Taking Credit

Summary – There's one thing that Erin could take credit for. Tyler/Shelby

A/N: Watched the most recent ep and I immediately got the idea for this one-shot. Hope you guys like it.

Shelby smiled sadly as she grasped onto Erin's hands. Her short trip from college had been a fun one, especially once she had apologized for taking credit for being the pink ranger and for taking advantage of her throughout their entire friendship.

"We get right back on track and I have to leave again," Erin said.

Shelby tilted her head back, her long hair dusting her back, a playful moan escaping her lips. "I know. That's my lucky, right?" She giggled and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I wish you could stay longer. But it's college you can't sip that. You and I both know that your parents would go postal if you weren't going to your classes."

"And how did you convince your dad that all of the classes you were taking weren't what you wanted?" Erin replied. She crossed her arms and gave her a smug smile.

"Uh, the jury's still out on that one. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop." Shelby reached out and wrapped her arms around Erin, hugging her tightly. "I'm going to miss you. You better promise to tell me everything that's going on, okay?"

"I promise, I promise." Erin hugged her back. She then took a step back and her eyes shifted behind the pink ranger. "Actually, I have to break a teeny promise that I made. Of not taking credit. Because I definitely have to take credit for this one. You're going to thank me later." Before Shelby could prompt her to spill the beans Erin grabbed Shelby's shoulders and turned her around.

At the sight of Tyler heading their way, Shelby's word of protest caught in her throat. Her eyes widened, jaw dropped, palms started to sweat. The same palms that had only just started to dry after having held hands with him as they danced around singing that embarrassing Triceratops song from elementary school.

Then she felt Erin's hands move away from her shoulders and in a flash, she was gone, leaving the pink and red rangers with each other. "Erin's already headed out, huh?" Tyler asked, coming to a stop beside Shelby.

"I, uh," Shelby closed her eyes for a moment, running a hand through her hair. Finally, she gathered her wits and nodded. "Yeah, she had to head back to school. But it was nice that she was here for a while. We've been friends for a long time." She made herself busy by wiping down a table she was sure was already cleaned.

The café had closed, and the rangers were putting in the final touches before calling it a day. Of course the time he wants to come talk is when I'm completely covered in filth, she thought with a disappointed pout.

"I know, since grade school," Tyler agreed, following her to another table. He stood on the other side and helped her wipe it down. "It looks like you guys are really getting along now. I mean, after that whole pretending to be the pink ranger, thing."

"Yeah, I know that was wild wasn't?" Shelby bit her bottom lip as the conversation petered out. Come on, say something. Just don't say anything stupid.

But Tyler beat her to it. "I don't think anyone would believe she was the pink ranger anyway."

"Really?" Shelby lifted her gaze and found Tyler looking directly at her. She shifted her gaze, trying to stay calm. Her skin warmed under his gaze and she forced herself to look back at him again. "W-why's that?"

"Because there's no one better at being the pink ranger. You were chosen for a reason; we even got our powers together. I couldn't look over at a pink ranger and have anyone else standing by my side."

A grin slid onto Shelby's face before she could stop it. At least she didn't go so far as to squeal with excitement. That would've been majorly embarrassing. So far, she was doing a good job at keeping calm but she could feel herself slowly starting to obsess a little over what he said. Then Shelby cleared her throat, trying to stay as calm as possible though her entire body was shaking.

"Well of course," she replied with as much false bravado as possible. "No one can take my place. I mean, saving the world and being able to hang out with dinosaurs?" She motioned around the café. "Hello?!"

Tyler's smile faltered, falling a little at the corners. Then he chuckled and wiped an imaginary spot on the table. "Yeah, living the dream, right?"

"Yeah…"

Shelby picked up her rag and moved to yet another table with Tyler following along right behind her. They worked in silence, as if trying to avoid each other. Shelby made large circles as she wiped the table and accidentally brushed her hand over Tyler's. She pulled her hand back so fast that her rag slapped her against the chest, leaving a large wet spot.

"Sorry," she said. Then she realized that Tyler had done the same and the two laughed a little.

"You don't have to—""You don't have to—"

"It's my fault—""It's my fault—"

"Would you stop?" "Would you stop?"

Their laughter mixed together, echoing throughout the empty café. Finally, the laughter subsided, and Tyler tossed his rag aside, crossing his arms. He cleared his throat. "Listen, I, uh. Erin! Erin told me something today and I wanted to talk to you about it."

Shelby bit her lower lip, suddenly very interested in a dried ketchup spot on the table. "Really? Uh, what'd she say?"

"Well, just that there was something I needed to know. That you wanted to tell me, but you weren't sure how." Shelby squeezed her eyes shut; mentally throwing every curse word she could think of towards her best friend. Tyler took a step towards her, continuing with, "And I was starting to wonder if it's the same thing that I want to tell you…but I'm not sure how."

Slowly, Shelby lifted her head, using her bangs covering her eyes to look at Tyler before her eyes finally landed on his. She flicked her hair from her face and took a deep breath. "Really? You…have something you need to tell me?"

He smiled. He reached out and drummed his fingertips against the table top. "Yeah, um, actually, it's something that I've wanted to tell you for a long time. And…I guess I still don't really know how." He took another step toward her. "Because, I mean, I don't want to mess up the great friendship we have if things don't…turn out well."

"Oh. Right. Yeah, I completely agree." Shelby nodded quickly. She brought her hands together and started to play with her fingers. "Because I really care about our friendship. You're one of my best friends and I don't want that to be something I lose."

"I feel the same way," Tyler agreed.

Shelby nodded and started to turn away then stopped when she felt Tyler's hand on her arm. Now he was only a few inches away from her, looking down into her face. She could feel herself starting to tremble with…she wasn't sure what. They were enough emotions going through her she couldn't even think straight.

"But…this is something I want to risk because I think everything's going to turn out okay."

"Tyler…"

Shelby trailed off, unsure of what to say. She lowered her head and Tyler moved his hand under her chin, tilting her head back up. Then his lips were on hers and Shelby felt her eyes closing and her arms moving to wrap around his neck. Her lips moved over his and she pulled him closer to her. Then the kiss ended, and Shelby caught her breath. She pulled her head back away from him and looked up into his eyes, feeling herself relax with relief when she saw him smiling, eyes shining as well.

"Was that what you wanted to tell me?" She managed to ask.

"More or less," he replied. Suddenly he appeared a little afraid. "Was that what you wanted to tell me?"

Shelby frowned then took a step away from him. She placed her hands on her hips and slightly twisted away from him. "Actually, I was going to tell you that your breath stinks." Tyler's mouth dropped open and she did her best to keep her composure. "Yeah, the rest of us…we've had some meetings and I was voted to tell you. It's getting, like, really bad."

Tyler continued to stare at her, eyebrows lowered until she started to laugh. Tyler eyed her warily as Shelby fought to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. You should've seen the look on your face."

"Very funny."

Tyler ran a hand through his hair. Shelby noticed he still looked worried and held his face in her hands, silently looked at him. He finally smiled back at her, making her smile too.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Shelby jumped and grabbed her wet rag off the table. She turned and flung it against Tyler's face, making him step back and blink rapidly in surprise. Shelby then turned to face Kendall, who slowly walked their way shifting her eyes back and forth between the red and pink rangers, holding a clipboard in her hand.

"No. Nope. Tyler, uh, just had something, on his face and I was trying to get it off." She removed the wet rag and turned Tyler's face towards Kendall. "See? All gone."

"Right." Kendall looked between them once more. "Well, all the others have finished up things look okay here so you can call it a night and get some rest."

Tyler nodded and immediately started towards the door with Shelby at his side. "Right. Thanks Ms. Morgan." They walked out of the café making sure not to look back as they did so only relaxing once they were out the door.

"So, uh, I guess I should get home. It's getting kind of late," Shelby said. She pointed over her shoulder and took a few steps back. "So, I guess I'll see you later."

"You don't have to walk, I can drive you back. Besides, it'd give us some more time to talk." He made a show of dangling the keys to his jeep in front of her face and flashed a warm smile.

Shelby clasped her hands together and gently rocked back and forth. "Well…" she paused, hoping to make him sweat a little. "Why not? It's not like I prefer to walk or anything."

"Great! Let's go!"

Shelby walked over to him and he reached out, grabbing onto her hand. Shelby looked down at their hands then pressed her palm against his, lacing their fingers together.

Then the two smiled and walked to the parking lot.

THE END

A/N: I haven't really written Tyler and Shelby before, so please let me know if I got anything about them wrong. I've got some other ideas for Dino Charge/Dino Super Charge stories and one-shots (as well as some other seasons) and they should be out soon. Keep a look out.

~Avalon