Disclaimer: I don't own PR, I just wish I did.

"Who was the woman?" Emily asked, standing in the doorway to the room, leaning against the frame and watching Jason as he packed a few things in his carry-on bag. He'd already sent his stuff to Reefside. Anything else he needed, he was going to have Emily ship out.

"Woman?" Jason asked, preoccupied. He was running through a mental checklist.

"From the funeral. The redhead."

"That was Hayley. I told you about her."

"The coffee-shop girl."

"Yeah."

"She was pretty."

"She's Tommy's girlfriend," Jason found himself saying. It wasn't true, and he had no reason to lie to Emily about something like that, because while he agreed with the sentiment that Hayley was appealing to a degree, he was in no way attracted to her. He just spoke because he knew it would make Emily feel better. He was willing to give her any little thing to help with this transition.

"Oh." Immediately she was contrite, and he could tell she was hating herself for being catty and thinking bad things about Jason and Hayley, and Jason felt worse for lying to her, even if it was with good intentions. "Poor girl."

Jason nodded, thinking that it wasn't entirely untrue. He had sensed a relationship between Hayley and Tommy that extended beyond friendship, although he doubted that either of them had realized it at the time. Of course, now, it was far too late to fix that.

On the plane, Jason had his headphones on and a CD blaring into his ears, not to mention a book open on his lap. But he paid so little attention to either of the distractions that they might well have not existed. He drummed his fingers incessantly on the edge of his seat, earning him angry glares from his neighbor. He didn't notice that, either.

Conner picked him up at the airport. Hayley had originally offered to do it, but she couldn't get away from the Cyberspace, and besides, Conner had his own car, whereas Hayley did not. Conner drove the route to 1992 Valencia Drive in brooding silence, and stayed only long enough to offer his services for heavy lifting or unpacking, which Jason turned down. Satisfied, Conner left with a roar of his engine and a cloud of dust in his wake.

Jason was settled in by the end of the weekend, and had spent sufficient time exploring the house and the lair. He knew the entrances, the exits, the secret exits, and had even more or less figured out how to operate the console. He had sketched out a list of questions to ask Hayley the next time she was here. He was still awed that Tommy had constructed everything and had known how to operate it. The Tommy he had known hadn't been stupid, but wouldn't have been able to do all of this. Would wonders never cease.

Monday, Jason took up a position working for Hayley at the Cyberspace. At least until he could find a job at a studio. When school let out for the day, two out of three Rangers made it into the coffee shop. "Where's Ethan?" Jason asked, scrubbing down Conner and Kira's table.

"Dr. O.'s," Kira said, then winced. "I mean, at the house. The lair. The…he's keeping an eye on things," Kira settled on finally. Conner slumped further on the table. Jason wished he could tell the kids to buck up, but he was hardly able to impart advice like that. Not when he was a mess himself.

Instead, he just nodded, tried to show some authority. "Good." He was glad that the kids were serious enough about this to monitor things on their own when their new leader was too screwed up to even think of it.

Conner's wrist flashed with an annoying 'bloop' sound. It was less conspicuous than the communicators, but Jason preferred the original model to this new one. Checking around that no one was listening, Conner spoke into his com bracelet. "Yo, Ethe."

"Guys, we've got issues down at the beach."

Kira groaned loudly. "Fantastic."

"We're on our way," Conner said. He cut off communication with the base and stood up. "Time to go to work."

Jason took up post at the basement console while the Rangers battled against the monster. They combined their weapons into something called the Z-Rex Blaster. A stupid name, Jason thought, but it got the job done. Until a torrential downpour opened up on the smoldering remains of their adversary, and he grew to immense proportions. Jason knew the routine from here all too well. When he'd been doing this, he was torn between the love of hand-to-hand combat, which he was skilled at, and piloting the Zords, which was something so phenomenal it couldn't be described in words.

But the Rangers were just standing there. "Guys, you better get a move on," Jason prompted.

"Uh, Mister…Jason…we need the Brachio Zord. It's the tank where the other Zords are."

"Oh, okay," Jason said with an air of confidence, hoping they couldn't hear as he stared at the console, gulped, and muttered, "Now which button…" He typed in a command, and his guess was spot-on, because on one of the screens, the massive Brachio Zord thundered over the streets of Reefside, stopping to release the Tyranno, Tricera, and Ptera Zords. Jason watched in quiet fascination as the Zords combined to beat the living crap out of the monster and triumph. He punched the air and laughed, feeling the first sense of joy that he had in a few weeks.

When they returned to the lair, Jason slapped high fives with Conner. Conner was clearly just going through the motions, however. Ethan slumped in a chair. "Great job, you guys," Jason said enthusiastically.

"That was the quickest we've ever won," Kira remarked.

"Elsa and Zeltrax weren't there," Conner said.

"Probably toasting themselves on a job well done, killing Dr. O.," Ethan said darkly.

"Don't talk like that," Kira said, her voice steadily dropping as though someone was messing with her volume control. Immediately Ethan blanched and spoke contritely: "Sorry, Kira, I wasn't thinking…" Conner touched Kira's arm gently.

She neither sank into his touch nor shrugged it off. Ethan and Conner were both staring at her with concerned expressions, and when she finally lifted her head, she was half-smiling. "I'm hungry. We got cut off before we could order."

"Back to Hayley's we go then," Conner said decisively, and they trouped off.