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Ashley had been in a lot of terrifying situations in her relatively young life. Really, the entire time she had been a Power Ranger had been going from one fight to another. It had been a constant adrenaline rush, but there was always the undercurrent of fear that this would be their last fight, that they wouldn’t survive, and Earth would be destroyed. That they would lose all of their friends and families, and all of the people that they were trying to protect.
But frankly, she would take a fight to the death over what she was about to do - introduce her girlfriend, who was a former supervillain, to her parents and grandmother.
It wasn’t that she didn’t love her family, it was just that there was already a lot of tension there because they were already annoyed at her for things like lying to them for a year about where she was, which honestly wasn’t particularly fair, because it wasn’t like saving the world was just goofing off. It should totally be enough of a reason to get her out of trouble with her parents.
Not that they were happy with her grandmother, either, as she had been aware of Ashley’s identity for a while and had helped cover for her on occasion.
And their house had been collateral damage in the final battle (not to the point that it had been destroyed, but there were smashed windows and the roof had been damaged) but at least the monster insurance was going to cover everything, once they got to it. The rebuilding was taking a while. So going to dinner would be a visible reminder of everything that had happened.
Ashley adjusted her (yellow, obviously) dress and reached for Karone’s hand. Karone nervously adjusted the box of pastries she was holding to squeeze Ashley’s hand gently.
“We can do this,” Karone said softly. “I came in first at the Evil Finishing Academy and that actually would have killed me if I’d failed, so I’m sure I can make it through one dinner with your family, right?”
“Well, I can promise that they’re not actually going to try to kill you,” Ashley said, managing a smile as they walked to the front door.
She didn’t even manage to knock before the door opened, and she came face to face with her mother.
“So the prodigal daughter returns, finally,” she said in a voice filled with steel, disapproval shining through.
“Nice to see you too, Mom.” Ashley forced a smile.
“Hello, Mrs. Hammond, I brought you some pastries,” Karone said, holding out the box. “I hope that you like them, Ashley said that they were your favorites.”
Mrs. Hammond barely responded, before she was nudged away and the door opened wider.
“Ashley, darling! You’re here! And this must be your new girlfriend. Not like that boy before, what was his name, Carlos?”
“Grandma, we weren’t dating,” Ashley said as she prepared for hurricane grandma. “But it’s good to see you, and the rest of my team says hello.”
Her grandmother beamed. “I got you jackets!” she said cheerfully. “I think I like them better than the other jackets.”
“That’s nice, grandma,” Ashley said, managing to keep a straight face somehow. “Why don’t you show us inside? And Mom, where do you want my girlfriend to put the pastries.”
“On the table, if you must,” her mother said, stepping aside and letting Ashley and Karone come inside.
What followed was probably the most awkward dinner that Ashley had ever sat through. She knew that the other (Earth) Rangers had all given Karone advice on how to meet the parents. Karone was her usual beautiful sweet self, complimenting Ashley’s family on their home (which only received a sarcastic comment about how much damage Karone had caused), complimenting the food (which just got a dismissive sniff) and trying to engage her parents in conversation (absolutely no luck at all).
At least with her grandmother there was some success, as she seemed to be honestly happy that Ashley had found someone.
But Ashley just got angrier and angrier at her mother’s pointed comments and her father’s refusal to say anything. Karone hadn’t done any of the things they were blaming on her.
“Are you finished?” she said finally. “Because really, I know that you’re angry at me for not telling you I’m a Power Ranger, but there’s no reason to take it out on Karone.”
“She’s a supervillain,” her mother said flatly.
“Former,” Karone said immediately, and Ashley saw the ghost of a smile on her father’s face.
“You lied to us,” her mother repeated.
“At least I wasn’t sneaking out to party like you thought I was,” Ashley said calmly.
“No, instead you were halfway across the galaxy! We didn’t know where you were!”
“Mom, I was saving the world.”
“From your evil girlfriend.”
“I’m reformed now,” Karone said again. “And I am very sorry about everything I did. I know it’s going to take a while for you and everyone else to forgive me, but I’m going to try to earn your trust. In the meantime, may I have some more of the potato salad?”
Her mother didn’t say anything, and just shoved the dish towards Karone.
“This is excellent, thank you,” Karone said, with far more cheer than Ashley would have been able to muster.
“I am sorry, mom,” Ashley said. “But you’re the one who taught me to do the right thing. I know you’re angry and that I haven’t given you reason to trust me lately, but please try to meet me part way?”
“But sweetheart, a supervillain?”
Ashley tried to appeal to her father instead. “Dad, you read comics, can you try to remember how many superheroes started out as supervillains.”
That got an actual laugh out of him. “So Black Widow or Rogue?”
Ashley thought for a moment. “Definitely more of a Rogue.”
Her mother groaned. “Comic books are not getting you out of this.”
“I’m sorry,” Ashley said again.
Her mother sighed. “No more running off to alien planets without telling us first,” she said. “And I don’t exactly approve of you having a formerly evil girlfriend, and so help me there had better not be any stories about body swapping or possession or kidnapping involved.”
Ashley and Karone exchanged a glance.
“Actually….” Karone started.
Her mother held up a hand. “If you want to continue dating, you will stop right there.”
Well, Ashley thought as her mother passed out the pastries they had brought. This was probably as good of a first meeting as they were going to get.