Title: The Power Of Love
Characters/Pairings: Jason/Cassie
Rating: Strong PG
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Can't sue me. You know the damn deal. I'm not making a profit from writing this piece, so you're just wasting valuable time.
Settings/Classifications: Romance, Drama, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe, One Shot
Spoilers/Notes: The aftermath of the Lost Galaxy episode The Power of Pink.
Summary: Cassie finds unexpected comfort in the arms of a veteran ranger after witnessing the 'death' of Kendrix Morgan. Together, they work through her trauma and find love with one another as a result.
Author's note: So, this is the one shot you've been asking me about for quite some time and now, with my highly rated story Love Will Prevail finally completed, now's a good time for me to put this out for you. I've been intrigued with the Jason/Cassie pairing ever since Ghostwriter's story Ranger Attraction came on my radar. I'd figure I give this pairing a shot.
Enjoy and happy reading!
Lots of love, hugs and kisses from your resident writer and friend, Nina!
X
Angel Grove Park
Angel Grove, California
June 8th, 1999
Sitting on a bench, curling her arms around herself and allowing fresh tears to stream down her face, Cassandra Michelle Chan, the pink Turbo ranger and currently the pink Space ranger, was still trying to comprehend what happened while she was up in Terra Venture. Her heart was heavy with pain because she witnessed her teammate and friend, Kendrix Morgan, sacrifice herself in order to save the team. Cassie didn't want that to happen and even attempted to stop Kendrix from making a huge sacrifice, but she was suffering from an arm injury and couldn't do anything about it. So, she watched helplessly as Kendrix 'died' right before her very eyes.
Cassie couldn't believe it. Never in the history of her young life that she witnessed someone 'dying'. Being a power ranger doesn't exempt you from getting hurt on a daily basis, however, whenever a monster is sent down to destroy the earth, the power rangers usually prevent that from happening.
Now, though, as she continued morning the loss of her friend, Cassie realized that's not the case.
Running her fingers through her long dark hair, more tears started streaming down her face as the image of Kendrix's smiling face kept plaguing her mind. No matter how hard she tried, Cassie couldn't shake the feeling of what she could've done differently if she had the opportunity to save Kendrix. However, after much reflection, she realized that there was nothing she could do to change it. Kendrix made a heroic choice to save her teammates and friends, which was admirable, but also still heartbreaking.
It just hurts too much for Cassie to handle.
As she continued to wallow in her own self-pity, a certain handsome man, wearing a long sleeved, red plaid shirt and black jeans, made his presence felt by walking his dog down the parkway. He quickly noticed the pretty Asian sitting on the bench, her head hung low and even though he was a few feet away from where he's standing, he could tell she's been crying. Being the upstanding, caring guy that is, he decided to go over there and see how she's doing.
But, his trusty dog, Rex, decided to beat him to the punch. Wagging his tail, the Yorkshire Terrier ran right over to the woman sitting on the bench and nuzzled his face against her leg, causing her to raise her head up to see who was nuzzling her leg. A small smile formed on her face as she reached over and gently patted the dog on top his head, just as his owner decided to come over there to retrieve him.
"I'm sorry about that, Miss. Rex has the tendency to be quite affectionate with the people he never interacted with before," the man said, his deep, husky voice ringing her ears like sweet music.
Cassie smiled as she kept patting the dog on top of his head. "It's no problem. He's doing a great job cheering me up. I could use some after the day I had."
"If you don't mind me asking, is everything okay? I noticed you've been crying and I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help," he suggested as he took a seat next to her on the bench, but made sure to keep his reasonable distance.
She finally raised her head up to look at the man who was speaking to her. When she laid her brown eyes on the handsome, baby faced guy sitting next to her, her heart did flip flops.
"Um, have we met before?" she asked as she studied him more closely.
"No, but we do have something in common. We're both Power Rangers," he said with a grin.
"Power Rangers? Really?" she asked, looking surprised.
"Yes, really. I'm Jason Lee Scott. I'm the original red ranger and original leader of Mighty Morphin'," he said as he stuck his hand out for her to shake, for which she did without hesitation.
"Cassie Chan. I'm the pink Space Ranger. I used to be the pink Turbo ranger. I took over for Katherine Hillard," she replied as she shook his hand and felt his warm hand covering hers with so much tenderness.
"Yes, I remember Kat. Sweet girl. I came back home after my stint at the peace conference to temporary take on the gold ranger's powers. However, as I would soon find out, the powers weren't meant for humans and I almost died, so Trey, the prince of Triforia, had to come back and reclaim them. In the end, I still had my life, though I missed being a power ranger...again," Jason explained.
"Wow, I didn't know you went through so much," Cassie replied, still looking surprised.
"Yeah, but the one thing I missed about being a power ranger the most is being able to save the world from evil. You should never take something like that for granted because it could be gone before you could even blink," he told her.
"I get what you mean. When I got chosen, along with my friends TJ, Ashley and Carlos, we had no idea what we got ourselves into at first, however, over time, we really got the hang of it and we loved being able to save the world," she replied with a smile on her face.
"I felt the same way when I got chosen, along with my friends. Now, what does a pretty girl like you doing here crying? Did something happen?" he asked as he scooted a little bit closer to her.
Cassie completely forgotten about why she was crying at first, but then it quickly hit her: Kendrix sacrificing herself to save her friends. That painful feeling in her heart returned with vengeance.
"I lost a friend while I was on another planet. I almost died and suffered an arm injury, so she sacrificed herself in order to save me. I tried to get her out, but she was determined to destroy that sword that was stuck in the middle. I've never been so guilty in my life," she broke down.
Jason reached over and rubbed her back affectionately with his hand. "I'm so sorry to hear that. So, I'd take it she was a power ranger herself?"
She nodded her head slowly. "Yes. Her name was Kendrix Morgan. She was a good friend and a good teammate. I came home because life up in Terra Venture proved to be too much for me to bear. I'm still carrying the weight of guilt on my shoulders and I hate that. She didn't have to do what she did in order to save me."
"That's one of the lessons you had to learn about being a power ranger: sometimes, if a situation is that dire, you have to make sacrifices in order to persevere. I should know because I went through a similar situation almost five years ago," he said, his voice dripping with emotion.
She looked at him, her eyes bugged out in shock. "You did? With whom?"
Jason sighed deeply. "You've met him, Cassie. Does the name Tommy Oliver ring a bell?"
"Of course. Me and TJ saved him from Divatox's trap. That's how we became the power rangers ourselves when Tommy, Kat, Tanya and Adam passed the torch on to us, with the help of Zordon, Alpha 5, Dimitria and Alpha 6," she replied, remembering that huge celebration.
"Yeah, well, he's my 'bro' and we've been through a lot together. He was dubbed 'the new kid' when he moved to Angel Grove and I ended up competing against him in the Martial Arts Expo. It ended up being a draw because we were both so evenly matched, which suited the evil empress Rita Repulsa well because Tommy was chosen to be the evil green ranger. So, she put a spell on him and, for a while, it looked as though we were about to lose, however, I destroyed the sword of darkness he held, which not only broke the spell, but I also convinced him to join the team. He was hesitant at first; given that he never forgave himself for what he put us through, however, I reminded him that what he did, he was under Rita's influence. Eventually, he joined us and we emerged much stronger...until Rita cooked up a plan to strip Tommy of his powers," Jason explained, closing his eyes tightly and remembering the hell his best buddy had to endure when the whole green candle debacle descended on him.
"What happened?" Cassie asked as she reached over and took his hand into hers.
"Well, as I mentioned before, Rita made a candle that would strip Tommy of his powers. He was captured by Goldar and was taken to the dark dimension, the same dimension I was sent to while Tommy was under her spell. He saw the candle for himself and knew that once it was completely burned out, his powers would be gone. So, I made the decision to go to the dark dimension to retrieve it, but Rita sent down a monster to distract us. While I was in the dimension fighting Goldar and trying to get the candle, Tommy almost died fighting that monster Cyclops by himself. Zack, who was the black ranger, ended up in the dark dimension and informed me of what was going on. It was then I had to make a tough decision: either I stay and get the candle or I go and save Tommy," he said softly.
"You chose to save Tommy?" Cassie asked, realizing the obvious.
He nodded his head. "I did. And, believe me, it was no cakewalk. I had planned of going right back to the dark dimension and get the candle, but, by then, it was too late. I mentally kicked myself for not fighting hard enough to get it and I carried the guilt on my shoulders ever since. However, the silver lining of the whole thing was that we made sure Tommy's power coin never went back to Rita. So I ended up in possession of the coin for awhile until he came back. Though his powers were weakening, he continued to fight with us...until a new villain unlike any other we faced came onto the scene and really gave us a run for our money."
"What's his name?" she asked, squeezing his hand softly.
"Lord Zedd. Man, he was vicious to a T. Rita served under him, but since she repeatedly failed to destroy the power rangers, he ended up putting her back into the dumpster and sent her into exile. The monsters he created were far more superior than Rita's, so we had a tougher time defeating them. Tommy's power were getting more and more weaker as the battle raged on."
"So what caused him to lose his powers for good?" Cassie asked, wiping her face with her hands.
Jason allowed a single tear to stream down his face. "Well, it's like this: we had faced some pretty vicious monsters in our time, but this one monster Zedd created proved to be one tough cookie. On top of that, we had to deal with a new batch of bullies at school, who were chosen by Zedd to be his new evil rangers, so he had a crystal, which contained our powers, to make it happen. And it almost worked, if it hadn't been for Tommy being resilient and destroying the crystal. He proved that the greatest power he would ever possess is the power of believing in yourself. And that's how he was chosen to be the white ranger."
"So, he lost the green ranger's powers and ultimately gained the white ranger's powers?" she asked softly.
"Yeah. Zordon and Alpha 5 created the white ranger from the light of good, so evil will never be penetrated. So when Tommy became the white ranger, he also took the reigns as the leader. It was actually a good time for me to step back because I was heading towards the peace conference. However, after Tommy lost his powers, I was pretty much at the end of my rope. I was so guilt ridden about not retrieving the candle that Lord Zedd tried to capitalize on my self-loathing," he said, scooting much closer to her.
"What did he do?" she asked, laying her head on his shoulder.
"He tried the same tactic Rita did; by creating four candles containing my friends' powers. He captured them and intended on draining them of their powers, the same way Rita did to Tommy. I was pretty much at my breaking point when I saw them suffering on the viewing globe, but Zordon and Alpha reminded me that I did the right thing leaving the candle behind and that sometimes, a leader has to make tough decisions in order to persevere. It was then that I was more than willing to sacrifice myself in order to save my friends, for which I did. Furthermore, we saw Tommy write a letter to us from his uncle's cabin and told me that he never blamed me for what I did and I shouldn't blame myself for something that was out of my control. And, because of that, I forgave myself. That was the biggest lesson I learned after I won the Golden Pipe tournament, to forgive and believe in myself again," he said with much conviction in his voice.
Cassie knew Jason was right. What happened to Kendrix was not her fault and if the situation was reversed, she would've done the exact same thing in order to save her friends. Having the original leader of the power rangers tell his story about his own ordeal gave her comfort in knowing that she's not the only person going through this. And the fact that he was so caring and considering towards her didn't hurt one bit.
"You're right, Jason. I shouldn't have to carry the weight of guilt on my shoulders forever. Kendrix saved my life and she made a tough, but heroic sacrifice in order to save us. I'm forever grateful to her for what she did," she said, still wiping her face with her hands.
"You're a great girl, Cassie, and even a great power ranger. It's obvious that Kat made the right choice in you taking on the responsibility of saving the world," he complimented her with a smile on his handsome face.
She looked at him with a smile of her own. "And you're a great guy. It's obvious that Zordon chose you to be the leader in the first place. You really know what to say and what to do in a situation like this."
They kept staring at each other for a moment. Though they just met, the chemistry brewing between them couldn't be tamed. It wasn't long before their faces started inching closer towards each other, their hearts beating madly against their chests. It was like you could hear their breathing.
Then, their lips finally met. It wasn't an earth-shattering kiss, but it was sweet and delicate, with a touch of tenderness. Jason caressed the outline of Cassie's cheek with his finger as he continued kissing her nice and slow. It was a truly out of body experience, to say the least.
For her, to be kissing the original red ranger was surprising, but also a dream come true. He was handsome, caring and was more than willing to swap war stories with her and that alone gave her hope to find her true love. She went from mourning the loss of her friend to finding unexpected comfort in the arms of a veteran ranger. Talk about going from 0 to 100 in just a few seconds.
They could've kept on kissing forever, if it weren't for Jason's dog interrupting their romantic moment by jumping up on the bench and starting licking their faces. Jason and Cassie pulled apart immediately and laughed softly as they wiped the drool off their faces. Rex ended up laying on his owner's lap and stuck his tongue out; indicating that he wanted attention.
"You okay, Rex?" Jason asked, nuzzling his face against the soft plains of his dog's hair.
"I think he needs to go to the bathroom, if you know what I mean," Cassie quipped with a grin.
He chuckled softly as he sat Rex down on the ground and got up from the bench. "You may be right. He looks like he needs to go."
"Listen, before you go, I wanna thank you for taking the time to listen to me. I really appreciate our talk. And...I really liked our kiss," she told him, blushing slightly.
"No problem, Cassie. By the way, I really liked our kiss, too. So, is there any chance I can see you again?" he asked, hope dancing in his brown eyes.
She got up from the bench and stood right in front of him. Cupping his face in her hands, she drew him for another kiss; this time, more passionately. When she pulled away from him, she looked deep into his eyes and smiled brightly before finally releasing him from her grip.
"Count on it, Jason. I'll be seeing you around," she replied before turning on her heel and walking away from him, stuffing her hands into her pockets and having the biggest smile on her beautiful face.
He stared right at her as she was leaving, realizing that he couldn't wait to see her again. He took off on the opposite direction, with Rex trailing close behind him as the two rangers go their separate ways.
However, in the not-so-distant future, the power of love will bring them together again.
The End!
Hope you like this one! Rest assured, this won't be the last time I'll be writing Jason/Cassie stories, okay?
Please review!