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Disclaimer: T.J. Applegate and Cassie Chan, plus anyone else in this
fanfic, are the registered property of Saban Enterprises; no copyright
infringement is meant by this, and I am not, nor do I desire to, making
any profit at all on this.
Author's Note: Attention, attention, you have reached the ending of the
"Rangers in Romance" fanfic series. I hope you have had a good ride
throughout the romantic lives of some very special people, and I bring
you this final fanfic hoping it finds you in good health and cheer. May
you find love in your own life. This takes place after "After the
Countdown" in "Romance" timeline, and after "Countdown to Destruction,
Part 2" in PRiS timeline.
by: Niobe Craft
With a slightly heavy heart, she turned the cameras towards T.J.'s room, wondering what the Blue Ranger was up to. She found him just sitting, looking at something. She watched him for a few moments, admiring the clean lines of his body. T.J. was a fine specimen of a human being, handsome, athletic, caring, intelligent. She wondered why it had taken her so long to figure it out.
I had to get sidetracked by that crush on the Phantom Ranger, she mused. And she had been sidetracked by it. For a while. She'd thought she was over it once he had left Earth, then when they'd met again on Hercuron, she'd felt it's stirrings again. I really thought I loved him, she mused.
It had taken this final battle to get her to realize her real emotions, however. Towards two different people. She had been so caught up in the life and death struggle to save the Earth and the universe, she had thought she wouldn't have time to do much more than worry about the rest of the team and plan. All that had changed that dark night they had spent in the ruined streets of Angel Grove.
They had kept watch that night, not wanting to risk any Quantrons attacking them while they all slept. Ashley had stayed up first, half-guarding her friends and half-keeping an eye out for Andros. She'd told them that he had snuck onto the Dark Fortress to seek out his sister and try to bring her back to the side of good. None of them were holding out any hope. It didn't seem as if there was any left at all.
When Ashley could no longer keep her eyes open, she had awakened Cassie and went to sleep. The Pink Ranger had watched, her thoughts in turmoil. Before they had come down to Earth, they had received images from all over the universe, of the fights that all their allies were in. It hadn't been pretty. When she had seen the Phantom Ranger, she had expected to feel a shock of pain and fear beyond anything she had ever known as the being she thought she loved fought for his life. Instead, she had felt only worry that a fellow warrior was in danger.
She counted herself lucky that no one had found them that night. They should have been sleeping on the MegaShip, but somehow, none of them had wanted to leave what was left of Angel Grove. It was their home, and though it was burning, they would be there to be with people who counted on them.
The way her thoughts had been running that night, however, she wouldn't have noticed if an entire Quantron army had descended on them until it was too late. She had been confused and upset because of her near-lack of reaction to Phantom Ranger's plight. She'd finally reasoned it out, however. She didn't love him. She considered him a strong friend, and a powerful ally. But the crush was gone at last.
I don't really know if he's even human under that armor, she thought. I guess that was part of it. You can't really and truly love someone if you don't know some things about them. I guess that's why we all seem to be finding romances within the ranks. Andros and Ashley. Zhane and Karone. Me and T.J.
At that last thought, her cheeks flushed a fiery red. She had no right to consider herself a couple with T.J.! She and the Blue Ranger were, at the moment, nothing more than friends. That was all they could be. . .or was it? With a sudden influx of determination, she paged Carlos to take her place on the bridge. She was going to find out something once and for all.
I've only had a crush on her since we met on that bus. And I've only been in love with her since shortly after. Why hadn't she ever noticed though? She surely couldn't be that blind, could she?
No, Cassie wasn't blind. She was just in love with someone else, and she was too sweet-hearted to dash his hopes permanently. At least he could live with his dreams that someday she would walk into his room and declare her eternal love for him. Things like that didn't happen to him, to T.J. Applegate, former Red Turbo Ranger, current Blue Astro Ranger. They happened for Zhane and Karone, who had been grand warriors for light and darkness, polar opposites who had met and fallen in love with one another. He didn't get that lucky.
T.J. almost literally threw himself on the bed. They were done. The battles were ended and they were about thirty minutes from landing in what remained of downtown Angel Grove. DECA had already detected hundreds of reporters, from every type of publication imaginable, waiting for them, and he found himself glad that it would be Andros who would be fielding their questions, not himself. He'd had enough of the spotlight the few times he'd been in it during his tenure as Red Turbo.
He never regretted giving his spot as leader up. It wasn't that he felt like a failure or anything like that. He could sense that things changed and people changed, and in the new situation that they found themselves, he realized that Andros was by far the best leader for the team. He knew the terrain they would be going into, he knew their enemy, and he had the only real workable ship they had access to. The Shuttle couldn't have sustained them forever. In the new Astro Rangers team, he'd found his perfect position as second-in-command, and during the Psycho Rangers crisis, he'd realized that was exactly what he was.
Okay, so I know what I should be in the Rangers, he thought halfway bitterly. What do I do with the rest of my life? Everyone knows who we are now, and we're going to have to do something to help put the world back together. Not to mention I still have my heart given to someone who loves someone else.
He sighed deeply, closing his eyes and covering them with one arm almost theatrically. No one was there to see him, at least, to laugh at that. "I love you, Cassie Chan," he said, doubly glad he was alone. "I just wish you thought about me as more than a friend."
"I do, T.J.," a quiet voice, and a very unexpected one, spoke. He jumped up to stare in shocked surprise at Cassie, standing in his doorway with wide eyes full of surprise of her own. "You. ..love me?"
The Blue Ranger fumbled, trying to cover up his mistake, wishing he'd kept it to his thoughts and not blared it out to the entire universe. "I, um, I was just .. um. ..." oh, she's never going to like me now, and I think I just ruined our friendship!
Cassie came in, closing the door behind her. "Yes or no, Teej?" she asked, looking directly at him. "Yes or no?"
"Umm. ...," he finally gave up the attempt. Maybe if they got it out of the way, he could get beyond it, and find someone who would love him back. "Yes, I do. I know you're in love with the Phantom Ranger, and I shouldn't have said anything, but there it is. It's the truth. I do love you, and to be honest, I can't figure out why the heck I didn't say something about it a long time ago."
The young girl nodded quietly. "Probably for the same reason it took me a year and half to figure out that I love you and not the Phantom Ranger."
Her lips twitched for a moment at the expression on his face. She'd read of people looking 'pole-axed' but she'd never imagined what it would look like until now. T.J. quite literally looked as if someone had come up and smacked the living daylights out of him. She came over and sat next to him, hoping she hadn't done any fatal damage with her statement.
"T.J., I've been doing a lot of thinking. Phantom Ranger is fun to fight with, and I like his company, what we get of it, because he's a nice. ..well, whatever he is under the armor. Person. But he is not the sort of person who I want to have a relationship with. That sort of person is funny, sweet, caring, strong, intelligent, and very, very good looking. That person is you."
He blinked for a few moments, trying to understand what she was saying. All thought swept away, however, when she put everything she was saying into something that was far, far simpler.
Cassie leaned over and kissed him.
He had time just for one more blink before his instincts and the love long denied took command of his body, and he kissed her back. It was possible they might have stayed that way until unconsciousness set in, if someone hadn't cleared their throat in the doorway.
"Guys?" it was Andros and Ashley. "I hope we're not interrupting, but we've reached Earth. We've got to go deal with those reporters."
T.J. moved back a few centimeters, not taking his eyes off Cassie's. "We'll be there," he said, savoring the way the word 'we' sounded. "Eventually."
There was a light chuckle, then the Red and Yellow Rangers were gone down the hallway. T.J. looked at the beautiful girl next to him, and smiled. "Um, does this mean we're a coupl
