Disclaimer: I don't own them. Saban does.
Summary: Tanya reflects on fitting in.
Tanya wondered sometimes if they actually liked her. Not always or even often. Most days she got along with the other rangers fine. They included her in whatever they were doing at the time, taught her how to fight, and were generally great people to be around. Every once in a while, though, Adam would get this look in his eyes and she knew he was seeing Aisha in her spot and resenting her because she wasn't his time-displaced friend.
They all did it to a certain degree. Except maybe Kat. Kat was in the same boat, in a way. Peple, the rangers especially, often reacted to her as if she was some sort of pale knockoff of Kimberly Hart, the girl who had been the Pink Ranger before her. Tommy was especially guilty of it, seeing that he and Kimberly were so close. It was too bad really. Anyone with half a brain could see Kat really cared for him.
And she understood Adam and Rocky, to a degree. They had grown up with Aisha; they were bonded to her in a very major way. What she didn't understand, sometimes, was the way she thought Billy looked at her. There was a sort of intense anger behind it, although he never said anything. She wasn't even sure it was really aimed at her. Rather, it seemed to be aimed at the missing Aisha and she, as a stand-in, took the brunt.
At the same time, he spent the most time training with her or just sitting nearby while she trained. The team saw him as the resident geek rather than a fighter but she, watching him with fresh eyes, would have disagreed with that. Everything from the look in his eye to the way he looked in those tank tops he wore when they sparred told her he was hardened inside. He was all business but he was set to explode.
She wished all of them would just see her when they looked. Tanya Sloan. She hoped that eventually they would. But she felt sure it would be a long time coming.
Author notes
inspired from a chapter of "Five Girls Billy Never Kissed" by Panache.