Romance.
A Valentine's Special One Shot.
Eric wants to prove he can be as romantic as everyone else, but things don't always go as smoothly as one would hope.
EricXTaylor, hints of DanaXCarter. As requested via a review.
Disclaimer- We do not own any of the characters, some have been created by us but most belong to Saban. We promise not to break them and will put them back when we're done.
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"Sorry, can you repeat that?" The blonde looked to her husband with her hand cupping her toddler's chin to stop the mash potato from dribbling down on his clothes.
"I said maybe we should do something for Valentine's day." The Quantum Ranger said nonchalantly as he pulled on his jacket.
"Yeah, I see your lips moving but the words aren't computing."
"Joke all you want but I'm being serious."
"Why?" Taylor blurted, "We've never bothered before."
"Since Stephen came along, it's impossible to spend time alone."
"Again, why? We have never bothered before."
Eric leaned against the kitchen counter and twirled his keys around his finger, creating a jangle that captivated the brunette child's attention away from his food over to the metallic jingly noise. "I thought it would be nice to have one night away from parenting."
"I parent, you read the newspaper."
"Exactly, parenting."
"Wes turn you down?" Taylor asked with suspicion glistening in her blue eyes, "And what do you suggest we do with this one?"
"I'll figure something out," he waved off then shoved his keys back in his pocket, "Just block the day out, wash your hair and make yourself look pretty."
"I am not an object Eric-"
"Sure you're not. Gonna be out til late, don't wait up." He paused in the doorway to call back, "Have a sandwich for me in the fridge."
"Jerk!"
"You too Babe!" He went into the garage, ready to begin making plans on his drive into the Guardian Facility.
Eric tried to zone out on Wes as he searched for local florists on the computer. The Ex-Red was babbling on about his girlfriend having to work on Valentine's Day and Eric, as well as being too busy focusing to actually listen, also frankly didn't give a damn. He had three days to pull off the best Valentine's day he could. He'd made a list of ideas to do, most of which he could organise from his desk.
He grabbed the office phone and punched in the number.
"Shut up a sec," he barked to Wes then held the phone to his ear.
"Angie's Flowers, Angie speaking. How may I help you?"
"Uh, yeah. Hi," He started to say. Over his monitor, he could see Wes watching intently, "I want to order some flowers."
"For me? You shouldn't have."
"For my wife." He scowled at Wes before hurling a stapler in his general direction which the blond just managed to dodge.
"Okay Sir. Any particular flowers?"
"I'm not going to pretend to know anything about flowers so I trust you."
"Certainly Sir. And I presume it's a bouquet you would like to order? What size are you wanting?"
"They come in different sizes?!"
"Do you have a price range?"
"I don't know, like five bucks?"
Wes started to save animatedly in an attempt to catch Eric's attention. When Eric did look up, Wes signalled higher whilst mouthing 'thirty five'.
"I mean thirty five?" Eric corrected, "My boss who is a tightwad just gave me a bonus."
"Excellent Sir. And is there a particular occasion?"
"Oh I don't know Angie, isn't it Valentine's day in a couple of days?"
"That will make this a rush order sir."
"Fine, rush it."
"That will be another ten dollars."
"Great," he said sarcastically, "And it will be a delivery."
"We have a six dollar delivery charge."
"Of course you do." He sighed, "If you can start on the bouquet, I'll drop by in an hour to pay and give you the address. Name of Myers."
"Thank you Sir. I shall be waiting."
Eric hung up the phone and struck 'flowers' off his short list. He didn't have to look up to know Wes was staring at him wide eyes, waiting on an explanation that the brunette wasn't willing to give.
"What was that new place you took Charlie to the other week?"
"You mean the new place which you needed to book back in 1989?"
"That's the one. You're a business partner there right?"
"I will get you a table," Wes leaned forward on his elbows, "If you tell me why?"
"Thought I would take you out- why do you think? Valentine's day."
"Flowers and a restaurant... What did you do?"
Eric threw the hole punch across the room, "Nothing. It's called being romantic."
"Right... So you're after something?"
"Just do it." Eric scowled, "I need to find a babysitter. I tried Alyssa and Maddie but they're both busy. Who wouldn't have plans for Valentine's day."
"I can watch him-"
"When hell freezes over."
"Could try Dana," Wes suggested as he picked up his own phone to call the restaurant, "She's on maternity leave now."
"Good thinking," Eric pulled up her phone number. He balanced the phone against his shoulder whilst he typed for romantic breakfast ideas. Everything looked ridiculously intricate with lacy pancakes and crap that he knew he would never be able to do even after a hundred years of practise. A bowl of cereal, that was his skill level.
"Hello?"
"Just the girl I was hoping to catch."
"Eric? Oh God, what's Wes done now?"
"Ah nothing, yet anyway. How are you anyway?"
"Oh you know... We've reached the stage where we are going to have to make the doorways wider. The nursery is finished so I am bored out of my skull until the shower. So if you need help with filing-"
"You're thirty four weeks pregnant with twins- stay off your feet."
"You sound like Carter." Dana said with a chuckle, "He's become OCD with everything- it's kinda sweet- What? No, it's Eric... No, save it for Friday, just because I can't drink doesn't mean you shouldn't- sorry. Carter's got the week off work to baby proof the house and Valentines Day-."
Eric internally groaned, "So you have Valentine's plans already?"
"You're a few years too late to ask me out Eric," she joked before adding, "Plus Carter's pretty great with those sorts of day so you'd have stiff competition."
"I'm trying to find somebody to watch Stephen for the night."
"Oh sure. We can do that."
"What about your plans? I hear your husband is great with Valentine's day."
"Doctor's lie when they say morning sickness is only in the first trimester- and that it only happens in the morning. Ryan's staying at the Base so we were staying in anyway. Plus, it's good practise for a few weeks time."
Relief flooded through Eric, "Great, thanks. I'll drop him off in the afternoon. Is it fine for him to stay the night?"
"Of course. He can test out the crib."
"One last thing, what that jewellers called Carter goes to when he's in trouble?"
"One sec," He heard Dana asking and Carter calling out a response, "He says its Hallmark and Junior in Silver Hills Boulevard. If you give his name, they'll give you ten percent off."
"Thanks."
"No problem. We'll see you on Friday."
Eric placed the phone back and leaned into his chair whilst exhaling a deep sigh. Man, romance was hard... And expensive.
"Dude. I'm impressed. What else do you have planned?"
"Breakfast and I'm thinking a present too- it depends whether the black market will accept my kidney or not." Eric sat back up and grabbed his wallet and car keys from his drawer, "Taking my lunch break early; I gotta see some scary Russians about organ harvesting."
"Yeah, I hear that Angie is a tough one."
Eric glared as he walked out, leaving Wes to continue doodling on the covers of important files.
Eric slipped the leather jewellery box in his jacket pocket after inspecting it one last time. He was sure he had outdone himself this time, even if it wasn't an expensive, flashy piece that Wes would have chosen; it was simple and modest, classical, like most of the items in the shop. That was why he had been after a recommendation from Carter, the man had good taste in jewellery from what Eric had seen.
Whether Taylor would like it was another matter entirely.
He walked into the house, almost colliding into Taylor who stood up from where she was sitting on the stairs waiting for Eric to come in.
"Jesus," Eric glared and gently pushed her aside, "We should get you a bell, like a cat."
"It's one a.m. Where have you been?"
"I told you I'd be late and not to wait up." He headed into the kitchen and spied the sandwich left on the counter, "But you made me food. Aren't you becoming a good little housewife?"
Taylor snatched the plate away before Eric could dive in, "Late would have been two hours ago. This is the next morning. Where were you?"
"Running errands. Stopped over in Mariner Bay to give Dana more baby stuff," he lied, "Drink with Wes. Home to eat." He pulled the plate back, "Dana'll watch Stephen Friday night too-"
"You're still on this?"
"Yes I am. Leave it to me, okay?"
Taylor shook her head with a smirk growing on her face, "You got a heavily pregnant woman to babysit a toddler?"
"And her husband." He bit into the sandwich, "Great huh?"
Taylor muttered, "Idiot," as she walked out of the room still shaking her head.
Now the plan was in place, it was just the execution.
Eric awoke early on Friday, creeping out of the bedroom as silently as he could so that he wouldn't wake Taylor. He avoided the squeaky floorboard outside Stephen's room and descended down the staircase then into the kitchen.
He was thankful he had been smart enough to prepare everything last night after Taylor had gone to bed; the pancake mix was already in an old ketchup bottle in the fridge waiting to be cooked and the fruit in the bowl just needing to be cut and placed on the plate. The flowers, which had set him back almost sixty bucks, would be arriving within the hour which meant they would be on the table when Taylor woke up; he'd forgotten to buy a card, but he doubted Taylor would care too much about that- the way to her heart was definitely through food rather than a piece of paper.
Eric took a frying pan from the cupboard and started to heat some oil whilst he retrieved everything he needed; two plates, a spatula and the ketchup bottle along with the fruit and a cutting knife. Hearts, that should be an easy enough shape.
He took the bottle and began to squeeze about the pan, but nothing was coming out the end. The brunette groaned and shook the bottle to get the mixture to move but it was either too thick or partially frozen. He began to shake it more violently when the end came off, half of the mixture splattering to the floor, the other half just making it into the pan, definitely not in a heart shape.
"You're kidding me," he kicked the counter.
Pancakes: out. It looked more like Shrek then a heart! He'd give it to Stephen.
Eric hastily cleaned the floor before he scanned the kitchen for a back up. He couldn't give her fruit on its own, that would be pitiful. He should have bought the toaster waffles or crossiants when he had been in the grocery store but no, he had to be fancy about everything!
Toast. It would have to be a romantic breakfast of toast and fruit. He shoved a couple of bread slices in the toaster then started to chop up the fruit he'd bought. It was a lot less fiddly than the pancakes would have been but he could try to make each piece look fancy. Wes had his chef show Eric how to cut a strawberry to look like a rose, so that was probably the best place to start.
With a shaking hand, he made the first few cuts and was quite impressed with his precision... Until he felt the blade slip and make a deep cut in his finger. He dropped the knife, cursing under his breath as be moved to run it under the sink. Great, fruit was out- he was quite attached to his fingers.
It was just a small set back, he'd bandage it quickly then pour some of the champagne that he had also bought, set the table with the breakfast and flowers and everything would be fine. He'd drop Stephen off at the Grayson's and Dana would check his finger over and then he'd come back and they would get ready for their fancy meal, the first night in two years where they were childless. Eric would make a big gesture of having the waiter bring the jewellery box with their dessert and Taylor would be impressed.
He could be romantic.
The phone started ringing once Eric had quickly wrapped the crepe bandage around his digit; not wanting to disturb Taylor he ran to the hall to get the phone.
"What?"
"Hello, is this the home of Mr Myers?" It sounded like...
"Angie? The flower lady?"
"Yes Sir. We tried to deliver your flowers but nobody was home."
"Strange that because I'm on the house phone, my wife and son are upstairs asleep."
"I know Sir," her nasal voice finally begining to grate on Eric, "We left them with your neighbour, Mrs Chen."
"We don't have a neighbour called Mrs Chen! We have Mrs Anderson and Mr Brockman."
"Address 78 Ashford Street."
"No, we're Ashward Street. Ashford isn't even in this town!"
"I had thought it strange you hadn't used a local firm Sir instead of having us deliver to Angel Grove."
"I did use a local firm! You're telling me you delivered my flowers that I spent sixty dollars on to the wrong town?!"
"I'm terribly sorry Sir."
"I want my damn money back!"
"No refunds Sir. Can't you pick them up yourself?"
"I paid you to deliver!" A smell came from the kitchen which caught Eric's attention... It smelled like.. "Crap!" He threw the phone down and ran into the kitchen to see the toaster with thick black smoke coming out of it. He wrestled to unplug it, using a tea towel to throw it into the garden before the fire alarm started up.
No pancakes.
No fruit.
No toast.
No flowers.
Cereal and champagne it was.
He walked to the fridge to take the champagne but instead was met with a hastily written note.
'Trust me when I say, do not serve this cheap crap.
Wes.'
Eric crumpled the note in a tight fist and threw it into the trash. He'd buy champagne at the restaurant and pick up flowers on his way back from dropping Stephen off; cheap garage flowers were better than nothing at all.
When Taylor came down, dressed in a white towelled dressing gown carrying Stephen, she looked to the table to see Eric's 'Romantic breakfast'. She scoffed at the single pancake on a plate at the highchair.
"You made him a Shrek pancake?" She asked as she plopped the toddler in his chair to start eating his food.
"Yeah," Eric handed her a bowl of cereal, "That's what I did."
He turned to grab the coffee pot and as he faced forward again he saw Taylor's grimance with the spoon in her hand.
"What?" He snapped.
Taylor pushed her bowl away, "The milk is sour."
Eric balanced his son on one arm, the diaper bag slung over one shoulder, and with his spare hand, he managed to ring the doorbell. Over Stephen's whining, he could hear some noises from inside.
Stephen looked up at his father with big, honey coloured eyes looking almost angelic. "You gonna be good?" He questioned and Stephen silently blinked, "And whatever you do, don't say she's fat, okay? She's got two babies in her tummy so she just looks big. She will cry if you say she's fat."
A terrified look crossed the two-year old's face, "Eat baby?"
"No, she did not eat the babies." Eric tried to bite back the smirk, "The stork put them there."
The door opened and Eric looked to see Dana behind it, her prominent stomach hidden behind the door.
"Hey," she said with a smile then looked to the toddler, "Hey handsome."
"I appreciate this girl scout," Eric placed the bag down in the hall as he stepped in then dropped his son gently to the floor, "I bet you had plans."
"Oh, not really," she sighed and her hand fell to her stomach which currently looked as if she'd swallowed a beach all, "Sickness has flared up again and I really don't have the energy to get dressed up to go to a fancy restaurant just to throw it up later," she reached down to pick Stephen up which proved more difficult than she had imagined due to her sizeable bump, "So we agreed to stay in, order pizza and watch a movie. Carter's on the on-call list." Her eyes narrowed as she saw Eric's bandaged finger, "What did you do?"
"Strawberry mishap. It stopped bleeding hours ago."
"I had to ask." She smiled at Stephen as he started playing with her long blonde hair, "Are we gonna have fun tonight? We got Finding Nemo from the store for you."
"Day, I gotta go," Carter's voice came from the other end of the hall. The Red started to walk toward the door, grabbing his jacket from the coat hooks on the wall. He turned to speak directly to his wife, "Restaurant has caught fire in town and they're having trouble controlling it. If it doesn't get put out soon it'll spread to the elementary school."
Dana did well to hide her evident concern, Eric noted, as she plastered a fake smile on her face, "Okay... Just-"
"Don't worry," Carter said assuringly, "I'm just evacuating the area so the guys can focus on the fire; like they would let me in on the action with you so close to your due date."
Dana visibly relaxed, "Good."
Carter pressed a kiss to her lips before gently touching her stomach, "Two hours tops, promise." He crouched down so he was level with her bump, "You two behave- no trying to come out whilst I'm gone, deal?"
"Don't mind me," Eric said sarcastically.
Carter turned with an eyebrow raised, "I'm not going to talk to your food baby." He straightened and ruffled Stephen's hair, "Hey. You look after her okay?"
Stephen nodded then turned to blow a kiss to his Dad.
"We'll pick him up tomorrow morning," Eric told Dana as Carter walked out to climb into his car.
"Great."
"Good," Eric nodded and kissed his son's head, "Take it easy though Doc, I don't want a call to say your waters broke so I need to pick Bruiser up early. Just cross your legs or somethin'."
Dana laughed and started to close the door, "Have fun."
As Eric turned to walk down the drive again, a thought hit him like a train. He moved to knock on Carter's car window, which the Red instantly lowered.
"What restaurant is on fire?" He asked, trying to appear completely calm.
"That new one," Carter answered with puzzlement in his voice, "Thai Hut."
"You gotta be kidding me!" Eric groaned and made his way to his own car. First his breakfast caught fire, flowers went to the wrong town and now the restaurant! Why did the Universe hate him so?! He'd have to think of an alternative, and fast.
He'd pick up the flowers from the petrol station and booked a table at the Chinese in town, Taylor wouldn't mind. He'd have to drive but that didn't matter, Taylor could still drink nice champagne that way.
"Tay, are you ready?" Eric yelled, poking his head in through the front door.
"I'll be out in two minutes!" she yelled back and Eric took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. Suddenly realising the flowers were still in the car, he ran back out to take them out of the back. Eric turned and stopped breathing for a few seconds. Taylor walked out in a sleeveless, light yellow dress, the skirt fluttering around her knees, with black heels, a small purse and a shawl that shimmered like a starry night. Eric remembered the flowers he had come back for and walked back over to his wife. He held them out a-
"Atchoo!" Eric froze, then quickly pulled the flowers away from her face.
"I thought you were only allergic to blueberries?"
"Germini is another one, unfortunately-Atchoo!- I'm fine, it's not too bad, let me just take a pill and I'll be good." She ran back inside the house and sneezed again. Eric stared quietly after her in shock. He walked over to Mrs Anderson's bins and stuffed the bouquet in there, furiously trying to brush off as much pollen as he could as he walked to the car, dusting any leftover pollen off the seat before getting inside. Burnt breakfasts, burnt restaurants and killer flowers- he certainly was something. Taylor walked out again, locking the door behind her, looking as stunning as she did before with a slight red tint to her nose. They were quiet as she got in and he began driving.
"I am so sorry-"
"It's okay, you didn't know. Though, I gotta say, I wasn't expecting the flowers." She smirked at him.
"Well you saw how well they worked out," Eric said, clearing his throat as his mouth turned into a frown.
"Still a nice thought," she added quietly, her voice ringing clear in the empty car. Her lips were turned up at the corner.
They were quiet again and Eric thought maybe he could salvage the evening. The car spluttered and coughed and slowed down and Eric pulled over and dropped his head on the steering wheel. Taylor watched her husband, unsure if she should be concerned or amused and settled with a quiet mixture of both. Eric got out and opened up the hood, coughing at the smoke that assaulted his face. He looked over the engine and knew they were going to be there a while.
Taylor walked up next to him, surveyed the engine and the amount of work that needed to be done, and asked "Why don't we go get something to eat, leave the car as something to deal with later?" She gestured over to a bar. Eric followed her gaze and nodded after a tense moment, knowing they wouldn't make it to the little restaurant he had planned on the other side of town.
They walked into the bar and Taylor grabbed a booth whilst Eric went to get drinks for them. He quickly explained to the barman to deliver the little box, which he reluctantly handed over, with their food and took their drinks back to the booth where Taylor was watching a baseball game on the screen.
Eric tapped his fingers on the table as they waited for the food to arrive. Taylor watched him curiously, wondering what was making him so nervous.
Their food came and Eric watched Taylor's face carefully, waiting for her reaction. When nothing happened beside her taking a wing from the plate, Eric looked down to see a distinct lack of boxes on their plates and looked past Taylor all around the bar, wondering where it could have gone.
He then spotted a familiar blond trying to hand the box back to a confused bartender. He excused himself and ran over and took the box out of his hand, interrupting the blond babbling "I'm flattered and alls but I gotta pretty girlfriend who I like like a lot, and she's a nurse so she's working otherwise I woulda taken her to dinner and- Eric?"
"Goodbye Wesley," Eric said quickly, turning back to the booth. As soon as he sat down, he let his head drop into his arms. Taylor watched her husband with a raised brow, wiped the grease off of her fingers and shuffled over to him.
"Alright, spill. Why are you freaking out so much about this? And why are we doing this anyway? We don't usually do Valentine's day. You tried making breakfast and you got me flowers and you attempted to take me out to dinner-"
"And nothing turned out right. This entire day seems like one ridiculous disaster after another. I just," he stopped and continued, softer. "I just wanted to do something for you and I know I don't do it often and I should because you mean a lot to me and you gave me a family and you love me." Taylor laid a hand on top of his, her thumb rubbing soothing circles into the skin there.
"I love that you cared enough to try, Eric. That means more to, all the little things, you mean more to me than anything. So what if nothing turned out exactly how you planned? I think this," she gestured around them. "Is pretty great." She smiled and leant her forehead against his temple.
"There's something I wanted to give you." He said quietly and opened up the small leather box that had been hidden behind his clenched fist. Taylor's eyes fluttered open at the feeling of cool metal on her finger. Eric pushed a white gold ring onto her hand, delicately placed diamonds amongst the feather detailing. "I never got to give you an engagement ring, seeing as everything was spur of the moment."
"It's beautiful," she said and he threaded their fingers together.
The pair woke the next morning in a lazy ease. It wasn't until they were sipping quietly on their coffee that Eric realised he had a missed call.
"Hey Eric, it's Carter. Listen, Stephen's fine and everything but... Dana kinda went into labour. She said she's sorry, she did try crossing her legs but you know what it's like, you've been there with Taylor. Obviously Stephen couldn't come to the hospital with us so Dustin had taken him to Wes'. Wes can't have been in as Dustin is still there but they're okay. Eitherway, he's fine. Dana's fine too by the way, for someone who has gone into labour in the middle of the night. I should get back, she's being irritable with the midwife seeing as I'd had a beer before she started getting contractions- like I planned it that way. Anyway, hope your night went well and let us know when you have Stephen again... Probably will be parents ourselves when you hear this so- y'know. Bye. Oh, it's Carter by the way."
[A/N]
GREG: Happy Valentine's all! We had a request sometime ago to explore Eric and Taylor's relationship so! Here it is! Hopefully the guest does see this who asked for it!
Hope you liked it and remember, we are always open to requests and suggestions! Just drop us a PM or leave a review with the details! Ditto if you would like a beta reader!
Thanks for reading!