The secret date - part 2
By cgdmgirl
At Mariner Bay's downtown, Carter and Dana were walking calmly on their way to the park. The two of them didn't regret making that story up, it was exactly the opposite. They were having so much fun together they've forgotten about everything else. They'd talked about a lot of things, which they'd never talked before and were starting to get to know each other better. They'd walked almost half the city without noticing. By the time they reached the park, it was lunchtime.
"No, it wasn't like that, it was an accident. I got up to see the rest of the play, when I hit your face with my ice cream." Dana tried to explain the past incident with the ice cream at the baseball game.
"Ok, it may have been an accident, but you still smashed the thing on my face. I won't forget this so easily!" Carter said, still very embarrassed with the situation.
"But at least we agree on something: it was funny, wasn't it?" she answered trying to cheer him up.
He smirked. "Yes, it was."
The two rangers laughed for a while, both still felling weird about this story. After that, they stayed quiet and looked around the park. Dana noticed some children playing on the slides and the swings. She gave a little smile, remembering things from her childhood.
"It's been a while since I last came here." They stopped walking. Dana kept looking at the playground. "I remember when I was little, my father used to bring Ryan and I here everyday. We used to play on that slide and those swings for hours, it was great. We had a lot of fun."
"I know what you mean. When I was a kid, I used to come here to play too." Carter said, looking at the children. Dana looked at him curious, she didn't know about that. "My mom watched me carefully while I played with some of the other kids who were here also." He laughed a little embarrassed and looked quickly down. "Since my brother and my sisters were a lot older than me, they didn't want to come here anymore. So, my mom used to bring me here, just her and me." He noticed Dana was paying attention to all the details when he looked at her. "But still, I had a great time."
They laughed, as they watched the children play. They started slowly walking again. Suddenly, Dana felt hungry. She noticed what time it was and got surprised. "Hey, it's already lunchtime" she said, getting Carter's attention.
"You're right. I didn't even see the time pass by. Are you hungry?
"Actually I'm starving."
"Me too. Why don't we go to that diner at the exit of the park?"
"Sure, I'd like that." Dana agreed, smiling at Carter. He returned the smile, as the couple began to leave.
"You know. it's improbable, but maybe you and I had met here when we were kids. We just don't remember."
"Maybe. Who knows?" Carter took Dana's hand and held it softly. They headed to the diner, holding hands.
* * *
After having lunch, Carter and Dana went back to park. They spent almost 2 hours talking about practically everything and just walking though the Mariner Bay Park. Once in a while they'd stop to sit down and rest, but they kept talking, enjoying each other's company, one learning more about the other. They left the park and headed to the docks. On the way they realized how comfortable they were about being together. Since the first day, Carter and Dana never had the change to get to know each other better, they'd always have the others around or get stuck with ranger business. During this day, they've learned more than they ever thought they would learn. And that felt good. Now, they could act normally without worrying about how the other will react. They could hold hands, hug, touch and not get uncomfortable or embarrassed about it. This feeling was new to them and they didn't know how to explain it. It just felt right. It was already the end of the afternoon. The sun wasn't setting yet, but soon it would. The couple arrived at the docks silently. There weren't many people around, just three or four. Dana went straight to edge, leaning towards the bars. Carter followed and stood next to her. The two of them stared at the sea.
"I like this place." Dana finally broke the ice. "It's calm and peaceful."
"You can smell the ocean. The air is pure and the wind is very soft." Carter added. "I know why Chad loves the sea so much."
The silence came back. Dana kept looking at him, even after he'd stopped talking. That feeling of comfort and inner peace made her heart star beating faster.
"Carter, I wanted to thank you for today." She stopped for an instant and stared into his eyes. He did the same, after turning aside to be face to face with her. "This was the best day I've ever had." She continued. "Dana, you don't have to thank me for anything. What I did today was to pay you back for all you've done for me! And to be honest I don't even know why I did this things."
"What do you mean?" she asked confused.
"I mean that for a long time now, you've worried about me, you've supported me. and I never intended to repay you, cause I didn't understand why you did all this."
Dana felt her heart beat even faster. She couldn't take her eyes of him and couldn't stop smiling, specially after listening to this wonderful words.
"But now." Carter held her hand in his, looking straight into her blue eyes. "Now I know. And I felt like I had to repay you some how. I still feel like I didn't."
She laughed, trying to contain tears from coming out of her eyes. "Trust me, you've paid me back." They laughed together.
"Hey, our day isn't over yet. There's one other place I want to take you." he said.
"Where?"
"Come on."
"Carter, where are we going?"
"Come on, it's a surprise. Trust me, you'll like it!" Carter pulled Dana by the hand, as they left the docks and headed towards the street.
* * *
Dana couldn't stop wondering about the place Carter was taking her. It was probably a very special place to keep it in secret. But she didn't mind at all, she loved surprises. When they finally arrived, Dana was a little confused. She'd lived in Mariner Bay her whole life, she knew every corner of the city, but she'd never gone to the top of that hill.
"We're here." Carter finally revealed his secret location.
The sun was already setting. From there, they could see the entire city and a small part of the ocean. The sky was colored with orange, yellow, red and still a few spots of blue. Also, there weren't any clouds around, the sky was totally clear.
"Wow! Carter, is beautiful up here!" Dana replied, staring at the sunset. "How did you find out about this place?"
"Well.a long time ago, my parents brought the family here for a picnic once. I had so much fun here that day that I kept the location in my head. I like training here and whenever I need to be alone, I like coming here to think about things." He hesitated, he didn't know for sure if he should tell Dana about the fire. He made up his mind but he thought he wasn't able to tell to her face. He gave a few steps forward and looked at the city on the sunset. "And." he continued "after what happened, this became my favorite place."
"What do you mean with 'after what happened'?" Dana asked, worried. She walked towards him and stood next to him, as he went on.
"An incident happened to me years ago. A fire to be more specific."
"Tell me about it."
"My house burned out when I was a boy. I got stuck in my room and I couldn't get out. There was smoke all over the place, it was very hot, I could hardly breathe. Then a fireman found me. Suddenly, a piece of the roof fell down. It was going to block the exit, but he ran and held it before it fell. His right shoulder was on fire, but he didn't care, he kept telling me to get out, to save myself. Scared, I ran outside. Another fireman found me and took me away. As he took me out of the building, I could see the man who saved me on last time before the door closed. I didn't see his face, so I never knew who he was."
Dana got shocked. She didn't know how to react to that. She felt sorry for him, but at the same time relieved because he'd survived. "My god! So. you never found out who is he?
Carter breathed deeply. "Actually I did" he turned to look at her. "It was your father."
"My father?!" she was surprised and even more shocked.
"Yeah. I found out a few months ago. He explained to me the whole story. He said he'd seen me smiling at him as I'd left on the day of the fire. Since then, he'd watched me grow up, become a fireman and he chose me to be the Red ranger."
"He did all that for you? That's why you became a fireman, because of the fire and because of my father, right?"
"I'll always thank him for what he did to me. If it wasn't for your dad, I wouldn't be here today. And most important than that, I wouldn't have met you." Carter got closer to Dana, holding her hands. She smiled.
"I just wanted to know something, why didn't you tell me this before?" she asked staring into his eyes.
Carter smirked "I don't know. I should've told you. But I guess it's because I would've had to tell you how I feel about you. And I wouldn't have the guts to do it, at least not before the day on the infirmary."
Dana smiled again. "Well. you should've told me. That way we would've been together sooner than we did."
Carter replied with a big smile, which she rewarded. They stared into each other's eyes. Suddenly, Dana pulled Carter by his hands, making him come closer to her. She leaned forward and kissed him gently. They pulled apart for an instant, but remained looking at each other.
"Do you wannna know something? I've waited the whole day just for this." Carter confessed, making a little joke. They laughed, a laugh that made them feel very good on the inside. Dana let go of his hands and put her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tight. Carter put his arms around her waist and did the same. They remained hugged for a while, as they would slowly stop laughing. When they pulled apart, they remained close to one another. Smiling one last time, Carter leaned and kissed Dana. It was a long and passionate kiss, their hearts were beating nonstop and a feeling of goodness, comfort and lightness filled in their insides. Seconds later, they pulled apart. As Dana started to take her arms of his shoulder, Carter passed his hand softly on her cheek. She couldn't take her eyes of him for one second, that strange feeling took over her completely and she didn't wanted it to disappear. He was felling exactly the same. Sadly, their day was over and they had to go back to the Aquabase.
"We better go now, it's getting late." Dana took Carter's hand and slowly walked away.
"I know. Let's get out of here." The couple left the hill. They went all the way back to the Base holding hands.
* * *
The two rangers entered the Base carefully, so they wouldn't be seen by anyone. There was a hallway on level 5, which almost no one used it, a different access to the engineering. They went to this place to spend their last minutes together that day. Then each one would take a different way to head back to their quarters.
"It's clear. Come on." Dana called Carter, who was waiting for the signal on the next hallway.
"Are you sure no one comes here?" he asked.
"Yes. Maybe some people from the staff or some other employees. But they usually use the other access hallway. This one is a shortcut, only a few people know about it." she explained, as she walked slowly towards him. "Good to know."
The hallway became silent for a moment. Dana approached Carter and stood really closed to him. She looked deeply into his blues eyes. A piece of his dark blonde hair was in front of his face, covering part of it. She put this piece of hair back on its place, practically imitating the gesture he'd done earlier with her hair. When she put her hand down, she put it on top of his hand and held it. Dana kept her eyes fixed on Carter's all the time.
"Look, Carter. I want you to know that I had the most incredible time today." She confessed.
"I had a great time too" he replied.
"This was the best day I've ever had in my entire life. I guess I needed to go out and open myself up, just be."
"Be yourself?" Carter finished the sentence. "I was also feeling this way. But after today, I feel like I don't have to pretend to be someone else anymore, specially around you. I can't really explain it but I just feel like this. It's weird, I don't."
"Carter!" Dana interrupted him. "I know. I can't explain it either. But I don't think that it needs an explanation. Maybe we're suppose to be feeling this way."
"I guess you're right"
"I just want you to promise me something. Don't let this thing we have go away, okay? No matter what it is, don't let it go."
"I promise, as long as you promise me too."
Dana smiled. She wasn't really expecting this response. "Of course I promise too. Why do you think I'm asking you?"
Carter returned her smile and held both her hands gently. They leaned against each other and kissed once again. This one was longer and more passionate than the one the sheared at the hill, since it was sort of a goodbye kiss. It would take a while for another day like that one happened again. As the couple was distracted, the door for the hallway opened and a woman in a white scientist jacket walked into the hallway. She saw the two of them together and, at first, she felt surprised. But then she felt glad to see them there. The woman gave a little cough, trying to get their attention. The red and pink rangers noticed her presence and pulled apart quickly. They got shocked to see Miss Fairweather standing at the hallway.
"I thought I'd forgotten about giving you an assignment. When Joel told me you weren't going to the beach because of it, I got confused. Actually I thought I was having some sort of amnesia or something like it. But now I know that I never gave you two an assignment." Miss F said, being sarcastic.
"Miss Fairweather, it's not what it looks like." Carter tried to explain.
"Carter, don't worry. This is only between you. I have nothing to do with it. Besides, who am I to judge you?"
"Miss F, please, don't tell the others, specially my father? Please!" Dana asked.
"Tell them about what?" Miss F gave a smile, which earned the couples trust. They felt relieved.
"Like I already said, this is only between you two. Don't worry, my lips are sealed." The scientist turned around and started to cross the hallway, going to the engineering. Before reaching the door, she turned once again.
"You know, I don't know what was on your way, but you should've been together for a long time now."
Carter and Dana smiled at her, watching her go away. They looked at each other. Carter let go of Dana's hands. He gave her one last hug.
"Thank you for going out with me today" he said with a low voice, almost like a whisper.
"My pleasure" she whispered back.
They pulled apart and walked together to the end of the hallway. Then, each one took a different way to their quarters, with the moments of their only date kept in their memories.
* * *
At Mariner Bay's downtown, Carter and Dana were walking calmly on their way to the park. The two of them didn't regret making that story up, it was exactly the opposite. They were having so much fun together they've forgotten about everything else. They'd talked about a lot of things, which they'd never talked before and were starting to get to know each other better. They'd walked almost half the city without noticing. By the time they reached the park, it was lunchtime.
"No, it wasn't like that, it was an accident. I got up to see the rest of the play, when I hit your face with my ice cream." Dana tried to explain the past incident with the ice cream at the baseball game.
"Ok, it may have been an accident, but you still smashed the thing on my face. I won't forget this so easily!" Carter said, still very embarrassed with the situation.
"But at least we agree on something: it was funny, wasn't it?" she answered trying to cheer him up.
He smirked. "Yes, it was."
The two rangers laughed for a while, both still felling weird about this story. After that, they stayed quiet and looked around the park. Dana noticed some children playing on the slides and the swings. She gave a little smile, remembering things from her childhood.
"It's been a while since I last came here." They stopped walking. Dana kept looking at the playground. "I remember when I was little, my father used to bring Ryan and I here everyday. We used to play on that slide and those swings for hours, it was great. We had a lot of fun."
"I know what you mean. When I was a kid, I used to come here to play too." Carter said, looking at the children. Dana looked at him curious, she didn't know about that. "My mom watched me carefully while I played with some of the other kids who were here also." He laughed a little embarrassed and looked quickly down. "Since my brother and my sisters were a lot older than me, they didn't want to come here anymore. So, my mom used to bring me here, just her and me." He noticed Dana was paying attention to all the details when he looked at her. "But still, I had a great time."
They laughed, as they watched the children play. They started slowly walking again. Suddenly, Dana felt hungry. She noticed what time it was and got surprised. "Hey, it's already lunchtime" she said, getting Carter's attention.
"You're right. I didn't even see the time pass by. Are you hungry?
"Actually I'm starving."
"Me too. Why don't we go to that diner at the exit of the park?"
"Sure, I'd like that." Dana agreed, smiling at Carter. He returned the smile, as the couple began to leave.
"You know. it's improbable, but maybe you and I had met here when we were kids. We just don't remember."
"Maybe. Who knows?" Carter took Dana's hand and held it softly. They headed to the diner, holding hands.
* * *
After having lunch, Carter and Dana went back to park. They spent almost 2 hours talking about practically everything and just walking though the Mariner Bay Park. Once in a while they'd stop to sit down and rest, but they kept talking, enjoying each other's company, one learning more about the other. They left the park and headed to the docks. On the way they realized how comfortable they were about being together. Since the first day, Carter and Dana never had the change to get to know each other better, they'd always have the others around or get stuck with ranger business. During this day, they've learned more than they ever thought they would learn. And that felt good. Now, they could act normally without worrying about how the other will react. They could hold hands, hug, touch and not get uncomfortable or embarrassed about it. This feeling was new to them and they didn't know how to explain it. It just felt right. It was already the end of the afternoon. The sun wasn't setting yet, but soon it would. The couple arrived at the docks silently. There weren't many people around, just three or four. Dana went straight to edge, leaning towards the bars. Carter followed and stood next to her. The two of them stared at the sea.
"I like this place." Dana finally broke the ice. "It's calm and peaceful."
"You can smell the ocean. The air is pure and the wind is very soft." Carter added. "I know why Chad loves the sea so much."
The silence came back. Dana kept looking at him, even after he'd stopped talking. That feeling of comfort and inner peace made her heart star beating faster.
"Carter, I wanted to thank you for today." She stopped for an instant and stared into his eyes. He did the same, after turning aside to be face to face with her. "This was the best day I've ever had." She continued. "Dana, you don't have to thank me for anything. What I did today was to pay you back for all you've done for me! And to be honest I don't even know why I did this things."
"What do you mean?" she asked confused.
"I mean that for a long time now, you've worried about me, you've supported me. and I never intended to repay you, cause I didn't understand why you did all this."
Dana felt her heart beat even faster. She couldn't take her eyes of him and couldn't stop smiling, specially after listening to this wonderful words.
"But now." Carter held her hand in his, looking straight into her blue eyes. "Now I know. And I felt like I had to repay you some how. I still feel like I didn't."
She laughed, trying to contain tears from coming out of her eyes. "Trust me, you've paid me back." They laughed together.
"Hey, our day isn't over yet. There's one other place I want to take you." he said.
"Where?"
"Come on."
"Carter, where are we going?"
"Come on, it's a surprise. Trust me, you'll like it!" Carter pulled Dana by the hand, as they left the docks and headed towards the street.
* * *
Dana couldn't stop wondering about the place Carter was taking her. It was probably a very special place to keep it in secret. But she didn't mind at all, she loved surprises. When they finally arrived, Dana was a little confused. She'd lived in Mariner Bay her whole life, she knew every corner of the city, but she'd never gone to the top of that hill.
"We're here." Carter finally revealed his secret location.
The sun was already setting. From there, they could see the entire city and a small part of the ocean. The sky was colored with orange, yellow, red and still a few spots of blue. Also, there weren't any clouds around, the sky was totally clear.
"Wow! Carter, is beautiful up here!" Dana replied, staring at the sunset. "How did you find out about this place?"
"Well.a long time ago, my parents brought the family here for a picnic once. I had so much fun here that day that I kept the location in my head. I like training here and whenever I need to be alone, I like coming here to think about things." He hesitated, he didn't know for sure if he should tell Dana about the fire. He made up his mind but he thought he wasn't able to tell to her face. He gave a few steps forward and looked at the city on the sunset. "And." he continued "after what happened, this became my favorite place."
"What do you mean with 'after what happened'?" Dana asked, worried. She walked towards him and stood next to him, as he went on.
"An incident happened to me years ago. A fire to be more specific."
"Tell me about it."
"My house burned out when I was a boy. I got stuck in my room and I couldn't get out. There was smoke all over the place, it was very hot, I could hardly breathe. Then a fireman found me. Suddenly, a piece of the roof fell down. It was going to block the exit, but he ran and held it before it fell. His right shoulder was on fire, but he didn't care, he kept telling me to get out, to save myself. Scared, I ran outside. Another fireman found me and took me away. As he took me out of the building, I could see the man who saved me on last time before the door closed. I didn't see his face, so I never knew who he was."
Dana got shocked. She didn't know how to react to that. She felt sorry for him, but at the same time relieved because he'd survived. "My god! So. you never found out who is he?
Carter breathed deeply. "Actually I did" he turned to look at her. "It was your father."
"My father?!" she was surprised and even more shocked.
"Yeah. I found out a few months ago. He explained to me the whole story. He said he'd seen me smiling at him as I'd left on the day of the fire. Since then, he'd watched me grow up, become a fireman and he chose me to be the Red ranger."
"He did all that for you? That's why you became a fireman, because of the fire and because of my father, right?"
"I'll always thank him for what he did to me. If it wasn't for your dad, I wouldn't be here today. And most important than that, I wouldn't have met you." Carter got closer to Dana, holding her hands. She smiled.
"I just wanted to know something, why didn't you tell me this before?" she asked staring into his eyes.
Carter smirked "I don't know. I should've told you. But I guess it's because I would've had to tell you how I feel about you. And I wouldn't have the guts to do it, at least not before the day on the infirmary."
Dana smiled again. "Well. you should've told me. That way we would've been together sooner than we did."
Carter replied with a big smile, which she rewarded. They stared into each other's eyes. Suddenly, Dana pulled Carter by his hands, making him come closer to her. She leaned forward and kissed him gently. They pulled apart for an instant, but remained looking at each other.
"Do you wannna know something? I've waited the whole day just for this." Carter confessed, making a little joke. They laughed, a laugh that made them feel very good on the inside. Dana let go of his hands and put her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tight. Carter put his arms around her waist and did the same. They remained hugged for a while, as they would slowly stop laughing. When they pulled apart, they remained close to one another. Smiling one last time, Carter leaned and kissed Dana. It was a long and passionate kiss, their hearts were beating nonstop and a feeling of goodness, comfort and lightness filled in their insides. Seconds later, they pulled apart. As Dana started to take her arms of his shoulder, Carter passed his hand softly on her cheek. She couldn't take her eyes of him for one second, that strange feeling took over her completely and she didn't wanted it to disappear. He was felling exactly the same. Sadly, their day was over and they had to go back to the Aquabase.
"We better go now, it's getting late." Dana took Carter's hand and slowly walked away.
"I know. Let's get out of here." The couple left the hill. They went all the way back to the Base holding hands.
* * *
The two rangers entered the Base carefully, so they wouldn't be seen by anyone. There was a hallway on level 5, which almost no one used it, a different access to the engineering. They went to this place to spend their last minutes together that day. Then each one would take a different way to head back to their quarters.
"It's clear. Come on." Dana called Carter, who was waiting for the signal on the next hallway.
"Are you sure no one comes here?" he asked.
"Yes. Maybe some people from the staff or some other employees. But they usually use the other access hallway. This one is a shortcut, only a few people know about it." she explained, as she walked slowly towards him. "Good to know."
The hallway became silent for a moment. Dana approached Carter and stood really closed to him. She looked deeply into his blues eyes. A piece of his dark blonde hair was in front of his face, covering part of it. She put this piece of hair back on its place, practically imitating the gesture he'd done earlier with her hair. When she put her hand down, she put it on top of his hand and held it. Dana kept her eyes fixed on Carter's all the time.
"Look, Carter. I want you to know that I had the most incredible time today." She confessed.
"I had a great time too" he replied.
"This was the best day I've ever had in my entire life. I guess I needed to go out and open myself up, just be."
"Be yourself?" Carter finished the sentence. "I was also feeling this way. But after today, I feel like I don't have to pretend to be someone else anymore, specially around you. I can't really explain it but I just feel like this. It's weird, I don't."
"Carter!" Dana interrupted him. "I know. I can't explain it either. But I don't think that it needs an explanation. Maybe we're suppose to be feeling this way."
"I guess you're right"
"I just want you to promise me something. Don't let this thing we have go away, okay? No matter what it is, don't let it go."
"I promise, as long as you promise me too."
Dana smiled. She wasn't really expecting this response. "Of course I promise too. Why do you think I'm asking you?"
Carter returned her smile and held both her hands gently. They leaned against each other and kissed once again. This one was longer and more passionate than the one the sheared at the hill, since it was sort of a goodbye kiss. It would take a while for another day like that one happened again. As the couple was distracted, the door for the hallway opened and a woman in a white scientist jacket walked into the hallway. She saw the two of them together and, at first, she felt surprised. But then she felt glad to see them there. The woman gave a little cough, trying to get their attention. The red and pink rangers noticed her presence and pulled apart quickly. They got shocked to see Miss Fairweather standing at the hallway.
"I thought I'd forgotten about giving you an assignment. When Joel told me you weren't going to the beach because of it, I got confused. Actually I thought I was having some sort of amnesia or something like it. But now I know that I never gave you two an assignment." Miss F said, being sarcastic.
"Miss Fairweather, it's not what it looks like." Carter tried to explain.
"Carter, don't worry. This is only between you. I have nothing to do with it. Besides, who am I to judge you?"
"Miss F, please, don't tell the others, specially my father? Please!" Dana asked.
"Tell them about what?" Miss F gave a smile, which earned the couples trust. They felt relieved.
"Like I already said, this is only between you two. Don't worry, my lips are sealed." The scientist turned around and started to cross the hallway, going to the engineering. Before reaching the door, she turned once again.
"You know, I don't know what was on your way, but you should've been together for a long time now."
Carter and Dana smiled at her, watching her go away. They looked at each other. Carter let go of Dana's hands. He gave her one last hug.
"Thank you for going out with me today" he said with a low voice, almost like a whisper.
"My pleasure" she whispered back.
They pulled apart and walked together to the end of the hallway. Then, each one took a different way to their quarters, with the moments of their only date kept in their memories.
* * *