All right guys and Thicker than water comes to an end. I hope you enjoyed it there will be a few more posts getting the other version of the ending up, so a little different style this time. Thanks for reading and as always the reviews and feedback we have gotten has been much appreciated. Thanks again and see you next time!
Peace out from
Superdory57 and hazergirl1220
Epilogue
"Do I have employees or lay-abouts?" Toby frowned, standing in the doorway of his office. "Aren't you supposed to be unpacking this morning's shipment?"
The rangers sighed, all of them glancing up at him. Xander was leaned back in his favorite chair, eyes closed as he relaxed. Madison was at the counter working on some reading for a class she'd be taking for the fall semester. Nick was sitting next to her on her computer, looking through some of the videos she had stored there. Vida was wandering in circles with a pair of headphones on and Chip was lying on his back on the floor by the DJ tables, tossing a ball up and down.
"We're working on it, Toby," Xander answered. "It'll be done."
"Uh-huh," he said doubtfully, shutting his office door and walking toward the front of the shop. "I'm going out. When I get back I'd better see you all working or you're all fired."
The threat didn't scare them much. He'd been threatening to fire them since they started and had yet to actually do so, even after all of their taking off during their stint as rangers.
"Don't worry, it'll be done," Nick said absently, looking at the computer again.
Shaking his head, Toby stepped out and let the door shut behind him. For a while it was quiet and then Nick sighed, closing the laptop.
"Alright, guys," he said. "Let's get it done."
"Mmm k," Xander said, not moving. "Chip, you're on that, right?"
Chip turned to glance at Xander, nearly missing the ball as it came dropping back down toward his face.
"Xander," Nick frowned.
"What?" Xander said, half sitting up to look at Nick. "It won't take us that long to do. And besides, Toby won't be back to check on us for hours. He might not even come back til morning."
Nick rolled his eyes, but didn't argue. Then the front door opened. All of them jumped in surprise. Chip really did drop the ball, hitting himself in the head with a yelp as he jerked up. Xander sat up in the chair and Madison, Vida, and Nick all spun to look at the door. But it wasn't Toby who walked in. Instead it was three other men, two they recognized and one they didn't. Conner was leading the three, flanked by a man they recognized as TJ and a stranger who looked vaguely familiar to the girls.
"What—" Nick started to ask.
"TJ? Eric?" Conner grinned. "Get 'im."
Still grinning, he pointed at Nick who looked back in surprise, leaping to his feet. With grins on their own faces, TJ and Eric strode straight over to the young red ranger and each of them took an arm.
"Wait a minute!" he protested as they started hauling him toward the door. "What is going on?"
"Conner, what are you doing?" Madison cried, getting to her feet and rushing after Nick.
He was struggling to get away, but neither of the other two men was letting go. Xander, Vida, and Chip were all on their feet now, too.
"Put me down!" Nick demanded, glaring at Conner.
Conner just laughed, shaking his head.
"Not a chance," he said. "You're coming with us."
The door opened again as TJ and Eric reached it. Jason walked in, holding the door open for the other two to haul the protesting Nick out of the shop.
"Jason, what is going on?" Madison demanded, hands on her hips as she looked at her brother.
"Sorry, Maddy," Jason said, shaking his head as he let go of the door. "But your boyfriend ticked off one to many red, so we're taking care of it."
Her eyes widened and she started to sputter in protest.
"Jason!" Vida exclaimed. "You can't do this! He hasn't done anything!"
The door swung open again and Tommy joined the group. Seeing the looks on the young rangers' faces, he sighed and turned to glare at Jason.
"Great, Rex," he said. "You just had to scare them, didn't you?"
"What?" Jason said, grinning. "I'm their older brother. It's my right to scare them."
Tommy rolled his eyes, turning back to the four remaining Mystic Force rangers.
"Guys, it's fine," he said reassuringly. "No one is going to hurt Nick."
"Aww… Dr. O," Conner complained.
"No, Conner," Tommy said.
"Fine," he grumbled, turning to reach for the door. "Then we're going with Plan B."
Opening the door, he strode out shouting something about paintball guns to someone they couldn't see. Groaning, Tommy rubbed a hand over his face.
"Well, you might be getting your red back eventually," Jason laughed.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Xander demanded as the rest of the team protested again.
"And this is why I came with you," Tommy muttered, glaring at Jason again before turning back to the younger rangers. "Don't worry, nothing is going to happen to him. We'll have Nick back to you tomorrow."
"What are you doing to him?" Madison demanded.
She whipped around to Jason.
"Jase, if this is you getting all of your friends to gang up on him just because he's my boyfriend I'm never speaking to you again!" she snapped, glaring at him.
"No, no, no," Tommy said, shaking his head. "That's not what this is about."
"Because I'm being good for once," Jason smirked.
"No, because your name didn't get drawn," Tommy corrected.
Xander frowned.
"Drawn?" he repeated.
Tommy nodded.
"It's something we do for all of the new rangers," he explained. "We've been doing it for years. Think of it as an initiation."
"Or hazing," Jason added.
"So then whose name got drawn?" Chip asked.
"Conner's," Jason grinned. "And we have no idea what he's planning."
The four young rangers groaned and Madison looked like she was about to start panicking.
"Don't worry," Tommy said quickly. "We've only ever had one broken limb."
He paused, glaring at Jason.
"Even if it was a complete accident," he continued. "We've set a few stricter rules in what is and isn't allowed since then."
"Hey, that was not my fault," Jason protested. "How was I supposed to know Cole would actually jump? None of the rest of you would have."
Tommy shook his head.
"Like I said, don't worry too much," Tommy reassured them. "Conner just turned twenty-one about a month ago. So, chances are, we'll probably just end up sitting around the campsite drinking while Nick acts as the slave and does everything for the rest of the reds."
"I think Conner said something about a paintball hunt with Nick as the prey," Jason added, still clearly enjoying himself.
Tommy sighed.
"So he may have a few bruises when he gets back," he admitted. "But I promise it's mostly harmless. But the rest of you will find that out over the next few weeks anyways."
"What?" Vida frowned, not sure what he was talking about.
Jason started laughing again.
"Yeah, you all get to do it, too," he said. "Though I'm kind of sad I only get one this year…"
"Yeah, well, I only get two this year," Tommy said.
"Some of us only have two colors," Jason countered.
"Two?" another man interrupted from the doorway. "Don't complain. Some of us only have one."
Tommy and Jason both turned to look at him.
"Did you need something, Wes?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Are you guys about done?" he asked. "Things are getting a little crazy outside. We're getting some weird looks from passersby."
"What's going on?" Tommy frowned.
"Eh, not much," he snorted. "Except Nick bit Eric in an escape attempt and now Eric is ready to kill him. Shane and Andros are trying to keep him away and TJ is pretty much sitting on Nick now, but we really should get going…"
"Just tie him up," Jason said, shaking his head. "We brought rope for a reason."
"Yeah, we tried that," Wes said. "He set it on fire. No more rope."
Sighing, Tommy moved toward the door.
"Alright, we're coming," he said. "Hurry up and say goodbye, Jase."
He followed Wes out the door, shouting before the door had even shut behind him.
"Eric, knock it off!" he shouted. "And Nick, get in the van. You're just making it harder on yourself. If you don't get in and quiet down—"
The door shut behind him, cutting off whatever threat he was making. Jason just continued to smirk, shaking his head.
"So this is going to happen to all of us?" Chip asked nervously.
"To some extent," Jason shrugged. "Not all of you will be dragged out and tied up, but you won't know it's coming til it happens."
"But how will we know it's them?" Xander asked.
"Oh, you'll know," Jason said. "Whoever's in charge will make it clear why they're there. And I know who got drawn for each color already so they know not to surprise you in the middle of any kind of training. We don't need any magical accidents."
They exchanged looks.
"Yeah, that wouldn't go so well, big brother," Vida said, shaking her head. "So, can you tell us what they're going to do to us?"
He shook his head.
"Nope," he said. "Because I have no idea. All I know is who is in charge of each group this year."
They all looked at him expectantly.
"Well?" Vida said.
"Alright, alright," he relented. "Vida, you got lucky. Cassie is in charge this year. Which means you might actually get to do something other than go shopping or spend the day at a spa. She'll probably end up doing something musical."
Vida grinned.
"I think I could handle that," she said.
"I figured," he smiled. "And Maddy, you really have nothing to worry about."
"Why?" she asked.
"Well, Billy has never had a chance because he's been off planet," Jason explained. "So the blues didn't draw this year, they just gave it to him. Worse thing you might have to do is some kind of experiment in his lab. Just don't touch anything you don't recognize without his permission and you'll be fine."
She nodded, looking a little relieved.
"And Kelsee is taking the yellows this year," Jason said, moving on to Chip. "I don't know what she's doing, but I know it'll be something fun."
Chip grinned, somewhat excited now. Jason started to say something to Xander when the door opened again and Tommy hurried in.
"Jase, we gotta to," he said.
"Wait a minute," Xander protested. "He hasn't told me who got the greens."
Tommy stopped, a smirk crossing his face.
"Oh, don't worry, Xander," he said. "I got the greens this year."
Xander froze, looking at Tommy in surprise. Still smirking, Tommy moved to hug Madison and Vida goodbye.
"We'll have Nick back tomorrow," he promised. "See you girls later."
He turned to head back out the door. Pausing, he stopped to nod at Xander.
"Xander," he grinned.
Spinning, he let out an evil laugh as he walked out the door. Jason jerked, glaring after him. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head and gave his sisters a quick hug.
"Love you both," he said. "See you tomorrow."
Rushing out the door, he started shouting after Tommy.
"Bro, if you're going to do that all night I swear—"
The door slammed behind him, effectively cutting off whatever threat he was making to Tommy. For a moment no one said anything and then Madison sighed, turning away from the door.
"Oh, I hope they don't hurt him," she mumbled, shaking her head.
"Don't worry, sis," Vida said. "He'll be fine, you'll see."
Madison glared at her twin.
"Oh, I'm sure," she said. "Jason's there, V. Tommy's bad enough sometimes, but if they're both there…"
"Relax," said Vida. "It's not like Jason's in charge of his."
"Yeah," Chip laughed. "Like Tommy is in charge of Xander's. Right, Xander?"
He turned to the green ranger. Xander was still staring at the door.
"Xander?" Chip repeated. "Earth to Xander."
"I'm going to die…" Xander groaned, finally breaking his stare and turning to his teammates. "I'm a dead man walking."
All three of them burst out laughing.
"Yes, yes you are," Vida agreed. "So let's get some work done before you die."
"But I get to meet Kelsee!" Chip exclaimed as they started heading toward the back.
Madison, Vida, and Xander exchanged looks.
"Who's Kelsee?" Vida asked. "Other than a yellow?"
Chip groaned, looking at his teammates in exasperation.
"Don't you guys ever pay attention?" he asked, grumbling. "She's from Lightspeed…"