Chapter 49
New Beginning
The fight with Mesogog lasted a few hours, but the fights against Rita, Zedd, The Machine Empire, and Divatox lasted days longer. For almost three weeks the ranger teams from Mighty Morphin' to Dino Thunder fought tirelessly to protect their cities.
There were numerous casualties of civilians, buildings destroyed beyond belief, and those that had to move into homeless shelters. Emergency Evacuation protocols had bene put into effect but there were still those that hadn't managed to get out in time. Numerous were missing and the police force in Angel Grove, Stone Canyon, and other nearby cities worked tirelessly to find those deemed missing and to aid in other relief efforts.
FEMA missions, headed by Captain William Mitchell stormed into California as well. As the days went on and the monsters destroyed, the Power Rangers used their time to aid in finding those that were missing and helping rebuild. During the time of reconstruction and rebuilding, the rangers were awarded with their unending job to protect the city, even with years of silence from them.
Angel Grove, Stone Canyon, Reefside and the rest of the Earth would forever be grateful to the power rangers.
"Oh my God, I can't wait!" Kimberly squealed, clasping her hands together. She sat down in her plastic seat then seconds later jumped back to her feet once more to start pacing. Then sat back down seconds later. "This is the first baby any of us have had, can you believe it?"
Zack gave her a funny look. "It looks like someone didn't get the talk when they were younger." He shifted closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "You see, when two people really love each other…" He burst out into laughter with the rest of his friends as Kimberly elbowed him in the side and folded her arms.
Trini was the first to stop laughing. "It's so hard to believe it's been months," she said quietly, making the others sober up. "It seems like just yesterday…" She trailed off, looking over the parts of the hospital wing that were still under construction.
"From what we know, there's not much left that needs to be worked on," Adam said, fiddling with his coffee cup. "Most of the construction has been finished, most of the people that've been found…" He trailed off.
Beside him, Tanya nodded. "There's going to be a city-wide funeral and memorial service in a few days." The rangers nodded. There were enough people that hadn't been found, enough families that had given up in finding them, there were others that, no matter what, would never be found as there weren't enough of them to be found. And as much as it haunted the rangers, it made them proud to know how hard they fought for their cities. "We're going to go but after that we've got to head out."
"Going back to New York?" Tommy asked, crossing his legs at the knee, arm resting around Kat's shoulders. Adam and Tanya nodded their confirmation. Tommy's eyebrows came together. "Weren't you just there?"
"I was," Tanya agreed. "But now I've got another showcase to do. My last one for a while."
"Then we'll be here to help out Rocky and Aisha," Adam said.
Jason grinned. "I already felt a little bad for how Rocky managed to tick Aisha off every now and then, but having a baby along with that?" He let out a low whistle. "I feel so bad for him when he says something stupid."
"And we know it'll happen," Kat agreed with a giggle. She covered her mouth with her hand. "No, seriously. Rocky's really stepped up for Aisha since finding out she was pregnant. He's just as excited as the rest of us, yeah?" She ran a hand through her hair.
"Not as much as Aisha," Kimberly pointed out, wagging her finger.
"Well, I think that'd be obvious considering, y'know, she's going to be a mother," Zack pointed out.
"Well, yeah, for that, but I mean for their wedding, too. I'm glad they finally set the date. And it'd be even better because they can have their daughter there, too." Kimberly looked at her watch. "Ugh, I wish we could see."
"You really need to learn how to be patient, Pinkerbell," Avalon commented as she walked over, pressing her cellphone to her shoulder. "A baby waits for no one. And I should know, yeah? Mum was in labor with Bay for twenty hours." She laughed when Jason, Tommy, and Zack all winced, leaning away from her. "I can't wait to see what happens when you lot get pregnant. Your reactions will be beauty."
"Yeah, well, that won't be for a little while," Adam said quickly while Tanya winked at him. He lifted his eyebrows and shook his head before turning his attention back to Avalon and lifting his chin. "Who are you talking to?"
"Oh!" Avalon's eyes lit up for a moment. "I'm talking to Skull." She put her phone back to her ear and said, "If there's anything else you can do to help, we'd like as much information as possible moving forward. Okay, so how's Sharkie and Bulk?" She smiled. "That'd be about right. Say 'hi' to Spike for me. I can't be Auntie Av if you don't do that simple thing for me. Okay, I'll talk to you later, Hoo roo." She hung up and slid her phone into her pocket and said to Tommy, "Skull said he'll send a packet of information over as soon as he finds all the necessary files."
"Okay, got it," Tommy said. He removed his arm from around Kat's shoulders and rubbed her hands together. "It shouldn't be too long until we figure out what's going to happen to Mr. Ford, with Bulk, Skull, and Lt. Stone's help, we should get some more information to Mr. Scott," he nodded to Jason who nodded back. "And then we can get the best care for Kira after that."
"Is she still staying with the McKnights?" Zack asked.
"No, actually. Cassidy and her parents opened their home to her and she's been staying there now," Tommy said. He laughed, shaking his head. "Trust me when I say that's the last thing I ever expected. Almost as weird as if Jason or I were to stay with Bulk and Skull."
"Thing change," Jason pointed out. He reached up, rubbing the back of his neck. It hadn't been the same since before their fight with Mesogog. A strong blast that sent him to the ground wrenched his neck a bad way. The other rangers didn't fare so much better. Broken bones they had to heal, pulled muscles, deep bruises, scars...things that years of physical therapy would only fix.
"Yeah, and we're living proof of that," Trini agreed. She tapped her fingers together, a peaceful smile coming to her face. "We're not the same people we used to be when we started. There's so much we needed to learn from being a ranger and from life as time went on. And I think that's the best lesson we could learn."
"Look at Sunny, getting philosophical on us again," Avalon teased. She crossed her arms. "Actually, I missed it a lot. Trust me when I say that Tommy isn't the best company to have when you're trying to get some advice." Tommy looked offended while Avalon pointed at him with his thumb. "You know how many times he put me off just to get some fucking grading done?"
"I don't know, Av, isn't grading kind of important?" Zack asked.
"Thank you!" Tommy said.
"It is," Avalon agreed. "But to use it as an excuse every time? No, mate, I call bullshit on that. But, I can't ask for small favors. I'm just glad he remembers to do it now." The rangers laughed so hard they didn't notice the doctor coming up to greet them.
"Aisha and Rocky are ready for you to come visit," He said with a bright smile. "Everything went okay. The baby is fine, Aisha is fine, and they can't wait for you to meet."
"Finally!" Kimberly squealed, clasping her hands together. "Let's go!" She grabbed the bouquet of balloons that sat beside her and led the way to the hospital room. Kat knocked gently on the door and waited for Aisha and Rocky say it was okay to come in before they ducked inside.
"Heyy," Kat greeted quietly. She went over to Aisha and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek then went to Rocky to give him a hug before looking at the tiny bundle that rested in Aisha's arms. "Aww, she's so little."
She had a cashew colored complexion and from where she stood, Kat could see her facial features favored Aisha a little bit more, but could also see Rocky in there as well. Her lips pursed, pulling in and out as if sucking a pacifier, eyes still tightly closed.
"You'd think with how much Rocky eats she'd be a bit bigger," Zack joked. "I mean, Rocky's as skinny as a rake, it had to balance out somewhere."
"Boy, you're bout to get yourself beat," Aisha said quietly. "Don't diss my baby like that."
"I'm not dissing, I'm saying the truth. I was a chubby baby and I turned out fine."
"Uh, Zack, it doesn't look like you're digging yourself out of this hole, so I reckon I'd stop trying, mate," Avalon said. She gave Rocky a hug as well and studied the baby herself while their friends passed around their hugs and marveled at the first baby of their group.
"Don't leave us in suspense," Trini said. "What's her name?"
Rocky smiled. "We decided to name her Camila. Camila Rose DeSantos."
"Aww, that's so cute!" Kimberly said. She held out her arms. "Let me hold her. We have to let her know who her aunts and uncles are."
"Trust me, she could never not know," Rocky said. "There's too many of you for her to forget." He ran a hand through his hair and smiled. "But, seriously guys, thank you for everything you've done. For helping 'Sha get to appointments for helping me get to mine, making sure we had everything we needed. Throwing a baby shower…seriously, I don't know what we would do without you guys."
"Hey, we're a family," Jason said. "No matter what, you're stuck with us."
Avalon smiled then started to back out of the room. Jason noticed and called out to her. "Hey Av, where you going? Or are you afraid you'll drop her or something?"
"Fat chance, Rudolph," Avalon shot back, making him roll his eyes. "Billy's being released. I was going to tell him that his first niece was born."
"That's great," Trini said with a bright smile. "He's been in the hospital for a long time."
"That's what happens when your life force was connected to a monster that blew up," Avalon pointed out. She quickly waved to her friends before leaving the room. Whether it was to get to Billy faster or to keep away from the knowing looks her friends gave each other, she wasn't sure. Either way, it didn't help.
Billy had just finished zipping up his gym bag when he heard a knock at the door. Oh great, the nurse was back. She was very friendly, but sometimes there was such a thing as too friendly. Especially when she knew how many times he had to be assisted to go to the bathroom and dressed. He wasn't stupid, he knew a case of infatuation when he saw one, but the nurse was certainly too old for him to even consider it.
"I assure you, Nurse Reynolds, I don't need any help going to the bathroom," Billy said.
"I'd hope so, mate, or else that's too much information I need to know," Avalon joked, walking into the room. Billy smiled at her, bringing his bag from the bed to rest on the floor. Her eyes zeroed in on his bag. "Looks like you were ready to get out of here."
"More than a month is enough to stay in a hospital," Billy pointed out, stretching his arms. His back cracked and popped as he did so, relaxing from how long he'd been sitting in a hospital bed. "Especially when you know the reason why you were there but couldn't exactly tell the doctors." He lifted his eyebrows. "How do you get them to believe your life force was added to a monster's and it nearly killed you?"
"Well, I reckon if you started off by saying you were a power ranger…" Avalon said. She chuckled when he looked at her critically. "Boofhead, I'm kidding. But that's something we have to think about if we're ever going to move forward in life, yeah?"
"Well, it shouldn't be too hard," Billy reminded her. He nodded to the silver bracelet that sat on her wrist ."Just show them the Dino Gem and you'll be fine. Or show them how fast you can heal."
I can't heal from everything, she thought. But instead of saying it out loud she said, "True." Silence stretched between the two and to break through it, Avalon reached out and grabbed the clipboard that held Billy's information. She nervously fiddled with it, what made her so nervous about him? It was so much easier being angry. Or else it was the unsaid things. The things that were waiting to burst out of her. Avalon's eyes widened as she looked over something written on the form and turned it around so he could verify it for her. "Your full name is William Randall Wadsworth Cranston?"
"Yes." Billy blinked in surprise, realizing the change in conversation topic. He let out a light laugh. "My middle names are after family members. Is yours any better?"
"Uh, yeah. It's Cadence Avalon Lily Mitchell. If you ask me, that's heaps better."
"Alright, you win that bet." Billy laughed. He tilted his head, looking at her curiously. "Though I can't believe that you wanted to come by to talk about my name."
"What makes you say that, mate?"
"Boring conversation topic. Plus, I like to think I know you better than that." He paused. "Or that I did." Avalon winced. "Was there something else you wanted to speak about?"
Avalon's eyes narrowed. "I hate it when you do that," she said before letting out a sigh, running a hand through her long hair. "Yeah, there's something I wanted to talk about. Oh! First, Aisha had her baby and we're all in to see her." Billy nodded but didn't move, still knowing it wasn't what she wanted to talk about. "Actually, mate, I was thinking about your mum."
Billy's eyes widened slightly. "That's a peculiar topic to want to talk about," he pointed out. "Honestly, I haven't thought of her in a long time. Once things with Diabolico finished up…" he shook his head. "I haven't thought of her in a while," he repeated.
"Neither have I," Avalon said. "Until I saw Rocky's and Aisha's baby. It was weird to think that one of us, one of us rangers has a kid. I mean, getting married and all that, that's cool. It was bound to happen, but have a kid?" She gave a wry smile. "I thought I'd be dead before I saw any of that happen. So I thought of everyone we'd lost over the years and, of course, your mum came up." She scratched her forehead. "That was one of the toughest things we'd had to get through and we did that. We had to come from the toughest fight ever and we did that and things have gotten better. I thought about all that and how I feel now. Am I happy? Sad? I've found I'm really missing a lot in my life."
"And?" Billy pressed.
"And that's my own fault. I kept a lot of things quiet and didn't ever allow myself to move forward. Now that I'm going to testify it's like the last thing that's been holding my life back is gone. Until I realized one other thing." Avalon twisted her fingers together, a humorous juxtaposition to the confident way she looked him in the eye. "That...the happiest I've been in life...was when I was with you."
Billy licked his lips. He looked away for a moment. His heart started to race, mind filling in with memories of years before. Memories of how they always moved in to protect each other, even when they weren't together. Even when they weren't speaking. Then when she'd kissed him in the dino lab. She'd claimed she was afraid he'd die and she wouldn't have the chance to do it again, but as far as he knew it was a lie. Burgeoning feelings always had a way of showing up when others least expected it.
How ironic it was happening at the moment.
"Last time we spoke you said you were angry about my leaving," Billy pointed out when he finally found his voice.
"Oh no, I'm still mad about that," Avalon said honestly. "And I'm probably going to be mad about that for a long while. But…like I said, mate, I was happiest when I was with you. And now that things are calming down for us, I thought, maybe, we could at least try talking again and see where things go from there."
Billy slowly smiled. Then he said calmly, not to betray the feeling of his beating heart, "I think that'd be fine."
"Okay, here are five seaweed smoothies," Trent said, placing the tray in the middle of the table. He laughed, noticing Conner's, Kira's, Ethan's, and Bailey's faces of disgust. "Yeah, I know, it sounds like it'd be bad. But trust me, it's one of the best smoothies we've sold." He motioned towards the front counter where Hayley fielded the shouts of crazed customers.
"Well, it's good to know you'll get a few other customers because that's one I'll never bother trying," Conner said, pushing his cup aside. "Anyone else—" He jumped when Ethan grabbed his and immediately stuck the straw in his mouth. "Dude, you could've waited for me to finish."
"This stuff is the bomb," Ethan replied once he swallowed. "You don't want to miss out."
"See? You've got at least one customer," Bailey said. Trent laughed and sat down along with them. "So, you're still working here? I thought since your dad's recovered that you'd be spending as much time with the bloke as you could."
Trent shrugged modestly. "Yeah, well, let me tell you, having my dad around is weirder than I thought it'd be," he said. "I mean, I've always wanted him to be more involved and trusting and want to know what I'm doing…but now that he's taken sabbatical from work, he's really starting to drive me crazy."
"In a good way, I hope," Kira said.
"Yeah, definitely in a good way." Trent shook his head. "I really thought we were going to lose him. Being split form Mesogog after that last battle…? I thought he was too far gone. I was prepared for it. Fighting against Mesogog and knowing it was him was hard but…" He shrugged again. "We had to do it, I'm glad it worked out well.
"So what are you doing now that he's on Sabbatical?" Kira asked.
"Well, he's listening to me wanting to go to art school so we're going to be visiting those over the next couple of weeks," Trent said. Conner's eyes widened in horror. "Relax, I'll be back in enough time for Prom and graduation."
"I never thought you'd be the kind of guy that would take pro so seriously, mate," Bailey pointed out.
Conner shrugged and smiled a suspiciously shy smile. She'd never seen him be so worried about anything before, let alone being a leader to their ranger team. But to see him be nervous over something like a dance? That just didn't compute.
"What?" Bailey asked.
That was a lie, that had to be a lie. Or else their fight against Mesogog had been the straw that broke the camel's back on his impending maturity. They'd all been put through the wringer since then. And, if her eyes weren't playing tricks on her, it helped push him forward so that he could finally come a step closer to telling Kira how he really felt. They were close, she could tell. Just as close as Kira was to getting her life back together; her parent had been arrested and were being charged with child abuse and even Ethan had grown stronger, able to stand up to anyone and anything that'd gotten in their way.
But what about her?
"Nothing." Conner tried to sound convincing but wasn't quite making it. He cleared his throat and rubbed his check. "Just, before, there was never anyone I really wanted to go with." He shifted his gaze to Kira under the guise of looking out the window just behind her and Kira caught his gaze, blushed, and changed the subject. Bailey, Ethan, and Trent exchanged knowing glances but decided to let them change the subject.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm actually looking forward to school," Kira said, drumming her fingertips on the table. "The whole destruction of some classroom is terrible but…kind of glad classes are going to be easier. Now that things are quiet, we don't have to stress so much and things should be normal."
"Normal as in…?" Ethan pressed. Conner, Bailey, and Trent all whacked him on the arms and he winced, backing away from his friends. "Ow! What? I wasn't going to mention the whole…thing." He waved his hands. "I was just asking."
"It's okay, Ethan," Kira said. She sighed. "Living with Cassidy is…weird. We haven't talked for a long time and now I'm supposed to live with her? But she's really calmed down and has actually been nice. It's nice to talk to the girl I used to hang out with." She tilted her head. "I sort of miss being able to trade insults with her, though."
"Just wait," Conner said. "She'll come around eventually."
Noticing Kira's glare, Bailey held a hand over her mouth. "Conner, mate, I think you'll agree with me when I say you're a boofhead, and that, sometimes, you need to stop talking." She held out her and as Ethan gave her a high-five. For the next hour, they talked and joked with each other. Now that they didn't need to worry about monster fights anymore, they were able to relax and enjoy each other's company.
Then it was time to go to one of Conner's soccer games and as they left the Cybercafe, Kira nudged Bailey's arm and pointed up the street asking, "Is that Fred?"
Bailey followed her point and sucked in a deep breath, seeing Fred walking her way. She hadn't seen him in weeks. There were too many fights, too many logistics, too many reconstruction things to go through. Honestly, she'd managed to push thoughts of him out of her head. And now here he was again. Was she ready to see him?
"We'll just meet you there, alright?" Conner said before he and the rest of the rangers left. Bailey smiled, noticing Conner and Kira hang back towards each other, shoulders brushing against each other, arms sliding, before finally, finally they held hands out of view of Trent and Ethan.
Bailey nodded mutely and waited for Fred to reach her. She had half a mind to call her friends back to comfort her but that would've been embarrassing. Little Bailey Mitchell unable to talk to her friend who she may or may nt love. The two smiled at each other, then paused. Unsure of what to do or say.
"Hey," Bailey finally greeted him.
"Hey," Fred replied.
Bailey twisted her mouth to the side, nervously ran her hand up and down her arm. Fred fiddled with the brim of his hat. Finally, Bailey spoke, tired of the silence stretching between them. "I was going to call you," she blurted. "But so much has been going on and I didn't know if we were okay and—"
"Bay, I really need to say this," Fred interrupted. Bailey nodded and closed her mouth. Waited. "I wanted to tell you this before but I really needed to figure things out. It was a surprise and then I didn't know what to say in response and then all of this ranger stuff happened and I couldn't get in contact with you because I didn't know if you were busy—"
"—Oh, I was—"
"—And I didn't know if you would still be talking to me. But I really need to say, Bay, that I've missed you while I was gone. I dated some other people but I missed you. Seeing you again is the best thing that's happened to me and I don't want to mess that up again." Fred licked his lips. "Bay, I love you, too."
Bailey beamed.
Tommy sat in his office, looking over the papers spread across his desk. Write-ups of the power rangers' work to save Reefside, Angel Grove, and other places ranger teams had been sat in clipping along the surface. Pictures of his friends over the years sat in frames along the perimeter of his desk, making him smile.
Hanging above his desk were his three degrees; his High School Diploma, Bachelors, Masters, and his PHD. All showing off the different stages of his life; where he was a carefree teenager, a hard working adult, to starting his teaching career. The three most important points of his life and the people that helped him get to be where he was.
There were many times he wondered if he was doing the right thing and now he knew for sure.
He was right where he needed to be and he wouldn't have changed the journey for anything in the world.
A/N: One chapter left, thank you for all of the support as the stories went on.
Thanks to SpecialK92 and Adela for reviewing.
~Av
