A/N: Everyone thank Cool Diva for the cyber kick to my butt, reminding me that I haven't updated this story in quite a while. Unfortunately, I've had writer's block and no beta so I'm not sure when the next chapters will be coming. But please don't hesitate to poke me and remind me from time to time.

Tommy nodded and left the room. Jasmine addressed Jenny. "I have learned that means that you do whatever you must before it starts. Bathroom break, sweater, drinks - you do it all before the meeting starts. I will show you where the bathroom and your room are."

As they left the kitchen and headed upstairs, Jenny said, "I couldn't grab a sweater if I wanted to - our bags are still in the car."

"If you need a sweater, I could loan you one of mine."

"I'd appreciate that, if you don't mind."

Jasmine shook her head. "You are family. I see it in his eyes when he looks at you. It's the same way that David looks at me and John and Sarah look at each other."

Jenny stepped into the bathroom, stunned at the easy acceptance she had found here. She quickly did what she had to do, slipped a few tissues into her pocket and left the room. Jasmine came up the stairs and handed her a sweater. Jenny stared at it. It was beautifully made with a native design woven into the fabric. "I couldn't borrow this - it's too beautiful."

"My grandmother made it and, just between you and me, it's not her best work. But it is warm and that is what it's for. Please use it."

Reverently, she put on the garment. "I'll take care while I'm wearing it."

"I didn't think otherwise. Are you ready?"

Jenny nodded and followed Jasmine back downstairs and through the kitchen to the dining room. Her eyes widened as she looked around the room. It was huge and the table in the center was large and very old as was the sideboard. "Good god."

John noticed Jenny in the doorway as Jasmine went to sit next to David. "My wife inherited it from her mother who inherited it from her aunt. Of course that goes back to the day when this was farmland and families were larger then."

Tommy patted the chair next to him and she moved across the room and sat down. Sarah came in a moment later, carrying a tray of steaming cups. Once they were all handed out, Sarah set the tray on the sideboard and sat down herself and looked at her husband.

He smiled at her and rapped his knuckles on the table. "Okay, let's call this meeting to order. This is the - what, eighteenth? - Oliver extended family meeting."

"I thought we gave up the formalities when I went to college" Tommy laughed.

Sarah grinned at her son. "Tommy, you're out of order."

"That's nothing new." Everyone laughed before John continued.

"We're here so that Jennifer can say what she needs to one time and not three. Jennifer?"

"Jenny. Anyway, I'm not sure where to start. When Sarah and Jasmine and I went into the kitchen after the incident in the foyer, Jasmine asked me if I was a parent and I said no. This was both true and misleading. I once was a parent, but I no longer am."

Even the children were quiet as everyone absorbed this information. She continued. "My daughter was killed in a car accident two years ago. Her father was bringing her home from his visitation and they were hit by a drunk driver. She wasn't wearing her seatbelt and she died."

Jessica slid down out of her chair and padded around the table. She tugged at Jenny's chair until Jenny slid it back. The little girl climbed up into her lap, put her small hands on either side of Jenny's face and looked at her solemnly. "It's okay to be sad. I was sad when Mommy got hurt, and my friend said that it was okay to feel like that. She told me that Mommy would get better and she is and Rachel said it was okay to be happy about that, too."

Jessica hugged Jenny and Jenny hugged her back automatically. "Is Rachel your friend?"

Jessica nodded. "Robert says that she's not real, but she is."

Robert piped up. "Jasmine says that Rachel's just dimagindary."

"Imaginary" corrected David. "Pretend."

"That's what I said" answered Robert stubbornly. "Dimagindary."

Jenny looked at Tommy. "It couldn't be, could it?" she thought.

"I don't know" he thought back. "But if it is, then she truly does have another purpose, doesn't she?"

Sam spoke quietly. "Jessica, what else can you tell us about your friend?"

"She helps me sometimes and she has a pretty dress and she said that her grandpa calls her Rrrrock-elle." The adults were puzzled, but Jessica insisted, "That's what she said, but I can't say it like she does."

Suddenly, Jenny laughed. "Do you mean Raquel?" she asked the girl, rolling the r.

"Yes! She does it just like that!" the little girl said excitedly.

Jenny's eyes twinkled. "I'll bet it's her Grandpa Nick, right?"

"I think so. She said that he takes her to the zoo, sometimes."

Jasmine asked, "Jessica, where is Rachel?"

Jessica cocked her head. "I'm not sure. She didn't come with us 'cause she said she had to check on my mommy."

Slowly, Jenny spoke. "Jessica, I think that your Rachel and my Rachel are the same person. Which would mean that she's definitely not imaginary."

David frowned. "So the child is being haunted?"

"I don't think so. I think that Rachel is supposed to watch over Jessica and her family, but Jessica is the only one who can see her."

Sam spoke again. "She may have the gift to be a seer. Where I have the gift to see events before they happen, she may have the gift to see those that have passed on."

Robert piped up, "I want a gift, too!"

Sam smiled at the boy. "You have gifts, young one. You just haven't found them yet."

Robert slid out of his chair and headed out of the room. "Where are you going?" Jasmine asked him.

"To find my gifts."

Jessica wiggled out of Jenny's lap. "I'm going to help him." With that, she took off after her brother.

Jenny laughed and said, "David, you and Jasmine should probably catch them before they tear up the house. I was done anyway."

John nodded. "Meeting adjourned." David and Jasmine took off after the children. Sarah headed for the kitchen to start dinner. John turned his attention to Jenny and changed the subject.

"So you own Future Tech Industries. Is there any chance of it being publicly traded any time soon?"

"I hadn't even given that any thought. The problem with being publicly traded is that I would have a lot less control than I do now."

John looked disappointed. "And I was looking forward to being on the inside track."

Tommy shook his head and grinned at Jenny. "Dad's a serious tech junkie."

"Hey, before I retired, I worked on and with all kinds of technology. I can't help it if I'm still fascinated with all it can do."

"I'm good with some of that stuff, but not with all of it" Jenny admitted. "I've got three approvals pending that I'd have to research before I can tell the individual offices that they can go ahead."

"Really? For what?"

"One of them is medical, one is software based and I'm not sure about the third one." Jenny had a hunch. "Would you like to see it?"

"I'd love to."

"I'll be right back." Jenny got up and left the room, returning a few minutes later with an envelope. Tommy and Sam left the room as Jenny pulled out some papers and spread them out for John to view.

Tommy stayed in the kitchen to help his mother while Sam went into the living room. Sarah turned her attention to her son as she worked. "So how serious are you about her?"

Tommy took a breath. "Very serious, Mom."

"Have you met her family?"

"No. They don't get along."

Sarah stopped and stared at her son. She couldn't understand that kind of distance in a family. "Can I ask why?"

Tommy frowned. "After Jenny got divorced, she and Rachel lived with her parents for a while. From what I gathered, they kind of ruled her life. She finally got out of the house and started standing up for herself - which they didn't like. After Rachel died, she sued the guy who caused the accident and ended up with the company and a lot of money. Apparently, she disappeared off the face of the earth for a couple of months after that and refuses to tell her family where she was. She told them that she doesn't remember and they don't believe her."

"Because they think that she does." He nodded. "Do you know where she was?"

"She told me and I understand why she doesn't want to tell them. Either way, it's none of their business."

"Tommy, if you were missing for a couple of months, I'd want to know where you were."

"But if I said that I didn't remember or that I didn't want to talk about it, you'd leave it alone. They don't quite seem to grasp that she is old enough and mentally sound enough to make that choice."

"Sounds like they need a mediator."

"It does, doesn't it?" Tommy was thoughtful for a moment and then shook his head. "At this point, I don't know that she'd even consider such a thing. And it's not just her parents. I understand her sisters are acting the same way."

Sarah contemplated this for a long minute. "You do realize that if you are that serious about her, you'll end up dealing with that mess at some point."

"I know, Mom, but I don't know that I can do anything about it. It's not like I can fix it."

"No, but by the mere fact of her family's existence, you have to deal with the situation and the baggage that comes with it."

He sighed. "I know. I thought about contacting them myself, but that's a hornet's nest I'm not sure I want to get in the middle of."

"What would you say? 'Hey, your daughter is my girlfriend and you all need to grow up because I'm going to marry her whether you like it or not.' Not exactly a winning speech, is it?"

He shrugged. "I don't know what I'd say. I'd probably have to confront them face to face and I don't want to lie to her about where I'm going and why. And I didn't say that I was going to marry her."

"You didn't say you weren't, either." Suddenly, Sarah gasped.

"What's wrong?"

"The knife slipped and I cut my hand."

"How bad is it?" he asked, crossing over to her quickly.

"I'm not sure, but hands and heads bleed a lot even from small cuts." She grabbed a couple of paper towels and pressed them against the wound.

"Let me see it, Mom. Don't make me call Dad."

Tommy looked at the wound as best he could through the blood. To him, it looked bad. He raised his voice, making sure that it sounded calm and steady. "Jen, could you come here?" At his mother's questioning look, he said, "Trust me."

Jenny appeared in the kitchen door. "What's up?"

"Mom cut her hand and I can't tell how bad it is. Could you look at it?"

Jenny quickly crossed the kitchen, seeing how pale Sarah was. "Sarah, talk to me. Are you okay?"

"I don't handle seeing my own blood very well."

"Don't look at it" Jenny advised. "Look at your son and focus on him."

Jenny held Sarah's hand over the sink, turned the water on and gently removed the paper towel. "Sarah, I'm going to run some water over your hand and clean it up a bit. Keep focusing on Tommy."

In a couple of minutes, Jenny had the area clean and could see the cut. It was in a bad place, but she doubted it needed stitches. "Move your fingers for me. Tell me if it hurts more than a regular cut."

Sarah wiggled her fingers a bit. "No, I don't think so."

"Do you take aspirin?"

"I took one a couple of hours before you got here."

"But not regularly?"

"No. Why?"

"Aspirin thins the blood and makes it harder for it to clot. If you were taking it regularly, you'd need to call your doctor. This might hurt a little."

Sarah reached for Tommy, who grabbed her hand. "Hang on, Mom. It'll be okay."

Jenny asked, "Sarah, do you have any kind of bandages in the house?"

"Some. Tommy knows where we keep them." Without a word, Tommy hurried out of the room and soon returned with several small boxes and a first aid kit.

Jenny giggled. "It's a cut, Tommy. She didn't lose a hand."

Tommy blushed, but said defensively, "You weren't specific about what you needed."

"Sarah, if you can spare him, I need Tommy's hands for a few minutes."

"I'm okay."

Several minutes later, Jenny had put ointment on the injury, along with butterfly bandages and lightly wrapped the whole thing in gauze. "Okay, Sarah. The gauze is mostly to keep it clean until it starts to heal itself. Luckily, it wasn't any deeper or I'd have sent you to the hospital."

"I'll have Jasmine help Tommy finish dinner. Thank you , Jenny."

Jenny waved it away. "No thanks necessary. What was I going to do - let you bleed and faint on the floor?"

Sarah smiled. Some of the color had returned to her face. "Well, it is my floor after all."

Jenny chuckled as Sarah left to find Jasmine. She turned to Tommy. "Now, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Every year it's something. I just couldn't tell how bad it was."

Jenny wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. "She's okay. It's not as bad as it looked, I promise."

He hugged her back and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm glad you didn't lose your knowledge when you came back from the other world."

"It comes in handy sometimes."

"Thanks" he said softly.

"No problem."

A voice came from the other room. "If you're finished patching up my wife, can we continue our discussion?" John asked.

Jenny laughed at the startled look on Tommy's face. They both walked into the dining room. John grinned at Tommy. "You know as well as I do that something happens every year. I swear, Thanksgiving is going to be what kills your mother, not anything normal."

"I heard that, John!" came Sarah's voice from the kitchen. "Just for that, you get to get up at four in the morning to put the turkey in the oven."

"Now, dear, let's not get crazy" John backpedaled quickly. "You tried that eight years ago, remember?"

"And eight years before that" Tommy added.

"You're not helping, son."

"Wasn't trying to. Maybe I should do it this year."

"When did you learn to cook a turkey?" John demanded.

"In college. Hayley taught me" Tommy answered as Sarah and Jasmine entered the dining room.

Jenny and Jasmine traded looks before Jasmine spoke up. "John and Sarah, I have an idea. What if you two take this year off and let Tommy, Jenny, David and me do the cooking?"

Jenny nodded. "I'll even do the clean up after."

The elder Olivers looked at each other, silently communicating. Finally, John gave his wife a quick nod. Sarah answered, "Thank you, Jasmine. That's a wonderful suggestion."

Jenny bit her lip, thinking. "I might need someone to run to the store for some things."

Sarah commented, "Well, Tommy and Jasmine are going to finish dinner. David or I can go."

"Not you. You need to rest. See if David will go."

"What do you need?"

Jenny listed a half a dozen things. Jasmine shook her head. "Write them down. Tommy, you and I should see if there is anything else we need for tomorrow."

Twenty minutes later, David left with a list in hand. Sarah was watching the children with Sam while Jenny and John went back to their papers. Tommy and Jasmine returned to making dinner.

The pair worked in companionable silence for some time before Jasmine spoke. "I like her."

Tommy glanced at her, startled out of his thoughts. "You do?" When she nodded, he grinned. "I'm glad. She's the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. I'd hate it if my family didn't like her."

Jasmine shook her head. "I'm not quite family yet."

"Yes, you are. Maybe not legally, but you are in every other way."

"Just as Jenny has become part of your family in your eyes?"

Tommy reddened. "Maybe not quite the same way, but yes."

"So are you thinking about a future with her?"

"Yes" he answered simply.

Jasmine studied him for a moment. "If it matters, you have my blessing." She planted a sisterly kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks, Jasmine."

"Are you going to ask her to marry you?"

"Eventually."

"Good." They worked in silence for a little while longer. Jasmine spoke again. "Are you going to have children?"

Tommy was so startled, he dropped the handful of vegetables he was adding to the pot. Adroitly, he dodged the splash of broth that came out of the pot. He sighed, grabbed a towel and began to clean up the mess. "I don't know."

"Do you want kids?"

Tommy nodded. "At some point. But if she doesn't, then it doesn't matter because we won't. I'm not going to push her into having kids if she doesn't want them. Besides, it's a little early to be discussing it."

"Because of the evil in Reefside?" Tommy's head snapped around to look at her, but found she wasn't looking at him. "I watch the news and I would think it would be a scary place to try and have children right now. Maybe after the Power Rangers defeat the evil, but not now."

Tommy's brow furrowed. What did she know? He assumed that David had figured out that he was a Ranger once more, but had David told her? "Well, yeah, but who knows when that will happen?"

"Sam does. He often tells us that one day the threat will end, just as the threat of school for children ends when the summer comes."

Tommy chuckled. "Yeah, but the problem of school and the problem of evil are the same there - it always comes back."

"True, but evil does not always rise in the same places or in the same ways. For a long time, Angel Grove was plagued with the monsters. Then it moved on to other places. Mariner Bay, Blue Bay Harbor, and others - they have all seen the evil and it has always been defeated. Sam says that Reefside, too, will know peace once more."

"That's good to know. I look forward to it." Jasmine tossed the last of the vegetables into the pot and gave it a quick stir. Tommy raised his voice. "Mom, you want to come and check this?"

Sarah came and gave the pot a quick check, adding a little salt. "It'll be ready in about half an hour. Thank you both."

Tommy kissed her and went back into the dining room. Jenny and John were deep in the papers. He was about to leave the room when John said, "I could be wrong, but it appears to be some kind of weapon."

Tommy paused as Jenny answered back, "But what does it do?"

"I'm not sure. If I'm reading this right - and I'm not positive I am - it looks like it would capture and store energy. I'm just not sure what kind. This formula here is the one that's confusing me." He pointed at one of the sheets in front of him.

Jenny frowned and pulled the sheet in front of her. Tommy walked around, leaned on the back of her chair and looked at the page over her shoulder. It seemed vaguely familiar, but he didn't know why. Jenny spoke slowly. "You're right, John. It is a weapon, but I have no idea why one of my branches would be working on these lines."

"Military contract, most likely. Most large research companies have them" John answered.

Jenny's eyes narrowed. She grabbed her phone and flipped it open. "Excuse me. I have a call to make."

Tommy stepped back to let her slide her chair out and watched as she left the room. He studied the page once more. Why did it seem familiar? He turned his attention to his father when John spoke. "I hope I didn't upset her."

Tommy shook his head. "No, Dad, someone else did. You just helped her see it."

John pulled the page in front of him once more. "The numbers here had to come from somewhere, but I haven't seen anything in these formulas that explains them."

Tommy slid into Jenny's vacated seat and looked through the pages. He found what he was looking for. "Look, Dad. There's a footnote here that says it ties into another study. There's a number, but no other information."

"I wonder if it's one of the other ones that she's supposed to approve."

"I don't know. I didn't even know that she brought work with her." Tommy frowned.

"Whose holiday do you think she's ruining right now?" John asked.

Tommy stood up abruptly. "Probably the wrong person's. I'll be right back."

He hurried out of the room. Jasmine was stirring the pot on the stove. She answered his unspoken question. "She's in the back yard."

Tommy slipped out the door in time to hear her say, "Crystal, either we have a military contract or we don't. If we do, then it happened before I took over the company and we should have been informed. If not, then someone has lost their damn mind if they think I'm going to approve this."

Tommy spoke quietly. "Jenny."

Jenny glanced at him and signaled for him to wait. She spoke into the phone again. "I didn't mean right this minute, but we do need to know as soon as reasonably possible. In the meantime, I want to make sure that no further work is being done on this project."

Tommy said, "Give me the phone."

She gave him a puzzled look and spoke into the phone again. "Hang on a minute, Crystal." She turned her attention to him. "What?"

"Give me the phone." Jenny handed it to him and watched curiously. He spoke into it. "Crystal, it's Tommy. I know. I'll handle it. Have a good Thanksgiving and we'll talk to you next week. Okay. Bye." He snapped the phone shut and, in the stunned silence that followed, slipped it into his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Jenny said in disbelief.

"Sweetheart, it's the holidays. Nothing is really going to get accomplished before Monday or Tuesday, at least."

"I know, but-"

"No buts" he said firmly. "Why did you bring work with you? We're only going to be here a couple of days."

"It's work that needs to be done. If Thanksgiving is the same here as it is anywhere else I've been, tomorrow about two o'clock just about everybody will be napping. I thought I could deal with it then. I didn't expect that there would be a problem - or that your dad would even be interested in it."

"I looked at the formula Dad pointed out. I thought it looked kind of familiar, but I don't think I've seen it before. What is it?"

Jenny shivered. "If I'm reading it correctly, the formula is based on bio-energy. It would look familiar because parts of it are in the teleporter equations and in the equations that Logan and Jubilee brought from the other world that helped me figure out what was wrong with Beast."

Tommy thought about this for a minute. "Okay, so it would absorb and store bio-energy. The formulas cross reference with another study, but I don't know which one. The papers give a number, but that's all."

Jenny glanced at her watch. "By now all the databases at the company should be shut down, so I can't access the information even if I wanted to without actually going to one of the buildings."

"So there's nothing you can do right now anyway."

"No."

"Then you might as well let it go for now and you can tackle the problem after the holiday. Okay?"

Jenny sighed heavily and nodded. "I know I should, but just the idea that my company is building a weapon-"

"It might not be. One of your branches does medical research. What if the device is meant to work with something they're working on?"

"It's possible, but unlikely."

Tommy wrapped his arms around her. "You'll figure it out later. In the meantime, relax and don't worry about it."

He felt her relax into his chest. "I'll try." A couple of minutes passed before she spoke again. "Do you think your dad would be interested in a consulting job?"

Tommy snickered. "Try and stop him. But, Jen, please leave it until day after tomorrow."

"I will. Can I have my phone back now?"

He pulled back slightly and she looked up at him. His eyes twinkled at her as he answered her. "No. I don't want you sneaking behind my back and working."

"There are worse things than working" she teased back.

He turned toward the house, pulling her with him. "Well, yeah, but I don't see you being the type to cheat on me so-"

She paused thoughtfully, eyes sparkling with humor. "I doubt I could even find anyone that could live up to the high standards I have now because of you."

"Because I'm just that good."

"And you're modest too" she said cheekily. He laughed and they went into the house together.