"Daddy!" Angie yelled as she ran into the kitchen. It seemed that all of her dad's friends were congregating in the living room, talking about the camping trip that all of them were to go on. This was a sort of tradition of sorts for all of them and had been since Angie could remember. They had only missed a couple and that was when Charlie had been really little.
"What little bit?" Tommy asked as Angie glared up at him, she was now thirteen and it kinda got on her nerves that her dad still called her little bit. She didn't think that it was fair that Jase had gotten her father's height and she was stuck at five foot nothing, but she saw no use in arguing the term of endearment.
"Why haven't we left yet?" Angie asked as Tommy smiled at her impatience. It was easy for her to be ready to go, but it was a little bit harder for Kim to be able to Charlie ready to go, she was always a little less free spirited that Angie, which was something he was definitely happy about.
"Your mama is having to help your sister get her stuff together," Tommy said as Kim walked down the stairs and just shook her head. Charlie was still refusing to go with all of them. Kim had given up, so she hoped that Charlie, being a Daddy's girl, would give in to Tommy's pleading or that she would not scream too loudly when Tommy just packed her stuff and told her to get in the car. "Why don't you ask Jason if we need anything?"
"All right," Angie said as she walked from the kitchen to the living room and Tommy smiled over at Kim.
"She getting antsy?" Kim asked as Tommy nodded his head yes.
"Does that remind you of someone?" Tommy asked as Kim looked at the floor and nodded. "Go hang out with the others, I'll have her down here in a few minutes."
"Okay," Kim said as Tommy gave her a quick squeeze and then walked out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs.
"Uncle Jason, is there anything that we need?" Angie asked as Alex walked up to next to her and she looked over at him. He was basically like another brother to her and she was used to him.
"Yeah, go get some blankets out of the basement," Jason said as several of the others looked over at him, thinking that he had lost his mind. Did he want for their children to walk into their ranger life?
"There is not a basement in this house, you know that," Angie said as Jason stood up and walked her into the kitchen and pulled on a particular knife. Kim and Tommy had decided that the dinosaur jaw just clashed in the kitchen, so they had replaced it with the knife stand, just in case something ever popped up again. Angie stared, in shock, as part of the floor popped up and Angie looked over at Jason. She had the feeling that this was something that she did not need to see.
"Some blankets, please," Jason said as Angie looked over at Alex and he nodded that he would go with her. He honestly didn't like the look of it either, but if he didn't go, Angie sure as hell wouldn't.
"Okay," Angie said as Alex tugged her down the stairs behind him and Jason smirked over at some of the others that had wondered into the kitchen. If Kim or Tommy had been in there, they would have stopped it, but Jason wanted them to know. He was tired of lying to his own children.
"They're going to kill you," Adam said as Jason just shrugged his shoulders. Alex was ready to know about it and he was sure that Angie could take it as well.
"Are there even any blankets down here?" Angie asked as she began searching around. She could make out an old couch and some boxes that were just piled into the center of the room.
"There have to be some," Alex said as he began looking in a different part of the basement and the lights flickered on, hesitantly, before they came on with full strength. Angie immediately dropped the books that she had picked up and stared around the room. She was sure that her parents didn't know that this was here. They couldn't, they would have told them about this. "Are you okay?"
"No," Angie said as she sat down on the couch and Alex walked over and sat down next to her. "How can this be in my home? I don't understand."
"I think my dad is trying to tell us something. I think he wants us to ask questions," Alex said as Angie looked around the room and just shook her head. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, but she could tell that it would only take a moment to flick everything on, although she didn't know what the everything was.
"What kind of questions?" Angie asked as her father stormed into the room and snatched her up off the couch. "Daddy?"
"How did you get down here?" Tommy asked as Kim had ran after him and had quickly placed a hand on his shoulder. She was afraid of what Tommy might do; he was furious right now.
"Uncle Jason told me to come get some blankets, I didn't know this was down here," Angie said with wide eyes as Tommy let go of her wrist and looked over at Kim. How were they going to explain all of this to her? She didn't have the slightest clue that they were rangers. She didn't even really know what a ranger was. They had kept those television shows off the air as much as possible.
"You were never supposed to see this," Tommy muttered as Kim sighed and then pulled Tommy away from Angie and Alex.
"It's not their fault Tommy, they were tricked. I think it's time we tell Angie and maybe even Jase, Charlie's too young to take it," Kim said as Tommy just shook his head. He had not wanted to let his children know anything about their former life. They were not supposed to have a hard life, they were supposed to have it easy.
"Kim…" Tommy said as Kim just shook her head.
"Tommy, we don't have much of a choice now," Kim said as Tommy looked over at Alex and Angie and then up the stairs, where Jason waved at him and Tommy fought the urge to flick him off.
"Jason, is it alright if we answer the questions that you put in your child's head?" Tommy asked as Jason nodded his head and Tommy shook his head. "Can you keep the younger ones out of here?"
"Yeah," Jason said, as he had to agree that he didn't want his youngest child to have to deal with it. Alex was ready and if he and Angie knew about it, then they would have a little bit of an outlet. There were so many things that they had to hide and he just couldn't do it anymore.
"So, you were rangers," Alex said, simply, as Tommy stared at him. He had thought this was going to take a very long time to discuss, but Alex had seemed to figure some of it out awhile ago.
"How can you say that? This could have been here before my parents moved in here," Angie said as Tommy looked away from her and Angie's mouth fell open. "When did this get here?"
"We built it," Kim said as Angie's eyes widened and Kim put her arm around her. "We had a lot of help, basically everyone up there helped."
"Hold on, you were rangers?" Angie asked as Kim nodded her head yes and Tommy walked over to the control panel and reluctantly pressed in one button. He had never wanted to turn on this module again, but he knew that he might as well show her the unabridged history of the rangers. It was a lot better to see than to hear about. "How long ago?"
"We finished Lord Zedd and Rita off right after you were born," Kim said, looking at the floor, as her thirteen year old daughter gawked at her and Alex was not much better.
"You fought?" Angie asked as Kim nodded her head yes. It was not like she had had much of a choice in the matter. If she had not fought, then they wouldn't have been able to defeat them. Tommy had had to have the right inspiration to do what he had done that day.
"That's why they'll never tell me," Alex said, as Tommy and Kim looked over at him, slightly confused.
"Never tell you what?" Tommy asked as the video had loaded, but he had a feeling that Alex had something extremely important to say.
"You always talk about when you found out Kim was pregnant. Mom and Dad never talk about it. They were on that mission, weren't they?" Alex asked as Tommy nodded his head yes and Angie nearly fainted, but Tommy caught her before she smacked the ground.
"You take after your mother way too much," Tommy said as Angie's eyes fluttered open and she shook her head. She had never thought of the fact that the boy standing next to here was lucky to be alive, now she knew that was true.
"I can't believe it," Angie said as Kim and Tommy looked at the two of them. They were the oldest ranger children and by birthright, they needed to know this first. They didn't know if they could take it, but they could trust that they would keep it a secret from the other ranger children.
"I know, just watch the video, it'll make it better," Kim said as Angie and Alex sat down on the couch, careful to not touch each other, as they began watching the video that had been played more times than they had ever imagined it would be played.
"What do you think?" Tommy whispered in Kim's ear as he flicked his eyes towards Angie and Alex. They two of them had always been there for each other and he knew that these next few years would determine if they were more than just friends.
"Anything can happen. You, of all people, should know that," Kim said with a smile as they watched the two teens as they gawked at the video. It had just gotten to the part about Dino Thunder and everything that had happened while they were Dino rangers. There was no leaving out that they had just had a baby, considering the pieces that Alpha had placed in the history.
"Oh my lord," Angie muttered, the first to regain her ability to speak. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"And have you going to kindergarten and telling everyone you meet that your parents are Power Rangers, no way," Tommy said as Angie smiled over at her father. He was being a lot more understanding than she had first imagined he would be. "Ang, we knew this day would come. We just thought it would be when we were a lot older and maybe had grandchildren."
"I'm sure you'd tell them before you told us," Angie said as Tommy nodded his head that he would have preferred that.
"You have every right to know about it. You were born while we were still rangers, you have some ranger powers in you, somewhere," Kim said with a smile as Tommy nodded his head that he was sure of that as well. "You probably do too Alex, but maybe not as strong."
"So all of your friends, they were rangers?" Angie asked as Tommy nodded his head.
"Except for Hayley and Ally, they all were," Tommy said as Angie walked back over to the couch and sat down. She was just a little bit shocked about it all. "Do you still want to go camping after hearing all of this?"
"Yes," Angie said as Tommy held back a smile.
"Just checking, come on we have to get going or we won't get there before nightfall," Tommy said as Angie nodded and her and Alex followed them out of the command center. "Not a word of this to the others."
"Yes sir," Angie said with a smile as Alex gulped. He knew that the only person he could talk to was Angie and she was the one person he was kinda scared to face at the moment.
"Daddy, why can't I go in?" Anna whined as Billy looked over at Jason with a 'see this is what you caused' expression on his face. Jason honestly didn't care if all the kids wanted to go down there, he was tired of hiding this from his own children. He was tired of half answering their questions and he was sure that Tommy had the same hard feelings he did. Angie had been born while they were rangers. It must be hard to only tell her half the truth.
"Hey," Tommy said as they walked back into the living room and Angie stopped with her parents as Alex continued over to his. "Let's get going. We've burned enough daylight already."
"How are we riding?" Jason asked as they hadn't worked out who was riding with whom.
"Let the kids work it out," Tommy said as Jason looked up at him, in complete shock. Tommy was asking for chaos to ensue. Although by the glint in his eye, this had more to do with them having to tell Angie than the actual seating arrangements.
"Well, I'm riding with you," Kim said, before half the other little girls could claim a seat in their car.
"No fair," Tommy said as he followed Kim outside, carrying a couple of bags.
"It is fair, considering what you're now going to have to deal with," Kim said as Tommy placed both of his arms around her in a tight embrace and she smiled up at him.
"Let's get going," Tommy said as Angie and Alex were now standing next to each other on the front steps, watching the others run to various vehicles.
"Your parents or mine?" Alex asked, simply, as Angie looked over at him. They were about the same height, but she had gone through a growth spurt a few months ago, Alex still had a couple of growth spurts to go through.
"I don't care," Angie said as they started towards the cars and noticed that Jason and Trini had no one riding with them. "I guess yours."
"Yeah," Alex said as the two of them crawled into the back seat and Jason looked over at Trini and smiled. They two of them had always been good friends, but they all hoped for more, especially considering the fact that they had always acted a little bit different than the rest of their children.
"Spill it all," Angie said as Jason looked back at her and saw that she was dead serious. "We're the only two that know and unless you start talking, it might slip out. How did my parents really get back together?""You noticed that wasn't in there," Jason said as Angie nodded her head yes. She knew that the story of her parents' reunion had to be more interesting than the lame story that they told them. She didn't believe for a second that they bumped into each other on the street and decided that they couldn't live without each other.
"We forced them to talk to each other, when we went to defeat…I forgot her name, there were way too many of them to really be able to think clearly about who you were defeating. We just treated every monster the same," Jason said as Angie smiled.
"I think it's funny that you actually got them to talk, no one else did," Angie said as Jason and Trini laughed. They wished that they could show them what actually happening, but they didn't see that as a reality.
"Let's just say that being forced to be in a combat environment makes you change your approaches. None of us were risking out own death because your parents refused to talk to each other," Jason said as Angie gave him a confused look. "This was one of the most dangerous missions that we ever went on, we all needed to be on the same team."
"You know that they're going to want to know," Trini said as Jason nodded his head. The other kids would just have to wait. Angie and Alex seemed to be taking it all right, but Alex had basically figured it out years ago. Both Jason and Trini knew that.
"They're not ready," Angie said as Trini smiled back at her. She was definitely trying to protect her siblings and they all knew that had been instilled in Angie by Kim and Tommy. They wanted to make sure that their youngest children would always having some one looking after them, especially if something happened to them.
"When did you find out you were pregnant with me?" Alex asked as Trini's eyes nearly popped out of her head and Angie laughed.
"Right before we went on our last mission," Trini said as she looked over at Jason, who was staring at the road. They still didn't like talking about what had happened during that mission. Alex had no idea how close he came to not being here. "Your mom actually made me take a test."
"I'm not surprised. They had just had me, she remembered the symptoms too well," Angie said as Trini nodded. If Kim hadn't noticed it, then she wouldn't have found out and she would have ignored the signs that let her get out in time.
"Yeah, she did," Trini said as Alex just shook his head.
"Why even fight?" Alex asked, as he was trying to grasp the concept because it made no sense to him.
"I would have had to tell your dad a few hours before he went on a mission that I was pregnant. I didn't think that was a very smart thing to do," Trini said as Alex barely nodded and Angie gave him a concerned look. She knew that he was confused and that they weren't really helping him right now.
"But you thought it was smart to just go out there and fight anyway?" Alex asked as Trini shook her head no. "Then why did you?"
"If I hadn't gone, it would have raised more questions. I left before the fighting got too bad," Trini said as Alex just shook his head.
"You still passed out," Jason muttered as Angie and Alex exchanged a glance in the back seat. They had not wanted to hear anything like this. They had known that being a ranger must have been rough on their parents, but they had never imagined this sort of risk being involved.
"But why were you brought back then? Weren't most rangers only teenagers?" Angie asked as Trini and Jason looked at each other before Trini turned around to face them.
"Yes, most rangers were, but we had a job. We had to end all evil and it was more of a symbolic gesture than anything else. The first rangers were the last rangers. We defeated the one evil that had eluded us and by doing so, ended all threats to earth. The Power Rangers are no more. That's why we fought, to give you a chance to not become us," Jason said as silence reigned in the car. His point had definitely hit home with the two teenagers.
Neither knew then that this day was going to make them what they became years later. They had always been good friends, but on that day their friendship was solidified and something else was started. Like all things that the rangers were involved in, it was complex and confusing, but for the ultimate good. No ranger would have ever expected that the originals would do something like this, they had always thought that the secret would be kept from their own flesh and blood, but they couldn't bring themselves to do that.
They all knew that their children had seen them walk through the house in the middle of the night, because of some noise. Or seen them turn around too fast when they heard a pop behind them. People saw them as protective parents, but their children had begun to see them as something else. Now two of them knew and they were able to take it, maybe one day the world would be able to take it as well, but they did not pin their hopes on that. They knew that they were still some of the most sought after people in the world and they did not wish to be famous. They wished for the simple life that they had been able to acquire with each other, in the peace that only a ranger could understand.