Disclaimer: Characters belong to BVE and VRP. Thank you.

Author's note: This story is a followup to "Murphy's Law" and therefore is slightly AU (hey, "All About Beevil" hadn't aired yet when I wrote that story!). That being said, it does take place between "Nowhere to Grow" and "Return of Thunder part 1".

Ooh, Pretty! by Stultulo

Marah wasn't having the best of days. After she'd let Cam go, her Uncle wasn't in the best of moods, so she was avoiding him. Which meant avoiding the bridge. And Kapri. It had been only two days, but she was getting bored staying in her room.

At least she'd gotten her staff back. Cam had so thoughtfully dropped it when his friends had 'rescued' him. She thought of the guy. He wasn't bad looking, to be sure, though not as cute as some of the Rangers. The Red Ranger definitely had something going for him.

Thing was, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go for a guy she didn't know. She'd learned her lessons with the Thunder boys. Sure, they were cute, in uniform and not, but they'd betrayed Uncle. Of course, she'd kinda did it, but Cam didn't want to be there and all, and she didn't want him to be bored, so what could she do?

Besides, at least he was honest about not wanting to be there. And he'd been so nice, if a little bit snippy.

Marah brightened. Hey, bad guys fell for good girls all the time anyway, so why shouldn't good guys fall for bad girls, or something like that? And it wasn't like Cam was a Ranger or anything. Uncle shouldn't be too mad.

Making a decision, Marah teleported to Earth.

~~~

"Oooh, why's shopping for a guy so *hard*?" Marah muttered. She loved shopping for herself, or Marah, or even Uncle. She'd even tried shopping for Choobo and Zurgaine a few times, but neither had appreciated it very much. And that kelzak wouldn't do any tailoring without a living model, and wouldn't go much against Uncle's orders anyway.

She wondered if Cam wouldn't mind being captured again so that she could get him something *decent*. That matched with his glasses, anyway. He was such a grouch sometimes about his glasses. Not that she wanted to turn him over to Uncle again. She just wanted to get him into some decent clothes.

Marah tried to imagine him as an accountant. No, too stuffy. He seemed wilder than that. Scientist? Maybe. There was this show she'd been watching lately off the satellite - maybe he'd look good in that guy's outfit, though she'd have to get rid of that question-mark umbrella. And he didn't have that weird accent.

Librarian. That might be it. There was a cutie on one of the shows that she'd caught one day. The one with the monster-slaying. Puffy? No, that was a musician.

She decided librarian was the way to go with that one, next time she saw Cam. Or made sure that Cam had an appointment with the tailor. He'd look good in beige. And beige contrasted so well with those colored computers that she saw a lot of.

Turning away from the clothes shop, she went to see if she could find some old dusty books and stuff. Maybe something geeky as well. A calculator? That would make him feel comfortable and wouldn't spoil the outfit she had in mind.

It could even be kinda fun, playing the scatter-brained wife of a prominent librarian. She could pretend she wasn't Uncle's niece for a while, and Cam wasn't on the other side. Kinda. Whatever he did.

"Library!" she announced to the general air. She'd better read up on some famous librarians and what they did so that she could tell Cam. He might even like it. Any role, said her acting tapes, had to be researched.

On that note, she went to find a library, and even the children's section. That would tell her all she needed to know.

~~~

A few hours later, she teleported out of the library with a few books on librarians. She probably should have checked them out, but she was sure that Cam could find out what she was reading with that magical system of his, and besides, she wasn't sure if she owned a library card or not.

Resolving to check when she had a chance, she unloaded the books on her dresser. Kapri would tease her endlessly if she saw the library books, and Marah couldn't have *that* on top of letting Cam 'get away'.

She got back into her normal outfit and made her way up to the bridge in the quietest way she thought possible.

"Oh, look, it's Miss 'Let's let the prisoner get away'!" Kapri announced, totally blowing her attempt to be quiet.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, knowing that the best way to divert suspicion was to reply like nothing was wrong. "Like, how was I supposed to know that the guy could pick locks? Or operate my staff?"

"Doing so," Zurgane rumbled, "Would require more intelligence than is possible on your part."

Marah pouted for a minute. "I guess he needed more security?" she asked, knowing that it would get her out of her troubles. She'd get gibed at for sure, but it was better than being branded a traitor. She wondered if Cam would take her in if that happened. Probably. It was what good guys did, after all.

But then she'd miss Uncle. And Kapri. And all the aliens in Uncle's army. Take the Boxing Bop-a-roo that was teaching her how to box. How was she supposed to learn anything without *him*?

"That was why I was trying to be careful when you brought him to the ship," Zurgane said. "I knew that his intelligence would make him a dangerous prisoner. Sir! I suggest the next prisoner we take be stowed in the brig."

"Or in one of my bubbles," Choobo boasted.

"He wasn't *that* awful," Marah said. "It wasn't like I told him any battle plans. You don't trust me with those anyway, Uncle. And he was in my room all the time!"

"You've got a point there," Uncle said. "And there's a reason I don't trust you with my battle plans."

"Uh, because I'd blab them all over?" Marah asked. She actually thought she had an idea of what Uncle was planning, just because he himself tended to blab about his plans. But she didn't point that out to him. She wasn't *that* dumb.

"Exactly." Uncle shook his head. "Get out of my sight for a while."

"Uh, okay, Uncle." With that, she got out of the room. Fast.