Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers

A/N: In the first episode of Wild Force, Princess Shayla does see Cole in the pond. I looked it up.

Alyssa, Max and Danny were enjoying the warmth of the Animarium as they sat around the wooden table Taylor had dragged up from her back yard. Alyssa was "studying" math, while Danny worked on a Sudoku puzzle and Max read a magazine. The wind blew just enough to keep them cool, while the sun warmed the air. "So where is Taylor?" Danny asked.

"She had to go to the base," Alyssa replied, "her reports are due."

"Is it just me or does she really not like us?" Max said, glancing up from his magazine.

"She likes you," Alyssa said, "she's just hard to read sometimes."

"Hard to read," Max said, "you're joking, right?"

"No," Alyssa replied. "Taylor likes all three of us; she's just not the sort of person who hands out hugs and smiles like they were nothing."

"Why?" Max asked, "Why do you think she's like that?"

Alyssa shrugged, "Taylor doesn't really talk about herself, but I think that a part of it is being a woman in the military. She's probably had to be more macho than the guys to fit in. I think another part of it is natural inclination. Some people just aren't open about everything."

Suddenly, the Lion Zord began to roar, loudly, almost joyfully. Shayla came flying out of the temple, turning so that she could see the Lion on his cliff. "What is it, Princess?" Max asked.

"Lion says that the holder of his animal crystal is near," Shayla replied. "He wishes to go find him."

"He can't," Alyssa said.

"Shayla, he'll listen to you, right?" Taylor said, startling the group. "Tell him that we will look for the animal crystal for him."

"How?" Max asked.

"I can look in the pool," Shayla said.

"And we can split up and search Turtle Cove," Taylor said. "Gas stations, hotels, the bus station, airport. All places a visitor will go. Shayla can check the park and the wild areas."

"I will calm down the Lion Zord," Shayla said.

"And we'd best get started," Taylor replied. She didn't really look at Alyssa, Max or Danny; for fear that she would give away just how much of their conversation she had heard. It didn't surprise her that Max and Danny didn't know that she liked them. Well, as much as she liked anyone, really. All the same, she wasn't sure she liked the fact that Alyssa had been blurting out everything she knew.

The first day was a bust, they searched everywhere they could think of, but didn't identify anyone who looked like a future red ranger. Then, they got lucky. The animal crystal set off the fountain during the night, showing them the Tarzan-like crystal holder as he rescued animals from a shelter.

They knew it would take too much time if this Red Ranger, whom Shayla said the Lion Zord said was named Cole, came to the Animarium on his own, so the next morning they went after him. That might not have been the best idea. Taylor got an earful from Alyssa on that one, "You punched him," she said, "just like that. Why didn't you let us convince him?"

"Because, it was too open," Taylor said, "what if someone saw us who was too curious for their own good?"

"You don't know that would have happened," Alyssa pointed out.

"Now, we don't have to worry about it, because Jungle Boy's up here." Taylor replied, leaning against a ruined temple wall.

"I can't reason with you, can I?" Alyssa threw her hands up.

Taylor opened her mouth to respond, but Cole was there, and Shayla was introducing them.

Taylor bit her tongue a lot in the beginning, although from the looks Alyssa, Danny, Max and even Shayla gave her, she wasn't being as diplomatic as she could have been. She didn't complain, or whine, or let on that she was jealous at how quickly everyone accepted Cole's position as leader, at least, not to the extent that she really wanted to. She had learned a long time ago that it wouldn't do any good. At the same time, Taylor tried to help Cole without seeming like it. She knew they needed him, and they needed his abilities. In her first year as a Ranger, Shayla had once told Taylor about how the Power could affect her. She had joked about having a psychic hotline, but had never noticed any changes. She saw them Alyssa, who, the more time she spent with the Tiger Zord, had become more confident, a huntress in her own right, but with a degree of empathy that had eluded Taylor. Max had changed, attaining a more cynical view of things. His battle skills were adapting to his Shark Zord's nature. Danny, well, Taylor hadn't been around Danny enough to see the change, beyond the Bison Ranger's strength.

Cole was different, he had a gift that Taylor couldn't really understand, but couldn't deny. He connected with the Zords on a different level than she had. Where she had spent time talking to Eagle Zord, Cole had conversations. Having watched them, Taylor couldn't doubt that Red Lion talked to Cole. It was one more thing Taylor envied him for. At least, until Cole told her that Eagle Zord liked the way Taylor talked to her. The Zord, apparently, felt that Taylor had kept too much inside before coming to the Animarium, and if Taylor planned to confide in her, well, the Eagle Zord wasn't going to tell stories.

Learning to fly with Eagle Zord was another thing she cherished. It had been painful, to be restricted to the ground for so long. And Eagle Zord was so much more than even the fighter jets Taylor had flown. In the air, in Eagle Zord's cockpit, Taylor began to understand how Cole talked to Red Lion. It was as if there was a steady stream of thoughts between Taylor and Eagle Zord, some emotions, occasionally pictures, but more, a mutual understanding of where to go and how to get there.

After a few months, and under pressure, Taylor could even admit that she liked the half-wild Red Ranger; as much as she liked anyone, of course.

Then came Merrick.