AN: Hey, told you it wouldn't be too long between updates. Sorry about the heaviness - I swear the next one will be funny! Review if you can, I love chatting with you guys. Oh, and Once A Ranger was the Team Up/Mash Up with PROO - I flipped when I saw who was in it.
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28. duty [once a ranger pt 1&2]
"Tor…" he trailed off, the frown on his face telling enough. Tori turned from her duffel bag to face her boyfriend.
"I know," she said, twining her fingers with his and giving him a sad smile. "But I have to."
Anyone else would've scoffed at the idea that Tori Hanson had to do anything she didn't want to, but Blake knew better.
This was a Ranger thing. Few understood what that truly meant. Sure, there was the power rush, the camaraderie of a team, the sense of belonging - but being a Ranger meant being a part of something larger than just you. You were a part of generations of people, willing to put their lives on the line for a world who'd never get to see their faces and tell them thank you.
Thank you for saving my child, thank you for rescuing me, thank you for being here, thank you for living, thank you thank you thank you.
Being a Ranger meant loyalty. It meant duty. Being a Ranger meant you had a whole other branch of your family tree, most of whom you only knew by name and color - but you knew you'd lay your life down for any one of them at a moment's notice.
Once a Ranger, always a Ranger.
Tori stared down at their interlaced fingers and bit her lip. "I wish you were coming with me," she whispered, her shoulders tense. Blake's frown softened into a sad smile.
"Me too," he murmured, and it was the truth. If he was entirely honest with himself, he was a bit jealous of his girlfriend. The Power had been returned to its place in the Abyss of Evil after that last run in with the Dino Rangers, but Tori had gotten a second (third?) chance at it all.
Hunter had been the strongest, Shane the fastest. Cam was the smartest, Dustin the most balanced. But Tori was all heart. She was strength and love and everything the Power could have asked for in a Ranger. Tori was meant to be Ranger, more than any of them and had been the heart of their whole team.
"Don't want to leave you," she said into his shoulder and he held her close. He pressed his lips to the top of her head, breathing in her shampoo and memorizing the feel of her hair against his cheek.
"Call me if you need me, I'll be there no matter what," he said seriously, pulling away for a moment to look her in the eyes. "I may not be a Ranger any more, but I can still kick some ass." He managed a playful smile at this and Tori's lips quirked up into a tiny grin.
"You're half right," she said, her grin growing slightly. He raised an eyebrow in question and her eyes sparkled like they hadn't for the past few days, even as her voice grew more serious. "You'll always be a Ranger Blake, you more than anyone." Blake remained silent, unsure of how to respond. He'd been the expendable one, hadn't he? A good Ranger, sure, but there'd been a lot of good Rangers. His team had been great. "You're the soul of the whole team Blake," Tori said, catching his gaze with hers. "And you'll never stop being a Ranger."
"I love you," he said plainly, having no other words to tell her how much she meant to him, how much her words meant to him. "Be safe, be strong."
"Love you too," she murmured against his lips, every inch of her pressed tightly against him, as if to meld them together into one person simply by determination alone. When they broke apart, she turned away from him. Blake almost did the same - if he looked at her for too long, god knows what he'd do to make her stay.
But she'd be alright. His Tori was powerful and smart and sexy as hell. She would be everything that team would need. She was already everything he did. And now he had a duty to her.
"Go kick some ass babe, you'll be perfect," he told her, and he knew she heard him by the way her shoulders relaxed and her head lifted. So strong, his Tori. Once a Ranger, always a Ranger.