Author's Note: Just another lil bit of fun, written at the urging of some friends. Thanks to QueenRiley for the inspiration for this. If you want to read a wonderful story with a similar premise to this fic, you should check out her fic 'Innocence' – it's amazing.
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is partly own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners.
WARNING!: This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). Fic rating might change depending on what I write for later chapters, but I will warn before any mature scenes. Please keep this in mind.
Extra Note: Contains some spoilers for certain plot points in the series, maybe. Slight AU since it strays from canon – but most of my fics do that, ne?.
Once daytime had fully set in, the toddler!Ziggy wanted to be much more active. He wanted to run and play a bit, and make messes and do general little kid-exploring type things. The twins, it seemed, were utterly fascinated by his presence, chasing after him to see what he did and doing their best to help out where they could. Scott had to sternly remind them not to let him get into trouble, and it wasn't to long before the trio were off, joining him in searching for things to do in the Garage.
Dillon was pretty quickly sent off to his former-boyfriend's room to box up his things and make sure it was usable for the toddler to take over. The only spare room in the Garage had been taken up by Ziggy when he'd originally come to join them, and then Gem and Gemma ended up in the room formerly meant for Ranger Green. Because of this, they really had no where else to set up a room for the boy except his own room. So Dillon had to clean it out, and then he and Scott would help rearrange it to be suited to the younger Ziggy. Summer, meanwhile, was going out to get more groceries, toys, and clothes for the tot. Because he had to stay and make sure the twins and their guest didn't wreak too much havoc, Flynn kindly let the Yellow Ranger borrow his truck, knowing it would probably handle grocery and supply shopping way better.
Dr. K took this time to hole herself up in the lab. She didn't like children, having never had to deal with one before. The girl was nervous about this new Ziggy – the old one had always been curious and chatty with her, something that had taken time but eventually did grow on her. She wasn't sure whether or not to be scared of how he'd be as a child – adult Ziggy was accident prone, loudmouthed and energetic, but this toddler version of him seemed so...timid. It reminded the genius a little bit too much of herself in a way and that meant he must be avoided at all costs.
Sadly for her, it seemed his strange curiosity about her and her work remained, despite his change in age and memories. After a while of typing at her keyboard, attempting to figure out if there was a way to reverse the Clockbot's attack, she realized there was someone standing close to her, breathing quietly. Looking down, K half jumped in surprise, seeing the little boy peaking just over the edge of her desk, watching the girl's fingers as they typed things out on the keyboards to each monitor she had up.
"Ranger Green...what are you doing in here?" she inquired, trying very hard not to yell or snap at him – if she did that, he might cry, and a crying toddler was something K dreaded. He didn't seem that scared, however, smiling up at her brightly, "Seein." he told her, before pointing up at some of the images on the screen, a few graphs and charts, "What're those?"
The Doctor stared at him before explaining the graph. The boy obviously didn't understand what most of the things she was talking about were, but he was quiet and listened with that rapt attention she'd seen him give the rest of the team earlier. There was something unnerving about how closely he was listening, how quiet and alert the boy seemed to be. Like he was soaking up every word and doing his best to understand. And yet, it was, nice. Having someone eagerly listening to her and asking questions without falling asleep at her explanations. He didn't get everything she said but it was obvious the tot appreciated her talking to him just the same.
"Why don't we have a snack while we look this over, Ranger Green?" she asked him, having noticed the boy had actually not objected to her calling him by the title. That small brights mile crept back onto his features as he nodded, K finding a smile perking up the corners of her cheeks as she leaned over to open one of the drawers in her desk.
Outside the Ranger Room, Gem and Gemma had run panicking to Flynn. They had lost Ziggy already! One second he'd been looking in the laundry bins and fallen in, them pretending to search around the room for the boy, and the next second the bin had been flipped and he was gone. The trio were about ready to panic, wondering if he'd left since the upstairs area was barred while Dillon and Scott moved things around. That was when three nervous faces slowly turned to the unlocked doors of the Ranger room – oh no.
Gem, Gemma and Flynn raced in, looking ready for a traumatized K and a room blown up by the unsuspecting Ziggy, but instead found something completely different there than expected for the second time since she'd shrieked that morning. The boy had climbed up into K's lap and she was pointing out bits on the graphs and charts, the pair nibbling on some Mr. Marshmallow snacks as they did so. And the soft smile that had taken over K's cheeks as she seriously explained some bits was worth all of the worry they'd gone through for a few moments, particularly for Gem and Gemma.
"Botherin Dr. K, are ye?" Flynn asked, a pleasant smile upon his face. It was interesting to see the pair interacting and the little genius not being cold and snappish. Ziggy was the only member of the team that close to her age or who put as much effort into trying to get to know her – besides Gem and Gemma, who had already known her.
The little genius sniffed, shaking her head, "On the contrary, Flynn. Ranger Green was being a good student and I was instructing him on the basic elementary principles of bio-fields." she explained, and it was obvious to everyone that she was trying to hide that she liked the company.
Hopping down from K's lap for a moment, he rushed over to grab Flynn's hand and take him to the Ranger wall. "K says I'm Green. What color are you?" he asked, eyes wide and happy as he looked at the suits, as if they were the most amazing things he'd ever seen.
The older male seemed more than happy to show Ziggy which one was his suit in the racks, pointing up to one of the monitors as Dr. K brought up the schematics and powers for the blue suit. Gem and Gemma, wanting to get in on the action, knelt down next and pointed to their suits and once more, K brought up the data.
They managed to keep Ziggy occupied with ranger talk till the sound of Flynn's truck could be heard pulling in out in the Garage, which signaled Summer's return and time to bring things in. Ziggy happily ran out to hug the woman soon as she was home, getting picked up into a tender embrace by the woman and shown some of the new stuff they'd got him, like toys and crayons and even a few new pieces of clothing.
Gem went up after a while to help Scott and Dillon with the rearranging of Ziggy's room, since apparently the younger man's room housed a lot of storage for the team from back when it was a guest room. Seeing as he never had much in the way of actual belongings, he'd just left it that way and there was a lot of cleaning and sorting to be done to make it habitable for someone who wasn't a scrappy twenty something who was used to dusty rooms. Gemma and Summer had to go up after a while too, since a few of their belongings were amongst the others in the former-store room, and Dr. K had to get back to work.
Had he not been with the boy in K's lab earlier in the day, Flynn would have been much more apprehensive about having toddler duty while he was making dinner. Instead, he was easily able to set up the tot at the counter with a piece of paper and a pencil to doodle, and keep an easy watch on him. It astounded everyone just how quiet and well behaved the boy was being, particularly seeing how clumsy and energetic he could be as an adult. Logic – as K had mentioned at one point – would dictate that the boy be even more accident prone and hyperactive than he was presently. Sure, he fell all over the place and was very bouncy, but not nearly as much as expected. It was like that quietness and timidity that came with the innocence also kept him reigned in for some reason.
The Scotsman smiled, having dinner in the over at last. He decided now would be as good a time as any to try and form some sort of bond with the younger boy – one he had generally avoided with the older Ziggy because of how much of a headache spending time with him seemed to be some days, and one he was vaguely wondering now if he should have tried harder to form instead of avoided.
"'ey, kiddo. What's say we make a treat for everybody since 'ey've been workin so hard, ha?" he asked, voice almost conspiratorial as he addressed the toddler. Ziggy's eyes lit up and he nodded immediately, looking ready to listen to whatever instructions Flynn gave him. "Okay, do you know your fruits? Like which one is which?" when he got a nod, the man's face lit up – this would be good. "What you gotta do is stay thar okay, laddy? When I ask for a fruit, you hand it to me." This was gonna be good.
Across town, Tenaya 7 had slowly slipped in, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. When she needed to be, the female could be quite adept at hiding out in Corinth, blending with the humans and all the while preparing for whatever Venjix ordered of her. Presently, she'd have to find a way to get close to the Rangers without them finding out she was nearby, so she could strike Ranger Green while he was least expecting it.
Coming downstairs after all that cleaning and arranging, the team were sweaty, tired and feeling super accomplished. Smelling food when they did get downstairs tended to be a good sign too. And was that fruit on the air as well? Flynn must be trying to get a chance to make smoothies in!
"So, how did taking care of a wily toddler all day go?" Scott asked as he entered the small kitchen and took a seat at the little table they had set up. They didn't do much in the way of 'family' meals so didn't really require a huge dining room. Scott and Summer usually sat the table, Dillon would lean on one of the breakfast bars, the twins would sit on one of them, Ziggy would eat wherever he could find room – usually on the other side of the bar Dillon would lean on – and Flynn would alternate between standing with the twins and sitting at the table.
Flynn smirked, "Pretty good. Lil bugger escaped us for a bit but we apprehended him in the act," he said, pointing his fork at Ziggy who giggled a little before looking around and jumping down from his seat at the bar and running out of the room. Assuming he was heading for the bathroom, the rest of the team ignored it.
"What was he getting up to?" Summer inquired, leaning back lightly in her chair as she sipped the smoothie Flynn and Ziggy had made for her.
Gem and Gemma looked at each other a moment before answering in unison, "Talking to Dr. K." they told the others, laughing in unison at the stunned expressions on their friends' faces.
Scott's jaw dropped, the fork in his hand clattering to the table, "Did he destroy anything?" When the twins shook their heads, that creepy double smile on their features, he was surprised, "Really now? Just hanging around talking to her?"
"Yeah, laddy was askin her all about ranger stuff-" Flynn was cut off in his explanation by the sounds coming from the other room, naming Ziggy's voice saying "Come ooooon, dinnerrrrr." and quite suddenly they saw the boy dragging Dr. K into the room, the young genius half running behind him, somewhere between reluctant and eager, a very confusing conflict to see on the young doctor's face. He pushed out a chair by himself at the bar and pointed to a spare smoothie no one else had noticed, as well as a plate decorated awkwardly as if not by Flynn, who had set up everyone else's plates.
The team exchanged a look as the little genius climbed up beside the tot and quietly started on her dinner, glancing at them all as if this was totally normal. It wasn't, obviously, as K always ate alone in her lab, but no one could really protest. Things were definitely changing with the group because of this new, younger Ziggy. And Dillon though, reaching out to ruffle the boy's hair once more, that might not be so bad for any of them. Little did they know what was lurking in wait for their "newest" team member, in the shadows of the Corinth warehouse district.