Goodbye Party

"Who are you?" Vida asked, standing with the front door open.

She had answered the door to see three people she didn't recognize. There were two boys and a girl looking back at her, seeming slightly surprised by the question.

"I'm Aisha," the girl said. "This is Adam and Rocky. We're some of your brother's friends."

"I've never seen you before," said Vida, not budging from the doorway. "Why haven't you ever come over?"

Aisha hesitated, glancing at Rocky and Adam.

"Out of the way, kiddo," Jason said, walking up behind his sister. "Hey guys. Ignore the kid. Come on in."

Reaching the doorway, he reached over and put a hand in Vida's face, pushing her out of the way as she protested.

"Jason!" Aisha exclaimed in surprise as the three stepped inside.

"What?" he said. "Agh!"

Vida, glaring at him, had just kicked Jason in the ankle.

"V!" he said.

"You deserved it," she said, crossing her arms. "And I'm telling mom."

Jason glared at her.

"Mom said you're supposed to leave me and my friends alone," Jason retorted. "So she's just going to tell you to stay away."

Vida stuck her tongue out at him in response as Tommy came walking down the hallway with Madison bouncing along next to him.

"Hey guys," he grinned. "Just ignore them. They're always like that."

"Yep," Madison agreed, nodding. "Always."

"We are not!" Vida and Jason protested.

Everyone else started laughing.

"Oh, shut up," Jason muttered. "Come on, guys. Everyone else is in the basement."

All of the rangers were at Jason's house for a goodbye party. Jason, Trini, and Zach would be leaving that weekend for the Peace Conference. So they were all taking advantage of the opportunity to hang out before the three left.

"You two look a lot alike," Rocky said, frowning as he looked at Madison and Vida.

"They're twins, Rocky," Jason said, shaking his head.

"Oh," Rocky said sheepishly as Tommy, Aisha, and Adam laughed.

Vida and Madison exchanged looks, rolling their eyes.

"Come on, man," Adam said, putting a hand on Rocky's shoulder. "Let's go see what there is to eat. You were complaining the whole way here that you were hungry."

"Well, I am," Rocky protested.

"Rocky, you're always hungry," Aisha sighed.

The other three boys snickered.

"You're gonna have your hands full, bro," Jason grinned, elbowing Tommy.

"Full of what?" Chip asked, popping up behind them.

Xander was with him and they were both looking at Aisha, Adam, and Rocky.

"Full of trouble," Jason laughed as Tommy elbowed him back. "And none of it's mine."

Tommy glared at him.

"No, because you're taking off on me," he retorted. "Just had to decide to spend your last year of high school away from home, didn't you?"

Jason shrugged, still grinning. He knew Tommy was teasing. They had argued about Jason going at first because Tommy wasn't sure he wanted to lead the rangers on his own. But he had come around. The twins, on the other hand, still weren't happy about their brother leaving.

"You should stay home," Madison said, looking up at Jason. "I don't want you to leave."

"Me either," Vida agreed.

"Sorry, kiddos," Jason said, reaching out to ruffle both of their hair. "But I'm going. Don't worry, I'll come home eventually. Who knows? Maybe I'll be back sooner than you think since Tommy can't seem to stay out of trouble."

Tommy glared at him.

"You get into just as much trouble as I do, bro," he growled back. "How many times have I had to save your butt?"

"Probably just as many times as I've saved yours," Jason countered.

"And this is what we have to look forward to?" Rocky asked, looking at Tommy. "Constantly saving you?"

"Certainly not my plan," Tommy grumbled. "It's not my fault I seem to attract everyone's attention…"

"Sure, bro," Jason snorted. "Like you've never made yourself a target."

Tommy glared at him again. The eight-year-old twins exchanged looks with each other and their friends.

"Big brother, you are weird," Vida announced. "And so are your friends. Why don't you ever make sense? You confuse me…"

"That's what big brothers are for," he grinned. "Now get out of here. This party is just for me and my friends."

Sticking their tongues out, the girls grabbed Xander and Chip and took off down the hall.

"Well, they're certainly a handful, aren't they?" Aisha said, smiling as she watched them go.

"You have no idea," Jason grumbled.

The group headed down the stairs to join the others.

"So are they rangers in training, then?" Rocky grinned. "Because I have a feeling they wouldn't let the bad guys push them around."

Jason growled at him.

"Never," he snapped. "They are never putting themselves in danger like that if I have anything to say about it."

"Relax, Jase," Tommy said, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "Let's have fun before you have to leave—or before Rita decides to start throwing more monsters at us and interrupts the party."

Shooting one last glare at Rocky, Jason nodded and they continued down to join the rest of their friends.

"Guys, I'm really starting to worry," Vida sighed, setting down her book. "Jason and Tommy left the day before yesterday and we still haven't heard anything…"

They were all at Rootcore, trying to get some studying done before work. But Vida was having trouble concentrating, as was Madison.

"Maybe we should just call them," Madison suggested, setting her own book aside. "I know they said they'd call with an update—but what if something happened?"

"Then call them," Nick said. "We need to make sure Tommy isn't still under a spell anyways."

The girls nodded. Madison reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.

"I'll try Tommy first," she said. "Jason might just be busy with the new baby and I don't want to bug him if we don't have to…"

Dialing Tommy's number, she put the phone to her ear. The other rangers had set aside their study materials, no longer able to concentrate. After a few rings, Tommy picked up.

"Hello?" he mumbled, sounding half asleep.

Madison's eyes widened in concern. It was really late in the morning for Tommy to still be sleeping.

"Tommy?" she said. "It's Maddy…"

"Maddy?" he repeated, and she could hear him shifting.

"Yeah," she said. "Were you sleeping?"

"Uh-huh," he yawned. "Finally getting to bed…After we got back I spent over fourteen hours at the hospital with Jason pacing around the waiting room. Wouldn't let me sleep… Then things got a little crazy with everyone wanting to see the baby and me and—long story short I just got home a few hours ago and haven't had more than an hour or two of sleep since I left Briarwood…"

"Sorry," Madison said apologetically. "I wasn't trying to wake you up…"

"It's fine," Tommy said. "What's wrong? Is there an emergency?"

"No," Madison said slowly.

"Good," said Tommy. "Then I'm going back to bed. I'll talk to you later. Love you. Bye."

"Bye," Madison echoed as he hung up the phone.

The others were looking at her expectantly. She shrugged.

"I think he's ok," she said. "He's home."

"Guess I'll try Jason then," Vida said, pulling out her own phone.

It took Jason a little longer to answer than Tommy.

"Hello?" he answered distractedly.

"Hey big brother," Vida said.

"V?" Jason said. "Oh no. I didn't—I forgot to call you, didn't I? I'm so sorry… Mom knows—what?"

In the background Vida could heard Trini scolding Jason.

"Well it's not my fault!" he protested. "Do you realize just how many people I've had to call over the past two days? It's a lot to keep track of. And that's after waiting around the hospital for fourteen hours—Ok. I did not mean that the way it sounded—Trini, do not throw that at me."

Vida snickered as she heard a loud bang through the phone.

"Sorry, V," Jason said quickly. "We had a girl. Her name is Rose. Gotta go. Love you bye!"

He hung up and Vida started laughing harder.

"What's so funny?" Chip asked.

"Well, the baby's name is Rose," Vida said. "And Jason is in some serious trouble with Trini right now."

"Oh," Madison said, trying not to laugh.

But after Vida started repeating the conversation, all of them were laughing.