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

The next night, following a long and intense battle, after the kids had finally gone home, Jason called Emily. The first words out of her mouth were, "Kimberly called again, and she kept asking me questions about how happy I was with you and did I ever wonder if there were other fish in the sea."

Jason couldn't help it; he started laughing. "I think she thinks I'm cheating on you. I didn't tell her exactly why I was in Reefside, and while we were talking, Hayley came by because she had to use the lair."

"Oh." Emily laughed, too, but it sounded kind of forced.

"Em, relax. I'm not cheating on you. You know that."

"I know. I just...I haven't seen you in awhile."

"Conner came by yesterday, too, and he's really worried about Kira. It was sort of...cute." Jason laughed and shook his head at himself for using the word.

"Maybe he has a crush on her or something," Emily suggested.

Jason laughed again. "I wouldn't be completely surprised. It's like a little soap opera down here. You'd love it."

"Maybe I should come visit."

His blood ran cold at that. "Emily, no. It's not safe here. There was another attack today, and it was brutal...it took us half an hour to clean Ethan up. I don't want you in the middle of this."

"I lived in the middle of it when I was in Angel Grove," she countered. "Remember? You were the Gold Ranger?"

"It's different now," he insisted. "Someone's died. The stakes are higher than they've ever been."

"Jason, I just want to meet the people that have so taken over your life. I think you owe me that much." Owe? Jason cocked an eyebrow at that particular phrasing, but Emily continued before he could say anything, "I don't mean it to sound like that. I just want to see you again, is all. Just a weekend, please? If anyone can protect me, you and the kids can."

Jason sighed. "Fine. Come." He really would love having her here, even if for a weekend. He told her as much, and she accepted it gleefully.

That Friday, Jason called off training practice so that he could go to the airport to pick up Emily. Conner and Kira rode in the back of the Jeep, with nothing better to do, so they had claimed. Ethan had opted to go to the Cyberspace and meet Emily later. Since the former two had volunteered to come along, Jason didn't press the idea of it being a group activity. As far as he was concerned, Ethan going to the Cyberspace and not tagging along with whatever his teammates decided, was probably the best possible thing. It showed that he might be getting back to normal.

Jason stood at the gate, Conner and Kira hovering back a few paces, all three of them eagerly scanning the disembarking passengers. Jason's entire countenance lit up when his blond fiancée entered the masses. "Em!" he yelled, and she sought for the source of the voice.

"Jase!"

The two ran and hugged each other hard, behind them, Jason could hear Kira muttered, "It's like watching the Lifetime Channel." He laughed, released Emily, but kept one arm around her shoulders. "Guys, this is Emily. Emily, this is Conner, and this is Kira."

"I'm so glad to finally meet you," she said enthusiastically. "You look so cute together."

Kira's face flamed slightly, Conner averted his eyes to the floor, and they both took a step away from each other. Jason hid a smirk. He thought that Conner might have a crush on Kira, but he wasn't expecting that Kira might have a crush on Conner, as well. Emily, however, was nonplussed, and went to shake hands with the both of them. "I know about the...secret," she said. That, naturally, got their attention. "Don't worry, it's safe with me."

"Emily and I have been together since high school," Jason explained. "Since I was the Gold Ranger."

"Whoa. You're not an ex-Ranger too, are you?" Conner said.

Emily laughed. "God, no. I was just in the right place at the right time, I guess. Or something like that."

"Guys, we're in the middle of an airport, so this is neither the time nor the place to discuss this," Jason reminded gently as Emily retrieved her luggage from the carousel. "Conner, get Em's bag, would you?"

"What am I, some kind of bellboy?" the Red Ranger griped, but he collected the suitcase all the same.

"All you need is the little hat," Kira teased. The younger two of the quartet headed towards the exit, bickering gently. Emily leaned her head against Jason's shoulder, and he squeezed her gently. "They are cute together," she observed. "Although maybe I shouldn't have said anything."

"Maybe you should have," he countered. "A push is what they need. This is the most Kira-like I've seen Kira be since I first met her. Your being here must be good for them, Emily," he said proudly, kissing her forehead.

Once they'd all been settled in the Jeep, Jason asked where to, and Emily suggested brightly that she wanted to see the Cyberspace before they went to Jason's new home. So Jason led her inside, taking her to the counter, where his redheaded friend was hard at work, frantically passing out drinks. Jason waited until there was a lull before he spoke up. "Hey, Hayley."

"Hi, Jason," she began, then noticed his companion (the students having gone to join Ethan). "Oh! You must be Emily."

"Hayley, hi! I've heard so much about you!" Emily said. Hayley shook the woman's hand across the counter, but Jason thought that her smile was turned down a notch.

Hayley got one of the other employees to cover for her while she joined Conner, Kira, Ethan, Jason, and Emily at the usual table. They all chatted easily, Emily handing the motley crew with the same effortless friendliness that Jason had seen applied to the patrons at her bars. Of course, he knew her well enough to know that with the kids, she was absolutely sincere.

With Emily here, he was surprised at how much more Reefside felt like home. Just like she had made L.A. feel like home when Angel Grove no longer felt that way. For either of them. Things had started to be oppressive for her, the pressures of being a small-town girl apparently more than she could bear. Jason had just wanted to get out of the place that had stripped him of his identity not once, but twice.

He allowed the conversation to drift over him as he dwelled on his past and on his friends. Trini had found her place, her true place, at the conference in Switzerland. She excelled at relating to others, and she lived to help people. Zack had finally found happiness with Marie, a steady relationship with a stable woman filling a void in Zack's life that he hadn't even known he had. Billy's place was always with his math, his science, his inventions. Billy simply loved to learn, loved to expand his brain as much as he possibly could, and then some. Kim's place was found in her gymnastics, grace and beauty were her forte. Jason, however, had had his karate and the Rangers. That was what identified him, and his authority had been taken away unceremoniously, and left him feeling identity-less.

His friends never knew the extent to which losing the Gold Ranger powers had damaged him. He'd gone to therapy for a year in L.A., under the pretense of emotional distress. Counseling had been difficult, seeing as how he had to omit the most important reason for his distress, but he had learned to cope. Emily had been his rock, and he soon realized that he didn't need therapy, that he was capable of recovering on his own--so he did.

He had cut off communication with his friends during that year, as well, before finally resuming letter-writing and phone calls with Kimberly, Trini, and Zack. He had made been making a point of avoiding the Zeo team altogether, and the painful memories that those six individuals stirred within him, but after awhile, Tanya had broken down his defenses. He had always liked Tanya; she was a sweet girl. They were all sweet girls, really, but Tanya had admitted to him how much of an outsider she'd felt, the new girl. Katherine had her relationship with Tommy; Tommy, Adam, Rocky, and Billy had been working together for a year now, and Tanya was acting as a replacement for Aisha, someone whom they'd all cared about greatly. She'd picked up on how Jason had felt like the odd man out, and understood totally, though their situations were hardly the same.

Though he talked with these friends often, they didn't know about his pain. Only Emily knew the hell he had gone through after leaving Angel Grove, though at the time she did not know the exact circumstances.

But now, Jason had a place again. He was a leader, he was fighting the good fight --albeit not directly-- and he had a place. There was the little niggling feeling that he was just a replacement for Tommy, but he fought that aside. The kids had warmed to him, the kids found things in him that they hadn't found in Tommy. They needed him, and they were getting better, something he'd had a part in.

Ethan made a joke that had the whole table laughing. Jason tuned into the conversation late, but still he laughed, allowing himself to open up and let the laughter flow out of him in a torrent, regardless of whether or not the joke he hadn't heard was funny. He grinned at Emily and squeezed her hand tightly. She blessed him with a beautiful smile, and launched into the story about his and Adam's volunteer work as ballet dancers in Kat's play of King Midas. It was an old war story, but one that served its purpose. The kids were endeared, showing it in terms of full, open mocking. Jason drove Emily to the house with a good, warm feeling spreading through his gut.

"So this is it, huh?" she said with a grin as he led her inside. "My God, it's rustic."

Jason laughed out loud at that. "Well, he didn't put too much into the living part, but wait until you see the working part. It's amazing. Do you want to see it?"

She shook her head. "Not right now. I'm going to be here all weekend, I'm sure I'll get my chance." Emily gave him a slow, sweet kiss. "I'm not here for the scenery, Jase. I'm here for you."

And he couldn't have been happier.