After coming together at the Shiba House, no one went home. The Samurai had plans to celebrate the New Year together at the Shiba House and thought it would be a waste of time to travel home for the night. Most of them had only arrived at the house close to midnight anyways.
Lauren woke up excited. In spite of the drama from the night before, today was going to be a good day. Today would mark the last day of her past life and at midnight, when everyone cried out for the New Year, Lauren would celebrate the first day of the rest of her life: the life she had always dreamed of.
She couldn't help but wake everyone excitedly, and Emily who had slept on the couch so as not to hurt her leg by moving, was the first to see and feel Lauren's excitement.
"Happy New Year!" Lauren cried as she shook Emily awake. Emily leg out a groan as the shaking moved her leg, but also smiled for Lauren. Then she tried to look for a clock. It was winter, so the sun had a habit of sleeping in, but the room was still somewhat dark for morning.
"What time is it?"
"6:30 AM! We have to decorate and get the snacks and all the…"
"6:30? We're going to be up past midnight and you're waking me up at 6:30?"
"We have a lot to do."
"You have a lot to do," Emily shook her head and tried to pulled the blanket up over her head, "Even I don't get up this early on New Year's Eve. I got shot in the leg yesterday. Let me…"
"Piggy back ride to wake the others up with me?"
"Carry me," Emily held her arms out and Lauren gentle lifted her on her back. When Emily was comfortable and Lauren was confident Emily wouldn't fall, they raced off. Jayden and Antonio were going to be the next ones to be pulled from their sleep early.
Lauren walked into the room and she was about to call for Antonio and Jayden when Emily covered her mouth with her hands. Lauren looked over her shoulder and saw the yellow Samurai shaking her head.
"I'm an expert at waking people up. Just do as I say and this is going to be super funny."
"Okay…"
"Where's your phone?"
"In my pocket," Lauren said. Emily reached into Lauren's pocket for the phone and turned it on. Lauren watched as Emily scrolled through pages of apps until she found the one she was looking for.
"Gap Sensor," Emily smirked, "There's an app for that."
"Really?"
"No, but this is close enough. Listen," Emily turned on the app and a loud alarm started blaring. Out of habit, Antonio and Jayden woke up to the alarm and were already pumped with adrenaline.
"Nighlok! Antonio, hurry up!"
"Doesn't the Netherworld have a clock? It's way too early to be attacking the city."
"You go wake the others, I'll check the map," Jayden slipped his pants on over his pockets, putting them on backwards as he rushed out of the room. Antonio yawned loudly, but was racing to look for his Samurai Morpher and the Light Zord, both of which had been taken from him by Ji the night before for safe keeping.
"Where did I… wait a minute," Antonio stopped and turned around. Lauren and Emily had been watching and trying not to laugh. In their panic, neither Jayden nor Antonio had noticed the girls were in the room playing a joke on them. "We defeated all the Nighlok."
"You should have seen the look on your face," Emily giggled and then tried her best imitation of Antonio's wake-up face, "It was hysterical."
"Antonio, there's something wrong with the map. The table's destroyed so I can't… Lauren? Emily?"
"Your face was even funnier!" Emily pointed her finger and laughed while Lauren tried her best to hold it in.
Jayden realized it was all just a prank and crossed his arms over his chest. Antonio didn't look too amused either. The smile slipped from Emily's face and she looked down at Lauren.
"Quick, to Serena's room! Run, Lauren, run!"
Lauren raced off, no weighed down at all with Emily on her back. While Jayden shook his head and crawled back into bed hoping for a couple more hours of sleep, Antonio ran after the girls. Now that he was awake, there was no going back to bed and it was their fault.
"Serena!" Emily screamed as Lauren ran into the white Samurai's room and closed the door. Serena rolled over in bed, saw the girls and then the time and groaned.
"You both suck."
"Hide us!"
But it was too late, the door opened and Antonio walked in. Not wanting to hurt Emily, and knowing the prank couldn't have happened had Lauren not been the legs, Antonio started to go after her.
Lauren was armed with a pointed glare, crossed her arms over her chest and Antonio could feel her seniority radiating off her in an intimidating way.
Not only that, but she was his fiancé's older sister. He backed away, and flicked his thumb over his shoulder.
"Breakfast order?"
"Pancakes!" Emily cried out excitedly.
"And fresh fruit," Lauren added. Antonio nodded and slowly walked out of the room, keeping one eye on Lauren .
"Happy New Year," he said before he was gone.
-Samurai-
It was early, but Mia hadn't gotten a wink of sleep during the night, and neither had Kevin. After assuring Riley no one would take her away, they loved her, and they wanted her to stay with them so they could take care of her, they had rocked her to sleep and let her rest in their bed. Then they got Emily's version of what happened, knowing very well how Riley could exaggerate a tale to make it seem worse than it was.
Unfortunately, Riley hadn't been exaggerating. The robbers, the guns, and Riley's life being in serious danger had all been very true. Though it hadn't been planned, someone had pointed a gun and fired at Riley. Someone had tried to take her life.
Mia hadn't even known Riley had left the house. After the visit from Sabrina Clarkson, the social worker, she and Kevin had been discussing their future with Riley, and why it was important they kept her. Fearing the visit had gone horribly, they talked for hours until they got a phone call from Kate who claimed Riley was at the Shiba House and covered in blood.
Mia ripped Kate a new one when she made it to the house, even after being told Riley was okay and reading with Lauren.
"What are we going to tell Sabrina next time we see her?" Kevin asked. "I'm pretty sure good parents don't let their kids get shot at."
"We just have to convince them Riley's in good hands…"
"Mia, in the span of a month, Riley's whole family was killed, she was kidnaped, she's run away from home twice, fallen down the stairs twice, sprained her wrist, and shot at and almost killed! We are trying our best but…"
"She's not going anywhere."
"And I don't want her to, but we don't have the best case for keeping her."
"We're not losing her," Mia shook her head and gently pulled Riley into her arms. "We have to find something to say that'll convince them we're the right parents for Riley. I mean, she trusts us, isn't that enough?"
"She also thought her costume would keep her safe and make her brave," Kevin pointed to the blood stained child sized Power Ranger costume on the chair, "but it didn't. And if Emily hadn't of made that rock…"
"Wait… what?"
"What happened," Kevin shrugged, "Emily made the rock that's still in the common room. Don't you remember? The thugs couldn't hurt her or Riley anymore, the police have no idea she was ever in the bank, and it got Riley here safe and sound."
"I know," Mia said and focused on Riley. Kevin scratched the back of his neck.
"Well, if you knew…"
"Kevin, you remember when we gave Clarkson that list, and we put stars beside everyone's names?"
"She did look a little confused by it," Kevin nodded.
"Kevin, we're going to be Riley's parents, but we're not alone in raising her. It wouldn't be fair to judge just us."
"Mia, we're kind of the ones responsible for her."
"If we can't convince Clarkson we're good parents, what about the others? Clarkson would have to believe them. Lauren's been amazing with Riley, and Emily just took a bullet for the kid. Neither of them would let Riley get hurt, and they wouldn't leave Riley alone with us for a minute if they thought we weren't good enough for her?"
"You want to use the whack pack to convince the social worker Riley's in a safe environment? The whack pack, Mia. Do you hear yourself?"
"We can't lie, Kevin. I'm not lying to keep my daughter," Mia gave Riley a little squeeze, though not enough to wake her, "We don't have any other option."
Kevin nodded his head and let out a deep sigh, "This will either go really well, or really, really badly."