Past

Disclaimer: See previous two chapters.

Val and Andros sat on one couch. Ashley, Atarah, and Darnell sat on the other. Ashley held Alexander. Kiya sat on the floor, looking up at her younger cousin. (Val) Andros had called the rest of the family inside.

"Kids, this is your uncle Valiant. He has come back to ..."

"Get to know you, and visit, possibly move in if you'll let me. If not, I'll go back to Carlo-9."

"Is that where you've been all these years?"

"Yes. I was taken in by the Jo family. I told them that I had run away from a battle on our home planetI've been watching you all through our high-powered telescope. After I discovered that you were alive, I told them that apparently you had survived and that Mom had obviously given birth before being killed. You had taken the baby and adopted her as your own after you stopped being a Ranger and settled on Earth."

"You're wrong. There was a battle that destroyed our planet, but it was after you had run away."

"Mom and Dad are...?"

"Still alive and living beside Karone and Zhane. Karone was once a villain, but she's good now. Zhane was another team mate of ours. You see, Earth also has Rangers. Ashley was one. Her mentor, Zordon, was kidnapped by Dark Spectre, so she and her team of Turbo Rangers went into space. They came aboard the Mega Ship. D.E.C.A. talked me into letting them become Astro Rangers and letting them join my team."

"And you moved to Earth and got married?"

"After I destroyed Zordon's tube at his urging. He said it was my duty as a Ranger to rid the universe of all evil. His concentrated goodness did that."

"So you got married."

"Yes. We had Atarrah here, then Darnell, then Andrew, then adopted Kiya, and then we had the twins Alexander and Alexandria here." Andros held Alexandria.

"We call her Alexia, though."

"How about Zhane and Karone?"

"They had Leland, Leonard, Kathy, Kelly, Zhane, jr., Lloyd, Kerensa, and Kira"

"They'll be so surprised to see you." Ashley said. Andros had indicated the person as he introduced them.

"I suppose they will, especially if they think I'm dead."

"Well, we thought that Mom and Dad were dead, until they showed up, looking for Kiya. They thought we were dead."

"How did they..."

"They, and several other survivors, took the Mediship" (the back up in case the Mega ship was ever damaged and had to be left on another planet to be fixed.) "They weren't thinking that they would find their children."

"They found three, at least." Ashley said.

"I didn't know. I thought they would only love me if I acted like Andros, but I couldn't."

"They love you no matter what. That's what parents do. They still love you." Ashley tried to explain to her brother-in-law.

"I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they see you." Andros said.

"Could you two go ahead of me and try to gauge their re-action?"

"Sure."

The Vulcans got up, Ashley fixed two diaper bags, they went out to the car, and drove to their grandparents/parents/in-laws house. Kiya had to ride in Val's lap.

She had wriggled a lot in anticipation of her grandparents', aunt, uncle, and cousins' reaction. When they got there, Kiya was the first one to unbuckle. She and Val jumped out of the van as soon as Andros cut the motor. Kiya ran to the door and knocked. Her grandfather opened it.

"I got your message, Andros."

Their grandmother walked up. So did Zhane, carrying Lloyd and Kerensa, and Karone, carrying Zhane, jr. and Kira.

Their jaws dropped as they saw Val.

"Hey Mom and Dad. Hey Zhane. Hey Karone."

"Valiant Hunter Vulcan?" Alexander asked.

"My baby boy?" Korrine asked.

"Brother?" Karone asked.

"Hey, man, long time no see." Zhane said.

"Come in, come in."

They went in.

"Kathy, Leland, Leonard, Kelly!" Zhane called. The kids ran into the living room.

"This," he indicated Val, "is your Uncle Valiant. But you can call him Uncle Val."

"How come we never met him before?" Kathy asked.

"Oh. That is quite a story." Zhane said. The family sat down around the living room.

"You see, I'm younger than both Andros and Karone. I was always expected to live up to your uncle Andros, but I hated it. So, when I was nine, I hoped on a shuttle off of KO-35. I ended up on Carlo-9, where I was taken in by the Jo family. I told them that my name was Hunter Valiant, and that I was running away from a battle that destroyed our home planet of KO-35. We have a high-powered telescope. I was using it, just checking stuff out through it, when I discovered my older brother on Earth with a little girl I thought was our little sister. I thought that Mom had given birth, and for some reason, my brother had taken our little sister in and raised her as his own after he stopped being a Ranger."

"Why did you come back after all these years?" Karone asked.

"I realized that I can't run away from my problems. I knew I couldn't go back home because I said it had been destroyed."

"Well, all we can do is put the past behind us and ask you to live with us." Alexander said.

"I'd love too."

"We have to go see these Jo's on Carlo-9 and thank them for taking good care of our baby boy." Korrine said.

"I'll tell Jay, the man who took me to LD-07, and tell him that I won't be going back to Carlo-9 with him."

"How do you know Jay?"

"Mr. Jo- John- told me that I needed to get a summer job. I told him that I had been hired by a newspaper to be a reporter, and that I needed to go to LD-07 to do a report on the plants there. Jackson-their biological son- read my mind and told them I was lying. They're all telepaths."

"You lied so that you could come and visit?" his mother asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Valiant, I'm shocked that you would lie like that."

"I felt bad about it, too, but I couldn't see any other way."

"There's always another way."

"Now, Korrine, I don't condone what he did, but our children haven't always been honest with us." Alexander said.

"True. Children do lie."

"Well, maybe Jay can come to Earth and take us back to Carlo- 9, so you all can meet the family."

"I'd love to meet the family that loved and cared for our baby boy while he wasn't with us." Korrine said.

"I'm sure they'll be glad to meet you, as well. See what kind of people I came from."

"The people who raised you to know better than to lie about something like family." Korrine said.

"Oh, Korrine, he's just sixteen. We've all done dumb things before." Alexander said.

"True. Val, I want you to contact Jay immediately and tell him that you'll be moving in with us."