Madison sighed, staring off the balcony. She'd been studying all evening for one of the summer classes she was taking, but she couldn't concentrate. It had been almost a year now since the whole fight with Jason had started and they hadn't even spoken since just after Christmas. Finally giving up on studying, she closed the book and leaned on the railing.

"Maybe I should call him," she said quietly, talking to herself.

"Call who, sis?" Vida said from behind her.

Madison jumped in surprise, turning to look at her sister.

"Oh, umm… no one," she said quickly, knowing full well how Vida felt about Jason still.

"Uh-huh," Vida said, dropping down onto the swing next to her twin. "Well, you just talked to dad last night, so I'm pretty sure it's not him. And the only other guys you'd be calling for anything anymore are in their rooms—no phone call necessary."

Madison sighed, dropping her gaze to her lap.

"Maddy, what's the point?" Vida said, leaning back against the seat and staring up at the evening sky. "He obviously doesn't want to talk to us. The last time we saw him he flipped out and took off. And he hasn't bothered to call since. We're better off leaving it alone."

"I know," Madison said, leaning back with Vida. "But he's our brother—we can't avoid him forever, sis. Mom will get the three of us together again one way or another."

"And we'll deal with that when the time comes," Vida shrugged. "You can't tell me you really want to get in a fight with him again right now."

She sat up, crossing her arms as she looked at Madison.

"No," Madison mumbled. "I just hate the way things are…I wish he would call…"

For a moment Vida said nothing, and then she sighed, leaning back again.

"Yeah," she said. "So do I…"

The Twins Graduate

"Congrats, girls," Jason smiled, holding out his arms for a hug. "I'm proud of both of you."

Smiling, Vida and Madison hurried over to hug him, trying not to get run over in the swirling crowd of graduates, friends, and families. Both of them were holding tightly to their diplomas, grinning from ear to ear.

"So where were you, big brother?" Vida asked, smacking Jason on the arm as he let go. "Because you definitely weren't here before everything started. Trini was here with Mark, but she told us you were driving separately."

"Did you even see the ceremony?" Madison added, crossing her arms as she looked up at him.

Jason sighed.

"Yes, I saw the ceremony," he said. "The only thing I missed was all of you walking in to your chairs. So, nothing too important."

The girls rolled their eyes. Behind them, Mr. and Mrs. Rocca were smiling as they shook their heads, only half paying attention while they spoke with some of the other parents.

"Then why were you late?" Vida demanded, glaring at him.

"I was picking up your present," Jason said defensively.

The girls exchanged a confused look.

"Umm… Jason?" Madison said. "Don't you think that could have waited? I mean, we are having a party tomorrow. That's when everyone else is bringing gifts…"

Jason snorted.

"Yeah, I don't think that would have worked," he said. "I think I'd have been in trouble for waiting that long…"

"You got that right," someone else said off to the side. "I'd have killed you if you left me at the airport that long."

The girls spun in surprise.

"Tommy!" they exclaimed in unison, running to hug him.

He laughed, hugging them back. The girls started talking excitedly at the same time. Neither had expected to actually see him there.

"Slow down," Tommy laughed. "I can only understand you both at once if you're saying the same thing."

The girls blushed and paused for a moment.

"When did you get home?" Madison asked.

"Yeah, weren't you stuck in a desert somewhere?" Vida added.

"Just got back," Tommy answered. "That's why Jason was late. He was picking me up. And yes, I was stuck in a desert until about… hmm…"

He glanced at his watch, frowning.

"19 hours ago?" he said hesitantly. "Anyways, the point is, I'm back. A little later than planned, but I made it."

Originally, Tommy was supposed to have been home two days prior to graduation. However, he'd been on a dig out in the desert near Morocco and, when they had tried to return to civilization so he could fly back to the States, their vehicles had broken down leaving him and the crew stranded in the desert. Fortunately they had still had enough supplies to last a while, but he'd had to tell the girls—through Hayley—that he wasn't going to make it back in time for their graduation.

"Tommy," Mrs. Rocca said, frowning as she looked at him. "When was the last time you slept?"

He paused, thinking, and then shrugged.

"No idea," he said. "But I think it's been a while."

She sighed, shaking her head.

"Why didn't you sleep on the plane?" Trini asked, holding tightly to Mark's hand as he tried to take off after something.

Tommy took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair.

"I tried to," he muttered. "But I got stuck in coach on an international flight between a married couple who probably shouldn't be married… They spent the entire flight arguing in Hindu…"

He sighed, shaking his head.

"Anyways," he continued. "Sleep didn't happen. And then Jason picked me up and we came straight here. He didn't even give me a chance to clean up."

He glanced down at himself before shooting a look at Jason. Tommy's clothes were rumpled and dusty from being out in the desert. In addition to the dark circles under his eyes from not sleeping, it was also apparent that he hadn't shaved in several days and his hair, usually spiked up, was all over the place.

"Jason," Trini said, shooting a look at her husband.

"What?" he said, putting his hands up. "I didn't want to miss anything. If I had stopped to let Tommy change, we really would have been late."

"Oh, yeah," Tommy snorted. "Because giving me ten minutes to change my clothes and wash up really would have made that big of a difference."

"Hey, I wasn't missing their graduation," Jason protested. "Besides, I wasn't sure where they'd fall in the line-up of like three hundred students."

Tommy rolled his eyes.

"Yes, because figuring out where 'Rocca' falls in the alphabet is difficult," he said drily.

Jason glared at him.

"Now, now, boys," Trini said, interrupting. "Play nice."

The girls snickered, grinning at each other.

"Tommy?" a surprised voice said.

Hayley had just walked up next to Jason and was looking at Tommy in surprise.

"Oh, there you are," Tommy said. "I figured you were around here somewhere."

He moved over to give her a hug and a kiss as she continued to look at him in shock.

"Yes," she finally said. "I was talking to—that's not important. When did—how—what are you doing here? I thought you were stuck in a desert in Morocco."

Tommy frowned.

"Well, I was," he said. "We covered that… Jason?"

He turned to look at his best friend.

"Jase, didn't you tell her you were picking me up from the airport today?" he asked.

Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Tommy, she's your wife," he said. "Your brand new wife, actually. You've been married for what, five months? Why didn't you call her to tell her you had a way home?"

"Oh, I don't know," Tommy grumbled. "Maybe because you only gave me thirty minutes warning before the jeep showed up to pick me up in Morocco. I only had time to pack what I could fit in the one bag!"

"Hey, I had to call in a lot of favors to get you that jeep," Jason countered. "It's a good thing I had all of those connections from the Peace Conference in high school or—"

Trini cleared her throat, interrupting.

"You have connections?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ok, Trini has connections," he relented.

"Well you're the one who left halfway through," she reminded him.

"I had to come back to—" he started to protest, halting abruptly. "I—well…I had my reasons…"

He trailed off, frowning as Trini, Tommy, and Hayley all exchanged amused glances.

"The point is," Jason said after a moment. "I got you a jeep. And you could have called Hayley on the way."

Tommy sighed, running a hand through his hair a he glanced sheepishly at Hayley.

"Actually," he mumbled. "I'm pretty sure my cell phone is still in a tent in Morocco…"

"Oh, Tommy," Hayley said, shaking her head as she tried not to laugh. "We're going to have to get you a new one again, aren't we?"

"No," he said. "They're going to mail the rest of my stuff. It just might take a couple of weeks—or months…"

"You are not going a couple of months without a phone," Hayley said, crossing her arms. "We're getting you a new one."

"Yeah… Probably should," Tommy said. "But I have everything else important—or not."

"What else did you lose?" Vida asked, grinning.

"Pretty sure I left my keys there, too," Tommy muttered, feeling his pockets.

Hayley sighed.

"Oh, good," she said.

The girls were laughing now as Tommy started checking the rest of his pockets.

"Yep, forgot my keys," he said, stifling a yawn.

"When was the last time you slept?" Hayley asked, eying him.

He shrugged.

"I don't know," he said, looking at his watch again. "What time is it there? And are we counting the time change?"

He was frowning at his watch, concentrating as he tried to calculate an accurate time. Hayley sighed.

"Well, that answers my question," she said. "Tommy, you need to sleep."

"I can sleep later," he said, waving it off. "Besides, weren't we going to take them out?"

He frowned as he spoke, checking his pockets.

"So, I may have forgotten—no, I have to have that," he said.

Hayley raised an eyebrow as the girls giggled again.

"I have my wallet," Tommy said. "And my passport. Somewhere…"

"You have to have them," Madison said. "They wouldn't have let you back in the country without them."

"Tommy, aren't those in the front seat of my car?" Jason asked.

"Probably…" Tommy sighed. "I really don't remember…"

"Come on, girls," Mr. Rocca said, shaking his head. "You've got a lot of friends who want pictures with you. Including two rather impatient boys."

Xander and Chip were standing off to the side, grinning as they watched the group. Madison and Vida nodded, but before they took off they ran up to Jason.

"Thank you, big brother!" Vida said as they both hugged him. "Best graduation present ever."

Madison nodded in agreement.

"We can definitely share this one," she said. "And we'll be back in a little bit. Maybe you should let Tommy change…"

Jason rolled his eyes, but they just laughed. Xander and Chip joined them and the four graduates started talking excitedly. Hayley was fussing over Tommy, still trying to convince him they could do dinner another night.

"Alright," she sighed, relenting. "Then let's go get your stuff because you are not going out to eat looking like that."

"Come on," Jason said, pulling his keys out. "Let's go get his stuff."

Tommy and Hayley started to follow him out and then Tommy stopped.

"Hayley," he said, frowning. "I don't think I have my bag…"

She groaned, rubbing a hand over her face.

"Don't listen to him, Hayley," Jason said over his shoulder. "It's in the back of my car. He put it there himself. He's just crazy."

"Oh, right," Tommy said sheepishly, quickly following Jason as everyone burst out laughing.

Glaring at the letter that had appeared on his desk a few minutes ago, Jason suddenly picked it up and stuck it in his shredder. Three days in a row—they had officially crossed the line. His cell phone, which was sitting on the desk, started vibrating. Groaning, Jason reached for it.

"And let the games begin," he muttered, glancing at the caller ID. "I know, Zach, I know. There was another—"

But he was interrupted by a panicked burst of words he barely understood. Zach was talking too fast for him to get complete sentences out of the barrage of words. All he got was something about Zach's secretary, a letter, and coming over.

"Whoa, hold on a second," Jason said, interrupting. "Since when were you dating your secretary and why on earth are you going to hide at my house?"

Zach groaned.

"I'm not dating my secretary!" he cried.

"Then what's going on?" Jason sighed. "And at a speed I can actually understand."

"It's your sisters!" Zach snapped.

Jason groaned.

"I know about the letters, Zach," he muttered. "What does that have to do with your secretary?"

"I just got another one of those stupid letters," Zach growled.

"Yeah, I just got another one, too," Jason said shortly, glancing at his shred bin. "Pretty sure I just said that."

After the first round of individual letters, they'd all gotten the same thing for the next two months. Then, after three months of one letter a month, Mystic Force had started sending them once a week. That had started about two months before. And now they had gotten three in one week. They weren't getting the hint and it was really starting to irritate him.

"Jason, I was at work!" Zach shouted into the phone. "My secretary saw the letter!"

Jason froze, at a loss for a moment. So far, all of them had avoided anyone else seeing something they shouldn't. But he should have counted on it happening sooner or later. He took a deep breath, now understanding Zach's panic.

"Ok, breathe," he said. "What exactly did she see?"

"She walked into my office right as the stupid thing appeared above my desk," Zach exclaimed. "And I know she saw it because she stopped in her tracks. I covered as best I could and bolted before she could ask too many questions…"

Jason groaned, rubbing a hand over his face.

"What did you tell her?" he asked.

"I'm not exactly sure," Zach said. "I was panicking. But it was something about learning magic tricks to entertain my friends' kids when babysitting…"

"And she bought it?" Jason said in surprise.

"I really hope she did," he said. "But I'm hiding at your house until I know for sure. I don't want that kind of attention."

Jason frowned.

"I understand that," he said. "But why do you need to hide at my house?"

"Because it's out of L.A.," he answered.

"And so is your parents' house," Jason pointed out. "Can't you just stay there?"

"Yeah right," Zach snorted. "Not a chance when I'm worried about being outed. You're stuck with me until something happens—you are going to do something about this, right?"

Jason sighed, not answering for a moment. The letters had finally gone too far. As much as he still didn't want to talk to them at all, he had no choice but to deal with this now. Their identities were at stake now.

"I'll handle it," Jason growled. "Just don't kill yourself on the way here. One way or another, I'm going to make them stop."

Hanging up with Zach, Jason turned off his computer and headed for the door. Rocky and Adam, who were getting ready for the next class, looked up as he stormed out of his office.

"Jason, is everything alright?" Adam asked.

"PR issue," Jason snapped. "The latest round of letters has come a little too close for comfort. And now I've got no choice but to go deal with the rookies before they ruin everything."

Adam and Rocky exchanged grim looks.

"Go ahead," Rocky said. "We can cover here. Take care of the problem."

Nodding curtly, Jason grabbed his keys and headed out the door. When he arrived home a short time later, Trini was surprised to see him.

"Jason, why are you home so early?" she asked. "Don't you have classes this afternoon?"

"Adam and Rocky are taking them," he said shortly. "I have something else to deal with."

Trini frowned.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Jason glanced over at the kids and shook his head in response. Mark and Rose, seeing Jason home, came running over for hugs. For a moment his face softened as he smiled at them, giving his kids a hug.

"Why don't you go play with your rangers, Mark?" Jason said. "Let Rose play, too."

It didn't take a lot of encouragement for Mark to run for his favorite toys. It also didn't take much to get Rose to follow him. Nearly a year old, she was walking now and loved following her big brother everywhere. Once the kids were out of earshot, Jason quickly and quietly explained to Trini what Zach had told him. Her eyes widened in shock. Being discovered was a fear shared by all of the rangers who weren't already known. They loved being rangers, but they had also seen how much being publically known could affect their lives. None of them would be able to live normally if their secret got out.

"So what are you going to do?" Trini asked softly.

"I'm giving them what they want," Jason growled. "A response. Although I doubt it's going to end up being the one they were expecting."

She nodded as he headed toward the basement and his office.

"And watch for Zach," he said, pausing at the top of the stairs. "He'll probably be here soon and he's a little freaked out right now. Send the kids to chase him around the yard or something to wear him out."

Smiling, Trini nodded as he disappeared. But the smiled slipped away as her mind returned to the issue at hand.

"Things have certainly gotten out of control," she sighed, going to find Mark and Rose.

Down in his office, Jason dug through his desk for his good pen and the paper he saved for things like this. He didn't usually hand write a lot of letters anymore as most of the rangers he could just call or email, but when they had first started introducing themselves to other teams he and Tommy had written a lot of letters similar to the one he was planning on writing now—though none of those had been under circumstances like the current one.

"Ah ha," he muttered, finding his pen and then the paper.

Laying them out on his desk, he got comfortable and pulled a sheet toward him. For a long time he wrote nothing, trying to keep his anger from influencing the words he'd be putting on the paper. Finally he started writing.

Several false starts and rewrites later, he finally finished. Satisfied with the contents of the letter, Jason folded it carefully and grabbed an envelope. He also took his seal out from its hiding place—somewhere the kids couldn't find it—so that he could mark the envelope. Most of the rangers had a seal of their own in some form.

"Now how do I make sure it gets to them on time?" he muttered, looking at the envelope on his desk.

Deciding to worry about that in a few minutes, he picked up his phone. Dialing, he took a deep breath as he leaned back in his chair.

"Andros?" he said when the call was answered. "Hey, it's Jason. I need a favor."