"We're going to have to tell the others at some point," Axel said as Julia stared at the ceiling. They had been awake for a few hours, talking about how they wanted to move forward and generally enjoying time with each other. Julia had gotten over most of the shock, but now there was the reality that she was not going to be able to really be a Power Ranger for the next several months. "How do you want to handle that?"
"I'd like to figure out how far along I am and at least…oh I don't know, Axe," Julia whispered as she rolled over to look at him. He trailed his fingers through her hair as he saw the worry dance across her eyes. "This isn't going to go over well."
"We don't know that. They were happy about us getting engaged…" Axel trailed off as he caught the look in her eyes. "This isn't everyone you're worried about, is it?"
"Yeah- this is going to be hard on Cam," Julia said as Axel just nodded. Every step of their relationship was going to be difficult for Cameron, but it didn't mean that they needed to stop living their lives. "We should probably…do you think we tell him separately?"
"We can. I'm happy to support however you want to do this," Axel said as he ran his hand up and down her side. "Breakfast?"
"Yeah…if you don't mind," Julia said as he nodded before rolling out of bed and she watched him pull on a pair of shorts and t-shirt. She realized how much he had been doing for her over the last couple of weeks, although it really hadn't struck her until now. "You're amazing."
"Thank you," Axel said as he looked back at her and saw the look on her face. He wasn't sure what it meant, but he was more concerned with getting breakfast than figuring that out.
"Morning," a man said as Axel stepped out into the kitchen and he quickly looked around. Who had he come home with? "Sam."
"Hi Sam…umm…is Han…" Axel trailed off as Patrick walked out into the kitchen and froze. Well- that wasn't who he expected, but he also wasn't surprised. "Okay. Not Hannah. Nice to meet you- I'm making…pancakes again if you want to stay."
"We were headed out to yoga then brunch," Patrick said as Axel just nodded as he looked back and forth between them. "Feel free to tell Jules- you don't need to keep any secrets for me."
"Okay," Axel said as he started pulling out various bowls and ingredients while he wrestled a bit with himself. He still was not completely sure what to tell Julia, but he was sure he was going to tell her something. He heard a door open and looked back to see Brandon stumbling into the kitchen as Patrick and Sam disappeared out the other door. Brandon stopped for a second and gave Axel a questioning gaze. "His name is Sam."
"Glad he finally brought him around," Brandon stated before he grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it. "Would have appreciated it if he had introduced him to all of us at once but, that's fine."
"You knew already?" Axel asked and Brandon nodded. "How have you been designated the secret keeper?"
"No idea and I wouldn't mind if that changed," Brandon stated as Julia walked into the kitchen and settled down at the bar. "You feeling better today?"
"Ish," Julia said with a smile as she looked over at him. "Someone helped me figure out what's going on, but there's no quick fix."
"So you are pregnant," Cameron stated as they jerked around to face him and Axel stared at him with wide eyes. While he had alluded to it with him, he didn't think Cameron would just come out and say it. "What? There are only so many things that might take her out of combatives and that you would be worried about."
"So much for slowly telling you," Julia said as she just shook her head. "Did all of you suspect it?"
"Suspect what?" Hannah croaked as she wandered into the kitchen, sat down in one of the chairs, and then laid her head on the bar. "How do y'all do it? I can barely keep my eyes open."
"It gets easier, but it is different from all the training you've ever done," Axel said as Hannah peaked up at him and then buried her head in her arms again. "Pancakes work for you?"
"What is it with you and pancakes?" Hannah groaned as the kitchen went silent and she sat up to look between all of them. "What did I miss?"
"It's the only thing I'll eat right now," Julia said as Hannah glanced back and forth between the two of them. She was starting to understand the soulmate thing, but it was still really odd to watch her childhood friend act this way. He had never been one to cook growing up. He had never been one to take care of anyone the way that he now took care of Julia. "We just figured out that I'm pregnant."
"Hold on- I haven't had coffee yet," Hannah muttered as Brandon passed her a cup and he stood up to make another one. This was a morning that was filled with far too many revelations and it definitely required coffee. "That's allowed?"
"I mean…Tommy and Kimberly basically told us to go ahead if we wanted…so I'd say yeah- we're good," Julia said as Brandon and Cameron stared at her. "Dinner party. The night they told us about newest baby Oliver being on the way- both of them read us like books."
"That's what Kimberly does with everyone," Cameron responded as Julia shrugged and Hannah stilled for a moment. "Hannah…something in that a problem?"
"The Kimberly you've been talking about is Kimberly Hart, like the one that was the morning show host?" Hannah asked as they all nodded and she looked around at them. They had thought just about anyone would know who Kimberly was after how she had exited the Today show. "Didn't she bomb her career to…start…a…"
"Ta da," Brandon said as she looked between all of them and then shook her head. This was absolutely crazy. "None of us ever said that being a Power Ranger was a sane thing."
"Chocolate chip or plain?" Axel asked as he waved a spatula at each of them and Cameron chuckled. "Chef's choice isn't an option."
"Do we still have cookies n' cream ice cream and chocolate syrup?" Julia asked as Axel gave her a confused look and she raised her eyebrows at him. It sounded good and she wanted it- that was pretty much the criteria for any meal right now. "I'm voting chocolate chip and I also want that on top if we have it."
"I have no idea if we have that, but I can handle chocolate chip pancakes," Axel said as he looked at the others. "Anyone want plain?"
"The next however many months are going to be wild," Brandon commented as he walked over to the freezer and pulled out the tub of ice cream and Julia gave him a radiant smile. Apparently the cravings were starting really, really early.
"Teleport her out, Roberto," Axel barked into his communicator as they had been ambushed while walking home from their weekly dojo class. While the rangers knew about Julia being pregnant, they hadn't managed to tell everyone else just yet.
"It's being blocked," Roberto said as he watched Julia and Axel exchange a meaningful look before Julia squared her shoulders and turned to be back to back with Axel. Neither of them wanted her to be there, but this was the safest way for them to fight if she must be here. "The others are on the way in, but it'll be a bit."
"Damn it," Axel muttered under his breath as he felt a spike in his powers and he glanced around to see if Julia had noticed it. She gave him a sideways look and then shrugged as if to say 'use it if you want'.
"What was that Axel?" Roberto asked as he had seen the spike and it immediately concerned him. Tommy and Kimberly had those kinds of spikes when they were protecting each other- he hadn't expected to see it with Julia and Axel just yet. "Axe- talk to me."
"I need to get her out of here, Roberto," Axel reiterated as he continued to fight, keeping a hand in Julia's at all times. He had never thought that he would be fighting with one hand behind his back in this sort of situation, but he didn't feel like he had a choice. The monster in front of him landed a solid blow and sent him flying into a nearby building. The pain shot through him as Julia wheeled around and fought to keep space between her and the monster while he got his wits back.
"Any second now, Roberto," Julia forced out between blocking attacks. She couldn't see or hear the other rangers approaching and while she was still training at the dojo, she had already changed much of her schedule to protect herself.
"It's out," Roberto stated as Julia was thrown into a building and the video feed was suddenly filled with a burst of white light. As the light faded, Roberto saw that the monster had disintegrated and the gorgons had disappeared. "Axe…Jules…what was that?"
"Has the teleportation been restored?" Cameron asked as they ran up to the scene and saw both Axel and Julia firmly passed out.
"Yeah- whatever was going on- I can get you out of there now," Roberto said as he pressed the teleportation sequence and they all landed in the Command Center. "What don't I know? Because last I checked- Axel doesn't have Tommy-like outbursts when Julia gets hurt."
"She's pregnant," Hannah whispered as Roberto glanced between all of them. The boys were much more perturbed at the teleportation system being taken offline so easily, even if the real reason that it was a problem was just becoming apparent. "That's why they asked for the in person meeting earlier this week."
"That explains the outburst," Roberto muttered as he looked between the both of them. "Boys- can you take them back to the infirmary? I'll call in one of our nurses to do a few extra checks and keep an eye on them until they wake up."
"What caused it?" Grant asked as Roberto shook his head. He had never seen anything like it and when he had reached out to the other Guardians, they were clueless as well. "You know that isn't going to be a good enough answer."
"Well aware, the best that we can guess- Tommy and Kimberly will have some sort of idea about what happened…" Roberto trailed off as Grant let out a groan. "We need them back. Abdalon has reached out to Atlantis and all he's gotten back is that there were complications and it may take longer than we want for them to come back."
"Complications?" Cameron asked as he walked back into the bay and Roberto nodded in his direction. "Nothing more?"
"Best guess- baby came early…but they're being really close lipped about it," Roberto said as Cameron shook his head and he glared at him. "We've tried to get more out of them, but it's not happening."
"We're a bit out of our depth here," Brandon said as he returned to the bay as well and settled down at the console. "So you agree?"
"There are no mentors on Earth and all of you are still learning…we thought this might be a few weeks- but it's been nearly two months already and it's going to be a bit longer still. Until there is some balance- we're going to get blindsided by more things," Roberto stated as Brandon and Cameron nodded. "It doesn't help that prophets are more scarce than we thought. We've traced every possible relative of Kimberly and it's gotten us nowhere."
"What about Dr. Schutlely?" Cameron asked as they gave him a confused look. "If you don't know you're a prophet- you might think that you're insane…I don't know, maybe it's time to think outside the box when it comes to finding prophets."
"The Yogen-sha knew to come to the rangers in the past…" Roberto trailed off as Brandon and Cameron stared at him. "They never said they were opening a prophet academy."
"Because it sounds crazy. People have known about Power Rangers for 20 plus years. We've known about prophets for roughly two," Cameron said as Roberto nodded and he then let out a sigh. It certainly helped explain the continued prophet shortage. "When they get back, I'm sure that there is some conversation that can be had about how to look for…something that presents one way, but is really something else."
"Axe is up," Hannah said as she peaked out of one of the doors and they exchanged a glance. "He wants to talk to Roberto."
"I'm guessing I have no back up," Roberto said as Brandon and Cameron shrugged and then fell in behind him. "Really?"
"It's not your fault and I can bet he's not seeing clearly right now. We need everyone until Tommy and Kim get back- that includes you," Bradon explained as Roberto gave them a grateful look before he walked through the door and they followed.
"What was that?" Axel asked as he crossed his arms and glared at the three of them. "I thought there was redundancy in the system and backup power and that this shouldn't have been possible."
"It's not supposed to be possible, from what I could tell there was nothing wrong with the system. The other Guardians even tried to pull her out their way and that didn't work either. We were blocked, somehow, and we're looking into it. That being said, there's a really good chance that she has a cosmic beacon around her right now that we need to dampen down. It's not perfect, but it should make it more difficult for beings to track her right now. My crew doesn't have enough power reserves to cover Tommy and Kimberly and the two of you- so we're going to have to assign a team to you as well," Roberto stated as Axel stared at him. A team? For the two of them? "Pregnant rangers, especially for soulmate couples, tend to have children that will be rangers and therefore pass on some hereditary powers. We had to bring in a dozen extra Guardians when Kim was pregnant with the twins- I think we can start with a team of four, but that also means that your primary contact won't be me when it comes to personal security."
"Do we get to choose?" Axel asked and Roberto shrugged. He had no idea- they had not really thought that this was going to happen this soon. "If we can have a say- I know I'd like to have one, I'm not sure about Jules."
"Speaking of Julia," the nurse piped in as Axel turned around and looked over at her. "She's stable and everything looks fine right now, but it's going to be hit or miss on how her body will be able to protect the baby."
"Is it okay if I…" Axel trailed off as the nurse nodded for him to go back and he walked past all of them, ignoring the looks he got from some of the rangers.
"Anything you need from us?" Patrick asked as Roberto shook his head no. "Good- I've got to get back to evening study hall."
"Carrie has it covered if you need to…" Grant trailed off as Patrick just shook his head and then continued towards the bridge that linked the Power Ranger dormitories and the Academy. "If that's the case- it's probably good for you to go catch up on some of that as well, Hannah."
"Unlike Patrick- sprinting two miles to try to make it to a fight still takes it out of me," Hannah retorted as Brandon and Cameron chuckled and Grant just nodded. "Who do I owe for groceries?"
"Come with me, I'll explain a bit more about how the Command Center provides stuff for us," Brandon said as Hannah gave him a confused look, but followed him back towards the dorm nonetheless.
"I'm going to take a look at the error log…if this happens again, I'd like for us to have an actual work around," Cameron said as he walked out and Grant and Roberto waited for him to leave before they looked over at the nurse.
"What aren't you saying Madison?" Roberto asked as she pulled off her gloves and looked back and forth between the two of them.
"This isn't my area of expertise, but there's something else going on and it might just be ranger related or it could be something more concerning," Madison said as they nodded. "I'll take a look at the calendar for the OB we normally refer women to and see if I can get an appointment for her."
"Thanks Madi," Roberto whispered as she turned on the spot and disappeared. "I'm going to go see if we can get in touch with Atlantis again. Tommy and Kimberly need to get back as soon as possible."
"I mean…I know that we need them back, but…"Grant trailed off as Roberto gave him a firm look. "What am I missing?"
"We need to get the target off Axel and Julia for a bit. At least give Skyster pause about doing such direct and flagrant attacks," Roberto stated as Grant gave him a look. "It's part of having strong mentors- they are a deterrent as well. And right now our two biggest deterrents are in another universe, I'm just concerned that it's going to get worse as more beings figure out that they aren't here."