Disclaimer: Not mine, 'whoop-tee-doo'…

Yeah… you probably feel this story is getting monotonous, (is that the right word?) so sorry for that. I told you this is a non-adventure story, just a funfic. School work is really piling up so I hardly have time to write stories anymore. Hope you guys will bear with me!

I don't really know how to describe their sleeping positions, our locations, whatever… so I made it up, due to the fact I haven't seen Jen's Revenge. Darn. Is it true Wes fell out of one of those upper levels? hehe…

Chapter 4: Trust and Triumph

'Flump!', yeesh…

Ok, new surroundings. Make that dark, new surroundings. The floor was wooden and creaky. The entire room was quite spacious. There were a few rickety stairs leading to small platforms upstairs. Thin mattresses and pillows lie on them. This place looks more like a historic monument.

There is a picnic table in the middle of the room and also an old sofa and old-fashioned TV by the side.

At first, the place looks deserted but I noticed a person sitting on the window sill. That hair is unmistakable, mum. She changed out of that white uniform. She's now wearing a leather jacket over a pink blouse and a… 'wow' hot plaid mini skirt. If she wasn't my own mum, I'd say she is gorgeous. But then, this is the same woman who nags about anything and everything under the sun, so…

She's just staring out into the view below her. Seems like nothing is likely to happen any time soon, I thought of mentioning the mysterious man earlier, "Hey, Ren?"

"Hmm?" she asked, tearing her eyes away from mum.

"You remember that guy in that alleyway?"

"Yeah… why?"

"I dunno… maybe I wasn't thinking straight or something, but I could have sworn that guy looked at me!"

Her face had 'Yeah, right.' written all over it. "Quent, we're invisible," she said with an air of a parent explaining something to a very backward child.

"I know! But…"

"Did the guy do anything else?"

"Well, no. Just looked at me,"

"He was looking through you," she said matter-of-factly, smiling.

I sighed. Maybe she's right. Darn, I hate it when that happens.

Suddenly, someone else entered the room, dad. He was wearing khakis, tank top and an unbuttoned red shirt over it. He went up to mum, "I know I'm not Alex…"

Who the heck is this Alex guy? I keep hearing his name everywhere!

Then came up the other three, for some reason, they don't want to be heard or seen. They sneaked up behind a stack of barrels, one leaning over each other as mum said, "I know, but I don't want you to be," as she made to come back into the room.

Dad reached out his hand, which mum took and got down slowly. Oh, are we that far into the future already? Or past… whatever. What have we missed? Stupid time remote or whatever it's called.

"Really?" dad asked.

"Yeah, in fact, in fact, I like you just the way you are," said mum. Their hands did not disconnect..

"You do!"

"Yeah, I do…"

Dad went ecstatic, "Yahoo! Ye-ss! Yeah!" Ok, maybe we didn't miss much, dad's still childish. It's kind of amusing and embarrassing at the same time. To think, the assistant supervisor of the Las Vegas Crime Lab nightshift is acting like a kid at the age of what? 19?

In excitement, dad hugged mum, something she isn't too comfortable with, judging by her awkward expression.

'Whumph!' Whoops. Looks like Lucas had leaned on his buddies too hard, because he forced them to the floor, knocking over barrels and causing havoc.

Hehe, gigs up, guys! Lucas tries to hide what he was doing by starting to whistle with an occupied expression on his face. Heck, that wouldn't even fool a baby.

The green-haired guy and the girl, however, got up and the girl said, "I like you just the way you are…"

The green-haired guy smiled shyly and said, "Really?"

"Really!" she replies.

"Jen!"

"Wes!"

They each cried in turn and fell into each other's arms, sighing lovingly.

Ren and I couldn't help laughing. Dad was taking it well, while mum was pointing at her female friend, "You…" and started chasing her, with everyone laughing away.

After finishing chortling, Ren announced, "Let's go… we're going ahead, so we might be able to forward ourselves into our own time,"

I nodded, still watching mum chasing her friend around.

"Flump!" Yeah! I made it standing this time! Triumph!

I smirked at Ren, who's on the floor. She scowled, "Oh, shut up bucko."

I looked around the room; we're still in the historical monument-like building.

However, it did not have the same happy atmosphere like the scene earlier, there seemed to be a tense and frustrated atmosphere lingering in the air. Sure enough…

"I SPECIFICALLY told you to stay at that exit, and you DIDN'T!" came mum's angry voice. Very familiar, I must have heard it about a hundred time in my life.

She was yelling at dad, who's sitting on the picnic table, his face angry as well.

Their three fellow rangers were at the back of the room, near a big old clock's mechanism. I think this is an inside of a clock tower, by the looks of it…

They were watching and listening in on the conversation warily, Lucas was holding a book, ignoring the fact that the pages were flipping all over the place, the other two were holding some old rags. Also avoiding the scolding ceremony is the owl, or robot, or robot-owl… whatever.

"I know. But you didn't see the Silver Guardians pull up!" retorted dad. Silver Guardians? Isn't that where Uncle Eric works? Ok… confused again.

"Wes, I did see them," said mum.

"You did? You saw them?" asked dad.

This conversation is going nowhere, with two stubborn people like that.

"Of course I did! And I was changing the plan until you decided to go it alone!" said mum, "Look, the only way we can work as a team is if we trust each other. But after this morning, how am I supposed to trust you!"

Dad probably had enough, he jumped of the table, exclaiming, "Ok! So I messed up! But you know what, Jen? Trust is a two-way street!" I've never seen dad this angry since I spilled soda all over his tediously arranged case files for a court appearance the next day.

Mum crossed her arms, "Meaning what?"

"You expect us to trust you to lead us? No matter what you say, we do it. But you don't trust us enough to open up! You never let anybody in." He tilts his head around mums, and asks the other three, "Guys, am I right!"

They immediately jump back to their own activities; Lucas brought his eyes back to his book, the girl turning towards the clock while the green-haired guy made quite a show of wiping the robot-owl's beak.

Dad flashed a quick smile, their silence speaks it all.

'I'm not here to open up! I'm here to capture Ransik!" mum yelled, turning her back to him.

"See? That's what I mean! It's all business with you Jen. I know you said you like me, but tell me, how am I supposed to trust you when I don't even know who you are?"

Mum turns back to him angrily. Dad merely lifted his arms as if to emphasize the point. Mum narrowed her eyes, speechless.

The robotic owl interrupted, Mutant at the industrial center!"

Mum muttered, "Let's go do our job!"

Dad scowled and followed her down the stairs, followed with the other three.

I made to join the lot, but Ren held me back, "What?" I asked.

"I don't want to watch another battle. Let's go…"

"C'mon! Don't you want to know what happened?"

Ren groaned and said, "Quent! It hurts to see them yelling at each other like this! They never do that at home!"

"Hey, it's ok, we're around, right?" So everything must have worked out!"

"I dunno, what if they were forced to marry or something?"

"As if!" I yelled.

Ren bit her lower lip and shrugged, pressing the button.

"Here we go again…" I mumbled.

TBC