Author: Jadelyn Ja Lee
Story: Through Her Eyes
Disclaimer: I own no one.
Time Frame: During Perspective From this time on, it's more or less AU as far as the episode storylines go.
Summary: AJ's father was the greatest ranger ever….now she's taking on the mantle he gave up. Power Rangers SPD.
Author Notes: The very AU-ishness of this fic is about to start.
Bridge: (while fighting the Krybots) Okay, that's 5, 7, 8... Whoa, wait, did I miss one? Uh, okay, wait, I'll just start over. 1! 2...!
"Roberts?" Cruger called after the rangers had left. AJ looked up from her computer, wisps of hair escaping her ponytail as she worked on the new powers again. She'd been officially given an office as Director of Ranger BioPhysics but she rarely used it, preferring the command center where she could keep on eye on the rangers.
"Yes sir?" She asked. He chuckled at the slightly glazed look in her eyes. She'd been working on the computer for three hours straight. The powers were nearly finished; only a few modifications and they'd be set. Cruger could hardly wait.
"A transfer cadet will be arriving in ten minutes. Could you please meet his shuttle and show him to his quarters?" The commander asked. She stood, stretching her arms to the ceiling.
"Sure." She agreed easily. Ever since she had been promoted, she'd been in a great mood. Cruger hid a smile. And her mood is only going to get better…
"Oh and Roberts?" He called before she walked out the door. She turned.
"You have the rest of the day off. He's in B-2." He told her mysteriously. From the main computer, Kat hid a smile. AJ was puzzled, but just shrugged it off and walked out.
"Welcome to Earth. If you are SPD personal, please step to the right and have your ID cards scanned. If you are civilians, please step to the left to have your travel papers confirmed. Enjoy your stay." The SPD shuttle attendant was telling the passengers as AJ walked down to greet the new transfer. Cadet Soroya nodded in acknowledgement.
"Hello, ma'am. The transfer cadet is having his ID checked." She informed her. Thanking the young woman, AJ turned to the right and saw a young man in a Kerovian uniform. She felt a pang and pushed aside the desire to have her brother back.
"There you go cadet. You're all set. New uniforms will be issued to you either today or tomorrow. The senior lieutenant assigned to orientate you should arrive shortly." Ensign Markus Williams told the cadet. AJ shook away her thoughts and approached.
"Actually, I'm…all…ready…JASON!" She shrieked as the cadet turned around to reveal the smirking face of her twin. She leapt into his arms and he staggered backwards.
AJ couldn't believe it. Her brother was back! At SPD! He was home! She realized suddenly that she was crying and laughing as JD struggled to stand and hug her at the same time. Wiping away tears, she hugged her brother again.
"What…I don't…What are you doing here?" she finally asked. He chuckled.
"Cruger requested a cadet transfer. He felt it would be safer if I was around to make sure you didn't get tied to cliffs or attacked by monsters in friends bodies." He teased. AJ blushed; she did have a habit of getting into a bunch of scrapes. She hugged him again and he laughed. She joined him and they began walking towards the escalators as they quickly got caught up.
"How's dad?"
"Complaining that when he was in high school he paid attention to the teacher."
"Yeah right!"
"That's what I said."
"What about the brats?"
"Caleb and Sandra broke up and according to Zoë, he's been sequestering himself in his room writing songs about lost love."
"Sequestering?"
"Shut up."
"So what about Zoë and Cammie? Any boyfriends I need to scare away?"
"Nope, Cal and Dy seem to be doing a good job of that on their own, if what dad's been telling me is true." AJ told him as they grabbed her twins' luggage. JD snickered.
"Good, they did as I asked." He commented as he attempted to juggle three duffle bags. AJ rolled her eyes but said nothing. She knew how much her brother worried about their siblings.
"Dad's gonna be so excited that your back." She commented. JD nodded.
"I can't wait to see him. The munchkins too." There was no mention of contacting their mother; he'd never forgiven her for cheating on their dad.
"Do you think we can go see them tonight?" JD asked suddenly. AJ brightened.
"Cruger gave me the rest of the day off!" she exclaimed, finally understanding why. JD beamed.
"That's great!...How are we gonna get there?" he asked suddenly as they walked into B commons. AJ motioned to the door in between Sky, Bridge and Jack's bedrooms.
"I think I can wrangle up one of the SPD jeeps. An old one." She replied as they walked in. JD gratefully put the bags on the bare bed as AJ used a remote control to maneuver the storage containers to a corner. JD looked around. A queen size bed, a small nightstand, a dresser, a wardrobe, and two doors were the only things in the room. He investigated the door to the right and found a small storage space. Looking in the other door he found a bathroom that connected to the dorm on the other side. He poked his head in the other room and was faced with blue and green.
"Your bathroom connects to Sky and Bridge's." AJ commented behind him. JD jumped a mile as he twirled around. AJ studied him with an amused grin.
"You still do that?" he asked, referring to her ability to creep up behind people unnoticed. She smirked.
"Yup. And this time I didn't use my gift." She commented. JD snickered as he remembered the last time AJ had snuck up on someone using her gift of invisibility. Their father had ended up wearing the Pepsi he had been drinking.
Half an hour later, AJ had successfully checked out a SPD jeep and the twins were on the highway heading to Reefside. AJ was laughing as JD told her about Selwyn and Aslana's first date.
"…And then, he handed her the roses, not realizing a snake had crawled into the bouquet!" JD told her. Keeping one hand on the wheel, AJ wiped away tears of laughter.
"And she's still dating him!" She asked incredulously. JD nodded, still laughing.
"Yeah, but he's never gonna live that down." He joked. AJ snickered.
"How's uncle skunk-head?" she asked once she had gotten her laughter under control. JD snickered.
"Scared." He replied, grinning. She glanced at him as they finally reached the road that led to the Oliver house.
"Why?" she asked hesitantly. JD snickered again.
"Auntie Ashley's been saying she misses the sounds of little kids running around the house." He told her. AJ started laughing as the house came into view. She parked and turned the jeep off before turning to her twin.
"Invisibility?" she asked. He nodded and then disappeared as the door to the house opened and Camryn poked her head out.
"AIMEE!" She squealed, running out. AJ hopped out the jeep just as Camryn barreled into her. She laughed and hugged her sister as the rest of the family walked out with Uncle Jason, Aunt Kimberly, and her cousins. The only Scott child who wasn't there was Madison who lived on KO35 with her husband Myles, Andros' oldest son. The next few minutes were extremely confusing as AJ greeted her family and cooed over Austin's three year old son Ian. Tai San Tsukino-Scott was glowing as she placed a hand over her swollen belly.
"A couple more months, huh?" AJ asked as she softly hugged her Aunt Trini's only daughter. Tai San nodded.
"Baby Trini is expected in two months." She informed her as Rachel came over and threw her arms around AJ.
"Girl, it's been too long! You need to come to the movies with me and Jae tonight." She told her. AJ smiled.
"Wish I could. I'm only here for the day." She replied, knowing instinctively her twin brother had gone into the house. Nearby, Zoe shook her head.
"You work too much." The sixteen year old scolded. Twenty year old Logan and sixteen year old Cade nodded their agreement. AJ raised an eyebrow when she noticed Cade was standing extremely close to her sister. Seeing her look, Zoë blushed. Tommy whistled.
"Let's head inside." He called. AJ smiled and dutifully allowed herself to be dragged into the house. Once the door shut, she turned to her dad.
"I have an announcement I want everyone to hear." She whispered impishly. Tommy gave her a puzzled look but nodded.
"Everyone in the living room." Tommy yelled over the laughing of the family. Once everyone was settled, they turned to AJ expectedly. Everyone but her aunt and three cousins. Kimberly was whispering with Zoe, Tai San, and Rachel in a knowing manner. She rolled her eyes.
"For the record, this has nothing to do with Sky." She told them firmly. Tommy and Jason laughed as Kimberly pouted. AJ felt a hand on her shoulder and grinned as her brother blinked into existence.
"Actually, it has to do with me." JD said as he reappeared. The room was dead silent as everyone stared at the twins in astonishment. Then JD smirked and the spell was broken.
"JD!" The room erupted in noise as Zoë, Caleb, Dylan, and Camryn pounced on their older brother. With a yelp, AJ jumped out of the way just as Rachel, Cade, and Logan joined the heap on the floor. Austin was holding Tai San's hand and grinning as they and the adults watched the tangle of limbs. AJ glanced at her dad and smiled when she saw the tears in his eyes as he watched his oldest son attempting to dig his way out from under the bodies piled on top of him.
An hour later an impromptu welcome back barbeque was under way as Tommy, Jason, and various uncles stood talking around the two grills. JD was surrounded bytheir younger cousins who had driven over either on their own or with their parents. He was telling stories about his training and day to day life on KO-35. Kimberly and her various aunts were sitting on the back porch, talking. AJ had been avoiding going near the women because her Aunt Kimberly had a very familiar gleam in her eye. AJ grinned when she saw her three grandparents and Uncle David walk into the backyard through the house. JD didn't notice them until Grandpa Sam was sitting in his wheelchair directly behind the former Kerovian green ranger.
"The fledgling has returned an eagle." The aged shaman told his great grandson. JD whipped around.
"Grandfather!" He yelled, bending down and hugging him. AJ grinned and searched for her cousin Tashina Taylor. She finally found her talking with Jaelyn, Rachel, and Emma McKnight.
"Hey guys, wanna volley?" AJ asked, motioning to the volleyball net set up on the side of the yard. Nearby, Logan overheard and grinned.
"Guys versus girls." He called out, grabbing the ball from near a bush. The girls glanced at each other and smirked.
"Jae, Tashi, Rach, Em, and I against you and four others. Sounds fair." She replied. Zoë, Camryn, Tonia Fernandez, Paige Cranston, and Ismey Park walked over.
"What about us?" Zoë demanded. AJ smirked and turned to Logan who'd been joined by Cade, Austin, James McKnight, and Kevin James.
"Ten on ten?" she arched a brow and her cousin grinned.
"Yo, guys verse girls. We need five more guys!" he called out. Immediately Caleb, Dylan, JD, Brian Cranston, and Jeff Fernandez walked over. The adults and the rest of the teens and kids settled down to watch what they knew would be a very entertaining match.
It was nearly ten by the time AJ and JD had arrived back in New Tech. The game had lasted for nearly two hours, as both teams had been making wise-cracks as they played and tackled each other every so often. Despite their confidence however, the boys had lost to the girls, eight of whom had played, or were playing, on their school volleyball team.
"I had a blast." JD commented as they walked into the base. They nodded hello to the attendant on night shift and headed to the tenth floor.
"Everyone did." She replied as they stepped into the elevator. JD chuckled.
"I can still see Dad's expression when you somersaulted over the net to hit Logan." He commented. AJ barely hid a smile.
"Logan called me a shrimp. I hate shrimp. I am not a shrimp." She told him. JD snorted.
"Whatever you say, Aimes." She gasped and playfully hit him as they arrived on their floor. As they walked into to B Commons, neither noticed the rangers startled looks.
"You know, we should do this more often." She told him as they stood in front of his room. JD chuckled and the rangers exchanged puzzled looks.
"Well, now that I'm back, things will be normal again." He told her. She giggled.
"You're right. If Gruumm could just blow himself up, everything would be perfect." She sighed. JD grinned down at her as Sky slowly sank down into the chair, a look of sorrow crossing his features. Jack and Syd glanced worriedly at the blue ranger as JD kissed AJ on the cheek.
"Night Artemis." He told her fondly. She giggled again at the use of her old nickname.
"Night Apollo." She replied in kind, giving him a hug. JD walked inside the door and AJ turned around. She jumped when she noticed the rangers.
"Oh hey guys." She greeted them. They looked at her oddly but AJ didn't notice. She absently said goodnight and walked out the door to her own quarters. The rangers all turned to Sky.
"I'm so sorry." Syd told him softly. Sky didn't say anything as he continued to stare at the new cadets closed door.
End Notes: The road to true love is never easy!
As I'm sure you noticed, definite ranger couples are showcased in this chapter as well as their kids. In other words, lots of new names have been mentioned. I tried making it as unconfusing as possible but I'm not entirely sure I succeeded. Let me know what you think.
Thank you for the kind words of encouragement regarding my trip to New Orleans last week. It was really hard seeing all the destruction that still hasn't even begun to be cleaned up. But, we worked for three days and were able to help four or five different families start the process of rebuilding so it's all good. I will say this though, 26 people in two vans and two trucks driving for two days is not at all confortable!