04

"That side of the closet has been situated for you, and this drawer, and I can arrange an ample amount of space in the cabinet in the bathroom," Billy murmured. He ran a hand through his hair, moving so fast across the bedroom that he may as well as teleported as he did so. He barely cast Avalon a glance each time he passed her.

She patiently stood aside, one hand holding the straps of her overnight bag, the other holding her arm. She watched Billy watched an amused expression, tilted her head so her hair fell from her face. She wanted to see him clearly, doing her best to hold in her laughter.

And yet, Billy continued to talk, mostly to himself, as he went, making sure everything in their room was split 50/50. He cracked his fingers, ran a hand through his hair, drummed his fingers on his arms, and slid his hands into his pockets. Not in that order and within seconds of each other.

"And, uh,"—Billy cleared his throat, swallowed thickly. "As for the bed, I don't know what side is more preferential for you to sleep on but—"

"Okay, this stopped being fun," Avalon announced.

Taken aback, Billy's head jerked backwards. He blinked rapidly, eyebrows coming together. "Excuse me?"

Avalon chuckled, dropping her bag to the ground. "I mean, Billy, you've managed to go through a few years without using your techno speak, which is ace, yeah? But…" she sucked her lips into her mouth and smiled teasingly at him. "You tend to go back to it when you're nervous." Billy's rapid blinking declined in tempo, but he continued to look at her cluelessly. Avalon's smile widened. "And you basically haven't stopped talking for the past ten minutes, mate."

"Well, we, uh—"

"Live in the same house," Avalon pointed out. "And have been for a while now. The only difference now is that we're in the same room. I don't have a problem with it if you don't." She paused. "Besides, Bay's always been complaining about not having her own room since we moved to Angel Grove, I figured I'd give her the chance." She examined Billy. "Unless you don't think it's a good idea."

"I didn't say that," he said quickly.

"I know. I'm just giving you a hard time." Avalon motioned to her bag with her foot. "I don't need closet space, I can live out a bag. As a matter of fact, I don't have a lot of stuff in general. The perks of having moved and leaving all your stuff behind, I reckon." She nodded towards the bathroom. "Same thing with the bathroom, I don't need a lot of space there. I have everything I need in my bag." She then nodded towards the bed. "As for the bed, I sleep in a ball and you stay up almost all hours of the night, I don't think it'll be a problem."

Billy nodded. He lowered his chin, a flush coming to his cheeks. "Then I don't think it'll be a problem either."

"Good." Avalon walked to Billy and threw her arms around his neck, prompting Billy to wrap his around her waist. He smiled down at her. "Because I have the feeling that we're not going to get a lot of time together by ourselves. I think I already heard Kim say something about wanting to a plan a day trip into the city?"

Billy made a face. "I assumed our trip up here was to stay out of the city."

"Shopping."

"Ah."

"Yeah." Avalon smiled up at Billy then stood on her tiptoes, tilting her head so that her nose brushed against his.

Billy got the hint and met her halfway, pressing his lips against hers. Avalon grinned then kissed him again, tightened her grasp around his neck. Aggressive, possessive, the way she'd always been, the way he always liked her to be. Billy, in comparison, gently grasped her waist, eased his mouth over hers. That was the Billy Avalon liked, where he didn't worry so much about everything. Where he wasn't so preoccupied with an experiment or technological advance that'd plague him for days.

If there was anyone who needed the week off as much as anyone else, it was him. And she was glad to be the one to help him relax sometimes. Billy's mouth descended on hers, the muscles on his body loosening as the seconds passed. Gently, he took a step forward, prompting Avalon to take one backwards.

Step. Step. Step.

Until she was lying on the bed with Billy lying on top of her, trading sweet kisses and sighs back and forth between their mouths. Avalon brought her hands up to frame Billy's face, angling her head to work her tongue into his mouth, then froze, hearing something. Billy pulled back, his eyes flickering upwards. The two listened, locking in on the sound of a rhythmic thumping and muffled moans.

Avalon's eyes narrowed before she rolled her eyes. "Please tell me that Tommy and Kim don't have the room next to ours."

Billy did his best to hide his smile. To think he was worried about figuring out where the two of them were going to sleep. "I won't tell you," he said. He sat back, taking Avalon's hands so that she sat up as well. "How do you feel about going for a walk?"

"If we can get through it without a monster popping up, Smurf, I'll willingly sit still the next time you need a test subject for whatever crazy experiment you have." She lifted a finger. "With minimum snark."

"I don't think you can go through a simple conversation without snark, Ava," Billy pointed out. He pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Come on, there's a trail nearby. If we start now we can be back by…" he nodded towards the wall. "The time they're done."

"You truly know the way to my heart, Smurf," Avalon teased. She climbed off the bed and grabbed his hand. "Let's go." The two left their room, bumping into Jason and Trini stretching in the hallway, already dressed in workout clothes. "I see you two are seconds away from heading for the hills."

"Please," Zack said, popping his head around the corner. "You know those two can't stand the thought of missing even one workout. Do you remember what happened for my birthday? When we had all that cake and the next thing you know, they somehow managed to convince all of us to go to the gym to do a high intensity workout."

"Wasn't that when you threw up all over me?" Jason asked, hands on his hips as he continued to bend back and forth.

"Yep, that's it," Zack agreed, snapping his fingers. "I knew somehow I'd get back at you, I just didn't know it would've come that fast."

"I did," Trini remarked. "Once I saw how fast your face was turning green." She pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "Do you want to come with us? We were going to go running up the trail at the back of the house."

"We were about to go hiking yourselves," Billy agreed, motioning between himself and Avalon. Then he looked to Zack. "Do you and Angela want to come with us?"

"So long as I don't have to listen to that," Zack pointed towards the closed door to Tommy's and Kimberly's room. "I'll do anything."

"Let me just get Bay. I'm sure there's some rocks she can climb up there." Avalon said. She leaned towards the bedroom door then smirked, leaning back once more. "And it'll be symbolic, yeah. She'll be climbing rocks, Tommy's getting his off—"

At that, Zack reached out and knocked on the closed door and sprinted after Avalon as she ran away, leaving Billy, Jason, and Trini to laugh.

The rangers' week at the cabin was soon ending. The weekend came faster than any of them anticipated, they were having too much fun. A week away from school, homework, and ranger duties was certainly something they needed.

Days filled with trips to the lake; sunbathing, playing volleyball, tubing, swimming, and going out on the boat Billy's family owned, trips into town; shopping for the girls, working out at the gym for the guys, finding restaurants to eat at every day—other than the food they bought to eat at the cabin.

Even Billy, who Zack teased for being so tightly wound, put aside his studies and experiments for the week. Zack already was looking forward to the week and he couldn't let the festivities end. Not yet. There was always something to do and if they were going to go out with a bang then it had to be a big one.

Zack brought it up to his friends at breakfast that morning. "We already told everyone at school we're going to have a party, so let's have one."

''I don't know," Kimberly said slowly.

"You were into it when we were at school."

"Yeah, when we were at school," Kimberly reminded him. She hugged her bowl of cereal to her chest, spinning her spoon around her fingers. "It's different. We were talking around our exams and were desperate to have some fun. We've been having a lot of fun up here."

"What are we talking about?" Angela asked, sashaying into the kitchen. She dropped next to Zack and pulled out her cell phone to look through it. "I heard something about having fun and if there's anything I know of, it's how to have fun."

Normally the comment would've made Zack smile. He would've believed it. Had he not known that what made her 'fun' was how much she drank. And he found over the last week that she drank a lot. Nearly every day. A beer at night and more likely another one the next morning. Boy, Zack realized, was she used to it. She drank a bottle and was perfectly fine, of which would've made one of the rest of them drunk out of their minds.

Zack knew how that felt, anyway. One night, when the rest of the rangers had already gone to bed, Angela convinced him to try drinking. He'd agreed to it, wanting to at least see what all the fuss was about. The first time, he'd ended up with such a hangover it wasn't funny. He hadn't eaten anything along with it, hadn't done anything but tip his head back and take Angela's encouragement and support to finish the rest. Boy did he had a headache the next day. Cotton mouth, throwing up, all of it. And yet, Angela continued to encourage him to join her whenever she was looking to have a good time.

"Let's be honest, Zack," Angela said one night, her words slurring together. "Your friends are total squares. They don't know how to have a good time."

Zack defended them. At least he thought he did. The details were a little fuzzy. They usually came back at some point, but he couldn't quite remember. "We were just talking about whether we were going to have a party," he explained. "Last few days."

"We totally have to!" Angela declared, her head snapping up. "This place is perfect for it. It'll be a blast. And besides, you already told Bulk and Skull you were going to have one."

"She has a point," Avalon agreed. She rested her chin in her hands. "And, problem is, once Bulk and Skull get something in their minds, it's hard to get it out."

"That's because there's nothing left in their heads to block those ideas," Trini said, making Kimberly laugh and try to hide it by covering her mouth."

"Bulk and Skull being mentioned should be your first worry," Jason said slowly. He exchanged a glance with Tommy, who nodded in agreement. "They have a reputation for a reason. And it's not a good one."

"They're harmless," Avalon said.

"Harmless isn't quite the word I'd used," Bailey pointed out. It was the first time she'd spoken since that morning. "Goofy, maybe. Silly. Funny. Cowardly. All those words I reckon I'd use. But not harmless."

"Exactly why we should be worried if they're coming to the party," Angela said. She leaned back, crossing her legs at the knee. "There's always something those bozos can get up to, they can ruin a pretty good time. No, we can't invite them. My friends are pretty cool and they can score some good food and music." Her fingers already moved through the contacts on her phone, moving to make a group contact list to invite.

"Well, it's all the main brain's decision over here, anyway," Zack insisted. He reached out and clapped his hand onto Billy's shoulder, watching the blue ranger's face throughout the conversation. He'd stayed pensive as he listened to everyone speak. "It's his place, his rules, his decision."

Billy sighed, folding his arms. "If everyone already thinks we're having a party, then we may as well," he said. "I did invite all of you up and you've done a respectable job to keep things clean around here." He grinned over at Tommy, whose eyes widened innocently.

"I did my best, alright," Tommy said. "I just…I've never really been organized." Kimberly threw and arm around her boyfriend's shoulders and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. Angela glanced at them and rolled her eyes, still sticking her nose in her phone.

"I think we already knew that by looking at your locker, bro," Jason commented. He smiled, ignoring the jab of the elbow that Trini threw into his side. "It's like a bomb went off."

Avalon looked at her boyfriend with raised eyebrows. "So, does that mean we're having a party, or no?" She asked him. "It's all up to you, Smurf."

Billy thought for another moment the nodded.

Zack whooped, throwing his hands into the air, much like he'd done when finding out about their trip in the first place. Beside him, Angela squealed in delight as well. She leapt to her feet and hurried from the kitchen, calling over her shoulder as she went, "I'm going to invite everyone!"

Shaking his head, Billy ran a hand through his hair. "Why do I get the feeling I've just made a big mistake?"

"Excuse me, but we're in party central now, you can't think like that," Zack said. "I won't let you." Zack folded his arms. "And it's going to be the blowout of the year! A party we'll never forget."

A/N: Well, everything starts with the next chapter, just had to have them have some sort of fun while together before the tragedy starts. Hope you all don't hate me too much.

Sorry it took so long to update. What do you think is going to happen next? There are some points of foreshadowing in this chapter despite the time jump that happened. I needed to speed up the pace a little bit. Chapters do get longer after this one. Also, I'm open for my next character focused Powerless story to be worked on, your choices are; Tommy, Billy, Jason, Zack, Avalon, and Bailey's stories. Which one would you like to see next?

~Av