Blue & Evil: The Beginning
By: PernDragonrider
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Power Rangers. Just borrowing the characters for a little romance then returning them. No money being made; so don't sue.
Author's Notes: This contains SLASH! Relationship between two men and if you don't things like that please hit the back button and go no further. This plot bunny hid and bit before I could get rid of it. This is a prequel to my drabble entitled "Blue Meets Evil On The Beach!" Just one possible explanation for the tale of how Chad Lee and Ryan Mitchell might have became a couple. Special thanks, kudos, and bowing and scraping at CamFan4Ever and Allie351's feet. Without both of their almost instant feedback, patience, and encouragement this tale would have never been written. Enjoy and please leave a review. This is it folks. The Last Chapter in this tale. I apologize to all of my readers for the long time it took to update this, but I got into a fic exchange that had a deadline. Ambitious me went back just a little too far and that story took up all of my time. Now that it's completed I can get back to what's important. Updating what I put on the back burner. My apologies to you all; now onto the tale…
Chapter Seven – Homecomings"Chad, this is my fault." Captain Mitchell said as he tried to comfort the shocked senseless Blue Ranger. "You'll hear the whole story when I tell the others in the briefing, but I have NO problems with my son being with you. I'm not, can't be, strictly military. Ryan was born the way he is, Chad. There is no shame in doing what comes natural to you. Please, you have to snap out of this if we're going to save Ryan and Mariner Bay. The Titanium powers are the strongest we've ever seen."
"I… he's your… your son, sir." Chad said with hiccupping sobs as the tears again streaked down his face. "Heaven help me, I love him. I saw with my own eyes that he's freely working with the demons trying to take out our city and the world and I couldn't fire on him. I couldn't destroy him. How can I go back out there and face him?"
"With the guts and determination you've shown since accepting the Blue Ranger's powers, Chad." Captain Mitchell said with conviction in his voice. "You go back out there and face my son; bring him home for me, to me and Dana, Chad. You have something that not even Dana and I have to bring Ryan back to where he belongs; you have the greatest power of them all to work with, love."
"I have to tell you that Ryan was in the base early this morning, sir." Chad said sadly. "I never even questioned him when he said he came in through the moon pool entrance. I taught him to dive! I'm responsible for this whole thing."
"If he hadn't had you, Chad, he'd have found someone else to teach him what he needed and we wouldn't have the greatest weapon, in any arsenal, to combat him with; love is what I'm talking about." Captain Mitchell said with an understanding tone. "You are not totally responsible for this, Chad Lee; I am. When faced with all three of us dying when hanging from that cliff I gave my only son into Diabolico's hands when he was just a child. I would give anything to take the day back and have kept my eyes on the road, but it isn't possible to travel in time and I have to face all of you with the whole sordid tale in just about ten minutes. I want you to go into that conference room with pride, determination, and your love for my son showing clearly, Chad. We can and we will bring him back to us all." Captain Mitchell rose and moved around the table to the distraught Chad's side. "Come on the others are surely waiting for us."
Chad rose and did what he was asked. He placed all of his grief, sorrow, and pain deep inside and only showed pride, determination, and his love for Ryan. His fear and everything else was locked away deep inside. The meeting was short, the tale told, and then they were again called out to face off against one that should be their own.
"Chad," Carter said, with a serious yet understanding tone, as they were getting ready to jump into the Rescue Rover and once again face off against Ryan Mitchell and the Titanium Lightspeed powers. "If you can, talk to him. Get him to join us. Not for the powers he's holding and using, but for all of us, for Dana, Captain Mitchell, and most importantly for you. You need him and I think in the end; he needs you too. If he didn't we'd have never survived out there and he'd have destroyed us all without a second thought. He's human, Chad, remember that. Sometimes a word or touch can mean more to us than anything else. I just need to know that if push comes to shove that you're with us on this and can do the job regardless of how this turns out."
"Thanks, Carter." Chad said with a solemn tone. "I'm here and I'm with my team; no matter what. Ryan has to be stopped before he single handedly manages to turn all of Mariner Bay over to Queen Bansheera and the Demons. I'll do what I signed onto do when I accepted the position. I'll fight until I'm dead to keep our city and the world safe."
"Good to know, Chad." Kelsey said with a somber tone as Chad and Carter jumped into the Rescue Rover and it started tilting down so that they could exit the base through the underwater tunnel.
"We'll get him home, Dana." Chad said with conviction as he gently laid his hand on Dana's slumped shoulder. "I'll bring him back to his true family; I promise."
"Don't go getting yourself hurt doing that, Chad." Dana said with a sad smile as she placed her hand over his on her shoulder. "You're important to us too and we'd be as sad over losing you as we were over Ryan's loss."
"I'll try, Dana." Chad returned her smile and then they lapsed into silence for the remainder of the fast trip into downtown Mariner Bay and the coming confrontation with Ryan Mitchell, Titanium Ranger, working for Diabolico and the demons under him.
Carter slid the large bright yellow Hummer sideways and was shocked when Chad vaulted and flipped quickly out of the vehicle without waiting for the others. "CHAD!" Carter yelled sternly as he too jumped quickly out and chased after the seemingly going rogue Blue Ranger. "COME BACK HERE!" Chad never answered and then Carter discovered why he'd jumped so quickly from the Rescue Rover when Chad executed a completely perfect baseball slide for home plate and the game-winning run into a small space under some rubble that had fallen from a building. Under the rubble was a child, a crying, frightened, and cold little girl that Chad was handing gently out into Carter's hands.
"Get her out of here, Carter." Chad said gently as he handed the little girl into his team leader's waiting arms. "I'm going to have to morph to get out of here. Not going to be able to make it back out of that hole I got in through. This whole pile is unstable and it'll probably collapse the second I move more than I am right now."
"Chad, that was a…" Carter never got to finish because the high pitched whine of a laser blast passing by his shoulder and the resulting explosion of chunks of the concrete rubble had him tucking the little girl tighter to him and shielding her with his body as he spun his back to the flying bits and pieces of shrapnel that the laser blast had created. Even as he was turning away and shielding the child in his arms, Carter cried out as he saw the rubble shuddering and groaning as the explosion weakened it even further.
He wasn't conscious of handing the child into Dana and Kelsey's waiting arms, nor was he even conscious of morphing. All he knew was that if he didn't get to Chad before the formation of rubble collapsed, Chad would be buried alive under, possibly, a ton of crumbled concrete and steel. Carter twisted and dove for the rubble pile, only to be slammed away by a grayish silver clad arm and white-gloved hand.
"NO! He's MINE!" Ryan shouted as the Red Lightspeed Rescue Ranger dove forward toward where Chad was looking out with a panicked expression as he looked at Ryan and Carter tumbling toward the slowly collapsing pile he'd pulled the little girl from just seconds earlier. He raised his communicator to his mouth and said in a quiet, calm tone that belied the panic in his eyes. "Something in the rubble. Can't morph. Tell, Ry that I… I'll love him forever." Chad's voice broke as he said the last words and Dana, Kelsey, and Joel could see the tears coursing down his face as realization dawned on them that when the pile collapsed, he knew, Chad knew he'd die since he couldn't morph. "I know, Dana." Chad whispered over the still open circuit. "Don't watch, any of you. I…" The circuit was cut as the fighting forms of Carter and Ryan, still morphed, slammed into the rubble and the grinding, shrieking of it's collapse horrified the three watching.
"CHAD!" Dana shouted as she started forward, wrenching herself from the grips of Kelsey and Joel. "NO! God, NO!" Dana grabbed Ryan and Carter and flung them away from each other with a fury and power she'd never used before. "DAMN YOU BOTH TO HELL!" Dana screamed at them and then started furiously digging at the site of the small hole Chad had slid through to get to the little girl he'd given his life for. "HELP ME DIG, DAMNIT!" Dana snapped the order and both Carter and Ryan dropped to their knees to help.
It was the crying of Kelsey, held in Joel's arms, that was the first thing that had registered in Carter's brain since taking the small girl from Chad's hands. He looked down to see his hands, covered with the gloves of his Ranger armor, digging furiously through what was once a small, semi-secure cave, which had protected the child and then Chad. "Chad! Damn you, you said you'd be with us for this!" Carter said with such force that both Ryan and Dana stopped digging and turned to face him.
"There's a possibility he's still alive." Dana said quietly as she turned and continued digging. "We have to get to him. Kelsey, how long do we have? You're the cave and climbing expert. Come help us; you and Joel."
"There's got to be ton of rubble on top of him by now, Dana." Carter said with a hitch in his voice as he looked at the place where he'd lost a friend. "That much weight, he's not a big man but the chance of him finding a pocket in this… they're astronomical, Dana."
"Who was in there with the child?" Ryan asked in a cold tone that was filled with anger and something else that they couldn't discern at that point. "Which of you took the bait for the trap I set?"
"Look around you, Ryan Mitchell." Kelsey said with a rising anger when she'd heard Ryan's words. "Look at the colors we wear and YOU tell us who was in there, rescuing a helpless child YOU put into danger." Kelsey never stopped digging but her words froze Ryan's angry reply as he slowly looked at the colors of the Rangers digging furiously in the mess the collapse left. He dropped to his knees as his mind registered that there wasn't a figure in blue digging with them. He curled into a small ball of pain and cried as the Titanium Ranger's armor disappeared from his body to leave him laying in the crumbled concrete and steel writhing in misery.
"I'm here, Ry." Ryan heard Chad's voice in his head as the memories of Chad holding him through the night and comforting him through the nightmares that had plagued him since childhood. "I'll always be here with you. You're my world, Ry, and without you I'm lost and alone. I love you."
"Ryan." Dana said with compassion as she gently touched her weeping brother's shoulder. "Come and help us find him. We need your strength, big brother. He's still with us; I think. Something in the powers would tell us if he wasn't. Come on, he needs you to be strong for him."
Ryan's tears didn't dry up, but he uncurled from the ball of misery he'd been curled into and looked into the eyes of his sister. He couldn't speak, but he nodded and with a voice choked with tears he called out, "Titanium Power" and morphed once more. He looked at the pile and then smiled slightly behind his helmet. "Quit digging." Ryan snapped.
Carter and the others looked up at Ryan with various degrees of shock, surprise, and uncertainty showing in their body language and eyes. "We can't stop. He'll… he'll died as he's slowly crushed by the weight. We have to get to him, at least we have to try." Kelsey said through the tears that streaked her face. She'd allowed her helmet's visor to rise so she could see the pile of stones, steel, and concrete that now marked the possible spot of Chad Lee's grave. "He's got minutes, three or four at most. We have to get to him!"
"He's not there." Ryan said with a serious tone that carried not only his love, but also a conviction that none could even question. "Blue would have found a hole. I'm going to use my weapon to blast away most of this mess. I know that he's below street level; because I dug the hole first before I put that poor kid in there and then covered her while I blasted the building above. I crawled out leaving her there and then further weakened the area around her. I dug the hole with my blaster so it's not perfect. There are small cracks and crevasses that Chad would have been able to shimmy into. We've got to get the majority of this off of the top to even get to the hole. That's what I'm going to do, blast this mess off the top so we can find him."
"Blasting it off will cause more of it to collapse." Kelsey said with a negative shake of her head. "If he's alive and in a crack or small hole down there; he doesn't have much breathable oxygen down there. Hypoxia and asphyxiation are always a possibility too. We can't take that chance."
"Do it, Ryan." Carter said surprising the others with the stern ordering tone in his voice. "Chad… you wouldn't hurt Chad, on purpose, if you could help it. There's that much good left in you. We'll follow your lead and if you're not right; you'll have eternity to punish yourself for killing a man that did nothing wrong but to fall in love with you. That's punishment enough for you in my eyes."
"Step away from the pile." Ryan said with a gritty determined tone that belied the tears pooling in his eyes and running down his face. Tears all the Rangers could see because Ryan hadn't lowered his visor. The others stepped back and Ryan took careful aim. He studied the pile, remembering how he'd built it and where Chad could have possibly found shelter. Then he fired a long burst of energy from his blaster. The rubble pile erupted with large, medium, and small chucks of debris flying away from where the Rangers stood. When he stopped firing, Ryan immediately went back to moving large chunks of what remained away.
"I've got him!" Dana said moments later as she moved a large chunk of concrete and found the back of Chad's head. "Come on Chad, hang in there, guy." Dana said as she and the others started removing more of the debris around him, careful not to cause another shift that might crush the man further.
"Be all right, Blue." Ryan whispered, almost prayerfully. "You have to be all right or… " Ryan trailed off as Dana ran for her EMT bag and started checking over the still form of Chad Lee.
"He's breathing, barely." Dana said with a small sigh as she checked for pulse, heartbeat, and respirations. "He looks like he's asleep, but his pulse and respiration is too slow for someone just sleeping. I can see no outward signs of injury, but he should probably be checked out anyway."
"hm'm fine." Chad slurred as he slowly stirred and opened his eyes. His first sight was Ryan, still morphed into his Ranger armor. Chad smiled a lopsided smile and said with a quiet somber tone. "Hey, Ry, if ya won't come to the side of the angels for family; how about coming over for the devil ya do know?"
"Oh Gods, Blue!" Ryan said with a very exasperated yet joyful tone as he carefully scooped the smaller un-morphed man from the crouched fetal position he was still in. "Only you would say something like that to me right now, Chad Lee." Ryan chastised, but there was no censure in his voice only joy and happiness.
"Ease him down, Ryan." Dana said with a smiling yet authoritative tone. "Let me check him out."
"I'm fine, Dana." Chad replied his voice coming quickly back to normal and he uncoiled from Ryan's arms and surprised everyone when he landed on his feet. "I found a small hole under the pavement that would hold me. I dove in and then went into a meditative trance. Knew you'd have to dig for a while to get to me so I meditated to slow down my breathing and everything. No much good air got through so I didn't want to pass out from CO2 build up. See, I'm just fine." Chad finished talking and then brought his morpher up to his chest and called out, "Lightspeed Rescue!" He morphed into the Blue Lightspeed Ranger and then laughed as he was crushed in a tight group hug by his teammates even as Ryan's arms were wrapped around him from behind and Ryan was included in the hug too.
"Staying with us, Ry?" Chad asked very seriously as he was released by his teammates and allowed to stand on his own. "Staying with me?"
"Staying on both counts, Blue." Ryan said with an equally serious expression. "I have some things that I have to work through with my birth father, Captain Mitchell, but I'm staying." Ryan looked up and then he screamed "LOOK OUT!" He twisted to where Chad was behind him and protected as Vipra and nearly a platoon strength force of Batlings fired at the unsuspecting Rangers. Well they would have been unsuspecting, except for Ryan's warning cry.
The melee that was joined after the first attack by Vipra and the Batlings exhausted all the Rangers, even Ryan. But throughout the battle he'd found himself helping each of his new teammates fight against seemingly overwhelming odds and winning. After the battle they returned to the Aqua Base with Ryan riding in the Rescue Rover seated so closely to Chad that they could have shared the same seatbelt had it been long enough to go around both of them.
"Dang," Joel groused with a teasing tone. "And here I thought getting another teammate meant I didn't have to sit all alone anymore. What didn't I shower or something this morning?"
"Can it, Joel." Kelsey told him with a happy tone as she watched the two sitting happily next to each other, each supporting and comforting the other with nothing more than the touch of a hand to an arm or shoulder. "Look at is this way, my friend. Either you're going to be getting an extra roommate, a room to yourself, or you're going to wind up sharing with Carter. Whatever happens from now on, we're together."
"Aww, you mean I can't share with you and Dana?" Ryan asked with a teasing voice as he smiled a very real and happy smile. His smile quickly turned to a slightly twisted grimace as Chad playfully elbowed him in the ribs for his remark.
"The ladies don't need you, Ry." Chad said seriously as he looked up and into Ryan's eyes. "I do, always have, and always will."
"Good." Dana said as the Rover started down the tunnel into the base. "Ryan needs you too, Chad. He's just too stubborn, like Dad, to admit that he does."
That night, after talking with his father and discovering the lies Diabolico had told him all his life a nearly furious Ryan was stalking the base looking for any signs of Chad, his Blue. When he didn't find him he sighed and went looking for his sister, Dana, or else that anyone that might be able to tell him where Chad was. He ran into Carter, literally, in the hallway. "OOF! Sorry." Ryan said with a sad, distracted tone. He turned to move on down the hall when Carter stopped him by calling his name.
"Ryan!" Carter said with a surprised voice. "I thought you'd be out on the beach with Chad, watching the sunset. Isn't that like a nightly ritual for the two of you?"
"Beach?" Ryan said with a shocked tone and then Carter watched as smiled of total happiness and love transformed the worried frowning expression that had initially covered his newest teammate's face.
Carter didn't even take offense at the fact that Ryan never said 'thank you' or anything. He simply turned and headed for the exit at a run; one that quickly gather speed until Ryan was racing as fast as he could to get outside to his 'Blue'. Carter smiled and continued down the corridor. He approached Joel and Chad's old room and then stopped. He knocked and smiled when Joel answered almost immediately.
Joel noticed what Ryan hadn't, the bag Carter had over his shoulder and the one in his hand. "Going someplace, Carter?" Joel asked as his face was lit up by the smile that he gave his teammate, leader, and friend.
"Actually I am." Carter said seriously and then smiled when Joel realized what the bags meant. "I'm moving in here and wondered if you'd help me surprise both Chad and Ryan by helping me move Chad's stuff to my old room. Kelsey and Dana are putting Ryan's things in there as we speak."
"Oh so I'm losing the roommate I just got know for one that's going to pull rank on me when it comes to the bathroom." Joel teased as he moved so that Carter could come into the room. "Chad sleeps over there, Carter." Joel's voice took on a more serious tone. Just drop your stuff over by my bed and we'll get Chad all packed up and move his things down to your old room. Just one question for you, thought; why do you have to move?"
"I didn't HAVE to move, Joel." Carter said smiling as he and Joel quickly yet carefully packed up all of Chad's possessions. "I volunteered to give Chad and Ryan my old room. It's the only room, besides Captain Mitchell's and one of the VIP quarters that has a bed big enough for the two of them to be together. Captain Mitchell was going to put them into the VIP quarters, on the other side of the base, when I volunteered for them to have my room and I'd bunk in with you. These bunks are big enough for one person, but I can't see Chad and Ryan having to contort to share and we know they would be sharing. I would if I was in their place and it was my girlfriend, lover that was my roommate. This way they won't be getting injuries from sleeping and can trail full out."
"Good thinking." Joel said with a smile as they quickly finished packing up Chad's things. "Although you might have a bedmate without wanting one tonight if someone doesn't tell Chad about the change in rooms."
"Ms. Fairweather and her team is taking care of that for us." Carter said smiling as they made their way down the corridor and into the next pod where Carter's old room was located. "I just want both of them to be as comfortable as they can be while working here and that's what I also told Captain Mitchell as the reason for volunteering to change rooms. I think he saw through me though because he did comment that your and Chad's room was closer to Dana and Kelsey's room." Joel and Carter shared a knowing look and a laugh as they joined Dana and Kelsey in getting Carter's old quarters set up for Ryan and Chad to occupy.
While their teammates were preparing a surprise for the two, Chad and Ryan were up on the beach together watching the sunset, trading slow, loving, sensual kisses, and just rejoicing in being together. "So, Blue." Ryan breathed after one passionate exchange of kisses that left both of them gasping for needed fresh air in their lungs. "You still being driven mad with the need to kill me?"
"Not anymore, Ry." Chad answered back with a sigh as he snuggled into Ryan's embrace. Chad shivered slightly and Ryan wrapped around him to provide warmth and shelter for Chad as the breeze off the now dark waters of the bay slid over both men. "Never was me in the first place, but the powers that were doing it."
"I know and I knew, Chad." Ryan said with a sigh of regret, apology, and sadness combined. "Diabolico made sure I knew everything about the Lightspeed Powers, especially the Titanium powers. My switching sides is going to make for some interesting battles in the days to come, but here is where I've always belonged. Not in that limbo like nothingness that they exist in."
"You've always belonged to this world and not that one, Ry." Chad said seriously even though he shivered with cold again.
"Come on, lets get back into the base before my little sister has my head for you catching pneumonia out here in nothing but a pair of trunks." Ryan said standing up and easily pulling an unresisting Chad to his feet.
The two walked back to the base hand in hand and once back inside they were slightly shocked to see a note tacked to the wall on blue paper with silver calligraphy on it. "Chad and Ryan," the note read. "Follow the signs to where a surprise awaits you both. Welcome home Ryan and welcome to the team." It was signed with many, many signatures the most prominent being Ms. Fairweather's signature.
"What signs?" Chad asked and the both men gasped in shock as they discovered the entwined blue and titanium grey ribbons that were attached to the card and that stretched down the center of the dim lit corridor before them. "So do we follow them or just go back to my room and get away together for a while?"
"Let's follow them, Blue." Ryan said with a happy tone and amusement shining in his eyes as he looked slightly down into Chad's smiling upturned face. Ryan stole a quick, passionate kiss before taking Chad's hand in his and two slowly walked through the base following and collecting the ribbon as they went.
Eventually, a long twenty minutes later, the two arrived at the end of the ribbon and sign trail. The door before them was closed and Chad frowned because he thought they were outside of Carter's room, but he couldn't be sure because they'd traveled so much of the underwater base that he was turned around and somewhat lost. They read the last sign together and smiled because Dana, Joel, Kelsey, and Carter, their teammates, signed this one. "Welcome to your new home, Ryan Mitchell and Chad Lee. This is your quarters now. Enjoy and be happy!"
"Chad, Ryan." Captain Mitchell said as he stepped through the hatch that would lead to the passageway to the next pod over. "Have a good time out watching tonight's very gorgeous sunset?"
"It was a beautiful sunset, Dad." Ryan said and purposely wrapped his arm around Chad's shoulders. "Thanks for asking."
"Relax, Chad." Captain Mitchell smiled as he saw Chad stiffen slightly when Ryan's arm went around his shoulder. "I told you before that I understood and that I was all right with my son's choices. Now why don't the two of you go and enjoy your new quarters that your teammates and friends, not that's not right; it should be teammates and family worked so hard to get ready for the two of you. You'll get no hassles from anyone in this base over your relationship. Not because Ryan is my son but because you're both respected and valued members of this team. We'll see you both at eleven in the morning for training. Chad you know where to go. Goodnight gentlemen and sleep well."
Captain Mitchell walked away with a smile on his face leaving behind a stunned Chad and Ryan in his wake.
"Let's go to bed, Blue." Ryan said opening the door and stepping inside the room. He stopped and gasped in shock, which caused Chad to nearly run into him. Both men looked around and their eyes filled with tears of joy and happiness. The tears never fell, but the sight of dozens upon dozens of small votive candles in colors of blue and silver lighting the room with a flicker golden glow and leading the way to the large single bed in the room dried up the tear and brought matching expressions of love, lust, and need to both men's faces.
"We're not going to disappoint our family and not make use of that very tempting bed are we, Ry?" Chad asked as he wrapped the taller man into his arms from behind and laid his head against Ryan's back.
"I've discovered that you can never disappoint family, Blue." Ryan replied in a tone that was quickly becoming smoky with rising desire. Ryan twisted easily in Chad's loose grip and the two slowly made their way to the bed and fell upon it. That night they shared their bodies with each other as they shared their whole hearts and souls. They made love until both were exhausted and they fell asleep still entwined. They both had just enough strength to pull the lightweight blanket and sheet up over them before sleep and dreams claimed them.
The next morning at eleven o'clock, Carter frowned when only Kelsey, Joel, and Dana were present for training. "Where the heck are they?" Carter said with an exasperated, slightly angry tone of voice.
"They're still sleeping, Carter." Ms. Fairweather's voice issued over their communicators. "Come back inside, you've got to see this. It's the cutest thing in the world."
Dana and Kelsey shared a quick look and then took off running followed closely by Carter and Joel who shared smiles of mischief. The four quickly made their way to the room and Captain Mitchell was the one to slowly open the door and show them the sight inside. Ryan was sleeping on is side with his head facing the door and Chad was held tenderly in his arms; Chad's head pillowed on Ryan's shoulder and his face tucked into the juncture of Ryan's neck and shoulder. Both were held tightly in each other's arms and everyone was sure that the small contented smile on Ryan's face was echoed on Chad's hidden face.
"Aw, that's sweet." Dana muttered and was shocked when Ryan's eyes opened and he looked right at all of them. His smile never left his face and he relaxed as he saw that it was his father and his teammates that had invaded his and Chad's room.
"Morning." Ryan said quietly as he tried to rouse Chad from his deep sleep.
"Let him sleep, son." Captain Mitchell said with an indulgent smile on his face. "In fact, training can wait until tomorrow. Today all of you should rest from the battle yesterday. Take the time to get to know Ryan and Chad better. Although I'm surprised that Chad wasn't out diving and swimming at four in the morning like he usually is."
"We did go diving this morning, sir." Chad said sleepily as he rolled over and his eyes caught sight of the time. "SHIT! RY! Why didn't we set the alarm? We're late and Carter is going to skin us alive." Chad bolted from the bed without realizing that they had company and he wasn't exactly dressed. Kelsey and Dana gasped, turned red, and spun around quickly as Chad vaulted from the bed and Ryan's arm in a slightly sleepy panicked dash for his clothing.
"BLUE!" Ryan shouted and then dissolved into fits of laughter as Chad seemed to realize that he and Ryan weren't alone and dove back into the bed with his head disappearing under the covers and making a slight bump down by Ryan's feet even as he frantically covered himself with hands and blankets at the same time.
Everyone dissolved into laughing fits, including a very red faced Chad as he ripped the blanket and sheet out from under the mattress and stuck his head out of them and glared at everyone. "Warn me next time I'm about to give a free peep show; would ya, Ry?"
That morning set the stage for many more to come; although Chad and Ryan never again forgot to set an alarm when they had training. Endless friendly teasing and easy camaraderie came about between all of the Lightspeed Rescue team after that morning. The trials and tribulations they endured while seeing their city and the world safe from the demons was always tempered with laughter, friendship, love, and trust.
XXXXX The End XXXXX
A/N: That's it folks. The end of the tale is here. The reference to the beach and the sunset is where my drabble "Blue Meets Evil On The Beach" takes place and that drabble was also the inspiration for this tale. I hope you've enjoyed this and that you'll take the time to drop a review and let me know what you think. Praise and criticisms is welcomed equally. May the Power protect you, always! Pern.