This was supposed to be another Jason/Kimberly, but I took a second look at the context I'd written myself into and came to a conclusion. There are only a handful of Jason/Kimberly stories knocking around, but how many Jason/Trini (Non-romantic)? Even fewer, so bam. Here we are.
And to answer a question left by a previous reviewer, none of my Power Rangers stories are connected unless said otherwise in these author notes.
I also should have mentioned this on one of my previous two uploads. If anyone is interested in seeing something in my writing just say so in a review or PM. I'm always looking for new ideas past my own.
Enjoy.
Jason absolutely hated the night.
It was not always so. Once upon a time the night was no different from any other time of day. Even if most of what you did during it was sleep and go to the occasional party.
Now, after everything Jason and his team of rangers had gone through, the night was no longer friendly for any of them.
It was at night that Billy died. While he experienced it, the others got to feel just a little bit of it in their bond and it terrified everyone. The fact that the blue ranger was able to smile and laugh at all spoke volumes about how strong he truly was.
Not to mention, Trini was attacked in her own bedroom in the dark. Like Billy, she experienced it but the others got to feel a little of what she felt every time she recalled the experience.
Everyone else was plagued with more slightly normal problems, nightmares being a popular one. Nobody was spared either. When one, or more often all of them, came to school looking like death warmed over, nobody need ask questions.
Suffice to say, some of them hated the darker time of day with a bloody passion.
Jason had yet to get to the nightmare portion of his evening but the night was still young. Coming back from splashing water on his face, he flopped himself back onto his bed and starred at the ceiling. Ugh… it was going to be one of those nights, he could already feel it. Not bothering to even move, he just laid there for a time and hoped he could find sleep at a reasonable hour.
Jason look up just in time to see Trini perched halfway through his window. Oddly enough, she was just sitting there and didn't seem like she was actually climbing through the thing.
"Trini?" Jason leaned over and flipped on his bedside lamp. "What's going…"
Jason's words died on his tongue when he saw Trini's face. The mixture of panic and deer-in-the-headlights so out of place on the yellow ranger, Jason had to do a double take to make sure he wasn't imagining or dreaming. It wasn't exactly the first time one of his rangers had snuck into his window to see him, but for some reason Trini looked like she was doing something she shouldn't.
Nope, not a dream. Trini was real and right there.
"You're supposed to be asleep." Trini deadpanned, but her facial features didn't change.
"Probably." Jason chuckled. He had to resist the urge to make a stalker joke just to ease the tension. "Couldn't sleep quite yet. What about… hey wait!"
Trini threw herself out the window and into the night.
Normally, Jason would just let her leave. But there was something about that look in her eyes, something that just screamed at Jason his fellow ranger was far from okay.
Jason was out the window before he even decided to chase after her.
Lucky for him, Jason had been wearing house shoes at the time. The idea of chasing after Trini in his bare feet was not an appealing one, but he would have done so had the situation called for it.
Trini ran off down the street instead of taking some weird route, making Jason's chase all the easier. At first, he wondered if she knew the red ranger was right on her heels.
Jason's answer came when he rounded a corner only to run into Trini's outstretched palm. He had slowed down just enough that the impact merely stopped him cold instead of putting him to the ground. The girl might be shorter than him, but she could pack a punch when needed.
"Why are you following me?" Trini scowled, but that panicked look from a while ago was gone and replaced with an obviously faked annoyance. Trini might be the most closed off of their ragtag group of rangers, but Jason liked to think he was at least learning the ins and outs of his team.
"Seriously? You're going to ask me that?" Jason countered. "Do you really need to?"
Trini said nothing for a long moment, but her scowl deepened. "Go home."
"Not a chance. Not until I know why you were sneaking into my window."
"I wasn't sneaking into your window."
"Then what do you call that?"
"I was…" Trini froze. "Just doing something I needed to do."
"Which would be?" Any other time, Jason would be growing annoyed at the evasiveness. But this was something serious, Jason could both feel it and see it. Any time one of the five rangers got evasive with the others it was never a good sign.
"You can come with me if you want, but not one word until we're finished." Trini poked Jason hard in the chest. "Not one word. Are we clear, Scott?"
"Crystal." Jason smiled, but was internally freaking out. Nobody used his first name, they just didn't. Screw serious, this was a problem right up there in severity with Rita returning.
"Okay." Trini was again off into the night.
Jason again followed after her, but Trini didn't make it easy. It wasn't that the yellow ranger was trying to ditch him, but she was not exactly allowing him any time to catch up either. In the end it didn't matter, Trini might be ranger enhanced but so was Jason.
To Jason's confusion, their destination was Billy's place.
Trini, quiet as a mouse, crept up to the basement window that led to Billy's room. The pane of glass was closed but Trini made no attempt to open it. She just starred past it into the room.
Jason, who took up a position beside her, followed her gaze to find Billy fast asleep on his bed. The remains of some device he was working on laying right beside him on the mattress.
What on earth was Trini doing? Jason was curious sure, but he did promise to keep his trap shut until Trini said otherwise. The red ranger was nothing if not a man of his word.
Trini said nothing, just watched the sleeping Billy for several long minutes before stepping away and taking off again.
Jason followed in absolute silence as they approached Kimberly's house next. Just like with Billy's, Trini made for the window leading to the pink ranger's room. Instead of actually going for the window itself, Trini scrambled up the nearby tree that would allow her to see into the room with Jason right beside her.
Trini's face was completely neutral as she beheld the slumbering Kimberly. Whatever she was searching for, she must have found because in the blink of an eye she scrambled down the tree to resume her quest.
Their third, and Jason assumed final, destination was the trailer park. Specifically, the one belonging to Zack and his ill mother.
Much like Billy's, whose room was on the bottom floor, Trini made her way to the window on ground level with Jason at her side and like the previous two rangers, watched Zack in his sleep.
Zack's window was open though. Silent as a ghost, Trini scrambled up into the space. Like with Jason's own window, she sat there halfway through but made no attempt to enter.
Once more, Trini found whatever it was she wanted and zoomed off.
Jason half expected them to travel to Trini's own house next, but no. Instead, their destination was the local park back in town. Once there, Trini flopped herself onto one of the wooden benches.
"Okay, ask all you want." Trini sighed rubbing her eyes.
"Nah." Jason, much gentler, took a seat beside his fellow ranger.
"You aren't going to ask what we were doing? Why I'm stalking our friends?" "Trini asked in disbelief.
"Nope." Jason shrugged. "Whatever you're doing, it's for good reason. And I would like to know, but I'm not going to ask unless you want to talk about it."
"Wow, awfully noble sounding of you, Jason." Trini laughed quietly looking at the ground. Jason was just relieved to hear her using his first name again like she should be.
They sat there in silence for a time, Trini in thought and Jason waiting patiently.
"I just…" Trini hesitated. "Sometimes I need to be sure."
"Sure of what?"
"That they're still there." Trini confessed.
"That they're safe." Jason finished for her.
"Yeah. I know you all can feel it but… I can still see her there in my room sometimes. Feel her hands on me pinning me to the wall." Trini shivered. "It gets to be a bit much and I start to think… what if she's not really gone? What if she's back, would she go after me first again? I don't think so."
"So, you check up on us in the middle of the night." Jason connected all the dots Trini had drawn up, intentionally or not. "See for yourself that everything is okay."
Trini nodded.
"Hey wait, why me first?" Jason turned to look at Trini.
"Uh, you're actually last most of the time." Trini admitted a but sheepishly, a tone that Jason found odd on the girl. "But I change it up from week to week sometimes. Tonight, you just happened to be first, dumb luck I guess."
"Why last?" Jason couldn't help arching an eyebrow. "Not afraid she's going to go for the team leader?"
"Honestly? I go see Billy first usually, then Zack, Kim, then you. Billy already had to die once and I don't want to see that happen again." Trini voice shook slightly, but Jason pretended he didn't notice. "Zack's furthest one from us so he'd make a good target."
"Good order, if I was choosing who to check on first I'd do the same." Jason reassured. He meant it too, his own safety was last on his list of concerns. His team and friends came first and foremost. "How often do you do this?"
"I try to limit it to once a week, usually Wednesday, but sometimes I do it twice." Trini fiddled with a loose string on her sleeve. "The worry comes and goes. You're not… mad or anything right?"
"Not at all, Trini." Jason lightly bumped the girl's knee with his own. "Your reasons are noble, and you're doing nothing wrong."
Trini sighed and heavily dropped her head to Jason's shoulder. The red ranger had to admit, he was shocked. Trini wasn't exactly the touchy feely type to the best of his knowledge. Now that he thought about it, when was the last time he was even alone with Trini?
Throwing caution to the wind, Jason slowly draped an arm around Trini's shoulders. To his continuing surprise, the Latina actually scooted closer to him and relaxed into his hold. "Thanks, Jason."
"For what?"
"Being so… understanding I guess." Trini shrugged ever so slightly. "Wait a sec… are we having a moment here?"
"Hmm… seems so." Jason chuckled. "Had to happen eventually."
"Yeah, but it's sooo cliché." Trini groaned under her breath. "Is it bad if most of me wants to run away from all this mushiness and maybe go punch something?"
"Nope, just means you're the same Trini we all adore and you're not going soft on us." Jason was relieved, Trini was sounding much more like her regular self. "Look on the bright side, we're not doing the whole moonlit declaration of love followed up by the kiss in the rain crap."
"Bleh… yuck." Trini pulled away to make a disgusted face, but the look was somewhat ruined by the giggle she couldn't contain. "That's just gross. And boom, moment ruined."
"You're welcome." Jason followed up without missing a beat. "Seeing as how we're changing topics, I have a favor to ask."
"The mighty Jason Scott, asking me for a favor?" Trini moved one arm on the back of the bench and rested her chin on the limb. "Oh, this should be good. Hit me."
"No thanks, you'd beat me to death before I could get away." Jason mirrored the yellow rangers pose. "But seriously, the next time you do this, come by my place first."
"And why's that?"
"So that I can come with you."
"What?" Trini asked in puzzlement. "Why would you want to do that?"
"Let's just say, you're not the only one who sometimes needs to know the others are safe." Jason shrugged.
Hopefully, Trini didn't have a problem Jason's request. The reassurances about his friends would be nice. Not to mention, it would be a good way to bond a little bit more with the most closed off of his social circle.
Trini glared at Jason for a moment, as if searching for some ulterior motive. "And if I happen to wake you up at two in the morning?"
"One, two, three, doesn't matter. Your task, your show. I'm just along for the ride."
"Okay…" Trini finally agreed. "But I'll have no complaining about the time or how tired you are."
"Deal."
When Trini appeared in Jason's window the following Wednesday, Jason was already dressed and ready to accompany his fellow ranger on her regular quest into the night.
Might do some more nightly misadventures with the rangers in follow up chapters. Not quite sure though, reviews lately are a little slimmer than I was hoping. Then again, I might have to get ideas out of my head and onto here regardless of reception.
Eh, we'll see I guess.