~Lady starlet: I don't own any of the characters of PR: Time force. Ella is of my own creation and imagination. Please leave reviews afterwards! Thanks. P.S. Check my other stories too, if interested. Rated M for mature scenes and sexual content!

Prologue

Eric Meyers stood in a tiny chapel dressed in his silver guardian captain's uniform and feeling slightly ill at ease as he waited for his bride to arrive. At thirty years of age and working in the elite squad as head captain of his team with a nine triple figure income salary, he was almost beginning to regret making the choices about this whole affair. Eric looked down at his watch and sighed deeply, rolling his shoulders back as he, the pastor and their two witnesses, a young woman he had just met at random and her husband, waited for his young bride-to-be.

The pastor motioned towards his own watch with a finger.. "Is she going to show up, sir? It's already three thirty six." He asked solomomly. "You don't I don't have all day."

Eric grimaced and shook his head. "Just give her a few more minutes, father. I'm sure she will sure up. After all, I'm the one paying you to do this on such short notice." The pastor bowed his head, fluttering his fingers against his robes with pursed lips.

The chapel doors bang open suddenly, causing them to turn their heads around as a young lady, dressed in a long summer cream color dress and black kitten heels, with a white rose boutique in hand and a large suitcase in the other, ran up to the alter, panting as she set her bags down next to the couple at the front pew. She looked up at them all with a slight smile as she tried to get her breathing under control.

"I am so sorry for being late, I never thought he would leave after he and mother got into an loud argument this morning."

Eric handed her a tissue with an encouraging smile. "At least you made it, Ella, that's all that matters." The pastor made the sign of the cross in front of them as Eric took her small hands into his own. Ella, now more composed, trembled slightly as they took their wedding vows before the eyes of God.

She was only twenty to his matured age, but she had known him all her life, growing up in the same apartment complex he shared with his mother as a teenager. Only nine years old and he, seventeen, they had met over in the pool area when she had accidently slipped into the deep end and could not swim that well enough to get back out.

Eric seeing a little girl about to drown while the others looked on, dove in and swam to her in less than a minute, saving her and unknowingly creating close ties of friendship, despite the nine year age gap. After his mother died from ovarian cancer when he was eighteen, leaving him alone without anyone to turn to, she tried in her own girlish way, make it easier for him to bear, by talking for hours by his apartment about their lives or little talk of life as he learned to cope without his mother on his own.

She could recall the long hours and confession of being dirt poor and struggling to fit in with the crowd made him feel bitter and hatful inside. Eric had managed to graduate from high school with a 4.0 GPA and go on an elite university on a scholarship fund that focused on the police academy.

She never saw or heard from him again until a few nights ago when she happened to be in an area that had been invaded by hundreds of mutants. She was fearfully looking for cover when a big monster leaped at her with the intension of killing her, when Eric appeared in a black squad car with several others behind him.

Ella had been totally ready to go into shock when she saw him morph into a red power ranger and took the monster that was pursuing her, out with one hit of his laser gun. The other rangers had showed up in time to take care of the situation as she lay on the ground, trembling from shock as they finished the mutants off. Eric had joined into the fight also and was just about to leave with his fellow silver guardians after the battle was over, when he spotted her and hurried over to see if she was alright.

Eric nearly jumped when she had tearfully asked if it was really him, before surprise took over him and left him speechless. She hugged him and started to cry uncontrollably, hugging his neck tightly as he knelt there beside her, holding her close to him as he caressed her hair.

Ella didn't know what had made her open up her mouth, but the next thing she knew for sure, she was soon telling him everything what had happened him since the last time they has seen each other. Ella tearfully told him how her mother had remarried a man who was a drunk and abuser towards them and how she, on so many tries, run away only to be found by the police and taken home and her stepfather would beat her for it.

Eric had taken her home soon afterwards, fortunately before her stepdad woke up from his drunken sleep, and talked to her about leaving the house. She had told him that she had no money to help her find a place, no friends to take her in and her mother was so blind of what was happening to her, she often took her husband's side in any argument over her daughter.

Then he quietly suggested the unexpected and total shock of advice she would ever hear from him.

Marry him and she would be free from the abuse in her home, protected and well provided for by him. Ella had been so scared of his unexpected proposal, but after two days of endless argument between her parents, and her stepfather trying to gain access to her bedroom at night while she slept, she decided she had no choice in the matter and called him, accepting his marriage proposal.

Now, standing before God, she felt too nervous to speak as the pastor asked her if she would take Eric as her lawful wedded husband and obey him to end of her life. She could only weakly nod her head as she stared deeply into his brown eyes.

"With this ring, may you both be blessed with lasting ties of love and friendship till death do you part." The pastor motioned the young husband standing next to Eric, to hand him the rings for his blessing. The guy polished two gold rings, one a solid thick band and one small thin one with three diamonds embedded in it, against his suit jacket before handing to the pastor with a slight grin.

"Needed a bit of cleaning first before you put them on." He said kindly as he stepped back. The pastor smiled slightly and blessed the rings before giving each one to the groom and bride. Eric said his vows as he slipped her ring onto her left hand.

Ella could barely croaked hers but somehow managed to say the vows of being an obedient wife to him as she did the same with shaky hands with Eric's.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, in name of the father, the Holy Sprite and Holy Ghost, Amen." He made the sign of the cross once more over their joined hands. "You may kiss the bride."

The witnesses clapped as Eric held her face with gentle hands and softly, but firmly, briefly kissed her on the lips before drawing back. Ella bit her bottom lip as they waited for the witnesses to sign the wedding records as Eric shook the pastor's hand and paid him. She signed quickly and took a seat as her now husband, warmly thanked the couple for taking the time to come and witnesses their elopement. Eric turned towards her and picked up her suitcase in one hand and extended the other with his wedding ring towards her.

"Shall we get going now?" He said with a small nod toward the front doors. Ella took his hand and followed him to his work truck outside. Eric silently placed her case in the back seat as she waited by the front passenger side door.

Eric closed the back door, walked over to hers and held it open for her. "Thank you." She said softly as she climbed into the seat with his help. Eric closed the door and walked around the front, getting in and starting the car. "You're very welcome." He replied while pulling out of the parking lot. She ended up fidgeting with her new wedding band as she stared out the window as they passed by her old neighborhood and home.

If she could call it memories as they drove through, she could tell herself that she didn't have any fond ones, except for what she and Eric had when she was a little girl, following a seventeen year old teenager around. He had been her only true friend and comfort whenever she needed someone to hug or talk to without any negative rebuke or being hit for being open-minded.

Eric silently pressed a button on his control panel and rolled up black tinted windows so she wouldn't be seen by anyone that would recognize her. Ella sighed and looked away up at him. "You didn't have to do this at all, Eric."

Eric made a right hand turn and went onto a freeway. "You shouldn't have be living under such circumstances, and because you have no resources to help you on your own, this was the only best bet for you and for your safety." He replied without looking at her.

"What are your friends going to say about your new status?" She asked in a worried tone. He snorted and gave her a dark look, removing his sunglasses from his face and stuffing it in his front jacket pocket.

"I don't have any friends, Ella. Let's keep it at that." He said bitterly as he looked back at the road.

Ella fell silent as they went into the city of Los Angeles. The neighborhood he was currently living in. It was nice and clean at least and she found that she could quickly get to one place to another easily since everything was in walking distance from the apartment complex she was to call home from now on. Eric turned into a five story parking garage and went up to the fourth floor level before parking near the elevator. She unbuckled her seatbelt as he got out and grabbed her suitcase from the backseat.

"We can get more clothes this coming weekend, Ella. I have some old shirts you can use for sleepwear, if you don't have anything to sleep in." He said as she shut her side door and followed him to the elevator.

They waited for it to come down before the doors slowly slid open, they walked in and the door shut behind him. "I live on the third floor." He informed her as he pressed the number three button. Ella nodded her head silently as her heart hammered in her chest as she felt the elevator move down. She involuntarily grabbed his arm for balance as they lurched at the sudden movement. He held onto her arm as they righted back up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just I nearly fell on my face there." She said with a short laugh as they stopped on the third floor. Eric rubbed her arm absently as they walked into a narrow hallway, down to the last door on the right hand side. He put down her case and grabbed his apartment key from underneath the place mate and unlocking the door.

She was going to walk inside, when he stopped her and scooped her up into his strong arms while grabbing her suitcase in one hand at the same time. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he walked in and shut the door behind him with his booted foot. "Welcome home, Ella." He said softly as she looked around a small living room with an adjoined kitchen and a hallway down to her left. Eric put her down on her feet and motioned around the mall living room and kitchen with a hand.

"It's small, but it serves my purposes well enough." Ella found that it was simply kept but well maintained and clean for the most part. There was a small TV set in the living area with large red leather couch, a small wooden coffee table, a Persian Oriental rug underneath the table that contained a few car magazines, and the TV remote. The walls were white and had few pictures of when he was a young child with his parents and relatives, his mother when she was going through her battle with cancer, them together when they first had Ella's birthday at her apartment and of when he was first sworn in as a silver guardian soldier.

His kitchen had wall to wall wooden floors and a full kitchenette sets of pots and pans for cooking along with cooking utensils hanging on a utensil hooks along the stove wall. Eric gestured toward the hallway as she turned this way and that, still looking at her new surroundings.

"Come see the bedroom and bath, I'm quite sure you want to change into something more comfortable and relax after such a long day." He moved into the small hallway and stopped before an open door as she came from behind him and peek around. "

This is the bathroom," he pointed to a set of medium cabinets in the hall. "The linen closet…and fully stashed of course with fresh bedding." They went further to the end of the hallway to a closed door which he opened and stood aside so she could go in.

"And this is the bedroom where I sleep." Ella saw only a king size bed with white bed spread and pillows, a single nightstand with a working bed lamp, single four drawer dresser set, a large mirror closet near the window across the way, and a large leather chair and desk by the window.

Eric placed her suitcase on the bed and rummaged around in the closet before emerging with a white shirt in his hand. He tossed it to her. "Here, you can where this for the time being until I can buy you proper clothes." Ella caught it as he hooked his thumbs in the belt loops of his pants as he looked around.

"It's nice and simple, Eric. Nothing wrong with that." She said to help dispel any thoughts of doubt he may have had in his mind about her views on his place. He shrugged and began pulling off his weapons out of their holsters.

"I can get a bigger place, but this helps me blend in more with my kind of environment. Why don't you go ahead and shower while I get changed and order us some Chinese food for tonight. My fridge is near empty and if I had known that I would be doing something like this, I would have gone grocery shopping…"

Ella opened her suitcase, pulling out her toiletries and other personal items to put in the bathroom as he took off his jacket uniform and hat. "Um, do you want me to do anything after I shower, Eric?"

"Na, just take your bath and relax afterwards on the couch." Ella gathered her things and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Natural instinct told her to lock it but she was now married to him, if he wanted to see her naked in his shower, well, better him then her stepdad. She leaned against the door for a few minutes, trying to get her bearings together before pushing away to start the water.

She stripped of her dress and tossed off her heels with a sigh, as the room began to get steamy from the heat of the shower. His bathroom had a sliding door mirror and she managed to find spots where she could put her things inside next to his stuff. Her shaving cream and shampoo's, she placed on the small window ledge next to his, as she slid the shower door closed behind her.

Hey, and his shower head was removable, what a smart deal.

Meanwhile, Eric had changed into grey sweatpants and was ordering dinner on his cell phone, when his doorbell rang. Eric finished making the transaction and hung up as he hurried over to the door. Looking out the peep hole, he found Wesley, a fellow silver guardian, childhood friend and the red power ranger leader, standing with a six pack of beer in one hand.

"Hey are you going to just let me stand here all night or what?" He called from outside. Eric snorted and opened slightly.

"I'm afraid I can't have any guest right now, Wes."

His friend held up the beer packs for him to see. "Yeah and waste all of this? Are you nuts?"

"Eric, I just moved your things around in the bathroom, I hope you don't mind me, Oh-"Ella came to complete stop halfway into the room with a towel she was drying her hair off with, dressed only in the casual dress shirt he had given her to wear for the night. He turned slightly towards her with a small grimace on his face. Not the way he wanted to introduce her.

But oh well.

"Ella, this is Wesley, one of my co-workers and childhood friend from long time ago. Wes, this is my new wife, Ella."

The red ranger's mouth fell wide open and he nearly dropped the beer on the floor if Eric hadn't caught it in time. "You're wife? Since when did you marry, Eric? "He asked. "And why was I not invited if you were getting married." He added with an injured tone of voice as he looked back at him.

Eric coughed and took the beer inside while still holding the door slightly closed. "It was only just today and a spur of the moment for personal reasons, Wes. Listen, she's really tired and so am I, do you mind coming back in a few days to hang out once she's settled in. I'll tell you all about it all at work tomorrow morning." He said as he began to shut the door on him.

"What? Oh right, well it was nice meeting you Ella." Wesley called over Eric's shoulder as he was about the shut the door.

"You too, Wesley It was nice meeting you." She replied with a bright voice as Eric finally managed to close and lock his door. He shook his head as he walked into the kitchen to put the beer in the fridge. On impulse, he pulled a bottle out and shut it as she sat down in the couch with her legs folded under her.

He uncapped the bottle and came over, sitting down with a tired sigh. "Well, that was some introduction to have for my first day as a married man. I hope you don't mind that just happened out of the blue like that." He said as he took a gulp and leaned back into the couch. "God, what a long day this was." He murmured out loud. Ella looked at the TV screen at her reflection with nervousness. Surly he would not want to fulfill his martialed duty tonight if such was the case.

"I'm not going to touch you intimately, if you don't want me to." Eric said softly with closed eyes. She tried to object to be fair but he held up a hand. "You and I have just met again after ten or more years, I really don't know how you work or what, but I want to give us time to get use to each other before I try to take our marriage to the bedroom."

"I really appreciate that, Eric" She felt a hand gently stroke the side of her neck causing her to shiver slightly at the contact before he pulled away when the doorbell rang suddenly. "Our dinner is here." He said as he got up to answer.

"Do you want anything to drink? Go ahead and look in the fridge if you want." He added as he pulled out a wallet from a side table drawer by the front door to take out some money. Ella moved off the couch into the kitchen where she found some soda, bottled water and the beer case. As he paid the driver for their food at the door and had a small conversation with him, Ella found a couple of plates and forks in the top cupboard. She took them to the small table and set it up for them in less than four seconds. Eric came back with two plastic bags with large Styrofoam containers inside each one.

He came over, placing them on the counter and taking them out before setting them on the table. Ella sat down in a chair across from him. "Thank you for the food, Eric." Her new husband merely smiled as he took a seat. "Well, to let you know, I can cook really well, it's just that I haven't been stocking up as of recently, but since we are married, I will make that my number one priority." He open the containers and began serving her plate first of beef with broccoli, fried rice, and some orange chicken before doing the same for himself.

"How are you holding up?" He asked while taking a sip of his beer. Ella played with her food before taking a bite. "I'm pretty well, it's not like I'm complaining or anything like that." She shrugged a slender shoulder while flipping her long hair back to one side. "It's better this way." She concluded with downcast eyes toward her plate.

Eric chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. "I didn't what you to resort to anything that may have been a legal problem, Ella. This will take a while for us to get used to each other, but I assure you this, I won't hurt you in anyway." He said in a very serious tone while gently lifting her chin with a finger so he could look into her eyes.

"Just give it a chance and if for some reason, you want to leave me, I won't say anything against you." He pulled his hand back and went back to eating as she sat there staring at him with wide eyes.

Later on, she was wondering about what side of the bed he slept on when Eric came in from his shower, naked as the day he was born. She hastily adverted her eyes from his nakedness, cheeks red as apples while he climbed into bed on the left hand side and pulled the satin sheets over his lower half.

Eric looked at her with a slight grin. "I really don't like to sleep clothed, if you don't mind. It's really hot in here and I don't have an AC in my apartment." Ella turned off the light switch on the wall and climbed in next to him, lying down on her side with her back facing him. "I don't mind, you're my husband." She replied nervously as she felt him shift slightly behind her with a soft male grunt.

"Shit, I have a meeting tomorrow morning at ten." He cursed softly. Ella felt him move closer to her and tensed slightly as he gently stroked her neck with the tip of his fingers. "Feel tired, Ella?"

She kept her eyes focused on the closed door across the way as he continued to stroke her neck in a relaxed manner. "Yeah, it's been a very long day, but it was productive for once." Eric snorted softly to himself and pulled her into his warm body so she could have his body's warmth to relax her.

"Get some sleep, my beautiful wife, you are safe and that is all that matters right now." He kissed her cheek and closed his tired eyes as she remained wide awake for the next few hours. Being in a new home, married to a man who she had known years ago as a young seventeen year old who struggled with his poverty stricken state and was able to rise from that state into which he was now.

He was right, it was going to take time, but hopefully with enough patience, they would be able to bond and create a happy, lasting marriage. Ella turned around into his hard chest and watched his strong face for a while. She gently touched his cheek and hard jaw with a light fingertip as he slept on in peace. Ella laid her head on his arm and finally fell into an uneasy sleep in the arms of her new husband, encompassed with his warmth and security.