"That little boy isn't Wesley…." He searched her eyes. "Is it?" And the more he looked at the photo, the more he could see very clearly that it wasn't his son and that Hayley was much younger in this picture than she was when little Wesley was born. He turned to her, barely able to find the words. "You had another son."

"I did." Hayley bowed her head down; the memory of that day was still very clear in her mind. She remembered what it felt like to hold the brand new life in her arms, his face, his eyes, the sound of his breathing. And then the hard part ….what it felt like when she had to let him go, knowing that she would probably never see him again. "I was still in college, still too young to raise a baby, I knew I had to give him up." She sighed heavily as she took the picture back from Eric. It was the only thing besides the painful memories that she had left of him. "That was over twenty years ago." He had been born June 10th 1999, but she had only known she was pregnant for the last six months. The first three she had been unaware - she had been feeling sick but thought nothing of it until one of her roommates suggested she take a home pregnancy test. And sure enough she was pregnant.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" He couldn't begin to understand why she would have kept something like this from him. It wasn't like he would have held it against her, after all that was years ago, a time when he had not been part of her life. But this was something he should have known, wasn't it? He had told her everything about his life, his hard upbringing ….and up until now he had thought he had known everything about her. Now, he wasn't so sure. Could there be more secrets that she was keeping from him?

"I didn't mean to, it was just. …It took me a long time to get over giving him up and I guess I thought if I brought it up, that it would start to hurt all over again." Hayley took his hand, squeezing it gently. "For what it's worth, not a lot of people know, only my parents and a couple of friends from college."

He wanted to be angry with her for keeping something as big as this from him, but at the same time, he could understand. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it must have been like for her to have to give up her child. Something she had carried for nine months, and then just have to say goodbye a moment later, never knowing what would happen to that child. It seemed unimaginable for him to think of giving up his own children and never knowing what would happen to them. Eric wrapped his arms around her, as he kissed her gently on the cheek. "It's okay, what's important is that you told me now, that's all that matters."

"Thank you for being so understanding," she cried as she returned his embrace.

But an even greater awareness came over Eric, that if he didn't know about the baby Hayley had given up, that there could be someone else who didn't know either, someone who had far more right to know the truth than he did. "He doesn't know, does he?"

Hayley lowered her eyes, shaking her head, and felt an overwhelming guilt come over her. After all these years, she had never told him, even when she had so many chances to tell him, she never did. "How'd you know it was him?"

"You had said you two had been close in college." Eric bit his lip. Now it made a lot of sense; back when he and Hayley had been dating and even now, she rarely would ever talk about that relationship. She didn't like talking about it and now he knew why. "Tommy was the father." Not to mention the fact that it took a long time before Hayley's mother accepted the fact that Tommy was both Erin and Wes's godfather. She had always seemed a little cold towards Tommy and now Eric understood why.

"Yes, he was."

"You have to tell him, Hayley. He has a right to know, even after all these years he should know." Since Tommy didn't know, all Eric could assume was that Hayley had found out sometime after Tommy had left the college the two had attended for less than two years, before Tommy had left to join Mercer and get other schooling. And Hayley would move on to MIT.

"I know." She took a deep long breath. "I just don't know how I'm going to begin to tell him, especially after what's happened between him and Kim, losing the baby."

"Yeah…." Eric nodded his head as he gently rubbed Hayley's back. He knew it would be difficult both for Hayley having to tell him after all these years and for Tommy, needing to hear it. He couldn't even begin to imagine if one of his old girlfriends showed up one day and told him after all these years he had fathered a child with her.

"Ah, Anubis, glad I caught you. I know it is late on Earth…." Supreme Commander Fowler Birdie announced, as he popped up on the screen. There was a good twelve hours difference between the two planets.

"It is never too late to hear from you, sir." exclaimed Cruger as he moved away from his post and up to the communication screen. "How are things?"

"Things are going well; we have made great progress. How goes it on Earth? I heard that you have Lt. Chase Ryder, from the Mirinoi base, serving there now."

"Yes. He's our new blue Ranger."

"How is he doing? I've read over his files, terrible tragedy."

"He's doing better. He fitting in quite well here and the younger cadets seem to enjoy him." Cruger recalled hearing some of the younger cadets talking about Chase and how they enjoyed his teaching techniques and how helpful he was towards them.

"That is good to hear. And how is our red Ranger, Schuyler Tate, doing?"

Cruger was a little hesitant, wanting to choose his words carefully. "He's making progress, he still has quite a lot to learn, before he is as good as his father."

"Well…if anyone can show him the way, you'd be the one. Wesley Collins was a remarkable Ranger; when his son is ready he will make a fine addition."

"Addition?" Cruger was a little confused by the comment. "Sir, Sky Tate is already a proud member of SPD…."

"Yes. I know…. Perhaps I should be a little clearer." Birdie took a moment to gather his words. This was going to be some big news for Cruger and for him. "I'm not as young as I used to be. I've been head of SPD for a long time. I've seen many battles and fought in many of them myself."

"Sir, I don't understand where this is going…."

"I'm going to be retiring in five years, Anubis, and I can't think of anyone else that I would trust more than you to take my place as head of SPD."

Cruger was shocked to say the least. This was the last thing he would ever expect to hear from Supreme Commander Fowler Birdie; for as long as the two had known each other they had never really seen eye to eye and had mostly been at odds. "I…I don't know what to say, sir…"

"You weren't expecting this?" It was no secret to Birdie that he and Doggie hadn't always gotten along. A lot of that had been his fault; after the destruction and devastation of Sirius he had sent Cruger to Earth as a sort of punishment, never believing that the Earth base would amount to anything. He had been wrong…. DEAD WRONG. "I know we have not always seen eye to eye on things and that I have been hard on you all these years, but you have done well on Earth. You have made fine Rangers and you are a fine commander…"

"I am honored, sir. But I will have to discuss this with my wife and see how she feels about relocating." After all, they hadn't even been back together a year and she was still getting accustomed to Earth. He wasn't sure how she would feel about leaving Earth and going to the main base of all SPD.

"Of course there is no rush, take all the time you need."

"….And Sky, you would want him to replace me?"

"I will leave that up to you, it will be your decision as to who will replace you. But it is common in SPD, that when a head Commander steps down that the current A Squad Ranger, that their place…"

"Yes… Well, I have a lot to think about. Was there anything else, sir?"

"No that was it. Unless you have anything you need to discuss?"

"No. I have nothing more to report, sir."

"Well then, I will let you go. Be sure to give Isinia my best."

"I will do so, sir." Cruger watched as the connection ended and the screen went blank. Sensing he was not alone, he slowly turned around. "How much of it did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you have two big decisions to make," answered Chase. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but being on night duty you tend to hear things that you're not supposed to.

"Yes, I do." Cruger nodded his head. It was a great opportunity for him, he knew he could do well by being head of SPD, but at the same time he wasn't too keen on leaving Sky in charge, at least not in the state he was in now. "Could you be honest with me, Lt. Ryder?"

"Of course, sir."

"Do you think that if I promoted Sky to the Commander of the Earth base, that he would handle it well?"

"Honestly sir, right now I don't think so. I will admit Sky is a great red Ranger and leader, but being head of a base is a lot of pressure and stress. I don't know if he could handle it."

"And could you?"

Chase smiled faintly. "Truthfully sir, I would have to turn down the position. I am happy being just a plain old blue Ranger." He didn't wish to be in a position where he would have to take on so much responsibility, not again….

"And I will respect your decision. Thank you for your honesty."

"Any time, sir," answered Chase. "You heading home?"

"Yes. I have much to discuss with my wife." Cruger gripped Chase's shoulder. "Goodnight, Lt. Ryder."

"Goodnight, sir." Chase saluted Commander Cruger as he watched his Commander exit the command center.

He then headed over to the computer and pulled out a sheet of paper, the paper that Megan had worked on for him with the name Rose White, and something he had not noticed until now were the letters MA under her name. Chase typed the name into a people search database, along with the two letters which he assumed was the state of Massachusetts. "Okay Rose, let's see if we can find you…' He pressed enter and about four results came up. He began clicking on each of them, two of which were deceased and two who were still living. Sighing heavily, he jotted down all four addresses, having no idea as to which Rose White he was looking for. All he knew for sure was he had to meet her, but California and Massachusetts were a long way from each other… ….And something that alarmed him even more was that the Rose White he was looking for could be one of the two who had already passed. All he could hope was that he wasn't too late.

Several hours later….

Sky was fast asleep on the couch with his arm wrapped around Syd who was sleeping soundly against his chest. The night had turned out to be a pleasant one, which surprised both of them; lately most of their nights would start in some sort of argument, but tonight there had been none - none except Sky's outburst early in the day, which had already been forgiven and forgotten.

Megan was asleep as well in the lounge chair by the time Chase returned home from being on night duty. He silently closed the door behind him, not wanting to wake the three up. Noticing that the TV was still on he walked over and shut it off. He was about to head to his room, to get some sleep...

"What time is it?" asked Sky as he stirred awake, but keeping his voice down so he didn't disturb Syd or Megan from their sleep. They had all fallen asleep after watching a movie, but were all too tired and comfortable where they were to get up and head off to bed.

"Almost three…"

"How was your shift? Anything I should know about happen?"

Though something had happened that Sky should know about, now wasn't the time to tell him, not to mention the fact that he should not be the one to tell him. No, that would be left up to Cruger to deal with, as far as he was concerned the conversation he had overheard between Birdie and Cruger was none of his business. "It was fine. You guys have a nice evening?"

"Yeah." Sky yawned. "We saved you some pasta and chicken, it's in the fridge."

"Thanks." Chase smiled. "Go back to sleep…." He watched as Sky nodded his head and slowly closed his eyes as he drifted off to sleep. Chase made his way over to Megan, who didn't appear to be sleeping very comfortably, at least to him. He gently scooped her up in his arms and carried her to her bedroom and put her in her bed, pulling the covers over her. He stayed there for a few moments watching her sleep; she wasn't so bad when she was sleeping. She didn't look like that cocky smartass kid who seemed to know which buttons to push to get on everyone's nerves. "Night, kid."

Tommy sat in the living room with both Hayley and Eric. Hayley had called him in the morning saying she needed to talk to him about something important. The kids were out back, playing with the dog, so that they wouldn't disrupt the three as they talked to each other about something Eric had told them was adult-talk, and for now it didn't concern them. Right away Tommy could tell that whatever Hayley needed to tell him was bothering her greatly. He had never seen her like this for as long as he had known her. And something told him that what brought this about had something to do with Lilly's visit.

Eric wrapped his arm around Hayley, giving her the encouragement she needed to say what needed to be said. Hayley took a deep breath, as she looked Tommy in the eyes. "Tommy… There's something you should know. ….Something I should have told you a long time ago."

"Okay…." Tommy answered softly, watching as she pulled out something from her jacket pocket, a photo. He watched as she unsteadily handed him the photo, her eyes near tears, nearly trembling, as if she were afraid of him. "Hayley, whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be okay….." he said as he took the photo from her. Nothing was said as he stared at the photo of Hayley holding a small baby boy in her arms, a Hayley who was twenty years younger. He looked up to meet her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Tommy…. I know, I…."

"Whatever happened to him?" His voice didn't sound angry, it just sounded sincere, like he just really wanted to know what had happened to the child he had fathered so many years ago.

"I gave him up for adoption. I don't know to whom." She bowed her head down. "I didn't want to know." At the time she had just wanted a clean break, feeling that the less she knew the better, that maybe somehow that would make things easier. She looked up to meet his dark brown eyes, fearing the worst. "Please don't be angry…."

Tommy got up from his spot on the couch and went onto the couch where Hayley and Eric were sitting, taking the empty spot next to his old college girlfriend. He put his arm around her and smiled faintly. "I could never be angry with you, Hayley. Not after everything we've been through, all these years." He handed her the photo back. "Thank you for telling me."

Hayley didn't know what to say. She was just relieved finally after all these years to have that weight taken off her shoulders; she wrapped her arms around Tommy, just grateful that he was taking it all so well and didn't hate her for it. Eric sat back, watching the two, knowing they needed this moment, but something lurked in the back of his mind.

Tommy watched Eric's gaze on him, just knowing…

An hour later

Eric had found it odd that Tommy had taken the news rather well. Too well. It's not every day that the girl you had dated back in college tells you that she was pregnant and had given the baby boy up for adoption a little more than twenty years ago. Even he was having trouble grasping the fact that Hayley had a son she had never told him about. He had known Tommy and Hayley had been close….but he had never imagined something like this.

He stepped up to Tommy's door and knocked a few times. Not a second later the door opened and Eric and Tommy were face to face, but something was different this time. This time, Eric knew more about the relationship Hayley had once had with Tommy, more than he wanted to know. But he couldn't let that get between them. Hayley and Tommy had known each other for years, the kids loved him to death. …..And he and Tommy had built the kind of friendship he and Wes once had.

"I was wondering how long it would be before you'd show up." Tommy announced, breaking the silence between them. He was expecting Eric to show up not too long after he left their home.

"Yeah." Eric sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "How are you holding up?" It seemed like the only thing you could say in a situation like this. It's not like you can say, 'Wow, congratulations, you're a dad'.

Tommy bit his lip, and a heavy sigh came over him. "You want to come in?"

Now the fear and awkwardness, that wasn't there before, but should have been, was there. Eric watched as Tommy stepped aside to let him in, as if he needed him to come in.

Once inside, Eric watched as Tommy paced around in the kitchen, just barely making eye contact. And not until that exact moment did it occur to Eric that maybe the reason Tommy had taken the news so well was because he had already known. "You knew, didn't you? You knew she had been pregnant?"

The pacing stopped and Tommy slumped down onto one of his kitchen chairs, leaning his arms against the table, watching as Eric sat down across from him. He licked his lips, crossed his hands. A past he hadn't wanted to open was starting to come unlocked. "Yes. I knew…." Even though it had been so long ago he had remembered every detail…. "It was a few days before I had seen the report on the news about Anton Mercer. I had found a pregnancy test in her dorm bathroom…. I never told her."

"Hey, honey." Tommy smiled as he kissed Hayley lightly on the lips as she greeted him at the door. Hayley wrapped her arms tightly around Tommy, deepening the kiss even more, not seeming to notice the other occupants of the room.

"If you two are going to do that, the least you can do is get a room," exclaimed Lilly, as she came walking in from her bedroom.

The two pulled away, grinning and laughing, barely able to keep their hands off of each other. "Hello to you too, Lil," said Tommy.

"You know how it is, Tommy." She grabbed her coat. "Now are you two ready? I talked to Josh; we're meeting him at seven."

"Yeah. I just need to use the bathroom for a moment." He gave Hayley a quick kiss on the cheek, before heading to the bathroom.

He had finished washing his hands when he grabbed a paper towel to try them off. He tossed the paper towel to the trashcan, but missed. Sighing, he bent down to pick it up to toss it away, when he noticed something in the trash. Something that made his heart skip a beat. Taking the paper towel he picked up the object, it was a pregnancy test. And it was positive…..

"Tommy, you okay in there?" He heard Hayley call his name.

"I….I'm fine." He tossed the test back into the trash. I'm coming!"

He ran his hand over his face, knowing that Eric probably wouldn't like the next part of the story. But it needed to be said… "Once I knew, I knew that changed things. It was no longer going to be just us… Our anniversary was coming up, so I bought a ring the next day….."

"You were going to propose…" His voice wasn't harsh, though part of him knew he should be angry. He couldn't be; that had been over twenty years ago and given the situation….

"Yeah. I was…."

"But then you saw the report on TV."

Tommy nodded his head. There had once been a time when he wondered if he had made the right decision, but most days he tried not to think about it. A part of him still felt guilty about what he had done, a part of him had never forgiven himself. "I got scared. I knew this was big, something had to be done. And that I could end up making enemies or running into old ones. I couldn't have that happen, not with Hayley and a helpless baby on the way. I couldn't do that."

"So you left," stated Eric flatly; he could feel himself as he clenched his fists. Now he wanted to be angry, he wanted to beat the living daylights out of Tommy, but for the life of him he couldn't bring himself to do that. Tommy had been through so much over the past twenty years, the dino gems, Mercer, Mesagog and then the thing with Kimberly. "I guess I understand why. Being a Ranger, you do tend to make a lot of enemies…." He had learned that all too well, Wes had been the result of one such case. "But…."

"I didn't want to..."

"So after the project with Mercer blew over, you weren't just calling her for help, were you?"

"No…" Tommy shook his head. The truth was he hadn't wanted to drag her into it, but as things would have it, that's how it worked out. "I wanted to see her, catch up on old times. When it became clear that there was no baby, I knew she must have put him up for adoption or maybe the test had been wrong or it belonged to one of her roommates. So then I told her what I had been up to and about my past as a Ranger." Tommy sighed heavily. He remembered that day well, so well he could still feel the guilt that had hung over him. "She never said anything about the baby and I never asked."

"Are you going to tell her that you knew?"

"I…I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know!" exclaimed Eric. "You have to tell her!"

"Tell her what? That for the past twenty years I believed that either she or one of her roommates had gotten pregnant?"

Now he couldn't hold any of his anger back. He had held in for as along as he could through this entire ordeal, but it was just too much for him to deal with. "You bought her a damn engagement ring. You had to have known it was hers!"

"I bought her a ring because I was in love with her and I wanted to do the right thing!" Tommy shouted back and the moment he did, he wished he could take it back. "….Oh shit," he cursed under his breath.

"In love?" Eric had always understood that what had gone on between the two was that both of them had been lonely, that it hadn't been out of love. "Are you still in love with her?"

Tommy didn't answer right away, because the question scared him more than anything in all his life. He been in love with her back then? Was he still in love with Hayley? He wanted to deny it. He wanted to say that it wasn't true, but…..

"I think I have my answer…" Eric just coldly glared at Tommy, before he started to storm out.

"Eric, wait!" Tommy ran after him, pulling him by the shoulder, forcing him to turn around and face him. "Whatever Hayley and I had ended the moment I left. Yes, a part of me will always love her and wish that things could have been different between us. But she chose you and had three beautiful children with you. She's in love with you, not me. Don't ever forget that…."

Eric took a deep breath to calm himself down. Maybe he had overreacted or maybe he was just acting naturally and needed to be reminded that he had been the one who married Hayley, and that Tommy was part of her past. He watched as Tommy put out his hand, staring him in the eyes. "Friends?"

"….Always." replied Eric as he tightly gripped Tommy's hand. He couldn't let something like this, no matter how big it was, destroy the bond they had created over the years. There weren't too many people in the world who would put up with him, most people always seemed to be somewhat intimated by him. "And I'm…."

"Don't be. You reacted exactly how you should have." A grin came over his face. "Although I was expecting you to sock me at least once."

"That can still be arranged….." grinned Eric, as he faked punching Tommy.

…About a week later.

"Okay everyone, move in nice and easy!" Sky announced as he signaled the other Rangers into what was supposed to be an abandoned warehouse. Just an hour ago they had gotten a call from Cruger asking them to check it out, saying that some alien criminals might be hiding out there. This had been the first big call they had had in months, other than the small local type stuff.

The five walked in slowly, staying alert, keeping their eyes focused and blasters ready. The place appeared to be empty, other than a few boxes and gas tanks. It didn't look like anybody was here. Sky took the lead, taking a few steps forwards, looking in every direction, wanting to make perfectly sure that the perimeter was clear before he called off the search.

"Do you see anything?" asked Z as she walked alongside Syd, as she looked from left to right, but spotted nothing out of the ordinary. Everything looked just how it should.

"No." Syd looked.

"Bridge…'

"Already on it!" answered Bridge, as he took the glove off his hand and waved it in front of him, where Sky was walking a few feet up ahead. But what Bridge saw was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Something or someone was walking right behind Sky. "Sky…. There's….."

"What?" Sky turned around, but only to have some force push him back against the wall.

"What the…." Chase's eyes widened, something had invisibly shoved Sky up against the wall. "Bridge, what the hell did you see?"

"I….I don't know? It was like some purplely creature."

"Sky, are you all right?" Syd started running towards Sky, who was lying on the ground holding his right shoulder, but only to be thrown back by some unknown force.

"Syd!" shouted Z, watching as her friend went flying back.

"Bridge!" shouted Chase. He needed to know what the hell they were dealing with and Bridge was the only one who had the ability to see what they were up against.

Once again Bridge waved his hand, but this time instead of just seeing one he saw a whole lot more. "Oh boy. This is not good…."

"What?"

"We're surrounded. I don't know what they are or how they are staying invisible, but I know they aren't friendly."

"I think we already determined that, Bridge," announced Sky as he helped Syd up and the team grouped together, as Bridge continued to wave his hand in front of him, only able to reveal the hidden creatures for a few short moments. They were surrounded at all sides.

"How can we fight something we can't see?" exclaimed Z.

Back at the command center both Cruger and Kat watched on the screen, helpless to do anything. Kat typed urgently at her computer, trying to see if she could get a scan of the location.

"Are you able to pick up on anything?" exclaimed Cruger, his voice was urgent and full of concern.

"I'm trying!" Kat could feel her heart racing, knowing that the team was in danger if they didn't figure out what exactly they were dealing with. "There, the scan is picking up on their location." She looked up at the screen, to see what the results had come up with; they could see the figures, but the scan had also showed details of what they were made out of. "From what I can gather, whatever they are dealing with isn't human or alien…"

"If it's not human or alien then what could it be?"

"I don't know…." Kat turned to Cruger. "The only thing I can explain, that it's very similar to Z's ability…." And before anything else could be said the communication link between the Rangers and the command center went blank….

Cruger's eyes widened with fear as his heart skipped a beat. "Rangers….. Rangers, come in," he repeated into the communication link. "Sky, do you read me. Report!" But no answer came; it was as if some source was blocking their communication.