Author's Note: I do not own Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue or its characters.
A Start
It ended up being easier than Carter had thought to start dating Dana. Especially since they found themselves not only being assigned to the same station after their retirement as Power Rangers, but to the same shift. It had seemed only natural for him to bring her a cup of hot chocolate during a lull and see how she was settling in. Carter knew that Dana had been a paramedic for several years, but she had never been assigned to one of the fire stations he was at before, and he wanted to know what she thought of his stationhouse.
Somehow, hot chocolate and conversation had turned into an invitation to dinner, and Dana had said yes. And so they had gone out to dinner and had a great time. Dana had commented that they should do it again sometime. Somehow, dinner together became a weekly event where it was out or at one of their homes. Other habits began forming as well. Hot chocolate with whipped cream and silly stories when they both had the late shift at the fire station. Weekend trips to the movies. Shared morning jogs. Carter found that they had been dating almost three months without really realizing it.
In the same way, their first kiss was not really planned in advanced or even really considered. There had been a three alarm fire during one of their shifts at an elementary school. The two of them had gone their separate ways to do their duties, but Carter knew that Dana had heard when he had gotten trapped on an upper floor rescuing a pair of first graders. He had managed to get the children out without too much damage to himself, but his captain had sent him over to the paramedics once he was out.
Dana had spent perhaps five seconds making sure that he was all right. Then she had kissed him. Carter quite honestly didn't know how long that had lasted. He had sort of lost track of time during that kiss. Then Dana had stopped kissing him and started checking him for injuries again. Carter wouldn't have been sure it had actually happened, except that Dana now had a smudge of soot across her face that hadn't been there before. It wasn't a big thing, but it was a start.