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 haven't got to read, we won't take offense with that. :)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
Plan K- Kids Again.
"You're really getting this Ryan," Dana said as she handed Ryan back the exercise book that contained his 'homework'. She had thought he might struggle and search her out for help but instead he'd worked pretty hard in creating the sentences using the words she had given him. He was making progress more rapidly than she thought he would.
"Thanks." Ryan collected up his stuff as Dana began to put out her own to start on her assignments. He hovered watching her starting to rummage through her folder, pulling out sheets after sheets of notes.
She crinkled her nose as she tried to make out her rushed writing. Of course she would have rushed her notes on the essay worth forty percent of her final grade; this is what came from working late at night! Then again, it was the only time she could work now as she was helping Ryan in her other free time.
"Danny," She looked up to where Ryan was still sat in the seat opposite her, his notebook open to a random sheet of loose paper. Had she given him the wrong sheet? She went to take it but didn't get a chance to unfold it to check as he pressed on, "Last week, what you heard-"
"With respect Ryan, I don't want to talk about that." She smiled, hoping that her expression didn't betray her actual feelings of hurt.
"It really was out of context- when he said it I'd been winding him up." Ryan confessed, "If you heard the full end of the conversation-"
"Ry," She sighed, "Look, it's complicated. You wouldn't understand," She couldn't even understand it so how could someone who couldn't understand his own emotions at times, "It's what he said, how he said it and who he said it to, then how everyone heard it." And how it had hit her ego...
"But he's beating himself up about it and you won't talk to him unless you have to."
"Things are complicated." She stated and opened up the sheet, "I got upset and-" She fell silent as she read over what was printed. Panic grew in her chest, causing her heart pound in a quickening beat like a drum in an instrumental. "Ryan..." She grabbed the second sheet from infront of him and put it side by side, "Oh God no.."
"What?" Ryan looked at the two sheets, "Oh that, it's my test I did. I passed and wanted to keep it, it's the first one I've ever passed."
"No Ry," Dana stood and grabbed both sheets, "You didn't pass a test." She walked out of her father's office and made her way to the Rec-room then onto the Ranger quarters when the room turned out to be empty.
She caught Carter as he was just walking out of his room with his jacket on, clearly ready to go out somewhere. He moved to let her pass but instead she stopped infront of him which first confused him then made him anxious.
"Uh, hey?" He offered, hoping that it was nonchalant enough for her to not get angry or upset at his presence like she had been for the past week.
"Are you busy?" She asked bluntly and he shook his head, stuttering out something about the fire station, "Good, because we need to talk, now."
Dana walked back into the rec-room, unable to keep herself from pacing as he slowly followed her there. She ran her spare hand through her hair, mind reeling as she tried to process everything. Carter sat down on the sofa but Dana couldn't sit, or even stand still. There was no way this could happen, it just wasn't logical.
"I thought you were tutoring Ryan?" Carter said in an attempt to draw Dana out of her thoughts; it worked in the sense that she stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him but appeared more confused then he was feeling.
"I wa-was. I walked out."
"I've been wanting to talk to you for a while but-"
She raised her hand, "Not that."
"Then what?"
"Well, honey," She said in an acidic tone, "There is a problem a little more major than that."
Carter froze at her tone, wary of her words but still not understanding the cause behind them.
"Really?" She crossed her arms over her chest, "The wedding."
"What about the wedding...?"
She waved the two documents in exaggeration but didn't hand them to Carter, "Ryan."
"What did he do..?" He asked, a sense of dread filling his insides.
She handed the two certificates to him and dropped down onto the sofa opposite, "He thought he was taking a test on priesthood and marriage..."
"Oh no," He said softly after a moment of silence.
"That fake wedding, not so fake." She dropped her head into her hands and muttered under her breath a few inaudible curses.
Carter's mouth dropped, sounds not making it past his throat as he couldn't figure out how to appropriately react.
Dana scoffed, "About right." She glanced up to him in his paled state then took the certificates back from him to study. They were definitely official documents. "How the hell can he not have realised he was getting ordained?! He kept them because he thought it was the first time he'd passed a test!"
Carter, though wanting to be mad at Ryan for this ridiculous situation, couldn't find it in himself.
"How can he ever function in a normal world if he accidentally becomes ordained and marries two people without realising?!" She threw the sheets down on her lap in frustration and leaned back whilst staring at the ceiling, "You couldn't even make this up!"
Carter's head fell into his hands; he could feel a headache forming.
Dana, not only irritated at what Ryan had done, grew more agitated at Carter's lack of words turned to him and shouted, "Aren't you going to say anything?!" The rage now taking control of the normally rational Pink, "I know it's probably the worst thing ever for you after what you said last week! Nothing to say?!"
"Dana, as ridiculous as this situation is, Ryan didn't mean to do any of it. Blaming him and getting pissed at him would be wrong. He's completely innocent. You said it yourself, he kept it because he thought it was the first test he passed."
She remained angry that he didn't seem to understand what she had meant. Her ego was still hurt from what she had overheard at the wedding and how he hadn't denied anything she had accused him with. She sank into the chair further, silently seething. Her tense silence was broken by Ryan walking in, "Ryan, do you know what ordained means?" She asked in a sharp tone.
Her brother looked at her suspiciously, knowing which ever answer he said would be the wrong one; in his experience, if you're screwed either way, it's best to answer honestly, "No. Is it bad?"
Dana scoffed then sent a side glare to the Red, "Do you see what I was saying?!"
Carter kept quiet and Ryan looked on in cautious confusion, wary of his sister's behaviour.
"Ryan, you became ordained and because we didn't know, you unintentionally married us. Do you understand what that means?"
"Well I don't know what ordained means." Ryan said.
"It means you became able to legally marry people! You actually married Carter and I!" Dana shouted and grabbed onto the two sheets, "This one shows you're certified. This one is a legal marriage certificate we got from the town hall to make it believable! We signed this! This means, as of last week, Carter and I are legally a married couple! Do you understand now?!"
"So, can't you just undo it or something?"
"You can't just undo it Ryan! There are so many legal proceedings and I don't know where to start- and I doubt he has much experience in any of this either." She nodded to Carter, "And I can't ask Dad for help!"
"Why not?"
"Because he would-" Dana shook her head, "His reaction would probably result in you never leaving the base again. Don't you understand how serious this is Ryan?!"
"I'm guessing you think it's very serious?"
"Because it is! Because of you I'm going to be divorced at age eighteen!" Her temper was barely being contained now. Her anger was divided between Ryan's sheer ignorance and with Carter just silently sitting there; it was good to see how much he really cared.
"Dana that's enough," Carter said softly. "This is just an unfortunate turn of events that we can deal with. Ryan didn't mean to do any of this, yelling at him won't make it all better."
Dana slumped back into the chair, turning her gaze away from her brother to the Red, "He doesn't even understand what he has done. This isn't just unfortunate Carter, it's a big deal. I don't know where the hell to begin! People who love each other and care about each other enough get married. They get married, have kids, get a dog, whatever! Not people like us!"
"Well, it's done now and all we can really do is work on a way out of it." Carter said calmly, running a hand down his face.
Dana narrowed her eyes into a glare at her brother, "Go." Before she turned back to the Red, "And how do you suggest that? Do you have a lawyer?"
"Yes, actually." He said firmly.
"Well good, we'll get the paperwork from them tomorrow after I've looked up some more information."
Ryan started to duck out of the room, sensing the tension would only get worse if he stayed, "I didn't know, I swear."
Dana grabbed a pillow and hurled it at the Titanium, "Go!"
Ryan dodged the projectile and hurried out of the room. Dana's head fell into her hands as she tried to calm her heart rate.
"You couldn't even write this crap," she muttered, "Christ..."
"We moonlight as superheroes, I guess if it was going to happen to anyone..." Carter trailed off ad huffed out a sight. "Look, maybe researching the topic will make you feel a little better? I always found that researching new things made them easier to deal with. I have a shift at the station but I'll get in touch with my friend."
"Okay..." Dana sighed and stood up, turning to Carter for reassurance, "Don't be gone too long? I think I'll end up going crazy."
He nodded and slowly walked out of the room. Dana headed back to her room, unsure where to begin with the research.
Dana grew anxious waiting for Carter to come back from wherever he went. She'd started researching what they could do- her essay could wait, right now she just needed plan- and it seemed like there wasn't much; everything had been legal after all. An annulment could be possible at a long shot, it depended on how the judge found their reasoning to be. If they could get an annulment, everything would be erased and no one would have to know. If not, it would look like a divorce.
She practically leapt from her bed when someone knocked at the door. She opened it, "Finally," She said before she looked, "I was going crazy waiting for-" She stopped. Ryan was stood there- not who she wanted. He also wasnt alone as he was clutching the hand of a little, blonde girl in a white denim skirt and bright pink vest.
Dana turned away from the child, "Ryan, what have you done now?" She hissed quietly.
"Relax Sis," Ryan said soothingly, "So, I was passing the park and I saw Catherine, here, on her own so I got talking to her."
"Ryan-"
"Her brother's had left her there and she didn't know how to get home so I thought I'd bring her here until we work out where she lives."
"Oh," Dana nodded then crouched down so she was level with the little girl, "Hi there sweetie, my name's Dana." The girl, thumb in mouth with big blue eyes, whispered a quiet hi, shielding herself behind Ryan's leg, "How old are you?"
Catherine held up four fingers and Dana's heart melted.
"I was gonna go door to door, get Kelsey, Chad and Joel to do the rest of town- if you could watch her? You know, whilst you and Carter figure out what you're gonna do about the marriage."
"We don't really have a choice now, do we?" Dana sighed and stood up, "Just make sure Dad knows there is a kid on the Base."
"Will do," Ryan turned to Catherine, "This is my sister. She's the Pink Ranger."
"I know."
Ryan sent a glare down at the child which escaped Dana's attention, "She'll look after you for a while." He passed her hand over to Dana, "I'll let you know when we've found her parents." He headed down the corridor then out of the Rec-room with no further explanation.
"So," Dana sighed and looked to the girl, "Wanna watch some TV?"
Catherine blinked and dropped Dana's hand, wandering over to where Dana had left her assignment abandoned on the table. Catherine picked it up and looked at it with scrutiny, "What's this?"
"No, no," Dana gently tugged that out of her hands and returned it to her folder, "That's my work. Don't touch that." When she turned back around, Catherine had picked up the Wedding lisence, "No. Not that either." Dana grabbed it and put it with her file, "Come on, we'll leave my room." She caught hold of Catherine's hand and started to pull her out but Catherine started to pull away, "Come on-"
"No thank you." Catherine retorted and sat on the floor.
Dana stared, completely dumbstruck. Had a four year old really just answered her back? And then started a sit in?! "Yes please." Dana said and pulled her back up to her feet. Not wanting to drag the discussion out further, she scooped Catherine up and balanced her on her hip. She collected up her work, with much difficulty as Catherine struggled, now screaming bloody murder in Dana's ear, and headed out into the Rec-room where she could distract the child with the television as she either worked on her assignment or tried to find a way out of her and Carter's predicament, whatever one with urgency that bothered her the most.
Carter could hear Dana's stressed voice from the other end of the corridor. He hurried toward the noise, intrigued by the commotion coming from the rec-room, and was knocked back when he saw Dana trying to coax a small child down from the table where she was dodging Dana's arm everytime she tried to grab her. The door hissing stole Dana's attention and she glanced back over her shoulder with the relief of seeing Carter flooding through her face, "Thank God."
Carter stared, "Do you have a secret child I didn't know about when I married you?"
Dana grabbed a water bottle and threw it as hard as she could straight as his chest, "Stop kidding around!" She turned back to the little girl with blonde pigtails, "Come on Catherine, please come down from there!"
"Whose kidding?" He asked and walked to the table, he reached over and scooped Catherine up, "Why is she here?"
"Long story." Dana sighed and dropped down into the chair, "But I'm babysitting until it's fixed so now you can't leave me because she is too hyper!"
"She's a child Dana, most kids are hyper." He placed her down on the floor and she ran straight over to the television where she sat cross-legged on the floor, "Where are the others?" He shuck off his orange jacket and sat down on the seat opposite her which happened to also be facing where Catherine was.
"Trying to find her parents," Dana let out a long sigh and dropped her head in hands, muttering under her breath, "I can't deal with this right now."
Carter looked over the table which was littered with her notes, some for science work and others which were completely unrelated. He went to pick up one, but Dana looked up which made him jump back. She looked back over her shoulder at Catherine and sighed heavily.
"I don't understand. Since she came here she's just been hyper and answering back and- after her brother's abandoned her. I remember Ryan ditched me in the backyard once to go play with his friends and I sat there just crying the whole time; how is she not even remotely upset by all of this?"
"Some kids just aren't effected like others."
"I spent twenty minutes trying to get her down from the table and then you do it the second you walk in the room!"
"You've got your mind preoccupied." He reached over to squeeze her hand reassuringly but she pulled it away to grab the sheet beside her elbow, not realising what Carter had been doing.
"Well, not only am I probably going to end up as a bad mom, I'm going to fail this year, not get into college and have a divorce at eighteen." She groaned then looked up to meet his gaze, "I tried to research what we can do but then Ryan gave me Catherine to watch."
"It's really getting to you isn't it?"
"That we got married? Yes. And don't pretend it's not getting to you."
"Dana. It's not that this isn't weird and stressful and completely random. You have every right to be weirded out. But you have a lot on your plate and it's getting to you. Just take a step back and let yourself breathe."
"That's easy for you to say; you didn't just have to wrestle a four year old to get your wedding certificate back before she made them into paper dolls."
"Which is why you need to breathe. Let me keep an eye on her for now."
Dana shook her head, "I couldn't let you on your own, she's a little- much."
"You had her on your own for a while, take a break and join us later" He shrugged.
Dana pressed her lips together. She knew she shouldn't agree but the essay was screaming out to her, "You'll be okay?"
"Yes, go ahead."
"And you'll get me if you're having problems? Because I can work here-"
"I'll get you."
"Okay," she gathered up her things, "Twenty minutes and I'll be back... But I warn you, she's gonna be hell."
"Thank you for the warning, I'll be okay. Go on now."
Dana cradled her stuff to her chest then finally relented, "twenty minutes." She affirmed.
Carter nodded and watched as she slowly made her way out of the room, looking at the child over her shoulder.
When Carter walked back into the recroom, carrying two cups of coffee and a chocolate muffin- as he knew for sure Dana had probably forgotten to eat- he was instantly shushed by the blonde. She was kneeling on the floor in front of the sofa, gently rubbing Catherine's back, in a soothing motion, who had fallen asleep. The child had curled up into a tight ball with a blanket thrown over her.
Carter gave Dana a grin and handed her one of the drinks and the muffin, "What happened? Did you drug her?"
"No," Dana said softly and broke off part of the muffin before offering him the other half, "She was jumping around and I was coming so close to calling you back when she found my copy of Peter Pan. I read her the first chapter and she calmed down but before we even reached the second chapter, she was asleep."
"See, I told you children were easy." Carter teased and Dana nudged him with her foot.
"Uh-huh, sure." She smiled, "Easy. You don't have kids right? I thought you were an only child so... Where did you learn to be so good with kids?"
"Foster homes, mainly."
"Right. I didn't think about that one."
"What you said earlier... You won't make a bad mom," he assured and sat down on the floor beside her, "It's different when they're your own to babysitting... Trust me, you'll be a great Mom."
"Thanks," She said with the blush creeping up her neck and onto her cheeks, "Look, we need to get our stories straight with the wedding and after everything you've done today, I think the least I could do is hear you out. What did you say that everyone overheard?"
"I did say that Day," Carter admitted, feeling more like recoiling in on himself as he spoke. The hurt returned to her face but she stayed silent, "But it's not like that. Ryan was- he wouldn't understand, he was trying to work out things to do with marriage and used you as an example-" Great Grayson, you're lying to her again just to cover your tracks, "And I tried to tell him that you're a friend- like a sister- but he kept pushing. You guys heard where I snapped at him. I'm sorry."
"Don't be." She told him and took a sip of her coffee, "At least I know you don't hate me."
"No," he chuckled awkwardly, silently adding 'far from it', "I'm sorry it came out that way."
"Well, it's best for the marriage we talk through things," she joked and shot him a smile, "Which, I'm sorry to tell you, I really think it's for the best if we end it."
"I agree."
Dana knelt forward to retrieve her notes from the table, "I was looking into whether we'd qualify for an annulment, you know so then none of this actually existed."
"Sounds good... Do we qualify?"
"It depends on the judge," she sighed, "technically we weren't forced into it, neither of us were drunk or on drugs, we're not related and there is no immigration or financial gain in this. And the one thing we might qualify on depends on how the judge views it."
"And that is?"
Dana's blush grew more intense and she awkwardly stared down at her coffee, "Well-," she coughed and tried to think of a way to phrase the next point, "We didn't consumate the marriage."
"Ah." Carter turned away now understanding Dana's reaction, "So how does that work?"
"It depends how the judge sees it. First, it's all word of mouth. Also, it depends which version of events he reads..."
"As in?"
"Some statements refer to your ability to-"
"Okay," he cut in, "I get it. So if they find us ineligible?"
"A legal divorce."
"That would be a lot of hassle."
"And everyone would know and would be on our legal records forever." Dana placed the muffin down beside her, resting her head back against the seat, "I always thought when I get married it would be to one person for ever... Not as a mistake that would end in divorce."
"Sorry to disappoint." Carter tried to joke but Dana smiled sadly.
"Hey, it's not like it's your fault." She stood up and stretched, "Do you happen to have a lawyer?"
"I know one from when my parents estate was being sorted."
"Good, we'll go to to get the forms from them tomorrow."
Dana's Morpher chime cut through their conversation. Dana answered it, hoping that it hadn't woken up Catherine.
"We've found her Mom is in the Loading Bay." Kelsey told her, "You might want to get here now..." Dana could hear the sound of shouting in the background and she rolled her eyes. What the hell was happening now?
She turned to Carter, "Do we wake her?"
He shook his head, climbed to his feet and stooped to pick Catherine up, "Let's go."
The yelling coming from the Loading Bay was loud enough that the pair could hear it from the far end of the corridor. They exchanged looks then started to up their speed, recognising the tones of a stressed mother and Kelsey exchanging sharp words. Dana rounded the corner first, seeing the woman shouting directly at her brother with Kelsey attempting to defend him.
"And another thing-"
"What's going on?" Dana asked as she reached them.
The mother instantly turned to her, "You kidnapped my child!"
"What?" Dana furrowed her brow, "No, my brother found her in the park. Your son's left her-"
"I don't have any sons!" The woman screeched and snatched Catherine from Carter to cradle to her chest.
"Then who was she at the park with?"
"She goes on her own!"
Dana gaped, "She's four years old!"
"We only live around the corner, it's less than a minute away."
"With all due respect ma'am," Carter started, "Any psycho could have taken her. Our colleague was doing a duty to the town by bringing her here where she would be safe."
"You can't just leave a child on their own like that," Dana added with extreme stress in her voice, the passion behind her words seeping through with every syllable, "There are Demon attacks all over the town, she could get seriously hurt or even killed, not ignoring the rates of abduction at her age! Regardless of how close to the park your house is, you need to accompany her! We can't protect everyone in the town from the serious threat of Demons if we're babysitting."
"What would you know about parenting? Do you have a child?! Of course not. You're practically a child yourself." Carter saw the anger boil up in Dana again, flushing her face in a red colour.
"There is no need to be rude," he cut in as Dana bit her tongue, "She may not be a parent like yourself, but she knows well enough not to leave a child on their own. She's been watching your daughter all day, something that you should have been doing."
Catherine perked up and reached into her dress pocket and pulled out a fist full of coins which she prouldy showed her mother, "Look mama! Look what he gave me! Can I get a puppy now?!" She pointed at Ryan and it was then the Titanium paled. The others looked to him, putting it together that he had paid her.
"You paid her to come with you? What kind of a warped, freak are you?!"
"Hey!" Dana stepped forward, her sibling loyality taking out every negative emotion she'd felt about Ryan earlier in the day, "Don't say that about him! Clearly he was so concerned with your daughter's safety, he did what he had to do to get her away from danger! You should be thanking him for caring enough about your child to go out of his way to protect her, not being an injudicious, indolent, dense, accusational bigot!" The woman stood blinking in silence at Dana whilst Kelsey sent her an approving thumbs up. Dana ignored the yellow, "Now please, if you have no gratitude at all, leave."
The blonde turned on heel and walked back into the main base. She decided she'd calm herself down by cleaning up her papers in the recroom before the others got there- she couldn't be bothered to scold Ryan any further after what he'd already been called.
Dana turned into the recroom then stopped in her tracks as she saw Chad and Joel looking over some of her paperwork. Chad noticed her first and wordlessly nudged Joel.
The Green locked gazes with Dana, the confusion strong in his eyes and held up the ordination certificate, "Mazel Tov?"
GREG: Hey guys, long time no see! I know we're constantly apologising for not updating but this time it was a harder thing to get over. I had a major operation at the end of June which I'm still constantly exhausted from, then my tablet broke which was the only way I could get on the account (I basically run behind the scenes) and then I moved into Uni halls a few days ago. Updates should become more regular again. Sorry for the long-arse wait! I hope this chapter was worth it?
SAM: Yeah guys, we're really sorry and we hope you enjoy this chapter!
GREG: Thanks for reading! Remember to follow, fave and review! And also remember any requests feel free to pm us! Ciao!
