Disclaimer: The usual. Don't own anything you recognize.

KINGS AND VAGABONDS

By Etcetera Kit

When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning
And the future has passed without even a last desperate warning
Then look into the sky where through the clouds a path is torn
Look and see her how she sparkles, it's the last unicorn

Chapter Twenty-Two: Star of Morning II

Paris hadn't walked into the SPD Academy that afternoon – she exploded into it, running around like a chicken with her head cut off. No one in their right mind would argue with anything she said or did when she looked quite capable of simultaneously dancing on a table and ripping someone apart with her bare hands. It was frightening. Her older sister had never quite gone this… insane. Paris was the one that was cool, calm, collected – tossing clever insults in without making it apparent she had just insulted someone. She knew when to rebel, but it never included fireworks when it happened. She just did what she wanted.

But this… this was Paris to the tenth power.

Syd had just watched her sister from start to finish, wondering what she was accomplishing, since it was obvious that something was getting done.

It had started shortly after lunch. Z had managed to finagle her way out of being on-call for lunch so that she and her parents could go to one of the local restaurants. Syd had eaten lunch with Bridge – the first time in a long time the pair of them had spent quality time together. They had been close when the B-Squad consisted of herself, Sky and Bridge, but had drifted their own directions with the advent of Conner and Z.

Bridge looked awful – he was pale with dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn't slept very much last night. She didn't blame him. Insomnia had plagued all of them. He wasn't his normal, cheerful self either. That didn't make much sense. His real parents would be at the academy on Saturday morning.

"What's wrong?" she had asked, munching on her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"My Jell-o tastes like mold."

"Have you ever eaten mold?"

"No."

"Then how do you know what it tastes like?"

"It tastes like mold!" he had insisted and held it out for her to try it. She took the small plastic cup and tasted the gelatin. Well – she wasn't sure that mold was the correct way to describe the taste, but it tasted off.

"We should have someone check the food replicator." She paused and gave him a scrutinizing stare. "What's really wrong?"

He poked at the mold-flavored Jell-o, looking uncomfortable. After a few moments of contemplation, he started to talk. "It's all this parent stuff. I mean my adopted parents are pretty insipid – what if my real parents are worse?"

So that was his problem. "I'm sure they're not. What about the memories from your dinosaur?"

"True." Bridge finally shoved the Jell-o cup away. "I don't really remember them. I just keep having this dream about running from something." He sighed. "Lately there's been an outline in it… of a woman." He shook his head. "I don't know what it means."

Paris chose that moment to enter the lounge and begin her insane afternoon that was something out of a bad movie. "Syd!" she cried, running over some lower level cadets who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Syd raised an eyebrow at her. She didn't look different, except for perhaps the flush in her cheeks. It was then that she took in the couple that had followed her sister in.

If she hadn't known anything else upon seeing those people, she would have commented that she looked a lot like the woman and that Austin was a dead ringer for the man. Her parents… her mind froze for a minute, her mouth hanging wide open and probably revealing some chewed up sandwich, just like a fish out of water.

"Our parents," Paris prompted.

She didn't even have time to think about that, because another patrol officer stuck his head in the room. "Paris! We've got to get rolling!"

She shook her head. "Tell Braddock to ID the body – we need a match as a soon as possible and get a passenger list for the bus. Break down their backgrounds, criminal records and possible connection to the victim."

Syd said the first thing that popped into her mind. "I thought you quit."

"Long story—"

"Drew!"

"I'm coming!" Paris snapped and disappeared.

The situation finally fully dawned on her. She was facing her real parents for the first time since she was four. Carter and Dana Grayson… her parents… "Sydney," Carter said softly. She just grinned and ran into her father's embrace.

"Oh my God!" she breathed, releasing her father and embracing her mother. "And this is Bridge," she added, motioning to Bridge who was watching the scene with a morbid kind of fascination.

"You must be Mike and Maya's son," her father said to him with a grin.

"I guess…" The Green Ranger looked lost. "Does Paris work homicide now?"

Syd shrugged. "She manages to get involved in some weird cases."

The initial reunion turned into an informal party in the lounge. Z and her parents resurfaced, revealing that the Evans and the Graysons knew each other. If nothing else, Cole and Carter had worked together before. Bridge disappeared sometime in there, probably hiding in his room from all the emotional currents in the air. Syd felt sorry for him – with the fact that his parents weren't going to be there until the next day.

Paris and the patrol officer from earlier charged through at dinnertime, arguing about how they were going to interrogate all the people from the bus in a timely manner – and whether or not they should start offering coffee.

"Just hook us up to a coffee IV," Paris had muttered on their way out.

Now, it was late – after lights-out for everyone else. Their parents had gone to their various hotels for the evening. Syd and Z had pulled Bridge from his room and made him come hang out in the lounge with them before they turned in for the night. Z was attempting to teach them a complicated card game, although it wasn't working because each player was supposed to keep his or her cards covered, but Z knew what they all had because she had to tell them what they could play and they couldn't play.

"Hey, kids." Paris came into the lounge looking utterly exhausted. She glanced at the cards lying all over the table. "You guys actually playing a game or is this a new variation on 52 Card Pick-up?"

"It was a game," Syd muttered, throwing her cards on the table. "I give up."

Bridge set his cards on the table and stared off into space as Z gathered up all the cards, putting them into a neat stack. Z glanced over at him and then wrapped her arms around his middle, effectively wrapping him up into a bear hug. The four of them were silent. Syd glanced down at her right hand – her father had given her the third of the three Tangarian rings before they went to the hotel. Hers had a pink stone – it was supposed to be a present for her fifth birthday, when Paris and Austin received theirs.

"We should turn in," Paris said absently.

"I'm not tired," Bridge replied.

"All right, then, what do you want to do?"

Bridge goggled at her. Paris never offered to hang out with them.

"Let's play a board game," Syd said, wanting to do something – anything – to get her mind off the questions that were swimming around.

"One that takes forever," Z added.

"Monopoly," Paris said decisively. She got up to go get the game. Syd watched her leave, wondering if they were planning on pulling an all-nighter.

Sky felt like he was going to throw up – and he was freezing, despite the fact that he had the heater in the car up as high as it would go, probably annoying the hell out of his father. He just huddled in the passenger seat, shivering and trying to keep what little food he had eaten that day down. Ever since the weekend at the cabin, the nosebleeds had tapered off, but he still felt overly tired – sleeping at a lot of odd times he wouldn't normally have.

Eric glanced over at him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," he replied a little too quickly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You look like you're going to pass out."

"I'm fine."

The look he got in return for that clearly said right, but Eric probably wasn't going to push the issue any further. It had gotten dark – but he didn't miss the road sign that welcomed motorists to Silver Hills, where his parents lived. It was also the headquarters for Bio-Lab and the Silver Guardians.

Eric steered the car into a residential area, passing large, grandiose houses. Sky had no idea why he was losing his mind over meeting his real parents. From what Eric had said, they were decent people, who would understand his hesitations over welcoming them into his life with open arms. He hadn't been this nervous since the day he got his acceptance letter to the SPD Academy – and he had just been freezing that day, not ready to lose his lunch on top of it. He was regressing and he knew it.

The car started up a long drive that led to a mansion.

"They live there?" Even to his own ears, he was starting to sound hysterical.

"Did you miss the fact that they're billionaires?"

"No – I just didn't think they'd live in a mansion."

Eric sighed, looking tired. "Your grandfather built the mansion after he made his fortune. Your father has lived there pretty much his whole life – you lived there for a little while." He parked the car just outside the large double doors.

This place didn't look like anyone lived in it – it looked like a museum. The lawn was too perfect – the house was too neat, looked too new. There was no life here. Growing up, their house had always looked like someone lived there from the dying plants on the miniscule front porch to his bike carelessly left in the driveway. The house had always been pleasantly cluttered inside, not enough that it interfered with day to day activities, but enough that it was cozy and inviting – it was home.

Sky unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that his father was coming. Eric got out and gave him a meaningful look as they went up to the front door. His father rang the doorbell.

It was seconds – it was hours before the front door opened. A butler, complete with the butler's tux ensemble, appeared. "May I help you?" he asked.

"Hi Phillips," Eric said.

The butler – Phillips – frowned, but then a warm smile broke out over his face. "Mr. Myers?" he asked in an overjoyed tone of voice. He then glanced to Sky, taking in what he saw. "And young Master Collins… Come in!" He pulled the door open and ushered them into a front sitting room. "Sit down! I'll go get Mr. and Mrs. Collins!" Phillips hurried from the room.

Sky blinked. Eric pushed him down onto a soft, leather couch. "Phillips," he muttered, shaking his head. Sky was strongly reminded of Alfred from the Batman movies. He was losing his mind about this, but he hadn't seen either of these people in seventeen years – and remembered nothing about them.

"Sky?"

He nearly fell off the couch. A man had just entered the room – his father presumably. He had dark blonde hair that was disheveled and was wearing slacks and a rumpled dress shirt – working late personified.

Instead of falling off the couch, he shot to his feet, not sure why. "I never thought I'd see you again," the man said softly.

"Wes! Why are you staring at him?"

A woman appeared out of nowhere. She had shoulder-length reddish brown hair and was petite – wearing a blouse and straight skirt. His real parents… Wes and Jen Collins – the names clicked into place as he stood there staring at them, not sure what to do. Was he supposed to introduce himself? Phillips seemed to have taken care of that…

He wasn't sure what happened next, but both of them were hugging him and Eric, asking a million questions from where they had been for the past seventeen years to questions on whether or not Eric was still seeing Taylor.

"Shall we adjourn to the kitchen for refreshments?" Phillips asked over the din that his parents managed to create between the two of them.

Sky followed the adults into the kitchen. "Is it always this crazy?" he asked in an undertone to the butler that he remembered. Other snatches of Phillips floated back to him – the butler telling him to come inside, sneaking him cookies, bringing him a glass of water when he couldn't sleep… how did a three-year-old remember those things?

"It was quiet, until just now," Phillips answered with a warm smile.

It was apparent really quickly that his adopted father and his biological father had been close friends – judging from the catching up that they were doing. It felt odd. He never imagined that his real parents knew much about his father… This was certainly nothing like anything that the others were going through. Paris had been correct to describe his situation as more complicated than the others.

"How do you guys really meet?" he finally asked, because it was becoming apparent that, while they might have initially met at prep school, that was not when either of them became friends, nor was it when they became partners.

The three adults exchanged glances. Eric nodded slowly. "He's a ranger too," he said to Wes and Jen.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Sky confirmed. "SPD B-Squad Blue Ranger."

Wes and Jen exchanged a dark look. "We were all rangers together," his biological father started. "Jen and I were the Pink and Red Time Force Power Rangers." He paused. "Eric's power came from the same source, but me and him are from the present, not the future."

"All the parents of the children with powers were rangers." Jen paused. "Or most of them were." She sighed. "There was a double murder about ten years ago – the father had worked at SPD in 2001. No one knows what happened to their son…"

Sam… we were all kidnapped by SPD… Cruger had us kidnapped because we have powers… because we have more power than ordinary humans…

His head was spinning. There was obviously a legacy of the ranger powers that was missing from the training at SPD. It was too much information to digest at once. "Excuse me for a minute," he muttered, slipping through a glass door that led to the backyard. The yard held a large pool – and in the middle of the green area was a dilapidated swing set.

Sky walked slowly to the swing set, flashes of a summer day coming back – swinging as high as he could. The night air was cool as Silver Hills headed for the reaches of winter. He gently grasped the slightly rusting metal that held the swing high. Pulling down on the swing, he felt like it should have broken, but it held firm. He sank onto the swing, grateful that it held his weight and let him sway in the light breeze.

"You always loved the swing."

He turned to see Phillips standing near the swing set. "I remember the swing set," he replied softly. "I remember swinging. Someone was pushing me, but I don't know who."

"Master Collins," the butler replied with a smile. "You wouldn't remember who was pushing you – you were always looking forward, reaching for the stars. The people who were at you back, always helping you would fade."

"I'm so confused."

"It's understandable."

"On one hand, I feel like I should be happy because I finally know who my real parents are, but then I feel like I'm betraying my father, the person who raised me and loved me…" He trailed off, leaning against the chain links of the swing.

"It will take time," Phillips said gently. "Mr. and Mrs. Collins will understand that. They sent you away with Mr. Myers because they trusted him completely and knew that he would care for you in the same manner they would have. He loved you before you became his son."

"You know," Sky said, feeling a smile tug at his lips as he turned towards Phillips. "I do remember you."

"That is because I made it my responsibility to see that you had all the necessities that young boys require."

"Cookies?"

"And where would we be without cookies, I ask you?" Phillips gestured towards the house. "Come on. You are missed in the house."

Carter slid the card key into the door at the hotel. The light on the knob turned green and he pushed the door open, gesturing Dana inside in front of him. The past twenty-four hours had been a roller coaster of emotions that he hadn't known he was able to feel anymore. From Paris showing up on the doorstep last night to seeing Sydney for the first time since she was four… being able to give her the ring…

Part of him wanted to insist upon taking his daughters away from SPD that moment and taking them back to Mariner Bay and allowing them to follow their dreams. But at the same time, he realized that they were adults – eighteen and nineteen and he couldn't very well force them to do anything. He and Cole had talked while their wives and the girls were occupied with something else. The kids knew the bare bones story – each of them had been kidnapped and they had an idea that Cruger was behind it. The pair of former Red Rangers had decided to wait until all of them were together – that is, all the parents – to tell their complete side of the story to their kids. For now, it was more than enough to be reunited with them.

But then there was Cruger…

Without a doubt, he was still running SPD, but something had been done to make sure that the reunions would go unnoticed by him for a while. How long that charade would hold, Carter couldn't be sure.

Too much had happened – he thought to his daughters, Austin who was still in another galaxy, the divorce papers in his desk that he hadn't signed… and then there was that picnic fourteen years ago.

"Carter," Dana said softly. She opened her arms. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close. He inhaled her scent, realizing how much he had missed her. It had been years since she sought physical contact from him…

Paris had been the catalyst. The moment she showed up at the house, they had begun working in tandem, as they had years ago. He could remember the time before they married and after the kids were born – and they had functioned as they functioned last night and through the day… He had thought he was losing everyone he held dear, until last night.

"I don't understand what came between us for so long," she murmured, her bright blue eyes meeting his own. Carter smiled and gently pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. The years had passed for each of them, but Dana was still as beautiful as she had been the day he married her.

"Grief," he replied softly. "A wide canyon of grief."

"Can we ever regain what we had before… all of this?" Before their children were taken, when their family had been whole, when they had been whole… she didn't need to speak the words anymore. He knew what she had been feeling.

"In time – I never stopped loving you, Dana, even when it seemed we were on different sides of the galaxy and speaking completely different languages. I still love you."

"Carter… I don't know what to say." Her eyes shone with unshed tears, her hands resting lightly on his shoulders. God, how long had it been since he even kissed her? They had stayed married for twenty years… how?

"Do you still love me?"

"Yes." It was nothing more than a whisper, but that single word made his heart soar. All of the pain that his life had seemed to be heading for started to melt away… It didn't matter. It was a long road they had to travel, but he could pick up the pieces and put them together.

"Then don't say anything," he whispered as his lips touched hers for the first time in a long time.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: Woohoo! I continue to be blown away by the response to this. Thanks for reading and commenting! Keep the great feedback coming!