Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers RPM or any of the characters.

AN: Something new that I'm trying out. Toying with the idea that maybe Summer and Dillon could have known each other before…and then this came up.

Chapter 1:

When Summer Landsdown was 8, she met him.

It was a complete accident. For all the spoilt girl knew, some poor single mother and her children had come by, and thankful for the Landsdown's generosity, had offered themselves up as household staff. From what she could get from the staff: One mother, one son, slightly older than her, but the daughter couldn't do any work and was about the same age as her.

As soon as Summer had heard this, she had scoffed and dismissed Andrews, her butler.

As she was running down to eat dinner, she crashed into him.

"Watch where you're going!" She snapped, generally annoyed as she pushed her blonde hair out of her fair face. Her bright blue eyes met dark brown.

"Sorry." The mumbled word was said, and then he stood up.

"Ahem." She scowled, putting her hand up. The boy frowned, and then pulled her up. Once she got up, she was able to asses the slightly taller boy. He had neat dark brown hair that matched his darker eyes, and had a lean yet strong build. His skin was tanned, and his hand calloused.

For a moment, Summer couldn't breathe. Then she remembered to. "Summer. Summer Landsdown." Since when had she introduced herself to household staff? They would be the ones eagerly trying to get her attention and approval, and someone help them when they crinkled up her skirts. A girl needs her clothes, after all, right?

The boy looked surprised for a moment, before nodding. "Dylan. Dylan Bennett."

And then, he turned back as a girl with black hair walked uncertainly. The boy turned immediately to the girl, and then ran up to her. "Elena! You're not supposed to be out of your room!"

That must be the blind girl that Andrews had told her about.

And that was the first time she had met him.

The second time she met him, he had still been part of the household staff. Apparently, the mother had spent a fortune trying to get the daughter to be well from some illness (like Summer could really care), and had to loan from Summer's parents in order to pay off debts.

Because the family was one of the longest working families for the Landsdowns, they had agreed, but the operation had failed.

And the boy was now indebted to the family while the mother helped the girl recover.

By then, Summer had completely forgotten the boy. The only thing that had been on her mind was her 10th birthday. Double digits. That called for a MASSIVE party. Every single person that she knew had been invited to the party, and she had spent every moment planning with her mom, while her dad was out of town.

During the party, all of her friends surround her, congratulating her on hitting double digits, and then congratulating her on the party planning (all of her planning, of course), and then proceed to start dancing around with a few of the cute guys that Summer had decided to pity and invite.

All of them were on their best behaviour, and flirted (even though they were relatively young, but then, hey, they were rich, weren't they?) with the girls. Chasz, of course, was looking at himself in a mirror.

Summer couldn't agree to what he was doing more.

God, he was gorgeous, and he was rich, and their families were good friends. She looked at him, giggling about him with her friends. "He's so cute."

Just then, Michelle points at a boy, someone that Summer didn't recognise, and certainly didn't invite. "What about him? He's cute." She excuses herself for a moment, and immediately rushes over to her mom, demanding to know who the boy was.

"I'm sorry darling, but the Bennetts were so hard-working, and so we decided to let their con come to your party. You don't mind, do you, darling?"

Yes, of course she minded. This was her party, not her mom's.

She eyed the boy over suspiciously. Well, he was kinda cute.

Brown shaggy hair that covered his darker brown eyes. Tanned skin. Lean and lithe body, probably from doing so many chores. He was wearing a black shirt and jeans, and was wearing a dark suit jacket over it. Hm...she approached him, head held high, ignoring the giggles of her friends, all gossiping about the boy.

"Hello." She faced the boy.

The boy looked back. "Summer Landsdown, right?"

The girl nodded, for some reason suddenly feeling incredibly self-conscious as the boy's eyes watched her intently. "And what's your name?"

A flash of something like disappointment was in and out of his eyes before she could actually calculate whether she saw it or not, but he nodded and said, "Dylan. Dylan Bennett." The name sounded familiar though...and suddenly, Summer wanted to slap herself on her head.

The servant!

The one that she had crashed into when she was young, and had also saw his sister.

Summer looked up as they played another song. Slow song, this time, and all of the other boys rushed to get the best partners, some looking apprehensively at her. She turned to Dylan, who turned to her, and smirked. "Dance with me?" Summer should have said no. She would not be asked to dance like that.

But for some reason, that grin made her wobbly in her knees, so she nodded, keeping her position upright. "Fine."

She accepted his hand, and walked to the middle of the floor, where she could see, out of her eyes, several disappointed boys, who turned to the other girls, and the other girls chattering eagerly about the boy, about Dylan, with whom she was dancing.

"So, Ms Summer, how's life?"

That was the most bizarre starting of her life.

But she giggled, finding it refreshing from the carefully chosen words from the other staff. "What do you think?" She asked cheekily.

"Well, fine with a broadcast of rain and annoying girls coming up in the next hour."

She laughed, seeing him grin. "They're my friends."

"Poor choice of words." He snipped back almost immediately.

Summer found herself grinning at the boy. "Very funny."

Dylan smirked. "It's my specialty."

They chatted on for a while, and Summer vaguely realised her friends dancing all around her as well. When the song ended, she was surprised at how reluctant she was to go.

But she had promised to show her friends around, after all.

So, when the song ended, she let go of Dylan and beamed at him. "Nice to meet you, Dylan. Or should I say again?" She had never felt this free before in her life. She realised that later on, she would have been horrified at her manner of speaking, but for now, she didn't care.

"Me too, Summer."

He smirked, and then leant down and kissed her cheek, before turning around and exiting the room. Summer placed her hand on her cheek, eyes wide and heart pounding in her chest. God. Was the only thing on her mind. Every moment was inscribed deeply into her mind. His warm lips, thin and slightly dry, but still nice nevertheless.

She turned, suddenly noticing Chasz looking at her, and realised that she wasn't enamoured with him as she thought, having forgotten about him completely.

Suddenly, she shook her head. What was wrong with her?!

Sighing, she turned and joined her friends, finding their chatter, ironically enough, as Dylan had said, annoying.

The next few years, Summer started to regularly see Dylan. His mischievous personality and different outlook on life was refreshing compared to what she had been through, and she was grateful. Around him, she could really be himself without worrying about what others thought about her.

They chatted over everything, from their own family, to their parents' expectations, to their personal lives, their hobbies, practically everything. Summer found out that Dylan's father had previously been a navy officer that had been killed a few years back.

Dylan found out that the only reason Summer acted like this was because she was insecure about herself.

Over the years, Summer learnt more than she ever could about the life outside of her sheltered one.

Dylan showed her many things, including how to be kinder to people. Not so much that it seemed suspicious to anyone who suddenly came across her, but small subtle hints.

Only Andrews knew of this arrangement, and he kept his mouth zipped about it, seeing Summer so happy.

As the friendship progressed at an alarmingly fast rate in 3 years, Summer started to have feelings for Dylan, which she hoped he would reprociate. She blushed whenever he complimented her and thought he couldn't see. Her parents, generally, found out, and severely disapproved of the relationship, going as far as to threaten to fire Dylan if Summer didn't stay away from him.

Summer had avoided him sharply the next few weeks, dodging him whenever he tried to approach her, and walking the other direction whenever he tried to get close. She tried not to let him get into her mind, knowing that the family still owed the Landsdown money, and desperately needed to pay it off.

God knows what happened to those who refused to pay up their debts.

She tried re-imagining a life with Chasz, but it didn't help that every time she did so, his neat blond hair, blue eyes and relatively handsome features would turn into shaggy dark brown hair, darker eyes, and tanned figure.

Then, when she turned 14, and planned to start talking to Dillon once again, but found out from Andrews that because of unpaid debts, Dylan and his family had had to relocate to one of the poorer places.

She cried her heart out that night.

And from that day on, her old facade, the one where she was a spoilt rich girl, came back. Until Andrews reminded her of the boy she used to love during his death.