Author's Note: I apologize for the lack of updates. I also apologize for the upcoming lack of updates. The semester's winding down and I've got a 12 page paper to write and finals to study for. This is the last update until December 18 when I'll be done with all of that.
Chapter Thirty-Five: Thanksgiving is for ALL of the Power Rangers
(Even Though Some Really Do NOT Want To Come. *cough*Tommy*cough*)
Date: November 27, 2003
"You have so got to hurry up Uncle Tommy," Megan said. "We're going to be late."
"How are we going to be late? Dinner doesn't start until four. It's seven thirty in the morning," Tommy yawned.
"You're just not a morning person," Kimberly teased. "And we do want to get there early."
"Why?" Tommy asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
"Because I want to watch the parade," Megan said.
"The parade started hours ago," Tommy said. "It's on the other side of the country."
"They're DVRing it," Kimberly said to the both of them. "You'll be able to watch it all and pause and rewind and fast forward it."
"Doesn't matter. Uncle TJ said we were starting the parade at eight. We still have to drive to Angel Grove, okay?" Megan said.
"Sometimes I really regret agreeing to let you stay here," Tommy said.
"And sometimes I regret ever asking," Megan said, but shoved a travel mug of coffee in his hands. "We're leaving. Now. I want to see the Rangers."
"We haven't seen them in a while, Tommy," Kimberly said. "Now come on. I'll drive."
Tommy grumbled under his breath before taking a cautious sip of the liquid in his mug. It would be just like Megan to cause him to scald his entire mouth. But surprisingly the coffee was at precisely the right temperature.
The girl really was quite odd. One minute she seemed like she hated him and the next minute he was her favorite uncle – which was really something because until he'd married Kim the favorite uncle position had been tied by Billy and Jason.
Kim said it was because of Megan's parents being gone and Kim's own parents being so distant. At the moment, the Mighty Morphin, Zeo and Astro Rangers were the only parental figures that Megan had other than Sensei Kanoi and Haley.
Ooh. Haley as a parental figure. Now wasn't that an interesting concept. And a slightly disturbing one.
"Are you getting in the car or not?" Megan asked from the backseat, arms crossed defiantly across her chest and a frown marring her face.
Tommy shook his head free of thoughts of Haley reproducing – ick – and got in the car.
**********
Xaren and Cassie's home was actually a lot smaller than what they could afford with all of the money they'd been given for Cassie being an Astro Power Ranger (and presumably a Power Ranger for the whole time). They loved the house and had indulged on things inside of it rather than the outward appearance.
The kitchen, for example, was designed specifically for days like Thanksgiving. As the Power Rangers greatly enjoyed their massive get togethers involving every team they could get, food was always mandatory. Especially with the sheer quantity of food that the Red Rangers would eat.
So Xaren and Cassie's kitchen had two of nearly everything, ovens, stoves, sinks, and fridges. Another fridge was out in the garage and the sheer amount of counter space that followed the edge of the room and the breakfast bar/island in the center of the room was amazing. Cassie and Xaren didn't really utilize the majority of it on a day to day basis, but found having all of the appliances really helped over the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the various other occasions they got together, such as birthdays or any random moment they felt like gathering. It did help that most of them lived within forty minutes of Angel Grove.
There were only a few cars already at the house, and Megan hopped out as soon as Kimberly put the car in park. Tommy was feeling only marginally better due to the caffeine he had ingested, but really, he was still pretty grumpy.
"Come on," Megan said. "Let's go in."
Tommy grumbled under his breath as he and Kimberly got out of the car. Whenever the gang got together to have a party, the front door of whatever house was never locked as ringing the doorbell got very tiresome to everyone inside the house after a very short while.
They went right in and headed for the kitchen as usual, where it seemed only the girls were located.
"Why are you already cooking?" Tommy asked as he headed straight for the industrial coffee maker that Cassie had bought for this exact purpose. Cassie, Tanya, Aisha, and Ashley were all in the kitchen preparing various foods.
"Because, you lunatic, there are a lot of things in the Thanksgiving dinner," Kimberly said.
"Parade?" Megan asked.
"Lounge," Cassie said, pointing in the direction of the lounge.
"See ya! Be back after the parade!" Megan said, heading out of the room.
"All the guys are in the lounge if you want to go there," Cassie said. "As soon as the game comes on they're switching the channel though." Tommy nodded, taking a fairly large cup of coffee with him.
The lounge was another indulgence on Cassie and Xaren's part. The flat screen TV that adorned the wall was flanked by speakers as a part of the surround sound system. There were plush couches and footstools for people to relax on.
Karone and Zhane (neither of whom could get enough of American and Earth customs) were snuggled up together in one of the oversized chairs. Andros and Xaren (who also couldn't get enough of American and Earth traditions) were sitting on one of the couches with TJ. Rocky and Adam were on another couch, looking thoroughly bored at the proceedings.
"When's the football going to start?" Rocky asked.
"After the parade dummy," Megan said, who was leaning against one of the couches.
"The parade's probably already over by now," Rocky said.
"And it's been DVRed, so shut up," Megan said. "You'll be able to watch all of it. I'm watching the parade. Now."
Kimberly, who was standing in the doorway said, "Let her watch, okay? Besides, some people seem to want to watch it."
She turned and headed back to the kitchen. She understood Megan's need to watch the Parade completely. Despite the fact that the Hart family had lived on the other side of the country from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, they had woken up early every Thanksgiving to watch the parade from start to finish every year. It was a safe bet that Laura had continued that tradition with Megan.
This Thanksgiving had to be incredibly hard on her niece. Tommy seemed to understand, but she doubted the other Power Rangers fully got the gist of what was going on with Megan's parents. They understood that Laura and Greg had been kidnapped by the new bad guy on the scene. They just didn't seem to understand the scale of the kidnapping (namely all of the ninjas across the globe).
This was the first holiday (sans Halloween) that Megan had spent without her parents. It was a safe bet that she would be spending Christmas without them too. No bad guy had ever been defeated in just three or four months, so Megan's time without her parents was looking to be a long time unless Cam Wantanabe managed to find some way to release the ninjas from their captivity.
"How's she doing?" Tanya asked as Kimberly walked back into the kitchen.
"Who?" Kimberly asked. "Megan? She's doing fine."
"She's the reason I decided to have a Power Ranger Thanksgiving," Cassie said. "I figured if it was just you guys it would be awkward. If there are more of us here, it might be less so."
Kimberly could only blink at Cassie, slightly startled that she had thought of that. "Thanks," Kimberly said finally. "I was racking my brain trying to think of how to have Thanksgiving without her parents before you called. Originally before Lothor arrived on the scene, she and her parents were going to come for dinner and Christmas."
"What are you guys going to do for Christmas?" Aisha asked.
"I have no idea," Kimberly sighed. "I think I'm going to try to distract her with decorating. Hayley's going to try and help too. She's really a godsend. She even gave Megan a job at the café."
"She sounds really nice," Ashley said. "You should bring her by sometime for one of these things."
"I think it's weird having a non-Ranger knowing about us," Aisha said. "I mean, it's great that she's not blabbing our secrets and stuff, but it's kind of like we're breaking rules and stuff. I mean, one of Zordon's three rules was to not tell anyone about our secret identities." There was a noticeable pang in all of the women at the mention of Zordon.
"Oh, we didn't tell her anything," Kimberly said. "She saw us in our Ninjetti costumes when Dark Specter sent down all the minions. We became better friends after that. She didn't really know who the others were until Tommy had the guys over without my knowledge. Hayley and I were coming back from catching some chick flick Tommy refused to see when we found Zack – in full morph – dancing around the apartment completely out of his mind on Jolt and Red Pop. All of the guys had drank way too much of that. They're not allowed to drink it anymore or I'll kick their asses. I was horrified because Hayley was there and Jason, Tommy, Zack, Adam, and Rocky were acting like complete idiots. Luckily Hayley took it in stride."
"Rocky somehow neglected to tell me that," Aisha said.
"So did Adam," Tanya said.
"I don't think you guys were still dating then, Tanya. I think it was during the 'I want to focus on my career but I still love you Adam and we'll totally get back together' phase and I'm pretty sure you weren't dating Rocky then." Kimberly said.
"Oh, it wasn't like that," Tanya said, though she was smiling.
"If she wasn't dating Adam, I wasn't dating Rocky," Aisha said. "Adam apparently told Rocky to get his ass in gear. He asked Andros to teleport him to me. Idiot," she said fondly.
"But word of advice, don't let the men near highly caffeinated and sugared beverages. The Ranger metabolism stays with you even out of the suit and the caffeine and sugar have different effects on them than most people. I met Hayley because Tommy had some Jolt."
"Anybody here?" a voice yelled from the front door.
"In the kitchen Trini!" Kimberly called.
Trini and Jason appeared, Jason heading straight for the coffee much like Tommy had. "How's everybody?" Trini asked.
**********
The Thanksgiving setup was a very bizarre one that suited the bizarre group of friends perfectly. The main table was the large dining room table that normally seated six but with the extra two leaves now seated eight (ten if you wanted to squish). Off the ends of the dining room table (which had been moved outside to the surprisingly nice weather) were an odd assortment of card tables and longer multi use tables. The chairs ranged from folding chairs, the formal dining chairs, piano benches, and nearly anything else they could find. It was, in essence, a reflection of their personalities, preferences, and tastes in furniture format.
The food was a sight to behold on its own as well. Due to the sheer number of people who were going to be eating they had (and the number of Reds) they had five turkeys, each cooked differently, and two medium sized hams. Any side dish you could imagine being eaten at Thanksgiving had at least three serving bowls, sometimes more. There were four different types of bread, each in mass quantities. There were plenty of sodas for Megan and those who weren't inclined to drink (despite the fact that everyone would be staying the night somewhere in the house or on The Astro Megaship II) as well as wine and beer.
All of the Rangers had plates filled with food and glasses filled with their drink of choice. Everyone was talking with one another about whatever crossed their mind. The evening passed at just the right speed, neither too fast nor too slow.
The deserts were presented and everyone was happily eating when Kimberly stood up and looked around at all of her friends and family. "Guys, Tommy and I have an announcement to make," she said.
"Tommy's a Power Ranger again?" Jason said, causing quite a number of people to laugh.
"I'm retired," Tommy said. "I'm not going to be on Active Duty again."
"Like that would matter," Zack said. "Tommy, you've been a Ranger for the longest out of any of us."
"Technically he's only been on Active Duty for the longest," Megan said. "You, Uncle Jason, Aunt Kim, and Aunt Trini have been Rangers the longest as you still can morph."
"Shut up," Zack said. "And that's supposed to be a secret anyways."
"Can I please make my announcement now?" Kimberly asked impatiently.
"Sure, go ahead," Trini said.
"I'm pregnant," Kimberly said.
Immediately everyone started offering their congratulations. Trini shot up out of her chair and pulled Kimberly into a hug.
"Should we bet on colors now, or when the baby's born?" Megan asked.
"Only we would bet on colors when someone announces they're pregnant instead of betting on the gender," Kimberly grinned.
"Well it's a good point. We've got four colors out of the two of you," Aisha said.
**********
Next time on Power Rangers: One Little Change:
"It's Black Friday!" Kimberly chirped happily.
"And we are so going to go maternity shopping," Trini said.
"What's Black Friday?" Xaren asked.