Author's Note: Chapter Three is here! Now that we've introduced the girls, things are going to get a lot more interesting. Keep reading and reviewing!


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"Hey guys, this is Jessenia Hayes, Dusty's daughter."

"Hi," Jess said with a soft wave and a shy smile that 'caused Annie to almost roll her eyes…. since Jess was less than shy.

"Jess, meet Commander Matt Hawkes and his brother Cody, Robin Kelly, Frank Avila, Izzy Flowers, Tim Hart and Jim Cutler."

Shaking every ranger's hand, Jess continued to act shy.

"Jessenia… interesting name," Robin said.

"It's Arabic," Dusty answered, "and means flower."

"It's a beautiful name for a pretty girl," Cutler said, not noticing the murderous look on Dusty's face and the disbelieving look Annie gave her friends as Jess even blushed. She was putting on a perfect show.

"Come on, Dusty," Brad said, trying to save Cutler from being hacked into pieces by Dusty, "we'll go and grab Annie's stuff."

"And I'm gonna show Jess around a bit… we have to talk about some… girl stuff."

With that, Annie grabbed Jess' arm and pulled her away.

"You should get an Oscar for your performance… I never knew you could blush on command."

"You'd be surprised at what I can do, Annie. Very surprised."

"What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Well…no. Teacher's conference."

"Really?"

"Yes… at least as far as my dad's concerned!" Jess waggled her eyebrow and grinned.

Annie shook her head. "One day you'll get busted…"

"Wouldn't be so sure about that."

"Annie!" Cutler yelled, running up to the girls. "We packed your stuff into the car. Your dad's ready to go."

"Okay… we'll be right there."

With a smile and a nod, Cutler turned and walked back the direction he'd come from.

"Whew… wouldn't mind being his pants…" Jess said, watching the ranger's retreating form, while Annie just stared at her.

"I can't believe some of the stuff that comes out of your mouth. You HAVE to be adopted," Annie said with a grin as she headed out to the main room, Jess in tow. "Besides, everyone here knows Cutler doesn't have eyes for anyone but Robin, even if neither one admits it."

"A girl can dream, can't she?" Jess asked whimsically.

"Keep dreaming Jess, keep dreaming," Annie replied.

Cody caught the two girls as they walked out to meet their fathers. "Here's your homework, Annie," he said with an evil grin as he handed her a few sheets of paper.

"Oh, gee, thanks, Cody. You shouldn't have, really." Annie's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Hey, if I have to suffer through it, so do you," he replied good naturedly.

"Homework? Here? Really?" Jess seemed stunned by the concept.

Cody and Annie exchanged the 'she's-obviously-not-from-around-here' look. "Don't they have homework where she comes from?" Cody asked Annie right over Jess' head.

"In Jess' world, home schooling happens to other people," Annie continued to talk about Jess in the third person as though she wasn't standing there.

"You guys home school?!?" Jess asked in awe, like this was a major world shattering event.

Annie patted Jess' shoulder gently, then said as an aside to Cody. "You'll have to excuse my friend, she doesn't get out of the city much." To Jess she said, "Of course we home schooled, you nut! What, did you think we just ran around and played in the mountains all day?"

The look on Jess' face told Annie that was exactly what she thought. Jess just shook her head and walked back to where Dusty and Brad stood with the other rangers. "Wonder if I could convince Dusty to be home schooled too!"

"She's cute...I like her," Cody said to Annie when Jess' was out of earshot. "You should invite her up here more often."

Annie grinned wildly at him. "Is that so I can see her, or so you can?"

"Both," Cody smiled back. "You could invite your friend, Scott, too."

"Gee, look at the time," Annie mimicked looking at her watch as she tried to hide the blush rising in her cheeks. "I better get going. Try to make sure Izzy doesn't delete my homework this time...I don't think your dad appreciated that excuse."

"I'll try. Bye Annie," Cody said as he gave her a big hug.

She waved, then walked over and hugged each of the Rangers in turn. She stopped at Izzy, who was working at the desk. "Just a reminder Izzy, the CD Rom drive is NOT a cup holder, and you do not play miniature frisbee with CD's. And DON'T delete my homework unless you want to explain to Jesse what happened."

"All right, all right!" said the tall blond resignedly with a half grin. "Get out of here already!"

Matt and Brad exchanged a handshake as the group prepared to leave.

"Once again, you have my thanks," Brad told the Ranger Commander. "It's good to know my daughter's always in good hands."

"Don't mention it Brad," Matt smiled as he ruffled Annie's hair. "She's a great kid, and she's always welcome."

"Her friends are always welcome too," Cutler said with a wink at Jess.

"We better get goin' if we wanna make it home by dark," Dusty growled shooting Cutler another dark look as he put his arm around Jess and pulled her outside.

"Bye guys!"

Annie gave the whole group one last wave before she and Brad walked outside. She put her arm around his waist and leaned into his shoulder as they headed for the car. "I missed you, Dad. It's good to see you."

Brad chuckled as he put his arm around her shoulders. "I missed you too, honey. Ready to go home?" he asked as they climbed in the car with Dusty and Jess.

"You betcha!"