Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Dino Charge. This story is fan-made.

Kendall was up late, working in her office. Since discovering the Aqua Energem had bonded to someone and since Fury had taken off with the gold charger, she had been too busy working on her Ranger duties to put any attention into the museum. As a result, she had let her work for the building fall behind, and needed to spend the better part of the night trying to play catch up. It was the hardest part about working a top secret job. She couldn't tell anyone at the museum why she was getting behind, and if she let herself slip back any further, people were going to start assuming she was lazy and unfocused.

It wasn't that she minded working. She loved it. When she lost herself in her research she felt more at home than anywhere else. Her work needed her and it was about the only thing that did. However, it was getting late. Even with her glasses on, the letters were starting to blur. Kendall had worked well into the night and made a lot of progress. It should hold the museum over for a couple of days, at least.

She packed up her things and started to make her way out. The museum parking lot fortunately wasn't very far, so Kendall didn't need to worry about walking in the dark on her own. However, as soon as she turned the corner, she saw the figure of a man hanging around the parking lot. The museum had closed hours ago. Only janitorial staff and one guard were still inside, and they weren't supposed to leave the building for any reason. To have someone hanging around, especially at this hour, meant trouble.

So Kendall turned around, with the intention of heading back inside and sleeping in her lab. It wasn't ever ideal. There was only a cot, and Koda's snores echoed loudly in the caves. But it was better than taking her chances with the mysterious figure in the parking lot. But no sooner did she turn, did she hear her name and her heart froze. It was a voice she wished she had forgotten. A voice that she wished would leave her dream alone. The man ran up behind her and caught her arm. Kendall tried to pull away and started to shout, but he put his hand over her mouth.

"Shh, no, no. None of that," he told her, and held her against himself as she tried to push him away. "Oh, come on. I've been out here for hours. Just give me a..."

Kendall wouldn't do anything for this man, and pushed her elbow back into his ribs. He let out a deep, pained breathe and let her go slightly. It was enough for Kendall to push him away and run back to the museum door. Unfortunately, she had locked it on the way out, and had to go digging through her bag to get the keys again. It gave this man enough time to catch up to her again. He grabbed her arm, pulled her away from the door, then pushed her into the ground.

"Dad! Stop it!" Kendall finally shouted as he came closer. He sighed, and offered his hand to help her up. She didn't take it, and got to her feet without his help. "The last thing I ever thought I'd have to get was a restraining order against you."

"No need. I'm not staying."

"Kind of your motto, isn't it?" Kendall growled. She picked up her bag, and now found the keys to the museum. "Get out of my way, dad. Whatever it is you've got to say, I don't want to hear it."

"I have a gift for you," he told her and reached into the bag he had been carrying on his back. "Happy birthday."

"You're about a month too late," she said. "Besides, I don't do birthday presents anymore."

The latter was true, but it wasn't by choice. Her mother, before she killed herself, had gotten Kendall a little present every year for her birthday. After her death, when Kendall moved in with her foster family, they tried to make a big deal out of her birthday. They often tried to throw a party, which Kendall never enjoyed, and her foster parents and brother would all get her a couple of gifts.

But once she left, she was on her own. She hadn't made any friends and never shared her birthday with acquaintances. They would pass without anyone being the wiser. Usually, Kendall would buy herself a slice of cake from the bakery on her way home and eat it for dinner. But that was as far as birthdays went for her.

"I know I'm not a good father," Mr. Morgan said with a sigh and offered her an envelope. "But now that I know where you are..."

"Now that you know where I am?" Kendall asked with a growl. "I was never hiding from you, dad! You left us! We lived in the same house you abandoned us in! When I moved in with the Fishers, I mailed you my address! You had twelve years to come back before I left for college!"

"Kendall..."

"So no, dad, I don't want your stupid belated birthday present. I don't want anything from you..."

"For goodness sake, Kendall, just take it," her father offered the envelope again. Kendall shook her head and smacked it from his hand. He growled and picked it up.

"Just like your mother," he muttered as he brushed away some dirt. "Ungrateful."

"Get lost, dad," Kendall whispered and turned to the museum. Her father reached out, snatched the keys from her hand and held them up high. Kendall growled. Even in her heels, she couldn't reach high enough to snatch them back. When it came to her height, she couldn't doubt she had taken after her mother. "Dad!"

With his other hand, he offered the envelope, "Take it, then I give you back your keys."

"You know what, keep them," Kendall shook her head, then reached into her bag and pulled out her car keys. "Trash the museum. See if I care. I'm going home. Don't follow me."

As Kendall walked towards her car, Mr. Morgan followed her. He kept the museum keys in his hands.

"Kendall, for once, can you just be reasonable?"

Kendall ignored him as she got into the car. Just as she was about to close the door, her father stepped in her way.

"I'll run you over," she told him. "Move it."

He put the museum keys in his bag then offered the envelope again. "Take it."

"I don't want it."

"I'll count to three!"

Kendall looked up at her father annoyed, "I'm twenty-six. You left me twenty years ago. Counting to three won't do anything."

"One."

"Dad, get out of the way," Kendall said and tried to close the door, but her father didn't move.

"Two."

She smacked the car door into his side, hoping that would discourage him and make him leave.

"Three," he growled and grabbed her arm roughly. He started to pull her from the car and dragged her out on the ground.

"Dad! Stop it!" she shouted again, and hurried to her feet to get away from him. She would run home on foot if she had to. Her father was stubborn. As she tried to run, he caught her arm again. He pulled her back, then punched her in the stomach.

"Take the fucking cash, you ungrateful little bitch!" he shouted and slapped the envelope against her chest. Kendall still clutched her stomach, so didn't take the envelope with her father tried to force her. Instead, it fell to the ground.

Her father had a quick temper. He always had, and he had always been stubborn. Kendall had been just a kid, sitting at the top of the stairs when her parents fought, but she knew his quick temper and his will for people to act in ways that pleased him had been one of the reasons her parents fought often.

And when his temper got the better of him, all reason seemed to disappear. Kendall remembered a time he had gotten so angry with her for playing with his dinosaur collectables (or toys, as her mother, as well as the packaging, had always called them), that he had yelled at her for an hour straight, before grounding her in her room for the rest of the night. The following morning, Kendall had been so scared to bump into him she pretended to sleep in until noon, when he would have to be at work.

All because she had wanted to play with toys.

So when the envelope hit the ground again, Kendall knew her father would assume rejection. Not that she wanted anything to do with anything that belonged to him anymore. It wasn't like she would take the gift, given the choice. But she knew what her father would think, and she knew how he would react. She braced herself for the yelling, the best way she knew how. She shut her eyes and thought of something that made her happy. Right now, she was imagining herself finding and bonding to an energem. She didn't care for the colour, but purple came to mind. The plesiosaur – like the last gift her father had given her. The one that had given her hope that he still thought of her and that he would come back for her eventually.

She imagined becoming a Ranger, and feeling so strong that nothing could hurt her. She imagined being a part of something special. Of course, she was already one of the Rangers in a sense. She did design and build their weapons. But being one of them would really make her a part of the team.

So she thought of that as her father berated, and it got her through the yelling, until the slap. He must have realized she wasn't listening, so did as he often did with her mother, and struck her. It was only once, and then he walked away, just like with her mother. But it hurt.

Kendall cradled the side of her face as she watched her father walk away. When he turned the corner, she sighed loudly and looked to the ground. He had left the museum keys and the envelope. She picked up the museum keys, put them in her bag, then looked to the envelope. Her face was throbbing. She didn't want to have anything to do with her father, but if he had gone to all this trouble to hand the envelope to her, she had to figure out why.

Curiosity had gotten her this far in her career, but sometimes, it was a real bitch. Kendall opened up the envelope and peeked inside. There was a note – but more impressively, there was a lot of cash. Kendall didn't take anything out of the envelope, but she held on tightly to it as she walked around to the back of the museum and climbed into the mouth of the T-Rex head that acted as a secret entrance to her lab. She slid down, then set the envelope and her bag on her desk before she pulled out the cot and lay down to try to sleep.