A/N: Once again I am terribly sorry for the delay in chapters. This is the last chapter of this story; I hadn't intended it to be but my muse just seemed to have run out of ideas for this story and this popped into my mind last night. With Christmas just two days away, I wanted to give this story a fun, Christmas ending and this is what my muse came up with. So I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, thanks for the wonderful reviews I received for this story and I want to wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!
Three Months Later
It was Christmas time on the Animarium. Snow was falling down around the rangers, courtesy of Princess Shayla and the Wild Zords had retreated to a cave to get away from the unfamiliar white stuff that was taking over their green landscape.
"You know what we should do this year?" Max suggested, looking around at the group.
"What's that?" Cole asked, glancing up from where he was running his fingers gently down Merrick's hand.
"Secret Santa." the blue ranger suggested, a gleam in his eye. "I mean seriously, it'd be fun! My family used to do it all the time at Christmas. You put everyone's name in a hat and draw it out and you buy for the person you choose, except that you can't tell them until Christmas day that you had their name."
"It might be fun." Merrick spoke up. "I never used to have a reason to actually celebrate Christmas, but I think this year is different." he said, smiling at Cole, who he had officially been dating for the last three months now. Ever since the day Merrick had gone after him when Cole had walked off after finding out his friends had known about his feelings before he'd even known about them.
"Then let's do it." Alyssa said, tearing a sheet of paper out of her notebook and writing everyone's name down on it. Then she put then into Max's hat and swirled it around a couple times to mix the names up and handed it to Danny, letting him draw first.
Danny drew first and opened his paper to reveal that he was buying for Taylor He frowned slightly, wondering what on earth he was going to get her that she would actually like. The former Air Force pilot was hard to please even when she was at her best, but he would figure out something, he always did.
Max drew next and was buying for Danny. He smiled as he refolded the paper and slipped it into his pocket. He knew just what to buy for his friend.
After Alyssa drew, buying for Max and Taylor drew, buying for Alyssa, that left three papers left, Cole, Merrick and Princess Shayla. While they were looking away, Alyssa carefully slipped Princess Shayla's paper out of the hat and then offered it to Cole, a smile on her face as she watched as he drew the paper and then handed the hat to Merrick. She glanced around at the group and caught the smiles from the Princess, Max, Danny and Taylor as they had realized what she had done. She just hoped Cole and Merrick would not realize.
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Christmas morning found the rangers waking about as early as Cole normally woke and trudging out in the barely lit Animarium still in their pajamas. Princess Shayla, who hardly ever slept while her rangers were sleeping, had already been up for hours and had surprised the rangers with breakfast waiting for them. She smiled when they came out.
"Good morning and Merry Christmas!" she said happily.
"Morning." 5 voices replied tiredly in unison. The only one of the group that was fully awake asides from the princess was Cole, who sat down with a huge smile on his face.
"Morning Princess and Merry Christmas." he said, tugging Merrick down into the seat beside him.
"Eat up." she said, taking a seat next to them. "Then you can open your gifts." She waved her hand to a tree that none of the rangers had remembered being there before, all decorated and with a pile of gifts underneath, neatly wrapped.
"Princess, when did you have time to do this?" Taylor asked in awe as she took a bite of the breakfast. It was delicious!
Princess Shayla smiled. "There are things you do not know about me Taylor." she said mysteriously. "And things you shall find out in time when I am ready for you to know. For now, suffice it to say that I have always loved Christmas but like Merrick, had no reason to celebrate it until recently."
"This is delicious Princess Shayla." Max said, biting into the eggs she had made and then taking a drink of the hot cider she had poured for each of them.
After they finished eating, it was like excited children in a candy store as the food was suddenly abandoned and the rangers had scurried over to the tree and sat down in front of it, dragging a laughing Princess Shayla with them, who handed out first the gifts she had given each of them, which were miniature versions of their animal crystals that they could wear around their necks. Then she handed out the Secret Santa gifts.
"The first is from Danny, to Taylor." she said as she handed Taylor the yellow package.
Taylor opened it to find a mini version of the F-14 bomber, her favorite plane and one she'd been wanting to get for a long time but had never seemed to be able to. She smiled at Danny and hugged him. "Thanks, Danny. I love it."
"The next is from Max, to Danny." Princess Shayla said as she handed Danny a package wrapped in black.
Danny opened it to find a bunch of seed packages for the garden he had been working on back home, before he'd been taken to the Animarium, and had hoped to get back to one day. There was also a new watering can and a gardening book that Danny had had his eye on the last time he and Max had been in the bookstore.
"Max, this is awesome! Thank you!" Danny said, flashing a smile at his friend.
"The next is from Alyssa, to Max." Princess Shayla said as she handed Max a package wrapped in blue.
Max opened it to find a glass figurine of his surging shark that actually looked as if it was diving into the water. Alyssa really knew his fondness for his animal crystal. She had also gotten him a book titled "Idiots Guide to Bowling", which he couldn't help but chuckle at. Before he had become a ranger Max had been on his way to becoming the youngest professional bowler. The others still liked to tease him about it sometimes. "Thanks Alyssa. I love it." he said, smiling at her.
"From Taylor, to Alyssa." The Princess said, handing Alyssa a package wrapped in white.
When Alyssa opened it she found several things that only Taylor had known she would like. A statue of a white tiger with cubs surrounding it (a joke amongst her and Taylor about how Alyssa was like a mother tiger watching over her cubs) and several day planners and other things that would help her in her aspiration of becoming a teacher. "Thanks Taylor." she said, smiling at her friend.
Princess Shayla exchanged smiles with the others as they came to the last two. It was obvious now that it had been a trick.
"From Merrick to Cole." Princess Shayla said, trying to keep a straight face as she handed Cole a red wrapped package.
Cole averted his gaze from the rest of his friends, knowing that he and Merrick had been set up but having to hand it to them at the way they had gone about it. When he opened the package he found a statue that identically resembled his red lion, surrounded by a wolf who was howling at the moon who he knew all to well had to be Merrick.
When Merrick opened his package, he was surprised to have found a hand carved flute that had been painted red with a hint of white. Tucked underneath the tissue paper was a book titled "Billiards for Dummies" that he had to laugh at. Cole must had run into Alyssa at the bookstore as they were buying the books. It was a running joke amongst his friends that at 3,000 years old, he was a billiards master, when pool, or at least the pool they knew today, hadn't been invented during his time. It figured Cole would find something like this book funny and truth be told, Merrick did to. It would serve Cole better to read through the book because every time they played pool, Merrick kicked the red ranger's butt ten times over.
Their eyes met at exactly the same time, grins breaking out on both their faces. "Thanks." they said in unison.
"Where did you learn how to carve like this?" Merrick asked, holding the flute gently in his hands as if he thought it would break.
"In the village I grew up in." Cole told him. "Princess Shayla said you always loved to play the flute and I wanted to make something special for you and thought you'd like that." he said.
Merrick smiled and hugged him. "Well, thank you. I do, I love it." he said.
The others joined in the hug, pulling Princess Shayla into the middle of it.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" they all shouted in unison, snow falling down around them.