teams had called Angel Grove home: the original team, Zeo, and Turbo. I didn’t point out that the former Turbo team had joined forces with Andros to become the first space team made up primarily of Earth Rangers; not many knew that factoid. Reefside only had the Dino Rangers.

“We now have one of the original Angel Grove Power Rangers,” James pointed out.

“We don’t even know if it’s the same Power Ranger; it was rumored even after the fact that the Power Rangers passed their power on to new members if something came up in their personal lives that would keep them from protecting Angel Grove,” I pointed out. “Trust me, not even Cassidy Cornell has been able to find out and you know it would be all over Channel 3 if she knew.” Actually, she did know, but had voluntarily given up the evidence of the Dino Ranger team after Mesogog’s defeat.

“From what Athena’s told me, Cassidy was the Queen of All Things Gossip and News when she attended Reefside High,” Francine added. She was only on the committee because I was; it was obvious to our classmates that wherever one of us went, the other was close by. She might not be able to draw and was a general disaster when using craft supplies, but she hadn’t minded being our gopher. “If anyone could dig up information on the Power Rangers, it’s Cassidy.”

The only ones of our group of 6 that weren’t involved in the various Homecoming committees had been Patton and Karan. Karan wasn’t interested, as she was hoping to land on Homecoming court. Patton had computer club and was busy between club and practicing for his belt test, which was going to be the same week as the Homecoming game. I had no interest in becoming part of the Homecoming court and had said as much to anyone who asked. I even said that anyone wanting to vote me on should vote for Karan, knowing how much it meant to her. I might not like my popularity, but was willing to use it to support a friend. I considered a good use of my popularity, which had started in part because of Sanderson’s firing and being Dr. Oliver’s foster daughter. I’d not realized that some of it was because of how I treated others until James had said something.

“Jones, seriously. You don’t act like Athena or most of the so-called ‘popular’ students. You treat all your classmates well; the only time we’ve seen you react negatively to a fellow student has been when said student tries to start something. Even then, you’re willing to tutor others even though some of them are older. You’re the only reason I’m passing science right now, even with the subs. I’ve never once asked you for the answers, but it’s obvious you’ve picked up on Dr. Oliver’s teaching style. You’re able to explain things so that they actually make sense.” Everyone else in the room nodded in agreement, even the supervising teacher.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think you were Dr. Oliver’s biological daughter. However, he was nowhere near Angel Grove when you were born, from what you’ve told us. You and he have similar personalities,” came one of my other classmates. “You’re more likely to tolerate our b.s. then he is though.”

I snorted. “He’s a teacher; teachers are supposed to have less tolerance for their students’ b.s. Alex. Next time you’re at Cyberspace, ask Ethan and Devin what he told Ethan after Principal Randall confiscated their cards when she caught them playing on school grounds last year. As far as science goes, Dr. Oliver does teach science.” Grinning at the memory, I continued, “Even though our first science paper got Sanderson to go off on me, I’ll let the lot of you look at it later. Dr. Oliver let me borrow some of his science books to write it. It’s technical enough that the only other teacher besides Dr. Oliver who could understand it had been the head of the science department and even he had to look a few things up.”

“That was risky.” Even Francine nodded at that.

“He would have gone off on me regardless; Kira warned me he had a special hate for children of teachers. Me being a lefty didn’t help either; I was not expecting him to be fired that quickly though. I was expecting him to get arrested during the field trip to the forensics lab. Due to what my birth parents did for a living, my file with Children’s Services is so bound up in red tape that even running my DNA through a sequencer can get the instigator arrested unless they have a good reason. Experiment to teach high school freshman science isn't one of those.”

James just snorted as we put the finishing touches on the parade float. “Yea…not even Caplan can argue with one of his friends getting arrested because they broke a dozen federal regulations. Heard Sanderson got hired at that same lab, but don’t know what that means for the field trip. As much as I want to go, I hope it doesn’t happen until after your adoption is finalized.”

“Principal Randall said it’s likely going to happen as scheduled, students. Something about a contract with the lab that had already been signed before the school year started. She said she’s going to do her best to make sure Mr. Sanderson’s nowhere near your group that day,” came Mrs. Johnson, my homeroom teacher and our supervising teacher. I just made a face as I washed the paint brushes off. None of us who’d witnessed Sanderson’s rage thought he’d stay away. Dude’s ego was just that huge.

I’d already gotten a ticket for Saturday’s dance, but was going by myself. As much as many of my classmates had dates, I wasn’t ready to just yet, not with everything going on in my life. Even without being a Power Ranger, I still had a ton of issues to work though before even considering dating someone. If I was going to date anyone, it was going to be within my group of 5 friends or Ethan. Even then, school regulations stated dates for formal dances including prom had to be current students. I’d not be able to take any of the Dino Rangers even if I wanted.

Katherine had been surprised that I’d not shown interest in Trent; of the three teen male Rangers, she thought that the two of us would be able to bond over our shared experiences. I’d explained to her that those same experiences meant we had some of the same mental trauma that we were both working through. He was also still reconciling with Dr. Mercer because of that; it hadn’t been easy for him when he’d had to fight against his own dad.

“Besides, Ethan has a habit of making me laugh or distracting me when he can tell I need it. I appreciate that in him; Patton’s the same way. Besides, I know Trent wants to focus on his art right now. He’s gotten interest from several publishing companies because of working together with Carson Brady on that comic book. I’d just be a distraction if we started to date, plus he's dating Kira.”

Our whole group of six had plans to hang out during the homecoming game after the parade and we had all promised to dance with the members of the opposite sex in our group during the dance. Karan might not be interested in guys, but we had been the only ones she’d confided in. Her parents were fairly homophobic and she wanted to get through high school first before telling her parents where they could stuff their attitude. Not even Dr. Oliver knew and I’d promised to not tell him unless she was starting to show signs of physical abuse.

“Not even then, Katrina. Promise.” Her fear was evident, even with the two of us being the only ones around on the dirt road during a sleepover after the start of school.

“I can’t promise that, Karan. He noticed I was abused the minute I sat down with him when I was asking him for help. He got his suspicions confirmed by Dr. Erica and immediately got custody of me. I doubt he’d care about your sexuality,” I whispered despite being nowhere near the house. “You wouldn’t be the first person he has in his life as being part of the LGBTQA+ group. One of his close friends from high school is interested in the same sex as well and he has a friend here who’s like you. I’m bending a confidence telling you that much.”

Those close friends being Hayley and my godfather; Tommy hadn’t cared when he’d found out, nor had the rest of the Power Rangers. Mom had still named Uncle Billy my godfather after she found out, showing just how much she trusted him. I’d not found out until my teens, but didn’t care. He was still my Uncle Billy and that’s all that mattered. All of his former teammates still treated him like normal and I followed their example. The fact that Dr. Oliver was still was friends with Hayley told me a ton as well and I needed to talk to her before introducing the two. Hayley would be able to get Karan resources and help that I couldn’t.

It was going to be great seeing David again. Ernie, as much as he had recovered since the last time he’d been in Reefside for an Angel Grove game against us, knew he wouldn’t be able to handle being here again for a long time. Not with Ivan and Scorpina on the loose, nor any other major Ranger Villain. Austin and Amy were going be there too, but I was going to have to be careful. The twins had been my closest friends growing up and Austin was on the football team. Amy, like her mom, was a cheerleader and everyone minus players hung out while the band played during halftime. All I could do was stick with my soccer teammates and friends, hoping she’d not notice.

Even though the season hadn’t started, those of us on the team who’d taken part in Conner’s soccer camp were allowed to wear our jerseys to the game with the exception of the court. It helped that none of Reefside’s football players shared my alias’s surname, plus my jersey was obvious as a soccer jersey. Most girls who wore football jerseys were dating the players. The only people on the court who were allowed to wear their team uniforms were band members along with football players and cheerleaders.

Karan had been elected to the court, which had two females and two males per grade level. I was glad she’d been elected; Francine had been the other person elected among our friends. The two guys weren’t in our circle of friends, but we knew them well enough. Francine and Karan, because they were on the court, were on a float of their own, which was the final float of our parade.

As soon as the parade was over, we secured the floats in the field behind the football field and rejoined our classmates at the game. The Homecoming Court had their own section in the bleachers and would be staying there until the introduction of the court at halftime. They’d not be able to change out of their formalwear and rejoin their friends until after that. All the boys knew was that I’d gone to middle school with some of the Angel Grove, as did Francine and Karan. They didn’t know the whole story, but I’d explained I had to be enrolled under an alias for my own protection. I’d not told them my birth name, citing secrecy regulations, but had told them my old friends from Angel Grove didn’t know my alias either. David was the only one who did.

Speaking of David, he was waiting by the fence as those of us on the float crews headed back to the game. He ended up laughing as I tackled him in a huge hug, hugging me back.

“You’re doing great, Katrina. Reefside’s obviously a good fit; I’ve not seen you this happy in years,” he said, ruffling my hair. He got a smack to the arm for the teasing, though I was laughing as well. He laughed even harder as I dragged them over to my friends, minus Francine and Karan. In their place were Missy and Andrea, who’d both made bug eyes as David walked up.

“You never said your brother was this hot, Katrina!” They chorused. My amusement showed on my face as David blushed.

“I never said he wasn’t, either, but you know I’m not the best judge of how attractive my male family members are,” I teased them, laughing.

“Ignore them, David. They’re a bit boy crazy,” Johnny said.

“You must be Johnny. My sister’s told me about all of her friends and sent me sketches of all of you. The goofball in orange must be Steve.”

“I’m not that bad,” Steve spluttered. “Patton’s worse.”

“Ethan’s worse, Steve!” Patton defended himself. “I’m nowhere near as bad as he is!” The three boys descended into bickering as us girls just shook our heads, amused at their antics.

“You’re right, sis. They’d fit in just fine with the twins or at the Youth Center, though they’d drive Ernie nuts.” I’d told David that, aside from Katherine, Hayley, Ms. Andrews, Rocky, and the Dino Rangers, nobody else knew who our parents were.

“If he could handle Bulk and Skull, or Spike’s antics, they’d be fine. Speaking of Spike, how is he?”

“Good. He made the varsity football team…don’t give me that look. Austin was surprised as heck too. Coach said he’d had to pull the best person up from the JV team when the fullback broke his leg earlier this week. His size makes him ideal for the role.”

“No shit. He’s just like his dad in size as well as temperament.” Given that Bulk Sr lived up to his nickname, well….

We continued talking as the game went on; despite this being football instead of soccer, Angel Grove was just as determined to give us a tough game as the girls’ soccer camp team had over the summer. When we got to halftime, the game was tied at 21-21. During the marching band performance, we headed to get some food; because this was game day, Dr. Oliver didn’t mind me eating the junk food sold at the game. We didn’t have unhealthy food that often, but the occasional meal wouldn’t hurt as long as it was only occasionally. As a martial artist, I had to fuel my body with healthy food as to keep myself in optimum condition. That was also counting the work I had to do to take of my mind, emotions, and spirit.

Even then, I still grabbed a water to drink instead of the pop and Gatorade that most of the students bought. As much as I liked the occasional slice of pizza or hot dogs, I was better off washing it down with water, not a highly sugared or caffeinated beverage. I’d found that the last time I’d had more than a small can of pop or a cup of coffee, I got overly hyper and it took me forever to fall asleep at night. The pop sold at the sports games was in the bigger bottle form. The cans wouldn’t be sold until basketball season started.

When the band finished, we hurried back to our places because the Homecoming King, Queen and their courts were about to be introduced. I couldn’t wait to see Francine and Karan be introduced with as the freshmen females of the court. Karan was really beaming as she was introduced, escorted by her counterpart on the King’s Court. The King and Queen, both seniors, were escorted by their parents. The King was on the football team; Conner had actually been last year’s King and was present to crown this year’s King. It had been tradition at Reefside High for the previous year’s King and Queen to crown the current ones. The Queen I didn’t recognize, but Andrea let me know that she was in the fan club. She was, thankfully, one of the ones like Missy and Andrea. Members like Athena were, thankfully, rather rare.

The third quarter had barely gotten started when Rito and some of Ivan’s goons gate crashed. I’d gone one way to find the teen members of the Dino Rangers while sending Missy and Andrea to find Dr. Oliver and Katherine. They’d been instructed to round up as many trusted members of the fan club as they could find and help David and Dr. Oliver protect Katherine.

“What about you, Katrina?” They asked.

“I can take care of myself. Patton, join Francine in helping protect the younger students. What? Go!” It pleased me to notice that Johnny and Steve go with Missy and Andrea. Karan was going to be part of the group with Francine, but I wasn’t sure how well they’d be able to fight in their formal dresses. Joining up with Dino Rangers minus Dr. Oliver, we ended up having to morph behind the floats. Dr. Oliver couldn’t be seen vanishing, leaving his pregnant fiancé seemingly unprotected, fan club or not.

On top of that, not all the Dino Rangers had even been present for Mesogog’s attacks. Conner, Kira, and Ethan were the best known as they’d been the original 3. Dr. Oliver hadn’t joined them in the field until later and Trent had been a worthy adversary until his gem had been released from its connection to evil. Reefside had gotten used to not seeing all the Dino Rangers at the attacks and had started to get used to seeing me fight alongside Reefside’s own team. Angel Grove was cheering us on as well; aside from the fact that they always cheered for Power Rangers, they saw someone wearing a suit associated with Angel Grove’s original Power Ranger team and automatically wanted to cheer us on. Many Angel Grove residents at the game were more than ready to take on the goons and Tengu warriors that Rito had brought with him.

Even if Ivan and Scorpina had been present, they would have been hard pressed to fight off a lot of civilians along with the Power Rangers. It didn’t take Rito and the goons too long before they’d had to turn tail and retreat due to being overpowered. That hadn’t meant that Rito and I hadn’t exchanged insults; as weak of an opponent Rito was compared to Ivan and Scorpina, he at the very least could insult with the best of them. He’d actually charged me in rage when I told him Scorpina had called him dumb muscle. He was on the ground two seconds later due to being sucker-punched. If this weren’t a fight to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves against villains of Rito’s caliber or higher, it would almost be hilarious.

After they’d left, we’d had to scatter to demorph. Secrecy was still key and it would look suspicious if we’d all returned from the same space the Rangers had been seen going off to. Trent, who was known to not actually be at the game, remained morphed and by Katherine’s side as a Power Ranger bodyguard. Nobody on either football team even argued about him sticking around in his suit; the only other reason the game hadn’t been rescheduled so they could finish was because Trent was still morphed. The other reason was neither Angel Grove nor Reefside wanted to give Ivan and his goons the satisfaction of ruining their lives because of their attacks. It was their way of giving the villains a figurative middle finger.

As soon as I demorphed, I checked on my friends before heading up to the bleachers where Dr. Oliver and Katherine were. I found myself in a three-way hug before I could even get any words out. I knew a good chunk of that was parts relief at seeing I was okay and thanks for sending as much backup as I could find among my classmates at the game. As uncomfortable as Dr. Oliver was with the knowledge that he had a fan club among his students, he couldn’t deny the results that they were willing and able to help protect Katherine. I could see Jason and Aunt Kimberly doing the same with their own children before the game resumed. Power Rangers or not, it was part and parcel of being a parent to worry about your children when they were in danger. Many parents would be doing the same if they weren’t at the game.

I’d ended up spending the rest of the game with my family, unwilling to rejoin my friends. They’d understood, remaining nearby themselves. Even Francine and Karan had joined us at the end of the field where the teachers always sat, having changed out of their dresses. Karan’s parents hadn’t been too happy, but given that Dr. Oliver was right there to keep an eye on her had been enough for them to not haul her home right then and there. If she’d not been on the Homecoming court, she’d not even have been allowed to go to the dance the next night. Those elected to the court got free tickets to go, so there was always a last-minute scramble Friday by those who didn’t get the coveted envelopes.

Speaking of Karan and her parents, they stopped us before we left to go to our car.

“Miss Jones, Karan told us of what you did for her, allowing her to be elected to the court. That was very nice of you.” That got a surprised look out of Dr. Oliver, evidently, he’d not heard of everything going on.

“Mr. Wright, Mrs. Wright, Karan’s a good friend of mine. Aside from that, I’d rather the position go to someone as deserving as your daughter instead of me simply because I’m the daughter of one of Reefside’s most popular teachers. Karan has been wonderful at helping me fit in, as has Francine. I couldn’t think of any other girls in our year who deserved the honor better then them. She’s been a true friend to me; a number of our classmates want to get close simply because of who my dad is.”

“That must explain why she said that the group of you were going together instead of finding a date.”

“Mom! I told you that I didn’t want Katrina to feel left out simply because she doesn’t want to date right now, or be forced to pair up with one of the guys in our group of friends simply because Francine and I were going with the other two. This way, we can all have fun.”

“Karan, you just proved my point. You know a number of our classmates wouldn’t be near as kind,” I said, my sentiments echoed by Francine.

“Your daughter is a wonderful student; despite not having her in my classes, we teachers do talk during lunch and staff meetings. I’ve heard a lot of good things from her teachers. You two must be very proud.”

Karan’s parents had nothing to say to that; making their goodbyes, they headed out, Karan not far behind them. I could see what Karan had said about their behavior; it hadn’t skipped Dr. Oliver’s eyes either. Having now met her parents, I couldn’t help but draw lines between them and Ernie to a degree. The only real difference between us was Karan had a lot more freedom; that would change if her parents found out about her MOAS.

We hadn’t made it much further before Jason, Aunt Kimberly, and their twins approached us. Sensing my fear, Dr. Oliver got in between us. I was in no way ready to have them spill my secret.

“Jason, Kimberly. How are you?” Dr. Oliver’s tone carried a warning tone that escaped nobody.

“Good, Tommy. This must be your foster daughter.”

“Katrina, yes.” The look on his face broke no argument; there was not going to be any revealing of my true identity, not right now. “This is not the place to go into a lot of details; I’m sure you know why.” If I’d not been so scared, the look on their faces would have almost been hilarious. I could tell that they wanted to give me a piece of their minds for scaring everyone as I’d done. They also didn’t know the entirety of why I’d run and Ernie didn’t need their ire right now. Rocky said he was getting better; having two of Mom’s closest friends chew him out for abusing me would send him right back to where he’d been at the end of July. I knew that he’d been in a really bad state, but didn’t need to head back there. I got the impression that if he got sent back to that place this soon, Rocky might not be able to pull him back out.

Location: Angel Grove the next day POV: Ernie/3^rd person

When Austin and Amy came in through the Youth Center the next day talking about Rito’s attack, Ernie had to calm himself. He’d eventually ducked into his office to call Rocky, despite the younger man being in Reefside himself. Rocky had been able to calm him, pointing out that out of the three villains in Reefside right now, Rito was the weakest of the them. He’d pointed out that the skeletal brother of former Ranger opponent Rita had been knocked out by Abigail sucker-punching him. Scorpina and Ivan were the ones that gave Reefside’s Dino Rangers an actual fight.

Of course, Bulk’s son Spike had come in not long after Ernie had gotten off the phone. Much like his father and honorary uncle, Spike was bragging that he’d been a big help to the Dino Rangers. Ernie got another dose of déjà vu as most of the teens who’d not gone up to the game didn’t believe Spike. The toughest thing for Ernie right now was that, with the start of school, he was reminded all over again that Abigail should be among the students talking about the game. Kimberly had entered not long after that; some of the gymnastics classes she was teaching to replace Katherine were being held at the Youth Center. She had been early, though, and Ernie hadn’t known why until his late wife’s best friend made a beeline for him.

“Ernie, I got to see Abigail yesterday.” Before she could get into further detail, Ernie held up a hand to stop her.

“Kimberly, unless you give me as little details as possible, I don’t want to know. I’m still not ready, even though we’re writing. Rocky’s willing to act as go-between for a reason.” Kimberly, Ernie noticed, didn’t like that. “Lt. Stone can’t even know where she is, as I am in no way ready or able to regain guardianship of her and he’d force her back over everyone’s objections.”

“If you’re sure, Ernie.”

Ernie replied that he was and Kimberly veered off to teach her class. He took a deep breath to calm himself; the conversation had gone better than he’d hoped. What he’d told Kimberly was the truth as he still found himself in very dark places mentally and emotionally. He appreciated Rocky staying with him; the toughest part of this particular weekend was David was up visiting Abigail and her current guardian. Rocky would be back in Angel Grove before the Youth Center closed with a new letter from Abigail.

Whenever Ernie found himself getting really bad, he either pulled out one of her letters or whatever her recent sketch was. Some of the sketches, he kept locked in a desk drawer at the Youth Center; most he kept at home, also locked up. With Lt. Stone still visiting on a weekly basis, Ernie had no desire to let the detective know that he was in contact with his daughter. To that end, he kept the key to his Youth Center office desk around a chain on his neck. Lt. Stone had been understandably pissed when he’d entered with Ms. Andrews and the FBI agent in charge of Abigail’s missing person case and tied up the missing person files up in more red tape than Stone usually saw in his cases.

Speaking of Stone, the man was walking up to the bar. Ernie, after the news of last night’s attack, was in no mood to deal with a detective in a snit.

“What can I do for you, Lt.?” Stone just pulled Ernie into the latter’s office.

“You know damn well why I’m here, Ernie. Angel Grove’s original Yellow Ranger was seen last night at the Angel Grove/Reefside football game, fending off Rito and some goons. Rumor has it your late wife was the original wielder of those powers here in Angel Grove.”

“Jerome, you know I can’t confirm that even if I did know. Rumor also has it that the original team was a bunch of space aliens.” Ernie tried not to smile at that old rumor.

“Pull the other one, it has bells on. I worked with Bulk and Skull when they were in the Angel Grove junior police force. They came up with better excuses.” Ernie had no doubt of that; he’d heard some of them at the Youth Center.

Ernie just snorted. “Heard that from Jason Lee Scott back in the day, Jerome. You know just how intelligent he is. If he said that they were space aliens, I’m inclined to believe him. If Trini knew anything, she never said.”

“She wouldn’t. I remember when she came through while you were down in the Amazon. You were still down there when her run in the Youth Summit was finished. She refused to tell me the more sensitive things spoken about in the Summit.”

“That’s Trini for you. I remember when she would come through while in high school still. She may have been Kimberly’s best friend, but everyone loved her. She even helped out Bulk and Skull when those two were at their worst and failing school.” Ernie’s breath hitched.

“You know, this is the most I’ve heard you talk about her since her death, Ernie. Seeing DeSantos must be helping. Where is he, anyway?”

“Tommy’s foster daughter, in Reefside. You remember her, right?” Stone just scowled.

“Yea, Katrina Jones…FBI agent basically told me that her case was being taken out of my hands; something about her parents doing top secret work for the government and her former guardian taking the news of their deaths out on her. He knew of the work; Agent Derek Morgan basically told me that, due to the classified nature of their work, the guardian got to walk free in exchange for a change in guardianship.”

Ernie really had to hand it to the agent, who had taken what Rocky and Ms. Andrews had given him and spun a good story out of thin air. If Ernie hadn’t known better, he’d have believed the story too. It had been a huge part of why he’d confronted Tommy after Ivan and his goons had fled Reefside. That, and he’d recognized Abigail, irregardless of the fact that her jersey said ‘Jones’ on the back. If he’d been in a better mental state, he’d not have confronted Tommy. He’d seen her out there, in her mom’s suit and he’d basically freaked. If Tommy hadn’t gotten in the way, Ernie knew he’d have grabbed his daughter and brought her back to Angel Grove with the team.

Ernie realized he’d tuned out Stone’s ranting at the injustice of an abuser walking free because of classified government work.

“You were saying, Jerome? I should get back out there; Sylvia’s just one person and the Youth Center’s getting swamped.” Ernie motioned for the detective to go first before closing the office door behind him. Lt. Stone really didn’t want to leave, but Ernie was pleased to see that the other man took the hint. It wouldn’t be until the Center closed that Ernie realized that the chain with his desk key had broken and fallen off before Jerome left. Using a spare key, he opened his desk drawer with Abigail’s sketches and almost sighed in relief that they were all there. Hiding them in Rocky’s briefcase that the younger man had left behind earlier that morning, he took them back to his house.

Rocky was there, which relieved Ernie to no end. He handed the briefcase over.

“Stone came by today. The chain with the key to my desk drawer there came off; wasn’t able to find it after. Even with Abigail’s case being wrapped up in red tape, he’s still trying to find her. It’s not going to look good if he finds these there. I’m not supposed to be in contact with her, or have any indication that I even suspect where she is.”

“I’ll put all of her letters and sketches that she’s sent in here. I’m sorry, Ernie. I know how much they’ve helped you out.”

Ernie sighed. “They have, Rocky. In her last letter, she promised to send me sketches of the dance tonight. She was so proud of the float she helped decorate. Thanks for showing me the photos; I can see why she’s so proud. She’s incredibly talented at what she does and I am very proud of her. Tell her that for me next time you talk to her please.” Before Ernie could continue, his cell phone went off. It was the security company; someone had tried to break in using an old security code. Jerome was the only one who knew that particular code; Ernie had an idea of what he was after. Closing his phone after the police chief got to the center, Ernie swore softly. He had an idea of where that chain and key went.

“What’s wrong?”

“Whoever tried breaking in knew where all the cameras were located. Unfortunately, there’s no good spot to put a camera at that particular door. Cameras either keep getting destroyed or fall off; it’s been an issue for years, even when you guys were teens. No fingerprints either and whoever was there was gone by the time the police chief got there. The only thing they found was my key, on its chain.”

“Lt. Stone.” Ernie could tell Rocky was following his thought process.

“No proof, just suspicions. He’s taking his failure about finding Abigail before the FBI wrapped her case up like a personal insult. Jerome’s like a dog with a bone; he’s not going to give up even if he’s fired for it.”

Rocky only nodded, squeezing Ernie’s shoulder. “If I thought it would help, I’d call Agent Morgan in D.C. to investigate. Jerome would just get sneakier about it.” They headed down to the basement, as it was the only space in the house that had no good windows to the outside and Rocky handed over the promised letter with a ton of sketches of the freshman Homecoming float. Ernie smiled; the pictures Rocky had taken didn’t do the float justice. Oh, Ernie knew that these weren’t the originals as he couldn’t feel the pencil marks, but every letter and sketch gave him something to hold on to when his depression got too bad. As much as he’d recovered from how suicidal he’d been at the end of July, he was in no way out of that dark place and he knew that. Running the Youth Center helped keep him occupied during the day; otherwise, he’d not leave his bedroom. Some days, Rocky was the only one who could chivvy Ernie out of bed and to work.

“I…thank her for these, please. I can see her thought process that went into them. As good as your photos are, you didn’t get every detail.” Ernie spread the sketches out so Rocky could take a look and began to point out minute details. Anyone who didn’t know Abigail as well as he did wouldn’t catch on to the hidden references in the sketches. The flowers and butterflies were put together in such a way that anyone who didn’t know of Ernie’s preferred shirts wouldn’t immediately connect the two.

By the time Ernie woke up the next morning, he’d had the best night’s sleep he’d had in weeks. He’d had a rare Sunday off, so by the time he woke up, he felt rested finally. Rocky even noticed a difference and gave Ernie a giant smile; Ernie knew the news would be passed on to Abigail the next time the two talked.

“I know that days like this are rare, Rocky. Knowing Abigail’s doing well at Reefside helps.”

“You’re doing better day by day, Ernie. Do you have your bad days? Sure, but many people in your situation do. Trust me, Abigail’s getting as much out hearing how you’re doing as you do hearing from her. She’s holding on to her goal of being able to reconcile with you; she knows she hurt you by running away.”

Ernie smiled sadly. “I should be the one who should be asking for her forgiveness. If I’d gotten help earlier, she wouldn’t have needed to run. Trini…” Ernie broke down crying at that; just knowing Trini would give him a well-deserved dressing down for his actions. It was times like that he really wanted her by his side.

“You’re trying, Ernie. That’s the important part. Not every person is able to heal like you are. Many times, by the time I get to the abusive parent or guardian, they’re past the point of no return. Most, I’ll grant, take pleasure in hurting their children or spouses. Others, like you, who turned to alcohol or drugs to suppress their pain are so past the point of no return that they see no problem with their actions and refuse to get help. Is it ever likely that Abigail will even want to spend a night here even as an adult? I don’t know and can’t speak for her, but it’s a goal to work towards. You are not doing this alone, Ernie.”

It was at moments like this Ernie was doubly grateful for Rocky’s presence by his side. Rocky’s voice provided Ernie with a lifeline to hold onto. Ernie had no doubt that if Rocky hadn’t been there right then, he would have spiraled into a dark space again. He couldn’t do that to Abigail; as much as she was under Tommy’s care, she needed him alive. He held onto the memories of her drawings, including several that a friend of hers had done, like a drowning man holds on to a piece of rope. Ernie was barely aware of Rocky holding him in a comforting embrace as he cried himself out.

By the time David stopped by before heading back down to college, Ernie had managed to pull himself together. Even then, Ernie knew that David could tell that his father, while having a good night’s sleep, had almost fallen off the precipice again. The floor of said precipice was getting bigger and bigger, but there were days it almost wasn’t enough. David was in the process of pulling out the sketches from last night’s dance when Ernie shook his head.

“Someone tried breaking into the Youth Center last night; the chain that the key to my desk is on broke. The Chief, when responding to the alarm, found it outside the back door. I was nowhere that door during the time period when I lost the key and chain. Lt. Stone had stopped by yesterday; all I can figure out is he must have picked it up. The particular code to the back door is one that he’d used when he ran the Youth Center; he was the only one who knew the code. As much as I want to see those sketches, it’s too risky right now. Keep them with you, David.”

“Dad. If he tries anything…”

“I know. His police career is over, even if he doesn’t realize it yet. They can’t prove anything right now; no fingerprints and there’s been no camera on that door for years. Should install one on the interior soon.”

“I’ve been telling you for a while you need to do that, Dad.” Ernie chuckled at that.

“Yes, you have, son. Your mother was on me for that as well. I was getting ready to call the security company to do that when I got that fateful call. With everything that went on after her death, that door became the least of my worries.” With that, Ernie was aware that both Rocky and David were looking at him in shock. Ernie had kept that tidbit to himself; until David had said that, the memory had remained half-buried in his mind.

“Dad…I never knew that.” Ernie just nodded, a lump in his throat as he gave his son a hug, both grieving. Ernie could feel Rocky place a hand on his shoulder, offering comfort. They stood there for a while before David regretfully broke away. Despite Los Angeles not being that far, David needed to get back to school before the dorms locked up for the night. Billy had arrived to pick David back up; even though David could drive, he wasn’t allowed his car on campus and Ernie really didn’t want to leave the house right now.

David promised to call him later; he had plenty to tell Ernie about the past couple of days. Some, Ernie would realize, he’d already heard from Rocky. The rest was rather new; Ernie actually cracked up laughing at the fact that Tommy had an unofficial fan club among the students and that Abigail was friends with the two girls in charge of it.

“I wish you could have seen her at the game, Dad,” David told him after getting back to campus. “She’s got some great leadership qualities. Says a lot that two upperclassmen, one of which is two grade levels ahead of her, are willing to follow her orders during a goon attack. She even got me following her orders.” Ernie and Rocky both raised an eyebrow at that, as Ernie had put his cell phone on speaker. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I can see her eventually becoming a leader of a Power Ranger team.”

Ernie knew David was right, as he still didn’t care to hear about his daughter following in Trini’s footsteps. He wouldn’t realize until long after that the information hadn’t caused him to panic or otherwise react negatively like it had previously. Instead, he felt some stirrings of pride at the news.

“Even if she wasn’t following in Trini’s footsteps fighting evil, that is good to hear, David. I’m just glad I didn’t break her.” Ernie’s emotions bled through his voice at that. “Even when your Mom was a teenager, she was one of the unofficial student leaders. Jason and Tommy had the same role among the guys. It was only due to not being interested in the student council that she didn’t run her sophomore year.”

Ernie could almost see his son’s face. “She’ll be glad to hear that, Dad. You tell her that in a letter if you can. If not, Rocky or I can.”

“I want to tell her; I’m proud of you both and am well aware that I didn’t tell either of you that enough while you two were growing up. Jason said you’re almost ready to rank up again. If you want, I’d like to be there during your belt test.” Ernie hadn’t gone to many of David’s belt tests, especially once it was clear David was sticking with lessons.

“That’d be great, Dad. I…” Ernie was treated to a rare thing of hearing his eldest speechless and for a good reason. “If I weren’t back on campus, you’d get a huge hug for that, Dad.”

“From watching and listening to Jason and Tommy as teenagers, I know exactly how much work goes into each belt rank. You’ve worked hard to get where you are, David, and I am proud of you for that.” Ernie hadn’t been kidding either; there was a reason he allowed the teenagers to teach martial arts classes way back when. Most parents think that it had been Ernie’s plan to offer the classes, but Jason and Tommy had asked his permission. Even now, many of their teen students taught those same classes at the Youth Center. David himself had taught some of those classes; Ernie hadn’t even realized that David was going to be teaching the beginner’s class until his son had walked in wearing his Gi and belt. Ernie had almost stared in shock watching David teach; his son had a boatload of patience, something he’d inherited from Trini. Ernie didn’t have all of Trini’s patience for the antics that teens and children could get up to.

“There’s a lot to be proud of when it comes to you and your sister, even if I’ve not always realized it. I’m proud of Abigail for asking for help and you for helping her. I was in no position to give her that help; I recognize that.” Ernie took a deep breath. “I know it took a lot of courage to stand up to me that week, David. If I had been willing and able to listen to the two of you, she’d not have run that Saturday. I am very proud of the man you’ve become, David. I may not have been the best father to either of you, but I intend to be a better one.”

“You already are, Dad.” Ernie could hear David choking back tears at what he’d just told his son. Ernie ended up taking his phone off of speaker as father and son finished up their conversation. One of David’s classes was early the next morning and David wanted to unpack before going to bed.

“That wasn’t easy for you to hear or say.” Ernie looked at his friend and therapist.

“No; but I felt no panic hearing David’s version of events. I don’t know if I got it all out yesterday or what, but even yesterday’s panic wasn’t near as bad as it had been earlier in the summer. Talking to you helped. I’m grateful that you took my call even though you were in Reefside.” Ernie placed a hand on the (locked) desk drawer where most of Abigail’s letters and sketches were. “I meant every word, though. As badly as I failed both of them as a father, I am very proud of both of them. It took David a lot of courage to protect her from her own father; if I’d been in his shoes, I’d have failed as a big brother.”

Rocky just smiled. “I keep telling you that you’re making progress; even Abigail’s guardian is proud of you, Ernie. I’ll admit, he gave me a rather well-deserved chewing out for forcing you to listen to that tape back in July.”

“Don’t feel guilty, Rocky. As much as it sent me into a worse condition, I needed to hear it. Despite apologizing to Abigail for it in a letter, I know that those words mean nothing unless I’m willing to demonstrate the actions to back that up. Every time I find myself getting into a bad place and can’t take a look at one of her letters or sketches, I just remind myself that she needs me alive. The fact that she and I share the same goal, even when I’m no longer legally listed as her father on her birth certificate, helps me to not end my life. I do not wish to cause her any more pain than I already have.”

“You saying that gives all of us hope, Ernie. Every time Abigail hears of how far you’re coming, her own determination to heal gains strength.”

“I’m glad that it’s helping, Rocky.”

Chapter Text

Location: Angel Grove the same weekend POV: Lt. Stone/3^rd person

Angel Grove police detective Lt. Jerome Stone was nobody’s fool. He knew Rocky DeSantos and Ernie Burton both had to know where Abigail Burton was; the upstart social worker from Reefside certainly did. If Agent Morgan, who had been on loan to their closest FBI office from the BAU, hadn’t been there, Jerome would have forbade the social worker access to Abigail’s file. He couldn’t prove that Dr. Thomas Oliver’s foster daughter Katrina Jones was Ernie’s missing daughter, not without irrevocable proof. His suspicions weren’t enough for the Chief of Police to allow him access to those files after Ms. Anderson and the others had left. He would need DNA proof and he would need more than just suspicions to go before Judge Wilkens would grant him a court order.

That didn’t mean he’d not tried. After leaving the Youth Center, Jerome had gone over to the courthouse. Unlike other judges, Judge Wilkens took time at the office on the weekends, even when he had no major cases on the docket. After being granted permission to enter and speak, he had informed Wilkens of his suspicions, but the local Circuit Court judge refused to go up against one of the FBI’s senior profilers on a mere suspicion.

“Stone, any competent lawyer, including Morgan and his immediate boss at the FBI, could argue that a comparison photo of the two girls isn’t enough proof. Refusing to name her abuser is no real crime, even if it means he walks free. Mr. Burton even admitted, from what little I was able to see and hear, that he’s not in any condition to properly parent his daughter right now. Just because Miss Jones’ file and Miss Burton’s both got wrapped up in red tape by the same social worker doesn’t mean that they’re the same girl.”

“So, you’re saying I need to prove it, Your Honor.” Jerome certainly planned on it; he just needed that court order to act. Didn’t mean he wasn’t frustrated. He hated politicking and to solve this case was going to involve a lot of politicking.

“Beyond a shadow of a doubt, lieutenant. Don’t get me wrong, you are likely correct, but the only crime Miss Burton has committed has been running away. Whatever happened between her and Ernie, Dr. DeSantos explained to me that it’s not worth throwing Ernie in a jail cell, even if it would normally happen. He’s more than paid any price than a jail sentence would be for his actions. If his daughter is found, I am going to listen to Dr. DeSantos and Ernie himself, as well as Miss Burton’s own wishes, before deciding if Ernie is able to regain guardianship.

“If you’re wrong, you and I both are going to have to apologize to one of Angel Grove’s favorite sons, for all that he’s living and teaching in Reefside right now. He may not have been born in Angel Grove, but Dr. Oliver is well thought of by many residents. They remember him as a teenager, teaching martial arts at the Youth Center. They take it as a matter of pride that he’s become a world-renowned paleontologist. You also know the rumors of him being a Power Ranger as well as I do. Even if you’re right, I really do not want to look Dr. Oliver in the eye and tell him that I’m going to remove his foster daughter from his care. Not without just cause. I can, however, make sure you can get a court order to search for that same evidence to convince me. I’ll send it by Monday morning by messenger.”

With that, Judge Wilkens walked away, dismissing Stone without another word. He was now even off Katrina’s abuse case, yanked off after the FBI agent had left. He needed that court order to even obtain a DNA sample and he’d just lost the argument to even get the one he’d asked for. Ms. Anderson was a no-go; she’d simply hung the phone up on him when he asked. The only other people to convince were Ernie himself and Agent Morgan. Ernie, when he went by the Youth Center that afternoon, refused to even consider the notion. Jerome knew he’d have to wait until Monday before calling Agent Morgan; the African-American agent had left behind his business card.

If Agent Morgan refused to allow him to do that, Jerome knew he’d have to wait for either girl to mess up, if the two girls were truly different girls. A friend of his in Reefside, Eugene Sanderson, had been hired at the county’s forensic laboratory after being fired from Reefside High. Sanderson had promised to get a DNA sample from Miss Jones during the freshmen class’ field trip. Depending on the active cases going on, Jerome knew his friend could argue that he was just ruling out any of the students as suspects in the case. A rather thin argument, but he’d heard worse out of Bulk and Skull when the two had worked for him on the Junior Police Force.

Jerome could wait for someone to goof up and he’d seen one such goof out of Ernie at the Youth Center. Ernie, he’d noticed, had started wearing a chain necklace under his shirt, which was unlike the man. Jerome knew that the desk drawers in the Youth Center’s primary office locked and spotted the key to those locks on the chain. When the chain, which had obviously been ill-fastened when Ernie had returned it to his neck, fell off, Jerome took the opportunity to pick it up.

If it weren’t for the fact that Ernie would notice if Jerome stayed, he would have snuck into the office to see what his friend was hiding in that desk. As it was, he would have to go back after Ernie had left for the night. He just hoped that the security code hadn’t been changed; even Ernie sometimes went back to the Center to do some work or grab something he’d left behind. He knew he’d have to use the back door; it was the only weak spot in the entire security system.

Jerome suspected that Wilkens would change his mind about that court order if he showed the judge evidence that Ernie was hiding information about his missing daughter. Dr. DeSantos and Ms. Andrews couldn’t be forced to give evidence one way or the other as the laws were strict in that regard. Jerome did take Wilkens’ comment about getting proof as a tacit court order to investigate the Youth Center for said proof. Even then, though, he put on a pair of blue latex gloves to not contaminate the scene.

When the security alarm went off, Jerome quickly left. To be on the safe side, he’d walked to the Youth Center. The security cameras would have noticed if he’d driven up late at night, even in his police car. The security company always checked in with whichever cop had the Youth Center on their evening rounds. Jerome had done the checking-in even when he’d been on night watch back in June. The desk hadn’t been locked during those weeks before the FBI had taken over the case. It was obvious that Ernie had started locking it if he was keeping the key on his person instead of the key ring where it was normally kept.

By the time he got home, he had gotten a call from his boss. Forcing himself to stay calm, he answered. It wouldn’t do for the police chief to hear him nervous.

“Chief Colton.” This chief wasn’t the one he’d originally served under, but the former chief’s nephew. “What can I do for you?”

“Where have you been? Someone just tried to break into the Youth Center, using your old code.”

“I’m at home right now. Just got done with a run, Chief. You want me to come over there?”

“No,” Colton growled. “How many people knew your old code?”

“Several people, including Bulk and Skull. Whoever broke in must have thought Ernie hadn’t changed it when he came back from the Amazon. Don’t get me wrong Chief, but Ernie can be a bit too trusting sometimes. There were a lot of teens that knew Ernie’s original code; that’s why I’d changed it when I was running the Youth Center.”

“Well, whoever broke in dropped the key to Ernie’s desk. No fingerprints on it; whoever had it knew to wipe it down.”

No shit, chief, Jerome thought, but didn’t voice it. He had pulled the key and chain out just before putting the code in. He realized that he must have dropped it when the alarm went off. After getting off the phone with his boss, he recognized that it was probably a good thing. He couldn’t be seen as having the key; without the current code, Jerome had no way of getting into Ernie’s desk. Whatever proof had been in the desk there was probably long gone. There was probably proof at Ernie’s own home, but Jerome had no legitimate reason to visit Ernie there. Not with his known pattern of visiting Ernie at work. Any proof at the house was also likely to vanish; DeSantos was probably going to be holding on to it. HIPPA prevented DeSantos from turning over evidence except to the FBI now. Jerome couldn’t even talk to David Burton, Ernie’s eldest, without a call being made to Agent Morgan. It might only be October right now, but Jerome could wait for the field trip in early January. 3 months was nothing; he’d had criminal cases take longer than that to solve.

When Monday morning came around, Jerome called Agent Morgan.

"Agent Morgan. This is Lt. Jerome Stone from the Angel Grove Police Department.”

“Lt. Stone. What can I do for you and the Angel Grove Police?”

“It’s about Abigail Burton; I know her case is wrapped up in red tape right now, but there’s something that’s been bugging me about her case and that of Katrina Jones.”

“The abused girl out of Reefside.”

“One in the same, Agent Morgan. When I interviewed her back in June, she strongly resembled Mr. Burton’s missing daughter. I know that’s not enough to say that they’re the same person, but Judge Wilkens refused to give me a court order to get a DNA sample to confirm it. He wouldn’t without the consent from either you, Ms. Andrews, or Mr. Burton. Ernie and Ms. Andrews both refused to give their consent, but I just need one person of the three of you to agree.”

Jerome could hear the profiler sigh. “I can’t give you that consent either, Lt. Stone. Even if you’re right, and I’m not saying you are, I have to follow the rules regarding cases considered classified. Any DNA results would end up being wrapped up in that same red tape and you’d be in the same place.”

He pinched his nose. “Wilkens wants that DNA evidence to even consider a change of guardianship hearing. He has requested that I personally give him some sort of proof to back up my suspicions, Agent Morgan, to even give me the court order to get a DNA sample. That request has been sent over to me in paper this morning; despite the denial of being allowed to go up to get the DNA sample, Wilkens wants that proof.”

“Keep me in the loop, lieutenant. You’re going to have to have a stronger argument than two teenagers looking similar. Plenty of people look alike without being biologically related; stunt doubles wouldn’t be able to do their job if they didn’t.” Agent Morgan hung up not long after and Jerome let out a string of curses. He waved away his secretary, sending her to get him a cup of strong coffee. He knew it would take her a while; cop shop coffee was weaker than dishwater.

He’d barely been able to take a sip when Chief Colton called him into his office. He grabbed his coffee and the court order; the latter was the only thing that served as a CYA. It was the only reason Chief Colton didn’t outright suspend or fire Jerome, a fact that the detective was grateful for. That still hadn’t stopped the Angel Grove Chief of Police from giving him a dressing down.

“One more step out of line with this case and you’ll be fired, Stone! Now get out of my office!” Colton roared. Jerome knew that discretion was the better part of valor in this instance and left, realizing he’d barely escaped by his teeth.

Leaving the police station to do his rounds, he called Sanderson after getting into the car and starting his driving. He put the cell phone on speaker before heading out of the parking lot.

“Good news, Eugene. I have the court order allowing me to search for proof that Katrina Jones and Abigail Burton are the same person. I know it’s not direct permission to do a DNA test, but it’s encompassing enough that you shouldn’t have an issue come the field trip. Let me know what you need as you get closer; I can arrange for one of our cases to be sent to your lab.”

“Good. Never liked the brat; hopefully, once she’s no longer in Reefside, I’ll be able to get my job at the school back. I don’t mind being here at the lab, but I’d rather be teaching.” Jerome ignored his friend’s tone of voice, understanding the undercurrent of frustration. Jerome was frustrated himself; he’d seen Ernie’s suffering.

Neither Ernie nor Rocky would confirm, but Jerome strongly suspected that Ernie had been placed on suicide watch at one point over the summer. He, unlike much of society, didn’t hold that against Ernie. Jerome fully recognized Ernie was burying his grief at his wife’s loss; he’d been the first officer on the scene of the crash. He’d had to be the one to make the phone call and had heard Ernie’s grief. He’d also been the one to take an infant Abigail and 4-year-old David to the Youth Center; Ernie had almost collapsed from relief at knowing his children were alright. The only reason Ernie hadn’t driven down was the fact that his car was in the shop; he’d always lived close enough to the Youth Center that he could walk. Trini had been the one with a working car at the time of the accident.

It was a major reason Jerome wanted to find Abigail; Ernie might claim that he wasn’t able to be as good of a father to her right now, but what parent didn’t go through that? Jerome, raising his own children, knew he’d had moments like that. The fact that he was going through therapy right now was a strong point in his favor as far as Jerome was concerned. The weeks after she’d gone missing, he’d seen Ernie in almost the same condition he’d been in after Trini’s death; he was going to have a nice long talk with Abigail before he returned her to Ernie’s care. She needed to understand just how badly she’d hurt her father.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Eugene. The last thing we need is to blow this because one of us got cocky,” Jerome cautioned. Sanderson’s hair-trigger temper could be an issue, one that would tip off the very people that couldn’t find out about the case until after it was too airtight for even Ms. Andrews and Agent Morgan to ignore. He strongly suspected that’s why he’d been fired from Reefside, but Sanderson refused to admit that he had anger issues.

Location: Ivan’s base, Reefside. POV: Scorpina/3^rd person

Scorpina threw a dagger at Rito, who ducked. “How is it that you failed to kidnap the former Pink Ranger? Her unborn child is vital to Ivan’s plans you idiot; Tommy Oliver is going to have to choose between having to kill his own son to destroy Ivan or allowing Ivan to take over the world. Because of your incompetence, he has to come up with another plan!”

“Like you’re much better! You failed to outright kill her before Ivan found out about her pregnancy,” Rito pointed out, ducking an angry punch from her. Having grown up with Rita for a sister and Master Vile for a father, Rito had gotten very good at ducking and dodging. Scorpina growled. Before their fight could descend into more squabbling, Ivan spoke up from where he’d been ignoring his two lieutenants.

“Enough. Scorpina, that was not my only plan to use or get the Black Dino Ranger’s children, just the first of many. What they don’t realize is I have the memories of my alternate timeline self and know what plan used there won’t work.” Ivan turned away from his laboratory table, one that he’d found when they’d taken over Mesogog’s lab, to face them. Ivan had bounced the three of them around until after the destroyed lab had been searched by the Dino Rangers. They were slowly restoring it, but keeping most of the destroyed shell intact, preferring to go down into the island’s bedrock.

Ivan was pleased to see the two kneel before him, their previous squabble forgotten as they awaited further orders. “While the plans change, the end goal is always the same, Rito. Scorpina is right; without using any of that Ranger’s children, we will fail. That fool Mercer left behind many of his notes from when he was Mesogog.”

“Ivan, can you explain why that child is so important? He has a daughter, why can’t we use her as the vessel?” Rito asked, genuinely curious. Scorpina, Ivan noted, kept her face free from emotion and curiosity.

“She’s not his child by blood and that is the important thing. She has some part to play in many of my plans to get to the end result, which is why I’m not completely disappointed at your failures. With each fight in that suit, she gets stronger in her powers. Once she can no longer morph as the Yellow Ranger, there will be a time before she is able to create her own Power Coin and suit. That will be the optimum time to forge the link between this vial and herself,” Ivan explained, gesturing towards the table. “If the link is created correctly, once she creates the coin and uses it for the first time, that link and the resulting compulsion will be permanent. She will eventually replace Zordon as the final decision maker as to who becomes one of Earth’s Power Rangers. To destroy that damnable Morphing Grid, he will have to destroy both her and the child. If he fails to do so to defeat me, the Grid will also vanish for good.”

Ivan knew that the one primary downside to this plan was if the vial was sent off planet and not returned until after her successor took over. What he didn’t tell Rito and Scorpina that, should Tommy’s son or any other biological children die without the planned contents being ingested before said child’s first birthday, she would be compelled to ingest it herself and allow Ivan to gain control over her body and mind. Ivan was no fool; he knew that for this plan to succeed, he needed to keep some details to himself. Scorpina might be intelligent, but Rito was too stupid to know the entire thing. The Rangers of Earth would find out in a heartbeat. Ivan knew he had to make sure that the vial and its contents couldn’t be destroyed except by himself and willingly to boot. He also knew that he had to find out where Zordon was; Rito’s sister Rita hadn’t been the only one the wizard had imprisoned.

Speaking of Rita, Scorpina had informed him of the previous attempts to create an evil Power Ranger. Ivan theorized that, because Rita and Zedd had tried using teenagers, their personalities and alignments were already set in stone and the grid did everything it could to protect any possible Power Rangers. This was especially true when Potential Rangers were very close to having their powers linked to a coin. Part of why he had not been engaging the Dino Rangers as often as his lieutenants were was because he was tracking down what he was going to need for his plan. The first had been a snake that Zedd had tried using on 3 Potential Rangers. One bite from the snake would see a normally good person turn evil, even a Power Ranger.

Ivan, years before being imprisoned by Zordon, had tried having children of his own. Because of his…unusual physiology and experiments, he’d been unable to do so. What he was trying to do was the culmination of years of research. Zedd had even failed to have an evil son of his own; all three had been turned good by some giant energy wave. Somehow, Scorpina and Rito both had avoided either being turned good or into dust; Ivan could have really used Finster. The elfin alchemist would have been a font of knowledge on the matter. Like many of Rita and Zedd’s servants, Finster had ended up a pile of dust. Ivan had almost killed Scorpina when she’d informed him of the news, but that would have meant that he would have been left with the idiotic skeleton that was Rito. Rito was good for distraction missions like the previous Friday’s had been, but Scorpina was the intelligent one of the two. If it weren’t for Ivan’s inability to have a biological heir of his own, Scorpina would have been the perfect carrier.

His plan was the first step in doing so; early experiments had proved that this elixir could turn a humanoid into an heir that was capable of having biological children of their own. It just took about 15 or 16 years for the elixir to do so; previous experiments had failed, but Ivan had finally hit upon the perfect formula. Zordon had imprisoned him before he could execute the plan, however. The best results involved using a child of two Power Rangers who’d had a child together, which was why Ivan was focused on Tommy Oliver and his pregnant fiancé. He would have used the three children that lived in Angel Grove when he’d been freed, but they were all too old for starters. He’d tried using this formula on a willing teenager who’d been a child of two Rangers. The male had been angry that he’d not been chosen as a Power Ranger like his parents. The elixir had ended up killing the boy; despite the failure, Ivan still considered it a partial win.

One of the three teens in Angel Grove that he’d looked at only had one active Ranger parent; Tommy Oliver’s daughter was the sibling to the eldest Angel Grove teen. She was the perfect conduit to deliver the vial and its contents; Ivan had considered kidnapping the infant once it was born, but Scorpina’s news had been perfect.

Scorpina may not have known what the flash of color she’d seen meant, but Ivan had run across Rangers like the current wielder of one of Ninjor and Zordon’s coins, Zordon himself being one of them. It was the only reason he was considering this plan; if the girl had never picked up a Power Coin or anything like it, Ivan would have had to find another method of destroying the Morphing Grid and the Power Rangers by association. Even if the Morphing Grid could not be destroyed, Ivan would be able to create a true evil user of that same Grid. It had been Ivan’s experience that children of Power Rangers were more often than not likely to be able to easily wield a Power Coin.

While his greatest creation was still being developed, Ivan also needed to plan more attacks. Even with his own powers, it was not always easy to execute said attacks. Rito might be good for this particular Yellow Ranger to fight against, but she’d also knocked him out with a punch after pissing him off. Ivan had to give the Ranger credit; she’d managed to use Rito’s rivalry with Scorpina against him. It had been what had started their squabble when he’d returned to the fortress. Ivan admitted to himself that calling Rito ‘dumb muscle’ was rather funny. Scorpina, unwittingly, had followed nickname traditions with the ‘muscle’ part of the insult; Rito’s intelligence, or rather, lack thereof, was obvious.

As much as he wanted to have Scorpina lead more attacks, she was also powerful and intelligent enough that she gave the team a run for their money. Ivan needed this Ranger to develop her powers before he’d consider having Scorpina lead more attacks. On top of that, Scorpina’s aid had been invaluable in the development of his plan. Ivan had remained out of many of the attacks for similar reasons. Aside from the fact that his creation was not ready yet, he was also finding it hard to hold back his own powers, not to mention Scorpina. He could not risk the Yellow Ranger losing her conscious awareness of the Grid before he was ready for her to be unable to use the Power Coin.

Ivan was also aware of the issues surrounding sending some sort of monster. While they would help in his plans, there was also the fact that the Rangers could trace the monsters back to their base. Ivan wasn’t willing to have the Rangers find their base just yet. Thankfully, some of the places that the three had hid with the Tengu would work perfectly as a secondary base of operations. The tactic would also help keep the Rangers on their toes. He would have to send Scorpina to scout some of them; he’d scout others while sending Rito and the Tengu to attack as a distraction. Rito would have to provide further distractions while the monster factory was being built. Some of Mesogog’s notes and equipment would be useful in that.

One of the things he was grateful for when it came to the base and equipment was that the computer systems hadn’t been completely destroyed, but showed just what monsters and plans hadn’t worked against the Dino Rangers and why. The creation of the White Dino Ranger clone had been one of the plans that had almost succeeded, but the fact that it had to be resolved via a duel to the death made Ivan put the plans to the side for the time being. Once the girl could no longer use the Power Coin, Ivan could revisit that plan. If all went well, his planned heir could quite possibly use that same coin. Ivan could also use it to create the evil coins as well.

Ivan and the others had to repair everything in the lab in between the attacks. What the Rangers hadn’t realized is that some of the attacks had served as a distraction for Ivan to get the parts he needed to repair the machines. Now that the lab was operational, Ivan could start on plans he’d had to put on hold when he’d been imprisoned. This included his two mechanical monsters, but those were going to be his final tools to use after destroying the morphing grid, or, at minimum, removing the Ranger’s ability to use it.

He knew that the moment the mechanical monsters were completely uncovered, they’d go online. Ivan had ordered Scorpina to use her powers to shrink them after partially unburying them. As his creation continued to develop to a point where he could use it when the time was right, Ivan started reprogramming the mechas. This is where even Zordon had underestimated his purple opponent; Ivan might be an evil megalomaniac with plans of universal domination and occasional moments of stupidity that had resulted in imprisonment, but he wasn’t completely stupid either. Ivan had been the one to build and program his two mechas. He, like a number of residents of planets he’d ruled over, had experimented in a vast variety of things. One of those, Ivan had never found out which, had been the reason he no longer could have children of his own. He’d tried reversing it, but had no success without risking giving up the gains he’d made

The experiments, however, had allowed Ivan to expand his natural gifts beyond what the people of his own home planet were willing to accept. They’d come to regret rejecting him; those who’d willingly joined him had been some of his early lieutenants. He’d put out a mental call once Scorpina and Rito had freed him to find out if those same lieutenants or their descendants were still around. He’d not received a response, but it had also taken a lot out of Ivan to send that call. Not enough to kill him, but it was why he’d not joined up with Mesogog when the latter had faced off against the Dino Rangers.

Location: Ivan’s lab same time period POV: Scorpina/3^rd person

Scorpina watched Ivan work and grinned. Rito had gone off to sulk; he’d been a great help freeing Ivan, but wasn’t good for much but as a goon. She’d never told Rito or Ivan why she’d freed him, but Scorpina knew she’d never be tyrant material. She much preferred being a tyrant’s right-hand woman instead; she’d looked around for tyrants to aid, but most of them had been destroyed in the same energy blast that had turned Zedd and Rita good. As much as Scorpina missed the two as much as her evil heart could miss them, she was glad that her husband Goldar had been dusted.

Ivan’s location, while not completely secret, hadn’t been easy to find either. She’d spent the better part of a year tracking his container down on Earth and had found it just before Mesogog had started his final attacks. She and Rito had spent the day in Reefside trying to find a worthy opponent for Ivan to face off against so he could conquer Earth and hadn’t been disappointed.

Today’s reveal of just why that young upstart of a Power Ranger was a worthy opponent got Scorpina’s blood racing. Scorpina reveled in facing off against worthy opponents and the Yellow Ranger certainly was one. Not many people, Rangers included, could block the attack that was destined to be a killing blow with just a pair of daggers. Scorpina couldn’t wait to watch the Black Dino Ranger implode as two of his own children were used against all that he stood for. Ivan’s plan was next to foolproof. Scorpina knew that Oliver was resourceful, as she’d fought against him while serving Zedd, Rita, and Vile, but Ivan was even more so.

That being said, Scorpina was itching for a fight with *someone* that wasn’t Rito. She wasn’t about to turn on Ivan, not when his work was so fulfilling for both of them. She wanted to face off against the Power Rangers again, but the only two that could give her a halfway decent fight were Oliver and his daughter. She never claimed to completely understand why Ivan was so insistent on letting her fight the younger Ranger sparingly, but she knew Ivan had his reasons. He’d shared some of them today, but Scorpina was no fool either. Ivan hadn’t revealed everything today to either of them and Scorpina had a good idea as to why. Rito was an idiot; the fact that the Yellow Ranger had not just remembered the ‘dumb muscle’ comment Scorpina herself had made, but also used it in a fight to take Rito out of the equation was a promising sign. Scorpina approved; despite being on opposite sides of the fight, this was a move she would have used herself. Ivan was right to choose her to aid in carrying out his plans.

In the years since both Scorpina and Rito had left Earth’s solar system, she’d learned patience. She’d had to, dealing with Rito. The only reason she’d stayed with the skeletal son of Master Vile had been more out of necessity than actual choice. She didn’t trust Rito to not find some other tyrant’s plans to bungle; staying with him meant that she could keep him from making too much of a mess of things. She could only hope that Rito didn’t bungle Ivan’s plans before they could be successfully carried out. She’d really have to kill the guy then and good goons were hard to find as it were. Scorpina also knew that she was too intelligent to be cannon fodder and that’s one of two things most tyrants wanted her for. The rest wanted her to warm their beds. Ivan was a rarity; he didn’t treat her like cannon fodder and he obviously didn’t want her for her body. He would ask her opinion on things, praised her when they worked, and didn’t mind letting her fight.

In the weeks since they’d rescued Ivan, there had been at least once where he’d been completely at her mercy. Even though they never spoke of it, Ivan had been well aware that she could have killed him at any time. The fact that she hadn’t had only served to help Ivan trust her as much as evil megalomaniacs could. In their world, trusting even your lieutenants and goons was a risky business, not to mention your fellow tyrants and evildoers. The saying ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ didn’t apply to them, not exactly. She’d run across the time Mesogog and Luthor had teamed up in Mesogog’s records; all three of them had gotten a good chuckle at the defeat.

That didn’t mean that they didn’t cheer each other on when one evildoer actually destroyed a Ranger, their team, or equipment, but were quick to point out just how badly the plans failed as well. Back when meetups had been possible between former Ranger opponents, it was considered the height of politeness and hilarity to pick apart with excruciating detail just how much someone else had failed. They all got laughs at each other’s failures, even if they didn’t find someone picking apart their own plans nearly as much.

Same went for the goons; Scorpina had actually served Rita and Zedd, who were trying to conquer Earth as a team, along with Vile. Some of the former opponents had goons stupider than Rito, others had given Scorpina a match in either the wit or fighting power departments, rarely both. It hadn’t been easy to keep her skills up with only Rito as a sparring partner. Thankfully, some worlds that they’d traveled to had fighting rings that didn’t care who you were as long as you could fight.

Without Ivan’s knowledge or approval, Scorpina had been keeping an eye on the girl. She’d found out two names for her, despite not being able to approach Oliver’s house: Katrina Jones and Abigail Burton. The fact that she was with Tommy Oliver, the Ranger who’d once almost been Zedd’s own heir, spoke volumes. Looking at the girl, plus doing some digging of her own in Angel Grove, meant that Abigail was the daughter of a Power Ranger, though not one that Scorpina had faced off against. Scorpina had watched, in disguise, as Abigail attended martial arts lessons. This was going to be fun, watching her get all trained up to fight. Scorpina wondered if there was a way that she could…break…the girl to get her to willingly follow Ivan and do their bidding. Her skills would be invaluable to them.

She knew, just by Rocky showing up that the girl was in some sort of therapy. While Scorpina had been in Angel Grove, she’d found out that the second Red Ranger she’d faced off against had become a therapist. Looking up what that was, she found that people like Rocky tended to those who were in vulnerable places to help them heal mentally and emotionally. She’d also found out the girl’s father was in an even worse place; Scorpina remembered the rotund man when she’d been in Angel Grove to do Zedd’s bidding. If Ivan approved, she might be able to use that information to break the girl. Even the loss of her morphing powers could be used as part of the process.

The tough thing was going to be how. Scorpina had only the barest of magical talents; she might have been able to shrink and restore items, but illusions or mind control? Not her specialty one bit and above what she was capable of doing. She knew Rito had acquired his sister’s evil spell books and vowed to look at them to see if there was something she could use. Despite not having much in the way of magical abilities, she might be able to do potions. Finster had no magical abilities of his own and had been an alchemist.

When she thought that she’d put together a few good plans to use, along with the information she’d gathered, she approached Ivan that evening. Of course, she had to also wait for the right time; too soon and he’d take his anger at the interruption out on her; too late and he’d be tired enough to not want to look at them. She’d deliberately left some parts of the plans vague so they could be adjusted as needed; she’d learned as much working for Zedd and Rita. Both of them, along with Vile, had used variants on one plan: monsters, monsters, monsters. Scorpina brooked no illusions that’s why they’d failed even though they also used their goons.

Ivan, though he used Rito, the Tengu, and herself as attack goons, had plans within his plans. He knew that right now, acting like a typical Ranger opponent was what was expected of him. He was using their expectations against them and reveled in the fact that they would be completely shocked at the long-term plan even if his primary body was destroyed. Rito had deliberately not been included when Ivan informed her about what he was planning to use as the contents of the vial.

He’d combined some of his own ooze with the venom from Zedd’s evil snake. He’d found a way to copy his memories and intellect into an elixir, to which he added the ooze and venom to. It needed to sit, mixing together, until the intended recipient had been born. The longer the mix sat unused, the stronger it got. Some of that elixir would be removed to use in the compulsion of Abigail to deliver and use the vial on the infant.

Another thing Scorpina had included in the files she now carried was what information on Tommy Oliver’s house and defense systems she could find. There had been several times she’d been able to enter the confines of the grounds, but had been tossed out when it went into lockdown due to a Rito or Ivan attack. That was a possible crimp in their plans, as there was a likely chance it would knock Abigail and the infant unconscious once the vial had been used if the lockdown mechanism had to be used.

Thankfully, Ivan was in a good place to stop when she entered with the files. She could see the possibilities whirling in his head as he read them. Scorpina knew that he would come up with ones that she’d not even considered; it was why he was the boss after all and also why it had taken several different groups to confine him originally. Finally looking up at her with the evilest grin she’d seen on him yet, he placed the files down.

“Good work, Scorpina. Putting these files together shows initiative, as did the plans. I did notice that they were vague in parts.” Ivan sounded irritated at that, never good when aimed at her. She would have to grovel.

“Only on purpose, my lord!” Scorpina knelt, head bowed. “Your genius would allow you to fine-tune them better than I could. I saw enough of Rita and Zedd’s plans fail because they didn’t take the Rangers’ working together as a team into account.” Without looking up, she knew her answer had pleased Ivan.

“I knew that there was a reason I kept you around. Unlike Rito, you actually come up with intelligent plans more often than not.” At that, he motioned for her to stand up.

“Rito has his uses. Dumb ‘muscle’ more often than not, unfortunately…for him anyway.” Ivan chuckled at that.

“From what I’ve observed along with your files, I may need to start using you as an opponent for her more often and sooner than I had considered.”

“As you desire, Ivan.” Scorpina bowed.

“Quit acting the sycophant, Scorpina. It might work when Rito’s around, but it doesn’t suit you. If things were different, you’d be my queen in all of this. I wouldn’t be able to pull off half of this without you.” This was a surprise to Scorpina; maybe there was more to Ivan than trying to create the perfect heir to continue his work. Both Scorpina and Ivan knew that it was likely that either or both would fall to the Rangers. If they could get their plan off the ground before that, Ivan’s work would continue long after they were gone. The Power Rangers wouldn’t know what got them until it was too late to do any good. Scorpina had confidence in Ivan, though. Maybe her goal of becoming a successful megalomaniac tyrant’s right-hand woman would happen. She couldn’t wait until the next meeting once the Rangers were defeated to gloat. She joined Ivan at the table as they refined the plans. By the time they went to rest, Scorpina was buzzing with excitement as they were the type of plans that she lived for.

Location: Reefside County forensics lab POV: Sanderson/3^rd person

Sanderson, after hanging up with Lt. Stone, wanted to throw his phone against the wall. It wouldn’t do; Dr. Oliver’s brat of a foster daughter had written her paper like that on purpose just to have him fired. He knew it, she knew it, he just couldn’t prove it. Jones was like every other teacher’s child that came through his classes, using her position to get out of trouble. He’d done some investigating on the side; he’d not believed the story about her parents doing classified work to save America, much less the planet. All he got for his troubles was a write-up from his boss for digging into classified records on work time without a good reason. One more write-up for the same reason, without probable cause, would see him fired and arrested.

He’d also not believed the whole abuse case thing. She was just old enough to be Oliver’s actual biological child that he’d gotten custody of. That is, if Oliver had been having a sexual relationship in college and not known about the child. He’d gone to MIT and worked with the lady that now ran Cyberspace. If it weren’t for the fact that it was obvious that Katrina Jones was half-Vietnamese, he’d have considered that the two had a child together that they’d given up for adoption. That would almost explain the surname and why she didn’t call him ‘Dad’ or ‘Father’ except when talking to classmates.

Sanderson knew that Dr. Oliver had to have some sort of skeletons in his closet. If it hadn’t been for the fact that most of the faculty had seen Randall transform into one of Mesogog’s goons, he would have used the opportunity to blackmail their newest teacher for attacking her. It was how he’d kept his job at the school as long as he had. He’d been able to find blackmail material on the various members of the school board, things like which married members had been having affairs or weren’t who they appeared to be. He’d even had blackmail on the principal before Randall; the man had retired not long after.

Still, he couldn’t discount the possibility that Dr. Oliver had simply kidnapped the child either. Talking with Jerome, he’d found out that the daughter of one of Angel Grove’s more prominent members had gone missing. The general consensus was that she’d run away. Outside of a lesson at the dojo, Dr. Oliver hadn’t been seen that Saturday until he’d shown up in the park to meet Conner McKnight and his foster daughter. McKnight and 3 other teens had been supposedly mentored by Oliver himself over the school year. Mentored his ass; who knew what the 5 of them did when they weren’t on school grounds or at Cyberspace? He knew that the Dino Rangers were a team of 5, but there was no way that they were Reefside’s own team, was there.

Even running a simple background check at home hadn’t turned up any dirt. Dr. Oliver had fewer enemies than Captain America, or seemed to at any rate. There had been a few things that had popped up ‘classified’ when he’d looked last year, but that had been it. He’d taught martial arts as a teen, been a stock car driver, and even was a partial owner of a club in Angel Grove owned and ran by two of Oliver’s former high school classmates. All this while going to high school, then university, and before working for Dr. Mercer. He’d seemingly been the only survivor of Mercer’s lab blowing up until the other man had arrived in Reefside only weeks after the paleontologist had started teaching. Maybe the two had been in on creating the lab explosion together. Sanderson had a lot of things to consider in regards to Dr. Oliver and had started a list that he was keeping at home. It wouldn’t do for his bosses at the forensics lab to find it.

He’d gone to the Homecoming game and seen the newest Yellow Ranger; it had been disconcerting to see two Yellow Rangers fighting side by side with no ill effects. He’d also noticed no Black Dino Ranger at the game; Dr. Oliver had been too busy protecting his fiancé from the people-sized purple birds. He’d been cut off from watching the Yellow Rangers morph and demorph, otherwise, Sanderson knew he’d be able to put a call into Children’s Services that Dr. Oliver was allowing his foster daughter to fight as a Power Ranger. He’d seen the White Dino Ranger sit next to the pair after the game resumed; Trent Fernandez-Mercer was the only one of the 4 teens that hadn’t been at the game with no explanation given how close he was to McKnight and the others. He’d been at the other games that the 4 teens had been at, why was Homecoming any different?

He’d have to carefully continue digging; hopefully, the field trip would be able to confirm one or more of his suspicions. He didn’t know if he could wait that long, but he soon got swamped at work and put all thought of Dr. Oliver and Katrina Jones out of his mind. That didn’t mean he was going to stop his surveillance at the home games, or at the monster attacks, but it was going to have to be around his work schedule.

Sanderson knew that he often came across as distracted or intense to his coworkers, be it at the school or at the lab, but he was good enough at what he did that management was willing to overlook what had gotten him fired from the school. They’d had enough people leave and not enough coming in that they couldn’t afford to be choosy and had rehired him on the spot; he’d quit so he could teach at Reefside full-time.

It also meant that when they got swamped with cases, he couldn’t do surveillance and get blackmail on Dr. Oliver. Jerome knew that they often got weird cases from Angel Grove; it was why it would be simple to slip in a couple of cases to run evidence on when Reefside High came through. The hard part would be getting a hold of DNA evidence from Jones and Dr. Oliver. Thinking of an idea, he texted Jerome to make sure Mr. Burton’s DNA was in the cases sent over. He didn’t care how it happened, just that it did. He knew that the DNA sample was going to be in there.

One of his friends in the lab would have to be the one to get a hair sample from Jones; there was a rather pretty up-and-coming forensic scientist who’d been hired recently. Sanderson resolved to work on her so that by the time the field trip came around, she’d be willing to help him out. It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d led a bright young thing along to get information. Sure, it meant he had several love children scattered throughout the county, but it was worth it. Not even his late wife and acknowledged children knew about his various affairs over the years and that’s the way he wanted to keep it.

Any guilt over doing this to Dr. Oliver had vanished when the younger man had verbally defended his daughter twice; Caplan had told him of what the paleontologist had said when the president of the school board had gone in to talk to Randall. Before this school year, Sanderson had considered the younger man a friend and possible protégé. Sure, Dr. Oliver had morals up the wazoo, but Sanderson believed still that he could persuade him to see things his way. Given that Sanderson hadn’t had the chance to persuade Dr. Oliver to do things his way before the whole fight with an evil Randall, he was going to have to use blackmail to do the job instead.

Location: Ivan’s monster lab, same time frame. POV: Rito/3^rd person

Despite beliefs to the contrary, Rito wasn’t dumb. He had allowed Scorpina to tag along because he knew she’d be able to lead him to someone he could serve. Oh, Rito knew that he didn’t have her intelligence and wasn’t near as cunning as Ivan. That didn’t mean he had no ideas; he’d been the one to find the Tengu home world and bring his sister and brother-in-law their eggs to use as a belated wedding gift. He had also been the one to get them to serve Ivan; Ivan for all his vaulted skills, only created goons out of his own ooze. Rito knew from previous experiences that the Tengu had given the Angel Grove Rangers some fight.

That hadn’t stopped Ivan from infusing the Tengu with the ooze, Rito noticed. He didn’t care, as he knew he didn’t have the complete command presence for the Tengu to continue following him, not with people like Scorpina or Ivan around. It had been why he’d taken their eggs to Rita and Ed, anyway. Not Ed, Zedd. Rito smiled at the memory; it had been way too easy to rile the tyrant up by continuing to call him by the wrong name.

Vile might have been a literal tyrant of a father, but he wouldn’t have allowed Rito to grow to adulthood if the skeleton had been completely stupid or incompetent. He’d seen one sibling killed by Vile for that same reason. Rito and his sister had been the only two of Vile’s children to survive to adulthood. Most of their siblings had died due to their plans failing or otherwise backfiring spectacularly, if not being killed by Vile himself or whichever tyrant that they served. Some had even been killed by Power Rangers. Rito was now the only one from their family still left on the side of evil; even Vile had been turned to good or dusted by the same energy waves that had hit his sister and brother-in-law. He’d been hit too, but it hadn’t changed him much. Rito knew he had morals for an evil guy and was uncomfortable with Ivan’s plan to turn an innocent child evil.

The only reason he stayed around was to thwart Ivan’s plans; Rito loved fighting the Rangers more because they were decent opponents than anything else, but he drew the line at harming their families. The Yellow Ranger he’d fought against at the football game had taken him off guard by using one of Scorpina’s insults against him and sucker-punching him when he rushed her. As much as his reacting predictably frustrated him, Rito was beginning to see the humor in it. That hadn’t stopped him from kicking one of the monster machines, though.

Like Scorpina, Rito actually enjoyed facing off against the Dino Rangers, albeit for a different reason. Scorpina and Ivan were more about the fight, despite the latter’s flamboyant nature during it. Rito, however, enjoyed the verbal sparring as much as he did the physical fight. He only hoped that when Ivan and Scorpina were destroyed-Rito had no illusions about that-that he would be spared. He knew enough about how many previous Ranger opponents acted to do the same for them so that the planet’s civilian population wouldn’t get complacent. Rito had seen enough on his travels after Rito and Zedd had given up on Earth that Ivan was just the latest in a long line of opponents that would turn their attention to the planet.

By the time he teleported back to Ivan’s main lab, Rito had worked out much of his frustration restoring the monster machines. All that was left was to install Mesogog’s computers and bring them online. If Finster had been around, this would have been where the alchemist would have settled in. Rito had admired and had a true friend in Finster. Despite what Scorpina and the others believed, if Finster had survived, the two would have made a formidable pair. Finster had been much like Rito himself: morals, but preferring to work for evil as there were a lot less restrictions on what he could study and do. The alchemists working for the side of good and many gray ones refused to do the experiments that Finster had found himself doing.

Rito, during one of the few times he and Scorpina had been apart, had actually worked for his friend. When he’d gone to the Tengu planet, he’d made a detour to Finster’s lab and picked up the research and notes. Finster had devised a way, prior to his death, for Rito to carry them undetected in event of the same. Rito’s skeletal body made most carrying methods…difficult. He couldn’t wear clothing, so anything not weapons had to be carried in some form of bag. Computer chip on his body was out, as Rito needed to hand the information off to someone who could continue Finster’s work without going completely mad scientist like Ivan was.

He’d almost considered giving the information to Anton Mercer; his records from his time as Mesogog showed the man had the intelligence to continue Finster’s work. However, the man was a bit too much mad scientist for Rito’s taste. The fact that his own experiments had created Mesogog was proof of that. Rito watched and learned the more he interacted with Reefside’s Dino Rangers. The same went for Tommy Oliver; the man was also liable to directly destroy Finster’s research instead of looking at it.

The same was true for Hayley Ziktor, the proprietor of Cyberspace. Rito had noticed, without informing Ivan, that she was the genius behind much of the Dino Ranger tech. Rito was loyal only to Ivan because he was the current villain; he wouldn’t hesitate to cut and run if needed. Leaving before he was ready meant that he wouldn’t be able to mitigate Ivan’s plans. He was going to have to find his sister; he knew she was on Earth, but didn’t know where. He would have to search when he knew he wouldn’t gain Ivan or Scorpina’s attention. Unlike Scorpina, Rito knew Ivan would be keeping a closer eye on him. Scorpina might be intelligent and cunning, but she didn’t have the subtlety needed to fully fool Ivan.

So far, the only one that Rito had found that *might* be willing to even try something was Ethan James, the Blue Dino Ranger. Despite having respect and a willingness to follow Dr. Oliver, Rito had found that the teen was impulsive enough to look at the research before taking it to the older man. The question became how to get the information to the teenager.

Rito wasn’t going to hand over the information right away, though. He had more pressing matters to deal with, including how to fumble Ivan’s plans. Rito knew Scorpina thought him a bumbling fool and he was willing to admit that some of the plans he’d ruined had been accidental. A number had been on purpose though. As nice as it would be for all planets to be under evil’s rule, Rito was a realist. He enjoyed fighting against the forces of good. Life where there were no good people to fight against would be boring.

He understood that if Ivan was to succeed in this plan, Evil would win once and for all. Rito didn’t totally object to the idea, but not at the expense of the truly defenseless. What Ivan was planning to do would have been considered beyond the pale even for Rita and Lord Zedd. Even though Vile had begot and raised evil children, he would and had faced off against his own offspring if they turned to the side of heroes. Vile had taught both of his surviving children to lay off innocent children unless they were Power Rangers or old enough to properly use as a hostage. Apparently, Ivan and Scorpina never got that lesson; then again, if what Rito had heard about Scorpina’s own scholar mother was true, Scorpina had been linked to her current path by actions taken while her mother had been pregnant with her. Desperation is a truly scary thing.

Rito knew that Ivan failed to see him as the answer to his…issues…having children. Rito had found a way to have children without sacrificing either his own powers or resorting to what his current master was doing, but Ivan was too arrogant to think that there was an answer.

When he got back to the main base to report that the machines were finished, he found Ivan and Scorpina in deep discussion. Rito knew it wasn’t a good time to interrupt; he’d have to make his report in the morning, losing valuable time. Valuable time, that is, for Ivan and his plans. Heading back to his own quarters, he began to search through Finster’s alchemy books for the love potion the elf had developed at Rita’s request. If the Dino Rangers were unwilling to kill Scorpina after Ivan’s defeat, Rito might, at their request, be able to control her via the use of that same potion. Even though some of the ingredients were difficult to get, it was worth the risk.

He also found a loyalty potion that would work well in conjunction with the love potion; it was similar to the one Ivan was preparing to use to ensure that the compulsion would take. It was just a matter of time before one or the other would have to be used. These two potions, thankfully, didn’t take any magical ability to use in conjunction with them, just DNA. If he started on them now, he’d be able to give them to Scorpina right around the same time Ivan was getting ready to enact his own plan. Ivan’s loss of Scorpina as an ally and lieutenant would destroy everything the purple megalomaniac was working towards. Rito just had to ensure that he wouldn’t bungle everything like he was wont to do.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside two weeks after the Homecoming game and dance. POV: Abigail/1^st person

With Homecoming out of the way, I found myself with the other art students pulled in to work on the set and props for the upcoming fall play at the end of the month. Thankfully, unlike the parade floats, our art teacher allowed us to work on everything during class. We wouldn’t be delivering the props and backgrounds to be installed until the theater department was ready for them. They did have to be delivered after school was over, to allow for the paint to dry. It didn’t take as long to deliver either, given that the art classrooms were close to the theater.

What I found myself surprised by was that the entirety of the set and prop design team was willing to listen to me, despite being one of the youngest there. Even the director was willing to listen to my input. When I asked why, the answer surprised me.

“Miss Jones, the freshman float at Homecoming was the best one out there. I was told it was your designs that were ultimately chosen to become the float. In the history of Reefside High, no freshman float has ever won Best Float for a homecoming parade and game before. I expect that same work for the plays and musicals,” Mrs. Thompson said, amused at my thunderstruck expression. “What? I certainly didn’t pick your work because Dr. Oliver is your foster parent; I heard what you said to Karan’s parents.”

I was still in a daze when I headed to his classroom after finishing up the delivery and installation of the backgrounds. Even though I’d been in school for over a month and a half, I was still dealing with people wanting to get close to me simply because Dr. Oliver was my parent. I knew if it was Principal Randall as my guardian, I’d be an outcast; despite claiming to no longer be evil, none of the upperclassmen trusted her. It still shocked me that some people beyond my small circle of friends genuinely wanted to be a friend simply because of who I am as a person.

“You doing alright, Katrina?” Despite the privacy of his classroom at the end of the day, neither of us wanted to risk being overheard using my real name.

Shaking my head to clear it, I responded. “Yea…just shocked by something Mrs. Thompson said. She’s put me in charge of finishing up the set designs. I don’t even have a week to finalize everything; basically flying by the seat of my pants here!” I was unable to keep the panic out of my voice.

“You’ll be fine, Abigail. You don’t have to worry much about set dressing and costuming just needs a few tweaks from what I could understand. Your classes are making the props as needed; many of them are being reused from old productions after being retrofitted for the new show. I bet costuming is the same deal; Mrs. Thompson keeps a storage room for a reason.”

I nodded as I calmed down. “Someone else is in charge of costuming; she’s asked me to join her in the storage room tomorrow during art class. She might be the best seamstress in school, but she said something about wanting an ‘artist’s eye’ or some such thing. Peggy did say she wanted to chose stuff that would match the characters and not clash with the set.” I shrugged. “I don’t know what goes through her mind, but this is her final year at school; she’s going to train the next girl during the musical. Tradition apparently. There’s never been a student set designer for the theater department before; I think I’ll have to follow the same tradition.”

I could tell Dr. Oliver was amused by everything, as was I once I calmed down. He’d had to leave campus earlier this afternoon during lunch and his free period to go with Katherine to a doctor’s appointment; even though they were trying to arrange the OB/GYN appointments around his teaching schedule so he could be there, this had been the only appointment available for the entirety of her third month of pregnancy. Dr. Mercer had been on campus to act as a substitute just in case, but thankfully, it hadn’t been necessary.

I knew I was going to have to hit up the art supply store for some more drawing paper; I didn’t have enough at home to fill the need. I wasn’t willing to dig into my supplies for class; despite working on the school play, we still had to learn what was on the syllabus. This was even with being in an advanced art class, which was normally for upperclassmen. It was rare for freshmen to be allowed in; those that did made it in on talent alone.

Thankfully, I was able to make quick work of my homework after getting home from the dojo and immediately lost myself in drawing out designs. Mrs. Thompson had been gracious enough to give me a copy of what she had in mind when she placed me in charge of the whole set design process. Combining that with what we’d already made, built, and painted, I was able to come up with rough sketches for everything else. One of the things she’d included was a copy of the script; tomorrow, when I had more free time, I’d go over the script and make notes of what needed to be where, when and why. She’d thankfully included which actors were going to be where during the play, along with pictures.

We had, at most, 3 weeks to get everything finished before we got to Hell Week, the general term for the week leading up to opening night. This was when the set, costumes, and props were going to be used by the actors to do run throughs while the sound and light departments set how each actor was going to be miced, with what types of microphones, and how they were going to be lit. Lighting, from what I could understand, had as much to do with an actor’s makeup and hair as it did with their costumes and the set. Wrong lighting design and either the stage or actor got washed out. True, there were sometimes that they needed to do that, but it was just a matter of using lighting to help convey what a particular character or characters were going through or to set the mood or background, along with time of day and location. High noon in a forest was vastly different than sunset indoors in southern California; rainy days verses sunny were different as well.

This was going to be the true test of if I did this the rest of the school year. As much fun as it was doing this, I wasn’t about to let my schoolwork or friendships suffer. I don’t care what Mrs. Thompson said, I was a student first. I knew Dr. Oliver would back me up on this; it was the same rule I followed to be able to go to Cyberspace in my free time during the school year. It wasn’t just my homework or friendships that I had to worry about; it was also my lessons at the dojo and responsibilities as a Power Ranger that I had to focus on as well. The minute that this got in the way of any and all of that, I was going to walk away. Even without being a Power Ranger, I knew that being the head set designer would be the first thing I would give up if I needed to.

I resolved to speak to Mrs. Thompson the next day after school ended; as appreciative as I was that she put me in charge, she also didn’t give an opportunity to say ‘no’ either. I needed to let her know that I had other things that came first, though I couldn’t reveal that I was a Power Ranger. Between my classes at the dojo, spending time with my friends at CyberSpace and with my family, I also had therapy appointments with Rocky, which were now once a week, and adjusting to the fact that I was going to have a new mom and become a big sister within the space of 7 months.

I knew from talking to Peggy that Mrs. Thompson expected all of the people involved to attend every single day Hell Week; there was no way I was skipping three lessons at the dojo. She was either going to have to accept that or find someone else. By letting her know now, I was giving her time to find someone else. I knew Dr. Oliver would back me up on this, but it didn’t hurt to ask him either. One of the things that I appreciated was that he always made time for me, even with his wedding coming up in a couple of weeks. I realized I wouldn’t be able to do this unless I was given pass to skip art class; I’d have to give this up.

If it weren’t for the wedding, I honestly wouldn’t mind. I was enjoying this, sure, but I just couldn’t with everything else going on. I sighed as I looked at my sketches; despite it being close to bedtime, I needed to ask Dr. Oliver for some advice. He would know what to do; having had to balance normal life with Power Ranger responsibilities, even as a teenager. He’d had to do so once himself; he’d know what I should do.

Of course, the original plan for the wedding had been over the Christmas holidays, summer at the latest, with the honeymoon right after. With Katherine expecting, they wanted to marry as soon as possible and preferably before she starting showing. Thankfully, they’d allowed me to use my homecoming dress as a bridesmaid dress; I’d picked out a dress that would act as both. Katherine’s maid of honor was going to be Kimberly. The other bridesmaids were going to be Aisha and Tanya. Dr. Oliver had his brother David as his best man; Jason, Rocky and Adam were groomsmen. Zack and Billy had both been offered a groomsman position, but had declined, as had Hayley for bridesmaid. Neither had said exactly why, but we knew and understood.

Kira had volunteered her band for the music during the ceremony and reception; when he tried protesting, she told him to consider it her wedding gift. He shut up not long after that; I suspected he was still going to try and pay her and the band. It was just how he was. If it weren’t for Katherine’s pregnancy, they’d be having their honeymoon right after. Right now, I’d thought I’d heard them say something about a family trip come summer. My baby sibling would be 2-4 months old by that time and not old enough to be left with a sitter yet, even family.

Dr. Oliver had plans to sit down with his former teammates, minus Rocky and Katherine, and swear them to secrecy regarding my identity. Even then, we realized that using a geas was a possibility; it would take some convincing from Dr. Oliver and Rocky for them to keep things quiet even from Lt. Stone. If all else failed, I’d either have to ask or they’d have to play the tape recorder, which would be…disastrous. Ernie, from what Rocky had said, needed a good support system right now. Letting them listen to that tape would destroy that. I was beginning to recognize that what he’d said in a drunken fit of anger was unforgivable; it would have been doubly so if he’d been sober. It was taking me a lot to work through that; Ernie had told me in every letter that if he could take all of that back, he would. Rocky had explained that what he’d yelled had come from a place of hurt.

In the meantime, I headed down to his office; he’d been grading papers right after dinner when I’d been doing my own homework and the sketches. I knew he’d appreciate the break; he only had a few more papers to grade when I arrived. It had become tradition for us to just sit in talk in his office many nights if he wasn’t busy grading tests and papers or either of us was too tired. Sometimes, we talking about safe topics; other times, he listened as I talked about my own fears and other issues. He never made me feel like my fears weren’t valid to have and often helped me work through them. This tradition of ours was a huge reason why my sessions with Rocky had become weekly sessions instead of biweekly. They also served to help my relationship with Dr. Oliver grow stronger day by day.

“Dr. Oliver, can I talk?” I was worried; I’d not felt this bad since the time I revealed my true identity to him. Looking up from his desk, he smiled tiredly as he put his pen down and set the assignments he was grading to the side.

“Anytime, Abigail. You know that.”

With that, I dropped into a chair opposite him and just poured my worries about feeling like I was taking on too much by doing the play’s set design, finishing with, “Something’s got to give, Dr. Oliver.” Like he’d done so many times before, he pulled me into a hug after walking around his desk.

“It’s okay, Abigail. I know you’re feeling overwhelmed with everything right now. If you want to step back from anything except school and therapy, you can.”

I smiled at that. “School, dojo, and Power Ranger duties, and the wedding. School I need, the others I signed up for or agreed to help with,” I corrected. “I’m also not about to let my relationships with my family and friends suffer either. Participating in the mid-year play and spring musical means I’d not have time to help with my little sibling either and family’s important.”

“I also know how important hobbies and participating in school activities are as well. Once the wedding is over, you’ll have more weekday afternoons to do things like participating in school theater if you want. That being said, if you need me to talk to Ms. Thompson, just let me know.”

“I know, Dr. Oliver, and I appreciate it.” I wiped the tears from my eyes. “I want to talk to her first, see if she’ll listen. If not…”

“I’ll talk to her.” I gave him a huge hug at that; he was a wonderful dad, even if I didn’t call him that. I felt better just knowing he had my back. By the time we got done talking, I felt a lot better and went to bed easily that night. I’d heard him come up the stairs as I was getting into bed; he’d had to finish grading papers before school the next day. Even without his other duties outside of school, a teacher’s work was never done. He’d spent a good chunk of the previous weekend grading tests; Katherine had gotten a bit annoyed when he’d forgotten about an appointment for the final fitting for his tuxedo.

As soon as I got to school the next day, I was waylaid by Mrs. Thompson, who was in the theater. I knew Dr. Oliver was waiting nearby, even if I couldn’t see him, and would hear my entire conversation with her. I did hand over my designs, but asked her to listen to me first.

“I hope you’re not having second thoughts about doing this, Katrina. These drawings are excellent.”

“That’s just the thing, Mrs. Thompson. I’ve got school, lessons at the dojo, along with Dr. Oliver’s wedding the weekend before the play. I won’t be able to give the play the concentration it deserves unless I drop something. School and my lessons at the dojo are too important; I’d be gone three afternoons during the last week of rehearsals.” I took a deep breath. “The only other way I’d be able to do this is give up my weekends and my friendships with Kira, Ethan, Conner, and Trent would suffer. That’s not something I’m willing to risk either. It was one of Dr. Oliver’s early rules with me that I have to give something up if either he or I feel that it’s going to negatively impact my schoolwork and lessons at the dojo.”

“I see.” I could tell she didn’t see, really. “This is important too. There’s nobody else that can do this, Katrina; you’re the best person for the job.”

“I am sorry, Mrs. Thompson. You’re going to have to find someone else. I don’t mind if my sketches and designs get used, but I can’t run the set department for this play. Maybe in the future, but I’m just too busy right now.” With that, we both left, as the school bell rang to warn everyone to get to class. I still knew that this wasn’t finished; I might not have classes with her yet, but I knew she would likely approach Dr. Oliver during lunch. That is, if she didn’t approach me during 3^rd period first, or have Mrs. Goodridge do so. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed doing the sketches, but this was a bit much right now. If the wedding wasn’t going to be so soon, I would have been fine, but like I’d told her and Dr. Oliver both, something had to give.

I’d given Dr. Oliver a look before heading off to 1^st period science; he knew that my talk hadn’t exactly gone well. He just squeezed a shoulder to comfort me before we both had to run as to not be late. I just hoped that he’d be able to talk to her; I didn’t worry near as much as I could have because I knew he’d take care of things.

By the time the end of the school day came around, I’d not heard anything one way or the other. I did notice that Dr. Oliver was there when 3^rd period art class and I delivered what we’d finished today. I hoped that it was to keep both Mrs. Thompson and myself from doing something stupid. As soon as everything had been delivered and stored in the proper spots for the actors to use them this afternoon, Dr. Oliver approached me.

“Ready to go, Katrina?” I nodded. “I’ve spoken to Mrs. Thompson and told her that if she wasn’t going to take your ‘no’, I would have to insist you give the job up anyway. You don’t need this stress right now, not with everything else you’re dealing with,” he continued as we walked away.

“Thanks, Dr. Oliver. Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to do this, like I said, but not at the expense of everything else going on. I could tell she wasn’t going to take my ‘no’ for an answer. I just need to find a good balance between everything before I add something new. If anything, that something new is going to be soccer; I’ve already committed to the reserve team. I only did that so I didn’t give up my martial arts lessons. I’m just glad Coach was willing to accept my compromise.”

Dr. Oliver chuckled; he obviously knew something I didn’t. “That’s because Coach is nobody’s fool. He’s seen how much those lessons have helped you. I think Conner had something to do with it too; Coach even listened when Conner was setting up your team’s practices. He wants you on the team that bad, Abigail.” Now that we were out of city limits, both of us felt comfortable switching back to my actual name. “Told me that between you and Francine, he’s not seen such skill from incoming freshmen since Conner himself. He’d admitted that he’d do anything to get you to play.”

That didn’t surprise me much; Coach was a great guy. I honestly enjoyed soccer more than theater, despite having fun creating the set pieces and drawing up the designs. I’d been learning in science that some of that came from the physical activity and how it impacted brain activity. The rest of it came from the pleasure I got from doing something I enjoyed. Both gave me that same feeling, but I knew that doing the shows on top of everything else would sap away that enjoyment from art.

With soccer, I enjoyed it simply because it gave me another focus for my energy and acted as another moving meditation. It was why I kicked around a soccer ball sometimes when I didn’t feel I could safely let out my emotions or frustrations on Dr. Oliver’s equipment in the basement, not to mention a spar. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes Dr. Oliver and I sparred to get that out, but neither of us wanted to make a habit of it. Using my skills in anger, even within the confines of a spar, meant that I wasn’t using my skills right. I was slowly learning how to shunt my anger aside or turn it into determination if I had to so I could protect others, but I always made sure to either talk about it with either Dr. Oliver or Rocky after. If I couldn’t, I either sketched it out or even talked to Hanshi Scott. The older man always had a sixth sense when his students weren’t at their best, even if they couldn’t always talk about the exact details.

It wasn’t just my physical skills that I had no desire to abuse; my mind and spirit were just as important. I was finding that I was choosing my words more carefully than I’d done even before leaving Angel Grove. I didn’t consider myself a religious person, but found myself praying more often than I’d done growing up. I still couldn’t reconcile the faith I’d been taught growing up with what Dimitria had brought regarding the Grid. It had…scared me when I’d learned that all former Rangers, along with certain Potentials, would join the Grid after death. Mom had been sad when she’d informed me that Zordon, due to his method of death, was unable to return to the Grid. Dr. Oliver had explained that Zordon had become a father figure to all the Power Rangers who’d served under his mentorship. Uncle Billy had explained over a summer visit that to many of the alien Rangers who’d become allies, joining the Grid after death was considered desirable. To risk your own chance to do so to save others was a commendable risk and Zordon was remembered as a hero in part because of that.

The only other way to not join the Grid after death was because a Power Ranger, even inactive, had dishonored their rank and responsibilities. With Zordon’s loss, Dr. Oliver was considered the final arbitrator of such a decision, even if he was unaware of it. I could sense it myself; Mom had even confirmed it when I’d asked. She’d forbidden me to even tell him for reasons she refused to tell me, just that it was not information I needed to know at this time.

“Why? If it’s something I need to know, why can’t you tell me?” I almost yelled in frustration.

“Abigail, it’s because it’s not time for you to know. You’ll learn in time. This is information that, if Zordon were still here, he’d be telling Tommy.” She hesitated at that. “I shouldn’t even be telling you this information next, but I can sense it’s going to be important in the years to come. Each arbitrator passes the information on to their successor when it becomes their time to learn to arbitrate. It’s not always at the end of life, either. Sometimes, it’s the choice of the team leader. That’s all I can tell you right now. You’ll understand in time.”

Lovely, Mom, lovely. I thought. That was helpful…not. While my conversations with Mom every time I was able to talk with her grew longer, they were never long enough to learn what I needed to from her. She’d also explained that the arbitrator was also the person that could create physical links to the Morphing Grid; Dr. Oliver was only able to do so to having had the longest active link to the Morphing Grid out of all the Earth based Rangers. She’d not been able to say if I’d be able to do the same, despite my own link going to be permanently active. Some things, she said, weren’t for her to explain to me; that it was going to be up to Dr. Oliver.

We were heading home today after school more because I had a lot of homework to do and I knew CyberSpace wasn’t going to be the best place to do it. It got too noisy and Ethan and Patton were both prone to pull me away from my work to play some game or other. Aside from that, the classmate I was tutoring in science was home sick this week with something. I never claimed to be good at science, but according to my classmates, I at least helped them understand it. I never told them I usually asked Dr. Oliver or Trent for help to explain things better. Some classmates, I did send their way if what I was being asked was above my level to understand.

With the wedding getting closer, I’d noticed Athena acting weird for her. Francine was worried, but their parents refused to even listen to the guidance counselor when he approached them about her behavior. They just called her actions a ‘schoolgirl’ crush, despite her actions being entirely inappropriate. There was nothing I could do except protect myself if need be, so I just put her out of my mind. As I’d told Mrs. Thompson, I had a lot more things to worry about. Aside from that, she and I rarely interacted, even in the lunchroom. She’d contented herself with the occasional bit of jostling in the halls and that was it. That I could ignore; outright bullying I couldn’t.

While most of the attendees at the wedding would be family and friends of both Dr. Oliver and Katherine and not current or former high school students, the Dino Rangers were going to be in attendance. Francine and my friends had been fine with not attending; they’d known the day was more about Dr. Oliver and Katherine anyway. They’d been at the ‘birthday’ party Dr. Oliver had thrown for me at Cyberspace; with my ‘known’ birthday being in September, it had actually been fun having a normal birthday party. Ernie hadn’t thrown David or I many growing up; our friends had given us our gifts at lunch or at the Youth Center when he was busy.

The following week, I was busy enough with anything that sometimes I went straight to bed after finishing my homework, even skipping my normal talks with Dr. Oliver. It surprised none of us when I had another nightmare. I’d not had one in a while; not bad enough to make me disoriented at any rate. It took Dr. Oliver a good 30 minutes to pull me out of a panic attack; we both realized something else had to give. He’d practically ordered me to spend some time at Cyberspace instead of helping with the wedding planning, even if that meant I couldn’t join them when Scorpina attacked. She’d practically left when she’d realized I wasn’t there, puzzling all of us. She’d not even looked for Katherine either, who’d had to hide in one of the dressing rooms during her final gown fitting. Her pregnancy meant that she couldn’t join in fighting Scorpina; she wasn’t about to risk the life of her unborn child even though her Ranger instincts were screaming at her to help fight.

When Dr. Oliver told all of us what had happened in Dino Command later, we were puzzled as the team was.

“That doesn’t seem like her; she’s never left a fight that early; not unless ordered,” Katherine observed.

“It must be part of Ivan’s schemes; she’s the stronger of Ivan’s two lieutenants in a physical fight. Why he’s having her focus on Abigail is a mystery.” None of us liked the situation.

“Unless she’s out for revenge,” I suggested. I held my hands up in surrender. “I don’t like the idea either guys; but I did block her attack earlier in the summer.”

Dr. Oliver shook his head. “She’s attacked enough since then and engaged you in battle to have gotten her revenge for that. No, Ivan’s got something planned, something big. I’ll be damned if it’s not something big. Zordon’s notes say he was working on something to create an heir of his own, but Zordon didn’t think Ivan had actually managed to get it working. There is a dead teenager from an alien world that has Ivan’s experimentations all over it; the boy was a child of two Power Rangers from that particular planet who’d not been chosen to take up the mantle. Why…oh shit!” We all looked at Katherine at that.

“Oh shit is right, guys. You really don’t think he would….would he?” Fear entered my voice; the others weren’t far behind in that. We all cared for Katherine and didn’t want anything to happen.

“From what I can see, yes he would guys.” This came from Hayley, who’d opened the files Uncle Billy had given us. “Zordon had said he’d done his best to destroy Ivan’s notes, citing that they were too terrible to even keep a record in his own files.”

I felt my stomach sinking at that; it was part of why I’d had a nightmare and panic attack that night. Dr. Oliver had called Rocky, who had to be talked out of coming up right away; Ernie needed him that night. He did say he’d get in contact with someone who could help that had actually known Ivan. It would be a while before she and her team could make it over to Reefside, though. Caution was needed here, Rocky had said, but we couldn’t let fear rule us. I’d had to remind Dr. Oliver that wrapping Katherine in cotton wasn’t the best course of action; Ernie had done the same thing with me and we all knew how that had eventually played out.

Speaking of, we all knew inviting him to the wedding wasn’t a good thing; he’d even told Dr. Oliver and Katherine that during a phone call. They didn’t call him often; Dr. Oliver was still pretty pissed at him for what he’d said to me in a fit of drunken rage as well as the abuse. The only thing standing in the way of the complete destruction of their friendship was me; they would make their determinations after Ernie and I had our heart-to-heart.

Despite this being only 4 months after I’d left Angel Grove, I was not ready to talk to him over the phone. It had taken me a couple of months before I could even read his letters with someone there and even that had been too soon. I still had Dr. Oliver keep them in his desk; even though that desk drawer was kept unlocked so I could read them any time, I’d not pulled any of them out to read on my own. I knew it would take time for me to even get to that point. This was despite him keeping to primarily safe topics; there had been several that had set nightmares off. Those were usually ones that talked about Lt. Stone looking around; one such letter had talked about someone trying to break into the Youth Center right after Reefside’s Homecoming game. I’d immediately shoved that letter back in its envelope and refused to touch it again. Dr. Oliver, after reading it, had called Ernie to find out what the hell had happened.

Some of the nightmares after that had all included Lt. Stone finding me at school, although I was starting to think that they might not be. They all had the feel of my dreams involving my protectors; Dr. Oliver had said that the Grid was known to send warning dreams. He’d had some himself as he was losing his Green Ranger powers and more just before he’d met his brother David.

I’d suggested trying to use the Grid to spy on Ivan, but had immediately been shot down by everyone else.

“Abigail, your skill and connection to the Grid is growing day by day, but I’m not asking you to risk yourself like that again.” Dr. Oliver had been firm on that. “You almost died getting us the news that Ivan was our adversary; we’re going to have to find another way to get that information.”

“I want to help; you’re not the only one who is worried about Katherine or her child,” I practically snapped at him. “I’m also the only one who can traverse the Grid like this; you’ve never even tried, Dr. Oliver. There’s got to be some form of link to wherever Ivan and his goons are at; the computer’s alarm system wouldn’t go off if it didn’t.”

“It also takes a long time to create that link; I should know.” I spun around at that and glared at Dr. Mercer, who’d entered without either of us noticing. “It’s how Mesogog had been able to create the portals and sense when the original Dino Gems had been moved.”

“You’re not trying that except as a last-ditch effort, Abigail and that’s an order.” An order I quickly found myself being unable to break. It had been why I’d talked to Mom that night; her answers had left me with more questions than answers. This was getting frustrating for me; I hated feeling helpless.

When I’d vented to Rocky, all he said was “Trust Tommy, Abigail. He’s worried, and I know you are too. It’s not just Kat and their unborn child getting hurt or otherwise controlled by Ivan that scares him, it’s Ivan using you too.”

I got in his face at that. “Rocky, how in the hell am I supposed to help if he won’t let me?!?! I know I can get that information and safer than my initial attempt. Not even Dr. Mercer can explain how he blocked the Grid from being used to spy on his lab; that information got removed from his mind when Mesogog separated himself from Dr. Mercer. This is the only method we have, Rocky, and I’ve been forbidden from using it. Trust me, I tried; it’s like there’s a block on me even attempting it, even with Conner being my spotter. It’s the only time I’ve not been able to drop into the grid like that. We’re supposed to be a team, Rocky!”

“And sometimes, team leaders have to make decisions that the rest of the team doesn’t agree with. You use your mother’s coin, Abigail. Tommy was her team leader, perhaps the coin still recognizes that, even though he is part of the Dino Rangers team, under Conner’s command in battle. On top of that, as you’ve said, he’s now your dad. You want to know what he asked me when you were first placed in his care, before he found out Katrina Jones and Abigail Burton were the same person? How in the hell was he going to deal if you showed interest in being a Power Ranger? Once you started using the coin, Abigail, he mentally reacted almost quite like Ernie did, though he hid it better and called me once you’d fallen asleep. He asked me how to get you, as the newest Yellow Ranger of that same power as your mother and Aisha, to trust him and Conner both in battle and with who you were.”

Rocky’s last statements stopped me in my tracks and I gaped at him like a fish. Now that he had my full attention and I wasn’t taking my fear, anger, and frustration out on him, he continued. “Abigail, have you considered that another reason why he’s not asking you to help is because you’re already under a lot of stress? He told me what happened with your theater teacher and how you chose to walk away from being fully in charge of set design? He also told me your reasons behind choosing to do so. Let me use those arguments you made to walk away from that, minus the wedding and being on the reserve team for soccer, and apply them to this.

“1^st: you’re still a high school student. He told me that an early rule with you was you weren’t to allow your grades to suffer. Once they did, you were to walk away from something; he’s already had you stand down from helping with the wedding.

“2^nd: you’re taking lessons at the dojo; you and Tommy both said you’d asked for those. He’s not about to take that away from you. Ranger or not, knowing how to defend yourself is important to both of you.

“3^rd: your responsibilities as a Power Ranger. This is one of those; you cannot fight every single fight. When Conner, Kira, and Ethan gained their powers, they started as a team of three in the field, with Tommy as a mentor. Tommy was the next to join them; Trent took longer. All of them are adults; there’s also Hayley, Dr. Mercer, and all previous Ranger teams. Trust me, Ivan, Scorpina, and Rito cannot hide forever. We already have people looking into it, Abigail. You got us Ivan’s name and history at great risk; trust us to take this the rest of the way. I know you’re scared to lose your new family and frustrated that you can’t help more.”

“You are helping, Abigail, trust me on that,” came Dr. Oliver from behind us. Running to him, I grabbed him in a hug, crying. “Rocky’s right; I gave that order as much to keep you safe as to keep Kat and I both from worrying about you. It scares all of us every time you go into the Grid, even with Conner or I acting as spotters. Your mom told me you’d almost died, dropping in like that for the first time without a spotter or even knowing what you were doing. That’s why I want this to be only if we have no other way of getting that information and you’re not going to do this alone. As soon as Conner and I figure out how to go in there with you, we’re going to be there every step of the way.”

I gave him a watery smile. “Have you two ever tried meditating while holding on to your Dino Gems? That’s how I do it every time I want to talk to Mom. It wasn’t as easy doing it without; that’s why I need a spotter. It’s getting easier, though. I’m not going to stop using a spotter, though, not for a long time. Don’t want to take that huge of a risk just yet.”

“Meditating with our…that’s what you’ve been doing?” I chuckled a bit at that, glad to have the answers for once.

“Usually when I want to talk to Mom; unless she comes to me in a dream, it’s the only way I can get a hold of her in the Grid. Tried that with Conner spotting once without the coin; Mom wouldn’t even answer. Walked around the Grid for as long as I didn’t feel the tug from my connection to Conner. Always do if I stay in the Grid too long with a spotter, coin or no.

“Be prepared to feel sick and disoriented the first couple of times. You remember what I was like for the first full day after getting the information about Ivan to you?”

“Yea…this was before I knew you and Katrina were the same person. Actually thought you’d caught a stomach bug or something.”

“I’ll act as spotter. Not going to teach you and Conner at the same time, though. You first; I can’t teach Conner this. You’re going to have to. I’ve tried; the Grid itself stops me. That’s why I figured you have to; he’s the only other one that can do it, I think. No offense, Rocky, but neither you nor Jason have the same link to the Grid that Dr. Oliver and Conner do.”

“Feeling better?” Dr. Oliver and Rocky said at the same time.

“Yea…thanks for letting me vent, Rocky, though I am sorry that I blasted you like that.”

“You needed to get that out, Abigail. I simply provided a way to do so; we all know it wouldn’t have gone well if you’d argued with Tommy like that.”

I looked grim at that. “Yea…I’d be grounded except for school and the dojo. I would hate that.”

“I’d hate to do it to you as well, Abigail. I know how being restricted like that makes you feel, it’s why I pointed Rocky in your direction. He came up again for a reason, Abigail, as I knew you’d need to talk to someone not Kat or myself about yesterday. I would prefer to restrict you to the house and dojo only if absolutely necessary.”

“And you wonder why I keep calling you my dad to my friends, classmates, and teachers? You know what Ernie did and you keep doing the opposite. You made it so easy for me to trust you, even when I’m pushing back like I did yesterday. One of the few reasons I’ve not switched to calling you ‘dad’ to your face is because I’m still dealing with reconciling that term and having called Ernie that. Father doesn’t seem right, either; too formal. Calling you some variant of your first name doesn’t seem right either.”

“I’ve noticed you’re not calling Ernie that right now, either.”

“Doesn’t seem right; not with what he did to me. You’re showing me what he should have been doing from the start, Mom dead or not. I saw that photo of all four of us and just want to scream; David says Ernie changed as a parent after Mom died from what little he can remember.” I was worn out after that, despite it only being two in the afternoon, and in no further mood to talk. Dr. Oliver and Rocky both seemed to sense that and I ended up falling asleep in his arms, in our usual location on his office couch. I wouldn’t find until I woke up several hours later that Rocky had headed home. In his place, Katherine sat and I knew she’d been the one to cover us up with a blanket. She’d not been in the house when I’d chewed Rocky out; Aunt Kimberly had driven up for the week to help with wedding prep and they’d been out doing some matron of honor and bride stuff. The rest of the wedding party wasn’t going to be arriving until Thursday or Friday, even Jason and the twins.

Even with Aunt Kimberly staying with us until Jason and their twins showed up, I didn’t want to talk with her. With everything else going on, plus dealing with my anger and frustration today, I knew I wasn’t in a good enough place, mentally or emotionally, to talk with her. That didn’t mean she didn’t try; I ended up telling her bluntly after dinner that I was dealing with enough mentally and emotionally and didn’t need a lecture on how badly I’d hurt Ernie. Dr. Oliver had to stop her from even trying, allowing me to escape up to my art room and relax, losing myself in my drawings. After the emotional roller coaster I’d been on over the weekend, I just needed something mindless to do.

When I returned to myself, I found myself staring at pages that involved brand-new Ranger suits and their associated Power Coins. The Grid was flaring around me and I was having trouble getting my connection to it under control. I was glad I’d not locked the door to the art room and tried reaching out to Dr. Oliver via the Grid, but couldn’t. Even then, he seemed to sense I was in trouble, because he was there within seconds, or so it seemed. I found myself focusing on his voice and arms around me as I allowed the sketches to drop. The Grid eventually settled to a point where I could control it, though I made no effort to pick up the sketches.

“Abigail, what are these? Please tell me you’re not thinking of starting your own team yet?” He asked, not even looking up from the sketches after he picked them up.

“No. I’m nowhere near even being close to being ready for that. I just started drawing to give myself something mindless to do that wasn’t kicking around a soccer ball; I must have drifted into a semi-meditative state. You can see the result. If I’d known that’s what was going to happen, I would have had you here to start with. I was terrified when I came to consciousness and saw what I’d drawn.” My breath hitched as I started to panic again and I soon found myself in a comforting hug. “Can you keep those in Dino Command for now? I don’t even want to leave them in here; too risky.”

“I can do that; I assume you don’t even want to know where I stick them for now?”

“You assume correctly.” While he did that, I headed into my room and got ready for bed. I still didn’t have complete control over my link to the Grid right now. Whatever had caused me to sketch those suits and coins had also caused my own link, including the link to my current morpher, to be open and exposed within the confines of my own awareness.

While Dr. Oliver was putting those away, Katherine slipped into my room. I’d deliberately not closed my door except to change or turned off the lights; either would have indicated I was either asleep or was working on homework.

“You okay, Abigail? What happened? Kimberly and I both could feel whatever was going on; so could Dr. Oliver. That’s why he ran upstairs so quickly.”

“I don’t know; I’d gone to my art room to draw. It’s too late in the evening to kick around a soccer ball outside; not doing it in the basement. Not after the last time; you’ll have to ask Dr. Oliver for the recording. I know he has it. First and last time he’s ever seriously grounded me and it wasn’t for that long, either. Conner was the one who got the chewing out over that; if the situation hadn’t been that serious, I would have chuckled at the look on his face. Like I told Dr. Oliver, all I can figure is that I dropped into some sort of meditative trance as I drew. Next thing I know, I’ve got sketches of new Power Suits and Coins and I can feel my connection to the Grid going haywire. If he’d not have been here, I don’t know what I would have done. He’s the only one who can help me get everything under control; we’ve found as much following the book and notes Dimitria left.”

Location: Dino Command, same time as convo with Katherine. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy sighed as he put Abigail’s sketches in a secured cabinet. This had been the second time in 4 months that her own connection to the Grid had behaved with a mind of its own. Dimitria’s book and notes had been no help at all. He wished Zordon was still alive; the wizard would know what was going on with her.

After locking the cabinet, he turned around, unsurprised to see Kimberly there. It was hard having both his ex-girlfriend and soon-to-be-wife in the same house. Despite working out the issues behind their breakup, Tommy knew he still had some feelings for Kimberly. Nothing that would make him return to her; not with how much he loved Kat. Their relationship had settled into something closer to siblings, but the odd issue still popped up. Right now, that was the fact that he refused to let her tell Ernie where Abigail was. They’d gone round and round on the issue; Kimberly had even tried talking to Abigail about the topic earlier, but Tommy could see that his daughter wasn’t in the mood. He didn’t blame her, not with the weekend she’d had.

“What the hell is going on, Tommy? First, Abigail’s ran and Jason gets a call from you about an abused runaway girl out of Angel Grove. Next thing I know, Rocky’s taken Ernie on as a client, finally getting him to talk. Ernie’s been placed on suicide watch twice, Tommy. The last time, Rocky’d played something that caused Ernie to get into a very dark place. He was bad enough that Rocky’s spent many a night over at his house. Now, I find Katrina Jones, your foster daughter, is Abigail Burton, Ernie and Trini’s daughter, and my goddaughter. Ernie, the last time I tried telling him that, wouldn’t even listen.”

“For a damn good reason, Kimberly. Abigail’s in no condition to talk to Ernie except through letters and even that’s hard for her. She’s having a hard time getting over what Ernie told her in a drunken rage, one that he doesn’t even remember. He did things in that rage that he wouldn’t have done normally, that’s why she ran. He even admits that he wouldn’t have sought help without her running, suicide watch or no. He told me that much when I talked to him after the Homecoming dance.”

“He said he wasn’t coming up; that he wasn’t ready to meet Abigail again right now as much as he wants to be there.”

“Abigail’s health and well-being is important, Kim, as is Ernie’s. I don’t know why she didn’t turn to you and Jason, or to Billy, but she feared being forcibly returned to Ernie’s care. Still does, actually. She’s been having nightmares about it; apparently, Lt. Stone, for as much as he initially told Abigail when he thought her name was Katrina Jones, is looking for her to return her to Ernie’s care.” Tommy sighed as he looked at his friend and former teammate.

“What happened tonight has been the latest in a long line of weird things that has happened since Abigail’s started using Trini’s coin and morpher. Dimitria said Abigail has the ability to become like Ninjor or Zordon; the process just had to be kick-started by using a morpher and coin.” Tommy summarized what had happened over the summer to Abigail. Kimberly just gave him a look.

“If I’d not experienced that earlier this evening, I’d have thought you were kidding. That was weird, even for us, and we were Power Rangers together.”

“Tell me about it; I wish Zordon was still around. He’d know what to do, Kim.” Despite being in his 30s, he’d worked under Zordon’s mentorship for several years. All of the Rangers who’d served under that selfsame mentorship missed the alien wizard.

“I know; Rocky and Adam both have said that there’s something weird going on at the Command Center. Place’s been rebuilt twice, by itself for the most part. Since Zordon died, both Alpha 5 and 6 have returned to the Command Center. Alpha 6 even said something about Dimitria or the Astro Rangers not needing the help anymore as well as the Terra Venture team.”

“Billy said as much when he was up last; he knows what’s going on there, but has been sworn to secrecy.”

“Command Center was his base of operations during the search for Abigail. He was there almost 24/7; whatever’s going on must be serious enough that he can’t tell any of us.”

Tommy knew that was b.s.; but then again, Zordon had kept many secrets from the teams, only revealing them when he absolutely had to. He’d not told them about the Power Chamber that they’d used after the original Command Center had been destroyed. There was also Zedd, Master Vile, and the Machine Empire. True, he understood why Zordon hadn’t revealed the info right away; their mentor had even said that he’d not wanted to worry them unnecessarily. He just hated playing catch-up; it was the worst part when dealing with new adversaries or what Abigail was going through.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Tommy. My lips are sealed; I remember just how scared Abigail was when she came by the studio and dojo. Before that week, I’d never pegged Ernie as have being abusive.”

“Neither would I, Kim; it took Abigail the better part of a month and a half to two months to trust me with her big secrets. It was the Sunday before the soccer camp game against Angel Grove; Dimitria showed up during Ivan’s attack after that same game. Ernie all but accused her of being her; I fended him off. The way he was acting…Abigail confirmed that’s how he’d been the week she fled.”

“She’s lucky to have you, Tommy. I’ve seen how she acts around you; she clearly trusts you, as we all have.”

“I’m lucky she came to me; the day she came to me, she said she came because her mom had trusted me. Of course, I didn’t realize her mom was Trini; had my suspicions, yes, but confirmation….not for a long while.” Checking his watch, Tommy realized he needed to head back up. Abigail was waiting on him; she’d not felt comfortable falling asleep just yet.

They headed back upstairs, Tommy securing Dino Command and putting the house in Grid lockdown. At Kimberly’s look, he explained that between Ivan’s attacks and Kat’s pregnancy, he wasn’t taking chances.

“Aren’t you worried that he’s going to get past that?” Tommy just shook his head.

“I was given enough details about what happened in the alternate timeline that Billy and Hayley were able to devise several ways around it. Let’s just say they’re not getting in unless they truly mean none of us harm. Not even Anton knows how to get past them and he was the one to originally help me build the basement.”

“How does Abigail normally react to the Grid being up like that?” Tommy was about to answer, when he heard a cry from her room. They both sprinted upstairs to find her about to lose control again. He grabbed her in his arms, doing what he could to calm her.

“Kat, you’re going to have to go down to the basement and turn the lockdown off for the main section of the house.” Risky, Tommy knew, but Abigail wasn’t reacting well to it being up. He was pleased to see that Kimberly went with her. He could feel it when it returned to its normal boundaries; Abigail relaxed, falling asleep in his arms not long after. This was going to be an issue; he just hoped she felt better by the time school ended tomorrow; she’d have to sit at the edge of the mats at the dojo otherwise.

When Kimberly and Kat came back up, he explained that it must have messed with her control.

“Sort of,” Kat replied. “She said it felt like she was in the middle of a giant spider web.” Kimberly was amused at that.

“Yea…she’s a bit ticklish, not that she lets anyone find out. I only know because Amy’s her closest friend in Angel Grove and there was this tickle fight when they were 9 and Abigail was over for a rare sleepover.” Kimberly didn’t mention that Amy and Abigail had to team up on Austin to get him to quit bugging them. The tickle fight had blown up into a free-for-all pillow fight by the end of it. There’d been feathers everywhere.

“Rare? She’s had Kira and Francine over more than once for sleepovers; she’d met Francine at soccer camp. Francine was one of the two girls from her year on the Homecoming Court; Karan, the other, is another friend. There’s 3 others that they hang out with; three boys by the names of Patton, Steve, and Johnny.” Abigail had told him just how strict Ernie had been, but rarely letting his daughter going over to friend’s for sleepovers. Even he’d let her when she was comfortable doing so.

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize just how bad Ernie had gotten and done something earlier.” With that, both headed to bed; Tommy wasn’t leaving Abigail’s side right now. He didn’t care how many times he woke up with a sore back in the morning because he’d stayed by her side, it was well worth it. He’d find out Kat had joined them during the night, which neither of them complained about. The only real complaining was about Abigail’s alarm going off; it was right behind Tommy’s ear.

Kat had returned to their room after the other two had gotten up. Tommy had only left the room because Abigail had to get dressed; she was doing a lot better after yesterday’s weirdness. He was still going to keep an eye on her today as best he could; the only time he really got to see her during the school day was during lunch.

When lunchtime came around, he realized he’d not even had to worry. Francine knew her best friends well and had kept an eye on Abigail. He made eye contact with her and she gave him a thumb’s up, smiling. Tommy was a bit relieved at that; last night had been the first night he’d stayed by his daughter’s side that wasn’t nightmare related. He was glad Katherine not just understood, but had also joined him in making sure Abigail was going to be okay.

By the time school was over, Tommy refused to admit that he practically sprinted to her locker, which was next to Francine’s. Most teens in her position would be embarrassed by their teacher-parent doing that, but not Abigail. She ended up giving him a smile and hug when she saw him, despite some of her classmates giggling.

“What, you guys? Monster attack over the weekend got us scared, especially with Scorpina attacking the same place Katherine was in. We got lucky she left when she did.” Abigail told them. Her classmates quit at that, most of them anyway. Tommy could see Athena, who’d showed up to check in on her sister, scowling at that. He had a good idea as to why; Athena made no secret of the fact that she wanted to be in Katherine’s position despite being underage and one of his students on top of that. If he wasn’t going to be marrying Katherine, Tommy knew it would likely be Kimberly or another female Ranger that he knew he could get along with. Athena, even if she was at the right age, was too concerned with status; she’d milk the fact that he was one of Reefside’s protectors for all that it was worth and then some.

Tommy paused when they got to his car. “Katrina, how are you feeling? I know last night was a bit rough on you,” he asked quietly.

“Not 100%, but I can do my lessons today. Of course, if Hanshi has me sit out, I’ll listen to him. He always knows when his students aren’t well enough to participate, even if they can attend lessons.” Tommy knew Abigail well enough to know that she believed in what she told him. Tommy, by the time he’d gotten to the same point in his training as she was at, knew how to do a physical and mental self-check. His own sensei had made sure that all of his students knew how to do so; Hanshi Scott was the same way.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside week of the wedding. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

By the time Friday rolled around, Tommy was beginning to understand how Abigail had felt during the weeks prior. When David saw him after school got out, he took one look at Tommy and pulled him out for an afternoon, just the two of them. This was despite Tommy’s protests about grading papers; even Hanshi Scott had given both Tommy and Abigail the afternoon off from their lessons at the dojo.

“You’re still a horrible liar, at least to those who know you, Tommy. We both know you don’t have any papers to grade this weekend. Besides, when was the last time you and I had time just the two of us? It’s also not healthy for you to let your worries and anxieties to overtake you, Tommy.”

“Too damn long, David. Not even when you visited over the summer.” Tommy shook his head. He really needed to spend more time with his older brother. He also knew that as much as he was worried about being away from Katherine, their unborn child, and Abigail, David was right. The last time he allowed his anxiety and worries to overtake him like he was right now, he’d had a hard time controlling the Zord that Billy had created using the neural interface system used by the Aquitian Rangers. Of course, that had been right before he and David had met for the first time.

“Anything you want to do, Tommy?” David asked as they headed into town

“You pick, David, just as long as it doesn’t involve either of us getting drunk. Aside from the fact that I really don’t want to show up to the rehearsal drunk or the wedding hungover, Abigail’s got negative associations with a drunk father figure. She’s been through enough; I don’t want to add to that.” Tommy, with Abigail’s permission, had filled his older brother on the situation that had led to Abigail being in Reefside. David smiled at his younger brother, glad that Tommy trusted him to keep them all safe.

Tommy wasn’t too surprised when they pulled up at the beach, David had their surfboards and wetsuits in the trunk. Sharing a smile with his brother, Tommy took off towards the beach, surfboard in hand as they hit the water. It was times like this that he was glad that Hayley had made sure his communicator was not only waterproof, but couldn’t come off due to the extreme conditions presented in the surf. He only had an hour and 15 minutes before he had to be at the church for the rehearsal; Hayley had promised to beep him over the communicator for David to get them there. He was just glad that he didn’t have to be in his tuxedo for it.

Even with Hayley’s help, they still barely made it to the church on time; David’s hair was still wet and he was giving Tommy all sorts of grief over it as they entered. Tommy recognized that his older brother didn’t mean any of it; David’s own upbringing meant he wouldn’t cut his hair willingly except in certain situations. Doing lab work in school didn’t count, according to David or Sam, which had been a big reason why he and David had fought once when Tommy had come to visit just 8 weeks before Trini’s death. It had been one of the times they’d actually fought; their relationship was too strong for either brother to actually walk away.

He still remembered his brother’s shock when Tommy had cut his hair; David hadn’t spoken to him for over a month as he had been that pissed. It had taken David’s adoptive father, Sam Trueheart, to act as mediator before the two brothers would reconcile. Those weeks had been some of the hardest of his life; he’d actually approached Sam to ask for advice on what to do. With all the help that Sam had given him as a teen, Tommy had no issues confiding in the older man. Sam was actually going to be at the wedding and at the rehearsal; he’d come in with David.

Sam had actually explained why David was so upset over the whole issue and Tommy had finally understood why his brother refused to see him. He had actually considered growing it back out, but Trini had died not long after he and David had reconciled. Between Trini’s death and his own actions that had led to Mesogog’s creation and the Tyrannodrones, he’d not felt ready to grow it back out at all. He snorted when he thought of the reaction that the school board was going to have when he started growing his hair out again, not to mention his so-called fan club.

Kat had to call the two brothers to task for the rehearsal to start, though she was more amused by their teasing then actually angry. Abigail, from her expression, was trying to not crack up laughing at the whole situation. They had to restart several times due to someone in the group cracking up laughing at the memory of the two walking in, David still in his wetsuit, having a mock argument over something silly.

Location: Ivan’s lab; the day of the wedding. POV: Rito/3^rd person.

Rito smiled to himself, as much as he could as a skeleton. His plan to fumble Ivan’s plans was working for the time being. If Ivan had known about the Black Dino Ranger and former Pink Ranger marrying today, he’d have crashed the ceremony. All it had taken was a few moves the day before in Ivan’s lab, several of Ivan’s experiments had either been completely destroyed or severely delayed. Scorpina had to help Ivan rebuild them from scratch or do the repairs. Sure, that meant that Rito had to be confined to one of the fake labs as punishment while Ivan and Scorpina did their work, but it was well worth it.

By the time they were done and found out about the wedding, Rito had never seen Ivan so enraged. Rito had been able to convince the purple megalomaniac that he’d not known. Ivan threw himself so fiercely into planning that even Scorpina had gotten scared; Rito knew from long experience that the psychotic warrior wasn’t easy to scare.

Ivan was planning something big; Rito only hoped that he’d be able to mitigate the seriousness of the plan and get the information out to someone on one of the Ranger teams without being caught out. He would have to allow himself to be captured or something similar; Rito saw no other way around it. Ivan and Scorpina knew Rito often appeared a coward; they’d have no issues believing that he’d been threatened with dismemberment or similar.

By the time Ivan had calmed down, Rito had come up with a monster for Ivan to use to attack with. He’d distracted Ivan from yet another rant by pointing out that the Rangers were expecting Ivan to start using monsters more often and yesterday. The more time Ivan spent planning monsters, the less time he’d have to work on his master plan, which was how Rito liked it. The last time the skeletal villain had voiced an objection, Ivan hadn’t reacted well. It was going to take some figuring out before Rito could come up with another plan for Ivan to use. He shrugged as Ivan called him to lead a monster attack on Reefside two weeks after the wedding. Oh well.

Location: Reefside park 3 weeks after the wedding POV: Abigail/1^st person.

This was the second week in a row that an afternoon out after school that we’d been attacked by Rito and a monster. If I didn’t know better, the first monster had been designed by Rito. Then again, maybe it had been. Rito had even indicated as much with the second monster; in this afternoon’s attack, he almost seemed desperate for us to capture him. That behavior even confused Dr. Oliver; who’d fought against Rito as a teenager. It was also unlike Rito’s previous behavior fighting us; I looked over at Conner and Dr. Oliver, who both nodded.

“If you are really desperate to be captured, you need to make this believable,” I whispered to him as I knocked him down in our one-on-one fight as the Dino Rangers dealt with the monster. His only response was to step up his attacks, forcing me to do the same. He’d apparently gotten my message, because by the time Dr. Oliver ran over, still in morph, Rito allowed me to put him an arm lock.

He seems to want us to capture him, I telepathically sent to Dr. Oliver, a skill we’d been practicing ever since the summer. I knew I’d get a headache after, but it was worth the risk; I still only used it sparingly. Dr. Oliver’s only response was to use the same technique he’d used over the summer to send Rito down to Dino Command’s containment cell. From what I could understand, it was an invention of Hayley’s. She tried explaining it to me, but it got technical after 30 seconds. All I understood was that she’d called Billy to explain how to expand the interface and that was it.

“That was…weird,” I said as we entered Dino Command. “Rito’s never given up this easily before. Easy to beat, yes. You just have to get him mad enough; that’s how I got him at the Homecoming game. Repeated something Scorpina called him; he was unconscious 2 seconds later.”

“Yea…you sucker punched me,” came Rito’s annoying voice. “That was one hell of a punch, I have to admit. You punch harder than my sister ever did.”

“Thank you, Rito. That may be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” I replied dryly, not liking being compared to the formally evil Mystic Mother when she was at her most evil.

“I try. You are a formidable opponent and if Ivan has his way, there will be no resistance from the side of good at all.”

“That’s what every Ranger-level evildoer wants, right?” Ethan asked, still morphed. We all were, at Rito’s request and Dino Command limited to the 6 of us.

“Not me. Not turning good, don’t get me wrong, just prefer to having goody-good two shoes to fight against. Ivan’s just the latest in a line of evildoers who see Earth as a link to conquering the universe. If Ivan gets his way, there’s going to be nobody to save the planet once the next group comes through. The universe will become non-existent if he’s allowed to succeed.”

“Explain. Now.” Conner stepped forward, clearly impatient and pissed. Rito explained everything he knew about Ivan’s plan and it took the rest of us to hold Dr. Oliver back from killing the skeleton. I wasn’t much better, but Dr. Oliver needed my full attention right now. It was probably a good thing Katherine wasn’t down here right now; none of us would have been able to stop him if she was. We didn’t have to worry about invaders as the Grid’s security system went on full blast the minute the containment cell was used. Tickled like hell against my senses, but I could ignore it within full morph.

“You think I agree with his plan? Why do you think I was begging to be captured today? Attacking you guys and other Ranger teams is one thing; you guys signed up to fight evil. Using an innocent child like this is something that not even my father would have considered. It was even too vile for him, despite his name, and too beyond the pale for most alien tyrants and megalomaniacs. I am willing to be your spy on the inside; already bungled his plans a bit. He would have attacked the wedding if I hadn’t. He is that desperate for an heir.”

“He’s not getting my children,” Dr. Oliver growled, though he’d quit fighting against us. Kira, Trent, and I didn’t let go, though; neither did Ethan.

“Agree with you on that; what does he want from me, though? Rito, you said you thought I was important to the plan.” I stated, knowing the others had Dr. Oliver as I faced Rita’s skeletal brother.

“He wants you to be the delivery person of the elixir. He knows you wouldn’t agree; I think he’s planning on using a compulsion of some form.” Conner had to hold on to me at that, leaving the others to stop Dr. Oliver once more. “Don’t shoot the messenger!”

“Some messenger!” Trent growled. Out of all us, he probably had the most recent memories of being used by evil forces.

“He doesn’t even realize that you guys know. If I give you one of his fake bases for you to attack, he’ll think that’s all you know of.”

“Fake bases?” Kira was incredulous at that.

“To prevent you from finding out where he really is. I don’t even know our true location; all I’ve seen is the underground part of it.” That wasn’t strictly true, but Rito had to keep some things back. He had an evil reputation to protect. Besides, he wasn’t telling them Ivan’s plans out of his own goodwill; it was in the evildoer’s official handbook to betray one another, even as minions.

Dr. Oliver, I could tell, was thinking the same thing as we all were. “How do we know we can trust you?”

“I wouldn’t even trust me; except I not only wouldn’t but can’t lie about this. Ivan’s main base, yes, plans against your unborn child? Never.”

As angry as we all were, I forced myself to calm down. I could tell Rito was telling the truth; I’d helped Hayley upgrade the containment system with something similar to how the spiritual side of the grid worked. I couldn’t explain it exactly, but I’d had to tell Ethan, who could translate it into something Hayley could use. It was weird for both of us for Ethan to act as translator; not even Dr. Oliver could understand what I was trying to say. Normally, Hayley was quick on the uptake, but not this time. Conner’s computer skills weren’t at the level of Hayley or Ethan, but he was able to follow along.

Between the two of them, they were able to put that in, though Dr. Oliver hadn’t been told yet. We weren’t expecting it to need to be used so soon, though, and I wasn’t sure it could hold the likes of Ivan. We still didn’t know his full abilities; both Dr. Oliver and I knew what happened when he was allowed access to a Ranger Command Center. The fact that ours was in the basement of our house was worrisome and why the security system had been upgraded. Dr. Oliver had been lucky Zeltrax hadn’t trashed the rest of the house when he’d kidnapped a no-longer-evil Principal Randall.

“Ethan, the addition. Rito’s telling the truth!” I reminded him, causing the rest of the team to look at me.

“Addition?” Ethan and I explained, after putting up the sound guard around Rito’s cell so he couldn’t hear us. If we’d been demorphed, Dr. Oliver would have pinched his nose. “You were planning on telling me this when?”

“Before we needed to, honest. We wanted to do some field tests before telling you; we didn’t think it’d be needed this soon.” My hands were up in surrender; so were Ethan’s.

“We were going to be telling you about this, Dr. O, honest! Hayley helped.”

“We will be talking about this later, though I’m glad you didn’t do this without Hayley.” With that, the sound guard was dropped and we turned back to Rito, all of us grinning under our helmets. We conferred quickly; Rito had to be sent back to Ivan so he wouldn’t get suspicious. Transporting him and two of the Dino team-Conner and Kira-far enough away from Dino Command, they were given instructions to make his escape look as believable as his capture. None of us wanted Ivan or Scorpina tracking Rito down to here.

The rest of us demorphed as soon as we knew Rito was long gone. Dr. Oliver was still looking murderous and none of us blamed him. Ethan and I looked at us as soon as Dr. Oliver faced Trent, we were both in trouble for not telling him sooner, but we also knew he wasn’t in the mood to deal. Neither was I; Ivan was after my little sibling and wanted to force me to carry out his plans. Rito was right; I’d signed up to be a Ranger. My sibling couldn’t make that choice just yet, which was why it was our responsibility to protect him.

I slowly approached Dr. Oliver and placed a hand on his crossed arms, but he didn’t react, not even to look at me. I knew he was angry and upset; we all were. I made eye contact with Trent and nodded for him to go get Katherine; he was off like a shot after that and Dr. Oliver didn’t even notice. Ethan and I did our best to comfort Dr. Oliver, who was having none of it, though he did look up when Katherine came down and hugged him. None of missed the tears streaming down his face.

“I explained what little I could upstairs,” Trent said. “All she knows right now is that it’s bad and involves Ivan and her child.” Ethan and I nodded; a further explanation was going to have to wait until Conner and Kira got back. We’d have to inform Hayley and the other Ranger teams over some form of secure communication. Command Center to Command Center was the most secure, but we had no way of knowing who exactly was in there with the two Alphas. They might not be foe exactly, but it was sometimes hard to know who was friend or ally. Trent had been foe once, as had his adopted father; Rito might be an ally right now, but that was only because of Ivan’s plans. Once Ivan was defeated, Rito would go back to being our adversary.

I was glad Rito had caused Ivan and Scorpina to be busy the weekend of the wedding; Mystic Mother had explained what had happened the last time he’d given someone a wedding gift. That had been one weird conversation; Conner had taken lead on it as Dr. Oliver just wasn’t in the mood.

Sam and David Trueheart had arranged for Dr. Oliver and Katherine to have a couple nights away from the house. Sam had actually offered to stay with me at the house, as had David; Dr. Oliver quit arguing after that, though it was a weak argument anyway. It had been fun to spend time with the two and could see why Dr. Oliver respected Sam. He had a similar calmness to him that both David and Dr. Oliver shared, despite being raised in different families. By the time Dr. Oliver and Katherine had gotten back Monday, Sam had invited us to his home for Christmas; I couldn’t wait. We’d have gone for Thanksgiving, but Dr. Oliver wanted to have them over instead. The several days that they’d been there for the wedding hadn’t been enough time together, according to Dr. Oliver. I privately agreed, having had enjoyed the time I’d spent with the two men.

I’d found out that the two men were able to offer the same comfort that Dr. Oliver did when my nightmares reared their ugly head; I’d actually had one the first night that my guardians were out of the house. David actually ran in from the guest room, thinking we were under attack. He and Sam ended up staying with me after my nightmare; the phone call from Dr. Oliver in the morning had been a relief. He’d almost come home when I told him, but I convinced him not to.

“Dr. Oliver, don’t. I’m fine; David and Sam were right there, just like you normally are for my nightmares.”

“If you’re sure, Katrina.” I smiled, even though he couldn’t see me.

“I’m sure, Dr. O, I’m sure. You need the time away. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

When he’d arrived at Reefside High the next morning, he’d made sure I was physically okay. Of course, he’d found me laughing and talking with my friends, which had relieved him. He often worried about me after a nightmare and the fact that he’d not been able to comfort me after had scared him. What I’d not told him was just hearing his voice Sunday had helped, though David and Sam were no slouches either.

Francine and the others all wanted to hear about the wedding, which I was happy to fill them in on. There had been more things to tell then I’d had time to do before I got pulled up in a hug, but that was what lunch was for. Of course, Missy and Andrea all wanted to hear about-in their words-the hot guy who’d dropped me off at school that morning. When I’d confessed that David was Dr. Oliver’s older brother, Missy just about choked on her Dr. Pepper.

“Two hot brothers and both unavailable,” she mock pouted as we laughed. “Do they have any younger siblings?”

“Not that I know about, Missy.” Which was the truth; Dr. Oliver’s parents had only adopted him. David was the only sibling I’d been introduced to. It had been interesting to spend the day with him; I was genuinely curious about nature vs nurture as the two had similar personalities. I knew the minute I suggested doing a paper on it for school, though, I’d be shot down by one or both of them. Missy just laughed and asked what David was like.

“Like Dr. Oliver, honestly. If it weren’t for their different surnames, you’d never know that they were adopted by different families; they’re that similar. Makes you wonder about the whole nature vs nurture thing that gets taught in science class. I know they usually did the studies about it with twins, but I’ve never heard it done on siblings of different ages separated at a young age.”

His parents, when we’d met, sort of scared me. His dad was a nice enough guy, but his mom was a bit overbearing. At one point, I actually considered hiding in Dino Command because she kept wanting to talk when I was either working on homework or practicing my katas. To get her off my back, I’d finally had spent at least one evening hiding at CyberSpace after martial arts class. Dr. Oliver had gotten her to back off at that point, which was when he realized what was going on. A lot of it was the fact that she kept wanting me to call her ‘grandma’; like with Dr. Oliver, there was no way I was comfortable with that yet. The rest was she kept wanting to know how and why I’d come under her son’s care. There was no way I was telling her any of that.

Sam and David, on the other hand, had both asked me to call them by their first names if I was more comfortable doing so. David had either known or sensed why I called his brother by his title still; he’d evidently passed that information on to his own dad.

Mrs. Thompson had approached me after school about Hell Week, but I turned her down. I told her I’d be at opening night, but wanted to spend time with my family this week with the wedding now over. She was disappointed, but let me go. I’d not realized it, but Coach had also approached her about her behavior. I knew that the rumor mill among the teachers was pretty decent, but didn’t realize he’d also been in the staff lunch room at the same time as when Dr. Oliver had talked to her the previous week.

I’d later find out that he told her something similar to what I’d told Dr. Oliver: that he already had a previous claim on some of my free time due to soccer season starting up the next semester. This year’s soccer season would determine if I stuck with it; it was one thing to do soccer and martial arts in the summer with no school going on. With school added, along with a little sibling coming along, would dictate if I did it for the rest of high school. Unlike Conner, I had no intention of doing this professionally. Soccer, for me, was more for fun than it was a possible career path; Francine was the same way. Coach thought that the soccer scouts were going to be disappointed; two of Reefside High’s best female players not even wanting to play pro. Of course, we were only 15, as I’d pointed out to him when he’d said so at the end of the summer. A lot can change in 4 years’ time and who knew if I’d change my mind.

It wasn’t the easiest thing hiding the fact that I was a Power Ranger from my new group of friends. Rito’s first monster attack had happened when I’d been hanging out with them at Cyberspace and Hayley had to cover for Kira, Ethan, Trent, and I as we all slipped out. Most of them hadn’t directly asked, as Francine already knew. She had helped Hayley to cover for us, but it had been a near miss. Patton was already giving me suspicious looks every time someone at school or CyberSpace started talking about the Dino Ranger’s newest Ranger ally. Someone had tried asking me after Rito’s first monster attack, but I shot them down.

“Seriously, Aaron? Dr. Oliver grew up in Angel Grove when their teams were active; he told me to get into a safe space during a monster attack if I can, especially if the monster’s near where I’m at. Trent was with me as he knows most of the good hiding spots here at CyberSpace.” Trent just nodded; Ethan, Conner, and Kira were trying to smother their grins from behind Aaron.

“Dr. Oliver’s a bit overprotective, isn’t he?” was Aaron’s only question. I just snorted and started ticking the reasons off on my fingers.

“Let’s see if I can remember why he would be. First, I’m out with Kira and Ethan early in the summer when Reefside Mall gets attacked by Rito and Scorpina. If I’d not found a place to hide, I’d’ve been seriously hurt.

“Second, his now wife, my new mom, was almost killed when we were out getting school supplies. If I’d not been in another area of that store, I’d’ve also been attacked and possibly killed.

“Thirdly, my parents were involved in top-secret government work before they died. I honestly don’t know if that had anything to do with their deaths or not. My former guardian proved unfit, so Dr. Oliver was kind enough to take me in when I came to him for help.

“Fourth, as much as I’m taking martial arts classes and my skills keep getting better, there’s still some things I can’t defend against. A Ranger-level villain or monster is not one of them; their easier to beat goons are one thing, but I’m leaving the monster or villain fighting to the experts.” With that, I raised an eyebrow at Aaron, as if to ask if he had any other stupid questions.

“Not to mention Dr. O would have my head if any of us that he mentored weren’t able to protect her during a monster attack if we were around,” Trent said. Only reason he was in town that early on a Tuesday was his teacher was sick; he’d normally be in on the weekends. Aaron only had one question after that, wanting to clarify what I meant by easier to beat goons.

“Those feathered humanoid birds that normally accompany him or his lieutenants to fights? Easy to beat off if you have a good enough skill set in martial arts; had to do so after the soccer camp game against Angel Grove. That’s why Dr. Oliver was having the EMT check me out after they left, as he wanted to make sure I hadn’t gotten injured defending others.” I shrugged. “If there hadn’t been so many innocent civilians around, I would have let the Power Rangers handle them, but…”

Aaron had shut up after that one; most of the teens that hung out at CyberSpace knew me well enough that I wouldn’t just stand by if innocent lives were at risk. He also had realized at that point what I meant about good enough skill set; he remembered the party Hayley had thrown when Francine and I had passed our belt tests. Patton had his coming up right before Christmas, which we were excited for. Francine had pointed out that she had been acting as line of defense for the players and other civilians in the changing room during the attack; otherwise, she would have been doing the same thing.

Opening night of the play had gone well; I’d actually received a shock when I opened the playbill to find my name under set director. When I asked Mrs. Thompson about it after the show, she said that I’d earned the credit even if I’d not been able to help during rehearsals or the show. She also said she recognized that, even if I couldn’t always help as set director with future shows, any help I could give would be appreciated and I’d receive credit in the playbill for the help. There was going to be another weekend of performances, plus a cast/crew party after the final performance. It was going to be at CyberSpace only because Hayley insisted.

When Conner and Kira got back from making sure Rito had escaped, they demorphed. Dr. Oliver and I were in a 3-way hug with Katherine and didn’t even realize Conner had contacted Rocky until he tapped Dr. Oliver on the shoulder.

“What, Conner?” Conner’s only response was to press the phone into our mentor’s hand and put it on speaker.

“Hey, Tommy. Conner filled me in. I’d ask if you were okay, but I think I already know the answer to that. Do you need me to come up?”

“Not right now, Rocky. Just pass along the information that Conner’s given you. I’m not sure I can tolerate anyone else here right now.” That much was true on all of us; as much as I wanted to talk to Rocky, I was still processing everything. I wanted to draw, but with what I was feeling, I was scared I’d end up doing the same thing I’d done several weeks ago and draw something down I wasn’t even sure where it had come from. The 5 sketches that I’d had Dr. Oliver store for me were proof positive that there was something in my connection to the grid that wanted those sketches on paper.

Ethan could tell how bothered I was when I didn’t pick up pen and paper or the soccer ball as was my normal when I was distressed. The soccer ball he could understand; I really didn’t want to be outside by myself right now. That left drawing to do; I ended up confessing about the sketches of 5 new power ranger suits and coins. I knew that there should be a sixth; I had partially finished it, but the coin and color had been left blank unlike the others. It was being stored with the other sketches, but I didn’t even know where to look and wasn’t about to. Something told me that the unfinished sketch was supposed to be my new suit and coin, but it wasn’t ready to be finished just yet.

Ethan ended up holding me in his arms as we sat in a quiet corner of Dino Command. Nobody, after Rito’s news, felt like leaving or speaking. As we sat together, I had to pull my morpher out of my pocket as it was digging into my thigh. I had thought I’d fallen asleep until I found myself in the Grid when I opened my eyes.

When I saw Mom, I was glad to see her and ended up telling her Ivan’s plans. She, like the rest of us, was pissed. I still couldn’t ask her to find Ivan’s main base, but I was glad she listened to me. I told her about the sketches of the Power Ranger suits and coins, including the fact that the one sketch was unfinished.

“I don’t know what that means, Mom, and it worries me.” She smiled, though she was worried as well.

“You remember when you first started using my old morpher? How I told you that you had a year at most before you’d get your own color and coin?”

“Yes.” I wondered what she was getting at.

“Those sketches are the first sign that your personal link with the Grid is nearing permeance. If you didn’t have your art skills, you’d not know what the suits looked like until the first morph. That doesn’t mean that you’re ready to start thinking about creating your own team, far from it. The suits and coins needed to be partially realized before the coins and morphers can be created. The coins will create the suits.” She started pacing. “The problem is that these sketches shouldn’t have come through yet, not until you were closer to not being able to use my coin. It’s now mid-November; I estimate that you only have until February latest, not a full year like I’d initially thought.”

“Ivan’s plans must have sped things up,” I realized.

“That, and Dimitria’s information. Don’t think I’ve not noticed Dr. Oliver helping you with gaining control over your abilities after she left.” She looked at me. “Your trust in him is a good thing, Abigail, and I’m proud of you for being able to do so, especially after Ernie’s actions.”

“I know. I initially trusted him because I knew you did. He’s yet to betray it, Mom, but I still can’t find it in me to call him ‘Dad’ as much as I want to.” I started crying. “I just wish that I’d had the kind of dad he is now growing up.”

“I know, but consider this: irregardless of if I’d survived that car crash or not, you’d have still have ended up in Tommy’s care at some point. I wouldn’t have been able to help you control your gifts; Ernie wouldn’t have been able to either, nor would any of the Rangers still in Angel Grove. Tommy’s the best person to help you with that, Abigail.” She went on to explain that she and the other rangers had seen Zordon as a second father to them, even though all of their dads were still alive. “Tommy was always destined to become that for you, Abigail, even if Zordon had lived.”

I was stunned at that; was it always my destiny to become a Power Ranger? Mom had said she’d wanted to make sure that I could use the coin when I first started talking to her.

“Why me, Mom? Why was I destined for this?”

“I don’t know, Abigail. Nobody who’s studied the Grid can answer that. All that’s known, as I’m certain you remember, is that only a handful of people on each planet are destined to have the potential to become Power Rangers. Not all of them are able to access their powers because they simply weren’t in the right place at the right time.”

“I remember you telling me that, early on. You said Dad could have been a Power Ranger if Rita had attacked New York City in his teens.”

“And that’s why your powers are as strong as they are.”

“Part of why, Mom. I have no doubt that they would have destroyed me by now if Dr. Oliver hadn’t been there each and every time. I fear losing control of them, Mom.”

“You won’t, Abigail. You have to trust in them and in you.”

“It just feels like it. The day I did those sketches, I couldn’t bring my own awareness of the Grid under my control until he came up. It was reacting to my emotions. I tried everything I thought I could do safely, with Katherine pregnant. Nothing worked; if Dr. Oliver hadn’t come up, I don’t know what would have happened.”

“How often have you lost control of your Grid-linked, non-morph powers since Dimitria’s arrival?” Mom challenged.

“Less and less since Dr. Oliver started helping me. That was the first time in months; now talking with you. This is the first time I’ve dropped in accidentally since first using the morpher.” Mom looked sad at that. “Mom, what’s wrong?”

“This is the last time we’ll be able to talk for the time being, Abigail. As much as our talks have helped us both, you need to move forward now. I know it’s not what you want to hear, not after the news you got from Rito. We’ll see each other again, Abigail, no worries, but you need to be use your link to this coin to morph from here on out. The energy left in this coin is not infinite, not for you.”

I started shaking my head. “Mom, I’ve enjoyed these talks; getting to know you. I don’t want to lose my link to you.”

“And you won’t, Abigail!” She made as to touch my heart. “I will always be here, in your heart. You can’t live in the past like this. If you do, your link to the Grid will vanish when you can no longer use my morpher. Think, Abigail. You cannot let Ivan win; he will if you don’t go forward.”

“I promise Mom. Goodbye for now.”

“Goodbye, my sweet daughter.” I woke up at that, crying silently as I grieved. Ethan, noticing, just pulled me further into a hug. He didn’t ask what was wrong, but just let me cry myself out.

Dr. Oliver came over soon after he heard me crying, as did Katherine. I paid them no mind, but heard Ethan talk to them quietly. I looked up when Dr. Oliver placed his hand on my shoulder.

“You okay, Abigail?” I just shook my head, but switched to him for comfort. Ethan was great, but there was nothing like comfort from a parent. He just held me as I continued crying. Today had been a hard day for all of us; I didn’t want to make things worse. I knew when I got upstairs that I’d be writing everything down. I just…couldn’t talk about it right now. From what Rocky said, I’d inherited that from Ernie; from what I’d heard about Mom, she’d had no such issues, even under stress.

By the time I went to bed, I’d recovered somewhat to be able to write everything Mom had told me down. I’d give the notebook to Rocky the next time I’d show him, but I also knew I’d have to talk to Dr. Oliver. He knew about powers fading, but I wasn’t about to burden him with the information just yet. He had enough on his plate with the information about Ivan’s plans. I didn’t know if this would be an additional burden or if it would distract him temporarily.

We’d all ended up with nightmares and in the same bed together. There were times I wished for the normal nightmares I’d had at the start of summer in Reefside, to be honest. It seemed like every time my dreams got close to normal as they’d ever be, something upset the apple cart. I didn’t know how much more I could take of this, even with help.

Dr. Oliver knew something was still bothering me the next morning, as did Katherine.

“Abigail, what’s wrong?” he asked. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s bugging you.”

“Something Mom said. When Ethan was holding me yesterday, I’d had to pull out my morpher as it was digging into my thigh. I don’t know how you guys did it with the original morphers, having to keep them in a pocket or bag unless using them. Next thing I know, I’m back in the Grid again, talking with Mom. I’m running out of time with this,” I said, holding up the morpher. “Mom thinks I’ve got until February at the latest. I just hope that’s enough time…you know.”

“Until your personal link becomes permanent.” I just nodded.

“I can’t even go to talk to her again. Not until I have my own morpher and coin of my own.”

“She’s right; I went through this with my Green Ranger powers. You’re not doing this alone, Abigail.”

“Is it too much to ask for some normal issues for once, like a pop quiz?” I whined, causing Dr. Oliver and Katherine to laugh.

“We all felt like that at one point; trust me, it’s normal for Rangers to want that at some point. Rito’s an ally for now, and every single mentor or leader from every Ranger team has called or texted Conner. All we have to worry about now is not much,” Katherine added, causing us to look at her in surprise. “What? He called the house this morning as he had to head to class and I was the only one not in the middle of getting ready for school. Speaking of which, you guys need to get going if you’re not going to be late.” Dr. Oliver and I bolted at that point; we made it school with minutes to spare. I was glad I’d been able to finish my homework after I’d calmed down last night, not that I had much. Art class was in the middle of work that had to be done in school this week; science labs were the same way.

Of course, today had to be the day for my science class to be evacuated. One of my classmates had the bright idea to mess around with some methylated spirits nearby a lit Bunsen burner. Thankfully, the sprinklers went off, but we had to finish class outside while the classroom was cleaned up. When one of the boys who’d been at the table started talking about how cool the resulting fireball was, I almost decked him.

“COOL? You think almost burning the school down was COOL?! You’re lucky our teacher was able to put it out, Leroy. You and your friends could have almost gotten us killed!” I yelled as Leroy and I stood almost nose to nose.

“Oh, so just because you’re the daughter of a science teacher you think you know better?” I saw red at that point; thankfully, Francine got in between the two of us before I could deck him. Several of our classmates separated us before a fight could start. Once we were given the all clear to reenter the school, the sub for that week had Francine take me to Dr. Oliver’s classroom while Leroy and his friends were marched down to Randall’s office.

“Katrina, I don’t know what happened after school yesterday during the monster attack, nor do I want to know right now, but decking Leroy isn’t a good idea. Even if he and his friends did try and blow up the school by accident.”

“I wondered why the fire alarm went off. Katrina, you know better then to deck a classmate in anger for doing something stupid.”

“Not what he did, what he said. First said that the fireball was cool. Told him it wasn’t. Methylated spirits next to a lit Bunsen burner.” I rubbed my wrists, unwilling to repeat exactly what Leroy had said that had gotten me angry.

“Katrina. You and I will be talking about this later. If Francine hadn’t stopped you…” I knew what he’d meant; I’d have gotten in trouble too, especially given Leroy had no defense skills to speak of. I knew better; my martial arts skills were supposed to be used in self-defense, not in anger.

Location: Reefside later that afternoon. POV: Tommy/3^rd person.

Tommy sighed when he got home; Abigail had accepted her punishment without question. It was days like this that he really hated having to discipline her. Not only was she going through a lot, recovering from the mental and emotional effects of Ernie’s abuse, but she’d also found out that their adversary planned to use her in his plans. On top of that, one of her classmates had decided to show off and caused the school to be evacuated. He’d ended up calling Hanshi Scott during lunch to let him know why Abigail was going to be missing her lesson at the dojo this afternoon. The older man had understood, as Abigail had almost used her skills in anger against a classmate with no defensive skills of his own.

Kat joined him in his office; he’d asked her to come pick Abigail up at the end of the school day. What worried him was the fact that Abigail accepted her punishment without question; he didn’t know if it was simply her own recognition of what she’d done wrong or her childhood with Ernie’s strict parenting rearing its head. Her brother David had explained when he’d been up for Homecoming just what Ernie’s punishments had been like for them growing up; it had been why Tommy had refused to take away her sketchbooks.

“How is she, Kat?” He asked, pulling her into a hug. She was just beginning to show the slightest of baby bumps, which Tommy could feel as he hugged her.

“She’s been in her bedroom since getting home, with the door open.” That was telling; normally, if she was in her room or art room, the doors were closed.

Another one of Ernie’s rules rearing its ugly head, Tommy thought.

 “What happened at school today? She wouldn’t tell me.”

“From what I heard from the substitute covering her class, several of her classmates egged on one of their friends, who created a fireball using some of the nearby supplies. The school had to be evacuated; Francine brought her to my classroom as soon as it was safe to reenter. Apparently, there was a verbal altercation between her and the classmate who actually created the fireball and it almost ended up as a fistfight. Leroy, the student in question, has no defensive skills to speak of.” Kat winced and Tommy knew exactly why.

“She would have seriously injured him. I can see why you had me pick her up instead of taking her directly to the dojo as is normal.”

“I just hope I didn’t damage our relationship. The last time she did something stupid, it was goofing around with her soccer ball in the basement.” That had actually been preferable to her actions today, though Tommy also didn’t want her repeating that either and for good reason.

“Not almost injuring one of her classmates. Go and talk to her, Tommy. She needs to know you still love her. She’s been curled up on her bed for the last hour, crying. She won’t take comfort from me right now and I’ve tried.”

Giving his wife a smile and a hug, Tommy headed up to Abigail’s bedroom. What he saw didn’t do what Kat had told him justice. Abigail had also put her morpher and communicator on her desk; she usually kept both on her person. Quietly calling her name, he waited at the door until Abigail looked at him.

“Abigail, may I come in?” At her nod, he slipped in and joined her on her bed, though he noticed her wince. “It’s going to be alright, Abigail. Nothing you do can make me love you any less, not even almost decking your classmate because he said and did some stupid things today.” He soon found himself holding her; she’d needed to hear that from him. He continued to reassure her of his love for her; their talk about her earlier actions would have to be after she’d steadied herself. He wasn’t about to take her duties as a Power Ranger away, not when they needed all the help that they could get. Most Ranger teams weren’t able to access their powers at the moment; some teams like Ninja Storm could create new morphers as needed. Many of the Legendary Rangers, however, had limited access to their powers and abilities. Without Zordon around, the only one who could help with that issue was Ninjor, but getting to him was a risk.

As soon as Abigail had calmed, he picked up her morpher and communicator. Handing her back the morpher, he fastened the communicator on her wrist where it belonged. He could see how puzzled she was and her question came as no surprise.

“Dr. Oliver? I screwed up today; are you sure that’s a good idea?” Tommy could hear the worry in her voice and gave her another hug.

“Yes, I’m sure. You may have screwed up, but you also recognize that you did so. Those who dishonor the rank of being a Power Ranger refuse to acknowledge that they did anything wrong. It’s rare that it happens; it’s never happened among the Earth-bound Ranger teams to the best of my knowledge. Even among the alien Rangers, it’s a rare thing. The last Ranger that dishonored the rank that I know of has redeemed herself, mentoring Mystic Force.” He knew everything was going to be alright when she tightened her hug.

Any further conversation was halted when their stomachs both growled, getting a giggle out of her. Glad she was doing better, Tommy smiled as they headed down to eat. He knew she wasn’t completely out of the woods, but their conversation in her room had helped. Especially giving her back the morpher and communicator, as it signified his trust in her and her abilities. Yes, she may have almost acted out in anger this morning, but he and some of his friends had sometimes done the same when not morphed. Granted, they tended to be under the control of one of Rita or Zedd’s monsters more often than not, but they still had their occasional arguments. It was one of the downsides of being a teenager and being charged with protecting the planet from inter-galactic threats at the same time; they didn’t always have safe spaces to physically let off steam without their peers encouraging them to fight. Even the Dino Rangers had their occasional arguments over the last year, though it was primarily Conner and Ethan facing off. Tommy suspected that some of those arguments were now more out of habit then actual arguing.

After dinner, he took her down to the ‘public’ part of the basement that he’d added not long before she arrived. He knew that this conversation should be held where they practiced their skills at home instead of anywhere else in the house, though he noted her nervousness as they headed to the basement. It only seemed right that, since she’d almost used her martial arts skills in anger, they have this conversation in his own personal dojo. While he didn’t like taking away privileges-of which her martial arts lessons were certainly such-he knew Abigail preferred to talk about what she did wrong and Tommy was only too happy to oblige. He never agreed with Ernie’s logic that ‘because I said so’ was an acceptable answer. How was she supposed to learn why what she did was right or wrong if nobody explained it to her? He was glad she’d managed to figure some of that out on her own; he suspected Kimberly and Billy, along with the others, had a hand in that.

“Abigail, we need to finish talking about what happened this morning. Mrs. Applebee could only tell me so much because she didn’t fully see your interaction with Leroy, just the last bit as your classmates got between the two of you.” He sighed as she curled up again; she really didn’t want to talk about it, but she needed to. “Abigail.” She mumbled something into her knees. “I didn’t catch that.”

“I said, he said ‘just because you’re the daughter of a science teacher you think you know better?’” Tommy could understand why she’d gotten mad about that; Leroy’s statement was just one last thing on top of everything else she was dealing with. “If my classmates aren’t trying to be my friend because you’re my dad, they’re saying stuff like that.”

“Oh, Abigail. Why didn’t you say something before now?” Tommy pulled her into a hug.

“And make things worse, Dad?” High school, Tommy knew, was hard enough for her as a foster child and she’d had students try to become her friend because of him being a teacher. This was on top of her responsibilities. He didn’t realize it had gotten that bad for her. He didn’t call attention to the fact that she finally called him ‘Dad’ for the first time.

They quietly continued their conversation, pausing only when Abigail needed to cry or needed some comfort. She asked him again if he was sure that she should still be the Yellow Ranger for now. He assured her that despite her goof up this morning, he was sure and he was. She knew what she’d done was wrong and was truly sorry for it. It wasn’t like even the Dino Rangers hadn’t made goofs worse than hers; Trent keeping the fact that Anton was Mesogog was a hell of a lot worse then almost attacking a classmate in anger.

He had also had to assure her that he wasn’t going to send her away simply because of her actions. He also assured her that he still wanted to adopt her; both were common problems for children her age in foster care from what Ms. Andrews had told him. She’d also told him that some of her superiors were putting pressure to transfer Abigail to another foster family due to he and Kat expecting. She’d had to remind those superiors that Abigail was old enough to make her own decisions on guardianship and Abigail had gone on record to say that she didn’t want to leave his care. Her updated statement, written just before the wedding, stated that she was looking forward to being a big sister. There was the fact that Ernie had gone on record to say that he’d signed over guardianship to Tommy and Kat and them only. This is even with not knowing with her current guardians; the form was generic enough to hide Abigail’s identity.

Tommy was glad Rocky was coming up the next day; Rocky had warned Tommy that, even with Abigail becoming a Ranger, there’d be days like this. She needed the stability and reassurance from him, something he was happy to give. Closing his eyes, he mentally sighed. She’d been doing well, only for everything to come crashing down in a 24-hour period. He needed to take some time with her, just the two of them, to help her get back on her feet. The only problem was the fact that it was going to have to happen over the Thanksgiving holidays coming up and they had family going to be visiting. It wasn’t just David and Sam; his parents were going to be visiting, too. Katherine’s parents were going to be coming at Easter, given that they were spending Christmas with David. It helped that they weren’t going to be getting time off again so soon after the wedding.

He’d insisted on doing it at his house because he wanted Abigail to be in familiar surroundings for her first Thanksgiving with him. With his parents still living in Angel Grove, as well as Abigail still being listed as ‘missing’, he didn’t want to risk the chance that she’d run into someone who recognized her as being Ernie’s daughter by blood. There was also the fact that his mom wasn’t entirely comfortable still with David and Sam, despite the brothers being in contact with each other since high school. He’d hoped she’d get over it eventually, but it hadn’t worked out. Tommy couldn’t believe that his own mother wasn’t comfortable with him being in contact with his brother, yet had no issue with him adopting Abigail, who still had birth family alive. She’d refused to answer when he asked her the same thing in a phone conversation earlier in the week.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside, just before Thanksgiving. POV: Abigail/1^st person

I was not looking forward to tomorrow; Mr. and Mrs. Oliver were coming up as well. Sam and David had come up yesterday and I was glad to see them. They were willing to respect my boundaries, especially with figuring out what to call them. Today, though, was just going to be Dad and I; after our conversation a couple of weeks ago, I’d found it easier and easier to call him Dad, though I only did so in private. I was also starting to process what Mom had told me the last time we’d talked; it was part of what I was hoping Dad was going to be able to help me with today. We had today off of school, including the dojo, but Hanshi had agreed to a makeup lesson for the one I'd had to miss due to my actions. Both he and Dad agreed I’d learned my lesson in that regards.

I still wasn’t as sure as they were; but I’d also recognized that I’d had one of my bad days that day with everything that had happened. Leroy’s friends daring him to do his prank had been the final thing that had set me over the edge. He’d still not apologized for what he’d said and did, despite his parents grounding him until he did. He'd had in-school suspension for the prank; the only reason he’d not been expelled was this was his first offense. Any more ‘stunts’ like this and he would be, as would the boys who’d egged him on.

I didn’t know what Dad had planned, but Uncle David had been grinning when we’d left. The last time I’d seen him grin like that, he and Dad had come into the church for the wedding rehearsal straight from an afternoon of surfing, with Uncle David still in his wetsuit. As much as I enjoyed soccer, I wasn’t sure about surfing. I could swim, sure, but surfing was something else. I only suspected surfing because Hayley had recently added the same upgrades to my communicator that Dad’s did. That, and his surfboard and wetsuit were in the trunk with the bags that held our GIs and belts.

By the time we broke for lunch, I’d fallen off my surfboard more often than I’d stayed on. This was more of a challenge than martial arts and soccer were. Even then, I’d had a blast learning how to surf, though most of that was just the fact that I was spending the day with my dad. I knew I’d be sore tomorrow, but I’d take the trade off if that meant that his mom didn’t fuss over me like she normally did and insist I call her ‘Granny’ or something similar. His dad was a great guy, but I think his mom was just glad to have a granddaughter to spoil. I don’t know what her issue with Uncle David was, or the fact that the two brothers had met when he was in his teens. California adoption law stated that he had to wait until he was 21 before searching for his birth family. Of course, he’d pointed out that it had been David who’d searched for him and David was of age. That hadn’t helped, exactly, but she’d also not stopped her son from meeting with his brother now that they knew about each other.

One of the things that drove his mom nuts was the fact that I was taking martial arts lessons; she didn’t approve of me taking them. This was despite having lived in Angel Grove during Rita and Zedd’s reign of terror and most of the residents having picked up some martial arts skills since. She kept expecting me to be interested in fashion, makeup, and other things that most girls my age were interested in. She also despaired of my color preferences; I’d given everything pink she’d sent me to Katherine to hide, give away, or otherwise use if she wanted. I honestly didn’t see the appeal of makeup, except for special occasions, not daily usage.

Dad had talked to her a couple of days ago; he’d not thought I’d overheard, but I’d heard only the last bit. He’d told her that if she wasn’t willing to accept me for who I am as a person, she shouldn’t come up until she could. I went to bed smiling that night; it always made me happy to hear him stick up for me even when he thought I didn’t know about it.

She was still coming up though; I just hoped that it wouldn’t end in an argument. I never cared for them because of the ones I’d had with Ernie. Rocky said that might be something that never goes away, but also that even people not in my situation didn’t like arguing; well actual arguments anyway. What Conner and Ethan did was closer to debating when I asked Rocky about it. I’d noticed that Dad and Uncle David did that sometimes; Rocky explained that it was normal among people who were rather close. I’d ended up looking back at some of the things I’d done with my own brother and was able to see the correlation.

By the time we got back home after my lesson at the dojo, I was exhausted but happy. With all the changes in my life since Dad and Katherine had gotten married, I was glad that Dad still took time for me. It showed that he still cared for me and it was something new I held on to when my anxiety reared its ugly head. I’d ended up sleeping well that night; I’d not had much in the way of nightmares for a while, something I was grateful for.

I knew his parents would be arriving close to 1, so when Uncle David asked to spar not long before they arrived, I gladly agreed. I knew he was good, as we’d sparred almost every time he’d come to visit. Because of the disparity in our skills-Uncle David, like Dad, had an advanced black belt-he kept his moves to slightly above what he knew I had from previous spars. At the same time, his tactics forced me to pick up the pace and use whatever new moves I’d learned. Did I still end up on the losing side of our spars? Yes, but I got the occasional win in. It was fun matching skills against an advanced opponent; Hanshi even encouraged it when he could. He knew I often sparred with Dad to practice; Francine was another sparring partner if we were at the dojo at the same time. On the occasions she came over for a sleepover, or I went to her house, we often did the same thing. Her parents just chuckled, but let us be as they trusted us to not actually get ourselves hurt. Athena just ignored us, which we were fine with.

Of course, she came running down as soon as she heard the noise. I didn’t notice until after we got done that Dad was holding her back. Apparently, she’d not changed her behavior much. I just ignored her as I went up to shower and change; Dad was explaining a few things to her as I went up to my room. I knew it was the same thing: she kept saying that I shouldn’t need to defend myself and Dad would tell her that I did. They were still going at it when I came down and I decided to inform her of a few things I know Dad wouldn’t.

“If my previous guardian hadn’t been abusive, I’d almost agree with you,” I said from behind her. “There’s no way I’m going to let myself be that helpless again; I was just lucky a friend taught me karate on the sly. I’d not have been able to take my belt tests or be as advanced as I am if he hadn’t. The first test was just to see where I was at when I joined; I was surprised when Hanshi Scott said I was ready to take my test for green belt 3 months early. Normally, that’s after 6 months of training as an orange belt. I’m likely due for my next one in May and can’t wait.” The expression on her face when I spoke up went from annoyed with my dad to stunned; it was rather funny.

Of course, I wasn’t telling her that it wasn’t so much a friend that taught me, but my own brother David; having two family members with the same first name got confusing fast. I quickly made my escape to help Katherine with finishing up the cooking before Mrs. Oliver started moving. She may have been temporarily stunned by the new information, but that wouldn’t stop her from wanting to wrap me in bubble wrap. I decided to let Dad handle her from here on out; hopefully now she’d listen and let him parent how he saw fit.

By the time we got done with dinner, it had been awkward as heck. For once, Mrs. Oliver didn’t try and dominate the conversation like she’d attempted to do at the wedding rehearsal dinner. I didn’t know if that was because of the bombshell I’d dropped on her head earlier or what, but I was glad for it. Of course, by the time we got done, both Dad and my communicators went off; it was Hayley and there was a monster attack downtown. Conner and the others had managed to sneak away, but with Dad’s parents there, we couldn’t get away easily. They were the only set of parents of the current Dino Ranger team that didn’t know about their son being a Power Ranger.

What we ended up having to do was taken out of our hands; Uncle David knew about Dad being a Ranger and I think Sam suspected, if he didn’t outright know also. Between the two of them and Katherine, they managed to get Mr. and Mrs. Oliver to Dino Command. We knew that there’d be a very long convo when we got home, but we both needed to go. Scorpina was taking the lead on this from Ivan’s side and she was one tough opponent.

Location: Reefside, Tommy Oliver’s house, later that evening. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy was not looking forward to the conversation he was about to have with his parents. He’d managed to keep his identity as a Power Ranger secret from the start, even when he was under Rita’s control. Now, he and Abigail had both run off from a call from Hayley to fight Scorpina and one of Ivan’s monsters. Abigail was holding on to him, as Scorpina had managed to get a lucky shot in and it still hurt her to walk. Nothing was broken, but he was glad for the holiday weekend.

“Thomas! Don’t tell me you took her out to fight that monster with the Dino Rangers?” His mom all but yelled. His only response was to set his Dino Morpher in front of her; Abigail doing the same with her own morpher.

“Don’t blame him; I didn’t tell him I was using my birth mother’s morpher for almost 2 months.” If Tommy hadn’t been so exhausted, the fact that Abigail had effectively sidelined a rant from his mother twice would be funny. As it was, David was stifling a laugh from behind her. “What? It’s not like I was going to let Rito and Scorpina hurt innocents that day at the mall. Didn’t walk away then and I’m not walking away now.”

At his mother’s look, Tommy picked up where Abigail left off. “I’ve got involved not long after we moved to Angel Grove. It’s a long story as to why, but it’s why I can’t argue with her doing the same thing; found out from a former teammate that she was destined for her mom’s morpher. Not saying who that teammate is, or who her birth mother is; most Ranger teams have operated under strict rules of secrecy, even from their own families. This is even after leaving their teams and powers behind. Granted, some people among our friends and family have either found out by accident or figured things out, but they all recognize that it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep our identities secret.” That former teammate being Trini herself; Abigail had told him what her mom had said at one point.

Tommy knew that this was a lot for his parents to take in. His mom looked around at the rest of the people in Triceramax Command, expecting backup, but finding none.

“How many people in this room knew before now, Tommy, or are your father and I the only ones to not know?”

“You are the only ones to find out now.” They all looked over at Sam. “I found out not long before David did.”

Katherine stepped forwards. “I was part of his team, the second to be the Pink Ranger. Katrina’s mom was gone from the team before I joined. Before you ask, I’m not revealing her name either and for the same reasons as my husband. Trust me, I know that any child of a former Ranger has a higher likelihood of becoming a Power Ranger themselves. I was the only team member from Angel Grove’s team at the time I joined to not have an ancestor who wielded a Power Coin. I don’t know if Katrina’s mother fell into the same category.”

“Ancestor?” Mr. Oliver asked, curious. Tommy, David, and Sam all shook their heads.

“Whoever ours was, we don’t know. Trust me, I looked after finding Tommy,” replied David. “As it was, it was an almost literal coin toss that ended up with Tommy being chosen instead of me. I was just a year too old to be chosen.”

Tommy knew that if Rita had known about David when she was evil, there was a chance that she would have tried to use the two brothers against each other. She’d even confessed as much when she’d been up after Rito’s capture and release.

“David’s research is why I’ve not looked, even for our birth parents.” Tommy wasn’t sure, even now, if he wanted to meet his birth parents. He knew they were alive and living somewhere in Southern California, but that was about it. David had, but Tommy hadn’t been interested in even getting his records when he turned 21. He had his brother and no other siblings that either of them knew about. David would have told him if there were any other siblings; failing that, Sam would have.

“I don’t much about my birth family’s own ancestry and I don’t even dare look right now,” Abigail added. Tommy knew why; while Ernie’s side of the family dated back to the 1860s at least in Angel Grove, Trini’s family had immigrated from Vietnam. Tommy didn’t know much about her family history beyond that. That was something they was going to have to investigate when it was safe to do so. Howard Kwan would be able to help if Tommy could get a hold of him.

“The other Dino Rangers?” She asked.

“Not saying,” Tommy, Abigail, and Katherine chorused.

“Same rules apply, Mom. The original three Dino Rangers even agreed on that before I found out that they’d had their Gems and could tell them.” A factoid that Tommy hadn’t found out until way after it had happened. He’d had to stop himself from howling when they’d told him; though he wouldn’t deny smirking slightly. Once he could talk without laughing, he explained that they’d unwittingly agreed to one of Zordon’s rules. They’d agreed to the other two rules easily once he told them; Trent had agreed to all three once the White Dino Gem had its link to evil destroyed. Tommy had been following those same 3 rules since breaking free from Rita’s spell. He’d even kept the second rule while evil; his parents had simply thought he was going through a phase after they moved to Angel Grove because he was upset at leaving the life he’d known behind.

He could see things clicking into place for his mom; why he’d been so insistent on wearing certain colors after becoming a Ranger, why Abigail now did the same, her interest in martial arts, the whole 9 yards. Granted, Abigail had asked for lessons before using the morpher, but she would have picked up skills anyway even if she’d not initially been interested in karate. It was part and parcel of being a Power Ranger; even the Dino Rangers started taking lessons from him after fighting Mesogog. As much as they’d picked up from the Grid, they didn’t want to rely on that forever. Even subconsciously, they must have known that there was a chance that they’d lose their powers eventually. With that loss, if they’d not practiced their skills, those would have been lost as well.

Tommy had a theory about that; by the time the Dino Rangers had come around, the Grid had absorbed the fighting skills used by generations of Earth's Rangers and was willing to share them when 3 Rangers who had no fighting skills to speak of needed them. It had likely been the same for his first team. It was one of many things he wished he could ask Zordon; not even Dimitria was willing to answer that question. She just got all mysterious as was her practice before Tommy and the others had passed on the Turbo powers. From what Justin had said, she’d gone to being more like Zordon after the older Rangers had left. Even Justin had needed more of a Zordon figure’s guidance at 12 and 13 then he needed Dimitria’s questioning style he’d gotten when the latter had first arrived.

“Just how much trouble would we have been in had we known?” His dad was serious for once.

“A great deal, Mr. Oliver, and even more danger than you were normally” Katherine replied. “There’s enough intergalactic forces willing to invade Earth to take it over; there’s one in Reefside right now. The woman they fought today is one of his lieutenants; there’s also a skeleton that’s the other. If they thought you knew, they’d use you in one of their plans.”

“Rita and Zedd did use you two once, for Parent’s Day years ago, if I'm remembering the day correctly. I’d lost my original powers at that point, but that didn’t stop them from using the adults of Angel Grove to force my teammates, including Katrina’s mom, to hand over their Power Coins. I’d been able to rescue them, but not without risk,” Tommy added softly. “Katrina’s already in danger being my daughter, but she would have been anyway given her mom was one of my teammates. Ivan’s two goons knew our identities from way back then; I never understood why they never revealed them when we were originally active.”

Tommy knew then that he’d gotten through to his mom, though he wished it hadn’t had to be that way. TJ and some of the others who’d had their identities as Rangers revealed publicly had issues with their families after. Not all of their family members were near as accepting; Carlos had relatives who either thought he was either the greatest thing since sliced bread or refused to talk to him. Even with this secret now out, he knew he couldn’t tell them about Abigail’s true identity, at least not right now. There was also the matter of swearing them to secrecy. Sam and David knew better then to tell; Kat and Abigail were already bound by the rules. The only secrecy oath that Tommy knew of, one that Conner, Ethan, and Kira’s parents had sworn, would do the job. It had been the same one that Rocky, Adam, and Aisha had all sworn before Jason, Zack, and Trini had left the team and Tommy had no doubts about using it. His mom, of course, had immediately protested, though his dad was willing to agree to it.

Abigail stepped forward. “We can’t take that risk, as secrecy is just that important. One parent who found out willingly had his mind wiped of the information because he knew he’d not been able to keep the secret, oath or no oath.” Given that Abigail had been the one to do the same mind wipe, he knew she’d not hesitate to do so again. She now had better access to the same information that Zordon did on how to enforce that oath via the grid.

It didn’t take long after that for his mom to agree and Tommy got them to swear the oath. He did his best to not look at Abigail during it, but she told him she could feel the Grid backing up the oath. It was times like this that worried him; he knew Abigail’s constantly active link to the Grid wasn’t easy on her. He had the years and experience necessary to let his own link fade into the background of his awareness, but she didn’t. For the time being, she used her martial arts lessons as a good way to push that into the background, including the sparring sessions at home. She’d explained that she didn’t want to use the knowledge that the Grid gave her during lessons. A fight was one thing, but lessons felt too much like using them for personal gain. They’d both grinned when they realized that she’d quoted one of Zordon’s rules. He’d found out that Jason, before she’d run, had actually sworn her to the same rules and oaths that Zordon had the various Rangers he'd led and mentored.

“What made him do that?” Tommy asked as they looked out on the forest from the back porch.

“I asked him to. I knew, even then, that there was a slight possibility that I might have to use Mom’s morpher. Seeing as he was team lead for the original team before you, I figured he’d be the best person to do so.” She sighed as she flipped said morpher in her hands. “I just didn’t expect it to take like it did; when I got enough awareness of my own link, I took a look. It took that day, Dad. I’d not even had this a day.”

“Sometimes, that’s all it takes. Ask Rocky next time he comes up; he, Adam, and Aisha had to swear the same oath we just had my parents swear before they actually became members of the team. I wasn’t as aware of the Grid as I am now, but I could tell it took even then. I just knew that they would be the ones to succeed the powers of the Red, Black, and Yellow Rangers from the original team members.” Tommy didn’t mention Jason, Zack, or Trini by name because his parents were still inside. Their oath didn’t exactly cover the fact that Katrina Jones and Abigail Burton were the same person and Tommy didn’t know how to stretch it to do so. He wouldn’t do so without Abigail allowing him to and she didn’t want to let them know just yet. She’d overheard more than one rant from his mother about what she’d do when she found Abigail. His mom was one of many Angel Grove residents who took his daughter’s vanishing from the city personally.

He sometimes worried that he’d done the right thing, informing his parents about being the Black Dino Ranger, but recognized he’d had no choice. His parents were rightfully pissed; he’d been a Ranger off and on since his mid-teens and had kept it a secret from them. He better understood how Ernie and his parents felt; no parent wants to know that their child has been fighting evil since the age of 16. It was why he didn’t inform them that Rita had him under evil’s control at first. Best that they still think his behavior was from dealing with moving to Angel Grove, becoming a Ranger not long after, and trying to find a decent balance between school, karate, and his duties as a Ranger. The records of Power Ranger history was locked into the signatures of current and former Rangers. Only Hayley out of all their civilian allies had the ability to open it and she would only do so if a Ranger team needed to learn the history. She’d done so for Conner, Ethan, and Kira when he’d been kidnapped by Mesogog, not long before he’d gained the Black Dino Gem.

It had also been part of why he’d frozen that day at Reefside Mall; the last he knew, Trini’s Coin shouldn’t have worked after Zordon’s death. Ninjor was still alive, which may have been why the original 6 coins never fully lost their powers. One of the two creators of those coins and morphers was still alive; if Ninjor had died, Tommy wasn’t entirely sure Abigail would have survived her first attempt at morphing. Using his morpher after the coin had cracked had almost killed Adam. He knew she’d have to speak with the ninja at some point; nobody knew more about creating Power Coins then he did. He knew the finding of the Dino Gems was a fluke and shouldn’t have worked like they did. He had a few questions for Ninjor in that regard himself.

Tommy knew Ninjor had moved the Temple of Power from the Desert of Despair to Earth; the ninja had contacted him not long before the move, which had been when he was working with Anton still. It was actually located not far from Angel Grove; it resided somewhere between there and the reservation that Sam and David called home. He was planning on taking her during Christmas; while he didn’t know the exact location, the travel to the Temple was as much about the journey to get there as it was actually talking to Ninjor. He fully expected there to be trouble on the way; it was almost tradition to have trouble from the current enemy. Zedd had sent down a monster and some putties on his team’s way there back in high school.

He sighed again; with David and Sam sleeping in the guest room, his parents were going to sleep in the den. They’d planned to head back to Angel Grove tonight, but with Scorpina’s attack, they didn’t want to leave just yet. He wasn’t about to ask Abigail to give up either her bedroom or her art room; it was why his brother and Sam were sharing a room, if Tommy was honest with himself. He’d been grateful he’d invested in a coach that doubled as a double bed when needed. He’d not thought it was needed when he’d moved in, but after a weekend when his friends and teammates had helped him move all of his stuff in, he’d ordered one. It had been hard, that weekend, not seeing Trini, as it had been when Abigail was 8. The trip to Angel Grove when he’d first met her had been a trip back with them to get the last bits of his belongings he’d left at his parents’ house when he’d gone off to college.

He knew today had been difficult all around for all of them because of the attack. The fact that Scorpina had attacked on a holiday wasn’t unsurprising; Zedd had once sent a monster attack on Christmas and he'd had to face off against a couple of different monsters on Halloween before. He and Abigail both had found themselves being a lot more cautious with Kat pregnant; neither one wanted to fall in battle. They’d not wanted to even before the pregnancy, but they were much more determined now. He was glad that Abigail was fitting in well with the Dino Rangers; ever since revealing her identity to all 5 members of the team, they’d trained together and were able to work as a cohesive team. Kira and Abigail made one heck of a team, two Yellows fighting back-to-back. They were as formidable as a duo in battle as Abigail was with her friend Francine on the soccer team. Tommy had no doubt that should Francine become a Ranger herself that they’d bring that same teamwork to fighting intergalactic enemies as they would opponents on the soccer field.

Who was he kidding; of course she would. Tommy had taken a look at Abigail’s 5 friends that she generally sat with at lunch. By now, the 6 teens reminded him of he and his teammates in Angel Grove when they’d been Power Rangers. They had formed a cohesive group and Tommy had a rough idea of who would fill each role. Abigail would probably end up in a position of leadership; she might not be the traditional Red that led most Ranger teams, but she was the only one of their friends group with experience in the field.

Patton was going to be the team’s Blue; he was a tech genius almost at the level of Ethan and Hayley. Francine, on the other hand, reminded him of a mix of Kimberly and Trini; very girly, but also able to understand when Patton, Ethan, or Hayley started talking about technical subjects. Karan, despite preferring red, was more like Rocky than an actual Red like he’d once been, or even Jason, Adam, and Conner. Steve and Johnny were more of a mix of several of his former teammates and friends than any one in particular.

Rejoining his family back in the house, he smiled as he watched them just relax after the stress of the attack earlier. His mom had finally backed off on Abigail, seeing that she could take care of herself, but Tommy didn’t think that she’d stop trying to turn his daughter into someone more ‘girly’. Abigail was more of a tomboy than fashionista; Kira was much the same way, but also more willing to wear makeup as well as shop for clothing and was less of a tomboy.

He barely noticed when Sam joined him in watching the others. He managed to not jump when his brother’s dad spoke up.

“You have a wonderful daughter, Tommy. She is a credit to you, Katherine, and her birthparents.”

“If only her birthfather could see it, Sam.” Tommy believed that; if Ernie had been a better father, Abigail wouldn’t have run.

“He will one day. Do not worry on that, Tommy.” Tommy glanced over at the older man.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were talking with Rocky,” Tommy all but accused.

Sam and David were the only family who’d known Tommy since his Zeo days not counting his Ranger family; Sam had never met Trini to the best of his knowledge and didn’t even know that she’d married Ernie or had two children with him. Sam, however, always seemed to know more than he let on. Sam just gave him a smile in response, willing to be mysterious in that regard once again. The last time Sam had given him that smile, he’d met David. It had aggravated him at 17 and aggravated him as an adult.

It wasn’t long after that they’d gone to bed; it had been a long day even without having to save Reefside once again. Abigail had asked him to stay with her until she fell asleep, which Tommy was happy to agree to. She’d gotten unsettled even before Scorpina had attacked; his mom had been good with that. They’d had a conversation after she’d gotten into her pajamas and Tommy was glad he’d been able to calm her fears. This time, it had been the fact that, oath or no oath, Abigail feared his mom would be the one to turn her into Lt. Stone. Normally, it was Lt. Stone strictly, or Sanderson himself that factored into that particular fear; Tommy promised Abigail that he’d talk with his mom before she left Reefside.

He wasn’t surprised to find Kat on the other side of the door when he finally left Abigail’s room.

“She okay?” She asked quietly as they headed into their own room. Tommy answered after he closed the door behind them.

“Yea, just some old fears rearing their heads again. They’re probably not going to go away until the adoption is finalized and even then, it’s going to take a while. We need to get Lt. Stone off our backs and soon, before he does something stupid. She may be getting better mentally and emotionally, but just knowing that he’s trying to return her to Angel Grove isn’t helping her recovery. Not even Rocky is getting through to Jerome and both he and Ernie have tried.” Kat hadn’t known what to say to that and they ended up falling asleep not long after. He’d woken up once to go comfort Abigail after a not-quite nightmare; it had taken her quite a while to fall asleep after that. Kat had joined them after a while, as had David and Sam. Tommy realized he’d really needed to talk to his mother; Abigail’s sense of self-worth was suffering right now because his mom was trying to force her to be something she wasn’t. The conversation in Dino Command after the battle against Scorpina and the monster hadn’t helped. Abigail might give off an air of confidence and leadership when she needed to, but Tommy was still helping her undo years of damage from Ernie’s parenting.

He was going to have to talk to Rocky; Abigail had gotten to the point where she needed to talk to Ernie over the phone. The back-and-forth letters were one thing, but she also needed to hear that same reassurance that she was getting in the letters from Ernie’s own voice. She’d finally settled on what to call him; with Ernie’s agreement, she called him Ba, or ‘Dad’ in Vietnamese. After she asked, he’d written that Trini had been trying to teach her that same word when the car crash had happened. Not just that, though; Ernie had stated in that same letter that it made him happy to see that. Of course, 'Ba', or 'dad' had been written in Vietnamese; Abigail didn’t know how to write it using the Western alphabet yet.

Location: Angel Grove Youth Center, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. POV: Ernie/3^rd person

The past Thursday had been rough on Ernie, having been the first holiday without his daughter. Rocky had sacrificed his own holiday with his family to stay with him when he asked, a fact that Ernie appreciated. The only real difference between this Thanksgiving and the first he’d had without Trini was the fact that he and Abigail were writing back and forth. He’d not taken any more letters or sketches to the Youth Center, but Jerome had quit coming around as often as well. His weekly visits had finally dropped down to once a month.

His relationship with David had gotten better as well, stronger. David had finally revealed he’d been talking with Abigail since moving in to his dorm. He’d known that they had to be in some form of contact; David wouldn’t have gone up to the football game otherwise. He’d been so proud when David had taken his belt test; Ernie had actually prominently hung a photo from afterwards in the Youth Center. Seeing the photo had actually startled his son, but what had startled David more was the fact that Ernie had gotten a hold of photos from every single one of his belt tests to add to it. David had actually muttered something about 'telling Abby' when he saw it.

Ernie ran a hand through his hair; Rocky was up in Reefside right now. He missed hearing his daughter’s voice; had said as much to Rocky Thursday. Rocky, who he knew by now was in contact with Abigail, had promised to broach the subject with his daughter’s current guardian as well as Abigail herself. Rocky had promised to give him a call from a secure location if he was able to convince her. He kept his cell phone on him for that reason; Ernie knew that cell phones could be tapped, but only if the equipment was around. It was actually easier to tap a landline, which was why Rocky had promised to call Ernie’s cell before he left.

Ernie had actually hired Jason and Kimberly’s twins to work the weekends, but that didn’t stop Ernie from being there himself. It was just more so that Sylvia wouldn’t be the only one working if Ernie had to step away from the counter for any reason; if she was the only other employee on shift, that is. That, and run interference if Rocky stopped in. Ernie and Rocky both suspected that Sylvia suspected something; there had been more than once that they’d caught her trying to eavesdrop on a private conversation.

It was 2:30 before his cell phone went off. Tapping Amy on the shoulder, he told her he’d be in his office with the door closed for the time being. That was their code for ‘keep Sylvia busy and away from the office, as well as Lt. Stone if he stops by’. Closing the door, he answered the call and sat down.

“Hey, Ernie, I’ve got someone who wants to say hello.” Ernie heard Rocky hand the phone off and a familiar voice came on.

“Ba. I’m so sorry for running away…” Ernie could hear his daughter’s tears through the phone and interrupted her before she could finish.

“Abigail, I told you. If you hadn’t, I’d have not got the help I need. If anything, I should be thanking you for giving me the push I needed. I am very proud of you, sweetheart, and I know your mom would be too.” Ernie meant every word of it too; between what Rocky and David had told him, she’d come a long way in her healing. Rocky would not have made the call if he didn’t think that both of them could handle it. “Rocky and David both told me about your last belt test at your dojo; if you have any photos, I’d like to see them. I put David’s up in the Youth Center; I’d like to be able to do the same with yours when it’s safe to do so.” With that, Ernie could tell he’d thrown his daughter for a loop.

“I’ve also saved every Angel Grove article about the Rangers in Reefside,” he continued quietly. “I am especially proud of you for helping them. I know I believed differently while you were growing up, but Rocky’s helping me work through that. Still scares me every time I hear of a story out of Reefside, but I also know you’re in good hands. Don’t think I don’t know Tommy’s not one too still; with him by your side, I know you’ll be fine. It’s what helps me not completely panic when a story comes on the air.” There was silence when he finished; Ernie worried he might have taken it a bit too far.

“Ba, you really mean that?” came the question on the other end and Ernie answered in the affirmative. “I wish I could give you a hug through the phone, Ba. You don’t know how much I need to hear that.” Ernie had some idea; he knew she’d heard him yell the opposite when she was younger. They continued talking for a while before Austin knocked on the office door in a particular manner. Both twins had a specific knock when Ernie needed to return to the counter if he was in the office on the phone. The two said their goodbyes before hanging up. Ernie looked at his phone for a bit before he headed back out to the counter.

“Good phone call?” Austin asked.

“Yes; she says to tell you and your sister hello,” Ernie replied quietly. Sylvia might be in the kitchen at the moment, but Ernie didn’t want to be overheard. Ernie could tell Austin knew who he meant by ‘she’; Jason’s son missed his friend as much as they all did. Austin gave Ernie a huge grin at that, looking very much like his dad had at the same age. Amy tended to resemble Kimberly, but she also had Jason’s smile. Ernie had no doubt that Austin and Abigail might have ended up together if things had been differently; he still held out hopes for David and Amy.

Of course, Sylvia had cornered him after closing, demanding if he’d heard from Abigail. She did this every time he took a call on his cell phone while at the Youth Center and it was becoming an issue.

“Sylvia, I am not telling you one way or the other if that was Abigail. You don’t need to know the contents of every phone call I make or receive unless it impacts the Youth Center. If Abigail’s not called you or otherwise made an attempt to let you know where she is, that is her business. I keep telling you I screwed things up with her, causing her to run. I can’t be a parent to her right now, not the one she needs me to be. Both of us have too much to work through on our own before that happens, if it happens at all. It’s up to her therapist, and her current guardian, as well as both she and I, to figure out if that is even possible. If you keep this up, I will have no choice but to fire you. You are going to have to make a choice as to what’s more important right now: your job or your insistence on finding my daughter.” Ernie wasn’t surprised when Sylvia quit on the spot at that; Trini’s cousin’s insistence on continuing the search for her cousin had begun to impact her ability to do her job.

Once he got home, he made a call to Rocky to let him know of Sylvia quitting on him. When the former Red Ranger asked why, Ernie responded with, “So you can give Abigail and her guardians a heads up. I don’t know if Sylvia suspects she’s in Reefside or not, but Sylvia’s going to have a lot more free time on her hands now that she’s quit. If she teams up with Jerome, then Reefside’s going to be her first stop. Unlike me, I don’t know just how much Sylvia suspects of her cousin’s past as a Power Ranger. I know that there was the one time where a creation of Rita’s turned Sylvia into a cardboard cutout, but Trini didn’t think Sylvia suspected a thing. Now with Trini’s coin being used…” Ernie trailed off at that, not knowing just how to put his thoughts into a coherent sentence. Rocky understood, though, and promised to make that call.

He wasn’t surprised when David joined him on the couch; it had become a habit of theirs to talk after dinner on the weekends.

“Got to talk to Abigail today.” David just about choked on his soda when Ernie said that.

“Dad…warn a guy first! How is she?” David may be in contact with his sister, but Ernie chuckled at his son’s excitement.

“Doing good, David. She misses you, but understands why we couldn’t come up. Her guardian’s parents had come up and they don’t know she’s my daughter. She wants to keep it that way for now, but right now, she’s planning on coming down with the soccer team when the season starts up. Something about making the team at early tryouts.” Ernie and David both knew that Abigail had been in Conner McKnight’s soccer camp.

“Yea…I can see where that could be an issue. Some of the mothers weren’t too happy about her vanishing. Dr. Oliver’s mom was one of those. If he’s her guardian, Thursday couldn’t have been easy for her.” Ernie knew what David wasn’t saying; both men knew Tommy was Abigail’s current guardian. David had almost stormed Reefside when Tommy had gotten married because of a phone call his sister had made. From what Ernie could make out, Mrs. Oliver was trying to turn Abigail into a typical teenage girl and Abigail was having none of it. Abigail had too much of her mother in her to be truly interested in being a normal teenage girl. Add her therapy and other responsibilities to that, along with her other interests, and Abigail would never be a normal teenager.

Ernie also knew, the Olivers being there or not, he was in no way ready to have gone up for the holiday. Next year, maybe, but there was still a lot for both of them to work through before either was ready to be in the same room, even with Tommy and Kat. He also knew that Mrs. Oliver had issues with Tommy being in contact with his older brother and hadn’t that been a surprise when the two brothers had walked in to the Youth Center together. Ernie knew David Trueheart was Tommy’s brother before even being introduced; the two looked that similar. The two brothers had similar personalities as well, though David’s first afternoon in the Youth Center hadn’t gone as well as Tommy had hoped. David Trueheart sometimes dropped into the Youth Center after that, but had eventually stopped after Tommy had gone off to graduate school.

Ernie had never told anyone except Trini, but he’d named his son after Tommy’s older brother. He couldn’t wait for the two to meet; he knew that the two hadn’t yet. His son David had been rather taken with Tommy when the two had first met and his going up over the weekend of the Reefside/Angel Grove football game had done nothing to lesson the admiration that David had for the paleontologist turned science teacher and long-time Power Ranger. Of course, the fact that Tommy was taking care of Abigail probably had something to do with that and Ernie knew David would have said something if his son had met the man who he’d been named after. Ernie just hoped he was able to be there when the meeting happened...he’d have to suggest that in a letter to Abigail if he didn’t talk to her again before the soccer game, or talk to Rocky. He was sure the younger man would get a laugh out of the suggestion.

Every time David went down to campus, it was hard that first night for Ernie. This was even with Ernie occasionally driving down to pick David up from college or dropping him off. If things had been different, Ernie and Abigail would be spending the occasional weekend visiting David on campus. It was one of the many things Ernie regretted about his behavior raising his children. He was getting better; the earlier conversation with her had helped him; Ernie only hoped that it had given her the same help. Even then, Ernie still had nightmares of what he’d said to her and wished he could take those words back every single day. He’d tried communicating as such when he talked to Abigail, but he also knew that it would take many conversations for her to believe him.

Even still, he slept easy that night having heard his daughter’s voice for the first time in months. The night was the start of what would be many nightmare free nights. He knew when he would talk to Rocky next, the former Red Ranger was due a giant thank you for the phone call. He would never know David had also called Rocky, giving him the same thanks, nor that his son checked in on him every night that he was home.

Location: Angel Grove, same weekend POV: Lt. Stone/3^rd person

Jerome sighed; all his search for Ernie’s daughter had gotten him was yet another chewing out from the Chief of Police. The only reason he’d not been fired was the warrant from the judge, though the judge was getting impatient too. He’d not had any free time to go up to Reefside either; if he wasn’t working on active cases, he was having trouble at home. His wife had decided to go to her parents for the next couple of weeks; he decided Monday would be a good day to go up. If he timed it just right, he’d be able to talk to Dr. Oliver after school was over. He really needed to talk to Miss Jones, but couldn’t without going through Dr. Thomas Oliver-and wasn’t that a trip-first. He still couldn’t believe the young martial arts student and stock car driver had gotten a PhD in paleontology and later on went to teach high school science. Jerome realized that it was rather odd that Tommy had shown up in Angel Grove not long after the Power Rangers had become active in Angel Grove and that not long after starting his teaching career, Reefside had its own Ranger team. If Jerome hadn’t been a cop, he would have found it a complete coincidence, but it was an unspoken rule of cops everywhere that there was no such thing as coincidence. One more thing about the Rangers in Reefside was that now, one of Angel Grove’s own former Rangers was now active in Reefside. On top of that, Katrina Jones was from Angel Grove, living in Reefside and one or both of her parents were rumored to either be Power Rangers or on the so-called in-the-know list, according to the file Rocky DeSantos had shown him.

Pulling up Tommy’s home number in his cell phone’s address book, he gave the younger man a call. The science teacher answered on the 3^rd ring.

“Oliver residence, Dr. Oliver speaking.”

“Dr. Oliver, Lt. Stone here. I was hoping to come up to Reefside to do a follow up interview with your foster daughter. I know her case is wrapped up in a lot of red tape right now, but this is something that needs to be done to add to the file. The chief's been on my case to do that follow up.” Jerome could hear Tommy sigh on the other end.

“Tomorrow’s not really a good day; Katrina’s got martial arts lessons after school; this will be her first lesson after the holidays and she’s been talking about them to my brother and his adopted father all weekend. David, as I’m sure you remember, has the same rank in karate that I do.”

“Of course, though I didn’t interact with either Mr. Trueheart as often as you do. How are they doing?”

“Good; they just headed back to the reservation today. We were sad to see them go; Katrina can’t wait to go visit at the Christmas holidays. Neither can Kat or I.” Jerome could hear the warmth in Oliver’s voice as he talked about Katrina. He almost felt guilty about what he was doing, but also knew how hurt Ernie had been due to Abigail running away.

“I can come up in tomorrow evening or on Tuesday; whichever works best for the both of you.”

“Jerome, are you sure about this? Katrina had a bit of a rough day Thursday with my parents up; my mom’s happy about having a granddaughter to spoil and hasn’t taken Katrina being completely unlike how my mom wants her to be well. On top of that, as I’m sure you’re aware, there was another monster attack on Thanksgiving here in Reefside. My parents lived in Angel Grove through most of Rita and Zedd’s attacks and that panicked them a heck of a lot. My mom wants to wrap Katrina in bubble wrap, whereas I believe that teaching her to defend herself will only help her in the long run, monster attacks or no. I’m sure you remember the fact that her previous guardian was abusive, Jerome. Taking karate has done wonders for her.”

Jerome sighed. “Yes, Tommy, I’m sure. I’m getting pressure to have that final interview done for the record.” It was the truth, just not the whole truth. This would be his first chance at picking up some evidence to give to the judge. That is, if he could get her alone for a few seconds. Dr. Oliver would be an issue, though. All Jerome needed was a piece of hair or something to give to Sanderson on his way out of Reefside; getting Ernie’s wouldn’t be an issue, not totally. If Trini’s cousin hadn’t quit right after the holiday, Jerome would have delegated the role to her. If he couldn’t get Ernie’s DNA, he might be able to use hers; he knew from talking with her that she blamed Abigail for Ernie’s mental and emotional state after the girl had run away. DNA from a cousin wasn’t as exact of a match as one from siblings or parents, but it was better than nothing.

Tommy finally agreed to a Tuesday afternoon meeting at Hayley’s Cyberspace, which made things slightly more difficult for Jerome; too many witnesses. He also suspected that’s why Tommy had chosen it; he knew from a background check that Hayley Ziktor was a friend of Tommy’s and had been since going to MIT with him. He found it odd that a genius rocket scientist who’d gone to MIT with Tommy Oliver not only moves to, but also opens a cyber café in Reefside, the same city that the paleontologist starts teaching in and the Dino Rangers protect. Oh, Jerome knew Tommy had lived in Reefside for a while; Anton Mercer’s island lab had been run not too far outside of the city limits, but it was still too suspicious of a thing in his mind.

After finishing up his conversation with Tommy, Jerome called Sanderson. The former teacher turned forensic scientist answered in his usual gruff manner.

“How long would it take for your lab to run a DNA test? I might be able to drop some things off Tuesday evening. I can’t promise that the familial DNA will be from Ernie, but there’s a cousin who lives in Angel Grove that might be willing to help. Unfortunately, she’s on Trini’s side of the family. I can’t find any connection on the Kwan side of the family to anyone named ‘Jones’, but that would almost confirm that your former student is the missing girl out of Angel Grove.”

“Right now, it’s going to take us until early January before I can get you an answer, Jerome. I can’t promise that the results will be ready during Reefside High’s field trip, but they should be done that week. I’ll give you a call when they’re ready.”

“Thanks, Sanderson. Jerome out.” He hung up at that and began to make plans. He would have to look up where Sylvia Kwan lived; a quick check of the phone book showed her address, but not one for her father. Jerome vaguely remembered the eccentric scientist moving out of Angel Grove several years back; his daughter must have stayed in her childhood home. For the life of him, the lieutenant couldn’t remember where Howard Kwan had moved to.

Tuesday morning, Jerome stopped by Sylvia’s home. She answered the door after a couple of knocks.

“Lt. Stone. I hope I’m not in trouble with the police. The last I checked, quitting one’s job wasn’t a crime.”

“It’s not, Miss Kwan. I’m actually here on another matter. May I come in?”

“Of course. Come in, lieutenant.” With that, Jerome followed her into the house. He accepted her offer of a cup of coffee and was surprised at how good it was. “I learned how to make it working for Ernie; I got to like it after trying it,” she told him at the look on his face.

“If I weren’t married, Miss Kwan, this might do the trick. Cops live on coffee and yours is the best I’ve had. You might make a fortune running a coffee shop in this town.” Now it was Sylvia’s turn to look surprised. “Now, as to why I’m here. I know you, like many residents of Angel Grove, have been worried about Abigail Burton. Ernie refuses to help; he dropped the search for her after a social worker from Reefside came to visit. Most of your cousin’s case is wrapped up in red tape; one of the local judges has given me a warrant to get him proof that your cousin is the same as a foster child in Reefside that I went up to interview back in June. She claims she was abused by her father, but you know as well as I do that Ernie doesn’t have an abusive bone in his body, grief or no grief.”

“I’ll give you whatever you need, Lt. Stone. What do you need me to do?”

“I just need a DNA sample; the court order I got from Judge Wilkens is open ended enough that this should be covered.”

“Of course, that’s fine, Lt. Stone.” He brought enough to do a cheek swab, but also took a hair sample with a root follicle just in case the cheek swab didn’t have enough DNA on it for Sanderson to use. He also had a storage container that would keep both samples from degrading while he interviewed Miss Jones. He couldn’t keep the freezer container in his trunk, but this one plugged into his vehicle to stay cold enough so that the heat wouldn’t degrade the evidence. It might be late November, but evidence could degrade if left in a police car trunk in 70-degree heat.

The hardest part, he knew, was going to be getting a DNA sample from Miss Jones. Doubly so without either her or Tommy Oliver knowing. A hair sample might work, even without the root follicle, because Sanderson was going to be checking the mitochondrial DNA found in Jones’s hair against the DNA profile given by Sylvia Kwan. Luckily, he was also able to stop by the Youth Center to see Ernie and talk before he had to leave for Reefside. The other man was pressing a paper towel on a cut he’d gotten cooking and not much in a mood to talk. Thankfully, Ernie kept the Band-Aids in the same spot as always and Jerome was able to save the paper towel. True, not as clean of a sample as a formal DNA swab would be, but it would hopefully be better than nothing at all.

If he couldn’t get a hair sample with a follicle, Ernie’s blood would be useless to him. Oh, Jerome knew that there were other ways to get that evidence besides hair and blood, but Ziktor would notice if he took one of her glasses.

When he got there, he found he didn’t have to worry; Jones had just finished some gum, which had saliva evidence. He knew enough from the forensic techs in Angel Grove that saliva evidence was as good as or better then blood evidence and cheaper to get. He also knew saliva evidence was easy to get from used chewing gum. He was able to do the standard follow up interview after palming the used gum without notice. He knew Tommy wasn’t happy with him, especially Rocky hadn’t been able to come up for this. At the same time, Miss Jones did better this interview then she had her last. This was the hardest part for Jerome; she was clearly thriving under Tommy’s care. Gone was the frightened young girl that he’d interviewed back in June and in her place was an evidently confident young lady who was looking forward to the day when she could add ‘Oliver’ to her surname.

He felt guilty for doing this, but he also hated seeing his friend in pain. Ernie had been in a great deal of emotional pain since Trini’s death and Abigail running away had only made things worse. Was Ernie a bit strict as a single father? Yes, but it was also understandable; especially as the children got older. Abigail was rapidly getting to the age when Trini had possibly been chosen as one of Angel Grove’s own Power Rangers. Jerome didn’t blame Ernie one bit for not wanting his daughter to be one; the lieutenant had seen the amount of risks that the Power Rangers had taken to protect the city.

At the very least, if Jerome couldn’t get Ernie to retake full custody, he might be able to argue with Judge Wilkens for shared custody. Judge Wilkens wasn’t stupid; he wouldn’t take a minor child away from a household where they were thriving and Miss Jones was in Tommy’s care. At the same time, Jerome fully believed Ernie wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less his own daughter. He was able to drop the evidence off to his friend, along with a case file that wouldn’t blow Sanderson’s cover at all. Sanderson promised to call him when the results were in.

Chapter Text

Location: Ivan’s Lab the first week of December POV: Ivan/3^rd person

Ivan was pissed. He knew his master plan was coming along nicely, but it still stung that Scorpina had failed to capture the Yellow Ranger. He knew her time using the coin was running out soon; he could sense it. He figured about another 8-9 weeks and she’d be unable to morph using that coin. Scorpina had reported that she was growing stronger each fight, but was also starting to use moves that conserved her strength as well. It was Ivan’s experience that meant she was that much closer to being unable to morph; all Rangers went through that at some point. Even the Dino Rangers went through that, if Ivan’s research had been correct. He still didn’t know how they regained the ability to morph; it had taken all their power to defeat Mesogog.

Ivan knew that the Yellow Ranger must have had something to do with it; his own fights against her proved that she had a natural link to the Morphing Grid. That link meant that Earth’s Ranger teams would now have the first of Earth’s natural born mentors who could manipulate the Grid to create new Power Items. Tommy Oliver may be acting in Zordon’s stead, unknowingly, but she would eventually take that spot. If Ivan played his cards right, Earth’s future mentor would be either dead or under his own control before next summer, mentoring his own heir.

That still didn’t mean that Scorpina’s failure had to go unpunished; not one bit. It pleased Ivan when either of his two lieutenants shrank back in fear at his rage at their failures. Of course, Rito was a bumbling idiot. How the skeletal son of Master Vile had survived to adulthood, Ivan didn’t know. He’d met Vile several times and had actually eliminated one of Ivan’s weakling children at Vile’s own request. Ivan knew Vile had little use for the stupid and weak among his own children; Rita and Rito had been the only ones to reach adulthood. Ivan realized that meant that however bumbling the skeleton was, Rito was not as idiotic as he appeared.

Ivan growled; the mishaps he had faced earlier in the month were quite likely not as accidental as Rito had claimed. Rito’s own capture and later release now seemed fishier than they’d appeared initially. The Rangers made no mistakes when their villains escaped. Only two of the Dino Rangers were there when Rito escaped. Dismissing Scorpina, Ivan pulled up the video recording of the fight when Rito had been captured.

Snarling, Ivan stalked off to find the skeleton. Ivan could see that Rito was almost begging to be captured; how much did the Rangers know of his plans? Sure, one of the false bases had been destroyed during Scorpina’s attack, but Ivan knew that if it had been him in Rito’s place, he would have given up a false base to cover revealing intelligence. It was a common enough practice among people who fought all that was good to betray each other, though not normally custom among those who served as goons and lieutenants. The smarter of the lieutenants usually became leaders in their own right; Ivan planned for Scorpina to eventually become that should he fail. In his planning, he’d taken Rito at face value. Ivan now knew that to be a mistake; he didn’t know much the Dino Rangers and their Angel Grove ally knew. He was going to have to change his plans and keep them to himself. Sure, his goal remained the same, but he’d have to keep Rito out of the loop.

Ivan had to give the skeleton credit as Rito lay twitching before him. Even under Ivan’s worst torture, Rito had stuck to his story that all the information the Dino Rangers had gotten was the location of the now-destroyed base. Ivan checked Rito over for spells, but found nothing, not even the feel of the Morphing Grid keeping Rito silent. Ivan had tortured too many Rangers and their allies to not know the feeling of that. Ivan felt Rito’s force; the skeleton was going to be out of commission for a while. Stalking off to find Scorpina, Ivan contemplated his plans. Oh, he had ideas, but Scorpina had proven herself intelligent enough to help expand those same plans, even coming up with some good ones herself. All the monsters that gave the Rangers trouble had been her design.

Of course, he had to alternate her monsters with Rito’s. If he didn’t, the Yellow Ranger would lose the ability to morph before being able to keep her own link active without the coin. Ivan really didn’t want that to happen, not yet at any rate. Ivan was going to have to keep an eye on her as he also didn’t want her to develop the coins for her own team at all. If she did that, all his plans would be for naught. He needed to start making several alternate plans just in case his master plan’s main details wouldn’t work the way he wanted them to.

The first thing Ivan was going to have to do was travel to the Desert of Despair himself. The last he knew, Ninjor’s Temple of Power was there and that was the source of Angel Grove’s Yellow Ranger’s powers. Ninjor was going to be this young lady’s best source of information to creating her own coins; Ivan hoped to find out what he would have to do to create evil Power Coins. Ninjor would be helpful for that as well. Whatever information Ivan could get from the ninja would be useful; of course, Ninjor would have to be killed after Ivan got his information. Normally, Ivan would send Scorpina, Rito, his goons or monsters to deal, but he wanted to deal with Ninjor himself.

Location: Ivan’s lab, Rito’s quarters same day. POV: Rito/3^rd person

Rito, as sore as he was, mentally grinned. Ivan thought he had Vile beat when it came to torture, but this was nothing. Sure, the skeleton knew that it was going to take him some time to get back on his feet, but Vile had made sure that his only surviving children knew how to resist torture. It wouldn’t do Vile any good if someone, even on the side of evil, could capture and torture his remaining children to get at him.

Rito knew he was going to have to be sneakier about getting new information to the Rangers. Ivan learned today the most important lesson when dealing with the Rangers: always have multiple end plans ready. Rito knew that Ivan’s next step might be to get a hold of Ninjor, who lived at the Temple of Power in the Desert of Despair. Now, how to get that information to the Rangers? Rito knew that the whole ‘get captured during a monster attack’ routine wouldn’t work twice. He knew he had possibly a couple of weeks before Ivan left to search for Ninjor and that trip would take the purple megalomaniac some time. Now, what Rito didn’t know is if Scorpina was going to be going with Ivan or not.

Rito had also tracked his sister down to Briarwood, where she had once aided the Mystic Rangers. He had gotten touch with her; it had been Rita who’d been able to help him keep the fact that he’d informed the Dino Rangers of Ivan’s plans secrets. Ivan may have thought he knew everything about magic, but Rito was glad of his sister’s prowess in magic, even if she’d turned good. She’d also given him a way to contact her, but usage of it would clue Ivan in if the megalomaniac was on Earth. Thankfully, the Desert of Despair was on a different planet.

The only other problem was that Scorpina was being tasked with keeping an eye on Rito unless she was out attacking the Rangers. There wasn’t much that escaped the psychotic woman’s notice, Rito had observed. Thankfully, she was getting easier and easier to manipulate if Ivan wasn’t around. With Finster’s notes, Rito was making things to slow Ivan’s plans. Some were monsters, granted, which Ivan didn’t mind. Rito knew that his monsters were weaker than Scorpina’s, but he’d also taken time to install weaknesses from every one of the monsters Finster had ever made into the database. Ivan and Scorpina both thought that they were Rito’s own notes; the skeleton had taken time to write them in his own hand. Neither Ivan nor Scorpina realized Rito had Finster’s notes; Rita had taught him how to hide the notes.

They also didn’t realize that his copy of the notes of how well each monster worked against the original Rangers had been slightly flawed, at least the ones Scorpina hadn’t seen fight against the Rangers. Most had their weaknesses swapped or exaugurated, but Rito did leave a few in place, like Porky Pig’s dislike of spicy foods. He’d also programmed the monster creator to include some form of weakness in the monsters. Of course, he’d needed to be clever with it; he’d managed to make some of them look like strengths.

Rito tried getting up, as he needed food, but realized Ivan had done much more damage than the skeleton realized. Scorpina had been the one to initially aid him to his chambers; Rito would either have to wait until she returned or use the wall’s outcroppings to stagger to where they kept their food and drink. Not trusting Scorpina to bring him laced food and drink, Rito chose the latter. It was late enough that neither Ivan nor Scorpina were in the area as he not just ate, but also managed to find a healing potion to use. Rito could feel the potion working as he made his way back to his quarters and collapsed on his bed, sleep claiming him not long after.

Location: Ivan’s lab/same day. POV: Scorpina/3^rd person

Scorpina watched silently, unseen by Rito as he stumbled back to his room. She’d heard Ivan torturing the skeleton and realized just how much damage her current ‘boss’ could do when sufficiently motivated. She believed Rito more than Ivan had; after traveling with the skeleton, she knew that Rito couldn’t lie to save his own bones. She felt slightly hurt that he’d not trusted her to help him after, but knew she was currently in too deep with Ivan for Rito to trust her. Granted, evildoers couldn’t completely trust others of their ilk, if at all.

Ivan’s temper was now starting to scare her; Scorpina was starting to miss the days when Rita and Zedd were still evil. They, at least, knew not to do much more than yell at their minions nor torture them as badly as Ivan had tortured Rito. Scorpina now had no illusions that Ivan would eventually turn on her and do much more than yell if she failed to get Tommy Oliver’s foster daughter to him before she lost use of one of Ninjor and Zordon’s Power Coins.

Her change of heart was starting to worry Scorpina; it had all started when she and Rito had started making healing potions. It wasn’t completely on the sly; Ivan approved after getting mildly injured during one of his battles with the Dino Rangers. Well, mildly injured for Ivan, anyway. Scorpina had also pointed out that neither she nor Rito would do Ivan much good if they took longer to heal than was necessary from a Ranger battle. When Ivan had first come on the scene, she’d felt so validated by the tyrant. He knew exactly what to say to keep her loyal to him.

Scorpina knew her mother, while pregnant with her, had done some serious study into the Morphing Grid. By the time her mother’s bosses realized that there was seemingly permanent damage done to said unborn children because of her mother’s particular field of research and put a stop to it, it was too late for her. Scorpina had grown up showing no remorse for her own actions and had been diagnosed with some form of psychosis by those same doctors who’d treated her mother. She knew that there had been some research into finding ways to heal people like her, but she’d fled and entered Lord Zedd’s service before they could test the results of said research on her.

Rito had refused to say where he was getting the recipe for the healing potions she took when injured, but that was not entirely unexpected; Scorpina refused to list her own sources for similar reasons. She was going to have to become cautious when dealing with Ivan; her boss had other ways of ensuring her loyalty that she knew nothing about. She’d seen what Ivan had done to the Tengu; the birdlike humanoids now no longer took orders from either Rito or herself unless Ivan ordered them to.

Scorpina knew Ivan was in bed; she’d slipped the strong sleeping potion she could make into his evening drink herself. She slipped into Rito’s room to find the injured skeleton still in pain despite the potion he’d took. If she was better skilled at healing magics, she’d use them on her fellow lieutenant. She did know that giving him another healing potion right now would only hurt him. There was nothing else she could do right now as she watched him sleep. When he partially woke up from the pain, she aided him into a better sleeping position, which seemed to ease his pain. Unfortunately, the way the healing potions were designed, she couldn’t give him anything for the pain.

Heading into her own room after that, she secured her door in such a way that the Tengu wouldn’t be able to enter. She knew that locks couldn’t stop Ivan; his surname wasn’t ‘Ooze’ because he remained solid all the time. Ivan’s people had the ability to liquify, go through the smallest of spaces, and reform on the other side. The only problem she had was the sleeping potion was designed for an unmodified member of Ooze’s people; she knew Ivan had done enough experiments on his own person that she wasn’t sure how long it would actually last. She knew it wouldn’t kill him; he’d actually tried that potion before when he couldn’t fall asleep at some point.

Waking early, she found Rito had recovered enough to willingly accept help down to where they ate. Given Ivan was down there, she’d had to slip the healing potion into Rito’s drink like she’d done with the sleeping potion in Ivan’s own drink the night before. The megalomaniac didn’t seem to notice, but Scorpina knew not much slipped by his senses. It didn’t surprise her that he grabbed her arm as she tried to leave; Rito had left not long before, presumably to head back to his own quarters to rest and heal.

“That skeletal idiot is healing faster than he should be. I hope you had nothing to do with it.” Ivan demanded.

“Never, Ivan. You know that. He does have access to our store of healing potions; I saw him stumble back to his own quarters last night. He showed signs of taking one last night, but he didn’t this morning as far as I know. Our supplies are down two bottles, though; he must have taken the other one to his quarters to take when he awoke this morning.”

Ivan snarled at her response. “If that skeletal fool didn’t have his uses, I’d deny him usage of those potions. When I head to search for Ninjor, I want you to use him to attack the Rangers. No monsters, just the two of you. That one Yellow Ranger should be reaching the end of her time as a Ranger and within the next couple of months. You need to keep her from figuring out how to create her own coins while I’m off planet. Find out how close she is; use that skeleton if you need to.” He paused. “Help him heal if you must; he needs to be at full strength for this as much as I hate to admit it.”

Scorpina watched Ivan stalk off; when she felt safe enough to do so, she went to check on Rito. Unlike the night before, he was sitting on his bed, wide awake. From what she could tell, he was fighting the rest he desperately needed to heal. She didn’t blame him either; he was vulnerable right now and it was dangerous to show weakness in front of either Ivan or Scorpina herself.

“Rito, you need to rest. Ivan’s heading to the Desert of Despair by the end of the month. He wishes for you to aid me in leading an attack against Reefside’s Power Rangers; you need to be at full strength for that. It’s the only reason he’s not forbidden your use of healing potions.” It said something that the skeleton didn’t even argue with her as she aided him in lying down. He fell asleep not long after that; she sat at his side to watch him sleep. Scorpina was glad for Ivan’s orders; they gave her some leeway in caring for him. She stayed by his side unless it was to get food or potions; Ivan didn’t even call her until he was ready to leave.

There had been several times where she had to quit giving him the potions; he couldn’t take too many or they’d start to overload his system. Those days were some of the hardest for Scorpina, hearing him whimper in pain. He could barely keep food down when the pain overloaded his system and he needed that food to heal. He could only tolerate liquids during the worst of his pain; Scorpina held him during times when she thought she could without Ivan’s notice. It took Rito a week of resting and healing before he could walk without stumbling; by the time Ivan left, he was close to his annoying self as he’d been before the torture. Scorpina was able to start to wean him off of the healing potions by that point; it was during those days that Rito would not be able to keep food down. On the flip side, he’d no longer be of use to Ivan doped up on healing potions even after he’d healed.

Of course, one of the few downsides to the healing potion was the fact that Rito needed more food than he usually ate. When Ivan tried stopping her from getting Rito the food he needed, she asked him how fit he wanted Rito while he was off planet.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Ivan growled, demanding an explanation.

“Plenty. If he doesn’t get the food he needs, it will take him that much longer to heal. Seeing as you want him on his feet and at full strength before you leave, he needs this.” Ivan snarled, but allowed Scorpina to pass. She knew her actions would cost her dearly, but she knew it would be quite a while before Ivan would punish her. He had to prepare for his trip to find Ninjor and couldn’t waste any time punishing her when Rito was out of commission. He needed both of them fighting fit; she knew he was still furious enough that if he punished her now, she’d be in the same state Rito was currently in. He needed her to keep the Dino Rangers busy enough while he was gone so that his trip to deal with Ninjor could end in success.

Location: Reefside High School, two weeks later. POV: Abigail/1^st person

I was giggling as Francine and I headed to lunch; the high school had been decorated by a mysterious group of pranksters for the Christmas holidays. Randall, while not the evil principal that she’d been last year, wasn’t happy. It was the only reason why we knew that the decorations hadn’t been approved, even by the board. We were having an informal school dance this Friday after the basketball game, themed to Christmas; current scuttlebutt had it that the dance committee had decorated to promote the dance. Of course, said committee denied everything; as did every other official school club.

That didn’t mean that it hadn’t been one of the various unofficial clubs in school, including Dad’s fan club among the students. Of course, Missy and Andrea had been mystified as the rest of us, but that didn’t mean some of the club members hadn’t participated in the ‘prank’. Dad’s classroom had a piece of plastic mistletoe right over his desk, which he’d quickly removed when we got to school.

It was the only reason that his fan club had been suspected; Missy and Andrea had questioned the members extensively, but all had denied involvement. Athena, however, had been absent at the time, from what I understood and avoided every attempt at questioning. She was the main suspect in the mistletoe getting over Dad’s desk. Most of the mistletoe was put in doorways and taped; this had been pinned directly into the ceiling. The only way to get the mistletoe in the ceiling would have been to climb on top of the desk or use a ladder.

Despite Randall, nobody was going to get overly punished for the prank. A few detentions and that was it, or so I’d heard. Of course, the decorations couldn’t go up without staff help; it was a major reason neither my friends nor I thought it was done by students, or at least not completely by at any rate. Of course, not everyone on the staff shared Randall’s view on students enjoying school. Even Dad didn’t; he preferred his students enjoy his classes. Sanderson had been one of a few who enjoyed terrorizing his students and he was long gone.

I’d spent a lot of time since Thanksgiving buying or making Christmas gifts for my family and friends. I’d finally finished the sketches for my baby brother’s nursery and was planning on including them as part of my Christmas gifts for Dad and Katherine. We’d found out that Katherine was expecting a boy only this past week; they were already talking about names. Dad and I favored Andrew David or Andrew Samuel; Katherine wanted Jason something. They did agree that whichever name they didn’t use this time around would be used for the next son.

Of course, when I’d first brought up the suggestion, Dad had said I’d not needed to, but I’d told them I’d wanted to. He’d caved fairly quickly after that; as had Katherine. They understood how important it was to me. Of course, they’d really balked when I offered to paint the room as well and however they wanted it to look like from my sketches.

“He’s my little brother; I want to do this for him, like I wanted to do the sketches. I don’t mind if you guys help, but this is important to me.” Katherine still looked dubious, but once I reminded them of my art room, she quickly agreed. Dad wasn’t so sure, but he understood why I wanted to help so much. This was something Rocky had even noticed at his last visit. He could see just how well we were meshing as a family and was very happy at our progress.

So was my brother David; he was coming up next weekend to visit before the three of us headed to the reservation. He was in the middle of his first semester’s exams and had not been able to call as much as either of us wanted. My semester exams weren’t until after getting back from Christmas break and I never understood why. All I could figure it was because of a longer school year; I didn’t get done until June. David’s winter semester ran from January until mid-April.

Mystic Mother had gotten a hold of us with some information; Rito had contacted her with that information. Ivan was heading to the Desert of Despair to look for Ninjor. Dad had almost cracked up laughing when she’d told him, but had managed to hold off until the call ended. Mystic Mother had even said she didn’t want to know where Ninjor was until Ivan was taken care of, just in case Ooze showed up in Briarwood. Dad wouldn’t say why her information was so funny when I asked, but promised to explain over the Christmas holidays. I knew he and I were going to take a couple of days and go visit an old friend of his; Dad was planning on packing the sketches I’d done several months ago. I didn’t know why, but put it out of my mind.

I had thought I’d met all of Dad’s friends from his early days as a Ranger with the exception of the Turbo Rangers that had replaced him as well as Justin, who’d replaced Rocky as the Blue Ranger. Dad had been surprised when Uncle Billy had come back from Aquitar, but he’d said it was time for him to return. This had been not long before I was born, from what he’d told me. The only Ranger team I’d not met from those early days were the Aquitian team; Rocky said he’d contacted them.

Whoever this old friend from his Ranger days that we were going to meet, I was excited for. Dad said we’d not be able to teleport straight in, though. He was going to drive the two of us to the closest trail head to his friend’s location and we’d have to make the rest of the trip on foot, just like he’d had to do when meeting this friend for the first time. The only problem was we were doing this without aid of a map like he’d been able to do originally; Dad could get somewhat forgetful and it was a problem he’d had since high school. Aunt Kimberly had told me when she’d been up for the wedding.

Dad and Katherine had been the hardest two to shop for; both said they didn’t want anything. I knew what I wanted, but I also knew that I had to be patient. As much as I wanted my adoption to be finalized and soon, there was the threat from Lt. Stone to worry about. Ms. Andrews had said that she’d heard rumblings that one of Angle Grove’s judges had given him a court order to prove that I and my alias were one in the same. Adoption was difficult enough when there was one biological parent alive, but even harder when there was an of age sibling to take custody. Ernie had given up his parental rights willingly; due to Mom’s background, it worked out easier that way. David had to do something similar; from what he told me, he saw just how much having Dad and Katherine as parents meant to me. He said Ernie felt the same. Lt. Stone’s investigation halted the process, something that seriously hurt. If he’d not started that, the adoption would have been finalized by the time school let out for Christmas.

I’d finally asked the Dino Rangers for ideas on what to give him; neither Katherine nor Hayley had been any help. Trent finally suggesting doing a family portrait from a photograph that had been taken by my Uncle David over Thanksgiving.

“I don’t know, Trent. Dad’s planning on having that one enlarged to hang in the house.”

“You could add their Ranger totems,” Kira suggested. I shook my head.

“I only know Katherine’s. Dad’s been so many and I don’t know all of them. Just his first and current is all; I saw the video you guys did.” With that, Conner, Kira, Trent, and Ethan all looked over at Hayley, who was behind the counter at CyberSpace.

“Are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Ethan asked; the grin on his face would make most people who didn’t know the genius run in fear. “If there’s anyone in Reefside that would know his history besides Katherine, it’s Hayley. You said that you’ve had weird dreams involving your Mom’s Ranger totem and two others?”

“Yea….what are you getting at, Ethan? I did draw them down; you know that.” The other Rangers looked as puzzled as I did.

“You have the sketches?” He asked. Puzzled, I pulled out the sketchbook from my bag; it was the one I kept most Ranger-related sketches in and had only brought it to show them. Thankfully, Trent was well known for doing the latest line of Ranger-related comics, which hadn’t been much of a surprise. I’d actually read the older lines of comics growing up, though I had to do so in secret; Ernie really didn’t like me reading them. Anyone who looked at the sketchbook would think I was trying to talk him into doing a new comic line. Most of the teens that hung out at Hayley’s CyberSpace knew I was taking advanced art classes at Reefside High.

Ethan looked through the sketchbook before flipping to one page and tapping the sketch in question. It was one I’d done rather recently; in it, instead of the ever-changing mystery figure between the three Ranger totems, they were protecting me.

“Use this one in conjunction with the photo, but put the odd-looking white tiger next to Dr. O; seems like him.”

“Ethan, have I told you you’re a genius lately?” I knew the pterodactyl was Katherine; she’d succeeded Aunt Kimberly as Pink Ranger. Saber-tooth tiger had been Mom, then Aisha, now me, which left the tiger for Dad.

“I don’t mind hearing it again.” Ethan was grinning, as we all were. Giving him a huge kiss, I dashed down the street to the art store and bought a decently large canvass. I’d been saving my allowance for Christmas, primarily to use on Christmas gifts. I had all the paint and pencils I’d need at home, so it was just a matter of getting the canvass inside and to my art room without Dad and Katherine noticing.

It wasn’t going to be an issue tonight; the main reason I was at CyberSpace right now instead of eating dinner with them is they were out on a date, just the two of them. Kira was my ride home and she didn’t mind taking me home early. I’d let Dad know so he wouldn’t worry too much if he called Hayley to check on me. Saying goodbye to Hayley, Kira and I headed back home. The other Rangers followed behind, partially to act as lookout for Dad and Katherine pulling in, but also to watch me work. I grabbed my copy of the photo and put it onto a smaller stand near my easel, placing the sketch right below it.

Grabbing a smaller piece of paper, I started sketching out proofs of the painting I wanted to do. I didn’t want to ruin the canvass by repeatedly erasing pencil marks until I had a working sketch to use. Most artists who worked with paint or pencil and paper were the same way, including Trent. I was going to have to work on this in secret; thankfully, Dad had given me the key for the art room. I also had a cloth I could use to cover the canvass if I couldn’t lock the door. I was going to wait on getting a frame until the painting was done; the art supply store sold them as well, thankfully. The biggest issue I was going to have aside from keeping it secret until Christmas was going to figure out how to wrap it.

I was waiting on buying baby things until closer to the baby shower, otherwise I’d have bought some stuff for my baby brother. Ernie had offered to send up David’s old clothing from Angel Grove, as had Jason and Kimberly with Austin’s baby clothing. I was planning on making a mobile or some toys as the baby shower got closer; we were going to be covering woodworking next semester. Hopefully, Mrs. Goodridge would let me use my class project that way.

When I looked up, Conner, Kira, and Ethan were laughing, while Trent just looked amused. I knew why, too; Trent wasn’t the only one who got lost in their drawing. Of course, I’d seen Kira get lost when she started practicing music; Conner got lost in soccer and Ethan would in video games or anything computer related. Even Dad wasn’t immune; he could pull up that focus on command while fighting or practicing martial arts. It was a useful skill to have as a Power Ranger; the Dino team could do that as well. I was starting to get in the hang of it; it was one of the things Dad and I worked on during team training sessions.

“These look great, Abigail. Dr. O is going to be so surprised.” Conner said. The others made noises of agreement as they looked at my sketches.

“Surprised about what?” We spun around to find Dad in the doorway. I was suddenly grateful for the others blocking me from Dad’s view as I shuffled my loose drawings into a folder. The canvass and associated easels were already facing away from his view, but I still covered the one with the photo in a cloth.

“You’ll see, Dad. I’ll show you and Katherine when it’s done, promise. It’s why I came home early.”

“I’m going to hold you to that, Abigail. You have a fun afternoon at Hayley’s?”

“Yes, always. You know that, Dad.” Damn, was it hard trying to not spill everything. The right tone of voice or question from Dad and any of us in the room would spill our guts to him, except Katherine. It was something we all knew and we knew he could tell we were trying not to squirm. Thankfully, he didn’t press us further, but the other Dino Rangers soon took off in a hurry.

“What are you working on, Abigail?” Dad asked again after the others had left. I just grinned.

“You’ll find out on Christmas, Dad, and don’t give me the line about not wanting anything. You’ll love this, I promise.”

“Abigail, you don’t have to get or make Kat or I anything. Offering to do the nursery is gift enough.” I looked him in the eyes before giving him a hug.

“I still want to, Dad,” came my muffled response. “You and Katherine have given me so much to be grateful for. You might consider the nursery gift enough, but I want to make something separate for you two as a Christmas gift.”

I could feel his sigh as he returned my hug. “Alright, Abigail. I know Kat and I will love whatever you make for us.”

The dance had been rather fun; Kira’s band had played. Unlike Homecoming, taking a date or going in groups wasn’t necessary or even expected, but that didn’t mean that my classmates didn’t pair up during the dance. Now that the dance was over, I wanted to spend some of my free time working on the painting. I’d finally settled on a version of the initial sketch that I knew would look good; I’d consulted with Trent on the best one and he was able to give me a few pointers. The other Dino Rangers wanted to see the finished project before I wrapped it, but figuring out when to do it was going to be difficult. The other big issue was going to be safely transporting it as we were going to be taking his Jeep to the reservation.

Of course, I could give it to Dad and Katherine before we left, but I knew Uncle David and Sam would want to see it. I’d done some artwork for them as well; paintings of sketches that they’d admired over Thanksgiving. Granted, they were a smaller series of paintings, but Uncle David had said that neither he nor his dad wanted huge ones. I had a feeling that the painting I’d made Dad and Katherine was going to end up in the den, over the mantle. It was probably going to be the first of many family paintings I would paint as my younger brother and any other siblings grew up.

David had actually been the easiest to shop for; he thought he was being subtle around his birthday and Christmas when he started talking about things he wanted as gifts that he knew I could afford. When I was younger, it was usually something I could make him in art classes at the Youth Center. I also usually gave him something special after he passed belt tests, even with his advanced black belt tests. Speaking of, he was still taking lessons from Jason, but on the weekends. His university had a place in the rec center for him to practice when he wasn’t in classes or doing homework. There were several students taking martial arts classes as part of their university education that were glad for a sparring partner.

The one person I was conflicted on giving a gift to was Ba; despite having talked to him briefly over Thanksgiving weekend and knowing he was doing better; it was hard reconciling the man he was now with how he’d been most of my life. Rocky said that was normal, but that didn’t make things easier to figure out. I knew he’d be seriously hurt if I didn’t get him something, but memories of how he’d been before kept flashing through my head.

Thanksgiving hadn’t been too bad, but this Christmas was hard, being away from Angel Grove during this holiday break. Aside from summer’s almost 3-month break, this was the longest break we had from school. I had at least one evening where I was crying because of it, but it wasn’t something Dad could help me with. All he promised to do was support me with whatever decision I made. David had promised to take anything for Ernie from me when he came up to visit. I had, at most, several days to come up with something.

Location: County forensics lab. POV: Sanderson/3^rd person

Eugene Sanderson was getting frustrated; every time he thought he’d be able to run the DNA evidence that Lt. Jerome Stone had sent him, he would get a case that he had to run right away. Now that Christmas was coming up, he knew he’d have some time to run the evidence. What he was able to find was explosive; Miss Jones and Abigail Burton were the same person. There was little margin for error in his tests; no competent lawyer would be able to argue with the test results.

The only problem he now had with getting the results to Jerome was that the detective was going to be out of town until just before school started up again. Something about a family trip with his wife; Sanderson wasn’t going to be off on the holiday like he’d been while teaching. Neither he nor his children were too broken up over the fact. Of course, the children he acknowledged were scattered across California; he never paid attention to what happened to his bastards.

The change in Jerome being able to get him the DNA evidence still didn’t mean he’d quit romancing the newest forensic tech. On the contrary; she’d actually started returning his subtle overtures. Sanderson wasn’t stupid, the trip up at the high school aside. Say what you will, but he was proud of the fact that he’d never once had a sexual harassment complaint brought against him. He didn’t see the harm in what he was doing; his wife had fallen for the same charms he was now using on his newest coworker. He admitted they’d only married because she couldn’t be bought off or ruined like his other conquests. If she knew about his many affairs, she never said.

Speaking of, he was taking her out to dinner tonight to Little Tokyo. He knew it wasn’t likely that she’d end up in his bed tonight, but he could dream. She reminded him of his late wife; if he had to marry again to get this woman into his bed, he’d marry again. He liked the challenge of it all. He’d have to see how far he could get before getting to that point, though.

He occasionally ran into the Olivers as he still lived in Reefside, but they rarely interacted. He took pleasure in the fact that Dr. Oliver’s foster child still stuck a little closer to his former coworker when she spotted him. Soon-to-be adopted daughter if the rumors he heard at work were correct. Sanderson grinned; he was going to take pleasure in seeing his former coworker break as his beloved foster daughter was ripped away from him before that adoption could be finalized. Serves the paleontologist turned science teacher right; if he’d listened to Sanderson, no revenge would have needed to be taken and Sanderson would still be teaching.

Location: Angel Grove Youth Center POV: Ernie/3^rd person

Ernie smiled when David returned from Reefside; his son had passed on a gift from Abigail along with a promise of another phone call over the holiday. As much as he wanted to open the gift, he knew it was for Christmas. David had taken up the gifts from him before he’d left for Reefside; some of them had been for Tommy and Katherine’s upcoming child. David hadn’t minded some of his baby clothing being sent up and had actually helped him pack them up.

Ernie admitted that he’d cried somewhat when packing them up; he and Trini had been talking about having at least one more child after Abigail. He’d woken up from nightmares that night; he’d been replaying the day of the crash in his dreams. Even with David in the house, he’d ended up calling Rocky, who’d come straight over. David, along with Rocky, had remained by his side for the rest of the night, something that Ernie appreciated.

Today, though, David was helping his dad decorate the Youth Center for the community holiday party. It had been an Angel Grove tradition since he’d opened the place decades ago. Ernie honestly didn’t know what Angel Grove did before he moved to town. Ernie knew he had ancestors from the city; he’d eventually found out that the Youth Center had been built on the site of a tavern his ancestor Ernest had owned. As far as he knew, though, David was the only family he had left here; his family having moved to New York City long before his own birth.

Decorating the Youth Center always brought back memories from when Trini and the others were teens. During quiet times in the Youth Center, he told David about Trini and what he could remember from the times she spent at the Youth Center as a teen. He’d written those same memories down for Abigail in a number of notebooks; he’d sent a batch of them up with David as part of her Christmas present; Ernie knew both of his children didn’t know much about their mother. David had told him most of what they knew came from Jason and her other Power Ranger teammates, or Sylvia.

“Did Trini really accidentally drench Sylvia in a bucket of water?” David asked. Ernie blinked at his son at that as the question had come completely out of left field.

“You’ll have to ask Jason or one of the others; I don’t know about most of the details from her days as a Ranger. I know she said something about an evil clown turning Sylvia into a cardboard cutout of herself. That must be connected to the bucket of water incident, David. I don’t know the details; your mother kept most of the details from those days from me, even with me knowing of that part of her life.” He sighed. “It was probably for the best, David. Given how I reacted when Aisha returned Trini’s morpher to Abigail, I would have reacted much worse if I’d known the entirety of how dangerous being a Power Ranger is.”

“Jason and the others finally fill you in?” David asked. He’d been given those same details over the summer. While Jason and the others gave the two siblings some details the day Ernie slapped her, they’d filled him in on the rest of the details before he started college. They’d also sworn him to the same oath that Rocky, Adam, and Aisha had once been sworn to. David had actually asked to be; Jason had raised an eyebrow, but had administered it anyway.

“Yea…I wish they hadn’t. On the other hand, they made sure I knew how much Tommy was taking care of her as a Power Ranger. It’s not easy, though, every time I see or read of a monster attack in Reefside. I dread the day I get a phone call letting me know she’s in the hospital or dead because she’s gotten injured or killed fighting as a Power Ranger. It’s why I tried keeping you two away from that knowledge, David.”

David sat down next to his dad at the table and grabbed Ernie’s hand with one of his own. “I know she’s going to be fine, Dad. You saw her over the summer fighting as well as I did; she’s only gotten better since. Reefside’s team watches out for her as well as she does them; they’ve gotten better working together as a team since this summer. From what I understand, the most they get is minor bruising and that’s if their opponents get a lucky shot in.”

“Not reassuring at all, David, but thank you for trying.” Ernie had to admit, it was reassuring somewhat; he knew Abigail wouldn’t walk away from being a Power Ranger now. Knowing that she had 5 teammates that had her back was the only thing that kept him from having a complete meltdown. Well, that, and talking it over with Rocky. The former Red and Blue Ranger had sat down with him one day and filled him in on the specifics of Ranger team dynamics. Ernie had asked specifically for that information; it helped him from completely panicking every time a report of a monster attack in Reefside came through Channel 6 or ended up in the Gazette.

Ernie was grateful for the fact that David was even willing to still speak to him after his own actions had caused Abigail to run to Reefside in the first place. He knew Rocky had recommended a therapist for David to talk to that could keep secrets at his son’s university. Apparently, David wasn’t this man’s first client that had issues with parents and their superpowered children. David himself might not have natural or Ranger related superpowers, but he’d gotten a lot of good advice and was appreciative of the fact that he had someone to talk to. Both David and Ernie both had gotten Rocky something special for Christmas as a ‘thank you’.

Ernie had found out, quite by accident, that becoming a Power Ranger could be passed down from parent to child. Not always, though, but it was possible. It had been an offhand comment made months ago by Jason that had clued him in on that; Trini’s friend and original team leader had told him that he and Kimberly had prepared their children of the possibility and that Trini had planned on doing the same.

He only wished he’d known of Trini’s plans; Ernie was well aware that if he’d known, he would have reacted better to Aisha giving Abigail Trini’s original morpher. He had started relying on Jason and Kimberly on how to deal with the fact that Abigail was now serving as a Power Ranger. As he told David, he still feared her getting seriously injured or killed in the line of duty. He’d found out by listening to parents of some of Angel Grove’s cops or military members that they felt the same way. The only issue he had was the fact that he couldn’t talk to them about the fact. He had to keep Abigail’s identity secret; only TJ and the former Turbo Rangers turned Space Rangers had their identities publicly known and that’s how the Power Rangers liked it.

Speaking of, they and the other Ranger teams had made a point to check in with Ernie, especially during the holidays. Rocky had let the others know just how hard Thanksgiving had been; Christmas was shaping up to be just as hard. Billy had promised to introduce him to a couple of friends of theirs; Ernie had apparently met one of them twice, years ago. This friend had, from what Billy had said, once won a costume contest at the Youth Center. Ernie appreciated the distractions, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t need to deal with his emotions. On the contrary; Ernie had seen the results of not dealing and it had cost him his daughter.

He had a good idea of what Tommy’s training sessions looked like; he’d seen the younger man teach martial arts and train with the other Rangers. Of course, they didn’t call it that when at the Youth Center as teens, but Ernie knew better. A team that trained together fought better together; this was even true for sports teams. Ernie remembered that much from his own college days, playing football.

Ernie couldn’t wait to see his daughter again; right now, the current plan was to do so over the summer. He knew Tommy would have adopted her by then, but was grateful that Tommy was willing to let him continue to be a part of her life. Tommy would have been within his rights to completely cut him off until Abigail turned 21 and could make that decision herself. Rocky had let him know what he needed to do for that meeting to happen and Ernie had every intention of getting to that point. According to Rocky, Ernie had made great progress in that regard, but Ernie knew he had a long way to go still.

A big part of why was the fact that Ernie was still dealing with depression; Rocky had started him on medication to help combat that. It had become clear that therapy wasn’t completely helping in that regard; Ernie had to try several medications before they found one that worked. Rocky was keeping a closer eye on him because those medications could make his depression worse, to the point of suicide. They’d had to switch him to a new medication because one of them did have that side effect; Ernie had been glad that Jason had been at the Youth Center at the time. The others had little to no effect; thankfully, the medication he was on now seemed to actually be working. He was also glad that the news hadn’t gotten around that he was on antidepressants, or if it had, nobody was judging him for it.

Location: the Trueheart home several days before Christmas. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy grinned as his brother enveloped him in a hug. He enjoyed spending time with David, like he did with all his family. It had been a long time since he’d been able to visit David at his own home; he’d planned to use some of his summer break to make the drive over, but Abigail’s arrival had changed a lot of things for him. He didn’t regret any of those changes one bit. One thing he’d learned was that life as a Power Ranger was never dull; to wish for a quiet life, even now, was a fool’s wish. He had been through too much to not be a fool; fools didn’t last long as Power Rangers. He had a sneaking suspicion that the Grid didn’t choose foolish people either.

He remembered when he told his parents about David; his mom had flipped her lid about not knowing her son had a biological older brother. Tommy had quickly understood why, too: normally, biological siblings weren’t separated, but the court system might not have connected the two until after both adoptions had been finalized. If or when they did, both boys would have been old enough that it wouldn’t have been in either of their cases to separate them; at the very least, though, his parents should have been informed so that they could keep David and Tommy in contact with one another.

She was also of two minds about the two brothers being in contact. On one hand, she loved it, but the fact that the two brothers had gotten very close very quick disturbed her. In just a couple of days, it had been as if they’d grown up together. It was a huge issue with her, even though the brothers had been in contact for half their lives now. He understood why, too; his dad had explained that she felt that he was replacing them with David’s family. Nothing he could say or do calmed those fears, though; as much as he tried, Thanksgiving hadn’t been a complete success. It hadn’t failed either, but how much of that was due to Abigail and how much was due to the monster attack, Tommy didn’t know.

His mom had tried talking him into coming home for Christmas, but he’d already committed to visiting David and Sam. That conversation, the morning that his parents had left to go back to Angel Grove, had gone over like a lead balloon. If it hadn’t been for his dad, he and his mom would have gotten into another argument, which he wanted to avoid right now. The last thing Abigail needed to see was him arguing with his mom. She might never be comfortable with arguments; Rocky knew she needed to have reassurance that he would still love her if they argued and had told Tommy as much.

He’d sighed; Abigail was too eager to please sometimes. Rocky told him it was normal for abused people of any age to want to avoid conflict. Tommy also knew that he caved way too easy with her sometimes; the only problem was Abigail was all too willing to follow his rules. Sure, she’d gotten in trouble a couple of times, but accepted her punishment without complaint. There’d been several times she’d teased him, but hadn’t done that all that often, especially lately.

He was also starting to notice that she was starting to hang back in new situations; Tommy didn’t know if that was because of she was going through one new thing too many or it was something else. He knew having a good support system was important; he was doing his best to be a supportive dad and hoped it was enough. Rocky warned him that she would have days where she wouldn’t have much of a mental or emotional limit for things even normally within her normal comfort range now that she trusted him completely and was comfortable with him. Rocky could tell that she’d had those issues before, but hadn’t been willing or able to deal them at the time.

She’d needed the time to trust him; adding her Ranger duties to the mix hadn’t exactly been easy. Both he and Rocky theorized that working with him and the Dino Rangers as a team may have helped with the whole trust issue. The fact that she was opening up and showing her emotions more often was a good thing, even when she was in a bad place. When he’d asked why, she’d responded that she knew that she had people that she trusted to catch her when she needed the help. She’d told him that he’d been the first that she’d been able to trust completely; him being there for as many nightmares as she’d had certainly helped in that.

Rocky had been the second; it was a close tie for third between Hayley and the individual members of the teen Dino Rangers. Kat had been right behind, as had his brother David and David’s dad Sam Trueheart. She also had 5 wonderful friends her age in Reefside, along her own older brother; Tommy knew she had a stronger support system here in Reefside than she’d had in Angel Grove. This also included Ms. Andrews, her social worker, though he knew Abigail didn’t have as much interaction with the older lady as she had with everyone else.

One of the things that Tommy noticed as time went on was that Abigail was letting Tommy, Kat, and the other adults handle things that they needed to handle instead of trying to do everything herself. Slowly, her instinct to run when she got overwhelmed or scared was slipping by the wayside and he couldn’t be prouder. He knew that meant that she was not just comfortable handing over some responsibilities to the adults, but also growing in confidence in her own ability to deal. He’d seen that in many martial arts students over the years; Abigail was no different. Martial arts taught more than physical defense skills and he had no doubt that played a role in her ever-strengthening self-confidence.

He also noticed that she was starting to treat Sam Trueheart almost as a grandfather, despite not knowing the man well. She’d only interacted with him over the weekend of Tommy’s wedding to Kat and over Thanksgiving. Sam, however, had a way of making people trust him; Tommy had trusted the older man when they’d first met on his Zeo Quest and that trust never wavered. He had no doubt Abigail would quickly feel as at home here as she did in Reefside; Sam had helped Tommy feel the same way his first visit to the reservation when he’d come to visit David after the Zeo Quest was over.

He just wished his own parents helped Abigail feel the same way; while his dad was working on it, his mother’s treatment of Abigail was doing damage. It was a huge reason he’d not taken his family back to Angel Grove for Christmas. Normally, protecting one’s child or children from that type of harm was primarily done when they were young; by the time those same children got to Abigail’s age, they would hopefully have the skills to start protecting themselves. Due to Ernie’s treatment of her, Abigail needed that extra protection for as long as Tommy and Katherine could give it.

At the same time, he couldn’t skimp on her Ranger training at all. It was why he was taking her to Ninjor and his Temple; with time running out of how long she could use Trini’s coin, Ninjor was the best person to be able to aid them in turning her sketches into reality. On top of that, with Zordon gone, the ninja was the best source of wisdom Earth had on how to deal with Ivan. Dimitria hadn’t been able to advise them that much; the Order of Meridian was no more and nobody had been able to find Dulcea. The warrior hadn’t been on Phaedos when Andros had gone to check. He’d left a way for her to contact Dino Command if she ever returned to Phaedos, with the information about Ivan.

The trip to the Temple of Power was going to wait until after Christmas; Tommy knew what it was like to be a Power Ranger as a teenager. He wanted to help Abigail find a good balance between her civilian life and her Ranger duties. If that meant that being a Power Ranger took a backseat for the next couple of weeks, so be it. Conner and the others were back in Reefside and knew to call Tommy and Abigail in the case of an emergency. On the flipside, Tommy had no illusions that the trip to see Ninjor was going to be easy; far from it. It was one thing if the person visiting was someone like Tommy, who’d made his first trip years ago; someone like Abigail who’d never been was going to have opposition.

Chapter Text

Location: The Trueheart home, Christmas Day POV: Abigail/1^st person

The days that I’d been visiting Uncle David and his dad had been surreal. Sure, I’d known Uncle David and Sam for quite a while, but meeting other members of their tribe was quite a culture shock. I’d stuck close to either my parents, Uncle David, or Sam Trueheart every time we left the house due to the fact that I didn’t want to accidentally say or do something that was taboo. I’d learned some things from Uncle David and Sam; Dad had passed on what he remembered, but I knew that wasn’t enough. Of course, watching Uncle David grin when he saw Dad had started growing his hair out again was something else. I’d been confused until Sam took it easy on me and explained that his people didn’t cut their hair except in instances of grief or remorse. I’d seen photos of Dad as a teen; his hair was just past the top of his shoulders. Uncle David kept his hair at almost the same length, as did Sam.

I’d actually gone out one day with Sam; the older man actually liked looking for arrowheads. I’d noticed Dad and Uncle David both wore a necklace with half of one on it. It was something that both men said had a long story behind it, but neither really wanted to rehash it. I didn’t press; I knew Dad had a lot about his Ranger past he didn’t care to talk about. Like the Dino Rangers, I’d seen the emergency only video that detailed the history of the Power Rangers, mostly of Earth’s own teams and two alien teams. Past that, I didn’t know much and I was fine with that; having now served as a Power Ranger for 8 months, I could understand why. It wasn’t easy to talk about what went on, even with former Rangers like Rocky.

I could also understand the danger a lot better; it was one thing to hear about it from someone like Jason or Aunt Kimberly, but something else to live it. This was on top of my civilian life; I honestly didn’t know which was more stressful. That was why I was glad Dad helped me make sure I took time to have fun and relax, even if it was something as simple as either hanging out at CyberSpace or kicking around a soccer ball with Francine.

Of course, Dad had cracked up one Saturday when he’d come into Hayley’s to find me in a video game battle against Ethan and Patton. While I didn’t have as much fun playing video games as the two boys did, it had been a fun day. Ethan promised to teach me some of the various card games; we’d started with Magic: The Gathering. He seemed to take it personally that I’d not found some form of video or playing card game that I was interested in. Even Trent had the occasional bit of fun playing video and card games, although Devin was Ethan’s playing partner the most out of the recently graduated teens. From what I understood, Devin had actually beaten Ethan in the Demolition Man tournament earlier in the year that was held at CyberSpace for the 18 and under crowd, to Ethan’s shock.

I did have one day between when we’d arrived and Christmas Eve where I found myself drawn into a game of soccer among the teens on the reservation. I’d had a lot of fun and I’d made promises to participate in more games before heading back to Reefside. I did tell them I was going to spending some time with my dad; turned out, everyone on the reservation knew by this point knew Dad and his connection to Sam and David Trueheart. The teens I’d played soccer with promised to teach me what I needed to know; learning from Sam or Uncle David was one thing, but there were some things best learned from my peers.

I wasn’t expected to follow tribal rules exactly, as Dad wasn’t a recognized legal member of the tribe, but I silently vowed to follow his example. It just seemed common curtesy to follow their customs while on tribal land, even though I wasn’t of their culture. I’d admitted to the teens I’d played soccer with that all I knew of their culture was what Dad and Uncle David had taught me; Sam had taught me some, but he’d spent most of the time during Dad and Katherine’s wedding and Thanksgiving break getting to know me.

One of the things I had mentioned in that conversation with the teens was the fact that I didn’t even know what questions to ask or how to frame them without breaking any unspoken rules. When one of the adults ‘supervising’ heard that, he said that it was good that I recognized that fact. It was one thing to study Mom’s culture and language in high school; Reefside High had no such classes or clubs to learn about Native American culture. Angel Grove Youth Center occasionally hosted days where Sam’s tribe and other local tribes came in to talk about their culture, but I’d not remembered much.

I knew that they did occasionally get tourists in from Angel Grove and the surrounding areas; one of the adults assumed I was one such tourist that had gotten lost. The others were quick to correct him; he scowled at that. I found out that day that not everyone was happy that Dad and Uncle David were in contact, nor that Dad visited on occasion. It made sense; Dad hadn’t been raised in their culture, even though he did his best to respect it. If Dad had been raised by Sam Trueheart alongside David, that would have been one thing, but he’d not been.

I knew Dad’s parents had wanted us to visit for Christmas, but I didn’t want to go. His dad, I could handle; he wanted to get to know me as I am. His mom, on the other had…even after our conversation on Thanksgiving, not so much. She was still expecting me to be like Cassidy or any number of girls my age, interested in fashion and makeup. I didn’t mind going clothes shopping, but it wasn’t something I did because I enjoyed it. If I was going shopping, it was for something I was interested; Dad and the others knew not to leave me alone in the art shop for too long, though Trent and I could get lost in there for hours, especially when they had new items in.

His dad had actually come up by himself one day; that had surprised Dad and I both. He just smiled and said that he didn’t trust that the gifts he’d picked out would actually get delivered if he didn’t. When I opened my gift from him, I could understand why. He’d gotten me a gift certificate to the art store in Reefside; his wife had (rather predictably) gotten me something I’d neither wear nor use. Unlike everything else she’d given me, this had been personalized with my alias. I’d have to shove the purse into the back of my closet. My shoulder bag worked just fine, thank you kindly. She meant well, but I just wish she’d listen to what I’d said I liked. I’d told her that I was happy with my shoulder bag and that any purse I was given was just going to be donated or otherwise given away.

Dad thought she was just glad to have a grandchild to spoil; he might be right, but that didn’t mean I wanted to spend time with her. She kept treating me like I didn’t know my own mind; just because I came into her son’s care from an abusive background didn’t mean I didn’t know what I liked and didn’t. I wasn’t a little kid; the fact that she tried treating me as such rankled. I knew Dad was keeping her away from me in part because of that and I appreciated that from him. He continued to prove that I hadn’t been wrong to trust him that day back in June; that Mom’s trust in him hadn’t been misplaced. It was a huge part of why I was able to call him Dad now; I hadn’t been sure I’d be able to get to that point with any new guardian.

It was also why I continued to follow his lead as a Power Ranger; Conner might be team lead in any other situation, but none of us were fooled. He and Dad shared command of the team, partially in deference to Dad’s experience in that regard. Conner, however, had been one of the three original wielders of the Dino Gems. Dad as the White Ranger aside, most team leads were Red Rangers. Even Dad’s original team had been led by Jason at first.

I was glad to be visiting Sam and Uncle David for more than just the fact that I enjoyed their company. After Thanksgiving’s…excitement, I was hoping for a quiet holiday and knew having a quiet holiday in Reefside right now was too much to ask for, even with Ivan off planet. Rito might be on our side as long as Ivan was still a threat, but Scorpina was firmly on Ivan’s side and as formidable as Ivan was. There had been a number of times where if I’d not had Dad and the other Dino Rangers for backup, I would have gotten seriously injured or killed in a one-on-one fight with her.

One of the things Dad was training me in was weapons, as I had access to Mom’s daggers as part of my suit. Normally, I wouldn’t have been trained in weapons use until I got further in my martial arts training, but it was a necessity right now. The grid had been helpful, but Dad’s training meant that I didn’t have to rely on the Grid for that knowledge anymore. I was also being trained in more than just the daggers; Dad was teaching me how to use a staff right now. I knew I’d learn how to use other bladed weapons at some point; Ranger or not, I would have learned how to use weapons as part of my martial arts training.

He was also catching me up on the training that David hadn’t been able to give me. I should have learned how to use daggers by now; Ba had David keep his weapons in a safe in the house. If David thought he could have gotten away with it, he would have taught me to use them, but it was too much of a risk. David had already risked a lot training me in karate, teaching me anything else would have been asking for trouble.

My paintings had been well received; Dad and Katherine both ended up wiping away tears when they unwrapped theirs and Dad ended up giving me a huge hug. He’d ended up confirming his Power Coin as the White Ranger had been one using the power of the White Tiger, but the stripes on his Zord were black. All he could figure is the colors I’d used for the stripes came from his original suit and I agreed, remembering the Ranger footage he’d collected. They’d wrapped me in a hug as a thank you; I understood how much the painting meant to them.

We all knew he’d hoped to have the adoption finalized by now, but Judge Giles wasn’t willing to sign off on the paperwork with Lt. Stone running his investigation. Giles’s niece worked as a forensic tech at the same lab Mr. Sanderson did; she’d been able to confirm he’d run a DNA test that Lt. Stone had dropped off the same day he’d come back to do a follow up interview. The gum I’d been chewing that day had vanished before I could throw it away; I realized he must have grabbed it. I’d learned in science class that DNA could be gotten from chewed gum; saliva was cheaper to use than blood and gave the same amount of DNA evidence.

I really wasn’t looking forward to the field trip; if Dad didn’t know me as well as he did, I’d fake being sick. I hadn’t gotten sick in years, though; Rangers could and did get ill-Kira had gotten over the flu just before we left. It meant that we’d been down a teammate when Scorpina had last attacked, which hadn’t been easy. I’d gotten used to fighting back-to-back with her and had to adjust; battle wasn’t the best time to learn to fight the same way with someone else. We knew that once we returned to Reefside that this would change in training. I needed to get comfortable fighting alongside each member of the team individually so this didn’t happen again. I also knew that, should it come time to form my own team, that we’d be running those same drills.

Sam had gotten me several books that he thought I’d like; he’d known some of my friends were going to overload me with craft supplies. Instead, the books were about local art history, a topic he thought I’d enjoy. He also ended up giving me an arrowhead necklace, saying something about a family tradition. Given that he was the one to give Dad and Uncle David their necklaces, my only question was if it was supposed to have any mystical powers. That got everyone laughing; I joined in a few seconds later.

I’d gotten a good pair of walking boots and a walking stick from Uncle David; he evidently knew of Dad’s plans. He also gave me a compass and a map of the entire Angel Grove area, not just Angel Grove or the reservation. I just raised an eyebrow at him and got a grin in response. Dad just chuckled at the gift; I’d expected practical gifts, but more from Dad and Katherine, not Uncle David.

I knew Dad had to have known about Uncle David’s gifts, because he’d helped me pack clothing suitable for a hike, save for boots, which I knew I didn’t have. When I asked Dad if we needed to get a pair, he told me not to worry about it. I had been puzzled at that, because he’d taught me to always wear suitable clothing, including footwear where appropriate, for whatever I was doing. I’d thought I’d be borrowing a pair of hiking boots from Katherine, given we wore the same size shoe.

Dad had gotten me a portfolio carrier for my artwork; the art store had one that I was saving up for and Dad knew it. My laptop bag had been what I’d been using, but that wasn’t ideal, given that I also carried my laptop in it. I wasn’t about to carry my sketchbooks in my backpack; most artists I knew were like that, including Trent. When one of the middle school students who hung out at CyberSpace asked that, he got treated to a passionate lecture from Trent and I on exactly why that was a bad idea. By the time we were done, Conner and Ethan were struggling to keep from laughing, though how much of it was the fact that they didn’t want the poor tween from thinking that they were laughing at him and how much of it was the fact that they knew how Trent and I would react, I’d never been entirely sure.

Katherine had gotten me the promise of a pet of my own; I’d actually thought of getting a couple of kittens. Dad was fine with it and cats were a lot less maintenance than most pets. The only reason they’d not gotten the pet first was twofold. First: we were going to be visiting Sam and Uncle David for most of the Christmas holidays. Second was the fact that they didn’t know what kind of pet I wanted. There’d not been enough time before we left to pick up everything we needed for the cat or kittens either. She’d also gotten me a decent hiking backpack to put everything in.

The toughest gift to open had been from Ba. He’d written down every memory, with occasional photos, that he had of Mom. I knew just how much it had taken him to create the gift; David had said that he’d started it when the school year had started. The note inside said that he wished he’d shared these memories with me as I’d grown up; I’d barely touched it, crying when I’d read his note. Dad simply took time to comfort me; he knew how difficult it was for me to see that gift. We knew I also needed that gift; I vowed to take it with me when Ba and I were ready to meet.

He’d known how hard it was for me to send Ba a Christmas gift; I’d sent him, at his request, a sketchbook full of some of my favorite spots in Reefside itself, minus Dad’s house, along with sketches of my friends. I’d done individual sketches of everyone, with their known hobbies. For my friends like Conner and Francine, I’d sketched them against the background of Reefside High’s soccer field. Ethan, Kira, and Patton had been sketched at Hayley’s, but Kira had been in the middle of a performance in my sketch. Johnny and Steve had just been done in general sketches as I didn’t know what they did when they weren’t hanging out at CyberSpace. I’d also done a group sketch of us from a photo Hayley had taken of us.

As much as I’d wanted to include sketches of Dad, Katherine, and I at home, Rocky and Ba both said that Ba wasn’t ready to find out just yet. I wasn’t ready to let him know either, not with Lt. Stone trying to find me. Ba had let me know he’d had to take the sketches he kept at the Youth Center back to his house; someone had tried breaking into the Youth Center the same night he’d accidentally lost his desk key. No proof, but we both suspected the detective. Ba had finally installed the security camera in the hallway to that door; I’d known that particular door had been a security issue for years.

Dad had planned for the hike to meet his friend to take place two days after Christmas, but part of that had been because he knew Ba's gift was bound to bring up old issues and he wanted to give me at least one day to bounce back, something I was grateful for. I’d had several nightmares because of those issues being brought up and he was there for each of them. Katherine had come in for some of them; one of my more common nightmares was that Lt. Stone was going to find me wherever I was at. They were great at calming my fears; Sam even said that Lt. Stone wouldn’t even find me here. I wouldn’t find out until years later that those in charge knew that the Angel Grove detective was trying to interfere with my adoption; most of them viewed Dad as part of Sam’s family even with the surnames being different.

Katherine was going to be spending the time we were going to be gone with Sam and Uncle David; she was safer on the reservation then she’d be in Reefside, or so we hoped. I’d spent part of the 26^th packing up everything I knew I’d need to take. The rest of the day was getting used to my new boots; there’d not been enough time to actually break them in.

Dad actually ran through how to adjust my martial arts skills to the outfit I was planning on wearing, including how to use my walking stick as a staff. The toughest thing was adjusting everything to the boots; formal lessons and general sparring was done barefoot. I had the moves committed to muscle memory and it didn’t take that long to adjust to a new set of footwear. I didn’t ask why Dad wanted to run through the moves with me in my new shoes; he usually had a good reason.

The only times I’d trained in shoes was training with the Dino Rangers; some of the former Ninja Rangers actually joined in that training as opponents. That had been a surprise the first time they’d done that; the teen Dino Rangers and I devised a plan of action the next time they’d joined in and managed to turn the tables on them. Dad and Sensei Watanabe, while not surprised at that, had to keep themselves from laughing at the former Ninja Storm team.

Aside from the obvious things I was taking with me-walking stick, water bottle, snacks, etc-I had been asked to also carry my morpher and sketches in my shoulder bag. I looked surprised at that; this friend of Dad’s must be a Ranger ally. I knew that they had allies that I’d never even met; apparently, I was about to meet one of them. Of course, I was in the habit of carrying the morpher everywhere, so that wasn’t an issue, but I wasn’t sure why Dad wanted me to bring the sketches I’d done all those months ago.

I looked at Dad when we got to the trailhead; he usually had a similar expression when we were dealing with the Tengu and Ivan’s Oozemen, or any other Ranger opponent. That look usually meant he was expecting some form of Ranger trouble. I knew when he had that look on his face that I not only needed to be on my guard, but also be prepared to follow any orders he gave me. There was a time and place to talk about what he wanted me to do; facing off against Ranger-level opponents was neither the time nor the place.

“Abigail, the minute I tell you to morph, do it and not before. Where we’re headed is to visit someone who can help figure out what’s going on with your link and powers. What Dimitria gave us helped, but it doesn’t have all the answers; not even Dimitria knows what’s going on. I’m hoping my friend does; if Zordon was still alive, I’d have gone to him.” I knew what he wasn’t saying; this friend had been an early ally of theirs. Mentioning Zordon meant that this friend went back to his early days as a Power Ranger.

“Expecting trouble, Dad?” I asked as I shouldered my backpack and shoulder bag. The shoulder bag held my sketches while the backpack held my snacks and water bottles. I’d finally gotten a hang of calling my morpher at will, but found my limit as to the distance we had to be away. Unlike Dad’s Dino morpher, which was connected to his communicator, this morpher wasn’t. We’d tested that early on once I’d revealed myself to the team because of that fact. My morpher was in its usual spot in my shoulder bag; the backpack was too much of a danger for a goon.

“I did the first time I visited; my first team all did that trip, minus Jason, Zack and your mom but plus Adam, Rocky, and Aisha. Subsequent visits had no such trouble. This is, however, your first visit.”

“Right, be on my guard and be prepared for anything. Nothing new.” Dad smiled briefly at my attempt at levity, but returned to being serious. To fool most people who would either be watching or that we’d likely run into on our walk, we just looked like a father and daughter on a hike. Nobody would look twice at his Jeep staying there for several days as there happened to be cabins near the trailhead; most people would think we were staying in one of them. Dad wasn’t sure how long this was going to take, but he didn’t think we’d be gone for the entirety of break either.

I’d hoped not either as I was hoping to hang out with some of the teens on the reservation. I’d had a lot of fun hanging out with them when I’d had the chance; Dad hadn’t been the only one glad of the fact that I was fitting in here.

Dad had been right to expect trouble; we’d actually gotten attacked by Tengu warriors. I’d been expecting Oozemen, but that would require Ivan to actually be on planet. He was off planet, according to Rito, a fact that we were grateful for. Dad just groaned; apparently, his first team had faced off against them on his first trip. We’d been able to drive them off without morphing, but I’d had to draw on the Grid with some of them. I’d never consciously drawn on the Grid out of morph except to work on controlling my gifts or when I’d gotten the initial information about Ivan.

I was hoping to get some answers myself; the day I’d done the sketches had scared me. The last thing I wanted to do was lose control of my powers irregardless of if I was suited up or not. Dad agreed, as had Trent; both remembered just how out of control Trent’s White Dino powers had been when controlled by evil powers.

As soon as the Tengu fled, I had to take several minutes to regain my bearings. Dad had been right there, allowing me to hold on to him so I didn’t collapse. Unlike the other times I’d been through this, we had no time for me to rest. Dad helped me get to a good stopping place and helped me sit down. Drawing on the Grid like that took energy, energy that I needed to replace. It had been part of why Dad had been so insistent that food and water had to be taken with us. This had been a luxury that he’d not had on his first trip and he wanted to make sure we had some with us.

Once we were sure I wouldn’t collapse, we finished our hike to where his friend lived. I was surprised when we stopped at a rock outcropping. Dad grinned when I gave him a puzzled look before he rolled a stone away.

“Your friend lives in a cave?” I failed to not sound incredulous.

“Not…exactly. It’s hard to explain. I know what you’re feeling, Abigail. I felt similarly when Zordon told us; he thought Ninjor a myth.” Ninjor? That was a new one; whoever this Ninjor was, his parents must have hated him or each other to give him a name like that. “You need to trust me in this.”

I flashed him a grin. “Always, Dad, even when you lead me into really weird situations. Well, weird if you’re not a Ranger, anyway.” I followed him into the cave system, jumping when the stone rolled back to cover the entrance. “Lovely. Now we’re trapped.”

“No, we’re not. It’s part of the security system here, Abigail.” With that, we started walking further in. I’d pulled out a flashlight when I’d finished my food and water, but after a bit, I had to turn it off due to the cave system having some form of light that I couldn’t find the source of. We ended up going through a false wall that I could have sworn was a real wall before eventually reaching a gold gate. Normally, a gate made out of gold would be impractical as heck, but from the look and feel of things, it was primarily decorative. This area had a similar feel to Dino Command; I’d been steadily growing aware of it as we grew closer. I just hoped it wouldn’t overwhelm me; it would be embarrassing as all get out to faint just before meeting this Ninjor.

“Dad…” I started slowly as the gates opened outwards and forced my panic down the best I could. I followed him in through the gates, which closed behind us. “Your friend lives here? There doesn’t look like a home; it looks more like some form of temple.”

Location: Temple of Power, same day. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy looked at Abigail worriedly; he knew her well enough to know she was barely holding on to everything. Even without the stress in her civilian life, he knew she feared losing control of her powers, not that he blamed her. He’d seen her the day she’d created the sketches; she had a visible aura, which tended to happen when the Grid was past her control. The only other time the Grid created an aura around a Power Ranger was during the morphing sequence; it was why he wanted to speak to Ninjor. The older ninja would know what was going on; despite what Hayley and the other Dino Rangers voiced on more than one occasion, Tommy was not all-knowing about the Grid.

Sometimes, Tommy wondered if the stress in her civilian life was influencing her control of her powers or sometimes lack of. It was going to be one of the things he was going to ask Ninjor today, along with a whole host of other things. He knew Abigail wanted to know what the sketches meant; Tommy suspected that she would have to be the one to turn them into reality. Despite what she and Dimitria thought, he’d found the Dino Gems and recognized them for what they were. Hayley had been the one to create the morphers from what he’d been able to tell her and wasn’t that a shock.

Walking over to Ninjor’s bottle, he called out his friend’s name. He wasn’t surprised when Ninjor reacted similarly to how he’d reacted when Tommy and the others had come the first time. He had no patience for his friend’s games when his children’s life was hanging in the balance. Tommy was under no illusions that if they didn’t get the answers they needed, Ivan would succeed.

“Ninjor, now is not the time for that. Ivan Ooze is free and there’s a lot of other things going on that we need your help with.” Ninjor appeared not long after that, pissed.

“And why is this the first I’m hearing of it?”

“It’s not his fault,” Abigail said, cutting off Ninjor’s rant before the ninja could build up steam. “I’m afraid some of the blame lies with me.” Tommy watched as Ninjor took a long, hard look at his daughter. Abigail returned the look, not backing down. He wasn’t surprised to see Abigail looking determined; all the Rangers Tommy knew had a look that meant that the only way they were backing down against an opponent was either via orders or over their dead body. Abigail’s face showed that same look. Ninjor finally backed down after the staring contest.

“It’s a long story, Ninjor.” Tommy explained the entire situation, with Abigail’s help, though they left out the details about Abigail’s birth parents. It didn’t matter, as Ninjor knew what they weren’t saying.

“She has a Power Ranger for a parent.” Tommy and Abigail tried and failed to keep their surprise off their faces. “I created the coin she uses; I know the aura of it in a Ranger. She’s its third user within the last 30 years and she’s related to the first. I knew when you first brought your team in that Aisha wasn’t that coin’s first user. She brought it and the other coins to me years ago, not long after I moved the Temple here. At her request, I fixed them and restored their links to the Grid, though at a low level.”

“She told you what she was planning to do with it, didn’t she?” Abigail asked softly.

“She said it had been your mother’s plan, young one. She remembered what had happened to Adam when he tried using his coin; she did not want a repeat of the situation.” That was a relief to hear; Adam and Carlos had told him the full story once. He was glad Aisha had been responsible for making sure that Abigail wouldn’t get hurt trying to morph. Tommy was wholly unsurprised when Ninjor agreed to help, even without knowing what they were asking of him. “I do not know where Dulcea is, Tommy, if she’s not on her home planet,” Ninjor replied when Tommy asked after the only other person who knew how to defeat Ivan. Ninjor rarely left the Temple unless called upon by a Ranger team or Ninja hopefuls and had never faced off against the purple megalomaniac.

Tommy, though, finally got to see his friend speechless when Abigail brought out her sketches.

“What about these? You know what I am and likely better than I what I’m capable of. Weird stuff’s been happening since I started using this morpher, weird even for the Power Rangers.”

Ninjor’s return question wasn’t aimed at Abigail, who’d asked, but rather to Tommy. “How much has Zordon told you?” Tommy just shook his head.

“Not much; he died years ago to help save the universe. When a wormhole opened to allow him to return to Eltar and his family, he took the chance. He eventually was captured by Dark Specter and died sacrificing himself to prevent Dark Spector from taking over the universe. What knowledge he had left to pass on died with him; it’s why I brought Abigail to you. Outside of when she morphs, she’s got a tough time controlling her powers and there’s only so much I can do to help. Dimitria passed on a book, but it’s not been able to help with everything.”

“If it’s the same book I’m thinking of, that doesn’t surprise me. That particular book is designed for people from Inquiris, not Earth.” Ninjor snorted, becoming uncommonly serious for a ninja who sounded like the titular character from the Dudley Do-Right cartoons. “There’s no book for Earth yet; nobody thought Earth would get to this point for at least a century of constant planetary teams.”

“That’s not reassuring one bit, dude. I running out of time; if I can’t get a hang of these powers, I’m dead!” The fear evident in Abigail’s voice showed on her face. Tommy knew he wasn’t much better. “The day I made those sketches, I couldn’t get my powers under control. If Dad hadn’t gotten there when he did, I’m not sure what would have happened!”

“Only if you let fear rule, child, will you die. You were right bringing her here, Tommy.”

“You can help her?” Tommy could not hold back his relief.

“Only so far. She must do most of the work, though. It will not be easy on either of you; it never is for those who are going through this. It is not without risk, but I believe you can do this, Abigail. I wouldn’t bring it up otherwise.”

“This isn’t the first time you’ve done this,” Tommy all but accused. Ninjor wouldn’t even look his friend in the eye. Tommy could feel his stomach clench at that; it was that dangerous.

“No. I can’t even tell you how long it will take, though I know you don’t have long. All I can say is that it is up to Abigail here how long it will take. I will answer everything about the sketches after that.” What followed was an explanation of what Abigail needed to do. Ninjor was right, as it was hard on the two just hearing it. Abigail knew if she spent too long doing this, as scared as she was, she’d never wake up. At the same time, if she didn’t do this, she’d not be able to protect her baby brother, who would be the first of many innocents hurt if Ivan was allowed to succeed. Slowly, determination to do what was needed overcame her fear; a determination that was common in all who the grid picked to become Power Rangers.

The hardest part for Tommy and Abigail both was that he couldn’t act as spotter for her; she had to do this on her own. Part of what needed to be done was scary for a different reason; one wrong move and she’d be on fire due to the lit candles. Tommy was surprised that Ninjor was using white candles as it was a recognized Ranger color. Tommy was supposed to help light them in Trini’s place, as Ninjor recognized him as Abigail’s other Ranger parent, even if there wasn’t a blood relation. Ernie, even if he’d not become abusive, would not have been able to help. Potential or not, only those who’d had their Potential as a Power Ranger realized could help.

“Don’t give me that look; this won’t drain your powers. The candles aren’t made out that type of wax, Tommy. I’m going to warn both of you right now, it’s going to be that much harder for you to use your mother’s morpher, Abigail. If it weren’t for Ivan, this would happen naturally after February, but you don’t have that type of time. If she weren’t so close to having her active link become permanent, I wouldn’t even be doing this right now. She is at the right point in this for me to help; if she wasn’t, we would have to wait.”

“We can’t afford to; she is not the only member of the Ranger family at risk if Ivan is allowed to succeed. He’s currently off planet, looking for you. If he finds out you’re on Earth….”

“Or if we tried this while he was on Earth. I get the feeling that is going to let off some form of beacon, either literal or just within the community of those sensitive among our allies and enemies on Earth,” Abigail finished where Tommy left off, grim as they all were. “You’re right, Ninjor, I have to take this risk. Doing what we do is risky, but if we don’t take that risk, then evil will rule. I will NOT stand by and do nothing if I can help it. That’s why I used the morpher in the first place; innocents would have been hurt if I didn’t. Ivan would have succeeded in his plans by now if I hadn’t. Even if I’m no longer able to morph, I will not stop trying to fight evil, powers or not.”

Tommy felt pride hearing Abigail say that; he and his team had said something along the same lines when they’d first came to Ninjor for help. Ninjor evidently remembered that same visit, but was as facially unreadable as ever. He knew that this was the moment Ninjor knew that he wasn’t making a mistake in helping them; he’d never be able to pinpoint just how he knew, but Tommy just did.

One of the things Ninjor explained was that part of what was going to happen was going to find out just what Abigail’s Ranger color and coin would be. That’s when the sketches were laid out on the closest flat surface; if Ninjor frowned, neither Tommy nor Abigail was able to tell.

“Why does this sketch not have the coin filled in?” Ninjor asked, pointing to the one unfinished sketch.

“I’ve not been able to figure out what needs to go in it. I have the feeling that it may be my suit; if you notice, the suit itself doesn’t have much in the way of color either, except for the diamonds.” Well, Abigail couldn’t see the color on it, anyway; Tommy and Ninjor shared a look as the suit was purple. The shirt Abigail chose to wear on this trip was her favorite shade of purple instead of the yellow she’d started to wear more often. The diamonds on the sketch of the suit in question, however, were yellow instead of the white that the other suits had. Tommy knew, however, that the sketch hadn’t been colored in except for the diamonds when he’d first picked them up.

As Abigail prepared to get started, Tommy grabbed Ninjor’s arm. “What the hell, Ninjor? You and I both know that suit has a color,” Tommy hissed.

“All I can say is she’s closer to becoming Earth’s first mentor born on this planet with the ability to create physical links herself. Previous morphers that were created after you left Turbo were only allowed because the team mentors found the physical links or the tech to create such was delivered to them. Even your Dino team is that way, Tommy, as I’m sure you know. Abigail can create the physical links herself. This will be the first step in her being able to do so, but the process is unique to each creator. I can’t say what she’ll be able to do or what they’ll look like; she’s still at least 6 weeks away from being able to do so. She won’t be able to take over the role of mentor for a long time; you’ll have to have to act in that stead for her first team.”

“I was planning on it; this may be the first time a Red Ranger won’t be immediate lead or maybe even second in command.” Ninjor only nodded; it was time to start. Tommy could only watch as Abigail dropped into a meditative trance. She hadn’t been allowed to bring her morpher into the circle of candles at all; in fact, Ninjor had Tommy take it out of the general circle of the Temple, but still close by. There had been several times where the ninja had to physically restrain Tommy or do something to silence him; neither man could speak a word until Abigail awoke of her own accord. He hadn’t even been allowed to aid her in standing up when it was all finished as much as she needed the aid.

Tommy did have to catch Abigail once she was safely able to leave the circle of candles. None of them had foreseen just how much this would take out of her; Tommy knew she was going to have to rest the next several days. From what Ninjor told him as Abigail rested, this was the youngest someone had gone through this ritual. Most who did had been a Power Ranger for several years at this point, with powers granted to them by the team’s mentor; Tommy had been through a version of it when he’d helped Zordon and Alpha 5 create the White Tiger power coin and he’d only been a year older than Abigail was at this point in time. Why Zordon had left before passing on what information he could, neither Tommy nor Ninjor could understand. All the two could figure was Zordon had been trapped on Earth long enough that he was homesick.

Tommy also knew, as much as Abigail needed to rest, they also needed to head back to the reservation. He’d lost track of time and he knew his phone didn’t get service down here. He’d scared a few of his friends when he’d helped Ninjor move the Temple, as they’d tried getting a hold of him. How Aisha had managed to come here, he didn’t know. He knew he’d passed on the message that Ninjor and the Temple had been moved from the Desert of Despair, but he’d kept the information to a select group.

As soon as Abigail could stand up and walk without worry of collapse, they headed out after thanking Ninjor. Tommy did have to switch backpacks with Abigail; despite having drunk most of her water, her backpack was surprisingly heavy. His backpack just had the weight of what snacks were left, as he’d grabbed the last two water bottles out of it before leaving the Temple. They had no trouble on the way back to the Jeep; Abigail ended up falling asleep almost as soon as her seat belt was buckled. He checked his phone; they’d only been gone 24 hours. He was surprised at that, as he didn’t feel tired. He knew he’d gotten a bit of rest while Abigail did after the ceremony; that must have been enough.

Before taking off, he called Kat to let her know that they were on their way back. She’d put the phone on speaker so Sam and David could hear.

“How is she?”

“Exhausted; the trip went well. I’ll let you know what happened when we get back. I don’t even know if she’ll register when we arrive. She’s fast asleep, Kat; fell asleep right after buckling her seat belt.”

“I’ll get her pajamas and a change of underwear out for her, then, and help her change if she needs it. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.” Tommy just smiled before saying goodbye and hanging up. It was moments like this that made him especially glad that the two most important women in his life got along. Kat was the first real mother figure that Abigail had, her talks with Trini in the Grid aside. As much as Abigail needed a positive father figure, she also needed a mother. She might never call Kat ‘Mom’ like she did him with ‘Dad’, but Kat’s influence wasn’t to be ignored either.

It didn’t take Tommy long to return to the reservation; Abigail had woken up partway through the drive, but she wasn’t in much of a mood to talk. Once they got back to the Trueheart home, she was mostly alert and hungry. Tommy had expected this; despite the food they’d packed, it had primarily been food fit to pack on a hiking trip. He was grateful for the fact that he’d emptied what snacks he had left and stuck them in the glove box; she ended up finishing the bag of jerky, but didn’t touch anything else. She’d also used up a lot of energy and needed to eat and rest for the next several days. He hoped she’d be back up on her feet before they had to leave to head back to Reefside; he knew she’d hoped to have some more fun with the other teens in the area before break ended.

They didn’t have to do much when they got back to the house; David just grabbed her backpack as she got out of the passenger seat. All Tommy had to do was grab his and the remainder of the snacks along with the walking sticks. The first thing everyone did was make sure that Abigail was alright; they headed in soon after. All Sam would tell the teens that came up was that Tommy and Abigail (not that he used her real name) had gone for a hike and gotten lost. It helped that they looked like they’d been through the hike from hell.

The minute Abigail fell asleep, Kat turned to her husband and asked what happened. Despite Abigail sleeping deeply, they kept their conversation quiet; neither wanted to wake her up nor leave her side.

“Honestly, it’s hard to explain, but we were able to get the answers we needed. Remember Ninjor? He’s on Earth now.”

“I remember you telling me that he might have answers to what was going on with Abigail.”

“He did; it’s why she’s tired and hungry. What she needed to do took a lot out of her, but the gist is Ivan’s original plan won’t work.” Tommy didn’t get any further before Kat hugged him, crying tears of relief. He didn’t blame her; he was relieved as well. Neither liked the idea of Abigail being mind controlled; they’d both been through it and were glad that Abigail would be spared that for the time being.

He looked up from holding Kat to see his brother and Sam at Abigail’s bedroom doorway. He nodded and they joined him in her room. He quietly explained the same thing he’d told them outside, but with more detail. He didn’t want to leave her side in case of nightmares, but David insisted. Tommy allowed his older brother to lead him out of the room, Sam leading the way to the kitchen.

“Tommy, you’ve been through a lot the last 24 hours; let Katherine sit with her for the time being. She’s been worried about the both of you; you know if it weren’t for her pregnancy, she’d have gone on that hike too. Right now, you need in no particular order, rest, food, and a shower. Abigail needs a shower too, but even Dad could tell that she would have fallen asleep in the bathtub or shower.”

“David’s right, Tommy. Eat, shower, and get some rest.” Tommy wasn’t about to argue with Sam; he knew that the two were right. Now that he was back at the reservation, his exhaustion was catching up with him, as was his hunger. He also knew, for Abigail’s sake if nothing else, that he needed to take care of himself. He’d seen what happened to her when a parent didn’t care for themselves; he needed to do better than Ernie did.

That hadn’t meant that he didn’t go to her room after his shower; she was still fast asleep and dreaming by the looks of it. Kat looked at him, smiling as he joined her by their daughter’s side.

“She’s fine, Tommy. Get some sleep; you need it as much as she does. David and Sam are here if she has a nightmare.” He headed to bed not long after that, too tired to argue, but also trusting his family to have his back and keep watch. When he woke up, it was dark out; the sun having several hours previously. When he got downstairs, he found Abigail was awake as well, and looked about as exhausted as he still felt.

“How are you?” They asked each other at the same time, getting the other to laugh. Abigail got up to give Tommy a hug, leaving her half-eaten dinner plate on the table.

“I’m fine, Dad. No nightmares, just normal-weird dreams for me. Been breaking in a new sketchbook drawing them all down.” Tommy knew that was Abigail’s normal custom with the weirder of her non-nightmare dreams and was glad that she had a way to put them down instead of trying to describe them. He’d seen some of those dream sketches; the animals in the painting she’d done of them had come straight from her dreams.

Speaking of that painting, he had been touched by it, as had Kat. He knew what Abigail had been trying to say in that painting; the fact that she’d found a way to include Sam and David in it said something more. She had included Ranger-associated animals that she thought fit the two with them, though they’d not been included in her dream sketchbooks. Sam had chuckled when he saw the two animals that she’d chosen for the two of them, but refused to explain. David outright laughed when the two brothers had gotten some alone time; Tommy and Abigail both knew his brother’s favorite animal, but she’d not used it. Both of the Truehearts had also been touched by the individual paintings she’d done for them; there’d been a note on the paintings of the animals that Tommy hadn’t even bothered to ask what was in them.

In the end, it had taken Abigail 4 days to recover from the trip to the Temple of Power, which was longer than normal for her. She usually bounced back in 2 days or less; but Tommy wasn’t about to force her to push herself to heal. He wondered how much of her recovery time the last time she’d overwhelmed herself like this was because she needed to go to some activity or because she was pushing herself too hard. Her Ranger duties likely fed into that as well; Tommy was glad that they were having this vacation. She needed the time for some R&R as much as he and Kat did.

Honestly, Ivan going off planet couldn’t have happened at a better time for them. Conner and the others could handle Scorpina, Rito, and the Tengu. Tommy, Abigail, and Kat had been under a lot of stress effectively from the time Aisha had given Abigail Trini’s morpher and communicator. While Tommy had plans on taking his family on vacation once their son was born and after Ivan was defeated, they needed a break before then. He’d hoped Thanksgiving would have been that break, but his mother’s behavior had prevented that.

He wasn’t about to push her to go through her new backpack either; once she was back on her feet, Tommy had fun watching her behave like a normal teenager. When she wasn’t spending time with them at the house, she was off playing soccer or otherwise hanging out with the teenagers her age on the reservation. She was also learning a lot about Sam and David’s tribe; information Tommy was sure was going to influence the animal on her Power Coin. Once she was up to looking at the sketches, she could see what Tommy and Ninjor had already seen that day.

He could tell she was itching to fill in the coin, but she’d admitted that once she did, she’d not be able to use her mom’s morpher and coin. She wasn’t quite ready to give that up yet. Tommy recalled the conversation with a small smile on his face. She’d tapped the pile of sketches, saying that once that coin was filled in, it would be time for the others. He understood what she meant in an instant; Tommy also knew that once she could no longer use Trini’s morpher, she would need to come to terms with it. His job at that point, as it had always been, would be to be there for her and support her.

Rocky had checked in with her while she was on vacation; he’d not wanted to intrude on a family vacation. Tommy knew that Abigail was going to need one heck of a therapy session once this vacation was over; she’d started filling in sketchbooks that she’d set aside for her therapy appointments. She’d had the occasional nightmare since the vacation started, but the worst had been Christmas Day. It was telling that she’d asked Tommy to hold on to Ernie’s gift to her; he promised to fill in detail when she was ready.

She had actually admitted she was, but the gift itself had thrown her for a loop. She wanted to wait until they got back to Reefside; despite the time she was out playing with those her age, she still wanted to spend time with Sam and David.

“She’s come a long way, Tommy.” He looked over to find David had joined him on the porch as they watched Abigail play soccer. “You’ve done a great job with her; she’s not the same girl she was when I first met her.”

“Thanks, David. I’ve always been careful not to mess things up with her; that was especially true in the beginning. I was terrified of messing up, still am.”

“You didn’t and you won’t. I still remember her calling you ‘Dr. Oliver’, even at the wedding. The fact that she calls you ‘dad’ now…” Tommy knew what his brother meant and glad Abigail cared for him that much. David’s next sentence caught him by surprise, though, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected. “Dad and I both agree, Tommy, no matter what the future holds, she will and does have a home here, same as you and Katherine. The same goes for her older brother, though Dad said that might be a harder sell to the rest of the tribe, but even if that doesn’t work out with him, he’ll at least be able to come and go to visit her.”

Tommy had to take a few moments before he was able to speak. “Thank you, David. I’ll have to remember to thank Sam too. She adores the two of you; don’t think I didn’t miss the fact that she calls you ‘uncle’ or that she’s trying to figure out what word for ‘grandpa’ she wants to call Sam. I know she’ll also appreciate that her brother would be able to come and visit at the very least; the two are close.” He grinned, realizing that neither his brother nor Abigail’s had actually met. “You’ll have to come to her soccer games once the season starts. I don’t know the schedule off the top of my head, as Coach Daveed hasn’t gotten that to me yet. It’s usually announced closer to March; tryouts and practices start at the end of February.” Given that David Burton was planning on also coming, this was going to be fun to watch the two meet. He knew Ernie wanted to see that meeting too, but it would look suspicious if he came up for the games.

The two dropped into quiet conversation as they watched Abigail play with the friends she’d made over her vacation. Kat was off with David’s girlfriend doing something; neither brother was interested in exactly what that was. Sam was busy that day, too, as he was involved in the tribal government; David had the day off from work, which was the only reason he was at the house.

The holiday break came sooner than Tommy and Abigail were ready for it to and they spent most of the day before they had to leave packing. None of them really wanted to leave, as the vacation had been wonderful for all of them. Abigail had gotten a well-deserved vacation where she didn’t have to worry about not just her pending adoption being sidelined or being yanked back to Angel Grove, but also from her Ranger duties. Tommy knew well how important it was to balance those duties with time to relax and recharge mentally and emotionally. The trip to seek Ninjor’s aid aside, this vacation had done that for the three of them. He just hoped it was enough for her to be able to shoulder what was coming next; he had no illusions that any attempt to break their family up wasn’t going to be public.

Once they got home and started unpacking everything, Tommy and Kat spent a good amount of time trying to find a good place to hang the painting Abigail had given them. From the looks of the painting and frame both, Tommy knew Abigail figured that it would be hung in the den, as it was the only room that had enough wall space to actually hang it. He was glad he’d not had a chance to have the picture that the painting was obviously based on enlarged; they’d have difficulty hanging both up then.

Of course, hanging it had to wait until Abigail was done unpacking and dealing with her dirty clothing. Neither Kat nor Tommy were comfortable with Kat being up on a ladder at 5 months pregnant. As far as laundry went, Kat volunteered to do it while Tommy and Abigail were hanging the painting, as there was a lot and it didn’t make sense to do separate loads for each person at this point in time.

The weirdest part of unpacking was when Abigail went to unpack her backpack, as she wanted to get the remainder of her hiking snacks out before too long. The bag wouldn’t unzip for her without Tommy in the room, a fact that both found odd. Even Kat hadn’t been able to unzip it and she’d been the first person Abigail had turned to, as Tommy had been hunting down a hammer and some nails at the time.

When they were finally able to get it unlocked, both active Rangers were shocked to find written instructions on how to create power coins and morphers. While Hayley had left her notes on how the Dino Morphers were created down in the Triceramax Command Center, which Abigail had dubbed ‘Dino Command’, Abigail wanted to compare the two to see how similar they were. There were also the materials she would need to shape the coins and morphers; the instructions said that though many had tried, nobody had managed to create the morphers and the power items out of thin air yet.

“That explains why the backpack was so heavy. Thanks for switching with me, Dad. Was too tired to carry that back to the Jeep at the time.” Tommy could hear the shock in her voice.

“Any time, Abigail.”

“I should probably take these down to Dino Command; with Francine coming over as often as she does, I really don’t want to leave these out in the open. Backpack, I don’t mind, but not this stuff. Not yet, anyway. I get the feeling one of the morphers is going to be hers; don’t ask me how I know.”

Tommy didn’t ask her to elaborate; he’d had the same feeling that Francine was destined to become a Power Ranger. It didn’t take them long to get everything down to the subbasement, but finding a good spot to put them was difficult. They’d had to create a space separate from the Grid links to the Dino morphers before the Grid would calm down.

Chapter Text

Location: Ivan’s lab, early January. POV: Ivan/3^rd person

When Ivan returned to his lab on Earth, he was in an even fouler mood than he’d been in when he’d left. The Temple of Power was no longer in the Desert of Despair and Ivan had practically torn the place apart. He finally found signs that Ninjor had moved the place when he found where the Temple used to be; tracing the residue, Ivan realized that the Temple had been on Earth the entire time. However, searching for it was not going to be easy. How the Temple of Power had been moved, Ivan didn’t know. He didn’t even think such a thing was possible, but apparently it was.

One of the things Ivan did notice, however, was the behavior of his two lieutenants. Rito’s loyalty had always been dubious, but Scorpina had been completely loyal, or so Ivan had thought. Now, though, she was warier of him than normal; Ivan hoped that it wasn’t due to some misplaced sentiment. She didn’t care for that idiotic skeleton, did she? After all, they’d traveled together for years after Rita and Zedd had defected to the side of the light and Scorpina had ranted about the injustice of it all to him early on. Ivan knew that there’d been a bit of competition between the two early in their working for him, but something had changed last month when Scorpina had to nurse Rito back to health.

Ivan would have to secure their loyalty in a different way. How, he didn’t know, but Ivan was confident that he’d figure it out. His usual methods would leave both of them brainless zombies of sorts; Ivan didn’t want that, at least not for Scorpina. Rito’s behavior wouldn’t change that much, Ivan thought, but Scorpina? Ivan didn’t want to lose that brilliance that she brought to the table. It was times like this that Ivan really wanted Finster around; he’d finally found that the alchemist was alive, but was long gone from wherever his hiding spot was. If Ivan hadn’t needed to get back to Earth, he would have searched for him. Ivan would have to figure out a different way of securing Scorpina’s loyalty again; he could use Rito. Earn that skeleton’s loyalty and Scorpina would be his loyal lieutenant again.

He ended seriously angry when he found out that that Black Dino Ranger and his ward had been away from Reefside at the same time as his own trip off planet. Scorpina had, however, taken advantage and done a two-prong attack, one on Reefside and one on the two Rangers when they were out for a hike. Scorpina had personally led the attack on Reefside; the Tengu who’d attacked Tommy and his ward had been driven off easily. Rito had been planned to lead the attack on the two Rangers by themselves, but he’d had a relapse in his healing, according to Scorpina. How true that was, Ivan didn’t care, but Scorpina was punished for her failures anyway. Ivan had learned his lesson from punishing Rito; all Scorpina would need was a few hours rest to recover.

Ivan, after catching up on his own rest, started making his own plans to attack. He knew the Yellow Ranger was nearing the end of her time using that coin; it was time for Ivan to lead the attacks to find a good place and time to kidnap the teen. If he timed the attack just right, he’d also get the coin, which would be a bonus. He started monitoring the computers to find out her routine, in the off chance that it had changed in the time that he’d been off-planet.

Location: Reefside, Hayley’s Cyberspace, the day before school resumes. POV: Abigail/1^st person

As much as I’d enjoyed Christmas break, I was glad to be back in Reefside and among my friends. The two weeks away had done a world of good and I found myself under a lot less stress than I’d been before the two-week break. Granted, that meant Dad and I had missed a Scorpina-led attack at the same time we’d been hiking to meet Ninjor, but Conner said that they’d been able to handle it.

I also knew I needed to make a plan to get my current morpher and coin out of Ivan’s reach once I could no longer use it. For that, I needed to talk to Kira; as a Yellow Ranger herself, she would likely be the best person to safely get it away from Ivan. We’d have to go over the finer details with Dad and Hayley; we would have to find a way to link the transport capabilities of Dino Command and the Angel Grove Command Center and use that to have Kira transport from wherever she was with the morpher to wherever Ba was at that time. He was the only civilian ally to the Power Rangers who I had some trust in being able to keep it safe. I realized I’d have to bring Rocky in on this, too. He would be the best judge of Ba’s mental and emotional state, but the morpher and coin couldn’t be kept in Reefside after I could no longer use it, as it was linked to Angel Grove.

If Lt. Stone wasn’t trying to interfere with my pending adoption, I almost would have considered him; Bulk and Skull weren’t good choices either. Ba was the only choice out of the Angel Grove non-Ranger allies, but I wasn’t about to set his healing back. If Ba wasn’t an option, I’d have to find a way to get it to either Aisha or Ninjor. Aisha had been a wielder of the coin; Ninjor, I’d found out, had created them, not Zordon as I’d thought. Both would know of the best non-Ranger to find the next wielder of the coin; Aisha couldn’t choose because of the fact that she’d given me the coin. I’d asked Ninjor about that; because he’d given Aisha Ninjetti skills while she used the coin, he couldn’t choose the next wielder either.

Thankfully, Kira was in CyberSpace when I went looking for her, as were the other Dino Rangers save Dad. Hayley had given each of us keys to the storeroom; Trent and Ethan had them because they’d worked for Hayley at one point and Kira used it to store the microphones and speakers in there when she wasn’t rehearsing or performing. Nobody questioned why Conner and I had them; Conner sometimes helped carry in supplies and Hayley, when asked, claimed she was testing me out as a prospective employee for when I got old enough to work for her using a work permit. That’s why we sometimes used the storeroom for Ranger-related conversations that couldn’t wait until the café was empty or we could gather in Dino Command.

“What’s up, Katrina?” Kira asked; by unspoken agreement, we used my alias in ‘public’ spaces until it was safe to use my real name.

I held up my morpher. “I don’t have much longer to use this; got that confirmed by its creator over Christmas that I have until end of February at best. If you remember, Mr. Creepy Carrot Chin wants to try and corrupt this to use and turn me into one of his minions. I’m not giving up being a Ranger, guys; can’t explain here, but I will next time we can meet at HQ. There’s a chance I’ll be forcibly demorphed in the middle of a fight and not by any of the team. It’s going to need to be taken out of Reefside and hopefully by one of you four. Dad might not be able to, given his own history.”

I didn’t need to elaborate much about Dad’s past; the others knew I was talking about his history as a Ranger. The four teens looked at each other, holding a silent conversation.

“Kira,” Conner, Trent, and Ethan said in unison.

“Why me?”

“You’re a Yellow, Kira. You’re the safest bet; who you’re going to take it to is going to depend on Rocky says when he comes up Saturday.”

“You’re not sending me to your birthfather!” Kira whispered hotly, beating Conner to the punch.

“Out of all the non-Ranger human allies in Angel Grove, he’s our current best option, but that’s why I said we’d have to bring Rocky in on it; Dad and Hayley too. Having a Ranger or anyone else who had been an ally in Angel Grove is a non-option. One such ally is currently working against us, though in a strictly civilian format. He’d never ally himself with a Ranger foe; the other two…can’t protect it the way it needs to. They don’t have the necessary links to an Angel Grove Ranger; my birthfather does. It also can’t stay in Reefside after I’m done using it; the only reason I’m even allowed to use it here is because of my Mom being a wielder and Dad being a teammate and her leader, along with his link to Dino Thunder.” The team had been dubbed such, but by who, none of us could find out, even Dad.

“Dr. O, I can understand, but why Hayley?” Conner asked, still not convinced.

“Because she’s the one who can link Dino Command with Angel Grove Command Center, along with their transportation systems….” I said slowly. I could tell I’d convinced none of the team with this.

“You’re going to have to convince them; if Dr. O says it’s the best plan we’ve got, I’ll give my okay,” Conner finally said. The others quickly agreed. “We need to get back out on the floor; meeting at Dino Command Saturday afternoon, as long as you don’t mind missing your therapy appointment.”

“I don’t; Rocky thinks that I may need to drop down to twice-monthly after how well my vacation went. It’s all going to depend on when Stone makes his move; the field trip is going to be next week, as is the actual adoption hearing. Judge Giles got tired of waiting on Stone and Wilkens; gave them until Friday of next week to convince him. My birthfather’s already sent in his statement to Judge Giles, as has Rocky. Judge Wilkens and Lt. Stone might be able to overrule my objections as well as Dad’s, but not with Rocky and my birthfather’s added to the mix. Add to that, Ms. Andrews has submitted every single one of the progress reports she’s made; Stone’s going to have an uphill climb taking me away from a home where I’m clearly thriving. Add to that, I’m old enough to have a say in who I want my parents to be. Judge Giles listens to that sort of thing, as I found this past summer. Nice dude. If he and Councilwoman Sanchez weren’t both married, I’d almost pair them up.” I’d met the councilwoman when she occasionally stopped by to talk with Hayley; nice lady, but tough as nails and took no shit from anyone.

As we grabbed stuff that we knew Hayley was going to need on the floor soon, I failed to see Ethan’s expression, but I could hear it in his voice.

“That vacation did do you a world of good; we’d been getting worried, Katrina. By the time Reefside High let out for Christmas break, you were getting too stressed for your own good. It’s part of why we didn’t beep either you or Dr. O during Scorpina and Rito’s attacks over the Christmas holiday. When Cassie asked us, suited up, where you two were, we had fun coming up with a response. So much fun.” The sarcasm was dripping off his last sentence.

“Sorry about that; we did see her news report, though. Sam wouldn’t tell us how he’d managed to get Channel 3 out at the reservation. Nice misdirection, saying we were sick. If you’d said we were on vacation, most of Reefside would have figured it out. I think most of the high school students knew Dad and I were visiting Uncle David and Sam.”

With that, we headed out with the supplies Hayley needed and not a moment too soon, as she got swamped. Even though Conner and I weren’t considered ‘official’ employees, we were quickly pressed into service helping out. Given I wasn’t 16 yet, I was paid in store credit officially so that nobody could argue that I was being paid under the table or illegally. Hayley had done similar with other Reefside freshmen, so nobody looked twice or complained. Like Ethan had told me, as well as Conner and Kira, there wasn’t a teenager that came through that Hayley hadn’t helped.

The first week back to school after break was slightly chaotic as we got used to being back in school after a two-week break. It was fun seeing my friends again and unlike the first week of the semester, there were no teachers out for my metaphorical blood. That didn’t mean we didn’t try pranking the sub, who was a 2-week loan from the county forensics lab. She, unlike Sanderson, laughed it off; we all got ‘A’s for effort in excellent research and writing skills. Her attitude towards the prank was the only reason Dad let me off with only a lecture to not do it again without checking with him first. Ethan lost it when he found out; Conner just shook his head. I had one up on Ethan, who never pulled the same prank in the same place twice. I wasn’t going to pull that prank a third time at high school, but I knew it was going to go down among the student annals.

When Rocky arrived Saturday afternoon, most of the team, save Dad, Katherine, and I, were down in Dino Command. This appointment was only meant to be a slight formality before moving on to a bi-monthly schedule, so Rocky wasn’t completely surprised when I asked him if he wouldn’t mind joining us in Dino Command for a team meeting. I’d asked Dad and Katherine earlier in the week if it was okay to do a team planning session today, so Rocky was the only one not completely in the loop. He was our liaison between the Angel Grove teams and Dino Thunder due to his known trips up here.

Of course, when I laid my plan out, Dad was the one to flip, not Rocky as I’d expected. I fought the instinct to step back and run and stared him down.

“No, Abigail. Absolutely not! What you’re suggesting is too risky, Abigail!” Part of what kept me from completely backing down was the fact that I wasn’t facing Dr. Tommy Oliver, Power Ranger, but my dad. I knew where he was coming from; Ba had reacted similarly when he realized Aisha had given me the morpher. I needed him to switch from dad to Power Ranger in this; we all did.

I looked him in the eyes as I continued. “Do you have any other ideas? How many Rangers, publicly known or not, can hide this? He’s the only ally not known to our current opponents, which makes him ideal, but only if he’s mentally and emotional up for it,” I snapped back. “Add to that, Bulk and Skull weren’t nearly as connected to this”-I put the morpher on the table-“as my birthfather is. I ask again, do you have any other suggestions?”

“She’s right, Dr. O.” We looked at Conner in surprise as he spoke up. “We have no other options; that morpher can’t stay in Reefside once she can’t use it anymore. It can’t be sent to the Ranger teams outside of either Reefside unless it’s back to the city where it was first used. I have been wracking my head all week trying to come up with a better plan and I can’t. Kira is the only other Yellow Ranger active right now; we don’t know who can pick that morpher up after Abigail can’t use it except for someone with a similar color connection. Kira fits both requirements. Most of the known allies in Angel Grove are former Rangers themselves, like Rocky. Lt. Stone is not an option right now; how many friends of yours from your early days would you say would willingly keep it safe when faced with Ivan or Scorpina?”

“Not Bulk or Skull; those two may have been brave against Astronoma, but against Ivan? They’d give it up in a hurry. You’re right, Abigail; Ernie wouldn’t give that up. He also, by virtue of being at the Youth Center so much, knows the best person to pass it on to when the time comes. That’s an advantage that not even Zordon had. I still don’t know how he chose Jason and the others; he may have to let the Grid chose when he gave Alpha 5 the order to teleport the 5 original team members.” Dad looked resigned; it was one thing coming from me, but with Conner backing me up? He had to step back and think like a Ranger instead of a parent.

At the lull in conversation, Rocky spoke up. “You’re right on Ernie being the sticking point, he is getting better, though. I can’t say where he’s going to be in just under 7 weeks; what I can say is this will either set him back again or be another point of determination for him. The fact that you’re going to be willing to trust him with this now says a lot.”

“Only if you think he’s ready for that responsibility, though. I have no desire to set his healing back or alter its trajectory in a negative way. I understand all too well that me sending this to him just may validate his attitude from this past June. I’m going to need to you to sound him out, Rocky; if he reacts or responds negatively, it’s better we know ASAP so we can come up with another plan and quickly. We don’t have that long to figure out a plan. I don’t know about Dad or Conner, but I’d rather have a set plan, with several backups by the time I lose access to the morpher.”

“Abigail…” I could see the worry on his face; Katherine was the same way, hand on her belly.

“I know, Dad. We don’t have any other options. I like this as well as you do; if my luck holds true, I’ll lose access at the worst possible time and the worst possible way.” Silence was my only answer. I looked around at everyone; expressions were either grim determination or fear, the latter on Katherine.

“If he finds out or sees that the coin is out of his grasp, he’ll either kill you or go after Ernie. He’s already shown that he doesn’t care about life, Abigail.”

“If we don’t do this, I’m under his control and my baby brother is all but lost,” I snapped back. “What other options do we have?” I couldn’t keep my voice from wavering as I continued. “I don’t…I can’t…”

“I know,” Dad replied as he held me, both of us crying. While my plan was full of risks, the alternative was anathema to all of us. We were caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place and we all knew it. Mesogog may have wanted to return Earth to the age of dinosaurs, but Dr. Mercer admitted that he would never have stooped to the lows that Ivan was. Brainwashing a teen or adult was one thing, but using his powers on an infant child of a friend? Even Mesogog had his limits; he preferred his lieutenants to be those who could be converted or brainwashed as teens or adults. He’d almost succeeded with Trent, who even admitted it.

What I didn’t see was Dad look at Rocky and nod; we had no other option against someone like Ivan. On top of that, this had become personal. Rocky’s assessment was Ivan was too insane to live; he might not deal with criminal profiling, but he’d a friend in the BAU to do an accurate profile. How he got away with it without breaking Zordon’s rule of revealing identities, he wouldn’t say. I suspected TJ or one of the Rangers who had their identities publicly known had asked for the profile to be done.

I knew I couldn’t make that call; the rules we lived by made it difficult for Dad to make that call either. None of us could use our powers to kill Ivan; his plan put Zordon’s rule of ‘no using your powers for personal gain’ very hard to follow. The only problem was most Ranger teams either worked with Dad or knew of him; I had come to find out that he was considered a legend among them.

“I’m going to call TJ; someone has to know how to take Ivan down. I’ve said it before, Tommy, Katherine. You guys are not doing this alone. Abigail, while your plan is sound, I’m going to spread the word. Even if the morpher has to stay in Angel Grove doesn’t mean that the person who is guardian of it has to be from there.”

“Yes, it does, Rocky.” Almost everyone looked at Dad in surprise. “She’s right; it has to be someone from Angel Grove who knew Trini; who knew us at the time we were active. Bulk and Skull are of no help; Lt. Stone is currently no ally of ours. Ernie…he knows about us; he’s kept our secret for this long. It’s also too dangerous to keep the morpher here once it can no longer be used. Ivan can get into any Command Center, so both that and here are out. Ninjor flat out refused to keep it when he heard Ivan’s name. It almost has to be Ernie; if he’s not up for it, we’re stuck. Our only other options are Sam and David Trueheart or Abigail’s brother David; of those three, David Burton is our next best option and that’s iffy. He’s a Legacy just like Abigail is and I don’t know if he’d even be able to be its guardian.”

“That leaves the question of how it’s going to get back to Angel Grove; it almost has to be one of us,” Trent said, waving a hand around. “Abigail and Katherine can’t, for various obvious reasons. Dr. Oliver would be noticed if he left; it has to be Conner, Ethan, Kira, or myself. We’re the only other ones with communicators linked to Reefside.”

“And I can link them to Angel Grove no issue; Abigail’s is already linked to both. The thing is, all of you are going to have to practice teleporting back and forth between the two cities, which will likely be noticed.” We all had no doubts about Hayley’s ability to do so.

“Unless we do it in simulation; this place is warded to a T.” Now that Dad had spoken up for the most part in favor, the rest of the Dino Rangers were coming up with ideas.

“True, Ethan, but even this isn’t immune. Keeping the security system up around the house isn’t easy on Abigail; it will get to her sooner or later irregardless of her control.”

“While that’s being figured out, we also need to decide on who’s going to be messenger,” Kira spoke up from where she’d been playing around with my morpher. Unlike everyone else who’d tried picking it up, she was playing around with it, turning it over in her hand.

“Abigail’s right on that count, too, Kira. You’re the only one of Dino Thunder that’s not gotten shocked by that, at least not of the teens,” Katherine observed, speaking up finally. Kira didn’t look all that happy about that, but it was more about dealing with Ernie than it was about anything else. Conner quickly took charge, as he knew neither Dad nor I could do so in that moment. Rocky, a former Red Ranger himself, ended up following Conner’s lead. It took me a while to realize that he’d come into being a Red Ranger in a team already led by Dad; he would easily follow Conner, who served alongside Dad in Dino Thunder.

“Rocky, if Ernie’s up for this, I am going to need you to coordinate with Kira. She is going to need to know exactly what to say to him to not trip every single one of his buttons when it comes to Abigail, Trini, and that morpher. Hayley, get in touch with Billy; I’m not about to ask Abigail to give up the communicator as well as her morpher and we’re going to need to find a way to separate it from the morpher if we need to. Whoever ends up as this morpher’s future wielder is also going to need a communicator. Ethan, you help Hayley; Trent, write down everything you remember about Mesogog’s lab and what was in it. Call your dad and Principal Randall if you have to. I know we’ve searched that lab already, but if I was Ivan, I’d wait until after it was searched once and move in. I want codes, tech, everything no matter how small the detail.” Here, Conner paused. I could tell he was trying to come up with something Dad, Katherine, and I could do.

I wiped my tears away. “I should probably start going through what I got from Ninjor. The time immediately after I’m unable to morph is when I’ll be at my most vulnerable; if I can do it right, he’s going to have seconds at most to do what he wants to do. Seconds I don’t intend to give him at all, even if that means I cut and run the moment the morpher’s out of my hands and Kira’s gone.”

“Sometimes running is the only defense you have.” I looked up at Dad; it was a mantra repeated often enough at the dojo.

“We’ll just have to keep innocents out of this; if he loses sight of me, he may use the crowd as hostages until I surrender…or you do.” I turned to Rocky. “How many Ranger teams can theoretically be in and out of Reefside in the next month and a half? Even if we don’t defeat him before I can’t use Mom’s morpher, we may be able to get him to leave before he can kidnap me. We’re also going to need a team to destroy the lab, if at all possible.”

This was going to be the hardest part about the whole deal; I couldn’t create the new morphers until closer to losing access to my current one. Even if we defeated Ivan then, something told me that Reefside was going to have a new team by my 16^th birthday. Most of Dino Thunder was in college and couldn’t be called upon as often to defend the city as they’d done in high school.

As hard as it was for Dad and I, Katherine had the hardest time of all; she was pregnant and unable to provide much more than backup like Hayley did. Less so, in some cases; as her pregnancy progressed, the likelier it was that she was going to be communication and computer research only. She also had to worry about the possibility of us failing. When dealing with villains like Ivan, failure was always a possibility. Most Ranger teams, at best, lost Zords at least once facing off against their evil opponents; at worst also lost their powers. There was also always the likelihood one of us would not walk away from the fights uninjured; I’d already gotten injuries bad enough to do my best to conceal in gym class. Dad had, in the course of his duties as a member of Dino Thunder, ended up in the hospital in a coma.

I really didn’t need to go over the information I’d gotten from Ninjor at this time; I was using it more as a distraction from my own fears and worries. I hated feeling helpless; I also knew that letting my fear rule was a bad thing. There had been times where it said that if I’d never come to Reefside, Dad and Katherine wouldn’t be targets right now, but I knew that wasn’t true. The second a Ranger becomes a Ranger, they’re a target, as are their families. There had also been times when Rangers had to fight against their own family members, who’d been their primary evil opponent; Trent being the latest of those having to do so. He’d spoken of how difficult it had been for him; I wanted to avoid that if at all possible.

Location: Reefside Forensics Lab, the next week. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy sighed as the school bus pulled up in front of the forensics lab; Kat was set and ready to be one of the parent chaperones today, but Elsa had insisted that the high school’s science teachers act as such today instead. Now, Kat was going over everything for tomorrow’s adoption hearing with their lawyer, Ms. Andrews, and Rocky instead. He knew Jerome had picked up the file before the high school arrived; Tommy had overheard Elsa talk with the head of the lab before school started. By the time they’d left the school, the detective was well on his way to the high school; Tommy suspected that was the only reason he was on the bus.

As difficult as this field trip was, Tommy knew he’d rather be here in case Sanderson made a scene instead of being at the high school dealing with Lt. Jerome Stone. Sanderson was a dyed in the wool jerk while Tommy had once called the detective a friend and Ranger ally. He would also rather be here, backing Abigail up in case Sanderson made another scene; while Abigail was in a much better place mentally and emotionally than she was at the start of the school year, Tommy knew his daughter felt better having him along.

Rocky had gotten back to them with Ernie’s response; the older man was willing to help, but only if it was an absolute necessity; he shared Abigail’s worry that it could impact him negatively. Rocky knew he had to work hard with Ernie to get him to that point; the situation demanded nothing less. Rocky was also working with Kira so she knew what to do; there was one session that Tommy knew of where Kira was talking to Ernie over Rocky’s cell from their Command Center as to have a secure line. That had been more so Ernie wasn’t caught by surprise when she finally showed up in full morph. Ernie had, at his own request, familiarized himself with Kira’s morphed look. He didn’t want to know her civilian identity yet, but everyone in Angel Grove knew Ernie wouldn’t turn down a request for help from a Power Ranger or Tommy.

Despite, or maybe because of Sanderson working that day, they’d only watched his lab through an observation window. Tommy suspected that the head of the lab had done that on purpose and was absolutely fine with it. Of course, the ‘official’ reason was to prevent cross-contamination; Sanderson was one of a handful of forensic scientists running active cases and even a one person entering without the proper safety precautions could compromise a ton of cases. They did do the usual schtick of running a student’s DNA through the mass spectrometer and the national DNA database, but it had been Francine who’d been picked as the ‘suspect’ for it. Tommy knew that if situations had been different, Abigail would have been the first to volunteer, but not with Stone running around and the adoption happening finally.

Of course, the day couldn’t run smoothly; Tommy realized something was wrong when they got back to Reefside High School at the end of the school day. Lt. Stone’s police car was still parked in the parking lot and Tommy mentally groaned. He quickly caught up to Abigail and got her attention, pulling her slightly away from her friends.

“What’s up, Dad?” She asked, genuinely puzzled.

“Lt. Stone’s here, Katrina, unless I miss my guess. There’s an Angel Grove police vehicle parked in the school parking lot.”

“And we’re the only people with a connection to Angel Grove associated with Reefside High School. Great.”

Tommy mentally swore; Abigail really didn’t need the inevitable confrontation, nor did he. He did notice, however, that most of the students had vanished; presumably heading out with the exceptions of those involved in school-sponsored extra-curricular activities. They, however, would be confined primarily to the theater, gym or sports fields, and the computer lab. Elsa would be one of only several faculty witnesses free and she was firmly on their side.

To make things look as normal as possible, they headed inside so that she could get what books she needed from her locker; despite the all-day field trip, she still had a packet of homework she needed to do for Monday. The only reason she had been given that packet this morning was the fact that she was going to be gone all day Friday for the adoption hearing and follow up party that Hayley was planning on throwing. Tommy had to get what notes his sub had left and leave some for the next day’s coursework; even if Jerome hadn’t been there, he would have had to do the same thing.

He didn’t get far in doing so; he started running when he heard Abigail yell. Elsa had apparently heard that same yell, as she was also sprinting to his daughter’s locker. What he found when he got there had him pissed. Lt. Stone had Abigail by the left arm; she was trying to yank herself free by the looks of it. Her books were scattered on the ground; she’d evidently been grabbed when she was trying to pack her backpack up, as it was also on the floor.

“Let go of me!”

“Jerome!” “Lt. Stone!” He and Elsa snapped almost in unison. The detective looked up at them long enough for Abigail to yank herself free and run to Tommy. Giving her a brief hug, he put himself between her and the detective.

“You really don’t want to do this, Jerome. My daughter’s not going anywhere with you.”

“She’s not your daughter, Tommy. Don’t kid yourself; Katrina Jones doesn’t exist. You and I both know Abigail Burton is the teenager using you as a human shield right now. She’s the runaway I’ve been looking for since last June; she needs to be returned to Ernie’s custody.”

“He’s given up custody of her, Jerome; did months ago. You’ve talked to Rocky, so have I. Ernie knows he’s in no position to care for her and with good reason. You have a major blind spot where Ernie’s concerned; the only false detail you were given back in June was the name she used. There is proven evidence as to what happened that night, evidence that not even Ernie refutes. If her birthfather had been anyone not Ernie, you know as well as I do he’d be in a jail cell. Hell, if the abuse had been worse than it was, he would be, upstanding citizen of Angel Grove or not.”

“How long have you known that she’s Ernie and Trini’s daughter?” was the challenge he got back.

“Long enough to know that she couldn’t go back to him. It was hammered into my head long before I found out that if I allow her to go back to Angel Grove and Ernie’s care, she’d never be found again. By that time, I’d already made up my mind in that regard. Even if Ernie’s behavior never changed, I had already decided to be the best parent I could for her, to be the parent she needs.”

“You don’t have any other choice, Tommy. The orders I have are clear; she’s going back with me to Angel Grove today and that’s final. Do you really want to be arrested for attempted kidnapping?”

“And the instructions I got from both Judge Wilkens and Judge Giles are clear, Lieutenant: the only person I am to allow to take her out of this school is Dr. Oliver,” Elsa spoke up. “I suggest you call them both before continuing with this farce.” Tommy waited with baited breath as Jerome did just that. He wasn’t on the phone 2 minutes when he hung up, swearing.

“This isn’t over, Tommy. I’ll see the two of you at the courthouse tomorrow.” With that, he stormed out of the school.

“Thanks, Elsa. I should get her home.” He held Abigail as she dealt with the aftereffects of her panic.

“Anytime, Dr. Oliver. If he shows up again…”

“I know.”

What wasn’t said that if Lt. Stone came back, it would be with reinforcements and he wouldn’t be put off with threats. Tommy watched as his boss left, presumably heading back to her office. For a long time, neither he nor Abigail moved as she slowly calmed down. Once she was calm enough, he helped her pick up her books and backpack. He made a quick call to Anton; the formerly evil scientist insisted that they come straight to his house, telling Tommy that he was also going to call Rocky and Kat. That being said, Tommy next called Ms. Andrews, letting her know what had just happened and where they were headed. She was going to meet them there; she knew why Dr. Mercer had offered the use of his house. Nobody was fool enough to think that Lt. Stone wouldn’t show up at the Oliver house without police backup and an associated warrant.

Tommy knew Kat would be bringing the sketchbook and audio recording; he wouldn’t put it past his former friend to destroy either to help his case. He’d turned down offers from the Turbo/Space and Lightspeed teams to guard his house; it would look suspicious if someone publicly connected to a Power Ranger team started guarding the home of a paleontologist turned high school science teacher and his family. He’d managed to keep his identity as a Power Ranger hidden from all but a select few civilians and he intended to keep doing that. Some, like Ernie and Ms. Andrews, had figured it out. Hayley, he’d told during their years at MIT. Zeltrax had seen him use the Black Dino Morpher; it had been how Mesogog had known that he was a Power Ranger. He’d informed Anton of his history as a Power Ranger not long after Mesogog had been defeated for good.

He was doubly glad that they’d secured the lab better. The model of a T-Rex that stood on a side table still opened the Triceramax Command Center, but only if the person had a connected communicator. Hayley and Kat both wore ones disguised as watches; the design had been based off of Billy’s original communicators. Tommy held no illusions that Jerome would use the fact that there was a Top-Secret lab hidden in his basement against him. All of his past as a Power Ranger was in that lab; even the video compilation of Power Ranger history as it pertained to Earth had been updated to include Abigail and her family history. The only thing in the main part of the house that had the chance to link the three of them to any Power Ranger team was the painting and even that could be brushed off as Tommy or Abigail being fans. Abigail had managed to hide any sketchbook that even remotely linked the three of them to being Power Rangers in a secure place in Triceramax Command.

The other entrance was only known to Hayley, Anton, Elsa, Abigail and Dino Thunder, but they’d still secured it the same way. He was taking no more chances with the safety of his home or that of the Dino Rangers, not after Zeltrax had gotten in and trashed the place, kidnapping the formerly evil Elsa Randall. Once he got to the Mercer mansion, both Tommy and Abigail began to relax from the stress of the day. They knew that they’d not be able to relax at their own home, not until the threat of Lt. Stone was neutralized.

Another thing Tommy was grateful for was the fact that Anton, Elsa, and Trent had given Tommy space with his own family, even though they were currently guests in the Mercer home. Anton knew probably best out of their Reefside friends, with the exception of Hayley, just how much Tommy worried about those he cared about. He might put on a brave face, but Rocky and Jason hadn’t been the only people that Tommy had turned to after Abigail had come into his life. Anton knew the best out of all of Tommy’s friends who had children just what it was like to become a foster parent and later adopting said foster child. Anton was the only other person who knew what it was like to also parent a Power Ranger while being Powered himself. It had been on Anton’s advice that Tommy had hired Giovanni Russo; the man was one slick lawyer. Rumor had it the man had mob connections; Tommy knew better than to ask.

He wasn’t surprised that Kat had packed bags for them; she’d had the same fears he had that Lt. Stone would show up at their home. Anton had insisted on them staying the night; Tommy hadn’t even protested. They needed to be well-rested for the adoption hearing in the morning; with Lt. Stone’s visit to the school, they wouldn’t get that at their own home. It would take a while for them to feel safe once again in their own home. Tommy knew he and Kat would be fine eventually, but he was angry that Lt. Stone had ripped that sanctuary away from Abigail. In one afternoon, the detective had ripped 6 months of work away from their family. It would take months before she’d feel safe again, but likely would never truly feel safe in any home, not for a long time.

As soon as Abigail felt ready to split away from the group, Trent had been right there to stay by her side. None of the adults had argued when the two teenagers headed up to Trent’s own art studio; Anton had spared no expense helping his son set one up in the mansion. The only differences between the two teens’ personal studios was space in the house and personal preference. Tommy knew that by the time Abigail got done with high school, he’d probably have to either add on to the house or build her a separate building on the property so she could have a big enough space if she wanted it.

Nobody had to ask how Abigail was holding up as it had been obvious to the group. Anton might not have interacted with her as much as Trent had, but he had heard enough from Tommy and Trent both to know exactly how she was feeling.

“She trusts you, Tommy.”

“I’m glad she does. 6 months ago, she would have insisted on staying in the room. She trusts Trent too; he knows her well enough by now that he can tell her what truths she needs to hear. I’ve never told anyone this but Rocky, but you should be proud of him, Anton. Trent was the first person she turned to for advice on how to reveal her true identity to me. If he’d not been able to advise her, I don’t think she’d have told me willingly.” What Tommy wasn’t saying was that Abigail had even admitted as much to him after he’d had to demorph her over the summer. Anton didn’t need to know that particular detail.

“It would have blown up in your face.” Just like Trent’s own MOAS went unsaid by either man. “I am proud of him, Tommy, and of you. I’m grateful that you were able to be there for Trent when I…wasn’t able to be. It’s why I knew you’d be great with Abigail; I’d seen the type of father you’d be.”

“Thank you, Anton.”

With that, they rejoined Kat, Elsa, Rocky, and Ms. Andrews, along with Russo. The only person missing was FBI profiler Derek Morgan; the agent was dealing with a serial killer in Los Angeles, but promised to be at the hearing in the morning. If he wasn’t, his boss, Agent Aaron Hotchner was. Hotch, as Agent Morgan called the man, had been told enough of Abigail’s case that he agreed to help. They’d given Morgan permission all those months ago to read his team into her case as long as the agents promised to basically pretend the information didn’t exist until they needed it to exist. Even their very skilled computer technician had made that promise. Tommy gathered that she’d do anything for Agent Morgan, but could also likely get into the files and back out without leaving much of a trace if she wanted to, or was ordered to do such. It had been Penelope Garcia that had helped Billy create the fairly good firewalls around the files regarding the connection between Abigail Burton and her alias of Katrina Jones. Tommy half wished he’d been in on that conversation; Billy had told him that he was still in contact with Garcia.

When Kat went up to get Abigail for dinner, she came back down seconds later. Tommy looked at his wife, puzzled. He got his answer before he had a chance to ask the question.

“She’s fast asleep, Tommy. She needs the rest right now; you know she’s not slept that well all week.” He did know; she’d had nightmares most of the week leading up to today’s field trip. The fact that she’d fallen asleep easily at a house she’d never stayed overnight at before to said a lot about just how much she trusted the people inside the house and their ability to protect her if things went south in any way, shape, or form.

“I’ll take up some food to the two of them later, Tommy. You and I both know Trent won’t leave her side right now.” Tommy looked over at Anton, knowing his friend was right. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to check on her later, but he trusted Trent to protect her and not just when they were facing Ivan or his lieutenants, goons, and monsters. Abigail obviously trusted Trent the same way; she’d have never fallen asleep at the Mercer mansion, with just him in the room, if she didn’t.

She woke up later on and stayed awake long enough to not just eat, but for Tommy to fill her in on the plan for the next morning. He knew that knowing the game plan would likely help her sleep soundly that night, better than any sleeping medication would do and a lot less harmful for her in the long run. He hoped that it would also help lesson the chance of nightmares. She needed to have a good night’s rest if she was to be able to do well at the adoption hearing in the morning.

Unfortunately, and as much as they wanted to be there, Tommy’s former teammates weren’t going to be allowed in the courtroom in the morning. Rocky was the only exception and that was because he’d been Abigail’s therapist from the start, along with Ernie’s. Rocky had actually spent part of the day with both judges involved, with Ernie on the phone answering questions about the case. Ernie was also doing everything required by the court in adoption cases so that the case could go forward.

His current team was going to be there, but only because they were acting as character witnesses. Giles wanted people not just close in age to Abigail to talk, but also ones who’d known him as an adult. Trent, especially, had been requested to be there. The steps wouldn’t have normally been necessary, but with Lt. Stone trying to force the family apart, the judge wanted someone who’d been in a semi-similar situation to Abigail to speak. It was also why Anton was going to be there; they’d spent much of their free time since school had gotten back in session going over the stories so that there was little mention of Anton’s evil alter ego Mesogog and Trent being an Evil Ranger in the stories.

Why this had been done separately instead of day of was by Ernie’s own request. He knew Lt. Stone was trying to return Abigail to his custody and Ernie had made it clear that he wanted what was best for Abigail; if that meant he gave up his parental rights and allowed Tommy to adopt her, then that’s what he’d do. All he asked is that Abigail be the one to choose if she wanted to have a future relationship with him. Ernie had been clear on that, as everyone knew that trying to force their relationship to heal faster than either were able to handle would end in disaster on both sides. His willingness to do so endeared him to both judges; this was despite the recorded evidence showing why the man would have normally been arrested, charged, and likely found guilty of abuse.

Both judges had been almost ready to even forbid contact, but Rocky had explained to them that to do that would damage Abigail’s own healing. She needed to hear from Ernie himself, even if it was in letter form, exactly what had been going through her birth father’s mind at certain times. Rocky also had his hands full helping Ernie get out of the dark place he’d been in since the accident that had killed Trini. What Rocky hadn’t explained was that regular contact between the two aided both in their own healing, unusual in abuse cases.

Despite Abigail and Kat falling asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows, Tommy look a lot longer to fall asleep. He’d ended up using a meditation technique and fell asleep listening to his wife breathing. Even then, his sleep was anything but restful; he’d woken up more than once, either because of sleeping in an unfamiliar room or due to the stress of the whole thing. He knew that Abigail wouldn’t be the only one sleeping easier once the whole event was over.

Morning had come way too early for them, but Tommy had plenty of experience operating on a rough night’s sleep while looking well rested. Nothing screamed ‘I have a secret identity’ like appearing exhausted after fighting an evil villain after school and still having to do homework. Abigail, on the other hand, grumbled about the whole thing; Trent hadn’t been much better when they came down to eat. Tommy, Kat, and Anton all had grinned in their coffee or juice at the teens’ grumbling about chipper adults over breakfast. Elsa had just smirked; despite no longer being evil, she still acted that way on occasion. It helped keep the high school students wary of her.

“I thought you would have figured this out last year, Trent,” Tommy responded lightly. Trent just glared at him as they ate. If they’d not been at Anton’s house, Tommy knew he’d have gotten a napkin or something to the face.

Out of the group, only Elsa wasn’t going to be joining them at the courthouse. As much as she wanted to be there, she was dealing with the school board, still fighting to get her pick of science teacher in. The board had to also deal with the complaints from parents and had finally run out of excuses. It finally looked like they’d give in today; the results would depend on the adoption hearing and how well Lt. Stone would be neutralized.

Aside from Anton, Rocky, Kat, Ms. Andrews, the lawyer and the Dino Rangers, Tommy and Abigail would be effectively alone in the courtroom. Lt. Stone had also confirmed that he would be there; the only person they didn’t know if he’d be able to make it was FBI agent and profiler Derek Morgan or his boss Agent Hotchner.

Thankfully, both FBI agents were there when they arrived, which was a surprise. They’d only expected one of the two agents. After introductions were made, Agent Hotchner had explained he’d insisted on coming along; most of their team was nearby just in case of things going south.

“I appreciate it; I have friends ready to do the same. Lt. Stone is the only one who believes she should be returned to her birthfather’s custody.”

“Dr. DeSantos explained exactly why that would be a bad thing for all involved. He said something about audio evidence?” The older profiler asked.

“Inside. The less talked about outside, where anyone can hear, the better.”

“There’s a meeting room inside we can use; Lt. Stone’s being sequestered elsewhere in the building. I take it you want him to be the only one surprised by the recording.” Agent Morgan’s question was more like a statement.

“If at all possible.” Tommy glanced at Abigail as they headed inside the courthouse. “I’d rather she not listen to it; it was hard on her being in the room when I heard it.” The two FBI had a silent conversation in only several seconds.

“That’s no problem, Dr. Oliver.” With that, Abigail headed off with Kat, the Dino Rangers and her classmates who’d gotten permission to be at the hearing, even if they couldn’t be in the actual courtroom itself. Agent Morgan went with them, so he could talk to her without Tommy being around. Of the two agents, Agent Morgan had an easier time getting minors to talk, even with parents or guardians in the same room.

By the time the recording was finished, Tommy was glad Abigail wasn’t in the room. The profiler exploded the moment that the tape recorder was turned off and rewound.

“Why is he not in a jail cell?!” Thankfully, Tommy didn’t have to answer due to Rocky speaking up.

“Because she asked me to talk to him first. If you’d read the case file, you’d know Ernie’s been in a dark place since his wife died. In his defense, he didn’t reach his breaking point until she received a part of her inheritance that he tried keeping from her.”

“The same inheritance she’s been making good use of? I don’t blame him for wanting to keep her from the associated danger, but that doesn’t excuse the abuse.” Tommy and Rocky just looked at each other; they knew that the information on how and why a Power Ranger was chosen had been included in the briefing the FBI agent in front of them had read.

“No, it doesn’t; if you remember…”

“I remember; she would have become a Power Ranger regardless of the situation.” Agent Hotchner had regained his composure.

“And she would have been in the same danger; villains like Ivan don’t care about using our families to strike against us. Even Rita had captured our parents, early on,” Tommy added. The memory still scared him; he’d been literally powerless to help them until Zordon had called him back in to help.

“I was the one who did the profile on your current opponent by TJ’s request; my team would be the one taking him down if it weren’t for his powers.” The conversation was cut short by Agent Morgan knocking at the door; it was time to enter the courtroom. Tommy and the others were rejoined by Kat and Abigail; she didn’t speak, but simply hugged them as tightly as she could.

What happened ended being a rather interesting Masterclass in derailing Lt. Stone. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, Tommy would have almost laughed. He was sure he’d seen both FBI agents smirk at least once when the other was dealing with the detective. Finally, Jerome burst out his final argument.

“You weren’t there, either of you, when I had to make that call to Ernie that his wife had been killed in a car crash. You weren’t the ones who had to take his children to him; you didn’t see the relief that his children were okay.” Lt. Stone didn’t get to finish his argument when Agent Morgan cut him off, staring right into the detective’s eyes as he answered.

“You’re right, we weren’t. I have, however, seen what it’s like to tell a close friend that his wife’s dead, but his son is alright. I’ve been by his side, making sure he got the help he needed from the start. Dr. DeSantos told me that you didn’t even do that with Mr. Burton until after Abigail ran away. Frankly, I don’t blame her for doing so; she’s the one who even got Dr. DeSantos to help her birthfather, not you. Out of all of his friends who also knew her birthmother, you are the *only* one who wasn’t around enough to help. No weekly visits to see them until after she ran away, nothing. On the flip side of that Dr. Oliver made sure that she got therapy from the start; gave her the space and help she needed to trust him with everything. You know what I do for a living?”

“You’re a profiler; so is your boss.” It was hard to miss the fact that Lt. Stone felt that answering an obvious question a waste of his time.

“That’s right. You know what I see when I look at them? A loving family. If it weren’t for Abigail’s resemblance to her birthmother and the DNA test you so thoughtfully did, I almost would have thought that they were related by blood and that Dr. Oliver and his wife had raised her from the start. They are that close, Lt. Stone, that close and they’ve only been in each other’s daily lives for 6 months. 6. Months, lieutenant. I have never seen a family bond that quickly in their circumstances, never. That says a lot about Dr. Oliver and Mrs. Hillard-Oliver, along with Dr. DeSantos and how well they care for her.” Agent Morgan rested his case at that, when it became apparent that the detective had nothing to argue against two expert profilers.

“I’ve heard enough. Judge Wilkens, how about you?” Judge Giles looked over at the other judge handling the case.

“So have I, Judge Giles. Between the written statements and everything else I’ve heard, along with the fact that Mr. Burton has signed away his parental rights to young Abigail-a fact, Lt. Stone, that you seem determined to ignore-I have no issue signing off on Dr. Oliver and his wife adopting her. This is especially given that it is something she wants as well, another fact that you seem to disregard.”

Tommy knew at that moment Lt. Stone couldn’t do anything to separate their family anymore; it was obvious that the detective knew that he’d lost. He raised no more objections, sinking into his chair as he ignored the remainder of the proceedings around him as the judges did their job. Within a half hour, Tommy and Kat were declared Abigail’s parents legally. That didn’t mean that Tommy didn’t appreciate Agents Hotchner and Morgan getting Lt. Stone out of the courtroom and away from the group, he did. He knew that the two agents would be having a discussion with the police officer; Tommy didn’t think Stone would be able to find a job after this. That is, if he didn’t get outright arrested for trying to blow Abigail’s cover; Lt. Stone had broken a number of laws, including Angel Grove’s own regarding the Power Rangers, in trying to find Abigail.

From what Agent Hotchner told him later that afternoon was that Sanderson couldn’t be arrested or fired for his role in this. They all knew that the former teacher turned forensic scientist had to have known whose DNA he was running, but Lt. Stone had covered his tracks well; the case file associated with the DNA was of a kidnapped girl who Lt. Stone had seemingly been trying to reunite with her family. The FBI had to actually make sure that the case wasn’t real; that had been part of why Agent Hotchner and his team had been in town, as Agent Morgan had been attached to Abigail’s case almost from the start.

Before Tommy, Kat, and Abigail could leave for their party, they had to finalize the necessary paperwork to get Abigail’s birth certificate amended. Thankfully, that could be done in the same building, but in a different office. Abigail had decided she wanted to be called Abigail Burton-Oliver and neither Tommy nor Kat were going to argue; they knew how important it was for her to have some connection to her birth family in her name. Tommy also knew that once he got the amended birth certificate, he was going to have to take that along with the rest of the paperwork over to the Social Security office to amend their records. It was worth the extra steps; Tommy didn’t regret any of this.

It was going to take at least a month for the birth certificate to be amended; Tommy had already bought a fire-and-waterproof lockbox for the papers. He would rather keep them in the house; the lawyer had actually recommended it. Even with the birth certificate being one of the last things they needed as far as paperwork went, they were finally, legally, a family and Tommy couldn’t be happier. He’d seen how Abigail had finally relaxed when the judges had declared he and Kat to be her new parents; none expected Kat to take Trini’s place, but they also knew that Abigail got along with Kat, which had been the important thing for all of them.

After everything was done isofar as the paperwork went, they headed over to Hayley’s, as they still had a few hours before either of them had to be at the dojo. Abigail might have been given the day off of school, but she still wanted to got to her martial arts lesson that afternoon. Tommy knew that it was her partially making sure she kept some of her daily routine the same; after the stress of the last 6 months, keeping as much the same for her was important. It was one of many things that helped her feel safe and secure in Reefside, Ivan aside.

Tommy watched as his daughter let herself be pulled into her group of friends as an impromptu party broke out; the actual party was going to be tonight as there had been those who’d been unable to join them at the courthouse. They’d all been under so much stress that they wanted to celebrate a major good thing in all of their lives.

“She’s doing better, Tommy.” Hayley handed him a coffee as she joined him and Kat at the counter.

“Yes, she is, now that she’s got a major source of her fears cut off at the source.”

“Not just that, but that’s a major part of it. She’s got the family she’s wanted and needed now; give yourself some credit. I saw where this was headed when you first brought her here back in June, Tommy.”

“If I didn’t know better, Hayley, I’d assume you were psychic.” Hayley just snorted. “You know me way too well, though.” Tommy pretended that he was ignoring the sniggering coming from his wife and one of his closest friends, but he was grinning all the same. With those he cared about by his side, Tommy knew that they could weather the tough times ahead with Ivan, now that this was out of the way.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside High School, two weeks later. POV: Abigail/1^st person

The two weeks after my adoption had been finalized had been weird. With Lt. Stone now having been arrested for basically destroying the secret identity of someone under what was effectively witness protection, my true identity had been blown wide open. He had been the last real civilian threat; Sanderson, from what I understood, was basically warned to stay away from us. I considered myself lucky that not only was he out of the school, but Principal Randall was basically on our side. My school records and ID were adjusted to show my new real name, but my classmates and teachers still called me ‘Katrina’ or ‘Miss Jones’ on occasion. I let them be with that, as they had known me under my alias for several months and had gotten into the habit of calling me such.

I knew that Dad and Principal Randall were also dealing with the school board as to the whole situation; but I didn’t worry about it. I had basically been told to let them deal; Dad did promise to let me know if anything was going to affect my life beyond just being a student. It was something I appreciated; if he couldn’t get into too much detail about something, he always explained what he could tell me, even if it was nothing more than ‘I can’t tell you at all and this is why’ or ‘I’m not ready to talk about it just yet’.

It amused and amazed me how far I’d come in 6 and a half months; if this had happened back in June or even July, I would have fought tooth and nail to be at every meeting and be a part of every discussion. Now, though, I trusted Dad enough to deal with such things on my behalf. That didn’t mean I still wanted to be there for every meeting and discussion, but I’d learned to trust Dad to handle things that weren’t for me to handle yet, to deal as a parent should for their child. He’d never given me any reason to not distrust him either in my civilian life or on the battlefield as a Power Ranger. I suspected that’s why it hadn’t taken me that long to trust him; Rocky had even suspected as much. From what he’d said and from what literature I’d read on my own time, the older an abuse victim is, the longer it takes for them to trust an adult or someone in a position of power. By all rights, I should still be rather distrustful of everyone, even Dad, but I wasn’t.

From the time I first met Dad as a teenager and from the time I first morphed, I’d repeatedly been in situations where I had no choice but to trust him. It hadn’t been easy and we both knew it. He’d been there to catch me as much as he could and gave me the space and help to figure things out on my own. The only real arguments we had were all Power Ranger related; I knew civilian related arguments were either not going to happen or would happen several years down the road.

Honestly, the hardest part right now had been the argument I’d gotten into with Francine; she’d been extremely hurt that I’d not trusted her with this after her knowing I was a Power Ranger. Dad had tried talking to her; he’d finally gotten TJ to talk to her; he couldn’t have the conversation we needed to have with her without revealing his own identity as a Power Ranger. She’d finally started talking to me again yesterday; it had been annoying for all of us at lunch. Karan had been especially torn between her two closest best girlfriends; I seriously suspected that it had been Karan who’d gotten Francine to quit her behavior. Patton hadn’t been happy either, as he was my closest male friend out our group of six; I found out later he’d gone to Ethan for advice on what to do. Johnny and Steve basically dealt; they’d all known I was under some form of witness protection, but Francine and I had been almost inseparable since meeting at soccer camp.

Cassie’s reaction had been fairly predictable; it had taken Dad calling her boss at Channel 3 to keep me *mostly* out of it. For this story, I was glad he’d not allowed me to be interviewed; I was still dealing with the fallout. Rocky had bumped our appointments back up to twice a week so he could help me work through everything; he’d been one of the first I’d told about Francine being fairly mad that I didn’t tell her what was going on.

Missy and Andrea had both been unexpected blessings; the rumored heads of Dad’s unofficial fan club did their best to keep our classmates from trying to talk to me about everything that had happened. One thing I’d learned this year was that it wasn’t easy being the daughter of one of Reefside High’s most popular teachers. Between him fighting Principal Randall while she was Mesogog’s lieutenant and taking me under his wing, my classmates had been very curious about me. Sticking with a small group of people had provided a small buffer, but I did make an effort to be friendly with my classmates.

By the time Friday rolled around, two weeks after my adoption had been finalized, I was ready to scream. Even with my friends and family acting to keep me from the curiosity of my peers, I wanted a break. Dad and Katherine could tell; once my lesson at the dojo was over, we went to visit Sam and Uncle David. Rocky knew to call tomorrow for my therapy appointment instead of visit. I was glad to have the chance to visit the Truehearts; their home had become as much of a sanctuary as Dad’s home in Reefside had.

I had fun meeting up with some of the friends I’d made over the Christmas holiday; they’d quickly roped me into an impromptu soccer game. Sam and Uncle David had been the only reasons we’d not spent the whole day playing soccer; the two wanted to spend some time with me, too. I also had homework to do and didn’t want to spend Sunday doing it.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t glad for the break; I knew if I’d tried relaxing in Reefside, even at Hayley’s, I’d still be dealing with a lot of the same stuff I was dealing with at school. Like Christmas, I just had a chance to fully relax, removed from a lot of the stress among the safety of a loving home. When we’d returned home Sunday, I felt better able to deal with everything again.

I also started seriously working with the materials to make my sketches into reality. I’d not had any inspiration for my own animal; both Sam and Uncle David thought I would be visited by the animal that would end up on my coin. From what Dad said, no Ranger he knew of picked the animal that was represented on their coin. I’d found myself drawn to the turtle or tortoise, remembering the tale of The Tortoise and the Hare. I could understand its significance, too, as it won the race against the hare because it took its time, where the hare ran quick, but got lazy and took a break.

Looking at the sketches one afternoon, it was easy to see which one of my friends fit each sketch. Francine, who I just knew would be my team’s Pink Ranger, reminded me of the wolf: fierce and loyal to those she considered friends. Patton, like Ethan, was intelligent and was a bit of a prankster; I knew that the fox coin and blue suit belonged to him. Karan was the bear: strong, loyal, and protective of her closest friends. Johnny was like the dragon: fierce and an excellent tactician, where Steve was quick like the deer. Steve was on the track team at the high school, while Johnny was in chess club.

I only knew that my friends would become this team because that one of the things I’d seen when Dad and I had gone to see Ninjor. I’d have had a heck of time knowing who was going to wield each power otherwise. I’d gotten way too much information to remember at one time, but it seemed like I could pull the information as needed. I knew I didn’t have much time left before I needed to create the new morphers and coins; I only had a couple more battles with it at best.

That last time came sooner than any of us expected, even though we knew it was coming. I’d spent Saturday after the trip to see my uncle and honorary grandpa with the soccer team at an early try-out and partial practice when Ivan directly attacked the high school. Conner, who’d agreed to help out Coach Daveed, had managed to contact the rest of the Dino Rangers. I’d slipped away from my classmates to morph, heart pounding; I just knew today was the day and hoped that I wouldn’t demorph in front of my classmates.

I ended up having no choice but to do so; one of my fellow teammates was trapped between Ivan and the stands with no way to escape.

“Hey! Creepy Carrot Face! I’m over here!” Ivan turned at my insult, allowing Jennifer to take off to a safe spot. Most of the soccer team, including the prospective new players, had managed to find a safe outside space to hide; they couldn’t get to the changing rooms. Ivan stalked towards me and I was forced to deal with him in a one-on-one fight. He ended up being powerful enough that I couldn’t hold back like I’d been able to do with Scorpina and I felt myself demorph as one such attack flung me through the air. The morpher landed not far from me and it took me several seconds to catch my breath after landing.

Before Ivan could grab the morpher, I grabbed it and quickly got out of his reach. Mentally feeling my own link to it, I returned what power it still had linked to me and put it into Kira’s gloved hands. I took satisfaction at Ivan’s face and howl as she teleported away with the morpher. I could only hope that this was enough for him to never be able to corrupt it to evil’s side. As Kira teleported away, I could feel my own link to the Grid lock back into place and knew I could temporarily draw on it to defend others until I could create the coins, which had now become a priority.

My only problem now was that, active link to the Grid or not, without a Power Ranger suit to protect me, I was physically vulnerable to serious injury or death. My teammates from Dino Thunder, who included Kira once she returned, had to effectively play a game of keep-away so I could stay safe. I was able to get a few shots in, having borrowed Ethan’s blaster, but Ivan was eventually forced to flee without either me or my former Power Coin.

That didn’t mean he’d not noticed that the period of vulnerability that he needed for his plans was gone; I suspected that was a major reason why he’d willingly fled. The soccer team came out as soon as the saw it was safe, Francine rushing to my side. It was a good thing she did, because my legs almost gave out from under me from the combination of the try-outs and fight. Dino Thunder used the distraction to sneak off; Dad had to be especially careful because he was supposed to not be anywhere near the school today except to drop me off and pick me up. Some teachers, aside from those who pulled double duty as sports coaches, used the occasional weekend to catch up on paperwork. Dad wasn’t one of those, preferring to use his free period to do so.

Dad did arrive within 30 minutes after leaving after the fight; he’d waited until Coach Daveed called him to come and get me. Conner had gotten first aid certified for soccer camp; he’d found no physical injuries when he checked me over, a fact that we were all grateful for. It took Dad a while to get to me, because Coach Daveed had to talk to him about me being in a Power Ranger suit. I wasn’t ‘in trouble’ as far as school went; Coach Daveed had also called Principal Randall and that had been her position. I knew that it would get back to the school board; one of the girls trying out was Mr. Caplan’s granddaughter.

I was surprised that my reveal didn’t make on to the news; I found out later that Kira had given Cassie a call. Cassie was Channel 3’s official Power Rangers reporter and she was able to keep the news suppressed; that way, if my classmates, Coach Daveed, or the school board talked, they’d look foolish. Ethan had managed to get what video evidence that was uploaded somehow corrupted; I knew Hayley had helped.

I knew I needed to talk about what had happened with Dad, but wasn’t up for it. A lot of that was physical exhaustion and Dad recognized that. I ended up spending a good chunk of the afternoon being held and resting, drawing comfort from the fact that he was right there. All the previous Power Rangers had lost their active links at one point or another, or had willingly given them up. I’d done so today with Mom’s morpher; it had been incredibly difficult to make that decision to give up what I felt was my final link with her. I couldn’t let it get into Ivan’s hands; besides owing Mom that much, I’d heard what a corrupted physical link to the grid could do in the wrong hands.

I ended up breaking down crying after getting home; I had been vaguely aware of being enveloped in a group hug by Katherine, Rocky, and the entirety of Dino Thunder, but didn’t pay them much mind. Logically, I knew that I’d be back in a Suit the moment I got the morphers finished, but I needed the time to work through what had happened today. We all knew that Ivan had been dealt a major blow, which made him very desperate and dangerous indeed.

By the time I was able to center myself, we were in Dino Command, which didn’t surprise me at all. I knew this was one of the few places in Reefside where we could talk about Ranger business without having to be overheard by the wrong people, Dr. Mercer’s house was another. Hayley’s was only safe when it was closed; too many civilians who didn’t know were there during the day. I could hear Conner having a rather loud phone call with someone in what he must have thought was a quiet corner of the place. He’d appropriated the part of Dino Command that Hayley generally used to build and repair the team vehicles.

“Abigail, how are you doing right now?” Katherine asked when she knew I had a good chance of answering without falling apart again.

“Okay. Better than I was when I got home, but not 100%. I knew this plan was going to be hard, but…”

“It’s one thing to talk and plan, but something else to deal with after the fact,” Dad finished for me.

“Yea,” I replied, touching my necklace as tears threatened to come out again. “Part of me feels like I’ll never be able to talk to Mom again. That’s been the hardest part of the whole thing; that morpher was my final link to her.”

“Not your final, Abigail.” I looked at Kira, puzzled. She smiled as she grabbed my right wrist and drew my attention to it. “You still use her communicator. I’m sure that between Hayley, Ethan, and Billy, they’ll be able to hook it up to any morpher you use.” I gaped like a fish for a second before what she said registered. Most of the room cracked up laughing as I tackled her in a hug.

“Thank you, Kira.” She didn’t have to ask what for; we both knew it was for reminding me of the fact that I still had Mom’s communicator.

“Any time.” We were both smiling as we got up from the floor where we’d landed.

“Speaking of morphers…” I shook my head, cutting Ethan off before he could finish.

“Give me a week on that, minimum, Ethan. Everything needs to settle first before I can even think about turning those sketches into reality. If you want to get with Hayley, we are going to need some Zords or something. I’ve got the animal sketches somewhere…here!”

“You’re trusting me with these?”

“Who else would I trust in Reefside besides you and Hayley? Uncle Billy’s…busy and he’s the only other person I know of on planet except for TJ’s Space Ranger team with knowledge of how to build Zords and I’m not even sure that the Space Rangers are on planet at the moment.”

Dad shook his head. “They’re not. Said something about going to see Zhane, Karone and their family.”

I looked around; Trent was busy talking with Rocky about something and I knew better to intrude. Conner finally stalked out of the vehicle room, his phone call over.

“What’s the matter, Conner?”

“In our planning of what to do once you couldn’t use your morpher, Abigail, we forgot to inform your brother.” Ah…fuck. Kira and I looked at each other.

“I didn’t see him in the Youth Center when I arrived. How’d he find out?” Kira finally asked.

“He could have been within eyesight and of the whole thing, Kira, and very likely was also close enough to hear the conversation. The Youth Center’s big enough that someone can look at you and you won’t even realize it because they’re hidden behind a door or some other piece of equipment. I practically spent my childhood there; I can guarantee David knows most of the places to hide. It was one of the few things we didn’t get much grief from Ernie about was playing hide and seek with each other there.”

“That makes sense; he’d probably want the two of you to know the place better than he did in case of a monster attack. Less chance of one of our opponents capturing you as hostages,” Conner replied.

“That’s also not discounting that Ernie may have told him,” Katherine added. Kira shook her head at that, but it was Rocky who replied.

“He wouldn’t, Kat, even to David. This is less trying to protect David from Trini’s Power Ranger past, which David now knows the full history of, and more trying to keep the information to a select group of people, namely Ernie and everyone in this room. The fewer people who know Ernie now has the morpher, the less chance it has at getting back to Ivan.”

“Well, he doesn’t see it that way, guys. He’s pretty pissed about the whole thing. I got him to at least listen to why; told him what you just said, Rocky. He wanted to talk to Abigail.”

I shook my head. “I was, as I know you know, Conner, in no position to have that conversation with him. Still not; which he’s going to have to deal with. Rocky?”

“I’ll talk to him, even if I have to find him on campus. I know he’s got spring break coming up; don’t be surprised if he shows up in Reefside at least once during that time frame.”

“Next week; he said as much when we talked Thursday. You’re going to have to move fast if you’re going to intercept him, Rocky.” I snorted. “If it weren’t for the late hour, I’d almost bet he’d be showing up tonight.”

“He wanted to; I could hear someone in the background talking him out of it. Your birthfather probably.”

“Either Dr. Oliver or I are going to have to talk to him as to why you and Kira had to do what you did.” Trent and Dad shared a look and we knew why; out of the entire room, both knew what it was like to use a corrupted Power Source at the start of their careers as Power Rangers and how dangerous a user of such could be. The only difference was that both Dad and Trent had been teens when exposed to such; Ivan’s plan involved raising the potential user from the start and using his own powers to ensure my baby brother remained evil.

I ended up having to tell Rocky to head back to Angel Grove. As much as I needed to talk to him about what had happened today, I knew I’d have an easier time talking with Dad. Rocky knew what it was like to lose his Powers, but not like this. He’d also not known Mom very well, having only met her just before she, Zack, and Jason transferred their Powers and spots on the team to him, Adam, and Aisha. Dad on the other hand had served on the same team with Mom for much longer and knew her better; he’d also had his first Powers forcibly stripped away from him by Rita and understood what I was going through. Katherine had never known Mom during her days as a Power Ranger; they’d met years later when Mom and Ernie had married, but had never served together as teammates.

That conversation with Dad ended up having to wait until the next day. As much as I needed to talk, I was spent all the way around and needed a good night’s sleep at the very minimum. I’d ended up being joined in bed by Sasha and Eliza, our cats; they always seemed to know when I was not at my best. We’d gotten them at the local animal shelter; they were a bonded pair and needed to be adopted together. I spent some time just playing and cuddling with them, eventually falling asleep listening to them purr.

By the time I came down for breakfast, I was feeling better. I still was nowhere close to even 95% better, but I was a lot more comfortable talking about everything with Dad. We ended up spending several hours walking in the woods that made up the backyard and just talking about everything. One of the things that had really aided our relationship from the start was the fact that Dad was a great listener. He also gave some great advice when he knew I needed it.

He also understood why I was holding off on creating the morphers. Aside from the fact that doing so was going to take time and energy, I also needed to adjust to not being connected to my former morpher. While I still had an active link to the Grid, it was semi in flux right now as I dealt with not being able to morph. Dad had gone through that when his Green Ranger Powers had been temporarily restored, before the White Tiger Coin had been created. I was also dealing with worries about how I was going to live up to Mom’s legacy as a Power Ranger; it had been something on the back of my mind from the minute I used her morpher for the first time.

“Abigail, all you need to do is be the best Power Ranger you can be. Yes, your mom was an excellent Power Ranger, but you are not her. I know she would be very proud of what you’ve done so far, but each Power Ranger needs to forge their own path. No two Rangers are alike, even if they use the same Powers. Aisha, who was your mother’s successor to the same coin you originally used, was not the same Yellow Ranger Trini was. Don’t worry about trying to live up to my reputation either; I’ve seen and heard what you’re dealing with in school. Among our community of Power Rangers, it could be even worse.”

“TJ’s indicated as much when he’s been by. He’s been doing his best to stall for time before I meet the whole group and I don’t blame him either. The biological daughter of one of Zordon’s original picks adopted by another and a Power Ranger herself? Yea…not looking forward to that chaos, especially if it’s going to be anything like my freshman year’s been so far. Meeting up with Sensei Watanabe and his students was one thing; meeting the whole community so far will be another.”

As we headed back to the house, we started talking about the various miscellaneous things that were going to be needed to get my team off the ground. With Dino Thunder mostly in college right now, Reefside needed a local team again. He was pleased I’d handed off the Zord work; my response was that I was neither an idiot nor a fool, causing him to laugh. While my art skills were great, my knowledge of the mechanical stuff required to build and maintain the Zords was lacking. Ethan didn’t mind doing it when I asked, but I would have to actually ask Hayley if she’d be willing to help. Creating everything for Reefside’s first team was one thing; the only reason I didn’t have someone to fill that role was I was basically playing catch-up.

I knew that once my team got off the ground, I could try learning that myself as well as finding someone on the team to fill that role. Reefside High had a shop class that I was planning on taking at some point, which would provide a lot of that knowledge, as would computer club. While Patton, if he said yes to being a member of my team, had a lot of that knowledge himself, I also knew that it was highly likely he wouldn’t stay on the team forever; that wasn’t unusual for Ranger teams. Mom’s own team, by the time TJ and the others had come around, had most of their members come and go. Dad had been the last one from Mom’s team left and had passed his Turbo Powers onto TJ.

I also had access to not just Hayley’s notes from the most recent Dino Zords, but also Zordon’s and Uncle Billy’s from Zordon’s original team through when they received their Zeo Powers and eventually, the Turbo Powers. Ethan had been granted that same access by Dad last night before he’d left; Hayley’d had it for years. Some of Uncle Billy’s notes turned out to be from Aquitar; Hayley had obviously used them when helping create the Zords used by Dino Thunder.

Rocky had called while we were out; he’d managed to get David to calm down slightly over the whole ‘have-Kira-take-Mom’s-morpher-to-Ba-because-I-can’t-use-it-and-we-need-to-keep-it-out-of-Ivan-Ooze’s-hands’ plan, but my brother was still rightfully pissed. Rocky, from what I understood, asked Ba and David both how much of a threat Ranger-level villains might consider Ba verses former or active Rangers. That had shut David up in a hurry; Ba already knew the answer to that. Even ‘civilian’ bad guys didn’t consider him much of a threat; it said something that the most he had to deal with was the occasional graffiti or break in attempt. Most of Angel Grove considered the Youth Center ‘off limits’ when it came to general crime and a lot of that had to do with Ba. Ranger-level villains barely knew who he was if they weren’t dealing with Angel Grove, if at all.

That still didn’t mean David wasn’t coming up as planned this week; he was going to be spending half of his spring break with us and the other half in Angel Grove. Our only problem is that we no longer had a guest room; I’d offered him the top bunk in my room if he didn’t want to sleep on a cot in my art room or on the pull-away couch in the den.

Dad and Katherine had finally started converting what had been the guest room into the nursery, with Dad muttering about adding on to the house at some point. They weren’t going to be putting the crib or any other furniture in there until the walls were decorated and painted; I was spending some of my free time doing exactly that and having a blast. I let them pick out the colors; Katherine had actually gone with Dad one day when I was at Hayley’s picking out the paint. Her baby shower wasn’t going to be until closer to the end of March, but we wanted to get a head start on the nursery now.

Let me tell you, trying to create stencils of Disney characters was so much fun, so much. I’d had to create my own because the ones that the art store just didn’t cut it. Sketching the characters out, then using tracing paper and an exacto-knife…I was glad Trent was there at the time. As it was, explaining why I had Band-Aides on my hand wasn’t exactly fun.

Before I could even start painting, though, the furniture had to be taken out. Even with Trent, Conner, Ethan, and Anton offering to help, Dad was holding off until David could join in. That was going to take a full day due to two factors: numbers and the fact that Reefside High’s spring break wasn’t until mid-April. All Katherine could do at the moment was supervise and move small items to my art room, which she was fine with. I’d already moved my easels against a wall in preparation for that, which hadn’t been easy, but there was precious few places to store things on the second floor. Some stuff was going to be moved to the ‘public’ areas of the basement, but the items actually going back into the nursery was staying on the second floor.

I also had to create the morphers on top of everything else. They were the only thing I’d not designed and I was having a tough time coming up with something unique. The Suits were reminiscent of Angel Grove’s original team; I wanted something different for the morphers. From what everything I’d read, the actual morphing sequence was unique to each team and morpher. In preparation, I watched videos of each team’s morphing sequence over and over. The other tough thing was the fact that it needed to be something that could be done by people with differing dominant hands; TJ had semi-complained about having to morph using his non-dominant hand. What had been nice about Mom’s morpher was the fact that it didn’t have that requirement; the Turbo and Space team morphers did.

I finally turned to Dad for advice; even though he’d found the Dino Gems that Dino Thunder used, he had programmed the morphers that Hayley had created with a unique phrase and set of moves to activate them. I’d found out that his Black Dino morpher had been partially based off of the Turbo morphers; Hayley had programmed the key to also help with his Zord.

I also was beginning to realize that I needed a lot of stuff for this team; unlike most teams, we had no actual Command Center, nobody to communicate to us when there was a monster attack, nothing. Dad and Hayley had sometimes acted as such from Dino Command, the name of which he and I kept going back and forth on. The true name, which he’d told me at a later date, was Triceramax Command. I found it easier to call it Dino Command; most of Dino Thunder found the whole thing hilarious. I’d finally admitted that the name ‘Dino Command’ had come from how he’d first introduced it to me all those months ago.

David had found me late Tuesday afternoon practicing some of the different morphing sequences that I’d seen in the video logs Dad had done up. I’d ended up tripping over some of the moves as none of them felt right. The only ones that felt right were the morphing sequences used by my previous morpher, something I found frustrating. I knew a lot of that had been due to 6 months of using that morpher; 6 months of habit was hard to break. Thankfully, I wasn’t in Dino Command; Dad wanted to be the one to show him it. Instead, I’d been in the ‘public’ part of the basement when he came down.

“Abby” I stopped what I was doing and almost tackled him in a hug, which I noted he returned. As angry as he’d been with me over the weekend, both of us were glad to see each other. This was also the first time we’d seen each other since Christmas; for obvious reasons, he’d not come up for my adoption hearing as much as both of us wanted him to be there.

“I missed you, David,” I told him as we headed back upstairs. Both of us grinned as he ruffled my hair in response.

“Missed you too, Abby, as does Dad and everyone else. Some are pretty upset that you’ve not called now that your secret’s out.” That stopped me in my tracks, as I’d not thought much about calling them with everything else that was going on.

“You know what reaction I’d get, David. Lectures mostly, which is why I’ve been letting Dad or Katherine deal when they’ve called. I know Austin and Amy are pretty upset too; I’d be upset if one of my best friends vanished without a word and finally turns up in another city as the adopted child of one of the friends of my parents.” What neither of us said, but both of us realized, was that fear played another role in it. I’d basically had to flee, leaving behind my two closest friends. If I’d not had to flee, it was likely that Austin and I would have gotten together; now, I wasn’t sure who I was going to end up dating.

“Jason and Kimberly won’t, Abby,” he replied softly.

“Only because Aunt Kimberly got hers out of the way before the wedding. The twins wouldn’t even talk to me.” That had hurt as much as Francine’s refusal to talk to me earlier this year.

“I heard; Jason, Kimberly, and I have been working on them. They got pissed at me when they found out I’d known and not said anything. It took a lot of explaining on all of our ends as to why I couldn’t say anything. I’d finally had to pull out the NDA that Agent Morgan had me sign before they relented. When they saw what Stone did that blew your case wide open, they were upset and not just at him. I think some of the calls you’ve been getting here have been them trying to apologize.”

We continued talking and laughing as we went up to my room. David had taken me up on my offer to use the top bunk; this would be the first time we’d shared a room since either of us had been young. Granted, that meant he had to change in my art room if I was changing, but that wasn’t an issue for either of us. He finally addressed what he’d seen me practicing in the basement, a topic related to the very big elephant in the room.

“It’s a long story, David, and one Dad needs to be involved in. I know Rocky filled you in somewhat, but he doesn’t have all the details.”

“Good point. Where are Dr. Oliver and Katherine? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he gave me a key at Christmas, but I was expecting them to be here.”

“Doctor’s appointment and picking up something for dinner. That’s the hardest part about him being a teacher is all of the appointments have to be worked around as much of his teaching schedule as possible.”

“Point to you, little sister. Still, it looked like you were practicing different morphing sequences. I thought you couldn’t morph anymore; Jason indicated that usually once a Ranger loses access to their morpher, permanent access, it’s next to impossible for them to morph except in dire circumstances.”

“He’s right about that; that’s true in most cases. You and I, however, are in an unusual category and I’m still having trouble wrapping my brain around it.” I went on to explain everything I remembered about what Mom had told me about the Grid, Legacies, Potentials, Chosen, and Rangers. There had been a couple of times when David had started coughing because he’d choked on his water because of what I was talking about.

“So, what you’re telling me is that you’re basically responsible for creating the next team of Power Rangers?” He sounded incredulous at the fact and I didn’t blame him; I would have if our situations were reversed.

“Yep. Believe me, I wish I could have waited a few more years, but nooooo. Most of Dino Thunder-who you’ve met and no, I won’t tell you who they are as they want to introduce themselves-is in university. With the threat of one purple carrot faced psycho, Reefside needs a new full-time team. Why I’ve been chosen to create and lead that team, I don’t really know, but it has something to do with what I told you. Before you ask, I can’t put you on the team, David. You’re in L.A. and, like Dino Thunder, are in college. I’m fairly certain that you can use a morpher, but it’s going to have to be one already created and not Mom’s. Because of my usage of it, I doubt it’s going to be able to be used by someone of the same bloodline for at least several generations.”

“Right, get someone not Jason, Kimberly, or Aisha to let me borrow theirs so we can find out.” David was slightly joking, but I could tell he was seriously considering it.

“Try Uncle Billy first; he’s the closest to where you live,” I shot back in the same tone. We both cracked up laughing several seconds later at the hilarity of it all. Once we calmed down, an idea came to me. “There might be another way to find out, but I don’t want to try it without Dad around.”

“How’s that, Abby?”

“Guided meditation; it’ll also serve to find out if you can do the same things I can. If you can, or are limited to inheriting someone’s morpher, I’ll write you out a guide. I know Dino Blue’s thinking of compiling one for each color so that by the time a new Ranger’s picked of each color, they have some type of ‘Power Ranger guide for newbies.’ We did veto ‘A Power Ranger’s Guide for Dummies’ as a title when he suggested it.”

“Why do you want to wait for Dr. Oliver?” I could tell David was anxious to find out, not that I blamed him.

“It’s a long story and not all of it’s mine to tell. If he found out we were going to do this without him here, we’d both get in trouble. I’ve done enough stupid stuff as a Power Ranger that’s scared him and don’t want to add this to the list. Trust me, he’s got quite the list.”

“I bet,” David muttered. What he was going to say next was interrupted by Dad and Katherine getting home and we headed down to the first floor to meet them. They’d ended up bringing home Chinese; David had fallen in love with the local restaurant that we got our Chinese from and had complained in more than one phone call about not finding anything close to similar in L. A.

Barring an Ivan attack, we were planning on a reveal Thursday due to Dad and I being busy most of tomorrow. That didn’t mean that the team wasn’t going to be over before then; they were actually coming over tomorrow while Dad and I were busy to get everything moved out of the soon-to-be nursery. If we had time after dinner, we’d do it then, but a longer talk would have to happen Thursday, as David was heading back to Angel Grove early Saturday.

One of the hardest things for me right now was because I currently had no morpher, I was relegated to being communications if I was at home during an attack. I knew that it was another skill I needed to know; I understood that I wouldn’t be able to be in the field forever. At some point, I was going to have to switch to support for any future teams I chose. Even Dad had occasionally operated as communications; that had been primarily when he was stuck in morph. Hayley had sometimes served in the same role, but with operating CyberSpace, she didn’t always have the free time to serve. Katherine’s ability to do the same was going to all but go away once Andy was born.

Even once the morphers were finished, being relegated to communications was going to be the thing, as we would need to learn to work together as a team and quickly. Francine and I had a good grasp on that already, having done soccer camp together, but the rest of the group was a bit more difficult. Thankfully, we were in the same gym class together, but we were going to have to figure out some way of covertly doing training sessions together.

That had been something that they’d settled on finally was a name: Andrew Samuel David Oliver. They couldn’t come up with a second ‘J’ name to use with Jason, nor could they choose between Samuel or David for a middle name, so they decided to use both. JJ would be used for the next child and I knew that they wanted at least one more. I couldn’t wait to see Sam and David’s faces when they found out that Dad and Katherine’s eldest son would be named after both of them.

Going to sleep that night wasn’t easy; it had been a while since I’d had a sleepover and the last time David had been over, we’d still had a usable guest room. At the same time, it was great seeing my brother again; he was one of the few people I missed from Angel Grove. At the same time, the whole morphing sequence thing was bugging me. Ninjor had pretty much confirmed that the Power Items that I’d drawn would be coins, so that limited the morphing device’s shape and size as well as the sequence. My first instinct was to just drop into a trance and let the Grid take care of it; Dad was a lot more cautious about the whole thing.

Morning finally came way too soon and I was envious of David’s ability to fall back asleep as soon as I told him it was my alarm. I knew that he was taking advantage of his week off of classes to catch up on sleep. Despite scheduling most of his classes for the afternoons and evenings, he had one class he needed to take that was at 9 in the morning this semester. On top of that, he was spending many of his weekends back in Angel Grove and I could tell it was starting to take its toll on him. Any time he could get away from the stress of classes and dealing with Ba he cherished, even if that meant he was visiting me. I just hoped that he took more breaks before the stress got to him, even if that meant he stayed on campus those weekends.

From what Rocky was saying, Ba was getting better. Even with agreeing to help, he’d still taken one look at the morpher when Kira got to him and almost refused to take it. Rocky had informed Mom and Dad’s old team about the plan and Zack had been there when she’d arrived. Zack had gone up to the Command Center when she left and found a container to put it in. Ba promised to show it to me when I came down for a proper visit this summer. I couldn’t wait for the visit even though I wasn’t sure what condition either of us would be in at the time, mentally or emotionally. I knew that I was likely to be in Angel Grove for the soccer game, but I wasn’t sure what we’d be doing after or what else was going to be going on. Katherine was due close to the date of the game, so there was a slim chance I’d have to skip it, but I doubted it, as the game was closer to the beginning of May and she was due in mid to late April.

I had been slightly restless at school, not enough to be noticeable to my teachers, but Francine had noticed something was up. She finally got me talking at lunch, which I expected.

“Nothing’s wrong, Francine. My brother has the week off from school-spring break-and is spending some of the week here. He’s helping get the nursery ready, which we’re grateful for. Conner and the others are there today; I just wish I was. I don’t get to see him near as often as either of us like; we’d be in a similar situation if I’d stayed in Angel Grove as he’s going to college in L. A. I didn’t get to see him much over Christmas as we were spending time with Uncle David and his adoptive dad. If David hadn’t come up to visit, I wouldn’t get to see him until the soccer game against Angel Grove at the earliest.”

Francine just gave me a smile; she knew how difficult this school year had been on me. Ranger duties or not, I was also bouncing back from a semi-abusive home life, plus a foster placement turned adoptive family and a former detective who tried returning me to said bad home life. When you add losing the ability to morph on top of that, someone not near as resilient or without the same support system I had would have broken. She and Karan were coming over Saturday, after David left, and I’d promised them both a full accounting.

Karan had been one of the students trying out for the soccer team and had seen me demorph. Like Francine, she knew better than to talk about what she’d seen and I’d gotten permission from Dad to explain everything to them. I was going to make both of their morphers before David left and give them the opportunity to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. The boys would have to wait until I could get them together and do the same. Dad had given me blanket permission to do so, knowing just how important putting this team together was. The hardest part was going to be swearing them to the oath; either Dad or I could do so, but if Dad did it, he’d have to start out in full Black Dino Ranger morph. We’d toyed with the idea of Dino Thunder being there and the rest of the team had no issues with it.

Looking up at the whole group, I knew that getting them together on Saturday was going to be the best thing for all of us. I took some time to scribble three notes and slip them into Patton, Steve, and Johnny’s backpacks when they weren’t looking. That meant that tomorrow and Friday would be spent creating the morphers; it was time. Only reason I wasn’t doing so tonight was that we were going to have the discussion with David.

Unlike school, lessons at the dojo meant I had to stay focused the entire time. By this point, I’d been able to develop the ability to direct my focus on where it needed to be, pushing all other thoughts out of my mind except for what I needed to be aware of. It was a skill common to many who practiced martial arts and those who served as Power Rangers, though once we were dismissed, I got excited as David would be waiting for me when I got home.

Of course, by the time we actually got home, David was a bit frazzled having dealt with the majority of Dino Thunder for a good chunk of the day. From the looks of things, Conner and Ethan had started tag-teaming him about something, with Kira sometimes joining in. Trent had basically stayed out of it, but David was glad to see us.

Some of it had happened, as I found out, when David had agreed to start the grill up for burgers. We’d gotten the food for tonight Saturday on the way home after Ivan’s attack as Dad and Katherine knew they’d be feeding 6 hungry teenagers, all of which practiced martial arts of some form. David had never used a grill like we had, so Conner and Ethan had agreed to ‘teach’ him. I’d forgotten to warn David that Ethan was quite the prankster and Conner was one of Ethan’s closest friends. Kira, usually a voice of reason, had pranked David earlier in the afternoon, so he was wary of any help that she would give him. While David was dealing with them, Trent had gone ahead and lit the grill, not long before we got back.

After dinner, though, things got serious and I could tell David was wary that he was going to be pranked again.

“No pranks this time, David,” Dad said as he opened the entrance to Dino Command. “It’s time you learned everything.” David still hesitated, so I ended up grabbing his arm.

“Come on, David. You need to see this; I know you’ve wondered about Dino Thunder’s base of operations. No talking, just go.” With that, my brother swallowed his questions and followed us down the stairs. Dad and Katherine made up the rear as this entrance was a bit difficult for her right now and none of us wanted to risk anything untoward right now.

“Welcome to Triceramax Command, David, or like your sister likes to call it, Dino Command,” Conner said, grinning at the last bit. As Red Ranger, he’d been elected spokesman for the group.

“You guys are shitting me right now, right? This is another prank.”

“No prank, David,” Dad replied.

“Not even I could pull off anything this elaborate in someone else’s home,” Ethan added.

“Guys, the only way he’s going to believe you is if you morph,” I said. “Before you can say no personal gain, Conan Brady, Trent, remember?”

“He had most of the team trapped in a comic book because of a pen Principal Randall created while evil, Abigail,” Trent shot back, reminding me.

All Dad had to do was open a specific picture file and pull out two photos. One had been of him, Mom, and the rest of their original team. The other was one that Hayley had taken last year, before I joined the team. David picked them up and took his time looking at both photos.

“Okay…now I believe you guys. I knew of Dr. Oliver’s past, but didn’t realize…”

“That I was connected to the new team? Yea…there’s a reason for that.”

David just snorted. “The whole secret identity thing? I can see where that would put a damper on filling in family members, even those like me who are considered ‘in-the-know’”. He looked up at all of us and sighed. “No matter what, you can’t bring my dad in here, even though he knows Abigail’s been helping you guys. He can barely deal with seeing photos of her in morph as much as he tries to hide it or say he’s doing better.”

Kira nodded. “He almost refused to take the morpher last Saturday. If one of his friends hadn’t been there and known a code phrase, he wouldn’t have. I recognized him from the photo, too, otherwise, we would have had problems.”

“I knew that could be an issue, but none of us were able to come up with alternative plans that would have worked. He said Zack brought something from the Angel Grove Command Center to hold it in for the time being.”

David nodded, elaborating that he’d seen the box. He didn’t know where it was exactly in the house as it was stored somewhere that had a similar locking system to Dino Command. Eventually, the smaller question-and-answer session wound down and the others headed home. They promised to come over during the day to answer any other questions David had and to properly introduce him to Hayley. As David helped Katherine back upstairs, I hung back, indicating I wanted to talk to Dad about something.

“What’s up, Abigail?”

“It’s time to create the morphers, or close to. I got flashes of it during lunch today, with Francine and Karan coming over Saturday, they need to be ready to give to them. The boys in the group too; we need to find a way to bring them in through the side entrance if we can. The only reason I didn’t say so earlier is because of David; he doesn’t need to know this right now. I told him some, but…”

“The longer explanation is going to have to wait for later. I assume you want to find out if he can morph?”

I nodded, exhausted. “Not us, unless he can be guided through a meditation to figure it out. It’s going to have to be someone’s coin from the original team otherwise.”

“I can do that while you’re working on the morphers. You need to get to bed; we both do.” I was too tired to really argue at that, so we headed upstairs as Dad secured the basement. With me no longer able to morph and Katherine growing ever nearer to her due date, we’d had the Grid system on full alert 24/7.

Unlike the night before, I’d been able to fall asleep fairly quickly and slept deeply; deeply enough that David had to be the one to wake me up as I’d not heard my alarm. As it was, Dad and I had to scramble out the door as we’d both almost overslept our alarms. Today was one of the few days that Dad allowed me to have a cup of coffee before school started; as much as I liked the beverage, it was a rare treat for me on school days. I normally had it on the weekends, or during the afternoons I spent at Hayley’s.

Thankfully, I didn’t have much homework; most of my coursework was reviewing or working on projects in class this week. The only actual assignment was from my Vietnamese language course and that was quickly done, but I was planning on going over it again after dinner. I didn’t want to risk goofing up because I was in a hurry.

As soon as Dad was ready, we headed down to the section of Dino Command that had the supplies for the new morphers and suits. David and the others were upstairs; nobody wanted to risk accidental interference because they were all downstairs. As it was, Dad still had to stand outside of the secluded part of Dino Command where we’d put the materials because, Black Dino Ranger or not, his link to the Grid was permanently active due to being one of the longest-serving Power Rangers.

I’d dropped into a semi-meditative state as I got everything ready. I’d still not gotten the hang of meditating standing up, but I could do semi-meditative. The latter worked for this, as I needed to be able to move around and set things down at the same time. I’d originally intended on doing the morphers in two batches, but the Grid had other ideas. Unlike the previous times I’d run into this situation, I took what I’d learned at the Temple of Power and just let the Grid flow through me, not fighting it.

By the time the Grid receded into its normal feeling inside my mind and body, I was holding onto the table with both hands. The sketches had vanished, leaving only six morphers on the table. I ended up fairly surprised at how similar, yet different, they appeared to the morpher I’d used.

The other thing it took me a while to notice was that the Grid signature that connected to the morphers had integrated with the one that surrounded Dino Command; that was a good thing. Of course, what I wasn’t expecting was for David and the remainder of Dino Thunder to enter, looking around for threats.

“What’s up guys?”

“I don’t know what you just did, but it set Hayley’s sensors off at CyberSpace. We thought the place was under attack again.” Conner looked and sounded semi-out of breath and a bit pissed as he and the others demorphed.

“No attack, but keep your eyes and ears open. If creating these”-I held up my new morpher-“set off Hayley’s sensors, you can bet our opponent knows something big happened too. All we can hope is that he thinks it’s not us.” That’s when the rest of the group noticed the morphers on the table. The expressions on their faces were a mix of shock, amazement, and general impassiveness.

“You finally got those created? I thought you said you were going to wait a while,” Ethan asked.

“No time; two of the new Rangers are coming over Saturday. I’m going to need someone to guide the guys in through the other, non-house, entrance. I slipped notes asking them to meet one of you at different places, it’s just a matter of who and where.”

Ethan quickly claimed Patton; it was not unusual for either genius and geek to be at CyberSpace early on a Saturday. He was going to be the only one guiding his own Ranger Color; Conner would normally have led the next Red Ranger in, but that was Karan and she was coming over to the house with Francine. Instead, Conner was going to lead Johnny. Kira and Trent ended up flipping a coin for Steve, which Trent won. Kira would stay with me, as we’d had Yellow in common; Dad was going to be the one explaining everything.

We knew that there was a chance that there was going to be trouble; Conner was right. My actions in creating a new set of morphers had lit up a number of beacons; we spent the next hour and a half responding to check-ins from every past Ranger team on planet and the two currently off planet, not counting the Aquitian team. Andros and his team, including Zhane and Karone, were already halfway back to Earth by the time we were able to answer their calls.

Chapter Text

Location: Ivan’s Lab, next day. POV: Rito/3rd person

Rito was terrified. Between last Saturday and whatever had happened yesterday afternoon had turned his current boss from a scheming megalomaniac into one now fueled by desperation. His attempts over the last couple of months to win Rito’s loyalty again were dropped by the wayside as Ivan scrambled to find a new way to get his plans back in motion. Rito knew Scorpina was also no longer loyal to Ivan; she’d said as much while Ivan was off planet, not that Rito would tell the purple tyrant such.

The only reason both stayed was to keep an eye on Ivan; they knew that if they openly defected, not only would Ivan likely kill them both, but the Dino Rangers would have no source of information as to Ivan’s plans. Rito knew he was going to have to trust Scorpina to help him get the information out; she was closer to Ivan and knew how to manipulate him best. Both recognized that Ivan was going to be suspicious if she suddenly appeared to return to being loyal to him and knew that he had ways to ensure she’d never betray him.

He’d finally shared with her the notes and books he’d liberated from Finster’s lab. She practically collapsed in relief when she saw them; Rito hadn’t been the only one fond of the alchemist. Between the two of them, they’d managed to create a potion that would partially counteract any loyalty spell or potion that Ivan would give to either of them. The only real problem was it required someone with strong magical skills to fully bind it to them. They knew that they didn’t have much time to do this and waited for a day when Scorpina was confident that she’d be able to have Ivan send them out on an errand.

That wouldn’t be this weekend, though, as Ivan wanted to trace the source of the beacon. He’d managed to trace a similar signal to a forested area close to a museum. Rito knew from his own research that the museum belonged to Mesogog’s human alter ego, not that he’d informed Ivan of the fact. He knew Ivan was aware of the connection; their base of operations had once been used by the mad scientist. Rito just hoped that Ivan wouldn’t remember it for a while; that might just be a disaster.

Saturday rolled around and Ivan sent out the Tengu and Oozemen to follow the Dino Rangers as they led three civilian boys to the area where he’d picked up the signal similar to the blast, keeping Rito and Scorpina behind.

“If it pleases you, Oh Intelligent One, why keep us behind? The Dino Rangers have made mincemeat of the Tengu and Oozemen before.” Rito cautiously commented, keeping to his ‘dumb skeleton’ persona as they watched the fights.

“Not at the expense of civilians, you fool! If the Tengu or Oozemen can capture or kill the civilians, all the better. It would be especially nice if we could corrupt one of them, if they are who I think they are…or will be.” Rito was grateful that, being a skeleton, he had no real facial expressions for Ivan to read. Scorpina was skilled in hiding her reactions; both were a bit scared at Ivan’s plan, but they also knew it had a small chance of working.

Rito thought he’d never see the day when he’d root for the Power Rangers over his own boss. It was one thing to root for them as they battled another evil team intent on taking over the universe, but against one’s own boss was normally Not Done. Oh, those who’d been minions occasionally switched teams, as Divatox’s nephew had started working for Astronoma before the Space Rangers had destroyed the Alliance of Evil, but Earth currently only had Ivan trying to take over the planet. None of the Evil or Formerly Evil who’d survived knew just how they’d managed to destroy or redeem most of that alliance. Rito and Scorpina were both lucky to survive relatively unscathed, in their minds. Ivan had only survived due to being imprisoned in his capsule.

Rito watched as Scorpina stepped forwards; this was a risky move she was about to make.

“Corrupting a potential Ranger has always failed in the past, Ivan. This lab had been used by Anton Mercer when he became Mesogog. There’s always the possibility that some of Mesogog remains in him despite the fact that the two were separated. We could...always use him instead. That would deal a much more damaging blow to Reefside’s Rangers; Mesogog’s own notes indicate that the White Dino Ranger is Mercer’s adopted son.”

Rito watched as an evil grin spread over Ivan’s face as he considered Scorpina’s suggestion. Rito himself had to admit that the idea had merit; if he was interested in being a tyrant or otherwise leading a takeover of Earth to use it as a base to take over the universe, he would use a similar plan. He knew Ivan wasn’t considering just how much Mercer’s intelligence, and likewise Mesogog’s, matched Ivan’s own. Rito and Scorpina both had read the notes the former villain had left behind about Lothor’s attempt to join forces; this would likely end the same way or similarly.

Location: Triceramax ‘Dino’ Command Center, Saturday afternoon. POV: Tommy/3rd person

Tommy, in full morph, watched as Conner, Ethan, and Trent guided their charges to the side entrance to Triceramax Command. Abigail’s friends were upstairs, waiting with her, Kira, and Kat, waiting on the signal to bring them down. He groaned as the six teens were attacked by Ivan’s goons, but also knew that this would be a ‘make or break’ situation for them. Francine and Karan had already been through one the previous Saturday; both girls had fought off some of Ivan’s Oozemen to protect their teammates.

“Abigail, Kira, bring them down,” Tommy said as the rest of Dino Thunder arrived at the sinkhole with the other three teens. Tommy had agreed that it was better if all 5 teens entered at the same time or near to. Kira would be the only one of the current Ranger team not in full morph for a reason, her morphing and demorph would serve to help convince Abigail’s two friends in the house.

This was the hardest part of the whole plan; it was rare that any or all Rangers wanted the responsibility in the first place, not even his current team. All of them wanted to give it up in the beginning, but realized that they were some of the only people that stood between those who’d take over the universe and the innocents that would get hurt. If Earth had no Ranger teams, it would be like so many planets that had been subjugated by evil in the known universe.

He also hated this part of the job, bringing teens not even old enough to drive into the Ranger family. He also knew that teens that age were often Chosen for a reason; most of his first team, including himself, had all either been 15 or 16 when they became Power Rangers. His current team had all been 17 or 18 when they were chosen by their Dino Gems; he’d even told Conner, Ethan, and Kira that they didn’t chose their gems, their gems chose them.

“What the hell? What is going on, guys? What were those things?” Johnny asked, not surprising anyone. 

“I guess now’s not the time to responds with asking you guys why you might be wondering why I’ve gathered you here today?” 

“Abigail, under normal circumstances, that might be funny, but what the hell?”

Before Abigail could answer, Tommy stepped forward and answered. “The beings that attacked you are Tengu Warriors and Oozemen. The Tengu are the winged bird-like humanoids; Oozemen are the others. Reefside is under attack by an intergalactic megalomaniac by the name of Ivan Ooze.”

“What does that have to do with us?” Karan asked.

“We,” Conner replied, waving a hand to indicate the now-morphed Dino Thunder team, “are not enough to stop him. Even with previous Ranger teams in and out of the city, they aren’t local like we are. They don’t know the area as well, can’t always get here in time to help.”

“That is where you come in,” Abigail continued, stepping forward with two boxes. “As Francine and Karan already know, I have been fighting alongside Reefside’s own team as a Power Ranger. Last Saturday, I lost the ability to use the morpher I was using. That morpher had once been wielded by my birthmother and was a huge reason I ended up in Reefside to begin with. You 5 already know the main parts of my past; my birthfather knew of my mom’s role in protecting Angel Grove. If she’d had survived a car crash when I was an infant, he would have had less of an issue with me following in her footsteps, but he didn’t handle his grief well; not at all really.” The table clanked as she set the two cases on there and Tommy joined her.

“In these boxes are morphers and communicators. You 5, not counting Abigail, have been Chosen to become the Reefside’s new Power Ranger team.”

“Assume we believe you. Who are you and what is your role in all of this?”

“I have been doing this on and off since I was not much older than all of you. I, however, am not your team lead as I already belong to a team. That honor is Abigail’s as she’s been doing this since last June.” Tommy looked directly at the 5 teens in front of him. “Normally, that honor belongs to whoever is the Red Ranger, but not in this case. Why Abigail isn’t Red, I don’t know, but no Ranger choses their Color, it Chooses them.”

“So you’re saying we don’t have a choice?” asked Steve

“You do. You can walk away at any time, not even picking a morpher. What I hope to do is give you enough information so that you can make that choice,” Abigail said.

“I will say this: No Ranger has ever turned away from the responsibility once Chosen. Ever. This is even when they didn’t want the Powers that had Chosen them.”

“I’m in; I’m not letting Abigail do this alone, Dino team or not.” Francine’s agreement surprised nobody. Karan followed not long after; the boys giving their assent as well. Abigail opened the boxes, allowing her friends to grab their morphers and communicators, grabbing the last morpher for herself.

“How do we use these?” Abigail, after looking to Tommy for approval, demonstrated the activation phrase and morphing sequence, morphing into her new Suit for the first time. The others followed suit and soon the entire team was in their new suits. Tommy was unsurprised to see that his initial observations were correct as to which teen ended up with which color. Abigail had even admitted as much the day she’d created the morphers.

After she walked them through the power down sequence, which Tommy noted was identical to his own team’s, Steve looked around at Dino Thunder, who still remained morphed. Kira had morphed when Abigail’s team did; Tommy had a sneaking suspicion as to why.

“You’re Kira and I know Trent,” Steve said, pointing to the two members of Dino Thunder in question. “The rest of you sound very familiar, but don’t demorph yet. I want to guess first.” As he turned around, he pointed at each one in turn as he made his guesses. “Conner in Red, Ethan in Blue-and believe me, I know the significance of that-and Black? You sound much older; you even said you’ve been doing this since you were a teenager. Add in Abigail being here as well as Mrs. Hillard-Oliver and I’d say you’re Dr. Oliver. You had us come in through the side entrance for a reason; coming in through the house like the girls did would have tipped us off early, though I don’t know why you guys wanted the buildup.”

Tommy chuckled at that, as did Conner and Abigail, but it was Abigail who spoke up.

“That was my idea, actually. The villain we’re up against? The last place we want to indicate as attached to a Power Ranger team is the house. He holds no value to innocent life, even that of infants. We received intel that…” Abigail hitched a breath, closing her eyes as she attempted to calm herself. When it was obvious that she was unable to continue, Conner stepped forward, picking up where she left off.

“He intends to kidnap Dr. Oliver’s unborn child and use him to take over the Earth. Last Saturday, we were able to thwart his initial plans to also use Abigail as the initial kidnapper. He was going to find a way to break her or otherwise convert her to his side. Why he settled on Dr. Oliver, we don’t know and our informant wasn’t able to give us that information.”

“It’s been my experience that those like Ivan Ooze rarely tell their lieutenants their full plans. Right now, we’re flying blind, but don’t underestimate him. He’s one intelligent guy, but right now, he’s desperate. Like most of the villains I’ve faced off against as a Power Ranger, he is focused on one plan at a time, with his main plan being to eventually take over and rule the known universe.”

Ethan was the next to talk, the genius uncommonly serious. “He also knows he likely won’t live forever and desires some form of heir, one that he plans on using as the first of many evil Power Rangers.”

“Some experiment or other that he did rendered him unable to have biological children of his own,” Kira added; that information had been in Zordon's files on Ivan.

“That’s why he wants your son,” Patton observed, speaking up for the first time. “He’s one sick bastard.”

“He is; now that you guys know the hows and whys of everything, if you want to return to your normal lives, you’re free to do so.” Tommy took a deep breath; going over this had been as hard as it had been when he’d found out. He looked at the newest members of the Power Ranger family. “In fact, any time you wish to no longer continue as a Power Ranger, just say so. Tell Abigail, tell Conner, tell me. Tell any of us that have done this before if you’re running into any issues.”

Conner picked back up. “I’m not going to lie; this is one very difficult job. You can’t tell your families, any friends you have outside of the group, teachers, nobody that you’re a Power Ranger. This is as much for their protection as it is yours. You’ve just heard what Ivan plans to do to Dr. Oliver, Katherine, and their children because he knows of Dr. Oliver’s Ranger past. How he missed Katherine’s, I don’t know.” At the teen’s questioning looks, it was explained that she had succeeded the original Pink Ranger.

“You also can’t use your powers for personal gain, nor escalate fights against any Ranger-level villain, their minions, monsters, or goons until they escalate things first,” Kat added, speaking up for the first time. Most of the teens minus Dino Thunder and Abigail jumped. “Those were the three rules originally set down by Zordon for Angel Grove’s first team.”

“How many teams have there been?” Francine asked.

“Quite a few,” Tommy replied. “Before Dino Thunder was formed, I created a video log of all previous teams that Earth has either had or has been allied with over the past several decades going back to when Abigail’s birth mother and I were teens on the same team together.” He was pleased to see that none of the 5 teens backed down or wanted to leave. If anything, hearing about Ivan’s plans just made them more determined to continue.

They spent the rest of the afternoon quietly talking about everything involved in being a Power Ranger; Tommy knew Abigail wanted to make sure that these teens knew just what they were getting themselves into and giving them every chance to walk away. There had been several times where someone stepped up and comforted Abigail as needed. They all knew how much she cared for her parents.

Karan finally spoke up after quietly listening after a while. “You said that we’re not supposed to use our powers for personal gain. Doesn’t creating a new team to protect an unborn child break that rule?”

“Normally, you’d be right, Karan. That rule, though, gets trumped by the ‘no escalation until they do’ rule; by going after Dr. Oliver’s unborn son, he raised the stakes. We’re raising them right back,” Conner replied, as Abigail wasn’t able to. Tommy had needed to comfort her; talking about Ivan’s plans hadn’t been easy. Rocky had become sick with the cold and been forced to cancel their appointment, which hadn’t been easy on her.

Eventually, they had to all head back out. Patton had told his parents he was spending the day with Ethan; Mrs. Jones knew to give him an alibi. Steven and Johnny spent so much time together that as long as they checked in with their parents, they were fine, but they decided to head out anyway. Francine and Karan were going to spend the night, so Tommy knew he didn’t have to worry about explaining anything there. Conner and Trent were staying for a while; Kira ended up leaving as she had a performance at CyberSpace that night and needed to rehearse.

The hardest thing for the new team to explain was going to be the communicators; Francine and Karan were easy. It was well known among the girls’ parents that they liked hers; it was going to be called a late Christmas gift. They’d known that Abigail had an older brother in L. A.; the running story was that she’d had him pick them up and they’d just been delivered due to his class schedule. That would cover Johnny, Patton, and Steve as well; most of the teens in Reefside knew how close the 6 teens were.

They’d all made plans to create a training schedule; Tommy had found out that Johnny and Steve took Brazilian Ju-Jitsu at one of the other martial arts schools in town. Karan was the only one without martial arts training, something that needed to be rectified.

“My parents won’t let me take any; they say that it’s not for ‘girls like me’, even with Francine and Abigail taking lessons.” She snorted. “Abigail, they explain away by virtue of you being her dad, Dr. Oliver. They have no explanation for Francine.”

“Only because your parents are so concerned with proper appearances, Karan,” Francine remarked. “That, and they know I’m not a complete ‘girly girl’, as they think is proper.”

“I can give you lessons on the sly if you want; we’re going to have to be careful, though.” Tommy wasn’t too surprised his daughter had made the offer; he was well aware why she was making the offer. Aside from the fact that David had once taught her that way, the Grid could only impart so much and those skills, unless practiced when unmorphed, wouldn’t set into muscle memory like they needed to. Karan was now one of them and it wasn’t a good idea to allow a teammate, much less a friend, to not have their skills in top shape.

“If I say I’m hanging out with Abigail and Francine, they won’t care. After someone said something, they never cared that Johnny and Steve, as well as Patton, have been part of my friends group, except as potential boyfriends for me. I can’t wait until I turn 18 and can leave.” By this time, Tommy had found out about Karan being gay; it didn’t bother him one bit.

“If you need help before then, just say something.”

“I appreciate it, Dr. Oliver. I’ve started talking to Hayley; she’s been a great help. It’s nice having an adult to talk to who’s been through what I’m going through.”

“I can talk to my dad, Karan. I think he knows your parents; he might be able to get you into lessons if that’s what you want. I can let him know to keep your sexuality out if it,” Trent offered; Karan cautiously took him up on his offer.

“Why are you offering to do this, Trent?” she asked.

“Aside from the fact that you’re one of us now? Dr. Oliver helped me out when my dad had managed to turn himself into Mesogog; I’m trying to pay that forward. As for the one of us? You’re a Power Ranger now and we always take care of our own, no matter what.” Karan ended up giving Trent a rather big hug for that; Tommy was glad to see Trent helping her.

Before they could get any further in conversation, their communicators went off and Tommy answered his.

“Go, Ethan.”

“We need a bit of help; there’s a bunch of Tengu, Oozemen and Triptoids downtown and it’s too much for Patton and I. Scorpina’s leading them; Rito’s with her. No sign of Ivan, thankfully.”

“We’re on our way.” Tommy looked at them; Kat already doubling back to the Command Center and he could feel the Grid’s security features being raised to their highest level as they morphed and teleported out.

He’d hoped to get some training sessions in before their first battle, but it looked like things were going to hold true to form. None of the teams he’d been on had the chance to train with their new Powers before having to use them in battle. He just hoped that the rest of the battle would go true to form as well; taking an almost untrained group of Rangers into a major battle wasn’t easy, but it was primarily against goons and one or more of the villain’s lieutenants/minions. He was just glad Karan was the only one without any martial arts experience; Dino Thunder hadn’t had any previous martial arts experience.

He got a bit of a laugh out of the expression on Scorpina’s face when she saw the rest of the new team show up along Dino Thunder. Seeing the three boys alongside Ethan and Kira had been one thing, but being joined by the others was enough to turn the battle back in their favor. The other issue had been that her team was entirely without Zords for the time being; Hayley and Ethan were working on them, but none were ready just yet. Abigail understood why and allowed Dino Thunder to handle the giant-sized monster while her team dealt with the two lieutenants and goons. The Tengu had already flown off by the time Ivan enlarged the monster, so her team just had to deal with a smaller batch of Oozemen alongside Scorpina and Rito.

By the time the battle ended, the new team was reeling from the after-effects and Tommy didn’t blame them.

“Sorry about the trial by fire, guys. We’d hoped to get some team training sessions in before allowing you to face off against Ivan’s lieutenants and goons, but there was no other option.”

“No issue, Dr. O; we were going to have to face off against them sooner or later. Just so happened to be sooner,” Karan responded. Despite not being team lead, she was stepping into a 2IC position rather easily. Tommy still wasn’t sure who’d end up as 2IC of her team, but knew it was best to allow it to happen organically. He also had no doubt that Patton would become the team’s geek of sorts; like Ethan, though, he shared the position with not just his fellow Blue Ranger, but also Hayley.

Tommy and the other Dino Rangers ended up checking on Abigail’s team, which didn’t have a name yet, and making sure that there were no injuries. Hand-to-hand fighting, even when morphed, could and sometimes did leaving bruising and minor injuries. The only real weapons that could get through their protective suits were those on their level. Said weapons were usually wielded by their fellow Rangers or by their adversaries. One cop, jittery after one too many intergalactic evildoer attacks, had actually shot him by accident decades ago. The bullet just bounced off, not damaging him one bit. The cop had a minor meltdown when he realized just who he’d fired his gun at; Tommy had spent several minutes calming the guy down before handing him off to one of his superiors. He’d made sure that the guy didn’t get in trouble; Tommy’d had a few situations where he’d almost shot first and asked questions later. He found out that most off-world Rangers who’d served as long as he had or on as many teams developed a similar problem.

That had been part of why he’d been glad to hand his Turbo Powers off to TJ when the time came and also why he’d eventually taken up teaching. He’d been one of the last Earth-bound Rangers that Zordon had chosen to finally leave being a Ranger behind, but it hadn’t been long enough. Once he’d gotten his degree, working for Anton at the same time, he realized that he’d never be able to leave being a Ranger behind. It had been the discovery of the Dino Gems that had made him realize it; he’d actually gone to Ninjor for answers as Zordon had died by that time. It had been the discovery of the Gems that had prompted Ninjor to move the Temple of Power to Earth; the older ninja had never explained exactly why he needed to do so and Tommy knew he probably never would unless seriously pressed to.

They split up and headed out not long after; despite the attack, secrecy of their identities was still key. Having met Karan’s parents multiple times, Tommy knew that they would be the parents most likely to flip if they found out that she had become a Power Ranger. If they didn’t outright blow her identity as a Power Ranger, there was a likely chance they’d do a repeat of what happened to Abigail. Tommy knew, with a son on the way, he’d not be able to take in a second foster child. Not without adding onto the house so Abigail could keep her art studio.

That didn’t mean Karan was without help, though. As had been a mantra of Rangers everywhere, they took care of their own and she was one of their own. Aside from the help she was getting from Hayley, he knew it likely that Anton would be willing to step up. Anton, like Tommy had done with Abigail, had stepped up and adopted Trent; Tommy only hoped one of them would be able to step up with Karan and take her in should the situation warrant it. He would rather prefer that she be taken in by one of their local allies; Karan was now in the same position that Abigail had found herself in the previous June. Any possible guardian would need to have the secret of her Ranger identity hid from them except for those in the know. Anton, Elsa, and Hayley were all in the know and all three had their advantages.

Anton, having successfully raised Trent after his own parents’ death coupled with now seriously dating Elsa, would be a likelier candidate for guardianship than Hayley was. This was despite Hayley and Karan having their sexuality in common; social services still had a lot of prejudice against the LGBTQA+ community. Hayley wasn’t open about her sexuality for a number of reasons; those who she knew she could trust had been told, along with those that needed her help like Karan. Social services also tended to prefer married couples as guardians over single people, especially those who were or appeared to be workaholics and Hayley didn’t always give an indication that she had much of a life outside of her cybercafé. Of course, part of that had been because she’d spent the last year acting as Dino Thunder tech designer.

He and Abigail were glad she’d agreed to help serve as such, along with Ethan, for Abigail’s team. Tommy knew Abigail planned on learning as much as she could about what went into Zord creation, along with everything else. He fully supported her on this; he’d had to share what he’d learned with Hayley to create the morphers that Dino Thunder used. He knew he’d not be around forever; the best he could do right now was act as mentor for Abigail and her team as Zordon and Dimitria had once acted for them. He just hoped it was enough and wondered how Zordon had managed with his teams.

The one advantage that he had over his own mentor was the fact that he wasn’t trapped in a space/time continuum and could come and go at will. All those millennia trapped in the tube with only Alpha for company couldn’t have been easy for Zordon; Tommy had often wondered how the sorcerer had kept his mind busy trapped like that. There could have been only so many times he could check on Rita or Ivan; Tommy knew he’d go nuts within a week in Zordon’s circumstances.

Tommy also knew that there was a lifespan issue for Abigail; Zordon, Dimitria, and Ninjor all had above human-normal lifespans. Zordon’s was to be expected, having been stuck outside of space/time, but the other two were outside of the just over a century mark that Earth humans could live to. Dimitria, of the other two, was the only one seemingly human; Tommy still didn’t know everything about his first actual ninja friend. When they’d visited Ninjor over Christmas, it had been one of the things that Tommy had been informed about. He sighed when he thought about it; he knew that he couldn’t inform Abigail until she was mentally and emotionally ready to hear it. He just hoped he’d survive long enough to tell her so that she wouldn’t play catch up as he’d had to do with her.

Later that evening, Tommy smiled as he listened to Abigail relax in her art room with her two friends. Today had been hard on all of them; they’d had a lot dumped on their heads today and had their first battle as a team as well. Balancing their civilian lives with being Power Rangers just became that much more important; Abigail would be able to help. Tommy and Kat intended to do the same, but not tonight. Tonight was a chance for all of them to unwind and Tommy intended to do just that.

Location: Angel Grove, a week and a half later. POV: Ernie/3rd person.

Ernie clicked off the evening news, forcing himself to calm down after hearing of yet another attack fended off by a brand-new Ranger team in Reefside. He knew Abigail wouldn’t leave being a Power Ranger while Ivan was still a threat to her and those she cared about, not without someone to step up where she left off. He knew the significance of Reefside’s new teams’ suits; they were eerily reminiscent of Angel Grove’s first team's suits. He had no doubt that Abigail was in one of those suits; the Purple Ranger was the only one with Yellow on her suit. The other suits had white alongside their primary colors, but not the Purple Ranger. He knew he had to make a call and not to Rocky; the former Red Ranger might be in and out of Reefside, but Ernie knew that many of Ivan’s attacks had happened when Rocky was in Angel Grove. 

No, Ernie had to make a call to Tommy, a call he’d avoided making since he’d first seen the reports of Abigail using Trini’s morpher and powers. Sure, he’d talked to the former leader of most of Angel Grove’s teams more then since Abigail had run away, but both men had avoided talking about Reefside’s newest Ranger.

“Tommy, can we talk?”

“Always, Ernie. You know that.”

Ernie took a deep breath. If he didn’t get this out, he knew he’d lose his nerve. “Even about Reefside’s newest team?” He knew he’d caught his friend off-guard; Tommy took several seconds to respond.

“Even about them. What do you need to know?” Tommy’s tone of voice turned serious at that.

“As much as you’re able to tell me. I know that there’s a lot you guys can’t reveal, but promise me that you’re going to keep them safe, Tommy.”

“As safe as I can, Ernie. Abigail insisted that the newest team go into this with much more than any of us ever did. She’s giving them every chance to walk away, but they won’t turn their backs away, not when their help is needed. This team may be the best prepared Ranger team that we’ve ever seen, Ernie.”

Ernie couldn’t help but feel proud of his daughter at that moment. “She’s turning out to be as good of a leader as you are, Tommy. Her mom would be very proud of her; I know I am. I know this isn’t the life I wanted for her, but I’m glad you’re right there for her, Tommy. You can do more for her as a Ranger than I ever could. Give her a hug for me, please, and let her know I love her.”

After talking with Tommy for a few more minutes, Ernie hung up, collapsing on the couch with head in his hands. This was the hardest part of all this for him, Abigail out there fighting as a Power Ranger and Ernie was powerless to help her. He knew that many of Angel Grove’s teams weren’t allowed to reveal their identities, even years later, and he understood why. He dreaded the day he’d get a call from Tommy or someone else in Reefside informing him that Abigail had been seriously injured or killed fighting one of their intergalactic evil enemies.

He’d been frightened out of his mind when Rocky had come to him a couple of months ago on Ranger business, but he’d also understood why Abigail was asking for his help. He knew that it had taken a lot on her part to hand over the morpher; she’d refused when he’d tried forcing her the week she’d ran away. Even then, the Yellow Dino Ranger had startled him when she’d appeared out of nowhere; seeing his late wife’s morpher had almost caused him to refuse at the last minute.

He was grateful that Zack had been there when she’d arrived. The former Black Ranger had caused a distraction, allowing the handoff to occur. After she’d left, Zack had slipped off, returning with a handled box he’d said was designed to transport and store morphers. When he’d gotten home that evening, he’d found Billy had brought over a safe that he’d said not even Ivan could crack. Ernie had immediately stored the box in it, after Billy and David had moved it to a corner of the basement. Ernie finally got up when there was a knock at the door.

“Zack. What are you doing here? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see you, but…”

“Tommy called me; Rocky’s catching up on paperwork from when he was sick, otherwise he’d be here. Thought you’d need someone tonight,” Zack responded as he came inside. “Had nothing going on, so I volunteered to come over.”

“I appreciate it, Zack. The news out of Reefside…scares me. I can understand why you kept this from your parents.”

“It’s not easy for you, is it?” Ernie shook his head, tears threatening to escape.

“If Trini hadn’t died, I’d probably be dealing with this better, Zack. She would have prepared me for all of this, I have no doubt.”

“She would have; we should have seen this coming, honestly. Jason and Kimberly prepared their twins ages ago. I don’t know why they didn’t tell you when David got old enough. They should have, Ernie. You needed to be prepared for this.”

“I probably wouldn’t have listened then; it took Abigail running away for me to listen.” Zack had nothing to say to that, but Ernie was grateful for someone there, someone who had once gone through what his daughter was going through right now. Ernie took the opportunity to learn just how much help the Rangers had while active; all Ernie knew was how dangerous the job was, but he knew almost nothing about what support they had to mitigate the dangers that they faced in every fight and battle. When he went to bed that night, his anxieties had lessoned greatly, but he still worried.

He was also glad that Zack had stayed the night; he’d woken several times to nightmares that the former Black Ranger had been there for. By the time he woke for good, Zack had called someone to cover the Youth Center; he’d finally come down with whatever was going around. The stress he’d been under hadn’t helped matters; Ernie knew well enough that it caused people to be more susceptible to illness. He was barely aware that Rocky had come over, only really noticing when he felt a cool washcloth on his forehead.

“Shh, Ernie, don’t try and get up right now, just rest,” Rocky told him as Ernie made to get up. “I know you feel like crap right now, but you need the rest.”

“Also need to use the toilet, Rocky,” Ernie replied, causing the other man to help him so he could do his business. He was grateful for the help, as he wasn’t near as steady as he normally was.

It took Ernie several days before he was on the mend, Rocky and Zack there to help him. The others had come by to check on him, bringing food and anything else needed. He spent most of the time he was ill half or fully asleep, allowing his body to get the rest it needed. One of the things he was grateful for in the time he was ill was the fact that he didn’t have any nightmares. Rocky had voiced a sneaking suspicion that it would have made his illness worse and taken him that much longer to recover.

Location: Reefside High School, early to mid-March. POV: Abigail/1st person

I was grinning as soccer practice wrapped up and couldn’t wait for games to start up in the next week or two. I knew I’d be skipping at least one practice or game when Katherine gave birth, but that wasn’t for another several weeks; that is, of course, if she didn’t give birth during the school day. I was excited to finally have a younger sibling; Ba had said David had been similar when Mom had been pregnant with me. I knew he was bouncing back from getting sick; my last several therapy appointments had been cell phone only first due to Rocky getting sick and then Ba. This Saturday’s was liable to be the same; Ba was still sick with a bad case of the flu that had been going around. Dad, Katherine, and I had all been lucky, but most of Dino Thunder had gotten sick at one point or another since just before Christmas.

We’d also been busy due to Ivan’s attacks; he’d started stepping them up due to Reefside now having two teams on active duty. Not all of us had been able to respond due to various responsibilities outside of school, but there’d still been enough that could show up that Ivan’s monsters and goons didn’t last long. Hayley and Ethan had also managed to get our Zords online and working, but we’d not taken them out in the field yet. That was more due to the fact that we wanted to get some simulation practice in before we used them; Conner had done something similar with one of his Zords and I knew it was foolish to take an unfamiliar Zord out into the field. Hayley had worked out many of the kinks that had plagued Conner’s new Zord, but I was the only one of the new team with any Zord experience; I didn’t have any experience with the neural interface that had been installed on our new Zords.

What worries we had about keeping Karan’s involvement secret faded away when Dr. Mercer had approached her parents about a few things. Mr. Wright was a state employee who was considering a job working overseas for one of the various American Ambassadors. He’d not accepted because Karan didn’t want to move and had publicly said as much, forcing him to remain in Reefside. Dr. Mercer had offered to have Karan stay with his family so she could graduate from Reefside High School with her friends if Mr. Wright wanted to take the overseas position. I don’t know how he did it, but I’d found out one Saturday when Karan had come in, almost tackling Trent in the process of giving him a hug. I suspected bribery may have been involved; Dr. Mercer might no longer be Mesogog, but he didn’t follow the same ethical rules Dad and the rest of us did. I didn’t care, though; Karan was now going to be out of a toxic household and in one where she didn’t have to hide her involvement in my team.

Dad had also grinned when he found out that day; he’d stopped by to pick me up and found both Ranger teams having an impromptu party at Cyberspace. When Hayley told him why, he just grinned and congratulated Karan. There had also been a huge but quiet ‘thank you’ to Trent for talking with his dad; it was hard to miss the look of pride on Dad’s face when he thanked Trent. All four teens who made up Dino Thunder had privately admitted that my Dad had become a second father to them, an attitude that seemed to be common to many Ranger teams and their mentor, if there was a mentor. Some teams didn’t have them; the Space Rangers, despite not having one officially, considered Zordon one along with Dimitria.

The nursery had been finished a week ago, just in time for the baby shower that was happening this Saturday afternoon. I was heading home straight after the soccer game instead of celebrating after because I wanted to be there. Kira and I were going to be the only two teens from Reefside there; Kimberly was bringing Amy. Francine and Karan, along with most of the girls that made up the so-called fan club had managed to surprise Dad with some gifts one day before school. They’d actually recruited my help; I had to delay Dad a bit so that they could get the gifts to his classroom and didn’t mind helping one bit. It was worth it to see how touched he was by their thoughtfulness; his quiet hug later that day required no explanation as to why. Katherine had given me a similar hug when I got home; she knew how much I was looking forward to being a big sister.

The only real worry we all had was that Ivan was going to use the baby shower to launch another attack; what helped keep me calm was the fact that a good chunk of the people coming had once served as Power Rangers; most of them, Katherine had either served with or she’d met later on, once their teams were no longer active. Her mom, along with Dad’s were also going to be there; Mrs. Hillard was unaware of her daughter’s past as a Power Ranger along with Dad and I being members of Reefside’s two teams. Principal Randall was going to be there, which was going to be uncomfortable, but she and Katherine had become friends since Katherine had become a full-time part of my life on top of being Dad’s boss.

What we weren’t going to tell those guests not in-the-know was that what Power Rangers could, primarily the guys, were going to hide out in Dino Command should they be needed. Hayley was taking the day off from CyberSpace to be there, she’d be able to slip downstairs to take over communications. 

As much as I was looking forward to seeing Aunt Kimberly, Amy, and Aisha again, along with Tanya-who I knew primarily by reputation-I knew Mom should be there as well. She might not have met Katherine until after university, but Katherine had told me at how much of a friend she’d been. I’d dropped into the Grid a couple of times since I’d morphed using my new Suit, but I’d not been able to find her. Dad had finally convinced me to stop, pointing out that it was doing my mental and emotional health no good to keep looking for her. I’d cried my heart out; I wanted her blessing so much for continuing as a Ranger and not finding her actually hurt; worse than our last conversation ever had.

I’d actually sat and talked with it during one of my therapy sessions; Rocky had known about me seeing Mom in the Grid. He agreed with Mom, though; seeking her out to talk wasn’t good for me in the long run. He knew how much seeing her fulfilled a need in me, but he pointed out that it was going to damage my relationships with my family still alive, including Katherine. He understood why I enjoyed my talks with Mom, though; he’d known for months just how little I knew of her and the car crash had robbed me of the chance to have that relationship growing up. I’d taken his advice and begun to allow my relationship with Katherine develop into something similar to the father-daughter relationship I had with Dad. I knew it wouldn’t be a full or normal mother-daughter relationship, but it was getting stronger.

Part of what had helped was going through the notebooks Ba had sent as my Christmas gift; there’d been several nights where I’d gone to bed easier having read through the notebooks. Dad and I had spent several afternoons going through them together; he’d been able to fill in many of the details Ba hadn't known about some of the specific situations. At Ba’s request, I’d not informed him of any Ranger-related details with the stories, but I did inform David every time we talked if he was in a secure location. He’d quickly learned to not eat or drink anything when I told him of the stories; there’d been a couple of times early on when he’d either choked on whatever he was eating/drinking or had to find something to dry off his desk.

Katherine had enjoyed the notebooks, too, as they gave her a glimpse into the early days of not just my birth parents’ romance, but also Mom's early days as Power Ranger and how the team dynamic had been prior to Mom leaving. By the time Katherine had joined, the team dynamic was very different from how it had been when they’d first been chosen. Unlike Dino Thunder, the 5 teens had been friends to some degree and it hadn’t been hard for them to eventually add Dad and Katherine to that group as the two became Rangers.

Dad had said that my friends group was very similar to his original team; we were friends before becoming Power Rangers. Our friendship allowed for an easier transition to the team dynamic than Conner, Kira, and Ethan had when they became the Dino Rangers; the three teens had been vastly different groups. Even Cassidy had remarked on how unusual it was for a star sports player, a musician, and a computer geek to become friends in high school. Adult life was one thing, but the divides were larger in high school; she’d admitted she wanted to do a story for the Reefside High School television station about it.

Kira and Hayley stopped by early Saturday morning so my parents could go with me to the soccer game. It was something we both appreciated, as even with the baby shower that afternoon, neither wanted to miss my first game. Conner and Ethan, along with the guys on my team, also came along; Trent had entered Dino Command that morning to serve as CenCom in case of a monster attack so that Hayley and Kira could decorate the house and get everything ready for the baby shower.

Francine and I had effortlessly folded Karan into how we played soccer; our formidable duo became a fierce trio. Conner had cracked up when he came by to watch a practice; Coach Daveed just shrugged. At their request, we’d taught the players on the team that hadn’t gone to the soccer camp our techniques and Coach Daveed had actually included our formations in this year’s playbook.

Even though the ‘official’ games weren’t going to start until closer to April, this was a simple scrimmage between Reefside High and the local private school. By tradition, Reefside’s local teams didn’t play each other officially unless both teams got into state playoffs for whatever sport it was. The scrimmage was a simple way to see how what we were practicing held up in a game that wasn’t against our fellow students.

The work Francine, Karan, and I had done on the soccer team had only served us well as Rangers. Conner, in one training session, had taught us how to combine soccer moves with martial arts, which Dad wholly approved of. Johnny and Steve had also introduced the Brazilian jiu-jitsu moves to the training sessions; Dad taught them some karate to add to their skills. From what we learned, it didn’t hurt to learn more than one martial art; it also allowed us to develop our own personal style.

The girls who’d gone to Conner’s soccer camp had been split almost 50/50 between the two local high schools, so they gave as good as they got. Francine and I adding Karan to the mix did through them for a loop, allowing us to get the win, which we enjoyed. We’d had a great game all around and it had been nice to meet up with some of the friends we’d made from soccer camp. I had to turn down the invite to hang out after the game, as I had the baby shower to get to.

On the way home after the game, I couldn’t help but feel like something was going to happen. I didn’t know if it was because Ivan had a habit of attacking when I was playing soccer, or immediately after, but I was the one that was the most visibly wary as we pulled into the driveway. Like so many of the days when he’d attacked, Reefside’s two teams were scattered all over Reefside. Trent, Kira, Dad and myself were at my house; Francine and Karan were at the post-game get together along with Conner. Patton and Ethan were at CyberSpace with Ethan running the place in Hayley and Trent’s absence. Johnny and Steve were out and about in Reefside, doing whatever they did when they weren’t spending time with the rest of us.

Dad noticed my wariness and understood why; he was wary as well, but years of long experience had taught him how to hide it better among a crowd who didn’t all know of his double life. I knew that a number of former Rangers had been keeping an eye on Reefside today, even if flooding the city with them wasn’t exactly feasible. It would look suspicious if out of town strangers walked in and out Reefside every time there was an attack by Ivan or his minions and monsters; it had been a huge reason why my team was primarily made out of locals. From what I could figure out, that was primarily why any new team was made out of locals, especially as time went on. Another reason was the fact that locals were more likely to defend their hometown from bad guys, intergalactic or not. TJ had told us how, when the Alliance of Evil had attacked Angel Grove, many of the locals had stood up to Astronoma after it appeared the Power Rangers had been defeated. It had helped give them the final push to stand up to her, just prior to Zordon’s death.

My first warning something was wrong was when I felt the Grid ting against my senses; they’d been at full strength for a while. I looked at Dad; he’d felt it too. We made eye contact with as many former Rangers as we could; catching Kira’s eyes, I tapped my communicator. She and I slipped out as quickly as we could as Dad couldn’t leave. We knew Hayley had made it downstairs when Trent joined us; the rest of the team joined us not long after.

“Looks like we’ve got one curious purple dude on the border by the forest entrance,” came Hayley’s voice through our comms.

“Spread out, guys,” Conner ordered. I’d made it clear to my team that in a joint exercise like this, Conner and Dad were in charge. Failing either being able to make it, any of Dino Thunder that had the relevant experience was to double as team lead when the situation warranted it. Why they led in this situation instead of myself was because they were the team with the greater experience against Ivan.

“It is odd that he’s here by himself. Hayley, can you check for any other minions, monsters, or other goons of his?” I asked. “This is unlike him; he never shows up somewhere by himself. If he does recon, it’s not him doing it, it’s Scorpina and Rito doing it and reporting back.” Hayley reported back that he was by himself, no sign of Scorpina, Rito, the Tengu, or any monsters. Given that Ivan could create the Oozemen at will, we knew that we’d likely be facing off against some of them.

Between Hayley and my own awareness of the Grid, we found where Ivan was in short order. Of course, the purple megalomaniac wasn’t even attempting to hide, which was his usual behavior. The dude was too arrogant to hide; dude liked the audience, even if his audience was two teams of Power Rangers. What did surprise Ivan was that he had almost the full compliment of currently active Rangers to greet him. Even if this was a trap, most of the crowd back at the house would be allowed to morph to fight off whichever of Ivan’s goons was able get through the security system.

“Well, well, well. This is quite the welcoming committee. I was just coming to give the happy couple a baby gift; won’t you let me in?” I had a sneaking suspicion what that gift was and was glad for the fact that I was masked.

“Unless you can guarantee that neither you nor the gift means any harm, I think not,” I answered. “And by harm, I mean harm by our standards, Ooze.”

“Oh, would I do anything like that?” He asked, not even trying to sound innocent.

“Does the name ‘D’Artan of Terramin' mean anything to you?’” Kira asked, the name having been of the poor young man who’d died as a result of one of Ivan’s experiments. Ivan snarled at that, creating his Oozemen. With that, the battle was on, each of us facing off against Ivan, causing him to use up precious energy and power. When I could tell that he’d weakened sufficiently, I made as to switch off with one of the other Rangers, but got myself within the ward line. As this had been something we’d practiced, the rest of the team knew to get themselves within it as the number of Oozemen got lower. Ivan made to attack, but found himself flung away. Several of us giggled as he landed, but we had to hold the others back from checking on him as much as we all wanted to. We couldn’t take the risk that it was another trick; Trent had actually gotten Conner with that when the White Dino Gem had created an evil White Dino Ranger.

We watched as he got up finally and limped away; we ended up shocked when he used an Invisiportal to transport himself away.

“Now we know where he’s been hiding himself,” Ethan said.

“Yea…dear old dad’s evil lab,” Trent replied, causing Karan to almost walk into a tree.

“What?!”

“Yea…my dad did this mad science experiment that gave him the alter ego of Mesogog. Mesogog found a way to separate him from Dad, so there’s no worries on this front, Karan.”

“And you couldn’t tell me this before he managed to get me away from my asshat parents?” Trent actually had, but in the aftermath of everything else that had happened, it was clear Karan had actually forgotten that factoid.

“Would you have trusted him after that?”

“No!”

“Consider this, Karan: we do, as does Abigail. We wouldn’t have trusted him with your care if he still shared a Jekyll-and-Hyde relationship with Mesogog.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better…”

“Trust me, we felt the same way when we felt out, Karan,” Kira replied softly. “If we didn’t trust him now, and especially trust Dr. Oliver, you would be under Hayley’s guardianship instead. She’s a trusted ally, Karan. She made our Zords, helped make your guys’ Zords.”

“I don’t have any choice but to trust you in this, do I?”

“That’s up to you,” I said, stepping forward. “If you need to talk to Dad about this, go for it. He’s been through this more than once; I learned to trust his judgement as you well know, Karan. If I didn’t, none of us would be here right now as Power Rangers. I asked him to be our team’s mentor for a reason, Karan.” Karan looked at me and nodded. She didn’t have to say anything; I knew she’d find some excuse Monday to talk to him about what just happened.

We headed our separate ways at that point, making sure those at the house saw us approach before splitting off. Trent, Kira, and I made sure to teleport directly to Dino Command to demorph; Hayley traded spots with Trent and the three of us made our way upstairs through the ‘public’ basement. The first thing Dad did was give me a hug; Hayley had been feeding him what was going on through an earwig disguised as a Bluetooth device. I accepted and returned the hug; this had been the first real battle with my team that he’d not been present for.

The only person in the dark about the whole thing had been Mrs. Hillard, who was now demanding to what was going on. Cassie and Ashley quickly separated her from the group after getting permission from Dad to use his office. As two of the publicly known Rangers, they were the best at explaining things to civilians not considered in the know while keeping our identities secret. Katherine had gone in not long after to help comfort her mom, Dad following as soon as he knew I’d be fine. Neither was surprised when I stayed close to hear what was going on under the guise of talking with Kira. I’d attempted several times to talk with Amy prior to the baby shower, but she refused to talk to me still. Both Aunt Kimberly and I were frustrated with her.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside, 2 days later. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy smiled as he heard Abigail talking on the phone with Amy; he had to hand it to Francine, who’d come over after the baby shower was over and almost everyone had left. She knew Kimberly and Amy were staying the night and had wanted to have a conversation with Amy. By the time she was done, Amy had finally understood what Abigail had been going through and had promptly apologized when she got back in the house.

He chuckled as he remembered the next conversation Francine had while Amy and Abigail made up. Kimberly wasn’t stupid; she’d taken one look at Francine’s wrist, followed by a look at the color shirt she was wearing and gotten 2. He’d made a quick exit as the three Pink Rangers started talking, wishing Jason was there. He ended up helping Kira and Hayley clean up instead, even though there wasn’t much left to clean up or put away. He’d ended up helping finish taking the baby gifts up to the nursery; he and Kat would take some time between now and the end of the month to put everything away where they wanted it.

Afterwards, Kira ended up debriefing him on the interaction with Ivan; Hayley hadn’t been able to pick up on the conversation until it was too late to hear most of what had been said. They’d gone down to the Triceramax Command Center for that conversation, to ensure privacy. Amy might know about her mom’s own past, but Tommy was still cautious about letting her down into what served as Dino Thunder’s Command Center.

“I wonder what he meant by baby gift, Dr. O.” Kira said.

“Willing to bet it was the same thing our ‘friend’ told us about all those months ago. The fact that he used an Invisiportal means we’re going to have to send someone to do recon…again,” Tommy replied.

“I can do it, Dr. O; it wouldn’t be that hard to get in and out, especially if I morph,” Trent offered. He’d offered to go in morph for a couple of reasons, one of which was the fact that Ivan wouldn’t be able to get what Tommy’s alternate timeline self had said was a way to mind control his victims on his skin.

“We also don’t know what changes he’s made. He uses false bases of operations for a reason, Trent. We’ve gotten all but where he makes his monsters. He may have even brought that back into his main base. I’ve taken a similar risk, also morphed, and it almost killed me. I’m not talking about using the Black Dino Gem to turn myself visible either.” Zordon had explained to him after he regained consciousness that reaching through the barrier to get his team’s Power Coins and the dagger had temporarily restored his Green Ranger Powers.

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. The only other people on our side who know that base as well as I do are Dad and Principal Randall. Principal Randall could, if she wanted to, but Dad? We don’t know how much of Mesogog actually remains in him; the serum that created Mesogog is still in his system, but inactive, thankfully. If Dad goes in, there’s a chance we’ll be facing off against Mesogog on top of Ivan and his goons.”

“That’s not considering the fact that he might be able to brainwash her as well, Trent, or you. You’re not going in without a lot of backup plans, Trent. This isn’t like when you went in and rescued Anton on top of the gems. Bring him and Elsa in on this; they know the lab better than you do and you know it best out of all of us.”

“I can work on increasing the strength of the teleportation system. The only real downside is it can create a hole in the security system here if the person being transported is sent straight here. This isn’t like when you teleported Dimitria or Rito here, Tommy, where it went patched itself in a couple of seconds. It wasn’t at full strength like it has been.”

“We might need those couple of seconds. I don’t see Ivan not using the chance to follow Trent to wherever he lands.”

“We also don’t know a lot about how the Invisiportals work, not all of it at any rate. I can extrapolate some; that’s how I was able to trace them when Mesogog captured you, Tommy. Trent, get a hold of your dad and Elsa, they will know exactly how that system works.”

“Good idea, Hayley. Considering Dad was Mesogog, hopefully, he still has the memories of how Mesogog created them. He’s never said how much of Mesogog’s memories he retains; than again, I’ve never really asked either. Neither of us really wants to talk about that, honestly. Speaking of talking about stuff, Dr. O, Karan might talk to you tomorrow or Monday. Kinda…had to drop the bombshell that Dad was Mesogog on her earlier.”

Tommy pinched his nose; Karan was in his homeroom and he knew her well enough to know exactly how she would react. He wasn't sure how she'd forgotten that fact, as it had been mentioned back when she'd been given her morpher.

“We did our best to convince her, but…” Kira added.

“But she reacted like we did when we found out. I’ll talk to her, guys. That’s part of why Abigail asked me to mentor her team, so that I could walk them through any odd scenarios that pop up.”

“This definitely qualifies as an odd scenario, Dr. Oliver,” Kira replied. “Where is she anyway? I know she said she was heading back to your house after the post-soccer game party, Trent, but…”

“But with Dad there, she might not want to go there and Francine said she was heading back to her house after the party. It’s going to look odd if she shows up at Francine’s house now. Hayley, can you lock on to her communicator?”

Tommy and the others watched as Hayley brought the tracking system online, a safety feature that they’d not told the new team about yet. It had originally been developed by Billy after conferring with Zordon. Hayley had integrated that into the communicators that both Dino Thunder and Abigail’s team used, not that she’d told them. Abigail was aware of it, but only because she’d been in the room when Billy had mentioned trying to track the communicator back in June.

“Found her; she’s at CyberSpace.” Hayley pulled up the feed, which showed Karan talking with Ethan and Patton. Patton was looking dubious as well, but didn’t have the connection with Anton that Karan had. Tommy watched as Hayley and Trent shared a look, then both left for CyberSpace, Trent having to sneak out through the front door as Hayley made her public goodbyes. Trent had teleported over earlier that day, so he didn’t have to worry about a vehicle, though Hayley was willing to give him a ride.

Tommy shut the video feed off not long after that, as he needed to get back upstairs. Kira joined him, having to head back home now that everything was over. Francine had separated herself from Kimberly and Kat, joining Abigail and Amy in conversation, the three girls now acting like normal teenagers. Abigail was the only one who wasn’t into the ‘girly’ things the other two girls were. Francine, despite playing soccer and practicing martial arts, was more into clothing and makeup than Abigail was. That didn’t stop any of them from being semi-boy crazy, though, and they currently were debating who’d they date out of the boys that went to either high school. Neither Abigail nor Amy would willingly date Spike; Francine wouldn’t either after hearing about him. From what Tommy heard, he was very much like his father at Bulk’s worst in high school, though he was surprised to hear Abigail confess that she had reached a truce with the boy several years ago.

“How did that happen?” Tommy heard Amy ask. He noticed Abigail ducking her head, blushing a bit.

“Let’s just say a prank went wrong and we made the truce when I apologized. Didn’t know he was that scared of snakes,” Abigail all but mumbled. Tommy raised an eyebrow at that; the Abigail he knew wasn’t much of a prankster, despite Ethan’s efforts. He wondered how much she’d changed between the abuse she’d suffered and the stress she’d been under since coming to Reefside, though there’d been that prank on both Sanderson and his eventual replacement. He also wondered if the prank gone wrong also had to do something to do with it as well; he knew just how much a badly executed prank could mess up even the prankster.

Tommy finally realized she’d not really pushed back against how he treated her except when it was related to their Power Ranger duties. Rocky had said she’d be doing it at some point, but Tommy hadn’t seen it at all in their civilian life. She was comfortable around him to the point of calling him ‘Dad’; he resolved to talk to Rocky about it. He knew she’d gone from one stressful thing to another and was wondering if she was avoiding smaller things because of all the big things happening in her life, even the positive ones like her adoption earlier in the year and her upcoming status as a big sister.

He knew some of how Ernie had raised her and began to wonder just how much trouble she’d gotten into at home whenever Ernie got a call to say she’d been a part of something going on at school, even if it was dealing with Bulk’s son Spike. The only people who’d know the answers to that besides Abigail, David, and Ernie would be Spike, Amy, and Austin. He’d finally gotten her school records from the Angel Grove public school system and had noticed a few comments once she got to middle school about she and Spike having some sort of prank war that had ended when they’d been in 6^th grade. Spike had found a plastic snake in his locker, but had refused to say who’d stuck it in there. The two had lockers next to each other and Tommy realized she must have learned his locker combination.

Abigail had said that Ernie had been fairly strict with the two of them growing up; Tommy had learned that he would take away extra-curricular activities that they enjoyed for several weeks because of some trouble they’d gotten into. For Abigail, that including her sketchbooks, which wasn’t just a creative outlet for her, but also a means for her to deal with anything stressful in her life. Tommy had thus far refused to take away anything from her that helped her deal and adapt to new situations. Even when he did, it was only for one afternoon, not for any longer. One thing he refused to take away was her art, knowing just how much it meant to her.

He wondered how much of that was due to the fear that he’d send her away if she pushed back; she’d mentioned as much the last time he’d had to punish her. He thought she’d gotten over the fear, especially with the adoption being finalized. He was going to have to talk to her at some point over it; they’d been busy enough lately that they’d not had much 1-on-1 time with each other. With Katherine’s due date rapidly approaching, he wanted to make sure that she didn’t feel as if he was neglecting her. This was going to be especially important once Andy was born; Rocky had said it wasn’t uncommon for an older sibling to feel unloved and unwanted when a new baby arrived. That was mainly because the parents spent more time with the new baby then they did any older children when the baby first arrived.

He’d spent all day Sunday with her after Kimberly and Amy had left and they’d spent some of that time talking about how she was doing mentally and emotionally. After a bit of prodding, Tommy was able to get her to talk about the prank she’d played on Spike involving the rubber snake. It had seemed to be the thing that had her just about swearing off of pranks altogether. She’d also told him about how Ernie had punished her for her involvement in her ‘prank’ war with Spike, even though she’d tried everything else by that point. She’d told her teachers, told Ernie, but Spike wouldn’t let up until after the snake in his locker. He knew that most of her teachers had known about her issues with Spike; the only person who’d punished her for trying to deal with Bulk’s son on her own terms had been Ernie.

He spent some time reassuring her that he didn’t love her any less for her actions. Even though he’d not been her father at the time of the snake incident, he told her he was proud of her for not just realizing she’d gone a step too far, but also apologizing to Spike for scaring him as badly as she did. He also told her that he didn’t mind if she played pranks on her friends or fellow classmates, as long as they were within reason. She just said she didn’t want to get in trouble. He drew her into a hug at that, giving her some comfort from his touch.

“Abigail, as long as the pranks don’t cross the boundaries that you and your friends and classmates set with each other, you won’t get in trouble. I’m not Ernie, Abigail. I won’t punish you for playing pranks unless they break some rule or boundary. Him punishing you for that instead of trying to help you resolve the issues you were having with Spike is something that shouldn’t have happened. Bulk would have listened to Ernie and I don’t know if he approached Bulk about it.” Abigail huffed at that, scuffing some dirt.

“If he did, I would have heard about it from Spike at school. Even if Spike had no intention of following a ‘no pranking me’ rule, he would have said something. I know the teachers talked to Spike’s dad; he mentioned that at lunch the next day every time it happened.”

They continued talking, Tommy allowing Abigail to open up about many of the issues she was still dealing with. He comforted her and did his best to help her deal, even if that meant having difficult conversations with her. He would rather have conversations like this with her instead of one of her issues blowing up in their faces because it got ignored. He knew she appreciated the conversations as it helped her trust him; he’d noticed that she trusted him enough to be willing to talk about those same issues. It was something he was happy for, as were Katherine and Rocky. Rocky in particular praised him for his treatment of Abigail; her trust was precious to Tommy and he did his best to be worthy of that trust.

She’d told him more than once that she appreciated how different his parenting style was from Ernie’s; after today’s conversation, he understood a bit better as to why. It also explained why she hesitated to break his rules. Ernie hadn’t given her a lot of freedom to begin with; every time she got in trouble with him, she saw her freedom lessoned. As they sat down with his back against a tree, he pulled her into a one-armed hug, allowing her to rest against him.

“Abigail, getting in trouble is a normal part of growing up, but what Ernie did to you goes way past the line of what’s considered acceptable. It’s why the only times you’ve gotten in trouble, I’ve only restricted your freedoms for one afternoon. I know that this hasn’t been easy for you, because you don’t have much in the way of examples of healthy parenting. It’s absolutely okay to push the boundaries with me; most teenagers your age, abuse or no, do so with their parents or guardians.” Tommy didn’t get any further as she gave him a hug, crying. He realized just how much she needed to hear that from him; he should have had that conversation with her prior to this.

The hardest part for her was realizing that Ernie’s abuse hadn’t just been physical; Tommy was realizing it too. What both had initially chalked up to strict parenting born out of grief, they were starting to realize that while it had started that way, he’d crossed over into abuse long before he’d physically hurt her. Normally, the controlling behavior Ernie showed was seen in romantic relationships by one partner to another. He wasn’t sure if Rocky was aware of things or how much Rocky knew, but he needed to know so he could talk to Ernie about it.

It was a huge part of why Tommy supported Abigail in her decisions on how she interacted with Ernie. He wasn’t surprised when she’d elected to step back from talking or writing him as she processed different aspects of her relationship with both of her father figures. There had been more than once when she’d called Rocky to talk so she could work through the issues with someone who’d made a career out of helping dysfunctional families like hers.

He’d been pleased to see early results of that talk Monday at lunch; she’d shot the straw wrapping at one of her friends through the straw itself, which started a mini-war among them as they started doing it to each other, only stopping when the lunch bell rang. Principal Randall hadn’t seen them, but he wouldn’t have punished her even if she did get in trouble in school for that.

He was also pleased to see that she’d made the initiative to call Amy Monday evening after she’d gotten her homework done; it had taken Francine calling her after the two girls had made up for her to feel comfortable calling her again. The two girls, from what he could hear, were making tentative plans to meet up after the soccer game between the Angel Grove and Reefside high schools. Amy had joined the Angel Grove High School’s team, so it was going to be interesting to see the two friends face off against each other. He remembered watching the practice during the previous summer when Coach Daveed had the idea of putting Francine and Abigail on opposite sides during practice; it had been brutal. This time, it was going to be 2 against 1 and Amy didn’t have the advantage of practicing together that Abigail and Francine did.

He’d made a call to Rocky after Abigail had gone to bed the previous night; there were times where it appeared Abigail was doing well and then she’d have some form of setback. Rocky had told him it was normal to have that happen, even without her Ranger duties added in.

“Tommy, you are doing fine with her. I told you early on that she would have good days and bad days; early on, the bad outweighed the good. She’s gotten to the point with you that her good days are outweighing the bad and that’s a good thing Tommy. The fact that she can talk to you about how she’s thinking and feeling without worrying that she’s going to be negatively judged or punished says a lot about how you’re doing.”

“I just tried giving her a safe space to do so, Rocky.”

“And that helped her a great deal, Tommy. You’ve done everything you can to make her feel safe and that’s the most important thing for people in any situation, but situations like hers even moreso. Abused children often have a harder time with trust, Tommy; the fact that she even trusts you at all says a great deal about you and your parenting style. I’ve never seen anyone willingly want to be adopted by their guardian as quickly as she did, Tommy, and the fact that you’ve continually done everything to make her feel safe is a big reason why. You’ve taken everything Ernie did and are doing the opposite. Sure, you’ve set down some rules, but they’re reasonable rules, not the strict rules that Ernie set down.”

“Thanks, Rocky.”

Rocky had told him this before, but Tommy knew that getting that advice from Rocky never hurt. Rocky had been wonderful helping Tommy navigate just how to parent Abigail; granted, he’d learned some of that teaching martial arts and later on mentoring the rest of Dino Thunder, but teaching classes was a fairly different thing then raising a child, especially one who came from the situation Abigail had. Granted, a lot of it was also Tommy going with his gut, but there had been times when he’d asked Rocky if he was doing the right thing. Rocky, after an early therapy appointment, had also left Tommy with several bits of literature on abuse situations and parenting books, something Tommy had made good use of.

One of the things he’d also noticed as the months went on was she was having fewer and fewer nightmares and when she did have them, she didn’t have near as many as she did early on in his care. She had an easier time of asking for help and talking about her nightmares, some of which were Ranger-related. This was true not just with he and Rocky, but also with Conner and the others; anyone who’d gone through what they did had their fair share of nightmares. He’d even seen some of it with her new Ranger team; she was starting to act her age more and more as she grew more comfortable in Reefside.

He was also unsurprised when Karan had approached him after the school day had ended. Abigail, who’d walked with her friend to Tommy’s classroom, hesitated in the doorway. Both Tommy and Karan knew it was because she wanted to give her friend some backup. It was easy to hear them coming, as they were talking in the halls as they approached.

“Abigail, I’ll be fine.” Karan’s irritation was evident, but Tommy knew Abigail wouldn’t back down on this; Tommy wouldn’t in her case, nor had he, especially when it came to his friends, family, or teammates.

“Like I’d let you deal with this alone, Karan. We take care of our own. You know the only reason the others aren’t here is because it would look suspicious if the whole group of us came in at once.” From the sounds of it, this was an argument that they’d been going around in circles about on and off the whole day. Tommy knew what she meant by too suspicious; it was well known in Reefside that they had 6 new Power Rangers. Dino Thunder had fallen back to a supporting role, allowing Abigail’s team to get battle experience.

“Yea, I know,” Karan muttered.

From the looks of things, Abigail took her duties as team lead seriously; this was obviously a Ranger conversation, not a school one. If it had been school-related, Karan would have come alone; Anton had mentioned Karan had been fairly withdrawn after coming back from the fight with Ivan, only really talking with Trent. After a bit of prompting from both Tommy and Abigail, Karan came in, Abigail following not far behind her friend and teammate.

“I take it this is about Anton, Karan?”

“Yea, I guess.”

“You guess or you know?” Tommy asked. That was all it took for her to open up.

“How could you not tell me, Dr. Oliver?” She blasted, keeping semi-quiet, to avoid any classmates or other teachers knowing about the Rangers.

“I thought Anton had told you when he took you in, Karan, honestly. It was also not my secret or story to tell. I will tell you this: if I didn’t trust him, especially with you, I would have found another way to get you out from under your parents’ care, Karan. I’ve known Anton long enough to know that he’s on our side, occasional mad scientist behaviors aside. On top of that, I also trust Trent; he would not have made the offer to talk to his dad if he didn’t trust Anton and Elsa both to be able to help you.”

Tommy watched as Karan struggled with the information, Abigail right there for her. As much as they needed for Karan to trust them with this, Tommy knew she had to come to that conclusion on her own. He suspected that had been part of why Abigail had come along verses Francine, who’d known Karan longer; Abigail knew what it was like trusting a new guardian after a less-than-ideal upbringing. The toughest thing for Karan was, unlike Abigail, her new guardian and team mentor were two different people. She had to figure out how to integrate her mentor’s trust in an ally to be able to trust that same ally; trusting someone who’d once been evil was no easy task. Dino Thunder had basically had to do that three times, first with Trent and then again with Anton and Elsa.

“Alright, Dr. Oliver. I trust your judgement on this, though I’m probably going to talk to Dr. Mercer about this when I get home; just hope he doesn’t bring Principal Randall in on this. Do you have any idea what it’s like having her as a secondary guardian when she’s over visiting Dr. Mercer?” Tommy didn’t, but Abigail did.

“I have a few ideas, Karan. You remember who my dad is, right?” Karan looked bug-eyed for a second at her friend and team leader before she cracked up laughing, Tommy and Abigail not far behind. Looking at the clock, Tommy realized that they needed to leave before he and Abigail would be late for their martial arts lessons; Karan had soccer practice to get to and the three headed their respective ways.

Tommy also knew he’d have to give Abigail’s team a fuller history of the Power Rangers than he’d done when they got their morphers and sooner rather than later. He’d learned from having to catch Conner, Ethan, and Kira up that it was best done soonish. As it had been, all he’d had to do after Hayley had been the one to fill the team in was answer their questions. Trent, after he’d joined the team, had gotten the abridged version to start with, seeing the video log one day when he’d had a chance to.

Speaking of the video log, he was going to have to update it soon and help Abigail and her team settle on a team name. Her team’s activation sequence was similar to the one he’d used in his early days as a Ranger and needed no team name as part of it, unlike Dino Thunder’s. Trent was the only one whose Morpher didn’t use the team name as part of the activation sequence. Tommy and Hayley both had offered to change it, as had Anton, but Trent turned them down. Tommy didn’t blame him; Trent had gotten used to using his current one. Tommy knew from experience how tricky it was to change morphing sequences, having served on 4 different teams, using a number of different sequences depending on what Powers were being called up. It was a major reason why his current morpher had been based off of his Turbo morpher, or at least that’s what Hayley claimed.

Of course, he could let Cassie try and name the team; it had been fun for Abigail and the rest of Reefside’s Rangers to watch the news reports. Cassie had actually gotten a pay raise with all the news stories about the new team. Abigail, with Tommy’s permission, had quietly fed Cassie the suggestion that the Purple Ranger had once been in the Original Yellow suit that had been previously been spotted fighting alongside Dino Thunder. Cassie had taken it a step further and had a bit of fun with what she called a rumor. That story had been discussed at the high school; both Tommy and Coach Daveed had abstained from the conversation in the staff lunchroom. He knew Abigail and her friends were giggling over the same conversation among their classmates.

Location: Angel Grove, Friday the same week. POV: Rocky/3^rd person

Rocky looked at his notes from his last session with Abigail and sighed; he really needed to talk to Ernie again. Some of Ernie’s strict parenting issues had reared their head again the previous weekend, necessitating Tommy calling him about it after Abigail had gone to bed. He’d talked about it with Abigail during their therapy session earlier in the week, which had been an in-person one due to the nature of it. He’d been able to get more details from her about exactly Ernie had disciplined her and his strict rules growing up and he’d also had to reiterate that it wasn’t her fault that Ernie’d been overly strict to the point of non-physical abuse.

Ernie had recognized that he’d been too strict with his children, but didn’t fully realize just how far he’d crossed the line into abuse just yet. Rocky had given Ernie the same stuff he’d given Tommy, but he didn’t know if it had been read it yet. Rocky knew that father and daughter hoped to reconcile, but a proper reconciliation wouldn’t happen unless or until Ernie realized just how much he’d actually abused her and David both. He was also worried about David; even with Ernie now on the mend, David still came up every weekend. Despite spending time with his sister over his spring break, Rocky could tell David was heading towards burnout if he’d not hit that point already, trying to juggle school and being there for his dad.

Of course, when Rocky headed over to the Youth Center to talk to the father and son, he found them in the middle of a conversation, one that he suspected that had been had more than once.

“Dad, I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”

“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take some time for yourself, David. Right now, your routine is school, here, and visiting Abigail. Do you even take time for yourself? You need to take some time for yourself, David.”

Rocky knew that in normal cases, interrupting a private conversation was generally rude, but Ernie was right.

“David, your dad’s right. You’re rapidly approaching burnout, if you haven’t gotten there already. I know you’ve still got friends in town who are free, call one of them up and go have fun. I’m sure Austin wouldn’t mind hanging out with you this weekend.”

David rapidly switched his gaze from Rocky to Ernie and back before scowling. “Not abandoning you, Dad.”

“You aren’t, David. Go, hang out with your friends, David, even if that means you spend the weekend at your university more often than not. You don’t need to come home every weekend anymore.” Rocky was entirely unsurprised by Ernie’s admission; his friend had admitted David’s frequent visit were starting to grate on him, as was David staying at the Youth Center except when he was at Jason’s dojo teaching.

“He’s right, David. Your dad’s gotten to the point in his healing that having you here as often as you are is likely going to do more harm than good,” Rocky said to David as soon as Ernie was busy at the counter. “I know Jason’s taught you the importance of self-care when it comes to martial arts; those lessons apply in the real world too and I know you know that David. You said as much last summer when you asked for the name of a therapist at your university, a therapist I also know you’ve been seeing.”

“It’s just…I worry about him, Rocky.”

“I know, David. Last summer scared all of us; not even your sister knows the full extent of how bad he was mentally and for good reason. As much as she shouldn’t know, there may come a day when she will find out where he was mentally. Think about what I’ve said, David, and go have some fun, even if that means you spend most of your time this weekend away from your Dad.”

“Alright, Rocky, if you say so.” Rocky noticed David give a last look back at his father before pulling out his cell phone to call Austin and walking away. He headed into the main part of the Youth Center and started helping Ernie out, as he was swamped with the after-school crowd. He felt bad sending David away, but he also knew that David’s tendency to hover would only stress Ernie out.

When it slowed down and Amy showed up, Rocky and Ernie headed back to Ernie’s office. The office was a frequent spot for the two to use for Ernie’s therapy sessions, especially the sessions that didn’t deal with Abigail’s work as a Power Ranger. Those sessions tended to happen at Ernie’s house or over the phone, but they were happening less and less as Ernie was able to deal better with the information. Rocky knew that the conversation he’d had with Zack just before getting sick had helped, as Zack had given Ernie a lot of helpful information. Ernie had also talked to Jason about things, as Jason had actually led the team prior to Tommy being given the leadership position. Each conversation only served to help Ernie in the long run as well as Abigail.

“What’s this about, Rocky? You normally don’t stop by the Youth Center on a Friday to talk to me.”

“How much of the books I gave you did you read, Ernie?”

“All of them, why?” Ernie’s puzzlement showed on his face.

“Have you compared how you raised David and Abigail to the tactics lined out in the books?”

“No….not yet, anyway. I mean, I know I was strict, but I didn’t think I was that bad, Rocky.”

Rocky pinched his nose. “Ernie, what you did partially falls under abusive parenting. Abuse is more than just physical or sexual, Ernie. Tommy’s still running into situations with Abigail because she doesn’t know what’s actually normal for girls her age. Strict parenting is one thing, but you were too strict, Ernie. Being a controlling parent harms a child’s ability to grow; if not corrected, they have a harder time becoming an independent adult.”

Rocky watched realization dawn across Ernie’s face as his friend sank into his desk chair. 6 months ago, Ernie wouldn’t have been able to completely process the information, but he’d come far enough that Rocky felt comfortable bringing the topic up without it setting Ernie’s progress back. If anything, this would help Ernie take another step or several forward in his healing and better his chances of building a stronger relationship with Abigail.

The only issue Rocky knew Ernie was facing right now was how to make this up to Abigail. In normal situations, sitting the two down and finding a better, healthier set of boundaries would be the way to go. However, Tommy had, with Ernie’s blessing, adopted her two months prior, so there was little chance of that happening. Rocky did know that Tommy was working on the whole boundary issue with her, so all Rocky had to do was work with Ernie; what helped was David was still partially living in the house. He could sit the two down and do those sessions with them; Rocky had no doubt that the results would spill over into Ernie and Abigail’s future interactions.

Speaking of, Rocky knew that Abigail would possibly be down in Angel Grove at the end of April. He knew that her trip down with Reefside High’s soccer team was dependent on when Katherine gave birth; she was due in only a few weeks. He also knew that due dates weren’t always accurate; she could give birth earlier or later than her actual due date, even if that meant the doctors had to induce her or do a C-section for the safety of both her and the baby.

To be able to do those joint sessions with Ernie and David, however, he’d have to get in touch with David’s therapist in L. A.; sessions with Abigail were going to have to wait until summer. Even if she wasn’t currently serving as a Power Ranger, Rocky still would be waiting for summer to do the sessions as she was still coming to terms with her childhood on top of building a stronger relationship with Tommy and Katherine.

Rocky spent the better part of the afternoon helping Ernie work through the minor bombshell that had been dropped in his head. He was pleased to see that Ernie was willing to start applying those techniques to his relationship with David; Rocky had to start getting David to step away from his caretaker role. Ernie no longer needed his son in that role; he’d recovered enough that it was going to be a hindrance rather than a help. He knew this afternoon out with Austin was a good start; making sure David continued to step back and allow his relationship with his father to return to normal standings was another challenge entirely. Of course, David was going to have his final exams coming up, which would add another reason for him to remain on campus. The toughest part was going to be spring and summer, as David wasn’t taking any classes on campus either semester.

He was pleased to see that Ernie did better with information dumps that were potentially damaging to his mental health than he was back in the summer. He knew that a big part of it was because Ernie truly trusted Rocky; the rest was a mix of Ernie finally dealing with his grief and determination to make things better with both of his children. Abigail had given her father an admirable goal to work towards, even if Ernie was no longer her father legally and their relationship would only become better in the long run.

By the time Rocky left, Ernie was doing better than he’d been at the start of their therapy session, which Rocky counted as a win. He wouldn’t find out until Sunday that David had spent a good chunk of the weekend hanging out with some of his friends that had elected to go to Angel Grove University instead of one of the many universities that scattered America or the world. He’d even taken the time to take Amy out on a date; something that pleased even Abigail when she heard about it later.

He’d also gotten a play-by-play of how her soccer practices were going even though they’d not had much in the way of actual games yet, only a scrimmage game against Reefside’s private school team. Actual games wouldn’t start until the beginning of April, but Rocky could tell she was having a lot of fun doing it.

He’d also heard from Tommy that they’d started doing training sessions with her new Ranger team, something he’d actually gotten to participate in that Saturday with them. He’d also gotten to give them the benefit of his own experience as a Power Ranger, which Tommy had privately thanked him for after.

“Tommy, it’s no problem to do so; they’re part of the Ranger family now. What good is my experience doing if I don’t help out the next generation?”

“Still, Rocky, I appreciate it. It means a great deal to me that you were willing to help out today.”

“Any time, Tommy, you know that. See you next week?”

“See you next week, Rocky.”

Rocky reflected on the team training all the way back down to Angel Grove; Abigail had a good team on her hands. He was starting to see them settle into fairly flexible roles, though it was a toss up as to which girl was actually second in command, Francine or Karan. Karan was the team’s Red, which Rocky knew tended to signal 2IC territory, as Rocky had eventually become such by the time they’d gained their Zeo Powers, but Rocky also recognized Abigail was closer to Francine, the two girls having known each other and worked as teammates since soccer camp. The team, though, trusted each other enough that having a permanent 2IC wasn’t likely to happen. Even Abigail had admitted that she trusted her teammates to take command if she wasn’t in any position to lead. The following conversation had been rather amusing and informative.

“What do you mean, if you’re in no position to lead, Abigail?” Johnny asked, actually puzzled.

“Besides the obvious of getting hurt or sick? I trust you guys to keep me from doing something stupid or rash, or to take over if I start going over the line of right and wrong. I know that it’s a possibility any time we face off against Ivan; if we get a chance to take him out personally, I really don’t think I can make the judgement call.” The looks of amazement on her team’s faces got Rocky smiling; he watched as they realized just how much she truly trusted them and how much that strengthened their resolve to be worthy of that trust.

“That’s good that you recognize that, Abigail,” Tommy said from where he was leaning on a tree. “I honestly don’t know if I could make that call either; facing off against him isn’t like even facing off against Mesogog after he’d separated himself from Anton. He’s made this personal for both of us.”

“I don’t know if any of the Rangers you served with could make that call either, Tommy. Andros could, but he’s a father himself now; he was pissed when he heard about what Ivan was planning, as was Zhane. I think some of that, though, comes from knowing his sister had been in the same position that Ivan plans to use your son for. He and Karone finally got around to telling me the full story; Ivan’s plan is a hell of a lot worse than what she went through.”

The conversation had given Tommy a few ideas for the training sessions, one of which was having the team go through different situations where one of them would have to take lead. Some of those sessions would have to take place in the Command Center that they shared with Dino Thunder; Hayley, Ethan, and Patton had managed to turn one of the unused caverns in the cave system that had become Triceramax Command into a fully functional holodeck. One of the scenarios, though, would have to wait; Rocky and Tommy had to support Abigail through a panic attack when it had gotten mentioned.

He fully understood why, but it was also a fairly common scenario in their line of work: what would happen if one of them turned evil by force. Rocky knew that part of Ivan’s original plans had been to have Abigail become an evil Ranger. That scenario scared all of them, but it was better if Abigail’s team worked through that in a training session instead of learning on the fly on how to deal as several Ranger teams had to do. Even Dino Thunder had to do that with Trent; they’d thankfully been lucky that Tommy had been able to guide them through it. Rocky knew Tommy’s original teammates had to do that with him; Kimberly and Billy had filled him in after they’d dealt with Kat having temporarily being under Rita’s control. Tommy had been a confidant to Kat afterwards, knowing better than the rest of the team what it was like being under Rita’s spell and forced to do evil. It was likely something that had helped the two eventually become more than just friends and teammates.

Location: Reefside, Hayley’s CyberSpace, Sunday 3^rd week of March. POV: Abigail/1^st person.

I giggled as the team, including Dino Thunder but minus Dad, and I discussed Dad’s suggestion of letting Cassie name my team. It being Sunday, we didn’t have to worry all too much about being overheard by civilians. It was just us and Hayley in; Dad was helping Katherine put the finishing touches on the nursery, with Dr. Mercer having stopped by to visit. Trent had given Karan and I a ride down to CyberSpace, as Dad knew I’d be bored and also wanted to hang out with my friends and relax. I’d also taken the last bits of my homework to do; I’d done most of it Friday as I knew that Saturday would be taken up by team training sessions. I’d gotten the rest done in short order; most of the rest of my team had brought theirs as well.

One of the few things I liked about having CyberSpace to only the two Ranger teams, along with Hayley, was the fact that we didn’t have to worry about being overheard. We-Dino Thunder and I-had informed the rest of the team about Hayley being not only in the know, but also her role in Ranger backup early on. I’d hoped today would simply be a Ranger-on-Ranger Q & A session without Dad around and it looked like it might be, after we got past the giggling. Don’t get me wrong, Dad was a great mentor, but there were some things best asked of Rangers one’s age instead of a mentor that was not just an adult, but also one’s science teacher. Hayley held a unique position among the group as despite being an adult, she held no formal position of authority over the team. Patton, under Ethan’s tutelage, had actually started turning to Hayley for tech advice. While he was as brilliant with computers as his Dino Thunder counterpart, he didn't have the experience necessary just yet to take over the role for the team. Hopefully, but the time we got to senior year, he would be.

Of course, reactions to Dad’s suggestion were varied; Conner had actually choked on his drink when I brought the suggestion up. Ethan had practically howled with laughter, part of which was at Conner’s expense. Everyone else’s reactions varied from actual horror (Karan, Steve) to bemused (Johnny, Francine) to a mix of both (Kira, Patton), where I was with Ethan and found it rather hilarious. Kira, while finding it funny, admitted that her horror came from having gone to school with Cassie.

“That’s why it’s funny, Kira!” Ethan responded. “She can’t come up with anything worse I would or could.” Kira conceded Ethan’s point at that.

“True and do we really want Dr. O to name the team?” Conner asked. “Especially considering he came up with our own team name?” I’d heard the story of when the three had gotten the morphers; Conner had pointed out that ‘Dino Thunder’ sounded like something Ethan would have thought up. After knowing him for the entire length of time I’d been in Reefside, I agreed with Conner, as did Patton.

“Dad’s first team was simply called the ‘Power Rangers’,” I pointed out. “Dino Thunder sounds a lot better, especially considering that ‘Power Rangers’ now encompasses all the Ranger teams that have existed thus far. I don’t even know what his first team would be called now, if we had to give it a proper name.”

“Mighty Morphin?” Ethan asked. His only response was to have a hail of balled up paper napkins thrown at him. “Okay, okay, I give guys!” We all dissolved into giggles and laughter at that. Hayley was taking the time to do some inventory and paperwork; I’d offered to help as I’d helped Ba on occasion, but she shoed me away to hang out with my friends instead. I appreciated her understanding of my background, but there were sometimes that I missed having busy work that wasn’t homework.

The conversation quickly devolved into a semi-serious debate as to who would come up with the best team name for the team. We all knew we couldn’t be calling my team the ‘new team’ or ‘new Rangers’ forever, but we knew we’d have to come up with a team name soon before the reporters did or we’d be stuck with whatever name they came up with.

“Why don’t we just let someone on a previous Ranger team come up with the name? It worked for you guys,” Steve finally pointed out. Conner actually started considering the suggestion; as Red Dino Ranger, he shared command of the Dino Rangers with Dad. He had, especially once Ivan had shown up, stepped up and started coordinating with the other former Ranger teams, a job that he also shared with Dad, but he didn’t mind. Hayley had actually served as point of contact for Sensei Watanabe’s Ninja Storm team initially, but Conner had developed a good working relationship with the older man. What had helped was the fact that his twin brother had attended the ninja school, even if the brother had flunked out initially.

“Just don’t ask Conner to come up with the name, guys. He’s worse than Ethan is at coming up with good team names.” Kira’s insult was primarily without heat; the length of time that the 3 had served together was longer than Trent’s run on the team, but even still, all five members of Dino Thunder were comfortable enough to not take actual insult with what passed for teasing among them.

“Hey!” Conner and Ethan chorused.

“I’ll grant you Conner, but I’m not that bad, Kira,” Ethan responded.

“Yes, you are!” We all chorused; Ethan pretended to look hurt for all of several seconds, but none of us were buying it. That was mainly because Ethan started grinning a few seconds later, laughing along with us. We also knew Ethan fairly well, though Patton out of all my current teammates knew him best, Francine being a close second.

We quickly started tossing around team names, though each name was sillier than the last. By the time Hayley got done with her paperwork and inventory, she could only shake her head at the room of giggly Power Rangers, though she was smiling. I wondered if Dad had suggested Cassie come up with the team name as a joke or something else, but I have to admit, it served as a good topic to lighten the mood and as a team bonding experience. From what I understood, what we had in Reefside was rather unique with two Ranger teams at the same time. Not even Angel Grove had the overlap that Reefside did; most of the local teams instead of the visiting alien teams were simply changes of Power sources instead of new team members. Justin taking over as Blue Ranger from Rocky was the first time that there’d been a new team member with a new Power source instead of the same team members, new source. There’d never been two different teams in the same city at the same time to the best of Dad’s knowledge.

We were still fairly giggly and hyper by the time Dad came by to pick me up; it had fallen to Hayley to explain that she’d come out to us tossing around the silliest team names she’d ever heard and she’d heard a ton from Tommy over the years when he’d first asked her to develop the morphers to go with the three Dino Gems he’d originally found. He’d just smiled as he shook his head, which I knew meant he found the situation rather funny. I would find out later that seeing me just being able to fully relax and act like someone my age was a comfort to him instead of the overly anxious and panicking mess I’d been when I’d first arrived in Reefside. What he didn’t know, or at least he never admitted to knowing, was the fact that I had friends who I could be fully open with alongside a family I could trust helped a great deal.

Don’t get me wrong, despite the fact that Lt. Stone was no longer an issue and my adoption had been finalized, I still feared being forcibly removed by my birth family and returned to Ba’s care. My cousin Sylvia was still out there; I was sure that Uncle Howard wouldn’t mind as long as he got to talk to me first, but I’d not seen him in a while. Dad and Hayley both were searching for him; Dr. Mercer had also offered to help, as he had many contacts within the science field.

Like I’d also told Dad, I didn’t want him to feel like he should send me back to Angel Grove either. His response had served to reassure me once again that nothing could make him feel like that. The fact that he was willing to expand his boundaries with me was wonderful; I’d been completely surprised when he told me it was absolutely okay if I broke rules. Yea, I’d broken a couple of rules, but his discipline wasn’t punishments like Ernie preferred and didn’t last long. He also preferred to spend time walking though what caused the actual issue instead of just benching me and refusing to give an explanation as to why.

The fact that he made sure I had a big enough safety net was wonderful; walking a tightrope-either literal or figurative-was easiest with a big enough safety net and a way to balance oneself, as it allowed someone to not worry as much about falling if they knew that they’d be caught if a fall happened. Even with the incident in January involving Lt. Stone, I always felt safe at home. He’d always reiterated, even when he didn’t realize I could hear him, that making sure I felt safe with him was the most important thing. I’d not said as much to him, but I’d told Rocky in one of my therapy sessions that I’d noticed he’d actually not drank much, if at all, since I’d entered his care. Even at his wedding, he’d not drank alcohol, choosing to use sparkling juice instead. Even when we had some 1-on-1 time, he always listened to me when I talked, allowing me to open up about what was bothering me and choosing the right words to help me deal with whatever we were talking about. He also seemed to know when I needed physical comfort from him and when I needed to hear comfort. He’d not noticed, but as I grew comfortable with him, I’d found myself leaning into one armed hugs or comfort sessions dominant hand first, trusting him to defend or catch me if and when needed.

My sleep patterns had also changed as the months went on. I’d never considered or found myself a deep sleeper, but there had been times as the months went on that I’d been in a deep enough state of sleep that I’d overslept my alarm. I’d also missed early morning practice sessions with him on the weekends due to sleeping in late. He’d waved away my apologies, saying he’d rather I catch up on sleep if that’s what my body needed instead of shorting myself on sleep.

I’d also found my dreams were starting to become ‘normal’ dreams as well; my nightmares were next to non-existent, though I still had the occasional one. My Grid-related dreams, including the ones involving the animal totems associated with him, Mom, and Katherine had slowed down, eventually vanishing after I’d created the morphers and morphed for the first time. I missed the dreams, honestly, as they’d served as a link to Mom. It hurt every time I lost another link to her, or at least that’s how it felt. Dad, Katherine, and Rocky were helping me through it; I was determined to not bury my grief at losing those links like Ba had. It occasionally seemed like the easy thing to do, but I’d seen firsthand the results of what unacknowledged grief and trauma could do to a person. I didn’t want to fall into the same trap Ba had and had said as much to Rocky one session.

It wasn’t always easy to talk about it, even in a therapy session with Rocky. There’d been more than once where he’d just allowed me to sit and sketch everything out, a practice Dad also approved of. I’d done that even when he wasn’t there, as it helped me get what was bothering me out, even if it wasn’t the ‘traditional’ pen to paper method that most people thought of when the subject of using pen and paper to express one’s feelings came up. Rocky said that as long as I found multiple healthy ways to deal with my emotions, he really didn’t care how I expressed them. He’d even helped me find new ways; he’d given me a couple of stress balls I’d found helpful as a tactile way to deal, even if all I did was throw them against a tree if I needed a way to immediately and safely express anger or frustration when I couldn’t get the words out.

By the time I went to bed that night, I wasn’t expecting nightmares, as was the case most nights anymore. As time went on, I had started to recognize what topics normally brought on nightmares. My nightmares, when they weren’t Angel Grove related, tended to be Ivan related. Tonight, though, I felt as if I was trapped in something that wasn’t a nightmare, but something much worse. When I finally felt safe enough to look around, I realized that the location was Mesogog’s former lab. I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming, Astral Projecting, or actually physically there, but I still stuck to the shadows the best I could.

The scariest part of the whole thing was Ivan had his back to me, Scorpina and Rito nowhere in sight. I slowed my breathing as I watched Ivan mutter and do his experiments. I was able to confirm that the monster-creating machine was once more in the lab, but I was horrified to see Ivan start a machine that was pumping out jars of what looked like purple Silly Putty. From what I’d been able to gather, this Silly Putty look-a-like turned adults into mind-controlled zombies incapable of thinking for themselves; I had to get this information to Dad and the others as soon as I could get out of there. It took me several tries to do so, as I knew I needed to keep myself calm doing so.

Waking up, I wasn’t unsurprised to see the room spin; that’s how I knew that this was no mere dream. Most of my dreams, including nightmares, didn’t cause dizziness or nausea; Grid-related dreams, especially ones where I entered unwillingly, got me ill. Dad was right there as soon as he heard me call out; I’d tried and failed several times to be able to get up from my bed. Despite having a bunk bed, I preferred sleeping on the bottom bunk in case of dreams like this; I knew I’d fall off the ladder otherwise.

He grew concerned when I had recovered enough to talk about what had happened and what I’d seen; with Katherine due in the next several weeks, we realized Ivan was putting another plan into action to get a hold of Andy once she’d given birth. Unlike a number of his plans, he’d hesitated to use ones his alternate timeline self had used, with the exception of the Tengu and Oozemen. This plan, we realized, was born out of desperation. Rocky and Dad both had explained that fear and desperation can often cause people to do things they normally wouldn’t; I’d recognized I’d done the same thing when I’d ran away from Angel Grove. If I’d had a loving childhood, or if Dad had sought help earlier, I wouldn’t have felt like I’d needed to run.

Dad ended up remaining the rest of the night, which I was grateful for. I found his presence soothing after a rough dream, nightmare or no. I also knew that, with him there holding me as I fell asleep, I’d have no other weird dreams.

Chapter Text

Location: Triceramax ‘Dino’ Command Center, the last week of March. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy looked up at Anton and Trent from the tables they’d been sitting at. Steve was still looking over the plans and other notes that Anton had brought about his island lab. While not the computer expert that Patton and Ethan were, Steve ended up being quite the science genius and could generally follow along with some of the computer talk. To hear Steve talk, though, Tommy knew he’d have to bring Johnny in; the team’s Green had a good grasp of tactical moves. He’d seen as much during their teambuilding sessions and it was a skill Tommy wanted to encourage in the Ranger who he once shared a Color with.

Currently, Anton was trying and failing to convince both Trent and Tommy both that he should be going in with Trent to do recon; Abigail’s unwilling Astral Projection had gained them valuable insight. Now that she knew that’s what her ability to enter the Grid was, she’d started researching it in some of the high school’s library books. She’d ended up buying some of the better books from a New Age store in town; between them and her meditation habit, she was starting to make plans to develop the ability. Ivan or not, it could be a valuable asset in the field, especially if she found herself being unable to physically fight.

She’d also mentioned that she wanted to find out if the rest of her team had unusual abilities like Dino Thunder did. While all physical links to the Morphing Grid-the Power Coins and Dino Gems among others-enhanced the physical strength of the Ranger in question, other abilities seemed to vary from team to team. The Grid also helped Rangers who lacked martial arts skills with that as well as any other skills that they lacked, like knowing how to automatically pilot their Zords. Secondary abilities like Dino Thunder had weren’t always common among Ranger teams; it seemed to come and go depending on the team.

“Anton, what you’re suggesting is way too dangerous. Trent has a way to keep himself protected; you don’t have that. Unless we can find a way to keep what’s left of the serum that created Mesogog from being activated, there is no way you’re going in there. Take it from me, Anton: despite Karan being a member of Abigail’s team, you’re better off staying here to protect her. If something happens while you’re in that lab before she turns 18, her parents are going to yank her to wherever her father’s working and that’s something we’re trying to avoid.”

“Aside from Trent and Elsa, there’s also nobody else that knows that lab better, Tommy.”

“Which is why I’m the one going, Dad. If you’re fighting to go along so I have someone at my back, don’t. Karan’s agreed to go with me as long as Abigail approves, as have Kira and Ethan. I’m also willing to take along two others, but not you or Abigail for different reasons. Dr. O’s right; we can’t take the risk that Ivan’s created a way to forcibly turn you into Mesogog again. Unlike the last time, we can’t guarantee that we’re able to rescue you or turn you back. With Abigail, it’s more her not going along physically; we know if Ivan finds her physically there, morphed or not, he’s going to find a way to enact his original plan. What we don’t know is if he can affect things when it comes to someone in an Astral form.”

“That’s still risky, Trent; we still don’t know the full extent of his abilities and that’s not exactly a good way to find out.” As if by perfect timing, Abigail, Francine, and Karan entered, having returned from soccer practice; Conner wasn’t far behind. Francine’s parents didn’t mind her coming over as it wasn’t unusual for the girls to drop over at each other’s homes on days when they were at soccer practice together and do homework. Francine had started working on her next belt and her lessons at the dojo had switched to early morning, before school, allowing her to attend most of the soccer practices; Karan’s Jiu-Jitsu lessons were in the evenings twice a week, allowing her the same freedom for soccer practice.

“What are we talking about, right now? I recognize the blueprints of the lab from seeing them at the house, but…”

“Planning a recon mission, Karan,” Steve responded, causing most of the room to jump, either because they didn’t know he was there or had forgotten, as the teen was that quiet. “Dr. Mercer, Trent’s right. We don’t know what modifications have been made to it since he took it over. If I were him, though, I’d find a way to use the lower levels and dig new rooms.”

Abigail, by this time, had joined Steve in looking over the island lab blueprints before speaking to Trent.

“I assume you want to do this as a joint team exercise, Trent, with you taking lead?”

“Yes, but not everyone, as 11 people makes up too large of a group and it’s too easy to get captured when we’re on his turf. Same as taking too little or going alone.” Abigail nodded as she listened to Trent’s plan.

“Who are you thinking of from my team, Trent? Steve and Johnny are obvious; between Steve’s science skills and Johnny’s tactical knowledge, there’s also the fact that they work together as well as Francine and I do. Karan or Patton?”

“Karan; Ethan’s coming, I hope, so that’s the computer angle covered. I’d ideally like for Karan and Kira to learn to work back-to-back like you and Francine do, but I also recognize that training that is going to be…difficult, especially if we find a way to do this over the weekend.”

“I know how to do back-to-back with a new partner; somehow Abigail and Francine convinced Coach Daveed to incorporate that into soccer practice. We randomize who we do it with, but it’s less actual back-to-back martial arts style as it is tag team with a soccer ball,” Karan replied.

“That’s easy enough to fix; I know we covered it during one of the last training sessions, Karan. What you need to learn to do better is let the Grid take care of it. It’s already done that for you a bit; piloting the Zords was one thing and don’t think I’ve not noticed you using martial arts moves that you shouldn’t know. Both aspects are the Grid aiding you in battle, Karan; trust it.”

“I can try, Abigail.”

“Johnny and I can go over it again with you, Karan, no issue. I’m sure Kira wouldn’t mind; she’s got some free time Thursday.” Tommy smiled at how his daughter’s face lit up watching her team working as such; he shared her pride in her team, but was even prouder of how she’d stepped up as a leader. What most people didn’t realize about Power Ranger teams wasn’t just the fact that whoever was team lead led in fights and battles against the monsters and primary opponents, but that they were also the ones that led outside of that as well.

In Abigail’s case, she recognized that while she only led by virtue of having been in the field longer, she still had a lot to learn. She’d spent time talking with him and Conner both about her doubts, but didn’t realize just how much she was already acting like a leader. Case in point was their current problem; Trent wanted to borrow some of her team to do a joint exercise. Abigail, like Tommy himself, wasn’t opposed exactly, but wanted to know more details before tentatively agreeing. She wouldn’t actually commit her team members without talking to them first either; she’d advocated from the start that her team had the right to say ‘no’ to anything they weren’t comfortable with when they weren’t actually fighting and that they could walk away from being Rangers at any time they wished.

He knew Steve was willing to go, but the question was if Johnny and Karan would be willing to go. He had no doubt Johnny would; the two boys were thick as thieves. Karan remained the sticking point, but he also knew she trusted both Abigail and him. This was going to be her first time watching Abigail in action as a leader that didn’t deal with training; most of the discussions involving her team had been in private as he worked with his daughter on the best ways to lead them, or with training sessions.

Each member of her team had also taken Tommy and the rest of Dino Thunder up on their offers to talk about what being a Ranger meant. It was rather refreshing to act strictly as a mentor for a Ranger team instead of starting out as such and then joining them as a Ranger as he’d done with Dino Thunder. He knew that Abigail’s trust in him helped her team trust him as well. Like his own team, most of her team only knew him as their science teacher. He’d taught some of Francine’s martial arts classes when her own instructor had fallen ill, but that had been the extent of his interactions with Francine prior to Abigail coming into his life.

Tommy watched as Trent went over the details of his plan to do reconnaissance on what had been Mesogog’s lab. Normally, Trent wasn’t the one making plans in advance; that duty normally belonged to Tommy and Conner, with input from the other three members of the team depending on what was going on. However, everyone realized that going into Mesogog’s lab was part of Trent’s area of expertise and stepped back to allow him to lead. By the time Trent finally got done justifying his plan to Abigail and everyone else in the room, Tommy was impressed, as was Anton. It was hard to miss the look of pride on his friend’s face; Tommy knew he often had a similar one when it came to not just Abigail, but Dino Thunder as a whole.

“I realize I’ve never fully thanked you for being there for Trent when I couldn’t, Tommy. I’m proud of the man he’s become and you were a huge part of that.” Anton and Tommy kept their conversation low as to not distract Trent and Abigail from their own discussion.

“He’s a good kid, Anton. I’m glad he was able to trust me with some stuff, but he did all the hard work.”

“And he wouldn’t have gotten that far if he didn’t have someone to watch his back. It took him a while, but he finally talked to me about how you helped him work through what he did when his Dino Gem still had an evil barrier around it. Having you to talk to about the issue meant a great deal, as he knew he didn’t have to deal with it alone. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be there for him than you, Tommy. Why do you think he and I both talked to Ms. Andrews when Abigail came into your care? You’d already shown wonderful parenting skills with Trent, who I’d not been the best parent to. I’m afraid I didn’t put him in an easy position trying to keep the secret of my dual identity; I should have insisted he tell you, or told you myself. There’s a chance things may have ended differently and sooner if he’d felt like he could tell you about everything.”

“I’m just glad he felt like he could come to me about having once been under evil’s spell; our starts as evil Rangers may have been slightly different, but the end result was the same.” Tommy had told Anton about being under Rita’s spell one afternoon before Abigail had arrived in Reefside; there wasn’t much the formerly evil didn’t know about his own past as a Ranger. The only things he didn’t know were most of the identities of his former teammates and that was by Anton’s own choice. That hadn’t meant that Tommy hadn’t prepared an ‘if all else fails, call these people’ list for Anton to use; he’d even informed Anton of how to access it.

As Tommy watched, he could tell Abigail still remained fairly unconvinced; it took a quiet conversation with Karan before she relented. A quick call to Johnny had him agreeing to help out, even without knowing the details. As soon as he heard Steve was going to be part of the mixed team, he signed right up, annoying Abigail to no end.

“Johnny, you wouldn’t jump off a bridge if Steve did, would you? Never mind; don’t answer that. You should at least hear the details before…Johnny!” Growling in frustration, she shoved the phone at Tommy. “Can you please talk some sense into him, Dad?”

What followed was a quick conversation with the newest Green Ranger about getting needed details about a proposed mission before agreeing. He finally got Johnny to agree to go over the plan in private with Trent before making up his mind. He knew Johnny wouldn’t change his mind, though; Trent would be glad of the tactician’s eyes over the plans.

A huge part of Trent’s plans was drawing Ivan and the others out of the lab or relying on Ivan being out of the lab. That was the huge unknown; it had been Tommy’s experience that villains like he’d faced, including Mesogog, had some sort of sixth sense or ESP when it came to the Rangers. Anton, as a side effect of the experiment turned him into Mesogog, could still tell where any one of the Dino Rangers were. Not even Karan could sneak up on him, nor Trent, even if he was using his camouflage ability. Come to think of it, Anton said that tended to make Trent stand out more.

It had been something that Zedd had said once that made Tommy think that Ranger opponents could tap into the Grid as well; after Ivan was dealt with, he would have to ask Abigail if she would be willing to check that out for him. Despite all of his research and work as a Ranger, there was a lot that he didn’t know; Rita-who went by Mystic Mother, which he had a hard time calling her-knew more than he did, which was another avenue to pursue.

Thinking of his once-former foes, Tommy got in touch with Aquitar’s team of Rangers. Even if Ivan couldn’t sense them arriving, he and Rita had been able to confirm Ivan had sensed Abigail creating the morphers. He and Conner, along with Abigail, slowly got in touch with a number of their allies. In most cases, it was a matter of getting ahold of whoever the mentor was, or-as in the case of Zordon’s various teams-the team lead because the mentor was dead or otherwise unable to talk.

Rita and Udonna, when they’d heard about Abigail’s unwitting Astral Projection, immediately wanted to help. Udonna, who had the greater experience in the field, would be arriving in two days. All of them hoped that the two days of training would be enough; the time they had was compounded by the fact that both Tommy and Abigail would be spending most of Friday either at Reefside High or at the dojo. Abigail also had homework and soccer practice to deal with; her first ‘official’ game was this Saturday as well.

Rita, on the other hand, wanted to help Abigail find out what else she could do with her abilities to tap into the Grid, along with helping her team figure out what else they could do. Tommy knew she’d once wielded the Green Dragon Coin; he was confident Rita knew what she was doing. She said, and Tommy agreed, that Abigail needed to learn what her limits were before she overextended herself. Tommy also knew, courtesy of Ninjor, that Abigail had a high chance of outliving all of them with the exception of Rita. She was in no condition, mentally or emotionally, to learn that info for quite some time.

Rita also promised to get in touch with Finster, who was still wary of working with the various Ranger teams he’d once tried to help defeat. Steve, after taking a look at what Finster did for Rita, started getting more excited about working with the alien alchemist-turned-sculptor than he was with his Ranger duties or science in general. That started a rather hilarious conversation between Steve, Tommy, and Anton. At one point, Steve made the mistake of comparing Anton to Finster; Tommy had to smother a smile at his friend’s outraged look. Trent had no such compunctions; the White Dino Ranger was openly grinning at his father’s discomfort.

“Young man, I am a scientist; alchemy is magic, trying to create gold out of lesser metals, and hokum. Science, experimental or no, is not alchemy!”

Steve, on the other hand, wouldn’t back down. “Dr. Mercer, without alchemy, we wouldn’t have science. Earth’s alchemists are the forerunners of today’s scientists.”

Tommy lost it at that point; it took him several minutes to regain his composure.

“Anton, in our line of work, science and alchemy have more in common than they do differences. Talk to Finster Friday; I’m sure he’ll be glad to go over details with you.” Tommy could tell that Anton, despite his protests to the contrary, was starting to get excited over meeting Finster and figuring out how to destroy Ivan’s elixir.

After the others had left and Abigail went to bed, Tommy drew Kat into a hug. He hoped he wasn’t making a huge mistake allowing this mission to take place, especially with it being mixed teams. Trent and the rest of Dino Thunder were the more experienced of Reefside’s two teams; Abigail was the only member of her team with almost as much experience. When he’d been a Ranger as a teen, they’d never been allowed to do recon missions like this; Zordon had deemed said missions too dangerous and crossing the boundary of what constituted escalating the situation. This was even with his teams having to occasionally go and rescue either civilians or each other from enemy hideouts. At the same time, if they even allowed the elixir to remain in the lab, it could be used on any innocent civilian or by the next enemy to take over Anton’s island lab. If they could prevent Ivan from using that method to return to life, this was a risk that they’d have to take.

Location: Reefside, Tommy’s house, Thursday that same week. POV: Abigail/1^st person

While I couldn’t wait to get home and meet this mysterious Udonna, I knew I had to get through soccer practice first. Coach Daveed occasionally ran practice over, which annoyed those of us freshmen who’d made the varsity team. Unlike Francine, not all of us had older siblings who could drive, or if we did, they didn't live in town or were too young to drive; often, Conner was the ride home for her, Karan, and I. Athena wasn’t interested in school sports; she was actually the top science student in her year. Dr. Mercer was actually thinking of offering internships to the top 2 science students in their senior year at one of Reefside’s two high schools next year.

Thankfully, Coach Daveed let us out on time and I couldn’t wait to head home. Conner and the others were chuckling at my excitement and impatience as he dropped the others off at their homes. They’d all heard of Udonna coming up today; Katherine was going to be meeting her as Dad and I were in class. The only reason Dad wasn’t driving me home was that he wanted to be there to give her a bit of background on me and my Ranger history. They’d also heard of Rita’s offer to help us all figure out if I was the only one of the team to have gained extra abilities; Mystic Force and Dino Thunder had agreed to split the training of the hypothetical abilities between them.

I’d gotten most of my homework done during study hall and before soccer practice started; all I had left was some reading for English class and a paper that I could hold off on writing until the weekend as it was due Monday. This was on top of whatever homework I was assigned tomorrow; I honestly hoped they didn’t assign too much, given I wasn’t sure how long this reconnaissance mission was going to last nor how I was going to be after 3 days of using my Astral form with only a night’s sleep between each session on top of martial arts training and a soccer game immediately before.

Udonna, as I found out, was a bit of a no-nonsense but kindly woman. What started as a conversation and attempt to teach me how she Astral Projected ended up with me having to drop into the Grid and find her Grid signature and forcibly pull her into the Grid. I’d had her sit down first; despite her years of experience of Astral Projecting, I didn’t want to risk her getting hurt or collapsing after exiting. She’d been able to use that information to figure out how to teach me to willingly Project my Astral form into real-world locations.

We’d started with locations I already knew; I’d had to call Hayley to apologize for scaring her. I’d Projected my Astral form into her storeroom after closing time, not expecting her to be doing inventory at that exact moment. Tomorrow, we would be using photos and blueprints of places around Reefside and Briarwood that I’d never been to; this would be a test to see if I could project to somewhere that I’d never seen.

One of the things I asked Udonna was if she would be willing to act as my spotter; she was mystified when I asked.

“What I mean by spotter is someone to be able to not just help tether me to the real world, but also be willing to pull me back if I overextend myself or can’t get out due to being in danger. Walking the Grid is one thing, or Projecting to safe areas, but this Saturday’s mission is dangerous. We don’t know if Ivan can affect those in Astral forms; we know he can affect civilians, but there’s also not much he can do to Morphed Rangers that we know of.”

I was happy to see Udonna nod her understanding at that, as was Dad.

“I can do that; what you’re asking is not unusual for someone who is learning to Astral Project from a teacher. You’ve done well so far with only a book meant for someone from another planet and little actual Earth research. Your caution is also commendable.”

I blushed. “Dad and the others helped; I wouldn’t have gotten this far without their help. I also understand the risks a lot better than the last time I did something this monumental; I have no desire to repeat the experience.”

“Tommy explained everything; you’re right in that you took a huge risk that day. What you did could have either left you in a coma or killed you at worst; at minimum, you could have been completely cut off from the Grid or otherwise been completely unable to control your abilities. You were extremely lucky that you survived, only needing several days to completely recover.”

I accepted her admonishment; Dad had given me a similar one once we finally had a chance to actually sit down and go over what he expected of me as a Power Ranger. I knew I’d taken several risks early in my work as a Ranger before revealing my identity to him. My trust in him and ability to follow his and Conner’s leads grew and assisted me in being able to trust all of them fully. His mentoring of me as a Ranger along with doing what I’d eventually realized was normal dad stuff helped me in the long run. I may have started out trusting him only because Mom did, but I was able to trust Dad on my own because of how he treated me.

Time seemed to drag by Friday; I knew I had to be patient. I wanted the whole thing with Ivan done and over with ASAP; so did the other Rangers. My team may have only fully had their Powers for over a month, but we were sick of Ivan. I knew Ivan was just the start of our Ranger duties, though I wasn’t sure exactly how I knew that. My team may have been called up to help with defeating Ivan, but with him gone, Dino Thunder could finally step back and let us get the experience we needed while focusing on their post-Ranger lives like they’d hoped to after Mesogog’s defeat.

When I woke up Saturday, I’d found Dad had allowed me to sleep in and not worry about a pre-breakfast martial arts practice. Practicing Astral Projection had tired me out and we all knew I needed the sleep. I’d gone to bed early last night, after finishing my paper. Most of my teachers yesterday had given tests, which is why the paper was due Monday. The only class that didn’t give a test or homework had been art, as most of the work was practical.

If Conner hadn’t taken the time not long before I started high school to teach me how to put my Ranger mindset aside when playing soccer, my ability to focus on today’s game would have suffered along with my actual playing ability. He’d actually enlisted help from Kira, Ethan, Trent, and Dad to do so, something he’d not told me ahead of time. I’d actually apologized to Ethan after; the soccer ball had ended up hitting him in a rather…sensitive area. The three of us had endured Trent’s teasing for several weeks before we conspired to prank him. Kira had helped; it had been the only reason he arrived at training a couple of times covered in glitter. If Dad knew, or even suspected, he never said anything; Trent didn’t even know Kira had put the glitter in his shampoo. He did endure a bit of teasing from Ethan about looking like a Twilight vampire, but otherwise got the message.

After the game, which ended up being an easy win, Dad, Katherine, and I went home. Conner, Francine, and Karan were meeting up with the others that were making up the mixed teams at CyberSpace before splitting off. Hayley was at our house with Udonna; Jason and Kimberly had sent their twins up after school yesterday so Hayley could show them the ropes and Principal Randall was going to be in Hayley’s office running point from that end.

Once we knew all teams were in position, Dad let the Aquitian Rangers know we were ready for them. 5 minutes after getting confirmation that they were on Earth and in a far enough space away from any city limits, Trent and his team morphed and used an Invisiportal to gain entry to the island. At the same time, I dropped into the meditative trance I needed to be in and Projected myself into the lab area I’d found myself in during the dream.

After making sure that Ivan was nowhere in the lab, I stepped out of the shadows. I knew I’d not be able to influence much in my Astral Form, but I could speak as well as sense if Ivan was close. I didn’t know my range with that; we’d not had a chance to practice that in the little time we had. I only knew what Ivan’s Grid Signature felt like through the months I’d been facing him and what a shock that was when I found out that Ranger-level evildoers had Grid Signatures. Dad had checked with Rita; between her and her husband Zedd, they had information about the Grid from the other side that we had no knowledge of.

Rita, I knew, had once wielded the Power Coin she’d eventually given Dad; I still didn’t know much about her husband. I had put that out of my mind for the time being as we had more pressing issues to deal with. Irregardless of their past history with Dad, I was grateful for the fact that they were now on our side.

I heard Johnny and Steve’s footsteps as they ran up. This, however, was not their ‘I’m being chased by an opponent’ sprinting; no, it was more of a ‘we’re running to get somewhere quick’ type of run. Even though they were morphed, their relief at seeing me was palpable. They quickly found the elixir, communicating such to Trent. For this mission, we’d set the communicators up so only the group leads could communicate group to group and to the Command Centers. The rest of the communicators were set to direct communications to their team only. This was to minimize Ivan finding out about the mission until it was far too late.

They found the elixir fairly quickly; what had helped was the fact that Ivan left it not only unguarded, but also had his notes on the subject with them.

“I thought this guy was supposed to be intelligent,” Johnny scornfully remarked. Steve just snorted in response.

“This is his lab, Johnny. I’ve been known to leave harmless stuff out with my notes if I get called away from my home lab. I wouldn’t call this elixir harmless, though, but to Ivan, it just may be. He’d be the only person where this would be a cure if his memories were completely wiped.” Steve called Trent right after that, letting him know that they had the elixir and notes.

“Good job guys; Ethan and I will be right up. I’ve got Kira and Karan dealing with the ooze putty; remind me to thank Billy and Hayley later for coming up with some form of transport system that can be looped around a room of stuff and set off manually. We just had to knock Rito out; looks like Ivan left him as a guard.”

“Abigail wants to know if you want her to look around in her Astral Form,” Johnny asked.

“No; we don’t know exactly what else Ivan has done to the lab. I do not want her taking that risk right now; the only way I’d let her Astral Project around here is once Udonna and Mystic Mother check this place out from top to bottom after Ivan’s dealt with.” I wasn’t disappointed at that; I’d only had Johnny ask just in case there was a place that needed to be investigated and they weren’t sure if the area was booby-trapped.

Trent and Ethan came in not long after and Trent took charge of the elixir and what the notes indicated was the one that was supposed to have been designated to be used on me. He placed them in a sealed container Finster had sent up with Udonna so that there was little chance of the elixir or its companion agent spilling. We weren’t sure if Ivan had designed the agent to work on a Morphed Ranger, but we weren’t taking any chances either. Dad and Steve had both pointed out, in separate conversations, that Ivan was intelligent enough to do such a thing. Trent was nobody’s fool either; he knew firsthand that the most innocent-looking items could take control of someone and align them to evil if left unchecked.

“Guys, Ivan’s back. Not sure where on the island he is, but you guys need to get out of here quick.”

“Thanks, Abigail. Kira, Karan, get out of here. We’ll meet at the designated spot.” With that, Trent took custody of the box, with Steve taking custody of the notes. They transported out; I was right behind them, signaling to Udonna to pull me out just as Ivan and Scorpina rushed into the lab. I could hear Ivan’s roar of anger as I returned to consciousness.

As soon as I felt well enough to stand, I accepted Dad and Udonna’s assistance to one of the chairs by the computers he and Hayley had been using to keep in contact with the various teams. As soon as Trent checked in with an all-clear from Angel Grove’s Command Center, we all visibly relaxed. Dad actually collapsed back into his chair; relief written all over his body. Katherine knelt by him the best she could; Hayley gave up her chair so she could sit across from him.

Despite Ivan not actually being defeated, we felt a sense of victory today. The mission had come out with the best possible outcome; as each team checked in, we found nobody had gotten seriously injured, just some bruising that was quickly healing. All that was left now was to actually defeat Ivan and find a way to neutralize his elixir and ooze putty. We could handle the first; Finster and Anton were dealing with the second.

As I watched and listened, I allowed Udonna to check me over to make sure I had no lasting damage from Projecting today. I was barely aware she was doing it, as I was just that worn out. I was forcing myself to stay awake so I could be sure that my team was safe and sound with my own eyes. Vocal check-ins were one thing, but I wanted to have eyes on them first.

Francine and Patton were the first to transport in with Conner; Francine had been one of the ones who’d walked away with some minor bruising. Trent and his group were along 20 minutes later; from what he said, half of the time had been spent dealing with Finster and his dad; the other half had been effectively dragging Steve away. Steve’s parents, while chill as heck, were still not in the know about their son being a Ranger and we wanted to keep it that way. Conner had to actually pull rank over the comm system and order him back for Steve to actually listen; my Orange was still pouting as he arrived back in Dino Command.

“Steve, spring break is in a couple of weeks. I’m sure there’ll be time to go play scientist during that time,” I said, barely aware of his own outrage and sputtering. “In the meantime, debrief to somebody not me.”

“Go take a nap, Abigail. Conner and I can handle the debrief; one of us will fill you in later and get your report,” Dad said; I accepted Hayley’s help over to a cot in a side room and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

By the time I awoke, I was still tired, but not as exhausted as I’d been earlier. I found the team had all gone home; Dad was sitting by my side. I sat up, rubbing my eyes as I did so.

“How are you feeling, Abigail?” Dad asked as he helped me stand up. We talked as we made our way to the staircase that went up to the main part of the house.

“Still pretty tired, Dad, but hungry and in need of a toilet. I feel more like I did last July than last June; I’ll probably sleep in tomorrow.”

“I figured you would; Udonna said you’d pushed yourself to the limit today even though you stayed in one room. Johnny and Steve told me of your offer to help Trent; I agree with his reasoning.”

“So do I; I just wanted to make sure that there was nothing else I needed to do at that moment.”

We walked upstairs in comparable silence; thankfully the first floor bathroom was nearby and I made my way unassisted to use it. I found that it was dark out; I’d slept a good 4 or 5 hours and it was now 8 pm. As hungry as I was, I also knew I didn’t want anything heavy. Dad, remembering how I was my first pushed-to-the-limits trip through the Grid, just heated me up a can of soup while I was using the bathroom. Part of what made that early trip so nauseating upon awaking had been too heavy of a meal before doing so.

As I quietly ate, I found Udonna and her team were going to be spending some time nearby, under the guise of campers. Several other teams were doing the same thing; we all knew that Ivan had been dealt a serious blow today and none of our allies felt comfortable leaving us alone until after Ivan was defeated. I knew, could almost sense, that the final fight with him was coming up. When I said as much to Dad, he told me Rita had said something similar to him while I was asleep. I didn’t worry about it tonight, as all I wanted was my bed.

Location: Reefside, same Saturday as reconnaissance trip. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy sighed as he watched Abigail asleep in her own bed. He hated seeing her like this; she no longer had this reaction when she made lengthy trips into the Grid as part of her training; nor when she practiced drawing on the Grid or used it to strengthen herself while in battle. He’d talked quietly with Udonna when his daughter had napped earlier about how exhausted she was.

“Tommy, she’s going to be fine. In ideal circumstances, she wouldn’t have had this reaction doing this today. She’ll be fine in the morning, but expect her to sleep in.”

“I should have called you in earlier; we would have known that she could do this before.”

“How were you to know, Tommy?” Udonna asked, shaking her head. “Given what you’ve told me, there’s a good chance she wouldn’t have accepted me as a teacher until now.”

Tommy knew she was right; Abigail had barely trusted him when she first arrived, had trusted Rocky even less. She’d been forced to reveal her true identity before she was ready to do so; if it hadn’t been for that damn soccer game, she wouldn’t have had to for quite some time. He doubted that if Rito and Scorpina hadn’t shown up at the mall that afternoon, she wouldn’t have revealed herself even then. She still had issues with trust; Tommy had recognized similar behavior from Abigail in regards to Udonna. His daughter only trusted the older woman for the same reasons that she initially trusted him and Rocky: because she needed to and wanted to believe that the leader of the Mystic Rangers could help her.

He honestly couldn’t wait until Ivan was out of their hair; Abigail needed some time to relax and not be pushed to heal mentally and emotionally faster than she was ready for. He knew he was going to take as much time as he could after Ivan’s defeat to help her more than he’d been able to with having to teach her how to juggle her Ranger responsibilities on top of helping her heal and learn to trust again.

Hearing Trent’s voice coming in from Angel Grove’s Command Center had been a relief, especially when he gave the all-clear and no injuries. Hearing Finster confirm that this was the elixir and its control agent later that afternoon had been a shock, but his first emotion had been relief, especially when the former alchemist confirmed that none of the Rangers who’d handled it had gotten either on their persons, even while Morphed.

He also knew the cover story that they’d come up with for Anton being out of town for a while; the story was semi-based on truth. Trent and Elsa, along with Karan if asked, would say that Anton had been called to assist a fellow experimental scientist figure out how to create a neutralizing agent for something said fellow scientist had accidentally created. From what Tommy had heard, Anton had admitted that he’d created something a number of years ago that had gone wrong because he’d not created a neutralizing agent for it. This had been the cover story for why Anton had been considered missing, presumed dead after Mesogog had shown up.

He had, thankfully, set up Trent and Elsa as co-guardians for Karan should such a situation pop up so that she wouldn’t be sent overseas to her parents any time Anton was out of town. As far as her parents were concerned, their daughter was living as safe of a life as she could living in a town with an active Power Ranger team. Tommy knew that they’d freak if they found out that their ‘perfect’ daughter was one of Reefside’s active Rangers. Tommy knew as well as she did that her parents hated for their daughter to do anything that they didn’t consider ‘ladylike’; they were so concerned with proper behavior from their daughter and treated her more like a doll than an actual person. If they actually knew how dangerous it was for her, they’d freak. As it were, he knew that they were actually glad to be out of Reefside; even if Karan wasn’t with them, neither of her parents wanted to be in town should Ivan’s attacks go the way Astronoma’s had before Karone had been freed of her brainwashing.

He’d heard from Jason that some people, after Angel Grove had been destroyed, not all of the residents returned after it had been rebuilt, not that he blamed them. He knew it had been difficult for Ernie, coming back to Angel Grove to help rebuild it; it had been what helped him and Trini reconnect and fall in love. David had come along 8 months after their wedding, from what he understood. Jason and Sylvia were David’s godparents, just like Kimberly and Billy were Abigail’s. Tommy had to reassure Abigail several times he had no intention of changing her godparents; she’d been through so many changes in almost a year’s time that he wanted to keep as much unchanged as he could for her. He knew that out of all of his teammates, Billy and Kimberly were two of Trini’s oldest friends and had been her source for so much of what she’d known about her mom.

That didn’t mean he’d not arranged for alternate guardians for her, Andy, and any other children he and Kat might have should something happen to both Kat and himself. Kat was his first choice as guardian, but he knew it was also likely that she would likely be called back into the field at some point. Failing any of the former Power Rangers being able to take them in, including Sensei Watanabe’s ninja academy, he’d placed Anton, Elsa, and Hayley on the list. If there were no other people he could trust on Earth to take care of his children, Andros had promised to take them in, as had Zhane, even if that meant that his family would be raised on KO-35. Jason had told him Andros had made a similar offer to him when the twins had been born; he would have to ask if Trini had been extended the same offer. If she had, she’d evidently never told Ernie; David and Abigail both would have been off-planet fairly quickly if Andros had been aware of not just Trini’s death, but how their childhoods had gone. Andros had been completely shocked when Tommy had told him of Trini's death and Abigail's strict childhood; Tommy hadn’t felt comfortable filling Andros in on why Abigail was in his care in the first place without talking to Abigail first, but Andros was kicking himself for not checking in on her earlier, just like Tommy had.

“Andros, it’s not your fault. From what I’ve heard from Ashley, you were busy with your own Ranger duties, not to mention raising your own family with her on KO-35,” Tommy said. “I have little to no excuses for not doing the same thing.”

“You had your degree and work, Tommy,” Andros had pointed out. Tommy had just snorted.

“I was on planet and a lot closer than you were. Billy’s filled me in on what the interplanetary relay is like if you don’t have a good way to get those messages to their intended on-planet recipients. It took until he got back on planet from Aquitar for the Command Center to be returned to normal. Yea, some of the teams that had worked out of it got it mostly rebuilt, but he was one of only a few people that knew the computer systems well enough to finish the work.”

Andros just looked at him before giving up on the argument. Andros hadn’t known Trini that well; like most of the Rangers who’d come in after she’d gone off to the Youth Summit, he’d met her as an adult, after she’d no longer wielded a Power Coin. At the same time, he knew he could have made David and Abigail’s lives a lot easier. He’d seen his sister kidnapped; when the siblings met as adults, Karone had been raised to think she was Astronoma and completely evil. He’d freed her once to only lose her and see her brainwashed into becoming Astronoma again. Tommy was seriously tempted, once Ivan was dealt with, to sit Ernie down with Andros and let the two talk.

Tommy had actually talked with Andros one quiet afternoon not long after finding out about Ivan’s plans to use Abigail and his unborn son. Andros and Karone had arrived on planet not long after, allowing Tommy the chance to talk about everything with people who actually understood. Rocky, for all his skills, had not been through that; Andros and Karone had.

Tommy looked up as Kat joined him in Abigail’s room, sitting at her desk. He gave her a soft smile, standing up from where he’d been sitting at the edge of Abigail’s bed and joining her.

“How is she?” She asked softly.

“Exhausted; she’s in a pretty deep sleep. She was like this back in June, when she pushed herself to the limit to get the information about Ivan, actually worse. Back in June, she was more woozy than exhausted; actually throwing up after a nightmare because she’d not taken the proper precautions.”

“Going into the Grid causes that?” It was hard to miss the shock in his wife’s voice; Tommy had to quickly move to Abigail’s side again as she stirred at the noise. As soon as she’d settled back down, he responded.

“For someone who can do what she can voluntarily going in without knowing what they’re doing or getting yanked in with no warning, it can. A number of my Grid-related dreams have given me a mildly upset stomach; Abigail threw up the first couple of times. The second time was when she’d gone in to get me the information, though it wasn’t until several hours after that she actually threw up. Some of that was may have been my fault, though.” At Katherine’s puzzled look, he explained, “Between Billy’s work on integrating the neural interface technology into Ranger Zords and my own link to the Grid, I’ve ended up being able to telepathically connect with and send messages to other Rangers within a certain range; that should have been my first real clue to her identity as she was still going by Katrina Jones at the time. I honestly thought she was sick, though. Called the Reefside clinic’s 24-hour line after bringing her downstairs.”

“I can see why you’re hesitant to leave her right now, Tommy. You know Udonna would come back in if you asked; you need to take a break, Tommy. It’s been a stressful day for all of us,” Kat said as she stood up to face him. Tommy just drew his wife into a hug, kissing her on the forehead; he knew she was right, but it was still hard leaving her like this. He eventually allowed her to lead him out of their daughter’s bedroom knowing that she was going to be alright. He still worried about her; even when she’d napped earlier, he thought he’d seen the beginnings of nightmares. She’d settled with him there; he feared she’d be awake with some later on and he wanted to be there for her when they came.

He and Kat eventually settled in the nursery; neither wanted to go downstairs right now. At the same time, neither of them were tired and while there was a couch in Abigail’s art room, Tommy really didn’t enter it unless he needed to. He knew Abigail didn’t mind him going in without telling her, but he also knew how much having her own private space outside of her bedroom meant. Kat felt the same way; the art room was very much Abigail’s domain just like the downstairs office was hers and Tommy’s. Both felt like they were intruding on something intimate if they had to go in for whatever reason; doubly so when Abigail was in there working on something, even a school assignment.

Easter plans had been slightly rearranged; with Kat due so close to the holiday, her parents were coming up for it, even if she’d not given birth yet. Sam and David were going to join them, along with his own parents. His parents, along with Sam and David, had elected to stay in a hotel in town; even if there was still a guest room, fitting 6 extra people in the house would have been a stretch. He really needed to see about building a guest house without compromising Triceramax; he was sure TJ would know somebody, as would Lightspeed.

One of the things he’d been glad to find was a decent cushioned chair to put in here; he’d waited until Abigail had finished painting the nursery before actually purchasing one. He and Kat had both told Abigail she didn’t need to do something like this for them, but she’d been rather insistent; he hadn’t been surprised when she’d given them a number of sketches to decide on. Trent had been completely shocked when he’d found out that she’d given up so much creative control to them; the teen knew how much having that meant to Abigail. It had taken Trent explaining that to Tommy and Kat before they’d understood why. Tommy knew Abigail had trust issues; even 6 months in at that point, she still was learning to trust her new parents. Serving alongside him as a Ranger helped to some small degree, as she’d admitted at one point, but Tommy feared that she would crash and burn due to not being able to completely deal with what she needed to. He intended to be there before, during, and after it happened; she needed nothing less from him.

By the time Tommy realized Kat had fallen asleep in his arms, he was getting sleepy himself. The day’s exhaustion was starting to catch up with him, even though he’d never left Triceramax after getting home from Abigail’s soccer game. Logically, Tommy knew that he and Kat should probably go to their own bed, but Kat hadn’t always slept well lying down while pregnant, doubly so when Andy started kicking. With her so close to her due date, she’d occasionally complained that Andy was kicking her in the ribs instead of using her bladder as a trampoline. Like he’d done with Abigail during her nightmares, Tommy didn’t mind sleeping sitting up if it meant Kat had an easier time sleeping.

He awoke as Kat stirred in his arms; she’d finally realized she’d fallen asleep in his lap. He kissed her as she woke, smiling.

“Kat, you don’t need to apologize. I know you’ve not been sleeping well; if sleeping like this helps, I don’t mind.” He got a kiss in response; he’d deny he had a goofy grin on his face after. Their shared moment was broken by a cry from Abigail’s room; he dashed in to find her in a fairly bad nightmare. Kat came in as quick as she could with a wet washcloth, something Tommy was grateful for. “Abigail, shhh, it’s me. You’re safe; it’s alright,” Tommy murmured, doing his best to comfort her as she returned to consciousness. He traded places with Kat once Abigail was aware of her surroundings and who was there by her side, returning with a ginger ale in case it was needed. At Abigail’s request, he also ended up fetching a sketchbook and some of her pencils once she recovered enough to sketch; she didn’t want to talk about it.

She ended up spending the night with both of them by her side that night; she’d not wanted to go back to sleep without someone by her side. This was normal behavior for her after particularly bad nightmares, a scenario both Tommy and Kat had seen play out time and time again; Rocky had agreed to come up Sunday instead of his normal Saturday weekend appointment with her due to the reconnaissance mission. Tommy was glad that was going to happen now; Abigail really needed to talk about the nightmare with someone. He’d not seen much of the sketch, but he could guess what it was about. Trent had reported hearing Ivan’s roar of anger as the whole group teleported out; Abigail must have gotten caught in some of the backlash.

It had been another late morning for Tommy and Abigail both; Kat had been the first one out of all of them to actually get up and go downstairs. Abigail had retreated to quiet and withdrawn, something she’d not been in the privacy of their own home in a long time. It was hard for Tommy to see her like this; it had been months since she’d been like this in front of either of them. What had hurt the most was the fact that she didn’t want to be in the same room as either of them, retreating to her art studio after finishing her breakfast. He’d taken lunch up to her; she’d not even opened the door until he went back downstairs.

When Rocky arrived, Tommy let him know everything that had happened that he knew of between the mission and the nightmare the previous night, including her behavior this morning. Rocky closed his eyes and sighed.

“I was afraid of this, Tommy, but have been expecting it for a while. She’s been pushing herself too hard, too fast. She’s reached a serious breaking point, Tommy.”

“I was afraid of this too; this couldn’t have come at a worse time, Rocky. Udonna’s cleared her; Ivan didn’t even get a chance to tag her in her Astral Form. She could have done without that part of knowledge about Ivan’s plans.”

With that, Rocky headed up to her art studio. Tommy was grateful to notice she’d allowed him to come in; it took a bit of time, but by the time Rocky was done, Abigail had been drawn out of her shell enough to tolerate Tommy’s own presence in that same room. It took some reassuring, but she’d finally opened up to him about what had scared her this morning. Even with the knowledge that Ivan hadn’t gotten to her and the control agent was nowhere near her, she’d still been scared that he’d found another way to control her.

“Abigail, there is no way I’d let you remain that way if he had. We have enough allies to find a way to counteract whatever he does; I know how much it scares you. It scares Kat and me both; we’ve both been there and know what it’s like. There is no way we’d let you remain under mind control a second more than necessary if such a thing happens.” He’d not been surprised when she’d hugged him at that; she’d slowly started to return to her normal self. He’d also not been surprised she said that she might need to sit out the next fight or at least let someone else on her team lead. He was glad she admitted that; it had taken him a lot longer to recognize that there had been times when he shouldn’t have been leading his teams. It was part of why he was so willing to share leading Dino Thunder with Conner; the other reason was that Conner had seriously needed the opportunity to lead.

Tommy ended up texting Karan as a warning to not be surprised if Abigail had an odd conversation with her the next day. He refused to say anything more even when she’d called the house later on; he’d also, at Abigail’s request, not allowed the two girls to speak. Abigail was in no condition to really talk to anyone outside of the family at the moment aside from Rocky.

Tommy and Kat had taken time, individually and together, with Abigail the rest of Sunday comforting her and allowing her to just be open with her fears and vulnerabilities. Despite how little Tommy liked seeing Abigail like this, Rocky told him it was normal. He’d been expecting this time to happen for a while, as had Tommy and Kat both. Tommy just hoped that Abigail would come out stronger for it; Rocky thought she would.

“Tommy, she’s a strong girl with an excellent support system. Her reaction today happened because she cares so much. Withdrawing like she did today is not unusual for abused children; Ivan targeting your family just makes things worse. She cares so much for the two of you and knows how much it would hurt you and Kat if Ivan were to succeed. She thought that if she could push the two of you away successfully, it would make Ivan’s success not hurt as much. The two of you fighting to make that not happen, with help from the other teams, is helping her more than she realizes. She didn’t even realize that Udonna had made sure Ivan hadn’t gotten his hooks in her until you told her.”

Tommy swore at that. “I should have told her that last night before she went to bed, Rocky. She was still tired enough after she ate that I don’t know if she’d have remembered that fact.”

“She knows now, Tommy. Don’t be surprised if she finds some way to thank you and Udonna both for making sure of that. It’s scared her to think that Ivan could take control of her mind like that and I know it’s scared you and Kat as well, for good reason. Knowing that she’s got a bigger support system among the Rangers and the fact that there’s ones with ways to make sure that doesn’t happen helps her a great deal, even if she doesn’t recognize that at the moment.” Rocky had headed home not long after that, after making sure Abigail didn’t need him to stay. She’d waved him off, wanting to spend time with her parents after her behavior this morning. Tommy and Kat had forgiven her for it; Rocky had prepared them both for days like this.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside, the start of Reefside High spring break. POV: Abigail/1^st person

The week after the reconnaissance mission had been one of the hardest weeks of my life, including my near breakdown the day after. I was grateful for not just the fact that Rocky had come up, but also that my parents hadn’t given up on me as much as I wanted them to that day. I’d had to ask Karan to temporarily take over command of the team. When she and Francine both asked why Karan over anyone else, I said Karan needed the leadership experience. Francine would have honestly been my first choice, but right now, the team needed a Red leader given I couldn’t. From everything I’d learned from Dad, Reds tended to be team leads under most circumstances. Jason had stepped back from team lead of his original team once Dad had become the White Ranger; he’d become the team’s 2IC instead.

That hadn’t stopped Dad from spending some of the time before Jason left to go the Youth Summit learning everything he needed to know. This had been despite the fact that Dad had served along side the team as the Green Ranger originally; Dad wasn’t stupid. Jason had led the team for most of the time until Zordon had transferred the leadership; nobody could explain just how Zordon knew that Jason, Mom, and Zack would be leaving the team. Nobody had said, but I knew it had taken Rocky a long time to become Dad’s 2IC; it had happened closer to when Kimberly had actually left and the team had gotten their Zeo Powers. Uncle Billy had to give up his place on the team due to there being only 5 Zeo Crystals.

Francine would have her day as team lead one day in the future, but right now, I just needed her comfort. She was the one person outside of Dino Thunder that I’d had the longest friendship with in Reefside; Patton was the only other friend that I’d known for almost as long. Out of the entire team, she was the one who knew everything that had gone on and the issues I’d faced since arriving in Reefside. She and I had quietly talked on the way to the dojo as I explained my reasoning. I knew that after yesterday’s breakdown, I wouldn’t be the leader they needed right now. That might change by next week, but we all agreed to take a ‘wait and see’ approach.

I’d taken some comfort from my normal routine, though I knew I wasn’t at my best either. Udonna had confirmed that I was clear when I’d asked, which had been quite a relief. She said that she would teach me how to recognize that when there was some time to actually relax and take the time to do so; I suspected that I would have a trip to Briarwood this summer. I knew Dad was hoping to take us to Disneyland this summer; a trip to Disney World in Orlando would have to wait for quite some time.

My confidence in Karan’s leadership had proven to be well founded: Ivan had attacked when Dad and I had been at the dojo. By the time we got out, she and Conner had managed to lead and mount a counter-attack with help from Udonna’s team. Conner had nothing but praise for her, as did Francine. She’d actually given me a hug, apologizing for doubting me. I just told her to not worry about it; I planned on having her talk to Jason at some point. He’d lead Dad’s original team until Zordon had changed the leadership; he’d be the best, I thought, for Francine and Karan both to talk to.

When I talked to Dad about it later that night, he’d asked why I wanted Francine to talk to Jason. He already knew why Karan would want to talk to him. We were in his office for that conversation and I was curled up on one of the chairs.

“Simple, Dad. She’s already talked with Aunt Kimberly; I know she’d benefit from talking with him too. I know I don’t really have a second in command; Karan, by tradition, should be mine, but Francine’s been my friend for longer, so has Patton. I don’t want to choose one of them over the other; someone’s feelings are bound to get hurt. Karan only got the job today for two reasons: tradition and I also needed to lean on Francine today. Out of my teammates, she’s the only one who’s been there from the start. She’s seen me at my weakest and most vulnerable; besides our family and Rocky, she’s also the one who I’ve told my secrets to aside from what I’ve had to keep secret from her for whatever reason.”

“Good reasoning, Abigail and I’m proud of you for willingly taking a step back from leadership of the team for the time being.” I gave Dad a smile at that.

“Thanks, Dad. I know we’ve not been a team for that long, but I just couldn’t lead right now. You’ve told me from the beginning that to step back from something if I needed to and right now, I need to.” That got me a hug from Dad, one that I leaned into and willingly took. I still felt bad for shutting he and Katherine out yesterday; I was grateful for the fact that they both forgave me for it. I was just glad to have a wonderful family to be there for me when I was at my weakest point. I spent several days that week also talking with Dad, Katherine, or Rocky over the phone, working through everything.

One day, though, I found out that Katherine was going to be induced one day the next week; apparently, the doctors had discovered she’d become preeclamptic, which was worrisome. She was actually due closer to my soccer game against Angel Grove, but nobody wanted to take that chance. Her parents would be staying longer over spring break, as were Sam and Uncle David and Dad’s parents. Uncle David and Sam had actually volunteered to stay at the house with me when she was to be induced, which Dad took them up on.

As Friday grew closer, I found myself returning to normal, something I attributed to having people to talk to as well as supportive parents and friends. I found my relationship with Dad and Katherine growing stronger because of it; my trust in them had only grown because of the incident. Knowing that I had people there who would catch me when I couldn’t ask for help was a godsend. Dad and Katherine both had stayed with me as much as I needed them that week, except for when I was in classes, and without me having to ask.

It was nice seeing everyone the Sunday following my breakdown; I’d hung out with what friends I could on Saturday. Several of my friends attended the local Catholic Church; Dad, Katherine, and I attended a different church when we could. We’d not gone out the previous Sunday because I had withdrawn so much. With their support, I’d found it easier to attend Mass when I could. I didn’t attend Communion, as I wasn’t even sure I’d been baptized. I didn’t want to ask Ba though; I certainly couldn’t ask Udonna about balancing religion and Ranger beliefs, as she was what mainstream society considered Pagan.

Dad hadn’t minded; he knew I was dealing with a lot of things and I was old enough to make the decision on faith in his eyes. I was holding off on that discussion until summer; I wanted to get through everything else first and also wanted to have a discussion with Andros and Zhane first. They’d been raised in a culture more aware of the Grid and a Ranger’s role in it post death. I knew Dad was aware; I’d overhead him talking with Andros on the very subject at one point.

I was also learning about my own family’s culture from language classes at the high school; Mrs. Trang had asked me at one point about what Mom had taught me early in the school year, unaware that my mom had passed. She’d apologized later on for asking me in front of my classmates and had actually taken the time to tutor me in what I should have learned growing up. It had meant a lot to me; once I was free to actually look for my maternal grandparents, I’d started writing them a bit once I’d found them and they had filled me in on what family history Dad had been unable to give me. Dad, with Ms. Anderson’s help, had written them first to explain what was going on. Once they’d found out about the suitably arranged story that even Ernie had agreed to, we’d started writing to each other. We had made plans to meet up over the summer; they would be giving me several things that I should have had growing up, but Ba had actually forbidden in the house. They had also promised to teach me more about Mom; I was actually going to find out what Mom had been like when she was younger, along with seeing some of her baby photos. I couldn’t wait.

They’d been pleased when they found out I was actually taking a class in Vietnamese in school and had gotten in touch with Uncle Howard, who’d also started writing. He’d actually volunteered to help Anton and Uncle Billy’s group in the mix; out of the family, he was the only one who’d realized that Mom was a Power Ranger. Like Ba, he’d kept his mouth shut and for the same reasons; he’d been entirely unsurprised that I’d followed in her footsteps.

Uncle Howard joining the group meant that Anton and Billy could go back and forth between the Angel Grove Command Center and their own homes a lot more. Uncle Billy had actually stepped back; tech was his bailiwick, not alchemy and experimental science. The only reason Anton was still going back and forth was because none of us wanted that elixir in Reefside even after Ivan was defeated; there was still too much of a risk one of his employees or interns would grab and use it accidentally.

To hear Trent speak, his dad was acting more like a kid in a candy store once Uncle Howard had shown up. Uncle Howard was coming up for the holiday and I couldn’t wait to see him; when I found out, I almost knocked Dad over hugging him. I’d not seen him in years; the only reason my maternal grandparents weren’t coming up was due to travel. We’d made contact in too short of time for them to get affordable flights to the area.

There had been times when Trent had to teleport in and get his dad because he was going to be late for dinner; some of those had been when Principal Randall was over. From the sounds of it, Dr. Mercer had spent more than one night sleeping on the couch when Trent hadn’t had the time to come and get him. Karan was still too in awe of her guardian to have the guts to do what Trent was doing.

Hayley and Uncle Billy had finally got around to making Principal Randall a communicator at the third such instance of Trent teleporting his dad home; at her request, that’s all it did. We all understood why; Trent hadn’t been the only victim of Mesogog’s evil powers. Dad and Trent both had tried talking to her about it, but she didn’t want to.

By the time Saturday came around, I was glad for the chance to be out of the house and hanging out with my friends. By unspoken agreement, we ended up meeting at Hayley’s CyberSpace after the soccer game; we occasionally met or went elsewhere when we met up as a group on weekends, but we also knew Hayley would be glad for the business. A number of our classmates were going to be out of town over Easter break; we also knew we’d have relative privacy to talk about Ranger related stuff.

Part of why I was glad to be out of the house was Dad’s parents were coming up; I’d not seen his mom since Thanksgiving and really didn’t want to either. I knew I’d have to interact with her over break, but not when I was still not at my best. I also needed a chance to get out of the house and relax; I knew I couldn’t hide at home and a good way for me to test my comfort level with hanging out somewhere that wasn’t home, school, or the dojo was hanging out at CyberSpace among my friends and fellow Rangers.

Uncle Howard was actually going to join us at CyberSpace at some point; it was going to be interesting to see Steve interact with him. That reminded me that I’d have to prep Steve; I knew he was a fan of my uncle’s work. He’d never heard mom’s maiden name and so hadn’t connected my talk about Uncle Howard with Howard Kwan, famous experimental scientist. Trent hadn’t either, but he wasn’t as interested in science as his dad was. He’d heard the name growing up, when Dr. Mercer had first started trying to create the serum that had resulted in Mesogog, but that had been when he was younger and had all but forgotten the name by the time I came into the picture.

I didn’t realize it, but Hayley was hanging back as my friends enveloped me in a group hug; this last week had scared all of us for various reasons and my breakdown hadn’t helped matters. After the group hug was over, she gave me one, too. I still wasn’t ready to take command of the team back; Karan had been over a couple of times as she consulted with Dad about various team-related things. I generally stepped back and stayed out of it when I was in the room with them and let Karan have this time as team lead. What I’d told Dad was the truth; Karan needed this time as team lead. I knew it would only help her in the long run; she needed the confidence boost that came from it. When it came time for her to inform her parents of her sexuality, she wouldn’t be doing it alone; she’d have the whole team with her.

I just relaxed in the comfort of CyberSpace; Hayley had worked hard to make her cybercafé a safe space for Reefside’s teens. Out of all the places I hung out at, CyberSpace had become a favorite place to be and a safe one. Here, I could put away the stress of what I was going through, along with my Ranger responsibilities and just learn to be a normal teen. Ethan and Kira in particular took teaching me about what normal teenagers did seriously, something I was glad for. As nice as Cassidy was, she didn’t know how to teach me to balance Ranger life with civilian life; Conner, Ethan, Kira, and Trent did. The four teens that made up the bulk of Reefside’s first team knew the difficulties of balancing the two and they were glad to pass that experience on to the rest of us.

Of course, prepping Steve to meet Uncle Howard had been rather fun, though the grin on my face when I informed him had both Conner and Kira comparing me to Ethan.

“Steve, you know my Uncle Howard’s going to be stopping by later, right?”

“Yea…why?”

“I never told you what he does for a living.” At the group’s puzzled look, I explained that he was an experimental scientist.

“Wait a minute…your Uncle Howard is Howard Kwan? THE Howard Kwan? It’s a good thing we became friends before I found this out, Abigail. I know how much you dislike people wanting to be your friend because of who you’re related to.” It was obvious just how excited Steve was to meet his favorite scientist, but he almost fainted when he found out that he’d be working with him over spring break. By the time Uncle Howard came in, we’d managed to get Steve calmed down somewhat; the only reason I’d prepped him was so he didn’t get tongue-tied meeting him.

“Don’t worry, Steve. If we’d not been friends, I doubt you’d have found out, honestly. I just reestablished contact with him; I’m glad he was able to visit.”

As if summoned, Uncle Howard entered; he’d gotten a late start from Angel Grove as he had to back home to get his car first. He looked a bit older than I’d remembered him, but hadn’t changed much outside of that. He chuckled as we hugged; he and I had a lot to catch up on. He was happy to sit with my friends and I, though he was more amused by Steve’s antics than anything else. Uncle Howard also seemed to know that there was more to the story of how I ended up being adopted by Dad and Katherine, but knew not to press. He’d gotten a chance to talk to Dad a number of times since my grandparents had gotten in touch with him and sensed that there was a lot that wasn’t being said. Unlike my grandparents, Uncle Howard knew Mom’s ‘secret government work’ was her work as a Power Ranger.

He also knew now was not the time for that conversation; he wanted to meet me and the Rangers I fought alongside. He’d met Dad once, years ago; Mom had introduced him at one point before heading off to the Youth Summit. By the time CyberSpace closed, we’d had a lot of fun; Dad and Katherine would have joined us, but he wanted to have a serious heart-to-heart with his mom, who was still not dealing well with the whole ‘my son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter are active or former Power Rangers’ information. Dad had gotten her to talk to Lightspeed; their mentor had chosen his own daughter to serve as Lightspeed’s Pink.

If it hadn’t been for his work helping Finster and Dr. Mercer, he and I would have waited until summer to meet up. As we drove home, he explained that he was rather annoyed with Sylvia; she should have known something was wrong. She and Mom had always been close and he wondered what happened to cause her to take Ba’s side over mine, especially after Ba had hired her at the Youth Center.

He wasn’t staying at the house, even though Dad had offered. Instead of staying at a hotel, though, he was staying with Hayley. She’d offered before Dr. Mercer had; as much as Uncle Howard got along with Anton, Trent, and Karan, he preferred to not talk shop over meals and knew how important it was to keep a healthy balance. Staying with Dr. Mercer meant that they’d be talking about it more than Uncle Howard wanted to. That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be talking about the same thing with Hayley; she knew what to avoid when needed.

By the time Thursday rolled around, I had found myself escaping to Dino Command; Katherine was being induced this afternoon. As much as I wanted to go for a walk, I knew that Dad wanted me close to home until it was time to leave. I’d finally got back to what passed for normal for me, but there hadn’t been time to sit down with Karan and the rest of the team, including Dad as our mentor, to discuss me resuming my place as team lead.

My contemplations were disturbed by the alarm system going off; Ivan was attacking. I silently swore as I activated the communication system. I set the system to ‘contact all Rangers’ instead of the ones who called Reefside home.

“Guys, we have a problem. Ivan’s attacking and it looks like he’s got some robotic backup. There’s also a lot more Tengu then he usually has. Not sure if he has the full population or what.” A round of swearing answered me and Dad was down the stairs before I could do anything else. I stopped him before he could morph. “Dad, there is nothing you can do right now. Right now, your place is with Katherine.” I’d not realized I’d left the com open until Captain Mitchell came through.

“We’re on our way; Dr. Oliver, your daughter’s right. Lightspeed is nearby and can escort you and your wife to the hospital. Abigail, you know what to do.” Dad and I looked at each other; we knew Captain Mitchell was right.

“May the Power protect you, Abigail.” I knew that this was Dad’s way of both saying he understood and to wish me luck.

“You too, Dad. Love you.” With that, we headed upstairs. Uncle David passed us heading where we’d just left; he’d volunteered to serve as team com.

As soon as the group was gone, I morphed and teleported out of there. I knew that this fight was going to be the end-all for Ivan; I was counting on my team to hold me back if need be and would be following Karan’s lead in the fight.

“Abigail, are we glad to see you. Thanks for the heads up,” Karan said as she blasted away one of the Tengu. Looking around as I engaged in battle with another Tengu, I saw a number of our fellow Rangers were there. Lightspeed was guarding the hospital; Dana had volunteered for inside duty. From what I understood, Lightspeed’s Pink was a nurse in her civilian life; Reefside’s hospital had no issue with her helping out that day. It took a load off of my mind knowing that one of our own was on the inside with Dad, Katherine, and my soon-to-be-born baby brother.

Looking across the park, I could see that the other Rangers who’d come to join us were already engaged in battle with the Tengu and Ivan’s Oozemen, or Scorpina. Rito was nowhere to be found; knowing the skeleton, I suspect he found a way to surrender already.

Noticing Ivan was trying to use the fact that most of the Rangers were busy to head in the general direction of the hospital, I gave chase, ignoring Conner’s yell. I knew my team was following behind; I’d pointed out Ivan’s actions before taking off.

“Conner, not the time,” I sent telepathically. “He’s heading towards the hospital; Lightspeed’s there, but they’re down a member. Their Pink is demorphed and with Dad and Katherine.”

“Got it,” he sent back mentally. “The Tengu are already dead or retreating; his Oozemen, he’s seemingly reabsorbed or have been turned to goop as they’ve been defeated. We’ll deal with his robots; you guys deal with him.”

We finally cornered Ivan in a dead-end alleyway in the warehouse district. This was going to be a tough fight; we didn’t have a lot of space. I also knew, from Karan’s commentary, it was going to be a short fight; Ivan had seemingly used up a lot of his strength and energy fighting the other Ranger teams.

“Come to kill me, Rangers?” He wheezed as he struggled to keep himself on his own two feet; he was weaker than I thought. We hesitated; this was the toughest thing about being a Ranger. Our opponents were thinking-and many times breathing-beings, just like us. Realistically, I knew Ivan had to die; even though he’d targeted my family, he could have easily targeted any innocent child. We couldn’t let him live and imprison him; he’d eventually escape and wreak havoc again and again. As I’d told my team all those weeks ago, I wasn’t sure if I could make that judgement call or do the deed. I didn’t know how much of that was because he’d target my family specifically and how much of that was just part and parcel of being a Ranger. My team was in a similar spot; Dad was our mentor. I raised my communicator up after conferring with my team; Johnny, Steve, and Francine stood guard to make sure Ivan wouldn’t escape.

“We have Ivan. I repeat, we have him. We’re in the warehouse district.” I gave the best directions I could, hoping someone among our allies would come. Ivan, by this point, had collapsed, his legs having given out from under him. This was another reason why we were hesitating; he was badly wounded and none of us wanted to stoop to his level.

“Rodger that, Purple. We’re on our way,” came Conner’s voice. “We’ve got Angel Grove’s original team, including their ninja, on the way.” I realized Aisha must be stepping in for Mom; Ninjor had confirmed Aisha’s Ninjetti powers were separate from the Power Coin Mom had passed on to her. Jason, in part because of his status as original leader of Earth’s first native team and in part because Dad couldn’t be there, was the one who was acting in part as de-facto leader.

“We’ll meet them, Abigail,” Karan said, indicating Patton. I nodded, starting to feel the aftereffects of the fighting. I knew I couldn’t relax; wouldn’t until Ivan was no longer a threat. The two took off, returning shortly after with the aforementioned Rangers.  Jason took off his helmet; even if there were cameras around, Hayley or Uncle Billy would make sure the footage…vanished.

“Abigail…” Jason didn’t get to go any further before I hugged him. “It’s alright,” he said, returning the hug. The other Rangers surrounded Ivan, but made a path for Jason and I. He took one look at Ivan and handed me his blaster.

“Jason…I have a blaster of my own.” My puzzlement was obvious.

“I talked to Andros, Abigail. I know why this insane psychopath is alive right now, but he has a death sentence on his head from every system he’s ever worked in. This wouldn’t be revenge, Abigail, even though you would be carrying out the sentence. For whatever reason, you’ve been the one chosen to do it, from the message Andros has passed on.” My breath hitched as I considered what Jason said. He hadn’t made it a direct order; Jason, having been the original leader of Zordon’s first modern team, was the one who could make that an order in Dad’s absence.

“It’s okay, Abigail.” Karan placed a hand on my shoulder as Conner nodded his assent. “You won’t have to deal with the fallout on your own. Out of all of us Rangers, you’re the best choice. He tried to use you to help carry out his plans.”

“You can count on us to make sure you are able to come to grips with this after. The fact that you hesitate in taking his life says a lot; what he’s done and what he planned to do means you’d be doing the universe a favor in carrying out the sentence. Unlike Karone, there’s no shot at redemption for him; from what I’ve heard from Dr. Mercer and Tommy both is Ivan’s closer to Mesogog after the latter separated himself from Dr. Mercer.” I nodded at Aunt Kimberly’s words, unable to trust my voice. I handed Jason back his blaster, pulling out my Ranger weapon and looked at my own team.

“I’d rather this be a team effort, if nobody minds. I may have been one of his primary targets, but he attacked all of Reefside and involved all of us.” I took a breath as I looked at my team. “You guys wouldn’t have been called up as soon as you were if it hadn’t been for him.” I took a deep breath at that, looking at the group, noticing my own team had also pulled out their weapons. We’d practiced doing this during one of our early training sessions; Conner had said that he, Kira, and Ethan hadn’t even had a chance to do that. Dad had to let them know that they could do that.

Before we could, our hesitation almost proved our undoing. By giving Ivan a chance to rest, he’d regained some of his energy and strength, able to stand up, though not without blasters on him. He wasn’t stupid though; he may be an alien being with powers, but he didn’t have the energy to take on 15 Rangers at once. We all knew any attempt to create more Oozemen would weaken him further, if not outright kill him. My team ended up having to hold me back at his next remark.

“So, the Ranger thinks she can protect her baby brother and family from my plans. I may not have succeeded in the plans you knew of, Ranger, but I will succeed eventually, even if I physically die today.” At that, I could tell that he’d gotten to all of us; I’d called it before-all of the Rangers present had served on one team or another with Dad and cared for him. Some of them, generally those on Mom’s team, were able to control their reactions better.

“You won’t be as successful as you think, Ivan,” Jason said. “Finster is sure he’s found a way to neutralize your elixir. You’re toast.” Ivan lost it at that point; all of us were forced to fire on him as he charged Jason. By the time the smoke cleared, Ivan was dead. I was sure of it as I made my way over to his body; Mystic Mother had confirmed that Ivan’s people had no way to hide themselves in the Grid to make it seem as if they were dead. Why he’d not exploded like most of the killed opponents, I didn’t know, but knew Andros would have an answer for us at some point. I was also too sore and exhausted to care at that point either.

“He’s gone…call Udonna or her team to confirm it if you must, but he’s gone.” Before anyone could answer me, we heard footsteps heading our way. Jason, by this point, had grabbed his helmet and put it back on, but the secrecy wasn’t needed. It was Andros and his team; they would be dealing with Ivan’s remains as he’d not vanished as Ranger opponents normally did when destroyed. He confirmed they had a way of destroying his body; it was the only reason I was able to walk away from the whole thing.

By the time we left the warehouses to regroup with the rest of our allies, Cassidy and Devin there in their official capacity. I was in no mood to deal with her, nor was most of our group. Conner seemed to recognize this, as he stepped forward to deal with her.

“Cassidy, now is not a good time for an interview. All I can say is Ivan and his goons have been defeated. His two minions have surrendered to us and will be dealt with by one of the Ranger teams present today; no normal prison can hold them.”

“As long as I can get a further interview later, this will keep the vultures at bay.” With that, she and Devin left. Out of our civilian allies in Reefside, she knew better than to be around for us to demorph. Dad, from what I understood, had actually sat down with her before she graduated and talked with her about the Rangers in exchange for her actions the day Mesogog had been defeated. While she may have suspected who I was and the identities of my team, she also wasn’t going to ask. She knew better and was willing to allow any member of Dino Thunder to act as spokesperson for the Reefside teams.

We slowly made our way out of the Warehouse District to a safe spot to demorph; but not before Jason and his team contacted their Command Center. I suspiciously looked over at their Blue Ranger; Uncle Billy was obviously not in the suit. I'd found out that Dad had, the weekend of the Homecoming Parade and dance, guided David through a meditation designed to figure out if he could use one of the original 6 Power Coins, but I never got around to finding out the answer.

“If Uncle Billy’s at the Angel Grove Command Center, who’s using his coin and why? Justin’s here in his Turbo morph, so it can’t be him. Uncle Billy also never gave up his powers until after the Zeo Quest…guys. I’m not going to be pissed, just curious.” The last bit I added because the entire team froze.

“Just don’t tell Ernie,” Jason said, further explaining that Uncle Billy had somehow broken an ankle. “He’s had it rough enough with you doing this.” I snorted in response; rough enough was an understatement.

“I won’t, Jason. Not stupid; bet he thinks David’s down in L.A., as it is exam week this week and next. I know my brother, Jason; I know today’s final exams were just turning in papers. Aside from that, I know the way he fights; Uncle Billy has a completely different fighting style.” I didn’t have to see their faces to know that they were all thinking ‘Busted!’ They demorphed 2 seconds later, as did we and I gave my brother a hug.

Before we could do anything more, Conner’s communicator beeped.

“Go ahead; we’re safe, demorphed. I’m about to take Abigail over to the hospital if that’s what you’re calling about. Ivan’s…been dealt with; he’s no longer a threat except for whatever Finster has. This is the all-clear from our end.”

“Your teams are the last two to check in,” came Uncle David through the communicator. “I’ll meet you guys there…including Jason’s team. I know my brother; he’s going to want the full story from everyone.” Jason and Kimberly groaned at that; they had been hoping to get back home to their twins, who were on Spring Break like I was. He’d ordered them to the Youth Center to wait things out with Ernie; a fact I’d come to find out that they weren’t happy about. David only came along because he could disappear without causing too many issues and Jason had known that my older brother, like me, could use a Power Coin. They were planning on seeing if Austin and Amy could do the same this summer, now that they knew I could tell.

David was giving me odd looks as we got to the hospital. I’d explained that the guy on the other end was Dad’s older brother David Trueheart. Jason and Aisha had alternated explaining everything that they knew about Dad’s own adoption and the fact that his older brother had been adopted by Sam Trueheart. I knew my older brother had heard me talk about Uncle David, but I’d also not gone into too many details either. I knew Dad had planned to tell our brothers at one point, but we’d gotten…busy.

When we got to the hospital, I’d also found out that the hospital had been designated a ‘safe zone’ because of not just Ivan’s attack today, but also the fact that Lightspeed was guarding it along with a couple of other Ranger teams. Of course, the ‘official’ reason was because it was full of Reefside’s most vulnerable; nursing homes and similar places were being guarded by Rangers who’d not been at the actual battle for the same reason so nobody would suspect that it was because two of our own were in the hospital, one of which was giving birth. By now, Reefside knew that Ivan held no regard for innocent life of any type.

Captain Mitchel was waiting for us when we got to the hospital; he promised to contact the parents of all but Karan on my team. He would be going over a good cover story for why they came in with Conner, who was going to be in the room with them as they went over the details. Captain Mitchel, like other mentors and team leaders, knew who they were. He also understood what rules we lived under; while his own team didn’t operate under the ‘no revealing one’s identity’ rule, he also knew that most of Earth’s Rangers did.

In the meantime, I made my way up to the maternity ward with David; neither of us said anything though he had an arm around me. When we got out of the elevator, another member of Lightspeed was waiting for us. Him, I didn’t recognize, but he was obviously the team’s lead by his Red Suit. He knew who we were by the files he’d looked over ahead of today’s battle and knew why we were here.

“She’s still in labor; the rest of the family is in the waiting room,” he said as he led us that way, informing us that the ward had been cleared of many civilians that weren’t hospital employees or maternity patients. Dad and Katherine were the only Rangers in the ward at present; the families whose children were in the NICU had been moved to that ward. “I know you’ve said Ivan’s dead, but why didn’t his body disintegrate like they usually do?”

"No clue. Andros promised to look in to it; out of all our alien allies, he was able to get information about Ivan’s people faster than the others. He promised to take care of Ivan’s body for us; we already have people dealing with his other plans. Right now, though, all I need is a place to sit and relax. I promise to give a full debrief later; Karan is going to need to be there. She’s temporarily my team’s lead.” He stopped at that; I couldn’t see his face, but I knew the information would go into some form of report shared among the teams.

“I remember someone saying you’re normally team lead for the newest set of Rangers. What happened?”

“Long story that relates to the reconnaissance mission and a shit ton of other stuff that is going to take too long to explain here and now. Suffice to say, I had to step back as team lead for the time being; she’s doing an admirable job of it.”

“You need to come up with a name for your team; we can’t keep calling you and your team the ‘new guys’ forever.” I snorted, more about the change of topic than anything else, but I also remembered that afternoon at CyberSpace as we’d tried coming up with a team name.

“Story of my life. My team and most of Dino Thunder has no clue; we couldn’t come up with a name that none of us either agreed on or ones we felt comfortable bringing to Dad to choose. It’s agreed that we’re handing off the job of naming to a Ranger that’s not Dad or their team. Dad named Dino Thunder, so we think it has to be someone else.”

I was just grateful David stayed quiet during the whole thing. I’d felt him physically react to some of my answers, but I also knew he’d have a lot of questions for me later. He quietly asked me what was going on as we headed into the waiting room, but I just shook my head. There were enough people in the waiting room with us that weren’t in the know as we were that I knew better than to answer.

When we came in, I didn’t even protest when Mrs. Oliver grabbed me in a hug; I knew how hard today’s attack must have been for her. I just let her fuss as I sat down; I knew it would make things easier on her with someone to fuss over right now. This the hardest part for all of us right now that Ivan was defeated was waiting on news that Katherine had given birth; I was too exhausted to be worried right now.

I’d not realized I’d fallen asleep until David shook me awake. It was still a waiting game, but someone had gone down to the cafeteria and brought up food for us. He’d found out that all I’d had today had been breakfast and knew I needed something to eat. Skipping meals was bad enough on a good day; I’d used up a lot of energy fighting today and that was without Katherine in labor.

“Thanks, David,” I said quietly in between bites of my burger and fries. It wasn’t the amount of food I needed, but it would tide me over until I was able to get something else. It was also not the healthiest of foods, but I also needed the calories.

“Any time, Abby,” he replied just as quietly. Looking up as I finished, I noticed that the room had fallen into quiet conversation as we ate and waited. Jason noticed I was awake and done eating and came over to join us.

“How are you doing?” He asked.

“Sore, tired, and worried, even with Ivan gone. Ivan being gone…all of this…I don’t know, Jason. I keep feeling like there should be something I should be doing.” He gave me a smile at that.

“I know. When your mom, Zack, and I went to Europe for the Youth Summit, I felt like that too; we all did. It took us a while to not look over our shoulders when weird stuff happened, thinking it was a Rita or Zedd attack. Every time we got news out of Angel Grove about stuff, it took a lot of self-control to not run right back to help or even call after. It took a long time, even after, to find a secure way to talk about everything over phones when we weren’t in the same city or even planet. Billy was off planet by that time, so he couldn’t help. We were all shocked when he arrived back on planet when Trini was pregnant with you; I may have no longer had Trey’s Powers, but even I’d heard about what had happened to him. We all thought he was going to be making a home on Aquitar. He refused to say why he’d come back, just that he’d been told it was time.” Jason shook his head as he continued. “I honestly thought he had something going on with Cestria, but both times the Aquitarian Rangers have been on planet lately, they’ve refused to talk to him. It’s broken his heart both times; I know he still cares for her to some small degree.”

By the time we got done talking, Karan had joined us and David had slipped off, talking to someone else now that he knew I was doing better. I was all set to introduce the two, but they’d apparently talked on the drive over, as he’d been the one to drive most of my team to the hospital.

“Someone talk to Cassidy?” I asked.

“Conner and Captain Mitchell. The captain was grateful for the fact that Cassidy understood a lot of stuff regarding Rangers and secrecy,” Karan answered. “Most of the team’s gone home already; I’m only staying because Trent’s here. Dr. Mercer doesn’t mind at all; he’s on his way actually,” Karan replied, giving me a shrug and small smile. “Captain Mitchell was the only one not morphed on camera; he’d explained that he was only Lightspeed’s mentor. All I know is that the news report was broadcast throughout most of SoCal and any other city that’s had a Ranger team. She’s going to get a copy to the teams later.”

“Thanks, Karan,” I said. “For everything; I know that this hasn’t been the easiest week and a half for you and it’s going to be a while longer until we’re actually able to sit down with Dad and just talk.” She gave me a puzzled look, so I continued, “Karan, our Powers are still active. From what everything I know, they shouldn’t be right now.” I heard Jason draw in a sharp breath at that; his own turned back to inactive once he’d demorphed now that the primary threat was gone.

“What are you saying, Abigail?” It was Jason who answered for me.

“It means that you guys aren’t done yet. You and most of your team has only been active for what, 6 weeks? That’s not long enough; most of the Rangers have been such for at least 9 months minimum before they lose original access to their powers. Fuck; Tommy’s got to know about this.” He made to stand up, but I grabbed his arm.

“Not right now, Jason. Katherine would kill you if you pull him out of the delivery room. Like I said, we’re going to have to have that conversation with him once he’s up for it. Right now, we need a breather. Dino Thunder and I have been fighting Ivan since last June. We’ve got the chance to relax for the time being. From what I’ve heard, that’s not always an option for active Rangers; the last time an active team had that was not long after Zordon died.”

“Andros’ team,” Jason stated. “I see what you mean though; Kimberly and I would have not been happy if someone had pulled me out of the delivery room when she was giving birth to Austin and Amy.”

We fell into silence after that; every time someone entered the room, we looked up. Often times, turned out to be just someone in the extended family group entering or exiting. Dad’s stock car racing uncle had made it up; we’d not had a chance to meet over the holidays as he was spending it with his own children, but he turned out to be a great guy.

Finally, after the sun had gone down and I’d picked at a cheese danish I’d gotten from a vending machine, Dana entered. As much as Dad and Katherine’s parents both wanted to go in, they also knew I should be the first one to meet Andy outside of Dad and Katherine. Even then, I stood in the doorway initially and smiled at the scene.

When Dad finally looked up to see me, I knew someone had told them of our victory today as he enveloped me in a hug. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to either; we’d both felt the same way immediately after the recon mission a week and a half prior. At the same time, everything outside of the room, including what had happened earlier in the day melted away in his arms and as he led me over to a chair, placing my baby brother in my arms. At that point in time, it seemed like nothing else existed but the 4 of us.

The time for Uncle David and Sam to take me back to the house came way too soon, though Dad promised I could come back the next day as well and I intended to do so. By the time we got back home, I realized that I’d forgotten just how sore and exhausted I was from the day’s events. I normally didn’t shower in the evenings, but I needed it that night to get the pain away.

Even then, I still ended up collapsing into my bed once I got my pajamas on. I knew I’d be stiff in the morning, even with the Tylenol I’d taken just before getting in bed. I barely remembered my dreams, which was normal for me when I was this exhausted and sore.

I ended up waking up at 11 the next morning, a rarity for me, but I also knew I’d needed the sleep. I also found I wasn’t as stiff as I’d feared; I felt more like I usually did after team training sessions. That didn’t mean I wasn’t still sore, but I found it easier to move around than I thought I would. I’d find out later that a good part of it was from a mix of martial arts and soccer practice; that was David’s theory anyway. I looked at him puzzled, which got him grinning. He’d stayed for the away game against Mariner Bay; we’d made an afternoon of it, just the two of us. Dad and Katherine would have normally joined us, but she was still in the hospital, recovering from giving birth. I was a bit disappointed; this was the first game they’d missed, but they had a good reason.

“Abby, have you taken a look at yourself in the mirror lately? You’ve gotten a lot fitter since moving to Reefside. Dad’s not seen you since last July; he’s in for a shock when you come down to Angel Grove at the end of the month for the soccer game. Out of all the girls on your team, you and Francine are the fittest; Karan’s getting there, but most of the girls aren’t at the same level of fitness you two are.”

“If you’re sure, David,” I replied as I curled into a ball. “It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. I don’t know how I’m going to deal.”

“You’re not alone, Abby. I know that, unlike before, you’ve got plenty of time to deal now. You don’t have to worry about monster attacks or anything Ranger-related for a while. Unlike last June, you’re no longer dealing with this alone. Abigail, look at me.” I looked up at him and he grabbed my hand. “You’ve got Dr. Oliver, Katherine, Rocky, Hayley, your friends on both of Reefside’s teams, me…do I need to go on?”

I shook my head. “You’ve made your point, David. It just feels…weird, you know? I’ve been in the thick of things from the start and dealing with civilian stuff too. If you’d asked me this time last year if I’d be able to fight as a Power Ranger while dealing with the aftereffects of abuse, foster care, and my eventual adoption, I’d have said you were nuts, you know.” I was unsurprised when he drew me into a hug as we sat on the beach.

“I know; getting out of Angel Grove did you a world of good, though. Dad too, even if he doesn’t always see it. He’s a different guy; from what others have said, he’s started to get to the place he was before Mom died. He’s definitely not the same Dad as he was when you left, Abby. I know he was still pretty bad the last time Angel Grove and Reefside played against each other in soccer, but he’s gotten better.”

“I know; I’m seeing a difference in his letters and when we’ve talked on the phone. There’s a difference between letters or phone calls and meeting in person, though. I want to see him in person, you know, but I’m scared. He and I need to have a heart-to-heart, but that’s not going to happen at the end of the month; that much we both know.”

David and I ended up sitting like that for a while before we eventually got up, throwing our trash away. He was going to drop me off at the house first before heading to the hotel; he was heading back to Angel Grove with Dad’s parents in the morning. Dad had let him borrow the Jeep; Uncle David was going to give him a ride into town as he was going to be getting groceries. We’d offered for him to stay at the house, but he didn’t want to intrude when Dad and Katherine brought Andy home in the morning. We’d all told him he wouldn’t be, but he just shook his head. I knew some of it was even though he had me in common with Dad and Katherine, he also recognized he was an outsider in all of this.

Despite not having Dad and Katherine at the game today, I was glad to be able to have some one-on-one time with David. The previous times he’d come up, including over his own spring break, he’d spent much of the time with the three of us or with the addition of Dino Thunder. We’d not really had some brother/sister time since before I’d ran and we both needed it. He was planning on coming up for as many soccer games of mine as he could; now that it was generally well known that he and I were siblings, nobody complained about his presence in the stands. Missy and Andrea were glad of the chance to drool over him again, but he’d let the both of them down gently today with the news he was dating someone in Angel Grove. He’d told me as such during our afternoon out in Mariner Bay; Amy had agreed to be his girlfriend.

“You and Amy, huh? I know she’s on the soccer team at Angel Grove high school, but I don’t think her away jersey is going to fit you, David.” He ended up almost choking on his burger when I made the reference to high school girls wearing the jersey of their athlete boyfriend. Once he’d recovered, he narrowed his eyes at me.

“You, dear sister, are evil. Evil, I say.” He narrowed his eyes at me teasingly. “Trying to take me out over a meal with teasing.”

“Don’t tell the others; it’s all part of my master plan to take over the world.” I tried keeping a straight face at that, but we both ended up breaking down in laughter. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoyed my life in Reefside now, but I also missed spending time with David. If things hadn’t gone south with Ba, we all knew that I’d have seen David a lot more after he’d gone to college. Aside from spending most of summer together, there’d have been trips down to see him. He’d have come up for Thanksgiving break; Ba and I would’ve gone down to help him move in and out of the dorms his first year; the list just goes on and on with just how much bonding we’d missed because of our family situation. Ba hadn’t been the only one hurt by my decision to run away; David had confessed one phone call about how hurt he’d been that I’d not told him I was running away.

“David, I didn’t have a chance to. Yes, I know we had talked about it earlier in the week, but you and I both know that if I’d woken up before you two left, I’d have also been dragged down to L.A. with you. Sleeping in gave me that chance and I took it. I also didn’t want to risk calling and someone finding out where I was just yet. You saw how he was after last summer’s soccer camp game; I was too scared to take that risk, David.” David had just sighed over the phone; he knew I was right. It didn’t mean he wasn’t hurt by my actions, but our discussions earlier in the week coupled with Ba’s behavior meant he was angrier with my birthfather about effectively forcing me into making that choice.

Another reason I was glad for our afternoon out in Mariner Bay was it allowed us the chance to truly clear the air between us. The phone calls and what little in person conversations we’d had prior to today had helped, but they’d not been enough. Up until this previous Thursday, he’d been the only sibling I’d had and we’d always been close. This just confirmed that no matter what happened, he’d still be my big brother.

After getting back home, I could barely sleep as I couldn’t wait for Dad and Katherine to bring Andy home. David had chuckled a bit at that; apparently, he’d been the same way as a precocious almost 4-year-old when I was born. Jason and Aunt Kimberly had watched him while my birth parents were in the hospital with me and he’d been bouncing off the walls, super excited to be a big brother finally.

Like I’d done with Andy, he’d actually gotten a chance to carefully hold me in the hospital room. Ba had confessed in a letter, with an attached photo, that he’d known from the start that David would be a wonderful big brother to me. Looking at the Polaroid, I could see why; David and I had a close bond from the start.

When I got up the next day, I found myself pacing the floor as I anxiously waited for Dad and Katherine to pull up. Uncle David had tried pulling me into conversation, but I was in no real mood to talk; I’d spent the bulk of her pregnancy worrying about Andy due to Ivan. We all knew that worry for Andy was a bad habit for me to break. He eventually pulled me into a hug and got me to sit and talk a bit with Sam, who I was glad to talk to. As much as I’d heard the story before, I listened to him tell me about the search he and Uncle David had done looking for Tommy; meeting him as part of the Zeo Quest, and the two brothers eventually meeting. By the time he finished, I could hear the crunch of the minivan coming up the driveway. I didn’t see Sam and Uncle David openly grinning as I dashed to the door, the two of them following close behind.

I quickly propped the door open and went to grab the car seat so Dad could help Katherine out of the car. They both gave me tired smiles as I carefully picked up the car seat holding my baby brother, doing my best not to wake him. They’d found out that I’d asked Aunt Kimberly for help on how to do so; I wanted to make sure I did this right. Dad had stayed with Katherine and Andy since getting into labor; even with Ivan dead and both Rito and Scorpina in the custody of Mystic Force, we were still cautious. I smiled as my brother fussed as Dad took him out of the car seat. Andy quickly settled back down as soon as Dad handed him to Katherine.

“Abigail, how are you doing?” He asked quietly.

“Alright for now. No nightmares, honestly, and I thought I’d be having them after Thursday. I’m just glad he’s gone, but I feel guilty too, Dad.”

“Abigail, that’s normal; you had to take a life. That’s not an easy thing to have to do; I wish I could say it gets easier.” He pulled me into a hug at that; being a Power Ranger wasn’t easy, but I knew I wasn’t doing it alone. No Ranger ever did; even Andros had admitted that he found it easier to work alongside teammates then alone. Right now, though, I just found myself relaxing, safe with my family, eventually falling asleep in Dad’s arms.

By the time I woke up, Uncle David had started dinner. Katherine had gone upstairs with Andy; I knew both she and Andy were likely sleeping. Either that, or he was getting fed or having his diaper changed. I’d read up on the first year of life for babies; Dad still didn’t know I’d taken a look at one of the books he and Katherine had bought and knew that, at least at the start, most of what Andy would be doing would be eating, sleeping, and filling up his diaper. He would be interacting more and more as he grew older, but not the first few weeks.

After dinner, I was allowed to hold Andy again so Katherine could eat; I was nervous as I did so, but he soon settled in, head rested against my shoulder as he relaxed. He’d just woken up from a nap, had ate and also had a diaper change, so he was simply content to watch everything going on from his vantage point. I spoke quietly to him as I held him so he’d get used to my voice; I knew he smiled at the general chatter. He’d done as much when I’d held him in the hospital, his small hands curled around one of my fingers. He had a surprisingly strong grip for someone so small; I’d find out that wasn’t unusual for babies, even newborns.

He was also, at least at this point in his life, easy to please. As long as someone was either feeding him, changing his diaper, holding him, or talking to him, along with rocking him to sleep, he was one happy baby. When he was tired of being held against my shoulder, I carefully switched to holding him so he could see my face; he fell asleep not long after, to my surprise. When Dad came to pick him up, Andy started fussing, so we just let him sleep like that, even though we knew it couldn’t be comfortable for him. I was able to hand him off to Dad eventually; Andy didn’t even wake up when the transfer occurred, nor when Dad put him in a small pack-and-play.

Of course, it was that night that I finally had my first nightmare since Ivan had been defeated; I also ended up waking Andy up as his room was next to mine. I felt bad, as Katherine had just gotten him to sleep, but both she and Dad told me it was fine. She was able to get him back to sleep as Dad calmed me down from the nightmare. By the time I was able to talk about it, we knew Andy coming home had been what had set it off; it had been an almost ‘what-if’ nightmare. By that, I mean, ‘what if’ Ivan had managed to succeed; Dad confessed that had been a common nightmare for him too, even before Andy’s birth. He stayed with me as I fell back to sleep, though neither of us got much sleep before my alarm went off. I grumbled as we got ready for school; both of us were going to be operating on little sleep. I still didn’t know how Dad managed to do it, as we were both going to have semi-sleepless nights until Andy started sleeping through the night.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside, last week and a half of April. POV: Tommy/3^rd person.

Tommy smiled as he watched Abigail head off to soccer practice; despite her nightmares, which had become an almost nightly occurrence since Andy had come home, she was doing better. She’d taken to calling Rocky about them; Tommy had made sure to take time for her to talk about them with him as well. Most of the dreams dealt with the mind-control issue; Abigail feared that and with good reason. Tommy knew that he still had the occasional nightmare about what he’d been forced to do while under mind control; so had Trent, who Abigail had also turned to. If the nightmares weren’t about being mind control, they were about Andy morphing into Ivan or something equally horrendous.

Tommy was starting to worry though; he could see the nightmares starting to affect Abigail’s daily life. Rocky had seen it too; the two had actually sat down the past Saturday to talk about treatment options while she was at Hayley’s. Sleeping medications were an option, but they were addictive and would be more of a detriment in the long run then an actual help. Both knew anxiety played a large part of what was going on and Rocky looking into proscribing anti-anxiety medication so Abigail could start to have what passed for a normal life for someone with active Powers. Tommy did point him Udonna’s way; neither Ranger was sure how anti-anxiety medication would actually interact with Abigail’s extra abilities. Udonna was their best bet on that matter, as was Rita.

One of the other things Tommy knew was going to happen now that Abigail had the time to actually deal with her past without worrying about an attack to deal with was her mental and emotional health could and most likely would take several steps back. He’d already seen it start to happen the day after the reconnaissance mission when she’d withdrawn; he knew that it was going to be a while before she was field-ready again.

Unlike most other times, they would hopefully have the time to get her back to where she could take command of her team before evil reared its ugly head again. In the meantime, Karan had stepped up admirably as team lead, Francine serving as 2IC. This wasn’t the first time a team had to deal with one of their own out of commission, but Abigail’s team had all admitted it was nice to have the chance to train and not have to worry about it being interrupted as their immediate predecessors had happen to them on more than one occasion.

He wasn’t even worried about their Powers still being active; they weren’t the only team to still be active on their own planet. Andros’s team, along with the Aquitian Rangers, still had their own Powers active, even if the latter team had a few new members. He was so deep in his thoughts, Tommy almost jumped when Conner walked up beside him. He was unsurprised to see Conner there; the teen had his last final exam the morning Ivan had been defeated. He was now spending some of his free time as Coach Daveed’s assistant.

“I’d ask how she is, but it’s obvious to anyone who knows her. Nightmares again?” Conner asked.

“Yea; they’re starting to affect her daily life. Don’t get me wrong, she’s entitled to them right now, but…” Tommy shrugged, trusting Conner to know what he meant.

“But she’s also got school, martial arts, and soccer right now on top of having a baby brother. It’s a good thing she stepped back from leading her team; even though we’re still dealing with Ivan cleanup, she’s in no position to actually serve as team lead at the moment.”

“No, she isn’t and she knows it too.” Tommy sighed, crossing his arms across his chest. “I just wish I could help her, Conner. What she’s going through…I feel so helpless.”

“You’re not helpless Dr. O; unlike last summer, her trust in you is strong. If this had happened last summer instead of now, she wouldn’t have given up leadership easily. She’s learned she can trust you to catch her when she needs it; we all have.” He placed a hand on his friend’s arm. “She’s got us too; she’s going to come out on the other side stronger than ever, Dr. O. You’re also helping her more than you realize; she’s indicated as much when I’ve had the chance to talk to her after practice.”

“I hope so, Conner, I certainly hope so.” Conner had not much to say to his friend and teammate’s quiet comment and the two watched the practice in peace. Tommy knew Conner was right though; Abigail’d already gone through so much already and come out stronger each and every time. He was grateful when practice was over and they could go home; Abigail was starting to withdraw again. Rocky hadn’t made much progress in finding a medication that Udonna thought would work; Mystic Force’s leader was coming over that night to see if there was anything she could do to help. Tommy just hoped Abigail could hold out that long.

He found himself surprised when she came into his office later that night after Udonna left; she’d not done so since the current round of nightmares began. All their conversations about her nightmares had either been outside or in her bedroom; he’d also noticed she’d not really gone into her art studio since the nightmares started and that’s what clued Tommy into the fact that his daughter was truly terrified of what was in those nightmares. He knew she often hated drawing her worst nightmares; not even Rocky had been able to convince to her draw them down when he’d come up for her counseling sessions.

“What’s wrong, Abigail?” He asked as she curled up in a chair, crying. He moved to sit across from her and was unsurprised when she pulled him into a hug. He was all too happy to give her what comfort she needed and was glad she was willing to seek him out for that instead of burying her feelings. Then again, she had firsthand experience of what tended to happen when feelings were buried instead of dealt with.

By the time she finished crying, she was better able to open up about what was truly bothering her. From what Tommy could gather, Francine and Karan had talked to her ahead of soccer practice today; they’d also noticed what was going on and knew that, out of their team, Abigail would probably listen best to them. Tommy just let Abigail talk and listened to what she was saying; he’d seen the results of that as she had her first nightmare-free night in over a week. She didn’t completely come out of her shell the next day either, but she was making progress. Udonna and Rocky hadn’t been able to find much that could work except time and support. Abigail had that in spades and they all knew it.

She’d not had any nightmares even when they got to Angel Grove the next night; this had been her first visit to Angel Grove proper since she’d ran. Helping Kat move up to Reefside the previous August didn’t count, as she’d only been in and out of the Kat’s old house and they’d not stopped anywhere in town that week. She had, due to the time of night when they’d got to Angel Grove, elected to skip the team meet-and-greet that was wrapping up. They’d traveled separately because of Abigail’s martial arts lesson that afternoon.

Depending on how she felt Saturday after the game, they’d either be spending time at the Youth Center or at Jason’s dojo if they’d didn’t go straight home. Tommy knew Abigail was considering the dojo, as she’d included her Gi and belt as part of what she’d packed. They were going to be spending Saturday night at his parents’ home if they decided to spend the weekend, a visit that his parents were looking forward to, as was Tommy.

Post-battle with Ivan issues aside, this was going to be a true test of how far both Abigail and Ernie had come in their recovery; Tommy knew his friend was going to be at the soccer game. Most of Angel Grove was going to turn out; from what Jason had said, Abigail’s story had been front-page news in the Gazette for over a week. Both he and Rocky’d had to run all sorts of interference so Ernie, Abigail, and David didn’t get hassled. This was going to be Angel Grove’s first look at Abigail since the story broke; both the soccer team and her Ranger team had been briefed so they knew to stay close. The entirety of Dino Thunder had also made the trip down; Tommy had been surprised when the parents of Johnny, Steve, and Patton had allowed Trent, Ethan, and Kira to take their kids down to the game.

“Dr. O, they’ve been bugging their parents all week to allow them to go,” Kira had told him over breakfast, semi-laughing. “On top of that, they know how tight-knit the group is; the three boys have been at every single game so far unless of a track meet interfering. Given the entirety of the track team’s down here for the game, there’s not even an issue there. Johnny and Patton are going to be splitting their time between the soccer game and Steve’s track meet if the soccer game goes into overtime; Conner thinks it might. From what Conner said of last night’s meet-and-greet, Angel Grove really wants that soccer game rematch from last summer. Steve’s dad really regretted having to work today; he’d be here otherwise and we’d have two 15-year-olds to corral instead of three.”

Tommy had been surprised when Abigail elected to room with her teammates; when he found out the ones she’d be rooming with were Francine and Karan, he wasn’t surprised at all that she’d said yes. He knew she was looking forward to some time alone with her two best friends in Reefside and both girls knew to come get him if Abigail needed some parental comfort. That still hadn’t stopped Abigail from spending some time cuddling Andy; she was sometimes the only one Andy would allow to rock him to sleep in the evenings. He and Kat both had taken some clandestine photos and videos of the two together; he’d even got one of Abigail singing a Vietnamese lullaby her teacher had taught the class at one point. He’d have to ask Ernie if Trini had done the same at one point; it wouldn’t surprise Tommy if she had.

Tommy smiled as he watched as Abigail, laughing at some joke someone had said as they left the hotel, scrambled on to the school bus with the rest of their team as they got ready to head to the high school. Two nights free of nightmares, though not enough for her to fully recover, seemed to do a number on her mood. Being able to do something normal without worry about being attacked also seemed to help her, along with a good support system really helped her out.

He, Kat, and Andy followed behind the bus as it traveled to the high school, Kat sitting in the backseat with Andy. He knew their son had just woken up from a nap just before being put into his car seat; but that didn’t stop him from falling half-asleep on the way to the high school. Tommy smiled as Andy fussed when the minivan was put into park and turned off; the drive hadn’t been far enough for him to take a small nap apparently.

Andy was still fussing as they headed into the stands; once they were settled, Tommy took his son out of the car seat and Andy calmed down. Kat smiled; the fussing had seemingly been that their son wanted held. That didn’t stop him from reacting at the sharper noises that were common at sports games, but Andy settled down for his parents, eventually falling asleep, his head on Tommy’s shoulder.

Angel Grove’s girls’ soccer team gave it as good as they had the previous summer from what Tommy could tell; Abigail was going to need a shower after the game as the field was still rather muddy from the rain Angel Grove had gotten overnight. The game, as Conner had predicted, ended up going into overtime. Reefside ended up only winning 5 points to Angel Grove’s 4, with a smaller score to the previous summer’s game; neither team let in many goals.

By the time Abigail came out of the changing room with the rest of the team who’d had to shower after, the crowd level had thinned. He knew that the teams had been offered use of the Youth Center to just relax and hang out now that the game was over. They didn’t often do that with away games, but Tommy suspected that the invite had partially come out of the fact that Abigail was from Angel Grove and partially to return the favor from the previous summer.

“Ready to go? I got a chance to talk to Jason after the game; the dojo’s closed today for cleaning. You don’t have to go to the Youth Center if you don’t want to, Abigail.” He wasn’t surprised when she gave him a hug; he knew he was giving her the same option she’d insisted her team had: the right to say ‘no’.

“I want to go, Dad. If it gets too much, I’ll let you know. Besides, we won’t be alone; the entire soccer team promised to run interference if or when needed.” So would Rocky and David went unsaid by both of them.

“That’s all I ask, Abigail. Ready to go?” Abigail grinned in response as she picked her ever present shoulder bag up; at his suggestion, she’d thrown a change of clothing, her shampoo, conditioner, and soap in the gym bag she’d traded him her shoulder bag for, along with a laundry bag just in case she had to change out of a muddy uniform as she’d had to do today. He knew that, despite not expecting trouble, her communicator was in the shoulder bag; her team’s morphers, like Dino Thunder's, were connected to their communicators. It was a hard habit for any Ranger to break and one that Tommy had taken some time to break before being called to first mentor and then join Dino Thunder.

He smiled as she jogged over to rejoin her teammates; he’d noticed her slight reaction when he offered her the chance to not go to the Youth Center. Tommy also understood why she’d made the choice she’d made; Abigail knew she had to face her past at some point. While they were planning on coming back over the summer-Hanshi Scott had mentioned that the dojo had been invited to take part in a martial arts tournament there-today would provide a good test run for how that would go. Any issues that popped up due to today’s test run would be able to be worked through, be they on Abigail’s end or Ernie’s.

Arriving at the Youth Center, Tommy and Kat both kept an eye on Abigail as she walked into the Youth Center, Francine and Karan by her side. By some unspoken agreement, Abigail was in the center of their triad; Francine was to her right, Karan to the left. Tommy raised an eyebrow; he’d seen this formation before with them and in their Ranger team training sessions. Johnny, Steve, and Patton, who’d caught up to the group by now, also had a mix of shock and surprise on their face; apparently, the girls hadn’t informed the guys exactly what they’d planned, if it was a spoken plan at all. Steve actually groaned and Tommy didn’t blame him; the last time they’d done a training session split down gender lines, that line up meant that the boys were about to get clobbered. As talented as the guys were, they still had issues figuring out how to play against three girls who played soccer. At the very minimum, Johnny and Steve usually ended up dealing with Francine and Abigail, leaving Patton to deal with Karan.

Almost by habit, Tommy scanned the room as the teens mixed, talking. Johnny and the others had joined up with the rest of their team by now; Austin and Amy had met up with them, as had Abigail’s brother David. Tommy’s eyes finally settled on Ernie; like him, the older man was watching Abigail and her friends. He could see the caution on Ernie’s face; Tommy knew that Ernie was unsure of how he’d be received by the group. Checking with Kat, she gave him a smile and shoed him over to have a talk with Ernie.

“Ernie, how are you?” Tommy asked quietly, causing his friend to jump.

“I’ve been better; it hurts seeing here there, not knowing if I’d be welcome among her and her friends. Don’t think I’ve not noticed them shoe away some of her old classmates when they’ve gotten too nosey, Tommy. She’s got a great group of friends there.”

“Francine’s been her friend almost since day 1; they met at soccer camp. Patton’s been a friend just as long; the rest, she met on the first day of school. They meshed almost right away; they got her out of the way during lunch their second day of school because a former coworker of mine with anger issues got pissed when her class did what I’ve heard most of the students who’d had him did because he wasn’t that clear when it came to exactly what had to go into papers.”

“Rocky told me about that; he’s also told me about how you’ve been there for her every step of the way, including nightmares. I heard about what happened in Reefside a couple weeks ago, Tommy.”

“She’s had nightmares since then, too, Ernie. Last night and the night before were the first couple of nights she’d not had nightmares since we brought Andy home from the hospital. I was surprised when she said she wanted to come here today.”

“You weren’t sure if she would even want to come down even for the game.” Tommy just shook his head.

“With how she was last summer, I wasn’t sure if she’d get to that point, Ernie. Any mention of Angel Grove sent her straight into a panic attack then; the only reason she came down with us to help Kat pack was because we were going to one location and back, interacting with nobody but Kat and I.”

Tommy and Ernie continued their quiet conversation, which was occasionally interrupted as the older man had to get back to work. During one such busy spell, Kat came over with their son and Tommy took him, a smile gracing his face. By this point, both soccer teams were generally having fun and Tommy watched as Abigail talked with some of the other students she’d gone to Angel Grove Middle School with that were now freshmen at the high school.

He looked around as Andy fell asleep in his arms, picking out each member of her Ranger team. Francine wasn’t too far away from Abigail, apparently not wanting to leave her friend’s side; Karan was actually talking with Jason and Rocky about something. Patton, he noticed, was talking with Billy, whereas Johnny was busy talking with Austin. He looked around for Steve, finally finding him sparring against David; both teens were openly grinning as David assisted Steve up from the mats. It was apparently a friendly sparring match between two martial artists of different disciplines, but of similar belt ranks. From what Tommy understood, Steve and Johnny had taken Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ever since the summer before kindergarten started; it was how the two friends met.

Soon, though, the teams began to separate; it was close to time for the Reefside team to head home and Abigail made her way over to Tommy. They’d elected to remain in Angel Grove overnight, staying with his parents. Andy, by this point, had been handed back to Kat; he’d woken up hungry and in need of a diaper change. Tommy could help with the second, but not so much with the first; they’d elected to not go the bottle route just yet.

Before they left, though, Tommy could tell Abigail was hesitating about something. Turning around, he realized the source of her hesitation: Ernie had come out of his office, not realizing that there were still people in the Youth Center as he prepared to lock up. The two looked at each other in the eyes, neither willing to look away.

“Abigail.” “Ba”. Ernie and Abigail eventually spoke at the same time, both of their voices breaking. Tommy removed his hand from Abigail’s shoulder as she ran into Ernie’s arms, both crying. Rocky had let him know earlier in the week that Ernie was up for such a meeting; Abigail, despite her own current issues, needed the meeting as much as Ernie did. A heart-to-heart would have to wait until June, when Abigail was out of school, but right now, she just needed this meeting. Thanks to Cassidy and her contacts, Rocky had been able to warn Ernie of the articles before the story broke; it had taken Ernie over a month to bounce back from the onslaught, even with the support of both his son and the local Rangers.

By the time Ernie and Abigail had finished their reunion and brief conversation, Tommy could see a marked change in both of them, as could Kat. They might not have had the longer conversation that they needed to have, but today marked the first true step in rebuilding their relationship. The letters and occasional phone calls had helped lay that foundation, but Tommy just knew that what uncertainty Abigail had about seeing Ernie again had vanished. Granted, it had only been for 20 minutes as they talked while Ernie finished locking up, but it had been the combination of that alongside everything else that had happened that made Tommy hopeful for the future of their relationship. Ernie had, as they were getting into their cars, thanked him for taking such good care of Abigail and that he was glad it had been him she’d run to all those months ago.

That hadn’t been the only unexpected change that night; his mom had finally started building a better relationship with Abigail. She’d surprised him when they’d gone up to the guest room that had been put aside for Abigail’s use; his mom had decorated it in shades of purple and yellow. She’d admitted that she had hired Trent to do it as he knew Abigail well enough to decorate the guest room to her tastes and in such a way that it wouldn’t be an issue for any other guests his parents had over.

“That explains what he was doing one weekend; Hayley had given him a long weekend off and I’d wondered why. I assumed it had something to do with exams at the art school he’s going to, as it was just before those started,” Tommy said later that night, while Kat and Abigail were talking with his dad. “Thanks, Mom. I know how much that meant to Abigail to have a room here painted and decorated to her tastes. I know Trent’s going to get a hug from her and Kira-his girlfriend-both for that.”

“This Trent cares for her; he said as much. He said she’s been like the little sister he never had.” Tommy just smiled at that; honorary siblings was a good way to describe the relationship Abigail had with most of Dino Thunder.

“He’s a good kid, Mom. He was one of the kids I mentored last year; he’s Anton’s son. They had a rocky relationship last year and Anton was glad Trent was able to have another adult in his life to be there for him when Anton was dealing with personal issues. They actually have a stronger relationship because of it.”

“Trent told me about how his dad bankrolled a comic he co-wrote with Carson Brady; said it had surprised him.” Tommy couldn’t keep a small smile off of his face at that.

“That was one of several issues Trent and Anton had with each other for most of Trent’s senior year; I’m afraid Anton wasn’t entirely supportive of his son’s artistic abilities at the start. Anton wanted Trent to be able to take over Mercer Enterprises if something happened to him; all Trent wanted was the freedom to figure that out for himself. Even though Anton’s now engaged to my boss and Trent’s looking to make a career out of being a comic book artist, Trent started learning about what running Mercer Industries should anything happen to Anton before any theoretical biological child of his is able to do so themselves or if Anton has no other children besides Trent. While Trent’s likely to make a career out of drawing and writing Power Ranger comics, he’s even admitted it can be done while running Mercer Industries if it comes to that.”

“Interest in those comics seems to come and go; I know the ones that were published not long after you headed to MIT are now considered collector’s items, especially here in Angel Grove. The ones Trent’s done, the comic shop can’t seem to keep in stock, especially once the news started coming out of Reefside about the attacks over the summer. I have no doubt you’re taking good care of them, Tommy; I can see that much with Abigail.”

He just smiled at that, especially once Abigail started holding Andy. His son might be wide awake at that point, but it was hard to miss the sounds of contentment Andy was making at being held by one of his favorite people. Even at just over two weeks old, the bond between the siblings was hard to miss. His mom attempted to take Andy, but his son had a good grip on the seam of Abigail’s tank top and the attempt was soon given up. When it came time to put Andy into his bed, Tommy aided Abigail in getting Andy to let go of his sister’s shirt. Andy tended to be a deep sleeper once he fell asleep, so Tommy didn’t have to worry about Andy waking up when Abigail put him in his bed before heading to bed herself.

By the time they left Angel Grove, Abigail was starting to recover more from what had happened earlier in the month. They’d stopped over at Rocky’s house before heading back to Reefside so she could have a counseling session; between the soccer game and the afternoon at the Youth Center, she’d missed her normal weekend session and wanted to have it before leaving town. Rocky had gotten quite a bit of information from Captain Mitchel to help Abigail deal with what she had to take part in over her spring break and Tommy could see a difference in Abigail’s demeaner. Captain Mitchel had even called him at one point and offered to talk to Abigail any time she wanted to talk to someone who’d once been a firefighter. True, firefighters weren’t law enforcement, but there had been a number of times the now retired fire captain had to make difficult decisions in his civilian line of work.

Hayley was waiting for them when they got back to the house; she’d volunteered to house sit and feed the cats while they had a weekend away; unlike the weekend away they’d had earlier in the year where they could take the cats with them to Sam’s home, the hotel they’d stayed in Friday night wasn’t pet friendly.

“Thanks, Hayley.”

“Any time, Tommy,” Hayley replied as they went inside. “Those two are some of the most well-behaved cats I’ve ever pet sat.” The tone of her voice suggested anything but.

“What’d they do, Hayley? Get fur all over your clothing or fall asleep in your suitcase?” Abigail asked in lieu of her normal responses.

“Stole my hairbrush and wouldn’t let go is what they did, Abigail.” Abigail had the decency to blush at Hayley’s reply.

“Sorry about that; they normally go after my paintbrushes if I leave any out to dry after I’ve cleaned them. I know they have plenty of toys and other stimuli for when they’re home alone; I don’t know why they’re fascinated by brushes. Usually when they cause trouble like that, I wonder if I should have named them Loki and Puck, even if they are female.” Hayley got a chuckle out of that, Abigail relaxing knowing she wasn’t in trouble for not leaving that warning for their friend.

Hayley soon headed for her own home not long after helping them unpack. Luckily, both the hotel and his parents had cribs for Andy to sleep in, but they’d still had to pack a lot of stuff for a weekend trip. As much as he’d grumbled about the packing, he wouldn’t trade the life he had for the world. Becoming a parent, first to Abigail and later Andy had really changed his worldview on things; his dad had said the same thing when they’d talked over Thanksgiving.

Tommy hadn’t been surprised later that evening when the aforementioned cats jumped into his lap as he rocked Andy to sleep; out of the two cats, Sasha was the one most fascinated by Andy. It wasn’t unusual to find her in Andy’s crib when he woke up from a nap. She always slept at one end of Andy’s bed, seemingly sensing he was too young for her to sleep at his side just yet. No matter where Andy was in the house, she always insisted on staying close; even Abigail suspected that the two would grow up to be life-long friends. She’d actually snapped a photo of Sasha grooming Andy the Sunday before the soccer game against Angel Grove; that photo was going into what was one of many family photo albums.

Eliza wasn’t as curious about Andy as her sister was, but didn’t mind spending time with him. She usually joined Tommy when Abigail had the door to her art studio closed; Abigail only did such once the cats had been brought home when she was working with paint. Some of the paint had a chance of being toxic to the cats; Abigail was looking into viable alternatives. For the time being, though, she just shut the door if she was painting. She’d gotten her homework done Friday night after they’d gotten to the hotel, finishing the rest up Saturday and wanted to spend some time painting that evening.

This had been one of the few assignments she’d not been able to work on that weekend due to being in Angel Grove most of the time and Tommy couldn’t wait to see the final project; Abigail was lending the theater department some of her paintings for use in the spring musical and was actually excited about it. Tommy could understand why, too; unlike the fall play, this was something she could work on around everything else and deliver when she had the free time. There was also a school art show coming up the next month that some of her work was going into; she’d been shocked when the art teacher had said that the projects chosen would be counted towards her final grade. The projects in question were going to some of Abigail’s best work that year and Tommy knew she’d be keeping her A in that class. She’d said she was going to do an original work for it. He’d not told her yet, but he was proud of her grades; her first semester’s grades were primarily A’s with her only B being in science. The fact that they’d had subs all semester likely affected her grade; her teacher this semester had told him that her grade was an A average. He expected her year-end grades to be similar; she’d inherited Trini’s intelligence along with a host of other things.

As soon as he’d laid Andy down in his crib, he’d noticed Abigail was finished painting as the door to her studio was open. Going downstairs, he found her standing on the back porch as she silently cried. Kat was comforting her, but Tommy knew that this weekend had been tough on their daughter. As he joined them, Abigail finally broke; she might have put on a brave face for her friends and teammates, but she’d also been under a lot of pressure. As Tommy guided Abigail over to one of the chairs that was on their porch, Kat went in to get a blanket and the baby monitor.

“This weekend was too much for her, Tommy,” Kat said after Abigail had fallen asleep in his arms.

“I know; seeing Ernie yesterday was one last thing on top of everything else. I know she needed that closure, but the soccer game couldn’t have come at a worse time, Kat. If it had been in May, she probably would have had an easier time dealing.”

“Or if Ivan hadn’t been freed at all.” His eyes flashed at the mention of Ivan; it was a good thing Andros had sent word that their opponent’s body had been destroyed. Tommy still wanted to kick Ivan’s ass to the next planetary system for what the megalomaniac had put their family through. As it was, he was still angry with Scorpina and Rito for freeing him. If he’d not been busy with Mesogog, Ivan’s freeing would have likely been noticed.

“That too; she’s been through too much dealing with him on top of everything else. Seeing Ernie yesterday…I was shocked when she’d not had a nightmare last night, Kat.” He kept his voice as quiet as his wife’s; Abigail was sleeping in his arms. “I should probably take her in; we’ve got school in the morning and she’ll sleep better in the warmth of her bed.”

Kat got the door and the monitor as he shifted Abigail, who was still wrapped in the blanket, in his arms to be able to better carry her to bed. Kat followed him in and they got her changed into a night shirt, leaving her capris on for the time being.

“Dad?” Tommy turned at his daughter’s sleepy voice as he turned to leave her room.

“Shh, Abigail,” Tommy said as he sat back down by her side. “I’m right here; you need to get some sleep.”

“Stay?”

“Of course, Abigail.” Kat, who by now was watching them from the doorway, came in and kissed them goodnight. He hated leaving her to take care of Andy alone tonight, but she knew Abigail was Tommy’s priority, especially right now. She only slipped back in to bring Tommy his pajama pants and he quietly changed so to not disturb Abigail’s sleep, which she needed. He’d take his clothing to his room in the morning when he got ready for the school day.

He’d been entirely unsurprised to awake when she was in the middle of a nightmare, but he was able to rouse her without difficulty. Once she’d calmed, he’d found out it was one of her ‘normal’ nightmares, dealing with Ernie. Seeing him at the Youth Center had Abigail feeling guilty for what she’d put him through.

“Abigail, it’s okay,” Tommy said, trying to sooth her. “I know you feel guilty, but you even admitted he’d not have come this far if you’d not run.” She smiled at him weakly as she wiped tears from her eyes.

“True, Dad; that still doesn’t mean I don’t feel guilty. It hurt, knowing he was going through of that and I was a reason for part of why.”

“He feels the same way, Abigail; he’s said as much to me when we’ve talked.” She tightened her hug at that before slipping out of bed. “Abigail?” The lights might be off, but he could tell she was blushing slightly.

“Just getting my capris off; I can’t believe I stayed asleep that long in them. Dad…thanks for helping Katherine get me into my night shirt.” The and for staying went unsaid; he tucked her back in not long after. He headed to his own bed after she said she’d be fine the rest of the night. He was hesitant to leave her, but she was insistent about the issue. Kat barely stirred as he joined her in bed; he kissed her before falling back asleep.

Location: Reefside High School, Thursday. POV: Abigail/1^st person

I groaned as my alarm went off; after a several night break the previous week, my nightmares had returned with a vengeance, though I counted myself lucky that I was only getting one per night. I’d had nights where the nightmares wouldn’t stop in the past, but currently, they were thankfully limited to one per night. The dreams I’d had the past summer, with Mom, Dad, and Katherine’s Ranger totems protecting me, had started back up again. I wasn’t complaining if that meant I had only one nightmare per night for the foreseeable future.

I just hoped that the nightmares would go away and soon; I had my next belt test coming up within the next couple of weeks as well as the end of the school year. I had to be well rested for both; I was just glad I didn’t have Ivan to deal with, even if he was still the subject of some of the aforementioned nightmares. Dad, Rocky, and the others were helping, but we all knew it was going to take a while for the nightmares to actually go away.

I’d actually expected more nightmares than what I was having; when I mentioned as much to Udonna when she’d come by Tuesday, she suspected that the animal totems were protecting my mind again, only allowing me one nightmare a night. I wasn’t about to traverse the Grid again to find out until school was over; I knew my mental and emotional states weren’t in the best state for me to do so without someone going in with me, or, at the very minimum, acting as a spotter.

I was also having fun spending time with Andy. He might be 3 weeks old, but I swear he’s one of the most alert 3-week-old babies I’ve ever met; not that I’ve met many. Dad and Katherine might think they’re being sneaky when they take photos of the two of us, but I don’t mind. Every time I found myself getting overwhelmed with everything going on, Andy starts fussing for me to either pick him up or otherwise pay attention to him. Either him or the cats at any rate; there’s been a few times I’d been caught talking to the cats about what’s been going on. As much help as Dad and Rocky have been, there’s something to be said about talking to my kittens. The most they do when I’m talking with them is to start grooming me; I usually end up giggling because their tongues feel like slightly wet sandpaper.

My art teacher, Mrs. Goodridge, had pulled me to the side during art class; the art show was going to be next week and she needed my final project by tomorrow.

“It’s almost ready; I have to do the last bits tonight and let it dry before packing in Dad’s Jeep. It’s been a push to get all my homework done on top of getting the paintings done for the spring musical.” I shook my head; I’d dropped off the last couple of paintings this morning. “Not that I’m complaining; I’ve been glad for the chance to do them. It’s been a crazy couple of months.” That last comment got a smile and a small laugh out of my art teacher; Ivan’s attack over spring break had scared all of Reefside.

“I know you’ve been busy, with your baby brother coming and all. Dr. Oliver might think he’s been hiding his exhaustion; so have you, Abigail.”

“Andy’s room is right next to mine.” I blushed, embarrassed. “He always seems to wake up right as I’m dreaming. I catch up on the weekends, though, unless there’s an away game farther away like the Angel Grove game was.”

“As long as you’re sure, Abigail. I’m not the only teacher worried about you; most of your teachers are. This hasn’t been an easy year for you and I’m glad you’re talking to Dr. DeSantos. We’d be sending you to one of the school counselors otherwise.”

I shook my head. “You guys don’t need to worry. Dr. DeSantos has been my therapist from the start; he and Dad knew each other since high school. I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” I gave her a small smile we headed to the cafeteria and I joined my friends. It was hard, keeping up the façade that everything was fine; I recognized that I learned that behavior from Ba as he’d done the same thing for the bulk of my life after Mom had died. The hardest thing about everything was I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to feel. I was feeling a mix of relief and guilt; relief that Ivan was dead and could no longer hurt us, guilt in equal parts because I’d helped end his life and because I was relieved that he was dead. Talking to Dad and Rocky helped, as did talking with other Rangers who’d had to end the lives of their opponents, but that still didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt.

Of course, I’d had to have a similar conversation with my team; unlike my art teacher, they weren’t put off by ‘I’m fine’. Francine and Karan shared a look and I groaned. Whenever those two shared a look, that usually meant I wasn’t about to like the consequences. I also usually saw it in Ranger training sessions; the last time I’d seen that look, Patton, Steve, and I had gotten creamed, literally. Somehow, Johnny had gotten a hold of several cans of whipped cream and the three had put it to good use. Dad hadn’t been the only one at that training session not immune from laughter. The six of us had looked at each other and ganged up on the entirety of Dino Thunder; the training session went downhill from there as it turned into a free-for-all food fight and prank war.

I found out what they had planned after that Saturday’s soccer game against Blue Bay Harbor; Dr. Mercer had offered his home for a pool party for the teens on Reefside’s two Ranger teams. I’d not known about it ahead of time; they knew I’d’ve attempted to beg off. Of course, the ‘official’ reason was to celebrate Trent and the others getting done with their first year of college; I saw through the story in an instant. I don’t know who was more shocked when I stormed off, Dad or me. It surprised me when Conner and Ethan caught up with me.

“I’m surprised Dad’s not with you guys. He’s usually the first one following me when I’m upset.”

“Kira grabbed him; we thought you might want someone your own age to talk to that’s not your team,” Ethan said.

“You’re not the only one dealing with the aftereffects of Ivan’s almost year-long assault on Reefside, Abigail.” Conner forced me to look at him. “You aren’t the only one who were scared of what Ivan could do to any of us.”

“For the last time, guys, I. Am. Fine.” I made to storm off again, but Ethan grabbed my wrist, but it was Conner who spoke.

“If you were fine, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” I finally broke free of Ethan’s grip and spun to face the co-leader of Dino Thunder.

“What would you have me say, McKnight? That’s I’m glad Ivan’s dead or guilty for feeling that way?!” I could feel my emotions bubbling to the surface as I spat that out.

“Yes.” His simple admission stopped me in my tracks as my jaw dropped. “That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say. You’re not the first of us to deal with that feeling; we all felt that way after Mesogog’s destruction. What made it easier was the fact that we got Dr. Mercer out of there. Alive.”

“I already got that lecture from every single team lead that Dad knows, including Dad himself. I don’t need to hear it from the two of you. Now if you’ll excuse me…” I didn’t get far as Conner used his speed to get in front of me; Ethan stayed at my back the entire time.

“I don’t want to hurt you two,” I told them. “I know how fights can go when one of the people involved is hurting.”

“So you’d rather push everyone away instead? Isn’t that what your birthfather tried to do?”

Fuck, I thought. Ethan was right; I logically knew that, but I also was having a tough time dealing with everything. I was barely aware that Ethan had enveloped me into a hug until after I stopped crying, nor that Conner had made it a group hug. They seemed to recognize I was a mess of emotions at the moment and were willing to just be there, no talking needed. I heard Dad, Kira, and Trent join us, but they remained quiet as the group hug got bigger. Don’t get me wrong, my own team was great, but I’d fought alongside Dino Thunder for much longer than I’d done so with my own team.

Once I was ready to rejoin the main group, I was feeling much better having had the conversation with Conner and Ethan. I knew I wasn’t completely better; that would come with time, but getting that out allowed me to enjoy the rest of the afternoon with my friends. I’d thanked Francine and Karan for the idea, but asked them to not spring something like that on me again.

“Not even a surprise party, Abigail?” Francine teased, eyes sparkling with mischief. I just shook my head.

“Not this year. I don’t want a huge party for my 16^th; last September was the first proper ‘birthday’ party I’ve ever had.” Francine and Karan’s jaws dropped at that.

“Never?” I just shook my head.

“Ba…it would have meant that he would have to deal with many of his friends that he’d met through Mom and his in-laws. Either that, or be reminded of Mom and how close she was with her friends by watching me have fun with my friends and classmates at those parties.” I closed my eyes as several tears came out. “He was dealing with so much; I wish he’d gotten help earlier.”

“He didn’t and you suffered for it, you and your brother both.” Francine put a hand on my arm at that. “Don’t worry, though I think your dad has something special planned.”

“Do me a favor: please stop him from going overboard. The party I had at CyberSpace was great; I don’t want a huge fuss made over the fact that I’ll be old enough to drive. If it hadn’t been for Ivan, I’d’ve taken my classes already and it would just be a formality to get my license.” I shrugged; Dad had promised to let me take the lessons over the summer so I could take my exam right around when the school year started and start driving on my own. He’d also promised to teach me how to drive the ATVs that Conner and the rest of Dino Thunder used; those, you didn’t need a driver’s license to drive in the state of California. You just had to be 14 or older and able to reach the controls.

I had a feeling that was one of my birthday gifts; Hayley had, more than once, locked me out of the mechanic’s bay when she visited, with Ethan helping her. I was more than annoyed when I had to get in there to fix my Zord the day after the pool party and the door to the bay was locked. My Zord wasn’t small enough to fit in there, so I wanted to get the tools I needed to fix it and do some maintenance work on it. I know Hayley could have fixed it for me, but I needed something to distract myself and Zord repair sounded like a good plan. When I banged on the door, Hayley finally poked her head out of the door.

“I just need the repair kit for my Zord, Hayley. I’ll be right in and out, I promise.”

“Wait right there,” was her only reply as the door got shut in my face. I stood there, annoyed until she came back with the toolkit that I used for my Zord. It actually wasn’t unusual for someone, either Ranger or ally, to walk into Dino Command and find one of us doing maintenance on our Zords. I’d started doing it just to learn about the Zords in general; Dad had chuckled when I’d roped his Dino Thunder teammates into caring for their Zords as well. Hayley had been grateful for that; she was one of only a handful of people, including Alphas 5 and 6, that knew how to build and maintain the Zords. Dad knew how, but if he got busy enough, Hayley often got left with repair and maintenance duty. It was one of the things I’d gotten my team to do as well, once we’d introduced them to their Zords.

The toolkits tended to be very similar; the biggest difference between them tended to be color and team insignia if there were colors shared between teams. Dino Thunder and my own team each had a Blue and Red; Hayley had broken down and just put Dino Thunder’s insignia on all of their Zord repair kits after the third instance of one of us accidentally grabbing the wrong kit. One of us usually meant Dad; he had served, in order, as Green and White on his original team and Red on his next two teams. As a joke, I’d spray painted a Christmas tree on his kit, while leaving the base color black. If he’d noticed, he’d not said anything.

We actually kept the pieces to repair or maintain the Zords in their bay; some things were small enough to keep in the mechanics bay that was used to build the smaller vehicles; Dino Thunder’s ATVs and other vehicles were stored there as well. I found my Zord, though able to repair itself to a degree, didn’t need much in the actual way of work, but doing the maintenance helped me feel more in control of my thoughts and feelings. The non-talk with Conner and Ethan had helped me to a degree, but I still wasn’t able to figure out what was going on with me. Captain Mitchel had said that was normal after what I’d been through; so had everyone else I’d heard from. Right now, I just needed time to figure that out and I was glad for that time. From what Dad said, he’d not truly had a chance to process everything without any adversaries attacking until he went off to MIT; Jason, Zach, Uncle Billy, and Aunt Kimberly had said similar. Today was the first day I’d actually felt comfortable entering Dino Command; it had taken me that long just to process everything that had happened over the last three weeks.

After a while, Hayley joined me in the Zord bay, evidently finished with whatever she was for the day. Dad and Katherine had both fallen asleep not long before I’d come downstairs; between my nightmares and Andy waking up every few hours, neither one of my parents had gotten much in the way of sleep in the last few weeks. By this point, I’d moved on from working on my Zord to working on the others, making sure that they were alright. Any repairs or work that took two people minimum to do was marked on a sheet; this occasionally served as bonding time for Dad and I. Hayley helped me with some, primarily when the repair work involved something that had to be fabricated. She’d promised to teach me how to do so when summer hit and I couldn’t wait.

One of the things I appreciated about Hayley was she knew when I wasn’t up for deep conversation; we ended up talking about everything but what had happened in the last several weeks. Instead, she ended up teaching me about a lot the tech that went into not just the Zords, but the vehicles in general. Some stuff, Dad had already taught me, but I was happy to hear it again. Ethan had said that there hadn’t been a person who’d come through CyberSpace that Hayley’d not helped.

By the time my stomach started letting me know I needed more food than the protein bars Conner and I kept stashed down there, Hayley and I were both covered in oil. We’d both known it was a possibility when we’d entered; I’d specifically worn clothing that Dad and I generally worked on the Zords on in when I came down. Hayley had her own version of that clothing; most people who were CyberSpace regulars would not have been completely shocked to see her look like that. Thankfully, some of the things that Dad kept stocked in the vehicle and repair bays was cleanser to get the oil off our body; it might be grittier than sand, but it got the job done. An added benefit was that it was orange-scented; Dad had unscented stocked, but most of us preferred the orange-scented cleanser.

To say Dad had been surprised when Hayley and I came out of Dino Command had been an understatement. Of course, we’d accidentally woken him up as he’d fallen asleep on the couch; he’d evidently stayed asleep longer than he’d planned on. Even if we’d come up earlier, neither of us would have woken him; he needed the sleep too much. I’d slept myself out this morning; I would have joined them in a nap otherwise.

After Hayley went home after dinner, one she’d unsuccessfully tried turning down an invite to, Dad pulled me into a hug as he asked how I was doing.

“Better, Dad. Not 100%, but better. I…having Hayley in the Command Center, even though she was in a different section at times, helped. Even when she came over to help, she just knew I wasn’t in the mood to talk about everything that’s happened. It was a relief, to be honest; I’m not sure I can talk any more about what happened over spring break or the last few weeks right now.” A smile graced my face. “Well, except for Andy. He’s been a bright spot in all of this.”

Dad nodded his understanding at that; a smile gracing his own face as we thought of my baby brother, who was currently getting his diaper changed in the other room. He and I just ended up talking about various things, deliberately not talking about Ivan, the weekend in Angel Grove, or really, anything Ranger related unless it was machine repair-related. He was entirely unsurprised by Hayley’s offer to teach me how to run the fabrication machine; while most of the smaller vehicles like the ATVs and cycles Dino Thunder used were repurposed and mostly pre-built, there were some things that had to be done via the fabrication machine. Most of that stuff was things like what helped Ethan’s one motorbike fly; Dad, due to his own history and good standing with our alien allies, had been gifted some of their technology that Earth tech hadn’t been quite able to create just yet.

I’d been grateful for the chance to relax; I’d slept deeply enough that night that I’d overslept my alarm by a good half hour. I’d skipped my morning routine in favor of a shower; if I’d tried doing both, I knew I’d have to skip breakfast. I’d learned enough from Dad that skipping the occasional workout was fine, but skipping a meal was not; between gym class and my martial arts lesson this afternoon, I’d make up for it.

I was actually looking forward to gym class this week; Coach Daveed was the gym teacher and had, with Principal Randall’s permission, invited the heads of the local martial arts schools to do demonstration lessons this week. Those of us who took lessons at one of the martial arts schools would be allowed to assist in lessons on the day our school was doing its demonstrations. I knew that meant I’d have some school work to make up, but I was fine with it. Some of the schools taught multiple disciplines, Hanshi Scott’s was one of them. I strictly took karate for the time being; Dad promised to teach me others if I wanted to learn them later, as had Jason, Zack, and Rocky.

I also had the school art show coming up; while I wasn’t the only student who’d submitted paintings, I was worried that mine wouldn’t look as good as the ones submitted by older students. There had been some grumbling from the upperclassmen in the same class early in the school year, but it had subsided by Halloween. There would be voting by the students and the community; to protect the names of the artists until the voting was over, the artwork wouldn’t be labeled with our names to start with. I was fine with that; I wanted my artwork to win on its own merits instead of popularity. Occasions like this often served as another form of a popularity contest and I really didn’t care for mine.

Dad and Katherine weren’t the only ones coming to it; I’d about panicked when I found out that even Ba was taking some time to come up. There were a lot of Angel Grove High School students coming up; most of them were soccer players who were using the art show as an excuse to meet up with their new friends on the Reefside teams.

Conner, when he’d found out that tidbit, almost fell out of the bleachers in shock that the two teams had become friends. Most of the girls on the team, when they saw his reaction, ended up laughing; I’d heard about it later, as I’d been at a martial arts lesson at the time. Ethan, predictably, had started a mock argument with Conner over that fact; Conner hadn’t cottoned on right away that’s what Ethan was doing. He’d finally realized that when Kira, Trent, and I were in stitches watching the two have a friendly debate.

“I can’t win with you guys at all,” was his exasperated response. “Not one bit.” His smile let us know he was fine with it, though.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside High School, Friday night. POV: Abigail/1^st person

I looked around as parents and other family members of the art students milled around as they looked at the art on display. Dad, Katherine, and I had gotten some fast food to eat after the martial arts lesson as we had to be back at the high school for the opening of the exhibit to the public. I was scared as hell as tomorrow, the Angel Grove students and their families would be coming, as would those from Reefside proper. Ba was even planning on coming up with David; even though I was going to be spending most of the day at the school between my soccer game and the art show, I wasn’t sure if we’d be meeting up.

Francine chuckled as she came up to me. “Hoping your little brother’s going to act as a good luck charm?” She teased, as I was holding Andy, his head at my shoulder and with a good grip on my shirt sleeve. I just laughed at that.

“He’s been one so far, Francine. I know he can’t differentiate much, but he’s been looking at everything the best he can at not yet a month old. This is even with 7 being a nap time for him; if I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was having way too much fun to go to sleep right now.”

“He just might be, Abigail, he just might be. Then again, I don’t know much about babies just yet.” Francine and I both grinned as Andy did his best to look at her and she grasped his wandering hand in hers, allowing him to take a hold of a finger. “Hello, Andy. You are so adorable. I bet you’re the best little brother, aren’t you?”

“Yes, you are, Andy,” I said, giving him a kiss on the forehead. “Absolutely the best little brother.” He ended up letting go of her hand not long after as he started fussing. I wasn’t sure if he was tired or was hungry; he’d just had a diaper change before I started holding him, so Francine and I made our way over to where Dad and Katherine were talking with Dr. Mercer. Trent was…somewhere in the room; he and I had talked earlier, but he was now off talking with someone else.

Katherine smiled as she took Andy from me; she knew how much I enjoyed spending time with him. It ended up that he was simply tired; we ended up heading home not long after that, as the first night of what promised to be an annual event wrapped up. I’d been entirely shocked when we’d arrived earlier in the evening to find my painting had won the ‘Best in show’ award from the students. I’d not thought it was as good as some of the ones that the upperclassmen had done, but I guess everyone else thought differently; I was doubly glad that the artwork had been blind voting, only by numbers.

It had been suggested by some of the school board that the artwork, which included items like ceramics, be auctioned or raffled off as a fundraiser. That had been shot down by Randall for this year’s show, as the suggestion had been made after it had been announced that the show would be open to the public. She was willing to entertain the idea for next year’s show, though. I was glad when I’d heard the idea had been shot down; I had plans for that painting! I’d only just found out that I’d missed Hayley’s birthday; given how much of a friend she’d been, I felt bad for not knowing. It had been part of why I’d chosen to paint what I did; I remembered things that Hayley had mentioned liking and did my best to put those into a painting. I’d almost done a series of paintings, but I would have had to do them on smaller canvases and I just didn’t have the time.

I didn’t know how, but Dad had managed to get everyone to back off from wanting to rehash everything that had happened regarding our fight against Ivan. Even Rocky did; he finally realized I was still processing everything that had happened and needed time to come to terms with things on my own, along with preparing for my upcoming belt test and the end of the school year. Like Dad, he’d been surprised when I’d spent almost a full day in Dino Command, working on the Zords. I’d admitted that there had been a couple of times, generally with the more damaged ones, that I’d found myself teetering close to a flash-back. Hayley’d joined me the second time that had happened and had managed to not just pull me back, but also distract me. I’d calmed myself by listening to her ramble on about the tech behind everything. I’d written everything down later that night before going to bed; it had helped keep me from having nightmares.

One of the things that had surprised me when I finally looked at a calendar was the fact that, come my 16^th birthday, I will have been in Reefside a full year. It had been part of why I’d said I didn’t want a huge party; yes, 16 is a milestone birthday, but for me, it was a reminder of what had caused me to run in the first place. I’d fled Angel Grove on my 15^th birthday; so much of my life had changed in almost a year’s time.

I wondered how Ba was dealing with the same memories; I knew the date of Mom’s death, so close to his own birthday, was also a difficult date for him to deal with. I had to trust that Rocky, David, and the others would be there for him that week. I knew Dad, Katherine, and my own close circle of friends would be doing the same here in Reefside.

Part of why I’d missed Hayley’s birthday was I’d had a small memorial to Mom on her birthday, which was so close to Hayley’s own; my teacher had taught me how to do so when I’d asked. Dad had joined me, which hadn’t surprised me. Mom had been a friend and teammate; he still missed her. I’d dreamt that night of the Ranger totem she and I had shared; I think Mom appreciated the memorial. I’d woken up crying softly after that; Dad had joined me after putting Andy back to sleep. I missed Mom so much; seeing her in the Grid last year just made the awareness of her loss all that harder for me. Prior to that, she’d just been stories and pictures to me; now I truly realized what Ba had gone through after her death. The hardest part of my Ranger journey was not having her there to talk to during all of it.

I ended up spending part of my time Saturday after the soccer game hiding out in the theater. I’d agreed to help the set and prop department hang the paintings I’d made at Mrs. Thompson’s request and really didn’t want to deal with the crowds in the school at the moment. While Hell Week wouldn’t actually start until Monday, the cast and crew had agreed to use the afternoon as a small preview and the paintings needed hung ahead of that. If that hadn’t happened, I would have helped them hang the paintings before school on Monday.

The set department was quietly chuckling as James, the stage manager, basically told me to head back into the crowd; I’d actually asked if I could hang out there after getting done.

“Nope,” came the response from the stage manager. “You’ll just be in the way, Abigail. Shoo. I know your friends Austin and Amy are here and they want to see you.”

“Okay, I know when I’m not wanted, James. Break a leg, you guys.” With that traditional theater blessing, I eased my way into the crowd in the cafeteria. With the crowd that was here for the art show and spring sports games, Principal Randall had elected to open the cafeteria to sell some food instead of having the crowd overwhelm the food stands reserved for the sports matches. Most of the crowd wouldn’t be staying in the school once they looked at the art exhibit; Dad indicated that Principal Randall hoped most of them would buy tickets for the sports games as well as the art exhibit. Aside from the soccer teams, Steve had a track meet this afternoon. Most of the students were likely going to be dragging their friends from Angel Grove down to CyberSpace at some point, hoping to show them our version of the Youth Center.

It had been why Hayley had come to the show last night as our guest; she was going to be busy today and tomorrow with the out-of-town teens. Trent and Ethan were both working there today and Kira was going to be performing. I wasn’t entirely sure where Conner was, but given his involvement with the soccer team, he was probably assisting Coach Daveed and the soccer coach for the male soccer team, who was playing immediately after us.

I suspected Ba might stop at CyberSpace at some point; he’d talked some with Hayley when he was up the previous summer. Austin had said something about Ba wanting to do some game upgrades to the Youth Center when we talked over the phone the previous week. I’d laughed; if there was anyone who could give Ba that advice, it was Hayley and Ethan.

Before I could find the twins, I found myself almost literally picked up in a hug by Austin.

“Let me down, you lug!” We were laughing as I returned the hug and Austin set me back down. “How’re you doing?”

“Good, Abigail. You?” He responded, eyes twinkling.

“Good; nervous but good. It was easier dealing with my classmates during the school half of this”-I waved my hand-“but the crowd? Not so much, Austin. Kinda wish Trent was here; he had to deal with this as a senior when he coauthored a comic book with Carson Brady.” Austin just gave me a one-armed hug at that and he weaved us out of the crowd in the cafeteria and to one of the quieter staircases.

We ended up having a quiet conversation, avoiding all talk of Ranger stuff. While Austin was in the know about my own life as a Ranger, he’d not gotten a chance to try out either of his parents’ morphers; nor had Amy. There had been plans to do so last summer, but the news about Ivan had pushed those back until after his defeat. David aside, the final fight against Ivan was no time to bring more newbies in than necessary. David had only been brought in because he was more than willing to follow Jason’s orders; I knew Austin and Amy would have fought to lead. They’re too much like their dad in that regard and Jason knew it.

By the time I’d felt comfortable entering the rooms where the art show were-one of the school’s exhibit rooms-the crowd had thinned some. I found my Ranger team in there, talking with Ba, David, and Amy, Dad, Katherine, and Andy nowhere to be found. I realized that Dad might be looking for me; I was supposed to come straight from the theater to the exhibit room. Katherine was likely in the bathroom or in a quiet area feeding Andy or changing a diaper if she wasn’t with Dad.

Of course, when my Ranger team noticed me, I was treated a larger version of my interaction with Austin; the only real difference was we ended up landing on the ground. I suspect that the only reason they’d done such a big group hug was due to the fact that there was enough space to do so. Any student caught doing something that would knock over one of the exhibits was guaranteed to end up in detention.

We were laughing as we got up, Johnny lending me a hand as soon as it was safe for me to get up. Dad came in not long after; I noticed David looking a bit guilty as he put his cell back in his pocket. I gave my older brother a smile to let him know he was okay. He pulled me into a hug as Austin apologized for pulling me away without giving me a chance to let someone know I had been waylaid. Dad let me know I wasn’t in trouble for that; I’d missed Ba’s raised eyebrow, but David hadn’t as he moved between Ba and I. Yes, I’d broken a rule, but it had been a minor one and I’d not left school grounds. I’d’ve been in serious trouble had Austin and I actually left school grounds without letting my dad know. I knew we’d be talking about it when we got home, but I was learning that a simple apology would do in this instance.

As much as I wanted to have a quiet conversation with my family and friends who’d come up from Angel Grove, there wasn’t much of a chance to do so; like all the other students who had items in the show, I had to stay in the room for a couple of hours. Most of that time was spent simply talking with the people who’d come to see the artwork. While the show was going to be open tomorrow, the awards were going to be given by the time I got done with my two hours in the art quad. Ba had, at some point, slipped out of the room while I was talking to one of the parents of a fellow Reefside student. Someone had apparently informed him and David about some of my paintings being used in the school play; Austin and Amy were not in the room either.

By the time my two hours were up, I was never so glad to join my parents and baby brother. While none of the people I talked to asked personal questions, I was still drained from talking for those two hours. All I wanted to do was get home and finish my homework, but we had to stay while the awards were being given out. This was one of the few things I disliked about having to be here all day for the art show; Sundays had become a time for Dad and I to spend time together when we could. By having to stay here most of the day, that meant Dad and I both would be scrambling to finish our work before we went to bed; otherwise, we’d be spending most of Sunday either doing homework or grading it. Thankfully, all I had to do at the school tomorrow was pick up my artwork; while I could have stored it in Dad’s office all day, neither of us wanted to try keeping the painting in his Jeep during my lessons at the dojo.

Principal Randall came over not long after the final awards were given; as much as I’d gotten to know her through her association with Dr. Mercer and as an ally to our team, I found her personality could be a bit grating at times. Thankfully, she could tell I wasn’t in the mood to talk, drawing Dad into a conversation instead. We were able to head out not long after that; as drained as I was, Dad was taking us out to Little Tokyo, one of my favorite restaurants in Reefside. Ba and the others were headed back to Angel Grove; they’d said as much when Katherine had invited them to join us.

“You alright, Abigail?” Dad asked as we were leaving; I could hear the concern in his voice.

“Just tired; I wasn’t expecting today to be as draining as it was. Not sure what happened; just panicked after the soccer game was over. I was glad when James grabbed me to help with hanging the paintings in the theater as it helped to distract me from my panic.”

“If you want to go to bed early tonight, I’m not going to blame you.” I shook my head at that; despite my exhaustion, I felt like I could do my homework at the very least. I didn’t have the energy for anything strenuous; not that we did much in the way of that in the evenings.

“I’m going to work on my homework. I got some done last night; just have my math and science homework to finish. Thankfully, all I had to do for English was read and worksheet for Vietnamese; the rest was either in-class work or helping set up for the art show.” What I wasn’t saying was the fact that I was hoping to not have to do any of it in the morning except possibly print out my science paper if I couldn’t do so tonight.

I’d managed my math homework and the remainder of my science paper before realizing I was exhausted. I elected to wait to print the paper off until the morning; the last time I’d worked on a science paper tired, I’d not realized I’d made several goofs until my teacher pulled me to the side and let me know quietly. I’d gotten in the habit of checking things in the morning before printing things off if I was doing it over the weekend.

Despite my exhaustion, I quietly joined my parents and baby brother on the ground floor. I’d not had a chance to spend much time with them today between the soccer game, the art show, and my homework and really wanted to. I was still dealing with the shock of winning both ‘best in show’ ribbons in the painting category, though I was still glad that the voting had been by number and blind box. It had meant that I’d won the ribbons strictly on merit, which was important to me. Shows like this could sometimes turn out to be popularity contests, which I wasn’t a fan of. I still found it mind-boggling that I was considered popular among my classmates; all I did was try to be as accepting of others as I could and treated even those I didn’t get along with as civil as I was able to.

Leroy, thankfully, was willing to put the previous fall’s argument between us, as was I. The argument wasn’t one of my proudest moments. When it came time for the semester science class switch, our schedules had been rearranged slightly so we weren’t sharing the same science period again. That still hadn’t stopped him from showing off, but he was using our shared gym period to do so and usually ended up failing spectacularly. The last time he’d done something stupid to show off, he ended up getting hit by the rubber balls we were using in dodge ball that week.

Location: Reefside, Tommy Oliver’s house the next day. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy mused as he watched Abigail and Andy spending time together after breakfast. If he had to be honest with himself, he was still worried about her mental and emotional health. She’d gone into the fight with Ivan almost back to normal and her involvement in his death had clearly rattled her. Bringing Andy home from the hospital had reawakened old nightmares and she was still struggling to deal with everything. She had reached a point where she didn’t know how she was feeling into words; Conner had told him during the pool party at Anton’s house that she didn’t even know what she was supposed to feel. He closed his eyes as the memory of the conversation came to the forefront of his mind.

“Dr. O, I’m worried about her. When Ethan and I were talking to her, she almost bit our heads off; she’d even told us to basically leave as she didn’t want to attack either of us out of anger. She was this close to trying to finding a way to bury her feelings on the matter. She said she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be relieved that Ivan was dead or guilty for playing a role in his death.”

Damn Ernie for setting this bad of an example for her, Tommy had thought. She’d seen her birthfather do the same thing growing up; Ernie had only started dealing with his grief because Abigail’s running away had forced him to. Now, Abigail was in a spot where her thoughts, feelings, and emotions were overwhelming her and she was dealing with one of a few ways she knew how to-burying them and forcing everyone away. He, Kat, and Rocky had done their best to help her find other ways, but in her time of stress, she’d gone back to a habit she’d seen growing up.

“She saw her birthfather use similar tactics with his own grief, Conner. It’s a big part of why I let you two go after her; she needs to know she doesn’t have to deal with this alone. If we let her do this alone, she’s going to end up like Ernie did after Trini’s death.”

“We can’t let that happen. We may have been able to get the initial blow-up out of the way, but…” Conner could only shake his head. Tommy had helped the other four deal with the issues that came with being a Power Ranger during their time; it had only been the fact that Mesogog had thankfully separated himself from Anton that had made destroying the dinosaur/human hybrid easier. Abigail was heading down the same path Trent had after he’d been freed from the evil surrounding his Dino Gem and Ernie after Trini’s death; she was having a hard time allowing her friends, teammates, and mentor/dad to help her deal with everything.

It had been a huge part of why he’d been so surprised to find out she’d spent the next day in Triceramax, working on the Zords. While most of the Zords, including the rebuilt Dino Thunder Zords, hadn’t sustained a lot of damage, there were some that needed fixing after the battle with Ivan. He’d gone down after she’d fallen asleep to find her meticulous notes on what could be simply fixed with help from a second person and what needed completely replaced. He’d double checked her work one afternoon later that week when she’d been at soccer practice and had been surprised at the accuracy. He knew that he’d taught her how to do that work on the Dino Zords, but hadn’t realized just how much she’d taken in, nor how involved she’d been in the creation of not just her personal Zord, but the ones her team used until he looked at Hayley’s notes.

He’d also started looking into ways to help her; her mental and emotional issues no longer covered just her broken birth family and childhood, but now encompassed her life as a Power Ranger. Scorpina and Rito’s attacks, along with freeing Ivan, could not have come at a worse time for her. Ivan’s plans had been especially damaging for all of them; not even Rocky had realized just how damaging they’d been for Abigail. Here she was, working on building a relationship with her prospective adoptive parents, knowing she’s going to be a big sister and Ivan’s plans threaten to destroy that. The plans that he, Conner, and Rocky had made to give her that support in her Ranger life now needed to continue into her civilian life.

He understood why she was feeling both relief and guilt; he’d felt the same way when Dimitria had allowed him and his teammates to turn their Turbo powers over to a new team. He was relieved to be free of the responsibilities and guilt that he even felt that way. His enemies up to that point had all survived their final fights against them; Mesogog and Zeltrax had been the only ones killed by his hand and even then, it had been a group effort. He grieved especially for Zeltrax; despite their enmity, he mourned Smitty’s death. He’d been shocked when he’d found out his former friend had not just survived the lab accident, but had become one of Mesogog’s lieutenants. Once he’d found out, he realized that the Smitty he knew had died the day of the lab accident. That still didn’t make the cyborg’s death any easier, but he also knew that it had to be done. Smitty was just too far gone to be redeemed; Mesogog’s separation from Anton had meant the same thing. Ivan, from what Agent Hotchner had said, was the same way; Tommy had agreed after looking at a small portion of what the purple alien’s crimes were. He was just upset that SPD had basically put the responsibility of carrying out Ivan’s sentence on his daughter’s shoulders without talking to him or Rocky first. She didn’t need that pain; he was glad there had been 14 other Rangers in that dead-end alleyway that day. It was next to impossible to determine just which blaster had been the one to administer the killing shot.

If it hadn’t been for his own experiences, he wouldn’t even be letting her near their Command Center at present. He knew, though, that her healing was going to be all over the place and just simply working on the Zords with Hayley or someone just quietly being there, not talking about Ranger battles, had helped her start to climb out of the hole she’d fallen in. She’d also used the upcoming art show, theater performances, as well as her belt test, as part distraction, part goal to help get herself back on her feet.

He’d deny it, but he’d almost choked when he saw the painting she’d done for Hayley. He knew she’d felt bad for missing her friend’s birthday; while Hayley brushed it off, he knew she’d appreciate the painting. Hayley’d admired it Friday night when she’d stopped by the high school to take a look at the student art. She’d told him that she was slightly disappointed that Elsa had elected to not have the art for sale as she wanted to buy Abigail’s painting to hang at CyberSpace. He’d had to smother a grin at that; Abigail’s surprise would have been revealed if he’d not composed himself.

He still wasn’t sure what Abigail would be up for when they slipped off to spend time together. It had been part of why she always made sure to have as much of her homework done before going to bed Saturday; he knew that she enjoyed what Sundays they could spend time together that wasn’t connected to their Ranger duties. They’d skipped the previous Sunday because he’d ended up taking a much longer nap than he’d intended to. They’d both known he’d needed the sleep though; between her nightmares and Andy sometimes not wanting to go back to sleep at night for anyone but him, he’d not had a lot of sleep since his son had been born.

Tommy shook his head to bring himself out of his musings as Abigail handed Andy back to Kat. She had to take a second once Kat had a good hold on Andy as the infant had gotten a good grip of her necklaces. He’d fussed a bit at the transfer, but any upset was left behind as Kat went into the den to feed him.

“You ready to go, Abigail?” Today, they were simply going to spend the day at one of a handful of Reefside’s museums that had been on Abigail’s list of places she wanted to visit, but they’d just not had a chance to do so yet. After they got done, they were going to make a quick detour to pick up her painting and ribbons at the high school before heading home.

“Ready when you are, Dad.” Abigail flashed him a grin that barely hid her emotional state as they got ready to leave. As they got ready to leave, Tommy turned to her, unable to keep his concern out of his voice or off his face.

“Abigail, if you’d rather stay home outside of the trip to get your painting, we can stay home. I know yesterday was a rather long day for you and if you’d rather take this day to rest at home…”

“No…I’ve been looking forward to this. I don’t want to put this off, Dad. Sundays are quiet days at the museums anyway. If I don’t go out…” Tommy put the Jeep into park at that and went around to her as she started to sob.

“Abigail, it’s absolutely okay if you need to take a break from everything. You’ve been through a lot in the past 11 months. You don’t need to push yourself to do things if you’re not ready for them.”

“I spent most of my time after Ivan’s defeat not leaving the house except for school, the dojo, and soccer, Dad. I…need this,” she hiccupped. “I don’t want to be like Ba; his routine for most of my life was home, the Youth Center, grocery store, picking us up from school, etc. We only took vacations once a year if that, once David and I were both old enough to know to stay near him, to not go running off. I don’t want to get trapped in that cycle of behavior.”

Tommy knew her attitude was a healthy one and one she’d had since coming to Reefside. Ernie had set a through example of what often to not do. Abigail, with his and Rocky’s initial help, had started to recognize the bad behaviors she’d seen in Ernie and had made progress in figuring out how to change those learned behaviors in herself. His major worry with her right now is she was in danger of pushing herself to the other extreme. Ivan’s arrival had forced her to put a lot of stuff on the back burner; his death mixed in with those issues made her healing even harder. He was going to have words with Andros’ SPD contact when the time came and serious ones. He’d been assured that both Rito and Scorpina had been made well aware of the serious consequences of their actions. Tommy still wasn’t sure he’d be able to control his temper if he ran across the two again, Rito’s help or no. He was well aware Rito had only helped him because he was disgusted with Ivan’s plan, not out of any sense of right and wrong or loyalty to his sister. If Rito was ever let free, he’d become an adversary again; Rita’s skeletal brother had indicated as much when they’d initially interrogated him.

Scorpina had been the only holdup; the only reason that neither of Ivan’s lieutenants had been turned over to SPD was because Andros had argued for Rita to check her out first. There had been some inconsistencies in her brain makeup from what Andros had said; Tommy had barely been paying attention to his friend’s words. As long as he didn’t have to see or deal with her, he didn’t care what happened to her as long as she was kept away from him and his family.

As soon as Abigail had composed herself, Tommy got back behind the driver’s seat and they took off. He still wasn’t sure about the excursion, but he also knew Abigail was right; she couldn’t sequester herself in the house forever. She was trying to get herself back in a familiar routine; he’d talked to Rocky enough to know that having a familiar routine was important right now. She’d also told him she was talked out when it came to Ivan; Rocky and Captain Mitchel both had told them that was to be expected. Abigail’s emotions were all over the place in regards to it and it would take her some time to work through them. There was only so much she could do talking with someone; she also needed to work through her thoughts and feelings on her own.

Once they got to the art museum, which had an exhibit on Ancient Egypt the year prior, Tommy could see Abigail come to life, her pain forgotten as she took everything in. She’d heard about their fight against Tutenhawken and gave Ethan all sorts of grief over translating the hieroglyphics. He’d later said it had been similar to the lecture Tommy had given him; Abigail had thanked him for the compliment. All Ethan could do was throw his hands up in surrender at that, Conner, Trent, and Kira dissolving into giggles. They’d gotten waylaid by the museum director at one point; he wanted to do an exhibit featuring up and coming young artists over the summer. Trent had also been invited to take part, as had other local young artists, most of which were over the age of 18. With Abigail being under 18, Tommy was needed to give his permission, one he was fine with giving, but he put the final decision in Abigail’s hands.

Luckily, they didn’t have to give an answer that day, but the director needed an answer by the end of the month. Tommy knew Abigail was a talented artist, even if she didn’t always have the same confidence in her talent and skills. He could understand why, too; for years, she’d used art as a way to get out from under Ernie’s strict parenting. She’d come to enjoy it, even if she’d outstripped her teacher’s ability to help her develop her skills. She’d admitted she’d had to resort to borrowing books from the library to learn skills that she just couldn’t learn from the teachers at school or the one who taught part-time at the Youth Center. Tommy knew Abigail was planning on taking every art class she could at Reefside High; she’d taken a few afternoon ones that the art store offered when she had the free time. The offer from the museum director meant that what had been an escape and fun hobby could very well turn into a possible career for her.

He also knew she was having issues dealing with finding out she was considered popular. Abigail, like her mother, was unconcerned with being popular, instead focusing on being friendly with everyone. He’d known some of that popularity initially had to do with curiosity about being his foster daughter at the time as well as being a cause for one of the high school’s unpopular teachers losing his job. She’d soon forged a way to become popular in her own right, even if she was unaware she was doing it. She’d started tutoring several classmates in science, even if she’d had to ask for help herself. Normally, that would be the purview of the older students, but most of the students had admitted it was less about the subject and more about understanding the terminology. Add to the fact that the float she’d helped work on for the Homecoming Parade had won ‘Best Float’, along with her well-known soccer skills, and a recipe for popular student was created.

She disliked her popularity, but Tommy had noticed how she’d used it to ensure her friends had gotten the two female spots on the Homecoming Court. Francine had been a shoe-in from what he’d heard, but Karan wasn’t near as popular as her two friends. Abigail might not know how much good she’d done for Karan at the time; he’d met her parents at the parent-teacher conferences the year before as her older brother had been in his first period science class. Karan making the Homecoming Court had likely saved her a lecture from her parents, as had Abigail’s praise after the football game.

He was proud of how far she’d come since arriving in Reefside and knew Trini would be as well. The two were remarkably similar in personality; even Ernie had noticed that much when he’d observed her with the friends she had in Angel Grove. Ernie had spoken to him during the art show when Abigail had to do her rounds and had actually apologized for his words the previous July. Both knew that rebuilding their own friendship would take time, as would Ernie’s relationship with Abigail, but Tommy was willing to give his friend a second chance to make things right.

As they left the art museum, Tommy noticed Abigail looking at her feet as they headed back to the Jeep.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, Dad. I just…I never considered myself that good of an artist, that’s all. My art style’s well known enough among my classmates that I thought I’d won the student ribbon more because they consider me popular than of any indication of skill or talent. The public ribbon surprised me; some I’ll grant likely came from parents who’d heard their kids talk about me, but the rest? Now the museum director? The art show at the high school was difficult enough and now he wants to feature some new stuff by me?!” Tommy was grateful they’d not yet left the courtyard and guided Abigail over to a bench. Sitting next to her, he drew her into a hug and helped calm her.

“Abigail, you have talent and skill in art. You made the advanced class you did in school because of that. I’m not surprised at all by the ribbons or the offer that the director made; you should be very proud of yourself. I know Katherine and I are and so is Ernie; he said as much to me yesterday. Nobody that’s seen your work was surprised by your ribbons and your teacher said that you’re one of the best artists to come through her class. I know you’ve got an ‘A’ in that class and for a reason. It might be an easy A for you, but I’ve also seen just how much you enjoy it. It’s part of why I’ve never once denied you the opportunity to develop your talent, Abigail. Like I told the director, the final decision to put your artwork on more public display is up to you. My permission is more formality than any other reason; I won’t commit you to the exhibit if you have no desire to do so.”

“Can I think on it, Dad? This is a big decision to make. I kinda want to say yes, but I’ve got other stuff coming up I need to concentrate on first.”

“Take your time, Abigail. You’ve still got several weeks to make your decision and I know Trent’s been asked as well. He’d be the best person to ask about this, honestly.” Tommy was relieved to see Abigail relax at that and they soon headed out. Their time at the museum had carried them through lunch and both had elected to eat in Reefside, heading to CyberSpace after lunch, before eventually making their way to the high school and home. By the time they finished lunch, Abigail was slowly returning to what passed for normal for her, which Tommy was glad to see. Even though the crowd at CyberSpace was low, slipping into a normal routine was helping. Tommy watched as Ethan and Trent pulled her into a 3-way hug and eventual conversation as they headed off to their normal alcove.

“She’s going to be fine, Tommy.” Tommy just about jumped when Hayley emerged from the storeroom, Conner behind her, carrying the rest of the supplies Hayley needed.

“I hope so, Hayley. She’s been dealing with a lot this past month and stuff that’s hard for an adult that goes through it, much less someone who’s almost 16.”

“It’s going to take time, time she thankfully has. That’s not counting the support system she has to get her through this.”

Tommy could see the results of a semi-relaxing weekend on Abigail as the week went on; like the fall play, they’d attended the spring musical. It had just been the two of them; Kat had wanted to come, but until Andy was old enough to be left with a sitter, she wasn’t willing to leave him behind. She also didn’t want to bring him to the theater either as to not interrupt the show. She’d taken some time during the art show to take a peek at the musical instead. Abigail was also taking time to prepare for her belt test; like her previous two, she would be taking it in a group and the test would be administered by the head of the dojo. She was still having nightmares about Ivan’s defeat, but had come to accept that she was likely going to have them for quite some time.

Of course, her string of luck when it came to only one nightmare a night finally ran out the night before a soccer game. Being a reserve player meant she didn’t have to attend every game; Tommy had called Coach Daveed to let him know she wouldn’t be able to make it. While Tommy was busy talking with Reefside High’s soccer coach, Kat had called Rocky, who was there faster than the almost 2 hours it normally took his friend to make the drive. What hadn’t surprised him was the fact that David was in the car with him; Tommy had found out after the fact that the older teen had to step up in Billy’s place during that same battle. David had been able to get through to his sister, which relieved Tommy to no end. Seeing her exhausted after a nightmare-filled night was not fun at all; David and Rocky both had to be there for Ernie the previous summer as he dealt with nightmare-filled nights and were all too happy to use that experience with Abby.

Rocky recognized that she was dealing with compounded stressors; he’d sat down with Tommy in the latter’s office while Abigail slept in David’s arms.

“Tommy, I’m not going to lie; Abigail’s likely suffering from some form of PTSD, or will be if she isn’t already. She hadn’t been under your care long when she stepped into her role as a Power Ranger. She was still dealing with Ernie’s abuse at that point in time. Finding out that Ivan was targeting Andy didn’t help matters, nor the fact that he planned to put her under his control. Now, her involvement in his death likely doesn’t help; as I’m sure you’ve seen, it’s actually the cause of her most recent nightmares. Andros told me of SPD’s orders and you’re not the only one who wants to slowly and carefully let them know just how badly they screwed up. Andros told me he tried getting them to allow us to decide, but they wouldn’t listen.” Rocky shook his head at the intergalactic Ranger police force that largely stayed out of Earth’s Ranger’s way.

Tommy sighed as he looked into the den. “Is there anything I can do to help her, Rocky?”

“Not much beyond what you’re already doing. The most important thing right now is that she knows she’s got a support system that she can rely on. Outside of the day of the pool party, she’s been really good about relying on that support system. With time, she’ll come out of this stronger Tommy. Today aside, she already is. Look at how she’s sleeping in David’s arms; I’ve seen her rest in yours the same way. She knows she’s safe here and with her brother; even the fact that she’s willing to acknowledge her nightmares and feelings is a positive sign.”

Tommy snorted. “Her feelings I can understand, but why is acknowledging and be somewhat willing to talk about her nightmares a good thing?”

Rocky gave a tight smile at his friend’s question. “Because it means she’s not running from them, Tommy. That is a very good thing given the example Ernie set for her growing up. You should be proud of the fact that you’ve given her that safe space to be able to deal with the hand that she’s been dealt. With everything that’s gone wrong in her life, she’s finally got something going right for a change, even if it doesn’t appear that way all of the time.”

“Thanks, Rocky. I appreciate that you and David both were able to come up.”

“Anytime, Tommy. Ernie would have been here too if he didn’t think that being here would have possibly made things worse for her. As it is, he’s been worried about her, especially once the news came that Ivan had been killed. He figured out David had come up back in April in fairly short order; it was why he just about ordered David in the car with me. David was waiting on Ernie’s permission, as he’s still rather hesitant to leave town right now.”

“I’m glad he came; this is the most rest she’s had since overnight Thursday into Friday morning. Her nightmares were fairly bad last night, Rocky. A good chunk had her waking up in a panic and I couldn’t leave her side. The fact that she’s not woken up means she’s getting the sleep she needs right now. As much as she’s going to likely miss lunch, she needs the sleep more.”

Tommy, Rocky, and Kat ended up spending most of the afternoon talking among themselves, along with taking care of Andy. Abigail had stirred a couple of times, but had settled back down, getting the rest her mind and body needed. He’d also noticed that both Sasha and Eliza had settled on David’s lap at some point; the two cats always seemed to know when Abigail needed their comfort.

By the time Abigail awoke, Tommy was pleased to see that she was doing better. She apologized for sleeping as long as she did, but Tommy reassured her that she wasn’t in trouble for doing so.

“Abigail, you needed that sleep after all the nightmares you had,” he told her quietly. “If that means you spend your day catching up on the rest you need, then that’s fine.” He was unsurprised to receive a gentle hug from her; she often expressed her gratitude towards him that way, especially when she wasn’t at her best.

Abigail ended up remaining quiet for the rest of the evening, which neither Tommy nor Rocky were too unsurprised by; Abigail often became quiet when she wasn’t at her best mentally or emotionally. What had surprised them was the fact that Abigail elected to do her homework on the ground floor instead of her room, which had become her habit when she wanted peace and quiet. When he’d asked her later why she’d chosen to do her homework there earlier in the evening, her answer brought a small smile to his face.

“I wanted to spend time with my family; I still feel bad for falling asleep on everyone earlier.” Tommy knew just how much family meant to her. It had been a huge reason why Ivan’s plans had affected her so much. She’d not come much of her shell by the time she’d gone to bed, but she’d also not displayed the withdrawn behavior that had scared him and Kat both earlier in the morning. He suspected it had been why David had been in that car; David had been through so much dealing with his father in a similar mental state and now his sister was at her lowest.

Despite her long nap, Tommy was unsurprised to find out she’d still been able to get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Tommy wasn’t sure if it was David sharing a room with her or just the fact that, after getting her homework done the night before, she’d had a long overdue counseling session with Rocky. Their in-person sessions hadn’t happened in a couple of weeks because of the school art show and she needed to be able to just sit and talk with him about everything. He realized that the missed session may have played a part in her discomfort the previous Saturday during the art show.

When it came time for Rocky and David to head back to Angel Grove, it was harder to say just who the goodbye was hardest on. Tommy knew that David didn’t want to leave his sister when she was like this, but he needed to get back home. He was going to be spending his summer splitting his time with teaching classes at Jason’s dojo, helping Ernie out at the Youth Center, and spending time with friends that he’d not seen since graduating high school the year before.

On the other hand, Tommy also knew Abigail cherished the time she could spend with David. She had only admitted recently that not being able to spend as much time with her older brother had been the hardest part of running away. She and David had been incredibly close growing up; despite the distance, it looked as that bond had, if anything, grown stronger. The two siblings, once Abigail knew it was safe to communicate with him, had talked almost weekly. Abigail sometimes would send David sketches of her life in Reefside; even with his visits to the city, the older teen didn’t have the frame of reference for everyone and everything she told him about. Of course, David had reciprocated with photographs; he’d admitted he didn’t have his sister’s talent for drawing and painting, but he knew how to operate a camera.

After Rocky and David left, Abigail curled up watching Andy nap, tears streaming down her face. She’d begun to have doubts about her running away despite Ernie and David, along with Tommy, Rocky, and Kat telling her she had no other option but to do what she did. Rocky had warned Tommy that Abigail would reach that point in her healing where she would begin to doubt her choices; if it hadn’t been for Ivan and the issues he’d caused, she would have reached that point months earlier. All Tommy could do was be for there for her as she cried.

Despite the upset, Tommy was pleased to see Abigail doing better; the visit from her brother and therapy session with Rocky had enabled her to recover somewhat. She recognized that she still wasn’t at her best, but Tommy was quietly grateful for the opportunity for her to fully process everything that had happened to her over the last year. It had been his experience that the evil that the Rangers normally dealt with rarely stayed this quiet for long. Normally, it bounced from town to town; Angel Grove had been the only city up until the previous June where several villains had elected to start their conquest of Earth from, planning on using it as a base to take over the universe.

He was also semi worried about the fact that her team’s Powers were still active; Abigail had informed him about the fact the same day Ivan had been defeated. Outside of Jason, Mystic Force along with Reefside’s two teams, Tommy was certain nobody else knew of that fact. Jason had confessed he’d not shared the information with the rest of the Rangers just yet, but they also knew that the secret couldn’t be kept for long either. Jason had agreed to hold off on informing everyone else until after Tommy had a chance to talk with Rita-Mystic Mother to the Ranger teams whose Powers were derived from the magical side of the Grid instead of the more science-based teams like Time Force.

He’d not informed Andros just yet; while he trusted the leader of the Space team, Tommy knew Andros would be honor bound to contact those who Tommy feared would insist on removing the team from Earth as they searched for answers to the questions. Tommy wanted to keep their families in the dark as long as possible for their own safety; he’d had a long conversation with Captain Mitchel when he found out that Lightspeed’s mentor hadn’t even sworn his team to that particular rule. In Mitchel’s defense, he’d not known of the rules that Zordon had set down, though he’d required his team to unwittingly follow two of the rules. Given that Mariner Bay’s populous knew of the identities of Lightspeed Rescue, it was a little difficult to put that secret away.

With her team’s Powers still active, Tommy knew that Reefside was going to be a target for the next year at minimum. Where their next opponent came from, nobody knew and that’s what worried Tommy. He wondered if their next opponent was going to be from Earth; Reefside was now split 1-1 on villains from Earth and Space respectively. As he communicated with the various teams over the years, he discovered Earth had a mixed history of such a thing; the villains each Ranger team seemed to be reflected in how their Ranger Powers manifested. Rita had been able to confirm for him that all such abilities, magic included, seemed to derive partially from the Grid. He’d been shocked, but honored, when he’d been asked to hide the physical manifestation of the Grid. With Hayley’s permission and help, they’d hid it below her cybercafé; both had been pleased that Trent, without knowing that the Grid was even there, had done the hard work in making sure that CyberSpace remained in her hands. It would have been a disaster if Mesogog had gotten his hands on the Grid, as he was still connected with Anton at the time.

He’d also been relieved that Hayley had granted him that permission when Zeltrax trashed Triceramax Command Center; his former friend turned cyborg enemy would have also done his best to destroy it had it been stored there. He was going to have to take Abigail and her team to CyberSpace over the summer and have them update the Grid with her team’s information. That trip would have to wait until a team name had been selected; Carter, Lightspeed’s Red, had taken to calling them the Rookie Rangers in private. Tommy knew that name wouldn’t last for long; he wondered how long it would take for Abigail and her team to voice their objections and what form those objections would take.

Tommy suspected prank war, but he wasn’t about to say anything either. He knew Abigail, while not a prankster on the level that Ethan was, could pull of some rather spectacular pranks if sufficiently motivated. He’d not been able to prove it, but he suspected she’d engaged in a quiet prank war with Ethan; he’d seen once picture taken by Kira that showed Ethan covered in glitter. Conner and Kira had both denied involvement and he’d remembered Trent having a couple of weeks the previous summer where he’d shown up for training sessions sparkling due to glitter ending up in his shampoo somehow.

He’d also started working with Abigail on preparing for her belt test, which was taking place this week. He’d done similarly for her last belt test; despite David’s teaching, he’d had to help catch her up on some of the things her older brother hadn’t been able to completely teach her. Most of that was getting her more comfortable with weapons. The Grid had gotten her comfortable with fighting with dual daggers as close-range weapons, but there were other weapons she would learn as she gained skills in karate.

He also hoped to teach her other martial arts; she’d picked up some jiu-jitsu from Johnny and Steve during the team’s training sessions. She showed no interest in learning other martial arts just yet, but he knew that would likely come with time. He’d started the same way; Jason had admitted David had also started picking up other martial arts after reaching the rank of Shodan.

As with her last belt test, what had been her normal class time at the dojo was taken up by reviews ran by whichever black belts were available. All students up for a belt test were going through this; Hanshi Scott knew that it helped any new students to the dojo feel more comfortable taking their tests and it quietly served as part of their actual test. Often times, more experienced students would take time from their own practice to comfort the newer students, often the white belts, as the newer students were dealing with nerves as their first belt test came up.

The review period also helped Abigail feel more in control of what was going on in her life and helped her focus on something instead of obsessing over the final fight with Ivan. Obsessing over that fight and the resulting aftermath would be as harmful to her mentally and emotionally as not dealing with it. Tommy was determined to help her find a good balance to deal with everything going on in her life; she’d have to do the same even if she didn’t have her mental health issues. He’d had to teach Dino Thunder the same thing before Trent joined; they were all too happy to help Abigail’s team learn the same thing.

Like with her last belt test, Tommy was among the group of teachers as they took several afternoons to complete the test, going from the basics to what they learned up to what they needed to know to gain their next belt. By the time her test was over, Abigail was exhausted, but pleased with herself as she was presented with her belt. He knew how much work she’d put into that rank and it showed as she aced her test. The feeling of satisfaction they both got from her successful test gave Tommy hope that she’d also get through the issues she was dealing with. He’d noticed the confidence boost the successful test had given her and it carried through to her personal life.

What had surprised him was being drawn to the side after the test was finished by Abigail’s previous instructor.

“How is she doing, Kyoshi Oliver? Something happened to her over spring break that seemed to rattle her.”

“I don’t know much of what happened, but I know she was in Reefside proper during the Power Ranger battle with Ivan Ooze. All I know is she saw something that scared her; she’s been talking to her therapist, a friend of mine from Angel Grove, about it. She’s been having nightmares, but she’s put some of those onto paper in her sketchbooks. She and I have an understanding that I won’t snoop in her sketchbooks, especially those that she shows to Rocky. If she leaves any of her drawings out in the house, that’s one thing, but I’d rather not press her too much about it as long as she talks to Rocky about them.”

“Just as long as she’s actually talking to someone about them, then there’s no need for concern here. The only reason I agreed for her to do the test is so she had something to focus on. She was rattled enough in classes for a while that I was worried she’d not be able to do the test at all. Something changed at the beginning of the month and she started focusing properly again. I know you’re taking good care of her.” With that, they shared a bow and Tommy headed off to the changing rooms to change into normal clothing.

It might have been Friday afternoon, but Tommy could tell that Abigail was looking forward to the weekend. She’d been tired enough from the test that she’d rarely had nightmares this week, though she also had admitted to him that she seemed to have gotten a number of them out of the way the previous weekend. Having Rocky and David come up had been a huge help to her and she’d thanked Katherine for calling Rocky.

She was too tired for a proper party that evening, though Hayley promised her once over the weekend once she’d recovered from it. Tommy also knew she was looking forward to the next soccer game; Coach Daveed had practically sighed in relief when they arrived at the field the next morning. They’d won the previous away game, but only just. He’d understood why she’d had to miss this week’s practices, though; the team had engulfed her in a rather big group hug when they found out she’d passed her belt test. That jubilation carried through to the game; it was the team’s first shut-out of the season.

Hayley just shook her head, smiling as an over-excited soccer team filled CyberSpace that afternoon; the results of the soccer game had been broadcast over the radio, resulting in cheering from the teens who’d not gone to the game. She’d received another round of congrats when they’d found out about her successful belt test and Tommy just knew Abigail was going to be alright, even with Rocky popping in for a therapy session. Hayley had let them use her office for it, as she was busy with the soccer team in the café.

Chapter Text

Location: Angel Grove Youth Center, the next day (Sunday). POV: Ernie/3^rd person

Ernie smiled as Rocky handed him an envelope; Abigail’s next belt test had been the previous week and from the looks of the photos, she’d gotten her blue belt.

“How is she, Rocky?” David had given Ernie an update when he’d come back the previous Sunday, but Abigail looked to be doing a lot better in the photos.

“She’s got her good days and her bad days right now, Ernie. The good thing is she’s willing to talk about her nightmares.”

Ernie smiled at that; it was good. He knew from experience just how much talking about what was going on helped and was glad Abigail was doing the same thing.

“If I thought being there would have helped her last weekend, I would have gone up with you and David, Rocky.”

“I know and so does she; you were right, though. She needed David there more than she needed you; her nightmares had been a mix of Ranger-related and some from last summer. David’s presence was a huge help and she ended up getting some much-needed sleep that afternoon.”

Ernie knew what Rocky wasn't saying; the call from Kat had been enough for Rocky to need to head to Reefside not long before his own therapy session was supposed to start. It had also been why Ernie had effectively all but pushed David out the door; Rocky had all been scrambling to leave at the call. It hadn’t taken them that long to head out; Ernie suspected Rocky kept an overnight bag in his car by now as they only had to stop at their house for one for David before heading to Reefside.

Ernie hunted for a frame as Rocky and David dealt with the crowd that had shown up; he kept a few in the Youth Center for pictures of his children. Even if he kept Abigail’s belt test photos in his office or at the house, he smiled as he looked at his daughter’s photos. She’d come so far living in Reefside and Ernie regretted not letting her take lessons earlier. It said something about David’s own teaching ability that she’d not started at Reefside’s dojo as a white belt.

Finding a frame, he slipped Abigail’s photo in it, smiling sadly as he did it. If he’d not been so pigheaded, she would probably be close to David’s own belt rank right now. He didn’t know how he’d make it up to her, though; with her being in Reefside, it made it harder for them to communicate and work through their issues. Phone calls and letters could only do so much; they’d not had much of a chance to talk when she’d been in town for the soccer game.

He’d been surprised when Howard Kwan had come in not long after Reefside’s spring break started; Trini’s uncle had been called in to help with some Ranger-related project that he’d not been willing to speak about in the open. It had been nice to see the man again; he’d just wished that he’d been around when Trini had died. Howard knew just what to say and when to say it; he also had this easygoing personality that put a lot of people at ease. Since returning to Angel Grove, Howard had made it a point to keep in touch with Ernie; he’d also been working on Sylvia, who’d opened her own jewelry making business in town.

Sylvia still hadn’t apologized for her words and actions the previous fall, nor had she attempted to go to Reefside after the news of Abigail’s adoption come out. Ernie had found out some of that was due to Eugene Skullovich; Skull had admitted he’d owed Trini a number of favors starting when they’d both been in high school together and was perfectly willing to repay those by working on Trini’s cousin. Ernie had his suspicions that Bulk was helping too; the two were fooling nobody that they had come up with the money to open their club on their own. Add to that Trini’s kindness towards them even when they were at their worst…well, Ernie wasn’t surprised that the two were willing to help out.

She also hadn’t stopped by the Youth Center often, despite her father’s repeated visits, not even when Abigail was down with the soccer team. She’d not even attended the soccer game despite Howard attending; Howard had admitted he was disappointed in his daughter’s behavior. Sylvia, unlike Abigail, had no good excuse for her behavior. Rocky, when the subject had been brought up, theorized that Sylvia might not want to admit she was wrong about something. He’d volunteered to talk to Trini’s cousin, but Howard had shaken his head, wanting to see if he could get through to his daughter first.

As he and David walked out of the Youth Center later that night, Ernie reflected on everything Rocky had told him. Abigail was planning on coming to the martial arts competition next month; it was being separated by belt rank and being held at the convention center which that had been built just before the charity competition that had seen the Turbo Rangers appear. It would also be a perfect time to have the heart to heart that they both wanted to have; the last two times they’d seen each other, there’d not been enough time to actually have it.

By the time they got home, Ernie realized he didn’t actually know all of what had happened the day of Ivan’s defeat. He also knew Billy had been hurt before the battle-the genius had broken his ankle helping with some repairs around the Youth Center. Reports, however, had indicated that the original team was only missing their Yellow Ranger, substituting the Yellow Ninjetti Ranger instead. David hadn’t been around that day and Ernie knew it had been because Billy had passed the coin on. Neither Billy nor David realized that Ernie had overheard the conversation; Ernie had been scared as heck knowing both of his children were fighting Ivan, but he’d kept himself calm by reminding himself that they weren’t fighting alone.

The fact that David had returned the Sunday after with news that even Abigail was physically unharmed was good news. It was what David hadn’t said that worried Ernie; he’d noticed that David had started having nightmares about what he’d witnessed, nightmares that he’d been talking to both Billy and Rocky about. He had no doubt that Abigail was having those same nightmares; Ernie had been up more than once with his son since mid-April even though David was reluctant to talk about them with his father. However, David was one of only a few people in Angel Grove that could tell him what had happened that day.

While he realized Abigail was having those nightmares, he also trusted Tommy and Katherine to be there for her, along with Rocky. David had been there for him when he’d needed the support from his son; Ernie was more than willing to step up and be there for his son now. When David woke up later that night from yet another nightmare, Ernie was right there. Guiding David to the ground floor, he grabbed a couple of cans of ginger ale as it was still too early for either of them to be drinking anything caffeinated before joining his son in the den.

“David, what’s the matter? You’ve been having these nightmares on and off since Ivan’s defeat. I know Billy gave you his coin; the two of you weren’t near as circumspect as you thought you were.” That was all it took for David’s shoulders to shake before he started crying. Ernie pulled his son into a hug as David let his feelings out.

“Sorry, Dad. We didn’t want to worry you; you have enough on your plate right now as it is without that worry to add to it,” David replied as soon as he finished crying.

“David, I’m your father; it’s my job to worry about my children. I know I didn’t react well when Abigail inherited your mother’s morpher; I will admit that I was still scared when I realized you were fighting in Billy’s place. I wasn’t as scared as I would have been at this point last year; I knew you and Abigail weren’t fighting Ivan and his goons alone. Every known Power Ranger team was in Reefside that day; it would have taken a lot for him to seriously injure you or your sister.”

Slowly, David told his father everything that had happened the day of the fight, including the final fight with Ivan in the alleyway. By the end of it, Ernie was fuming; who were these Space Patrol Rangers to insist Abigail be the one to carry out Ivan’s sentence. He understood why Abigail was having nightmares; despite all 15 Rangers in the alleyway contributing to the alien’s death, it was clear to Ernie that it was affecting both of his children. He also knew he was likely to be in a line to talk with them; David had indicated that both Tommy and Rocky wanted to as well, as did David.

By the time David got done with his tale, the sun was beginning to rise. Knowing going back to sleep was pointless as both of their alarms would be going off shortly, both Ernie and David simply took showers and drank more coffee than they normally would have. Both would take a quick nap during the day; with school still in session for most of Angel Grove’s youth, most of the people at the Youth Center were young college students who weren’t taking spring classes. It wouldn’t be difficult for either man to take a quick nap if needed as the crowd level was that low before school let out.

Ernie knew he was going to need to stop by a card store at some point; Abigail’s success deserved a ‘congratulations’ card. He knew David wanted to send her one too; both of them were proud of her success. Ernie was also proud of David teaching her; he knew she wouldn’t have gotten the initial belt rank she had if David hadn’t taught her on the sly. He knew just how good of a teacher David was as he’d seen his son teaching some of the younger children who took classes at the Youth Center; Abigail had clearly benefited from that same teaching.

He also wanted to start getting into Trini’s things he’d packed away in the attic; he’d seen some letters that she’d written their children’s names on. He was going to talk to Abigail first to see if she wanted him to mail them up or hold on to them until she came to Angel Grove next. He didn’t know if she’d known ahead of her death that she likely wasn’t going to be there when either of their children took up her mantle or if it was just a precaution for just such an eventuality. He would find out that Jason and Kimberly had done the same thing, as had some of their allies who’d also had children. Ernie remembered Jason’s rant from the previous summer; he also remembered just how dangerous it was for those who fought their superpowered enemies.

Ernie, though, wasn’t about to start going through them without David there, which limited the amount of time that they’d be able to go through them together. David often took solo shifts at the Youth Center when Ernie took the day off. He knew that as far as he’d come dealing with his grief, going through what he’d packed away by himself wasn’t good for him right now. One of the few things he and David had started doing was hanging back up the photos Ernie had packed away after Trini’s death. It was sometimes hard to see them hanging up, but Ernie was done running from his grief and the memories.

Location: Reefside, Tommy Oliver’s house, later that week. POV: Abigail/1^st person

I smiled as I opened the cards I’d gotten in the mail from Ba and David, congratulating me on my successful belt test. Rocky had taken a photo of those of us who’d successfully passed our belt tests down to Angel Grove and given it to Ba. David said it was placed above the mantle place where they could see it every day. Ba also apologized in the card for not letting me take lessons when I was younger, saying if he could go back and do things differently, he would.

“Wouldn’t we both, Ba?” I asked myself quietly, glad I was in the privacy of my own room. With my belt test over, my lesson times had changed once again. This time, they were right after supper, allowing me to attend as many soccer practices as I could. That usually meant I often had late nights twice a week as I finished my homework, homework that I’d not been able to do in between study hall, the end of the school day and soccer practice starting. I also gave up my free time at CyberSpace; final exams were coming up and my teachers seemed to want to cram as much homework as they could before that. That didn’t mean I didn’t take breaks; I just didn’t have as much free time as I’d had before. I wasn’t about to complain, though; I preferred being busy.

I placed the cards on my desk, smiling faintly as I did so. A year ago, I don’t know if I would have been able to accept such a card from Ba, but we’d both changed greatly in almost a year’s time. I was looking forward to going to Angel Grove for the martial arts tournament. If it hadn’t been split up by belt rank, Ba would have hosted it at the Youth Center. Unlike previous tournaments, there were going to be too many teen martial artists coming in from the southern half of the state, so they’d elected to host it at the Angel Grove Convention Center. I wanted to see how far I’d get in the competition; I was still a new blue belt and knew realistically that some of my competitors would be a lot farther in their training than I would be at the time of the competition. I was planning on giving a good showing, though; Dad, Katherine, David and Ba all said that they’d be proud of me no matter how far I got, as did my teachers.

I quietly slipped downstairs not long after that; Dad was making burgers for dinner and I wanted to help. I was also starting to work through what I was dealing with isofar as my role in defeating Ivan; logically, I knew that not only Ivan had to go down, but that these feelings of guilt were normal. Dad, one night, had quietly talked about a friend of his, Terrance Smith, who’d he’d beat out for a job promotion at Mercer Industries. Smitty, as Dad called him, had left the company shortly after and gone to work for a different company. Some time later, after Dr. Mercer had turned himself into Mesogog, the lab that Smitty was working at had some type of accident; most people thought that Smitty had died in it, including Dad. What nobody knew until Zeltrax revealed himself to be Smitty was that Mesogog had found him and turned him into a cyborg. Dad still felt guilty about his role in his former friend’s final defeat, but also knew that the Smitty he’d once called a friend was long gone; only Zeltrax remained.

That didn’t mean I still didn’t have nightmares, I did, but they weren’t nearly as bad as they’d been the night before David and Rocky’d come up. I would calm myself by remembering that Ivan was dead and that precautions had been taken to make sure that his plans would never come to fruition. I was also starting to have normal dreams again, which relieved me; I had missed them greatly.

When it came to soccer, we were gearing up for the post-season games and were the odds-on favorite to win the division title. The finals were going to go into summer break, but thankfully end before the martial arts competition, which I didn’t want to miss. Francine and I were both competing, though Patton had elected not to, as our dojo could enter only so many students in the competition. He was still coming down to watch us compete, as were the other students at the dojo that weren’t competing, along with the various instructors.

After dinner was over, I took a fussing Andy from Katherine so she could eat; feeling his diaper, I slipped into the other room to change it. While Dad or Katherine changed most of my baby brother’s diapers, I didn’t mind helping out wherever possible, even if that meant I changed the odd diaper. Helping with diaper duty meant I got to spend some more time with my baby brother and I cherished whatever time I could spend with him.

I smiled as Andy began to coo and smile himself now that he had a clean diaper on. Taking him over to the couch, I laid him on his back and let him hold on to my hands, both of us smiling as we did so. I soon picked him back up though; he started waving his arms around and fussing slightly. I’d learned that meant that he usually wanted held and had no issues complying, even if that meant he grabbed a hold of my necklaces or hair. The hair was easy to remove, but Dad or Katherine usually had to rescue my necklaces from Andy’s grasp.

Speaking of necklaces, David had promised to get a new charm to add to the one he’d given me as a birthday gift. I wasn’t sure where he’d get it; while the store he’d gotten the original necklace was making the charms of my team’s Zords, Sylvia was making ones with gems in our colors where the eyes should be. Whether she would be willing to sell him the one of my Zord, I don’t know; she wasn’t talking to Ba either.

I was still writing letters to her, but she’d never responded to any of them I’d sent; Ba had said she’d shredded my first one to her. I don’t know if she still did, as she’d quit right after Thanksgiving, opening the jewelry store right before Christmas. From what I understood, she’d earned enough making jewelry on the side while working for Ba that, along with what she’d saved while working there to buy the empty storefront. Uncle Howard was still talking to her, but he was also busy working with Dr. Mercer and the Alphas on finding a way to *actually* neutralize Ivan’s elixir. Jason had been bluffing when he’d goaded Ivan into charging us a month and a half ago and with spectacular results.

As Memorial weekend drew to a close, my classmates and I threw ourselves into studying for our end-of-year exams. Dad had been busy too, as he had to actually write the exams for his science classes and it wasn’t unusual to find either of us with books around us as we either studied or wrote the exams. I’d gotten stressed enough studying that Dad had to remind me to relax…again. I felt bad for neglecting my friends like that, but we’d all gotten caught up studying for our exams that we ended up taking an afternoon at CyberSpace to relax.

Most of that afternoon had been spent playing various games, video and card both. I’d pulled Ethan into a game of war with a card deck that Hayley had laying around. One of these days, we were going to try playing it with a Pokémon deck, but we wanted to keep that for summer break. Well, I wanted to, but Ethan wasn’t so sure.

By the time we got done with exams, I felt like my brain had turned to mush. Conner and Ethan had outright laughed at my complaining about it, saying that as bad as high school exams were, university exams were worse.

“Ethan, I do not want to hear that. If that’s your attempt at making me feel better, it’s not helping,” I groaned from where my head was resting on a corner table in CyberSpace.

“At least your school year’s over for now.” School, for us, had ended the first Friday of June with our last exam and we’d escaped, with Dad and Coach Daveed’s blessing, to CyberSpace. Due to exams, he’d canceled today’s practice as long as we showed up for our games tomorrow.

“Not really, Conner. The rest of the soccer playoffs for the next week minus Sunday, 2 games a day unless or until we lose.” Conner, at Francine’s statement, had the decency to put his hands up in surrender at her point. His soccer season had been in the fall, but us girls hadn’t been so lucky. Steve was also finished with his sports season, leaving us girls as the only ones with a sports season to finish out of our Ranger team.

“And that’s not counting practicing for the tournament. I’m just glad the games are scheduled such that we can get to the dojo and back easily. Why did the Reefside Wave volunteer their field for the finals any?” The final question was more rhetorical, as I was expecting no actual answer.

“No clue,” Conner replied when I asked. He wouldn’t directly look at me when I looked at him though; he knew more than he was letting on. Right now, I didn’t care one way or the other; I didn’t even want to think about sports, or school, or anything. Most of the teens in CyberSpace were the same way and CyberSpace was uncommonly quiet as, like us, the crowd was dealing with the aftereffects of a week’s worth of exams.

By the time Dad picked me up, I’d bounced back somewhat from my exam-related exhaustion, though I still was somewhat tired. All I wanted to do when I got home was eat and curl up with either a book or Andy…or both. He was sleeping through the night more and loved being read to; he was also moving his head around more and would look at us, even when he was laying on his tummy. Dad, though, had a lot of work to do still; being one of Reefside’s teachers, he was going to be spending a lot of time grading exams and inputting everyone’s grades so that the report cards could be mailed out by the end of the month. He’d spent most of his afternoons this week doing just that as each of his classes finished their final exams; he’d had to do so for the graduating class last month as the seniors took their exams a week before the rest of the school.

He and Katherine, I knew, had been talking about a family vacation at the end of the month. It had been a toss up between Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood; Disneyland won. I’d gone a couple of times with Ba and David, but those had been one-day trips, not a several day trip like Dad was planning. It was going to be after the soccer season got over; we would be leaving right after the martial arts tournament, which was going to be a several day event due to the number of participants.

I couldn’t wait for the competition; Hanshi Scott had told us that it would be held in Angel Grove due to them both having a large enough space and the fact that it had been years that they’d hosted such a competition. The last time Angel Grove had hosted such a large competition, Divatox had attacked and Dad’s team had gained their Turbo Powers. Dad, once afternoon, had told me the full story about it; Rocky had gotten hurt practicing for it, leaving the team 1 Ranger short until a than 12-year-old Justin had been stepped up to take his place.

Within that year, the bulk of the Turbo team had to follow her into space as Zordon had been captured and they elected to mount a rescue mission. That mission, depending on who you talk to, either ended in success or failure as while Dark Spectre and the Alliance of Evil had ultimately been destroyed, Zordon had sacrificed himself for that to happen. It wasn’t until I talked to Andros that I understood that, because Zordon had to order a Ranger, Andros himself, to break his containment tube, he had been denied an afterlife in the Grid. I found that rather unfair; I understood as well as anyone else that turning Zordon evil was Dark Spectre’s primary goal; he wouldn’t have killed Zordon when he could have demoralized the universe’s Rangers by turning a respected mentor against them. Zordon made the only choice he could have in that situation; he shouldn’t be denied his afterlife due to that order.

I wasn’t the only one that felt that way, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it, not as untrained as I was, or so Andros seemed to think. I still wasn’t sure what Andros meant, but he was going to be on Earth for several months. His wife, Ashley, was visiting her family with their children and he’d volunteered to help my team out with training sessions.

We weren’t worrying about team training sessions right now though; we were focusing on first getting through the soccer finals first. While Dad couldn’t make it to all of the games, he was doing everything he could to make them, even if it meant giving up his weekend to grade tests. Katherine, Andy, and the rest of Reefside’s Rangers were coming to all the games, though. Dad did have to spend most of Monday inputting the grades along with staff meetings; he was hoping to make the rest of the games.

The fact that most of our friends, family, and classmates were expecting us to win every game was surprising; most of the soccer team was feeling the pressure. We’d had a great season, but the only other team from the area that had also made the playoffs was Angel Grove; their only loss this season was to us. Both of our teams were looking like we’d face each other again in one of the final games; it wasn’t the only thing that was worrying me.

Looking at a calendar, I realized it had been a year since I’d inherited Mom’s morpher and communicator. I’d not realized just how a simple conversation only a year ago had changed my life so drastically. A year ago, I’d been scrambling to not just find a way to hide the morpher and communicator from Ba; now I had been able to wear Mom’s communicator openly without fear that I’d be hurt for wearing it. Granted, I could no longer use Mom’s morpher and Power Coin, but I was also not as Powerless as most Rangers would be in my position. Dad still had no clue just why my team’s Powers were still active, but he told us not to worry about it either. Didn’t stop me from worrying; it was because of me that Francine and the others had been called up. Despite Andros saying that I had no other choice, I still felt guilty for taking a bunch of half-trained, inexperienced Rangers into the field. I recognized Ivan wouldn’t have been defeated without them. Without my team, we wouldn’t have been able to get in and out of Ivan’s base of operations successfully.

Jason said that it wasn’t unusual for Ranger teams to be inexperienced when fighting their enemies; my team, like most of Earth’s teams, had to basically learn on the fly. He’d said that having Dad there, to help train us, was going to work out better for us in the long run. Zordon hadn’t been able to train them like Dad was us, or like he’d helped train Dino Thunder; they’d had to figure out training sessions by themselves.

At the same time, I wouldn’t change my current life for the world. If it hadn’t been for Aisha stopping by, I would still would be living in Angel Grove, Ba would be ignoring his grief, likely drinking more and more, and I wouldn’t have a baby brother that I adored. Reefside would have also been defenseless against Ivan as Dino Thunder’s powers were initially burned out defeating Mesogog. I likely wouldn’t be playing soccer either, or be looking forward to getting my driver’s license. Yes, life was much better for all of us; well mostly better. Ba and I needed to have our heart-to-heart still; I was hoping that we’d be able to have it after the soccer game, if Angel Grove made it to the final game. Failing that, we’d have to find a way to have it when I was down in a couple of weeks for the karate competition.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t having nightmares still, but they were more repeats of what had happened this week a year ago. We all knew it was just the bad memories coming to the surface; David had said Ba was having similar ones. Rocky had been staying overnight again by Ba’s request; I’d found out that Rocky had been there overnight the previous summer to help Ba work through the worst of his depression. He didn’t say as much, but I suspected Ba had gotten to a very dark place, one that he wouldn’t have been able to come back from if it hadn’t been for Rocky and David.

I didn’t know how Ba and David were dealing with the memories; soccer helped serve as a distraction for me as we headed into the games. That didn’t mean I wasn’t talking to Rocky about them, but I also couldn’t let said memories overwhelm me either. I was still struggling to figure out how to balance dealing with my past and my nightmares with my day-to-day life; I was glad for summer break, as I was confident I’d figure it out by the time my sophomore year started.

As far as my classes next year, I’d signed up for the recommended classes, along with Vietnamese 2 and pottery for my art class. I also didn’t have gym this year; I’d filled that space with a theater class. It sounded like fun, even if I was better off serving as backstage help. It was also my attempt to meet Mrs. Thompson halfway after allowing me to create the paintings used in the spring musical. Those same paintings were going to be part of my contribution to the upcoming exhibit at Reefside’s art museum. I’d finally decided to do it; unlike the art show at the high school, I was only expected to be there for the party that officially opened the exhibit.

Dad also had something planned for my birthday, but he wouldn’t say what it was. This year, my birthday fell on a Sunday; it also served as my first year in Reefside. It was also the day after the soccer finals; I hoped he didn’t go overboard. I just wanted a small party; even with my ‘birthday’ party the previous September, I just wanted the crowd limited to my family and fellow Rangers in Reefside. I’d told him as much; he also knew I’d not had much in the way of birthday celebrations growing up.

Friday night, I found myself curled up on the back porch, unable to sleep. I knew I needed it; our final soccer game was in the morning, against Angel Grove once again. Unlike the previous games, the pressure to beat them once again was immense. A lot of it, I knew, was self-imposed, as Francine and I were the team’s best players, but I’d heard some of the comments from my classmates as well as they left our previous games. It was rare for freshmen to be on any varsity team; the fact that Francine and I were doing so well was simply chalked up to having gone to Conner’s soccer camp, which was being held again this summer. This was with me having never played the game outside of gym class growing up; Christine had been shocked when she found out. There was no option for high school players, yet, but Conner was working on that for next year.

“Abigail, time for bed!” Katherine called from the kitchen. I groaned; I wasn’t tired, not really.

“Coming!” My annoyance must have shown on my face, because she asked me what was wrong.

“The game tomorrow, that’s all.” I looked at Dad’s closed office door; he was working on something that wasn’t school related and both Katherine and I were getting annoyed with him over about, as he wouldn’t say what it was about. “Angel Grove again; they’re taking the game more seriously than I thought they would, from what Amy said last week. This is high school sports, not a pro game.”

“You’ll be fine, Abigail, you just need to get some sleep.” Looking over at Dad’s office door, she continued, “Now, if Tommy would just say what he was working on, that’d be great. He needs to get some sleep, too.”

Location: Reefside Wave Stadium, the next day. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy sighed as he and Kat entered the stadium to take their seats, Andy sleeping in his carrier. He’d not slept well the night before; like Abigail, he realized that it would be a year on Sunday since Abigail had fled Angel Grove to seek sanctuary in Reefside, sanctuary he was all too happy to have been able to give her. It was also her birthday tomorrow; at her request, the party was going to be kept small. He understood why, too; Ernie hadn’t thrown her or David many birthday parties growing up.

He’d been busy doing research; despite Hayley offering to hold her party at CyberSpace again, Tommy wanted to hold it at home. He knew Abigail wanted it quiet not just because of her upbringing, but of what the day represented. It had taken her a long time to fall asleep the night before; Kat had dragged him away from the research he’d been doing to help put her to bed. When he saw how exhausted Abigail was, despite her protests to the contrary, he pulled her into a hug.

After she’d gotten into her pajamas, he stayed with her as she fell asleep. Sasha and Eliza, her kittens, had joined her in bed, their purrs helping to further sink her into sleep. As much as Sasha loved Andy, she also seemed to know when Abigail needed her care; Eliza was the same way. He was planning on sitting down with her Ranger team during her party; Abigail had come far enough in her healing to possibly take command of her team again despite having no enemies at the current time. This wasn’t unusual; they’d had enough time between The Machine Empire fleeing and Divatox attacking to relax some. Tommy had still remained in command of the team, answering to Zordon and Dimitria first, the rest of his team second. Like Abigail with her team, Tommy had always trusted his friends and teammates to do the same.

The research he’d been going through had been primarily in Zordon’s records; he’d wanted to confirm something Ninjor had told him the previous December, but wasn’t getting any answers. He understood why Kat was getting annoyed with him; he’d be annoyed at himself too if he were in her position. He just wished he had answers for some of the questions he knew Abigail and her team would be asking; answers Zordon would have once had for them. He often wondered if Zordon had felt the same way when mentoring the various teams Tommy had served on as a teen. With the wizard gone, Tommy knew he’d never find out those answers, or if he did, he wasn’t sure he’d like them.

Tommy smiled as Andy woke up, slightly fussing. Taking him out of his car seat, Tommy checked his diaper; it had been changed before they left, but it never hurt to check. From the looks of things, Andy didn’t want to miss watching Abigail play soccer, as he calmed down once the teams took the field. Kat chuckled at their son’s actions.

“He’s been having fun watching her play, Tommy. Somehow, he always knows where she is on the field, even though he can’t see all that well.”

“Remember what Abigail said last August, Kat? He probably does know,” Tommy replied quietly, the memory coming to the forefront of his mind. From the look Katherine was giving him, she didn’t remember the conversation exactly. “The day we went to get Abigail’s school supplies, Kat.”

“That day was full of a lot of information, Tommy. Remember, we also found out that this little guy was on the way the same day?” she replied, grasping one of Andy’s hands in her own, Andy looking at her and smiling as she did so. Tommy smiled as his son turned his attention back to the game; Andy adored Abigail as much as she adored him.

By halftime, the score had been tied 1-1, which was not surprising to anyone who’d watched the two teams play each other. Both teams were determined to win and it was obvious; Abigail might play the game for fun, as did Francine, but both had a rare competitive streak that came out in soccer. Tommy suspected some of that was due to not really having much in the way of extra-curricular activities growing up. He’d notice that Abigail tended to try new things with enthusiasm; even if she found she didn’t like them, she still made time to do them, especially if it was something Ethan had introduced her to. It had been one of several things he and Ernie had talked about when the older man had been up for Abigail’s art show.

She cherished her friendships too, something that Tommy was glad to encourage. One of the things he was relieved to not have to worry about was the fact that she was able to choose said friends well. She’d made two good friends in Francine and Patton; Francine had introduced the pair to the rest of her friends. She’d even made friends with two of the upperclassmen; Tommy was just glad Missy and Andrea treated her well. Abigail was friendly with most of the students at the high school, including those on the soccer team, but she still tended to stick close to her Ranger teammates when she was in unfamiliar or uncomfortable situations.

“Hey, Dr. O.” Tommy looked up to see Conner drop into the seat next to him; Kat had slipped away to go change Andy’s diaper. “How’s everything?”

“Doing good, Conner,” he replied just as lightly. “Coming to the party tomorrow?”

“Wouldn’t miss it; can’t believe Abigail had a hard time telling us what she wanted as birthday gifts. Art supplies were a given; she loves to draw, but…”

“But you wanted to get her something different.” Conner slumped in the stadium seat.

“There’s times where I really wish she’d have been allowed to explore other interests growing up.”

“You, me, and her, Conner. Good thing is, Ernie’s recognized he seriously hurt her development growing up. Rocky got him to recognize that over the winter.”

“I know he’s your friend and Abigail’s birthfather, but I’m having a hard time just liking him, you know?”

“Because he hurt one of your friends, Conner. That’s understandable; you’re not the only one who’s been angry at him.”

“I just hope that he doesn’t hurt her again; I know she wants to reestablish a relationship with him, but I just worry it’s going to bite her in the butt.” Tommy knew what he was feeling; he felt the same way too. With Conner, he’d developed a close friendship with the younger teen who, like him, co-led a Ranger team, a team that had fought alongside his own. Abigail had also fought alongside the Dino Rangers as a solo Ranger before creating her own team; they’d developed a comradery there as well.

“Same here, Conner. Abigail has to make her own choices in the matter; I don’t intend for her to have those initial conversations with Ernie alone, though.” It was hard to miss the relief on Conner’s face; the Red Dino Ranger saw Abigail as the younger sister he never got to have. While he had his twin brother Eric, the two hadn’t been exactly close lately. Tommy didn’t know the former ninja that well either; Eric hadn’t enrolled in Reefside High for his senior year for some odd reason, so Tommy didn’t have him as a student.

Trent and Kira, Tommy knew, felt the same way; Ethan was the only one who he wasn’t sure of their relationship. He knew they were wonderful friends, but he wasn’t sure of anything beyond that and Tommy thought he could read Ethan fairly well. Hayley knew the genius better than Tommy did and had known him longer; Tommy resolved to see what Hayley thought. He’d thought Ethan had been dating the girl he’d taken to prom the year before, but they’d parted ways just before college started. As far as Tommy knew, Ethan was the only one of the four teens not in a relationship.

By the time halftime was over, Kat had made her way back to their seats; Conner was all too willing to move to Tommy’s other side so she could sit back down in the seat he’d swiped to talk to his former science teacher. Tommy could tell that there was something still bothering Conner, but it wasn’t something that Conner was completely willing to talk about in public. Whatever Conner’s issue was, Tommy wished he knew; he wouldn’t have brought up Abigail and Ernie otherwise.

He also understood Conner’s issues with Ernie; Kat hadn’t been the only one witness to how their interaction the previous July had gone. Conner had briefly interacted with Ernie only a few times since then and not long enough each time to know how Abigail’s birthfather had changed since the previous summer.

At the very least, Conner and the rest of the Dino Rangers were getting along with Austin and Amy; Jason and Kimberly’s twins also got along with Abigail’s own team. If they’d not been in public during the art show, Tommy had no doubt there would have been a conversation about which Ranger color the twins would be; they were going to be at Abigail’s party tomorrow and even Jason realized that the conversation would happen. According to him, they’d been wondering that ever since they found out that David had used Billy’s morpher.

Tommy hadn’t volunteered Abigail’s services; outside of his two teams, nobody knew that Abigail could use her Abilities in that way. Not even Jason knew that Abigail was a Grid Walker, nor that she could Astral Project in general; she couldn’t explain exactly how she could tell exactly what Color and Totem a Potential could be yet. Abigail wasn’t comfortable about letting the greater Ranger community know about those Abilities, not until she could control them and find out her limits. He didn’t blame her; even among their allies, what Abigail could do was unusual. She didn’t want anyone to think her a freak; Tommy understood all too well her feelings. Rangers having extra Abilities beyond the enhanced strength and healing was unusual; she was grateful that Tommy had called in Udonna to help her out. She knew the older woman wouldn’t think her unusual or freakish.

He returned to the present as the stadium erupted in cheers; Reefside had won the game by only one goal; he saw Christine and Angel Grove’s team captain shake hands at the end of the game. Competition aside, they recognized it was a hard-won victory. Coach Daveed had repeatedly said in the staff lunch room that he was glad the girl’s team had made friends on the Angel Grove team back in April; Tommy could see the results in front of him.

He did panic slightly as he waited for Abigail to join them after changing out of her team uniform; she usually came out with Francine. When Francine saw him looking around, she jogged over to him.

“Hey, Dr. Oliver. Abigail said she’d be over as soon as she said hi to someone from Angel Grove; Amy was pulling her over somewhere. From the looks of things, she wasn’t giving Abigail a chance to pull out her cell phone.”

Tommy pinched his nose at that. “Austin said the same thing at the art show last month; I’m going to have to talk to Jason about that. His twins should know better; Abigail does.” His cell phone dinged right then and he pulled it up to find a text from Abigail, telling him she was with Amy, Austin, and David. He frowned; David rarely left Ernie’s side any time the two came up to Reefside. “Francine, where are they exactly?”

He followed Francine to where she’d last seen Abigail in the Angel Grove crowd; thankfully she was there, as was David and Jason’s twins. Ernie, however, wasn’t there and Tommy knew he’d been there, as was Rocky. They had all been invited to the party tomorrow; Abigail had asked that they be invited. Tommy and Kat had their doubts about Ernie, but they also wanted to respect Abigail’s wishes. David had said he’d be there, but made no promises for his father. Despite the conversations that father and daughter were having via letters, phone calls, and their rare face-to-face meetings, Ernie was still uncomfortable in Reefside. Tommy had a good suspicion as to why and it had to do with the conversation that they’d had the previous July along with Ivan’s presence in the city. Ivan might be gone, but Tommy was still there; he knew Ernie had every right to be uncomfortable in the city his daughter now called home.

He also reflected on just how Trini’s death had affected Ernie, moreso than he’d done so previously. Prior to marrying Trini after they’d reconnected helping to rebuild Angel Grove after its almost destruction by Dark Spectre’s forces, Ernie had been a fan of the Power Rangers. Trini’s death, from everything he’d heard and seen, had changed Ernie; he’d only fully understood what Ernie had been feeling the day he’d almost lost Kat and Andy both. It had only been the fact that Abigail had been there that had seen Kat’s survival; of course, Kat wouldn’t have been there if Abigail hadn’t come to Reefside. He likely wouldn’t have Andy in his life either; he usually stayed with his parents when he came down to Angel Grove to visit if he didn’t stay at Kat’s old house.

“Abigail,” was all he had to say before she hugged him. He looked up at David, concern on his face as he could feel Abigail crying through his shirt.

“Dad’s not coming to the party, Dr. Oliver,” David said quietly, after Austin and Amy split off to talk with Francine. “What this week means to he and Abigail both…Rocky’s taking him back to Angel Grove right now. Dad and I had come up in my car, so neither of us are without transportation when he gets back home. This day, especially, is hard for him.” Why exactly was left unsaid; it had been a year ago this date that the incident causing Abigail to run had occurred. Unlike Trini’s death, which had not been near as hard on Ernie this past October, the pain of this particular date was still hard on him. Given that it had been Ernie behind the incident causing Abigail to run…Tommy could understand why he didn’t want to be in Reefside right now.

Tommy softly swore; Abigail had hoped Ernie would be able to come to the party. She had been hoping to have a positive memory for her and Ernie on her birthday; that hope would have to wait for next year.

“He did leave a birthday gift for Abigail in my car; I honestly think she’s going to like it, Dr. Oliver. He wouldn’t tell me what it is, but…”

“I just wish he was able to watch her open it.”

“Me too; so does he and Abigail both. I promised to film her reaction for Dad; he’ll appreciate being able to see it, even though he’s not going to be able to make it.”

“Coming to the party may have been a bit much, David, I realize that now. Doesn’t make it hurt any less, though,” Abigail said, her face streaked from her tears. “I’m glad he recognized that and Rocky went with him. I know he and I hoped to sit down and talk tonight; it looks like it’s going to have to wait until the martial arts competition, though. I don’t mind waiting; this was a stressful week on both of us.”

“Sis, he appreciated the fact that you were even willing to invite him there and that you, Dr. Oliver, were willing to let him come.”

“It’s what Abigail wants, David. What issues I have with your father, I can deal with. What matters in regards to him is all dependent on your sister. Reconciling with him has always been a goal, especially since he’s also making an effort. If he didn’t, that would have been an entirely different conversation.”

“If he’d not made an effort to change, I’m not sure I would have invited him. Rocky prepared me for that eventuality last year. Everything I’ve done, I’ve kept that eventuality in the back of my mind; so far, it’s not happened.”

David caught Austin and Amy’s attention not long after it was obvious that Abigail was done talking and ready to head out. While the team was heading back to the high school to celebrate-the crowd wanting to celebrate was going to be too big to head to Hayley’s CyberSpace-Tommy could tell Abigail was exhausted. Even then, she wanted to head to the school to celebrate with the rest of the team.

“Abigail, when you’re ready to head home, let me know. I don’t want you to wear yourself out, not with your party tomorrow.” She smiled, laughing slightly as the group walked back to his car. David was going to be following him with Jason’s twins. Jason was taking the time to have a quiet afternoon with Kimberly, so they were fine with their twins joining up with the Reefside team. Amy’s coach had been made aware of the fact that one of his players was remaining behind in Reefside to attend a friend’s birthday party the next day. Given the travel times between the two cities and the fact that Jason and Kimberly were staying behind as well, Angel Grove’s coach had no issues.

“I don’t think it’s going to last long,” she replied, flashing Amy a grin. “Most of the team was somewhat tired after the game Angel Grove gave us.”

Abigail ended up being right; the celebration ended up being rather quiet and broke up after a couple of hours. Despite David and the twins coming back to the house with them, Tommy could tell Ernie not being there was still bothering Abigail. They understood why Ernie had gone back to Angel Grove; as much as Abigail wanted him there, she wasn’t about to ask him to damage his own mental health for selfish reasons.

That didn’t stop David, Austin, and Amy from doing their best to cheer her up; she’d eventually fallen asleep in David’s arms.

“He was really hoping to be able to come, Dr. Oliver,” David said later that night, after Abigail and the twins had gone up to her art room once she'd woken back up.

“I know; I just hope it doesn’t completely put a damper on the party tomorrow. She should be able to enjoy her birthday for once.”

“It won’t; Abigail’s got some great friends. I’m also sure she was able to get everything out of her system tonight; the knowledge that Rocky’s with Dad helped. She admitted as such before you joined us at the stadium; said she really didn’t want him to be alone right now and if that means Rocky also misses her party, then she’d rather have Rocky with Dad. Said Rocky could consider that his birthday gift to her when he apologized for not being able to come to the party either.” Tommy smiled at that; that was Abigail at her best and so much like her mother in that instance.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sounds of giggling coming out of Abigail’s art studio; Abigail was clearly close to back to normal if she was laughing like that. David just shook his head, smiling at the sound.

“She’s been happy here, Dr. Oliver; I’ve only heard her really laugh like that since she came here. I know I’ve thanked you before, but I can’t thank you enough for being there for her and taking care of her. I’m not entirely sure I could have done as good of a job as you did, not with being in college. I know Dad’s grateful, too; as hard as it’s been for him seeing her thrive outside of Angel Grove, he’s proud of who she’s become.”

“I’m just glad she was able to trust me; it was somewhat slow going at first. She admitted that the initial bout of trust only came because of Trini’s trust.”

“I doubt she would have stayed if she found she couldn’t trust you, Dr. Oliver. I know my sister; she would have kept going until she found somewhere where she felt safe. The fact that she stayed told me she felt safe here from the start. You played a large part in all of that; I know she’s said that much.”

“She has, David.” Noticing the late hour, both headed to bed, with Tommy poking his head in the art studio to remind the three teens of the hour. Austin and David were sharing the pull-out bed in the den; Abigail had offered use of her art studio as a guest room, but had been shot down. Even though it would have been no issue for her to put her things against the wall for the weekend, she still had canvases on easels, painting up a storm for the exhibit. Austin and David were using the room to store their clothing; Abigail had moved the easels to one side of the room.

Tommy smiled as he heard Abigail and Amy giggle softly as they headed into Abigail’s bedroom; he knew that they would be quiet with Andy fast asleep on the other side of the wall. Jason and Kimberly would be there the next morning, as would Billy. He was grateful that they’d allowed their twins to stay the night; Abigail missed her friends and relished every opportunity to hang out with them. She’d admitted that, along with not being able to spend as much time with David as she wanted, she also missed hanging out with the twins.

She’d also admitted that, if she’d stayed in Angel Grove, she would have likely dated and/or married Austin. Now, though, she wasn’t near as sure. She wasn’t the same teenager that had left Angel Grove; she was well aware she’d likely end up dating or marrying a fellow Power Ranger. It wasn’t going to be someone from her own team; she wasn’t sure how it would turn out dating someone she also had to command in the field. As close as she was to her own teammates, she also shared a closeness with Ethan.

As soon as the light in Abigail’s room turned off, Tommy quietly slipped into the nursery, where a pajama-clad Kat was changing Andy’s diaper. He smiled as he slipped arms around his wife, kissing the top of her head as he did so.

“Tommy!” she quietly hissed as she finished getting their son’s onesie snapped back together.

“What?” Her response was interrupted by Andy doing his best to chatter at them, causing Tommy to chuckle slightly. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you, little guy?” Andy’s only response was to give them a gummy grin and chatter some more as he grasped Tommy’s finger.

“He’s been talkative ever since he woke up this last time.”

“He’s in a good mood, Kat,” he responded as he picked Andy up. Emptying the lidded trash bin of the diapers could wait until morning, even though it was close to full.

“He’s always in a good mood, Tommy; you know that.” Kat wasn’t annoyed at him, but Tommy knew she was tired as she joined them on the love seat where he was trying to get Andy to fall asleep.

“If you want to go to bed Kat, I’ve got him.”

“I don’t mind staying with my two favorite guys.” She ended up falling asleep on his shoulder, long before Andy did. Tommy had to carefully extract both he and Andy in such a way that neither Andy nor Kat woke up. Setting Andy in his crib, Tommy smiled as his son settled into a comfortable sleeping position before carrying Kat to bed. It wasn’t the first time he’d done so since Andy’s birth; he didn’t mind doing so.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside, Tommy Oliver’s house, Sunday June 10^th. POV: Abigail/1^st person

Awaking on my birthday, I was unsurprised to find that it had been Amy tickling me with a feather that woke me up. It had been her favorite way to wake me up during sleepovers since the pillow fight when we were 9. It was later than I normally got up, but I’d also gone to bed late; I rarely slept in, preferring to get up at the same time Dad did. We usually spent our mornings before breakfast working out together with the exception of the rare days where he let me sleep in.

“Amy, quit!” I was giggling, though, which only encouraged her. By the time Dad came to investigate what was keeping us, we’d started a pillow fight. It was only his chuckling from the doorway that caught our attention.

“Probably a good thing Austin’s out running with David, girls,” Dad said. “Kimberly told me about the pillow fight when you were 9.” I groaned; David would probably join in and Austin definitely would.

“We’ll be right down, Dad,” I replied. Amy and I looked at each other as he went back downstairs, still amused by the whole thing.

“That…was different. Ernie would have punished you or something if he caught us.”

“Why do you think I never started pillow fights when you and Austin stayed over when I was still living in Angel Grove? Living here in Reefside this past year…I’ve started to realize just how strict Ba was. Strict almost to the point of non-physical abuse, Amy, if not past that point.” I shrugged. “That’s what Rocky thinks, anyway.”

Amy just ended up giving me a hug before we started getting dressed for the day. I didn’t mind; it was her way of comforting me when she didn’t know what to say.

“Amy, I’m fine. Let’s go down; I think Dad made pancakes…or waffles, not quite sure. Katherine brought a waffle maker with her when she moved in; Dad didn’t have one when I came up last year.”

“How did he not have one?” I just shook my head, smiling.

“No clue, Amy, seriously no clue. I don’t know if he had one and it fried or if he just never bothered buying one.” With that, we both giggled and headed downstairs; David and Austin had returned from their run by then. I’d found that Katherine had chased them into the den due to their jockeying; both had attempted to ‘help’ her with making breakfast, but had proved to be more of a hinderance than a help.

“I swear, you two are acting more like 3-year-olds than 19 and 17. I’m not surprised Katherine kicked you two out of the kitchen.” I was smiling as I said this, though, to take the sting out of my words. David laughed as he mussed my hair.

“Just trying to help make your birthday special, sis, that’s all. It’s not every day that my favorite little sister turns 16.”

“I’m your only little sister, David.”

“And that’s why you’re my favorite little sister.” With that, he pulled me into a quiet hug, wishing me a happy birthday. I barely noticed Austin and Amy heading into the kitchen to help with breakfast prep as I relaxed in David’s arms. I knew that Ba should have been here, too, but he’d needed to head back to Angel Grove. David had quietly told me after the soccer game that he’d gone back and why; Ba had called me later that afternoon to apologize for not staying. I’d told him it was okay; while I wished he could have stayed, I also understood why this week was so emotionally charged for him. He promised to try and come up for the art exhibit later this summer; coming to Reefside wasn’t easy for him, but he was slowly becoming more comfortable with visiting. There was always next year, for my 17^th birthday; I could almost hear Ba smiling when I suggested that.

“C’mon, Abby. I think the waffles are ready; bacon too. Just don’t expect me to eat it.”

I took a sniff. “David, all you’ve had is regular bacon; Dad buys maple or some sort of flavored. Try a piece and if you still don’t like it, it’s more for the rest of us.” David just made a face, causing me to laugh. “You can always stick whipped cream on a piece.”

“Abigail!” Came from the dining room.

“Whipped cream on bacon? Ew.”

“Doesn’t even sound good.”

“Austin, Amy, don’t knock until you try it. Francine did that to me once; of course, it was a blind taste test thing one sleepover. Not bad.” Gagging noises greeted me at that as David and I entered.

“I’m kind of surprised she didn’t stay over last night. There’s enough space in your room,” Dad said as he entered with the waffles. I just shook my head.

“She had family that came in from out of town; it was only the fact that she’d already committed to coming to the party that saved her from interacting with some of them today. She and Athena’s relationship is deteriorating; she doesn’t want to show that in front of her grandparents. They don’t understand why their granddaughters don’t get along. Her parents aren’t the only ones in the family who think Athena can do no wrong.” I stabbed a waffle at that, scowling as Dad bounded up the stairs as Andy started fussing over the monitor, Katherine not far behind him.

“Who’s Athena?” Amy asked. “The name’s familiar, but I can’t place her.”

“You wouldn’t, Amy. She’s Francine’s older sister and your age; top science student in her year. She and Francine are like oil and water; they don’t get along at all. Bothers me, but Francine’s accepted it. I’m not going to interfere unless she wants me to; it’s not my place to do so.”

As much as I wanted to help my friend, her relationship with her big sister hadn’t affected the team in any way, not like Karan’s home life would have eventually. The only times Francine had gotten annoyed with Athena when it came to me was when Athena tried bullying us; despite her grades, she’d gotten several detentions the last school year. She’d finally quit getting detentions midway through the second quarter; Francine had said their parents started to realize *something* was wrong with their eldest daughter, but refused to admit to the actual reason why.

“That’s how I know her; Francine’s talked about her occasionally. She didn’t come to the soccer games, did she?”

“Nope,” I replied as I did my best to get David to try a piece of whipped cream covered bacon. All I got for my efforts was David having to clean whipped cream off his face.

“Abby, I’m 19, not 1.” He did, however, take the bacon to try to keep me from getting off his back. “This…isn’t bad.”

“Told you so.” David just gave me a look at that. I knew that look; if it weren’t for the fact that we weren’t alone, he’d have started a small food fight. Ba never knew how many we’d had when he’d gone to work before we’d gotten up for the day in the summer. As long as we cleaned up our mess, he would never know and we never confessed either.

As Dad and Katherine came back downstairs with a still slightly fussing Andy, we’d finished our giggle fit. David had also slipped back into the kitchen to finish cooking the waffles and Amy had joined him; we’d demolished the toppings, so Amy wanted to finish chopping up some more fruit. I had snorted at that as had Austin; they weren’t fooling us. Any chance that they got to spend some time together, they took from what Austin said. I’d offered to help, but David refused to let me do so on my birthday.

I did take Andy, who settled right down; he was apparently fussing because he’d wanted to spend some time with me. He also grabbed a hold of my necklaces again; I knew he wasn’t doing it deliberately yet, but he always seemed to have one hand or the other on them when I held him.

Looking up, I saw Dad quietly talk to David; I also understood David’s issues. I straddled the line between two families; David sometimes felt like an outsider when he came to visit despite Dad telling him that he had a home here as well as in Angel Grove, as I did. Dad was doing everything in his power to make sure I kept my bonds with my birth family strong, which I appreciated. He knew how important it was to me to keep in contact with Ba and David, along with Uncle Howard and my maternal grandparents.

Even though my party wasn’t until this afternoon, Francine showed up not long after we finished breakfast, along with Karan and Trent. From what I could gather, she’d sent a ‘SOS’ text to Karan, who told Trent; Trent was all too happy to pick her up early after checking with Dad and Katherine. I didn’t blame her; her mom’s side of the family was Italian and her nonna-grandmother-didn’t like to see family not getting along.

“Hey, Francine,” I said as I gave her a hug; David having taken Andy from me earlier with Dad’s permission.

“Happy birthday, Abigail.”

“Thanks; you guys are the first ones here out of the Reefside group. Jason and Aunt Kimberly let their twins stay overnight for a sleepover. If your extended family wasn’t in town….”

“I know. Dr. Oliver invited me; I had to decline as I don’t see my nonni that often. They live in San Francisco; your party saved me from an all-day guilt fest for not getting along with Athena. They do this almost every time we get together; it’s been going on ever since it was obvious that whatever relationship she and I had when we were younger was vanishing. Athena gets it too, just not as often as I do.”

Francine, Karan, and I continued talking as we joined the twins in the backyard. Trent had gone in to talk with Dad about something, I wasn’t sure what. Out of habit, even though we knew that Austin and Amy were in-the-know, we tried keeping the conversation away from Ranger topics. A part of that is we didn’t want talk about the team without the boys and Dad there; we also didn’t know just how much Jason and Aunt Kimberly had told them about…well, everything. I knew that they knew the same as I’d known the previous June, about the fact that their parents were two of Zordon’s original Rangers, but I didn’t know what they knew about my team.

I also knew Dad wanted to sit my team down at some point today and talk about returning the command structure to normal. While he’d talked with Rocky a bit about it, and for good reason, the ultimate decision lay with him. He would ask our opinions as well, but we’d all agreed to honor and respect any decision he said was final. We all knew Karan’s leadership of the team was going to be temporary; none of us expected it to last this long. I wasn’t entirely sure I was up to it and Dad was well aware of that, but he also knew that there may come a time where the team didn’t have any choice. He wanted the issue resolved before we were revealed, fully revealed, to Earth’s Ranger community as a whole. He also wanted to settle on the team name; Udonna had said she’d try and come up with something due to Dad having named Dino Thunder.

As it got closer to 1, the rest of the group had shown up, at least the current Ranger group had. Uncle Billy had been the last to arrive; he was bringing some gifts from the rest of the Angel Grove Ranger crowd. Hayley, surprisingly, made the most noise arriving, but I was discouraged from finding out the source just yet. All David would say was that it ‘was a surprise’; he got a friendly whack in the arm for that. All I could figure is that it was connected with whatever mystery project she’d been working in Dino Command on. I knew it wasn’t a car; Dad had said I’d be getting one once I completed Driver’s Education classes, which I was going to take over the summer.

Of course, before Dad could even call us for lunch, we’d started a free-for-all game of tag in the woods. It was a good thing it hadn’t been divided by Ranger team; it would have been my 6 against Dino Thunder’s 4 not counting Dad, along with David as a solo Ranger, leaving either Austin or Amy on the sidelines as there was an odd number of us. The game of tag allowed someone-likely Dad or Jason-to get the grill going. About the only real food request I’d made was burgers; the rest I left up to Dad and Katherine. He’d stocked up in advance once I made the burger request; given that most of the group was going to be teenagers, that meant a lot of ground beef for burgers.

Dad’s whistle called us in for lunch; Austin, Amy, and David were the only ones who didn’t know Dad’s whistle by sound. As we approached the back porch, I could hear Hayley and Uncle Billy having a conversation; Ethan and Patton were the only ones among our Ranger teams who could understand more than 1 word in 5 of what they were saying. To the rest of us, it sounded like highly technical gibberish and I’d grown up listening to Uncle Billy. Mom might have been able to turn his conversations into ‘normal’ English, but I’d never been able to do much. We all knew that if Mom had lived, she’d’ve been able to teach me that skill.

Jason was smirking when we got back to the house; I knew that look on his face, as did Austin, who groaned. When we heard his suggestion, we groaned too. He’d suggested a Ranger water balloon fight; Reefside’s Rangers against the Angel Grove set that was there.

“14 of us against 5 of you? Doesn’t seem fair,” Conner replied. “That’s counting Austin and Amy, by the way.”

“Not teens against adults, no.”

“Even if we split it up by Ranger team, that would put Dad in an odd position, Jason,” I replied. “He’s been on your team, co-led Dino Thunder, and is mentoring the newest group of Rangers. That’s 3 teams right there for just 1 person. I’m also not counting Austin and Amy; I’m not entirely sure just where I’d stick them.”

“And there’s no way I’m getting in any sort of match against the duo terrors,” added David, getting an outraged ‘Hey!’ from Austin, Amy, Johnny, Steve, Francine, and I.

“My twins I can understand the duo terrors remark; I remember you giving it to them when you were all young. What I don’t get are why you four take it personally.” Karan and Patton snorted at Jason’s remark.

“Tell you what,” Patton said, “Pair either of these two duos,” pointing to Johnny, Steve, Francine, and I, “against a duo of your choice, see who wins. My money’s on these four.” I smothered a grin at the look of disbelief on Jason’s face; he’d never seen some of our training sessions. I could hear Ethan in the background telling someone to hide the whipped cream; he remembered that particular training session as well as I did.

“I honestly don’t want to go up against these six plus your twins.”

“Scared, Kira?” Johnny asked, grinning.

“No, but I’m still finding clothing that has glitter glue blobs on it from the last time.”

“As entertaining as this conversation is, lunch is ready,” Dad interrupted us, an amused smile on his face. Outright laughter followed us as we made a beeline for the burgers; while we were playing tag, Dad and the other adults had set up a couple of tables with plates, buns, and burger toppings due to not everyone liking their burgers the same way. Drinks had been put into several ice-filled coolers nearby. Even though there were tables and chair set up for us to sit in, most of us just found a place to sit in the grass and eat, even if that meant dealing with ants and other assorted bugs.

I could tell Dad was unsurprised by where we chose to sit; the porch was too full of stuff for the party for our group to sit that same way on it. This was even with a couple of tables free along with chairs; we just had too big of a crowd to fit everyone on the porch.

I was surprised Missy and Andrea weren’t there, but David told me that they’d called to say that they would be running late. That was okay; I knew that they had open houses to attend of their friends who’d graduated. Most of those friends were in the fan club; I suspected part of what they’d be bringing would be gifts from the fan club. I honestly liked most of the students in Dad’s fan club; Missy and Andrea, though, were the only ones I was willing to call friends though. Most of the others were, like Athena, either entirely too stalkerish for my tastes or we just didn’t have enough in common to make a friendship work. Not all of them, even the friendlier, non-stalkery members of the fan club, were always willing to sit with my mixed group of friends either. The fact that Missy and Andrea were and treated us well, had been part of what had secured our friendship.

Soon, though, it came time for me to open my gifts. I’d wanted to do so between lunch and dessert as I knew we’d all be too full after eating to even think about cake or games again. David, unsurprisingly, got me a turtle charm to add to my necklace; it even had a purple gem for an eye. I gave him a hug after adding it to the saber-tooth tiger charm already on my chain that he’d given me as a birthday gift last year.

Art supplies were a given; most of them were things that I either needed or mentioned wanting at one point. Trent had gone in and gotten me books on techniques that I’d not gotten around to studying yet, including the superhero style he favored. He grinned when I’d opened them; I hadn’t expected him to remember an off-hand remark I’d made last summer after reading the comic series he cowrote with Carson Brady.

I’d also received CDs from bands I liked, but hadn’t gotten around to getting; I’d also gotten some that were from Broadway musicals that Kira had once let me borrow. I knew she and Amy had been talking, as the musical CDs were ones Amy had no way of knowing I liked.

The one gift that had shocked me was from Ba; it included the scrapbook I never thought I’d see again. I took a peek in it and almost broke down crying. Ba had included a letter in it that he’d included a few things that I’d not seen. I resolved to look through it later; Ba had also sent along a few things of Mom’s that had been hers in high school, along with a letter Mom had written to me not long after I was born. That letter, I definitely wanted to read in private later; David just gave me a hug when he saw the letter; he quietly told me when I had to slip into the house to compose myself that Mom had written him several letters before she’d passed as well.

My friends enveloped me in a group hug when I rejoined them; they all understood why Ba’s gift had been an unexpected surprise. Dad had been surprised that Ba had even been willing to go through this, as were Jason and Aunt Kimberly. I knew why; it had been a surprise to David and I as well. Ba, to the best of our knowledge, didn’t like even dealing with Mom’s high school days; David knew Ba was starting to go through Mom’s belongings he’d stored in the attic. This must have been where he’d found what he’d sent me.

Hayley and Dad’s gift surprised me once I was allowed to go and look. They’d said it wasn’t something that was easy to bring into the house and I could see why. It was a purple ATV, which I’d not been expecting. I wanted to learn how to drive one; despite having the teleportation available to me, there had been times where I had gone with one of Dino Thunder on one of their ATVs as we investigated something. Now I had one of my own; nobody was surprised to find it was primarily purple, with yellow accents to it.

One of the things I’d been surprised to find in the things Ba had sent up of Mom’s were manuals on Mantis-Style Kung Fu. I knew Mom used it as her martial arts style; I’d yet to actually study it, but thought it looked interested when I leafed through one of the beginner manuals. Her uniform had been included; I wasn’t about to try it on just yet. I was slightly shorter than Mom was and was unsure if it would actually fit.

Missy and Andrea joined us partway through gift-giving; as I’d suspected, they’d brought gifts from the friendlier members of the fan club. Most of it was more art supplies, which got a laugh out of everyone; my art skills were well known among my classmates. I’d also been given a charm bracelet from one of the fan club members who was also on the soccer team; two of the charms matched the ones David had given me. There was also a soccer ball on it as well as the Dino Thunder emblem; from what Andrea said, one of the local jewelry shops was starting to sell Ranger symbols as charms as well. They’d had a special on charms recently. They didn’t get why most of the group was struggling to hide their laughter, but ignored it.

“Tell Ashley thanks, Missy. I don’t have her address or phone number; I’d thank her personally otherwise. It’s…an interesting bracelet.” I’d have to find a way to wear it on my right wrist so it didn’t accidentally set my communicator off; I’d heard of Dad’s troubles the one time when he was still the Green Ranger. I had no desire to start a back-and-forth accidental communication beep due to wearing bracelets.

They were able to stay just long enough for cake and ice cream before they had to head either home or to work; we were all disappointed as most of us teens at the party had come to call them friends and Ranger allies. This was especially true in regards to Athena; Francine and I weren’t the only ones of our 6-person group who appreciated their efforts to keep the soon-to-be high school senior from bothering us too much in school.

After dessert was over, Dad pulled my team to the side as we split up to form teams to do an unofficial team training exercise disguised as a party game. We ended up sitting in a circle as we took up the spot we usually did for these exercises. We knew what he wanted to talk about; it was past time for me to retake command of my team.

“Are you guys sure about this?” I asked, looking directly at Karan and Dad after she gave her assent.

“Yes. Abigail, you need this; the team needs you back as team lead as well.”

“I wasn’t supposed to be team leader indefinitely, Abigail. If Ivan hadn’t attacked for the last time when he did, we would have had this conversation then. I was set to ask for this conversation when your call came through that he was attacking Reefside.” I looked around at the entire team; they were in agreement.

“You can do this, Abigail,” Dad said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “You did it before, you can do it again. You’re not doing this alone, you know this.” I grasped Karan’s outstretched hand at that and felt the fissure as the Grid recognized the change in leadership; it had done that when I’d talked to her after the reconnaissance mission, not that I’d noticed at the time.

Today’s ‘game’ was a 3-team water balloon game; it was my 6-person team vs. most of Dino Thunder + Austin and Amy vs. the adults minus Katherine. She was content to hold Andy and keep score; the idea behind the game was to get rid of your glitter-and-water filled water balloons without getting hit by the ones by the other team. Uncle Billy was happy to join her; he wasn’t that much of a fan of water balloon fights. My team had done this once or twice before; I’d done it more than that with Dino Thunder the previous summer. It was the only reason we had glitter in the house; the art store in town sold glittery and metallic paint, so I didn’t need to mix my own or order any if I wanted any.

Each team also had two colors of balloons to work with; given the overlap in Ranger Colors between the teams, it had been decided to use colors that corresponded to only one or two team members. My team had purple and orange, Conner’s team had red and green, and the adults were using yellow and pink. Hayley and Uncle Billy had been the ones to put the buckets in place, with color-coded ribbons so we knew which buckets belonged to which teams.

After making sure that Dad was a good distance away, we huddled together around our bucket as we came up with a game plan.

“Okay, guys, no matter what else we do, we need to keep an eye on the bucket. The last time I did this exercise, it was a mixed exercise with the Ninja Storm Rangers out of Blue Bay Harbor. We’d forgotten to keep an eye on our bucket; they snuck around and used our own water balloons against us.” Patton grinned at that, as did Johnny; I knew what they were thinking. “If any of you think you can pull off a similar move against the other two teams, or can frame one team for getting another, go for it.”

I let Johnny take over; I might be team lead, but Johnny was the team’s tactician. He knew as well as we did that Conner’s team, along with Dad and David, were expecting us to stick to our traditional teams of two for this exercise: He and Steve, Patton and Karon, Francine and I. Instead, we split up in teams of 1 guy, 1 gal. Patton was paired with Francine, Steve with Karan, and Johnny and I stuck together. Swiping two balloons each, all but Francine and Patton ghosted out to look for the other teams. Finding Dad and Dino Thunder was going to be the hardest as they knew the woods better than we did. I heard Francine yelp; she’d been the first on my team to be hit. Ethan, however, was the next to make noise as Patton used Ethan’s distraction to grab a water balloon out of the bucket to hit him.

Johnny and I had to smother laughter when we heard Ethan’s swearing; it wouldn’t do to give our positions away. Spotting Jason, I silently got Johnny’s attention; two seconds later, both Jason and Hayley were swearing as they got hit. I looked around as I spotted Dino Thunder’s bucket and I handed my spare balloon to Johnny as I grabbed a pair of their team’s balloons. I had Dad in mind for the balloons; he was also going to be the hardest to find. We’d agreed on a ‘no using Ranger Powers’ rule as a number of those playing had no extra Powers. It was one thing to use Powers against Sensei’s ninjas, who had extra powers, but not against those who didn’t. If we’d been allowed, Dad would be hard to find as would Trent.

“Who do you have in mind?” Johnny whispered.

“Dad,” I responded just as quietly. “Two of his Ranger colors have been Green and Red, in that order.” Johnny had to smother a laugh out of that; I was taking my own permission to frame a team as we looked for Dad. Sneaking around the side of the house, I spotted Dad grabbing two more balloons from his own team’s bucket as he headed back out looking for the rest of us. Throwing one balloon, I hid back against the house as Johnny and I made our way back to the forest.

Thankfully, where we were hiding saw Dad getting Conner with a balloon. We followed that with one of the balloons Johnny had, nailing Conner twice. Nailing Dad a second time with the red balloon I had was going to be risky; we kept an eye out for Kira, Ethan, or Trent as well as an eye on Dad. It wouldn’t do to frame Conner twice as Dad’s team would get suspicious.

Finally spotting Ethan as well as Dad, we made sure that neither of them were paying attention as we snuck around so that my remaining balloon would come from Ethan’s general direction. The thing was, Dad would almost be suspicious as Ethan had yet to actually prank Dad; Conner, he could believe as Conner had once hit Dad with a water balloon during a previous exercise.

Of course, my luck wasn’t to last; despite both Ethan and Dad being distracted, I got spotted as I got Dad with the water balloon. It wasn’t by either of their teams, thankfully; Steve had been the one to spot me. He pulled me behind a bush as we watched Dad get Ethan with a balloon. I’d been lucky in that Ethan didn’t have a green balloon in his hand when I threw the one I’d had. Johnny got them both with his two balloons and the three of us made our way to the bucket, meeting Karan there. Johnny and I stayed behind, allowing Francine and Patton to take their turns with their balloons. There weren’t many balloons left in our bucket; Francine and Patton had to use a few of them to get the rest of the players not on our team.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the balloons to get used up; by the time Uncle Billy blew the whistle to let everyone know all balloons were gone, Johnny and I had also gotten hit by balloons. I got hit by a red balloon, Johnny by a pink one, though neither of us saw who got us. We were all laughing as we headed in with our buckets; that laughter was intensified when I saw that Dad was covered in glitter. Conner and Ethan both were denying having gotten Dad with balloons, despite being the only members of their teams visibly nearby when Dad got hit. Johnny and I looked at each other before dissolving into laughter.

“Conner, did you not learn anything from the last time we did this?” I finally asked. “I know I grabbed two balloons out of your bucket.”

“That…is cheating,” Conner replied; he was almost as covered in glitter as Dad was.

“Given Ethan got me when trying to get balloons out of our bucket, I’d say he also remembered that training session,” Francine answered for me. “Remind me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the only rule that those of us with extra abilities couldn’t use them? There was no rule about grabbing balloons out of the other buckets.”

“She’s right, Conner. We never did set that as a rule; sounds like Abigail’s team took full advantage of that fact,” Jason replied; everyone was fairly glitter-covered with the exception of Katherine. Even Uncle Billy had accidentally gotten hit once; Steve had been aiming for Jason at the time and Jason had ducked, not realizing Uncle Billy was behind him.

Despite keeping score, we’d all had fun with the water balloons. It had turned out that Aunt Kimberly had been the one to get me; Jason had gotten Johnny. Once we found out who had gotten us, we cracked up laughing. Johnny knew by now which Colors the two had been; they’d simply used the opposite balloon color. Aunt Kimberly had done like I’d done and swiped a red balloon from Conner’s team’s bucket. My team had been the only one who’d actually been successful in not having any of our balloons swiped by either opposing team.

Soon, though, the party started winding down as Jason, Kimberly, and their twins, along with Uncle Billy, had to start heading home. David was heading back home tomorrow, as he wanted to be there for me as I looked through what Ba had brought. Francine and Karan were also staying the night, but Ethan and Conner were fine with dropping Johnny, Steve, and Patton back off at their homes. I didn’t mind the other girls on the team staying; I knew Francine’s parents regretting not allowing their daughter to stay the night last night and were allowing her to stay the night tonight.

Even with two of my closest friends staying the night, I wanted some privacy as I read Mom’s letter to me; I slipped into my art room to do so after helping clean up from the party. I’d left most of Ba’s gift downstairs, in an out-of-the way corner, but had taken Mom’s letter up with me with the art supplies. The charm bracelet, I’d placed in my room, but almost everything else was being stored in my art room so I could go through it and decide where I wanted to keep everything.

Quietly closing the door behind me, I sat on the floor with my back to a wall and opened the letter. I was wholly unprepared for what was in it.

My dearest Abigail,

I write this letter as you sleep in your crib. Your father is at the Youth Center, working while David is at preschool. I’ve written both your father and brother letters like this as well; as much as I hope to be there for all three of you, I keep getting the feeling that I may not have a choice in that. Your father should have given this letter to you today, the Sunday before your 15^th birthday. I’d learned that nothing in life is certain when I was a Power Ranger; it was hard coming back to Angel Grove after it had almost been destroyed by Dark Forces. It was in helping rebuild the city that helped Ernie and I fall in love; we’d known each other since my high school days. Even back then, he was always kind; it was no surprise to find that he’d not changed much since we’d last seen each other. What had been a surprise was just how much he’d know of my own identity as one of Angel Grove’s Power Rangers. Unbeknownst to Jason and Tommy, I sat down with Ernie after he told me this and explained everything, including why I’d never been able to reveal my identity as a Power Ranger in the past. I also thanked him for looking out for us; knowing he was in our corner all that time and kept our secret meant a lot.

As I write this, you are only 4 months old; I should probably wrap this up soon as we have to pick David up from preschool again as your father’s car is in the shop, being repaired. If something happens to me, Abigail, Aisha or Tanya have what had been my Power Coin and Morpher. One of them will give it to you before your 15^th birthday. Hopefully, you’ll be able to try it out then, or with Jason, Kimberly, Billy, or Zack; if you don’t get the chance to do so in Angel Grove, find Tommy Oliver; he was on our team first as the Green Ranger, then as the White Ranger. After I went to the World Youth Summit, he eventually became the Red Zeo Ranger, followed by the Red Turbo Ranger. He passed on his Turbo Powers before heading off to MIT. At the time of writing this letter, he’s working on getting a degree in paleontology. I don’t know where he’s living presently, but somebody should have a way to contact him. Even if Jason doesn’t have contact information for him, Katherine Hillard, his girlfriend, or his brother David Trueheart will. David Trueheart lives on the nearby reservation; his tribe still does information days in Angel Grove.

Outside of what Ranger teammates of mine live in the Angel Grove area, Tommy is the only other person on Earth who can teach you what it’s like to be a Power Ranger. Hopefully, you’ll never need to use my morpher and Coin. I can only hope that by the time you reach 15, Earth will not have to worry about supernatural or alien threats and that the Power Rangers will no longer be needed. Hope and realism are two different things; if anything, I’ve learned that Rita’s initial attack that caused Zordon to call my team and I to become Power Rangers marked Earth as a threat. Earth will always need Power Rangers and I hope that you and your brother both are able to uphold all that is Right and Good as Power Rangers. I also hope that Ernie is able to accept that both of his children are likely to become Rangers. I know the idea scared him when he found out that your brother was on the way. It scared me too; it was why I sat down with Jason and Kimberly when she was pregnant with their twins and we plotted out a plan to make sure that all four of you would be prepared for that eventuality. We are planning to bring Ernie on it soon, within the next couple of months. I just hope it’s not too late; that, should I pass before then, he will listen to them and allow the two of you to prepare for that eventuality, even if it never comes to pass.

I love you, Abigail.

Mom.

“Oh, Mom. How much did you know of what was to happen?” I quietly asked myself. Checking the date, I saw it was the day of the car accident. “Your hope that Ba would listen to Jason and Aunt Kimberly was in vain; it was only coming to Reefside that I started ‘officially’ learning martial arts, but you know that already.”

Wiping away my tears, I put the letter away in its envelope, closing it back up as I did so. I was planning on keeping this with the various mementos I’d gotten of Mom’s over the years. As I opened the door to head to my room across the hall, Dad was there waiting for me.

“You alright, Abigail?”

“Yea, just wanted to read Mom’s letter in private, that’s all,” I replied as I leaned into his hug. “I’m okay, no worries; just want to put this away, that’s all.”

“If you ever want to talk about it…”

“I’ll let you know.” I took a deep breath. “It was written the day of the accident, Dad.” I didn’t need to say anything more as he tightened the hug. That day had changed so much about our lives; I simply drew the comfort I needed from Dad’s hug. Soon, though, we broke apart as Francine and Karan bounded up the stairs. I slipped into my room and put the letter in the desk drawer that had once held the secrets of my past life.

As I headed back downstairs, Francine and Karan followed me, as did Dad. I did notice that Dad looked at my room before he followed us down, but put it out of my mind. He had promised me when I first arrived that he wouldn’t go through my belongings without permission and I trusted him to do so. We’d gotten most of the glitter off of us, but I remembered from the last time that I’d done this that it would take a while for it to completely vanish from my body. I still found the odd bit of glitter on my clothing and this was with repeated washings. I did warn Francine and Karan of that; David had admitted that Dad told him the same before the water balloon fight had started.

When we got back down to the ground floor, I found David holding Andy. Grabbing the ever-present camera that Dad and Katherine kept on the ground floor, I quietly snapped a photo of the two together. As much as David had protested being drawn into our family life, each visit saw him being drawn in further. It was hard for both of us, being separated from each other as we’d been for a year now. It was getting harder and harder for us every time we had to separate. Even with David being out of school for the summer, he still hesitated to come and visit even though Dad had given an open invitation to visit as long as he called ahead first.

The other thing that I was hoping to do once I was able to drive was to visit Angel Grove; David had been the one to visit due to him being older and able to drive. Now that Ba didn’t need David at home or the Youth Center as much as he’d done in the past year, David had a lot more free time. This was even with David teaching classes at Jason’s dojo.

“Fun day?” He asked, smiling.

“Yea…just wish…”

“I know; he wanted to be here too, sis.” I gave him a hug at that, mindful of a sleepy Andy in his arms. Dad soon took Andy so David could return the hug; my little brother protested at first, but fell asleep not long after.

“Don’t stay up too late; practice for the tournament starts tomorrow. This isn’t like when we were dealing with Ivan; you’re going to need to be well-rested for it.”

“Dad, we’ll be fine,” I reassured him as I gave him a kiss goodnight. I gave Katherine a hug goodnight as she went up, thanking her and Dad for a wonderful party. I curled up with the blanket she’d made me as we headed to the back porch to sit and talk. Despite it being almost mid-June, it occasionally got chilly at night; tonight was no different.

“Abigail, are you alright?” Francine asked as I got quiet.

“Yea…just realizing how much has changed since last time last year. This time last year, I was terrified and hadn’t even been in Reefside 12 hours. I honestly spent a good part of my first week here scared that someone was going to come up and drag me back to Angel Grove. This was even with using a fake name. There was a reason I’d ditched my monorail card and middle school ID; I wanted as few traces to my own name on me as possible. I was surprised that the lady who sold me my train ticket didn’t ask for my monorail card as an ID, as it was obvious I was too young to drive.”

David gave a wry grin at that. “They changed the policy there after that, Abigail. She didn’t get into trouble, don’t worry, but they changed the policy so that unaccompanied minors need some form of official identification to buy a train ticket on their own. Passport, school ID, monorail card, etc. All it took was you using that loophole to run away to get them to change it; never mind the fact that school IDs can be faked.”

“Ha! I know Spike managed to fake his once in 7^th grade; got in trouble for it, but it’s easy enough to do if you know what machines to use.”

Conversation went on from there, as we started sharing our wackiest school stories; the ‘prank’ on Sanderson being one of them. David had heard the story before, but not all of the details; he was shaking his head by the end of it. He outright choked on his soda when I said we’d done something similar on his replacement; she’d given just as unclear final semester paper instructions. I’d heard from my classmates who had her second semester that she’d used that as an object lesson to always give clear instructions for papers. Any ‘extra’ information, especially if it was correct, was worth extra credit…to a point, to prevent people who were failing from passing the semester by turning in a paper that would see them passing the semester with a B-.

As I drifted to sleep tonight, it was with a smile on my face. Ba might not have been able to come up, but he had called after the water balloon fight had gotten over and we’d talked a bit. Uncle Howard and I had also gotten a chance to talk; I’d thanked him for the science kit. I found chemistry rather fun and couldn’t wait to take it in school; Uncle Howard had sent a beginner’s chemistry kit that, while geared towards younger children, was a good one to use at home. He also gave me a list of more advanced kits once I got done with the one I had; Dad promised to help me set an area up in Dino Command where I could use them safely. I had no desire to use the kit around Andy, especially once he was old enough to actually get into things. By the time he would be old enough to actually use the kit with adult supervision, I’d be in college or just graduated.

Of course, my rest wasn’t to last that night; both David and I woke up from nightmares, as did Francine and Karan. We’d all been having nightmares on and off since the last battle; David and I more than the rest of the team. I felt bad for Francine and Karan; as much as I’d given every opportunity to walk away back in March, they hadn’t and now they were dealing with the aftereffects. Francine’s parents just thought she was dealing with something she’d seen when she was out the day of the fight against Ivan; most of the team was the same way with their parents.

Dad sat down with us after the nightmares and just helped us through them; even David said having a fellow Ranger to talk about them with was helpful. I’d found out that he sometimes talked with the other members of Mom’s team when he was in Angel Grove; Dad approved as well, as there were some things that could only be shared with someone who’d been through it. The four of us ended up crashing in the den, unwilling to sleep in different rooms again or wake Andy up; we’d woken him up with our nightmares, which we felt bad about. I didn’t realize until we woke up to the sun streaming in our face that Dad and Katherine had covered us with extra blankets. David had been to my left; Francine and Karan were to my right and we’d all sort of sprawled over the pillows and each other.

Trent was going to be picking Karan up after breakfast; Francine’s parents were going to pick her up at the dojo; those who’d been picked for the tournament were practicing there during the afternoons. Our normal lessons, which had been during the evenings after my belt test, were now taking place during the afternoons. On top of that, we were going to be spending part of our day actually practicing the moves we’d learned so far. Part of that practice was going to be mock tournament rounds; normally, tournaments like this were restricted to black belts, but this time around, it was blue belts and above.

I was looking forward to this tournament; I knew it was unlikely that I’d win. Most of the competitors in my belt rank were close to taking their next belt test, from what I’d understood. I’d only had my belt for less than a month; the only ways I’d win were either by getting lucky or using my Grid knowledge. I didn’t want to use the latter; it felt too much like cheating to me. It was one thing to rely on that knowledge during a Ranger fight or training session, but during a civilian tournament? No way.

I was looking forward to this tournament for another reason than to test my skills in competition: I couldn’t wait to see Ba again. Dad knew Ba and I wanted to have a conversation to clear the air this trip; Rocky even recommended it as both Ba and I had reached that point where we needed to sit down and talk. We were going to go in a day early to hopefully be able to have that conversation; failing that, I hoped to be able to go in the next morning, before Ba opened the Youth Center for the day to have it. When I brought the suggestion up to Dad later that night, his reaction surprised me.

“Abigail, that’s a good idea, but I don’t want you going to the Youth Center by yourself.” Holding up a hand to stop me from protesting, he continued. “I know that we won’t be staying far from the Youth Center and that it’s a safe neighborhood, but I’d feel better if someone was with you when you went. Even if it’s not Kat or I that goes with you, take Francine with you if Kat or I can’t.”

“I don’t want to drag Francine into a family talk, Dad. Even if David was there, which would be unlikely, she’d be bored as Ba and I talked, with little to do at the Youth Center before it opens for the day. I’ll be fine going there and back.”

“No, Abigail. You’re not going there alone.”

“Dad. This is a conversation that I’d at least like to have with him privately, just him and I; I’m sure he feels the same way. I’m not sure he’d want to have it knowing there’s a third person in the building.” I sure don’t want to, I thought, but didn’t say.

“We will be continuing this conversation in the morning, Abigail. For now, head to bed; it’s late.”

“Night, Dad.” I couldn’t keep the upset out of my voice; this conversation with Ba was too important to me. His only response was to tighten his hug and kiss the top of my head. I headed into my room after that, still upset.

Holding Mom’s letter to me in my hand, I whispered, “Mom, what should I do? This conversation with Ba is too important, but I also don’t want to disobey Dad. I just wish I could talk to you again; I miss our conversations in the Grid.” Tucking her letter under my pillow, I crawled into bed and fell asleep.

My sleep was restless that night; I still managed to get some sleep in though. Dad could tell I’d not slept well when I got up Tuesday morning.

“Still thinking about what we talked about last night?”

“Yea,” I responded as I pushed my scrambled eggs around on my plate. “I’ll be fine going to the Youth Center by myself, Dad. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve walked there by myself; I’ll be fine.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about, Abigail,” Dad replied as he put his plate in the sink. He pulled up the seat next to me and faced me. “You’re 16, yes, and it’s a simple walk from our hotel to the Youth Center. At the same time, the conversation you and Ernie need to have is going to be emotionally charged for both of you. I don’t want you going into the tournament upset because the two of you stepped on each other’s triggers again or didn’t resolve what you need to.”

“And I’d rather not go into the tournament with our issues unresolved, Dad. I can understand why you’re worried, but I need to do this. I’ll be fine.”

“Abigail, my answer is still no for the time being. I want us to sit down with Rocky first before we do this. He’s been your therapist for over a year now; Ernie’s too. My answer may change depending on what he says, but right now, no. Finish your breakfast; it’s about time I show you how to drive your ATV.”

My head shot up at that, my previous upset forgotten. If it hadn’t been for the all-day practice yesterday, the ATV lesson would have been then and I couldn’t wait. I’d been wanting to learn how to drive it ever since Sunday. I finished my last couple bites of my eggs and downed my juice at that, Dad quietly laughing.

Of course, the lesson started not with turning it on and going; no, Dad started by showing me what each control did. He’d brought his own ATV to the house; it matched his Dino Ranger uniform. I’d gotten the full story from him and Trent at one point; Dad’s knowledge of engines from his racing days had exposed the trap, but with Hayley’s help, he’d managed to get it under control.

I was also going to be learning to maintain it; Dad promised to teach me how to do the same with any future vehicle. Given that Dad still knew how to repair and maintain cars despite no longer racing didn’t surprise me; he still took some time to keep up his skills.

One of the things that surprised me was that it didn’t run on gas exactly. Sure, it was helpful to keep some in the vehicle, but Hayley had built it to primarily run on electricity. When Dino Command had been built, they’d managed to install enough solar panels to fill the demand; it wasn’t connected to the main electrical supply for the house for a reason. There was a charging port for it in the garage; that port was connected to Dino Command’s electrical supply.

When Dad had told me about how Dino Command was powered last year, I’d been surprised. I knew what commercially available solar panels looked like and knew the land fairly well. Solar panels are a bit hard to find and need more room than the woods provided. As we started getting cleaned up to head to the dojo, I finally broke down and asked Dad just where those panels were hidden. He just smiled and gave a small chuckle.

“Why do you think they’re panels?”

“What other form could they take? I know what solar panels look like, Dad. I’ve never seen any around, not even near the secondary entrance.” That got another quiet chuckle out of Dad.

“You know Hayley; she designed them to blend in. It wouldn’t do for Triceramax to be discovered with solar panels, Abigail. Even before Conner and the others found Triceramax, I didn’t want it to be discovered; this was doubly important after Mesogog appeared. There are too many people out there that would use the technology down there for their own gain, including our own government. I promised Zordon eons ago to keep this hidden; Hayley and Anton are the only ones not on a Ranger team to even know everything that’s down there. Not even Elsa knows everything; nor do Sam and David. It’s not that I don’t trust them, but…”

“But the fewer non-Rangers that know, the less that they can tell. That makes sense, Dad.” With that, I went up to my room to change outfits; while I’d be changing into my Gi at the dojo, I did need to put on my sports bra before we left. I might not have gone riding today, but I understood why Dad wanted me to learn how my ATV worked before actually riding it. The first couple of actual riding lessons would be basics followed by troubleshooting if things went wrong; Hayley wanted to be in on that one.

Those lessons, however, would have to wait until after the tournament; we would be traveling down Thursday. We were going to need to spend our free time tomorrow finishing our packing as we were heading to Disneyland right after the tournament was over. I took my laundry basket down to the basement before heading out with Dad; Katherine was doing the laundry ahead of packing while we were at the dojo.

After we got home, I quietly thought about what Dad and I had talked about this morning. I understood his worry for my mental health; he’d worked hard to help me get to where I was now. His ‘no’ grated though; I knew I could deal with talking with Ba. My previous conversations, primarily over the phone, had gone well, as had the letters between the two of us. Even our in-person conversations, as short as they were, had gone well. I didn’t understand why he was so worried about this, not even about the tournament. I knew how to push my emotions to the side to focus; I’d done so during the soccer game before the reconnaissance mission.

That could be what worried Dad, though. I’d fallen apart the day after the mission and realized that might be what Dad was concerned about. I knew why I’d fallen apart then; this was completely different! I promised to myself that irregardless of what Dad actually said, I’d be doing this. I would text him before leaving so that he could join me if he saw it in time.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside, Tommy’s house. Tuesday. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy watched as Abigail practiced with the other blue belts as they prepared for the tournament in two days. Despite being the newest blue belt going, he could tell she was determined to prove herself. He wondered how much of that was because she knew Ernie was going to be watching her compete; they’d talked more than once about Ernie’s refusal to let her take lessons growing up. David had done a wonderful job teaching her; it had only been her lack of weapons knowledge that had kept her back to a degree.

He was also worried about her insistence on talking to Ernie by herself; he understood why she didn’t want someone there. She might have said that Ernie might be uncomfortable knowing that there was a third person in the building, but Tommy suspected that it was Abigail herself who would be uncomfortable with a third person there. She was right in that Francine shouldn’t be dragged into her family situation; it really didn’t affect team dynamics that much right now. He wondered why Abigail wouldn’t or didn’t want him there; he resolved to talk to Rocky about it.

“Kyoshi Oliver.” Tommy jumped as Hanshi Scott spoke up from next to him. “Something on your mind?”

“Yea, just a bit.” His response got a small chuckle out of the head of the dojo.

“You are worried about your daughter; she will be fine in the tournament, Kyoshi.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about. Her birthfather lives in Angel Grove; she wants to talk with him one morning before competing.”

“That doesn’t seem like it should be something to worry about.”

“She wants to talk to him alone, Hanshi.”

“Ah…don’t worry, Kyoshi. Like I said, Abigail will be fine. Trust your daughter, as she trusts you.”

“I do trust her!” Tommy hissed.

“Do you? She knows Angel Grove well, knows her birthfather…what is there for you worried about? If anything, this conversation with her birthfather will only help her focus better; she’ll likely not go into the tournament trying to prove something other than to herself and any opponent. If she doesn’t have this conversation, she’ll be trying to prove something to him too.”

Tommy watched Hanshi Scott walk off and wondered once again if there was some handbook that said all older martial arts masters, irregardless of race, had to act all mysterious when giving advice. He knew that what was spoken was true; he still wanted to be there for Abigail to support her.

Kat could tell Tommy was still thinking about it when they were packing later that night; she said as much as they folded the clothing that would be going into Andy’s diaper bag. Most of his clothing, Tommy would pack in his own suitcase, but they wanted to have some outfits as backup just in case they needed to change his outfits during the day.

“Do you want me to go with her when she talks to Ernie, Tommy?”

“I appreciate it, Kat, but I’d rather be the one there. Even if I’m not in the same room, I’d feel better being close by just in case.” She grabbed a hand at that and he looked up at her.

“Tommy, have you considered the fact that it’s because you’ve been invested in her care and well-being from the moment Conner called you last year that makes her uncomfortable having you there for that conversation with Ernie? They need to clear the air between them and I doubt the last thing either of them wants is us there. I don’t know if you noticed, but the two times they were able to talk in person, it was minor stuff. If we hadn’t been there to witness, I’m sure that they would have talked further about everything. Their phone conversations have been similar; they rarely talk about the actual issues between them. Some of that is, granted, because stuff like what they need to talk about is not normally talked about over the phone. The rest of that, though, has been because every time they’ve talked, you’ve been in the room!”

Tommy looked at the wall that divided the nursery from Abigail’s room; Kat was right. He still didn’t like it.

“I just don’t want her mental health to take a decline again, Kat. You saw her after the reconnaissance mission and again after Ivan’s defeat; I don’t want her to tumble mentally and emotionally like that again. I know this isn’t Ranger related, but it’s still a rather Big Thing for her to deal with. She shouldn’t have to deal with this alone.”

“She hasn’t so far; she might need to now, Tommy. Just consider it, alright?”

“I can do that, Kat. I’m still going to talk to Rocky, though. He’s said Ernie’s ready for such a conversation.” Tommy looked at his daughter’s bedroom wall again and sighed. “I just hope Abigail is.”

“She will be, Tommy, don’t worry.” His response was cut off by Kat kissing him and he wrapped his arms around her as he deepened the kiss. Only Abigail swearing a bit from her bedroom saw them split as Tommy went to investigate the problem. He almost audibly laughed when he found her digging under her bed.

“Need any help, Abigail?”

“I’m fine!” came her muffled response. “One of my socks decided to take refuge between the floor and my bed, that’s all Dad.” She emerged two seconds later with the wayward sock in her hand, mock scowling at it. “That’s what I get for dumping my clean clothing all over my bed as I try and pack.”

“You don’t have to do all of it tonight.”

“I know; just want to get most of it done so that all I have to pack are my toiletries and electronics, which is going to be my phone and iPod, primarily, along with their chargers. That along with an empty sketchbook or two and some pencils.” The sketchbooks and pencils didn’t surprise him; she rarely went out of the house without some. Occasionally, she’d also pack some loose paper in a folder as well, primarily for times where she didn’t want to deal with the rings on her sketchbook. He also knew that she’d be packing an eraser and pencil sharpener as well.

“About our conversation this morning, Abigail. It’s not that I’m against you talking with Ernie, I’m all for the two of you clearing the air, it’s the fact that you’d be there by yourself with him. He’s hurt you enough; I’m just worried that you’ll be hurt again.”

“I’m worried about that too, Dad. I…wouldn’t mind if you were in the same building, but I’d rather be alone with Ba for this, at least in the same room.”

“I can deal with that, Abigail. Just call or text when you’re ready to go talk with Ernie, alright?”

“Alright,” Abigail replied as she gave him a hug. He could tell she still wasn’t too happy about it, but he didn’t press. As he helped her sort through what she was going to pack, he was surprised when he saw a brand-new monorail card among the things she was going to pack. He knew he’d not bought it for her; he didn’t go to Angel Grove enough to have kept his up and Abigail had told him that she’d ditched hers when she ran so she wouldn’t be found right away.

“Abigail? Where did this come from?” He asked, picking it up off her desk.

“Huh? Oh, Ba sent it up with David; he gave it to me before heading back to Angel Grove. Seems Ba got mine back when they were looking for me last summer. He’s kept it up; updated it once he found out my adoptive name.” Tommy heard her voice hitch at that; looking up, he noticed she’d froze in the middle of folding a shirt. Wiping away a tear, she finished folding the shirt and put it into her suitcase. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he was unsurprised to find that she didn’t pull away. “I’m okay, Dad. It was just…I don’t know. Almost as if he still hopes I’ll come back to Angel Grove one day; giving me that card, I think, is his way of letting me know I still have a home there with him.”

“That was nice of him.” Handing the card to her, he was unsurprised to see her put into her wallet, which she then returned to her shoulder bag.

“It was; I wasn’t expecting him to do that. I figured that I’d have to get a new one if I ever moved back to Angel Grove.”

“You weren’t expecting to see it again,” Tommy stated. He knew, without her saying so, that she’d done everything she could to hide her past life when she’d ran to Reefside just over a year ago. He knew, in her position, he’d have ditched every form of identification he could. In her case, she likely ditched her school ID as well; that hadn’t been sent up with the monorail card.

“I wasn’t expecting to even be able to use my name openly again, Dad, or even be able to go back to Angel Grove. I thought I’d be hiding under an assumed name until after my 18^th birthday and even then, I wasn’t sure.” He pulled her into a hug as the tears that had been threatening to fall flooded out. Ernie, in that one gesture, had given Abigail that reassurance that no matter what, he still loved her. He’d said it more than once; had tried indicating as much with some of her birthday and Christmas gifts, but it had been the updating and return of her monorail card that had done it. The note that had been with it simply stated what she’d told him as well as the fact that he would keep paying it for her as long as needed.

After Abigail finished crying, Tommy helped her finish packing. That ended up necessitating trying to find her swimsuit and towel; it was one of the items she’d have to pack in the morning, as it had to be washed. Normally, they wouldn’t be packing what amounted to a week and half’s worth of clothing for a weekend trip, but they were heading for Disneyland straight from the tournament, so it was necessary. After she moved her suitcase off of her bed, she offered to help them pack Andy’s things. He shook his head, though.

“We’ve got most of it packed, Abigail. I appreciate the offer though; we’ll see what has to be packed in the morning. That’s going to be the tough thing; packing everything around also practicing at the dojo.”

“Hayley offered to come over and help while you two are out. Given that she’s house sitting again, well…” Kat said from the door, holding a wide-awake Andy in her arms.

“I think Trent and Karan offered to help house sit as well; they heard the whole hairbrush story from April.” Tommy chuckled at Abigail’s statement; Hayley’s annoyance with Sasha and Eliza stealing her hairbrush was well known among their group.

“They did offer; I told Trent he knows where the spare key is.”

“Meaning you gave him one,” Kat said. As far as she knew, nobody on his current team had a house key, preferring to either come over when they knew he’d be home or using the cave entrance to Triceramax when needed.

“Nope. Hayley programmed the lock to open to our communicators. There’s a ‘key’ that goes with it, but only if any one of the five of them is with a civilian. If it’s one of us or Hayley…”

Kat just raised an eyebrow at him. “You were going to tell me this when, Tommy?”

“Sorry, Kat. I…ah…thought Hayley had.” He couldn’t stop himself from blushing, though. The system was rather new; Hayley had installed it when they were down in Angel Grove for the soccer game. It had been something that had been planned and designed before Ivan’s defeat; he’d told Hayley to install it anyway as there was no guarantee that the next villain wouldn’t target the house.

They headed downstairs; Tommy heading to the basement to finish doing the laundry. Kat had protested, but Tommy insisted, telling her he didn’t mind. He truly didn’t; she’d spend most of the day doing laundry while also taking care of Andy and if he could do some of that work so she didn’t have to in the morning, he would. Thankfully, most of what was left to do were the towels and swimwear; Abigail only had the one suit as the ones she’d had from Angel Grove no longer fit as well as they’d done in the past. It was something that he intended to fix once they got back from their trip; he was sure that there were swimsuits in her favorite colors available.

When he came back up with his and Kat’s clean clothing, he noticed that she and Abigail were busy playing with Andy. Smiling at the sight, he took their clothing up and put it away, only leaving out what he needed to pack. Kat was going to pack in the morning; he wanted to make sure that the towels and washcloths were put away either before he went to bed or before leaving for the dojo in the morning.

Tommy just hoped that he and Abigail would get home with enough time to help Kat pack the mini-van; he knew that it wasn’t easy to pack with just one person doing it. Doubly so when she also had to care for Andy; on top of that, some of the things that needed to be packed weren’t easy for one person to maneuver or carry. The toiletries would be the last to be packed; he was fairly certain Abigail was just going to put hers into her shoulder bag and call it good.

Location: Reefside, Thursday morning. POV: Abigail/1^st person

The morning we were to leave for Angel Grove was a mess, for lack of a better word. Sasha and Eliza tried climbing into my shoulder bag and Andy’s diaper bag twice. They than attempted to swipe Katherine’s hairbrush and Dad’s comb, followed by my socks. I was glad I’d packed my suitcase in the car last night; they’d already climbed in it when Dad and I were packing it Tuesday. I’m pretty sure that they knew we were going on a trip that they couldn’t come on; it was one thing if we were going to visit either set of parents or Sam and Uncle David, but neither of the hotels we were going to be staying at were pet friendly. It was part of why Hayley was house-sitting while we were going to be gone; when we were gone over Christmas, all someone had to do was stop by once a day to bring in the mail and paper as well as make sure everything was alright.

Most of Dino Thunder were going to be stopping by the house at least once during the day while we were gone, though Trent was coming down Sunday to pick up our personal weapons that we were going to be using as part of the tournament. That was primarily because we couldn’t take them to the Disneyland Hotel with us; from what Dad said, it was part of their rules that no weapons were allowed on property. It made sense; they wanted to ensure the safety of their Cast Members and guests.

The tournament was going to be split into two parts for those of us participating: one round where it was just us demonstrating our skills before a panel of judges and another round where we’d be facing off against opponents of our same belt rank. I was less worried about the first round than I was about the second. The first round, my instructors said, to just treat as we would a belt test; I was only worried about the second round because I’d only just had my belt a month. Most of my opponents would be like Francine: further along in their training then I was. I resolved to do the best I could in both; to not do so would be an insult to my dojo, my instructors, and myself.

I finally was able to rescue my socks and get dressed, throwing my toiletries in my shoulder bag. Once I got to the ground floor, I pulled a Ziploc bag out to put my shampoo and conditioner in and put that back into my bag. I’d also put a sketchbook and a folder full of my normal drawing paper in there; my pencils were in a pencil case and the pencil sharpener was placed in one of the many smaller pockets in it. I had also placed my morpher in the hidden compartment; we might not have any known enemies on planet right now, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Francine wasn’t either; when we’d talked at the dojo, she said she was bringing hers as well. Dad wasn’t surprised when he saw me put it in there as I was finishing getting ready; he and his friends had been in the habit of carrying their various Power devices on them as teens. Dino Thunder’s communicators that could call the morphers from anywhere was partially born from that. Mine could, but I was still in the habit of carrying my morpher from the months that I’d used my first one.

“Nervous, Abigail?” Katherine asked me over breakfast.

“A little, but more about the sparring half of the tournament. I’m fine in class, but…”

“You’re worried that you may have a flashback,” she stated.

“Yea…sounds stupid when I say it out loud.”

“It’s not stupid,” Dad said. “I worried about that, too, after I took up the mantle back in high school. So did Jason, Zack, Kimberly…even Billy and your mom worried about it at various times. Jason and I were the only ones who competed in martial arts tournaments regularly; the rest worried about it in classes at the Youth Center. You’re not alone and I have every confidence that you’ll do well. I know Conner taught you how to push Ranger stuff out of your mind for soccer games; tournaments like this aren’t that different.”

I felt better after that; Dad reassured me that my fears were normal, but also helped me work through them. After his pep talk, I knew I’d get through the tournament just fine. This was just like the soccer games after Ivan was destroyed; all I had to worry about was getting through it. I had no pressing duties outside of that except talk to Ba, no worries about Ranger opponents, no monsters or mindless goons to worry about attacking in the middle of everything, none of that. I might be an 5^th kyu-a blue belt at our dojo, but this was likely going to be the first of many tournaments once I reached black belt.

I was actually surprised to be competing in a tournament already; from what I understood, that was normally reserved for 1^st dan or higher black belts. From what I was told when I asked is that for the black belts, this was an actual tournament. For lower ranked martial artists, this was a mix of things for us: it served not just as an introduction to tournaments, but also allowed us to practice our skills against opponents who learned from different teachers. It also allowed us to determine if tournaments were things we wanted to get involved in as we grew in skill.

As we headed down the freeway that would take us to Angel Grove, I found myself holding Andy’s hand. He was fast asleep in his car seat, but he instinctively curled his hand around a finger and smiled. I often wondered what he dreamed about, but he was too little to talk about his dreams yet. He did wake up somewhat when we pulled into the hotel parking lot behind the rest of the dojo who’d come. It took me a few seconds to get him to let go of my finger so I could grab my suitcase and other bags.

“Don’t worry, Andy; you can hold my finger all you want once we get into our rooms,” I told him as he started to fuss, giving him a kiss on the forehead. While I could have roomed with Dad, Katherine, and Andy, Dad was allowing me to room with Francine again. Once we got checked in and up to our room, he admonished us to not stay up too late that night. Once he left to put his bags into the room next door, Francine and I collapsed on the beds, giggling.

“When are you going to talk to your birthfather?” She finally asked as we unpacked. “I can go with you if you want, Abigail.”

I shook my head at that. “Dad’s already offered, Francine, but thanks. I’m thinking tomorrow morning, before the Youth Center opens; I know we’re heading over to have fun tonight. I doubt Ba’s going to want to have this conversation when the Youth Center’s going to be busy with all the teens coming in from out of town. If I go in early enough, when he’s getting in to get ready to open, we can talk while he’s setting up.”

“That makes sense. Don’t do anything stupid, Abigail. I know Dr. DeSantos has said he’s gotten better, but…”

“But you’re worried he’s going to try and hurt me again; Dad’s expressed similar worries. It’s why I’m to text him when I’m ready to go. He’s promised to not actually be in the room when Ba and I talk; it’s still going to be weird with him there. I’ll be wearing my communicator, though; Uncle Billy and Hayley worked out a way for me to get it to beep if Ba grabs my left hand to prevent that.” I shrugged. “They’re working out a way to put that in all the communicators; I’m just the guinea pig for it. It works on a similar system to our morphers if we need to call them telepathically, or so Uncle Billy says. Claims it’s Dad-proof.”

“Dr. Oliver-proof?” Francine asked, incredulous. I knew what she was thinking; I was the same way when he first said it. Dad never seemed klutzy, especially when it came to Power Ranger stuff.

“Yea…managed to bust his original somehow. Uncle Billy can’t get through telling the whole story without someone among the original team giggling, but somehow, Dad managed to bust his in such a way that the communications aspect that calls the Command Center was acting up. One of his teachers actually confiscated it, thinking it was a new type of pager. Claims it was partially the fault of two bullies in their school, though he won’t name them by name.” Francine was amused by the whole thing and I didn’t blame her; it was funny to imagine my dad busting part of his Ranger gear.

“I wonder if Dr. Oliver’s original teammates have any other embarrassing stories about him; Conner’s told us about the whole ‘trapped in amber’ story. He only told us the once, as we could all see it made Trent uncomfortable.”

“No shit. Trap your future team leader in amber to prevent him from getting that information out and later joining his team? Yea, I’d be uncomfortable too. Dad doesn’t blame him, which helps him deal; Rocky’s offered to help him work through it if he needs to talk to a pro. Said it wouldn’t be the first time he’s had to help a Ranger through that; claims that’s partially why he became a therapist.”

“Understandable; it’s not like we have anyone else to talk to professionally except the Rangers who’ve come before. Dr. Oliver and the others didn’t have that, did they?” I shook my head.

“Nobody except Zordon and Dimitria and even then, those two didn’t really understand Earth humans completely; Dimitria’s gotten better about it, though.” Francine looked puzzled. “Zordon’s…dead. Has been since before my birth; it’s a long story and for another time. The teams that helped defend Angel Grove, including the Astro Rangers, have agreed to tell us about Zordon this summer, or at least what they knew about him. He died helping defeat an evil alliance; from what I understand, it was effectively suicide by Ranger. It’s why he’s not in the Grid, Francine; he knew that his manner of death would have that result and he did it anyway. I don’t know if there was any other choice, to be honest. If it had been death at the hands of their enemies, he would have been in the Grid, but their enemies were intent on turning Zordon evil instead.”

“That…sucks. Isn’t there a way to petition to allow him to join the Grid, over 16 years later? He shouldn’t be denied an afterlife because of what he needed to do to help save the universe.” Francine, like the rest of my team, hadn’t gotten the whole story of what happened to Rangers, current and former, including their mentors after they died. They did know that many planets that had Rangers believed that the Grid doubled as an afterlife for deceased Rangers.

“I don’t know; that’s one of the things I’m hoping to ask Andros or Dimitria this summer. If there’s anyone who can answer that question, it’s those two. Earth’s still rather….new…to the whole Ranger business. Andros was raised on a planet that has had Rangers for eons; so was Dimitria. Her people are regarded as the ones to go to among our alien allies for answers for Ranger information. She was the one who got me the book on helping control my abilities; from what another ally said, it was a book designed for her people. It helped to a degree, but I’m still going to write a manual for Earth-humans so that if I can’t train the next Earth-human Ranger with the same abilities, they’re not without guidance.”

Dad knocking at our door stopped the conversation; it was one thing to talk about Ranger business in our hotel room while having my iPod going, but neither of us were stupid to continue that conversation with the door open. While several teams had their identities known to the public-either by choice in the case of Lightspeed, or by force in the case of the Astro and Mystic Force teams-Earth wasn’t ready to know the identities of all its Ranger teams. Dad said, and I agreed, that we’d never have a moment’s peace. It was a huge reason why the Astro team had all once lived off-planet despite all but 3 members being from Earth; several governments had tried privatizing the team, if not outright trying to capture Andros, Zhane, and Karone to do experiments on them. The idea of telepathic or telekinetic humans that weren’t mutants…well, I don’t blame them for wanting to live off-planet half of the time. Earth’s governments barely treated mutants well; the idea of Ranger tech to power up the government’s soldiers made me ill. If they knew about me, it’d be game over for Earth.

They’d finally agreed to stop harassing the known Rangers basically due to the fact that one of the teams had effectively threatened to let the next big bad have Earth. Given the destruction that had been leveled on Angel Grove, it was an effective threat.

We soon headed out, meeting up with the other 4 blue belts. Part of the reason why Francine and I were rooming together was the fact that we were only 2 of the only 3 girls among our belt rank; the other girl was rooming with her parents. Francine and I both had that option, but had wanted to room together partially because while we both had nightmares we were dealing with, we also enjoyed spending time together whenever we could. I also wanted to room with her because, as much as I love Andy, he wasn’t sleeping through the night just yet. Vacation next week was going to be one thing, but I wanted to be rested for the tournament. Dad didn’t blame me either; seeing that I was trying to take care of myself often drew praise from him.

Like when we’d come down for the soccer game in April, the Youth Center ended up being not just busy, but also rather noisy as some of the teens in for the tournament had the same idea as our dojo. While the Youth Center wasn’t the only hangout spot in town, it was the most popular. There was also the Surf Shack, which had been built close to the beach sometime before Ba had bought the Youth Center. Of course, the beach itself was popular among many Angel Grove residents, as was the local park.

During a quiet moment, I managed to slip away from my group, letting Francine know where I was headed and found Ba. Having spent most of my life at the Youth Center, I knew where to find him if he wasn’t behind the counter. I realized that we wouldn’t have a chance to truly talk right now, but I wanted to let him know I was in town and find a good time for us to talk. Given that most of his employees were manning the counter, I knew that he’d likely be in the kitchen cooking. I quietly grabbed an apron and joined him to get some of the food orders ready.

“Abigail. You didn’t have to come in and help.” His shock was obvious. I gave a smile as I got the pizza out of the oven.

“I wanted to, Ba. It took me a while before I started missing some of the stuff that I helped you with growing up.”

“I appreciate the help; David’s a bit busy helping Jason get ready for the tournament. He’d be here helping otherwise; same thing for Jason’s twins.” David and Amy were two of the better cooks among the teens that worked for Dad. Austin admitted that, while he knew how to cook, he was better off as their gopher when they cooked. After getting the last pizza on its delivery plate, we slipped out of the kitchen, Ba thanking me again for my help.

“Anytime I’m here, Ba, anytime.” We shared a smile as I headed back to my friends. The quick conversation I wanted to have with him would have to wait until it calmed down a bit. At Francine’s look, I quietly explained that he was a bit busy and down two of his best cooks.

“Yea…that would do it. It’s also fairly busy; he’s not had much of a chance to take a break since we got in.”

“No, he hasn’t, Francine, even with almost all of his employees working tonight. David, Austin, and Amy are the only ones not working right now. David also works at Jason’s dojo, teaching; Austin and Amy are also helping out. Like David and I with here, they basically grew up at their dad’s dojo and mom’s gymnastics studio. I really feel sorry for whoever they face off against in the main tournament; they grew up living and breathing martial arts and gymnastics.” The black belts from our dojo that were hanging around just groaned.

“How good are they?” Jack asked.

“Honestly? No clue when it comes to martial arts. I took gymnastics; don’t let Austin fool you. He might resemble his dad in body shape, but the dual training likely helped him out with martial arts. He’s fairly flexible as is his sister. As good as Francine and I are together, they make the two of us look like we’re not even trying. That’s at least when it comes to soccer.” Jack just headdesked.

“What are the odds that Alex and I are going to face off against them at some point?” He moaned, head still on the table.

“Fairly good; sorry guys. Just treat them as if you’re facing off against Johnny and Steve on the mats. I know you guys have done two-on-two mixed training before.” Alex brightened at that as he pulled Jack away. Their part of the tournament included two-on-two matches instead of individual demonstrations of skill in front of judges like my belt rank was doing.

“Thanks, Abigail!” He hollered as he pulled his friend into the area generally reserved for martial arts practice. Two of the other black belts followed them, laughing at their friend’s new-found enthusiasm. A crowd quickly gathered to watch as the four got in some practice, giving Ba and the other employees a bit of a breather as well as a chance to get some cleaning up done.

I wanted to go and help out again, but knew that I’d just be getting in the way. My best bet to talk with Ba again was to wait until they got done cleaning up. Looking over at the now-practicing group, I knew it was a good time to head over to the counter. I had no desire to practice right now, not with the area crowded. Too easy to get hurt, for starters. Francine and I could use one of the extra rooms, but neither of us wanted to practice right now. We’d warm up in the mornings of the competition, but we both wanted to use tonight to relax a bit.

While Francine played some of the arcade games that Ba had always kept at the Youth Center, I took a place at the counter, waiting for him to come out from the kitchen with the cleaned blenders. Justine brought over a glass of juice for me; she knew I wouldn’t drink soda this late in the afternoon.

“He’ll be out soon, Abigail. One of the new kids mixed up a couple of drawers of something, forget what. First shift; Ernie’s taking his time helping him out. Ernie…misses you.”

“I know, Justine. Hoping to clear the air with him at some point, but not when the Youth Center’s busy like this. Too easy to get interrupted by everything,” I replied, waving a hand at the crowd. She grinned and headed off to take care of another customer. Ba soon came out with the new hire, one of the incoming high school seniors. Justine hadn’t been kidding when she said it wouldn’t take them long to come out. Ba smiled as he saw me there, waiting to talk a bit; we’d not gotten much of a chance to talk when I’d slipped into the kitchen to help him out.

“Abigail. How are you?”

“Doing good, Ba. Thanks for the gifts…especially the monorail card. I wasn’t expecting to see it again, honestly.”

“You’re welcome, Abigail. I hoped you’d want it back.”

“Ba…what time do you think you’ll be getting here in the morning? I want to talk with you and…" I waved a hand at the crowd.

“Now’s not a good time, you’re right. Too many people. I haven’t changed my arrival time for the Youth Center’s summer hours in years, Abigail. 8 am while the tournament is going on, as some of the stuff is happening here. The entire event would be happening at the Convention Center, but one of the rooms has water damage. I think your belt rank is going to be here at least tomorrow until they get everything fixed. If you want to come early, feel free, even if Tommy comes with you, or one of your teammates. I know Francine from soccer, she’s one of yours, isn’t she?” I almost spat out my juice at that. Damn Ba’s perceptiveness; it was how he’d figured out Mom and her teammates back in high school.

“Ba…” I replied quietly. “Not answering that. Not now at any rate…too many people.”

“I understand. See you in the morning?”

“Yea…see you in the morning, Ba.” I couldn’t keep the shock completely out of my voice and slipped away when Ba’s attention was on another customer. Francine was unsurprised when I joined her; she’d been close enough to hear the conversation.

“He knows, doesn’t he?”

“Yep. Always has; figured out Dad’s team in a heartbeat too. 'Course, Jason once told him that he’d heard that the original team were space aliens. No idea if he figured everything out before or after that; I’ve never asked.”

With that, we headed back to join our group, as it was getting close to time to head back to the hotel and dinner. I was nervous for this conversation, but also determined to clear the air with Ba; Dad had talked to Rocky at some point while we were at the Youth Center. I’d not had much of a chance to do so while he was there; I’d only noticed their conversation when I’d ducked into the kitchen to find Ba earlier in the day.

I was quiet as we headed back to the hotel as a group; talk about personal stuff was going to have to wait until after we ate. Ranger stuff especially would have to wait until we knew we weren’t going to be overheard. I couldn’t use my iPod as a distraction method every time we talked about our team while we were staying at the hotel. What I wasn’t expecting was Francine to pull me to the side as we entered the hotel, heading towards one of the restaurants in it.

“Abigail, I hope you’re not making a mistake talking to your birthfather. I know you said Dr. Oliver will be in the building with you, but I’d feel more comfortable if someone was in the room with you.”

“Francine, I appreciate your concern, but I. Will. Be. Fine. It’s just going to be a simple conversation. Unlike Karan’s situation, this won’t affect our team. Not negatively at any rate; I’m trying to avoid that with this conversation. Yes, he knows the identities of Reefside’s newest team, or at least suspects who they are, but the most that will happen is a small chewing out. Most of the Rangers he knows have worked with him on dealing with everything. He’s better prepared for everything then he was a year ago. I need you to trust me on this.”

“I do. If it weren’t for the fact that Dr. Oliver knows, I’d be going over your head to tell him.”

“I’d let you, too and not even be mad. Me not telling Dad falls under the whole ‘doing something stupid’ rule I set up with the team back in March.” We rejoined the group at that, ignoring the puzzled glances that the rest of the group was giving us. “Just a quick conversation about something personal, that’s all, guys,” I said. At the ‘personal’, the rest of the group busied themselves with their food. They knew better than to ask.

During dinner, Hanshi told us what Ba had already said; the Convention Center has some water damage in the room my group was supposed to use tomorrow. They’d have it fixed by Saturday for us to do the two-day sparring part of the tournament, but we were going to do the individual assessment of skills at the Youth Center for the blue belts. I looked at Dad when that happened, but he wasn’t looking in my direction. I was going to have to talk to him before we went to bed, as my group was supposed to walk over to the Youth Center together. If there was any morning to talk to Ba, it would have to be tomorrow morning.

I knew Dad had talked to Hanshi about my wanting to talk to Ba; Hanshi had given me one free pass to not walk with the group as long as I was at our location, dressed and warmed up by the time we were supposed to be there. I planned to use it tomorrow morning, when I went to the Youth Center. It was easier that way instead of talking with Ba and having to use the monorail to get to the Convention Center.

The hardest part about the whole thing was going to be getting out of my hotel room without Francine waking up. I would leave her a note so she didn’t panic, but that was about it. I tended to wake up at 7:15 normally; Francine tended to sleep in when she could. I remembered that much from our various sleepovers the past year. We didn’t have to be at the Youth Center until 9 at the earliest to change and warm up. I planned on being there long before that, just Ba and I. Don’t get me wrong, I would text Dad, but I doubted it would take him the 15 minutes from the time I texted him that I was ready to leave and actually left. He would be keeping his phone on almost silent to avoid waking Andy up.

The only things I’d not unpacked was my sports bag that held my Gi and belt and my purse; I left both by my bed so that I could just quietly grab them after getting dressed. I actually put my outfit together while Francine was in the bathroom, getting ready for bed. Given that she’d done the same thing when I was in the bathroom, I knew she wouldn’t find it odd at all. We’d be doing the same thing the next couple of nights so that all we had to do was change, grab our bags, and head down to breakfast. The hotel offered a continental breakfast along with restaurants; I’d be grabbing something from there to eat before I texted Dad.

We headed to bed not long after that; I had told Dad that Ba was going to be at the Youth Center tomorrow morning at 8. He simply nodded as I told him, but he was distracted, so I was unsure of how much he’d heard. I’d headed back to my room not long after that, kissing them goodnight. Andy had simply yawned and fussed a bit when I’d kissed him; he was fighting sleep.

I awoke the next morning earlier than I’d thought, but not by much, only a few minutes. Grateful that my bed was next to the bathroom, I quietly slipped in it before closing the door and turning on the lights. I took a quick shower and dressed in the dark. Leaving a note for Francine so she wouldn’t worry, I slipped down to the lobby with my two bags. I ate quickly as I texted Dad; by the time I got done, 15 minutes had passed and it was 7:35. If I timed it right, Ba and I would get there at the same time. He might have said 8, but I knew Ba; he’d be showing up early because he knew I wanted to talk before the others of my rank came pouring in and they would be showing up early.

I slipped out, not hearing the noise of the elevator behind me as I headed out into the streets of Angel Grove. Despite the tournament happening today, the streets were quiet as I headed to the Youth Center, allowing me to not be distracted by the noise as I thought about what I wanted to say to Ba. As I suspected, he was already there when I arrived, unlocking the front door from the inside.

“Abigail,” he said as we hugged.

“Ba.”

“Tommy not with you?” I shook my head.

“I texted him to let him know I was ready to leave, but he wasn’t down by the time I needed to leave to get here. I…really didn’t want to wait.”

“Abigail.” I tried not to flinch at the rebuke, even as I began to help him with the familiar routine of getting the Youth Center ready not just for the day, but for the competition.

“I know…he wanted to be here, but I want to be able to have this conversation between the two of us; nobody else in the building except maybe David and he’s at the Convention Center. We’ve been going in circles over the issue; I compromised by saying I would text him and I did. I never promised I’d wait.” Ba just sighed.

“He worries about you, as do I, and with good reason. Neither he nor Rocky were able to tell me much when I was finally able to hear how you were doing, but the fact that Tommy had you in therapy from the start says a lot. What I did to you was wrong, Abigail, and I’m not just talking about my behavior the week you ran either. Keeping you and David so close to home…not allowing the two of you the same freedoms your classmates had…I failed both of you as a father.”

“Ba…” I knew he was right, but it was still hard to hear him admit it. He might not have been the dad that Dad was, but I wouldn’t call my childhood a failure. “There’s much that you did right, though.”

“I wouldn’t count getting you to 15 physically healthy with only a bit of physical abuse doing something right.”

“I’m not talking about the week I ran. Yes, I might not have done everything my age-mates did, but you allowed me to discover my talent for art. You made sure I had a relationship with Sylvia, even if she doesn’t want to talk to me right now. You took David and I to places like Disneyland and watching filmings of Jeopardy. I got to spend time with Mom’s friends, even if some of that was through gymnastics lessons. Yes, some of what you did was wrong, but I would not call all of how you raised me failing. Did you keep David and I closer to home than we probably should have been? Yes, but I understand why. Rocky explained it to me one day when I asked; how you felt after Mom died isn’t unusual.”

“He’s said as much. That still doesn’t excuse all the harm I did you, even after you fled. If I could go back and do everything over, I would.”

“I know; I have stuff from when I ran away that I wish I could have done differently. I still feel bad for hurting you, too. I know you’ve said it was something that you needed, but from what I’ve gathered from things Rocky and the others have let slip, I may have made things worse for you, at least in the short term. Don’t think I didn’t notice you taking medication at the art show; I have a few ideas of what you’re taking.” I’d also overheard David say something about Ba dealing with depression; ignoring his grief as long as he had coupled with me running away would do that.

“If you’d have stayed in Angel Grove, it would have been a lot worse for you. Running to Reefside was the best thing you could have done. I’ve known Tommy ever since he transferred in from a Los Angeles high school; I knew you’d be safe with him and that he’d take the best care he could of you. I wasn’t proven wrong either; despite knowing him for years, he still made the choice to stand between the two of us and protect you last July. I also got to see him and the rest of Dino Thunder in action that day, along with you; you were completely safe despite fighting against that purple carrot-faced villain. The only time I saw you seriously hurt is when you stood between one of your allies and me. You gave Rocky and the others enough time to get me out of there. Rocky told me later that you trusted Tommy enough to demorph you that afternoon. I’ve seen the results of his care of you, Abigail; I can see that you’ve thrived with him and I’ve no desire to take you away from that.”

I did an excellent impression of a fish at that; Ba had said as much starting with his earliest letters. Hearing it however was something different entirely.

“Ba…” I didn’t get much further before he embraced me in a hug. “I wasn’t even sure if you’d want to interact or see me ever again.”

“You are my daughter, Abigail. Turning you away is something I could never do.” I broke down crying in his arms at that; I never thought I’d hear those words from him. Ba settled me at the counter and I noticed he’d been quietly crying as well. Our conversation turned to lighter topics now we’d gotten the big issues out of the way; I’d confirmed that Francine was one of my team when he asked. I wasn’t about to lie to him about that given that he already figured it out. Our communicators were rather obvious as such as each member of the team had asked for ones like mine.

Dad clearing his throat from the doorway got our attention and I jumped. I’d seen him angry before, but not like this; I gulped as I knew I was in trouble. Dad had been clear in the fact that he wanted to be here for my conversation with Ba. Instead of waiting for him to come down like I knew he would have expected me to do, I’d left after 15 minutes. I vaguely remembered a hotel elevator making a noise as I left; I’d brushed off the noise as one of the other hotel guests coming down. It had either been one of my teammates coming down or Dad coming down to join me.

“Tommy…”

“I need to speak to Abigail alone for a few minutes, Ernie. That’s all.” Ba wouldn’t budge, providing me with the same backup David had given me only last year. Dad looked at me; both he and Ba could tell I was scared beyond belief. “It’s just going to be a talk, I promise.” Ba flinched at that, but looked at me, unwilling to leave me without backup.

The next thing I remembered was Francine was holding me and we were in Ba’s office; I’d had a panic attack and a bad one at that if I didn’t even remember her coming in or heading into the office.

“You okay, Abigail?” she asked as soon as she noticed I’d calmed down.

“I…when did you get here? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you came, but…”

“I came with Dr. Oliver; I’m afraid I insisted. Katherine’s here, too, talking with both of your dads. Dr. DeSantos is supposed to be on his way, too. Not sure who he’s going to want to talk to first, you or the group out there.”

I rested my head up against the wall. “I really fucked up, didn’t I, not waiting for Dad?”

“I honestly can’t say one way or the other. I know you’d made it clear that you wanted this conversation to be just the two of you in the building. Dr. Oliver…I can understand why he was urging caution, though.”

“Yea, just in the off chance that Ba behaved like he was last summer. Neither of us are the same people we were back then; panic attacks and nightmares aside, I’d like to think I’m stronger than I was last year. Ba…he’s getting there. I’ve never seen Dad this angry; I think that’s what triggered the panic attack. The last time I had a father that angry at me, I got abused. I know Dad wouldn’t, but…” I trailed off, knowing Francine would understand. She just pulled me into a hug, allowing me to lean my head on her shoulder.

Rocky came in not long after, as did Katherine and Andy, who immediately waved his arms around when he saw me. I took him and he settled into his favorite position, one hand around my sleeve edge instead of the necklace he usually grabbed.

“Abigail, how are you doing?”

“Better. Here to give me a lecture?” He just shook his head.

“No, and I doubt Tommy is going to either,” Katherine spoke up. “I told him Tuesday night that you likely would be uncomfortable with him here when you talked to Ernie. It’s part of why I turned the sound down on his phone last night.” The three of us looked at her in shock; Katherine was normally not the type of person to do such a thing. “That being said, you should have at least let me know that you were planning on coming over this morning. I didn’t realize you’d left until Francine knocked on our door. Andy was already awake, so we weren’t woken up by the knock.”

“How much trouble do you think I’m in, Katherine?”

“I honestly don’t know. You’re not in trouble with me, though. You did what Tommy asked in that you texted him when you were ready to go. It’s not your fault that Tommy didn’t clarify to wait for him.”

“Given that this is the first time you’ve really disobeyed him, Abigail, I doubt he’s going to punish you harshly. He knows what Ernie did as far as punishments go and doesn’t want to be that harsh, not for the first time. The last two times he’s had to punish you, it was for minor stuff and the punishments fit what you did.”

“Soccer ball taken away for a few days because of playing around with Conner in Dino Command; one martial arts lesson taken away because I almost decked a classmate in anger…yea. This is a lot worse, Rocky. I almost expect to be grounded to my room for part of the Disneyland trip…or not be allowed to spend part of the trip by myself.” I gave a small huff. “Either that, or he’s going to wait until we get home and deal then.”

I knew I needed to get to the changing rooms and actually change, but that would require entering the main room. I was scared to do so, for obvious reasons; I wasn’t sure how pissed Dad would be. I knew he and Ba were still in there as I’d heard them talking a bit when Rocky had opened the office door to come in. I knew I’d screwed up and didn't really want to face either of my fathers right now. I didn’t want Ba’s pity, nor see Dad, who was likely still pissed at me for not waiting for him like he expected me to do.

I didn’t notice Rocky slip out, but I did notice Katherine taking his place by my side as Andy turned to face her and babbled a bit. I gave him a small kiss on the top of his head and smiled; just listening to him make noises never failed to make me smile. Katherine and Francine slowly nudged me up, willing to support me as my hands were full holding Andy. I looked up to see Dad in the doorway, hesitant; I knew Rocky had told him how I was doing. We both tried apologizing at the same time; Francine slipped out while we paused to give us some privacy.

“I’m sorry for not waiting, Dad. I didn’t realize you wanted me to wait when I agreed to text you that I was getting ready to head out.”

“I’m sorry not just for not making that clear, but also scaring you like that this morning. I do want to talk further about this tonight, though.” I sighed, but knew why. I deliberately broke a rule and knew he’d want to talk about it.

“I can do that, Dad.” Andy grabbed a hold of Dad’s shirt, due to how close we were, completely breaking the seriousness of the moment. Dad pulled us into a hug, mindful of Andy in my arms. I slowly relaxed in his arms, knowing he’d never physically hurt me. After a few minutes, we broke apart.

“Time to go get changed, Abigail.” I gave him a hug after handing Andy back to Katherine. I was still scared to head back into the main part of the Youth Center; I knew I’d scared Ba with my own panic attack. I realized he’d feel guilty, knowing he was the main reason I tended to go straight to panic with an angry parent. I knew I’d be getting yet another apology from him for it. I was pleased to see Rocky with him as we left the office. When he apologized, I assured him I was fine. What I wasn’t expecting was Dad to invite him to dinner with us that night; Ba looked as if he wasn’t expecting it either. He wished me luck as Dad and I split off from the group to go change.

As I changed into my Gi, I found the earlier stress fading away. I knew Francine was watching me; I let her know I was okay.

“I’ll tell you about it later, Francine. Let’s just focus on getting through this first, okay?”

“I’ll hold you to that, Abigail.” Giving me a look, she gave me a grin. “You know, having a dual surname like you do kinda makes it hard to do the whole ‘I’ll hold you to that, Burton’ or ‘Oliver’ thing.” We looked at each other and dissolved into giggles at that. We quickly returned to our focused state as we joined the other 4 that were participating; it wouldn’t do our dojo any good for us to enter giggling.

Chapter Text

Location: Angel Grove Youth Center, same day. POV: Ernie/3^rd person

Ernie smiled as he watched the demonstrations of the various 5^th kyu students. Each dojo used a slightly different ranking system, so some students like Abigail were wearing blue belts and others were wearing purple or other colors as well as being called by different ranks. He knew it wasn’t unusual; there had been enough classes and tournaments held here over the decades that he’d picked up enough information on the subject to understand what he was looking at. When Abigail’s dojo came up, he stopped his cleaning to join the crowd watching. He’d seen footage of Abigail fighting as a Power Ranger; this was something completely different to watch.

It was in watching her demonstrate her skills that made him realize just how good of a teacher David was. He knew Tommy was a good teacher from watching his daughter’s adoptive father teach classes-both free and paid-here at the Youth Center, but he also knew that she wouldn’t have gotten as far as she had without David’s teaching; Rocky had told him as much when he’d first been able to actually handle hearing news of her in Reefside.

He had wanted to watch David compete, but David wasn’t doing so today, as his class was also here at the Youth Center. He wasn’t surprised when David joined him watching Abigail and her group do their demonstrations of skill.

“You did an excellent job teaching her, David. She should have been taking lessons at Jason’s dojo from the time she was old enough, as you should have been.”

“Thanks, Dad. She’s doing well; I’ve not said as much to Dr. Oliver or Rocky, but I think she’s homesick for here a bit. Ivan’s attacks really forced her to move up a lot in her life right at a time when she was dealing with more than she should have been.”

Ernie nodded; if it hadn’t been for Ooze, it was likelier that he and Tommy would be sharing custody of her right now. He gave David a sideways look as Abigail’s group left the mats.

“It’s hard for you to leave her every time you go and visit,” he stated as they walked back to the counter.

“It is, Dad. Dr. Oliver…”

“I know he gave you an open invite to come up any time; he and I talked this morning when Abigail came in early.”

“There’s more to this than you’re sharing, Dad.”

“And I’m not sharing all of it right now; not when there are listening ears around. Once it gets quiet enough for the others to clean up, I’ll let you know everything that occurred this morning. Dr. Oliver’s invited us to dinner with him, Katherine, and the rest of our shared family. I already said yes; I’ve lost too much time with your sister because of my own actions and I’m not wasting what time I have left.” If the situation hadn’t been so serious, Ernie would have chuckled at the stunned look on his son’s face.

“I’m going too; I know I just saw her last weekend, but I miss her.” Ernie looked around; everyone else, including his employees, were watching the demonstrations.

“I know; so do I. She misses us too, just about said as much this morning before Tommy showed up. He showed up seriously pissed off. From what Abigail said, he wanted to be here for the conversation. Got her to agree to text him when she was ready to leave, but that’s all.”

“So she texts him, waits a bit, and leaves. Knowing Abigail, she probably left a note for Francine, too. She’s sneakier than I think even Dr. Oliver gives her credit for.”

“She had to be, with how I was acting. So did you, David; wouldn’t surprise me if she picked up your behaviors and actions. I only caught your lessons at the house once, David and only once.” Ernie sighed. “Tommy also admitted he wasn’t sure how to punish her for her actions this morning. She did do everything she thought he wanted her to do, even though she eventually came here alone. I couldn’t advise him on what to do; all I did was make her so scared of angering someone she calls ‘dad’ that when she saw him this morning, she had a panic attack.”

“They’ll get through this; they’ll have to. Abigail told me that the two times she caused trouble-normal trouble-Dr. Oliver sat down with her and they worked out what she did wrong. That’s probably what they’ll do, Dad. Beyond that, they’ll figure it out; Rocky will probably help. From what I understand, he’s been expecting Abigail to do something like this for a while. Not on this scale, but he’s been expecting it. So have I, Dad.”

“So has everyone except Tommy, I bet. He’s had a stressful year; he’s also had instances of being forgetful since his teen years. They still do that ‘work on one’s faults’ exercise?” David just snorted into his smoothie, an amused look on his face. Miss Applebee had long since retired, but he’d had to do it with her replacement

“Don’t remind me, but knowing Jason and the others, I bet it was fun for everyone involved.” Ernie just chuckled, remembering the fact that Billy had programmed a watch to help remind Tommy of what he needed to do when he needed to do it; the watch had malfunctioned. It wasn’t the first invention the genius had made that had malfunctioned that year; he remembered the cake machine that had dumped what appeared to be cake-flavored ice cream on him…twice in the same day. No, he was not telling the rest of that story lest someone bring up that machine. Billy had meant well with both inventions, but…Ernie just shook his head, smiling at the memories.

David looked like he wanted to say something, but his group was being called up and he had to go. Ernie smiled as his son headed down to the competition area. Given that his employees all but shooed him away, Ernie went to watch the new group. They knew how much he cared for his children, even if he didn’t always openly show it. They’d also seen him at his weakest over the past year; he had no doubts that they knew part of why either. He needed to take his medication at certain times; even with locking it in his desk drawer, it was obvious to some of them that he needed it. Jason had said that one of his employees had called when Rocky was still working on the right medication for him to use and that’s why he’d rushed over. Rocky hadn’t been far behind; Justine told him later that she’d tried him first, but had gotten his voicemail both times and had left messages. He was grateful that she’d called; if she’d not forgotten her purse, he had no doubt that it would have been David who would have found him when he didn’t return home.

He’d never asked her why she’d called; he was just glad that she did. Not just that, if he had to be honest with himself; he was also grateful that she’d stayed on after that. Finding your boss in a bad state…he wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d quit after that. He planned on making her full-time once she graduated high school, if that’s what she wanted. He knew she was going to apply to the community college nearby, or at least planned to. He also knew that she was planning on applying for as many scholarships as she could; he’d accidentally overheard her talking to one of the other employees one day when doing inventory. He was trying to figure out how to give her a pay raise; now that she was 18, he didn’t mind giving her full-time hours during the summer, along with the pay bump that went with it. He was planning on ‘forgetting’ to drop her pay back down when she had to drop back down to part-time hours in the fall.

Soon, the first day of the event was over; the results wouldn’t be given until the last day. Ernie planned to be there when they were; Justine and the employees not that interested in the event would be working while he attended it. As interested in martial arts as most of Angel Grove was, not all of the residents were. Justine and the others working had approached him about it before he could even ask for volunteers, surprising him. He was willing to surprise him right back; like Justine’s pay when her senior year started up, the employees working this weekend would get overtime pay and then some for this. He’d checked the financials; he knew he could afford it. Thanks to Billy when he’d almost gone under decades ago, he’d figured out how to manage everything better. This had been his first business out of university; it was also his longest lasting even with the period he’d been in the Amazon, where Lt. Stone had bought the place.

As the groups slowly dispersed, Ernie looked around for Abigail, but didn’t see her. He knew the teens wanted to stay behind, but David had told him that most of the groups would be going back to the Convention Center to meet up with the rest of the schools that had come. Abigail’s wouldn’t, not right away, as Tommy still had to talk to Abigail in regards to what she’d done this morning. Zack had come by to take charge of the purple belts from Jason’s dojo; David had also given him the various notes and the video file to take to Jason. Noticing that the cleaning up was well in hand, he went with David into the office.

“What happened this morning, Dad? I know you told me some stuff earlier, but not everything. When you said she’d be coming by one morning this weekend, you mentioned Dr. Oliver too.”

“I didn’t think to ask if she was bringing him; I assumed he’d be with her, as support. The last couple of times I’ve seen her in person, aside from last night and this morning, he’s always been right there. Rocky’s not shared much with me about her sessions with him; Tommy probably knows more than I do about what goes on in them.” He took a deep breath. “Seeing her this morning, alone, as I opened up was a shock. I was a little sharp with her, but she explained that it was all her. She wouldn’t feel comfortable talking, just her and I, if you, Tommy, Rocky, or anyone in her class, including one of her teammates or teachers, were here, even if it was just in another room. Sometimes I wonder if she gets that from me, pulling away when she gets scared enough.”

“Might, Dad. I’m not sure I would call it pulling away though. Reminds me too much of when she decided to run away last year. She and I went around and around on the subject between Tuesday and Friday night; I’d thought I’d convinced her to go to Jason or someone in town if something were to happen. Not surprised she went north, though; Billy might live in L.A. more often than not, but she’s only been to his house a couple of times and I’m not sure if she remembered the address. He usually came here to see her. I kinda feel sorry for Dr. Oliver; he, Katherine, and Rocky have their work cut out for them to get her to not do that. Ivan really screwed with their developing relationship; I might be going for a business degree, but AP Psychology wasn’t that long ago.”

Ernie looked at him slightly puzzled. “What do you mean, David?”

“Dad, what I mean is that Dr. Oliver and Abigail started out not just in a guardian/child relationship, but also a Power Ranger teammate one and both aspects started in the same week. That’s on top of Abigail not telling him who she was for almost 2 months. If she’d never had to use Mom’s morpher, their relationship would have developed normally. She likely would have been here with Dr. Oliver, Katherine, or Rocky this morning, or some combination thereof. Now that she doesn’t have to worry about much in the way of other responsibilities, the parts of their relationship that are strictly parent/child that got put on hold can finally go forward.”

Ernie sighed; David, as usual, was right. Not only did David know his sister well, he’d also observed her relationship with Tommy more than Ernie himself had.

“Including Abigail learning how to deal with a parent who’s angry at her without it turning into a panic attack. I don’t know if me being in the room contributed to it or not; Tommy was the one to grab Francine, who was right outside the door, while I got her into here. She wasn’t even aware that I’d brought her in here, David, but was aware that I was there. It was making things worse, me being in here; I got out as soon as Francine got in and called Rocky. Willing to bet that Tommy rarely shows anger in front of her.”

As they headed back out into the main room for Ernie to deal with the work that was strictly his to do, he noticed Abigail had rejoined her class. She looked as if she’d been crying somewhat, though she was also holding back from showing exactly how she was feeling. She gave David a hug as he approached; thankfully, he didn’t have much in the way of paperwork to do. Most of it could wait until the morning; taking a closer look, he realized David had already done some of it when Ernie wasn’t paying attention. All Ernie had to do was sign off on it; he just chuckled when he realized it.

Most of the rest of the paperwork was dealing with supplies; he knew he’d have to order a lot more as he’d not been expecting the crowd he had today when he’d placed the initial order over a week ago. He’d gotten enough in on a rush order, but some would have to be replaced. Thankfully, most of it was stuff he had as part of his regular supplies; he set it up so that Justine had the authority to sign and deal with the regular supply delivery tomorrow. She knew to call him if there was any trouble.

Filing the rest of his paperwork to deal with in the morning, he quietly joined David and Abigail. One of the other instructors from her dojo had collected the rest of the group when he was dealing with paperwork, having gotten the same information from Tommy that David had given Zack. Abigail had remained behind due to not just the upcoming dinner, but also because Tommy wanted to have a further conversation with her now that the Youth Center was clear of everyone but them.

“Sorry for this morning, Ba,” Abigail said as he joined her and her brother.

“After what you’ve been through, it’s fine, Abigail. I’ve had enough panic attacks of my own to understand what you went through this morning. Not easy to see, but understandable.” He was unsurprised to get a hug at that; David and Tommy both had told him that was one of her favorite ways to say ‘thank you’ without saying the words. He was all too happy to return it, glad in the knowledge she was even willing to hug him after what he’d done to her the previous year.

“Tommy talk with you?” He asked after she broke the hug, not noticing David slipped away to give them some privacy.

“Yea, a little bit. He apologized for spooking me this morning and I apologized for not waiting him this morning. I’m pretty sure I’m grounded when I get home; I know we’ll be talking about it when we get back to the hotel. I also know I’m in for a talking-to from Francine; not waiting was stupid. She made me aware of that much before our sensei came to get them.”

“Talking to?” Ernie asked, slightly worried. Abigail just gave him a weary smile.

“Yea. Not long after my team was Called into action, I told them during a training session to basically let me know if I was doing something stupid…or stop me if they could. Bet Francine’s kicked herself at least once today, as I’m sharing a hotel room with her. I’m not entirely sure which conversation’s going to be worse and I’m sure the rest of the team is going to sit down with me and talk when I get back to Reefside. There’s no way Francine’s not going to tell them about it, not one bit.”

“Tommy’s a reasonable guy, Abigail. Much more than I was as a father.” Abigail just snorted, remembering Ernie’s punishments.

“True; he at least makes sure I know why what I did was wrong.” Abigail blanched at the unintentional dig at how Ernie had punished her.

“I know I screwed up with you and David, Abigail, and will probably spend the rest of my life making up for what I did to the two of you. If I’d sought help after your mom died, you would never have needed to run. Would it have been likely Tommy would have still been involved in your Power Ranger training if you’d gone that route? Yes, and I would have called him myself.” If it had been any other time, Ernie would have gotten some amusement at the gobsmacked look on her face. He didn’t blame her; this was a completely different situation than she was used to dealing with him. He had her sit with him at a nearby table.

“Abigail, in the year since you’ve left, I’ve slowly been talking with Jason and Kimberly, learning everything I should have known from the start. I know Trini was planning on telling me at some point; it was my own grief that stopped them from pulling me in after your mother died. It hasn’t been just them, though, or Rocky. Zack’s talked with me, as has Billy and every other Angel Grove-based Power Ranger. I’ve even talked with Tommy a bit about it; I don’t know if he ever told you, but I called him after the first reports of your new team made the Angel Grove news. The information he was able to give me reassured me; between everything I know of him and what everyone else has said, I knew you are in good hands. I still worry, but not as much as I would have if your mentor wasn’t Tommy.”

“He…never said. I knew he’d talked with you a few times, but he never said what was talked about. I never asked, either, though. I knew that he’d tell me if it was something I needed to know, seriously needed to.” She gave him a smile, grabbing a hand across the table. “Thank you for doing that, Ba. I know it hasn’t been easy for you, seeing me follow in Mom’s footsteps. It wasn’t until we found out Andy was on the way that I understood to a small degree what you’d gone through when Aisha gave me the morpher and communicator. I think everyone did at that point, at least everyone in Reefside. Mom indicated in her letter that the two of you, plus Jason and Aunt Kimberly, did as well from the start.”

What Ernie was about to say next was interrupted when Tommy and Kat came back into the main room. David would be joining them in the parking lot as he’d volunteered to finish the locking up, which at this point was just locking the last door after them and going out the back door.

Dinner that night had been slightly awkward, but Ernie had been glad it had happened. Knowing that his little girl was safe in Tommy’s care was bittersweet for him, though he’d also meant every word he’d told her earlier in the day. He’d not told anyone that the letter Trini had told him-more of a small packet than a proper letter-had outlined everything that she’d worked out with Jason and Kimberly. He’d been so grief-stricken after her death that he’d shoved everything into the attic, not seeing the letters until over a decade later; by then the damage had been done. Going through the letter with Rocky had been difficult; he kept the letter in his office now, rereading it when he needed to.

Location: Angel Grove Convention Center, Saturday. POV: Abigail/1^st

I groaned as I sat down to lunch with the rest of the students from the dojo; Francine had been my shadow most of the morning when we weren’t directly competing. The dual lecture I’d gotten from both her and Dad hadn’t been fun, though hers was more along the lines of ‘you did something stupid and here’s why’. Dad’s on the other hand, had been harder; it had, thankfully, been with cooler heads on both our parts after yesterday morning’s panic attack.

As I’d told Ba yesterday, I was going to be grounded when we got home. While we were at Disneyland, I wasn’t to go off without either he or Katherine nearby. That would mean any bathroom breaks would have to happen when Andy needed a diaper change or when Katherine needed one. I was surprisingly fine with that; I doubted I’d’ve wanted to go off on my own while we were there anyway. Sure, I knew that there would be some rides that would either be just Dad or Katherine and I given Andy was too young to go on them, but that also meant that I also wouldn’t be able to just sit and watch when they went on rides together either.

Dad had admitted he wanted to go on the Autopia ride; I wanted to give that one a hard pass. I’d seen it enough the last few times I’d gone to not be comfortable on it. How much of that was Ba’s own discomfort rubbing off on me, I don’t know. I’d also not gone on a lot of rides when I was little, so this was something I was looking forward to doing this trip. Honestly, some of my fun was going to be watching Andy take everything in. He was going to be 2 months old the first day of the trip; David had been surprised at how much he’d grown when he’d come up for the birthday party. Ba had said something similar, as the last time he’d seen Andy was at the art show.

As far as the sparring half of the tournament went, I was surprised at how well I was doing. I knew we were going to start out facing against those in similar situations to our own-that is, by how long we’d had been at our current rank. As we won each match, we would go up against opponents who were further along in their training; depending on how things went, we might even find ourselves facing off against those from our own dojo. Kyoshi Rutter, Dad, and our own instructor had gone over what we needed to work on and we’d spent part of last evening working on it. Though some in the group were muttering at it all, I didn’t mind as I’d been dreading returning to my hotel room and the lectures I knew I would get.

I finally got knocked out of the tournament closer to the end of today’s competition, which I’d expected. My opponent was just far enough in his training that the only way I would have been able to beat him outside of getting lucky would have been to pull on knowledge from the Grid. As I’d told Dad and others, that felt too much like cheating for a competition. Fighting against Ranger opponents and their monsters or goons was one thing; this was not. I planned on spending most of tomorrow watching the competition, if I was allowed to. What I wanted to watch was the black belt competitions; Dad and David both were also competing and it was tough to know who was the odds-on favorite to actually win.

I knew that each dojo was going to be rooting for their own; despite the fact that we’d gotten the lecture that this was to be a learning experience for us, most of those training for brown belt had gotten caught up in the excitement of the competition. I didn’t really care one way or the other who won; what I wanted to see is Dad and David face off. They’d never really sparred as far as I knew; despite sleeping in and missing several pre-breakfast workouts when David had been visiting, I knew that it would be an interesting pairing. I’d checked the standings when we’d gotten done with showers and changing; neither had actually faced off against each other yet.

I was honestly glad to be done with the tournament; I didn’t think competing was for me. While it was good to go up against people from other dojos, I preferred to keep competing to the soccer field. When I told Dad that, he wasn’t surprised.

“I told your instructor and Hanshi Scott that when they were picking people to go; they wanted to give you a taste of it anyway.”

“I wanted to try it out at any rate, Dad, see if I liked it.” I curled up at the end of the second bed in their room, which shared a door with the one Francine and I shared. “I don’t know if it was due to the fact that I initially asked for lessons to defend myself or something else, but right now, I just don’t see myself competing. Maybe years down the road, if I can step back from certain things, but not right now. I was surprised that I got as far as I did; I honestly thought I’d be spending most of today on the sidelines.”

Dad smiled. “Kyoshi Rutter said you did very well today. He wasn’t surprised that you got as far as you did. Your last opponent, from what he said, was the first guy to take you seriously as an opponent. None of your other male opponents came from dojos that had women in their blue belt group. Most of the ones who weren’t taking their female opponents seriously got knocked out early in the competition and this was across belt ranks, so it wasn’t just your group. I have a feeling that once those competitors get back to their dojos, they’re in for some serious practice because of their actions today.”

Shaking my head, I smiled as I answered. “It’s been drilled into our heads in lessons that no matter the perceived gender of one’s opponent, you respect their rank and treat them accordingly. Are there some considerations with mixed gender competitions? Sure. That’s true across any mixed gender competition that has some physical aspect to it. Saw that enough during pickup games between Reefside’s two soccer teams over the winter and when I played soccer at the reservation. Of course, that’s true in all aspects of life, not just competitions. Principal Randall is no less formidable as a principal then any guy doing the same job; just glad she’s on our side this year.”

I was also pretty sure that some of my early opponents had also recently gotten their blue belts; we were fairly well matched in skill. One early opponent I think had *just* gotten his belt; he’d approached me at lunch to thank me for not just a decent match, but for also getting him out of the competition early. He was only there because the person who was supposed to be there had gotten hurt and he’d just gotten his belt earlier in the week. Nobody else from his dojo had been able to make it except him, so he got volunteered. I’d winced when he’d said as much. Sticking a new 5^th kyu against one who’d had her belt and rank only a few weeks longer…from what he indicated, he didn’t even want to be there except as a watcher.

Dad and I smiled when Katherine came out of the bathroom with Andy, having just given him a much-needed bath. She was all too happy to lay him down in the middle of the bed so I could interact and play with him. He did his best to look up at me from where he was laying and babbled as he held my hands.

After he fell asleep a short time later, I carefully put him in his pack-and-play. As much as I wanted to stay in their room tonight, I also didn’t want to leave Francine alone. Neither of us had nightmares last night, but we didn’t want to take that risk either. It was part of why our room shared a door with Dad and Katherine’s; both of us felt better knowing he was in the other room.

Andy being asleep didn’t mean I headed back to my room right away, though. Between the competition and my actions yesterday morning, I was still feeling slightly out of sorts. Some of it was the lectures I’d gotten from both Dad and Francine, but the rest was having cleared things up with Ba. Rocky had said that what I was feeling was normal. I’d not told Dad or Katherine this, but part of me wondered if I’d rushed into wanting the adoption. I didn’t regret it exactly, but at the same time, Ivan had really done a number on dealing with personal, non-Ranger things.

Dad and Katherine both spent some time comforting me; after a year as his daughter, they were well aware of how I was feeling without me having to say so out loud. By the time they got done, I was feeling better about everything. I’d also partially fallen asleep in his arms; he carried me to my room and tucked me in as I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, my back was killing me. Of course, wearing my sports bra to bed would do that, but I wasn’t about to complain either. As Francine and I got ready for the day, we talked about the rest of the tournament. She still had some rounds to get through; she was further along in her training than I was, but would probably take her belt test in February of next year to become a 3^rd kyu brown belt. She had just recently become a 4^th kyu blue belt; I knew that I likely wouldn’t take the test to be promoted until February, which I was fine with. I trusted that Kyoshi Rutter would know the best time for me to take the test; I was not the best judge of my own skills for such a thing. All I needed to do was work on my own skills and help others work on theirs.

“What are your plans for the day, Abigail?” I looked up at Francine from where I was putting on my shoes.

“Depends on what Kyoshi says. If I’m allowed, I’ll probably watch the black belts compete. Unlike our group, this is a mix of students and instructors. Dad and my older brother are both competing, but they’ve not faced off against each other yet. Austin and Amy are also competing; they’ve also not faced off against Dad or David, much less each other, I checked. That’s going to be interesting, especially if David ends up facing off against either my dad or his girlfriend. I’m not sure which prospect terrifies him more; though I know Amy’ll kick his butt if he tries going easy on her.” I grinned. “Then both Jason and Austin will chew him out for going easy on her. He knows better.”

Francine laughed. “Yea…I can see why going up against your girlfriend would be scary. Sparring against Dr. Oliver in a formal match, not a training exercise…yea. Not sure I’d be prepared for that either.”

“If Austin ends up against Dad, that’s going to be interesting too; he’s Austin’s godfather. Mom was his godmother. Amy’s godmother…I think that’s Aisha, but don’t quote me on that.”

“Who are your godparents?” She asked.

“You met them either during the fight against Ivan or at my birthday party, Francine. Uncle Billy-Billy Cranston-and Aunt Kimberly-Kimberly Scott, nee Hart. They were Mom’s best friends in school and were two of the other 5 originals, Blue and Pink. Outside of my mom, you’ve met most of Zordon’s first 5.” Francine was wide-eyed at that; Dad and the original 5 Rangers were fairly legendary among the Ranger community. “You’ll probably properly meet Zack today; he’s one of the instructors at Jason’s dojo; he teaches something he calls ‘Hip-Hopkido’; he’s been teaching it since his teens.”

“How long before we truly meet the entire community?” She asked. “Fight against Ivan doesn’t count.”

“No clue; Dad said he wanted to wait until a team name is decided upon. Honestly, we’re probably going to get quite a few stares and a good chunk of that is because he’s our mentor. The rest…well, best not discussed here.” Given that we needed to head down to breakfast, Francine understood. Along with my shoulder bag, I also grabbed my gym bag; despite not needing to compete, I had been advised to bring it anyway. I was to wear my Gi and belt as we took the stage for the post tournament awards ceremonies. I’d probably put it on as they reset the stage after the final black belt fight, if I even got a chance to watch it.

Like yesterday, breakfast was quick, healthy, and filling, though I was able to grab a cup of decent coffee for the road. Most of the group had been given temporary monorail cards to use; when Kyoshi Rutter tried giving me mine, I just showed him my permanent one. He wasn’t surprised, but muttered something about talking to my dad about that. When a nearby 3^rd kyu noticed that, he was surprised that I had a permanent one. I reminded him that I was originally from Angel Grove and still had family in the area, which kept him off my back.

After getting the okay from Kyoshi Rutter, I joined Katherine and Andy as we headed to the main competition area. She was grateful that I was willing to carry Andy’s diaper bag; trying to maneuver the seats with a sleeping baby in a car seat and a diaper bag as she’d had to yesterday wasn’t easy. I smiled remembering the list of the first matchups for the day. Dad was facing off against Jason, their grins as they got into the ring told me that this was just a routine spar for them. No, the match I was looking forwards to was David’s; he was up against Austin. David had almost grown up at Jason’s dojo; Austin had more experience having actually spent his life there. Their grins, though, told me that like Dad and Jason’s match, this was going to be routine as well.

There weren’t going to be many matches today; most of them had happened yesterday, leaving today’s matches to last until a couple hours after lunch, if we were lucky. I wasn’t surprised that Dad and Jason were paired up against each other; they both had the rank and years of experience. I was just expecting this match to happen later on in the day. When I said as much to Katherine, she cracked up.

“There was no way that the organizers were going to have their match be the final one of the day. If they’d not had this now, it was all but a forgone conclusion that it would be. Your dad and Jason were fine with it when asked. Plus, it provides a good opener for today’s matches, showing the newer students and hopefuls what they can hope to accomplish. Most of your classmates, I think, who didn’t advance yesterday are also watching. Some of them were astonished at the display of skill-Patton’s right over there.” Looking over to where he was sitting, I noticed a number of other familiar faces, most of which were his classmates at the dojo. Trent and Kira weren’t that far from Patton; when Trent noticed us, he gave a wave. Kira waved after following her boyfriend’s line of sight.

“Katherine, I think most of the dojo who didn’t get chosen to compete has come down for this. Most of the other people sitting with him I recognize as being in his class at the dojo.” She took a fussy Andy out of the car seat as he woke up due to the noise of the announcer.

“He slept quite a bit last night; I’m not sure he got a lot of sleep yesterday. He doesn’t have Tommy’s ability to sleep through anything just yet.”

“Side effect of having a room next to someone who’s gets nightmares on a regular basis, I’m afraid. Wish he could sleep through the noise. I feel bad every time I wake everyone up with a nightmare.” Before Katherine could answer, the fights started. It was fun watching the displays of skill; both Dad and David’s matches were very close, ending up having to be decided by points. From the looks on everyone’s faces, they’d expected that result, as all four knew each other’s fighting styles well enough to make it an actual challenge to win by their opponent tapping out.

Dad and David both ended up as the winners of their matches, but they were very close, both winning by a point each. From what Katherine told me, the last time the two sparred, Jason had ended up winning; if she didn’t know better, she’d think that the two traded off on who actually won without saying as much. Dad and David wouldn’t be facing each other for a while yet; until the numbers started dwindling down, they got a bit of a break as the next four opponents got into the rings. This time, Amy was the only person I recognized as one of the competitors; her win was a foregone conclusion.

By the time lunch rolled around, Dad had gotten into the ring twice more, winning both matches. Amy had won all of hers, as had both of our brothers. Dad, I knew, was going to be starting our vacation off slightly sore; he might have the skill and experience, but some of his opponents were much younger than he was. He rarely competed anymore, in part because of that. Demonstrations, yes, but rarely competitions like he’d done when he was my age.

I was still sore from the last two days; I might heal faster than normal due to being a Ranger, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t bruise and hurt from being hit. Martial arts are considered a contact sport much like football is, but for different reasons. As I’d told Dad last night, I couldn’t see myself competing in an event like this; how much of it was due to becoming a Power Ranger, I don’t know. Dad had competed as a martial artist prior to starting his career as a Power Ranger, I hadn’t. I’d also started out being taught martial arts on the sly before getting formal lessons. I realized that if I’d started martial arts young, I’d probably have a different mindset, but I also recognized that wishing to change the past didn’t do me much good. It would keep me from focusing on the present and to not do so would be a rather massive mistake. All I could do was learn from the past as well as my own mistakes and resolve to do better.

Katherine and I settled back down to watch the afternoon’s fights. The first two had me unable to hold back a quiet laugh; David was facing off against Alex, one of the black belts from my dojo. Dad’s match is why I laughed: he was facing off against Austin. Austin evidently hadn’t known who he was going to be facing off against until he got into the ring; he got bug-eyed at seeing Dad. I was sure he muttered ‘kill me now’, but I also knew I was horrible at reading lips.

Despite his initial reaction, he did fairly well against Dad, giving as good of a job as his dad had done. It ended up being another match that was decided by points rather than one of them tapping out. Seconds later, it was David who gave a bug-eyed look: his next opponent was his girlfriend. Dad was also up against one of Jason’s black belts; these were the matches that were going to decide the final fight.

I’d ended up changing into my Gi just after lunch; Katherine had to change Andy at the same time, so it worked out well for both of us. It had been a good thing I’d done so; the final matchup was Dad vs David. Dad was amused by the whole thing…David less so and I could understand why, too. It was one thing to be in the ring against one’s significant other, but something else to be in the ring against someone who’d been practicing martial arts longer than you’d been alive.

I don’t know just how much Andy understood about what was going on, but it was amusing to watch him keep his eyes on Dad and David as they sparred, neither giving an inch. One of the black belts from a dojo in Stone Canyon asked who I thought would win.

“Not choosing a side, honestly. David’s my older brother; his opponent is my adopted dad. Couldn’t side with one over the other.” He nodded his understanding.

“Makes sense; I’d not be able to chose between two equally skilled family members either. Who was the girl your brother was off against in his last match? He looked a bit scared.”

“His girlfriend. Her dad owns the dojo David takes his lessons at; she’s got a twin brother too.”

“Ouch. That had to be fun for him.”

“Yep. I have no doubt that he knew that she’d’ve kicked his rear if he went easy on him. He got lucky that match and he knows it. She and her twin brother grew up in the dojo; David only started taking lessons when he was 8 or 9, I think. Don’t really remember how young, as I was in preschool or kindergarten at the time.”

By the time the buzzer rang, they’d tied. David, I could tell before he was even asked, was content to let it be a draw; so was Dad. Looking over at Jason, he had his head in his hands, but not from disappointment. Nudging Katherine slightly, I pointed at where Jason was sitting.

“He’s laughing, isn’t he?”

“Yep. He knows that there’s no way David’s going to throw the match. Dad won’t either; if David actually won, neither would hear the end of it for quite a while. Dad can handle the ribbing of losing to a 19-year-old; David hates popularity more than I do. He’d hide out in Reefside until things died down; you should have seen him a couple of years ago when he made football captain. I think the Youth Center’s stock room was the most organized it’s ever been during that time period. Someone had left behind a label machine from a short-lived something there; I think Ba still uses it when he gets something new in.”

“Girls were chasing him?” The black belt from earlier asked. I snorted at the memory.

“Yep. I think that’s when he started looking at Amy as more than just a friend; she told him straight out that she would be willing to be his date to any and all events he needed a date to the rest of the school year. They didn’t start dating until this past spring; long story, but we’ve always been close to Austin and Amy Scott.”

Before James, the Stone Canyon black belt, and I could get past introductions and a wide-eyed flash of recognition from him, we were instructed to get with our dojos and line up by rank. For me, as the newest 5^th kyu of my dojo, I’d be at the very back of my group. Of course, I had to quickly get Andy to let go of my Gi; he’d grabbed part of it when I’d leaned down to give him and Katherine both a kiss. Holding his hand, I gave him another kiss when he started fussing. That just made him fuss further; I hated having to make an escape like this. Part of that fuss, though, was exhaustion; like yesterday, he barely slept during the day due to the noise. His only real nap had been when we were eating lunch and it had been a short one, only lasting until he woke up to let us know he needed a clean diaper.

By the time we actually got out into the main room, Andy had-thankfully-fallen asleep. He was probably going to sleep through the closing ceremonies, I hoped; he would likely sleep through dinner if nothing else. We wouldn’t be leaving for Anaheim until morning; Dad had booked his and Katherine’s room until tomorrow. The rest of the Reefside students would be heading back tonight if they had a ride up; Francine’s parents were taking her home along with a few students who didn’t have rides…or cars. From what I understood, not all of the students who’d come down had more than one car at home, even if they had their driver’s licenses.

Why we weren’t leaving for Anaheim until morning was simple and twofold: the first was Dad didn’t want to drive right after getting done with the competition. He’d done that enough when he was younger; he wanted to spare me that. The second was we wanted to do some catching up with family and friends-Ranger catching up that was. Ba had agreed to host us at the Youth Center; aside from Bulk and Skull’s club, it was one of only a handful of places that could host the extended group and give us some much-needed privacy. It would also allow us to split up into smaller groups; everyone fully recognized that us teens would probably commandeer one of the smaller rooms to hang out in at some point. I remember one room having bean bags to sit on; hopefully, the bean bags were still there.

David, Austin, Amy, and I would be joined by the children of Andros and Ashley, along with Zhane and Karone’s. I couldn’t wait to meet them; they had been raised on KO-35, though Andros and Ashely’s children had visited Earth multiple times due to Ashley’s family living on the planet. I don’t know if I’d ever met any of them as Andros and Ashley tended to frequent the Surf Shack in their teens over the Youth Center. If I had, it would have been somewhere not either the Surf Shack or the Youth Center; before becoming a Power Ranger, I’d never even met Andros. The hairstyle and color he preferred was kind of hard to miss; I knew that I would have sketched him if I’d met him before running away. I tended to do that with unusual hairstyles, not that I’d wear most of them; not the colors at any rate.

I also knew Austin and Amy would be wondering why their parents basically told them to stay put while David got to go; Jason and/or Kimberly not coming back formed the basis for Amy’s nightmares. More than any Legacy who’d not been in the field, Amy knew just what a Power Ranger’s life was like. While David, Austin, and I were content to read the newspaper articles in school, she’d actually gone a step further and found videos from the news reports on past Power Ranger teams, including Angel Grove’s original, and watched them. Add that to the talk her parents had with her and Austin about everything, it was no surprise that she’d had nightmares since the fight with Ivan. Out of the four of us, Amy would be the one I could see sorted into Ravenclaw if the Harry Potter series was actual fact instead of fiction given her research skills and inquisitive mind.

By the time we got to the Youth Center, I could tell Dad was exhausted; he’d fought his way to a draw against my older brother. He’d not participated in the smaller 2-vs-2 competition, as the people he would normally have competed as a 2-person team with all lived in Angel Grove. He’d actually competed in one his first year in Angel Grove; Jason had been his partner in the competition. I’d only seen the pictures from that fight; he promised to show me the video later. Apparently, the 2-person team he and Jason had competed against had been trained by Bulk and Skull; it wasn’t the duo’s first (or last) foray into trying to teach martial arts while they were in high school. Unlike Dad and Jason, however, their classes didn’t always go over well; one of the things Ba had written about was the two trying-and failing-to get people to sign up for Cockroach Kung Fu after watching Mom learn Mantis Kung Fu. I almost fell off the couch laughing imagining the sight.

I greeted Zack; he apologized for not being able to come to my birthday party; during the time I’d been in Reefside, he’d finally married. His wife, Angela, had given birth to twins only a couple of days before the party. Unlike Ba, she wasn’t in the know about her husband’s past as far as I knew; how he was able to get up in April for the final battle against Ivan, I don’t know. I know if I was 7 months pregnant and my husband vanished with no word for a number of hours, I’d be pissed as all get out. She and the twins were there, however; from the looks of things, Dad and Jason, along with Andros, were sitting down with her to talk about something. I had a few ideas as to what.

“Zack, you’re fine. Being there for the birth of your twins is more important. Besides, I know I’ll get good use out of the gifts you sent up. I’ve been looking for a copy of Dante’s Inferno for a while; it might be a popular book, but the bookstore in Reefside’s always out when I’ve gone and looked.”

“Thanks for understanding, Abigail.” He looked over at where Angela was and gulped. He knew exactly what sort of talk she was having with the other 3. “If I wasn’t already in the doghouse for being in Reefside back in April, I definitely am now for not telling her.”

“Zack, you had good reason not to tell her. Ba might have figured things out on his own, but as far as I know, most of Angel Grove that was around during that time period is still in the dark.”

“Somehow, I don’t think ‘Zordon said not to’ is going to fly.”

“Zack…you wouldn’t have been able to, I don’t think. Tell, that is. I can’t explain it well, but you would have been prevented, at least while you were active. I think the only reason Aisha, Rocky, and Adam were able to find out is that they’d been already picked as successors to you, Mom, and Jason. Can’t explain the Astro Rangers letting everyone know during the events of that final fight against Dark Spectre’s forces, nor both Lightspeed and Mystic Force’s identities becoming public knowledge, but…”

“Not helping, Abigail.” If anything, Zack looked even more panicked as Angela looked over at us.

“Sorry.”

Before we could talk further, Zack attempted to flee as Angela stalked towards us. I prevented him fleeing by grabbing a belt loop. He was wearing a vest over a tank top; if I’d grabbed the vest, he’d’ve face-planted either into the floor or the wall as he got out of it.

“Running will only make things worse, Zack.” He just glared at me. “Well…running from one’s significant other will make things worse in this instance anyway.” I let go as Angela got to us, dimpled a smile at her, and took off to find my friends. I passed a chuckling Jason as he and Dad went to rescue Zack from a not-quite-pissed Angela.

“The twins and David are in the second room off the hallway, Abigail,” Dad told me. “Have fun.”

“I will. Thanks, Dad.” I dashed off to find my friends, wholly unsurprised to find them generally having fun with the four teens who were the children of Andros, Ashely, Zhane, and Karone. It was easy to figure out who belonged to which parent; Andros’s two had inherited their father’s striped hair. Austin and Amy quickly introduced me to them; 14-year-old Damian and his 12-year-old brother Xander were Andros and Ashley’s. Zhane and Karone’s were Nicholai, also 14, and his older sister Aliana, who was my age.

As fun as an evening as I had with them, catching up with my older brother and friends as well as getting to know the four Legacies from KO-35, talk soon shifted to Power Rangers. We knew we were safe, as the building was full of people who were either Rangers or related to one somehow. Amy, true to form, started complaining about not being there. I cut her off before she could build up steam.

“Amy, trust me, you might think that you could have helped, but you and Austin were doing everything you could do to help from here. You know why, too.” Amy just scowled. Ba had been stressed and worried as heck that day, especially with both of his children in that battle. He’d been grateful to not have gotten the call that one of us had been injured or killed in that fight.

“Mom and Dad did have us try their morphers after they got back; there’s something odd going on. They should work, from everything Alpha 5 said, but they’re not for some reason. Austin and I both felt connections to both morphers; it was as if the morphers were trying and failing to make a connection.” My puzzlement showed on my face.

“That’s…disturbing, Amy. You two should be able to use them, from all the files I saw of Dad’s. He and I both checked when Jason asked.” I hesitated, then plowed ahead. “There might be a way without either of you having to make a trip to Ninjor or waiting until Dimitria is back planet-side.”

“How?” Austin asked, looking every bit as puzzled as everyone but David looked.

“There’s nobody planet-side that has that much access to the Grid that we know of,” Damian said. “Dad or Uncle Zhane would have said something.”

“That’s because we’ve kinda…kept it secret, Damian. People on Earth who have…unusual abilities aren’t exactly treated well. I’m sure your mom and dad both have spoken about the ‘offers’ she got from the American government after the fight against Dark Spectre.” He acknowledged my point.

“I remember Mom talking about that; it was part of why she and Dad elected to raise us on KO-35, making the occasional trip back to Earth, either as needed, or to visit our family on Mom’s side. Given what we can do, it makes sense.”

I could see Austin, Amy, and David putting the clues together. David knew I’d had to do something when he’d been up for his university’s spring break, but hadn’t put it all together, even though he was there when I’d done it.

“You were the one to create your team’s morphers,” David finally stated. Everyone else’s jaws dropped for various reasons. He shook his head, pulling the relevant memory up. “I remember something going on that week I was up helping to get the nursery together; just didn’t put two and two together.”

“That’s…rare what you’re able to do. I think there’s only been a small handful that can deliberately create new Power Items without much or little outside help.” Nicholai was in awe of my abilities; from the looks of his clothing, he was likely in line to inherit TJ’s powers.

“From what Dad said, most of the morphers, Power Items included, that his team used Zordon or Ninjor created. I think the first that he had some involvement in were the Turbo morphers. Not sure who created most of Earth’s between when your Mom and the others headed to space and Dino Thunder; even Captain Mitchell, mentor to Lightspeed, said that creating the morphers for his team was a semi-accident. Then again, that was mostly Dr. Fairchild, but still...trial and error.”

Nicholai and the others had to quickly explain to the others exactly what I could do, including the fact that I could sense someone’s Ranger totem if they had one. Austin and Amy got excited at that; they were interested in finding out exactly what theirs were. I grinned before accessing the Grid; I’d come a long way since February. Once I got done, I started laughing; Austin had inherited his mother’s Ninjetti Totem, but Jason’s Color of Red. Amy on the other hand was the complete opposite; she’d inherited Jason’s T-Rex Totem, but Aunt Kimberly’s color of Pink.

“David, is there still origami paper in here? There’s no way I’m going to be able to answer without laughing otherwise.” David pointed the drawer out that the paper was in-properly a labeled tote-and I fetched two sheets, one red and the other pink. Once I was done, I handed the Crane to Austin and the T-Rex to Amy. Amy caught on to my two-fold answer; Austin took one look at the Crane and started protesting.

“There is NO way I’d be the team’s Pink Ranger, Abigail!” David, Amy, and I lost it at that point.

“Austin, you’d look great in Pink,” was his sister’s reply. Aliana caught on to what was going on.

“The Colors Rangers receive aren’t gender-based, Austin. Yellow and Blue, for example, as well as White, often bounce back and forth between male and female. Despite Pink Rangers traditionally being female, you’d be making history as the first on any planet with a Ranger presence.”

I took one look at Austin and grinned; he’d still not caught on, even with the other teens now joining in on the teasing. Of course, Nicholai, Xander, and Damian were informing him of the traditional role(s) that Pink Rangers usually played on their teams; this was despite Austin’s Crane being Red. He’d still not caught on. When I finally told him, Austin took one look at me and I quickly got the heck out of Dodge.

Location: Angel Grove Youth Center, Sunday evening. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy was deep in conversation with Andros and Ernie when he heard the door to the room the teens had commandeered open and the sound of two sets of feet running out. Looking up, he noticed a grinning Abigail sprint into the room by Austin; Ernie just facepalmed as they began to just about use the practice area as a mini Parkour arena. Turning to Amy and the others, who’d come out, he raised an eyebrow.

“Austin and I…may have asked Abigail if she knew how to figure out why we couldn’t use Mom and Dad’s morphers.” Now it was Tommy’s turn to facepalm, causing Amy to laugh as she opened her palm to show two origami animals. “This was Abigail’s answer; apparently it was two-fold. Austin just looked at the animal, not the paper color. I’m afraid the conversation devolved into teasing right after, despite his Color being the same as Dad’s. Don’t worry about them, they’ll wear themselves out. When they get like this, Austin usually ends up face-first on the mats.”

Tommy took a closer look at the animals; one wasn’t a modern animal at all, but a T-Rex. A pink T-Rex at that, too. The other, which Amy had indicated was Austin’s, was a red Crane; the twins had apparently inherited things flipped slightly. Her prediction of Austin ended up face-first on the mats was also proven correct; he’d ended up that way due to Abigail climbing up a rope and him losing his balance as he lunged to grab her. The two were laughing about it as she dropped down from the rope; from the sounds of things, it was a normal occurrence for them.

Jason, who’d been up at the counter with Kimberly, came over at that point, while Kimberly and Kat went to check on Austin and Abigail. Amy was all too happy to fill him in on everything again; he just grinned when he realized why neither morpher worked. His question, however, was addressed to Tommy, Ernie and Andros having separated from the group to do other things.

“You think she’d be able to make their morphers if needed? I’m not about to ask her to do that if there’s no reason to, but…”

“I don’t know, Jason. We got lucky with the Turbo Powers, not to mention Dino Thunder’s Power Items being found when I was in grad school. She and I had to go to Ninjor for help last Christmas; she got the materials then. Ninjor wasn’t surprised when her hiking backpack filled up with the materials she needed; he confirmed when I asked him later on that he’d not filled it up. If nothing else, he’d be the one to ask about that. Abigail’s still learning to use and control her ‘extra’ abilities; even as far as she’s come, she’s still got a lot to work through.”

“Makes sense. I’ll talk with Austin, even if she’s not filled him in.”

“She did, Dad; why do you think he was chasing her? He’d endured several minutes of teasing about being a Pink Ranger; he kinda brought it on himself, though. Didn’t react well, as I’m sure you can imagine.”

Jason just shook his head, smiling; Tommy just shared a grin with his closest friend as the two wayward teenagers joined them.

“So, Austin, what’s this I hear about you being a Pink Ranger?” Tommy asked, ginning to let his godson know he was teasing.

“Shut up,” was Austin’s grumpy response, to the general laughter of the teenagers around them. Jason just ruffled his son’s hair before pulling him into a hug.

Chapter Text

Location: Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim, California. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy had to bite back a small laugh at watching Abigail get increasingly more excited as they pulled into the parking lot of the hotel that they were going to be spending almost a week at. She’d commandeered the planning materials one Sunday afternoon, including the travel book he’d gotten out of the library, about a month ago and made a list of all the rides she’d like to go on. He knew she’d not gotten to go on many rides growing up and was determined to make the most of it. She and Kat had also taken some time to purchase some disposable cameras; from the looks on their faces when they’d come home a couple of weeks prior, neither had known about the other’s purchase of said cameras. Andy had just looked at the two of them in confusion; he had no clue what his mother and older sister found so funny.

As Kat grabbed a still-sleeping Andy and his car seat, Tommy and Abigail separated the luggage between them. Kat was going to be carrying in Andy and the diaper bag, but that was it; neither Tommy nor Abigail minded carrying her luggage and the stroller along with their own suitcases. There had been some people, even among his own family, who were surprised to see him being as helpful as he was with Kat; his parents had raised him to be a gentleman. It was such a simple thing to do; he also knew Kat and Abigail both appreciated it.

Check out had been slightly hectic this morning, as they’d all slept in a bit. Tommy had forgotten just how much competing took out of him and he wasn’t as young as he’d been during the years where he’d competed actively. He’d actually been surprised he’d faced off against Austin, given his godson had lost against David. He found out later that one of the competitors had been disqualified for illegal…something, so they’d looked at the records of the other competitors and Austin had drawn the short straw to take the place of the other, despite his loss to David earlier.

His godson had admitted to freaking out slightly when he found out who his opponent would be; he’d done his best. Like Tommy’s earlier match against Jason, Austin had taken the match to an almost-draw. Tommy hadn’t minded calling the final match a draw; he didn’t need the win and he found out later that David, like Abigail, didn’t deal with popularity well. Ernie had told him about the organization system David had come up with almost a couple of years ago when the news came that he’d been named football captain. He’d also heard of Amy’s offer to be his date any time he needed one; Ernie said that they’d gone to all three formal dances together.

He knew that even fighting him to a draw meant all eyes were not just going to be focused on Jason’s dojo-David was one of Jason’s students-but on David himself. If they weren’t going to be at Disneyland for almost a week, Tommy would offer his house as a hiding spot if needed. Jason had assured them that he could weed out anyone who was looking to take lessons for reasons not related to the normal ones; he’d had to do so during David’s senior year of high school. Abigail had opined earlier that David was going to be spending what time he wasn’t either at home or at the dojo in the Youth Center’s basement, doing another reorganization effort. Ernie, when he heard that, chuckled; he remembered the chaos of his eldest’s senior year quite well.

“Wonder what he’s going to come up with this time. Last time, he labeled everything in the main storage and organized everything better than anything I could come up with.” Ernie shrugged at that before continuing. “Basement storage areas still need a lot of work and I know David’s talked about working on those this summer. He’ll probably spend the next several weeks doing that. I just hope he doesn’t ask about the backstories behind some of the stuff down there; several things date back to when you guys were in high school. One of them is something Billy invented; I think he forgot it was down there. He meant well; the invention didn’t work as well as he’d hoped. Probably should see if he wants it back.”

Tommy laughed. “I heard the story behind the cake machine from Jason and Zack; I’ve never seen Billy turn that shade of red before. Trini had to stop them from embarrassing him too much. If you give it back to him, send him my way. I can see if Hayley would be interested in helping him get it to actually work. Failing that, I’m sure I know a few teens that would gladly take it off of your hands. Patton, one of the students I teach, isn’t just in the Computer Club at Reefside High, but he’s also on the Battle Bots team. Leave him alone with Billy, Hayley, and Ethan and I’m sure the cake machine will work by the time they’re done with it.”

“Probably work too well, if you catch my drift.” Conversation had been halted when Abigail reentered the room, followed by Austin. Ernie’s reaction, followed by general laughter by the Rangers who’d seen the situation play out multiple times as the two had grown up had stopped him from calling them to task. Amy’s following explanation had seen him facepalming; he’d been hoping to have that conversation later in the summer, but it looked like she’d jumped the gun.

They’d lucked out when they got to the hotel; their room was ready early and they could go straight to the room instead of leaving some of their bags at Will Call and going to Downtown Disney. Due to the travel time, they’d not planned on the day being a park day; time instead was going to be either spent at the pool or Downtown Disney, possibly both. He’d booked a room close to lobby; he knew that they’d be tired coming back from the parks each night and wanted to make sure that they didn’t have to go that far. This was especially true today; even though they were taking an elevator up to their floor, not having to haul everything far was nice.

A knock at the door startled Tommy; the knock turned out to be a Mousekeeper bringing the Pack-and-Play for Andy. He was still too little to use the day bed in their room; hopefully, that would change in a few years. Of course, Abigail would be in college by then, but even a pre-college trip might be fun if she wanted to do so.

By the time the Mousekeeper had left, Kat had been glad for the foldaway bed. Andy was fast asleep still and she transferred him from the bed Abigail would be using to the Pack-and-Play. He had been worried about the long nap Andy was taking, but Kat wasn’t. From the sounds of things, Andy hadn’t slept well during the competition; the Convention Center had no real good place for her to take Andy and watch the competition at the same time. He smiled as Andy made noises and moved around in his sleep; whatever his son was dreaming of, it was evidently a good dream. They would be going down to the pool when Andy woke up, if he woke up in time. Otherwise, they would be going to lunch first at the hotel, followed by the pool.

A click of a camera startled him; Kat had a camera in her hand and both she and Abigail were openly grinning. He quietly chuckled; he knew what his face must have looked like, looking at Andy fast asleep.

“I swear, you’re going to fill up at least one of those cameras with cheesy photos of Andy and I.” His grin took the sting out of the teasing.

“Yep!” Abigail said, getting a quiet laugh out of her parents. “You should probably finish unpacking, Dad. Katherine and I are almost done.” Tommy got up from the bed at that and started unpacking his clothing. Trying to fit everything into the drawer and a half he was to use was going to be a challenge; he was grateful that he and Abigail had sent their gym bags back with Trent. Neither of them wanted to leave either bag in the minivan nor lug it into the hotel and back out again. This week was going to be a bit of a rest for both of them; while they were going to exercise while there, he was going to hold off on catching her up on what she’d miss from her martial arts lessons after they got back so that she wasn’t going to have to play catch up when she got back to the dojo.

All any of them had to actually pack in the drawers were shirts, socks, and undergarments; what pants they’d brought could be hung up in the closet. Neither Kat nor Abigail had brought dresses; if he and Kat had been there on an adult-only vacation, she would have packed a dress or two to eat at some of the fancier restaurants on property, but not for a family vacation. He wasn’t even sure if Abigail owned a skirt; she’d not bought one the previous summer when he’d taken her to the mall the week she’d arrived and he didn’t recall her ever bringing one home from other shopping trips. There hadn’t even been one brought up in the belongings Ernie and David had sent up with Rocky later that summer.

By the time Andy woke up, it was lunchtime. Both Abigail and Kat had elected to wear their bikinis under their clothing; Tommy had done the same with his swim trunks so that all they had to do after they ate would be to go straight to the pool. Thankfully, there were casual restaurants at the hotel; they really weren’t dressed for the fancier restaurants on site. Putting Andy in his stroller after changing his diaper while Kat and Abigail changed, Tommy grabbed the diaper bag on their way out the door. Abigail had volunteered to carry the towels, but those Tommy had been able to fit in the stroller. The diaper bag, Tommy just put on top of the towels; it was one less bag that they had to worry about carrying.

Thankfully, one of the several casual sit-down restaurants was open for lunch when they got down; Tommy was thinking to take them to Goofy’s Kitchen in the morning or for dinner depending on how they felt after an afternoon pool-side. Andy might only be 2 months old, but Tommy knew he was going to have fun watching both of his children have fun on their vacation. Abigail might be sticking close because of her punishment, but she’d even admitted she would have stuck close to them anyway; she didn’t want to miss out on Andy having fun and taking everything in.

Tommy had to admit it was fun watching both Abigail and Andy take everything in; he didn’t know who was enjoying everything more between his two children. After lunch, he borrowed one of the cameras and quickly swiped a photo of Abigail holding her baby brother as they interacted with one of the characters who’d made a surprise appearance in the hotel lobby.

After a quick side trip into the gift shop to get a small summer hat for Andy, they made their way to the pool. He was mentally kicking himself for not getting one before they even left Angel Grove, never mind Reefside. Kat chuckled a bit as they got to the cabana she’d rented for them.

“Tommy, if that’s the only thing you forgot, you’re doing pretty good. Besides, I’m pretty sure I forgot too.” He smiled as he drew her into a kiss, only being distracted by the click of the camera. Looking over, he found that Abigail, camera in hand, had managed to sit Andy up in his stroller and had gotten his sun hat on him. Well…kind of, at any rate. Andy was still holding on to the brim with one hand. That had apparently been what had prompted Abigail to take the photo.

“He grabbed a hold of it as I was getting it on him and he wouldn’t let go.” Abigail shrugged. “I had to fasten it on him around the arm.”

Tommy smiled as he knelt down to Andy’s level and got him to let go. “You do love holding on to stuff, don’t you?” Andy’s only response was to grin at his dad as he tightened his hold around Tommy’s index finger. Picking Andy back up, he looked over to find Kat pulling Abigail into a tight hug; a quiet sob out of their daughter made him realize what was going on. Of course, idiot. The last time she was here was with Ernie and David; I don’t even know how long ago that trip was, he thought to himself. He sometimes felt that every time he turned around, there was yet something else that brought up unresolved issues for her, or feelings of guilt as she enjoys things with her new family that she’d once enjoyed with Ernie and/or David.

He joined them on the couch and put a hand on Abigail’s back to let her know he was there. Andy, too, seemed to know that his sister was in some distress as he was reaching for the back of her shirt with his hand, forcing Tommy to grab and steady him. Abigail soon stopped crying and accepted the wet washcloth Tommy had sacrificed part of a water bottle to get wet. Giving him a hug after she’d cleaned her face, she murmured her quiet thanks.

“Any time, Abigail, even if it’s the middle of the night.” She just tightened her hug at that, not caring if someone saw. Soon, within the privacy of their cabana, they got the clothes they’d put over their swimsuits off and Tommy gave Abigail permission to head off into the pool. Soon, he had fun watching her go down first one, then the other of the monorail-themed slides that the pool had, her earlier upset forgotten. Kat laughed as he joined her in the pool, his tattoos drawing some attention from other guests. Thankfully, he didn’t have that many and none, including a shamrock, were ones that would draw undue attention.

By the time Tommy and Abigail made their way back to the cabana for a break, Andy had fallen asleep again. From the looks of things, Kat had allowed him to wear himself out playing in front of the cabana, as he was resting on the corner where the two couches met, Kat by his side so he didn’t fall over in his sleep. Even at two months, Andy was already sleeping on his side most of the time.

“Don’t worry, I got plenty of pictures. He had fun watching the two of you swim as well. Not sure how he does it, but he was tracking the two of you for part of the time.” Tommy knew Kat knew, but none of them were willing to voice it where they could be overheard.

“Probably Dad’s tattoos; I think you’re the only one at the pool today with some,” Abigail giggled as she answered. Tommy acknowledged that might be true and for most 2-month-olds, it would be. Tommy offered to stay with Andy if Kat wanted to go swim, but she shook her head.

“I’m having fun watching the two of you; not sure how good of an idea it is for me to get into the pool right now while I’m nursing either. Don’t want to get Andy sick accidentally from the chlorine.” Soon, the Cast Member who was their cabana server came by to see if they wanted anything; they ended up getting some Dole Whips. Abigail hadn’t gotten to try one her previous visits and Tommy could tell she was enjoying the treat.

She ended up going into one of the other pools after finishing her Dole Whip; Tommy just chuckled. He was still somewhat sore from the tournament; he was just glad for a chance to relax before heading into the parks. Kat soon curled up next to him, a still sleeping Andy in her arms.

“If I don’t get up and do something, I will fall asleep with the way you’re playing with my hair, Tommy.”

“I’m close to falling asleep myself, Kat. Woke up way too early despite my exhaustion last night.”

“8 am is not too early, not normally for you at any rate.”

“True.” What Tommy was going to say next was interrupted by Andy waking up. He gave Tommy a bleary-eyed look before yawning. “Have a nice nap, Andy?” He took Andy from Kat’s arms at their son’s reaching arm. “I don’t think that towel’s going to taste that good.” Tommy was laughing as he removed the towel he’d covered his shoulders with from Andy’s mouth. Kat soon took a fussy Andy from his arms and covered up as she began to nurse him.

By the time Abigail got back from swimming, which had included a side trip to the bathroom, they were ready for dinner. Tommy and Kat had elected to go to Goofy’s Kitchen for breakfast, so they ended up going back up to their hotel room to get changed for dinner and headed to Downtown Disney for dinner at a restaurant their cabana server recommended, as they didn’t want to eat at the same restaurant for dinner as they had for lunch and none of the other restaurants were ones they wanted to take Andy into just yet. Next trip, maybe, when he was able to eat regular food, or if he and Katherine came on an adult only trip. They'd also not wanted to order something pool-side from the restaurant kitchens as they were done with swimming and Andy was still too young to go into pools just yet.

After dinner, they ended up stopping in World of Disney as none of them wanted to head back to the hotel just yet. Tommy hadn’t planned on buying any souvenirs yet, but Kat started laughing when Abigail handed him a Mickey eared hat. What sold him was the fact that they had one that fit Andy, though Tommy steadfastly refused to wear one his size. That didn’t stop both Kat and Abigail handing him various character-themed hats to try on. He just sighed as he was handed a Goofy one, complete with ears.

“You’re going to keep having me try one on until I say ‘yes’, won’t you?” Kat just laughed.

“We’re done, Tommy. You don’t have to wear one in the parks if you don’t want to.” With relief, Tommy put the hat back where it belonged as they made their way up to the counter with Andy’s Mickey hat. Abigail had also grabbed a Minnie hat to buy; she claimed it was so she could match Andy in his Mickey hat. Tommy just smiled; he was glad she was having fun.

They slowly made their way back to the hotel as it got noisier in Downtown Disney; they wanted to make a semi-early night of it as both Tommy and Abigail were getting tired. Kat wasn’t as exhausted as her husband and daughter, but didn’t mind heading back early. Tommy wasn’t surprised to find Abigail drawing after they got back to their hotel room; a quick look at the sketchbook saw that she was sketching her day. She closed her sketchbook after 30 minutes; he could tell she was drooping. She slipped into the bathroom to change and get ready for bed; Tommy and Kat headed to bed not long after. Andy had fallen asleep not long before leaving Downtown Disney and hadn’t even woken up when being changed into the nighttime onesie. It was starting to look as if he was resuming the deep sleep habits he’d initially shown not long after his birth.

All hopes they’d all had for a restful night were dashed when Abigail woke up not long after Andy had woken up wanting fed. From her body language, it had been a nightmare, but not one serious enough to get her screaming like many of hers did. He just gathered her into his arms and comforted her as she slowly started talking about it. It had ended up being a mix of things-Ivan, Lt. Stone, and Sanderson-all mixed into one dream.

“Sorry if I woke anyone up,” she finished by saying. Kat took one of Abigail’s hands in hers.

“You didn’t wake us up. We were already awake; Andy had woken up hungry.”

Tommy followed with, “Even if we were asleep, it’s no imposition to help you deal with a nightmare. Heaven only knows you’ve been through enough to warrant nightmares. Even many adults who’ve been through what you went through would be having nightmares; you’re not alone in this. Nightmares are something everyone gets at one point or another.”

“You’re not a burden, Abigail, far from it,” Kat reassured her after a muttered comment from their daughter. “You’ll never be a burden to us.” Soon, Abigail had calmed enough to fall back asleep, though she didn’t want to leave Tommy’s arms. Kat smiled after putting Andy back to bed once his diaper was changed. Turning the lights off, she quietly joined them in the bed, providing Abigail with another form of comfort. Thankfully, Abigail had slept through the rest of the night seemingly without any other nightmares. Neither Tommy nor Kat liked seeing Abigail have nightmares; even if she’d never became a Power Ranger, she’d lived through enough to have them. Ivan’s plans had only added fuel to the fire; Tommy couldn’t wait to hear that the elixir was either history or secured in such a way that it couldn’t be used.

Billy was working on something that, should Anton, Finster, and Howard not find a way to neutralize it, it couldn’t be retrieved. Vaporizing the elixir was a method of last resort; they didn’t know if that would make things worse. Scorpina had voluntarily given up every piece of information she knew about the elixir; she had also given up everything she knew about Ivan’s plans in general and her own part in them. So had Rito; the fact that he had started working against Ivan and willingly to boot had been a point in his favor. The only problem was that nobody knew what to do with them; they couldn’t be released, even on good behavior. Scorpina was willingly accepting the treatments for the damage that had been done to her while her mother was pregnant with her; from what Rita told him, a determination on Scorpina’s fate was going to happen after the treatment was over. Tommy didn’t care what happened to those two; he just didn’t want them in Reefside or in Angel Grove. He knew sending them out into space wasn’t ideal either; keeping them on Earth meant that they’d eventually face off against another Ranger team if not left confined.

Location: Disneyland Park, Tuesday. POV: Abigail/1^st person

I grinned as we ate breakfast at the hotel. Dad might not have gotten reservations for breakfast, but it was fun watching Goofy and the other characters interact with Andy in his stroller. I’d popped into the hotel gift store for an autograph book before breakfast; I knew most teenagers my age wouldn’t willingly get autographs from the various characters, but I wanted to do this. I was hoping some would autograph something I could frame, but this would do for now. Before leaving for Angel Grove, I’d sketched some drawings I planned to give to the characters; I’d already given Goofy and the others at the character meal theirs. Dad and Katherine weren’t surprised when I’d done this; they knew I was going to do it ahead of the trip. On top of that, almost everyone wanted to do autographs and photos when they met the characters; it was fun doing something different. The reactions I got were worth making the sketches. Mickey indicated that he was going to put the sketch I’d made of him and Minnie up in his house. Minnie had given a similar indication; all three had gone to autograph the sketches before I told them that they could keep them.

Once breakfast was over, we headed into Disneyland, Dad grabbing a park map as we headed under the train station. I was glad he’d grabbed one; I’d not been since not long after Disney’s California Adventure had opened and it had changed a lot since then. We’d be doing the same when we went to DCA tomorrow; like I said, it had changed a lot. By the time lunch rolled around, we’d all had fun; Dad had even convinced me to go on Autopia with him. He was able to do it by pointing out that the cars were on a track to start with, they didn’t go very fast, and were paced in such a way that I didn’t have to worry about anything. I still was going to give Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride a miss along with Rodger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin; neither sounded like much fun when I’d read the ride descriptions in the book Dad had brought home from the library.

Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters had been a lot of fun; I’d gone on it twice as Katherine had also wanted to ride. My second go-around, I’d actually managed to beat my score from when I’d gone on with Dad. None of us had managed to hit the high score, but we were fine with that; I knew Dad was happy to see me giggling and having fun after my nightmare the night before. He always was, but even more so when I’d had a nightmare.

One of the nice things about the vacation, even more then the fact that we were at Disneyland for almost a week, was just being able to relax and have fun together, just the four of us. Even when we’d gone to visit Uncle David and Sam at the reservation the past Christmas, we’d still been under a lot of stress. Now, we could just relax and enjoy a proper family vacation together.

As I’d told Dad and Katherine both, I had a lot of fun just watching Andy take everything in. He’d done well when Goofy, Mickey, and Minnie had knelt down to interact with him at breakfast; Dad had to take him out of the stroller at one point so he could see Mickey better. I know Katherine and I both got a rather adorable shot of Andy looking intently at Mickey, holding on to one of Mickey’s gloved fingers with both hands. If it were allowed, I’m sure Minnie would have gladly held Andy for a shot, but none of the characters were allowed to do so. Minnie’s cast attendant didn’t say why when another family asked if she could hold their baby, but I suspected it was because of liability more than any other reason.

Lunch had been something grabbed from a quick service restaurant in Tomorrowland; we’d spent most of the morning in there. I knew Dad had planned for this; with Andy as young as he is, none of us were willing to do park open-rope drop-to close. We did want to see both evening shows at the parks as well as fireworks, but I didn’t care what nights we saw them. Fantasmic was always a fun show to watch; I was looking forward to watching DCA’s nighttime show, which was at Paradise Pier according to the book.

We’d split the afternoon between Fantasyland, Toontown, and Critter Country, with a small trip through Frontierland. At one point, we did have to double back from Toontown to Fantasyland to watch the start of the parade, but it wasn’t that hard to do. Andy ended up sleeping through the parade; the characters not on floats who saw him got a kick out of the fact that he was sleeping right through the noise, something I was glad to see. By the time we made it back to Critter Country to go on the Winnie the Pooh ride, he’d woken up and ate. He ended up being very fascinated by all the colors in the ride; there were a couple of rooms where he was doing his best to look everywhere at once. As soon as we’d exited that room, I could tell he was looking back at Dad and Katherine, though how much of that was because he wanted to see more of the colorful room we’d just exited, I don’t know.

Dad took Andy from me after we got off the ride; I was disappointed, but understood why. Andy had spent most of the day either in his stroller or with Katherine. Andy being in Dad’s arms also meant he had a better vantage point to see things than being in my arms could give him. That didn’t stop Andy from giving either of us grins as he snuggled into Dad’s arms. I quietly grabbed one of Andy’s hands as I gave him a grin back.

As we made our way back to New Orleans Square, I stopped as we had to wait for the line for Haunted Mansion to go down so we could pass. I’d not been on the ride since I was 12; Ba had never wanted to go on. Having gone on the once with David, I could understand why; it dealt with ghosts. Ba never said, but I think even the thought of Mom as a ghost wasn’t one he would likely want to deal with. Haunted Mansion was one of those rides I’m not entirely sure Ba would ever go on.

Dad saw me look up at the ride as we got close to the end of the line and placed a hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump slightly.

“You want to go on?”

“Yea…I’ve only been on once. Ba…he’s never wanted to go on, but David and I both had fun when we went on.”

Dad looked up at the ride with understanding. “Yea…I can see why Ernie might not want to go on, especially when he wasn’t dealing with his grief well. I’m surprised that he let the two of you go on.”

“I’ve only been on the once, with David when I was 12; it was the first trip where I could go on rides with someone not Ba. David was 15 at the time, so we were fine. He and I went on a lot of rides together that trip. Even then, this was one of only a few that Ba didn’t go on us with. As far as letting us, both David and I had been bugging him to go on every time we came and since David was old enough to take me actually on the ride without adult supervision…well, there we were.”

Katherine shoed us both in line as she had to go change Andy’s diaper. She wasn’t a fan of the ride herself for entirely different reasons then Ba, but was more than happy to give us some time together. I appreciated her efforts to give Dad and I something to do together; she understood the close bond we had. From the start, she didn’t want to interfere with it; I was the same with her relationship with Dad. They’d known each other since they were teens and had been in a relationship for almost as long.

By the time we got off, my eyes were wet from silent tears. I’d not been expecting to be bombarded with memories of when I’d come on the ride last. Once we got to a good spot by the exit, Dad simply pulled me into a hug as he comforted me. Both of us knew this wasn’t an easy trip for me, especially coming off a trip to Angel Grove. He and Katherine had comforted me when we were at the pool yesterday as I’d felt guilty for enjoying myself without Ba and David there to share in the fun. The last time I’d been to either of Southern California’s major theme parks had been with my birthfather and older brother.

By the time I was ready to meet up with Katherine and Andy again, they’d made their way to just outside the exit, Andy babbling away to anyone who would stop and listen. I’d seen several people give us indulgent looks or smiles whenever Andy graced them with babbling or a smile. Watching him interact as best he could with the various characters was fun as well. Dad had gotten several shots when we’d interacted with Peter Pan earlier in the day. If Andy had been somewhat older, I have no doubt he’d’ve tried grabbing Peter’s hat.

We ended up eating in Adventureland after getting off of Pirates of the Caribbean. Even though Fantasmic wouldn’t be until closer to 7:30, we wanted to relax some with a sit-down meal and not a quick service like we’d done with lunch. One of the restaurants, the Golden Horseshoe Review, Dad was planning on for Thursday as it was a dinner show. I’d seen it during previous trips; it was a fun show and the food was good.

Andy ended up falling asleep partway through dinner; he was still asleep as we made our way over to the seating for Fantasmic. We just let him sleep; the fireworks would have him awake if the noise of either the show or the audience didn’t wake him up before that. I did pull a small blanket out of his stroller and tucked him in; I didn’t want him to get cold. He looked adorable tucked into his stroller, his Mickey ears still on his head, that I couldn’t resist taking a quick photo.

As the roar of the crowd grew as it got closer to showtime, Andy did wake up from his short nap. Keeping his blanket on him, Dad took him out of his stroller as he started fussing. We could tell he’d been woken up by the noise of the crowd as he was trying to fall back to sleep. Those attempts were quickly foiled by the opening notes of the show; the lights rising out of the ground and structures of Tom Sawyer Island quickly drew his attention. Watching him fascinated during the 30-minute show was so much fun; while the sections with Peter Pan on Captain Hook’s ship and Maleficent in her dragon from were my favorite sections of the show, not counting the very end with Mickey in his Sorcerer’s Apprentice outfit, I would be hard pressed to say what Andy’s favorite part of the show was. He did fuss slightly at the noise of the fireworks, but that just might have been due to how loud they were. I thought he might fall back to sleep during the princess section, but he was too fascinated by everything to fall asleep.

We ended up catching the evening fireworks as we made our way to Main Street; like with Fantasmic, Andy, though fussing because of the noise, was also fascinated by the sounds and lights that made up the fireworks at the park. As we made our way in the crowd exiting the park after the fireworks show, Andy put his head down on Dad’s shoulder and just looked at me, content. So was I; I enjoyed whatever time I got to spend with my family that wasn’t Ranger-related. What little free time I’d had during the previous school year had been split between my family and my friends; now that summer vacation was here, I would have much more time to spend with everyone.

As Katherine got Andy ready for bed, I curled up in one of the chairs with a sketchbook. Like yesterday, I wanted to get some of my favorite memories down on paper; I knew I’d not gotten all of them on camera. Even then, there were a few that had been caught on camera that I wanted to sketch from a different angle. One of the memories I’d sketched yesterday had been Dad holding the Goofy hat in his hands when we’d been at World of Disney; I knew he’d do anything to make sure that Conner or Ethan never saw that sketch. Kira would probably get a laugh out of it, as would Trent and Hayley, but Conner and Ethan were the worst at teasing him sometimes, Conner especially. It was probably a good thing neither Katherine nor I had taken a picture of him with any of the hats on; I knew he’d really want to bury those photos if they were around.

Thankfully, I didn’t have any nightmares after going to bed; that had been a worry of mine after the one I’d had the first night of the trip. I’d long accepted that I’d be having nightmares for a while; Dad had admitted that even before Ivan had made his appearance, he still had nightmares of his early days as a Power Ranger. He and I weren’t alone in that either; most of the Rangers I’d talked to said they’d had the occasional nightmare from when they’d been active Rangers. I still didn’t like having them, but I knew that I’d always have someone nearby to help comfort me for quite a while. I didn’t think I’d have to worry about being home alone with my nightmares until after college was over unless I had a roommate.

When I woke up, I found Andy and I were the only two awake. I quietly picked him out of his bed, checking his diaper. By the time Katherine woke up, I’d changed Andy’s diaper and clothing and was doing my best to keep him from fussing too much. I knew he was hungry, but I also didn’t want for Dad to wake up earlier then he needed to. He did wake up not long after that; he always seemed to know when she wasn’t in bed with him. I’d taken the time when Andy was with Katherine to change myself; I knew it was early for me to wake up while I was on vacation, but I’d slept well with no nightmares to bother me.

As soon as Dad and Katherine were ready, we headed out, Andy in his stroller again. I’d also packed extra cameras in my shoulder bag as I’d run out of space on the ones I’d packed yesterday. I knew I’d not need all of the photos, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared. We’d ended up eating in the park for breakfast; I’d found that there was a walking program for those that wanted to walk DCA before it opened for the day, but the program started at 6 am. Too early for me while I was on vacation; Dad might have been interested, but not so much for me. I was doing enough walking on this vacation between walking to and from different rides, restaurants, and shows as well as the time it actually took to reach the ride vehicles or the seats in the restaurants and shows.

One of the things that was cool to see at DCA was a free roaming attraction called Muppet Mobile Lab. Ba had the original Muppet Show on DVD; one of his friends had given him the set for a birthday several years back. I’d always gotten a kick out of the sections with Dr. Honeydew and Beaker; they were two of my favorite Muppets. He’d always taken David and I to go see the Muppet films when they’d came out in theaters and one of my favorites was Muppet Treasure Island. From what the Cast Member said, the Muppet Mobile Lab was part of the Living Character Initiative; another attraction part of that was Turtle Talk with Crush, which was held in Hollywood Pictures Backlot.

After we got done with breakfast, Dad smiled as he handed me the map with the Hollywood Pictures Backlot section of attractions and restaurants circled. I looked at him puzzled until he pointed out the Animation Academy. I’d done it several years ago, but couldn’t wait to do it again; I knew Ba had put the sketch I’d made from that one up on the fridge at home. As far as I knew, he still had it somewhere. What I liked about it was you could take a look at the different characters they’d be teaching you to draw and decide which ones you’d like to learn to draw, if you wanted to learn to draw multiple characters. By the time I got done with the class, Dad was laughing somewhat. He knew as well as I did that I’d probably stay all day there if I was allowed to.

The rest of the day was spent exploring the park. Like with Disneyland, we took our time knowing that we had another day at each park. What rides and shows we missed we could catch the next day; same went for things we wanted to do again. I definitely wanted to do the Animation Academy again and do a different character if I could.

By the time Saturday rolled around, I was sad to leave; I’d enjoyed the vacation and the time I’d been able to spend with my family. I also knew that we needed to get back to Reefside and our lives there; I was missing my friends there. Dad had called Hayley before we pulled out of the hotel parking lot; she promised to let everyone else know. Due to traffic in Anaheim, it took us a good half hour longer than normal to get on the freeway home; we’d ended up getting lunch on the road. We’d had to stop anyway, as we needed gas, among other things.

Kira was giggling as we pulled into the driveway; Sasha and Eliza had elected to use her as a jungle gym when they heard the crunch of the minivan pull into the driveway.

“I think they missed you guys,” she said as she did her best to get them off of her. I was able to get them off of her after I put my bags down and they immediately started exploring them. “Have fun?”

“Yep. I’ll have to show you the sketches later, Kira, preferably when Dad’s not around. You’ll understand why later.”

“That sounds…interesting,” she replied as she helped us unpack. I just grinned at her and Dad groaned when he saw my face.

“Don’t tell me you got that down on paper,” he said. I just gave him a grin and he shook his head.

“Great. Just what I need, more blackmail.” Kira cracked up laughing at that.

“Let me guess…they got you in one of those character hats?”

“We couldn’t convince him to buy one for himself. It’s too bad neither Abigail nor myself thought to grab a camera that night,” Katherine informed her, to Dad’s embarrassment. Dad muttering ‘no, it’s not’ just got us chuckling again. Kira went with me as I took my bags along with Andy’s up to the second floor, giving Dad and Katherine some time to themselves, as Andy was still asleep. I pulled the relevant sketchbook out and showed her the sketches.

“Please tell me you’re going to be bringing these to CyberSpace,” she all but begged.

“Yep, soon as I’m allowed.” At her look, I explained that I’d gotten grounded while in Angel Grove.

“What’d you do?”

“Went and talked with my birthfather one morning without waiting for Dad. To be fair, he didn’t say exactly that I was to wait for him, just that I was to text him when I was ready to leave if he wasn’t down by then. Ba and David both, when I was told that, usually meant that if I’d not heard from them or seen them by 15 minutes, then I was to go to the next location, where they’d meet me. I’m grounded for a few days except for lessons at the dojo, so I’ll probably be able to come to CyberSpace next week sometime.”

“That’s understandable.”

“It is; even if I’d not been grounded, it would have taken me that long to make it to CyberSpace anyway. We still have to unpack from the trip, do laundry, figure out where the souvenirs are going to go, etc. Plus, either Katherine or Dad is going to drop the cameras off at one of the photos places to get them developed. Once we get the photos back, it’s going to take some time to put them in albums; I know we picked up a couple while we were there, at least Katherine and I did.” I didn’t buy many, but I’d picked up a few things at both parks. Some of those souvenirs were clothing, but most of it was knickknacks to decorate both my room and my art studio with. That was, of course, the things I’d bought for myself. I’d also bought a few things for my family and friends that I’d either give them when I saw them next or, in the case of those that lived in Angel Grove, mail to them.

I ended up giving Kira the figurine I’d picked up for her at Off the Page. She was surprised that I’d remembered her favorite character. I showed her what I’d picked out for Trent; she knew right away that he’d love it. She helped me unpack from the trip; with the exception of the stuff that I’d ended up not wearing and what wasn’t dirty, the clothing went into the laundry basket. She also knew which souvenirs were headed to each person with the exception of the Angel Grove crowd. She was surprised that I’d gotten David a plush. I just grinned at the memory.

“He and I do this with each other; if one of us goes somewhere without the other, we get each other some weird souvenir that we wouldn’t normally buy. Neither of us are plushie people, but I figured he’d get a laugh out of having a plush Daisy. He did give me some money to get something for Amy that he wanted to be from him; I’ll be sending it down with the plushie.”

“That explains the plushie Donald.”

“Nope. That was actually an Amy request as she loves the character. No, this necklace is for her; David looked online first to see what the cost was and gave me extra just in case the price was higher in the park then it was online.” I smiled; aside from the usual birthday gifts, I’d also gotten separate ones for the trip from Ba and David, primarily in the form of Disney gift cards. They said it was so I could have spending money of my own on the trip. I’d also saved up the rest of my allowance to use; Dad and Katherine had also paid for some of my souvenirs.

“He loves her, doesn’t he,” she stated.

“Yep. I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up married after they both get done with university. If I’d stayed in Angel Grove, I likely would have ended up with Austin, but I’m not sure now. I’m not the same girl that left Angel Grove last year and I know Austin’s not the same guy he was last year either. If I’m not seeing someone seriously by the time I get to or through college, he and I could revisit a relationship, but that’s years away.”

“If you had to pick someone out of your friends to date, who would you?” she asked as we sat down in the art studio. After getting me unpacked, we’d also done the same for Andy so that Dad and Katherine wouldn’t have to worry about it that much.

“Ethan, probably. I know Katherine had been on most of Dad’s early teams and after he was made team lead, but I’m not sure I could date someone on any team I led. This is especially true if Reefside gets any more superpowered bad guys; I don’t want our teamwork to suffer if we got into a fight.”

“At the same time, it’s easier when you’re dating a fellow Ranger.”

“Less secrets to hide; I think that’s why Ethan and his last girlfriend broke up. I know Zack and his now wife had a hard time when he was active as he had to sneak out of a few dates when Rita sent down monsters. This was long before she became Mystic Mother, Kira, so no worries. Conner lucked out with his girlfriend.”

“He did; he didn’t have a choice but to tell her. Dr. O sitting down with her to answer her questions had something to do with it as well.” I gave her a puzzled look at that. “Conner asked him to; he really didn’t want to ask Lightspeed to have that talk and he knew Krista would listen to Dr. O. Even still, she almost flipped when Conner informed her of Dr. O’s identity. He had to tell her about how we found the Dino Gems in the first place so she wouldn’t go to the school board. It was their first real fight, Abigail, but they were able to work through it.”

“I must have been out of the house at that time; I would have remembered him having the talk with Krista otherwise.”

We talked for a while after that, but Kira soon had to leave, as she had to get to CyberSpace for a performance. Andy had woken up by then and was able to give her a smile before she left.

“Thanks for unpacking for Andy, Abigail. You didn’t have to do that,” Katherine told me as I brought down the laundry from unpacking for Andy and I.

“I wanted to. You did most of the work packing for the trip when Dad and I were at the dojo; it’s the least I could do, Katherine.” She just smiled as we sorted everything by color before starting a load of laundry. Like most of the pre-and-post vacation laundry loads, we did everyone’s at once and sorted them by person after. Thankfully, with 3 Rangers, former or active, in the family, it made sorting things easier. Katherine was the only one of us who wore pink with any regularity; I didn’t wear any of Dad’s colors as the main color in my shirts and neither of them wore purple or yellow on a regular basis.

I’d actually sat down with Dad one day the previous summer after revealing my identity to him and he’d answered a number of questions about being a Ranger, including just why active Power Rangers tended to wear colors associated with their actual Color. It wasn’t a hard or fast rule as such, as Vida-Mystic Force Pink-later proved when I’d met her after the reconnaissance mission, but Dad had explained that it helped the Ranger in question connect to their color. I’d told David, who was finally glad to have an answer to the question he’d asked Jason only a couple of months before. We didn’t have to wear our whole outfits in the color, though Jason and his dad both had been known to dress head to toe in red before. Dad, having been four different colors in his years as a Ranger, had a bit more leeway in the colors he wore. It had been part of why I’d spray-painted the Christmas Tree on his Zord toolbox.

I’d even noticed that with Kira’s shirts; she and I had a similar one where part of the shirt was yellow. My shirt, unlike hers, also had purple in it. I’d been surprised I was still able to wear yellow after switching Colors; Dad not so much. He’d still been able to wear red, green, and white after becoming the Black Dino Ranger. I’d forgotten that part when I’d made the offhand comment to him at one point after my team had been Called into action.

I didn’t always wear purple and yellow as my main colors, thankfully. I found that as long as I was wearing something that had either color or both in my outfit, even if it was a pair of socks or underwear, I was fine. Case in point was one of the shirts I’d bought on the Disney trip; it was a tank top with Stitch on it with just a bit of yellow on it. I couldn’t tell if the main color of the tank top was a purplish shade of blue or a bluish shade of purple, but I liked it. We’d not told Ba, but David and I had gotten to watch the film when we’d been over at a sleepover with Austin and Amy. Stitch had been a favorite character ever since; I’d actually bought a Stitch plushie on the trip.

The days that I spent grounded were hard, as I only really left to go to my lessons at the dojo. I understood why Dad and Katherine had grounded me, though; even though Katherine understood why I’d wanted to be alone with Ba for the talk we’d needed to have, the fact was that Dad had wanted me to wait for him. Dad and I did spend one day fully talking about everything; by the time we had to leave to go to the dojo, both of us were glad we’d cleared the air better. We’d talked some at the hotel prior to leaving for Disneyland, but not enough due to the fact that neither of us wanted to be overheard talking about it. That same reason is why I’d talked with Ba prior to the Youth Center opening for the day; some of the topics included being a Power Ranger.

I’d also had a long overdue therapy session with Rocky; I’d missed my last couple due to the competition and trip to Disneyland. As much as I liked having Rocky as a therapist, there were times where I’d had nightmares-bad ones-after the therapy sessions. Rocky explained once that it likely was due to the fact that those sessions usually dealt with tougher topics for me and ones that were usually highly charged with emotion. He’d also been unsurprised that I’d had times where I’d felt guilty being at Disneyland and on vacation in general without Ba and David.

“I warned Tommy that this might happen when you guys were in Angel Grove still. Outside of the times to visit Sam and David Trueheart, you’ve never really left Reefside except for sports games or competitions. It’s understandable that you’d feel that way on vacation, irregardless of the actual destination,” he said as we sat in the backyard, which was a favorite spot for our therapy sessions. It allowed us some privacy and also allowed Dad and Katherine, along with Andy, some time together.

“That makes sense, Rocky. Don’t get me wrong, I knew that this was going to be a slightly different trip to Disneyland then my last trip due to being able to do more stuff. I just didn’t expect it to feel wrong sometimes, including the day we arrived.” I curled up in a ball at that, wishing I’d brought down my Stitch plushie. At the very minimum, I’d have something to hold on to.

“Wrong why?”

“Probably because neither David nor Ba were there. Of course, if Ba had been there, I’d probably not have gone on as many rides as I did; this was the first trip where I was able to do all the rides I wanted. Dad even convinced me to try Autopia; not as scary as I thought it would be.” Rocky raised an eyebrow at that. “Ba…he never let David or I go on it when we went before. Knowing how Mom died, I can understand why, but even on our last trip, he wouldn’t let us. I’ll have to take David on it if we get the chance to go together sometime.”

“Any rides you wanted to skip?” He asked.

“Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Rodger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin.”

“I can see why the first one would be an issue; why the second one?”

I shook my head. “Just didn’t sound like fun, from what the description in the book said. Maybe down the road, there’s going to be a video of it online that I can watch, but not right now.”

“That’s a good idea, Abigail. It might not be as bad as you think, or you might want to give it a skip still when it comes for the Disneyland Grad Night party in a few years.”

“Hopefully, by then, I won’t be dealing with the issues I am right now. As much as I’m looking forward to driver’s ed starting up next week, it scares me.” We ended up spending a good hour just on that, with Rocky helping me understand just what driver’s ed would help me avoid. It was times like this that I was glad Dad had called Rocky last year; it’s hard to say if he would have been my therapist if I’d stayed in Angel Grove. I hope he would have.

When Dad brought the photos back from the shop the same day as my therapy appointment, I was surprised to find he’d made copies of all the photos. I knew that he and Katherine both wanted to send some of the photos to family that didn’t live in Reefside, but I was surprised to find they’d made me my own set of photos. Some of the photos would take a while to get in, as they were taken by the Disneyland photographers, but we were fine with waiting.

By the time I was allowed to go down to CyberSpace, I was glad to be able to see my friends again. I’d taken all of the sketchbooks with me that I’d taken on vacation. I’d not filled up all of them, but I did take the ones that had sketches in them. Dad had dropped me off as he had some running to do that day and didn’t want me to have to make that trip on my bike when he could drop me off and pick me back up. By the time he got back, all it took was one grin from Conner to understand just what had happened.

“Not one word, Conner,” was all it took for our group to dissolve into giggling and outright laughter. Ethan’s muttered “Dr. O in a Goofy hat” just made us laugh harder. Not even Hayley was immune from the laughter, though she did refrain from teasing him once Ethan made his comment. Dad eventually joined in once he saw the funnier side of it.

I also had a couple of meetings with the head of the art museum; I was going to be spending the last week of June taking my paintings in, most of which were framed at this point, and spending a couple of afternoons with the museum staff hanging them up. I’d also been asked to help Trent do a mural of the various Power Ranger teams, as I knew the suit designs of the ones that called Angel Grove home. The museum was going to have a pre-opening day party the day before the exhibit actually opened; like with the high school art show, this was going to be primarily for locals and family of the selected artists. Given that a number of my family lived out of town, the museum director had no issue putting their names on a list he was keeping of invited guests. Mom’s parents were coming up the week of the exhibit opening; I couldn’t wait to see them again.

I’d also extended an invite to Agent Hotchner and his team, with Dad’s permission. They’d been a great help back in January that I wanted to thank them for their help. He’d responded that not everyone would be able to make it, but several of his team would be coming. He’d let Dad know the names of the ones who’d said they’d be able to come; I couldn’t wait to meet them. He did say that a couple of them were liable to talk my ears off if I let them and one was a genius. I dryly responded that my godfather was the same; I was used to it. I could almost see him smiling at that.

Chapter Text

Location: Reefside Art Museum, June 30th. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy smiled as the first of the guests started trickling in to the party. While he didn’t recognize all of them, he did recognize parents of some of the artists due to them being parents of some of his students. Abigail had been elated that Mr. and Mrs. Kwan had been able to come up; she’d not seen or talked with them much since they moved to Florida. They had apologized for dropping out of contact; Abigail spent several days showing them around town, including introducing them to Hayley and her friends. They did have to be careful when speaking of the Power Rangers; like many parents of former Rangers, Trini’s parents had no clue that their daughter had once been one of Earth’s protectors. Howard had, thankfully, had Trini working for him when she was in university; he’d been working on something classified. It was better to let them think that’s what she’d been involved in then for them to know the truth.

She’d also gotten the chance to hear more about her mother and things neither Ernie nor any of Trini’s friends had been able to tell her. It had been an emotional week for her, especially the day when she sat down with her maternal grandparents to look through the photo albums that they’d brought. It had meant a lot to Abigail most of all to hear those stories; David had been there for those stories as well. Both siblings had shown signs of tears that day; Abigail, though, had slept easily that night, more at peace.

“Dr. Oliver.” Tommy looked over to see Agent Derek Morgan looking at him, a grin on his face. “Had to come over; Spencer and Garcia got drawn into a conversation with Abigail, Mr. Cranston, and a couple of her friends. I lost track of what they were talking about roughly 3 words in.”

He looked over to see the group around his daughter exactly as described. One of them was easily Dr. Spencer Reid; unlike Tommy, he wore his long hair in layers and out of a ponytail. The other lady, Agent Morgan was able to tell him, was Penelope Garcia, who was their computer expert. Ethan and Patton had joined them; Tommy knew Johnny and Steve were around somewhere.

“She’s a lot like her mom; she might not be able to understand everything Billy talks about, but she can at least follow along. Billy has gotten better at making his English understood; Ernie said Abigail’s grasp of English was a bit ahead of her peers for a while due to Billy being a part of her life.”

“If he’s anything like Spencer, I can understand why. There’s been a number of times over the past 5 years that I’ve had to look stuff up in a dictionary while talking with him. He’s slightly younger than me, but has his doctorates in a few different areas; he’s been a Mensa member for longer than that.”

“I’m pretty sure Billy’s had his membership since high school.” Tommy openly grinned. “I’m pretty sure that, between that 6, plus another friend of mine who’ll be here as soon as she closes up CyberSpace, they’d be able to, at the very minimum, build a better mousetrap. There’s a couple other teens that I’m sure would be glad to help as well.” Agent Morgan just groaned.

“Or take over the world.”

“That’s a terrifying thought…they’d probably succeed, though. I know Abigail’s got a copy of the Evil Overlord List somewhere; she gave a copy to some friends of ours who had no clue what she was talking about. The only problem she’s got right now is finding a 5-year-old.” Watching Leanbow and Daggeron read the list had been rather hilarious; Clare had said muttered something about not showing it to Rita. He could understand why; it could likely be a source of temptation for her.

“There’s no way I’d want to take over the world. Too much paperwork,” Hayley responded from behind Agent Morgan, causing him to jump. “That, and I really don’t want to deal with idiots and people who think too much of themselves. It’s a huge part of why I opened CyberSpace; that and I was tired of all the pissing contests.”

The three of them devolved into conversation, though Hayley soon broke off to join Abigail’s group. Agent Morgan had the both of them soon calling him by his first name of Derek; he’d also not taken it personally when Hayley turned down his offer of a date. Tommy did have to smother a laugh when Steve and Johnny also joined Abigail’s group; they’d been talking with Trent near his section, which had primarily been filled with the comics he’d done and some other artwork.

When Kat came back after changing Andy’s diaper, Tommy was all too glad to introduce Derek to his wife and son. Derek proved to be a natural with children, getting Andy to grin and hold his hand. Of course, Andy was also babbling away about something; Tommy could never figure out just what. Oh, he knew the parenting books said that it was just Andy exercising his vocal cords, but he privately thought Andy was also talking about something, even if he couldn’t use words just yet. Probably all of the things he’s done and seen since his birth in April.

By the time the evening was over, Tommy, Kat, and Andy had been introduced to the members of Derek’s team that had come; Dr. Reid and Billy had exchanged contact information so they could stay in touch. Tommy stood by his assessment that Billy and Dr. Reid, with an assist from the rest of the group that they’d been talking with earlier in the evening, could revolutionize the world together if they so desired.

Abigail was doing well so far in her driving lessons; it was still in the classroom right now. They had also resumed her lessons on how to use and drive her ATV; Tommy had every confidence that it would help her when it came time for her driving lessons to become practical. He was just glad that the high school offered summer classes for those who didn’t want to wait until the school year started again. There were also a number of other companies that offered lessons not attached to any of the public schools, but Tommy just enrolled her in the one that the high school offered. He and Abigail both knew that if she’d been able to initially enroll in high school under her normal birthday, she’d’ve taken driver’s education by now, but she was fine with starting at 16. Most of the sophomores who’d not taken it their freshman year either did as Abigail was doing or took it their sophomore year. Tommy had been lucky in that he’d been able to take it the year before he transferred to Angel Grove High School.

He sighed as he watched Abigail and Andy interact later that night; Zhane had contacted him earlier that day and he wasn’t sure he liked the message. Apparently, a representative from SPD wanted to meet Abigail and her team; Tommy wasn’t about to commit them without talking to them first. He wasn’t going to let them go to the meeting without backup either; most of the Rangers who he’d talked to had said that they’d be there if needed. He was seriously considering having the meeting in Angel Grove’s Command Center; there was no way he was letting SPD anywhere near his home.

The other issue was how to hide the fact that 4 of her team were Power Rangers from their families. It was well known among their parents that the group of 6 was very tight-knit; hopefully, that would help to hide things for the time being. He would have asked Andros to be there, but he was currently helping Billy out with his issues with the Aquitian Rangers; Tommy thought that they really couldn’t do with problems between Ranger teams, even among allies on different planets. Andros agreed and volunteered to play messenger. He hoped to have an answer before the art show had started; Abigail had even offered to help even if she couldn’t go off-planet. Her suggestion was that, if the Aquitian Rangers wouldn’t listen, Andros was to bring them to her and she’d chew them out. From what Andros had said, Rangers like Abigail were not just rare, but also considered ones to not get on the bad side of if you wanted to be able to stay a Ranger. She’d given Andros permission to reveal to Aquitar what she was if he needed to.

Andros had a word for someone like her, but Tommy couldn’t remember it. When Andros had revealed the word and what it meant on KO-35, she’d said that Trini had told her ‘Arbitrator’, but had stopped herself from going further. She’d only shook her head when Tommy had pressed; Andros had stopped him from questioning her further on it. She’d all but bolted to her art room from Triceramax after that. He’d sat down with Andros after the doorway to the house from Triceramax had closed.

“What was that about, Andros?” The Red Astro Ranger had sighed before sitting down across from Tommy by the computers.

“Tommy, with Zordon’s death, you and the other senior Earth Rangers are considered such for Earth among our allies in space, with you at the top. I don’t know why it’s you in particular, but even your former teammates have said as much.”

“I thought that was mostly ceremonial or just words, Andros, when Zordon told me that. He never got a chance to explain everything, as we were being attacked almost on a weekly basis. Even before he left for Eltar, he never called me in to explain everything. I’ve never found any notes one way or the other to indicate such; then again, I’ve not been back to the Angel Grove Command Center in years.”

“You should probably do that at some point, Tommy. Zordon likely has that information set to your Grid signature.”

“Grid, not DNA?”

“Yes, why?” Tommy took the time to explain exactly how the Dino Gems worked. “It’s probably a good thing that there’s only 5 of those gems, Tommy.”

Tommy’s face darkened. “Yes; it was tough keeping two of the gems out of Mesogog’s hands. If Trent hadn’t been able to get through to Anton, I’m not entirely sure what would have happened. To go back to the term you used earlier, Ninjor called her Earth’s first natural born mentor.”

“That’s essentially what Oraculi means, Tommy. You’ve told me of how the Turbo Powers were created; Billy and the rest of your Turbo team would not have been successful at it if Zordon had not allowed it. The rest of Earth’s teams between Turbo and now, minus Abigail’s team, either got very lucky, had help, or were somehow allowed to create the links if they did so. I’ve met Captain Mitchell; he doesn’t have the Grid Signature that Abigail does, or that most Oraculi do.”

Andros had to leave not long after that. Tommy had gone upstairs to find Abigail in her art room, Kat and Andy in there serving as distraction. He’d apologized for scaring her like that; Andros had also explained it was normal for one Oraculi to teach another. With Zordon gone, Tommy had to act in his former mentor’s stead to teach Abigail. Tommy had also informed Andros of the fact that Ninjor was now on Earth, but Andros had asked him not to reveal exactly where, to protect Ninjor. It wasn’t just the bad guys who were searching for their friend and ally; there was a reason KO-35 didn’t have an SPD base on it.

Sighing as he teleported to the Angel Grove Command Center on July 1^st, he greeted Alpha 5 and spent some time catching up with the A.I. who he’d come to call a friend. At the appointed time, he opened the communications channel and hailed SPD.

“Dr. Thomas Oliver? This is Anubis from SPD. Is it okay if I and one other teleport down to your location?” At Alpha’s nod, Tommy gave the affirmative and was greeted by the sight of the two SPD officers. He didn’t react to Anubis’ appearance; his years as a Ranger had cured him of reacting like most civilians would.

“Welcome to Earth, Anubis,” Tommy said, holding out a hand for them to shake. Like Andros and Zhane, it took the two SPD officers a few seconds to realize that he meant for them to shake his hand. If either officer had been from Aquitar, Tommy knew the greeting and gesture to use; Billy had actually gone over everything with him and Abigail both at one point. Billy, on one of his visits after they got back from Disneyland, had actually taught Abigail about Aquitar when she asked. The fact that her team had been there had not been unnoticed by the genius; Billy had admitted it was nice to have an attentive audience. Abigail and her team had also, without prompting, started practicing the different greetings and whatnot so that, should Andros be successful, they could greet their Aquitian allies correctly.

“We were expecting other Rangers to be here, especially the newest team.”

“I’m not bringing them here without reassurances, Officers.” Anubis and the other officer, who’d not introduced herself, looked at each other.

“Like what?”

“None of them are going off planet for starters, not right away. From what Andros has said, there’s a good chance one will never be able to leave Earth.”

“The Oraculi. Zhane said you were mentoring one in Zordon’s absence. The first Oraculi of a planet is usually never able to leave. Any others?”

“Yes; as I’m sure you know, most of Earth’s Power Ranger teams are under secrecy regulations. I know that’s not always the case; both Aquitar and KO-35’s Rangers are generally known to the wider populace. I’m afraid Earth’s governments are not united enough to allow most of our Rangers the same luxury.”

The two officers took that in before Anubis finally spoke. “Yes, Andros’ wife has spoken of the issues she had after her identity became known. It was part of why she and Andros eventually made their home on his home planet. His entire team were granted exile on KO-35 for quite some time, but I believe several members eventually returned home.”

“Yes, TJ, Cassie, and Carlos eventually came back to Earth once they were assured that they would be able to live their own lives without the interference that had caused them to flee in the first place. I believe the threat of leaving the planet to the next big bad would have worked. I happen to agree with them.”

“Hence why you’re currently protecting your current team.”

“Exactly. That being said, we do need to talk about the order regarding Ivan that was passed through to us.”

“Why do we need to talk about it? Your daughter was part of the group that helped carry out the sentence on Ivan. There’s nothing more that needs to be said,” said the other officer.

“She shouldn’t have been given that order in the first place. She’s got enough on her plate without having to also deal with the aftereffects of also having to deal with what happened in that alleyway. I know that most of Earth’s current Rangers want some alone time with the idiot that gave that order in the first place, not to mention my daughter’s birth father, an in-the-know ally. Ivan’s death should have been left up to Earth’s senior Rangers, not my daughter and the rest of her team.”

Understanding bloomed across Anubis’ face, but his fellow officer failed to understand.

“She shouldn’t be having any issues, Dr. Oliver.” What the female officer was about to say next was cut off by Anubis.

“He’s right, Arianae. If his daughter and Earth’s first Oraculi are one and the same, she should have only been there as witness alongside Andros, not involved beyond that. I am sorry about the order. It did not come from me, but I understand why you’re keeping the identity of the Oraculi under wraps; I do acknowledge that there are those in SPD and elsewhere that would love to see Earth not have one. You need not say that any future talks and negotiations Earth’s Power Rangers have with SPD must respect and honor that Earth now has an Oraculi of its own.”

They’d left not long after, Tommy not fully relaxing afterwards. He just knew that Anubis was a rare breed among SPD; Andros and Zhane both had nothing but praise for the man. That same praise was not always levied among their talks about SPD. He had a feeling that this talk was the beginning of their issues with SPD; he just hoped it wouldn’t come to Abigail having to use her Powers in a negative way.

Location: Reefside, the Oliver household, July 3^rd. POV: Abigail/1^st person

I giggled as I held Andy after breakfast was over. He was growing so fast; there were days where it seemed he was doing new things every time I turned around. I knew Dad knew it too; he and Katherine both had started pulling out the 6-month clothing for Andy, as he had already outgrown clothing meant for his age group. It looked like Andy was going to be as tall as Dad from what the pediatrician said and I could believe it. The reason why I was giggling was that was that Andy had just discovered his hands and was having a lot of fun exploring using them.

The rest of my team, along with Conner and the others, were coming over today, at Dad’s request. Uncle Billy had come up last night; apparently, Andros had contacted him and asked him to be at our house today. I had a sneaking suspicion what this was about, but I’d been asked to keep it a surprise for Uncle Billy. It had been part of why we’d asked him to teach my team and I how to greet Aquitians, among other things dealing with Aquitar. Among Earth’s Rangers, he was the expert, having lived there for a number of years prior to Mom becoming pregnant with me.

The only real downside with where we lived was that we were nowhere near a decent water source for Aquitar’s team unless we got into the cave system. Uncle Billy, when I’d asked, had been able to confirm that there was an underground lake somewhere nearby, but we’d not had time to search for it prior to getting the call from Andros. A quick call to Sensei Watanabe had resulted in Tori arriving not long after Uncle Billy had. With her command over water, she’d be able to help if they absolutely needed it. We were all appreciative of the fact that she was willing to help us in this; Dad was sure that the Aquitian Rangers would be happy as well.

The ‘official’ reason for why Andros had Uncle Billy come up was that he’d heard about some cake making machine Uncle Billy had invented and wanted to see it; from what I heard, the Astro Megaships that his Ranger team had used could replicate food. I heard the story behind the invention when Uncle Billy brought it up; decades later and he still blushed remembering the goof up. I did text Conner and Ethan to let them know not to tease Uncle Billy when he told them about the invention in the basement.

Dad had also been able to find out that there had been a block at the Angel Grove Command Center that wouldn’t allow Uncle Billy to communicate with Aquitar; he’d told Andros as much prior to the latter’s trip to Aquitar. If that was the reason behind the Aquitian Ranger’s upset at Uncle Billy, then it would be simple enough to find out the person responsible. Uncle Billy still wouldn’t talk about why he’d left Aquitar, not even when Dad asked; the last time the topic had been brought up, he’d gotten upset.

We were in the middle of taking the cake maker that Uncle Billy had invented apart when Andros pinged us, asking for permission to teleport. He honestly didn’t need to ask permission, but it was more a formality then anything else. That, and because he was coming from a ship, it was apparently tradition for the captain to ask permission first, well, from ocean-bound Earth ships at any rate. We’re not entirely sure how he found out that interesting factoid; TJ said he didn’t know either. As the Senior Ranger in Charge of the Astro Megaship II, that duty apparently fell to Andros.

Uncle Billy hadn’t looked up when the group transported in as he was that drawn into conversation with Ethan and Patton. I eventually had to nudge him to look up.

“What, Abigail?”

“I think there’s a few people here that want to say ‘Hi’.” Cestria and Corcus had separated themselves from their group and were both grinning. “Andros was able to clear a few things up with them; they know why you weren’t able to keep in touch after returning to Earth.”

Andros had done more than that; from what I understood, the Aquitian government was tripping over their feet to make things up to them. Those in charge now had no clue that his communication signal had been blocked nor that he’d not been given leave to explain to Cestria and Corcus that Mom had asked him to be my godfather. If those issues hadn’t been there, he would have likely been going back and forth between Aquitar and Earth. Andros had, with Ashley’s help, been able to explain exactly what the role of godparent entailed as far as Earth customs went; Uncle Billy had explained Aquitar had something similar, but I could see why there’d been some confusion. Intergalactic customs varied from planet to planet; I’d heard Andros had no clue what a handshake was when he’d met most of the Turbo team members that had succeeded Dad’s team.

After greeting Delphine and the others, we were introduced to the newer members of the team. Like with Dino Thunder, they were all in what Aquitar considered to be their late teens. Delphine had actually passed her Powers on; she and the others who’d passed their Powers on only come as they considered Uncle Billy a friend. Cestria and Corcus weren’t the only ones who missed talking with him, to hear Delphine speak. Soon, Danius-Delphine’s successor-and Clematia, who was Corcus’ successor, joined us at the table as the others caught up. Tori had been introduced, but generally stayed out of the way for now, preferring to sit and talk with Conner and the rest of Reefside’s Rangers who weren’t helping with the cake machine rebuild; why she was there had been understood as soon as she demonstrated her abilities. I’d thought I’d heard Delphine mutter something about talking to Sensei Watanabe, but ignored it; not something I needed to deal with.

Of course, getting to explain what ice cream to two aliens was fun-Andros and Zhane’s four didn’t count as they already knew what a lot of Earth’s foods were. Patton was shocked that 2 aliens who lived on a water-based planet didn’t know what ice cream was. The only reason why ice cream had been brought up was that I’d used the food to explain what went wrong with Uncle Billy’s invention. They’d thankfully knew what cake was; ice cream? Not so much.

“Abigail, where are you headed?” Dad asked as I dashed past him.

“Getting some ice cream. Trying to explain it to Danius and Clematia without a frame of reference…not easy.” As I headed to the kitchen, I heard general laughter to something Uncle Billy muttered. Thankfully, there was vanilla in the freezer along with chocolate; it was easier to start with two basic flavors before introducing them to the infinite flavors that could be found within ice cream in general. Granted, there were some flavors that every brand does their own take on, but there are other flavors that are unique to each brand.

Of course, watching them try ice cream was even funnier; even Aquitar’s adults got a laugh out of it. They’d actually tried it on their initial trips to Earth; this was the first trip to Earth for Danius and Clematia that wasn’t related to a Power Ranger battle. When they’d been to Earth before, it had been for short visits and they’d not had much of a chance to explore Earth’s foods.

As the groups mingled, Karan and I took a step back, watching everyone just mix and talk.

“You know, looking at Billy interact with Cestria and Corcus, I can understand why he’s never tried finding someone here on Earth.”

“I think the hardest part about being back here was not being able to talk to or see them. Some overzealous official blocked his signal due to a cultural misunderstanding. I don’t know all the details and I don’t want to pry either. It’s primarily between the 3 of them; I’m just glad Andros was willing to help clear everything up.”

“Being a Power Ranger, it’s more than just helping out against villains.” Karan and I both jumped; we’d both let our guard down a bit due to being in the relative safety of Dino Command. That was something Dad would normally lecture us about, but this was one of the safest Command Centers the Power Rangers had.

“What do you mean, Andros?” Karan asked. I had a rough idea of what he was talking about, but let him explain.

“It is our duty to help out in serious time of need, yes, but that time of need isn’t always fighting against those that would destroy everything we hold dear. Sometimes, it’s acting as diplomat or to help clear up misunderstandings between planets who are allies. Other times, it’s going undercover to find out information. There’s a whole host of things that Power Rangers are able to do to help fight evil.”

I smiled at that. “Even still, I am grateful for your help Andros.”

“As am I; nobody should be cut off from those they love.” Karan shrugged. “It gives me hope for the future. My parents would freak, but nobody I care about. My older brother doesn’t even talk to them; he deliberately went to a university where they take student privacy seriously. He doesn’t know I’m out of their care yet; I don’t know where he’s going to college and I’m not about to look either.”

I gave her a sideways look. “Any time you want to look for him, just say as much. We found my Uncle Howard without much fuss; I’m sure we can find your brother.”

She just shook her head. “Not right now; I’m not about to stress him out at all. I’ll wait until I hear he’s come back to Reefside and let him know.”

Eventually, the Aquitian group elected to teleport to the Angel Grove Command Center; Uncle Billy might have the day off, but he had to get back to Los Angeles. Tori went with them; she was going to take some time at the Command Center in Angel Grove to help set it up for the Aquitian team so that they didn’t have to depend on the local water system. We hadn’t gotten around to actually fixing the cake machine; Ethan and Patton wanted to see if they could get it fixed before Uncle Billy could make his way back up to Reefside. We’d moved to an out of the way room so that, if it failed again, we wouldn’t damage anything in the main areas.

We’d all felt bad for Uncle Billy when he was telling us about the invention; he was blushing. Ethan and Patton had taken a look at the original schematics for it; like Uncle Billy, they understood that the machine should work in theory. It was part of why we were taking it apart; we wanted to see if something got flipped or some other easy mistake.

Dad, after the Aquitian team and Uncle Billy left, sighed. I took a look at where he was talking with Andros; it didn’t look good. I knew he’d taken a day to talk to SPD to get them off our backs, but that apparently wasn’t enough. Dad saw me looking and motioned me over. My team wasn’t far behind; this affected all of us in the long run.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, more curious than worried.

“SPD is still insisting on meeting you.”

“What’s the issue?”

“They want to do it in public. No Command Centers at all. No Megaship either.”

“Okay. We fill Hayley’s with Rangers. That’s if we want to keep it local. I know each city has a location besides their Command Center where Rangers hang out and/or work at when not fighting evil. CyberSpace is Reefside’s.” I had to admit, Johnny’s idea had merit. So did everyone else.

Andros just looked at us. “To do this, your team needs a name.”

“Just don’t ask Carter; he’s still calling us the Rookie Rangers,” Francine muttered.

“I could have sworn I asked him to cut it out. Made it clear I’d prank him if he didn’t stop,” I groused. “Thinking of turning him blue temporarily.”

“Smurfing him or Color Change?” Johnny asked.

“First, if I can find a way to get the food dye in something of his. I’d stick it in a swimming pool, but that would get whoever else swam.”

“Leave that to us; we’re getting tired of it too.”

“Normally, I’d stop you guys, but it’s gone past annoying.” Dad was more amused by the prank talk.

“Do you guys have any ideas on names?” Andros attempted to get the conversation back on track.

I shook my head. “We tossed around a few ideas before Ivan was defeated, but none we liked. I know there’s a list around here somewhere; I think almost every Ranger team so far’s suggested names.”

Dad pulled the list up on the computer; I groaned at some of them. Some were from the afternoon we’d spent at Hayley’s tossing ideas around; someone must have written them down. So did the rest of my team.

“Whoever came up with some of these names really needs to learn how to use a dictionary. Wild Mythic Storm? Seriously?”

“I think some of them used the random name generators that are on the internet. I saw a Power Rangers one a couple of weeks ago.” We all ended up laughing after that; Power Ranger stuff wasn’t limited to comics and jewelry. Conner and Ethan had introduced me to the Japanese Sentai series one day at Hayley’s last year. I also knew of the various message boards talking about the Power Rangers; that had been why I’d used ‘Sabti’ as a username even though I no longer went on the message boards.

After we got done laughing, we paired the list down to names we actually liked. The names we knew were just straight-up nonsense were tossed out as well as names we felt were too similar to other team names, which did rule out many of the names with Mythic or Mythos in them, as much as we liked some of them. Thankfully, the team name wasn’t used in the morphing sequence; even if we’d not picked it ourselves, if we had a team name that involved Mythic, it would be way to easy to say Mystic instead. None of us wanted to find out what would happen with that goof up.

We finally told Andros to pick one out of the names left; none of us minded. That, and most of them had to be heading home. We were planning on attending the Independence Day celebrations downtown tomorrow; I knew I’d be seeing them at some point during the day. Last year's had been fun; I always enjoyed fireworks. Angel Grove always did some spectacular ones; whoever designed Reefside’s wasn’t a slouch either.

Of course, that had been a fun conversation between Andros, Dad, and my team. He’d immediately protested.

“Andros, I’m pretty sure your team didn’t submit any suggestions. While Delphine and her team could also pick, their team has been a continuous line of Rangers that’s not changed Power sources. We’ve…not gotten to that point yet,” I pointed out. Andros looked at Dad to help him out.

“She’s got a point, Andros.”

“There’s also no way we’re letting Carter pick out the name. While most of the rest of the teams would pick a decent one, you’re here, they’re not,” Steve added. The rest of the team was with Steve on this; Carter had come up with ‘Rookie Rangers’ after all. Andros just sighed before agreeing. He eventually teleported to the Megaship, wanting to think about it as well as wait for communication from SPD. We all hoped that he’d be able to pick one before SPD came again. We didn’t even know who SPD was sending; I hoped it would be Anubis. Dad said he was courteous; the other officer with them wasn’t near as nice. I’d spent a good portion of yesterday watching the video from his interaction with them. The arrogance of the female officer was astounding.

I honestly wondered if it was because we were Earth Rangers. Earth hadn’t been on the intergalactic playing field that long, only almost 3 decades by this point. Many of the other planets have had their Rangers longer than we had. I snorted as I thought about it; they’d be in for a surprise if they did anything stupid.

It wasn’t just the fact that Reefside had two teams of Rangers that called it home that I expected that they’d be in for something stupid. We also had at our disposal aid from every other Ranger team that also called Earth home. Andros had pledged his team, as had the older Aquitian Rangers; Danius and Clematia had also agreed to help. From what Andros was able to tell us, Anubis understood that SPD had to work with local Rangers. Due to Zordon’s influence and work, we had allies from a number of planets, some of which also had people in SPD. Given that Earth’s senior Rangers had served under Zordon’s mentorship, that gave Earth a lot of clout according to Andros.

I was starting to really dislike politics; I knew that this summer was going to be one of learning for me, but didn’t expect that I’d have to deal with the politics dealing with intergalactic Power Rangers just yet. I thought I’d have a couple of years at minimum to learn what I needed to; I was just glad my team had agreed to step up and help out. Francine and Karan both had a good grasp of politics; Karan’s grasp had been due to her father being a government official. Francine had learned just to be able to understand Karan’s dad.

I also knew that there would be fallout from Ivan’s release; I appreciated the fact that Dad and the others were doing their best to keep us out of it. As Earth’s newest Ranger team, we’d not had to deal much with Ivan and his goons together. At most, I expected to have to deal with SPD because I’d been a part of the Ivan fight from the start; I really didn’t want to drag my team into it too. They’d be there, I knew, but I hoped that we’d not come off on the losing side.

I got up early the next day due to the fact that I wanted to go see the parade in town; while the soccer team was supposed to be on a float, it hadn't been fixed from the Memorial Day fiasco. I’d enjoyed last year’s parade and evening fireworks and couldn’t wait to meet up with my friends during the day. I knew Hayley was likely to be busy; summer was always a busy time for businesses like hers and holidays were worse as everyone and their brother wanted to hang out in the city. I was also starting my first shift there today; Dad had finally been able to get me a work permit through the school so I could start work 2 years early. Some of that had also been setting up a checking account for my paychecks to go into.

Working for Hayley would have the added bonus of already being in town if we got attacked again. I’d heard from Nick and his team how annoyed their boss Toby got when his employees would dash out when they had to deal with an attack before he found out that they were Mystic Force. After he found out, he was a lot more lenient about it; from what I understood, he started dating one of their foes turned good. Given that said foe was a vampire, or had been, all I asked was if he was okay.

“Yea…she’s not feeding on him if that’s what you’re worried about. She can eat human food like the rest of us, no worries there, Abigail.” He promised to introduce me to the two if I ever made my way out to Briarwood. I’d hoped to be able to do so this summer, but the art show and everything else had put those plans by the wayside.

That didn’t mean my team and I wouldn’t be visiting; Briarwood wasn’t that far from Reefside, just a 20-minute drive along the coast. Kira had visited a couple of times to promote her album; she said that Vida had practically fainted the first time she’d gone over. Finding out that Kira was also a Power Ranger had made things better, though for who, I wasn’t sure. I knew that Toby also carried some of Tanya’s albums; I wanted to be a fly on the wall when that factoid was revealed. I wasn’t about to reveal it myself; it was Tanya’s choice, ultimately, to reveal it and she wouldn’t unless she had to or if she was in the company of other Power Rangers.

By the time my first break came at work, I was grateful for it. Even with as many employees possible working along with Hayley, we’d all been run ragged. I’d also seen several new faces in the crowd. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue as I didn’t know every teen and preteen in Reefside, but something seemed off to me. It wasn’t the fashion, either; fashion was varied enough in California alone that it wouldn’t tip anyone off. No, what had me suspicious was the fact that they were talking about stuff in public that my teammates and I usually talked about in private, when we knew no civilians that weren’t in the know were around.

If it weren’t for the fact that my team and I had to keep our identities quiet, I’d have quietly pulled one to the side and said something. By their actions, I suspected that they were SPD officers that could pass for Earth-human; I knew from meeting Aquitar’s team that not all humanoid races could blend in easily on Earth, even with mutants becoming publicly known. Give it 20 years or so and people like Cestria would blend in easier, but not right now.

I also wanted Andros and his team there; they were known to both SPD and Earth. I couldn’t let Dad know though; not without being heard by someone. It would have been one thing if all my coworkers were fellow Rangers right now, but not everyone that worked for Hayley was on my team. Francine was busy helping Conner out with his soccer camp; Steve had just gotten back from science camp. Patton was here, though, as was Karan. Johnny was out with Steve, just hanging out with each other. The way they were acting, you’d think that they were twins or something, but their birthdays were 6 weeks apart and it was obvious that they had different parents as well.

When I got back on the floor after my break, I was relieved to see 6 familiar faces; either Andros and his team had already planned on being there or someone got a hold of them. Nicholai and the others were in the room as well; we’d all been briefed on the fact that we had to pretend to not know each other. While some of the code phrases we used were great for the on-planet teams, Nicholai and the others didn’t have all of the necessary experience on Earth to understand the references. This was doubly so for Aliana and Damion; they primarily lived on KO-35.

Thankfully, none of the newcomers had done anything by the time Hayley closed. That didn’t mean that Karan, Patton, Francine, and I didn’t walk out together with Kira, Ethan, Trent, and Hayley. Johnny, Steve, Dad, Katherine, and Andy met us as we walked together as a group towards a good spot to watch the fireworks from. We’d chosen a spot that we’d be able to slip away and morph if we needed to without compromising our chance to watch the fireworks. The parents and families of my teammates and friends were going to be watching the fireworks as well, but understood that their children wanted to hang out with their friends. That wasn’t unusual during fireworks shows, even in Angel Grove.

It was a lot of fun just being able to hang out with my friends and have not much to worry about. Unlike last summer’s fireworks, we didn’t have the threat of an attack over our heads. We had no Ivan to worry about; Scorpina and Rito were under lock and key, so there was no worries about attacks from them either. All we had to deal with was SPD and we were content to let Dad and Andros deal for the time being.

I spent part of the evening bouncing between groups as I ran into various classmates and friends from high school. Granted, some of it was as I wove my way first to get something to eat and then making my way back to where we’d found a spot to watch the fireworks from. As I got closer, I noticed that I was being followed by one of the people I’d spotted at Hayley’s earlier. As I passed Andros, I indicated my follower and was pleased to notice he stepped in.

Dad noticed how wary I was once I got back with the pizzas. Dad and Katherine had brought stuff to drink, so that was one thing I didn’t have to worry about trying to carry. It would have taken several of us just to bring everything if I’d had to fetch stuff to drink as well.

“What happened?” I quickly filled him in, including the fact that we’d had what was assuredly SPD officers at CyberSpace.

“That explains why you met up with us as a group. I don’t blame you for wanting to be cautious. I’ll have to give a call to our friend later, see what’s going on.”

“If they don’t force the issue before then. Hopefully they won’t.”

Before we could get further into the conversation, Andros walked up with Ashley and their kids.

“You don’t have to worry about getting in touch with Anubis,” he said quietly. “He already knows about his group being in Reefside right now. The officer who tried following Abigail wasn’t supposed to do that; he’s recalled them to their ship. Something about if they’re stupid enough to get spotted, they shouldn’t be on a planet under secrecy rules for their planet’s Power Ranger teams.” We all laughed.

“Yea…we’d be in serious trouble with Dr. O if we did something that stupid,” Johnny observed.

“I can get Sensei Watanabe to go over that in the next intra-team training session,” Dad offered.

“Would you? Please,” we asked as a group, getting a laugh out of Dad and Katherine. Dad gave us a grin; I knew from previous training sessions with the Ninjas that it would not be an easy training session. It would be a fun one, though. I knew Conner’s brother had studied there, even though I’d never met Eric. I couldn’t wait.

In the meantime, I took Andy after finishing my pizza; he never slept well in his stroller. Taking the offered blanket, I laid him on the one I was sitting on and covered him up. We normally didn’t cover him with blankets if he was sleeping in his crib, but outside like this, especially with the sun going down? We didn’t want him getting cold. I knew he would be awake by the time the fireworks started; he usually took a short nap in the evening.

Dad had also invested in a set of baby headphones for Andy; even if Andy didn’t wake up before the fireworks started, we really didn’t want a repeat of what had happened during Fantasmic at all. I still had nights where nightmares didn’t allow me a restful night’s sleep, which was another reason I was glad Dad had invested in them for Andy. My nightmares shouldn’t prevent him from getting sleep, especially since our bedrooms were right next to each other. I knew if Dad had set the bedrooms up differently before I’d arrived in Reefside, I’d be diagonal from Andy’s room instead of right next to it.

By the time the fireworks were over, we’d not had to worry about any other incidents. I’d been worried that they would try to start something; it wouldn’t be the first time a supposed ‘friend’ had turned out to be an enemy. At the same time, supposed enemies had later turned out to be friends as well; we also couldn’t afford to turn away allies simply because they weren’t acting as we hoped they would. Andros was a good example that just because someone didn’t know Earth culture that well at first didn’t mean that they weren’t averse to working with us.

I would have to wait for Dad to let me know what I needed to know; I had a driving lesson in the morning, which would be my first day actually inside the car, driving. Granted, it would be in the school parking lot and not on the road, but I couldn’t wait to put what I’d learned in the classroom into practical usage. I also had another shift at CyberSpace after lunch; I hoped it wouldn’t be near as busy as my first shift today. Who was I kidding? It’s summer; I knew Ba was busy as well with school out for the summer.

By the time I got done with my driving lesson, I was grateful for the time Rocky had spent with me to help me get over my fears. I had no doubt that I’d’ve panicked once I got behind the wheel if he’d not taken that time. I also knew that the bit of time I’d spent with Dad on Autopia at Disneyland had helped; Dad had actually encouraged me to get behind the wheel of the vehicle. Given that the car during today’s lesson went about the same speed as the Autopia vehicles, it wasn’t that hard to pretend that they were similar.

I headed over to a small café after the lesson was over; Dad was fine with me eating out today given I had a shift at Hayley’s this afternoon. It wasn’t worth the gas to pick me up for lunch at home and have to almost turn around and drop me back off at the cybercafé. We lived just far enough out of the city that we’d have to leave almost as soon as we got home. This had been the same café I’d ate at with Dad when Uncle Billy came up with the information on Ivan; thankfully, today’s lunch was a lot quieter.

I understood that the quietness likely wouldn’t last for long while my team’s Powers were still active; if we got lucky, we’d end up like Andros’ team or the Aquitian Rangers in that we’d have a rotating set of members with the same Power Source. As Mesogog had proven, our enemies didn’t always come from outer space as Ivan had; even Lothor had come from Earth despite primarily fighting from a spaceship.

I was just getting ready to take my break at work when Hayley tapped me on my shoulder.

“You’ve got a visitor, Abigail. Tommy’s with him; they’re in my office.”

“Thanks, Hayley. Hopefully this won’t take too long. I know we’re busy.”

“Tommy promised to keep this short; he knows you’re working.” With that, she handed me several drinks, one of which I recognized as Dad’s favorite. I headed into her office not long after, handing Dad his drink as I got in. The water was mine; Dad indicated that I should hand the other to the guest. Thankfully, I’d learned to hide my shock well; I’d’ve dropped the drinks seeing Anubis, as the closest we got to people with the heads of animals were either those being paid to dress up as such or those who called themselves ‘furries’. We didn’t get many furries in Reefside; most of them had moved to Briarwood after Mystic Force showed up. I didn’t blame them; it was a lot easier to be comfortable in such an outfit when you lived in a town that counted troblins and other such beings as part of the population.

“I have to thank you,” Anubis said after Dad had introduced us. “Dr. Oliver explained your role in defeating Ivan and at what cost. If there’s anything SPD can do, let me know.”

“Thank you, Anubis. I appreciate it. As for my role, it was minor compared to what others have done in the past. I just did what was needed to be done. I would do it again in a heartbeat; to do what we do requires nothing less.”

Before Dad or Anubis could answer, screaming could be heard from the main room. I pulled up the camera feed to the main room and found some of SPD’s non-human members in there. Dad, Anubis, and I all looked at each other before I pulled up some of the other feeds, looking for my team and Dino Thunder. I tapped my communicator.

“Guys, if you can find safe places to morph without being noticed, do so. I’m not entirely sure what they want; neither does their boss.” I didn’t get answers, but I wasn’t expecting any either. Thankfully, Hayley’s office wasn’t far from the storeroom and we slipped in there before Dad and I both morphed. It wouldn’t do us any good to walk out there behind Anubis unmorphed, not if we wanted our identities kept secret.

Thankfully, nobody saw us enter from the storeroom as their eyes were riveted on the guests.

“I swear, we could get Phineas to tap dance in here and nobody would notice,” I muttered to Dad, getting a snort in response. I’d gotten to meet the troblin when Udonna had come through last; he was a pretty nice guy.

“They’d notice; he would have made sure of that.” I grinned; he was right about that. Phineas was a natural at drawing attention; he usually didn’t even have to try that hard from what Nick said.

“If you guys wanted to meet, all you had to do was send a message,” Conner said, drawing attention to himself. Like the rest of Reefside’s two teams, he was morphed. “Scaring Hayley’s customers doesn’t work that well as a message.”

“It’s not you we wanted to meet, Red Ranger.”

“Then who is?” Karan asked. “Oh…and good luck trying to call us by Ranger color. Between the two teams here in Reefside, there’s two Red Rangers and two Blue. Asking for the Red or Blue Rangers will get you two different responses. Even worse if you get the full compartment of Earth’s Rangers. I think there’s only a few that answer to only one color.” Even morphed, I could tell several of us wanted to laugh.

“Your Oraculi. Where is she?”

“Not telling you,” Ethan said.

“Could be any one of us,” Steve added.

“Besides, how do you know the Oraculi is female?” Patton stepped forward.

Trent added, “Could be a guy.”

“Enough!” Anubis barked before we could confuse his officers further. “I thought I told you to stay on the ship.”

“There was a message that came from Headquarters after you left the ship, charging us with finding out the identity of the Oraculi. They didn’t want you to be contacted.”

“Irregardless, that means you’ve disobeyed orders again. I told you just yesterday that if you disobeyed my orders again, my report would go straight to the head of SPD. Good luck staying in the organization after this, Sargent.” The sargent paled at that; it was obvious that, alien or not, organizations like SPD contained similar command structures to their Earth counterparts.

“But, sir…the orders came from…” the aforementioned sargent sputtered.

“I know who they came from. My orders to you came directly from the chief; they supersede anything Axium orders and he knows this.”

“That was before the fact that Earth has-or is said to have-an Oraculi,” came a new voice and the SPD officers parted to let someone new come through. I took a look at him; he looked like someone had mixed Lucius Malfoy with Spock and dyed his skin neon green.

“Axium.”

“Anubis. Have you found the Oraculi yet?”

“No; if we are to maintain a working relationship with Earth’s Power Rangers, we cannot ask for that information.”

“That’s a shame.” Axium looked around. “Which one of you is it?”

“Do you really think we’d tell you?” Francine asked.

“You didn’t even ask nicely. Didn’t your parents ever teach you that demanding stuff was rude?” Johnny snarked.

“I don’t think so,” Kira responded.

“I’m with you on that, Dino Yellow,” I answered Kira. “Axium, is it? You could probably take a few lessons from Anubis. He, at least, knows how to treat Ranger team leaders correctly, even when they’re on a planet where secrecy for most of the Ranger teams is the general rule.”

Axium just colored in rage at my response before stomping out, the flash of teleportation letting us know he’d left the area. Anubis and his officers soon left after that, confirming soon after that Axium was also aboard the ship. We soon scattered to demorph; thankfully, after SPD left, most of the crowd in CyberSpace had gone back to ignoring people coming in and out.

Chapter Text

Location: Briarwood, July 9^th. POV: Abigail/1^st person

Kira giggled as she watched me take in Rock Porium, Briarwood’s music shop. While not as big as the one at Reefside Mall, it had a lot more eclectic and varied types of music. While Toby primarily had rock music, he also had some rather odd ones. Phineas tried getting me to buy a CD by a European instrumental group; I had to say no. I wasn’t really interested in the CD in question. Why I was here, though, was because Dad and Katherine’s friend Tanya was going to be here for a few hours. Tanya was on the last bits of her tour; this was the first time I’d have a chance to interact with her. She was one of a handful of the Angel Grove Rangers that I’d not had much of a chance to interact with. We’d not interacted much at the baby shower, as she had to fly out that night to get back on the road. Ivan’s visit hadn’t helped either; I had no doubt that I would have actually talked with her if Ivan hadn’t paid a visit.

Why Kira was giggling was the fact that Phineas had pulled out the aforementioned CD when I mentioned looking for a birthday gift for Ethan. I knew Ethan wouldn’t appreciate the CD; when I told that to Phineas, he tried getting me to buy it for myself. Thankfully, Nick got him to let up before Tanya got there; I had no doubt we’d still be going in circles over the CD.

“Too bad Dr. O couldn’t make it.”

“I know, but he and Katherine were taking Andy to a doctor’s appointment. I know it’s a bit early for the 3-month appointment, but the pediatrician wanted to be careful given that he was two weeks early. They were disappointed when Nick told them, but I’m hoping she’ll come to Reefside before the day’s over. They shouldn’t have to miss out on seeing a friend simply because of the appointment. Besides, it’s going to be great meeting one of the Angel Grove crowd that we’ve not interacted much with yet.”

Kira blinked. “I keep forgetting she’s one of us. I really didn’t interact with her much at the baby shower; you didn’t either. She didn’t have long to stay, given she was still on tour. I know Dr. Oliver and Kat were glad she was able to make it.” Given that Mystic Force was open about who they were, we felt somewhat safe talking about being Power Rangers while in Briarwood.

“Who’s one of who?” Came a voice from behind us, which turned out to be Chip.

“Long story, Chip. Suffice to say, Tanya’s an old friend of Dad and Katherine’s, along with my birthfather. Not entirely sure if she met my birth mom or not.”

“Ah, I see. Now Kira’s comment makes sense.”

“Word of advice, Chip, and pass it on to the rest of Mystic Force, there’s a good chance she won’t openly admit to that part of her past, at least when the crowd is mostly the public. You belong to one of a few teams whose identities are publicly known.” Now I could see Chip really put everything together; he excused himself shortly after to pass the message on. Tanya might want to kill me later, especially if someone got stupid, but it was a good warning at any rate.

Soon, Kira and I had to abandon all hope of conversation as the crowd level grew bigger. Most of the crowd was of the human variety, but there were some in Briarwood Forest who’d become fans of her work as well. Hopefully, she still remembered enough from her Ranger days to not react negatively when she met the crowd.

While Tanya sang and did autographs, I picked up a few of her albums I remembered Ethan mentioning liking. Kira had checked for me and Ethan didn’t have them; I hoped that they would be a good birthday gift. He’d not mentioned anything when we’d asked him what he wanted for his birthday outside of a few things easily gotten; I also noticed he was moping over something. I hoped that this would cheer him up.

As the crowd level died down, I approached Tanya’s table. Kira wasn’t far behind; while most of what Tanya was going to be autographing was promotional posters for her newest CD, I was hoping she’d autograph one of the CDs for Ethan. That, and hopefully come down to Reefside on her way back to Angel Grove. This, according to her website, was the last stop on her tour; it also said she still lived in Angel Grove.

Looking up briefly before reaching the table, I could see Mystic Force had gathered close to listen to the conversation; Vi wasn’t even bothering hiding her grin. I just gave her a smile in response; Nick just shook his head. He knew they’d been caught out.

Kira and I ended up being the last two people in line; we’d planned that on purpose. After a quick conversation, Tanya asked me who I wanted the poster autographed to.

“Abigail Burton-Oliver.” Tanya’s head snapped up.

“Oliver? I knew Tommy got married last fall, but…”

“My mom’s Trini Kwan; he adopted me last January. It’s a long story.” I saw Tanya’s eyes grow big as she recognized Mom’s name. She may have not known Mom as a Ranger, but, like so many who’d served alongside Dad, she’d learned who had come before as Power Rangers so that she could at least know who they were if the former Rangers got brought up in conversation.

“Are you sure this is a safe place to have this conversation?” She asked. I looked at Nick, eyebrow raised as I shifted my right wrist some so that my communicator was visible and he nodded.

“Mystic Force works here-they’re Briarwood’s team. We’re safe.” Tanya just gave me a look before flicking her eyes over to Kira. Kira’s response was to pull up a sleeve and show her own communicator. Communicators often served as a good way to indicate Power Ranger team status when you were out in public like we were.

Tanya flicked her eyes between us. “Reefside, both of you?”

“Yep,” Kira and I answered in unison.

“I am going to have to have a long conversation with Tommy; Adam too. Adam said that Reefside had a couple of teams, but wouldn’t say who they were when we talked last. I didn’t get to see much back in April. I’d also assumed you’d come to Kat’s baby shower with Kimberly and Amy. Being on tour this past year and a half has really left me out of the loop on a lot of stuff.”

“Come down to Reefside when you get done here. I know Dr. O and Katherine will be glad to see you at any rate,” Kira responded as Tanya autographed the posters and the CD. “They felt bad that they couldn’t make it up, but they found out that you were in the area after…oof.” I’d elbowed Kira so she wouldn’t give too much away. We might be in Briarwood, but I had no clue if SPD was still around. Anubis had called to apologize, as had the chief in charge of the organization, but Axium had shown he didn’t care about good relations between Earth’s Power Ranger teams and the intergalactic teams.

“I just might, Kira. I don’t have that much more to do here in Briarwood.”

“Great!” Kira gave her the address for CyberSpace, including what time it closed before we left. Kira had been the one to pick me up from the house; thankfully, my driving lessons were only twice a week. Because this was the summer, we often got to do driving and classroom lessons in the same day. If I’d taken Driver’s Ed during the school year like many of my friends had, the driving half of the lessons would be on the weekends, or I would have had to wait until I'd had my permit 6 months.

I actually wouldn’t get the actual license until after both halves of Driver’s Education were completed. California was a handful of states that had split the process into two sections and to even take the second half, I had to get 20 of my driving hours, including 2 of the nighttime hours, done. To get my license, I had to get 50 hours driving time, 10 of which had to be at night. I couldn’t wait for this half of the lessons would be done; if I had my license, Kira would have let me drive her car to Briarwood and back. I had another few weeks or so of lessons before I took my first test to be able to get my permit. I had 6 months after that before I could get my license

Once we got back to Kira’s car, I put the CDs in the secret pocket. The poster, I’d give to Ethan today so that he’d not be suspicious if Tanya said anything. I’d made some wrapping paper during a workshop at the art store that I knew Ethan liked. He’d said as much when I’d showed it off earlier in the summer. Dad had chuckled when I’d bought what paper and other assorted materials I needed to make some more at home. I knew he’d talked about adding on to the house so that I had a bigger art area, but I also knew that kind of thing took time, especially since we had the Command Center in the basement. To even add on a guest house would require careful planning and I’d overheard that type of comment from Dad as well, seeing as we no longer had a guest room. Ranger guests, if they wanted, could sleep in Dino Command, but either set of my adopted grandparents as well as Mom’s parents had to sleep in the den.

As annoying as it would be to have my art studio in a different building, I honestly didn’t mind one way or the other. That was just if we had non-Ranger or non-in-the-know guests over; I had a suspicion Dad would have it designed so that I could go to and from via the Command Center. It would only be for a few years until I went off to college and I didn’t know where I wanted to go just yet. I also had some time to think about it and decide; to hear Coach Daveed talk, Francine and I both knew that there would be some colleges and universities offering me some sports scholarships. While Francine might go for one of those, I didn’t want to go that route. As I’d told him last summer, soccer wasn’t something I wanted to make a career out of. Conner did; he was actually playing for his college team and running the soccer camp in the summer. I’d probably take a full-ride scholarship if were offered for academics, but I wouldn’t say no to an art scholarship either.

I also didn’t know where I wanted to live after college either. I did want to stay in southern California, though, given that’s where most of my family was. David, I knew, was planning on staying in Angel Grove after he graduated with his business degree; he was getting a minor in the culinary arts. The only reason he was going that two-pronged route was so he could eventually take over the Youth Center from Ba; getting his degrees was primarily a formality in this case, but he also wanted to get a post-secondary education. He’d thought about becoming a therapist like Rocky, but had gotten enough details from him that he knew that’s not what he wanted to make a career out of.

The crowd level at CyberSpace when we got back was at summertime normal for it, as I’d come to find out. Hayley, like Ba, experienced slower mornings during the school year where most of her clients were either homeschool students taking lessons online or those going to a nearby university who needed the quieter mornings. Both expected and budgeted for that dip in crowd levels; I’d heard from Dad and Katherine that Lt. Stone had to learn that lesson the hard way. The former detective had also had been overheard early on wondering just how Ba had managed to balance the books. Of course, he was also having to take care of Bulk and Skull, who’d been turned into some form of monkey for several months by one of Divatox’s goons.

“He’s really going to like those CDs, Abigail,” Kira told me as we headed back to Reefside.

“I hope so, Kira. He’s been down in the dumps about something and I don’t know what.”

“Found out his ex-girlfriend is back in town from her East Coast school. We didn’t even know she was back in town until I ran into her one day at the mall.”

“That…sucks. Why’d they break up?”

“She didn’t want to do the whole long-distance relationship thing, especially since Ethan was going to school nearby. She also couldn’t understand why he turned down a full-ride scholarship to MIT for the partial scholarship to where we’re going now. He couldn’t explain to her why either; he’d made his decision before Mesogog had been defeated.”

“Poor Ethan. If I knew it would cheer him up, I’d ask him out. Even without the whole cheering up aspect, I still want to. He’s a great guy; his ex-girlfriend really gave up a great relationship. He would have done his best to keep in contact and go and see her if she’d stayed with him.”

“You should. You two compliment each other really well. Don’t ask him out right away though. Grease the wheels a bit, flirt with him.”

“I don’t even know how to flirt, Kira. What do you expect me to do, kiss him and walk away?”

“That would be a good start.” We spent the rest of the drive back to Reefside discussing ways to get Ethan to realize I was interested in him. The CDs and poster would be a start; Kira and I both knew we’d also have to get him out of the funk he was in. He’d not even wanted to go with us today despite both of us asking. Even Hayley and Conner were at a loss; Ethan usually didn’t get this upset. The breakup must have affected him more than he was willing to admit at the time.

I called Dad as Kira searched for a parking spot once we got to CyberSpace.

“Have fun, Abigail?”

“Yea. Kira and I extended an invite for Tanya to come to CyberSpace. She said she might come down after she gets done in Briarwood. She said something about having a long talk with you when she sees you next.”

Dad groaned. “And I know exactly what she wants to talk about, too. If I can hold her off until tonight, it’s going to be easier. CyberSpace is going to be too crowded with teens to have the conversation properly unless we borrow Hayley’s office.”

“Or the storeroom, but it’s going to have to be a quick one. I’ve had conversations with Conner and the rest of the crew there before.”

“Yea…that conversation’s better off at the house, Abigail. Especially if she wants to talk about our teams.”

I grinned as I walked into CyberSpace behind Kira. “I know. Just wanted to give you a head’s up and let you know I got back safely.”

“I appreciate that. Not sure when we’re going to be at Hayley’s. Call when Tanya gets there if Kat, Andy, and I aren’t there by then.”

“Will do, Dad. Bye.” I hung up as I wove my way through the crowd, finding Ethan and Devin in a video game battle. Ethan was looking happier, but how much of that was the fact that he was playing one of his favorite video games and how much of that was something else, I don’t know. Hayley had said she’d do her best to talk to him when I’d talked with her last. Out of all of us except Dad, she’d known Ethan the longest, Ethan having been the one to introduce Conner and Kira to CyberSpace.

“Glad to see Ethan’s better,” I said as I joined Conner at an out of the way table. Kira had found Trent and he was helping her setup to perform. She usually didn’t on Mondays due to being at school this past year, but given that this was summertime, neither she nor her band minded playing during the week. I suspected that she was also taking the time to show off for Tanya as well, if Tanya was going to be able to make it.

“Yea…Devin walked in, took one look, and dragged Ethan off to play a video game. Not sure if someone told him or what.”

“Who knows? He just might be feeling like I did back in the spring where he doesn’t want to talk about it, but needs a distraction. Should have thought of that this morning, when Kira and I went to Briarwood.”

“Sounds like it was a fun trip, from what Kira said. Something about Tanya being a friend of Dr. O’s?”

“Yea…they graduated from Angel Grove High School together and were on a team or two together.”

“I remember. What’s she like, Tanya?”

“Nice, from what I can remember. I’ve not interacted with her much, not like most of my parents’ known friends growing up. She’s like Kira; a singer and a successful one at that. I know Kira wants to get some pointers from her.”

“I can imagine; what are the odds that two singers having something else in common?”

“Among our group of friends? Chances are fairly high. I know some of Dad’s friends went into business together running a dojo. Aunt Kimberly runs a gymnastics studio with another friend. The aforementioned friend also works as a vet for the animal hospital part time; not entirely sure how she got into gymnastics. Uncle Billy does something in the movie industry regarding tech, not sure what exactly; he and Ethan have that in common as well as a favorite color. Rocky’s the only one who’s a therapist that I know of among my parents’ group of friends. There’s also friends I’ve not met yet either; Justin’s like Uncle Billy and Ethan in the intelligence and color thing, but I don’t remember if I’ve met him or not. He was here in April, but we didn’t get a chance to be introduced.”

“Kat used to be a dancer, that much I remember. I know Dr. Oliver wants to do some type of get-together with the whole crowd, but there’s not many places we can do it.”

“Nope. If we stick to Reefside, we’d almost have to have it at his place or at Trent’s due to the size of the crowd. Only two private places big enough. Don’t get me wrong, I love CyberSpace, but there’s just enough people that this isn’t big enough for the entire crowd. Hayley would have to remove the furniture and I’m still not sure that would be enough. Angel Grove’s got a couple places as well. Youth Center and a club Dad’s a silent partner in. That’s just with sticking to publicly known places, Conner. Not sure about the other cities with groups like ours; I’ve heard you talk about your brother enough.”

“Only thing is with Angel Grove is getting your friends down there and them behaving with your birthfather. Karan, yea, I don’t see being an issue, but the rest?”

“I know. I was surprised when the boys came down for the soccer game with you, Kira, Conner, and Trent. They said that their parents didn’t mind. Hopefully, same would apply for such a get-together.” I took a swig of my coffee. “As far as behaving, they’ve done so the last time they’ve been there with me. So did Francine when she was there with me for the tournament last month. Granted, they’ve never been when it’s just known friends of my birthparents and adopted parents, so I don’t know how much that would change things either. Speaking of Francine, I thought she would have been here.”

“She got a call from her parents just as the camp was wrapping up for the day. They’re headed to San Francisco for the week; her grandfather’s in the hospital.”

“Oh no. I know how much she cares for them. We’ll have to send some flowers or something from us. I got to meet her grandparents a few times when they came down for some of the soccer games; they’re nice people, even if they try and get her and Athena to get along better.”

“Dr. Oliver said the same thing when I called and told him, as did Karan. He’s probably going to be the one paying; I know the rest of your friends have put together a collection for the flowers to pay him back. Trent, Ethan, and I put some money in that too; probably more than what the flowers are going to cost, but…”

“It’s the gesture that counts, Conner. I know Francine’s going to appreciate the gesture if nothing else. You know she’d do the same for any of us.”

“That’s what friends are for; family too.”

We ended up drinking our coffees in comfortable silence for a while as Kira began performing. Dad came in not long after she started, carrying Andy as Katherine followed them; he handed Andy off to me not long after joining us at the table. He was slightly fussy, but how much of that was due to the noise level and how much of that was having had a checkup today, I wasn’t sure. He was always fussy after a checkup; he’d been especially fussy after his last one as he’d gotten a vaccine. Those hurt, yea, but he’d screamed bloody murder. I’d only remembered due to having a physical at the same time. Dr. Erica explained when I’d asked why he was screaming due to the shot that, due to how young he was, he had no other way to express just how much getting that shot hurt. I’d ended up being the one to comfort him the rest of the day; he didn’t want Dad or Katherine to hold him except when he was being fed.

“Tanya say if she was going to come?” Dad asked as he sat down.

“Only that she was going to try. Briarwood’s not that far, but it’s also got a Ranger team, which she’s now aware of. She may have wanted to introduce herself once Kira and I told her, with Nick’s permission. She would have found out at some point, I wager, given how…public they are, but I don’t know if she would have introduced herself as such.”

“I can see that; just good manners among our crowd to do so if we visit.”

“Don’t want to make it seem as if we’re trying to take over. I’ve noticed that most tend to stick to their city that they served in. Most, Dr. O, not all,” Conner added, knowing that his teammate and my dad had started his Ranger career in Angel Grove. “Abigail’s told me that some are scattered across the country or live on different planets.”

“Yes, some. Most that live off-planet do so due to romantic relationships or because their team is there. 3 of our own lived on KO-35 temporarily, one is living there permanently due to being married to Andros. Even with Terra Venture having had its own team, it’s not always easy here on Earth being one of the publicly known members of the family.”

“Harder keeping it a secret, to be honest. Eric…he found out at some point about our team. It’s a big part of why we don’t talk much anymore. Sensei Watanabe and his team have talked with Eric, but he’s pretty good about holding a grudge.”

“No shit. Getting kidnapped and then finding out your brother gets picked for a different team…it’s been over a year, though.”

“I know. He’ll come around, Conner,” Dad said.

“Hope so, Dr. O, I really hope so.”

I offered to talk to Eric; if he was anything like Conner, it wouldn’t be that hard to get him to recognize that he was being an idiot. Conner turned me down at the offer.

“I know just which direction your conversation would take, especially if you get Ethan involved.”

I just gave him a grin. “Worked with you, didn’t it?”

“I’d rather listen to a lecture on the history of bugs in makeup or some other boring subject.”

“How about the usage of bugs and other things found in nature to create paint, ink, and dyes?” I was kidding, though I’d actually gone to such a lecture at the art museum over the school year. It had been fairly informative and I knew I had the packets in the art room. I’d not gotten a chance to put them to use just yet, but now that summer was here, I just might.

“Forget I said anything.” We were both laughing though, with Andy looking at us both, wondering what was so funny. He was grinning, though, knowing that laughter meant it was worth smiling about, or at least that’s how it appeared. Of course, happiness was his usual state of being, which we were all glad for.

I’d eventually looked around to see where Dad and Katherine had gone to find them sitting at another table with Kira and Tanya, catching up on everything. Why Kira was there, I honestly had no clue, but figured it might be a Color thing, as they were both Yellow Rangers. I sometimes wondered where I would fit in if we ever did the Ranger get-together that Dad had sometimes talked about. Yes, I fell into the team lead category, but I’d also started as a Yellow Ranger before changing Colors and Power Items, as well as forming a team of my own. I knew Dad would know the answer if there wasn’t someone among the group that could answer that. TJ might, or any other Ranger who’d had multiple Colors over the course of their lives.

Conner and I both knew from talking with Dad that not all team leads were Reds, Dad being an excellent case in point, even if he’d eventually become a Red, first with Zeo and then Turbo. I knew Trent had once innocently asked if he’d have to go through that same color change routine that Dad had, given that they’d both started as evil Power Rangers. We’d cracked up that day in Dino Command before Dad finally got us to quit.

“It all depends, Trent. I honestly don’t think it’s likely, but I’d also said as much when I passed my Turbo Powers on to TJ. I honestly didn’t think I’d be drawn back in again until I found the original 3 Dino Gems during a dig. Most Rangers get to leave that part of their lives behind once they either pass on their Powers or are no longer needed with the exception of major battles like we’d had with Ivan. I’ve been part of at least one such battle before that and it was 10 different Red Rangers. Others, not so much, like the Silver Guardians and what remains of Time Force. It’s all going to depend on who’s needed and when. This goes for all of you, too.”

We all knew what he’d not been saying that day; I was likely going to be the one to follow his footsteps in not leaving this life behind. Yes, I probably would have a day job of some sort like he did, but I also knew I’d probably spend a good chunk of my life fighting evil as a Power Ranger or as a mentor to future teams. It was part of why I was learning about the intergalactic Ranger force, including Terra Venture’s own team, which had once included Karone as one of their members.

Conner and I made our way to Dad’s table, with me being careful to not drop Andy. Conner had grabbed my shoulder bag when I stood up, as there was no way I’d be able to put it on without handing Andy off to someone. We all grinned when Tanya did the expected cooing over Andy and he’d grabbed her finger when she held a hand out. By the time Hayley was ready to close up, Tanya had met most of the Rangers here in Reefside with the exception of Francine. Dad had confirmed he was sending a couple of bouquets; there’d been enough money to order a couple of decently sized ones.

I’d also given Ethan his poster from Tanya, which he’d not been expecting. Between playing video games with Devin and the poster, he was almost back to his normal self. I did spend some time commiserating with him that his ex-girlfriend had broken up with him, but I’d also pointed out that she’d given up a great boyfriend.

“Abigail, I appreciate that you’re trying to cheer me up, but I honestly don’t know. What girl in Reefside would want to date me?”

“Me for starters, Ethan. What’s not to like? You’re intelligent, funny, caring, and-dare I say it-very handsome. I also know that, if your ex hadn’t broken up with you, you’d still be dating her. I know very well you would have done everything you could to stay in contact with her. Trent and Kira do, even though they’re going to two different schools and don’t always get to see each other that often.”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better Abigail.”

“No, I’m not, Ethan.” With that, I gave him a kiss. “I mean every word. I doubt your ex will find someone as sweet and caring as you are. You’re a wonderful friend and I would wager an even better boyfriend. Anyone would be lucky to have you as a boyfriend.” With that, I’d given him another kiss. As I went to pick up my shoulder bag, Ethan was standing there with a shocked look on his face.

“I think you broke Ethan, Abigail.”

“Wasn’t trying to, Conner. Was simply pointing out a few facts to him, including the fact that his ex gave up a great boyfriend.”

“At least she didn’t send me a ‘Dear John’ letter.” We all winced at that.

“Aunt Kimberly once sent Dad one, back when they were in high school. I never got the full story behind why, but they’ve worked things through and are friends again.”

“That’s…a good thing?” Ethan looked hopeful at that and I didn’t blame him.

“Given that they’re both part of the family? Yes. Doing what we do is hard enough without inter-team conflict. You guys know that.” I flicked an eye to Trent and they understood what I meant.

Most of my team was heading back to their own homes; only Francine was on her way to San Francisco. After I headed home, I gave her a call.

“Hey, Abigail,” she said as she answered. She sounded as if she’d been crying, which I’d expected.

“How are you doing?”

“I don’t know. The doctors said that it doesn’t look good; he’s pretty sick.”

“If there’s anything I or anyone else down here can do…”

“I appreciate that, Abigail. I’ll let you know no matter what happens.”

“Call even if you just need to vent. I might be several hours away, but I don’t mind listening if you need a friendly ear. I know how much your grandparents mean to you. I don’t expect we’re going to have our kind of emergency down here, but take what time you need with your family. I don’t want to drag you away from what time you have left with your grandpa, even if that means we’re down a person for the time being.”

I could almost hear her grin as she thanked me. I’d meant every word I’d said; I knew from my own life just how important family was. For someone like Francine who came from an Italian family, family was one of the most important things in one’s life. I didn’t want to drag her away from her family at such a time unless I absolutely needed to. It would have been one thing if we were the only team of Rangers on Earth, but I still would have called one of our intergalactic allies before calling her away from her family. Hayley had managed to install software on our Zords so that we could still form the Megazord, even if it was just one of us doing so. From what I’d heard from some of the early teams, they had to have every member there to form the Megazord; not a good thing if one of us was out of commission or not in the area.

Tanya had followed us back to the house; Dad had invited her for dinner and we were all glad she’d accepted. Some of that was to do some more catching up with Dad and Katherine, but the rest was so we could have a Power Ranger Q & A without having to worry about civilians listening in. Dad and Katherine, I’d found out on the drive home, had filled her in on some of how I’d ended up as his adopted daughter, but there weren’t a lot of details that he could go into at Hayley’s without it either tying back to something Ranger related or going past the publicly known story.

We all knew that she’d have a lot of questions, including why my team had no Yellow Ranger. That was a difficult question to answer and all Dad and I could figure was my own connection to Yellow made it difficult for this team to have a Yellow Ranger right now, even with me. I honestly wouldn’t have minding remaining a Yellow Ranger, but from everything I’d read, I would have needed serious help changing my Color from Purple to Yellow and that attempt would have likely killed me if we weren’t also changing Power Items. From what I’d read and heard, no Ranger chose their Color, but were rather Chosen.

That wasn’t always the case, as Dad and several of his teammates had changed Colors when they’d changed Power Items and some of those colors had changed around. Not all of them, but some of them and most were colors that had been on Angel Grove’s first modern team.

It was also rare, from what I’d read, for a female Ranger to change Colors like I had. Up until this point, every Earth-born female Power Ranger who’d changed Power Items-Aunt Kimberly, Aisha, Kat, and Tanya, as well as Ashley and Cassie, had all retained their Color even with changing Power Items. All the Earth-born Rangers who’d changed Colors had been the guys. Dad had been first, Green to White to Red before gaining Black. Rocky had gone from Red to Blue; Adam, Black to Green, T. J. from Red to Blue and Carlos from Green to Black. I wasn’t sure why this was, but resolved to find out.

I also knew it was likely that we’d have to show Tanya our Command Center at some point, but that was going to have to wait until after we ate. It was also going to have to depend on her schedule; I knew Briarwood had been her last stop according to her website, but I didn’t know when she had to be back to Angel Grove. I knew that if Kira and I hadn’t shown up earlier today, she probably would have gone back to Angel Grove. Now, that looked to be something that would happen tomorrow, depending on how long she stayed here.

“You okay?” I looked over to find Tanya joining me as I looked out at the backyard.

“Kinda. Dad and Katherine explain everything?”

“Yes. I feel bad for not being there for you last year.”

“Downsides of being a professional singer; Kira’s told me some stuff from the other side of it given her friend Kylee’s a pop singer. When you’re on tour and making records, it doesn’t always give you a lot of free time to spend with your friends.”

“You forgive way too easy, Abigail.” I grinned.

“Dad says the same thing, Tanya, as does Rocky. A lot of it is likely due to the fact that I’ve got people in my life that, when they hurt me, even seriously hurt as my birthfather did, they do their best to make up for what they did to hurt me. I doubt I’d be in contact with my birthfather if he hadn’t put in the work to get better.”

“I highly doubt Tommy would have let you if he hadn’t. I remember Ernie. I didn’t know him as well as Angel Grove’s original Rangers did, but it was obvious that your mom’s death…he wasn’t dealing.”

“He’s dealing now. Rocky’s helped a great deal; something we’re all appreciative of.”

“That doesn’t surprise me that Rocky’s helping both of you out. I wasn’t surprised when he got his degrees to become a therapist. I know he’d planned to open a dojo, but between his own healing from the back injury taking longer than he’d hoped and the classes he was taking in university, he found he enjoyed it.”

“He does a great job. I doubt that I’d have come as far as I did without his help, as well as Dad and Katherine’s.”

Tanya eventually asked me why I didn’t have more Power Rangers related art in my small studio, when I took her up to see it. I ended up shaking my head as I answered.

 “Aside from that being more Trent’s bailiwick, there’s not much I want traced back to who we are. What sketches I do have are in our command center, locked away so that nobody who doesn’t know where they are can find them. In time, maybe, but…”

“Secrecy is still key.”

“Yep. Despite the agreement to get the government to back off, there’s still been rumblings even from SPD to reveal our identities. Given that the current team is still in high school and with Dad doing what he does…”

“The last thing you guys want is for that sort of trouble. I don’t blame you,” she said. “My family still doesn’t know that I was involved, even with my parents being found the way that they were.”

“I’d heard that they’d gotten lost exploring. Outside of our small group, I doubt many in Angel Grove actually remember the original timelines. Ba…had forgotten for a while, but something happened to restore his own memories on the matter. He’s not real worried about it, otherwise I know that someone in our group would investigate.”

“Tommy never said, nor did Kat.”

“I don’t know if they know. Only reason I know is David-my brother David, not Dad’s brother-said something one day. I don’t know if he told Jason or anyone else. Talk to David if you can, see if he’s told anyone else. I’ve not told Dad due to David asking me not to. David said he’d be the one to tell him, if Aisha wanted him to. That was when we were down for the martial arts tournament last month. Given that the crowd was either Rangers or related to one somehow, I don’t see either Ba or David not telling someone, but nobody’s said anything to me.”

“As long as Tommy learns, that’s fine.”

“I know that David planned to, but…”

“Aisha. I’ll talk with her, see if David’s said anything. I promise to talk to your brother first, so I’m not springing the news on her.”

“Good idea. Aisha would likely be fine with it, but it’s still a good idea.”

“Tommy told me of what happened when she returned Trini’s morpher and communicator to you. He explained why so I knew the whole story of why you’re in his care now. I hadn’t realized it had gotten that bad for you at home.”

I gave Tanya a smile. “You had your own work. Like I said earlier, I know from Kira just how busy a singer’s life gets. I also know that you weren’t as close to Mom as the rest of Zordon’s original picks were and they did their best to look out for me, the best that they could. Even Dad, even though he didn’t join the team until later on, looked out for me once he was aware of what had happened. He’s not said as much, but I know he’s probably been mentally kicking himself for not being there a lot more. He might not have been on their team right away, but he had served with Mom before she went to the Youth Summit. He’s helping now and I know he would have been there when I was younger if he’d been able to.”

Changing the subject, Tanya asked what I planned to do with some of the CDs of hers I’d bought.

“Some, the duplicates that I bought, are going to be a birthday present for Ethan. He’s Dino Thunder Blue and who I was talking to before Hayley had to close up for the night.”

“Kira said he was a bit down in the dumps.”

“Ex-girlfriend’s back in town and didn’t let him know. Full story, you’ll have to get from Ethan, if he’s up to talking about it. I don’t blame him, though. I went through something similar when the news of my location got to Austin and Amy. They were pissed at both David and I; me because I’d let David know where I was, but didn’t tell them and David because he knew and didn’t tell them. This was even with seeing each other at the soccer and football games last summer and fall as well as at Dad and Katherine’s wedding. From what Amy said later, she and her brother both thought something similar to what you thought at the baby shower, that someone other than their parents had brought me up for the wedding. Amy hadn’t connected things at the summer soccer camp game and didn’t get a good look at me at Homecoming.”

Tanya was puzzled still, so I ended up needing to elaborate. “I think it was more the fact that I was in contact with David, who was coming up from his dorm every weekend and still managing to keep in touch with me. Ba at the time didn’t want to know where I was staying, even though he’d figured out Dad was taking care of me. Austin and Amy understand how to keep secrets, but they also understood, after a conversation with Rocky and David both, just how I was feeling at the time. Keeping in touch with David was about all I could deal with at the time. Adding them to the mix would have added another layer of stress, especially with the former Lt. Stone still trying to figure out where I was.”

“He’s in jail now because of what he did. If the case had actually gone to trial, even a closed trial, news of who we are would have been blasted wide open. That’s even with the laws on the matter.”

I curled up on the couch that I’d sat on when we’d entered. Tanya had commandeered one of the chairs across from me as we talked.

“TJ told me about those. Said that they’re partially the result of some treaty or other. Those in charge in Angel Grove had been working on passing them when the treaty was signed. Passing them, from what he said, was more formality than anything else. I’ve not seen the treaty yet, but I know it’s one of the things I have to not just read once, but familiarize myself with at some point.”

“Makes sense, as does why Jerome Stone’s in jail.” She gave me a puzzled look. “Familiarize yourself?”

“I’m my team’s lead Ranger, Tanya. There’s a lot of other reasons why I have to be familiar with that treaty and other things, but for the time being, that’s all I can really say. Some of it has to deal with Ivan and the rest…I know Dad’s planning on explaining everything when we can get a full Power Ranger get-together. I think Ba might volunteer the Youth Center for that if we have it in Angel Grove. There’s also the Surf Shack; heard from TJ that they took Andros there when they became the Astro Rangers. Stone was still running the Youth Center at the time. Stone would have asked too many questions when it came to Andros and they knew she wouldn’t ask too many questions.

“Outside of that, I’m not sure where else we could hold it. Captain Mitchell of Lightspeed Rescue has volunteered Lightspeed’s command Center, as has Wes Collins and the others from what remains of Time Force and the Silver Guardians. There’s also Zordon’s Command Center, but without knowing the full size of it as well as it being in semi-current use dealing with Ivan clean-up, I’m not entirely sure. Here in Reefside, there’s here and Dr. Mercer’s house if we don’t mind having it outside. Dr. Mercer also said that if his island lab outside the city limits was fit for use, he’d volunteer that. I know TJ, Carlos, Cassie as well as Lightspeed and Wes and the Silver Guardians have volunteered to help with that cleanup. I know Trent’s been back and forth between the island and home, as has Principal Randall. With some help, they’re working on making sure that the island’s safe for Dr. Mercer to enter. Long story as to why and again, mostly not mine to tell in that regard.”

Tanya nodded. “Tommy’s told me some, but he also said that not all of it is his to tell. He did say something about wanting to introduce Dr. Mercer to Karone, though.”

“Not confirming why, Tanya, but if you know anything about Karone, you’d understand the comment.”

“Former Power Ranger villain self-help group?”

“If he did that, I know that there’s a couple people in Briarwood that would join. Not sure who else, as there’s been several Rangers who belong in that group, including Karone and Dad, along with others.”

Tanya just laughed at that as did I; Ranger foes turning a current or former Ranger temporarily evil was common. She’d gotten to see it in action herself, the last attempt she’d seen had been when their Turbo Powers had been created. Divatox had kidnapped Jason and Aunt Kimberly, who’d been temporarily been turned evil by Divatox’s prospective fiancé. If it hadn’t been for a couple of allies, not even Jason or Aunt Kimberly were sure what would have happened.

We soon headed downstairs, though I’d offered Tanya the use of the art room. The couch had a rather comfortable pull-away bed in it and it wasn’t that hard to arrange the room so that the desks were not only away from the bed’s full size, but so that whoever was sleeping in it could get in and out without having to crawl up from the bottom. Dad had said that he’d invested in a couple of couches like that so if he had extra company like he’d had when he first moved into the house, nobody was complaining of discomfort due to a crappy mattress.

Now, with no longer having an actual guest room, those couches came in handy. I’d tried apologizing when I’d realized that by having my art room meant that there was no longer a guest room, but neither Dad nor Katherine were having it.

“Abigail, when I offered you the room that’s now your art studio, Kat hadn’t even moved in, much less met you as my foster daughter. Even after we found out that Andy was on his way, neither Kat nor I wanted to take your art studio away so that we could have a guest room again, not without making sure you still had some form of art space. We both know just how important having your own space to draw, paint, or do other art-related crafts in is. I’m surprised Ernie never thought of giving you your own space at home.”

“So am I, but I also had free space of the rooms in the Youth Center to draw, paint, and do other crafts in. There’s probably still a dedicated area for the art supplies I had to leave behind; I’ve never asked what happened to them. I know Ba and David sent up some stuff with Rocky, but they didn’t say where the stuff had come from.”

“We can ask when we see them again.”

“If it’s not paint, which was part of the stuff Rocky brought up, I’m not worried about it that much. I know that sounds shocking, but I kept most of my supplies at home, save the paint and the stuff I used regularly at the Youth Center. The art teacher simply ordered extra canvasses when she ordered the supplies for the classes she taught if I wanted to paint. It wasn’t until I moved here that I felt comfortable bringing any home. I’m still not sure what’s going to happen to all the paintings I did for the art exhibit. I know that the museum director wants to keep some on permanent display, but I’m not sure on the rest. Probably gift them to people, as I know we don’t have the space here to store all of them.”

“You could sell them too. I know that there’s people who want to buy your work, Abigail. Hayley had said as much to me with the painting you gave her for her birthday. It took every ounce of self-control I had to not give things away.” That surprised me as I’d never thought of selling my work. I’d also been surprised by not just the ribbons I’d got at the art show and the offer from the museum director.

“I noticed that she’d had the perfect spot for it in CyberSpace. That surprised me as I thought she would have hung it up at her own home.”

“She spends most of her time at CyberSpace. Her free time is split between here and her other interests. It only makes sense that she’d want to hang it up where she’d see it the most.”

I knew that Dad was going to ask David at the very least if I still had art supplies at the Youth Center, even if I’d said I wasn’t worried about it. Like I’d told him, I wasn’t that worried about it as I tended to use what supplies were on hand, with Ba paying the teacher for any extra she’d ordered for my personal use. This is without him stopping by the art store in town so that I’d had stuff to keep on me as well.

Tanya, once we’d gotten back downstairs, got to hear me singing a lullaby to Andy when he started fussing. I gave her a sheepish smile when I realized she’d heard me singing.

“I know I’m not the best at singing. Kira’s tried helping, but we’ve not gotten far.”

“Don’t worry about it, not everyone’s great at everything. Just was wondering what that lullaby was.”

“Vietnamese one. My teacher at Reefside High taught my class some; she’s also tutored me in things that Mom would have taught me if she’d lived. I’ve been appreciative of it, mainly because all my cousin Sylvia taught me was the language. She wasn’t interested in teaching me much else, but I don’t know how much of that was not learning it herself growing up or something else. She’s never answered any of the letters I’ve sent her. If it weren’t for Uncle Howard, I would have sent a letter to Skull asking if he could find out. Spike, when I was in Angel Grove last month, said that Skull and Sylvia are dating now. Uncle Howard’s talked me out of doing much more than sending letters to Sylvia as he and Skull are working on her.”

“He seems to like it.”

“He does, Tanya. Kat and I both have video evidence of her singing the lullabies from the start. Sometimes, those lullabies are the only thing he’ll fall asleep to. The only real problem is when he wants them after Abigail’s been asleep for several hours. Kat and I do our best and thankfully, we’ve not had to wake her up to put him back to bed yet.”

A quiet conversation followed as I got Andy to fall asleep. I knew that he wouldn’t be asleep for long, as he tended to wake up close to midnight most nights due to being hungry, but he was also sleeping longer as well. He wasn’t waking up as often when I had nightmares either, which I was grateful for. I always felt bad when I woke him up due to nightmares. Dad and Katherine were better able to deal and catch up on sleep if they needed it; Andy hadn’t gotten the hang of that yet.

When I went to put him in his crib, he started fussing again, so he went back on my shoulder as I sat in the chair in his nursery.

“Not staying asleep?” Dad asked as he’d followed me up.

“No. I don’t know why, either. He’s never done this for me, ever.”

“He’s done it for Kat and I sometimes. Normally when he’s headed for a growth spurt.” Dad tried taking him so I could go to bed, but Andy chose that moment to scream as Dad took him from my arms.

“I am sorry, Dad,” I said, as Andy cried. “I doubt it’s his diaper, as I know it got changed right before I started singing the lullaby.”

“He’s also not hungry. This is his exhausted cry. Go get changed for bed, Abigail. If Kat or I can’t get him to settle down…”

“I’ll try again.” I could see Sasha enter the room as I left to get changed and by the time I reentered, Andy had calmed down somewhat, though he was still hiccupping a little bit. “Hey, buddy,” I said as I gave him a finger to grab. Sasha had started grooming him when Dad had sat down on the chair. I had no doubt that Sasha’s grooming played a small part in calming him down.

“I am sorry, Abigail. I don’t know why he’s acting like this tonight. You’ve got driver’s ed in the morning and given that you’re also in the car for part of the afternoon, I know how much sleep you need.”

“I understand. Let’s just see if he’ll fall asleep and stay there if I sing from here. Hopefully, he’ll settle enough to sleep in his crib.”

Thankfully, the lullaby worked, but I did notice Dad staying with Andy as I headed to bed, saying goodnight to both Katherine and Tanya before closing my bedroom door. I had an early morning due to the driver’s ed classes and would be done just after 2. The classes started at 10 am; classroom hours were 2 hours, with a break for lunch and then we had a further 2 hours of driving practice. That was primarily so that the four of us student drivers in the car could get a half hour of practice in. I’d been surprised when I’d found out that I was going to get my permit first, but knew that most of that was due to the number of hours I had to get for my license. I also had to wait 6 months after getting my permit to apply for my license, which I understood. Too easy for inexperienced drivers to get in trouble because they’d gone straight from getting their hours in to getting their licenses. I’d learned patience was the way to go and was willing to wait.

Chapter Text

Location: the Oliver household. Tuesday. POV: Tommy/3^rd person

Tommy yawned as he woke up, as he’d ended up staying with Andy most of the night. He knew that part of Andy’s fussing had been the doctor’s appointment, but he’d felt bad for having to send Abigail to her own room. If she’d not had a driving lesson, with the practical aspect of it that afternoon, he wouldn’t have minded her staying with her brother for a while.

He also theorized that some of it might have been Tanya at the house. Almost every time that they’d had company overnight, even Trini’s parents, Andy had been extra fussy and clingy and neither he, Kat, nor Andy’s pediatrician could figure out why. The only people that Andy didn’t get overly fussy with the first night of someone staying over had Abigail’s brother David as well as Austin and Amy. He’d also not gotten fussy with Francine and Karan when they’d stayed overnight, but David and the two girls on Abigail’s team had also held Andy a lot, so it was simply possible that he was comfortable with them.

Tanya, to Andy, was still a complete stranger despite being part of their Ranger family. Even with reacting well to her at CyberSpace, having Tanya over, first for dinner followed by spending the night meant that some of everyone’s attention was on their guest.

Tommy did know that Abigail planned on making it up to her baby brother when she got back from her driving lesson. He was happy that she enjoyed being a big sister and was grateful that she was willing to help take care of him as well. He and Kat both had made it clear that she didn’t have to consider taking care of Andy’s needs, like changing diapers, something she absolutely had to do, but she’d replied that she didn’t mind if that meant that Tommy and Kat both could have some time to themselves as well.

Tanya ended up joining him in the den after Kat had left to take Abigail to her driving lesson. Andy was playing with his toys the best he could at almost 3 months of age and thoroughly having fun.

“I know I didn’t know Trini as well as the others, but I could sense that there were things that you weren’t telling me, even after getting back here.”

“And for good reason, Tanya. Much of it isn’t my story to share, or even Abigail’s. Some of it’s Ernie’s or David’s and they’ll talk about it if they want to. Ernie, like Abigail, is seeing Rocky as a therapist. David’s indicated that he’s seeing someone at his university that Rocky recommended. The only real thing I can add to what I told you last night was that, even if Ernie’s mental and emotional state had been noted and taken care of partially before Abigail had to run, there may have been a chance, from what I’ve been told, that they may have had to place Abigail in a different home temporarily so that she and Ernie could both heal separately. I just don’t know if that placement would have been here, or even Reefside in general.”

“You’re thinking Jason and Kimberly, or Billy.”

“Yes, as Billy and Kimberly are her godparents. Not just them, though, as Rocky, Adam, Zack, and Aisha all live in Angel Grove or close to. There’s also Trini’s cousin Sylvia, who lives in town and had, prior to just after last Thanksgiving, worked for Ernie. Also in the mix for local friends and family is Trini’s uncle and Sylvia’s dad, Howard Kwan. He, I found out in April, moved to just outside Stone Canyon. Said something about bigger room where he was living to actually build a proper laboratory to do his experiments in. I’d heard Trini talk enough about him that I gathered that his lab had previously been his basement. Unlike here, he had no good way to keep everything separate from the main part of the house. He told me when he was last up that when his children were young, including Sylvia, he often had to keep the door to the basement locked. Trini’s parents now live in Florida and I’m certain that they would have wanted to keep Abigail close to people she knew and was friends with.”

“That makes sense. Billy said something about Howard inventing an invisibility potion?”

Tommy grinned. “You’ll have to ask the original team what that was about. That incident occurred prior to my moving to Angel Grove, but I heard about it after. I still get the feeling I didn’t get the whole story, but I didn’t want to press at the time as I was still new to the team. Having now served as long as I have, I completely understand why. There’s parts of my Zeo Quest and meeting my brother David that I’ve still not told anyone about; not even David knows the full details of everything associated with that. Most of that is less to do with Zordon’s rules and more to do with finding ways to put everything into words. I don’t have Abigail’s gift of drawing everything down that I can’t put into words.”

“She’s quite talented as an artist. You did a great job helping her set her studio up upstairs.”

“She’s happy with it; I didn’t find out until I’d already ordered what she would need that she’d never had one but at the Youth Center and even then, it wasn’t much. Just one of the rooms that Ernie had set aside for art classes. Only Ernie knows why she didn’t have one at home growing up and, to the best of my knowledge, she’s never asked him that. She might not want to, Tanya. I know that I’ve often thought of either adding on to the house or otherwise building her a bigger studio on the grounds, but she’s said that she’s happy with the one she has for now. She told me that by the time it would become an issue, she’d be getting ready to head off to university, though we’re probably going to need extra space soon to store her completed works.”

“I am planning on heading over to the art museum at some point, even if it’s not today, to see what she’s got there. Might bring Adam up for a day of it before the exhibit ends. I’m willing to bet that they’re going to be similar quality to the painting in here or the one I saw at CyberSpace that Hayley’d said Abigail had given her as a belated birthday present. Said it had won an award or two at the high school art show?”

“Yea. Shocked Abigail when she found out. Art, for her, had started as a way for her to keep busy at the Youth Center. Ernie wasn’t allowing her to take martial arts lessons even though his son David was and there’s only so much you can do there, even now, if you’re not doing martial arts. She used to do gymnastics; still keeps up with some practice. Even then, I remember enough from Kimberly that doing those routines over and over in the same day isn’t good. There’s, as I’m sure you remember, not a whole lot in the way of arcade games at the Youth Center.”

“No, there’s not, even now. Outside of the main room, there’s only a handful of rooms to use as club space, or lessons that either aren’t or can’t be held elsewhere in town and not much else.”

Tommy nodded. “Much of the extra space, even in the basement, that isn’t dedicated for workouts, clubs, or lessons, is either cooking space, storage, or shelter. From what Ernie’s said over the years, there’s an area in the basement that started as a Cold War bomb shelter. Over the years, he’s improved upon it so that it can also double as an earthquake shelter. When Rita and Zedd were still evil and attacking, as well as the Machine Empire and Divatox, it also doubled as a monster shelter. It’s still listed somewhere as having that purpose if the need arises.”

Tanya laughed. “I can believe it, Tommy. From what Nick said at Rock Porium yesterday, Briarwood has similar spots. It wouldn’t surprise me if every location that’s hosted a Ranger team has something along those lines.”

“They do. I know you’re not as tied into the community as I am, but every city that’s had at least one Ranger team has those spots. Same goes for our intergalactic allies. Mirinoi, after Terra Venture got there, started making them, as they’d not had such on their planet before. That’s the impression I got at any rate from talking with Leo.”

“Leo? Leo Corbett?” Tanya’s puzzlement was obvious. “I remember him and his brother from school.”

“Yea. His brother Mike was part of the Terra Venture leadership; still is. Leo ended up sneaking aboard Terra Venture. After his brother temporarily vanished-got knocked into a ravine after pulling the Red Quasar Saber from its place-he ended up leading Terra Venture’s team, which included someone from Mirinoi as their Yellow Ranger. Somehow or other, I don’t recall the reason why right now, Andros’ sister Karone eventually took up Kendrix’s place as their Pink Ranger. Neither Kendrix, Karone, or Cassie wants to talk about it much, but it’s part of the record. I’m probably going to need to read it over by the time we have a full Ranger get-together. If I need to, I’m also going to likely have Abigail read it so that she’s not blindsided by the information. She’s already familiar with the Aquitian’s record when it deals with Earth’s Rangers as well as our successors to the Turbo Powers who eventually joined up with Andros as the Astro team. Leo’s team is the only one she’s not familiar with except by name, as they rarely come to Earth.”

“That makes sense, especially given Trini’s dead.”

“Physically dead, yes.” At Tanya’s shocked look, Tommy explained that most Rangers’ spirits joined the Grid after their physical bodies died.

“Zordon never told us this…why? Or Dimitria?”

“I honestly don’t know. Andros had explained things to me years ago and had also told most of Angel Grove’s Rangers. How he missed you, I’m not entirely sure, but you might have been on tour. As far as to why none of the rest said anything, not sure on that either. They may have assumed that you had been told as well.”

“So, Abigail….”

“Long story with that, which is going to have to wait until we can get the whole group together. Andros can explain it a bit better than I can, but the gist is that she’s able to directly talk with former Rangers if she needs to, maybe even current if there’s no good way to contact them in an emergency. I’m going to have to impress upon you that Ernie can’t know any of this right now. Even Rocky agrees that he can’t find out. I’m not entirely sure how much David knows, but he will have to be told, as he was the one in Billy’s old suit during the final fight against Ivan. Billy had broken an ankle helping Ernie out with some sort of repair work.”

“Why can’t Ernie be told?”

“He…was not in a good place after Trini died. Only David and Abigail needing him kept him from following her, or so Rocky seems to think. Something happened last summer connected with the abuse and Abigail running away that makes me think that a lot of those issues are still there. Rocky’s been helping Ernie through them, but the last thing Ernie needs to hear is the fact that there’s a chance that he won’t end up in the same afterlife as his wife.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “There is a chance, according to some of Zordon’s records, that he can, but that can’t be found out without Abigail being willing to look or say something specific in front of not just Ernie, but certain members of the wider, intergalactic Ranger community. Doing that is almost the same as telling Ernie.”

“I can see why you want to avoid that right now, Tommy. I would be too, in those circumstances.”

“I do plan on sitting down with Rocky and Andros to figure out how to not just tell Ernie, as he will likely get curious about it at some point, but how to do so safely. Andros has already helped Jason and I explain everything to Zack’s wife Angela. Ernie only missed that conversation earlier this summer by dint of being drawn into conversation in a different area. I’m seriously thinking that Billy planned it that way.”

By the time Kat returned from dropping Abigail off at the high school, conversation had turned to lighter subjects and Tanya had also gotten a chance to hold Andy. He’d gotten a bit fussy when she’d tried singing him a lullaby, but conceded that Andy was simply used to the singing voices-or lack thereof-of both his dad and older sister.

“Tommy catch you up on everything else?”

“For the most part. What he ended up telling me…some of it’s just going on the list of why Zordon never told us these things before he died and why Dimitria never thought it was important to tell us either.”

“I asked Dimitria that when she was here last summer. She’d been shocked when we found out that Andros had to tell us. She honestly thought that Zordon had; she’s not the only one attached to the teams Zordon mentored that’s pretty pissed at him for withholding that information. She’s asked me to make a list of stuff-Ranger stuff-that Tommy, myself, any of our teams, or any other Ranger has questions about that we can’t answer. If Tommy can’t find the information at our old Command Center, we're to send the questions to her.”

“I will say, Tanya, that I know Trini would have told Ernie early on in their relationship if she’d known. Rocky would have said something if Ernie’d brought it up in therapy sessions. He can’t say much, but there’s been times where Rocky’s asked me things due to something or other Ernie’s either talked or asked about. Ranger afterlife hasn’t been one of those topics so far, for which we’re grateful. Abigail’s still coming to terms with it and I know she plans on sitting down with Andros and asking him about it this summer and see if he’ll explain everything to her team. That talk’s going to have to wait until Francine gets back from San Francisco; her grandfather’s in the hospital.”

“Francine’s…”

“Her team’s Pink Ranger. It’s a toss up as to which three Rangers is Abigail’s 2IC-Francine, Karan-her Red, and Patton, who’s their Blue. She’s known Patton and Francine almost from the time she moved up and met Karan the first day of school.”

“Her suit’s Rose Pink, isn’t it?”

“Yep. Unusual for a Ranger color, but Ninja Storm has two different shades of Blue and two of Red on it. Cam’s Green Samurai Ranger suit is a different shade of green than my first was, so it’s not without precedence.” Tanya blinked at that and Tommy chuckled. “I know; unusual to have two different Red and Blue Rangers on the same team, but Hunter’s the Crimson Thunder Ranger and Blake’s the Navy Thunder Ranger. They also trained at a different, but connected, Ninja Academy than the one Sensei Kanoi Watanabe runs. Conner’s brother Eric, I think, trains at that one now instead of the Wind Ninja Academy. Blake’s the only one out of Ninja Storm that doesn’t have some sort of involvement in teaching future Ninjas. He’s a motocross racer.”

“Blake Bradly? That Blake Bradly is a Power Ranger?”

“Yep.” Tommy grinned. “You know, Tanya, normally that’s the reaction I expect to get from the public, not from someone who’s one of us.” 2 seconds later, he was rubbing his arm due to both Tanya and Kat whacking him on the shoulder. He looked over at his son to find Andy fast asleep in one of his play sets, Sasha and Eliza next to him, purring. That was good, as Andy didn’t witness his dad getting whacked in the arm for a bit of teasing. He was doubly glad Abigail wasn’t here, though she was getting better in recognizing when a smack was more friendly and when she had to worry. Even though her team had several training sessions after Ivan’s defeat, they were all taking the time to recover and actually learn about the greater Ranger family, including the off-planet teams.

He was glad Tanya was willing to claim Abigail as a Yellow Ranger, even if her current color wasn’t. Aisha was the same way and Tommy knew most of the other Yellows would be fine with counting Abigail as part of their group as Abigail had started out as such. Tommy himself had different conversations with different Rangers depending on they shared a Color between them and which one. He’d even seen that with Dino Thunder; he’d had one type of conversation with Conner, having been a Red on two different teams and yet another set with Trent, having been both an Evil Ranger and a White Ranger, though not at the same time.

With Abigail’s team, he’d had a similar set of conversations with Karan due to sharing a Color with her and also with Johnny, sharing Green. Even though Karan wasn’t the team lead, he’d been able to guide her about what her color meant and he’d seen the results of that when she’d temporarily been in charge. He knew those results would carry her far and had done her a world of good already.

He also knew that though this quiet time wasn’t likely to last, he, Kat, and Abigail were all taking advantage to allow their relationship to focus more on a parent/child one. She needed that more right now and they all knew that Ivan had really done a number on that half of their relationship. It was also why he was doing his best on letting her Ranger duties take a backseat for the time being. While she would have to meet the community as a whole as well as the intergalactic community as both team lead for her team as well as what else she could do, it was his job as her team’s mentor to speak for her and her team right now. Zordon had once done that for them when they’d still been in high school and Dimitria had also done the same until the Command Center had been destroyed seemingly for the second time.

He also knew that Axium was still a threat. The man had contacted Alpha 5 a couple of different times, demanding to meet Abigail. Those demands had been denied, but had sent Alpha into a panic. Tommy knew that he was going to have to contact someone and soon before Axium undid all of the hard work that first Zordon, then Dimitria, and now Earth’s senior Rangers did in keeping their identities secret. He was slowly getting in contact with their intergalactic allies to minimize Axium’s influence as well as the influence of much of SPD. Already, he’d made Anubis the official contact for SPD when it came to Earth’s Ranger community. Anubis had impressed Abigail as well as both of Reefside’s teams and Tommy himself. SPD hadn’t been happy, but had understood why. Those same allies were shocked when they’d viewed the video evidence of not just Tommy’s interaction with Anubis and his fellow officer at the start of the month, but also the afternoon at CyberSpace.

Between that and Anubis’ own reports, which he’s allowed Tommy to attach to those videos, meant that Earth not just had a bigger target from their enemies painted on it, but that many intergalactic Rangers wanted to meet Abigail and her team. Even with hearing from Andros as well as the Aquitian team, he didn’t understand why Abigail’s team was so special. Delphine had said it had been quite an honor to meet an Oraculi’s first team. Even with her explanation, Tommy was still puzzled. He didn’t know what was so special about her team, but knew that he needed to find out. The last thing he wanted was for any of them to become blindsided by that information or have expectations put on them that they weren’t aware of.

He also didn’t want for her team to become a circus sideshow exhibit. He knew Abigail felt strongly about being considered different, given her abilities. It was part of why she had come to trust Udonna so strongly, as the older lady didn’t treat Abigail any different than any of her fellow Rangers and team leads.

He also wanted to give Abigail and the others some time to actually be teenagers on top of being Power Rangers. He knew from some of their intergalactic allies that once a Ranger or Ranger team was chosen, they basically spent the rest of the time focusing on training when they weren’t fighting and didn’t always have much in the way of downtime. He knew Delphine approved of the opportunities given Abigail and the other teen Power Rangers on Earth, so that they had time to grow into their roles without dealing with a lot of the pressure that having their identities publicly known would put on them.

By the time it was time for either Kat or Tommy to go and pick Abigail up from her driving lesson, they’d gotten Tanya fully caught up on what she’d missed in regards to the Power Ranger community on Earth. Tanya wasn’t the only Power Ranger who generally kept out of the loop and Tommy understood why. It wasn’t easy, doing what they’d did. Tommy had tried walking away and staying out of things for a while, but kept finding himself being pulled back in. It had seemed that every time he’d thought he could walk away, something popped up that he needed to help with as a Ranger. The first time he’d been pulled had been the Red Ranger only fight against the remainder of the Machine Empire.

Not long after he’d actually started working as a paleontologist, he’d found 3 out of the 5 Dino Gems, unaware that Anton had eventually found the other two, either unaware of what he had, or did, as Mesogog. It had really been at that point that he’d known he’d truly never have the quiet life he’d wanted after heading off to MIT. There had been some days, long before Dino Thunder had been formed, that he’d wished that Rita hadn’t selected him to be her evil Green Ranger. At the same time, he wouldn’t wish that on anyone, even Sanderson. Nobody deserved to end up mind controlled, even if they were people like Sanderson.

It hadn’t surprised Rocky when Tommy needed to start talking with him again even before Ivan had been defeated. Ivan’s plans had put all them through the wringer and Abigail wasn’t the only one having nightmares about Ivan succeeding. He’d actually taken a leaf out of her book, but had started writing his nightmares down instead of drawing them. He had shared some of them with Abigail after she’d said that being able to talk about her nightmares with someone who understood meant a lot. She drew comfort from the knowledge that she wasn’t alone in having them. She didn’t know, or didn’t appear to know that Tommy would sometimes check on her after awaking from one of his own nightmares. Having her there to check on helped him and Kat both when either of them woke from a particularly nasty nightmare.

He’d also gotten the chance to sit down with Ernie when the older man had come up for the exhibit at the art museum. Both had quietly spoken about their own nightmares regarding the previous year while Abigail was out with Trini’s parents and Tommy had found those particular nightmares lessoning after that talk. Ernie, had once again, thanked him for being there for Abigail and taking such good care of her.

“You’re welcome, Ernie.” Tommy hadn’t really known what else to say to that, as what did you say to your daughter’s birthfather besides that. Much of the usual sentiment either didn’t fit or had already been said by either man. He and Ernie both were very proud of how far Abigail had come in the last year and not just as a Power Ranger. They also knew that Trini would be very proud of her daughter, though he also knew Abigail missed being able to talk with her mother. Up until the initial interaction Abigail and Trini had in the Grid, all Abigail knew of her mother was what her teammates had been able to tell Abigail and what little Ernie had told her along with what she’d found researching.

When those talks had to stop temporarily and then Abigail not being able to talk with her mother at all once she got her new coin and Suit, he’d seen the aftereffects on his daughter. He knew she still longed to talk with her mother again, even if it was to say a proper goodbye. He couldn’t tell Ernie that Abigail was going through that and for the same reasons he’d given Tanya. Learning that information would be worse on Ernie right now than it was on Abigail. Abigail, unlike Ernie, had the reassurance that she’d join Trini in the Grid. Ernie didn’t necessarily have that reassurance and would need it.

In the meantime, Tommy wasn’t going to worry about it, as he knew that there was going to be a long while before that conversation needed to be had. He’d made Rocky aware of that possible issue months ago, but Rocky had also told him that he’d been aware of it from the moment that he’d found out from Andros. Talking with Abigail about some of what she’d learned from her mother in their talks had only reinforced that to both Tommy and Rocky. Rocky had indicated that he was planning to try and get Ernie to the point where he’d be able to not just understand everything, but also to not take it negatively. They both understood that Ernie might never be ready for that information and Rocky was also prepared to help Ernie deal irregardless of how he found out.

They knew, even Abigail, that should Ernie found out, they’d also have to explain Abigail’s abilities. When Tommy and Rocky had sat down with Abigail just before her maternal grandparents had come up and had that conversation, she’d been fine with Ernie finding out. She made it clear that it was something that, should it come up in conversation, then by all means explain it, but she also didn’t want to worry him any more than necessary, which both Tommy and Rocky understood. They all knew that Ernie worried about his daughter and had always worried about both of his children after Trini’s death.

Tommy hadn’t understood that worry completely until first after Abigail coming into his care and then again after finding out Andy was on the way. Now, he understood that worry all to well and knew it couldn’t have been easy on Ernie without Trini there to calm those worries and fears. He knew Jason and the others had tried-oh, how they’d tried, according to Kimberly-but it had only been within the last year that Ernie had actually listened to what they were trying to tell him and truly accepted their help.

Tommy ended up sharing a grin and a laugh when he’d returned with Abigail. Andy had gotten super excited at having his big sister back and was chattering away, barely letting Abigail get a word in.

“Sounds like you had a great day, Andy,” she finally said when Andy wound down, causing him to give her a big grin as she held him.

“I think he missed you,” Tanya said.

“Probably. Outside of sleepovers or days where it’s just Dad and I, it’s rare that we’re actually apart. I do work several days a week, but the job just started. I’m working at Hayley’s several days a week. Right now, it’s Thursdays through Saturdays as I’m not old enough to work full time yet. When school starts up again, I’m going to be weekends only. When it comes time for the soccer season, I know Hayley’s going to probably change my hours again. She’s also trying to work my hours around martial arts lessons, which are Monday/Wednesday in the evenings. I only missed the lesson over July 4^th due to the holiday. Last night, the dojo lost power; Hanshi thinks it should be back on by tomorrow. Not sure what happened, but I know it’s not a result of a freak storm. CyberSpace isn’t that far from the dojo and I know other businesses in the area would have also lost power.”

“From what Hayley overheard, the lines going directly to the dojo were affected. The repair crew was there today, fixing things. They’d stopped in CyberSpace for coffee and gossip, along with checking things to make sure it was an isolated incident. We’re monitoring things, but it doesn’t look like it was anything related to our side of things.”

“Not like when Ivan attacked the part of the city that the dojo’s in last summer.” Tommy shook his head as he answered in the negative.

“The more I hear, the more I’m glad I don’t live here. Don’t get me wrong, Reefside’s a great city, but…”

“I understand. Dad’s said that there’s other Rangers who feel the same way and I don’t blame them. Doing what we do…not easy, even when one is healthy and not just physically before becoming a Ranger.”

“Tommy said that Ivan’s plan was horrible.”

“Nightmares for all of us except Andy. Even David’s had some-my brother David, not Dad’s brother. I just wish Ivan had gone with a different plan, you know? I know he had other plans, Ethan said as much after the recon mission.”

“He did have other plans, but most were worse than the one he used. I only know that much because Billy’s been going through them. He told me that he’d actually thrown up a couple of times looking through them. The call from Andros and the Aquitian team, along with Cestria, couldn’t have come at a better time for him.” Tommy saw Abigail make a face at that.

“Guess I won’t be asking to look through them any time soon. If they make Uncle Billy throw up, they’re likely nightmare fuel. Even the tamest plan I know of, which Ivan used in an alternate timeline, was pretty horrible. If he’d succeeded in that one, I probably wouldn’t exist in that timeline.” Tommy raised an eyebrow at that as he recalled what he’d learned about the alternate timeline. His counterpart hadn’t said anything about his timeline’s Ernie, but had said many of the adults had been under Ivan’s mind control. There was a chance that Ernie had been one of the ones under mind control, but Tommy also didn’t know if Trini was back in Angel Grove at that point in time. He doubted it, as it took place right around the same time as his team had traveled to Ninjor to receive the Ninjetti Powers. Trini, Jason, and Zack were still at the World Youth Summit at that point in time.

“Cestria called when you were up in Briarwood yesterday. Said that she and the others are taking very good care of Billy right now, with an emphasis on the very good part. The two younger Aquitian Rangers that had come with them have headed back to Aquitar. They apologized for not being able to say goodbye in person, but understood that you had a day out with a friend planned.”

“Good. He needs it. Not commenting on what form that ‘care’ takes. I understand, too, that the younger two couldn’t say goodbye. I know that they were probably needed back on Aquitar. They’ll probably call or something when they can. Uncle Billy’s said what inter-planetary relay’s like, especially when you have to match up times.” Abigail was blushing, though and Tommy knew his face wasn’t that different. He really didn’t want to think of his friend’s sex life. Tanya was chuckling as she’d known how much Cestria and the others meant to Billy.

Andy started fussing at that point in time, at which point Abigail ended up having to hand him off to Kat. His diaper had been changed while Tommy was picking Abigail up, so they knew it wasn’t that. He wasn’t surprised to see Kat slip off into a different room after grabbing the cloth she used to cover up. The pediatrician said that it was likely that Andy was gearing up for a growth spurt soon, as he was hungrier than normal, but not gaining much in the way of weight. He knew that, just from reading, that meant a growth spurt was on the way. Andy was already pretty big for his age and the pediatrician had predicted that he’d be pretty close in height to both of his parents.

Ernie, when he’d heard that, had warned him that he might be fairly close, but to not be surprised if Andy was just slightly shorter either. Tommy had understood immediately what his friend was talking about. Both Ernie and Trini were or had been considered fairly tall, Ernie at 5’8” and Trini just a couple of inches shorter. Abigail, even at 16, remained at 5’5 ¼”, shorter than either of her biological parents. Dr. Erica had said to not expect Abigail to grow any taller, as most girls hit their adult height prior to the age of 16.

Abigail seemed to know it too and was absolutely fine with it. She’d said that Amy had gotten a bit of teasing from some of her cousins, as she had inherited Jason’s height along with his grin, despite primarily favoring her mother. Austin didn’t appear to inherit much from Kim in the way of looks, but they were fine with it.

Abigail’s brother David, on the other hand, had inherited his father’s height. Abigail had said that he’d gone through several months where he’d seemed to grow like a weed, needing new clothing it seemed every other month until he’d matched Ernie in height. Austin was going through his growth spurt at the same time, so it hadn’t been as simple as the two friends trading clothes as they would have had done normally.

Tanya had eventually headed home not long after Abigail had returned home, as she needed to get back to Angel Grove. She did say that she’d have to talk with Adam, who she was in a long-term relationship with. Even though she’d been on tour since before Abigail had ran away, she would have liked to have at the very least known what was going on and Tommy had completely understood. Both he and Kat had apologized for not letting her know, but had assumed that Adam had told her, as her significant other. Tommy had, prior to Abigail revealing her identity to him, had been told by several different people, including Jason, that she was missing. Tommy was absolutely fine with Tanya handling Adam’s chewing out, as he was normally her source for all things news from not just Angel Grove, but the Ranger community as a whole when she was on tour.

How she’d missed Abigail being at his wedding the previous fall, Tommy didn’t know. Even though Abigail was still using her alias publicly at the time, including at the wedding, he knew that the others in the wedding party knew who Abigail was. Tanya, though, hadn’t had much time to interact, having to fly to wherever her band was the day after the wedding. She’d been the only friend and teammate that he’d not been able to sit down with at some point and explain about Abigail at the time. Tanya had thankfully understood; it wasn’t like Tommy completely stayed in touch when she was on tour. Tanya was closer to Kat than she was with Tommy and they all knew Kat wouldn’t have told Tanya without Abigail or Tommy saying ‘go for it’.

He also knew, just from comments that not just Tanya and Abigail had made, but also from his former teammates that not everyone that they’d served with stayed close with Ernie and his children after their careers as Rangers ended. Justin, especially, wasn’t close to Ernie at all, Ernie having left Angel Grove not long after Justin had taken Rocky’s place as the Blue Turbo Ranger.

Tommy really didn’t know what Ernie would have made of Justin as an active Power Ranger, the latter being only 12 at the time of gaining his Powers. The resulting chewing out from their friend would have likely been epic and would have likely forced Ernie to reveal that he’d known who they were behind the suits. Tommy wouldn’t have wanted to face Zordon or Dimitria to let them know that they’d been careless enough to let a civilian find out their identities, especially Zordon. The wizard had emphasized that no civilians could know of their identities except in extreme emergencies. Aisha, Rocky, and Adam finding out prior to taking Trini, Jason, and Zack’s place had qualified according to Zordon, who’d recognized that they’d had no other choice but to tell. He and Kimberly, along with Billy, had all felt guilty for breaking that rule despite Zordon’s assurances.

Not long after returning to Angel Grove, Ernie had also apologized to all of the Rangers who’d known him early on for not letting them know directly that he’d been recalled to the Peace Corps. He’d not had much time to do so and he would have let them know if he’d had the time. They’d all not just understood, but forgiven their friend. Tommy had, primarily out of curiosity after heading to university, actually looked into Ernie’s situation and known just how little time his friend had to leave.

Tommy often wondered what Justin was up to. He kept in touch, but generally didn’t keep in touch with many of his former teammates or often talk about what he did for a living. Justin had been willing to help out in the fight against Ivan, but wouldn’t tell Tommy or the others what he was up to. Tommy didn’t blame him, as 12 was a bit young for what they did. Kat and Tanya hadn’t been the only ones shocked when Justin had gotten out of his Zord and Justin had been the only one to not chew Zordon out for bringing him in. They’d understood that Justin had hid under Rocky’s bed when they’d come to visit their friend and had heard the call, but that didn’t mean that they were happy about the situation. It hadn’t been the first or only time that they’d questioned Zordon, but it had been the first time that Tommy knew of that they’d all gotten seriously pissed at their late mentor.

They had also sat down with Justin while on the ship taking them to Magilore’s island and explained everything, including why hiding under Rocky’s bed had been a bit of a bad idea. Justin had appreciated the head’s up, but it had taken the 12-year-old a while to understand everything. He’d initially thought that being a Power Ranger was the coolest thing ever but Tommy had seen the toll it had taken on their youngest teammate. It had been a huge part of why he’d allowed Justin to hang out with him at the garage that he worked on his racing car in. Even with Justin’s father not always being home or Justin not becoming a Power Ranger, Tommy had recognized that Justin needed someone to act as an older brother to him. He would have done the same even if Justin hadn’t needed to take Rocky’s place, as Kat and Tanya had told him enough that Tommy would have been willing to help.

He’d actually been prepared to step up and help prior to Rocky getting hurt, as had Rocky prior to that time. With Justin as a part of their team, that had become even more critical, as he needed that support. They’d all stepped up and done for Justin what Conner and the rest of Dino Thunder were now doing for Abigail’s team.

He wasn’t surprised, either, when Abigail came down the stairs the next day, crying somewhat as she hung up her cell phone.

“What’s the matter, Abigail?”

“Just got off the phone with Francine. Her grandfather passed away last night. The funeral’s going to be next Monday or Tuesday she thinks. Said that she’ll call when she knows more.” Tommy just pulled his daughter into a hug as she cried. They’d only met Francine’s grandfather a few times, but it had been obvious that Francine cared for her grandfather just as much as her grandfather cared for her. He remembered the man being very friendly and kind and knew Abigail would want to go up to support her friend and teammate.

“If you want to go up to support her, I’m fine with that, Abigail and will take you up to San Francisco. She’s going to need that support.”

“I do; just want to call the rest of the team first, let them know. Francine didn’t mind when I asked if she wanted me to let the rest of the team know. Said it saved her calling everyone individually. She didn’t say as much, but I got the feeling that the call to me was about as much as she could handle right now.”

Tommy had no doubt of that, as he’d had times like that over his life where interacting with only a few people had been his limit. The day that they’d found about Ivan’s plans had been the latest of those days and it hadn’t been easy as he’d also needed to comfort both a pregnant Kat and Abigail at the same time.

The calls to the rest of her team took very little time at all. In many of those same calls, Abigail had to hand her cell phone off to Tommy as the parents of all but Karan were wondering if he’d be willing to take their children up to San Francisco with him and Abigail. Some would be going up with Trent and Karan as Tommy didn’t have enough room in the minivan to take everyone, especially given Kat and Andy would be joining them once they knew the details of the funeral.

Tommy had also let Conner know what Abigail had found out; between Conner and Trent, Ethan and Kira had also been called. Ethan had come straight over to comfort Abigail, which hadn’t surprised Tommy. He’d seen Abigail comfort Ethan and do her best to uplift his spirits after Ethan’s ex-girlfriend had returned to Reefside to visit her friends and family without telling Ethan she was back in town. He wouldn’t be surprised if the two started dating by the time Christmas rolled around. Abigail had told him of the birthday gift she’d gotten for Ethan; the poster that Tanya had signed had been part of it, but Tommy had also recognized that it had also served as a cheer-up gift for her friend.

He knew that he was also going to have to lend Ethan a sympathetic ear at some point. He and Kimberly had managed to patch things up prior to Magilore kidnapping and brainwashing her. He hadn’t been surprised at all that she’d started dating Jason after their shared experience when Divatox had kidnapped them. The boyfriend she’d started dating during her Pan Am and Olympic career hadn’t lasted long; Kimberly had turned down offers from her Ranger teammates to kick his butt. According to Kimberly, her ex wasn’t worth the hassle for all them to fly out and likely be arrested on assault charges. She’d appreciated the offer, though, but also said she’d already given him his walking papers.

They all knew it was a lot easier when one’s significant other had once been a Power Ranger. Trent and Kira were just the latest in a long string of Power Rangers who were in romantic relationships with a fellow Ranger. Zack and Trini were only a few of them who’d married non-Rangers and that was likely to be more common than marrying each other, given the disparity between male and female Rangers. Billy and Karan were the only two that Tommy knew about that preferred the same gender and he knew Billy was bi or likely so, given his relationship with Cestria and Corcus.

He also knew that Billy didn’t like talking about it much and Tommy really didn’t blame him. They’d grown up in an era where people like Billy were often treated badly due to something beyond their control and he’d seen the same attitude towards mutants as well as the Rangers who’d succeeded all but Justin as the Turbo Rangers. Most people might think kindly of the Power Rangers as long as they kept their identities hidden, but it hadn’t just been the government’s attitude that had caused TJ and the others to temporarily live on KO-35. It had taken TJ and the others a while before they’d finally confessed that they’d had people treat them like pariahs because they’d been Power Rangers. Carlos had gotten that from family he had been close to and Tommy knew how much that had bothered his fellow Ranger.

Later teams, like Mystic Force, who’d had their identities revealed, didn’t have those same issues. Of course, Briarwood also had a lot of people who belonged to groups previously thought myth as part of their city, so Nick and his team likely had it easier. Even Lightspeed had their issues after becoming Rangers and it had only been seeing how much good that they did, in and out of the suit, that had helped with their acceptance.

It was hearing stories like this that had helped Tommy understand why Zordon had cautioned them to keep their identities hidden as best they could. He’d heard such complaints when he’d first broken free of Rita’s spell, as the attacks caused a lot of property damage. Angel Grove had almost gotten destroyed before Zordon had sacrificed himself. The Youth Center, from what he remembered hearing, had sustained quite a bit of damage. As it was, it had almost gotten torn down before a lot of people had stepped up and donated either time or material to help Ernie, who’d bought the building back from Lt. Stone, rebuild it. Trini, he’d heard, had been at the forefront of it, but didn’t know much past that, but it wouldn’t have surprised him to find that’s what had helped Ernie and Trini fall in love.

When Tommy had been talking with Leo, he’d heard that Ernie and Trini both had been offered a place on Terra Venture, but they’d both said ‘no’ for different reasons. Ernie had said ‘no’ due to having just bought the Youth Center back; he didn’t want to leave Angel Grove again. Tommy never found out why Trini had declined a place, but given most of Earth’s senior Rangers were electing to stay on Earth during that time frame, Tommy had a good idea as to why. TJ and the others might be the best known of Earth’s early Rangers, but it was Jason and the others who were considered Earth’s spokespeople when it came to their intergalactic allies who didn’t want to deal with what Astro Rangers remained on Earth.

Tommy had also started looking up hotels in San Francisco, but didn’t want to book anything until Abigail heard back from Francine about the funeral. He’d eventually started talking with Trent as Anton was offering to pay for the rooms that they’d need. It was going to be a given that they’d probably need 3 rooms, one for the guys, one for Tommy and Kat, and a third for Karan and Abigail if they wanted a separate room. He and Kat were both very proud of Abigail wanting to be there for her friend as they’d seen Francine be there for Abigail this past year. Ernie, when he’d heard during a phone call later that same day, had also praised Abigail for wanting to do that. He’d told her that her mother would have done the same thing, which had brought a smile to Abigail’s face.

He’d also talked to Hayley when he’d dropped Abigail off for her shift Friday. She was happy to give Abigail Sunday off, as they’d be traveling up to San Francisco early. She also agreed to house sit again, as Tommy hadn’t been able to find a pet-friendly hotel in such a short time. He knew that the city had them, but they’d not had any luck finding rooms at the ones Tommy knew about prior having to leave.

Francine’s parents were entirely unsurprised when they’d came in, as they were aware that their daughter had been talking with some of her friends after her grandfather’s death. They also knew just how close the 6 were and just how important those friendships were to their youngest daughter.

“Dr. Oliver,” Francine’s mother said as she approached him, “thank you for bringing them up. This hasn’t been an easy week for Francine.”

“It’s not an imposition. Francine’s been a wonderful friend to Abigail this last year; it’s the least Kat and I could do. I know how important it is having a good support system among one’s peers, especially a good group of friends. I’m glad I could help in whatever way I could.”

“I just wish Athena’s friends had been able to come up.”

“I’m surprised that they aren’t, but their parents might not have allowed them to come up. I know Missy and Andrea had both wanted to come up, but their parents wouldn’t let them come up when Abigail had called to let them know. I’m not sure about the rest of Athena’s friends as Missy and Andrea are the only two who are also friends with Abigail. I did hear Missy say something about trying to do something once your family returns to Reefside.”

“I am sorry about the issues Athena caused last year. We’re not entirely sure what was going through her head, but we’ve got her seeing a therapist right now. Hopefully, he’ll be able to help her work through whatever’s going on.”

“He likely will. I’ve seen how good of a job Rocky’s done with Abigail. I have no doubt Athena’s therapist will do just as good of a job. Sometimes, just having someone to talk to helps. I know Rocky’s talked about what he does for a living with Abigail and her friends, as they’ve all asked for details. Oh, not the kind of details that breach client privacy, but more along the lines of classes that they’d need to take in university and the differing types of therapists. Even if none of them actually follow in Rocky’s footsteps, I think some of them plan on taking some classes so that they can decide that one way or the other.”

“He sounds like a wonderful person. Francine’s talked about him a little bit.”

“He is. I met Rocky in high school during a martial arts competition. He and his friends who’d been in that competition ended up transferring to Angel Grove High School not long after. Having been through the transfer process myself, I introduced the three of them to my friends and they fit in rather well. I wasn’t surprised he’d become a therapist, as he had the knack for it even in high school. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he’d gotten hurt competing in a martial arts charity exhibition, he would have probably opened a dojo with a couple other friends of ours.”

Tommy and Kat ended up talking with other members of Francine’s family during the rest of the evening, noting that Abigail and the others really hadn’t left their friend’s side except to use the bathroom. He and Kat both were thanked multiple times for bringing Francine’s friends up, as was Trent, who’d served as a second driver for the group. They knew it might be a small thing to them, but that it was also a big deal for Francine and her family for Francine to have that support from her friends.

Tommy had also offered to take Francine back to Reefside the day after the funeral, as she wanted to head back to Reefside. He knew that Francine would be staying with either him or Anton, as both of her best girlfriends lived in both homes. It also allowed Francine’s parents to help their matriarch figure out what she was going to do without also worrying about Francine. Athena, though given the same offer as Francine, had elected to remain in the city with her parents. Unlike Francine, Athena didn’t have a summer job. Her therapy appointments, like some of Abigail’s, could be done over the phone, so she didn’t even have to get back for that.

Francine’s parents and grandmother had also understood why she’d elected to head back to Reefside. Most of Francine’s cousins who’d come to the funeral were either too young or closer to Tommy’s own age for her to feel comfortable hanging out with them. He wasn’t surprised to find that Abigail and Francine had elected to spend the night first at the Mercer household followed by Karan joining them the next night at his home. Trent and Tommy both were also fine with being her ride to the soccer camp and back, as Francine was still in the 6-month probationary period before she was able to get her license, though she didn’t have that much longer to go before getting hers. She’d actually taken the classes at the earliest possible time for her, at 15 ½. Her classes and Abigail’s, if Abigail had been able to take them second semester, would have overlapped slightly.

Abigail’s classes were going to be wrapping up towards the end of the month, as it was a 6-week course and she’d started not long after returning from their family vacation. He’d known Abigail had fears about learning to drive, as she’d said as much ahead of the Disney trip, but he also knew Rocky had helped her through it. He knew she was likely unaware, but he’d noticed her look when she’d been going through the Disneyland book he’d brought home from the library. When he’d taken a look at the list she’d written down on which rides she wanted to miss for sure, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride had been on that list. He’d had to look the ride up before understanding why she wanted to skip it. It had been a while since he’d ridden it.

Autopia had been one ride that she’d noted as a maybe ride, which had been why he’d taken the time to help her work through those same issues. He wasn’t going to force her to ride Mr. Toad’s ride, though, as one car crash was enough for her to go through and another, even simulated, would have made taking driving lessons that much harder for her. The last thing he wanted to do was make her civilian issues worse in the long run.

Andy, though completely unaware of the reasons why they’d gone to San Francisco, had been delighted with the attention. He’d brought a number of smiles to the grieving family and Tommy had heard a number of people call him adorable, in either English or Italian. Andy had, when he’d seen Francine, held his arms out to her and Francine had been all to glad to hold him, a smile on her face through her tears.

“Tommy, that was a wonderful thing you did for Francine,” Kat said as they headed to bed after the girls had all fallen asleep in Abigail’s room and Andy had also fallen asleep.

“She needed it, Kat. Abigail had the right of it when she got off the phone with Francine last week. As good of a friend to Abigail that she’s been, she needed Abigail and Karan right now, along with the boys. I only hope that Andy has just as good of friends when he enters school as we’ve seen with Abigail and her friends. I know we had good friends in high school as well. Jason and the others were a big help after Rita’s spell was broken. It was as a huge adjustment for all of us and we were able to use what we’d learned when first Rocky, Adam, and Aisha joined the team and later you. I also used that same experience with Trent and the rest of Dino Thunder.”

“I can understand the adjustment thing, but there’s more to it than what you’re saying, Tommy.”

“Jason had been the first to reach a hand out to me after they’d broken the spell. It had been a shock to all of us when Zordon offered me a place on the team. He’d not talked about it with the others before making the offer, nor given them reasons why from what I understand. It took some time for everyone to adjust, including me. Here I was, the new kid at their high school who’d also fought against them and I was now expected to work alongside them now that the spell was broken. Trust, true trust, took a while. As much as Jason and I got along initially, it took Zordon sending us on a trip to get weapons to fight Rita’s newer Putties to work together better.” Tommy chuckled at the memory, as did Kat, who’d gotten to know Jason when he’d temporarily held Trey’s Powers.

“The both of you are rather competitive and are natural leaders, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Jason and I also took some time after that to really sit down and talk. By the time he, Trini, and Zack left for the Youth Summit, it was tough to say who was actually the team’s 2IC, me or Zack. Jason never said, but we all knew how difficult the job was. It could have easily been Zack or any of the rest of the team who’d been kidnapped and almost drained of their Powers. Jason was just doing the best he could to train the next team leader. I think he knew that Kimberly would eventually head out if she got the opportunity to train her gymnastics further. Billy…even he agreed that he just wasn’t leadership material at that point in time. Now or during and after the Zeo Quest? He could have back than if he’d first not had the reaction he’d had when he’d tried taking on Trey’s Powers and then having to go to Aquitar to recover from what he’d done before the Zeo Quest started. If he needed to now, he probably could step up as team mentor if something happened to either of us. Conner, as far as he’s coming, just isn’t there yet. There’s nobody here in Reefside that could step up just yet and the other Rangers…not everyone would be willing to move to Reefside. Abigail doesn’t want to leave the city right now and we couldn’t move the rest of the team down to Angel Grove without spilling the secrets. That’s something that needs to be avoided for the time being.”

“You’ve really thought this out, haven’t you?”

“I…had to, even before Abigail came up. I started seriously making plans-within-plans after finding the Dino Gems that Conner, Ethan, and Kira use. It’s why Triceramax exists; Hayley helped me build it after I started working for Anton, with Billy's help. I knew, with the experiments we were doing, that there was a chance that they’d get used in some form. I just didn’t expect Anton to experiment on himself and become Mesogog. I don’t know why I’ve keep being drawn into this life.

“Once Abigail came to me for help, I knew that I was responsible for more than just guiding Conner and the others. I started updating my will just before you moved in. I had to update it again after Andy was born. With Abigail not being able to leave Earth, she’s got a few less people able to be her guardians then Andy does.”

“I know that you’d prefer that she have someone that’s been a Power Ranger as a guardian and completely understand why. As far as a quiet life goes, I had that for a while, Tommy. After becoming Kimberly’s successor, after what we’ve been through, a quiet life…I’m not entirely sure it would have suited you. You wouldn’t have started working for Anton if it did.”

Tommy knew Kat was right. Becoming brainwashed by Rita…it had changed the trajectory of his life forever. He didn’t even know if he would have even been picked as a Power Ranger if he’d been living in Angel Grove the day of Rita’s first attacks. It had been a big part of why he’d started talking with Rocky once the latter had gotten his degrees. As much of a help Jason and the others had been, starting one’s Ranger career like that had taken a toll on him. Zordon had only been able to do so much and there hadn’t been a way to talk to a therapist without breaking the rule of revealing one’s identity. He knew that had been part of why Rocky had entered the field.

Chapter Text

Location: Angel Grove Youth Center, July 12^th POV: Ernie/3^rd person

Ernie looked up as Adam sat down across from him at the counter, looking rather tired.

“What’s the matter? I know Tanya got back last night from something Kimberly said.” Adam just shuddered.

“Doghouse. Tanya’s a bit pissed that I forgot to tell her that Abigail’s currently living in Reefside.” Ernie understood all too well.

“That would do it, Adam. I’m surprised that neither Tommy nor Kat told her before now. I know she’s seen them a couple times since last year.”

“She’s also been on tour; didn’t have much time to talk to them,” Adam replied as he took a long drink of the coffee Ernie handed him. “The wedding, I can understand, as Tanya only had enough time to be there for the rehearsal and wedding. The baby shower…not sure why they didn’t tell her then.”

“From what I heard later from Kimberly and Amy, they had a bit of an unwelcome visitor that had all of Reefside’s Rangers showing up.” Ernie hadn’t found out until way after the fact, which he’d been grateful for. It had been one of the rare Ivan attacks that hadn’t made the news and he understood why neither Kimberly nor Amy wanted to talk about it at the time. Even though his tolerance for hearing about his daughter being an active Power Ranger had gotten better, Kimberly also knew that it was hard on him at the same time and she, Jason, and both of their children did their best to keep the worst of it away from his ears.

“That would do it. Between that and having to fly out again the next morning…yea. Being on tour doesn’t give her a lot of time to catch up with her friends on the rare occasions she can get away to help celebrate whatever’s going on.”

Ernie could tell that there was a lot more to Adam’s story, but with as many civilians there and it being the height of summer, they both knew that Adam couldn’t talk about any other reasons he was in the doghouse openly. Not without going into Ernie’s office with him and Adam rarely needed to do so; Rocky was one of the only ones who did so with any regularity out of Angel’s Grove’s Rangers.

“If you need to borrow one of the cots for a nap, you can do so. I know that they’re stored somewhere in one of the side rooms. I wanted to find a shelter or somewhere to donate them to, but the chief of police wants me to keep them, just in case we run into any more situations like what happened with Abigail last year. I can understand why she didn’t tell me she’d gone to Reefside, but wish she’d been able to.”

“You and everyone else, Ernie. Scariest couple of months of our lives. Seeing you like that at the end of July last year…scared all of us, Ernie,” Adam replied quietly.

“I know. I hate to think of what would have happened to Abigail if she’d stayed or if Stone had forced her back. She wasn’t the only one with that fear.” Ernie had found out about that particular fear and set of nightmares when he’d gone up for the art show last week. “I know Tommy and Kat are taking really good care of her and I appreciate it.” Adam just nodded, almost falling asleep in his coffee and Ernie, after making sure that Justine had the counter for the time being, simply guided Adam to the room where the cots were being stored. From the looks of it, Adam hadn’t slept well the night before, likely sleeping on the couch. Adam wouldn’t be the first Youth Center customer to take a nap in one of the smaller rooms, even before Abigail had fled and likely wouldn’t be the last.

He could also understand why Tanya had been upset; even though she’d only known Trini when the latter had returned to Angel Grove, the two were friends. They might not have had as close of friendship as the ones his late wife had with Kimberly and Billy, but it wasn’t unusual for the two former Yellow Rangers to meet up and talk about things. Ernie understood that Tanya wouldn’t have been able to do much, being on tour, but he also knew Adam generally kept her updated on what was going on within their circle of friends.

Justine was amused by the whole thing when he got back to the counter. She knew that some of his friends who’d been regulars during the Youth Center’s early days occasionally dropped by, but rarely interacted with Adam. Jason, Zack, and Kimberly were the ones that stopped by the most often, as did Aisha and Rocky. Justine knew all of their regular orders, as she did with many of the regulars.

“Honestly, Ernie, if it’s not relationship troubles, it’s something else when they come up to the counter looking that tired.”

“He had a bit of time in high school where he and his friends looked that tired, but it wasn’t girls or schoolwork. Not sure what was going on in their lives back then.”

“Not sure or you can’t say?” Ernie raised an eyebrow. “One of the various rumors I’ve heard is that you know who all of Angel Grove’s Power Rangers are, or most of them at any rate. Not sure how much truth there is to it, but…”

“I probably did know them out of their suits, but you know as well as I do that most of them never revealed their identities. I do know there’s no way TJ and his teammates who saved the city from Astronoma were active when Rita first attacked as they were all living out of the city at the time and some far enough away that made being in Angel Grove during the attacks difficult. Nobody knows who the city’s first Rangers were, or if they do, they’re not telling. Did hear a rumor, way back when, that they were space aliens.”

“I remember you telling that to Stone. Not sure the believability of that one, even if Jason’s the one who told you. Someone might have told Jason that one to fool him.”

“Or it was one of the more common rumors that I’d not heard at that point. Some of the others floating around were wackier than that. Heard robots and wizards as well.” Ernie snorted. “Even Bulk and Skull thought I was one by the time the Zeo Rangers came around. I can understand why, as I’d had days off during many of the later attacks.” Justine ended up laughing at Ernie’s comment.

“I’ve heard of many of their attempts to find out the identities of the Power Rangers. The attempts got written down in some of the high school newspapers. They weren’t the only ones trying to find out, but they were the most persistent. I wonder what they would have done if they’d actually succeeded.”

“No clue, but a number of those attempts happened here. I generally let them be as they weren’t really hurting anyone and it kept them from bullying others. They could get pretty bad, but once they started trying to find out the identities of the Power Rangers, they quit the bullying.”

“I don’t blame you on that. Austin and Amy are pretty good at keeping Spike from being too much of a nuisance.”

“They usually have him handled before I have to step in. I usually had to deal with Bulk and Skull myself, though that was generally if Jason and the others didn’t step in first. Abigail, too, had to deal with Spike in school, though he quit partway through their 6^th grade year. I never found out the whole story, but Spike learned to not pick on people who might know his locker combination.”

“He’s scared of snakes, or so I heard, and one day that year, someone put one of those rubber toy pythons in his locker. My younger brother’s in his year. Said you could hear Spike screaming from the opposite end of the school. Nobody knew he was scared of snakes until that prank.”

“And Abigail’s locker was to his immediate right. David had a rubber python toy at that point in time. Might still have it, but I’m not entirely sure.” Ernie shook his head. “That would do it, but I’m surprised nobody stopped him before that point. I know I talked to Bulk a time or two as both Abigail and her teachers were saying stuff. I honestly thought Bulk had gotten his son to stop, which is why I’d punished Abigail for her part in the pranks. I didn’t realize he was still bothering her and wouldn’t have punished her if I’d known.”

The conversation was interrupted by his cell phone ringing and it was Jason on the other end. Ernie quickly took the conversation to his office.

“Have you seen Adam at all? We’ve got someone covering his classes, but it’s not like him to not show up. Not without calling at any rate.”

“He’s here, Jason. Stopped by for a cup of coffee and some conversation, but was falling asleep in his coffee. He’s currently taking a nap in one of the smaller rooms. Tanya got back from her tour last night and I got the impression Adam had to sleep on the couch. You’ll have to get the full story from him when you see him next.”

“Oh boy…bet I know why she’s pissed. Tommy said Tanya had stayed the night after her stop in Briarwood. Adam usually keeps her updated on our crowd and should have been the one to tell her about Abigail ending up in Reefside. Not sure if or why he didn’t, but…”

“You’ll have to ask him, but it may have been one of those things that she might not have been able to do anything about and he wouldn’t have wanted to worry her.”

“At the same time, she would have been here if she could, even if that meant canceling some of her shows.”

“Very true. She was one of Trini’s friends. I forget who introduced them, but I do know that there were a few days, even after David’s birth, where the two were out, having fun, just the three of them, as I knew Kimberly often joined them when she could. This was when David was old enough to have solid food of some form. Before that, Trini just took David with her.”

“It was the same with Kim, even after the twins were born. Trini and Tanya were both huge helps, especially when I had to be at the dojo. Some of the stuff we brought over after Trini’s death were things they’d given us when the twins were born that we no longer needed.”

“I remember and appreciate it still. Between the two of you and the rest of our friends, there wasn’t much I needed to buy right away. Diapers and formula when I got low and that was about it.”

“Any time, Ernie. I need to get back to work and I’m sure you do too. Send Adam over when he wakes back up, will you?”

“Absolutely, Jason. I’ll talk with you later, even if it’s when you come over to teach one of the martial arts classes.” They said their goodbyes and Ernie headed back up to the counter. Even with several of his employees working, it still got busy for them during the summer as Angel Grove’s youth took advantage of no school for most of them and hung out around town. Many of the youth, when they weren’t out swimming, surfing, or generally doing other things, hung out at the Youth Center. Ernie could understand why, too. There weren’t that many children or teenagers that wanted to stay at home all day.

He also kept up weekly phone calls with Abigail, as he would have done with David had Abigail not needed to run. When he found out later that week that Abigail was going to be heading up to San Francisco to support a friend of hers who’d lost a grandparent, he smiled.

“I’m proud of you for doing that, Abigail. Your mom would have done the same thing and I think she might have at one point. Francine’s a wonderful girl and I know she’s going to appreciate you coming.” I know I appreciated the help from Jason and the others after Trini died and again after you fled, he thought, but didn’t voice it.

“I hope so, Ba, and thanks. Francine’s been a big help this last year and is a great friend. It’s the least I can do for her. I know she’d do the same for any of us in her friends group.”

“If there’s anything I can do from here for her, let me know.”

“I’m sure she’ll appreciate the offer, Ba, even if we don’t make it down to Angel Grove right away. She’s helping Conner with his soccer camp. I know that the Angel Grove game is the same time as last year, at least the teen girls game is.”

“It is. We’re hosting the Reefside teams this year.”

“Knock on wood it’s not as eventful as last year. Fool’s wish probably.”

“Don’t say that, Abigail. Witnessing the attacks last year was bad enough. From what I’ve heard from Billy, the most you guys have to deal with for the time being is some of your intergalactic allies being difficult right now and that’s it.”

“It is and it’s just the one guy. Dad and the others are dealing so that my team doesn’t have to. Might have to deal with someone from his planet at some point to apologize for his actions, but I don’t know right now. They’ll tell me if it’s something I have to deal with personally or if it’s something that they can deal with. I hope it’s the latter, as I really don’t want to get involved in the intergalactic community at this point in time. There’s a lot I need to look at before I do, including meeting the local teams at some point. That’s even if I eventually walk away from this. Dad’s said that some of our allies are curious about me and my team, but won’t explain right now. Some of it just might be because he’s our mentor, as he’s one of the first 6 to be on Zordon’s modern teams.”

Ernie raised an eyebrow at that, even though he knew his daughter couldn’t see him. He was surprised she’d said that much to him, but also knew that they were both somewhere that they had privacy for the conversation. She wouldn’t have said near as much if either of them weren’t in the privacy of their own homes.

“Anything of that I need to worry about?”

“Doubt it, Dad, unless they show up at the Youth Center when we’re down there for the soccer game. TJ, Carlos, and Cassie have all promised to be in the general area if they show up in Angel Grove so that secrecy can be kept. Out of the publicly known teams, they’ve got seniority. I’ve looked at some of the treaties and they have authority to deal with the intergalactic community when it comes to most cities with Ranger teams whose civilian identities aren’t publicly known with the exception of Mariner Bay and Briarwood and even then, they’re willing to step up and help Lightspeed and Mystic Force if needed.”

“Why am I not surprised that you’ve taken a look at that stuff?”

“Because you know me and most of Earth’s senior Rangers? I think there’s a few that you’re not completely close with, but I know you’ve met most of the ones who became Rangers prior to being recalled to the Peace Corps.”

“Most of? I thought I knew all of them.”

“Not my story to tell, honestly. You’ll have to ask someone on the Zeo team for details, if they’re willing to talk, as it happened during the transition from the Zeo to Turbo Powers. That was right around when you went to the Amazon, or so Dad and Kat say.”

“I’ll take your word for it, Abigail. I know Rocky got hurt right around that time, just before a charity competition, but I had to leave not long after. Got the recall notice a couple days after the competition. If I hadn’t, I probably would have found out about the change of team members.”

“Probably. Got to go, Ba. It’s late and I need to start packing in the morning. Dad and Kat, along with Trent, are taking the group up Sunday. We’re staying for a few days, just in case Francine wants to come back with us. I know, from hearing her talk, she doesn’t have many cousins on her mom’s side that she’s close in age with or to. Her only relative that she’s close in age with is her sister and they don’t get along that well right now. Not sure if it’s a genuine personality conflict or something else, but all I can do for her right now is just be a supportive friend. If she and her sister patch things up, that’s great, but…”

“But there’s also a chance that they won’t. Not the first time I’ve seen that happen over the decades, Abigail, and probably won’t be the last. Like I said before, I’m very proud of you and I know your mom would be as well. You’re being such a great friend to her and that’s something I’m sure she’s grateful for as well. I’ll talk with you next week if not sooner.”

“Talk with you later, Ba. Love you.”

“Love you too, Abigail. Goodnight.” He smiled after hanging up his cell phone. Despite the Ranger details she’d told him about, he wasn’t worried. Oh, he knew that there was always a chance that their opponent would show up at the Youth Center, but it wouldn’t be that much different than when he’d been there when Rita and the other early Ranger opponents had been attacking the city. The only ones he really didn’t get to see were Divatox and Astronoma and the latter’s attacks were something he’d been grateful not to see. He’d seen the results not long after, when he’d come back. Stone had been all too willing to sell the Youth Center back to him and it was hard to see it partially destroyed. Parts of the city had to be rebuilt from scratch, as the buildings were down to only bits of their infrastructure. Trini, he’d found out, had also rushed back to help when the news of the attacks had reached her. She’d actually volunteered to help lead the team helping him rebuild the Youth Center. They’d ended up taking a number of evenings after the day’s work had been done to simply talk and she had also worked with him during the day to find out what he wanted the Youth Center to look like as it was rebuilt. It had been a huge part of why he’d fallen in love with her. He’d not realized that she’d returned his feelings until she said something and he considered himself a lucky man that she did, even now.

He honestly couldn’t wait until Abigail came to visit again; he missed seeing her. He also knew that she was also busy with her own life in Reefside. She’d told him when he’d been up last that Hayley had hired her to work at CyberSpace several days a week. Like many teens under the age of 18, Abigail couldn’t work full time hours and he also knew, from talking with Hayley, that were only a handful of employees. Cyberspace wasn’t like the Youth Center in that there needed to be several people working every day, but he also knew from experience that having someone else working at the same time helped tremendously. Abigail was enjoying the experience and some of that was simply being able to put into practice what she’d done at the Youth Center as she’d grown older. Granted, she’d not been able to do some of the stuff David now did due to various reasons, but she’d been able to help clean and put things away.

When she was able to call the next week, after the funeral, he found out that Francine was alternating staying with both Abigail and their other best girlfriend, who was living with a friend of Tommy’s. Ernie had met Dr. Mercer a time or two when Howard Kwan had brought his fellow scientist into the Youth Center as well at the art shows Abigail had her artwork in, but they hadn’t talked much. He knew that there was a reason Karan was staying with them, but Ernie didn’t want to press. It was their business as to why and Ernie was fine with that.

He’d seen the close friendships she had with both girls and knew he wasn’t the only one pleased that they’d been able to fold Amy Scott into their group. He knew Austin was friends with them as well, from what he’d heard, which was another good thing. He highly suspected it was because the Scott twins and Abigail’s friends in Reefside didn’t want her to feel as if she was caught in the middle and had to choose between them. The fact that they became friends outside of also being friends with Abigail took worries off of everyone’s minds. David also got along great with his sister’s friends in Reefside, but he wasn’t near as close to them as his sister was.

He also wasn’t surprised when Billy, who’d stopped in to chat that week, got a phone call from Abigail. He only heard one half of the conversation, but from the sound of it, Abigail was asking a few questions about the communicators Billy had made for the original Rangers. Of course, with Billy at the Youth Center, they were calling them Billy’s experimental pagers…which was technically true, even if Billy was slightly blushing. He knew Abigail had worn her mother’s communicator for a while, but the one she’d worn when she was down for the martial arts tournament looked almost brand new. With the Youth Center being open for business, Ernie wasn’t about to ask why, but it wouldn’t surprise him to find that Trini’s communicator was showing its age.

“What was that about, Billy?” Ernie asked when the two had a chance to duck into Ernie’s office. Billy blushed a bit before answering.

“She just wanted to know the timeline of the cake maker and where it was in relation to the…ah…’pagers’ I’d made. I’d sent the schematics for those up to Hayley earlier in the year and I think Abigail was wondering if I’d used some of the same designs for the cake maker. Those pagers malfunctioned early on before I was able to fix them with some help. Not sure what it was that year, as a watch I’d made for Tommy also malfunctioned. Thankfully, it was just those three things and when Tommy busted his pager, I was able to fix it after school.”

“I’d ask you how those pagers malfunctioned, but…”

“You’re right. Not here, too many people. Between Abigail, Ethan, Patton, and Hayley, I’m pretty sure that they’ll figure out what went wrong. They have my notes on the matter and I know Trini made some notations as well, as she’d helped me work on it after it failed the first time. I know Tommy said something about Abigail getting a hold of an E-Z-Bake oven and taking it apart as well.”

Ernie knew Billy had tried, and failed, to figure out what had caused the cake maker to malfunction. He knew Billy had felt so bad for the malfunctioning machine for several reasons. They’d managed to get a hold of a different cake for Zack, who’d also understood what Billy was trying to do for him on his 15^th birthday. Billy had apologized profusely because of Ernie getting the results of the machine’s malfunctioning all over him and Ernie had waved him off. Ernie hadn’t expected the malfunctioning either time, but both had been a lot more cautious about bigger inventions in the Youth Center.

“Abigail probably enjoys seeing some of the stuff her mom wrote down when it came to that sort of thing.”

“She does; she actually got to see some of Trini’s notes growing up. Even after Rita started attacking, Trini was always willing to help me out with my inventions. Some of the stuff I did with Abigail growing up was things that Trini had worked with me on that were safe for Abigail to do. Surprised me when she’d learned binary at the age of 7.” Ernie chuckled.

“Same here. When I asked her why she wanted to look at coding books that summer, she said something about understanding some of the stuff you were talking about.” Ernie chuckled. “She’s been really good in the STEM subjects due to you, even if she claims to not always understand the technical terms.” Billy was blushing at the praise.

“Thanks, Ernie. I’ve always enjoyed the time I was able to spend with her. Tommy said she’d gotten really good grades this year.”

“All As. Had a B+ average in her first semester science, but they had new subs almost every other week. Tommy’s not spoken much about it, but from what I could gather, there was an issue with a coworker of his who’d gotten fired for something or other early in the semester and the school board was dragging their feet on who the principal wanted to hire as his replacement. Mr. Caplan’s brother, I believe, is on the school board for her high school. Took almost to the end of her first semester before they approved the gal coming in from the forensics lab.”

“That’s…disconcerting, but I’m glad she’s doing well. Trini had similar grades in high school, though she didn’t take all of the same subjects Abigail is. I don’t think Trini took art at all and Abigail’s got the talent for it.”

“Art’s always been an easy ‘A’ subject for her and I know she enjoys it. It had started out as a way for her to keep busy here, with how close I kept her and David both, but she ended up, by the time she was 13, outstripping what her teacher could teach her. She ended up going through the library’s supply of art technique books just to learn new skills. I ended up buying her favorites of those for her to keep, either here or at home. Tommy said that she’s taking the occasional class at Reefside’s art shop and made the advanced art class at high school last year.”

“With how good she is? I can believe it. I’ve had a couple of coworkers who, when they’ve stopped at my house and seen what she’s given me, want to hire her. They were disappointed when they found out she was 14 at the time. I know that there’s a chance that she’ll end up with several internship offers in college, if not outright job offers if they’re still interested in her at that time.”

“Tell her and Tommy that next time you see them,” Ernie replied as they headed back out to the floor to finish locking up. “He’d said she’d been shocked when the museum director offered her a place in the exhibit at the art museum. She didn’t understand why at the time and I was surprised at how little worth she placed in those skills. So was Tommy; he actually sat down with her, when he and I talked a bit after that, and told her that he wasn’t surprised and praised her talent.”

“I’m surprised as well; she’s been praised for those skills by many of the adults who’ve seen her at work.”

“Including me. Not sure what that was about, but Rocky could probably explain it better, as he’s been her therapist for over a year now. Not sure how much he can reveal, but he’d be the best person to ask aside from Tommy, Kat, or Abigail herself.”

“It was nice talking with you again, Ernie. I’ve got to head back home. A couple of friends of mine came to town after the art show. I’d not seen them since coming back to the area before Abigail was born. We…hadn’t been able to keep in touch for a few reasons and I’m glad to see them.” Billy was blushing and Ernie suspected that these friends were more than, given the emphasis that Billy placed on the word friends as well as the blushing.

“If they’re the same friends I’m thinking of, I met them a couple of times, right before the Zeo team became active.”

“Some of them are; the other is a friend that they introduced me to.” Billy was still blushing as he left and Ernie just smiled. He knew that Abigail’s godfather had actually spent a few nights over when he’d returned from Aquitar. Neither Trini nor Billy would say why the genius had returned, somewhat upset, but he didn’t press, knowing his wife was helping one of her best friends through it. He knew Trini would be happy to see Billy that happy again.

Location: the Oliver household, the week after the funeral. POV: Abigail/1^st person

I grinned as Francine returned, grinning, from helping Conner at his soccer camp. She was still missing her grandfather and, from what little I’d overheard when she’d talked with her parents, her grandmother was likely going to be moving in with them by the year’s end. I knew that they had the space, though, like with here, they’d have to give up the guest bedroom. Her parents, I knew, had thanked all of us for coming up to be there for Francine and were also glad that she was staying with either us or Dr. Mercer during the week. I’d been happy to be there for Francine, as she’d been there for me when I was going through some tough times.

Amy had also offered to come up after we got back, as had Austin and David. Francine had thanked them when she’d had a chance to talk with them, appreciative of the offer. I was just glad to have been able to be there for as she’d been for me almost from the day we’d met.

We were going to be spending the rest of the weekend working on the cake machine Uncle Billy had invented. Ethan and Hayley thought that they might have figured out what had happened, but I knew that I’d have to call Uncle Billy to find out a few facts. I knew he’d sent the schematics up for the original communicators, including changes, to Hayley back in February and had also brought up the schematics for the cake machine. Some looked similar for both and I’d called Uncle Billy to find out the timeline of the invention.

We also recognized that this might be what Johnny called a ‘bad luck’ piece. Several of our attempts to fix the original machine had ended in failure. We had to take brand new parts, much of which Dad allowed us to fabricate in Dino Command, and build it from scratch. This time, due to some of the previous attempts to fix it along with Uncle Billy and Mom’s notes, we would be working on it outside. None of us wanted to explain to Dad or Katherine why there was a giant hole in the ground from blowing up a shielded safe-room in our Command Center.

When I said as much to him later, he’d chuckled a bit.

“I’ve talked about adding on to the house, but that’s a poor way to go about it, Abigail.”

“Yes, but it could be a good start, though I wouldn’t want to explain to Carter or the others why we need a remodeling company and yesterday, though. His nickname for the team is bad enough and he’d really get into it then. Andros get back to you about the team’s name?”

“He’s suggested ‘Animus’ or something similar, given that all of the team totems are some type of animal. Some of the intergalactic allies have been calling your team ‘Oraculi’s Own’. From what Delphine’s said, that’s not an uncommon name for the first team of a Ranger who can do what you can do.” I made a face at the Oraculi mention. There were times where I really disliked the term, but Andros had explained that I was pretty much stuck with it. Now that Francine was back in town, I know he and Ashley were planning on stopping by at some point to explain a lot of stuff to the team. Dad had asked, from what I understood.

“So, Animus for planet-side, the other for intergalactic records?” Francine asked, having joined us after her shower.

“Both, actually, given the number of teams that have gone by ‘Oraculi’s Own’. Helps keep them straight.” I’d explained to her and Karan the night we’d spent over at Dr. Mercer’s house all about the term and what it meant. It had been partially to help Francine be distracted from her grief. Like I’d been after Ivan’s defeat, she needed the distraction as she dealt with her grief.

“Much like team names on Earth due to each team also being known as ‘Power Rangers’.”

“Exactly, and for the same reason. Once we update the guys on everything, the record is going to have to be updated and at the Grid’s physical location. It can’t be done from Triceramax; we tried with Dino Thunder just before Abigail got here. Ethan had to, between Prom and Graduation, update it there for our team. We’re going to have to be on our guard, as SPD doesn’t know about the Grid’s physical location being here on Earth.”

“It has a physical location?”

“Yes. Much like Abigail’s own abilities, which I know she’s told you and Karan about, the Grid has a physical form in this universe. It…needs to have such from what I understand.”

“That makes sense in a weird sort of way. One of those things that’s hard to describe as to why without giving us a headache?”

“Pretty much. Very few Rangers and their allies can actually understand why right away or without serious study. Hayley can, as can Dimitria.”

“I’ve read some of the stuff. It’s kind of hard to manifest what it can without having a separate, unconnected, form. Not sure what came first, the Grid itself or the physical location.”

Dad ended up chuckling. “That’s the gist of it, Abigail, and I’m not surprised you understand that. From what Ernie and Billy both have said as well as what I’ve noticed, you’re as intelligent as your birthparents. Kat, Kim and Jason weren’t surprised at your grades either.”

I shrugged. “Uncle Billy, whenever he could, came up to Angel Grove to visit. We ended up doing a lot of what I later found out was basic STEM exercises when we weren’t just doing stuff, just him and I, in Angel Grove. Got to see a lot of Mom’s early notes from when she used to help him with his inventions. First time I ever saw her handwriting growing up. Knew the letter she’d written for me was from her without Ba or David even having to say. Uncle Billy actually taught me how to make my own paints once, when the order that the art teacher made was delayed. That had actually been a fun class and it hadn’t been hard for him to get the stuff to make the paint in town. I’ve got the notes somewhere from that class.”

“Different then the one you went to at the art store?” Dad asked.

“Kind of. Theirs was more out of stuff found in nature, his was stuff you can buy at a grocery store. Made sense, given it was easy to get the supplies to make it with what Ba has on hand at the Youth Center. Commercial-grade food dye plus equal parts water, flour, and salt. I think that the paint might be edible, or it’s at least non-toxic, which works when some of the people in the class are very curious kindergarteners and preschoolers. If science this last year wasn’t so convoluted, I would have done it as a project in class. Maybe in chemistry or something, if I can find my notes.”

“Let me guess, there was at least one kid that tried eating the paint?” Francine asked, laughing.

“More like half the class. I was the oldest kid in the class, at 9. It was a mix of ages, with the youngest being 5 or 6. I really felt sorry for Uncle Billy and Miss Julie, trying to corral the group in that particular class. I think they went through an entire roll of paper towel cleaning up, if not half of one. A good chunk of that was cleaning us kids up. There was paint everywhere and I know Ba wasn’t the only parent glad that the homemade paint came out in the wash, even though we all had aprons on. I suspect that Uncle Billy did that on purpose.” General laughter greeted my answer.

“I can imagine. I know you’ve got clothing that you’ve set aside for painting anything other than strictly canvases, though I’ve noticed you sometimes paint canvases in that clothing.” Dad was still chuckling at the mental image, which was rather funny.

“For that reason, even though Miss Julie also had aprons for us to use when painting. Miss Julie told Ba and I to make sure I had such clothing after that class, as I was getting to the point, in both age and in skill, where she felt fine leaving me alone with paints that would likely get on my clothing and not come out. I was surprised that she was willing to let me do so at that age.”

“With that age range, she probably felt relieved that you could do so by yourself. It likely allowed her to keep an eye on the overly curious students.”

I shrugged as I helped Dad and Francine take the rest of the materials needed to rebuild the cake machine from the revised design outside. Thankfully, the weather was decent, though Dad had had a tent with sides ready just in case of a freak storm.

“Probably. I think some of the kids were only in her class because their parents or any older siblings were busy and they couldn’t get child care. She was one of a few people teaching classes at the Youth Center that didn’t mind having young children in the class. Most of the other classes that the younger children took there were martial arts or related. At least one of the children’s moms worked for Ba at the time. His dad, from what I can remember, was overseas in the military and they couldn’t go with him right away.”

“Gave them something to do and out of trouble.”

“Yep, even with me. Though with me, I started taking her class less to stay out of trouble and more because I was bored. Ba didn’t mind, as it helped keep me busy and he didn’t have to keep a close eye on me as he would have if I was in the main room. As long as he knew where in the Youth Center I was, he didn’t mind as long as I wasn’t exploring the basement storage room without David or Sylvia. David tried some of the classes, but he didn’t have the interest I did. He was also taking martial arts by that time, so that kept him busy even when he was over at the dojo instead of taking the classes at the Youth Center.”

“Why didn’t he want you in the basement storage area without David or another adult?”

“Ton of stuff down there, including the cake machine Uncle Billy brought up. I can understand why, too, as you allow an overly curious kid explore it by themselves and that’s a recipe for them to get hurt. I know David’s organizing it this summer, from what he, Ba, and Uncle Billy have said. Austin and Amy are helping when Ba doesn’t need them in the main area.”

“Ernie said that David was probably going to be doing that when we were down for the martial arts competition. He also said that there’s been a lot of people stopping by to meet him after the competition.”

“I can believe it. Saw it happen when he was on the football team and was the football captain senior year. Amy helped him out a lot.”

“Ernie said that they went to all three formal dances together.”

“They did. They weren’t dating exactly, but Amy was absolutely fine with David using her as a human shield against some of their classmates. She wouldn’t have made the offer she did if she minded. Surprised nobody that knows them that they ended up making their relationship ‘official’ earlier this year.”

“If those classmates were anything like my older sister, I don’t blame them. I’ve also seen how the more popular male upperclassmen are treated,” Francine replied as we waited for Ethan to show up with Patton, Steve, and Johnny. I made a face.

“Even if I’m dating Ethan or someone else by the time we’re seniors, I know full well I’ll probably end up with similar attention from the guys. You too, Francine.”

“I’ve already seen some of the guys look at me that way. There’s no way I’m dating some of them. I’ll probably do as others in our crowd do and date a fellow Ranger. Probably Johnny, Steve, or Patton. Even if the relationship doesn’t last…”

“I know what you mean. You never know, Francine. I dated Kimberly and Kat both in high school and ended up married to Kat. Tried dating others in between the two and even when Kat and I were taking a bit of a break in our relationship, but they didn’t work out. The first time, a friend that I’d met skiing, we got attacked in the middle of the date. I was a lot more understanding after of what Zack’s now wife went through when he was still active.”

“Bit easier when you’re active and dating a fellow Ranger, isn’t it?”

“For sure. You don’t have to make up excuses as to why you’re leaving in the middle of a date, for example.” Our talk was interrupted by the crunch of two vehicles coming up the driveway.

“Wonder who’s in the second vehicle. Could’ve sworn Ethan was bringing all three guys,” I said as an unfamiliar adult got out with Patton.

“That’s Patton’s dad,” Dad replied. “I remember meeting him at parent-teacher conferences. Wonder why he’s here.”

“Probably wondering what the heck his son’s working on. Patton’s said his dad works in technology development and design.”

“Not good,” I replied to Francine’s observation as I closed the schematics up and threw a cover over the machine and associated parts. “I remember Uncle Billy saying that he’s not fond of someone taking a look at some of his experimental tech that he’s not vetted and this definitely counts. I can understand where that comes from.”

“With the career he’s in? I don’t doubt it. The tech industry can be brutal, as I remember Hayley saying and I’m sure the tech that gets used in movies is even more brutal.”

Dad, while we were talking, made his way over to greet Mr. Plame as Patton made his way over to us with Ethan, Johnny, and Steve. I knew what Dad was trying to do in intercepting Mr. Plame and also knew Uncle Billy would appreciate it.

“Sorry about my dad. He kind of got excited when I told him I was helping fix something your godfather invented. I tried telling him that Mr. Cranston didn’t want anyone other than us and Hayley to look for the time being, but…”

“I understand. If Uncle Billy was up here, he’d be with Dad talking with your dad, but between his own work and his overseas friends visiting, he doesn’t have a lot of free time right now.” I shook my head. “I know he’s done a lot of work in general when it comes to tech, but he’s also pretty possessive of his experimental stuff and for good reason.”

“I can believe it,” Ethan replied. “Between what he’s said and what Hayley’s said, I know that patents in general can take years to get sometimes, especially with tech, and the last thing you want is for someone to swoop in and patent something you’ve been working on for years simply because they saw what you were working on. Patent wars can and have gotten brutal.” There was more to it than that, but with Patton’s dad right there, we really didn’t want to get into the grittier details. Some of Uncle Billy’s early inventions had been for Ranger usage and he really didn’t want those details getting out.

I could tell Dad hadn’t been as near as successful as we’d wished as Mr. Plame came over to us, still kind of excited, though still primarily talking with Dad.

“I’m not surprised that Mr. Cranston’s kind of possessive about his early work, though I am surprised he’s allowing Abigail and her friends to work on it. Patton’s told me general details, but that’s been about it.”

“Uncle Billy did a lot of what I now know are early STEM activities with me growing up. I got to introduce him to my friends over the school year and he promised to help us get this into a STEM competition if we can get it to work, even though the initial design was his,” I replied. “From what I’ve seen, the designs should work. What we’re trying to do is figure out why they didn’t. He’s let me look at some of his other early inventions to see if there’s a correlation between them, as they also failed. One of them, he was able to get work several years later. I know that they were popular among my classmates for a few years.”

“Those reminder watches? I have some coworkers who use them, even with the advancements in smart device technology and cell phones. They like the fact that they can personalize the reminders and voices. Some of them work in areas where those watches are the only things that they can keep on them tech-wise that don’t interfere with what they’re working on.”

“I was one of the early beta testers for them,” Dad said, “given that I was into martial arts, even back then. Billy wanted someone to test it out who practiced different activities. I think all of our friends tried it out at one time or other once he got the design perfected as we were all into different things. A friend of mine’s a gymnast, Kat’s a dancer as is another friend of ours, plus Kat likes to swim. Most of us are martial artists, though, or practiced some form of martial arts at the time, including Abigail’s birth mother. He couldn’t get Abigail’s birthfather to try the watch out, though, not after this machine malfunctioned twice. I don’t blame him, even though Billy meant well. Didn’t stop Ernie from hosting an early STEM competition there after that. He still hosts them there occasionally, from what Billy’s said.”

“The malfunctioning is a big part of what we’re trying to figure out. If we can get it to work with the original plans, it was probably either the quality of the parts, as he had to invent some I think; the location, as Angel Grove was in the early days of having a Power Ranger team and there were a few things going wonky, not just this; or something else entirely. It’s also entirely possible that this is just one of those projects that just won’t work no matter how many variables you change. I’ve heard projects like these sometimes called ‘bad luck’ projects.” Mr. Plame laughed.

“I’ve had my fair share of those. Had one blow up. One of my coworkers wanted to ‘unhex’ me after the third such project in a row failing. Anther coworker was wondering which god in which religion I’d pissed off, which led to the first coworker offering to unhex me and my work station. Bosses shut that down before she could get started on the work station. I just let her do her unhexing of me, as it made things a bit easier on her. I didn’t mind one way or the other.”

“Which is why we’re doing this outside. Tried working on it in the basement…yea. Not fun. Good thing there’s a mop and bucket down there as I ended up making quite the mess. I’d been expecting the mess part, as it was the result of the first couple of malfunctions. Told Dad that the last thing I want is to explain why he needs to do a remodel. I know Dad’s talked about adding on to the house for a guest room or bigger art studio for me, but I’m not that desperate. There’s better ways to get that started then to blow up part of the house, especially with my baby brother in the house as well. Tent’s only if we get a freak storm.”

“Makes sense, especially given the only other place that you could do this outside of the high school is either where I work or at Mercer Industries. Dr. Mercer said something about cleaning up one of his labs due to some series of accidents.” That was putting it mildly. The lab had been used two years in a row as a Ranger villain base.

“Anton had said. We’d be doing it there if the lab in question was actually available to use, but he’s said there’s a lot of work to be done fixing it before it’s operational again. I’d worked in that lab before it initially blew up. Mesogog had taken it over; I’d gone over one day to check on a couple of projects, found Anton missing, but Mesogog there.”

“I’d heard he’d gotten hurt due to a negative result from one of his experiments.”

“Yes. He explained as much once he and I were able to actually sit down and talk after he returned to Reefside with Trent. That’s why he was also gone this past spring, as he’d not had someone to help him completely reverse his experiment and wanted to help a fellow scientist out with his own experiment. I’ve not asked what the trip was about, as Anton said that it was something classified. Having worked on classified projects before, I know better than to ask. If it’s something relating to a project I did when working for Anton, he’ll let me know.” Mr. Plame raised an eyebrow.

“Even though you’re no longer working for him?”

“I wasn’t the only person at Mercer Industries working on specific experiments. I’m sure some of them were continued after Anton went missing and I went back to university to get my teaching license. Anton letting me know is more matter of courtesy, as my name would still go on any papers published as a result of those experiments,” Dad replied as he gave Mr. Plame a hard look. He managed to guide Mr. Plame back to the house as their conversation continued. I knew full well that the conversation would take place in one of the rooms where we couldn’t be seen by Patton’s dad. Katherine, though, took up a seat on the porch, bringing Andy with her along with some of his toys so that way we were technically under adult supervision.

“Phew. I’ll have to thank Dr. O later; I really didn’t want to work on this with Dad watching. If Dad kept talking while still outside with Dr. O, it would have been time to leave and we’d not have gotten started.”

“Right?” I answered as we uncovered the project and I opened the schematics back up. The past several times we’d worked on it, much of the work had been isolating the various components from not just the liquid as was normal for electronics used in cooking, but also things like flour, which could get into spots and cause all sorts of havoc. One of the early STEM projects Uncle Billy had worked on me with had been teaching me just how much havoc things like dust or flour could cause with unprotected electronics.

This time around, we were finally able to finish isolating the components and were able to put everything together. Due to the age of the original machine, we were building a new one from scratch using the original schematics, the notes that Mom and Uncle Billy had made after both malfunctions, and our current round of notes as to what worked and what didn’t. It wasn’t the first invention of Uncle Billy’s from that particular year that had to be completely rebuilt due to the initial age of the invention. The communicator that I now wore was another.

Hayley had gotten together with Uncle Billy at some point after Thanksgiving and started building me a new communicator. I’d not had to ask, but Rocky had worked me through some of the issues surrounding it before I felt comfortable wearing a new one. I’d continued wearing Mom’s until not long before the recon mission. Hayley and Uncle Billy both understood why I wouldn’t want to upgrade Mom’s with the newer tech, as they would have had to gut hers to do so. It had been hard enough handing it off to Hayley to waterproof it just before Thanksgiving. Handing it off for her and Uncle Billy to upgrade it after that would have been even worse.

My current one was limited in scope as to what it could do, but Hayley had managed to shrink the tech she’d come up with for Dino Thunder’s communicators and morphers to put into my new one and had, with Uncle Billy’s help, managed to also include the beeping someone else telepathically feature into mine. Once we knew it worked in field conditions, especially given that several of us surfed, they’d upgrade the rest with the same feature. All of my team’s communicators had the waterproofing included and were also difficult to come off in the surf, if downright impossible. Johnny, once he heard about my first attempts at surfing with Mom’s communicator on, outright stated that he knew his would stay on.

Once we got it finally put together, it was time to actually get it to work. If it actually worked, there’d be an unfrosted cake done by the end of it. If we failed, well…none of us wanted it to explode, but as I told Patton’s dad, we knew it was a possibility. It was a big part of why Katherine had put a fire extinguisher near where she was working. We had several others near us and they’d actually taken time to teach us how to use them.

Of course, what we’d not been expecting was for the cake itself to explode once we got it out and tried cutting into it. Thankfully, it exploded upwards and primarily away from us. I knew Uncle Billy and the rest of the people who’d witnessed the original machine’s first two malfunctions would get a chuckle out of it. Dad and Mr. Patton had come running out when they heard our initial cheers and were as surprised as we were when the cake exploded.

“Anyone get that on film?” Patton asked. “For no other reason than posterity.”

“Patton, if this were anything but an invention of Uncle Billy’s, I would have,” I responded as I helped clean up the cake mess. We were going to be storing it so that we could figure out what went wrong on that end as well as if the cake was actually safe to eat.

“He’ll be interested in the results, one way or the other. I’m not entirely sure who out of our group of friends is going to be finding this result the funniest,” Katherine replied.

“Zack, given that it was his birthday party that Uncle Billy had initially invented this for. Not entirely sure why he’d invented it, but I’ve never asked either. If we can actually get it to work, it’s going to be an invention that will make a lot of people happy, much like the reminder watches. Uncle Billy’s just going to be happy that we got it one step closer to actually working,” I replied. “We’re cataloging every change we’ve made and the results so that when he’s able to come up next or one of us is able to visit him, he can actually take a look. I’d been hoping to have it mostly or completely working by the soccer camp game verses Angel Grove, as the girl’s team is playing same weekend they did last year, but in Angel Grove.”

“That’s next week, isn’t it?” Steve asked and I checked the calendar once we took the cake mess inside the house.

“It is. Hayley’s got me scheduled so that we can hopefully make a long weekend out of it. My birthfather’s not the only family I’ve got in Angel Grove, birth family or adopted.” At Mr. Plame’s look, I explained that my older brother also lived in the city, as did a cousin. Between both families, I also had two sets of grandparents and a great-uncle in the area. Mom’s parents were still living in Florida; said life there was a lot quieter than southern California. I didn’t blame them either; most Ranger teams were situated in a several hour radius of each other.

Chapter Text

Location: Angel Grove Youth Center, end of July/early August. POV: Rocky/3^rd person

Rocky looked up from the end of the counter where he’d been talking with Ernie. They’d gotten done with Ernie’s therapy session earlier in the day, but Rocky had elected to stick around in part because the Reefside soccer camp teen teams were going to be flooding the city and very likely the Youth Center. He’d heard from both Abigail and Tommy both that they were coming as well, even though Conner’s soccer camp wasn’t for the high school players just yet. Coach Daveed generally didn’t do it for the girl’s team given that their season was in the spring. The male team had helped out with the camp last year and Abigail had said that they were doing the same this year. A number of the girls helped as well; Abigail wasn’t due to wanting to have a job that didn’t relate to sports.

He knew that, just from talking with Abigail, that the varsity team did pick up games and practices throughout the school year, so he knew that she got some practice in during the off season. Abigail was coming down less for the soccer game, though she was planning on going, and more just to catch up with family and friends. Reefside being a couple of hours north made it difficult for her to get to Angel Grove to see everyone as often as she’d like, especially since the only two ways to get to either city from the other was either driving or taking a combination of the train and monorail. He knew that’s how she’d originally gotten to Reefside; she’d told him early on and he also remembered hearing when her school id and monorail card had been found.

He’d also heard from Billy that he’d taken the cake machine up to Abigail for her and her team to work on. Rocky’d heard references to the machine and it had taken a conversation with Jason, Kimberly, Zack, and a Billy who was blushing so hard that he looked like a tomato, along with Ernie, to get the whole story. Rocky understood all too well why Billy was blushing, even now. He’d wanted to do something nice for Zack that Ernie would also be able to use at the Youth Center so he wouldn’t have to keep going out and buying cakes every time someone was having a celebration there, though Ernie had offered to buy one for Zack’s birthday as well. Ernie, by his own admission, wasn’t the best at cake baking.

It made sense, even to Rocky. While the Youth Center had been used, on and off, for birthday parties and other celebrations, most people brought in the cakes and other baked goods needed if Ernie wasn’t providing the cake. On top of that, most of the menu at the Youth Center dealt with meals and drinks popular with the teens and children of Angel Grove, not desserts. While milkshakes could and sometimes did count as a dessert, they weren’t the cakes or other baked goods traditionally considered such in America.

Why Rocky had looked up was Abigail, her team, and Ethan were coming in with an all-to-familiar looking invention. He got Ernie’s attention and the look on his friend’s face was amusing to watch change from happiness at seeing his daughter to trepidation at seeing the machine again. Ernie had admitted to being glad he’d had a clean set of clothes there to change into after the second malfunction. He’d actually brought them from home after the first malfunction, just in case.

“That thing work this time, actually work?” It was obvious that Ernie still remembered the malfunctions over 2 decades later.

“It works, Ba,” Abigail responded, though not without general laughter from the other teens. “Took us a few tries and we did try it out one last time before bringing it in, and in several locations, so we know it’s not wonkiness from Power Ranger related things. That had been a consideration. I’m not telling the full story until Uncle Billy and the others come in. There were a few mishaps along the way and we had to have a friend check one of the results over to make sure that the cake was safe to eat. If we hadn’t had outside company, we would have filmed that particular reaction…for science purposes, of course.” Both Ernie and Rocky snorted at the last bit.

“Don’t tell me that invention exploded.”

“No machine explosions, I promise,” Abigail replied, laughing as she and the other teens joined Rocky at the counter. “Though we did work on it outside for that reason. Dad’s talked about adding on to the house, but that’s not a good way to go about it. Especially when you consider the fact that we’d have to almost completely rebuild the house in that case, or at least the garage. Uncle Billy’s going to be glad it works, though the cake does have to be decorated with icing and whatnot after. Not store bought, though. Too much sugar.”

“The others will be by later, as they have classes going on at the dojo right now. Kimberly and Aisha, along with Tanya, will probably be over first. Not sure when Billy’s going to be getting here, as he has to navigate L.A. traffic. He also had a doctor’s appointment today to get that walking boot off. Still dealing with the aftereffects of that broken ankle from April,” Rocky interjected.

“Got talking with him on the way down. He said he’d be here soon. We ended up doing some form of phone tree with the others…rather, we called Jason and he said he’d tell the rest. I think they want to be here for the demonstration that it works. The only place we’ve actually not tested it working was inside here, for obvious reasons. It was the only variable that we couldn’t test before now, though this version has been modified from the original designs.”

Tommy came in not long after with Kat and Andy, having to actually get Andy out of his car seat and into a stroller. Unlike the previous times that they’d come down, they were staying with his parents instead and part of the delay before getting to the Youth Center had been dropping most of their luggage as well as Abigail’s cats off at Mr. and Mrs. Oliver’s house.

Rocky had been surprised that the Olivers were willing to put up with a bunch of teens for a few nights, but Tommy had chuckled when Rocky said something to that effect. Abigail and the others, by this point, had either fallen into conversation with Ernie, the invention out of the way near the counter, or were doing something in the main room.

“Not the first time that they’d had that many teens over. Had several sleepovers with the others before Jason, Trini, and Zack left for the Youth Summit. After that, the sleepovers petered out, at least with the whole group. Mom, Dad, and I understood why, too.”

“Yea…my parents weren’t too keen on me going over for a mixed-gendered sleepover with people who we’d basically just ‘officially’ met not that long before. I know Aisha and Adam’s parents were the same way. It was one thing if it was just the three of us or just the guys in our friends group, but…”

“Right? I know we wouldn’t have done anything like what your parents were worried about. So did Mom and Dad, but I also know not all parents are like that. I’m kind of surprised that the only guys that have stayed overnight so far have been Austin and David. We offered Johnny, Steve, and Patton the chance the night before her birthday, but their parents said ‘no’, even with Austin and David being there. I’m kind of surprised that they said ‘yes’ this time around.”

“It was more because there’s two sets of adults chaperoning this time, along with Ethan, Dr. O. With Abigail’s birthday, it was just you and Mrs. Hillard-Oliver. Not sure that they knew that David, Austin, and Amy were going to be there that night,” Steve said. “At least, that was my parents’ reasoning. Johnny’s parents are the same way and I think with Patton’s dad, it was more the fact that Patton would have been the only one left out this time and Patton helped with a lot of the work on the invention. He knows how much his son looks up to not just you, but also to Mr. Cranston.”

“That makes sense. I also thought I’d asked you all to call me either Tommy or Tom when we’re not in school. I know Kat’s asked you guys to do the same.”

“Force of habit. Besides, my parents would flip if they heard. Johnny’s parents…not sure, but my parents insist on me calling the parents of my school friends either by their title or by Mr./Mrs./Ms./whatever followed by surname. I only really call you Dr. O when they’re not around to hear.”

“I’ve noticed that fact, Steve, and appreciate your honesty. It took Abigail a while before she quit calling me Dr. Oliver as well.”

“She went straight from Dr. Oliver to Dad,” Rocky replied after Steve took off. “I remember you saying something last November about it, Tommy.”

“Yea…she’d had a couple of bad days just prior, including one of her classmates doing something stupid in class. She’d been calling me her dad to her friends, but it had taken her a while to call me ‘Dad’ to my face,” Tommy replied just as quietly as Rocky’s statement. Steve, by this point, had met up with one of the teens he’d met when he’d been down for Abigail’s soccer game earlier in the year and they were practicing some form of martial arts. Jiu-Jitsu, by the looks of it. Rocky had studied it some, but not enough to have the black belt in it that Steve and Johnny did.

“She’s doing really well, Tommy. We’ve all noticed, even Ernie, and it’s a good thing. Their relationship is on the mend, from what I can tell.”

“It is. I know she’d hoped for it, even though Kat and I ended up adopting her. If Reefside hadn’t been attacked, I’m not entirely sure if the adoption would have happened. Either way, I know she’s happy with how things are going and that’s the important part.”

“It is, Tommy. How’s she doing as a big sister? I’ve seen some of it when I’ve come up for her therapy appointments, but not enough to know how it’s going in her day-to-day life.”

Tommy grinned. “She loves it. Honestly, the only diapers that Kat and I have to worry about when she’s awake are the ones we have to change when either when Abigail’s not around to do them-school, work, etc-or when she’s getting ready for the day or bed. Kat and I both have told her that she doesn’t have to change them, but she doesn’t mind. Says it gives her extra time to spend with Andy and I know he enjoys the time as much as she does. Pretty sure he’s going to be bilingual by the time she heads off to college, or at least we’re going to see the start of it.”

“She talks to him in Vietnamese as well as English?”

“Sometimes even in the same sentence.” Tommy grinned at Rocky’s incredulous look. “Started out with the lullabies she’d learned from Mrs. Trang, her Vietnamese teacher at Reefside High. Only reason she’s taking the class is due to the alphabet. She never learned to read the language growing up, as her only teacher was Sylvia and I’m not entirely sure how much Sylvia knows about how to read it. Abigail’s ahead of her classmates in the spoken half and science wasn’t the only class she was acting as a tutor in this last year. If Reefside High had a language club for Vietnamese like it does for ASL, Spanish, and French, Abigail would have probably joined the club to learn the alphabet and taken ASL. She couldn’t decide one way or the other. She had a lot of stuff going on last year and her martial arts lessons conflicted with the ASL club early on, as did soccer second semester, otherwise she would have joined.”

“Probably not enough students interested to do a club for it.” Tommy shook his head.

“Not really. Most of the kids in her class are either like her, not having learned much of the language growing up, or they’re hoping to become translators. Some, from what I hear in the staff lounge during lunch, are hoping to become linguists, or they’re taking the class because they don’t want to take French, Spanish, or ASL for whatever reason. Most linguistic hopefuls study European languages, though there’s ones who also study Asian or other languages as well. Vietnamese is the only Asian language offered at Reefside.”

“Most of the other language offerings I take it, besides ASL, are the traditional?”

“French and Spanish, yea. There’s a club for those that want to learn Latin that’s tied to the science department, as we do use a lot of Latin for scientific stuff. The linguist interested students are in that club just due to the fact that Latin is the parent language for about 3 or 4 different European languages, not counting English even though it’s influenced it too. Only know that much because I’d covered some of the connections between Latin and paleontology in my classes and did a session for the club.”

“Would have thought that would have been covered in one of the high school English classes. It was when I was at Stone Canyon High School.”

“Probably was. Just don’t recall one way or another.”

“I’ve heard about what your memory was like back then. Got to see it in action a few times after that.”

“I’ve gotten better. Used one of those watches Billy invented for a while, after he got it fixed. I know that he’s claimed to have invented it for a different reason, but I was the original recipient. Poor Billy. That watch was the third such invention that failed for him in as many months, though the first didn’t fail exactly, from what I understand. Transposed something or other in it and that’s about as much as I understand, even with Trini trying to explain it even back then. She’d be proud of how Abigail and her friends have managed to fix that cake-making machine. Trini and Billy worked so hard trying to fix it after the first malfunction. Billy was afraid to try to fix it after that, afraid it would fail a third time.”

“I don’t blame him. Finally got Billy and the others to tell me the whole story behind it. It’s been what…almost 20 years and he still turns beet red at the memory.”

“Did when I heard about it the first time, not long after joining our group of friends and then again when he brought it up for this bunch just before some friends stopped by from out of the area. Bit of a surprise for him; one of our other friends was able to track them down and explain everything.”

“It was. This has been the happiest I’ve seen him in a while and I was around when he first left to be with them. Thankfully, they understood why and were more than willing to come to catch up. From what one of them has said, I think two *might* be staying. Sensei Watanabe’s offered them a job in Blue Bay Harbor…trying to tempt Billy, too. From what I understand, Sensei’s son Cam’s quite intelligent and has similar levels of skill with computers as Billy does.” Tommy raised an eyebrow at Rocky’s statement.

“That would be nice. Blue Bay Harbor’s not far from Reefside; you actually have to drive through it to get to Reefside from Angel Grove if you’re taking the scenic route. I know one of the hardest things for Abigail has been not being able to see everyone as often as she did growing up here and Billy lives the furthest away. I also know she wants to get to know Cestria and Corcus as well. She’s rather pissed at the person responsible for her godfather being separated from Cestria and Corcus and wants to give them a dressing down. She’s already claimed them as family due to their connection to Billy and wants to get to know them better.”

“They’ll like that. They actually took a day and caught me up on their culture. I think Cestria and Corcus just might claim Abigail as family as well and for the same reasons. She’s not the only one pissed at the forced separation, believe me. Delphine’s promised to deliver the chewing out from our end, as she knows who’s responsible. I know that her team’s kind of glad Abigail has no interest in going to where they’re from because they know that Abigail’s chewing out would be a heck of a lot worse than the one Andros delivered.”

“Better hope the person responsible never shows up here unless it’s to directly apologize,” Kat said as she joined them at their table, milkshakes in hand. “I still can’t believe Ernie remembers who likes what.”

“I’m in here often enough and you taught here until last summer. He’s either got a memory as sharp as Hayley’s or he has a book where he keeps the favorites of anyone who’s been a regular from the time he opened. Those are my best two guesses at any rate and it’s probably a mix of both.” Looking around, Rocky realized that Andy wasn’t with her. “Where’s Andy?”

“Abigail’s got him. Giving Andy and her friends the nickel tour of the public spots. Jason and the others will be or are on their way over and Billy’s pulling in now.”

“Yea…outside of David, Jason and Kim’s twins, Ernie, or any of the Youth Center’s other employees, Abigail’s probably the best person to give them that tour. Said she and David used to play hide and seek here growing up when they weren’t doing other activities. David, when he wasn’t taking lessons at Jason’s dojo, was taking them here and Abigail took every art class offered here, much like she’s planning on doing in high school. She’s already taken several that either the art store or the museum have offered, though one was actually more of a lecture than a lesson.”

Rocky shook his head, amused; that wasn’t surprising one bit with everything he’d learned about Abigail in the time he’d been her therapist.

“I know she’s got a few years before she decides what university she wants to go to, but has she given any indication on what she wants to do for a living?”

“Not really. After the two art shows, I know she’s considering art as a career. This is doubly true if she ends up staying with Ethan. They just started dating and Ethan’s skills with computers and technology in general rivals Billy’s. Ethan, if he can figure out how to do so, might be considering developing some stuff we used for general use. There’s some stuff that won’t be an issue, but there’s also a lot of stuff to consider. If he’s able to do that, he’d make enough that Abigail wouldn’t have to worry about helping to contribute to the household finances.”

“Whereas if she’s living on her own at first, even when in university, she’d have to get a job working somewhere just to pay the bills. Most of that’s associated with anything to do with either apartment rental or home ownership-electric, water if she’s living within city limits, gas if she’s got a gas stove or if the heating’s gas verses electric plus rent or property taxes. That’s not counting transportation either.”

“Hayley’s said she’s got a job there as long as she wants. Ernie’s effectively said the same thing, as between working at Hayley’s and growing up here, she’ll be trained in a lot of what needs to be done. I think the director of Reefside’s art museum wants to hire her after she turns 18 or at least buy some of her paintings occasionally, including some of the ones that she’s got as part of the exhibit. Unlike Hayley’s, the museum’s got some policy or other that won’t allow him to hire her now, otherwise there’s a chance that she’d be working there right now instead of for Hayley. The most she could do there right now would be to volunteer and Abigail’s said she wants to earn her own spending and gas money.”

“I’ve talked with Toby-he owns Rock Porium in Briarwood, Rocky-a time or two,” Kat added. “Abigail’s got it easier working for Hayley than she would anywhere else in Reefside with the exception of Mercer Industries. Hayley understands if Abigail needs to duck out or rearrange her schedule for whatever reason. Not many people would.”

“No, they wouldn’t. There’s probably a handful of employers in cities where there’s been a Power Ranger team that would understand. Angel Grove’s got two-Ernie and Adelle, who runs the Surf Shack. TJ said that, once they’d joined up with Andros, went there instead of here because Ernie was still in the Amazon. Lt. Stone, as much as he’d done double duty as a cop initially while he was running this at the time, would have asked way too many questions and they were still trying to keep their identities secret, from what he said. He also said Stone did ask them a bunch of questions after Zordon’s death, but a lot of them they couldn’t answer. That should have been the first clue that he wasn’t the best ally that he could have been.”

“Who their predecessors had been and so on?” Kat asked Tommy. His response was quiet, as to not be overheard by many.

“Among other things. How the morphing technology worked…SPD’s not the only group that’s wanted to use morphing tech for those that can’t become Power Rangers. It’s not that the intergalactic Rangers aren’t against it specifically-upgrades to Kevlar for example-but it’s been one of the rules set down for eons.”

Rocky understood the answer, as not everyone was cut out for the life of a Power Ranger. Even those that did get Chosen to be such, in many ways, needed the same help that cops and military members did after traumatic events, or that military members needed after returning to civilian life. While he was the only therapist for the group for the time being, there were others on Earth that were either looking into the same field or likely to become such. Their intergalactic allies were also willing to help out when they could, which was a good thing.

They ended up quitting their conversation as Billy walked up, using a cane temporarily. While he might have gotten the walking boot off, he was still dependent on a walking aid until he got done with physical therapy. Rocky noticed Tommy pull out his phone and text Abigail to let her know that her godfather was there. They all knew that, with Billy using a cane temporarily and Andy likely in Abigail’s arms, Billy wouldn’t be subjugated to a tackle hug like Abigail sometimes did. Tommy had been on the receiving end of several of those over the past year, one of which, Rocky had heard, had been when he’d allowed her to set up one of the guest bedrooms as her art studio.

Having seen both the Youth Center room set aside for art classes and Abigail’s ever-evolving art studio, Rocky understood all too well why Tommy had spoken of adding on to the house. The bedroom that Abigail currently used as an art studio worked well for now, but the walk-in closet that the room had would rapidly run out of space within the next year if she continued painting on canvas. The only other place that had enough in the way of storage for the finished canvases was the Command Center under Tommy’s house. Due to the fact that Triceramax was primarily used for Ranger stuff as well as the fact that the unused caverns hadn’t been sealed against dampness yet, Rocky knew that it was also out as an art storage area.

Tommy had said that he was glad Abigail hadn’t asked for a kiln; while she’d taken pottery either as a class here at the Youth Center or at the art store, the work had been fired in a kiln off-site and been able to be picked up later on. The high school had two kilns on site as well, so they didn’t have to worry about that during the upcoming school year. Tommy’d said that he’d have to add on if Abigail wanted a kiln, as there was nowhere that it could sit in the house without it being a danger to either the cats or Andy and any other children Tommy and Kat ended up having.

This was even with the offer from the art director to buy some of her paintings. Abigail had spoken to him the last time they’d had a session that she didn’t know what she was going to do with all of the painted canvases. Some, she didn’t mind the art director buying and was actually going to leave it up to him which ones he wanted to have for museum usage or for his own home. The rest, she wasn’t sure of the intended recipients. Unlike the artwork she deliberately did for people, these had been general paintings. Some had been specifically done for Reefside High School’s spring musical and were actually on loan to the exhibit from the high school. Everyone involved understood that those paintings weren’t among the options for the museum director to choose from.

“Uncle Billy!” Rocky, Tommy, Kat, and Billy looked up to see Abigail and her team, along with a 3 ½ month old Andy in Abigail’s arms, re-enter the main room and make their way over to their table. The grin on her face, while her normal happy one, also had a bit of mischief in it. Rocky had a sneaking suspicion as to why, as Billy hadn’t noticed the machine in its out-of-the-way corner yet.

“Abigail.” Billy did his best to stand up from where he was sitting to give Abigail a hug. It ended up as a group hug as Abigail was still holding Andy, who was doing his best to get Billy to hold him. Tommy had ended up getting up to help Billy sit back down, as the two had managed to successfully transfer Andy to Billy’s arms. Watching the two interact brought a smile to everyone’s face while Abigail and her friends either wrangled a table and some chairs to be close or take places at the end of the counter closest to where they were.

“He likes you, Uncle Billy.”

“I think he likes everyone, Abigail.” Tommy shook his head at Billy’s statement.

“Not everyone and not at first. It took him a while to warm up to Anton and Elsa both. Trent took quicker, but with Anton and Elsa…not sure why.”

“Probably connected with the whole thing that lets him know where I’m at. From what I’ve been told, I gave Ba and the other employees here at the time several heart or panic attacks when I started crawling and then walking. They’d be looking for me, as I’d wandered off, and find me with some combination of David and the twins. Nobody could explain exactly why I knew where they were. Austin and Amy’s ability to do so got brushed off initially because they’re twins. From what Ba’s said, it’s because they were worried I’d wandered out of the building or something. It was part of why one of the rooms looks like a mini child-care area. Easier to keep an eye on me, especially once David started first grade. Preschool and kindergarten were half-day affairs for me.”

“Not to mention Miss Julie’s art classes,” Billy responded. “I was here for some of the time that they’d be looking for you. I offered to make Ernie a tracker for you, but that was right after one of his employees, who was studying to become a preschool teacher, volunteered to run that room. If she’d not volunteered, I think he probably would have taken me up on it.”

Abigail laughed. “If you made it into a watch, you would’ve had to put it on my right wrist. I was telling Hayley and some of the others last summer that I can’t tolerate anything on my left wrist, as I’m a lefty. I know some people can, but I’m not one of those. TJ’s one of those who can tolerate something on his dominant hand. I believe, though, that it was due to his morphers. He was complaining about it once; I was able to commiserate a little bit as I’ve had teachers try to force me to write with my right hand, even though it’s not official school policy anymore.”

“Sanderson was one of those,” Tommy said, evidently remembering hearing about it from either Abigail, one of her team, or one of his coworkers. “He was…well, no good way to describe him without using words I know Ernie would rather I not use in here.”

“Well, you could, Tommy, but you’d end up sounding like Billy does.”

“Hey! I’m not that bad.” Billy’s indignant reply was slightly muffled by the fact that he was also doing his best to rescue his glasses from a very curious Andy.

“Not anymore. When I first met you on the other hand? The dictionary became my best book friend for a while, primarily until several months after Trini and the others went to the Youth Summit.” Tommy’s statement got giggles or outright laughter from the group and Billy did acknowledge the fact that his vocabulary tended to be a lot more…verbose…than most people his age when they were in high school.

“Was one of my best book friends too growing up, outside of my art books. Coding books designed for children were some the summer right before first grade as I needed to understand a few things and the books around Uncle Billy’s house at the time were written for adults, not a 7-year-old.”

Billy laughed. “Ernie told me about that last week when I stopped over. He’d been puzzled about it. I didn’t have the heart to tell him part of why I was using binary around you either.”

“Yea…letting him know that reason…not good.” Abigail looked around to see Ernie heading towards the kitchen. “One of the employees gave me a kid-friendly version of what naughty words were when I asked and why I shouldn’t use them until I was much older. I really didn’t want to ask Ba that, which is why I’d asked Bethany.” Tommy just raised an eyebrow, as did the rest of the group.

“You can swear in binary?” Ethan asked to the laughter of the group.

“If there’s anyone that can figure out how to do that, it’s Billy,” Tommy responded as Billy blushed a bit. “I have to admit to being somewhat pants when it comes to coding. Hayley and Billy were the first two that helped set up the computer system for the house. I just had to plug that system into what I’d had from my teenaged years and we were set.”

“I remember Dr. Mercer being there at first, Tommy. What happened?”

“He’d taken the time to help me to initially expand and map the cavern system that’s under the house. It was during the time period that he was working on buying the small island just outside of Reefside to use as a lab. He didn’t want to know what I was going to set up computer-wise, but it started out as a temporary lab for us. It remained such for me after he disappeared and the island vanished. I needed to store our experiments that had landed around Reefside after the explosion somewhere and, seeing as I was living alone at the time, well, it worked. I’d only found out later that either Anton or Mesogog had managed to also get the part of the island that connects to the ocean floor to sink down on itself and a bubble goes around it to preserve the vegetation and oxygen levels.”

Their conversation was put to a halt as Ernie came back with the ingredients for Abigail and the others to put into the cake machine. Billy was the only one puzzled as Ernie approached and Rocky wasn’t the only one having to hold in their amusement.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice it when you came in, Uncle Billy?” Abigail asked after Billy had a quick conversation with Ernie.

“Notice what?” Billy asked and Ethan had a hard time stifling a laugh at that. Abigail’s grin just got bigger seeing her godfather puzzled. Billy’s look of understanding when the machine was pointed out to him got further giggles from her friends and an amused look from Tommy.

“We got it fixed,” she responded as she pulled a folder that was rather stuffed and a big notebook out of her shoulder bag. “From what we could figure, one of the early problems was having the machine frost the cake as well as bake it. We might be able to fix that in a future version, but this would be fun for kid’s birthday parties. Even Ba’s said that he can frost and decorate a cake. The rest of the issues that we could find were primarily what you had to build the original machine with and issues with shielding parts of the machine.” She shrugged. “There was one instance after we built the initial version of what we’ve got now where the cake exploded. Even with Alpha’s help, we still can’t figure out why it exploded. If Patton’s dad hadn’t been over, we would have filmed it, but we know you would have wanted to meet Mr. Plame first.” Billy blinked, startled.

“I appreciate that,” he responded as he looked through the notes. “You would be able to replicate the cake exploding?”

“Yes,” Patton replied, laughing somewhat. “What you’ve got in the folder and notebook are the steps we took and the results. We were able to film a bit, but the recordings are on a secure server. Dr. O said something about you having a computer or area where you can access that?”

“Yes…I have something at home similar to what Hayley does, though I can always get to a more secure area to view it if I need to. I do want to see the cake explosion results at some point, primarily to see if I’d come to the same conclusions.”

“No problem, Billy,” Tommy responded. “We’ve actually got the exploded cake in secured storage at my place. Alpha was able to check it out, so we know it’s safe to eat as of two days ago. He left instructions on how to re-check it just in case that changes between when he checked it and when we head back home next Tuesday.”

“The only reason we didn’t bring it with us was the fact that we didn’t have the space between the two vehicles due to everyone’s luggage and the invention taking up most of the available space that they weren’t sitting in,” Kat added. “Francine had to pack her stuff in Conner’s two-seater because of that. He’ll be over later, as will Trent and Kira, but there was something he had to do with the soccer camp. Even though Ernie helps run it, he just lets many of the age-level coaches deal with their counterparts. He only came up last year, from what I heard later, partially because he’d not been updated as to where Abigail was. The other reason why was because the main coach for the girls’ team had a family emergency of some form and he couldn’t make it.”

“That’s understandable. You want to get this going? Make a cake to welcome the Reefside teams?” Billy responded.

“Yes, along with testing the one variable we weren’t able to-the Youth Center. We still can’t rule out the fact that it was the Youth Center or, at the very least, that counter that contributed to the malfunctions. From what you and Ba have said, the counter was one of the few things that didn’t get damaged. As far as I know, it’s still the original counter. We know it’s not Power Ranger related stuff because we actually did some tests in Zordon’s Command Center.” The last part of Abigail’s answer was said quietly as Ethan helped her get it up on to a side table. “Ran every test our friend was comfortable with letting us do in there. He’s…rather panicky.”

“He’s been like that as long as I’ve known him. I think it’s part of his programming, but he and our mentor were also the only ones in there most of the time. That and dealing with teenagers along with everything else that was going on at the time…”

“Makes sense. Even with doing what I did for most of Ivan’s attacks, I had days where I was a hot mess. Actually had to skip a soccer game this past spring because I’d had a night where I barely got sleep due to nightmares. It wouldn’t have been good for me to be there…too tired. Rocky and David came up to help. I think it was the Saturday after the school art show weekend and Dad and I had gone to the spring musical the night before. Kat and Andy hadn’t joined us due to Andy still being home not that long. He was not quite a month old at that point and would have woken up due to the noise.”

“I heard about that after the fact. Even though I’d been busy with work, I would have come up, Abigail.”

“I know. Aunt Kimberly actually offered, from what I heard, but I wasn’t much in the way of able to tolerate many people there that weekend. Rocky and David outside of Dad, Katherine, and Andy. I think I get that from Ba.”

“Everyone gets like that sometimes, Abigail, so it’s not just you or Ernie,” Rocky said. “Trust me. In my line of work, I’ve seen it happen multiple times and for multiple people. It’s completely normal for people to feel like that when they’ve gotten overly stressed and you’ve more than earned the right to have days like that.”

“Thanks, Rocky,” Abigail replied, giving him a smile. “When are Jason and the others getting here? I know Jason said that he, Aunt Kimberly, and Zack want to see this work due to being here during the initial malfunctions. Aisha and the others are coming because they heard the story behind it and are curious. We’ve still got the original at home, Uncle Billy, if you ever want it back. We reassembled it after taking a look at all the pieces. It’s pretty much good as a museum piece, but that’s about it. Like with Mom’s pager, it’s just too old to do the updates we needed to do and still work.”

Rocky thought for a moment after glancing at the clock near the counter. “From what I remember, Jason and Zack’s classes should be getting out pretty soon, if it’s not already. Due to most of their students either on one of the teen summer soccer camp teams or having other things going on today, that’s the last lesson for the day. Not sure where David or the twins are, though I know Justine and some of the others have been working all day today. Jason did say that there are going to be some of the black belts that weren’t part of our friends group staying there. They’ll lock up at normal closing time. From what Jason’s said, it’s not the first time that they’ve had to do so.”

“Today’s one of the days David usually teaches, though he said that he’s working on one of his belts in a different discipline as well. Between that and working on the basement storage here…he’s also trying to hide from the girls who aren’t deterred by the fact that he’s dating Amy.” Tommy snorted at Abigail’s comment, to the puzzlement of all but Rocky, Kat, and the Reefside crew.

“I don’t blame him, either,” Francine responded. “I’m just glad that my parents finally got Athena into therapy. I think she’s seeing one you recommended, Rocky.”

“She is. Your parents actually asked me if I’d take her on as a client, but I’m full. Most of my clients right now, including Abigail, just need occasional sessions during the summer so that they can enjoy what summer has to offer. I probably won’t get weekly or twice-weekly clients again until the school year starts. Several of mine are actually going away to college this fall and I’ve helped get them in touch with someone on their school’s campus, even if they’re going to AGU. They’re still welcome to talk with me, but many have admitted that it’s nice having someone on campus to talk to as well. They’ve said it makes the transition easier.” What Rocky didn’t say was that he was partially around the Youth Center because he had at least one other appointment that day that would be happening there, though not with Ernie, David, or Abigail.

“David’s said as much with his, even without what happened last year. Not sure what he’s going to do as far as staying on campus this year, as L.A. isn’t that far. On the other hand, I’ve heard enough from Uncle Billy to know what the traffic’s like. 6 of one, ½ a dozen of the other.”

“He knows he can stay at my place. I’ve hesitated putting it on the market partially for that reason. I’m seriously considering moving up to Blue Bay Harbor, as Cestria and Corcus are taking Sensei up on his rather kind and generous offer. Even if I don’t work for Sensei due to Cam currently filling the role that I once had, I could teach computers and such at the high school. Got my teaching license finally, so it wouldn’t be that difficult to get a job there.”

“I didn’t know you were doing that, Billy.”

“Even before Abigail moved to Reefside, I was considering it. Just getting tired of doing what I’m doing. I can understand why Hayley left the field and would rather move somewhere where I’m not far from those I care about. It wasn’t that hard to do, as I only had to take a few extra classes and do a semester student teaching. Even with living out of Angel Grove from the time I was in my late teens until just before Abigail was born, I’ve still kept up with tech classes so that I’m not playing catch-up. Most of us in the tech world do that just to keep our skills sharp.”

“That’s good to know, Mr. Cranston,” Ethan replied. “That’s what I’m getting my initial degree in-computer technology. If I can get permission from some of our friends, I’d like to adapt some of our tech for civilian usage. I’m not talking military stuff, though there’s money to be made in that, but more along the lines of making working hoverboards and things along those lines.”

Rocky grinned. “Tommy did say you’d likely do something along those lines. I have no doubt that you’d get that permission, though there’s a lot of people you’d have to meet first just to get that permission.”

“I’ve got a few years before I would start getting into it and need that permission. I’ve got school to finish first and I’m also planning on trying for an internship at WED Enterprises…Disney Imagineering in layman’s terms.”

“As far as experimental tech, that’s a good place to start. You probably won’t be able to use a lot of what they’ve got usage rights for when you open your own company, but you’ll learn a lot there. I’ve done a few things for them over the years.”

“Abigail’s told me of some of the stuff that they’re doing. I’m hoping to take a day or two and see some of the stuff at Disneyland that Abigail saw last month. Their Crush the Turtle interactive area at California Adventure sounds like a lot of fun and had to have taken them a lot of work to do.”

“That was pretty impressive, I have to admit. Abigail was more impressed with the Muppet Mobile Lab then she was with Crush. Probably due to the fact that it’s a free-standing, mobile attraction where Turtle Talk with Crush isn’t.”

Almost as if they’d been called, Jason and the rest of his group that had come over from the dojo entered. Jason, Zack, and Kimberly were the quickest to get up, as they’d witnessed one or both of the original malfunctions. Ernie, due to the size of the group that wanted to see the machine in action, had set up a table in the main part of the room and helped clear the way for Abigail and her team to take it down to that. He and Justine had actually gotten one of the newer, sturdier tables that Ernie had invested in and set it up. Rocky was having a lot of fun just watching them get everything together. He’d also noted, with some amusement, that Ernie had also put a mop and bucket to the side. He knew that Ernie was expecting another mess to have to clean up.

“I was wondering why you’d called yesterday and asked me to make up buttercream frosting in different colors, Abby,” David said as he brought out the aforementioned frosting. Amy had gone into the kitchen just behind him and was bringing out the cake decorating tools, as well as several spatulas.

“Yep. This is why, David,” Abigail responded to her older brother as the machine worked. “Store-bought frosting’s got too much sugar to actually keep the cake from exploding. We found that if you let the cake set overnight, you can use store-bought, but since we’re hoping to use the cake today, buttercream it is.”

“Wait, wait, wait. You actually had a cake explode on you?” Jason asked.

Zack followed up with “Did you get footage?”

“More than once and no, not of the first time. Outside company-Patton’s dad. Our notes are with…Katherine as Uncle Billy’s got Andy. Uncle Billy’s spoken of wanting to replicate the exploding cake result for reasons and I don’t blame him.”

“Just wish your mother could be here to see this,” Ernie said as they watched a fully-cooked cake be taken out of the machine. “Billy wasn’t the only one disappointed that the machine failed twice.”

Rocky watched as Abigail gave her birthfather a sad smile as the cake cooled. “She’s here in spirit, Ba. No worries.”

“She’d be pleased that it’s finally working. I know I am…Andy, my glasses aren’t food.” A chuckling Tommy took Andy from a limping Billy as Kat brought the cane over. “Thanks, Tommy, Kat,” Billy told them as he sank into a nearby chair, cleaning his glasses with a cloth as he did so.

“Sorry about that, Billy. It’s usually his toys that end up in his mouth. I know Kat, Abigail, and I are going to be keeping a lot of stuff out of his mouth once he starts crawling. Abigail already keeps a lot of her art stuff that’s not safe to ingest-which is most of her paints-closed up and put away in something that locks because of the cats. She usually keeps the door to her art studio closed even when she’s not in it and for the same reason.”

“That’s a good idea. I can remember when she was young…most of the paint Miss Julie used for children’s art classes was non-toxic. An order was late getting there-didn’t get here until a couple days after it was supposed to arrive. Thankfully, there was a lot of paper and brushes to use and Ernie had the ingredients to make the homemade paint here. Someone did have to go out and get the bottles we needed, but otherwise, everything else was here.”

“Abigail told us about that. I think Karan was the only one who couldn’t make it the day of the original exploding cake. Even though she really doesn’t want to, she still has to talk with her parents once a month and they’d chosen that day to make the international call. She was sad to have missed the excitement.”

“I don’t blame her for not wanting to talk with her parents if they’re as bad as some of the people I’ve run into. My parents have been great. Didn’t even blink when I introduced them to Corcus and Cestria. When I asked, they said that after living in Angel Grove for as long as they have, especially during the years where there were active Power Ranger teams, they could deal with just about anything. They also said that I could have done a lot worse then bringing home the two partners I did. If I’d come home with Bulk or Skull, they’d have said something and that was more due to how both of them treated me in high school verses the fact that Bulk and Skull are guys.”

“I know Karan wishes she had your parents,” Tommy replied quietly. “If the situation warrants it, I know Anton and Elsa are perfectly willing to adopt her. All she has to do is ask.” Billy just shook his head at the situation. Rocky could understand why, as Karan’s situation was starting to mirror Abigail’s now that she was out from a bad home life.

“They getting married any time soon?” Rocky asked. He’d gotten to meet both Dr. Mercer and Elsa Randall during the various times he’d gone up to Reefside over the past year.

“Christmas or thereabouts. Unlike with Kat and I, there’s no rush for them to get married. Part of the wait for both situations has been the fact that Anton wants to make sure that there weren’t any complications from some of his experiments. Andros has offered to get in touch with someone who can act as an OB/GYN for Elsa should she become pregnant due to what happened to Anton.”

“They’re worried about odd complications?”

“Among other things, Rocky, and I don’t blame them. I know that there’s a chance that Andy or any other biological child of mine will have odd abilities due to this,” Tommy responded, indicating his current morpher, “but between our crew and David’s counselor's contacts in New York State, I think we’re pretty much set on training any odd abilities that show up.”

“From what my friend has said, odd abilities of his friends tend to show up between the ages of 11 and 18, pretty much during puberty.”

“And most Power Rangers are in their mid-to late-teens at the time they become active.” A spark and some smoke distracted the three from their conversation.

“What happened?” Billy was coughing and waving away smoke, as were most of the group.

“We managed to get 3 cakes made-fully made, as in out of the machine. We were about to put the ingredients in for a fourth, as between the teams coming in today and a likely after party tomorrow, we wanted to make sure that there were enough cakes made. I think I know what happened, though, and it’s an easy fix,” Francine responded.

“Well, at least it’s not a goopy mess. I can probably put the mop and bucket away.” Ernie did that as the guys got the machine off the table. From the sounds of it, they were going to take it into one of the smaller side rooms to fix so that the work didn’t clutter up the main room. The rest of the crew, adults included, were going to be decorating the three cakes that had been made.

“I think I’ll join the group working on that machine. It will give me a chance to look through the notes at any rate and see all the changes. I know that they’ll need the notebook to note what happened today. It’s come a long way since I first invented it. I just hope Ernie wants it after what the first one did to him.”

“If they can get it working so that all it needs is normal upkeep, yes. That would be one less expense I have to worry about. Most of the cakes I have to get for birthday parties are for families who can’t afford one.”

“That’s good to hear. I know Abigail’s been talking about trying to work in a self-cleaning function on it so that you can switch out common allergens in the ingredients without having to compromise the baking process.”

“Or have that for the allergy-specific ones. Justine and Amy both are fairly good in the cake department, or so I hear. We’ve not had many parties this year where we’ve needed an allergy-specific cake to be made here. Those families usually bring their own. I’m working on trying to get a second kitchen built so that allergy-free stuff can be made without compromising it. I’ve been nut-free here for quite a while, despite the complaints that I don’t use peanut butter in the smoothies any more or don’t offer stuff made with almond milk. Just easier, given the rise of nut allergies. Hardest is with coconut stuff, as I can’t use it much in tropical smoothies anymore.”

“That’s…odd,” Rocky replied as Billy headed off. Ernie simply shrugged.

“You’d have to ask someone who’s interested in it or who’s actually allergic. From what someone said, some people who are allergic to either all nuts or tree nuts are allergic, while others with the same allergy bunch aren’t. Several of the over-18 group, including myself are trained in allergy response first aid just in case someone’s actually allergic even though they thought they weren’t.”

“That’s a good idea, Ernie. Conner had to get first aid training last year due to taking over the soccer camp. His is general first aid due to the number of things that can go wrong during sports. From what he said last year, all of the coaches have that same certification and for the same reason. He’s not required it of the teens on Reefside’s soccer teams, but many who are old enough have gone ahead and gotten that same certification. Mostly because Conner did, though some of them admitted that it was less for sports and more because they’d lived through two years of being home to Power Ranger teams.”

Ernie just looked amused at that. “I started stocking this place with first aid supplies from the time I bought it. Once Rita and the others started attacking, I just overstocked it. Few times it came in handy and this acted as an area for some of the wounded before it was safe enough to transport them to the hospital. The emergency crews were glad for the supplies that I had on hand.” Tommy, Rocky noted, looked stricken with guilt at that. Some of the injuries had happened when Tommy had been under Rita’s control.

“It’s not your fault, Tommy,” Ernie said before Rocky had to as the older man drew Tommy away from the cake group. Rocky followed them to a quiet corner as Ernie continued with, “You didn’t ask for Angel Grove to be attacked. From what I noticed, you didn’t even get a choice to do what you did…from what Trini said, you had less of a choice initially then they did. I’ve watched enough of the news reports over the years to know what happened to you isn’t unusual at all. One of Reefside’s first team members was in the same situation as you were, if I remember right.”

“Still, Ernie…so many of those injuries were avoidable. I should have…”

“You’re not the only one who’s been kicking themselves about their less-than-stellar behavior when they weren’t their best. I’ll tell you the same thing that I’m sure you’ve heard from everyone else, including Rocky: it wasn’t your fault. Rita’s, Zedd’s, the others who tried to take over Earth from here, but not yours.”

“You told me the same thing after I joined the team, Dr. O,” Trent said as he joined them. He and Kira had gotten there during the cake decorating part of the cake making. They’d missed the machine working.

“It’s a Red thing, Trent. Jason and I can get the same way, though I’m not near as bad as I never had to serve as team lead. Bet Conner does it too.”

“He does. Ethan and Kira usually pull him out of it…usually Ethan. Pranks him or teases him.” Trent snorted. “Abigail’s helped on occasion. She’s gotten all but Kira with some form of glitter prank. I was the first prankee…I’m sure the one played on me was a group effort as Kira was the only one with access to my shampoo and conditioner.”

“Only because Kira’s a fellow Yellow. She’s best at following Abigail’s thought process. Abigail’s tried…I’m pretty sure that one of the pranks that Conner got hit with was actually intended for Kira, though it wasn’t one of Abigail’s. After the incident with Spike, Abigail’s a bit shy when it comes to pranks. She admitted to me one day after the baby shower what happened. I know she’s more than willing to help, but she rarely initiates many on her own.”

Ernie smiled, as did Rocky and Trent, to see their friend out of his funk, Andy having been handed off to Kat earlier as he was getting hungry.

“She got me at her birthday party. I know you saw some of the pictures, Ernie. Jason had suggested glitter water balloon fight. I was covered head-to-toe in glitter, or that’s how it felt. Abigail admitted later she’d gotten me twice. Took me almost a week to get the glitter out of everything, even with Kat helping to clean me off. Laundry took twice that long and we’re still finding glitter when we do laundry.”

Rocky and Ernie both grinned, remembering the photos. Tommy had looked almost like Christmas garland, as he was that covered in glitter.

“I still feel bad for not being able to be there.” Now it was Tommy’s turn to comfort and reassure his friend.

“You weren’t at your best, Ernie, and we all recognize that. Abigail even said, and I know she told you as much, that she didn’t want your own mental health to suffer due to being there if you didn’t feel up to it.”

“Thanks for understanding.” Ernie had to get up and back to work as the soccer teams started flooding the Youth Center and both Tommy and Rocky were pleased to note Abigail helping him out. Rocky hadn’t found out until after the fact that Abigail had also helped out the day before she and Ernie had their heart to heart as Ernie was down 3 employees that day and there’d been several pizzas that had been ordered.

Chapter Text

Location: Youth Center, same day. POV: Ernie/3^rd person.

By the time Ernie locked up that evening, he was exhausted, but happy and very pleased with how the day had gone. The cakes had been a huge hit and Ernie admitted to himself that he’d been excited for the machine from the first time Billy and Trini had brought the initial prototype into the Youth Center not long after they’d become Power Rangers. He hadn’t been the only one who wasn’t expecting the machine to malfunction like it had, but he’d unfortunately been doused with the results, which had been rather tasty, even if it was a rather big mess. He’d finally had to get Billy and Trini both to stop apologizing, as they couldn’t have predicted the results.

Abigail and her friends, with Billy’s help, had managed to get the machine working again and had promised a few more cakes for tomorrow’s likely after-party. They’d promised to get the finished machine to him by Christmas latest, though Billy had admitted it was likelier to be ready somewhere between the end of summer and Halloween. It was going to take a lot more work, from what Ernie understood, before they could get it to where it would do basic frosting work on top of baking the cake.

“Even if it only does what it did today, that’s still quite the accomplishment, Abigail. I wouldn’t mind having the machine do as it did today before the smoke and frost it myself. That allows for better personalization, at any rate, especially when you consider the various spellings of some of the more common names.” He also admitted to himself that having a party where the kids got to decorate the cake how they liked it would be a good thing. He’d done it once for Abigail’s birthday when she was little and for others, but not much recently as most parents preferred bringing in their own cakes for the birthday parties held here.

Ernie, for all he could cook, had issues with baking cakes from scratch and only cakes. He’d not been able to figure out why. Trini had eventually told him to just buy her a cake or use a box mix after the third such attempt-for an anniversary-ended in disaster. He could do everything but cakes and eventually gave it up as one of those things that he wasn’t good at. He was just glad that both David and Abigail had inherited their mother’s skill with baked goods instead of his, even if Abigail didn’t bake much in the way of cakes. David, if he’d wanted, could have honestly gone straight from high school into an apprenticeship as a pastry chef, but he hadn’t wanted to.

He’d had a lot of fun just watching the teens interact with each other. He was also appreciative of Abigail helping him out at the counter occasionally. She’d actually brought down several smoothie recipes that Hayley had noted were some of the more popular at CyberSpace. After the previous summer, he and Hayley had kept in touch. She’d given him quite a lecture when he’d come up for the art show and he’d taken it with grace, knowing it was warranted. She’d also been able to give him an introduction to a few people that could either help supply him with some of the newer arcade games or repair the ones he had, as his last repair person had retired several years ago.

When Ernie had stopped in the room that his daughter’s team had commandeered to fix the machine, the sight had left him with a small smile on his face as he watched them work. He knew that Trini, if she’d still been alive, would be right there alongside Billy helping the group out. Trini would have also been right there helping them celebrate the accomplishment of getting the machine working. Even though the machine still needed a bit of work before it was ready to even install at the Youth Center, it did much of what Billy had intended it to do. Billy had admitted after the second failure that it was probably a bit ambitious in what he wanted it to do.

Ernie also got a chance to talk with Ethan a bit during the afternoon. The young man reminded him of Billy and Zack both; Ethan had similar levels of intelligence and technical skills to Billy’s, but had little to none of the social awkwardness that had plagued Billy as a teenager. Instead, Ethan’s personality was very similar to Zack’s in the fact that both were fun-loving and outgoing. He’d actually caught Zack and Ethan bonding over some of the sillier stunts that they’d pulled as teenagers. Ernie remembered Zack having somewhat pranked Bulk and Skull during a Rita attack, using their distraction and a magic trick to aid the rest of his teammates. He shook his head as Ethan starting telling Zack about a prank he’d pulled on the first day of his senior year. It was the type of prank that Billy, if he’d been so inclined, might have played.

He could understand why Abigail had fallen for the African-American Blue Ranger. Underneath the pranks and goofy exterior lay a loyal, caring, and understanding young man. Ernie had heard that Ethan had once been dating a young lady that he’d gone to Reefside High with, but they’d broken up just before they went to university. Ethan, when Ernie prodded slightly, didn’t want to talk about it much, just that it hadn’t been the best of breakups. Having seen Tommy go through something similar after Kimberly had sent him the ‘Dear John’ letter, Ernie knew Ethan was in good hands. He also knew, just from talking with Abigail along with his own observations, that Ethan would take good care of Abigail. He knew Ethan cared for Abigail as much as Abigail did him.

He also remembered that Ethan had been one of the ones that had helped Rocky get him out of the way when Dimitria had come after him the previous July. He knew Ethan understood why Abigail had protected him even when he wasn’t at his best and knew he owed Ethan quite a debt for that. When he’d thanked Ethan for it during a quiet moment that afternoon, Ethan had actually thanked him.

“Honestly, what happened with Abigail aside, Dr. O’s told me enough of what you did for him and his teammates when they were active here in Angel Grove. Between that and Abigail herself, I honestly didn’t mind and it was the least I could do. Rocky explained that afternoon-using general terms-what you were going through and that you were getting help. Abigail’s thanked me a number of times since then for helping you as well. Having gotten to know you better, I can see why most of the senior Rangers call you one of their own. The only one who I don’t know if they’ve said as much was…”

“Trini. I don’t know if she did or not either, as she never said as much to me when I knew her, even after we married and had our children, and there’s no way for me to ask at this point in time.” Ethan, to Ernie’s surprise, looked as if he were about to say something to challenge that, but decided against it. Ernie didn’t want to press, as he knew that someone would tell him if it were something he needed to know.

“You miss her,” Ethan finally said. “As much as Rocky and the others have said about you opening up about her more, you miss her.” Ernie joined Ethan at the out of the way table.

“I do and I don’t think I’ll ever stop, especially on days like this. She should have been right by Abigail’s side, helping to celebrate the fact that the machine’s working. She would be so very proud of how Abigail’s doing, as I am.” Ethan simply nodded as he took that information in, eventually opening up a bit about his ex-girlfriend.

“That’s understandable. If I’d not realized that I love Abigail, I almost would have said the same thing about my ex.” Ethan smiled a bit. “Abigail, the day that she and Kira went up to Briarwood, did something that made me realize that I’d fallen in love with her over the past year.” Ethan gave Ernie a look. “You raised a wonderful young lady, Ernie, even if she’s been in Dr. O’s care for over a year. I knew she cared for me before I realized my own feelings as she’d said as much. Got some ribbing from Conner for a couple of days as I had a goofy grin on my face. Like he’s not the same way with Krista, or like Dr. O with Kat.”

“What did Abigail do?”

“Aside from giving me a wonderful early birthday gift, said that Angela, my ex, had given up a wonderful boyfriend. She pointed out that I would have done everything I could to stay in touch even though Angela’s going to school on the opposite end of the country and that it wasn’t my fault that Angela broke up with me. She also said that not everyone’s cut out for a long-distance relationship; that Angela and I might be able to sit down one day like Dr. O and Kimberly did and patch things up and be friends.”

“That sounds like Abigail,” Ernie replied with a smile. “Not to mention her mother.”

“Or you at your best. I see a lot of you in Abigail due to you being her primary parent from the time Trini died up until Abigail left for Reefside. Rocky or someone who’s studied human psychology could explain it better, but what Abigail knows about what her mom was like as a person comes from what she’s been told. On top of that, everyone that I’ve talked to, even the teens today, say how perceptive you are and that you give some great advice. Abigail’s inherited that and puts it to good use.”

“I bet she does,” Ernie replied, coloring a bit. “I’m just glad that she’s even willing to talk with me after what I did to her.”

“Because you got help,” Ethan responded. “I know Abigail well enough that she wouldn’t have if you’d not started talking with Rocky. I’m not entirely sure either Rocky or Dr. O would have let her either if you’d not gotten that help.”

“No, they wouldn’t have,” Ernie agreed. “Take good care of Abigail, please. She cares a lot for you.”

“I’ll take the best care of her I can, Ernie. I know that if our relationship doesn’t work out romantically, she and I will do our best to remain friends. She’s been a wonderful friend to me and I hope to keep that even if we don’t work out as boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Ernie knew that was a good attitude for Ethan to take and told him as much. He’d heard enough gossip that Ethan had dated once prior to his immediate ex and the two were still friends, so he knew Ethan was able to do that. He also understood without anyone having to tell him that Ethan looked up to Tommy as a role model and would treat Abigail well. He saw how all of the teens that made up Reefside’s two Power Ranger teams looked up to Tommy and were loath to disappoint him. Jason and the others had said something similar about Zordon whenever they talked about their late mentor. Oh, they might not say as much directly, but Kimberly and Billy both had said that they’d felt so bad when Rocky, Adam, and Aisha had accidentally found out their identities after the 3-person team ninja competition that the three had competed in at the Youth Center.

Trini had also told him, during the same conversation when he’d told her he’d figured out that she’d been a Power Ranger, that Zordon would have possibly scolded them. Failing that, Zordon would have at the very minimum wanted to meet Ernie, just to see for his own eyes that Ernie would keep the secret. He’d just shaken his head at that when she’d said as much, as it wasn’t anything that they did exactly. It was more the fact that Ernie paid attention to the news reports and knew the team rather well, given the fact that the Youth Center was the main hangout spot for Angel Grove’s Power Rangers until the Astro team had formed. He’d told Trini as such when she’d said that and the other Rangers later on when they’d found out. Not even non-Ranger teens were able to completely hide injuries they’d gotten in contact sports and most of the Power Rangers practiced martial arts.

Trini had spent several weeks with a brace on her leg due to injuries gained in a fight against some of Rita’s Putties and monsters. He’d always been curious as to how she’d explained that to her parents. She’d eventually said she’d told them that she’d gotten the muscle damage doing something stupid while playing a game with her friends. Having had his fair share of injuries when he was playing football, Ernie understood all too well. He’d also seen enough people injured, Rocky included, practicing martial arts and Trini did practice martial arts at the time, so it wouldn’t be that farfetched of an excuse for her to use.

He also didn’t mind keeping their secret, either. As he’d told his late wife’s friends and teammates, it was the least he could do to help given the work that they’d done to keep Earth from being taken over by Rita and all the intergalactic evildoers who’d threatened their planet. The identities of the Rangers who weren’t publicly known that Ernie knew of, Ernie was more than willing to take to his grave. Billy had gotten around to getting him a communication system that was tied into the phone system. He’d instructed Ernie and all of the Youth Center employees, with TJ’s help, on what to do if they had Ranger-type trouble show up when none of the Rangers were in the building. David, Austin, and Amy were also given personal communicators of various types for that purpose. Given that Ernie, his children, as well as Austin and Amy were either connected to a Power Ranger or, in David and Abigail’s case, Rangers themselves, they wanted to protect Ernie as he protected them.

Saturday morning rose, as many mornings did for Ernie, bright and early. Justine and some of her coworkers were covering the Youth Center until the soccer game was over. Justine wasn’t interested in sports in general while some of her coworkers were glad for the chance to pick up an extra shift when they could. He knew that David, Austin, and Amy didn’t have to work at the Youth Center given that all three taught at Jason’s dojo, but David wanted the experience running the Youth Center for when Ernie decided to retire. Amy wanted a chance to work somewhere that wasn’t her dad’s dojo and Ernie hadn’t heard why Austin worked there. Probably for the experience, though the Youth Center had become a second home for the twins as much as their dad’s dojo had been.

Austin and Amy, along with David, were going to be attending the game, though they’d not attended many this year. That was more because Amy wasn’t playing in it this summer, as she’d aged out of the camp. He knew Abigail had done the same with the camp she’d attended last year, though she admitted that, after playing it during the school year, she was glad for the break from the sport. She’d had fun playing it, but not being able to do the camp had allowed her to take the first half of her driving lessons this summer. She’d be taking the second half once the second semester of her sophomore year started.

Like with David taking it in high school, Ernie was nervous about Abigail taking them, if not outright terrified. She’d admitted, when he’d been up the last time, that she’d been worried as well, but Rocky had been able to help her work through the issues. Was still helping her work through them and they all understood that regular practice, along with talking with Rocky, would help lesson the fears and worries. She’d gotten her permit just before coming down for the soccer game and Tommy had allowed her to drive to his parents’ home. He’d driven from there to the Youth Center, as Abigail had reached her limit temporarily as to driving. Rocky had actually taken a bit of time with her the previous afternoon, after he’d gotten done with one of his clients, to help her work through the issues that had popped up.

Ernie knew that while he didn’t know the exact issues that had popped up for Abigail, he had a few ideas as to what some of them might be. The biggest two were the fact that Andy was in the vehicle with her and the size of the mini-van. Abigail had confessed to him as she helped him as they closed up Friday that she thought her first time driving with her new permit would have been in Tommy’s Jeep, not the mini-van with her adoptive parents, little brother, and a couple of her friends in it, along with their luggage. She was a cautious driver normally, but she’d only gone the minimum speed limit on the way down because of who was in the mini-van. Ernie had smiled, shaking his head slightly.

“Abigail, I was the same way driving and not just having just gotten my license at 18, which is the minimum age limit in New York City. When I brought David and you both home from the hospital with your mom, I did the same thing. I was terrified of well…everything, especially after your mother died.”

“I understand, Ba. Once we found out Andy was on the way…I could understand what you went through after Mom died a bit better. I know I’ve said as much in an early letter to you, but it was a huge part of why I was so cautious on the drive down. I have to admit that the freeway was a lot easier than driving through both Reefside and Angel Grove in the mini-van. I know Dad’s spoken of getting me a vehicle I feel safe driving in once I can get my license next year, even if that means it takes a while. It’s not like I won’t need it right away.”

“Due to Tommy teaching at both the high school and the dojo.”

“Among other things,” she replied, a smile on her face. “He also got me a bicycle last summer and Hayley helped build me an ATV for a birthday present. I’m not without transportation if I want to go somewhere and neither Dad nor Katherine can get me to town. I had days this last school year where we’d put my bike in the back of the Jeep and I’d go to the dojo or CyberSpace if Dad was busy and he’d meet me there.”

“I saw the ATV. Tommy was teaching you how to use it when I came up last.”

“Troubleshooting, primarily. He started the lessons right before the martial arts competition, finished when we got back from Disneyland. Started out the same way as my driving lessons in terms of I didn’t get on it right away. He taught me the controls, how to charge it, fill it with gas…the whole shebang. He’s been teaching me how to do repairs and upkeep on it as well, which he’s also said he’s planning on doing with any vehicle I drive.”

“His time as a race car driver coming in handy. He said he worked on his own race vehicle instead of trusting it to someone on his uncle’s staff when he and the car weren’t on the track.”

“Yep. Once Andy’s old enough to drive, I know he’s planning on doing the same thing. Probably before that. I have a sneaking suspicion that Andy taking Driver’s Ed with partially be a formality, as driving a vehicle is not too different than an ATV.”

“And you can do it a couple of years earlier too, at least in California. Heard that much from some of the teens that come into the Youth Center.”

“That’s for sure. Dad’s waiting and I know you’ve got plans with David tonight. I’ll see you at the soccer game in the morning.”

“See you then,” he replied as he finished locking up, giving her a hug in the process before she headed out to Tommy’s mini-van.

True to her word, Abigail and the others were at the soccer team as Ernie got there. She was genuinely happy to see him and even Andy was babbling away at him as he greeted them.

“He’s getting big, Tommy,” Ernie said after they’d gotten the pleasantries out of the way. Andy was looking right at him, evidently trying to figure him out. He’d done as much the last few times Ernie had seen his friend’s son.

“He is,” Tommy responded, chuckling. “From what my parents and Sam Trueheart have said, I think it comes from our side of the family as David and I both grew fairly big and quickly the first year. He’s not even 4 months old yet, but he’s in clothing meant for 6-9 months already and most of that is due to body length.”

“David was the same way. Abigail, not so much. Both than stayed in the normal height range for their ages for a while until they started getting their adult height. Her pediatrician at the time thought she’d be fairly tall, given Trini and my heights, but not so much. She’s happy with the height she has.”

“She is. Kat’s told me that her height had been an issue when she was professionally dancing, but when it comes to sports, especially soccer, it’s not that big of an issue.”

“No, it’s not. Women’s basketball, for example, has many players who are similar in height to her. I don’t follow college sports that much, but one of the kids that frequents the Youth Center has a sibling that played for Florida State’s women’s basketball. Said one of his sister’s teammates, who’s also graduated, was right around your height, Tommy.”

“That’s tall,” Kat replied, getting a chuckle out of Ernie.

“From what Jacob said, his sister’s teammate’s family is fairly tall. Her dad’s something along the lines of 6’5” or right around, mom’s just shorter than you by about an inch.” Ernie shook his head. “Showed me a picture of the team and I could barely believe it as most of the girls on that team were averaging 5’8”. If you’ve been interested in basketball instead of ballet, you’d have fit right in, Kat.”

“Probably,” she responded, laughing.

“No clue why people expect me to be Mom’s height. Just glad I’ve just known her closest friends…I’m not sure I’m looking forward to the private party tonight.” Ernie had gotten a request a month ago to have a private, Rangers only party at the Youth Center after it had closed tonight. After checking with Tommy and the others who’d formed Angel Grove’s first team, Ernie had said yes to it. As far as he knew, most of the Rangers who’d called Angel Grove home, along with Terra Venture’s team, were going to be there as well as Reefside’s two teams.

“It’s going to be fine, Abigail.”

“I know. Just…ugh. Some of them only know Mom by reputation or the two of you. Kind of wish I could speak openly of the other reasons. Just…head Leo off, please. Don’t want him getting upset over Kendrix, that’s all.”

“I can do that,” Tommy and Ernie both said at the same time. After Abigail headed off with some of her friends, and Andy having been handed off to Kat so his diaper could be changed, Ernie turned to Tommy and raised an eyebrow.

“Kendrix is part of the Terra Venture team,” Tommy explained quietly. “I can’t go into too many details right now, but Andros’ sister Karone had to take over Kendrix’s responsibilities temporarily. Abigail…she understands what happened, but it’s also upset her for obvious reasons. She’s been talking with Rocky about it most of the week, primarily over the phone.”

“What happened?”

“They thought Kendrix was dead for a while. She’d been…badly injured and there were other things that had happened as well.”

“And she’s wondering why Kendrix survived, but not her mom. If it weren’t for Rocky’s help this past year, it would have probably upset me as well.”

“That’s the primary issue in a nutshell. I hope you don’t mind, Ernie, but I’ve sent Leo the information about Trini’s death. Primarily the news reports, though he and his team know that they can approach either Jason, Kimberly, Zack, or I about it as well. Billy…he really doesn’t want to talk about it except to Rocky and a few others and I know you don’t always want to talk about Trini or how she died.”

“Her death hit Billy worse than it did me. I didn’t find out until years later that he’d gone to Rocky while Rocky was still studying to become a therapist. Trini had been one of his only friends for a while, until she introduced him to the others. They tried dating for a bit their freshman year of high school, but they were too much like siblings to make it work.” Ernie shook his head. “I don’t mind, Tommy, especially considering that you’re trying to stave off issues. If you’d not, I’m sure someone else would have, probably Jason.”

“That’s why I sent them. Abigail said as much to Ethan right before they started dating. Among our group, infighting is something we want to avoid. There might be a prank or two on Carter, but it’s harmless. Steve…developed something and I know that they’ve got something planned that would require Carter to shower. It won’t damage anything, as it’s designed to stick to Carter’s skin, but not tile or the drainage system. If you don’t want them to pull it off today, I’ll let them know. They’ll just wait until they can get it to one of his teammates who’s more than willing to film his reaction once they get back to Mariner Bay.”

“If it won’t damage the drainage system or require replacement of anything, they can do it today. Abigail’s told me about Carter’s nickname for her group of friends.”

“It won’t, Ernie. If anything sticks to the tile, it’s easy enough to use Barkeep’s on and Abigail’s said you keep some at the Youth Center to clean up any food stains that won’t come up with soap and water. Steve designed it so that it’s even harmless to animal life, given where Lightspeed’s base is.”

“Won’t be the first prank played at the Youth Center. As long as they’re harmless and everyone finds it funny, I don’t mind one way or the other.”

“I heard about the one Zack played on Bulk and Skull, involving one of his magic tricks. He told me about it after it was over.”

“He still won’t tell anyone how that was done. It was funny to watch, even Bulk and Skull laughed about it later.”

“I still can’t believe someone agreed to marry Bulk,” Tommy replied, changing the subject a bit as they headed towards a group of bleachers to sit on.

“You and most of the people that went to high school with him. I gather his wife’s someone he met while on Terra Venture. Neither of them liked living away from Earth, or so Bulk claims, so they came back. Plus, Bulk missed his best friend something awful, as Skull had slept in and had missed going with them.”

“I’d heard Skull’s dating Trini’s cousin Sylvia now?” Ernie laughed.

“Yep. He started talking with her earlier this year about…not sure what exactly, but one thing led to another and they’re now dating. There’s a bit of a betting pool among your former classmates as to what’s going to come first, the baby or the wedding.”

“Skull’s many things, but completely stupid isn’t one of them. Sylvia’s not either, from what I remember,” Tommy responded, shaking his head. “Abigail finally got a letter from Sylvia just before she came down, apologizing for everything. From what Abigail shared with me, one of the things Skull talked with her cousin about was just what he’d noticed about how Trini’s death was affecting you. Abigail was finally glad just to get a letter back finally. She’d been sending them since the beginning of the last school year. She knows the first one got shredded, but she didn’t want to give up either. Sylvia’s the only cousin of hers on Trini’s side that she’s close with. Most of Sylvia’s siblings don’t live in the area and the remainder of Abigail’s cousins on Trini’s side still live in Vietnam. Trini’s parents are working on getting addresses, current ones, for their family there so Abigail has some pen pals among her cousins.”

“She’ll be grateful for that. Sylvia taught her as much Vietnamese as she knew.”

“Abigail is grateful for that. I don’t know if Abigail told you, but she’s taking it at school, too. Primarily for the alphabet as that’s the one thing Sylvia didn’t or couldn’t teach her. There’s some words that, like with English, vary in Vietnamese depending on what part of the country you’re from or living in, but it’s still pretty standard.”

“Pop verses soda verses Coke, for example. In New York and most of the Northeast to Midwest, it’s pop. Other parts of the country, including California, it’s soda. Yet other states call all of it, irregardless of the brand, Coke.” Tommy laughed.

“Ran into that at MIT. Some of my classmates got hung up on it, if you can believe it. This was even with knowing that I’m from California. Took one of our other classmates short sheeting the worst offender’s bed before he shut up about it. I’m pretty sure Hayley was about ready to strangle him before the short sheeting happened. With Hayley’s skills…the guy got off lucky that my roommate short sheeted his bed first.”

“I can imagine. She doesn’t take crap from anyone.”

“No, she doesn’t, Ernie. One of those ‘do no harm, but take no shi….crap’ type of people. It’s why she’s opened CyberSpace, as she got tired of the crap.” Ernie noted, with some quiet amusement, Tommy’s almost slip into cursing. If it had just been the adults and teens, Tommy would have not corrected himself, but many of the players had younger siblings in the crowd. On top of that, some of the ladies didn’t appreciate swearing, even mildly and even when it was strictly adults and/or teenagers around.

“That cybercafé of hers is something else. We’re still in contact; she actually hooked me up with a new repair person for the arcade games, as my last one retired when David was still in high school. Is there anyone she doesn’t know?”

“President of the United States, though it wouldn’t surprise me if she knows some or all of his security experts.” Tommy was grinning though. “Abigail’s enjoying the work, though. Says it reminds her of helping out around the Youth Center when she was young. She knows she won’t have to worry about car ownership for a while, as Kat and I have promised to take care of that for her until she’s able to afford one of her own. She does want to pay for her own gas and spending money, though, and wants to also help out with upkeep on her vehicle once we’ve found one that’s not just safe in general, but that she also feels safe in.”

“She said as much to me last night. She also said that she’s grateful that she has to have the permit at first instead of going straight into having the license and driving on her own. Driving with an older adult allows any new driver the chance to practice, but it also allows Abigail to work through her issues as well.”

“It does. Rocky, Kat, and I have been helping her deal with the issues that popped up and I did notice that she popped into one of the rooms with him when he had some free time. She did great driving to my parents’ house from Reefside, but she was more than happy to allow me to drive from there to the Youth Center.”

“She said she’d hit her limit for her first long drive right around when you guys got to the house. Said it was her first drive with someone other than her driving instructor?”

“Her first long one, Ernie. She had a bit of a short drive after getting the permit, but that was the van again and from the DMV to Little Tokyo to celebrate. Neither my Jeep nor Kat’s car will fit Andy’s car seat and the rest of us, so we took the mini-van. I know she wants to get practice in with all three vehicles. If Conner and the others were older, she’d be trying their vehicles out as well, with them in the passenger seat. Unfortunately, they’re all right around David’s age and California just recently changed the upper age limit for adult passengers supervising a driver with a permit to 25. She can drive with her friends in the vehicle right now, but only if there’s an adult over 25 also in the vehicle.”

“That’s understandable, but I bet that they’re disappointed.”

“They are, as is Abigail. Some of it is just the fact that they want to help, as Abigail trusts them, whereas the rest is she wants to try out different vehicles before we start looking for one for her. She has ruled out Conner’s car, though. He allowed her to sit in the driver’s seat one day while it was parked in the driveway. Too small for her to feel comfortable in the driver’s seat.”

“That red one that I saw him walking away from as I got here?”

“One and the same, Ernie.”

“That would be a bit small for her. David, when I was helping him pick his car, elected to get a sub-compact SUV, as, even with his height, gives him some sight advantages while driving. Not much in the way of gas mileage, but it’s what he feels safest in.”

Tommy nodded as he responded, both adults ignoring the soccer game. “She’s sat in the driver’s seat of the Jeep before. It’s what she and I go to school and the dojo in. Actually, it’s what we do most of our running around in if Kat and Andy aren’t with us. I may just let her use that as her primary vehicle and use Kat’s as mine once Abigail has her license. That way, if she’s got to head to work from the house, neither Kat nor I are stuck at home without a vehicle. The only real downside with that is it’s open air and she’s had to cover the canvases before when it’s either looked like rain or has started raining before we’ve left the house or school. I keep a tarp in the back because of that.”

“Especially if the canvas is painted on, right? Abigail’s complained about that, especially when she was working with water-soluble paint. She didn’t do many paintings growing up outside of what was done in class in part because of that.”

“I’ve heard enough from Trent to understand the issue as well, though Abigail’s also talked about it. Made the mistake of asking why and got a lecture on paints almost as incomprehensible as Billy sometimes gets. Abigail wants to use a science project, if one of her teachers will let her, about creating a paint that won’t come off the canvass if rained on, but will come off clothing if mixed with most detergents.”

“If she can develop that, she’d be rich enough just from art teachers wanting it, not to mention other artists.”

“She would. Between Howard, Anton, and her friend Steve, it’s actually liable to happen. She’s actually written down the tests that would have to be done, it’s just a matter of developing it. The variables are primarily what clothing’s made out of, washing machines, and the more common or popular detergents, including using general soap and water with a washing board. Anton would be willing to help simply because Trent’s complained of similar issues.”

“She’s probably going to start with the base paint that Billy taught her to make when she was 9 and go from there.”

“She is, or hopes to. That’s actually what she did with the cake machine in terms of basics. Billy, I’m afraid, was a bit too ambitious with the cake machine.”

“He admitted as much, even back then.”

“She still wants to find a way to work that feature in, but also knows that it’s going to take a while. It was the first issue that they pinpointed, the second being the quality of the parts. Billy’s always had fairly decent parts to work with, but he was also working on it on a budget and that was bound to affect the results. Some of the other inventions from that time period…that was a common issue with them.”

“Not enough money to get the parts he needed to make it work properly. I can see that happening, especially back then.”

“We don’t have to worry about that now, though. Between Billy, Kat, and I, we’ve got enough money to get better parts. Hayley’s provided some as well, from her supplies of spares or extras. She does that with a number of those who are working on STEM projects, so it’s not like she’s doing it because Abigail’s working for her or because Hayley’s known me for years. The last thing Abigail wants is for Hayley to be accused of favoritism. Anton’s also offered, as he’s got the money to get whatever supplies she needs.”

“Abigail, I know, is hoping to enter that machine into a STEM competition. Not sure how it’s going to work with Billy having invented it originally.”

“Billy said he’d take care of the details; all Abigail and the others have to worry about is getting it working. They’ll make two working models, one for you to use at the Youth Center once the competition is over; the other for the competition. They’re almost there isofar as having it working with little to no issues, which is good. The smoke yesterday and the cause was a fairly simple fix. It was primarily wear and tear from the testing. All they have to do now is get it to where the wear and tear is similar to most kitchen appliances, especially commercial grade like what’s at the Youth Center, and even Billy thinks that it’s going to have some commercial success.” Tommy shot Ernie a grin. “You’re not the only one out there with issues making cakes from scratch.”

“Trini tell you about that?”

“It was common knowledge back when we were teens, or that’s the impression I got at any rate. Billy had said something along the lines of inventing it to help you out with an issue and wouldn’t elaborate. Trini explained everything after one of your anniversaries. She felt so bad, as she knew what you were trying to do for her. I know she appreciated the effort, Ernie.”

“She did. If Kimberly wasn’t so close to her due date with the twins, David would have had a sibling closer in age than he and Abigail are. They were still fairly close, though. Be warned, Tommy, for when Abigail’s in college, especially if she goes somewhere where she’s not in Reefside on a daily basis. Abigail just about threw a fit when David started kindergarten, as his sessions were in the afternoons, same with Austin and Amy. Abigail’s preschool was in the mornings. 1^st grade was even worse. Had a few days where she was a bit mad at all of us after that.”

“Thanks for the warning. Andy already adores her; they’re pretty close. He’s already showing signs of having a similar ability to David, Abigail, and the twins as far as knowing where Abigail is, even when she was on the soccer field. We’ve a friend looking into it, as he and his sister both have two children each. They can do something similar and they thought it was just the fact that their children are cousins. With David and Abigail not being biologically related to the twins or Andy, we’re wondering if it’s something else.” Tommy tapped his communicator at that.

“Could be. We didn’t realize it was unique until Abigail started doing it. David, we brushed off as being older than the twins; the twins because they’re twins, but Abigail’s who made us realize something else was going on.”

“She said as much yesterday. Billy told us of the offer he made for a tracker. He gave me the schematics for it when Kat was pregnant with Andy. Said he’d help test it to destruction once Andy’s mobile, given the fact that I live on quite a bit of acreage and most of it’s forest. I didn’t understand what he meant until Abigail shared the story yesterday.”

“Knowing you, it’s going to work rather well. Waterproof with alerts that go to your phone if he wanders beyond certain perimeters, etc. Billy couldn’t do much with it back when Abigail was little due to how expensive cell phones were back then. Basically, the part that would have gone onto Abigail and another part that I had to carry with me. Would have worked similar to the Hot/Cold finding game that’s popular with younger kids.”

“I wasn’t that bad with my tech,” Tommy retorted, coloring a bit. “Pager busted once in high school when I was dealing with Bulk and Skull, which was accidental, and even Billy said he doesn’t know why the reminder watch malfunctioned. He eventually got it working, not long after he returned from overseas. Took it on several digs; even tried busting it like I’d busted my pager. Billy actually encouraged my coworkers and I to do our best testing it to destruction. About the only thing that busts them are if you take some form of construction tool or heavier to it.”

“Run a vehicle over most tech would bust it. David busted a cell phone like that once. He willingly paid for a new one with his own money, as, while it was an accident, it had been his fault. He’d not secured it in his backpack like he should have and it had fallen out of a pocket when he was getting ready to head home. I heard about it later, as it had happened at the dojo. Jason said later that David was lucky it was all adults around, as David was cursing a blue streak. His phone had been due for an upgrade, but he was still fairly pissed with himself.”

“I bet. Ethan gave Abigail and I both a lecture on what not to do with our BlackBerry phones if we want to keep them working. There’s a new smart phone that’s come out this summer by Apple, but I won’t commit to one until Ethan, Hayley, or Billy assure me it’s better than the phone I’ve got now. Knowing Ethan, he’s going to test it to destruction the best way he knows how. Hayley…I know she gets to try new tech out sometimes and I’ll hear her side of it. Billy…not sure. I’ll probably get a review from him that’s similar to Hayley’s.”

“Not surprised you got her one. I kept paying for the cell phone I got her until she let me know it was safe to drop it from my plan. She’s let everyone in Angel Grove she wants to keep in contact with her new number. Some of her old friends, she doesn’t have contact information for any more, as they ended up moving out of the area. They were military kids whose parent or parents were moving right after she ended up in Reefside. Camp Pendleton’s not that far from here; not sure about the other military bases. Some of the others promised to get her new number and the officially agreed upon story to them if they can. She’s not too fussed about it, though. They weren’t ones she was particularly close with.”

“She does occasionally talk with them when she gets a chance. Mostly, though, it’s more along the lines of when she’s coming to Angel Grove next or when they’re going to be in Reefside. Most of her friends her age from here, though, are waiting until they get their license and can get permission to drive 2 hours north by themselves and back. Abigail doesn’t mind meeting up with them here, though. They all know visits are going to be rather sporadic, as most of them are, like Abigail, working or busy with other activities.”

By the time Tommy and Ernie got done talking, they realized that the soccer game had reached half time. They only realized such when Abigail showed up to let them know, popcorn in hand. Ernie got a bit panicked, as he was supposed to be watching the game, but had gotten distracted. Abigail had just given him a grin as she handed them their own boxes.

“No worries, Ba. Their coach is keeping a good eye on everyone. He knows you were going to catch up with a few people today.”

“Still, Abigail. Not good if I get caught not watching, at least in the eyes of some of the kids.”

“This crowd? They don’t mind that much. Younger kids, I can understand, but not my age group. Besides, they know that we’re in town and the ones that would mind the most understand that you want to catch up with everyone.”

“You watch the game any?”

“A little bit. Amy drew Francine and I into a small coaching session with some of the younger kids, given we did Conner’s camp last year. One of the girls who was also helping was completely shocked that I’d not played soccer as a team sport outside of gym class before. She’d played with Amy in the camp last year and knows what Francine and I are like on the field together. Gave the two of us a great compliment in that if it wasn’t obvious that Francine and I aren’t siblings, she’d have thought we were twins given how well we play together.” Ernie and Tommy both chuckled.

“I can see why she’d say that. The two of you are terrifying on the field together.”

“Amy said that half of her team last spring fairly whimpered when they saw us on the field last April. The final game was even worse, as they’d seen how we’d folded Karan and the rest of the team who’d not gone to the camp into the gameplay. All it takes is plenty of practice and Francine and I did that.” She shook her head. “We already have people from some of the universities that wanted to offer us soccer scholarships after the finals. They were shocked when they found out that we were freshman. I know we’re going to get a lot of letters come junior and senior year. Conner’s talked about it a lot.”

“Not looking forward to that?” Ernie asked at the tone of his daughter’s voice at the statement.

“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “Academic or art, I don’t mind, but I’d rather not for sports. I don’t plan on making a career out of soccer and I know Conner plans on it with the Reefside Wave once he graduates. Soccer during the late summer and fall until he wants to retire from active play; helping to run the camp the rest of the time. Not sure about Francine, but as of last summer, she wasn’t planning on it either, at least not a career out of it.”

“You’ve got several years to decide, including college. I have no doubt that you’ll get scholarship offers for art or academics, given your talents and grades,” Ernie replied.

“Dad’s told me the same thing, Ba.” Tommy, Ernie noted, had slipped off to give the two some privacy and was catching up with some of his friends. Abigail joined him in the bleachers, sitting where Tommy had recently vacated. “Took until the art museum director made his offer before I realized that I could do art as a career. It was just a hobby at that point and I didn’t realize how good others think I am. I still just do it for fun.”

“Tommy’s said you’ve been talking with Trent. I don’t blame you for that, given that his comics are rather popular.”

“I have. Even though his artwork is in a different discipline, he’s still been a font of information. Between him and the museum director, I know they’ll know people who’d want to showcase my artwork. The museum director already wants to keep some of my work up on permanent display, which surprised me. Even wants to buy a painting for his own home.”

“Tommy and Hayley both said that Hayley wanted to buy the one you made her as a birthday gift. Tommy said that it took all of his self-control to not let things slip.” Abigail smiled at the memory, chuckling a bit as she answered.

“She loves it. Dad caught heck for not telling her, but it was primarily teasing as she understood why he didn’t. She attempted to pay me for it, but I told her it was a birthday gift. She ended up getting me a fairly sizable gift card to the art store for my birthday instead. I’ve still not spent most of it. Most of that’s due to lack of storage space in my art studio right now. That and I’ve just been buying what I’m running out of right now, primarily paint and paper. Pencils and such as needed, too. Occasionally, I’ll buy something new that they’ve got in stock to try it out, but I need more storage containers first.”

“Tommy said that you guys want to figure out where you’re going to store what paintings don’t get picked for permanent display or returned to the high school.”

“That is going to be an issue and part of why he’s often talked about adding on so that I have that space. The only real issue with doing so is there’s a cave system somewhere on the grounds. The last thing we want is for it to collapse during or after an earthquake because of the cave systems. There was a series of houses and roadways that have collapsed into sinkholes that made the news. Willing to bet that’s an issue with caves in earthquake prone regions as well.”

“The cave mapped?” Ernie couldn't keep the concern out of his voice.

“Yes. Dad said Dr. Mercer helped him with it, as Dad wanted to make sure that it wouldn’t compromise the house. The previous owner, from what I understand, was a bit paranoid about the issue as well. We would just have to track down whoever designed or built the original house and see if we can’t use the plans for that purpose. The only real issue is that it would be done just before I head off to college and if I go somewhere where the commute from Reefside wouldn’t be that good, like AGU, it’s going to sit unused when I’m not there, which would be half the year or thereabouts. Whereas a guest house, which he’s also talked about, would be a lot better.”

“Especially if you guys get a lot of company.”

“Yep. We’ve got the space to almost build a small neighborhood of guest homes for family and friends who want to visit. Given the size of that group…well. Most of Katherine’s family still lives in Australia, but I know both her parents and Dad’s would be appreciative of not having to use either pull-out couch, especially if Katherine becomes pregnant again. They’ve talked about at least one more so Andy doesn’t grow up almost as an only child.”

“Tommy would know how that feels. He didn’t find out until he wasn’t that much older than you-about a year or so-that he had an older brother.”

“That’s part of their reasoning. The other is that, even before I came into their lives permanently, they wanted multiple children, just as long as there were no complications that would preclude or prevent multiple pregnancies.”

“Tommy’s parents indicated as much last year. I got an earful about it the initial week you were in Reefside. His mom…it’s probably a good thing that Tommy’s never met his birth parents.”

“It is. She gave me quite the lecture after Stone’s actions hit both the Angel Grove Gazette and the Reefside Reporter. That and Dad had to get her to not storm the Youth Center after that.”

“He and Rocky, along with David and the rest of the crowd, were running interference, which I appreciate.”

“Me too. High school wasn’t fun until the next Big Event came along.” Abigail made a face. “I had it bad enough with Dad as my guardian at the time. He’s one of the more popular science teachers. Some of my classmates were trying to be my friend because of that. Thankfully, I’d already met Francine and Patton among my classmates prior to the start of the school year and Francine introduced us to the rest of our group. A couple of the upperclassmen are friends with her older sister, but they’re fairly nice to us. They don’t treat us horribly because we’re underclassmen or because Athena’s being a brat. They also don’t try and pry stuff out of me in regards to Dad, which we appreciate.”

“David told me about that fan club.” Abigail chuckled, smiling a bit.

“Whatever you do…please don’t mention that around Dad, especially if Jason’s around. Dad already turns beet red at the mention of it. He’s not a fan of the fact that he has a fan club.”

“He had one a bit as a teen as well, primarily among the girls who watched the martial arts circuits. Kimberly and Kat could tell you about it from their perspective.”

“If it’s anything like what David went through in high school, or right now, I can understand. He’s complained enough that some of the girls don’t care that he’s dating Amy. I’m not looking forward to if some of my male classmates get the idea to try and date me, given that Ethan and I are together.”

“If you can deal with Spike, you can deal with them. Just no rubber pythons, okay?” Abigail gave Ernie a shocked look before cracking up.

“I learned my lesson with that one. No using anything that your prankee is scared of unless you need to make that point. Spike got the message loud and clear; said as much when we talked it over. Said that even if he’d not been scared of snakes, the toy would have been enough on its own to send that message. He gave me the snake back once we were sure that we wouldn’t have been caught, as he also felt bad for all the times I got in trouble because of him.”

“I’m also sorry for punishing you for the last bits of the prank war. I’d not realized that he was being an issue still, as I’d also talked with Bulk. Didn’t seem to do much good.”

“Not until the python bit. I appreciate the apology, Ba. Rocky’s helped Dad figure out the whole punishment thing due to what happened in June. The first couple of times I kind of got in trouble, it was minor stuff, not me walking to the Youth Center from the hotel alone. Some of it, yea, was a bit of a miscommunication and he’s apologized for that. The rest, reasonable punishment as it was breaking a major rule.”

“He’s talked with me about it too. He helped me understand how it just made things worse for you and David, especially considering how close I kept the two of you. It would have been one thing if you two had been able to have a normal childhood, but I also kept the two of you too close. Football season for your brother was tough on me, even though they took buses to their away games.”

“Only thing he really went out of town for.”

“Back then. There’s been a few competitions coming up over the next year that Jason’s encouraging him to enter, but he’s been hesitant about it. The reactions he got from this last one have made him hesitant about doing more of them.”

“Understandable. Some of the popularity I get in school has been because I play soccer. Next year’s going to be a bit worse because the girls’ soccer team won the division title.” Abigail made a face. “There have been times this past school year where I’ve really disliked being considered one of the more popular freshmen. David, I remember, was the same way in high school.”

Ernie understood all too well, telling Abigail as much. He also told her that her mom had been fairly popular as well and it hadn’t surprised anyone she’d gone to school with that she’d been chosen to go to the Youth Summit. Even Ernie hadn’t been surprised at that, as it was very much like her.

“It’s still going on. Even though I’ve been encouraged to enter an essay, I really don’t want to go. Jason and Zack told me of how much time they had to spend away from their families and friends…with Andy so little, I’d rather spend the time with him.”

Ernie didn’t blame her; he knew if Trini had siblings Andy’s age at the time, he wasn’t sure she would have gone either, but she had no other siblings Ernie knew about. None that had come to their wedding at any rate, or to her funeral.

Chapter Text

Location: Youth Center, Saturday. POV: Abigail/1^st person

I giggled as I headed into the Youth Center with some of my Angle Grove friends after the soccer game. Ba and I had ended up watching the rest of the soccer game after our conversation had died down. Unlike last summer’s game, it wasn’t near as competitive nor did we have to worry about attacks from a Ranger-level villain, monster, or goon.

Of course, some of the girls who’d been there the previous year were talking about it, but I had to deflect questions about it as they also wanted to know why I’d been in Conner’s camp under an alias. Not all of them believed the story about my mom being involved in classified work, even though she’d worked for Uncle Howard for a bit. Some of them were wanting to know if that classified work had been because she’d been a Power Ranger. I wasn’t about to answer that, as I still couldn’t lie convincingly. My non-answer only seemed to confirm it for them, which was annoying. Amy had to get them to back off, reminding them of the laws on the matter.

A big part of why I was giggling, though, was Austin was grumbling about having accidentally walked up right when David and Amy were kissing just before we left to come back to the Youth Center.

“Austin, have you ever thought about getting a girlfriend yourself? Maybe you’ll understand what the fuss is about.”

“No…no I haven’t. Don’t you start on it either, Abigail! I get enough from Amy and David on the matter, I really don’t want you to get on me about it either.”

“I don’t know. Justine’s a nice girl, from what I remember. Ask her. Like with David and Amy, you’d be seeing her every day you’re working together.”

“And if it doesn’t work out? That would make it a bit difficult…Ernie would have to rearrange our shifts so that we weren’t working together if we didn’t have a great breakup.”

“You won’t know until you try. Failing that, I know several girls in Reefside that wouldn’t mind. Granted, you might be arm candy for a little while until they get to know you better. You should have seen them when I introduced them to David at our Homecoming game. Thought their eyeballs were about to fall out of their heads.”

“David told me about that. Said that they were disappointed, but understood, when he told them that he and Amy were in a relationship.”

“Missy and Andrea are nice girls, just a bit boy-crazy.” I shook my head as we headed up to the counter. “They’re not dating anyone, or at least they weren’t at my birthday. They were the ones who came by with the gifts from some of our other classmates during the party.” Austin blinked as he brought up the relevant memory.

“The redhead and the blond with streaks of color in her hair?”

“Redhead’s Andrea, the other’s Missy. The color was new; we’re not allowed outrageous hair colors at school right now. I bet it’s something that washes out easily, due to the length of the color and her hair both…she’d have to re-dye her hair or get a haircut if it didn’t.”

“They seemed fairly nice, but you’re right…boy crazy. There’s girls at Angel Grove High like them. They’re usually the ones at lunch or after school looking at the magazines popular with teen girls, gushing over this or that celebrity heartthrob or high school sports star.”

“Missy and Andrea do that too, when they’re not sitting with us at the lunch table. I’ve learned more about fashion and other stuff from those two than I ever did hanging out here.” I snorted. “They keep wanting to take me out to Reefside Mall to ‘upgrade my wardrobe’. I’m fine with what I’ve got right now. If I wanted to have someone take me shopping who’s fashion-forward, I’d go with your mom, Amy, or Kira. Did that a couple days after getting to Reefside with Conner, Ethan, Kira, Trent and a friend of theirs who works at Channel 3 out of Reefside. That was exhausting.”

Austin laughed a bit as we headed to a table with our milkshakes, being joined by Ethan. David and Amy had gotten pulled into working now that the Youth Center was full of teens and Ba needed the help. That way, there were a couple people at the counter and the rest were either cooking or running orders, dirty dishes, or appliances to or from the kitchen.

“You should have seen her, Austin. I honestly thought she was going to hide for a few minutes at one point. Cassie-Cassie Cornell, not Astro Pink Cassie Chan-can get a bit overzealous when it comes to fashion and clothing. Even though she mainly covers Power Rangers on the news, she also does stories where she has to have the appropriate clothing on. Dated her once, midway into our senior year. She’s very different than Abigail.”

“From what I’ve seen when I’ve caught Channel 3? I can believe it.”

“What you see of Cassie on the news is pretty much what you get, though she has parts to her that she only shows to her closest friends. She’s actually dating her usual cameraman, who’d also graduated with us; he started out as an intern there our senior year before getting hired to be her cameraman. She did such a good job when she covered Reefside’s first team that she was able to get Devin as her main cameraman.”

Austin blinked as he’d not been expecting that, getting a grin from Ethan and I both.

“Cassie’s a nice girl, Austin. She didn’t end up as friends to us initially, but she was by the time prom rolled around. To tell the full story would require privacy.”

“You’ll be at the party tonight? Amy, David, and I are going to be working it as we’re already read into who the crowd is.”

“Yes. I’ll tell you then, or when everything’s being set up, if you guys won’t mind the help.”

“Trust me, we won’t mind. Abigail said you sometimes work at Hayley’s and she grew up here.”

“Not that different, I take it?” Ethan’s answering question garnered a bit of laughter from Austin and I both.

“Not much,” I responded, chuckling. “I’ll see if I can’t show you around the storage areas and what we’re going to need. We’ve got some spare parts for the cake machine and I know someone’s asked if we can make a cake or several for tonight.” I shook my head. “I don’t mind, but Uncle Billy’s going to be bringing spare parts for just about everything. We can get 3 cakes in a row out before having to fix it. To even get it ready for competition, it’s going to need to be improved upon.”

“From everything I’ve heard, plus what he said, that’s an improvement on what happened the first two times it got brought in.”

“It is. If it weren’t for the fact that it made the same goop when we tried the original design out in Reefside, I would have almost thought it was something here. I still want to see if there’s something in that counter, or here in general that could have also affected it. We’ve a friend who’s planning on coming by tonight with either a scanner or level, if not both. Ba was able to confirm that unless Stone replaced the entire counter when he was running this, that counter’s original to when he bought it.”

“Off-balance or similar?”

“Something along those lines, yes. We found that Uncle Billy’s original design did depend on it being completely level.”

“It was one of those things we had to fix, Austin,” Ethan interjected. “From what I’ve learned from Hayley as well as Abigail, you can’t always rely on having completely even floor or counter space to put equipment.”

I shook my head as Austin and I confirmed what Ethan said.

“From what I remember Ba saying at one point when I was younger, most kitchen appliances are designed for normal differences in tilts in flooring, as floors in homes or businesses like this aren’t off but by a few degrees if that. Same goes for counter space. I had to look some of it up later and talk to the guy that is, or had been at the time, the normal repair person for here before I understood everything, but that’s the gist of it.”

“That doesn’t surprise me that you looked that stuff up, Abigail.”

“Uncle Billy’s my godfather,” I reminded him. “I know he’s been in your life enough that you had to look some stuff up too, Austin.”

“Not as much as you or David did. Dad said he used a lot of big words in high school.”

“He did. Apparently, before Mom went off to the Youth Summit with your dad and Zack, she had to translate some of what he was saying into ‘normal’ English. He’s gotten better, but not entirely by much, which he even admits to.”

“I heard him at your birthday party, talking with Hayley. She and I can switch to ‘normal’ English as needed, but from what I’ve heard later, that’s normal for him.”

“It is,” Austin and I said in unison, getting a chuckle out of Ethan. “You’ll have to ask Dad or any of the others who went to school with him what he was like then. The only one you can’t get an answer out of is Abigail’s mom, for obvious reasons.”

“I would have liked to have met her. She sounds like a wonderful person.”

“I’ve heard that too. I was roughly 2 ½ when she died; I vaguely remember her, but not much. David remembers more than I do.”

“He does, but not that much more than you do. I’ve asked him for what he does remember. Most of the rest is what we’ve heard from those who knew her and what I’m doing with Andy.”

“Talking to him in both Vietnamese and English?” I nodded. “That’s a good place to start, even if he doesn’t get into translating or linguistics.”

“It is. If some of my cousins in Vietnam ever are able to visit, or I’m able to visit them, it’s going to make it easier on us if I’m not the only one who can speak and read the language. Not everyone there learns English, from what my grandparents said. They got lucky, as they and Uncle Howard had learned the language young, even though they grew up in Vietnam; only coming to America prior to Mom’s birth. They speak English, if you notice, with not much of a trace of an accent.”

“I had noticed that, Abigail, when they came for a visit back in June. Your uncle’s the same way, very little trace of an accent.”

“Your uncle’s nice. He comes into the Youth Center occasionally; the dojo too. I know he knows martial arts, but man…he offered me the chance to spar with him and…” I chuckled at the look on his face.

“Wiped the floor with you? He’d be the first to tell you that appearances are deceiving.” He’d done the same with me, but I’d known what to expect.

“Not just me. Dad too. Offered to spar with Adam and Zack when they were teasing Dad and I afterwards. They shut up in a hurry.”

“I bet,” I responded, Ethan and I both chuckling at the mental image. “He’s 60 or thereabouts, but don’t let that fool you.”

“After sparring with him and Dr. Oliver? Nope.” Austin was chuckling along with us. “If one of the other competitors from the competition hadn’t been using illegal substances, I doubt I’d have faced off against Dr. Oliver. They caught the guy not long after I faced off against your brother. From what I was told later, that guy’s whole dojo had to be disqualified while they investigated. Out of the remaining competitors who’d been knocked out, I had the best record.” I nodded. The dojo, David had said, eventually closed. The rest of their students had to go to different dojos as several of the staff were in on it.

“I heard. I actually got offered a chance to re-enter the competition for the 5^th and 4^th kyu, but I passed. I’d only faced one person from that dojo and I knocked him out fairly early. They only brought 1 5^th kyu and 1 4^th and same for brown belts: 1 of each rank. The rest were black belts. I’d only had my belt a month at that point and knew that I’d be knocked out again in short order. Watching the black belts was fairly informative, though. I doubt I’ll compete again, but I wanted to try it out before I got to black belt. I might change my mind next year, or after getting my brown belt if they keep to what they did back in June, but that’s going to be when I’m in my junior and senior years.”

“Competing isn’t for everyone,” Austin agreed. “Out of our dojo, it’s just Dad, Adam, Amy, and I and even Adam doesn’t do it near as often as he used to. There’s a couple of others among the other black belts; some of the 1^st and 2^nd kyu brown belts are interested because of the competition, so Dad and I are working with them so they can get ready to compete once they reach Shodan.”

Rocky didn’t compete anymore, as he’d slowly stepped away from it after getting injured just before graduating high school. He’d told me that his doctors told him that if he got injured like that again, there was a good chance he wouldn’t be near as lucky as he’d been in terms of being able to walk, much less practice martial arts. He still practiced; taught, too if one of the normal instructors couldn’t teach that class or series of classes for whatever reason.

“I don’t take formal lessons as such, but Dr. O’s taught me some. Conner, out of all of us, had some experience prior to me being friends with him. His brother goes to a dojo in Blue Bay Harbor and had taught Conner some moves before our senior year started. Eric…not sure if he’s coming down or not. I know Conner made the offer, once he got permission to, even though Eric’s not officially part of the crowd coming to the party tonight. Eric, though…he can hold a grudge worse than Conner can.”

Going to a dojo, I thought, that’s one way to explain that Eric’s a student at a secret Ninja Academy, Ethan and it’s technically the truth, just not the whole truth.