Calculated Risk

Disclaimer: Oooh, I didn't even write this bit when writing this chapter. This is during the upload phase. Any case, Power Rangers franchise isn't mine!

Chapter 11: Sigh of the Manager

A/N: And so we start really shifting away from canon, particularly with Fran's role in the series!

Fran laid on her back in a lush rainforest, damp grass cooling her form. She breathed in the cold, pure air, feeling the air she breathed out return to the essence of the wilderness surrounding her. She was distantly aware of the presence of a source of water nearby though she could not discern if it was a river or a waterfall for the sounds of wildlife echoed all around her, drowning out nearly all other sound.

The sounds however, it wasn't mere noise. They were cries. Cries for help, pleas and commands that she should rise up and help them. She felt this in her heart and in her soul. The spirits of the animal realm needed her.

Yet she couldn't move.

Fran was only aware of all that surrounded her. But something was keeping her from rising, from joining the battle. A gentle refrain that kept her in place. A lullaby of sorts that spun through her mind and body though it wasn't of words or even music, just a feeling.

It wasn't her time, not now, not yet. But soon.

Soon.

Fran's eyes snapped open as she sat up in her bed with a gasp. Well that had been one hell of a bizarre dream! It felt all too real, like she had actually been lying in the grass, her skin damp and her body weighted down by the mere notion that it wasn't yet time for her to rise.

It took several moments of deep breaths and concentration for the wailing of the animals to recede to recesses of her mind. She shivered; unsettled by the genuine emotion she had felt from the spirits, desperate to not let it overwhelm her. Her fingers were knotted in her blanket, white-knuckled with tension.

She closed her eyes and took another deep breath before she finally began to feel centered, grateful that RJ had insisted that an hour's worth of meditation and breathing techniques be part of their training. Maybe he would have insight to her dream as well. With this thought in mind, Fran reached for her cell phone and was about to call her boyfriend when her amber eyes onto snagged her digital clock which cheerfully informed her that she was running late.

Squeaking in alarm, Fran sprang from her bed and quickly darted about her apartment, getting ready for her day, spurred on by the thought that not only was she never late and as a manager she felt that she had an example to lead by, but by the fact that she was running behind on the day that she was to run her first birthday party.

RJ would be there. She knew this and was comforted by that; feeling somewhat selfishly grateful that her mate didn't have quite the active role in the war beyond being a mentor just yet.

He could join the battlefield once she no longer needed him to hold her hand when facing a crowd of customers—sugar high unruly children in this case.

As Fran raced out her door, echoes of animal sounds becoming a mere memory, she never noticed that the crystal yin yang pendant her mother had given her was glittering brighter than ever.

It was all but glowing.

RJ stood in the center of his loft, all furniture pushed away to give him and his students the maximum amount of space for training. He bounced lightly on his bare feet, feeling the thick training mat beneath them. His eyes were hidden by a swatch of fabric as he prepared to spar with his students using the Swoop technique—a practice that he was still surprised that Fran had managed to nail its basic procedures within seconds; in theory in any case.

He cast out his senses and was able to find Lily and Casey circling him methodically, both confident and full of anticipation. "Listen up young dude and dudette; this session will be a test to see how well you work with your animal spirits."

"He's all ours, Lily," Casey called out, his voice assured.

Lily on the other hand, was concerned about how their potential victory might harm their mentor's ego. "But RJ, I don't want to damage your metaphysical Zen!"

RJ grinned, figuring that she was referring to the fact that he was blindfolded while she and Casey were not. "Not to worry, kiddo. I'm going to be relying on the Swoop technique.

"Eyesight's a bonus, not a necessity," he intoned.

"Now," he drew his hands behind his back, shifting his entire stance to his dominant leg and adding to the air of a challenge. "Hit me with your best shot."

Well, if one thing could be said about the entire exercise, it was that his students had certainly tried.

They were fast and they were relentless, but they were also overconfident and sloppy. RJ was hard pressed not to feel lazy as he blocked and pushed his students back. The fact that they let out loud, assertive cries that gave away their positions with every single movement definitely didn't help them. He wondered if they even knew of the foundation of the Swoop technique, was that a lesson ever given to them back at the Academy?

Best not to let them know that Fran had figured everything out in a matter of seconds and all he had to say was 'bat spirit', RJ mused with an inward snicker.

Ah, apparently Casey had caught on to some of the method after all for RJ noted that Lily's cry of pain—oops—had quickly been silenced. At least they understood that being quiet did add to the element of surprise. But that wasn't all that the Swoop technique could do. The only downfall to this whole thing was that RJ hadn't realized that he had all but thrown his student into his speaker tower until he heard the large piece of equipment groan slightly as it was knocked off balance. Moving quickly, RJ caught the tower and righted it before resuming the fight.

It was over in less than a minute with Casey being tossed into RJ's chair and RJ taking advantage of Lily's expression of sympathy with only a hint of guilt as he knocked her off her feet as well. Perhaps that had been a bit mean of him but there was still a lesson to be imparted on his cubs.

"You were distracted and defeated," he informed them as he swept off his blindfold, taking note of Lily nodding in agreement out of the corner of his eyes. "Remember guys, the enemy is going to be relentless with no shows of mercy. You need to focus on being true partners for your animal spirits, not just a host while also needing to be fluid and graceful just like—"

He slammed into the training mat face first as he tripped while completely absorbed in his lecture. Determined to save face, he quickly popped up and finished his sentence as cheerfully as possible. "Me!" Ignoring the looks of glee on their faces, RJ instructed the pair to meditate on what they had learned during the spar while he happily collapsed into his chair.

A brand new episode of Judge Jaime was coming on just in time.

"You know hanging this sign would be a lot easier if we had someone to guide us," Theo remarked as he balanced on a ladder, trying to ensure that his half of the birthday banner that he and Fran held were in equal in height.

"True, but RJ's training the others right now," Fran replied. "I don't know how long that will take."

She squinted as she took in the banner corner she held and compared it to the one Theo had. "A little higher on your side, I think."

"How much higher?"

"About two inches."

Theo moved his half of the banner and pinned it in place. Once he saw that Fran had done the same thing, he hopped off of his ladder before glancing up and rolling his eyes. "Fran, it's actually too low on your side now."

"By how much?"

"Two inches," he replied with a smirk.

Shaking her head, Fran moved her side of the banner and waited for confirmation that both sides were now even. Seeing Theo's thumbs up, she pinned the banner and stepped down off of the ladder. "Well, the hard part's done," she said with a satisfied smile. She offered Theo a high five, who clapped his hand against hers. "Next up, tying balloons to a few of these chairs."

"Thank goodness Daniel's mom already dropped off filled balloons," Theo said as he went over to where the balloons floated by the stairs. "I don't know how to knot them."

"I do, but they're a big pain."

Splitting the balloons into small bunches to be tied around several chairs, the pair went to work, moving in silence, careful to not let the balloons hit the fluorescent lights where the nylon could heat up and pop the oval shape. Nearly ten minutes passed before Theo tied down his last bunch of balloons. Glancing up, he was surprised to see that Fran had stopped working after tying down two balloon arrangements. What was more concerning was the completely faraway look in her eyes mingled with a hint of fear that told the young Ranger what was going on in his manager's head was more than mere daydreaming.

"Fran?" He asked as he made his way over to her. He gently waved a hand in front of her face. She didn't blink and she certainly didn't register his presence.

His concern grew. He called her name, louder this time as he shook her shoulder, wondering if he should grab RJ when the physical contact proved to be enough to snap Fran from her trance.

"What?" Fran blinked and looked at both the balloons in her hand and the confused employee standing before her. She shook her head and forced the echoes of animal cries from her mind. "Oh…sorry, Theo…I guess I zoned out."

"That's one way of putting it," Theo agreed. "Are you okay? What happened? Do you need me to get RJ? Should you sit down?"

"One question at a time," she laughed as she tied the balloons down. "I had a really bizarre dream last night and I guess my subconscious wasn't quite done dwelling on it which is why I kinda checked out there. I should probably talk to someone about it if it keeps happening but for now I'm going to finish with these balloons." She took in his finished half. "It's not fair to you if I don't."

"They're just balloons, Fran," Theo pointed out with a shrug. "I'd be fine. Are you sure you don't want to sit down? Can I get you some water?"

"I guess a water bottle won't hurt." She smiled her thanks and continued to work on the balloon arrangements.

Theo kept a wary eye on Fran as he slipped toward the kitchen. She seemed fine for the moment, completely absorbed in her work with the balloons as her mind remained in the present. As he entered the kitchen and headed for the personal fridge where water bottles were kept, he vowed to at least tell RJ that Fran had an unusual dream that might have affected her on more than a waking level.

Theo may not have been one of the most socially or emotionally apt people but even he knew one thing; whatever Fran was going through…

She didn't have to suffer alone.

RJ sighed silently as he did his best to tune out Casey's attempts to get his attention. The kid was supposed to be meditating alongside Lily, not interrupting his TV time. If he had to take a wild guess, he figured that Casey was looking for a little one on one tutoring to help him fine tune his technique. The Tiger Ranger himself had mentioned during his first night there that he hadn't been a student of the Order for as long as Lily and Theo had been. Later on, Theo had brought up privately that Casey didn't awaken his Tiger spirit until the day Dai Shi had been broken out of his prison.

Well, late bloomers within the Order of the Claw weren't exactly uncommon; however they were more or less at war, Casey at the helm of it all as the Red Ranger. RJ supposed that Casey's lack of formal training as well as his insecurities as the leader needed to be addressed. He sat up straighter in his chair as he made his decision. Fine, he would help Casey. But he would do so his way which would probably be in the least traditional sense as possible.

Glancing at his student, he gestured for the kid to move behind him. "Rub my shoulders."

Casey stared at him in complete bewilderment. "Come again?"

"You heard me," RJ answered. "Rub my shoulders. The action will…aid you in finding purchase should you need to leap over an enemy to get to your teammates or take down a bigger enemy."

'Not to mention it should help get rid of all the knots you put there just by pestering me when I said I was going to be taking a break.'

"Shouldn't your girlfriend be doing this?" Casey asked sardonically as he clapped his hands on RJ's shoulders, mentally disregarding his 'lesson'. "She's right downstairs; want me to go get her?"

"Fran's busy," Came the response. "She and Theo are still setting up for the birthday party scheduled for this afternoon. Besides, this is training, not pleasure." Admittedly, the shoulder rub did feel good, not that he would be telling his student that any time soon.

"I didn't need to hear that."

"Get your hormonal mind out of the gutter and you won't have that problem."

"Yeah, yeah."

RJ was about to fire off a reprimand when Theo poked his head in from the stairway. His gaze landed on the master and student pair and he shook his head. "Not even going to ask." He then turned to Lily. "Wanna help me out with this delivery? We've got just enough time to go there and back before the birthday party starts."

"Sure thing!" Lily beamed as she unfolded herself from her meditative pose, grateful to be stretching her legs.

"Uh…not so fast you two," RJ called from where his eyes were glued to the television bank. "Camille's apparently going for the museum heist trope. You're gonna have to take care of that first."

"On it!" The two ran down the stairs with Casey hot on their trail. RJ in the meantime snapped up his laptop, connecting it to the video feed in the hopes to keep an eye on his students while relieving Fran of her work so she could make the delivery in Theo and Lily's stead.

Fran stared in alarm as she watched Lily and Theo support an injured Casey between them while the trio made their way back toward the restaurant. Slamming the car door shut, she raced ahead to open the door to the employee entrance to make things easier on them.

"Thanks, Fran," Lily said as she and Theo slipped past her, carefully maneuvering their little line inside.

"What happened?!"

It was Casey who managed to answer her. "My fault," he grunted, gritting his teeth as a wave of pain rose through his head. "I thought I could handle Camille and went after her alone. She quickly showed me why that was a bad idea."

Before Fran could give some sort of a response, RJ materialized in front of them. "Happens to the best of us," he announced, throwing Theo a cursory glare before the young man could make some sort of statement that would embarrass Casey. "You two," he addressed Lily and Theo. "Take Casey upstairs and let him rest on the hammock. I take it you both know the signs of a concussion?"

"We do," Lily assured him as she and Theo ushered Casey up the stairs.

Fran turned to RJ, her mouth working, but she had no idea what to say, never having expected to see one of them so banged up. She abruptly swallowed against the rising horror of wondering if either her cousin or his team had ever suffered like that.

"Guess I better brush up on my first aid," She finally managed in a somewhat breathless tone, still shocked by what she had just seen.

RJ frowned at her in concern. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just…surprised I guess." A shame filled look crossed her face as she continued. "As a civilian…as someone who grew up admiring the Power Rangers, I always saw them as a type of superhero…I never really processed that they could get hurt, badly even."

RJ merely squeezed her shoulder in sympathy, not daring to inform her that there have been Rangers who died in battle. She didn't need to shoulder that burden.

He could only pray that she never would.

Drawing Fran into the kitchen, RJ said, "Okay, so the kiddos should be here in about twenty minutes, there's another delivery waiting but I'm going to send Lily and Theo on that in a hands-on approach for them to get to know the city a bit better. Thankfully there's only one delivery so they should be back to help you before things have a chance to get insane. I'm going to be with Casey, making sure his injuries aren't too bad and if they're not, have him do a little one-on-one training."

He sighed and continued, "Guess he really needed that extra training he asked for. And here I thought it was just a psychological thing."

"It kinda is," Fran pointed out as she moved to grab an apron. "Casey got it into his head that he could take on Dai Shi's right hand woman. Something tells me that came from the fact that he's the red Ranger and the leader."

"Hmm," RJ mulled his thoughts over. "I think there's going to be one way of making Case feel better about this and it's going to require for me to draw on a lot of my courage of the Wolf."

"Which is?"

RJ looked at his mate with a super serious expression on his face, his voice grave as he replied, "Sharing embarrassing anecdotes from my time at the Academy."

Fran bit down hard on a smile though RJ could clearly see the laughter in her eyes. "Yeah, I'd say that's one way to help him."

RJ pressed a kiss to her hand before heading toward the door. "I promise I'll be down periodically to help out with the party."

She waved away his worry. "I'll have Lily and Theo with me, I'll be fine. Go help Casey."

"What if I want your company though?"

She rolled her eyes at the pout in his voice. "Then I guess I'll just have to deal," she sighed in mock annoyance."

He grinned. "See you soon, princess."

"Until then, rogue."

"Well at least we only made one wrong turn," Lily cheerfully said as she and Theo walked away from their delivery destination. "And Mrs. Garcia was so nice about it."

"Something tells me that was thanks to you," Theo remarked as he looked at the covered plate that Lily held, knowing that freshly baked churros were underneath. "I don't think either Casey or myself would have gotten that type of treatment."

"You might be surprised," Lily returned, a wistful expression coming across her face. "Besides, I think the reason why Mrs. Garcia was so lively was because she doesn't seem to have anyone living with her. I think she's lonely."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, I do."

As the pair entered the jeep, Lily held out the plate to Theo. "Want one?"

"Maybe later, we should be getting back to JKP and help Fran out with that party."

"Frannie will be fine if we're a few minutes late," Lily countered. "Any and all kids I've seen her interact with at the restaurant seem to love her. Besides, you and I haven't had much time just the two of us lately and that's including time at the Academy."

Theo hesitated. Lily was right, the two of them hadn't had much time together and she was his best friend. On the other hand, they had a job to do and Theo knew that it wasn't right to leave Fran hanging to handle a dozen six year olds all on her own, especially because she was their manager. A delay wouldn't look good in her eyes. However the look in Lily's eyes had his resolve crumbling fast.

"Please, Theo?"

The wheedling tone in her voice wasn't helping matters either. At all.

He let out a huge sigh. "Fine, but only for ten minutes, Lils."

"Ten minutes," she agreed and her sunny smile had Theo thinking that maybe the delay was worth it after all.

"Where the hell are those two?!" Fran thought furiously to herself as she tried her best not to end up as a Maypole for a group of laughing and shrieking children who ran about the restaurant, the few parents in attendance as chaperones not doing too much to settle them down.

She held tightly onto a plate of hot mozzarella sticks as she delicately made her way around the vibrant party goers, trying her best not to trip before finally placing the plate on a nearby table. She found herself holding back laughter as she was immediately surrounded by excited children who all dove after the mozzarella sticks before rushing off to play once more.

Seeing that the kids had accidentally spilled the marinara sauce that had come with the appetizer, Fran heaved a silent sigh as she wiped it up, wondering for the umpteenth time on the whereabouts of Lily and Theo. She was immediately brought out of her annoyed thoughts as a little girl no older than six accidentally slammed into her side. "Oof!"

"Oops!" The little girl squeaked, her eyes wide in surprise. "I'm sorry Miss!"

"That's okay," Fran reassured her as she knelt down to the girl's height. "But maybe you could slow down a little bit for me? This is a restaurant and there's not much room for everyone to run about. I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Okay," the girl agreed with a nod. "I can tell the others."

"Thank you," Fran beamed. Winking, she added, "I'll make sure you get the first slice of pizza after the birthday boy."

That caused the young party goer to light up. "Thank you!" She made to run off before pausing and looked back at Fran. "I'm Chelsea," she informed her. She then asked a question with the blithe ease that was somewhat typical of a six year old. "Can we be friends?"

"Sure!" Fran held out a hand. "I'm Francesca, but my friends usually call me Fran."

"Can I call you Francesca? It sounds so grown up!"

Fran laughed and gently ruffled Chelsea's blonde curls. "Sure."

"Thanks!" She then darted off to go inform her friends so slow down but Fran knew that deep down it wouldn't make much of a difference. She needed to find a way to keep them entertained so she could finally throw the pizzas in the oven.

Tapping her lip with one finger in thought, Fran glanced about the room wondering how she could settle a dozen first graders without interrupting her boyfriend's training session when it hit her. Daniel's mother had brought in a piñata. That would do wonderfully.

Grateful that it had already been rigged up by some of the parents, Fran put her fingers to her lips and let out a shrill whistle that immediately got the party's attention. "Hey guys! Who's up for some piñata fun?"

The kids rushed over to her, a couple of parents following them in a silent offer of assistance. Smiling gratefully, Fran handed over a blindfold and the small plastic baseball bat the birthday boy's mother had provided to hit the toy with. Seeing that everyone was happily distracted, Fran slipped into the kitchen and began placing several pies into the oven. As she did so, an idea for another game came to mind, one that was a twist on a party classic.

She just needed to remember where RJ kept his art supplies.

Speaking of the devil, RJ walked into the kitchen to check on Fran. "Hey babe, how's everything going?"

"Going well," she told him with a smile as she closed the oven door. "How's Casey doing?"

"He's sleeping so those stories are going to have to wait a bit." He grinned as Fran turned back to him and noted that she had a smudge of marinara sauce on her cheek. "You're looking a little saucy there, princess."

"Oh, I was cleaning up a spill and I guess I didn't wipe the excess off my hand."

She reached up to clean off her face when RJ surprised her by kissing her cheek and managing to get a bit of the sauce off before thumbing away the rest. He then closed the gap between them in a soft, sweet kiss. Fran happily returned the kiss before pulling away and did her best not to give into his pout at how brief it had been. "I do have a party to run," she reminded him with a gentle poke to his chest.

"How have Lily and Theo been with helping you?"

Fran nearly scowled at the question. "They still haven't come back from the delivery run you sent them on earlier."

RJ was shocked. "But that was nearly two hours ago! They couldn't have gotten lost for this long, could they?"

"Possibly?"

"Why didn't you come get me to help you?"

"I didn't want to interrupt your training with Casey and I was trying not to get trampled by the stampede of elementary schoolers that's out in the dining room."

"I suppose that's fair," RJ conceded. "Anything I can do to assist you?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you had any art supplies on hand? Specifically any big sheets of paper. I had an idea for a game to entertain the kids with because they're currently playing with a piñata and they're going to need something to get their energy out after the subsequent sugar and carb intake they'll most likely have."

"Yeah, I'll go get those for you." RJ then pulled out his cell phone. "And I'm going to find out where the hell Theo and Lily are."

Fran brushed her lips against his. "Thank you."

"Anytime," he grinned before going off on his search of art supplies while Fran turned back to start rotating pizzas.

RJ snapped his phone shut after snapping at his distracted students to return to the restaurant immediately, effectively cutting off their sheepish apologies about losing track of time. He wasn't the one they needed to apologize to necessarily. She was in the restaurant, running the whole show in a solo act. RJ calmed himself slightly as he recalled the pride he felt as Fran cheerfully informed him that she was going to create a "Pin the Topping on the Slice" game for the kids to play after they ate their pizza. Apparently the winner was going to get the first slice of cake after the birthday boy received his.

'She's so dang clever', RJ thought proudly as he made his way up the stairs to check on Casey. He was greeted by the sound of metal clacking against metal and saw that his still-emotionally sore student was taking out his frustrations with the earlier battle on the foosball table. "How's it going against yourself? Who's in the lead?"

"Not my self-confidence, that's for sure," Casey grumbled as he pulled the spinner a little too hard and sent the ball flying out of the table.

"Huh, didn't think that could happen," RJ commented as he went to fetch the small metal sphere.

Rolling the ball in his hands, RJ regarded Casey contemplatively. "Fran thinks you went after Camille because you believed it was your duty as the red Ranger to do so. Is that true?"

Casey shrugged one shoulder. "Partially, I guess," the younger man admitted. "The other fact of the matter is beyond retrieving that artifact she had stolen, I just wanted her to shut up."

"So this is psychological."

"Excuse me?"

"Camille get into your head, I take it?"

Letting out a heavy sigh that belied his emotional exhaustion, Casey replied noncommittally, "I guess."

"You know," RJ began, tossing the foosball between his two hands. "I had my own moments of arrogance back at the Academy."

"I wasn't being arro—"

RJ held up a hand, silencing Casey's retort. "You were overconfident, thinking that you could handle the soldier beneath Dai Shi himself on your own. You might be the leader of the Power Rangers but you're still part of the team."

"As I was saying," RJ went on. "I too suffered from bouts of overconfidence while I was a student. There was this one student named Gabriel who had the Swan spirit. He was three years older than me but I thought I was the better warrior just because I had the Wolf spirit."

RJ closed his eyes and grimaced as he recalled the spars he'd had with Gabriel years ago. "Needless to say I'd completely forgotten that swans are both graceful and vicious creatures. Never mind all the times Master Swoop would cheerfully throw me into the ground as I learned his technique."

Opening his eyes, the Wolf Master saw the beginnings of a smile on Casey's face. Even if it was at his expense, it was a start.

"I don't get it," Casey confessed, though the look on his face told RJ that he was talking more to himself than he was to his teacher. "I had no problem facing that asshole Jarrod when I wasn't even aware that I possessed the Tiger spirit; how am I supposed to take down Camille as a Power Ranger?"

"Well for starters, I had to break it to you kid, but Camille has thousands of years on you," RJ answered him absently before his mind snagged on a name Casey had mentioned seconds earlier. "Wait…did you just say, 'Jarrod'?"

Casey nodded warily. "Yeah…why, do you know him?"

"He was my roommate back at the Academy. I'm a bit surprised you're labelling him as an 'asshole'. Sure he kept to himself, but he wasn't too bad of a guy."

"You did graduate years ago," Casey pointed out. "People can change. But yeah, he treated me like crap on the day of the Guardian selection and wound up getting thrown out of the Academy altogether by Master Mao."

"Ooh, he must not have taken that well. He was exceptionally dedicated to his studies and life path."

"He didn't take it well," Casey confirmed. "He actually came back and unleashed his Lion spirit which was fueled by his wrath on Master Mao. I don't really remember how, it's pretty blurry, but in the chaos of it all, Dai Shi was freed and Jarrod ran off. Master Mao died not long after that."

RJ grimaced as he finally learned how Master Mao died. "Why do I have a feeling that Jarrod's a lot more involved in this than we realize?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Dai Shi was captured thousands of years ago. Dai Shi is an evil entity, yes, but he's also a spirit himself."

Casey stared at his mentor in shock. "You think that Dai Shi possessed Jarrod, don't you?"

RJ nodded; a grim look on his face. "I do."

Actually, this conversation with Casey made RJ realize that he had been right in thinking that a student would possibly be responsible in unleashing Dai Shi and that Master Mao had helped orchestrate the events leading up to it.

'I will only be present for the event that is the catalyst to this battle.'

Master Mao had predicted…no, he had known what was going to happen all along.

Groaning loudly as he ran a hand over his face, RJ allowed himself to feel completely annoyed with the late Master before looking at his student with determination blazing in his eyes. "C'mon, Case. It's time we upped your training. Let me introduce you to this weapon I've been working on."

'Well, I definitely didn't think RJ's unorthodox training was going to work!' Casey thought to himself with no small amount of smugness as he watched Camille land hard on her back having been tossed by the Tiger Ranger himself.

With the Chameleon out of the fight for the time being, Casey decided it was the ideal opportunity to up the fight and go after Buffalord with his new ride thanks to RJ. "Strike Rider!" He called out, reaching out into the ether with his Tiger spirit to call upon the black and orange motorcycle.

Leaping neatly onto the vehicle, Casey immediately felt a rush of adrenaline along with an echo of primal pride that flowed from his Tiger spirit. 'Aw yeah!' He charged forward, heading right toward the Rin Shi soldier.

"High speed!"

Pleased to have seen that Casey had taken his lessons to heart and that his student had regained his self-confidence as a result, remembering that he was a team player, RJ had a bounce in his step as he made his way down the stairs to check on Fran, whistling as he went.

He grinned as he watched the children wave goodbye to Fran, calling out in thanks as they exited with their parents, their little faces and hands smudged with frosting and cake crumbs, their eyes alight with joy and possibly the beginnings of a sugar high.

RJ wished those parents luck.

A blonde little girl wrapped her arms around Fran's waist in a quick hug before running off to her mother calling out, "Bye bye Francesca!"

He bit down a laugh at the use of his girlfriend's full first name. It would seem that she had made a friend.

Fran in the meantime, picked up the broom she had leaned against a booth to say goodbye to Chelsea and continued to sweep up the party mess consisting of streamers, confetti and crumbs. She hummed a tune under her breath as she moved about the floor, correcting any stumbles she made so it almost seemed like she was performing a waltz.

A startled squeak escaped her when the broom was suddenly taken from her hands and was replaced with one of RJ's hands as his other one went about her waist. "May I have this dance?" He asked her as he moved them about the room.

"I suppose so," Fran agreed with a laugh as RJ guided her into an easy box step.

He noted that she was slightly covered in glitter and colorful dust with a few thin strands of ribbon gracing her hair. "I see you're no longer saucy, but do you mind telling me what this new look is about?"

"What, you don't like 'party chic'?" Fran kidded.

"It certainly is a look."

"I got caught between a few of those party crackers," Fran explained as RJ paused their dance to gently brush some of the dust from her cheek and nose.

"It would seem that the kids had a good time then."

"They had a great time," Fran iterated, feigning arrogance, laughing when her boyfriend pretended to be shocked by her bold words and tone. She grinned when he silenced her laughter with a kiss, returning it eagerly.

"That's still weird, you know."

Leaping back at Casey's voice once again interrupting their kiss, Fran and RJ took note of the three Rangers standing awkwardly by the host stand. Fran narrowed her eyes at Theo and Lily. "And just where were you two?" She demanded; her voice sharp with reproof. "I know the route to Mrs. Garcia's by heart and it should have only been a ten minute roundtrip, fifteen if you want to include traffic, a half hour at most if you want to include a grace period for getting lost."

"Sorry, Fran," Lily apologized with a definite note of chagrin in her voice and facial expression. "Theo and I were just taking a little time to catch up and I guess we just…lost track of time," she finished lamely.

"That time wasn't yours to take," RJ reproached. "You two were still on the clock and you didn't even bother to call Fran to let her know that you were running late. Don't try to convince me otherwise, I know you didn't."

Lily stared down at her shoes while Theo held out a paper plate in an attempted peace offering. "Churro?"

RJ and Fran stared at him with matching deadpan expressions. Casey on the other hand, snorted and snatched the plate from his teammate, popping a churro in his mouth.

"I should take the money for the hours not worked from your paychecks," RJ said.

Fran placed a hand on his arm in a gesture meant to placate as she noted twin flinches from the wayward employees. "I'll settle for them cleaning up this mess."

"Good idea." RJ nodded toward the broom and mop bucket. "Get to work."

Lily wordlessly slipped past her bosses and made for the broom as Theo stepped up to Fran. "Can I talk to you about something?"

She looked confused. "Um, don't you want to aim that question at your mentor?"

Theo shook his head, keeping his eyes on her. "No, I mean you." He darted a furtive look at RJ before returning his gaze to Fran and lowered his voice. "Alone."

"Ooh-kay?"

She shrugged at RJ before gesturing for Theo to follow her into the kitchen. "What's up?"

Theo bit his lip, trying to figure out how to broach the subject he wanted to bring up. "Do you think you should tell RJ about your…moment earlier?"

Fran frowned at him and crossed her arms. "My moment?"

"When you zoned out. You were gone, Fran. Deep within your mind and I don't know if you were aware of this, but you looked scared to me. Seems like something your boyfriend might be able to help you out with. Or at the very least provide some emotional support."

Fran winced, having forgotten that Theo witnessed her getting caught up in the memories of her dream. "I see your point."

"You don't have to talk to RJ right away, but maybe soon."

She opened her mouth but was interrupted by the presence of Casey who bounced into the kitchen. "C'mon, Fran!" he called to her. "RJ says we're getting ice cream to celebrate today's victories!"

"He's really got a bad habit of interrupting me," Fran grumbled under her breath. Her words did not go unheard by Theo who bit his lip in a desperate attempt to smother his laughter.

Clearing his throat, Theo lightly patted Fran on the shoulder. "You'll find the time to talk to RJ soon," he assured her. "In the meantime, I better go help Lily with clean up."

"Yeah you better," Fran replied, not quite able to stop the snark from sneaking into her tone, still annoyed that they had abandoned her to handle the birthday party on her own.

With a smile that was more of an embarrassed grimace, Theo exited the kitchen in search of the mop bucket. Fran sighed at the weight of the conversation she would need to have with RJ in the near future. Hopefully he would be able to puzzle out her bizarre dream. Or at the very least, Togo could provide some insight through the Wolf Master. In the meantime there was an ice cream sundae out there with her name on it and she was determined to enjoy every delicious bite.

She left the kitchen and found RJ and Casey waiting for her by the door. She smiled at the boys, looping her arm through RJ's and headed out the door.

Fran never noticed the supernatural shine to her crystal pendant.

Sooooo…I more or less watched Sigh of the Tiger after I wrote certain scenes? The shoulder rub, for example. I genuinely thought that was part of training but I'm 99% sure that was just RJ taking Casey for a ride because he was somewhat sore after the spar.

Second example, my reasoning for Lily and Theo abandoning Fran was vastly different from the show's. Here I'm kinda fast tracking the Lily/Theo pairing while the episode showed the two taking one look at the party's chaos and straight up deciding not to get involved. Likely that Fran could handle it herself. *grabs megaphone* COWARDS! Your apology was half-assed and weak and you really shouldn't have looked so shocked when RJ had you two clean up the restaurant. Y'all had it coming. Shame.

I don't really like writing action scenes; I'm pretty bad at it. So apologies if you want more, I can try better in the future. ^^'

I know RJ and Casey don't really have that talk and RJ has that revelation on Jarrod but I wanted the two to bond and I thought it would happen a little more realistically if RJ actually talked to the kid instead of ignoring him while he struggled to fix the recliner…then had to deal with a smelly towel. XD Man, I forgot about the secondhand embarrassment that came with watching this show! XD XD

One last note to my best PR buddy Chibi…I think you're going to appreciate the opening of the next chapter…;)