Part 2: In This Bright Future You Can't Forget Your Past

Chapter 10: Christmas Eve Ranger Ball

Author's Note: I'm on a roll! This is like 3 chapters in 2 weeks! I'm really into this story; I know exactly where I want it to go. But you will still get your question at the end:) I'm so happy with all the reviews, everyone answered the question and I love that.

Dedication: I would like to dedicate this NyokaDelFanfiction. She was the first person to ever review my story.

Disclaimer: I'll own Starship when Tootsie learns the alphabet. I don't own the song This is War by Thirty Seconds to Mars. You might want to look it up because unlike the last song I put in this story, I'm not putting the lyrics in. The song is 5: 30… that would take a long time.

P.S. My new avatar picture is the dress Taz wears to the ball, it was my homecoming dress. If you can't get a clear picture of what it's supposed to look like check it out. Also here is a link to February's dress: .com/Faris-Purple-Prom-Dresses/p/127440. Also one to Specs' dress: .com/TFNC-Embellished-One-Shoulder-Dress/vx5un/?iid=1517954&MID=35719&affid=2135&siteID=Hy3bqNL2jtQ-vFvW2A1oKB2FKtSee3r4FA&r=2&mporgp=L1Byb2Qv. Alright also one for Jessica: .

Up sat down next to Taz in the Mess Hall. Things were still a little bit weird between them.

"I still don't understand why they put the Ranger Ball on Christmas Eve." Up said, shaking his head.

"Jou going?" Taz asked turning her head to look at him. She smiled when she saw the hospital bracelet on his wrist.

"Yeah… Jessica wants to announce our engagement there, but I would rather just mention it in a Christmas card." Taz chuckled at this. "Are you going?"

"Maybe." She shrugged.

Up just stared at her.

"What?" She smiled as she asked. "Can I not go?"

"Taz, you'll have to wear a dress."

"I can do dat."

"Ok." He rolled his eyes as he said it.

"I'm insulted!" She picked up a tomato from her salad and threw it at him.

"Wow, real mature." This just made Taz throw another tomato.

Up got up, ran over to the buffet, grabbed the two cans of Reddi Whip, and holstered them. Taz followed, grabbed the bowl of mash potatoes and a big spoon. They chased each other around the cafeteria; Up spraying her with the whip cream and Taz flinging mash potatoes at him. Everyone else in the cafeteria was left to fend for themselves.

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"Donde se? Donde se?" Taz yelled as she dug through her closet.

Tonight was Christmas Eve, the night of the Ranger Ball.

"Found it!" She pulled out a gorgeous black dress. "Now where are dose shoes?"

It took her less time to find her shoes than her dress, and pretty soon those too joined the dress on the bed. She went into her bathroom and dug out her makeup bag. She hadn't used it in ages but it was high quality stuff so it should all still be good. Taz then looked in the mirror. Her hair had grown a lot in the last six months, but not enough for her to do too much with it.

She put her dress on and examined herself in the mirror. She had bought it last year for a banquet but didn't end up going to it. She had forgotten about it until today when February asked if she wanted to go with them to the Ball.

"Let's see if I remember how to do dis." She said as she grabbed her curling iron.

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"Taz, are you ready yet?" February called from outside her door.

Taz slipped on her shoe and zipped up the back. She opened the door and stepped out.

"About time…" Krayonder trailed off when he saw Taz.

"OhMiDeadGod! Taz you look gorgeous!" February cried.

Taz was in a black dress with a very low V-neck that met at a belt of sequins just under her boobs. The straps were sequined, about three inches thick, and made an X on her back. The rest of her back was exposed. The rest of the skirt was plain black and came about 3 inches above her knee but when she spun it flowed out around her. Her heels were black and about four inches tall. She had curled her hair and put it up in a loose bun with her two signature long pieces, curled and framing her face. The only jewelry Taz wore were diamond stud earrings. Her makeup was natural looking as she was already gorgeous without it. The most noticeable thing was the soft pink on her lips.

Taz looked at everyone else. The boys were in black tuxes and February was in a short purple dress. The top was plain purple and then there was a belt of rhinestones. The skirt was made of thin little purple feathers and ended about 3 inches above her knee. She was wearing plain purple pumps dyed the same color as her dress. She had a necklace and a bracelet on and her hair was wavy. Specs was in a blue one sleeve dress with what looked like rays of sunshine except they were silver, coming out of the sleeve. Both sides of the dress were pleated and it came about 4 inches above the knee. Her shoes were silver pumps and her hair was natural. Megagirl looked normal except for her armor had been recently polished.

"Let's get going then." Bug said linking arms with February.

Everyone else linked arms with their date and began walking toward the Sky Deck. Taz, who didn't have a date, was in the back of the group. She then swiftly and flawlessly in her heels walked to the front of the group. The rest of the Rangers made a V-formation behind her like birds do when flying in a flock.

They reached the doors to the Sky Deck and Taz pushed them open. Everyone was dancing before dinner was served but they all turned to see who had just walked in. Someone snapped a picture of the crew because Taz was standing at the front with her hands on her hips, Krayonder was holding Specs from behind, Tootsie and Megagirl were still arm and arm, and February had her hands on Bug's shoulders and he had his arms around her waist.

Taz caused to the crowd to part as she walked through them to their table. Her crew followed still in their awesome V- formation. The whole way Taz heard people whisper as she walked past them.

"Who is that girl?"

"Why does she look so familiar?"

"That's Commander Up's crew!"

"Is that Lieutenant Taz?"

"HAHAHA! Lieutenant Taz in a dress? Have you gone insane?"

Finally, they made it to their table and Taz flopped into her chair.

"Taz, you should lead the crew more often. That was the best entrance ever!" February cried.

"That was spectacular." Specs agreed.

They spent about 20 minutes talking and having a good time. Tootsie had told some stories from Farm Planet and Krayonder was in the middle of a hilarious joke (yes, even Taz thought it was funny) when the people who were supposed to be occupying the two empty seats walked up.

"Ok so stop me if you've heard this one. There's a plane going down and there's only one parachute. There's a Rabbi, a priest-"

"And a black guy!" Taz and Specs cry in unison.

"Were you telling a black joke?" Jessica asked with a disgusted look on her face.

"Well yeah, everyone tells jokes about race." Krayonder said with a shocked look on his face.

"I don't." she replied coldly.

"Isn't she so pure?" Up cooed as he pulled out Jessica's chair for her.

"The purest." Taz responded with a forced smile plastered on her face.

"I'll just tell another joke then." Krayonder said with his teeth clenched. "If you drop a blonde and a brunette from 100 ft, which hits the ground first?"

They all reply with 'I don't know, "except for Jessica who is just sitting there with her arms crossed.

"The brunette, because the blonde has to ask directions on the way down!" Krayonder slapped the table as he laughed at his own joke.

The rest of the table roared with laughter, until Jessica spoke up.

"I'm blonde." She said coldly. The laughter stopped immediately.

"hehehehe… Hey look! Ours foods here!" Bug cried awkwardly.

They all dug in, knowing that it can't possibly be awkward if your mouth is full of food. Taz noticed that Jessica made sure to keep the engagement ring in everyone at the table's sight. Finally, about half way through dinner, Jessica got up to use the restroom.

"I'm sorry about how she has been acting tonight guys. She might be recievin' an award tonight and she's real nervous because it was between her and another Lieutenant. She gets snappy when she's real nervous." Up explained. Taz noticed he was still wearing her hospital bracelet.

When Jessica arrived back at the table, Taz finally noticed what she was wearing. It was a short (I mean SHORT) one sleeved gold sparkly dress. The one sleeve was long and made it to her wrist, but she had it pulled up about half way up her forearm. She was wearing matching gold pumps and her blonde hair was in a sleek pony tail, with not a hair out of place.

She looked gorgeous to say the least.

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There was a tapping on the mic and then throat clearing. Everyone on the Deck looked to the stage and saw the Admiral standing there with the microphone in his hand. His top General was standing to his right and his trophy wife was to his left. After listing all of the accomplishments of Starship 15A2 this year, he began giving out awards and recognitions.

"The award for Most Valuable Ranger in Sector C is…" He opened the envelope.

"That's Jessica's sector." Up whispered to Taz.

"Lieutenant Jessica Darling."

"OMiDeadGod, I won!" She clutched her chest as she got out of her chair.

She walked up calmly to get her award, shook hands with the Admiral as his wife put the medal around her neck, and then walked back with the biggest smile on her face. Taz couldn't help but feel happy for her.

More awards were given out and finally they heard the awards for Sector H being given out. Everyone sitting at the table starting grinning like maniacs, except for Bug and Jessica.

"The Most Valuable Ranger from Sector H is… Ranger Bug."

Everyone knew that Bug was a shoe in for the MVR of Sector H.

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The awards had been going on for awhile and Taz was starting to lose interest. Finally, she heard him announce the last award and began to clap along with everyone else.

"Hold your applause. This year we have added one more award, the Commander and Lieutenant Award. It is for the Commander and Lieutenant who have showed a great work relationship as well as a great friendship. I know present to you the winners of the Commander and Lieutenant Award of-" He stopped as his wife handed him the envelope. He pushed it away. "I don't need the envelope to know the winner of this one! The winners are Lieutenant Taz and Commander Up."

Again, as Taz walked up, she heard the whispers.

"That can't be her!"
"I bet the Commander did something big to get her to come."

"I'll bet that science officer stole all her clothes and put that dress in there."

She also heard the whispers on the way back to her chair.

"That is definitely her!"

"How would you know?"

"She must have heard us, so she flashed me the knife strapped to her thigh under her dress."

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The party was in full swing and all the tables had been cleared from the Deck to allow maximum dancing. The engagement had just been announced and Taz needed a drink.

"So how do the sectors work?" She heard someone ask her.

"Are jou an idiota? Jou had to learn dat in like de first week at de Academy." Taz insulted without even turning around.

"I didn't go to the Academy… but I asked February and she didn't know either." Bug said with an air of understanding in his voice.

"Oh! I sorry Bug!" She spun around and saw Bug and February standing there. "Ok so dere is de whole G.L.E.E and den dere are de Starships. We are on Starship 15A2. Each Starship is run by an Admiral, ours is Admiral Hagen. Depending on how many people are on a Starship, dere is a certain number of sectors. We have 23 sectors and each sector is run by a General. Den, don't ask me how dey assign everything, but dey assign different crews to different sectors. We are in Sector H and our General is General Wilson. De next level is Commander and dat is what Up is. When jou are a commander jou have jour own crew and den it is Lieutenant, which is what I am. Den it goes Private, Ensign/Ranger, solider, rookie, and den trainee. But back to de sectors, if someone in our crew became sick or injured and our crew had to go on a rescue mission, we would borrow whatever rank of solider we needed from another crew in our sector."

"Oh! I get it now! Thank you so much, can you answer one more question then?" Bug asked.

"Sure."

"What's the difference between a-"

"Hold to dat thought." Taz said as she walked onto the dance floor.

She watched as Up was struggling to teach Jessica the steps to a dance. He spotted Taz and motioned her over. Reluctantly, she made her way over.

"Jessica, watch Taz." He instructed. He put his arm around her waist and Taz put her hand on his shoulder and they waltzed to the song for a minute. Jessica cleared her throat and the two broke apart. Jessica tried again but she still wasn't getting it all the way. The song changed as Taz stepped up to help again. Up winked at Taz and she smiled back.

"Can I have this dance, Taziana?" He whispered

"Why yes jou may, Jason."

"This is going to be fun." She thought as Jessica gave them both weird looks as they back away from each other.

As the intro played, Up bowed to Taz and she curtsied back. She held her hand out and on the first word of This is War, he spun her. He let her go and she did a few turns and spins on her own. As they song gained speed they came together and did a bunch of fast spins and twirls.

Jessica backed away from the two with a look of horror on her face. Her friends swarmed her but she swatted them away. Everyone else backed up to the edges of the deck to give the pair the whole floor. The Admiral looked down from his spot on the stage as his best Commander and Lieutenant showed what they were made of.

Taz and Up made up their own dance as they continued around they deck. Neither was one to follow tradition.

There was much spinning and twirling, as well as Taz doing some ballet moves by herself. Up sometimes picked her up and spun her around or they danced around with her standing on his toes and him doing all the work. At some points they looked like they were in Beauty and the Beast, dancing in the ballroom other times they looked like they were in Tangled, dancing in the square. Taz's ballet looked like something the professionals choreographed. Once, Up stood in the middle and just spun Taz for about 30 seconds. Another time, she ran and jumped into his arms and he spun her around. They also danced around like they did in Get Back Up.

The whole time Jessica heard whispers.

"They're so good together."

"They must have spent a ton of time learning how the other one dances."

"He handles her so lovingly."

"You've got the ring. You've got the ring." She thought as she heard these.

Once the song was finished everyone clapped and whooped. It had been a magical performance.

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Taz was dancing when the clock struck midnight. She had been dancing the night away and had completely lost track of time. She immediately stopped and glanced at Up. He was having so much fun she didn't want to drag him away from it… but she had to.

"Up!" She called as she fought her way over to him.

She grabbed his arm and he looked down at his Lieutenant.

"Up, it's midnight. We need to video chat Ryder."

"I can't just leave, Jessica will kill me."

"I want to catch him before he goes to bed."

They had moved away from all the dancing people.

"He'll be there in the morning."

"Up, it's a tradition! He's family!" She couldn't see why he didn't understand.

"Well the other part of my family is here. I can talk to him in the morning."

"He's our son!"

With that she turned on her heel and walked out of the Sky Deck. Up couldn't just stand there, so he did what he always did and chased after her.

OMIDEADGOD! What did I just drop on yall? I wanted to wait for a later chapter to reveal it but I just couldn't wait! I know, I put a lot of information in this chapter. I'm sorry but I'm hoping you will be able to remember some of it. Oh and before I forget Happy 2012 everyone! Hope we all survive it! JK, I don't believe in the apocalypse. Gold Stars to Anna and Music4life, for they pointed out the Glee reference. Gold Stars for whoever points out the Avenue Q reference and the AVPM reference:)

Google Translate (for the small thing it put in here): Donde se? Donde se?- Where is it? Where is it?

Question Time! Question: Who should know about Ryder on Starship 15A2? Background info on him: Taz's brother Jose and his wife, Veronica, are talking care of him. Ryder knows that Up and Taz are his real parents.

Answer choices: Again open ended question. The only person that I require to not know is Jessica, I've got something planned for her.

Happy 2012

-Kellyxoxoxo