Rise of the Owl

Chapter 1: Home again

Fran and Dominic were walking down the road with all of their backpacking gear. For the past six months they have been backpacking Europe and some parts of Asia. During that time they have grown incredibly close, yet neither was happy with the status of their relationship. They were still in the friend zone and neither liked that; however both had reasons for not making an advancing move on the other.

Dom loved Fran with every fiber of his being; he always had. When Di Shi was destroyed and he was planning his backpacking tour, he purposely bought a ticket for Fran. She made him feel complete. For years he had been living as a nomad, traveling from one place to another, without any companionship besides a book or two to keep him company. He seemed to be looking for something, something that would fill the little empty feeling in his heart. When he went to visit RJ, his world changed; he met Fran. She filled the void he so desperately wants to fill. When the rangers didn't first want him to be around and he almost left town, Fran stopped him. She gave him some kind, heart-felt words that lifted his spirits.

Though he fell for her the first moment they met. In the pizza pallor, when he first saw her, he wondered how she was connected to the restaurant owner and three other employees. He asked if she was also from the Pai Zuaq academy; she said no. When they were talking about books and adventures, he fell in love with her views on life, her kindness, her nerdiness, everything about her. He knew that when he left Ocean Bluff that he would ask her to come with him. He was doing imaginary somersaults when she said yes.

They were a great pair. Dom was experienced in traveling and Fran was a very quick study. She learned how to look for certain things with merchants and other people they met on their travels. She was cautious when needed, something that Dom knew he needed to counteract his impulsive and unpredictable personality.

He loved how they would sometimes cuddle close around a fire or talked about times before they met, and even their past adventures during the fight against Dai Shi, when he was a power ranger. He wanted them to become a real couple, but he was afraid she would feel like they were rushing into something that she wasn't ready for. He wanted Fran to make the first move, so he would know that she was ready for a relationship.

Fran on the other hand was saddened by more than just her lack of a true relationship with Dom. During and after the fight against Dai Shi she felt inadequate. All she did during the fight was get attacked by Dai Shi's forces, ran the pizza pallor at all the shifts alone, especially the lunch and dinner rushes, and be a good friend to the rangers when needed. And with all of that, Fran didn't feel like she really helped. Not to mention she was barely agnoliged for all of her hard work, but she wasn't the type to complain unless pushed beyond her limit, which Casey and the others did when RJ went to save innocent fish from being caught for sport and she had forgiven them when they apologized.

Fran didn't say anything to Dom about it because she didn't want it to look like she was petty or something just as horrible. Though with her feelings of inadequacy and sadness of what wasn't happening between her and Dom, she wasn't upbeat lately. For the past six months she has been learning to hide her feelings and emotions from Dom, so he wouldn't worry about or get upset with her because of them. Dom had an uncanny ability to read her like one of the many books that they both read.

She was able to hide her true feelings most of the time, but she was slipping lately. A few weeks ago Dom noticed she was looking a little sad. When he asked her what was wrong, she quickly covered her sad look up with a smile and saying that she was just a little home sick. Dom had hugged her, said he understood and he missed their friends too, and they stayed like that for a little while.

Now she was blindfolded while they walked down the road; Dom was leading her. The reason for her being blindfolded was that Dom said he had a surprise for her, so for the last few days she has been blindfolded when they were traveling. She wasn't worried because she knew he wouldn't let anything happen to her. Dom was reveling in her trusting him; he loved that she would so willingly trust him with her well-being; he loved everything about Fran.

He planned this surprise for her when she said she was home sick. He understood that six months away from her home when she had never ventured away from it before was probably making her feel slightly over whelmed. That's why they were headed to the one place he knew would make her happy. He couldn't wait to see her reaction to his little surprise, and apparently Fran couldn't wait any longer.

"Dom, are we there yet?" Fran whined half playfully, half serious.

"Not yet, Fran. We're almost there; just a few more steps." Dom replied, a smile on his face enjoying her slightly whiny tone.

After a few more steps, Dom spoke again, "Alright we're right in front of the building now. We're stepping in the building. Take a moment and tell me what you smell and hear."

He was still smiling and Fran could hear it. She raised an eyebrow in suspicion under the blindfold, but she was willing to play his game. She took a deep breath, sniffing the air around her and concentrated on any sounds that presented themselves.

"I hear you smiling like the Cheshire Cat." She said, with a smirk of her own. "I hear clothing being rubbed together. There are more people around us; practically surrounding us. I smell very familiar scents."

"Like what, Fran?" Dom asked, excitedly. He knew what was soon coming.

"Pizza! Burnt cheese, organic cleaners, and bananas." She paused. "Wait, bananas and pizza? Dom, is there a Thrilla Gorilla Pizza nearby?"

"Take off the blindfold, Fran. Time for your surprise." Dom gently said, with a smile.

Fran took off the blindfold and was instantly assaulted with a huge chorice of "SURPRISE!" Her eyes widened in surprise and shock when she saw her friends, Dominic, and regular faces of JKP standing before her inside of Jungle Karma Pizza. Fran immediately ran to hug Dom, who had a huge smile on his face.

"Thank you so much, Dom! I love my surprise!" She said with glee.

Fran was sure she was going to cry with joy, over what Dom had done to cheer her up. She knew he did this to help with her feeling home sick, but it also boosted her feelings in another way. He went to all the trouble of planning this and getting the others to set it up a head of time, all of it for her. She was touched that he cared enough to do this. It almost gave her enough confidence to overcome her fears of him rejecting her affections for him, almost but not quite. She just didn't want to risk him altogether; she could settle for just friendship, even if that's not everything she wanted with him.

She stirred herself out of her daydream and started to hug her friends. None of them changed much in the six months she and Dom were gone, but she didn't expect them to either. They all gave her hugs back, but RJ held on to her longer than the others. He and Fran were always close, so this wasn't a surprise to anyone. She really did miss them all; she never knew how much until now.

Dom saw how happy she was, but he also saw that there was more there. Now he sees that she wasn't sad because she was only home sick; she was sad about something else as well. He wouldn't push though; if she was upset he would wait for her to talk to him about it in her own time. He didn't want her to feel pressured into or to do anything she didn't want to voluntary. He just hoped he could help her when she did finally talk to him about what was making her so sad.