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
Rebecca looked down nervously at Ryan before she passed her over to Gia. She looked up to the yellow Ranger.
"I trust you with my life," she said. "But you're absolutely sure you can handle Ryan? She can get pretty fussy, you know. It's short notice, but I'm sure I can find another babysitter…"
"We'll be fine," Gia assured the younger girl. "Jake and I should be able to handle a few hours alone with the kid."
"Besides, Gia great with kids," Jake added and put his arm around his girlfriend. "You wouldn't know it, but she is."
"I've left instructions for her in the kitchen, but as long as you don't kill her, everything should be fine. The Burrows are pretty amazing, but I'm sure they'd kick me out if anything happens to the kid on my watch."
"Nothing will," Gia promised. "Good luck with the job interviews, Rebecca."
"Thanks," Rebecca smiled and then leaned in and kissed Ryan's cheek, "You be good, Lady Poop-a-lot. I'll be home soon.
Rebecca grabbed her bag, made sure she had her resumes and that she was presentable and then walked out the door. Jake locked it behind her and then turned around and smiled at Gia.
"Home alone."
"With the stinker. She just pooped," Gia held out Ryan. Jake pinched his nose.
"Why do I have to take her?"
"You volunteered us for this," Gia said. "That puts you on poop duty."
"She's my step-sister and she needed help. What was I going to say? Besides, you love kids."
"Jake."
"Yes."
"Change her diaper please."
"Fine," Jake took the little girl from Gia's hands. "But you've got the next one."
"Doubtful," Gia smirked. As Jake took Ryan to the living room to change her, Gia went to the kitchen and glanced at the list. She wanted to see if there was anything important she had to do with Ryan before Rebecca got home. There was just a naptime, but that didn't come until about half an hour before Rebecca came home. There was a lot of time with the baby to kill.
Suddenly, Gia saw a half-naked Ryan crawling into the kitchen, quickly followed by Jake coming after her. He scooped the little girl up and then turned to Gia.
"Did you know she crawls?" he asked. Gia nodded her head.
"It's on the list," she pointed to the paper. "Gotta keep your eyes on her at all times. Oh, and Troy mentioned it about a week ago."
"He did?"
"We were at the Brainfreeze."
"We were?"
"You weren't listening."
"I guess not. She's pretty fast."
"Do you need help?"
"I think I've got it now," Jake said and walked back to the living room to finish up. Gia followed him and watched with a smile as he carefully lay Ryan on the floor and put a clean diaper on. Ryan looked up at him with a bright smile and a coo.
"All clean," he said as he lifted her up. He held her with one arm and used the other to pick up the dirty diaper and tossed it at Gia. She caught it and groaned. "Be a dear," he smirked, "Throw that out for me."
"You... you're just earned yourself the next diaper change."
"Doubtful," Jake chuckled. Gia rolled her eyes and went to dispose of the diaper. Jake, meanwhile, looked around for something he could do with Ryan. There were a lot of baby toys laying around in the living room and if Jake was honest, a little part of them was excited to play around. He noticed Ryan trying to reach out to a teddy bear that lay on the floor so he picked it up and held it up for her.
"Is this your bear?" he asked and playfully waved it in front of her. "Are we going to have a fun day playing together, Ryan?"
Ryan giggled as she reached out for the bear and pulled it in for a hug. Jake sat her down on the floor and looked around for something else to play with. He saw a remote control car with the remote control and he couldn't stop himself. While Ryan chewed on her bear's ear he reached over to see it the car still worked. When it came to life he smiled little a little boy and raced the car around the room. Immediately it caught Ryan's attention. She dropped her bear and threw herself forward so she was on her hands and knees and tried to catch the car.
"Get it, Ryan," Jake smirked as he drove the car around the living room, keeping it just out of Ryan's hands. "Oh, so close, Ry. Come on, you can get it! Let's go, racing baby."
"Jake, what are you…?" Gia started to ask as she walked back into the room after throwing away the diaper, but accidentally stepped on the moving car. The car pulled her foot out from under her and Gia was thrown off balance. With a little cry she hit the ground. Jake put the remote for the car behind his back and then dropped it on the couch and Ryan looked over at Gia with wide eyes.
Gia sat up and groaned, "Ow. What the hell was what?"
"Sorry," Jake muttered as he came over to help her up. "Ryan and I were racing. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Gia said and took Jake's hand to pull herself up. Almost as soon as she was on her feet, Ryan started to cry. It was a loud, piercing, heart retching scream that made the teens cover their ears.
"Holy lungs," Jake said and grabbed two pillows from the couch to block out the crying. "What's gotten into her?"
"I don't know," Gia winced as she reached down to pick up Ryan. There had to be a way to soothe her. "I didn't think I hit her when I fell."
"What?"
"I didn't think I hit her," Gia repeated.
"What?"
Gia rolled her eyes and then inspected Ryan for red marks or cuts. She was sure she hadn't hit the baby in her fall, but she couldn't let her go unchecked. However, there wasn't a scratch on the baby. Ryan couldn't have been crying out of pain. So Gia did the only thing she knew how to do. She held the baby close to her chest and started to rock her.
"It's okay, Ryan. No one's hurt. Jake's just a little reckless sometimes. He didn't mean it."
Gia took a seat on the couch and picked up a little toy dragon. Jake pulled the pillows away from his ears as Ryan's screams calmed and watched as Gia played with the baby. He smiled and took a seat across from them on the love seat to watch.
When Rebecca had called him asking to babysit, he had been thrilled not because he wanted to help out his step-sister, but because he knew the effect babies had on Gia. Though she didn't always admit it, he knew she loved them and he knew that she wanted to start a family of her own one day.
Children and babies were, in a way, therapeutic for her. She let her guard down so much more when she was interacting with them. She wasn't afraid to show them a side of her that he and even Emma rarely got to see. She was making faces with Ryan and pretending to eat the little girl and tickle her so Ryan would laugh. And it worked; Ryan's screams were replaced with loud laughter. Gia's smile, though, was what stood out.
"See," he smiled. "You're great with kids. We can totally do this. We'll be better babysitters than Jordan and Emma."
"We'll see about that," Gia said. Ryan took the toy dragon from her hand and started to shake it around. "Besides, she's pretty cute. It's hard not to be a good babysitter to her."
"Hopefully she doesn't grow up to be all pouty like Troy," Jake chuckled and then suddenly something hit him on the head. He groaned and looked down at the cushion to see Ryan had thrown her dragon at him. "Ow… she's got his arm, though."
Ryan stared at Jake with wide eyes for a moment and then began to scream again. Jake groaned and covered his ear.
"Ah! Turn her off!"
"She's like an alarm," Gia muttered and passed the baby over to Jake, "Here, your turn to sooth her. My ears might be bleeding."
Jake took the little girl in his arms and rocked her, just like Gia had done, "Shh, Ryan, it's okay. Nothing happened. Everything's okay."
It took another minute of Jake soothing her, but eventually Ryan settled down again. It was just in time for Jake. He wasn't sure his ear drums could take anymore of her screams. He set her down in her play pen with some toys and walked to Gia in the kitchen.
"Is that on the list?" he asked and got some ice from the freezer to put on his head. The toy dragon was harder than it looked.
"Rebecca just wrote that she gets fussy," Gia shook her head. "Nothing about screaming fits."
"I might not have volunteered if she mentioned screaming fits."
"What do you think triggers it?" Gia asked. Jake put some ice in a bag and held it to his head as he shrugged.
"I don't know. You're the smart one."
Gia glanced into the living room and saw Ryan playing happily with her toys in the play pen. She shook her head.
"Some babies are just difficult. Claire sometimes mentions I was a terror, and mom never seems to disagree."
"Maybe she's a cuddle monster," Jake said. "Dad's always talking about how I would go around hugging everyone when I was little. Apparently, if I didn't get a hug when I wanted it, I'd start crying."
"You were a cuddler?" Gia chuckled. "That's actually kind of cute."
"I know," Jake smirked teasingly but then winced when, once again, Ryan started screaming. Jake's ears and instincts told him to run away, but with the baby in the other room he knew he had to go to her to see what was wrong. He and Gia raced over to the playpen but Ryan seemed unharmed. She was sitting exactly where Jake had left her and screaming at the top of her lungs. Gia quickly picked her up to sooth her while Jake inspected the play pen to be sure nothing was hurting her.
His inspection revealed a red Megaforce toy and Jake chuckled when he saw the head had popped right off. It wasn't small enough for Ryan to fit into her mouth, and she didn't seem to be choking on anything else. He screamed were proof that she had no trouble breathing. Still, finding it funny Ryan had somehow managed to decapitate a baby toy of her brother, he held it up to show Gia.
"Seems someone's not a red Ranger fan. I knew black was more her style."
Ryan, seeing the doll, screamed louder. Jake nearly dropped the toy in fright but caught it in mid-air and replaced the head.
"Okay, okay. Look all better," he said and showed Ryan the toy was back in one piece. He handed it to her, which almost instantly calmed her down.
"Looks like she does love her brother," Gia said and continued to hold and rock the baby. Jake sighed.
"She can't keep…"
The head came off the toy again and Ryan screamed as she watched it fall. Jake quickly snatched it up and put it back on the toy.
"Okay, I think I know what's going on," he said and looked at Gia. "She's a mini-Troy."
"When have you ever seen Troy cry?"
"Not that," Jake shook his head. "Just watch. You'll get it after this. Ryan. Hey Ry, look at me! Look at how funny I look when I'm dancing. Yay, we're having fun."
"You look like a tool," Gia rolled her eyes but Ryan was enjoying Jake making a fool of himself. She giggled and smiled and as she watched him until suddenly Jake smacked his foot against the coffee table. It wasn't enough to hurt, but he pretended it was. He grabbed his foot in pain and started to hop around.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!"
Ryan screamed.
"Jake! Stop it! You're upsetting her!"
Jake let go of his foot and stood on it. He started to dance around again, "No, Ryan, look, it's okay! I'm okay. No boo boos!"
Ryan looked at him and the screaming stopped. Jake smirked knowingly at Gia.
"Mini-Troy. She doesn't like seeing other people in pain. Screaming fits should stop if we just don't hurt each other."
"Was that a part of the plan?" Gia asked with a little frown. Jake realized what he had said and shook his head.
"I'm not saying it was, I was just… you know, because you tripped on that car and she threw the dragon at me and… You… You know what I mean."
"For that, you change her next diaper," Gia said and handed the baby over again. "She stinks again."
"Wait, but I just changed her," Jake frowned and held her up to smell her diaper. "Whoa! What died inside of you?"
Jake set her on the floor to change her once again while Gia walked off to the kitchen. Jake assumed this time she would wait until after her disposed of the diaper to come back. She had left him with diaper duty again, but he would be the one with the last laugh. He changed Ryan, put the diaper by the front door and then looked inside her play pen again. He saw the Burrows hadn't just bought Ryan a red Ranger toy to play with. She had the complete set. Jake picked up the yellow Ranger and ripped her head off. Ryan watched in horror, but before she could cry Jake knelt before her.
"No, look Ryan, Yellow's okay. Yellow's happy, see," he playfully waved the headless doll in front of Ryan and smiled brightly. It took a moment of convincing, but Ryan did reach out for the doll and then hugged her tight.
"There you go," Jake smiled. "Now just… hold her like that," he got to his feet and started to back away slowly. When he was near the door he called to Gia, "I'm throwing away the diaper. Can you watch her, Gia?"
Jake heard Gia moving in the kitchen and watched her walk into the living room. He knew when she saw Ryan hugging her decapitated doll but she let out a little cry. He chose that moment to go outside and throw away the diaper.
It was his mistake. When he tried to walk back inside the front door was locked. He tried knocking but it seemed Gia wasn't coming.
"Totally worth it, though," Jake said and knocked again. This time, at the window beside the door, he saw Ryan crawling up. She grabbed the base of the window and pulled herself up so she was standing up. It was then Jake noticed she had the head of the black Ranger toy in her hands. He chuckled to himself.
"She's good."
He knocked on the door again, "Gia? I'm sorry. Let me in, it's cold!"
He saw through the window Ryan was suddenly lifted up and knew Gia was at the door. She opened it slowly.
"Sorry for…?" she asked before she let him in.
"Decapitating your doll."
"And to make it up to me you'll…"
"Change all Ryan's diapers until Rebecca comes home."
"Aw, you're sweet," Gia let Jake inside the house and kissed his cheek. "I would have settled for a fro-yo on the way home."
"I…"
"Too late, you offered," Gia chuckled and kissed him again.
-Megaforce-
After a couple of hours of babysitting, Rebecca came home. She was glad to hear things went will with Ryan and even offered to give Jake and Gia some cash to help her out. The two accepted, as they already had plans to head to the Brainfreeze and didn't mind the extra cash. Jake carried their sundaes to the table and smiled at Gia as he gave her hers.
"That was pretty fun," he told her and she nodded her head.
"You're pretty good with kids. Ryan was pretty in love with you by the end."
"Guess I'm a babe magnet in two ways," Jake smirked playfully. Gia rolled her eyes.
"Don't push it."
Jake chuckled as he took a bite of his sundae. He looked across at Gia, "You'll make a good mom one day."
"Thanks."
"Seriously. You're great with kids. Between you and me, our kids are going to have the best parents ever. Ryan seemed to have a lot of fun and…"
Jake trailed off when he saw Gia blushing bright red and staring down at her dessert. He finally realized what he had said and bit his lips nervously.
"Uh… hypothetically," he said. "Hypothetically, if we were to have kids, they would have the best parents…"
"Jake…"
"Yeah."
"I'm not… scared."
"You're… not?" Jake asked. Gia shook her head.
"It's a nice thought. When we're ready."
Jake nodded his head and played with his dessert. "So… uh… have you thought about it too?"
"Mhm," Gia nodded. Jake couldn't help but smile.
"And it doesn't scare you?"
"I had a lot of fun today," Gia answered. "Even our fighting was… fun."
"I had a good time too. And honestly, seeing you with the baby was…" Jake was taken by surprise when Gia leaned over the table and pulled him in for a kiss.
"Yeah, Emma and I felt that way too after babysitting little red," Jordan announced as he and Emma joined Jake and Gia at the table. The yellow and black Rangers pulled apart and went back to eating their desserts. Jordan saw the little grins on their faces and smirked, "Hey, Em, it looks like they had a good time…"
"Leave them alone, Jordan," Emma said and lightly tapped him on the arm. Then she leaned into Gia, "You'll talk to me about it later, right?"
"Yep."
