Disclaimers/Notes: Not mine, unfortunately. This was inspired by Syd's line from the SPD episode Sam Part II: "My mom is a teacher." I thought, 'Well, Rose is a teacher. What if Syd had been adopted?' and then this was born.

My Mom is a Teacher

"I think we're just about done fixing this one," Rose Hartford told her coworker Kat Manx. "The bugs are all worked out. Should I go get Mack to test it?"

Kat studied her data for a moment and then looked at the morpher she and Rose were working on. The feline poked at the morpher for a moment, tweaked a knob slightly to the left and then nodded at Rose. "Sure. It's ready for another test run."

Rose smiled slightly. "He and Wes are probably still exaggerating about their ranger days. They're two of a kind, that's for sure." She heaved a sigh and went off in search of her husband.

She managed to drag him away from his embellished story about how he single handedly found the Sword of Excelsior and fought off its guardian without using his ranger powers. "OK, Mr. Let's Forget All about the Fact That My Wife was the One Who Made the Sword Usable, you're needed in the lab."

"I didn't forget, honey," Mack told her as they headed back to the testing area. "I just chose not to mention it."

When the couple reached the lab, they saw that Commander Anubis Cruger had entered the lab in the Hartfords' absence. Neither he nor Kat noticed Mack and Rose's reappearance. The two aliens were deep in conversation.

"Luckily, Gruumm's troops did not get their hands on the technology the Graysons were trying to deliver to us. It was destroyed in the explosions. That part of the mission was successful. It will take Gruumm that much longer to get to Earth now."

"But the Graysons were destroyed trying to save the machine. It's a tragedy. What's going to be done with their daughter?" Kat questioned.

"We are in charge of finding Sydney a suitable guardian. Dana was very clear about that. The Graysons' wills explain that they have necessary paperwork for adoption waiting at their lawyer's office. The state will have to do some background checks to ascertain that the couple we choose for Syd will be good guardians, but there shouldn't be any trouble."

Rose's brown eyes were wide as she tried to catch Mack's attention. "Mack," she hissed, "We could adopt the little girl, and it wouldn't take years like it would if we were to adopt another child. She needs someone, and we can't-"

"Rose, I know how much you want children. And yes, if we were to ask the Commander if we could adopt Syd, I'm sure he would agree that we'd be great parents…but isn't it a little soon?" Mack asked his wife gently. "I mean, our baby-"

"Commander," Rose said, causing both Cruger and Kat to realize she and Mack were in the room, "What about Mack and I? We could adopt Sydney."

Cruger gave a rare smile.

"Sydney is a very special child," Kat said carefully. "Dana and Carter were involved with the morphing technology and Syd has…powers."

"She'll fit right in," Rose said firmly. "When Mack and I became rangers, Andrew tweaked with our DNA. Sydney being special won't change anything. When can we get the paperwork, and how old is she? I want to know what kind of things I need to buy for her room."

"This is very fast, honey," Mack told his wife. "Shouldn't we talk about this first? You know, alone?" His blue eyes showed concern for her.

"She's just under a year," Kat informed Rose. "But Mack is right. You should talk about this more in depth. Think it over for a few days. Sydney will stay here at SPD in the nursery until your decision is made and the paperwork is final."

On the way back to the Hartford home, Rose did not drop the subject of adopting Syd. "Mack, I can see your point. Jamie being stillborn was the worst thing that ever happened to us as a couple, and I know it was only three months ago. But now we can have another shot at being parents. This little girl needs someone, and since we can't have our own children…please, Mack? I think we should do this. We can start all over."

"You really want to, don't you?"

"I do."

"If Jamie had-"

"No ifs, Mack. On Monday I want to tell Cruger our decision to adopt Sydney. We're finally going to be parents…"