Chapters:

Wednesday: Head Count

"You're going." Hunter muttered. His voice was quiet as they huddled against the van parked out behind Storm Chargers. He kept his voice quiet partly because he didn't want anyone to overhear, and partly because he didn't need to talk any louder than he was.

"Yeah," Cam gasped, tipping his head back as Hunter pressed another kiss to his neck. "You mentioned that." His hands were sliding across Hunter's back, making his skin tingle everywhere his fingers touched. "Several times."

"So?" Hunter kissed his mouth because he could, then pulled back to glare at the other Ranger. The effort was hampered by the shockingly distracting effect of Cam's proximity. "Why aren't you packed?"

"I am," Cam grumbled. The admission seemed reluctant, even forced, like being ready to hop in a van bound for the X Games was the most uncool thing he could possibly confess. "I'm just not done with my work."

He made up for this ridiculous statement by running his hands up Hunter's back and burying his fingers in his hair, pressing their mouths together again. Kissing seemed more important than any argument he could be making, so Hunter went with it. Especially since he had no idea when it was going to happen again.

The team had gotten two hotel rooms for their four night stay in Los Angeles, which, when you added it up, equaled zero privacy until the beginning of next week. Hunter had always had a general appreciation for privacy, but that baseline respect had skyrocketed around the same time he'd realized how much Cam liked it. Or rather, how much Cam didn't object to sharing it with him.

"Less work," Hunter whispered, when he had a spare breath. His arm was pressed up against the cool metal of the Storm Chargers van and the rest of his body was pressed up against Cam's. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing better he could be doing with his time right now. "More play."

"Words of wisdom," Cam murmured. "From a guy who doesn't take his own advice."

Hunter kissed him, hard, because coming from Cam that was almost a compliment. "I'm not the one--" He almost forgot what he was going to say when one of Cam's hands slid into the back pocket of his jeans and suddenly they were that much closer, he was held in place by something he hadn't in any way expected.

"Threatening to skip my vacation," Hunter finished breathlessly. "Because I have work to do? That's what vacation is for... to get away from work for a while."

"I'll get a ride with Dustin tomorrow," Cam muttered, and his free hand was looking for something. The other pocket, maybe. "He has work too."

Dustin's work consisted of things that actually needed to be done, whereas Cam's work mostly involved checking things that had already been done by people or systems less thorough than he was. Which was all of them, according to him. On the other hand, Cam was a pretty sure bet when it came to being more efficient than Dustin, which meant that chances were good he really would be ready to go by the time Dustin was done.

"I'm holding you to it," Hunter whispered, trying to ignore the fact that Cam was doing a lot better job with holding things than he was right now. "If I don't see you tomorrow, you're gonna hear about it."

"Yes," Cam agreed, leaning back a little so that Hunter was trapped between his hands and his hips. "Because threatening me has always worked so well in the past."

"Shut up and kiss," Hunter growled. He didn't really feel like being teased right now, and Cam could do it with his body and his brain simultaneously. It wasn't one of his more charming traits.

Cam did as he was told. Not typical of him, but that was one of his more charming traits: he occasionally listened to Hunter.

***

"C'mon, guys! Let's go!" Tori yelled again, for all the good it was doing. She doubted Kelly appreciated her screaming either.

She'd been at Storm Chargers for almost twenty minutes, but the others had yet to load a single thing into her van. And Hunter was missing all together. The only one she couldn't be mad at was Dustin.

But that was only because since he wasn't riding with her, technically she wasn't waiting on him. He was the only one putting forth any effort too. He was hard at work on a bike. And she suspected he would be there late into the night trying to get all his work done.

On the other hand, his fellow Rangers weren't that ambitious. Blake and Shane were crowded around the tv in the lounge area. The pile of packs and bags went unnoticed on the floor, as they clung to the images on the tv set. You'd think they wouldn't be seeing one for a week, she thought. And they might not if she had anything to say about it.

She grabbed a hackeysack off a shelf, throwing it at Shane's head. Somehow he managed to catch it though, without turning from the tv.

She looked up at the tv in disgust. "Guys, they're just showing old X-Games footage! If we actually left, we could see this stuff live!"

"But Tor, there's a chance they'll show our video during these clips!" Shane said, as if trying to buy time.

She threw up her hands. "You've seen our video! You're *in* our video!"

"Yeah, but this is ESPN2!" Blake added, as if that would help. It didn't, he discovered, as his backpack flew at him. Quickly followed by several other bags.

That was enough to break the group up. By their second trip to her van, she noticed that Hunter had appeared. She spotted him quickly enough, leaning over the counter to talk to Dustin.

"Now I'm serious, man," Hunter warned. "Whenever you're done, go check on Cam. Don't let him bail on us."

"No problem, dude," Dustin replied. "I won't let him out of my sight."

"Cam might actually get more done if you left him alone, Dustin," she interrupted.

"Or he won't get anything done at all," Hunter said. "And he won't come."

"Without someone there to nag him?" she asked. "He so won't thank you for this."

"Better Dustin than me then," he shrugged mischievously, heading for the door.

Dustin was already back to work on the bike though, and had missed the last part of the exchange.

"Later, Dustin!" Shane called, waving as he ducked out the door.

Dustin looked up, waving in return. "Later!" He turned to Tori, "Be careful and have fun."

"We will. See you soon!" She leaved across the counter and gave him a quick hug.

"You know it. Tomorrow afternoon, I swear."

"You better, if you know what's good for you," she waved as she left.

Thursday: Check In

The surfing practice wasn't due to start for another hour. But Tori had insisted on getting there early. She said they didn't know the city well, or how traffic would be.

But an hour early?

To watch practice?

And no coffee?

Hunter hadn't been happy that morning when Tori called their motel room to wake Blake up. But Hunter had been in a foul mood since they'd left Blue Bay Harbor the day before. So what else was new?

He just hoped his brother's mood improved by the time Cam and Dustin got there later in the day. If they got there. Knowing the timing of those two, it could be next week before they arrived.

Blake shook his head, trying to wake up, as Tori found them a space on the sand. He was just glad he wasn't Shane. Could you imagine sharing a room with Tori? Who knows how early she woke Shane up while she was getting ready. Shane had still been complaining when they left.

The swells were picking up, and some of the surfers were starting to paddle out.

Why was he up this early again?

Beside him on the blanket, Tori clapped excitedly. Then she put her hands down on the blanket, one of them conveniently over one of his. He looked up to see her smiling.

Oh yeah. This was why.

He smiled back. Her smile had gone a long way toward waking him up.

He still wouldn't turn down an extra-large espresso though.

Dustin walked through the waterfall, headed toward the Storm Chargers van. It was a distance away at the end of the service road, but he didn’t care. He didn'’t have any place to be in a hurry.

Oh, wait, he did. They were supposed to be leaving for the X-Games soon. Like now. Or was it a few hours ago? He shrugged. He had promised Tori they would be there this afternoon. And “after noon” could mean any time after 12, right?

But Cam said he wasn’t ready to leave yet. And if Cam said he wasn’t ready, then they weren’t going anywhere.

Something about the Zords and repairs. Dustin opened up the van’s cargo door, reached in for his toolbox, and shut the door behind him. The Zords were supposed to repair themselves. That was one of the amazingly cool things about them. But Cam apparently wanted to make sure everything was okay himself.

It depended on how you looked at it, Dustin figured. He couldn’t fault Cam for his attention to detail. But this was more like an obsessive desire to do everything himself ‘cause he didn’t trust anyone, even his own repair systems.

Okay, Dustin wouldn’t fault him for that either ‘cause Cam was Cam, and he wouldn’t be Cam if he wasn’t, well, Cam. But Dustin could be bored to tears with waiting around though. And he had whined as much to Cam more than once during the last few hours.

So Cam had finally agreed to let Dustin help, sending him off to work on the Tsunami Cycles. Some of them had sustained heavy damage in the last battle. Dustin gladly jumped at the chance. It would at least keep his hands busy until Cam finally decided he’d quadrupled-checked things enough to be ready to go.

With a little concentration he walked across the water, back to the holographic falls, lugging his heavy toolbox at his side. He hadn’t asked to borrow Cam’s tools, and Cam hadn’t offered them. They were working in different areas, and it would have just been too inconvenient. Dustin would rather use his own anyway.

He knew which ones he had, what compartment he stored them in, what condition they were in, and just how he had to treat them to get what he needed. Dustin liked being a mechanic, and he knew it was something he was good at. He also knew that a mechanic was as good as his tools. So he treated them well.

He made a quick visual assessment of the Tsunami Cycles’ condition as he approached. The damaged Cycles were housed in the garage with the truck, awaiting repairs. A garage that was conveniently separate from the hangar where Cam was working on the Zords, he noted. Not that he minded. Tori had been right that Cam might actually get more work done with no one bothering him. And so would he, he thought, as he put his toolbox down next to the nearly demolished Red Cycle.

Shane’s Cycle didn’t look well at all. This could take awhile. Not that he had any place to be any time soon.

Oh yeah, he did. Nevermind.

He was dismantling Shane’s Cycle when his cellphone beeped, disturbing the silence of the garage. He blinked and wondered who it could be. If the Rangers were wondering where Cam and he were, somehow he thought they would have called Cam. He glanced around him, at the parts strewn here and there, the grease splattered around on Cam’s formerly spotless floor. Yeah, Cam so wasn’t going to be happy.

He pulled out his phone and saw he had received a picture message. He opened the inbox to view the message.

A picture popped up, one clearly taken with Marah’s PAM. It showed Waldo chasing a terrified Choobo across the throne room on Lothor’s ship. Apparently being returned to his original size had not made the general any less afraid of Marah’s puppy.

Dustin laughed, and texted her back a comment, thinking that he just had to show the picture to Shane. He’d get such a kick out of it. Then he remembered that well, he couldn’t. Talking with Marah, hanging out with her, it just felt so natural now. And it always made him pause when he remembered that he couldn’t exactly share their friendship with the others.

Maybe she’d call later. There was an unspoken understanding between them that she would do the calling. ‘Cause her situation was a might more dangerous than his. And he didn’t want to get her in any kind of trouble by causing her PAM to chime at the totally wrong time.

Maybe she’d call later, he hoped. Maybe they could meet up that night. He didn’t have anywhere he had to be any time soon.

Oh yeah, he did. Nevermind.

He was in the zord bay when his morpher chimed. He was in the zord bay, upside down, with his amulet hanging over his head. And he was pretty sure that it was Dustin, whom he had no reason to talk to right now and even less desire. So he ignored it.

It was less than thirty seconds later when his morpher chimed again. It was an unusually random interval, considering both Dustin's impatience and his distractability. If he thought Cam hadn't heard him, he would have called again immediately. And if he had forgotten what he was calling for in the first place, Cam wouldn't have heard from him for several more minutes.

With a sigh, Cam flipped his goggles up and fumbled for his amulet. "What?" he demanded. His morpher wasn't an easy thing to hold onto under ideal circumstances, and his current situation was anything but ideal.

"You gonna blow us off or what?" Hunter's voice retorted. "If you don't want to be here, you coulda said something before."

Startled, Cam went to sit up and promptly banged his head against the underside of his zord. He bit his tongue as he let go of the panel above and slid down instead of trying to climb back up. Some of his exclamation must have reached Hunter anyway--or maybe it was the crashing that did it--because the Crimson Ranger's voice went from irritated to gruffly concerned in the space of a second.

"You okay?" Hunter wanted to know. "What are you doing? Is anyone else there?"

"Yes, Hunter, I have an audience," Cam snapped. "Because so many Rangers hang out in the zord bay in the middle of the night trying to repair damage their teammates did during a battle just so they can go to a sporting event they don't care about the next day!"

Hunter was apparently unperturbed by his tirade. "Good," he said, sounding genuinely satisfied. "I'm alone too, and you sound like you need a break. Let's play twenty questions."

"That will definitely help me get this done faster," Cam agreed, rolling his eyes. "Why didn't I think of it myself?"

"Because you're a workaholic who doesn't remember how to have fun," Hunter replied immediately. "Next question."

"What happens if Lothor attacks and the zords haven't been repaired?" Cam said sharply. He wasn't really mad at Hunter, just frustrated and willing to take it out on the first person who got in his way. More and more often lately, that person had been Hunter... and oddly, he didn't seem to mind. Cam hadn't quite figured out how to deal with that yet.

"That's what the auto-reconstruct function is for," Hunter was telling him. "You don't have to check every single repair yourself, you know. You might be better company if you took some time off once in a while."

"You didn't seem to mind my company when you were bullying me into attending the X Games," Cam retorted.

"Sorry, that wasn't a question," Hunter said lightly. "Try again."

Fine. If he wanted a question, he'd get a question. "Why are you so determined to get me to the X Games?"

"Cause I wanna take a vacation with you," Hunter answered. "I get to see what you do every day, and I want you to see what I do. And also because I think you might like it."

Cam blinked. His head twinged, and he lifted one hand to check for a bump, wondering if maybe he had hit it harder than he thought. "Did you just get all... solicitous on me?" he wondered.

"I told you I was alone," Hunter's voice replied. "You better be too, or someone's going to have way too much information."

"Now you care?" Cam inquired, leaning back against one of the diagnostic units. "You weren't too worried yesterday, out behind Storm Chargers."

"Hey, I was leaving my boyfriend for an unspecified amount of time before starting on a week-long vacation with four or five other people. We're not gonna have a lot of alone time. That's assuming you actually get here," Hunter added.

Cam felt his lips twitch, and he did his best to keep any hint of a smile out of his tone. "First off, we weren't alone then either, and second, I'd already be there if it wasn't for Lothor and his minions."

"Sorry," Hunter informed him unexpectedly. "Not a question."

Hunter really had the most aggravating habit of being serious about everything he did. Including silly games that Cam had forgotten they were playing. "What question am I on?" he wanted to know.

"That was question number six."

Leave it to Hunter to actually be keeping track. Or maybe he had just made it up, Cam didn't know. "Fine," he said blandly. "What are you wearing?"

There was absolute silence for a moment. When Hunter replied, there was an audible grin to go along with his words. "Sweats and an old motocross jersey. Ask me what I'm doing."

"What are you doing?" Cam asked with a sigh. He knew he had set himself up for this one, whatever it was. But Hunter sounded so amused that he couldn't help going along with it.

The answer was not the snarky response Cam had expected. Instead, Hunter's voice was slightly quieter and disconcertingly sincere. "Missing you," he replied. There was a brief pause, and then, "Next question."

He wanted to stop and be surprised, to take a moment to contemplate the sheer unexpectedness of that response. But he was sure one of them would ruin the moment if he dragged it out, so he asked, "Are you and Blake sharing a room?"

"Yeah." Hunter's tone was just as casual as it had been before, as though he hadn't had an earnest moment that would probably keep Cam awake tonight. Assuming he ever got to bed, of course. At this rate, it was looking less and less likely.

He couldn't find it in him to complain right now.

"We got two rooms," Hunter was saying. "Dustin's going to be in with Tori and Shane, so lucky you, you get to stay with us. And don't you dare use that as an excuse to find even more work to do."

"Would I do that?" Cam asked rhetorically. To tell the truth, he wasn't sure whether that should scare him off or lure him in. You could learn a lot about someone by sharing living quarters with them--both good and bad.

"Yes," Hunter declared. "You do that, all the time. I think you make up excuses to avoid hanging out with us."

"I do have stuff to do," Cam reminded him. "I'm not always avoiding you."

"But you are sometimes avoiding us."

Cam frowned. "Hey, who's asking the questions here?"

"You, when you remember," Hunter said grudgingly. "You have nine left."

Cam considered that for a moment. Hunter did take his games seriously, so... "Have you told Blake about us?" he asked.

Hunter's reply was slow in coming. "No," he said at last, but the uncertainty was obvious in his tone. "At least... not exactly."

Cam refused to ask another question just to get Hunter to clarify something he should have already answered.

Hunter took the hint. "I mean, I didn't come right out and tell him we were dating. But, you know. He knows we've been hanging out a lot. It's not like I've been sneaking around or anything."

"You tell him everything else," Cam pointed out. Almost everything. "Why not this?"

"Because I didn't think you wanted me to," Hunter said simply.

He couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"Hey, Blake," Hunter remarked, voice a little more distant now as though he had turned his head. Cam had the sudden irrational urge to call him back. He stayed quiet, not about to betray the open comm link between their morphers with his own words.

He could just barely hear Blake's question in the background. "You okay, bro?"

"Sure." Hunter's voice, by contrast, sounded as though he was sitting right next to Cam. "Just catching some alone time, you know?"

"Sure, bro." There was a pause, and the hint of rustling. "I'll just be next door. Come on over if you feel like socializing."

Cam didn't know whether Hunter's reply or Blake's casual acceptance of it surprised him more. Hunter had never struck him as someone who needed "alone time"... but then, he wasn't really alone, was he? He was talking to Cam, after all.

"Will do," Hunter answered. There was a longer pause, and then he remarked, "He's gone."

"Since when do you need alone time?" Cam wanted to know. He hadn't even come close to being able to not ask that question.

"Since I met you?" Hunter countered. He immediately contradicted himself by adding, "You're not the only one who occasionally thinks he's better conversation than anyone else around, you know."

"Do you talk to yourself?" The words were out before he could think about them, but the more he thought about it the more he wanted to know.

Hunter's voice was amused when he responded, "Do you?"

"My question," Cam reminded him.

Hunter actually chuckled. "Yes, I do. Mostly when I'm working, almost never when Blake's around. Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night."

"What wakes you up in the middle of the night?" Cam wondered.

There was a pause. "Lots of things, I guess. Blake coming in late, or the neighbors having a party. Sometimes bad dreams... sometimes my morpher," he added.

"Lothor doesn't attack at night much," Cam mused, trying to imagine the Thunders' apartment late at night.

"Good thing, too," Hunter agreed. "You and I would have shown up together a lot lately. Sensei would start to wonder."

"Not to mention the other Rangers," Cam commented. It finally occurred to him to ask, "Would you care if they knew?"

Hunter's answer was gratifyingly quick. "No. Three more questions."

Cam smiled to himself. "If you could have any superpower, what would it be?"

"Truth." He had obviously thought about it, but the answer didn't make any sense. "I want to be able to make anyone tell me the truth," he explained. "Not all the time. Just whenever I want them to."

Cam thought about that for a moment, playing with his amulet while he thought about how he would use such a power himself. "That's a good power," he admitted at last. Even if he wasn't sure it was one he wanted Hunter to have.

"I know." Hunter sounded pleased with himself. "You're gonna owe me for these questions, by the way. I'm gonna make you a list or something."

"You're the one who suggested it," Cam reminded him.

"And I'm also the one keeping track," Hunter's voice replied. "Two more questions."

"What would you have done if I hadn't agreed to go to the X Games?" Cam wanted to know.

"I'm not sure you ever actually agreed," Hunter said dryly. "But I would have kidnapped you, of course. Last question."

"Of course," Cam muttered. And he might have, too. He wouldn't put much past Hunter. "What's your favorite color?"

He could hear Hunter scoff all the way from LA. "Waste of a good question," the Crimson Ranger informed him. "Get some sleep and let the auto-repair systems do their job."

Cam rolled his eyes even though he knew Hunter couldn't see it. "Yes, Mother," he said with a token sigh. As he pushed himself to his feet, though, he couldn't help adding, "You didn't technically answer my question."

He could hear Hunter smirking. "Night, Cam. See you tomorrow."

"See you," Cam echoed, stretching his arms over his head and shaking his legs out as he headed across the bay. "Just don't expect me to attend every single motocross event there is."

"I only expect you to go to the ones I go to," Hunter replied. It was impossible to tell whether he was joking or not. "And my favorite color's green."

Cam stopped in his tracks, glancing down automatically. The APD on his morpher turned the comm link off as soon as it was terminated from the other side. Nonetheless, he found himself staring at the silent device for a long moment before he resumed his thoughtful course toward the door.

Drunk Horses

rule#1 -- "Come up with your Ultimate Team of Power Rangers"

Once upon a time, or maybe it was just yesterday, there were a lot of Rangers. And among these Rangers were special Rangers. The ones that got all the armor, cool gadgets, significant others, and power-up battlelizers. They were the best of the best, the cream of every crop, and the pick of all the litters.

So they left their regular Ranger teams to form an Ultimate Ranger Team. This Ultimate Ranger Team was loved by all, and much-heralded in song and verse. And this Ultimate Ranger Team was the one called upon in times of great trouble and strife in the universe.

Or they were supposed to be. Be called on in times of great trouble and strife, that is. But things got out-of-hand.

Because people panic, and trouble and strife get exaggerated. A lot. And the Ultimate Ranger Team became over-worked and highly-stressed.

So they went on vacation.

This is not their story.

This rather is the story of those Rangers left behind by the Ultimate Rangers. They are the Rangers who had to fight the real Trouble and Strife (cousins of Chaos and Turmoil) that happened to attack while the Ultimate Ranger Team was off working on their tans, and forgetting their troubled pasts over margaritas as KaliKay's. These are the Rangers that song and verse forgot.

This is their story.

And what a story it is.

The way Max figured it, it was fate. Or that's what he would have called it if he ever thought about it deeply enough. But if life wanted to throw him curveballs, then if it looked like fun he was more than willing to take a few swings.

He had become a Ranger when he had been late heading home from bowling practice. Curveball, swing, homerun.

So when Danny did the very unusual and actually rode with him in the flower shop's delivery van, he thought maybe he should get his bat ready again.

Danny never rode with him when they went to setup for an event. Max would always tease him, of course, about how he wanted to ride with Kendall. Which was entirely true, but Danny was just so shy that Max couldn't resist ribbing his friend. Danny would turn a couple shades redder than Cole's Animal, and Max would laugh until he ended up chasing him.

But today Kendall was already at the event, and Danny had stayed behind to help load the van. Unusual. And Max started to get that prickly feeling that something was going to happen.

Curveball.

If it hadn't been for Danny, he wouldn't have stopped. He would have had the van's radio blaring and wouldn't have paid any attention to the strange grey-haired man gesturing wildly on the side of the deserted road in the wee hours of the morning.

But Danny did see the man standing beside a tall, slender woman. And he recognized them too, despite the fact that they were masquerading as humans.

"Pull over! It's Jindrax and Toxica!"

That was hardly incentive to stop. And the only reason he did stop was because he thought Danny might actually jump from the moving vehicle if he didn't.

Curveball.

He got out of the van, following Danny as he ran over to the Duke Orgs. He sent a silent prayer that Danny wouldn't invite the former villains to stay with them, like he had at the Animarium. Their apartment was just too small for that.

Jindrax and Danny greeted each other like they were old friends. Toxica's smack on his arm seemed to bring Jindrax back to his senses, such as they were.

Before Max could ask what they were doing there, Toxica had her say. "We're not helping you. Because we're not good."

Jindrax abruptly dropped Danny's hand he'd been shaking. "Uh, yeah. What she said."

"No, of course not. Because you're the big bad evil guys," Max replied, still wondering what this was all about.

"That's right," Toxica folded her arms haughtily.

"Oh Max, they're not bad!" Danny argued, much to the villains' dismay.

"Hey! We are so!" Jindrax asserted. Then did something utterly un-villain-like and started babbling about some other big bad evil that was on the way.

Danny listened intently. Max, on the other hand, could only stare in disbelief at the Orgs. They were trying to prove they were bad guys by warning them of approaching bad guys? Did they know how crazy that sounded?

Curveball.

He shook his head and tried to listen. Really he did. But once his mind decided to ignore the insanity of the situation, it immediately became pre-occupied with other things the situation implied. More important things. To him anyway.

Blah blah, big evil a'comin'... hey, back to action! Alright!... blah blah, danger to all... I'll have to swipe the Growl Phones though... blah blah, too powerful... I can't wait to see Sharkie again... blah blah, heading for the hills... Danny is so gonna freak...

Max saw the twin flashes as the Orgs teleported away. So lost in his own thoughts, he hadn't heard how the conversation had ended. But he assumed the hills comment meant that Toxica and Jindrax were headed way away from whatever danger they had just warned them about.

Danny turned a worried look to him. "What are we going to do? Should we call Cole?"

Max kind of wished now that he had at least halfway listened. But he had heard enough to know what he wanted to do.

"Why? We can handle this!"

"Max, we're not Rangers any more. We don't have our Growl Phones."

"So?" he threw over his shoulder as he walked back toward the van. "We'll go get them."

"What?"

He knew Danny would freak. It made the whole thing worth it just to see the expression on his face.

Curveball.

"C'mon," he said, with a mischievous gleam in his eye. He pulled his Animal Crystal from his pocket and headed toward the woods on the other side of the deserted road.

Danny was still protesting from behind him, but catching up, as Max hit the treeline. Holding his crystal in front of him, he let it lead the way and open the portal to the Animarium.

Just because they were no longer Rangers, that didn't mean they couldn't reach the Animarium if they needed to. Cole had figured it out, of course. And Max had been trying to talk Danny into trying it for months. He knew for a fact that Cole snuck up there to visit Lion. Max thought Princess Shayla seriously couldn't have expected Cole of all people to never see Lion again.

But then again, maybe she did. She had taken the Growl Phones with her when she returned the Animarium to the sky. But she had to have known that they could still reach there with their crystals. Didn't she?

Cole had said that Princess Shayla was sleeping again, and that Wolf was gone most of the time. Max hadn't known what to make of that. But for his current mission it just meant, 'don't wake the Princess'.

The jungle of the Animarium seemed to welcome him back like a long lost friend. He didn't stop to see if Danny would follow. He headed toward the temple at the center of the Animarium, trying to be quiet, and wondering just how Cole evaded the Princess' knowledge. She always had acted like she knew everything that went on at the Animarium. Surely being asleep wouldn't change all that.

The stone door slid open silently, and he ran for the room at the back of the temple. It had been where she had held the morphers before. He thought it might be a good place to try to find them now.

They were there, lying on the table at the back of the room. He grabbed the Blue and Black Growl Phones, turned to leave, then stopped. He looked back, snatched something else, and bolted for the door.

He had made it to the edge of the lake when he heard it. He jumped back quickly as a huge wave swamped where he had been standing.

"Sharkie!" he called, as his Animal broke the surface of the lake.

Shark flipped his tail fins at him as he flew through the air and slammed back into the water.

He felt a hand land on his shoulder, and jumped. Danny was standing beside him, smiling, but his eyes were on Bison standing on a hill by Lion's mountain. Bison snorted, shook his horns, and Danny grinned all the more.

Max grinned too, as he handed Danny his Phone and jacket. "I missed these."

Danny just nodded. A man of big emotions and few words.

"C'mon. We've got work to do." They quietly said their good-byes as they left. Danny waved at Bison, and Max stuck a hand in the lake and sent a spray of water at Shark.

As the portal opened, he laughed. Shark was trying to retaliate. The portal closed behind them as the water hit.

There were times she didn't mind that she was a non-corporeal hologram. Like now, standing in a muddy, hilly, apparently deserted field. She could have stayed on the MegaShip, of course. But to be honest, she was bored. And admittedly, more than a little curious about what kind of trouble her boys were trying to get into.

Andros and Zhane were playing spies. Well, Andros got mad when she called it that. He even gave her "the look". He had said that they were on an "information recovery mission". Whatever it was called, it meant that Andros got to wear his dark red cape he was so fond of.

It had taken some convincing before Zhane would put on a cape as well. He had insisted on knowing how the garment would add to their sneakiness. A wink from Zhane only proved what she already knew -- that he was arguing to irritate Andros, and only eventually agreed to wearing it to humor him.

Zhane had drawn the line however as to just how far he would go to be stealthy. And that had left them in their present positions: Andros lying down and peering over the ridge, Zhane squatting beside him, feet squelching in the mud as he shifted his weight, and DECA standing behind.

Andros had complained that they were giving away their position. Zhane just replied that the cape would compensate, which earn him a "look" from Andros before the Red Ranger returned to his surveillance.

"Are you sure this is the right place?"

"He said there's a Ranger that hangs out here that might know something that can help us."

"It's deserted, Andros."

"No, it's not. I heard something a little while ago."

DECA continued to monitor their conversation, but she had turned her optical sensors elsewhere. Andros was correct; they were not alone. She had been observing the lone biker for some time as he practiced motocross stunts several fields over. The reason they no longer heard him was because he had crashed rather spectacularly.

But before DECA could check on his condition, he had hopped up and started looking over the damage to his bike. He appeared fine, but she scanned him anyway to make sure, then turned her attention to his bike. Like him, it would need repairs, but nothing critical. Over the last few minutes he had been pushing his bike toward their location.

She debated telling Andros and Zhane about his approach. But as her scan had revealed that he was a Ranger, he most likely was the person they were seeking. Why not just let him come to them?

Besides, she was bored...

He heard rubber on metal and turned. A young man was pushing a bike up their hill. The bike was damaged, the front tire rubbing against the strut, accounting for the sound he had heard. Zhane glanced at DECA who simply shrugged.

Everything must be okay, he reasoned. If there had been any danger, DECA would have warned them long before the boy had gotten that close. Zhane stood to get a better look, and took in the boy's appearance: yellow and white loose fitting clothes covered by some type of body armor, helmet and goggles hooked around his elbow, and mud-splatter from head-to-toe.

As the teenager neared the top of the hill, he happened to glance up. To Zhane, he didn't look at all surprised to see two guys in capes and a semi-transparent woman standing in the middle of a muddy field in the rain. Has to be a Ranger, he thought. Who else would be so accepting of zaniness in their lives?

DECA crinkled her fingers in a friendly wave, and Zhane had to stifle a laugh as he added a wave of his own. The teenager made what should have been an awkward attempt, considering the multitude of things he was doing, to return the waves. But he managed it quite nicely and actually looked semi-graceful as he waved enthusiastically and yet still held the bike upright on the slippery slope with his helmet crooked around his arm.

Zhane wondered if he should tell Andros that they had a visitor to their "secret strategic outpost". But really, why should he? It was more fun this way.

Besides, he was bored...

He stared off, his attention focused on the empty track in front of him. Most of his attention anyway. The rest of it was preoccupied with how wet and miserable he was. And bored. He couldn't forget bored. But he'd be damned if he'd admit it. Zhane and DECA would enjoy that a little too much.

And he knew he was right. All his carefully gathered information had told him a Ranger hung out here. A Ranger who might have the information they needed to complete their mission. But why here of all places?

*What kind of Ranger hangs out in a mud pit?* he complained.

*Well, apparently us,* came Zhane's smirking reply. Andros rolled his eyes, and Zhane continued. *And him.*

That got all of his attention. Andros rested his weight on one elbow as he turned to glance over his shoulder. Zhane had shed his cape and was standing beside DECA. Both were shouting greetings to a teenager who had reached the top of their hill.

Andros tried to jump to his feet, but he became tangled in his own cape, which was mud-soaked and wouldn't do that cool swishing motion when he moved. Instead it stuck to him and he tripped. But somehow he caught himself before he hit the ground, and managed an 'I meant to do that' look. Not that anyone was looking. But he glared at the back of Zhane's head anyway. Just because.

"Dudes! What's up?" the teenager shouted, slapping hands with Zhane. The Silver Ranger returned the gesture like he'd known the boy for years.

"Greetings," DECA answered as the boy transferred the helmet and goggles from his arm to the handlebars. "That was an impressive crash for you to have survived relatively unscathed."

"Yeah! Dress for the crash, not the ride, ya know!" he rapped his knuckles on his chest plate. "It was totally like, whoa, and then I -- wait," he trailed off and looked quickly over his shoulder. "You saw that from here?"

She smiled, "Actually I saw it from up there," and pointed toward the sky.

He looked up, then back at her. Or actually through her. Andros thought he could almost see the wheels turning as he tried to figure it out. The boy's hand was raised and the expression on his face clearly was asking for permission. DECA nodded, and the boy slowly reached through her.

"Whoa! I so know someone you should meet!" he paused and quickly removed his hand. "Uh, ma'am."

DECA laughed. She laughed? What was with everyone today, Andros wondered. "DECA is fine."

"Oh yeah, I'm Dustin," he reached for her hand, then stopped and waved instead.

"Zhane," Andros heard his friend say. Then Zhane jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "And the talkative guy back there is Andros."

He made a face. *What are you doing?*

"Love the cape, dude," Dustin unknowingly interrupted them.

Andros looked down at his mud-soaked, no-longer-red cape and started to wonder just when this day had gotten so out of control.

Zhane stopped him. *He is the Ranger, Andros.*

*How do you know?* he asked, as he pulled the cape over his head.

*The right one? Look, he isn't exactly trying to hide his nifty accessory, is he?* Zhane nodded at Dustin's morpher on his wrist.

Andros just grunted in acknowledgement.

Meanwhile, DECA and Dustin had continued to talk, and Dustin's sudden exclamation startled the two AstroRangers. Whatever DECA had said, it was apparent that Dustin had just figured something out and was thrilled.

"I knew it! I know you guys! You're in the comics! The AstroRangers!"

Zhane smothered a laugh, while Andros groaned and buried his face in his hands. He knew they'd never live those books down.

"Oh man! I knew it!" Dustin clapped, then pointed at them with both hands. "I mean, even after we became Rangers, they were all still, oh that's just Dustin and his comic books. But I just knew you guys were real!" He was practically bouncing as he gestured wildly.

*Well, he's excitable, isn't he?* Andros commented dryly.

*I think it's cute,* Zhane answered.

Zhane just smirked back.

With their silent conversation, they had missed some of Dustin's ramblings.

"...and when you attend a secret ninja academy, why is it so hard to believe in books about a bunch of color-coded, rubber-suited weirdos?"

That snapped Andros' attention from Zhane back to Dustin. "What did you say?"

"Oh dude, I'm sure they totally meant it in the most respectful way," Dustin assured, then stopped. He looked around quickly and added from behind his hand, "And uh, you didn't hear that ninja thing, right? Thanks, man."

"What?" Feeling completely lost in the conversation, Andros turned back Zhane. *"Rubber-suited"?* But Zhane was laughing too hard to even meet his eye.

Zhane noticed his expression and tried to regain control. *So we found him. What do we do now?*

*No, he wasn't at the meeting,* and before Andros could elaborate Zhane took matters in his own hands.

"Hey, could you like, take us to your leader?" Andros made a move to smack Zhane, which he dodged. Even DECA made a face. Dustin however appeared to totally miss the bad joke.

"Oh, dude, tough request." At Andros' questioning look he added, "We sorta got two Red Rangers. And they're both out of town. But Cam calls the shots most of the time anyway."

"Well, can you take us to him?"

"Um, no."

Andros took a deep breath, mustering his patience, "And why not?"

"You kinda have to know Cam to understand. But I'll call him!" Dustin beemed. Andros just shook his head, as Zhane patted his shoulder.

Dustin spoke into his morpher, "Dustin to Cam."

"What is it?" came the testy reply.

"Could you come to the track?"

"Dustin, I'm really busy right now. If you want to get on the road, I have work to do."

"But dude, this is important."

"What, did you land your new trick on your bike?"

"Yeah! Well, not exactly. But this is serious. Could you just come?"

The voice on the other side of the morpher let out what sounded like a long-suffering sigh. "Fine. I'll be right there. But this had better be good."

"Cool!" Dustin answered, and closed the link.

"He's your leader?" Andros asked, incredulously.

"He's much nicer in person. Usually. Sorta. I mean...," Dustin stumbled. "You kinda -- "

"-- have to know Cam, I get it." Andros finished with a sigh of his own.

Cam still couldn't figure out how it had happened. That the Winds and the Thunders wanted to go to the X-Games wasn't surprising. After all, they were being held in California, and it was the first year that surfing was an event. What was surprising was that he had agreed to go along. Or at least he told himself he had agreed. Hunter had asked, the rest had pestered, and somehow he was going.

And to say Hunter had asked was a stretch. If he remembered correctly, the conversation had gone something like,

"You're going."

"Oh really."

"Yeah."

And before he could contradict with the proper sarcasm called for in such a situation, the Winds had changed the subject to when they would have to leave to make Los Angeles in time to see specific events. The subject had not come up again, so his attendance was apparently assumed and required.

Not that he minded going. Actually he did mind, but that was beside the point. It was more how the inviting had been done that irked him. So he had retaliated accordingly.

He procrastinated. Or to be accurate, he let the others think he was too busy and had too much to do to be ready in time to leave. He had packed, but had hidden his bag. And there were many things he wanted to setup before he left NinjaOps, like guinea pig-proofing the mainframe and triple checking CyberCam's programming. He had everything planned perfectly to make it appear like he would miss the trip. Just to get back at Hunter. Juvenile, yes. But that was also beside the point.

So, of course, something had to go wrong. Lothor had impeccable timing, and had chosen the perfect moment to launch an attack. And Cam watched his carefully laid-out plans go straight to hell.

Soon he was scrambling to get things done. Hunter even accused him of intentionally procrastinating. An allegation he of course had denied. Whether the others bought it or not was debatable.

Despite his best efforts, the time to leave came and went. And he had missed his ride. Tori didn't want to miss the opening events, and since it was her van they left when she said so. But at least he hadn't been the only one left behind.

Dustin had stayed behind to finish some work at the shop. Kelly had given him the time off, but he had to take some promotional items from Storm Chargers to the X-Games. As soon as he finished, he was leaving for LA in the Storm Chargers' van. Cam planned to catch a ride with him. If Dustin didn't get them lost or dead along the way, they should make LA in good time.

And this was Dustin, so Cam thought he had plenty of time. But Dustin was motivated. He wanted to see the X-Games as much as his teammates -- or the majority of his teammates anyway. He had his Storm Chargers' bike repair work done and the van packed in record time. Then he waited in NinjaOps for Cam to finish.

And he waited. Training. Playing his saxophone. Talking. Just being Dustin.

Until finally Cam couldn't take it anymore. He had sent him to the track. Told him to go ride or something. Basically anything to expend some of his excess energy and keep him out of Cam's hair.

And now that Cam was nearly finished, Dustin was calling him to the track?

He had a bad feeling about this.

CyberCam teleported him to a remote part of the track. Not that anyone was there, in the rain. With the track as wet as it was, riding wasn't exactly safe. Or as safe as it ever was. Cam wondered if he should feel guilty about sending Dustin out here in the rain when the conditions were such that there was a high potential for injury. But he reasoned Dustin was a big boy, and if he had been worried at all, he could have protested being thrown out of NinjaOps. Dustin had actually seemed pretty happy to leave. Which made Cam wonder if he had been played all along. Okay, he didn't mind not feeling guilty.

And when he caught sight of Dustin, he knew the Yellow Ranger had fallen prey to the soggy track. Muddy and looking much the worse for wear, he was talking to several very unique looking individuals. Cam headed in their direction, wondering what weirdness he was about to get dragged into.

"Cam!" Dustin called, waving his arms so Cam could see him among the crowd that wasn't there.

"Dustin," he glanced warily at the strangers. "What's going on?"

"These, are AstroRangers," Dustin said with the proper dramatic pause.

"Really," Cam answered, with the equally proper amount of sarcasm.

The blonde man seemed totally unruffled and stepped forward with his hand outstretched.

"Hi, I'm Zhane. And this is Andros and DECA," he pointed to his teammates in turn.

Cam took in the frowning man with striped hair, and spared an extra moment to study, in a trying-not-to-stare-but-scientifically-curious kinda way, the translucent woman. "Nice to meet you," he said, shaking Zhane's hand. "What brings you to Blue Bay Harbor?"

"Dude, they need our help!" Dustin exclaimed a little too excitedly.

"Don't you just love that new Ranger enthusiasm?" Zhane commented, meeting Andros' eye in what appeared to be a private joke.

"Hey, I've been a Ranger for a while."

Cam restrained himself from rolling his eyes at Dustin. He was just surprised the Yellow Ranger had noticed the remark had been about him. Oblivious to a lot of things, it was amazing what Dustin actually picked up on. "Yes, Dustin, I'm sure your three months as a Ranger make you an old veteran." Cam just hoped Dustin wouldn't mention that his tenure with the Power was even shorter than his. "Why didn't you just bring them back to NinjaOps?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"After the way you rode Tori for bringing Blake there?" he asked incredulously. "No thanks!"

"But they were 'evil' Rangers at the time!"

Dustin gave him a look that clearly said, "duh," -- something Dustin usually received, so he was very familiar with it.

Damn. He hated it when Dustin got somewhere before him. Dustin wasn't stupid. He just had a very different way of thinking. When he did get things, it was usually several minutes after everyone else. But occasionally, rarely, his way of thinking beat everyone else there. And Cam hated it when Dustin got there before him. If Dustin had brought the AstroRangers to NinjaOps, the first thing Cam would have done was yell at him for bringing strangers in.

"What we really need," Andros interrupted, looking between them, "is some information."

Cam sighed and reached for his morpher to call CyberCam. "Okay, let's get out of the rain and we'll talk things over."

"But Cam," Dustin looked down at his injured bike. "What about my bike?"

"What about it?" he answered. He really didn't have time for this. And he didn't know if Dustin looked more shocked or hurt at the thought of leaving his precious bike behind.

"Dude, I am not leaving my bike here," he finally responded, protectively holding the handlebars.

"I could take care of it for you." It was the first time Cam had heard the woman speak, and he took it as an opportunity to get a better, or at least longer, look at her. "I could teleport it back to the MegaShip."

Dustin was staring at her with what could only be called eternal gratitude. "That would be awesome! Uh, ma'am, I mean, uh, could you really?"

Zhane shrugged, "DECA can do whatever she wants."

"And usually does," Andros muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Cam had to wonder just who or what this woman was. They had called her a teammate, but there seemed to be an aspect of autonomy about her as well.

As he called CyberCam, he saw Dustin's bike disappear out of the corner of his eye. Whenever the MegaShip was, the bike was there as they too disappeared on their way to NinjaOps.

As soon as they arrived, he wished they hadn't. Cam watched his holographic duplicate catch sight of DECA. He didn't know what was coming, but he began to think that standing in the rain wasn't such a bad idea.

"Hey baby!" CyberCam leered as he left the mainframe and advanced on the tall blonde woman. Pointing at Cam he said, "How about we ditch the loser and go have some fun?"

He couldn't believe he was watching himself make a pass at this woman. And much to his dismay, DECA looked directly at him before she answered his duplicate. She smiled as she said, "Sorry, but I do not believe I am your type."

"Okay!" he shouted a little too loudly, desperate to regain control of the conversation. "Andros, what exactly is the situation we're up against?"

So the Red AstroRanger began to grudgingly outline the information they had. If he seemed unwilling to share, Cam took it as a wariness of working with strangers. He had the impression that Andros would much rather just get whatever information the Ninja Rangers supposedly had and be on his way. And what little friendliness he was showing was probably only to make Zhane happy, as he kept throwing Zhane looks every so often whenever his friend nudged him to continue.

That Cam even made these observations was testament to his amazingly multi-tasking skills. He was listening to Andros, but he was also watching CyberCam's continued attempts to hit on DECA. She was being terribly polite in turning him down, which only seemed to egg him on. And as her smile grew, Cam was beginning to believe she was enjoying it. But she kept looking in Cam's direction and he hated to admit that it was making him paranoid. He wondered just what she knew, and how.

All he really wanted at this point was to get out of town. This mission was sounding complicated enough to make them miss the X-Games. All his carefully planned procrastination was definitely coming back to haunt him.

"Okay, so this is like no problem," Dustin began as Andros finished. "I'll go in first and scope out the situation for you. Then you can take it from there, and we'll be there to back you up if you need it."

"I don't think so," Andros cut in, again displaying his inability to play well with others.

"Why not, Andros? Sounds like a good idea to me," Zhane answered.

Cam couldn't believe he was going to say it. "Actually Dustin's right." He had actually said it. And it sounded so very wrong. "He's a ninja after all. He's trained to be sneaky." He left off all the sarcastic jokes and comments questioning Dustin's competence that he normally would have added there. Because to him, Dustin's idea really was brilliant -- in the respect that if it worked they might actually get to leave town and not be terribly late.

"Yeah, Andros. Sneaky, as in a guy pushing a broken motorcycle wouldn't take him by surprise?" Zhane smirked.

But Andros just folded his arms and muttered, "Fine."

"Great. I'll get things setup here," Cam said, hoping it wasn't too obvious that he wanted them gone. He didn't think it would be very discrete to turn off CyberCam when he was in mid-conversation with DECA. And besides, the sooner Dustin helped them, the sooner they could get on the road.

"Ha!" Dustin cheered as he jumped excitedly. "Let's go!" He started toward the steps to the surface, only to stop and say, "This is gong to be so much fun!" Then he ran up the stairs.

"Is he always like that?" Andros asked.

"Most of the time, yeah," Cam answered, with a sigh. He was already programming the mainframe for what he needed to do.

Andros shook his head as he and Zhane followed Dustin out.

"I like it," Zhane offered.

"You would," Andros retorted, and Cam got the impression this was an oft-repeated exchange between them. And much to Cam's relief, DECA headed out behind her teammates despite CyberCam's best efforts to talk her into staying.

As they headed up the steps, the last thing Cam heard was:

"Hey Andros, guess what?"

"What?"

"I think Dustin just became the leader."

Cam echoed the groan from the steps. The mission was doomed. They'd never make it to the X-Games now.

Not that he wanted to go.

Somewhere under the sea...

"Joel, it's time!"

"But I've got--"

"Joel!"

"Anything for you, babe. Lightspeed Rescue!"

Max was going to get them killed. That much he was sure of. That and if they called their Wild Zords they'd probably wake up the Princess.

So much for the secret part of the secret mission.

"Wild Zords, descend!"

They fought, they won, they went for tacos...

"That was so awesome!" Dustin repeated for the fifth time. "I mean, you were like pow, then there was a bang, and then, hey," he finally stopped long enough to take a breath. "Did anyone else see the flying shark? I'd swear there was a giraffe riding on its back!"

"Uh, yeah," Andros started, like someone not sure how to explain. "I'm pretty sure those were some of the Wild Force Rangers' Zords. That and the Bull. And the Rhino. And," he sighed, "the Armadillo."

"Dude, the armadillo was so cool! I wish Tori could have seen the shark though," he looked over at Cam.

"Don't get any ideas, Dustin. I already have enough to do without adding your crazy ideas to the Zords," Cam countered with a shake of his head.

"Oh sure, like you weren't inspired by that green copter. Any ideas for the Samurai Star come to mind?"

"Yeah, I think that was a Lightspeed Rescue Ranger," Andros continued, filling in the gaps.

"Gee, Andros, just how many people did you invite on this 'secret' mission?" Zhane teased.

"I didn't invite them!" he answered defensively. "They just..."

"Showed up, yeah, we got it," Zhane finished with a smirk that DECA was sure would have earned him a smack upside the head if Andros hadn't been restraining himself trying to impress the new Rangers.

They were standing just beyond the waterfall that led to the Ninja Rangers' secret base. Dustin had obviously enjoyed his part in the mission and had dozens of questions for the senior Rangers. Cam though, kept checking his watch, as if anxious to be somewhere that wasn't there. DECA took pity on him and decisively ended Dustin's questions.

"My bike!" he shouted as it appeared. He ran over to re-assess the damage, his attention successfully diverted. Now for everyone else.

"Andros, there is an incoming message from Aura. Carlos would like us to meet him on Aquitar." Not entirely a lie, but close enough.

"Right. We should get going," he answered.

Dustin jumped up, shifting his attention from his bike long enough to thank her again with another "ma'am", and bid them all good-bye. Cam shook hands as Zhane said, "Hey, we should do this again sometime. Only with less fighting and more Mexican food." And Zhane again did what he could do better than any other -- earn another 'look' from Andros.

Zhane winked at her, taking her lead to get them out of there. Andros was about to retort, but he stopped him by saying, "If we're going to stay, then I bet Dustin would love a chance to try out the Galaxy Gliders."

"We're going," Andros said swiftly. "Say good-bye, Zhane."

"Good-bye Zhane," he smirked, and waved as they teleported out.

As she too disappeared, she simply could not resist a parting shot of her own.

"Tell CyberCam to call me."

The last thing she saw was the priceless look of horror on Cam's face.

"Dustin."

"Dustin."

The dark head didn't look up. He just continued to examine his bike, even producing a socket and wrench from parts unknown. They were still where the AstroRangers had left them, in the forest outside NinjaOps. Dustin was so deep in bike repairs he couldn't see anything else.

"Dustin, can you hear me?"

"Oh, hey Cam!" He finally glance up, apparently surprised that Cam was even there. One thing about Dustin, he could focus when he really tired. It was just usually on things complete separate from the topic at hand.

"Don't you think we should be leaving?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah," he muttered, but didn't stop his work.

"Dustin!"

"All right. Geez Cam, you'd think you really wanted to see the X-Games or something!"

"I do want to see them," he lied. "I thought you did too. And thanks to the little Ranger adventure you invited us along on, we're really late."

Dustin stood then with an infuriatingly innocent smile. "Chill dude. Hunter will understand."

"What?" Cam managed to finally get out. But Dustin never noticed. His concern was already back to his bike as the socket wrench vanished, he dusted off his hands, and propped up the bike.

"Hey Cam, what about my bike?"

Conversations with Dustin really kept people on their toes. From one topic to the next in the blink of an eye. Veiled comments one second, random inquiries the next.

Cam felt a horrible sense of déjà vu as he said, "What about it?"

And Dustin greeted him with the same look of shock and hurt as he repeated, "Dude, I am not leaving my bike here."

He felt sure he had sighed more since meeting Dusting than any other period in his life. "Fine. You can put it in the hangar with the Tsunami Cycles."

"Really?" Dustin responded excitedly, not waiting for confirmation and already heading toward the hidden entrance.

"Yeah. Just don't leave a mess. I saw what happened the last time you repaired the Tsunami Cycles."

"I was helping."

"You made a mess!"

"But I fixed them!"

That pretty much ended the bickering as Dustin disappeared into the hangar. Cam was left alone to wonder about Dustin's comment. About what exactly did he know and how.

By the time Dustin got back, Cam had finished the NinjaOps preparations. The mainframe was newly rodent-proof, and CyberCam had promised to be on his best behavior -- with his fingers crossed behind his back when he thought Cam couldn't see.

Dustin walked up to the low table, and slung Cam's backpack across his shoulders. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," he said, picking up his other bag. "I -"

"Dude, no." Dustin interrupted. He said nothing else, but shook his head and left NinjaOps.

"What?" Cam glanced down. He thought he looked okay, considering he had no idea what one would wear to a multiple day extreme sports competition. "What?" he shouted again as he ran up the stairs after Dustin.

He caught up with him on the other side of the waterfall. He stowed Cam's backpack in the Storm Chargers van, then turned.

"Are you sure you want to take that?"

"Take what, oh." Cam knew as soon as he asked what he was talking about. "Yes, Dustin, I'm taking my laptop." He shifted the case's strap on his shoulder.

"But you're supposed to be on vacation!"

"I am on vacation. With my laptop."

Dustin relented and waved his hands at the open cargo door. As he circled around to the driver's dorr, he muttered, "What will Hunter say?"

It was said quietly enough that Cam doubted he was supposed to hear it. So he let it pass, knowing that he'd probably have a lot more to deal with in the long road trip ahead.

He put his laptop safely in the back and slid the door closed. As soon as he was settled in the passenger seat, Dustin cranked the engine, then the radio.

Avril had just come on the station, and Dustin began singing along with "Sk8er Boi" as he drove the van down the narrow forest path to the access road that would take them to the highway.

Yeah, this would be a very long trip.

Friday: Full House

Okay, so they were late. Not really late. Was a day considered extremely late? He really didn't know. Since he was rarely on time for anything, for Dustin the world fell more into instances of being here or there, of arriving and departing. The times these things actually occurred meant little.

Degrees of lateness he found were best judged by the reactions of others. And judging from Cam's reaction, they were very late. But since any perceived lateness was not his fault, he figured all was cool and Cam's frustration was aimed elsewhere.

Like at the desk clerk. Who had, you know, only been doing his job. It had left them stranded in the hallway, but that was cool. Maybe. Cam didn't seem happy at all.

They'd made it to LA, and even found the motel with only a few problems. But the others hadn't been at the rooms, and the desk clerk had refused to give them keys. Which was, well, the right and safe thing to do. Just way inconvenient.

Which had lead to Cam and him camping out in the hallway outside the rooms.

Cam hadn't stayed there long actually. He hadn't even sat down. As opposed to Dustin who had happily staked out his section of the floor, slouching kinda sideways, back against the wall and arm on his backpack.

Cam had paced around for a bit before muttering something about needing food. He headed off back toward the lobby, stopping only long enough to tell Dustin not to touch his laptop. As if he would. If Cam even had any good games left on it, he'd hidden them away after the last time Shane and Dustin had crashed it. Which had so not been on purpose. But try telling Cam that.

He didn't know how long he sat there. Again it was an arrival that marked the passage of time, as the others walked down the hallway. Most of them anyway.

Tori, Shane, and Blake rounded the corner and immediately pounced on him with teasing and digs about tardiness.

"Dude, it was so not my fault," he responded to one of Shane's jabs. Tori unlocked the door so they could move his things in. Next door Blake was doing the same with Cam's things.

"Sure, it wasn't," Tori said in a so not believing tone.

"No, really. See, Cam was still working this morning, so I went to the track --"

"What were you doing at the track?" Blake asked from the doorway. "I thought you were going to help Cam."

"He was helping him by leaving him alone, apparently," Shane snickered. But Dustin was glad 'cause it saved him from admitting he had been practicing his freestyle that everyone thought he had quit.

"Yeah, so then these other Rangers showed up --"

"Other Rangers? Dude, don't we have enough whacked out colors already?" Shane asked.

"Hey!" was Blake's indignant shout, but they ignored him.

"No, seriously, dude. The AstroRangers showed up! Well, some of them anyway. You know, the ones from the comics."

"Dustin, Power Rangers aren't real," Tori explained, putting his backpack on his bed. "It's just a comic book."

"But we're real!" he said rather defensively.

"Yeah, and they're not," Blake joined in. "What, did they want your help on some secret mission?"

"Well, now that you mention it," Dustin began. But he stopped as Shane couldn't contain his laughter any longer.

At Dustin's sad expression, Tori walked up and put her arm around his shoulders. "C'mon. Hunter's waiting with Cam downstairs. We'll go get dinner and you can tell us all about how some Power Rangers from space made you late."

As they closed the door and headed down the hall, Dustin pouted. "There were other Rangers too, you know. Non-space ones. One of them had a flying shark."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but Cam told me not to tell you about that part."

"Well, maybe I'll ask him myself then," Tori smirked as they rounded the corner.

It was a shame no one had invented coffee-flavored animal crackers. They weren't something that Cam had ever gone looking for, but now that he had coffee in one hand and animal crackers in another, it only seemed natural to combine them. And after today, there was something about dunking a lion in scalding hot coffee and then biting its head off that he found very satisfying.

He liked Dustin. At least, he told himself that he liked Dustin. But there were times when the Earth ninja's refusal to take anything he cared about seriously made him crazy. And Dustin's constant presence over the last couple of days had surpassed the level of normal annoyance and threatened to cross the line into serious anger.

His brooding was interrupted by the arrival of a rowdy group just outside the lobby doors. He looked down at his coffee, dipped another lion into the black liquid, and crunched down on it determinedly. He planned to avoid all contact with the group as it transited the lobby, but the group had other plans.

"Hey Cam!"

"Cam, my man, where've you been!"

"Dude, I thought you were going to make sure Dustin got here on time!"

Tori, Shane, and Blake descended on him, with Hunter looming conspicuously silent in the background. Conspicuous at least to him, maybe because Hunter was the first one he looked for when he realized who the raucous new arrivals were. Blue eyes met his over Blake's shoulder, and Hunter held his gaze steadily.

"Where's Dustin?" Shane was asking. "You didn't, like, ditch him or something, did you?"

"No," Cam muttered, "but not for lack of trying." Attuned to Hunter even when he looked away, he didn't miss the Crimson Ranger's smirk. Narrowing his eyes, he added, "He's upstairs, outside your rooms."

"We better go get him before he starts unpacking in the hallway," Tori said, shooting him a smile and a sympathetic look. "You're in with Hunter and Blake; is that okay?"

Cam deliberately didn't look at Hunter. "Sure, fine. I'll be up as soon as I finish my coffee." He could have done with a few more minutes of quiet, to tell the truth, and this was the easiest way to get them.

"Yeah, where'd you get the animal crackers?" Hunter asked, ignoring the vending machine prominently located on the other side of the lobby. "I'll keep you company if I get some food out of it."

"Dude, I'm hungry too," Shane put in, but Tori wasn't about to let their mission be derailed.

"Dustin first," she said firmly. "Then dinner."

"I'll move your stuff into our room," Blake offered. "Then we can all meet you back down here on our way to dinner."

Cam opened his mouth to warn him automatically, "Be careful with--"

"The laptop," Hunter finished for him. He was already halfway across the lobby, searching his pockets for change on the way to the vending machine. His words were directed over his shoulder at Cam. "Tori and I had a bet on about whether you'd bring it or not."

Cam raised his eyebrows at Tori. Her shrug held only a hint of remorse. "What can I say?" she asked good-naturedly. "I'm always an optimist!"

"Time to go," Blake advised, putting a hand on her shoulder and steering her toward the door. "Shane, you coming?"

"Right behind you," Shane replied immediately.

The noise of their passage had faded into the hallway by the time Hunter joined him again, sprawling across a nearby chair with no regard for its structure. He made it look as though the chair was supposed to conform to him instead of the other way around. "So you couldn't survive another few minutes in Dustin's presence, huh?"

Cam gave him an annoyed look. "You told him to stick with me, didn't you. Did you think I wouldn't come if someone wasn't reminding me every five minutes?"

Hunter just shrugged. "Thought you might talk yourself out of it. Duty before pleasure, and all that." He didn't deny the Dustin allegation.

Cam was tempted to question the "pleasurable" aspect of an event he hadn't wanted to attend in the first place, but he managed to restrain himself. His eye was drawn to the Ritz Bitz crackers that Hunter still hadn't opened. "Did you just get those for show, or are you planning to eat them?"

"Why, you want some?" Hunter offered them to him, then opened them himself when Cam shook his head. "I figured food was a better excuse than wanting to see my boyfriend."

He was really into this "boyfriend" thing lately. That was the second time in as many days that he'd called Cam his boyfriend, and Cam hated to admit that he didn't mind. So he ignored it as much as possible, choosing not to think about it in lieu of actually wondering how it made him feel. And why.

Cam swallowed some more coffee, wondering suddenly how much caffeine it would take before he could keep up with Hunter. He wasn't sure he had ever reached that level of alertness--the point where the things Hunter said would make sense, the point where he might be able to anticipate Hunter's actions... The point where he would understand what, exactly, Hunter wanted from him.

It irritated him that he was starting to wonder more and more about Hunter's motives, because that meant they mattered, and that meant that Cam's own motives were suspect. Unfortunately, being irritated with something didn't make it go away. In fact, the opposite was usually true. He was becoming resigned to the fact that the more irritated he was, the closer he would let Hunter get, because any change was a good change. They couldn't go on like this indefinitely.

Hunter wasn't talking, although he had started to munch absently on the crackers. He was staring across the lobby at a wall that couldn't possibly be worth the attention he was giving it--but then, he would probably say the same thing about Cam's coffee. Were they both, then, avoiding each other? Not looking, not talking, not wanting to seem like they cared.

He opened his mouth at the same time that Hunter started with, "Y'know--"

Hunter stopped, and they glanced at each other. "Nothing," Cam said with a shake of his head. "Go ahead."

Hunter studied him for a moment, then shrugged. "I was just gonna ask what kept you. Didn't have second thoughts, did you?"

"Isn't that what Dustin was for?" Cam inquired, trying not to grimace. It really wasn't Dustin's fault that Hunter had decided Cam needed babysitting. But it was hard to transfer his annoyance when Hunter was sitting there looking...

Looking like what? He couldn't answer that question without returning to the issue of motive. Why was Hunter working so hard at this? Why insist on Cam's presence in the first place, why call him when they weren't together, why dissociate from the others just to keep him company when he was feeling anti-social?

"Are you really mad about Dustin?" Hunter demanded. "Or are you just tired and cranky?"

The anger that had been threatening flared unexpectedly. "Gee, Hunter, why would I be tired and cranky after spending the entire weekend working on zords that I didn't trash, helping Rangers I don't know defeat an enemy I don't care about, and then putting up with Dustin's driving on a trip I still don't know why I agreed to!"

"Rangers?" Hunter echoed, giving him a sharp look. "What Rangers?"

Hunter's ability to completely overlook his temper was both unique and occasionally gratifying. "Some other Power Rangers asked us to help them out this afternoon," Cam muttered. "Dustin recognized them; you'd have to ask him who they were."

"You just ran off with random Rangers on some secret mission without telling us about it?" Hunter sounded annoyed, which, perversely, made Cam feel better.

"I'm telling you about it now, aren't I? Dustin's probably filled the others in already. It wasn't a big deal, and alerting you guys would have taken more time than they had. We were there, we were convenient, and now we're even later than we would have been otherwise. The Power doesn't seem to care how much of your life it interrupts."

"Okay." Hunter sounded anything but okay. "That does it." He stuffed his crackers into the magazine rack and stood up, glaring down at Cam. "Come on."

"Come on where?" Cam asked warily. He didn't move.

"The stairwell, the broom closet, outside, I don't care," Hunter snapped. "I have something to say to you and I'm not doing it here, so put your coffee down or bring it with you and let's go."

Curiosity overwhelmed his reluctance to do anything just because Hunter said so. He set his coffee down on the floor and followed Hunter across the lobby, his mind discarding more possibilities than it seriously considered as he wondered what Hunter was talking about. The rapid sorting process didn't seem to get him any closer to an answer.

"Okay," Hunter repeated, pausing at the bottom of the stairs outside and glancing around. He headed for the far side of the handicapped-accessible ramp, away from the street but not exactly invisible to passersby. "Cam," he added impatiently, when Cam didn't move.

With a sigh, Cam followed. "What?"

"I missed you," Hunter retorted, like it was Cam's fault. "Okay? We were only gone two days and I missed your stupid sarcasm. So to hear that you went on some freaky field trip with people who probably aren't that much more careful than we are isn't exactly reassuring. Do you get that?"

Cam opened his mouth, but Hunter cut him off. "Don't answer that," he told Cam. "Not yet. I know you're gonna say something I don't want to hear, so can I please just kiss you first and have you do your snarky thing afterward?"

His expression was troubled, but the "please" left Cam speechless. Whatever snarky thing Hunter thought he did, he was hours away from being able to pull it off now. He couldn't even bring himself to nod. Fortunately, Hunter seemed to take his silence for assent.

He hadn't kissed Hunter since Wednesday. He hadn't seen Hunter since Wednesday. He hadn't told Hunter he missed him, even though Hunter had said it twice now. And suddenly, being on the receiving end of Hunter's sometimes clumsy but apparently sincere affection was more than he could handle. He leaned into that solid body as their mouths met, heard Hunter's soft sound of appreciation, and he closed his eyes as hands settled gently on his waist.

He didn't want to think about it. He really didn't. So his tongue found its way into Hunter's mouth. So his fingers fisted in a crimson t-shirt, and the arms that snaked around him held them both up. So Hunter was breathing hard under an assault he couldn't have seen coming and Cam was desperate to keep him there just a little longer and he really didn't care who was watching right now.

It didn't mean anything.

Except that Hunter had missed him. And Cam had the sinking feeling that you didn't miss someone you were just dating for the heck of it. He really didn't want to think about it... because the more he wondered about Hunter, the more he realized that he would be disappointed if Hunter was just doing this for fun. He liked Hunter too much--

He liked Hunter. Fine, he'd admitted it. He liked dating Hunter, he liked being with Hunter, he liked kissing Hunter. He was torn between the desire to get as close as he could before Hunter got bored, and the instinct to back off as far as possible to avoid being hurt when that time came.

"Cam," Hunter gasped, hands on his shoulders pushing him back. His blue eyes were wide and dark and he looked like he was trying very hard to be casual and failing just as badly. His breath was coming too fast, his gaze wandering all over Cam's face as he demanded, "How do you..."

His voice caught and he swallowed hard, stepping closer even as Cam tried to pull away. "How do you do that," he mumbled, lowering his head even as he added, "keep it from going straight to your head--"

His mouth was on Cam's again, and a renewed flush of warmth sank into every part of his body. This time he gave himself up to the feeling, refusing even to think. And the kissing did go straight to his head. And to every other part of his body, including the hands that rubbed hard against Hunter's chest without his conscious approval, the skin that was hot under too many layers of clothing, and the part of him that said this was the best idea he'd ever had.

They clung to each other, fierce heat blocking out everything else around them. The door could have opened and Cam wasn't sure he would have noticed. But Hunter saw the car pull into the parking lot behind them and he turned his head, trailing his mouth across Cam's cheek and panting in his ear, "Still in a public place, here."

"Your fault," Cam muttered, turning his head to the other side and trying to catch his breath against Hunter's shoulder. They were pressed up against each other, huddled under the windows off to the side of the entrance to the motel, probably worth a stare or two from anyone who had caught a glimpse of them. But his body was hot and his heart was pounding and he didn't really want to be anywhere else right now.

He felt Hunter's breath escape in a harsh puff of amusement. His voice was husky as he agreed, "Yeah, somehow I thought it would be."

Cam's lips twitched, and he waited until he thought he could speak in an even tone of voice. The moment was further delayed by the feel of Hunter's fingers in his hair, combing his bangs back from his face as they started to draw apart. Cam resisted the urge to push his hair out of his face himself after Hunter had smoothed it back, settling instead for a deep breath that made the corners of Hunter's mouth quirk.

"I can't tell," he said quietly, scanning Cam's face, "whether I'm exempt from sarcasm after that, or if I'm just going to get twice as much, twice as often."

Cam opened his mouth, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

Hunter had the nerve to laugh at him. "Exempt," he decided, "at least for a few minutes. And believe me, I'm gonna take advantage of it." Putting one hand on each of Cam's shoulders, he turned Cam around and literally steered him back toward the stairs. "Let's get back inside before someone comes looking for us."

Cam finally found his voice, shrugging Hunter's hands away as they made their way up the steps to the door. "Minutes?" he repeated, clearing his throat. "You think that earned you minutes of sarcastic exemption?"

"Seconds?" Hunter guessed, catching the door that Cam didn't bother to hold for him. "When am I gonna find out what it takes to earn minutes?"

"Hey, there they are!"

After the day he'd had, the mere fact that Dustin's voice didn't make Cam wince was something like a miracle. Hunter must be good for his nerves. And isn't that ironic, he thought wryly. Private or not, he doubted he would ever live that idea down.

"So tomorrow morning we'll head out to the beach to watch surfing?" Tori asked Shane over dinner.

He rolled his eyes, "I thought the surfing competitions were over."

"They are," she agreed. "But there's a surfing exhibition tomorrow morning before the wakeboarding starts."

Shane made a show of pondering the options. He of course didn't mind going with Tori. It was just more fun messing with her.

He knew she'd rather share her enjoyment with someone, preferably Blake, than go to events alone. But with the moto events starting the next day, Blake would be preoccupied elsewhere. He also knew that if he went to her events now, once the surfing was over he'd stand a better chance of talking her into attending the skateboarding events. When she wasn't with Blake, that is.

You'd think that with a team with an even number of members, it would be easier to pair off. But no. The Ninja Rangers never made anything easy. If anything they made things as hard as possible. And that was saying a lot.

"How do you feel about watching skateboarding?" he finally asked.

"I go to your demos, don't I?"

Shane shrugged, "When you aren't offered movie tickets by random guys in blue."

He didn't normally tease his friend so cruelly, but the effect was worth it -- Tori blushed, Blake choked on his coke, and Hunter laughed out right at his little brother and girlfriend.

"Man," Hunter declared, throwing himself down on the nearest bed. "I'm stuffed."

"I assume this is my bed?" Cam's voice inquired, and he rolled his head to one side to regard the Green Ranger. Cam was looking at his laptop case, set carefully on top of the other bed, and the backpack that had been left on the floor beside it.

"Unless you want to sleep with Hunter," Blake remarked innocently. "We figured we can share the other bed and you can have that one."

Cam didn't so much as look at him, which was probably good after a statement like that. He had been ready to look away if Cam glanced his way by accident. He hadn't asked Blake--yet--exactly what he knew. He hadn't figured out a way to do it without having to admit the truth, which meant that Blake could still make cracks like that and get away with it.

"Did you already take over the bureau?" Cam was asking.

"We divided it up by height," Blake told him. "We left the middle drawer for you."

"By height?" Cam repeated skeptically.

Hunter saw Blake shrug. "It works."

Cam's expression was typically condescending, but he didn't have any other answer for that. It did work. It would do him good to realize that there didn't have to be a mathematical formula for everything in life. Some things could be done totally at random, and it wouldn't be the end of the world.

There was a knock on the door, and Blake glanced over at him. "I got it," he said. Hunter didn't move, watching Cam pull clothes out of his backpack and arrange them in the drawer. Did he really have to refold everything, Hunter wondered?

"Guys, turn on the TV!" Tori exclaimed, flying into the room like a water strider on speed. How did she have that much energy all the time? She got up practically in the middle of the night to get to the morning events, and yet she didn't seem to lose any steam as the day went on.

She grabbed the remote from the bureau over Cam's head and stepped back, flipping through the channels. She eventually came up with sports footage that seemed vaguely familiar. The logo, at least...

"Tor, we were at the surfing finals," Blake pointed out. "We saw them this morning. In person."

"Yeah, and the camera saw us!" Tori's gaze was fixed on the TV screen. "Wait till they pan back across the beach--you can see us there in the front."

That was enough to hold Blake's attention, and Hunter looked down at Cam again. He hadn't given up on the bureau just because people were trying to watch something on it. He didn't give the TV more than a token glance, apparently devoting all of his energy to his clothes. Mostly green, of course.

What was he thinking about, Hunter wondered? It was so, so easy to just lie there and stare at him. Cam had a tendency to focus on things so intently that he either ignored the activity around him or missed it altogether. It was a trait that Hunter repeatedly took advantage of.

"Hey, cool!" Blake exclaimed suddenly.

At the same time Tori declared, "See! There we are!"

Cam didn't even look up, just closed the bureau drawer and shoved his backpack back up against the end of his bed. Hunter watched as he put his laptop on the floor and pushed it underneath the bed. Only then did he lift his head, getting to his feet and surveying the room. Hunter fixed his gaze on the TV while Cam studied him, then looked back at him as soon as Cam's gaze slid away.

Sorry, dude, he thought, suppressing a smile. Cam was contemplating the TV now, looking from Tori and Blake to the set with no clue that he was being watched himself. You've got nothing on me when it comes to tactical observation.

Not that this was entirely tactical. Observing Cam was a necessity, of course, especially when it came to anticipating his moods. Catch him at the wrong time and there was nothing anyone could say to tear him away from his work, let alone make him smile. Catch him at the right time, and... well, the careful observer might walk into a welcome trap.

Hunter's smile became harder to contain, and he concentrating on breathing evenly, slowly, as though he was just as relaxed as everyone else. As though he was just lying here on his bed, with an idle eye on the TV and an amused ear to Tori and Blake's argument. As though remembering the way Cam had kissed him this afternoon didn't affect him at all.

As though the thought of Cam sleeping within arms' reach didn't set him on edge, didn't make him wonder, didn't trigger every internal alarm he had.

No, not entirely tactical at all. Observing Cam was a necessity, but it certainly wasn't a chore. It was also dangerous. He had to remind himself not to talk, not to reach out, not to engage the sarcastic Samurai Ranger at every opportunity. 'Cause damn, it was tempting... Cam never failed to respond, and Hunter was annoyingly aware that all of the single-minded characteristics he assigned to Cam also applied to him. Especially when he was baiting Cam.

"You can't even tell the volume from the channels!"

"Like you're such an expert, Mr. The Remote Works Better Without Batteries!"

They were actually at war with each other over the remote. Hunter watched dispassionately as Blake resorted to tickling and Tori made no real effort to escape--she wasn't gonna give up the remote, though, and he would have been amused if they weren't so sickeningly cute. Couldn't they do anything that didn't make people think of babies and minivans and little puppies playing in the front yard?

He liked Tori. It had taken his brother long enough to choose a girlfriend he was serious about, and fortunately it was one that Hunter not only approved of but also considered Worthy. Tori was a perfectly good match for his little bro: she would let him shower her with charm and keep him in line at the same time. It was just the way they flirted that was a little hard to deal with sometimes.

Times like now, when Cam was right there and Hunter couldn't even be caught looking at him. Damn it. He hated to be jealous of the way Blake and Tori were hanging on each other. He hated having Cam sitting alone on the other bed, arms folded as he pretended to watch the TV they were all ignoring. He hated the feeling, the sneaking certainty that had wormed its way into his mind, that anyone who had to hide their relationship didn't really have one.

He sat up suddenly. "I'm going for a walk," he told the room at large.

He could feel everyone turn to look at him, and Tori took advantage of the distraction to snatch the remote away from Blake. "Yeah, okay," Blake said at last, giving Tori the evil eye. "Be safe out there, bro. You got a key?"

"Yeah." Unspoken was the understanding that they were probably more capable of defending themselves than anyone in the city, and if any of them ran into trouble, it wasn't like they didn't have instant backup. "I'll be back in a while."

"You want company?" Cam asked the TV.

He hadn't expected that. Since when did Cam volunteer to spend time with him--in front of other people, no less? He could sometimes be talked into it... More often he could be ambushed, but it was always Hunter following him, not the other way around.

"Yeah," Hunter said quickly. He turned toward the door without waiting for an answer in case Cam hadn't been talking to him at all, or had just been setting him up for some sarcasm-laden remark. But when he got to the door he could hear someone behind him--and there was Cam in the hallway with him as he headed for the nearest exit.

He felt a smile tugging at his expression and he did his damndest not to let it show. Cam was actually going somewhere with him. Alone. At night. And after announcing his intentions to both Blake and Tori.

Hunter looked away, because really, there was no way to hide his smile.

He didn't want to sleep. After the day he'd had, sleep was the farthest thing from his mind.

Meeting new Rangers and the battle that followed had him totally hyped. And the long road trip with a sour Cam had done nothing to help expel his excess energy.

Dinner had helped some. 'Cause he'd finally got to tell his Ranger story. Well, part of it anyway.

He listened to Shane tease Tori about Blake and skateboarding. And he thought it looked like they were going to get him next. With more disbelieving questions about Rangers from outer space for sure.

But Hunter spoke up before they could. "Cam said I should ask you about these other Rangers you guys met."

That was proof enough to prevent any teasing. If Cam said it was so, it was so.

He didn't tell them the whole story. Everyone was interrupting too much with random comments and jokes for that. But they believed him now, and that was cool. And he was quietly grateful to Cam for mentioning the adventure to Hunter.

So he hadn't exactly felt like sleeping. He had grabbed his saxophone case instead, much to Shane's dismay. Shane looked beat. Knowing Tori, she had probably been waking him up before dawn to be early to every event.

But Tori was visiting Blake in the other room, and Shane looked ready to take advantage of her absence by getting some rest.

Dustin figured he could be nice, so he'd let his friend sleep. He took his sax, left the room, and disappeared out a side door to the motel parking lot.

He set the case down in the shadow of the building, out of the bright glare of the streetlights. Nothing like a little jam session to unwind, ya know?

He had assembled his sax and was about to start playing when a fire door further down the motel opened. Hunter and Cam emerged from the building, talking about something Dustin could quite catch. As they headed across the parking lot, Hunter reached for Cam's hand. And Cam let him take it.

Quietly so as not to disturb them, Dustin put his sax away. Maybe he would try to get some sleep after all. With two crowded rooms inside, the couple needed the outdoor alone time more than he did.

As they disappeared into the shadows, Dustin smiled and slipped back into the motel.

Saturday: Sneaking Around

Whoever woke up first got the van. It wasn't true, but that's what the guys believed. It was her bus through, and nobody was taking it except from her. Not that they had called her on it. She was always the first one up, so it had never been an issue.

They rode to the beach in near silence, Shane only half-awake in the passenger seat.

"How can you still be tired? You slept forever!"

"How can you be so awake?" he countered. "I don't even know what time you finally got back to the room last night."

This morning actually, she thought. Hunter and Cam had left the motel room, and Blake and she had just lost track of time. Suddenly it was morning and they had not returned.

Blake hadn't seemed overly concerned, which was odd. The Bradley brothers were always worrying about each other over something.

And it wasn't so much the lack of worry that made her curious. It was that Blake seemed... frustrated? He thought he hid it well. He didn't though. Not from her. And he didn't have a clue.

That was one thing about being the only woman on a team of guys. It was obvious to her just how much they repressed, well, except for Dustin. Dustin was open about most everything. But the Yellow Ranger didn't appear to be Blake's problem.

If Blake wanted to know what Hunter was keeping from him, she could have told him. She could have, but she wouldn't.

She had suspected for some time that Hunter and Cam were seeing each other. But she had no proof, and it wasn't her place to tell even if she did. So when they left together last night, it wasn't exactly proof. But when they ended up gone half the night, it could only lead to rumors.

Maybe with the close quarters in the coming week, all the guys would get their stuff sorted out. Whatever that assorted stuff may be.

As she pulled into the parking lot, Shane's sleeping head hit her shoulder. Perfect timing. She put her VW bus into park, then used the same hand to shove Shane off her and gently awake.

"We're here. Get up before you drool on me."

He stretched and popped his seatbelt. "And I thought you were WaterGirl."

She rolled her eyes and took off her belt too. "Not like that. Now c'mon."

Dustin finished filling his water bottle, and stepped back from the water fountain. As he did, he bumped into someone coming out of the bathroom.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ma'am," he apologized, turning around. Then he stopped.

"Marah?"

"Hi," she waved shyly.

"What are you doing here?" It had been a few days since they had talked, sure. But he thought for sure he would have remembered if she'd mentioned going to the X-Games.

She shrugged. "Kapri wanted to take a vacation. She mentioned the coast and yummy guys. When I realized she meant here, I thought maybe I could find you."

"Won't Lothor miss you?"

"Are you kidding? Uncle's probably very happy we're gone."

"So, are you with Kapri now?" he asked, wondering if they could spend time together. Belatedly he remembered he was at this event with Hunter, Cam, and Blake.

"Yeah. I should probably be getting back."

"We'll have to ditch the others and go somewhere together while we're here," he grinned. "Sound cool?"

She nodded. "Totally. I'll call you when I can get away."

"Awesome." He waved as she skipped off, disappearing into the crowd.

Okay, LA traffic sucked. He'd heard about it, of course. But actually driving in it? Dude!

He was sorely tempted to streak everywhere. He really was. But he knew Sensei wouldn't approve. And he was working right now so he couldn't anyway.

The guys had discussed dinner plans, and as soon as the moto event was over, Dustin had jumped in Kelly's van. The sooner he got this Storm Chargers' stuff delivered, the sooner he was free to enjoy the rest of the week with no responsibilities.

He'd kinda exaggerated to everyone what he had to do. But he had a good reason. It was so he'd have an excuse to miss dinner in case Marah called. He didn't want to bail on his friends. But the chance to be out in public with Marah in a city where no one would recognize them was just too good to pass up.

Plus, he missed her. Okay, it had only been a week since they last got to hang out properly, but he still missed her.

He finally made it to the X-Games' office. He dropped off the things from Storm Chargers, and filled out several dozen forms. Mercifully, his cellphone rang then, saving him from having to talk to any more officials. He thanked them, excused himself, and all but ran out the door.

The caller ID on his cellphone was blank. It could never figure out Marah's PAM signals enough to even say, "CALLER UNKNOWN".

"Hi!" she greeted him enthusiastically. "Can we meet tonight?"

"Absolutely," he agreed, starting the van. "Where are you staying? I'll pick you up."

"The Motel 6 on 12^th."

"No way! Dude, that's where we're staying!"

She giggled. "Well, that's convenient. So, about seven?"

He checked the van's in-dash clock. That should give him enough time to get back and get ready. "Sure, sounds good."

"Great! I'll see you then."

"Later!" He hung up and pulled back out into traffic. Suddenly the gridlock didn't seem so bad with so much to look forward to.

They'd managed to get hold of Shane and Tori to tell them where they were meeting Dustin for dinner. Tori had quizzed them about the menu options, like she didn't trust them to choose a place she could stand, and Shane had repeatedly tried to interrupt her. Hunter smirked when he failed--also repeatedly--but it wasn't until they'd all agreed on the time and place of meeting that the trouble began.

It turned out that they hadn't all agreed. The whole point of discussing it before Dustin took off had been to find a place everyone liked. Cam hadn't contributed, so they had just assumed he didn't care. No sooner had Blake ended his call to Tori, though, then Cam had casually announced that he would see them back at the room afterwards.

That had made Hunter stop, and Blake's mild surprise at Cam's statement turned to studied interest in his brother's reaction. "What do you mean, afterwards?" Hunter demanded. "You're not gonna eat?"

"We ate an hour ago," Cam countered. "I'm not hungry."

Neither was Blake, but they didn't have food in front of them yet either. He'd probably be hungry by the time they got there, ordered, and sat around waiting for who-knew-how-long. Besides, it wasn't really about the food. Okay, it was, but it was also a chance for all of them to be together. They were on vacation. They were supposed to do at least a few things as a group.

If he hadn't been so intent on watching his brother argue with a brick wall, he might have noticed the irony of that statement coming from a Thunder Ranger.

He waited until Cam was gone to smile, and it didn't take long for Hunter to turn that angry look on him. "What are you grinning about?"

"You, bro. You and Cam."

Hunter's frown deepened. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You tell me," Blake said, folding his arms. He really didn't want to be wrong about something like this, at least not out loud, but he'd given Hunter plenty of chances to explain and so far it hadn't happened. "What's up with you two?"

Hunter gave him a disgusted look that wasn't even close to convincing. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Look, you hang out with Dustin at the shop. You talk to Tori when she comes to the track. You even went to one of Shane's skateboarding demos."

"Yeah, so?" Hunter's hostility didn't abate in the face of confusion. That was one of the best things about his brother, Blake thought. He was nothing if not dependable.

"So you picked Cam up twice last week," Blake reminded him. "Once you met him somewhere, and there was definitely some extra training time that I didn't pay much attention to. That's more than you hang out with everyone else combined. And that was just last week."

Hunter had hooked his thumbs into his back pockets and was staring at the ground. He glanced up when Blake paused, and Blake just smirked at his expression. Yup, now they had progressed from defiant rebel to the guilty little boy look that typically had people falling over themselves to help his brother out. He was onto something. No question.

Hunter still didn't say anything, and finally Blake prompted, "Anything you want to tell me, bro?"

Hunter squinted over his shoulder for a moment. When he caught Blake's eye again, he shifted uncomfortably. "I told him you probably knew," he muttered.

That wasn't something you said about a friend. Not even a best friend. It would just be ridiculous... which left only one conclusion. "Are you guys dating?" Blake demanded.

Hunter shrugged once. "Sometimes," he admitted, staring off down the street again.

"Sometimes?" Blake repeated. Getting Hunter to give up information was an art form, and he didn't always have the patience for it. "Bro, you're going out with Cam? And this never came up before? How hard is it to say, 'by the way, me and Cam have a date tonight'?"

"Harder than you'd think," Hunter retorted.

Blake considered that, thinking back to his first two failed attempts at taking Tori on a date. He'd never technically told Hunter, either... he had just been obvious about his interest. Something that Hunter wouldn't do, if he was interested in someone like Cam--for more than one reason. The first being that Cam would never tolerate someone leering at or fawning over him. The second being that Shane and Dustin would tease them both mercilessly... and the third being that Cam was a guy.

Blake wasn't totally without a clue. He knew who his brother watched, who he paid attention to and who he didn't. Hunter would agree with any assessment of the female population that happened to be made in his presence, but he rarely volunteered an original opinion. He didn't bat an eye when Tori walked up behind him and leaned against his shoulder--and even Dustin jumped when she pulled that trick. He liked Kelly well enough, but it was Roger Hanna he was polite to.

It was nothing conclusive, really. Nothing that had to mean anything, and certainly nothing that was worth making an issue over. The thought had crossed his mind, but there had never been anything to substantiate it.

Until he'd made the Cam connection. Hunter listened when Cam spoke. He defended him in casual conversation, even when it was just with Blake. There wasn't a person on the team he hadn't questioned about Cam: is he always funny, why wasn't he a Ranger, did he ever go to the track? Cam held Hunter's attention in a way no one else could, and Blake had finally started to wonder.

"Yeah," he said at last. His brother wasn't the most talkative person in the world, and he wasn't one to put himself out there if he had any doubt. That was usually Blake's role: Blake took the personal chances, and Hunter took the physical ones. They were a team of opposites, and if Blake had been open about his new crush he probably should have expected that Hunter wouldn't be. "Okay, I can see that."

"Yeah?" Hunter was watching him from the other side of a downcast gaze and wary expression. He looked like he was ready to shrug the answer off, but Blake knew all of his brother's attention was focused on him. "You okay with it?"

Blake scoffed at the question. "Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

Hunter just shrugged, but the relief was evident in his posture.

"Come on, man." Blake held out his hand, and Hunter clasped it automatically. "We're bros. You just gotta remember that, and it's all good."

A reluctant smile lightened his brother's grim look. "Yeah," Hunter agreed. "It is."

"So what," Blake prodded, letting go to shove his hands into the top of his pockets. "You gonna duck out of dinner too?"

Hunter grimaced in his direction. "He doesn't want to talk to me."

"Never know till you try," Blake told him. "Not wanting to do the dinner thing with all of us isn't exactly the same thing as not wanting to talk to you. Go on--I'll cover for you."

Hunter managed a great show of reluctance without actually protesting. "If he's not at the hotel," he said finally, turning to face Blake as he walked away, "I'll meet up with you guys at the restaurant."

Blake thought about pointing at his morpher, but he was guessing that Hunter had really meant, "I'll meet up with you if he won't talk to me." That was probably a good contingency plan. Cam was more moody than usual these days.

Of course, in all fairness, Hunter had been pretty temperamental lately too. And it was easy to see why: if he'd had to choose the two Rangers on the team who would have the hardest time in a romantic relationship, it would be the team's technical genius and his own brother. Naturally, the two had to be drawn to each other.

"We won't wait to order," Blake called after him.

He really would have to eat at some point. He wasn't hungry now, but he would be before the others got back. He probably should have just gone to dinner with them. It didn't sound quite as unappealing now, sitting alone in a quiet room, as it had while standing in the middle of a crowd with the roar of freestyle motocross still ringing in his ears.

Cam looked up at the sound of the lock clicking open, and he raised his eyebrows as Hunter came strolling through the door. Was he being stalked, he wondered? He couldn't go anywhere lately without Hunter being there too. The most annoying part was that he couldn't decide whether that bothered him or not.

"Fast dinner," he remarked, looking down at his laptop again. Somehow, he didn't think its presence would go uncriticized.

"Didn't go," Hunter answered. He hesitated by the door, which struck Cam as unusual. "You wanna be alone?"

Cam gave him an amused look, unable to suppress the smile that tugged at his lips. "Since when has that stopped you?"

Hunter smirked, apparently taking that as his invitation to saunter over to Cam's side. "Figured I should ask. Whatcha doing?"

"Nothing," Cam said defensively. He suspected that his usual answer wouldn't pass muster in this situation.

Hunter got it anyway. "Working, huh?" He threw himself down on the bed behind Cam, rolling onto his stomach so he could peer over Cam's shoulder. "Wanna entertain me?"

"I think you misunderstand the conventional definition of 'work,'" Cam commented. Having Hunter's voice next to his ear was distracting, but not unpleasant.

"Hey, entertaining me is work," Hunter informed him. "I'm easily bored."

Cam couldn't decide whether to be amused or exasperated. "Is there something you want?"

"Yeah," Hunter replied immediately. "Why didn't you come to dinner with us?"

Cam frowned at his computer screen. He just hadn't felt like it. It had been a long day surrounded by screaming people and sporting events that he didn't really understand. It wasn't that he couldn't figure out what was going on, just that he didn't have any of the history that made it so interesting to the other Rangers.

"I don't know," he said at last. "Just tired, I guess."

"Yeah?" Hunter didn't sneer. "I guess moto's not as interesting when you don't recognize any of the people riding in it."

Cam blinked. He'd said "tired," not "bored," but Hunter had gotten the message anyway. "No," he agreed. "It's sort of like you watching me program zord upgrades."

"Nah," Hunter said unexpectedly. "It's probably like me watching someone else program zord upgrades. It's kinda cool when you do it."

Cam didn't know what to say to that.

"You sure you don't want to be alone?" Hunter asked after a minute. "I can't tell if you're listening or working."

Cam hadn't been aware of the information on his screen since the moment Hunter had laid down behind him. "Where did this insecurity complex come from?" he wanted to know. "You've never cared whether you were interrupting before."

There was a moment of silence. Then Hunter said abruptly, "Blake knows."

"That we're..." He couldn't find an easy way to finish that sentence.

"He knows we're dating," Hunter clarified. "He asked, and I wasn't gonna lie to him. You okay with that?"

He'd given it some thought since he'd asked Hunter the same question. "Yeah," he said at last. "That's fine."

"What about the others?" Hunter pressed. "You care about them? Blake can't lie worth anything. I bet Tori knows by tomorrow at the latest."

"Tori probably already knows," Cam muttered. "Inductive reasoning is a strength of hers."

"You think?" There was a pause during which Cam didn't bother to reply. "You ever think about just... y'know, telling everybody?"

"What, like coming out?" Cam envisioned an awkward announcement and serious weirdness to follow. "No."

Hunter didn't say anything, and Cam added, "They're ninjas. Let them figure it out for themselves."

"So..." Hunter cleared his throat. "You don't mind if they find out. You just don't want to tell them, is that it?"

Okay, so it sounded more childish aloud than it had in his head. "Does it matter?" he demanded. "What's with the interrogation?"

"It matters," Hunter told him. "And you owe me twenty questions, so deal. Do you care if the other Rangers find out? Yes or no."

He had already opened his mouth to protest his supposed obligation when Hunter threw the same question at him for the third time. "No, okay? No, I don't care if they find out."

"Then why don't you want to tell them?" Hunter persisted. "What's the difference?"

"The difference is that we shouldn't have to tell them," Cam snapped. "No one else has to come out. Tori and Blake never said, 'hey, we're a couple.' Why should we have to make a big deal of it? Why can't everyone just use their brain for a change?"

"Oh." Hunter's tone was subdued. "I thought maybe you just didn't want people to know you were seeing me."

Cam stared through the screen for a long moment. Hunter was a star at the local track, a motocross rider who cleaned up in meets across the state. He was intelligent, occasionally articulate, and appallingly good-looking. If he paid any attention at all to the people around him, Cam would have no end of competition.

The thought was vaguely disturbing.

"That's ridiculous," he said at last. "If I didn't want people to know that I'm dating you, we wouldn't be dating."

"Good." Hunter sounded totally neutral this time. "Because it's not gonna take Tori long to tell Shane and Dustin."

"If she hasn't already," Cam said under his breath.

He could tell Hunter had turned his head by the sound of his voice. "Are you that paranoid, or do you know something I don't?"

"Both?" Cam suggested.

"Funny." Hunter waited expectantly.

"No," Cam admitted. "It probably hasn't even occurred to them." With a sigh he added, "It might not occur to Dustin for days, even after Tori tells him."

"Don't bag on Dustin," Hunter chided gently. It was an open question whether his words or his tone were more of a surprise. "He's faster on the uptake than you seem to think."

"Since when are you Dustin's champion?" Cam wanted to know.

"Since you decided not to be." Hunter's reply was cryptic, but he continued before Cam could call him on it. "He does see things, you know. He just forgets to mention them."

"Like he forgets everything else?"

"We can't all be you," Hunter countered. "Some of us are only human."

Cam frowned. "I never said I wasn't human. Everyone has their faults. I just think that Dustin takes a little too much pride in his human-ness."

"You know what I think?" He could feel Hunter's breath against his the side of his neck, and it was followed by a light kiss that startled him as much as it made him smile. "I think sometimes you don't appreciate how fun it is to be human."

"I thought that's why I was dating you." He didn't know what made him say it, except that Hunter had just displayed a rare moment of empathy for another person and it made him seem... closer. "So you could remind me."

"Don't think I won't," Hunter replied lightly, and it was impossible to tell whether it was a threat or a promise. "Speaking of, you want to get some take-out or something?"

"From where?" Cam wanted to know. He wasn't totally averse to the idea.

"Beats me. We're in the middle of the city; how hard can it be to find take-out?"

So this was going to be one of those things that turned into a full-blown excursion. He supposed he could handle that. And food was starting to sound more and more appealing, so that helped motivate him. "Maybe we shouldn't limit ourselves," he remarked, as he saved his work. "We might have better luck if we settled for any food we both agree on."

"That is the only food we both agree on," Hunter said dryly. "That's why I was surprised when you didn't complain about the restaurant, earlier."

He had spent most of the restaurant discussion planning ways to get out of going. "Fine," he said. "Take-out, or any as-yet-undiscovered and entirely hypothetical food on which we can agree."

"Do you have to plan everything?" Hunter complained, rolling to his feet off the end of the bed. "Can't we just find what we find?"

"We probably won't find anything we don't find," Cam pointed out. He let his laptop power down before he stowed it under the bed. Hunter was waiting for him when he stood up.

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?"

"I have about as many answers as you have questions," Cam countered.

Hunter scoffed, tossing his reply over his shoulder as he headed for the door. "Too bad they never match!"

Saturday: Party Night

Meeting up wasn't as easy as he'd thought. It was, but it wasn't. Dustin figured he could make it back in time, despite the traffic. He'd forgotten though that he needed to 'miss' the others. He couldn't get back before they left. Or at least he couldn't be seen. And he needed in the room.

He parked the Storm Charger's van around the back of the motel. And as he entered the lobby, he saw Tori's bus pull out the front. Perfect. He ran up to the room to get ready.

He had wanted to pick Marah up at her room. An ordinary thing really. Picking up a girl at her house. He'd never been able to try though. What with her living in space and all. And her family not exactly liking him. And since no one knew about them.

Okay, so there were a lot of reasons he hadn't done this before.

But he wanted to do it now. He just didn't know how to not have Kapri see him. Or what room she was in for that matter.

As he stepped out of his room, he heard a door closing further down the hall. A blonde-headed Kapri had left her room, and was turning toward him. Quickly he ducked back into his room, watching through the cracked door till she passed.

He ducked back out into the hallway, and hurried to the room she'd left. He took a deep breath and knocked. He heard someone moving around, then the door opened.

Marah was standing there. Wearing a FreeAir jersey. An orange FreeAir jersey. Her hair was in low pigtails over her shoulders.

She looked surprised, but happy to see him. But when he just stood there, she finally said, "What? What's wrong?"

Oh, dude, he was staring. He felt himself blush, as he looked down. "Nothing. Sorry," he mumbled, and raised his head. "You look great."

Now it was her turn to blush.

"Are you ready to go?"

She smiled and nodded, pulling the door closed behind her. He offered her his arm, and she linked hers through it as they headed down the hall.

He knew he must have had a goofy smile on his face, but he couldn't help it. Marah was wearing FreeAir. How cool was that?

On the way to the van, Marah offered an explanation for not only Kapri's recent departure, but her own ability to get away that night.

"Kapri was headed out for snacks. She's going to stay in and watch "Survivor"." She turned her head to face him, to stress her next statement. "Kapri never misses "Survivor"."

"Neither does Hunter," he laughed. "I think he's TiVO'ing it. We had to swear we wouldn't spoil it and tell him who got voted off. Shane and I were going to find out who it was just so we could mess with him."

"I'll have to ask Kapri then," she grinned. He opened the van door for her, and she climbed inside. "Anyway, I told her I was going shopping. So I either have to come back with shopping bags or a good excuse."

He shut the door, then went around to his side. "Well, how about a fair?" he asked, settling in his seat. "Good excuse?"

She cocked her head and pondered. "Pretty lights, happy music... sounds like a great excuse for the easily distracted," her amusement showing in her eyes.

"The fair it is then," he grinned as he put the van in gear and pulled out.

They found Blake in a booth at the back of the restaurant. He was alone for the moment, so Tori claimed the seat next to him and Shane slid in on the other side of the table. It was a nice enough place, trendy and not at all formal, and it smelled really good.

"Where's everyone else?" Shane wanted to know, grabbing for the dessert menu automatically.

Tori gave him that superior look she was so good at. "Tell me you're not going to start with a sundae."

"Just checking out my options," he teased, smirking back at her. "You gotta have a goal in mind when you order dinner, right?"

"Haven't heard from Dustin yet," Blake offered. He was leaning back against the back of the booth, pretending to pay no attention to the dessert menu. But Shane caught him sneaking glances when he thought Tori wasn't looking. "Cam headed back to the hotel; said he wasn't hungry."

"He's avoiding us," Tori remarked.

Shane shrugged. "So? When isn't he?"

A waitress appeared at their table with menus and a smile. "Can I get you something to drink?" she asked, as she passed the menus out. Her nametag said Annabelle.

"Just water for me," Shane told her.

"I'll have a coke," Blake added.

"Sprite, please," Tori put in, then nudged Blake. "What about Hunter?"

"Nah, he's not here." Blake gave the waitress a smile. "We're all set, thanks."

"All right," she agreed, tucking her paper and pen away. "I'll be back with your drinks in a minute."

"Hunter's not here?" Shane repeated, glancing around. "Where'd he go?"

Blake sat forward, opening his menu and giving the contents a quick once-over. "I dunno, I think he had something he wanted to do."

It was a vague answer at best. Shane exchanged looks with Tori. She looked more curious than satisfied, which was good 'cause she was better at getting information out of the younger Bradley brother than he was. For obvious reasons.

"Something he wanted to do?" Tori repeated pointedly. "Like what?"

"Beats me," Blake said with a shrug. He still hadn't looked up from his menu. "He'll probably catch up with us later."

Tori did that little head-toss thing that she thought made her look innocent but really just made you want to run before she brought out the big guns. "If he doesn't find someone better to hang out with, you mean?"

Shane thought that was a little harsh, because come on, Hunter might be a little standoffish but he was a good guy and he liked them well enough. Blake obviously took offense too, since his head snapped up and he gave Tori a suspicious look. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Tori just shrugged, flipping her own menu open like she wasn't sorry at all. "I'm just saying, it's not the first time they've disappeared together..."

They who? Shane frowned at her, and he saw Blake giving her the same expression on the other side of the table. "You knew and you didn't tell me?" he blurted out.

Tori gave him a mock-surprised look. "You needed to be told? Did Hunter finally crack?"

"Oh, yeah, like Cam didn't tell you," Blake scoffed. "Come on, 'fess up."

"Cam didn't have to tell me," Tori replied loftily. "I used my well-honed ninja powers of observation."

"Uh, hello," Shane interrupted. He was tempted to wave his hands in their direction, but he settled for leaning forward across the table. "Is this a private conversation, or are we all entitled? Because nobody's telling me anything."

They both stopped, looking at him. Then, annoyingly, they looked at each other. Like they were deciding whether to let him in on the secret or not.

"It's really kind of obvious if you're looking for it," Tori said at last.

"Were you looking for it?" Blake asked dryly.

Tori opened her mouth, paused, then gave Blake the evil eye. "Hey, I've been trying to set Cam up for a while now. I knew there had to be some reason it wasn't working."

"Other than the fact that he's a reclusive computer geek and, no offense, but your matchmaking is kind of..." Blake trailed off under the force of Tori's glare. "Um, doomed to failure due to his lack of social skills?" he finished.

"It must have been hard for him to find someone as arrogant and moody as he is," she said sweetly. "But he managed. All by himself."

"Wait--are you saying Cam has a girlfriend?" Shane demanded.

For some reason, that made Tori laugh. "Actually," she said, grinning at him, "I'm saying that Cam and Hunter will probably never have girlfriends."

Shane stared at her skeptically, because really, what kind of a thing was that to say about your teammates?

Blake finally took pity on him. "My bro's totally gone on Cam, dude. He's probably back at the hotel right now, bribing him with I-don't-want-to-know-what to get Cam to go out with him."

"I don't think he needs much of a bribe," Tori murmured.

Annabelle the waitress showed up at that moment with their drinks, and conversation paused while they took them and thanked her. "Are you ready to order?" she asked politely. "Or would you like some more time?"

Shane glanced at Tori and Blake, but he didn't wait for either of them to answer. They'd done enough talking already. And barring about a dozen kinds of pie, he didn't even know what was on the menu.

"We're gonna need a few more minutes," he told the waitress.

The fair was larger than he'd expected. And Marah loved it. Everywhere she looked was something new and exciting she wanted to try.

They decided food was first on the agenda, and went at it with a vengeance. They started with foot long coney dogs with the works, then on through a bloomin' onion, corn dogs, grater taters, ears of corn, and topped it off with elephant ears.

Dustin thought he'd never eat another thing, ever, and Marah was talking about trying a pork chop sandwich. He'd finally met someone who could keep up with Shane's appetite. He suggested they take a break and try some games.

Their ninja skills got them both up the tipping ladder easily. She was a much better shot at basketball than he was though. He promised himself he'd practice more.

He had explained to her the tradition of the guy winning a stuffed animal for the girl. And after some failed attempts at various games, he went with something he knew he could do. He ended up at a crane machine, and pulled out for her a stuffed brown chicken with the softest fur feathers he'd ever felt. She hugged him and said it was only fair to trade, so she gave him the stuffed lion she'd won on the basketball game.

After that came the rides. And while there weren't many of them, they were certainly intense. Enough to make even the strongest stomach queasy when full of fair food.

By then they were ready to calm everything down. They walked quietly down the center of the fair, eating their ice cream cones, animals tucked under their arms.

It was getting dark, and the lights had come on. The mini ferris wheel lit up in a rainbow of colors turning in the sky.

Glancing down a side path, Dustin saw in the distance a game they'd missed. One he was pretty sure Marah would enjoy a lot.

"C'mon, let's try this one," he reached for her hand as he made the sudden turn to the left.

She looked at their hands, surprised but smiling. She nodded, and they took off running toward the laser tag tent.

Marah was pointing a gun at him.

In the flickering darkness, he recognized her before she figured out who he was. He still got shot for his trouble. His weapon went dead and she just stood there, staring at him in horror.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!" Her eyes were wide and the laser gun suddenly looked clumsy and useless in her hands. "I'm here alone, I promise, I don't want to cause any trouble, so maybe you could just like pretend that you didn't see me--"

Another black-vested figure swung out from behind a hanging wall, bumping his shoulder against hers as he swept the corridor behind her. "Marah, you don't have to apologize to every person you... oh."

Dustin caught sight of him and just stopped, fake weapon frozen in his hand while the black lights made the strobe's darkness glow. "Hey, Hunter," he said at last. "Dude, I uh... I didn't know you were here."

Hunter stared at Marah, who ventured, "Well... mostly alone?"

The sound of a weapon firing behind him made Hunter tense, no matter that he knew they were harmless. Dustin and Marah's guns both emitted a descending tone indicating they were offline, and Cam lifted his own toward the ceiling of the laser dome tent as he joined their little group. "Is Kelly paying you for this time?" he wanted to know.

"What? No, dude--" Dustin glanced from one of them to the other, then exchanged looks with Marah. "I mean, I got done a little earlier than I expected, and, like, everyone else was already out having dinner..."

Hunter raised an eyebrow in Cam's direction and found the other Ranger looking back. He was taking this awfully well, Hunter thought. Suspiciously well, in fact. Considering that Hunter was the one who was used to running into Marah at odd times--or had been, back on the ship--and Cam had kind of a history of demanding explanations first and making sarcastic remarks later.

Actually, Hunter admitted to himself, Cam could do both simultaneously without too much trouble.

"So who does that leave actually having dinner together?" Cam was asking. "Blake and Tori?"

"And Shane." Hunter smirked as he realized what Cam was saying. Some group activity... literally half the group had found a reason not to go.

"Look out!" Marah lifted her gun in Cam's direction, and he spun out of the way. Hers didn't work, of course, but Cam's registered a "kill" and the guy behind them shouted in dismay.

Hunter's gun made a cutesy chiming noise, indicating that he had spent enough time being "dead" and could now use the weapon again. He pointed at Dustin and then Marah with his free hand and warned, "We're gonna talk about this later."

"Well, yeah," Marah said, in her most obvious tone of voice. "'Cause if we have to sneak off to a totally different city and lie to our friends and family just to go on a date, what are you doing here?"

He stared at her a second too long. Her gun reactivated and she waved it in his direction like it was a baton. A baton with a trigger. She killed him for the second time, giving him a very sweet smile as she did it. "I guess we'll talk about this later."

She braced her gun against her shoulder and spun around, sauntering off like she was oh so pleased with herself. Dustin gave him an apologetic shrug before turning to follow her. Hunter took comfort in the fact that someone took advantage of the target Marah was making of herself a second later.

He stepped around one of the maze-like walls, then pushed through another, trying to stay out of everyone's way until his gun recharged. He saw the flash of movement and heard the yells that meant more "fighters" had crossed paths on the other side of a hanging sheet, and he stopped where he was. No sound behind him other than muffled sound effects and whatever passed for music in here, so he backed into one of the triangular niches to wait out his dead time.

Something pressed up against his vest and Cam's voice ordered, "Hands where I can see them."

Hunter laughed aloud. He should have known better than to trust his senses when he was playing with ninjas. He held both hands out to his sides in an exaggerated display of surrender before turning around.

"Whatever you say," he agreed, but some contrary impulse made him step into the gun like he was daring Cam to shoot him. Hunter couldn't help but notice that Cam hadn't actually killed him yet. There were no teams in this game, just every person for themselves, and he hadn't hesitated to knock off Dustin and Marah.

Cam's eyes sparkled in the strobe and his expression was even harder to read than usual. It was difficult to register movement in the intermittent darkness, especially so close. Hunter felt a kiss being pressed against his mouth before he really saw it coming.

The gun was gone from his ribcage, so he dug his free hand into Cam's vest and pulled him closer, lowering his head to deepen the contact. Kissing in the dark was hot, and nothing about the black lights or the strobe ruined the effect. They needed to play this game again. And again.

"We'll get kicked out," Cam gasped, his breath hot on Hunter's cheek as he made absolutely zero effort to pull away. The sound of his voice, out of breath and maybe just a little bit desperate, was a total turn-on. Hunter's fingers clenched on his vest.

"Fine by me," he muttered, finding Cam's mouth with his again.

He didn't hear his gun power up again, but he heard the explosive sound effect that meant it had been knocked out. Footsteps on the plastic tarp and people running by, shooting them without even slowing down, and Hunter paid no attention. Okay, he shouldn't be doing this. He knew that. But it felt so good...

They were still standing there when the wannabe-techno music went silent and the strobe paused. Their guns deactivated automatically and he felt Cam shove him away. "I can't believe--" He gulped a breath of air, wide eyes and tousled hair glinting oddly in the black light, looking nothing at all like the guy Hunter knew. "I just made out with you in a laser tag tent."

"I can't believe that's as much privacy as we've had all day," Hunter grumbled, lifting his gun to look at the display. And he couldn't, because it wasn't, but he'd known better than to jump Cam in their hotel room earlier.

"890," Cam replied. Hunter blinked, then realized he was talking about his score. He had to look at his own display again. It was considerably lower, and he could hear the smirk in Cam's voice when he added, "You must have taken most of my kills for me."

Like he cared, he thought, watching Cam push a piece of hanging plastic out of his way as he headed for the exit. He was just walking away like it was nothing. Which was fair, maybe, because it wasn't like they'd never made out before... but not in front of other people.

Okay, not in front of this many other people. Hunter lifted his free hand to scrub at his face, biting back a sigh as he turned to follow Cam. His skin was still hot, demanding that he pull off his vest, shed his t-shirt, anything to cool him off and relieve the pulse still pounding in his ears. But what was it? Lust? Embarrassment? Nerves?

What was he even doing? What was Cam doing? 'Cause they didn't seem to be on quite the same page, here. He'd never expected Cam to be casual about this stuff, but he felt like he was getting played.

The evening light made him squint as he stepped out of the tent, and just like that the day was normal again. It was just another night in LA, just another vacation, and he was thinking about Cam way too much. He was just another guy.

The ride attendant was reaching for his vest as he shrugged out of it, taking his gun and mostly ignoring him while Hunter ignored him right back. There was Cam, handing over his gear with precision and a polite thank you to the person helping him. Then he turned, a half-smile on his face, and Hunter swallowed hard.

Because Cam wasn't just a guy. He was Cam. He was smart and good-looking and a damn good kisser. He knew Hunter like he could read his mind sometimes. And that meant something.

At least, it meant something to him.

"They must have come out on the other side," Cam was saying, as he waited for Hunter to catch up with him. "If Marah didn't just run the second they let us out."

Marah. Right. What the hell was Marah doing here, anyway? Where were her fellow minions? "You didn't seem too surprised to see her," Hunter said abruptly.

"I've come to expect her and Kapri at the most unexpected times," Cam replied.

"She said she and Dustin were on a date." He glanced sideways at Cam, wondering if he would ever answer Marah's question. What were they doing here? Having dinner, visiting a fair for no reason at all, talking each other into a round of laser tag... Would Cam ever admit to anyone that what they were doing counted as dating?

Really dating, as in "Hi, this is my boyfriend Hunter" dating? Or would it always be "Sure, we're dating" when they were alone together and "We shouldn't have to tell them" when they weren't? Maybe Cam didn't even make that distinction.

Maybe.

"She also said she was going to help us destroy Beevil," Cam pointed out, not looking at him. "I don't think her word's conclusive at this point."

What about her actions, Hunter wondered? She'd sure taken Dustin's presence for granted in the laser tag tent. Dustin had definitely been with her when he told her to stop apologizing for shooting people. And Dustin was supposed to be working this evening.

The way Cam was supposed to be spending some time alone, probably. Great. So they were all lying to each other now. In fact, if Marah was telling the truth, then she was pretty much the only one.

Hunter frowned, not pleased by that idea.

It was Marah's yelp of surprise that reminded him they were still playing a game. The shock of seeing Cam and Hunter in the laser tag tent had thrown him for a loop. He had just turned from Hunter when he heard Marah just a few steps away. She'd been too busy gloating over her double kill of Hunter or something, 'cause she'd gotten herself 'killed' again.

Ninja skills or Ranger reflexes, he wasn't sure which, but they kicked in immediately. He raised his gun and took out the guy who had 'killed' Marah before he could even think about turning the gun Dustin's way. He touched her arm lightly, guiding her toward one of the plastic barriers. He covered her back, picking off two more players, while they maneuvered over to the barrier so they could wait out her 'dead' time.

"Ya gotta watch out a little more, Marah," he said, crouching down beside her. Though he knew he couldn't really fault her gameplay. She was pretty good when she paid attention. She just had to, you know, pay attention. But who could blame her for not being focused after running into Hunter and Cam? If he had to pick, those two would have been the last people he ever would have expected to see there.

She waved her hand dismissively at him as her gun reactivated. She leaned around the barrier and picked off three people running by before turning back to him.

"He deserved it. Saying we'll talk about it. They're the ones who need to talk about it," she waved her gun in the direction they'd come.

He shrugged. "You know Hunter. He's just looking out for everyone. He acts like he's the big brother of the whole team."

"He's not my big brother," she huffed. Dustin couldn't help but notice that behind her supposed anger he heard tons of worry. "He'll think I'm a spy, or something worse. He'd never understand...," she stopped as her eyes met Dustin's. Whatever else she had wanted to say, she never said. But Dustin's mind finished the sentence for her. "Us." She didn't think Hunter would understand them or what they had. And Dustin had to admit that their relationship wasn't the easiest to explain.

It was probably something they should talk about. But she didn't stick around for Dustin to ask her to continue. As the music stopped and the lights came up, she stood and ran for the door.

He followed her quickly, calling after her. He handed over his gun and vest at the door, then turned to the festively-lit darkness of the fairway. Marah was waiting for him by the row of cubbyholes players placed their belongings in. She had retrieved their stuffed animals, and handed him his lion quietly.

They cut around the side of the tent to get back to the main fairway. Suddenly Dustin held out a hand and stopped her. They stood beside the tent as Hunter and Cam walked by, engrossed in conversation.

"I wonder if they'll tell everyone else that they saw us," Dustin pondered aloud.

"I wonder when they'll tell everyone about themselves," Marah added.

Dustin had been watching Cam and Hunter fade into the crowd, but turned to look at her then. He had suspected Cam and Hunter were dating for a while. He didn't think anyone else knew though. But if a 'bad guy' - and not just any bad guy, but one most people thought was pretty oblivious - had figured it out, maybe it was more obvious than he thought.

"C'mon," he said, reaching for her hand. He wasn't going to let this ruin their evening. If Cam and Hunter told the others about Marah and him, there would be trouble. And they'd have to deal with that later. But tonight was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them. And he wasn't going to let them spend what could be their last time together worrying about what might or might not happen.

She smiled slowly and took his hand, seeming to understand. Tonight was for fun; they'd figure out the world tomorrow.

They ventured out into the crowded fairway, heading toward the mini ferris wheel twinkling in the distance.

Home To You

Once upon a time, or maybe it was just yesterday, there were a lot of Rangers. And among these Rangers were relationships. Special relationships. The ones that lead to flowers, leather jackets, shared health insurance, and children. They were sometimes unconventional, usually unpredictable, and those involved were always just a bit more smug about it than everyone else.

So their children left them and struck out on their own. As children are wont to do, especially in their rebellious teenage years. Not that their Ranger parents would know anything about that. But the children grew and learned from each other, like their parents before them, and became a force to be reckoned with in their own right.

Or they were supposed to be. A force to be reckoned with, that is. But these things don't happen overnight.

Because children are, by their very nature, young and inexperienced. The universe is a big place. And the children had a lot of ground to cover.

So they went off to school.

This is not their story.

This rather is the story of those Ranger parents who raised them and gave them teddy bears and made sure they wore their coats when they went outside. They are the Rangers who fought for the freedom of their worlds only to find out that freedom from small clinging hands and whiny voices and spilled milk was much harder to achieve. And perhaps much less desirable, too. These are the Rangers that will always embarrass their children.

This is their story.

And what a story it is.

Ashley had found that when it came to her daughter, there were two different ways to wake up: by poke or by scream. Hope wasn't as much of a screamer as Kae had been, but she wasn't a restful bed partner either. She did sleep through the night--but she didn't do it without squirming, twitching, and rolling. She did everything but get up and sleepwalk, and somehow Ashley thought that might be next.

At least she was quiet about it. Ashley had forgotten how much she appreciated that until she woke to the unmistakable sound of childish shrieking. It brought her to full alertness in a matter of seconds, but when she rolled over she found her twenty-month-old daughter still sleeping peacefully beside her.

Then a second voice joined in, indistinguishable from the first. Hope finally stirred, making incomprehensible sounds in her sleep as a prelude to waking. Ashley offered silent thanks that Kae and Hope were years apart. One screaming toddler at a time was quite enough, thank you. She didn't know how Cassie and Saryn did it.

The screaming degenerated into babbling, interspersed with Cassie's soothing voice and the occasional rebounding whine. Ashley rolled out of the new double bed her parents had put in her old room and changed out of her pajamas while Hope woke up. Then she changed Hope, put her in a new baby shirt, and decided to brave the hallway.

Not that it was much of a decision. She had to use the bathroom, and Hope had to eat. Otherwise, they'd have a third screaming girl-voice in a matter of moments, and she didn't think any of them would be able to survive that. Hope knew enough words to know that anything she could say was more widely received if she screamed.

By the time Ashley arrived in her parents' kitchen, order--such as it was--reigned supreme. She smiled at the picture they made. The twins were ensconced on opposite ends of the Hammonds' kitchen table, with Cassie in between on one side and Ashley's mom fussing over all of them from the other. Ashley's dad was cooking what looked like adult food on the stove, while Saryn stood a safe distance away with a coffee mug in one hand.

"Good morning, honey," her mom greeted her with a cheerful smile. The smile, Ashley thought wryly, of a woman who knew all these kids would be going back home when the weekend was over. "Hi Hope! How's my youngest grandchild this morning?"

"Hey, Ash," Cassie offered, her smile a little more distracted and definitely more tired.

"Good morning," her dad added. "Would you like some eggs, and if so, what kind?"

"Thanks, Mom," Ashley said, letting her mother take Hope out of her arms and slide her into her high chair. She caught Saryn's nod to her out of the corner of her eye, which she figured was equivalent to a "good morning" from anyone else. She smiled at him and her dad together. "Some scrambled eggs would be wonderful," she added, dropping into the chair across from Cassie. "Thanks. Morning, Cassie."

"Would you like some cheerios, Hope?" her mom was asking. "I bet you would. And maybe some apple juice too, honey?"

"Sorry if we woke you up," Cassie said. And she actually managed to look sorry, too, which was what impressed Ashley. "It's later on Elisia right now."

"No, we were already up," Ashley assured her. Which wasn't totally true, but it should have been... she just hadn't been able to bring herself to set an alarm clock on her "vacation." "I have to head out early if I'm going to meet Kerone by ten."

She was really looking forward to that. Her parents had offered to watch Hope for the day while she and Kerone took Kae to see some of the rowdier sights in California. "Rowdier," that is, as defined by "things that are inappropriate for an almost-two-year-old but acceptable for a boy of eight." The morning was devoted to the X Games, which were being held in LA this summer and just happened to coincide with their vacation.

"Can I have some more apple juice too?" the twin on Ashley's right asked. She stopped whatever she was doing to her egg to hold up her plastic cup, and her other hand made a gesture that Ashley vaguely recognized as "more."

Terra, then, Ashley thought, making a mental note. Terra was wearing a blue shirt today, and Jenni was wearing purple. Terra, blue. Jenni, purple. She repeated it a few times to herself so she'd be able to keep them straight. For the morning, at least. Until they switched clothes while she wasn't looking and smiled angelically at her while she called them the wrong names.

"May I," Saryn corrected from where he was standing by the sink. They were the first words he'd said since Ashley had come into the kitchen.

"May I have some more apple juice, please?" Terra said immediately.

"Of course you may," Ashley's mom said, emphasizing the "may" with a smile. She turned the same smile on Terra's sister, who was waving wildly. Holding up Terra's cup, she signed, "Same?"

Jenni nodded emphatically, holding up her own cup with an expectant expression. Cassie raised her finger in a "wait" gesture to Ashley's mom, and as soon as her mom looked at Cassie, Jenni followed her gaze. Cassie signed something that Ashley didn't understand at all. Jenni made a face, but she repeated it dutifully to her grandmother.

When Cassie nodded, Ashley's mom smiled at Jenni and signed, "Sure." By the time she got to the refrigerator, Saryn had set down his mug long enough to retrieve the apple juice. He filled both cups halfway while Ashley's mom got a sippy cup for Hope and some cheerios. Ashley's mom told him he didn't have to do it, thanked him for it afterward, and seemed utterly unfazed when Saryn didn't say a word in return.

Ashley glanced across the table at Cassie and they shared a smile. Her mom and Saryn had reached a sort of social compromise--she would talk, he wouldn't, and they would both be fine as long as neither of them expected anything else.

Saryn brought the twins' juice over to the table. They both signed "thank you" at exactly the same time before diving back into whatever they were chattering silently about across the table. Saryn circled the table to lay a hand on Cassie's shoulder before retreating to the sink again.

She smiled up at him just as Ashley was distracted by the plate of eggs that appeared in front of her. "Two orders of scrambled eggs," her father announced. "Saryn, I put yours on the counter. Cassie, can I get you anything else? More breakfast? Two-for-one coupons? A kid-free vacation?"

"Thank you," Saryn said quietly, as he left the table. Ashley's dad didn't ask if he wanted to sit down. He understood Saryn better than her mom did, she thought--or maybe it was just a guy thing, that you didn't make a fuss over people who kept to themselves sometimes.

"We alternate vacations with Raine and Azmuth," Cassie said with a laugh. "So we can watch each other's kids. But I'll have another one of those eggs, if you don't mind. Girls?" She tapped the table gently before asking, "Would you like another egg?" She signed as she spoke, and both twins signed back.

"Just one for me," Cassie translated with a smile for Ashley's dad. "Thanks. We really appreciate you making us breakfast like this."

"Mm-hmm," Ashley agreed, her mouth full of scrambled eggs. This, she thought idly, would be a really good time to be able to sign the way the twins did.

"It's my pleasure," her father assured them.

"We love having you here," her mom added. "Isn't that right, Hope? You tell your mom that you want to come visit your grandmother more."

Hope was chasing cheerios around the tray of her high chair, and Ashley was more worried that she might knock her cup over than she was that her daughter might badger her about coming to Earth more often. Her mom had tried to take the tray away so Hope could sit at the table "like a big girl," but Hope liked the tray. At home she made do with just a booster seat.

"I think the house is a little small for all of us at once," Ashley said ruefully. "Maybe we should stagger our visits."

"Why else do we keep this big house for just the two of us?" her mother wanted to know. "So you can all come and visit us at the same time. We'll get another sofa bed by the time Hope is old enough for a real bed, don't worry."

Ashley smiled down at her scrambled eggs. Sure, the house could fit all of them now, and it would even absorb Andros if he'd stop going off on these extremely convenient "secret missions." But it wouldn't fit the rest of their family along with him, and she knew perfectly well why these missions only came up when they were planning visits to Earth.

"I'll never get tired of coming back here," Cassie promised. "I think I like Earth better now than I did when I lived here.

"Gently, Terra," she added, when her daughter pounded on the table. She signed something to them both while aloud she said, "Yes, you may be excused."

Ashley's smile widened, and this time she didn't bother to hide it while the twins slid out of their chairs and scampered off. There was no doubt about where they were getting their table manners. She wondered if Saryn corrected Jenni's vocabulary in sign the way he corrected Terra's speech. She thought he probably did.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" her mom asked, just as Ashley looked around for a glass that wasn't there.

At the same moment, her dad remarked, "More eggs, Ashley?"

She laughed, grinning at Cassie across the table. "Yeah," she agreed. "I'll never get tired of coming home either."

Only one more day until they went home. And he wasn't going home without some answers to take with him, because if he were to name one thing that Cam got exponentially better at in his own territory, it would be evasion. Hunter didn't tolerate evasion well.

He knew for a fact that Blake was still asleep, so he kept his knock on the bathroom door quiet. Cam's voice called, "Just a minute," and Hunter didn't miss the exasperation in his tone. Yes, he knew Cam was in the bathroom. He also knew that Cam had already finished his shower and had wasted enough time in there since to qualify for honorary girlhood.

Hunter knew this because it had taken him way longer than it should have to get up the courage to knock in the first place. He didn't like evasion. But since there were a lot of questions he'd never asked straight out, he wasn't totally sure that what Cam was doing qualified as evasion.

He wasn't sure he wanted to be sure, either. And he definitely wasn't sure he wanted Cam to know he cared. So they'd never talked much about what they were doing. Together. Or otherwise. It shouldn't matter, right?

Yeah, well. Turned out that it did.

The door opened, and Cam was frowning at him. Like that was a surprise. "You couldn't wait two seconds?" he said sharply. He moved to push past Hunter, but Hunter didn't get out of his way.

"Nope," he said, catching Cam's arm and crowding him back into the bathroom. "You're not going anywhere," he added, closing the door behind him. "I have questions."

That had seemed like the most honest, up-front way to start, but it made Cam raise his eyebrows. "Couldn't they have waited until I was out of the bathroom?"

He wished. "Considering this is what passes for privacy around here?" Hunter asked, pretending to think about it for all of half a second. "No. And you owe me."

Cam rolled his eyes at that. "If you're talking about those twenty questions in the zord bay, I think you've collected at least half of yours by now."

"Fine," Hunter told him. "So I get ten. What does this mean to you?"

Cam eyed him. "That you can do basic arithmetic?"

"No, this," Hunter emphasized irritably. "This, between us. Whatever we're doing: sneaking around, dating, whatever."

That made Cam frown, but he let the impossibly vague attempt at clarification slide. "Are we sneaking around?"

"No, sorry, you already got your questions," Hunter informed him. "You get to answer mine now. What does this--" He gestured impatiently, unable to come up with a better word for it. "Mean to you?"

"I'm not sneaking around," Cam snapped. "I thought we were dating. What, have I been missing something all this time?"

"Fine, dating." Cam sucked at this game. "That doesn't answer the question. What does it mean?"

Cam was looking more pissed as the seconds passed, which was either because he had no clue what was going on, or because he did and he didn't like it. "Since when do you need someone to explain what dating means to you?"

"I don't need you to explain what it means to me," Hunter told him. "I want you to explain what it means to you."

"It means I like you," Cam snapped, in a tone that implied he didn't at all. "It means that most of the time, I prefer your company to that of anyone else I know. And most of the time," he added, "I have no idea why."

Eyes narrowed, Hunter thought about that for a moment. Okay, that was fine. Backhanded compliment, very Cam-like. "Do you expect it to last?" he asked bluntly. If he was going to do this, he was going to do it all the way.

Cam just stared at him. "What? My confusion over your inexplicably enjoyable company?"

Hunter folded his arms. "Us dating."

Cam visibly stiffened. "That's not really up to me, is it." The words were no sharper than usual, but there was a coldness to them that took Hunter by surprise.

"Why not?" Hunter demanded, forgetting himself enough to ask a question he hadn't planned. Damn. The trick to twenty questions was not letting the other person startle you into a question mark.

Cam crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking Hunter's posture. "Look, if you don't want to do this anymore, just say so. I don't need the whole talk."

Hunter blinked, but this time he thought before he spoke. "Why would you think I'd want to break up?"

"Why do you think I would?" Cam countered, still frowning.

The corner of Hunter's mouth curled into a smirk. "So not your question."

Cam sighed in annoyance, but some of the frostiness had gone out of his tone. "You're coming across a little confrontational," he pointed out dryly. "If you hadn't noticed. Whatever you want to hear, you're not going to intimidate it out of me."

Hunter shifted, letting his hands fall and shoving them into his pockets. "Answer the question," he muttered uncomfortably. He hated it when Cam got all... knowing on him.

"I did," Cam informed him. "You're talking about--us, and you sound angry." Had he imagined the slightest pause before Cam said "us"? "It's not such a huge leap of logic to think that you're... looking for a way out."

At least, Hunter thought distantly, Cam looked almost as uncomfortable as he felt. And for someone like Cam, that was saying a lot. So maybe things evened out.

"I don't want to break up," he mumbled, and wasn't that an embarrassing thing to say, all on its own. Breaking up implied that there was something between them to begin with, and okay, maybe Cam had agreed that there was, but still... "I want to get together."

Cam raised his eyebrows, and Hunter grimaced. "I mean--you know. We don't have to be like... Dustin and Marah." Sneaking around.

"I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear that," Cam said dryly.

Hunter didn't find his attempt at levity particularly funny. His expression must have conveyed exactly that to Cam, because Cam sighed. "What do you want from me, Hunter? Do you want me make an announcement? Fine. I'm dating Hunter Bradley. I'll tell them at breakfast."

"No, look--" Hunter stumbled over his own words. "That's not it. I know you don't want to do that. And seriously, neither do I--"

"You keep saying that," Cam interrupted. "But you keep bringing it up. If it's that important, let's just do it. Just because I think they should be able to figure it out on their own doesn't mean I value their mental acuity over your peace of mind."

It took him a moment to figure that out, but eventually he found a compliment buried in there. It was a nice enough gesture that he figured it deserved a little honesty in return. "It's not them I want you to tell," he muttered. He hesitated, but he was past the point of no return. "It's me."

For once, Cam's expression didn't do anything that was even remotely readable. Finally he said slowly, "You already know." But he didn't say it with quite the right amount of conviction, and Hunter heard the question in the words.

Hunter watched him carefully. If he asked again, Cam would know what he meant. And maybe there had been a certain amount of safety before, when he'd half-expected Cam not to get it. That was gone now. But he was going to ask anyway.

"Do you expect it to last?" he said quietly.

He saw the exact moment when Cam understood, because he opened his mouth before the words really sank in. Cam was always doing that, his body compensating for his brain's speed by getting ahead of it and then counting on the brain to catch up. This time it didn't. Cam just stood there and stared at Hunter for a long moment.

It would have been pretty funny, Hunter thought, if they'd been talking about anything else. Actually--even now it was kind of funny. It was just that he didn't dare let Cam know that, because then he'd never get an answer.

"I... I don't know what to say to that," Cam admitted at last.

Hunter's perception of the situation as "funny" made a ninety degree turn toward "sweet" just that fast. Because Cam had stammered. Cam never stammered. And when was the last time he hadn't known what to say and had said so, out loud? Never. Except now.

For Hunter.

"I do," Hunter muttered.

Cam waited. Finally he asked, "What?"

And Hunter realized that he'd misunderstood. "No," he said, holding Cam's gaze steadily. "I mean, I do expect it to last."

Cam stared at him. "Oh," he said at last.

"I mean, I want it to," Hunter amended, and he could feel his face getting red. He really could. This was bad, so he was going to do the only thing he could. He was going to cleverly ignore it.

"I didn't expect that from you," Cam said quietly.

Well, that was... crushing. Hunter held his ground, determined not to let it show on his face. He could keep at least something to himself... couldn't he?

Cam seemed to see it anyway. "I didn't mean--" He broke off abruptly, frowning in confusion instead of annoyance. "I just meant, you're... impulsive. I didn't know--maybe you just asked me out to see what I'd say."

Hunter managed not to retort that that was exactly what he'd done, because how else did you know if someone would go out with you or not? "If I'd meant it to be casual," he muttered, "I would have told you."

"Well, I'm not up on the secret Hunter code of telling versus not telling," Cam informed him. "How could you know you wouldn't want it like that before you even asked me out, anyway?"

Hunter smiled, just a little. "Easy. It was you." He could be charming when he wanted to be. Even if Cam was giving him a look like it was the most useless thing he'd ever heard.

Cam liked cute. Hunter knew it, and he also knew that Cam wasn't going to call it quits just because Hunter had said maybe he wanted something more than just "casual." Play by Cam's rules, and you were allowed in Cam's world. He was willing to back off if it meant he got another chance with Cam--because really, plenty of long-term relationships started casual, right?

Disappointed, maybe, but not defeated. Challenged.

Hunter kept his smirk to himself. Cam had always been a challenge.

"Did I mention that I don't know why I like spending time with you?" Cam was asking. Hunter was all ready for a retort when he added unexpectedly, "It'll probably take me a while to figure it out."

Caught off guard, Hunter was torn between acknowledging that or not. "Yeah?" he said at last. He was such a sucker for Cam's hesitance... feigned or otherwise. "How long?"

"Could be a long time," Cam said with a little shrug. "I'll probably need to do a lot of field research."

Hunter's lips twitched, and he fixed Cam with a knowing look of his own. "Okay, two things," he said firmly. "One, coy is not a good look for you. Two, referring to me as 'research' isn't gonna get you anywhere."

To his surprise, Cam just smiled. "I'll remember that," he said simply.

Hunter blinked. If Cam was going to take him seriously, maybe he should be a little clearer. "Well, okay, one was a lie," he told Cam. "But two was true."

Maybe not so much of a challenge after all.

Cam's faint smile became a grin, and he looked away. If Hunter didn't know better, he'd think maybe he'd embarrassed him. Then Cam told the shower curtain, "You were never research to me." He glanced back at Hunter when he said it.

"Yeah, well." Hunter shifted awkwardly, not sure what to do with that. "You either."

Okay, a challenge. Just a different kind of challenge than he'd originally thought. Maybe a harder one. Because no matter what Blake claimed, Hunter did know how to make people like him. But making them keep liking him?

This was all new ground, here.

Kerone watched her son fly across the curved surface of the half pipe set up in the Staples Center. Not literally fly, of course, at least not here on Earth. He was a little clumsy without the anti-gravs he took for granted on his Kerovan skates, but he was also fearless. After all, his wheels were stuck to the ground, so what was the danger?

She knew perfectly well he could still hurt himself in those skates. Especially with all the other kids cruising around out there, making a constantly-shifting obstacle course for Kae to navigate with unfamiliar equipment. On the other hand, his typically three-dimensional awareness was now focused on only two, and that gave him an edge.

She also knew that a parent could only protect their child so much. What was the point of a life devoid of all experience? As a former Ranger, she understood the lure of risk better than most--and she also understood that adventure was the best teacher.

Someone bumped her shoulder, and she looked up at the hasty apology. She smiled as a man with tousled brown hair spun past her, dragging a dark-skinned man in his wake. They seemed to be comparing the merits of the upcoming skateboard practice to the motocross practice already in progress on the other side of the arena.

Just then, someone called a five-minute warning to the kids' "exhibition" participants, warning them to clear the area for registered X Games competitors. Skateboard vert, she noted absently. Like the skating--she was sure some of the "kids" on the half pipe had to be competitors--but with boards, and maybe Kae would want to watch that.

If they were clearing the half pipe, though, it must be almost ten. She looked around, but she didn't have much hope of picking out a familiar face in the crowd from down here on the floor. Luckily, she didn't have to.

*Ashley?* Kerone called silently.

*Hi!* Ashley's cheerful thoughts replied. *I'm in line outside the Staples Center now. Are you inside?*

*Yes,* Kerone answered, smiling as she watched Kae "accidentally" slide down the far side of the half pipe again. He spun as he went, avoiding the thinning exhibition participants with ease. She lifted one hand over her head and waved in his direction, telling Ashley, *We're at half pipe. We should be around the skateboard practice when you get in.*

*Great. I'm just waiting to go through security,* Ashley told her. *I'll let you know when I'm there.*

Kae went to his knees at the bottom of the half pipe, skidding on his protective gear deliberately. He'd been going too fast to stop any other way, she supposed, although it made her wince to see it. He had to have picked up that trick from the other kids just this morning, since skidding wasn't an option in most of the places he skated at home.

Still, he did it and did it right, coming to a stop just a couple of paces from the edge. Instead of pushing himself up he swung his legs around and slid over, looking very comfortable in his baggy jeans and X Games t-shirt. He hopped down, landing on his skates without a single wobble and heading straight for her.

"Hi there," Kerone said with a smile, as he skated up to and around her with practiced ease. "You looked like a competitor out there."

"Nah," Kae said dismissively. He spun backwards around her, then walked in place on his wheels for a moment. "That one kid was way better than me. And these skates are slow," he complained. "I don't know how they get going fast enough for their jumps here!"

"Well," she told him, "your dad says that anyone can do amazing things with good equipment. It's the people who can do amazing things with bad equipment who are really impressive."

Kae turned in place, looking absurdly graceful for a little boy with wheels on his feet. "Pa says impressive people should have good equipment," he told her.

"Yes, well, that sounds like him," she said with a smile. "But since he used to have no equipment at all--even bad things--I think he knows that's not always how it is."

Kae gave her a skeptical look. "But he was a..." Here he paused dramatically and was very obvious about looking all around him to check for eavesdroppers. "Special person," he said at last. "Just like you. You always had stuff."

"Well, he wasn't always a special person," Kerone told him. She decided now wasn't the time to talk about the different kinds of "stuff" one might have. "Once he was just a boy, like you, and he was all alone when his parents died. He didn't become a special person for many years."

Kae frowned at that. "If he was all alone, what did he do?"

"His ma and pa took him in," she told him. "Just like we did with you. But they didn't have much to give him, and when their home was invaded they lost everything. Even him, for a while."

"That's when Dad rescued him," Kae put in. "Right? When... home was invaded, Dad rescued Pa because no one else would go back for him."

Kerone smiled at his deliberate care in avoiding any mention of Power Rangers or "alien" planets. "That's right," she agreed, wondering if Zhane knew which parts of his stories stuck with Kae and which apparently didn't. "So, see, sometimes it's not what you have, but how you use it that matters."

"Don't worry," Kae told her confidently. "If home is ever invaded again? I'll come back for you, Ma."

She couldn't help laughing, and the fact that the idea was in any way laugh-worthy warmed her heart. The Kerovan system had come a long way in a very short time. "Thanks, sweetie," she told him fondly. "I'll come back for you too. I promise."

"Kerone!" It was Ashley's voice, somewhere in the changing crowd. Spectators were swapping places now, and the number of kids was dwindling while X-Games registered participants became a more serious presence on the floor.

She caught sight of Ashley's bright yellow blouse, and she lifted her hand in acknowledgement. "Over here!" she called, even though Ashley clearly knew where they were.

"Hey, guys!" Ashley managed to sound breathless as she joined them--it was a habit she had never really outgrown, Kerone thought with some affection. Ashley put everything she had into whatever she was doing, and sometimes, maybe, she got so involved that she just forgot to breathe.

It wasn't a problem that Kerone had, for obvious reasons. But it was an idiosyncracy she found endearing in her sister.

"Mom, guess what!" Kae was bouncing up on the front wheels of his skates in an effort to get her attention--not that it took much effort, really. "I got a t-shirt, and then I got to go out and skate on the half pipe! Except I used these skates, and I couldn't do half the stuff I wanted to do..."

Kerone didn't miss the quickly horrified look Ashley gave her before turning her smile on Kae. "Wow, that's an awesome t-shirt! Where do I get one of those? And I learned to skate on skates just like those, so don't go saying bad things about them!"

Scattered applause from the crowd drew Kae's attention back to the half pipe. "Hey, did you see that?" he demanded, despite the fact that even he probably hadn't. "Wow!"

*You let him skate up there?* Ashley demanded, under cover of Kae's distraction.

*They had an open exhibition for kids before the serious practice,* Kerone told her, just as silently. *He brought his skates, and he's wearing all his protective gear.*

*Kerone, he doesn't have any identification here,* Ashley scolded. *Let alone health insurance! If he breaks a leg, you think they're just going to believe us that he doesn't need to go to a hospital? 'Oh, no,' we'll say, 'it's okay, we'll just take him to our spaceship and have the ship's computer set that bone for him.'*

"Ma, Mom," Kae interrupted, totally unaware of the conversation. "Can I get a skateboard before we go back home?"

Kerone exchanged glances with Ashley and guessed that now would be a good time to let her sister answer. Ashley wasn't really mad about the exhibition, she knew--just worried. They took turns playing the responsible mom, and since it was Ashley's planet the task fell more heavily on her shoulders today.

"We'll talk about it at lunchtime," Ashley said at last. She gave Kerone a sideways look, and Kerone nodded her agreement.

"I could use it on the street," Kae continued, undeterred. "Cause you don't have to have one of these things, there's park practice too and stunts that you can do on steps and--"

"Kae," Kerone interrupted, because Ashley shouldn't have to be the responsible one all day, "the streets at home probably aren't the best place to be learning a new sport."

"But I could try it out on the trails!" Kae protested. "That way it wouldn't go very fast and I could practice before I went anywhere else--"

"Hey, whoa," an unfamilar voice broke in. "You don't want to be taking one of these boards off the pavement. They make special boards for that."

Kerone looked up to see the guy who had bumped into her earlier standing nearby, and his friend was the one talking seriously to Kae. Just when her internal mother alarm would have gone off, the man looked up at her and smiled. Before he could say anything else, though, his friend exclaimed, "Yeah, those boards are awesome, dude. They're like a bike without a motor, you know? Or a seat. Or, like, handlebars and stuff."

"But they do have brakes," the other man assured her. "You can probably find some riders out at Woodward West, now that the BMX finals are over. If you want to see what they look like or something."

"They go on the bike trails?" Kae squeaked, staring up at him with wide eyes.

"Oh yeah." The man transferred his attention to Kae with a grin. "They're pretty sick."

*Friends of yours?* Kerone asked, curious about the strangers' apparent familiarity. Not that everyone here hadn't been friendly, but Ashley did know a staggering number of people.

*Maybe both of ours,* Ashley answered cryptically. Before Kerone could prod her for more of an answer, she added, *Look at their wrists.*

Kerone glanced down, and for a fraction of a second she saw nothing more than a couple of watches. Then she blinked, and the bulky devices wrapped around their wrists were instantly recognizable. Her eyes widened. The vision wavered. When she looked for watches, she saw watches--but when she listened to Ashley?

She saw morphers.

"Ma, can we go see them?" Kae was asking. "Please?"

"Why don't you thank this nice man first," Ashley suggested. There was an indulgent tone in her voice that seemed to be for more than just their son's impatience. Kerone wondered what she was thinking.

"Thanks for telling us about the trail boards!" Kae declared enthusiastically.

"They're actually called mountain boards," the man told him, and Kerone could see that this piece of information only made them more exciting in Kae's eyes.

"Thanks for the tip," Ashley said, holding out her hand with a bright smile. "I'm Ashley Hammond. This is Kerone, and our son Kae."

"Shane Clarke," the man said easily. He shook her hand, gesturing at his friend with his other hand. "And Dustin Brooks. I can see you're gonna be a member of the competition soon," he added, grinning down at Kae.

"Hey..." The guy Shane had introduced as "Dustin" was staring intently at Ashley. "Did you say your name was Ashley Hammond?"

Ashley just smiled, and that was when Kerone knew. She wasn't just introducing them.

She was introducing them.

Shane seemed to think it was his mission to pick up women wherever he went. Cam tried to ignore it, but... they had a child with them. A school-age child, no less, which could conceivably make them a good deal older than he was. Since when did Shane flirt with single moms, anyway?

"Is it me," Hunter muttered, loud enough for Cam to overhear even in the crowd, "or is this day just getting weirder?" It seemed that he too had caught sight of Shane and Dustin.

"Are the two mutually exclusive?" Cam wondered aloud.

Hunter didn't answer, but he saw the other Ranger smirk out of the corner of his eye.

Needling Hunter was habit by now. A comfortable habit, one that didn't require restraint or careful consideration beforehand. That didn't mean he wasn't listening. Nor did it mean Hunter was wrong. In fact, in this particular instance, Cam might have said the same thing if Hunter hadn't gotten to it first.

The day was getting weirder. He should have known that any day that started with Hunter ambushing him in the bathroom--not to make out, but to talk about commitment, of all things--could only end up in the dictionary as the definition of "surreal." Cam had followed through on his threat to announce their relationship to all of their teammates at breakfast, only to be met with utter nonchalance.

Every last one of them had already known. Which explained some of Dustin's muttered remarks lately, and Cam planned to exact revenge in his own time. It also meant that Hunter had been right about Dustin knowing, which came as less of a surprise after catching the earth ninja with Marah the night before. Cam was still working through the implications of the possibility that Dustin was fully aware of the way other people perceived him and was actively using it to his advantage.

It was difficult, though, when the ninja in question was currently trying to drag strangers into his comic book obsession with him. Cam and Hunter came into hearing range just as Dustin was asking, "You don't, like, know a guy named Andros or anything, do you?"

"He's my husband," one of the women replied.

"My brother," the other woman added.

Not to be outdone, the boy with them piped up, "He's my dad!"

"No way!" Dustin didn't seem to get that he was being mocked. "This is, like... dude, this is the sickest thing ever!"

Cam sighed, giving the strangers an assessing look. "I'd call the CDC," he remarked, shoving his hands in his pockets as he and Hunter joined their little group, "but I've learned not to overreact."

Shane's eyes flicked to him in welcome, but his comment was, unsurprisingly, addressed to the women. "You're kidding," he said skeptically. "Right?" Not skeptical enough, as far as Cam was concerned.

"Dude!" Dustin, on the other hand, could barely contain himself. "Guys! Check it out! This is Ashley and Astronema!"

"I prefer Kerone," the blond-haired woman corrected with a small smile.

"Oh, yeah." Dustin looked totally chagrinned, and Cam rolled his eyes. "Right. Sorry."

"We're really not." Her companion was apparently talking to Shane. Her gaze went to Dustin, and then, to Cam's own surprise, she glanced over at him. "Thanks for the thing on Friday, by the way. Andros told us that you guys dropped everything to help."

Just like that, he saw the Yellow Astro Ranger instead of a young woman taking her son to the X Games. Cam stared at her, willing his vision to make her what she had been just seconds before. It didn't cooperate--because how could she know about that?

"Okay, wait." Hunter was looking from Ashley to him and back again, and he actually sounded a little bit amused. "Who are you, exactly?"

"Exactly who you think we are." Ashley was smiling brightly at him, and for one fleeting moment she reminded Cam of Dustin. "We recognized your watches," she added, tapping her left wrist meaningfully.

Hunter and Shane both looked down at their wrists. Dustin just crowed in delight. "I knew it! This is so awesome! Wait--"

As quickly as he'd burst out he came down, looking at the women with an expression of vaguely confused concern. "It is awesome, right? I mean, you're not here because there's some other, like, ultimate evil threatening the planet?"

Ashley exchanged amused glances with... well, she had to be Kerone, didn't she. A human from another planet, the sister of the first Red Astro Ranger, formerly the princess of evil in a monarchy that no longer existed. More recently a Power Ranger herself, or so rumor had it.

Cam would rather not share with his teammates just how much he knew about the Power Rangers. He preferred to feign ignorance and dismiss those comic books as the cheap marketing ploys they were. He'd seen the tapes, and he knew perfectly well that comic books weren't all they were--but he'd also seen the Wind Rangers when they were after a secret. They'd never leave him alone if they so much as suspected he had access to records like that.

"No ultimate evil," Ashley was saying cheerfully. "We let the boys handle that. They can't seem to take a vacation without manufacturing some kind of..." She trailed off, looking around at her entirely male audience. "Well. You probably know how it is."

She and Kerone exchanged glances again. They weren't quite smirking, but the knowing look they shared made their opinion very clear. Cam was sorely tempted to say something, to throw in with the only Rangers other than Tori who seemed to grasp that not every situation had to be met with force. But the little boy with them spoke up first.

"My dad says that evil always attacks at the worst times," he informed them.

"Yes," Kerone murmured thoughtfully. "But is that coincidence?"

"Or just very good planning," Ashley finished for her. "We'll probably never know." Her expression said she already knew perfectly well.

"So, seriously." Shane's impatience probably meant that he had no idea what they were talking about. "Are you guys really--" He leaned in and lowered his voice in a typically unsubtle way. "Power Rangers?"

"Not anymore," Kerone said, just as quietly.

"We're retired," Ashley agreed. She seemed strangely happy about it. On the other hand, she seemed strangely happy about everything, so maybe that didn't mean what he thought it did. "We're just here visiting my parents."

"And exposing Kae to some local culture while we're at it," Kerone said, her hand brushing against the boy's shoulder. "It's good for him to see what his mom's home planet is like."

"You have better candy," the boy said with a shrug.

Home planet. Intellectually, Cam knew that Astronema and her brother Andros were from another galaxy. But the fact that she must have traveled a lot farther than he had to be at the X Games had been only a background thought until she said the words. That she had made such a trip with a young child indicated a familiarity with space travel that he could only dream of.

"Whoa," Hunter broke in. "What? Are you seriously on a field trip from another planet?"

"Dude!" Dustin exclaimed. "What do you expect! They're space Rangers!"

Cam couldn't help noticing the occasional odd look being directed their way. Yes, this was the X Games, and yes, half the people here would probably be offended by words like "traditional," "mainstream," and "reality." But their tolerance also meant that they were more likely to take claims of a Ranger presence seriously, and somehow Cam didn't think the former princess of evil was looking for that kind of attention.

"Actually," Ashley remarked mildly, "one of the reasons we like coming here is because most people don't know who we are."

Cam realized two things. One, he was right. No surprise there. Even he could see the benefits of relative anonymity. Two, Kerone wasn't the only one visiting from offworld, and that should have occurred to him a lot sooner. His first clue should have been the realization that Ashley wasn't kidding about being married to the Red Astro Ranger. And the second was the phrase, "his mom's home planet."

"What, like, here to the X Games?" Shane apparently hadn't gotten it either.

"No, dude." Dustin had lowered his voice, proving that he had heard as much as Cam in what Ashley didn't say. Something in the world felt vaguely off when Dustin was correcting people. "Here to Earth."

"It's better than Aquitar," the little boy said confidently. "I don't like going there. There's water everywhere."

"Hey, DECA said something about Aquitar before they left," Dustin said, surprising Cam again since he'd thought Dustin had been totally engrossed in his bike at that point. "They were supposed to, like, meet Carlos there or something?"

For some reason that made Kerone smile, but it was Ashley who answered. "He actually wanted Andros to bring me," she admitted. "But I wanted to see my parents, and Zhane didn't. So he got Zhane instead."

"Pa doesn't like Aquitar either," the boy announced. "He only goes 'cause Dad does. He told me," he added with authority.

Arms crossed, Hunter raised an eyebrow at the boy. "Pa and Dad?" he asked, very innocently.

"Meet our son, Kae," Ashley said with a laugh. "Child of many parents."

"How many?" Hunter wanted to know. "Exactly?"

The boy sighed, loudly, and Kerone moved a little closer to Ashley. "I'll take Kae out to see the mountain boarders, unless you want us to wait..." She spoke softly enough that it was clearly a private remark intended only for Ashley, but Cam couldn't help overhearing.

"I'm coming with you," Ashley said, firmly and not nearly so quiet. "It's really great to meet you all in person," she added, smiling around at them. "I'd love to swap stories, but we're only here for the weekend and I think we've got a lot of ground to cover."

"You headed out to Woodward West?" Hunter asked.

"It sounds that way," Ashley agreed. "Shane mentioned that there might be some people with mountain boards there?"

It occurred to Cam that he hadn't heard any introductions, yet she and Kerone seemed perfectly comfortable with all of them. For the first time, he wondered what she knew about the current team of Power Rangers. Had she ever watched tapes of them?

"Might be," Hunter allowed. "You want some company, or is this a family trip?"

Cam looked at him in surprise. He wasn't sure whether it was stranger to hear Hunter being polite, or to hear him being interested. In something other than motocross.

Okay, to be perfectly fair, something other than motocross or Cam.

He didn't notice the hesitation until it was over, but something had definitely passed between Ashley and Kerone in the silence. "We'd love the company," Kerone said, as though it hadn't happened. Her smile seemed genuine, and Ashley's, if it was possible, brightened even further.

"I miss Earth," she confessed, in a way that made it sound like she was talking about an old friend from whom she received the occasional Christmas card. "I'd love to hear about what's really going on. You can only get so much information from civilians."

"But the finals are at eleven thirty," Shane was complaining, and Dustin actually threw his hands up and then buried them in his hair. It would have been more comical if Cam hadn't missed whatever had prompted his response.

"Dude, they're Rangers! And it's not even the park finals, it's vert trick! Call your brother and get him to record it for you!"

They were going to have to take the bus, Cam thought. Blake and Tori were at the beach again, despite the fact that the surfing events were over. Wakeboarding, maybe. Or just an excuse to get away from the rest of the team, and if that was it then he couldn't really blame them.

"Do you have the--" Cam broke off as Hunter handed him the bus route map before he could finish asking for it. "Thank you."

On the other hand, he decided, watching Hunter smile over at the boy now skating circles around his two guardians, being part of a team had its good points.

And so Cam began to understand what Hunter had already known: what you expect isn't always what you get, and sometimes knowing what you want is all you really need. Relationships born under pressure, in times of great stress, aren't bound to dissolve just because those circumstances change. At the end of the day, it's enough to know that you are loved, and the rest of the details have a way of working out.

Cam had no way of knowing, when they first got involved, that Hunter would eventually propose to him in front of the entire Wind Academy. He couldn't know that Hunter would marry him contingent upon serious consideration of foster parenting, or that Hunter would change his name when their kids' adoptions were finalized. It would be up to Blake's son to carry on the Bradley name, after Hunter became Hunter Watanabe.

"Because I want us to look like a family," he would say of the change, "and I'm not gonna inflict a name like 'Michiko Bradley' on anyone."

Cam didn't know that the Ranger who had held him hostage during his father's abduction would end up spending the rest of his life at his side. He didn't know that the man who had cornered him in the bathroom that morning was already the most serious relationship he'd ever have. But that day he did learn that not every romance looks like something you see on TV, and that love does better in the face of acceptance than analysis.

Eventually, his children would learn the same thing. And Hunter would smirk at all of them and pretend that he was very in touch with his feelings, which he wasn't. But it wouldn't matter, because the feelings were there and they all knew it and so life went on.

Because love does many amazing things, and foremost among those is the connection it makes between otherwise unrelated people. More than a marriage. More than a home. Love makes something more important than anything else we can imagine.

Love makes a family.

Sunday: Send Off

They’'d finally arrived back at the hotel. After a day full of events and finally a dinner the entire team attended, everyone was gathering back at the hotel. It was time to go, especially if they wanted to get back at a decent hour that night.

So Dustin had chanced it. He’'d texted Marah, initiating contact first. He crossed his fingers and hoped Kapri didn’'t hear the PAM go off. But he just had to chance it. He didn'’t want to head back to Blue Bay Harbor without saying goodbye.

Now he waited patiently in the stairwell for her to come, like she said she would. He’'d had to sneak out while the others were loading the vans. Honestly they probably thought he'’d just wandered off, and would turn up just in time to make them late.

Before he could get very far into inventing a cover story, the door opened and Marah entered the stairwell. She had her back turned to him, as she eased the door shut. So she didn’'t see him till she turned. And they broke into simultaneous smiles.

"“Ya know, I actually think it was easier for us to meet in Blue Bay,"” Marah laughed.

“"Easier, yeah, it is that,”" Dustin agreed. Back home they had time to themselves. But here in LA they had each supposedly been on a group vacation, so it was like people expected to know where you were and stuff. "“But we couldn’'t go out in public like we could here.”"

She shrugged. “"It doesn’'t matter where we go, does it?”"

Dustin shook his head, no. '‘Cause he knew she knew just as well as he did.

It wasn’'t about going out. '‘Cause the place didn'’t matter. It was the company. Sure, it had been fun to be out in public. But that wasn'’t what this was about. All these months they’'d worked so hard to find time together ‘'cause well, they wanted to be together. Didn’'t matter if they were meeting at the track, or Blue Bay Pointe, or whatever out of the way spot they'’d found. What mattered was them.

So they quickly said their good-byes, knowing that they’'d have to get back soon. Her hand was on the door, ready to open it and duck back out into the hallway when she turned.

“"Dustin?”"

"“Yeah?”" he asked, wondering what had made her stop.

"“Ryan,"” she opened the door and glanced back at him. “"It was Ryan."”

"“Uh, okay. What did he do?”" he wasn’'t sure at all what she meant.

"“Kapri said he was voted out.”"

"“Oh!"” he exclaimed as it all came back to him. “”"Survivor”, right. Hey, thanks. We’'ll get Hunter good.”"

She giggled at his obvious glee, and whispered, "“’Bye Dustin."” Then she stepped out into the hallway, letting the door close quietly behind her.

"“’Bye Marah,"” he said as the door closed. He leaned against the wall, giving her time to reach her room before he left as well.

The back of the van sank a little as Blake sat down on the rear bumper next to her. When she glanced over at him, he offered her a can of Sprite. "Soda?"

Tori smiled. "Thanks." She popped the top, her eyes wandering back to the chaos that was their friends and most of their stuff. Her stuff was already in the van. So was Blake's, which surprised her a little. He'd gone to the trouble of loading up before he went to say goodbye to the vending machine.

The same could not be said for Cam, who had propped his backpack up on his duffel bag in the middle of the parking lot and was leaning back against it while he worked on his laptop. Nor Dustin, who had only recently returned from who-knows-where and was now pestering Shane about "Survivor." Hunter was doing something in the back of the Storm Chargers van, but since he was riding with her she was pretty sure it didn't involve actual loading of luggage.

She'd decided not to care today. She was ready to go, after all, and she didn't have to work in the morning. So what did it matter if they left now or two hours from now?

Blake nudged her shoulder with his. "You know we can take off anytime you want, right?"

Tori returned his affectionate shove without a thought. "Kelly's van is set up for cargo, not passengers. Dustin's only got room for two."

"Yeah," Blake agreed, not like he hadn't known. There was a pause, and then he repeated, "You know we can take off anytime, right?"

She laughed aloud. They both knew they'd never do it. They also knew that Shane had automatic shotgun privileges whenever Dustin drove. Which meant, indirectly, that Blake had joked about leaving his brother behind so she could get back to Blue Bay Harbor faster...

It was just a silly game. Blake was a flirt and a kidder and he knew how to make people smile. But he was her flirt, her kidder, and he only teased the way he did because he cared. She smiled to herself as she sipped her soda.

Then Hunter shouted something uncomplimentary from the back of the Storm Chargers van, and the smirks that flashed between Dustin and Shane were not innocent. "Any idea what's going on?" she asked idly, tempted to swing her legs a little. Just for effect.

"Hunter's trying not to find out who got voted off of Survivor," Blake answered. He didn't look too concerned, either. "Which Shane and Dustin have basically made impossible."

Tori cocked her head, listening to her friends discuss the most recent episode with pointed enthusiasm. "Ryan," she said after a minute. "Right?"

Blake shrugged. "Apparently," he agreed.

She just shook her head. Another game, she thought, watching the boys make a big show of lowering their voices when Hunter climbed out of the van and stormed past them. Lowering their voices to the point where they were just talking loudly, instead of yelling so that the entire parking lot could hear them. The volume increased again as soon as it became clear that Hunter was pretending to ignore them.

Tori watched him stomp around Cam and snatch at the carrying handle of Cam's backpack. "Move," he said curtly. But he didn't lift the backpack until Cam leaned forward. He picked up the duffel bag too and headed for the van with what was probably feigned irritation.

Cam didn't thank him. But he didn't protest either, and Tori caught the sideways look that followed Hunter's movements. Okay, so maybe he wasn't working so hard after all. But even if he was, she thought, he was still here… in every way that mattered. Just like the rest of them.

Hunter arrived at the tailgate with a thoroughly unconvincing scowl. "Either help or get out of the way," he informed them, hefting Cam's stuff in a not-very-threatening manner.

Tori and Blake exchanged glances. "Now he wants to load the van," she remarked.

"Say the magic word, bro," Blake teased.

"Play games on your own time," Hunter grumbled, dropping the duffel bag so he could swing Cam's backpack around behind Tori without bumping her.

"Nah," Blake countered. He lifted his soda can to Tori in mock salute. "The Games are what brought us here."

She shifted to one side, allowing Hunter to slide Cam's duffel into the back of the van and coincidentally bringing her a little closer to Blake. He didn't move over, and their shoulders pressed up against each other. Hunter glared at them both, but it was only a token look.

They all knew how the game was played.

Tori tapped her soda against Blake's, and the half-full cans made a soft clunking sound as they were brought together. A little odd, discordant maybe, but it worked. And it was, somehow, entirely appropriate.

"Here's to the games," she said with a smile.