Hey guys, here's the next one! Don't forget to vote on your favorite chief in my poll!
- Flashback -
Two years ago, a 19 year old Jason was walking quietly through the halls of ER, looking for the 18 year old Nikki, who was supposed to meet him for lunch. The two had met a few months ago, both as new students at ER's training program, and had hit it off rather quickly.
Currently, he was still in training to become a full time forensic scientist, much to his parents' chagrin. Nikki was in training to become a detective and, despite their drastically different jobs, the two were very good friends.
Sadly, it was likely that they weren't going to be working together in the future, unless they were investigating a similar case. Given that there were so many people working there, however, it wasn't looking like that would be the case.
This made them hang out more often, which was definitely good for their friendship. Nikki assured him that, if they weren't working together, they would still spend time together when they were free. Jason agreed.
In this short amount of time, Jason had also developed a small crush on her.
Not that he had told her so. In fact, he was planning on telling her during lunch, so he was more than a bit antsy when she didn't show up. It was almost as if he was worried that she already knew and had left because of it.
But that was a long shot. It was more likely that she had gotten caught up with work or it just slipped her mind, which he wasn't too worried about. He was just making sure that she was okay, and would remind her if she forgot.
He passed by multiple people he knew in the halls, but not Nikki. When he got to her unit, he tried to ask around about her, but he was too shy to go up to one of the other recruits to ask about it.
Instead, he decided to look around by himself. That was when he saw an open door nearby, and looked in slightly. It was a janitorial closet, and Jason figured it was probably just left open on accident.
When he went to close it, though, he heard a sound from inside and opened it further, stepping in. To his surprise, he found Nikki inside, kissing another student deeply on the lips.
At the time, he only knew the student as Sophie, but nothing further than that. He gasped lightly, and made them aware of his presence. Sophie turned to him in surprise, looking between him and Nikki.
Nikki, herself, looked like a deer in the headlight. She whispered something to Sophie, who nodded at her and silently left the room, leaving only Jason and Nikki in the dark closet.
"I'm sorry," Jason said immediately. "I didn't know you were in here. I just came to see where you were because you were late for lunch."
"It's alright, I'm glad it was just you," Nikki ran a hand through her hair. "You can't tell anyone what you saw in here today. We're best friends, and you're the only one I trust with this secret, okay? Do you promise?"
Jason nodded, deciding against telling her how he felt. "Okay, I promise."
- End of Flashback -
- Cue Opening -
Now, Jason sat stoically in the lieutenant base, staring over at Nikki and Owen, who were freely chatting and kissing without a care in the world. He felt almost the way he did when he saw her and Sophie kissing in private once, except he was angry this time.
It wasn't because Nikki was with someone - that was fine. As long as she was happy, he was happy and everything was all good. The problem was that he felt betrayed that she knew and never said anything sooner.
When he found her and Sophie, he had assumed that it would never work out between them because she was a lesbian, but when she had explained to him that she was actually bisexual, he felt a renewed sense of hope again.
The two never lasted long, but she and Sophie remained friends. It wasn't an issue between them since it was so short lived.
Ashamed to feel such a way, Jason had to admit that he felt even more hopeful when they broke up. He wanted to tell her right away, but decided against it because it was so fresh.
So many times Jason had thought about doing it, but he never followed through. He was either too shy or didn't think it was the proper time.
This moment, while he watched her and Owen, was also not the proper time. It wouldn't ever be, and Jason completely understood that. If she wasn't interested, then she wasn't interested and he had to move on.
That thought didn't stop the anger from feeling like he had been lead on. He knew that she didn't do it intentionally, and had never really flirted, but the hope that was alive only remained because it was never told to die.
Finally, it had been told that, and it had done so quickly. Jason had just wished it went out in a nicer way, but that wasn't the case and he had to deal with it.
An important thing to note for him was that he wasn't mad at Owen. Owen hadn't done anything wrong by falling for Nikki, and while Jason knew that he knew about his crush, he couldn't blame him for liking her. Not only that, but he didn't have to ask for his permission to date her.
Neither did Nikki, though it would've been nice for her to tell him ahead of time that he didn't have a chance.
A loud noise snapped him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see Lia standing in the middle of the room, with her hand smacked on the table. Everyone in the room turned to her, and she smiled at them.
"I have some good news," Lia announced. "I've gotten word from Masters, and you all should know that today you get a day off."
The rangers smiled back at her in relief, not having had a day off in the long while. "That sounds great," Autumn commented, yawning slightly.
Lia nodded, "It is great. You guys will be able to do whatever you want for the rest of the day, so you should get out of here and enjoy yourselves. You only get to be young once, remember that." She told them as she left them to themselves.
Almost immediately, Jason left the room, followed by a chagrined Owen and Nikki who walked the opposite way, and then Moran. Autumn was the only one who remained, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
Sophie looked up at her from her chair as she collected her things. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I just haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately," Autumn sighed. "But I'm getting back to normal."
"How long have you had trouble sleeping?" Sophie asked, concerned.
Autumn shrugged. "I don't know, I guess since Tori and I were kidnapped."
"Really?" Sophie frowned. "Autumn, you might have PTSD. You should talk to someone about it." At the look on Autumn's face, she continued. "Well, if you don't want to, you can at least talk to me if you need to."
The red lieutenant gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Sophie. I might take you up on that someday," She gestured towards the day. "I'm gonna get out of here and try to get some decent sleep."
"Good luck," Sophie encouraged, watching her leave before picking up her things and leaving as well.
- PRER -
At the same time, Logan was walking through the hallway of ER, getting ready to leave, when he passed by the lieutenant forensics lab and saw the light on. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity and peered in through the open doorway, finding Jason in the room, working on the computer.
Surprised to find him there, Logan knocked once on the wall to announce his presence before walking towards Jason and standing close to him, putting his hand down in front of him as he leaned against the table.
"What are you still doing in here?" He asked. "It's our day off. You should be getting out of here, not getting ready to do work."
"I'm just trying to catch up on my workload." Jason explained, nonchalantly.
"Don't lie to me," Logan rolled his eyes. "You don't have anything to catch up on. You're just trying to use this as an excuse to escape from your problems in your work."
Jason looked up at him. "How do you know that?"
He shrugged, "I've heard that Owen and Nikki got together, and I knew you had a crush on her. I bet that probably made you upset."
The blue lieutenant sighed. "Who spreads these things?" Jason shook his head. "Nevermind. What are you still doing here?"
"I'm about to leave," Logan responded. "I was probably gonna go down to the pier and walk around."
"Sounds like a good time." Jason commented.
Logan looked him over. "Maybe if you're done with your imaginary work, you can come with me and hang out," He suggested. "If you're down, of course."
"Logan, I..."
"What?" Logan interrupted him. "Is your fake work that you're burying yourself in so important that you can't spend time with me?"
Leaning back in his chair, Jason rubbed a hand over his face. "What are you trying to do?"
"I don't know what you mean," Logan made a face. "But I do know that you need to get out, so I guess that's what I'm trying to do."
Jason was about to say something else, but Logan hauled him out of his chair and turned off his computer. "Hey!" He muttered, giving Logan a look. "You can't just do that."
A smirk appeared on Logan's face. "I just did. Now, are you gonna come with me, or am I gonna have to carry you?"
"This isn't fair," Jason reported, but allowed Logan to lead him out of the room anyways, turning off the light as he left.
- PRER -
Over in the chief base, the other team of rangers were getting ready to leave. Taz was currently not there, but instead at home as she had been told to take a few personal days off by Masters after she collapsed from malnutrition.
Everyone else was there, including Sean, who was more than happy to get ready to leave early so he could help Taz finish moving into his apartment.
Just before he left, Tori caught his arm. "Hey,"
"Hey, what's up?" Sean asked, quickly.
She actually raised an eyebrow at how quick his response was, but said nothing on that subject. "So, how's Taz doing? I haven't been able to get over to your place, but I am concerned about her."
"She's doing great!" He nearly exclaimed. "I'm so proud of her progress. I cooked a meal yesterday and we both ate it together."
"Okay," Tori said slowly, giving him a strange look. "You two are gonna spend the day together, then?"
"Definitely! How could I ever leave someone like her alone?" He chuckled. "I'm gonna finish helping her move in and then I'm gonna take her to get some new things for the apartment and anything else she wants."
Tori frowned. "Do either of you have the money for that?"
Sean shrugged. "Who cares? That's the beauty of life, Tori, you only live it once so you better do it to the fullest, right?"
"Is something going on?" Tori asked, making a face at him. "Like, are you feeling okay?"
He looked offended. "No, why? I feel fantastic - I feel better than I have in a long, long time."
"Have you taken your meds?" She questioned.
"I don't think that's any of your business," Sean retorted. "God, I can't feel good for one day before people start acting like I'm a psych-case."
"You know I didn't mean it like that..."
The blue chief cut her off. "It doesn't matter. I'm gonna go, and you can keep doing whatever you want," He glared at her, before storming out of the chief base.
Meanwhile, across the room, Joey leaned against the console in the middle of the room as he watched Nat pick up her stuff and get ready to leave. He had a flirtatious grin plastered on his face when she turned around.
It elicited a few laughs from her, "What are you looking at with that kind of a smile?"
"Probably the new girl," Joey teased, his grin only growing. "The one I was thinking of asking to hang out today, if she wanted."
"You're such a flirt, you know that?" Nat nudged him, grinning back.
Joey brought a hand to his chest in mock offense. "I am not a flirt, Natasha. I am simply a man who doesn't believe in waiting for things to happen. I take risks and make things happen."
"Oh really?" Nat put her hands on her hips, playfully.
He nodded. "Of course. You can't spend time thinking about things and never doing them because it won't happen. You have to live while you can and make an adventure happen."
Nat looked at him, impressed. "That's actually quite a philosophy," She complimented him. "Most guys who move that quick have a much different philosophy, if you're telling the truth, that is."
"You don't believe me?" Joey crossed his arms.
"I don't know," Nat shrugged. "Some guys'll say anything to get a girl,"
"That's a harsh assumption," Joey chuckled. "And I'm a little offended. Maybe you should let me take you out to lunch, and I can prove you wrong."
She looked him over, shaking her head in amusement. "Alright, I'll go out to lunch with you, as a friend, and we'll see where this goes." Nat held up a hand before he said anything more. "But, I can only go with you if we take my sister, Lindsay, with us. My roommate's out of town and I don't want to leave her home alone all day."
"Perfectly fine with me." Joey assured her. "Lead the way,"
"Okay, then," Nat nodded, pleasantly surprised by his attitude towards her request. She gestured ahead of her. "Let's go."
- PRER -
On the pier, Jason and Logan were walking around aimlessly, looking out towards the open water behind all of the shops and such. Jason took a deep breath, feeling peaceful with the sounds of small talk and waves crashing nearby.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Logan asked, noticing him lost in thought.
He shrugged. "Just thinking about everything, I guess. This kind of place really makes me lost in all of the peaceful sounds and stuff. It's nice here."
"It really is," Logan agreed. "Places like this are underrated nowadays. I mean, I know we're still young too, but other people our age don't really like to experience this side of life anymore. I think back on the way it probably was for my parents, and I can see how much everything has changed. It's crazy."
"I couldn't agree more," Jason nodded. "People get so absorbed in things that mean so little that they can't look at all of the other things that mean so much. You know, like moments you'll remember forever."
"Yeah, I remember one of the best moments of my life was going to this pier for my parent's anniversary and seeing just how in love they've always been," Logan told him. "It was beautiful. I hope I have something like that one day with my boyfriend."
Jason raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Oh, you have a boyfriend?"
"What? No, not right now," Logan chuckled. "I just mean in the future, when I have one." He smirked a bit. "Why does that matter?"
The blue lieutenant bushed in embarrassment. "No reason, I guess I was just surprised."
Logan gave him an amused look. "Surprised that I'm gay?"
"No, of course not," Jason said quickly. "I'm bisexual, so it's not like that."
"Don't worry, I was just teasing you a little," Logan nudged him. "And, I already knew that, by the way. I know you like Nikki, but I've seen the way you look at some of these guys. I'm not blind,"
At the mention of Nikki, Jason sighed. "We shouldn't be talking about Nikki right now."
That made Logan sigh as well. "Why not? She's your friend, Jason. One little thing shouldn't screw up a friendship like that."
"I just don't understand why she let me pine on her like that," Jason said. "I've wasted so much time on it when I could've been getting close to someone else."
"Okay, I'm gonna tell you something," Logan stopped and turned to him. "It's not her fault that you've spent so much time on it. When you kept hoping and she never came for you, you should've known it wasn't anything else. You can't blame her for the time you lost over her, because that's all on you, even if she's who fueled it. You are the only one who can move on, and now that you know, it's time to do it."
Jason stared at him. "But I..."
"No, don't argue." Logan interrupted. "Besides, why are you only mad at her? Owen knows you like her and still went for it. The way that you're acting is naive, because if you knew anything about these things, you wouldn't be acting this way..." He trailed off, before speaking again. "Especially when someone right in front of you actually likes you back."
"Who?" Jason asked.
"You really are naive," Logan leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips, before pulling away and leaving Jason in shock. "Now, are we gonna finish our trip out here so you can go talk to them, or are we gonna stand here all day?"
Suddenly, Jason broke out of his shocked staring. "We're gonna finish after I do this," He pulled Logan in for a more passionate kiss, one they both participated in this time. They pulled away, breathing heavily. "Okay, we can finish now."
"Alright," Logan smiled, taking him further down the pier.
- PRER -
In the meantime, Masters was in his office next to the chief base, looking through some paperwork. He glanced over at the pink chief morpher, which was laying in a protective case on a nearby table. He wondered if Nat would be strong enough to use it, but nodded to himself that she would.
Next to it sat a picture of himself with his wife, just after she had gotten pregnant. The two looked incredibly happy, with Masters leaning down to kiss her growing abdomen in the photo.
Looking at it, he stood up and walked over to pick it up, touching it lightly. A few years prior to him becoming the chief mentor, his wife had been brutally murdered a few weeks before she was set to give birth, killing her and their unborn child.
When he found out, it felt like his life had ended. He had no idea how to move on from such a crushing blow, especially when the person behind it had never been caught.
After more than a few months of search for the assailant, the department eventually gave up and let the case go cold. That made him furious, feeling like his wife and son would never get the justice they deserved.
It made him want to go out and find the person who did it so he could kill him or her by himself. He knew that he really couldn't, but he wanted to badly. Every time he looked at a picture of his beautiful wife, all he could think of was how much she had suffered, only for no one to find out and punish who did it.
At the same time, he tried to think of all of the great things they had been through together. They were high school sweethearts who made it through and got married shortly after they graduated.
Most people would likely regret doing so, but they never had. They spent a few years traveling and living freely, before settling down in Waverly to live the rest of their lives in the house of their dreams.
They had always talked about how they were the perfect couple, and to this day, Masters still believed it. He was thinking about how he would never think any different, when the door opened behind him, pulling him out of his thoughts. He put the photo down as Lia walked in, closing the door behind her. "Bad time?" She asked.
"Of course not," Masters shook his head, moving to sit back down in his seat. "Is something going on?"
Lia sat in a chair across from him. "No, I just wanted to see if we were ready for the next member of your team."
Masters nodded. "I believe we are."
"And, if you are," Lia drawled. "Maybe we should talk about who's next for my team. I"m not gonna bring another member in right away, but I don't even have an idea of who that would be."
He raised an eyebrow. "It seems like there's a bit of a rush going on. Is this your version of a competition?"
"No, it's my version of doing my job," Lia retorted, displeased. "Besides, I'm already working on the white ranger morpher, but there's no point if I don't have a recruit to go with it."
"It's not that hard," Masters shrugged. "There are plenty of good recruits around."
"There are always plenty of good ones, but I don't just want a good one. I want a great one," Lia told him. "Just think about it, alright? It's important to me," She requested as she got up from the chair and stood up straight. "I'm looking forward to seeing how Nat does as a ranger."
Her comment made him nod. "As am I. I think she'll be a great match," He responded, giving her an indecipherable look.
She stared back at him, before nodding back at him and exiting the room, leaving him back to his thoughts.
- PRER -
Later on, Jason was dropped off at Nikki's apartment by Logan, who told him he would wait outside for him. Jason thanked him and went inside the building, taking the elevator up to her floor until he made it to her room. He stood outside her door for a few moments, before knocking lightly.
Within a few second, Nikki came to the door, surprised when she saw him, "Jason." She raised her eyebrows. "What are you doing here?"
"Are you and Owen here?" He asked. "I have to talk to you guys."
"Yeah, okay. Come in," Nikki invited him inside, only for him to find Owen sitting on the couch. He thought he might be a bit jealous seeing them together more, but found that he now wasn't at all. "What's up?"
Jason sighed. "I have to apologize to you for the way I've acted."
"Oh, it's alright," Nikki waved him off. "You were right, I should've told you first."
"Me too," Owen spoke up. "I knew you had a thing for her, and I should've said something."
"No, don't make excuses for me." Jason told them. "You guys didn't do anything wrong. I've been naive, acting like you guys have to tell me before you get together because I think you've just made me waste so much time, but I was the only one doing that. Logan made me see that today."
Owen and Nikki exchanged looks, before smiling at him. "Well, we're not upset, Jason." Nikki assured him.
"Yeah, especially if you can come all the way here to apologize," Owen agreed. "It shows that you care, since you did it even when we didn't need it."
"That's great," Jason said, relieved. "I was worried that I messed up our friendship over something so little."
Nikki came over to him, pulling him in for a hug. "You're my best friend. That would never happen, I promise."
He hugged her back, thinking to a time they spoke similarly. "Yeah, I feel the same."
Next time on Power Rangers Emergency Responders: After Joey is badly injured, Nat takes on the role of the pink chief to help the rest of the chiefs take down a criminal.
Next Chapter Title: Pink Chief
So, I decided to change the name of this chapter to Love at the last minute because it made more sense, given that this chapter was bringing characters like Joey and Nat and Jason and Logan together. I will confirm that Jason and Logan are together, but Nat and Joey are not yet. This was just the first step to their budding chemistry with each other.
Don't forget to vote on your favorite chief! I'm excited to see who you choose!
Here's the lineup for the next five chapters!
Ep 18: Animals - Moran focused chapter.
Ep 19: Mood - Sean focused chapter.
Ep 20: Rush - Joey focused chapter.
Ep 21: White Lieutenant - Final new ranger!
Ep 22: Brothers - White Lieutenant and Joey focused chapter.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you guys back with the next one!
© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley