Disclaimer: I own Sam, Leslie, the ambassador and all his peeps, and anyone or thing I have mentioned owning in earlier chapters. I do not own Power Rangers.
Author's Note: Yeah, I told you all that it was coming. This chapter is heavy on the Carlos and Jeff, and even some T.J. Sorry A/A fans, they aren't really here. I'm getting there. There is a lot of story going on around them that has to be taken care of. Enjoy!
When It Rains…
Chapter 5 - TroubleCarlos sat down rather abruptly in the middle on the soccer field, letting his head fall forward.
"Tough game," Sam muttered, falling onto his back a few feet away.
"Yeah," Carlos sighed. What his friend didn't know was that Carlos had spent half the game trying to keep from crying out in pain from his recent battle wounds.
The Ranger wasn't sure how long they sat there like that before, "Hey," a familiar voice broke through, making Carlos' blood run both cold and hot at once.
"Hey," Sam answered. "You guys were really good."
"Yeah well," Leslie never was one to take much credit for a win, even if she had scored half the goals for her team, "you guys should have won. You're usually-"
"Better?" Carlos supplied, finally looking up.
Leslie frowned: she hadn't meant to make anyone feel worse.
"It's not what we are usually that matters, it's what we were today."
"I guess," Leslie looked down, obviously ashamed.
Carlos almost laughed, Leslie was one of the most aggressive female soccer players he had ever met, but once the game was over she was shy and considerate and would never dream of hurting anyone else.
Sam sighed, getting up. "I've gotta go. I promised my brother I'd help him with his homework."
"See ya," Carlos muttered, never taking his eyes off of Leslie.
The girl looked up, giving the goalie a slight wave before turning back to Carlos. She only looked his way for a moment before averting those soft blue eyes of hers. Carlos hated it when she did this. She had taken her hair out of its braid after the game and combed it out, effectively hiding her face beneath a long, blond veil when she looked down.
"I'd- uh, better go," Leslie murmured before turning and rushing off.
Carlos watched her go then fell back onto the grass. Life sucked.
Jeff Hammond was bored. He had been called by his old, depending on how you looked at things, friend, the Gold Ranger, and asked to do the Triforian prince a favor. Never one to shirk his friendly duties, Jeff agreed. The favor however, was attending a conference on Elishe. The Infinity Ranger's job consisted mainly of standing still for very long periods of time and being pointed to and commented on. After the first day Jeff decided, just in case he ever had to do anything like this again, that once he got back to Earth he'd ask DECA if there was anyway to install pong on the inside of his visor. The next day while standing he decided that he could control the bar with his big toe, keeping the dignitaries blissfully unaware.
Jeff made it through the last day of the conference and was refueling his ship when, wouldn't you know, one of the ambassadorial pages came racing up to him.
"Sir! Sir!" the page called, nearly tripping over his long robe as he raced across the hanger bay.
"Yes?" Jeff asked, unable to keep his annoyance hidden.
"Ambassador Tunok would like to see you sir," the page said breathlessly when he arrived at the Rangers' side.
"Ambassador Tunok has had plenty of opportunity to see me over the past five days, he will excuse me for not going out of my way to let him see me again."
"But, there is a personal favor he needs done."
"Page," Jeff said, teeth clenched, "I know that you are merely doing what you are told and that none of this is your fault, but I am a Ranger, I have much more important matters to attend to than the whims of some politician."
The page sighed and Jeff could see that he wasn't supposed to say what he was about to, it wasn't how things were done, but Jeff was a no-nonsense kind of Ranger, and he didn't care about the way things were done.
"The ambassador has received word that pirates have begun frequenting the area of space between Palomix and Thelian. The ambassador cannot reach his home world without going through this area. He wants you to accompany him, for safety."
Jeff gave a slight guffaw, "I'm sure. Tell him I'll come, but he does what I say. We leave at dawn tomorrow."
"Yes sir." The page began running off.
"And page?"
"Yes sir?"
"I'm sorry."
"No need sir. You were nicer than most."
Jeff shook his head; apparently, the middleman was put-upon everywhere.
"What is wrong with you?" T.J. asked when Carlos banged the button on the synthetron.
"Nothing," Carlos muttered, sitting down with a rather large bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios.
"Yeah, right. That's why you're not eating your favorite comfort food."
"Hey! Some people like Honey Nut Cheerios."
"I know, I like them too, but they are not a sure sign that something is wrong with me. Plus you blew in here like a bat out of-"
"Pfft! Bats!" Carlos muttered through a mouthful, but T.J. was able to catch the word.
"What about bats?" T.J. asked gently.
Carlos squirmed a bit, but explained, "You know how everything was quiet for a while there, before Shreefang?"
"Oh, that bat."
"Well, before her, I started going to this thing on Thursdays. It's nothing formal just, well, just a bunch of people getting together and playing soccer." T.J. nodded as Carlos took a rather violent spoonful of cereal. "Well, there's this girl."
"Oh, now I understand."
"You do?"
"Yeah, you want to start something with this girl, but now that Shreefang has shown up you don't think it's safe."
"Or fair," Carlos insisted. "What if we start dating and everything's great, but then- then I get hurt or—" Carlos let it hang.
"I know. It's hard. You have to weigh how you feel, and how you think the other person will feel. There's no right or wrong answer Carlos. It may not be fair to put someone in the position of dating a Ranger, but it also may not be fair to put someone in the position of not being able to be with you, if they really care about you, without letting them decide if the risk of pain is worth it."
"Wow. With that blue uniform, sometimes I forget…."
"Me too. But I guess there's still a bit of leader in me somewhere. You think about it, and try not to be violent with the synthetron again, DECA's wrath is not to be incurred."
"Good point, see ya."
Ambassador Tunok spent all of five seconds gaping at the Infinity Ranger's insistence that his party be ready to leave at dawn the next day, then burst out in jovial laughter.
"Ah," he said after several minutes, taking a handkerchief from the pocket of one of his aides and drying his eyes, "those Rangers and their humor. Who would have thought that a lone Ranger could make such a jest!"
"But sir" the frightened page began, "he seemed rather sincere."
"Nonsense!" the ambassador cried. "You just don't know how to read a Ranger. Nothing has changed! We leave in four days!"
Thus it was that the next morning Jeff Hammond awakened only to find that his fighter was trapped in the bay by several Telthian flagships, which would not be moving for several days. Needless to say, there was a spectacular dance show to be seen that morning and the Infinity Ranger hopped about in rage.
Carlos sat on a park bench, head in his hands, and wondered what he could possibly be thinking.
"Carlos?" Leslie asked gently.
"Hey," Carlos said, head snapping up.
"Are you all right?" the young woman asked, taking a seat next to the young Latino. "You sounded pretty strange on the phone."
"I know, it's just… this is really hard for me."
"Well then, you should get it over with." Leslie looked forward, focusing on the other side of the lake and praying that he would be gentle. She was now certain that she had been called here to be dumped, or whatever it's called when you never actually dated.
"Ilikeyou," Carlos said in one great breath.
"Oh?" Leslie asked, still refusing to turn in case she had heard him wrong.
"A lot. You're the first girl I've liked this much in a long time. I just—"
"You just—what?" Leslie asked, finally turning to see that Carlos' face was hidden by his long hair.
"I'm not a good guy to get involved with," Carlos finally said.
There was a moment of silence… followed by laughter.
'Even her laugh is beautiful,' Carlos thought, before realizing that this was not how things were supposed to go.
"You-" Leslie giggled, "are the least bad guy I have ever met. You volunteer at more charity events than a celebrity and you are good with kids and you never get into trouble, ever. How can you be a bad guy to get involved with?"
Carlos sighed, opting for a version of the truth. "I do good things, some of those good things you don't even know about. Well, the ones that you don't know about, they make some very bad people very angry and- and I'm afraid that they will hurt you if they find out about you."
"Carlos," Leslie said, taking his hand. "I'm a big girl. And we live in Angel Grove, how bad could these guys be?"
"Yes Carlos," came a dangerously silky voice from behind the couple, "how bad can they be?"
Both Carlos and Leslie jumped to their feet and spun around, only to see the one and only Shreefang.
"Leave her alone," Carlos called, "she has nothing to do with this."
"True, I have no reason to hurt her, I have only come for you Rangers. But, you have proven to be weaker than I thought. No matter how many times I attack this city you never have any new tricks. Well I am bored; I want enemies with power, enemies who are willing to risk everything, because they have nothing to lose. And I think I know how to achieve that."
Shreefang had moved before Carlos could register the change in his surroundings. When he turned to check on Leslie his blood ran cold. Shreefang had one of her clawed hands wrapped around Leslie's throat.
"Well little boy, what are you going to do now?" the monster taunted.
Carlos could feel something very like a growl forming at the back of his throat, he wondered for a moment whether the action was left over from his days as a giant lizard stalking through the harsh landscape of Phaedos.
"Let her go."
"Why would I do that? I'm sure I could make her squirm a bit." Leslie closed her eyes as nails bit into flesh.
"I said let her go!" Carlos cried, the feeling in his throat spreading rapidly through the rest of his body.
"No," Shreefang said simply, increasing the pressure. By now there were small rivers forming on the young woman's face, a mix of sweat and tears.
Carlos didn't bother talking, didn't bother thinking, only raced forward, the morph overtaking him by sheer power of will. Shreefang was unprepared to say the least. She let go of Leslie in shock and as the young woman fell to her knees the Black Ranger dealt the monstrosity before him a deafening blow that sent her flying across the lake.
When Shreefang finally landed on the opposite shore she didn't bother with anger or frustration. She simply got up, brushed herself off, and disappeared.
The Black Ranger was breathing heavily as he reached down to help the young woman before him. She sat just where she had fallen, holding her neck in one hand, not seeming to see the Ranger before her. When the gloved hand brushed her head she jumped back as if burned, fear in her eyes, but then her gaze cooled and she reached her own hand up to take his.
"Carlos." It was not a question.
"Yes," the Ranger answered. "You can't-"
"Tell anyone, I know. Don't worry, I won't. Thank you," she added after a moment.
Carlos pulled his hand away from hers. "I can take you to the hospital… if you want."
"I'd like that," Leslie said, nodding.
"Galaxy Glider, hang ten!" Carlos called, then helped the girl up.
They rode to the hospital in silence, Carlos refusing to turn and look at her and trying very hard to ignore her arms around his waist and the way she gripped tighter when they passed a bird or swerved to avoid a tree.
"Thank you, again," Leslie said when they'd arrived. Oddly, there was no one around this entrance so Carlos had no excuse to race off.
"It was nothing."
"What you said earlier—" Leslie began.
"Applies now, more than ever. There are things you don't know, other things about me."
"Carlos…"
"No. This just, this just can't happen. I'm sorry," he said as he lifted off into the sky.
Ashley woke up first the next morning and dragged herself to the jump bay. When she arrived she slowly ordered breakfast from the synthetron, a breakfast which would have been something akin to tar if DECA hadn't managed to fix the messed up order. Ashley slowly sat down on her usual stool and stared at her meal. She did not however, stare at it for long. Her attention was quickly grabbed by a white envelope propped up against the flowers in the table's center. On it was one simple word: "guys."
Ashley knew that handwriting: it was from Carlos. She grabbed the envelope so quickly that the vase tipped over, but she didn't care now. She ripped it open and quickly read the letter within.
"What's wrong?" Andros asked a second later when he walked in to find her bent over the small piece of paper.
"Carlos is gone."
