Author's Note: If you didn't know (or suspect) who Nick's cousins were before, you get to find out now. And for all you complainers: suck it up! It's Ellen Brand's fault anyway. She had to write the Personality Conflicts series (which I highly recommend) and remind me they existed and how much I loved them as a kid. I've had this idea for years and now I finally get to use it. Yay! Oh, and Kim goes a bit um, odd – at the end. So you have to read at least some of the chapter even if you don't like Nick's cousins.

Oliver Family Reunion

By JDPhoenix

Chapter 4: Young Love

Josh smiled across the table at Nick's parents. They were nice people, but he couldn't help thinking there was something off about them. He really wanted an excuse to take them on a tour of the town the next day, just to see if his suspicions were warranted, but Nick kept insisting they had to make an early start. He wanted to get to Phoenix as soon as possible to tell his parents about his parents.

It was understandable.

Josh took another serving of casserole and smiled at Jo. She was a good cook, though he'd never known it until after they were married. There was a time when he never thought he'd even be able to admit he was interested, let alone marry her.

Josh was driven. Tommy and all the other Zeo Rangers agreed on that much. Josh had been sent to stay with his cousin, Tommy, while his parents went on a cruise. The boy had spent every day since arriving, in the Youth Center. He trained with the Rangers when they were up for it, and lifted weights when they weren't.

"Poor kid," Ernie said, setting down a tray of drinks for the six Rangers.

"Do you know what's wrong with him, Ernie?" Tanya asked. She had been worried about Josh ever since his arrival.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ernie asked. He looked around the table for someone who would understand. His gaze fell on Tommy and he realized he was talking to the wrong group. "He's in love."

"Really?" Kat and Tanya chorused. They turned to look at Josh, goofy smiles plastered on their faces.

"Whoever she is, he's head over heels and can't do anything about it. Poor kid," Ernie said again, walking away.

"That's so sad," Kat said.

"Yeah," Adam said, "wish we could help."

"You can," Bulk said, coming to stand by their table. Skull lurked in the background, smiling stupidly. Tommy shook his head, he still couldn't get used to them in police uniforms.

"What can we help you with Bulk?" Rocky asked good-naturedly.

"The publishers of Beetleborgs are holding a contest to placate fans after Art Fortunes' announcement," Skull said.

The Rangers stared at him.

"Did you just say 'placate'?" Tommy asked before he could stop himself.

"What announcement?" Jason asked quickly, shooting Tommy a look.

"Fortunes said that since all his monsters eventually get brought to life he's decided to start putting a fatal flaw in each of them so it's easier for the Beetleborgs to win," Skull said.

Bulk chipped in, "The comic book Beetleborgs won't notice the flaw and he asks that fans ignore it too. The publishers weren't happy, but they couldn't stop him, so they're holding a contest."

"The fans get to vote!" Skull said happily.

"And today is the last day of voting!" Bulk half-roared.

"I'd love to help," Jason said, standing and slapping Bulk on the shoulder, "but I've got to pick up my cousin."

"Your cousin?" Skull asked. "I thought Tommy's cousin was the one visiting for the summer!"

"He is," Tommy said, pointing to where Josh was assaulting a punching bag. The poor thing was going to burst at the seams if he kept on like that.

"But my aunt got called away on business at the last minute," Jason said. "Her husband died a few years ago, so we like to help out whenever we can. My older cousin is staying with his best friend, but since the younger one's a girl—." Jason shrugged and ran out the door.

"Poor kids," Bulk said. "So, what do the rest of you say?"

Somehow the others managed to talk Bulk and Skull out of making them call the number to vote for their preferred character. It had involved some careful talking, but eventually Bulk and Skull remembered that they were rooting for different characters. The two had been dragged off by Lieutenant Stone, yelling at each other all the way.

"Josh," Tommy said gently, laying a hand on his cousin's shoulder. "Come over and have a drink with us. Jason and his cousin'll be here soon, don't you want to be less- er, sweaty when they get here?"

Josh clenched his fists at his sides and bowed his head. "No," he said. Tommy was reminded of his Green Ranger days, the boy's tone was so dark.

"Okay. But if you want to talk about anything, I'm right here. You know that, right?"

"Yeah. Sure, I know."

Tommy walked away and Josh went back to hitting the bag. He vaguely registered hearing the others greet Jason and his cousin a few minutes later, but ignored it. He wasn't in the mood. He knew Art was doing something good. He knew it. But it still hurt. If the monsters were more easily beaten, that meant the Beetleborgs would do fine on their own. No need for a fourth member. No need for Josh Baldwin. No talking to Jo without Drew thinking something was up.

He punctuated each thought with a punch. His breathing was heavy and Tommy was right, he was sweaty.

The others had gone strangely silent, but Josh ignored it. He didn't want to think, he just wanted to hit something. And this bag was just asking for it.

"What'd the bad ever do to you?"

Josh gasped and jumped back. He regarded Jo with wide eyes.

"Long time no see," she said happily.

"Uh huh," Josh said, unable to think of anything else.

"Mind if I cut in?" she asked, indicating the bag.

"Uh uh."

"Cool." Jo balled her fists and hit the bag a few times.

Josh knew he was staring, but he couldn't look away. Jo was so comfortable fighting. She looked like she was made to bounce on the balls of her feet. But something was off, he wasn't sure what.

"What?" she laughed. Her eyes never left the bag.

"Huh?"

"You're staring. Is something wrong with my hair?"

Then it hit him. "You're hat! Where'd it go?"

"I figured no one here would notice it was gone and by the time Mom gets back I'll have had time to come up with a plausible reason why I'm not wearing it. Any ideas?"

"Why aren't you?"

She stopped moving and looked at her feet. "You'll laugh."

"No, I won't. Come on, tell me."

"Promise you won't tell anyone, even anyone in Angel Grove?"

"Beetle's honor," he whispered.

She giggled and he wished she'd do it again. She looked him in the eye and took a deep breath. "I want to be a girl," she said quickly.

Josh's eyes went wide. "Why would I laugh at that?"

"You don't think it's weird?"

"Oh please, you are a girl." She opened her mouth to protest and he held up a hand. "I know what you really mean and I don't think it matters. As long as you're still you, I'm happy."

Jo smiled. "Good." She turned back to the punching bag then shot him a sly look. "Wanna spar?"

He considered it a moment. "Uh, no. I've been working out for a while and I'm a bit tired. Plus, we both know you can beat me easy."

"I won't use my powers," she pleaded.

He shook his head. "No, I'm gonna go have a smoothie, you keep going though."

She nodded sadly and began punching once more as he walked away.

"Did you two know each other?" Tanya asked.

"Yeah," Josh said, rubbing the back of his neck as he sat down, "we both live in Charterville. It's a small town."

The others nodded in understanding. A strange beep went off.

"What is that? I've been hearing it everywhere," Josh said as he others stood.

"Uh, I don't know," Jason said, "maybe some new toy or something. Hey, we're gonna go to the park, would you watch out for Jo? Thanks, bye!"

The six teens ran off. Josh shook his head. They were clueless.

"That her?" Ernie asked, bringing Josh his favorite flavor of smoothie, though he hadn't ordered it.

"Who?" Josh asked, looking from Ernie to Jo.

Ernie shook his head and walked away chuckling, "Young love."

Josh lay awake that night, running through the facts in his head.

He would probably never be a Beetleborg again, which meant no excuse to talk to Jo without Drew getting mad. But now Jo was in Angel Grove with him and Drew was in Charterville. That meant he could talk to Jo all he wanted. But did he want to? Of course he wanted to. Did she want him to? He was several years her senior. Not much in the great scheme of things, but under the age of twenty it still seemed like a lot. What would she think if she knew how he felt?

Josh moaned. He hadn't always been like this. At first Jo had just been Drew's slightly annoying baby sister. But then they'd fought alongside each other. They'd spent afternoons cooped up in the mansion. He'd seen her act like herself: threatening house monsters, secretly reading romance novels in the basement with Little Ghoul, jumping up and down because they'd saved the world again. And he had fallen in love. Now he couldn't even walk into Zoom without looking around to see if she was there. He'd walk down the hallway at school and say 'hi' to her when he'd ignored a dozen girls who had said it to him. And she had done nothing to make him even think she liked him.

Even if Mrs. McCormack's trip took the rest of summer like she thought it would, Josh still only had a month. In a month the results of the contest would be announced and no matter who won, Drew would come to Angel Grove to make sure his little sister was safe.

One month, he thought. One month to find out if Jo liked him.

He rolled over and tried to go to sleep.

"They're so dumb," Jo giggled as Tommy and the others ran off a few weeks later, leaving her alone with Josh in the Youth Center.

Josh had taken advantage of the time alone with Jo, trying to become her friend as a person instead of as heroes saving the world. It was going pretty well. They actually hadn't mentioned their time as Beetleborgs in over two weeks and they were still managing to get along.

"Why?" Josh laughed.

"Don't tell me you don't know," Jo said, keeping her voice low and leaning across the table secretively.

"Know what?" Josh whispered, leaning closer too.

Jo sat back in her seat and glared at him. "If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you."

"Oh, come on!"

"No," Jo said superiorly. She got up and headed out the door. "Wanna go to the park?"

"There's a monster attacking," Josh said, indicating the television set on the counter.

"It's in the city, not the 'burbs. We'll be fine. I'll protect you," she added, putting her hands together meaningfully.

"Okay," Josh grumbled, getting up and following her out. "But if anyone's protecting anyone, I'll protect you."

Bulk and Skull bumped into them as they left.

"Shouldn't you two be handling crowd control?" Jo asked.

"This is more important than crowd control!" Skull cried, holding up a manila envelope.

Josh and Jo shook their heads and headed out.

"Be careful!" Bulk snapped as Skull tore at the lip of the envelope. "You don't want to damage it!"

"But we want to find out who won as soon as possible," Skull said, carefully ripping the paper. He slid a plastic-wrapped booklet out and the two stared at it as if it were the newly discovered Holy Grail.

"Ye- huh?" they chorused.

"It's nice out here," Jo sighed, taking a seat on a picnic table overlooking the lake. "Too bad monsters have to keep ruining it."

"You mean like Hillhurst?" Josh asked. He lay down on the grass a few feet away.

Jo smiled. "I like the monsters at Hillhurst, they don't try to conquer the world."

"But they eat delivery boys."

"Not so much anymore, we've really managed to cut down on the delivery boy fatality rate in Charterville."

"Charterville has to be the only city in America that has a delivery boy fatality rate worth mentioning."

"It's supposed to come out soon," Jo said suddenly.

"Yeah, I know." Josh started picking grass and throwing it to the wind.

"Did you vote?"

Josh's eyes widened. "Why would I vote?"

"Come on, Josh, just tell me."

"Yeah, I did," he sighed.

"Who for?"

"Jo," Josh groaned. "That's not fair."

"Why not?"

"It's supposed to be secret."

"It's a competition to see who the Platinum Purple Beetleborg will fall in love with! I think I'm allowed to know who you voted for!"

"Jo," Josh said slowly, turning to look at her. "It's not like it's real. Just because it happens in the comic doesn't mean it happens in real life."

"How do you know?"

"What?"

"How do you know that it won't really happen? That something about the magic won't make it happen next time we get an upgrade or something?"

Josh stood and walked over to Jo. He took her shoulders in his hands and made her look at him. "You listen to me, Josephine McCormack. You are going to fall in love with whoever you want, regardless of what some stupid comic book says. Do you understand me?"

Jo nodded, giving him a small smile.

"Good." Josh released her. He had only just realized how close he had been to her.

"Aw, look at that, two little love birds, all alone," a woman's voice crooned. The pair whirled to see a woman in golden armor standing on the path a few feet away.

"Uh oh," Josh said under his breath. He grabbed Jo's wrist and pulled her behind him.

"Uh, Josh," Jo whispered.

"What is it?"

"We're surrounded."

Josh stole a look over his shoulder and muttered a curse. Putties were behind them and a gorilla in gold armor had appeared a few feet to the woman's left.

"I really wish I had my powers back," Josh muttered.

"Bulkmeier! Skullovitch!" Lieutenant Stone roared. "What do you two think you're doing?"

The two junior officers jumped to attention and tried to hide the comic book behind their backs.

"We were- uh," Skull looked at Bulk.

"Making sure that people in the Youth Center remained calm during the current crisis," Bulk said proudly.

"The current crisis," Lieutenant Stone said, "is OVER! Now there are reports of monsters in the park and the Power Rangers have disappeared. We have been ordered to try and stop them from hurting anyone. Move!" Bulk and Skull marched-ran out of the Youth Center.

"What's up with them?" Adam laughed. He and the others had arrived at the Youth Center just as Bulk and Skull were leaving.

Ernie paled when he heard Adam's voice behind him. He quickly put on a cheery face before turning around. "Ah, Stone just gave 'em the riot act for sitting in here when there's a monster attack in the park. I sure hope Jo and Josh are all right," he added, almost as an afterthought. "I heard them mention something about going to the park."

Tommy and Jason were out of the Youth Center before their friends could even process what Ernie had said.

"Flabber!" Roland yelled, skidding to a stop as he let his super speed fade away inside the mansion.

"What happened?" Flabber yelled, ignoring the angry yells of the house monsters.

"The new comic came out today!" Roland yelled.

When the house monsters heard this they raced down the stairs to see who had won. They were all interested in finding out who the Purple Beetleborg would fall in love with.

"Where's Drew?" Flabber asked, his blue face paling.

"He's already on his way to Angel Grove to kill Josh."

"Josh won?" the house monsters chorused with varying degrees of disgust and happiness.

"And Shadowborg, if you can believe that," Roland said, pulling the comic from his back pocket. "It's a special double issue. The first half details how Lightning Blaster gets a major upgrade and has been pining for Purple all this time. The second half is his battle with Shadowborg, then with Gold because Gold wouldn't stand for Lightning dating his sister." Roland turned towards the end of the book. "I think Art wanted you to give Josh back his powers."

"Why?" Flabber asked.

"Because there's a line in here—here it is! Lightning says, 'I'm glad I got these upgrades, otherwise Gold would've killed me for dating his sister.'"

"Sounds pretty clear cut to me," Mums, the Egyptian mummy, said.

"I don't know," Flabber said. "Hold on a sec." He put a hand to his ear.

"What are you doing?" Roland asked.

"Listening to Josh. Huh! I didn't know he knew that kind of language. Oh, there it is. He wished for his powers back. Good enough for me."

"Leave those kids alone!" Bulk cried, running down a hill at the putties.

Jo rolled her eyes. The monsters weren't exactly doing anything. They'd just said they were waiting for the Power Rangers to show up and since Jo knew Drew would kill her if she was the reason Beetleborgs were seen in Angel Grove, she and Josh sat lazily on the ground.

Skull ran behind Bulk and Lieutenant Stone behind him. Bulk was halfway down the hill when Goldar threw a bolt of lightning from his sword. It landed just in front of the junior policeman, who tripped and rolled the rest of the way down the hill. Skull tripped over Bulk and Stone tripped over him. The three ended up in a pile at the bottom of the hill.

Josh shook his head, trying not to laugh.

"Get out of here!" a commanding voice yelled from the lakeshore.

Josh turned to see the Power Rangers.

"Oh," he said as the police ran away, "that's what you were talking about."

"Huh?" Jo asked, letting Josh pull her to her feet. She was intent on the comic book that had fallen out of Bulk's pocket and was being blown around by the wind.

"When you said they were dumb, you meant because they think no one knows who they are."

"Oh, right," Jo said distractedly. The comic book flew between Goldar and Scorpina and Jo jumped as it flew over her head, catching it between her hands like a bug. She eagerly opened the comic, trying to find the cover in the twisted and turned pages.

"Let those kids go, Goldar," the Gold Ranger ordered.

"Of course, in exchange for the Gold Powers," Goldar sneered.

A motorcycle could be heard revving in the background.

If Jo had been a Pink Beetleborg, she would have fainted, but as it was she was some combination of Red and Purple and that gave her a bit of an edge. "Run," she ordered Josh as she dropped the comic to the ground and cracked her knuckles.

"What?" Josh asked.

"I'll hold him off." That motorcycle was definitely getting closer.

"What are you talking about?"

The motorcycle suddenly came over the hill Bulk had just fallen down. It flew through the air and came to land behind Scorpina. The gold-clad Beetleborg dismounted and walked straight towards Josh. Scorpina and Goldar were so shocked that they didn't even bother to stop him.

Josh's eyes widened and he shot a glance at the comic book on the ground. His face paled and he backed up right into the putties. "Come on, it's just a comic book. It isn't real."

Jo walked up to the Beetleborg and firmly planted her hands on his chest. She managed to hold him back, but just barely. "What did I say about running?" Jo yelled.

"I would, if I wasn't being attacked by putties!" Josh yelled back. He dodged a fist and threw a punch of his own. One putty got a lucky hit to his back, sending him to his knees. Josh rolled out of the way, not noticing when something fell out of his pocket that hadn't been there when the fight began.

"Let me go!" the Gold Beetleborg roared.

"Not until you calm down!" Jo yelled. "It's a comic book! It doesn't mean it's actually going to happen! Do you think I'm just going to up and elope with Shadowborg if he shows back up?"

The Gold Beetleborg seemed to like this even less than Josh and grabbed Jo's wrists. "You are never leaving the mansion, ever again." He lifted her off her feet and handed her to Goldar.

"What are you doing?" Jo demanded.

"Lesser evil," Gold said calmly before turning back to Josh. He raced towards the boy with a battle cry of "I'm gonna kill you, Baldwin!"

Josh turned away from the putties at the sound. Instinct kicked in and he dove left, dusting his hands together. He had only enough time to remind himself that he didn't have his powers anymore before he realized that it had worked. He was invisible.

Gold began chasing the invisible Josh around the battlefield. The putties didn't know what to do. Scorpina was enjoying watching the mayhem. Goldar just wanted to let Jo go, she was really strong.

A shot rang through the park. Everyone turned to see Zeo Ranger One holding her gun straight up in the air. "Would someone like to explain what's going on around here?" she asked sweetly.

Jo kicked Goldar in the shin and he dropped her. "That's my brother, Drew," she explained. "I'm the Purple Beetleborg and our friend, Roland, is Silver. Josh used to be a Beetleborg, but he lost his powers." Jo picked up the comic book and the small metal device that had fallen a few feet away. "There was this contest in the comic book, to decide who Purple would fall in love with. Josh's character won." She held the metal device up, "And got a power upgrade."

"Hey!" Drew cried as Josh appeared by Jo's side and took his Databonder.

"The Beetleborgs are little kids?" the Blue Zeo Ranger asked.

"Please," Josh said, "we're barely younger than you guys. Don't act like it's not true, we know who you are."

"So what color are you?" Tommy asked. He lifted his hand to tub his temples before he realized that the helmet was in the way.

"I was White." Josh looked over the bonder in his hand. "Looks like I'm Black now."

"I used to be White," Tommy sighed, stretching. "I've never been Black though."

"What about you two?" Jason asked Drew.

"I- I used to be Blue," Drew sighed, realizing he wasn't going to get to kill Josh. "Jo used to be Red."

"I used to be Red too," Jason said, nodding. "Looks like colors run in families."

"Weird," Tanya said.

"Billy'll have a heyday with this," Adam added.

"Excuse us!" Goldar roared. "We are here to have a massive battle!"

Drew turned to Josh. "Let's see what those new powers can do."

Josh smirked.

The battle went pretty fast after that. Roland ran in halfway through and lent a hand—that pretty much ended the forces of evil's attempts to conquer the world for the day.

"I wonder if any other superheroes are related," Roland said. He and the other Beetleborgs had been invited to the Command Center after the battle. The excuse was that the Rangers wanted to offer them the use of the Command Center's first aid, but everyone knew Billy just really wanted to check out the Beetleborgs powers.

"Well," Billy said, examining one of the databonders, "my uncle created the VR Trooper's powers. His son is the Blue Trooper and I used to be the Blue Ranger."

"Huh," Roland said. "You know, my cousin, JB, lives around where the Troopers are usually spotted. And he wears a lot of black."

"But you were Green and Silver," Adam said.

"So?" Kat asked. "Just because some colors run in some families doesn't mean they all do."

"Guys," Jason said seriously, turning to the Beetleborgs. Tommy stood at his side, arms crossed. "You know you can't tell anyone you're superheroes, especially not now that we know we're all heroes."

"We know," the four chorused.

"If your parents ever found out, they might tell our parents," Tommy added, "then they'd find out."

"We know."

"And we have spent way too long lying to them for them to figure it out on their own," Jason said, "it would be better if we told them ourselves."

"We know."

Tommy opened his mouth to say something else when Zordon cut in. "I BELIEVE THEY GET THE IDEA," he said gently. "I HAVE LONG SAID THAT IT WOULD BE UNWISE FOR YOU TO TELL YOUR PARENTS ABOUT YOURSELVES WHILE YOUR LIVES ARE STILL IN DANGER. THE BEETLEBORGS HAVE NO DOUBT REALIZED THIS ON THEIR OWN."

"I always knew you guys were smart," Jason said, ruffling Drew's hair. "Let's get you two home before your parents realize you're missing."

Drew turned to face Josh. "You hurt my sister, and I will kill you."

"It's a comic book!" Josh yelled in aggravation.

"We should get going too," Tommy said when Drew and Roland had disappeared.

"Ah," Billy half-whined. "I wanted to study the effects of non-biologically related kin on color scheme."

"Later," Tommy promised, pulling Josh away from Billy's toolbox. "We have to get home and rest."

Billy hadn't gotten to run those tests yet, Josh remembered. He'd probably insist if Josh's instincts about Nick's parents were correct. He sighed and helped Jo clear the plates. He'd have to try to get more information out of them the next day.
Kim lay awake in bed. When the other female Rangers had arrived to help set up for Taylor's surprise baby shower they had quickly been filled in on the news. Kira had told them all that Hayley had left and Trent had said something about seeing Tommy at a liquor store. Trini and Kat thought she should go for it, force Tommy into marriage because he'd been stupid enough to propose while drunk. Kira had thought about it and agreed that she and Tommy should just get married. The girl seemed sure that Tommy was still in love with Kim, but it didn't make much difference. People had been claiming Tommy still loved her for years, he hadn't done anything about it.

Maybe it was her fault, she thought for the hundredth time. The letter had been a mistake, she knew that the moment it was sent. But it was something she needed to do for her own piece of mind. She had spent her nights in Florida staying up late, waiting for a phone call from the others to tell her they had survived the day. But the others were usually tired from battle and didn't think to call her before collapsing into their beds. She'd actually snuck out a few nights and gone down to the local train station where televisions were set to the major news channels, and just sat their in her pjs and an overcoat, waiting for them to say something about Angel Grove and the Power Rangers.

She thought that maybe, if she left Tommy, she wouldn't worry so much anymore, but, in the end, that had just made her worry more because she knew he was probably broken up about it and he was sloppy when he was depressed.

She rolled over quickly and beat her pillow several times before settling back down, looking at the ceiling. Stupid Tommy Oliver. Stupid Power and its ability to hide almost all signs of drunkenness. Stupid Hayley—didn't she know Tommy was incapable of being on his own?

Kim sat up straight in bed. Tommy was drunk and on his own. She threw her feet over the side of the bed and raced out of the room. She had to save Tommy!

AN: For those of you who are totally disgusted, the Beetleborgs only show up for a couple minutes later in the story and the Troopers are never mentioned again. Next Chapter: how Tommy ended up on YouTube