Author: Jadelyn Ja Lee
Story: Through Her Eyes
Disclaimer: I own no one. The poem is Shakespeare.
Time Frame: During History
Summary: AJ's father was the greatest ranger ever….now she's taking on the mantle he gave up. Power Rangers SPD.
Author Notes: Very long end note, just to warn you all.
Broodwing: Fools! Do you think you could get away from me that easily?
Ethan: We've run away from a lot worse than you, buddy. realizing what he said Ooh, that didn't come out right at all.
Sky nodded to a cadet as he made his way to his girlfriends office. Huh, never thought that would happen. He thought absently to himself as he came upon the door. He stopped for a moment, reading the name plate. 'Aimee "AJ" Oliver, SPD Lunar Ranger, Director of Ranger BioPhysics.' When did she change that? He knocked and walked in. AJ looked up from her desk with a smile.
"Hey Sky!" she chirped happily, walking over to give him a hug. He hugged her back and kissed her lightly.
"How's your day going?" she asked as they moved to the couch her brother had insisted she have. They sat down, AJ snuggling into Sky's side. He smiled.
"We trained with C squad today. They're coming along fairly well." He fibbed. She smiled knowingly.
"That's wonderful. Oh, by the way, I got a letter from Sophie. She's really happy." She told him. He smiled.
"Good. After everything we put her through, she deserves someplace to call her own." He admitted. She beamed and gave him a kiss.
"Wow, I never thought I'd hear that." She teased and was secretly thrilled when he blushed slightly. According to Syd, she was one of the few who could makethe blue rangerscheeks turn pink.
"AJ, when did you decide to change your name-plate?" he asked suddenly. She blinked up at him, running the question through her head.
"After my mother showed up the first time. JD and I, we're rangers and Zoe and Cal, and them; they're old enough to protect themselves. Dad was thrilled and I think so was Cruger. I really am not looking forward to my mom's reaction though." She admitted. He smiled.
"Personally, I think it's wonderful. But everyone's gonna find out." He pointed out. She shrugged.
"If they haven't figured out who my father is by now, then they obviously haven't been paying attention to the amount of times he's shown up." She replied, silently wondering how many times her father had shown up without her actually knowing.
"Thinking about him and Kat, aren't you?" he asked knowingly. She nodded. Besides JD, he'd been the only one she'd told about her father and the science director's date.
"Have you figured out how you feel about it yet?" he asked carefully, thinking back to his reaction when his mom had started dating his dad's former teammate. He'd been furious. AJ frowned.
"I think…I think I'm okay with it. I started thinking about some of the other women he's dated since the divorce and she's the only one I actually like. Besides, in some ways, she's been more of a mother to me these last couple years than my own." She admitted, laying her head on his shoulder. He smiled, gently rubbing his hand through her hair.
"Well that's good. Better than my reaction, at any rate." He muttered. She sat up and looked at him confused.
"Huh?"
"When I was twelve my mom started seeing the blue ranger from my dad's team. I wasn't happy and made that known in very loud ways." He admitted sheepishly. She gave him a gentle look and settled back down on the couch. He immediately resumed his petting and she sighed happily. Sky glanced at the clock and mentally swore . Schooling his features, he disentangled himself from the science technician and stood.
"Come on." He told her, gently helping her up. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at him quizzically.
"Where are we going?" she asked curiously as he led her from the room. He gave her a small smile.
"The others set up a game of light ball. That's why I came by." He explained, holding her hand. Two first year cadets passed by and giggled at the pair. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw AJ throw the two girls a wink and they started laughing harder. He tightened his grip and chuckled.
"The younger cadets have a bet going." She confided in him as they stepped onto the elevator. He looked at her in surprise.
"They do? On what?" he asked. She smirked.
"On which pair from B Squad is going to tie the knot first." She told him impishly. He swallowed heavily.
"Do they?" he asked hoarsely. She gave him an amused look.
"Don't worry Sky, I don't thinktwomonths is long enough to get married." She reassured him. He let out a sigh of relief and she giggled. "Besides, the bets are we'll be last."
Sky didn't say anything as they stepped off the elevator. She looked up at him, concerned.
"Sky? What's wrong?" she asked, worried she'd said something wrong. He looked down at her, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Jack and Syd are first, aren't they?" he asked. She nodded, eyeing him. He shook his head.
"Figures." He muttered. She frowned, trying to decipher what he meant when they walked into JD outside B Commons. He smiled at the two.
"Hey.Sky, why do you look like someone just kicked your cat?" the solar ranger asked curiously. Sky flashed him a small smile.
"Just trying to figure out why the rest of the cadet population here has so little faith in me." He informed his girlfriend's brother. AJ chuckled, finally understanding what had been bugging him. The two rangers walked in, not noticing Sky fall back as they entered.
"SURPRISE!"
AJ and JD both jumped as the lights flipped on to reveal the rest of B Squad, Cruger, Kat, Boom, a few science technicians, and the Oliver's, Scotts, and Cranston's. The entire room was decorated in silver and gold streamers. There were four tables, two loaded with food and two stacked with wrapped parcels. The twins were in shock as the group surged forward to pull them into the crowd.
"Happy birthday, girl!" Z and Syd chorused, squishing the science tech between them as Jack and Bridge slapped JD on the back. The four rangers then switched and AJ found herself being hugged to death by the green and red rangers.
"Happy birthday, Aimee. Did we surprise you?" four year oldIan asked from somewhere around her knees. She squealed and knelt down to give him a hug.
"Yes you did. How'd this get organized?" she directed the last part to Ian's father, her cousin Austin as he envoloped herin his arms.
"Your team." He whispered in her ear. She smiled, her eyes misty, as she turned around to see her teammates laughing and joking with her family.
"Girl, get your butt over her!" Rachel demanded, pulling the happy young woman into another hug with her, Jaelyn, and Paige. She laughed.
"It's so good to see you guys!" She exclaimed before being pulled over to her other cousins. She glanced over Cade's shoulder to see that her brother was also being passed around and that her teammates were watching and laughing. It took a while, but eventually she found herself in the arms of her father who gave her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. She hugged him tightly.
"This is wonderful daddy." She whispered. He chuckled.
"Thank your boyfriend for that. From what I hear, it was all his doing with help from the rest." He informed her in a whisper. She smiled up at him, brightening even further when she saw the approval in his eyes.
"He's a good guy, daddy." She whispered. He nodded, glancing at the blue ranger who was talking with Kimberly.
"I can see that." He agreed. "Now you better go save him from Kim. She has that look in her eye." AJ turned around and saw her aunt talking with her boyfriend. She smiled and turned back to her dad.
"I think I'll wait." She whispered mischievously. He smirked down at her.
"Gonna see how he handles her?" he asked knowingly. She nodded.
"Yup. The test of true boyfriend material; can he withstand the probing questions of the beloved aunts." She replied. He laughed as Kat came over.
"AJ, happy birthday." She told her, giving her science tech a hug. AJ glanced at her dad and saw the respect and admiration he held for the feline. She smiled; she finally knew how she felt about the tentative relationship her father was developing with her mentor. She glanced over at her brother and who nodded at the unspoken question. She turned to Tommy and saw the question in his eyes.
"You two have fun. I'm gonna mingle." She proclaimed and walked away.
"In other words, she's gonna check out the gifts." She heard her father inform Kat and smiled when the older woman laughed.
"AJ?" Sky asked the next day when they were working in her office. She looked up with a smile. The party the night before had officially gone on until about ten when all the non-SPD had left. After that though, they'd continued the party until about one, with Cruger and Kat both leaving around eleven-thirty.
"Yeah?" she asked happily. He smiled and pulled out a small silver wrapped box.
"I didn't want to give it to you last night with everyone there. Here." He told her, handing her the box. She took it gently and slowly began unwrapping it. Sky moved to sit next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. He held his breath as she silently opened the box to reveal the necklace he had personally designed.
It was a locket in the shape of a circle. The front was black obsidian with a silver crescent moon shining in a field of stars. Her hands were trembling as she carefully opened the locket to find the picture Z had taken of them after the SWAT business. She swallowed heavily as she saw a gold disk melded to the inside cover with an inscription.
"Aimee. I love thee/With a love that shall not die/Till the sun grows cold/And the stars grow old. Sky." She murmured. She looked up at him and smiled, tears in her eyes.
"I love you too, Sky." She murmured before kissing him. As the kiss got deeper, neither noticed Salene nodding with approval in the corner.
"About time." She murmured before leaving to find that adorable green ranger.
AJ was working in the command center and trying to figure out where she'd seen the ranger signatures before when B Squad walked in.
"Okay, I'm not complaining but our command center was a cave."
AJ froze at the all too familiar voice. She twirled around as Sky walked over to her. She paid him little attention as she stared at the three people in shock.
"Of course. The dino gems…" she whispered, knowing then where she'd seen the signatures before. She turned to Sky, keeping an eye on the three rangers.
"Where did they come from?" she whispered. He shrugged as Kira turned to Bridge.
"But he's a dog, sort of." she whispered in confusion. Bridge smiled.
"Pets as authority figures. You get use to it." He replied. AJ snorted and the three rangers turned to her. Jack grinned.
"And our wonderfully smart science technician AJ who has the most important job of all; keeping Sky relaxed because a stressed out Sky is not fun, let me tell you." He introduced them. Sky rolled his eyes but AJ herself couldn't help but smirk.
"We've met." She replied impishly. The three rangers looked at each other.It was Conner who finally asked.
"We have?" he asked. She nodded, ignoring Syd and Z grins.
"Eventually." She replied blithely. The three rangers looked confused as B squad started chuckling.
"Aliens and humans live in harmony." Kat interjected to get the conversation back on track. Sky huffed, still a bit miffed by Jack's comment.
"Well, for the most part. Broodwing is after them." He informed Kat. She pulled up files with a smile.
"It's no wonder why." The feline remarked. AJ smirked as her aunt and two uncles nodded proudly.
"Ahhh, memories." Conner remarked and AJ snickered. Jack ignored her.
"But that was years ago. What I don't get is how'd you guys get here?" he asked. Bridge scratched his head.
"Yeah, especially since you already are here. Or…were here?" he asked Syd who rolled her eyes.
"Well, things are a little fuzzy but we were on our way to the reunion at Reefside High." Kira informed them. AJ raised an eyebrow, remembering her father's story about what happened at that reunion.
"…Correction, you were rangers. We've been especially trained to take on Gruumms army." Sky's comment brought AJ back from her musings and she frowned at her boyfriend.
"Weren't you guys taught to respect your elders?" Ethan asked and AJ really could not help the snicker that flew out. The fact of the matter was, they were physically younger or the same agethan most of the team. The siren went off and the rangers went into action. As B Squad ran out, AJ couldn't help the smile that broke out at her Uncle Conner's comment.
"Our morph was so much better."
"No, I won't put your lives in danger. If anything happened to you in this time, the results could be catastrophic." Cruger informed the red ranger. AJ shook her head, they really were very stubborn. Conner scowled.
"Yeah, but if your cadets lose, none of that matters anyway." He argued. AJ set her pad down and stepped in front of Conner.
"Conner, here's the deal. If you die, I won't live. And If I won't live, then earth will have fallen two months ago." She calmly informed him. Conner looked down at her in confusion.
"Huh?"
"You're not…" Kira asked, a little freaked out. AJ flashed her a smile.
"Oh hell no, there's no way I could handle him as my father." She informed the former yellow ranger, ignoring Conner's cry of outrage at the insinuation that he would be a horrible dad. "Besides, he's still too young. I was born in 07."
"So how is it that if I die, you die?" Conner asked. She swallowed.
"You're gonna save my life from…an old enemy." She told him, deciding not to mention that Zeltrax is still alive in his time. Just then, the computer showed Dragoul in the city just as JD ran in. He took one look at the three rangers and blinked.
"Holy shit!"
"And bananas." AJ calmly shot back and her brother gaver her a look.
Cruger ignore this and motioned to the two rangers. "Go take care of Dragoul." He ordered. AJ and JD nodded but Conner stepped in front of her.
"You're not rangers." He argued. She gave him a look.
"Wanna make a bet?" she asked. Conner just shook his head and forged ahead.
"You can't possibly have the same amount of experience we do." He said, motioning to Kira and Ethan. AJ's eyes flashed and a second later, Conner was on his back with AJ standing over him. JD walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She instantly calmed down. They watched as Ethan and Kira helped the former red ranger to his feet.
"You do realize dad's gonna kill you when he finds outyou did a Dulcea onour uncle, right?" he asked. AJ shrugged.
"Dad's wanted to do that on a number of occasions." She replied blithely, not realizing Kira was listening to every word. The lunar ranger turned to Conner.
"You're gonna eventually learn that it's not a good idea to argue with me. I can out stubborn you any day of the week." She informed him seriously. Without another word, the twins morphed and headed out.
"I still think you guys need us here to deal with Gruumm." Ethan said later that day in the command center. "He's gonna be madder than ever."
Kira nodded. "Yeah, and what about Broodwing, he's still flapping around somewhere." She added.
"It's obvious we should stay." Conner put in. He smiled at Syd. "We work great together."
The pink ranger smirked while Jack glared at the red dino thunder ranger. "Nice try, but I don't date older guys."
Jack grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Unless they're me."
AJ snickered at the exasperated look Kira threw her future husband.
"We appreciate your offer to stay rangers, but that's not possible." Cruger informed them. Syd nodded, looking at the yellow dino thunder ranger.
"Besides Kira, if you don't get back, you'll never start your recording career." She informed her. AJ hid a smile as the rangers informed them of what was to come in their futures.
"Besides all that, I really would like to see one of my best friends, Emma McKnight, be born." AJ requested to Conner, glancing at Kira. Beside her, JD nodded.
"James and Oliver, too." AJ tilted her head.
"And I love beating Kevin and Hannah at games." She added. Kira smiled.
"You're Dr. O's kids, aren't you?" she asked knowingly. The twins exchanged grins as Conner and Ethan stared at them in shock.
"Seriously?" Conner asked. AJ nodded.
"Aimee Oliver."
"Jason Oliver." Cruger smiled.
"Your lives as Rangers have made a difference. But you'll all go on to live exciting and significant lives. After you hang up your helmets." Cruger told them. The three grinned at each other as AJ and JD exchanged knowing smiles.
"I think we're ready to go back, Commander." Conner told him.
"Your courage and dedication will live on in ranger legend. Thank you all." Cruger informed them. They nodded as Kat brought up their dino gems.
"Goodbye, Dino Rangers." She told them. "Your memory of us will be erased until you reach this day. But we won't forget you. Thank you."
With that they disappeared. The group stared at the place where they had been standing and then turned to the door when it opened to admit an older Conner, Kira, and Ethan, not to mention Tommy. Conner was scowling while his wife, best friend, and former teacher tried not laugh.
"I can't believe you drop-kicked me!"
End Notes: I'm not sure how I feel about this but it snowed Friday! At the end of April! We got 6 inches!
I was very very cranky Saturday. I was writing a CSI idea I got around midnight and I ended up out on the lawn because some drunken idiot pulled the fire alarm. It was chaos for about half an hour while everyone sat outside, waiting for the firemen to tell us we could go back inside (it was still snowing). Half of the group were in their underwear (all guys, thankfully) and the other half were in their pajamas (all girls).
So you know, we get back inside around 12:45am and Bash immediately goes back to sleep. I write a little bit more and then turn off the light and hit the hay. 2am rolls around the fire alarm goes off again. We ended up on the lawn for about fifteen minutes this time before the irritated firemen tell us to go back inside. So, Bash and I trudge back up to the third floor and go back to sleep. 4am rolls around and we hear the alarm again.
We head back outside and find this guy, drunk off his ass, sitting there giggling. Bash and I know the drunk and he likes to play pranks when he's not drunk so we figure he may be the one pulling the alarm. Fifteen minutes pass, we go back inside. Bash and I put our slippers, keys, and sweaters by the door. Right on time, the alarm goes off again at 6am. Bash and I sit up in bed and look over at each other. Very very angry by now, Bash lies back down and tells me there is no force on earth that is going to get her out of bed again until noon at best. I don't say anything but I grabbed my notebook and scribbled a note to let the firemen know that we're not going to freeze our ass off unless there really is a fire. I tacked it to the door and went back to sleep.
The guy we saw last night was arrested for pulling the alarms. And I found a small note from one of the fireman on my note: "If there really was a fire, you wouldn't freeze."
One more thing, Bash and I were discussing fanfiction in our English class while the professor was discussing some psycho book on heroes. Bash mentioned a fic she read years ago that she loved. I read it too but now we can't find it and the professor would like to read it because he said it sounds like something that could help explain some of the stuff we've been discussing on heroes (don't you love it when English teachers are supportive of fanfiction and actually read some of your stuff?) We're fairly certain it was on Paladar's fanfic site but we can't seem to find it.
From what we remember, it was set during MMPR but was very AU; Kimberly was being abused at home and the rangers didn't like her very well because she was really withdrawn and stuff. Zordon knew about the abuse but the rangers didn't. We're fairly certain that at the end, instead of Kim going into the foster system or being adopted by the Olivers, Tommy marries her because of course he's fallen in love with her and he didn't like the idea of her becoming his sister (who would?). It was a really good fic and we want to read it again. If this sounds familiar to anyone (it's an older story), can you please let us know? Bash thinks the title was a well known verse of poetry but neither of us can remember what the title was or who wrote it. If you know, email or just put it in a review. Thanks!