Well, I'm not sure if I split the thing in a good spot…but I hope no one minds too much…Thanks again for the feedback.
"You asked for it." Trini eyes crinkled at Jason's tone. "Kim talked about you whenever she could. In a way, a person might think she didn't like Emily. She didn't really talk about what happened in the volcano. She'd only say how decent you looked wearing only black pants with red cuffs and black cuffs on your arms."
Jason flushed at the sight she described. "I was possessed," he muttered. "It's not as if you haven't seen me topless or in spandex, for that matter," he retorted had the pleasure of seeing Trini's cheeks redden with embarrassment before she turned away.
Jason continued to look at Trini with piercing eyes. "I thought the Gold Ranger duty was a temporary. Tommy said it'd be like old times. He didn't tell me Billy couldn't take the powers. I should have known the moment I saw Billy. God, it's like he's only the tech support. He always seemed apart from the team. It wasn't the same. It was a different team, Trini. I'd see a flash of yellow and in some corner of my mind I half expected to see you, but it wasn't….It felt strange…I never thought—"
Trini finished for him. "You never thought you'd find yourself in Tommy's position – a solo act, an outsider." During the period she eased into old habits and reached for Jason's hands and provided understanding and comfort.
He nodded and sipped some coffee. "I guess I was lost in a way. Then Emily and I started dating and I didn't feel like an outsider again until Billy left for Aquitar." He saw Trini's lack of surprise at that bit of information. "He told you about Aquitar?" Trini laughed and nodded.
Jason picked a scientific toy on the coffee table. "For a while, I thought I was out of shape or something." A muffled snort made Jason stop playing with the toy. He jerked his head toward her face, but she hid her expression behind the mug of coffee.
"Anyway, it turns out the Gold Powers should never be held by an earthling since we don't have the threefold fusion existence. Since I could not split and the physiology was wrong, the power poisoned me." A self-depreciating grin crossed his face. "I was not the same guy you knew in the past, Trini."
Trini scooted just a little closer and Jason continued his narrative. "Trey, the original Gold Ranger, was finally able to take back the powers, but by then, it was too late. I was a changed man. It was too late to return to Switzerland during senior year, and at the time I had Emily to consider." Jason felt Trini move her legs away from him.
"So how did you and Kimberly meet up if you were dating Emily?"
Jason grimaced at the memory. "Chalk it up to bad timing on Kim's crazy urges. I think she was training for the Olympics and somehow wheedled me into visiting her at the gym. Emily wanted to come along with me, but Kim was adamant on me coming alone. I thought she was hiding something, but when we got kidnapped—"
"And spellbound." Trini added, much to Jason's irritation. She was thinking of that period when Kim had vehemently insisted that Trini visit around that time, blackmailing her about Jason. Why that little… Trini sent some rather unkind thoughts toward her pink friend before she started leaning against a Jason who now had an annoyed expression on his face.
"Yes, spellbound, Ms. Know-It-All." Jason resumed the tale. "Divatox kept Bulk, Skull, and the civilians in a separate cell away from Kim and me. At first, Divatox told us to join the evil forces, but when we refused (especially when Kim kicked her in the face) she threw us into what they called the Dungeon Temple." He dragged in another breath as he confronted the suppressed memories. "They just left us chained in this silent place, with the only light coming from an artifact from Maligore's reign of evil. It's like that thing had demons in it, chanting. Kim and I would talk to keep to red glow away from us. I guess in the rush of the attack, I forgot to ask her why she wanted me to visit her then," he paused for a moment.
"It was strange, but we talked about normal stuff like guys and girls…and then we talked about you." Jason confessed. Trin's eyes widened in surprise. He gave her a wry smile. "Then we became bewitched." Trini groaned at the attempt at levity and grabbed Jason's head to shake it, but with the touch of her fingers in his hair and their faces inches apart for the second time that night, humor and easy laughs flew from their minds.
Jason decided to go for broke and cradled Trin's face and tenderly kissed her. She sighed into his mouth. He eased away and the two had another moment of awkwardness.
Trini broke the silence. "What about Emily?"
Jason closed his eyes and ran a hand through the hair as he tried to clear the air once and for all. "Emily left me, Trini. We were living together for 4 years while I was in law school. She became emotionally attached to one of my clients and after we won the case, she ran away with him to the hippie colony in Northern California." He waited for the pity and the questions.
Neither came. Trini had her eyes closed, deep in thought, as if the decision was a matter of life and death. Jason waited until he decided 3 minutes were more than enough. "Trini?"
Her right eye cracked open. "Yes."
"You don't have any questions?" he asked. "You seemed to be bursting all over wanting to know about Emily."
"Yes, but I'm not stupid or insensitive. Besides, it's not my place," she began.
"Trini! Only 4 people outside my family have the right. 2 of them have their own problems and haven't asked. And the other one isn't here and the only way Billy would know is thought listening. YOU are the person here and now that I can talk to truthfully; no lawyer-talk, even." His words were laced with a little humor.
Trini opted to lie down and started nudging Jason's knees together so her head was pillowed by his lap. "I don't know where to start. How? Why? Did you see it coming?"
He only shrugged. "Hindsight is 20/20, but Emily said I had a 'hero complex.' I took it as a compliment then. She also didn't understand why after several years of normalcy a sudden 'emergency' would require me to drop everything and go." He muttered, "as it was, we had an argument and I almost missed all the excitement."
Trini rolled her eyes "Tommy?"
"See, even you had an idea," Jason exclaimed. He calmed down and continued, "Yeah. Tommy decided to be a hero and get 'the best of the best' together to send an evil back into the hell it belongs. I don't know how exactly, but the Time Force Rangers somehow enabled all of our powers to be reinstated. If Billy was here, he'd probably be able to explain, but before he does, I'm gonna get some payback." He looked down to see Trini tugging his shirt to get his attention. "What?" he grinned. "Can't I even want some revenge?"
"Jason, stop that! Billy's nice!" she scolded. "But seriously, Jason, I was a ranger!" she pointed out. "I used to do that stuff too." She stopped to think. "Do you think rangers just date rangers because of the shared experience, or do you think there's a chance that we can grow old and have a normal life with a normal person?" Apparently satisfied and assuming they were done with the conversation, she reverted to old habits and shifted one last time to sleep.
"Trini, are you joking? You're not really asleep, right?" Tentatively at first, Jason shook Trini, but when there was no response, a wry grin crossed his face as he considered his options since if memory served him correctly, Trini slept like a log. A glance at the clock did not surprise him with the time: 3:45 am. He eyed the sleeping head on his lap and made a decision.
He gently lifted Trini's sleeping body, cradled her in his arms, and started searching for the room she occupied while in Billy's house. As he carried her, he sent a silent prayer to heaven and realized she never really talked about herself at all during the night. For all he knew, she could be considering Billy as husband material. Please God, don't let me find Trini's things with Billy's, he mentally begged. From the hallway, he spied a guest room and with a sigh of relief, he laid Trini down on the bed and proceeded to tuck her as in the past. As he finished the task, he gave a gentle kiss on her forehead and straightened from the bed.
Jason returned to the living room and grabbed a pillow and pulled a sheet over himself. A line from a song made his lips quirk. "It's a beautiful morning,.." Sleep then took over his body.
** **
Trini shifted in the bed and tried to get more comfortable. Her mind realized she still wore her bra and she had not changed into pajamas. How did I get here? She thought. She mentally reviewed yesterday's events as she approached the events leading up to the moment she fell asleep. A glance at the clock showed 12:30pm with a jump out of the bed, Trini made a beeline for the living room and cell phone. How did I get into bed if the last thing I remember is listening to Jason…JASON! Right on the couch, a general outline of a certain male under a sheet led to an arm and a leg poked out, and threatened to fall off the couch. Her expression softened and se scooted back to the bathroom to freshen up for the day.