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Kendall was very quick to catch when something on her ranger team was off. Maybe it was a natural instinct she had, though it didn’t help much that they were a team of teenagers, all of which seemed particularly bad at lying because one glance in their direction had them tittering and panicking before fleeing the scene hoping that she didn’t suspect a thing despite the fact that they knocked over a display while they were running (and she knew the team wouldn’t let Ivan forget what he did). Yet as Kendall watched Riley yelp and shove Chase to the ground before running out the exit of the base and seeing the kiwi scramble after him when she had caught them muttering about something together while looking at a piece of paper, she knew that they must be planning something.
Even Tyler, who almost always ended up staying late after his shift was over, would be out of there as soon as he was done with a little wave to Kendall as he skipped off. Sometimes Chase or Shelby wouldn’t even show up to their shift, which to the untrained eye would be normal and almost even expected. But Kendall could tell that it wasn’t. Shelby and Chase almost never truly skipped shifts, no matter how late they actually were.
So when she finally had a chance to corner Ivan in the base one day (she would have talked to Koda, but the caveman had suddenly become very adept at lying given how many times he’s tricked Chase into thinking it was his turn to clean.). Ivan’s chivalry shone through because he was easily the worst liar of the group. He had already almost revealed what the team was doing and Kendall would know by now if it hadn’t been for someone else popping up at last second and dragging the knight away from her.
The knight already looked nervous as he fiddled with the hem of shirt as he tried to look at everything except Kendall. “Yes...Lady Morgan?” He asked, staring intently at a rock in the wall behind her.
“What are you guys trying to pull?” Kendall asked him, instinctively putting her hands on her hips. “Tyler missed his shift yesterday. Tyler doesn’t miss shifts unless there’s ranger duty to be done and there hasn’t been any monsters for the last two weeks.”
Ivan shrugged sheepishly. “I haven’t the f-faintest idea what you could be speaking of Lady Morgan.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course you don’t.”
Ivan was floundering, waving about his hands as he tried to think of something. “Uh, well, whatever it may be that Tyler and the rest are planning I-I’m sure it will be great and, uhm…”
“Ivan there you are!” Kendall turned to see Riley grinning. “Yeah, sorry I’m going to need to borrow him for something!”
“What exactly?” Kendall asked, turning her piercing stare on Riley, who took a step back.
“...Sword practice?”
“Is it a question?”
“Yes?” But Riley had already grabbed Ivan by the sleeve and started dragging him away. “Well I hope you had fun but we’lljustbeleavingbyeMissMorgan!”
She sighed.
The next day she stopped by the Dino Bite and looked around for a few moments in confusion before walking up to one of the workers. “Isn’t Shelby supposed to be working?”
The girl shrugged. “She switched shifts with me yesterday.”
Kendall frowned. Well, at least Shelby had remembered to actually switch with someone this time. She turned around intending to do her rounds for the rest of the museum but was stopped to see Chase standing in front of her.
She blinked and checked her watch. Sure enough, Chase was there...wide awake...at 10 am.
“Are you alright?” She asked.
“Fine, just great! But Ken--”
“Miss Morgan.” She interrupted automatically.
“-dall” Chase ignored her and continued. “Koda accidentally broke something.”
She groaned and followed Chase outside where the entrance of the base was, Chase sliding down first and herself going after. When she reached the bottom she dusted herself off and adjusted her glasses before she even looked up.
“Koda, whatever you broke it’d better not be--what?” She blinked.
There were balloons everywhere, and on the picnic table that Chase had brought in a long time ago was a beautifully decorated cake and a few gifts sitting around it.
“Happy Mother’s day!” The team all chorused as they surrounded her.
“Guys...I’m not your mother.” Kendall mumbled still trying to process what was going on.
“You’re close enough!” Tyler chirped happily as he gave her a hug.
“You’re the team mom Miss Morgan.” Shelby grinned, and then laughed as Kendall squawked when Koda picked her up in a tight hug.
Koda ended up carrying her over to the table and plopping her down in front of the cake, which read ‘Happy Mother’s Day Kendall Morgan!’ in bright purple icing.
“Chase made the cake! But don’t worry, it’s edible. Surprisingly enough he’s a good cook when he puts his mind to it.” Riley explained, with Chase looking rather smug behind him.
“None of us had quite that much money to purchase you gifts, but we did what we could Lady Morgan.” Ivan pointed to the presents. “We all wished to show you how much we appreciated your presence.
Kendall was speechless as she looked at the smiling faces of the team, all of them clearly proud of the work that they had put into this. It explained why they kept disappearing. They were all probably attempting to coordinate their surprise. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes.
“Aww, Kendall is getting emotional!” Chase teased.
Kendall huffed. “I am not. I just...You know I never wanted kids? And here I am, with 6 teenagers that I’m taking care of.” She laughed as she rubbed her eyes again. “Thanks guys...I really don’t know what to say.”
“Then...we eat cake now?” Koda asked earnestly.
Kendall smiled at Koda. “Yeah sure. Let’s have the cake and tell Chase what we really think about it.” She smirked at Chase. “And be as brutal as possible.”
Chase pouted as Riley produced a knife out of seemingly nowhere and began slicing the cake and passing it around.
Kendall couldn’t help but feel all warm. She hadn’t really expected to get quite so attached to her team of rangers. She worried about them all the time, pestering Chase and Shelby to do their college homework, making sure Ivan and Koda didn’t hurt themselves with something, and making sure Riley actually ate something healthy once and awhile. She couldn’t believe it took her this long to realize that she had basically become the mother to 6 rambunctious teenagers. Power Rangers yes, but watching Riley shove a piece of cake into Chase’s face and rubbing it all over the kiwis hair before sprinting away reminded her that they were still just kids.
And they were her kids.
She took a bite of her cake and smiled as she watched Chase slap cake onto Shelby’s neck and her shriek and smack cake on Tyler until all of them were getting cake all over themselves in an impromptu food fight. She would do anything just to make sure that they’d stay laughing and smiling together, even through the hardest of times.
She’d be the best team mom they’d ever have.