Calculated Risk

Disclaimer: No Power Rangers, just memories of meeting a few of the actors at a convention. Sigh.

Chapter 4: A Spark

"So what kinda pizza are you making?" RJ asked Fran as he knelt by the kitchen counter where Smoky and Gouda were eating some chicken RJ had shredded for them.

Fran frowned thoughtfully as she worked the ball of pre-made dough RJ had given her. "I can't make up my mind between margarita and Texas barbecue."

"Both do sound good," RJ admitted. He stood and reached into his pocket, rummaging around for a few seconds before pulling out a quarter. "Coin toss?"

Fran grinned. "You do that?"

"It helps when I can't make up my mind for lots of things. That and 'eenie, meenie, miney, mo."

"Ah," Fran nodded sagely. "A classic decision making technique."

"Exactamundo." RJ waved the coin. "So which is heads and which is tails?"

"Heads: margarita, tails: Texas barbecue."

The coin was flipped and soon RJ was arranging the ingredients for a margarita pizza beside the dough Fran was carefully shaping into a crust.

"Want me to show you how to toss it?"

The flattening disk was tossed by way of Fran's answer, carefully bounced and spun on her knuckles as she gently stretched the dough. RJ laughed, impressed. "Never mind, then!"

Fran giggled and tossed the crust higher than before only to squeak when she nearly missed, catching half the dough. RJ quickly stuck his hands out to catch the errant dough and helped Fran guide it back onto the pan.

"You have no idea how often I've dropped the dough," RJ said while reassuringly patting a blushing Fran on the shoulder. "That was really good though."

"My grandpa taught me," Fran replied, smiling at the memory. As she reached for the tomato sauce, she glanced at RJ and asked. "Is it weird that I kinda wanna try tossing it behind my back and catching it?"

"Uh, no," He scoffed. "You're speaking my language. That sounds like something I would totally do."

"Maybe that's where I got the idea from," Fran mused. "Just hanging out with you makes me want to push myself and be more creative."

This time it was RJ whose face heated. "Glad I could be a bit of a source of inspiration."

As Fran sprinkled a healthy amount of mozzarella onto the pizza, RJ glanced down and saw that the kittens had moved on from their spot on the floor where they had been eating. Only as he scanned the lower level of the loft, he wasn't able to see them.

"Fran…"

"Yes?"

"Any idea where our new furry friends went?"

Fran frowned as she looked up from her work. "No…" she stepped over to where RJ was looking for Smoky and Gouda. She tried to stifle the flare of panic she felt at the thought that the kittens had gotten themselves into trouble.

"The good news," RJ began. "Is that this place is locked and there's no small openings that would put them back out into the storm." He winced and continued. "Bad news is that this place still has lots of small spaces for them to crawl around in."

"I'll look downstairs while you look upstairs?"

"Good idea."

Fran traipsed down the stairs and began to carefully search for the small kittens, her worry growing when she realized that there was more to RJ's loft than she had seen upon her first glance of the place. She passed by a soccer goal and a small round shelf full of knickknacks but no cute, mischievous kittens, sleeping or otherwise. She glanced at the foosball table and the platform that held up the basketball hoop but no dice.

Upon her third round of looping through what could be construed as RJ's living room more or less, Fran took note of at least three large speakers and figured that movie nights here were probably quite the event. Maybe RJ would be open to having one at some point in the future.

By sheer happenstance, Fran looked up and to her shock found Smoky carefully balanced on top of the speaker, fast asleep. "You have got to be kidding me," she murmured, shaking her head as she stared at the grey ball of fur in awe. In a slightly louder voice she called out, "RJ?"

"Yeah?"

"I found Smoky!"

"Awesome!" RJ called back as he quickly made his way down the stairs and over to Fran. "And bonus, I found Gouda sleeping on my bed. Now where's Smoky?"

Fran pointed to where the cat was napping and RJ snorted as he shook his head. He went back over to the stairs and walked along the length of the upper floor until he reached the spot where both the speaker and kitten were level with him. He gently scratched Smoky behind the ears, causing her to pop up wide awake and alert.

To Fran's amazement, the cat didn't startle and fall; merely she yawned and butted her head against RJ's hand. She did chirp however when RJ scooped her up, tucking her little form into a ball. RJ then walked over to his bed and carefully placed the cat next to Gouda whom was still snoozing away. Smoky kneaded at the zebra stripe patterned blanket before settling down next to her sister and falling back asleep.

"There we go," RJ commented quietly as he returned to Fran's side. "Harmony has been restored in the loft."

"Yes it has," Fran giggled in agreement. "Shall I finish making the pizza?"

A loud crack of thunder interrupted RJ's response causing both friends to jump slightly. They winced when they saw the lights begin to flicker.

RJ wrapped a comforting arm around Fran as he guided her back toward the kitchen. "A great idea, but one that needs to be done with haste." As Fran returned to her work on the pizza, slicing tomatoes and placing them above the shredded mozzarella, RJ all but sprinted toward the oven and setting it to pre-heat.

Thirty minutes later, Fran was watching RJ with slightly more wariness than she tended to look at him with as he picked up the slice of pizza she had handed to him. Her confidence in dessert was one thing; her confidence in her pizza making skills, something that his whole career revolved around was less so.

Clearly RJ picked up on her stress for just before he bit into the slice he held, he winked at her and sang, "This is gonna taste awesome, Fran."

"Says you."

"That's kinda the whole point," RJ chuckled before finally taking a bite. He chewed while Fran held her breath, waiting for his verdict. When he swallowed, RJ got a very mischievous gleam in his eye, stood and grabbed the remainder of the pizza, plopping it on his side of the table. "So clearly this is my portion," he said while drawing an invisible circle around the pizza then nodded toward her plate. "Those two slices are yours."

Though she was blushing heavily at what his words meant, Fran still giggled. "Gee thanks!"

"Well, I suppose in the name of friendship I can let you have just one more."

"You're too kind."

RJ ate the remainder of his first slice before asking, "So what do I have to bribe you with to steal you from the library?"

Fran nearly cackled at that. "Nothing!" She stuck her tongue out at him. "No matter what you offer, I'm not leaving my job. I love it too much."

RJ pouted, "So what I'm hearing is: you don't love me?"

Much to her own surprise, Fran merely snorted. "You're one of my favorite people in the world, RJ, but emotional manipulation like that, playful or otherwise is not going to sway my decision."

He held up his hands in surrender. "You're right. I shouldn't have tried playing on our friendship."

"No you should not have," Fran ate part of her pizza before continuing. "As such, you'll have the 'high honor' of doing the dishes."

"I was going to do them anyway."

Fran smirked and shook her head at her friend's antics, reaching over to steal a slice from him. She gently bopped him on the nose when he tried to protest and laughed when he became too stunned to say anything.

"Oi! Save some whipped cream for me!" RJ snatched the can from Fran whom was happily spraying a large amount of the dessert topping onto her neapolitan and caramel ripple ice cream. He gently hip checked her out of the way and began adding a generous amount of whipped cream to his own concoction of mint chocolate chip and peanut butter fudge.

"I did buy two cans," Fran said, reaching for the jar of warmed hot fudge. "No need to be so violent."

"I would never be violent with you," RJ swore. After a few seconds pause, he added on, "Unless you count tickle attacks." He glanced at her from the side. "Are you ticklish?"

"That is information I will be taking with me to the grave."

RJ snorted at Fran's answer and took the proffered jar of hot fudge, slathering it onto his dessert. After a healthy addition of sprinkles, he and Fran took their bowls to the pair of futons.

RJ paused before digging into his ice cream and frowned. "We should've broken the cookies over this."

"Or used them as spoon replacements."

"That's risky but delicious," RJ declared. "Let's do it."

"You can," Fran replied before spooning some ice cream into her mouth, hot fudge getting onto the corner of her mouth and chin. "But I'm way too comfortable to move."

"I'm on it."

Within seconds the cookies were fetched and the tin was placed between the two futons. Laughter and snorts filled the air as they forwent use of their spoons for chocolate chip cookies, precariously balancing ice cream dripping with whipped cream, fudge sauce and sprinkles while gleefully warning one another that they were going to spill ice cream on their bed.

"You know Fran, you're looking awfully saucy," RJ teased her as he gestured toward the hot fudge she had on her chin and cheek in smears.

"Oh am I?" Without warning, Fran let out a war cry as she launched herself at RJ and smeared hot fudge on his nose.

"Hey!" With a laugh, he lobbed whipped cream at her in retaliation, the topping landing in her hair. "No food fights in the loft!" RJ wheezed as he wiped the hot fudge off of his nose.

"Okay," Fran agreed as she carefully cleaned her hair of whipped cream.

When the sundaes were done, the pair in engaged in a heated round of "thumb wars" while talking about their childhoods. "I went to boarding school," RJ admitted, nodding confirmation when Fran looked at him in surprise. "It's this old, kinda prestigious place that was tradition for my family to go to. From my great-grandfather to me."

"Did no girls in your family go?" Fran asked him while concentrating on pinning his thumb. "Was it an all-boys school?"

"My dad is an only child and as you know so am I, but I think my great-aunt went with my grandpa. I would ask my dad for clarification but he and I haven't exactly seen eye to eye in years."

"Let me guess," Fran began in a dry tone. She scowled when RJ pinned her thumb but beamed in victory when he wasn't able to keep her down before three seconds had passed. "You haven't lived up to his expectations."

"Exactamundo."

"So what was this school like besides being old and prestigious?"

RJ sighed, his eyes taking on an unfocused look as if he were able to stare into the past. He had stopped playing the game, unconsciously taking hold of Fran's hand. She let him, squeezing it in support. "Traditional," he finally said. "Lessons were passed down to us from hundreds of years of experience. Different things that were meant to help shape and guide us as we grew into our own selves."

Fran stared at him in awe. "Hundreds of years of experience?"

"Yep."

She tilted her head, studying him. "I take it your dad was very fond of these traditions, huh?"

RJ chuckled quietly, squeezing her hand, glad that she let him hold it. "There was this path, both in academia and in life that he had taken, that my grandfather and great-grandfather had taken before him. He had expected that I would take the path too but…"

"But you didn't?" Fran asked him lightly.

"No," RJ said quietly. "I didn't."

"Where was your mom in all of this if you don't mind me asking?"

"Ah," RJ raked a hand through his hair as he gathered his thoughts. "My parents divorced when I was about six. Took me about ten years to finally completely understand my mom's perspective." When Fran winced sympathetically at his words, he added. "It's all good though, I talk with my mom from time to time. Even get to see her at least once a year."

Fran hummed as she thought for a minute. "Well I happen to think that it's a good thing that you didn't end up following your family's footsteps." At RJ's arched brow she elaborated. "You just said that your dad was fond of the school's traditions and prestige, the path that had been carved out for your family generations before his. If you took that same path, RJ, you wouldn't be you. I think you're your best self because you didn't take that path."

A breathy laugh escaped RJ as he tugged Fran into a hug, laughing harder as she squeaked when he rocked back from taking on her weight until they were both laying on his futon. They laid there for a long moment, RJ feeling once again at peace despite having talked about his tumultuous relationship with his father.

He felt slightly surprised when he realized that he wasn't embarrassed to be so close to Fran, that it actually felt really nice to have her in his arms. Almost as if…

Almost as if she fit there.

Alright, that train of thought sent the blood rushing to his face as his heart began to beat a bit faster.

Fran broke the silence when she announced in a slightly muffled voice, "RJ, my glasses are being squished into my face."

"Whoops!" RJ winced as he sat them up. "Sorry."

Fran straightened her glasses and smiled at him reassuringly. "It's fine."

She scooted back onto her futon and picked up her empty bowl, heading toward the kitchen to place it into the sink. "Surely you have some happy memories from your time at the school."

"I do," RJ agreed as he took his own bowl to the sink. "I met one of my best friends there. His name is Dominic. He's a reader like you, but unlike you, very much a prankster. He's the one who helped me discover the courage inside myself to accept that my path in life wasn't lining up with the one that my family had taken before me."

"Sounds like a cool guy," Fran said. "Though I take it that you were the one who kept him from crossing the line or at least, from going too far over the line. And if you couldn't help him with that then at least you were there by his side."

RJ beamed. "You know me so well."

"I try."

After the pair had taken turns using RJ's bathroom to change and ready themselves for bed, they were back on their respective futons. "So why haven't I met Dominic yet?" Fran asked as she snuggled under her sleeping bag.

"Ah, he's been traveling around the world for the last five, six years or so."

"Oh wow," Fran said, impressed. "Doing what?"

"Finding himself," RJ replied. "Apparently his life path wasn't all that clear cut for him when he was a student."

"I hope he finds himself," Fran said sincerely as she hugged her wolf plushie, tucking the toy under her chin. "The world traveling bit reminds me of my childhood though."

"Yes! It's time for baby Fran stories!"

"They weren't that grand," Fran snorted. "I traveled with my mom from when I was about five until I was fourteen. She's a photojournalist and we traveled to many countries, staying for no longer than two months as she worked on various assignments."

"That sounds exciting. Where did you go?"

"Oh all over the place; Osaka, Japan, Athens, Greece, Oaxaca, Mexico, Nice, France…Niagara Falls…the Amazon, the Serengeti…"

"In Africa?"

"No, on the International space station," she deadpanned and he had to fight back a snicker.

"My mom would photograph the people, the animals, food and nature, different displays of life and culture. How it was celebrated…how it was mourned." Fran fell silent for a minute, out of respect for the more somber parts that she had experienced during her childhood.

"When I was about ten, my mom passed down her first camera to me. It was an antique to say the least and it wasn't always reliable when I wanted to take a picture," she admitted with a laugh. "But it's one of my most beloved treasures."

"Where was your favorite place to travel to?"

"Reykjavik, Iceland," Fran answered, naming a place that wasn't on her earlier list. "One of the coolest things there was that they baked their bread in the ground. Not to mention all of the museums and festivals they would hold!

But oh, one of my favorite sights there was during winter at night. On clear nights not only was the sky littered with stars but we could see the aurora borealis! The light, the colors!" Fran squeezed her plushie to her as she sighed in fond remembrance. "The way the light was formed, its shape, seemed to undulate across the night sky like it was a living being."

RJ felt warmth begin to stir in his heart as he listened to Fran; the clear love in her words as she wove the tales of her childhood, saw the way her large amber eyes lit up in excitement as a bright smile overtook her lips.

He always knew that she was cute, pretty even, but there was something about the way she told her story, the way she had been a supportive, steady presence when she listened to him talk about his own childhood.

The way she had fit into his arms and how he wished that she could have stayed there.

Instead she was on her own futon, hugging a wolf plush of all things. Not that she knew what the significance of that was to him but still!

Her long brown hair was loose; the curls gently framing her face with a few tendrils falling close to her eyes and he had to clench his hand into a fist so he wouldn't reach out and tuck those pieces back. The urge to sit forward and kiss her hit him out of nowhere.

He buried his face into his pillow and let out a muffled groan. Seriously, what was he? A lead character in some young adult novel?

Fran startled at the sight of RJ slamming his face into his pillow and groaning. "Um…I'm not boring you, am I?"

RJ popped up, eyes wide at the thought of inadvertently insulting Fran. "N-no! No, of course not! I just—"

He stopped when he took in the smile on Fran's face, the impish look in her eyes.

"You're teasing," he stated flatly.

"Pretty much." She tilted her head, gentling her expression. "Are you tired?"

He thought for a minute. "A little," he admitted, tonight's emotional rollercoaster more draining than any sort of physical activity he had done during the day. He picked up his cell phone from where it lay on the floor, the digital clock reading a quarter past eleven. "It is getting late."

"Then we should sleep."

RJ wasn't sure if he would actually get any rest that night, fully convinced that he would be up all night, consumed by thoughts of this new and sudden crush on Fran.

But…was it all that new and sudden?

No no no no…now was not the time for introspection and thoughts of the transition from friendship to romance. Wonderful distraction though it would be from the memories of his father which were admittedly still stinging despite being on the mental backburner, RJ simply wasn't in the mood to deal with deep thinking.

Now? Now was the time for sleep.

RJ smiled gently at Fran. "Thanks for coming over to wait out this storm with me. I'm sorry that we're not staying up all night."

Doing her best to return his smile despite the yawn that warped that effort, Fran replied, "Nah, if I'm going to be honest, I probably would have tapped out sooner rather than later. Thank you for having me over."

He chuckled at that. "You're welcome. Goodnight, Fran."

"Night, RJ."

He clapped his hands, plunging his loft into darkness. At Fran's giggles, he rolled his eyes, smiling despite himself. "Goodnight, Fran," he reiterated.

Through her giggles she answered him in as innocent a tone as she could muster. "Goodnight, RJ."

As he started to drift off to sleep, RJ became aware of a presence, small and light, jumping onto his bed. He heard the soft, steady sound of a cat's purr and through eyes half-closed saw Smoky. She lightly butted her head against his before moving to curl up against his arm. Glancing across the way at Fran's futon he saw Gouda settling in against the small of Fran's back.

Sighing contentedly, RJ closed his eyes, slipping into sleep. It had been a really great night, even with the awakening of the memories of his father. He had a new pet, something he had never had before and had gotten to know his new best friend even better than ever.

His new best friend who maybe just maybe might not stay just a friend for very long.

But that was a concept he could grapple with another time.

Right now was the time for rest.

The events of the storm will be concluded in the next chapter. All we know is that a certain Pai Zhua master seems to have caught feelings! We'll find out what Fran's feeling next chapter. Hope you enjoyed! Reviews inspire me to keep going so please read and review!