Timeline: after Insomnia
Challenge: Album (number 22)
As Jack and Z made their way back to their respective rooms with the rest of the team, they shared a glance and a grin. As soon as Cruger had moved on to another wing, Z would quietly sneak back down to Jack's room to spend the remainder of the night. As Syd dimmed the lights and snuggled down into the pink comforter, Z wondered, if she had spent the night with Jack, would they both have been up moping all night?
The Power tracked Cruger walking past the doors, and further down the hall, turning the corner…and out of earshot. "Bye Syd, see you tomorrow," Z whispered as she replicated, sending a duplicate out the door to make sure the coast was clear. Syd mumbled something, hugging Peanuts closer.
Making her way to Jack's room, she tapped their code on the doors. Not many would recognize the original morpher chime, but it was easy to remember and tap, and that had become their code that the other was ready to spend the night. She heard footsteps make their way to the door, and the doors whooshed open in the quiet of the night. Slipping in, she watched as Jack relocked the doors, and made his way back to the bed.
"What were you doing? It took you long enough to answer," Z teased, smirking. Jack yawned, motioning to the bed. Laying the red comforter was the album that she had given him for his birthday.
"Just wanted to see how we've come. I have to admit, it's been a long ways," he replied, gently picking up the leather-bound book. Z curled up around him, head resting on his shoulder as he continued flipping through the pages. It was a little depressing, but still empowering. They had gone from begging for scraps of food, to becoming more confident in their abilities and being able to steal their food. Then came the next stage, when, looking back, the Power first started tapping them on the shoulder. The undeniable strength of right and wrong flooded them, and they started using their powers to aid those less fortunate than themselves, which in their city, was a sadly large number. Next was Cruger, and his offer of a way out. Then came the morphers, the Power singing happily at having a team reunited, and then SWAT mode.
So from helpless street rats to the first line defense of Planet Earth, they had made great leaps and bounds, and, better or worse, were still changing, still metamorphing towards something even greater.
"Let's put this thing up and get some sleep. Only a few hours before we have to be up and ready again." With that, the book was carefully put back on the shelf, lights dimmed, and blankets rearranged.
As she curled against Jack's chest, listening to that steady, hypnotizing beat of his heart, she realized that they had come even further than any of them had realized. Smiling into the night, she made a pledge to herself that by their wedding, she would have made another album. Instead of the transformation from street urchin to Power Rangers, this one would chronicle their stretch from friends to siblings to something more, something sacred and special.