A/N: Hey this is my first try at something like this, so please review. I'm going to attempt to do both sides, but do them separately. And I'm going to try to do all couples that come to my mind. If you like my style and your afraid I might skip one you love, shoot me a review or something, um – I don't do slash – sorry. Enjoy, I worked hard to get the characters and everything right. Please leave a review; they really are a big help and motivation for me. And huge thanks to all who have read and reviewed my other stories. Thanks for all your support. Sorry, it's so long . . . I guess I got carried away again. Not all will probably be this long. Oh and I don't own Power Rangers in any sense . . . um, yeah, still don't own them. Happy New Year to you all.
Mr. Special"What are they arguing about now?" Madison asked. After returning to Briarwood, it had only taken Nick about a week to muster up the courage to tell Madison how he felt about her, and for the two to officially become a couple.
"Who knows?" Xander replied sarcastically from behind the register. Madison sighed.
"I was gonna ask Nick to come over tomorrow to meet my parents. It's been about three months since we started dating and he's been able to some how avoid meeting my parents." Madison informed, sighing again as she watched her sister and Nick continue to bicker. "Will they ever stop?" Madison whined, lowering her head as she leaned her fore arms on the counter.
"Doubt it." Chip answered, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah. Those two will stop fighting about the same time Chip finally gains the courage to ask Vida out." Xander commented, receiving a death stare from Chip and a small giggle from Madison. She quickly stopped laughing as she watched her boyfriend storm out of the store.
"Well, here goes nothing." Madison said taking a deep breath.
"Good luck." Chip said for encouragement. Madison jogged after the former red ranger, who was already mounting his bike.
"So, who's going to go and calm down V?" Xander asked, staring at Chip.
"Fine, but I'm taking this." Grabbing one of the old records Toby had put on the counter to be donated to charity.
"For what, mate?" The Australian asked, clearly confused.
"Protection." Chip said leaving for the back room Vida had disappeared to.
Outside, Madison finally caught up with the very pissed off Nick. Madison quickly straddled his front wheel, placing her hands on the handlebars of the bike. Nick muffled something under his helmet.
"What?" the former blue mystic ranger asked.
"I said. Are you crazy? I was about to take off. You could've gotten hurt." Nick finally got out, after taking off his helmet. Nick killed the engine and starred at her in amazement.
"I have to tell you something. It's important." Nick looked at her intensely, and hesitated before replying.
"What?" He asked, a little worried about what could be so important that she would do something dangerous, like step in front of his bike when he's about to take off. Madison walked around to the side of his bike in order to look him in the eyes.
"I want you to come and have dinner with my parents." Madison said softly, afraid of another volatile blow up from him.
"Oh, come on, Maddie." Nick complained.
"Please, you haven't met them, and my parents really want to meet you. I don't know how much longer my father's going to be okay with me seeing you without his approval. And my father will find a way Nick." Madison further reasoned to her stubborn boyfriend.
"Come on." He said again. 'Aww, not the pout – not the puppy-dog eyes.' "Alright." He said with a sigh of defeat. "Is your sister going to be there?" Nick asked, praying she wouldn't. Madison shrugged her shoulders, and once again he let out a sigh. "I was going on my lunch break, want to come?" Nick asked, already knowing the answer.
"Certainly." Madison said rather cheerfully, accepting the spare helmet Nick kept with him. She hopped on his bike and the two sped away. Madison held on tight, as a quick thought passed through her mind. 'Wonder if Xander will notice I'm leaving?'
Xander had watched the whole thing play out from the display window. "Well, everything seems like it worked out – wait . . . where is she going?" Xander asked no one in particular as he watched the two leave on Nick's bike. "She's not allowed a break for another . . ." Xander quickly peering down at his watch. "Two hours!" He exclaimed to the empty music store.
Rocca's HouseNick placed his helmet under his arm. "Probably should have left you at home." He said patting the seat of his bike. Nick walked up to the house and rang the doorbell. 'It's now or never, I guess.' "Can't believe I got suckered into this." He groaned.
Madison descended the stairs to answer the door and was surprised to see her mother there already, opening the door to let Nick in. Of course, Madison wasn't the only one surprised. Nick looked at her with a wide-eyed expression. "Hey, he – hi . . .hi . . . Mrs. Rocca. How are you?" Nick finally got out.
"I'm just fine, Nicolas. Come on in. Let me take your jacket." Nick shrugged off his leather jacket; also thinking that was a bad idea to bring. Nick wore a red sweater vest with a white tee shirt underneath, and black jeans. "Heard you pull up on your motorcycle." Mrs. Rocca said as she went to lay his jacket on the arm of the couch, before being beckoned by her husband about sauce bubbling in a pot. Nick just nervously smiled as she left.
Madison wore a white tank top underneath a light blue v- neck long sleeved shirt, and light blue jeans. She rushed up and kissed him. As the two separated, Madison could see how tense Nick was, and whispered, "It's just a dinner." Nick nodded, just to let her know he heard her not because he felt any better. 'You mean my last super. I've got to get their approval. Maddie means too much to me. I've fought the master and this dinner scares me more.'
They all took their seats shortly after. Everything was delicious, not like Nick would have known that. Nick unfortunately never got the chance to truly appreciate Mrs. Rocca's cooking. Mr. Rocca grilled Nick mercilessly and Nick was pretty sure he failed every question. After each question, Nick wearily looked at Madison for support, resulting at both women shooting dirty looks at the older gentlemen, who would simply smile back at the two.
Nick went over his responses to her father's questions in his head trying to weigh out the odds that he was going to be able to see Madison again. 'Let's see. I ride a bike, and wear a leather jacket that already makes me a rebel, and a troublemaker, probably with a record. Which I don't have! I still live with my sister; I work at the Rock Porium and don't go to college. But I plan to become an apprentice for a mechanic down the street to learn the trade, and possibly down the road become his partner, or open my own shop. And the worse thing is I helped saved both the human and magical realm – I'm the light! My mom and my cousin are powerful sorceresses and my dad is a powerful wizard. And . . . and I can't even slap that down on my resume to show I'm not a good for nothing because they don't even know that we were rangers. Why didn't Madison and Vida tell them?! . . . I so bombed this.'
Nick, along with Madison, who was giving him sympathetic looks the entire time, could see this was going down hill fast. Madison had never seen her dad interrogate a boy so thoroughly, not even the ones Vida brought home. This was the first guy she brought to really meet her parents, and now she was kind of glad about that. All the others had been minor meet and greets. Nick remembered never sticking around long enough to meet a girl's parents. He never actually cared this much about a girl before, or been in a relationship as long, he was always on the move. Madison worried that if the dinner didn't go well the guy she fell in love with would be torn away from her again. Both teens felt their happiness slip away with every passing minute.
When dinner was done, Mrs. Rocca got up to clean off the table and do the dishes. "You boys can go in the living room to get to know each other. . . relax. Madison, you'll help me, right?" she asked her daughter, which was her way of letting her father and Nick have time to get to know each other. Madison knew this immediately, and could do nothing but agree to help her mother, since it really wasn't a question but a polite request. Nick looked at his current girlfriend, at this rate – he would be referring to her as the girl whose parents have a restraining order on him. She mouthed sorry, as she left to see what her mother wanted, carrying plates into the kitchen.
Nick reluctantly joined Mr. Rocca in the living room. Mr. Rocca had already sat down, his soda in his hand and was relaxing in his recliner. Nick didn't notice how tall and how built he was for a man his age until now, seeing as he had already been sitting when Nick entered the dining room earlier that evening. The young man wondered what the older man could possibly do career wise that he needed to be so built. 'If I make it through this dinner, it will be nothing less of a miracle.' Nick thought to himself, swallowing hard.
The older man starred at a picture hanging on the wall directly across from him like it had been purposely been placed there. The picture was of Vida and Madison standing together an arm around one another, in the back ground a lake. 'Must be from vacation.' Nick concluded. Nick figured it had to be a few years old, possibly before high school because Madison was wearing braces and Vida's hair was shoulder length, plus they just looked – well, not as mature, Nick guessed. He couldn't put a finger quite on the last one. Nick looked around the room at all the knick-knacks, and pictures, mostly of Madison and Vida growing up. He laughed to himself a little at some of them. The teen seen some pictures that he definitely could have used on Vida for black mail, or even Madison, although he would never do that to the girl he loves. Some were pretty embarrassing, but cute. The smile he wore soon vanished when Mr. Rocca cleared his throat.
"You know, Nick. My girls mean more to me than anything in the world and then some." Mr. Rocca started to say, not looking at Nick, but gazing straight ahead at the picture on the wall. A smile plastered on his face. Nick just stared at the gentleman, not too sure what to say.
"I have been called into their school so many times you think I attended the school myself. Drop them off and be back in time for lunch. Usually, but not always, some little, snot-nosed, bratty, little boy would pick on Madison, and Vida would beat the snot out of him. And then Madison would defend her sister's action by talking back to the teacher, or whoever, and then about a half hour to hour later I was in the principal's office with them. I never got lost on parent-teacher nights, I knew the building so well. And I was never mad at them about it. They were my girls." Mr. Rocca said laughing softly about it. When he was done, he looked over at the topic of conversation his baby girl always seemed to talk about. Her father remembering when all his girls could talk about was the day trips he was going to take them on. He peered at the young man, who every time he mention Madison's name would light up and smile, a light pink coloring his cheeks. Nick tried not to laugh at Mr.Rocca's retelling of his infamous trips to Vida and Madison's school.
Now looking Nick in the eyes, he continued. "I have grilled, interrogated, and given the third-degree to every boy – regardless of age that's stepped foot in this house, or that I have caught wind of hanging with my daughters." A lump grew in Nick's throat as Mr. Rocca continued. "Even your friends. That Don Juan . . . um . . . what's his name . . . Xander, and that Wonder Boy – Chip." Nick almost choked trying not to laugh at the names her father had given them. 'If I get a name, I wonder what it would be? Biker Boy.' Nick pondered. The former red ranger was rather surprised that his friends never enlightened him about this, or for that matter, why was her father even divulging all this to him.
"The only person I think who is equally as tough – maybe even tougher on boys is Vida. Vida is very protective." Nick remembered quite well that talk Vida had with him not minutes after her sister came rushing into the store to tell her the news of them becoming officially a couple. She trapped him in the back room. He was pretty sure she was going to kill him, instead she just guaranteed she would if he made her sister cry. "Now that I think about it, Maddie is the same with Vida, except where Vida is blunt, Maddie is subtle." Mr. Rocca explained. 'No kidding.' Nick responded in his head.
"My point is . . ." Mr. Rocca started. "Earlier today, Vida came to me and said to go easy on you. She said she's hung out with you a lot, and stuff. Said you were something special, a decent guy, and would do anything for my little girl." Mr. Rocca paused to take a deep breath. Nick raised his eyebrows in disbelief. 'No way! Is he talking about the same Vida? The Vida I know?' As the older gentleman began Nick paid extra close attention. "What I'm trying to get at is for my daughter to say that – well, you must be something special. But don't think that gets you off scott-free. Because Mr. Special, you break my baby girl's heart and you're going to have to deal with me and the last thing you want to do . . . is deal with Vida." Her father warned. Normally Nick would roll his eyes at a statement like that, but he could tell her father was being dead serious – frighteningly serious. "Now get out of here. You guys are young, you don't want to spend your night with us." Mr. Rocca told Nick.
Nick was about to lie and say he didn't mind and was having a great time, even though, all Nick could do the entire night was think of things he rather be doing other than this, like clean Fire hearts' teeth, living quarters, claws, etc.
"Hey, you deaf, Mr. Special? Didn't you hear me?" Mr. Rocca asked. 'What is that my new name? Mr. Special. Just Great. Well it can't be worse than Xander's or Chip's.' Nick thought, before realizing he was free to go.
Nick jumped off the couch, grabbed his jacket, and dashed for the door almost knocking down the two women, who were entering the living room just then. "Where's the fire?" Mrs. Rocca asked the young man.
"I told him that they were free to go." Mr. Rocca answered for the boy.
Mrs. Rocca was about to protest, but when Mr. Rocca winked – the signal that the talk was over, she quickly adjusted what she was about to say, "You know what? Your father is right. Go on, have fun." Madison's mother was right; it was only about seven on a Friday night, still very early for Madison and Nick. The former blue ranger looked at her parents skeptically, but not for long.
'No need to tell me twice.' Nick thought to himself. He grabbed his girlfriend by the hand and raced for the door, barely giving her enough time to grab her blue jean jacket off the coat rack. They were out the door already when they bumped into Chip and Vida.
"They kick you out already, Nick?" Vida teased.
"Uh – oh. Got to go." Chip pushed past and headed inside. Desperately trying to get away from the soon-to-be explosion of tempers.
"Come on guys." Madison pleaded with the two.
"Actually, he let us go." Nick shot back. Madison sighed, disgusted with the two's constant bickering. Nick turned to her and said, "Meet you at my bike, got to tie my shoe." Madison left to do as he asked, and was rather glad not to have to hang there and watch the two bite each other's heads off. Both Nick and Vida watched her walk down the path toward his bike muttering something about them not getting along.
Vida turned back to Nick. "Your sneakers are fine." She said looking down at his clean white sneakers.
"I know. I wanted to say thank you." Nick said with as much sincerity as he could.
"I don't know what you're talking about?" Vida said.
"Whatever." Nick retorted, fed up with it all. He started to descend the porch steps when Vida's voice caught his attention.
"Just because you got one over on my parents doesn't mean you will me. I'll be watching you, Nick "Bowen" Russell." Vida warned using his full name, and pointing at him for emphasis.
"Wouldn't dream of it any other way." Nick jested back, bowing as he left.
She was almost inside the house when she paused, and turned to face him before closing the front door completely behind her. She added, "Your welcome."
Nick turned around quickly. They both flashed a smile at each other before continuing to go their separate ways.
"What was that all about?" Madison asked.
"Nothing." Nick assured her, pulling Madison in tight and kissing her. After a few moments they broke apart starring dreamily into each other's eyes. The loud gurgling of Nick's stomach disrupted the moment between the two.
"We just ate." Madison pointed out amazed he was still hungry.
"No, you ate. I was too busy being grilled by you dad. I'm so hungry I could eat a dragon." Nick corrected. Madison gave her boyfriend a peck on the cheek and wrapped her arms around him.
"Thanks, Nick. I know it was anything but easy."
"It was nothing, if it was for you."
"You don't know how much this meant to me, or my parents. You mean so much to me. You're really something special." Madison told him, her face buried in his chest.
"Hey, it was nothing – seriously. And so are you . . . special to me, I mean. And you mean a lot – a whole lot. Lots and lots." Nick said, making her laugh. Madison smiled up at him, pulling away. A smirk appearing on his face, "Just call me, Mr. Special." 'Seems to be your dad's new name for me anyway.' Nick recalled from earlier that night. His girlfriend looked at him like he was crazy. "Never mind." Nick said, dismissing his last comment.
"How 'bout the sub shop? My treat." Madison suggested.
"Sure, but I'll pay." Nick agreed to, sort of. Rather than get in an argument, Madison made one more suggestion, feeling guilty for the less then enjoyable night she subjected him to.
"And ice cream after? My treat?" She asked in her sweetest voice, the one she knew he couldn't say no to.
"Deal." Nick said hopping on his bike. Madison put on her helmet and hoped on, holding tight. 'I love having a bike.' Nick grinned under his helmet. And moments later they were gone, the moon lighting their way back towards town.
End Mr. Special