Silver Guardian's Headquarters

Eric leaned over the paperwork carefully, working hard to get them just right. Wes had quit over a month ago, and he'd taken over the paperwork since. Unbeknownst to Wes, both Eric and Rachael had put his job status as "on a sabbatical" as they waited for the day he'd come out of his room and get back to his life. But that meant that the remaining co-captain had to make up for the rest of the paperwork, and pretty much pull double duty like he had before Wes had joined him at the position, at least minus fighting Ransik. Tired, Eric leaned over his desk, resting his forehead on the cool wood. His head jolted upward when a pair of hands gripped his shoulders gently, two thumbs pushing into the tense muscles.

"When did you get here?" He asked with a snide smile. Rachael moved her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

"I slipped in." She grinned and pulled back, continuing to massage his shoulders. "You're really tense." She commented.

"I wonder why." He muttered sarcastically as her hands paused for a fraction of a second before they started again.

"It'll get better now." Rachael murmured softly. "He saw Jen today, he even held Miranda for a few minutes." Her voice sounded hopeful. "He won't look at Ashlynn though."

"He's stubborn."

"Seems to be a trait we all share." Rachael dug her fingers a little deeper than comfortable for a brief second to tease him. "Jen's not taking anything from him, just like old times." She lifted her hands as Eric turned around and pulled her into his lap, their foreheads touching.

"I miss you." He whispered, looking up at her. Rachael cupped his head in her hands.

"I'm sorry, I know I've put him before us lately, but he's my brother." She frowned. "You and Lauren are my life, but I can't stand to see him like this." Eric stopped her excuses with a deep kiss, and the intimacy starved couple melded together for the first time in a long while. Rachael broke it off and pushed away from him. "Not here." She whispered with a fire in her eye, one he hadn't seen in a while. "I'll see you at home." Eric watched as his wife left the office, a grin on his face for the rest of the day.

Myers Home, Evening

"Mommy, I don wanna." The six year old protested with a frown as Rachael tucked her into the bed.

"Too bad, it's time for bed." Rachael grabbed a book from the bookshelf and started reading, every once and a while looking up at her daughter to check how awake she was. When the story was over, Lauren was nearly unconscious, eyes closed, completely relaxed in her bed. Smiling, Rachael replaced the book on the shelf and kissed Lauren on her forehead when she opened her big brown eyes and looked right into her mother's face.

"You're not going to leave me right?"

Rachael's heart fell to the bottom of her stomach and was totally speechless. In an instant she slid into Lauren's little bed and scooped her into her arms. "No baby, I'm never going to leave you." She kissed Lauren's head over and over.

"Why did Aunt Courtney have to leave?"

"I don't know baby, but she didn't want to." Rachael hugged her. "You remember what Daddy and I told you about heaven."

"Yeah." Lauren didn't sound convinced.

"Aunt Courtney is watching over Chris, Miranda, Ashlynn and us. You know that." Rachael rocked in the bed, almost telling herself that over and over as Lauren drifted back off to sleep. Finally, the little girl fell asleep and Rachael slid out from underneath her, tucked her in and left the room, snapping off the lights. She took a deep breath in the short hallway before taking the next few steps to her room where in a second she was tackled onto the bed, pinned down.

The next thing her brain registered was being kissed all over her lips, face and neck. Her mind struggled against it for a few moments, feeling it was wrong in their situation, but the need took over and she started reciprocating the attention.

Eric hungrily kissed his wife all over her face and neck, his need for her rising rapidly, having suppressed it for so many months that they were helping Wes, releasing it he felt starved for her. He wrestled her shirt off, kissing her chest and down to the soft skin that her bra didn't cover. Rachael moaned softly under his kisses, her hands weakly grasping at where his shirt met his jeans. In a swift movement he pulled it off of himself and to the floor, giving her a brief window of time to shimmy her jeans to her knees where he yanked them the rest of the way off, his pants joining hers a few seconds later.

Without warning, she pushed him on his back and climbed on top of him, kissing his neck and bare chest, smiling as she kissed his still very toned stomach. This was a plus of being married to a Silver Guardian, his body had stayed very hot from his exercise, while hers had gone through a few changes around her pregnancy, but almost five years after getting in shape again, she wasn't in such bad shape herself. Neither of them even noticed when they tipped off the edge of their bed and landed on the floor, Rachael pinned to the floor. Eric entered her there as they silently made love, careful not to disturb the sleeping five year old in the next room.

Collins Mansion

Jen stood carefully behind the nanny, watching as she methodically removed the soiled diaper from Ashlynn and replacing it with a clean one in less than a minute. Ashlynn had cried out in the night for a diaper change, and Jen had come to see her as the nanny had, only annoying her with her presence. The woman ignored her standing there and tossed the diaper away, putting the baby back into the small white onesie and wrapping her in the blanket before nearly thrusting her into Jen's arms as she exited the room. Jen frowned and looked down at the baby, whose bright violet eyes were staring back up at her as if she had the same exact question.

"What's her problem?" Jen asked with a smile and carefully tucked her back into her bed. She smiled and turned to leave the room, but stopped, seeing the almost ghost of a person standing there.

"She hates working nights." He said softly, arms wrapped around his chest tightly, as if he was uncomfortable and insecure in his own home, or rather the home he shared with his father. In the two short weeks Jen had been in 2011, Alan Collins had insisted that Wes and Courtney stay in the large house as he was rarely there most of the time, preferring to spent most of his time working with his companies on the East Coast, returning for only a few days at a time each, Rachael was convinced her father had found a woman who he didn't want to stay away from, but there was no proof of that.

"But she's a nanny." Jen said the first thing that came into her mind.

"A very mean one." Wes nearly whispered the next sentence, saying more in this short few moments than he had the entire time she'd been here. He walked toward the crib, his hands shoved in his pockets and looked at the little baby. "The one Rachael and I had was a lot nicer."

"You had a nanny too?" Jen bit her tongue to keep herself from commenting about his very well off upbringing again.

"Yeah." He replied simply. "I never wanted that for my kids." His voice was sad, and almost as gaunt as his face.

"It's not your fault." Jen said softly, but he shook his head sadly. "Stop blaming yourself." She snapped at him, already fed up with his moping. "Your children need you. Yes your heart is broken, yes you're in pain, but they lost their mother, so get up and deal with it." She left the room without a backwards glance, almost too furious to even think about what she had just said. By the time she got back to her room she was breathing slower and closed her eyes, praying what she did had been the right thing.

Early Morning, Some Weeks Later

Jen smiled as she woke up, stretching into her bed as she sat up and threw off the covers. After she dressed in a pair of jeans and pink t-shirt, she made her way to Ashlynn's room, but found the baby's crib empty. That usually meant the day nanny was there and had gotten her and the other two ready for school while she'd been sleeping. The nannies both hated her, Rachael's theory was that they figured she was just playing mom, and would leave eventually. How wrong they were. Jen smiled at the thought as she doubled checked her theory by peeking into both Chris and Miranda's rooms, she loved 'playing mom'. It was a weird feeling, taking care of Wes' kids, the kids he'd had with another woman, a very kind woman that she'd met once, at Rachael's wedding. Courtney was calm, very kind, and understanding, knowing her husband still held a torch for her.

"Morning." A little voice said from the hallway. Jen smiled down at the pajama clad Miranda.

"Morning sweetheart." Jen replied.

"Help me get dressed?" The four year old mumbled out the sentence fragment, most of her words slurred and poorly enunciated, but Jen smiled and nodded as the little blonde girl led her into her room. Miranda dragged her little black teddy bear with her to her closet and sat on the floor, looking up at the clothes that packed it. Jen went over and sat next to her, cross legged on the floor.

"What color do you want to wear?" Jen asked, looking at her. Miranda looked at her, then thoughtfully at the closet, then stuck her teddy's ear into her mouth, chewing it as she thought. A few years ago the action probably would have grossed Jen out, but as she got older, her maternal instinct grew stronger, even she couldn't deny that.

"Puple." Miranda finally said nodding definitively, looking at Jen with her violet eyes. "And gween."

"Purple and green." Jen repeated and looked up at the clothes the little girl had ready for her. Half wishing Bronwyn was here to help her pick out the clothes; she finally found a green dress and purple leggings for the little girl to wear. Miranda was silent as she got her dressed, getting clean underpants and finding a pair of slip on shoes for her to wear and, although it took Rachael less time, she had her dressed in what she thought was an acceptable outfit. "How's that?" she asked.

Miranda didn't verbalize her answer, but started to rock her body side to side without moving her feet. "Hair." She said finally and Jen smiled, grabbing the little pink hairbrush from the dresser and started pulling the soft bristles through the tangled blonde curls. After a few minutes of brushing, Miranda looked into the mirror to Jen's face behind her and asked the hardest question Jen had ever heard. "Are you my new Mommy?" Jen paused her brushing, but continued after a few seconds and turned her around to face her.

"Miranda, sweetheart, no one will ever replace your Mommy." Jen said with a sad smile and the little girl nodded. "I'm just here to help your Dad and Aunt Rachael, and you." She smiled, brushing the blonde curls behind Miranda's ear. "No one will replace your Mom." She repeated and Miranda nodded that she understood.

"Thank you for doing my hair Jen." She said seriously. "Pigtails please." Miranda ordered her and, after a struggle, Jen managed to get her hair into two pretty symmetrical pigtails on either side of her head. Miranda was happy with the results and happily jumped off of the chair she was sitting in and grabbed Jen's hand, leading her toward the stairs and toward the kitchen.

"Well aren't you pretty today." Rachael told her niece from behind the counter where she was cleaning.

"Jen helped me." Miranda told her. "She's not as fast as you, but I like her anyway." The four year old said matter-of-factly, going to where her dolls were stashed in the corner of the kitchen and sitting down to play with them, her teddy still tucked under her arm.

"Thanks." Rachael smiled and Jen sat at one of the stools to the counter.

"It was no problem, I had fun." She smiled at the very happy girl who was humming doing the dishes.

"Maid's day off?" Jen asked amused at her friend's antics.

"Yeah, I fed Mira and Sky before he and Lauren went to school, so I figured heck, I'll do the dishes." She shrugged with a smile.

"Sky?" Jen asked curiously.

"Yeah, Wes nicknamed him that when he was born, pissed Courtney off." Rachael frowned, "And as far as I can tell he's rebelling against losing his mother, so he wants to be called Sky now." She shrugged. "Call him whichever name, he's answering to both. Honestly this is pretty good for a five year old's rebellion." Rachael shrugged and Jen frowned.

"Miranda asked me if I was her new mom." She said quietly, trying to not disturb the little girl as she was playing. Rachael winced at the comment. "I said no, I'm just helping out, and she accepted that."

"She's a smart kid, they both are." Rachael looked down at her niece. "Chris really needs his Dad right now."

"They're lucky to have an Aunt to help out." Jen pointed out and Rachael beamed, not just her usual smile, a bright happy radiance. "You look incredibly happy." She commented. Rachael grinned.

"I feel good." She agreed with a smile. "I've actually been able to sleep with you here."

"Sleep?" Jen asked raising her eyebrow. "I sincerely doubt you and Eric are sleeping." Rachael blushed deep crimson and turned away from Jen briefly to set down the dish she had been cleaning for too long. Jen knew she was spot on with her guess and started grabbing the makings of a bowl of cereal. Rachael picked up Ashlynn and rocked the baby as Jen ate her food.

"Would you like the bad news now?" She asked and Jen looked at her with a curious frown. "The day nanny quit, that's why I'm here today, I didn't want to leave you by yourself."

"You're taking another day off work?" Jen asked with a frown. "You've missed so many already." Rachael shrugged.

"We're already off schedule on opening our ranger museum anyway." She moved the baby from one arm to the other. "One more day isn't doing much."

"But it's your job." Jen protested. "I can take care of these two today."

"And Chris when he gets home from school?" Rachael asked curiously. "Do you really think you're able to take care of three kids by yourself?"

"I took care of Lucas, Katie and Tripp for a while there." Jen grinned to Rachael's amusement.

"Yeah, but they were capable of feeding themselves." Rachael laughed. "Well, if you really want to, I'll stop by after work, we'll eat dinner together." She smiled, "Eric will love to see this."

"Thank you for your support."

"Welcome." Rachael grinned and gently lay the baby down in the bassinet. "I do have something else to do today. Good luck with them." She smiled sympathetically as she left the house. Jen took a deep breath, taking care of two kids for the day, and then three in the afternoon. This was going to be interesting.

Evening

"Could you just drive a little faster?" Rachael pleaded with her husband as they crossed town from their little house over to the huge mansion. They'd had this argument what seemed like a million times. Eric, as a defender of the law, refused to go even a few miles over the speed limit, and Rachael was generally annoyed by his refusal.

"No." He replied with a teasing grin. "Even if we're a minute earlier, the disaster will still be there."

"Have a little faith in her." Rachael frowned.

"Is Grampa going to be there?!" Lauren yelled to her parents from the backseat. Eric looked at his daughter in the rearview mirror and grinned.

"Not this time baby." He smiled at his daughter and with a glance toward his wife.

"Ok." Lauren kicked her legs out at the air as her eyes gazed out the window at the landscapes that flew by her out the darkly tinted windows.

"I wish my Dad would just come home." Rachael mumbled quietly so Lauren wouldn't hear. Eric didn't answer; he didn't know what to say, so he just took his right hand off of the steering wheel and took her left hand. The huge black SUV pulled up in front of the large white house and Lauren had herself unbuckled and out of the car before Eric and Rachael could even get their seatbelts undone. They couldn't help but laugh at the energy the little girl had, as they followed her up to the front door, Eric still holding onto his wife's hand.

Happy screams met them as they opened the door, shuffling the food they were carrying. Miranda and Lauren were tackling a figure in the middle that was trying to wrestle them back, and laughing as she did so. Jen managed to wave to them as the little girls were trying to bring her down, laughing as they tried. Impressed at how happy things were, Rachael took the food into the kitchen and set it on the counter where Eric started cooking. There weren't many things in his cooking repertoire, but the kids loved it when they put together pizzas on frozen shells and let the older ones throw ingredients onto them. After Miranda and Lauren bored of tackling Jen, they ran up to Miranda's room to play with her toys there. Out of breath, Jen joined Eric and Rachael in the kitchen where Ashlynn was sleeping quietly.

"Looks like things went better than I expected today." Rachael grinned, leaning on the counter.

"It was good." Jen agreed, but she frowned. "But Chris went right up to his room and he won't come out."

"I don't blame him." Eric frowned too. "He probably has the most awareness of losing his Mom and his Dad not being around." Rachael placed a hand on his shoulder.

"How old were you when your Dad died?" She asked quietly and Jen looked at him in surprise. She knew a lot more about Eric since she'd been here, mostly from talking to Rachael, but she hadn't known his father had died.

"I was fourteen, a lot older than he was, and I'd already had to deal with my mom getting sicker." He shrugged. "My sister was always there for me, I turned out alright." He smiled at his wife. "And Wes and Chris have you, and now they have Jen."

The former pink ranger smiled weakly, feeling a little uncomfortable in their presence, they were so sure of their lives, and here she was, an intruder to Wes' psyche. But Miranda liked her; at least that's what she could tell from how they'd spent the day together. But was she here only to babysit? Probably not, she had, after all volunteered herself to take care of the two girls that morning, and Rachael had said she had a position ready for her at the ranger museum when it was ready, but for now, she was needed here.

Upstairs a figure stood carefully in the corner watching his son through the open door. Wes felt tired, but he couldn't help but watch Chris play quietly with his power ranger action figures. He loved to play with the red one, always coming up with scenarios where the pink ranger needed to be saved and the other rangers looked up to him for guidance. It was far from the reality that they'd lived as the Time Force rangers, Jen practically saved him more often than the other way around.

"Dad?"

Wes looked at his son's face as he strained to see him in the dark of the hallway. Taking a deep breath he stepped forward and sat on the floor with him, picking up the pink action figure. "Hey buddy." Chris looked up at him, the pretty violet eyes showing curiosity.

"I miss you Dad." The young boy said seriously, too seriously for a five year old. "Don't leave like Mom did."

"I'm sorry." Wes' heart nearly broke as he watched Chris and pulled the boy into his arms. "I'm not going anywhere." He held onto the boy who started crying softly into his shirt.

"I love you Dad." He mumbled through his tears.

"I love you too Sky." Wes replied, using the nickname that always earned him a glare from Courtney, but a grin from their son. It was a very sad wake-up call, one almost three months in the making, his son needed him, and that meant his younger daughters definitely did as well. He pulled his son back wiped the tears from the boy's face. "Your mom loves you too; she's in heaven watching us right now."

"Why isn't she here?" The five year old sniffled.

"I don't know why." Wes admitted. "I wish I had an answer for you, but I just don't know. I told you that is was Mommy's body gave out, but she'll always be with us."

"I know." Sky wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I just miss her."

"I miss her too." Wes hugged him tightly. "You'll always miss her, and that's ok." He started believing the words as he said them, realizing what he had to do to get some semblance of normalcy for his children. "Why don't you get ready for dinner? Uncle Eric and Aunt Rachael are downstairs with Jen." Sky nodded and ran for the bathroom to wash his hands. Wes went into his room and quickly changed from his sweats into jeans and a nicer t-shirt, running a comb through his knotted hair.

"Ready!" Sky announced from the doorway and Wes laughed at the speediness of the boy.

"Alright, let's go downstairs." Wes took Sky's hand and they went downstairs together, as soon as they got into the kitchen, he ran to his sister and cousin to help put the pepperoni's on the pizza. The three adults in the room had all frozen at the sight of him and he felt a twinge of pain. He'd must have been pretty bad lately for them all to be so surprised to see him. Without a word Wes went to his sister and placed an arm around her shoulders.

"So what's for dinner?" He asked conversationally, trying to be normal. Rachael's face transformed into a happy smile as she replied.

"Pizza."

"Did you get pineapple for them?"

"Ew, no, no one likes that but you." Rachael wrinkled her nose as Wes chuckled. "Besides, we don't get the toppings we like when they're making it." She pointed to where Lauren and Chris were meticulously placing the circular pieces of meat on the larger round piece of dough, and Miranda was flinging cheese in random places.

"Oh the sacrifices." Wes mumbled and grinned down at Rachael whose face hadn't really left a concerned look. "I'm ok sis." He hugged her with the one arm and her arms wrapped around him.

"Thank God." She smiled into his chest. Eric half smiled at the siblings before helping Miranda with the cheese gently, showing her that it was better to spread it evenly. Jen just watched them, the family moments that she didn't feel a part of. Rachael pulled back from Wes as Ashlynn started making noises where she lay in the little bassinet.

"I've got her." Wes said, stopping his sister to pick up his youngest daughter. Unreliable old Wes was gone a long time ago Jen surmised as he gently held his baby daughter, making silly faces as her big eyes watched him. He moved slightly and Jen was soon in the baby's line of sight and the little girl's arms instantly reached out for her. Wes looked between Jen and his daughter, a grin growing on his face as the baby squirmed in his arms. "I think she wants you to hold her."

Jen stared at the baby who was getting antsy as Wes held her out for Jen to take. Once Ashlynn was in her arms she wiggled a little and looked up at Jen happily, yawning widely as her purple eyes closed. It was a weird feeling for Jen, knowing that the little girl wanted her, after only knowing her for about a month and a half, but to be fair that was half the amount of time she'd been alive.

"She's pretty attached to Jen." Rachael commented as she put the pizzas into the hot oven.

"I like Jen." Miranda piped up, hugging her teddy close.

"Me too." Sky commented, jumping down from the table. "She makes good pancakes."

"I wanna try!" Lauren yelled.

"Too bad they're gone!" Sky teased his cousin, sticking out his tongue. You could almost see the steam coming out of her ears; even Sky caught on and hightailed it out of the room as Lauren tore after him, much to the amusement of the adults.

"Don't go too far!" Rachael yelled after them, trying not to let them know she was laughing so hard. Miranda shook her head and plopped down onto the floor with her teddy and dolls and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'they're dumb'. The adults couldn't contain their laughter, and as the old saying goes, laughter is the best medicine, and color started to return to Wes' face.

Myers Home That Night

"That was successful." Eric said as he tackled Rachael onto their bed. She laughed under the weight of his body on top of her. He kissed her gently and she kissed him back, no hungry need this night, just pure love and comfort.

"I love you." She murmured, leaning back in the pillows looking up at him.

"I love you too." Eric leaned in and kissed her again, resting his head on one elbow, the other wrapping across her stomach. Rachael looked down at his arm and laid her one arm over his, her other arm holding his hand. "What are you thinking?" He asked her and her brilliant green eyes flickered upward to his face.

"I had my physical today." She murmured, playing with his fingers absently.

"Oh? Are you in ranger condition again?" Eric teased and she wrinkled her nose back at him, squirming when he kissed her nose.

"Actually no." She answered and his eyebrows rose.

"What then?"

"I'm pregnant again."

"Really?" Eric's face lit up immediately as his wife nodded. "That's wonderful." He leaned in and kissed her again, his hand moving to rest on her stomach.

"I'm scared." She whispered in his ear. "It's just a little soon after Courtney…" Her voice trailed off and he pulled her into his arms and held her.

"You're not Courtney, you'll be fine." Eric insisted, "You're strong, she had a weak heart, and we didn't know that until it was too late."

"I know it's silly." Rachael murmured and placed her hands over his. "You want a boy?" She grinned. "I know you love living with two women. Just imagine when she's a teenager, that'll be fun." She couldn't not laugh at the look of horror on his face.

"She's five, let her be five." He pinned her arms down and kissed her again, trying to stop her laughing. Rachael wrestled away from him and pinned him down, starting a wrestling match that ended in their falling asleep in each other's arms