Author's Note: Thank you to all my readers for being patient with my updates while I let my shoulder rest. I know it was a long wait for the next instalment of the Megaforce Series, but it's finally here and I really hope this story will make up for it. As for my shoulder, it's doing much better. I'll still be slow for updates as my recovery continues, but as long as I don't push myself I can spend some time writing. I've spent the last few weeks working on this little story and it's finally ready to be published. I hope you all enjoy and thanks again for your patience.
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Megaforce. This story is fan-made.
Author's Note: This is not where the Megaforce series starts. If you want to read the series without getting lost, I suggest you read my stories in the order they appear:
No To Date Nights - The Party Night - Project Partners - Megaforce: Lives Behind The Masks - Prom Night - A Trip To Remember - First Meetings - Something She Loves – Protective Morans – Samurai In Harwood County – Rainy Days – Luck Had Nothing To Do With It – Ranger Support – Parents and Children – Hero Without The Spandex – Emma's Night – Emma's Mother – Bait And Switch – After Death – A Stormy Day – A Date For Tensou – A Mother's Advice – Mending Fences – Executioner Named Revenge –Those Three Words – On The Fourth Day – Babysitting – Tiger- A Fresh Start – On the Mountains – Looking Ahead – The Rangers' Recovery – Daughter's Nightmare – Megaforce: With Great Power –Cookies – The Babysitters: Jake and Gia
Rebecca loved her new family. She loved what she had with the Burrows and every day she was grateful that they had taken her in as one of their own. It was odd explaining her living situation to the other kids at school. Not many people could understand it.
Mr. Burrows was a kind man. He worked hard for his family and always did his best to give his family the best. Rebecca really looked up to him not just for caring for Troy like a son, but for taking her in, and treating her almost just as well as he treated his daughter. It was more than Rebecca could ask for and it made her feel so much better about her life and about herself to know she had someone like Mr. Burrows who would always be there for her.
Mrs. Burrows was the same way. She had every right to refuse to help Rebecca and no one would blame her. Rebecca was her ex-husband's daughter, but worse than that, Rebecca was the child conceived while her ex-husband had cheated on her. Yet, Mrs. Burrows never held that against Rebecca. She had opened her home and her arms to a troubled Rebecca and hadn't closed either since. In a time where Rebecca really needed a mother to care for her, Mrs. Burrows stepped up. Rebecca was already saving up her money for an amazing mother's day present.
But as much as Rebecca loved her new parents, they couldn't replace the old ones. Rebecca missed her mother dearly, and though her father hadn't always been the most kind, thoughtful, or helpful parent, she missed him too.
It had been too long since she had gone to visit him. It had been even longer since he had reached out to her. School had started up again, which kept her busy, but after classes were over she parted ways with Troy and the other Rangers to go visit her father.
Her father had moved in with Jake's mother in her house. The two had started dating almost immediately after Jake's mother's marriage fell apart. It had been quite sudden, and they had moved very quickly. Aside from what Jake had told her about his mother, Rebecca knew very little about Mrs. Holling – now Daniels. And Mrs. Daniels made no effort in getting to know her. The few times Rebecca had tried to talk to her, Mrs. Daniels chewed her out for abandoning her father.
Needless to say, they didn't get along.
So when Rebecca saw her step-mother's car wasn't in the driveway she felt a little relieved. This would just be a visit with her dad, without Mrs. Daniels making her feel badly for looking after herself.
She knocked on the door but found to her surprise that it was opened already. She walked inside the house and called for her father, announcing she had stopped by for a visit. She got no answer, which was odd considering she had seen his car in the driveway and knew he took it anytime he went out. He was not one to walk.
"Dad?" she called again and then heard his phone vibrating on the counter in the kitchen. She walked over and had a look. The call was from his therapist's office.
Rebecca never considered her father to be a bad man, but when she had been pregnant she and her father had gotten into a fight. Rebecca never wanted to keep her child but for months her father insisted it was her responsibility to raise him. When Rebecca, with support from the Burrows, stood up to her father and insisted she was going to do what was best for herself and her son, her father slapped her on the cheek. Some good advice from Gia made Rebecca move away from her father while he underwent therapy sessions to control his anger so that incident would never happen again. As Rebecca looked at the ringing phone she realized that it had been a long time since her father had updated her on his sessions.
The phone stopped and a voicemail was left. Rebecca didn't want to invade her father's privacy but felt she had a right to know how his sessions were going. To her surprise, there wasn't just one missed call, but several. Her father had missed all of his recent appointments.
"You had one job," Rebecca muttered and couldn't stop a wave of disappointment from washing over her. She set the phone down and walked to the living room. She hoped she would find him there.
She was right. There on the couch, passed out in a stained t-shirt, old boxers, and amidst beer bottles on the coffee table, the floor, and in his hand was her father. The TV was still on, so Rebecca assumed he had fallen asleep at some point during the day.
That meant he hadn't been to work. Rebecca walked up to her father and gently tried to wake him.
"Dad? Dad, wake up."
He groaned and slowly started to come too. He dropped the bottle in his hands and tried to roll over to fall back to sleep but Rebecca gently shook him.
"Dad, it's me."
"Five more minutes."
"Dad, I came to visit. It's been a while," Rebecca said. Her father slowly started to rise. He sat up on the couch, rubbed his eyes and then scratched his stomach as he turned to her. Rebecca noticed he didn't seem thrilled to see her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked and reached for a beer bottle on the coffee table. He tried to take a sip but it was already empty. He reached for another.
"I just wanted to visit," Rebecca said.
"Now's not a good time," her father answered as he tried more bottles to see if there was anything left. When he saw all of them were empty he picked himself up and walked to the kitchen. Rebecca followed him and saw him pull out a cold one from the fridge. Then he took out another and offered it to her. Rebecca shook her head.
"I'm sixteen."
"More for me," he said and opened the second one as well. Rebecca frowned.
"Have you been here all day?"
"I live here. How long have you been here?"
"I meant work, dad. Have you been to work?"
"I don't work."
"You work at the factory…"
"Nope," her father shook his head. "Not anymore."
"You quit?"
"Sure. After they fired me."
"You were fired?"
Her father looked at her like he didn't want to talk about it anymore, "What do you care?" he said. "You're not here anyways."
"You know why, dad," Rebecca said and pointed to her cheek. "Remember? Neither of us wanted that to happen again."
"How can it happen when you're never around?"
"Life got a little busy."
"With your new family?"
"You mean the family you left?" Rebecca knew that was a low blow, but her father wasn't being kind either. He glared harshly and then took another sip of his beer. Rebecca saw he was already done the first bottle and moving on to the one he had offered her.
"Jen was a bitch."
"I get sometimes marriage doesn't work out, but do you really have to talk about her like that?"
"You know she's not your mother, right?" her father said. "You know you can't just forget about us and pretend you're living a perfect little life over in that house."
"I haven't forgotten about you, dad. Or mom. I still miss her like crazy! I'm not trying to replace anyone, dad."
"So why are you living with that asshole. What's his name?"
"Your son?"
"No, the guy pretending to be his real father."
"Troy's dad? Mr. Burrows?"
"How's he treating you? Probably real nice, huh?"
"He's stepping up. He's a good guy, but he's not my dad. You are, even if you're not acting like it. Dad, what's going on? How much have you had to drink?"
"Gotta stay hydrated."
"I don't think beer counts."
"What's it to you?"
"Have you at least been going to therapy?" Rebecca knew the answer, but she wanted to see what her father would say before she confronted him on it. She knew this wasn't looking good for either of them but he was her dad. She wanted to give him as many chances as possible.
"Whatever."
"Does the therapist know you were fired?"
"It's none of her damn business."
"Does she know how much you've been drinking?"
"What does it matter? I'm a big boy, aren't I?"
"You should talk to her about these things, dad. She can help. It's her job."
"She's getting the check whether I show up or not. What does she really care?"
"So you're not showing up?"
"It's for chumps."
"Dad, it could help. You promised you'd try."
"I tried. It doesn't work."
"Dad, I can't come home with you like this. You need to get cleaned up. At least put on some pants."
"My house. I can wear what I want. Besides, it's not like there's nothing here you haven't seen before."
"That doesn't mean I want to see it again. Especially yours," Rebecca said. Her father rolled his eyes, downed his second beer and then reached into the fridge to grab another.
"How is my grandson doing, by the way?" he asked.
"I adopted him out, remember? He's with a good family. I'm sure they're taking great care of him. Dad, you shouldn't be worrying about that. You should be trying to take care of yourself."
Rebecca saw him place his beer down on the counter as he glared at her again. She reached out to try and take it from him. He slapped her hand away.
"You said you didn't want one."
"Yeah, but I think you've had enough."
"I'm fine. Look, if you're just going to criticise me about everything then you can leave."
"I came for a visit dad. And seeing you like this, I want to help."
"You want to visit? You want to help? Where were you on my wedding day?"
"Where were you for my play?"
"You mean your little high school musical piece of shit?"
"It wasn't a musical, dad."
"You wanted me to go to a play that made me look like a bad guy. You wanted me in that audience, pretending to be proud of my daughter who's making me look like a bad parent."
"It was mostly Gia's life. I kept you out of it as much as possible. Still, dad, you could have been there. We had a couple of rough years. The play was about getting help and doing better for yourself. And I worked hard on it. I really wanted you to be there."
"I had better things to do."
"Work? A session?"
"Poker with my buds," her father finished his beer again. He turned to the fridge to grab his fourth. Rebecca raced over and stood in his way.
"Dad, seriously, at least slow down. You're going to make yourself sick."
"Get out of the way, Rebecca."
"I know I walked out on you, but that doesn't mean I don't want you as my dad. I'm happy with the Burrows, but I'd be even happier if you were a part of my life again. I don't like not seeing you."
"I don't like you getting between me and my beer. Move."
"Dad, can we at least talk about it? I drank too when I thought my life was falling apart. Why don't we go to the living room? We can talk about your therapy or how it felt when you lost your job, or even how to fix us."
"Fine, let me get a beer."
"Without the beer, dad. You've had enough. You're drunk."
"Rebecca, I'm going to tell you one last time to move, and then I'm not responsible for whatever happens if you don't."
"Dad…"
"Move."
Rebecca sighed and stepped away from the fridge. Her father opened it and grabbed another beer. Before it could get it to his mouth, Rebecca slapped it out of his hand. The beer hit the floor and the bottle shattered, spilling it everywhere.
Then, before Rebecca knew it had happened, her father grabbed her, slammed her into the wall and she felt his fists and feet beating into her. It was short lived, but when it was all over her father pulled her away from the wall and pushed her on the floor. Rebecca put her hands out in front of her to break her fall but landed on the broken glass from the beer bottle. She let out a little cry of pain and rolled over. She hoped there was a look of horror on her father's face. She hoped he hadn't meant it, and he had just lost control and there was still something she could do to help him.
Instead, she saw him reach into the fridge and take several beers into the living room with him. Rebecca heard the volume on the TV go up. She grabbed a dish towel, wrapped it around her bleeding hand walked to the living room. Her father was flipping through the channels as he tried to find something to watch. Rebecca kept her distance this time but she didn't want to give up on her father. She had changed. She couldn't see why he couldn't do the same.
"Dad…"
"Do whatever you want, Rebecca," her father said without turning away from the TV. "If you want to stay, whatever. If you leave, don't ever bother coming back."
"You don't mean that."
"I'm your father," he said and looked at her. His grip on the remote tightened, like he was ready to throw it. Rebecca hoped he wouldn't. He stood up and walked over to her. He leaned over her. "I'm your family. I took care of you. I raised you, fed you, put clothes on you. If you want to forget about all that and go live with the Burrows or whatever they call themselves now then I want nothing to do with you."
"What if I promise to visit more?"
"Visit?"
"You're my dad. I want to see you. I want you to be a part of my life."
"Then start treating me like it!" her father launched the remote across the room. Rebecca heard it shatter against the wall behind her and winced. Her tears rolled down her cheeks.
Her father slapped her, "You have nothing to cry about. You did this! You screwed us up. You were the one who decided she was too cool to stay at home. You're the one who ran away! Don't think, for a minute, I'm going to pity you!"
"I didn't run away, dad! I want to fix us. We used to be so happy when mom was alive. You've changed."
"You know when I was happy? I was happy before you were born. I used to have it all! I had the family, the job, and a little fun on the side with your mother. You know what ruined it? You know what ruined me?"
"Dad…"
"You," her father jabbed her in the chest with his finger. "You ruined me. I never should have followed your mother! I never should have had kids! You ruined my life."
"It's the drink talking, dad. You… You don't…"
"I mean every bloody word of it," her father hissed. "I wish you had never been born. Make it happen. Get out of my life."
"I…"
"Get out!" he grabbed her arm and pushed her to the door. He shoved her outside and then slammed the door behind her. Rebecca turned around. She tried to open the door but her father locked it. She knocked. She beat on the door, but he never answered. When she walked around to the window she saw him on the couch with a new beer in his hand and watching TV.
"Rebecca?" she heard Mr. Burrows call behind her. She turned around. He stepped out of his car, which he parked on the side of the street and then he ran to her. He pulled her away from the window. "What happened to you?"
"I… I…" she could barely get her words out through the tears but pointed to the window. Mr. Burrows looked inside and he saw Mr. Daniels on the couch, barely dressed, with a beer in his hands. Mr. Burrows had heard Rebecca's cries from inside his car on the street. Surely Mr. Daniels could hear them. It seemed he was choosing not to.
"Let's get you cleaned up," he said and tried to walk Rebecca away. She shook her head and turned back to the window.
"My… my dad…"
"Did he do this to you?"
Rebecca shook her head. She didn't want her father to get in any trouble. She wasn't sure she could come up with a lie that would explain her cuts and the bruises she would have, but she didn't want to tattle on her father.
Mr. Burrows knew the truth. His wife had been at home all day with Ryan and sick with a cold, and with Rebecca and Troy both at school there would be no one to cook dinner. Mr. Burrows decided to pick something up on his way home and called Troy to see if there was any preference. He wanted to ask Rebecca as well but Troy informed him of where Rebecca had gone after school. Mr. Burrows had a bad feeling as soon as Troy said she was going to her father's and drove by hoping he would prove himself wrong.
He hadn't, but he was glad he had taken the long way home. When he heard Rebecca crying from down the street and then saw her trying to break into what should have been her home he knew there was trouble.
When she shook her head at his question he gently grabbed her arms and looked her right in her eyes.
"Rebecca, did your father do this to you?"
"I made him angry."
"Did your father do this to you?" he asked again. This time Rebecca didn't answer. She looked down at her feet. Mr. Burrows knew she was scared.
"You won't get in trouble," he assured her. "I just want to know. We'll need something to say when we talk to the doctor."
"I don't want to go to the doctor. I don't want to get him in trouble," Rebecca said but as it came out she knew she said too much. She looked up at Mr. Burrows and hoped he hadn't heard her.
"You tell me what he did and we won't go to the doctor," Mr. Burrows decided to compromise with her. He had looked after Troy after many martial arts, kung fu, and karate lessons, he was sure he could take care of Rebecca's injuries. "Go to the car, I'll give you a minute to think about what you want to do."
"What are you going to do?"
"I just want to talk to him."
"No! I'll go to the doctor. Don't…"
"I won't hurt him. I won't even call the police," Mr. Burrows took his phone out of his pocket and gave it to Rebecca, "Here. Wait for me in the car."
Rebecca took the phone and hesitantly walked to the car. When she was safely inside Mr. Burrows turned to the house and rang the bell until Mr. Daniels gave in and answered it. The door eventually swung open and Mr. Burrows was almost met with a fist to the face. He caught the fist and bent Mr. Daniels' wrist backwards until he was crying out in pain. Mr. Burrows shoved him back inside the house and walked in with him. He closed the door.
Mr. Daniels' looked up, "Get out of my house."
"Stay away from my daughter."
"Your daughter?"
"She's mine, now. I'll take her just like I took Troy. I'll make sure she's happier with me than she ever was with you."
"Take Troy. I lost him a long time ago," Mr. Daniels growled, "But you have no right to take my daughter…"
"I'm taking her. I'll take all your kids, no matter how many you have. They deserve better."
"You can't do that. I won't let you."
"Try and take her from me! Get off your lazy, sorry ass and do something to get her back. I'll even set up the court date."
"Get out of my house."
"Gladly," Mr. Burrows stormed out and slammed the door behind him as he left. By the time he got to his car he had regained his composure. He lowered himself into the driver's seat and then turned to Rebecca. He could see she was upset. He put his hand on her shoulder.
"Let's go home."