Well, it's been a loooooong time. Like a ridiculously long time, and I don't really have any excuse for it other than writer's block and life busy-ness. Hope this is a least kind of worth the wait. Let me know what you think. I'm pleased with the ending, like I've said, this is the scene that I've had in my head since the very beginning of this adventure.

Without further ado,....

Epilogue

Like the Rain

Jen was standing in the window of the clocktower, looking out over the roadway in front of their home. She had been standing motionless for a while now, the object of her focused attention in a similar state.

"You know what I don't understand?" Lucas asked, determining that watching his two friends in this awkward state of not talking and avoiding each other wasn't worth the stress that it brought him. He would have thought that escaping the Nightmare Realm and the dark rule of its ruling mutant would have been enough to cement a positive relationship between the two of them – not to mention the major make out fest that he, Katie, Trip and Eric had the pleasure of witnessing as the Nightmare Realm disintegrated...

"Hmm?... What Lucas?"

Lucas rolled his eyes, aware of the fact that Jen was completely oblivious to his presence.

"What I don't understand," he said slowly, placing a hand on her shoulders, snapping her focus from the figure down below to the blue ranger, "is why you two are putting yourselves through this."

Jen's expression was one of regret.

"Lucas, it doesn't matter. It's behind us. We've got him back, that's all that matters, right?"

"If that was all that matters, you wouldn't be asking me that."

Jen glanced down at Wes. He was leaning on his recently-retrieved motorbike, his gaze lost somewhere amongst the clouds.

"But... Lucas, we're not part of this time, we're supposed to go back... I... we... can't stay..."

"Jen. Listen to me, and listen real good. That doesn't matter. Didn't you learn anything from this?" He scoffed, sounding his usual self, and not the preachy version he had been leaning towards, which was a welcome relief. "If you can't figure it out, then you don't deserve to know. And if you can't figure out what to do now... then you really are hopeless."

He belied his cool exterior with a brotherly half hug, and then disappeared into the upper living area, leaving Jen alone to ponder his words.

She couldn't lie to herself and say that what he said didn't resonate deep within her heart. She knew all her fears about what would happen when their time here was over was a product of her head, and not her heart, but listening to what that was saying? Instead of reason and logic? That was crazy... It would never work...

But then, what in their lives wasn't crazy? They were living in a Clock Tower a thousand years in the past. They fought in coloured spandex suits the majority of the time. How crazy was it to listen to her heart this one time?

Now, the question was, what was it her heart wanted her to do...?

From the insanity that was the Psykincon decable, she had learned a few things.

That it was possible to make a grand entrance through the walls of a empty storehouse on a Vector cycle.

That her relationship with Alex was strong, but not what it used to be.

That one should always listen to their dreams - especially repetitive ones that forecast the end of the world. And that listening and believing to these dreams was not necessarily the same thing.

And most the most important thing she had learned was that she could no longer imagine a life without Wes – and if she didn't do something soon, that would be exactly what she was facing. Sneaking a glance to the upper living area to see if Lucas witnessed her epiphany, she smiled, realizing she knew exactly what he had meant – and exactly what she had to do.

Wes stood outside the clocktower. It was raining, and he was without a hat or jacket, but he didn't care. It would have been an understatement to say that he was glad to be back. He was relieved, he was euphoric, he was estactic. It had been two months already, and that feeling still hadn't left him, especially when he thought about how close he had become to being stuck in the hellhole created by Psykincon. A thousand ton weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he felt he could have flown away.

And yet, he still felt.... Empty, hollow. Like there was still something holding him back. There was an ache that grounded his euphoria – but for the life of him he couldn't figure out why it was still there.

He should be feeling fine after the ordeal he had gone through. His father had enlisted the aid of the best doctors in the country, just to check him over after the 'ordeal', for lack of a better term. 'Possession' or 'the-unleashing-of-his-bad-side' brought up too many questions the doctors weren't capable of answering. He had registered a clean bill of health. What he felt, therefore, wasn't a physical thing. And he'd had more than enough time to recover from the worst of the superficial blows inflicted in their final battle.

It wasn't guilt he was feeling. Well, not entirely. He had felt a massive amount of guilt for the pain he had caused his friends, most notably Eric, who was still recouperating, and the town, which was slowly rebuilding. He hadn't originally wanted to make the public appearances with the other Rangers, but they had determined that the best way of regaining the citizen's faith would be to show everything was back to normal. The people were wary at first, but a few weeks of moving rubble and debris in their ranger outfits, and other such public appearances had helped to smooth things over.

Wes had felt overwhelming guilt once he had first come back to himself, but talking with Jen and the others had helped him realize that Psykincon's control over him had caused all those bad things to happen. And while it was still himself who initiated the acts, had Psykincon not been involved, they never would have happened. It wasn't the best pep talk, but it served its purpose. Wes was still coming to terms with what happened, but he wasn't beating himself up over it any longer. And besides, he was making great progress in helping the city rebuild – both as a multi-billionaire's son and a Power Ranger. Yesterday they had finished cleaning up the park. The week before saw the buisness district almost fully operational. There wasn't anything else he could do.

So it wasn't guilt, or physical pain. But despite his not being able to name the sensation or its cause, it still persisted in making his life uncomfortable. Not even the superhealing powers of double-fudge ripple ice cream had helped fill the hole – and Wes had been healed by much stronger pains with its soothing powers.

He looked to the sky, rain falling pattering onto his face, trailing down his neck. This was his last resort. A quiet moment to himself, walking in the rain. He had ridden his motorbike to the Clock Tower to check in with the other Rangers and figure out their schedule for the next week. Their work was done for the day – the repainting of some of the downtown buildings had been put on hold on account of the upcoming rainstorm. With nothing left to do for the day, he thought that a walk in the rain might help him figure out why he was still feeling so ... off. After all, it had worked, for the most part, the last time something had been bothering him. And that hadn't been that long ago...

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Wes sighed, knowing that following that train of thought was likely to only stir up some more introspective thoughts. And truthfully, he had enough of being trapped in his own head to last him a long, long time. Now was the time to get out of himself, and just walk in the rain. He started out, realizing he had been standing outside the clocktower a great deal longer than he had intended. Now that the park was cleaned up, it seemed like the most logical destination.

"Hey, you look like you could use some company," a voice came up from behind him. So caught up was he in his own thoughts and worries that he hadn't even heard her approach.

"Um, actually, I was-" Wes trailed off, shrugging his shoulders helplessly.

"I know," Jen answered. "Let's go."

"So you think things are going to be alright between the two of them?" Katie asked, leaning over Lucas' shoulder as he studiously tried to ignore her presence. "I mean, we ARE going to have to go back eventually..."

"What's your point, Katie?" Lucas asked, not even looking up from the magazine he was flipping through.

"Well, isn't it just going to hurt more? If they have their time together now, won't it be harder to leave when the time comes?"

"Probably."

Katie swatted at him with the magazine he had previously been perusing. "Lucas! That's horrible! Why would you-"

"Because that's the point, Katie," Lucas said with a note of finality. "Love, real deep down, tear out your hair, dancing in the rain, that kind of love, it doesn't come without a price. Real love isn't painless. If it's really worth the pain, then they'd go for it. And they should."

"Lucas..."

"Just because we might find our way back to our time doesn't mean that they should deny themselves of such a beautiful thing. It'd be like asking the rain not to fall. You can try, you can curse it when it doesn't listen, you can try and pretend it didn't happen. But no matter what, it's still going to rain, and you're still going to get caught up in the storm."

With those words, Lucas swiped the magazine that a speechless Katie was holding close to her chest. That tears were welling up in her eyes wasn't lost on Lucas.

"Now, this is about them. Not one word about me, or anything in the past, just... let them have their moment." He reopened the magazine to the page he had been at before their exchange.

She was silent a moment before replying, as if comtemplating the best way of following his heartfelt (if not a little hypocritical) speech. "Fine. But one day Lucas, you'll have your rainstorm," Katie replied, sadness coming through her words. "You're getting better at those analogies, you know."

"I've been working on it."

"So..."

"So?"

Wes coughed, hoping to cover his awkwardness. "So, how about that weather?"

If there was a scale of 'lame and completely inappropriate conversation starters' this one would be near the top.

"Well, it's been a lot better since that huge freak storm disappated..." Jen replied, making it clear to him that it wasn't the weather she intended on talking to him about. "Wes, we need to talk about what happened."

"We have talked, Jen. It's been two months, all we've done is talk about what happened. I don't want to talk about it anymore." Wes said, kicking a stone near his foot perhaps a little too enthusiastically. They had somehow found their way to the park, which after the battle and all the work put into it by the city and the Rangers, it looked even more beautiful than before. It was a small comfort to Jen, to know that things could be better. Wes, on the other hand, appeared to not even notice where they were, let alone the changes to the park...

"If we're supposedly done talking about it," Jen shot back, tempering the edge to her voice, "then why do you still look like you're lost in a fog?"

Wes didn't reply.

Jen sighed. "Wes, I know it was a horrible thing, and no one expects you to be able to get over it quickly, but-"

"But what, Jen? It's going to be okay? The city's forgiven you? We can rebuild? Anything you have to say to me I've already heard. I don't need to hear it again." He was shutting her out, and Jen couldn't believe how different the man before her was from just a few months ago.

Though, anything was a welcome change from the Dark Knight, she grudgingly admitted to herself.

"I just want to forget..." he murmured.

"Wes, please. Listen to me," Jen stepped in front of him and waited until his face turned to hers. He was glaring, and a shadow had fallen across his features, but at least he was looking at her again. "I know that I can never understand completely what you're feeling right now. And I know that it's a hard thing to ask, but you have to get over it."

"Get over it!?"

Jen nearly slapped herself at her choice of words.

"What I mean is, you have to forgive yourself." It wasn't a lot better, but the correction would have to stand as it was for now. "It's hard, but you have to, otherwise you're never going to be able to get rid of that hollow feeling inside of you."

That caused him to look up. Disbelief was etched in his angular features. His disbelief turned to suspicion quickly, "how did you know that's what I was feeling?"

"A little green-haired birdie clued me in. Wes, everyone has a dark side to them. Psykincon was able to use yours to his advantage and turn it against you."

"And everyone else I care about..."

"Yes, but that you had a dark side – and probably a pretty miniscule one to begin with – isn't your fault. He was a powerful mutant, with powerful and dangerous abilities, you couldn't have known what he was planning."

"It isn't that I'm feeling guilty about Psykincon being able to turn me... evil... well, not entirely." Wes struggled to find the words. It was hard, finding a way to turn into words a voiceless, empty, all-consuming fear that was nestled deep inside your heart. Jen let him think for a moment, though she didn't let him turn away from her face. She wanted him to be able to see that she was still there, waiting for his answer.

"It's... this feeling that now that I've seen my dark side, that it might... That I might not be able to control it again. That I might let it go again," Wes answered, haltingly, as if afraid that just admitting it to her would unleash his inner demons before the world again. "You can't understand, Jen. It was just so... easy... to let the darker side out. To let him talk to you like... to talk to the others..." he stopped, ashamed at what he was saying.

"Wes, that wasn't you..."

"But it was me, Jen! At least some part of me."

"Yeah, some part of you that you've always been able to keep under control, up until some evil mutant's dark crystal made that impossible, and even then you were able to fight your way back. That should make it clear to you of which side is stronger. We shouldn't even be having this conversation!"

He scoffed. Making his thoughts on the matter abundantly clear.

"Wes, shut up for a second and let me say this, because I'm only saying it once. You fought your way back from the control that Psykincon had on you – not once, but numerous times. The entire time that he had a control over you, you were still able to remember your friends, remember your past, remember our voices. The entire time you were under his control, you didn't once hurt someone -"

"'Cept Eric..."

"Except Eric, but he had it coming."

Wes laughed at that. It was the first time in eight weeks where she had actually seen him smile.

"And that was nothing irrepairable. The point is, that even though you were a bad guy, you're good guy side was still too strong to make you a really good bad guy."

"Jen," Wes said, completely serious. "That didn't make any sense at all."

She laughed, somewhat sheepishly, "You know what I mean. And besides, it made you smile so it was worth sounding like a complete moron. You're a good guy, Wes. You just have to remind yourself of that. Don't forget. You came back from the dark side on your own."

"Not completely on my own, I seem to recall having more than a little help on that front."

And again a sheepish grin crossed Jen's face. She suddenly found her hands, intertwined in front of her, the most interesting things in the world. "Yeah, about that, sorry about the slap. And for any of the other harsh things I said..."

"And the kiss?"

"Oh."

"Yeah..."

There was a shared silence between them. This, unsurprisingly, hadn't been a topic discussed in the previous eight weeks. It probably wasn't the best moment to talk about it, they both realized belatedly, but since it had so awkwardly come to the forefront, it was a good a time as ever.

Life and movement continued around them, as if there wasn't a huge life-changing awkward pause going on before them. Despite the slight shower, the park still had plently of denizens wandering about; Mothers pushing their young children's in strollers, people jogging along to ipods, dogs and their owners chasing after frisbees and soggy tennis balls, were all oblivious to the importance of the scene transpiring with the two young people standing side by side on the park's only bridge.

"About that, I just wanted..."

"Jen, I know, I understand that you were trying to snap me out of Psykincon's control and that was the only thing you could think of, after the slap, so it's okay. It didn't mean anything. We can just go back to how things were before." He looked down at the small river meandering under the bridge beneath them, he couldn't bear to tell Jen such a heartwrenching lie to her face. Her reflection in the agitated water would have to suffice. The rain softly falling around them was hardly noticed by either of them. They were already soaked from the walk over, the tempering drizzle was the least of their concerns at the moment. Wes was more preoccupied with trying to keep the disappointment and pain out of his voice and features.

Jen, on the other hand, was doing her best to keep from screaming at the idiot man standing beside her. Could he really think? ...

"Besides, you're going to be going back to the year 3000 soon enough, I mean, we've almost captured all of Ransik's mutants, it's only a matter of time, right? And plus-" Wes stopped babbling when Jen gently placed a hand on his arm.

"You don't seriously think that I kissed you because it was the only thing I could think of, do you?"

"Well, you had already slapped me..."

She shook her head. Her mother had been right all along, apparently. Boys were dumb.

"Wes, I kissed you because it was the only way I could think of to show you that I didn't forget you, that I didn't leave you alone, and that I do really care about you," Jen smiled. "I kissed you because I love you. I slapped you because you were being an ass."

Above them, as if triggered by a heavenly switch, the skies opened up. The park's other visitors all dashed for cover while the two young couple held their position on the bridge, not wanting to leave before their conversation was completely wrapped up. Their reflections in the water beneath them were now completely obscured by the ever-spreading ripples from the rain. It fit their warring emotions inside, if doing nothing else but making it necessary for the pair to look at each other instead of at the reflections beneath them.

"But... what about Alex?" Wes was almost afraid to ask, but the words sprang unbidden to his lips.

"Wes, you're the reason why I fought so hard against Psykincon. You're the reason why I don't want to go back to the year 3000. Alex has nothing to do with it. And it certainly wasn't because I couldn't think of anything else to do. I just... listened to what my heart had been telling me to do for months now." She smiled up at him, unashamed of the words she was saying, "Wes, you're the reason I like walking in the rain."

Coming from anyone but her, it would have been cliche, or insincere, something from a bad chick flick or those romantic comedies that Katie was so fond was watching, but coming from Jen it was real. And, Wes realized, she was completely serious. He couldn't believe it. Fighting the urge to cry out in joy, where only moments before he had been convinced he'd never be whole again, he smiled, the grin lighting up his features like the sky above them wasn't completely obscured by rainclouds.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to say that." Realizing Jen felt the same way as he did caused a light to spread across his features. "I love you too, Jen. You're the reason I came back," he said, trying to convey as much of the emotions he was feeling into his words. He placed a tender hand on her own and it was like the hole in his heart was slowly disappating. Like the clouds from Psykincon's storm, the empty feeling was being replaced with something more solid than fear and guilt.

It was hope.

It was warmth.

It was faith, and friendship, and he thought, more than just friendship.

"Thanks for never giving up on me," Wes said.

"Thanks for coming back."

"I had something special waiting for me at the end of the tunnel," he grinned.

Looking up at the skies above them, Jen said, "It's raining. We should head back."

"Ah, but where would the fun be in that?" he shot back, bringing her into his arms. "You'll never see the rainbow if you don't wait until the rain's done."

From her position in his arms, feeling more happy than she should while being soaked to the skin, Jen looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Is that supposed to be a clever metaphor for this relationship?"

"Just stating a fact. Wait, relationship? That's what we're calling this?"

"Wes?"

"Yeah?"

"For a former bad guy, you still haven't gotten over the bad habit of talking too much at inopportune times."

"I thought we weren't going to talk about my being a good bad guy anymore, it's embarrassing..."

"Shut up and kiss me, you idiot."

Knowing better than to ignore a direct order, he complied, and for the first time in a long time, he was too busy with other things than to worry about sorting out all his problems with a walk in the rain. It was something he could see himself getting used to.

And even if they didn't have all the time in the world, they had this moment, and they had the reassurance that the future was never certain, that things could change in an instant. That much they'd managed to prove time and time again. And they would always have the rain, and the memory of the times they shared together.

It wasn't a lot, but it was something. And for the two of them, for now at least, it was enough.

'Like the rain I have fallen for you and I know just why you
Liked the rain always calling for you, I'm falling for you now
Just like the rain I have fallen for you
I'm falling for you now just like the rain...'

Like the rain...

The song at the end in italics is George Strait's 'Like the Rain'.

Hope it wasn't too anticlimatic. I figured I had put the two of them through enough across the course of this story... They kinda deserved a sweet ending, don't you think?

For those who have stuck with me across the years, who have kicked me in the butt to keep writing, who have encouraged, commented or even just taken a look at this story - thanks. I wouldn't have been able to finish this if it hadn't been for you.

65558 word later, I most contentedly bring 'Rain' to a close. It's been a pleasure.

~ Satori Blackthorn