Author's Note: I do not own anything recognisable from the TV Series. The OCs however, belong to me.

It was August 13th, 2037; a beautiful day just like every other in the new world. The sun, the natural sun, was shining down brightly on the citizens of Earth's newest City: Kaie's Haven. It's Commander, Hayden McAllister, had named it, not after her daughter, but after humanity. Kaie meant fighter, and it fit well with the creation of this city. Had it not been for all the people who fought long and hard, and put themselves on the line, this new city would never have been.

Now, at twenty-seven years old, Hayden was finally living the life she should have been living since the fall of the Venjix. She had a stable career as Commander of Kaie's Haven and a loving family who supported her in everything that she did. She had been sad, initially, when she moved away from her parents and her sister and brother, but it was the freedom and the added responsibilities that changed her into the person she was now.

Samantha and Scott were still living in Corinth, as they should have been. Scott was still Commander and enjoyed every minute of his job. He was a great Commander too. Hayden could see that the position and knowledge came to him naturally. The citizens of Corinth, now officially known as Corinthians, adored their Commander because he took such good care of them and their city.

When Scott wasn't at work, he was at home with his family. In 2030 Samantha had given birth to a beautiful baby boy. He was immediately welcomed into the family with open arms by all his relatives. Samantha and Scott had been worried about Engel accepting her half brother into her life, but the moment she first laid eyes on little Benson Truman, she claimed him as her own. For a while, she would cry every time she went to spend a weekend with her father, because she missed her little brother. Fortunately, a year and a half later, Vanessa gave birth to hers and Mike's daughter: Angela. Now, Engel had a little sibling to play with in either home.

Mike finally finished college and for two years worked with Dawn, helping her around her center before he started one of his own. He wanted to help restoring the world, but after everything he had been through with the Mutants and the Underwater, Mike thought he would be more helpful if he focused on rehabilitating those who were lost in the Wastelands. After all, Dawn's Center was initially built to help the survivors in Corinth and NewTech, and with her short-term memory loss still having some effects on her job, Mike didn't want her to take on more than he could handle. He opened up his own center on the other side of town, and whenever Scott, Gem or Gemma found survivors, they would let him know.

Back in Kaie's Haven, Flynn and Dani's new Garage was really going. Flynn had been right about business being easier in a city where the main attraction was a racetrack. Before and after every race, Dani would bring her car in for an inspection, and once word was out that Champion Dani Hartford trusted Flynn with her car, other racers and everyday people started trusting Flynn. In other words, business was booming for Flynn. At first, he had been a little overwhelmed, but when Hannah moved away from home, she moved to Kaie's Haven, and Flynn immediately offered her a job. The second pair of hands made all the differences, especially seeing as Hannah put in more work than Dani ever did on a regular basis.

Over in NewTech, Summer and Dillon lived happily as normal citizens, or rather, NewTechnicians. Like Samantha, Summer had given birth to a healthy baby boy, which she and Dillon both named Timothy. For a while they were happy as a family of three, but Summer was once again pregnant, this time with a baby girl. She was over the moon about it. She loved her son dearly, but she had always pictured herself raising a little girl.

Life wasn't normal for the McKnight's all the time, though. With Summer's sister Samantha as Commander, the two former RPM Rangers sometimes found themselves back in the line of duty.

Hayden loved her new life. There was nothing wrong with the one she had in Corinth, but in this city, her city, she was the person she had always dreamed she would be. She was following in her mother's footsteps, she had a loving husband and a beautiful daughter, and only four years ago she welcomed a son, Jeffery, into her family.

Things had been running so smoothly, and so normally, that Hayden felt nothing when her cell phone went off. There was no sense of dread, no fear and no panic. Instinctively, she pulled it from her pocket and smiled as she answered, perky as ever.

"Hi dad!"

She heard a sob on the other end. Now the feeling of dread started to kick in.

"Dad, are you okay?" she asked her father on the other end. There was a brief pause before the line went dead. Hayden pulled the phone away from the side of her face and stared at the screen. Worried something had happened; she dialled her parent's home number and waited for someone to pick up. The phone rang several times before stopping. Hayden could only assume her father was ignoring her call.

Her fingers shook with the rest of her body as she dialled her brother's cell phone number. Christian, now twelve years old, had recently gotten his very first cell phone and never went anywhere without it. If he missed or ignored Hayden's call, she would really start to panic.

The phone rang, just like the last time. And, just like the last time, no one picked up. Hayden tried again, hoping her brother had just been on the toilet or in the shower. Just in case this was no mistake, though, she reached across her desk, her boss desk as she called it, and grabbed her office phone. The office phone was only to be used by the Commander to call people around town, or in the Commander center, for business purposes only. The sole exception to the rule was personal emergencies. Fearing the worst had happened, Hayden was certain her colleagues would classify this as a personal emergency.

Christian still wasn't answering his phone, but on the office line, Sammy picked up almost right away.

"You never call me," she started with a laugh. Hayden pushed her cell phone away and quickly grabbed hold of her office phone. She clenched it tightly.

"Dad just tried to call me," she told her sister.

"You're rubbing it in, aren't you?" Samantha said; the laugh still evident in her voice. Whatever dread and panic Hayden was going through didn't seem to affect Samantha in anyways. She was completely blind to the urgency in her little sister's voice.

"He didn't say anything. I thought I heard him cry before the line went dead. I tried calling him back, but I think he's ignoring me. Christian's not answering his cell phone either."

There was a silence on the other end. Hayden knew her words were finally reaching Samantha. The older sister spoke.

"Have you called Aunt Tori?"

Hayden shook her head. Her sister wouldn't see it, so she added, "No."

"Alright," Samantha took a deep breath, "Okay… okay… um, you try Aunt Tori, okay, Hay? I'll try Christian's cell phone. Call me in five minutes and let me know if you reach Aunt Tor."

Hayden nodded, "Okay," just before she was about to hang up, she asked her sister, "You don't think…"

"She had ten years," Samantha interrupted, before Hayden could say what was already on her mind, "it's only been seven."

Hayden said goodbye to her sister, though it wouldn't be long before they spoke again. She quickly did as Samantha instructed and phoned her Aunt. Unfortunately, not even Tori would pick up. Frustrated, Hayden tossed her phone across her office. The sound of the phone hitting the door alerted the men and women working just outside. Col. Jeremy Strong, Hayden's most trusted man, walked to the door after hearing the bang. He knocked before entering.

"Is everything okay?" he asked his Commander. Hayden shook her head and started collecting her things from the desk. Strong noticed her eyes were red with tears. The former Ranger shook her head.

"Can you please call my sister?" Hayden requested. "Something's come up back home."

"What is it?" Strong asked, "If I may…"

"I don't know," Hayden placed her things in her bag, not bothering with placing them properly so they wouldn't damage or wrinkle. Strong could tell that whatever was bothering her was really hitting her hard. She was always careful with her work documents and he had never seen her crying before.

"I'll call your sister," he nodded politely. "What should I tell her?"

"To go home," Hayden said.

-Kaylee-

Hayden and Samantha met up at their parent's place, but upon ringing the doorbell they discovered no one was home. Before bothering to find their spare keys to let themselves in, they opened the garage to see if Dustin's car was still in home. When they discovered it wasn't, they could only fear the worse.

Hayden sat on the doorstep, playing mindlessly with her cell phone while Samantha paced back and forth. Both girls were trying to wonder what to do next and where to go.

Suddenly, they noticed a red car pulling up in the driveway. They both stared as the driver got out of the car. He looked over at the girls and waved for them to approach him.

"Uncle Shane?" Hayden whispered, just loud enough so he could hear her. Shane walked around the car and opened his arms for a hug. Samantha and Hayden could see he had been crying. He wrapped his arms around both girls and let out a sob, but he still stayed strong for them.

"I don't want to be the bearer of bad news," he said.

Samantha looked at him, "We have our suspicions. Please just… tell us the truth."

"Is it mom?' Hayden asked. Shane lowered his head and nodded gently.

"Your father tried to call, but he couldn't do it," Shane explained. "You guys probably understand how hard this is."

"Where are they?" Samantha asked. Shane motioned to the car.

"I'll take you to the hospital," he said. He opened the back door, assuming the two girls wanted to stick together after just learning of their mother's death. It would be cruel to expect them to be apart, one in the front, one in the back, even if it made no difference in physical difference.

Shane closed the door behind Samantha and walked back around the car to the driver's side. As he slipped in, he looked over his shoulder at his two nieces.

"Blake's calling Scott and Flynn," he told them. "He'll make sure they meet us at the hospital. He's offered to drive all the way up to Kaie's Haven if Flynn can't make the trip."

"Where's Aunt Tori?" Hayden asked.

"She's waiting for you at the hospital. She has all the details."

"And Chris?" Samantha added.

"He's with your dad and… mom."

"He's with mom?" Samantha asked worried. If their mother was dead, she wasn't sure Christian was old enough to sit with her dead body.

"Your father and brother were with her while she died," Shane explained. "No one can talk them into leaving the room."

"For good reason," Hayden muttered. Samantha reached across the seat and took her sister's hand.

Shane nodded and wiped the tears from his eyes as he pulled out from the driveway. The hospital was only a few minutes away, but this was going to be the longest drive of his life.

-Kaylee-

Hayden and Samantha wasted no time when they got to the hospital. They rushed to find their Aunt and get as much information from them as they wanted, but at the same time, they only needed to know one thing.

There was only one reason their mother would be dead today. The poison took over her body faster than expected and she passed away because of it. It didn't really matter what happened in her last few moments. If she knew the death was coming, or if it just happened.

What the two girls wanted to know was if this was all real. The tears and cries around them confirmed that something had happened, but reality still wasn't sinking in for either.

A doctor recognised the girls and offered to take them to Kaylee's room. He hoped that maybe the daughters would be able to get Dustin and Christian out of the room so they could do their job. It had been a couple of hours already and the body could only rest on its own for so long.

The well lit halls seemed dark and gloomy to Hayden and Samantha as they reached their mother's door. The doctor offered his condolences before leaving the girls. Samantha placed her hand on the door handle, but before turning it, she looked to Hayden.

"This is it," she whispered. "When I open the door, there's no denying it."

Hayden nodded, "I know."

"Are you ready?"

"No… but I never will be. Open it."

-Kaylee-

"Life sucks, and then you die," Adeline whispered as she sat in the waiting room beside her father and brother. She quoted that line from her Uncle Christian. He said it many times to her when she felt things were going wrong. At seven years old, Adeline was only facing the smallest of problems, but everything always seemed like the end of the world to a child. Christian, who was only a few years older, knew that very well, but the little bit of experience he had over Adeline allowed him to give out advice, even mediocre advice like that one.

Flynn looked down at his daughter and shook his head. Now was not the time.

"Adeline," was all he said. The little girl, a spitting image of her grandmother, turned to her father and shrugged.

"What? It's true!"

"Show some respect for your grandmother," Flynn told her, "And your mother. This isn't an easy time for her."

Scott pulled out his wallet from his pocket and handed Engel some money, "Take your brother, sister and cousins to the vending machine," he said, "Get yourselves anything you want."

Engel took the change and stuffed it in her pocket before holding her hands out. Angela and Benson knew they would be getting a special treat and jumped up to take her hand. Benson looked to his father before following his sister.

Adeline slowly slid off her seat and followed her older cousin, leaving the parents to talk amongst themselves in peace.

Scott took Adeline's seat, next to Flynn. He placed his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"She doesn't know how to deal with this yet," he said. "She doesn't understand that it's okay to be upset and cry."

"You don't seem to understand it much either," Mike commented from the bench across from Flynn and Scott. The Scotsman shrugged.

"I'm just worried about Hayden. She didn't see this coming."

"No one did," Mike said. "At least, not this early. I thought we still had a few years left. Aunt Kayl and I were going to have lunch together this next weekend. She was already planning Chris' birthday party."

"I thought she had ten years," Scott looked to Mike. The D-Green Ranger had been with his mother when the doctors told her about Kaylee. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Aunt Leah and Uncle David said she had seven to ten years. I guess seven was the lucky number."

"Do you know how it happened?" Flynn asked. "Did she die here at the hospital or…"

"I was told she collapsed at home and Uncle Dustin and Christian brought her here. I don't know if she was already dead at home, or if she died on the way, or in the hospital."

"So she just dropped dead?" Scott frowned. He turned to Flynn for a moment, then back to Mike, "Just like that? She's fine one minute and then bam?"

"You'll have to ask the doctors or my mom," Mike nodded. "That's all I know and that's all I want to know. In the end, Aunt Kaylee's still dead."

"I'm just asking because Kaylee deserved to die peacefully," Scott said. "Knowing Kaylee, she could have been suffering for weeks. She could have kept it hidden."

"Uncle Dustin was watching her like a hawk," Mike said, shaking his head. "He knows her just as well as my mom. He would have known the moment Aunt K started feeling funny."

Over on the other side of the waiting room, Tori sat with Shane. No words were exchanged between the two. Shane simply sat beside his blue Ranger and held her hand in his, gently rubbing it with his thumb while he kept a watchful eye on her.

Tori's gaze was fixed on her son, nephews in-law and the little kids. She watched as they interacted. Mike, Scott and Flynn seemed to be talking about Kaylee, while the kids were all arguing over who got to put what inside the vending machine, and which candy was the best.

Her eyes fell on little Adeline as the young girl reached in and pulled out her chocolate bar. She held onto it tight as the younger kids started jumping for it, almost as if they were going to try and take it from her. Adeline kept them all at bay and stuck her tongue as she opened the candy and took the first bite.

"I have my spit on it, you can take it!" she teased the little kids. Engel rolled her eyes and shook her head before gently swatting Adeline on the back of the head.

"Be nice to them, Addie," she said.

"But they bug me," Adeline pouted. "Jeffery a poo-poo head and smells like feet!"

"Do not!" Jeffery shouted, stomping his feet.

Engel glared at her little cousin, "Adeline…"

Adeline took one look at her cousin before taking a fearful step back. She turned to her little brother and cousins.

"You can have the next one," she told them, defeated. Engel smiled and patted her cousin on the head.

"Good little Addie."

Tori smiled slightly and turned to Shane, "It hurts."

Shane let go of Tori's hand, "Oh, sorry."

Tori shook her head, "Not that. Adeline and Engel."

"They'll really miss Kaylee," Shane nodded. "Ange and Jeff are too young to really care, and I think Benson's just following everyone else's lead."

"Engel knows what's going on," Tori said. "She knows grandma Kaylee is dead. Adeline's just old enough to understand and remember."

"They'll be fine, though," Shane assured his friend. "Life goes on. We all knew this was going to happen someday, right? I think Addie's always known Grandma Kaylee was temporary."

"I meant for me," Tori said. "It's going to be hard for me. Look at her."

Tori pointed to Adeline and Shane knew what she was getting at. He nodded and took her hand again.

"Well, Master Engel left something behind when she died. She's still here with us, maybe Kaylee is."

Tori wiped a tear from her eyes, "I hope so," there was a silence for a moment until Tori turned to Shane, "I want it soon."

"Want what?"

"The funeral," Tori said. "I want it soon. As soon as possible. Nothing fancy, nothing big. I love Kaylee, and she deserves her time and all the respect in the world, but she wouldn't want any of us to be upset over this. She wants us to move on."

"Yeah, I know."

"We have to say goodbye before it gets too hard. The longer we wait, the more we'll all hurt. Kaylee wouldn't want that."

"You tell them that, then," Shane said, motioning to the doors. Tori knew what he meant.

"Dustin's your best friend. With Kaylee gone, it your job to make sure he's okay," she said. "I'll take care of her kids."

"What?"

"It's my sister's kids. Christian and the girls, they're mine now. I'll do whatever I can to help them. I know what's best."

"If you're sure," Shane nodded. "Are you sure you're ready?"

"No… but I never will be," Tori said. "We've just got to do it."