Matchmaking Mishaps
What do you do when two people are so blindly in love that neither are fully aware of it so refuse to take action? Take action into your own hands, just like Ryan knows all about… Or in which Carter conforms and Ryan just can't be asked anymore.
CarterXDana/SOAverse/Lightspeed Rescue/ Fluffy, awkwardness and amusement.
Disclaimer: We wish we owned it but all rights belong to Saban, we only own the plot.
[A/N] Ryan is OOC for entertainment purposes. If you don't like the changes, please don't flame. If you don't like it that much than you can not read, we won't take offense with that. :)
CHAPTER FIVE
Plan D- Date
Dana narrowed her eyes to focus on the map she had found on the breakfast table, apparently left by her father, with the instructions to follow it and collect something for Angela - an easy enough task, had it not been for the fact Carter had signed out the Rover for the day and was still in his room, much to her annoyance. She wanted to get this out of the way early so she could salvage the rest of the day but storming into his room and dragging him out by the ear may work with Joel and Ryan, but was far more inappropriate with Carter 'not to mention I'd probably need a boost to reach his ear, or a very high step.' She mentally noted.
After ten minutes of nonchalantly waiting outside his door, she gave in and knocked - hearing a groan from the other side of the door that made her blush furiously; so what if it was seven am, Carter was normally always punctually at the table by seven thirty! The thirty minute early wake up call can't do much to his sleeping pattern!
"Its me." Dana said, quickly remembering that this was a thick metal door and Carter did not have x-ray vision- smart Dana, smart. "Dana."
"Dana?" He echoed. A lot of shuffling happening behind the door. Oh great! She'd not only woken him, she'd now put him into a state of frenzy!
"Yeah. I was wondering if I could take the Rover for an hour or two, Dad wants me to pick up something."
"I kinda need it-"
"Well then, can I borrow your truck?" The rusting red Chevy would be better than taking one of the Rescue cycles, "its too far to walk." And she couldn't exactly pin point where she had to go either, somewhere on the far side of the town anyway, "Please? I'll do anything-"
"The Chevy's broken."
Now it was her turn to groan. Well, maybe Kelsey would lend her-... The door opened, to reveal Carter tugging his red thermal on. Dana had to turn away to stop herself from blushing; him in a state of undress (okay he was almost fully dressed but she'd seen a bit of his torso before his head came through the neck hole) was a distraction she did not need on her mind all day. She was sure her cheeks were flushee bright red, keeping her gaze focused down the corridor to avoid eye contact.
"Where do you need to go?" She held the map up to him, still not meeting his eye, with her finger pointing to the warehouse, "That's on my route, I can take you-"
"Great. Let's go." She turned on heel so fast that she lost her balance and almost fell to the floor- almost, because instead of falling flat on her face, she fell back against him (falling on her face would have been far less embarrassing). Dana jumped forward, stumbling over her own feet and ducked her head, "Sorr- i- sorry- I ju- lets go."
"But breakfast-" Apparently he was either too sleep deprived to notice her big slip up or too polite to make a big deal of it.
"I'll buy you something after, I owe you big time and- let's go." She grabbed his sleeve and tugged him in the direction she wanted to go, still looking away, "Anything you want but let's go!"
Within thirty minutes (it had taken ten to coax a sleep deprived Carter into the driver's seat and to put her seatbelt on with the mental image of his sculpted torso still running through her mind, talk about butter fingers!) they were approaching the warehouse; had Carter not gotten his right confused with his left, they would've pulled up a lot sooner.
"Sorry I had to drag you out of bed... I didn't realise it was your morning off training." Actually, Dana didn't know of Carter ever taking a morning off training, 'And you had to wake him up during his lie in.'
"Its fine." He answered, pulling the gearstick into park stiffly, giving Dana the impression that it wasn't 'Fine'.
"You can wait here if you want." She started to climb out of the Jeep as Carter also did.
"It might be heavy-"
"I think I can manage."
"It might be heavy." He repeated, leading the way into the dilapidated warehouse.
A smile graced Dana's lips, knowing deep down that 'it might be heavy' may not have been Carter's real reason. She grabbed onto his shoulders, standing on tiptoes to whisper into his ear with a singsong voice, "Sure, 'heavy'. It isn't anything to do with the fact last time I did something on my own, I almost got killed facing my brother or the time I ended up in a hostage situation and dangling off a cliff."
"Not at all." He stepped forward, making Dana lose her balance, "It might be heavy." His voice gave away no hints as to whether Dana's theory was correct so she allowed the subject to drop and followed him deeper into the warehouse.
As they turned the final corner, Dana's mood instantly switched from playful to agitated. "Kelsey Winslow.' She hissed under her breath, stepping over to the clearing where a picnic blanket was placed, laiden with pastries, fruit and bread with a flask. Really Kelsey?! A date?!
"Day..." Carter asked in an awkward tone, "What is-"
"Kelsey." She spat, "When I get my hands on her, I'm going to kill her."
"It isn't you?"
"Why would I set this up?"
"I don't think its Kelsey." Carter grabbed the flask- Coffee was coffee after all, and he needed coffee, "I think it was Ryan."
"Trust me." Dana narrowed her eyes at the food, "This has Kelsey written all over it- wait, why would it be Ryan?" She tossed Carter a puzzled gaze to which he shrugged as he took a sip of the bitter, black drink.
"Its a long story."
"I'm sorry I wasted your time." She sighed, beginning her exit from the building with Carter in tow, "If I'd known-"
"Don't sweat it, besides..." He held up the flask, "This is really good coffee."
This was exactly how she liked it. Early morning air and light sunshine hitting her face, the wind whisping through her hair gently and the sound of music quiet in the background. Dana closed her eyes, soaking up the sun's rays (making a mental note to leave the base, the library and school more often to get extra doses of vitamin D) whilst listening intently to Carter singing softly under his breath to the song playing on the tape, 'Cryin'' by Aerosmith; he wasn't fantastic at singing but he wasn't the worst. In fact, Dana found it kinda soothing, not that She'd let him know that; as long as he didn't start a drum solo on the steering wheel, she could relax.
"You sound a million times better than Joel's yodelling." She opened her eyes again, gaze drifting to look out over the cliff stomach clenched as she remembered where she was. 'Oh boy...'
"A cat being strangled sounds better than his yodelling."
"You know what's bad for vocal chords - coffee."
"Hey, I need it to wake up, unlike you I don't wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed."
"I didn't realise you were such a morning person." She smirked, "It stunts your growth."
"I should've started drinking it when I was thirteen then." A smile crossed his face as Dana looked at him, "Maybe then I'd be a normal height."
"I like your height." She defensively stated, "You've got the build for your height, imagine being my height with your build, you'd look odd." Distracting herself, that was a good tactic, ignore the dusty road and focus on Carter and his height- not his torso, "Besides, I think most women prefer a tall guy, something about making them feel safer. You know like tall, dark and handsome."
"One out of three isn't bad then."
"You have darkish blond hair, and I'm pretty sure a lot of girls at my school would agree with you being handsome."
"And what do you think?"
'I'm going to be sick from nerves?'
"Does it matter what I think about you-"
"Not about me. What is it you like in a guy?"
"Oh." A blush creeping across her cheeks, "I don't really have any distinct thing- just the cliché of someone nice." Her stomach continued to knot to the point where she was sure she was going to be sick. Dana grabbed at a bar on the passenger side, focusing on her breathing. In and out, that's it... No. She had to look. "Pull over." Her voice meeker than before, sounding as if she was forcing back a lump in her throat.
"What?" Carter glanced over at Dana and was instantly struck by how pale she had gone, "Day?"
"Pull over Carter." Distress echoed in her tone, "Carter pull over!"
"Dana, are you okay-"
"Pull the damn car over!" She shouted, quivering slightly when her eyes finally focused on the sight she had been fearing.
"Okay, okay..." Carter calmly stated, pulling out of the lane and parking at the side. The second the vehicle had stopped moving, Dana flung open the car door and was metres away from the Rover before he had time to ask what was up.
She dropped to her knees, breath catching in her throat. This was worse than the last time...
"Oh Ry..." She whispered, gingerly touching the plaque on the stone that had been defiled with horrid words and threats. Tears welled up in her eyes as her attention turned to the shards of glass and syringes and litter left by those with no respect for the meaning of the rock before her. "Why do they do this to you...?" She shook off her jacket, laying it down gently before placing the shards of glass onto it, counting every shattered piece with a stab to her heart.
"Hey.." Carter knelt down beside her, resting a hand on her back softly, "What was that-" his gaze fixing on the inscription on the plaque,
'Ryan William Alexander Charles Wolfgang Mitchell.
19th September 1980- 26th December 1986.
Flying amongst the angels.'
"Oh."
"People hate him because he helped the demons, but they don't know what he went through." She looked to Carter with tears running down her cheeks, "They write 'Demon scum', 'Traitor', 'Devil Spawn' and do this to it, every week near enough. They don't see that he may have done the wrong thing first but he took our side and feels guilty about it all the time."
"People are petty Day."
"He was robbed of a normal life and childhood- this was all we had of him because there was no body. I know he's okay now but, two months ago, I didn't and this was all I had." Dana felt herself being pulled into Carter's chest, his arms around her tightly, turning into him for comfort. "If I could, I'd swap my life for his so he'd have a chance to be normal and not have this constantly."
"The people doing this are spineless Dana, they think they're being cool when they're just idiots." She buried her head further into him as he spoke, finding comfort from both his words and his embrace, "We'll clean this up and-"
"They'll only do it again." She whispered, finally forcing herself away from him and wiping under her eyes, "That's what they do. I come here at least once a fortnight to clean it..."
"Then we'll keep coming back to clean it." He wiped a stray tear from her cheek tenderly with his thumb, "I'll handle the glass and needles, you collect the litter and we'll come back later to get the pen off."
"You'll cut yourself-"
"My hands are covered in callous' from burns so I have less chance than you do." He showed her his hands to prove his point, moving to pick up the glass.
"I have the solvent in my bag in the car." Dana told him, rising to her feet, "I told you it happens often... I'm saving up to get a glass case put around it to stop this happening."
"That's gotta be-"
"Expensive." She exhaled, now fully composed and focused on the task at hand, "I know but Ryan's worth it to me, no matter how annoying. Thank you for this by the way. And how you are with him. I get he's annoying but he's tryna fit in... I really appreciate how you are with him..."
"It makes up for all the glass you've plucked out of my hands in the last six months." She smiled at his retort, now taking her cue to go the Rover.
"You know, he thinks of you as his best friend right!" She called back to him, but Carter was now absorbed in picking up needles (no doubt riddled with hepatitis) and glass.
This wasn't fair on her or her family; the Mitchell's deserved some respect for all they had lost and all they were doing to protect the town. Carter looked at the stone before chancing a glance back to Dana, who was innocently rifling through her bag to find the solvent. Perhaps this would stop happening a lot sooner than Dana had initially thought...
Later that day, Carter was heading to the cafeteria for dinner when he passed Dana's room and caught sight of a broad back that definitely did not belong to the Pink Ranger. He paused to look through the open door and saw Ryan scrutinising over a children's book with sharp eyes and furrowed brows. Carter watched the Titanium Ranger look at the pages and silently attempt to sound out the words.
"Hey," Carter said gently and Ryan quickly tossed the book over his shoulder and turned to give the man a casual nod. "You eaten yet?"
Ryan cleared his throat and glanced at the alarm clock at Dana's bedside. "Uh no, didn't realise it was already time to eat. You heading over?"
"Yup, come on," Carter gestured towards the cafeteria and both blonds began walking. There was silence before Carter nonchalantly asked "So, how are your lessons coming along?"
Ryan shrugged and kept his gaze forward, "Alright, I guess, don't really like the tutor though." Carter noticed Ryan's eyes lowered when he mentioned his tutor before he forced his face to become blank. Before he could question him further about it Ryan plastered on a rather believable grin and pointedly asked "So how was your day?" Carter let the younger man change the topic but made a note to keep an eye on his tutor.
"It was long, I guess."
"Good thing there was coffee, right?"
"Yea - wait, what?" Carter stared at him inquisitively and Ryan grinned brightly before dashing off. Carter facepalmed and let out a long sigh, "Called it."
[A/N]
GREG: Hey guys! We've kinda kept to our biweekly plan! We've had a tough week so I'm surprised we did post... We received our A-level results and found out if we had a place at university. But, here we are! And thank you for being so lovely and patient! Let me explain the biweekly thing; we'll be alternating between updating this story and Blade Of Aurora every two weeks. We put up Chapter three of B.O.A up the other week (where all the Ranger's arrived to aid the Mystic's, including Carter, Dana and Ryan) so it was this stories chance to shine... Ish... If you're reading both stories its simpler than just this one, you can just check our profile every two weeks to see which has been updated. If you're only reading one then just remember the update schedule will be a little different.
SAM: So, who got Ryan's plan?
GREG: I kinda like this plan... Ryan wasn't really involved like the others... And the scene on the cliff was kinda sweet.
SAM: It was angsty and fluffy, which is always nice to have.
GREG: And it had an Aerosmith reference... Always a good thing.
SAM: Also, any guesses what's coming next? I'm curious about what you guys think?
GREG: It was also different to see Dana being the nervous one, and a nice little male bonding at the end. But like Sam said, what do you guys think is going to happen? So let's get to the reviews!
THANK YOU TO ANY FOLLOWS AND FAVS!
Dash master 48-Yes, poor Chad, simply a pawn in Ryan's plans... Chad and Maya huh? I don't personally ship it because I like Chad and Marina (and Kelsey actually...) But I see it... Yeap, I know Super Sentai but I haven't seen it... I think Sam has watched an episode or two though... Thanks for the review!
SAM: Front line, we're glad you liked it, and we try not to put too much exposition, just enough for character and plot development.
GREG: CarterLovesDana; an yes, awkwardness between the pair works. They both plainly like each other but they know it isn't appropriate due to having to work together so are trying to ignore it but that's just backfiring on them... An huh, she could get him a sedative but I reckon Ryan could find a way to stay awake throughout it... No make out sessions yet, maybe in the future *knowing smirk to Sam*. Thanks for being patient and we hope this was worth the wait. :D
SAM: Fave, follow, review and ciao guys!
GREG: We'll be updating B.O.A next if you wanna check that out, chapter three is finally up! We'll see you really soon guys! Adiós!
