Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Ranger characters. However Nikki and Robyn belong to me.
Pairing: implied Billy/Jason
Rating: PG-13/Teen
PRSW22 List: animals, atmosphere, loss
Notes: This story has a lot of notes to go with it so please bear with me. The first is that I've ended up starting a universe of stories. The characters you will see in here are previously seen in my stories Yellow Paint and The Good Kind of Crazy, although this fic takes place much further in the future. Lastly this is a very depressing story and a death story. Writing this story helped me sort out some of the feelings from my great-grandmother's death yesterday after a heart attack the night before.
Falling Rain
Twenty-six year old Nikki Cranston-Scott stood in front of two gravestones fighting back the tears as the wind and rain whipped around her, soaking through the spring jacket she was wearing. She stood there and let it, still trying to force her brain into believing reality. It'd been months and the emotions still crept up and overwhelmed her some days; she suspected that they always would.
Dropping to her knees Nikki reached out and gently traced the craved wolf adorning the top of the stone closes to her with her gloved fingertips. Shifting her position so that she was in the middle of the two marble markers Nikki repeated the action, tracing over the face of the lion on the other marker.
Sighing she dropped her hands to her lap, jumping slightly when thunder clashed overhead; the storm was getting worse and yet she couldn't make herself leave.
Instead she took a breath and spoke quietly, "Hey dad, daddy. It's Nikki; I just wanted to let you know that they got the guy. He's going to jail for the rest of his life." She laughed bitterly, "Not that it really matters, nothing'll bring you back."
Sighing again she rubbed furiously at her eyes when the tears she's been fighting slide down her face, mixing with the rain. Giving in she sat back on her legs and let them come, let the rain wash them away, let wind brush away from feelings for a short while.
Minutes later someone made their way slowly to Nikki, stopping just behind her. "You know you're going to catch a cold sitting the rain."
Nikki let a small smile fall on her lips as she wiped the remainder of the tears away and turned to face the girl behind her. "You noticed how we only seem to come out here when it's pouring out, Robyn?"
Moving to stand behind her Robyn looked down at the dark markers before looking at her sister, "Yeah, it's strange, it always feel like the right time." Nikki only nodded her agreement.
Robyn bent down and whispered quiet words as she lightly touched the animal engravings much like Nikki had earlier before standing up and looking at her sister. "It almost doesn't seem possible does it? That one reckless, drunk driver can take away two lives in the blink in the eye and change everything forever."
"I know," was all Nikki said and Robyn accepted it. Neither could explain why everything had happened, why someone would make a choice to drink and drive, or why it had been their parents who had paid the price of the driver's choice. They concentrated instead on working through the emotions and sticking together as a family, trying to piece back together a morsel of what would never be the same.
Robyn cleared her throat and put her arms around her older sister, "We'd better get you indoors and dried of before you catch a cold. Chrissy's with Aunt Kimberly at the house, come on."
Nikki nodded but pulled out of Robyn's embrace, "Go ahead, I'll meet you at the car." Robyn nodded slowly before Nikki stepped away to give her a little privacy as she turned to the gravestones again, without saying anything Robyn looked at both for a moment before heading back to the car.
Nikki came back and knelt in front of them on knee, a little more mud wasn't going to hurt her. Looking at the words on the stones Nikki whispered, "I love you dad, daddy. Don't worry about Robyn and Chrissy, I'm going to take care of them."
With a final look back as she walked away Nikki ran to her sister's car, having walked to the cemetery before the storm started. As they drove away lightning sparked in the sky, briefly illuminating the names Jason Cranston-Scott and William Cranston-Scott before darkness crept over the area once more.