Never Gonna Let You Go
Author: Another long one. Thanks for the reviews on Hold Me Please from: Ghostwriter, Mirokou, Jeremy Shane,
Hopelessromanticgirl & ClassicTVfan. Hope yall like this. I own nobody. P.O.V. switches. I'll leave the first scene
with Eric & Taylor up to all the fangirls imaginations. I also noticed while re-watching Dino Thunder that Tommy
has Kira, Cassidy, Devin, Ethan & Conner first period. I thought he had them later in the day. Oh well not important.
Tommy's P.O.V.
I glanced over at the clock that read one in the morning. It didn't feel like it but it had only been a few hours since I had picked up Kira. Slowly so not to wake my Yellow Ranger up, I slid off the bed. Kira whimpered softly but I pulled the blankets up to her chin, hoping it would replace whatever she had felt when I had curled up with her. "Sleep baby, I gotta go make a couple of phone calls." I whispered as I left the room. A small black book, just a bit smaller and considerable thinner than a Bible, sat in one of my desk drawers. It was the short version of the hard copy that contained information on each Power Ranger. Mostly the book contained their names, relations, locations, pictures and contact information. I flipped through it until I got to the section I needed: Power Rangers Time Force. Only two members of the team resided in the present but thankfully they were the two I wanted to speak with. "Guys I hope you'll forgive me for calling at one o'clock." I muttered, dialing the first number.
In Silver Hills (Eric's P.O.V.)
"Eric?" I groaned and cracked an eye open. There was an annoying ringing coming from the bedside table. I shoved a pillow over my face to drown out the sound but it was quickly removed. "Eric, who the hell is calling you at one am?" I blinked up at Taylor then rolled over.
"I don't know babe but they better have a damn good reason." I growled, snatching the phone of the table. "Hello." I grumbled.
"Eric, it's Dr. Tommy Oliver: former Red Zeo Ranger." The voice on the other end along with the name and designation cooled my temper a bit. Not by much.
"It's one in the morning, I hope there's an emergency." I muttered.
"I need a favor from both you and Wes." Tommy told me. Inwardly I groaned.
"I'm listening." I said. Taylor wrapped her arms around my shoulders and made me lay back down.
"One member of my new team of Rangers is currently staying with me. She called me to come get her after she ran away from home because her parents abused her." Tommy said.
"What kind of abuse are we talking and how old is she?" I asked, running a hand through Taylor's long blonde hair. She turned her head to look at me with a cocked eyebrow.
"Physical and probably soon verbal as well. She's sixteen." he said.
"Closer to fifteen or seventeen?" I asked as Taylor lay down on my chest.
"Seventeen." Tommy muttered.
"Then she's almost a legal adult. Damn it all Tommy why are you calling me about this?" I groaned.
"Because the police would ask too many questions I don't want to answer. The number one being: why did she call me, her science teacher, when she could have called a friend or the police? It's a Ranger matter anyways." he told me.
"Those two words are gonna drag people to their deaths someday." I muttered.
"In the meantime will you help me out?" Tommy asked.
"What do you need done?" I inquired.
"Her parents arrested, a lot of paper work done and me made her legal guardian." he said.
"Why you made her guardian?" I wondered.
"Because I'm more or less her father, to a point that she calls me "dad" Eric." he admitted. I sighed and stared up at the ceiling. I knew all too well what this girl was going through and that was probably part of the reason Tommy had called me. For most of my childhood I had gone to school with bruises from my own father's abuse. After I grew up and helped Wes rebuild his relationship with his father, the old man had adopted me as his second son. "Eric?" Tommy asked.
"Go give Wes a call, I need to shower before I get dressed." I told him.
"Thank you." he whispered.
"No problem." I said, before hanging up.
"What's going on?" Taylor asked, sitting up.
"The Red Zeo Ranger, Tommy Oliver, who led the fight against Serpentera not long before you and the other Wild Force Rangers defeated Master Org has group of Rangers out in Reefside. One of them apparently ran away from home after her parents beat up on her." I said, going to the closest to pull out some work clothes before I hopped in the shower.
"So why'd he call you?" she asked, getting out of bed to do the same.
"Because she considers him her father and he wants to become her legal guardian for that reason."
"How old is she?" she asked, slipping past me to pull a shirt of it's hanger.
"Sixteen." I told her. She shook her head and sighed heavily, knowing why I had agreed to help him.
Reefside (Tommy's P.O.V.)
I repeated the phone call with Wes about two hours ago and was now sitting on my front porch waiting for at least two Silver Guardians. I had no idea if they were bring anyone else so I decided to make a cup of coffee and wait. Kira had woken up briefly when I returned to check on her and make sure the curtains were shut over the windows in her room which faced the front of the house. I had coaxed her back to sleep but not before telling her I was expecting some friends over. She had looked at me like I was insane before going back to sleep. Not that I blamed her; I sometimes questioned my sanity too. One of those times was now since I had to be at work at eight thirty to get ready to teach.
The bright light that cut through the darkness made me squint as the van pulled up in my driveway. Slowly I got with my coffee in hand to go greet them. Eric climbed out of the driver side, Wes out of the passenger and a young woman followed Eric out; all three had Starbucks in hand. "Where's mine?" I asked, setting my own cup of coffee on the hood.
"Still at Starbucks. Did you know there's a ton of Starbucks between Silver Hills and here but only one is open twenty four hours?" Wes asked.
"There's one in town." I told him with a shrug.
"You must really be tired from what I've heard you're like the damn Energizer Rabbit." Eric said as he came around the side of the van with the young woman at his side.
"It's been a long day." I told him.
"This is my fiancee Lieutenant Taylor Earhardt. Taylor, this is Tommy Oliver." Eric said.
"Nice to meet you Lieutenant Earhardt. Welcome to my home." I said, nodding my respect to her. In the dim light I could see the sparkle of her dog tags.
"Nice to meet you." she said. I grabbed my coffee mug and led them back into the house.
"Are you guys hungry?" I asked, pouring myself a cup of coffee. I probably shouldn't be stalling, given that I needed some sleep before work but then again I wanted Kira to get as much sleep as possible before the guys needed to talk to her.
"No thanks but the offer's appreciated." Wes said.
"Then do you mind if I eat?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at them.
"Your place, go ahead." Eric muttered.
"Make yourselves comfortable." I told them as I dug into my fridge.
"Hey!" I heard Taylor shout from the living room and stuck my head out. Wes had found the confetti eggs and had broken one over her head.
"Guys, can you keep it down a little bit. There's someone else in the house sleeping." I called softly.
"Sorry." Wes and Taylor whispered.
I heated some leftovers up in the microwave, poured myself another cup of coffee and settled down in the living room. "Thanks for coming out here on such short notice." I said.
"Like you said, it's Ranger business." We said, glancing over some of the books on my shelves. Taylor looked over at the sliding glass door that let out the side patio. I loved my home because of all the open land, the bedrooms at the very heart of the house, the network of caves underground and the multiple exits which soothed my paranoia. The solitude and peace was a plus of course.
They let me eat and drink a couple of more cups of coffee in silence before Eric decided it was time to get down to business. "Where's the girl you told us about?" the Quantum Ranger asked.
"In her room, sleeping." I told him as I got up. I already knew what the next thing one of them would say was. Silently I padded through the halls and let myself back into Kira's room.
Kira's P.O.V.
Somebody was whispering my name and gently shaking me awake. "Daddy?" I whispered. My body ached all over and I could taste a tiny bit of blood in my mouth.
"Kira, baby wake up. There's a couple of people here that need to talk to you."
I was fully awake in a heart beat. My first two thoughts were that I had slept all day and Doc O had brought a couple of the guys home. The second was that my parents had somehow found his house.
"Easy Kira, they're good people. They're going to help make sure this never happens again." Doc O whispered. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost 3:30 in the morning.
"Don't you have to work soon?" I asked. My voice sounded terrible, all raspy and hoarse.
"You're more important honey." he told me.
"I don't feel good." I whispered.
"When was the last time you ate?" he asked, touching my forehead to see if I had a fever.
"At the Cafe." I admitted.
"Then it's probably because you haven't eaten in so long. Let's go downstairs, get this done and then I'll make you something to eat." he said. I nodded, pulled on my robe over the shorts and tank top I had fallen asleep in. Slowly I followed him out the bedroom door and to the living room. My first reaction upon seeing three strangers in the living room was to stay as close to the door as possible. My second was to drop my head to hide my bruised face and busted lip.
"Kira?" Doc O asked, touching my shoulder. I stiffened under his touch and glanced up at him briefly. "They're all former Rangers." he assured me softly. That information didn't do much to help but at least I now knew why he had called them.
"Is this her?"
"Kira Ford." I said, raising my head just enough to look at them. One was dark haired with sort of asian features while the other had light brown hair and had a easy going look to him. They were about the same height but the darker haired man a little bit broader in the shoulder. There was a woman with them. She was a little bit shorter than the dark haired man with long blonde hair lighter than mine. Something about her made me uneasy.
I let Doc O lead me to the couch where the lighter haired man came to kneel in front of me. "I'm Wes Collins and that's Eric Meyers. We're with the Silver Guardians and we're both Time Force Rangers." he said. I nodded slowly as my brain wrapped around all of that. "She's Taylor Earhardt, Eric's fiancee. She's in the air force, so don't worry if she scares you: she does me too sometimes." he whispered. I giggled softly as Doc O sat down beside me and set a bottle of Sprite in my lap.
"Thanks." I whispered.
"You want to tell us what happened?" Wes asked gently.
"Okay." I whimpered.
The dark haired man, Eric, pulled a small tape recorder out of his pocket. "Just to record everything you have to tell us." he said with a gentle smile. There was something like pity or sympathy in his eyes. I eyed the recorder and noticed it was one like what I had been wanting for a while to record my songs with. It had a memory card like a digital camera and ran of a battery pack. Gingerly I leaned forward and scooped it off the table.
I turned it over in my hands for a few minutes then asked, "How much would one of these cost?"
"Couple of hundred?" Wes asked, glancing back at Eric.
"Something like that." Eric responded.
"I'll need to save up for it then but it would come in handy for recording my songs." I said, putting it back down on the table gently. Wes eyed the recorder then glanced at me. I nodded slowly. He reached over, turned it on and backed away. Doc O slid an arm around my shoulder gently.
Eric's P.O.V.
Taylor snuggled against me as we sat on the couch while Kira talked. Wes looked over at me from time to time to make sure I was okay. They both knew what I had gone through at the hands of my father. Wes had seen the bruises and the busted lips I would come to school with while the teachers assumed I had been getting into fights because of my temper. Taylor knew the scars on my back from my old man's leather belt. Kira paused when she started to talk about when she got home and tears sprang to her eyes. Wes leaned over to pause the recording as my throat began to constrict. "Eric?" Taylor whispered as I got up. My brother spun from where he was crouched as I walked out the door.
"Breathe." I commanded myself as I rested my back against the outside wall several feet from the front door. Inside I could hear Tommy soothing Kira and a brief whispered argument between Wes and Taylor. The sounds of the argument died away as Wes' footsteps brought him closer the door.
"Eric? You okay?" he asked, coming outside. In the dim light I could still see the worry on his face.
"Yeah I'll be fine." I muttered.
"Hearing her talking brought back memories?" he asked.
"No hearing her about to start crying did." I admitted. Wes nodded before hugging me tightly. He was the only person besides Taylor and the rest of the Time Force Rangers I allowed to do so.
"Come back in when you're ready." he told him as he let me go. I nodded and he went back inside.
I waited several more minutes before following him. Taylor immediately hugged me when I returned to the couch. "Wes wouldn't let me go outside. He didn't know if you were mad or just upset." she said.
"Just upset." I told her.
"I'm sorry." Kira whispered. I got up and went to sit next to her.
"I've been in the same boat you were in, except I didn't have anywhere to run to." I told her. She stared at me with wide eyes. "Consider yourself lucky you got out, because not all of us do." I said.
"How can you talk so easily about it?" she asked.
"Several years of having to deal with it and a lot of coaxing from people. It's not easy." I assured her. She nodded slowly and I got up. Wes glanced at Kira, who nodded and he turned the recorder back on.
Tommy's P.O.V.
About an hour later: after Kira had finished talking and Wes had taken pictures of all the bruises and her busted lip, they left. As tired as I was by that point I was glad to see them gone. I glanced at the clock which now read almost five am and pulled out my cell phone as a I dug out a slip of paper I had grabbed the first day of school. I dialed the assistant principal's phone number, nobody knew how to get a hold of Randall, only to be greeted by his voice mail. I left a message letting him know I had gotten sick overnight and would not be at work. After that I sent Trent, Ethan and Conner texts telling them neither I or Kira would be at school and that I wanted them to drop by the house after school.
"Dad can I eat now? I'm starving." Kira asked from behind me.
"Sure honey." I said, going into the kitchen. "I called in sick today." I told her as we sat down to eat.
"You didn't have to." she said.
"It's just past five am. There is no way I could get to sleep now and be back up to be at the school to get ready for class at eight thirty." I told her.
"Oh." she muttered.
"I also sent texts to the guys to let them know to drop by after school." I added. She groaned softly. "They were going to find out Kira and I rather it be sooner than later." I told her.
"Yeah. So are they really gonna make it to where I never have to see my parents again and can live here with you?" she asked. She hadn't liked Eric and Wes much, despite their attempts to get her to warm up to them. I should have warned them to not show up in full Silver Guardian uniform.
"They'll take care of everything. I won't have to do any paperwork except to sign a few things." I assured her. That was the best part in my mind since I had a lot of schoolwork to grade daily.
After we ate and the dishes were in the dishwasher, we headed back upstairs to go to bed. When we reached Kira's room, she hugged me tightly. "Thank you so much." she whispered.
"When did I become your father Kira?" I asked softly.
"After you started teaching us how to be Rangers. You were always there for us even when we didn't deserve it. You trusted us, believed in us, loved us, took care of us when we were sick and hurt, comforted us when we were sad. Nobody's ever done that for me, not since I was little." she whispered.
My heart skipped a beat at her words. Those things came naturally for me but I never thought they'd effect a group of kids so much. "Let's get to bed baby." I whispered. She nodded and led me into her room. I stretched out on my side as she curled up against me.
"Love you daddy." she whispered. I smiled into her hair and rubbed her back. After almost giving up on having kids like I had always wanted, I had one now. Even if I had missed sixteen years of her life.