Author's note: Hi Funky! Glad you're enjoying the stories. Unfortunately, this is the last one to feature the Rangers for a while.
True, you rock. Why did you take down all your stories? Especially the one with ME in it!
Visiting Home Chapter 2
Taylor and Max crossed paths in the hospital lobby as he left to head to Shayla's house.
"Hey, kid. What's happening?" Taylor asked, putting out a hand to stop him.
"Nothing." Max shrugged. "Alyssa's in a room with Cole, but the doctors put everyone out. Merrick and Eric are pacing around in circles. It's kinda funny."
"So nothing's happening?" Taylor asked.
"Nope. Tara's home, though."
"That's nice." Taylor said absently. "Where are the others?"
"Up a floor." Max frowned. "I didn't realize Tara was that scared of Eric."
"What?" Taylor's attention abruptly refocused. "What do you mean?"
"At the house, before. She pulled some mojo to get Eric's car, so he could get Alyssa here fast. Eric called her on it. Seemed to me like she couldn't even look at him."
"She say anything?" Taylor asked.
"They talked. I didn't hear it. Merrick was there, you could ask him."
Taylor nodded. "OK. See you later."
"Call when something happens?"
"Sure."
Merrick and Eric actually were pacing in circles, following the same path but with half the waiting room in between. Taylor watched for several minutes before coming forward to catch Eric's attention.
"Hey. Need to talk to you."
"Something wrong?" Eric asked, following her to the far side of the waiting room. Merrick stopped pacing and stood, ostentatiously not paying them any attention.
"No." Taylor said carefully. "About Tara."
Eric's face closed up. "What about her?"
"It's not your fault." Taylor said quickly. "You remind her of someone else. Just…try not to come up behind her, or get left alone with her. If you can."
"Who?"
"What?"
"Who do I remind her of?"
"It doesn't matter." Taylor told him. "Just…do your best. Please?"
Eric frowned, but before he could say anything else Cole came out of Alyssa's room and Taylor turned towards her former leader.
Max arrived a little later, looking much paler than usual. Tara was sitting cross-legged on the floor, reading something to Cole; the boy kept interrupting to ask questions, and Tara answered every one carefully before going on. Max listened for a minute, smiling; it was the same story she'd once told him on the Animarium, an Irish legend called Deirdre of the Sorrows.
"I don't think you'll like the ending to that one, Cole." he put in, folding himself onto the floor next to them.
"I know the ending." Cole said, barely paying attention. "I heard the story before."
"Yeah? So why're you listening again?"
"'Cause Cousin Tara tells it the best." Cole said, in a 'duh, that was obvious' tone. "Go on! You're getting to the good part!"
Smiling, Tara looked back at the book, though when Max leaned over to read it it was open to a totally different story; she was reciting from memory, and as closely as he could tell it was identical to the one she'd told him years before. He got up and went to find Shayla; she was in the garden.
"Your son's going to have nightmares." he commented.
"Why? What are they reading?"
"Deirdre and the Sorrows."
"Deirdre of the Sorrows!" floated through the window, and he grinned.
"Of. Sorry. Remember? She told us on the Animarium that first time."
"Yeees." Shayla said hesitantly.
"The very first one. She told us others, as well…but the first one. Where everyone dies in the end."
"That happened a lot in those stories, as I recall." Shayla said wryly.
"Can't help it." Tara said lightly, leaning out the window now. Faintly, Max could hear Cole demanding to see, but she was ignoring him. "Ancient Ireland was a bloody place. Lots of people died, and the bloodier the better as far as the Bards were concerned. I told you about the sons of Usnach, right?"
"Yes." Max said quickly. That story, a long one, had taken almost a week to recount, and in the end the heroes had died anyway.
"I didn't make up the stories, Max. I just tell them." She disappeared; Max could hear her giving out to Cole, who had apparently lost her place in the book.
"He loves her." Shayla commented, out of nowhere.
"He's not the only one." Max agreed.
"No, I mean he…" she gestured slightly. Max shook his head.
"I knew what you meant. She's exciting. She doesn't stay around. He loves her because he hasn't seen her any other way."
Shayla looked sharply across at Max. "What do you mean?"
"We've seen her bad." He gestured to Shayla and himself. "She ran away from us; we've seen her crazy in withdrawal. We saw her yell at Merrick and at Alyssa. Cole hasn't seen any of those things."
"I don't think it would matter to him." Shayla said quietly. Tara's voice drifted through the window; she was near the end of the story, Max noted absently. "Cole still loves her."
"Maybe." He shrugged. "Cole's young yet."
Silence came from inside the house, broken after a minute by Tara's quiet, "Go say goodnight, Cole." Cole came through the back door to them, still carrying the book; he looked very solemn, but he only said 'Goodnight' before going back inside. Tara was leaning on the windowsill inside, staring absently over Max's shoulder; he didn't bother to turn, knowing he couldn't see what she was looking at.
"You were right, Max." she said suddenly, as though they'd been speaking all along. "He didn't like the ending."
"I thought he'd heard it before." Max protested.
"He had. Didn't like it the first time either." She shrugged slightly, lowering her gaze to look at them both. "I'll be upstairs. If anything happens…"
"We'll let you know." Shayla promised, and Tara smiled before turning away from the window. "You should get some rest too, Max. The doctor said it wouldn't be tonight?"
"Yeah. He seemed pretty sure."
"How is Alyssa?"
"Doing better than Cole. I think now she's actually having the baby she's calmed down a lot."
"And how is Cole?" Shayla asked, smiling gently.
"Nauseous. Actually, so is Taylor."
"The Mighty Power Rangers." Shayla mocked gently.
"Wrong generation, Princess. We're the Wild Force Rangers."
Shayla found Cole in Tara's room at half past four the next morning; the pair were talking quietly, but both fell silent when she came in.
"What are you doing in here?" she asked, hands on hips.
"Tara wasn't asleep." Cole defended himself.
"That's not what I asked." Shayla reminded him.
"We were…talking." Cole said finally.
"About what?" Shayla asked.
Tara stirred from where she'd cocooned herself in her blankets. "A lot of things, Princess. Animaria. Ireland. My home before. What the baby's going to be like."
"You know better than to wake someone this early, Cole. Go back to bed. You can talk to Tara later."
Cole dropped off the bed and trailed dejectedly out of the room and back to his own.
"He wasn't disturbing me." Tara said quietly, once she'd heard his door close. "I haven't been asleep."
"Is…there something I can do?" Shayla asked, eyeing Tara's nest uncertainly. True, it was October, but Tara had never been bothered by cold before.
"No. It's just residual effects from something a couple days ago. Don't worry about it." She glanced past Shayla down the hall. "He's precocious."
"Yes." Shayla agreed.
"And very well spoken. I suppose that comes of having you as parents." Off Shayla's look, she added, "Because you're still quite formal at times, Princess, you and Merrick both."
"I don't keep calling you Princess, though." Shayla pointed out, turning to leave.
"I know." Tara agreed, sounding faintly puzzled. "Do you still sing, Princess?"
"Usually yes." Shayla said, not even pretending to misunderstand. "Merrick won't be able to come today, of course."
"I'll watch Cole for you, if you want."
"There's no need. He comes with us." Shayla hesitated for a long minute, glancing at the next room where Max was still asleep before asking quietly, "Do you want him?"
"As a Champion?" Tara asked. At Shayla's nod she went on, "It doesn't work like that. If he is going to be mine, he'll do it as his father and the others did; willingly, and quite possibly without any input from me. Cole and the others were mine like that long before they met me."
"You can't tell at all?" Shayla asked. Tara sighed, spreading her fingers on the blanket and staring at them.
"There are people who are mine so fully and completely that I know it from when they're born. They are people so dead set against me that I know it always. But they're extremes, Princess, most people…I felt nothing when Cole was born, I felt nothing much when his parents died, I felt nothing until you choose him." She shrugged faintly. "Your son…I'm very fond of him, Princess, I really am. But he's not mine, not that way." She smiled at the relief on Shayla's face. "Did you think I was going to steal him away, Princess?"
"No!" Shayla protested too quickly.
"I've seen you fight, Princess, I wouldn't dare." Tara said with a faint smile.
"You've seen…when?" Shayla tried to remember any time she'd fought and drew a blank.
"Onikage." Tara said carefully.
"Onikage? But you weren't even in Turtle Cove then!" Shayla protested.
"I know. I did tell you I'd be watching, Princess."
"Some reason we're all up?" Max asked tiredly, coming to the door of his room. Tara strained to see him but couldn't quite manage it.
"We're discussing philosophy, Max."
"Are we?" Shayla asked.
"More or less." She unfolded herself from her blankets and stood up. "If we're all up anyway, someone with a growlphone call Cole and find out what's happening."
"I guess that's me, then." Max said, leaning back into his room. Tara gathered her blanket up and crossed to sit on the other bed, wrapping it around herself again. From here she could see Max when he came to his door again.
"Are you all right?" Max asked, half-lowering his 'phone.
"Fine, Max. Call Cole. Or someone."
Down the hall, Cole's door creaked open again; Shayla looked exasperated, for all of three seconds before she called softly, "Come on, Cole, you may as well hear."
"Taylor." Max said suddenly. "What's…yeah, we're all…no, we just couldn't…Taylor, will you please stop…I'm serious, you…" Holding the phone away from his ear, he said disgustedly, "She keeps interrupting me."
Shayla held out her hand for the phone and said calmly, "Taylor? Please tell us what's happening." She waited for a minute before nodding. "Thank you, Taylor. We'll be up, if anyone wants to come here for breakfast." She handed the phone back to Max, who automatically raised it to his ear before closing it and putting it away.
"Nothing has happened yet." Shayla reported, lifting Cole onto her hip. "The doctor thinks it will be within the next two hours, perhaps less."
"Two hours?" Max muttered. "Geez. How long does this take?"
"I'm so glad I never had kids." Tara agreed. "Come on, short stuff, let's go get breakfast ready for everyone, hey?"
"Cousin Tara? Why did you never have kids?" Cole asked. Tara hunkered down, looking him straight in the eye.
"Because, short stuff, I didn't want to share my house with anyone but you. Now come on, let's get breakfast ready."
Taylor and Eric arrived half an hour later; Eric was obviously tired, sitting immediately down and closing his eyes. Taylor, on the other hand, was wired; Tara put up with her for twenty minutes before sending her outside.
"Are you mad at Aunt Taylor?" Cole asked. He was cheerfully breaking his mother's rules by sitting on the table as Tara wandered around, preparing a small meal.
"No. She just bothers me when she's bouncy like that."
"Do I bother you when I'm bouncy?"
"If you were bouncy, yes, probably. You don't seem to be, though." Tara stopped to consider him, head on one side. "I could drop you and see."
Cole slid quickly down from the table. "Very funny, Cousin Tara, that's a good joke."
"Who said anything about joking?" She lunged at him, not particularly fast, and he ran out of the room, laughing.
Left on her own, she continued her work until a voice directly behind her asked, "Can I help?"
Tara jumped, dropping the plate in her hands and spun to face the newcomer. Raising his hands, Eric retreated a couple of steps.
"Geez, sorry. Figured you'd know I was here."
"That only works outside." Tara pointed out, hunkering to gather the fragments of plate together.
"Let me help." Eric knelt next to her, reaching for the larger pieces.
"I've got it."
"I can help…"
"I've got it, Eric!"
Shoving to her feet so violently she dropped the pieces she'd gathered, Tara turned as though to leave the room.
"Hold it!" Eric protested. "You can't just…"
"I'm going to get the dustpan and brush." Tara said without looking at him. "Get out of the way so I can sweep it up."
Eric folded his arms and waited for her to return, stepping away just far enough for her to sweep up all the broken bits. "We need to talk about this."
"We could ignore it. That works for me." Tara said, emptying the pan into the bin.
"Not for me. Look, I'm not planning on going anywhere. You're gonna be seeing me. Now let's sort this out."
"A long time ago," Tara said, her words clipped, "I was living in Ireland, and someone who could be your twin brother for looks and personality abused me, systematically, for years." She turned to look at him. "Happy?"
"What? No…you…" He frowned, straightening from the doorway. "Abused? But you're…why didn't you stop him?"
"There were reasons." She turned away again. "I couldn't stop him without hurting, deeply, someone I loved very much. I chose not to do that." She sighed, staring blindly at the plates in her hands. "I'm sorry if I upset you, Eric. I didn't mean to. I just…it's hard to look at you, sometimes, and not…flinch."
Eric nodded absently, still trying to take this in. "No, I…"
"Tara." Taylor said quietly from behind them.
"Breakfast's ready, Taylor!" Tara said brightly, turning towards the other girl. "Where are the others?"
"Coming. Are you…"
"Not really hungry, thanks, but you all go ahead and eat. I have to go out for a bit anyway. I'll be back before you're done." She shoved the plates into Taylor's arms and swept past her out the door before she could speak.
"What happened?" Taylor asked, carefully putting the plates on the table and leaning on a chair.
"She told me why she doesn't like me." Eric said quietly.
"Oh." Taylor said slowly. "What did she tell you?"
"What do you know?" Eric demanded.
"That Conchobhar used to…" Taylor hesitated before going on quickly, "and she couldn't stop him because her husband didn't realize he was doing it."
"Her hus…you knew about this?" Eric demanded.
"Yes." Taylor sat down.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"She doesn't want people to know."
"Oh, but you know?"
"That's different. She didn't mean to tell us."
"She did…how can you not mean to tell someone something like that?"
"What was she supposed to do, Eric? Tell you as soon as she saw you? Gee, you look just like a guy who abused me years ago?"
"Taylor?" Cole said uncertainly from the door. Taylor cursed mentally as she turned to look at him.
"What is it, Cole?"
"Breakfast." He looked at her uncertainly. "What are you fighting about?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Sometimes you say silly things." Cole informed her. She stared blankly at him.
"What?"
"Don't worry about it. That doesn't make me not worry."
"Cole…" Taylor shook her head. "And I thought Kite was bad…listen, Cole, it doesn't matter, OK? We're not really mad, we're just…" she looked at Eric for help.
"Upset?" Cole offered.
"Yes. That's it. Now, you eat your breakfast, OK? We have to go…finish this."
"Don't go out the back." he said quietly. "Tara's out there."
"What's she doing?" Eric asked.
"Sitting."
Eric glanced across at Taylor, who laughed shortly. "'S what she does when she's upset, Eric. Come on, we'll go…" She looked around. "We'll go upstairs."
"I'll tell everyone not to go after you." Cole offered.
"Thanks, kid." Taylor said absently.
"Not a kid." Cole told his bowl, determinedly not meeting Taylor's glare.
He was still sitting there when his mother came in with Tara twenty minutes later; the pair were talking idly about nothing much.
"Hey, short stuff." Tara hunkered beside his seat. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Keeping people from going upstairs." Cole said, kicking the leg of his chair.
"Why?" Shayla asked absently, starting to clear away the breakfast no one else had eaten.
"Taylor and Eric are fighting."
"Why?" Tara asked.
"Cause she didn't tell him what you just told him."
"She what?" Tara asked. "Really. Hmm."
"What did you tell him?" Shayla asked. "Cole, don't kick the chair."
"About Conchobhar." Tara said absently.
"Why?" Shayla demanded.
"What's abused?" Cole asked.
"Where did you hear that?" Tara asked, ignoring Shayla.
"Taylor said Eric looked like a guy who abused…I guess you." He frowned.
"Yeah." Tara glanced at Shayla. "You want to help?"
"Abusing, Cole, is when someone hurts another person, deliberately, usually for a long time." Shayla said carefully. Cole thought about that.
"Someone did that to you?"
"It was a very long time ago, short stuff." Tara said. "I don't usually think about it much. It's just that Eric looks like…like that man, and sometimes that…makes me feel sad."
Cole studied her for a long minute. "Hurts you inside."
"Yes. Sometimes. But it's…" she took a deep breath. "It's not all the time. And I trust Eric, I know he would never hurt me."
"He's angry that he didn't know." Cole informed her.
"I know that." Tara said sharply, rising to her feet. "He can put up."
"Hey…" Taylor swung through the door, followed at a distance by Eric. "Cole just called. The baby's here."
"Boy or girl?" Shayla asked.
"Girl. A healthy, perfect little girl, he says."
"Go get dressed, Cole, so we can go." Shayla said. "Taylor, where is everyone else?"
"Wes'll be at work." Eric offered. "I can call him."
"Thanks, Eric." Tara murmured, brushing past him. "I'll go get Max."
"I'm here." Max said, coming in from the back. "What's going on?"
"Danny? It's a girl." Taylor told her growlphone. Wincing, she held it away; they could all hear Danny whooping in delight. "Yeah, yeah, Danny. Listen, we're heading down there now; do you want to meet us there, or come here first?"
While the others were watching Taylor, Eric crossed quietly to where Tara was leaning against the wall. "Tara."
"Eric." she responded.
"Listen, if I…upset you…"
She shook her head, cutting him off. "It's not you, Eric. This is my problem, not yours. Don't worry, you haven't done anything."
"So you keep saying, but you're not looking at me."
Tara nodded. "I know. It's…it's hard for me. More than anything I wanted to kill him, to hurt him the way he hurt me. I carried that around for years. I don't think I ever stopped wanting it. And you're…" She smiled faintly at the flicker in his eyes. "See, Eric? Afraid of me."
"No I'm not." Eric protested. "But you're…" he hesitated, aware that Cole was watching them, even if the others weren't. "He hurt you that badly?" he asked softly.
"Over and over." Tara's eyes were very distant. "I don't sleep much, Eric, but when I do…"
"I thought you didn't think about him." Taylor said loudly.
"I didn't used to, Taylor." Tara agreed. "But I uncovered those memories for you, that night on the Animarium, and once they were unburied I couldn't hide them again." Shaking her head, she glanced around at them. "Why is everyone looking at me? Are we going to see Alyssa or not?"
"Tara, if you…" Shayla started.
"My broken heart'll keep, Princess. Let's just go see the babaí, all right?"
"Mama, I wanna go see the…" Cole stopped and looked at Tara. "What did you call it?"
"Bab-ee." Tara repeated, giving it the same odd twist.
"Babaí." Cole repeated carefully. "'s nice."
"It's just a word." Tara said distantly.
"That's Wes." Eric said as a car stopped outside.
"Ooh! Can I ride in the Guardian truck? Please, Mama?" Cole asked eagerly.
"You may, if Eric and Wes don't mind." Shayla said.
"I'll be real good, Uncle Eric! Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?"
"Sure, whatever. Taylor?"
"I'll have to drive Shayla and Tara, remember? I'll see you there."
"Come on, then, Cole." Eric said, nodding briefly to Shayla and Tara before leaving.
"…and the siren went on, and we drove real fast, and…" Cole frowned for a minute. "We went through a red light, but Uncle Wes said it was OK just this once."
"Uncle Wes knows what he's talking about, I'm sure." Tara said with a shrug. "Cole, why are you out here instead of in with the babaí?"
"Wanted to see you." He scrunched up his nose again. "The baba's all…wrinkly'n'stuff, n'everyone's hanging around going, 'ooh, look, she's so sweet, aw, she burped, aw, she coughed, aw, look!' It's so…weird."
"Babies usually start out that way, Cole. Give her five years."
"Five? Aw, man…"
Tara laughed then, and hugged him, and together they went in to see the newest member of their family.
One more chapter to go…