"We're here," announced Chase as they pulled into Megan's grandparent's driveway. It was a beautiful two story home, with a small garden going around the house. It was the same home Megan's mother Hayley had grown up in when she was a little girl.

Megan spotted her grandparents waiting outside for them. The minute Chase put the truck into park she was out the door running over to meet them. It had been a good six months since she had last seen them face to face. "Grandma! Grandpa!"

"Oh, Megan, it's so good to see you," exclaimed her grandpa, Kenneth Walker, as he wrapped his strong arms around his granddaughter. He might be in his late sixties, but he was still strong enough to lift his first born grandchild from the ground.

Donna Walker followed her husband's lead and hugged her granddaughter and then took a moment, gazing into the young girl's face and seeing her own daughter in her, as she was when Hayley had been a young girl. "You're looking more like your mother everyday."

"But with a bit of Eric, in the eyes…" winked her grandfather.

Donna then spotted a young red haired boy, about Megan's age, who she knew right away was Sam. On several occasions when she had called to talk with Hayley, both she and Eric had brought up the young redhead who had befriended their little girl. They had told her he was a good kid who had somewhat of a tough upbringing after losing his mother and then his father taking off, but now the young boy was slowly developing a relationship with his father who had abandoned him years ago. She then turned to the next young man, who had gotten more than he bargained for out of this trip. Hayley hadn't told her a great deal about Chase, other than he was the lieutenant blue Ranger at SPD and Sky's roommate, and had developed a strong bond with Megan. "Megan, your mother forgot to mention how handsome your friends were."

"Grandma…" muttered Megan, blushing a little. If her parents didn't embarrass her, her grandmother definitely would. Though she would never admit it out loud she did consider Sam good looking, and there was no denying that she found Chase attractive, but she knew it couldn't go any further than that.

"Now, now dear." Kenneth came up from behind his wife and gripped her shoulder. "We don't want to scare these two fine young men away, especially after their long trip." Kenneth walked up to Chase. "Traffic wasn't too bad, now was it?"

"No. Smooth sailing all the way through, but thank you for asking, Mr. Walker."

"Please, call me Kenneth." He put out his hand. "Mr. Walker makes me sound old."

Chase chuckled. "All right. Kenneth it is."

"Come inside, I'm sure you're all very hungry after your long trip. I have cookies and sandwiches inside," announced Donna, as she motioned them inside.

"Cool! I'm starving," exclaimed Sam, as he ran inside with Megan following behind him. Donna smiled as she followed the young teens into her home, happy that she would have a chance to spoil one of her grandchildren.

"I hope it isn't any trouble, me staying here," said Chase, as he got his bag out of the truck. "I could always stay at a motel."

"Nonsense, we have plenty of room here," said Kenneth, as he welcomed Chase into his house and showed him into one of the spare bedrooms. "Besides, it's the least we can do after the little stunt those two pulled on you." Kenneth knew enough to know that his granddaughter wasn't a sweet innocent angel all the time; she was a sweet kid, but did have a devious mischievous side that was always looking for trouble, but he loved her for it.

"Thank you." Chase was extremely grateful; he had never really experienced grandparents. When his parents had left for Terra Venture, both their parents had died years ago; he never got to experence grandparents. "I really appreciate it."

"It's no trouble." He gripped the young man's shoulder. "We're happy to have you three stay here, until you've taken care of what you need to do."

Chase nodded his head and set his bag onto the bed. And for the first time he was actually happy that Megan and Sam had decided to tag along. It made him feel not so alone; he felt safe. A feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. He didn't know why all of a sudden he felt that, but he was glad he did. Which made the feeling that even if he didn't find what he was looking for, he would at least have people that he could go to which would be a lot better than being in some small motel room all alone.

"Come on, let's go see if the kids left us any sandwiches."

"Sounds good."

"Sky!" yelled Cruger down the hall, just moments ago he had turned down the hallway and had seen Sky walking down it, completely ignoring his calls. "Schuyler Tate!" he roared, this time calling his arrogant lieutenant by his full name.

"What?" Sky forced himself to turn around to face Cruger, one of the last people he wanted to be running into right now. The last couple of days had been hell for him, just sitting around doing nothing, bored to death. He, Bridge and Jack had hung out a couple of times during the day, but the only ones who seemed to be enjoying themselves were those two, joking around doing nothing. He hated not being where the action was, training with the B squad and the simulator. "You going to ban me from the base too? I'm tired of sitting back and doing nothing!"

"Perhaps you should have thought of that before you decided to let things get out of hand between you and Lt. Ryder." Cruger eyed Sky, letting his young lieutenant know just who was the superior officer here.

"He started it…."

"And you ended it!" remarked Cruger harshly. "You are the leader, Sky; I expect more from you. You're not a child any more and I wont have your childish behavior disrupting the team." He looked Sky hard in the eyes, as Sky gave him an irritated glance in return. "You need a serious attitude adjustment. And if it don't see improvements you will leave me no choice, but to extend you suspension."

Sky made no attempt to answer, knowing that anything that came out of his mouth could be hazardous to his future at SPD. Something he didn't want to ruin. This was his life; it was the only thing that was real to him. Everything else felt just like one big lie. If he lost SPD, his life might as well be over, nothing else would matter.

Cruger for months now had been sensing that something was wrong with Sky, more so than normal. His behavior as of late was unpredictable, there was no telling what Sky would do next. And he had never been one to be very good at showing his emotions or expressing himself. "Do you need to talk, Sky ….as a friend?"

"We have never been that chummy with each other, so why start now….."

"I know. There's a strong line between a commander and his officers, but I think we've known each other long enough to get past that." He had known Sky for a good many years, watching him grow into the strong athletic man he was today, and despite their rocky relationship, he had hoped that if Sky ever needed to talk about anything he would come to him.

"I don't need to talk to you, sir." Sky widened his eyes. "About anything. I'm fine. I can handle my problems, on my own," with that said, Sky turned around and started back down the hallway.

"If you are looking for something to do, some of the youth cadets need an instructor for self-defense class, if you're interested. It starts in ten minutes in bay room C-305." Cruger wasn't sure if the young red ranger would do it, Sky had never been one who liked to work with the youngsters who were too young to be placed on a squad while they attended the academy's military schooling.

Sky stopped for a moment, as if he were considering the proposition, but he made no attempt to turn around and face Cruger, or even to give him a response. After a moment he picked up his pace and made a left down the hallway.

"Still having problems with our esteemed leader?" asked Kat, as she walked up behind Cruger, just barely missing Sky as he turned at the end of the hall.

"Hopefully not," sighed Cruger as he turned to face her. "We need him. His team is going to need him." Sky was a very important asset to the team, and without him fully focused he knew the team would fall apart. "….Have you and Boom been able to find a match?"

"We're still searching, but we should find one soon….." She bit her lip. "I was going to call someone on it, but wanted to check with you first."

"What is it?

"I thought if I could get a good description of what Omni looked like before his body was destroyed, that would help with finding out if there is a link with someone else, but only two people have ever seen his original form." She eyed him. "And one of them is dead."

"You want to call Eric Myers."

"Yes…."

"I don't see a problem with it. He may be able to provide some useful information." Back when they had first defeated Omni, it hadn't been important to take down a description, as everyone believed that Omni was gone for good, but they had been wrong. So very wrong…..

Kat nodded her head. "What should I tell him about Sky, if he asks?" And she was using that if very leniently, knowing very well that at some point in their conversation Eric would most definitely bring up Sky. It would only be natural for him to ask about SPD current red ranger.

Curger wasn't sure if Eric had been talking with Sky, but the one thing he was one hundred percent sure of was that Sky had not told Eric about being suspended. It wouldn't be the type of thing Sky would bring up openly, not where his pride was concerned. And though a part of him felt like it should be told to Eric, Sky wasn't a child anymore and therefore he was no longer under obligation to provide such information. "Tell him that Sky has been his usual charming self."

"So you want me to lie?" she exclaimed flatly.

"No. Just not to disclose anything that would cause a rise out of Sky. He has to be the one to tell Eric, not us."

"That's easier said then done," answered Kat.

An hour later...

Sky didn't know why he had ended up here; the last thing he wanted to do was work with little kids that were less than half his age. Most of them were in that eight, nine, and seven year old age range. A lot of the kids hadn't left to go on home vacation with their families, because they really didn't have any. Most of them were orphans or had come from abusive homes and were placed here at the academy through a program that Cruger offered for at risk kids or those who were having difficulty being placed in a way. A similar situation that Sam had been in, until Cruger got in touch with his father and talked some sense into the guy.

"Lt. Tate, can you show us the move again?" asked Willie, who was sort of the team leader out of the group of five, being older, even if it was just by a few months, than Kit and Julie. The three had all ran away from their group homes on multiple occasions. The two youngest were Ali and Eli, a twin girl and boy whose parents had died suddenly a year ago and because of the trauma the twins had gone through their caseworker was having problems placing them until Commander Cruger granted them acceptance into the academy.

"It's getting a little late." Sky looked at his watch, seeing they had been at this for over an hour, and typically a self-defense class for the younglings shouldn't go past an hour and a half. "Aren't you guys getting tired?"

"No…." They all shook their heads, looking up at him all wide eyed, as if they worshiped the ground he walked on.

"We want you to teach us some more…." Kit exclaimed. "Please!"

"Yeah. You're our hero…." Eli added. "At least mine anyways….. I hope some day to be big and strong like you."

Sky was more than a little taken aback. The last thing he was expecting was for the kids to praise him in any way, let alone call him their hero. Most of the older cadets lately just seemed to look down upon him whereas these kids didn't seem to care that he had screwed up, they liked him anyways. The longer he stared into their faces, the more he saw that look in their eyes. It was a look he hadn't seen in a very long time. It had been the same way he used to look at his father, back when he had praised the ground his father walked on. And now they were doing the same thing with him, but at the moment he didn't feel like a hero. He had lost Commander Crugers respect and several of the other cadets and officers, he had lost his morpher, everything that made him a hero he had lost.

He sighed heavily as he licked his lips. "We already went over enough for today. You guys should really go and relax in the kid's lounge or go play outside."

"Ah but…." started Julie and he four friends along with her, not wanting their time to be over.

"No buts." Sky eyed the five. "That's an order."

'Yes, sir," saluted Willie, motioning to his friends to do the same. The other four soon followed straight after him in saluting Sky.

Sky saluted back to them, giving them a nod and a light smile. "You guys did very well today."

"Lt. Tate, sir…." Ali slowly walked up to him, looking up at him with her bright green eyes. "Will you come back and teach us again sometime?" she asked while the others, all but her brother, left the room.

Sky didn't know what to say. This wasn't exactly the kind of thing he dreamed about himself doing, teaching little kids, and he felt that in some way his talents were being wasted doing this low grade type stuff. But the more he looked into her eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say no. "We'll see…" He gently patted her on the head, but she surprised the hell out of him as she threw her arms around him. Slightly caught off guard Sky gently returned the embrace but only with a light touch, not really comfortable with the whole thing. He then spotted Syd entering into the room, with a bright smile on her face. Sky pulled away from Ali. "I'll see you later, Ali."

"Okay!" Ali's eyes lit up as she danced over to her brother Eli who was waiting by the door for her. The two waved to Syd and were on their way.

"Don't even say it," Sky retorted with a firm look in his eyes, seeing that look in Syd's eyes.

"What?" She smiled back at him. "You were good with them. The kids really look up to you."

"Yeah. I'm a great guy to be looking up to…."

"Sky. Don't be like this." She gently gripped his shoulder looking into his distant blue eyes. "They don't care about all that. They just like you, for you, not for what you are." Sky turned his head away, but only for Syd to gently force it back. "Don't you remember how you felt about your father, when you were their age?"

"My father has nothing to do with this."

Syd's eyes widened, never in all the time she had known Sky had he ever talked about his father in that way. He had always talked up about his father, but now it seemed he was talking down about him and she couldn't figure out why. "Did something happen, Sky?"

He closed his eyes, turning his head away as he took a deep breath. He didn't mean to make it sound that way, but with everything that had been going on he just seemed to be getting more and more frustrated. "Sorry. I didn't mean to say it like that." He sighed heavily as he looked into her eyes. "I guess… I just don't understand why they look up to me so much."

"I do." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. "You're a great guy, Sky, Ranger powers or not. You care about SPD." She looked deeper into his eyes. "And even though you won't admit it, you care a lot about those kids." She kissed him lightly on the lips, just wanting to have a moment with him until she had to get back to work.

Chase tossed and turned violently in his sleep; in his disruptive sleep of an ongoing nightmare. He kicked the sheets off of the bed. His heart pounded against his chest rapidly, sweat covered his terrified face. And as always he would wake up instantly having once again relived a moment he wished he could forget. But for nearly a year he had not been able to shake this dream off and he feared he never would.

"Ah man…" He ran his hand over his damp face and hair and turned to the clock. It read 6:00 AM. He got up out of the bed and grabbed a pair of his pants that he had thrown over the chair and headed out of the room, wanting to get some fresh air, hoping that it would calm him down.

Outside of the Walkers' home he leaned against the fence that went around the back deck. He closed his eyes, just wanting to feel as the cool breeze hit his face. It made him feel peaceful, a feeling he needed to have after the nightmare he had just had, and then watching as the morning sun lit up the sky. It was so beautiful and in a way reminded him of home.

BEEP…. BEEP…

Chase dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small looking beeper with a screen on it; it almost looked like a cellphone. His eyes widened when he read the name on the screen. Do you accept transmission from Michael Colbertt Sr.? It had been close to four months since he had last talked to Michael Colbertt Sr., or anyone for that matter from Mirinoi. Taking a deep breath, Chase accepted the transmission and as soon as he did Mike Colbertt, his former Commander, appeared on the screen.

"Chase, I hope I didn't wake you?"

"No. I got up a little while ago…"

"…..So how've you been?" asked Mike, feeling a little uneasy. For two people who had once been close, almost like father and son, it seemed now as if they were strangers to each other.

"I've been good. How about you and everyone else?"

"Haley and I are doing fine. Mikey's doing great, you trained him well…." He paused for a moment. "Have you been able to locate them, yet?"

"Not yet, but I should hopefully know more today."

"I do hope you find them, Chase. I really do."

"Thank you…"

Back in the house Megan slept on the top bunk of another spare room her grandparents had, the room she and her brother and sister usually slept in. Sam was fast asleep on the bottom bunk. Slowly she stirred awake, from the light sound of footsteps from outside. She lifted herself up and stared out the window, to find Chase walking around, much like she had when the two had first met, after he had had a nightmare.

She had come to get used to waking up in the middle of the night hearing Chase's soft whimpers, and then every morning during breakfast he would have this restless look on his face, like he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. She watched as he walked farther into the yard, a part of her wanted to go after him, make sure he was all right, but she knew that Chase liked to be alone for a while after he woke up from his nightmares, so she laid back down on the bed to get a few more hours of sleep.

Some hours later….

Chase walked up to the front door of a nice looking home, a garden going all around it, a small pool could be seen in the back yard. His heart pounded against his chest, he wasn't sure what to expect out of all this, not sure what could happen. All he knew was that this was something he needed to do. No matter what. He slowly raised his hand to ring the doorbell twice, and after doing so he stepped back and waited. About a minute later the front door opened to reveal a young woman who looked to be in her late forties. "Can I help you, young man?"

"Um….Is this the right address for Rose White?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes, it is," the woman answered. "Why do you ask?"

"I really need to talk to her. I think she may be the only one who can help me…."

The woman's face saddened. "I'm sorry, but my mother passed away almost three years ago…."

"Oh….um… I'm sorry to have bothered you, ma'am." Chase started down the stairs with his head hung low, all his hopes shot down in one instant.

"Wait…." the woman called after him, as she headed towards his truck which he was already getting into. "You were one of hers, weren't you?"

"I….I….I don't know. All I know is she was the only one who may have been able to give me some answers."

"I don't really know what the protocol is about these things. My mother never could discuss her casework, but maybe you can find your answers at this address." She smiled faintly as she told him the address. "Hopefully someone there can help you."

"Thank you." Chase returned the smile, grateful for her help.

"There he is," exclaimed Megan as she and Sam ducked behind a postal mailbox across the street from a building where Chase had parked the truck. After breakfast the two had gone off in search for him; all Megan's grandparents had said was that he had left early in the morning and said he'd be back later in the afternoon. So Megan had told them that she and Sam were going to go for a bike ride, but had actually gone in search of Chase, using Sam's ability. The two had ended up here, near Chase, all Sam had done was think of Chase and here they were. "I wonder what he's doing here?" she asked, this was not exactly the place she was expecting to find him.

"Megan, maybe we should head back to your grandparents', if Chase wanted us to come he would have asked us."

"He may need our help." She started to stand up the moment she saw him walk inside. "Come on…"

"But…." Sam watched as she started to cross the street. "Megan!"

Chase walked up to the front desk, where an older woman was working. She looked up from the computer. "Can I help you, young man?"

"I hope so." He bit his lips. "I'm trying to find out who I am. I need you to pull up Rose White's files…."

"I am sorry sir, but I can't do that. Those files are confidential …."

"Yes, I know, and I understand that. I work in a field that deals with classified and confidential files, but I really need you to pull them up and see if I'm on there," he pleaded, knowing this was his last and final hope. "I have to know. There is no one else who can help me…."

The older woman, though sympathetic with his situation, smiled faintly. "I'm sorry, sir. But those are the rules, I can't provide you with confidential information."

Hidden behind the doorway both Megan and Sam watched as Chase tried to plead his case again, but the woman was unwilling to back down. "See, he needs our help!" Megan announced firmly to Sam. She then spotted the back room window; through the windows she could tell the room was empty and it had a computer. "Sam, teleport us in that back room."

"What?" Sam followed her gaze and his eyes widened, knowing very well what she was up to. "No way! We could get into a whole lot of trouble if someone caught us."

"We won't get caught. I just need to get onto that computer and find what Chase wants."

'We don't even know what he's looking for!"

"It has something to do with Rose White, we'll start with that." She turned to him. "Now do it!"

"I'm so going to regret this," sighed Sam, as he grabbed a hold of her hand and the two teleported away.

"I am very sorry, Mr. Ryder, and I'm sorry to hear about your situation, but those are the rules. I could lose my job over this…."

"I…." Chase's eyes widened as he saw both Megan and Sam appear in the back room through the windows. Oh shit….You two are so DEAD!

"Is there a problem, sir?" asked the woman, as she started to turn her head around to see what he was staring at.

"Ah no…." Wanting to keep her attention, and hoping that Megan and Sam would get their butts out of there. "I just wanted to apologize; I know you're just trying to do your job…."

"Hurry up Megan, before someone sees us," exclaimed Sam, feeling as his heart pounded against his chest, knowing that any moment that door could open and it would all be over.

"Just chill out, Sammy," answered Megan as she typed away with her sweaty palms on the keyboard, using her hacking skills. She brought up a search. "All right, Rose White…." A set of files came up, Megan once again did a search, but this time putting in Chase Ryder's name. Once that was done only one file came up. "Got yah!"

"Okay. Okay. Hurry and print it out!"

Back in the main room, Chase watched as both Megan and Sam disappeared out of the room. He let out a sigh of relief and could bring some ease to his heart pounding against his chest. "Thank you for your help anyway." Chase bid the woman farewell and started outside.

Outside, Chase turned the corner to find Megan and Sam waiting for him. "What the hell do you think you two were doing? Do you realize what could have happened if someone saw you, how much trouble you would be in?"

"We were just trying to help. That woman wasn't going to provide you with the information."

"So you thought you'd take matters into your own hands and use your computer hacking skills and get it illegally."

"Ah guys…." started Sam, as he read over the sheets that Megan had printed out.

"It's not like it hurt anyone…."

"And what if someone walked in?"

"Sam would have teleported us out before anyone could get to us."

"Sam isn't always going to be around to get you out of trouble, one day you will get caught."

"GUYS!" exclaimed Sam, trying to get their attention.

"What!" they both turned to him.

"You might want to look at this." Sam held out the paper, giving a wide-eyed grin to Megan.

Megan just gave him a dirty look and yanked the sheets away from him. She read over the papers and her eyes widened. She couldn't believe it, her heart pounded against her chest. "Holy shit!" She looked up to Chase. "You"re….."