DISCLAIMER: I do not own Power Rangers


Chapter 7

Nick began to relax in his seat. The dinner was going fine. They were halfway through the main course and he was having a good time with his friends and Mrs Rocca. Mr Rocca didn't seem to notice him at all. The fuzz Xander had been going on about must have been exaggerated. It wouldn't surprise Nick if Mr Rocca would rise up and leave the room before the dinner was over to do something he found more interesting. The one Nick really had to watch out for was Mrs Rocca. So far, she made him tell her all there was to know about the cities he had lived in, the schools he had gone to and his hobbies. She didn't pry, but she had a way of making you tell her things you hadn't told anyone else before. Nick had to watch his tongue before he spilled his inner most secrets, like his feelings for Madison...

Nick blushed at the thought and had to take a sip of his drink to hide it. Madison saw it and tilted her head in confusion.

The only thing competing with the pleasure of the company was the food. Chip had told it true. Mrs Rocca was an excellent cook. Nick couldn't remember the last time he had eaten something so delicious. The chicken, the beetroots and the potatoes, the sauce... All of it made his mouth water and he made sure to praise Mrs Rocca for it.

He was in the midst of telling Mrs Rocca how he had come across his motorcycle in Atlanta when Mr Rocca suddenly cleared his throat. All conversations around the table immediately died out and the room was left dead quiet.

"Nick, you said your parents are in the army. Planning on joining the forces yourself someday?"

Nick was a little taken aback by the sudden change of subject, not the mention the indelicacy of the question itself. It took a moment before he could work up a reply.

"No, sir. I'm not." Nick winced at his own choice of words. Perhaps 'sir' was to undermine his own worth. Mrs Rocca had insisted upon cutting the formality, maybe that went for Mr Rocca too. Or maybe not...

This was one of the the reason Nick dreaded social events. He never knew how to address people and why it suddenly changed sometimes. It was confusing.

"Why not?" asked Mr Rocca from the other end of the table.

Nick swallowed and glanced nervously at Xander, whose face had turned into a sickening pale green shade. Was this it? Had the interrogation started now?

Nick looked back at Mr Rocca when he answered.

"Uhm, I'm not really sure the army is my thing."

What Nick really wanted to say was that there was no way in hell he would ever join something where he had people shouting at him and where he had to obey to someone else's rules. He was too much of a free spirit to ever want to be told what to do, what to say or when to eat or sleep. He slept when he was tired, he ate when he was hungry and he went where his feet took him. No, the army wasn't for him. His parents had tried on several occasions to persuade him to consider a career within the army, but Nick had let them down every time by saying he would never pick up a gun. He guessed that argument had passed it expiration date now that he was a ranger. A sword wasn't a gun, but it was a weapon.

"What is your thing then - collage?"

Nick wasn't sure he liked the way Mr Rocca said 'thing', it made him feel small and stupid. Normally that kind of rudeness would have ticked him off into saying something snappy in reply, but for Maddy and Vida's sake he bit back his irritation and answered the question politely.

"Could be. I haven't thought much about it yet."

Mr Rocca looked at him suspiciously.

"But you will graduate high school, right?"

"Dad!" Vida gasped, shocked that her father could ask such a rude question. Madison and Mrs Rocca both looked pale. Mrs Rocca shot her husband a warning look. Mr Rocca ignored all of them and fixed his eyes on Nick.

"Of course," was all Nick managed to say. A part of him - the rebellious one - couldn't help but wonder what the man would have done if Nick had said 'no'. What he have been kicked out of the house? Banned from seeing Madison and Vida again?

Across the table Madison was looking at him too. A worried wrinkled had appeared between her eyebrows and she was biting her lip. Nick could tell she was dreading the outcome of this.

"Sounds to me you will not go to collage directly after collage, why is that?" Mr Rocca said and put a piece of potato in his mouth.

Nick watched him chew on it for a brief moment. Was this really happening?

"I guess not. I haven't decided what I want to study or to which school I would like to go to if I go..."

"If you go?" Mr Rocca interrupted sharply, eyebrows raised. "You mean, you may not go to collage at all?"

Nick cursed himself. He had walked right into trap. If he didn't take more care to the words he chose, Mr Rocca would skin him alive. Stuttering he tried to make up for his mistake.

"What I meant was, I find a good job that I like then..."

"Would you say your job at that - " Mr Rocca made a dismissive gesture, "record store I know you're all working at, is a good job?"

Nick bit down his frustration of being interrupted.

"Yes, definitely, but..."

"But you don't want to stay there for the rest of your life," Mr Rocca finished the sentence for him. Nick sensed that Mr Rocca had gone through this before at work. It would take a lot to get the man off balance.

Nick tried to keep his calm when he answered.

"Don't get me wrong, it is a great place to work at, but I don't see myself staying there my whole life. I'm not like Toby."

He received an encouraging smile from Madison at those words and his confidence got itself a boost. Maybe he was doing better than he thought. His confidence was however very short lived. When he glanced back at Mr Rocca, the old man's eyes had become cold.

"So running a business is not you thing either, huh?"

Nick was starting to feel his internal flames coming to life. What had he ever done to this man to deserve this shit?

Thankfully, Chip came to his aid before Nick lost his temper.

"I think what Nick meant was that although Rock Porium is a great place to work at now when we're in our teen years, it may not be as great when we are in our thirties or forties. The possibility of making a career is very limited unless you own the shop yourself."

Despite Chip's best efforts, Mr Rocca chose to misinterpret. Nick began to understand what Xander had been talking about. The look he received from the old man could make even the thickest wall quiver.

"So money is what's driving you," Mr Rocca concluded with a snort. "If there isn't money in it, you won't bother."

Nick gritted his teeth as his element sprung to life inside him with a roar. The man had gone to far. Nick had been invited here as a guest, but he was treated as a criminal. He wouldn't have it, any of it.

"No, money is not what's driving me," Nick hissed.

Across the table he heard Madison inhale sharply. He knew she could sense his mood, the others too. Even Mrs Rocca shifted position nervously, pleading with her eyes to her husband to stop this interrogation. But Mr Rocca refused to yield.

"So what are your plans for the future then, Russell?"

It was like waving a red cape in front of bull. Nick felt how something inside him snapped.

"My plans are just that, Mr Rocca," he growled dangerously calm, "My own! I don't have justify them or explain them to anyone, least of all to you. My plans are not a concern to you, but I can tell you this much: I don't plan too far ahead. It kills the excitement of living."

Mr Rocca put down his glass on the table. The die had been cast.

"So you're into thrills. Ever been involved with the law?"

"Daddy," Vida pleaded at the same her mother put a hand on top of Nick's to get his attention.

"You don't have to answer that, Nick."

Neither of the two men heard them though.

"Might be I have a speeding ticket or two. Is that a problem, sir?"

Mr Rocca's nostrils flared. He heard the challenge Nick put out to him.

"So you admit you are a man of speed."

"Wouldn't have a bike if I wasn't."

"Bought it yourself?"

"Down to the very last coin. Every cent earned through hard, honest work. Wanna see the receipt?"

The silence in the room was so thick, Nick believed it was possible to cut it through with a knife. No one said anything for a whole minute. Xander and Chip were staring down in their laps, Aaron had slid off his chair to seek protecting under Chip's arm. Vida was silently pleading with her eyes to her father to end this madness. Nick decided to help her by being the one of the two men to break the eye contact first. He reached for his glass, hoping a sip of the cider might help him calm down, but the sweet fluid almost choked him when he caught the look of Madison's face over the edge of the glass. She was on the brink of bursting into the tears.

"Who wants more to eat?" Mrs Rocca chirped in an attempt to smoothen the uncomfortable silence in the room.

"I do!" Chip immediately responded, eager to follow her lead. Xander wasn't late to second that.

"Me too!" Aaron said and ran to his mother.

Even Vida nodded to her mother that she wanted more. The only ones that remained silent were Nick and Madison. Nick couldn't take his eyes off of Madison. Her bottom was trembling terribly of the tears threatening to burst at any second. It was breaking his heart to watch and know he was partly to blame for it. He wanted to reach out to her, but found himself incapable of moving a single muscle.

Before anyone had the chance to stop her, Madison rose from her chair and grabbed the serving tray.

"I'll get the chicken," she told her mother.

Then she was gone, without even as much as a glance in Nick's direction. Terrified that he had ruined something beyond repair between them, Nick turned to Vida to plead her to go after Madison. He didn't have to though. Vida was already standing. After discreetly adjusting her dress, Vida grabbed the sauce pot and told her mother she would lend Madison a hand. On her way out, she shot Nick a commanding glare to fix this - pronto!

Nick followed her out with his gaze, praying there was something Vida could tell her sister to forgive him. He hadn't meant to starting a fight with Mr Rocca. He just... lost control. Vida was right though, he needed to fix this. If he wanted to be friends with them, he couldn't be fighting with their father.

"I hope you understand why I'm being so harsh on you, Nick," Mr Rocca said unexpectedly after receiving several murdering looks from his wife.

Nick turned his head towards the man, but said nothing. Mr Rocca continued:

"Being in the police force for as long as I have, I've grown very protective of my girls. I know what can happen to young women if they are not properly looked after. I would hate anything bad happen to them. As their father it is my job to make sure nothing bad happens to them or anyone hurting them. That includes judging whether or not they keep good company. I am sure you can understand that."

Nick blinked twice before snorting. He sipped on his cider.

"You have awfully little faith in your daughters."

Mr Rocca's eyebrows rose.

"I beg you pardon."

Nick took his time to put down the glass and find the right words to say.

"I haven't been in Briarwood a year yet, but during the short time I've been here I've come to learn that your daughters are perfectly capable of looking after for themselves. They don't need your protection, or anyone else's. They can judge for themselves who's bad company and who isn't. They wouldn't have befriended me if they thought of me as bad company. Their opinion is all that matters. If they find me suitable, why can't you? Perhaps you should ask yourself if it's really me you don't trust, or if it is yourself."

Silence held the room in it's tight grip for a long moment. Mr Rocca stared at Nick, who met the man's gaze with confidence. If only Mr Rocca knew his daughters were rangers, Nick mused for himself, then perhaps the old man wouldn't be so worried about Nick and Xander hurting them.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Mr Rocca exploded into a fit of laughter. Everyone around the table looked at him as if he had gone crazy.

"There's spirit in you, boy!" The man laughed and added once he calmed down again: "I began to fear you were as wimpish as the rest of your lot, but there's actually spirit in you. You're alright. You should see the look on your face."

As the man resumed eating, Nick exchanged a look with Xander, who looked as confused as Nick felt. Had this been nothing but a big jape?