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

The next morning, Jason awoke to the smell of pancakes. He wandered into the tiny kitchen to witness Emily humming to herself as she flipped a perfect pancake. He grinned and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her shoulder. "Dare I ask?"

"I don't get to cook for anyone at home, and you don't have anyone cooking for you here," she said.

"I get free muffins at Hayley's..." he offered.

"It was sweet of her to hire you," Emily said, lifting the golden brown cakes out of the frying pan and onto a plate. "Hayley seems wonderful."

"She's great," Jason agreed. "The kids really like her, and she knows her way around all this technical stuff. The Rangers would probably be doomed without her."

"The Rangers, or you?" she asked carefully.

He whirled her around and clinched his arms around her even tighter. "The Rangers. I have you." He kissed her slowly, deeply, a reminder of last night.

"Pancakes are getting cold," she murmured, and he released her. Much as he loved Emily, he also loved a full breakfast--something he hadn't had in awhile. They sat down at the table, and she smiled at him fondly. "I've missed you, Jase."

"I've missed you too." He took a big bite, and the taste exploded on his tongue. He closed his eyes, a blissful expression crossing his face. "And I've missed this, too. When did you get to be the world's best cook?"

"You must really be desperate," she said, laughing. "Hurry up and eat, I want to see this 'Ops' you keep yammering on about."

"If I eat too fast, I'll puke," he chastised her with a grin. "Sit down and eat, would you? You're making me feel weird, just staring at me like that."

She kissed his cheek. "Fine." She pulled up a chair, and they ate in comfortable silence. Jason helped her clear the dishes, and she protested that he was only being a gentleman because he didn't want to show her the base. He laughed, and pulled the secret lever in the living room.

"Tommy designed this?" she gasped, looking around. "Tommy, who couldn't ask Kat for a date?"

Jason laughed. "Apparently, designing an elaborate underground lair is tons easier than inviting a blond to a luau."

Emily slipped her hand in his. "As I recall, you invited me to that luau."

"Then I should be able to design one hell of a base," he joked.

She hit his arm. "Dork."

"You're marrying me."

"So show me what I'm marrying into," she said. "What do all these fancy buttons do?"

He gave her the grand tour, and when he finished showing her some of the video data, he noticed her smiling at him. "What?"

"I haven't seen you look this happy since you first started working down at the studio," she said. "Actually, I haven't seen you this happy since when we were in Angel Grove. You really miss it, don't you?"

"I do," he said. "I'll admit, though, I'm glad I'm not in uniform anymore. I like where I am, I really do."

She sat on his lap. "I'm happy for you, Jase."

He nuzzled her neck for a moment, before she descended upon him in a sweet kiss. He lost himself in the moment. He hadn't realized before today that he was happy here, working with the Rangers. Some of the best times in his life had happened when he'd been in Red or Gold. Now he was the man behind the scenes, but he was still doing a lot of good and he was enjoying himself. He liked these kids, and he was suddenly feeling a lot better about the whole ordeal in Angel Grove that he'd left behind.

"Whoa, Jason, man. This is a sacred place," Ethan said, as the trio of kids piled into the lair.

With a discreet cough, Emily slid out of Jason's lap. "Jason was just showing me around."

"His hand was up your shirt," Ethan said bluntly.

Conner hit the Blue Ranger. "Dude."

"So are you kids usually here? I mean, it's Saturday."

Kira shrugged. "Not much else to do," she said flatly, sitting on a chair. The first time Jason had seen her in that chair, she'd had her guitar in her lap. He'd not seen her in that position since. "Hey, Kira, when was the last time you had a show?" Jason said.

Kira looked confused, her eyes dead beneath the heavy makeup. "Show?"

"As in, music, duh," Conner said, sitting at the edge of the platform, making himself the closest in the room to her. "Remember music? You used to love it. What happened?"

"I think you know what happened," she said, and glared.

"I remember that glare!" Conner said. "I remember I used to say something stupid, and you'd silence me with a nasty look. C'mon, Kira, don't you remember those days? They weren't that long ago."

Emily and Ethan both looked like they wanted to leave. Jason knew that none of them, himself included, wanted to intrude on what was apparently a personal moment. But Conner and Kira didn't seem to notice those around them.

"Dr. O. died, Conner, I can't exactly go back to the way I was."

"Yeah, I get that he died!" Conner said heatedly. "I was there, remember? The point is, you are still here, you're still alive, but you're walking around like a damn zombie! Get it together! Dr. O. wouldn't want you to be moping around like this, and you know it! When you mope, you're too busy being depressed to fight the good fight, and Dr. O. was all about the fight! The cause! We're stopping Mesogog, stopping his crazy plan, but more importantly than that, we're getting him back for what he did to us." He knelt down in front of her. "This is personal, so you're allowed to take it personally. But not passively, because then he wins. Please, Kira, just be yourself again." He held her hands in his, and Jason looked away, knowing he was witnessing a very personal moment. "Please. We miss you, and we need you."

Jason could hear in Conner's voice what Conner wasn't saying, what perhaps he didn't even know he was saying: I miss you; I need you. He no longer doubted the validity of Emily's earlier observation of the Red and Yellow Rangers.

When he looked at them again, Kira was staring at him with an unreadable expression in her eyes, but at least it wasn't the deadened one Jason had grown accustomed to. She said nothing for a long while, and with a labored sigh, Conner stood up. "Fine, whatever, babe, just let him walk all over you. I always knew you were the weakest link of the Rangers, and it turns out I was right." He cast her a disgusted look, and started to walk away.

Jason watched the tableau with a small amount of horror, unaware that Conner had it in him to be so callous, particularly to a girl he clearly cared a lot about. Emily looked sad. But Ethan's expression was the most interesting, he looked unimpressed, as though he already knew the outcome.

Kira jumped to her feet and stalked after Conner. "You arrogant little son of a--" she spluttered, "how dare you tell me that I'm the 'weakest link'? Like you're better than me, just because you're wearing red? Are you out of your mind? I go out there and fight every day, Conner, and I always give it my all, and you know it. Don't even think about writing off my contributions to the team, don't even think about calling me some weak little girl, you male chauvinist pig! And what have I told you about calling me babe!"

Conner turned around then, a big grin spread across his face. He directed it at Ethan. "Kira's back." And Jason figured it out--Conner had constructed his misogynistic little rant with Kira's exact reaction in mind. It had worked. Kira hit Conner's arm, but she was laughing slightly as she called him unfavorable names. Ethan was smiling at his two friends, tired but sincere. Jason was finally seeing the three Rangers he'd been introduced to, the first glimpse that things were back to normal.

Well, as normal as it could ever get, all things considered. But it was good. This moment was better than anything Jason had seen in the duration of his stay here.

Emily shifted her weight on his lap, alerting Jason to her presence, as he'd completely forgotten she was there. Suddenly he figured it out: he'd forgotten because he was used to her. The three Rangers were normalcy for each other, and Emily was normalcy for him. She'd been there when he'd been in Gold, and when he'd lost his powers, when he'd lost himself, and when he'd found himself. She was here for him now. Trini or no Trini, Zordon or no Zordon, Tommy or no Tommy...Rangers or no Rangers, Jason had Emily. No matter the situation, his life was normal with her around.