(A.N. Here we are, chapter 22. I think we can all agree there was more behind Jen's jealousy and I also think there were little changes to their relationship after their almost kiss in Lovestruck Rangers, hence how this story came about. Thank you to everyone who had read, favourited, followed or reviewed It's Time For Time Force, I really appreciate it! So here's the chapter, I hope you enjoy and please feel free to let me know what you think :) )

Undercover Rangers

Lucas shook his head behind his book as he watched Wes in the mirror. For two people who were meant to be hiding the fact that they were in a relationship, the red ranger had the subtlety of a freight train when it came to his feelings for Jen. He was trying to slick his hair back the way Alex's had been before he groaned in frustration. "Oh, who am I kidding? I'm never gonna be like Alex." He sighed, dejectedly spinning the mirror. "Time Force hotshot, it's no wonder Jen loves him." He buried his head into his arm as his knuckles rapped the table - Lucas only rolling his eyes at the scene. A few seconds later, though, his head whipped up in realisation. "Then again, the guy came all the way here and he treated her like a stranger." He hummed, his confidence growing. "Well, maybe I do have a chance."

It was at that moment, as he fixed up his collar and his hair, that Jen walked in, looking at him rather confused. "What are you doing?"

He gasped a little, turning to her as she smiled nervously. "N-nothing."

Nervous tension was thick in the air and neither of them knew what to say, despite both of them trying. It only resulted in them laughing awkwardly and trying to build up their courage to try again. It took a few tries before they both managed and turned to each other at the same time. "Hey Jen," She gestured for him to continue and he did. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Really, there's something I wanted to talk to you about too."

"Oh well, why don't you go first?"

"Oh no, no you go first."

They both looked down somewhat anxiously and Lucas held his bated breath, wanting them to just have the conversation they so desperately needed to. He groaned silently as Wes continued the back-and-forth game. "Well uh... no, you go first."

He stood up and made his way over to them as Jen responded. "No, really."

The blue ranger placed a hand on each of their shoulders, looking at them sternly. "Somebody go first, you're both driving me crazy."

With a pointed look and his arms crossed, he stood there as Wes told Jen. "I was just gonna ask if-"

But that was as far as he got because Katie and Trip burst through the door exclaiming about what happened at the park. They all came to the same conclusion but Jen was the one to voice it. "Maybe two of us should go in undercover and check it out."

"I'll go." Trip volunteered.

Lucas put his hand on the green ranger's chest and moved to stand beside him, hinting as he said. "How about Jen and Wes go?"

"But I wanna go undercover."

He sighed, realising he had to be very obvious for the Xybrian to understand. "Trip, Trip, Trip." He pulled him away from the group as he pointedly said. "I think Jen and Wes should go, don't you?"

Trip nodded in realisation and it was decided. Jen and Wes would go undercover to the gym to find out what was going on.

She tried pulling at her wrists but the rope wouldn't budge. It had been too much to bear. Watching Wes and Theresa flirt had simply been too much for her to bear and she didn't want to think about the anger she felt. She'd gone off to investigate on her own, which as much as she hated to admit it, got her in trouble... again. They were just about to force the drink down her throat when Wes came and knocked the drink out of his hands. In that moment, relief flooded through her and she forgot about her earlier anger. "Wes!"

He fought the muscle men, knocking them onto the ground before he made his way to untie her. "Jen!"

"Hurry."

He quickly undid the knots and grabbed her hand before they took off running to escape Frax and his henchmen. They ran down the hall before he spotted an alcove and he pulled her in, narrowly avoiding the two men he'd just taken on. Once they knew they were safe and both sighed in relief, he turned to her as she crossed to the other side of the wall. "Are you ok?" He asked as he tried to hold her forearms.

She wouldn't let him, shoving his hands away as her earlier anger resurfaced. "What took you so long? You couldn't tear yourself away from Theresa."

"Theresa?" He asked utterly confused before realisation hit him. "Wait a sec, you think I liked her?"

"Oh no, whatever would give me that idea, Albert?"

"Hey," He said as he put his hands on her forearms, "I had to make up a name."

Jen shoved him off one more as she countered. "And I supposed you just had to let her feel your muscles too."

She completed the actions as she said the words and Wes couldn't help but chuckle. He used his arm to cage her against the wall as he asked. "What, are you jealous or something?" His tone was teasing but truthfully, he was questioning why she'd ever think she needed to be - he was just playing the part and even then, he felt a little guilty.

"Jealous?" She asked, raising her eyebrows. "Of you? I don't think so."

The conversation couldn't go any further as Wes was pulled out of the alcove and they were faced with a group of people in orange jumpsuits that Frax had been turning into his robots. They couldn't fight them and they had to escape. They managed to make it outside of the gym and were momentarily saved by Eric before they took on Mr Mechanau. He was a tough threat and they weren't entirely sure how they were going to beat him. He also seemed to have a particular grudge against Jen, choosing to attack the pink ranger so much more harshly than the rest of the team. It was just lucky that Alex had sent Wes the Strata Cycle to help protect Jen. They were able to defeat Mr Mechanau and get him back into containment.

After the battle, Wes found himself at the clock tower, sitting on the front desk while he fiddled with the hands of the clock. His thoughts were jumbled and he didn't know where to start, truthfully, he wasn't sure if he wanted to. Because doing that meant he had to address his feelings and he wasn't ready to do that.

He didn't notice Jen standing in the doorway until she announced herself, timidly offering. "Hey."

"Hi Jen." he said as he placed the clock down before he jumped down and they both moved to stand in front of each other.

"Hey listen," her voice came out as a whisper as she fiddled with her fingers, she strengthened her voice to come out more audibly as she told him. "You really saved me out there today, I want to thank you for that."

He slowly shook his head, looking down momentarily."I can't take all the credit." He walked a few steps away from her as he revealed. "Alex... sent me that Strata Cycle to help protect you." Though it pained him to say, he admitted. "I can see why you fell for him, he's tough but he's a really great guy."

"Yeah, he is." She sighed but her face fell and the words didn't sound like she actually believed them. This wasn't where the conversation was meant to be going and hearing about how great Alex was just made her feel worse.

Wes rolled his lips inward as he forced himself to say. "You and Alex make a terrific couple, really, you're perfect together."

There was that word again as he busied himself: terrific. He'd pointed out that she only used that word in the opposite context it was meant in, was that the same way he was using it now? She sighed as she looked at him and she couldn't stop herself any longer. She shook her head as she walked over to him. "Wes wait." They stood so they were only a few inches apart. "What I was trying to tell you before is that I... I- um-"

And that was as far as she got because the bell on the door rang as a man walked in and the other three rangers rushed in to meet him, Trip immediately offering to help. The man responded with. "I was wanting to hire a personal trainer, you know, to do some weight lifting and stuff."

"We have just the people for the job." Katie offered, gesturing to the red and pink rangers who both immediately denied.

"Oh come on," Lucas said with a teasing grin as he started pushing them towards the man. "You guys love working out." They started denying but he continued pushing. "Come on, come on."

Jen locked eyes with Katie, looking at her pleadingly before glancing at Wes and back. The yellow ranger realised with a start and she spoke up. "Oh, sorry, I forgot, Jen has some paperwork to do and Wes, don't you have that thing on?"

The pink ranger nodded but Wes looked at her confused, which quickly changed after a pinch from Jen. "Oh yeah, sorry but Katie, Lucas and Trip here will be happy to help you."

Lucas and Trip grumbled as they and Katie followed the man out and Jen and Wes were left by themselves again. The pink ranger had lost the nerve to tell Wes what she'd planned to so she awkwardly offered a simple. "So..."

"So I guess it's just us again. We can talk without worrying about interruptions." The girl nodded in response. "So, we could talk here or we could go upstairs?"

"Upstairs sounds good."

They walked upstairs in silence until they made it to the main floor. When they stopped in the middle of the room, standing opposite each other, Wes admitted. "I've been dreading this conversation... It's actually one of the reasons I stayed at my dad's last night, I didn't think I was ready for it."

"Oh... Are you now?"

He bit the bullet as he simply asked. "It's over, isn't it? This, us, we've reached the end, haven't we?"

"Wes-"

"It's ok, I get it. We knew we'd have to do this eventually, it just - came a little sooner than I expected." He shook his head, looking down. "Alex is alive and you're going to get married. You're wearing his-" He looked down at her hand to see her bare ring finger. "You took it off?"

"Yeah I-" Her mind was battling itself and she couldn't think so she lamely finished. "I don't know."

Wes sighed. "It's ok, Jen, I understand. Alex is alive so it's the end of us. I know it was the only reason I had a chance in the first place. If he was alive, you never would've looked twice at me - hell, I never would've been a ranger."

She shook her head. "No, that's not-"

"Don't say it's not true. You hated me when you first came, Jen, and if Alex had been alive, we never would've become friends let alone anything more." He looked down and tortured himself once more as he asked. "Just tell me one thing, does he make you happy? If he does and you can't imagine a future with anyone else, I'll step back – as much as I hate it – I'll stop because I don't want to make anything harder for you Jen. I just need to know that you'll be happy. Just promise me that he makes you happy."

She shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. "I can't - I don't - I don't know." His hand came up to cup her cheek but he froze when she flinched. He was heartbroken and she shook her head desperately. "Wes, that wasn't -" She lifted his hand and held it to her cheek, trembling as she pleaded. "That wasn't because of you, see, Wes please."

His hand continued to cup her cheek as the other firmly held her shoulder. "Jen, did he hurt you?"

"No, he didn't - it's just - I don't -"

Her knees gave way but he caught her, lowering them both down to the floor. Seeing how close she was to falling apart, he pulled her into his arms, holding her tight as he set her on his lap. Her hands gripped fistfuls of the back of his shirt as she buried her face into the crook of his neck. One of his hands held firmly on her back as the other ran over her hair, soothing. "It's ok Sweetheart, I've got you." He comforted her until she'd calmed her racing heart and she finally pulled back. "I never want you to be scared of me, I'd never do anything to hurt you. No matter how I'm feeling or what happens, I would never lay a hand on you and I wouldn't scream at you. I would hate to know I did anything that ever made you afraid." His fingers softly brushed the hair out of her face while he spoke and he looked at her so tenderly with so much adoration that she almost whimpered. "Tell me what happened?"

"He's never physically hurt me." She said, right off the bat. "But sometimes our fights can get a little bit nasty. It wasn't too bad yesterday but Katie stepped in so maybe it looked worse from the outside."

"What did he say to you, Jen?"

She shrugged. "What was expected I guess, he was cold as soon as he got off the time ship. He's not usually like that." He pushed her gently to elaborate so she did. "Just that I've been messing around too much when I should've been working, I wasn't doing my job of leading the team... And that he knows about us." His eyes widened so she explained. "He's been monitoring our battles and I guess while we're here too, he knows that we're together and he saw everything, he said I cheated."

"You don't believe that, do you?"

"No," she shook her head, "Katie talked some sense into me yesterday and she helped me to stand up to him for the first time in a long time."

"I know." She looked at him confused so he explained. "I asked her the other day and she filled me in last night. I was wondering why you always seemed to apologise or concede quickly and I'm sorry I didn't ask you but I just had to know. It seems to be something that everyone at Time Force is aware of."

"Everyone at Time Force knows?" He nodded and she looked down. "What must they think of me?"

"That you're a strong girl who's just trying to keep her fiancee happy because you think he's all you have."

She quietly revealed. "My dad walked out not long after I was born and I guess it took its toll on my mom. She wasn't around much so I mostly had to take care of myself, she just did enough to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. She left once I was old enough to be on my own and I haven't heard from her since. So because I had no brothers and sisters and I didn't really have many friends, I was all alone... until I met Alex. He was the first one who was there for me and it was nice to feel wanted for a change." She looked down as she admitted. "I promised myself that I would do anything to make sure that I didn't lose him."

He tipped her chin up as he told her. "You shouldn't have to be scared to stand up for yourself or share your opinion just to keep someone in your life. If he loves you, he should love you enough to respect you for that. Remember what I told you, no one has the right to treat you badly, you don't deserve it and you shouldn't accept it from anybody."

"I do but if he leaves, I'm all alone again."

Wes looked at her with confusion for a moment before he stood up and walked over to the desk, picking up the polaroid photos. He brought the pile back over, handing her one picture. Her eyes softened and she smiled as she looked at it: it was the group photo of the five of them. Feeling his hand squeeze her shoulder, she looked up at him as he told her. "You may not have your parents but you've got a family right there Sweetheart and you'll never be on your own again." Her response was to lean into his embrace once more and he felt his throat tighten. "I just need to know that you're gonna be ok. I just want you to be happy and I want him to take care of you." He stared at her intensely for a few moments – simply enjoying the feeling of her in his arms – before he swallowed the lump forming in his throat. "I don't want this to be over, Jen. I don't want to let you go."

"I don't either."

He hugged her to him and simply held her there for a few seconds. His mind was ticking and he was weighing up his decision until he couldn't bear it. "I just have to say one more thing." He moved her off his lap so she sat in front of him and took her hands in his. "Alex gave me so much more than I could ever repay him for. He saved my dad and gave up the morpher so I could be on the team, he gave me everything. And the least I could do would be to give you up and show you that he is the person for you, the person you deserve and the person you're meant to be with... But I can't. He gets to have you for the rest of your lives together, so can I be selfish and ask for you to be mine for the rest of this time?"

Jen nodded in tears as she threw herself into his arms, gripping him tightly. "The hardest thing I'll ever have to do will be to let you go... but being here and not being with you is something I wouldn't survive."

"I'm not gonna let you go until I have to, Sweetheart." He placed a kiss on her temple and for the first time in the last couple of days, he felt relief. She was still his – for how long, they weren't sure – but for this moment and the rest to come, they would be together regardless of the consequences. He pulled back to cup her cheek as he told her. "I think our paths were meant to cross, it was our destiny that we would meet each other. I know our time is limited but I wouldn't trade a second with you for a lifetime with someone else. I can't live without you, Jen, you're my air, my salvation. You complete me and you mean more to me than you'll ever know. I just hope I can spend however long we have left together showing you how special you are."

"Oh, Wes." She sighed before she kissed him tenderly. "I've never met someone like you and I don't think I ever will again. No matter what happens, you will forever be a part of me and I'll never forget how I feel being with you. You make me happier than I've felt in a long time and I don't want to lose that, just like I don't want to lose you. I want to soak in every last second we have together because you're my best friend and you mean everything to me."

They both knew what should have followed their declarations: those three little words. But they couldn't. There was no denying that they felt it, it seeped into every fibre of their beings but they couldn't admit it out loud. Because once you admit it, how do you let them go? How do you voluntarily leave and lose the person you love?

So they didn't say it. They simply held each other for a few more seconds before they moved to make dinner, falling back into their usual rhythm. The last few days had been a rollercoaster and they never thought that they would end up here but this was the conclusion and they couldn't be happier with the result.