DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but this story and the character of Meredith. Everything else belongs to someone with more money and imagination than myself. Enjoy!

NO TIME

They believed giving up their powers would give them more time with their families and in their relationships. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for many of the former rangers.

Meredith was busy trying to finish her undergraduate degree quickly. Rocky, since Meredith was always busy studying, spent his time studying his architecture books and teaching classes at the dojo.

Adam wasn't seeing Tanya daily, so he spent his time with his nose in his books.

The group was seeing their time diminish and they were trying very hard to keep it together.

Jason was the only one that was grateful for what ever time he got with Katherine.

Shortly after he made a total ass out of himself with Meredith, he'd done a lot of thinking. Katherine had left him and was throwing herself into her dancing. Jason was lost. He didn't have a relationship with any of his close friends anymore because of his actions.

He was ready to move away and skip college for a year when Meredith had shown up at his house. Remembering that day made him smile and cry because it showed just how great Meredith really was and how she was willing to forgive, for his sake.

Jason had spent another day working out in his basement. Luckily his parents hadn't noticed the lack of friends at the house and the absence of Meredith. He'd told them what had happened, but he'd neglected to keep his part in it out of any conversations.

Jason had kicked himself several thousand times over the way he handled what had happened. He knew if he'd been honest with Meredith from the beginning, things would have been drastically different.

He was on his way upstairs to shower, when the doorbell rang. He draped the towel around his neck and walked to the door. He peeked through one of the windows beside the door and was shocked to see Meredith standing there. He quickly unlocked the door and opened it for her."Hey, Jase. Mind if I come in," she asked.

Still shocked, Jason could only nod and open the storm door to allow Meredith inside.

"I'm the last person you'd expect to come see you," she his voice, Jason answered, "Yeah, but I didn't think you'd ever want to see me again."Meredith entered the Scott home. A place she'd spent a lot of time with Jason during their relationship.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you. I had to sneak away from Tommy and Rocky while they were sparring. They're being a bit over protective of me lately," she said, sitting on the couch in the living room.

"You sneaking away? That doesn't sound like you," he said, trying to lighten the moment.

"Well, this was important," she said to sat down on the chair opposite Meredith and waited to see what she wanted to see him about.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened with me," she said."You don't have to say anything. I understand that my lies didn't help your situation," Jason said, dreading what she was going to say.

"No they didn't, but it's not right for everyone to blame you. It's not your fault. I mean, it is your fault that you lied and pretended, but you didn't give me the pills anymore than Tommy or Rocky did. All those events happened together and I caved. You didn't tell me to do it. I made that decision. I realize now, that was the wrong decision to make," she said.

Jason stared at Meredith. She took a deep breath and continued.

"You were someone I considered my best friend. We could talk about anything and I knew I could count on you, despite what happened between us in the past. We were getting our friendship back. Then this happened. I wasn't hurt so much by what you did as I was that you actually did it. I had always thought you above all that. I thought you would have been honest with me about everything. I guess having that trust broken and Rocky leaving and Tommy being gone, just hit me at the wrong time. So, because I want to get my life back and put this episode behind me, I'm going to forgive you. We've got a long way to go to rebuild that friendship, but I think we'll do it," Meredith was shocked. He couldn't believe what had just happened and he didn't know what to say. Meredith, who could always sense when he couldn't speak, just stood up and walked to the front door."Call Katherine. She might have decided to give you another chance since I've decided to give you one. She loves you, Jase and you need that. See you later," she said before exiting the house. Jason heard the soft click of the door knob and ran to his phone. He dialed Katherine's number and was elated to hear the lilt of Katherine's accent when she answered."It's Jason," he said."Hi. What can I do for you," she asked."Meredith just left. She told me to call you. She's decided to give me another chance at friendship and she said you might be willing to give me another chance as well," he said, his heart beat pounding in his ears."Meredith forgave you," Katherine asked."She did. She and I are going to work on our friendship, but I want to know how I can repair what I've done to you," he said."Well, if Meredith's willing to forgive you, then I guess letting you take me out for dinner to talk about what happened would be a good start," she said."Awesome. I'll pick you up in an hour. Is that OK," he asked, running up the stairs with the cordless phone."That's fine with me. I'll be waiting," she said before they hung up.

Jason and Katherine had a wonderful 'getting to know you' date and had continued at a slow pace for the next several weeks.

By the time he'd moved into the apartment with Adam and Tommy, he and Katherine were back together. She was involved in an intense dancing program, so he had limited time with her, but he was glad whenever he got to see her.

Tommy was waiting. Kimberly had a late class on Tuesdays and he always met her after class to walk her home since it was late. They had both been so busy with studying that they barely saw each other. Granted, Kimberly was usually at his apartment, they were both reading or writing most of the time. Their alone time was alarmingly short.

Tommy had been wishing he had more time to spend with her. He felt that, while their time was usually interrupted when they were rangers, they spent more time together. At least then they fought side by side during the battles. Now, if they weren't in class, they were studying. Kimberly was on the nursing tract and Tommy was still deciding so he was in the general science department. They did take a few classes together, but they still had limited time. Weekends were usually spent with family. When they did spend time together they usually watched movies or something, too tired to go out or do anything more than hang out.

One night, Tommy sat Kimberly down. "Kim, we have to make time for each other," he said."We're together all the time when we're not in class," Kimberly said."Yes, but we don't spend time together just talking or hanging out. We have to make sure we make time for us," he said.

"I know, but what are we going to do," she asked."Well, you have that late class Tuesday nights, so I'm going to have dinner with Meri that night and then pick you up after the class. That way, we don't have to rush over to Meri's over the weekend because I haven't seen my sister. Then we have all that extra time to ourselves. We can go out, stay in or whatever, but we are having a date night," he smiled at him. "That is the best idea you've had in a long time, Oliver," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him."Glad you like it. This is the best idea you've had all day," he said, kissing her back.

Kimberly pushed the books off the bed and fell back on top of Tommy. They kissed and forgot all about their homework for a couple of hours.

Meredith walked up the steps to her apartment she shared with Rocky. She had been accepted into an accelerated undergrad program so she could enter medical school faster, but she was exhausted. She was cramming four years of study into two and a half and she was wiped out.

She opened the door to the apartment, not surprised it was unlocked. When they were home and not sleeping or busy, they usually just left the door unlocked, since the entrance to the stairwell was locked and inside the dojo.

Meredith slipped off her shoes and dropped her bag on the bench. It was Friday and, if she had anything to say about it, she wasn't doing anything until Sunday evening. She'd been studying too much and was getting headaches from the lack of sleep. She also missed Rocky. He was putting in a lot of hours at the dojo since it was their main source of income, but he was also taking classes to pursue a degree in architecture.

Meredith couldn't remember the last time they had actually talked about something that wasn't household related, business related or school related. She left notes for Rocky when she left while he was still sleeping or teaching and he did the same for her. But Meredith knew they could exist of notes for the next six years. She was scared that they were going to drift apart, so she was determined to spend the weekend with him. She had checked with Adam and Jason and they said they would take over Rocky's classes. She'd met up with Tommy while dropping Adam off at the apartment and told him she wanted to reschedule their Sunday night dinner date. Tommy didn't protest and instead suggested meeting before he picked Kimberly up on Tuesdays. This worked out perfectly for Meredith because Rocky taught a self-defense class that evening and she usually ate alone and did her homework. Meeting Tommy for dinner that night would be so much better.

Meredith walked into the living room. The loft was an airy space that the couple enjoyed. The large windows allowed a lot of natural light into the apartment. The main floor was divided up by the living room, kitchen and dining room. The living room took up most of the space with the kitchen occupying a quarter of the space. The counter offered the separation of the two spaces. Meredith could walk from the front door, through the kitchen into the dining room. Their small office occupied a corner of the living room. Their living room furniture was tan which kept the room bright. Their entertainment center was mounted on the wall in front of the couch.

The stairs to the bedroom was near the front door. The bedroom and bathroom area was upstairs and sat above the kitchen, dining room and some of the living room. There was a small half-bath downstairs by the front door and the bathroom upstairs was just above that one. The bedroom was open and the bed sat just below the wall that made the separation of the bedroom from the downstairs. It took a bit of getting used to for Meredith because of the open design, but she was starting to really like it. There wasn't a lot to clean. Rocky had designed the space to be as nice as possible but also staying within his small budget. Meredith's parents had purchased the bedroom furniture for the couple and his parents had gotten the living room suite. Rocky and Meredith purchased the small dining room set to have when their parents came over for dinner.

Meredith put her stuff on the bench behind the stairs and walked into the living room. The lights were off in the apartment and she thought Rocky was still downstairs.

"Rocky," she called.

She entered the living room and saw the first of several candles around the room."Rocky," she called again. She rounded the corner and entered the dining room and found Rocky.

There was a dozen roses in a vase in the center of the dining room table. Candles were flickering on the table. Fancy china was on the dining room table along with a bottle of champagne. Rocky was standing at the head of the table in his tux.

"Rocky, what are you doing," she came to her and took her hand. He didn't say a thing to her. He pulled out her chair.

He sat in the chair next to her and lifted the cover off of her dish to reveal steak, steamed broccoli and garlic mashed potatoes.

"I made dinner," he said, pouring her a glass of champagne.

"You certainly did. What did I do to deserve this," she asked."Being you," he said, shooting her a smile that still made her weak.

They dined on their dinner and had small talk about their friends and family before Rocky took the empty plates away and brought out dessert.

He placed the strawberry shortcake, Meredith's personal favorite, in front of her. He stood next to her as she started to put the fork into the tasty treat. She noticed it then. Sitting on top of the strawberries was a ring. A diamond ring. Meredith's fork hit the china plate with a clatter and her chair hit the floor as she jumped up.

She looked at her boyfriend. "Rocky," she said in a near took the ring off the strawberries and, making sure it hadn't gotten dirty, got down on his knee and grabbed Meredith's hand.

"Meredith Summer Oliver, I love you. There is no one else in the world for me. You're it. You've always been it. I know we've been apart a lot recently because of school, but I want you to know that, while it does suck, I know we'll be together forever. Will you make me the happiest guy in the entire world by agreeing to become Meredith DeSantos?"

Meredith didn't even need to think. "Yes, yes, yes," she practically slipped the ring on her finger and jumped up. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her. Soon they arrived in their bedroom to celebrate their engagement and enjoy their weekend together. They took the phone off the hook and spent the entire time in their apartment. They stuck a note on the door at the bottom of the stairs in the dojo requesting privacy for studying. No one bothered them for the entire weekend until Tommy came over for dinner Sunday night. They had decided not to reveal their surprise for several weeks. They wanted to enjoy the fact that they shared something no one else knew about at that time.

Meredith was so busy with school that she never saw anyone for any length of time for them to notice her engagement ring. She smiled every time she looked at it, remembering that night with Rocky. She put her books into her bag and wondered what the rest of her friends were up to at this time. Winter break was quickly approaching and she couldn't wait to spend Christmas with her family and friends. Zack and Aisha were coming to town and were staying at Tommy's. Tanya was also coming into town and she was staying with Katherine in her small apartment she had recently rented after landing a part with the Los Angeles Ballet Company. She was attending UCLA to study dance and needed a place to stay since it was the middle of the semester. The gang planned to gather at Rocky's dojo for a party to celebrate the holiday. Meredith couldn't wait. She had nearly a month off and intended to spend it with Rocky planning the wedding.

***Holidays with the former rangers. Wonder what will happen. Here's a sneak peek to Mistletoe: All their friends were in the same room with each other for the first time in nearly six months. They even had new friends that had taken their places as rangers. Zack, who was working on his own record label, had provided the name of a DJ for the party. Their old friend Ernie had catered the entire affair and was currently sitting on one of the couches Rocky had moved into the dojo studio for the guests to sit talking with Justin Stewart. Meredith had hung mistletoe in the various doorways of the dojo and some above some of the seats around the small bar that Rocky usually had stocked with beverages for his dojo. Tonight it was the bar that allowed the bartenders, Bulk and Skull, to serve the guests. Several times she had been caught under the mistletoe by Rocky and once Meredith had caught Adam.*** -mereditholiver