Kendall sighed loudly as she checked the status of the museum. Major repairs were in order, if not a complete reconstruction. While running a museum had never been where she imagined her life would take her, she had grown to love her business and her job there. She hoped that now that she wasn't distracted with finding and protecting ten energems, she could focus more time on running the museum the way it deserved.
But first, she needed to get it running again. Unfortunately, it was going to cost her about everything she had. Sledge and his crew had destroyed everything, from the exhibits to the structure of the building itself.
Her Ranger employees had been generous enough not to accept the paid vacation time Kendall promised them while she closed the museum. Her other employees weren't as thoughtful. Kendall couldn't blame them, though. Without a job to come back to as they returned after the evacuation, they were going to need some money to come in to keep them going until they found somewhere new to work. Kendall had to consider payment for all of those employees. She did count herself lucky that they all seemed to agree that a couple months would be enough. Kendall could at least take comfort in the fact that she could budget out exactly what she owed everyone.
"Maybe we could start small?" Chase suggested as he walked into her bedroom with a suitcase. It was just a few hours until his flight and he had to pack up enough to get him through a month in New Zealand. He set his suitcase on the bed and started to toss some clothes into it. "Find a few of the artifacts that survived and..."
"The whole museum is gone," Kendall shook her head. "All we've got are a couple of teeth and the hip bone of a triceratops. I can't exactly start charging people for that."
"Think you might want to teach?" Chase offered. "Amber Beach University could use a dino expert like you to teach some of their classes. I'll bet they'd hire you."
"I don't think I make the best teacher," Kendall said. Chase nodded and sighed. He walked to the bathroom and took his toothbrush.
"Well, does it have to be dinosaurs?" he asked her.
"What else could I do? The natural history museum of Power Rangers?"
"Hey, that would be sweet!"
"Chase, I was kidding."
"But it's an awesome idea," Chase smiled. He closed up his suitcase, "Think about it, we've got enough of our stuff saved from the fight that we could open up something small and the fact that it would be build on the place where we had our final battle would be enough for people to want to pay already. All the artifacts would be free because you own them already, and as you bring in more money to expand, we can ask past teams to donate what they can."
"And how exactly would we explain to the public how we obtain Ranger artifacts without revealing our own identities?"
"Maybe we could?"
"Telling our families is one thing," Kendall shook her head. "Telling the world we're responsible for what happened to the city is asking for trouble."
"Sledge is responsible."
"They'll still blame us," Kendall said. "We're lucky the city wasn't left in ruins, that it was just the museum, but how many people are going to milk us for all we're worth to pay for therapy and any minor repairs. The city itself might come after us. I may be told that I have to pay to rebuild the museum and the surrounding streets and businesses."
"Okay, not a great idea, but I still think opening a Ranger museum would be amazing," Chase said. "And we can just explain our stuff as donations from the Rangers to make up for what happened. People would buy that, right?"
"Maybe..."
"Think about it," Chase said and kissed her. "We can talk about it more when I get back."
Kendall nodded her head, set her laptop aside and walked with Chase to the door.
"Say hi to your mom and Chloe for me," Kendall told Chase. "And let them know they are welcome anytime."
"I will."
"Are you sure you don't want me to come?" Kendall asked. Chase shook his head.
"I'm about to tell them why I spent so long overseas," Chase said. "And I'm about to confirm with them that I'll be moving here for good. I think they'll both be glad to have me to themselves for a while. Besides, Cammy and Anna sure seem glad they'll get to spend some time with you."
Kendall nodded her head and glanced to the back of the house, where Cammy and Anna were at the kitchen table colouring together. Their parents were out at the store on a mission to restock the fridge. Since coming back to the city, Mr. and Mrs. Fisher had been very adamant about caring for their children. Nothing was too much.
"It'll be a quick month," Chase promised her. "And when I get back, it'll be like I never left."
Kendall nodded her head. Chase gave her one final kiss and then turned to the door.
"Cab's here. I better go. I love you."
"I love you too," Kendall smiled. Chase then pointed to the kitchen.
"Uh, Koda's trying to eat the crayons again."
"What?" Kendall turned around and sighed loudly when she spotted the caveman who had joined the young girls in their colouring, but had decided to try and taste the crayons again. "Koda, it says grape because it's purple, not because it tastes like grapes!"
"I love you!" Chase called out to her one more time. Kendall called it back as he closed the door and walked out.
Inside the kitchen, Koda spit out the pieces of the waxy crayon while the girls chuckled.
"This gross," he said. "Not tastes like grapes at all!"
"You really need to stop putting things in your mouth to taste," Kendall shook her head. "Most things are not edible Koda."
"How I supposed to know?" Koda protested and frowned at the girls when they continued to giggle. "It say grape."
"It's a fun way of saying purple."
"Purple is fun way of saying purple," Koda stated. "Grape is fun way of saying little purple food ball you eat."
"Just don't eat the crayons, Koda," Kendall said and sat down at the table with him and the girls to watch them colour. After a while, she picked up a sheet of paper and a few crayons and joined them.
