2: Acceptance
A/N: This is set between chapters 24 and 25 of All To Blame.
Avalon stood in the doorway to her room. Well, it was a room she was sharing with Bailey, but it was ten times better than the room she had back in their apartment. The apartment she paid for with the money she managed to get from pawning different items of value from the houses she broke into with Chase and the rest of the Vipers. Her gaze dropped down to the 'V' tattooed on the inside of her wrist, one of the initiations she had to go through to test her loyalty to the gang. A binding contract. A contract she had recently broken.
She paused, waiting for that wave of guilt to wash over her once more. But it was gone now. She smiled. Now that she finally told the rest of the rangers what she was hiding from them, now that she was finally able to tell Kimberly about breaking into her house and Jason that she was the reason he had been beaten up, she didn't feel guilt anymore. Everything for her was getting a clean slate. She could start over.
Avalon slowly walked into the room, her new room, and went to the window, looking out it. It looked over the backyard filled with the most beautiful garden she had ever seen taking up the back corner. The rest of the fencing was lined with rose bushes, the grass kept immaculately trimmed. The only backyard she and Bailey had was the communal back patio to their apartment building were people went to smoke. Every now and then Avalon would open the window in her room as far as it could go and sit on the ledge, watching as Angel Grove hustled and bustled below her, wafting the scent of burning cigarettes out of her face.
The city looked different to her now.
Brighter.
Cleaner.
Welcoming.
"I see you're getting a good look at Mom's garden," Billy said from behind her. The Orange ranger turned to face him, her eyebrows rising and he came to her side at the window, depositing a box of school supplies on a desk as he passed it. "She's been working on it for years, they're prize winning. Oxalis pes-caprae, Anthericum liliago, and Asteraceae pseudanthium ." Avalon nodded, pretending to know what he was talking about. "It's too bad you're allergic."
"What?" Startled, Avalon turned to face him, having to lift her chin so that she could meet his eyes. Normally she hated the constant reminders of how short she was, standing well below average at exactly five feet, but this time it didn't bother her so much. "What'd you say?"
"I said, it's too bad you're allergic," Billy repeated. He nodded back towards the garden. "You won't be able to enjoy it."
"How did you know…?"
"You mentioned it to Kimberly and Trini," Billy replied. "The day you missed school and we got your homework assignments…when you, Zack, and I were selected to contribute our individual talents on our assignment of assemblage."
Our what? Avalon tilted her head to the side as she thought about it. Oh! The group project. "I reckon I did say that, mate," she said slowly, still quite unsure if she had. It must have been something she muttered while distracted. "It doesn't surprise me they've won awards. They're beauty." Shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans she sat down on her bed and looked around the room.
It was still so hard to believe things were going to get better from there on out. Something glinting caught her eye and she looked down at her Stegosaurus Power Coin as it sat nestled in her morpher, hooked to the front of her jeans. A small smile tugged at her lips.
"I know things are going to be hard for you, to adjust and everything I mean," Billy said. He hesitated for a moment before sitting on the bed next to her, dropping his hands into his lap. "But we're all here to help you when you need it. You already made the first step, admitting that you were having issues with the gang."
"I guess I just…" Avalon shrugged. "Don't feel like I deserve it," she admitted. She frowned, realizing how vulnerable she was being. It was the first time in a long time she was able to completely open herself to someone without feeling pressured. Avalon raised her gaze and met the baby blues of the blue ranger as he patiently listened to what she had to say. "Like I deserve you. Or the others. Or any friends at all."
"You deserve to be happy, Av," Billy reassured her. He reached out and placed his hand atop hers. "Everyone does. Yes, you've made some bad choices and have tampered with the ideology behind what it truly means to be a ranger, but you've shown that you have a good heart and you did everything for your sister. A selfless act. There wasn't any other choice to make. We have room for both of you, we couldn't let you continue living where you were. Not when Chase and the others could find you. We don't expect you to act like you need to earn your keep to stay here. It's the least we could do."
"The least you could do, mate, was have us stay at the Command Center," Avalon pointed out.
"I suppose that's true," Billy agreed. He smiled. "It sure would make keeping an eye on Rita, Zedd, and their monsters that much easier. But we're glad to have you guys here."
"Me too," Avalon said honestly.
Billy smiled and removed his hand from hers as he stood up from the bed. "Do you need help getting the rest of your stuff?"
"No, I'll get it in a minute," Avalon said. "Thanks, Smurf."
He chuckled at her insistence of using the unique nickname and left the room. Avalon brought her legs up to sit Indian style and sighed. Her eyes scanned the empty room that was slowly being filled with hers and Bailey's things. They would figure out who would get which bed, who would get which desk, and how they would decorate the walls. They couldn't do that at their old apartment in case someone would figure out where they were living and that would endanger them even further.
She was getting a new start. Just as she had always strived for but didn't know how to make happen.
Finally.
