AN: This may come as a surprise to some of you, as I've mostly written Avatar: The Last Airbender works up until now, but Power Rangers RPM is another series that is near and dear to my heart and I have a lot of love for Dillon and Summer. So I wrote a thing—an embarrassingly long time ago—but here's what I hope will be the first in a series of one-shots dedicated to one of my favorite pairings and their time together. I can't promise they will be in chronological order, or any good, but I hope you'll enjoy!

Bit by Bit – A Series of Summer/Dillon Vignettes

Chapter 01 - Ranger Yellow

The sun was just starting to set in the artificial sky in the domed city of Corinth. Summer Landsdown wandered aimlessly through the park until she came to the small playground that inhabited its center. She watched as the last vestiges of children and parents wrapped up their play and headed home for the evening. In her brief time in Corinth she often liked to walk to this small little oasis in the midst of the last city of humans and watch the families that came and went. Seeing what normal families looked like often brought her a sense of peace and purpose, but also a tinge of envy.

Summer had never gone on trips to the park with her parents-that had been Andrews' job. For her parents being home at all was rare and even if they were, they were Landsdowns. Playing in the park with their daughter simply wasn't done.

With a weary sigh Summer went and sat on one of the vacant swings when the last family left the playground. Digging her feet into the dirt she began rocking back and forth slowly. She couldn't recall many memories in her childhood where her parents were there just to spend time with her. Despite her best efforts to become everything she believed a Landsdown to be, it hadn't meant anything when Venjix attacked. No amount of status or money, or even her own parents were there to save her.

"I wondered if I'd find you here." A deep familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.

Looking up Summer was surprised to see Dillon standing there next to the swing set, his expression unreadable and she shrugged. "I like to come here to think."

"I thought brooding was my thing." He said with a smirk as he leaned against the pole.

Summer couldn't keep from smiling at that. "Yeah well, you may have the market cornered, but it takes one to know one."

"I heard your 'talk' with your parents." His tone turned dark.

That wiped the smile off her face. "Were you spying on me?"

"Of course not, but it's hard not to overhear things when you talk to them in the middle of the Garage."

Summer hung her head. She had thought the guys had gone out for food but apparently she was wrong. This situation was hard enough without getting them involved. She felt backed into a corner.

"You aren't seriously going through with this are you?" He asked incredulously.

"Dillon, they're my parents, and if I want that diamond I have to. I can't risk the safety of the city over this." She answered flatly.

"That's a load of crap. We can find another way."

"What other way Dillon? I promised them."

"I don't know, but you shouldn't have to marry someone you don't even like." He replied with a softness she was unaccustomed to hearing from her newest teammate and Summer looked up to see him conveniently looking away from her into the distance.

Trying to understand Dillon was exhausting. Ever since joining their team he had done a pretty good job of avoiding her most of the time, but when her parents turned up at the end of their one year agreement and demanded she honor her promise to get married he had exploded on them. The confrontation had honestly shocked her. Scott coming to her defense she could see, but Dillon? Dillon did his best to keep her at arm's length despite all her efforts otherwise and it was puzzling to her why any of this mattered to him enough to get him so upset.

"Why do you care?" She asked quietly.

He shrugged still managing to avoid her gaze. "I just don't like people getting blackmailed, even by their own parents."

"Oh." Summer's heart sank a bit. She didn't know why she would have expected different.

The artificial sun dipped lower in the sky as silence descended between them. Summer continued to swing gently back and forth, watching her feet making twin trails in the dirt.

"You know, it was my birthday when Venjix attacked." Her voice broke the silence. "I had been working with Andrews for days so that everything was just perfect. My parents had promised they would be there, but instead they sent me the Landsdown Diamond with a card…" Summer began slowly pouring out everything that had happened to her that day and her journey to Corinth with Andrews. She could never bring her gaze to look at Dillon but she could sense his presence there beside her, listening patiently to her story.

She wasn't as ashamed of her past now as she had been in the beginning. In just one short year she had come so far from that spoiled, pampered princess and she was proud of the person she was becoming, but sometimes it hurt to remember. At the time she had been so sure of her world and everything in it, but when she finally arrived in Corinth to find her parents hadn't even tried coming to her rescue she decided she wanted nothing more to do with being a Landsdown-if that was what being a Landsdown was.

Rushing out to save Scott had been reckless, but she figured if no one else was going to go after him, then she would. Andrews had come back for her and in the end lost his life for her, someone needed to go back for Scott too. There was no way she was going to let one more innocent person die while she had the power to do something about it.

"When I got back, my parents were so shocked and horrified that I had gone out there to rescue someone. They tried to get me to go back with them, but I refused. I was going to find a different path in life. I gave them back the diamond and told them I wanted one year to live on my own, to prove to them and to myself that I could do it. They weren't happy about it, but they figured it was another game for me to play-that I would come to my senses eventually."

"And if you didn't, they were going to find a way to drag you back kicking and screaming?" He asked voice low and quiet.

"Seems so, I don't like this either Dillon, but it is my choice and my parents need me."

"They abandoned you—how could you possibly want to come to their aid?" His anger was barely contained.

"Because Andrews believed in me, and I want to believe that maybe, in time, I can change them too." She answered honestly, looking up at the artificial sky as the first stars began to appear.

Dillon was quiet and Summer guessed that he must be contemplating her response. Slowing to a stop, she decided it was time to head back before the rest of her team came looking for her. Summer got up from the swing but Dillon remained motionless, she could feel his brown eyes watching her as she moved.

"Thank you, for listening to me." She smiled genuinely at him. "It's nice to have my friends fighting for me, but I'll be fine." Summer didn't wait for her taller companion to respond and she turned to leave.

"Summer." Dillon's voice caused her to pause and look back. "We'll find a way to get you out of this. No one should have to marry someone they don't love—especially you."

The expression on Dillon's face was as sincere as she had ever seen it and it made Summer's heart flutter. As much as he wanted to pretend he didn't care, moments like this proved otherwise and it made all the struggling with him worth it. Smiling once more she nodded at him and a crooked smile crossed his face. The situation wasn't any different than what it had been hours before, but now Summer allowed herself to hope. Maybe she really wouldn't marry Chaz Winchester after all.

AN: *ahem* Okay, according to the last time stamp on this thing, I wrote it back in August. This is not beta'd and it's completely pointless but it was haunting me and I decided to put it out there in the hopes that it would encourage me to go back and explore this pairing a bit more. Hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading!