Day-Off Debacle
A/N: Hey guys, the boys are at it again! Will they ever learn? NOPE! Not while I'm the one writing the story. ENJOY AND R&R PLZ!
Captain Mitchell paced behind his desk every now and then glancing at the four men seated in front of him. All of them were soaking wet and covered in what he hoped to god was algae and mud. His daughter, Kelsey, and Ms. Fairweather, furious enough to spit fire, had brought them in by their collars and dumped them on the floor before leaving in high dungeon without so much as two words. He demanded an explanation and only Carter, with his deeply ingrained habit of submitting to authority, was able to tell him but he even stumbled and stuttered. Captain Mitchell sat down and deliberately clasped his hands on his desk, "Explain this to me one more time."
The men looked around uneasily and Carter cleared his throat, "Well sir what happened was -"
HOURS EARLIER…
The team had been given the day off to just relax. The girls took off somewhere while the men chose to do some light training. Around noon, the guys were getting hungry so they cut through the park to get back to the aquabase. On their way, they noticed the women by the park's pond having a picnic.
"Hey look," Chad jerked his chin in their direction. "Looks like the ladies are having lunch without us."
"Mm-mm-mm Ms. Fairweather looks awfully nice without that labcoat on," Joel moved towards them but Carter caught him.
"Easy there cowboy, you shouldn't interrupt girl time."
"I wasn't going to interrupt," the other three rolled their eyes.
"Sure you weren't," Ryan scoffed.
"I wasn't," Joel insisted. He leaned in and whispered, "Why interrupt when you can listen in?"
"Are you seriously suggesting we spy on them?" Chad looked at him like he was nuts.
"Why not?" Joel grinned. "See that beautiful – conveniently placed – clump of bushes over there. If we crouch behind it we can hear everything they're saying."
"And if they catch us?" Ryan asked.
"We say we were trying to pull a prank on them and they caught us," Joel said obviously.
Ryan thought about it for a moment, "Sold." He and Joel shook hands.
"Me too," Chad joined in.
Joel turned to the red ranger, "Carter…"
"I don't know," Carter shook his head. His face was crossed between being nervous and sorely tempted.
"Oh come on fearless leader," Joel wrapped an arm around the man's shoulders. "Aren't you the least bit curious as to what Dana may say?"
Carter teetered on it for a second, "Fine I'm in." They backtracked and crept around to make sure the girls didn't see them. They managed to get behind the bushes without being seen and with careful maneuvering settled in to eavesdrop on the conversation.
Kelsey – sighing "I'm so glad we got this day off."
Dana – "Me too. Dad said we needed a break, can't say I disagreed with him."
Ms. Fairweather – "At least you two see outside, I'm stuck in the lab twenty-four hours a day. LITERALLY!"
Kelsey – "Well at least you have company."
Ms. Fairweather – "Yes, because I do so enjoy Joel dogging my every footstep. It's like having a puppy except this one is taller, faster, and every time it speaks, rather than cute barking, it asks you on a date." The men were working hard not to bust out laughing at the look on Joel's face.
Dana – "You forgot the hot part. Don't lie, I know you've checked him out."
Ms. Fairweather – "Well there is that." Joel gave them his mega-watt smile and winked. "What about you Dana? I've seen where your eyes go when Carter comes back from training."
Kelsey – "Oooh crushing on our leader Dana?"
Dana – "Doesn't matter, Carter isn't interested in me. He'll never see me as anything more than the captain's daughter and his teammate. Even if he didn't, he'd probably be too devoted to the job to do anything about it." Carter went to audibly protest causing the guys to leap on him and cover his mouth.
Kelsey – "Have you actually asked him?"
Dana – "No but he's always kept his distance and from some reason lately it's seems like he's gotten even further away."
Ms. Fairweather – "Perhaps he's just trying to give you some space because of your brother. You only just got him back and look what you had to go through to do it."
Dana – "Maybe."
Kelsey – "Speaking of your brother, how is he?"
Dana – "He's better. He needs time to adjust, hopefully a day with the guys and no monsters will help."
Ms. Fairweather – "He's strong, he'll come around. Then you'll all be able to really become a family again."
Kelsey – "I wonder when he'll be up for dating."
Dana – "Oooh crushing on my brother Kelsey?"
Kelsey – "What?! NO! I was just saying that's all. Why would I want to date him? Cha-"Kelsey stopped mid-sentence but it was enough for both groups.
Dana – "CHAD! You want Chad?!" The blue ranger looked ready to poke his head through the bushes if it would somehow produce an answer faster.
Kelsey – "I don't know what I want. Chad and I have gotten really close and I just thought we could…we had that kind of potential."
Ms. Fairweather – "You never know."
Dana – "Next time you see him, ask him to have lunch with you or something simple like that. It doesn't have to be really romantic or anything."
"I could take her to the harbour for a picnic," Chad suggested with a dreamy look on his face.
"I think it's safe to say we lost him," Carter commented.
"Well at least he's got a plan and gotten close to Kelsey," Ryan smirked. "All you've done is got my sister to think you're in love with your job rather than her."
"Oh I'll fix that," Carter vowed. "I've got a plan too."
"Yeah see, the man knows what he's doing," Joel backed up his friend. "You're just sour because no one likes you."
Ryan nudged Carter, "Ms. Fairweather seems to think I'm strong." The two snickered while Joel became indignant.
"Hey, hey, hey, watch it! Ms. Fairweather clearly prefers me."
"Whatever you say sky-puppy," Carter saluted.
AHEM! They all looked up and saw Kelsey, Dana, and Ms. Fairweather standing over them. Joel began to laugh weakly, "Awww you found us. We were going to scare you, weren't we fellas?"
"Yeah…" Chad nodded and smiled.
"Too bad," Ryan pounded his fist into his hand. "I was looking forward to it."
The women crossed their arms. Dana glowered at the red ranger, "What about you Carter?"
Carter coughed, "It was just a harmless prank." All three girls huffed angrily and hauled the men up by their ears. Ms. Fairweather got Joel, Kelsey got Chad, and Dana got Carter and Ryan. They swung the rangers in front of them and began advancing causing the guys to back away.
"Now let's be rational here," Carter tried to calm them down. "There's no need to do anything that would be foolish."
"Really?" Dana asked dangerously. "Tell me Carter does this count as foolish?" The threesome pushed men into the pond. It wasn't deep so they just stood by in vindictive pleasure while the males spluttered and tried to get back to dry land.
PRESENT…
"When we finally got out of the pond, they dragged us here," Carter concluded the story. Captain Mitchell rubbed his chin, looking at each man carefully. Finally he snorted then he did it again. A wheezy laugh escaped his chest, followed by another, and another, slowing turning into throaty chuckles, soon Captain Mitchell was laughing out loud. For the rangers, having their boss laugh at them was the ultimate final shame. They buried their faces in their hands, praying to be anywhere but there at that moment. Captain Mitchell regained some of his composure and said, "Well boys, they didn't make a formal complaint so I can't punish you although I think we all know that wasn't why they brought you here." He stood and gestured for them to do the same and began to usher them to the door, "Go - get some clean clothes, something to eat, and rest. I think you've had enough excitement for today. The girls won't stay mad at you for long, just don't get in their way for a while."
As they crossed the threshold Carter turned to the captain, "Sir isn't there anything we can do so the girls will forgive us sooner?"
Commander Mitchell smiled ruefully, "Carter if there is one thing you have to learn about women is that there is nothing that will make them forgive you any faster. They'll gripe at you, insult you, give you the dirtiest of looks, all the while somehow managing to ignore your very existence until they feel you've been punished enough and forgive you. So really there is only one thing you can do in the meantime."
The four asked in unison, "What's that?"
"Suck it up."
