Disclaimer: Power Rangers Time Force, Wild Force, and all related logos and characters are property of Saban/Disney Entertainment. I am using them without permission, but I don't intent to make a profit.

"Time Force! You're under arrest," the pink ranger said, standing firmly with her badge in hand and a disrupter in the other.

The mutant got a good look at his surroundings, only to discover he was cornered. The pink ranger had chased him down an alley, which had come to a dead end. It glanced around, trying to determine if it could either jump over her, or onto one of the buildings. It went for a jump, but the pink ranger fired a warning shot, making it think twice. Finally, the mutant realized it was pointless and raised its hands in the air… all four of them.

"This isn't over, ranger," it groaned.

The pink ranger reached behind her back, putting out two sets of handcuffs, then walked over to the mutant, cuffing both sets of hands. "Save it for the counsel, mutant, your time is up," she told it, then turned her attention to her morpher. "Kyle, I have the mutant in custody. I'll meet you back at the time ship."

Just then, a holographic image of her partner appeared. 'I read you loud and clear. I'll meet you there. And be careful,' he told her.

"Always," she said, grabbing the mutant and rushing away.

The sun was beginning to go down, so she didn't have a hard time making her way to the edge of the city without being seen. After all, a sub-human creature roaming the city in the 20th century would have caused a major panic. By the time she arrived at the time ship, the sun had set, and the moon had replaced it. They stepped over to the time ship, a blue beam encompassed them, and within seconds, they materialized inside the ship.

Kyle, who was sitting in front of the controls, turned around, facing them. "Good job. Did anyone see you?" he inquired.

She shook her head. "No, we went undetected," she said.

He stood up, walking over to them. "I'll take him to the holding area until we can get him back to the future. Set a course and engage the engines," he instructed, grabbing the mutant and making his way to the back of the ship.

The pink ranger sat in front of the controls, staring down at them. When she agreed to this mission, she had been told of the risks. She knew that a group of renegade mutants had traveled to the past, probably ordered by Ransik, hoping to alter the past, and in turn affect the future. Together, she and Kyle had been able identify, confront and capture all of them, but it took some doing. She was ordered to go under cover, to get as close as she could to the mutant's target and keep him safe.

What she didn't count on was falling in love with him.

The mission itself had taken a little over a year, and in that year, she was with him almost every second of the day. She had to be, there was no way to know when the mutants were going to attack, or where they'd be coming from. During the time she spent with him, she had gotten to know him. She'd come to respect him a great deal, and in time, fall in love with him. But again, she knew the risks.

'Occupational hazard,' she sighed inwardly. She wasn't the first Time Force officer to get too involved in their mission, to allow personal feelings to affect her judgment. Situations like hers had been well documented, and what Time Force did to those who allowed their emotions to get in the way of their mission was common knowledge. That was the reason she'd kept her emotions to herself, refusing to tell Kyle. If she had told him, he would have aborted the mission, then sent her back to the future for memory adaptation. She refused to forget how she felt about this man, and refused to allow her job to dictate who she could and couldn't be with.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Kyle walked back into the cockpit, making his way towards her. "That's the last of them. Lets go home," he said cheerfully.

She quickly stood up, aiming her disrupter at him. "I'm sorry about this Kyle, really," she sighed.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not going back with you. I'm staying," she told him.

"You're doing this for him, aren't you?"

She paused. "Yes, I am. I love him, Kyle, and we're going to be together."

"Do you know what Time Force will do to you when they find out what you're doing? They won't stop hunting you down until they find you, and when they do, they'll haul your ass back to the future and give you memory adaptation. All your efforts will be for nothing," he explained.

"If I go back with you now, and they find out how I feel, they'll give it to me anyway. I love him, and I have to try. I owe it to him, I owe it to myself," she said.

Kyle took a step forward. "I'll do what I can to slow them down, but I won't be able to stop them from finding you. You know that, right?" he asked.

She nodded. "I know."

"Keep your morpher, but never activate it. If you do, they'll be able to trace the signal and find you. I'll try to contact you and warn you when they're coming, try to keep you one step ahead of the retrieval teams," he said.

She lowered her weapon. "Why Kyle? Why are you helping me?"

"Because you're my partner, and I know you'll never be happy if I try to make you come with me," he said.

She pressed a button on her morpher, powering down, and then walked over to him. "Thank you, Kyle, for everything," she cried.

"Good luck," he told her, sitting in front of the controls and activating the beam, teleporting her off the ship.

She stood on the shore, watching as the time ship lifted off, eventually disappearing into the wormhole.

---

nine years later

---

She'd been in the yard all afternoon, planting flowers in front of the house. In the distance, she could hear her son and husband playing together, tossing the football back and forth. She'd come to enjoy spending time working in the yard, doing everything she could to improve the way it looked. Up until recently, the two of them had been living in a two-bedroom apartment, but when her husband inherited his father's business, they were able to afford much more. They'd gone from a two-bedroom apartment in the bad part of town to a seven bedroom, two-bathroom home with a pool and a two-car garage. They'd gone from sharing a used car to owning two brand new cars. One said his, the other said hers. They were able to put their son into a better school, and things were finally looking up for them.

She had known that if she stuck with him, things would work out, and now, they were. Together, they'd had the most handsome son, and they were considering having another. She didn't want to tell him until the time was right, but she was expecting another child. She was only a month along, and she wasn't showing at all, but had every intention of telling him tonight at dinner.

They had plans to go to a restaurant later in the evening. He'd made a reservation at her favorite place, and her brother-in-law, Andrew, was going to watch their son while they were out. Everything was falling into place for her, and tonight, she was going to tell him about the next addition to their family.

It had all been like a dream for her, a fairy tale. In fact, there was nothing that could have made her life any better. Things had worked out, and she was going to live happily ever after.

Then it happened…

"Elaine," she heard a voice say.

Without turning around, she knew exactly who it was. She stood up, making her way back to her feet and turning around, wiping her hands off on her apron. "Hello Kyle," she said dryly.

Her husband quickly tossed the football to their son, making his way over to them. "Laney, honey, who is this?" he asked.

"This is Kyle, we used to work together. Kyle, you remember my husband Alan, don't you?" she replied.

He nodded. "Of course."

"What's going on here?" Alan asked with a look of concern on his face.

"They're coming, Elaine, and I can't stop them. I held them off as long as I could, but there's nothing I can do for you now," he told her.

"Who's coming? What's happening?" her husband repeated.

"But I can't leave. I have a family now, a son," she cried.

"You have to come with me now," Kyle warned.

"No one is going anywhere until someone tells me what the hell is going on!" Alan snapped.

Her son dropped his football, rushing over to her. "Momma, what's wrong? Where are you going?" he asked her, looking up at her with concern in his eyes.

She leaned down, smiling warmly. "I'm going to the store with my friend. I'll be back as soon as I can," she said.

"Will you bring we something?"

"Yes Wesley, I'll bring you something," she said with a tear in her eye as she hugged him, knowing it might be the last that she was able to hold her son.

"Elaine, please tell me what's going on," Alan sighed.

Elaine stood up, turning to him. "Honey, I have to go, but I promise I'll do everything I can to come back. I swear," she told him, kissing him warmly on the lips, then turned to walk away.

"But Laney…" he sighed, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't let my son forget me," she sighed, following Kyle.

The two of them got into a car, and as soon as Kyle started it…

… it exploded.

---

Silver Hills, California 2004

---

Alan stood motionless, his face void of expression as he stared down at her gravesite. It had been seventeen years – in fact, seventeen years to the day, and even now, he wasn't sure what actually happened that day. It wasn't a usual day, and they were doing the same things they normally did. He was playing football with Wes, and Elaine was planting flowers in the yard, and everything in their lives was falling into place. He'd just inherited his father's company, Bio-Lab, and though he was putting in more hours than he wanted to, his family always seemed to understand. As a promise to them, he always kept Thursdays open. He wouldn't take appointments, no meetings, nothing. It was a day where his family did something together, and each week, all of them looked forward to it.

However, this day didn't turn out the way he'd hoped.

All he knew about the stranger was that Elaine use to work with him, but she never mentioned how long ago or where the place was. There was something between them, something he couldn't quite put his finger on, but it was obvious that the two of them were having a tacit conversation that he knew nothing about.

When Elaine got into the car with the stranger, he was convinced that eventually, she'd return and explain it to him, but then it happened… the car exploded, and just like that, the love of his life was gone. Not only was he forced to deal with the tragic passing of his wife, but he had the unenviable task of explaining it to his nine year old son. He explained it as best he could, but honestly, he didn't have all the facts either.

He kept his promise to her, and he never allowed Wes to forget his mother. Once a year, on the anniversary of her death, each of them came to the cemetery to visit her. As Wes got older, he started going on his own, but like clockwork, each of them went to pay their respects to her. 'Hard to believe it's been seventeen years already,' he thought to himself. He thought about that day every waking moment of his life, and the images of her car exploded had haunted his dreams since.

"I've done my best Elaine, and I've kept my promise. Wes has never forgotten you, and neither have I," he cried as he leaned forward, wiping the dirt and grime away from her tombstone with his hand.

Just then, his thoughts were interrupted as his cell phone rang. He quickly stood up, reaching into his coat and pulling out his phone. "Collins," he answered.

'Sir, you have that one o'clock meeting scheduled,' a voice said.

He quickly recognized the voice as his personal secretary. "I haven't forgotten Myriah, I'm on my way in now," he assured her.

'I'll see you then sir,' she said.

He hung up, putting the phone back in his pocket, staring down at her tombstone one final time, then walked away.