Disclaimer: Power Rangers are not mine. They belong to Saban and Disney. The only character that is mine is Neen.
Author's Note: The concept would not leave me alone. So, you all get this story. Blame the song. I did.
No More Fish Movies
The loud screech followed by a frantic "Papa!" let everyone in the house know that something was wrong with Neen Cranston. The little girl barreled out of the room like a cat out of a dog park, barely slowing down before she attached herself to her father's leg, shaking like a leaf and sniffling.
"Neen, what is wrong?" Billy asked, picking his daughter up as she trembled. He wrapped her up in hug, moving back and forth to try to help her calm down. Hayley put her hand on the child's back for extra support, though she was careful not overstep her boundaries. Neen, for her part, didn't say a word. She only shook a bit.
"Umm… Oops?" Billy whirled around, daughter and all to see Conner standing in the doorway looking more that a little embarrassed and apologetic. Billy handed his daughter over to Hayley and, with a speed even Conner wondered if he could managed, had the younger man pinned against the wall. Conner's eyes widened at Billy's fury and he wondered how the man before him could be so smart and so strong without interference. Then again, Aquitar was underwater and he knew from reluctant experience that water was hard to walk through, so maybe that had something to do with it. Whatever other thoughts he had, they were shattered at the fury in Billy's eyes.
"What… did… you… do… to… my… daughter?!" Billy asked and Conner wished he was anywhere else.
"It was an accident! I forgot!" Conner answered, wishing he could hide behind anything to get away. He ran through his list of allies, mainly Kira and Ethan, but realized that they were nowhere around. Kira had had practice and Ethan was off at the video game store.
"Forgot what?" Billy growled.
"W-well, I thought she might want to watch a movie and you told me to try not to let her watch anything scary, so I picked one I thought she'd like," he answered. "And the bad guy didn't see too scary. She kinda giggled and acted like a normal five-year-old when it came to those scenes. I let her climb in my lap and everything if it got too scary."
"But?" Billy asked, pushing him to continue.
"I, uh, sorta forgot about one of the other characters," he answered.
"Which character? Which movie?" Billy asked and Conner muttered the answer. "I can not hear you."
"The Little Mermaid", okay? I forgot about the chef," he answered, fear dying down to reveal the apologetic and embarrassed look. "And then he did the French song thing."
"For those of us who haven't seen the movie," Tommy began, "What's wrong with that?"
Hayley quickly put her hands over the girl's ears as she soothed her before nodding to Conner to continue his story. "He's a seafood chef. The song is how he likes to cook sea food. There's dead fish all over the place."
The women were shooting Conner looks by this point, not to mention Billy. Fortunately for the young Red, the other men weren't about to let him die for a mistake anyone could have made. Tommy managed to put on his disappointed face and looked at Billy as seriously as he could. "We'll handle it. You take care of your daughter."
Billy nodded and turned his attention back to Neen who was still in near hysterics. Billy, Hayley, Kim, and Trini turned their attention to the girl, letting their male companions deal with the younger Ranger. Tommy, Jason, and Zack dragged poor Conner outside and each of them shared Tommy's look of disappointment. Conner looked absolutely beside himself. "I didn't mean to! I haven't seen that movie since I was like five. How was I supposed to remember the fish scene? I was just trying to be nice."
All three men kept the look for another ten seconds before Zack fell over laughing. Both Jason and Tommy didn't look too far behind him. "Relax," Jason said, putting his hand on the teen's shoulder. "You made a mistake. It could happen to anyone."
"Right," Tommy agreed. "The others will realize that later after Neen's calmed down. They're just in paternal and maternal mode right now. It happens."
"I could have done it," Zack agreed. "In fact, you've just taught me to watch all movies before I let Neen watch them so that Billy doesn't kill me."
"Thanks," Conner said sarcastically before putting his head back into his hands. "Guys, I freaked out Neen. She is never going to want to watch movies with me again."
"Conner, she's a kid. She'll get over it," Tommy insisted. He put a hand on the other's shoulder. "Calm down."
"That's easy for you to say. You didn't scar your surrogate baby sister for life. Life!" Conner insisted. "Not to mention that Ethan and Kira will probably never want to talk to me again either."
"Conner…"
"And even if they do it will be to yell at me for being so stupid."
"Conner…"
"I lost Neen, my girlfriend, and my best friend in one swoop. Oh God. And Kim's either going to kill me or ignore me…"
"Is he even listening anymore?" Zack asked and Tommy shook his head.
"Nope."
They sat there, for over an hour, trying to convince him that he made a mistake that was easy to make, but Conner seemed insistent to punish himself. He still had his head in hands when he felt a familiar small hand patting his arm. He glanced up to see Neen standing there, tears dried on her face and fading, sniffles gone, and looking worried. "Are you well?"
He lifted Neen up and into his lap, hugging her. "Neen, I am so sorry! I completely forgot about that part. I would have skipped the scene or picked a different movie or something."
"It is okay, Conner," she answered. "You made a mistake. Papa will understand later."
"So… you don't hate me?" He asked her. The scene was actually rather humorous. Other than the size difference, one would have sworn that Neen was the elder and Conner the younger with the hopeful look in the teenager's eyes and the understand look in the child's.
"Negative. Would you like to watch a different movie?" She asked, completely moving on from the fright she'd had. Conner blinked a couple of times, but grabbed the life line.
"Yeah. How about Beauty and the Beast?" He suggested, racking his mind for anything horrible about that one. Neen smiled.
"I like that movie. The beast is a mixture of over 100 animals," she informed him. He looked surprised at that.
"How do you know?" He asked.
"I watched the video on it," she answered. "Conner?"
"Yeah?"
"We should watch it at Uncle Zack's house. Papa is still homicidal," she answered and turned to her surprised uncles. "I am six. My recovery rate is quicker. Will you tell Papa, please?"
"Yeah," Jason answered. "Have… uh… fun. Zack, can you give them a lift?"
"Yep," Zack answered leading them out. Neen turned to Conner and motioned for her to come closer. He knelt down and faced her.
"No more fish movies," she instructed. Conner nodded solemnly.
"No more fish movies."