Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers.
A/N: Sorry guys, I've been sort of sitting on this for a month. Long story. Also, Thanks Tatood Libraian for the beta!
Nia paced in the living room nervously as she watched the clock. Conner was going to be here soon and she already knew that things were not going to go well. Her dad had not taken the news of her pregnancy well, especially since Conner hadn't asked her to marry him yet. Her mother had only frowned and said the name sounded familiar to her.
"Nia," Regina Porter said coming out of the kitchen, "you need to calm down."
"I am calm," Nia lied with a trembling smile.
"Liar," her mother said lightly, brushing some of Nia's hair out of her face. "Why are you so nervous?"
"Dad," Nia admitted. "He's been so mad at me for all of this, and at Conner."
"Don't you worry about your father," Regina told her firmly, "he's not going to do anything horrible to your boyfriend. I won't let him."
The doorbell rang, "That must be Conner," Nia said, she spun and headed for the door as her dad came down the hallway. Taking a deep breath, Nia swung the door opened, "Hi Conner," she said cheerfully.
"Nia!" Conner said brightly, he offered her a pink rose, "I missed you."
"I missed you too," Nia replied, taking the rose. "Come in, there are some people who want to meet you."
For a brief moment, Conner's smile faltered, then he took a deep breath and stepped forward, "Let's do this."
Nia led Conner into the living room where her parents waited, "Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend, Conner McKnight. Conner, this is my dad, Walter, and my mom, Regina."
"Mr. and Mrs. Porter," Conner said, he offered his hand to her dad, "it's nice to meet you."
Nia glanced at her mother, who chuckled, "Oh we've met before, Mr. McKnight, though I doubt you remember it."
"We have?" Conner asked.
"Last semester," Regina replied, "in Angel Grove Park."
"Oh shit," Conner said, "you were, I mean, I was." He stopped as Regina chuckled again. "I have no excuse beyond it seemed like a good idea at the time, ma'am. And at the time, I was drunk."
"I remember," Regina replied.
"Mom," Nia said, "you arrested Conner? Why didn't you say something?"
"Arrested?" Walter asked, looking between the three of them.
"My drunk and disorderly," Regina told him, "last year, he and his friend were naked in the park, fighting. The interesting part was that we never found his clothes."
"I never did either," Conner admitted, "but the guy I was with, my friend Nick, we were kind of celebrating." He paused, "He'd been looking for his birth parents, you see, for years and he found them. I just kind of forgot that when I drink I like to... travel."
"If you came down from the university," Nia said, fighting a smile of her own, "that's certainly some traveling."
Conner blushed an insanely bright red, but managed to smile, "So, two black marks and I've barely been here ten minutes," he stated, "I guess asking to speak with you, Mr. Porter, in private as soon as possible would be a little much?"
"I would not mind speaking in private, not at all," Walter replied. "Come into the backyard, Regina and I were planning to grill tonight."
"This is not going to end well," Nia muttered, watching the two of them leave.
"I don't know," Regina replied, "I think getting things out in the open now will go a long way towards getting Conner on your dad's good side. Come into the kitchen, we can put your rose in a vase and get things ready for the grill."
When they sat down to dinner at the outdoor dining area, Walter and Conner were, if not best friends, certainly getting along better than Nia had hoped. Her mother, however, was a different story. "Conner," she said as she passed him the corn, "I do have a question about last year."
"Ok," Conner said looking concerned, "I'll try to answer as well as I can."
"Your arrest record, it's clean now," Regina said. "I checked it earlier this year when Nia told me you were dating, and it's like nothing happened. My Lieutenant told me to back off when I mentioned it, that someone with a higher authority had taken over."
"That," Conner said reluctantly, "I can't tell you."
"Can't, or won't?" Regina asked sharply.
"Can't," Conner said firmly. "There's a non-disclosure agreement with my signature and a promise of a very long time buried so far in the prison system that I'd be lucky to see freedom before I became a grandfather myself." He passed the corn to Nia and continued, "On the other hand, because of that NDA, I also have a possible future in the government should I want it. Between that, the Silver Guardians, and my friend Trent's dad, there are job opportunities all over the West Coast."
"What sort of job opportunities?" Walter asked.
"For me? Military and paramilitary," Conner admitted, "I'm not much for science and math, but the physical work is something I've always been good at. Trent's dad is Anton Mercer of Mercer Industries, though, and he mentioned to me that if Nia was still interested, then he'd be happy to have her as an intern this summer. When they met last month at Sam's memorial, Anton was very impressed. When Anton's impressed with an intern, things can end up being very interesting."
"What about your education?" Regina asked.
"Well, with the NDA job, I'll get college credit through my work. With the Silver Guardians, they'll pay for me to take up to six credits a semester in class, or twelve on-line." Conner shrugged a little, "It's been implied that both BioLabs and the other job would be able to find an opening for Nia too if she's so inclined."
"Conner," Nia said quietly, "why didn't you tell me this before?"
"Because I didn't know," Conner replied, "Doctor Oliver helped me work all this out while you were here. I didn't tell him about the baby, Nia. I just met Wes Collins, the co-commander of the Silver Guardians, over at Doctor Oliver's house and he made the offer to me, and mentioned you. Since his dad owns and runs BioLabs, it's a fairly solid offer."
"Those are fantastic offers," Nia told him, "but I don't understand why."
Conner squirmed and stared at his plate, "I can't tell you," he said quietly. "I want to, I really do. I just, I have to justify it to some people before I can."
"Justify it?" Regina asked.
"I'll have to tell them about Nia's pregnancy," Conner said slowly. "That should be enough for her to be read in." His cell phone went off, the six tone beep that Nia had heard only once before. "Excuse me," Conner said abruptly, "I have to take this." He stood up, pulled his phone out of his pocket and walked away.
"Are you sure about him?" Walter asked, "He seems to have a lot of secrets."
"He does," Nia replied, "but he's worth it. He's smart, funny, and incredible with his kids. He's going to be a wonderful father, and if he can pull it off, he'll be an even better coach."
"I don't want you to get hurt," Regina said gently, "we're worried about you."
"Conner promised," Nia told them both, "he said he'd tell me everything as soon as he could. If it weren't for the government, he'd already tell me." She glanced over to see Conner was standing at the far end of the yard. "I think it has something to do with the Power Rangers that were in Reefside two years ago, or the ones in Blue Bay Harbor the year before that. Conner's twin, Eric, goes to a private school in Blue Bay while Conner lived in Reefside. But please, don't say anything to him. He could get in a lot of trouble I think."
Her parents nodded, and Regina jerked her head slightly. Nia turned to find Conner walking back towards them, looking exceptionally pale, "Is everything ok?" Regina asked.
Conner blinked and frowned, "Yes, it's fine," he said. "Everyone's at the hotel and they thought they'd lost Lexi and Leigh, Doctor Oliver's children. They found them thankfully. Their babysitter wasn't paying attention and the twins decided to 'go find Daddy' and ended up wandering around the hotel. Kira thought they were going to need me back there to help the search is all."
"Kira?" Regina asked.
"She's one of my best friends," Conner replied, "kind of like my quirky sister. We went to school together, but now she's working on becoming a famous rock star. She's in town for the wedding."
Taking a helping of potato salad, Nia added, "I like Kira, her and her boyfriend Trent are a very sweet couple."