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Chapter Text

Aquitar's oceans were easily visible from orbit, considering the entire planet was water, but it wasn't until they headed toward the Aquitian Corridors in the shuttle that Hayley was able to see the vast waters up close.  There were still waves, rushing around but without beaches to land upon. Few creatures rushed out of the waters like dolphins or whales either. It was just quiet and serene. As they headed under the water, however, the scenes changed and Hayley's eyes widened.

The air-based corridors had been created for off-world visitors as the Aquitians were somewhat amphibious, but mostly water dwellers.  Therefore, the cities themselves were beautifully built underwater. They were built out of something similar to coral and rocks rather than wood and plaster.  She wondered about the windows. Likely, they wouldn't want everything coming in and out, but they also wouldn't need to worry about keeping the water out either. The corridors looked like glass at the top with a darker wood-looking material below, but she had been assured that both were more durable materials.  Aside from the cities themselves, everything had been built to allow for marine traffic to continue. The pilot pulled her out of her thoughts. "We will be landing shortly, Ms. Ziktor."

"Thank you," she answered.  She hadn't intended to come to visit a foreign world.  If you had asked her a couple of years ago, she would have found the idea ridiculous.  Then she had met Tommy, the human disaster, Oliver. Within less than a week, her entire life had been turned upside down.  She had found out everything soon after and had voluntarily joined him on his journey to creating more Rangers. It had been a good thing she did too.  He had no idea how to handle most of the technological ideas and for a man going into science, the subject certainly hadn't seemed to be his specialty. Therefore, she'd completely taken over that aspect, but there was only so much she could do on Earth with their limited knowledge.  So, Tommy had reached out to Aquitar and Aquitar had invited her to come stay with them for a while. It wasn't the first time that they would be hosting a human.

She hadn't met Billy Cranston.  Tommy spoke highly of him, but in a tone that added 'but I'm never talking to him again'.  She'd learned to read his tones with old friends. Kim's had a 'but she broke my heart' quality that all younger people had when they broke up with their first love.  Kat's had a 'we tried to make it work' undertone. Jason had a 'he might be mad at me' bit that she still wasn't sure about. In other words, there were serious issues that no one was addressing in this group and she wasn't his mother so she wasn't about to try to fix it for him.  That said, she somewhat wished she had tried to help fix this one so she would feel less awkward about the entire situation. 

As the shuttle landed and opened for her, she took a slight pause to catch sight through the top of the building which was transparent.  It was beautiful. The lights that were needed to see underwater still didn't pull away from the sights of the sea. Eventually, she stopped staring upward and looked to see a female Aquitian smiling back at her.   "Hello, Hayley. I am Delphine. Welcome to Aquitar."

Hayley headed toward her.  She had seen the pilot slightly on their journey, but she hadn't really been face to face with a member of the Aquitians until this moment.  She quietly wondered how the female Aquitians had grown hair considering they were underwater most of the time. She realized she was staring and sheepishly smiled.  "It's nice to meet you. Thank you for inviting me."

"I imagine it is a lot to take in," Delphine assured her.  "My team was equally curious about Earth when we arrived. Had there not been an emergency, I believe they would have taken more time to look around."

"I'm still getting used to all of this," Hayley admitted.  "Keeping Tommy out of trouble is one thing and knowing about other worlds and a sort of magic force is different than seeing it."

"I believe it would be easier if you see the Power as more of a scientific grid," a new voice stated.  Hayley looked over to see Billy standing nearby and looking at her, completely business-like though not antagonistic.  "It is simpler to understand."

"Our scientists agree," Delphine said and gave her a playful smile.  "I wouldn't know."

"You just use it?"  Hayley asked and Delphine nodded. 

"I trust in my Techs," she said, motioning toward Billy who looked a bit embarrassed by that.  "As do most Rangers."

"That explains why Tommy had no idea how this works," she grumbled.  Billy's professional demeanor broke slightly as he faked a cough. Delphine just nodded.

"Yes," she said without judgment.  "Billy? Would you be willing to help our guest out for the moment?"

Billy nodded and Hayley wondered if he felt as uncomfortable about the question as she did.  She also wondered if Delphine knew how they'd feel. She had the feeling she did. For all that there was a calm to the entire planet, she was a Power Ranger and Hayley had already figured out that they were all determined to solve everyone's problem on their own.  Just some more than others. This was, of course, a little ironic considering that Power Rangers seemed to like to make new and exciting problems for themselves anyway that weren't to be solved in a reasonable time frame. Delphine gave them both a nod and headed off, leaving the two alone.  There was silence for a moment as they walked slowly down the corridor. She figured that Billy knew where he was going.

"How did you learn about us?"  Billy asked. She looked at him in surprise.  "Tommy would not have betrayed the secret purposefully even if he did need your help which would lead to your finding out in an alternate manner."

"I haven't met the rest of you, but he was really bad about keeping it secret," she answered.  He nodded.

"I'm afraid that is a Ranger trait as well," he admitted.  "I have been informed by my Aquitian colleagues that either humans are exceptionally unobservant or many of them were politely pretending not to know.  I haven't asked my dad because I'm not sure I want to know the answer."

She smiled slightly at that.  "I can understand that. 'France' seemed like an easy lie for my own parents and I'm an adult."

He nodded.  "As for my inquiry..."

"Oh, so Tommy tried lying, he failed, and I got him to tell me the truth.  Or rather, I made some guesses and didn't let him lie to me again. That was fine, but then he wanted to try to make his own team and my first reaction was he was going to blow something up.  So here I am," she said. He paused.

"He wanted to make his own team?"  Billy asked. "How?"

"By using the Power and technology to create morphers and Zords.  He just needs to find a power source and how to use it," she said.  Billy blinked.

"He's what," Billy said.  It wasn't a question. Hayley felt a little defensive since Tommy was her friend, but Billy was right.  Tommy wasn't the best for it. "I assume you are taking over the majority of the work?"

"I am taking over some of it," she agreed.  He eyed her.

"I would suggest you take over all of it.  Tommy is not a scientist," he told her.

"He's trying to get a degree in paleontology," she informed him.  "I've been helping him."

"I have little doubt you have," Billy said.  "I used to walk him through chemistry when we were teens.  Kim and I were concerned that he would either forget to add in an important ingredient or read the problem incorrectly.  We kept it quiet, of course."

"You're telling me," she reminded him.  He looked at her and then shrugged.

"If you're determined to help in on his Sisyphean journey, giving you the proper warning about his science skillset seems reasonable," he said.  Hayley managed not to wince at that. She was starting to think that their fight had been a lot more serious than she thought.

"Good.  Our new student arrived," an Aquitian called out, ending their conversation prematurely.  She had the feeling that wasn't unintentional either. She was going to have to get used to the polite interference of the Aquitians.  "I'm Cestro."

"The Blue Ranger," she said, making sure she had it right.  He looked pleased.

"Yes, " he answered.  "We will get you set up in the morning.  For now, let me show you where we will be working and we can get you to your room."

"Thank you," she agreed.  She glanced at Billy to see that he was relieved as well.  This was going to be a long training.

Chapter Text

The next morning was far more easy-going than she'd expected.  The Aquitians seemed have an almost flow that they fell into and it was easy to keep with the schedule even without having a good idea of the time of day.  During lunch, she followed the instructions that Cestro had given her on how to reach the cafeteria since it was still closer than her room. Not for the first time, she was grateful for his help.  It was when she reached the line that she realized that there might be a problem with her lack of knowledge toward Aquitian culinary. "I would suggest the food on the far left and in the middle."

The looked to see Delphine standing beside her.  She gave Hayley a smile. Hayley did as she suggested.  "Why these?"

"I know that not all humans will like the same things, but it is Billy's favored food," she answered.  Hayley relaxed a bit at that. Even if she didn't like it, she knew it would be safe to eat. "Would you mind if I joined you for breakfast?"

"Not at all," Hayley answered.  The two sat at one of the tables.  There was a comfortable silence for a few moments.

"I met Tommy when he was around ten," Delphine said.  Hayley looked at her in surprise and she chuckled. "I thought he might have left that out."

"You met before they were Rangers?"  She asked. "But Tommy said you met the second group."

"I suppose it depends on your point of view," Delphine answered.  "Earth seems to have a unique relationship with time."

"What do you mean?"  She asked. When she got back to Earth, Tommy and her were going to have a long talk about important information.

"I mean that your timeline since gaining Power Rangers has been in flux multiple times," she answered.  "You just likely don't remember the changes."

"Well, that's good to know in case anything feels off later," she admitted, though she didn't want to continue on that track for long.  "So, Delphine, how long have you been a Power Ranger for?"

"Fifteen of your years," she answered.  "We are still a newer team. How long have you been working with Tommy?"

"Less than a year.  And less working with and more just helping out a friend," she corrected.  Delphine nodded.

"I see," she answered.  Hayley wasn't sure she actually did but she wasn't going to push it.

"Did Billy picked up learning on Aquitar after he was done being a Ranger?"  She asked. Delphine looked at the table.

"Billy didn't need our assistance in that," she answered.  "There was a mistake that nearly cost him his life. We were able to help him and he chose to stay.  Officially, he stated he was staying for Cestria, Cestro's sister. He said it made it easier to move."

"He wasn't?"  She asked. Delphine looked at her in confusion.

"Why would he start seriously dating again so quickly after the breakup?"  She asked. "You have met Billy. He would not move away for a person he barely knew.  Nor would we let him. He moved away because he was running from a large amount of discomfort."

"Discomfort?"  She asked.

"He lost his powers.  And he lost both of his lovers.  Tommy just took longer to finally break it off," she said.  Hayley's eyes widened as she realized the implication. Delphine caught it.  "Tommy never spoke of this to you?"

"No, he didn't," she said.  "And I will be letting him know never to keep me in the dark again.  For now, there's someone else I can speak to about this."

"I see," Delphine said.  Hayley started to get up and saw that Delphine seemed disappointed that she was leaving.  It wasn't Delphine's fault she was too angry to continue. She thought it over. 

"If you're not busy, I wouldn't mind company for lunch tomorrow," she offered.

"Accepted," Delphine assured her.  "And go easy on Billy."

Hayley made no promises.

***

"You and Tommy used to date?"  She asked as she walked into the lab, quickly catching what Billy was working on.  He gave her a look.

"You didn't know?"  He asked.

"Tommy hasn't been the more forthright with it," she answered.  "I knew you two were fighting, but I also have met Tommy."

Billy looked properly defensive.  "Meaning?"

"Meaning that it's probably his fault," she answered.  There was a pause. "Well?"

"If you're dating him now," Billy said carefully, obviously not wanting to ruin it for her.  She snorted.

"I'm a lesbian," she assured him and noted how Billy completely calmed himself.  She made a note to possibly lead with that in the future. "And trust me, I know Tommy and he isn't the best at realizing he made certain kinds of mistakes and gets stuck on reliving other mistakes."

"I take it that you have heard many times that he was evil and less so about his previous relationships?"  Billy asked. Hayley nodded. "I suppose then one of us should tell you about that part of his past if you'll be working with him."

"I'm just helping out," she insisted.  Billy looked amused.

"I hate to be the one to tell you that you are most certainly a Tech.  Congratulations and welcome to the family," he said with slight amusement but she heard the sincerity as well with the last part of his statement.

"So, as a member of this family, are you going to tell me what he did?"  She asked. Billy looked a little conflicted, but he did speak up.

"I don't believe it is all together fair to blame this on Tommy," he said carefully.  "Though his reactions were certainly in the wrong. It is more fair to state that we all made rather poor choices.  Tommy just amplified them."

"I shouldn't have..." she started and he shook his head.

"I think it would be good for you to know a bit if we will be working together," he told her.  She made a note that she appreciated his terminology in not implying that she was his student even if that was more truthful.  "I wanted to blame Kim for the letter since that was where this started, but I do not feel she was the one to blame either. I think growing up was."

"The three of you were together," Hayley said carefully.  He nodded. "How did that happen?"

The relief on Billy's face was noticeable.  It was likely difficult talking about how it had ended and she had given him a temporary out.  "I was friends with Jason, Trini, Zack and Kim since we were in elementary school. When we were chosen as Rangers, it just felt like an extension of that.  We already were a functional unit only we had received superpowers and had a battle to win. Then we added in Tommy. Did you know that Sixth Rangers are more Eltarian in creation and tend to fall on human and human colonies in terms of use?  The Aquitians do not have a sixth power and have never needed one."

"Why not?"  Hayley asked.

"I think it's that we gained access to the grid more recently," he admitted.  "Other planets have had their powers for long time and the Power is still learning how to work with us.  It's a working theory. One thing that the Power seems to have decided is that we need an extra member of the team to help balance the Power and give us a boost.  Unfortunately, they are also on the outside of the team. In Tommy's case, this was twofold: We found him somewhat outside both on the field and off. We did our best to bring Tommy in, but there were old jokes that we had or stories all of us remembered.  The five of us knew the others weaknesses, but we had to help show Tommy what ours were and learn his in return. Tommy and Kim started dating, of course, and with time it is likely that the wall would have come down naturally. However, things were sped along when he gained the White Power Coin and Jason, Trini, and Zack left.  Suddenly, we were two groups acting as one: Adam, Rocky, and Aisha as well as Tommy, Kim, and myself. You need to remember that we were having to move on quickly in order to function as a team, but we were still hurting from our friends needing to leave. I found myself spending more and more time with Kim and Tommy. We were already close, Hayley, but this forced us to be even more so."

"So like relationship of convenience?"  She asked and he shook his head.

"No," he answered.  "As I said, Kim and Tommy were already dating but they started constantly inviting me in, wanting to make sure I wasn't alone.  By the time I was politely trying to give them space, Kim laughed and told me that they wanted me there in 'more ways than one'.  This was how I found myself kissing Tommy under the stars while Kim was laying in my lap. We never looked back."

He was quiet for a minute and Hayley looked over at the table.  "Why don't you explain how the grid works to me?"

He looked at her gratefully and Hayley shrugged.  They would be working together for a while. She could get the rest of the story from either Billy or Tommy later.

***

"So, time was switched around and your Power Rangers brethren were just kids?  And you just worked with it?" Hayley asked. Delphine shrugged.

"It was not the oddest thing I had seen," she answered.  "As a Ranger, you tend to just move with the flow. Otherwise, too much time would be spent confused which could be a problem if your enemy decided to take advantage of it."

"That's insane," Hayley informed her, ignoring that she hadn't made the most stable of decisions by coming to a planet she didn't know.  She likely didn't have room to judge. Delphine didn't call her on it. "Changing the subject, do you have some free time tonight? I was wondering if you could tell me about some of the flora and fauna you have."

"I can, but what does that have to do with learning to use the Power Grid?"  She asked. Hayley tried to seem nonchalant about the subject.

"It doesn't.  But you know about Earth, I should know about Aquitar.  And it might help somehow in the long run," she answered, considering that her actual reason for wanting it, spending time with Delphine, was far more shallow.  Fortunately, the Aquitian didn't seem to notice.

"I would be happy to," she told her.

***

"Delphine says you're learning about Aquitar."  She didn't recognize the Aquitian who had sat down in her lab and spoke.

"That's right," she answered.

"You should come visit some of the cities.  We have suits you can wear," he suggested. "I've been trying to get Billy to go for a year."

"Maybe once I get used to all of this," she said, motioning around with her hand.  "Which one are you?"

"Tideus," he answered.  "The Yellow Ranger. How did you know I was a Ranger?"

"I think all of you, Earth or on other planets, should take a class on subtlety," she answered.  "Because none of you are good at it."

"Aquitar knows who is a Ranger so it has never been a concern," he said.  At her surprised look, he shrugged. "Our planet has one government and knowledge of other species.  For instance, humans."

He grinned at her on that last one.  Hayley tried to hide a returning smile as she questioned the rest of his statement.  "Why won't Billy go?"

"He says he's not ready to," Tideus answered.  "And Cestro won't let me push."

"So you thought you'd try to get me to go?"  She asked in amusement. He shrugged.

"One of our humans should go," he answered.  She gave him a look.

"Really," she said dryly.  "Why?"

He was quiet for a moment and then spoke up again.  "Would you want me to judge Earth by one city I was in?"

She looked around and realized what he was asking her.  "I'm still getting used to things here, so I won't go yet.  But I will once I'm more used to all of this."

Tideus grinned and nodded.  "Thank you."

She paused.  "Tideus? How did you get used to Earth?"

"We have been to many planets.  Earth had an old friend which made it even easier," he answered.

"I see," she said.  Of course this was just second nature to the lot of them.  It was likely second nature to them. She felt a hand on her shoulder and shrugged off her thoughts.  Tideus' expression was less playful.

"I know it is a lot to take in and you're feeling alone but it will pass," he said.  "You're good at adapting."

He headed out after, leaving her wishing she was as confident as he was over the whole thing.

***

The exploration with Delphine had been more than a little joyful for her.  The Aquitian had gone through as much as she could think of to show off her home and Hayley had taken all of it in.  "It's a beautiful world."

"Earth was fascinating," Delphine said, returning the compliment. "I only wish we could have stayed longer."

Her eyes were wistful and Hayley squeezed her hands.  "You should come back to see more of it. Power Rangers aren't working all the time.  You have had an abundance of free time since I got here."

"We didn't want to intrude," Delphine said calmly.  "Or make any team feel like they weren't succeeding."

"I don't think they would," she reassured the other. 

"We will give it some thought," Delphine decided and Hayley nodded, perfectly happy with that outcome.  "I do have some things I need to get done tonight, but I had a good time. I care deeply for my team but it has been interesting to have another female around."

Hayley managed to hide her blush at that.  "I feel the same way. I'll see you tomorrow for lunch?"

"I will look forward to it," Delphine said, heading off.  Hayley watched her go before heading back to the lab. Billy looked up at her and then back at what he was doing.

"Late night?"  He asked.

"Don't be a brat, Billy," she scolded, heading over to help him.  He moved over easily. Billy paused for a minute and looked at her.

"I've been here for a while.  It is nice seeing Delphine happy," he said quietly.  She looked at him. "Not that she wasn't before, but your interactions seem mutually beneficial."

"She probably hasn't had another woman to talk to in a while," Hayley answered.  "And neither have I."

"Hmm," Billy said noncommittally.  "None of us would be disturbed if you were more than friends."

"Billy..." she started and he finally looked at her.

"It isn't like Earth here," he reminded her.  Hayley shrugged.

"Eventually I have to go home," she reminded him. 

"You don't have to or she could go with," Billy said and Hayley slammed her hands down on the table, startling him.

"Not all of us..." she started before pulling back in the rest of the statement 'can run away from Earth'.  She quickly covered. "Not all of us are needed by the Aquitians."

"That isn't what you were going to say," Billy told her.  She gave him a look to drop it. "But I appreciate the attempt."

Hayley sighed.  "It won't work."

"What if you start to fall anyway?"  Billy asked. She looked at him. "We can't always help who we fall for."

"Who says I haven't?"  She asked. Billy reached over and squeezed her hand. 

"Perhaps," he said.  "We Techs have bad luck in love."

She didn't answer, but her almost smile assured him that she was glad she wasn't alone.

***

She almost missed that Corcus was there for how quiet he was.  He has seemingly waited for her to finish before continuing. "So, what are you here for?"

He seemed surprised by her frank question before shrugging it off and answering.  "I feel it might be a good idea for you to learn defense."

"I'm not a Ranger," she told him.  He nodded.

"But you will work with them.  Billy was a Power Ranger. He has training.  You do not," he told her. She sighed.

"I don't want to have to defend myself," she said.  "Tommy didn't say anything about having to fight off anything.  I'm not a fighter."

"I know," Corcus answered gently.  "But you are in this world now."

"If I refuse, you're going to constantly worry, aren't you?"  She asked. He nodded. "I'm not your Tech."

"But you are here learning," he answered as if that was all that needed to be said.  She looked at the Black Ranger and sighed.

"Fine.  But not a lot," she answered.  She saw his lips turn up in a quietly approving smile and sighed harder as she went with him.

***

"Corcus should have gone easier on her," Cestria scolded her brother, as if it was his fault.  Cestro had noticed that she'd been wincing when he had started to help her that morning. He'd taken her straight to Cestria, asking Billy to keep an eye on their project.  

"I didn't know he was going to push her to learn," Cestro argued.  "And Hayley can make up her own mind."

"We're supposed to help our human friends!" Cestria said, healing her up.  "Not send them to the infirmary! How did it happen?"

"Corcus doesn't know how humans work," Aurico said as he walked in, smiling at Hayley.  "So he tried to train her like a non-Ranger Aquitian. Billy says he'll help next time."

"Next time!"  Cestria said and Hayley waved her off.

"Billy can handle it," she said.  "Will you please tell Corcus I'm not upset?"

Aurico nodded and headed out.  All Power Rangers had guilt complexes and worried too much about anyone but themselves.  That was her take on the matter. Cestro touched her shoulder and she looked at him. "Next time, tell him if it's too much."

"I didn't know if it was too much or if I'm just that out of shape," she admitted.  "So Billy will help."

"Agreed," Cestro said though she suspected that he would equally be involved in watching over things this time.

***

Delphine was not available the next day, to Hayley's disappointment.  She wasn't sure if she had heard about the incident or if they others were keeping it quiet.  She did know that all of the other four knew. She'd heard from Billy that Aurico had mentioned that Tideus was annoyed because he worried that she wouldn't go to the cities with him now.  Which he would have known was ridiculous if he would have talked to her instead of just worrying about it.

"They're impossible!" She grumbled.  "No one should be this critical of themselves over something that isn't really their fault and I'm not even mad at!  Are all Power Rangers impossible or do I just have bad luck?"

"No, this is standard," Billy told her.  "And they're right to worry. This time."

"I'm fine," she said, brushing it off.  "We should have taken into account that a species that is used to moving it water might be stronger on land."

"And they're used to me," Billy said.

"And you're a Power Ranger," she said.

"I was," he corrected.  She rolled her eyes.

"I don't think that's something that just goes away," she scolded.  He smiled a bit at that. "So, what happened? What happened that you raced across half a galaxy to a water planet when Tommy said you're afraid of water?"

"I'm not afraid of water," he corrected her.  "I'm ichthyophobic."

"You're afraid of fish?"  She asked dryly. "Aren't the Aquitians kind of like fish?"

"No.  They're amphibious," he grumbled.  She shrugged that one off. She thought it was close enough but she wasn't going to push it.  She had other things to press.

"Okay, so what happened to make you run halfway across the galaxy to a water planet when you're afraid of fish?"  She asked. He was quiet for a minute before he answered.

"They didn't need me anymore," he answered.  She raised an eyebrow.

"They didn't need their Tech anymore," she said, not making it a question.

"No, they needed a Tech.  They didn't need me," he answered.  Hayley looked at how hurt his face was, the pain in his eyes.  When she got back, Tommy was really going to hear about this. As it was, she walked over and held him.

"They were wrong," she said.  "They needed you. After Rocky left, they took on a twelve year old.  You would have stopped that. They had a bad mentor. You would have helped.  They hurt themselves when they chased you here."

He squeezed her gently.  "You may be right, but I cannot go back."

"I know," she answered.  "At least now that I know what to look out for, I'm less likely to run away as well."

"I would enjoy the visits," Billy assured her.  "But I will destroy Tommy if he drives you here."

"I might destroy him when I get back for helping to drive you here," she answered.  Billy laughed.

"He's your friend," he reminded her.

"So are you," she countered.  "As are Cestro, Delphine, Tideus, Corcus, and Aurico.  And also Cestria somewhat."

"Then don't overreact when you get home," he told her.  "A request from a friend."

She glared.  "What is the difference between me doing it and you doing it?"

"If he did it to you," Billy said.  "It would mean he learned nothing from our past and deserves it."

Hayley nodded.  "Alright. But I'm still yelling at him."

"I don't think I could stop you if I tried," Billy assured her.  She just laughed.

***

The next attempts at teaching her self-defense went far better.  Billy was able to judge how far to push and Corcus was far more cautious the second time around.  Cestro sighed. "She isn't glass."

Corcus ignored him.  Billy gently reached over and touched their friend's shoulder.  "It was an accident."

"And I'm healed," Hayley agreed.  They were supposed to be working on dodging.  Corcus may have been pulling his punches at the moment, but nothing she would fight against would.  Then again, they had all told her to just punch and run. She understood. She didn't want to learn to be a fighter.  She wanted to learn how to get out of a situation she couldn't talk herself out of.

Aurico leaned against the wall, just watching while Tideus was happily gave her ideas and ignored Corcus' glare.  She was doing fine until she saw Delphine walk in and was quickly distracted which Corcus took advantage of. She looked a bit embarrassed over it, but he didn't say a word and helped her up.  Tideus, on the other hand, was less helpful. "Come on, Hayley. Don't get distracted because of a pretty face."

"Shut it, Tideus," she answered good naturedly, ignoring Billy's attempts at hiding his laugh.  At least he was trying unlike Tideus. Cestro turned on the other.

"Do we need an extra sparing session?  Because Corcus won't mind," he said somewhat darkly.  Tideus held his hands up in surrender. Billy looked at her.

"Huh," he said with a shrug.  "He didn't actually warn Tideus when he teased me."

Cestro shrugged.  "You needed the support more."

Billy looked insulted for a minute before mulling it over and nodding.  Delphine looked at them. "You do remember that Hayley is here to learn about our technology, correct?"

"Side project," Aurico said with a slight smile.  She gave him a look. Tideus saw her look and decided against expanding on that logic.  Cestro looked over at her.

"We wanted to make sure she could somewhat defend herself and I'm sure you remember how Tommy can get," he said.  Delphine's expression shifted and she quietly watched instead. The lesson was over soon enough anyway. Delphine gave her a smile.

"It was a good attempt," she assured her.  Hayley smiled shyly.

"I just need enough to get myself and whatever I'm working on away," she said.

"I think you will be able to do that," she assured her.  Delphine gently touched her hand causing Hayley's head to shoot up in surprise.  "I think you will be well prepared when you leave."

The statement hit Hayley as she realized that part of her was hoping that day was far off and a larger part of her knew it wasn't.

Chapter Text

With defensive lessons mostly over, Cestro sped up her lessons to teach her what she needed to know about different type of Ranger technology.  Billy aided him from time to time.  She was easily getting the hang of it and, more importantly, getting to where she could build it on her own.  Cestro nodded at what she had accomplished.  "I think that's enough for today."

"I want to look at it some more," she said.  "I think I can tweak it."

Cestro shrugged and looked at the other.  "Billy?"

"We probably should get something to eat," he decided.  She looked ready to argue but Billy looked at her reassuringly.  "I'll grab a plate for you and bring it back.  We can work on it together."

She nodded as the two had gotten closer as the time had gone on and unlike Cestro, he felt more secure about just letting her know when he thought there might be a problem.  Only once had he stopped her in a panic and that was because it likely would have exploded.  "Take your time!"

"Do not stay up all night," Cestro warned the two of them.  "I no longer believe your claims that humans only need four hours of sleep."

Both humans shared a look of disappointment and amusement.  Really, it was amazing that they'd managed to pull it off as long as they did.  "All night shouldn't be necessary."

"Do not stay up all night," Cestro said again.  "Cestria will know."

Both of the humans tried not to laugh at that and Hayley realized it was probably because of his sister that Cestro knew they were lying.  Billy motioned he'd be back shortly and she completely relaxed as they took off.  Billy would help her with some of the tweaks later, but that didn't mean she couldn't get in a head start. 

It wasn't long after that that the room darkened.  She tensed a bit, but emergency lights began to glow.  Still, it was unusual that the lights had dimmed as they had.  She didn't hear anything outside the door, but considered that maybe something had come loose outside.  She stood on the table and looked out, surprised to see that there was something in the water.  She tried to get a better look and saw that they were vaguely humanoid but she was pretty sure they didn't look like the Aquitians.  Her face was nearly against the glass when one of the things slammed against the dome and she covered her mouth to stifle the scream.  It's large eyes and fish-like face looked at her and then continued on.  She had no doubt it had seen her as easily as she'd seen it.  She jumped back down, wondering where she should go to get away from the incoming forces.  Before she could consider it, she saw something passing by the door.  

She started to consider calling out before realizing if it were someone that she wanted to see, they would have reached out to her themselves.  Since they didn't, she could guess that they didn't have good intentions in mind.  She looked around, trying to find some place to hunker down, but the lab wasn't the best place to hide.  She glanced back up and saw several beings in the doorway.  The very things she had seen outside.  Hayley moved behind the tables, scrambling for anything to defend herself with.  The room was getting overloaded by them and she swallowed, wondering how she was going to get past them when one went down.  She looked over to see the White Aquitian Ranger above it.  She had never seen a Power Ranger up close when they were morphed.  Tommy had scolded that it wasn't a magic trick, but she was pretty sure that he just wasn't supposed to use it and didn't want to upset his mentor.  Delphine moved through the room, easily fighting them back.  She watched as they went flying.  Delphine moved toward her.  "Are you alright?"

"I've been better," she said honestly, taking Delphine's offered hand up.  They started toward the door when the entire area began to shake.  She had the feeling that the world was worse off rather than just the visitor building.  A glance toward Delphine told her that her assumption was right considering that the Ranger was looking in each direction, making sure it was safe.  Unfortunately, whatever was causing the trouble was causing the base to crack.  "Delphine, that could be a problem."

Delphine grabbed her wrist and Hayley hurried to follow.  They didn't get far, but they did get into a room with no glass, essentially a closet.  The minute that they got in, they heard crashing going on outside the room and debris fall in front of the door.  Both women looked at each other and Delphine tried to open it, but couldn't.  The Aquitian powered down and looked at Hayley was a sardonic smile.

"At least you won't drown," she offered.  They had bought time and that was it.  Eventually, the air would run out or it would start to leak.  Hayley hoped for a leak between the two since at least then Delphine might make it out. 

"There is that," she said instead.  "What's going on?"

"We're under attack," she answered.  "Divatox."

"The pirate lady?"  Hayley asked.  "I thought she left after the Turbo Rangers were defeated."

"She did," Delphine said.  "She also came here."

Hayley leaned back and sighed.  "Well, hopefully Billy and the other Power Rangers handle it because I don't think we're going to be much help right now."

"Likely not," Delphine agreed. 

"We probably also should stay quiet in case there's a low amount of air," Hayley said and Delphine shrugged.

"Likely, they will find us before that," she said.  She didn't say what they were both thinking:  If the other Rangers went down, then it wouldn't matter much anyway.  "Are you claustophobic?"

"I'm thinking I'm starting to be," Hayley answered dryly.  As much of a flippant response as it was, she was starting to feel like she wasn't going to want to be trapped in a small space again.  Delphine didn't react negatively.

"When I was training, I was trapped in a cave for a couple of hours," she offered.  Hayley looked at her in worry.

"Are you claustophobic?"  She asked.

"No more than you," she answered.  There was silence between them for a moment before Delphine spoke up again.  "You never did explain why you have decided to help."

"I found out and it was the right thing to do," Hayley answered.  Her answer rung hollow even to her, but Delphine seemed to look completely understanding.

"Earth is fortunate that the Power calls to its Techs as much as to its Rangers," she said instead.

"I think I'm the only one," she reminded her.

"So far," Delphine answered.  "I'm sure you'll have contemporaries of your own.  But you will still be one of the first."

"What about you?"  Hayley asked.  "How did you become a Ranger?"

"Aquitians tend to let the Power choose the successor and then the current Ranger trains them," she answered.  "I was chosen when I was young and prepared to get the morpher."

"What if you had wanted to do something else?"  She asked.  Delphine looked pensive.

"I don't see why the Power wouldn't have let me out of it," she answered.  "But I've never heard of it happening.  It is a partnership of sorts."

"Oh," Hayley said.  Delphine reached over and squeezed her hand.  Hayley looked up suddenly.

"I can understand if this is a little overwhelming," she said gently.  Hayley gave her a small smile.

"I'm supposed to be learning how to work with the Power Grid so I can help Tommy create things.  And I ended up getting myself and the leader of this planets Power Rangers stuck in a closet," she said.  Delphine moved to allow her to lean in next to her if she wanted.  Hayley didn't for the moment.

"I think I'm the one pulled us in here," Delphine answered.

"Why weren't you with the other Rangers?"  She asked.

"Because I needed to make sure you were okay," Delphine answered.

"Aren't you telepathic?" Hayley teased and Delphine blushed.

"I'm afraid I wasn't thinking clearly.  Something Aurico will be teasing me about when this is over," she muttered. 

"And you can read humans?"  She asked.

"Somewhat.  Not as easily as other Aquitians," she answered.  It made sense.  There would have been two people working on it instead of one.  Hayley looked at her and pushed her attraction, testing to see if it would work.  Delphine turned to look at her.  "I see."

"And?"  Hayley asked, not that worried.  A Power Ranger didn't just get distracted like that for a visitor.  Delphine didn't disappoint.  She pulled her into a kiss and Hayley returned it.  The two pulled back and Hayley laughed.  "We probably should have worked this out before getting trapped in a room."

"We're working it out now," Delphine assured her.  "But you will need to go back to Earth."

"I know," she said.  "But you can visit.  We just need to find a way to make it easier on you or me."

Delphine blinked.  "You want to try it?"

"I'm making out with you in a room that is slowly running out of air while simultaneous trying to figure out how we can make this work if we live.  Yes, I do," she said.  Delphine held her to her.

"They will come," she promised.  "And we will work on that solution."

Hayley nodded.  There was a polite silence between them when Hayley felt something trickle down her back.  Delphine looked at her in confusion as Hayley looked up.  "Well, we might have been wrong about not needing to worry about me drowning."

Delphine looked up with her and realized what the other meant.  "It's slow moving."

"It means there's a crack," Hayley said, sounding a bit more panicked than before.  "And it's going to crack worse."

"Hayley, it will be alright," Delphine tried again.  She held the other woman to her.  Hayley gave a weak smile.

"At least you'll live," she offered.

"No one is dying.  Power Rangers do not leave people behind.  We will both get out," she said sternly.  Hayley really didn't believe her.  She moved toward the door, ready to try to open it but Delphine stopped her.

"It might be underwater," she reminded her.

"Here is going to be underwater eventually," she argued back.

"But it isn't now," Delphine said, holding onto her tighter this time.  To make matters worse, however, Delphine tensed up.

"Delphine?"  She asked and noticed that the other looked stricken.

"They're caught," she whispered.  Hayley didn't have to ask who.  She headed back to the door and started working on trying to get it open.  "Hayley!"

"If we get you out, you can help them," she reminded her.

"There is water, Hayley.  You can't breathe underwater," Delphine stressed.  "And by the time we got out, it may be too late."

"Then we just sit here?!"  Hayley yelled.  "Just wait to..."

"Just wait," Delphine said.  "Together."

Hayley turned and looked at her.  If they were caught or worse, unconscious, then Delphine's link with them wasn't helping.  She moved back next to her and held her.  "Together."

***

They had both fallen asleep together when they heard voices and scratching from the outside.  Neither really was waking up.  The water, as Hayley had guessed, was pooling around their legs and the air was thin.  Fortunately, when the door opened, it was friendly faces that greeted them.

"They're alive," Cestria assured them.  Hayley looked to see that they would be moving them and closed her eyes again.  She woke up a second time in a bed with someone holding her hand.

"Billy?"  She croaked out.  He looked up at her and relaxed a bit though she could see the red in his eyes and the tearmarks on his cheeks.

"Thank the Power you're okay," he said.  "We were concerned we were going to be too late."

"You weren't the only one," she said.  "Delphine?"

"She'll be fine," he answered.

"Aquitar?"  She asked.

"It's been better, but it won't be hard to rebuilt and the death count was low," he answered.  She nodded tiredly.

"Then why have you been crying?"  She asked, closing her eyes again.  There was silence and she opened her eyes to see that she had caught him off guard.

"We lost Zordon," he said quietly.  Hayley recognized the implications.

"You have a way to reach out to Earth?"  She asked.  He nodded.  "Then track down every member of your team and call them."

"I'm not sure if that's a good use of resources," Billy said tentatively.

"Right now, all five of our Aquitian friends are likely mourning together in the other room, probably telepathically, and you know it because that's what you Rangers do.  You pool together as a team to get through things.  No one is going to judge you for using 'resources'," she hissed.  He didn't argue with her a second time.  Stupid, childish arguments were a terrible reason to avoid talking to each other right now and she'd go back to not being involved in this fiasco later.  She didn't recognize the voices, but she did hear several checking in on each other and relaxed a bit.  She saw Cestria come in and look amused.

"You got him to do it?"  She asked.

"It took a little scolding," she answered.  "How is Delphine?"

"Better than you," she answered.  "The Power healed her.  She'll be in shortly."

"I know," Hayley said.  "Tell her I understand and take her time."

Cestria nodded.  "Sleep when you need to."

"I will," Hayley said, not about to be a difficult patient at the moment.  When Cestria left, Billy turned to her.

"There is one more call," he said.  She knew which it would be.

"Call him.  We both know he's worried," she said.

"He's going to be innumerably more concerned when he realizes you were injured," he reminded her.

"Then you can remind him that all of you got me out of it," she answered.  At his hesitation, she gently pushed.  "We both need to know he's okay."

Billy dropped his hesitation after that.  She was definitely going to have a 'you are not responsible for me, settle down' talk with him later.  It was okay for him to worry about her.  She'd been worried about him too.  But he was acting like he was even more responsible for her which she was nearly certain came from being a Power Ranger because they were all like this.  Well, the six she had met were anyway.  He sat down on the bed next to her and made the call.  Tommy answered it and Hayley could tell he'd been crying.

"Billy?"  He asked.  His voice sounded too small.

"I am glad to see you're okay," Billy said.  His voice wasn't nearly as professional as it had been.  It was soothing and reassuring as if he hadn't been sobbing recently.  She squeezed his hand, letting him know that he didn't have to do this on his own.

"You too," Tommy answered.  "I didn't know if..."

"We were attacked," Billy said, trying to keep the same tone.  "But there's less damage than there should have been, few casualties and not many injuries."

"Hayley?"  Tommy asked carefully.

"I'm here," she said.  "Just really tired."

Tommy's eyes widened and he looked at Billy who nodded.  "She'll be fine, Tommy."

"What happened?"  He asked.

"She was attacked.  Delphine got her out, but they were trapped," he said.

"There wasn't a lot of oxygen," she said.  "But we're both fine.  I'm just a little tired.  Cestria is keeping an eye on me and I don't think Billy's left."

"I haven't," Billy said, more to her than to Tommy.

"If I hadn't asked you to go..." Tommy started and Hayley looked at him.

"Stop drowning in self-condemnation over my decisions," she said sternly.  "You two need to lose the guilt and start mourning."

Billy and Tommy looked at each other and fortunately did turn the subject to Zordon.  She could tell just has broken up they were.  In her case, Tommy was fine.  Billy was fine.  Delphine was fine.  The other Rangers were fine.  Aquitar would be fine.  She was possibly the most okay person on this planet when it came to emotional stability at the moment other than she would likely have an issue with small spaces for a while.  The others would be mourning.  She hadn't known Zordon, of course, but she understood the importance.  At the very least, she could give them the support they needed.

***

It was about a month after when Hayley realized that the mourning had died down and she had learned what she could.  Unless she was planning on turning this into a long term exchange program, she couldn't stay forever.  And like it or not, the attack on Aquitar had reminded her why she had agreed to do this in the first place.

"You're going to leave," Delphine said.  The Ranger had asked her to join her to watch some of the sea life which Hayley had agreed to.  She had her head on Delphine's shoulder when the Ranger said it.  Hayley didn't move.

"I don't want to," Hayley admitted.  "But I have to help save my own world."

"I know," Delphine said.  "We both knew it was coming."

"Isn't there a way to get to Earth faster?  Or here faster?"  She asked, trying not to sound as desperate as she felt.

"Not since Zordon was able to teleport us.  I'm afraid we have not been able to since," she said.

"But if we could?"  She pressed.  "Would you come visit?"

She pulled her head up, kissing the other again.  Delphine pulled back and looked at her, fiddling with Hayley's hair slightly.  "Of course I would.  I don't want this to stop."

"Then Billy and I will build a transporter," she said firmly.  "With Cestro.  The three of us can do it."

She sounded so certain and Delphine smiled at the enthusiasm.  "It will take time."

"Better late than never, right?"  She asked.  "And we can do this long distance until then."

Delphine looked pensive for a moment and took Hayley's hand as she nodded.  Hayley didn't ask where they were going.  She knew.  Sure enough, the two ended up in Cestro's lab.  Both Blues looked up from what they were doing.  Hayley decided to let Delphine lead.  She wanted to see what her lover would decide.

"Cestro, I would like to ask you for a technological request," she said.

"Oh?"  Cestro asked with the air of someone who knew exactly what was going on.  The Aquitians were a team, but they were also a family after all and it seemed like even Cestro wasn't above teasing Delphine a bit.

"I love Hayley.  I want to see where this relationship goes.  And to do that, we need a way of seeing each other..." she stated.  Billy held up a hand.

"Cestro is going to let you keep going for a while so I think it's fair you know that we know.  And we were counting on you both to figure it out, which we all know you did.  So, we've already been working on it for a while now while the two of you have been enjoying each other's company," he told them, his eyes sparkling in amusement.  Hayley's eyes lit up and Delphine looked appreciative.

"Thank you," Delphine said, leaning into Hayley slightly.

"Thank you," Hayley agreed.  Cestro gave Billy a look.

"Remind me to interrupt the next time you wish to tease a friend," he scolded before looking at the two women before him. "But we are extremely pleased.  On a personal note, I hope this means you will continue to aid us, Hayley."

"I would be happy to," she said.  Tommy was her best friend, but she needed to be able to talk to someone about this sort of advanced science.

"Did you tell them?"  Tideus asked from the doorway.  Delphine gave him a look.

"Did you all know they were planning this?"  She asked.

"Of course," Aurico answered.  "Cestro has trouble keeping secrets.  Who do you think distracted you when he was thinking too hard."

"This means you can come exploring Aquitar later," Tideus said to Hayley.  "Since now probably isn't the best time."

"I'm just pleased we can help if you need it," Corcus said practically.  Hayley smiled at all of them and then at Billy.  Her smile became a bit sadder.

"It works, doesn't it?"  She asked.  His smile was equally bittersweet and she knew she was right.  This was both a surprise and a farewell.  He reached into the desk and pulled out a communicator.

"We can work on a more visual medium later.  For now, this will let us know if you need us," he told her.  She took it and they quickly hugged.  She turned and hugged each of the male Aquitians in turn.  Then she turned to Delphine and pulled her into a kiss.  Delphine kissed back and the two pulled apart.

"Give me a week," Hayley said.  "And then come visit.  We'll go out for coffee."

"I've never had coffee," Delphine informed her.

"No time like the present," Hayley teased.  She nodded to Billy.  He grinned.

"Try to keep an eye on Tommy," he suggested.

"I will," she promised.  She locked eyes with Delphine and felt the love and words in her head.

"Soon."

Chapter Text

For the most part, the teleporter did perfectly well.  There wasn't any pain for instance and when she checked her watch shortly after she landed, it made exceedingly good time.  It did, however, land her a couple inches above the ground.  She caught herself and made sure no one was around before she pulled out the communicator.  "You two might want to work on that landing."

"How much difficulty was there?"  Billy asked.

"Not much.  But I wasn't touching the ground when I landed," she warned.

"We'll look into it.  And Hayley?  We are all happy you made it home safely,"  he told her.

"Thanks," she said and hung up as she checked her barrings.  Fortunately, she wasn't too far away from where she was headed.  The agreement that Tommy and she had made was that they would share an apartment together since neither had a lot of money as well as Hayley being gone for a good portion of the year on Aquitar.  The apartment complex was in a middling part of town:  Not too rundown but not the better side either.  The rent had been decent and there wasn't a ton of crime in the area.  Hayley had teased that with Tommy around, they didn't need to worry about that anyway but Tommy had immediately reminded her that he wasn't going to be around all the time and guns tended to cause problems even for former Rangers.  She had quickly agreed.  She reached the correct apartment and started to reach for the knob to let herself in when she realized that she might startle her roommate doing so.  Instead, she knocked on the door.  After all, he wasn't expecting her back.

Rather than Tommy, a man about ten years their senior answer the door instead.  She wracked her brain and decided that she definitely didn't know him.  That said, she definitely had seen him somewhere before and if she hadn't had intergalactic jetlag, she was certain she would have been able to figure it out.  Hayley looked at the man with a polite smile and more than a little concern.  His return look was far calmer though she knew that he was trying to place her as well.  He looked ready to ask, as did she, but fortunately, Tommy came up behind him and grinned.  "Hayley!  Come in!  Anton Mercer, this is Hayley Zitkor."

Chapter Text

It was little things that they noticed first.  For instance, they noticed that their food supply was far healthier.  They also noticed that before Dr. Mercer took Tommy on longer digs that he would casually examine the house to make sure that there was plenty of food for Hayley.  They both noticed that he took the time to go over important parts of the Plan and discuss them without completely taking it over.  He directed them toward potential holes, but let them figure it out.  Hayley had mentioned that she could see why he was given the opportunity for interns.  He didn't come out and teach by any means, but more gave gentle guidance.  But most importantly, he was also the one to notice inconsistencies the two missed. 

"Have you two noticed that you've been through two terms since I met you?"  He asked casually.

"Well sure!"  Tommy said.  Hayley glanced over at the odd question as well  "Why?"

"It has only been a couple of months," he said.  "And I am far ahead in research and development as well as the digs."

"That can't be right," Hayley said as she went to look.  It should have been closer to six months since she returned.  She blinked when she saw that he was right.  "This may be why our landlord was confused when I gave them rent the last couple of times."

"It's probably fine," Tommy said as he made a sandwich.  Hayley just glared at him.

"You're late to everything anyway.  You don't count," she said.  "But this is outside of just feeling like time is off.  If it's right, then we gained or the world lost around four months!"

"That was my take as well," Dr. Mercer answered.  Tommy still looked stupidly unworried and just casually ate his sandwich as they talked.  Hayley and Dr. Mercer ignored him as Dr. Mercer continued.  "It doesn't see harmful but..."

He motioned to Hayley's communicator and she nodded.  "Billy?  It's Hayley.  I have a question about time."

"Ah.  I take it that time continues to be a random sequence rather than a more measured standard?"  He asked.

"You knew that time was acting weird?!  Why didn't you say anything?!"  She exclaimed.

"I wasn't sure if it would affect you in the same manner it has with Power Rangers.  You are our first human Tech that wasn't a Power Ranger, Hayley," he said.

"It's affecting Dr. Mercer as well," she said.

"That is likely due to his proximity to the two of you.  An unexpected side effect.  As with the two of you, it should not be dangerous.  You will still age in normal time so consider this bonus few months for you.  That is what I do," he assured her. 

"Shouldn't we look into this?"  She asked. 

"I tried.  There's not much to find yet.  I think this is a longer term project," he answered.  "None of the other Power Rangers in the galaxy seem concerned or they don't realize it's happening."

"That explains a lot," Hayley said, looking at Tommy who was still completely calm over the whole thing. 

"It will probably end when you're done being Power Rangers or at least mostly end.  Then again, you are friends with Tommy," he said.

"I can hear you," Tommy grumbled.

"Good.  I won't have to repeat myself," Billy said.  Hayley and Dr. Mercer both tried not to laugh.  "Just enjoy it while it lasts."

"Thank you, Billy," she said and hung up.  She looked at Dr. Mercer and shrugged.

"Unintended side effect," she repeated.  He looked almost gleeful.

"I'm going to get a lot more done," he said.  Tommy just looked at him strangely.

"That's what you're getting out of this?"  He asked.

"That and the benefit of having more time to work on our project while also not needing to worry about both of your schooling," he told him.  Hayley just grinned.

"There is a lot to do," she agreed.  She was, aside from deciding to look into long term, taking into consideration that this also meant that she would have more time to spend with Delphine.  A look from both of her companions told her that she hadn't hid it well at all, but fortunately neither said a word.

***

"I'm still in school," Hayley protested.  Her companion sighed heavily.

"I know you're both in school," he said.  "I am reminded every time I have to do paperwork for Tommy.  However, I don't feel like you would have trouble doing both with the time expansion and it could cut down on your student loans."

"Aren't you showing favoritism or something like that?"  Hayley asked.  "Listen Dr. Mercer..."

"Will you two please start calling me Anton?"  He asked.  "I'm not that much older than you."

"Anton," she said.  "I don't have a degree yet."

"You will get one," he said.  "Hayley, you are one of the smartest people I have ever met.  You have an eye for detail.  You can absolutely do the job I'm asking of you."

"What if I decide I don't want to later?"  She asked.  He shrugged.

"Then I will write you a reference letter and give you a good recommendation," he answered.  "You wouldn't work directly under me.  You would work for me under the supervision of someone else.  You don't need my help like Tommy does."

"Considering Tommy wanted to make biozords instead of nice robot Zords, I think you're wrong.  Because I have no idea how to add in DNA," she teased.  She had a small smile on her face.  The three had worked out a system at this point.  Hayley focused on the technological aspect of it while working with Anton to figure out how to make the two sciences work together.  Tommy had done far better with paleontology than Hayley had considered and his knowledge of how dinosaurs moved, acted, ate, and any other information would help them create something far more alive than just a cheap mockery.  

"Aside from that," he said.  "I would be doing myself and my business a disservice if I didn't try."

"I would like the opportunity to try for a higher degree without bankrupting myself," she admitted.  He beamed.  "Alright, alright.  We'll give it a shot.  I just don't know what to tell Delphine."

Anton looked concerned.  "I don't see why you wouldn't have free time."

"It's more that we have to try to aim in a way so she isn't here for too long.  Which probably means nights instead of days right now," she said.  "Since I don't know when I'd have time and it doesn't seem fair to ask her to come."

"Why don't you hold off on that for now," he suggested.  "I may have a solution to that as well."

"Trying to keep your employees happy?"  She teased.  He shook his head and sighed.

"How often do you see me spend time with my own family, Hayley?"  He asked.  She paused and realized what he was saying.

"I didn't know you felt that way," she admitted.  He chuckled.

"Neither did I when this started," he admitted.  "And I'm glad I didn't when I was choosing my intern."

"That could have been bad," she agreed.

"It already was," he said.  She couldn't disagree.  "Let me see what I can figure out in regards to Delphine.  And maybe then you'll introduce her."

"It's not personal," Hayley said with a slight blush.  "We're just on a time limit."

She knew that she could get Delphine to a body of water quickly enough and she made certain to always have a glass of water nearby, but going out still involved dodging people at the moment.  And if they miscalculated, it could endanger Delphine.  Anton nodded but headed off and she wondered if he believed her or not.

***

Regardless of whether she had been hiding Delphine or not which she hadn't been, the solution he came up with meant that she would make the time for him to meet Delphine.  Which considering that she really had just been selfish about the time limit, it wasn't much of an imposition.  Instead, she was just staring at the plans he had given her.  She felt Tommy's hand on her shoulder as he looking over at it as well.  It was a pond large enough that all of the Aquitians probably could have used it, but she knew that it was essentially the equivalent of an Aquitian suite.  "It's beautiful."

"Well, that's at least your vote in its favorite," he teased.  "I'm having to guess how she'll feel about it."

"She'll love it," Hayley assured him.  "Anton, thank you."

"Of course," he assured her before turning to Tommy with a twinkle in his eye.  "Try not to fall in love with something on fire.  I happened to see the insurance rates on that."

"Not all of us are Hayley," he grumbled.  "Or Billy."

Hayley just looked over at him.  "You do realize Billy lied to you, right?"

"What?"  Tommy asked, startled.

"He's not dating Cestra.  She just offered to help him lie," she said.

"How long have they not been dating?"  Tommy asked.

"Forever," Hayley answered dryly. 

"When were you going to tell me?"  He asked.

"Apparently now," she answered.  "If you would have talked to him more, you would have known."

"He could call me," Tommy grumbled and Hayley rolled her eyes.

"One of you works in a lab.  The other is off gallivanting the world looking for dinosaur bones.  But sure, the one that stays in one place is the problem with communication," she said.  She shrugged.  "Though, I do think you're both terrible at this.  Kim probably isn't dating that guy anymore either.  If there ever was a guy."

"What do you mean if?"  He demanded.

"If Billy was lying, then Kim could have been lying," she said.  "Or maybe it didn't last long."

"Then why wouldn't have she had said anything?"  Tommy asked.

"Maybe because no one in this family talks," Hayley said.  "The point is you're bad at love so don't date fire aliens."

"How is that the point?"  Tommy asked.

"I think it was Anton's point," she answered.  Anton was just shaking his head at the two of them, but not getting involved.  "And I'm very grateful that he is helping with with Delphine."

"Who I get to meet now?"  Anton asked.

"I'll make sure it happens soon," Hayley said, trying very hard to hide her sigh.  Still, his pleased expression and Tommy's look softening to genuine happiness for her did help a bit.  For now.

***

Even with money at their disposal, it took a little time for the pond to be ready and safe.  With a quick conversation with Billy, it was decided that they would use the information that they had gathered the last time the Aquitians were there to purify it.  Until then, the Earth's water would still make things safer for the time being with them coming and going.  Once it was built, Hayley had had every intention of introducing Delphine to Anton as well as just having a family dinner so Tommy would also be involved, but the two men had needed to go check on one of the digs which had pushed back the time the meeting happened.  Hayley hadn't minded considering that Delphine took the opportunity to have her back to Aquitar for a bit which Hayley readily accepted.

Once they returned, the dinner was resumed.  Anton insisted on having it at his place due to the location of the pond as well as having a larger table.  Tommy accepted this because their apartment wasn't very large and he didn't want to have to figure something out.  Hayley accepted because it would just be easier on everyone.  That said, to say that Hayley was a little nervous about the entire thing was likely an understatement.

"You're sure you're okay with this?"  Hayley asked Delphine, fortunately only for the second time since the idea had occurred.  She had made certain of that so she didn't seem nervous or unsure.

"You needn't be concerned," Delphine reassured her.  Or she could remember that she was dating a telepath who could read her far too easily.  "You've met my family.  It's a good time for me to meet those of your family I can meet."

"Well, I supposed they are family," she said.

"And I knew Tommy before you met," Delphine reminded her.  "So really, I'm only meeting one person and am catching up with another."

Hayley felt herself calming down a bit.  "You're right."

Delphine nodded.  "I know I'm right."

"You don't have to say it," Hayley teased, but she recognized the other's attempts to help calm her down and Delphine was right.  It wasn't as if she could bring Delphine home to her parents.  She led her in the house and instantly wished that they could have headed right back out.

"Has Hayley taught you anything?  If I ask if you think Delphine will like it, lie to me," Anton said.

"You told me not to lie to you," Tommy said easily.  "And I don't know what main courses she likes.  I told you to get ice cream."

"I have ice cream.  I made sure to get that," Anton said.

"You're panicking worse than Kat did for that ballet recital and she literally ended up floating," Tommy informed him.  "It's Delphine.  She'll appreciate whatever attempt you give."

"I shall," Delphine said from the doorway, ignoring Hayley's somewhat bemused look.  Both Anton and Tommy whirled around to look at her as Delphine greeted them.  "It is good to see you again, Tommy.  And to meet you, Dr. Mercer."

Hayley felt more than a little amused by the situation.  Both men pulled themselves together rather quickly.  Tommy gave her a quick hug and Anton smiled and nodded.  Tommy spoke first.  "It's good to see you too, Delphine."

"It's a pleasure," Anton assured her.  Hayley knew that he'd offer his first name to Delphine as soon as he caught up with the situation.  Instead, he had slipped into the graceful host that she was nearly certain was a learned trait.  "Why don't I show you to the pond while we finish getting ready for dinner."

"Thank you," she said, letting him lead.  The other two just looked at each other and relaxed slightly.

"That could have gone worse," Hayley admitted.  Tommy nodded.

"It could have," he agreed.

"You couldn't have been more sympathetic to Anton?"  She asked.  He shrugged.

"It's Delphine," he said, stressing her name.  "She was going to be happy regardless."

"I don't think that's the point," Hayley informed him.

"It wasn't," Anton said as he came back in.  "She is a lovely woman, Hayley."

"Thank you," Hayley said.  "Tommy is right that she would appreciate whatever you tried.  Though, when we're done here, we need to have a talk about how I enjoy getting gifts like ponds for my long distance girlfriend, but that isn't why we're friends and family.  You don't have to give us things to keep us around."

Anton looked a little sheepish about that.  "You noticed?"

"I noticed," Hayley said.  "I think Tommy even noticed so that should tell you how much it was showing."

"Yikes," he said.  Tommy glared at them both.

"What is this?  Pick on Tommy Day?"  He demanded. 

"If I made a special day for it," Hayley said.  "How would I spend the rest of the 364 days of the year?"

Tommy just made a face at her, but dropped it.  Soon after, Delphine came back in.  "I should be able to stay for a longer time now.  Thank you, Dr. Mercer."

"Anton," he told her.

"Thank you, Anton," she said with no fuss.  She was quiet for a moment before smiling somewhat slyly.  "Aurico and Tideus were arguing over how to impress you and Tommy to the greatest degree before I left."

"Why were they doing that?"  Hayley asked.

"Because and I need to make certain I quote them here: 'We like Hayley and we are concerned she will not come back if you insult her family'," Delphine answered.  "Apparently being busy as the leader of the Power Rangers and not having a vast love life means that I am not good at it.  I think Cestro is still explaining why they needed to stop."

Hayley was trying hard to keep from laughing and she wasn't the only one.  Tommy was shaking while Anton was pulling it off the best with a cough.  Hayley smiled at her lover.  "I think you're doing fine."

"As do I," Delphine said.  She turned to Anton and Tommy.  "Please, relax.  I will let you know if something is wrong."

The relief on both of their faces was noticeable.  Hayley looked at Delphine and gave her a questioning thought.  Delphine returned it was a mixture of reassurance that her story had been true and that all siblings were ridiculous which told Hayley that Cestria was likely involved as well even if she wasn't mentioned.

The dinner went smoothly after that.  The food was perfectly fine and the conversation stayed rather lowkey and away from their work.  Different cultures, however, were fair game since other than Hayley somewhat, none of them really knew anything about the opposite's world.  Tommy had some idea, but not much on phrasing.  "So what we saw Billy in were the..."

"Aquitian corridors," she said.  "We realize that not all species are capable of breathing underwater and we have reacted accordingly."

"They're fairly interesting," Hayley agreed.  "It gives a place to work with technology that wouldn't do well underwater as well.  Cestro promised to show me where Aquitians work on their own projects later since we ran out of time."

"Under the water then," Anton said, looking at Delphine.  She nodded.  "Hayley mentioned you're able to handle being out of water longer there."

"There is more humidity and that humidity carries Aquitian water.  Think of it as being in a cave that is more stuffy," she explained.  "Only in our case, the difference is more life or death."

"The last time they were here, we had a hard time of trying to make sure they'd be okay," Tommy said quietly.  Delphine reached over and touched his hand.

"A choice we made," she assured him.

"We were sad to see you go," he said.  "But we were relieved you weren't in danger anymore.  How are the teleporters handling you going back and forth better than Zordon's did?"

"It isn't that Zordon's wouldn't have worked.  It's that the distance is far.  The amount of time it would take us to get here could have put others in danger," she explained.  "And Billy and Cestro found a way to make it more energy efficient as well as quicker based on Zordon's work.  He hadn't needed for it to be so."

"And then suddenly he needed you on Earth," she said.  Delphine nodded.

"It was unforeseen just how Master Vile would have gone about it," she agreed.  Tommy nodded in agreement to that.  "But with the new teleporters, I can come and leave without risking myself."

Hayley smiled softly at that.  "I'm happy to have you around more."

Delphine smiled back at her, taking Hayley's hand in hers and rubbing it gently before nodding.  "I understand that humans are working on getting out further into the universe?"

"Well, they were until we lost them," Tommy said dryly.  Hayley shrugged.

"I think they made it," she said firmly.  "Terra Venture wasn't supposed to come back anyway."

"Hayley has a point," Anton mentioned.  Tommy shrugged.

"If they did and they're able to reach out, I'll hear about it from Andros," he said.  Hayley nodded at that.  Delphine also seemed to think that was the best course.  The rest of the meal was just a back and forth between them until after when Hayley noticed that Delphine had pulled Tommy aside.

"The communicator that Billy gave Hayley, do you still have one?"  She asked.

"Of course," he answered.  Delphine gently touched his arm.

"Use it once in a while," she instructed.  "He is hurting, but so are you."

"Delphine..." he groaned.

"I'm not asking you to be friends again.  I am asking you, as an old friend, to talk to your teammate.  Please, Tommy, think it over," Delphine said.  He sighed.

"I'll think about it," he conceded.  Hayley knew he wouldn't do it, but that was a problem that she wasn't going to fix by just telling him to.  Especially since, as Delphine had mentioned, Billy was being just as difficult.

Hayley waited for Delphine to come back over and gave her an approving look that reassured her that she tried.  Delphine tried to hide how tired she was over it, but Hayley knew.  She also knew that she would try harder than she had originally considered in order to make things easier for the other.  Earth Rangers were unnecessarily high maintenance..

***

It didn't even take her a day to push it.

"So, explain to me everything that happened between you, Billy, and Kim.  I've never met Kim, but I'm guessing I will at some point so I want to know," Hayley said, standing in his way of the kitchen.  Tommy just gently picked her up and set her aside so he could continue getting breakfast.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said.  She sighed.

"We tried that," she said. "It's not working so now I want to know."

"Why do you care so much about it?  It was the past," he tried.

"Oh, let's see.  I'm working in the Power Ranger world now where one of my teachers was your ex-boyfriend and the likelihood of my meeting your ex-girlfriend is equally high.  I adore Billy.  I'm pretty sure I'll adore Kim.  And I'm tired of running away from this every time it comes up," she argued. 

"None of us like to talk about it," Tommy said.

"You're telling me," she agreed.  "That is because all of you need some serious therapy."

"We do not," Tommy said.  "We're handling it."

"You haven't handled anything in your life.  You're hiding from it," she said.  "Like a coward."

The look he gave her made her take a step back as she considered that that was probably too far.  She moved to apologize, but she caught the look of horror that he had instead, reigning himself in.  "I'm sorry I scared you."

"I'm sorry I went too far," she admitted.  "But I'm still right."

"Remind me again why you can't just drop it?"  He asked and she just sighed.

"Because it's important that we talk about it," she said.  "It was obviously a huge part of your life and it is still affecting both of us right now," she answered.  "Please?  Billy told me about you joining, but that was really all that he told me."

Tommy was quiet for a minute.  "If I tell you, will you back off?"

"No promises," she answered.  "Because I don't know why you stopped."

"What's that have to do with it?"  He asked.

"It means that I had to push Billy into calling you when Zordon died.  You both needed it," she reminded him.  "And if that comes up in the future, well, I'll do it again."

He sighed.  "I guess I can accept that."

"Good.  Now make with the story telling," she said, motioning with one hand.  He just groaned. 

Jason, Trini, and Zack leaving left their friends a little more shellshocked than they would admit. It wasn't that they weren't happy for their friends nor that they thought that the three wouldn't do well, but rather that they had been a team and now that was changing.  Further, it wasn't as if they disliked Rocky, Adam, and Aisha either but they didn't know them.  They were still building that relationship.  Tommy and Kim being an item was helping them through it a bit, but they didn't want to leave Billy behind either.  If the two of them just did couple things, then he'd be alone.  Kim knew how bad of an idea this was and Tommy could guess.

"It's not that I don't love having dates," Kim said, pacing back and forth across the floor.  Tommy had tried to tell her four times already that he understood and it was fine, but he really didn't think she was actually listening.  "But I've known Billy since I was five and I'm really worried about him."

"I know," Tommy said.

"You do?"  She asked and Tommy relaxed a bit.

"Yes, I do," he answered.  "Which I tried to tell you.  Billy's my friend too."

Kim relaxed and gave him a quick kiss.  "You're the best."

He just laughed and held her to him.  Thus, the three of them consistently hung out whenever possible. They made certain to begin to know their new teammates, but they seemed to understand and even be a little relieved as well.  There was just less pressure put on all of them.   Kim and Tommy had readjusted their outings to include Billy which he had given a token protest to every so often, but Kim rolled her eyes and told Tommy that Billy was just like that.  Tommy agreed. 

Everything changed one night when it just finally seemed to hit Kim hard that their weren't coming back.  They had all been able to lie to themselves, but each of them had finally started to feel it.  Tommy had looked at the training mat longingly for Jason, Billy had waited for Zack to look confused at Trini when he spoke, but Kim hadn't done anything similar until she just didn't show up one night to their activity.  Both boys were instantly worried about the entire thing and had gone running to her house.

“Kim? Come on, let me in,” Tommy said. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back to see Billy standing there. He touched Billy's arm in apology.  “Let us in.”

Billy looked just as worried, if not more so as Tommy and both of them weren't hiding it right then. They wanted to make certain that their friend was okay first. Tommy continued banging on the door while Billy just waited behind him, thinking it over. “Kim?” He finally said. “We need you.”

There was a pause and the door opened. Tommy shot Billy an impressed look, but he directed his attention back to Kim. She was in tears, though she was trying to hide it when she saw them.  Tommy headed over and pulled her to him while Billy took her hand.  "You're late, Beautiful."

She blinked a few times before looking  embarrassed.  "I forgot."

"We know," Billy told her.  "We're not upset."

"Just worried," Tommy told her.  He let her go and moved so she could see how worried Billy was as well.  They were going to have to gang up on her to get her to let them in.  She looked ready to protest, but Billy's affectionate smile stopped her. She pulled Billy into the hug and shut the door behind her. “

"I miss them," she admitted.  "And it's not that I don't like Rocky, Adam, and Aisha but they aren't them!"

"I think we get it," Tommy said, glancing at Billy who nodded, not trusting his voice. 

"I need you both here right now,” she admitted. They looked at each other and then back at her. Tommy led them to the couch and squeezed her between the two. He brushed his arm against Billy to make sure he knew he was wanted by both of the two who looked at him in surprise, but also gave a small smile. Kim was practically pulling both of them on her.  The dam broke for all three.  They stayed that way for a while as they just let out their  emotions. Once they were out of energy for crying, they fell asleep. Kim's head was resting on Tommy's chest while Billy was on his shoulder and his chin on Kim's head. Tommy was able to wrap his arms around them both, feeling protective and needed.

When they woke up, they didn't mention it to each other, but just carried on. The second time it happened, they left a little more reluctantly. The third time ended differently. Instead of crying, they just stayed there together and watched a movie.  They weren't at the point where they were forcing back emotion anymore, something that they realized they had been doing in the beginning because they needed to be strong for the world.  Now they had accepted it and the world continued but they didn't know how to deal with this new normal.  This wasn't just like three friends moving away was normally:  They had fought with them and it was like losing a part of themselves.  Still, it was Kim who changed things.  When the movie was over, Kim pulled Tommy in for a kiss. Billy started to leave, but she turned and pulled him into one after. Billy looked surprised. “Kim?”

“It's okay, Billy,” Tommy said, setting his hand on the other boy's leg.  Kim realized she should have mentioned it to Tommy beforehand, but he looked just as happy as she was over the idea.  Billy looked at Kim who was smiling.

“We want you here,” she assured him. Billy sat back down, not certain about this at all but both companions could see how much he wanted it to be real. He looked at Tommy who gave him an encouraging look and found himself kissing Tommy as well. Kim just leaned into both of them and all three of them looked far more relaxed than they had been.

When Billy came up for air, he looked at them. “Is this just for tonight?”

“Do you want it to be?” Kim asked, looking nervous. A quick glance at Tommy told him that the other boy was just as nervous. He shook his head. “Then it's not.”

“Not in front of the others?” He begged. He wanted this to just be for them right now and they honestly weren't sure how the other three would take it.  If they had been paying any sort of attention, they would have realized that their teammates would have understood completely.  Still, Tommy nodded.

“Deal,” he agreed.  They'd tell them when Kim, Billy, and Tommy figured out exactly what this was for themselves.  Kim just smiled and pulled them to her.

“My boys,” she said affectionately. They returned the embrace, completely content and finally moving on.

***

Having Kim and Billy constantly watching his back helped Tommy with his new role as leader. He wasn't Jason by any means, but they were subtly able to direct him when necessary or talk to him later if he was going overboard. Fortunately for him, the other three hadn't had Jason as a leader so they weren't judging him by that. The six of them had fallen into a new normal while still being able to split into groups of three when they needed to. 

Then Zordon nearly died and they had walked away with new powers and a new bond.  It wasn't two groups as much as it had been, now it was all six as a team.  It was sitting under the stars nervously that had led to them talking and it was Aisha who brought things to light.

"So, how long have the three of you been together?"  She asked.

"We, what?"  Billy managed to spit out.  Kim immediately went to pat him on the back while Tommy searched his brain for a reaction.

"This is why I told you not to say anything," Adam whispered.

"They do know they're dating, right?"  Rocky said as quietly as he could.

"We know," Kim said, pulling herself together the quickest.  "How did you know?"

"You aren't subtle," Aisha said.  "We've just been waiting for you to tell us and then I realized we never told you about us."

"We're not hiding it," Adam assured them.  "We're just not used to people not noticing.  It was an open secret in Stone Canyon."

Tommy was just still staring and Kim just nodded.  "Gotcha.  Well, ours is, uh, new."

Rocky nodded.  "Oh.  You were waiting to figure out what you were doing."

"I think we knew what we were doing," Tommy muttered.  Kim elbowed him.  Billy took over.

"We were uncertain as to how to handle the situation when we didn't know you well," he admitted.  Rocky just grinned.

"Don't worry.  Neither did we," he assured him.  The conversation turned back to Zordon soon after and they did sleep.  The secret was out and Kim, Tommy, and Billy silently chose to be less stressed about it.

***

"That could have been worse," Kim admitted after they'd gotten home from the after party of saving Zordon and the world, "But I never want to go through that again."

Billy nodded as he pulled her to him, resting his head on Tommy's.  Tommy, for his part, had slouched down a bit and wrapped an arm around Billy's shoulders.  "I'm just glad you were both there with me."

"I'm glad you learned not to backtalk Zordon's old friends," Billy teased. Tommy shot him a look.

"We're supposed to be sweet here," he reminded him.

"Trust me, that was sweet," Billy teased, completely relaxed.  "You did kind of ask for it."

"Kind of?"  Kim asked.  "I mean, we couldn't stop you, but did you really need us to try?"

"It would have been nice," Tommy grumbled.  The other two just grinned at each other.  "But I think it still turned out fine."

"We have new powers, new Zords, and Zordon is fine.  Our friends know about us, we know about them, and we're all more of a team now," Kim agreed.  "I can't ask for more than that."

"I can," Billy said.  "I wish Aisha had told us what she planned.  I could have taped her kick."

"Damn," Tommy said.  "That would have been great."

"The point it we won," Kim said.  She reached into her pocket and pulled out her power coin, looking at it.  She wasn't surprised when both boys followed suit.  "The crane.  Agile and light as a feather."

"Last time Trini was agile," Billy said absently.  Tommy looked surprised.

"Then what was Kim?"  He asked.

"Graceful and small," Billy said.  "I think the second part is especially apt."

"Don't be a brat, Billy," Kim said.  "Not all of us get the same speech every time."

"I didn't.  Last time, I was patient and wise.  Now I'm cunning and swift," he reminded her.  "That said, I think I'm going to be aggravated at Dulcea for a while for Tommy's."

"I think we're all going to be," Kim said, though both of them were smiling.  Tommy looked ready to protest, but at their looks, stopped himself.

"I didn't get a first one," he reminded them.

"That is irrelevant," Billy said.  "You're going to be hell to live with."

"We'll tone him down," Kim assured him.  "It's what we do."

"It's not that bad," Tommy grumbled, though they both noticed that he wasn't protesting that hard.  "And it's kind of true."

"See, that's why we're going to have to try to keep you humble for a week," Kim told him.

"Winged lord of the skies," Billy muttered.  "She wasn't assisting us there."

"Shut up, Wolf Boy," Tommy said good naturally.  Billy just laughed.  Tommy looked serious for a moment however.  "She wasn't kidding with yours, Billy.  Between you helping me figure things out and the fact that you were making it through anything that got in your way, we would have been dead without you."

"He's right," she agreed.  Billy squeezed Kim slightly and kissed Tommy.

"I needed both of you," Billy said.  "You both have completely trust in me."

"I might lead, man, but you're the one that figures everything out," Tommy said.  "And Kim..."

"Kim's the heart," Billy said.  "She helps remind us what we're doing."

"You'd be fine without me," Kim told them, sitting up to face them.  "We work well together, but we are all good apart too."

"I don't want to find out for a long time," Tommy told her.  Billy nodded.

"I think we work better when we're together," he said.  "I don't want to know if we can be apart."

Kim reached over, taking each of their hands.  "We just won't find out then."

Tommy looked pained as he finished telling it.  She could tell that they were happier then, but that wasn't helping now.  She moved toward him and pulled him to her.  "Sometimes, relationships just don't work out."

"You don't understand, Hayley," he whispered.  "Not working out is one thing.  But we were worse.  Kim was wrong."

She wasn't sure how Kim had been wrong, but she did know that it wasn't fair to only get one side.  She had gotten bits and pieces from Billy and Tommy, but there was one other member of this group that she hadn't spoke to yet.  Tomorrow, she would find and talk to Kimberly Hart.

Chapter Text

When one competes in the Panglobal Games, one is far easier to find than they should be as Hayley realized when she was tracking down Kim.  It was only after she had the information that she realized she didn't really know what to say on this one.  After all, she couldn't just ask like she had with Billy.  Billy and her had had some sort of friendship before that.  And the only reason she knew Kim's name was because Hayley was best friends with Kim's ex-boyfriend as well as close friends with her other ex-boyfriend.  On the other hand, Hayley hadn't been exaggerating when she mentioned that the Rangers all tended to come back and she would likely be introduced at some point anyway.  None of this really helped calm her nerves, but it did mean that she called the number.

"Hello?"  A woman's voice answered.

"Kimberly Hart?  My name is Hayley Ziktor," she said, trying to figure out how to do this.  She even sounded awkward.

"Oh hey.  You... umm.. work with Tommy, right?  Why didn't you use the family phone?"  Kim asked and Hayley looked at the communicator and tried to hide her groan.

"I didn't think of it," she admitted, glad no one was there to see her face-palm.  This was going well.  She'd gotten from Billy that they were counting on her to keep an eye on Tommy and she couldn't remember to use a communicator instead of a phone.  They were going to think Tommy was going to fall down a well or something with how well she was thinking.  She was pretty sure part of her job was to make sure he didn't fall down a well.

"Well, here.  Why don't we hang up so you don't have to deal with charges and you call me in say 5 minutes?  Then we can talk in private," she offered.  Hayley easily accepted, hung up, and waited for the five minutes to pass before she called back in.  Kim answered quickly.  "There.  Now I don't have to worry about anyone being nosy.  So, you're Hayley!  I've heard about you."

"Billy?"  Hayley asked.

"Billy," Kim agreed.  "Though more through Trini than Billy himself.  They talk more often."

Hayley winced at that as well.  "Right.  I've never met Trini..."

"You will eventually.  Especially since Trini says that you're working with Tommy to make new Ranger gear?"

"That's the goal," Hayley answered.

"Then yeah.  I mean, at the very least, we'll meet you after your team is done.  I'm not sure about what 'making Ranger gear' looks like, but Trini says Billy is impressed so that's high praise.  Let's be honest, trying to keep Tommy on track is something impressive.  So, I'm assuming you want my side of the story, huh?"  Kim said.

"Wait, what?"  Hayley asked in surprise.  She hadn't been sure how she had intended to convince Kim, but she had expected it to be harder than this.

"You asked Billy.  I'm assuming you asked Tommy.  And from what it sounds like, you want a well-rounded story.  Which means getting something from each of us.  Let me guess:  Neither of them wanted to talk about how it ended,"  she said.

"You're okay talking about it?"  Hayley asked.

"Better than they are," she said.  "I kept in better contact with some of our friends, I think, so I had a better support system."

"Do you regret it?"  Hayley asked.

"Every time I think about it.  I'm not saying I made the wrong choice for me at the time, but I did go about it badly.  And I didn't realize that it would hurt them as badly as it did," she admitted and Hayley could hear the slight pain at this point.  "I was 17, Hayley, in a state far away from the family I'd been fighting with.  No one understood and worse?  We were all so busy all the time.  I think I could have been okay if there wasn't such a long time between calls for all of us.  But there wasn't.  So, I made up a boyfriend because I thought that would be easier for all three of us.  They could just continue on without me."

"Okay, I just need to tell you that you need to pass on this sage advice to other Rangers:  Stop faking girlfriends and boyfriends!"  Hayley told her.  This was ridiculous.  Twice in the same relationship.  "From now on, you say the truth and hope for the best."

"I take it you found about Billy's fake relationship?"  Kim asked.

"Well, at least you know that was fake," she grumbled.

"Just because Billy and I don't talk very often, doesn't mean that I wasn't with Jason, Zack, and Trini on the panic train.  The idea of him leaving the world to run away with an alien he just met made us wonder if he'd been kidnapped or brainwashed or something.  By the way, congratulations on you and Delphine.  Do you know if she's still mad about us accusing her of kidnapping?"

"She hasn't mentioned... you did what?!"  Hayley asked.

"Okay, so from our point of view?  There was a weird time thing that we all suffered through, then it got better, then Billy wasn't a Ranger, and then he was on another planet," she said.  "Jason sort of knew details, but he was dying the whole time he was there so he kind of missed a lot of it."

"You know, every time I think I have a handle on the Power Rangers, you throw me a curve ball," she said.  "No, I don't think Delphine is mad.  They all probably understood and were probably happy that you were concerned because that was a terrible lie," she said.  "Yours wasn't great, but at least you weren't saying you were moving for the guy.  Just that it happened while you were there.  Still, it was a very stupid plan."

"I know that now,"  she agreed.  "But here's the important thing:  They started to have problems.  Tommy started to pull away from Billy and when Billy gave up the crystal?  It got worse.  I don't even think Tommy meant to but whatever happened, I know it was really bad."

"So, that's why they don't talk?"  She asked.

"Likely, it went worse than even I'm thinking," she said.  "Because Billy still speaks to me."

They didn't speak often, as she said, but Tommy was the one that she'd had to press him to call.  Hayley sighed.  "I don't suppose you're willing to talk to them?"

"If something happens and you need my help?  Of course I will.  But I'm just as mad at the two of them.  This was my fault to begin with, but neither of them reacted well and it's not completely my fault.  I was dealing with a lot too,"  she reminded Hayley.  Hayley sighed.

"Alright.  I'll keep in touch," she offered.  

"I appreciate it.  Good luck, Hayley!  And call if you need anything!"  Kim said.  Hayley hung up before she suggested she could use them acting like adults and talking to one another.  She sat back and sighed before starting back to work on actual work.  She had gotten a rough rundown from the three of them and it all told her the same thing:  None of them were talking because all three were hurting and none of them were willing to talk about it.

***

After her conversation with Kim, there wasn't much Hayley could do to change any of it and she set it on the back-burner for the moment.  She had her answer of how they'd gotten together, that they'd been happy, and how it ended.  She had all three of them unwilling to talk to each other.  She was good friends with two of them and wouldn't mind being friends with the third at some point but it was far too exhausting to clean up the mess at the moment when she had so many other things to do.  She would have to try to figure it out later.

Half of what she worked on with Anton was, fortunately, things that she could adapt to the Ranger project which is what she had been working on.  She looked it over with a keen eye.  It had somewhat worked for the original purpose, enough that she could give it to Anton to patent, but it wasn't working for the Ranger side of things.  She wasn't sure exactly what was wrong with it, but something was definitely off.  She groaned and set it aside for the moment, stretching as the door slammed.  "Our landlord hates when you do that, Tommy."

"I'll apologize later," he said, brushing it off.  He opened his mouth to say something, paused and picked up what she was working on.  "I thought you finished that?"

"It's not right," she answered.  "There's just something off about it."

"Like what?"  He asked and she glared at him.

"If I knew, it wouldn't have a problem, Tommy," she answered.  "I don't bother you when you are doing Ranger things.  Stop micromanaging.  Why did you slam inside the house anyway?"

"I think Anton is dating someone," he exclaimed with all of the energy he'd expend if the world was ending. 

"Seriously, Tommy?  What are you?  16?"  She asked.  She was ready to get back to work if just to get out of this conversation.  "If he is, he is.  If he isn't, that's fine too.  It's none of our business."

"Hayley," he said.  "She knows at least some of it.  She was talking to Delphine."

"Delphine is back?"  Hayley asked, standing up, her work promptly forgotten.  Tommy's weird fascination aside, she wanted to see her girlfriend.

"Yes, she's back.  Will you focus on the more important thing?"  He asked.

"That I'm wasting valuable girlfriend time?"  Hayley asked, heading out the door.  Tommy followed. 

"Delphine is an alien," Tommy hissed.  Hayley whirled around to glare at him and he held up him hands.  "I'm not upset with the alien part, but it's not like if you had a human girlfriend who picked up a conversation with her.  This lady knows things."

"Do not go into this swinging, Tommy.  You'll just upset Anton," she warned.  "And if Delphine is talking to her and not reaching out to me in a panic, it's probably fine."

"Hales..." he groaned, getting into the driver's seat before she could.  She got into the passenger's seat, rolling her eyes.  He fortunately drove after that so she didn't feel the need to strangle him.  As they headed into Anton Mercer's estate, Hayley could hear two women talking and she briefly did wonder where Anton was with all of this going on.  She made the decision she really didn't care at the moment and walked inside.  She headed out of the foyer and into one of the sitting rooms to see her girlfriend having a pleasant conversation with a woman a few years older than Tommy.  Delphine greeted Hayley quickly which the other returned.

"I understand you haven't met Elsa Randall yet," Delphine introduced her.  "Elsa and I were able to discuss different coping mechanisms between our species for certain situations.  I apologize for not coming to see you, Hayley..."

Hayley laughed.  "I love when you come to see me, Delphine, but having the pond means that you're able to explore and my job sometimes has me work longer hours.  It's nice to meet you, Elsa."

"You as well," Elsa said.  "Anton's spoken about you both."

"He hasn't..." Tommy started and Hayley quickly cut in.

"Said nearly enough about you," she said, pushing all of her willpower into not glaring at Tommy's stupid face.

Elsa just looked a little amused between them and Hayley knew that she hadn't nearly covered well enough for Tommy's idiocy.  A quick glance told her that Delphine was equally amused.  Elsa's amusement fell into a friendly smile once more.  "I think it's important to mention that I finished getting my degree in Mariner Bay.  This past year."

Hayley's eyes flickered with recognition.  The newest team, Lightspeed Rescue, hailed from Mariner Bay which meant that she knew something about Power Rangers to begin with and would have been used to unusual experiences.  "That makes a lot more sense."

"I thought it might," she agreed.  "It was a coincidence that I met someone else who knew something about Power Rangers and then Anton kept forgetting to introduce us."

"He gets like that some times," Hayley agreed.  "Don't mind Tommy.  He's just paranoid."

"I am not," Tommy said, glaring at her.  "It's nice to meet you."

Hayley just gave another nod that he was before continuing.  "I'm not really sure which of us is supposed to be hosting right now?  What's the proper etiquette when you break into your brother's house and end up meeting his girlfriend?"

"A good question," Elsa said.  "Tell you what, I'll get you a drink and you do the same for me."

Hayley relaxed a bit.  Elsa seemed to be able to go with the flow pretty well so far.  She had the feeling that Anton had given her some light background rather than anything heavy considering that she wasn't overloaded like the rest of them.  She did as Elsa suggested, grabbing some water since she didn't really want to search through Anton's refrigerator for something more even if he'd insisted it was fine.  Elsa seemed to have the same idea and handed all three of the others a glass of water.

"So Anton hasn't really explained to me why he is spending so much time with his intern and employee, but I do know it is Power Ranger related," she said.  Hayley handed off her water to Delphine, knowing that while the other had her own, it was better to have a back up.  Delphine took it without complaint.  As she did so, Hayley looked at Delphine who would have checked to see if this new woman could be trusted.  Her girlfriend gave her a smile and a soothing bit of emotion back.  Hayley had her decision regardless of Tommy's paranoia. 

"We're building a new team," she said.

"Hayley!"  Tommy exclaimed and she looked at him.

"Anton trusts her, Delphine trusts her, and you will tell whoever you like but Anton and I are supposed to just keep quiet?"  She asked, glaring at him.  He backed down though stayed distinctly unhappy.  Hayley turned her attention back to the other.

"Obviously don't tell anyone," she said.  Elsa nodded solemnly.

"That explains why he had such a hard time talking about his work," she said.  "I was concerned that he was starting to blow me off."

"What did you talk about then?"  She asked.  Elsa smiled.

"The two of you," she said.  "It was a safe topic so he thought."

"Except for the part where most people wouldn't have taken such an interest in two college students," Hayley said.

"And he talks about you both extremely fondly considering that he's only known you a little over a year," she said, raising an eyebrow.  Hayley looked a little sheepish.

"Why don't we steal some of Anton's cake and I'll explain how Ranger time works.  Delphine?"  She said, looking toward her girlfriend.

"I do love cake," Delphine agreed.  "We don't have such a thing on Aquitar."

"That's a shame," Elsa said.  "What sort of things do you have that we can't make here?"

Hayley led them into the kitchen, thrilled that they had a new member of the family.

***

Delphine had taken a break to go rest in the pool, but with Elsa's permission, was listening in through Hayley.  Tommy had joined Delphine, still feeling uneasy about the entire thing.  Hayley, on the other hand, had decided to get to know the other.  Elsa glanced toward where they left.  "He really doesn't like me."

"Don't mind him.  He's paranoid," she assured her.  Elsa looked at her.

"Did he do the same to you?"  She asked.  Hayley rolled her eyes.

"He didn't have the ability to.  He needed my help in class," she answered.  "And I wouldn't have been willing to help if he would have been a jerk about it.  Well, more of a jerk than he usually is.  He's lucky I took pity on him or he probably would have failed."

"Isn't he aiming for a doctorate?"  She asked.

"And you have no idea how funny that is," Hayley answered as her exasperation turned affectionate.  "But he'll get it."

She nodded.  "It didn't sound like you've known him for long either.  Only about two years longer than Anton?"

Hayley paused in eating as she decided on how much to tell the older woman.  Tommy and Hayley constantly acted as if they'd known each other forever and they were close to Anton on that this point but from an outsider's point of view, it hadn't been too long.  She had said she was going to talk to her about the Power Time issue anyway, thus she moved forward with it.  "So, Power Rangers have a weird relationship with time.  They, and anyone connected with them, tend to find that months have gone by for them and less than two weeks have gone by for the rest of the world.  We're not exactly sure why.  Billy and I are looking into it but it does mean that Anton has more time to work on projects.  Tommy can take more classes.  I can go to school and work."

"So, you're a Power Ranger?"  Elsa asked.

"Nope!"  Hayley said, giving her new friend a teasing grin.  "But I know a few.  Speaking of which, you lived in Mariner Bay.  Did any of the Rangers there make really bad personal decisions on a regular basis?"

"Not that I remember, but I'm sure they wouldn't want the public to know about it if they did," she answered.  "Tommy's the Ranger then."

Hayley tried to school her features, wishing she was a lot more like Anton at the moment.  "What makes you think that?"

"One of the three of you has to be," she said.  "Everyday people don't just know Power Rangers or aliens.  You said you weren't one.  I can tell Anton wasn't.  That leaves Tommy who, with his martial arts background Anton told me about, makes the most sense to be one.  Besides, you've already mentioned his bad decisions."

"Oops," Hayley said without much regret.  Tommy was a horrible liar and Elsa was way too perceptive.  She would have figured it out in a week at the latest anyway.

"So, what did he do?"  Elsa asked.

"Got into a threeway fight with two of his... friends and dragged me into the middle of it because all three of them are really bad at making good choices and none of them listen," she said.

"Why are you involved?"  She asked.

"Because I'm friends with two of them and I wouldn't mind being better friends with the third," she answered.  "And that just means that I'm going to have to split my time up even more."

"So be friends with them.  But Hayley, it's not your job to fix them," she said firmly.  "Set some boundaries for yourself.  If they're going to fix this, they need to do it themselves."

She felt herself relaxing at that.  "You make it sound easy."

"It'll get easier the more you practice," she promised.  "So, when should I tell Tommy I know?"

"Wait for him to tell you," she instructed.  "They like to think they're good at keeping it secret."

"I'll practice pretending to be surprised," she assured her.  She heard the front door open before she could say anything else.  Anton stepped into the kitchen looking a bit surprised.  She was impressed at his ability to quickly hide it and act like he was in control of the situation.

"I didn't know you were coming today, Hayley," he said calmly, getting himself a glass of water.

"Surprise visit," she answered smoothly.  Tommy had likely heard him driving up and would be coming back inside soon.  Anton just nodded as she knew he would as he was trying to regain his footing.  He hadn't asked them to stay away after all.  He was look between them and Hayley had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing at his concern.  Elsa, fortunately for him, saved him.

"I'm afraid I ran into Delphine," she explained. 

"Delphine's home?"  Anton asked in confusion.

"She's in the pond," Hayley answered.  "She stopped by as a surprise."

"She's always welcome.  I just..." Anton started.

"Didn't want to tell Tommy and I that you were dating?"  She asked.  Elsa hid her smile.

"You're making it sound worse than I meant for it to," he said in embarrassment.

"Well, you didn't tell us," huffed Tommy from behind him.  Hayley rolled her eyes.

"I normally wouldn't care, but with how much you pushed me to bring Delphine here..." she reminded him, smiling to take away the bite of the comment.  She still looked chargrined. 

"Point taken," he agreed.  Hayley stood up.

"We should probably go," she offered.  Tommy looked ready to protest, but Hayley shot him a look.  Anton and Elsa shared a look and Elsa smiled at them.

"Why don't we all go out to dinner and have introductions the right way?"  She asked as if Hayley and her hadn't already started.  A quick glance told her that Elsa would stay quiet about Tommy and Hayley's own issue.

"We hadn't decided on where to go," Anton agreed.  "So, it should be fine."

Tommy nodded, still being nosy.  Hayley considered protesting before recognizing that Anton would have been more careful if this was someone he wasn't deeply interested in and he didn't have anyone else to introduce her to.  With that in mind, she nodded.

"We'd love to," she assured him. 

***

Delphine had politely requested to stay home.  It was still mostly unsafe for her after all to be out in public and, quite frankly, away from a ready water source.  Taking chances while being a Ranger were far different than doing so just for the sake of it.  She also smiled at Hayley.  "I think you and Tommy will want to spend the time getting to know her anyway."

Hayley wanted to disagree, but she was right.  Tommy had tried to convince Delphine to come more than Hayley had simply because he wanted more people there.  He seemed to be believe it would make it less awkward.  Hayley was certain he was wrong.  Anton had held his head, two seconds away from shaking Tommy and Hayley was pretty sure she was going to let him do it, but somehow they were in the car and on their way before that happened.

Hayley leaned over to Tommy.  "Pretend you're not crazy for just an hour."

"I'm not," he hissed back.

"You are," she answered.  "You're lucky Anton didn't strangle you for that last one."

"I thought it would be better," he muttered.  He probably did too.  She knew it wasn't just the Ranger thing that was bothering Tommy, though that was likely a large part of it, but just that Anton was dating her in general.  Delphine had been safe because he'd known her.  Considering that Tommy didn't talk to other Rangers very often, he likely didn't want to lose either of the constants he had.  Unfortunately, this meant that he reacted badly about it.  She understood, but he really needed to start working past it.

"It wouldn't," she informed him, giving Anton and Elsa a polite smile before leaning back over.  Before she could continue, she heard Elsa murmuring to Anton.

"Are they alright?"  She asked.

"Hayley is begging Tommy to be polite, Tommy is insisting he is polite, I'm wondering why I thought gaining younger siblings was a good plan," Anton answered her.  Both of the younger two members looked sheepish.  It was a minor miracle that they got to the restaurant relatively quickly at this point.  They headed in without any new problems and sat in an isolated area.  Going place with Anton did have its advantages.

"So, how did Anton and you meet each other, Elsa?"  Hayley asked, making certain to somewhat glance at Anton in case he gave her any clues that she shouldn't ask.  He didn't.

"We ran into each other," she answered.  "Literally."

"What?"  Hayley asked, trying not to laugh.  She kicked Tommy's chair to get him to stop.

"He was rushing to a meeting and I was rushing out of a job interview," she answered.  "And we crashed.  We helped each other up, he asked me to dinner, and that's it."

"That's sweet," Hayley said.  She kicked Tommy's chair again and he nodded his agreement before kicking hers back.  Anton was doing a fine job of not calling them out on on it. 

"What about you and Delphine?"  Elsa asked.

"Well, I needed some information for our project," she answered, carefully editing it out so no one would hear.  Elsa should still have been able to keep up.  "And Tommy suggested that I go visit some old friends of his, and his ex-boyfriend, that knew more than he did."

"You didn't have to add the ex-boyfriend part," Tommy informed her.

"I really did," she said.  She smiled at Elsa.  "I found out when I got there."

"Oh," Elsa said, wincing.  "That would be awkward."

"You have no idea," Hayley agreed.  "Fortunately, Billy's great.  We're really good friends now.  So, I was learning and Delphine was one of those old friends and, well, we just sort of fell for each other."

"Just like that?"  Elsa asked and Hayley laughed.

"No, it took us a while to figure it out," she said.  "Long enough that the others were able to get us better transportation for our long distance relationship.  And then Anton created the guest house so she'd have a place to stay."

"That was sweet of you," Elsa informed him, leaning into him a bit.  Anton wrapped an arm around her.

"It was the only way I was ever going to meet Delphine," he joked.  Hayley had the grace to look a little embarrassed by that.  For all of his quipping in the car, he did seem to be genuinely happy to have them meet each other.  The rest of the dinner was uneventful and Elsa left soon after.

"I like her.  She's nice," Hayley told him.  "If she wants to know more, I think we should tell her."

"Hayley!"  Tommy complained.

"Hear me out.  Delphine is a Power Ranger.  She'll be fine if something goes wrong but Elsa could get in serious trouble.  At least this way, she'll know what's going on," Hayley argued.  "It's up to Anton."

"Me?"  Anton said.  "It's Tommy's project."

"And she's your girlfriend," Hayley said.  Tommy looked ready to protest, but thought better of it, proving that he apparently had a smidgen of self-preservation.  Anton was giving it some thought.

"Perhaps a little at a time," he said sensibly.  Hayley nodded.  Tommy shrugged, but didn't disagree.  "Now, did you two really have to kick each other under the table?"

"You noticed?"  Tommy asked.

"Of course he noticed.  He was hoping Elsa wouldn't notice," Hayley informed him, still considering herself the most reasonable member of this family.  "And Tommy was being ridiculous."

"Hey!"  Tommy argued, vehemently disagreeing.  Anton was practically holding his head and counting at this point.

"We're sorry," Hayley said, deciding to take some pity on him.  Regardless of the fact that she was right, she didn't want Anton to be that upset with them and it had been a long night for all of them.  Tommy looked just as contrite.

"Yeah, we didn't mean to mess things up," he offered.  Anton sighed.

"You two didn't mess anything up," he assured them.  "I just..."

"Really like her?"  Hayley asked.  Anton gave her a look, but she didn't back down this time.

"I suppose I do," he agreed.  "And I just wanted this to go well."

"Did it?"  Tommy asked.

"We'll know if she calls tomorrow," Anton joked.  Hayley rolled her eyes, but went to find Delphine.  Elsa would call.

***

Hayley considered her conversation with Elsa earlier that afternoon and then looked back at the communicator.  She took a breath and pushed the button.

"Kim?"  She asked.

"Hayley!  Is everything okay?"  Kim asked.

"Yeah, sorry if I worried you," she said.  "Listen, I know when I called that I just wanted to get your side of things, but..."

She didn't know how to put it.  Fortunately, Kim did.  "You need someone to talk to because Tommy's being Tommy and you can't talk to Billy about it?"

"I have Delphine and the other Aquitian Rangers," she rushed.

"But Delphine has been living with Billy and you've been dealing with Tommy so you both have a bit of a bias?"  Kim asked.  Hayley didn't answer right away and Kim continued.  "So, what did you need to talk about?"

"Anton has a girlfriend and Tommy isn't really handling it well," she answered.  "I know that this really isn't your proble..."

"Tommy wants to feel in control because he's spent so much time out of control," Kim answered.  "So, just keep telling him he's overreacting until he stops."

"That will work?"  She asked.

"Well, it's that or letting him control Anton and your relationships so he feels like he's in control of the 'team'.  He wants to protect both of you, but he's not always going to make the best decisions about how to do that," Kim answered.  "So, I'd suggest stopping it now.  What are Anton and his girlfriend like?"

"Why are you asking?"  Hayley questioned, honestly confused.  How had this conversation gotten away from her?

"Because you're all family.  Distant family right now, but family.  So..." Kim said pushing it.  Hayley couldn't help but to smile and she was surprised when she looked at the time when they were finished and realized they'd been talking for a few hours.  She acknowledged that she probably shouldn't have been as surprised as she was.  After all, Billy had basically done the same thing.

Chapter Text

Elsa did, of course, call as Hayley knew she would and just like Delphine, she also became a fixture around Anton's house.  Considering that she was a school counselor, she had her own paperwork to take care of which meant that a lot of the time, there was just a nice work atmosphere around everyone. 

At this point, Hayley tended to split her time between work, school, and Ranger projects.  She had a better grasp on time than Tommy did and often made sure that he wasn't forgetting anything on top of the rest of her responsibilities.  She also knew which classes he was faster in and which he wasn't.  Elsa, on the other hand, didn't know this at all.  She looked over her paperwork at Tommy curiously.  Hayley watched the interaction between the two, ready to interfere if it went poorly.  "Tommy?"

He looked up at her.  "Hmm?"

"Did you realize that you've been reading that page for five minutes?"  She asked.  He stopped and looked a little embarrassed.

"Just making sure I know it," he answered.  Elsa bit her lip and then nodded, going back to her work.  Hayley looked intrigued while Tommy just looked curious.  "Why?"

"Well, you do great with Anton," she said.  "You get into it and you don't tend to get distracted.  You just seem to have a harder time with other subjects."

He shrugged.  "I have a bad memory.  I lose things and I lose track of time sometimes.  Somethings are just easier to focus on and when they aren't, Hayley makes me do them."

"Sometimes?"  Hayley muttered.

"Shut up, Hayley," he muttered back.

"What sort of things do you have trouble with?"  Elsa asked, seemingly ignoring the two's argument.

"Just stuff," he answered.  "Science is great. Hayley and I talked about dinosaurs for two hours once but English just goes over my head half the time.  If I set a book down, I'll never find it again.  I'm always late.  I have trouble with faces.  Like I said, just stuff."

"Faces?"  She asked.  Tommy grinned.

"I'm good with other Rangers," he said.  "But Hayley has me write down their phone numbers so I don't forget them.  With other people, it's about a 50/50 chance that I'll remember a name and face but if they change their hair color or something, I'm sunk."

"What's wrong, Elsa?"  Hayley finally asked.

"I'm not a doctor," she said.  "So I can't know for certain, but I have seen this sort of pattern with students.  Tommy, have you ever been tested for ADHD?"

He shook his head.  "Does it matter?"

"Not unless it's deeply affecting you and you want to get checked out," she assured him.  Hayley wondered if she believed that or if she was just trying not to upset him.  She figured it didn't really matter either way.  "Even if you don't, there are some methods I have that could help you out a bit better."

He winced.  "My friends tried that when we were younger.  It didn't work well."

Elsa winced back.  "I can imagine.  If you change your mind, let me know."

He nodded, relaxing a bit when she didn't push it.  Both of them went back to doing their work.  In the coming months, however, Hayley noticed that Tommy did start to ask her for help on things which she happily gave.  She didn't tell him what to do, but gave him the tools he needed to succeed.  He had managed to function, but even he noticed this was a better system for him.  Elsa had gently pulled both Anton and Hayley aside and warned them not to tease Tommy about certain aspects of his disorder especially the face blindness and bad memory.  Both easily agreed.

When it came to Hayley, there was little the older woman advised her on to begin with.  It wasn't until Elsa shut the door to a closet they were looking in that their relationship shifted.  Hayley's eyes had gone wild and she'd thrown open the door before calming down.

"Hayley?  Are you alright?"  Elsa asked gently.  Hayley tried to collect herself.

"I don't like shut doors," she answered.  "They make me... I was trapped in one once.  On Aquitar.  During a fight."

Elsa nodded, not pushing her to explain further.  "I see.  Is this why you don't have your own lab?"

"Anton and I never really talked about it," she admitted.  "And it just doesn't come up."

"Hayley, you can't avoid small rooms forever," she said gently.  Elsa was absolutely wrong about that.  Hayley was extremely good at avoiding small rooms.

"I'm fine unless I feel trapped," she offered.  Elsa sighed.

"All of you need some therapy," she warned.

"Good luck with that," Hayley said.  "What am I supposed to say?  I went to an alien planet and got trapped in a room with my alien girlfriend?"

"Maybe you could leave out the alien part," Elsa suggested.  Hayley shook her head and Elsa sighed.  "I'll help you with getting through an attack, but you need a therapist who is qualified for this sort of thing."

"It's not a big deal," Hayley said.  Elsa looked at her.

"You're planning on having Rangers one day, right?"  She asked.

"Well, more Tommy does.  I just make things," she said.  Elsa tried hard not to sigh.

"Well, what happens if something of theirs breaks in a small and cramped area?"  She asked.  Hayley was quiet.  "Listen, it can't hurt to learn to cope, right?"

"Right," Hayley finally agreed.  Elsa began and Hayley had to admit that it would be useful for later.

***

"You are setting a terrible example for Tommy and Hayley," Elsa informed her boyfriend, standing over the couch where he had ended up passing out on.  Tommy and Hayley both were nodding solemnly while trying not to laugh.  Anton was trying not to get caught looking like he wanted to kill the pair of them.  They were absolutely not about to help him.

"They are full grown adults who make their own choices," he grumbled. 

"Really," she said dryly.  "While I would normally agree with you, that didn't stop you from scolding Hayley on her diet."

"I just wanted her to eat something that had an ounce of nutrition," he muttered.

"Or snapping at Tommy to get his homework done," she continued.

"He was my intern.  I have a reputation to keep," Anton continued. 

"So you can start showing them the better way to take care of themselves by doing it yourself," she said firmly.  "As you continually remind me, you are the eldest.  So start acting like it.  Hayley, Tommy, are you two busy?"

"No, Elsa," they said together as innocently as possible.  Oh, Anton was absolutely going to kill them later.

"Good.  I think that we should make dinner and spend the night to make sure he stays asleep," she directed.  Both of them nodded solemnly.  "I'll go get supplies.  Do you think you two can keep him down?"

"I'm a former Ranger and Hayley knows how to dismantle his car if he tries," Tommy reassured her.  "He'll stay down."

Elsa smiled at them both and headed out the door.  Neither Hayley nor Tommy were stupid and managed to keep themselves together until after they couldn't hear the car anymore.  Then they were both laughing.  Hayley put her hands on her hips.

"I told you to sleep," she told him.  "Three times.  I got you a blanket."

"This is why I listen to Hayley," Tommy said.

"You listen to me half of the time," she said.

"Half of the time more than I listen to anyone else," he argued.  She couldn't disagree with that.  "And Hayley and Elsa are right.  You passed out."

"It's worse than it looks," he grumbled.  "And I had a breakthrough."

"Which we can go over tomorrow," Hayley said, folding her arms.

"I was intending to have a far longer talk about you two being traitors tomorrow," he informed them, glaring at them both.

"It was for your own good," Hayley said, managing to keep her voice sounding rational and less gleeful about vengeance she was getting from him taking her poptarts. 

"For goodness sake, Hayley!  You were trying to spend three days living off poptarts and coffee," he told her.

"Only because you insisted I needed food.  I was perfectly happy with the coffee," she argued.  

"There are days I worry about what would have happened if I hadn't gotten involved," he said.  "And this would be one of those days if the two of you hadn't turned on me."

Tommy grinned at him.  "Look at the bright side:  Hayley will eat actual food, you'll know that I'm not doing anything supposedly stupid, and we'll all get some sleep tonight."

Anton was quiet for a moment and then sighed.  "You're both forgiven."

***

Hayley looked at the island that Anton had acquired with interest, specifically at one of the plants, not touching it considering that she didn't know what it was.  "Are these actual prehistoric plants?"

"No," Anton assured her, though he did look regretful over it.  "Just the modern equivalent.  Without the dinosaurs being able to eat, it wouldn't make sense to go that far with it."

Hayley had put all of her focus on working on the tech so she hadn't been involved in the 'island finding expedition' as Tommy had nicknamed it.  The other two had looked over various islands trying to find one that was out of the way of prying eyes while also being the right size for housing biomechanical dinosaurs.  If Hayley looked curiously over everything, Tommy looked far too excited over the entire idiotic idea.  "We can set up the actual lab here!  There's plenty of space for it!"

"I'm still extremely confused why we think this is a good idea," Elsa said.  "Have none of you watched Jurassic Park?"

"I voted for a non-biological variety of Zords," Hayley said.  "But Tommy and Anton think this will be better so I was outvoted."

"We didn't outvote you," Anton said.

"No, we outvoted her," Tommy said, agreeing with her.  "Because she was wrong."

"You say that now, but when you two get chased down by a T-Rex, don't come crying to me," she said.  Elsa sighed.

"At least it should stay on the island.  I mean, you're planning on only making land dinosaurs, right?"

"I am absolutely only planning to make land dinosaurs," Tommy told her.  Hayley considered letting Elsa know that Pterasaurs weren't technically dinosaurs and, therefore, wouldn't fall into that but she realized that if she didn't say it, then she could watch Elsa get mad at him later which would be hilarious.  Besides, Elsa wasn't going to talk him out of it.  Instead, she looked at Anton.

"Where are you going to put them?"  She asked, motioning to the case in his hand.

"In the lab when it's built," he said.  She nodded, trying to look nonchalant, but he just smiled as he read through her fake disinterest.  He opened the case and she looked at the gems within.

"Oh," she said, reaching for one but Tommy grabbed her wrist before she could.  She glared at him, rubbing her wrist slightly.

"Sorry, Hales, but we think they might bond on impact," he told her.  She pulled her hand back and nodded.

"Might?"  Elsa asked.  "You don't know?"

"We need to do a lot more research on it," Anton said.

"We found them in a cave," Tommy agreed.  "I can feel the Power from them, but that's it.  We can work on them and the biozords at the same time."

"They aren't hurrying through this," Hayley assured her.  "This is why we're setting it up on an island."

"Aren't you against this island?"  She reminded her.

"Extremely," she answered.  "But I won't have to be here because good and sane Techs stay off Dino Island."

"So do good and sane moral support school counselors," Elsa said. 

"I think Delphine wants to see later, but Aquitian or not, she's still a Power Ranger and prone to bad life choices," Hayley said.  Tommy glared at her.  She ignored him.

"Good luck with the island, boys," Elsa said.  "Hayley and I will cheer you on from a distance."

Hayley made a note that other than joining their team and giving her a job, dating Elsa was the best decision that Anton had ever made.

***

There were good points and bad points about working for someone you knew.  For Hayley, part of it was making sure that it didn't look like she wasn't qualified for the job she had.  Regardless of Anton's opinion on it, she found herself doing about twice the work to try to impress her colleagues.  Tommy had called her on it once while they were studying at Anton's.  The older man had opened his house to both of them and having the option to go swimming in the pool or watching a much larger television during their brief downtime appealed to both of them.  Besides, no matter what they bought to eat, Anton often had more of a selection and often a healthier variety.  So when Tommy asked her to join him for a swim and she turned him down, he protested against her working too hard.

"My classmates already don't think I should be there.  Most of the people I work with don't think so.  There are days when I think if I wasn't working for Anton, I wouldn't have a job," she said.

"But you're great," Tommy said.  "You even said that Billy and you are on the same level."

"It doesn't matter how well I do," she said tiredly.  She looked ready to drop it but Tommy looked at her.

"Why?"  He asked.  She rolled her eyes and looked down at her chest before looking back up at him.  He blinked.

"Seriously?"  He asked, looking disgusted.  "Half of the galaxy would kill to work with you and these idiots turn you away because you're a girl?!"

"Pretty much," she said.  Tommy looked ready to take on the world.  "There are some fights that you can't win, Tommy."

"And there are some I'm willing to try," he grumbled, but he did mostly drop it.  "No wonder you loved Aquitar."

"Yeah," she said.  "But then I'd be missing half my family.   Besides, Elsa commiserates with me."

"Her too?"  Tommy asked.  He paused.  "Hey Hayley?  We should make a study on whether or not the Power adheres to stupid sexist practices of the planet it's making Rangers on."

"Will it keep you from attacking half of my coworkers?"  She asked.

"Maybe."

"Tommy!"

"Fine."

"We'll start it in the morning," she assured him.  Tommy relaxed at that and went back to his own work.  Regardless of calming him down, she did continue to push herself to get more done.  She was extremely focused on her work to the point where she  jumped as a hand touched her shoulder.  She looked up to see Elsa looking back at her with concern.

"It's one in the morning," she told her.

Hayley blinked a few times. "Right, I'll just finish this up..."

"Hayley," Elsa said. "It will still be there tomorrow. Anton will understand if it takes you a bit longer."

"What am I being understanding about?" Anton asked as he headed into the kitchen. He blinked. "Hayley, did you know it is one in the morning?"

"Elsa mentioned it," she said. "Did Tommy leave already?"

"Tommy is sleeping on my couch again. I thought you'd sensibly left," he grumbled. Elsa gave him a look.

"If someone wouldn't send a bad example, then his former intern and his employee wouldn't follow suit, Anton Mercer."

"I sleep," he informed her.

"Sometimes," she argued back. "You know that being up that long is going to make Tommy's ADHD worse. And Hayley hyperfocuses."

"Hayley, start setting alarms for when it's time to stop," Anton instructed. At Elsa's look, he held up his hands. "I'll do the same."

"Good," Elsa said and looked at Hayley sternly.

"And I was done," she said quickly. "I'll go wake up Tommy."

"I'll drive you both home," Elsa said, turning to Anton. "You'd better be in bed when I get back."

"I can do that," he grinned.

"Anton!" She said and Hayley didn't bother trying not to laugh. "Stop encouraging him."

"Sorry, Elsa," she said. "I'm probably just tired. Tommy! Wake up!"

Tommy grumbled and she pushed him off the couch. "Hayley!"

"You were taking too long," she informed him. "And Elsa is driving us home."

"I can drive," he grumbled. "I'm good at driving."

"Some of us have actually slept today," Elsa said, picking up his bag and handing it to him. She motioned with her head to get into the car.  Both of them did as they were told, keeping quiet.  "One day, you two are going to be in charge of a Power Ranger team of your own.  Would you want them staying up until all hours?"

"No, Elsa," they both said together.  It was just easier to go along with it. 

"Listen, I have enough to worry with when it comes to the kids at the school.  Please stop making me worry about you two when I get home," Elsa said.  Hayley chuckled.

"Good luck with that.  All Rangers are messes," she offered.

"You're not any better," Tommy fought back.

"We don't know if that's a Tech problem or a Hayley problem," Hayley said with a shrug.  "Probably a Tech one, but we need a larger sample size than Angela and me."

"And Billy," Tommy pushed.

"Billy was a Ranger first," Hayley said gleefully.  "So he doesn't count."

"Guys, just lie to me tonight that you're actually adults?"  Elsa begged, though Hayley could see their friend was a little amused.

"We'll try," Hayley gave her instead.  Tommy shrugged and nodded his agreement at that.  She rolled her eyes and laughed.

"I'll take it," she said.  The rest of the trip was relaxed and even enjoyable which was probably for the best considering the shake up that was about to happen.

Chapter Text

"I'm not saying that your heart isn't in the right place with this, Anton, but are you sure this is a good idea?"  Hayley asked, looking over at the passed out teen on the couch.  She really didn't want to push considering that she understood that Anton had to be equally nervous about the whole thing.  When he had called the two in a panic, she hadn't been expecting to learn that there had been an accident at the dig and that he needed their help with an actual teenager.  "What does Elsa think about being a new mom?"

"Elsa and I are going to take a small break while Trent gets settled," Anton answered.  At Hayley's look, he held up a hand.  "It was a mutual decision.  We aren't married, Hayley, and if something happened, well, it might make things worse for Trent.  We're going to pick it back up when we're all feeling more confident."

"So you're going to try to do this solo?"  Tommy asked. 

"I'm not sure I appreciate you implication there," Anton said in annoyance.  Hayley quickly intervened.

"It's just that you've never raised a child before," she said.  "Let alone a teenager.  It's a lot to take on."

"It's my fault he lost his parents," Anton said.  "I couldn't just let him go into the system."

"Good call," Tommy said, memories of Justin flooding back.

"And how are you going to handle school for him when you go on your digs?"  She asked.

"We can do what he was doing before," Anton said and Hayley sighed.

"Anton, his parents were probably homeschooling him," she said.

"Then I'll homeschool him," Anton said.

"While you're trying to deal with the dig and your business?"  She asked.  He sat down.

"Or this was a terrible idea," he admitted.  She sighed. 

"It's fine," she said.  "It's just going to take a lot of work and we're going to have to figure this out."

Tommy stood next to her and nodded in agreement.  Anton just looked at them.  "You two are going to help?"

"Well, it sounds like you need it," Hayley said with a shrug.  "And Trent needs a lot of support.  Having more people in his life will help."

Anton looked over at Trent.  "You're both..."

"Family," Tommy said firmly.  "We're family.  If you're going to raise a kid, then Hayley and I are going to help."

Hayley nodded and Anton looked a lot more relieved by the whole thing.  He obviously wanted to do the right thing, but he also obviously wasn't sure about what that was at the moment.  That was fine.  Neither did she.  She did go and grab a notebook and came back in.  "So, you're in charge, Anton.  Tommy and I will help, but this is still your project."

"I don't think we're supposed to call 'adoption' a 'project'," Tommy informed her.

"We do when it helps Anton focus on things," she answered.  Tommy shrugged and then nodded, motioning for her to continue.  She did so.

"We need a plan for schooling," Hayley said.  "I would suggest a tutor so that you don't have to worry if you want him to join you on digs."

"I can accept that," Anton agreed.  "Hayley, would you be willing to watch him when Tom and I are working on the island since you refuse to come."

"I draw the line at seeing the dinosaurs we're making and dying," she said.  "And since I also don't want him dying, I can handle that.  Just don't put most of it on me.  I'm not ready to be a mom."

He nodded.  "We'll look into it then."

Hayley motioned for them to follow her out of the room.  They would still be able to see him, but she knew that this next question was likely to get heated.  "What do you want to tell him about what we're doing?"

"I don't," Anton said.  Tommy sighed.

"That's not going to work," he said.  "We're going to have to tell him something."

"Tommy is right," Hayley said.  "Well, somewhat.  We don't have to tell him everything right away, but we should be honest when he asks.  He doesn't have a choice in this and he's scared.  We need to make sure that he doesn't feel like we're lying to him."

"And what if he wants to be involved?"  Anton asked.

"Okay," said Tommy.

"No," said Hayley.

"I'm glad we're in agreement," said Anton sardonically.

"He's not much younger than we were," Tommy pushed.

"Yes, and you are a beacon of mental health," Hayley informed him sarcastically.  "We can let him know without letting him be involved.  When he's an adult, then it can be his choice.  And we go slow with it.  Delphine and I will have to be a little more long distance for a bit."

"He'll be involved anyway," Tommy warned.

"At least then it won't be our fault," Hayley said.  Anton nodded.

"I agree with Hayley," he said.  It took every ounce of Hayley's willpower not to stick her tongue out at Tommy.  "So, we'll get everything set up and...  I'm a father."

"Anton?"  Hayley asked worriedly.

"Are you alright?"  Tommy asked.  Anton nearly fell into the chair near him and Hayley was certain if it hadn't been there, he would have fallen to the floor instead.

"I'm a father," he said again.  "Hayley is already finding holes in my plan, Tom is concerned that I'm going to mess this up, and the closest I've ever come to parenting is making sure you two don't starve to death."

"Start with that," Hayley suggested.  "And we figured out 'don't let him help with Rangering' which is probably a very good parenting decision."

Tommy glared at her considering what her answer had been before looking back at Anton in concern.  "Maybe you should lie down, man."

Hayley didn't disagree with him.  "You look a little overloaded.  Listen, we'll be fine.  We'll just take it one day at a time and work together."

***

Trent was quiet.  That was the first take away that Hayley had about the teen.  He was quiet and nervous and in the middle of mourning.  He seemed to understand that this was the best case scenario for him but he wasn't sure how to react.  Between Anton and Tommy, Hayley was just trying to figure out how to reach him and was their best case scenario.

"You need to have dinner," she said softly.  "Will you eat with the rest of us?"

"Fine," Trent answered. 

"You know, if you let us know some of you favorite foods..." she started and he looked at her.

"You don't have to care.  You're not my mom," he reminded her.  She sighed.

"I know I'm not.  And I'm not that much older than you," she told him.  "But you're a member of this family now and we may be new at this but we all know that 'make sure the teen doesn't starve to death' is important.  And that's easier if you like eating."

He glared at her.  "The other two at least try not to push."

"I did try," she said.  "And that wasn't working so now I'm pushing it."

Trent sulked, but he was at least going along with it.  It was also at least an emotion other than fear.  Maybe he figured that she didn't count anyway.

Anton shot her a thankful look and tried not to make a big deal out of the whole thing.  Tommy did his best to try to get Trent to talk.  Hayley just noted how much he was eating and gave him a look when he tried to get up before a specific amount.  It was awkward and horrible and none of them like it.

But the next day was a little easier.  And the next week was.  And then the next month.  Eventually, it reached a point where it wasn't horrible anymore.  Tommy and Hayley would slip out after Trent went to sleep only to be back after school the next day.  It worked.  Tommy and Hayley often kept Trent company until Anton came home and the four had dinner together.  It became rhythmic.

So it was a surprise when Trent came to them looking bewildered and like his entire world was turned upside down.  "There's an alien in the garden."

Tommy looked at Hayley accusingly.  "I thought that you told Delphine to wait."

Hayley looked far grimmer.  "I did."

Tommy's face whitened too.  "Just outside?"

"Uh huh.  We know an alien?"  He asked.

"We know several," Hayley answered, following Tommy out.  Trent trailed after.  Aurico looked back at them, looking somewhat relieved that they were there.

"Hayley, Tommy," he said, greeting both of them.  "I know you asked us to stay away, but there was a fight and I need your help."

"What happened?"  Hayley asked.  "Delphine..."

"Injured, but overall, she is fine.  She just isn't able to assist us at the moment.  Neither is Cestro," Aurico said worriedly.

"It sounds bad," Hayley said and looked over at Trent who was just watching in a mix of confusion and awe.  She could have sworn.  "Anton is gone for the weekend, Aurico.  He's back tonight, but we can't leave Trent."

Aurico tried to hide the panicked disappoint he had.  Tommy swallowed.

"Maybe I can still go and help?"  He suggested, glancing at Hayley.  He didn't want to just leave, but it sounded like they were out-manned.  Hayley nodded.

"Of course," she said.  "And I'll help from here..."

"Go where?"  Trent asked.  They both turned to tell him not to worry about it, but he gave them a look.  "It's obviously really bad.  We'll just leave Anton a note."

Hayley bit her lip, going between ideas and then looked at Aurico.  "How dangerous is Aquitar right now?"

"It should be completely safe," he assured her.  "Our battle is no where near the Corridors."

"Why can't Billy handle it?"  She asked.

"Because he's with the rest of the team trying to repair damages there," he answered.  Normally she'd be concerned that he was downplaying it, but this was Aurico.  He'd been there during that fight and he knew the impact it had on her.  If he insisted it was safe, then it was safe.  Hayley looked at Trent.

"You stay by me, understand?"  She said.  "And if I tell you to run, you do it."

"Yes, Hayley," he said quickly.  She sighed.

"Write the note," she said and looked at Tommy.  "Anton is going to murder us."

"Oh yeah," Tommy said.

"So make sure you live so I don't have to die alone," she said.

"Right," he said as Trent came running back.  Hayley gently pulled Trent to her and nodded to Aurico.  It wasn't until they had transported that she realized that Tommy hadn't needed to go get a morpher which should have probably worried her worse than it did.  She broke off from Aurico and Tommy, squeezing their hands in luck, before dragging Trent behind her toward Billy's lab.

"This is probably going to be boring," she admitted as she booted up the computer.  "I'm sorry I don't have anything for you to do right now."

There was silence for a minute and Hayley looked up, relieved he was still there.  He just looked at her.  "Is there anything I can help with?"

He looked far more upset than bored or any other emotion that he had every right to feel.  She took a chance.  "Maybe Cestra needs some help."

"I thought I was supposed to stay with you," he reminded her.  She tried to ignore the thoughts of collapsing walls and water seeping in.

"You'll be safe with Cestra," she answered instead.  "I just want to know where you are."

"Okay," he answered as Hayley opened the door.

"Cestra?"  Hayley asked.  The Aquitian looked up from what she was doing and relaxed a bit.

"Thank the Power you're here," she said softly.  "Delphine and Cestro will be fine."

"They will," Hayley agreed forcefully, knowing that Cestra needed to hear it as much as she did.  Cestro was her brother after all.  "This is Trent.  I need to work the computers, but he wants to help."

"I could use a nurse," she answered, giving him a smile.  She looked at Hayley.  "No one will blame you if you want to see her."

Hayley chose to be selfish and nodded.  She knew that Trent was following her and this certainly wasn't how she wanted him to find out about any of this, but she needed to see her.  Delphine didn't look too bad, certainly better than she had the last time they had ended up here but she was unconscious at the moment.  Likely to quicken the healing process to get her back out into the field quicker.  She didn't know what to say, her mind just not picking anything.  She leaned down and kissed Delphine.

"I'll see you soon," she said, deciding that was good enough.  "I need to get back."

"I'll keep an eye on Trent," Cestra assured her.  "Thank you, Hayley."

She was only able to nod.

***

The entire thing went uneventfully.  Hayley coordinated with Billy, who was thrilled to have someone watching over everything back at the base and Tommy was able to help keep things at bay until the Aquitians could fully take back over.

"We're sending Tommy back now," Billy informed her over the screen.  "I need to finish up here..."

"It's okay.  We'll catch up the next time I'm able to visit," she promised.  "Hopefully with fewer problems."

"One can hope," he agreed.  "Safe travels."

"May the Power protect you," she answered and hung up, heading to the infirmary to grab Trent.  She found him talking with Cestra and smiled from the doorway.  "Tommy's on his way back.  We need to go."

"Thank you," Cestra, said, pulling the other woman into a hug.  "We know the risk you took."

"We're family," Hayley assured her.  "Please have Delphine call me when they're done."

"Of course," she said.

"Are you really dating an Aquitian?"  Trent asked after they'd headed back to the teleporter.

"I'm dating Delphine.  She has a name," Hayley scolded.

"Is she really a Power Ranger?"  He asked.  Hayley sighed.  Anton was so going to kill them.

"Yes," she said.  "She's the leader of the Aquitian Rangers.  They helped out on Earth once."

"And you're a Power Ranger?"  He asked.

"No!"  She said.  "I'm a Tech.  I work on technological stuff to make sure the Power Rangers can do what they need to do."

"Is Tommy a Power Ranger?"  He asked.

"No," she said, feeling justified in that answer considering he was technically retired.

"Was he at one point?"  Trent pushed, seeing right through her plan.

"Yes," she answered.  "That's why they asked for his help."

"Were you ever going to tell me?  Does Anton know?"  He asked.  Hayley motioned to the seat.

"We were going to tell you when you were more comfortable with us," she answered.  "It's why Delphine hasn't come to visit either.  We wanted to make sure things were more stable first.  But just because things didn't go the way we expected, that doesn't mean we don't trust you.  We made the decision to have you come with and you helped Cestra."

"So why is Anton going to be mad?"  Trent asked.

"Because we, being the supposedly responsible adults, decided to let his fourteen year old son travel across the galaxy without asking," she answered.

"Didn't Tommy say you're barely legal to drink?"  Trent asked. 

"If that's your way of saying 'Shouldn't Anton have left me with better adults', the answer is yes," she answered.  "And Tommy is a jerk.  I've been allowed to drink for six months.  I think."

"You think?"  He asked.  "How do you not know how old you are?"

"Remind me to explain the difference between regular time and Ranger time," she told him.  He paused.

"It's going to be weird, isn't it?"  He asked.

"You have no idea," she agreed.  She saw Tommy rushing toward them and was relieved he was in one piece.  "Ready?"

"No," both of them answered.  She sighed.

"Next time Anton adopts someone, he owes me a sister," she grumbled.  Trent just tried not to laugh as Tommy rolled his eyes.  The teleporter activated soon after.  Both of them were surprised to see Anton pacing when they arrived, realizing that he's gotten back either than they intended.  Tommy actually took a step back at Anton's glare.  Hayley looked at Trent.

"So, room?"

"Right," he said, running off.  Anton looked like he was considering calling after him, but decided against it.  Hayley, on the other hand, was pretty sure this could go halfway well as long as they didn't say anything stupid.

"We did the right thing, Anton," Tommy said.  Like that.  Hayley wasn't about to try leaving, but she considered that by the time Anton got done tearing apart Tommy, that he might just forget she existed.

"How is taking my teenage son on a trip to another planet without asking 'the right thing', Thomas Oliver?"  He snapped.  Hayley could practically feel the shift in temperature in the room.

"It was an emergency," she answered.  "Tommy suggested he could go alone, but I wouldn't have what I needed here."

"Hayley..." Tommy hissed, seeing what she was saying and trying to shut her up.  She had made the call so she should deal with it.  "I backed her."

"People would have died!"  Hayley argued.  Tommy quickly intervened this time.

"But not where Hayley and Trent was," he said.  "She made sure of that before she agreed."

"How could you be sure?"  Anton asked her.  She met his eyes.

"Because I couldn't have gone right now if I wasn't," she said.  "Let alone bring Trent."

"I need some time to process," he finally said.  "Just... go home.  Both of you."

They both did so.  As they reached the door, Anton called out.  "How much does Trent know?"

"Aliens exist, Power Rangers exist, Tommy used to be a Power Rangers, and I'm a Tech," she answered.  "Basic answers.  He understands why you didn't tell him yet."

He nodded and they headed out.  Tommy gently pulled her to him and she wasn't sure if he though she or he needed the comfort more.

***

"How long can he stay mad anyway?"  Tommy grumbled.  "It's been a while."

"We took his son to another planet," Hayley reminded him.  "He gets to be mad for as long as he wants."

"Oh stop pretending like you're okay with it," Tommy said.  "We should have argued when he asked us to leave."

"That would have made things better," she snarked.

"At least we wouldn't be waiting to figure out what he wants," Tommy argued.  "It would have been settled."

Hayley looked at him and readjusted her feelings slightly.  "He's going to forgive us, Tommy.  He's still trying to figure all of this out too."

They heard the knock on the door and Hayley went to answer it.  With their luck, it would be the landlord and Tommy would get them kicked out in the mood he was in.  She nearly blinked.  "Anton."

"What does he want?"  Tommy sniped.

"Ignore him," Hayley said to Anton regarding Tommy.  "Come in."

She was going to have to be the reasonable one.  She could already tell.  It never really felt fair that she had to take that role, but considering how often Anton had to deal with Tommy and her banter, it was probably fair.  It was less fair with Tommy because he never had to get in between Hayley and Anton because they weren't the drama queens. 

"Thank you," Anton said, heading inside.  He headed in and shut the door behind him.  Hayley wondered if she looked at nervous as she felt.  Tommy was just as nervous but was trying to hide it with anger.  Anton was masking his own feelings.  This was why they never got anything done in Hayley's opinion.  "I'm not sure where to start."

"You can start with telling us if we're ever allowed back," Tommy answered, trying to sound casual about it.  He failed.  She was hoping her own anxiety wasn't showing but Anton's look when he turned to her told her that she wasn't hiding it well.

"Of course you are," he grumbled.  He turned to Tommy first, recognizing that he likely needed them comfort before Hayley did.  She did her best not to mind since he was probably right.  "I'm mad at you, yes, but something like this wouldn't make me want to abandon the two of you."

"Oh come on, Anton!  We're difficult, we went behind your back, we half-way live at your house, we nearly ruined your relationship with Elsa when it started," Tommy said, counting off the things.  Anton sighed.

"I'm pretty sure Elsa would have told you that you're projecting," he said.  "That you run away from others before they can run away from you or some rubbish."

"She told that about you too, huh?"  Hayley asked.  He gave her a look.  "You and Tommy are way too alike some times."

It seemed to take the wind out of his sails a bit and Hayley considered that to be a temporary win.  Anton turned back to Tommy.  "Hayley and you are the only family I have other than Trent.  I'm not thrilled, but I'm also not happy with all three of you being mad at me either."

"I'm not mad at you," Hayley offered.  He looked at her in surprise.  "You're right to be mad.  Yes, I would have made the same call if I had to do it again, but that doesn't mean you have to be okay with it."

"Yes he does," Tommy grumbled.

"No he doesn't," Hayley said.  She headed over to Anton.  "I promise you, we did everything as safely as we could."

"I know," Anton said tiredly.  "But when I saw that note, it terrified me."

She just nodded and let him get through it.  Even Tommy seemed to have calmed down.  "So, let's have the discussion."

"What discussion?"  Anton asked.

"The 'where do we go from here' discussion," she answered.  "The 'how do we handle things the next time an emergency comes up' question."

"It's going to be rare that Hayley is involved," Tommy said.

"But I was this time and planning it out is probably best," she argued.  "And since Anton is the parent..."

"I think I always considered that if there was an emergency on Earth, that you would take him.  But this time, this time was different because I couldn't get there," he admitted.  Hayley nodded, understanding that.

"Alright," she said.  "The first thing we do is get Anton a communicator."

"What about Trent?"  Anton asked and Hayley shrugged.

"We'll get him one when he starts going more places," she answered.  "That way, Tommy doesn't have to worry about him calling his ex-boyfriend yet."

"Hayley!"  Tommy squawked.

"We probably should have done this earlier," she admitted.  "I just didn't think about it."

"It will help," he answered.  "And I can answer you right away."

"It will also make it easier for Cestro to teleport you to Aquitar," she reminded him.  "Just in case."

He did relax a bit at that.  "Thank you."

"So," she said, looking far more relaxed.  "How mad is he?"

"He's not speaking to me," Anton admitted.  Hayley patted his arm.

"Let's go talk to him then," she said gently.  "Tommy, do not rile Trent up."

"I'm not going to rile him up!"  Tommy grumbled.  Hayley rolled her eyes and looked back at Anton.

"You know that eventually Trent's going to start bantering with us, right?"  She asked.  "We are his older siblings."

"I'm dreading it," Anton answered without any malice, reminding Hayley that he did the same with them.

Trent was in his room when they returned and Anton knocked.  Trent didn't answer.  Hayley sighed.  "Trent, please come out so we can all talk."

Trent's door opened quickly and he took in her and then Tommy before looking more relaxed.  It seemed that Anton and Tommy weren't the only two worried about getting abandoned.  They were all so bad at this.  "Are you staying?"

"As long as we usually do," she answered.  "But we need to talk about everything that happened so we have a plan for the future."

"So you're coming back?"  He asked, looking relieved.  Anton took over.

"I was mad at Hayley and Tommy, but they're my family.  I'm not just going to make them leave forever because I was mad," he assured him.  "And I wouldn't do that to you either."

"I don't want to worry about people I care about leaving," he said quietly.  Anton nodded.

"You have us now.  We'll figure this out together," Anton offered.  Hayley hoped it wasn't too much of a promise that they wouldn't die like Trent's parents had.  After all, for all that she cared about Tommy, he wasn't the best at avoiding danger and she did worry that his luck would eventually run out.  Anton swallowed and put his arms out, relieved when Trent rushed into them.  He wasn't the only one relieved as Hayley shared a look with Tommy.  After Trent was done, he moved on to the other two, giving them similar affection.  It was a start.  And there were fewer secrets now, though they'd have to continue to work through what Trent had found out.  At least they could do it as a family.

***

"So, why can't I meet Elsa?"  Trent asked Hayley.  "Because Anton is so pining for her."

"Because Anton and Elsa think this is the best for you," Hayley answered.  "I, on the other hand, had a good reason for hiding my girlfriend."

"Because she's an... Aquitian?"  Trent asked, making sure to get the last word right.  Hayley nodded.

"It's fine now, but if we were waiting on telling you everything else, it would be hard to tell you why I was dating a woman from another planet," she explained.  "Which is not the case with Elsa."

"So why is it in my best interest?"  He asked.

"Because they're worried something will happen with the relationship and it will hurt you," she answered.  She shrugged.  "They're not wrong, exactly."

"No, but they were dating to begin with and they probably will again," he said.  "It makes more sense that they would just go with it."

"Indulge them," she instructed.  "It's what Tommy and I do."

He gave her the look of someone who had been told 'stop listening to your siblings' several times.  Hayley was slightly insulted by that.  Trent shrugged it off.  "Everyone in this family likes to keep things from each other."

Hayley sighed.  "Look, we have to keep the entire reason we became friends..."

"Family."

"Family in the first place a secret," she reminded him.  "Sometimes, it just kind of affects how we deal with other things too."

"My parents didn't keep secrets," he said softly.

"Yeah," she said.  "But we're not exactly them.  They were a lot better about this."

"You guys could do worse," he offered.  She just glared at him.  "So, do you think that Anton meant what he said about me never having to worry about it again?"

She paused and then smiled softly.  "Trent, he brought you home and pronounced that he intended to adopt you.  Tommy and I informed him of all the problems that entailed and that didn't stop him from wanting to adopt you.  It made him worry that he wasn't going to be able to do enough for you.  So no, he's not just going to give you up."

"And you and Tommy are really sticking around?"  He asked.  She nodded.  He nodded back.  "Alright.  I'll deal with it.  It's still stupid."

"I know," she agreed. 

"Is Delphine going to visit more often?"  He asked.

"She is," Hayley answered.  "She's just still active."

"Does that ever scare you?"  He asked.

"Everyday," she answered.  "Just like it scares me when Tommy runs off."

"You ran off too," he reminded her.

"Not like that," she assured him.  "The point is, you have a family.  A very, very weird family."

"I think I'm fine with that," he said.

"Good," she said, smiling slightly.

***

"There's an island with dinosaurs?"  Trent asked.  Hayley's head shot up at the question.

"What?  Why would you want to know that?  Who told you that?"  She asked, far too quickly and panicked.  The last thing she needed was Trent to go to Dinosaur Island.  "And if there was an island with dinosaurs, no you can't go."

"Anton and Tommy were talking about it when I came inside," he said, just staring at her as if she'd lost her mind.  He probably wasn't far off.  "Is that where they keep going?  To make dinosaurs?"

She was quiet for a minute before grabbing him by the arm without saying a word and tracking both of the men down.  She couldn't kill them.  Killing them would mean she would need to be Trent's new mom and she was not ready for that.  Still, they needed to answer for this as she found them in the foyer discussing something or another that she didn't care about right now because they had apparently been talking about the island not long before.  That, she firmly believed, was more important.  She glared at them from the doorway.  Meanwhile, Trent was glaring at her and trying to push her hand off which he was not succeeding at because she needed to find out exactly how bad the other two had screwed up.

"Why were you two idiots talking about Dinosaur Island in front of Trent?!"  She growled.  Both of them looked pale, telling her that they hadn't been being careful.  Again.  There were days she considered grabbing Trent and running away to Aquitar.  This was one of those days.

"He was listening?"  Anton managed to half-way squeak out.  Hayley glared at him.

"I wouldn't be here talking about it if he wasn't, Anton," she informed him.  "Trent, sit down.  We're all going to have a talk."

"Is this more of the 'hey, we're former Rangers' talk?"  Trent asked, doing as he was told.  Hayley liked to believe that was because he didn't want to mess with her, but she had the feeling it was actually because he wanted to find out more information.  He enjoyed hearing about Tommy's old adventures which Tommy would try to play up as fantastic and Hayley would firmly remind them both of the problems within those stories. 

"Only Tommy is a Ranger," she corrected him.  "But yes.  Yes it is."

Tommy winced.  "Wouldn't it just be better to say 'Stay out of Ranger projects' and be done with it?"

Hayley gave him a look that informed him that he was very, very stupid.  "No."

Anton sighed, rubbing his eyes as he looked at Trent.  "We have been working on creating morphers and Zords for a Power Ranger team.  It involves a lot of research that we have been conducting on an island."

"Dinosaur Island?"  Trent asked.  Anton groaned.

"Hayley!  We told you not to call it that," he muttered.

"And I chose to ignore you," she answered.  "And yes, Trent.  They decided to make an island with dinosaurs.  Dinosaur Island."

Trent was quiet for a minute.  "I mean, I'll be fine.  The kids lived in Jurassic Park but I don't think that movie ended with world peace."

"Which is why you are never, ever allowed on Dinosaur Island," Hayley said firmly.  Anton nodded his agreement.  Tommy didn't, but he also didn't contradict them so she considered that a win for the moment.  "I don't go there either."

"Okay," Trent answered.  "When Tommy and Anton get eaten by dinosaurs, can I live with you?"

"Sure, but we're moving to Aquitar," she answered.  Both of her companions glared at her.  She ignored them.

"Yeah, okay," Trent agreed.  Hayley wrapped an arm around his shoulders and looked at the other two.

"We're going to go do something that doesn't involve putting out lives in danger," she told them firmly, leading him out.  Neither of them were quick enough with a come back.

***

Hayley headed out and blinked when she saw Anton sitting out with Trent asleep beside him.  She gave a small smile.  "What's going on?"

"Nightmare," Anton answered.  "It's not what he said, but it's what's going on.  Are you heading out?"

"I was going to," she agreed.  "But I can wait.  Let me get you something to eat and some drinks.  It's probably going to be a long night."

"Hayley?"  He started and she looked at him.  "He called me dad when he came to find me."

Hayley sat down.  "Well that makes this more real."

He nodded.  "It does."

"Anton?  What if we screw this up?"  She asked quietly.  He offered her the same sort of smile she'd offered him.

"We just won't," he answered.  "That's all there is to it."

"Is that how this works?"  She asked.  He shrugged.

"I don't think there is a specific way that it works," he answered.  "We just do our best not to mess up everything completely."

"Okay," she agreed.

"Okay," he answered.

"What's going on?"  Tommy asked from the doorway.  "I thought we were taking... is Trent okay?"

"This is why I know we'll be okay," Anton said.  "I'm sitting up making sure he's okay and the two of you both were distracted from going home when you saw him lying there.  We'll figure out the rest of it together."

They both nodded, though even Anton's words were somewhat hallow from the fact that they still did not know how to raise a kid.  Trent opened his eyes.  "If you're done talking about me, can we have a movie night?"

Anton nodded.  "Of course.  And we..."

"Were talking about me," Trent said with a yawn.  "It's okay.  You all don't suck that badly."

"Thanks, Trent," Tommy said dryly.  Trent ignored him and looked at Hayley.

"Snacks?"  He asked.  She laughed.

"I'll get them.  Don't pick out a movie you know I hate," she told him.

"Can I pick one that Tommy hates?"  Trent asked.

"Sure," Hayley answered.

"Hey!"  Tommy exclaimed.

"Children..." Anton said wearily.  "I'll pick the movie."

Hayley didn't argue, knowing that Anton wasn't about to pick anything that the three would argue about.  She brought back a tray of junk food and settled in, focusing on the movie and fiddling with the project she'd been working on slightly.  By the time, the movie ended, she blinked blearily.  Trent had fallen asleep against the couch. Hayley considered waking him up, but deciding against it. At least he was sleeping and it didn't look completely uncomfortable. She glanced over to let Tommy know that she was just going to leave Trent there so they should go when she noticed he had fallen asleep in the chair.

"You may as well get some sleep."  She looked tiredly as Anton walked in and gently slipped a blanket over Trent, gently moving his hair from his face.

She yawned. "I can get Tommy up..."

"Lie down, Hayley," Anton said sternly. "The last thing we need is the two people working to save the world in a car wreck."

She moved to do so as he slipped another blanket around Tommy and gave his former student a slightly exasperated look. She knew he was thinking what she was: Tommy was going to wake up, realize how badly he had slept, and then would complain for a few hours. That said, neither of them liked waking him up due to the risk of him getting caught in a dream. So, he left Tommy there. She moved her legs up on the couch, protesting slightly when he took the technology she was working on. "Anton..."

"You can have it back in the morning," he scolded. "You're going to run yourself into the ground."

"Like you do?" She pushed.

"Try to do better than I do," he answered. She stretched her legs a bit.

"You do remember that you adopted only Trent, right?" She teased. He put the blanket over her.

"Good night," he said, not answering her. He gently slipped a pillow under Trent's head, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. "I'm leaving. Do not touch the technology or I won't fund your next idea."

"You will. It works out for you just as much as it does for me," she said confidently.

"I took that into consideration," he said. "Now, good night."

Hayley was pretty sure that there were cameras for security but she wasn't about to find out if he was going to skim through them to find out if she got up again. And, more importantly for her pride, she really was tired.

"I'll tell Dad," Trent murmured next to her.

"Tattletale," she teased. "Go to sleep, Trent."

She did, however, follow suit and fell asleep.

***

"Anton?" Hayley asked, gently knocking on the doorframe. Both Tommy and Anton looked up. "Delphine will be visiting to drop off some technology that Billy and I are doubling up on and because we haven't had a vacation in a while."

"I'll make sure that her pond is prepared," Anton assured her. "Take the next week off."

"Okay," she said, not about to fight him on it. His amused smile told her that he wouldn't let her anyway.

"You never give me time off," Tommy complained.

"I like Hayley better," Anton said dryly. Tommy glared at him. Hayley shrugged.

"I'm less likely to end up in jail if I have free time," she reminded him.

"I wasn't in jail," Tommy grumbled. "Eric was just enthusiastic."

Anton just ignored their banter and nodded for Hayley to get things ready. She did so, making sure that everything was ready to go when Delphine arrived. It wasn't often that they were able to get together on Earth, after all, since Delphine was still an active Ranger. They were still working on and perfecting the teleporters to make it easier though every time, it did seem quicker.

Delphine arrived not long after, heading to the pond and looking it over. Only once had once of Anton's gardeners put chemicals in the water, but now they were all extremely careful about it. Hayley had been furious, Anton had been livid over the entire thing.  Tommy had quickly advised the poor man to quit before either of the other two got to him.  None of the Aquitians had actually used it, but it was the fact that they could have gotten extremely hurt due to one person not listening that was the issue.  Hayley headed up behind her as she checked it over. "How does it look?"

"As it always does: Inviting," she answered. "It is kind of Dr. Mercer to go out of his way to make certain I have a place to stay."

"We got lucky with bosses," she agreed. She reached over and kissed the Aquitian.  Delphine handed her the part they needed.  "Thank you for bringing it."

Delphine's eyes shone with humor. "I should be a courier more often."

Hayley just grinned.

***

"So, what's the difference between an Aquitian Ranger and an Earth Ranger?"  Trent asked, looking excited.  Hayley sketched a newer idea while Delphine played with the water idlely, making different shapes with it.  Hayley was nearly certain that Delphine was doing it to amuse Trent, but she wasn't about to call her out on it.

"Well, I can breathe underwater and Tommy can't," she said.  The fact that she managed to keep a straight face and without a drop of sarcasm while saying it impressed Hayley. 

"Delphine, I know the biological differences between an Aquitian and a human.  Even if I didn't, watching Dad and Hayley get things ready for when you come to visit would have been a crash course," he told her.

"Brat," Hayley said without even lifting her head.

"Worrywart," he said back without even glancing in her direction.  "But are there like Ranger differences?"

"I'm not sure what your father has told you so far," Delphine said carefully, glancing in Hayley's direction.

"It was decided that Trent should know everything because he was going to try to find it out anyway," she answered as if it hadn't been the crazed free for all it had been.  There had been good points on both sides, but they probably hadn't needed to be shouted across the room at each other.  It was also possible that Hayley hadn't needed to throw that pillow into Tommy's stupid face for insisting that knowing about Ranger things was perfectly safe and that he hadn't needed to tackle her off the couch when she had implied that he'd been hit one too many times in the head by a monster.  Possibly Anton hadn't needed to use his CEO voice on the two of them.  Fortunately, they had had the "conversation" when Trent wasn't home so he didn't know that his legal guardian and the two people helping him were literally disasters.  Delphine just nodded.

"Aquitians have had time to prepare and ready ourselves for potential issues.  It's a well-known occupation on Aquitar unlike on Earth where few of your teams were known to be Rangers.  There is schooling, training, and a mentorship.  We tend to keep the title for a great many years before handing it off to our successor.  Because we train them, we always know our successor and are able to help them through the difficulties of becoming a Power Ranger.  Earth Rangers, from what I've seen, go through many powers and teams per Earth decade.  Tommy, for instance, started with the green dragonzord coin, then had the white tiger, then had the white falcon, then was red Zeo, and finally ended up as red Turbo. That would be unheard of on Aquitar.  They also have sixth Rangers which we do not have.  We require stability while Earth Rangers do not.  Throwing a sixth Ranger in would disrupt our flow and team in a way that would take a lot of time to fix.  We also seem to be less impulsive."

"You're telling me," Hayley muttered in response to that one.  Trent gave her an amused look which she promptly ignored.

"Hayley?  Is this why you're dating Delphine?"  He asked.

"I am dating Delphine because she is smart, playful, and patient," Hayley answered.  "Also very attractive and the fact that she won't drag me to see dinosaurs moves her up very high in my book."

"Thank you," Delphine said sardonically, though Hayley did notice her trying to hide an amused smile.  Delphine had mentioned wanting to see the dinosaurs, but she hadn't insisted that Hayley joined her.  Tommy had enthusiastically volunteered to show her whenever she wanted.  "Our Zords also are better equipped for going through water and pressure."

"What about the morphing?"  He asked.

"That is done the same," she assured him.

"So, when Dad, Hayley, and Tommy are trying to create new superheroes, they have to judge it on human terms?"  He asked.  "Or is it like the Green Lanterns where everything is kind of the same."

"A mix," Delphine answered.  "It's less that there is too much thought put into it.  Often, the uniforms are set up for a mixture of aesthetics and function, but the Power itself may tweak it a bit since it becomes part of the grid:  Essentially, each Ranger team is designed to handle a specific threat.  Tell me more of the Green Lanterns and I may be able to explain differences."

"Well, their power is from the lanterns so they need to recharge," he said.

"I suppose that that is similar to when we reach a fight that is... more difficult," she said cagedly.

"You mean when you start to lose?"  Trent asked.  His smirk did fade.  "Isn't that dangerous for the Ranger though?"

"Extremely," Delphine said.  "It's not just an outer force we're working with.  When we demorph, it's to reserve energy."

"How do you get more energy?"  Trent asked, looking less interested and more worried by this point.  Delphine glanced at Hayley, ready to end the lesson but Hayley shook her head.  If they didn't tell him, then he might do something that they would all regret. 

"Sometimes, we need a quick breather.  Other times, just rest," she answered.  Trent wasn't an idiot.

"But if you're in a battle, you don't have that kind of time," he said.

"That is why no Ranger should be on their own," she said.  "If I demorph, I am dependent on my team to finish what I started."

"How often do you lose a Ranger?"  He asked softly. Hayley found herself equally listening for the answer.  Delphine looked serious as she spoke.

"I will not say it ever happens," she said quietly.  "But the numbers are low fortunately.  It is a job that requires fighting, but we also have the best protection available."

"So, I could lose Tommy or Hayley?"  He asked.  Hayley set down what she was doing, but stopped from moving over to him when Delphine gave her a reassuring look.

"It is unlikely with Tommy being retired and Hayley being a Tech," she said gently.  "Active Rangers are usually the only Rangers that tend to lose their lives that way."

"So like you," Trent said, not looking any happier.

"Trent," she said.  "I have been doing this for over twenty Aquitian years.  I have never had a close call that kept me up at night."

"That long?"  He asked.  She nodded.  "Tommy was a Ranger for like what?   A few years?"

"Humans shift through powers.  We do not," she said.  "I understand your concern, but Hayley and Tommy are just as likely to have trouble from normal human problems."

"And you?"  He asked.  She made a heart come up in the water and smiled at him.

"I have no intention of dying," she assured him.  "But I appreciate your concern."

He didn't look mollified really, but he did at least smile.  Hayley couldn't blame him.  His parents hadn't intended to die either.  Hayley stood up and knelt next to Trent, setting a hand on his shoulder while running her hand through the water.  "It gets easier.  And when Delphine has to run into danger and Tommy stupidly follows, you and I can wait together."

"Tommy should not be following," Delphine said.

"Tommy shouldn't do a lot of things," Hayley countered.  Trent just grinned and nodded, the conversation shifting to less serious topics as they all relaxed.

Chapter Text

"How did you lose things on the moon?"  Hayley asked, sounding far more judgemental than she meant to.  Realistically, she was just worried about the entire thing.

"I didn't," Tommy answered.  "Technically Zedd did.  Andros let me know during my 'You need a vacation' adventure."

"I don't know why you're complaining," she told him.  "Anton paid for the entire thing."

"I hate forced vacations," he muttered.  Hayley rolled her eyes.

"We wouldn't have to force you if you would just take them.  Billy is just as bad," she muttered.  "At least Kim wants to continue to live."

He gave her an exasperated look.  "It's weird you talk to Kim."

"You said the same thing about Billy," she reminded him.  "And I let you know that you were wrong then too."

He sighed.  "Look, the point is, I need to go do this.  You know I do."

"I know it," she said.  "Anton mostly knows it.  Trent's not speaking to you though."

"He had to pick now to freak out?"  Tommy groaned.  Hayley shrugged.  "Okay, okay.  I'll talk about it when I get home."

"You should talk with him now," Hayley informed him.  Tommy sighed.

"I don't have enough time.  You're in here while I'm packing," he said.  "When I get back, I'll make it up to him."

"You were supposed to come with us," Hayley reminded him.  "He's scared he's going to lose you and he's upset that you're missing the dig."

"I didn't choose for it to happen right now!"  Tommy protested.  Hayley sighed and pulled him into a hug which he returned.

"I know," she said.  "But I'm not fifteen."

"I'll try to get back in time to see some of it," he promised.  "Are you still mad?"

"Get going," she said, pulling back and shoving his bag into his arms.  "Be careful."

"I'll be back before you know it," he told her.  She waved him off, waiting at the door as he paused before she gave him an encouraging smile and motioned again for him to leave.  He listened this time.  She'd handle Trent and they could fix this when he got back, but the world did need to be saved.  She watched as he took off and turned to Anton who had come up behind her.

"He'll be fine," he reassured her.  "Unless Trent kills him."

"We'll stop him," she said.  "Just because I hate the timing, doesn't mean he isn't right.  I may not agree with this 'Red Rangers only' stupidity he decided on, but he does need to be there when he and Andros have been working on this together."

Anton patted her shoulder.  "Well, let's leave him to it.  We need to get out to the dig."

She made a slight face.  "Did I mention I'm only doing this for Trent?"

"Only several hundreds of times," he answered dryly.  "Come on."

She followed, still not looking thrilled about it.  Still, if Trent wanted time together as a family, she certainly wasn't going to take that from him especially since Tommy had needed to duck out.  She would just handle it as usual.

***

Hayley had almost forgotten that Trent had been doing this sort of thing since he was young.  He still stayed out of most of it, sketching what the others found.  Anton had, thankfully, left her in charge of Trent other than when Anton wanted to show her some weird runes that were on one of the walls.  As much as this was not her forte, she had to admit that it was wonderful watching Anton and Trent in a different element.  Trent seemed more at home and calmer while Anton just seemed brighter than usual as he told her into the ruins that they'd found.

"The runes worry me," she muttered softly.  "I don't know what they mean, but I know enough to know that you don't just put runes in random places."

"I would.  Just to confuse people," Trent informed her.  She gave him a look.

"Normal people don't just put runes in random places," she said, ignoring Trent sticking his tongue out at her.  "It wouldn't be the first time something happened and we ended up with a Tommy type of problem."

Trent looked up this time.  "Do you mean that Tommy is the problem or Tommy has to solve the problem?"

"Yes," she answered.  Trent shrugged and nodded as if that was a fair answer and went back to his drawing.  Anton did his best not to look ready to shake his son and 'sister'.  

"Which is why there's a strict 'don't touch anything without my permission' rule," he assured her.  "Between Rita and Lightspeed's demons..."

She actually shivered a bit and then nodded.  "It's a good..."

The loud bang interrupted whatever she would have said.  She wasn't sure what it was, but she turned her attention toward the room they'd been working in.  She swallowed.  "You can't just work with dinosaur bones?"

"I'm not the paleontologist," he told her.  "I fund all sorts of digs."

It was more nervous chatter than anything else.  The nervous energy was validated when they watched as several people came running out screaming.  Hayley was certain that she hated anthropological digs more than paleontology because it was less likely dinosaur bones would attack them.  She was, of course, only basing that on not getting attacked by dinosaur bones as of that point.   Hayley saw Trent stand up from where he was sitting and made his way over.  She gently grabbed him, stopping him from going into the room.  Anton caught one of the workers.  "What happened?"

Hayley took a step back from Anton at the near growl he gave when he asked.  The worker motioned back.  "Bill... he opened one of the boxes in the chamber.  We told him not to!"

"Get everyone out and let Bill know I will deal with him later," he said.  The man didn't argue.  Anton turned his attention toward the room, mulling it over.

"Anton?"  She whispered.  He turned around and squeezed her arm.

"There's something in there," he told her.  "I can't ask anyone else to do this."

"We could call..." she suggested and he shook his head.

"We don't know what it is.  They might not be able to keep it in there," he reminded her.  She hated that he was right.  Had either of them been thinking straight, they would have called anyway for backup, but Hayley would be the first to admit later that they were not, in fact, thinking straight.  Anton headed in and Hayley moved forward, putting a hand on his back.  She knew full well that this wasn't safe and they shouldn't do this, but they also couldn't just let this thing run free.  Anton was mixed from fuming from what they had done and concerned over what could happen next. They reached the edge of the main chamber and saw the doorway of one of the side chambers.  Hayley looked at Trent.

"Stay out here," she instructed.

"You're going," he argued.

"Trent, listen to Hayley," Anton said. He looked at her, ready to tell her the same but decided against it. Both of them knew she was the closest thing to an expert that they had right now. That said, sticking together was still in their best interests. They headed into the room but didn't see anything. Both of them looked at each other and then, as if the idea appeared to them both at the same time, looked up.

It was the glowing eyes that Hayley noticed first.  Red dots against the ceiling which was far darker than the ground below.  No one was dead in the room, a minor miracle, but there was the box or rather what seemed to be a stone casket was in the middle of the room.  It was opened but abandoned.  It moved slightly and she could see the wings and the inhuman features it had.  Her first consideration was a vampire, but her second as of a bat.  Bats didn't have clawed hands, however on the end of their wings.  Their wings were hands.  The features were wrong as well with an elongated snout, spikes on its back, and strength it shouldn't have had.   It screeched at them and then let go of the ceiling. Both Anton and Hayley scrambled away from where it was landing and she swore that it was smiling from that.

She learned over to Anton.  "I haven't seen this before."

"So it doesn't belong to any of the other Power Rangers?" He asked. The thing made an angrier noise.

"No, but it's sentient," she said.

"Of course I am," it hissed. "Hate Rangers."

"Of course you do," Hayley sighed. Anton didn't glance in her direction.

"Not the time," he reminded her. She disagreed. This definitely seemed like a good time for sarcasm.

"So, you were hating Rangers," she said calmly, motioning for it to continue. It glared at her and Hayley just shrugged. Right now, they needed a plan. They didn't have one of those and they were down any sort of backup. They also absolutely could not let that thing out of the room. A glance at Anton told her that he was thinking the exact same thing. She was the closest thing to an expert and that expertise said you mocked it. She briefly considered she needed to talk to other non-Ranger people and see how they would handle it.  The best that she could achieve was what little she'd been taught with self-defense and using the sarcasm to keep it off its game.  The way she had been taught was ridiculous which seemed on par with what she knew about Power Rangers.

"How dare you mock me!" It screeched. Hayley made a note that monsters seemed to be predictable and also not very creative. She would need a larger sample size to draw from and it was probably something she should be considering when she wasn't face to face with one.

"I wasn't mocking. I was having a conversation," Hayley said, glancing at the walls and just trying to stall. She wasn't sure, but she thought this thing couldn't pass them. She took a step back and was pleased when Anton did the same.

"Lies!" It screeched, diving at her. Hayley moved slightly and tripped it, grabbing Anton's arm. She kicked the monster in the head to keep it down and then rushed toward the door.

"Trent! Shut it!" She called out. The teen did as she said, closing it behind them. Anton looked at her.

"That was close," he murmured. Hayley gave a small laugh.

"It's not over," she said. "He can't crash through the walls, but he can open the door.  He just can't break it."

All three of them scrambled in front of the door. Trent looked at her. "Can you fight it?"

"Of course not!" She answered. "I can dodge things and get in a hit once in a while but that's it!"

"You're a Power Ranger!" Trent argued.

"I'm a Tech," she said. "I make things and stay away from monsters. It was working for me. It's why I stay away from Dino Island."

She heard the hitch in her voice that time. Anton looked at her. "Hayley..."

"We can't talk reason to it. We can't move. We would never make it to the other side of the room," she whispered. Now was not a good time for her to start panicking but she couldn't control her breathing.

"Is she okay?" Trent asked, sounding scared but not completely out of it.  Unlike when he'd lost his parents, he was with Hayley and Anton and that's where his concentration was staying.  Anton grimaced.

"I'm afraid not," he said, sounding shaken up. She reached into her pocket and shoved the communicator into Trent's hands. Anton looked at him. "Try to reach someone. Anyone."

"Okay," he said quietly. Anton looked at Hayley.

"Hayley, I need you to focus on my voice. Damn, how did Elsa do this... Can you still answer me?" He asked. The monster was punching at the door. She was pretty sure it moved slightly. Still, she nodded. "Tell me something you see."

"Rocks," she answered. It was the easiest thing. He nodded.

"Two smells," he continued.

"Dust and mildew," she said.

"Three things you hear," he continued. She was focusing on him. The monster was still behind the door and she could hear Trent.

"Hi, uh, we need help. Please. Now would be good," he muttered into the communicator. Anton reached over and pulled Trent toward him to give him a reminder he'd be okay.

"What is going on?" Billy's voice rang out. Hayley closed her eyes and opened them as Billy spoke. She tried to answer Anton's question.

"Trent's talking, Billy's answering, and that monster won't shut up," she answered.

"Forget about the monster. Stay with me, Hayley," he instructed. She managed a soft smile.

"Elsa tried to teach you, huh?" She asked. She was slowly pulling herself together. Trent was doing his best next to her.

"There's... something trying to get out and we have it trapped but Hayley says it won't stay there long," Trent answered. "And I think she's having a panic attack."

"Listen to me. We are sending someone out. Do you think he'll get the door open soon?" Billy asked.

"No," Trent said with certainty. "We're keeping it shut."

"Then continue on that path for now..." Billy started.

"Trent," he answered.

"Ah. Hayley and Tommy's 'little brother'. Hayley talks about you quite a bit."

"She does?" Trent asked, looking at Hayley in amusement. "You're that Billy, aren't you?"

"I am. And yes, she does. Don't worry. She only says nice things about you."

"Unlike Tommy? I've heard her complain about Tommy to you."

"You weren't supposed to be listening in," Hayley mentioned. She was still scared, but at least she wasn't panicked.  Anton had a death grip on both of them anyway.

"Hayley, Wild Force is on the way," Billy told her. She relaxed further even with the thing banging against the door.

"Can you get them to hurry?" She asked hopefully.

"It's been mentioned," he assured her. It wasn't too long before she heard the sound of an eagle and a Yellow Ranger rushed in. Billy finally hung up as the Ranger looked at them.

"Get somewhere safe," she ordered. She didn't have to tell them twice before they were out of there. The dig prematurely ended and Anton made sure everyone had a way back before heading home. Trent wasn't letting go of Hayley which was fine with her since she needed to make sure he was okay. Anton was checking on them way too often for comfort.

Once they reached the house, they all headed inside and quietly into the living room. Hayley wasn't sure how it happened, but hot chocolate was placed in front of her and then another for Trent. To her relief, he had seemed to fall asleep for the time being. She glanced over to see that Anton was staring off into space as if unsure of what to do next. She knew that was his problem: He didn't know what to do.

"We're okay," she said gently. He glanced over. "We're all going to be okay. I'm sure they took care of it and moved on to the next monster, but we'll be alright."

"It never should have been opened," he said. "I'm looking into it tomorrow."

"Anton, it was an accident," she pushed. He stood up from the chair and brought a different one closer to where they were on the couch. Hayley was messing with Trent's hair absently as he laid against her.

"You handled yourself in there," he said.

"I had a panic attack," Hayley reminded him. He shook his head.

"Before that," he said. "And you can't help that sort of thing."

"I'm the closest thing to an expert..." she said and he cut her off.

"The closest thing we have to an expert which means a fount of knowledge," he said. "You knew what to do which is what I counted on."

"There is that," she said quietly. "How is he asleep?"

"Younger people react differently," he answered. "Right now, we're all safe so he is asleep. He'll be upset in the morning."

"Poor Trent," she whispered.

"If you can, you should get some sleep as well," he told her. She laughed.

"Neither of us is sleeping tonight and you know it," she accused. He didn't disagree with her which made it worse.

"We could watch some television?"  He offered, trying to come up with something to say.  The truth was that they were both extremely shaken up.

"We should have called for help before we went in," she said instead.

"I agree.  Unfortunately, I'm afraid neither of us was thinking straight," he admitted.

"We thought straight enough to not let Trent in the room with us," she reminded him.  If he would have protested, she would never know considering that the phone quickly began to ring, startling them both.  It took a minute for Anton to pull himself together, but he did eventually reach over and pushed the speaker phone button.

"Hello?"  He asked and Hayley was impressed that he hadn't just snapped a 'who is it'.

"Anton, are you alright?  The news said that there was a cave-in at your dig!"  Elsa's panicked voice rushed over without any semblance of pleasantries.

"We're all fine," he assured her.

"All... were Tommy, Hayley, and Trent there?!"  Judging from her voice, Hayley was pretty sure that the older woman was about ready to have a heart attack.

"Trent and I were," she said quickly.  "But we're fine.  It just... it wasn't a cave in."

"What was it?"  She asked.

"Monster," Anton and Hayley said together, trying to sound calm and failing. 

"You were...  without Tommy?"  She asked.

"He's on the moon," Hayley answered.  "It was just bad timing."

"Why is he on the moon?"  She asked.

"There was a rainbow problem up there," she answered.  "We just had our own problem at the same time."

Elsa took a breath and Hayley recognized that she was forcing herself to be professional.  "Trent lost his parents on a dig.  How is he emotionally?"

"Asleep at the moment.  We'll have to revisit it tomorrow," Anton said.

"And Hayley?"

"I had a panic attack," she answered.  "We did get through it."

"You all need therapy," she warned.  Anton sighed.

"We'll look into it," he answered. 

"Please honestly look this time," she half-pleaded.  Hayley wasn't even sure if they actually would.

"We miss you," she said instead.

"I miss you too," she assured her.  Anton sat there for a moment before continuing.

"Elsa, we should talk soon," he said.  There was a moment of silence.

"About?"  Elsa finally answered.

"About us," he said.  "Maybe we shouldn't have stopped, but I would rather talk later."

"When Hayley and Trent aren't in the room?"  Elsa teased.  "Alright.  Get some sleep and call me soon.  You scared 5 years off my life!"

"Of course," Anton said.  "And I apologize for scaring you.  Good night."

"Good night," she answered and the phone hung up.  Hayley just gave him a knowing look.

"As long as Trent will handle it, I think it's time," he said.  He must have been more startled than she realized to change his mind,

"Trent will be fine," she assured him.  Anton just nodded absently, his mind not fully on the conversation. "Don't do this, Anton."

"Do what?" He asked.

"Get too wrapped up in this," she said. "Trent and I will be just fine. Elsa may be right with therapy, but we're fine. Other than some nightmares, there shouldn't be any lasting consequences."

"And what about next time?" He asked. "With Tommy and you, I came into it. I may not have liked the idea of him getting hurt as a Power Ranger or the thought of any of us getting hurt later on, but it wasn't really something I considered. And now, here's Trent and it's too late to walk away."

Hayley tried to hide that she had paused soothing Trent by the revelation and tempered her voice. "You could leave if you wanted to. Tommy and I wouldn't blame you. Not with Trent here."

"If there is one thing Tommy has taught me, it's that you never really walk away," he told her. "And we'd both worry about Tommy and you. I'd eventually call in and that would be that."

"I don't suppose it would help to suggest that you don't worry about us?" She suggested.

"Could you stop worrying about Trent?" He asked. She looked sheepish. "That's what I thought. And Trent remembers to eat better than the two of your do."

"We eat much better than when we met," she reminded him. "You were worried then too."

"You were living off ramen," he said. "Which you may have survived, but Tommy is too active. The point is I can't just walk away."

"But it might be better for Trent," she said. Anton snorted.

"I helped with this. Do you really think if something came after Tommy and you that they wouldn't come after me too? We weren't thinking when we took him in," he said, running his hand through his hair nervously.

"We were," she said. "Just not about demons that live in tombs or aliens or any of that. You were thinking about this teenager who had lost his parents and shouldn't be lost in the system. You wanted to give him a better life and you did. Just like when you jumped into to help Tommy create a Ranger team."

"We both walked into this without really knowing what we were getting into, didn't we?" Anton asked. Hayley was deeply concerned. He was definitely too focused on this.

"We know now," she said. "And we can work with Tommy, Billy, the Aquitians, and maybe some of the other Rangers to make things safer. We will be okay."

Anton finally seemed to settle down a bit. "I'm still firing the worker in the morning."

"Give him severance pay. He'll probably need therapy," she warned. Anton sighed.

"You are making it very hard for me to handle this, Hayley," he told her.

"I'm making sure you don't go in breathing fire, Anton," she answered. "You're upset but you can't just blow everything up."

"I could if you weren't being so practical," he muttered, but she could tell he was dropping it. There was silence again before Hayley spoke up.

"May I spend the night?" She asked. She didn't want to admit that she knew that the empty apartment in the dark would be terrifying.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he answered. She could tell he wasn't going to get much sleep that night. Hopefully, Tommy would be back soon. She probably should have been more surprised when he didn't push either of them into rooms nor did he go to his own bedroom.  That chair couldn't have been comfortable but he did his best to try getting into a position where he wouldn't feel like death warmed over the next morning.  None of them were comfortable and Hayley even tried to move at one point to give Trent more room, but the boy gripped onto her and she very quickly fell back into place. She didn't try again for the rest of the night.

***

She awoke to a voice calling for the three of them. And then a second.  She glanced over to see that Anton was in a deep sleep, thank goodness, and she gently moved Trent off of her, ignoring his quiet whine after making sure he was still asleep.  She forced herself up and managed to slide her way outside where the noise was coming from.  She glared at the offenders once she found them.  "Will you shut up? No one in this house slept well."

She was expecting a quick comeback of some sort.  She wasn't expecting Tommy to pick her up off the ground. She wasn't that much smaller than him. Nor did she expect anyone else to be with him.  That said, she really should have expected Aurico, who Tommy passed her to once he was sure she was okay.  Aurico was the one who spoke up.  "We heard."

She understood immediately what had happened, but considering that neither Ranger was letting her go at the moment, it was a little hard to answer.  Not that it matter when Tommy was still asking questions with Aurico injecting every so often.  She wouldn't have gotten in a word in any way.  She finally felt them pulled off of her and another man giving them an annoyed sigh. "She can't answer if you two smother her."

"Thank you," she said as they let her go. "Who are you?"

"Jason," he said, giving her an exhausted smile. "You must be Hayley."

"Jason. Like the first Red Ranger one? Of course, you are. Nevermind. Get inside. Aurico! Use the pond first, you look terrible," she ordered and led the other two into the house. She motioned for them to be quiet as they passed through the room where both Trent and Anton were fortunately still asleep and into one of the other rooms. She knew Aurico would be able to find them.

"What happened?" Tommy asked the moment she let him. "Taylor said..."

"Taylor?" She asked.

"The Yellow Ranger of the team that saved you," Jason told her. She nodded. Tommy picked up where he left off.

"Taylor said that you were attacked by some sort of demon?" He asked. She nodded.

"Someone decided to open a large box in one of the caverns that Anton had a dig on. Without telling him. And, well, it had a monster in it," she answered. "You know, the kind that hates Power Rangers. Because they always hate Power Rangers."

"Hayley, focus," Tommy said and she gave him a look.

"You do not want me to focus right now because I'm going to get too wrapped into it so let me tell it my way," she instructed. Tommy didn't look happy about it, but he didn't push it either. "Anton needed to go see what was going on. We told Trent to stay out of the room."

"Hayley," Aurico said gently as he entered the room. "I don't wish to interrupt, but neither of you can fight."

"I realize that, Aurico. But Anton was in charge of the dig and I was the closest thing we had to an expert. So we needed to try to protect everyone else.  We should have called for help them, but it didn't come to mind..." she said.

"Why not?"  Tommy asked.

"Because they're not Rangers," Jason snapped.  "They don't have to do this every day and they don't have powers to fall back on.  Go ahead, Hayley."

"It came down and I promptly quipped at it because that and running are the only things any of you have ever taught me to do during a monster attack," she accused. "And then I figured out that the walls wouldn't let it breakthrough, tripped it, kicked it in the head, grabbed Anton, and bolted. Trent shut the door after it."

"And that was it?" Tommy asked. Hayley glared at him.

"No, because the door wasn't enchanted. It could come through the door," she said. She was keeping herself together. Jason looked at her.

"I think we get the idea," he said kindly. She swallowed.  He was being very nice about the whole thing, but she needed him to understand.

"On Aquitar, I was trapped in a closet during the final battle against the Dark Empire. I..." she said and stopped as her voice started shaking. Jason gently touched her arm.

"I understand," he said soothingly. She stopped from trying to explain and just nodded. "I think that you're likely all worn out. We were worried, but it sounds handled."

She nodded again. She didn't feel that way, exactly, but it was nice of him to say. "We did what we could. But people could have gotten hurt if it got out."

Jason moved away from the other two in front of her and gave her a sympathetic smile. "When Billy told me that you were going to be a Tech, I didn't know what that meant. I knew that he had helped us with our morphers, the transporter, communicators, but he had also fought with us. I knew that you would help build some amazing things but that was it. Now, I get to go tell Billy that being a Tech also means having the exact same moral qualifications as a Ranger does. I can't think of anything that will make him happier to hear other than you are okay."

"Thank you," she said.

He reached over, questioning if she wanted a hug which she did accept.  "Going through that without powers is terrifying.  I know."

"Thank you," she said, not knowing what else to say.  He turned to Tommy and gave him a sharp nod.

"It was fun," he said and motioned to Hayley. "Try not to lose this one."

"Good to see you too, Jason," Tommy said dryly. "And I'm not going to lose her."

Jason gave him a look that Hayley was pretty sure translated into 'That's what you said about Billy' before he headed off. Hayley looked at Tommy. "You're so popular with your old friends."

"Hayley...." he grumbled.

"Just making an observation," she said. "So, why are you fighting with this one?"

"Because he blames me for losing Billy," Tommy answered.

"You did lose Billy," Hayley reminded him.

"Not on purpose," Tommy muttered.

"You don't lose things on purpose," she said with more than a little annoyance. "Honestly, Tommy. If you would just reach out to Billy, you'd probably work through half of your problems."

"Why don't you push him?" Tommy asked.

"Because he has five Aquitians doing it for me," she answered. Aurico shrugged and nodded. Tommy glared but didn't have an answer. It wouldn't have mattered since they were interrupted by a frantic cry anyway.

"Hayley!" Trent screeched.  Hayley raced toward him with Tommy and Aurico on her heels.  She rushed into the room to see both Trent and Anton's face look more relieved.

"What happened?"  Hayley asked, rushing to Trent in a panic, though he was calming down quickly.

"You were gone," Anton answered, his own voice a little shaken though he was hiding it better.  "I wasn't sure if..."

"If I had left of my own accord," she finished.  She motioned to Tommy and Aurico.  "They were making a racket and I didn't want them to wake you up."

Anton gave Tommy a look.  Tommy sighed.  "All I knew is that you guys were in trouble.  I needed to make sure you were okay."

Trent looked at him.  "We almost weren't."

"Trent," Hayley said gently, trying to calm him.  He shook her off to her surprise.

"Hayley tried to fight them it off," he continued.

"Kicked and ran," Hayley said quickly.

"She was the best hope we had," Trent said.

"Trent..." Tommy tried.

"You weren't the one who had to watch Dad try to talk her down from panicking!"  Trent continued.  "You were gone!"

Tommy looked at Hayley helplessly, not sure what to do.  She didn't feel that was fair considering she had no idea either.  Anton moved toward Trent.  He gathered him in his arms.  "What happened wasn't Tommy's fault."

Hayley let Anton take care of Trent while she set her hand on Tommy's arm and smiled gently at him.  "It was a rough day."

"I should have been here," he whispered back.  She sighed.

"You were needed on the moon.  It's not like it's next door," she said.  "It's going to happen.  I know it, Anton knows it, and Trent just doesn't want to admit he knows it.  It's part of being a Power Ranger."

"I could have come home and all of you would have been gone," he said.  He was just looking at Trent as he gave a half-laugh.  "And it would have been my fault."

She knew better than to go down that road again.  She looked at Trent instead.  "No one can be there all of the time.  Sometimes, things just happen."

"You were white, Hayley," Trent said softly.  "I thought you were going to pass out."

"Panic attacks are a little stressful," she admitted.  "But I'm okay now.  I think that we all just went through a lot and we're all hyped up on adrenaline.  So, why don't we stay in tonight, invite Delphine and her team since Aurico is here anyway, and just have a low-key day?"

Tommy nodded his agreement.  "I wouldn't mind getting past the jetlag."

"You're not even traveling between worlds," Aurico teased.  Tommy grinned back at him.

"You teleported," he said.  "Teleporting isn't that bad."

"We live in different time zones," Hayley scolded.  "But Delphine would tell you to stop faking hardship, Aurico."

He just laughed.

***

She had raced to Delphine who had gathered her in her arms, checking on her before greeting her.  She wasn't surprised that there were five other checks toward her telepathically, though more tentatively.  She had given them permission to check on her a long time ago.  Delphine moved to the side as Cestra checked her over, then politely asked to check on Anton and Trent.  Neither refused.  Corcus looked at her.

"You fought?"  He asked.  She snorted.

"Kicked and ran," she said.  He grinned at her.

"That is what I wanted to hear," he admitted, pulling her into a hug.  She responded.

"Thank you," she whispered.  He just nodded.  She'd needed this and glancing over at Trent, so had he.  Billy, knowing exactly how to distract a fellow scientist, had brought information on Aquitar for Anton to look over regarding Aquitar.  In return, Anton was just pouring through it, trying to take in a world that he hadn't seen before.  Most pointedly, Billy had grabbed documents on Aquitian botany which was where Anton's attention fell first.  She smiled softly at that.  Cestra was still mothering poor Trent to Hayley's amusement while the others were just trying to calm down.  Other than Delphine who was hovering over Hayley at the moment.

"You had us all worried," Billy said as he finally moved away from the wall.  Both Tommy and Billy were actively trying to ignore each other at the moment, but they were also both extremely uncomfortable with the other.  She squeezed Delphine's hand and made her way over to him, pulling him into the hug that she needed.  Considering how hard he was hugging back, he'd needed it to.  "You did admirably."

"I kicked it in the head and had a panic attack," she said dryly.  Billy just held her.

"As I said.  Admirably," he assured her.  He glanced over to see the other three guests and gently pulled away from her, moving to Trent.  "As did you."

"Thanks," he said.  "And thanks for getting us help."

"Of course," Billy said.  "I am assuming that you are still feeling a little shaken?"

"Try a lot shaken," Trent joked.  "So you're Billy?  Hayley said you helped her learn how to do all of the Ranger stuff."

"I believe I can take partial credit for that," he agreed.

"So, you're a Tech too, right?  Hayley says there's a difference," he said.

"I fall under both the Ranger category and the Tech category.  It is why Hayley refuses to add my experience in when she's studying either," he said.  Hayley nodded her agreement when Trent looked at her.  "I was one of the first Power Rangers, the first Blue Ranger."

"So, you were a Power Ranger with Tommy?"  Trent asked, trying to keep track of what he knew.  Billy just nodded.  "Okay.  So why do you talk to Hayley instead?"

"Because he likes me more," she said and Billy gave her a look.  Tommy looked almost grateful.  She leaned into Trent.  "And they used to date."

"Yikes," Trent muttered as Tommy's grateful look vanished.  Billy was equally embarrassed.  Hayley nodded as Trent looked at Billy.   "I'd talk to Hayley over my ex-boyfriend too."

Anton looked at both of them.  "Stop giving Mr. Cranston a hard time."

"Anton!"  Tommy protested, noticing that he hadn't mentioned him.  Anton ignored the pout.

"Thank you, Dr. Mercer," Billy said.  Anton nodded and went back to looking things over.  Billy looked at Hayley.  "At least your older brother is behaving."

"Only one of them," she said cheerfully.  "The other is a mess."

Tommy threw up his hands and went to talk with Aurico and Tideus instead who was trying not to laugh, but at least could fake being sympathetic.

Billy's laughed a bit at that and then his smile faded.  "How bad was it?"

"I have never wished to be a Ranger up until then," she said.

"Even when you were trapped here?"  He asked.

"I had five active Rangers and one former Ranger handling the threat," she answered.  "There wasn't a Ranger with me this time."

Billy just pulled her to him and gave Trent a reassuring smile.  "We will come when you need us.  No matter how long it takes."

Hayley nodded.  She did, of course, hope nothing would ever happen but she wasn't ignorant enough to know that that was a hope that was created to be shattered. 

Chapter Text

She wasn't afraid to admit that she'd drugged Trent.  He'd been ready to run to the island himself and she knew what a problem that would have been, so she was absolutely justified in keeping him from going.  She hadn't done the same to herself for the main reason that she needed to be alert.  She was, however, pacing as she waited for someone to call her and let her know what was going on with the search.  Kim had sternly told her that they wouldn't be calling until they heard something and they'd do it as soon as possible.  The fact that Trent was asleep on the couch was the only reason that she wasn't following.  He needed someone to make sure that he was going to be okay.  So, when the phone rang, she practically pounced on it to get the information, but also to make sure that it didn't wake up her charge.  "Hello?"

"Hayley?"  She heard Jason's voice.  She swallowed.

"Yes," she said.  She'd only met him once and he'd been so angry at Tommy, but he'd assured her that they would find out what happened.

"We found Tommy.  He's in the hospital.  They said it's a miracle he's alive.  We were going to tell you when we got back, but Carter said that Dana's certain he'll make it and you needed to know.  Carter's already come up with an alibi..." Jason said and Hayley knew he was beating around the bush.

"Is Tommy going to make it?"  She asked, wishing her voice wasn't so small right now.

"They said he would," he assured her before giving her address.

"But Anton didn't," she said quietly.  He was quiet for a minute.  "Jason?"

"Yeah," he answered.  She was suddenly glad that he was the one that called.  Kim would have tried to use the technical terms like missing in action because she would be hurting somewhat as well.  Instead, Jason's simple word could allow her to take it in.  Unfortunately, that meant that she was about to shatter.  "Hayley?  Hayley!"

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.  "I don't think..."

"I know you're in shock.  We're going to keep looking to see if we can find something.  Anything for closure.  Take a cab to the hospital.  Do not drive," he ordered.

"No driving," she parroted.  She had money for a taxi.  Even if she wanted to get moving now, she knew better than to try that with Trent.  She nearly dropped the phone at the thought as her eyes fell to the teenager asleep on the couch.  She choked back the tears.  "I need to get Trent up."

"Good luck," Jason said.

"Thank you for calling," she said and hung up.  She knew that he'd understand.  She stumbled over to the couch and then paused.  He was sleeping and once he woke up, he'd be anxious to go.  She instead called for the cab and then went into autopilot in packing things for all three of the living members of the household.  Her breath hitched as that term ran through her mind.  She dragged the bag into the room to see that Trent was both up and looking at her.

"What happened?"  He demanded.

"Jason called.  There's a cab coming.  We have to get to the hospital," she said.  Trent looked at her with far too much hope in her mind.

"They found them?"  He asked.  She shook her head.

"They found Tommy," she answered.  She made her way over to him.  "Trent, Tommy barely made it.  He's alive because he was a Power Ranger.  Anton... he didn't have that.  He never... He didn't make it, honey."

Trent was quiet for a minute and then to Hayley's horror, his breath shortened and his eyes widened.  She quickly made her way over and gently rubbed his back.  "Trent, I need you to breathe, okay?"

"Is this because of me?"  He asked.  She blinked.  He hadn't been anywhere near the island.  "My parents died and now dad... is this my fault?"

"Oh nonononono," she said, pulling him to her.  "This isn't your fault at all and you're not alone.  You have me.  You have Tommy.  It's going to be okay."

He didn't bother to refute her like she thought he would, but that was likely because of the gut-wretching sobs that he was letting out.  She wanted to assured him that it was fine he didn't believe her.  She didn't believe herself either.  She just held him until he was able to calm himself down enough that when the cab came, he was able to get in without any problems.  The cab driver fortunately didn't question it once she gave the destination.  She kept a hand on his arm, letting Trent deal with his emotions a little at a time.  Fortunately, Tommy had been smart enough to list her down as his emergency contact which was helpful because she didn't want to have to fight the hospital right now.

The two made their way down the corridor and into the room that Tommy had been given.  Hayley would have to thank Carter for all of this later.  She knew full well that this was all possible because Lightspeed had gotten involved and even if she'd never met him, she recognized that getting Tommy transferred to this hospital would have been his doing.

Tommy was lying asleep in the bed.  She wondered what had happened.  Was he caught in the blast?  Had he been near the water and nearly drown that way?  Had he fallen?  She wouldn't be able to tell by his injuries.  Even semi-retired Power Rangers like him had the Power to protect them.  Trent looked at her.  "Shouldn't the Power have healed him?"

"That's why we're worried," she said quietly.  "Jason says he'll make it."

"Is he right?"  Trent asked, leaning into her.

"Tommy, Billy, and Kim say that Jason is always right," she answered.  Trent relaxed a bit.  It was a simplification of what they had said, of course, but the three of them would have followed him to hell if he told them it was the best plan, so she figured it was close enough.  Not for the first time, she wished that Aquitar was closer so she'd have the support she needed right now.  She just held Trent and they waited for Tommy to wake up.

***

"Hayley?"  The voice waking her up was almost slurred and extremely confused.  She forced her eyes open and found herself relieved to see Tommy looking back at her.  She gently nudged Trent awake as she made her way to Tommy's side.

"Welcome back," she said gently.

"Took you long enough," Trent added, making his way to the other side.  Tommy gave him a tired smile and then looked at Hayley.

"Did..." he started, not sure how to proceed.

"Tommy, Anton is..." she started and Tommy relaxed slightly.

"Good.  They told you," he said and she realized that he already knew.  She squeezed his had.

"I wasn't sure if you knew since you were unconscious when we found you," she told him.

"I was in and out before I got here," he said.  She nodded, not wanting him to continue.

"I'm glad you're okay," she said, not wanting to focus on the bad part of the situation.  Tommy nodded.

"Hayley, can you make something to take us back in time?" Tommy asked as if he hadn't just woken back up.  Then again, Tommy had never been known for his long term thinking.  She looked at him.

"I've been working on something..." she admitted.  Apparently, neither had she.  "While we waited for you to wake up."

"Then we'll go back in time and change things," he said. Trent looked at them.

"Can we do that?" He asked.

"We've messed with time before," Tommy said. "And it won't affect the future that much."

"I don't care about the future right now," Hayley admitted. "I want things back the way they used to be."

"Me too," Trent said. "I already lost my mom and dad..."

"We can go back and fix that too," Tommy offered, completely in a mood that stated he didn't care about the changes to the timeline one bit.

"Can we do it in a way that makes sure I still meet you?" He asked quietly.

"Of course," Hayley promised. She would make it work. "We can fix this."

"No, you can't." Hayley jumped as two men walked through the door. The darker-haired one leading on this one while the other looked more sympathetic.

"To hell with the timeline, Eric," Tommy growled. Hayley pulled Trent back to her and took a step back. The other sighed.

"We got the call from Alex, Tommy," he said gently. "We have to stop you."

"Just pretend like you don't know," Tommy suggested. "Wes, Trent already lost his parents once. I lost Zordon. Don't make me leave behind another family member!"

Hayley could hear the guilt in his voice. She stood her full height. "We're doing it."

Wes just groaned as Eric glared her down. "We'll stop you."

"You can try," she said, putting Trent behind her to stand toe to toe with the Quantum Ranger. Wes came to his partner's side and put a hand on his arm.

"They're hurting," he murmured and Eric backed down a bit. "Hayley, when Alex called, he told me that it's not that you shouldn't. Well, not all the way. It's that it doesn't work."

"Then we'll try again," Hayley said.

"You did," he said. "Twelve more times."

Hayley heard what he wasn't saying. They'd had this conversation. Likely, several times by how sympathetic Wes was and how angry Eric was. He knew her name. He didn't ask for it. He was treating her like someone he'd spoken to before. "I can't just not try."

Her voice was too quiet for her. She looked at Tommy who looked just as torn as her. He looked at Eric and Wes. "What's wrong with trying a 13th time?"

"Can't you just tell me what I tried and let me try again?" She pleaded.

"We did that after the fifth time," Eric told her. "We didn't on the 11th because you promised you wouldn't and then did it anyway."

"Eric..." Wes hissed. "Sorry, it's been hard on us too. We tried to help you the first few times. Trip quietly let us know. Let's just say we're all in a lot of trouble."

"Alex said if you do it this time, we'll have to arrest you," Eric said. "And I really don't want to arrest you."

"You're Power Rangers!" All of them jumped and looked at Trent who was a mix of crying and angry. "You're supposed to save people! This is saving someone and you won't!"

Wes looked unsure as how to answer.  Tommy would tell her later that Alex had saved his father.  So it was little wonder that Eric moved past Hayley and looked at him. "Hey, Kid, sometimes saving someone means helping them let go. If I thought it would work this time, I'd let you try and deal with Alex myself. But it hasn't worked and you can't spend the rest of your life trying. You have to move on."

"Why?" Trent asked angrily. Hayley saw the stubborn look on Tommy and Trent's faces. She saw the sorrow on Wes' and with the anger removed from Eric's, she saw how sorry he was. She would hold herself together for Trent, but her heart shattered.

"Because it's what he'd want us to do," she said quietly. "He wouldn't want to us spend our lives trying to save his. We have to move on."

"I don't want to," Trent told her. "I tried that with Mom and Dad. Why do I have to try again?"

"What happened when your parents died?" Eric asked.

"Dad took me in," he answered.

"Did he try to bring them back?" Eric asked.

"No," Trent answered.

"No," Eric said. "He helped you move on and decided that it would be better if you mourned together. Well, now you'll mourn with Hayley and Tommy. And you'll get through it. And he can be proud you learned from his example."

Trent looked at Hayley and she knew that he knew she was backing down. "I hate this!"

"Trent!" Hayley yelled, starting to go after him. Wes shook his head.

"He'll be fine," he assured her. "Give him some time."

She looked over at Tommy, hoping to get support there, but he wasn't looking at any of them. Wes and Eric had known which one to talk down and she felt like a betrayer. "Wes, can you...?"

"Of course," he assured her, seeing that she needed out of the room for a minute. She heard Eric's reprimand toward her friend as she left.

"Dammit, Tommy, stop blaming her for being reasonable..."

She decided against listening to how Tommy answered. She rushed around, hoping that Wes would be right about Trent being fine for a moment. Especially since she was the last person he wanted to see right now and he was actively dodging her.  She needed advice.  She curled into a small empty space in the building and pulled out her communicator.

"Cestro? Delphine? Billy?" She asked, trying to reach at least one of them. None of them answered. She started to put it down when she heard Cestra.

"Hayley?" She asked. "Apologies. I was on the other side of the room."

"Something happened, Cestra. I need to talk to them," she pleaded. Cestra was quiet for a minute.

"I don't know what happened, but Delphine insisted that they needed to leave to go see you. They are likely on their way. Delphine told me to tell you that it will be alright eventually. And she loves you," Cestra said. "They will be there."

"Okay," she whispered. If they weren't answering, they were likely transporting or in a public place. She hoped it was the latter. They'd be closer. Sure enough, she felt Delphine touch her mind and send her soothing thoughts. She let her know where she was and waited.

She felt even more relieved when she saw them coming and Delphine was holding Trent to her. She wasn't sure what the Aquitian had said, but it explained why they hadn't answered right away. Delphine looked apologetic and Hayley shook her head, assuring her that she was fine with it. Trent had been part of why she was upset.  The teen was practically clinging to Delphine, the one of them that he knew the most. Billy sat down next to her and pulled her into a hug.

"What happened?" He asked quietly. Hayley gave Delphine a pleading look and she led Trent away for a moment.

"There was an accident," she said. "We lost Anton. And Time Force let us know that we can't bring him back."

"We could..." Billy said and she shook her head.

"We apparently tried twelve times," she said. "They'll arrest us this time."

"Before you woke up on Aquitar," Cestro said carefully. "Billy considered the same for Zordon. It was eventually decided that it was a poor decision considering the unknown circumstances."

"I already decided against it," she said quietly, not bringing up that Eric and Wes had had to convince her. "We can't spend forever trying to..."

She didn't finish and Cestro nodded. "It's the right choice. It's also the hardest."

"You should be mourning together," Tideus agreed. Delphine was leading Trent back, who headed toward Hayley. She looked at him.

"Sorry," he said.

"Nothing to be sorry for," she said, opening her arms. "Maybe I should have gone with them to the island."

"You said smart Techs don't go to Dinosaur Island," he told her.

"What island?" Billy asked, pulling away and staring at her.

"Dinosaur," both Hayley and Trent said together. Billy looked about ready to explode, but he was trying very hard to keep his temper.

"He made an island of Dinosaurs," he said. "Delphine...?"

"Yes," she said. "Tommy is a dinosaur scientist."

Billy and Hayley both realized Delphine's implication. Billy took a breath. "Delphine, dinosaurs are extinct."

"You have a planet without dinosaurs?" Delphine asked. "Your store had toy versions. Your Zords were dinosaurs."

"Earth had dinosaurs, but they died out millions of years ago. Or rather they evolved into birds," he said. The Aquitians blinked at this, moving to discuss it as Billy looked at Hayley.

"You knew dinosaurs were extinct," he accused.

"Well yes," she said. "But I didn't know they didn't know that. Delphine just never asked. She just said she'd like to see some of them one day. I thought she meant on the island."

"Hayley, why did you let him build an island of dinosaurs?" He asked. She looked confused.

"This isn't a normal Power Ranger thing?" She asked. Billy's aggravation dropped slightly as he realized the comedy of errors he had stepped into.

"I'm afraid not," he said. "So did something go wrong on the island?"

"It exploded," she answered.

"It... for Power's sake, Hayley! Why would you have wanted to be on an exploding island?!" He demanded.

"Maybe I could have helped," she said.

"Maybe you would have died," Billy countered. "Is Tommy awake?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Was he awake during the conversation with Eric and Wes?" He asked. She would have lied, but he knew the answer.

"Yes," she said. "Trent stay with Delphine."

Trent blinked, but did as he was told. This was exceptionally useful considering that she was having to chase Billy down as he stalked toward Tommy's room.

"You need to calm down," she told him.

"Like hell I do," he answered. His tone was steady and almost calm, but she could hear the anger radiating underneath.

She just sighed. She'd have to play diplomat when they got there. Wes and Eric both looked up in surprise when Billy stormed in, followed by Hayley. She gave both of them a polite smile. "I'm not going to be creating time travel devices today. How about we catch up in however many days I was supposed to have made the decision in for a check up?"

Wes nodded. "We can do that. Come on, Eric."

"Are you going to be okay?" Eric asked to Hayley while glaring in Tommy's direction.

"I'll be fine as long as I only have to break up the two of them," she said meaningfully. He nodded and patted her shoulder. Wes reached over and squeezed her hand. Then the two left. Hayley quickly shut the door.

"You blew up an island?!" Billy half-shouted. "That had dinosaurs on it?!"

"I didn't mean to blow it up!" Tommy exclaimed. "There was something on that island and it blew it up."

"What were you thinking?!" Billy demanded. "When we agreed to help Hayley, you didn't say that you were bringing back the dinosaurs! What if she had gone with you? I'd ask about Trent, but I'd like to believe that you wouldn't let a teenage boy on that island!"

She had to hand it to him. He was giving Tommy the benefit of the doubt on that one. Even she wasn't sure what he would have done in regards to that. "Hayley's an adult, Billy. She can make her own choices."

"Dammit, Tommy! You are a Power Ranger! She isn't! She can't heal as quickly as we can. Even without the Power, it's still better than normal, isn't it? That's what keeps us alive! Hayley doesn't have that!" Billy exploded.

"Billy, you need to calm down before a nurse hears," she murmured. He didn't answer, but he did take a breath. Tommy took the time to counter.

"She knows what she walked into," Tommy argued.

"She has been dealing with one thing after another because you aren't careful!" Billy exclaimed. "It's like you never..."

He cut off and Hayley realized this wasn't all about her. Oh, a large portion was. But this was also about their past. Tommy just glared. "Never what? I made a mistake, but I could have fixed it. I could have gone back and stopped the island from exploding."

"Are you sure?" Billy asked. "What if you went back and that thing wasn't on the island, but went toward Anton's house instead? What if instead of losing Anton, you lost Hayley and Trent?"

"That didn't happen. Because we tried several times," he said.

"In the event of infinite possibilities, the outcome could have been worse," Billy told him. "But even without that, you made a mistake. You are hurting, Hayley is hurting, Trent is hurting."

"Not hurting enough that she wasn't willing to try again," Tommy said. Billy's eyes narrowed.

"I am going to accept that you are hurting right now which is why I'm not going to punch you," he snarled.

"Okay, he's also in the hospital. I think it's a bad idea to punch people in a hospital," Hayley said, trying to diffuse the situation. Billy and Tommy both ignored her.

"Instead, I'm going to do what I should have done a long time ago," he continued.

"And what's that," Tommy asked.

"Stay and make certain that you don't do it again," he said. "Eventually, this thing is going to attack a city. Eventually there will be new Rangers. And I am not about to leave Hayley trying to keep you from doing your next foolhardy idea alone."

Hayley considered protesting since they'd probably be arguing often, but she had Trent to worry about at the moment. She wasn't sure what they were going to do there, but he needed Tommy and her. If Billy was around, she would have to watch Tommy less during the adjustment period. "I didn't invite you."

Of course Tommy didn't feel the same way. She sighed. "Billy, would you please help Tommy and I out?"

"Hayley!" Tommy said, sounding betrayed. She looked at him.

"We have been in charge of Trent for less than a week. And in that time, he ran off, you tried to run me off, we nearly got ourselves arrested, and we're having to focus on this instead of the sixteen year old who just lost his third parent!" She exclaimed. "At the very least, it would be nice to have help with the Ranger side of this! Weird Power Rangers time thing or not, I'm twenty-five! I wasn't expecting to be the guardian of a teenager right now!"

Billy pushed back his anger though she knew it wasn't gone. "You will be fine, Hayley. You already have acted as a sister to him. Just continue with that. And you, Tommy. We need you to put Trent first. We all need to put Trent first."

Tommy settled down and nodded. "Alright. What do we do now?"

"We figure out how to keep Trent with us. We mourn. And we figure out what to do next," she answered. Tommy nodded.

"Hayley..." he started.

"You're still mad, I'm not going to run off, we'll talk about it later," she answered. She knew that he'd apologize, but she wanted it when he wasn't just feeling guilty. He nodded, giving her a look that promised he'd do so. Billy headed to the door and opened it as the Aquitians and Trent came in. Delphine put her hands on Hayley's shoulders as Trent stayed between Tommy and Hayley.  Feeling as if she finally didn't have to be strong any longer, she broke down into tears.  Finally, they were mourning.

Chapter Text

The issue of Trent was threefold: First, he was legally Anton Mercer's son. This made it difficult for just anyone to adopt him as Anton had left a lot to him. Second, neither Hayley nor Tommy was married which was a desirable trait in fostering an heir to billions. Third, Tommy didn't even have a job yet and Hayley was a lesbian in a relationship. They could try to keep the second part quiet, but Hayley had never actually been quiet about it.  Legally, they'd likely lose him within a week.

"Does this mean I'll have to go to a foster home?" Trent asked quietly. Hayley's head shot up at the question.  Billy was quietly watching, ready to help however they needed him to. Tommy shook his head.

"We'll figure this out," he promised. Trent looked skeptical. "We will! Listen, maybe we just shouldn't tell anyone you're here."

"That's called kidnapping, Tommy," Hayley said dryly.

"You were willing to hop back in time to save his parents and now you're worried about that?" Tommy asked. Hayley sighed.

"Alright. Alright. Let's see. First, Trent should go back to using Fernandez," she said. "The further we keep him from Anton's name the better. Second, we'll need to try to get the media to think that Trent Mercer is in a coma.  Maybe he was on the island as well.  We'll need to leak that part to the press but not where he is.  That way, Trent can 'wake up' when he's entitled to his inheritance. Thank god Anton didn't let the media really get to see him."

"Do you think it will work?" Trent asked. Hayley bit her lip.

"They're going to ask questions," she said. Tommy snorted.

"We're staying in Reefside because we're pretty sure that's where things will eventually go down," he said. "No one will ask questions."

"Tommy is right," Billy agreed. "Towns with Power Rangers are perfect at not asking inconvenient questions."

"Oh good. I finally get you two to be on the same side and it involves the best ways to kidnap a kid," she said, holding her head. Trent headed over and wrapped an arm around her. 

"Hayley?" He asked.

"Of course we're going to do it," she said. "We're not going to lose you."

"I know," he said. "But are you going to be okay? Like, I know you're trying to be a grown up right now, but I'm 16. And if we count in the Power years, I'm like nineteen. I'm not oblivious to the fact that we're all taking a huge chance here."

"You're sixteen," she said sternly. "We do not count Power years in this family."

"Can we sometimes count them?" He asked. "Like, when Tommy eventually grounds me, I don't have to be grounded for normal time, right?"

"That seems reasonable and why are you getting grounded already?" She asked. He shrugged.

"It's probably going to happen and it's probably going to be Tommy who does it because he's less patient," he answered.

"Hey!" Tommy exclaimed. "Can I start grounding him now?"

"For the Power's sake, Tommy..." Billy muttered. Hayley ignored both of them. She needed to be honest with herself: Raising Trent was mostly going to fall on her shoulders because these two would be too busy arguing about Power Rangers things and Earth Rangers were hot messes.

"The point is normally we're not counting it," she explained knowing that he would absolutely keep using it in the future because all teenagers were going to try to claim they were older than they were.

"So, we make sure to keep my name under wraps, make up a story, and just get ready for the apocalypse?" He asked.

"It's not going to be an apocalypse," she answered. "And maybe it won't even be that bad."

"Does lying to yourself help?" Trent asked.

"Sometimes," she answered.

"Yeah, you guys are really going to need to be better role models because I think you just told me to lie," he told her.

"I'm very much telling you to lie," she answered.

"You also taught me kidnapping is sometimes the best solution," Trent continued.

"Wait, what?" Hayley asked.

"And if I get in trouble to change my name," he continued.

"We are so bad at this," Hayley said and Trent just laughed.

"I'm just messing with you, Hayley," he assured her. "You're doing fine. Well, as fine as any of us are doing."

"That's not saying much," she warned.

"I know."

 ***

Hayley was, of course, still extremely concerned but both Billy and Tommy seemed to believe that they could pull it off.  She had taken to keeping Trent away from them both for the time being considering that Billy was muttering about getting fake documents ready and Tommy was throwing ideas at him every five minutes.  Trent didn't seem to mind that at all.

"Hayley?"  He asked.

"Hmm?"  She asked, glancing up from her work.  She had very politely tendered her resignation to Anton's company so she could work on the Ranger equipment full time.  Wes, still feeling miserable about stopping them, had practically begged for them to let him help.  Hayley had had money saved away, but she did push Tommy into it considering he had recently finished his doctorate and was applying to be a teacher meaning high debt and lower income.  It would be better if he had somewhere to live that wasn't an apartment like she was planning on.  She was looking to invest her amount into something that would help the group, but she was still considering her options.

"Would it be okay if I didn't want to be a Power Ranger?"  He asked, sitting next to her and messing with what she was working on without really affecting it.  She gently moved his hand back.

"Nothing would make me happier," she said honestly.  "And I think Tommy would feel the same way."

"I like knowing superheroes and I wanted to be one when I was younger, but it really seems like you guys don't have it easy," he said.  "And now that Dad is gone..."

"Your dad wouldn't have wanted you to be one either," she assured him.  "After the incident with the temple demon, your dad and I talked about him walking away from all of this."

"That seems like a heavy conversation," Trent said.

"He was very worried about you," she answered.  "I encouraged him to do it."

"You and Tommy would have starved in a week," he informed her.

"We're doing better now," she said.

"Because you have to make sure I eat," he said.  She looked at him in surprise and he rolled his eyes.  "Yes, I noticed."

"Anyway, he decided that no matter what happened, he couldn't get away from it because he helped build it," she said.  "I think that if we had had someone else adopt you, there may have been a chance because you weren't directly involved but I don't know."

"Is that why you guys decided to try this?"  He asked.

"Not the only reason," she reassured him.  "But it is part of it."

"So, you keep saying you're not a Power Ranger, right?"  He asked.

"I'm a Tech, Trent.  We've been through this.  No fighting ability, all of the reason why Power Rangers aren't throwing rocks at people and hoping for the best," she reminded him.

"Tommy hates that description, you know," he told her.

"Tommy can deal," she said cheerfully.  "And no, you don't have to be a Tech either."

"I thought you would be disappointed," he admitted.

"No," she said.  "I want you to be happy and safe.  And if you're smart enough to figure out that being a Ranger is a dangerous job, well, you're doing better than most people."

He was quiet for a minute before he spoke up again.  "I'm still not leaving."

"Huh?"  She asked.

"You know, if the apocalypse takes longer than it takes for me to graduate to happen.  I'll still stay," he said.

"Trent, I want you to live your life.  If that means that you move to the other side of the world, I'll be sad of course, but I'll also be happy you're living your life.  None of us expect you to postpone your life to try to make us happy," she said.

"Like you did?"  He asked.  She paused at that before smiling at him.

"I didn't pause my life," she said.  "I changed the trajectory of it.  And I'm going to do so again.  I need something that is just mine."

"What are you thinking?"  Trent asked.  She sat back for a moment to think. 

"I think," she said softly.  "I want a place for kids to go to."

Trent smiled at that.  "Like a restaurant?"

"Like a cafe," she said.  "With computers."

"Of course there are computers," he teased.

"You asked!"  Hayley said with a laugh.  "And as much as I want this to just be mine, I also think it will end up helping us in the long run."

"Like a second base?"  He asked.  She nodded.  "I can see that.  How are you going to pay for it?"

"Trent, I was working for your dad for a very long time," she answered.  "Trust me, I'll be fine with that."

He nodded his agreement at that.  "Tommy says he's going to be a teacher."

"I heard," she said.  She did not mentioned that she'd asked him four times if he was sure before finally dropping it.  

"Do I have to take his class?"  Trent asked.

"Yes," she answered.  "We are supportive in this family."

"Can't I be supportive from a distance?"  He asked.

"No," she answered.

"Fine.  But I'm working for you then," he said.  When she started to protest, he glared at her.  "You just said we had to be supportive."

"Are you being supportive to me or am I being supportive toward you?"  She asked.

"Yes," he answered.

***

The actual move was a lot simpler.  Hayley rented an apartment to put her things in while Tommy bought a house.  He offered to have Hayley move in, but she reminded them that Reefside wasn't that big and he was a teacher.  Besides, it would be good for Trent to have a place to stay if things became shaky considering that Tommy was building the lair under his house.

"This is, by far, the most idiotic plan I've ever heard of," Hayley informed him.  "You do not put your base of operations under where you live!  It would be the first place they'll look!"

"Nah," Trent said.  They looked at him.  "No one would think he'd actually be stupid enough to do it."

"We're basing this off of how intelligent villains think Tommy is.  That's not a good sign," she groaned.  Tommy glared at her.

"Where do you want it?"  He asked.

"Anywhere that isn't connected to us.  Did it ever occur to you that this is why Zordon hid his in the middle of nowhere?"  She asked.

"Zordon was from another planet," he argued.

"That's not the point, Tommy!"  She exclaimed.  Billy set down another box in Tommy's house and looked between them before looking at Trent.

"What is the discussion over this time?"  He asked. 

"Whether or not Tommy should build a Power Ranger's base under the house," he said helpfully.  Billy looked at Tommy.

"It is an actual quandry that I pride myself on my intelligence yet dated a man who would do something as foolish as that," he said.

"There, see?"  Hayley said.  "Billy is on my side."

"Billy is always on your side," Tommy grumbled.  "It's fine!"

"It's not," Hayley said, but threw up her hands.  "You know what, this isn't my choice."

"Hayley?"  Trent asked.  "Can I help you pick out a couch to sleep on for when Tommy's house explodes?"

"Of course," she reassured him.  She's get him his own room and bed, but he didn't need to know that for now.

"The house isn't going to explode,"  Tommy grumbled.

"Does the protection of family members thing still exist if he does this?"  Hayley asked.

"That's why we will have other places," Billy assured her.  She nodded her agreement to that.  Instead, she let them get to it as she began to began to create the cafe better.  She just sighed when the two former Rangers decided to argue further about it.  She needed to get this figured out.

"Come on, Trent," she said.  "They'll be at this for a while."

"Where are we going?"  He asked.

"To get pizza," she answered.  "It's better than listening to them argue and we can claim that we are scoping out the area for now."

"Good call," he said.

***

It wouldn't be the first time that Hayley needed to get the kid out of there.  After the third time, she was getting frustrated.  They needed to have the 'conversations', but she couldn't get in the middle of them anymore.  She had her own things to set up not to mention everything with Trent.  Just because the fake documents had put Trent as Tommy's brother as he was older and had a house versus her apartment, that didn't mean that enrolling him in a new school as well as making sure everything else was set up for him didn't take time.  She was homeschooling him for now, but he'd be going back during his senior year and she wanted to make sure he wasn't going to be behind.  She considered it for a bit and then made a phone call. 

"Kim?  I need you help," Hayley had said.  To her surprise, that was all that she had needed to say before the woman was on her way.  She arrived soon after and Hayley realized that she probably should have mentioned it to the boys considering that they just stared at each other for a minute when Tommy had answered the door.

"You're doing well," Kim said awkwardly.

"It's Anton's house.  We're still moving into Tommy's," Hayley said from behind Tommy.  "She can't come in if you stand in the doorway, Tommy."

"You knew she was coming?"  He hissed at her.  Billy looked just as surprised.  Trent just looked between them and rolled his eyes.

"You should probably come in," Trent said cheerfully. 

"Trent!"  Tommy said.

"It's Hayley and my house now too," he said quietly.  Hayley looked at Tommy.

"More Trent's than ours," she whispered.  Tommy looked away, not wanting to deal with this but also recognizing that they were hurting at the moment as well.

"Come on in, Kim," he said.  Kim did and turned toward Hayley.

"You're Hayley, right?"  She asked.  She nodded.  Kim pulled her into a hug.

"I am so sorry," she whispered.  Hayley leaned into it.  Kim looked over at Trent who had walked over, looking a little shy about it. 

"You know Tommy and Billy?" He asked.

"We're old friends," she said.

"She's a Ranger too, huh?"  Trent asked Hayley.

"Yeah," Hayley said.

"Like Delphine kind of Ranger or Tommy kind of Ranger?"  He asked.

"She's an Earth Ranger," Hayley said.  Trent nodded.

"Right," Trent said, fortunately catching on that Kim might not like being referred to as 'like Tommy'.

"What's the difference?"  Kim asked.

"Earth Rangers are nuts," Trent said helpfully. 

"Hayley!  What have you been telling him?"  Tommy demanded.

"I didn't have to tell him anything," she answered.  "He has been around Power Rangers for a while now."

"Why do Aquitian Rangers get off the hook?"  Kim asked, hands on her hips.

"Because they're more willing to looking into therapy and stuff," Trent answered.  "And have more of a plan.  They're still Power Rangers though which means they're all nuts."

Kim gave a look to Hayley who shrugged.  She agreed with him.  Kim shook it off and then moved on to the more important question.  "What did you need my help with?"

"Tommy is making Power Rangers.  Billy is supposed to be helping him.  And I can't get anything done because every time they start sniping about something and I have to get Trent out of the room," she answered. 

"So did you need my help with the Ranger thing or the parenting thing?"  She asked.

"Rangering thing," she answered.  "Tommy is supposed to be helping me with the raising a teenager thing."

Trent, for his part, didn't look offended by the conversation at all.  "They need help."

All three of the other adults just glared at Trent who shrugged.  Tommy's eyes narrowed.  "I can still ground you."

"Hayley says I don't have to listen to you when I haven't done something actually wrong.  And that wasn't wrong," Trent said.  "The only one that even comes close to being able to do things without arguing every two seconds is Hayley.  You need help."

"Well, let's see what I can help with," Kim said, not really hiding her smile.  The others just glared.  Trent looked pleased with himself over the whole thing.

***

It was easier with Kim around.  Both Billy and Kim tagteamed Tommy to get him to help with the parenting aspect of the group which Hayley very much appreciated since she really had no idea what to do.  Neither had Anton, but he'd always seems more of an adult than she was even when he was being an idiot.  For the first time, Hayley felt the need to be the adult in the situation.

Trent was sometimes helpful and sometimes he hindered.  Really, it depended on his mood of which he'd choose.  He was still more helpful than her supposed co-parent however.  Hayley rolled her eyes at both of them as the first day of school approached.  "Why do you two think this is a good idea?"

"I don't want to have to go to school," Trent answered.

"I don't either," Tommy said.  "I have too much to do."

"That's why you're a teacher," Hayley said, looking up at the sky and swearing under her breath.  "So that you have some sort of cover."

"I changed my mind.  I don't need a cover.  In fact, wouldn't it be better if I wasn't in school so that no one knows who I am?"  He tried.

"No," she said.  "We made a decision.  Pretend to like the decision."

"No," Tommy said deadpan.  "But I'll do it."

"Good enough," she said. 

"How are we getting past the fact that I don't have a teaching degree?"  He asked. 

"Billy said he'll handle it," she answered.  "I'm choosing to not think about it."

"We do that a lot," Trent informed her.

"If you wanted competent caregivers, you probably should have looked anywhere else," Hayley informed him.

"Nah," Trent said.  "But I haven't been to a public school in... ever.  And Tommy says he can probably just home-school me and learn from there."

"First, I've been the one home-schooling you.  Second, he wouldn't because he'd be hyperfocused on figuring out who should get the gems.  Third, go to school," she said sternly.  "Billy!  Kim!  Back me up here!"

"School is important," Kim said, handing one of the tools to Billy.

"It was due to the public education system that I was able to make friends who threatened an alien leader of Power Rangers because they had believed I had been coerced.  They weren't active Power Rangers at the time," Billy added.  "Don't touch anything shiny.  And please call if an ancient being asks you to be a Power Ranger."

"Still don't want to be a Power Ranger," Trent assured him.  He sighed.  "Fine."

"Trent!"  Tommy said, looking scandalized that his partner had abandoned him.

"We're nearly done," Kim informed him.  "Hayley's had the cafe up and running for a little time now, the only problem we're having is the bikes.  Now go to school until we figure out who to give the gems to."

"And endeavor to stay out of trouble," Billy warned.  "There hasn't been a problem yet, even if it is on the horizon.  Let's try to get past our first week without a crisis."

Hayley would later tell Billy he had jinxed it and Billy assured her he wouldn't make the same mistake in the future.

Chapter Text

She would ask Tommy later what happened, but instead, she quietly told Kim and Billy so that they could stop looking. 

"What happened?" She looked up to see Trent looking at her curiously.  She motioned him behind the bar which he quietly did. 

"Three of your classmates took the gems."

"Shit," he said.  She gave him a look for swearing, but he ignored it.  "That's... wait.  Aren't Rangers usually the same age?"

She touched his arm before he could panic.  "I've already thought about that.  I'm going to make a phone call in case there's another gem that appears.  Do not touch anything."

"Done," he agreed and winced.  "I feel for the other three though.  They're about to go wild."

"Earth Rangers," she said, nodding in agreement.  Trent agreed.  "Are you okay with this?"

"Of course," he told her.  "We were waiting for this, Hayley."

She nodded her agreement.  "You understand we're going to have to focus on them?"

He laughed.  "Are you worried that I'm going to feel neglected?"

"A little," she admitted.  "After losing your parents and Anton, I just want to make sure you're going to be okay."

"There's three of them," he reminded her.  "And there's you, Tommy, Delphine, her entire team, Billy, and Kim.  I think that there's going to be plenty of attention for me."

"Let me know if you need me," she said.  Even if he was right, she could make time for him easily.  She would just need to hand things over to Billy and Cestro for a bit so she could do it.  "And let me know if you want to go visit Aquitar for a bit."

"That's an option?"  Trent asked gleefully.  She had the feeling that that would be a good option for the young man and she was pleased to see that she was right.

"That's an option," she agreed.  "You'll have to deal with just the Aquitian Rangers right now."

"Oh no.  Time with Delphine and the Aquitians.  How will I survive?"  Trent asked sardonically.  "I've known Delphine almost as long as I've known you and helped them.  After you and Tommy, they're the closest I have to family.  I mean, you and Delphine are practically married anyway."

"We're not," Hayley said, though she wouldn't have minded eventually when they were done saving Earth.  Right then, it was a little hard with both being on different planets.  "But hopefully one day."

"We just need a better transporter," he said wisely.  "Then it will be easier."

"One day, you're going to date and I'm going to tease you," she informed him.  He just waved her off.  He really could be a bit of a pain when he wanted to be one.  Which he apparently did today.

"Anyway, I'm not going to get freaked out.  And I'll even pretend to ignore Tommy when he forgets to greet me until it's a funny time to remind him," he said.  She winced.  "I'm teasing you, Hayley."

"I don't think that that one was much of a joke," she said quietly.  "He'll feel bad when he realizes what he did."

"Hyperfocus," he informed her.  She looked at him funny.  "One of the ADHD things.  It's called hyperfocusing.  That's what he's doing right now."

She was quiet for a minute.  "That doesn't make it right."

"No," he agreed.  "But it makes it understandable.  So that's almost as good, right?"

She paused at that.  "Why...?"

"Apparently Elsa was really good about keeping you on track and she's gone so I just sort of looked stuff up," he said.  "Because it might help us."

"Oh," she said quietly.  He wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"And because you really scared me last time," he admitted.  She held him.

"I know," she admitted.  "But there isn't much I can do about it."

"I'm not blaming you, Hayley," he told her.  "But if there's a way I can help you next time like Dad... like Dad did, then I want to do it."

"Tell you what.  A big help will be if they're ever in a small room and need something, then you take it," she said.  He snorted.

"I'd agree, but when it happens, you'll freak out about how dangerous it is," he reminded her.  He wasn't wrong.

"Yeah," she agreed as they just waited for Tommy to return.

***

Tommy was distracted, but not for the reason that she had expected.  He headed in, nearly panicked.  She looked at him.  "What's wrong?  Are you upset that they're teens?  We knew that could be..."

"It's not... okay, that isn't helping.  I already called Kim and Billy.  Did you see the fight?"  He asked.  She was completely puzzled.

"Uh," Trent said.  "Congrats on your new Power Rangers and your emotional breakdown?"

He looked just as lost as she did.  Tommy looked at them and then realized that they likely hadn't seen what he had seen.  He headed over and found the camera that the fight had been near.  "We needed to get Kira and we found her.  I have all three.  They're fine.  Not what I wanted but... Hayley, look."

She did as he asked.  They were perfectly normal teens and she recognized the Tyrannodrones as expected, but that wasn't what his attention was going to.  "Is that?"

"I don't know.  Is it?  She said her name was Elsa..." he said, looking at her desperately.  She paused and then realized that he was trying to see if he was right which was throwing him off more than anything else.

"It's her," Hayley said.  "Oh god."

Tommy fell into the seat, putting his head in his hands.  Trent looked between them.  "Elsa?  Like Dad's Elsa?"

Hayley nodded once.  Tommy wasn't moving and she was pretty sure that she was going to have to pull him out of a guilt trip soon.  She just needed to get out of her own first.  Trent just looked back at the screen.  He looked just as relieved as she felt when they heard the footsteps rapidly headed down into the base.  Hayley watched as they barely took the situation in before Kim was rushing toward the three of them while Billy headed to the computer.  It was coordinated, something that they had obviously done before.  Billy spoke up.  "I called the Aquitians.  They'll be here soon."

"We weren't sure what was going on, but Tommy sounded overwhelmed," Kim said.  "Are you three okay?"

Hayley motioned to the camera.  She was going to have to say it.  "Tommy got new Rangers."

"I believe that was the goal," Billy said.  "And they look like they're doing well."

It took Hayley a minute to remember that neither Billy nor Kim had met Elsa.  She'd stepped out before Billy had even met Anton and Trent.  "It isn't the Rangers, but who they're fighting again.  Billy, it's Elsa."

Billy's expression shifted and then hardened.  "I see."

"Wasn't Elsa the woman dating Anton?"  Kim asked.  Hayley nodded.  "Oh.  Oh no."

"Yeah," Tommy said, finally speaking up.  Hayley looked at them.

"What do we do now?"  She asked.

"Same thing we always do, but also try to rescue her," Tommy said decisively.  Hayley looked at Billy and Kim as both of them just nodded.  There wasn't a split group this time.  Kim looked at Tommy.

"You need to take the time to deal with this," she reminded him.  "I don't know when, but it'll be important."

"Which means we're going to have to ignore it," Trent muttered.  Hayley wanted to protest, but Trent wasn't wrong.  There likely wouldn't be time for Tommy and Hayley to really take the horrifying information in.  "This is why I hate the whole Power Ranger thing.  Because now we're fighting my step-mom."

"Anton and she were just dating," Hayley corrected him.  He rolled his eyes.

"They were serious," he answered.  "So, it's enough.  Tommy, if you get into a relationship, I want to meet them right away."

"Yeah okay," Tommy agreed.  Hayley didn't protest a second time.  She was just relieved when she heard the Aquitians coming and felt the loving touch of Delphine's telepathy rush over her.  Aurico rushed to Tommy to check him over.  Corcus and Tideus moved to Trent as Cestro headed over to discuss things with Billy.  She knew that Billy would tell him and he'd give the others a telepathic rundown.  She couldn't have asked for more than that.  She began to center herself.  Tommy was right.  They'd handle it.  They just needed to get it together and then just deal with everything tomorrow.

Hayley looked at all of them.  "We're having an easy night and we'll plan tomorrow after Tommy gives the teens their morphers."

"Why didn't you give them their morphers?!"  Kim asked.

"Because I didn't have them on me!"  He said.  "I wasn't expecting three kids to play grand theft gems!"

"We know better for the future," Trent quipped.  "Hayley?"

"Already made a note," she joked, latching onto what Trent was doing.  When in doubt, mock Tommy a bit.  "'Teens are more likely to steal gems you leave out in your base to look pretty.'"

"I hate you both," he grumbled.  Both of them ignored him.  She could practically hear Anton in her ear scolding the two of them for arguing at a time like this, but if he wanted her to listen to him, then he should have died less.

"Tomorrow," she said, pushing it back to the rest they were going to need.  There weren't any other protests after that.  Instead, they all moved out of the room.  Billy transferred the link from the computer to his so that if something happened, they would have a warning.  She appreciated the assistance because she did not want to think about it for now. 

***

"What do you mean I should stay out of it for now?"  Hayley demanded, storming after Tommy.  "I should..."

"Listen," Tommy said quickly.  "Elsa is involved.  She knew you were involved, so I think that keeping you out of it as much as possible is the better plan for now."

"You can't protect me that way," she said gently.  Tommy paused.

"I'm not going to lie to you and say that I'm not trying to protect you, but it's also to protect the kids," he said.  "If something happens, we'll have a backup.  If they come after both of us right now..."

"Okay fine," she agreed.  "But only for the first couple of weeks while they're learning.  Then I'm getting involved whether you want me to or not."

She did notice that Kim and Billy had been more hesitant on what to do, but were just trying to leave most of it to Hayley and Tommy since they were the two who had set it up.  For now, they were keeping out of it.  "Fine."

"It's the best you're getting," she warned.  "And you're still carrying the black morpher, right?"

"Yes," he answered snarkily. 

"Kim and Billy said don't touch anything," she informed him.

"I'll keep it in mind," he answered.  "Do you remember our plan for if we find the black gem?"

She gave him a look that reminded him that she'd been involved in this entire fiasco for almost as long as him.  "I already made the phone call.  He'll be here if we need him to."

"Good," he agreed.  She didn't disagree.  "I still don't like that the Rangers are kids."

"Trust me, none of us are happy.  Especially Trent," she assured him.  "He remembered that Rangers tend to stay the same age."

Tommy winced at that.  "And?"

"And I reminded him not to touch anything.  He's still feeling for the other three though.  I let Delphine and her team know too," she said.  "That way, we have as much backup as we can give them."

"Rangers aren't supposed to get involved in others' battles.  Delphine's team..." he started and Hayley smirked at him.

"They have their own things to do, but they're active.  And not from Earth," she reminded him.  He laughed.

"Did you decide to get your girlfriend and her team involved on a technicality?"  He asked.

"Yes," she said.  "Tech's prerogative."

"I don't think that's actually a thing," he told her, but he was amused at least.  It was the least he could do for asking her to stay out of it for the moment.  In two weeks, she'd let the trio know she knew what was going on.  They'd probably have to let them know about Trent at that point as well.  After all, he was going to be around for this.  They could worry about what to tell them about Kim and Billy later.

"It is," she said instead.  "Two weeks, Tommy."

He sighed, but nodded.  She was pretty sure that two weeks would fly by like nothing and then Tommy could work past his fear of potentially losing her.  It was the little comfort she was willing to give him right now.  After all, he'd lost a lot too.

Chapter Text

Hayley did her best to stay standing, one hand clinging to her wrist as if it could hold the hand of the person talking to her.  It couldn't, of course, but she was just struggling to stay upright at this point.  "Are you sure?"

"The kids already headed back to the lair, Hayley, but Billy says he's definitely been taken," Kim said gently.  Hayley as certain that she was wishing she could hug the other woman.  "We don't have a lock on him.  Billy and I are going to trace his steps.  We know he was heading to the cafe, so we'll just see if we can find anything between the school and the cafe."

"I'll be at the house," Hayley answered.  Kim just acknowledged her and the conversation ended.  She managed to get everyone out of the cafe.  She didn't remember doing it, but she wasn't ready for there to be two houses she never wanted to enter again because she'd lost the brother who owned it.  She grabbed Trent absently.  Trent looked concerned, but she was pretty sure that Kim hadn't told him.  She waited until they were in the car before she said anything.  Has she been thinking straight, she may have even had that conversation when she wasn't driving.

"What's wrong?"  He asked.

"Tommy," she answered.  "He's... missing."

"What do you mean by missing?"  Trent demanded.  She sighed.

"We think he was taken," she answered.  "We're going to go deal with the Rangers because they're figuring it out right now."

"Okay, I just want to say that Tommy's 'have everyone else stay out of it' plan is really backfiring," Trent told her.  "And you're not going fast enough."

"I'm already speeding a bit!"  She protested.

"Can you drive faster?"  He demanded.

"Yes," she answered. 

"Then go faster!"  Trent scolded.

"Unlike your foster father, I never was a race car driver!"  She protested.  "Just because I can go faster doesn't mean it's a good idea!"

Trent folded his arms and leaned back in his seat.  "Tommy would go faster."

"Once again, he was a race car driver.  He had car Zords!  And he doesn't think things through," she answered.  Trent didn't argue with her again, but she knew he wasn't impressed by her answer.  "We are going to go deal with the Rangers, we're going to get him back, and then we can tell Tommy his plan was bad."

"What if we can't get him back?"  Trent asked quietly.

"We can get him back," Hayley answered, not willing to consider it at the moment.  Like Trent, she was tired of losing people.  She near took a corner a little too hard and reminded herself that getting the two of them killed wasn't going to save Tommy and it wouldn't bring Anton back or make Elsa good again.  She was just trying to hold herself together at the moment.  She couldn't be the last one left.  Trent didn't need that for one thing.

It still took far too long to get to the lair.  She was cursing Tommy for putting it so far out of the way.  It wasn't as if it was a bad idea, but she just wanted to be there.  Fortunately, the house showed up in view and she saw that Trent was half-ready to jump out of the vehicle.  She grabbed his arm with her free hand.  "Hayley!"

"Do not jump out of a moving vehicle!"  She snapped.  The move she made to park would have even impressed her idiot best friend with how smoothly she did it.  Trent did blink at her for half a second before he dashed out the door.  She was on his heels.  She pulled herself together as she headed down.  Kim and Billy weren't there.  Tommy wasn't there.  She was, for all intents and purposes, the closest thing these kids had to a knowledgeable mentor at the moment.

She heard the sound of the video Tommy had put together.  It wasn't exactly a bad thing that they had found it as it was keeping them busy which would buy her time to find him with hopefully minimal questions.  That said, she needed the computer.  She felt a hand on her arm and saw Trent's concerned look.  She took a breath, forced a smile for him, and opened the door as she listened to the conversation.  It was the other things she'd learned from the Rangers:  Be sarcastic in dangerous situations and make an entrance.

"I think at least Zack is older," Hayley informed them at Conner's mention of Tommy being the oldest living Power Ranger.  "Definitely the longest active Earth Power Ranger though."

"Hayley?"  Ethan asked.

"Trent?"  Kira continued.

"What are you doing here?"  Conner asked.

"I helped get everything ready," she answered.  "You've met Tommy.  Did you really think he was able to get the morphers together on his own?"

"I don't think he did," Trent said helpfully.  One of these days, they were going to learn a better-coping mechanism than banter and bad humor.  "And Tommy is kind of my foster dad right now.  And I found out about him a while ago."

"How long ago?"  Kira asked.

"When he needed to save an alien planet so Hayley and he took me off-planet," he answered.

"You've been in space?"  Conner asked.

"I mean, I've been on another planet," he answered.  "Hayley and Tommy got in trouble for it."

Hayley could tell that there were more questions on the tips of their tongues, but they needed to figure things out.  "We need to work this out and then we can discuss things.  Trent, why don't you answer any questions they have about the video while I focus on this."

He looked at her and she gave him an encouraging smile.  She needed him to stay calm and Trent may not have realized it, but he was far more of an expert than most people.  He sighed but did focus on the vid.  "Tommy used to date the Blue and Pink Rangers."

"What," Kira stated.  Conner looked at Trent with the most serious look on his face.

"When we get him back, you need to tell us everything you know," he ordered.  Trent just grinned.

"No problem.  Come on, let's get through a few more changes and you'll get to see Hayley's girlfriend too," he said cheerfully.  They all turned to look at her.  She wasn't facing them, but she still knew it.

"I'm trying to get Tommy back right now," she said, trying to ignore their unspoken questions.  That was only going to last until Trent ratted her out, of course, but she could live with that.  She needed to focus and keeping them busy was in her best interest.  The Aquitians wouldn't make it back in time to help if they could do this quickly enough and the kids should do this anyway.  Tommy could take care of himself.  She hoped.

She knew that Billy and Kim had to be just as frantic as she was at this point.  For all that the three squabbled, there was still love and she'd seen the fighting fall off more and more.  Tommy setting his hand on Kim's back or leaning into Billy's bubble while he was working.  Kim wasn't any better as she'd seen Billy's bemused look when she fell asleep on his shoulder or Tommy and Kim's ridiculous excited near dances when something was going right.  Billy had tried to stay aloof at first, but she caught him teasingly asking if they needed a translation from what he was saying and eating food that Kim brought him without complaint.  The distance had been the problem with their friendship if you asked Hayley, and everyone should have, but it wouldn't be just Trent and her that were frantic.  She shook her head and focused harder on things.  She also pressed a button, sending a quick message by text.  "I know we discussed you being involved.  Call it Tech's intuition, but I think this is it."

She got the answer back quickly.  "Just say when."

She went back to focusing on the rest of it as the kids went through the video.  "You're dating an alien?"

"Maybe she doesn't want to talk about it," Ethan hissed at Conner.  Trent rolled his eyes.

"She doesn't want to right now because she'd trying to get your mentor back," he reminded them.  "We can talk about Delphine later."

"She looks pretty," Kira offered.  Hayley sighed.

"Thank you, Kira.  We'll talk about it later.  I promise," she said.  "I think I have something... keep watching, but I think I'm on to something."

They fortunately went back to the video, talking to each other but she was more able to ignore them and Trent was able to give them enough sarcastic answers for both of them.  She tracked down what they needed to know, handed off the information and the bikes to the kids, and then collapsed in the chair.

"They'll get him back," Trent offered.  She looked at him.  "They're Power Rangers.  Delphine said it's rare to lose a Ranger, right?  And a mentor.  And Zordon died a long time after everything started.  So he'll be fine."

Hayley didn't contradict him considering how much she wanted him to be right.  Clinging to Delphine's words helped and she'd been Rangering longer than the others even had.  "He'll be fine."

"You should call Billy and Kim," he told her.  Hayley laughed.

"You have a communicator now," she teased.  He shrugged.

"Fine," he said.  "Billy, Kim!  We found him and sent the Rangers to go get him.  You can come back now."

"We'll be there soon," Kim assured him.

"Did Hayley make the call?"  Billy asked.

"I did and Tommy knows better than to touch anything.  Because if he scares 20 more years off my life by suiting up again, I'll strangle him.  You're feeling it too?"  She asked.

"Yep," Kim answered.

"Tommy has the morpher on him.  He can hand it off if needed," she said. 

"I'm not leaving here until that gem claims someone," Trent informed them, folding his arms and ignoring Kim's giggles.  Hayley just squeezed his arm, focusing on the computer.  "Also, I thought that Rangers were supposed to get along."

"Eric and Wes," Hayley reminded him. 

"They get along just fine," Trent informed her, still obviously upset with them for stopping their time travel fiasco. 

"They didn't before and I know you know that," she said.  "The Dino Thunder Rangers will get along.  They just need some time."

He thought about this and then shrugged.  "Well, they're getting another member so maybe that will help things."

Hayley gave him a dubious look.  "Since when do Sixths help that kind of situation?"

"Mike," he answered.  She paused.

"Touche," she said.  "Maybe it will help."

***

Billy and Kim both rushed down into the lair.  Billy gave a quick glance to Trent and left it to Kim as he moved next to Hayley.  "What do we know?"

"We found a portal to get there.  Do you remember the island?"  She asked.

"The one with dinosaurs?  That exploded?"  He asked.  She nodded.  He groaned.  "Of course."

"Of course," she agreed.  "I gave the kids the bikes, told them the correct speed they'd have to go and hopefully they'll get him out."

"They will," Kim said from where she was standing.  She looked at Trent.  "How are you doing, Honey?"

"Being really mad at Tommy's stupid decisions?"  He asked.  She gave him a smile.

"That's just normal," she assured him.  He grinned at her.

"The Rangers found the video," he said cheerfully.  "We came in during the part where they found out he's a Power Ranger.  And they'll know about you two.  And the fact that you all dated."

"I know he wouldn't have put that last part in," Billy informed him, giving him a stern look.

"I ratted out Hayley and Delphine too," he said with a shrug.

"He did," she agreed.  "And it kept them distracted."

Even Billy's look faded as he traded a look with Kimberly.  She forced a smile.  "Well, if it keeps them busy..."

There was another beep on the computer and all of them turned to look.  Hayley pulled it up.  "One of the portals is opening..."

"They're back!"  Trent said cheerfully.

The three kids stood there, looking nervous over it as Tommy followed them out.  Conner looked at him.  "What is that?"

"A parting gift," Tommy muttered.  Hayley rolled her eyes from where she was watching.  To her credit, Kim actually facepalmed and Billy just rubbed his eyes.  She glanced over at Trent.

"Are you sure you don't want to try this?"  She asked.  He snorted.

"More sure of anything I've ever thought in my life," he answered.  Hayley nodded and moved to speak into her microphone.

"Now's a good time for an entrance!"  She said, hoping that they all were right about this.  There wasn't a hint of concern on Billy's face so she was pretty certain that he didn't have any doubts.   She got an annoyed affirmative in response through the computer's communicator.  She watched as the villains followed them out, ready to threaten them when their concentration was broken up by the sounds of a car.  The other Rangers looked surprised by the whole thing except for Tommy who had been involved in the 'who would be a good fourth Ranger' discussion.

"Doctor O?"  Kira asked.  Tommy just smirked and looked in the direction of their newest ally.

"You're late," he informed him.

"You're one to talk," he snipped.  He looked toward Elsa and then back to Tommy.  "What's with the bondage thing?"

"I haven't asked," he answered, quickly reacting when Elsa moved to shoot him.  Tommy blocked with the crystal as it was the only thing he had to protect himself with.  The crystal broke open and the newest ally rushed toward Tommy, knocking him down with a slightly apologetic look and catching the gem in his hand.  He immediately disappeared for a second and then came back.

"Really?"  The other sighed.  Tommy shrugged.

"What were you expecting?"  He asked as if extra superpowers had always been part of the package.

"Just give me the morpher," he said, holding out his hand.  Elsa just looked at him.

"Who...?"  She asked.

"I'll tell you in a minute," he muttered, ignoring that she was asking for his civilian name rather than his Ranger name.  He paused for a second.  "Is it a key?"

Hayley spoke quickly.  "I thought you'd appreciate it.  Since Tommy didn't tell you, it's 'Dino Thunder Power Up'."

"Thank you," he said.  "Dino Thunder!  Power Up!"

He shifted and posed.  "Dino Thunder Black!"

"How many more morphers do you have?!"  Elsa demanded.

"At least this one," Tommy quipped.  "Get them, guys!"

Dino Thunder Black glanced at Conner.  "Lead the way."

Conner did so and all four of them did their best to work as one until Elsa and Zeltrax ran.  Conner immediately morphed down and looked at the newcomer.  "So thanks for the help, dude, but who are you?"

The other easily demorphed looking at the morpher as he spoke.  "Justin Stewart.  Sorry about not being able to coordinate with you.  I haven't fought with a team in years and I wasn't a Sixth last time."

"You did great!"  Kira assured him.  Ethan nodded enthusiastically.

"You were in the video we just saw," he told him.  "You were Blue Turbo."

"That's me," he answered with a nod.  "Your mentors thought it would be good for you to have help from someone your own age.  Billy said I need more friends.  Kim said it would stop the fighting.  Hayley thought it was just a good idea.  Tommy..."

Tommy smiled at him.  "It's good to see you again."

"There are easier ways of checking up on someone," Justin told him dryly.

"No there's not," Tommy disagreed.  Justin rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, I'm going to have to learn to fight with all of you," he said.

We have to train a lot anyway!"  Ethan pushed, obviously wanting to work with the other on more than just physical training.  Justin smiled slightly. 

"You're doing fine.  You just need someone to watch your back," he offered.  Hayley was admittedly amazed at how calm he was with them and realized that he was the senior to them and needed to be the one who was calm for them.  Not for the first time, she was pretty sure they all needed therapy.

"It's a Mike situation," Trent told Hayley quietly.  She just grinned at him.

"Tommy, how about you get them back?"  She asked through the communicator.

"Right."

***

Tommy winced when he headed through the door and saw all four of them instead of just Hayley.  Hayley rolled her eyes as his wince.  "Billy and Kim went to look for you and then came back here."

"Wait," Ethan said.  "We have three former Rangers here?"

"And sometimes five more," Hayley said with a smile.  "Which I'd appreciate talking about tomorrow?"

"That's fair," Kira quickly agreed.  Conner wanted to protest, but Ethan elbowed him.  Justin slid up between them so that they couldn't physically get at each other while the team was talking.  Hayley was definitely thinking that Trent had been right about Justin being a mediator more than another obstacle.

"Billy and Kim are helping us out," Hayley said.  "Tommy wanted to wait a bit before he introduced everyone."

"Which was a stupid plan," Trent grumbled.

"Quite," Billy agreed.  Kim just tried to hold back her laughter at their remarks.

"I didn't expect to get kidnapped!"  Tommy protested.

"Considering your history," Billy said dryly.  "You really should have."

"At least he's not evil this time," Kim offered.  Billy nodded his agreement. 

"Can we hear those stories?"  Conner asked.  "And like any other stories you have?"

"I think that there's going to be a war of embarrassing stories occurring for a while," Hayley assured them.  Tommy looked at them.

"But not tonight.   You did great, but..." he started, wavering slightly.  Kim caught him. 

"Home," Hayley said gently.  The three looked at their mentor.

"He'll be okay, right?"  Kira asked.

"He's a Power Ranger," Conner said.  "We're always okay."

"I'm retired," Tommy said dryly.  Hayley rolled her eyes but didn't protest.  Billy gave him a dubious look and she was pretty sure that Kim's grip was stronger than it needed to be.  "I'll be fine.  Good-night."

They paused slightly, looking at each other.  Tommy tried again.  "Good. Night."

They left after that one except for Justin who looked at the group.  "I'll need a place to stay."

"You're welcome to stay here," Tommy assured him.  "You can stay at Hayley's apartment..."

"Thank you for volunteering me," she informed him.  "You're welcome to, Justin, but..."

"I don't know you that well," he agreed.  "I'll stay here."

She nodded her agreement.  Trent grinned at him.  "I'll show you the rooms later."

"You live here too?"  He asked.

"As long as Tommy doesn't blow up the house.  Hayley said I can live with her then," he said.  "Just like she said we'd move to Aquitar if Dad and Tommy got killed on the island."

"Where's your dad now?"  Justin asked gently.  Hayley realized that he'd been slowly putting it together.

"The island blew up," Trent said.  "And we couldn't go back in time..."

Justin looked over at the others.  "Was he a Power..."

"No," Hayley said.  "Tommy dragged me and Anton Mercer into it."

"You volunteered!"  Tommy protested.

"Like the billion... wait.  I thought his kid was in a coma," Justin said, looking overwhelmed.

"A good amount of lying," Billy assured him.  "And a bit of hacking."

"A lot of hacking," Hayley sighed.

"Got it," Justin said and looked at Trent.  "So you live here?"

"Hayley and Tommy are keeping an eye on me," he agreed.

Justin looked at the two of them. "You two are foster parents? Someone let Tommy be a foster parent?!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Justin. We're not foster parents. We're just keeping an eye on him," Tommy said.

"Illegally," Hayley and Trent said together calmly. Tommy glared at them both and just looked about ready to have a headache.

"Why didn't you two adopt him?" He asked. Hayley looked at him patiently.

"Yes, Justin, they were going to let a human disaster of a teacher and a lesbian cafe owner adopt Anton Mercer's kid. They love doing that. It's all the rage," she said dryly. "We moved to a town that has Power Rangers. They won't ask questions."

Justin just stared at her for a minute, but Trent seemed happy and they hadn't gotten caught yet. He rolled his eyes and sighed, but let it go. "And why isn't Trent a Power Ranger anyway? If there were four gems..."

"First of all, there are five," Tommy said.

"Second, Trent doesn't want to," Hayley continued.

"Third, we thought it would be best to bring you in to help the others," Billy said as he headed over. Justin still didn't look convinced and he looked completely confused, but he also seemed to have decided that he would have a better handle on things as time went on.

"Fine," he said. "So, how did all of this happen anyway?"

"Tommy made the decision that he needed to create new powers in order to protect the Earth.  I assisted Hayley in learning how to work with the Power Grid to enable to her become a Tech," Billy answered.

"And then most of it went evil and we have dinosaurs," Trent added. Justin was just quiet for a moment.

"Are you telling me that we left Tommy alone with Hayley, no offense Hayley..." he started. She waved him off.

"No one told me that this wasn't normal Power Ranger protocol," she assured him.

"So no one checked up on Tommy and he went and decided to be a Dinosaur Necromancer?!" He exclaimed.

"Hey!" Tommy exclaimed.

"No, that seems accurate," Hayley said. "The island blew up too."

"He remade and rekilled the dinosaurs?!" Justin demanded, turning on his former leader. "What kind of necromancer are you?!"

"I am not a necromancer!" Tommy exclaimed.

"He's a dinosaur necromancer," Trent said. "I feel that that dinosaur part is important."

Hayley grinned at Trent. He grinned back. Tommy glared at them both. Justin was just holding his head. "Do we have rules for Tommy to make sure he doesn't do anything else when no one is looking?"

"Kim and I are keeping an eye on him at this point," Billy assured him.  "Hayley didn't know that they weren't supposed to create the island."

"What part of 'let's resurrect dinosaurs' made you think that was normal?"  Justin asked.

"I don't know, Justin," she said dryly.  "What part of sending a car-based team on a pirate ship and giving a twelve-year-old a morpher and a sentient car seemed normal?"

Billy patted Justin's shoulder as the younger man blinked his surprise.  "This is why we do not play the 'how didn't you know' game with Hayley."

"Rangers are weird," she muttered.  Trent nodded his agreement.  Justin looked at her.

"You're a tech!  And you!  You were raised by these two!"  He exclaimed.

"Only for the last year.  And Hayley is dating a sane Power Ranger because Aquitians are sane," Trent informed him.

"You're dating..." Justin took a breath.  "You know what?  That one isn't my business and I'm sorry."

"Easily forgiven," Hayley assured him.  "I think it's been a long day for all of us."

"At least he waited until the Dino Thunder Rangers were gone before he said it?"  Trent suggested.  "Speaking of which..."

Trent turned on Tommy and Hayley could feel the anger radiating off of him.  Billy quickly helped her hold the teen back.  Tommy even took a step back, having a feeling that he knew was it was about.  "Trent..."

"You left me!"  He yelled.  "You promised that nothing would change and you almost died!"

Tommy was quiet for a minute and sighed.  "I shouldn't have made that promise."

"That's not what I want!"  Trent argued.  Tommy nodded.

"I know," he said.  "But it's what you're getting.  I can't promise you that everything is always going to be fine and it wasn't fair of me to try.  I don't want you to lose another parent either and we will try to be more careful."

Trent's pull slackened in Hayley's grip.  She pulled her to him as Tommy made his way over.  He looked at Tommy.  "I'm tired of losing people."

Hayley shared a look with Tommy.  Both knew that they couldn't just lie to him.  Justin made his way back over, nodding to Billy.  "Hey, Trent.  I get it."

Trent looked at the other.  "I just..."

"I know," Justin told him.  "Losing people is hard especially when you don't know what to do without them.  But they can't make that promise and you can't make it to them.  But I promise that if something does happen, I'll keep an eye on you.  So will Billy and Kim.  No matter what, you're not going to be alone."

Trent deflated and nodded, knowing that was the best he was going to get.  Justin nodded and then turned on Tommy himself.

"That said, you're responsible for that kid so be more careful!"  He snapped.  "Hayley isn't the only parent in his life."

"Yeah," Tommy said without too much protest.  None of them used the word parent in connection to Trent, but now probably wasn't the time to fight Justin on it.  

"Just pretend to be anyone but you," he told him.  "Hey Trent!  You ever rode in a sentient car?"

Trent's eyes widened in anticipation and Hayley waved him off.  Tommy didn't bother to protest either.  Hayley just looked at her companion.  "I see you're once again making friends."

"Why are you so constantly judgmental about my Ranger past?"  He asked.

"I'm not.  Billy and Kim have plenty of friends. Justin needs more friends which is one reason why he's here.  But every time we meet someone from back in your Ranger days, other than my girlfriend and her team, there seems to be an argument," she said.

"We just haven't talked to the friends that I'm on better terms with," he grumbled.  She rolled her eyes. 

"You're lucky that I'm still worried about you," she said.  "And Justin is right.  I don't want to do this alone, Tommy."

She sounded so tired even to her own ears.  She wasn't surprised when he pulled her into a hug.  "I'm sorry, Hales."

"I know you're not trying to get into trouble, but you seem to trip into it all of the time," she continued, noticing that Billy and Kim had slipped out the door as well to let them talk.

"Not all of the time," he argued.

"All of it," she continued.  She ignored him throwing his hands in the air in frustration.  She was right about this.  "Billy and Kim will help out, but we started this together.  I'd like to finish it together."

"I'll try to be more careful," he grumbled, obviously still thinking he was trying as it was.  She let it go for now. 

"Good," she said.  She tried not to look even more upset.  "It's going to keep happening, isn't it?"

"We made all of it," he answered.  "And with Elsa showing up, I'm worried.  She knows we're involved."

"Elsa wasn't that involved," Hayley offered.  Tommy pulled her into a hug and she wasn't sure if he was reminding himself that he was safe or telling himself that he could protect her.  Both scenarios were likely a lie.

"Hales," he said gently.  "They already started to come after us.  And this wasn't just a warning shot."

She squeezed harder.  "They were going to kill you, weren't they?"

"Yeah," he said.  "They were.  And there's a possibility that they know you're just as involved."

"What about Trent?"  She asked, looking worried.  "We've been worried about it for a long time, but now it's starting."

"We keep him as uninvolved as possible," he answered.  "Obviously we don't interrupt his friendship with the others, but we need to make sure that he's safe in every other way."

"Right," she said.  

"Hayley, watch your back," he said gently.  She smiled back at him.

"Unlike you," she teased.  "I intend to."

She didn't miss the relief on his face and not for the first time, wondered if they'd gotten in over their heads a lot more than he would have preferred. 

Chapter Text

Once Tommy and Hayley had gotten to talk it out, he'd had to talk to Kim and Billy which Hayley had no interest in being around for.  It had already been a long night and listening to Billy and Kim be angry didn't sound nearly as enjoyable as she would have liked.  She looked over to see that Trent and Justin were heading back in and smiled at both of them.  "Don't go downstairs right now.  The three of them are 'talking'."

Trent nodded while Justin just sat down.

"You decided to get help from them?"  Justin asked.  Hayley sighed.

"Tommy asked me to go to Aquitar to get Billy's help.  He forgot to tell me that they used to date," she answered.  "And then I just wanted to know what happened."

Justin nodded.  "I asked Adam.  He told me quietly and then told me not to talk about it with Tommy."

"I think that ship has sailed," Trent told him.  "Because now they're in one room anyway."

Hayley motioned to Trent's comment with a nod.  Justin smiled a bit at that and then looked at her.  "I know I wasn't polite about it before, but uh..."

"Delphine?"  She asked.  He looked a little relieved as she nodded.  She wasn't upset by the question at all now that it was being asked more genuinely.  "She's the leader of the Aquitian Rangers and as I mentioned earlier, I went to Aquitar.  We were attracted to each other, but we didn't worry about it until during the battle.  Aquitar was attacked and Delphine and I were trapped together."

Justin raised an eyebrow.  "That's a lot."

"Yeah," she said with a shrug.

"No, listen," he said.  "I was trapped in the command center when it blew up.  I still have trouble with fireworks."

"Okay, once again, being a Power Ranger sounds terrible," Trent informed them.  "Bad things just keep happening to you all of the time.  I would hate to be part of that."

Justin sighed.  "Well, I wasn't looking to be one again.  But I don't mind.  It might be nice doing this with people my own age."

Hayley gave him a gentle smile.  "I bet it will be a lot better.  You're the only Ranger I know that has ever had the problem that you did."

"That's true," he said tiredly.  "Better me than anyone else."

"Okay, so do Rangers also come with low self-esteem?"  Trent asked.  Hayley snorted.

"You've seen Tommy.  No, they come with guilt complexes.  Big ones.  All of them, even the Aquitian Rangers," she said.  "You should have seen all of them after what happened on Aquitar.  All of them were blaming themselves for what happened.  Tommy for asking me to go.  Delphine for pulling me into the closet in the first place.  Billy for going to get dinner.  Cestro for not being in the room.  The others for not being able to get to me.  It wasn't any better after we found that monster in the tomb."

"Monster?"  Justin asked.

"One of Anton's people found something on one of the digs and opened up the tomb when he'd been instructed several times not to.  I had to calm down Anton on that one.  Tommy was on the moon," she said.  "So... guilt."

"I know I'm the Ranger, but you've had a long time of this, haven't you?"  Justin asked.  Hayley shrugged.

"We don't really have other Techs like me to measure it against, so we don't know if this is normal or not," she admitted.  "We do know that it's probably weirder than we would have liked."

There was quiet between all of them for a bit.  Justin looked at them.  "So, it's getting late..."

"You both should get ready for bed," she agreed.  "I'll sleep on the couch tonight."

They nodded their agreement as she went to set up the couch.  She still had images of Tommy's mangled corpse in her head and she needed to know that he was okay.  She looked at the empty room and shivered a bit.  She selfishly hoped that they would finish up soon.  Fortunately, it wasn't too much longer before they headed back up the stairs.  Tommy blinked when he saw her.  "Hayley?"

"I need to sleep over," she informed him.  "It's been a long couple of days."

He just nodded absently.  "As long as you need."

This was why she was friends with him.  When she needed it, he often rushed in to help even if it was just letting her stay at the house when she needed it.  He reached over, pulling her into another hug as the other two came up.  Kim sat down next to her and hugged her from the other side.

"Don't worry," she assured her.  "We yelled at him for your sake too."

She couldn't hide the laughter.  "Thank you, Kim."

"And I think that you will be okay in time," Billy said from where he was standing.  She gave him an absent nod, sure that he was likely correct in his assessment.  It had been a long few days, but that was often expected for Rangers and she was Ranger adjacent as a Tech.  She found herself finally drifting off as the adrenaline faded and she was allowed to proverbially crash for the night.

***

The first thing she learned about Justin was that he was quiet for the most part unless he felt he needed to speak up.  This didn't mean he was sneaky for all that he had gotten invisibility, but rather that he wasn't in school like the others and he was rarely working on anything else.  Thus, he either practiced doing invisibility or took to seeing if he could help her at the house so she could concentrate on the cafe as well.  She knew that he was working on other projects for himself, but when she asked him if he was working for someone in particular, he just shook his head.

"When you reached out, I took a leave of absence," he assured her.  "Being a Ranger tends to last a year at least."

"Are you upset?"  She asked and he shrugged.

"Why?"  He asked.  "They weren't upset and this is... well... it's what you do."

She was quiet for a moment before she spoke up again.  "What would you do if you hadn't been a Ranger?"

He paused.  "I've never thought about it.  I've been a Ranger since I was twelve.  I didn't really ever think about doing anything else.  I could, I guess, but it just never occurred to me and it never felt right.  I think Tommy and I are kind of the same with that only he's trying to make up for being evil and I've been connected for too long.  After a while, you just forget to worry about it.  What about you?"

"I met Tommy less than a year into our freshman year," she answered.  "Then I was going to Aquitar and meeting Anton and then it was just focusing on making a team.  I don't even remember what I wanted to do with my degree.  Besides, Anton hired me before I was even out of school."

Justin nodded, either not considering that nepotism had been the cause or at least he wasn't going to say anything about it.  She appreciated that as well.  "So, you didn't have much of a choice either."

"I chose to help," she reminded him and he gave her a mix of amusement and sympathy.

"There's definitely a choice," he agreed.  "But I also think that the Power knows who to ask."

"Delphine said the same thing to me," she informed him.  He looked at her in interest.

"That tells me I'm probably right," he said.  "I never got to meet the Aquitians.  I'm looking forward to it."

"And yet you'll just take Delphine's opinion on it?"  She teased and he shrugged.

"The Aquitians have been Rangers for a long time," he answered.  "They know more about this than I do.  That said, we didn't really have a Tech at the time so what's that like?"

"Different than your job," she teased.  "I don't fight.  I just make things for you to fight so the lot of you aren't throwing rocks or sticks at the problem."

Unlike when she said it to Tommy, Justin laughed at the description before shrugging.  "I'd be surprised if there wasn't one Ranger that did that anyway."

She gave him a somewhat bemused look.  "The sad thing is I believe you."

He shrugged.  "If we don't have anything better, we have to stop the problem anyway."

She nodded and then pulled away from the desk.  The other Rangers didn't need to know right now, but Justin had been a Ranger longer than she had been a Tech.  If something went wrong, he might be able to help her handle it.  "How do you feel about small spaces?"

He just paused before speaking up.  "What happened?"

"What..."

"You wouldn't ask if something hadn't happened to you.  You mentioned getting stuck in a closet, but not much else," he said.  She hesitated and he continued instead.  "I was literally in the Power Chamber when it exploded.  I know we mentioned it in passing earlier, but I think without Trent here, maybe we can talk about it more.  I was in the Chamber."

"What?"  She asked in concern.

"We all lived," he assured her.  "But fireworks and being under bridges or overpasses makes me nervous."

"I was in a closet on Aquitar during the Final Battle.  We almost ran out of air and there was water leaking in," she said quietly.  Justin nodded.

"So, I'll handle anything that might make you claustrophobic," he suggested. 

"I'll make sure that we don't use anything that sounds like a bomb.  Let me know if I can help," she told him in return.  He nodded, understanding the gesture.  He leaned back in his chair.

"If it's a cave, we'll make Tommy do it," he decided.  She laughed.

"That sounds more than fair.  'No, the other wire!  How do you have a doctorate?'" She joked.  Justin just grinned at her.

"Come on caves.  I want to see that," he said.  She laughed with him.

"Maybe we should send Billy," she suggested.

"And miss out on 'helping' Tommy?  Never," Justin answered.  He looked at her, changing the subject.  "What are you going to do when all of this is done?"  

"I..." she started, but stopped not able to continue.

"You haven't thought about it?"  He asked.

"Like I said, I've been doing this my entire adult life including Power Ranger Time," she answered.

"You have to deal with that too?"  He asked.  She nodded.  "That explains why Trent tried to insist he was older than me."

"Trent..." Hayley said, half-holding her head.  "We've been over that Power Years don't count."

"They count," he told her.  She started to talk but he quickly cut her off.  "Not for whether or not you're old enough to drink or anything like that, but for life experience?  It's the same thing, right?"

"Then how old are you?"  She asked.

"19," he answered with a smile, obviously not about to add in the Power Ranger Time to that.  "Not that it matters because that's not going to stop you from treating me like one of the kids, right?"

"I think you need someone to tell you what to do a bit," she teased.  He shrugged.

"I've been through that already," he said.  "It could have gone better."

"I think a bunch of 18 years trying to parent a twelve-year-old wasn't in anyone's best interest," she said.  "And like I told Anton before he died, I'm not ready to be a mom."

"What do you call Trent?"  He asked sardonically.

"My little brother," she said.  "Just like he was when Anton adopted him."

"So, you think I can use a big sister?"  He asked.

"I think that's something you have to decide.  I do know that you should do what you're supposed to do as a Ranger but Tommy and I should be handling the mentor parts.  Just let us be the adults."

Justin looked at the ground.  "I'm not sure how to let someone do that."

"That's okay," she assured him.  "We'll figure it out as we go.  We have some time before everyone gets back.  Would you like to meet Delphine and the other Aquitians?"

"Yeah!"  Justin said.  She recognized the look in his eye as matching Anton's when Cestro and Billy had handed him the information on Aquitar.  Before she could make the call, the alarms went off.  She saw the disappointment flicker on Justin's face quickly before he hid it.

"I'll still invite them," she assured him.  "Go."

She didn't miss the beaming smile on his face as he headed off.  It was going far better than she could have expected and she wished they would have brought him in sooner.

***

It was fortunately a minor skirmish.  She watched with interest, keeping an eye on the four Rangers to see how they were adjusting.  She also took the other three into consideration as people just as she had with Justin earlier.  Each of them was going to need attention.  She wasn't going to be able to do that on her own with all of them, of course.  They had a lot of people involved and she was pretty sure that there was going to be help to go around.  It was just going to be a matter of seeing who went with whom primarily.  That didn't mean just the younger Rangers either.  Obviously, Cestro and Billy were as close as brothers for example.  Aurico seemed to have a soft spot for Tommy which she was grateful for considering that she couldn't keep an eye on her best friend all of the time.  She was closer to Delphine, of course.  Kim wasn't specifically connected with any of them since she hadn't spent time with them as the others had.  Knowing Kim, she might connect with one of them or just flitter around them all equally. 

For the moment, however, she was more interested in seeing Delphine as the Aquitians appeared.  She didn't need telepathy to know that her girlfriend felt the same.  She moved toward her, giving her a kiss.  Hayley could already sense the interest from the kids, the same interest that they'd had when she first met them, but she was hoping that they would work past it soon enough.  As it was, she knew that there were about to be a lot of questions that were left unasked as Kira and Ethan tried hard to be polite and both of them were already likely to stop Conner.

"Hello," Delphine said, reluctantly pulling away from Hayley while keeping hold of her hand.  Justin was the first to greet her.  Hayley was nearly certain that this was both due to wanting to meet them as well as being the eldest of the Dino Thunder Rangers and breaking the ice slightly.

"Hi," he said.  "I heard about you guys from Tommy, but it's nice to match it to a face.  I'm Justin."

Delphine nodded.  "I've heard of you as well."

Justin just smiled at that.  "Really?"

"I have been keeping up with Tommy.  He spoke highly of you," she said.  Justin's smile turned to a beam and Hayley recognized the need for that sort of attention as if it had smacked her in the face.  She realized how much work was going to need to go into helping the young Ranger's self-esteem.  Trent might not have been right about Rangers having self-esteem issues, but he was at least right about Justin having them.  "Cestro has mentioned that you may want to look over things he is working on."

Cestro nodded in agreement and looked toward Ethan.  "You're Ethan, correct?  You may also be..."

"Yes!  Interested!  Yes!"  Ethan said before he could finish talking.  The idea of technology from a different world seemed to excite Ethan more than even Hayley'd expected.  Delphine shared a smile with Hayley proving that she knew exactly what she was doing.  She was hoping it would work.

Kira looked over at Conner who looked just as curious as she did.  Conner, unfortunately, took point though his lack of tact wasn't insulting this time.  "So, you're all from a different planet?"

"Aquitar," Aurico told him.

"What's it like?"  Kira asked.

"It's a world of water," he answered and Hayley didn't miss that Conner looked disappointed.

"Oh," he said.

"What's wrong?"  Tideus asked.

"I can't swim," he answered.

"I can teach you," Tideus offered.  Hayley was nearly certain he was going to drag every Ranger ever on Earth to Aquitar to show it off if it killed him.  Conner looked trapped at that point and Hayley was about to intercede, but Tideus was emotionally smart and read Conner before she had to.  "Or perhaps we can work on things together.  It would be useful in case I need help getting to water."

"You can dry out?"  Kira asked, sounding concerned.

"We have a transporter for that reason," Hayley assured her.  She left out the pond that they'd had to leave behind.  It still hurt going into Anton's house after all since they'd moved. 

"Shouldn't you have something here?"  Conner asked.  Trent stepped in this time.

"They did, but it was at Dad's house," he said.  Ethan and Kira gave Conner a look as he shot back one stressing that there was no way he could have known.  To be fair, he was right.  She looked at them and gave a slight shrug.

"Hopefully we'll feel up to it again someday," she offered.  "But not today and the Aquitans don't feel right using it without us there.  So, we just don't use it."

There was a bit of an awkward silence as the kids took that in.  Tommy, fortunately, took point to try to make it a bit better.  "It will be fine.  If they look like they're getting dehydrated, get them some water.  No coffee unless they're heading back to Aquitar, that means you, Tideus.  And just get try to them to a lake if they need it and the teleporter isn't working but they should be fine."

"And we won't be here the entire time," Delphine said, ignoring Tideus's attempts to glare Tommy into taking it back.  "We're going to have to fight our own battles on Aquitar as well.  But we are looking forward to helping if needed and spending time with you all if not."

"I still think this might be against the rules," Tommy muttered to Hayley.

"You told me there were three rules.  None of those rules exclude them from helping," she answered back.  He snorted but didn't push it a second time.  She looked at the kids.  "Make sure you do the majority of the fighting and we'll call it good.  And Billy, Tommy, and Kim won't be able to help as much because they think there's rules."

"There are rules!"  Tommy protested.  "You can't just decide that there aren't rules!"

"I can," she said.  "I just did.  I don't ignore the Three Rules.  Am I telling anyone?  No.  Am I escalating a battle?  No.  Am I doing it for personal gain?  No.  The Three Rules are unbroken and 'don't involve off-world teams' isn't an actual rule."

"It does feel weird to do it," Billy offered to Tommy who took the help willingly and gave his teammate a thankful look.

"I want the help," Conner said.  "We have a lot to do anyway."

"I'm also on Team Help," Ethan agreed.

"More people the better," Kira said, folding her arms.  They all looked at Justin who looked at Delphine.

"They aren't going to do the work for us," he said, giving her a small smile.  "So I'm with the others.  Thank you for the help."

They all ignored Tommy's groan before relaxing to talk.  Hayley caught Kim talking with Corcus on athletics as they didn't have gymnastics as Kim knew them due to the water.  She had the feeling that the two would likely bond over those differences and try to create new sports and the like based on the two worlds.  Tideus and Conner were quietly talking about Conner's Totally Not a Phobia.  Kira had joined Tommy and Aurico for some conversation.  Ethan had dashed over to Justin, Billy, and Cestro to talk shop.  And Trent was calmly talking with Delphine who was just listening to the teen.  Hayley just watched, pleased that they were actually functioning correctly and that things were finally like they should have been.

Chapter Text