A Night of Partying & Deep Thinking
Author: I've updated all of my PR fics that need it except one. Not sure if What Happens Late at Night will
get another chapter. Thank Jeremy Shane for the review. Pairings: Merrick/Shayla, Eric/Taylor, Wes/Jen,
Anima/Alyssa (fem-slash), Tommy/Hayley (cuz it's cute). Mentiond past Tommy/Kim & Tommy/Kat. A
little bit of language, alcohol & some scantly clad girls being sexy including a minor. Although there are so
many characters I wished I owned (Tommy, Jason, Merrick, Andros, Ryan, etc): I only own Anima.
Tommy parked his jeep and motioned for the the van behind him to gravel drive "Didn't you bitch at Conner once for parking on the grass Doc. O?" Trent asked.
"No he smacked me upside the head and then bitched at me." Conner protested.
"Language kids." Tommy told them. It wasn't easy for him to forget that not only was he was their teacher and leader but also a parental or older brother figure too.
"Sorry Doc." Trent and Conner both said as the van door's opened. The Wild Force Ranger's spilled out onto the grass, happy to be out of the stuffy and hot van.
"You guys need better AC in there." Max told Eric and Wes.
"Forget about that, look at this place." Cole said, looking around. Tommy's house was tucked away in a wooded area with a lot of land.
"I like my privacy. But if I decide to have a party, nobody's really close enough to call the police." Tommy said was a devious grin and a wink.
"And nobody would think to look for the bat cave under the property either." Conner joked. Tommy rolled his eyes and went to let everyone into the house.
"C'mon Cole." Taylor called to the Red Wild Force Ranger as they all went inside.
"Leave your shoes by the door please." Tommy said, stepping out of his boots and immediately going inside.
The other rangers all obeyed as Kira, Conner, Trent and Ethan spread themselves throughout the house. "Can I raid your fridge Doc?" Kira shouted from the kitchen.
"You're welcome to whatever I've got, which isn't much right now since I need to go shopping!" The older Ranger's voice came from somewhere deep in the house.
"Hey Trent is this your cell phone charger?" Ethan called.
"What's it say on it?" the white ranger asked as he dug through his bag.
"Motorola and the letter T." the other boy said.
"It's probably mine since I don't think the Doc has a Motorola." Trent told him.
"I do actually but mine is in my bedroom." Tommy said, emerging from somewhere deep in the house. He had abandoned his usual short sleeve shirt with a jacket and slacks for a pair of worn out jeans and a short sleeve shirt that showed off his tattoos.
"Nice ink." Eric told him.
"I have to hide it because of teaching and I don't want them getting messed up when I'm digging up bones or messing with Ranger stuff." he admitted.
"It took us a while to get used to seeing them." Kira said, coming out of the kitchen with several bottles of water in her arms. Trent, Ethan, Conner and Tommy each took one from her as Tommy put his cell phone to his ear. His young team of Rangers settled down comfortably in his living room while the newcomers began exploring his house and the land outside.
"Now I really need to go shopping." Tommy chuckled after several long minutes.
"What for?" Ethan asked, not looking up for his laptop.
"I need to call some old friends back, but odds are good that there's going to be a party here tonight." he said with a smile. All four of the teens heads lifted in interest.
"Can we stay for it?" they all asked immediately.
"Call your parents." was all he said. However there was no mistaking the smile on his face as one of happiness. It was a mix of knowing that so many of his old friends would be over, having a new team around and that even though it would be frowned upon, he was letting four teens break a lot of rules.
Later that night: the full teams of Zeo, Lost Galaxy, Light Speed and Time Force along with Jason Scott and Andros had showed up for the party. How the Lost Galaxy and Time Force Rangers along with Andros had gotten there was unsure but nobody cared enough to ask. All everyone knew was that tonight was all about having a good time and that was it.
"You were very busy earlier so I didn't get a chance to tell you, but I think your home is lovely." Shayla told Tommy from where he stood by the grill.
"Thanks and feel free to roam around as much as you want." he said as a hand reached around him to dab a finger in the bar-b-q sauce. "Jas!" he snapped turning on his old friend.
"Had to make sure it was edible." the original red ranger joked. In the time that had passed since the team of ten red rangers had gathered to defeat Serpentera Jason had slimmed back down.
"I can cook. And you were the one who couldn't in high school." Tommy reminded him.
"I could too cook." Jason protested.
"I guess even though you two got older, you never grew up." They both turned to face Rocky as he walked up to them. He hadn't changed much in the years since they had last seen him.
"How's your back?" Tommy asked.
"Better, still can't do martial arts or anything that might hurt it again but... I'm good." he admitted.
Kat, Tanya, Kendrix, Karone, and Dana were sitting on Tommy's back porch together, chatting about some of the guys that had showed up and how they had changed. "I can't believe how many people heard all about this party." Kendrix said, looking around.
"Power Rangers have a grapevine all their own. Something happens and we all know within a day." Tanya told her.
"That's how we found out about Trini." Kat whispered. The girls all lowered their heads and took a drink of whatever they had in hand in memory of the original Yellow Ranger.
"Looks like some of us prefer to dance not sit around and talk." Dana said, nodding towards the yard.
Ethan had set up a sound system outside and some of the girls were dancing. Alyssa had changed into a black mini skirt and a tank top while Anima wore a pair short denim shorts and a short tank top. They were happy to let people look but nobody touched unless they had permission. Joel Rawlings, the Green Lightspeed Ranger, had found out the hard way because he couldn't take a hint when Anima had began to snarl at him. Carter and Ryan had pulled him away for his own safety.
Maya, the Yellow Galaxy Ranger, wore what appeared to be a caramel colored bikini top and skirt. Her thick brown hair was loose around her shoulders. She wore several necklaces, a couple of which helped draw attention to her ample cleavage. Kelsey wore a yellow tank top with matching shorts that rode low on her hips. Her wavy locks were tied up in a ponytail and her ever present headphones were around her neck. Kira had on a yellow bikini top and black fishnets over it with a yellow mini shirt and black leggings under that. She had tamed her hair and tied it back in a braid. All three young women swayed seductively to the music, not caring whose or how much attention they attracted.
There were three couples who were each off on their own. Jen had her arms around Wes' neck and he had his arms around her waist. She wore a thigh length black skirt and a pink shirt sleeve shirt where he wore a short sleeve red shirt with slacks. "Are you okay?" he whispered.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just glad to be back." she admitted softly.
"You should stay, it'd be easy for you to get a job here." he told her.
"I couldn't leave Trip, Katie, Lucas and Circuit in the future." she muttered.
"You could bring them with you." he suggested.
"I don't know Wes." she shrugged. Wes sighed and glanced over at Eric and Taylor.
Eric had changed into a red button down shirt and jeans while Taylor wore a yellow tank top and a black mini skirt. His fingertips played at the hem of the skirt teasingly. "You pull this skirt up Eric Meyers and I will murder you." Taylor warned. He chuckled into her long hair which was loose and pulled her against him. He gave her a small squeeze to remind her that he loved her. Eric was intimidating enough that nobody wanted to try and take Taylor from him but he still shot looks that plainly dared anyone to try at any other guy who passed by. Joel had been on the receiving end of that look a few times already.
Shayla rested her head on Merrick's shoulder as he held her close. She had put on a white off the shoulder shirt and a long cream skirt for the night. Earlier he had grabbed several blue flowers that grew in the area and put them in her hair which she had pinned up on her head in a series of intricate braids. "Three thousand years ago we wouldn't have been able to do this." she whispered.
"I know." he said. And he did, because he still remembered how much pain he had been in all those years ago because he was just her guardian and couldn't have her no matter how much he loved her. Every smile had make his heart race but also made it break.
"I'm sorry." she told him.
"What for?" he asked.
"I've upset you." Shayla said.
"No, memories of the past have upset me. But you never have." he assured her. She sighed and smiled contently. Moments like this were 3000 years overdue and she intended to enjoy every moment of it.
Anima buried her nose in Alyssa's hair and inhaled her Tiger's scent. It was a mix of vanilla, honey and almonds. Her fingertips ghosted over the hem of the other girl's mini skirt and settled on her hip. "Why haven't we gone dancing before?" Alyssa asked her.
"You've never shown an interest." Anima whispered.
"If you had told me you liked to dance I would have brought it up before." she laughed as they rocked their hips in unison to the music.
"Well now you know." the older girl told her. The White Wild Force Ranger smiled and tilted her head back, exposed her throat to her girlfriend. Anima nipped gently at the tender skin before gently licking where she had nipped. Alyssa showing her the soft tender skin of her throat was the ultimate act of trust and love in her eyes.
All the Rangers who had gathered were talking, laughing and dancing. The ones who had never visited Tommy before and the ones who rarely did now knew why their counterparts that frequented his home did so often. Out on this stretch of land owned by the veteran Ranger, they could be normal people not Rangers. Many of them who still had communicators and morphers had abandoned them in their duffel bags for the night. They could forget about any threats they had faced in the past or might face in the future and just worry about hanging out with friends. Lives outside of uniforms were discussed openly along with relationships, family and friends.
"Sorry I'm late, I had to shut down the Cyber Cafe alone because all my help was gone!" Hayley shouted as she ran around the side of the house.
"You should have called! I would have sent someone to help you out!" Tommy called as she bounded up the back stairs.
"Can I use your bathroom?" she asked, already in the doorway.
"The one in my bedroom should be open." he told her. She flashed him a smile before disappearing into the house.
"Who was that?" Jason asked, taking a long drink of beer.
"Hayley Ziktor, an old friend from MIT." Tommy said as he pulled the last of the chicken off the grill. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Dinner's ready everybody, come get it!" Ethan turned the music down as everyone headed for the buffet style meal.
"Old friend or old flame?" Jason teased.
"Old friend. On and off again girlfriend." the black Dino Thunder Ranger told him.
"She knows about you being a Ranger.. for the fourth time?" the original Red Ranger asked.
"Hayley helped me with most of my research with the Dino Thunder project. She also helped me set up what Conner calls The Bat Cave under the house." Tommy admitted.
"I think he's been reading too many comics personally." Hayley said as she slid under Tommy's arm. Her auburn hair was pinned up and she wore a short sleeve shirt with jeans.
"Hayley, this is Jason Scott: one of my oldest friends and the original Red Ranger." Tommy told her.
"Nice to meet you. Tommy's talked a lot about you and most of the other Rangers." Hayley told Jason.
"Same here, except when we talk he usually talks all about work." Jason laughed.
"I prefer to be the person back in the background as far as the Dino Thunder project goes." she said. Jason nodded understandingly and gave Tommy a smile that plainly said he was happy that his brother had finally opened his heart up to another woman after everything that happened with Kat and Kim. Kim of course had dumped Tommy but he and Kat had split up when she was at a ballet school in England and he was getting ready to go to college. The long distance relationship had caused a lot of strain on them both, sparking a few arguments until they just decided to call it quits. After that Tommy had begun to put all his energy and time into anything he did, until he met Hayley who got him to slow down.
Many hours later, at around roughly three o'clock, most of the Rangers were asleep. Some of them were in Tommy's guest bedrooms, doubling or even tripling up while others slept in the living room. A few, like Cole and the other Wild Force Rangers, were in sleeping bags outside. Tommy however found he couldn't sleep so he made his way carefully out of the house and to the back porch swing that he had installed only a few weeks prior. It had been an all day affair for him and his young team of Rangers. "Can't sleep either?" a deep voice asked from behind him. He glanced over the back of the swing at Merrick who sat on the railing of the porch.
"Not really. You?" he muttered, taking a drink from one of the few remaining water bottles.
"I was locked in a tomb for three thousand years, I don't sleep much." the Lunar Wolf Ranger told him.
Tommy nodded and said, "Don't blame you."
"Thank you for having us. Today was... nice." Merrick whispered after a couple of minutes.
"Glad you enjoyed yourself. Did Shayla and the other kids?" he asked.
"Yes they did. Seeing so many Rangers bewildered a few of them." the loner laughed.
Tommy chuckled and said, "That happens sometimes."
"That woman, the one who showed up in time for dinner, is she your mate?" Merrick asked hesitantly.
"My mate?" the former Zeo Ranger asked.
"Do you love her? Would you do everything in your power to protect her?" he questioned.
Tommy paused for a moment to think then said, "Yes I would."
"Then she is your mate." Merrick told him. Tommy sat for a while considering Merrick's words, unaware that the Lunar Wolf Ranger had slipped away. It was almost half an hour later when he looked around and didn't find him. Slowly he went back inside and to his room, where Hayley was. Careful not to wake her, he shut the door and slid into bed. One of her arms found it's way around his waist as she snuggled against his side. Merrick's words floated through his mind.
