Out Playing

Jason walked through the door of his home with a smile on his face. He thought about the battle he had fought with several putrids roaming about. Cole had told him about them, the Orgs. Jason liked the kid Cole. Nice, friendly, but he was still a rookie compared to any other ranger. Jason took off his hat and brown leather coat and walked into the kitchen for some grub. Standing at the refrigerator was his wife, Kimberly. They had gotten married two years ago when they came back to Angel Grove. Tommy didn't mind at all when he heard the news. Jason had in fact been scared to tell him, afraid of how he would react. Tommy only shook his hand and congratulated him, stating that he didn't mind at all. Jason also found out Tommy was also getting married to his college friend Haley. In fact, he loved her more then he did Kimberly. Kimberly frowned at Jason as he walked in.

"And where have you been Jason Scott Lee?" she said in low tone. Jason knew full well that when your wife calls you by your full name, you messed up. Hearing his name like that from Kimberly made him whence. He answered her after a few seconds.

"I was out."

"Out where?"

"Just out."

"Out where?" she said slowly with her voice raising.

"At the bar."

"The bar? A fight?" she asked as she noticed the red bruise on his face.

"Yeah," he said as he poured Ginger Ale in his glass.

"How many?"

"Five."

"Five?"

"Yeah."

"You were out playing Red Ranger again weren't you?"

"No, just five punks that's all."

She walked over to Jason's side, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his morpher. Jason turned red as Kimberly waved it about.

"You weren't at the bar Jason, you were out doing this!"

"Kimberly it was five of them, and people needed help. You've never been against helping people before."

"I'm not against it Jason! I'm against this, what you're doing! You're out most of the day after you get out of work, we rarely go on dates anymore, you have a three year son now Jason! You think Troy wants to see his dad coming home beaten up everyday?! There are other teams of ranger now Jason, they can handle saving the world, our part is done!"

Jason turned away and drank some of the soda in his glass.

"Kimberly you use your morpher too you know."

"Only when I need it Jason! You, you out all hours of the day looking for fights. Our days as Rangers are over Jason, accept it."

"They may be over for you, but not for me Kim. When we first became rangers, we swore to protect this planet. When we heard what Zordon told us twelve years ago, I was the only one who believed him. I made a promise, that I would not fail this planet when we morphed for the first time, and I'm not going to."

"That's just an excuse. You're addicted to fighting that's what it is Jason. I miss those days too but we have normal lives now, a family. We need to be there for each other. You going being the Red Ranger will only attract the enemies of Wild Force to you, to us. Then what will you do?"

"That won't happen."

"If you keep going out it will!"

Jason lower his head as he let the words sink in.

"Jason I don't mind you morphing when you need to but your just doing it for fun. I miss the ranger days too Jason but when Zordon released us from our ranger duties we were free to live normal lives."

"He's gone now, I miss him. I miss teleporting to the Command Center, the zords, everything. Kim when I saw those putrids I had to morph and send them packing."

"You had to, or you wanted to."

Jason said nothing else. He knew she was right, he needed to stop what he was doing. But he found it harder to do everyday. Whenever he moprhed, he felt young again. He felt like he was back in the old days when they fought Rita and her forces. Kim looked at Jason's saddened face. All this started when Zordon's energy wave restored the ranger powers and killed everything evil. A year later Jason left saying he was going to help other red rangers. This she did not mind, but when he came back he started going out fighting. Appearing unannounced with other teams of rangers, fighting monsters by himself, using the metallic armor. He even appeared on the news one day. She had the article upstairs in their room. Red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger sightings! Jason looked at his wife.

"I'm sorry."

"Jason, please let today be the last day."

"Okay. Hide the morpher somewhere please."

Kim took the morpher and put it into her pocket.

"Now that we got that settled, why don't we go upstairs and catch up on some unfinished business."

Jason smiled at the thought. He scooped Kim in his arms, and proceeded upstairs.