(A.N. Here's chapter 5 of It's Time For Time Force and here we feature a Wes/Jen moment, finally! Honestly, it's almost a crime that their first heart-to-heart outside of the events of the show hasn't been up until this point. But here it is. As always, I hope you enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think :) )

Worlds Apart

They were in their odd jobs uniforms picking up the rubbish as Lucas grumbled. "I went through all that time force training for this."

"Hey," Wes countered. "These odd jobs pay the bills."

What they didn't realise as they continued their cleaning, though, was Mr Collins's car driving passed until it pulled up in the driveway. He didn't want to, but Wes walked up to the car as his father's window came down. "Hi, Dad."

"This is what you left home for, to clean up other people's trash."

Trip quickly defended him. "He does more than that."

Wes appreciated the green ranger having his back but knew there was no point in trying to explain that to his dad. "Trip, it's ok."

Mr Collins rolled up his window as he told his son. "I couldn't be more disappointed."

Wes stood up as the car drove away, his father's words cut deep but he wouldn't let it show. He felt the other rangers come up and Jen place her hand on his shoulder. He looked over at her at the gesture before watching his father's car drive further in the distance. Whilst his focus was on the car, Jen's focus was on him. She felt awful knowing that Wes was being made to feel like a disappointment – she could only imagine how deep those words would've hit him – and she even felt a little angry at Mr Collins for even thinking about uttering those words, let alone saying them out loud. His son was the red time force ranger – even though he didn't know it – and Wes had a lot to be proud of, she only hoped that he could see it.


It was an intense battle and the presence of the Silver Guardians was only making their job harder. Jen thought she was ready for anything that would happen in a fight, but nothing could have prepared her for the anguish she felt as she watched Wes jump in front of that blast from the mutant and watching him fall to the ground almost broke every inch of composure she had. She had to stop herself from crying out as she saw him lying in the rubble, she had to push it down and get on with the battle. She'd have time to process it all later but for right now, she needed to defeat this mutant.

When he finally manages to pull himself up, his visor is destroyed, revealing his identity to both Eric and his father. The mutant aims his blaster, exclaiming. "Now to finish the job."

Before he gets a chance to fire, Jen and Lucas attack him, preventing him from firing. Wes runs to join his friends, ignoring Eric shouting out his name. His path is stopped by his father, "Wesley, what's the meaning of this. You're a time force ranger."

"I wanted to tell you Dad, but I couldn't." He turns to see the injured commander being moved by his teammate as he tells his father. "Look, you don't know what you're up against here. People are getting hurt, all because you want more money. How much is enough for you, Dad?"

Mr Collins shook his head. "No, that's not it at all. You don't understand anything about my business. I had the perfect future planned out for you."

"Your future, not mine," Wes stressed. "And for the first time in my life, I feel like I'm really making a difference."

He took off to help his team but he was once again stopped. "Wes, wait stop." He turned back to his father as he said. "Listen, if you would just let me explain, you'd understand that you're talking a bunch of nonsense."

"No. All my life, I've done what you wanted me to do but now I'm in control of my own future."

And with that, he finally took off running, ignoring the calls from both Eric and Mr Collins. Luckily he left when he did because he arrived just in time to help the rangers and he defeated the mutant. He put the mutant into the cylinder and told Trip to put it in containment as his eyes locked on Eric and his father. They stared at each other for a few moments and with no words spoken, Wes walked away to join his friends.

Jen and Katie ran up to him, the former putting her hand on his shoulder as she asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Katie nudged his other shoulder as she told him. "That was awesome Wes."

Lucas and Trip came up to the group, the blue ranger offering him a high-five before they all wrapped their arms around one another as they walked off in a line. Wes put an arm over Katie's shoulder and Jen's, patting Lucas on the shoulder before it returned to wrap firmly over Jen's as he felt her arm grip firmly around his waist. He squeezed her shoulder gently in response to that action as they walked home, though he silently revelled in the feeling of her arm around him.


At the end of the night, Jen went to go out to her place on the roof and was a little surprised to find Wes already sitting there, looking out at the night sky. She hesitated – not wanting to interrupt him and debated whether to go somewhere else – but seeing the crease in his eyebrows, she decided that he probably needed someone to talk to and for a reason she didn't want to think too deeply about, she wanted to be that person. "Want some company?"

He looked across at her and a small smile dawned on his face. "Yeah sure." She climbed out and sat beside him as the quiet night air encompassed them. "It's nice out here, I can see why you like it." She turned to him curiously so he clarified. "You come out here to think and you're out here every night, I can see why you are."

A warm wave of something flowed through her knowing that he'd noticed that but didn't want to acknowledge what she was feeling, simply responding. "It's easy to get lost out here and sometimes it's the easiest place to think." He nodded in response and they grew quiet again. She allowed herself to look at him, taking notice of the few marks still left from the day's battle and couldn't help the sadness that pooled in her stomach as she thought about everything that had led up to it. "I'm sorry about your dad."

"Don't be, it's no different than it ever has been."

"Still, he shouldn't have said the things he did to you and I hope you don't believe them."

"It's just..." He started but stopped suddenly, questioning whether he should even disclose his thoughts before he shook his head. "Nevermind."

"No," Jen said, looking at him sternly. "Not nevermind. Sometimes it's better to have a person you can talk to about what you're thinking."

He shook his head with a smile. "It's ok, Jen, I don't want to bore you with my problems. I'm sure you have a lot of more important things to do than listen to me." He laughed to himself. "I don't think anyone would want to hear about this."

"I do." She quietly admitted. "We're friends and I want you to feel like you can talk to me."

His smile brightened upon hearing that they were friends, and that did more to her than she'd care to admit, but she was happy when he finally started sharing.

"I just don't know what I expected. All my life, I've done everything I can to try and be good enough for my father – to make him proud – but it was never good enough. I mean you saw today, he 'couldn't be more disappointed' in me. And for some reason, I really thought that when he found out I was a ranger, he'd finally be proud of me." He shook his head as he added. "But I was right at the start, he just sees me as a business venture and that's all I'll ever be."

"I hope you don't see yourself like that Wes, because you are so much more than just a business venture." He looked up at her hopefully, which made her elaborate. "I was really impressed by you today, a lot of people would've jumped at the opportunity your father gave you, hell a lot of people wouldn't have even taken the morpher to become a power ranger but you've proved yourself time and again Wes, I hope you know that."

"You really think so?"

"I do, you're a great red ranger and I'm sorry for how hard I was on you when we first started out. I judged you too quickly and I'm sorry, but you have completely destroyed every judgement I initially made on you and I'm glad because you're a good person Wes, and a good friend."

"Thanks, Jen, it means a lot." They fell into silence once more before he built up the courage to say. "Can I ask you something?" When she nodded, he asked. "Were you ok after the battle today, you seemed a little off."

She just barely managed to conceal her surprise as she asked. "What makes you say that?"

"I don't know, a few little things. You just weren't quite as..." He thought for the right word before he continued. "feisty, I guess, as you normally are when we fight mutants. And after we put him in containment, you were still really on edge and tense - you were holding onto me. Whenever I've hugged you before today, you've never actually hugged back but today you actually held onto me, really tightly." Feeling as though the air between them had gotten thicker, he diffused the situation by nudging her shoulder and with a teasing tone, asked. "Were you worried about me Jennifer?"

She rolled her eyes but couldn't bring herself to lie to him as she recognised the truth in his words so she simply admitted. "Yeah, I was."

"Really?" He asked hopefully and she nodded in response. "But why? We've been in heaps of fights and we've all taken hits, why was this one different?"

"We haven't taken a hit like that before Wes." she shook her head as she looked at him. "You acted like a ranger would and I'm proud of you for that, but I can't lie and say that it wasn't scary watching it. You took that shot without even thinking about the consequences it would have on you – which is noble – but seeing you like that, laying on the ground, almost lifeless, I-" 'I felt like I couldn't breathe.' It had been repeating in her head but she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

Wes, on the other hand, thought she was going in a different direction and looked down as he defeatedly finished. "It reminded you of Alex, didn't it?"

"It did," she affirmed, but seeing how deflated he'd become, she couldn't stop herself from adding. "But that's not the only reason." She placed her hand on his knee which forced him to meet her gaze as she told him. "I don't see Alex when I look at you anymore, I see you. When I saw you on the ground like that, did what happened to Alex pop into my head? Yeah for a brief second, but honestly..." She sighed as she admitted. "Honestly, I was more worried about you Wes. I was scared that you got hurt and I just wanted you to be ok."

He looked at her warmly as he asked. "You were really worried about me?"

She nodded. "I was. I told you, I like you the way you are – not for you to be like Alex – and I care about you."

He pulled her into a tight hug as he reassured her. "I care about you too, Jen and don't worry. We may take a ton of hits from each mutant we face but we're going to make it through this and we're going to be ok."

She couldn't help but smile as she leaned her head against his chest, looking up at him. "You know, your optimism can get on my nerves but sometimes, like right now, it's exactly what I need to hear."

His response was to rest his head on top of her head as they looked out over the town. And though she didn't want to admit it because she promised herself that all her attention would be focused on Ransik and his mutants, she knew her feelings were growing stronger for Wes and that growth was exponential. She feared for what that meant and that she may grow to care about him so much that she'd eventually feel more for him than she was willing to let herself. But for the first time since she'd arrived in 2001, she decided to not let herself care. In that moment, in the safety and comfort of his embrace, Jen let herself enjoy being in Wes's arms and the feeling of him around her, sinking into the fantasy that their position at that moment could be a possibility.