Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: Uh...I feel really weird posting this chatper, the last chapter of the story. Not only because I working on this one so hard and for so long but also because today we held the Memorial service for my Nanny. So now I know how hard it is to get up and say something at a funeral. And I learned quite well that emotional exhaustion is very real. That's the only way I can explain being so damned tired after sitting in a hospital waiting room all day. The final author's notes are going to go up seperatly, please read them too. It was just important for me to dedicate this chapter to my Nanny, Constance, who died Tuesday morning at 4am. Just so she knows for sure that her darling little Tuk loves her very, very much.


Chapter 17
I Love You, Bro


If the former Rangers were close to tears after Billy's speech they came even closer when Trini and Kim rose to sing a duet. Very few of them had ever heard Trini sing before, she had always left that up to Kim or Zack or one of the more well known Ranger singers. But she had confessed what had happened between her and Jason to Kim last night when Kim called her on it over the phone. Kim had then insisted on Trini singing with her since Trini had declined to write something herself, saying she was unable to put her feelings into adequate words.

Now they stood together as the pianist began. Kim launched into the song, knowing if she didn't put everything she was going through into that song she would burst into tears in front of everyone. Her strong but mellow voice steady as the first words came out...
Where do we go from here
This isn't where we intended to be
We had it all, you believed in me
I believe in you

Trini followed her, softer and not strongly but with more feeling and love lacing the tender notes than Kim was capable of. It was not Kim's love that had left her, unintentionally, alone and without someone to hold onto. Trini's voice was unwavering and more powerful because of the sheer emotion behind it.

Certainties disappear
What do we do for our dream to survive?
How do we keep all our passions alive
As we used to do?

Kim joined Trini and intended to sing the whole chorus with her but when the song spoke of love she cut out. Trini was too absorbed in the words to notice.

Deep in my heart I'm concealing
Things that I'm longing to say
Scared to confess what I'm feeling
Frightened you'll slip away

Trini's voice dropped to a soft whisper as the lyrics came out. They were all too familiar to the words she had said in her head over and over again when wishing the strong man she loved so would return her feelings.

You must love me
You must love me

The two voices of the original Pink and Yellow Rangers blended sweetly together on the second verse until they reached the final chorus. Kim let Trini finished, knowing the words meant more to her than she would ever be able to express.

Why are you at my side?
How can I be any use to you now?
Give me a chance and I'll let you see how
Nothing has changed

Deep in my heart I'm concealing
Things that I'm longing to say
Scared to confess what I'm feeling
Frightened you'll slip away

You must love me
You must love me

A tear tracked down Trini's cheek as she sang the final notes. Once again the question, 'Why did I wait to long to say something?' Ran through her head. Trini's voice trembled as she almost whispered the words echoed in her own head during her heartfelt confession a few days prior.

You must love me...

Had it not been for Kim's unseen hand on the back of her arm Trini would have bolted from the room. She almost regretted agreeing to go up there with Kim. Almost. Without anyone catching on Kim gently manipulated Trini back to the pew. Trini broke down, weeping silent tears as Kim put her arms around her best friend. She could not think of how much it would hurt to lose the person you loved so soon after you had only just found they loved you too.

At the same time she reached over and gave Tommy's free hand a quick squeeze. She knew he would speak next, after the minister was finished, and she knew how hard it was going to be for him to get up there. Had Jason not meant so much to him he wouldn't have considered doing it but as it was it was almost harder to stay silent than to speak. Kim had not read the eulogy Tommy had written but knew from the way the paper in his hands was frayed around the edges he had spent a long time, possibly most of the night, reading it over. She wouldn't have been surprised if Tommy didn't need the paper but was just taking it up there with him for comfort.

Tommy slowly got to his feet. His eyes never strayed from the coffin as he approached the front of the church. He looked out at the large crowd and took a deep breath trying to calm his frantic emotions. One by one he caught the eyes of his teammates and recalled the warm, midnight eyes that were missing from their group. 'This is for you Jase,' exhaling softly, he began.

"When I tried to write down what everything I wanted to tell all of you, I found that my words fell short of what I wanted to say. How do you describe someone like Jason? It's simple: you can't. Nothing can depict everything he was to everyone here. So instead of trying to touch on what a good person we have lost I'm going to read you a letter I wrote Jason the day before he died. I meant to use it so I remembered all the things I wanted to tell him when I said good bye but when the time came I found I had forgotten my letter in the other room and could barely recall what I had written down. I did touch upon some of these things when I spoke to Jason for the last time but others were left out. I hope that where ever Jason is now he can hear me because these are the things I would have liked to make sure he knew," Tommy unfolded a few, slightly battered looking, piece of paper.

"Dear Jason, as I write this I find my hands are trembling. I have long since realized you will be leaving us but I'm not sure I will truly accept you will soon be beyond my reach, until long after you have left me. I don't want to accept it just as I don't want you to die. I have no choice in either matter, all I can do is be with you until the end. Before you leave us there are some things that I want and need to tell you. Most have always been an unspoken understanding between us. It's time they were said. The others are things I hope you know already but I'll tell you just in case you don't.

"First off, I love you. You're my brother in spirit if not in blood. There's always been a bond between us. Some would call us kindred spirits, best friends, brothers...whatever name you give our relationship there is something missing. All I know is that I have loved you for a long time and will always love you in that special way that is ours.

"I wonder if you realize just how much you mean to me. I owe you more than I owe anyone else. You've saved me in so many ways. I owe you my life many times over and you've saved my spirit more times than I can count. I have learned so much from you, in many ways you've been the best teacher one could have. And the way you teach things is in such nonchalant manner I often wonder if you even realize what you're doing. When I was just getting to know you it amazed me how kind you were without thinking of that kindness at all. It still amazes me to know you don't now or ever have thought of your benign acts as anything but normal. To the people on the receiving end these acts are precious and extraordinary. I want to thank you for all the compassion you've shown for me over the years. I don't know what I would have done without it.

"I want you to know you've helped shaped the person I've become. I doubt I would be the same person I am now if you hadn't been there to guide me through some of the toughest times of my life. I sometimes wondered what compelled you to take me, a brooding, somewhat moody loner, into your already tight group of friends. You didn't have to and I certainly did my best to push you away. I will be forever grateful you didn't let me push you away the many times I tried but instead made an extra effort to make me feel welcome. To a lonely, friendless, new kid like me it makes a world of difference. Looking back, I realize how much I changed in those first few months. Thank you for helping me become the person I wanted to be.

"I want to let you know how much you'll be missed. I haven't yet figured out just what I'm going to do when I can't call you up. I don't know who I'll go to with my problems now or who I'll go to when I want to share my joys. I don't know who will be there to reassure me when things go wrong or who will be there to remind me of what's important when I forget, as I can do on occasion. One thing I know I will never, can never forget is you and everything you meant to me. How can you forget the person who shared part of your soul? How could I ever forget the person who knew me better than I knew myself? How can you forget someone who was a part of you? I mourn your death as if it was my own because in a way it is. You take a piece of me with you to where ever you now are just as I will always keep a part of you with me.

"I wish with all my heart that there was more I could have done for you. I can't help but feel that there should be something I can do to prevent this from happening. I wish there was some way to give you a cure or lengthen your life without prolonging your suffering. I know that you will protest what I just said and tell me there is nothing more I could have done but I want there to be something more. I would do anything for you and give anything to make sure you don't suffer. If it meant you were spared the pain I would have taken it on myself. If it meant you were able to live a long, happy life, I would have gladly given mine up. If giving up my life meant you wouldn't have had to suffer during these past few months I would have done it in and instant and without regret. I know if our positions were reversed you would wish you could do the same for me.

"There are still so many things I want to do with you. Things that we were supposed to do together as best friends and now I don't know what I'll do when those times come. Things we promised each other a long time ago. I wanted you to tell me not to be nervous before my wedding and stand beside me as my Best Man. I wanted to do the same for you. I wanted to tell me to stop pacing and calm down when my first child is born. And I especially wanted to see your eyes light up when I told you I was going to honour the promise we made when we were barely sixteen, to name our first born son after each other.

"I'm still going to honour that promise and the others I made, Jase. I know that some things we promised each other can't be fulfilled but what I can I will honour. And other promises that I made you, starting from when we first meet to just a few days ago, I will live by, always. I will live by the wonderful example you've set in your life and in your death as much as I possibly can. Thank you for blessing me with your presence and thank you for giving me so much to hope for, to dream for and to aspire to. But most of all thank you for loving me as I love you, with all my heart and soul. We are brothers in life and I believe that our bond will last beyond this mortal coil into death and whatever lies beyond." Tommy's voice cracked a little but he continued on for his last line.

"Love, your brother in spirit, Tommy."

Tears sliding noiselessly and unabashedly down his face Tommy returned to his friends before the shuddering sobs overtook him. He felt a hand on his back, someone trying to comfort him. He didn't shrug off the hand but didn't respond to it either. Burying his face in his hands so no one would see his tears Tommy cried softly, uncaring of anyone else's eyes, until the minister brought the service to a close.

No one in the church moved as Billy, Adam, Tommy, Rocky and Zack carried the coffin out of the church which was on the grounds of Angel's Place Cemetery. They carried the wooden box straight to the plot where Jason would be laid. The plot Jason was to be buried in was quite lovely. It was off to one side of the graveyard, near where the wilder part of the park began. It was covered in shade from the nearby trees but light peaked through the leaves spilling patterns onto the ground and marble tombstone that waited there.

Only Jason's parents, the minister and the former Rangers took the body of their beloved out to his eternal resting place. The other's waited behind out of respect. They all wanted to offer their condolences to Jason's family but knew this was too intimate to intrude on.

The former Rangers looked on silently as the reverend intoned softly, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," and dutifully sprinkled their handful of dirt over the wooden box holding the body of one of their own. They all waited until the gravediggers had filled in the hole with dirt so that even Jason's body was now out of reach to them.

After Ms. Scott carefully laid down the bouquet of flowers she clutched she turned to Tommy and murmured softly, "Thank you for taking care of my son. I know he felt the same for you as you felt for him."

Tommy nodded and quietly replied, "He's been looking after me for a long time, it was the right thing for me to do."

Ms. Scott smiled sadly before turning with her husband and walking away, back to the church. No one should see their child buried before them. And when that son or daughter is their only child...

When the elder Scotts had left Tommy let his gaze drift back to the tombstone. He simply couldn't believe it, Jason was gone. Really gone. How many times would the fact have to hit him before it stayed rooted in his conscious so the realization he had lost his best friend wouldn't hurt so very much anymore? It would always be a source of pain for Tommy but in time he hoped some of the pain would diminish.

Everyone stayed silent, none of them had spoken yet, save for Tommy's words to Ms. Scott. Now, in a soft but steady voice Tommy read out loud the words he had chosen to be inscribed on the marker..

Jason Lee Scott rests here
The light he left behind will shine on us forever

For a few more moments they stood in complete silence, staring at the tombstone and the utter finality of it all. They would find out later, from the Space Rangers, that across the galaxy Rangers past and present paused and stood still for a few moments. Those who didn't attend the funeral, those who had never met Jason Lee Scott or any other one of the Earth Rangers paused in silence. On many planets the Ranger teams not in battle paid homage to an ancient sage's favourite son.

Then they turned, together, and walked back to the church, more than one person glancing back as the grave got further and further away and finally vanished from sight.

Tommy would return to the site later that evening, just as the stars were beginning to dot the sky. The funeral was over and even the Youth Centre, where everyone had gathered afterwards, had begun to clear out. Kim had offered to come with him as had Billy but Tommy had declined their offers, wanting to make this first trip on his own. Now, in the darkening twilight Tommy stood silently by the stone marking his best friend's resting place.

Kissing the tips of two of his fingers lightly, Tommy ran them over the top of the stone and whispered, "I love you, bro," into the gathering darkness.

Without another word he turned and left, knowing somewhere, somehow a red clad young man with a warm smile and sparkling midnight eyes was saying the same words back to him. In the still hush of the graveyard, Tommy could almost hear Jason's deep voice on the gentle breeze. Jason's spirit was still with him, still soaring beside him as it had since they first met. Death would not vanquish him for his friends would never let the wonderful light that had been inside him go out. It would live in them, and all those they passed it on to, for longer than they could imagine.