"I had the best time ever, Dad," said Sky as his father tucked him into bed, after a fun day filled with going to the movie, and lunch with Hayley and Megan, and then going out on the boat, swimming in the lake and dinner on the beach. It was a day he would never forget.

"And there'll be plenty more tomorrow when we go to the park," said Wes happy that his son had a great time today. "You got your glove?"

"Yeah. Right here." Sky lifted up his pillow and revealed his glove.

"Right there?" Wes laughed. "I think it's right here," He began tickling him all over.

"Dad," laughed Sky as he squirmed around. "Stop!"

Wes laughed. "Okay." He smiled staring his son in the face and for a moment he saw a flash of Jen. "Come here, you!" He opened up his arms and Sky wrapped his arms around him, as Wes put his arms around his son. He didn't know where he would be today if Sky hadn't come into his life.

"Dad?" Sky let go just a little so he could look his father in the eyes.

"Yes, Sky?"

"We'll always be together, right?" his voice was very serious as if the question had been lingering on his mind for sometime. He needed to know that his dad would always be there for him.

"You bet." Wes smiled, assuring his son. "Nothing will ever keep me away from you. I'll always be here, no matter what. Got it?"

"Got it!" Sky grinned.

"Okay, let's get you settled back in. Big day tomorrow." Wes tucked Sky back into bed. "Night, champ."

"Night, Dad." Sky yawned, as sleep started to come over him. Wes smiled and gently brushed a hair out of his sons face. He slowly got up, trying not to disturb him and headed towards the door. He stopped for a moment before closing the door behind him, as if sensing a presence in the room. "Goodnight, Jen."

"You two sounded like you were having fun in there," said Lisa, as Wes climbed into bed with her.

"Just a little father and son bonding." Wes yawned as he laid his head down on his pillow. "Man, I'm beat."

"Too much fun for you today?" Lisa leaned closer and laid her head on his shoulder, taking his hand.

He grinned. "Just a little. Hopefully he'll sleep in a little, let me rest up."

"I thought Power Rangers were supposed to be able to do anything without any rest."

Wes laughed. "Not this power ranger. I need my beauty sleep." He wrapped his arm around her holding her close and gently kissed her on the lips. As time went on he was beginning to find himself falling more and more in love with her, although his feelings towards Jen would never change. "I love you." He smiled faintly. "I know I don't say it enough. But I really do love you." He ran his hand through her hair.

"I love you too." She took his hand. "And I know that Jen was very important to you. You two share this connection that I don't want to take from you. She's Sky's mother, always will be."

"You're very important to Sky too." Wes paused for a moment. "And he finally told me what he wanted for his birthday, other than going to the beach where we spread Jen's ashes." He took her hand looking at her very serious. "He wants you to adopt him."

"He said that?"

"Well, not in those exact words, but he did ask for you to become his mother. I've a date set in a couple of weeks to go through the process." He looked into her eyes. "That is if you want to."

"What about Jen?"

"Jen will always be his mother, nothing will ever change that. But no one ever said you can only have one mother. So what do you say?"

She almost had tears in her eyes. This was the happiest moment in her life, nothing could ruin this. "I'd love to. So when should we tell him?"

"On his birthday. I do have another gift. My dad is supposed to pick it up on the way, although he didn't seem too thrilled, but….he'll do anything for his grandson." He turned to her and smirked. "You don't hate anything with four legs, do you?"

"You didn't?" Wes just gave her a sidelong look. "The one he really liked?"

"I'm not saying anything."

"Oh really?" She grinned and rolled on top of him. "Even if I do this?" She pressed her lips against his.

"You're going to have to do better than that, if you want to get anything out of him." He wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her close as they continued to kiss and enjoy each other company and warmth. Everything seemed perfect now; he could have everything he could ever want. And at that moment he felt that nothing could ever interfere with the feeling he was feeling now.

"Hey. How was your day?" Eric was lying on his bed with his phone to his ear while he had the TV playing silently in his dorm.

"It was good. We had a lot of fun today. How about you?"

"Oh, you know, same old same old. Training the ranger squad, taking down bad guys, missing you and the squirt."

"We miss you too. So have you warmed up to Cruger yet?"

Eric tried not to laugh. "I'm…I'm tolerating him. So has she said daddy yet?"

"Eric, she isn't even six months old."

"I know. It just seems so long since I've seen her." He didn't think it was possible to miss someone so much. "Either I'm here or at Bio-Lab..." Eric rubbed his eyes feeling sleep start to take over him. It had been a long day of workouts, chasing criminals and more workouts. "I don't know, maybe I shouldn't be doing this anymore," he mumbled.

"Eric? Is everything okay?" Her voice was filled with concern. She knew Eric loved his job. He loved being a Ranger, helping people, making a difference. It was all he ever wanted.

He was slightly caught off guard, not knowing he had said it out loud. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."

"Okay. I'm going to let you go, so you can get some rest. I love you."

"I love you, too. Night." He hung up his phone and stared at the TV for a moment before turning it off. He turned the lamp off and the room filled with darkness, but Eric remained awake, wondering if this was what he still wanted. For as long as he could remember he had always wanted this, the excitement, the action, power, but now… he wasn't so sure. He looked at his morpher, wondering if it still meant as much to him as it did the day he first morphed into the Quantum Ranger.

Funny how a few years seemed to change the way he used to view things, so much had happened to him, had changed him, to become the person he was today. Did he still need the morpher? Did he still need the fast pass thrill of going after the bad guys. Or was there more to life than being a Ranger? Had his priorities changed? His eyes grew heavy and he was asleep before he could come up with an answer.

"Of course, Empire Gruumm, I will not fail you. I will see to it that the individual is removed, and if I happen to take more out in the process, well let's just say you won't have to pay me for them," snickered Mirloc as he talked to the visual holograph.

"You'll get more than enough once the job is done."

"Yes." Mirloc grinned. "How is the girl, Mora, right? The daughter of the late red and yellow space rangers?"

"How do you know of the child?"

"I have my ways." Mirloc laughed under his breath. Wouldn't you like to know... He had learned a long time ago to be one up on those he worked with. And with working with someone like Gruumm, one can never be too careful. "…Oh but don't worry. I won't tell anyone."

Gruumm's eyes grew red with fury. He had heard that Mirloc was troublesome, but at the moment he had no choice but to work with him. Mirloc was the best in the business and came highly recommended. "I'll be in contact with you tomorrow."

"I'll be waiting," announced Mirloc watching as Gruumm ended communications. Mirloc held in his hands a photo of SPDs Commander, he stared at it for a moment memorizing the face of the human he has been hired to kill. "Enjoy the last few hours you have, hero, they surely will be your last," he laughed as he crumbled the photo in his hands, his laughter seemed to echo through the night.

Eric jerked in his sleep, as if something had spooked him. He looked at his clock; it was 4 AM, he still had a good three hours until he needed to be up to train with the ranger squad. He nestled back into his bed and fell asleep once again, but not for long...

Eric woke up in a fright, his heart pounding. The sirens were blasting off loudly. He jumped out of bed; the clock read 7 AM. It was morning. Why were the sirens going off? There was no evacuation drill scheduled for today.

"All personnel respond, several reported attacks happening in country square, civilians in danger. We need all available squads to respond, and assist ranger squad."

"Well, it looks like I won't be eating Sunday breakfast." Eric reached for his morpher on his nightstand and morphed into the Quantum ranger.

"Eric?" Crugers voice came from his morpher.

"Already on it, sir." Eric was out of his dorm in a flash, his heart racing. He knew they wouldn't have asked all the squads to respond unless it was something real bad. Something was up.

Eric stopped dead in his tracks, watching as all the squads traded fire with thugs that were joined by an alien that Eric recognized right away as Mirloc. This was the criminal that Mike Corbett had warned them about. He felt his heart skip a beat, knowing they were up against a very dangerous alien who had no problem with taking out anyone who got in his way. Eric became very concerned for his team that was taking most of the damage, dodging real bullets, and unlike him they weren't protected. They didn't have their Ranger morphers yet. Their bulletproof vest would only last for so long.

"Squads C and D, fall back and get those civilians out of here. Move it!" Eric ordered, getting in front of them as he made his way into the open to get into range with Mirloc. He need to take Mirloc out as quickly as possible.

The C and D squads began rounding up as many as they could, getting the civilians to safety and away from the gunfire. But there were so many, and many were still in the nearby buildings that were now bursting into flames.

"Come on, you heard the Commander," said one of the C squad officers. "Let's get these people out of here!"

Eric ducked behind a car and began taking shots at several of the thugs, taking them out, but it was relentless. There was just too many. "B squad, move forward and assist A squad!" Eric watched as the B squad advanced forward, joining the A squad and taking cover along with them. Eric leaned against the car and reloaded his weapon, and noticed one of the cadets lying next to him wasn't doing so well. He had been shot and was bleeding continuously.

"It's bad, isn't it?" His breathing was slowing down. He coughed hard and his lips turned bright red, covered in blood.

Thankfully his helmet was on, so that he could hide the real seriousness of the situation. There was no way…. "Hang in there, cadet, we're going to get out of here." Eric grabbed the cadet's arm, but it was already too late. The cadet's eyes rolled back and he was gone. Never had he felt so close to death, as right now. "Shit!" Things were bad. People were getting hurt. People were dying, right before his very eyes. If he didn't think of something quick the whole department could go down, taking dozens of Newtech civilians with it.

"Yes. Kill them, kill them all!" Eric heard Mirloc laugh loudly.

"That does it!" Eric leaped over the car and headed straight toward Mirloc. "Mirloc, you're under arrest!"

"Well, if it isn't the famous Quantum Ranger!" Mirloc announced as he faced off against him. "I've heard so much about you. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, face to face." Mirloc tried to look for himself in Eric's visor, but found no reflection.

Eric tapped on his helmet. "Sorry pal, but you won't be finding yourself today." He raised his blaster knowing he couldn't take any chances. "Now if you know what's good for you, you'd call off your men and surrender."

Mirloc smiled cunningly. "And if I don't?"

"Well, then I guess things will just have to get messy, now won't they?"

"We're with you, Commander Myers," announced Dash as he and his teammates joined him, all tired and even wounded, but they weren't about to back down from a fight and leave their Commander to fend for himself. No matter how badly they were hurting, they had been chosen to be Rangers, and a little bleeding wouldn't stand in their way. There were innocent lives at stake.

"Oh, how touching." Mirloc charged at them head on will full intentions of taking them all out. "Prepare to die!"

Cruger watched the screen helplessly, as Eric and the future A squad rangers fought against Mirloc, a powerful enemy, while the other squads attempted to take down the remaining gang members and bring the people in the surrounding area to safety. It was still a dire situation with no guarantees. It was almost like watching his planet being defeated all over again. He even felt himself reach for his sword, but it was no longer in its holding place. He had given up fighting a long time ago.

Kat walked up behind him. "Sir. They…"

"Get in contact with Commander Collins, the team needs him."

"But sir…"

Cruger turned to her and nearly barked into her face. "That's an order. I will not ask you again!"

"Of course," Kat answered sighing heavily.

Wes was playing ball in the park with Sky. Lisa smiled, watching as her two favorite boys enjoyed the nice Sunday morning; they couldn't have asked for a better day. She laid out the blanket they had brought along for their picnic lunch.

"Good catch, son."

Sky threw the ball back to his father. "Dad?"

"Yes?" Wes tossed the ball back to his son.

"Do you think you could teach me a new karate move, before we eat lunch? Please. I promise I'll only use it for self defense."

Lisa grinned when Wes looked, smiling, back at her. "Sure." He took his glove off and tossed it over to Lisa. "Come here."

"Yeah!" Sky dropped his glove and went running towards Wes.

"Okay, first you need to get into a stance like this, your front leg out in front and your back leg back here, holding your weight."

"Like this?" Sky tried to imitate his father's stance.

"Almost." Wes helped him get in the right stance. "All right, good! Now move your arm up into a guarding position." Sky did as his father told him to. "Good. You're getting better at this. I bet you'll be able to beat me up in no time."

"Dad..."

"Oh, okay. Next year." He laughed and got back into the stance to show his son the next move. "Okay, bring your back leg up and forward and jump and kick." Together the two did a jump kick.

"I did it!" Sky exclaimed excitedly.

"You sure did!" Wes picked his son up and spun around in circles until he lost his balance and the two fell on the ground laughing.

"Okay, my two Power Rangers. Do you think the rest of training can wait until after lunch?"

"Yeah. I'm starved!" Wes jumped up and started towards Lisa, where she was setting out the sandwiches and drinks.

"Me too!" Sky ran forward to join his father and Lisa on the blanket.

"Wes, one bite at a time, before you choke yourself," scolded Lisa, watching as Wes chowed down on his sandwich like he hadn't eaten in days. "Besides, you're teaching bad habits to Sky."

"I thought you said that was one of the things you liked about me, that I could finish a meal in no time flat," grinned Wes, giving her a sly smile.

"Well, that was before-" Before she could finish Wes's morpher cut her off. "Wonder what that's about? It's your day off."

Wes set the remainders of his sandwich down on his plate. "Go ahead," he announced into his morpher.

"Wes, its Kat. Eric and the squads are in trouble; Commander Cruger is asking for your assistance?"

That got everyone's attention; it was very rare that Eric was ever in any kind of trouble. Wes shared silent glances with his wife and son. He took a deep breath. "I'll be there as soon as I can. I'll take the flier," answered Wes understanding the seriousness of the situation. "Just tell them to hang in there, Kat." About four month ago. Kat had created a flier similar to the one like Eric's, to arrive instantly whenever Wes called for it using his morpher. It had come in handy quite a few times, when he needed to get to Newtech City in a hurry.

"Good I'll have the flier ready at your command!"

"Well, duty calls." Wes announced as he stood up and brushed his pants off and looked down at his son, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, bud, but your Uncle Eric needs my help. You understand, right?" He hated to leave, but he couldn't just leave Eric and the others hanging. They were counting on him.

"Yeah. I know your job is very important," answered Sky proudly.

"That's my boy." Wes patted him on the back thankful to have such a understanding kid. "I promise to make it up to up."

Wes faced Lisa and kissed her gently on the lips. "See you when I get home."

She smiled back. "We'll be waiting."

Wes started backing away giving himself enough room to morph and call forth his flier.

"Dad, when you get home can we go over that move again?"

"Of course" Wes raised his arm and morphed into the red Time Force ranger. He called forth his flier, as it came flying above his head. He took one last look at his family before jumping onto it.

Lisa and Sky stood back, watching, as Wes disappeared, heading towards Newtech City. "Be careful, Wes," she whispered.

"Yeah. Go get them, Dad!" cheered Sky, in the moment of his glory, recognizing his father for the hero he was and always would be.