CHAPTER TWO: Missed Moments

Ryan Mitchell followed his sister until she stopped running near the beach. He watched her toss her heels on a bench and collapse onto the seat, burying her face in her hands. Ryan jogged up to her and sat down next to her. She looked up with a start, and Ryan saw tears in her eyes.

"Dana, what the hell was that?" Ryan demanded of her. He pointed back toward the white smoke that was slowly dissipating in the breeze. "The guy's on his way to the hospital and he asks you out and you tell him no?" He paused. "I'm not sure if I'm supposed to approve of you dating him or not. This wasn't a problem in the Shadow World. There was no dating. There was…well, there wasn't even really like, much of anything."

He saw his sister's mouth curl up on the side, and he let out a breath. "Seriously, Dana," he said. "What's up? We all know you like him…why'd you say no?"

Dana stared out at the ocean for a moment, then she said, "Because, Ryan, he asked me out as he was laying on a stretcher headed to a hospital after having to be hauled out of a burning building!"

Oh. "Okay," he deduced. "Bad timing." Even with twelve years in the Shadow World, he could figure that one out-even Vypra flew off the handle if things didn't go just so.

"Ya think?" Dana groused.

Ryan ignored her attitude. "Well, he'll just have to try again so you can say yes," he decided.

"What makes you think I'll say yes?" Dana asked hotly. She glared at her brother. Ryan's dark eyes stared back at her until she finally turned her head and smiled. "Fine, you're right," she admitted. "I like him."

"About time you admit it," he said. "We're all takin' bets on when you guys'll get together." At Dana's look, his eyes widened. "Whoops."

She slugged him. "You gotta work on your tact, little brother."

Ryan grinned. "Sorry, sorry!" he said. He turned to face the beach. After a moment he sighed. "I've got a lot to learn I never realized. All this...human stuff."

"We've got plenty of time to teach you," Dana said.

Ryan sighed. "It's weird," he said finally. "You guys all have regular jobs," he said. "Carter's a firefighter, you're an EMT, Joel flies, Kelsey's got her extreme sports thing, Chad's got the whales and stuff…I don't know what I'm gonna do." He looked at Dana. "I'm not a ranger anymore, Dana, and now I don't know who I am or what I'm gonna be."

"You've got time to figure it out," Dana told him. She stood up. "And we're gonna start right now. I think we kind of left Dad hanging. Let's go see if he wants to go out for dinner." She pulled Ryan to his feet and straightened his black button down. "Food is an easy thing to start with. You'll remember in a hurry what you like and don't like." She put a hand on his back and led him toward the street. "What did they feed you in the Shadow World?" she asked him.

Ryan ducked his head. "You don't want to know," he admitted. "Just trust me, anything from the Aquabase cafeteria was five-star compared to it." He frowned. "Except the tunafish. That stuff was scary."

Dana laughed, and Ryan smiled, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. This was weird to him. He'd spent twelve years of his life learning to hate his sister and his father. Now he was laughing and teasing his sister about a guy. Even if he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be happy for her or discourage it. It was confusing. A lot of things are confusing. He didn't want to talk about anything that had to do with his life under Diabolico, but he wasn't upset that his sister had asked him. It was a mental challenge, and right now, it was giving him a headache. So he put on a brave front and followed his sister out to the street, where Dana called a cab. The siblings rode in silence until they arrived at Bill Mitchell's home.

Emotion barreled at him in waves as he stared at the house. This was the first time he'd been back to it in twelve years. As Titanium Ranger, he'd been at the Aquabase, and then he'd been a nomad. Seeing his childhood home…he tensed.

Stupid, he chided himself. It's just a house. Of all the things in your life you've seen to be afraid of...

"Ry?" Dana called, a few steps ahead of him. "You coming?"

He blinked. "Yeah, sorry." He jogged the rest of the way up the sidewalk to meet her. Dana was talking, one hand on the doorknob. "Dad made a couple changes to your old room, but otherwise the house looks pretty much the same."

Good. It just adds to the creepy factor that my room is still arranged for my eight-year-old self. Ryan stepped past the doorframe and looked around.

Dana had disappeared somewhere onto the first floor, leaving Ryan in the foyer alone. He tugged off his boots and set them haphazardly off to the side. Then, he looked around.

The walls were white. Mixed in here and there on the walls were pictures. A lot of pictures. Ryan started into the living room, surveying the plain gray rug and black couch and armchair that sat facing a flat screen television hanging above an electric fireplace. On either side of the television on the wall were photos and Ryan wandered across the laminate over to the photos.

Seems like a lifetime ago. He was ashamed to say that he didn't recognize the little kid that he was in the photos. Part of him was a little scared…he didn't even remember the moments in those photos.

One of them was obviously Halloween when he was six or seven. He was dressed as a pirate, Dana as some kind of princess. Their father was in a freaky mask and tattered clothing (no surprise there, Ryan dimly remembered his father was a huge Halloween fan...which seemed odd considering the demons). All three of them were smiling.

The next photo was of Bill and Dana. Dana was in a cap and gown. High school graduation maybe? Dana was wearing a gold sash indicating she'd graduated with honors. He smiled despite himself. No surprise there. Then he felt a pang of sadness. And I missed it.

Below that was a photo that made him stop. He reached out to touch it, felt drawn to it. In the photo was a smiling woman with blonde hair, sitting on the steps he'd just walked up into the house. And sitting on her lap was a grinning little boy missing his front tooth. He was wearing a plastic fireman's hat.

"Mom?" Ryan whispered. His mother was an even fainter memory.

"That was one of the last photos we have of your mom," his father's voice cut into the memory, making him jump. He jerked, and turned around. His father was leaning in the doorway from the kitchen to the living room, wearing a pair of jeans and a polo shirt. Bill came into the living room a few steps and pointed to the photo. "It's one of my favorites."

"I remember I broke that hat," Ryan said, thinking back. "Fell off of something, I think."

"Out of a tree, actually," Bill corrected him gently. "I seem to recall there was an invisible cat involved."

Ryan smiled. Then he sighed. "I wish I could be that kid again," he said wistfully. "Innocent. Normal."

"What makes you think you were innocent?" his father asked him, his voice light. "As I recall, you and your sister were quite the hellions on occasion."

Ryan winced, and Bill regretted his choice of words. "Maybe now that life has gone back to a slower pace, we can work on that 'normal' thing," he suggested.

Ryan looked at his dad. "Sounds good," he said. "I'd like that."

"What are you-" Dana bounded into the living room, now dressed down in a pair of purple sweatpants and a gray pullover sweatshirt. "Oh. Sorry."

Her brother and father looked at her strangely. "What?" she asked, wrapping her arms around her waist protectively. "Did I spill or something? Is there a hole in an unmentionable place?"

"No," Ryan said. "It's just…" He looked at their father.

"You're not wearing pink," Bill said. "Takes some getting used to."

Dana blushed. "Oh," she said. "Well, I decided to try something different."

"It looks good, sis," Ryan told her honestly. He looked at his own clothes. "Maybe I should look into something other than silver or black." He shrugged. "I don't even know what my favorite color is."

"It used to be green, actually," Bill remembered.

Ryan nodded thoughtfully. "Green," he repeated. "Sure, why not."

"Speaking of green, Dad, I'm pretty sure that whatever leftovers are in your fridge smell like they're turning green," Dana said. "Didn't you ever leave the Aquabase?"

"I'm thinking we're gonna need to get groceries," Bill responded, ignoring the pang in his gut at the mention of his pet project, which was currently lying in pieces at the bottom of the bay.

"We could grab something for Carter," Ryan said. "Since he's probably gonna be laid up a little."

Bill raised his eyebrows questioningly at the mention of Carter's name. "Carter got into a disagreement with a burning building," Ryan said. "Sprained ankle."

"Ah." Bill said. "Well, we could go grab something easy like pizza, and maybe grab a burger for Carter, drop it by his apartment."

"Hospital, actually. Got to ride in an ambulance and everything," Ryan told his father.

"We'll stop by the hospital then," Bill decided. He looked to Dana to see if she minded, but couldn't get a read on his daughter's expression. "Dana?"

"Hm?" Dana blinked and shoved her hands into her sweater pockets. "Oh, yeah. Sounds good." She chuckled. "Any excuse to put off cleaning the fridge!" She brushed past the two men. "I'll drive. Meet you in the garage." She reached for the keys in the fishbowl on the end table and practically ran out the front door.

Bill turned to Ryan. "Do I want to know?" he asked his son.

"Uh, Carter asked her out. While he was laid out on a stretcher on his way to the hospital, after running into a burning building," Ryan said by way of explanation.

Bill rolled his eyes. "Smooth move, Grayson," he groaned. "Oh well, I guess I should be grateful he screwed up." Off Ryan's alarmed look, he added, "I'm her father. I'm not supposed to let her date 'til she's thirty."

"Oh." Ryan followed his dad out to the car. "You know I think Carter'd be okay for her," he said. "I mean, not that I'd know the first thing about a normal relationship."

"Yeah you don't," his father shot back, clapping Ryan on the back and shoving him into the backseat. Still, as Bill climbed into the car and Dana stared straight ahead, he couldn't help but think that maybe his son was right. It had been painfully obvious to everybody on Project Lightspeed's staff that Carter and Dana had a close relationship, and he'd heard more than one whisper that it might not be strictly a professional one. He admired Carter's strength of character, his ability to follow orders and think on his feet, and his compassion for his team and the support team. There really wasn't anybody better for Dana in his mind.

At the same time, as he kept his eyes front and watched the neighborhood go by, the fatherly, jealous part of his mind was saying, You just got your family back. And he didn't want to lose them again so quickly.

Not even to a guy like Carter Grayson.

Author's Note : A little angsty, but I promise there's humor and 'awww' moments and action to come, so stay tuned! I'm also having a hard time finding Ryan's 'voice' so Ryan might be a little awkward until I can figure him out.