.:09:.

Some Secrets Revealed

Jason grinned when Avalon raced across the concrete and collided into him with a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground. He set her back down and grabbed her face to kiss her. Avalon threw her arms around his neck and tilted her head, giving him a long kiss.

Jason laughed when he pulled back and rested his forehead against hers. His eyes searched her face, noticing the smile that made her freckled cheeks bunch up. "Hm, never thought I'd see the day when you were actually happy," he said. "Let alone, happy to see me."

"I can't be happy to see my boyfriend?" Avalon shot back.

"I'm waiting for the part where you call me 'Rudolph' again," Jason pointed out.

"All in due time, mate. All in due time." She wrapped her arms around his stomach and rested her cheek against him. Jason smiled and put his chin atop her head as he hugged her back. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

"I got the idea when I saw the massive smile on your face." Jason stepped back and took Avalon's hand as they started to stroll around Mariner Bay. "And from your last couple of phone calls. Honestly, I think you're starting to freak out a little bit. There's always something that manages to freak you out."

"Uh, excuse me, but I think I'm one of the most levelheaded out of all of us," Avalon defended herself. Jason snorted. "I heard that."

"I know, that's why I decided to do it. Av, you're the last levelheaded person I've met." He held up his hand when Avalon pushed him on the arm. "You're reckless and judgmental and jump to conclusions and jump into fights…"

"I don't know how many people would do that when faced with a 90 foot monster that's taking down their city." Avalon waved her free hand other. "Other than this new lot, anyway."

"Yeah, a lot has changed since we've been rangers," Jason agreed. "Well, since I've been a ranger." He tightened his grasp around her hand. "There was always something going on when we were rangers and now life is…"

"Boring?"

"I was going to say slower, but okay." Jason directed them over to a nearby bench and sat down. Avalon nestled next to him and he put his arm around her shoulders. "But slower is okay. I'm able to actually stay in my classes long enough that I don't have the reflexes of wanting to run every time I hear a bell go off."

Avalon laughed. "Yeah, I think that's the part I'm not going to get over." She rolled her eyes. "Especially when they're so freeing loud out here."

"It is a governmental military base," Jason pointed out.

Avalon bobbed her head back and forth and nodded. The two fell in silence for a long stretch of time. Avalon sighed wistfully. It was actually what she really needed at that moment. She was tired of the way her dad—sorry, Captain Mitchell—treated her and Bailey, tired of being seen as an accessory to the ranger team rather than an asset, tired of the way he breathed down her neck over her college classes and micromanaged her when she was training with the other rangers. To the point she was surprised she hadn't punched him yet.

Though, if she were being honest, it wasn't just because of the way he treated her. It was for everything. The point of them going out there was to try and talk to him about everything that had been going on and he was still silent about it. Even Miss. Fairweather did her best to reassure the girls that he still really wanted to talk to them about how he truly felt.

"You just need to be patient," she said. "There's a lot that's going on with him right now, especially with this new team of rangers and the demons that are running around."

"Really?" Avalon had asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I hadn't noticed considering how much he's been drilling them into the ground and they all follow him like sheep."

"Your father is very well respected in what he does and he loves this job more than anything."

"I realized that a long time ago."

Miss. Fairweather had given her a look and hurried over to one of the scientists that was frantically waving her over while something sparked behind them. And it was then that Avalon had decided to call Jason and ask him to visit. She knew she was being nasty, but there was something about being around her father that instantly put her in a bad mood. She used to be that way with her mother, actually.

A small smile came to Avalon's face as she remembered it. How was she supposed to act when her mother had suddenly arrived in Angel Grove when she hadn't seen or heard from her in a few years. That moment of her arrival had set everything in motion. It made her aware of Dana and Ryan and an entire new family and life she didn't know she had. If she thought about it seriously enough, that's where all of her problems started.

That's when everything with the Vipers came to a head, when she found out about all of the lies that had been told to her, when she found out that her friends weren't as upstanding as she thought they were. (And sort of made fun of them for). The thought of it, knowing how long it ago it had been, Avalon was able to see how much she changed. Though it still stung.

"Yes, I'm looking for my daughter. She's supposed to be in this class."

Avalon immediately recognized the velvety, accented voice and before she could stop herself, an audible gasp escaped her lips. Her friends turned her way and having taken one look at her face, they knew she knew who was at the door. Still, Avalon stayed rooted to the spot as Ms. Appleby opened the door further and invited Ellie Mitchell into the classroom.

"Mum?" Avalon finally managed to find her voice. For the first time in her life she didn't sound confident. Her fingers curled into her palms, her knees started to shake, and she was sure she would pass out at any second. "Mum?"

"Hey sweetie," Ellie Mitchell returned with a bright smile.

"Avalon, it seems that your mother would like to have a word with you," Ms. Appleby said to the orange ranger with a bright smile. "Feel free to take a few minutes."

"Thanks." Avalon slowly rose from her seat and gathered her books and backpack. She followed her mother out of the classroom, gently closing the door behind them. She turned to her mother, who stood in front of her, smiling warmly. Ellie's eyes turned misty as the seconds passed, her eyes trying to drink in every part of her eldest daughter before she opened her arms and hugged her.

Avalon surprised herself by reaching her arms up and wrapping them around her mother, hugging her tightly. She smelled like roses, exactly as Avalon remembered. Her hug was as tender and calming just as any mother's was and Avalon found her eyes welling up the longer she held onto her mother. Ellie pulled back and cupped Avalon's face in her hands, smiling warmly at her. She used her thumb to push away a tear that escaped Avalon's eyes, rolling down her cheek.

"I don't know why I'm crying," Avalon murmured, embarrassed. She hadn't known how she would react when she finally saw her mother again and now…Avalon took a step back. She was angry at her. She had left them all for drugs and wanting to have her own life. Well, she could just keep that life she wanted. Avalon's eyes hardened and she took a step back away from Ellie. "What are you doing here?" Her voice come out as a hiss.

Ellie raised an eyebrow. "I see your father has been telling you a lot of things," she said, her melodic voice taking on a sarcastic tone. Avalon heel turned and headed towards her locker. Ellie followed behind her, her high heels clacking as she went. "I want you to know what he's said isn't true."

"So you didn't abandon us?" Avalon snapped. "Sorry, I thought not being around for three years meant that."

"No. Cadence, there's a lot that you don't understand."

"That's an understatement."

"If you'd give me a chance to explain, then you'd see that I'm not as bad a person as you think I am," Ellie continued, matching her stride. Avalon stopped at her locket and opened the door. She pretended to look for her books for her next class, but her mind was so confused she just stood there, staring at the notebooks, folders and textbooks resting on the bench. She stared at the back of the metal locker, trying to figure out what to say. Ellie moved up next to Avalon, opened the door further. "Avalon?"

"Fuck off, Mum," Avalon finally found something to say. "You don't deserve it." She reached out a hand to close her locker door, but stopped when Ellie firmly grabbed onto her wrist. She turned towards her mother, glaring up at her, surprised to find Ellie glaring back. That's where I got it from, Avalon thought. She resembled her mother more than her father.

"Whether you like it or not, Cadence, I'm still your mother and I will not allow you to speak to me that way," Ellie said firmly. "Now, if you're done throwing a temper tantrum and hang on a tick before your next class, there are a lot of things we need to talk about." She lowered her hand, her eyes following the movement. Avalon quickly pulled her hand back, but it was too late. "What's that?"

"A tattoo," Avalon replied coolly, silently daring her mother to say something about it.

Ellie nodded. She hitched her purse up over her shoulder and took a step back, giving Avalon room to close her locker door. Letting out a sigh that seemed to come from the tips of her toes, the orange ranger closed her locker door and turned to her mother, nodding. Ellie gave a grateful smile and walked out of the front of Angel Grove high, carefully sitting down on the front steps as the rangers had done before. Avalon sat down next to her, feet in front of her, hands dropped down and dangling between her legs.

"Cadence, what you and Abigail need to know—"

"She goes by Bailey," Avalon interrupted.

Ellie smiled. "She always had insisted on that," she said. Ellie pushed her blonde hair away from her dark eyes her smile fading. "I know it's been a long time but I need you to know that I haven't stopped thinking about you and your sister since…what happened between me and your father."

"You mean before I was shipped out here?" Avalon spat.

Ellie nodded grimly. "What you need to know, sweetie, is that we weren't as happy as you and Bailey thought we were." Avalon's eyes slowly narrowed. "Yes, there was a time when we were in love, but I wasn't in love with the man your father was. I was in love with his image. You see, I thought he was a single man that was working with the government. Turns out, while he didn't lie, he wasn't exactly upfront with what he really was."

Ellie gently shook her head. "The boofhead," she added. Avalon continued to stare at her. Ellie took a deep breath and continued. "You see, your father…he was doing experiments while working with the government, making different sources of energy and working alongside those that are experts in machinery. Unbeknownst to me, he was studying different extraterrestrial attacks that the Earth had seen before and was trying to find a way to prevent them. It was with that studying he had heard about these beings called Power Rangers."

Avalon could feel her face blanch. She did her best not to look her mother directly in the eye or down at her power morpher. Discreetly, she moved her hand up to cover her communicator.

"And with that knowledge, knowing there had never been a set of rangers that were on earth and set out trying to make powers for humans to take over to become rangers as well, so that in case the earth was attacked again, they could defend it." Ellie sighed. "Well, one day he was testing it out in the garage and you walked inside and were hit by the beam that held the power. When your father told me I was furious, I demanded that he would keep that work away from you and Bailey and then this happened. He and I watched you for days, to see if there was anything different about you and when nothing happened, he became irate; disappointed that I hadn't worked, and effectively shut himself off of the world to keep trying. I was tired of being ignored and I didn't want that in my home, it as the final straw to the relationship that we had and I gave him the ultimatum that we if he didn't stop, I was going to leave him and take you and Bailey with me."

Avalon blinked, all of the angry tension leaving her. "What?"

"As soon as I told him that, he freaked out and we took it to court to see who would have custody. You see, your father and I were never married when we had you and Bailey. We were going to that point before…everything happened. So when it came up in court they saw a woman that had no job as she was a stay at home mom and a man that worked for the government who had the money to give you two everything you wanted. I fought hard, but I lost custody. I couldn't see you at all. So, I started to work hard, I got a job and did everything I could be sure I could be a good mother to you two. When I came back I was told that…you were gone. William had sent you to live with his sister and that was that."

Ellie took Avalon's hand in hers. "I still plan on becoming your mother again; it just took me this long to find you. Your father didn't want to tell me at first—"

"He knows where I am?" Avalon's eyebrows twitched. "That we've been living here…what we've been through?"

Ellie nodded. Her eyes moved to Avalon's tattoo and she placed her hand in her daughter's. "I know about the trouble you've been in, where you've been living, how things are going for you now. And I want things to get better for you."

"Wait. Just. Wait." Avalon brought her hands up to her head and took in a few deep breaths. She squeezed her eyes shut. What just happened? Everything that she had known had been a lie. Her parents…their relationship…her mother being on drugs…what was even real anymore? "You weren't on drugs?"

"No."

"You and Dad weren't married?"

"No."

"He knew where we were the whole time and he didn't want to try and get us?" Avalon lifted her head, teeth clenched tightly together. Her face was screwed up in a glare. "I don't fucking believe this!" She stood up, stomping her feet on the step. She stomped so hard that it cracked under her foot. Ellie glanced at the crack but remained silent.

"Is everything OK?" Kimberly's sweet voice came from behind them and Avalon turned to find her friends slowly making their way out of the front of the school, coming down the steps behind them.

Ellie stood up and turned to the rangers, holding her hand out towards Tommy. "I'm Eleanor Mitchell."

"I'm Tommy." He shook her hand firmly, giving her a smile. "And this Kimberly, Zack, Trini, Billy, and Jason." Each one smiled and waved as their names were called. Tommy hesitated before motioning over to Avalon. "We're Avalon's and Bailey's friends. It's nice to meet you Mrs. Mitchell."

"Ellie is fine," she corrected him, holding up her hands. She turned back to Avalon. "I was just…explaining some things to Avalon and understandably she didn't take it well." She then turned back to Billy. "I understand that my daughters have been living with you for a while now."

"That's right," Billy agreed.

"Thank you, to you and your parents for taking my girls in," Ellie said sincerely. "I know things haven't been easy for them but the hospitality and everything that you've shown them is all they or I could have asked for."

Billy nodded.

"So you know about everything?" Zack pressed. His eyes shifted to Avalon, who brought a hand up to scratched her forehead, using it as a cover for the scowl that appeared on her face.

"Yeah," Avalon said. "She knows about The Vipers and everything. She knows what Bailey and I have been through." She brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face, and then twisted her mouth to the side. "But, Mum, if you and Dad weren't married…what was wrong with your relationship that made things break up so badly?"

Ellie gave Avalon a sad smile. She turned away for a moment, covering her mouth with a hand and cleared her throat before looking directly at her daughter. Avalon raised her eyebrows, waiting for a response. "Cadey… your father and I weren't married…but he had been before." Avalon's eyebrows slammed together. "In fact, I didn't know he had been. I thought he was single. I had been…sleeping with him while he was still married and had you. Not long after you were born, your father's wife died."

Avalon's eyebrows wrinkled her forehead now, giving her a headache.

"He has a son and a daughter from that wife. You have a brother and a sister. Their names are Ryan and Dana. Ryan is a little older than you and Dana is around your age." Ellie shook her head. "I didn't know until after Bailey was born. Then it all made sense. His constant trips, times where he would suddenly get off the phone. He was with her."

"That's not true," Avalon murmured. "You're lying!"

"I'm not," Ellie said firmly. "She was sick with cancer, he knew she didn't have much longer to live and he was depressed, knowing she wasn't going to be around and with his workload and the hospital visits and that's around the time I met him…" She trailed off. "I thought you needed to know," Ellie murmured.

Trini looked at Billy and spoke before the blue ranger could stop her. "It's true." All eyes turned to her.

Billy licked his lips. "You had told me his name once, and I decided to look it up, to see what else he had been working on along with the powers you now have." He cleared his throat as he looked at his best friend. Her face had gone from extreme anger to extreme hurt. A second later it was gone, replaced with an apathetic mask. "And…when I was doing that, I found out that he had another family. Dana and Ryan are your half brother and sister. It's true."

Kimberly covered her mouth with her hand.

Avalon held up a hand, pinched the bridge of her nose then lowered her shaking hand. "You both knew and you didn't tell me?" Their guilty expressions gave her the answer she needed. "I don't fucking believe this!" She walked up a step and shoved Billy hard on the shoulder. Jason quickly moved down to her side and took her arm, pulling her a few steps away. He kept his hand on her arm. "I live in your house, helped you get with her,"—she gestured to Trini—"willingly submitted myself to science experiments so you could try and figure out what was going on with my extra powers, was a friend to you, and after all of that you decided to keep this a secret? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?!"

"We're sorry, Avalon," Trini apologized, pleading. "We just didn't think it was right for you to know—"

"I'm not talking to you!" Avalon spat at the yellow ranger before turning her gaze back to the blue ranger. "How long have you known?"

Billy opened and closed his mouth for a few moments then lowered his gaze. "A while," he admitted.

Avalon pursed her lips and glanced at Jason before looking at Kimberly, Tommy, and Zack, whose faces held different levels of shock. "I'm guessing by the stupid looks on your faces that you lot didn't know either?" She didn't let them respond before turning back to her mother.

"We didn't mean to keep it from you, Ava," Billy continued. She winced, hearing the nickname come from his mouth. "We just—"

Avalon gave him the finger, turning away from him. She walked over to her mother, looking up at her. As Ellie looked back, she could see a scared, broken little girl that was on the edge of bursting out into tears, confused and just wanting comfort from her mother. Ellie reached up and cupped Avalon's cheek.

"I know this is a lot for you to work through—"

"For her to work through?" Zack broke in. "I'm so confused!"

She sighed and shook her head. Jason noticed and leaned back so he could look at her face clearly. "What's up?" He gently rubbed her shoulder. "You look like you're upset about something."

The corner of Avalon's lips turned up. "Not upset, really," she said. "Just thinking about a lot of things. Wondering what the point truly is being here."

"You wondered the same thing about being in Angel Grove," Jason pointed out. "And that turned out to be one of the best things that could've happened." He licked his lips and leaned back. "Without you and Bailey joining our team, who knows where we would've ended up. With the new monsters and threats that came around—"

"—If we hadn't come around, then you wouldn't have become addicted to steroids, Kim wouldn't have become anorexic—"

"—You don't know that, Avie." Jason removed his arm from her shoulders and dropped his hands to his lap. He leaned forward to look her in the eye. His eyebrows lowered to a serious expression. "Everything happens for a reason. Even if you guys weren't there we'd still probably have to go against those new monsters. Rita and Zedd were doing their best to take us down and they would've done anything to do it. My decision to take steroids was my decision. It wasn't a good idea, but I don't regret everything I've learned from it. If we didn't learn from the decisions we make in life, then life isn't worth living."

"Thanks, Zordon," Avalon teased, gently pushing him on the arm. Jason laughed. "Do you always have to give me lectures like that?"

"Only when I feel you need it." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "As for your new team, I'm sure it'll take some time for you to get used to them. It was the same when you met us." He nodded. "Sure, getting used to Dana and your father being around must be hard but if there's anyone that can handle it. It's you. And being able to work with these new Lightspeed powers must be pretty cool."

Avalon heard something in his voice and her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? It's just new powers, like we seem to get every year."

"Well, considering it's the same powers your father was using when you were little, and you were exposed to it…now that Billy's managed to help perfect them—"

Avalon's body went cold. Instead of the warmth she felt from sitting next to her boyfriend, a shudder went through her. Backing away, Avalon mimicked Jason's stance to look back at him. "What?" Avalon asked, a bite to her tone.

"The Lightspeed powers," Jason clarified. "Billy helped your dad perfect them." Then he noticed the thunderous look on her face. "Didn't you know?"

A/N: Thank you so much for those that are continuing to read and enjoy the story. Next chapter is Bailey focused. Hope you all like this one, as well as Jason's appearance. Also, if you haven't already, check out the next story in the Powerless series, The Wounded Hart all about Kimberly!

~Av