Summary: Despite the years that have passed, when the signal calls, they still answer. (D/C)
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. If I did, I'd pay them better.
A/N: This fic is dedicated to Alison MacInnis and Sean Johnson who returned to the Megaforce set to resume their roles as Dana Mitchell and Carter Grayson respectively. Lightspeed Rescue is my third-favorite season, and seeing them both on-screen again was a childhood's dream come true. So YAY! They're appearing in MegaForce!
Now, onto the serious stuff: Ages are really confusing in Lightspeed. I started off thinking that all the Lightspeed Rangers had to be in their twenties. You don't get to do professional work the way they do without being in your twenties… and then Ryan shows up and tells everyone he's twenty, which means that Dana is probably really smart for a 18-19 year old. Then again, from how Dana acted in Olympius Unbound and In the Limelight, I'd say that nineteen is very believable. I left the others in their twenties.
This is a (mostly) Dana-centric fic. Most of this fic will be told from her point of view. Please be critical while reviewing, I love constructive criticism.
Present Day
Dana lay back on the love-seat, gazing fondly at the picture that hung on the opposite wall. It was taken in the year 2000, when they had finally defeated Queen Bansheera, ending the Demonic threat for good. Her father, the then Captain Mitchell sat in the middle of the bench, holding the hands of his two children, Dana on his left, Ryan on his right. Carter sat on the armrest, an arm around Dana's shoulders. Behind them, Angela and Joel were wrapped in an embrace, even though they were looking at the camera. Chad and Kelsey posed together, back to back.
They were all smiling, so happily.
She smiled to herself, remembering the days in 2001.
November 2001
It had been the day that they realized that couldn't really return to being normal. The moment the fire truck had rushed past, the sirens screeching, Carter's face changed. Despite wanting to finally spend some time with her family, Dana knew exactly what that face meant. It was probably why he was a firefighter, back when they all were normal. He simply couldn't ignore people who needed help.
Carter had gone in the direction of the smoke, and almost predictably, everyone followed, even Joel who was going on his date. None of them could stand by and do nothing, even without their Morphers.
At the end of the day, Joel still managed to go on his date. Carter returned to the Mariner Bay Fire Station, promoted to the squad leader. Kelsey and Chad were true to their word, returning to climbing and surfing respectively.
Dana had been thrilled when she found out that she was accepted to Havard Medical School. Even with her previous professional qualifications, allowing her to skip a few subjects, she still needed four years to complete her study. Under special circumstances (She was the Pink Lightspeed Ranger, after all) she was allowed to start classes in the second semester, right after the Christmas break. To Dana, it wasn't a problem. She was nineteen and just (finally!) starting her life outside the Rangers.
That left Dana with only a month to settle her lodging and other miscellaneous things. But she made it a point for the Mitchell family to spend time together, just the three of them. They needed to make up for almost twenty years' worth of time with Ryan, and even though the week wasn't enough, it was better than nothing.
Dana wanted to get away from it all; she didn't want to be known as Dana the Pink Lightspeed Ranger. To be honest, she was jealous of the rest of the Rangers. Even before becoming Rangers, the others had made names for themselves. Within the service, Carter was well-respected by his old squadmates. Joel was the sky-cowboy. Kelsey was winning one sports championship after another. Chad was finally getting back in the water and working with the whales he loved. She wanted to be Doctor Mitchell, to be respected because of her own achievements, not because she just so happened to be able to wield a Morpher.
The only other person who probably seemed as lost as her was Ryan. For fifteen years, he had been raised by Diabolico and taught to hate humans. It was love that turned him, and he was still trying to learn what love was. Dana felt selfish for leaving her brother, but he had pointed out that she couldn't stay by his side forever. There was fifteen years' worth of human lessons that he had to learn. He needed to go out, to interact with other humans, not just with his sister and father. He had encouraged her to go; it was what she wanted to do.
Carter had been ecstatic when she had told him the news, that she had been accepted into Harvard, but that happiness hat very quickly lead to an argument the moment Carter asked why she wanted to travel down to Massachusetts when the nearby universities offered MDs as well. She still remembered the argument that had her storming out of Carter's apartment.
"Why can't you understand why I have to do this, Carter?"
"Because you ARE your own person, you don't need to earn some fancy medical degree just to earn approval!"
"Yes I DO, Carter! The past FIFTEEN YEARS of my life, ever since Ryan disappeared, have been spent watching for those demons, Carter, I never had the childhood you had. I never attended high school. I need to prove to myself I can do just as well as any other normal person. And this is HARVARD, Carter. This is one of the best universities in the country, and I'm going!"
"But you're the Pink Lightspeed Ranger, you'll never be just Dana Mitchell." The last sentence was whispered. That sentence struck a nerve. This was the whole point of going to medical school. She wanted to be just Dana Mitchell. Without another word, she stormed out of the apartment, swearing under her breath, leaving Carter dumbfounded.
They didn't see each other again, not until the day before Dana was about to fly to Massachusetts. The team, along with a newly engaged Miss Fairweather and her father, had all come to give her a goodbye party. Despite all her best efforts to not end up alone with Carter, it was Kelsey who couldn't stand the tension between the two any longer, locking them both in a room.
"KELSEY I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU!" Dana screeched as she slammed her fists against the door.
"You'll thank me later, I promise! Now you two just talk things out nicely and-"
"RYAN! GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"
"Language, Dana." Her father's stern voice came through the door, Dana cringed, but scowled.
Ryan's voice was soft, coming through the door. "Sorry, Sis. I'm pretty sure that Kelsey will defenestrate me if I do anything… But seriously, the two of you need to sort this out… And… this was all Carter's idea."
Dana had spun around, completely livid with anger while Carter tried to hide his smirk behind a fist. Taking several deep breaths, she stomped to the other end of the room, leaning against the corner. Scowling at her boyfriend(?) she growled "You wanted to talk, talk."
Carter sighed, his arm dropping to his side. "Dana… I… after our fight, I spent a few days thinking, and I still couldn't figure out why you wanted to do this. I didn't even know what set you off."
"Set me off?! I'll show you." Dana stomped across the room, her fist raised.
And he met her head on, grabbing her wrist and pulling her body against his. "I talked to Kelsey, who pretty much kicked my ass, while Chad stood by and watched." He looked into her eyes as she squirmed in his hold. Dana broke the intimate eye contact, her face already flushing as she felt the hard lines of his body against hers.
"She said you were being selfish." Dana's temper was really on edge today, and she renewed her struggles to free herself from Carter's grasp. She had almost wanted to shout through the door again, but Carter cut her off. "But she said I was worse."
"Dana… We've been teammates for over a year, we've covered each other's' backs, saved each other's lives… On an off the field, you've saved us all more than once because you're an amazing field medic who's been patching us up all year… And I've forgotten that you're just nineteen."
Dana's temper flared again. Was he actually calling her immature?
Sensing her rising anger, Carter quickly continued, "I'm twenty-five, Dana, and it's my fault, not yours, for forgetting that your priorities are different from mine. What I want to do is to settle down, the American dream, the white picket fence, a wife and a dog. But Kelsey reminded me of that you were nineteen. She reminded me of the dreams I had when I was fresh out of high school, and how my dad disapproved of me becoming a firefighter. She said that I didn't care that I was Captain Carter Grayson, and she was right. I could be 'Carter Grayson the firefighter' and I would have still been happy."
"But I forgot how difficult it was at nineteen, trying to create an identity for myself. I was reminded of what it was like, to be unable to break free of a… old identity."
And in that instant, Dana reached an epiphany. Carter was just so selfless that he didn't see it. She loved that about him, but sometimes, it just made him so damn dense. He just couldn't see why people followed him the way he did. All he knew was that if someone was in trouble, he would go above and beyond the call of duty to save that person. He didn't understand that his willingness to sacrifice, that the compassion he had were all part of why people followed him so willingly. He couldn't see Dana Mitchell and the Pink Lightspeed Ranger as two separate entities. He couldn't see why she needed to make a name for herself when she had already accomplished so much as the Pink Lightspeed Ranger. To him, she was his teammate, a friend, and someone he had come to (Dare she say it?) love. He couldn't see any of that without his teammates telling that straight into his face.
"Damn you Kelsey." Dana cursed under her breath without any conviction. Her anger was steadily bleeding away, instead being replaced by warm feeling in her chest.
"You'll always be the Pink Lightspeed Ranger to me. But the Pink Lightspeed Ranger is more than just a Ranger, Dana." He spoke hurriedly, remembering the last time he had said those words. "You're my teammate, my friend… more than my friend. You're one of the best medics out there and I'm sure you'll become a great doctor. You're smart, you're beautiful… And… You'll never be just Dana Mitchell to me." And then he had leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.
Dana had grown up in the military, and even though she had been quite sheltered because her father was the base Commanding Officer, she had known what sex was from a very young age. And despite having been hit on through the years, and not being a total innocent, she was physically very innocent.
So, when she felt his lips press against hers, her mind went blank, and her body tensed. This… this was Carter, kissing HER. Oh dear god. Carter was kissing her! Should she kiss him back? Of course she should! Wait… how do you kiss? She didn't want Carter to think that she was a bad kisser!
And while all this flowed through her mind, five seconds had passed in the real world, and Carter had pulled back, his brows creased in a frown at her lack of response. "Dana. I'm sorry, if… if you don't feel that way about me I won't push this-"
Dana opened her mouth, willing a sound to come out. A sound, anything, and she got her wish, it was a croak. Carter's eyes widened, and then he stepped away from her, "I'm sorry, Dana. I won't do that again."
The moment he tried to walk around her, Dana finally found her voice again, "Don't go." She grabbed his arm, trying to find the courage to admit a fact that was incredibly embarrassing.
Carter pulled away with a jerk. "I don't know what you want, Dana. First you push me away, then you stand in my arms while I pour my heart out to you, and now you don't even respond to me kissing you. Tell me, Dana, tell me what the FUCK you want?!" Dana flinched as if struck when Carter cursed, the shock of hearing him not being completely polite shocking her out of silence.
"I… I haven't… Kissedanyonebefore" Dana blushed a deep red when she rushed the words, praying to whatever god that existed that he somehow couldn't catch her words. He was going to laugh, he was going to laugh at her inexperience and leave her. No, he couldn't, she would get better. She started talking again. "I don't know how to kiss. I don't know what to do. Please don't leave me I wanna learn I want to kiss you-" she shut up when he pressed a finger to her lips.
There was a gentle smile on his face, a gentle smile that in recent months, she had dreamed was only meant for her. "Shhh… Don't think. Just relax." And the next thing she knew, she was pressed against the hard muscles of his body, and his lips caressed hers tenderly.
And she did. She relaxed into his embrace, not thinking about anything else, just focusing on the feel of his lips on hers. And when his tongue snaked across her lips, she shuddered, snaking her arms around his neck to hold him tightly. His arms snaked around her hips, holding her close.
Far too quickly, he pulled away. "So… are we… still together?"
Dana stared at him in annoyance. "Carter… I just allowed myself to be thoroughly kissed, your hands are basically on my ass" his hands immediately moved up to a safer position on her hips, "And here you are asking if we're still together… Shut up and kiss me again."
And so he did. They kissed until they heard Kelsey squealing in delight, and only then did they realize that everyone was peeking in, including her father and brother.
Completely mortified, Dana pushed Carter away, stepping back from him, and promptly tripped over the chair right behind her.
Landing in an ungraceful heap, she covered her face, wishing to god to give her the ability to disappear as everyone in the doorway laughed.
It was Carter who reached out to her, "C'mon, college girl, let's get you back out to the party." And with his back to the rest, he smiled that smile again, the one reserved just for her.
Dana took his arm. They could do this. Their bond had been forged and tempered under the stress of demon attacks, surely their relationship could survive four years of normal life.
January 2002.
To be honest, Dana had no idea what it was like to be normal. For the first nineteen years of her life, her father had been talking about demons. Her life, for nearly two decades, had revolved around demons and her combat medic training. She was completely unused to a normal life without explosions and looking for monsters over her shoulder.
So when she arrived in Havard, she was completely out of her element. The grounds were serene and quiet. It was a place where one could lose oneself in books and research. In the school hostels, college kids partied and drank and did their homework. She was used to having a structured life. Do an obstacle course. Eat breakfast. Fight demons. Eat lunch. Fight demons. Study Biology. Fight Demons. Sleep. Get activated in the middle of the night to fight demons. Get back to sleep. Wake up. Repeat.
School started two days after she alighted from her flight. Lectures were up to three hours long, with tutorials running for two hours. Sometimes she had lessons from nine running to five with barely an hour's break for lunch in between. The structured timetable had put her at ease, but the workload and projects also severely limited the amount of time she could spend chatting with Carter or her friends.
It was after a month after school had started when Dana heard the news, Silver Hills was under attack by more monsters. She had stared at the screen, her left arm feeling incredibly light without the comforting weight of her morpher on it. She called Carter immediately.
"Don't you dare run off to Silver Hills." Were the first words out of her mouth when he had picked up.
"I won't, Dana. I swear. Not without you and the rest of the team." He had replied after a short pause. "Anyway, the situation's under control. Apparently, there's a Ranger team over there too."
Dana relaxed when she heard about the new Ranger team. These new monsters weren't her problem. "Right. I'll see you soon… I miss you."
"Miss you too, Dana. I'll be waiting."
September 2002.
Dana was awoken by her cell. "Who the hell would be calling me at this hour?" She reached to her bedside table, flicking open the cell, she grumbled into the receiver. "Hello."
"Hey, Dana." It was Carter.
Carter never called in the middle of the night, not unless there was a problem, like a botched rescue. Something was wrong.
"What's wrong?" Dana was wide awake now, afraid of the implications. Carter wasn't even supposed to be on duty tonight.
"Vypra's back." The words sent a chill through her heart. The demons were supposed to be gone forever. She had watched Diabolico betray Bansheera, causing her to fall to her doom in the Shadow Realm, enabling Carter's survival.
"I... I don't understand." Dana was at a loss for words. Things were supposed to be normal. But if there were demons around... It wasn't the first time that she missed the reassuring weight of her Morpher on her left wrist.
"The Aquabase's sensors picked up demonic energy in Silver Hills. Captain Mitchell called me and I was the first on scene. We need some help on this, Dana. I'm really sorry. The Time Force Rangers can't handle this one alone. Vypra has four new underlings with her, they completely overwhelmed the Time Force Rangers." Carter's voice was grim.
She swallowed. "Dammit, I'll head to the airport now, I'll catch the earliest flight I can."
"I'll call the Aquabase, they'll be able to get you a ticket the moment you step into that airport." Carter was all business now, "I need to call the-"
"Carter, promise me something." Her heart was beating wildly within her chest. Carter was there, in Silver Hills. With a bunch of strangers.
Without his team to back him up.
Without her to watch his back.
"Don't do anything insane. I'll be there as quick as I can." Dana was already up, picking up the hardy pink shirt and grey skirt that she always used to wear.
"I won't. I promise. Head to the Aquabase first and meet Captain Mitchell first." Carter's voice was softer, gentler. "I'll see you soon, alright?"
"I love you." Dana blurted out. Her hand flew to her mouth in shock, did she really just say that? Her heartbeat drowned out everything except the sounds from her phone. Would... would he feel the same way she did?
"I love you too. I'll see you soon." Carter hung up.
Dana collapsed onto her bed, breathing hard. He said it back.
Carter said it back.
Dana jumped to her feet, grabbing her work clothes. "No one is going to take my man away from me."
Present Day
"What are you smiling at?" Her husband's voice brought her out of her reverie.
"Do I need a reason to smile?" She retorted, extending her right hand to him, an unspoken invitation to join her. Dana shifted so that Carter had enough space to lie out on the love seat, turning onto her side, laying her head on the crook of his shoulder. "I was just thinking of a few of our 'firsts'."
"Well as I remember, our first kiss was terrible." Carter grinned widely. Dana scowled playfully at him, punching him in the opposite shoulder before laying her hand on his chest, sighing contentedly as they snuggled.
"Yeah, it was." Dana admitted, "But seriously, a lot of our firsts ended up as complete fiascos."
Carter snickered. "Tell me about it. You remember-"
He was cut off when two Morphers beeped.
Playful expressions turned serious as Carter hit a button. "Carter here."
"We've got Rangers requesting assistance. It's urgent." That was Chad's voice. He was the Aquabase commander for the day.
"We're on our way. Is Joel ready to fly?" Dana spoke into Carter's communicator, she got up, heading towards the coat rack where their Lightspeed jackets hung.
"He will be." Chad cut the communication, Carter got to his feet just in time to catch the jacket thrown at him. Easily slipping it on as he headed to the garage, he looked back at his wife.
"You ready?" He challenged, despite already knowing the answer.
"Always." She smiled at him.
"Lightspeed, Rescue."
Seconds later, the Rescue Rover zoomed out onto the street, heading to the Aquabase.
They might never have normal lives, but they were Rangers, they accepted that. After all, when the signal called, they always answered.
Final notes:
Dana might seem a bit OOC here, but I'm of the very firm belief that if you somehow manage to piss any of the quiet and introverted Pink Rangers off, you're asking for it.
According to PRTF, Dana was apparently a full-fledged pediatrician in 2002. That really shouldn't be possible, since in the present, it still requires about four years. This fic assumes that she was still studying for her degree.