Disclaimer: the concepts of the Tomorrow People and the Power Rangers aren’t mine. The concept of the Tomorrow People belongs to Roger Damon Price, Nickelodeon, Thames Television, Tetra Films, and possibly others. Rocky and the Power Rangers belong to Saban (who borrowed the idea from Toei’s Super Sentai shows originally). Teresa and Iz, along with Teresa’s Ranger teammates and Tomorrow People friends, are all mine. “A La Puerta Del Cielo” is a traditional Spanish song, although the wording I use is from “Songs That Children Sing” edited and compiled by Eleanor Chroman.
Note: This is set sometime before the epilogue to “Expected Changes”. It won’t make much sense unless you’ve read that. There is some religious (Christian) pondering in here, which is no doubt because Rocky’s religious side comes out quite a bit. Also, unlike Rocky, I do not speak Spanish (I used to, but it’s been years…), so please forgive any mistakes in the language, and the lack of accents. This vignette was inspired by tptigger’s “Legends and Monsters: Epilogue”.
The Only One Who Can
by EstiRose
The cry woke Rocky. He hadn’t been able to sleep well that night, feeling surrounded by - well, something, he didn’t know what. Beside him, Iz slept peacefully on, oblivious to him or Teresa.
It really didn’t matter. It wasn’t a problem she could soothe or solve. He was probably the only one who could. Only he knew what Teresa was going through.
He stretched, yawned, and made his way to his daughter’s room. He opened the door. “Bonita, are you all right?” he asked, knowing that she wasn’t.
“Sorry, Dad, didn’t mean to wake you up,” his daughter replied, trying to sound confident, but failing miserably.
Rocky turned on the light. Teresa’s eyes were red, and her arms were hugging her knees. She was wearing a long, frilly yellow nightgown that he and Iz had gotten her just after she became a Ranger. It wasn’t hard to guess why she was crying. He pulled up a chair beside her bed. “It’ll get better, bonita. I know it will.”
Teresa sniffled. “I find that hard to believe, Dad.”
Rocky was silent. He didn’t have to imagine the agony that Teresa was going through. He could feel it as surely as if he was experiencing it himself. Teresa’s powers had made her emotions even more accessable to him. While it was sometimes great to tell if she was lying her head off, right now it was just a confirmation that his child was really hurting.
Sometimes he wondered what was going on with God. His child had been given her Ranger abilities, hadn’t abused them, and still had them taken away, to be given a set of abilities she would have accepted more easily if she’d been given a chance to retire first. What message was she being given? That she was headed in the wrong direction, being pointed gently back to what she would be?
Or was the message being directed at someone else? Him, or the Tomorrow People, or her many friends? Sometimes God did work in mysterious ways, and Teresa’s breakout was only one part of a larger plan. Correct that, it probably was some part of a larger plan. Maybe it would teach the Tomorrow People that they had to understand the violence they drew back from. Or maybe the Rangers, to remind them of what they were fighting for. Or maybe it wasn’t to teach anyone anything at all. Maybe it was supposed to affect something else.
Rocky wished he knew. Wished he knew so that he could comfort his daughter and ease her pain a little bit. Even when he wasn’t feeling it directly, he knew how she felt. Nobody else had gone from being a Ranger to being a Tomorrow Person.
“Am I keeping you up, Dad?” Teresa asked. “Did I wake you?”
“If you woke me, it was because you needed me,” Rocky reassured his daughter. “Don’t worry about waking me up about things like this. I’m your father. I’m supposed to be here for things like this.”
Teresa managed a small smile. “Okay, Dad.”
“How are things going? With the… others? Are your shields getting stronger, Bonita?”
“I think they are. I hope so, Dad. This is annoying as all get out.”
Rocky grinned. “It’ll get better soon, Bonita. I had a lot of problems at first, too. And my friends didn’t even know why I was avoiding them. Your friends do. They’ll wait for you to get used to things.”
“I hope so. I need them. Some of my friends on the other end are getting real annoying.”
“They’ll calm down too,” Rocky reassured her. “There are so few Tomorrow People still, and they were afraid.”
“I know. They pushed so hard….”
“Sometimes people just don’t understand,” Rocky said. “You’ve got to accept that and move on.”
Teresa nodded, although Rocky didn’t think she was getting it. Still, even teenagers sometimes only needed a soothing voice and a parent’s hug. Meanings could come later. He wrapped his arms around her, and rocked.
He found himself singing. “A la puerta del cielo venden zapatos, para los angelitosque andan descalzos. Duermete nino, duermete nino, duermete nino, aru, aru.”
Gradually Teresa fell asleep, soothed by the music. “Tomorrow will be better, Teresa,” he whispered, before he went back to bed.
He hoped that he was right.
-end
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