Disclaimer: Characters belong to BVE. Kid belongs to me. Rach’s internet connection isn’t permitted to go to dinner.
Spoilers: Team Carnival-Forever Red.
Notes: Yes, this is a followup to the stories “Inside Out” and “Blushing Bride”. You will probably be confused if you haven’t been following, though this time I’ve been trying to pay attention to show continuity.
Waiting Period
by EstiRose
It had been a long day.
Taylor slumped to the floor of her little house so far away from the Animarium and her teammates above. At this point in her life, she found herself more and more easily annoyed, as she had a few weeks before with Kite and Max at the carnival, and the adventures within. Of course, Kite had turned out to be Animus, but that was a minor detail in the scheme of things. Sure, just go to a carnival with the youngest of the Rangers and a child who turns out to be a deity. No big detail.
Do I really want to be a mother? she thought. I have absolutely no patience with kids! Which was true. She was an only child and one of those teens that had no aspirations towards babysitting. In fact, she stayed away from most little kids with a passion, though her protective instincts sometimes kicked in, as it did with the twins who proved to be their Bear Zords.
“Just because I can be protective doesn’t mean I can be a good mother,” she mumbled, gathering her strength to go to the kitchen. Though Eric insisted on cooking for her most of the time, this was supposed to be one of her nights on the Animarium, though it hadn’t turned out that way.
She knew she had to keep her strength up, not only as a Ranger but as a mother carrying an unborn child. Though she couldn’t feel it yet, she had no doubt that it was there. She’d done a pregnancy test, but more accurately, her Zord had told her, through Cole. Since she couldn’t speak Zord yet, he was the only channel Ranger and Zord had to talk to each other. At least as far as she knew.
Maybe she should call Eric. She didn’t like bothering the father of her child, given his full busy schedule with the Silver Guardians, but she saw it as part child support plus he tended to get less fussy that way. Plus, he owed her for that little trip to the moon. In a big way. He hadn’t even bothered to leave a note: “Gone to the moon after the Machine Empire. Will cook dinner at seven.” When she’d gone to his house, it was empty.
She remembered being worried about the empty house, the dishes neatly washed up after breakfast, the stew cooking slowly, ready for the evening meal. She’d dished up a bowl for herself, eating in silence and hoping he’d come home. Or at least called her. She knew he knew how to contact her on her growlphone.
Shaking her head, she reminded herself that she was in the same dangerous occupation, made even more dangerous for her by the life she carried within. And he’d had good reason.
Besides, she had a good right hook, or so he’d told her later.
Taylor pulled her growlphone out of her pocket, punching in Eric’s number by memory and hoping the other Ranger wasn’t stuck doing the paperwork which resulted from working so closely with the police. She had no idea what she’d be doing when - not if - they defeated the Orgs, but she knew that whatever it was, she had to find something that didn’t require the paperwork stuff.
One thing was sure: The Air Force seemed tame after running around defeating Orgs.
“Myers.” His greeting was short, the one of too much time spent in the military and too little time to waste on pleasantries. Like everybody else, the way he answered the phone reflected his view of it: it was there for a communications tool, nothing else.
It reminded her of a high school classmate who currently worked in an inbound call center, and refused to answer her phone with anything other than a sullen “hello”. Which was understandable if you had to cheerfully answer a phone all day with the practiced greeting of “Good Morning (or Afternoon), this is Beth, how may I help you?”
Sometimes she was glad to be a pilot and a Ranger. At least it wasn’t boring. Sure, sometimes Orgs could be defeated by the same strike one after another, but not very often. And she couldn’t say she didn’t get her daily exercise on the job.
“Eric,” she managed.
“Taylor? Are you okay?” Eric asked, voice deepening into concern.
“Just tired, that’s all. Don’t you watch the news?”
“I do. Yes, I know you guys had an Org today. You sound really tired. Besides, I thought this was a night you were up on the Animarium.”
“I changed my mind,” Taylor snapped. “I couldn’t stand my teammates being cheerful right now, that’s all. Got it?”
“I got it,” Eric said, sounding exactly like he knew what she was talking about. “So, want to come for dinner, or you just call me up just because?”
“Yes, I want to come for dinner,” she said. “What did you think I was calling you up for?”
“Pleasant conversation?” Eric retorted. “I’m having lasagna for dinner. I’ll put something else in so we don’t both starve. Be over here in fifteen?” she thought she heard his voice soften, but decided she was hearing things.
“Right,” she answered, and disconnected. She’d learned never to say goodbye. Just because you might end up dead didn’t mean it was necessary to say those words. They were wastes of breath, and Eric understood that. Even if he didn’t understand anything else.
At least he understood why she wanted to wait. She wanted to wait until the end of the war with the Orgs. She didn’t want to leave him a widower. And as a member of the military, as a Ranger, at least he understood that. Almost too well.
She headed out to the car.
She had a key to his place, so she merely got out of the car, slid her key in the lock, and came in. Some would point out to her that she had a key because they were due to be married, and therefore, he trusted her. He had to, if he was proposing that they live together after the wedding.
Taylor could easily point out that Wes Collins also had a key to Eric’s place, and as far as she knew, he was neither pregnant nor was Eric particularly interested in guys. Wes was simply one of those who had a key because Eric would trust him with his life.
Of course, her reason for having a key was less because Eric trusted her and more because of a case of Daddy Guilt. Just because she was a fellow Ranger didn’t mean that she was automatically trustworthy.
She walked through the sparsely-lighted living room, instinctively headed towards the kitchen. The smell of cooking lasagna assaulted her senses, and as she turned into the kitchen, she could see him making… waffles?
“You’re here,” he stated, without looking up.
“I could have been a burglar.”
“Burglars don’t have keys,’ he said, still not looking up, “And besides, I heard you walking in. I know what your walk sounds like.”
“Great,” Taylor said. “Now I’m predictable.”
Eric snorted. “If you weren’t, you’d be on the floor at this point.” He scraped the batter off the side of the waffle iron with a spatula. “I don’t take kindly to intruders.”
“I wouldn’t think you would,” Taylor said.
“Sit,” Eric instructed her. “You’ve had a long day and… well….”
“Don’t do macho bullshit, Eric,” she told him.
“I’m not,” Eric protested. “I was about to say, you’re in my way.”
Taylor rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe the Commander of the Silver Guardians was a perfectionist chef, but he was. She sat down, willing to believe that he got grouchy when someone got in his way. Especially in his own kitchen.
She watched him close the waffle iron, smoothly gliding over to the oven to check on the lasagna. He examined the steaming pan critically, poking it with a fork, before apparently deciding it was done.
He then deftly cut the steaming mass in two, shoveling half of it onto one plate and half onto another.
“Waffles and Lasagna?” she asked.
Eric shrugged. “The wife of one of my senior officers,” he said, “Liked waffles and pasta when she was pregnant.”
“Ew,” Taylor managed.
“Try it,” Eric said. “Maybe you’ll like it.”
“Ew,” Taylor said again.
He plunked the waffle onto her plate. “Try it. Plain.”
“Plain?” Taylor asked, baffled. Nobody had plain waffles, not without butter and syrup.
“That’s how she liked it,” Eric said. “Pasta and plain waffles. Nobody knew why.”
The plate landed in front of her and he was sitting down on the opposite side of the table. She wasn’t even aware that he had moved. Damn.
“Dig in,” he instructed. They weren’t religious people, either one of them. Neither of them said grace over their food, and that’s the way Taylor liked it. No fuss, no complications.
Needless to say, plain waffles didn’t go well with lasagna, and she had to wonder what weird craving she had.
“Don’t like it?” he asked, studying her.
She shook her head. “It’s awful!”
“My cooking, or the combination?” Eric asked, and she noticed a strained tone in his voice.
“Both are fine. I just can’t believe you put them together!”
He seemed to relax. “Maybe you have a different craving.”
“I’d say so!” She tried not to spew out the waffle piece.
“All right,” he said. “Want me to find you something different?”
“I’ll finish them… separately.”
He got up, returning with a small plate. “Here, put that on this.”
She noticed that he’d unobtrusively put some butter and syrup nearby, and she smothered the remains of the waffle gratefully. “Better?” he asked.
“Much better,” she mumbled.
“Good,” he said, in satisfaction. “How’s the Org hunt going?”
“It’s going,” Taylor replied.
“Who’s the current boss?” Eric asked casually. “Master Org?”
“An org named Mandilok,” Taylor said. “We haven’t seen Master Org since just after we met.”
Eric nodded. She knew that he knew that, but it felt like one of those times where he was trying to get her to realize something.
“I don’t like it,” Taylor admitted. “I feel like something’s going to happen.”
“Maybe something is,” Eric said. “Maybe you’re like Wes. He won’t admit it, but he gets jittery when something’s about to happen. One day he needs to lay off the caffeine, and next we have something major come up. He was like that they day before we met. Should have known something was going to happen. I guess I did, just wasn’t that.”
“So?” she asked.
“Maybe something major’s going to happen to you.”
She rolled her eyes. “If I knew something was going to happen, I wouldn’t be pregnant in the first place!”
Eric snorted. “Didn’t say you ‘saw’ everything.”
“Good. One weird talent on this team is enough.” She knew that he knew of Cole’s talents. Cole was a bridge between human and nonhuman… at least human and animal and Zord, since she’d met her first alien in the shape of Trip. Last she checked she could talk to him just fine, though he reminded her of a puppy for some reason. Maybe it was the attitude that clashed.
“Taylor?”
“Yeah?” she looked over at his expression. He was nervous for some reason.
“I know I’ve said I wanted to… argh.”
“You all right?” she said, feeling a little alarmed as he grimaced.
“I hate this marriage stuff.”
“So do I,” she said. “But you looked like you were in pain. Something I should know about?”
“Only because flowery words are Wes’ speciality,” he said, “not mine.”
Taylor raised an eyebrow.
“Look,” Eric said. “If you wanna wait, that seems like a smart choice to me.”
As she was about to answer, her growlphone rang.
“Taylor,” she answered curtly.
“We’ve got an Org down at the park,” Alyssa said in her favorite ‘the world’s going to end and I’m a little worried’ tones.
“Right. Be right there.” She’d missed one fight already since she’d announced her pregnancy, and she wasn’t into missing any more because her teammates were worried about her and the baby. She looked at Eric.
“Go on,” he said, “I’ll be waiting here when you get back.”
The thought, though she didn’t want to admit it, was comforting. She swept out of his house, knowing that she had to get there, and fast. She hoped nobody gave her a speeding ticket this time.
The drive through Silver Hills was actually somewhat peaceful and calm, and Taylor mentally prepared herself. Battle was something one did as a Ranger. Battle to keep your city, your country, your world safe.
She could feel through the car the vibrations as she drew near to where her teammates fought. As she locked and slammed the door, she ran to the site of the battle. The org was, as usual, big and ugly. Taylor slipped her growlphone out of her pocket. “Wild Access!” she yelled, transforming herself into the yellow Ranger.
Taylor literally flew into the Org, allowing Cole to renew his attack on it. Within a few exhausting minutes, the creature was defeated, if only momentarily.
The five of them powered down into their civilian forms. Most of the wildzords went back to their resting place, flying back to the Animarium, except for Taylor’s eagle. “Woo-hoo!” Max yelled. “That org’s out of the way.”
Taylor, not in a celebratory mood, just turned away. She hoped her relatively new car was in one piece, for a battle, especially a Megazord one, was damaging to the whole city.
A hand fell upon her shoulder. “Taylor, are you all right?” Alyssa asked. Turning, she could see Alyssa looking all concerned, with Cole not too far away.
“I’m all right,” she replied.
“The Eagle says you should take it easy,” Cole said, motioning at her partner.
“Cole, if we stand any chance of winning, I have to fight. It has to know that.” She frowned. Cole was in ‘translation’ mode - the suggestion was from the Eagle, not her teammate.
“It does… but….” Cole looked apologetic. Sometimes she forgot that Cole grew up in a jungle, and sometimes she couldn’t forget. “But… it worries. It knows neither of you has a choice, but it worries.”
Taylor nodded. “Well, you can tell it I’d rather not fight either, but if the battle’s to be won….”
Cole nodded in response, communicating silently to the great metal eagle. “It knows. But go home.”
In an effort not to throw up her hands, Taylor answered roughly, “If the Orgs cooperate, I will.”
“You with Eric?” Alyssa asked.
Rolling her eyes, she replied, “Why does everybody assume I’m with Eric?”
“Because you’re with Eric a lot,” Cole said, not quite comprehending ‘rhetorical question’. “The eagles say so.”
“Good. Then, I’m going back to Eric. I’m tired.” She probably should just go home and crawl into bed, but she needed someone. It was very hard to vent frustration to an empty room, and she didn’t want everything reported back to her partner. She didn’t want the Eagle to decide that the powers needed passing on, that she was in to vulnerable a state to continue being a Ranger.
“See you later,” Cole said, as if he hadn’t heard the tone in her voice. Maybe he had and he just wasn’t saying anything. In any case, she knew, as her heart knew, where she wanted to go.
She was going home, to Eric.
Her car, thankfully, was undamaged. Driving away, she almost growled. The last thing she needed was the team getting ideas about excluding her from battle. It was bad enough that she was worried about her eagle letting her go once her pregnancy was advanced enough.
Of course, she had the sense that her watchers wouldn’t go away even if her Zord was forced to find a new partner. That her Zord felt it has something at stake in the new life.
Great, she thought. Maybe I am becoming borderline psychic. As long as I don’t turn into Cole.
She shook her head. “I have to know,” she realized out loud, stopping the car. She knew she could drive and talk at the same time, but she felt it was better to pull over and call. She dialed Cole’s growlphone.
“Cole here,” came the some how reassuring voice of her team leader.
“Cole,” she said, “Can I talk to you for a minute?” She was aware that he’d been spending a lot of time with Alyssa lately.
“Sure,” Cole said. His cheerful demeanor never faltered. “What’s up?”
“I….” She had to pause to collect her thoughts. “Cole, what has the Eagle been saying?”
There was a pause on the other end, though from what she wasn’t sure. “It would like nothing better than to let you free, but it realizes you’re happier where you are.”
“Right,” she said, not completely reassured. “But if it thinks I can’t do my job anymore….”
“Taylor,” Cole said, “It knows you. It cares about you. It’s afraid that it might not be able to let you go when it’s time.” He paused. “It considers your ‘chick’ as much its child as yours.”
She paused at that. The Eagle Zord considered her child as its own. Eric will be…. She realized that she wasn’t quite sure how Eric would react to learning that he had to factor her Zord in to the parent equation.
She started the car up. The only way she could find out was by asking. She drove down the street, her mind intent upon Eric and his reaction. I wonder if the Eagle Zord will insist on being present at the wedding? It would certainly be memorable, to say the least. The image of her Zord overseeing the wedding kept a smile on her face all the entire way back to Eric’s place.
Taylor arrived back at Eric’s place after a few minutes of driving. The lights were all on, which meant Eric hadn’t gone to bed yet, but then, it was still a bit early. She stepped out of the car and paused.
“Well? You gonna stand out there all night?”
She blinked. Eric had the door open and was looking expectantly at her. “Sure,” she said. Walking in as if she hadn’t ever hesitated, she knew that Eric wasn’t fooled by the act.
“How’d the battle go?” Eric asked.
Taylor settled down in her favorite chair. “It went,” she said.
Eric gave her a nod as he closed and locked the door. “Battles getting tough?”
Shaking her head, Taylor answered, “Not really. I’m not ready to bow out yet.”
Eric nodded again. “Good idea,” he said. “And why not? It isn’t slowing you down.”
“Right,” Taylor answered. “Now, if my teammates and my Zord would get that idea.”
“They’d be fools if they didn’t get the idea,” Eric said.
Taylor drew a strand of hair behind her ear. “And you?”
“I’m not dumb,” Eric said sharply. “I know you have a battle to fight… and I know they can’t win without you. Whatever feelings I have over you carrying my child have to be overridden by the fact that you have a job to do. The faster you do it, the shorter amount of time I have to worry about you.”
He was serious, she could tell. “Good. That’s how it’s going to be.”
“How are the others treating you?” Eric asked. “They giving you guff?”
“Not yet,” Taylor admitted. “But….”
“If you’re in a battle, you fight until you’re done, even if you have to draw back and regroup sometimes,” Eric said. “Cole knows that.”
“My Zord knows that,” Taylor said, thinking of what Cole had said.
The corner of Eric’s mouth quirked up. “That’s what you get for having a sentient Zord.”
“A sentient Zord that thinks it’s responsible for our child,” Taylor said, just to get his reaction.
“Your Zord thinks it’s responsible for our child?” Eric sounded incredulous.
“As Cole put it, it thinks it’s as much a parent to this ‘chick’ as we are,” Taylor told him.
“Never thought I’d be sharing parenting duties with a one-hundred foot metal eagle,” was Eric’s only comment.
“Believe it,” Taylor said. “‘Cause it does.”
“I’ll cope,” Eric said. “Can you?”
Taylor smiled. “I think I can,” she responded, smiling slowly. “But I can’t wait for this to be done. For the Orgs to be gone.”
“Think we all do,” Eric said. “But….”
“Yeah,” Taylor said. “In the meantime….”
“I’ll be behind you, every step of the way,” Eric assured her.
“Good,” Taylor said.
And that was all that was said for that evening.
-end
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