~Lady starlet09: I don't own any of the characters of PR: Time force. Ella is of my own creation and imagination. Please leave reviews afterwards! Thanks. P.S. Check my other stories too, if interested. Rated M for mature scenes and sexual content!

Chapter 6

Ella sleepily opened her eyes at the gentle rocking sensation of her body. She found herself looking at a red shirt with the silver guardian symbol. Peeking upward under her thick eyelashes so that she still appeared to be asleep, she saw that it was only Eric and that he was carrying her in his strong arms. They were in the private only parking garage.

A loud beeping of a car nearby signaled that they were going home. She closed her eyes and leaned her cheek against the area where she could feel his heartbeat, comforted by the masculine scent and warmth that he provided her. Ella could barely suppress a smile when she heard him cursing under his breath of how he was going to get her into the truck.

"Hey Eric!" She heard Wes calling a few cars down. "Need some help with her?"

"Yeah, why don't you come hold my wife for a sec while I unlock the door." Eric replied while shifting her slightly in his arms. "She's light, but I still can't hold her and get my door open at the same time without dropping everything."

Hurried footsteps could be heard before Ella felt the gentle shifting motion of her being transported into Wes' arms. The red ranger chuckled with amusement as he watched his friend toss his backpack and empty picnic basket in the backseat. "Man, her food is really good. I hope she keeps this up for some time." He grinned.

Eric tossed him a dark look as he took Ella back into his arms and turned around to secure her in the front passenger seat. "I actually hope she doesn't because its far too dangerous for a woman like her to be walking alone when there are mutants still roaming the streets."

"Awww," Groaned Wes as he tossed up a hand in the air. "Aren't you being a little bit too controlling about that? If she was able to get away from her abusive step-dad like that to marry the likes of your ass, then she can surely take care of herself just fine walking over here with a homemade lunch." Wes put an heavy emphasis on the word 'homemade'.

Eric shut the car door and turned towards him with a frown as he folded his arms. "Since when do you care about my attitude these days?" He demanded with a slight edge in his voice. "I have to worry about a million different things now, including Ella."

Wes fought the urge to slug his best friend in the face as he deserved, but instead rolled his eyes up at the parking roof as if this was a normal argument that they often had on a daily basis. "Yeah, yeah," He waved Eric off. "You are the boss of yourself and your personal life. I was just saying that if she is here," He pointed at the ground between them. "You can have a better eye on her until things settle down and perhaps she could find a job nearby where you can pick her up after both of you get off work."

A small tic appeared on the lower jaw of Eric as he stared at Wes for a long moment before letting out a long sigh. He wiped his forehead with his forearm. "Sure why not, just as long as she doesn't get you fat off her food and you don't slack from work, then I have no other choice but to allow this arrangement for the time being." He raised a finger in the air as Wes' mouth turned upwards in a huge, satisfied grin. "Now get home. I"ll see you in the morning."

Wes saluted him with another chuckle and wave before jogging off to get into his red car parked a few lanes down. Eric mumbled under his breath about what he was getting into know with allowing Ella to come with him to work. He got into his truck and started it before sitting back in his seat to allow the engine to warm up. He glanced over at Ella's sleeping face and couldn't help himself of caressing her cheek for a quick second.

It was only the fourth day and already he was feeling a strange change overcome him whenever he caught himself thinking of her or watching her from a distance. Ella mumbled in her sleep, moving herself in a more comfortable position with her head leaning against the closed window as a low snore came out of her.

Eric chuckled as he pulled out the parking lot and drove towards home. The drive was peaceful and for one in his whole career as a silver guardian, he actually was coming home was something to look forward to now that he had married his childhood friend. There was still much that he wanted to know about her, given that it had been almost eleven years since he had last seen Ella when he was just barely graduating from high-school.

He wanted to know her likes and dislikes, what she loved to wear?, what kind of music she listens to nowadays?, did she have any other siblings?, what was her life growing up into the young woman she was today?, did she regret having him as her best and most trusted friend, even though he was almost seventeen when they had first met and she, barely ten.

Eric didn't feel any regret on his end when he saved her life on the fated day during a pool party that his mother was hosting for friends and family. In fact, it seemed at the time, despite the wide age gap between the two of them, she was the only one he could really trust and talk to without feeling like he had to always fit in with the 'popular crowd'.

Looking back on the day he told her that he was moving away, she had cried and cried, begging for him to not leave her and that she needed him. She had even said that she loved him with all her heart and that she didn't want anyone else. Eric had easily dismissed this a child's grief when a friendship suddenly take a unexpected turn at some point, but now that he was thinking of those three little words eleven years later with her beside him once more as his married wife, he strongly believed hat fate played a critical hand of reuniting them in cruel twist of fate.

Ella's own mother didn't seem to really pay any heed to the personal needs of her daughter as she played around with men, drinking and working nonstop just to provide for the both of them over the years. And now that her mother re-married to a husband that was very abusive both physically, verbally and sexually, it made Eric all the more determined to want to protect Ella at any cost it took from the world that she had been forced to grow and live with until he came back in the picture.

She had always been there for him when he was hurting emotionally after his mother died from a long battle with Ovarian cancer, so the least that he could do was try and be there for her and somehow, in his heart of heart that is still very much cold from all the traumatic events that he had been through, he needed to find that tiny bud of love that he, himself had always carried within.

He drove into the parking garage on the second floor and parked. Turning to Ella, he gently shook her awake while placing small kisses on her cheek. "Ella, love. We are home now." He whispered softly in her ear as she stirred. "Time to wake up so that I can get you to bed so you can continue your nap." He unbuckled her seat belt before getting out and walking over to the passenger door. Opening it slightly and putting his arm in so that she didn't fall to the ground, he lifted her legs after grabbing his bag in the backseat and hoisted her into his arms, slamming the car door shut behind him as he beeped the alarm and began walking towards the elevator.

"You sure know how to sleep when there is a commotion going on around you, woman." He grunted as he pressed the elevator button. Eric looked down at her for a moment. "Is this how you coped back home when your folks were fighting?" He wondered out loud. The elevator doors slid opened and he walked inside as the they shut closed behind him. Pressing his floor number, Eric flexed his shoulders as he shifted her in his arms, making her face press into his neck. Instantly, a boner rose in his pants as he got a faint whiff of strawberry shampoo, mixed with a unknown women's perfume that blended in with her skin's natural scent.

The elevator suddenly stopped and the door slid open. Eric shifted his bag in front of his offending body part, hoping that no one would stop to talk to him as he made his way down the long corridor to his apartment.

"Hey, Eric!"

Swearing, Eric turned around with a small fake smile to find his landlord hurrying towards him with a paper in his hands. "I was on my to the local grocery store and came across this flier on a window. Given who you work for and such," He breathlessly panted as he handed it over to Eric's already full hands. "I thought that it would be best to let you know about it." He gestured slightly with his right hand at Ella's sleeping face. "I heard her story this morning about what she went through and its a damn shame that they would even try to get her back after all the shit they put the poor girl through." He wheezed.

"Who are 'they'?" Eric asked with a puzzled frown.

"Why her damn fucken asshole of a poor excuse of parents that is!" The Italian landlord cried indigently. "They put up a fucken missing flier with her picture all over the place! I bet you that it's even on the news!"

Eric looked at the flier that he had been given, keeping a expressionless face as he found a picture of Ella dressed in a light pink blouse and demi jeans, smiling out at him. Under the picture it said, "Ella Macoy, age 21, 5'1, 103 LBS, last seen on June 23, 2004 in the area of lower LA Heights. Please call if you have any information of her whereabouts. A reward of $500 goes towards anyone who knows where she is."

"Thank you for letting me know." Eric said as the landlord mumbled a welcome. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out on her."

"Sure, sure." The landlord quickly walked off to take care of some business with another tenet while Eric still stood still in the hallway. He stuffed the flier in his pants pocket and continued on to his door where he quickly unlocked the door and went inside, closing it firmly and re-locking it before he walked over to the master bedroom and put Ella down on the bed. She let out a little moan as he pulled the comforter over her to keep her warm.

"Shh, its alright. We are home know." He whispered as he patted her hand. "Just sleep a little longer while I take a shower and take care of some business." Eric closed the blinds and left the bedroom door open slightly ajar after getting undressed to take a hot shower. He needed some time to properly think about what he was going to do with her 'missing' case.

He didn't want her parents to know where she lived, but he was sure that someone had seen her leave in a strange black SUV truck on the day that he had come picked her up near her house. Eric purposely turned on the cold shower instead to force his mind to work properly and got in, sucking in air sharply as the ice cold water sprayed over his aching body.

Four days and already the drama had started with a loud bang.

What the fuck was he going to do now?