KIRA - THE NEXT EVENING

Tommy's been trying hard all day, I'll give him that. Most of Zedd's responses haven't been what we'd expect from him, but a few have - enough to give us all some hope at the very least. Now we're all in the backyard while the kids play. I have to say that I find it fairly amusing that Jacob has chosen to take the role of a Power Ranger and Mara Jane the role of a villain, taking on the role of the parent that carried them. We've been watching them, amused by it all, after Tommy gave Mara Jane a brief warning not to get carried away and hurt her brother.

And she does, for a time, take it easy on him. Apparently she's tired of the stalemate though, and quickly restrains her brother. She puts him on his knees, bent at the waist with his hands behind his back. Jacob protests, "You cheated!"

Zedd mutters something, but it's covered by Mara Jane's B movie villain cackle. "Of course I cheated! I'm the bad guy! I'm supposed to cheat!"

What happens next makes us all freeze in place - children and adults. Zedd speaks - in English. "Just because you're evil or the villain, Mara Jane, is no excuse for acting dishonorably. Let him go and fight fairly or not at all." He returns his attention to the Eltarian newspaper that Serena had brought him, apparently not realizing that we all are staring at him.

"Zedd" Tommy says. "You just spoke in English. For the first time since you woke up, you understood and spoke English."

Zedd looks up in surprise and thinks about it for a minute. "Huh. So I did." He looks back at the paper, but I can see that his mouth is twitching to keep from grinning.

"How long have you been able to understand?" Tommy demands.

Zedd glances at his watch. "Five minutes maybe? It was something that Jacob said combined with their activity that awakened a particular memory - a very specific memory."

"Does it have anything to do with whatever you muttered when Mara Jane was laughing?"

"Actually, yes." He looks at Tommy very meaningfully. "Because what she said was wrong - so very wrong." Tommy looks confused as he thinks back. Zedd smirks at him. "I believe the line should have been - 'I cheated? And how did I cheat, little Ranger?' Don't you think so, Thomas?"

Tommy opens his mouth to answer when the confusion suddenly clears from his expression and he instantly reddens as he swallows hard. "I suppose it should have been" he agrees weakly.

The children have left off their game, crossing over to Zedd. "So - do you remember us now, Papa?" Mara Jane asks tentatively.

He pulls the children into his arms. "I don't remember everything that I've lost yet, but I know who you are." He gently kisses Mara Jane's forehead. "I remember holding Jacob, brand new, and you leaning on my knees to see him. Your eyes got so big when you saw how little he was. And then you asked if you could hold him."

That seems about right. Tommy, Pina, Dar and Serena all shoot me a questioning look, as I'm the only one who can truly corroborate his statement. I nod, remembering returning to them with Jacob's bottle to find his big sister holding him as Zedd knelt on the floor in front of the chair. It wasn't but a minute after that Pina called me to help make sure that Tommy didn't bleed out. Shaking off the less pleasant memory, I say, "That's right."

"So we helped then?" Jacob asks happily.

"Well, your game didn't quite bring back that specific memory, but yes, you did help by sparking another one" Zedd replies casually, though there is a clearly heated look thrown at his husband as he does.

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Mara Jane gives a nod. "So you remember fighting against Daddy? When you were enemies?"

"Not exactly."

"You remember playing with Daddy?" Nearly choking on my drink at Jacob's innocent question, knowing he simply meant it as honest to goodness playing as he and his sister had just been doing, I however suddenly realize just why Tommy looks decidedly mortified as well as the reason for Zedd's suddenly once more 'Zedd-like' smugness.

"Something like that" the Eltarian replies with a chuckle.

"Who won?" Jacob's inquiry pulling a groan from his Daddy, I'm about to cut in when Mara Jane shakes her head and shoos her brother back toward the yard.

"You're not supposed to ask that."

"Why?"

"Because the games grownups play aren't the same as the games we play." At her brother's confused look, the girl heaves a sigh. "It's like kissing and stuff, okay."

"Ew, gross!"

"It's not gross" Mara Jane protests much to my, and her parents' surprise it seems. "Look, one day when you start thinking about finding someone to bond to and be mates with you won't think it's gross. It just seems gross now because you're too young to think about finding someone to bond with."

"So are you, young lady" Zedd mutters. He glances at Tommy. "I think we're going to have to talk to her - soon."

Tommy sighs. "A lot sooner than I wanted to. Plus she seems a little confused about bonding too."

"Apparently just as confused as you have been, Thomas." He concedes the point with a sheepish nod.

"What do you mean?" Dar asks.

"He's been under the impression that I've lied to him repeatedly over the years when I tell him that a bond doesn't dictate feelings nor that feelings dictate a bond." Three sets of eyes roll in addition to my own.

"Look, I'm sorry - again, okay?" Man, he looks upset. "I told you that when you explained all that to me that I was messed up! Besides, some of what you told me was certainly very true and much easier to believe."

"Excuse me?" Careful, Tommy, Zedd looks a bit offended.

My mentor holds up his hands placatingly. "Zedd, it was hard to believe that feelings and bonding didn't have anything to do with each other because the bond and our feelings were growing at the same time. I didn't grow up with knowledge of those kind of bonds so it was a difficult thing for me to really grasp in my damaged state."

"And since then?"

"I thought it was something that didn't translate as well as you thought. In spite of your grasp of English, Zedd, even now there are things that you don't understand or that confuse you, the same for me with some of your Eltarian words or phrases really."

"I suppose that's true enough, but I still don't like the idea that you thought I lied to you and have continued to do so for all this time."

"If it helps, I never thought of it as you lying to me. At first I thought it was my confusion from my injuries and then I assumed it was due to miscommunication. Although your current condition certainly proves that they aren't linked. You felt the bond even when you didn't know who I was and therefore had no feelings for me of that kind. Hell, the bond affected you even when it was completely closed and you didn't remember me or your feelings toward me."

Zedd doesn't look real convinced. "I suppose."

"You also have to remember that unlike you I haven't been with another male before. I never even really thought about it and truthfully I really still don't find myself attracted to other men like I am you. So thinking the bond played into or at last helped me feel more comfortable with us being together like that, well that seemed reasonable to me. Don't you think?"

"I suppose that's reasonable. In truth I think I like the idea of you not finding other males as appealing as me, cuts down on the possibility of me having to kill someone." That is a good point.

Everyone's attention is drawn back to the children, who have begun to argue about some odd thing or another. "They do not!"

"Do too!"

Going back and forth in this manner for another minute, we're all just about to cut in when Mara Jane says the meanest thing I've ever heard her say to her beloved little brother. "You're just a baby. What do you know?"

"I am not a baby! I'm going to be a Power Ranger just like Daddy! The bird said so!"

"The bird doesn't know everything!"

"It knows more than you!" Uh oh. Seeing Mara Jane's temper flaring at this, her brother choosing something else over her clearly stinging, I'm not all that surprised as her fists clench at her sides and her next words are a well-aimed – if not completely unacceptable – attack.

"Yeah well I know more then you and if you keep listening to stupid animals all the time you're going to end up a pet just like them!"

Instantly and with one voice, Tommy and Zedd call her on it. "Mara Jane Elizabeth Anise!"

She turns away from her brother, hands on her hips. "What?" She practically spits the word out and I know this isn't going to go well.

Tommy beckons them to come closer. "Both of you. Come here. Now." I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing as the almost teenager rolls her eyes at her father before crossing over and standing before him, arms folded. "First of all, young lady, you do not ever speak to either of us that way. Do you understand?"

She sets her jaw, looking for all the world like Zedd in a stubborn moment. It takes a bit before she coolly says, "Fine."

Tommy shoots her a look before he goes on. "Second of all don't you ever, ever call your brother a pet. I don't care what was done or said, you are never to call him or anyone else such a thing. Am I understood?"

Seeming to realize by his tone she has overstepped, though very likely not grasping why, Mara Jane however gives a nod and slightly more subdued response of, "Yes, sir."

"Now, one at a time, please. What was all that about?"

Jacob speaks up, voice quivering and feelings still very probably hurt from his sister's words. "We went back to playing and when she came after me, I shot her and she said that Power Rangers don't use guns of any kind ever."

"They don't!"

"They do, too!"

"Stop!" Tommy takes a breath in the silence. "Actually, Jacob's right. Many of the Ranger teams have guns of some kind. Even your Uncle Jason had a weapon called a blade blaster when he took up his first set of powers."

"Told you! See that's why the bird knows more than you!"

Zedd's quick off the mark this time. "Jacob, that was unnecessary and mean. Apologize to your sister."

Another first - Jacob stands up to Zedd. "Not until she apologizes first. She started it."

Both parents sigh. Tommy says, "Okay, both of you apologize to each other and then go get ready for bath time."

They grumble their apologies at each other and head into the house, Mara Jane's longer stride getting her in before him. Tommy and Zedd both sigh and stand up. "Who do you want?" Zedd asks.

"I guess I'll take Jacob. I'm still a bit too upset with Mara Jane's pet comment to deal with her at the moment."

"She didn't mean it in that manner though, love."

"I know, but –"

"It still hits a nerve, doesn't it" Zedd questions softly, before giving a nod. "Don't worry. I'll handle our darling daughter this time." They head into the house after the kids, shaking their heads at Dar's parting remark.

"This is why I'm glad we agreed to wait to have kids."