Chapter Text
Location: Reefside, later that week. POV: Tommy/3rd person
Tommy sighed as he found Abigail laid out again somewhere in the house after finishing talking with Rocky. He wasn't entirely sure if she'd been just too tired in general to make her way up to her room yet again or if she'd simply fallen asleep in a random spot. He wasn't about to begrudge her the sleep; the Power only knew that she needed it. Her phone sessions with Rocky were aiding in her avoiding most of the nightmares they were expecting after the previous Friday's assassination attempt and from what both Agent Hotchner's team and the Angel Grove police had been able to find, this had been against Abigail specifically. The would-be assassin had gone after her after putting two and two together when it came to Zedd. He was up now on the memorial under his original name, but evidently there was at least one person pissed enough to go after her regardless. They still didn't know if this guy was connected to June and August or if this was an unrelated incident.
“Hn?”
“You fell asleep on the couch again,” he said.
“Comfy couch.” Abigail did sit up and rub her eyes. “Still tired.”
“How well are you sleeping?”
“I'm sleeping.”
“Abigail.”
“Talking to Rocky's helping, but I'm still getting nightmares.”
“That is normal right now, Abigail. You got shot at when you weren't expecting to be and I know full well that if you'd not been wearing that outfit still, you would have been in the hospital, in surgery.”
“Worse than that,” she said. “Didn't want to say anything around Ba or even around anyone who might have accidentally told him. Dana knows, as does Rocky, but neither will tell Ba.”
“I won't either.” And he didn't intend to either; Ernie worried enough about Abigail as it was and didn't need to know just how close Abigail had come to death. He knew that Abigail wasn't the only one upping their therapy sessions with Rocky after the assassination attempt; Ernie had said as much before they'd left. David had started going back to his own therapist for the same reason and had brought Amy with him, as she'd also been there. Amy needed someone to talk to who could help her process knowing that one of her closest friends had almost been seriously injured or killed.
“Bullet hit here,” she said, pointing out where it would have gone through her clothing. Tommy paled; he knew that the would-be assassin was shooting to kill, but didn't realize the bullet had hit the clothing where he'd been aiming at and would have gone through her heart had the fabric not stopped it. He pulled Abigail into a tight hug, doing his best to not panic. He was going to need to call Rocky himself after Abigail went to bed. No wonder she was still having nightmares. “It didn't go through.”
“Doesn't matter,” he said. “Just realized how close of a call that was.”
“It didn't go through.”
“For which I am ever grateful. It was still a close call though; we had few guarantees that the fabric was going to work. It's an experimental fabric for a reason, Abigail.” She snuggled back into his arms, needing the comfort from his arms just as much as he needed to make sure she was fine as well.
“Tommy?” Tommy almost jumped as Kat came downstairs from putting Andy and JJ to bed.
“Went to put Abigail to bed, but she woke up.”
“And I let him know exactly where that bullet hit.” Kat soon joined them in the hug; he knew that they'd be talking after Abigail went to bed, which was going to be soon; she had another shift at CyberSpace the next day to make up for the shift she'd not worked the weekend before.
“Do you want a mug of tea before you go to bed?” Kat quietly asked after both Tommy and Abigail had relaxed some.
“That...is probably a good idea,” Abigail admitted. She'd been a passenger in his Jeep most of the week; today had been the first day since they'd gotten back that she'd ridden her motorcycle into town. “Just wish it wasn't needed.”
“I know. I'm just glad you have something that helps right now,” Tommy told her. “I wish I could take your nightmares away, too.”
“Me, too. I'm going to probably have a cup of the Vanilla Sleepytime, though, instead of the stronger one. Just got myself to the point where I feel safe driving my motorcycle. I don't want to compromise my driving, not when I have to work tomorrow.”
“That was a smart decision on her part,” Tommy said after making sure Abigail had actually fallen asleep.
“Where did the bullet hit?” Kat replied after agreeing. Tommy indicated where Abigail had been shot on his own body, hearing Kat's gasp as she understood the implications of that. Eltar had gotten back to them; the apprentice was now a journeyman and had almost gained his mastery. Members of the Eltarian seamstress and tailor's guild would be coming to examine the outfit and find out if the fabric had taken any damage from being hit and that would determine if the now-journeyman gained their mastery or not. “We need to do something special for them. Their work saved her life.”
“Agreed.” Kat buried her head into Tommy's shoulder; this wasn't the first time Abigail had been in danger since she came into their lives and it likely wouldn't be the last time. Neither of them really liked it; they didn't like that Abigail was in danger. It was one thing it was just them, but an entirely different thing when one of their children was involved.
“I wish she hadn't been shot,” Kat eventually said.
“You and me both,” Tommy said. “I think everyone wishes it hadn't happened. I just hope that this is going to be an isolated incident, though after the last two, I'm not entirely sure that it is. I think they're looking into involving a telepathic investigator; while this person may have wanted to, it seems completely random that they would have been following us all day or even finding where we were at to go after her specifically.” The fact that the person had likely used a Silver Guardian weapon-the Silver Guardians were one of a few organizations in the state allowed to carry a loaded firearm-was a good thing in some ways, though he had come in with his own weapon, also presumably loaded.
“Are you going to call Rocky?”
“Yes.”
“I want in on that phone call.”
“I'm sure Rocky won't mind. I know I don't.” He soon pulled his cell phone out, ringing Rocky after they went into his office.
“I am not surprised you called,” Rocky said.
“Kat's here with me. Abigail told me where the bullet had hit and I told Kat.”
“She told you?”
“You sound surprised.”
“I thought you'd find out from Dana or Wes' reports.”
“So did I, honestly,” Tommy said, rubbing his eyes. “I'm still glad she told me. She was half-asleep, though. I'd woken her up on accident; I was trying to pick her up to take her to bed as she'd fallen asleep on the couch in the library again.”
“How many times is that?”
“3rd time on that particular couch; she's fallen asleep on the couch in her art room twice and the one in the den last night.”
“That's still a good thing, that she told you.”
“Just glad she feels safe enough and comfortable enough to tell me, honestly.” It was a mantra he'd said multiple times over the past couple of years and one he fully and wholly meant. Abigail's trust meant a lot to him and Kat both. By the time they got tired, their impromptu therapy session had wound down. “I would have been fine finding out via the reports as well though.”
“Does she know that?”
“No. I'll tell her when she asks; I don't know if she realized that she told me yet or not.” That was always a tough thing with Abigail; while she mostly remembered things she said while partially or mostly awake, there'd been times when Tommy had thought her more awake than she had been and she'd not remembered things she'd said in the morning. He also knew that one of her trauma responses was to blank out memories, though that tended to favor panic attacks more than anything else. She did have a few days where it was mostly a blank or blur for her, but none recently that she knew of; from what little he'd accidentally overheard, the day of Zedd's death was burned into her brain.
“You'll find out tomorrow,” Rocky said before they hung up.
“I hope he's right,” Tommy said.
“She does tend to clam up on some stuff, doesn't she?”
“For a while, yes. If she hadn't just woken up, I don't think she would have told me. Remember when she was sick last Christmas?”
“When she made that comment about you reading audiobooks?” He and Kat were still amused by that comment.
“Yes. I know she likes listening to my voice to go to sleep, but I don't think she would have said something along those lines if she'd not just woken up from a nap.”
“Before she could really think about it.” Tommy simply nodded at that and Kat pulled him in for a second hug. “It's too bad Clematia had to head back to Aquitar temporarily.” She'd left earlier in the week and had let them know when she'd gotten back to the planet safely.
“It is; Abigail could use her company right now.” They weren't about to ask her to shirk her duties on-planet, though. She was going to be coming back with Cestria's parents; she'd taken the ship that she and Nerio had come in, which evidently could easily seat four and their associated luggage. Some of that would be gifts from Aquitar for not just Billy and his partners and children, but evidently also some for Abigail as well. Tommy didn't know enough about Aquitian culture to know if that was simply because Abigail was Billy's goddaughter or if there was another reason involved. He was leaning more towards the former rather than the latter, though, based on what little he did know about Aquitian culture; the godparent-godchild relationship on Aquitar was practically sacred.
Slipping back upstairs to go to bed, Tommy checked in on Abigail and went into her room to pull her blankets back up on her. He didn't know if they'd come off because she'd still been tired when she'd gone to bed or if it was due to another reason; she tended to toss and turn in her sleep and as big as her blankets and bed were, the blankets could sometimes come off when she was dreaming. She stirred a bit before settling down in her bed, Tommy smiling at that, happy that she felt safe there. It meant she, even subconsciously, knew that she could fully relax and the energy she would have spent watching and listening for trouble could go towards healing and sleeping, among other things.
That didn't mean he wasn't surprised to wake up a few hours later to hear Abigail throwing up.
“What's wrong?” He asked as he rubbed her back; she usually threw up when she had a Grid-related dream, but she'd also had nightmares that had induced the same behavior. She simply shook her head, not wanting to talk about it. “Do you need a ginger ale?” At her nod, he grabbed one from the fridge in her art room, handing it to her after he opened it. He ended up staying with her in the bathroom as she alternated between drinking the ginger ale and crying.
“'m sorry,” she eventually said.
“What are you apologizing for?”
“Didn't mean to scare you the other night.”
“Abigail. It's fine. You're fine. Was Friday night scary? Yes. It was scary seeing you out in the field when I couldn't go with you guys. The important thing is that you weren't hurt and Ernie's said the same thing. So have Kim and Billy and every other Power Ranger that's heard about it along with our families.”
“That's what Mom said.” Ah. There it was, why Abigail had thrown up. The sleepytime tea should have kept her asleep; the force that the Grid would have needed to get Trini's needing to talk with Abigail and make sure she was okay would have been enough to override that and force the throwing up reaction from her after.
“I'm not surprised she wanted to talk to you. She worries too.” Abigail simply snuggled into his side, still crying. His back was starting to hurt, but he would do it as often as needed if it meant that Abigail got the comfort she needed.
Eventually noticing she'd fallen asleep again, he put the mostly finished ginger ale on the sink before picking Abigail up and carrying her to bed, returning to the bathroom briefly to grab the soda can, putting it on Abigail's desk, on one of the coasters that Kat had made, a purple and yellow one. It would likely be flat after she got up for the day, but he knew that she didn't mind drinking flat ginger ale on occasion.
“She alright, Tommy?” Kat asked after taking care of JJ; she'd gotten up when Tommy had been helping Abigail.
“Still upset,” he quietly replied. “Trini wanted to talk with her and the backlash from that conversation woke her up after and she ended up throwing up.” Which reminded him that he needed to take care of the washcloth that he'd used to help clean Abigail up before she'd drank her ginger ale. He'd simply left it on the bathroom counter.
“Does Trini know that happens?”
“I honestly don't know. I've never attempted to go into the Grid like Abigail can; she's told me how she does it.” That knowledge had gotten updated as she grew in her skills. “I've got several different ways to try, but I'd rather not attempt any of them until Nerio or Rita can come over and supervise. I'm not about to ask Abigail to help right now, not in her condition.”
“I don't blame you; I wouldn't be trying either even if I could do what she does.”
“Abigail thought, when she was first learning to do so, that she might not be able to teach me how; we tried at that point in time. Now? I've never gotten around to asking and she's never said.”
“That's still understandable and I don't blame her for being cautious.” There was a lot they still didn't know; Grid Masters like Nerio were now attempting to get in contact with Gosei, but they were having little luck. They didn't know if Gosei was being paranoid or if there was something else going on. If Zordon was in the Grid, they would have simply asked him for the information that they though Gosei had and to deal with his apprentice so that Abigail had access to the needed information.
“Neither do I,” Tommy admitted. “I'm with her on the cautious bit; the last thing either of us wants is to get stuck in the Grid because we messed up. I think sleeping on the couch would be the least of my issues if that happened because I did something stupid.”
Indeed, Abigail had been learning a lot from Nerio; he'd offered and Abigail had graciously accepted. They'd not had many opportunities for her to practice what he'd been teaching her, but even Nerio had admitted that with how her mental and emotional state was at any given moment, that was likely for the best. If she was up to it by the Christmas holidays, they'd get the practice in then, but he was also fine on waiting until she was ready, no matter when that was. He'd commended her on knowing that her mental and emotional state could impede her training and had also commended Tommy for making sure that she had a trusted someone to talk to, in this case Rocky.
“Yes it would,” Kat agreed rather pointedly before giving him a kiss and heading back to bed. Tommy wanted to join her, but also didn't want to leave Abigail alone, not with her mental and emotional state being what it was. She'd had a Grid visit from Trini that had caused her to throw up and he knew nightmares were likely to happen as well; both were symptoms of a Grid conversation where there'd been a big enough strain. Abigail rarely now reacted like that to a Grid conversation like that, as it was easier on Trini to drop in when she was dreaming. The Sleepytime teas as well as the stronger blend she used put a distance between Abigail and her ability to dream.
Tommy eventually climbed up on the top bunk, taking care to not hit his head on the ceiling; he didn't want to wake Abigail up by crawling into her bed with her nor did he want to leave her to go back to his own bed. In some ways, he was rather glad that they kept sheets and a pillow and blanket on the top bunk instead of putting some on before they got company; given how often Abigail's friends and cousins were in and out of the house during the year, it was just easier this way.
Location: CyberSpace, the next day. POV: Abigail/1st person.
“You okay, Abigail?” Kira asked as she came up for a drink.
“I'm fine, Kira. Some nightmares last night, but that's it.”
“You look like crap.”
“Kira. I'm fine. Just some overexhaustion.” I'd driven Dad's Jeep for that specific reason; I was awake enough to drive the Jeep, but I didn't want to risk the motorcycle right now. Kira just looked at me and sighed.
“Ethan told us what happened last week.” I scowled. He'd not been the only one, but I understood why he'd told them. I was as much their teammate as I was leader of my own team. “Once you're up to it, you and I are going to have a long talk.”
“Kira,” I whined.
“I mean it.”
I huffed a bit; she wasn't the only one. When I'd woken up the next day, I'd found a lot of missed calls from Francine, who'd heard about it. I'd not called her back until Sunday and even then, we'd not talked a whole lot, given she was still with her sister. We were planning a sleepover tonight, her and Karan both, just so they could make sure that I was at least physically okay. Dad didn't mind when I'd texted and asked and I knew Karan was going to run Francine over to her house at some point so she could get her pajamas and toiletries. Kira had been invited as well, which I knew she appreciated. She'd not been able to stay Friday after she'd demorphed; Ethan had been the only one able to after. Most of Earth's Rangers couldn't after unless they had a good reason too, which had honestly sucked. It would have been nice to go somewhere and have a group cuddle pile or something. When I'd said as much to Rocky during a phone conversation, he'd asked why I'd not said anything.
“I just wasn't up to suggesting much of anything,” I finally replied. “Getting that from my brain to my mouth to say was going to take more energy to do than what I had at the time.” As it was, I'd mostly gone along with Dad, Clematia, and her teammates on the Aquitian team who'd wanted to spend time exploring Angel Grove because it was better than anything else I could think of. I'd already told Dad that the Youth Center was going to be crazy and even by the time we'd landed there, it still was. It had been the major reason why Ba had let me crash in his office. I wouldn't have been able to get a good nap in unless we'd gone back to Dad's parents' house and I'm not entirely sure I would have even then.
“I'll note it for the next time you have to do something that monumental when you're also dealing with a lot...and tell Tommy and Kat of the same.” I knew that information was going to likely go into Very Specific Files in the database as well, only accessible to specific Rangers that weren't Dad and Katherine. Likely Aunt Kimberly, Jason, David, and Uncle Billy and his family, as they were the ones who knew me best. Maybe even available to my team as well; I wasn't entirely sure as to who else would know.
I knew Hayley was worried as well; she'd said as much earlier, when the only other people in CyberSpace were fellow Rangers or those otherwise in the know, like some of my soccer teammates who'd also heard about the previous weekend's shooting.
They'd not been the only ones who'd heard about it; I'd been waylaid at least once almost every day headed to lunch by either one of the counselors or someone among Dad's coworkers who thought I should talk to one of the counselors. I'd had to remind each of them that not only did I have a counselor that I was talking to about it (Rocky), but I didn't appreciate being waylaid like that. I told Dad and Principal Mercer about each of them after; Principal Mercer had begun positioning herself somewhere where she could stop them so I could go and eat lunch, which I appreciated. I understood their concern, but they'd all been told multiple times that I had a counselor.
I knew Dad wasn't all too surprised when Kira had also joined Karan and Francine in the sleepover; he'd thought she'd might when I'd called over lunch.
“She worries,” he said.
“Not surprised. Not really at any rate. She's known me for longer than I think everyone else save you and Rocky.” And the remainder of Dino Thunder. Cassie didn't know me as well as either of us would like, but we both knew that her work schedule, along with what classes she was taking, it was hard for her to actually do so outside of CyberSpace and whenever we'd run into each other in town.
“He's a clingy MacGuffin tonight,” Francine noted, smiling as Andy insisted on sitting in my lap during dinner. He'd run up to me and demanded to be picked up almost as soon as we'd entered; Dad had just told us to drop our bags in the den instead of trying to take them upstairs. We'd take them up later so we could change. I wasn't entirely sure if we were going to sleep in the den or in one of the guest houses; if it was just Karan and Francine or one of the two plus Kira, that'd've been one thing, but since all 3 were here, we needed more space than what my bed had, even if we all got very comfortable. The den would allow us to sleep together in the same room, but the guest houses would all give us a place to sleep comfortably. Dad had offered when Kira had said she'd be coming along with Francine and Karan. I was leaning towards the guest homes, but that was mostly because I had first hand experience with just how comfortable those beds were. Francine, Karan, and Kira hadn't slept out there yet.
“All week, I swear,” I said, though I was also smiling. “He's always been in bed with me when I wake up in the morning too; not sure if he's waking up when JJ does and decides to come and join me in bed or if he'd figured out how to get out of his crib without help just yet.” I shook my head. “Not that I'm complaining, mind you. He enjoys it and has been fairly good about it, so he gets to do so as long as he thinks I'll need his cuddles.”
“It's the former, Abigail,” Katherine said. “While we're working on getting him used to the toddler bed, he seems to prefer the crib version most nights.”
“Either way, I don't mind. He's been really good at not waking me up when he comes in.” I usually didn't know that he was in bed with me until I woke up for school or from a nightmare, if he came in before I had one or when either Dad or Katherine were comforting me after I had one. What I didn't tell them-but had told Dad and Katherine-was that I thought Andy was also doing this because he worried...well, worried as much as he could about me at almost 20 months old. I still remembered how he made me promise 'Abby no owie' before I went out with David, Austin, Amy, and Clematia the previous Saturday. He didn't know what a gun was or that I'd been shot at, but he knew what a medical exam was and that I'd almost gotten hurt.
He'd also noticed everyone's worry over me and not just last Friday either; I knew that he'd noticed that every time the adults were hovering like that, especially Dad and Katherine, someone had gotten hurt. Sometimes it was me, sometimes it was him-usually when he ran into something or had a new scratch or bruise-and sometimes, it was Dad himself that had gotten hurt. It also wouldn't surprise me if he'd noticed that I wasn't at what he knew as my best. Unfortunately, he'd only really known me as a trauma-ridden Power Ranger, not as someone unaffected by Ranger-related trauma and doubly so as someone unaffected by such due to being a Power Ranger. I understood Hawkeye's comment on war being worse than hell a lot easier with several years of being a Power Ranger under my belt.
“I'm surprised Dr. O's allowing us to sleep out here,” Francine said later, after Andy and JJ had been put to bed.
“I'm not,” I replied with a snort. “1, he trusts us. 2...I'm still having nightmares. It's like post-Ivan all over again and that's not fair to Andy and JJ. If I could sleep out here most nights right now, I would, but Dad wants me inside, especially on school nights. I'm one more nightmare away from asking Dad and Katherine if I can swap my bedroom and my art room.”
“Have you asked before?”
“No; never really needed to once the Ivan nightmares started dying down and I learned to deal better.” I pulled my legs into much chest. “It's not so much that these new nightmares are hard to deal with, but it's too much shit happening at once. Like...after Ivan, that was mostly Ivan stuff. Stone'd been dealt with prior to that and Sanderson had been fired way before that. This is like if all of that-Sanderson, Stone, my adoption, Andy's birth and Ivan's defeat-had all happened within a 6 week period. Trying to deal, even though I know how to, is hard right now because it's a ton at once.”
“Fuck. I can see how that'd been difficult and all of those were hard enough to deal with as it were, though I know Ivan was the worst of the lot.”
“No kidding,” I said, snorting, though everyone had agreed with Karan on that. “Mentally and emotionally, this is closer to Ivan-level everything just due to the effect it's having on me than it is everything else. JJ being born when he was isn't helping either, though I have to admit, I'd rather have that than fighting Ivan when Andy was born, knowing that if I failed, we were all doomed.”
“Don't say that,” Kira said. “Ivan wasn't about to win, believe me. All of us had plans and I know Trent had a good chunk himself. Some crossed over with the Ninja Storm's plans-Blake and Hunter both were going to do something similar to what Johnny had planned and fry him with electricity. He was going to end up dead one way or another. Just so happened that flooding Reefside with Rangers was the best possible plan.”
“It was a plan that shouldn't have worked.” Some-mostly those who didn't realize how huge of a threat Ivan was-had called the plan we'd used overkill until they'd been shown and told of Ivan's sheer power and abilities. Even without all the monsters he'd created and the mecha, along with the Tengu, Ivan had been a force to be reckoned with. He didn't need the Tengu to do his dirty work, not if he was just facing off against a team or two of Power Rangers; any more and he did need minions or monsters.
“It did, though.”
“Of that, I am entirely grateful.”
“You, me, Dr. O, Katherine, and I think everyone else. Just glad he didn't manage to make an Evil Ranger; Trent's still having some nightmares about his own time. He's been talking with Dr. O about it, though.”
“That's good,” Francine told Kira before I could. “I know there's that message board, too, for all the Rangers who've either started out as Evil Rangers or were temporarily.”
“Trent's shown me,” Kira said. “Glad he's got that.”
“You can join it too,” Francine said and she wasn't the only one confused. “It's for those who've been brainwashed too and most Evil Rangers pretty much were brainwashed.”
“Francine, don't.”
“But...”
“I said don't.”
“Francine, drop it. Even Dad's touchy about the subject. He doesn't like talking about it often and even I only know the barest bones about it. I think Trent's told me more than Dad has.” Trent had told me a hell of a lot, actually, but not all at once. Rather, he'd only really talked about it under certain circumstances: if Dad wasn't around and if both of us were up to it. We'd both bonded over using art as therapy; I'd given him the names of the books Rocky had given me on the subject and I knew that he'd bought them as well as found others, which he'd given me my own copies of. I think that had made things a lot easier as far as talking about the subject for him. Dad and I...we didn't have that in common to bond over, plus it wouldn't surprise me if Dad didn't want to bother me with it, knowing what I was dealing with on a regular basis.
Francine wasn't too happy about it, but she soon changed the subject, Kira eventually relaxing. Karan eventually headed out into the kitchen and brought back some ice cream and spoons, silently handing Kira one of the pints and a spoon.
“Surprised that's in here,” Francine said, interrupting herself.
“We bought those...at some point. They're still good,” I explained as I dug into my own. “We tend to leave the freezer stuff out here as the guest homes are entirely powered by solar power. Fridge stuff, unless we know we're going to have company up long enough to not worry about it, gets brought in within a day or two of company leaving unless it's stuff that'll last a bit longer or can be pitched, which is rare for the latter.”
“Meaning?”
“Batch of fruit that went bad; that happens more than you think, especially with berries.”
“What about fridge stuff that can be frozen?” While that was just about everything we stored out here food wise, not everything could be frozen, like milk. Cheese...could be depending on the cheese, but we usually didn't stock the ones that couldn't be frozen. Even then, unless we knew that whatever company was going to be there for a while, we usually brought the cheese in before freezing it.
“Unless it's something that we're going to eat anyway, it gets frozen. We usually bring it out to thaw...oh, a few days ahead of when we know we're going to have company up. Our usual company-Dad and Katherine's parents as well as Ba, Sam, Uncle David, and Aunt Melissa-tends to stay in the same guest houses. It's only when, say, Jason and Aunt Kim are staying up that we need to figure out who's sleeping where as they're usually up at the same times our usual company is. Not always, but usually.” They all knew by this point that when David, Austin and Amy were there, they were sleeping in the house with me, usually.
“What about them staying with Dr. Cranston?” Like with Dad, Uncle Billy hadn't gotten them to break the habit of calling him by his title+first name just yet.
“He'd have to offer first, though I think he might once his own guest homes are built. Even then...I honestly don't see Aunt Kimberly wanting to be further away from me in the short term when she comes to visit than the guest houses are from the house.” I shrugged. “Reefside being as far away from Angel Grove is hard enough on her as it is.”
“Why's that?”
“Some of it...she's busy with her school. When I was taking lessons with her, I had a lot of competitions I was in, though no more than a couple a month during the school year and more during the summer. The Olympic and Pan Global games were looking at Austin, Amy, and me the most, especially since we kept getting medals. Not just us, but there's been quite a few from Aunt Kimberly's school that have done well at either set of games and some that have done both. Even with all the teachers she has now...it's hard for both of us to match up our schedules during the school year. Paparazzi's a bitch, too. Uncle Billy can get away with not being recognized in town as someone famous, as eyes only really turn to him after he's attended a movie premier. Outside of that, most of the folks in town who know who he is are film or tech buffs. Aunt Kimberly's got it harder; you guys know how sports stars are viewed.”
“What's the rest?”
“She and I have differing sets of interests. She loves shopping; I only go if I really want or need something, especially when it's clothing related. We've struggled to come up with stuff to do together and Ba's restrictive rules didn't help. Now that I'm in Reefside...still hard. If it was closer to L.A., we'd be hitting L.A. up for museums and such. As it was, we wore out what Angel Grove had to offer by the time I was 9.”
“And even around here, there's not a lot that you've not seen multiple times already.”
“Yep. And even our other interests...there's not a lot in common. Can't read music to save my life nor play an instrument; same with using a regular bow, though that might keep us busy the next few times she's able to come up and I have the actual free time for it. Sign language is one common interest and that's about it.”
“We have differing sets of interests,” Karan pointed out.
“But we have enough in common to make everything work,” I shot back. Francine, Karan and I had soccer and a few other things, including cooking, in common. Karan and I also had growing up in a semi-abusive household and being allowed to thrive in our new families. The only real difference there was I knew Ba loved me; Karan wasn't entirely sure that her birth parents actually loved her and I didn't doubt her doubts about their love for her. For Kira and me, we'd had to figure out our commonalities, but we'd managed it. For her and I both, being Yellow Power Rangers helped as a jumping off point; we'd not been the only Power Rangers to note that it was easier remaining friends with other Power Rangers than it was civilians because there was a lot less to hide, even when there was a wide range of difference within the community. It was a major reason the message boards were set up they way they were, to allow them to find other Power Rangers with common interests or life experiences. Karan had to concede my point; there was a lot we had in common right now. Time would tell if our friendships fell apart after high school and college; we all doubted that they'd fall apart, as most other teams managed to keep friendships going after.
“What do you and Kimberly have in common?”
“Mom and being a Power Ranger,” I automatically replied. “Those two things and gymnastics, which I only took because it was one of the few ways I could see her on a regular basis growing up. I think if Mom had lived or if Ba hadn't been so strict, it would have been easier, but...” I shook my head. “It's hard enough as it is now to figure out our relationship going forward with both of us living in different cities; I don't want it to become like Ba's relationship with his godparents. They fell out of contact at some point after he moved out here and even now, it's birthdays and some holidays and that's it. From what little I've heard Ba say, they were never really that close either.”
“I've never heard Dr. O talk about his godparents.”
“Eh...they talk regularly,” I said. “They just don't want to come up here due to it being a Ranger city, or so they say, and getting down to L.A. regularly is tough as well. There's a few halfway points, but to get there, you have to either go through Ranger cities or the halfway points are Ranger cities.”
“Ooph.”
“Yea. They did come for his wedding a couple years back, which was nice, and Andy's baptism, so they're not entirely opposed to coming, but I think they'd rather not deal with the traffic on the freeways around L.A. and Reefside being a Ranger city's just an excuse.”
“How'd they treat you?”
“Rather nice; his godmother's half-Asian like myself, so we ended up talking a bit the last time they did come up and they remember to send gifts for everyone's birthdays and holidays where that's a thing, like Christmas and Easter. They don't come to birthdays either; they've not come to Andy's yet and they've not come to either of mine. We're not expecting them to come to JJ's next year either. Baptism, yes, birthday, not so much.” JJ's baptism was going to be in January, but I wasn't entirely sure of the exact date.
“That's good,” Karan said, relaxing at that and I knew what she meant. They'd all heard by this point about how some of Mom's cousins treated me simply because of me being mixed-race and had seen how some of our classmates had done the same because of me being Vietnamese-American.
“Dad's important to them and I'm important to Dad.”
“Kinda wish my godparents were as involved,” Karan eventually admitted. “Dad's invited them over and has offered to make sure we keep in contact, but I've not seen them since my birth parents left and we've really only talked on the phone a couple of times. Dad's offered to name new ones for me, but I'm not entirely sure who he'd pick.”
“Probably Dad and...not sure who he'd pick for your godmother. Probably Kira.” That got Kira sputtering and everyone else laughing a bit. We all knew that he wouldn't pick Principal Mercer for Karan's godmother, given that she was more like Karan's mom.
“Dr. O, I can see, but why me?”
“Only female officially on the Dino Thunder team?”
“Try again.” Kira was laughing too hard to make it that serious, though, as was Karan. My suggestion of it being because she was dating Trent just got that repeated and even more laughter.
I ended up shaking my head.
“I can't think of anyone else and I highly doubt it'll be any of our teachers from school either except Dad. I highly doubt he'll pick anyone who won't do right by you, though. At your age, it'll probably be a couple of adults that you get along with and that he trusts. As far as I know, that's a rather short list and he'd probably defer to Dad on some of it, as he'd probably want Rangers to take care of you.”
“Trent's already said yes if need be.”
“Oh, good.”
“And I'll help.”
“Thanks, Kira,” we chorused before Karan looked at a clock.
“We should probably put the ice cream away; it's pretty late.”
“Thankfully I don't have to work tomorrow.” I'd also worked Friday after school; thankfully, we'd not had any rain, so I'd taken my motorcycle. That had been how I'd known I wasn't up to taking it to work today, or at least, part of how and why.
“How are we doing this?” Francine asked after we put the ice cream away.
“Well, we can either split up by bed or use the loft, though I'm not entirely sure how many the loft can fit comfortably.”
“You never tried?”
“Nope; just got too busy after they were finished, honestly. When I wasn't doing homework last year, I was in one or the other with Dad or Katherine. Usually was making sure Andy was okay; we'd brought his Pack-and-Play in so we could keep an eye on him and he could play while we painted the walls and put everything in. Appliances were brought in and installed by the folks who delivered them; sinks, toilets, and showers were done by plumbers. Everything else furniture-wise save the stuff that didn't have to be put together-couches, mainly, and the chairs-had to be assembled. Artwork had to be chosen for out here. You won't believe the amount of stuff we had to buy for here. Like assembling a full house. Twice.” We'd still had stuff we'd found we'd needed over Christmas, though we'd had to take it out from the main house until Dad and I got over being sick, then we'd gone out and bought the items.
“I bet!”
“Should be able to sleep all four of us,” Kira reported. “If we don't mind getting cozy.”
“Cozy?” We were all curious, so it didn't take us long to get up the ladder. Kira was right; while the loft was decently sized, the fact that Dad and Katherine had chosen to go with slanted roofs meant that actual sleeping space was limited. After that I was glad that I'd only brought out a couple of plushies and so had everyone else; from what Kira had said later, she, Conner, Ethan, and Trent all had plushies of each other's Zords. I wasn't entirely sure about the guys on my team, but I knew Francine and Karan had at least done the same.
“That's what Uncle David was kind of complaining about last Christmas after Ba and David left,” I said. “Not entirely sure if he was outright complaining or if he was simply teasing Dad. He and Aunt Melissa slept in the loft for a few nights and then in a regular room after, as, with Dad and me sick, neither Ba nor David could sleep in the house without risking them getting sick.”
“Especially with them working in food service.”
“Yep; we did our best to limit their exposure to what Dad and me had and there was so much sanitizing. Helped that by the time they came up, we were for the most part over whatever we had.” I shook my head. “Not to mention that they've got a pretty good immune system from working there on top of getting the flu shot every year. Don't mean that they don't get sick-Ba did early last year-just that they get sick a lot less than most folks.”
“When was the last time David got sick?”
“About a year before I moved up. Before that, it was the year he got chicken pox. That's never fun. Worse when you're almost a teenager and get it. I was 7 when I got it and 8 when he did.”
“Surprised at that,” Francine said. “I thought I've read something that infers that preemie immune systems are weaker because of being preemies.”
“At first, yea,” I told her, “but we catch up. We didn't get taken to the Youth Center until we started getting our first rounds of vaccinations. David had it easier, too; the only indoor places he got taken were doctor's offices at first. Ba did the grocery shopping early on after David's birth, from what I've heard, and any time Mom went out with David, according to her and Aunt Kimberly, they went to places where they could be outdoors, especially in the winter. Jason and Aunt Kimberly's wedding was one of the few places he was inside for a good few hours as an infant, but he'd had a good chunk of his shots by then, or so I've been told.” Mom had been in the wedding party, so Ba had been needed to corral a-by then-somewhat mobile David. Austin and Amy had been born the following Halloween, but Aunt Kimberly had wanted a January wedding to start with, I'd known that much.
All of my doctors save Grandpa Mike had been surprised at how healthy David and I had been in part because we'd been preemies. Once Aunt Erica had gotten a good look at the Youth Center, she'd said that it had explained a lot. Schools weren't the only places that were hotbeds for children getting sick; places like the Youth Center were as well. Aunt Erica had been surprised that David and me hadn't gotten sicker a lot more growing up, given how often we'd been at the Youth Center, me especially.
We quickly scrambled down the ladder again as we needed to change into our pajamas and none of us wanted to change up in the loft. It was just going to be easier to stash their bags in a spare bedroom and toss the pillows, blankets, and plushies up than it was anything else. I knew Dad and Katherine would understand; they'd not told us we couldn't sleep in the loft either. Definitely saved the talk of who was going to sleep where too. It also saved everyone trying to pile into whatever bed I was sleeping in for when the inevitable nightmares started and I had no doubt that I'd have some tonight. I'd not brought any of the Sleepytime tea out and didn't want to go back into the house for any; we didn't keep any in the guest house we were in. I'd already checked.
“What about the other guest house?” Kira had asked when she'd noticed me looking.
“Only had the key to this one,” I said. “Dad told me to pick a key and that was it and he took it back once we got in, as we've only got the one set of copies for both guest homes. Ba doesn't drink tea or rather, he doesn't drink the Sleepytime tea. He might drink the tea that Mom liked, but I don't know. Coffee, soda, juice, and water and that's all I know of when it comes to drinks. I doubt he's going to drink alcohol any time soon, even when David and me get married.”
“I wouldn't either.” Kira made a face and I knew what she meant. She was still pissed at Ba for that and I didn't blame her. Francine and Karan had been filled in on everything ages ago, as had all of the boys. I wasn't about to have secrets like that when it came to my teammates, as they tended to come out at the worst time. By telling them ahead of time, I'd hoped to avoid that. It was also why I'd asked Nerio about how to explain to my maternal grandparents about where Mom had ended up.
I knew Dad was amused the next morning when he came in, or at least, when we awoke, Dad had an amused smile as we poked our heads out from the loft to see him and Andy in the main room of the guest house.
“I'm not surprised the four of you ended up sleeping up there,” he said.
“Easier on Abigail when she had nightmares,” Kira said.
“Trust me, it was a unanimous decision,” I added. “I wasn't about to argue either; I knew that I'd need the comfort.”
“Abby!!”
“Hey, buddy,” I said as I came down the ladder, grateful that I'd at least worn my one pair of slippers up. They had a sole not unlike some shoes, but I only wore them inside and very rarely. Out of my friends and family, I was one of a few who'd not figured out a good way to climb a ladder barefoot without it being uncomfortable.
“Up, peas.”
“Sure thing, buddy,” I said as I picked him up.
“Up.”
“You want to go up into the loft, buddy?” I asked as I looked where he was pointing.
“Up.”
“Buddy, I can't safely get you up there and there's no railing either.”
“Abby. Up.”
“I'm holding you, Andy. You are up.” Andy pouted.
“Dada up. Abby up. I up.” Francine wasn't the only one to be hiding her amusement; all of us were either trying to stifle a smile or a laugh.
“You're a bit too young for that,” Dad thankfully said, garnering another pout from Andy, who really wanted to go up into the loft. He really was, too; while he'd mastered the stairs and small ladders, he didn't have all of the skills available to be able to even be helped up the ladder that went into the loft. None of us felt safe carrying him up it either. He didn't understand it now, but he would when he was older.
“Up, peas.”
“Buddy, to go up that means you have to be older like Dad or me,” I tried to explain. “We're just trying to make sure you don't get an owie that we can't fix and that you would have to go to the doctor for.”
“No owie.”
“That's right. We don't want you to have an owie, okay?” Andy nodded. “When you're a bit older and don't have to worry about owies so much, you can go up, okay?” I gave him a kiss on his forehead.
“We've got your plushy and blankets,” Francine said a few moments later as she, Karan, and Kira scrambled down everyone's stuff in their hands. “Pillows okay to be left up there? They were already up there when we went up.”
“They're fine,” Dad said. “I put extras in both guest home lofts, as I wasn't sure which one you guys were going to be sleeping in.” Extras my ass, I thought, but didn't say out loud. We had plenty of pillows in both guest houses and I was willing to bet Dad simply took them out, put the appropriate colored pillowcases on, and put them up there. Blankets had been left on the ground floor; we'd simply tossed them up once Kira had gotten up to the loft. Same had gone for our plushies; trying to climb the latter with either wasn't easy. Coming down, they'd simply dropped the blankets on one side after checking with Dad and the plushies ended up on top of the blankets.
“Did you all sleep well last night?” Dad asked as we folded the sheets; he'd put them away later.
'Not bad' and 'Pretty good' were the common answers.
“I had a few nightmares, but that's been par for the course lately,” I admitted. Aside from Francine, Karan, and Kira being there, the Saber-tooth tiger had also stepped in a few different times when I'd thought I'd have nightmares. Like after Ivan, I'd been having more times during the past week when I should have had increased nightmares instead. I knew I'd pay for it at some point; I'd had one night during soccer season when I'd been inundated with nightmares after a string of nights where Mom and my shared Ranger animal had prevented me from having them.
“You sure you're okay?” Dad asked after everyone else started changing in the guest rooms.
“Fine-ish,” I replied with a shrug. “If all of this had happened last year, I think I would have been more of a mess than I am now.” Dad simply pulled me into his arms; I didn't have to look up to know what look was on his face. I knew he hated me being absolutely fine with having nightmares and needing coping skills to deal with the rest of the trauma in my life.
I wasn't surprised that Andy-who I'd set down at some point-decided to hug my leg. He'd noticed Dad giving me a hug and also either of us not picking him up so he could give me a proper hug, so he decided to give me a hug on my leg. That had been a favorite place for him to hug from the ground ever since he'd started sitting up and crawling. I remembered the hug he'd given me when I'd been sick last Christmas, understanding why he'd done it then.
“Abby no owie?” He asked after Dad let me go from the hug.
“Not hurt, buddy,” I said, smiling as I knelt down to his level. “Just needed a hug from Dad, that's all.” Andy nodded and proceeded to give me a hug around the neck. “I'll take a hug from you, too, buddy.” It was hard to keep the smile off of my face at his insistence on giving me a hug too. At his young age, hugs and kisses made everything better. I wished that could be true at any age, honestly.
“Coming in for breakfast?” Dad asked after I'd disengaged from my hug with Andy and had gotten changed.
“What time is it?” I asked from behind the bedroom door; thankfully, using the bathroom hadn't taken that long, and again, thankfully, I'd not needed a shower either.
“Just past 10 am. You guys slept until almost 9:45.”
“Didn't realize I was that tired,” I said. By the time I got out, everyone else had managed to help Dad fold and put away the sheets and someone-I wasn't entirely sure-had gotten the pillows down and the pillowcases taken off so everything could be washed, not that they needed it, I thought. Then again, I wasn't entirely sure who was a drooler more often than not. “We'd thought we were going to have breakfast in here, but that was before we slept in.”
“There's not that much food left in here,” Dad admitted. “Kat brought most of it in when Andy and JJ were napping. Most of what's left is all frozen.”
“There's...crap. Was going to make waffles or something, but everything I need save the flour's inside.”
“We can make waffles,” Dad said, amused. That would use up some of our leftover eggs; I knew there was quite a bit left from a month and a half of both sets of grandparents visiting, though they'd taken home some of the food they'd bought, at Dad and Katherine's offering, as none of us really thought that they had much in the way of food left in their own homes, well at least some of it. The guys had headed back to Angel Grove before their wives had, so there'd not been much taken back. Just stuff that they ate that we didn't or that we already had a good amount of.
“And bacon?”
“We have breakfast sausages,” I said as we all grabbed our stuff, Andy insisting on holding Kira's hand as we headed back to the main house. “If we have bacon, I've not seen it lately.”
“I bought some Friday on the way home from the high school,” Dad said. “I prefer to keep it at home for when we make it. Easier on Andy.” While Andy could have breakfast sausages, I knew that, much like hot dogs, they still presented a choking hazard right now. Maybe by the time he was 2, he might be allowed to have them, but I knew that was up to Dad, Katherine, and Andy's pediatrician. Bacon presented much less of a choking hazard right now, though he was getting better at eating foods of different sizes and shapes.
“How'd you miss that, Abigail?”
“Smoothie for breakfast yesterday and lunch,” I admitted. “It was one of a few things I knew I could handle for breakfast and lunch yesterday and didn't require me to get into the meat and cheese drawer where we keep the bacon.”
“Handle?”
“Bad nightmares night before last, though not the screaming type. Some just manage to screw with what I can eat without it reminding me of something or other.”
“Some of us get those types of nightmares more than others,” Dad explained at Francine's silent question. “And it's not always tied to being an evil Ranger either. Kat rarely has those types of nightmares whereas Trent and me...I'm sure you've noticed that Trent gets really bad nightmares on occasion, Kira. That's why.”
“I get nightmares from when that one creation of yours brainwashed me,” she said. “When Trent gets them when I'm there, it's hard. Usually end up doing something he needs me to do within reason so he can ground himself. Usually, that's making some form of tea or something.”
“Why tea?”
“Not that addicting,” I replied. “Especially if it doesn't have caffeine in it. I think Trent uses mint tea or he said he was going to try it at one point for when his nightmares were giving him upset stomachs.”
“I wondered why he had some,” Kira said. “Your recommendation?”
“Yea; it's good if I'm out of ginger ale or aren't feeling having it. I keep ginger ale mostly upstairs, but mint tea works if I can calm down enough ahead of time to drink it. I mostly keep it for non-nightmare-related upset stomachs.” One by one, everyone save Dad and Andy began giggling or laughing as they realized what I meant. They'd all experienced upset stomachs due to periods before. Karan kept Altoids or other mints on her for that reason, as did Francine. I usually hit up the vending machine for a ginger ale if I didn't pack one or if my period started unexpectedly while I was at school. All 3 of us were on a similar schedule and so we tended to keep extra pads, tampons, and underwear in our bags for when we knew we were getting close to our periods starting. Most of the girls on the soccer team did the same; it just made things easier, as while there were vending machines for pads and tampons in the ladies restrooms, they weren't that great and rather cheap.
“What time are your guys' parents expecting you home?” Dad asked as we got the table set.
“Not until close to dinner,” Francine said. “Got most of my homework done Friday night, so all I have to do is reread stuff and make sure everything's correct on my papers before I print them.”
“Same for me,” Karan said.
“In my own apartment, but I am meeting up with my parents for dinner,” Kira admitted. “Would have with Trent, but exams are coming up for both of us. We've got a date planned next weekend and again after exams are over.” If Dad hadn't been there, we would have been teasing Kira about her dates with Trent; we all knew what they usually ended up doing, especially after their after-exam dates. I knew that I wasn't the only one who couldn't wait until I graduated high school; Ethan and I had talked about it somewhat.