Next Day, Afternoon

Rachael stood next to Eric as she watched Wes hug their friends good bye. She'd had her turn already, hugging each of them tightly, but she stood back and let Wes have his turn, watching Bronwyn turn her back and enter the time ship gracefully. Rachael's heart felt strong tugs when she saw Jen and Wes embrace each other and whisper soft words to one another that they couldn't hear, but the message was clear. She made to cross her arms over herself, but with a stab of pain remembered her left arm was pinned to her side in a sling, her white cast already signed in permanent markers by the entire team of rangers, minus one dark brooding Quantum Ranger who hadn't come to see her in the hospital after her surgery.

A blast of air hit her in the face and she tried to use her right arm to cover her face, but wasn't too successful, until the air suddenly seemed to stop. Braving to open her eyes, Eric had stepped in front of her to block the wind, only a half a step, but she smiled. He'd come a long way since the arrogant moron he'd been when they started as rangers, this small act of friendship proof of that. As the ship lifted higher into the air, they were able to look up and watch it vanish into the familiar blue time-hole. Then they were gone. Truly gone. Rachael watched her Dad move to Wes' side and lean on his shoulder.

"I've got a business proposition for you." Alan said and Wes rolled his eyes to protest loudly, and Rachael snickered, hearing a similar reaction from Eric. "Just hear me out, hear me out," Alan laughed and started leading Wes to where the large group of Silver Guardians were assembled around Eric and Rachael at the front. "I want to make some changes in the Silver Guardians. Listen to me; we will protect the entire city, for free. I need a good leader." He said meaningfully looking at Wes. "What about it?" Wes only thought for a minute before replying.

"I'll do it, but!" He held up a finger and Alan laughed at the condition. "I want Eric, as my partner." He directed his next thought toward the stunned man. "What do you say?" He held out his hand and Rachael smiled, maybe there was hope for this world yet. That was only confirmed as Eric gripped his hand and they shook on it.

"Would have been my choice." Alan nodded in agreement.

"Well, I think the future looks pretty bright." Wes held up the badge Jen had left into his hand. Rachael stepped forward and slid her right arm under his and rested her cheek on his shoulder as they started walking to where several SUV's stood waiting to take them back down to Silver Hills. Rachael and Wes climbed into the back of one while Eric got in the driver's seat, and Alan the passenger's, for once forgoing his usual limousine. It was a silent ride back to the Silver Guardian headquarters, Rachael climbed out and ended up in a random chair as the men went off to do some kinds of paperwork. A few minutes later, wishing she had her pain medicine, Rachael shifted in the chair and caught sight of Eric leaving her Dad's office and going to his own. Bored to tears, she got up and followed him.

"Hi." She grinned happily at him, not entirely sure whether or not her happiness was normal or induced by the massive amounts of codeine in her bloodstream. Eric stopped and stared at her, clearly wondering the same thing.

"Hi." He said back warily. Rachael sauntered into the room and sat down in his chair before he could, forcing him to stand next to her, hands on his hips.

"I know you're the one that found me." She said happily spinning in the chair, tucking her legs up underneath her to spin in a complete circle. Eric watched her in surprise, his eyes going from her black shorts to her white t-shirt and bare feet.

"Where are your shoes?" He asked, trying to avoid the subject. She looked down at her feet and looked almost surprised at her lack of footwear.

"I don't know, but you're not going to get me off this." She frowned at him. "I could hear you talking to me, telling me to hold on." She stopped spinning and looked up at him seriously. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He mumbled in response, trying to avoid eye contact.

"One more thing and I'll leave you alone." Rachael was grinning again. Eric raised an eyebrow as she slid her arm out of the sling. "Sign it." She pulled a red permanent marker out of her pocket and tossed it to him. Eric pulled his red beret off his head and threw it on the desk as he bent down on his knees and scribbled his name onto the top of her cast near the wrist. "Now the whole team's on there." She said calmly, her eyes looked up at him kneeling next to her and she leaned forward to place a kiss on his cheek. But, startled that she was getting closer to him, he turned to get a better view of what she was doing when her lips collided with his.

They both paused, neither entirely sure of what happening, Rachael because of the effect the meds were having on her and Eric was just too surprised. But they did what any two red blooded people would, they prolonged the kiss, Rachael closing her eyes and adding pressure to his lips. Eric gave in easily and kissed her back, cupping his hand under her ear as her hands went around his neck and into his hair, knocking the ear piece out.

The next thing Rachael was aware of was waking up on the couch in the middle of the living room at the mansion, wrapped up in three warm blankets. She sat up and looked around, her bleary eyes catching sight of another figure sitting with her. "How?" She started, but he answered her without letting her finish the question.

"You came out of Eric's office with a far off look in your face." Wes grinned, shifting in the chair he was sitting in. "Then you started babbling about random things and it took a while, but I got you home, had to lock the passenger's side door to keep you inside." He was laughing now and Rachael frowned. "Then you were all over the house for hours before I found you curled up there completely unconscious."

"Too much codeine." She muttered as she fell back onto the pillows. Wes came over and felt her forehead gently.

"Or maybe too little, you feel warm."

"Maybe because I'm covered in blankets." Rachael retorted, shifting to kick the blankets off of herself, but she felt tired and out of breath easily. Wes helped and removed two, leaving the thinnest one around her. She drifted off to sleep after he forced another of the pain meds down her throat, and he went back to the lounge chair he'd been sitting in, watching her sleep, worried about her health. Rachael was stubborn, nearly as bad as Eric when it came to her health, always wanting to push on and stick it out, but seeing as they had no idea what had exactly happened to her, it was better that she rest. Wes eventually fell asleep, but woke up with gentle prodding from his father.

"Wesley, how long has she had a fever?" He asked urgently. Wes was instantly awake and at Rachael's side. Her face was set in a frown, sweat beading around her face although the air temperature in the room couldn't have been more than seventy.

"She woke up around three this morning." He murmured, touching his sister's arm. Her skin was on fire, not even the thin blanket was on her body anymore, but she was curled up on her right side, her slinged arm tucked closely to her body.

"She needs to go back to the hospital." Alan started moving quickly, grabbing keys and pulling on shoes. Wes did the same before lifting Rachael up in his arms and carrying her out to his car, holding her in the seat with him as they sped back to the place they'd spent the past few days. By the time they got her there she was mumbling in her sleep, unintelligible words that neither could understand.

Using his pull in the community, Alan Collins got his daughter a private room in a matter of minutes after her arrival. It was only six in the morning, and most of the people who'd been there because of the battle had been able to go home, so the huge sterile white building was empty of most short term patients. Two hours later they had no answers, but Eric had showed up after Wes missed his first day of work.

"Is she alright?" He asked with concern.

"We don't know." Alan replied, leaning forward onto his knees, resting his head in his hands. "He's running tests." He referenced the doctor on duty. Eric sat down in a chair uneasily in his uniform, debating whether or not he should leave and work, or stay here with the Collins' while they didn't know anything about Rachael. After he'd been there for an hour he knew his answer had been made by those forbidden feelings he still carried for the young woman.

"Mr. Collins?" The doctor exited Rachael's room and asked for her father who stood up, Wes and Eric stood behind him to listen. "Turns out she had an allergic reaction to the morphine but no one caught it because she didn't display the normal skin rash or nausea. It's rare that she only displayed a fever, but manageable, a few hours of rest and a new prescription for codeine, and she'll be fine."

The men all relaxed, she was fine. And this time they hoped she'd stay fine, visiting her in the hospital was going to really cut into work time for the Silver Guardians. Eric smiled in relief and went into her room with Alan and Wes, standing behind them as they spoke to Rachael. He didn't talk to her, but they made eye contact before he left to go back to work.

Nine Weeks Later

"Please reach forward and pick up the ball." A severe looking young woman asked and Rachael nervously used her left arm to pick up the small red ball on the table next to her. "Now toss it between your hands." The woman instructed with a frown. Rachael silently did as she was told, this woman was about her age, maybe only a year or two older than her, but she was scary, probably one of the angriest people she'd ever come across in her life. Even Eric at his worst was more pleasant to be around than this Physical Therapist. The severe woman wrote a few notes in her chart before ripping off a piece of paper and handing it to her. "You're clear." Rachael snatched the paper and was out of the room before the woman could react.

In minutes she was in her car and had the pedal to the floor as she sped to the Silver Guardian's headquarters, pushing the speed limit ever so slightly because the cadets knew her car, they'd never pull her over for fear of getting fired, which was perfectly ok by her. "I'm free!" Rachael shouted as she ran into the room that Eric and Wes now both worked in. She collapsed on her brother and grinned. "No more scary lady!" The two men laughed at her antics as she changed to sitting on one of the extra chairs in the room. The small office had been rearranged to fit two desks with computers, three filing cabinets in the corner and a chair for the unlucky person who gets held there to be questioned.

"Congratulations." Wes leaned back in his chair.

"Thank you." Rachael replied.

"Don't you have work to do?" He asked, glancing out the door to where her desk was with the temp sitting there, staring back at them.

"Not while the temp is still here." Rachael frowned. "And honestly doing secretarial work for you two is not my dream job." She glanced toward Eric who was leaning on his hand watching her curiously. "Nothing personal."

"None taken." He shrugged with the kind of smile that told her he thought she was insane. But that was accurate, so there was no point in arguing at all.

"Well what else are you going to do?" Wes asked curiously as she shrugged.

"I don't know, talk to Dad about travelling I think." Rachael laughed. "You know, go abroad like I was supposed to in the first place. I don't know." She shrugged and got up to leave the room. "I guess we'll see where this year takes us."

One Year Later

Wes grinned into the phone that was glued to his ear. "Yeah, then Ransik was completely human, he looked really good." He explained and heard a sigh of jealousy from the other end.

"I wish I could have been there." Rachael's voice came through. "Bronwyn wasn't there though, right?"

"No, just Jen, Lucas, Tripp and Katie." Wes replied. He'd spent the better part of the last hour telling her every detail of his past two days meeting the Wild Force rangers and spending time with their friends. They'd defeated mutorgs, and spent some good time together afterwards before, once again, their friends had to return to their own time.

"I miss you guys." Rachael's voice sounded happier on the phone than sad. "I mean it's been a year since I've seen them or Bronwyn, but I miss you too."

"And we missed you today; Jen said she hasn't heard from Bronwyn in a while either." Wes replied.

"Has Lucas heard from her?" Rachael asked with a hint of teasing in her voice.

"I didn't ask, why would Lucas have heard from her?" Wes asked thickly.

"Use your brain Wes." Rachael said almost annoyed. Eric chuckled as he listened to the siblings talk. "See? Even Eric knows what I'm talking about." Wes sent his friend a look. They were supposed to be doing their paperwork, but since Wes was on the phone, Eric was taking care of things while listening to him explain their day to Rachael.

"Bronwyn and Lucas? No way."

"Yes dummy." Rachael replied with a laugh.

"Whatever, how's Barcelona?" Wes changed the subject off of himself with a frown at Eric.

"Beautiful, I didn't think I'd like teaching." Rachael continued. "But I mean I'm teaching English in Spain, but it still means dealing with the annoying kids that sat in the back off the class and didn't pay attention. It's like teaching you." Wes frowned again as Eric snorted with laughter and Rachael laughed at making Eric laugh.

"Ok, that's it, you two are not going to pick on me thousands of miles away from each other, I think I liked it better when you argued." Wes leaned forward.

"Well we argue in the same room, and we get along miles apart, you can't have it both ways Wes." Rachael chided her brother. "Look, it's like one o'clock in the morning and I have school tomorrow morning."

"Alright Rach, I love you." Wes laughed and glanced up at the clock. Seven at night, another late night, but this one he didn't mind so much.

"Love you to bro, bye Eric." She called.

"Bye." Eric said the one syllable halfheartedly and only Wes heard her laugh.

"Bye." Her end of the line went dead.

A half an hour later Eric entered his house and threw his things down on the kitchen table, throwing his jacket and other things on the chair. In a few minutes he was dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt and sat down across from the television with a beer, trying to relax, but his mind was racing. It had been months since he'd seen Rachael and he was hoping that it meant he could get over her and move on and today was a good sign of that.

Taylor was pretty, blonde, stubborn and all around entertaining to annoy as he had by stealing the book she'd been trying to read. Maybe he needed to distract himself from Rachael by seeing someone else, and maybe Taylor was that girl. Glancing at the clock he grabbed his phone, dialing the blonde's number before it got too late.

Barcelona, Spain

Rachael took a deep breath and smiled as she set her phone down in its cradle. Yawning widely, she took the last long drag of her decaffeinated tea and put it into the tiny sink in her tiny kitchen of her tiny flat. But it was home, a nice little home that she'd made for herself as she was living in this foreign country, making a little bit of a home here, although she was cripplingly bad at Spanish. Stretching her limbs, she went into her room to collapse onto her bed, face first into her pillow, not even bothering to turn on the light. Which seemed to be a poor decision as she suddenly felt movement next to her in bed. Heart pounding, Rachael immediately pinned the person down in the bed, battling in the dark, easily getting whoever it was pinned beneath her, their arm twisted behind their back.

"Ow! God Rachael uncle!" The woman cried beneath her, laughing as she tried to struggle free. Rachael immediately released her, scrambling off of the bed and to the small bedside lamp and promptly retackled the girl on the bed.

"Bronwyn!" She yelled happily, and with loud thudding from the apartment next door, laughed before sitting upright on her bed, facing her best friend who leaned over and properly embraced her. "I missed you." She said softly.

"I missed you too." Bronwyn squeezed her tightly before pulling back. "And we have so much to talk about." She smiled but yawned. "But I'm exhausted, mind if we talk in the morning?"

"No." Rachael yawned too and the girls got ready for bed, getting into Rachael's bed, talking and laughing until they fell asleep.

Morning

Rachael grinned at her best friend asleep in her bed. She took a mug of hot coffee and waved it under the blonde's nose, perking her up and awake.

"Come on sleeping beauty, I have work today." Rachael sang brightly and Bronwyn grumbled, but sat up and took the coffee in both hands.

"When is your work done?" Bronwyn finally managed to speak halfway through eating the plate of pancakes Rachael had set in front of her.

"I only teach part time, the other part I study myself." Rachael replied, "But my studying can wait for you." She laughed at the tired girl. Bronwyn had never been a morning person; she hated waking up before noon, while Rachael could be up and wide awake by seven. "Want to come to work with me?"

"Do I have to wear my red wig?" The girls laughed at the joke, and Rachael gathered her things while Bronwyn dressed for the day. All day she sat in the back corner of the classroom while Rachael taught a group of adults how to speak English, trying her best to communicate through the language barrier. She wasn't alone, working with several other teachers, but she looked happy. Rachael had a place here, even if she wasn't the best at speaking Spanish. One of the younger members of the class, a girl who couldn't have been any more than fourteen, brought in some food and came back and offered some to Bronwyn.

"¿Quieres un poco?" She asked sweetly, but Bronwyn didn't understand, even the little Spanish she knew didn't help her with that.

"She asked if you wanted some." Rachael translated from across the room, smiling as she bit into the stick like food herself. Bronwyn nodded and smiled, taking a piece before looking embarrassed at her friend.

"What are they?"

"Churros!" Rachael said happily. "And if you haven't had them before, these are the best I've ever had. Alameda makes them herself." The girl nodded and motioned for Bronwyn to eat one and the blonde took a careful bite, her face transforming as she tasted it.

"It's delicious! Bueno!" She tried out her Spanish and Alameda smiled happily and turned back to her seat. Rachael laughed as they finished their little snack and finished the class on a high note. Bronwyn and Rachael left the school just past noon and went to a local restaurant where Rachael managed to order them some food.

"So, what brings you here?" Rachael finally asked, getting the heavy question out of the way.

"That's the longest part." Bronwyn frowned. "Short version is that Time Force needs our help with something so, Lieutenant, you're my partner again."

"Does this mean we get to fight again?" Rachael's expression was more amused than anything else.

"Not exactly, but it's a fun load of work." Bronwyn rolled her eyes. "That and I hear we missed a team up and I figured we deserve to see at least each other."

"Wes called and told me about it yesterday. Actually that's what I was doing before I almost had a heart attack from finding someone in my bed." Rachael laughed. "He sounded really happy, probably because he'd just seen Jen."

"Probably." Bronwyn frowned. "Ever since she gave Alex back the ring, she's been kinda sad, just working and spending time with the team and me." She shrugged. "Not that that's any different from before, but Alex is pissed off all the time."

"And there's nothing wrong with that." Rachael grinned. Their mutual hate for Alex was another reason they had bonded into best friends so quickly. "Am I going to have to leave Spain?" Rachael asked solemnly after a few seconds of silence.

"Yeah." Bronwyn nodded. "We need to go back to Millennium City for a while, and then we'll do a little time travelling before you can come back to your present time."

"Sounds intense." Rachael leaned back in her chair as the waiter brought them their food. "I don't want to worry Wes or my Dad though."

"They didn't worry about you before." Bronwyn frowned.

"Yeah well since you guys have been here I've spent more time in the hospital than normal." She frowned. "I went back the day after you left."

"Why?"

"I had a high fever; apparently it's a delayed reaction to a morphine allergy. Dad and Wes now treat me as if I'm made of glass." She laughed. "Glass that is living on another continent."

"Nice." Bronwyn smiled as she took a bite of her lunch. "This food is amazing, I'm sorry I have to take you back to the land of mashed up nutrients." She said sympathetically.

"I've had my fill." Rachael tilted her head. "I'm just upset I'm not better at Spanish! I've been here almost a year and I can survive conversationally, but I'm not fluent yet."

"You can keep studying in Millennium City." Bronwyn offered. "I'm sure we have some way to learn the old languages."

"Old languages?" Rachael stared. "Really? No one speaks Spanish anymore?"

"Well, not really." Bronwyn frowned. "It's kinda sad really."

"I'll say." Rachael frowned at her friend and dove deeper into her plate of food, eating it like a last meal, because in a sense it was for a while.