Disclaimer: Power Rangers Time Force and all related logos are property of Disney and/or Saban Entertainment. I am using them without permission. KJ Sheldon, Lt. James Emery, Trinity Oliver, Camille Summers, Leo Claw and the "Omega Project" are property of yours truly.

A/N: This fic takes place about a week after the end of Future Shock II.

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~~

The doors to the communications room opened, and Commander Tommy Oliver walked in. There was another officer sitting in front of the controls, but the Commander cleared his throat, getting his attention.

"Commander," he said firmly, standing at attention.

"You're relieved ensign," he said calmly, the expression on his face remaining void of emotion.

"But sir, but duty shift isn't over until 0900 hours,"

"You're relieved ensign," he repeated.

"Yes sir,"

Without another word, the ensign hurried out the room. When he was gone, Tommy sat down in front of the controls, inputting a series of commands. "Computer, open a temporal subspace channel to these coordinates," he said.

'Coordinates accepted, opening channel,' the computer responded.

A few moments later, the view screen in front of him blinked on, and there she was. Seeing her light complexion, her long hair and honey brown eyes was enough to replace his emotionless expression with a warm smile. "Its good to see you again sweetie," he said.

"Hi daddy," she said eagerly. "Oh no, what's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, nothing at all. I pulled some strings and I've been allowed to keep in contact with you. From now on you'll have to deal with your old man a little more often," he said.

"Not that I'm not glad, but how did you pull that off? I thought that was violating some temporal directive or something,"

"Lets just say I know someone on the counsel. How are you sweetie?" he asked her.

"I'm fine. I'm about to start my first year of college in a few weeks,"

"Very good. And your mother? And Wes?"

"They're fine. The two of them are getting along really well, everything is great here. What about you? What's going on in the 31st century?" she inquired.

His thoughts shifted to the Harvenger invasion a few weeks ago, but didn't feel the need to bother her with the details. Instead, he decided to share happier news with her.

"I'm engaged to be married,"

"To that Jennifer girl? Congratulations daddy, I hope it works out for you," she said with a smile.

"Something tells me it will," he paused. "Listen Trinity, I know I haven't always been in a position to be with you the way I'd like to, and I won't be able to see you grow up the way you wanted me to, but you know I'll always love you, right?"

"Of course daddy,"

"There's something I need to tell you," he took a deep breath. "Jen and I are… having a baby. I know I wasn't the greatest father for you, and I need to know you're okay with this," he said.

"Why wouldn't I be dad? This is great. I hope you and Jen are very happy together," she said.

"Thank you honey. Jen and I are taking some time off work for a while, getting things ready for the baby and for the wedding, but it'll be business as usual in a few weeks. I'm just trying to enjoy the time off while I can," he told her.

"You deserve it dad, but if Jen is having a baby, who's going to be the pink ranger?"

"What do you mean?"

"You certainly don't want her out there high kickin' and karate choppin' in her condition, do you? Its not good for the baby, not to mention the levels of radiation morphers produce," she told him.

"You know, I'd never even thought of that,"

"You may want to find someone else to be the pink ranger, at least until Jen has the baby and is back on her feet,"

"That's a good idea honey, thank you," he paused. "I have to get going, but we'll talk again soon. Same time next week?"

"I'm looking forward to it. I love you daddy,"

"I love you too Trinity,"

'Subspace channel closed,' the computer told him.

It amazed him that he hadn't thought of it sooner. 'The radiation from the Morpher could hurt the baby, or even hurt Jen in this condition,' he thought to himself, but knew he wouldn't have the easiest time convincing Jen to step down as the pink ranger.

Talking to his daughter again had done him some good. Part of him felt guilty for having another child, knowing that he wasn't able to watch his first child grow up the way he'd wanted to. He could only imagine how hard it was for Kim, raising a child all only for the first few years, clinging to the idea that one day he'd come home.

But he never did.

'At least she has Wes now. He'll be able to be the husband I couldn't be,' he sighed inwardly. There was something odd about the entire situation; Jen's "relationship" with Wesley Collins in the 21st century was well documented, likewise his marriage to Kimberly Hart was common knowledge, so the thought of Wes and Kim ending up together was nothing short of ironic. Then, almost 1000 years later, he and Jen were engaged. 'Poetic justice,' he thought.

With a smile on his face, he stood up, walking away.

*

For the last two weeks, Trip had been in the science lab, catching up on his work. Systems that required constant supervision and reconfiguring had gone unchecked, and the targeting sensors were still out of alignment, not to mention the mess the Harvengers left behind them.

"Okay, try them now," he called out, lying underneath a control panel.

James Emery sat at the controls, inputting the command sequence. "Beginning transport… now," he told him. He activated the transporter, then watched as the container they were experimenting with disappeared, then rematerialized in few seconds later across the room… but it was horribly twisted and disfigured. "I'm glad I don't have anywhere to go." He paused. "Maybe we should work on something else and come back to this later,"

"You're right, we should get to work on the secondary and reserve power cells. They took a pounding over the last few weeks and you never know when we might need them again," he said.

"You're expecting another invasion anytime soon?"

"No, but it pays to be prepared,"

"Trip, why are you burying yourself in your work?" James asked him.

"I'm not, I'm just trying to get everything working,"

"The repair teams and work on the power cells, you don't have to," Trip slid out from under the control panel, dusting himself off. "You're avoiding Camille, aren't you?" he asked.

"Of course not. Why would I be avoiding my girlfriend?" Trip snapped.

"I don't know, but you'd think after what the two of you had been through, you'd want to spend as much time together as you could. You've been locked away in this stuffy ass lab for the last two weeks, and Camille has been hiding out in the infirmary. The two of you really need to spend some time together. You know, catch up,"

"We won't have to catch up, we're already caught up. We're just busy. She's been working in the infirmary a few extra hours, and I've been…"

"Save it Trip, I know you better than that. I don't know why the two of you are avoiding each other, but you need to work it out. The two of you belong together, and it would be a shame for the two of you to drift apart. Go talk to her," James insisted.

Trip knew he was right, but somehow hearing it from Lt. James Emery didn't sit well with him. He didn't know why he was avoiding Camille… or rather, he didn't want to admit to himself why he was avoiding Camille. 'This is silly, it really is,' he thought. He knew Camille had been involved with other people before him, but the thought of her being involved with Leo Claw at some point annoyed him. 'It doesn't matter anymore. Even if they were together, it was years ago. Besides, Leo is gone. So why does it bother me so much?' he wondered.

He knew that sooner or later, he'd have to tell Camille how he felt, but wasn't sure how to approach the situation. 'Hey, I heard you use to sleep with the dead guy. Oh yeah, that'll work,' he groaned inwardly.

Finally, he shook off the confusion, turning his attention back to his work. "Come on James, we really need to get these power cells back on line, then I want to give the slipstream a few more tests before we officially bring it back on line," Trip said.

James sighed.

*

The two of them stood on the balcony overlooking the city. The sun was beginning to set, and the sunlight was reflecting off the clouds, giving them an orange-ish color. The wind blew gently, putting a chill down her spine. Alex quickly took off his jacket, wrapping it around her.

"Its beautiful, isn't it?" he sighed, turning his attention back to the view.

"Yeah, it is. You remember when we use to come out here every night?"

"How could I forget? I think about that all the time,"

"You do?"

"Of course I do. You're the only woman I ever really loved," he sighed.

"I didn't know,"

"Yes you did, you just didn't want to admit it," he turned to her. "There will always be a part of me that's in love with you, that wants to hold you the way I use to, but we both knew that can never happen. You've found someone else, and you're happy now, and that's all I ever really wanted for you," he told her.

"You must have hated me when I came back from my mission and told you I didn't want to be with you anymore,"

"I could never hate you Jennifer, but I knew that relationship was destined to fail. Now you're in a relationship that can work," he put his hand on her stomach. "You're in a marriage that will work. You're a mother now, and I expect you to be as good as that as you are with everything else," he said.

"I'll try,"

"And you have to promise I get to be Uncle Alex," he said with a smile.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder as they watched the sun set behind the clouds.

*

The sun had finally set, and Camille found herself standing in the dark. The evening chill began to get the best of her, but she was determined to stay. She leaned down, trying to control her emotions as she stared at him tombstone.

"You were right, I did act like I was too busy to come talk to you. I knew you were working in the special project division, but I was too busy dealing with my own life. I'm sorry," her emotions started to get the best of her as tears rolled down her face. "Its just that things are going so good for me now. I have a wonderful job, someone who really cares about me, and I'm doing a lot of good. I'm really helping people now, making a real difference in the world. When I was with you, we had good intentions, but we did a lot more harm than good. I was trying to leave that part of my life behind me, and I never meant to leave you behind too," she paused, wiping the tears from her eyes. "You'd really like Trip, he's a great guy, and he cares about me. We've made a lot of serious improvements with the Morpher technology; cloaking, site to site teleportation, tracking devices, there's more advanced now than they have been in the last ten years, and isn't that why we got into the special projects division in the first place?" she began to rub her wrist gently. "I still haven't told anyone about the Omega project, and I promise I'll finish it. I know that's what you would want. I'll miss you Leo," she sighed, setting a single white rose on his grave, then walked away.

*

"How are our patients doing?" Katie asked as she walked into the infirmary, making her way towards KJ and Nadira, who were each laying on examining tables.

Dr. Young walked over to Katie with a clipboard in hand. "I was able to attach the androids head and realign the circuit pathways, but I'm afraid there was a lot of damage to the cranial region," he told her.

"She isn't going to make it?"

"It can be reactivated, but most of the memory engrams were destroyed. I had to replace them with new modules, so it will have no memory of you or anything else," he told her.

"Why do you keep calling her it?" she inquired.

"She may look human lieutenant, it may even sound and act human, but it isn't. After what it tried to do to us, the only thing I can call it is it. The only reason I agreed to repair it was it was a personal favor to you," he explained.

"You can't blame KJ for what she did, she didn't even know she was transmitting to the Harvengers. And in the end, when she could have helped eliminate the entire human race, she resisted her programming and did the right thing. She may not be human, but it was the bravest thing I've ever seen," she told him.

"I understand your feelings Katie, and I respect them," he paused. "Just as I hope you can respect mine in this matter,"

"Of course doctor," she turned to Nadira. "What about my favorite mutant? Is she going to be alright?" she asked him.

"Her mutant DNA didn't fully accept the anti toxin you used, but she is healing. Its going to take her a little longer, but all my tests say she is progressing well and she'll be back on her feet in a few weeks. In the meantime, I have to keep her sedated… just in case,"

"I see. Well, keep me posted," she turned back to KJ. "When will I be able to take her home with me?" she asked.

"I'd like to keep it… her here until I can run a few more tests, but my guess is first thing in the morning you can come for her,"

"Thanks again doc," she said cheerfully, walking out the room.

*

"Lights," Camille said as she walked into her apartment.

No sooner than she gave the command, the lights came on, and she headed inside, tossing the jacket of her Time Force uniform across the couch in the living room. She headed to the kitchen, only to find a pot simmering on the stove.

'I didn't leave the stove on, did I?' she asked herself, but before she could give it another thought, Trip rushed into the kitchen wearing an apron.

"Don't touch that, it won't be ready for another ten minutes," he told her, smacking her hand away.

"What are you in here burning?"

"I'll have you know I'm a master chef. Tonight we'll be having…" before he could finish his sentence, the smoke alarm went off. "Oh no, the turkey," he groaned, putting on a pot holder and opening the stove. Smoke filled the kitchen as Trip pulled the turkey out, setting it on the counter. "So, you wanna go out for dinner? My treat," he offered.

She giggled. "A for effort honey, but you should leave cooking to the professionals," Camille sighed.

"I just wanted to do something nice for you. I know you're a little down about…" he let his sentence trail off purposely.

"Is that was this is about? You think I'm upset about Leo?"

He nodded. "A little,"

She moved in closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest. "Leo and I were just friends back in the academy, and the two of us worked together down in special projects division, but that's as far as it went. I wish I'd gotten the chance to spend more time with him before he died, but I was never interested in him. Not like that. My heart, my soul and everything else belong to you. It always has, and it will until the day I die…" she paused."…again," she assured him.

"Thanks honey,"

"Now turn off the stove and lets get out of here. We can go over to the diner and get a cheeseburger," she suggested.

"I knew there was a reason I loved you," Trip said with a smile, kissing her on the forehead.

~~

The two of them walked into the diner, only to see Tommy, Jen, Lucas and Alex sitting at a table near the window.

"Is this a private party?" Camille asked.

"Don't be silly, have a seat guys," Tommy told her.

The two of them grabbed chairs from another table, moving over to their table and sitting down. "What are you guys doing here?" Trip asked.

"Not a whole lot we can do back at headquarters, the repair teams are still working on most of the essential systems. We figured it was best if we just got out their way, and none of us really felt like going home," Lucas told them.

"I'm glad you guys are here, you can help us think of names for the baby," Jen said eagerly.

Tommy turned to her. "Honey, I thought we'd settled on Carmen,"

"No, you settled on Carmen. Just because that's what we named her in the future, it doesn't mean we have to name our baby Carmen. I make my own destiny,"

"I like the name Camille. Its pretty, yet charming," Camille brought up.

"I was thinking about something like Michelle or Rachelle,"

"How about an Xybrian name, like Ezri," Trip said proudly.

"I don't know, that sounds a little Star Trek-ish," Tommy said.

"Don't ever mention Star Trek in my presence," Alex snapped.

"What do you have against Star Trek?"

"You really don't know, do you?" Lucas asked.

Tommy shook his head. "Know what?"

"When Time Force originally started to experiment with time travel, the special projects division thought it the only thing that would be able to withstand the turbulence of going through a temporal vortex was the Q-Rex megazord. One person was selected to try a preliminary test with the Q-Rex, and Time Force allowed him to take the Quantum controller with him to control the zord just in case things got out of hand. The Q-Rex was lost in time, and the pilot was presumed dead… until the time line shifted," she paused. "Someone had taken knowledge of the future and sold the rights to the information to a television studio. The producers thought he was crazy, but he created a television show that was a cult-like favorite for over 100 years," Camille explained.

"Are you saying that the creator of Star Trek was a jumper?"

Alex nodded. "By the time we realized what happened, the time line had been too badly altered and the counsel decided that since it cause no immediate danger to the future, Commander Roddenbery could stay in the past. He died a few years later," he said.

"Gene Roddenbery was from the future?" he paused. "That certainly does explain a lot though," Tommy pointed out. "What other shows came from the future?"

"Sliders," Lucas said.

"VR Troopers," Trip brought up.

"The back to the future trilogy," Camille told him.

"Lost in Space,"

"One life to live," Alex said.

"One life to live? The soap opera?" Tommy inquired.

"You'd be surprised how many other things got started because of influence from the future. There was this one time when we…" Trip was cut short.

"Hello, we were suppose to be discussing baby names," Jen said, getting everyone back on topic.

"How do you feel about the name Trini?" Tommy asked her.

"I was always partial to the name Katie," Katie said as she and Adam walked over to them, each of them grabbing a chair and sitting down at the table. "When Emery said all of you were gone for the day, I figured I'd find you here,"

"I am not naming my child after any of you," Jen snapped.

"So we can rule out Alexandra?" Alex asked.

"What about Tanya?" Adam asked.

"No."

Just then, the waitress walked over to them with a notepad in hand. "Are all of you ready to order?" she inquired.

"Just bring us a round of Pepsi for now," Trip said, speaking for the group.

"And some of those tasty bread sticks," Camille added.

The waitress giggled. "Alright, eight Pepsis and a order of tasty bread sticks coming up," she said, walking away.

"Jen, have you considered naming the daughter after a former ranger. How about Katherine, or Trini?" Lucas suggested.

"Or Alyssa," Trip added.

"No no and no. My baby isn't going to be a ranger, and she isn't going to be named after one. I want her to have her own life and make her own destiny," she explained.

"You should name her Carmen," Trip said.

"That's what I said,"

"We've got six months to figure it out, and I see none of you are going to be any help," Jen sighed.

"You know, this is nice. The eight of us here, together," Alex brought up.

All of them paused for a moment, realizing that it was the first time all of them had been together in a long time.

"Yeah, this is nice," Jen said.

Just then, the waitress returned to the table with their drinks. "Here you go, just let me know when you're ready to order," she said as she handed each of them a drink, then finally giving Camille an order of bread sticks.

Alex picked up his drink, standing. "This may sound corny, I propose a toast," everyone quickly followed suit, picking up their glasses and standing up. "We've all had our ups and down, and I seem to remember one of you hitting me in the jaw," he glanced over at Camille, who blushed. "But through it all, we've been there for one another. Lets not let rank or our positions in Time Force ever get in-between our friendship," he said. "To friendship,"

"To friendship!" they all said in unison.

~~

Preview: New Beginnings

Next time on Parallels II: Model A6 is reactivated, and Jen is forced to make a difficult decision.

~~