Chapter 11: Start of a Relationship
Storm Chargers
Being crippled sucked. It was a world-wide known fact, that if you were unable to do something because of something being wrong with your body, either physically or mentally, than you tended to be looked down upon by people. Recovering Power Rangers were no exception, especially sense no one even knew the identity of the Rangers. But having a broken arm wasn't going to stop jac Scott from helping out. So, it wasn't a real surprise when the other Rangers got to Storm Chargers, some of them to start their shifts, and they found jac unloading a truck. What did surprise them was the fact that Danny was seated in the backroom watching a Scooby Doo marathon.
"Jac, what are you doing?" Hunter asked her, walking over and taking the box from her. "I'm pretty sure that the Assistant Manager isn't supposed to be doing this, us stock boys are." He then noticed the crimson colored shirt she was wearing, which looked way too big to be hers. "Is that my shirt?"
"I'm unloading the truck. Yes, you are, and yes, yes it is," jac said, grabbing another box as Dustin and Blake climbed in to start unloading. By now, her cast had a ton of signatures and messages written on it; the Rangers themselves had signed it, a few of the older Rangers had signed it, and even Danny had scribbled his name under his father's. Aisha and Rocky both signed it when jac went to visit them and to see her newest niece, who Aisha and Rocky had named Grace. Kelly had also signed it, but it was Hunter's message that jac liked the best.
Get better soon, Babe! -Hunter
"Yeah, but why? I mean, your arm is broken," Blake pointed out, coming out of the truck with two boxes stacked on-top of each other in his arms.
Dustin came out behind him, chuckling. "Bro, the longer you know jac, the more you learn that she is crazy; a broken arm might keep her from Moto and Ranger stuff, but not from stuff like this. She once did a whole Freestyle competition with a sprained ankle," he said before walking into the store to set down his own two boxes.
Blake looked at jac, almost like he was analyzing her. Then he thought of all the stuff she's done since he met her, and shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat, I guess," he said.
Jac chuckled and carried in her box before going to the backroom. "How ya doing, squirt?" she asked her nephew, leaning over the back of the couch to ruffle his hair. Shane and Tori had joined him, and the little boy was sitting on Shane's lap. "Is he causing you two trouble? I can take him home if he is," she told her friends.
Shane shook his head, smiling good-naturally. "Nah, he's fine; what's he doing here, anyway? You babysitting?" he asked.
Jac nodded, "Trini's been getting sick lately, so Jason took her to the doctor," she stood up, stretching her arms over her head. "Poor Jase has a lot of stress on him; first he had to look for a replacement for me, now that's in overdrive because of my arm, and now is wife is getting sick. He's lucky that he has me to look after Danny, and Adam to help find someone to take Rocky's shifts for me, or he probably would have snapped a long time ago," she noted, pulling a bandanna that she kept in her back pocket and tying it around her hair.
"Hey, at least he has people to help him out; is Trini alright?" Tori asked; worry flashed in her blue-gray eyes.
"She's been getting morning sickness; I personally think she's pregnant, but I could be wrong," jac shrugged. "Well, I gotta get back to work," she said, looking at her communicator that now rested on her right wrist next to her morpher. It felt weird having the device that she'd had on her left arm sense she was seven on her right arm, and it felt even weirder having two objects on her right arm when she was used to having them on her left, but she knew she'd grow used to it. Eventually. But for now, she'd just have to deal with it.
Shane and Tori nodded and jac went back to the actual store, happy to see that Hunter, Blake, and Dustin had finished carrying in the boxes and were now figuring out what was in them. Jac picked up the clipboard that was behind the counter and looked at it, flipping up a few pages until she found the page with the order on it. She unclipped the pages, putting the order page on top, before re-clipping it. She moved her bangs, she'd purposely kept them out of the bandanna, out of her eyes, and read through the order.
"Alright guys, some engine parts, some clothes, and some pads and stuff should be in the boxes," she said to the boys, glancing up from the paper. There were twenty boxes all placed in the middle of the store; by the time the boys had gotten there, jac already had seven of them in the store and was getting her eighth, which was the box Hunter had taken.
"Well, we should start taking everything out then, shouldn't we?" Dustin asked, clapping his hands and rubbing them together.
Jac looked at him with her eyebrows raised. She blinked and sarcastically said, "No, Dustin, we should just leave them here and let the customers go through them to find what they want."
Blake and Hunter laughed, and Dustin pouted. He knew she was joking, but she didn't have to be sarcastic about it. "Alright, alright, if you guys are done laughing at my expense, we need to restock the shelves!" he said, bringing the focus of the boys back to the task they needed to do.
Jac chuckled and shook her head. "Sorry, Dustin, but yeah, the boxes need to be emptied and put in the dumpster out back," she said, putting a mark in the spot that said everything had been delivered with a pen.
"Want us to put any extra stuff in the back?" Hunter asked, coming over to her.
"Please and thank you," jac smiled sweetly at him. Hunter chuckled and kissed her, only pulling away when Blake and Dustin started to whistle and wolf-call. "Get to work," she laughed, pushing on Hunter's chest with one hand.
"Okay," Hunter laughed, before leaning in again so only she would hear him. "I gotta talk to you later," he said.
"Alright, see you later," jac said, pressing a quick kiss to his lips before turning and walking to the backroom. Hunter watched her until the door swung close and he got to work in-between his brother and Dustin taking stuff out of the numerous boxes.
"Dude, you are so whipped," Dustin said, earning a slap on the back of his head from Hunter.
"Shut up, Dustin," Hunter hissed.
"Calm down, bro," Blake said, "He just doesn't know what it feels like!" he started to laugh a little before adding, "To be whipped!"
"Oh, like you aren't whipped by Tori!" Hunter shot back, which made Blake look away, blushing bright red. "That's what I thought," he looked at Dustin, who had watched the exchange with a look of amusement, "And you; until you get a girlfriend, you can't tease me about having one!"
"Is she even officially your girlfriend, bro?" Blake asked, his blush fading away.
Hunter shook his head, a light blush making its way onto his face. "Not yet; but I plan on asking her later," he said.
"Alright, go Hunter!" Dustin cheered, hitting Hunter on the back. Hunter just looked at him and chuckled.
Meanwhile, in the backroom, jac found two plastic bags and some tape, using them to cover her cast, but leaving enough of her fingers of her left hand so that she could still use it. Finding one of the bikes she needed to fix for a customer, she brought it out to her work station and went back for her tools. Halfway through putting a new part in, her phone rang. She wiped her dirty hands on a towel and pulled out her phone. Jason's name was on the screen.
"Hey, Jase how's Trini?" jac asked, answering the phone.
"She's fine; is Danny with you?" Jason asked.
"He's in the backroom with Tori and Shane; I'll go get him," Andy said, standing up. She jogged over to the door and went into the backroom, where Danny was still watching the Scooby Doo marathon with Shane and Tori, now sitting on the couch between the red and blue Rangers. "Guys, I'm gonna borrow my nephew for a few minutes," jac said, picking up her nephew and ignoring his protests. She quickly brought him back to her workstation and set him on the seat of the bike she was working on before putting her phone on speaker. "Alright, I got Danny; you're on speaker," she said into the phone.
"How would you two feel about a new family member?" Jason asked.
Quick as lightning, jac took the phone off speaker and pressed it to her ear. "Is Trini pregnant?" she exclaimed excitedly, which made everyone in the store, including Tori and Shane who had walked back into the main store, to look at her.
"Yep! She's two months along!" Jason said. "Oh, and that reminds me; Adam called, he found someone to take Rocky's place at the Dojo. Said that the guy would be arriving at around noon today. I suggest you go up and meet him," Jason said.
"Alright, will do. And tell Trini I said congratulations!" jac said as her friends wondered over. Dustin picked up the toddler on the bike and placed him on his back, wincing slightly when Danny grabbed some fistfuls of his hair.
"So, was that Jason?" he asked when jac hung up her phone.
She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, and he had some good news. Give me my nephew," she said, holding her arms out. Dustin handed him over and rubbed his head, the spots where Danny had grabbed at his hair sore. Jac rested her nephew on her hip and smiled at him. "Hey Danny, do you know what Jason said, about a new family member?" she asked him slowly, making sure he got it.
Danny tipped his head to the side, "New family member?" he asked, confusion in his dark brown eyes.
Jac laughed slightly. "Yes, new family member. Your mommy is having a baby! Won't that be fun?" she asked him, hoping that Danny wouldn't end up being one those children who didn't accept a new baby.
"A new bay-bee?" Danny asked, still confused. But then he smiled and laughed. "Yay!" he cheered, which made jac sigh in relief and her friends chuckle. They were all highly amused by the little boy, and they were impressed with jac; with the way she handled him, they would have thought that the little boy was hers if they hadn't known any better.
"So Trini's pregnant?" Tori asked as Hunter took Danny from jac's arms.
"Yeah; Jase said she's two months along. I'm just happy Danny's excited," jac said with a shake of her head. She ran her right hand through her hair, taking off her bandanna and at the same time, catching the time on her communicator. "Oh, I gotta go. Adam found a guy to take Rocky's shifts for me, I gotta go to meet him," jac said, taking her nephew back from Hunter. "Gonna drop him at home and go to the dojo; I'll be back later," she said. She gave Hunter a quick kiss on his cheek and jogged out to her car, placing Danny in a car seat.
"Hey, jac!" Hunter said as he came out. Jac shut the door to the backseats and turned to face him. "Don't forget, I still wanna talk to you later," he reminded her.
Jac smiled, "I didn't forget," she assured. "I'll see you later." She placed a short kiss on his lips and opened the door to the driver's side. "Bye, Hunter!" she said before she closed the door and started it. Hunter nodded and stepped up onto the sidewalk as jac backed out of her spot. Pretty soon, she was on the road. In five minutes, she was home.
"Jason, Trini, I'm back! I've got Danny!" she called as she walked into the house with her nephew.
"In here, jacque!" Trini called; she was one of the only ones who called jac by a different nickname. Really, only Trini, Kimberly, and Aisha called her that, as Aisha had heard Kimberly call her that enough times to start using it as well. Everyone else either called her jac or Jacqueline.
Jac followed the voice of her sister-in-law and found her and Jason in the kitchen. "Hey, congratulations!" jac said, hugging Trini as she walked into the room. "Do you know what it is, yet?" she asked as she re-tied her bandana on, covering her hair but not her bangs.
"No, it's too early," Trini said, shaking her head. "How's my baby boy?" she averted her attention to her son, who Jason had picked up.
"Bay-bee!" Danny cheered, clearly happy at the concept. Jason and Trini looked at each other and laughed.
"Well, I gotta go meet whoever it is that's taking Rocky's shifts for me, so I'm gonna go up to the dojo, now. See y'all later," she said before jogging back out to her car. She made it to the Red Frog Dojo in ten minutes and saw, to her delight, a blue Jeep Wrangler, or at least a car that looked a LOT like one. "Storm Blaster!" she exclaimed, running over to it after she'd parked. The car beeped at her in response, having recognized her, even though it had been five, almost six years since she last saw it. It had been about the same amount of time sense she'd last seen the driver of the car, a boy who was thirteen the last time she saw him. He'd be eighteen, almost nineteen now, only a year and a half older than jac herself, whose seventeenth birthday was quickly approaching.
"I see Storm Blaster recognizes you," a male voice that jac hadn't heard in five years said behind her. Jac whirled around to see none other than Justin Stewart standing there, his arms crossed and a smile on his face. He took a step forward, opening his arms. "Hey, jac," he said.
Jac smiled, "Justin," she said before throwing her arms around him in a friendly hug. "What are you doing here?" she asked as she pulled away.
"I'm here to take Rocky's classes; Adam called, saying that you had taken Rocky's classes but broke your arm and couldn't do them anymore, so, here I am!" Justin explained, sitting on the hood of his car. "What happened?"
Jac tensed and thought of what to say. "I um, I fell," she said. It wasn't totally a lie; she had fallen, and the fall probably helped with the damage she got when she was slammed into her consol.
"You really expect me to believe that you, Jacqueline Scott, sister to the great Jason Scott, tripped, fell, and broke her arm?" Justin asked, raising his eyebrows. His eyes then traveled to her right arm, where her morpher rested. He reached over and grabbed her arm, looking the morpher over. He then looked over her appearance. She was wearing a too-big crimson shirt with black smudges and stains on it, a pair of jeans, and a white bandana covered her hair. "You're a Power Ranger," it was more of a statement than anything.
Jac glanced down and nodded, a blush burning in her cheeks. It was stupid to try and hide a morpher from an ex Ranger, especially one she knew. Sure, it didn't look exactly like his old morpher, which had needed a key, but it was similar.
"So, what color? I would guess crimson or red or something, but your bandanna and cast are white," Justin asked, tipping his head to the side as he looked at her. She wore two different colors, but only one could be hers, unless she'd been a Ranger before.
"White; the shirt isn't mine," she said, a small smile appearing on her face.
"Whose shirt is, then? I know it's not yours, but I didn't know Jason even had a shirt this color," Justin teased, touching the sleeve of the shirt.
"It's my…" jac started, but she cut herself off. What could she call Hunter? He wasn't her boyfriend; they'd never discussed it, and that left jac feeling slightly confused. "It um, belongs to a friend of mine," she finally said.
Justin scoffed. "Yeah, right, a friend. Please, tell me, who's this friend?"
Jac rolled her eyes and pushed open the door to the dojo. "Adam!" she called, ignoring Justin, who kept asking who the friend was.
"In here, jac!" Adam called from the office. Jac walked into the room, Justin still following.
"Come on, jac, who's the friend? Whose shirt is it?" Justin pried as jac sat down in Jason's chair, a computer chair.
"Would you chill, Justin?" jac laughed, turning to Adam. "So Justin's taking over Rocky's shifts?" she asked.
Adam nodded. "Yeah, he was the only one who was close enough," Adam responded.
"Tommy or Kim couldn't do it?" jac asked in confusion. She knew they lived in Reefside, but it wasn't that far away.
"Tommy is trying to get a job secure at the high school, and Kim is pregnant," Adam said.
"Ah, I forgot about Kim," jac said. She sighed. "Alright, but Justin, I'm gonna warn ya; the schedule can be rough," she took a folded piece of paper out from Rocky's desk and handed it to him. "Here are Rocky's classes for the next month and a half; good luck," jac smirked, getting up and leaving the office. "Thanks, Adam!"
"Bye, jac! Oh, and tell your boyfriend that he better be treating you good, or Rocky, Tommy, Zack, maybe Billy and Andros, TJ, Carlos, and I will all kill him! And that's after Jason gets him!" Adam hollered out his office door, making jac freeze.
"He's not my boyfriend, Adam!" she yelled back. Yet. She thought.
"Just pass the damn message, Jacqueline!" Adam ordered.
"I ain't telling him that, Adam! And if I see you at Storm Chargers, I'm going to kill you!" jac replied, "I gotta get back, my break ends in five minutes!" she called, leaving the dojo.
"Hey, wait!" Justin called, running after her.
"Justin, if you tell him that, I'll kill you, too," jac threatened, pulling her keys out of her bag.
"Hey, I actually want to live," Justin said, holding his hands up in defense. "I didn't know you even had a boyfriend," he said.
Jac blushed. "He's not my boyfriend; yet," she added to the end, opening her door and getting in.
"Yet? Aw, jac's in a relationship!" Justin teased.
"Goodbye, Justin," jac said, starting to close the car door.
"No, no, no!" Justin said quickly, blocking the door from closing. "I'm just teasing; I have a girlfriend, so feel free to tease me back," Justin offered, laughing. "Besides, I wanna go meet your friends! You know; the newest team of Power Rangers?" he clarified.
Jac rolled her eyes playfully, but smiled at the Blue Turbo Ranger. "Alright, but follow me, and don't do anything stupid!" she ordered, finally shutting her door but opening the windows to air out the car. Justin nodded and got into Storm Blaster. Fifteen minutes later, and the two were at Storm Chargers. Justin followed jac inside, and stopped at the front door. He looked around in awe of the motocross store. He saw jac walk up to two boys, one in crimson and one in navy, and kiss the boy in crimson. Justin smirked; he could totally tease her for that. She then started pushing the two boys towards a door, motioning with her head for Justin to follow. He quickly followed her into the backroom and saw the couch and TV that was turned to a skateboard channel. Three other teens, a boy in yellow, a boy in red, and a girl in light blue, were sitting on the couch.
"Hey, guys, I got someone to introduce to you," jac said, looking around. "Where's Kelly?"
"At the dentist," the boy in red answered, looking away from the TV to look at jac. His gaze slid past her and to Justin. He then looked back at jac, a questioning look on his face.
Jac looked around again, making sure no one could hear them, and took a deep breath. "Guys, this is Justin Stewart; the Blue Turbo Ranger," she said.
The five teens looked at each other and then the three on the couch stood up and walked over to stand on jac's other side. The girl stood next to the boy in navy, and Justin got the impression that they were either together or close to it.
"Justin, this is Shane Clark, Red Wind Ranger. Dustin Brooks here is the Yellow Wind Ranger, Tori Hanson is the Blue Wind Ranger, Hunter Bradley is the Crimson Thunder Ranger, and his brother Blake is the Navy Thunder Ranger. I'm the White Winter Ranger," jac said, crossing her arms before going to stand next to her old friend. "He's taking Rocky's shifts for me," she finished.
"Well hey, any friend of jac's is a friend of mine," Dustin said, smiling good-naturedly.
"Yeah, nice to meet you," Hunter said, glancing at Justin before looking at jac. He gestured with his head, and she nodded.
"Hey um, I'll be right back; Hunter, come on," jac said, backing away from the group. She turned and went to the actual store, Hunter following her. "What's up?" she asked when she turned back around.
"Who is that?" Hunter asked instantly.
"I told you, he's the Blue Turbo Ranger! He's an old friend," jac said.
Hunter raised his eyebrows. "You seem to like him a lot," he mumbled, jealousy coursing through him.
Jac instantly got what he was getting at and laughed. "Hunter, no, it's not like that, not at all," she wrapped her arms around his neck, going up onto her tiptoes to press her forehead against his. "Hunter, I like you. Justin is just an old friend whose taking Rocky's shifts at the dojo. He has a girlfriend, and I have you," jac said, her green eyes shining.
Hunter put his hands on her waist, a small smile on his face. He pressed his lips to hers for a few seconds, pulling away just enough to talk, "I'm sorry," he pressed his lips back onto hers, kissing her lovingly, gently. Her hand that was in a cast moved down, touching his arm, while her right hand went up, allowing her fingers to run through his blond hair. When they finally parted, both breathing harder, they smiled.
"I gotta get back to my shift," jac whispered, running her fingers through his hair, still.
Hunter smiled softly and kissed her softly again. "Meet me at the beach after your shift. And dress nice," he said once he pulled away, turning and going back to the shelf he had been re-stocking.
Jac looked down slightly and bit her lip, trying to stop the huge grin that was making its way onto her face. She shook her head after a minute and took a deep breath, going back into the backroom. "Hey Justin, I have to get back to work, your first class starts in half an hour, you should go," she told the Blue Turbo Ranger.
Justin nodded and got up from the couch, where'd he'd been getting to know Shane and Tori while Blake and Dustin started working on their dirt bikes. He walked with jac back to the store and turned to her at the door. "Hey, thanks for introducing me to everyone," he said.
"No prob, Justin. Don't forget, you're welcome anytime," jac said, hugging him. "And take care of the classes; one has twenty students, half boys and half girls, I like to pair them up boy-girl and there's four kids per grade, so pair them up by grade," she told him.
Justin nodded and chuckled. "Got it; chill out, jac, it'll be fine. I'll call you if I need help, alright?" he said, opening the door.
Jac rolled her eyes playfully and smiled. "Good luck, Justin; it's a bunch of fifth to ninth graders, they can get rowdy," she said.
"I can handle it," Justin said, "See ya later, jac," with that, he left. Jac chuckled and shook her head.
A few hours later- the Beach
The sun was setting, making the water glitter a beautiful mix of blue, yellow, gold, orange, red, and all the colors between. The sand had cooled down, making it easy to walk across the sand barefoot. Jac stood at the edge of the beach, her sandals in her hand. She had gone home to shower and change, and now wore a white skirt that reached just past her knees and a nice top with one-inch straps. Her sandals were white and simple, but walking barefoot across sand was easier than when wearing flip-flops. Her black hair hung down her back in loose curls, the sunset making it seem more crimson than usual. Jac also wore light makeup; brown eyeshadow with black eyeliner and some strawberry flavored lip-gloss. Vanilla scented perfume also covered her body, just heavy enough to be noticeable but not heavy enough to be too much.
She made her way down the beach, soon finding a blanket with a basket set on it, and two lit candles. There was also a CD player next to the large rock that she and Hunter had shared their first kiss on, playing soft music.
"Wow," she gasped, looking around.
"You like it?" a voice behind her asked. Jac turned to find Hunter, wearing a crimson button-up and jeans, his blond hair still messy, but it looked good on him.
"Did you do all this?" she asked as Hunter reached her.
"Well, that depends; do you like it?" Hunter asked again, taking her hands in his.
Jac smiled, and allowed a blush to color her cheeks. "Yeah, I love it; it's beautiful," she said truthfully.
"Then yeah, I did it," Hunter joked, making jac laugh. "You look beautiful," he added.
Jac blushed and looked down. "Thanks," she shyly looked back up, "You look good, too."
Hunter chuckled and let go of her hands, opting to instead put one on the small of her back, guiding her over to where he'd sent up the picnic. "Come on, let's eat," Hunter said. Jac giggled again. They ate a delicious dinner of spaghetti that Hunter had gotten before standing up to dance to the soft music.
"This has been a lot of fun, Hunter," jac said as they danced, her head lain on Hunter's chest.
"Yeah, it was," Hunter agreed, struggling to find the words he wanted to use next. After a few steps, he finally found them. "Jac, back at Storm Chargers today, when you said that you like me, did you mean it?" he asked.
Jac pulled back and looked at him, surprise on her face. "Of course I meant it!" she exclaimed. Her face and voice both softened, "You've been absolutely wonderful to me ever since I met you, and you understand me. I don't know what I did to deserve you," she said, "I really, really like you, Hunter."
Hunter smiled and pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Good, because I really, really like you, too," he pulled a black box out of his pants pocket and held it between them. "I got you something," he admitted, blushing lightly.
"Hunter, you shouldn't have," jac said, touched beyond belief.
Hunter shook his head, wrapping an arm around jac's shoulders. "I wanted to; take it," he held it out to her.
Jac smiled shyly up at Hunter before taking the box. She opened it and gasped. Inside, was the most beautiful silver bracelet jac had ever seen. There was a single charm on it, a crimson heart. She took it out of the box, looking at it in the fading sunlight. "Hunter, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed.
"I thought you'd like it; it's a charm bracelet, and I chose the first charm. There are clips for five more, but this charm bracelet is special," Hunter said. When jac gave him a confused look, he explained, "Most charm bracelets usually just have a bunch of charms on them when you buy them; this one, however, is special. Instead of every charm on it when you get it, you can choose what charms go on it, and even buy a whole bunch and change them around. I saw it at the jewelry store and instantly thought about you," Hunter finished, clipping it onto her right wrist so it wouldn't slide off.
"Hunter, it's beautiful; thank you," jac said, kissing him softly before pulling away to admire the bracelet. "What's the heart mean?"
"It means that my heart belongs to you, and I hope that yours belongs to me," Hunter said. He put a finger under jac's chin to make her look at him. "Jac, I really, really like you. You're beautiful, you're smart, and you understand me. I guess what I'm really trying to say is," Hunter stopped for a second, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Jac, would you be my girlfriend?" he asked.
Jac's eyes filled with tears and a smile made its way onto her face. She nodded. "Yeah. I'd like that," she said, wiping her tears of happiness away.
Hunter smiled as well, "Cool," with that, he leaned down and kissed her passionately. Jac responded immediately, kissing him back with just as much passion. Hunter ended the kiss before it could go much farther and pulled her into a hug, holding her close.
They sat against the giant rock, their arms wrapped around each other, just enjoying the peace together. After a little while, Hunter noticed that jac had fallen asleep, her head on his shoulder, and her breaths coming out softly. Hunter smiled at his sleeping girlfriend and kissed her forehead softly. Pretty soon, Hunter's head against jac's, he fell asleep as well